Doctor, I Need You!

Part 12: Victoria!

“Mummy, why can’t I see Mr. Jones again?” Victoria kept asking. It was killing Sarah Jane to lie to her daughter, but she didn’t know what else she could do. She hadn’t sent Victoria back to her school since she had found out who her teacher was. Victoria had been cooped up in the house for almost a month now.

“Mummy, I’m bored!” Victoria said, tossing aside her advanced quantum physics book.

“Victoria I’m sorry but you know you can’t go back to school.” Sarah Jane said, putting her arm around her little girl. Sarah Jane knew that Victoria was brilliant, and that she needed someone to teach her all the things that Sarah Jane couldn’t. She was seriously considering getting Mr. Smith to teach her daughter, but that would mean that she would have to introduce Victoria to her dangerous lifestyle.

“But why can’t I go back to school? Why can’t Mr. Jones just finish teaching me?” Victoria moaned.

“Victoria, he lied to me. He pretended to be someone he wasn’t. We can’t trust him anymore.” Sarah Jane sighed.

“But I trust him mummy.”

“I’m sorry Victoria, but the answer is no!”

The weeks and months past slowly, Sarah Jane could see her daughter growing more and more restless, more and more resistant towards her. The worst part was that Sarah Jane had to leave Victoria alone so much. There were too many times that Sarah Jane had to try and find an alien and help them, sometimes even stop them and all the while Victoria was sitting at home bored.

Late one evening Sarah Jane was pulling into her driveway after helping a very kind Gulunian family from Clom find their spaceship when she noticed something strange. Her front door was lying wide open. Victoria was a smart girl, she knew she wasn’t allowed out after 8, and she was sure as hell smart enough to know to close the door behind her, so why would she leave it lying open like that?

Sarah Jane jumped out of her car quickly and rushed straight into her house. Horrible things were flashing across her mind. What if Victoria had ran away? What if someone or something had taken her?

“Victoria! Victoria, answer me sweetheart.” Sarah Jane yelled as she opened the door and searched every room in the house.

“Victoria! Don’t play games darling!” She cried frantically, taking the stairs to the attic two at a time.

“Mr. Smith I…” But Sarah Jane didn’t need to finish, as Mr. Smith was already functional.

“Sarah Jane, I have detected an alien presence in this house.” Mr. Smith said.

“They’ve got Victoria haven’t they.” Sarah Jane cried.

“I have not detected her presence in the house for almost 4 hours Sarah Jane.” Mr. Smith replied. He sounded so clinical, so definite; it just made Sarah Jane feel worse. Victoria had been angry with her so much recently. What if she was killed thinking that her mother didn’t love her enough?

“Mr. Smith, how can I find her? Please help me.” Sarah Jane begged.

“I’m sorry Sarah Jane, but I am unaware of spaceships other than the Gulunian vessel being in the area over the last 7 days. I’m afraid I don’t have any leads.”

“Can’t you even tell what kind of alien was in the house?”

“I’m afraid not Sarah Jane.”

Sarah Jane sat down on the wooden steps in her attic like she had so many times, except this time it wasn’t to think about how to catch aliens or think of a way to help them get home. This time she sat down and started to cry. The tears rolled thick and fast down her face, because she just didn’t know how to save her daughter.  When Sarah Jane found out that she was pregnant she was so scared, but now she knew that it was the best thing that had ever happened to her, better than those years spent traveling with The Doctor. 

“Doctor, I need you.” Sarah Jane whispered through her sobs.

“All you had to do was ask Sarah.”