Archive of Our Own

Yaz pushed open the door to the meeting room with one hand, balancing a few boxes of pakora (courtesy of Hakim) in the other. There were already a few others setting up, dragging out the rickety plastic chairs and moving tables to prepare for the twentieth or so Companion Support Group meeting. (Ace claimed she was going to come up with a cooler name for them, but had yet to come up with one that wasn’t immediately vetoed.)

The others smiled when they saw her, some calling out her name, others raising hands in greeting. They had grown a lot in the past few months as word spread and they found more and more companions. Some had traveled with the Doctor recently, while for others it happened decades ago. Some like Benton and Yates had worked with the Doctor on Earth, some like Luke Smith were children of former companions, and some like Grace hadn’t even realized there were other companions. The faces changed slightly every few weeks, some regulars, while others could only make the trip every few months. Regardless, there was always enough that when Yaz walked in it was to a chorus of people saying her name. 

“Hey Yaz!”

“Morning Yaz.”

“Hey Sheffield.”

“Hello Yaz dear, oh could you pass me that plate?”

Yaz slipped the plate to Jo (An older woman who was quite possibly the nicest person Yaz had ever met) and dropped the boxes on the table, “New brownie recipe?”

“Oh yes,” Jo said, arranging the treats, “Or rather, an old one I’ve been experimenting with. These are gluten free, these ones are dairy free, and these are sugar free! So everyone should be able to try some… unless they're allergic to chocolate, which would be unfortunate.”

Yaz smiled. Jo was sweet, even if her desserts did sometimes leave something to be desired when it came to taste.

Graham came over and pulled her into a hug, “What’s that you’ve got there Yaz?”

“My dads terrible Pakora,” Yaz joked, taking off the lids, “Can’t promise they’re free of anything, and even if they were you probably shouldn’t eat them.”

Jo hummed, “Oh, I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

“It is,” Dan, Graham, and Ryan said in unison, having already been subjected to it.

“We’ve told him time and time again,” Yaz said, “But he still insisted on sending some for my ‘new friends’.”

“Aww are we your friends?” Ace joked, coming over and slinging an arm around Yaz.

“Shove off McShane.”

“Alright kids behave,” Graham said, “We have someone new today. Don’t want to scare them off.”

“ Again ?” Tegan asked, “We just had Donna and her whole crew start coming.”

“Yes but the Doctor split in two remember?” Mel said.

“Yeah you still haven’t explained all that.”

“I really don’t think I could if I tried.”

“Well there are two of ‘em now,” Graham said, “So the one Doc with the sticky uppy hair is staying with Donna, and this new girl traveled with the other fella.”

“It ended well for her,” Mel said, “All things considered.”

“Well that’ll be a first,” Tegan muttered, causing Nyssa to elbow her.

“Ten quid says she’s a young blonde,” Martha yelled from across the room, grabbing the chairs and helping Dan arrange them in a sort-of circle.

“Oh come on, it's not that common.” 

It had become a joke after they realized just how many blondes were in the group and Martha claiming blonde’s were the Doctor’s type (at least hers). Learning about the others the Doctor had fallen in love with was weird. It made sense of course, that there would be more. The Doctor had lived for thousands of years after all, but still. 

“She’s coming with Rose. They met during the Sutekh fiasco.”

It was also weird for the world to end and not be in the center of it all. 

Yaz had been in the middle of a heated Mario Kart tournament with Sonya when the screaming had started, and then it was all over as suddenly as it had begun. 

“She is blonde,” Mel said quietly, to Yaz and Jo, “But probably best not to joke about it. Her and the Doctor weren’t anything like that. Watching them was like watching a couple of school kids at recess. Best friends those two.”

Yaz nodded, shoving down the small twinge of jealousy. Everyone here was best friends with the Doctor in some way. And she had chosen this. There was no point in getting jealous of whoever was traveling with them now (no matter how much she wished she could be joining in on those adventures).

The door to the room swung open. 

“Hello everyone!”

“Hey Rose.”

“Hi Rosie dear!”

Yaz looked up to see a smiling Rose Noble walking in holding hands with a shorter girl. A very familiar looking shorter girl. 

“Hiya! I’m Ruby!” 

Oh this was not happening.

Yaz’s jaw dropped open as the girl walked closer. She was in fact blonde, and looked like she was only a few years older than Rose. A wide grin spread across her face as she looked around the room.

She hadn’t thought anything of it when Mel said the new companion’s name was Ruby, there were lots of Rubys, but maybe she should have, because right now Ruby Sunday, member of Yaz’s favorite band, was standing in front of her. Which meant Ruby Sunday, writer of all the songs for heartbroken lesbians Yaz had been listening to for months now, had traveled with the Doctor. 

“What. The. Fuck. ”

A few months ago…

Yaz was having a nice day before Sonya decided to be a nuisance. 

Granted, her plans amounted to nothing more than sitting in bed and staring at the ceiling, and maybe making a cup of tea later, but they were still plans, and they were going well. 

Until the knock on her door interrupted her very important ‘stare into the void while blaring music’ time. 

“I’m sleeping.”

Another knock. “I’m serious!”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re sleeping,” Sonya’s voice said, muffled by the wood.

Yaz rolled her eyes, “Well I am.”

She rolled over, burrowing deeper into her sheets. 

The door flew open and the lights shot on, blinding her. Yaz winced, lifting her blanket to protect the intrusion, “Sonya, what the hell!”

“It’s almost noon,” Sonya said from the door, “What’re you in bed for?”

“I’m resting ,” she said, “It’s my day off, remember?”

“Not much of a day off,” Sonya remarked.

“Shove off.”

“Is that anyway to treat your favorite sister?” Sonya said, fake pouting as she sat on the foot of Yaz’s bed, instead of leaving, like Yaz would like her to.

“Least favorite is more like it,” Yaz said, shoving herself up anyway. She crossed her arms and glared at her sister. “What do you want?”

“To make sure you’re doing something other than listening to lesbian breakup music in bed all day,” Sonya said, not even deigning to look up from her phone, the hypocrite. 

“I do not listen to lesbian breakup music!”

Sonya raised an eyebrow, and then lunged for Yaz’s phone. “What- no! Get off!” She knocked the phone out of Yaz’s hand and sent it flying across the bed, sending both of them sprawling into a wrestling match. Yaz lost her phone in the blur of shoulders and elbows, wincing as Soyna’s knee jammed into her ribs. 

