Chapter Text
It wasn’t until after the Doctor had said goodbye to the fam and shut the door to the TARDIS wistfully behind them that she noticed it lying on the floor next to the console. Yaz’s wallet. She picked it up thoughtfully, aware that Yaz had just been planning on a quiet couple of days at home with her family and wondered if she would actually notice she didn’t have it, let alone need to use it. She bit her bottom lip, knowing that humans were peculiarly attached to these things, and knowing that it would also give her the excuse for just a brief additional moment with at least one of the fam before she was left to her own devices for 48 hours. With that in mind, it only took a moment for a decision to be made, and she strode out of the TARDIS, wallet held in front of her like a talisman.
As she headed up to Yaz’s flat, something seemed different to normal, registering itself in a corner of her mind, but it was obscured by her pride in her mission, returning this human trinket. She bounced up the steps, two at a time, regretting this slightly when she reached the third floor, breathing heavily. The strange difference was still nagging in the back of her head, trying to get her attention, but she ignored it and marched along to rap on the relevant door.
Bouncing lightly on her toes, the Doctor tried to remember the appropriate greeting for Yaz’s family members, should any of them open the door. Was it that she WAS meant to hug them, or NOT meant to hug them? It was one or the other, she knew, but which one? Human customs could be so confusing, especially as they were constantly changing. She had just about made up her mind to bow instead, when the door opened, and to the Doctor’s relief it was Yaz herself standing there. She brandished the wallet with a proud smile.
“You forgot this!”
“It must have fallen out of my bag, thank you Doctor,” Yaz responded and stood back to let the Doctor in. As she stepped through the door, the Doctor turned to look back outside – what WAS it that was different? No matter. Yaz shut the door behind her and led her towards the kitchen area.
“Mum and Dad have gone away for the week. Whitby again,” she explained as the Doctor followed her through. “Do you want a cup of tea?”
“Yes, yes I do,” the Doctor beamed at the opportunity for some bonus time with her friend before two days of loneliness without any of them.
“You’d better go and wash your hands, though, seeing as you’ve been outside,” Yaz added, filling the kettle with water.
“What? My hands are perfectly clean,” replied the Doctor in confusion. This wasn’t a normal request. “I haven’t even been working on the console today, so no oil smudges.” She held her hands up as if to prove their cleanliness. Yaz nodded in amusement, but pointed towards the table nearby.
“It’s not that, look at the leaflet on the table. It had been posted through the letter box when I arrived back a few minutes ago.”
The Doctor picked up the leaflet, which had the words KEEPING PARK HILL SAFE FROM CORONAVIRUS in large capitals at the top. Underneath was a brief explanation of what the virus was, concerns about a pandemic and then instructions for hand washing and social distancing. The Doctor’s mouth formed a silent o shape. Yaz paused her tea preparations.
“Doctor? What is it?”
“March 2020. I remember now.”
“Remember what?”
“The pandemic. That’s what my brain was trying to tell me outside – it’s too quiet. No one out and about. Everyone’s staying in. It’s… erm… going to get worse before it gets better.” The Doctor had become slightly more agitated than usual, pacing backwards and forwards.
“But it’ll be ok, right? I mean, like bird flu? That was all ok, wasn’t it?” Yaz watched as the Doctor headed to the sink and began washing her hands thoroughly.
“This one takes off just a bit more than bird flu did. Did I ever tell you, I met the bird who started bird flu?” Yaz took heart in the fact that the Doctor was still able to wander off at a tangent in her chatter. But she also knew the Doctor was prone to making up outlandish stories to distract them when she wanted to, and this felt a little too much like that. She looked pointedly at the Doctor, who paused her pacing when she realised her tactic to distract Yaz hadn’t worked. The kettle switched itself off at just the right moment, and the Doctor smiled brightly. “Tea, then? Or we could, you know, head back to the box and see where we end up?” Yaz wasn’t taken in by the wide smile on the Doctor’s face. Her eyes were serious, despite the smile.
“Doctor, Sonya will be back from staying with our aunt and uncle tonight and I promised her some quality sister-time. She’ll kill me if I ditch her and leave her alone when mum and dad are away.”
As if on cue, Yaz’s phone rang, the screen showing it was Sonya. Yaz put it on speakerphone.
