Chapter 3 – The Next Great Adventure
Ealing Church was packed with family, friends and well wishers ready to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Sarah Jane Smith. Outside the church The Doctor shuffled on the spot waiting for the arrival of the hearse carrying the body of her late companion. True to Sarah Jane's final request, the Time Lady had spent the last few days helping out with the funeral arrangements. Helping was perhaps a stretch since the raven haired woman had no idea what arrangements needed to be made. She considered asking Clara for help but she thought that the school teacher could use a break after the recent events at Coal Hill.
Realising pretty early that she was the worst person to arrange a funeral, the Time Lady put all of her energy into helping make the next few months as smooth as possible for Luke, Sky and the others. She ensured that Luke would be named as the sole guardian of Sky whilst keeping his place at University. Luke asked how the Time Lady had managed to do this so quickly but her only response was a small, enigmatic smile. She also had one final surprise for the group which she was anxious to share with the youngsters.
The Time Lady's wait was brought to an end when two dark grey vehicles pulled up outside the church. The Doctor bowed her head as the oak coffin was unloaded from the rear of the hearse and slowly carried passed her and into the church. Just behind them came Luke, Sky, Clyde and Rani who were dressed in black. Sky was leaning heavily against her older brother, her eyes red from having shed some tears earlier in the day. The other three were stoic, trying to put on a brave face for the youngest member of the group. It didn't take a telepath to tell that under the surface was an immense amount of grief for Sarah Jane Smith, "Hello Doctor", Luke greeted stiffly, "I thought you would be inside".
"I'm sorry but I can't stay", The Doctor replied, "I've come to make sure that you're alright".
"Yeah we're fine", Rani replied in confusion, "we thought you were going to read something during the service".
The Doctor ran a hand through her dark hair, "I promised that a Doctor would read that the service", she stated, "I've said my goodbyes, it's only right that someone else gets their chance". That was only half the story from the Time Lady, saying goodbye to her long time companion had been hard for her. She didn't think that she would be able to hold it together for the entire service, "I've also got to give you these", she added, handing something over to Rani and Clyde.
The pair inspected the small strips of green card but didn't fully understand the writing that was on the surface, "Erm, thanks", Clyde stated hesitantly.
"It's a full pardon issued by the Shadow Proclamation", the Time Lady began, "there's some other legal gibberish written too but essentially your confinement to Earth has been lifted". The group weren't sure what to say, it certainly wasn't something they were expecting The Doctor to do for them, "Don't ask me what I had to do to get them to issue those", she continued, "seriously don't, it'll take too long to explain".
"Thank you", Rani replied with a slight stammer, "but I'm not sure we're going to be leaving Earth any time soon".
The Time Lady nodded slowly, "You have a point Miss Chandra but take it from me, you lot were good at what you did". The quartet looked away in embarrassment at the praise from the alien woman, "I'm not saying that you make a decision today, tomorrow or even in a few weeks but it would be a shame to let such talented alien investigators slip into retirement".
Luke stepped forward and extended his hand to the Time Lady, "Thank you Doctor", he shook the woman's hand, "you've certainly given us a lot to think about". He checked his watch, "We'd better get inside, the service will start soon". The Doctor nodded and accepted another hand shake from Clyde and Rani. Sky was a little more forward and enthusiastically threw her arms around the alien. The Doctor stiffened slightly before finally returning the gesture, gently ruffling the brunette's hair in the process.
As the Time Lady watched the quartet disappear into the church, she felt a familiar presence walking up the path and coming to a halt just behind her, "You received my message then", she half asked, half stated.
The man towered over the Time Lady and he had a mop of curly brown hair that was mostly hidden under a wide brimmed hat. The most striking thing about the man's appeared was the multi coloured, impossibly long scarf that was wrapped around his neck and body, "Indeed", the Fourth Doctor replied with his powerful voice, "I must say that I was a little surprised to receive a message from my own future". The current Doctor turned around slowly turned around to face one of her previous regenerations, "Well, this is a little different", Four added, appraising his future self.
"I thought so too but I'm getting used to it", The Doctor replied, "out of curiosity, when exactly did my message reach you?"
"Oh you know, just travelling around by myself", Four stated, "Leela's just stayed behind on Gallifrey with Andred", he added. The Doctor nodded in reply and offered a small smile, "Is something interesting about to happen?" Four asked curiously.
"Something interest always happens to us", The Doctor stated cryptically. She knew though that the arrival of Romana in the TARDIS was imminent and remembered the interesting times she would have with the Time Lady, "I wish we were meeting under better circumstances", the Time Lady added with a more solemn tone.