“Hah!” Sonya smirked, snatching the phone and scrolling through, “Knew it!”

“Who says it’s breakup music?” 

“The literal name of the playlist is just two blue heart emojis,” Sonya said, “And half the songs are by Dodie.”

“So?” Yaz said, trying in vain to snatch the phone back while Sonya scrolled through. 

“Some of these songs are questionable though,” Sonya said, “Why’ve you got Coldplay of all bands on here?”

Yaz snatched the phone back, “It’s a good song. Shut up.”

“You need gayer music,” Sonya said, leaning against Yaz’s desk and scrolling through her phone with a judgemental look on her face. 

“Oh cause you’re the expert in what gay music sounds like.”

“I talk to people,” Sonya said, “Unlike you. Aren’t Gay people supposed to listen to like- Chapell Roan or Mitski or something? Not whoever ‘The Red Notes’ are.”

“I don’t think there’s a rule that all gay people have the same taste in music Son,” Yaz said, flopping back against her pillow, resigning herself to her sister's continued presence in her room. “Did you come in here for a reason or were it just to criticize my music taste?”

“Came to enjoy your brilliant company, obviously.”

“Sonyaaaa.”

“Alright,” Sonya huffed, sitting down on the bed next to Yaz, “I’m staging an intervention.”

“An intervention?” Yaz repeated, making sure she heard her correctly.

“Yep.”

“Why exactly?”

“You need to do stuff,” Sonya said, “Get out of here and quit moping.”

“I do stuff!” Yaz protested. 

“I mean stuff besides work,” Sonya said rolling her eyes, “Cause whenever you’re not there you’re just in your room. You go out less than me , and that’s saying something.”

Yaz threw a pillow at her, “You’re out with your friends all the time.”

“That’s another thing,” Sonya said, dodging the pillow which thumped harmlessly to the floor, “You need to get new friends. You can’t keep hanging out with a bunch of old people.”

“They’re not old! Ryan is the same age as me!” Yaz protested, “Come on what’s this really about.”

Sonya huffed, “Look I’m worried okay.”

Yaz blinked, “Worried?”

“Yes!” Sonya said, “You’ve been back for months now but it’s still… I barely see you. And I know it’s not really the same thing but it keeps reminding me of… Back then you know, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.” She still wasn’t looking at Yaz, instead staring resolutely at her phone screen, but Yaz could see the concern on her face. Sometimes it was easy for Yaz to forget that past all her teasing and bravado, her kid sister wasn’t a kid anymore, and she worried about Yaz just as much as Yaz worried about her. 

“Hey,” Yaz said, moving beside her, “It’s not like that. I know I’ve been… down a bit, but it isn’t like it was then. I swear.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure,” Yaz said, putting a hand on her sister’s shoulder, “Back then I didn’t talk to anyone. But Dan, Ace, Tegan, Nyssa, all of them… they understand. They get it.” 

“They only understand because you never talk about it with us.” Sonya muttered. 

Yaz winced, because maybe her sister had a point. She still hadn’t exactly explained everything that happened. She wasn’t even sure where to start. “It’s just… complicated,” she said, “The others just know what it's like, that’s all.” 

And they did, because while not all of them had been in love with the Doctor, they all knew what it was to love the Doctor. To love the universe and see it all. To love the impossible person with so much love in their hearts, to love them through the wonder and the disaster, and to continue to love them after they left. 

Martha said once that the Doctor was like a fire. That anyone who got to close got burned. Yaz thought she might be right, but that maybe the Doctor was closer to the sun, warming you and keeping the world going even as it burns you. 

“Well I’m glad you have them,” Sonya said, finally putting her phone down, “But you can talk to me too you know? I promise I’ll listen if it’ll get you to stop listening to shitty music.”

Yaz rolled her eyes and smiled, “I know.” She pulled Sonya into a hug.

“Seriously though,” Sonya said, “Who listens to Ed Sheeran these days?”

Music filtered through the air, coming from somewhere in the Tardis. Yaz wasn’t sure if there were speakers in the walls or if the Tardis was just beaming the song directly into the air somehow. She had given up understanding. 

“Doctor?”

“In here.”

Yaz poked her head into… an engine room? She wasn’t sure. Glowing pillars of light were scattered around, and the walls were covered with wires that looked like vines. The whole place looked less like a machine and more like an overgrown forest. 

“Where are you?”

“Here!” the Doctor popped out of a wall, head covered in grease stains and bits of metal and… leaves? stuck in her hair, “What’s up Yaz?”

Yaz shrugged. She didn’t know why she was here really. She had just been wandering the corridors, letting her feet take her where they will, and then she just followed the music.

“Still fixing the Tardis?”

“Always,” the Doctor said, stroking the ship lovingly, “Old Girl has been through a lot, doubt I’ll ever manage to repair it all, but I’ve got to try.”

Yaz smiled as the Doctor reached back into the wall, twisting some wires, tightening bolts, spraying… fertilizer? Whatever. The Doctor was always trying to fix things, no matter how impossible the job would seem to anyone else. 

That’s what Yaz loved most about her . 

“I didn’t realize you actually listened to Ed Sheeran,” Yaz joked, sitting down beside her as the song continued to play.

“Of course!” the Doctor said, “Love Ed Sheeran. Must go meet him some day.”

“Is Ed Sheeran space-famous?” Yaz asked, “Or did you just learn about him when you came to Earth?”

The Doctor’s hands stilled for a moment, “Nah, not space famous.” She was turned away, so Yaz couldn’t see her face, only the tightness in her shoulders, “My- I had a friend who listened to his music. A student of mine.”

“What was their name?” Yaz asked, trying not to betray how excited she was to hear about the Doctor’s past.

“Bill,” the Doctor said, after a moment, “Her name was Bill.”

Was. 

That told Yaz all she needed to know. 

“Promised her I would take her to a concert one day,” the Doctor said, so quiet Yaz wasn’t sure she was meant to hear it, “Never did.”

Yaz went to put a hand on her shoulder, but thought better of it. So she sat beside her in the glow of the Tardis, listening as the music drifted through the air.

“Wait for me to come home…”

Yaz groaned and banged her head against the wall. 

She was trying to convince herself it wasn’t real, that she would wake up and it would all be a dream, but the pounding of her head told her otherwise. She sighed, leaning her head against the wall. She was seriously beginning to wonder if the universe had it out for her specifically. 

The door behind her swung open and Dan poked his head through, “You good Yaz?”

