The Doctor took a sip of his tea and scanned the people milling around the square.

"Blue jumper to your right."

Bill slowly turned her head to her right and scanned for a woman in a blue jumper. Once she found her, she immediately snapped back to the Doctor.

"Um, no. She's like sixty."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and looked around again.

"Alright then. Green jacket. To the left," he instructed, before adding, "my left, my left."

Bill looked again, doing her best to not be conspicuous. Again, she located the woman the Doctor had picked out and snapped back to him.

"Also like sixty. You sure you're not trying to pull for yourself?"

"Hush."

The Doctor scanned the crowd around them as he sipped his tea again.

"Blonde in the grey coat. Behind you."

Once again, Bill turned casually to glance at the woman in question. But this time, when she found the person the Doctor had pointed out, the woman happened to look up at the same moment.

Bill's immediate reaction was to immediately look away and pretend she hadn't been staring, but before she could, the blonde woman lit up and began waving excitedly.

"Do you know her?" the Doctor asked, confused.

"No?"

They both looked back to the blonde woman. She leaned over slightly and when she caught the eye of the Doctor, she gave him the same wave.

Bill turned back to him.

"Do you?"

"Not that I know of," he muttered quietly, his eyes still watching the blonde woman who was now quickly approaching their table.

"Hi guys!" she greeted cheerfully. "I know I really shouldn't be doing this - you know, paradoxes, timelines, ripping holes in the universe… But I had to come say hi, didn't I?"

Before either the Doctor or Bill could speak, the woman grabbed Bill's hand with both of her own and shook it earnestly.

"Bill Potts, I have missed you so much," the woman said, nodding seriously. "Really I have. It's been so long. It's so good to see you."

"I'm sorry," Bill said, unconsciously pulling back slightly at the woman's comment. "Do I know you?"

The woman's eyes grew wide as if she had forgotten to say something and nodded again.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm him!" the woman said, pointing to the Doctor. "From the future. Next go round."

The Doctor turned his head slightly, a look not of surprise but of consideration and, perhaps, a little fascination.

"I'm going to regenerate into a woman?"

"Yeah," the woman - the future Doctor- said with a shrug. "You figure if Missy could do it, so could you."

The Doctor considered this for a moment.

"That's a good point."

"So, where are we now?" the future Doctor asked, looking back and forth between them, her eyes narrowed as she tried to place the moment. "Big fish in the Thames? Haunted house. Being blind? Monks? Not being blind? Where are we exactly?"

"We just finished up the ordeal with the Monks," the Doctor informed her.

"Ah. I see," the future Doctor nodded.

Bill could only look between the Doctor, her Doctor - the old grumpy Scottish one- and the Doctor from the future, an attractive blonde white woman with a large rainbow splashed across her shirt.

"And what are you doing here?" the Doctor asked.

The woman lit up at the question.

"I'm here with my best friends Ryan, Graham, and Yaz."

She pointed back towards where she was standing at a young black man, an older white man, anda young Pakistani woman who all looked just as confused as Bill felt.

"We stopped off for a cuppa, but then we ended up chasing after this weird dog thing that led us to an abandoned warehouse and a Slitheen egg! So, now we're on our way to Raxacoricofallapatorius to put it back before anything bad happens."

"Doctor?" the young woman the future Doctor had identified as Yaz shouted from across the square. "I think it's hatching!"

"Ah. Right. Well, best be off then. Good to see you." She inclined her head towards her previous regeneration before taking Bill's hand once more and looking her straight in the eye. "And great to see you. Bill Potts, it is truly my honour. Always."

She squeezed Bill's hand once more. She then straightened up and ran off back to her friends. But before she reached them, she turned back and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Oh, and say hi to the Master for me!"

"She goes by Missy now," the Doctor called back.

"Yeah! Her too!"

And with a thumbs up and a broad grin, the future Doctor turned back to her friends and they all ran off together.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, frowning.

"Too?"

Bill stared at the place the future Doctor and her friends had been standing for a solid two minutes before slowly turning back to the Doctor that sat across from her. He just sipped at his tea, almost too unphased by the fact that they had just met his future self.

"That woman... That's you? From the future?"

"Apparently."

"You can turn into a woman?" Bill asked.

"Sure," he said casually. He shrugged and relaxed in his chair, but his brow furrowed at the look of immense shock on Bill's face. "Why? Is that a big deal?"

"Kind of," she said slowly.

"Ah, well, Time Lords have a different concept of gender than humans do," the Doctor explained, waving her away. "For one thing, we can count past two."

"And you're going to turn into her?" Bill continued. "Because she's really pretty. Like proper gorgeous."

"Are you saying I'm not pretty?" he asked, frowning.

