Title: She Travels among the Stars

Author: Videl86/masakochan

Rating: G

Fandom: Doctor Who

Characters: Eleven, Sarah Jane, Amy, Rory

Length: around 1,400 words

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Doctor Who characters.

Summary: The Doctor comes to say goodbye to one of his companions.

A/N: I'm going to be honest here. The only full episode I've seen with Sarah Jane was 'School Reunion', and a clip from when Four had to drop her off back on Earth. So, basically I'm just guessing on this characterisation, and am really sorry if I screwed something up. And may Elisabeth Sladen rest in peace.

The Doctor has been sitting on the floor, near the console, working with some wires that had been sparking a few minutes previously when the phone suddenly lets out a shrill ring.

It doesn't stop ringing up until Rory runs over and picks it up.

The Doctor slows down on what he's doing when he picks up the faint sound of someone crying, and looks up to where Rory has the phone.

Amy's just walking into the main room when Rory leans down, with worried look on his face, to hand the phone over to the Doctor.

"You sure have been getting a lot of-" Amy starts, but stops when she sees Rory shaking his head.

Everything is quiet for a few minutes before the Doctor pushes the pile of wires away, silently hands the phone back to Rory, stands up, and begins rapidly punching coordinates in with a blank and controlled expression on his face.

Whatever is going on, Amy and Rory go about pushing, pulling, or turning anything the Doctor tells them to until he seems to be done, before Amy asks where they're going.

For a split-second there's a hint of a crack in his expression before the Doctor answers, "We're going to see a dear friend of mine." There's another crack this time, with a faint twitch of his mouth.

Even the TARDIS seems to be trying to land as smoothly as possible when they arrive off to the side of the hospital.

The Doctor enters, and almost calmly goes through the process of asking for which room Sarah Jane Smith is located in, before heading there with Amy and Rory following after him.

It's just been a few minutes after Sarah Jane's woken up when she hears a knock on the door, and turns her head in time to see the Doctor poking his head in. She can tell he's trying to keep it together as he comes over to sit in the chair next to her hospital bed with a warm smile on his face.

"Where are the others?" he asks.

"I told them to go take a rest."

The room is silent for the next couple of minutes, except for the beeps from the monitors in the room, before Sarah Jane breaks the silence.

"So, these two must be the married couple you travel with now?" she asks with curiosity and a smile.

"Amy," Amy says and does a short wave with her hand. Rory says his name too, but just does a tiny wave, and then scratches the back of his head.

The Doctor is quietly looking down at his hands during the exchange, and jumps a little when Amy slaps a hand down on one of his shoulders while she jokes with Sarah Jane after she asks if the two are managing to keep the Doctor out of trouble.

"Ah, yes! I just remembered- Amy, Rory- this is Sarah Jane Smith," the Doctor begins with a grin and a flourish, and suddenly stops because it feels like he has to clear his throat, "she used to.. travel with me..." he quickly seems to lose energy as he finishes, drops his hand, and is looking down at the floor again.

Rory takes that as a cue and taps on one of Amy's shoulders to grab her attention. When she looks at him, he jerks his head in the direction of the door.

"Uhm- Ms. Smith? It was nice meeting you," Rory says and does a little wave before taking Amy's hand and heading for the door.

Amy says her goodbye too, before jokingly adding that they'll come back in a few minutes if the Doctor becomes too much for her to handle to which Sarah Jane answers with a light laugh. The door shuts, and the room goes quiet again, aside from the sounds of the equipment.

It suddenly feels as if there's a great lump in his throat, and he's surprised he's able to speak with it there. "What is that humans sometimes talk about.. oh, yes- the weather is..really nice today." The Doctor swallows.

"Yes, I'd been thinking about seeing if I could get someone to open up one of the windows just a bit," Sarah says calmly. The Doctor immediately gets up and goes to open up the window halfway before coming back and sitting down in the chair again. He maneuvers it closer to the bed.

It's so quiet. He looks over her. There are too many cracks in his mask now, and she's able to see his face as plain as day.

"Oh, Doctor," she starts to say with a sad smile, "don't look at me like that."

The Doctor can't even speak. The lump in his throat feels almost as big as one of those grapefruits here on Earth now. He just hunches over, putting his head on the top of the hospital bed next to Sarah Jane's chest, with his face pressing up against the sheets.

There's a definite tremble in his voice when he starts to speak this time. "Humans... you can be so brilliant. So fantastic and cool. So many things..." Sarah Jane starts running a hand through his hair. There's a sniffling sound and, "You're being incredibly calm about this, you know."

"I think I've come to accept it. And I know that you know that everything has its own time. Even if the length that we sometimes get can be so unfairly shortened."

The Doctor responds with another sniffle against the bed, and then gets up halfway out of his chair so that he can carefully wrap his arms around her.

"I'm going to miss you, my Sarah Jane." She tries to get as good a grip around him as she can with her own arms.

"Oooh, now you're just going to get me started," she says with warmth in her voice, "Make my face get all red and blotchy." His laugh is tearful.

The two stay in this position for a couple of minutes before the Doctor starts to unwrap his arms from around her and pull back.

"Now, don't forget me, eh?" The Doctor attempts to lightly tease, and taps Sarah Jane on the nose.

"Only if you ever forget me," she says back.

The Doctor chuckles this time, "That'd be impossible with you." He's now fully standing up and away from the bed.

"Goodbye, my Sarah Jane," he says, trying his best to keep the sadness out of his smile and voice.

"Goodbye, Doctor," she says with fondness and warmth, before sinking back against the pillow because of a sudden wave of tiredness sweeping over her. The Doctor can't hide his worry when he notices this.

Even though she's now starting feel like there's a certain heaviness to her limbs, she makes a nod in the direction of the door, saying, "If I were you, I'd go out there and check on the other two. Wouldn't want them thinking you're being 'too much for me', would you?" she asks teasingly.

The Doctor shakes his head fondly before walking back over to the hospital bed one last time where he leans over and gives Sarah Jane a quick kiss on the forehead. He also says goodbye one more time when he puts his forehead against hers.

After a couple of minutes the Doctor pulls back and notices that her eyes are closed now, and she sounds like she's quickly falling back to sleep. He sniffs, and takes a moment to wipe his eyes before walking out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

…Sarah Jane Smith dies an hour later surrounded by loved ones…

Now, most people, after the initial grief has passed, will smile and probably say that she's in better hands now and has gone up to Heaven. And it wouldn't be fair to deny this in some aspects.

As for the rest- they will smile despite their sadness and say that she has gone back to travel through time and space with a daft, old man and his old, blue box.

END