The Sarah Jane Adventures: About Andrea

My muse is feeling sentimental again, and feels that Rani should know about Andrea. So...

Sarah Jane's attic

The evening of Friday 11th July, 2008

"Done your homework?" Sarah Jane inquired, sipping her tea.

Chuckling, Rani quipped, "First, you're not my Mum, and second, yes, I have. Clyde and Luke took themselves off to the Last Arcade," she told the older woman.

"Odd name," Sarah Jane frowned.

"Not really," Rani shook her head, "arcade games are on the way out, therefore so are arcades. Luke," she grinned, "is looking to analyse the gameplay of various games to see how realistic they are."

"Come back, Tron, all is forgiven," Sarah Jane smiled.

"Who?"

"Surely you've heard of Tron!" Sarah Jane laughed. "It wasn't that long ago!" She explained who and what Tron was.

"Could that really happen?" Rani asked curiously, remembering that it had happened to Clyde.

"Nice idea, isn't it, that people could live again inside computers," Sarah Jane reflected. She sighed. "I wish I could do that for Andrea. Even after all these years, I miss her."

"Andrea?"

"Mmm. Andrea Yates," Sarah Jane went on. "She was my best friend at school. We did everything together." She chuckled. "Andrea was always the more adventurous one, always getting into scrapes, and usually I was the one getting her out of them!"

"Sounds like you," Rani quipped, and Sarah Jane swatted her. "How old were you?"

"Oh, we were friends from nursery," Sarah Jane reminisced, and sobered. "She was only 13 when she died."

"That's awful. What happened?"

"Actually that's a bit complicated, and tied up with my current life," Sarah Jane answered. "In what you might call the original timeline, we went - mainly at Andrea's urging - somewhere we weren't supposed to be, on a school trip. There was an accident...and she fell to her death. I was heartbroken."

Full of sympathy, Rani touched her arm. "I'm sorry. But...as harsh as it sounds, death is a part of life. You taught me that."

"That's true, and I learned it that day. A hard lesson for any child to learn. But it made me buckle down. I resolved to do the best I could for Andrea's sake. I got top marks, actually," she added with pride.

"Yeah, but...people die all the time. Even kids. So where's the complication?"

"The Trickster," Sarah Jane told her grimly, and explained him...if such a being could be explained. "He changed the timeline. He went back and offered Andrea a second chance at life, while she was barely hanging on and losing her grip. All she had to do was to agree to...a swap."

Rani gasped in horror. "A swap...with you?!"

Sarah Jane nodded. "And she agreed. Suddenly I was about to fall and die. I did."

"Oh my God. And...Andrea?"

"She lived the life she would have lived if she'd had the chance. Now, she did. And I have to be fair," Sarah Jane allowed, "she definitely did just that. She lived her life to the full...because, in her words, she knew how much each moment was worth."

"But... she sacrificed her best friend!" Rani protested, outraged.

Sarah Jane held up a placating hand. "How many 13-year-old children would take the same opportunity, Rani? Please be honest. Would you have?"

"I...well," Rani flustered, "I'd like to say 'absolutely not', but...I...I don't know. I hope not."

"Very, very few children would've been strong enough to resist," Sarah Jane noted. "Honestly, I can't blame her. She was only 13, the poor child. She wanted so much to live." She looked disgusted. "But that's what the Trickster does. He doesn't, can't force you - it has to be with your consent. Your agreement. He offers you a deal which sounds good at the time...but there's always, always a catch."

"So...how is it you're still here, if you died in this 'new' timeline?"

"The impatience of the young," Sarah Jane smiled, "I was getting to that. A Verron Soothsayer gave me a puzzle box and told me to give it to the person I trusted most. In this case, Maria - she and her Dad used to be my neighbours. He said 'Remember'. Neither of us knew what he meant, but in fact he meant for Maria to remember me. Luckily, thanks to the talisman, she did. Everyone else - except Andrea, of course - forgot me. But the puzzle box protected Maria.

