WHAT'S IN A NAME?

I loved The Curse of Clyde Langer, but was dissatisfied by the lack of resolution over the whole abandonment thing (and we know that's a very real fear of Clyde's..). Also, I was puzzled by the lack of explanation for Sky's immunity from the curse; it wasn't just that she was alien, for Luke was affected - even though it's easy to miss as it happens through a phone call. This is my attempt at rectifying both issues. Enjoy, and reviews/comments very, VERY welcome, including concrit.

Sarah Jane Smith glanced up from the article she was checking for her friend and would-be fellow journalist Rani Chandra, and her gaze was caught and held by the dejected posture of the young man on the leathersofa at the other end of the attic. He sat with legs akimbo, dark head bent, his artists' fingers delicately attempting to unscrew a ball of paper – the sight of which caused Sarah Jane's heart to miss a beat from combined recognition and remorse.

Oh, Clyde, she thought, biting her lip as she remembered the unreasoning hatred and fury that had caused her to destroy all traces of Clyde in her attic eyrie. How are we going to fix this?

Futile to say that she, Luke, Rani, and Clyde's mum Carla had all been under the influence of an alien curse. Useless to point out that none of them would – or could – turn their backs on Clyde when in their right minds. The fact remained that the curse of Hetocumtek had struck, and for several endless days Clyde Langer had lived on the streets amongst the homeless, as despairing and unwanted as they.

And that little ball of screwed-up paper was tangible proof that it had happened; that the whole incident was not simply a timeline gone wrong, or an unwitting incursion into an alternative universe. On the surface, Clyde had seemed untouched by the experience, apart from his concern for the one friend he had made during his sojourn in the alien world of the homeless: the young girl he had known as Ellie. Once assured that 'Ellie' had in all probability moved on to another life as a passenger on the Night Dragon, Clyde had apparently bounced back to his familiar casual self. He was, as he liked to joke, the cool, collected member of their team.

Any attempt at an apology was brushed away with a shrug and a half grin, and dismissed with a characteristically flippant one-liner. Sarah Jane was ashamed to admit that she (and probably Rani too) had been only too happy to go along with it; the thought that they could turn their backs on one of their own was truly horrible to contemplate. Who needed alien monsters when the most fearsome beast of all lurked within?

She bit her lip a second time and turned back to the computer, not wanting Clyde to notice how her gaze had fixed on him – at least not until she had decided how to make amends. Sarah Jane blew out a quiet sigh and removed her glasses as she thought, her fingers automatically moving to close them. She could door-step with the best of them, but dealing with matters closer to heart was something she still found difficult, after so many years alone. The presence of first Luke and now Sky had helped enormously, but Sarah Jane feared that elements of that old social awkwardness would never leave her.

Her deliberations were interrupted by the entrance of Sky – or rather, the attempted entrance of Sky.

'Open the door!' Sarah Jane heard her adopted daughter call, an odd mixture of triumph and trepidation clanging through her little-girl voice.

She moved to answer, but Clyde was faster, and Sarah Jane watched as the young man opened the door in his old jaunty manner.

'Anything to serve, Sparky. Why – oh.'

'I made some tea for you and Sarah Jane!' Sky announced as she came in, carrying a tray and frowning with renewed concentration as she tried to keep it level. 'I made it all by myself, and I didn't explode a thing!'

'Good on you, Sparky!' Clyde congratulated, carefully lifting one mug from the tray and handing it to Sarah Jane before taking the second for himself. 'You're coming on, kiddo. Give it a few more years and you'll be giving my young padowan a run for his money.' He saluted her with his mug and took a sip.

Sky looked puzzled. 'What's a padowan?'

Clyde groaned and Sarah Jane laughed, relieved by this momentary touch of normality. 'I'll leave those explanations to the Encylopedia Clydannica, I think.' She took a sip of her own drink and smiled at her still-new daughter. 'Well done, Sky.'

Clyde grinned at the young girl. 'She's only pleased because now she'll get you to do it all the time, and before you know it, you'll be cooking –'

'Pizza?' Sky suggested brightly with a vivid smile that reminded Sarah Jane of Luke, and how much she missed him. 'I already know how to cook that. You just turn the little knob on the oven, and tell Mr Smith to remind Sarah Jane when it's time to take it out.'

'And keep a bucket of water handy,' Clyde added gravely, his cup going up in a second salute, this time to Sarah Jane.

She made a decision and turned back to her desk, seeking Rani's article. It was now or never. 'Sky, would you run this across the road to Rani?'

'Why don't you just email it?' Clyde asked, sipping his tea again.

'Because I've printed it out and made comments in pen,' Sarah Jane returned a touch tartly as she handed the sheaf of papers to Sky. 'And yes, I do know about the comment feature in Word.'

