Chapter Text
The kettle clicked off just as I finished buttering the toast. I poured two mugs of tea, letting the steam warm my face, and tried not to think too hard about what day it was. Or what week. Or how many days it had been since I’d stood over the Master’s body, hand shaking with leftover fury and something that still hasn’t left me.
The Doctor was humming softly to himself, barefoot, glasses perched low on his nose as he poked around the fridge like he expected it to have changed overnight. He looked normal. Ordinary. Comfortable, even. And somehow that only made the ache in my chest sharper.
I slid his tea across the counter. 'You’ll find nothing new in there unless the Tardis has taken up composting.'
'She’s full of surprises,' he said, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes—not until he looked at me.
I sat across from him, slowly tearing off corners of toast I didn’t really want. 'Do you ever stop hearing it?' I asked. My voice was quiet, but the words still felt like they echoed.
He stilled, gaze locking with mine. 'The Master?'
'All of it.'
A beat passed. Then two.
'Not really,' he said gently. 'But it stops being so loud.'
I nodded, swallowing hard past the lump in my throat. I felt the hum beneath us shift, a gentle nudge that wasn’t quite turbulence. The Tardis. She was listening.
The Doctor stood up, collected our plates—his still mostly full—and placed them in the sink. When he turned back around, there was that glimmer in his eyes again. Mischief. Or hope, maybe.
'She wants to show you something,' he said, tugging at my hand until I stood.
'Oh yeah?'
'Your favourite market,' he said like it was obvious. 'Early morning stalls, proper tea, street food you love and won’t admit to craving.'
I blinked. 'Camden?'
'She thought about Camden,' he teased, leading me toward our room, 'but then decided you’d like the one with the floating lanterns more. The one on Talos Nine?'
I laughed—just a little—and let him pull me forward.
Maybe I wasn’t okay yet. But I wasn’t alone either.
And for now, that was enough.
I pulled on my jacket as we left our room, still half-expecting the Tardis to shift the corridors just to mess with us. The Doctor was already bouncing on the balls of his feet, that childlike energy simmering under the surface, even if I knew—really knew—it was partly an act. For me.
Still, I let myself lean into it. I threaded my fingers through his as we rounded the corner, and his hand squeezed mine, warm and steady.
We reached the console room and the lights were already brighter, golden and soft like a sunrise through old windows. The time rotor hummed happily and I swear the walls pulsed once—amused. I felt it through my spine.
'She’s smug,' I muttered under my breath.
The Doctor grinned. 'She gets like that.'
The console sparked softly, the outer shell flickering like she was laughing.
'Alright, alright.' I let go of his hand and wandered toward the jump seat, dropping into it with a soft sigh. 'What now then?'
The Tardis answered for him. A shimmer of light swept across the console screen, and then her voice—not just feelings or distant hums, but actual words—filled the room. Low, feminine, a touch of warmth and mischief wrapped in stardust.
“Take a seat, my wolf. And enjoy the show.”
The time rotor surged to life, the deep-throated groan of takeoff echoing through the walls.
I clutched the edge of the seat, heart flipping—not from fear, but something like anticipation.
I didn’t know what she had planned, but for the first time in weeks, I felt the tiniest flicker of something familiar.
Excitement.
Hope.
Adventure.
And I let myself hold onto that as we disappeared into the stars.
I’ve seen the Doctor pull off a lot of wild takeoffs, but this one had ‘uh-oh’ written all over it from the second he slammed the controls. The TARDIS jolted, harder than usual, and I gripped the edge of the jump seat as the whole room lurched sideways like we were twisting through the fabric of reality itself.
'Oi!' I yelped, laughing despite myself, half-spun in my seat as the Doctor clung to the console. 'What are you doing?'
He was shouting at the Tardis like she was misbehaving, and honestly, from the sounds coming off her—screeching and grinding and something else, like... groaning in protest—she definitely was.
Then the strangest thing happened.
The control room... flickered.
Not like a power surge. More like... we were in two rooms at once. My breath caught. It was like two versions of the Tardis were trying to occupy the same space, overlaid and shimmering, phasing in and out of each other. Colours shifted. Shapes didn’t line up. Even the floor felt off beneath my boots.