The Fourth Doctor sighed, "Yes, terribly sad news", he paused for a moment in contemplation, "second decade of the twenty first century though, not a bad innings". The two incarnations of The Doctor stood in silence for a couple of moments, each revisiting their favourite memories of Sarah Jane Smith. For the Fourth Doctor most of his adventures with the woman were still pretty recent. The Twelfth and current Doctor though had gotten to see a different side to Sarah Jane, an investigator in her own right whilst balancing the trickiest job of them all, being a mother. "Are you sure I'm the right person to do a speech for Sarah Jane", Four continued, almost picking up on the thoughts of his successor, "you have known her for much longer than I have. Plus I haven't had time to prepare a speech".
"She did meet some other incarnations of us" The Doctor replied, brushing some loose hair away from her face, "but she always held a soft spot for you, so do I if can be honest with", she paused and shrugged, "well myself I suppose". The Fourth Doctor flashed the raven haired woman with his famous grin, "Trust me the eulogy will have more impact coming from you". She reached into her velvet jacket and pulled out a few cue cards, "As for the speech, I've come prepared".
She handed the card over to the Fourth Doctor who looked at the words with increasing confusion, "Forgive me my dear but these do not look like words you would say", he mumbled to himself.
"They're not", The Doctor shrugged, "I remembered what I said when I was you and wrote them down".
The Time Lord and Lady snorted with laughter as the ridiculous nature of that particular paradox and the scarf wearing Doctor tapped the cards against his nose, "This can be our little secret, don't want the Time Lord's knowing about this".
The Doctor kept the grin fixed on her face to mask the truth about their people from her predecessor. She had taken a big risk inviting him to this time period and she didn't want to increase the damage by inadvertently revealing too much of the future, "Our secret, scouts honour", she held up three figures in the traditional Scout salute. "Time for me to go", she bowed her head towards the Fourth Doctor, "until next time Doctor".
The curly haired man tipped his hat towards his successor, "Until I am you Doctor", with that parting comment he entered the church to deliver his speech.
The Time Lady thrust her hands deep into her pockets and slowly strolled towards her TARDIS. The Fourth Doctor had always been one of her favourite incarnation and there never seemed to be any tension with the man when she had encountered this version later in her time line. As much as the current Doctor hated to admit it, Four was always Sarah Jane's favourite and it only seemed right that he got to attend her funeral.
Entering the TARDIS, The Doctor closed the door and approached the console. She leaned on the structure for support and whispered one final goodbye to Sarah Jane Smith. Throwing a lever on the desktop the Time Lady set off for the time vortex for a few hours of rest and recuperation before she would even think about travelling to another location.
Somewhere far away from the TARDIS, Sarah Jane Smith opened her eyes and was surprised to find herself lying on the grass in the middle of a small park. The air smelt fresh and clean and in the distance she could hear the gentle tinkling of water. Slowly getting to her feet, Sarah Jane was surprised to see that her body had been restored to full health. There was no sign of the lung condition that had led to her death and after checking her reflection in a small puddle her face wasn't the same pale and gaunt shade that she remembered.
"Ah hello Miss Sarah Jane Smith", a bright and cheery voice greeted her, "been expecting you for a while if we're honest". The curly haired man checked his tablet computer for her details, "Introductions first", he continued without looking up, "my name's Sebastian and I will be your initial host here in heaven". Sarah Jane frowned, she wasn't a particularly religious person and she wasn't opposed to the concept of heaven but something didn't feel right. Maybe she had spent too long in association with The Doctor and had picked up on his suspicious nature. "Let's see, home era late twentieth early twenty first century", Sebastian continued, "nasty cause of death but not the worst I've seen".
Sarah Jane waived her hands to silence the man, "I'm sorry did you say your name was Sebastian?" The man nodded in response, "Sorry to sound like a non believer but could I talk to the person in charge?"
Sebastian sighed deeply, "The big guy did say that's you'd be a tricky customer", he tutted to himself and tapped away furiously on his tablet, "The big guy doesn't like to be disturbed but I think they'll make an exception for an associate of The Doctor's".
Before Sarah Jane had a chance to question the man further, Sebastian disappeared in a flash of light, leaving her seemingly alone in the garden. Nervously flicking her head around, the former journalist felt like someone was watching her, "Hello", she called out hesitantly.
"Sarah Jane Smith", a distorted sounding voice called out from nowhere, "we meet again".
Sarah Jane felt like she knew the voice from somewhere but couldn't identify who it was. She prepared herself for an imminent arrival, her body tensing in anticipation, "Whoever you are", she said defiantly, "show yourself". There was a low chuckle and the owner of the mystery voice appeared directly in front of her, "No", she shook her head in disbelief, "that's not possible".
"Oh I assure you that it is", they said, "we're going to have so much fun and then", the owner of the voice chuckled madly, "we're going to break the Doctor's hearts". Another mad cackle followed before Sarah Jane and her assailant disappeared, leaving behind an empty and peaceful looking garden.
THE END
A/N - Said it would be brief. So Sarah Jane meets up with the mystery person who's been stalking the Doctor. Maybe we'll see her again, maybe we won't. Death doesn't always mean the end in a time travelling, science fiction show. Back to the main story next week as the first chapter's of "All The World's A Stage" will be published.