![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grav_ityI was looking through a file and I found a story I had forgotten I ever wrote. And for some reason, it's Doctor Who. Well, Doctor Who Ish.
AN: er…WHY? I blame TWoP for making me think and lj for not stopping me.
Spoilers: All of Dr. Who (Ten) though vaguely, and The Sarah Jane Adventures
Disclaimer: I am not even British.
Rating: Kid Friendly
Summary: Sarah Jane was never entirely sure how it happened.
------
Tea for Two
Sarah Jane was never entirely sure how it happened. She had stopped in a shop for tea, something she almost never did because it was silly and frivolous and you could do it cheaper at home, and then all of a sudden her table for two was full. Sarah Jane was used to things happening suddenly because they always did, but this was not entirely what she’d had in mind when she’d stopped in here.
The woman was older than she was, seventy years old maybe, but still strong and probably older than she looked. There was something about her eyes that Sarah Jane couldn’t identify, something familiar. This woman had seen the world.
“Do you mind if I sit here, love? It’s closer to the door.” Sarah Jane nodded, unsure of what to say and very much aware that it wasn’t so much a question as a report of status.
“You’ve a look about you that I like.” The woman continued. “Something about your eyes. She had it too…the girl I met. She told me the war would end and we would win it and I didn’t believe her, but she was right.”
Sarah Jane set down her tea cup and rattled the saucer. She picked up her napkin and tried not to look too flustered.
“He…now he was crazy. But I couldn’t help but trust him. And he saved us. Not from the war, of course, we did that ourselves later. I think. Anyway, he saved my son and he saved me.” She took a sip of tea. “What did he do to you?”
No one on Earth understood what made the pretty red-head in the tea-shop cry. But the old woman who passed her a handkerchief thought she might have an idea.
------
The first time Maria came for tea they had lemonade instead, but when Maria was grown up and safe and happy, Sarah Jane always served tea. They talked of the school Maria went to (on a scholarship, no less, though her entrance essay had to be carefully edited) and of boys and every now and then, Maria would ask about taking over some day and Sarah Jane would always laugh and refuse.
One day Maria brought a letter with her. It was a job offer. She always brought her job offers to Sarah Jane. So far, no fewer than three alien backed corporations had try to snap her up, and Maria had learned that caution and collaboration could go a long way in regards to maintaining gainful employment.
“It’s Torchwood, Sarah Jane.” They had long ago dispensed with ‘Miss Smith’. “I’ll only take it if you let me work for you on the inside.”
“What could I possibly want on the inside of Torchwood?” Sarah Jane asked.
“I could smuggle you things…I could pretend to spy on you for them…I could – ”
“No.” Sarah Jane cut her off. “No. You take the job, you work for Torchwood. They do good things there, sometimes. Not the way I would do them, but they do make steps forward.”
“As if I could ever work for them after working with you.”
“Be patient, my dear. Someday, you’ll find out what you’re supposed to do. Even if it doesn’t happen until you’re old like me.”
They turn to other things, then, and laugh and chat like the old days. Neither of them looks upwards as the stars peep out. When Maria leaves and Sarah Jane hears the sound that cannot be mistaken for anything else on the other side of the fence, she closes the door to block it out.
------
Sarah Jane has a tea cup that she never uses. She bought it in 2006 and it has sat on the shelf ever since. She dusts it and moves it occasionally, but she never drinks from it. That cup is for someone special; the only other person on Earth quite like her.
Sarah Jane wonders where he left Rose that she can never come for tea.
------
finis
GravityNotIncluded, January 4, 2007
I know only a few of you are Who people. Is there another place I can pass this along?
AN: er…WHY? I blame TWoP for making me think and lj for not stopping me.
Spoilers: All of Dr. Who (Ten) though vaguely, and The Sarah Jane Adventures
Disclaimer: I am not even British.
Rating: Kid Friendly
Summary: Sarah Jane was never entirely sure how it happened.
