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Chapter Text

“Doctor, look at your hand.”

The words had immediately broken both of the Doctor’s hearts before she even looked. She had been so relieved when she woke up. So sure that they had won, that they had beaten Time’s prophecy, that she had earned a little more time with this face.

More time with Yaz.

And so, they sat on the roof of the TARDIS, finishing their ice cream cones, as the Doctor held back regeneration because she needed at least a few more minutes. Yaz had been silent for a while, and the Doctor was racking her brain to find something light to say that didn’t sound awkward.

It was a losing battle.

“Doctor,” Yaz said, saving the Doctor from her own thoughts. “I know we’ve talked about this, but… Are you really sure you want to be alone when you regenerate?” She kept looking at her ice cream as she talked. “I’m sure I could help.”

And oh, how that made her hearts break just that little bit more. “I’m sure, Yaz,” she replied, aiming for a kind voice. “Last time, regeneration energy blew up the TARDIS, I don’t want to risk you getting hurt.”

“We’ve been through worse, though. I can handle it,” Yaz countered. “Last time we talked about it I didn’t question much, but… It makes less sense the more I think about it.”

The Doctor smiled sadly, looking at Yaz in admiration. “You’re too smart and too kind, Yasmin Khan. I refuse to risk you. Besides, I will be a different person. What if you don’t like them?”

“Impossible,” Yaz said without missing a beat. “You’ll still be you, just… In a different packaging.”

“Even if I go back to being a man?” the Doctor tried to joke.

Yaz rolled her eyes. “Even if you go back to being a man. Is that it? Are you scared I won’t recognize you anymore?”

The Doctor sighed. What did she have to lose, at this point? Might as well be honest.

“No. As I said, you’re too kind, and even if it took you a while to adjust, you’d try not to show it because you wouldn’t want to hurt me. The truth is…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking Yaz in the eyes and continuing, “The truth is that if I don’t give you up now, Yasmin Khan, if I don’t use regeneration as a time limit… I will never be able to let you go.”

“Would that be such a bad thing?” Yaz asked in a quiet voice.

“For me? No. It would be one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. Just you and me, flying the TARDIS, going on adventures. But,” she hurried to say when she saw the question forming in Yaz’s eyes, “eventually, I would lose you. Hopefully, to old age, but that isn’t usually how it happens. I don’t usually get a say in how people leave me. And, Yaz… losing you to some tragedy would break me. And a broken Doctor is dangerous for the universe.” She looked at Yaz, tears so close to falling, begging her to understand. “You wouldn’t be proud of the person I’d become after losing you.”

Yaz nodded in understanding. “I guess it’s time, then.”

“Co-pilot?” the Doctor asked, one last time.

“Always,” Yaz replied, trying to smile.

However, halfway through the takeoff sequence, the Doctor started glowing more, the regeneration energy spreading.

“No!” she exclaimed, eyes wide. “Not yet!”

The golden light intensified, almost enough to hide her panicked expression, and the Doctor sent a mental apology to the TARDIS for doing this in the control room again – she really had planned to step outside this time. And then, as fast as the light erupted, it vanished.

The first thing the Doctor noticed was that she was taller now, as Yaz had to look up at her. Wait, was she still a woman? What color was their hair now? Were they finally ginger? Before she could look at her reflection, she felt the burn of regeneration again and assumed it was leftover energy.

And then the light poured out of her again, and she was back to her previous height.

“What just happened?” Yaz asked, eyes wide.

“I have no idea,” the Doctor replied. “What do I look like now?”

“Same as before,” Yaz said. “But you turned into a white-haired man for a second there.”

The Doctor froze. “White hair? Did I have remarkable eyebrows?” As Yaz nodded, she concluded, “The white-haired Scotsman.”

Yaz looked even more surprised. “The one you were before crashing into the train? Is that normal, going back to another regeneration?”

“Going back to a previous face is rare, but not unheard of. Changing back, though? Definitely not normal.”

“Does this mean you get to keep this face for a bit more time?” Yaz asked, and the Doctor heard the question she was really asking. Do I get to keep you for a bit more time? The Doctor raised her hand, then, and showed it to Yaz. Still glowing.

“Oh,” Yaz whispered, the little glimpse of hope in her eyes vanishing.

“We should probably… go back to setting up for takeoff,” the Doctor said, at a loss. “Then I’ll either regenerate properly or deal with whatever that was.”

“You can’t seriously believe I’m still going after seeing that?” Yaz said, eyebrows raised. “Because there is no way in hell I’m leaving you alone right now.”

“Nothing’s changed, really,” the Doctor lied. “I’m still regenerating. None of the things I told you about earlier have changed. It’s best for you if–”

“I’ll decide what’s best for me right now,” Yaz cut her off with a firm voice. “And, right this moment, the best thing for me is staying and helping you figure out what happened, or I’ll go crazy thinking about it on Earth, by myself.”

Realizing she wasn’t going to win this argument, the Doctor nodded, conceding.

Yaz breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “So, what do we do now?”

“We wait, I guess. My hand’s still glowing, so regeneration is still ongoing. Would you mind going somewhere with me? For once, I had planned to do this outside the TARDIS, so that she won’t get cross with me again.”

“Of course,” Yaz replied. “Where do you have in mind?”

“Let me surprise you one last time?” She tried to smile, and Yaz nodded. Setting the coordinates for Durdle Door at sunrise, the Doctor tried to convince herself that it was just a blip, and, this time, regeneration would stick.

If she didn’t believe that, she might not give up Yaz yet.

They landed, and the Doctor held out her non-glowing hand to Yaz. “One last sunrise?” Yaz smiled and took her hand.

They sat down, side by side, backs leaning on the TARDIS, and just watched the sunrise, waiting for regeneration to take over again.

Except even after the sun had fully risen, the glow was still limited to the Doctor’s hand, despite her not focusing on holding it back anymore. She gave it another half hour and got back up, sighing.

“Well, I think it’s safe to say something is wrong. I should have a new face by now.”

“Okay,” Yaz replied. Reliable, determined, beautiful Yaz. “Where do we start?”

The TARDIS had several different libraries, and Yaz was sure she hadn’t seen all of them yet. There was the leisure library (full of fiction paperbacks, organized by galaxy, planet, and genre), the fun library (with word search games, crosswords, sudoku and the like), the video game library (where Ryan spent a lot of time – Yaz suspected he had a bed in there at one point), the board game library (where they found out the Doctor was way too competitive and not above cheating or pouting her way to victory – although that last method only worked on Yaz). There was even one room that the Doctor called “sweets library”, but Yaz insisted it was just a giant candy cupboard.

They were now in the research library, which Yaz hadn’t visited much; the Doctor said that it had too much information on future events, so she never let any of them unsupervised in there. Now, however, the Doctor taught her the word for “regeneration” in circular Gallifreyan and set her loose in the Gallifrey section to gather as many books as she could find with it in the title.

