a/n: gah – I wrote this at like 2 am, so I apologise for any spelling or grammar or like … shitty mistakes.

Also no doctor who until 2020 – I'm … I'm gonna have to keep writing this story to get through 2019 aren't i?

-x-
-x-
-x-

The young Lieutenant was rather glad that the others had decided to follow and taken up directing the conversation. Talking between each other and The Doctor, who had led them through the house, towards the garage, where a rather beat up Volo sat. Ana guessed that it was either Graham's or Grace's. The brunette's hand was stilled wrapped tightly around the Time Lord's, but there hadn't been any moment where she had the chance to start a proper conversation, besides it was still rather awkward between the two of them. Oh, well maybe just for Ana - still in a dirtied Star Fleet uniform, with dried blood still on her forehead, Ana wasn't sure she was ready to have that deep and meaningful conversation anyhow. Everything seemed to be happening quickly, too fast for her brain to even try and catch up, or it could have been the concussion that she had somehow told herself she didn't have.

There was some kind of conversation that occurred between the others, something about Ryan's phone being able to show the signal of whatever it was that had tagged them all. The Doctor looked at Ana, staring at her for a couple of seconds before the Australian realised that everyone else, besides Yaz and The Doctor, had already piled into the Volo. Ana took a deep breath and let her green eyes focus on the blonde before her.

"You okay?" The Doctor had asked in such a soft voice, that Ana almost choked on her own saliva. Well - Ana knew not to think of one regeneration being the same as the next, but no matter how long ago it was, their argument was still fresh in her mind. Ana frowned and shifted on the spot underneath The Doctor's hazel gaze, she also noticed that Yaz was watching the pair of them with such a curious gaze that Ana tried not to take notice. "Bear?"

Breath caught at the back of Ana's throat and she quickly nodded her head, stepping forward. Teeth biting down on her lower lip, the Time Lord gave a soft smile, letting go on Ana's hand and turning on her heels and opening the passenger side door. Getting in the car, Ana remained stood in her spot for at least five more seconds, before Yaz prompted her. The brunette mumbled an apology and piled into the back seat, managing to squish in next to Ryan, who was sat next to Graham and Yaz got in after her. Ana was surprised that they had all actually managed to pile into the station wagon, though it was a tight squeeze, Yaz had to basically sit on TOP of the brunette to just fit. It was another three minutes later that they were finally pulling out of the garage, Grace following the directions that The Doctor was already telling her.

Her hazel coloured eyes seemed hyper fixed on Ryan's phone, she was taking them somewhere, but Ana hadn't exactly gotten the chance to ask her where in correlation to the alien that had tagged them. It was typical of Ana to arrive just when major shit was going down and The Doctor was struggling with being post-regeneration. Which seemed to happen a lot when she had just … died. Ana was curious about how it happened, he had sent her home almost three years prior, so they had a lot of catching up to do.

Due to the fact that Ana was nestled between Yaz and Ryan, she wasn't wearing a seatbelt or even sat in a proper seat - which caused Ana to also lean against Yaz a lot more than she was supposed to. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable of positions to be when you had JUST met somebody, but well - you never know when you're with The Doctor, you just had to go with the flow and try not to be left behind. Her seating position wasn't exactly legal, and Ana was surprised that Yaz had even allowed it to happen, considering that in the five minutes that the brunette had to look around the house and out the car window, that one of them was a copper. Ana knew it couldn't have been Graham or Ryan, they just didn't have that build to them - or even the mannerisms. Yaz on the other hand, especially when she had spotted Ana standing in Grace's living room, did. Her shoulders had tensed and one of her hands had twitched towards her hip, indicating that she either had a gun or even a taser. Ana knew a copper when she saw one.

Though, the young Australian supposed that the other threat happening to them, which involved LIVE bombs underneath their skin was enough to let this one incident slide. Green eyes seemed to focus down on her dirtied hands then, trying to shake herself out of her thoughts and focus on the conversation that was happening around her. Ana hadn't had the chance to clean herself up, the cut on her forehead still stung and she couldn't help but wince when a sharp pain shot up her spine when they went over a rather rough bump in the road. She was surprised the attack on the Defiant hadn't left her with any internal injuries, the concussion wasn't anything she hadn't dealt with before and she had to count herself lucky that Oliver had found her when he did.

