Ties Between Time and Space

✦16✦

Chapter Sixteen
A Dynamical Problem

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The Doctor pushed the school door open and Rose and Mickey walked in after him. Emma went back to the TARDIS for weapons. It was after dark already and hopefully, nobody but them were inside the school.

"Oh, it's weird seeing school at night. It just feels wrong," Rose muttered, though a smile was on her face for how they were sneaking in somewhere they weren't allowed. "When I was a kid, I used to think all the teachers slept in school."

They stopped in the hallway and the Doctor turned to them. "Alright, team. Oh, I hate people who say team," he groaned to himself making a face. "Um. . . gang. Uh. . . comrades," he kept trying but shaking his head. "Er, anyway. Rose, go to the kitchen. Get a sample of that oil. Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers. Go and check out the Maths Department," the Doctor instructed the two. "I'm going to fetch Emma and together we're going to look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes," he called down to them as he jogged up the closest staircase.

Rose adjusted the watch on her wrist and pulled down the sleeves of her jacket, obviously in no rush to get moving. "You going to be alright?"

"Ha! Me?" Mickey asked, laughing. "Please, infiltration and investigation? I'm an expert at this," he confidently puffed up before walking away.

Rose stayed put, already knowing her boyfriend too well. And five seconds later, Mickey was back at her side and looking sheepish.

"Where's the Maths Department?"

Rose smiled and pointed in the opposite direction. "Down there, turn left, through the fire doors, on the right."

"Thank you," Mickey said and left again.

"In love with an idiot, you are Rose," she muttered to herself before going to find the kitchen.

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The Doctor stopped with his hands in his pockets just before the storage room that held the TARDIS. Obviously, Sarah Jane had the same idea as they did about the school and was stumbling away from the storage room door and almost into him.

"Hello, Sarah Jane."

"It's you!" she swung around. "Oh, Doctor. Oh, my God, it's you, isn't it? You've regenerated."

"Yeah," the Doctor shrugged. "Half a dozen times since we last met."

"You look. . . incredible," Sarah Jane breathed out, smiling.

"So do you," the Doctor said, mirroring her expression.

"Hm, I got old," she muttered before hardening her voice a bit. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, UFO sighting, school gets record results. I couldn't resist," he admitted. "What about you?"

"The same," Sarah Jane whispered, smiling again. Her expression then dropped and she was almost crying. "I thought you died. I waited for you and you didn't come back, and I thought you must have died."

"I lived," the Doctor said, murmuring, "everyone else died."

"What do you mean?" she stared at him.

"Everyone died, Sarah."

Sarah Jane shook her head. "I can't believe. . . it's you."

The Doctor smiled and a second later the storage room door opened up with Emma walking out. She tossed the TARDIS keys at him without looking up and he caught them in one hand.