So far, Yaz had found very few books. For a species with such a unique trait, there sure seemed to be little available research on the topic.

She carried her sparse findings to the big wooden table where the Doctor was reading through tables of contents, trying to find anything to lead them in the right direction. When Yaz approached the table, she looked up, saw the few books her companion had been able to find, and sighed.

“I don’t think we’re going to find anything useful here,” she said. “Damn those Time Lords, making my life difficult even now.”

“None of those have anything about trouble with regeneration?”

“No,” the Doctor replied, closing the last book despondently. “They all describe the process, mention the 12-regeneration limit – which isn’t even accurate anyway –, tell some cautionary tales about Time Lords who were greedy and tried to steal others’ regenerations… As if I need a reminder of him.” She rolled her eyes, and Yaz thought it was better not to ask. The Doctor sighed again. “Then again, maybe the Gallifreyans never had this issue, seeing as their regeneration was artificially implanted…” the Doctor trailed off, seeming to forget she wasn’t alone.

“Wait, their regeneration?” Yaz frowned. “But you’re Gallifreyan too, right? Why would it be different for you?”

“Oh,” the Doctor said, eyes wide. “Right. I never told you about that.” Yaz raised her eyebrows, indicating she should continue, and the Doctor gave her a sheepish smile. “I’m not Gallifreyan. Well, I wasn’t born there, maybe being raised there makes me one? Never mind, that’s just semantics. The point is, I’m different. I don’t know where I’m from. And they stole regeneration from me.”

“Wait, really? But back when we asked, you said Gallifrey was your home planet.”

“Well, I didn’t remember any of it, did I,” she snapped, looking immediately regretful. “Sorry. Not your fault I didn’t tell you,” she said in a small voice. “The Master found some records in Gallifrey about the Timeless Child, a child who was found by an adventurer and taken to Gallifrey. Later, the adventurer found out that the child could regenerate, and she carried out tests until she was able to replicate the process. That’s the origin of the Time Lords.”

“And that child was you?” Yaz asked, trying to process all that new information.

“Yep,” the Doctor said. “So, I don’t know where I come from, not really. Or what species I am, or if I had a biological family waiting for me, or…” She took a deep breath before changing course, “Anyway, all that is not important right now, but it’s what I meant when I said that their regeneration was artificial. Maybe this is a normal issue for whatever species I am once we reach a certain age! I don’t even know how old I am, and I have nobody to ask! All because Tecteun couldn’t leave me alone or bother to actually try and figure out why I was alone next to that wormhole…”

Realizing that the Doctor was starting to spiral, Yaz tried to bring her back to the present. “So, maybe we can find some information on Gallifrey? Wherever the Master found it?”

The Doctor blinked a few times before replying. “Unlikely. I saw the records, and a lot had been redacted. But maybe if we found Tecteun’s laboratory… If it even still existed when the Master burned the planet down. Some of her records could have survived, if we’re lucky.”

“Then we go and look there,” Yaz said.

At that moment, the golden light engulfed the Doctor again, and Yaz put a hand in front of her eyes, squinting in the bright light. As quickly as it had happened earlier, the Doctor became someone else for a few seconds, before the light got brighter again and she was back to her old face.

Yaz’s Doctor.

“White-haired Scotsman again?” the Doctor asked after taking a deep breath.

“No,” Yaz replied. “White man, floppy hair, big chin.”

The Doctor frowned. “That’s a face before the Scotsman,” she clarified, the line between her eyebrows deepening. “I don’t know if that’s a bad sign or not, that it’s going back further.”

“Well, then,” Yaz said, trying to sound optimistic. “Onwards to Gallifrey?”

“Onwards to Gallifrey,” the Doctor replied in a grim voice.

Through it all, her hand kept glowing. Setting up for take-off, inputting coordinates – coordinates that she had planned never to use again –, landing, opening the door… Her hand kept glowing.

The Doctor really wished they had any other leads so that she could keep avoiding her dead planet – her murdered planet. But Tecteun was gone, and the only Division base she had been able to find, well. Safe to say that she could never reach it again.

So, she and Yaz were, once again, treading the smoky remains of Gallifrey.

“Where do we start?” Yaz asked, trying to sound upbeat. “Is there, like, a central directory where we can look things up?”

Even as tense as she was, that made the Doctor smile. “Well, the closest thing to that is probably the Matrix, and I’ve already been in there. Most of the information about my past has been redacted, so that’s a non-starter.”

“Hm. Maybe a library? Where would they keep sensitive information?”

“There is a lab wing in the Academy, but that would be too public,” the Doctor commented. “We need to find something that only Division operatives would find… Which is annoying, but maybe not impossible, since I used to be one of them. What would Ruth-me do?”

Yaz let out a light laugh. “Well, maybe if we wait long enough you’ll regenerate back into her.”

“Yeah, for just a second, big use that’ll be,” the Doctor countered.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Yaz replied with a mock thoughtful expression. “Maybe if I ask her really fast?”

“Good luck with that,” the Doctor said. “Where would I hide a secret organization… Oh!” The Doctor exclaimed, screeching to a halt. “I have an idea!”

She turned back, going off a different corridor, Yaz hurrying to keep pace. “Care to share?” she asked.

“Well, there was this place that I was never allowed in, while I was at the Academy,” the Doctor started.

“Are you sure that’s not because you antagonized someone?”

“Oh, I antagonized everyone,” the Doctor waved off her jab. “But I was still granted access to most places, especially when I was president.”

“You were what?” Even without looking at her, the Doctor knew Yaz would be confused and amazed at the new information, an expression that she found adorable.

She very deliberately did not look at Yaz to check.

“Long story,” she replied. “But you see, nobody ever told me I wasn’t allowed, someone just coincidentally steered me away any time I got close.”

“Smart. If they’d told you, you’d be in there in about thirty seconds, like a cat pushing something off a table after being scolded,” Yaz teased.

“Oi! But true. I was just always redirected while I was in the Academy, and eventually it slipped my mind. It wasn’t a particularly interesting place, anyway. Aha, here we are.”

They had arrived at a corridor that looked much the same as any others they’d passed, but the Doctor knew the city well enough to notice differences – it was a bit darker, a bit more boring, like it was trying too hard to be overlooked.

That feeling only made her more sure that this was the place.

There were five doors in the corridor, four to their right and one at the end. Once, these doors had had sturdy locks and probably a nice security system, but neither had survived the Cybermen and the Master. All of the doors lay open in varying degrees of destruction, one of them barely holding on by a hinge.

