All of Time and Space (Thasmin)

Hugs Do the World of Good

It's short and sweet, based on the fact that the doctor needed a hug throughout the whole of series 12 and Chibnall said no, suffer.

It had been maybe a few days since the Doctor had opened the TARDIS doors to find her home in ruins and flames, at the hands of the Master. It had broken both of her hearts, but she tried to pull herself together, going back to Earth to pick up the fam and take them on yet another adventure. She thought this might take her mind away from the empty pit in her stomach; she had broken every rule in the book when she brought Gallifrey back but once again, it had been destroyed. Once again, she was one the last of her kind. She hadn't missed this feeling.

Still, like old times, the Doctor held her head high and carried on. She was currently underneath the TARDIS console, tinkering away. Yaz, Graham and Ryan had noticed she liked to take parts of the TARDIS apart and put them back together when she was upset. They had been able to tell something was up with her as soon as she came to pick them up and had tried to subtly coax it out of her since.

"Doctor?" Yaz called out, coming into the console room.

"Under here!" The Doctor quickly finished tightening a bolt while Yaz made her way over to her. When she slid out Yaz offered her a hand to get up, which she accepted.

"The film's finished now so I just wanted to, urm - Well. Me, and - me and the others were just talking and-" Yaz's face went all sympathetic, as it had done twice already when she tried to ask the Doctor what was wrong.

"Yaz, I've told you. I'm fine, nothing-" The Time Lord cut her off, getting very defensive before Yaz interrupted just as she had.

"No. You're being all quiet and thoughtful." She said a little more harshly than intended. She paused for a second and carried on much more delicately. "I'm not trying to pry, I don't expect you to tell me what happened but we're worried about you," Yaz very hesitantly reached out her hand and placed it on the Doctor's arm.

The Doctor sighed, blinking quickly and looking anywhere apart from at Yaz. "Thank you," she whispered.

"If you need a hug, you know where I am," Yaz smiled brightly at the alien dork, taking her arm down and turning to go and watch Friends with Graham and Ryan. She didn't get very far when the Doctor grabbed her arm, prompting her to turn back around.

"Do you mind if I have a hug and you don't tell the other two?" A small, unsure smile caressed the Doctor's face, lit up by the soft glow of the console.

"Come here," Yaz wrapped her arms around her, the Doctor hesitant to do the same. After a few seconds though, she clung to Yaz and rested her head on Yaz's shoulder.

The Doctor's eyes watered a little, as she thought about Gallifrey. She might have lost her people, but what the Doctor most definitely had not lost was hope. Or her family. She had her family right in front of her and she promised herself that she'd ask Yaz for a hug more often.

'Hugs do the world of good' she thought, smiling and hugging Yaz a little closer than before.