“M fine.” She doubted he would believe her. She had all but sprinted out of the room, barely pausing to assure a concerned Jo that she was alright before hiding herself in the hallway.

Dan moved to her side, leaning against the wall, “No offense mate but you don’t look fine.”

“I’m- I’m not sure what I am.”

Yaz wasn’t sure how to explain the very specific emotion of ‘A musician from the band I’ve been listening to to get over my Not Breakup has been traveling with the new version of the person I love and now she’s here standing in front of me and I don’t know how to handle that.’

“Everything alright out here?” Ace asked, poking her head through the doorway. Dan gestured helplessly at Yaz. Ace shook her head and went to stand on Yaz’s other side. “What’s wrong kid?”

“Everything,” Yaz muttered. 

“Could use a little more explanation.”

Yaz sighed, “Ruby is in a band I like.”

Dan blinked, “So?”

“They write a lot of, well, Ruby’s written a few songs about, ya know, heartbreak an stuff, which I’ve been listening to cause of, the Doctor and everything.” She could feel her cheeks turning red. It wasn’t like she was embarrassed to have loved the Doctor, but talking about it made her feel like a teenager getting over their first heartbreak.

Dan nodded, encouraging her to go on.

“It’s just- first I fall in love with her, and then she says we can’t be together, and then she starts dy- regenerating so we really can’t be together, and then for the sake of my sanity I stop traveling with her only for him to start living a few hours away! And then his new companion shows up and she’s been writing the songs I’ve been listening to trying to get over the whole thing in the first place!”

Yaz stopped to take a breath, slumping down and chancing a glance at her two friends. Dan looked confused, while Ace was raising an eyebrow in amusement.

Before either of them could say anything the door swung open again.

“Are you alright Yaz?”

Yaz had to restrain herself from banging her head against the wall again as Nyssa and Tegan walked into the hallway. “Not that I don’t appreciate it but do you all really have to come out here to check on me?”

“Yes.”

“Tegan was worried,” Nyssa said.

“Was not!” Tegan protested, “I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about, that’s all.”

Nyssa smiled and patted her wife’s shoulder consolingly. Yaz felt herself relaxing just looking at the two of them. They had been another godsend, Nyssa a listening ear and Tegan a kick in the ass when she needed one. 

“She’s having a gay crisis,” Ace said, patting Yaz on the shoulder sympathetically.

“Am not!” 

Dan looked at her pointedly.

“Alright I am.”

“Well we can help with that,” Nyssa said kindly. 

“Here,” Tegan said, pulling out some chairs and arranging them in a small circle, “Now we have our own support group.”

Ace laughed, “The support group is bigger on the inside.”

They all groaned and rolled their eyes while Ace chuckled at her own joke. Yaz couldn’t help but roll her eyes and smile in spite of it all, remembering once again how grateful she was that these people had come into her life.

“So,” Nyssa asked,  “What’s wrong, Yaz?”

“There isn’t one really,” Yaz said, “I’ve just got to get out of me own head.”

“She’s a fan of Ruby’s band,” Dan explained, “And it’s making her panic for some reason.”

“I’m not panicking!” Yaz protested, “Just… freaking out a little that’s all.”

Nyssa looked at her, “Why?”

Not for the first time, Yaz felt like the older woman could see right through her. Sometimes she felt like Nyssa and the others could understand her own mind better than she could. (It helped that Nyssa was apparently ‘mildly telepathic’ whatever that meant, and could read Yaz’s mind to some extent.)

“It’s just… it’s hard,” Yaz sighed, “Like I’m trying to move on but everytime I think I’m over it something happens to remind me of her.”

“If you’re looking to avoid reminders of the Doctor you’re in the wrong place,” Dan said. 

“No,” Yaz said, shaking her head, “That’s not what I mean. I don’t want to avoid it, you all are great. It’s just… like you told me, you have to move on to a normal life at some point, or as normal as it can get after the Doctor, but I feel like everytime I start to they pop up again! Like, what are the odds that he starts traveling with a member from my favorite band? That’s insane. ”

Dan winced, “I see what you mean.”

Yaz sighed and slumped back in her chair, “I suppose I’m just tired of feeling like this.”

“Like what?”

Yaz struggled to think of another word beside heartbreak. The word reminded her of cheesy rom-com and teenagers after their first crush, but it was a pretty apt description. Breakups hurt, no matter your age, and Yaz felt sometimes like her heart had been torn in two.

But that was the thing wasn’t it? Technically they never broke up, because technically they were never together. So while Yaz’s feelings may have been something more, what she really lost was her best friend. Her best friend who was now out there traveling the stars with was someone else. Her best friend who was someone else. The whole thing was so complicated it made Yaz want to scream, because no one else knew how this felt.

 Well, almost no one.

Yaz let herself fall into Dan’s side. She looked at Tegan, Nyssa, and Ace, who’s expressions mirrored her own. 

“I just miss her,” she said.

Ace put a hand on Yaz’s arm, “Me too.”

Because they understood. Everyone in the hallway and the room beyond understood what it was to lose the Doctor, no matter what kind of love they had for them. Tegan had lost a friend, Nyssa lost the man who took her in after the death of her family, Ace lost the closest thing to a parent she had. Even though the Doctor was still out there, just changed, they all knew the odds of seeing them again were slim (Minus the version living in Donna’s house.)

“I just wish everything didn’t remind me of her.”

They had found the box of records while repairing the Tardis. Or rather, the Tardis had gotten hit by some odd weapon and the Doctor yelled something about physic shields before throwing open a wall panel Yaz hadn’t realized existed, and then shoved a bunch of boxes out of the way so she could fix the shields before they ‘had their brains melted.’ Why you would use a control panel for shields that protected you from brain melting as a storage closet Yaz had yet to figure out. 

The Doctor had fixed things in time though, saving them and the planet, all in a days work. So now they were going through the boxes, trying to figure out what exactly had been so important that it deserved to be stored in the ‘shields that protect you from brain-melting’ cabinet. (No, Yaz was not going to let this go.)

“Oh cool,” Ryan said, opening one of the boxes, “Where did you get these records Doc?”

“Dunno,” the Doctor said, “Think they might’ve been Vicki’s”

The Doctor did that a lot. She’d mention a person from her past and then give nothing else. Yaz had given up keeping track of all the names she mentioned. 

“Is there a record player?” Yaz asked.

“Surprised you kids even know what a record player is,” Graham teased. 

