Rating: G
Beta: hhertzof
Spoilers: None
Summary: Sarah's biggest challenge: motherhood.

During her time as the Doctor's assistant, and afterwards, Sarah Jane Smith had faced all manner of monsters and survived. Now she was finding the scariest thing of all wasn't a creature from another planet, but a teenage boy. It was a good thing Luke wasn't his real age of one week, because at least he slept through the night and wasn't dependent on her for everything.

However, there were still other trials to be faced. Mr Smith could organise his adoption and get Luke into the local school, but there were things that only a human could do. Such as answer some of his many questions about life as he tried to understand it.

"Why do I have to wear school uniform?" Luke asked over the breakfast table.

Sarah was eating her toast with one hand and making a list of things they needed to do before term started with the other. "That's just the rule in this country," she replied, as she wrote 'Key?' and wondered what would be the best solution if Luke came home from school and she wasn't there. "Well, in this school at least." Although she had seen plenty of children in uniform, she wondered if that was still universal.

He buttered another slice of toast. "But why is there a rule? Why is it different in other schools?"

She sighed and put down her pen. "There have been many discussions about it." It had been a popular topic in the debating society at school. "Generally, it's so that everyone is dressed the same regardless of how rich or poor their family is. So they're all equal."

Luke looked thoughtful as he chewed. "You said everyone is an individual. So shouldn't they all dress differently?"

He had an unnerving tendency to remember everything she said, and sometimes she didn't think through the consequences of her words first. Even when she was right, Luke could still apply them to situations she hadn't considered before. He made her life more interesting, if nothing else. "Humans like to follow the herd. Just look at fashion." Finishing her toast, she washed it down with a mouthful of tea.

"So people like wearing school uniform because they all look the same?"

Sarah sighed. "No, not really." She'd hated hers, although she suspected that even if it had barely been a uniform at all she would have felt the same. It's just the way things were. That was something that was complicated to describe, though. Luke really needed to spend more time with people, then he would understand them far better than she could explain.

He frowned at her, waiting expectantly for an explanation to her contradiction.

She rubbed her face with her hands. It was too early for this and she needed more tea; her tea intake had doubled since adopting Luke. "I really don't have the energy for this now," she said, looking back up at him. She was still trying to work out what an acceptable bedtime was for a thirteen year old, although she had a tendency to not notice the passing of time anyway. They'd both stayed up too late the previous night as Luke had an insatiable curiosity about the world and hadn't stopped with his questions until after midnight.

He seemed to need far less sleep than she did too and was up not long after dawn. Used to living on her own, the noise of someone else in the house suggested something bad, so him getting up always woke her up. She hated to berate him for it, though, because he was quiet and she couldn't expect him to lie in bed for hours. She would have to get used to it and stick with the tea in the meantime.

She really didn't need more of the same this morning. "Why don't you go and ask Mr Smith?" For a moment she wondered what had possessed her to adopt him rather than handing him over to UNIT.

He nodded and got up, obediently.

It was only once he'd left the room that Sarah realised how much of a cliché she'd become in a short time. She'd just given up and said, 'ask your father'. Except since Luke didn't have anyone he could call a father, she'd done the equivalent with Mr Smith, who certainly wasn't qualified to answer questions about humanity.

And yet hadn't she been the same as him as a child, always asking questions? The Doctor had called her on it when they first met. She wondered how much she'd annoyed Aunt Lavinia, who'd had no one else to turn to, yet had managed fine. If Aunt Lavinia could do it, she could. After all, she didn't want to change Luke - she liked him just the way he was.

Feeling guilty, she went to the bottom of the stairs and called up. "Luke!"

His head appeared at the top of the stairs, above the banister. "Yes?"

She smiled "Make us some more tea and I'll answer any questions you like." She wasn't above a bit of bribery, after all.

He bounded down the stairs with all the energy of the teenage boy he appeared to be.

Sarah stopped him at the bottom with a hand on his shoulder. "Don't stop asking questions," she said, "it's the best way to learn."

He smiled back and headed for the kitchen.

As she followed him, she started to think that maybe motherhood wasn't going to be that bad after all.

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Fandom: Sarah Jane Adventures | Type: Character: Luke Smith, Character: Sarah Jane Smith, Length: Vignette, Type: Gen | Link

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