He didn't actually expect her to say yes, but he enjoyed the way she squirmed a little at the question.

"I'm sure you're pretty to someone," she said.

"Rude. You're rude. You hurt me."

He tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn't help but smile.

Bill kept looking between him and where the future Doctor had been with her friends.

"Does this happen? You just… run into yourself sometimes?"

"Well, I try not to. You heard what she said. Paradoxes, timelines, holes in the universe. You don't want that. So, I try to remember where I've been and when I've been there so I don't accidentally run into myself," the Doctor explained. He paused for a moment, considering. "Though for something that's not supposed to happen, it does happen quite a bit."

Bill nodded, again staring at the spot where the future Doctor had been. The Doctor watched as the excitement on her face faded into a confused sadness.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just…" Bill began before fading off for a moment. "She… the way she talked to me. Like she hasn't seen me in a really long time. And- and she has new friends. Her best friends. Ryan, Graham, and Yaz."

"Yes. And?"

Bill turned back to the Doctor.

"So… What happens to me?" she asked. "What… What happens to the friends who travel with you? Why do they stop? Because I would never give this up. Like, for anything. It would have to be a really good offer. So… What happens? Why do they leave?"

The Doctor sighed. He closed his eyes for a moment, if only to escape her piercing gaze. When he opens them, his face is softer, his tone quieter.

"Some leave because they want to, some because they have to, and some, not a lot but some…" The Doctor sighed again. "Some die."

The Doctor really didn't want to look at Bill at that moment, but he had to, if only to be ready to comfort her should she need it.

Bill was looking right at him, but it was clear that she was processing what he had said. But her eyes didn't fill with tears or anger the way he had expected.

Finally, she heaved a big sigh.

"Well then," she said with a smile. "I guess I'm just gonna have to die then."

The Doctor's eyes grew wide, his eyebrows rising so high they threatened to disappear into his hair.

"What?"

"I'm just gonna have to die then," Bill repeated. "It would have to be a really good offer to get me to give all this up, and since I don't really see that happening, I guess you're just stuck with me. As long as I'm alive."

He knew he should be worried, very worried probably, about how okay she seemed with the idea of dying, but he wasn't.

Perhaps he could set her up in a nice house with a nice human girl. Or possibly a nice planet with a nice alien girl. Either way (or any way really), he would find a better offer for Bill Potts that did not require her to die.

If she died while in his care, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. He wouldn't regenerate, or at least wouldn't want to. And he could feel this current body wearing thin. The time was approaching and would surely be here sooner rather than later.

But he had just met his next regeneration, he reminded himself. He will regenerate, which means that Bill will be safe and happy in the end.

So, the Doctor just smiled.

"Same," he said quietly. But after a moment he leaned in closer to her. "Did I use that word right?"

"Yeah, you did," Bill nodded, impressed. "Hope you mean it."

"I do."

Bill smiled and took a sip of her own tea. Her eyes widened as if she had an idea.

"And maybe," she suggested. "You die first and then I get a little time traveling with her."

She jerked her head in the direction of where the future Doctor had been.

"Do you want to watch me die?" he asked incredulously. "Because that's what it sounds like. You want to see me die."

"No, no, of course not," she reassured him, chuckling as she did so. "I'm just saying, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

"Do you hear that?" he asked rhetorically. "That's the sound of my hearts. Breaking."

The Doctor put on a show of eyebrows and frowning to display his hurt, which only made Bill laugh. After a few minutes of doing his best to look agonized and aggrieved, he shook his head and sighed.

"It's a good thing you won't remember any of this," he said quietly.

He could feel the timelines adjusting themselves and Bill proved he was right as her brow furrowed at his statement.

"Remember what?"

"We just met my future self."

"We did?"

"We did what?" the Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bill frowned.

"I dunno. You said it."

The Doctor returned the frown for a moment before he took another sip of his tea.

"Now," he said, clapping his hands together. "Where were we? Ah, yes."

He scanned the people milling about.

"Red dress…. To my right."

Bill nonchalantly looked to the Doctor's right as she looked for the specified woman.

"Right," she sighed, looking back to him. "Are we sure that you got your sight back? Because you are really bad at this."

"It's not my fault you have such high standards."

"I don't have high standards!" Bill said a bit defensively. "I just have an age limit. Namely, anyone near my age. You know, twenty-five to thirty-five? Somewhere around there?"

They bickered playfully about Bill's age preferences in women (and a bit into the "strange" ageing habits of humans) for a long time before the Doctor felt the psychic paper in his pocket grow hot as it received a message.

He took it out and opened it, steeling himself for whatever adventure they were about to set off on next. But instead of a warning, it was just a one-line note in loopy script.

Don't worry Doctor! She's gonna be just fine 3 :) - the Doctor x