A/N: First of all, I would like to apologise to the people who enjoyed this when I first started writing it and then had a year and a half with no update, I don't know why I stopped writing fanfiction for such a long time, but I'm sorry if you were hoping for an update!
Since the last chapter a lot has happened in my life, I've done A-levels, moved across the country to uni, had my heart broken twice, figured out I'm non-binary, found out I'm dyslexic, and got a fish!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and a special shout out to JustCecile for leaving a review, it reminded me that I used to write these and people seemed to enjoy them and I feel bad not finishing (especially when I actually have the story planned!)
Another week rolled by with the usual at work, most her time was being spent dealing with neighbourhood disputes, shoplifters, or other petty crimes which usually lead to cautions or a night in the cells. Homelife hadn't been any more enjoyable, her parents refused to entertain any conversation about anything they considered outside the status quo. Unfortunately, the date with Amir didn't seem to be something she could get out of; since coming out to her parents Yaz had noticed how much more welcome Sonya's boyfriend, Muhammed, had been. He had been invited for dinner nearly every night so far and when he did come, her parents would spend most the evening fawning over him and how cute the two were as a couple, every now and then her father would drop a comment about some trait Amir and Muhammad both share and why they would both be very welcome in their family. After long days at work, this was the last thing Yaz felt like dealing with, thus she would eat quickly and excuse herself as soon as her mother would allow, saying she was tired or something, before escaping to her room.
It felt like forever but finally, Sunday arrived. Yaz was able to sleep in for once, groaning as the eleven o'clock sun spilled through a gap in the curtain, keeping her from dozing off again. Rolling onto her back, Yaz stretched out all her limbs as far as she could before relaxing all her muscles again in a satisfying morning stretch. As she wandered into the kitchen in search of coffee, she heard the front door open, and moments later her mum bustled into the kitchen, glancing over at Yaz still in her pyjamas and stood by the kettle.
"Well, look who finally decided to get up!" Her tone was jokey, something Yaz realised she hadn't heard in a while. "You got any plans for what's left of the day?" to this Yaz just shrugged, she hadn't told her parents about the Doctor yet, no longer sure how they'd react.
"Might go on a walk in a bit," she said in a tone she hoped would sound like she had just thought of it. Luckily, it worked, or her mum wasn't paying attention as she rummaged round in the shopping bags, finally finding what she was looking for and pulling it out triumphantly.
"Here we go! I saw this and thought you could wear it on Wednesday!" she was holding out a white dress with salmon coloured roses patterned all over it, the dress itself had a full skirt, cap sleeves, and a salmon coloured sash that tied into a large bow at the front. All in all, it was a hideous dress, and just the mention of Thursday ruined what had been a very pleasant start to Sunday. Once a month Yaz would have a Friday off before having a week on the night shift. Normally she would spend her Thursday evening meeting old mates from school or going to see her Nani. This Thursday was her date with Amir.
With a grimace on her face, Yaz left the kitchen without her coffee, retreating to her room, throwing on some clothes, and leaving with just a shout in the direction of the kitchen that she was going out. She had given up trying to get out of the date, but each mention of it was a reminder of her parents' outright rejection of who she was. The events of the past few weeks ran through her mind over and over as she walked, like a highlight reel of all the worst moments. As she neared the shop she glanced at the time on her phone, it read 12:03 which meant she was going to be an hour early to the time she told the Doctor she'd come by, but she figured the Doctor wouldn't mind if she showed up early. If she was busy Yaz could just entertain herself with either the extensive collection of plants or books that were around the shop.
Glancing up at the sign as it came into view Yaz realised that she hadn't been to the apothecary section, or even knew where it was, but then again, the shop was like a maze of plants and shelves. She remembered the Doctor had mentioned there was a woodwork and antique repair section somewhere too, and Yaz had believer her until she mentioned she had lost it but was sure it would turn up some time; after that Yaz only half-believed about the woodwork and antique repair shop because how could you lose that kind of thing?
As she entered Yaz could hear clattering from the direction that was the flower shop so decided to follow the noise. Once at the counter she went to ding the bell the Doctor appeared from amid the tall plants that stretched up towards the vaulted glass ceiling, Yaz could tell she was completely concentrating on trying to release a large leafy twig that had somehow become matted in the Doctor's blonde bob. She was so focused that she wandered past Yaz without noticing before suddenly realise and spinning on her heel,
"Yaz!" she exclaimed excitedly, a grin instantly on her face, "What are you doing here? Is it one already?" Yaz chuckled at the Doctor who seemed confused but happy none the less.
"Don't worry it's only just past twelve, things were just… complicated at home so I thought I'd pop in early, that okay?" Yaz replied, still amused by the twig that the Doctor seemed to have forgotten about and was just hanging off the side of her head.
"Course its okay silly! You're always welcome here, you know that!" The Doctor laughed, her grin still ear to ear.
"You do know," the Doctor's grin shrunk a little as her voice took on a more serious, concerned tone, "if you ever want to talk about what's happening at home, I'm here to listen." She gave Yaz a warm smile which Yaz returned.
"I know, thanks," there was a moment of silence between the two women before the Doctor's chaotic energy returned and she was off again.
"So Yaz, I've got a collection for an order that should be here sometime in the next half hour or so, so if you want to go round to the tearoom you can, or you're welcome to stay around here and keep me company if you want," Yaz smiled as the Doctor darted round the room collecting different flowers into a brightly coloured bundle.
