Chapter Text
It was cold in the TARDIS.
Not the kind of cold that you encountered when walking off hot summer streets, tar melting and sweat glistening, into a shop that had the aircon on full blast. That was a welcome kind of chill, a reprieve from the fierce sun outside.
It wasn’t even the kind of chill experienced when you worked in such a place. Welcome for the first few moments after arriving, but quickly shifting to discomfort forcing you to reach for a few extra layers, feeling like you’d just finished a shift in a walk-in freezer by the end. That was an uncomfortable kind of chill, manufactured early winter for hours on end in the middle of summer, just slightly on the wrong side of too cold.
It was more like the chill you’d experience if you’d been teleported off the beach in naught but your swimwear and beach towel, onto the lower part of a snowy mountain. Not as cold as it could be, not by far, but the cold was a shock you didn’t expect that took you a moment to process and when you did, you were left shivering with only a beach towel to try and warm you. In other words, it was an unexpected, unpleasant cold that you were woefully unprepared for.
Yasmin Khan had woken up a few minutes prior to this feeling. At first, she was half-awake and confused at what had woken her, and then the cold hit her. She breathed out shakily, already shivering, and reached out for the extra blanket at the end of her bed. For a moment, the cold was chased away, but then she could’ve sworn the room got even colder. Far more awake now, she paused for a moment, shivering under the blankets.
Staying there wasn’t really an option, but crawling out from under the blankets into the full force of the cold air seemed even more unappealing. There was a cupboard just down from her room with extra blankets though, she’d never needed them since the TARDIS was pretty temperature controlled for the most part, but she knew where it was.
Bracing herself, she wrapped her warmest blanket tightly around her - a thick, forest green, mink blanket - and slid into her slippers beside the bed. She was suddenly a lot more grateful for the Doctor’s idea of a great gift - furry, clawed, monstrosities of slippers - the cold floor would’ve been considerably worse on bare feet.
She made her way out into the hallway and turned left to find the cupboard that should’ve been just a few metres down the hall. It definitely was the last time she’d checked. She passed it every time she went to her room, it was the kind of landmark she noted to help navigate the TARDIS. But this time Yaz couldn’t find anything, either it’d vanished or she’d severely misjudged where it was in the first place. Either was plausible considering where she was.
A little lost now, Yaz started walking towards the console room, hoping someone else might’ve been woken up by the cold too. She didn’t really want to wake anyone up but it was freezing. That actually seemed a little weird, now that Yaz gave it some thought. It wasn’t normal, at least.
The TARDIS was temperature controlled, it was never really too hot or too cold, just the right temperature. There wasn’t an installed heat system or anything as far as Yaz was aware, it was just…temperate. Somehow. Which raised the question, what would change that?
Yaz wasn’t really worried, exactly, but she did increase her walking speed to arrive at the console room a bit faster, just in case. It wasn’t far, anyway. As soon as she entered the room, she relaxed a little at the sight of the Doctor in front of her.
The Doctor was sitting on the steps leading down to the console, shivering but otherwise relaxed, chin resting in one hand. “I’ve lost my bedroom, Yaz.”
Yaz blinked slowly from the platform above. “You’ve what?”
“I know I don’t sleep much but it was definitely there the last time I checked. I think. I mean it moves sometimes. Everything does a bit. But it’s gone, I’ve checked everywhere, even in the swimming pool. I’m sure it’ll be back, of course, but it’s, y’know, quite cold right now, I’d appreciate a blanket at least.” The Doctor didn’t move from her position, sounding very put out by the loss of her room, but not overly concerned with the situation.
Yaz made her way down the stairs until she was next to the Doctor and she sat down. She unwrapped one side of the blanket from her and tried her best to drape it over the Doctor's shoulders. “It’s definitely not enough, but it helps a little.”
The Doctor grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around her, shuffling into Yaz’s side so it covered them better. “Thanks, Yaz.”
Yaz almost flinched as the Doctor’s hand brushed hers under the blanket, it was ice cold. “Your hands are freezing!”