"She - and Andrea - found out why the Trickster wanted me dead: there was a meteor about to hit Earth, a big one. It was coming down through a radar blind spot, which was why the authorities hadn't seen it. Mr. Smith, of course, has much better scanners than mere radar. But he couldn't deflect the meteor if he didn't exist, could he?"

Rani gasped, this time in understanding. "And since you died at age 13 -"

"- I never became an adult, never met the Doctor, never created Mr. Smith," Sarah Jane nodded. "Exactly. The world was about to descend into chaos and destruction...meat and drink to the Trickster. Mr. Smith was Earth's only hope...which meant I had to live, in order to create him."

"But Andrea was there instead," Rani nodded. "I think I see where this is going."

"Perhaps you thought at first that Andrea was a bad person for letting me die in her place. Perhaps she was. But in the end she redeemed herself - when she realised what was going to happen, she knew what she had to do. So she renounced her agreement. In our childhood we swapped back. She died as she was meant to - and I ordered Mr. Smith, who also came back, to deflect the meteor and save Earth. He did."

"Wow," Rani breathed. "You actually and literally saved the world."

"And all it cost," Sarah Jane finished, with tears in her eyes, "was my best friend..."

Maybe Sarah Jane had needed to cry for Andrea after all these years. Rani hugged her and let her do just that.

"She was a good person in the end," Rani said gently. "Bit like Darth Vader - he redeemed himself by saving his son, even though he knew what it'd cost him. Or Kylo Ren saving Rey."

"Yes, she was," Sarah Jane agreed. "Andrea died on 13th July, 1964. I plan to go to her grave on that day and lay a wreath for her." She sighed sadly. "All the world saw was the tragic, needless death of a schoolgirl. No-one will ever know what a heroine she really was."

"We'll know," Rani said firmly. "The 13th...that's Sunday," she added. "I've nothing planned. I could keep you company, if you like," she offered.

Sarah Jane hugged her. "Thanks, but this is something I have to do on my own."

The grave of Andrea Yates

Sunday morning

The wreath, fresh and beautiful, courtesy of Bloomin' Lovely (and free, when Sarah Jane explained why she wanted it - "I insist, Sarah," Gita said briskly, getting Sarah Jane's preferred name wrong as usual), looked gorgeous, if alone. Andrea had had a bit of trouble making friends (except for one person).

"It's sunny," Sarah Jane said to the gravestone. "You always loved the summer. Gave you a chance for mischief in that outrageous bikini," she smiled, "not that you ever needed an excuse! Oh, you were wild back then; the despair of our form teacher, and your parents." She sobered. "And exactly what someone like me needed to offset the seriousness. Academic achievements were and are very important, but you taught me how to relax and have fun.

"And I have," she added. "Oh, I've seen and done things we couldn't have even dreamed of. I've been to the farthest stars, backwards and forwards in Time, and now," she smiled, "I'm a mum! Now that's an adventure, Andrea!"

In her mind, 13-year-old Andrea was laughing, "A mum? That was never for me, darling!"

A single tear fell as Sarah Jane said quietly, "On behalf of everyone on Earth, thank you, Andrea Yates, for doing the right thing."

"You will regret it," a voice hissed. It was as familiar as it was hateful.

She turned, and sure enough, there was the Trickster.

"We meet again, Sarah Jane." In his sibilant whispering tone he added, looking down, "At the grave of your dearest friend."

"But she did more than just help me save the world," Sarah Jane retorted fiercely. "She did something almost as important! She showed me exactly how to fight you - by refusing to do what you want! I might not be able to destroy you -"

"I cannot be destroyed," he hissed.

"- but I do know how to beat you! I did that time, and I will again!" Uncharacteristically she spat. "Go away! You have no right to be here!"

"Though I leave now, I shall return," he warned. "I am not done with you yet."

With that, he vanished.

Good riddance! Sarah Jane fumed.

That's telling him, Sarah Jane! That's my girl!

THE END