“Oh hush you they’re not that old.”

“Found one!” Ryan said triumphantly.

“Hey doc, alright if we play some records?”

“Sure!” the Doctor called from her position halfway up the wall. “It’ll keep me company while I work.”

“What about this one?” Ryan said, holding up what looked like a Beatles record. 

“Absolutely not.”

Graham O’Brien was many things. Bus driver. Great cook. Grandfather. He was not, however, a Beatles fan.

“Can I see that?” Yaz asked.

“Sure.”

She took the album in her hands and flipped it over. It was an original record from 1963, but it looked brand new. The back had a few sentences scribbled on it. “To Vicki, from Ian and Barbara.”

“You were right Doctor,” she called up, “They were Vicki’s.”

There was no answer. 

Ryan fiddled with the record player, dropping the needle and letting music fill the air. It was some song Yaz didn’t recognize, but at the first note Graham froze. 

“Alright Graham?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah,” Graham said, “It’s just… me and Grace loved this song.”

“It was her favorite,” Ryan said softly. Yaz went and put an arm around him, “She would put it on every Sunday and dance to it while she cleaned the kitchen. Dragged me into it every time.”

Graham sniffed. To her horror Yaz looked up and saw he was crying. “Sorry,” Graham said, wiping his face, “Always makes me cry.”

The song kept playing, lyrics joining the simple tune, ‘Look at the stars… look how they shine for you…’

“We can listen to something else.” Yaz suggested.

“Nah cockle,” Graham shook his head, “It’s good to hear it.” He glanced over at Ryan, who was staring into the record player as it spun around. “The way I see it we’ll always miss her, so it’s best to do things that help us remember her, cause even if it hurts right now, we can remember the good times as well.” 

Yaz looked up at the Doctor. She had been watching them, but turned away as soon as she saw Yaz looking. Yaz only saw her face for a few seconds, but thought she saw traces of tears. 

“It’s not quite the same thing,” Tegan said, “But I remember feeling much the same way after Nyssa and I… got separated.” At that Nyssa gripped her wife’s hand tightly and moved closer, despite the two of them already practically sitting in each other’s chairs. 

Yaz smiled at the two of them, “Yeah?”

Tegan nodded, “Anytime I saw a book she might enjoy or a plant she would love I would think of her. A plane I was working on flew to Amsterdam and I spent half the flight trying not to cry. I was miserable.”

“So what’d you do?”

Tegan huffed “Well I’d love to tell you I held onto hope that I would find a way back to her or something equally romantic. But I didn’t. I gave up on that too soon. Instead I tried to forget it. Not just Nyssa but the Doctor and- everything that happened while we traveled. I got married, got a job, got divorced, got married again, all the normal stuff.”

It was hard for Yaz to imagine a world without Tegan and Nyssa being together, much less a world where the two of them weren’t ridiculously in love. The idea of Tegan Jovanka trying to be normal and marry a man, was equally laughable. (Once upon a time, she would’ve thought the same of a world where she no longer traveled with the Doctor).

“Obviously it ended horribly,” Tegan said, noticing Yaz’s expression, “For a number of reasons.”

“Mainly that she was still desperately in love with Nyssa,” Ace said.

“Hush McShane.”

“I’m terribly sorry if I was the reason you got divorced, Tegan,” Nyssa said, somehow managing to keep a straight face, “But selfishly I’m quite glad.”

“Yes, well,” Tegan was bright red, “So am I.”

Yaz coughed before the two of them could get lost in each other’s eyes again and forget the rest of them were there. (It happened often). “You were saying?”

“Right,” Tegan said, shaking her head a bit and focusing on Yaz, “I’m saying that I rushed into things. You can’t force yourself to move on Yaz, no matter how much you want to.” 

“She’s right,” Nyssa said. She reached out and took Yaz’s hand in her own, “Mourning takes time”

“I’m not mourning ,” Yaz said, “The Doctor’s still here, just saved the world last week, remember?”

“Yes, but you’re mourning who they used to be,” Nyssa said, “We all do at some point.”

“They’re still the same person,” Ace said, “But they’re also not. So it gets complicated.”

“But how do I be okay with who they are now?” 

Nyssa and Tegan shrugged.

“Time I suppose,” Tegan said, “And getting used to the new version of them.”

“It is the same Doctor underneath it all,” Nyssa added, “No matter how different they look or act. I wondered, but their mind- it feels the same.”

“It’s a bit different for us,” Ace said, “I mean, the Professor- I’ll always see them as a parent, no matter what they look like. But I imagine it gets even more complicated if you fall in love with them.”

“Just a bit.”

Ace nodded, “But the point is, even if I feel the same way about the Doctor now, that doesn’t mean I don’t miss my Professor. Both can be true.”

“Personally I’ve always been equally annoyed by them no matter what form they were in.”

“Tegan.”

“Yes dear?”

“Be nice.”

“Always am.”

Nyssa rolled her eyes and turned to Yas, “What we’re saying is it is normal to feel very confused at first, especially with the new regeneration living so close to home.”

Well,” Ace said, “Normal for companions, and normal for Gallifreyans. Literally no one else in the universe has to deal with this.”

“Not sure I know what normal is anymore anyways.”

“Your guess is as good as ours.”

It had been Sonya’s idea to go to the concert, because of course it had. She had barged into Yaz’s room and thrown herself across the bed, waiting until Yaz looked at her to say anything. 

“We should go out,” Sonya said, “Just the two of us.”

“You know I don’t drink-”

“Not drinking,” Sonya rolled her eyes, “We should just… go out. Look at cute guys- or girls- gossip, talk to each other. Pretend to be normal for once.”

Normal. Yaz had had a hard time with normal lately. She tried getting a normal job that lasted one week before she quit and went to work for Ace. She tried hanging out with some of her old ‘normal’ friends and was miserable the entire time. She tried going on a normal date and had to leave halfway through because she couldn’t come up with a decent explanation for how she had spent the past few years of her life. Pretending to be normal for a night, letting go of it all… Yaz could get behind that. 

Yaz rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway, “I’d like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m glad you agree with me,” Sonya said, standing up, “Now come on and get dressed.”

Yaz blinked “What for?”

“We’re going out,” she said, as if it were obvious. Yaz blinked again, wondering if there was some part of the conversation she had missed. 

“Says who?”

“Me, five seconds ago when I said you needed to go out more and you agreed.”

“Yeah I thought you meant this weekend or something not now ,” Yaz sputtered.