The first two rooms didn’t help much. They had probably been libraries or study rooms, at some point, judging by the fact that there were bookshelves on every wall, but no books survived. The third room looked more promising, since there was still some lab equipment in it, but it was all everyday stuff – a microscope, some beakers, a few pipettes – so it could have been used for anything. The next room was completely empty, void of even furniture.

Suffice to say the Doctor wasn’t expecting much from the last door, already trying to think of anything else they could investigate. Had she overlooked some lead in her investigation before the Flux? Karvanista was a dead end, but had she somehow missed a clue to other operatives who could lead her to a former Division base? She was so caught up in her thoughts that she wasn’t even disappointed when they entered the last room to see it as bare as the last.

“Doctor, look at this,” Yaz called, pulling her out of her thoughts. “There’s a paper under the wall.”

“Under the wall?” she repeated, confused. “How did it–” she cut herself off, realization dawning on her.

“Fake wall,” she and Yaz said at the same time, and the Doctor felt that warmth in her chest that she always got when Yaz showed how brilliant she was.

“Now, is it a secret door or do we have to tear down the wall?” the Doctor mused, scanning it with the sonic. “Oh, secret door! Good, that makes it faster.” She aimed the sonic back at the wall and opened it. As the wall slid to the side, she said, “Oh, I should have said ‘Open, Sesame,’ shouldn’t I? Next time. Love a secret passage.”

Her light-heartedness was short-lived, however, as she saw what was behind the fake wall. Unlike the other rooms, this one looked familiar – although only because of the Matrix. Most of the equipment was gone, but the chair where she’d sat during Tecteun’s experiments was still there.

The Doctor took a deep, shaky breath and walked inside. At least this room seemed to have some files left; there were a few notebooks and piles of paper still on the shelves. Yaz started going through the loose papers, looking for any that mentioned regeneration, while the Doctor checked the notebooks. They didn’t seem essential – bits of calculations and random DNA sequences half-annotated – but that was to be expected, since Tecteun wouldn’t leave any important information behind.

Her memories had been proof of that.

Even though she had been expecting it, she was still a bit hurt to see that the notes referred to her only as “the subject.” Did she have the same name back then? Or had the Time Lords changed that too, after she was turned back into a child? Did she remember her original name, the one her real parents had given her, back then? She only realized she had stopped reading and was staring in the distance when Yaz called her name.

“Doctor, look! This mentions regeneration and there’s something that looks like coordinates?”

She raced to her friend’s side, reading over her shoulder. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “It says that’s where the ‘regeneration subject’ was found! Which isn’t exactly what we were looking for, but it might be a lead to follow if we can’t find anything else here.”

“You mean this is where she found you?” Yaz clarified.

“Yep. I don’t know why she’d leave that information behind. Maybe they cleared this room in a hurry, maybe Division was too arrogant and believed nobody would find the room, or maybe Tecteun isn’t as thorough as she thought,” the Doctor replied. “Doesn’t matter, just lucky for us.”

After carefully checking every nook and cranny in the room, the coordinates were still their only real clue, so they decided that the next logical step was to go there – in the present, as much as the Doctor wished she could go all the way back to the beginning and stop the whole thing. That particular paradox might very well make the universe implode.

They were almost to the TARDIS when the golden energy surrounded her again, and this time she just rolled her eyes. Get on with it, she thought to nobody in particular. When the energy dissipated, she asked, “So, lanky guy with spiky hair this time?”

“No,” Yaz replied. “Black man, short hair. Like, really short.”

“Huh,” the Doctor said. “I haven’t been him yet, at least not to my knowledge. So either it’s changed direction and that’s my next face or we’re suddenly going far back enough that we’ve hit the faces I don’t remember. Don’t know if either is better or worse.”

“Let’s just hope we find something soon, yeah?” Yaz said in a soothing voice.

“Yeah,” the Doctor sighed. Too much time had passed since Tecteun had found her in those coordinates. Who knew if the planet even still existed, especially after the Flux?

Miraculously, the planet still existed, even if the construction she’d seen in the Matrix was reduced to ruins – whether from the Flux or just lack of maintenance over millennia it was hard to tell. The wormhole was also nowhere to be seen, which was to be expected; if it had hung around, Tecteun would probably have gone through it at some point.

It wasn’t a big place, so the Doctor and Yaz split up to investigate the ruins for any clue. After a while, though, it started to feel hopeless, not helped by the fact that she felt more and more drained of energy the longer she went with her hand still glowing but not regenerating.

“This is starting to feel like a dead end,” the Doctor said. “Which shouldn’t be surprising. I don’t think Tecteun would have left here without checking everything first. She was an explorer and a scientist, after all.”

“D’you know what Tecteun didn’t have?” Yaz asked.

“An ounce of empathy?” the Doctor muttered.

“That too,” Yaz conceded. “But I meant the TARDIS. Or a sonic. There has to be something she overlooked, I can feel it.”

“You’re right,” the Doctor said with a sigh. “I’m just tired. Whatever is going on with my regeneration is exhausting.”

“Then let’s go back to the TARDIS,” Yaz suggested. “You start running scans on this structure while I make us some tea?”

The Doctor let out a small laugh. “Tea really is the answer to everything for you humans, isn’t it?”

Yaz shrugged and smiled. “For the British? Definitely.”

As the Doctor finished a cup of tea and some biscuits, the TARDIS beeped, signaling that the scans were done, and the Doctor leaped up from the steps, almost sending her empty cup flying.

“Looks like there’s a few rooms under the rubble,” she said as Yaz joined her at the console (in a less chaotic manner). “We could go in through… here.” She pointed at a spot on the screen. “Hopefully there’ll still be something there.”

She had barely finished her sentence before she practically bounced to the TARDIS doors. Huh.

“Looks like you were right,” the Doctor said. “That cuppa did me the world of good!”

“Told ya,” Yaz replied.

Through the passage the Doctor had seen in the scans, they found a room that had ancient but apparently usable furniture – the building must’ve been hit by the Flux, then –, including a table, a few chairs and some shelves. The next room looked like storage space.

The whole place looked like… “An outpost,” the Doctor said out loud. But if it was an outpost, then that meant that her species came here frequently enough to need it, so either they could manipulate the wormhole, or it was a cyclical event that they could predict, or they were from this universe and maybe she’d been alone because the others had been sucked into the unexpected wormhole instead.

If they were from this universe, maybe she could find them! But… if they were from this universe, why hadn’t they found her yet? She hadn’t exactly been quiet for the past few thousand years, and the Time Lords had been even noisier. So either this hypothesis was wrong or Tecteun had been right, and she had been abandoned here. In this teeny tiny outpost on the edge of a sparsely populated galaxy. Had she been forgotten? Or left intentionally? Did her family ever think of her again?

