Sorry this took so long! The next chapter ended up being about 12k so it took me a while, but it's finally done so here's this one!

Thanks to all who have reviewed so far, hope you enjoy the chapter!

(There's a reference to two of my other favourite shows in here. Anyone who can pick either gets a snippet from the next chapter, and this is a general rule for any of the many references I make to other works. And believe me, there's a quite a few in this story.)

"someone asked me

to describe home

and i started talking about your hair color

and the sound of your voice

and the taste of your lips

and how your skin feels like

until i realized

they had expected to hear a place"

Daria M.

Aliya took the sonic from the Doctor and used it to open the panel underneath the console before sitting under it and throwing the screwdriver back to him. While she peered up at the wiring and circuitry, the Doctor let himself drop into the remaining free seat.

"So where are you all from, originally?" He asked the humans, apparently having given up on any immediate productivity.

Caleb perked up a bit. "Moon of Ping, born and bred."

"Sto," Lex answered, "But I've been on a lot of ships in my time and seen a few other places."

The Doctor's face lit up. "I knew some people from Sto once. Brilliant, all of them. Or most of them anyway. Never been to Ping but always meant to get around to it. Nice sort of place?"

"Not really, but it's home, and the fact that it's basically one giant scrapyard is the reason I'm so good with engines and stuff, so no complaints."

"I'm from the Clexa colony," Yori said while leaning against the console a few feet from where Aliya was working.

"Oh, you're from Skaikru," the Doctor replied, beaming at her, "Beautiful place, almost identical to my favourite planet. Why'd you leave?"

She made a face. "My people were all obsessed with marriage. And I couldn't be less interested in such things, so I left to find something more interesting to do with my life."

"And being the captain of an emergency service station keeps you amused?"

Yori shrugged. "I can sense your scepticism, but between the fuel stops and repairs we got a lot of people through here. I know I'm a grump but I actually like people. They all have stories."

"Even alien fake ones?" The Doctor inquired, giving her a cheeky grin.

"That's the problem," she replied, smirking, "I really don't think yours is fake."

"Well, it's not your fault, fantasy and reality are both ridiculous, and therefore very hard to tell apart most of the time."

"Luckily, no one could dream up a nose as absurd as yours, so at least we know that's real," Aliya chipped in, chuckling when the Doctor immediately covered the aforementioned nose and shot her a very offended look.

"What is wrong with my nose?"

She just grinned at him and went back to poking through the wiring, knowing it would only infuriate him further if she said nothing.

"I've had worse noses!" The Doctor continued, indignantly. "I mean, my third one, that was a nose, that was a proper conker."

"Yes, it really was. I liked it, though," she replied without looking at him. "That face had character. So does the one you have now."

"Character," he repeated, snorting, "Sounds a lot like that alternative definition of interesting: funny but ugly."

"You haven't always been a walking pretty boy, but it's safe to say you're at least a little bit beautiful this time around."

"Only a little bit?!"

Aliya threw him an amused look. "Well, I'm probably a bit biased at this point."

"What are you two talking about now?" Yori's question wasn't irritable like so many of the ones that had come before had been. This time, it was almost entirely built on curiosity with only a dash of exasperation thrown in.

"Having different faces, apparently," Lex commented, lifting an eyebrow, "You guys are some of those plastic surgery enthusiasts, huh? Getting whole new faces when you get bored."

Yori's eyes widened. "No, wait, I remember from the myths about Time Lords. That's something they do, instead of dying they just...change. Whole new body. That's what you two mean, isn't it?"

"That's his eleventh face," Aliya said, nodding, "I'm only on my eighth because I've been more careful. But we've both aborted the process one time, so I suppose actually he's on his twelfth and I'm on my ninth." Then her face fell as she absorbed her own words and looked at the Doctor. "Hang on, that means you've only got one left."

"I - well - yeah," the Doctor murmured, looking away from her with a reservation in his eyes she didn't understand. "I mean, under the circumstances it doesn't matter anyway."

Her expression darkened. "Don't even start."

"You were the one who brought it up," he muttered, and when the others threw him questioning looks, he just sighed. "Sorry, don't mind us. Ongoing disagreement. Nothing to worry about." Aliya let out a derisive snort and turned back to the wiring with a significantly more bitter look on her face than had been there before.

