Hello… is there someone there?

If you're hearing me now, I'm already dead. But that's alright. I've been dead before; there are worse ways to spend your day.

The important thing is; I'm coming back.

I always come back.

It had been a month. A month since she had walked out of the TARDIS doors and shared one last look with the blonde time lord before the door closed between them and the blue box dematerialised.

Yaz's heart thudded painfully at the memory.

The Doctor - her Doctor- had gone. No more adventures, no more trips across the universe, no more half-smiles between them.

Whoever the Doctor was now, they weren't the woman Yaz had given her heart to.

Now, all she had was her memories of her Doctor. Their smile. The sparkle in their eyes as they found something new. Their excitement as they tried to explain something. And, just sometimes, the way they had looked at Yaz.

That last one had happened more and more towards the end. Looking back on it, Yaz was amazed that she had never noticed. Or maybe she had, but had never believed it herself. Considering that she had never admitted her feelings to anyone, let alone herself, was it surprising that she had never thought her feelings would be returned?

And those feelings had been returned.

And now she was alone again.

There was a sudden crack of thunder, and Yaz jumped.

Then, she heard it.

That strange, creaking noise. The noise that she could never forget.

The TARDIS appeared in mid-air, about a hundred feet above the ground, and it was clearly not in good shape. The doors were hanging open. The flight it was taking was unsteady; the box seemed barely able to slow its rickety -and fast- descend towards the ground.

As Yaz watched in horror, the box flipped over, and a collection of bizarre things fell through the door, including… was that a hat stand?

With an almighty crash, the TARDIS hit the ground. As the dust settled, Yaz could see that it had landed against a tree. The doors were broken and bent, and the police call sign was flicking on and off. The windows were smashed and broken.

'Doctor!'

The name tore from Yaz's mouth in a scream of terror. Her legs moved before she could think and, before she knew it, she was sprinting at full-pelt across the common. Her heart was hammering. She could hear blood roaring in her ears. No… not after everything…

Yaz worked the door open and scrambled inside. It was almost pitch black but a few emergency lights gave some illumination. Her heart seemed to stop.

It wasn't the console room she knew.

Instead of the glowing yellow columns and dark blue walls, the sight that greeted her was of a dusty, coral-themed room. It was strangely smaller, as well; being at least half the size. There was only a single other door other than the one through which she had scrambled.

The console itself looked radically different too. There was a large vertical tube that descended from the ceiling into the console. An old typewriter was shoved haphazardly into the side of the dashboard.

And, collapsed in a heap against the dashboard, was a man. He was wearing a long leather jacket. He was thin, with short, closely-cropped hair in a dark brown.

As Yaz approached, she could see the tell-tale signs of regeneration energy leaking through the man's skin, as if the regeneration had happened very recently.

'D-Doctor?'

The man didn't respond, only letting out a low noise against the surface of the console.

'Doctor!'

'W's happ'n… T'dis crashed…'

The accent was… Mancunian?

'C'mon,' Yaz said, gripping him under the arms. 'Let's get you outside; the TARDIS needs some time to repair, I think.'

'G'd idea…'

The man slipped back into unconsciousness. Sighing, Yaz hauled him across the console room. Luckily, the TARDIS doors has opened outwards a bit, and she was able to pull him through without too much difficulty. She was profoundly grateful for that high-gravity circus workshop, even if she wasn't with-

No, Yaz told herself, not thinking about that.

Not thinking about her.

Yaz laid the man on the ground and stood back, catching her breath.

'Yaz?'

That voice. Yaz felt her throat close up.

Sure enough, the hologram version of her Doctor had activated. They were now standing next to her, wearing a cheerfully bewildered expression. They looked much the same; exact same coat, braces, and slightly-too-short trousers, plus the top with the rainbow stripe. And, as always, that same blond haircut and inquisitive eyes.

'I haven't looked like that for a while,' Yaz's Doctor said, looking down at the leather-clad man before turning back to face her. 'Must be just after the war… Yaz?'

Tears were now trickling down Yaz's cheeks.

'Sorry,' she mumbled, wiping them away with her sleeve. 'It's stupid, I know…'

'It's okay, Yaz,' the hologram said. 'It's okay-'

'Don't bloody say that!'

The anger exploded out of Yaz before she had a chance to stop it.

'You can't just stand there and act like nothing's happened,' she yelled, her voice quavering. 'How'd y'think that makes me feel? The last time I saw you, you were dying! About to regenerate! And now you're gone but you're still here and…'

Yaz swallowed, wiping her eyes with her sleeve and turning away.

'I'm… I'm sorry, Yaz,' the hologram said, from behind her. 'Really, I am.'

