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The basement of house number 13, on Bannerman Road, was a mess. It was a mess and Sarah Jane knew it, have always known. Actually, she couldn't remember if it had ever been organized. Ever since she bought that house, the basement was the place to dump all the stuff that wasn't quite useful and wasn't quite trash — you see, when one has travelled through time and space and then boarded on the most insane adventures on earth, it isn't hard to collect tons of weird gizmos — but now the place was full of it, to the point where it was barely walkable. After years of postponing the task of cleaning up the basement, the brave Sarah Jane Smith now had nowhere to run, and after a moment of reluctance and some seconds staring at the piles of otherworldly trinkets and very earthly old cardboard boxes, she sat down and decided it was time to do some cleaning.
It was nice to do this all by herself, she thought. Luke, Clyde and Rani had just returned to university from easter break, and Sky — "bless her, wherever in the universe she might be", Sarah thought — probably was too busy to remember to come back to see her mother on earth holidays. Anyways, she couldn't remember what was or where came from half of the stuff that was stored in that basement, and it wouldn't be nice if all her little gang was there helping her out and something embarassing was suddenly found. She had a reputation to uphold, or at least she thought so.
Sarah Jane pulled an almost empty box to fill with stuff that was, most certainly, junk — three notebooks filled with drafts of her old reports, the bottles that her, Alan, Maria and Clyde filled with vinegar to use against the slitheen and a dried flower arrangement from her traumatic wedding ceremony — and was surprised to find a familiar box standing behind that one. A big wooden box, K-9's old box, the only one Sarah could remember what was stored inside. She stood up and lifted the lid, and to her delight, they were right there, in perfect state, just as she left them: everything she owned from her time in the TARDIS. On the top of the pile, her old camera could be found. It didn't work anymore, but she still kept it: after all, not many people have a camera that has been to other worlds. Right beside the camera laid a small box with all the photographs Sarah took with it. She took the box and the camera and placed them upstairs, hoping to take a better look at them later.
She soon came back and continued messing around with the other items in K-9's old box. All her favourite outfits from her adventures with The Doctor were stored in there (well, almost all of them, because the beautiful edwardian lingerie dress didn't fit in the suitcase she packed the day she left the TARDIS), and she had a hard time believing that her younger self really had the audacity to wear those combinations in public. She took her pink sailor blouse and analyzed it. "Simpler days, these were", she thought, "when I could dress like this and still be taken seriously". Then she remembered that those days were not, by any means, simpler, and if she was taken seriously, it was because the circumstances were desperate. Besides, she could have dressed herself in the most respectable and serious way, and the people her and the doctor met would still see her as a weirdo. She folded the pink blouse away and took the ruffly blue denim one, holding it in front of herself as if to see if it still fits.
"No, Sarah. Take a look at yourself. Look at your body. You're too old for this. These clothes don't belong to you, they belong to a young girl that no longer exists. Please, stop."
And, five minutes later, all her thoughts about having a reputation to uphold were discarded and she was trying her old pieces on. Not the denim set, but the only piece of clothing in that box that would undoubtedly still fit her: the Andy Pandy overalls (cause they were adjustable!). That was the one outfit that she refused to even look at for decades, the one she wore the day he left. The one she left ready, hanging on her bedroom door for a whole year, so when he came back she'd put it back on and they could pick up right where they left off. But he didn't come back, and she stored them inside her wardrobe for two more years, just in case he actually returned, and when he didn't, she decided it was time to move on, lock these overalls somewhere outside her view and make herself useful. She was a journalist, after all, she had a job to do. She was used to do things by the ways of a timelord, and now she was stuck in a world driven by the ways of men. And in the ways of men, a respectable journalist could never wear such outfits as the ones she wore. And she didn't want to wear them anymore either, there was no point in wearing such marvellously childish outfits if there were no marvellous wonders to see with her childish best friend. Therefore, she locked the overalls — along with every outfit she wore to her adventures in time and space — inside K-9's box, and as the years went by, she developed some sort of aversion to them. Those overalls made her remember the worst time of her life — the years she spent trying to readapt to a mundane life while hoping for her best friend to return — and she couldn't help but feel ashamed for having really believed he would come back for her.
