Tegan Jovanka stared around her, feeling very confused. She was in… a hospital corridor? That was strange. Tegan didn't remember arriving there. But, the strange thing was, she could have sworn that she recognised this place. She knew it was a hospital, judging from the distinctive smell of disinfectant. It was almost as if Tegan had been here before. But when?

The place seemed to be a hive of activity. Everywhere, people were hurrying, many of them holding bags and suitcases. Was the hospital being evacuated?

A woman was stood a few feet away, her back to Tegan, talking to an orderly of some kind. She was wearing a long white coat, and seemed to have slightly bushy hair, as if permed.

'Take those files to the cargo hold,' she was saying. Tegan's mind began to race; that voice… she knew that voice. 'And please hurry. The evacuation must be carried out quickly. We don't have long before the final boarding deadline.'

The figure turned, and Tegan's heart jumped into her throat.

It was Nyssa.

Sweet, beautiful, kind, brilliant Nyssa. Nyssa, her best friend. Nyssa, the person Tegan had cared more for than any other. Nyssa, who she hadn't seen in decades. Nyssa, who she had been missed every day since.

Nyssa's large eyes found her, and her mouth opened.

'Tegan! Help me!'

Tegan woke up, her heart hammering.

She sat up in bed. Her bedside clock read 2.30am, but she couldn't be less concerned with the time.

Nyssa.

Nyssa needed her help.

After getting dressed and showered, Tegan started digging through her things, trying to find her address book.

Tegan felt her heart clench as she remembered her last goodbye with Nyssa. On the space station Terminus, where Nyssa had insisted on staying to work on a cure for Lazars disease. Tegan hadn't wanted to leave her. She had almost insisted on staying with her but, for the first time in her life, words had failed Tegan. Something about the reality of Nyssa leaving her had left Tegan floundering, unable to argue.

Tegan had spent the past twenty years torn between trying to forget about it and desperately holding onto the memory of the last time she had been with Nyssa.

It hadn't been easy. Especially after Tegan had started to realise… certain things about herself. And about the strong feelings she had felt towards Nyssa when they had been travelling together in the TARDIS. Feelings that Tegan had been too terrified to think about at the time.

Tegan had never found relationships easy. Boys always said she was too intense, too quick-to-anger, and yet also too disinterested. Her relationships had always fallen through. It was like she could never find what she was looking for.

What she had been looking for. Now, she knew that she would never find it with a man.

Tegan was a lesbian. It had taken her a long time to accept it, hoping that she'd start liking boys eventually. But, finally, she had realised something that maybe a lot of her ex-boyfriends had realised back when they were dating.

In the years since, Tegan had tried to date girls. A few awkward dates, a couple of embarrassing kisses in Sydney's gay bars. Nothing ever seemed to work out. For a while, she had assumed it was just internalised homophobia and her own awkwardness with exploring this aspect of herself that she had pushed away deep inside her for so many years. But, as each potential relationship passed by without her heart so much as aching, she began to suspect why.

Because Tegan's heart had always belonged to one woman. A woman who Tegan had never told about her feelings. A woman Tegan had thought she would never see again.

But, now, it was different.

The Doctor had once told them that dreams were very important. This wasn't just a product of Tegan's memories of Nyssa. This was serious. Nyssa wanted Tegan's help. She knew it.

And there was only one person who could help Tegan find Nyssa again.

With a grunt, Tegan pulled her address book out from underneath several boxes of jewellery, and went into the sitting room. She sat down on the sofa, and began to flick through the address book. Where was it… she'd definitely kept the number… just in case of an emergency…

'Yes!'

She grinned, scanning over the number.

After she had left the TARDIS permanently in the mid-1980s, Tegan had contacted U.N.I.T. While they hadn't been able to get hold of the brigadier, she had been given the contact information for one of his old subordinates. Someone who knew the Doctor and had even travelled in the TARDIS on one occasion.

Benton was a sweet old sort, the kind of person that anyone could naturally warm to. After introducing Tegan to his wife, Benton had made Tegan a cup of tea and then, after the two of them had reminisced over their individual times with the Doctor, Benton had given her a telephone number.

The TARDIS phone number.

Benton had mentioned that, at some point, the Doctor had given Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart this number, in case U.N.I.T ever needed to contact their scientific advisor in an emergency.

Tegan had kept it. She wasn't sure why. Maybe she just wanted some connection to that part of her life, even if she wasn't travelling on the TARDIS anymore. Or maybe it was in case of an emergency. Whatever the reason, that phone number had stayed in every address book she had owned for the next two decades.

And, now, she was finally going to use it.

Tegan typed the number into her phone and waited, nervously, as the call went through. It rang for a while. Tegan was just about to hang up when-

'Hello?'

The voice was Northern English; Manchester, perhaps? Typical. The Doctor had probably given the Brigadier the wrong number.