Yaz took a deep breath, then swallowed and turned around.

'Let's just focus on him for the time being,' she said, walking over to where the man was lying. 'So… this really is you? A previous version of you?'

The hologram nodded.

'A couple of faces back, yeah,' they said.

Yaz looked at him for a moment, before kneeling down and tapping him on the shoulder.

'Mft?' he mumbled, blearily opening an eye. 'Wht?'

'Doctor? Can you hear me?'

The man blinked slowly, before focusing on her.

'Er… hello.'

'Hello,' Yaz replied. 'Are you okay, Doctor? The TARDIS looked in pretty bad shape.'

The man turned and looked over at the blue box.

'Yeah, I was- hang on, how do you know who I am?'

'I… I travel with you. Or, I will, from your perspective.'

'Oh,' said the Doctor, before looking over again at the TARDIS. 'I… gotta fix…'

He tried to stand up but his legs crumpled under him. Yaz caught him, placing a supportive arm under him. Looking around, she saw that the hologram had disappeared.

'Thanks,' he mumbled. 'Guess this new body hasn't quite acclimatised yet.'

'This happens a lot?'

'Most times, yeah.'

Shaking her head in bemusement, Yaz half-carried, half-dragged the man over to the blue box and through the doors. By this point, the normal lights had come back on, but the place was still looking pretty worse-for-wear.

Luckily, there happened to be an old chair that had deposited itself next to the central console.

'Hang on,' Yaz said, propping the man up against one of the weird coral columns nearby. 'Where's your sonic screwdriver?'

The man patted his pockets, and immediately brought forth a white and black instrument with a small blue light at the end. It looked more like a sonic toothbrush that the screwdriver Yaz was familiar with; after all, her Doctor had created her sonic from a bunch of old junk she'd found lying around.

'Thanks,' Yaz said, taking the screwdriver. 'Gimme a mo…'

She turned, picked up an old metal support beam that was lying discarded nearby and, using the sonic, fused it to a spot next to the central console. She then bolted the chair onto the beam.

'Sorted.'

Yaz hurried back to the man and dragged him over to the chair. He collapsed into it, letting out a small groan.

'You're good,' he said, scratching the back of his head with a fingernail.'

'Thanks. And for my next trick…'

Darting over to the central column, Yaz worked the time-space stabiliser, and cranked down on the compression equaliser. The walls of the TARDIS seemed to expand, before the doors and the outer casing were finally repaired.

Yaz pushed down on the internal stabiliser, and the various parts of the TARDIS that had been pulled out during the crash were sucked back inside, most of them flying through a door on the other side of the console room. The hat-stand briefly caught in the opening but was soon pulled through.

'You know how to work the TARDIS?'

Yaz turned. The Doctor (the one with the leather jacket) was staring at her, looking a little surprised. He had climbed to his feet, and seemed to already be recovering from his regeneration.

'Yeah,' Yaz said. 'You taught me. Or… you will do, anyway.'

'I am good at flying it,' he said, chuckling immodestly. 'But you're not too bad.'

'Cheers,' Yaz cheeked back.

'You didn't tell me your name?'

'No, I didn't. You don't need it. I'm just… a friend.'

The Doctor stared at her for a moment.

'Well, I'm certainly doing well in the future if I've made such a good friend,' he said, smiling. Yaz smiled in return, although it couldn't quite reach her eyes.

'That's you all fixed up, then,' she said, looking around at the now-repaired TARDIS. 'All good to go?'

'Thanks,' the Doctor said, before leaning down to peruse the screen on the console. 'Hmm; getting auton signals from mid-2000s London. Er… fancy coming along?'

Yaz stared at him for a moment.

'You know,' she said. 'There's a time when I would have taken you up on that offer in an instant. Travelling in the TARDIS is pretty incredible. But… sooner or later, I have to stop running. Have something of a normal life. And I'm got some friends to meet up with.'

The Doctor nodded.

'Well,' he said. 'I look forward to meeting you in the future -my future- anyway.'

Yaz smiled.

'Thanks, Doctor; it's… well, it'll be the adventure of a lifetime.'

The leather-clad man smiled.

'Fantastic.'

Yaz walked out of the doors, walked a few feet away, and turned. The Doctor poked his head out of the TARDIS, gave a quick wave, and then closed the door.

The blue light atop the box began to flash on and off.

As if sensing Yaz's thoughts, the hologram flicked back into life next to her. The two of them stood, watching the TARDIS begin to fade it and out of the world around it.

'He won't remember me, will he?'