“Come onnnnn it’ll be fun,” Sonya said, “Me and Janie were gonna go to this concert but she canceled at the last minute. You should come instead.” She pulled Yaz upright and then moved to her closet, riffling through Yaz’s extremely limited outfit selection.

“What kind of  concert?” Yaz said, still feeling like she was stuck on a loading screen while Sonya had completed the tutorial.

“I don’t know,” Sonya said, “I think there are a couple bands playing. Wasn’t paying too much attention when we got the tickets. Your clothes are shit by the way.”

“Thank you so much,” Yaz said sarcastically, walking over and closing the closet door. “Where exactly is this concert?”

“London.”

“ London ?”

“What’s the big deal?” Sonya said, “You’re over there every other month to see your nursing home friends.”

“For the last time it’s not a nursing home .”

“Still,” Sonya said, pulling out one of Yaz’s few dresses and frowning, “What’s the issue?”

“The issue is I’m not going to London in the middle of the week to some random concert.” Yaz said, “I have work tomorrow!” (That wasn’t the issue. Ace was extremely chill when it came to the hours they worked. The real issue was there was a chance, however small, that they would run into the Doctor, and Yaz did Not want to have to deal with that.)

“Too bad,” Sonya said, throwing an outfit down on the bed that she had grabbed when Yaz wasn’t looking. “I’m going and you won’t let me go unsupervised because you love me.” She strode out of the room as suddenly as she had come in.

“I never agreed to this!” Yaz yelled to her retreating back.

“Bus leaves in an hour!”

The venue was crowded. Too crowded. There were bodies all around her, too close and too loud.

The band was alright she supposed. Nothing special. Generic pop music playing over the sound of too many people sing-shouting and talking. Lights flashing different colours overhead. She had long since given up on trying to talk to people, instead grabbing a water and attempting to find an out-of-the-way corner to hide in. 

It had been hard to interact with normal people ever since she got back and she had lost any ability to pretend otherwise.. Even if she was ready to flirt or go on a date again (Which, she wasn’t) there was still no good way to explain the last five years of her life without sounding insane. She was almost tempted to ask Sonya if they could leave early when her sister grabbed her arm. “Look!”

A new band was walking onto the stage. 

“Hello everybody!” the singer, a pretty girl with brown hair, said into the mic, “My name is Trudy, we’ve got Clark there on guitar, Ruby on the piano, and Big Jim on the drums. We’re the Red Notes!”

“No way,” Yaz muttered as the band began playing. She turned to Sonya, who was grinning at her.

“Did I get it right?”

“You knew they’d be here?” Yaz said, laughing, “How’d you even know I listened to them?”

“They make up half of your dumb breakup playlist,” Sonya said, “I had to see what all of the hype was about. Saw their name on the list of bands playing tonight and figured I’d drag you along.”

“Sonya!” Yaz pulled her sister into a hug, lifting her a few inches above the ground while Sonya protested dramatically.

“All right all right I get it! I’m amazing. Put me down now.”

Yaz did, still smiling at her, “Thank you.”

Sonya shrugged, looking uncharacteristically soft, “Don’t mention it.”

The music quieted as the band finished their first song. Trudy stepped up to the mic and a hush fell over the crowd. 

“We’ve got a special song tonight,” she said, “Ruby over here wrote it a few weeks ago.”

“Oh come on Trudy,” the pianist protested.

“Oh no you’re not getting out of this,” the singer laughed, “I was goin’ through a bad breakup, and Ruby here wrote a song to cheer me up. And it's brilliant, so I’ve asked her to share it with all of you. It’s a bit different from our normal stuff but you’ll love it I swear. Sound good?”

The crowd roared, Yaz and Sonya cheering along with them. 

“This is amazing,” Yaz said. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. 

“Does she write good songs then?”

Yaz nodded, “Ruby’s written all my favorites. She’s also an incredible-”

She was cut off by the first few notes coming over the speaker as Ruby leaned closer to the mic. 

“Alright,” she said, brushing her hair behind her ear, “Here goes.”

The piano started slowly, only a few notes breaking the silence that had fallen over the crowd. It moved into something more melancholy, playful but sad at the same time. The rest of the band joined in, gently strumming. One of the band members had switched their guitar for a violin at some point. The music swelled, and it felt like Yaz was being carried along with it. Like some grand adventure was about to start. 

And suddenly she was back with the Doctor, running for their lives while some giant creature chased them. 

She was in the console room, they were laughing at something Ryan had said, and all Yaz could think was she wanted to hear that laugh forever.

 They were in a warzone, but the Doctor held her hand tight and said things would be alright with such confidence that Yaz almost believed her. 

They were watching fireworks, the Doctor’s hand warm against her back. 

They were on a spaceship, Yaz couldn’t remember when, and the Doctor was going on about the intricacy of their engine room even as they snuck through the vents to avoid being captured. 

They were on the roof of the Tardis, watching the Earth spin below them. Yaz ate her ice cream and tried to focus on the incredible woman beside her, trying to ignore the glowing light that told her it was all ending soon. 

Yaz blinked, and she was back at the concert, Sonya at her side. At some point without realizing it, she had started crying. 

The piano slowed, and then came to a stop. The room was completely still.

And then the crowd burst into applause. 

Yaz cheered as loudly as she could. Ruby smiled, seemingly taken aback by the response as her bandmates congratulated her. 

“You good?” Sonya asked.

“I’m great,” Yaz said honestly.

Sonya raised her eyebrow but smiled, turning back to cheer for the band before they started their next song. 

“So,” Sonya said, “Good gift? Solve your gay crisis?”

Yaz lightly punched her shoulder, “No, idiot,” she wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes, smiling as another one of her favorite songs began to play, “...It were a good gift though.”

There was a room in the Tardis that Yaz had found by accident, early on into traveling with the Doctor. She wasn’t sure how, and doubted she’d ever be able to find it again. It was full of… well it looked like junk really. Like every room in the Tardis looked, a billion lives held together with ducktape, prayer, and dimensional physics. 

There was a stuffed panda. A baby crib. A victorian gown. A scarf. Stacks of what looked like classified military folders. Textbooks. A pink jacket. A Chemistry set. A baseball bat. Bagpipes and a recorder, nestled together on a chair. A broken badge that looked like a star. 

Yaz wandered into the maze of items, careful not to touch anything. The door had been open, the Doctor hadn’t told them to stay away from anywhere, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t supposed to be here. So she stepped lightly among the remnants of past lives. 

