Through the frozen damp, and the melting sun we ran. My breath like smoke and her smoke like ash, flying up to the grey sky. Every step was an effort, but worth it. She turned as she ran, the mess of blonde hair obscuring her face. "Almost there" She shouted with a smile, her pipe falling from her lips, she caught it before it hit the floor. We carried on with our journey in silence. It was a comfortable silence, ones that you share with your family watching tv, or when you're scrolling through Twitter next to your partner. It was the type of quiet where you felt alone, yet not lonely, but a silence filled with my exhausted panting. It was strange since Ryan and Graham had left. Like my last piece of home had left too. But this new world was much better, all of these new worlds.

She suddenly stopped and glanced back at me. "Are you ready Yaz?" Her nose red as she spoke. The wooden pipe balanced between her teeth and made her voice clunky.

"Victorian London, lets do it!" As we wandered around the city I got the feeling that she had been here before. In other places she was childish and curious, today she seemed almost comfortable.

I kept feeling people looking at us, at me. I knew why. The Doctor knew why too.

"Is it weird I feel more uncomfortable here than I did in Montgomery?"

She turned to me, "Do you want to go? We could go to a party in 1920s Chicago, or go to the future and meet the first lizard mayor of Europe?" Her suggestions were tempting, but there was no way I was leaving this early.

"No, it's okay! We haven't explored yet!"

She nodded.

Our feet hit the cobbled street in the rhythm of the nearby hammers. The sky was dark grey and smelt of burnt alcohol. The air was heavy, like walking through syrup. "Where are we going?" I asked, watching the bottom of her coat slowly turn from a baby blue to a dirty brown.

"There's someone I want you to meet... I think it's this way" She quickly turned into a dark, cramped alley, the puddles underfoot splashing onto my jeans. "It's been a few hundred years since I've been here. Bit rusty with the directions."

I couldn't help but think of Graham, he would have been saying how wet his feet were and asking if we could slow down so he could take a picture on his phone, even though they always turn out blurry. Once, we went to a 13th century monastery and he accidentally left the flash on. I couldn't help but giggle at the memory of the monks thinking we were demons.

"What you laughing at?" She asked, not stopping.

" Remember Graham and the monks?"

"Oh God yeah. You know I've travelled with a few people, he was the first one to stop and take pictures. Wrong places, mind, and definitely wrong times."

"How long has it been? Like our time. My time. It's hard this. You know what I mean though"

"Well it's hard to explain. Wait, we need to turn right here. Erm yeah so we can't talk about a specific time, but your body, has aged about 2 years. Almost here, I remember that wall." I stopped. 2 years. It didn't seem like 2 minutes.

"Yaz?" I heard her footsteps running back as I started at my own feet.

"Sorry. I just. 2 years? I just never thought it had been that long." Her arm wrapped around me, she was surprisingly warm. "No, it's fine. Just a shock, I suppose."

"Well just think of me, you're a tenth of my age. It's like I'm running around with a baby. Wow that sounds creepy. Anyway, you ready?"

We eventually got there after a few wrong turns, The Doctor insisting it was the scenic route. The sound of her voice saying 2 years still ringing in my head. I still couldn't wrap my head around it.

In front of us was a dark wooden door, her scrunched up fists knocked twice. I asked why she couldn't unlock it, to which she looked at her sonic and screwed up her face, something that I didn't really understand. I never got an answer.

The door opened with a long creak. The warmth from the house immediately hit me. Holding the door ajar was a strong looking brunette woman, her hair tired neatly into a bun, strands of hair resting on either cheek. "Can I help you, ma'am?" her response seemed frosty as she looked us up and down.

"It's freezing out here, Jenny. Don't you recognise me? It's the accent isn't it? I went northern before you know, thought I'd give it another go, take it for a spin. You know how much effort it took for me to create a scottish accent during regeneration? let's just say I'm not going there again."

"Doctor?" The girl, Jenny, immediately moved aside, as we stepped in. The house was quaint and ornately decorated. Pictures hung on the blood red wallpaper, perfectly straight and side by side. She led us down a corridor to a small lounge, we sat on the sofa. "I'll get Vastra." Then she left. It was getting quite warm in the house, the log fire in front of us crackling and dancing, spitting out ashes.

"So how come you wanted me to meet her?"