'No,' replied the hologram. 'Post-regeneration amnesia. He won't remember anything that happened today. For all intents and purposes, he'll think he crash-landed in mid-2000s London and the TARDIS repaired itself.'

Yaz smiled, sadly, as the blue box finally dematerialised.

'So…' she said, turning to the hologram. 'You going to leave again, then?'

'I dunno,' they replied, shrugging. 'Never been a hologram attached to a person before. I… I know this won't be easy for you, having me around.'

Yaz let out a sigh.

'It's not your fault. And I'm sorry I lashed out at you. It's just…'

There was a beat of silence.

'It hurts,' Yaz said, quietly. 'I… I miss you.'

The hologram reached up and put their hand as close as they could to Yaz's cheek. Being made of light, they couldn't touch her. But, just for a second, Yaz felt as if maybe they could. As if they really were her Doctor, holding her tenderly once again.

'I miss you too, Yaz,' they whispered.

Above, the clouds parted, and sunlight shone down onto the common, illuminating them both.

'Did…' Yaz said, softly. 'Did you…'

The Hologram smiled sadly, and Yaz could see tears dripping down their face. They leaned forward and pressed their lips to Yaz's forehead.

'Does it even need saying. Yaz?'

The church hall wasn't anything to write home about. But Kate Stewart had said that it needed to be somewhere unimpressive so that no enemies of the Doctor would think to go there. Yaz half-expected that it was just U.N.I.T not wanting all these old friends of the Doctor kicking around at their new temporary headquarters.

As she walked in, she noticed Tegan Jovanka, who was talking into a tablet. The Australian mouthed 'Hello' at her.

'Hi,' Yaz replied, grinning, before raising her voice. 'And hello, Nyssa!'

Tegan's mouth fell open in surprise.

'How could you tell-'

'You're blushing. Who else would you be talking to?'

'Oy!'

Yaz could hear Nyssa laughing from the tablet.

'Don't encourage her, love!' Tegan exclaimed, hotly, to the tablet screen. 'I was not blushing!'

'Of course not, my darling,' Nyssa's voice let out a chuckle. 'And hello, Yaz; it's lovely to hear from you again.'

Chuckling, Yaz walked away, now hearing Tegan exclaiming in embarrassment to her still-giggling wife.

It had been a bit of a surprise to find that a considerable number of the Doctor's old friends were queer women. But Yaz thought that was actually rather wonderful. And, if so many former friends of the Doctor had moved on with their lives, then maybe she could too. In the case of Tegan and Nyssa, it had taken them both a long time to find each other again, but the wait had clearly been worth it. And they were adorable together, to boot.

In fact, Yaz had a distinct impression that they were both taking on the role of surrogate aunts for her.

Jo Grant gave Yaz a hug as she approached the circle of chairs.

'You're a bit late,' the older woman said, holding Yaz by the shoulders and looking up into her face. It reminded Yaz a little of when her grandma used to check she was eating properly. 'Are you okay? You can talk to us about it; that's what we're here for.'

Yaz smiled.

'Thanks but, honestly, I'm good, Jo.'

Jo gave her one last scrutiny before she seemed to pass muster.

'Okay,' she said, letting go of Yaz and patting her on the arm. 'Just as long as you're sure.'

Another surrogate family member. Yaz supposed it made sense, given that she was the youngest person at these meetings.

Yaz sat down.

'Er… Yaz, wasn't it?'

She turned. The person sat in the next seat was looking at her.

'Er, yeah.'

The woman was older than Yaz, and was wearing a U.N.I.T. uniform. She extended her hand.

'I'm Martha Jones. Kate tells me that we've probably a lot of things in common?'

Yaz smiled, shaking Martha's outstretched hand.

'You could say that…'

I'll be there when you need me most; when you're lost and alone, when you're in distress, when the day seems bleak and the night never ends. I'll be your friend when there's no-one else, and I'll fight for you when hope is gone. I'll hold your hand 'til the light fades.

I'll save your life, then save the day; because I'm the Doctor and it's what I do.

Thanks for reading, everyone; hope you enjoyed this fic! This was initially inspired by the fact that the last song I listened to before watching "The Power Of The Doctor" (the Centenary Special) was 'Cloudbursting' by Kate Bush; I think that song captures some of the mood of Yaz and the Doctor parting ways. And, of course, I had to include the Ninth Doctor; my other joint-favourite modern incarnation and, to my mind, the Doctor I most associate with hope for the future, as surprising as that may seem.

In case you're wondering, the opening and closing sections are taken from the "Ninth Doctor answers all calls" trailer, which I thought sounded amazing and fitted with this mood as well.

Once again, please don't ask a question if you're submitting a guest review, as I can't answer or respond to those.