"I'll stay here till you're free, I mean I came here to see you after all!" Yaz said, pushing herself up so that she was perched on the edge of the counter. The Doctor paused to look at Yaz, smiling brightly at her, before whizzing off around the room again. "I would suggest that before the customer gets here you deal with the… um…" Yaz wasn't quite sure what to describe the leafy attachment to the Doctor's hair and so just gestured to it. The Doctor stopped and felt the side of her head and seemed genuinely surprised to find the large twig still there.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that!" the Doctor laughed with a goofy expression. "I was trying to get it out before but its properly stuck in there!" she headed back towards the desk "here, just pass me those scissors there," gesturing to the right of Yaz.
"No!" Yaz was shocked, she wasn't going to just let the Doctor chop a considerable chunk of hair off the side of her head. The Doctor also seemed surprised by Yaz's objection.
"It's just hair Yaz, it'll grow back! Besides, I can't just walk around with half a tree attached to my head, I mean I can, but I reckon I'd look a bit daft!" The Doctor's comment made Yaz laugh but she still wasn't going to hand over the scissors.
"Here, let me get it out for you," Yaz offered, waving the Doctor closer so she was stood next to her. Yaz twisted to reach the Doctor's hair and began trying to detangle the mess, but the position was rather awkward for her so with a small resigned sigh to herself, Yaz put her hands on the Doctor's shoulders and guided her round to she was standing in front of the counter with Yaz's knees either side of her. After giving the Doctor a small smile, she rotated her so that the side with the branch on was directly in front of her. Much easier.
After a few seconds of what Yaz would almost describe as uncertainty from the Doctor, where she stood stiffly and unmoving, she seemed to let out a breath and relaxed, leaning back against Yaz's upper leg that was sticking out from the counter, Yaz smiled to herself as the Doctor started chatting away, talking about the headdresses used by the priestess of a church that was found deep in a Mexican jungle at the time of the Aztecs, and how they would use rare flora to show their status.
It took Yaz several minutes to untangle the twig, and although she would deny it, she knew it would have only taken her about 3 if she had been working at a normal speed, instead of gently unweaving the hair, careful not to let it pull or rip the hair. She freed the twig and placed it on the counter next to them, and could have sworn that she saw the Doctor's eyes glance down at it before darting back up as she continued with her tale about the priestesses and how their temple had been booby-trapped against intruders with puzzles and riddles that all related to what we consider modern feminism.
The pair stayed like that, with Yaz sat on the counter, leaning back on her arms, as the Doctor leant against her leg and recounting other fascinating facts about the Priestesses. They had given up pretending that Yaz was still trying to detangle the twig and instead their eyes were locked together, Yaz hanging onto to every one of the Doctor's words and watching her beautifully expressive face. They were so engrossed in their own little bubble that neither of them noticed the door open or the footsteps that were approaching.
It wasn't until they heard a shout that they snapped back to reality, Yaz's face draining of all colour.
"YASMIN KHAN WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" It was her mother. But she had a look of complete fury in her eyes, her body trembling with rage. The pair jumped apart, Yaz quickly sliding off the counter and moving away from the Doctor. Yaz's face was a mixture of scared and guilt as her mother approached.
"How dare you sneak around behind my back and act in such a way." She wasn't yelling anymore, instead, a quiet rage had taken over which seemed scarier. "You know full well what your father and I have to say about this kind of behaviour and yet you continue with this… this… depravity!" She had reached Yaz who could feel her mother's eyes burning into her.
"Mum nothing was happening, we're just friends!" Yaz tried to defend herself, throwing a glance over to the Doctor with pleading eyes. The Doctor seemed in shock about the whole situation but the look from Yaz brought her back,
"Please, madam, Yaz is right, there is nothing going on between us, Yaz was just," before the Doctor was able to finish her explanation Najia had turned her fiery glare to her and cut her off.
"I don't want to hear whatever excuses you have, how dare you take advantage of her, she is just confused by people like you, she's not actually sick like you are, and soon she'll realise just how disgusting this behaviour is and will settle down with a nice Muslim boy. Until then I want you to stay the hell away from my daughter." The Doctor was in complete shock as Najia grabbed Yaz but the wrist and began to drag her towards the door despite her shouts and protests. Yaz tried to pull free but her mum had an iron grip on her and there was little she could do without potentially hurting her mum. Giving in to being dragged out the shop, Yaz twisted back to see the Doctor who was stood powerless by the counter. Tears spilled down Yaz's cheeks as the Doctor pulled her phone out and began typing. A couple of seconds later Yaz's phone pinged and she pulled it out her pocket to see a message 'Stay strong, I'll fix this, I promise x' she was just about to read it before her mother snatched the phone from her hand.
"None of that nonsense Yasmine, you're on lockdown until your date on Thursday, your father will be dropping you off at work and picking you up after so no more sneaking around." Yaz was speechless, the shop had been a safe haven since coming out and it had suddenly all been ripped away, throwing her into a spiral. As her mother pulled her down the street she glanced back at the shop and saw the Doctor stood out the front, all she could think was how out of place she seemed in the world outside the shop, the was until she saw the tears running down the Doctor's face, then all she could think about was the way that picture broke her heart.
A/N: I don't normally do notes at the end of chapters, but I just want to say that this chapter went way off plan! It was meant to end with sofa cuddles and melancholy tears, but my brain decided to do this instead! Let me know what you thought!