In the end, they had managed to blow up the Krillitanes, with the slight caveat that they'd also succeeded in blowing up the school. After that, the building had been shut, so they'd had to move the TARDIS away before anyone realised they'd been there, so when Sarah Jane Smith came to find them the next day, she found the big blue box in Belle Vue Park. She knocked on the door.
The Doctor poked his head out, grinning. "Cup of tea?"
She followed him back in, smiling when she saw the new interior. "You've redecorated."
"Do you like it?" he asked.
"Oh, I do," she nodded. "Yeah. I preferred it as it was but, er... yeah. It'll do."
"I love it," Alex admitted, beaming.
Sarah Jane smiled at her. "Hey, you, what's forty-seven times three hundred and sixty-nine?"
"Not a clue," Alex snorted. "It's gone now, the oil's faded."
"But you're still clever," Sarah Jane told her, meaning it. "More than a match for him."
Alex smiled. "You and me both." She cleared her throat pointedly, raising her eyebrows at the Doctor.
"Er, we're about to head off, but... you could come with us?" he offered.
Sarah Jane shook her head, sighing. "No, I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own."
"Can I come?" Mickey asked suddenly, making everyone blink. "No, not with you." He turned to the Doctor. "I mean with you. Because I'm not the tin dog, and I want to see what's out there."
"Oh, go on, Doctor," Sarah Jane urged. "Sarah Jane Smith, Mickey Smith, you need a Smith on board."
The Doctor smiled. "Okay, then, I could do with a laugh."
Mickey fist-pumped. "Yeah!"
Sarah Jane smiled. "Well, I'd better go."
Alex followed her, stopping her at the doors. "Before you do, I..." She bit her lip, lowering her voice. "I want to stay with him," she confessed, cutting her eyes across to the Doctor. "I really do. But I'm scared that one day I'm going to have to choose. Between him and my family and... I don't know what I'll do."
"Some things are worth getting your heart broken for," Sarah Jane told her softly, squeezing her hand. "Find me, if you need to, one day. Find me."
"Thank you," Alex said simply, but it meant more. They hugged, and then the Doctor walked Sarah Jane out.
"It's daft," she said, "but I haven't ever thanked you for that time. And like I said, I wouldn't have missed it for the world."
The Doctor smiled. "Something to tell the grandkids."
Sarah Jane chuckled. "Oh, I think it'll be someone else's grandkids now." She glanced back into the TARDIS, where Alex and Rose were chatting animatedly.
"Right." The Doctor blushed slightly, "Yes, sorry. I didn't get a chance to ask. You haven't...? There hasn't been anyone...? You know."
"Well, there was this one guy," she admitted. "I travelled with him for a while, but he was a tough act to follow. Goodbye, Doctor."
"Oh, it's not goodbye," he assured her.
She shook her head. "Do say it. Please, this time, say it."
He smiled sadly. "Goodbye, my Sarah Jane." He swept her up into a hug. After what felt like forever, he let her go, and she let him go, and they both went off their separate ways, to save the universe with their companions.
~~~
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Watch Us Run |1| The Ascension | A Doctor Who/MCU Fanfiction
Science Fiction✅ approx 185,000 words. It's March 2005, and Alex Tyler is barely recovering from recent trauma. Living with her mum and older sister, she has good friends, and she's doing what she loves at work. But sometimes, she thinks, there has to be somethin...