The Doctor could feel her mind racing with all the possibilities and all the hurt she’d been suppressing for so long, and suddenly her respiratory bypass kicked in, which had to mean she hadn’t been breathing for a while, and she could no longer hear or see Yaz, why couldn’t she see Yaz? Oh, her eyes were closed. When had that happened? And oops, and she was on the floor, seems that her legs gave up. What was happening? Whatever it was, maybe it was good that she couldn’t hear Yaz, maybe Yaz was far enough away that she wouldn’t be affected by whatever the hell this was, and–

“Doctor?” she heard Yaz’s voice as if from underwater, then felt Yaz gripping her shoulders. “Doctor, you need to breathe,” Yaz continued calmly, now taking one of her hands and placing it on her own chest, right above her single heart. How did humans get anything done with just one? “Come on, Doctor, breathe with me,” Yaz said, exaggerating her breathing so the Doctor could feel it through the touch. Oh, Yaz was smart. She’d better listen to Yaz. She tried to copy her breathing.

Eventually, the Doctor realized that her head wasn’t spinning anymore, and sounds seemed normal again. She tried opening her eyes and looked right into Yaz’s worried but steady gaze. “Alright?” her friend asked. The Doctor just nodded, for now, still focusing on her breathing.

“I’m okay,” she said as soon as she could find her voice again. “I don’t know what just happened, but sorry if I scared you, Yaz.”

Yaz’s eyes grew softer. “You had a panic attack,” she explained. “I’ve got training in recognizing and talking someone through them. Also, I’ve been on the other side of this, so I can answer any questions you may have,” she continued.

“Maybe later,” the Doctor said. Right now she didn’t have time to dwell on it, not with her hand still glowing and no answers yet.

Yaz nodded and went ahead to the next room. “Doctor,” she called. “This one looks like a nursery.”

The Doctor took in a sharp breath and followed her through the door. It wasn’t a big room; there were two small beds, a desk, and a small bookshelf, still with some books.

“Books! There might be something useful there!” the Doctor exclaimed, going to pick one of the books up. It looked like it was for really young children – big, with thick pages, big text, and, more importantly right now, lots of pictures. Which was really good, since the TARDIS wasn’t translating the writing.

Yaz started to look through another book and asked, “What language is this? It’s not Gallifreyan, right? But the TARDIS also isn’t translating it?”

“My guess is that these belonged to… to my original species, whatever that is. And the lack of translation makes me think that Tecteun was right to believe they were from a different universe.” At least there was that. She didn’t have to wonder what happened to them.

“Like the Kasaavin,” Yaz whispered.

“Yep.” The Doctor turned her attention back to the book. The pictures showed humanoid children in different situations, and even without the words it wasn’t hard to put together the general idea: first the kids were looking at the stars, then packing, going into a spaceship, and through the wormhole. So it was a commonplace event, at least common enough that children learned about it young. This was very interesting and she wanted to know a lot more about it, but it wasn’t very helpful to the current situation. Maybe I can bring the books back to the TARDIS and try to translate them later, she thought. I could set up a–

“Doctor,” Yaz interrupted her thoughts. “You should see this.”

The Doctor moved to look at Yaz’s book over her shoulder. “Result!” the Doctor exclaimed, making Yaz jump a little at the volume. “Sorry,” she said. “But this might be it!”

The book showed a child waking up, having breakfast, and then looking at the hand holding their spoon to find it glowing. With a confused expression, the child then went on with their day, occasionally regenerating back and forth, just like the Doctor had. She took a shaky breath with wide eyes – she had never been so anxious and eager to read the ending of a story before. By the time the child was going to bed, there was one illustration showing nothing but regeneration energy, and then… two children stood next to the bed.

“What?” she whispered. “This is… It’s bigeneration.”

“It’s what?” Yaz asked.

“Bigeneration,” the Doctor repeated. “Old Time Lord legend – well, apparently not a legend and the origin isn’t Gallifreyan. A regeneration that ends in the person getting a duplicate. I’d always assumed it would be two identical faces, but–” She turned the page, seeing the now two children, who had different faces and bodies, sleeping in two beds side by side. “Apparently not?”

“That’s what’s happening to you? You’re going to… duplicate? Like a cell dividing?”

The Doctor laughed. “Something like that, except not identical,” she confirmed.

Yaz let out a relieved sigh. “Then I take it we just wait,” she concluded.

“Yep,” the Doctor confirmed. “We just wait.”

Yaz was sitting on the control room steps, vaguely paying attention to the Doctor flitting about, setting something up with the books they’d found. She was trying hard not to get her hopes up. On one hand, the Doctor wasn’t regenerating – at least not how they’d thought –, which meant that this face wasn’t going anywhere, for now.

Yaz’s Doctor wasn’t going anywhere, and it was such a relief to know that.

On the other hand… After their chat on the TARDIS roof, Yaz wasn’t sure if the Doctor would still want her to stay. All the reasons she’d listed didn’t go away because of the delay in regeneration, but they’d agreed that Yaz would go back to Sheffield for good when the Doctor regenerated, and if that wasn’t happening… Well. Her hopes might have been already a bit stronger than was sensible.

“All done?” Yaz asked when the Doctor shut the books in a nook on the wall and turned around.

“Yep,” the alien confirmed. “The old girl should have a translation and general structure for the language in… a few years, probably. Not easy when the language has literally no correspondence to any in the known universe.” She put her hands on her hips and let out a breath, seeming to push the books from her mind. “What do you say we go back to Durdle Door? I still should try and bigenerate outside the TARDIS, don’t want to ruin the control room again, and it feels appropriate to do it there. Kind of override the memory of the regeneration anxiety this whole thing started with.”

“Sure,” Yaz replied, getting up.

“Co-pilot?”

“Always.”

“So, what’s the plan after the bigeneration?” Yaz asked once they were back on Durdle’s Door, looking at the view. “I’m guessing you don’t exactly want another you in the same TARDIS?”

“I’m not sure yet,” the Doctor replied. “Thought maybe they’d want to get a ride to Gallifrey to see if there are still any TARDISes there. Or if there aren’t, maybe they’d be fine on Earth. I was stuck on Earth for a while, ages ago. That’s how I met Kate’s father, I worked for UNIT back then. Scientific advisor.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” the Doctor said, eyes still on the horizon. “Remind me to tell you that story later.”

“I’m writing all those down, y’know,” Yaz teased. “The stories you keep promising me.” She couldn’t deny that this new promise eased her mind, however. The Doctor didn’t think she was leaving anymore.

“Ice cream and a story later? After we’re done with new me,” the Doctor said, looking at her. “Happy ice cream this time.”

“Deal.” Yaz beamed.

The glow in the Doctor’s hand started to spread, more slowly this time, and the two of them stared at it. “Think this is it?” Yaz asked.

“Probably,” the Doctor replied. “Stand back, Yaz, we don’t know how explosive bigeneration is.”

