London, September 2011

Chrissie eagerly awaited Maria's arrival at Stanstead Airport. It was the first time she had come home to visit her and Chrissie was more than a little excited. Maria came out of the luggage area dragging a large flowery suitcase along behind her. Chrissie screeched in her excitement and trotted as fast as she could in her heels to get to her daughter. Before Maria had a chance to say hello her face was being peppered in kisses. Eventually the older woman pulled back to let Maria breathe but still clutched onto her shoulders keeping her in place.

"Hello to you too!" Maria chuckled at her mother's usual overreaction.

"Oh my Maria! I've missed you so much!" Chrissie pulled Maria back into her bosom almost suffocating her in her enthusiasm. Maria eventually managed to pull herself free.

"You saw me on my birthday and that was only a few months ago."

"I know, but this is different, you're here, in London. You never did say how long you were staying? It doesn't matter though the guest room is all made up for you and I've got a key cut so you can come and go as you please." Maria picked up her suitcase and steered Chrissie over to some chairs. She suddenly looked very guilty.

"I need to talk to you about that." Chrissie wasn't sure what to think. On the one hand Maria did have an extraordinarily large suitcase in tow. On the other, her daughter's tone hadn't been particularly light. They took up their seats and Chrissie waited for Maria's explanation with baited breath.

"I've got a job...in Cardiff." Chrissie's eyebrows shot up at this news.

"I don't understand. What job and how?" Maria reached out and took her mother's hand in her own.

"I've been head-hunted for a...well let's just say top secret government project. Unfortunately due to its nature I really can't tell you anymore than that. Only that it's based in Cardiff so I've left Washington and I'm moving back to the UK. In fact I've moved, this is everything I need to get me set up," Maria said as she patted the large suitcase. Chrissie studied Maria closely, there was something off about this, top secret government project. Head-hunted by whom? The cogs were beginning to turn and suddenly it all made sense. She may have been able to get rid of Sarah Jane Smith but Maria had never really left her behind. There had to have been a connection.

"Don't lie to me Maria; you forget that I know you. What's really going on?" Maria feigned ignorance.

"Nothing, why would you think that? Someone saw my school results and thought I would be good at this job. I've wanted to leave Washington for a while now and it seemed like a perfect opportunity." Now Chrissie knew that her daughter was lying, she fidgeted in her seat and fiddled with her right earlobe. She'd always been tuned into her 'tell,' it was the same with Alan when they'd been married.

"When did you start thinking it was alright to lie to my face? This has got something to do with Sarah Jane and aliens hasn't it? I warned her to stay away from you, what did she promise you to make you come back?" Now that the cat was well and truly out of the bag and there was no way Chrissie could take any of it back. Maybe it was just as well she couldn't, this chat had been long overdue, on both sides.

"I think we ought to get out of here and go somewhere more private, don't you Mum?" Maria barely contained her anger. There were too many things Chrissie had revealed that were still resonating in her mind. The implications of it all were huge. Maria guiltily thought about her own secrets; perhaps she ought to give her mother the chance to explain?

The car journey to Hampstead was silent; both women had been lost in their own thoughts trying to find a way of explaining their actions and finding something redeemable in their intent. Fortunately Ivan was at work, so they had the house to themselves for a few hours. Maria had seen photos but had never visited their marital home. She'd never been to their flat either, the one they'd moved into when Chrissie had first left her and Alan. It was the catalyst to this whole chain of events and Maria couldn't help but feel satisfied that she was now in charge of her own destiny, despite her mother's obvious attempt at interference. Maria had barely walked through the door before unleashing a tirade of accusations at her mother.

"How long have you known about aliens and my involvement with them? And just what in the hell did you say to Sarah Jane? If you've hurt her in any way, I swear that I'll never speak to you again. Is that the reason she stopped contacting me? It was, wasn't it? What, were you jealous? Well you should have been a better mum and not left me and Dad for some slimy salsa teacher! You didn't think did you; you never do! You don't even know me, I've been through hell and back in Washington and you know absolutely nothing about it because all you cared about was me being 'normal' and going shopping with friends my own age. Well I'm not normal, I never have been and I never will be. You can either accept it or leave me alone." Maria collapsed back onto one of the sofas, her chest heaved with the energy used up by her rousing speech. Chrissie didn't understand who this woman was standing in front of her. This wasn't the little girl that had left for a new and exciting life in Washington three years ago. Chrissie burst into tears, too stunned to form any sort of coherent answer in her head. Did Maria really hate her that much? Whilst it was true she had been the one to break up their family and she'd threatened Sarah Jane, she had always had Maria's best interests at heart, hadn't she?

"Maria love, I don't know what to say or where to start. You know that I love you, right?" Chrissie looked at the crestfallen face of her not-so-little girl. Surely she must have known that?

"I don't really know Mum, you say you do but when have you really shown it? Do you even know me? What my favourite food is, my favourite song or sport to play? Do you know who I shared my first kiss with or when my heart got broken for the first time?" Chrissie shook her head sadly.