"Next left." The Doctor snapped her out of her own head this time and Ana's nose twitched at the sound of her voice, but she forced herself not to look up.

Didn't want to look too desperate.

"Where are we driving to?" Yaz questioned.

"I reckon she's using my phone to track the origin signal for the DNA bombs." Ana, however, did look up then and turned her head to face Ryan, who gave her a look before shrugging his shoulders. The brunette couldn't help but let a bright smile cross her lips. That was oddly accurate, maybe he watched science fiction shows in his downtime - realising that they usually took things from real life and just … amped it up.

"Again, how long till they go off?" Graham asked The Doctor. Ana let her eyes wander forward, noticing that she was able to only see the side of The Doctor's blonde head.

"Don't know." She replied, causing Ana to roll her eyes in slight humour. Very helpful.

"Well, can't we just defuse them?"

"Not without the right equipment." Ryan's phone in The Doctor's hand suddenly made a noise and the Time Lord looked out the window with a sudden interest. "Left again." Grace followed The Doctor's direction and they turned into what appeared to be an industrial alleyway, the car came to a complete stop and before even then, everyone had started to pile out of the car, except for Ana.

"We're close."

Her back pushed, even more, the fabric seats, inhaling deeply, the smell of strange perfume and old car wafted through her nose. Ana couldn't help but watch on in slight surprise at how everyone seemed to follow The Doctor with such willingness, even when they had all just met her about an hour beforehand. Green eyes watched as the blonde looked down one end of the alleyway, before crouching down and turning on the balls of her feet - focusing on a puddle of water - that rippled as a deep rumble vibrated through the night sky. It honestly sounded like it had occurred at least a block away, but Ana couldn't have been sure. Letting the breath escape through clenched teeth, Ana forced herself out of the old Volvo and into the cold night, coming to the realisation that it had also started to rain. The Australian's nose scrunched upwards, as she came to stand next to The Doctor, who had stood up - now facing the opposite way.

It was silent then, almost too silent. "I've got a bad feeling about this," Ana mumbled out, only having Ryan snort slightly in response. It was almost like a gut feeling, she had gotten used to listening to those more often - and when it did happen, she still couldn't help but flinch backward. An explosion occurred just in front of them, near the bricked building to their right. The others started and flinched backward as well, and it was obviously The Doctor who had recovered first, a smile crossing her lips.

"Bingo." The now shorter woman exclaimed and looked over at Ana, her dark eyes seeming to beam up at her. Ana couldn't help the small smirk that tugged at the corner of her lips. Okay - she might have missed this. "Oi!" The Doctor called out into the foggy night air and Ana crossed her arms over her chest, wrapping herself in a fake safety blanket.

That was when she noticed a figure appear. Staggering slightly, the humanoid seemed to freeze when it spotted the six of them.

"I was expecting a tentacle-y thing." Ana grimaced.

"No, the last time we faced against one of those, I couldn't get the smell of seawater out of my hair for a week." The Australian grumbled, arms falling back down to her sides. The Doctor shot her an amused look, before turning back to focus on the thing.

"Don't you move!" The Doctor continued to shout, which didn't exactly help, considering the person turned tail and ran down the alleyway. Ana couldn't help the groan that escaped her lips as she watched The Doctor sprint right on after it.

"Wait, is that another alien?" Ryan asked as he started to follow after the blonde. Ryan's nan couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice as she answered him and followed after her grandson. Which now only left Yaz, Graham, and Ana.

"Why is she running at another alien?" Graham complained, and Ana couldn't help the raised brow on her forehead, that was a valid question for a human with no experience with aliens or The Doctor and Ana couldn't help but shoot him an apologetic smile.