Sky grinned up at her. 'You know, we could scan it and then send it. Or Mr Smith could –'

'Sky!' Sarah Jane interrupted. 'Go! Shoo!'

The little girl looked absurdly wise. 'I know,' she said as she headed for the door. 'This is what Rani calls a 'pretext'. You want to talk to Clyde without me, so you're sending me away.' She nodded, as if to herself. 'It's OK, I get it, Sarah Jane. Just text when I can come home,' and with that, she skipped off down the stairs, leaving the attic door open behind her.

Sarah Jane groaned and collapsed limply on the leather sofa. 'So much for subtlety,' she commented ruefully.

Clyde toed the door shut on his way back to his original seat. 'Not much hope of that around here,' he observed, before flashing a grin at her. 'Here we are again, Miss Smith. You, me, and me old mate, the sofa.' He gave the worn leather an affectionate slap. 'So, whassup?'

In answer, she bent forward and allowed the fingers of one hand to trace the floor, seeking. After a couple of seconds they closed on the object of their desire and she sat back, holding it up. 'This is what's up, Clyde.'

Clyde's expression became very still. 'Oh.'

'Yes.' Sarah Jane put her cup down on the floor and her own fingers renewed the task Clyde had begun earlier, trying to smooth out the wrinkles and crumples that defaced one of his precious drawings. She winced as she realised that this particular drawing was a carefully done portrait of Sarah Jane herself.

'You really do have talent,' she remarked softly, 'but this is far too flattering, I think. Not enough lines.' She traced a corner of her pencilled mouth, right where her mirror told her a line had deepened with the years.

He shrugged. 'I don't see them when I look at you. I only draw what I see.'

She blinked away sudden tears. 'Oh, Clyde. I wish –'

'Don't, Sarah Jane,' Clyde said, reaching out to still her moving fingers with his. 'You can't fix it. Some things, you can't fix. Even Mr Smith couldn't fix this.'

She bit her lip, wondering what he was really saying.

His grasp on her fingers tightened. 'It's OK, really. I'll get over it. I know it wasn't your faults, I know it wasn't you, it was the curse. It made you hate me. The only thing I don't understand,' he continued with a frown, 'is why was Sky not affected? It's nothing to do with her being alien, because Luke – Luke was.'

Sarah Jane turned her hand to clasp his, unable to bear the carefully hidden hurt in his voice. 'Have you heard from him?'

The young man glanced down, refusing to meet her eyes. 'Yeah, right after you picked me up. He sent an email, too. He seemed… shocked.'

'Of course he was,' Sarah Jane assured him quickly. 'Hey. Luke thinks the world of you. Oh, I know he's away at Oxford and having a marvellous time … but his heart is here. I have no doubt of it. He's very loyal; remember how reluctant he was to have anything to do with Rani after Maria left?'

Clyde nodded.

'And he still considers her to be one of his dearest friends. I know they often spend hours together on Skype, especially over the past year.'

Clyde tried to leer. 'Are you sure it's just friendship?'

'And what about you and Rani, h'mm? Don't think I haven't noticed the amount of flirting that's being going on under my nose, young man.'

Sarah Jane tried not to laugh as she watched Clyde 'Mr Cool' Langer blush furiously.

'It's nothing, honest, we just, uh –'

'It's fine, Clyde, it's fine! It's only natural, after all. You spend a lot of time together, often in impossible situations, and … well, you're both very attractive young people. I would be more surprised if there was nothing between you.'

'Yes, uh…' He ran a hand over his head and face, grinning at her sheepishly. 'Can we change the subject? Please?'

'Getting a little hot in here, is it?' she teased. 'Oh, all right. Now about Sky… ' She frowned and bent forward again to retrieve her tea. 'That is odd, I must admit. She's known you for less time than the rest of us –'

'That didn't matter,' Clyde interrupted. 'That woman in the museum had only met me once, and it got her.'

'So it did. I'd forgotten about that.'

'You were too busy calling the police,' Clyde reminded her with a strained smile, and Sarah Jane winced.

'They didn't actually go after you, did they?'

'They tried,' Clyde told her starkly, turning his cup around in his hands. 'Ellie helped me get away.'

Sarah Jane sat up. 'Ellie! Why wasn't she affected?'

He glanced at her sideways. ''Cause I didn't tell her my real name, that's why. I told her I was Enrico, not that she believed it.'

Sarah Jane rolled her eyes. 'Can't say I blame her. You don't look like an Enrico to me.'

Clyde huffed a laugh. 'Yeah, that's what Mum said.' He struck an attitude. 'Apparently, I'm not cheesy enough to be an Enrico.' He grinned. 'Bless 'er. Shows what she knows, doesn't it?'

