DOCTOR WHO:
IF YOU ASKED ME TO
WRITTEN BY ZARIUS
(Contains spoilers for 11x05 "The Tsuranga Conundrum")
The TARDIS glided through the time vortex on its way to another destination, be it random or intended by its pilot, life was always a gambit on board the maverick timeship.
Operating the controls, the Doctor checked the monitors, watching visuals of planets and stars shoot past her in rapid succession, the ship's engines gently slowing down as the vessel prepared to make its own mind up.
"Please girl, give it all you got, but give us what we want while you're at it" she said, gently caressing the console.
Graham came out of one of the backdoor entrances to check on how she was doing.
"Where'd Yaz and Ryan run off to?" The Doctor asked.
"They're enjoying the swimming pool" he replied, leaving The Doctor with a startled expression
"I still have one of those? I thought I jettisoned it"
"Well, whatever that large crystal lake with the artificial sun is back there, they're getting some much needed r'n'r out of it" he said.
"Why aren't you giving it a go?" The Doctor asked.
"Oh I preferred the rainbathing on Kinstano Doc"
"Yeah, weren't we arguing about that earlier?" she asked.
"Ah it was just a little tiff, but it didn't throw you for a loop did it?" Said Graham.
"That sonic mine threw us all under the bus, and I can't help but feel I got too caught up in both the tiff and my own all consuming curiosity to see the danger present itself in time"
"Well, you apologised for it, and we all made it home safe, I even got to re-enact Call The Midwife, gave me and Ryan something to connect over...almost"
"I almost got you killed on that ship with that Pting. Can I stress how much bad experience I have with cutesy alien creatures? Try the Adipose; try the star beast, midget menaces, the lot of them. No Graham, when I told you lot to be sure about what to expect, I should have kept myself in check too"
Graham grabbed her shoulders, there was some heavy duty breathing going on as a tense knot of adrenaline gripped the pair of them.
"Listen Doc, your curiosity gave me and Ryan time on that ship, precious time. Ryan bless him, he saw life born in a different way, he saw that child find love in its father's eyes...it touched him, it did, and all he could talk to Yaz back there was what it felt like to feel the kind of innocence he hadn't had since he found his mother dead at just age thirteen. The choice we made in following you through time and space was to put distance between us and the demons of the past, to let go of the things we're ashamed of, all we could take a glimpse into the kind of lives that touch tomorrow."
The Doctor gently detached herself from Graham's grip, giving him an admirable look through her startling and sharp pupils, before pulling a lever on the console, bringing the vessel to a standstill.
"What awaits us out there depends on how overwhelming my curiosity is, do you dare chance it again?" she asked.
"If you ask me to Doc" Graham said.
"I reckon I just did" said The Doctor.
She opened the doors, yelled for Ryan and Yaz to get a move on, and, taking Graham by the arm, took a stroll with him outside.