There was a lengthy, awkward silence.

"You're not what I expected," Yori said finally, her eyes on the Doctor.

"How do you mean?"

"My people liked storytelling almost as much as they loved gossip and matchmaking," she replied, shrugging, "The Time Lords came up quite a lot as one of the favourite stories. No one believed them, or at least nobody considered credible, but they all talked of these aristocrats of grandeur and scholar. And here I am, meeting two, and you're like bickering children."

"Isn't that all aristocrats are?" The Doctor said with a chuckle. When she lifted an eyebrow at him, he shrugged his shoulders. "No, I mean, they were, the Time Lords. They were like that. Stuffy, boring, and content to just become more and more superior with every century that passed. But there's a reason that I'm standing here and they aren't. I never fit in there."

Yori glanced down at Aliya. "And you?"

"Let's just call my survival a fluke of sorts," Aliya told her, "I did fit in back home for the most part, even if now given the choice I'd have little interest in returning there. But most of my divergence from Gallifreyan norms are down to his influence, at least initially."

"You're welcome," the Doctor said, smirking, and she just rolled her eyes.

"Ping's so dingy that even the idea of aristocrats is weird," Caleb remarked, lifting his left leg so his ankle rested on his right knee, "I barely get what the word means. Everyone back home was as covered in dirt and doing as much manual labour as the next person."

"Sto had it all," Lex added, "The fanciest ministers and lords all the way down to the orphans on the bottom levels of the cities."

Yori shrugged. "My colony was built on equality policies. We had a council of elders but they were all chosen by the members of their villages. Growing up hearing about Time Lords and a thousand other races, the idea of the aristocracy or poverty was almost impossible to understand until I got older and went to see it all for myself."

The Doctor smiled at her. "How old were you when you left?"

"Sixteen," she said, giving him a tiny smile back, "Hitched a ride on a supply ship and never looked back. Well, except for the occasional holiday. My mother would have probably sent someone to hunt me down if I'd never gone home to visit."

"I didn't even go home to visit until I got dragged back by the authorities," the Doctor replied cheekily, and her eyebrows shot up a second before a laugh escaped her lips. "What about you, Lex? When did you leave home?"

"Not til I was 23," the other man answered, "Let my old momma look after me as long as I could get away with while I saved up some money for med school. Then I was off, got qualified, met the wife, shipped out together on the first ship that would take both of us."

"How nice," Aliya said, poking her head out briefly to smile at him.

"Thank you." Lex regarded them curiously. "What about you two? When did you leave home?"

"Not as soon as I might have liked," the Doctor answered, grinning, "But leaving earlier wouldn't have been a good idea in the end."

"I didn't have the nerve for a very long time," Aliya added, making a face, "But my third self went through a phase of hating everyone and everything, so that was when I ran off the first time. But then I came back, only to leave again with Mr Bad Influence over there not too much later. But again, I went back, until the war that destroyed our planet."

She hesitated, frowning as she realised something.

"I suppose I never actually left without any intentions of going back. The last time I was taken and when I was freed there wasn't anything to return to."

"So you wish you could go home," Caleb said, looking at her sympathetically. Aliya just shook her head.

"I'm not so sure Gallifrey is my home."

"How do you mean?"

"I wish it was still there. I wish I could see it. Visit it, maybe. Just to see that everyone was okay. But it's not...home. Not anymore." She looked up at the Doctor, who was looking at her curiously. "Not compared to blue wooden doors and the smell of tweed and the voice of an idiot who just won't shut up."

The mentioned idiot's eyes were shining with an unparalleled warmth, and before she knew it he had slid down to his knees next to her and pulled her into an embrace so tight she could barely breathe. It was pure instinct to wrap her arms around him and hug him back.

When he finally pulled away, she expected him to speak, especially when he opened his mouth like he was about to. But for once it seemed that he had no words. When he realised this a few seconds after she did, he just gave her a minute smile and kissed her forehead with a tenderness that made her hearts swell so much she thought they might burst.

Aliya hugged him again, letting herself rest her chin on his shoulder and just sit there with his arms around her, relishing the feel of his hearts beating against her chest.

"You guys are really sweet," Caleb said, and when they looked up they saw he was smiling at them. "Relationship goals."