'So, Sky,' Sarah Jane told him briskly, tapping him on the arm to focus his thoughts. 'Why wasn't she affected? Oh, you should have seen her, Clyde. She refused to give up, even though it must have been quite frightening… we turned on her, too, when she tried to fight for you.'

'She's got guts, like her mum and bruv,' Clyde commented with a nod. 'She's a good kid.'

'She is, they both are. You all are,' Sarah Jane amended, rubbing his head and smiling when he reared back, just as Luke did. 'We know it's not because she's alien,' she began, ticking off reasons on her fingers. 'We know it's nothing to do with how long or well we've known you. Mr Smith wasn't affected either, but you wouldn't expect him to be…'

'Shh, he'll hear and be offended,' Clyde chided with a glance at the supercomputer in the wall.

'Not he. I shut him down earlier; with the way the bills are going up, I simply can't afford to keep him running all the time.'

'Makes sense… Hey, I've had a thought. A Clydey-wave!'

She smiled. 'Go on, then.'

Clyde jumped up and began to pace as he thought aloud, a mannerism she recognised as one of her own. 'We thought at first that Sky wasn't affected by the curse 'cause she's alien, 'cause that's always the reason with Luke, only it wasn't this time. But what if it was?'

Sarah Jane blinked up him. 'What?'

'What makes an alien an alien?' Clyde demanded. 'They're not from around here, yeah, and that means…'

'They're innocent about humans and the forms that human culture takes,' Sarah Jane began, speaking slowly as she picked up his train of thought. 'They're like babies, almost. Luke has been living as a human for four years now… The curse was only triggered once the totem pole fell into the "hands of men". Sky took that literally, but what if it meant "hands of humanity"?'

'Sky told me that she saw my name glow gold on the envelope at my mum's,' Clyde said thoughtfully, 'but she didn't feel anything. It was just a freaky glowing name. But the rest of you, when you saw or heard it, just…' His voice trailed off and he returned to the sofa, slumping back against it.

Sarah Jane half turned to face him, resting an arm along the back of the sofa. 'The idea of a name's power is a very old one in human culture,' she started. 'Being able to name a person or thing can give you power over it – or it power over you, depending on how the naming is done. The creator of the curse knew that; the curse was set to trigger that – that instinct, for want of a better word.'

'And Luke was created from thousands of humans,' Clyde supplemented, his face brightening. 'That knowledge was part of him too. Sky, though…'

'Was entirely created by an alien species for purposes of their own without any thought of Earth humans or culture!' Sarah Jane finished triumphantly. 'That's it! That's why she was unaffected. She hasn't been human long enough yet for the curse to work – thank goodness!' she finished fervently, pulling Clyde towards her into a heartfelt hug.

She was startled by how tightly Clyde returned it. The young man had always been tactile, willing to hug and be hugged right from their earliest adventures, but there was a touch of desperation in how he held onto her now.

'I thought I was a goner, Sarah Jane,' he whispered hoarsely into her ear. 'All my hopes and dreams just gone, poof, like that. Just another loser on the streets, a waster, like my dad…'

She pulled back, her hands going to cup his face, forcing him to meet her gaze squarely. 'Now you listen to me, Clyde Langer. You are not your dad. You are a better man that your dad was, a million times over, I'm sure of that. Even if… even if we hadn't been able to break the curse, you'd have clawed your way back to your dreams, and you'd have done it with integrity because that's just you. I believe in you, Clyde. You're going to have a wonderful future, no matter what, do you hear me?' She pulled him back into her arms again, and was relieved to feel his soundless laugh against her cheek.

'That's assuming the alien of the week doesn't blow us all into smithereens the next time they come calling,' he said with a smirk as he sat back.

She punched him lightly on the shoulder. 'Of course they won't. Because we're here, aren't we? All of us. You, me, Mr Smith, Sky, Rani, and Luke and K9 in Oxford. Those aliens had better watch out, because we're going to stop them, right here from our attic in Ealing!'

'Because Team Sarah Jane never loses!' Clyde quipped, holding up his hand for a 'high five'.

Sarah Jane smiled and returned the gesture, but she ended it by clasping his hand again. 'Are you hungry? Let's get Sky and Rani over here, and we'll have some-'

'Pizza!' Clyde finished approvingly, springing up from the sofa with a lightness she found herself envying. 'Good plan, Miss Smith. C'mon,' he said, holding out a hand and pulling her to her feet, 'I need you to make the calls while I do the dangerous stuff.'

And he charged out of the attic, muttering to himself about lemonade and paper plates while she followed smiling, one hand already reaching into her jeans pocket for her phone.

Her little family was itself again, and life was good.

End.