Chapter Text
Jo hummed cheerfully as she walked through the hallways of UNIT HQ on her way to the Doctor’s lab. She nodded and smiled at each soldier she passed, stopping to exchange morning pleasantries with a few. Soon, she reached the doors to the lab and made her way in. She made sure to be quiet in case the Doctor was working on a delicate experiment or asleep at the bench. Neither seemed to be the case, as the Doctor looked up from whatever he was doing and smiled at her. He’d even changed clothes, meaning he’d most likely actually gone to sleep at some point the previous night. She was always telling him he still needed to rest once in a while, even if he required less sleep than a human.
“Good morning, Jo,” he greeted her, clearly in one of his rare good moods. He must’ve slept very well indeed.
“Morning,” she replied, smiling back and holding up the two disposable coffee cups she was carrying. “I brought coffee!”
“Ah, you’re an angel, my dear,” he said as she handed him one of the cups. “Thank you, Jo.”
“Not a problem, Doctor,” she replied, bolstered by his praise and general cheeriness. “What are you up to?”
“Working on this blasted dematerialization circuit, as usual,” he sighed, glaring down at the offending piece of hardware sitting on the bench in front of him. “You know, I think I may actually be getting somewhere for once.”
Jo’s smile widened at the sight of his hopeful expression. She vowed to savor his optimistic mood while it lasted, and she hoped he was right about the dematerialization circuit, that he really was getting somewhere. Deep down, she thought he probably wasn’t, but there was no harm in hoping. “That’s absolutely stellar, Doctor,” she said.
“Indeed, it is. Now, I was thinking about heading down to the canteen to get some breakfast and stretch my legs. Care to join me, my dear?” he asked her as he got to his feet. Jo opened her mouth to give her enthusiastic agreement, but she just gaped at him in shock. “What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her unresponsiveness.
“You’re, er…” she trailed off, still staring at him.
“I’m what, Jo?” he asked. He glanced down at himself, then back up at her. “What is it?” At the continued lack of an answer, he looked down again. Finally, he realized it: he was wearing a skirt. It was a rather fetching black velvet one with a slit up the leg. He had on slim black trousers underneath and tall lace-up boots, and, paired with his red velvet smoking jacket and ruffled shirt, he thought it made quite the appealing outfit. Truth be told, he hadn’t been thinking as he’d gotten dressed that morning. He’d avoided wearing skirts since his most recent regeneration, as he’d been stuck on Earth in the 1970s the entire time. Most people of the era didn’t take kindly to what they termed ‘cross-dressing.’ He had been quite fond of them in his previous bodies, however, and he was in such a good mood after a solid hour’s sleep he hadn’t even paused to consider it before putting on the garment the TARDIS had displayed at the front of his wardrobe.
“Oh, is that all you’re gaping about?” he asked. “Honestly, it’s only a skirt, Jo.”
Jo snapped her mouth closed, a flush creeping into her cheeks. “Yes, but… skirts are girls’ clothes,” she pointed out lamely.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her, clearly gearing up for a rant. “And why is that? What about this length of cloth makes it exclusive to the female gender? There is nothing I understand less than you humans’ obsession with gendered clothing. Irregardless even of that, I am not a man, so why shouldn’t I wear feminine clothing?”
“Huh?!” Jo exclaimed, her mouth dropping back open. “What do you mean, you’re not a man?”
“I mean just that,” he replied imperiously. “Time Lords have a much less constricting notion of gender than you humans do. A society which comprises people whose biological sex can change at the drop of a hat does not place much importance on such inconsequential traits. Besides that, what purpose does it serve to categorize an entire species into a binary based on something so meaningless? Humanity has deemed me a man because I have physical attributes which appear masculine, but in reality, I am neither a man nor a woman.”
Jo was quiet for a moment, staring at him with wide, unreadable eyes. “What are you, then?” she asked.
The Doctor deflated slightly and gave her a gentle, appreciative smile. She had not tried to refute his explanation or deny his identity. Instead, she was asking for clarification. This girl would never cease to impress him, and she would never cease to warm his hearts to their cores. “I am simply something else,” he said.
Jo pondered this for a moment, then nodded solemnly. “Okay. I’m sorry for being rude. You look lovely in that skirt.”
The Doctor grinned, his good mood returning to him in an instant. “Thank you, my dear.”
Jo smiled shyly back at him. “You’re welcome… Shall we go get breakfast now?”