Title: Our Days Begin With Trouble

Summary: And it was shaping up to be such a inice/i afternoon...

Notes: For Infiniteviking's fandomstocking. Sorry I didn't have time for plot, but I hope you enjoy this anyway :)

Sarah Jane opened the door and stared at the two men in front of her. The taller one was beaming at her with a smile so mad and alien, for a moment she thought it was the Doctor's new regeneration...while the shorter blond was trying to look inoffensive and harmless.

Crossing her arms, she glared at them. "Assuming you're not door-to-door Bible salesmen, what do you want?" A quick glance down at the monitor on her wrist confirmed that they weren't alien.

The mad smile was gone on the instant and he studied her with interest. "I'm here to ask you about the aliens."

"Sherlock!" the shorter man said, wincing. "That's...I mean..."

"What he's trying to say," Sarah Jane said tartly, "is that usually people work up to that kind of statement. You'd best come in if you're going to be like that."

Stepping back, she watched them carefully. The shorter one was armed, she was sure of it. Ex-military. For some reason, her instincts said the Brig would like him.

And sure enough, he held out his hand and smiled. "Good afternoon, Ms. Smith. My name is John Watson and the rude tosser over here is Sherlock Holmes."

And that was when she realized why the name was familiar. Eyebrows up, she waved them into the living room. "Just out of curiosity, why do you think I know anything about aliens?"

Sherlock's eyes darted around the room as he entered. "You mean besides the fifteen items in this room that cannot possibly be of Earth origin?"

Sitting down on the couch, she looked at him. "Seventeen, actually. Well, nineteen now that I'm in here as well."

John snickered softly as Sherlock looked around again, obviously annoyed by his failure. "Ms. Smith," he said as he sat comfortably down in a chair and watched Sherlock prowl around the room and mutter to himself, "we're actually here to ask for your assistance on a case."

"If aliens are involved, I'm likely to help you, but I really do need to know how you found me. I'm...rather careful about that. I'm not exactly the type to give myself away on a website."

Sherlock whirled around, coat flapping behind him, and she was once again irresistibly reminded of the Doctor. (She couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.) "The clues were there for anyone with the wit to see. Your article last year on Anjatech. Disappearances in Brixton. The hypnotic broadcast-"

She held up her hand. "I see. We'll come back to that." She looked at the two of them and they looked back. With a sigh, she leaned her head back. "Luke? Why don't you, Clyde, and Rani come down. It seems we have a problem."

John smiled and Sherlock nodded in satisfaction. Oh dear, she thought, this was going to be...interesting. Well, at least the Doctor wasn't here. Somehow she suspected that he and Sherlock would get on like a house afire. Literally. And she was rather fond of this house.

Naturally, that was when she heard a wheezing sound from her back garden, just as the kids pelted down the steps.

Really, Sarah Jane thought with a sigh, this had been shaping up to be such a nice relaxing afternoon. On past experience, now she'd be lucky if she came out of it alive.

-end-