'Sorry,' Tegan said, quickly. 'I've been trying to contact my friend, but this is clearly the wrong number and I must have interrupted you. Oh god, this is so embarrassing! Only I think another friend needs my help and she's so far away and-'

'You've still a mouth on you, haven't you, Tegan.'

Tegan stopped.

'Doctor?' she exclaimed, hearing laughter on the other end of the line. 'Oy! That's not funny!'

'Seems pretty funny to me,' the Doctor replied. 'How did you get this number?'

'That nice Mr Benton gave it to me,' Tegan said, huffily. 'Although if you're gonna be rude, I'll just hang up-'

'Oh, don't be daft; gimme a mo…'

The curtains around the window began to stream around, as if blown by a breeze. And Tegan heard those familiar sounds of ancient chains creaking, as the blue box materialised a few feet away.

Despite how she had left the TARDIS, she couldn't help but feel a sense of that same awe. Even after twenty years, she couldn't forget it.

The door opened.

Tegan's mouth fell open.

The figure who stepped out was not the Doctor she knew. If anything, he was the total opposite.

Gone was the blonde hair and bright cricket gear, as were the sporty plimsolls and hat. In their place was a leather pea coat over a V-neck jumper, combined with a pair of muted black trousers. Not a question-mark insignia in sight. His hair was dark and cropped close to his head, accentuating how thin he looked. A pair of sturdy black boots stepped onto the carpet of Tegan's living room.

'D-Doctor?'

'Yes?' he said, speaking in that same Northern accent, a world away from the posh intonations Tegan was used to hearing from him. 'What are you staring at me for? I know it's been a while but-'

'Over twenty years, Doctor!' Tegan exclaimed, walking over and swatting him on the arm. 'How many times have you changed since I left?'

'Ow! Only a few,' the Doctor replied, reproachfully as he rubbed his arm. 'Besides, you're the one who called me. What was it… something about another friend?'

Tegan felt her mind fill with worry again.

'It's… it's Nyssa.'

The Doctor's face changed, sensing her change of mood.

'What's happened?'

'I… I had a dream,' she said, quietly. 'You once told me and Nyssa that dreams were important. Doctor, she was… calling to me. She sounded scared and worried. And Nyssa was always so calm and collected. I… I don't know what to do.'

The Doctor placed a hand on her shoulder, bending down slightly. Tegan wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

'W-what if something has happened to her? She barely knew anyone on Terminus, and the universe is so dangerous…'

'Yes, it is dangerous,' the Doctor said, and here Tegan could see that, despite the change in appearance, this Doctor still had that same intrinsic kindness. 'You know that, and so did Nyssa when we left her there. But Nyssa's capable; always has been.'

'I know,' Tegan mumbled. 'But… Doctor, I know it's a big favour to ask but…'

'She's my friend too,' the Doctor said, smiling. 'Don't worry; we'll try to find her.'

The Doctor stood up, crossed the floor and stepped back into the TARDIS.

Tegan looked round. Now that the moment to leave was here, she honestly felt daunted. It had been two decades since she'd last stepped inside that police box.

'Well?' the Doctor called, from within the TARDIS. 'Are you coming or what?'

Tegan swallowed, before following him inside.

Her mouth dropped open again.

'What… what the hell's happened to the TARDIS?'

'Oy!' the Doctor replied, scowling. 'It has been a few centuries, y'know.'

'Centuries?' Tegan gasped, gazing around. 'What… but it used to be so… tidy.'

The gleaming white console room, with its small central console, was gone. In its place was a much larger room, domed and… was it made of coral? The TARDIS she had known had been like something out of a science-fiction film; all sparkling pristine white corridors and rooms. This TARDIS, on the other hand, looked like it had been grown out of a petri dish; not just the coral, but the weird brownish-orange feel of the place gave the impression that it was… alive. Not so much a machine but a living, breathing creature.

'Things change,' the Doctor said, angrily. 'People, machines, planets. You've got a few grey hairs yourself, Tegan.'

'Oy!'

The Doctor glared at her for a second, before the anger faded from his eyes.

'Sorry,' he mumbled. 'It's… I've been on my own for a while.'

Well, that was unusual. The Doctor wasn't really in the habit of apologising, at least not when Tegan had known him. This Doctor seemed… more vulnerable and upset. Like he was holding great pain within him.

Tegan looked at the Doctor. He turned, directing his focus to the console, eyes down.

'Doctor…' Tegan said, taking a step towards him. 'Has… has something happened?'

He didn't reply, but his jaw set slightly.

'Terminus, then,' he said, before pulling down on a lever. Tegan grabbed hold of the other side of the console, as the TARDIS began to dematerialise, the huge central column (so removed from the small thing Tegan had once known) creaking up and down. Why… why did it feel so much shakier than it used to? Had so much time really gone by for the Doctor?

Tegan gritted her teeth. Whatever was going on with the Doctor, she just hoped they could find Nyssa.

The TARDIS eventually stopped shaking, and Tegan stood upright. The Doctor's eyes were wide, as he stared down at the monitor in front of him. Tegan walked round the side of the console to stand nearby him.