"Don't just stand there," Yaz started as she too took off after The Doctor. "Come on!" Graham looked over at Ana, who gave a shrug of her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Graham." Ana started as she turned on her foot and started walking backward. "The one thing you learn about being with The Doctor is that there is an awful lot of running to do." a bright smile and Ana turned back around and started to sprint after the others.

"Now you're all running after it!" Graham still grumbled, and a laugh escaped Ana's lips. God, she had missed this. She loved being with Star Fleet and being stationed on …well a station, but there was nothing like running around the universe or even just the Earth in general with The Doctor.

Like she had said, it was a drug that was truly hard to kick.

-x-

Eventually, Ana had caught up to the others and came to a stop just outside the entrance of a warehouse. Wincing, Ana pressed a hand against her lower rib cage, pressing against them slightly. How had she missed that?

Leaning forward slightly, a wince on her face. God, she hadn't even noticed. She prayed that they were just bruised and not broken, though the Lieutenant had worked with broken ribs before, it was just a hell of a lot easier to work with broken ribs in the 24th century than now. Healing them still took time, while a simple dermal regenerator over the affected area was enough to fix it. A pair of sneakers came into her line of sight, which was still squinting down at the ground. A heavy breath escaped Ana's lips again as she straightened up - spotting Yaz in front of her, who wore a rather worried look on her face.

"You alright?" The shorter girl mimicked the question The Doctor had asked her fifteen minutes before. Ana couldn't help the spread of a warm feeling throughout her body. They had barely known each other for an hour and Yaz was already asking all the right questions. To be fair, she was a police officer - it was literally in her job description to care about others, as well as their health and safety. The Lieutenant just nodded her head, trying to hide the wince that appeared on her face again, especially considering The Doctor had made her way back towards the doorway - making room for Ryan to step inside.

He looked like he wanted to comment on the conversation, but he held his tongue and Ana was grateful - she didn't need everyone worrying over her. She had this handled.

"Yeah, yeah - just a little outta shape is all." It was a lie and the look Yaz shot her told the brunette that she hadn't believed it. Huffing, Ana straightened down her uniform jacket, giving Yaz her most convincing smile, before stepping around her and following Ryan into the warehouse.

Though, the young Australian had only managed to get a couple of steps way from the entrance, when a slender hand wrapped around her elbow and pulled her to a stop. Almost stumbling over her feet, Ana swallowed and let her eyes fall onto the newly regenerated Doctor. Her hazel eyes held an emotion that Ana hadn't seen in a while. "What happened, Bear?" Well - there goes her stomach again, it flipped at the old nickname, they hadn't called her that since they were in their Eleventh body and that was almost eight years ago. "How did you even get here?" The Doctor continued to question, ignorant to Ana's internal dialogue. Her hand tightened around her elbow once she noticed that Ana had started to subtly pull away. The brunette huffed slightly, a frown fell on her face once she realised that The Doctor wasn't going to let her go until she answered her question.

She knew that with every regeneration, came a new face and a new personality - but it was a complete three sixty to who The Doctor was previously. It was going to take the Australian a couple of hours to get used to this new Doctor. Ana sniffed and eventually pulled her elbow out of her grip, shrugging her shoulders but not looking at the blonde. "Oliver." was all she managed to get out when Graham interrupted them.

"Got a man down over here." The Doctor gave Ana a long, sympathetic look, before it turned into a stern look, hazel eyes, which were so new, still held the old Time Lord - it was a look that told Ana they'd be having a conversation later. Great, that was going to fun. Hopefully she still remembered everything that had happened in her previous body. Twelve and Ana hadn't really gotten along, butted heads multiple times - but she knew he would always be the same person, but when Clara … when Clara died, Ana couldn't take the fact that he could no longer remember her, that he knew of Clara, but didn't know her face or how much she meant to him - to the pair of them.

She had to say goodbye, and so she did - The Doctor, unwillingly dropped her off back at her other home on the Enterprise and then left and she never saw him again. It hadn't been a problem when she first got there, but eventually as time went on and the battle of Wolf 359 occurred, Ana wanted nothing but to be back on the TARDIS - where The Doctor knew what he was doing, knew that he would look after her. But well - he never showed up, no matter how much she begged the stars. The resentment (towards herself and him grew) and the hurt seemed to boil in the pit of her stomach.

