Work Text:
“How about going to Gran Canaria? The Canary Islands are lovely this time of year. Well pretty lovely for the whole year but still. Did you know that they were named after dogs and not the birds like most people think?” the Doctor rambled, clearly trying her best to come up with somewhere suitable to take Yaz.
The last adventure had taken them to a beautiful glade in a rainforest, which had been lovely until some dinosauresque creature, no larger than a Jurassic Park sized raptor, had spotted them, promptly chasing after the pair.
Neither of them had sustained any major injuries, just a few scratches that were easily healed when back in the TARDIS medbay with a cream from the distant future, which contained ingredients that Yaz certainly couldn’t pronounce, although it did sound suspiciously like Sudocream.
While there had been no bodily damage for either of them, the same couldn’t be said for Yaz’s favourite jacket. It was her daily one, a brown leather number, which had fit her like a glove - that is until a knockoff dino had ripped off half the back and created some deep gashes in the sides.
Which is how they got to the Doctor trying her best to make it up to her companion with trip suggestions. So far she had thrown out Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, and now the Canary Islands. Which all sounded good, but none felt just right.
Plus the longer she didn’t accept a place, the longer the Doctor would give suggestions and be sweet to her since clearly she had suffered a great loss.
That wasn’t so wrong was it?
This led onto the Doctor making Yaz a cup of tea, with a good, normal, healthy amount of sugar, and a few dozen more suggestions, including but not limited to the other half of the countries of the globe, a replacement jacket, skydiving, and a pastel de nata baking course.
“How about camping?” The Doctor finally suggested. Yaz perked up slightly at that suggestion, causing the Doctor to continue. “Yano, proper camping with a tent and marshmallows in the woods.”
“That sounds great actually. Better not be any haunted or alien woods where some forest monster made of branches comes to life and kills us though. That would defo kill the vibe.”
“What do you take me for?” The Doctor exclaimed in faux hurt, clutching a hand to the wrong side of her chest for it to be over her heart, until Yaz remembered she had two hearts, which then made her wonder why the Time Lord didn’t put one hand over each of her two hearts instead. “England in spring then?”
Yaz nodded in affirmation, then started thinking of what they would do on this camping trip.
“I’ll start preparing then, you just sit there and look pretty.” And with that, she ran off, leaving Yaz opening and closing her mouth like a fish gulping for air.
The TARDIS had just landed in a small clearing of the woods, extremely secluded with no buildings or civilisation in sight, possibly due to being early in Earth’s history though but Yaz couldn’t remember what the Doctor had told her.
The sun was high in the sky, casting warm rays down on the landscape. The trees provided shade, protecting from the rare heat of England, however gaps in the canopy led to streams of warmth and light to break through, illuminating the glade and enhancing the magical feeling of the place.
A nearby brook rushed by, and a cacophony of bird songs played out for them like a choir of small angels. Unlike for Horace, the birds didn’t sound like they were complaining and this certainly wasn’t a dream.
“This place is beautiful,” Yaz gasped in awe, eliciting a grin from the blonde.
“I’m glad you like it, this is where we’ll be for the trip.”
“What should we do first?” Yaz asked, knowing the Doctor definitely had a trillion point plan in place to make this work. While she wasn’t always so organised, she was trying to make it up to the brunette, and maybe trying to impress her just a bit, so she had planned everything meticulously.
“Why don’t you gather some branches and logs for a fire. I’ll get started on the tent and unpacking the supplies.”
“And you know how to do that?” She asked, suspiciously narrowing her eyes at the blonde.
“Scouts honour.” Placing a hand on her heart - one of her hearts - she looked serious all of a sudden.
“You weren’t a scout.” Yaz answered, giggling at the display.
“Whatever, didn’t have to be.”
“I was a guide though, so mortal enemies,” she shared, “one of my best mates, AJ, was a scout, and so we always made fun of them.”
“Well since you were a guide, I'm sure you know what woods to use to make a fire, so off you scoot. I definitely know how to set up a tent! As easy as riding a bike.”
“Do you actually know how to ride a bike?”
“Hush, you!”
“Brilliant,” Yaz responded sarcastically, mimicking the Alien’s usual response, before heading into the woods.
So off she went to grab some sticks and tinder; fortunately the weather seemed to have been sunny for quite some time, so the forest floor was bone-dry and the wood she gathered was perfect to burn.
Deciding the Doctor was not the most dexterous - in fact she would go as far as to say the Doctor was anti-dexterous - Yaz figured she had a bit of time to explore the woods too.
So after she had collected more than enough kindling, she went off on a bit of an adventure on her own.
Of course it was nice, but she would be lying if she said that she found anything particularly of interest. Other than the beautiful woodland and the flowers cropping up here and there, there wasn’t very much that she could go back to the Doctor and share.
Just because she didn’t find anything interesting didn’t mean that it was a waste of time though. It gave her the opportunity to connect a little with nature on her own, away from the Time Lord, any shenanigans, and her hypothetical feelings which may or may not be there.
