Chapter Text
You sat on the floor of the console room, the quilt from your bed draped around your shoulders. You were relaxing in the open doorway of the TARDIS, which was floating around deep in space, offering a gorgeous view of a sea of stars. The Doctor sat beside you, silently sharing the moment.
“Is dinosaur pasta a real thing?” She asked out of nowhere, leaning back against the doorframe.
“We’re floating around in space and you’re asking about pasta?” You scoffed, a giggle escaping your lips.
“Yeah. I’ve heard of it, is it real?”
You shook your head at how random the question was. “Yeah, it is. Back on Earth we have pasta in the shape of dinosaurs. In the 21st Century, anyway.”
She furrowed her brows. “Out of everything, why would you choose to make pasta out of a prehistoric creature?”
“I don’t know. They come in many shapes and sizes, but the dinosaur shape is popular with kids. Adults, too,” you shrugged. Never really gave it much thought.
“Oh, I’d try it,” She exclaimed. “Is it good?”
You couldn’t help but smile at her fascination of the tiniest things within the strange human culture you took for granted. It was endearing. “It is pretty good, yeah. Next time we’re there, I’ll find some.” Plus, the idea of using the fully decked-out fancy TARDIS kitchen to cook something as mundane as dinosaur-shaped pasta seemed pretty entertaining.
A bright grin lit up her face. So many lifetimes, so many years lived, and yet she was so easy to surprise. You rested your hand on your chin and gazed back at the stars in wonder, swiftly jumping from the pasta conversation back to pondering the universe, as one does.
“Where abouts are we?” You asked her. A question you knew would be met with a very long-winded and scattered answer, but you just enjoyed listening to her ramble, and wanted to give her an excuse to do so.
She shuffled a little closer to you until your shoulders were touching. You softly rested your head on her shoulder, and you could feel her arm snaking around your side and pulling you tighter to her. A feeling of contentment washed over you.
“Do you know of the Andromeda Galaxy?” She asked.
“Rings a bell.”
“It’s a galaxy about 2.5 million light years from the Milky Way in your time. Nearest major galaxy to you. Beautiful place, so much to see. Haven’t been in a while, there’s a planet where the trees talk, and another where the sky always has a rainbow due to a natural phenomenon not seen anywhere else in the galaxy, and… am I rambling?”
“Yes, but go on.”
“…Yeah, and anyway, good place. But Andromeda and the Milky Way are moving towards each other, very slowly. Well, actually, very fast, but to humans on Earth, it appears slow. Very slow. About four billion years into your future, the two galaxies will collide, passing through each other and converging.”
You gasped softly. “That’s really cool. I bet the sky would look awesome.”
“You’re looking at it right now.”
You sat up a little straighter and gazed at the stars with a newfound wonder. In front of you were millions of stars, glowing bright and colourful.
“What you’re seeing is the compressed gas and dust collapsing and forming new stars. This far in your future, humans have long since left the Earth. The surface is too hot to host any life nowadays, anyway. They’re missing out on this view! Pretty cool, eh?”
“That would be an understatement,” you exclaimed.
You glanced over and noticed that she was looking right at you, and the two of you shared a soft smile. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she jumped to her feet, bolting over to the console.
“Oh, tell you what,” she began, waving her arms around. “I’ve got an idea. Hold tight. Actually, can you close the doors?”
“Already? Can’t we stay a little longer?”
“I’m about to make it better,” she grinned, bounding around the console, punching in coordinates. You rose to your feet and hesitantly creaked the doors shut on the spectacular view beyond.
“Come over here,” she called out. You dropped the blanket from your shoulders and walked over. She grabbed your hand, the warmth from her skin immediately spreading across your fingers, and guided it over to a big lever on the console. Ah. You knew the deal.
You glanced at her, her fingers interlocked with yours, resting on top of the lever. She had a keen look in her eyes.
“Ready? Okay, one, two…”
She pulled your hand down, and with it the lever, setting the TARDIS in motion. A warm feeling blossomed in your chest. As she pulled her arm back from the lever, your fingers remained intertwined.
You bolted forward, using your free hand to grab her other one. She turned her head in surprise and met your gaze. Although you’d shut the doors on the view, you could’ve sworn you still saw the birth of thousands of new stars reflected in her eyes. The TARDIS came to a halt with a thud, and the Doctor gestured towards the doors.
“There’s a whole new world beyond those doors. Wanna go take a look?”
“Always,” you exclaimed, and she darted for the door, dragging you along behind her.
She swung it open, revealing a wide-open field with short blue grass and glowing wildflowers all around. It seemed to be nighttime, and in the distance were towering, pointy mountains covered in low-hanging clouds. She tugged you forward until you were fully standing outside, allowing you to take in the view in its entirety.
You looked up, and what you saw took your breath away immediately. It was exactly like the view from earlier; two galaxies colliding, but this time, with an added green-blue aurora dancing across the night sky. It looked like a computer wallpaper or a scene from a science fiction movie; not something that should be real. But here it was, real as anything. The convergence of two worlds, happening right in front of your eyes.
“Braxenus C15, a cosy little planet a fair way’s away from your home,” the Doctor explained, throwing her arms up and spinning on her heels. “Think Earth, but taller mountain ranges, more lush, and… well, pretty spectacular skies.”
“It’s incredible,” the words practically fell out of your mouth, although there really weren’t any words to describe just how amazing it all was.
A pair of hands landed on your shoulders as you continued to look up at the sky. She moved her arms down a little, criss-crossing them over your chest, hugging you from behind. She rested her chin on your shoulder as the two of you looked at the stars together.
“Pretty cool, right?”
“I did say that, yeah,” you scoffed lovingly, bringing your hands up to intertwine them with hers.
You tipped your head to the side, leaning against hers. Stray blonde hairs tickled your temples and you closed your eyes, relishing the moment. The air was brisk, but not uncomfortably cold; her closeness was more than enough to keep you warm.
“It’s not difficult to impress you, but I wanted to take you somewhere extra special,” she said.
“Oh, you’ve outdone yourself,” you grinned. “This is fantastic.”
Eventually, the two of you ended up sitting in the grass, gently leaning into each other and discussing the view in front of you. The Doctor went on to explain how civilisations will be born from these new stars, and how many centuries from now, there would be a towering city with a bustling space port right where you were sitting. She also mentioned how they do fantastic pastries, and how she must take you back here for a visit in the future so you could try them for yourself.
For the time being, however, you were perfectly content right there in that moment; sharing it with her, with an impossible view spread out in front of you. You returned to comfortable silence for a little while longer.
At last, she turned her attention to you, pressing a soft kiss to the side of your head.
“Have a think about where you’d like to go next. Wherever you’d like.”
You gave a nod, looking up at the stars, searching for an answer in the vast expanse in front of you.
“Anywhere with you is good.”