And then—whump!—everything snapped back into place.
The Doctor ran his hands over the console, murmuring soft things like he was calming a spooked animal.
'What was all that about, eh? What’s your problem?' he muttered, flicking switches but mostly just petting the Tardis.
That’s when I saw him.
Another man. Definitely not someone we picked up. He was older—or maybe younger?—and dressed like someone who got lost on the way to a costume party. A bit Edwardian, a bit cricket match. Blondish hair, celery on his lapel.
And he was doing the exact same thing—stroking the console like it was a beloved pet, fussing and muttering.
For a second, neither of them noticed the other. They both passed around the console, each too focused on the Tardis. I tilted my head, watching in quiet fascination as they collided.
'S’cuse!' said one.
'Sorry!' said the other.
Then they both froze.
Heads up. Eyes locked.
And oh, the looks on their faces. Identical. Confused. Disbelieving.
'What???' the Doctor said—my Doctor.
'What??' the other one echoed.
I couldn’t help it—I grinned, biting my lip to keep from laughing. 'Well, this is gonna be fun.'
I didn’t mean to laugh. Not really. But seeing them both staring at each other, identical expressions of stunned disbelief, it was just too much.
A little giggle bubbled up before I could stop it—quiet at first, then louder when they turned to look at me in unison, as if that was the real impossibility.
Two pairs of Time Lord eyes locked on me. The air shifted.
And just like that, the bond between me and my Doctor flared warm and golden in my chest—recognition, affection, a flicker of relief. He felt it too, I knew he did, because his whole face softened. That crooked little smile that always made me feel like I was home tugged at the corners of his mouth.
The other Doctor—the past one—looked between us, curiosity blooming in his eyes. Not suspicion, just... a need to understand. He tilted his head, something ticking behind his eyes as he studied me. And I could tell, in the way Time Lords always seem to know more than they say, that he could feel something strange about me.
A temporal echo. A bond he hadn't made yet.
'Who’s this then?' he asked, tone light but his gaze sharp, flicking back to my doctor.
Before mine could answer, I gave a little wave from the jump seat. 'Hiya,' I said, still grinning. 'Long story. But we’ve met... sort of. Not that you’d remember. Spoilers.'
That earned me an amused huff from my Doctor, who walked around the console to lean on the railing, arms folded, watching me like I was his favourite miracle.
He didn’t say a word—but he didn’t need to.
His eyes said it all: You’re laughing. You’re okay.
And in that moment, for the first time in days, I actually believed it.
My other doctor turned to face his future self 'Who are you?'
'Oh brilliant! I mean, totally wrong, big emergency, universe goes bang in five minutes - but brilliant!'
'I'm the Doctor, who are you?'
'Yes, you are, you're the Doctor.'
'Yes, I am, I'm the Doctor.'
'Oh good for you, Doctor. Good for brilliant old you!'
'Is there something wrong with you?' He turns to me worried, 'Is there something wrong with him?'
I burst out laughing, 'Oh yeh, loads.' My doctor pouts in my direction but I can see the smile he's trying to hide.
'Oh there it goes, the frowny face, remember that one. Mind you, bit saggier than it ought to be --' he pulls of the others hat, '-- hair's a bit grayer. It's cos of me though. Two of us together, it's shorted out the time differential. Should all snap back in place when we get you home. You'll be able to close that coat again. But never mind, look at you! The hat, the coat, the crickety- cricket stuff, the ... stick of celery. Brave choice, celery, but fair play to you, not a lot of men can carry off a decorative vegetable.'
'I like it.' I say with a cheeky grin and wink to my other doctor, puffing up his chest like a peacock and a blush makes his way across his face.
"You're right, old girl. This is the best show."
'Will you please shut up!' My other doctor shouts out.
Shaking off the feeling he turns to the console, 'There's something very wrong with my Tardis and I've got to do something about it very, very quickly, and it would help, it really would help, if there wasn't some skinny idiot ranting in my face about every single thing that happens to be in front of him!'