But then times changed. They met again, she found new things to live for and he proved to have done the only thing she asked him to do the day she left: to never forget her.
Wearing those overalls again was already a very emotional event on it's own, and so, there was absolutely no need for Sarah's mind to start tricking her with memories of the sounds of the TARDIS's engines. For a moment, while adjusting the waist ties, she could have sworn to have heard them. "Foolish old Sarah", she said, knocking lighly on her own head. "Don't you even start."
Then she heard the engines again, and shortly after, the sound of something breaking in the backyard echoed through her house. When Sarah Jane became aware of herself, she was already opening the backdoor to check on the area. She stepped outside. And there she was, the TARDIS, peacefully standing on top of the grass. Sarah came closer and touched the wooden walls of the blue box, checking if that was really happening or if the smell of mould from the basement made her lose her sense of reality. She noticed that the door was locked, and The Doctor was nowhere to be seen. "It could be a trap", she thought, and decided it was best to get back inside.
— There you are, I was looking for you — said a voice coming from behind her, interrupting her thoughts. She turned around to meet an unknown face walking from the front of the house, a tall scotsman with fluffy grey hair. The hair looked friendly shaped, almost like a little raincloud, but there was something about the eyebrows that made him look highly suspicious.
— Who are you? — she asked plainly, knowing fully well who he might be and still not feeling safe enough to make assumptions.
— You see... — he said, ignoring her question completely — I thought I had programmed the TARDIS to bring me to the spring of 2016, but as it seems... — he looked her up and down — I've been transported all the way back to 1976!
— I knew it. — she whispered, and a smile formed on her lips. — Oh, Doctor!
She walked in his direction, arms open to hug him. He wasn't very keen on hugs in this incarnation, and, for a moment, didn't know how to react. But then she reached him, and the moment she wrapped her arms around him he realized that, beyond the particularities of each incarnation, he was still The Doctor and The Doctor would always hug Sarah Jane.
— It's good to see you, Sarah – he said, wrapping one arm around her waist and placing his other hand on her head.
— You look older this time. — she said after after letting him go of the hug.
— How much older? — he replied, lifting the eyebrows and preparing to set up a joke he knew she wouldn't understand — some four and a half billion years, one would say?
— Oh, don't be daft — she laughed him off. — Older like me.
Sarah gave him a warm smile, and he seemed to have lost himself in thought for a few seconds. She didn't get her cue to ask him what the "four and a half billion years" thing was all about. Of course she didn't, why did he expect her to? Perhaps he was thinking too much about himself again.
Back to reality. He gave Sarah a little smile back and she made a gesture inviting him to sit down on the garden bench. As they walked to the bench, a silence fell. She was comfortable enough in his presence to not notice it, but he did, and started to feel a little bit awkward.
— Do you like it? — he asked.
— Like what? — she turned around to face him.
— My new face! — he widened his eyes, and she laughed at the resemblance this face now bore to the one she used to know.
— Old face.
— Alright, current face. What do you think?
— Hmmm, I don't know yet. — she smirked — Let me see.
She held his face and gently turned it left and right, analyzing all the angles and making some nodding sounds. She then ran her thumb across his cheek and looked right into his eyes. He didn't know if it was the sunlight or just happiness, but something was making Sarah Jane's eyes particularly sparkly now. Such a warm reaction, he thought... so different from how Clara's made him feel.
— Yes, definitely old. And, if you don't mind me saying, it suits you a lot. It shows you have lived. I like it, you know, it reminds me of how you looked when I first met you.
The Doctor was so used to people being shocked by how old this face looked in comparision to the previous ones, that it felt nice to have someone who was actually glad to see it. He was now sure to be right where he was meant to, because if there was one person alive who could see right through him no matter his face, it was his Sarah.
— By the way — she continued while sitting down — your hair is nice. It looks... well... it looks friendly, in a way.
— "friendly"? — he sat on the bench aswell.
— Yes, fluffy and slightly dark like a little raincloud. Isn't that what you've always wanted, Doctor? To be seen as someone friendly, who does not want to cause harm?
— Oh Sarah, recently I came to the realisation that I seem to cause harm nonetheless...
— And then you bring hope aswell. — she leans to the side, bumping her shoulder into his — Like a raincloud.
