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2456
“Y’know, if you really wanted a bath they had a huge pool on the fifth floor.” Yaz quipped softly sitting next to the Doctor outside the TARDIS. The damp grass licked Yaz’s jeans, and she shivered. The Doctor didn’t notice, her body was soaked already, and her eyes sunken like walnut shells staring into space on Veluxian four.
“What happened Yaz.”
Yaz frowned in confusion, not sure whether that was a genuine question or not. The Doctor didn’t look at her, didn’t pat on her the shoulder awkwardly and suddenly stand up like she was about to join a live band in two minutes on stage. The timelord kept breathing like she was too old for time herself, waterdrops falling on her face, her lips frozen, her eyes barely moving, her shoulders- slumped.
“Petro and Sabier are fine, you know that. Everyone is safe Doctor. We’re safe.” Yaz reached for the Doctors hands and gasped at how stone cold they were, she made a mental note to ask the TARDIS for extra heating when they went back inside- as well as extra pillows, the fluffy ones.
“What happened?” The Doctor turned her head pleadingly at Yaz, staring at the younger human as if she was a book herself and she was searching for added meaning, hidden symbolism that weren’t the words themselves.
“Oh.” Yaz realized the Doctor wasn’t asking about how she had prevented a fission explosion in the lunchroom on educatius 67 by erupting the waterpipes. She was asking so much more than that. “We’re gonna find him, find the answers.” Yaz squeezed the Doctors hand tighter.
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Why you say that?”
“Everything is always impossible with the Master, he is like a vulture, picking on his prey yet gone as soon as you try to catch him.”
“It’s a good job you are the definition of impossible then.”
The Doctor squeezed back.
2015
“Yaz you forgot to take pictures of your yearbook!” The Doctor called out. The Khan household was quiet. Everyone was at work, or school- or down the local chippy picking up Jamie’s phone number, which would come to no conclusion when in 2016 Sonya Khan saw Jamie snog Beatrice Barrymore at the second most memorable party of the year. As Sonya would recall in 2024, Taylor Swift was so not hot that year, but Ed Sheeran totally was and music is what sets the party popularity points.
After two trips to 2022 Sheffield at the request of the Doctor herself to try and fight the guilt of taking the Khans eldest daughter away from normal humanity, three request stops to 2021 to visit Graham and Ryan from Yaz, Yaz and the Doctor was starting to crave the wider universe. So Yaz two weeks ago decided to have one more request stop- 2015 Sheffield, where she could not only take pictures of everything to ease the homesickness, but remind herself of why she was travelling with the Doctor in the first place- to make a change to her own universe.
Yaz had finished taking pictures, and was now making a sandwich in the kitchen, laughing at the idea that Sonya will be blamed naturally.
Leaving the Doctor to wander- naturally, smiling at the one and only Yasmin Khan’s life before she entered it. The Doctor picked up the yearbook: it was gathering dust and had two creases on the binds suggesting to the Doctor it was barely used; Or most likely Yaz didn’t like to see 18 year old baby Yaz and the year book was prohibited to being touched. But the Doctor was never one to sticking with the rules, and well her and Yaz shared everything.
Well, nearly everything.
Pictures of random kids, profiles, awards were scattered across the pages. Cliché quotes and messages from pupils that no one will ever read again fascinated the Doctor at this human tradition, until she finally reached it. Yaz. Her face sunken, her hood up on her profile picture. On every picture her face shadowed. Her profile cliché quote that no one would ever read said:
I hope to be a police officer when I leave.
No mention of her memories, her friends, her life itself. If the Doctor hadn’t have done an energy scan before entering the room she may have thought an alien was tampering with her life, sucking the energy from her past.
“You found it then.” Yaz’s voice cut the silence and the Doctor jumped, nearly dropping the book entirely. The Doctor returned Yaz’s halfhearted smile guilty, oh her sweet caring Yaz.
“Butterfingers. You know me, clumsy is my middle name. Or is it my fourth?”
“I only have one middle name so lucky me.” Yaz gently took the yearbook from the Doctor and began to sat down.
“What’s your middlename.”
Yaz stopped in mid-sit to just glare at her before plummeting in the sea of cushions that the Doctor had just finished tidying. The Doctor followed suit, nestling into the human’s side expectantly.
“The only time I want to hear my middlename is when I get married.”
“Well I’ll just have to marry ya then won’t I.”
Yaz grinned and blushed a little and the Doctor grinned wider. After years in the TARDIS, or what felt like years, to the point that Yaz was no longer getting ID in 2021, the Doctor and Yaz could read each other like a book- in every way. Too much pain, misery, love had been lost, and although they weren’t holding hands singing kumbaya around a campfire, they had a mutual understanding of each other. Unspoken yet mutual.
“I’m guessing you don’t like 2015 you then.” The Doctor said and Yaz sighed defeatedly.
“It’s just when everything went downhill that’s all. When Izzy flint decided to cut me hair off at prom, or when I was sent 50 death threats in one week because of the UK elections. Nothing was going right for me.”
“Seems like you was fighting your own aliens, and like always, you won.”
Yaz raised her eyebrows. “I thought you don’t do the whole talking comfort thing.”
“Well I once did, I just need a bit of practice.”
“Well. I am glad I could be of service.” Yaz wiped the stray tear from the side of her cheek, and the Doctor waited. Her face and body waited until there were no tears left, and then she stood up, pulling Yaz with her into a close embrace. “What are you doing?”