“Hi Sonya, are you heading home soon? The Doctor’s here, she…” Yaz began, but she was interrupted.
“Yaz, shut up and listen.” Yaz looked affronted at her sister’s abruptness and was about to give her a piece of her mind when Sonya continued. “Have you seen it on the news? They’ve locked down Park Hill, there’s been a bunch of cases there,”
“Sonya, what are you talking about? Cases of what?”
“Yaz! The virus! Where have you been? You’ve picked a right old time to come back! I’ve got to stay here, mum and dad are heading here as well because we can’t come home - the local news says no one can go in or out of Park Hill,” Sonya actually sounded panicked, so the Doctor spoke up.
“Hi Sonya, it’s the Doctor. Look, don’t worry, Yaz is not alone, she’s safe, and you’re safe too. Wash your hands regularly and stay away from other people as much as you can.” Yaz looked at the Doctor’s face as she spoke. It was beginning to sink in that things were a little more serious than she had anticipated, and anxiety began to rise. She knew not to worry Sonya any further, though.
“Son, it’s ok. I’ll be fine here, you’ll be fine there. I am sure this will all be over in a few days…” she paused as the Doctor frantically shook her head and waved her hands no. “Er… it’ll be over soon. Keep texting and phoning.”
“You sure you’ll be alright?” Sonya still sounded concerned, and Yaz was grateful that she was with relatives who would take care of her.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll text you later. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” Yaz ended the call just in time to hear voices over a loudspeaker from the outside. She and the Doctor hurried to the window and stared out. Outside, they saw a police van and several police officers, one of whom was speaking through the aforementioned loudspeaker. They glanced at each other, open-mouthed.
“Please stay inside your flats, this estate has been locked down. We must prevent the spread of the virus any further. You will get information posted through your letter box with details for what to do if you are ill, and how to organise for the delivery of essential items. Do not leave your flat under any circumstances.”
The Doctor and Yaz turned silently to look at one another, as various people in other flats began calling out of the windows to the police officer, who repeated calmly that all the pertinent information would soon be posted through letter boxes.
“Doctor, I’ve changed my mind, let’s go to the TARDIS, I don’t want to stay here.” Yaz’s heart was pounding in her chest and she felt the edge of panic beginning to grip her. Her eyes were wide, and she moved towards the door, but the Doctor grabbed her arms and held them firmly, as if anchoring her.
“Yaz, you heard him, we can’t leave. You can’t put yourself at risk, and seeing as they have parked their van up next to the TARDIS, I don’t fancy our chances of getting to it anyway.”
“But it’s not safe here, Doctor, we have to go!” The Doctor kept her grip on Yaz’s arms, holding her still.
“We’re quite safe inside. We’ll be fine, trust me.” Feeling the Doctor’s grip on her arms and looking into her eyes, steely and sure, Yaz felt her heart rate calm and the panic edged a little further away. She nodded and took a deep breath. When the Doctor thought Yaz was back in control of herself, she let go and pulled out her flip phone, calling Graham.
“Doc! Where are you? It’s a right old state here at the moment. Any chance we could get back in the TARDIS and come back when this is all over?”
“Sorry, Graham, I’m a bit stuck – Park Hill has been locked down and Yaz and I are inside.”
“Blimey, are you both OK? What a time to come home!”
“We’re fine, but we can’t get to the TARDIS. I think we are just going to have to wait this out. Are you and Ryan safe?”
“Yeah, luckily I keep plenty of long life food in all the time, ‘cos I never know when we’re going to be back and Grace taught me to always be prepared. So we just sit this out, then? Nothing we can do to help?”
“Graham, I am afraid at your age…”
“Oi!”
“…you have a higher risk of serious consequences if you get the virus, so the best thing you can do is stay away from other people. Ryan will be able to go out if he stays safe,”
“Yeah, he’s rubbing his hands in glee at that!” Yaz chuckled at Graham’s comment. If he wasn’t going to panic, she was sure she would be fine. Whilst the Doctor continued talking with him on the phone, she headed back to the kitchen to make the two mugs of tea, and by the time she brought them over to the Doctor, she’d put her phone away and was watching the police officers through the window. Taking one of the mugs, she smiled warmly at Yaz.
“So,” the Doctor clapped her hands together. “Got any board games?”