He gave her a ironic side-eye from below his eyebrows, as if reprehending her for not dropping off the "raincloud" subject.
— But — she said, after laughing at his expression — That's not why you're here, is it? With you, there's always trouble. — she spoke triumphantly, but he did not get very excited. She left the playful tone beside. — Doctor, what brought you here?
— A card...
— A... card? — she seemed awfully confused.
— I had this friend called Clara — he tried to explain — but now I can't remember anything about her. I know she was called Clara and I know we travelled together. I don't remember anything she ever said, only my thoughts and reactions to her words. I also cannot remember how her face looked like, but I know she had had big eyes that would become even bigger when she was sad, and she must have had brown hair with a fringe at least once, because I remember looking at her a few times and thinking of you. She knew who you are, I told her your story.
Sarah smiled, not fully understending where he was going with all this but feeling it was nice to be remembered this time. He continued:
— As I was telling her, she interrupted me to ask something I can't remember and afterwords I felt really ashamed for realising I never apologised for leaving you in Aberdeen. — Sarah's eyes widened a little. Now she had a vague idea of where he was heading to. — I remember rolling my eyes after something she said about me misunderstanding how human emotions function and then I remember promising to apologise to you next time we met. She even made a card to help me remember — he opened his coat and pulled out a small card from a pocket. It said "It was my fault, I should've known you didn't live in Aberdeen" — in case our next meeting had us all in a rush to save our lives.
— Well, I'm glad that's not the case — she smiled in order to relieve the tension, but that didn't mean she was going to avoid the hard questions. — But where is she, Doctor? What happened to Clara?
— I don't know. — he said in a soft voice, almost whispering, but with a dark and sad undertone to it. Sarah felt a chill down her spine. There was more to this story than the doctor was telling. — She died, and I was trapped in a confession dial. Apparently, it took me four and a half billion years to get out of there and go to Gallifrey to find a way to save her. But it didn't work. I shouldn't have done it and my memories of her were erased. She wasn't dead when it happened, she still lived in her last second of life, but I don't know where she is now or what they — and, by the way he spoke, Sarah knew perfectly well who "they" were — have done to her. When I came to my senses, I was lost in the middle of America along with the TARDIS. I know Clara has been on the TARDIS before leaving, because she left me a message and left me this. — he pointed at the card that was now in Sarah Jane's hands — there used to be a handful of these in my pocket, to "help me deal with human emotion" of something. But all of them are gone, there is only yours left. I think she must have wanted me to come here.
— I think she must have known that once that all was over, you'd need a friend.
Sarah reached for The Doctor's hand, and when her skin touched his, she stopped to think for a moment. A friend, that's what he needed. The explanations about his recent events were not at all satisfactory, she understood barely anything — what the hell was a "confession dial"? How did he save Clara from her death? Four and a freaking half billion years? — and her journalistic senses were tingling, eagering to get all the information out of him. But that's not who she was supposed to be right now, a journalist. All he needed was a friend. She could content herself with having only the information that he was comfortable giving.
— Well — she exclaimed, trying to cheer him up — shall we go inside? I think we could do well with a cup of tea.
The Doctor nodded, got up and started to make his way to Sarah Jane's front door. Sarah, confused, stayed behind for a moment. Was he really going to enter her house before her? And worst, by her front door?
He was almost reaching the fence to the front yard when he heard her running in his direction. As Sarah came closer, she slowed down her pace and put her arms behind her. She used to do this all the time back then, and The Doctor wasn't sure she had ever even noticed. He did notice, of course, and thought it was lovely that she still did it. But he wasn't going to tell her that. Just like she was the one who could look at him and see only what stayed the same instead of what has changed, he felt glad to be the one who could recognize her from beyond the passage of time.
— What do you think you're doing?
— You've just invited me for tea!
— Yes, but you're not supposed to enter the house by the front door! If Gita sees you here — Sarah started whispering — she's going to ask questions!
— I don't know who Gita is!
— Do you remember Rani?
— Of course I remember Rani!
— Well, that's her mother. She's really nice, but loves herself some gossip and has some sort of hyperfixation on my personal life.
— Oh, come on Sarah, that can't be...
— You're not going through there! — she whispered aggressively, interrupting him. The Doctor gave her a mischievous look, as if saying "try me", so she rolled her eyes, grabbed his hand and dragged him all the way through the back door.