'Doctor, what's wrong?'

Silently, the Doctor moved the monitor over so that she could see.

The screen showed the corridor outside where the TARDIS had landed. It was deserted.

'Twenty years since we left Nyssa on Terminus,' he said. 'Almost to the day. But the stations empty. Recently abandoned, by the looks of it. There's still signs of radiation from engines outside the station.'

'In my dream, Nyssa seemed to be in the middle of evacuating Terminus.'

The Doctor nodded.

'That sounds about right. C'mon; let's find out what's happened.'

The Doctor darted over to the TARDIS doors, which Tegan was surprised to see actually looked like the outside doors of the police box.

'Wait!' she exclaimed, frantically. 'What about oxygen? Is the air breathable?'

'Course,' the Doctor said, pulling the door open. Tegan shrugged, and followed him out.

The two of them emerged in the middle of a thoroughfare. Seeing signs pointing towards various offices, Tegan and the Doctor walked through the corridors in that direction. The station looked completely different to the dank, dark place that it had been during their last visit; the walls shone and there was a strong smell of disinfectant. This was a hospital and research centre now, and had been for a long time. Ignoring the fact that Terminus seemed to be completely deserted.

A large map stood on a wall nearby, and Tegan slowed to a stop next to it. Huge areas of the station had been redesigned, with sections for long-term treatment, vaccine rollout, and research.

'Nyssa must have done some great work here,' Tegan said, quietly. 'She's so smart.'

The Doctor didn't reply, but a small smile came to his face.

He pointed to a dot marked on the map.

'Lead Researcher; that sounds like where Nyssa's office would have been.'

Tegan nodded, and followed the Doctor in the general direction of that part of the map.

After another twenty minutes of walking through corridors, the two of them finally reached their destination/

"Lead Researcher: Nyssa" read the placard on the door.

This must have been her office and living quarters.

'I'll leave you to check it out,' said the Doctor, perhaps sensing that Tegan needed to do this by herself. 'I'm gonna have a look at the embarkation systems; see if I can pinpoint where the last spaceships left for.'

Tegan nodded, and the leather-clad man walked off.

Swallowing, she reached up and traced the placard. It had clearly been designed with some care, although there was a faint lining of dust on it, as if it hadn't been cleaned in about a week.

Tegan steadied her nerves, taking a deep breath, and opened the door. She walked through.

And stopped at the sight that met her.

The place had clearly been vacated at top speed. The wardrobe was open, revealing a couple sets of uniforms and a pair of old shoes. There was a chest of drawers with half the drawers left open. There were several abandoned coat hangers lying scattered over the floor, along with several half-empty storage boxes. Nyssa hadn't been lying when she had said in the dream that the evacuation was being carried out quickly. She had presumably grabbed all the things important to her before leaving.

Then Tegan saw it.

A photograph on the floor.

She bent down and picked it up. Her heart clenched.

It was of Nyssa. But that wasn't what made Tegan gasp. She knew this photograph.

When she, Nyssa and Adric had been travelling with the Doctor, he had insisted on taking a photograph of the three of them whilst they were exploring a resort planet in the lagoon nebula. Nyssa had been holding Tegan's hand at the time, and the three of them had smiled as the Doctor exclaimed "cheese!" (something that confused Adric but made Nyssa laugh). Nyssa had pinned up the photo in the bedroom she and Tegan had shared but, during the brief time Tegan had left the TARDIS, Nyssa had apparently gotten into the habit of carrying it around with her. It had gone with her when she had stayed behind on Terminus.

But the photograph had been torn. Only the part with Nyssa remained; the part showing Tegan and Adric had gone.

In the corner of the photograph, Tegan could just make out her own hand, intertwined with Nyssa's.

Tegan held the photograph in her hands, and her vision blurred as tears blossomed in her eyes. She knew Nyssa wouldn't tear this photo, so what had happened here? Had it been ripped from her hands? Had she been hurt?

Tegan slumped on the floor, cradling the photograph. Nyssa… where was she? And what was happening to her? It was not knowing that was the worst part. It had been decades since she had last seen Nyssa, but the reality of the situation seemed to collapse on top of her.

Gritting her teeth, Tegan clutched the photo. If Nyssa had been hurt, whoever was responsible was going to pay.

'Er… Tegan?'

Tegan stood up, and wiped her eyes.

The Doctor was stood at the entrance to Nyssa's quarters.

'Y-yeah?' she asked. 'Any luck with the computers?'

The Doctor nodded.

'I know exactly which planet the last spaceships from Terminus were bound for. We can go there now.'

Tegan nodded, and followed the Doctor out of the room. As she did so, she slipped the torn photograph of Nyssa into her pocket. In the corner of the photograph, Tegan could just make out her own hand, intertwined with Nyssa's.

She was going to find Nyssa. No matter what it took.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my first foray into writing Tegan/Nyssa. Please note that, if you leave a guest review, I won't be able to respond to any questions you might ask in the review.