There were photographs too, dozens of them. All of people she didn’t recognize. Men, women, children. Most human, some definitely not. 

“Yaz are you-” the Doctor appeared in the doorway, freezing when she saw the room. 

“Sorry,” Yaz said, not sure what she was apologizing for. “I got lost.”

“Yeah sorry, Shoulda warned ya, Tardis can be a bit of a maze.” the Doctor didn’t look at her when she said it, instead staring at the photograph on the desk behind her, a black and white picture of a young girl staring at the camera. 

Yaz wanted to ask who she was, or where all this stuff came from, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. 

“Do you play?” she asked instead, nodding to the bagpipes.

The Doctor’s eyes softened, “I- not in a long time.” She walked over and reached towards them, but didn’t touch. There was something almost… reverent in her expression. “An old friend taught me how.”

An old friend. 

The Doctor said that a lot, always with the same distant expression on her face. Yaz wondered what it meant. Were they all people who had traveled with her? How many had she lost? What happened to them? She didn’t dare ask. 

“I played this though,” she said, taking up the recorder. “Dunno if I still can. Guitar’s my best instrument really, although I’m not half bad at the spoons.”

Yaz blinked, “The spoons can be an instrument?”

The Doctor looked almost offended at that, “Of course they can! On some planets they’re the only instrument. Oh! We should go to Cochleari Prime to hear the spoon orchestra! It’s incredible really, most famous show in the 39th century.”

“Wait- Doctor!” Yaz turned and gave the room one last glance before rushing after her, praying she wasn’t about to actually take them to a planet of spoons. 

Later, Yaz wondered if some day, far in the future, a piece of her would join this room. Maybe her jacket, or her badge. Whatever small piece of Yasmin Khan got left behind, she wondered if someone else would find it, would wonder who she was. She wondered if the Doctor would look at it and smile, and mention ‘old friends’ 

Much much later she wondered if the room had been a warning, the Tardis telling her what she was getting into. Telling her that as much as the Doctor loved, she lost, and nothing could last forever, not even the Doctor.

“It’s just so confusing,” Yaz said, rubbing away the headache that was starting to form. Maybe banging her head into the wall hadn’t been her best idea. 

“Welcome to traveling with the Doctor,” Tegan said, patting her on the shoulder, “Where we’ve all been driven insane by a crazy alien.”

Dan laughed, “To be honest we were all insane long before that; we agreed to travel with her didn’t we?”

“Speak for yourself, I got kidnapped.”

“Yes but you came back,” Nyssa said.

“That’s besides the point.”

Yaz laughed, wiping away the few tears that had started to form, “I’m glad you guys are here.”

“There’s a reason it's a support group after all,” Ace joked. “We’ve all got to figure it out somehow, and it’s better than staring at the wall.”

Dan shook his head, “I’ve no idea how you all managed by yourselves. If I’d had to go years without talking to anyone about all this I’d’ve gone insane.”

“We did,” Tegan said, “Why do you think I got divorced?”

“Because you’re a lesbian?”

“Again, not the point.”

“There’s no guidebook for this,” Ace said, breaking in before Dan and Tegan got into an argument, “Well there is one, but it's entirely in Gallifreyan and a kinda boring read. But most people don’t have to deal with someone they love changing into a completely different person who is the same but also not really.”

“So I’m doomed?” Yaz joked.

“Hey,” Dan said, bumping into her shoulder, “Haven’t you been listening, Sheffield? We’ve got your back, and we’ll figure this out together.”

Yaz rolled her eyes, but smiled in spite of it all, “Now what?”

“Now,” Nyssa said, standing up and taking her wife’s arm, “We go back in before Jo or Mel hunt us down, we get the meeting started, and we welcome Ruby into this crazy family.”

Ace grinned at her, “And then afterwards you ask Ruby for her autograph.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I can ask for you if you’d like?”

“Ace McShane I will tackle you.”

“You can try.”

“Ace- Ace don’t you dare-”

Ruby hadn’t been sure what to expect from a ‘Companion Support Group’ as Rose had called it. She knew there were others who had traveled with the Doctor, but hadn’t realized there had been so many of them. (And they all had experienced enough for the group to be a ‘support group’. She thought the whole Sutekh thing had been a rare occurrence, but Mel told her the world almost ended at least once a year (normally around Christmas) and it was usually up to the Doctor and those who traveled with him to stop it.)

Rose had agreed to come with her for her first time.

“I don’t always come,” she had explained, “It’s mainly for those who’ve traveled with the Doctor.”

“But you live with him,” Ruby said, “Doesn’t that count?”

“I do come sometimes,” Rose said, “But living with him  here on Earth… it’s not quite the same as traveling with him. Talk to the others. You’ll see.”

The whole exchange hadn’t exactly filled Ruby with confidence, and she had been a bit nervous walking into the room. 

She wasn’t sure what she expected, but it wasn’t for one woman to take one look at her and then all but sprint out of the room, her friends following close behind her. She moved to follow them, but someone stepped in front of her.

“Ruby dear!” Mel said, “It’s so good to see you.”

“You too,” Ruby said, still straining to get a glimpse of the woman, “Who was that?”

“Oh that was Yaz,” Mel said, “She just… ate too much Pakora and needed to get some water.”

From the hallway where Yaz had ran came a distant bang and something that sounded like ‘ Fuck !’

Ruby raised an eyebrow, “Is she alright?”

“She’ll be fine,” Mel said, “The pakora was just… really spicy.”

Ruby glanced at the jugs of water sitting on the table and figured it was better not to ask. “Right. So don’t eat the Pakora then?”

“Best not to,” Mel agreed, putting an arm around her and guiding her to a circle of chairs, “Let me introduce you to everyone. This is Martha, that’s Victoria, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, we call her Liz, Ryan, the couple over there is Ian and Barbara, that’s Graham, and…”

Yaz and the people who followed her came back several minutes later, by which point Ruby had been told an overwhelming amount of names and been fed several delicious brownies from a woman named Jo. They came over and introduced themselves, but Yaz only shook her hand and said her name with a strained smile before disappearing into a conversation with Ryan and Graham. Ruby was beyond curious at this point but before she could go over and ask what exactly Yaz’s problem was, two women stepped in front of her. 

“You must be Ruby,” One of them said in an accent that Ruby couldn’t quite place. She had curly hair and a kind smile that spread across her face.

