Work Text:
They’d made it back.
Hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of their enemies had been devoured by the Flux. It’d been a close call.
But they were back, and they were safe for the moment.
Yaz was ready to get stuck back into her old routine with her best friend. What a relief it was to have her back, after over three years apart. She was reminded of those ten months she’d spent agonizing over where the Doctor might be, and how she was going to go and find her. The years had dragged on longer than those months, but at least this time she’d had the hologram of the Doctor to keep her company when Dan and Jericho wouldn’t suffice.
But that hologram had come to make her more sad than comforted, and the memory of the countless nights she’d spent with tears running silently into her ears while she pretended to sleep made her stomach twist uncomfortably. She was very, very glad to have the Doctor back, real and in person. And the hug they’d shared started to heal over her aching heart in the few seconds they’d spent wrapped around each other.
It would take a lot more hugs to fully heal her, she knew.
Still, Yaz felt refreshed after changing into her old clothes and joining the Doctor and Dan back in the console room. This was a turning point for her, she could feel it tingling at the base of her neck and tips of her fingers. She wasn’t sure what would be the catalyst, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t eager to find out.
She was just about to head off to her bedroom when the Doctor held her back. Yaz turned, a question in her big, brown eyes. The Doctor looked away.
“I’m sorry,” she started. Yaz wasn’t sure whether to be surprised or relieved, but mostly she was curious to hear what she’d get an apology for.
“I didn’t let you in, to what I was doing,” the Time Lord continued. She certainly sounded remorseful, and though she was wary, Yaz gave her the space to get her thoughts out. “Going after Karvanista; what I was looking for…”
She moved closer to Yaz, within touching distance. The Doctor looked into her eyes, an apology written on them in bold as she said, finally, “I shouldn’t have shut you out.”
“No,” Yaz said. She still felt that frustration, that anger, at having been pushed away by the woman she cared most about. It had hurt, and it still hurt to poke at. “You shouldn’t have.”
Yaz let the Doctor explain, as best she could, why she’d been so distant. She looked at her, and let herself be looked into deeply, and let the moment sink into her skin. She’d needed this; an apology; some sort of explanation for the Doctor’s callous behavior. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
“I want to tell you everything.” The Doctor’s eyes were brimming with tears threatening to fall.
Yaz nodded with a small smile, “I’d like that.”
They shared another long look, emotions Yaz couldn’t name running underneath the surface of their skin like water, trickling into every part of their bodies until they were drenched in them. It was overwhelming, and it was comforting. A blanket weighted over the softest parts of them, soothed in its hold.
Yaz turned to leave again, and instead of her name the Doctor held her back with a strong hand wrapped around her wrist.
She was pulled back into a hug, tighter and deeper than the one they’d shared in the tunnels under Liverpool. Her lungs released a happy sigh into the Doctor’s soft hair, and she breathed in the familiar scent that she’d missed so much.
“I did miss you so much, Yaz.” She pulled back, hands on Yaz’s shoulders and a tear running down her cheek. “So much.”
“Likewise,” Yaz said with a chuckle, though she wasn’t sure what was funny about the moment. She was happy to finally be alone with the Doctor, though, and her smile stayed on her face while she continued, “Your hologram really helped during the last few years, so thank you, again. I do have to say, it’s nice to actually see your face up close and tangible,” she tucked a stray hair behind the Doctor’s ear, tender and soft in her touch.
Then, she let her hand cradle the Doctor’s chin, and the blonde let her. They shared another smile, colored in sadness though it was.
“It’s nice to see your face, too. Always liked your face,” the Doctor admitted. She took hold of Yaz’s wrist gently so she could press a kiss into her palm, still maintaining eye contact.
Yaz felt fresh tears well up in her eyes. The Doctor immediately pulled away.
“Are you okay? I didn’t mean to make you cry,” she fretted.
“I’m okay,” Yaz assured her. “These are good tears. Really good tears.” She gave a laugh as more fell, rolling down her cheeks and dropping from her chin. The surge of emotions she felt just then made her bold, and she reached for the Doctor’s face with both hands.
She sighed again when she didn’t pull away.
Their tears met and melted together when finally, finally , their lips met in a kiss.
Yaz’s worry fell off her shoulders, and she grounded herself in the knowledge that they shared this hurt; the hurt of being apart, of losing each other. She felt the Doctor smile into the kiss, and she gave one back. Their arms were wound tightly around the other, as if they were afraid they’d disappear if they stopped touching.
The kiss itself was not hasty, it wasn’t rushed or heated or a way to get out of talking. It was slow, and it was kind. It was warm and sweet and it dried the tears from their eyes and settled in the pink blooming on their skin.
The Doctor placed a kiss on each of Yaz’s cheeks, and rested their foreheads together.
“Thank you,” she said.
Yaz quirked an eyebrow, “What for?”
“For reminding me why I do this. Why I protect this universe. Sometimes I forget and wonder what I’m doing it all for, but the answer is you. It’s always you, Yasmin Khan.”
Yaz didn’t know what to say to that, so she smiled and kissed the Doctor again, just because she could.
“Yeah, well, anytime you need a reminder I’m here,” she laughed. And the Doctor laughed, and they laughed as they stayed wrapped up in each other.
It was kind, and it was warm, and it was grounding, and it was everything. Yasmin Khan and her Doctor; the Doctor and her Yaz.
Together, and safe.