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It was a lazy morning - or rather the consequences of a long day and a late night.
Yaz let her mind drift back to the day prior. Yesterday hadn’t been incredibly busy, exactly, but there had been a good deal of running for their lives and Yaz was only human. She was considerably fit but that much adrenaline and exertion was going to send anyone crashing at the end of the day when their head hit the pillow, she was no exception to that.
By the time they’d finally started trekking back to the TARDIS, night had already crept across the sky, darkness brushing against the last rays of sunlight in farewell hours prior. The moonlight was bright enough to see by, but they were all still looking down, watching their steps to avoid any twisted ankles.
The TARDIS was sitting in the middle of a lush field that was threatening to become overgrown if left untouched any longer. The grass brushed past their calves as they walked and Yaz had been dedicating half her focus to trying to spot the buttercups she’d seen earlier. They were nowhere near as fiercely yellow and bright as they’d been in the sunlight, but they were pretty nevertheless under the moon’s illumination.
The Doctor walked ahead with Dan, both seemingly eager to just reach a bed as soon as possible. Yaz would’ve had the same goal in mind, and in fact did, but then she made the mistake of looking up. It was hard, however, to call it a mistake once the view was processed.
She’d seen plenty of amazing sights with the Doctor, seen space close up countless times over, seen whole new galaxies and dustings of stars scattered across a black canvas radiating the most brilliant, gorgeous colours. But somehow, looking up to a night sky full of stars on Earth’s surface was a whole different level of breathtaking. Maybe she was slightly biased.
She hadn’t looked up during their walk from town to countryside but in that short period of time, the sky had lit up. It was the only way she could describe it. The stars had gone from present but somewhat dulled, to absolutely everywhere, shining full force. It was like they’d tripled in quantity and grown exponentially in shine. Yaz stopped walking and stopped paying attention to anything but the sight in front of her.
It struck Yaz as an incredibly beautiful sight, she almost felt overwhelmed and blinked quickly to clear watery eyes (though that may have been partly tiredness), still struck silent. They were absolutely everywhere she looked, so clear, ranging in brightness from faded ones to stars glowing passionately. Clusters in one spot like freckles on a cheek, and only a single lonely star visible elsewhere. The sky was crowded, but rather than creating a sense of being crushed by the weight, it felt more like a tight embrace. It felt like the most gorgeous thing she’d seen for a while, despite her surreal travels.
It wasn’t as if she never saw stars back home, but never this clearly, and they were often obscured. If this had been the view every night back in Sheffield…she wasn’t sure how she’d ever get anything done at night. She felt so lucky to be able to witness it now, at all. It filled her with joy, to look up and see the wonders of space gazing back so comfortingly.
Perhaps it should’ve been more threatening - she’d seen some of the worst of what was out there after all, but all she felt was a sense of peace. The feeling of being surrounded, but overwhelmingly by friendly entities, not hostile ones. For all the loud, bold hostility in the universe, she knew there was even more quiet good.
So many of the complexities and wonders of the sky were right there, and humans had been given the absolute pleasure of being able to gaze upon them. She almost wondered what anyone could’ve done to deserve such an unbelievable privilege. It was almost incomprehensible.
What a wonder it was to exist in a place and time where she was able to see a view as breathtaking and incredible as the stars filling the night sky of planet Earth.
She’d loved the stars and space even before she’d travelled with the Doctor, the sights she’d seen since had only enhanced that love. But somehow, years later, she still hadn’t lost her sense of incredulity of a night sky on Earth. It seemed impossible that anyone could.
She startled slightly as a gentle hand wrapped around her waist, snapping her out of her musings, but relaxed immediately at the familiar presence. The Doctor stepped closer to hug her from behind, settling her head on her shoulder before sliding round to the front of her. The Doctor gently brought her hands up to wipe the tears she hadn’t even noticed falling down her face. She’d like to blame the exhaustion, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. Leaving her hands there, she met Yaz’s gaze directly and asked, “alright?”
Yaz nodded, still somewhat lost for words. The Doctor’s eyes softened as she became sure nothing was wrong. Yaz cleared her throat, “yeah, it’s just…” she looked up at the sky again, “gorgeous, isn’t it?”
The Doctor let her hands fall and slide down Yaz’s arms before settling in to grasp her hands, squeezing them once. She looked up and hummed positively before moving her eyes back to Yaz’s again.
