It is finally finished! And 3 days before the 13th Doctor's first episode!


The Doctor gradually awoke. In her half asleep state she could feel something strange pressed against her face and lifted a heavy hand to feel what it was. It was slightly warm and plasticy under her fumbling fingers. As she became more aware she opened her eyes, vision coalescing into the familiar surroundings of the Tardis medbay. How had she got here, lying in the medbay with what turned out to be an oxygen mask on her face? She forced her groggy mind to remember.

That planet with the bipedal lizards. The feeling of being held underwater. Waking up and struggling to breath, Bill at her side. She shivered at the memory, now wide awake.

She sat up on the bed and removed the oxygen mask, relieved to see that her companion was nowhere in sight. Hopefully that meant that Bill had spent the night asleep in her own bed, though she did notice that the other bed in the room had been sat upon.

She pulled in a deep experimental breath. Nothing. Not a twinge, not a cough. All back to normal. Perfect!

She lept off the bed, blinking away the last dregs of drugged sleep and and reached out to put the mask away but was hampered by her hand disappearing inside a black sleeve. She frowned, confused. Then she remembered, she was wearing her last regeneration's hoodie, that was why it was so big the sleeves swamped her arms. She shoved the misbehaving sleeve back up past her elbow and continued tidying up, removing the now empty medicine canister from the oxygen equipment and leaving it on the side for the Tardis to dispose of; wherever she disposed of things, the Doctor had never worked that out.

The Tardis was humming contentedly in the background and her corridors were dim and quiet as she walked down them to the console room. Obviously nothing had happened whilst she was asleep.

The lights were dark in the console room when she entered, denoting it was sometime in the Tardis designated night - the time vortex was by nature timeless. She crossed to the controls, laying a hand on the time rotor.

"Hello, Sexy. Have you been behaving yourself whilst I've been asleep?" The Tardis groaned and grumbled in response. "I know, but I'm feeling a lot better now. But do Bill and I a favour, make sure our next destination is a little less hostile." Another groan and the dim lights flickered. "Thanks, Old Girl."

The Doctor took a quick glance at the sensor readings, just to make sure everything was quiet - sometimes her and the Tardis's definition of 'quiet' differed - then left, making her way back down darkened corridors to her room.

Her room was a comforting dimness when she entered, the Tardis projecting an aura of soothing calm and projecting her favourite galaxies on the walls and ceiling. The Tardis must have been worried this time, usually she was never this sympathetic this long after a regeneration.

The bathroom in contrast was a bright white. She blinked a few times as she entered, the brightness painful on the eyes for a few moments. She crossed the room to stand by the sink, pulling off the too big hoodie as she did so, throwing it back into her bedroom in the vague direction of the bed.

She looked in the mirror. The bruise on her cheek was now a faded brown and pulling down the collar of her shirt she could see that the ones on her neck were now a barely visible yellow. The twin bruises on her chest where Bill had compressed her hearts felt almost healed too. Thank goodness for her Time Lord healing, how do humans cope with reminders of their trauma lingering on their skin for days? Or weeks!?

Turning away from the reminders of her own trauma in the mirror she started to undress. She could still smell the lake water on herself and hopefully the hot water of the shower would wash away the feeling of the cold grasping fingers of the water of the lake from her skin.

The water was warm as soon as she turned it on, a perk of Tardis living that her human companions often commented on, steam soon fogging the mirror and creating curls across the ceiling.

With any luck the water would wash away the terror still lurking at the back of her mind.


One long, hot shower later the Doctor found herself wandering the Tardis corridors again, listening for the sound of her companion now that the lights had risen in the Tardis designated morning. It still must have been early as she could hear nothing and Bill was not in the kitchen when she gravitated there.

Suddenly hungry, perhaps she should have eaten last night, she searched the cupboards for food. Finding bread, chocolate digestives, a jar of pickled mixed fruit that she had been given by one planet or another and a rather old jar of Marmite (did that stuff ever go off?) and settled down at the table to consume her breakfast.

Bill wandered in sometime later, just as she was fishing around the jar of fruit with a fork, determined to spear that last piece of apricot-tasting deliciousness. Bill, used to the Doctor's odd eating habits, just smiled to see her looking healthy.

"You're up and about. Feeling better?"

The Doctor looked up a little guilty, she had been told many times in many different regenerations by many companions not to eat straight out of comunal containers.

"Loads. I'm now as fit as a fiddle. I'm ready to go explore the universe again whenever you are." The Doctor's stomach gave an audible growl. "After I've finished breakfast," she added sheepishly, one hand reaching for the jar of fruits that she had put down when Bill had started talking. "I forgot how hungry I get after a long sleep like that."

