Until The End Of Time Itself [Thasmin]

episode four: death comes...for some I

When the Doctor initially posed the innocent question, her eyes gleamed and the corners of her lips were pulled impossibly from one end of her face to the other. They had stood there for quite some time, her smile not beginning to fade until at least two minutes after she had asked Yaz. While Yaz, she just stood there, staring, eyes sort of surprised, the doctor guessed, though she didn't know why.

"You really mean it this time?" Yaz asked.

The Doctor nodded, confused. "I mean it every time."

She shook her head in response. "Nope. Every time you say this you start getting chatty.." Yaz began, hoping to jog the doctor's memory in some way, gesturing with her hands in a circular motion towards the woman. "Annnd when you start getting chatty, you get ideas. And when you get ideas, every thing else just goes out the window."

With a small blank face eventually becoming offended, she pulled back, scrunching her face.
"Wait, no." She said. "I don't do that...do I?"

Yaz continued nodding. "Do you know how many times you've asked us where we want to go, and then you start talking about, I don't know, space doughnuts or something, and then you've gotten all side tracked and end up taking us to some floating restaurant that serves hallucinatory pastries?"

A small laugh erupted from in front of Yaz. "Ah, yeah, they were nice they were..." She said, then without a single human breath, she perked up. "Did I ever tell you about the dancing pterodactyl café?"

"Doctor! Wait...what?"

"Well a lot of people get there expecting the food to make them dance, almost like you humans with alcohol...Tourists...what a nightmare." She shook her head and sighed. "But no, they're actually the ones that dance."

"Who?" Yaz leaned in, then stopped herself. "Wait, no, stop, we're not going there. You said I could pick this time. Completely my choice. My choice alone...right?"

"Indeed I did." The Doctor grinned.

Yaz stared for a few more moments, wide eyed, and waiting for the doctor's next distraction, but it never came. The doctor just stood there, that wide and so lovely smile imprinted onto her skin and her hands on her hips, as if she was massively proud of herself. Yaz as sure she was, as this was the longest the time lord had managed to stay quiet when in these child-like moods of hers.

The staring match continued for a few more seconds, Yaz just waiting for the moment to end, bit it did not. Taking every opportunity as it came, and before it left so suddenly, she turned on her feet and bolted to the TARDIS doors, zipping away faster than the doctor could initially react.

"Hey!" She protested. "Where are yer off ter?"

At this, Yaz halted, and turned back, with her hand gripped around the handle. "Sorry, won't be long, just got ter...you know...do some stuff."
In a few seconds, the befuddled doctor was left alone, blinking at the closed doors, unmoving, before shrugging, shoving her hands in her pockets and strolled around the room, glancing up at the ceiling as if to speak.

"Well..." She sighed, and the collapsed onto the stairs by the console. "I honestly have no idea what to do with myself now."

The TARDIS let out a knowing bleep, as if mocking the woman. She huffed, letting her shoulders fall, shielding herself slightly from the taunt. "Yeah, I know. She's just so damn likeable." She muttered. "I hope she comes back soon." Then, she allowed herself to smile. "Wherever it is she's run off to."

***

Though it was far closer, Yaz hadn't even thought of going home, and instead took a taxi headed directly to where her mum and the rest of her family lived, hoping not to have to deal with the difficult conversation of her constant lack of presence in recent months, and even years.
Her mother knew, on some level, but Yaz...she always refused to talk about what was troubling her. Haunting her.