“This is probably going to sound…silly, but I feel like no matter what words I use to describe the stars in the night sky, it would be an injustice. An understatement. Almost…offensive how much I can’t convey the strength behind my feelings in simple words.”
The Doctor shook her head, offering a smile. “Nah, I don’t think that’s silly, Yaz. There’s something special about the night sky on Earth. On any planet where it’s visible, really. But Earth is your home, so of course your feelings are amplified about it here. I’ve seen so much of space and time that it’d make sense for me to be indifferent to it by now, but it seems impossible to become indifferent to it. Sometimes I’m so busy rushing between destinations that I do forget to look up, to just let myself look at length without any real purpose to my actions, just to enjoy the beauty of it. I never want to take this kind of thing for granted. It really is a special sight.”
Yaz let go of the Doctor’s hands to move in and hug her. Her emotions felt amplified and she directed the love that had been building inside since she looked up at the sky into her next words. Whispered, but thick with feeling, “I love you.”
The Doctor moved to hug her back, squeezing before she said with a clear smile in her voice, “I think you’re about to love me even more.”
Pulling back, Yaz found the Doctor’s eyes twinkling and she smiled widely. “Oh?”
The Doctor took her hand and guided her around to the other side of the TARDIS. Yaz let herself be led, looking ahead curiously.
There laid a red tartan blanket on the ground, touching the TARDIS on one side. There were several pillows leaned up against the back of the TARDIS, and two warm-looking blankets laid invitingly on top of the tartan one. It was lit faintly by an old-fashioned lantern off to the side, which seemed like a purely aesthetic choice to Yaz, unless the Doctor had just found that before a torch. It looked cosy, and thought out.
Yaz paused as the Doctor let go of her hand to immediately settle herself under the blankets on the far side. “I’m pretty sure I wasn’t distracted long enough for you to set this all up.”
“I’m quick. You gonna join me?”
Yaz grinned knowingly, “so Dan helped, then.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Yaz laughed and carefully climbed under the blankets next to the Doctor, leaning back into the pillows. “I thought you were tired?”
The Doctor moved closer to her, leaning her head on Yaz’s shoulder slightly while still staring upwards. “I think I’ll live another hour without sleep.”
That was, in fact, not true. The Doctor lasted all of ten minutes before going completely slack next to Yaz, curling up closer to her, breathing slowly and deeply. Yaz had just smiled at her and started running her fingers through her hair lightly as she looked up again.
They’d stayed there cuddled up to each other for a little more than an hour before Yaz had started struggling to stay awake herself and she’d woken the Doctor enough for them to stumble to bed, overtired, barely conscious enough to take their shoes and layers off before dropping to the mattress, sleep immediately overtaking them.
Which brought them to their lazy morning.
The Doctor was sitting up in bed, leaning against the headboard. She had a book in one hand and the other was resting on Yaz’s head, tracing lightly along the braids she still had in and smoothing down any stray hairs. Yaz was laying with her head on the Doctor’s lap, not quite ready to move from her spot of comfort yet. They’d have to get up eventually, but not just yet.
“Can I undo this?”
Yaz hummed questioningly.
“Your braid.”
“Mm. Yeah. I need to shower and wash my hair anyway. Go ahead.” She turned her head, giving the Doctor more room.
She felt the Doctor pull out her hair tie and start working her fingers through the braid, unravelling it bit by bit, combing out any knots and tangles with her fingers as she found them. It was soothing and she let herself slip into a state between consciousness and sleep.
It was when the Doctor’s fingers had reached her head, massaging her scalp ever so slightly as she went that she finally spoke up. “D’you think you could do this for me?”
Yaz yawned and rolled over, shaking her hands off in the process to look at her, “do what?”
“Like one of your braids. I’ve never had my hair done like that before.”
Yaz grinned and pushed herself upright, “yeah, I bet I could.” She moved to straddle the Doctor’s legs, settling down on her thighs before staring at her hair. “Maybe…a french braid? Or a dutch braid? I could probably do that on your hair.” She brushed her fingers back through the Doctor’s hair, testing the length. “Maybe if I split it into two…or just braided the hair on top, leaving the sides down…” she tilted her head consideringly, “yeah. You pick then, two braids or one on top?”
The Doctor leant forward slightly to kiss her and she realised how close they were. She let her hands fall from the Doctor’s hair to her face and kissed her back, keeping it light before pulling away and raising an eyebrow.