"Oh, I think we've got far too much arguing in our systems for that, Caleb," the Doctor told him, chuckling as he and Aliya finally let go of each other, "She could do better. Almost definitely deserves better." He got a whack on the arm for that. "Ow! What?"

"Don't ever say something that stupid again," the blonde said, glaring at him. "We're not playing the better or worse game, or the who deserves who game. Not ever."

"I just meant-"

"No, there's no deserving, there's just this and it's good. It's one of the best things that's ever happened to me so don't you ever think you have the right to say what I deserve."

He dropped his eyes, a tiny smile on the corner of his lips. "Yes, ma'am."

"Don't ma'am me either."

"My lady," he tried, lifting his head to impishly grin at her.

"Oh no-"

He got to his feet and outstretched his hands grandly. "My lady Angel-"

"I will pour maple syrup on your face while you're sleeping for a year straight once we get out of this if you don't stop right now-"

"Maple syrup?" The Doctor appeared torn between horror and amusement. "Really?"

"Test me, I dare you," she growled.

Caleb just started laughing, and didn't stop even when she turned her glare onto him. "Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all, "It's just you really aren't as scary as I think you're trying to be."

"I can be scary," Aliya retorted, her shoulders sinking in defeat a moment later, "Just not towards him or over something as petty as him being an idiot." She went to go back to pulling apart the console, but hadn't been at it long when her vision flared white again.

"We're almost at the bridge. You know, I can tell I'm going to get really tired of saying that really fast."

The same as the times before, they got through the doors and were helped by the others to barricade it before they relaxed and came down the stairs to the main level of the bridge.

"Caleb or Carly?" Aliya asked.

"Carly."

"I'm sorry for tearing up that console when I didn't even manage to find anything," the blonde said, and the girl just shrugged.

"It's okay. It's reset now like you said, so no harm no foul, right?"

"Right." They smiled at each other.

"So we're officially out of ideas now, huh?" Lex asked the Doctor.

"Out of ideas? Ha!" The other man scoffed. "I'm the Doctor, I'm never out of ideas." They all lifted their eyebrows at him, and he scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Except for possibly right now," he admitted.

"Then what do we do?" Yori asked, tapping her foot with frustration. "We're just going to keep going around and around in this loop."

The Doctor shrugged. "Find a way to pass the time, I suppose. Until we think of something else to try."

"Oh, well that's reassuring," Yori told him sarcastically. "Thanks."

"Well, what's he supposed to say, Yori?" Carly asked her. "At least he's being honest with us."

"Aliya, your phone please," the Doctor asked his companion, who handed the device over, for once in her life not questioning him. He immediately starting scrolling through it.

"Did you just say phone?" Carly demanded, staring at it with sudden interest. "Man, that's vintage on a whole new level."

"That's what they called communicators back in the day, innit?" Lex asked.

"Yep," the blue haired girl replied, popping the 'p' with her lips, her eyes having not left the phone, "So what's some superior aliens like you two doing with old Earth tech like that?"

"The majority of our friends come from the same decade as the phone," Aliya explained, "It's best not to carry anything too obviously anachronistic."

"Smart," said Yori.

"Practical," Aliya retorted without missing a beat, "Can't have humans getting their hands on advanced technology too early."

"Fair enough."

Aliya glanced at the phone. "Besides, I like it. It's pretty and fits perfectly in my hand."

"Aha!" The Doctor exclaimed out of nowhere, grinning. "I knew I got around to doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Downloading my top 10,000 songs onto your phone," he said, moving to the main console of the bridge and going to the same place she had been working during the previous loop. He opened the panel and started to rip out wires with none of the delicacy his partner had demonstrated, ignoring Carly's very vocal protests.

"Yori, stop him!"

"What's the point?" Yori snapped. "We all know it'll just reset, so stop getting maternal over a small piece of machinery." Carly huffed and sat down on the floor dramatically, crossing her arms for extra effect.

"Twenty minutes," the Doctor promised.

"Anything I can help with?" Aliya asked him. He shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. More fun if it's a surprise."

"Okay," she said, laughing, "I'll leave you to it then."

A while later, another loud exclamation from him that was obviously one of triumph alerted them to him being finished. "Done!"