The Doctor looked down towards her hands only to exclaim delightedly, “and you’re wearing the slippers I gave you! Love those ones.”
“They’re definitely much appreciated.” Yaz tried not to focus too much on the contact of the Doctor next to her, instead focusing more on the situation at hand. “If it makes you feel any better, I lost the blankets cupboard.”
The Doctor sighed and leaned her head onto Yaz’s shoulder, “it would if not for the fact that I’ve been in the TARDIS for far longer than you have. But, I have a funny feeling no amount of searching would reveal either. I lost Dan’s bedroom too.” The wording was slightly ominous but the tone just sounded thoughtful to Yaz, maybe a bit resigned.
“What? Is something wrong?” The answer seemed to be simultaneously yes and no. Yes in that it was freezing and apparently Dan was missing, and no in that the Doctor was oddly calm about the situation. “I mean, did the TARDIS…heating system break? If it has a heating system at all. And is Dan alright?”
“Nothing’s broken. With where the TARDIS is right now, it’d be a lot colder if it was. This is purposeful. I wouldn’t worry about Dan, he’ll be fine wherever he is, still sleeping almost certainly.” The Doctor broke off with a small shrug, “don’t know what the purpose of all this is though. It’s beyond me. Can’t change it either, not as if there’s a thermostat laying around. I’d love one right now, but I’m certain the TARDIS would kick me out for even trying. Not really in the mood for that tonight. Maybe next week if I get bored.”
Yaz stared at the console in front of her thoughtfully. She trusted the Doctor so she’d take her word about Dan, for now at least though she couldn’t help a bit of concern. Then it occurred to her. She still had a room, that had to be at least slightly warmer than staying where they were, she should mention that. “I still have a room, I think. Unless it’s disappeared since I left.” She hadn’t considered that. “There’s more blankets there.” She hadn’t really thought any of this proposal through, actually. “If you want.”
The Doctor bounced up right away, “oohh a sleepover with you? Sleepover with Yaz sounds great, and, of course, it has nothing at all to do with all those blankets you mentioned.”
Yaz’s stomach twisted in a funny manner. The cold didn’t seem like her biggest concern anymore. She steadfastly ignored it and smiled, “lead the way then, since you’ve lived here for far longer.”
The Doctor slipped fully out from under the blanket to dart up the stairs and into the hallway. Either the cold didn’t bother her as much or she planned on running to warm up. Regardless, Yaz felt a lot colder now than she did before. Which made no sense, since the Doctor’s hands had been borderline blocks of ice and the rest of her wasn’t much better. Instead of thinking too much about it, or thinking about the fact that she’d just invited the Doctor into her bed, or thinking about the fact that the Doctor seemed thrilled about it, or thinking at all, she made her way down the corridors after the Doctor, her mind as blank as she could manage. She wasn’t even sure if she would rather find her room still there, or find it vanished.
A minute later she found out it was very much still there, as she came upon the Doctor standing in the doorway.
“Yaz?”
“Yeah?”
“I think I found the blanket cupboard. Also, has your bed always been that small?”
Yaz frowned from her spot still slightly further down the hall, “what?”
The Doctor beckoned her over and she closed the last few steps between them to take a look at what, exactly, the Doctor meant.
The first thing she noted was that it was her room and definitely not the blanket cupboard. The second thing noted was the sheer pile of blankets on her bed, considerably more than there had been before. Enough to sleep warmly in a bed of snow, probably. That explained the blanket cupboard comment then.
For a moment Yaz had the thought that the massive pile of blankets made the bed look tiny, then she realised it definitely was smaller than when she’d gotten out earlier. Considerably smaller.
It’d gone from a queen size bed to only slightly larger than a single. It was big enough to sleep two people but with little extra room.
“No…it definitely used to be bigger. And there weren't that many blankets before. I would’ve said so otherwise.”
The Doctor hummed thoughtfully before a particularly violent shiver came over her and she shrugged and made for the bed, kicking her shoes off, sliding under the covers and shovelling no less than five extra blankets on top of her. Then all was still.