Ruby nodded, trying to crane her neck to see where Yaz had gone. “Yep! Ruby Sunday. That’s me.”

“I’m Nyssa,” she said, “And this is my wife Tegan.” She gestured to another woman with short hair who was holding her hand.

Tegan gave her a quick smile. “It’s nice to meet you Ruby.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Ruby said. 

“So Kate said you’re from Earth?”

“Yes,” Ruby said cautiously, “Is that… unusual?”

“Not really,” Tegan said, “But we can never be sure.”

Nyssa smiled at her, “I am from the planet Traken.”

Ruby blinked. “Right. Wow, that’s.. that’s amazing. Are lots of the Doctor’s companions from other planets?”

“There’s a decent number,” Nyssa said, “But he really does find a ridiculous number on 21st century Earth. I’m the only alien here.”

“Hey, Don't forget me!” Another woman came over and put an arm around Nyssa, “Not exactly human am I?”

“Yes but you were born human,” Nyssa said, rolling her eyes. 

“Still,” the woman protested. She was possibly the coolest woman Ruby had ever seen. She looked to be about her mum’s age and was wearing a bomber jacket covered in various pins and patches. She turned to Ruby and grinned, sticking out a hand, “I’m Ace.”

“Ruby,” She said, for what felt like the hundredth time, “Whaddya mean you aren’t human?”

“Do not get her started or we’ll be here all night.”

“Speaking of,” Nyssa said, nodding to the rest of the group, “It’s time to get started.”

The meeting was incredible. The others introduced themselves again (Ruby was grateful though because there were just so many names ) and talked a bit about how they began traveling with the Doctor. (A disturbing amount involved kidnapping but there wasn’t enough time to explain all of that.) She learned that Ian and Barbara had been the first to travel with the Doctor and knew his granddaughter, that Jo met him way back in the seventies (or the eighties) when she worked with Kate’s father, and that a version of the Doctor was currently living with Rose’s family in London (which- what?) Ruby told them about meeting the Doctor, the goblin ship, the space babies, the Beatles, and the alien cosplayers. 

It was nice to be able to say all of it without them thinking she was insane. Even if her mum knew about everything, she still didn’t know about everything. But these people knew what it was to step out and see an alien sky, or to save an entire civilization and have to come back to Earth and pretend things were normal. They understood. 

The whole time though. Ruby couldn’t help but notice Yaz was looking at her. Or rather, Yaz was looking at her and then pretending not to look at her whenever Ruby looked back. By the end of the meeting Ruby couldn’t take it anymore and she cornered Yaz when she started packing up the pakora (still mostly untouched).

“Hi,” Ruby said, causing Yaz to jump slightly, “Sorry, um, we didn’t get the chance to talk earlier. I’m Ruby Sunday.”

“I know.”

Ruby blinked. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting but it wasn’t that, “You do?”

“Yeah sorry I just,” Yaz laughed awkwardly, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, that’s all. I know your band.”

“Seriously?” Ruby grinned, “That’s awesome!”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!” She said. She had been worried that Yaz hated her or something, “I mean, we’re pretty small, don’t have a ton of listeners, so that's cool!”

“You should give her your autograph,” Ace yelled from across the room.

“I will end you McShane!” Yaz yelled back.

“I’d like to see you try!”

Yaz shook her head and turned back to Ruby, “Sorry about her. And sorry if I’ve been acting off, it’s just… weird.”

“It’s fine,” Ruby said, “I’m flattered honestly.”

Yaz smiled back and the conversation stalled, neither of them sure what to say.

“What song is your favorite?” Ruby asked. That was a thing you asked fans right? 

“I don’t know if it has a name,” Yaz said, “I heard it at the concert I went to. It’s the one you wrote for your friend. It… I heard it when I really needed to.”

Oh. Ruby knew that song. She looked at Yaz, whose eyes looked a bit far away, lost in a memory. “Who was she?” Ruby asked, sitting down beside Yaz.

“Huh?” 

“The person you were in love with,” Ruby said, “Or he, whichever, our songs just tend to have a specific fanbase and Trudy says I’m great at writing songs for heartbroken lesbians so-”

“No it was a she,” Yaz said, taking a deep breath, “Ummm, I’m not sure how to say this.”

“Want to just tell me about her?”

“You know her,” Yaz said, “Kind of.”

Oh. Okay. Ruby wasn’t expecting that either, “I do?”

“Everyone here does,” Yaz said, nodding around, “Considering we all traveled with them.”

It took Ruby a second to put it together, “You dated the Doctor ?”

“Not dated,” Yaz said, “But yeah.”

Ruby gaped, “So you- and him, but he was her, and then I- Oh you really weren’t expecting to see me walk in.”

“Nope.”

“Huh.” Ruby made a mental note to find a way to ask the Doctor if the goblins were really gone, because this was one hell of a coincidence.

“Right,” Yaz said, moving to get up, “Now that I’ve fully embarrassed myself-”

“You haven’t,” Ruby said, “Really you haven’t.”

“Don’t think it’s weird I’ve been listening to your songs trying to get over your best friend?” Yaz joked.

“Nah,” Ruby said, “You’d be surprised how often that happens.”

“Really?”

“Gay friend groups can get complicated .”

Yaz laughed at that, “Fair enough.”

“Do you mind if I ask what happened?” 

Yaz shrugged, “I loved her, but she- didn’t feel the same way. Then she regenerated and I left and that was the end of it.” She looked down, messing with the hem of her jacket, “It’s more complicated than that, but that’s the jist of it.”

Ruby hummed sympathetically. She wasn’t always good with words; that had been part of the reason she wrote a song for Trudy without lyrics. She couldn’t imagine falling in love with the Doctor, not that there was anything wrong with him, he was her best friend. (And also a good couple thousand years older than her from her best guess. Not to mention the fact that she really couldn’t see her Doctor dating a woman) but she could see how someone else could feel that way. The Doctor drew people in, they loved so much, and they helped people love the world like they did. Loving them was easy in some ways, and so hard in others. 

Ruby studied the woman beside her. Yaz hadn’t talked much during the meeting, only jumping in to explain some details when Dan was describing how he met the Doctor. All she knew was that the rest of the companions, especially Ryan and Dan, looked up to her. She could see it. From what she could tell Yaz was brave, caring, and just as adventurous as the rest of them. (You had to be to travel with the Doctor). She could also tell whatever had happened, the Doctor had broken her heart, and he was her best friend, but that didn’t mean Ruby didn’t know he could be an idiot sometimes. So she said so, “The Doctor can be a bit of an idiot sometimes.”