The Doctor couldn't help but laugh. Brown hair, striped overalls and aggressive whispering? Oh yes, that was every inch the girl he knew.
They eventually got inside the house and Sarah Jane put the kettle on. It took just one moment of Sarah's distraction for The Doctor to start wandering off inside her home, analyzing every piece of decoration and sticking his head inside each room. When she found him, moments later, he was in the living room looking at every picture she had exposed on the walls and furniture.
— I don't know who this girl is – he said, pointing at a photograph of Sarah and Maria – is she a new addition to your little gang?
— Maria? Oh, no... She was the first member of the gang. She was there when I found Luke, and now she lives with her father in America. Oh, and by the way, tea's ready.
— And how is Luke? — The Doctor asked as they got back to the kitchen. — Still at university?
— Oh yes, he's doing his masters! — she said while handing him his teacup. — did I ever tell you I named him after you?
He was going to take a sip when she spoke this, but after hearing her words, he put the teacup down in disbelief.
— What? Luke?
— Yes! Is it really so surprising?
— But you don't know my actual name! Please, don't tell me you named the poor boy "Luke Doctor Smith".
— You mean I wasn't supposed to know your name? — she laughed, and he made a very grumpy face — I'm only joking! And of course I didn't name him "Luke Doctor Smith", do you think I'm bonkers?
— I don't know, you named your daughter "Sky"... — he said with a straight face and looked up so see her reaction. She did not seem very amused, so he gave her his most mischievous smile. — But how did you name him, then? Because you said it was after me, but you always presented him as just "Luke Smith" and I'm sure I've never been called Luke.
— He actually was just "Luke Smith" at first. But you see, apparently that's too common of a name. There were other two boys at his school with the exact same name as his, and he almost got into trouble because of that. So, before he went to Oxford, we decided to make his name more unique by adding some middle names. He asked me to choose them, so I added Edward, after my late father, and John, after a very peculiar scientific advisor I met at UNIT once.
She smiled anxiously at him, waiting for some sort of approval. He was confused at first, but then remembered that he did, in fact, use the alias "John Smith" quite frequently some billion years ago.
— Luke Edward John Smith. It's a brilliant name, Sarah. — he reached her hand and smiled, and to her, that was the best demontration of approval he could possibly give. — But how on heavens did you come up with "Sky"?
— Oh, will you stop bullying me and my daughter? — she laughed and threw a tiny biscuit crumb on him — She wasn't supposed to be called Sky in the first place. I always thought that if I ever happened to have children, they would be called Luke and Lauren. Sky came to me as a baby, and although I was never averse to the idea of having children, I never thought of myself as a woman with a baby. I can't deal with babies, they are a little enigma to me, so imagine my face when she she showed up to my doorstep. I couldn't even hold her properly! Grown woman who didn't know how to hold a baby! — The Doctor laughed. He was rather fond of babies, actually, so it was funny to see how nervous they made Sarah Jane feel. — Anyways. Gita saw Rani, Clyde and I leaving the house with the Sky, and asked me what her name was. I really don't know why, but I felt so ashamed for being caught with a baby in my house that I just panicked and answered the first thing that came to my mind. I had no intentions of keeping her at the time, nor did I imagine that name would stick. Afterwords, when she came home already grown up and we had to fill in her papers, I looked at her and all I could see was my Lauren. I suggested this name to her in case she wanted to drop "Sky", but she chose to keep it and made Lauren her second name. Sky Lauren Barbara Smith.
For some reason, saying her daughter's name out loud made Sarah Jane's heart burst with pride. Oh, these foolish maternal feelings. She'd never get used to them.
— That makes much more sense! Let's just say that "Sky" is for the part of her that's alien, and "Lauren Barbara" is for the part of her that is your daughter. — said The Doctor in a rather playful tone. — Have you heard from her?
— Not since last year. — she made a pause before continuing — I know she is alive and well, cause sometimes I go to the attic and see the communication device whose other half I gave her shining. I asked her to make it shine once in a while, and she does it more often then I thought she would, but it's just that. A shine.