Yaz paused for a moment, considering. She could sleep on the floor. With that many blankets, it wouldn’t even be particularly uncomfortable. But then, would that be weird? Would it be weirder if she climbed into the bed, forced to basically cuddle the person already in there, or would it be weirder if she refused to get in?
The temperature started to steadily lower in the few seconds she didn’t move until the blanket wrapped around her no longer offered her any warmth at all. She walked over to the bed and sat down, hesitantly, on her side.
If the Doctor reacted in any way, Yaz couldn’t tell. There was just a mound of blankets where she’d laid down and a few strands of blonde hair.
She faced the blankets. “Is this alright? I could sleep on the floor.” She had to offer, at least. So it didn’t keep her up for the rest of the night.
The Doctor shifted under the blankets to face her properly, making eye contact before her eyes glanced left and her expression turned thoughtful, “I don’t think you could.”
Yaz frowned, “why not? There’s enough blankets for a makeshift bed.”
“True, but there’s not enough floor.” Yaz didn’t always understand everything the Doctor said, but that seemed more incomprehensible than usual somehow.
“What?” Yaz turned back around to gesture at the floor, only for her hand to hit a wall. The wall definitely hadn’t been there before. Her brain struggled for a moment before she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “That’s…weird, right? That hasn’t happened before.”
The Doctor only rolled onto her back, relaxing into the pillow with a soft laugh, “wait until you see the door.”
“The door? What ab-” Yaz cut off as she turned to find no door. The door hadn’t just moved, it’d vanished. Just like the Doctor’s bedroom, and the blanket cupboard, and the floor. She toed her slippers off, moved her feet up onto the bed and crawled under the blankets without a word. She stared at the ceiling for a moment. “That’s definitely weird, for the record.”
The Doctor rolled over onto her side and suddenly they were awfully close. Yaz could see the Doctor watching her in her peripheral vision. “I will definitely be installing a thermostat for this…interference,” the Doctor said loudly before adopting a quieter voice again, “this is warm though. Awfully cosy. Maybe just a portable heater.”
Yaz turned her head, met her eyes slowly and stared at the knowing look in them. The Doctor had clearly pieced together something Yaz hadn’t. It was warm though. She hadn’t even put any extra blankets on yet and the room felt…warmer. It was weird.
Under the covers, the Doctor moved her hand to entangle it with Yaz’s, while not moving her gaze. Yaz was the first to break, turning her head towards the ceiling in an attempt to hide the small smile crossing her face. It was nice, but the most surprising thing was how comfortable it felt. She’d expected a little more anxiety, but she felt oddly safe. The warmth in her chest left little room for anything else.
Then she turned back to meet the Doctor’s gaze and rolled onto her side as well, slowly so the Doctor could move if she wanted but she didn’t. She let herself come to a rest when her face was just a few centimetres from the Doctor’s. The Doctor closed the gap to brush their noses together gently, before Yaz tilted her head slightly and their lips brushed. It was barely a kiss, but it was more than enough. The Doctor’s hold tightened on her hand and she moved her other hand onto the back of Yaz’s head, guiding it down slightly.
Yaz caught on and shuffled down to lay her head on the Doctor’s chest as the Doctor settled onto her back. The Doctor moved to kiss the top of head so softly Yaz almost missed it. “Get some sleep. We can talk tomorrow. It’s late.”
Yaz fell asleep to the sound of two heartbeats and was filled with contentment when she woke to the very same sound.
—-
The next morning, as they emerged from the room through a thankfully real door, they came across Dan and Yaz immediately went over to him, making sure he seemed fine. “You’re alright!”
Dan looked confused. “‘Course I am, what are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you wake up at all last night?” Yaz questioned.
“...no, don’t think so. Oh, no, I did wake up briefly to drink some water at one point in the night. Was only awake for a couple minutes though.”
“Weren’t you cold?”
Dan looked at her funnily, “odd you should say that ‘cause I was actually a little warm, I think, that’s why I needed the water.”
Yaz turned back to look at the Doctor, who just shrugged, “I was pretty sure the TARDIS was meddling last night, guess I was right after all.”