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The TARDIS materialized in the middle of the living room of Bannerman Road number 13. It seemed out of place yet so at home. Luke stared at the odd blue box in front of him. His face was tear stained and he hadn't slept in days. Seeing the Doctor arrive days after what happened only made him realize how fickle time could be and how horrible timing was sometimes.
The Doctor cautiously stepped out of his trusted spaceship and frowned at Luke's appearance, "Luke?" he asked with a slight tone of worry and concern in his voice.
"You're late," Luke croaked out.
"I know," The Doctor nodded sadly and sat down on the couch next to the young boy, "it was a fixed point in time, I couldn't...I couldn't have prevented this," he shook his head sadly.
"You could've tried!" Luke jumped from the couch and scowled at the Doctor. He was a time lord. He could travel in time and space. Surely he could've come earlier and taken Sarah Jane to a hospital in the future where she could've been cured. Where she could've been saved. Where she could've survived and lived to spend another day with Luke.
He looked upon the Doctor's face, the oh-so-young features looked older than they actually were and for a moment, Luke saw the pain and grief in the time lord's eyes. He might have lost his mother but the Doctor. The Doctor had just lost the one thing he really loved in this universe. The only thing he would've ruptured time itself for and yet, he hadn't.
"Luke," the Doctor said softly, "you know I couldn't have even if I tried."
"Why not?!" Luke cried, "you loved her! You can travel in time and space! There must've been one way or another you could've saved her!"
"Her death, as tragic as it was, is a fixed point in time. I've known this day would come since the day I met her. I've told her and she made me promise that I would not interfere. She knew her time was up Luke. She knew that everything has it's time and everything has to end. She knew that, better than anyone."
Luke swallowed and looked down at his feet. Tears fell down his cheeks and on his sweater. He hugged himself and shook his head. He refused to believe that his mother was gone. Gone by the one thing that humanity could not cure yet. Cancer.
The Doctor stood up and embraced Luke, letting the boy cry on his tweed jacket. His hands rubbed the back of the young boy as he comforted Luke. As he hugged Sarah Jane's son, tears fell down the ancient face of the time lord.