The party finally ended. The Brigadier had said goodbye to them and went home, but Harry was accompanying them to the TARDIS, and Sarah was clutching his arm, still laughing together.
The Doctor opened the door of the ship and waited in silence the bitter parting of Sarah Jane.
"Thank you, Harry. I have spent a wonderful night", Sarah said hugging Harry.
"I have sacrificed my feet in the name of friendship", Harry said.
"Nonsense. A couple of lessons more and you'll be quite a dancer".
"A couple of lessons more and the Brigadier will have to find another Surgeon Lieutenant", Harry said. "Bon Voyage, Doctor. I hope we meet again soon".
"Good night, Harry", the Doctor said.
To his surprise Harry went alone to his house and Sarah went into the TARDIS. Smiling, the Time Lord went into the ship behind his friend and established the coordinates of their next destination, but something was wrong. It seemed that Sarah was angry.
"What is it, Sarah? Do you want to stay?", he asked concerned as he hung his hat on the coat stand.
"You owe me a dance, Doctor", she replied.
"A dance? Is that all?".
"Yeah, that is all".
"Okay then", the Doctor said taking her hand and leading her to the library. "We will have enough space here".
"Now?", Sarah asked surprised.
"Let's take advantage you are dressed for the occasion", he said with a wink. "Here I have the music section. Choose the disc you want", he said showing her a wide shelving.
"Doctor, these are alien bands. How I am going to know what is the most appropriate disc?".
"This is the section of ballads and slow music. Choose the first one you see".
"This one", Sarah said choosing a single disc from a group called 'Eclipse' whose song was called 'Eternal love'.
"This song is nothing like a waltz, but it will do".
The Doctor took off his coat and scarf and put the disc in what looked like an earth gramophone. Sarah could not help smiling to see that old gramophone in an alien ship.
"I like the look of your gramophones", the Doctor said to see the face of his friend.
"I have not said anything", she said.
The first notes of the song, from an electric guitar, started to sound and the Doctor held out his hand to Sarah to join him in the dance.
Sarah had chosen a hard rock ballad, but if she told the Doctor to change it he was able to leave the dance, so she decided to take a chance on that song and set out to teach her friend a few simple dance steps. She took the Doctor's left hand and put her right hand on his shoulder, and to her surprise the Doctor put his right hand on her waist and began moving deftly through the makeshift dance floor.
"You can dance!", Sarah Jane exclaimed.
"I said I am not a dancer, but I never said I could not dance".
"Doctor, you never stop to amaze me".
The Doctor smiled at his friend while the song kept sounding. It was about the forbidden love between two people of different species.
"Very appropriate", the Doctor thought.
"I do not care that you're different
That makes you special
I do not care if the others do not approve it
Our eternal love will never die"
Sarah looked at her companion's eyes and smiled. It was not like the smile she had dedicated to Harry moments before. It was not an amused smile; it was a loving and tender smile that the Doctor corresponded in the same way.
The girl slowed her dance steps doing the Doctor did the same and let go of his left hand to put both hands on his shoulders and lay her head on his chest. The Doctor hugged her waist with his both arms, feeling the warm hug of the young girl and regretting that his body was so cold, but if Sarah was uncomfortable with his hug she gave no sign of wanting to let go of him.
That sign of affection from his young friend made the Doctor smile of happiness. He was dancing with Sarah Jane. He was hugging Sarah Jane. He could smell the sweet fruit aroma of her hair. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment.
Sarah felt the Doctor's hearts were racing and smiled at the same time she curled up her head over his chest. Now she was glad that her dance with the Time Lord took place in a private room: the Doctor and Sarah Jane joined in a tender embrace in the TARDIS. This moment belonged only to both of them.
The song went on.
"Your love is a gift for me.
My life was empty until I met you.
My beautiful lady
I want nothing to separate me from you".
For a moment, time seemed to stop: A moment without Daleks, Cybermen or Zygons. A moment in which there were no barriers between they two. A moment that served to prove the mutual affection they felt each other...
A brief moment that ended when the song came to a close.
"No, not now", they both thought simultaneously.
"It is a very beautiful song, Doctor", Sarah said moving away slowly from the body of her friend. "But it does not say if the couple had a happy ending".
"I guess they leave it to the interpretation of the listener".
"Then they have a happy ending. Real life is too cruel… let the songs have happy ending".
"I agree", the Doctor said.
"Thank you. It has been a wonderful dance".
"Are you still angry?", the Doctor asked.
Sarah shook her head.
"I do not need much to be happy".
"What do you need to be happy right now?", the Doctor asked.
"Right now? A good piece of chocolate cake".
The Doctor smiled.
"I have in the kitchen".
"Well. Are you coming? I'll make some tea".
"Now I am going with you".
Sarah left the library toward the kitchen and the Doctor saved the disc in its case. Five minutes and forty seconds was the duration of the song: a very short time. With a few more minutes he could have approached little by little his lips to the girl's and hopefully she had approximated hers...
The Doctor shook his head.
For this reason he had refused to dance with the journalist at the mansion: he was too close to the girl. All experiences together, the times they had saved each other, the times that Sarah had wept for him, laughed with him, all this had brought him to a point where his affection for her went beyond mere friendship, and now that close and sweet contact was just what he needed for that the feelings he kept inside came to light. He was thinking about Sarah like something more than his best friend and it could not be. Happy endings are only for songs and fairy tales. The real world is cruel and a relationship between a Time Lord and a human could never work.
In one way he was glad to know that Sarah did not feel the same for him.
The Doctor took his coat and scarf and went to meet Sarah in the kitchen. He was an expert in the art of hide and with luck he would return to bury his love for Sarah Jane without her noticing anything unusual in him.
But...Was that what he wanted?
The End