Yaz stepped back – still ready to run back in if she thought she was needed – and watched as the golden glow became steadily brighter, until it completely engulfed the Doctor and started to hurt her eyes, and then it was gone.

In its place, stood the Doctor – or, better saying, the Doctors. The blonde face that Yaz was familiar with, and the dark-skinned man with short hair that she’d glitched into last. As the golden glow faded, she could see that his eyes were big and dark brown, and that their clothes had also bigenerated, apparently, since both Doctors were wearing the characteristic gray coat, dark blue trousers, and rainbow shirt. They looked a bit dazed, but were still standing, so that was probably a good sign.

“Doctor?” Yaz called, and both of them turned to look at her. Oh, this was going to get confusing.

Chapter Text

Once they were all in the TARDIS again, it didn’t take long for Yaz to decide to just stay out of the way. She had expected the Doctors to work with each other like they had during the Flux, but was proven wrong – she’d even welcome the whole “flirting with themself” thing, if it meant they would stop arguing. The moment that her Doctor had asked the new Doctor if he wanted to be dropped off on Gallifrey to look for a TARDIS or if he thought it was best to try and find the one she’d used before the Judoon had thrown her in jail, he started insisting that there shouldn’t be two Doctors running around in two separate TARDISes because of all the potential paradoxes, and her Doctor hadn’t taken too well to his suggestion that she should be the one to retire.

“I don’t see why we can’t both keep traveling!” Yaz’s Doctor said, raising her arms in frustration. “It’s not like one of us is intruding in the other’s timeline! We’re basically two different people now, anyway.”

“Yes, but we’re still too similar, we’ll keep bumping into each other,” the other Doctor countered. “I have all of your memories, we won’t diverge for a while… and you’ll want to keep investigating our origins, which means you’ll never stop and rest.” As Yaz’s Doctor opened her mouth to protest, he continued, “Don’t even try to deny it, I was just in your brain, babes.”

“Weren’t going to deny,” she pouted. “Just wanted to point out that I can do that while you do your own thing and we stay out of each other’s way, easy-peasy.”

“That would never work!” the new Doctor said, looking up at the TARDIS crystals, getting increasingly frustrated. “Why are we always this stubborn? You should embrace my suggestion, maybe go on a holiday for once!”

“I am fine, I don’t need a holiday!” the older Doctor grumbled, and Yaz couldn’t help the little snort that escaped her.

“You absolutely do!” the new Doctor insisted.

The blonde shook her head and said, “I should pin a note to your coat and drop you off at Kate Stewart’s doorstep.”

“Wait, you might be on to something,” Yaz said. “Not about abandoning your other self like a newborn, which, y’know what, I don’t even want to get into that symbolism – but UNIT might help with this dispute of yours, even if it’s just as neutral ground?”

The older Doctor laughed a little. “Kate probably felt a disturbance in the Force the second we bigenerated and is ready to get one of us to stay on Earth.”

“Would that be so bad?” the other Doctor said, raising an eyebrow.

“Not if you decide to stay on Earth,” Yaz’s Doctor answered, crossing her arms. “Kate’s lovely, but do you remember how eager she was to get Yaz alone last time we visited? I almost had her hide in the TARDIS.”

“Wait, what? I barely talked to her then,” Yaz protested.

“Yeah, because I didn’t give her a chance. She asked if you were on the TARDIS full time, I just know she wanted to slip you a business card in case you decided to leave.”

Yaz frowned. That sounded like a good thing, a backup plan in case the TARDIS wasn’t an option anymore? Then why was the Doctor so… She smirked when it dawned on her.

“Doctor,” Yaz said. “Were you jealous?”

“Of course not, don’t get jealous, me,” the blonde replied, turning to fiddle with something on the console.

“Yeah, she was,” the other Doctor confirmed.

“D’you want me to throw you off that cliff? We haven’t taken off yet, I can do it,” Yaz’s Doctor snapped at him.

“Babes,” the new Doctor said softly, turning back to Yaz’s Doctor. “Take this chance. You know you want it. You could… fix yourself.”

That gave Yaz – and the older Doctor – pause. Was he suggesting…

Yaz’s Doctor swallowed whatever reply she had ready and took a deep breath, before pulling the lever on the console for takeoff.

“I’m not saying I agree with this idea of yours,” she said, pointing at the new Doctor. “But I’ll have a think about it tonight.” She turned to Yaz with a much softer expression. “You should probably get some rest, it’s been a long day. We’ll figure this out in the morning.”

Even as tired as Yaz was, it took her what felt like forever to fall asleep, thinking about the possible consequences of everything that had happened, to the point that her dreams were filled with running and the Doctor glitching. It felt like a small miracle that she felt a little more rested after waking up.

After stopping by the kitchen to get some tea and toast, Yaz went to the control room, where she found her Doctor sitting alone at the TARDIS’s open doors, her legs dangling out into the universe. She was leaning on the door, apparently lost in thought. Yaz walked quietly to the door and sat next to her.

The Doctor turned to her, expression unreadable. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah,” Yaz replied, not wanting to explain. “Did you sleep at all?”

The Doctor shrugged. “For some reason, bigeneration didn’t leave me as tired as a normal regeneration, so I’ve been here most of the time.”

“Where’s the other Doctor?”

“Not sure,” Yaz’s Doctor replied, turning back to look at the universe. “I asked him to give me space, so he made himself scarce. I’m sure the old girl will let him know when to come back.”

For a while, they just sat there, Yaz having breakfast and the Doctor looking at the stars. When Yaz put her empty cup down, the Doctor sighed and said, “I’m going to miss this.”

Yaz snapped to attention. “Wait, don’t tell me he’s convinced you? You’re not giving up the TARDIS?” Surely the Doctor wouldn’t give up her beloved ship that easily? Their home?

The Doctor shook her head. “Not giving up, no,” she said, still looking at the stars, and Yaz relaxed. “But newborn me does have a point. I’m exhausted, Yaz. I probably could use a bit of rest. I’ve made it clear to him that it’s temporary, and I will come back and get my ship in a few decades or so. Besides… well. I did wish I could fix myself to somewhere.” The Doctor finally turned to look at Yaz, taking a deep breath. “Or someone. If you’ll still have me, even without a TARDIS.”

It was Yaz’s turn to look at the stars, collecting her thoughts. Would she still have the Doctor? The answer to that was an easy “always”, TARDIS or no TARDIS. But everything they’d discussed before hadn’t changed. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, the Doctor start fidgeting in nervousness and decided to just be honest.

“Doctor, you have to know by now that all the traveling is a bonus, but not the main reason why I’m still here. And I don’t think there will ever be a time when I won’t have you,” she said, and the Doctor sucked in a surprised breath. “But what about everything you said? You are still going to outlive me, it’s still going to hurt.”