He had completely forgotten about her.

"Looks like it took one of his teeth." Her voice broke Ana's train of thought for the second time that night and the Australian snapped back to attention, hands latching on to each other, before being placed in front of her stomach as she wandered over to where the rest of the gang stood - only to let one of the hands fly up and cover her mouth as her eyes focused on the dead body.

She was a nurse, a midwife - she had seen it all. But a jaw that had been broken off its body, without forewarning, well that was a new one.

"What sort of creature kills someone and then stops to pull out a tooth?" The Doctor was curious until she looked up towards her current companions. An apologetic look, with some remorse, flittered across her new face. "I'm sorry you all had to see this." Grace looked down at the body again, before she stood up.

"I'll find something to cover the body."

"Thank you, Grace. I'm sorry any of this is happening." The Doctor continued. "I'm sorry that thing on the train planted these bombs inside you, and I'm sorry I haven't figured out what's going on yet." Ana had let her attention be drawn away from the dead body and watched as Ryan pulled away from the group. The brunette was curious to see what had caught his attention, so she moved away as well and joined him. Before she noticed ... what looks like the remains of an ... egg?

"What the hell is that?" Ana questioned, Ryan looked at her and then back at the egg.

"This is it." His voice louder than Ana's had been. "This is the thing." The Lieutenant wished she had some of her tools with her, the tri-corder would help a hell of lot with determining what the thing sat at their feet was. Or though, Ana started thinking again as her eyes flickered to edge of her vision as she felt The Doctor brush past her, coming to stand in front of the broken shell, a sonic screwdriver would help.

The others all moved with her, looking at the egg with curious and somewhat frighten glances. Ana couldn't blame them - this sort of stuff was always scary the first time around.

At least it wasn't stone angels they had to deal with as their first alien. Never again would Ana want to go up against the Weeping Angels. Never ever.

"It was all sealed up earlier." Yaz commented. "Looks like it's been broken." The Doctor moved from Ana's side, walking around the pieces of rock - the Australian could see all the cogs in her brain working, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Or it's done what it came here for." The blonde added, looking up at Yaz and the others, before looking back down. "It's some sort of transport chamber, presumably for that thing we just saw in the alley. But why here?" The Doctor questioned looking up and catching Ana's gaze. "Why tonight?"

Ryan suddenly looked slightly guilty. "Actually, that might have been me." he confessed. At once, everyone straightened up and Ana couldn't help a small snort that escaped her lips. Grace had such a nan look on her face that it was hard to remember this was serious.

"Why? What did you do?" The Doctor's tone wasn't quite playful, but it wasn't quite … stern. She was worried, annoyed slightly at the fact she had no idea.

"When I went to get me bike," Ryan started, Ana folded her arms over her chest. "There was this line in the air and then it moved, and there were shapes." Ana frowned shifting to her left - moving away from the rock and subconsciously closer to The Doctor, who prompted Ryan to continue with a nod of her head.

"And I touched one." Ryan answered, and Ana laughed.

"Ryan." Grace scolded, and the young boy looked annoyed, he shoved his elbow's out and frowned.

"You all would've done the same."

"I wouldn't." Graham inputted.

"I would've," The Doctor replied, raising a hand in the air. Ana rolled her eyes and nudge the Time Lord in the stomach.

"Of course, you would have." Ana mumbled. "You're like a kid in a lolly shop when you find something you don't know." The brunette was still focused on Ryan, that she missed the fond smirk The Doctor shot her.

"Right," Ryan said, trying to finish his story. "The shapes disappeared. A few seconds later, that appeared." the younger boy looked over at The Doctor and frowned. "What've I done?"

The Time Lord scrunched up her face and tilted her head to the side. "Hard to say, really." Running a hand over her mouth, The Doctor focused all her attention on the pieces.