An impromptu holiday one-on-one was a great way to send her right into a coma, and not because of any dangers they would encounter. Yeah, they did spend a lot of time together, enough that future historians would probably say they were more than best friends as an overcorrection, but this was a little more intense. No impending doom, no oncoming storm (other than the blonde), and a reliance on one another that they didn’t often have. God she hoped she would survive this trip.
Time, funnily enough, always seemed to go by both really slowly and quickly when on holiday. Slow in the sense that it was only now turning about midday-ish. Fast in the sense that Yaz hadn’t realised that she was gone for long enough that the Doctor was mildly concerned.
Prompted by her absence, the Doctor launched into action to go search for her and to fuss over her, which did things to her, some positive and some not so positive.
It was lovely that she cared so much, the Doctor actually acting like a doctor as she placed a hand on her forehead then cheek, obviously it was a given that she enjoyed the attention.
However, less positively, she was convinced the Doctor had some sort of magic mind reading powers, which could be the only explanation for the lingering hug and hand holding when the Doctor discovered that Yaz was fine. Surely it had to be some powers right? Because best friends don’t just do that. They don't, right? She should stop overthinking this and get back to the world, or else the Doctor might think something actually was wrong, then Yaz might combust.
“So, how was the tent-setup?” She asked casually as they made their way back to the makeshift campsite.
“It were so easy,” the Doctor bragged.
As the trees gave way to the small area of grass and flowers that they had designated as their camp, Yaz noticed a very bright and very out of place rainbow tent mostly secured to the ground.
“Ta-da!” the Doctor announced, gesticulating wildy in display at her masterpiece.
“Doctor… you know tents are meant to blend into the environment?”
“It's fine, it doesn’t need to here.”
“What if something comes for us because they saw the tent?”
“There's nothing around here.”
“Positive?”
“Positive.”
“Like with the dinosaurs?”
“Would you drop that!” Indignant, the blonde pouted and crossed her arms.
Satisfied with riling her partner - travel partner not partner partner (although she wouldn’t mind if…) - she walked over to the tent and unzipped the first of…three? Zips.
“Why’s there three zips?” she asked, stepping further in and working on unzipping the second one.
Having brightened up now, the alien sprung into action and made her way over. “Well, first is for the door to the vestibule.”
“There isn’t usually a door for that though?”
Yaz only received a half shrug before the other woman carried on. “Next is the zip for the door to the tent for protection. Then there's a zip for the mesh door that keeps bugs out, since we don’t want a soldier bug crawling into your mouth while you sleep.” She explained, scrunching her face as she imagined a bug going into their mouths.
Yaz peered into the brightly coloured tent, the sun pouring through and illuminating the inside in every colour known to man. She had to admit, while it wasn’t the norm - which wasn’t surprising since neither was the Doctor - it was very pretty.
As soon as she placed one foot inside, however, the pegs came out of the ground and the tent ravelled up back in on itself, trapping Yaz inside like a pet in a cage.
“DOCTOR!” Yaz yelled from inside, muffled slightly by the layers of the roof, rain-fly, and flysheet.
“Sorreh Yaz!” she called back, quickly trying to find the door and drag her companion out.
“You said you knew how to set up the tent.” Yaz glared without malice, pointing a finger and waggling accusatorily.
“I used to…” she mumbled, lending a hand so the brunette could stand up properly.
Without another word, Yaz got to work doing it correctly, pulling the guy lines taut and securing the pole stakes into the ground with one firm hit, eliciting what might have been a gasp from the Doctor.
“Impressive right?” Using the same sort of bravado the Time Lord often did, she smirked and watched as the other woman swallowed.
“Y-yep.”
“Welp, now that is done, best get started on a fire. Then we can have-“
“S’mores!”
“Hang on, not yet. Dinner then s’mores.”
“Fine,” she said, then followed it with, “Do you know how to light a fire?”
“Yeah, never forget after I messed it up so many times. My guide leader, Bowls, had to spend additional time on me since it just wouldn’t start.”
The pair worked together to set the logs and twigs in a spiral and got the tinder ready, before Yaz struck her flint with the steel…and nothing happened.
It took a few attempts and at last the tinder caught alight and a collective breath was held until the fire…went out.
Frowning, Yaz handed the flint and steel to the Doctor, figuring maybe she was just unlucky and the only other person there might have some more success.
The Doctor however, just contemplated what to do for a moment then pulled out her sonic and lit the fire perfectly with a small flick of her wrist and a quiet buzz, having the audacity to walk away a second later in triumph as Yaz kneeled there gobsmacked.
The rest of the cooking went a little smoother than the fire starting, as it was just copious amounts of chopping of veg and using a premade cube of vegetable stock from Najia.
Yaz was worried about the fire and the subsequent smoke being used as a signal to the surrounding area, which could lead to them being hunted or something, but the Doctor assured her that it was fine and there would be nothing.
They cooked the veg as a stew, with those little dumpling things that Yaz knew the Doctor loved and she herself did too. Yaz revelled in the fact that you couldn’t really burn a stew, it just got more flavour, and since there was no meat, it really couldn’t go wrong: perfect as she had the Doctor as her sous chef.