“Well, in the words of a wise woman, courage is knowing something will hurt and doing it anyway. Time for me to be brave.”

“That’s also the definition of stupidity,” Yaz quipped, even if she could feel tears forming in her eyes to hear the Doctor quote Umbreen. Well, quote her quoting Umbreen, but same difference.

“Nah,” the Doctor waved her concern away. “Stupidity was me running away, trying to protect you by hiding and still hurting both of us. Choosing you… It’s scary, I’ll admit, but also brave.”

“What about the other things you said? What if, a month from now, I fall down stairs or something and die, and you get angry at the universe? I can’t be constantly worrying that you’ll go evil or something to that effect when I die.”

“We’ll get a ground-level flat, no stairs,” the Doctor joked. Yaz glared at her, but it was softened by the implication in the Doctor’s words. We. Our flat. “For real, though? It’s time to accept that this is in our future, and I’ll do my best to come to terms with your mortality – although hopefully that won’t happen for a good few decades yet – but even if I get mad at the universe… The other me will be there to get me back to myself.”

Yaz thought for a few second and said, “Okay.”

“Okay?” the Doctor echoed, a tentative smile on her lips.

“Yeah, okay. Time to see how you handle living in a flat. Wonder how long it’ll take for you to start climbing the walls in boredom,” Yaz teased.

“Ace!” the Doctor exclaimed, beaming. “I’m going to be so good in a flat. Can we get a purple sofa? Ooh, I wonder if I can have a corner shop?”

“So I see we’ve reached a decision?” the other Doctor said suddenly from behind them. “And UNIT owes us a lot of backpay, I’m sure Kate can arrange a corner shop for you.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” the older Doctor said, getting up.

“Same brain,” the new Doctor joked.

“What, you’re not concerned about Kate poaching me anymore?” Yaz teased.

The Doctor shrugged. “Now that I’ll be right there on Earth with you? Not that much. Wonder if I can tag along on your missions…”

Yaz laughed. “You’re acting as if she had already hired me.”

“It’s a matter of time, really. That is, if you want to work for UNIT. She’d be daft not to offer you a job right away, and Kate is a very smart person.” She shrugged and turned to the other Doctor. “So, drop us off in Sheffield? We can argue about TARDIS custody once my holiday ends.”

“Enjoy your retirement before picking up another fight, babes,” the other Doctor said with a smile, ignoring the Doctor’s grumbled not a retirement. “I’ll bring her by to visit every once in a while. And I promise to text when the old girl is done figuring out the writing in those books.”

“You’d better,” Yaz’s Doctor replied. “I want to see those results, figure out what the trigger to bigeneration was… Wonder if it was the forced regeneration?” She frowned. “But I’ve been through that before–”

“Honey,” the new Doctor interrupted before she’d gotten too far into that rabbit hole. “Park that and worry about it when the translation is done?”

“I hate waiting,” the Doctor pouted.

“Good luck with that for the next few decades, Yaz,” the new Doctor said with a wink.

That evening, Yaz was unlocking the front door to her family’s flat when it suddenly hit her that she’d stopped thinking of it as her flat a while before, always being away on the TARDIS – not to mention the years in the early 1900s. At least that’d help her family digest the news she was going to deliver. Probably. Hopefully.

Well, Sonya would be insufferable and say “I told you so” every day until one of them died, but still.

“Hi, it’s me,” she announced as she got inside and took off her coat and shoes.

“Yaz?” Najia called, coming out of the kitchen. “Hi, love, didn’t know you were coming tonight. This is a nice surprise!”

“Yeah, got back earlier than expected. I got some news too,” Yaz said, going to hug her mom. “Dad home?”

“He should be home soon, I’m just finishing tea,” Najia replied. After a small hesitation, she asked, “Is the Doctor coming too?”

“No, she’s at Ryan and Graham’s, catching up,” Yaz said. “I’ll set the table, then.”

The Doctor was, indeed, at Ryan and Graham’s; they had gone there first to explain the whole situation and Graham immediately offered to have her stay with them until she got her own place – Ryan tacking on an “Unless you’d rather stay with Yaz” after the offer with a faux-innocent face, to which the Doctor shrugged and said, “We’ll have our own place soon enough, I can hang with the fam for now!”

Ryan would probably join Sonya in saying “I told you so” every day of their lives.

Once Hakim was home and they were all at the table with full plates, Yaz said, “So… I’m not just visiting this time.”

“Oh?” Najia said, waiting for more information.

“I’m not giving your room back,” Sonya said, unbothered, lifting another forkful of food to her mouth.

“Wait, when did you take over my room? Sonya!”

“The fact that you didn’t even notice means I was right to do it,” Sonya shrugged. “Can’t keep the big room if you’re not going to use it.”

“Y’know what, fine, you keep it,” Yaz conceded. Not worth the fight. “Anyway. I’ve got a job interview tomorrow – if everything goes to plan, then I’ll be staying in Sheffield for good, bar some work trips, maybe. And the Doctor won’t be traveling as much from now on, so she should be around, too.” As soon as they’d arrived on Earth, the Doctor had texted Kate saying they had something non-urgent to discuss, and the UNIT director had already sent a link for a Zoom meeting the next morning. Hopefully she’d have a job for Yaz in Sheffield; the Doctor seemed pretty confident that she’d find something, especially with the incentive of getting the alien as a consultant.

Her family’s reactions were pretty much what Yaz had expected. Sonya just looked smug at keeping the room and even more at Yaz implying that she and the Doctor had made that decision as a pair, and her parents had a million questions about the possible job and about the exact nature of her relationship with the Doctor, which Yaz answered as vaguely as possible. The latter was mostly Najia – she still wasn’t a big fan of the Doctor, after she “abandoned” Yaz those ten months, and Yaz had the feeling she had been waiting for her to come to her senses and leave the blonde.

“Oh, come on,” Sonya said after what felt like the millionth question, rolling her eyes. “She’s not fighting me over the room, it’s obvious that she won’t be around long. I’m guessing your weird ‘friend’ will become a weird ‘roommate’ soon?”

Yaz sighed. She could feel the air quotes around the words even if Sonya hadn’t done them. “That’s… part of the plan, yeah. But depends if the job will pan out. I might have to stay longer if I don’t get it, so don’t get too comfortable in my room.”

“Too late, finders keepers,” Sonya quipped, and their banter managed to distract her parents from further questioning her decisions, at least for now. They’d come around. The Doctor just had to show them that she was staying for good this time.

Yaz should’ve known that Najia Khan wouldn’t be distracted that easily. Later, when she was alone in her – well, Sonya’s old – room, her mother knocked “just to say good night” and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Are you sure about all this, love?” she asked. “There’s no need to rush, you know. You can stay here as long as you want, no need to find roommates.”

