paranoidangel42

Rating: G
Beta: hhertzof
Summary: Jo meets Gita.
Notes: For dbskyler

Sarah Jane was out, which Jo hadn't accounted for. There was nothing she could do from outside the house, so she turned away from the front door and was walking down the drive when a voice called out.

"Are you looking for Sarah?" Across the road a woman closed the door of a van with "Bloomin' Lovely" printed on the side.

Jo waited until she'd reached the pavement on this side before answering. "I am. Do you know where she is?"

"She went out. Took my daughter with her. Rani wants to be a journalist and Sarah's so good to her, showing her the ropes."

Given what she'd heard, chances were that Sarah Jane had gone to investigate something alien and could be gone a while. But Jo couldn't wait.

"Can I help?" the woman asked, while Jo was thinking about what to do next.

"I just came to give her this." Jo pulled a grey object the size of a mobile phone out of her pocket. Given all the alien activity in the area, this woman was bound to know what to do with it while Sarah Jane was out.

"Oh, what is it?" Before Jo could protest the woman took the object from her hand, at which point it turned into a spidery-like thing. Surprised, the woman screamed and dropped it. The spider ran off down the road, clicking as it went.

"We have to catch it!" Jo started after it.

"It's just a spider," the woman complained, but at least she was running too.

"It's not just a spider," Jo replied. "It's designed to send signals into space to let invaders know where to land."

"We don't want the French over here."

Jo supposed that was a code word for aliens. They were in the middle of Ealing after all and should probably be careful about what they said. "There it is!" She managed to put on a burst of speed and caught one of its legs with the tip of her boot.

"Well done," the woman said, panting beside her.

Their victory was short-lived because the spider just detached that leg and carried on.

"Oh, no, you don't." The woman took off her shoe and threw it at the spider. Jo couldn't tell if it was luck or a good aim, but she hit it and the spider went still.

Jo picked it up. It looked like a dead, grey, robotic spider now.

"Don't let it fall into enemy hands," the woman said.

"I think it's dead." It should have folded up back into its original shape, but it just lay there, lifeless. Jo stroked it, to no effect.

"Well, we won't be invaded, will we? Got to look on the bright side."

Jo smiled. There was no point in explaining where it had come from and that the aliens who'd left it were threatening violence unless they got it back. She hadn't even meant to take it in the first place. But all she said was, "Thank you for your help." It would have been worse if she hadn't got the spider back.

"You're welcome, my darling." The woman smiled at her and walked back up to the van she'd come from.

Jo put the spider in her pocket and left a message on Sarah Jane's voice mail. Which, she reflected, she should have done in the first place.