Reconcile (Doctor Who X Tenth Doctor)

Chapter 2: Briefly Hidden

Sarah and the Doctor were right on her heels. Rose caught up to them a second later and they all skidded to a stop. The blonde began to rattle of questions. "Did you hear that? Who's she? Why's Katie here?"

"Rose, Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane, Rose." The Doctor quickly introduced his former companion to his current. He looked at Katie and grinned. In his head, he was already thinking of all the places he was planning on taking Katie when she began to travel with him in the future. "And Katie travels with me in the future apparently."

"Hi. Nice to meet you," Sarah smiled as she extended her hand to Rose. She was out of breath as she spoke. She looked back up at the Doctor. "You can tell you're getting older. Your assistants are getting younger."

Rose looked at her disgusted. "I'm not his assistant."

"No? I know someone that would protest that, Doctor." Sarah frowned.

The Doctor glared at her. He was about to retort when another scream rang out. The four took off running towards the location of the scream again.

They approached a classroom where a dark-skinned man was standing in front of a cupboard surrounded by vacuum sealed rats. The man's hair was cut short and his face was round. He wore jeans and an old t-shirt. "Sorry! Sorry, it was only me. You told me to investigate, so I started looking through some of these cupboards and all of these fell on me." His accent was British, the same part of the country as Rose.

Rose looked down at the rats in shock. "Oh, my God, they're rats. Dozens of rats. Vacuum packed rats."

The Doctor looked at Mickey annoyed. "And you decided to scream?"

"It took me by surprise!"

"Like a little girl?" The Doctor teased him.

Katie and Sarah shared a look, stifling a laugh. This Doctor was much cheekier than the last Doctors they had been with. Katie couldn't help but wonder what else had changed about her Time Lord. Compared to his past selves, he was much more slender and fit. Katie couldn't help but compare him to a toothpick.

"It was dark! I was covered in rats!"

"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt."

Katie gave the Doctor a light smack on the arm signaling him to shut his mouth.

"Hello, can we focus?" Rose interrupted. She gestured towards the floor. "Does anyone notice anything strange about this? Rats in school?"

"Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them. Or maybe you haven't reached that bit yet. How old are you?" Sarah snapped at the twenty-year-old. She didn't like Rose, not after she implied that she might have a relationship with the Doctor. Katie placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder to get her to back off. Sarah Jane looked back at her sighed at Katie's disapproving glare.

"Excuse me, no one dissects rats in school anymore. They haven't done that for years. Where are you from, the dark ages?" Rose snapped back.

"Anyway, moving on. Everything started when Mister Finch arrived. We should go and check his office," The Doctor quickly changed the subject, not liking his friends fighting.

The five investigators walked down the hallway back towards Finch's office.

Katie, the Doctor, and Mickey walked in front of Sarah Jane and Rose.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?" Rose asked. "And who were you talking about earlier. The person who'd protest?"

"Sarah Jane Smith. I used to travel with the Doctor. And the women who'd protest would be his wife." Sarah explained sadly as she looked at the back of Katie's head.