"No but I want to know, tell me now, tell me all about yourself." Maria shook her head, Chrissie had misunderstood the point she was trying to make.

"The point is Mum; it shouldn't have come to this in the first place. Anyway, that's not important at the moment. What do you know? About aliens I mean." Chrissie sniffed back the tears and took a deep breath.

"Well I know that they're not all little green men if that's what you're asking?" Maria didn't look too happy at the sarcasm.

"The one that looked like a baked potato, the Sontaran? I remembered everything that happened that day. He was going to kill you so I stuck my heel into the vent on the back of his neck. I'd been to see your father and I followed him up to Sarah Jane's attic after you'd phoned him to ask for help. The big computer in the wall showed us all this information about them and it talked to us! It explained about the vent, so I remembered it when Kaag threatened to kill you."

"You remembered all of that? Why didn't you say so at the time?" Maria was incredulous.

"It didn't seem to matter if you were going to America. I figured you wouldn't be involved in that sort of thing anymore." At least Chrissie had hoped that Maria wouldn't have been involved in aliens any longer.

"Weren't you curious about aliens? Didn't you want to know what adventures we'd already had? You must have realised it wasn't our first experience with extraterrestrials?" Maria was getting exasperated with her mum.

"I didn't want to know any more than I did, even that was too much. It's alright for you, you were excited and being in the middle of it all you obviously knew what you were doing. It's frightening for someone like me, I don't like the thought of little green men or potato heads or whatever else coming here. What happens next, they start setting up home here, building weird alien schools and churches and making laws about their equal rights?"

"Yes Mum, that's exactly what happens in the future, so you'd better start getting used to it! I can't believe how prejudiced you're being. Aliens have been coming to Earth for centuries, how do you think we've made so many technological and medical advances in such a short space of time? You're right, not all of them are good, some even want to sell off huge chunks of the Earth for profit, but not all of them are bad either. It's exciting and wonderful and crazy all at the same time." Maria had a difficult job of concealing how excited she still felt about it all. Coming back to the UK and working for Torchwood seemed more and more like she was doing the right thing.

"So this is what you did with Sarah Jane then? No wonder you never wanted to spend any time with me, I'm about as exciting as watching paint dry compared to her!"

"Stop acting like a spoiled child Mum! Sarah Jane took me seriously, made time for me and listened to what I had to say. She trusted me with this huge secret about what she did and sometimes she even trusted me with her life. She treated me like a grown up and opened my world to so many new possibilities. For that alone I owe her so much." Maria paused to think about where she wanted to steer this conversation, her mother's opinions on extraterrestrial life had put her off her train of thought somewhat.

"What did you mean when you said that you'd warned her to stay away from me? What happened between you?"

"Maria, we don't really need to talk about this now do we? Tell me about your new job."

"No Mum, I want to know what you said to her?"

"I was thinking of you Maria, you must believe me. It was just after your sixteenth birthday and I'd seen how well you and Shannon were getting on. You told me that you and Sarah Jane hadn't been in contact much since you'd moved and I thought you seemed very happy that day. When I got home I went round to Sarah Jane's and suggested that maybe not keeping in touch with you was a good thing. It gave you a chance to really forget about all that alien stuff and concentrate on having an ordinary life, with ordinary friends."

"So you threatened her? I can't believe you! You made decisions about my future that you had no right to do so. You messed up my life once before and there you were doing all over again! Thanks a lot Mum, do you have any idea of the hell I've been through these last three years in Washington? Thinking that my best friend never really loved me in the first place? I lost my purpose and direction in life because everything that I had known, everything that had made sense to me, had been taken away." Maria stood up and began pacing the living room animatedly.

"I loved her Mum; really loved her and I thought that she loved me too. Do you know how shattered I was to think that she had abandoned me? I fell into a depression; I stopped eating and taking care of myself. Dad made me go and see a counsellor to sort through my issues and get me well again. Even my relationship with Shannon didn't help make it any better. We split up after only six months together."

"You and Shannon? As in...?"

"A couple, yes. "

"Since when have you been a lesbian?"

"Since always and if you had been paying any attention it wouldn't be so much of a surprise. Look, this is getting us nowhere. There is so much more we have to say to each other and I'm not sure I have the energy. I think I need to be by myself for while." Chrissie reluctantly agreed and handed Maria the spare key.

"Just don't leave yet Maria, I don't want us to part on bad terms."

"I won't, I promise, I just need some space. We will talk more later."