They continued to chat about bits of life while drinking their tea, and eventually Sarah told The Doctor about the basement and everything she found inside K-9's old box. However, it was not until the doctor said "Oh, that explains everything! I was actually wondering why were you wearing such an extraordinary piece of clothing in a common thursday!" that Sarah Jane realised that she had, in fact, been wearing these silly overalls all day. She tried to go to her room and put on some less childish clothes, but he asked her not to, and promptly reminded her that there was no point on growing up if you cannot be childish sometimes. She agreed.
One "I also found a box full of photographs from that time. Do you wanna see them?" later and they were in her sofa, opening the box and making comments on every picture.
— LOOK! — exclaimed The Doctor, pointing at a photo with Harry Sullivan. — IT'S THE IDIOT DUDE! How was he called? Eh...
— Harry.
— HARRY THE IDIOT!!! He was rather fond of you, wasn't he? Are you two still in touch?
— Sort of? — she scratched the top of her head with her index finger — We have each other's phone numbers, but we refuse to do calls or to text. We meet once a year to have dinner, chat about life updates and remember our adventures with you.
— Do you know what he is up to now?
— Well, last year he was doing some pretty interesting researches on HIV and it's possible cures. He went missing for years, can you believe it? But now he's alright and safe. — The Doctor smiled, and Sarah picked another picture. — Aha! Now, that's a photograph that should be in a museum! — she said with enthusiasm. — Remember that?
The picture in question looked almost like a sci-fi movie poster. The doctor, with the first face she knew, standing in the middle of an empty street with a gigantic dinossaur facing him. They laughed about it, and Sarah actually decided to separate that picture from the others so she could hang it on her attic later on. Sarah Jane's picture archive only got more and more interesting: they found photos of the orange trees in Montecarlo, the UNIT headquarters and also one particular photo taken by Harry that neither of them remembered seeing before: it showed The Doctor and Sarah, both lopsided, competing to see who could stand on a handstand for the longest time. She could remember winning this one.
Sarah Jane had met The Doctor in his two previous incarnations aswell, but there wasn't any pictures to prove it. Closest thing she had was a very low quality photo of K-9, taken with her cellphone the night The Doctor fixed him.
— Doctor, I was wondering... Could we take a picture together? Just so I can have evidence that you did come to my house for a teacup and a chat? — he didn't look very enthusiastic about it, and she laughed. — Oh, come on. This doesn't happen very often. We don't have any recent pictures! Besides, for the first time since the seventies, we're having a chat without our lives being at risk. Please, today we have time enough to take a picture.
— I don't like taking pictures... — he said, and she made a disappointed face. Her eyes seemed to get bigger, he noticed, and he felt the same knot in the stomach he used to when Clara's eyes would get out of hand. — Alright, Alright! God, put these eyes under control! Where is your camera?
— Oh, it doesn't work anymore. I'll just take my phone, hang on a minute...
— A phone??? Are you going to... — he made a disgusted expression — Are you going to take a selfie?
— Well, yes, how else could we take a picture?
— Don't be foolish, girl! Bring me the camera, I'll fix it. — he grumped. — "SeLfiE". For heaven's sake.
Moments later Sarah came back with the old camera in hands, and if she was being honest, he took way less time than she thought he would to get that fixed. To his further disappointment, the only camera film she had at home had been expired for decades, but they were willing to try anyway.
— Hang on a minute, let me just check if my hair is alright! — she said, running to the long mirror placed in the corner of the living room.
Sarah Jane took a good look at herself. She had the same hairstyle and clothes as she did last time she took a look in the mirror, moments before The Doctor's arrival. But there was something different now. Some sparkle in her eyes that wasn't there before, and that made it all fall into place. "These clothes belong to a young girl that no longer exists", how could she think such a thing? How could she spend so many years not recognizing herself as that young girl, when everything she was now was so directly linked to her? Perhaps she should never have felt ashamed for having hope. Perhaps now she was old enough to be proud of it. For everything those overalls represented, all the pain and feeling of abandonment, she couldn't have reworn them in any other moment of her life. But it felt good to be wearing them now.
The Doctor watched Sarah run her fingers through her hair and fix one and another thing about her fringe. She seemed to do it almost absent-mindedly, having lost herself in thought. He didn't know what she was thinking about, but he would bet it was something really nice, because she had a little smile on her lips and, for a moment, he could have sworn she was glowing. He then decided to walk a few steps in her direction, and gradually became more certain that something really must have ignited from inside her: as he came closer, he could feel her light warming up his skin and taking over his thoughts. He was happy.