“Mum, I’ve known the Doctor for years now, that’s hardly rushing,” Yaz pointed out. Before Najia could say what was undoubtedly in her mind, Yaz continued, “No, before you ask, we haven’t been seeing each other in secret all these years, we really were traveling as friends. Our relationship has… recently changed, yeah, but we haven’t even labeled it properly yet. But mum, even if that crashes and burns, she’s still my best friend, and now she’s here to stay. You don’t need to worry so much.”

Najia nodded, still looking concerned, but with softer eyes. “I trust you, Yaz,” she said. “I hope you’re making the right decision, and I know you’ll have thought it through. But I can’t promise I won’t worry. She has broken your heart before.”

“I know, but it’s different now. We’ve talked about it, and she’s committed this time. She’s staying, for good.”

“Well, in that case,” Najia said with a slightly devious smile, “you tell your girlfriend she has to come over for tea with the family. She can’t keep hiding from us.”

Heart beating faster at her mom casually referring to the Doctor as her girlfriend – even if they hadn’t used that word yet –, Yaz laughed and countered, “Can you blame her? Last time you interrogated her the entire meal. We weren’t even dating back then!”

“Well, tell her to be prepared this time,” Najia replied with a shrug. “If the two of you are thinking of living together, I’ll have double the questions.”

Yaz groaned, but still couldn’t stop smiling. “Why do I feel that you’ll be more thorough than my job interview?”

Minutes after Najia left, there was another knock at her door. Sonya came in before Yaz had even replied and sat next to her in bed.

“What’s this, am I being visited by three ghosts tonight to rethink my actions?” Yaz wondered aloud.

Sonya rolled her eyes. “Shut up, you can’t drop that kind of news and expect us not to question it. Well, except Dad. He hasn’t realized yet what I really meant by ‘roommate’ earlier.” This time Sonya actually did the air quotes. “Besides, he’s liked the Doctor since she proved him right with that whole rubbish conspiracy thing.”

“Also because she actually likes his pakora,” Yaz pointed out.

Sonya pretended to shudder. “And you kiss that mouth?”

She blushed even though that hadn’t happened – yet. Yaz sighed. They were going about it all out of order, weren’t they? “Not the worst thing I’ve seen her eat, believe me.”

“Not helping your case there,” Sonya teased, but continued before Yaz could say anything. “But I’m not here to talk about that.”

“Then what do you want to talk about? Mum’s already done the concerned parent speech and told me the Doctor needs to come over for tea and questioning soon,” Yaz half-joked.

“Well, Mum is still worried about that time she left for months and you went a bit obsessive,” Sonya retorted. “But the thing is,” she continued, looking serious for the first time in the conversation. “Mum doesn’t know about our anniversary dinners. Or the reason they exist. So she doesn’t realize that those months weren’t the worst you’ve been through.”

Yaz tried to swallow around the lump in her throat. “Yeah, it wasn’t as bad as… that,” she agreed.

“And because she doesn’t know, she also can’t tell how much better you’re doing now,” Sonya continued, bumping her shoulder against Yaz’s. “Before you met the Doctor, you were doing okay, but you’re better than that now. You’re finally happy, and whether it’s all the traveling or just her, I’m grateful she’s in your life. Those months were just a blip, from where I’m standing.”

Yaz could feel tears forming in her eyes. She hadn’t expected her sister to get so emotional all of a sudden, and she didn’t know what to do with it. Resisting the urge to make a joke, she finally replied, “Yeah, I feel like I finally understand what I want now. And those months were hard, but you’re right, I’ve been through worse. And that wasn’t really her fault anyway, she didn’t mean to leave for that long.”

Sonya nodded. “Just don’t let her be the only source of happiness in your life, okay? I know you said she wants to stay this time, but you never know what might happen.”

“I know,” Yaz replied. “And I won’t. The new job, for example. If it works out, it should be good for me, way more fulfilling than the police.”

“Good,” Sonya said. “Then I’m happy for you. I will be helping Mum with the interrogation, though,” she said with a grin, and Yaz hit her with a pillow.

In the end, everything was a lot smoother than Yaz had hoped. The Doctor had been right about Kate – the UNIT director basically offered Yaz a job the second the Doctors told her what had happened, and then said she’d help the Doctor get her corner shop and arrange documents for her to live a human life if the blonde accepted a position as science consultant. Apparently, UNIT had managed to gather quite a bit of alien technology left behind on Earth and Osgood would appreciate help in figuring it out.

They would even get to stay in Sheffield, since UNIT was going for a more decentralized organization model, for safety reasons, after getting their brand-new building blown up. The only blip was when Kate asked the Doctor to choose a human name for her new documents and the alien confidently said “John”; Yaz had to once again explain human gender rules, to which the Doctor shrugged and said, “Jane, then, that’s the woman version, isn’t it?”

After everything was settled with Kate, the new Doctor said his goodbyes and left, but not before the old Doctor reminded him again that this wasn’t forever and said her own “see you soon” to the TARDIS.

Yaz also hadn’t expected the Doctor to say yes to Najia’s invitation so easily, even after being aware of the reasons behind it. Nor had she expected it to go as well as it had; the blonde could be extra charming when she wanted to, and by the time pudding was served she’d assuaged most of Najia’s fears.

The fact that she’d introduced herself as “Doctor Jane Smith” this time didn’t hurt, either, since Najia had been pestering Yaz for the Doctor’s “real name” for years now.

All in all, Yaz couldn’t believe how easily this transition to a normal (well, normal-ish) life went. In hindsight, she should’ve guessed that the Doctor would treat a human life as an adventure and proceed with the same enthusiasm she used for all their other adventures. But even after that realization, there was still a little fear in the back of her mind, a small voice telling her to be careful because the Doctor would get bored eventually.

It only hit her months later, coming back from a UNIT mission – the first time the Doctor hadn’t gone with her –, feeling tense before she got to the corner shop, that she was still afraid the Doctor would leave when she wasn’t looking. It was unfair to the blonde, who had given no signs of boredom since they’d moved to the flat above the small shop, but Yaz couldn’t help it.

When she went inside the shop to find everything just as she’d left it, Yaz’s heart warmed and her fear felt even sillier. She didn’t need to keep watch on the Doctor or anything – “Jane” was, by now, an intrinsic part of their neighborhood, the eccentric shop owner who was kind and loved chatting with everyone, gaining several friends quickly with her unabashed joy in listening to everyone’s stories, no matter how mundane they seemed.

Yaz found her, as usual at this time of day, surrounded by children, telling them a story while the parents shopped or hung out at the shop’s tea station – a somewhat recent addition because the children refused to leave before the end of the stories and parents needed something to do. Her stories were, by now, legendary among her youngest friends, who listened enraptured and frequently drew pictures for her. Their fridge was almost completely hidden by the kids’ drawings, including a rather accurate depiction of a Pting; the Doctor kept every single one.