As they finished up, the blonde went to get some wooden bowls, then Yaz took hold of the ladle and scooped a portion into each.
They ate in companionable silence, listening to the dusk birds chirping and the crackling of the fire, as the glade filled with a golden hue before fading to the blue of twilight.
As Yaz finished off the last spoonful of her stew, she saw the blonde rather restless, meaning it was time for s’mores.
“Remember, it’s an art, getting the perfect s’more takes years and years of practice and to learn the craft. I learnt how to make them from Loretta Scott Crew with the Girl Scouts in the 1920s.”
“You were with the Girl Scouts yet you still can’t put up a tent?”
“Hush, and watch the maste- Doctor at work!” With a flourish, she waved her specially selected stick around in the fire to disinfect it, then placed a vegan marshmallow on the end, before dipping it back into the fire to get toasty and melted.
“What next?” Yaz asked curiously, pretending as if making a s’more wasn’t really rather simple for the Doctor’s sake.
“Get a graham cracker, and some of the chocolate I brought and put them together. Oooo the mallow is almost done, here bring that over!”
Very carefully, and with less chaos than usual, she delicately positioned the marshmallow right in the centre of the chocolate and cracker, before signalling for Yaz to put the final touch on.
“Go on, crown the s’more!”
Yaz, with as much drama as the blonde had used previously, put the second graham cracker on the top and smushed a little, forming the sweet sandwich.
The Doctor then created a pedestal from her hands and lifted the s’more, delicate as ever, to Yaz who received it graciously.
“Go on, tell me what you think!”
She took a tentative bite, then made a sound which caused her own eyebrows to shoot up and for the pale alien to become much less pale.
“It’s amazing, you really know your stuff!”
“I know.”
“Alright bighead.”
“I have you know I have 27 brains!”
“Must be why you’re so bigheaded then.”
The Doctor made a couple more s’mores, until Yaz said she would be sick if she ate any more, then just sat by as the fire flickered, eating the uncooked ingredients instead.
The night wore on and soon they were encircled in darkness, but not the kind of darkness that was scary, more the kind you wanted to go out into. Which is just what they did. As the fire slowly died, the Doctor took Yaz’s hand and led her into the woods by the moonlight, at one point twirling her around.
If they weren’t just friends, this would feel romantic as hell. It already did and they were just friends, Yaz mused, a tad disappointed at remembering that fact.
Soon, they reached where the Doctor had wanted to lead them, the top of a small hill, covered in flowers which seemed almost to glow in the limited light.
“Here we are! I figured we could do a bit of stargazing, no light pollution and it’s a super clear night.”
”Wow.” Yaz stood open mouthed and eyes shining, reflecting the cosmos before her.
They lay side by side on the earth, the universe on display above. It was quite something seeing space so clearly from her home planet. She had travelled amongst the stars and seen the galaxy from planets she never knew existed, but this was truly a sight to behold.
“It’s beautiful,” Yaz gasped out, eyes glued to the sight of comets falling, their trails leading to constellations which burnt bright and colourful against the dark.
“Just like you,” the Doctor spoke, which pulled Yaz out of her revelry and to focus her attention on the woman beside her. “I’ve wanted to say that for a while now, but it never really felt like the right time.”
“You’re pretty stunning yourself,” Yaz said jokingly, but she couldn’t help the pounding of her heart against her ribs and the truth pouring from her mouth, no matter the way she said it.
“I don’t want to ruin our friendship, but I’m not sure there’ll be another chance like this.”
“What do you mean?” Yaz questioned, trying her best to keep her voice steady.
“Here goes… Yasmin Khan, you have been one of the most brilliant people I have ever met. You’re smart and considerate, and I don’t even need to say how beautiful you are. I’ve known for a while how special you were to me, you’re me best mate, but more I realised that I’d regret it if I didn’t tell you that I feel something more for you, more than friendship.”
“Doctor, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
”Stars, Yaz, yeah I may be in love with you. Sorry if this is too much, or overwhelming, or I’m just being an idiot, I don’t want to ruin this friendship, because I value it of course, and if you want to just stay friends that’s totally fine too, like I’m good either way. And if you never want to talk to me again after this, I get that too. I guess I kinda just forced this on you but I-“
A finger to her lips cut the blonde’s ramble off midway, before the hand that the finger was attached to snaked its way along her cheek and spread out on the back of her head, tangling in her hair.
Yaz wordlessly leaned in, hovering in front of her, face unreadable in the darkness, the only thing visible being her eyes, slightly wet and reflecting the scene above, temporarily forgotten.
“Yaz,” the Doctor whispered, barely able to form a sentence.
“Doctor,” Yaz said in response, voice breathy and quiet, the only other sound being the wind rustling through the blades of grass.
”Yaz I-“ she began before warm and firm lips crashed into hers, teeth gently knocking together in the process.
Their lips moulded into one, moving against each other like they had all the time in the universe and only this moment at the same time.
Soon enough, or maybe after forever, the pair pulled apart for air, eyes fluttering open to see each other in the low light.
Through their eyes, brown and hazel, all that could be seen was their future and constellations imploding in the night.