The plate in front of her was scattered with toast and biscuit crumbs, a pile of chocolate digestives sitting next to a slightly dusty jar of Marmite with a knife sticking out of it, sticky brown tracks trailing from it across the tabletop. A half eaten biscuit was balanced on the edge of her plate. It looked like the Doctor was smearing the marmite onto the chocolate digestives before eating them. Time Lords were weird.

Crossing to the fridge Bill retrieved the butter and snagged the bread on her way to the alien equivalent of a toaster that she wasn't entirely convinced that the Doctor hadn't cobbled together from bits of space junk. But it toasted her bread to just how she liked it so she used it, even if she was a little scared that it would blow up in her face.

She turned and leant against the edge of the countertop as the contraption whirred around the bread, watching as the Doctor resumed demolishing the pile of digestives, creating more tracks of Marmite across the table top as she did so.

The Doctor was quickly distracted by the fruit again, fork rattling against the glass (or alien glass equivalent). Bill picked up the now abandoned jar of Marmite and carefully examined the inside. Deciding it was unadulterated (hopefully the Doctor hadn't been eating straight out of this jar) and safe to eat she carried it over to where her toast had just popped up.

Once she had finished preparing her breakfast she settled at the table opposite the Doctor (or rather, her chair), who had emptied the jar of fruit and was now almost climbing into a cupboard, searching for something. She settled back on her chair as Bill started crunching through the tangy tasting toast, triumphantly clutching a bottle of strange blue liquid.

"Fancy any of this Bill?"

"What is it? It looks like someone's blended a Smurf!"

"It's nessos juice from Versallen. Trust me, it's delicious, and perfectly safe for humans."

"When you say that it's not reassuring, you know that, right? But sure, I'll try it."

The liquid was no less strange when it sat on the table top in glasses. Bill was a little hesitant at first, watching the Doctor down her glass in one go before refilling it, but after a sip discovered that it really was delicious, despite it's funny colour.

A comfortable silence settled over the pair as they finished consuming their breakfast.

"So," said the Doctor as she brushed crumbs off her fingers and screwed the lid back onto the jar or Marmite. "Any ideas for today's destination? Or shall we let the Tardis decide?"

"If it is all the same to you can we go somewhere quieter today? I don't think I could stand up to too much excitement after yesterday."

"I know how you feel. I don't want to have another day like yesterday for a few more lifetimes."

The Doctor patted her companion's hand in understanding but quickly retracted it when she felt stickiness at the contact. She looked at her fingers as if they had betrayed her before sticking them in her mouth to suck the lingering Marmite off. Bill smiled at her behaviour and discreetly wiped the Marmite left on her hand on her trouser leg.

"Are you okay after yesterday?" She asked. "And I don't just mean physically."

"Yes, of course I am," the Doctor replied, removing her digits so she could speak.

"Are sure you are alright?" Bill was not so sure of the truthfulness of the Doctor's answer. " You did nearly die yesterday. And in a fairly traumatic way too."

"I'm fine, Bill. I'm the 'King of Okay'...nope, still a rubbish title. Anyway, Time Lords are made of tough stuff, trust me. And what about you? You were there too."

"I'll probably have nightmares about it for weeks, but I'll be alright. Really. I just need some time to process it."

"Do you need to see one of those brain shrinking people you humans go to? And why would your brain need shrinking, are they aliens or something? I really should check and-"

"Doctor," Bill cut her off with a laugh. "We call them 'shrinks' and whilst I don't know why, I can assure you they are perfectly human. And no I don't need one at the moment but thanks for asking. Back to your question about destination- I could do with a good party to get my mind off things. No bad guys, no one trying to kill us. Just a party."

"I know exactly the place. It has the best solstice celebrations this side of the galaxy. Get your glad rags on Bill, we are going to have fun today!"

They parted at the kitchen door, the Doctor to the console room and Bill to her bedroom.

It only took a few minutes to change from her scruffy sleep clothes to something that she hoped was appropriate for a celebration and to finish off her morning routine. She felt the floor under her feet vibrate as the Tardis landed just as she retrieved a certain something from crumpled pile of yesterday's clothes. One last look in the mirror to check her hair and then she headed down the corridor to the console room.

She found the Doctor leaning against the console, who jumped up with a grin when she spotted her companion.

"Ready to go?"

"Yep. Just wait a sec."

Bill crossed over to her and offered her what she was carrying in her hand.

"This belongs to you," she said, handing over the sonic screwdriver. "The lizard guy had left it in his pile of things. I forgot to give it back to you last night."

"My sonic!" The Doctor was delighted. "I thought I'd lost it. Thank you Bill."

Screwdriver safely back in her inner coat pocket, the Doctor bounded over to the Tardis doors and flung them open, looking back to see Bill walk more sedately over to join her.

They stood shoulder to shoulder, peering out of the doorway, the Doctor's hand finding her companion's.

"Come on Bill, let's start our next adventure."

End.