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Stick with me, Yaz, cause I control…everything.
The Doctor’s brings them back to Earth for a few days, and leaves them to their own devices while she messes around with the TARDIS’s insides. Yaz checks in with her family and even manages to stay long enough to have her patience tested as she sits through lunch with them. She loves them, but as soon as she walks out the door, she feels a sense of relief.
She walks through the streets of Sheffield alone, and feels like she sees so much more than she had a year ago. There are so many people, so many lives, filled with hope and happiness, loss and anger, patience and wonder. It’s strange, she thinks, that going travelling across time and space has made her appreciate home all the more. And not in the way she might have expected: she doesn’t long to stay, but there’s more to Earth that she’d ever realised.
She’s so occupied with her thoughts that she doesn’t notice the Master until he steps out in front of her.
“Hello Yaz.” He gives her a little wave.
She stares at him, not processing who she was seeing for a moment.
“You look well,” he says, raising his eyebrows. “Nothing to say?”
She steps backwards and into another pedestrian, who mutters angrily at her. Yaz apologises, and realises she’s taken her eyes of the Master. When she looks back, he’s grinning.
“Careful,” he says. “We wouldn’t want an accident.”
She licks her lips, and the Master’s eyes flick to her mouth, for just a moment. “What do you want?”
He considers. “A little chaos, a sprinkle of superweapons, and just a pinch of galactic domination…would you like to go for a coffee?”
“No.”
His mouth twitches into an almost smile. “I know that sounded like a question, but it really wasn’t.”
“Still no.”
He lowers his voice to a murmur and leans closer to her. “Say that again and I’ll start shrinking these hapless little people we’re surrounded by.”
Yaz swallows, and then she nods.
“Brilliant,” the Master says, grinning. He takes her arm and when she tries to pull away, he tightens his grip in a silent threat.
-
It’s a nice coffee shop, and it’s very good coffee. The Master orders for both of them, and she’s disconcerted that he knows what she likes.
“One café latte with chocolate sprinkles,” he says, placing it in front of her with a small flourish. “And, I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of ordering you cake. Lemon drizzle. It’s rather good.”
He drops into the chair opposite. His own coffee’s black with a touch of milk, accompanied by an oversized chocolate chip cookie.
Yaz takes the smallest sip of coffee. The Master raises his own cup and looks over the rim at her. “Very trusting,” he says.
“What would be the point in poisoning me?”
He shrugs. “Might be a good laugh.”
“Then why bother with the cake?”
“Ah. Good point.”
She sips at the coffee, and nibbles at the cake. He watches her, and she tries to ignore him.
“It’s almost impressive,” he says eventually, “how calm you are when you know I could kill you any moment.”
She meets his eyes. “Thank you.”
“Courtesy too?” He laughs. “I like that, Yaz, I like that a lot.”
He finishes his coffee and plants his elbows on the tables, laces his fingers together and rests his chin on top of them. “Don’t you want to know why you’re here?”
“You threatened to kill innocent people.”
He rolls his eyes. “Apart from that.”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me when you’re ready.” Her voice is steady, and she’s able to look straight at him. His face dances between irritation and something that she doesn’t understand.
“Do you remember when we met?”
Of course she does. She remembers first setting eyes on him and her little indrawn breath at how handsome he was. She remembers him looking at her with those dark and beautiful eyes, the way he gave her a little half-smile that made her think he might like the look of her too.
She looks down at the table. “Yes.”
He reaches across the table and takes her hand in both of his, pulls it towards him. His skin is cool and his grip is firm. She doesn’t bother trying to pull away.
“I don’t recall any of the Doctor’s little pets looking at me that way before.”
She flushes and bites down on her bottom lip.
“Of course,” he goes on, “they all knew who I was when they met me. With one or two exceptions, but even then there were reasons why they never would.”
His thumbs move in soft circles over her palm. She doesn’t like it, she tells herself, it’s not causing goosebumps up her arms.
“I liked the way you looked at me.”
She finds her voice. “I fancied you,” and she feels better for saying it out loud, “but like you said, I didn’t know you.”
“Humans, as a rule, are tedious creature. But, on occasion, I find one who’s pleasantly distracting. And you all look so Gallifreyan.” He takes a deep breath, briefly shutting his eyes. “Can I tell you a secret, Yaz? I wouldn’t have minded waiting a few more days before the Doctor found out who I was. I think you might have enjoyed that.”
She tries to snatch her hand back, but he grabs her wrist and squeezes. Not enough to hurt, but there’s a warning in the strength of his grasp. Her heart beats fast, and she’s afraid now, really afraid, and something else. Something stupid. Something she doesn’t want to acknowledge.
“No,” she says, not quite so firmly as she wants to.
He smiles, not the way that the Master smiles, all threat and malice, but the way that O had smiled. “Didn’t we have fun at the casino? Didn’t you like the way my arms felt wrapped around you on that motorbike?”
She stares down her empty coffee mug and doesn’t answer; his grip on her wrist tightens.
“Yes,” she says.
“Say that again, and this time look at me.”
She swallows and looks up; it’s O looking back at her.
“Yes.”
And he’s the Master again. She lets out a shaky breath and he leans in towards her.
“Shh, it’s okay, Yaz. I’m not going to hurt you, not today anyway.”
She wants to spit out that he’s already hurt her, but she knows that’s a bad idea. Stay strong, she thinks, stay calm.
He looks down at her plate and abandoned slice of cake. “All done? Good. Let’s go for a walk. A breath of fresh air is what you need.”
Again, he takes her arm in hers, and leads her outside. Yaz looks around, hoping desperately the Doctor might somehow have sensed what was going on and was rushing in to rescue her.
No such luck.
The park was quiet, and the Master pulled her down to sit next to him at the first bench they passed.
“I enjoyed being O,” he says conversationally. “I got to play all sorts of games I usually don’t bother with.” He looks down at her, and it scares her, how much she’s not hating this. It’s dangerous, and she has a taste for danger now. And in so many ways, he’s so much like the Doctor. Too much like her.
He raises his hand to her face and strokes her cheek. She doesn’t pull away. “She always keeps such pretty companions,” he says. “Mostly just pointless decoration, of course, but sometimes I can see her point.”
He whispers in her ear: “Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you look at her too.”
She stiffens, and then forces herself to relax. There’s nothing wrong with her feelings for the Doctor, nothing shameful about them. “Yeah,” she says. “So what? She’s an amazing person.”
“So am I, Yasmin Khan. You just don’t understand that yet.”
He tilts his head slightly as he looks at her, his eyes dark and possessing a depth that should have been terrifying. He leans closer and gently lift her chin. Her eyes close and a part of her screams to not let this happen. She shouldn’t want this, shouldn’t want him.
She’s never dreamt that a kiss could feel this way. Heat laces through her body as he takes possession of her mouth. His lips are cool and soft and demanding. His hand moves to briefly touch her temple and she feels a flash of something golden and electric rush through her that elicits an involuntary moan of pleasure.
He releases her, and her first instinct is to reach towards him. The satisfied smile on his face tells her that he knows exactly how she’s feeling.
“I think that’s enough for today,” he says, getting to his feet.
She wants to protest, which she knows is wrong. Very, very wrong.
“Tell the Doctor I said hello.”
And with that he’s walking away.
She sits on the bench, watching him. When he’s almost out of sight he turns around and gives her a little wave.