Yaz smiled a little, “Preaching to the choir mate.”

“He always said he didn’t have anyone but look,” Ruby said, gesturing at the crowd, “There’s so many people here who love him, and even more all across the galaxy. And if he- she didn't feel the same way then that’s on them.” 

“She did love me,” Yaz said, “She was just scared I think. The Doctor isn’t exactly open, or good at staying still.”

Ruby frowned. That didn’t sound like the Doctor she knew, but then again neither had a lot of the stories she had heard today. “Can you tell me about her? Your Doctor I mean.”

Yaz looked at her curiously, but nodded, “Sure, but only if you tell me about yours.”

“Sure you want to know?”

Yaz nodded, determined, “I want to know what he’s like now.”

“Well he-“

“Hey Sheffieled,” Dan said, coming up and giving Yaz a hug, “I’m heading back. Diane and me are going on a date tonight.”

“Alright,” Yaz said, “Call me later and tell me how it goes, yeah?”

“Fingers crossed really really well,” Dan said, “Alright bye kids. It was nice to meet you Ruby, welcome to the family.”

Ruby looked around the room. At Tegan and Nyssa talking to Victoria. At Graham and Ryan. At Ace who was not-so-subtly giving Yaz a thumbs up. At Jo who was showing Liz pictures of her grandkids. At Ian and Barbara who were talking to Rose.At this group of people who by all accounts had nothing in common, but had built something together because of the same person. She thought that the Doctor was a bit of an idiot. They had spent so much time talking about how they were alone, but they had a room full of people who loved them. It was obvious in the way they talked and told their stories. The Doctor had the biggest family in the world, bigger than hers even (and that was saying something).

“So,” she said, turning back to Yaz, “Where to start?”

The Doctor was laughing as the children chased her around the town square. Flower petals drifted through the air, gently swirling in the breeze. The streets were filled with people laughing and dancing while gentle music played in the background. They were taking a well-deserved rest for once, celebrating saving this city from the massive wildfire that had threatened it. For once, no monsters, no deaths, just hundreds of grateful people, a beautiful sunset, and lots of good food. 

“Your partner has quite the way with children,” One of the women said to her, smiling as her daughter clung to the Doctor’s leg, laughing as she was swung around.

“Yeah she does.” The Doctor had had children once, or so she had mentioned. All Yaz knew about them was they were gone.

“Have you ever thought about becoming parents?”

The woman’s question was innocent enough, but Yaz’s face was on fire, “Oh no we- we’re not like that. I don’t- no.”

The woman smiled at her, “Not together?”

Yaz vehemently shook her head, making the woman laugh. 

“I see the way you look at her,” the woman said, “Tell her before it’s too late, yes?” 

Yaz smiled and nodded, unsure how to tell her it already was. 

“Beautiful innit it?” the Doctor said, crashing down on the bench beside Yaz and slinging an arm around her in a move that had Yaz’s heart pounding, “Love a good sunset.”

“Yeah,” Yaz said, looking at the impossible woman beside her, “It is.”

“You know this planet has sunsets that last a whole month,” the Doctor said, “Festival of light they call it. It comes down to their unique orbit and some fascinating atmosphere changes. Reminds me of a planet I went to with-” she glanced at Yaz, “With… someone else.”

Sometimes Yaz wished she could ask the Doctor to list out everyone she traveled with. Other times she wished she didn’t know there were others at all, because then she could shake the feeling that this would all end and she was doomed to become a memory with the rest of them. 

“Why did you start this?” She asked. 

The Doctor’s brow furrowed in a way that wasn’t cute at all. It was very cute. Yaz was hyperventilating a little. “Start what?”

“Traveling the universe,” Yaz said, “Go around to a new world each day. Spend your life exploring and saving people. What made you do it?”

The Doctor shrugged, “I was bored.”

Yaz laughed, “No way.”

“Really!” she insisted, “Alright there were some other stuff going on on my planet at the time, politics, really boring, but I always wanted to travel. To see all the universe had to offer. As a kid me and Ko- my friend would look up at the stars and point out all the ones we wanted to go to. So as soon as I had a chance I stole a Tardis and ran away.”

Yaz smiled at the image of a small Doctor (was she a girl or something else back then? Still blonde?) laying down and looking at the stars, “Not much has changed then?”

“Not much,” the Doctor agreed, “‘Cept I like humans a lot more now. Didn’t trust them at all at first. Susan was the one who helped me there.”

“Who’s Susan?” Yaz dared to ask, hardly daring to believe she was getting as many answers as she was. She expected the Doctor to dodge the question, to go off on a deeper lecture about the environmental factors of the planet, or to rush off to get join in the festivities, but she didn’t.

“My granddaughter,” she said softly. She wasn’t looking at Yaz when she said it, instead staring at the children who were still dancing in the square. Yaz didn’t know much about the Doctor’s past, anytime she thought she did another piece of information revealed that she was trying to drain an ocean with a bucket, but she knew enough to know that the Doctor’s granddaughter was as lost to her as everyone else. 

She moved closer to the Doctor, putting her hand next to hers. After a moment the Doctor took it, and leaned her head on Yaz’s shoulder. 

Here’s the thing about the Doctor: she loves, so so fiercely. She cares, about each and every person she meets. She sees the universe in all its beauty, but in all its horror too. And she has hope. She focuses on what could be, instead of what is. She looks at life and sees and wants it all. 

Yaz wishes she could love like that. 

She wanted to ask more, about who the Doctor’s granddaughter was, about how she fell in love with humanity, but she didn’t want to risk shattering the peace she had so carefully assembled. “Did you say you stole the Tardis?”

The Doctor laughed, “Yeah I did. More like she stole me though if we’re being honest.”

Yaz shook her head, “All this time I’ve been traveling with a delinquent.”

“It were in a museum! Poor thing were wasting away. Did everyone a favor by taking it.”

Yaz’s eyebrows flew up, “A museum? Is that thing even street legal?”

The Doctor began spluttering and protesting that her ship was incredible thank you very much and even though type-40’s were a little out of date by Time-Lord standards they were the vastly superior vehicle to be honest and she’d been perfectly fine so far and-

Yaz laughed, leaning closer into the Doctor’s side as she rambled. She knew one thing for sure, for however long it lasted, whatever happened next, she wanted the Doctor for as long as she could have her.