I stand up and step in front of my Doctor, planting myself firmly between him and his future self. 'Oi! Be nice!' My voice trembles with more feeling than I'd like. I cross my arms, trying to stay steady, but my heart's pounding.
Across the bond, I feel him—soft, steady, a brush of warmth. Realisation flashes across his face, 'Sorry, my dear.'
'All is forgiven, love.' I brush a kiss on his cheek and back to the pilots chair, 'now, play nice.'
'What have you done to my Tardis?? You've changed the desktop theme, haven't you? What's this one - coral? It's worse than the leopard skin.' My past doctor says, well that lasted long, I think with an eye roll.
'Oh, and out they come, the Brainy Specs! You don't even need them, you just think they'll make you look a bit clever.'
'That's an alert, level 5. It's indicating a temporal collision! Like two Tardises have merged - but there's definitely only one Tardis present. It's like two time zones at war in the heart of the Tardis. That's a paradox - could blow a hole in the space/time continuum the size of - well actually, the exact size of Belgium. That's a bit undramatic, isn't it, Belgium.'
Holding out his sonic screwdriver, 'Need this?'
'Nah, I'm fine.'
'Oh, of course, you mostly went hands- free, didn't you? It was like, hey, I'm the Doctor, I can save the universe with a kettle and some string, and look at me, I'm wearing a vegetable!'
The console starts bleeping more shrilly, and a wave of dizziness hits me. 'Doctor...'
Both of them look over.
'Level 10 now. This is bad. Two minutes to Belgium!'
'Hang in there, sweetheart—nearly fixed,' my Doctor says, his voice tight with focus.
'The cloister bell! Imminent catastrophe!' My past doctor says.
'I don't feel so good.' I whimper out, clutching my stomach.
'Yeah, my fault actually. I was rebuilding the Tardis, didn't put the shields back up. Your Tardis and my Tardis - the same Tardis at different points in its own time stream - collided. And oops, there you go, end of the universe - butterfingers! But don't worry, I know exactly how this all works out. Watch!'
He starts his dance around the console, slamming controls 'Venting the thermo-buffer!! Flooring the
Helmic Regulator!! And just to finish off, let's fry those Ziton crystals!!'
'You'll blow up the TARDIS!' My past doctor stutters out.
'Only way out!'
'Who told you that??'
'You told me that!'
The screen exploded in white, a terrible, blinding blast that made my heart leap into my throat. I clung to the railing, blinking away the light as the world around us began to settle.
Bit by bit, the familiar hum of the TARDIS wrapped around me again like a warm blanket. The floor stopped shaking. The walls stopped pulsing. And across the console, I saw them—both of them—gripping the controls, wide grins breaking across their faces, mirrored like a reflection in time.
Their shared relief was so tangible it made me laugh, a quiet, breathy sound of release I hadn’t felt in weeks. The bond pulsed gently in the back of my mind, steady and calm.
I let out a long breath and leaned against the console, my legs still a little shaky but my chest lighter than it had been in a long while.
Yeah. I felt better. Finally.
'Supernova and black hole at the exact same instant.'
'Explosion cancels out implosion.'
'Matter remains constant.'
'Brilliant!'
My past Doctor turned to me with a warm smile, eyes crinkling at the corners. 'It was a pleasure meeting you, dear,' he said, and there was a surprising softness in his voice—as if he already knew what I meant to the man I now travelled with.
I stepped closer, heart fluttering. 'You too,' I replied quietly. 'Thanks for… everything. Even if we only just met.'
He chuckled, adjusting the celery on his lapel like it was the most natural thing in the world. 'Can't wait to meet you, sweetheart.' He presses a kiss to my knuckles.
The golden shimmer of temporal energy began to spark at the edges of his coat. He glanced over my shoulder toward my Doctor—and his face grew more serious.
'Oh, and do remember—' he called, already starting to fade, 'Raise the shields!'
The Tenth Doctor blinked, snapped his fingers and spun around. 'I knew I was forgetting something!'
He gave me one last wink, and with a shimmer of light, he was gone.
I stood there smiling, heart full, as the Doctor dashed to the controls in a whirl of coat and panic.