"Not just her, they are both my friends. Also just to warn you, Vastra is a silurian." My face my have portrayed my confusion as she added. "She's a lizard woman." Without skipping a beat, an unfamiliar deep voice added

"The best one. Oh Doctor your style still hasn't changed, neither has your type." The doctors eyebrows frowned slightly, as I wondered what Vastra meant by that.

"Vastra, this is Yaz. Yaz this is my friends Vastra, and Jenny." After exchanging niceties, and quashing my awkwardness, Jenny made us tea. We told them about our adventures together, and how we met. She left out the part where she fell from the TARDIS and crashed into the train which made me giggle, to which she jabbed me softly with her elbow.

"So what brings you here?" Vastra asked, sipping her tea.

"I just wanted you to meet Yaz, check in with my old friend, show my face, you know."

"Forgive me, Doctor, but you don't usually 'pop in' on people. Am I right to presume you have sensed something odd, again?"

"You are wrong to presume, actually. I can check up on people from time to time you know. Anyway, have to go, you know people to see places to go." As she got up she lay her hand behind as if to help me up. I took her hand and it was surprisingly cold, but soft. I was concentrating too much on the strange temperature of her as she pulled me towards the door.

"You can stay, we have a spare room. It's cold and dark outside, and this city is dangerous at night." Jenny chirped as Vastra shot her a look across the cramped doorway.

"The Doctor doesn't stay, Jenny" I couldn't distinguish whether there was resentment in the statement or not, but Vastra was a hard woman to understand.

"Yaz? fancy staying in Victorian London with a lizard woman and her wife?"

"If it's no trouble?" I looked at Jenny as Vastra's blue eyes were too piercing for me to hold her gaze.

"No trouble at all." Jenny smiled and led us towards the stairs. "By the way we only have one spare room so you'll have to share."

Almost immediately the Doctor answered back "That's fine." I felt myself blush at her eagerness. But I didn't understand why.

After saying our goodnights, and Jenny making us a mug of hot chocolate each we climbed up the mountain of wooden stairs. They groaned as we stepped on each one.

"Well I suppose we can top and tail." I said as she opened the door to reveal a single double bed in the middle of the room. As with everything else in the house the bed was wooden and decorated splendidly. either side of the bed sat drawers with tiny golden locks on. I wondered what was hiding in there. The room smelt of cold air, like the kind you get in a new hotel room, and cooked apples. We lay our drinks down on either set of draws.

"Fancy a bed jump? New beds have to be jumped on, it's a rule. It's actually a law on some planets." Taking our shoes off, she held my hand again and helped me onto the bed, watching our heads as we jumped. She had a knack of making even the simplest of things like jumping on a bed, the most exciting thing ever. After a few minutes we crashed down, laying haphazardly next to each other.

"So, why were they so shocked that you had came in to say hello?" I asked

"I don't know, just every time I go to something always happens, like a mystery always crops up that is yearning to be solved. Kind of like every place I go to." She laughed, I imagine she was remembering some of the situations she had gotten in. Jenny had provided us with two white night gowns, the kind you imagine Scrouge wearing as he met his ghosts. I stood up and picked mine up.

"So is there somewhere I can change?"

"I can turn around if you want?" She stood up and faced the wall. I was strangely nervous as I took off my clothes. I felt my heart beat quickly, as I stood there exposed for the second before putting on my nightgown.

"I'm done now" She turned back around, and went to grab her one that was draped over the armchair. She took off her coat, removing the pipe from her pocket and placing it on the arm, getting ash all over her hand. She started taking off her jumper when I interjected.

"What are you doing? Do you want me to face the wall?" I laughed at her nonchalance, looking up the the ceiling.

"After 2000 years Yaz, I don't care about my body." She continued to undress. I continued to look away, but kept glancing at her. The fire highlighted her body, and accentuated it. The curve of her back from the back of her neck. I wished I was that confident. She threw on the nightdress and walked over to the bed where I stood.

"So who's top and who's tail?" She asked, with her goofy smile.

"Let's just sleep normally. It's late." We got into the bed.

"Is this weird? You don't feel weird do you? Because I can you know sleep on the chair or something?" She said, looking at me. Her eyes were a burnt umber, and this close I could smell engine oil and old pipe smoke. Like how you would expect an old man to smell.

"No of course it isn't! Why would it be?"

After a few minutes of talking she fell asleep facing me. I couldn't help but watch as her eyes fluttered, and feel her slow, gentle breathing on my face. I don't know why, but in that moment I felt happy.