Maria stood at the end of Bannerman Road, nerves thrumming through her veins and her heart beat wildly in her chest. She wasn't going to knock on the door or say hello, but just standing here, back where she felt she had belonged after so long brought so many conflicting emotions to the surface. The argument with her mother had shaken her and she just needed to be somewhere she felt was safe. What she wouldn't give to be able to speak to Sarah Jane, to sort out this terrible mess they both seem to have made of their friendship. Maria slowly crept closer to number thirteen. She was careful enough to not get too close; she really didn't think it was a good idea to approach her old friends now. She needed more time to think about her mother's revelations and she owed it to herself to settle into her new job and new life in Cardiff with Torchwood. The little green Figaro was sitting on the driveway and Maria's heart skipped several beats as she realised that Sarah Jane was only a few hundred yards away. Maria wondered if Mister Smith would detect her presence or was she as insignificant as any other human being on the street now? Poignant memories came to the forefront of her mind and she stared at the imposing house as though she could see her younger self walking up the driveway in the dead of night, about to witness the event that would change her life forever. The Star Poet had been beautiful, translucent and glowing with tendrils coming from its body that almost had a life of their own. However, the most striking thing of that evening had not been the wondrous alien but the beautiful sight of her new neighbour, casual and relaxed communicating with the alien as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Later on Maria discovered that for Sarah Jane Smith it was natural for her to speak to aliens on a regular basis, as though she had been born to do it. Maria felt that way about her job with Torchwood. She was finally able to be herself and everything she had experienced since moving to this strange road all those years ago had been preparation for it. She wondered if she would ever come back here again, perhaps she and Sarah Jane would not reconcile their differences or perhaps she would be killed in action as was highly probable given Torchwood's chequered past. That thought didn't disturb Maria as much as it ought to she supposed. With dozens of near misses already behind her she suspected that there were hundreds yet to come and there were only so many times she could scrape through before her luck ran out. She almost understood where Chrissie had been coming from when she wanted to protect her from this uncertain underworld. The trouble was that if it wasn't for people like Sarah Jane the entire human race would have been obliterated a hundred times over and then it really was a moot point. Maria would never forgive her mother for what she had done and she suspected that they never would quite recover from this. She also knew that despite this, they never would have the sort of relationship either one of them was hoping for, like the one between her and Alan. Perhaps, in time, they could both come up with something that worked for them.

Maria pulled up on Chrissie's driveway in her hire car. She needed to get used to driving on British soil, ensuring that she remembered what side of the road to drive on and decided the journey to Cardiff would be as good a place as any to start. Chrissie had been nervously waiting for her to return, wondering if she could repair some of the damage she had done. She still didn't quite understand the full implications of her actions, but the fact that she was feeling guilty was a start. Back in the living room, mirroring their positions of a few hours ago, Maria and Chrissie prepared to clear the air.

"Ivan's gone out for the evening; I thought we should have some time alone." For once Chrissie had used her common sense and tact, and Maria appreciated the thought.

"Thanks. Does he know anything about...?"

"Aliens? Oh my goodness no! He wouldn't have believed me even if I had of told him. You forget that most people still think aliens are something out of a science fiction film. He'd have shipped me out to the funny farm by now." Maria chuckled and sat down closer to her mother and took her hand.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to find out about my problems and Shannon this way. I was going to tell you eventually, but I just didn't see any point in doing it whilst I was still in America. You would only have worried and felt guilty and there's no point in doing that from so far away. Of course I didn't realise at the time you were half the reason I was so depressed in the first place." Maria bit her tongue realising that she probably shouldn't have said that, despite it being true. Fortunately Chrissie didn't bite on it and obviously their time apart had given her some thinking time.

"I'm sorry too Maria. I thought it was for the best at the time. I should have been honest about everything I knew from the beginning and I should have given you more credit for wanting to be involved in all of this anyway. But you're still my little girl and I'm still going to worry about you. Torchwood sounds far too dangerous and uncertain, am I going to get a terrible phone call one day saying that something has happened to you?"

"I can't say you won't but we are the people that are going to stop lots of people, hundreds of thousands of them from being killed or worse. Isn't that a worthy reason to do this job? I don't want to waste my life singing on some reality TV program or working a normal nine to five job; having a mortgage and going to the gym three times a week. I need something more than that."

"I think I'm beginning to see that now. Will you tell me about America, what really happened over there?"

"I'm not sure I can at the moment Mum. One day I will, I promise but for now can we just leave things as they are? I think we both need to think about what's happened today. I'm leaving for Cardiff tonight."

"Can't you stay at least one night? We've barely had a chance to spend any time together."

"I can't, not after everything I've learned today. I just need to go and start my new life, try to understand."

"When am I going to see you next?" Chrissie whined, not really understanding at all.

"I don't know, Jack said that we don't really get much time off. Aliens don't stick to a weekday only invasion strategy; we have to be ready at any time."

"Well just make sure it's as soon as you can. We need to talk properly, you can't avoid it forever."

"I'm not avoiding it; I just don't have the energy anymore." Maria finally left Hampstead and her mum. It had been a very long and emotionally exhausting day. She left London more melancholy than when she had left the first time. The emotions and revelations weighed heavily on her mind for the whole journey. She hoped that somehow she and Sarah Jane could find their way to each other, even on a purely business basis. However, as Maria crossed the border from England over to Wales her entire mood lifted and suddenly the hope began to seep back into her thoughts. She relaxed into her seat and thought to herself with a smile, look at me now, anything is possible.