A/N: For SJA, I would assume this takes place sometime between Series 4 and 5. I haven't watched anything with Sky in it, so I avoided putting her in for fear of messing up her character.

"So, who's this Sarah character?" Rex asked.

"Sarah Jane Smith," Gwen said. "She's an old friend of the Doctor's, used to travel with him. But now, she saves the world with a trio of kids from her attic."

"An attic?"

Gwen nodded. She stood in front of the door, glancing at Rex.

"Are you intimidated by a little old lady?" he asked.

"Shut up," Gwen growled, ringing the doorbell.

A dark-haired girl answered, "Can I help you?"

"You must be Rani," Gwen smiled, glad she'd done her research. "Is Sarah Jane Smith here?"

"Yeah. How do you know us?"

"I'm Gwen Cooper," Gwen said. "This is Rex. We're with Torchwood."

"Torchwood?" a boy appeared over her shoulder. "Even better than UNIT."

"Not better than UNIT. Not by a long shot," Sarah Jane scolded, coming in from behind the two. "Gwen. Good to see you again."

"Hello, Sarah Jane," Gwen had only met Sarah Jane once, briefly, and she wasn't entirely sure that counted.

"What can I do for you?" Sarah Jane asked. "Within reason, of course. As long as it doesn't involve Clyde picking up a gun, I'm sure we help."

"Hey!" the boy scowled.

"Actually, it's about the Doctor," Gwen said.

"Oh... Well then, come on in," Sarah Jane opened the door. "Clyde, will you grab a couple chairs?"

Gwen and Rex followed the trio up the stairs to her world-saving attic.

Clyde pulled out some chairs for Red and Gwen; Sarah Jane sat on edge of a work table. Rani and Clyde made themselves at home on the floor.

"So, what's he been up to now?"

Gwen fell silent for a moment. "I met him a couple times; just me."

"Really?"

"The first time, he bought me a cup of coffee, proclaimed that I was going to have a really hard go at life, but that I'd be okay. The second time was after— after it was just me left."

"How long ago was that?" Sarah Jane asked.

"2010; sometime in January. I can't quite remember."

"Was the rest of your team destroyed when the kids started all that chanting?" Clyde asked.

"Clyde," Sarah Jane reprimanded.

"It's fine," Gwen said. "Yeah, I lost one of the two other members on my team, and our base completely destroyed in the 456 incident."

"So that's what it was called," Rani said. "We never found out what was causing it."

"Luke did the... thing," Clyde's expression darkened. "It scared all of us. What was it? We had Mr. Smith hack UNIT, but nothing came up."

"It was aliens, of course," Gwen said. "I was there in the thick of it. They were using children..." she broke off, glancing at the teenagers.

"What?" Rani asked.

She glanced at Sarah Jane, who nodded. "They can handle it."

"They were using children as drugs."

Rani's expression turned to one of disgust. "That's horrible!"

"They kept them alive, in a permanent state of childhood," Gwen said. "They were like... vegetables."

Rani's eyes watered. "How could they do that?"

Sarah Jane frowned. "There are plenty of horrible aliens out there. The 456, it's strange, I've never heard of them before. Of course, I haven't heard of every alien. Mr. Smith? Have you been listening?"

"Yes, Sarah Jane," the super computer said.

"What do you make of the '456'?"

"They are known to planet Earth only as 'the 456.'"

"Do you have any other information?"

"I'm afraid not."

Sarah Jane nodded.

"What were you doing during the Miracle?" Rex asked, wanting to hear about something he was actually involved in.

"What do you think we were doing?" Rani asked, crossing her arms.

"Running around blowing up the modules?" Gwen guessed with a smile.

"I got a few old friends together," Sarah Jane smirked. "I wouldn't let Rani or Clyde go, though. They were here, hiding a few people in the attic."

"How'd you manage that?" Rex asked, impressed that a simple woman and her school kids could succeed where Gwen Cooper, Torchwood extraordinare, had failed.

"Luke built a perception filter," Clyde said proudly. "No one ever checked upstairs, to them it wasn't even there. It was brilliant."

"Well, if, in a few years, Luke needs a job..." Gwen said.

"No," Sarah Jane said stubbornly.

"Didn't think so," Gwen chuckled.

"So, tell me about your visits with the Doctor," Sarah Jane said.

"Well, the first two were more social calls. The third time was just a few weeks ago... he wanted me to tell everyone else; he told me... he said he was going to die."

Sarah Jane stared.

"What do you mean die? Regenerate?" Clyde asked. "He's done that before, loads of times."

Gwen shook her head. "That's what I thought, but he said no. He's gone. Jack looked into it, and everything matches up with his story."

"Why you?" Sarah Jane asked, folding her arms. "Why not Jack, or me, or Martha? Or any of the old crew? Why you?"

"'Cause I wouldn't stop him. If he'd told you, you wouldn't have let him go, would you?"

Sarah Jane opened her mouth, then closed it. "No."

"We all thought you should know. With him gone, there'll be more for us to do. Who knows how many things we have to stop now. And we can't let ourselves die out. We've got to keep on—" her voice broke, "Keep on fighting."

Sarah Jane struggled to accept it, her eyes darted to her two young friends. Rani's eyes watered with tears and Clyde seemed to be in a state of shock.

"I'm sorry," Gwen said.

"Who was he?" Rex asked. "I don't get it. This guy, the Doctor, who was he to you all? Some kind of hero?"

"He was... a friend to Earth. No matter how big the trouble was, he was almost always there. And even when he wasn't, it was his 'Children of Time' that made things better. You're one of them now, Rex," Sarah Jane said. "Join up with a past companion, you become part of the family."

"Past companion?"

"He takes people to travel through time and space," Sarah Jane said. "His only family in the world, and it's bigger than any other. I was one of them, when I was younger. Jack was as well."

"Time travel?"

"You sound just like me," Gwen snorted. "Yes, time travel is more than possible. I've done it, once."

"He took you with him?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Yeah," Gwen nodded. "Yeah, he did. Got to say goodbye to my team."

"He must've really liked you," Sarah Jane muttered.

Gwen shrugged. "We'd better go... World-saving to do and all."

Sarah Jane nodded, still in denial. Clyde put a comforting arm around Rani as tears made their way down her face.

Gwen sighed as she walked down the stairs.

"Child of Time?" Rex blinked.

"Yeah," Gwen nodded. "It's a pretty stupid name, huh?"

"You okay?" he asked.

Gwen shook her head, glancing back up at the house. "Sarah Jane is one of the Doctor's oldest friends. He's one of hers. They're practically equals, in some sense. She has her kids, he has his companions. It won't be easy for her to continue on."

"But she will, won't she? I mean, he's just a man."

"He's not just a man. He's a symbol to us that we're never alone. And if he's dead, then we're virtually defenseless. We'll have to continue on his work ourselves. In all its history, this is the first time planet Earth has ever really, truly been alone."