Which is where Ana let her gaze wander, ignoring the little family spat going on around her. "What do you think that thing was in the alleyway?" Ana questioned softly. The Doctor turned her head to look at her old companion and smiled softly - even with a new face, Ana knew that smile.

The smile that said she had no idea and it annoyed her.

"Something not good." She replied, Ana scoffed slightly and nodded her head, before turning her attention on the others. Watching as Ryan had taken up a rather defensive stance, hands pushed further into the pockets of his jacket.

"All right, I made a mistake." Ryan argued. "But why did that guy move this thing from the Peaks to here? And how did he even know it were there?" That caused Graham to let his mouth slide shut, and The Doctor raised a brow.

"Good questions." She praised. Yasmin seemed to notice the tension still in the air, so she took it upon herself to gesture towards Ryan and turn slightly.

"Let's take a look round here," starting to walk off towards the side of the warehouse they hadn't looked over yet, and Ryan followed obediently. "see what we can find."

The Doctor lifted Ryan's phone, only for her to slump. Ana peaked over her shoulder and noticed that the screen was starting to freak out, a frown fell on Ana's forehead. "Can't follow it." The Doctor spoke, dropping her arms and turning to face Ana. "The tracking's been blocked, like it figured out what I was doing."

Ana's frown deepened. "How could it do that?" The Doctor pursed her lips and walking off to the side, body hunched over this time - eyes lingering on the shell.

Or well - the emptied transport.

"If we were tracking bomb signals from that creature from the train," Grace started. Ana still had no idea why this train was involved? "Why did they lead us here?"

The Doctor looked up once more. "Another good question," hazel eyes looked back at the egg - transport. "I dunno. If I could analyse that." Ana stepped over and leaned a hand out to touch the shell - however, a paler hand snapped out and grabbed a hold of her wrist. Ana let her green eyes look over at The Doctor, who had her gaze on the shell once more. "Course, what I really need is my…" The Doctor let Ana's hand go so that she could pull her jacket open and reach into the pocket for the sonic screwdriver, only to let her face scrunch upwards and an annoyed groan escaped her lips. "Oh!" she then exclaimed, standing up straighter. "I could build one, I'm good at building things." The Time Lord looked over at Ana, who still wore a bewildered look before a tug at the corner of her lips and a shake of her head. "Probably. Come on you," The Doctor reached out and took Ana's hand again, leading them away from Graham and Grace.

-x-

"So where did you come from?" The Doctor's question caused Ana to stumble again. She swore she was the once graceful person, it was just - current situation seemed to pull surprises left, right and centre. The brunette had been in the process of jumping up onto one of the many counters when The Doctor had distracted her, and she'd slipped. Hissing through her lips as the edge of the bench cut into her hand, green eyes focused downwards, not realising that The Doctor had started to rummage through boxes and the cupboards.

They had found a small working area behind a plastic sheet just slightly away from the mysterious transport - Ana had turned her nose up at it at first, but well - it was the best they could find in such a short notice. "Uh-" The Australian stumbled over her words this time, though she finally managed to hop up onto the counter and let her body relax. Shoulders dropping and her whole body folded forward slightly. "Uh, Deep Space Nine." she answered finally. She made a point of focusing her eyes solely on her hands. There was just something about The Doctor that made her feel like a teenager again, finding it hard to talk to someone and when they gave you the slightest amount of attention, you'd get flustered and stutter.

It was strange, Ana had known this alien for almost twelve years and yet somehow this regeneration made her feel like they had just met again. Maybe it was because she hadn't been there when she had regenerated, or maybe it was because things had left on such a sour note that Ana wasn't sure whether or not The Doctor really wanted her there again. Slender fingers rubbed over the slightly raw skin of the palm of her hand trying to get rid of the pain "It was just a routine mission to the Badlands," Ana mumbled. "But something had felt wrong ever since we departed the station. The Klingons ambushed us, the Defiant was badly damaged and we all had to use the escape pod." Ana heaved out a sigh.

