Chapter Text
Yaz slammed her car door closed before banging her head against the steering wheel a few times. While she got on fairly well with most people at work, sometimes, they could just be so … aggravating.
“It’s the night shift in Sheffield, Yaz,” she mimicked. “Everything’s out of the ordinary. Stupid -” bang “- bloody -” bang “-men!” beeeeeeeeep.
She shot back up with a jump, then sheepishly waved at an elderly couple walking in front of her car who had stopped when she blared her horn. They frowned suspiciously back at her before continuing on their way. Yaz fell back in her seat, exhausted.
It had been one hell of a weird day so far. First, those ladies who had to call the police because they had smashed each other’s cars up on purpose over parking spaces. Then, seeing Ryan Sinclair, who she hadn’t thought about in years, alongside that gourd-looking thing. And that woman…
She said she didn’t remember her name, but who can’t remember their own name? And the way she had just taken control… it reminded Yaz of the men in her life who took control because they thought they knew more than she did. Maybe this woman did know more about aliens than Yaz, and she did say that she had been a man thirty minutes ago, which explained her manners while simultaneously raising a whole host of other questions. But Yaz was the police officer. With a badge. And this woman couldn’t even remember her own name. Now that she was away from that woman, with her quick wits and uncanny eyes and inane comments and disarming smile, Yaz could finally think clearly. Should she just do what the woman said and keep this incident at the train quiet? Or should she report it?
A light flicked off in the building in front of her and Yaz shook herself out of her stupor. Turning her key in the ignition, Yaz put on her seatbelt and drove home quickly to change out of her police uniform. Then, heart in throat, she drove over to where she had dropped Grace, Ryan and the woman off.
After pulling into a parking spot, Yaz shifted her coat, fiddled with her keys, and double checked that her headlights were off. Finally, with nothing else to feasibly do in the car to put off the time when she would have to face that woman and Ryan again, she got out. Heart beating a faster tempo in her ears, she quickly knocked. Footsteps echoed in the hall, and suddenly, Grace had pulled the door open.
“Yaz, love, come in.”
“Thanks, Ryan’s nan,” she said, stepping through the doorway. “Is she around?”
“Yes, but hush,” said Grace, gesturing towards the living room.
“Hey, Yaz,” said Ryan, looking up from his tablet as she entered the kitchen. “Find out anything interesting?”
“Nah, you?”
“Not really, no.”
He turned back to his tablet, and Yaz took the opportunity to study him. Ryan had grown up a lot since she had last seen him, all arms and legs and ribs. With the light from his tablet reflecting off his face, he looked so adult that it was hard to see the boy he had once been.
“Ryan, love. She’s doing it again,” Grace called softly.
“Freaky,” he muttered.
“She’s doing what again?” asked Yaz. Ryan looked up from his tablet and gestured over to the couch in the living room. Curious, Yaz walked over, Ryan trailing slightly behind.
The woman lay on the couch in just her waistcoat and shirt, with the sleeves pushed around the elbows. Yaz took the opportunity to study her face: smooth, asleep, possibly around thirty years old, and quite honestly, very pretty. Then she jumped. On the woman’s exposed forearms, little flickers of gold light trailed and swirled beneath the surface of the skin. As Yaz watched, the trails travelled up her body, lighting the way through her white shirt, until it reached her face, casting it in an ethereal glow. As the light got brighter and brighter, the woman exhaled, a ball of the light drifting up from her lips as she did so.
“What the hell is that?” Yaz asked, eyes wide.
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Grace said. “But that’s not even the weirdest part.” Yaz turned to look at Grace, who gestured towards the woman’s bare arms. “I took her pulse. She has two of them.”
“Two what? Pulses?” Yaz said, slightly incredulous. Grace nodded. “How is that possible? And why is she asleep? She didn’t seem like the type of person to just nod off while others are working.”
“She stuck her finger up her nose and told us she was going to pass out in nineteen seconds,” Ryan informed her. “Then she collapsed. Nan and I decided to let her sleep, especially since Nan had just seen her literally fall out of the sky and into the train.”
Yaz shook her head. Curiouser and curiouser.
“That was a really impressive jump you did back there.”
The woman looked over at Yaz as she came up to lean next to her on a police car. Siren lights flashed through the air as police officers combed the grounds, taking statements from Ryan and Graham. The lights played over the woman’s face, and Yaz suddenly fought the urge to laugh as she remembered the woman’s childish request to turn on Yaz’s sirens earlier in the day. Then she remembered those eerie lights under the woman’s skin as she slept, unaware of Yaz, Ryan and Grace staring at her.
Grace…
Drawing her weird, overlarge suit more snugly around her shoulders, the woman folded her arms and smiled at Yaz, whose stomach did a small flip.
“Thanks. Couldn’t have done it without your help though.”
“You’re welcome,” Yaz replied with a returning smile, knocking the other woman’s shoulder gently with her own. “So, what are you going to do now?”
The woman paused. Her eyes trailed after two medics walking past them, wheeling a stretcher with a body covered in a white sheet on it. The medics took it to a nearby ambulance and hoisted it up into the back, then shut the doors with a thunk that had a certain finality to it. Only after the medics walked away did she answer.
“Oh, I don’t know. Stick around for a couple of days, then off to find my TARDIS, I suppose. Keep traveling around.”
“Well if you ever want a job as a police officer in Sheffield, I’m sure we’d be glad to have someone who knows so much about aliens,” said Yaz, half hoping the woman would say yes. She didn’t know much about her, and hadn’t known her for long, but Yaz was sure of one thing; she did not want this insane woman to simply disappear from her life.
“Nah, not really the life for me,” said the woman with a smile. “But I thank you for the offer. By the way, we were never really properly introduced.” The woman stuck out one hand, leaving the other folded across her chest. “I’m the Doctor.”
“The Doctor? Not a very alien sounding name. That sounds more like a spy cover name, like Q, or Bond,” said Yaz. The woma… Doctor laughed as Yaz took her hand. “Well, very nice to meet you, Doctor. I’m Yasmin Khan. But you can call me Yaz.”