“One on top, for now, I think, Yaz. Maybe you can do two another day?”
Yaz kissed her again, briefly, before climbing off her lap, “I’d love to.” She nudged the Doctor forward. “Shuffle up so I can sit behind you.”
The Doctor moved as requested before sinking back into Yaz as she sat down. Yaz rolled her eyes fondly, “you’ve got to actually sit up for this.”
“What if it was all just a ploy to get you to hug me in this position?”
“Then it wasn’t a very well thought out ploy because you’re not distracting me from this.”
“Yeah…but I am stalling quite well.” The Doctor said smugly.
Yaz snorted and pushed her upright gently. “C’mon. Dan’s gonna assume we were eaten by wolves last night if we don’t get moving soon.”
“There were no wolves around.” The Doctor insisted even as she finally sat up how Yaz wanted her to.
Yaz started separating her hair as she continued, “bears?”
“No.”
“Snakes?” She separated the hair into three strands and started underhand braiding, establishing the beginnings of a dutch braid. It’d probably look better than a french braid on the Doctor’s hair.
“Well that’s possible but not big enough to eat us.”
Yaz paused, smoothing out a strand of hair a few times before saying teasingly, “I thought the same of spiders until I met you.”
“I wouldn’t say that was my fault,” the Doctor said, emphasising herself.
Yaz hummed noncommittedly. “But you do seem to attract a lot of fascinating things.”
“Well…I attracted you.”
Yaz freed a hand and pushed her shoulder lightly. “Quiet, you.”
The Doctor laughed, pleased, before they fell into a comfortable, but brief silence. Yaz worked her way through the Doctor’s hair skillfully, keeping the braid tight as she went. Truthfully she could do it much faster but there was no harm in soaking in the moment. No particular rush to the morning, despite the comment she made about Dan.
It was nice. For all the action and adventure and fast-paced moments she spent with the Doctor, the slow soft moments were quickly becoming her favourite. Not by much, she treasured all moments spent by her side, for they made up the Doctor. To love the slow without the fast would be to love a fragment and to love the fast without the slow would be a lifetime of moments missed. But it was special all the same, moments where the Doctor stilled and let herself relax without any facade.
“Did y’like last night, Yaz? We should do it again if you did.”
Yaz paused to tie up the braid in a little bun at the crown of her head before answering, “it was pretty good, other than the snoring.”
“I didn’t fall aslee-hey! I don’t snore!” The Doctor turned around to glare at her. The effect was a little dulled by how nice she looked with her hair braided, but Yaz didn’t mention that.
“No,” Yaz admitted, “you mostly just talk a lot.”
“I wasn’t sleeping.”
“Oh? You weren’t? Bit funny having your eyes closed when stargazing but if you say so…”
“I was…enjoying the feel of the moment. Don’t act like you didn’t like it.”
“No no, I did like that a lot. It was just a little odd that you were drooling on me while awake then, you don’t normally do that. S’pose you’re getting on in years.”
“I’m not. What am I? A dog? Really, Yaz. It was…on purpose.”
“Oh? Well that makes sense. Can I ask what the purpose was? Just curious.”
“...” The Doctor turned herself around properly to kiss her in lieu of answering and Yaz didn’t last long before grinning into it.
She pulled away slightly. “You were asleep.”
The Doctor sighed and rested their foreheads together. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” It was safe to say Yaz was enjoying this conversation.
“Maybe we should get up and go get breakfast or Dan will start worrying, you were right earlier.” The Doctor wiggled out of Yaz’s grasp and shuffled towards the edge of the bed steadily.
“Earlier as in just before?”
“Have you seen my cloak? It’s a bit chilly. I can’t remember where I put it last night.”
“Mmm…” Yaz relaxed back into the pillows, still grinning. “Think it might’ve fallen asleep somewhere, maybe. I’m sure it’ll be back when it wakes up.”
The Doctor twisted to shoot her an unimpressed stare.
Yaz laughed again before finally letting it drop. “Take my jacket, it’s over the chair. I’m sure your cloak will turn up eventually.”
-
It was months later when Yaz stumbled across the Doctor sitting surrounded by children, some playing with her hair, some listening intently in front of her, and one in particular sitting right in front of the Doctor. As the Doctor braided her hair intricately. A style Yaz wasn’t even familiar with. After a moment she decided to walk away without letting the Doctor see her and the very next morning she braided the Doctor's hair again. She enjoyed it too.