But then he did something really stupid. He decided to test if the camera was really working — yes, the amount of film available was scarce, but one more or one less wouldn't make a difference anyway — and take a picture of his beautiful Sarah in the mirror. What he wasn't expecting — and neither was she, given her fright — was for the flash to be turned on and 10 times more potent than both of them remembered. The flash was reflected on the mirror, and along with interrupting all thoughts she had in the moment, it also left her feeling kind of dizzy. But then, when her sight came back to normal, she looked at him, noticed the camera and just started laughing. "Oh lord", she said, "what a waste of perfectly expired film".
Finally, they went on to take their picture. They didn't have anyone to take it for them, so their solution was to do it in front of the mirror. Sarah held the camera and The Doctor stood by her side with his arms behind his back.
— Doctor, You're looking scary.
— I am not!
— You are! Looking all around from below your eyebrows! — she laughed — Can't you just smile?
"FINE", he grumped, and made an effort to look less unsettling. She smiled aswell, but before she could finally press the button, he interrupted her once more.
— Sarah? — he asked in a low tone, almost whispering, without moving his face.
— Yes? — she whispered back without moving her face aswell.
— I don't know where I'm supposed to look.
— What?
— Do I look at you, your reflection, the camera or the camera's reflection?
— Let's just... — she didn't quite know where to look either. Mirror pictures never failed to confuse her. — Let's just look at each other, okay?
They turned to face one another, and one and a half second later, this had turned into a staring competition. Or it would have turned into a staring competition, if Sarah didn't start laughing.
— What are you laughing at? Why are you taking so long to take the picture?
— I can't find the button! — she said, in between laughs, without breaking the stare. He then looked down to find Sarah's left hand desperately searching for the button in the wrong side of the camera, and for some reason, found this ridiculously hilarious. When both of them were laughing, she took the picture. — Done it! Now, we shall hope for the best.
It was getting late, and on ordinary circumstances, Sarah Jane would be already thinking about dinner. Today, though, she wouldn't risk cooking and accidentally burning the house down with The Doctor inside it. So, as always, she suggested pizza. He, however, had other ideas, and asked for a portion of chips. "Chips are not dinner", she said, and then he proceeded to give a speech about how hard it was to spend four and a half billion years trapped somewhere that seemed to be hell and how he spent every day dreaming of eating chips, and now that he was free she was denying him his only wish. She gave up and ordered the chips.
The sun had already set when they finished eating, and while Sarah Jane was doing the dishes — since there wasn't much to be washed, she thought it was best not to leave it for later — The Doctor asked if he could take a look at the garden and fix the vase he had broken earlier. Sarah knew that he could enter the TARDIS and leave at any moment, but although a part of her really wanted to stick to his side and make him stay for as long as she could, her other part — her rational part — knew that he would stay if he wanted to, and if he didn't, there was nothing to be done about it. Suddenly, all the preposterous noises he was making in her backyard went silent, and she felt her heart go heavy at the thought that he might have already left. Without a goodbye, once again. She finished the dishes and opened the kitchen's curtains, hoping to take a look at the backyard. No trace of the Doctor, but surprisingly, the TARDIS was still there.
Sarah then went outside to look for her best friend, and to her delight he was right there, in the backyard, just beside the TARDIS, and couldn't be seen from the window because he was actually laid down on the ground.
— D'you know... — he said, acknowledging her presence but still not taking his eyes off the sky – this is the first time in quite some billion years that I get the chance to take a look at these stars.
— Perhaps they know, Doctor. Perhaps it's for you they're shining.
They stood there for some seconds, admiring the sky in complete silence, and then Sarah went back inside without explaining why. "Maybe she just doesn't want to see the stars", The Doctor thought. "Or maybe she is tired and it's time for me to go". Would Sarah like him to say goodbye or should he just quietly get in the TARDIS and leave? "Oh, it's Sarah Jane we're talking about. Of course she would want a proper goodbye". He sat up, legs stretched like a child, and was preparing to get up when she returned with two pillows and an enormous blanket.
