Rating: PG
Pairing: Sarah/Harry
Beta: hhertzof
Spoilers: Invasion of the Bane
Summary: Sarah attempts to get used to the relationships she has with her children.

"I've got a hotel, so that's £2000." Luke looked over at Maria, holding out his hand.

She looked down at her small pile of money, which was entirely devoid of £500 notes. There was obviously no way she had enough for the rent.

"Do you give up?" he asked.

"No." She rifled through her cards, checking the backs.

Sarah had to bite her lip to keep from grinning. It was always good, after running around and saving the world, to have some time to relax. She'd heard Maria was teaching Luke to play games like Monopoly, but not had the opportunity to see the results before now.

In preparation for Luke going to school in January she had been making sure he was up-to-date with with the sort of things most thirteen year olds would be expected to have learnt so far. The pop culture aspect she'd had to leave to Maria, though, so it was a nice to be able to help him with something fun. Although Luke liked learning, so teaching him was never a dull experience.

Judging by his success so far in the game, he didn't have much more to learn. Sarah herself was not doing too badly, but that was mostly luck with her dice throws. So she was quite glad when the doorbell rang.

"That'll be my dad," Maria said, jumping up and sounding much happier about it than she normally did.

Luke sat with his chin resting on his hands, studying the board. Sarah wondered what he was thinking and just how much it was possible it was to strategise Monopoly anyway. When Maria returned she hovered just inside the room. "Someone for you," she said, looking at Sarah.

Sarah frowned. It was late and she wasn't expecting anyone. She got up and went out into the hall, pretending not to notice Luke and Maria positioning themselves in the doorway, so they could listen in. To say she was surprised to find Harry Sullivan on her doorstep was an understatement.

"Harry?" It had to be a trick, so she stopped short of the front door, near to the umbrella stand where she kept a cricket bat, just in case.

He smiled and said, "Hello, Sarah."

"It can't be..." She shook her head. "Who are you really?"

He held out his hands. "It's me, old girl."

"Then tell me something only Harry would know." She reached out for the cricket bat, and although she left it where it was, she had a firm grip on it.

His eyes flicked from her to the bat before he said, "Thousands of years in the future, I forget how many, we teleported down to Earth from Space Station Nerva. You landed in a ditch."

She could not remember who might know about Nerva but she certainly never told anyone the latter piece of information. Dropping the the bat, she punched him on the shoulder, before throwing her arms around him and holding him tightly. He hugged her back and she couldn't quite decide whether to laugh or cry. "I went to your funeral," she said, her voice muffled where she had buried her face in his coat.

"I know," he said, quietly.

When she eventually released him, she looked up to see Alan Jackson on his way across the road. She turned round just in time to see to see two heads disappear behind the lounge doorway. "Maria!" she called, pretending she did not know they were stood so close by. She could not really tell them off for doing it though, given the number of times eavesdropping had proved useful. "Your dad," she continued when Maria came into the hall.

Maria took the opportunity to get a good look at Harry as she went past and grabbed her coat, running towards her dad before she had even put it on. Sarah knew she was still curious about the stranger, given that she did not hear Maria's usual complaint about how she did not need an escort just to cross the street. Sarah gave her an indulgent smile and ignored Harry's quizzical look. She reached out to take his hand and said, "Come in."

When they got to the lounge Luke was putting away the Monopoly board and looking for all the world like that was what he had been doing all along. "Luke," she began, and waited until he looked up before she continued. "This is Harry, he's a friend of mine." She gestured toward Luke. "Luke is my adopted son."

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Long story." She did not quite have the energy to explain exactly why she had adopted him.

"I was created by aliens four months ago." The packing up all done, Luke put the box back in the cupboard that had ended up being full of his things.

She shrugged "Not that long, obviously. Isn't it your bedtime?"

Luke looked round at the clock. "Not for another four and a half minutes."

"So, just enough time to clean your teeth and put your pyjamas on, then."

"I'm not tired." He did not whine, just said it like it was a fact.

She knew exactly what he really meant, though. "In the morning."

He sighed and gave in. "Night."

Harry's reply of "Goodnight," had an amused tone.

"What happened?" she asked, sitting on the sofa.

Harry sat down next to her, looking at the wall opposite. "It wasn't me they found. There wasn't enough to identify him and since it was supposed to be me, they just assumed it was." Quieter, he added, "It should have been me."

Sarah bit her lip and hugged him. "Don't do that again."

"What?"

"Make me think you're dead."

"Sorry," he whispered and stroked her hair.

When she lifted her head, he kissed her on the forehead and brushed her cheek with his thumb. "Did you miss me?"

She answered his question with a kiss. She had not originally intended for it to go any further than that, but when she found herself on her back on the sofa, with him on top of her, it was not because she did not want to. Except, "Luke could come in."

So they moved to her bedroom instead.

Afterwards, she lay with her head resting on his chest, thinking about how she really needed to tell him about Nat. "About Elizabeth," she began, glad she could not see his face, given the way his breath caught at her words.

She ignored his reaction and carried on. "I've met her. Her name's Nat now. She's been my friend for a few years, I just didn't know that was who she was."

Harry did not say anything for a while, so she put a hand on his chest to lever herself up to look at him.

His gaze focused on her. "What's she like?"

"Everything we ever dreamed of." Sarah could probably spend the whole night telling Harry about all of Nat's good qualities. "She went to your funeral and introduced herself to your father."

He smiled at that. "So why did you adopt Luke? Aside from the alien aspect."

She turned over to lie next to him, staring up at the ceiling. "Another friend of ours, he saved Nat's life. But he died and... it could so easily have been her." Harry touched a hand to her arm but she moved away from his grasp. She didn't want his comfort at the moment. "My life is dangerous, I have enemies out to get me and I keep making more. I didn't want that to happen to her, so I... pushed her out of my life. Until your funeral we hadn't spoken for a long time." She looked over him. "I suppose I have you to thank for that."

He smiled. "Glad I was useful for something."

"I'll talk to her, tell her what's happened. See if you she wants to meet you." Sarah thought she probably would. She certainly hoped she did, otherwise it was going to get complicated.

He nodded and this time when he reached out for her she let him.

Share this post

• 

Fandom: Sarah Jane Adventures | Type: Character: Harry Sullivan, Character: Luke Smith, Character: Maria Jackson, Character: Sarah Jane Smith, Length: Long story, Pairing: Sarah/Harry, Series: Soap Opera, Type: Het | Link

Leave a Reply

If you haven't commented here before your review will be moderated and I have to approve it before it shows up. If you give your email address my reply will be emailed to you (check your spam folder if you're using hotmail or yahoo).