Back to Our Reality

TWELVE

Once off of the phone with Rose, Sarah-Jane knew that she had no choice other than the wait for the TARDIS to arrive. She looked across at Luke, still standing there beside her looking increasingly worried. He'd already had to deal with so much in the short time that he had been alive, but this was all-together something knew. Yes, their adventures had been dangerous and he was just a kid, but they were now dealing with Daleks and that was something Sarah-Jane had hoped her son would never have to face. She just hoped that she could keep him safe.

Time passed and there was still no sign of the TARDIS. It was then that Sarah-Jane decided to take matters into her own hands.

Grabbing her coat, she started to make her way towards the door, but not before she could give Luke one last hug and telling him to keep himself safe.

"But there are Daleks out there!" He reminded her.

"I know, but I have to find him. I have to find the Doctor. He's not here yet and I'm worried that something must have happened. You'll be safer here."

"I will keep him safe, Sarah-Jane," Mr Smith piped up.

Sarah-Jane looked from her son to the computer and back again. She didn't want to leave him here, but, like he had said, there were Daleks outside. If he stayed here, there was more of a chance that he would be able to hide should anything happen. At least, that's what she told herself.

"I love you, remember that," she told him, her voice cracking ever so slightly. She knew full well that this could be the last time she saw him.

Without another word, she left the attic and made her way down to her car, quickly starting the engine and driving off, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of the TARDIS.

...

She saw nothing. Just empty streets. Car abandoned and belongings left carelessly on the ground. It looked like a ghost town; the Daleks having taken people straight from their ordinary lives. It was a horrific sight to see.

But there was still no sign of the TARDIS and Sarah-Jane's worry only began to increase. What if something had happened? Having travelled with him she knew he was likely to get himself caught somehow soon, but she just hoped that that hadn't happened before she knew where he was. She needed hope right now; hope that there was some way out of this. Without knowing where the Doctor was, she couldn't allow herself the luxury of hoping.

It was then that she almost ran into two Daleks facing away from her.

They immediately turned around and Sarah-Jane briefly wondered if she would ever know the feeling of hope ever again.

...

The thoughts kept running through Rose's head at high speed. She wanted to be able to do something – to stop it if she could – but she was powerless to do anything. She was being held on to tightly by Jack who had both her and her mother in his grasp, shielding them from the blinding light coming from the body, but Rose also knew she was trying to stop her from running to him.

She desperately wanted to, though. They didn't have time for this. Not now. And the more she thought about it, the more she began to realise that it might be up to them to save everything and everyone should something go wrong. But there was no way that they could do this alone. It had been a long time since she had fought anything trying to take over the world – let alone bloody Daleks! They had barely made it out alive the other times they had seen them and that was without the Doctor being in a post-regenerated state. No, they needed him, they wouldn't make it out alive without him.

The change seemed to go on longer than it had done last time, but Rose didn't know how much of that was down to her own sense of time having seemed to slow down to a halt. However, within that time she felt something spark inside her mind.