------
Tea for Two
Sarah Jane was never entirely sure how it happened. She had stopped in a shop for tea, something she almost never did because it was silly and frivolous and you could do it cheaper at home, and then all of a sudden her table for two was full. Sarah Jane was used to things happening suddenly because they always did, but this was not entirely what she’d had in mind when she’d stopped in here.
The woman was older than she was, seventy years old maybe, but still strong and probably older than she looked. There was something about her eyes that Sarah Jane couldn’t identify, something familiar. This woman had seen the world.
“Do you mind if I sit here, love? It’s closer to the door.” Sarah Jane nodded, unsure of what to say and very much aware that it wasn’t so much a question as a report of status.
“You’ve a look about you that I like.” The woman continued. “Something about your eyes. She had it too…the girl I met. She told me the war would end and we would win it and I didn’t believe her, but she was right.”
Sarah Jane set down her tea cup and rattled the saucer. She picked up her napkin and tried not to look too flustered.
“He…now he was crazy. But I couldn’t help but trust him. And he saved us. Not from the war, of course, we did that ourselves later. I think. Anyway, he saved my son and he saved me.” She took a sip of tea. “What did he do to you?”
No one on Earth understood what made the pretty red-head in the tea-shop cry. But the old woman who passed her a handkerchief thought she might have an idea.
------
The first time Maria came for tea they had lemonade instead, but when Maria was grown up and safe and happy, Sarah Jane always served tea. They talked of the school Maria went to (on a scholarship, no less, though her entrance essay had to be carefully edited) and of boys and every now and then, Maria would ask about taking over some day and Sarah Jane would always laugh and refuse.
One day Maria brought a letter with her. It was a job offer. She always brought her job offers to Sarah Jane. So far, no fewer than three alien backed corporations had try to snap her up, and Maria had learned that caution and collaboration could go a long way in regards to maintaining gainful employment.
“It’s Torchwood, Sarah Jane.” They had long ago dispensed with ‘Miss Smith’. “I’ll only take it if you let me work for you on the inside.”
“What could I possibly want on the inside of Torchwood?” Sarah Jane asked.
“I could smuggle you things…I could pretend to spy on you for them…I could – ”
“No.” Sarah Jane cut her off. “No. You take the job, you work for Torchwood. They do good things there, sometimes. Not the way I would do them, but they do make steps forward.”
“As if I could ever work for them after working with you.”
“Be patient, my dear. Someday, you’ll find out what you’re supposed to do. Even if it doesn’t happen until you’re old like me.”
They turn to other things, then, and laugh and chat like the old days. Neither of them looks upwards as the stars peep out. When Maria leaves and Sarah Jane hears the sound that cannot be mistaken for anything else on the other side of the fence, she closes the door to block it out.
------
Sarah Jane has a tea cup that she never uses. She bought it in 2006 and it has sat on the shelf ever since. She dusts it and moves it occasionally, but she never drinks from it. That cup is for someone special; the only other person on Earth quite like her.
Sarah Jane wonders where he left Rose that she can never come for tea.
------
finis
GravityNotIncluded, January 4, 2007
I know only a few of you are Who people. Is there another place I can pass this along?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 03:14 pm (UTC)As far as other places to post, there's
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 03:37 pm (UTC)The world keeps getting bigger...:)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 04:17 pm (UTC)Ouch. Cuts right to the quick there. Lovely glimpse into Sarah Jane!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 11:06 pm (UTC)That cup is for someone special; the only other person on Earth quite like her.
Sarah Jane wonders where he left Rose that she can never come for tea.
Those last two lines are amazing paired together. Although, it makes me wonder if Sarah Jane doesn’t believe the list of the dead that had to’ve come out after the whole thing with Torchwood.
And even though her friendship with Maria is such a large part of the fic, there’s still that feeling of loneliness that sits, waiting in the periphery. And then it just comes out into the forefront with the last two lines.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 12:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-21 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-21 06:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-21 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-26 06:01 pm (UTC)Keeeep writing!!! :) (and sorry again for the late review!!!)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-27 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-27 04:19 pm (UTC)