When do you call for the Doctor?
It was a question that bothered Yaz a lot, beneath the surface. Take that one time, not long after they'd started travelling. A case that she couldn't solve; not a big one. They couldn't prove a suspect had been on Cemetery Road on a Sunday— but she would be able to, wouldn't she? Yaz with the phone camera, the Doctor with the space and time machine. A quick snap; evidence; it'd be all you'd need. What was the point of a Police Box if you never got to do any policing?
The Doctor had said no, of course. There was a line, she'd said, between Yaz stuff and Doctor stuff, and policework was firmly on Side Yaz. To get the TARDIS involved things had to be weirder; alien. Big blue pods you'd find on a leaf-strewn lane; spies from a place not even a part of the universe. Daleks. Giant Spiders. Nothing dull. The Line, she'd shouted. Clear as day.
Except it wasn't, thought Yaz, not at all.
Take the virus. The Doctor had never mentioned it, not once. She'd talked about armies of sheep and planets that tasted like orange, but she'd never once gabbed on about Pandemic, 2020. "Nice travelling with ya! Watch out for the virus!" was something she hadn't said, and maybe that meant it shouldn't've happened? That it was something wrong with time, or even alien? It felt wrong thinking that, seeing as it came out of China. Like it might be a little bit racist.
And the man in the cells, too, his whole body bound up in cloth. When Yaz had heard about him she'd been furious: no procedures followed, no concern that he'd found his way to the heart of the Hallamshire Police. Everyone had looked back at her, glazed. They didn't know how to cope with anything out of the ordinary. And she thought she'd behave differently, with all she'd seen, but maybe even doing that was wrong? Maybe it was just a man. You didn't have to be alien to wrap yourself up in a sheet.
She looked at her phone yet again, scrolled down to the Doctor's number. "Aliens!", she might then say, once Yaz had said all that had happened. Somehow it'd all be fine if aliens was all it was.
Her emergency meeting had been cancelled for a more important emergency meeting. Everyone in the office packed into a tiny room; police and not-police and some people she didn't even recognise. Even the Force couldn't keep up at full capacity, the Head of HR was saying. Some of them wouldn't be on the streets, not like they would've been used to. They'd do office stuff from home; paperwork. God knows there was more of it than they would've liked to admit. Yaz felt a chill as she thought of all the sick leave she'd taken. Could they use that against her? Would doing that even be legal?
Before she knew what was happening it was some hours later, and she was still turning it round in her head. The junior police officers were being called into a room, one after another. It was always harder when you were junior; you knew you were the first who'd be let go.
Her name was being called, she realised very distantly. Her mind felt herself walking into her supervisor's office. Mike Tomkins. He did things by the book, and didn't like it if it looked like that book would change. She'd always suspected he didn't like her, and before she'd even sat down she knew what he was going to say.
"I'm sorry," he said. "It'll be essential staff only."
Yaz glared at him, trying to look fierce.
"Who chooses essential?" she said. "I can be essential. Look at my case record."
"We did," said Mike. "And it wasn't bad, Yaz, it really wasn't. But it's not about the figures, at the end of the day. It's grit. Strength of character. And if I'm being honest, love— you often fade into the background."
You have no idea what I've been through to get here, Yaz thought but didn't say. There were a lot of things that she only ever said in her mind.
She thought of the Doctor, standing against the tide. Screwdriver out, willing herself to be strong.
"What if I got rid of the man?" she said.
Mike stared back at her like he'd been insulted. "The man?" he said.
"That bloke who's covered in cloth who we're all ignoring. In the overnight cells. You know we'll have to move him before it all goes into lockdown. Maybe I can take care of that."
Mike laughed. "No one's been able to yes."
"'Course they haven't," said Yaz. "'If they had then I wouldn't be offering."
She shrugged.
"It's not like you have anything to lose," she said.
Mike met her eyes for maybe the first time ever, and when he next spoke his voice was softer.
"You're a police officer," he said gently. "Not a miracle worker."
"No," said Yaz. "But maybe miracles are what we need at the minute, right?"
Mike was silent, and the whole of his office was too.
"Aye," he said after a moment. "Maybe. Go on then, love. You get the madman out of here; I'll pull some strings. But you have to do it now, yeah? This isn't a decision that can wait."
One chance before certain disaster, Yaz thought to herself. She'd been here before, many times.
You'd think that might mean she'd be able to be far less terrified.