Not wanting to interrupt, Yaz just waved at her girlfriend as she went to the stairs and the Doctor barely noticed, continuing her exaggerated gestures. The story must be reaching the climax; she’d come back down after dropping off her bag and having a quick shower, the blonde should be free by then.

However, Yaz had barely put the bag in their bedroom and gotten a glass of water when the Doctor clattered upstairs. “Yaz! You’re back!” she said, engulfing her in a hug.

Yaz laughed and hugged her back, saying, “I texted you when the plane landed, you knew I was on my way!”

“Well, I missed you,” the Doctor said, her face buried in Yaz’s neck. “I’m telling Kate to send me with you on all missions from now on. Sonya can handle the shop.”

That had been yet another surprise for Yaz: as smart as the Doctor was, she didn’t have a good grasp on the concept of money, no matter how much they tried to get her to understand, so Sonya had offered to become the shop’s manager. The Doctor handled most of the everyday tasks and loved the entire process, but Sonya was the one with final say on the budget. As it turns out, Sonya was very good at keeping a job – as long as she was in charge. So, it worked out well for everyone.

“You’re the one who said you couldn’t miss story time,” Yaz pointed out. “Son said she doesn’t mind working the register when we’re away.”

The Doctor stepped back, holding on to Yaz’s hips, and replied, “I was in the middle of the Solitract story, the kids would never forgive me if I went away before finishing it. Still, next time I’m going. I’ll record it on video for them if necessary.”

Yaz kissed the tip of her nose and smiled at the Doctor’s blush. It sometimes still didn’t feel real that she had that effect. “I missed you too,” she said. “Give me ten minutes to shower and I’ll come down to the shop to hang out. Oh, also, unless Earth gets invaded or someone messes up somewhere and Kate needs me to de-escalate a situation, I should stay in Sheffield for the foreseeable. I’ve got tomorrow off, too!”

“Yes, more Yaz time!” she exclaimed, pulling her into another hug. “If Sonya were here I’d stay and chat while you shower, but I need to get back. I left Charlie watching the shop. Said I’d be right back.”

“Doctor!” Yaz said, exasperated. “She’s nine!”

“And that’s… Young in human years?” the Doctor guessed.

“Yes! Too young to be left in charge of a shop!”

“Eh, it’ll be fine. She’s a smart one.” She shrugged, giving Yaz her polite cat smile. “It was just a few minutes.”

“Go!” Yaz pushed her gently. “I’ll be right there.”

The Doctor kissed her cheek and said, “I’m glad you’re back. I’ll get Sonya to cover tomorrow so we can do something, just us. What do you think?”

Yaz grinned and nodded. “I’d like that, yeah.”

“Ace! See you in a bit!” Then the Doctor was clattering back down the stairs, already calling out for Charlie to know if everything was okay.

The next morning, Yaz woke up to a stack of pancakes and a cup of tea on her bedside table, which wasn’t unusual on the days when she could sleep in a little. An advantage of having a girlfriend who didn’t need much sleep – although she still wasn’t sure if getting breakfast in bed made up for not waking up with the Doctor next to her most of the time.

At least she hadn’t woken up to the smoke alarm and the smell of burning in weeks; apparently the Doctor learned to be more careful after Yaz put her on a time out from the kitchen the last time. The alien probably wouldn’t forget the “no Doctor allowed” sign anytime soon.

By the time Yaz was up and cleaning up the kitchen, the Doctor came back up from the shop; even if Sonya was responsible for it that day, the blonde liked to organize everything before opening.

“Yaz! Oh no, you’re already up! I meant to get back into bed before you woke up today,” the Doctor said with a pout.

“Don’t worry about it,” Yaz replied. “I don’t mind waking up alone, I know you don’t sleep much. The pancake smell probably woke me up. They were amazing.”

“Thanks!” the Doctor said, preening a little. “But you need cuddles on your day off, Yaz!”

“Oh, I do?” Yaz dried her hands on a dish towel and turned around to look at the Doctor properly, leaning against a counter. “I mean… I’m still in my PJs, I could just go back to bed…?”

“You should,” the Doctor said, moving closer to put her hands on Yaz’s waist. “And then I could help you out of those PJs,” she whispered into her neck, along with a kiss.

“You’re getting better at flirting,” Yaz commented.

“Thanks, I do try,” the Doctor replied, standing up straight and taking her hand. “Now let’s start our Yaz Day right, shall we?”

Later, when they went down to the shop on their way out, Sonya seemed surprised to see them.

“You’re going out?” she asked, frowning. “You just got back from that last mission yesterday.”

Yaz was confused. “Yeah? But I’m not tired, I got in early. Us going out is the whole reason you’re even here!”

“Well,” Sonya said with a bit of a smirk. “When Ryan gets back from traveling I don’t really let him out of bed the next day. Y’know, to recover properly.”

Yaz saw the glint in the Doctor’s eyes before she even opened her mouth to reply and pointed a finger at her while saying, “No.” Then, for good measure, she turned to point the same finger at her sister. “And no. Not another word from either of you. We’re going out on our date now and I’m going to pretend this conversation never happened because I do not want that mental image, ever.”

She then almost dragged the Doctor out of the shop while her sister cackled.

By the time they returned home, the shop was closed and Sonya was long gone. The Doctor had acted as if it were Yaz’s birthday, or as if they hadn’t seen each other in a month, instead of the few days it’d actually been. The whole day had been full of things Yaz had mentioned that she wanted to do – a film she’d been looking forward to, a climbing gym, a new ice cream place.

The Doctor had also prepared a picnic – Yaz assumed she’d cooked most of it during the night, considering how short notice this date had been – including all of her favorite foods. If she didn’t already know Najia had forgiven the Doctor, the picnic would have proven it: the blonde had clearly gotten some recipes from her before Yaz got back from her mission (Hakim had taught the Doctor how to make pakora ages before – there were none in the picnic).

Back at home, Yaz thanked her for all the thought she’d put into the day. “But you know you don’t have to do that every time I go away, right?” she asked.

“Of course I do!” the Doctor replied. “Gotta give you some adventures at home so you don’t get bored now I don’t have a TARDIS!”

“Oh, babe,” Yaz said softly, cradling the blonde’s face in her hands. “You don’t need to worry about that. This, our life here… That’s the best adventure we’ve ever had.”

“You sure?” the Doctor asked, still uncertain.

“I’m sure. Of course I enjoy days like today, but you don’t have to do them out of some fear that I’ll lose interest. I’m with you, whatever happens, remember?”

The Doctor nodded. “Whatever happens,” she echoed, and they sealed the promise with a kiss.