“I was once taught how to dance.” The Doctor reached for her sonic and with one buzz music began to play. “So this is me, dancing.” The music was 28th Century, the year was 2015, and Yaz was an unknown age, but for a brief moment- she felt 18 again, and this time she was loving the aliens in her life.
Until that alien tripped over the coffee table.
“You mean dancing badly.”
“Yeah well, I was never going to be on Strictly come Dancing.”
They both began to laugh, hands entwined together, memories entwining too, 28th Century music still blaring in the background like the Doctors second heartbeat.
Until the door began to unlock.
“I thought you said it’s one in the afternoon?” Yaz hissed, and the Doctor frantically checked her watch?
“I may have forgotten to reset my watch, but it’s fine! We can just go now.”
Yaz groaned and they quickly raced back inside the TARDIS, everything back to the 8:30 setup of 26th May 2015.
“Hello?” Najia called out, Hakim and baby Yaz behind.
“Everything OK love?” Hakim muttered shuffling past with shopping bags.
“I could have sworn I heard noises.”
“Probably old age.” Baby Yaz jeered.
“Oi don’t talk to your Mother like that, that’s my job.”
“Yaz love did you get out your yearbook?” Najia called out waving the book curiously. Baby Yaz huffed and groaned internally.
“I bet you it’s Sonya, I’m gonna flaming kill her.”
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4571
“You two are thieves.” Captain McKenzie shouted. The ballroom went quiet and Yaz buried her head in the Doctors shoulder, the space wine kicking in, or was it space wine? Space something, space vine, vines are cool, vines have plants, gotta love a plant, like trees, treeeeees-
“Trees Doctor, I love you tree.” Yaz muttered, and the Doctor pattered her sympathetically.
“What is wrong with our trees?”
“No no it’s not you, Yaz I think had a bit too much of the fruit punch.”
Captain Mckenzie looked hesitantly at the pair, glancing at his escorts who shrugged. The Doctor had wormed her way into a fancy ball because they did really good space sandwiches, sadly Yaz didn’t get to try them as she went for the punch, and even worse there was a psychic paper search halfway through the Doctors second sandwich.
“Well this is highly inappropriate and unexpected.”
“Well if you excuse us then we’ll be on our merry way. Well I say merry but what I mean is, we will think deeply about our actions and send you an apology, about lets say next Octavian moon?”
“I love how you cater to our customs Doctor.” Captain Mckenzie smiled softly and everyone sighed with relief, even the violinist was going to start playing again. “But no we cannot condone you and your space wife’s behaviour.”
There was a brief silence.
A long pause.
A really long pause.
A strong emphasis on the really.
“Ha he said space wife.” Yaz giggled and the Doctor just wished she could go back to the sandwiches.
“You two aren’t?” McKenzie whispered and the Doctor shook her head. “Oh really? I thought- Just you two seemed. Really? I don’t know what is more criminal your theft or the fact you two- really? Like- really? Seriously? Really Doctor, really? I just can’t get my head- really?”
The Doctor frowned sternly, one arm wrapped around the accused Yaz, the other clasping at the ring in her pocket. Sure they weren’t even together yet, but the Doctor had done head and tails with the TARDIS, and she won against her ship for once.
“I can’t believe he thought-” Yaz mumbled and burst out giggling. Stage 1 of space punch complete.
“I mean come on Doctor, this is atrocious. I am disgusted.” McKenzie hissed and the entire room murmured back in agreement. “You two really need to consider your actions about this, and for that I am placing you in a holding cell until noon tomorrow, alongside a fine of 25 ribels and 13 chickens as your punishment.”
“Wait hang on, you are punishing me and Yaz for not being married? Not for the stealing?”
“If I had known you both were that poor where you could not wed, let alone feed yourselves I would have dedicated this banquet in your names!”
“Oh that’s great isn’t it.” The Doctor tutted crestfallen, her hearts pounding as the smell of Yaz’s sweat melted all of her senses. Oh great- excessive sweating. Stage 2 of space punch complete.
Yaz jerked her head up nonchalantly. The blue sunlight painting the whites of her eyes as the Doctor turned continued to massage her aching scalp. “Doctor where are we?”
“In a holding cell, don’t worry they do great sandwiches.”
“Did we get married?” Yaz shot up, sweat scalped her forehand twisting between the confusion lines sinking into her face. The Doctor gulped slightly, not sure whether to laugh or cry.
“No we didn’t, mind if we did they would have done a really nice cake.”
“They still do wedding cake in the future?”
“They always do wedding cake in the future Yaz, the only thing you humans were good at- setting the right traditions.” The Doctor joked and Yaz could feel a smile tugging at her lips, however the pull of disappointment anchored her soul and any sense of happiness felt short. She couldn’t help but have hoped that her and the Doctor, for a brief moment, had gotten married, that they would have joked about it and then just got on with the day- happily married, unspoken-like so.
“I wouldn’t have minded y’know.”
It was the Doctors turn to frown as she noticed the soft hesitation in Yaz’s voice intensify. “Wouldn’t minded what?”
“If we had gotten married or something like that, that’s if the tradition still exists, especially if they do cake.”
The Doctor smiled, staring down at Yaz’s hidden eyes, the blue light casting a dancing shadow between them. The Doctor cupped Yaz’s right cheek gently, the warmth of two hearts electrifying Yaz’s skin. “Y’know what Yaz Khan? Sounds like a brilliant idea.”