— Come on, Doctor, get out of the way! Let me spread this blanket on the ground! — she said playfully.
He seemed very confused, and suddenly all his plans to say goodbye were postponed.
— What is this all about? I thought you went back inside because you didn't want to see the stars! — He said, still very confused but obeying her orders nonetheless.
— Didn't want to see the stars? Doctor, I wouldn't miss it for the world! — she smiled. — It's just that we're not young anymore, you and I, and we shouldn't be lying on the hard ground like that.
He made a face and she spread the blanked. Once she was done he sat back on the spot he occupied earlier, and she went to grab the pillows that were waiting on the bench.
— There you go! — she said, before throwing a pillow in his direction. The pillow fell to his side, but a bit of it also hit his face, and Sarah Jane let out a silly evil laugh.
— Is this a declaration of war? — he said in a ironic tone, and laid down placing his head over the pillow.
— Oh, stop it! — she replied while walking closer to him. — it wasn't on purpose!
She then threw her pillow by his side and laid down aswell. Their heads were close, but the rest of their bodies was pointing to a different direction each, almost like a V shape. Sarah started asking The Doctor questions about the stars and their names, "to see if you still remember them, after all these four billion years", as she would say. He identified each constellation and named their stars. He also did, in fact, make up names for some stars, but Sarah didn't need to know that. Little by little, their conversation slowed down it's pace and they felt their eyes getting heavier.
— Where did you find this pillow? — he asked, out of nowhere.
— I took it from my bedroom — she yawned — why?
— Well, nothing, it's just that... — he now spoke in a low-toned voice, as if trying not to scare the sleep out of them — It smells... like... sleep.
— Is that good? — she asked, also in a low-toned voice.
— I don't know — he whispered. — Must be.
Then The Doctor went quiet and Sarah started humming a little song to keep herself awake. A few moments later, she stopped and closed her eyes. The Doctor, though sleepy, was still looking at the sky.
— Sarah? — he whispered gently, trying to see if she was still awake.
— Hm? — she answered, still with eyes closed.
— It was my fault. – he started. He owed this apology not only to Sarah, but to Clara aswell, and he couldn't leave without saying it. — I should have known you didn't live in Aberdeen. I'm really sorry.
She opened her eyes to face him with a warm yet surprised look. She knew he wasn't very good with apologies, so it's safe to say she wasn't at all expecting that to happen. Sarah actually thought that showing her the flashcard was his way to apologise, so it felt weird to hear the words "I'm really sorry" coming from his mouth. But she also knew that, if he was telling her this now, he must have been thinking about it for quite a while.
— You were supposed to be home, safe, and not crossing the country all by yourself. — he continued — I never meant to leave you alone. And I'm sorry that it took me so long to come back for you.
— Seems like you didn't need your card at all... – she smiled and briefly caressed his cheek — don't worry, Doctor. It was a difficult time, but it has long passed. If there were wounds, they have already healed, and they made me grow. Everything could have been so different if you stayed, we could have done so much. I could have been so much happier. But now I look back and only see reasons to smile. I am happy, happier than I ever thought I could be. It was all worth it. But you know... for years I had a funny little outfit ready for me to use the day you came back. Who would have thought that all it needed was me to put it on and you would pop up in my garden?
She laughed, and he smiled at her.
Sarah didn't notice when she fell asleep. His smile was the last thing she remembered, and when she became aware of herself again, it was already morning and she was waking up — to her surprise and amusement, in her own bed.
She looked around. There was no trace of The Doctor. The pillow she was sleeping in was the same she used the night before at the backyard, and The Doctor's pillow was right by her side. The blanket was carefully folded on top of her bedstand, still with some grass leaves attached to it. She took one of the small leaves in her hand and held it tight: that was her immediate proof that yesterday had not been a dream.
But if it was not a dream, how did she... ?
Suddenly she understood the universal childhood feeling of wonder at falling asleep somewhere random and waking up in your own bed.
Did he pick her up and take her to her room? Did he use the TARDIS? did she wake up and go there by herself, but was too sleepy to remember? She laughed to herself. That's why she loved that man: He was the only one who could leave her with her heart filled with wonder.
Now, here she was: alone again (but with the stars back in her eyes), still in those overalls (and in desperate need of a bath) and with a full basement to clean.