"What were a bunch of Klingons doing out near the Badlands?" The Doctor questioned, and Ana couldn't help a smile cross her lips - however, she frowned down at her hand. "Surely they have enough on their mind as it is. Wouldn't have thought the Maquis interested them."

"That's the thing, they don't," Ana replied immediately, suddenly feeling comfortable with the topic of conversation - Like she was … back home and not suddenly on Earth in a time that seemed so foreign to her now. It was a shame, but Ana wouldn't trade the life she had now for anything else. "So, I had guessed they were there for something else." It wasn't until she felt a cool hand against her forehead, that the Australian flinched backward. Green eyes flicking upwards and spotting The Doctor standing right in front of her.

"Sorry," The Time Lord mumbled, though her eyes told Ana that she wasn't sorry at all. Delicate fingers, young fingers, brushed brown hair out of Ana's eyes and her own hazel ones squinted at the cut on her forehead. "It doesn't look too deep," she diagnosed. "But you shouldn't let it continue to bleed." Her hand fell away from Ana's forehead and the brunette suddenly missed the feel of her hand against her skin. Shaking her head slightly, Ana watched as The Doctor pattered down the pockets, before reaching inside … his jacket and pulling out a band-aid. "I thought this jacket still had some things inside it."

Ana let The Doctor … be a doctor. Wincing slightly as she placed an alcohol wipe, also out of the jacket, over the cut - and then the band-aid, Ana let a small smile cross her lips once more. "Thanks, Doc." Then The Doctor was pulling off the old jacket and handing it to Ana, who grabbed onto it like her life depended on it.

The Doctor, now just in the white dress shirt and black vest, rolled up her sleeves and went back to work, searching for bits and pieces to make a sonic screwdriver with. Bundling up Twelve's jacket, Ana pressed the fabric under her nose and inhaled deeply. It still smelled like him, as much as Ana could remember that is - but it was something nostalgic, books and the TARDIS, plus slightly bitter coffee.

"What happened?" It was Ana's turn to ask the questions. She didn't know whether to be glad or not that she couldn't see the Time Lord's face when she asked that question. It didn't need clarification though. The question could only mean one thing and that was How did you die?

"I remember her." The Doctor didn't answer the question and Ana wasn't disappointed or surprised in the least. She knew that it would have to be something she pried out of the alien instead. Green eyes focused on the top of a blonde head, heart rate suddenly spiking. "Clara…" the name sent a shiver down her spine. "I was given my memories back and I remember her." That was the last thing they argued about - Ana desperately wanting The Doctor to remember the woman who had changed their lives and want to keep the promise and keep the suddenly immortal Clara Oswald the chance to live out the rest of her days.

"H-how?" Ana stuttered and watched as The Doctor popped her head up over one of the metal benches and her eyes grew sad, probably noticing the expression on her oldest companion's face. Clara and Ana … they had been - complicated to say the least, but they had been very much best friends, in love even. "How was she?" The Doctor let a bright smile cross her lips.

"Oh, so very much alive and happy." a sob escaped Ana's lips as she looked down at the jacket in her lap. She would never be able to see the other brunette again and it hurt so much - but she was … she was glad that Clara was travelling the universe at her own pace and that she was … at least happy.

The sound of plastic rustling caused Ana to stiffen, she wasn't finished. She had so much she wanted to ask The Doctor about - but well … new companions meant questions. So the Lieutenant hopped off the counter, before placing The Doctor's jacket over her shoulders. "I'm gonna … I need some air," she mumbled before speeding past Graham and Grace, ignoring The Doctor's worried looked as she watched her all but rush out of the warehouse and into the fresh Sheffield air.

A heavy breath in - multiple times. Ana had to slow herself down so that she didn't pass out. The rain was slightly heavier than before, and it caused brown hair to stick against Ana's forehead. The next few hours were going to prove painful and hard and Ana wandered if she'd be able to do this at all? The new knowledge that The Doctor finally knew who Clara was once more had caused her heart to almost burst out of her chest. But well - she had to keep it together for a little while longer. Had to make sure that the Earth and the four other humans returned home safe.

If not for them, but for her and The Doctor.