"Twenty one minutes, fourteen seconds," Aliya said mildly without looking at him, "Sloppy."

"Shut up," he replied, frowning at her, "What are you lot doing, anyway?"

"We're playing Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock," Lex answered cheerfully, sharing a smile with Aliya who was sitting across from him with her hand outstretched in opposition to his. "Am I saying that last one right?"

"I think so?"

"We're just watching," Carly supplied helpfully, nodding at Yori and herself.

The Doctor's frowned only deepened. "Where would you learn a game like that?"

"Jenny taught it to me a while back," Aliya said, shrugging, "Said that she learnt it off some television show and that Hart was the only one who could beat her. I'm not very good at it, to be honest."

"Not to be rude, but you're pretty terrible."

Aliya stared at Carly. "How is that not rude?!" Carly just poked her tongue out and Aliya rolled her eyes.

"Look, I've just been extremely clever and none of you are looking impressed!" The Doctor said with great indignance.

"Perhaps if you actually told us what you've done that's so impressive, we could appreciate it," Yori said to him with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh," he replied, laughing awkwardly, "Right." He waved his hands dramatically in the direction of the direction of the small contraption he had built and placed on the console. "May I present...Miss Swift herself."

He slammed his hand down on the button on the top and sure enough Taylor Swift's voice burst out of what was now obviously a speaker.

"I stay out too late/ got nothing in my brain/ that's what people say/"

"You like Taylor Swift?" Aliya looked at the Doctor with surprise.

He gave her a funny look. "Who doesn't?"

"Who's Taylor Swift?" Yori asked blankly, making the Time Lords blink at her.

"Now that's rude," the Doctor said to Aliya, who nodded in agreement but had to chuckle at Yori's utter confusion. "Most successful musician of the 21st century, prominent feminist, ruthless Monopoly player-"

"You know, I think my grandma liked her too," Carly considered, "She was a historian, super into all that retro stuff. And here I am getting it handed to me on a silver platter. She'd be dead jealous. If she weren't, you know, just dead."

There was a brief and incredibly awkward silence.

"Well, on that cheery note," Yori said dryly, "Perhaps you'd like to explain the point of this whole thing, Doctor."

"Well, what better way to pass the time than dancing?"

"Oh," Yori remarked, with such genuine surprise that it was obvious she somehow hadn't thought of that regardless of how simple it was. But, unexpectedly, the thought seemed to please her.

"I can think of a lot of other ways," Lex said, making a face and leaning even further back in his chair.

"Well, I think it's a great idea," Carly said, beaming, "But I don't know any fancy aristocrat dances. I know the fast and fun ones from back home."

"Well, that's the point," the Doctor said, smiling at her, "We can all teach each other the different dances we know. I myself am a fan of the Drunk Giraffe, which is one of my own invention-"

"Oh god no, not the Drunk Giraffe, Doctor, please," Aliya moaned, "I take it back, this is a bad idea-"

"Why, what's wrong with it?" Carly asked.

"The first time I saw it I was so embarrassed to be associated with him that I didn't speak to him for 72 hours," the blonde replied, crossing her arms and frowning at the brunet man who was just chuckling.

"You've come to like it, I think."

"No, I've just had to come to tolerate most things about you, and that happens to be one of them."

"You know, Doctor, this is the first idea of yours I've actually liked," Yori said thoughtfully.

He looked at her with surprise and delight. "Do you dance, Yori?"

"Yes, since I could walk," she replied, smiling even as Lex and Carly gaped at her, "It's the only thing I've really missed while doing this job."

"Seriously? You like dancing?" Carly couldn't quite shut her mouth the whole way. "You're having a joke, right? You can't actually dance. You're too...you know...Yori-ish." Yori cocked an eyebrow at her. She didn't even have to say a word to have the girl ducking her head. "But of course it's completely possible that you're not actually as much of a stick-in-the-mud as I thought."

Yori rolled her eyes. "The Captain of this station is a stick in the mud, generally, because she has to be. But right now I'm just Yori, and I've always loved dancing."

Carly grinned. "Alright then, just Yori, show us your moves then."

"Are you familiar with the Charleston, Yori?" The Doctor asked the captain of the station, who shook her head. "Brilliant, we'll start with that. Aliya, I know it's been a while since we went to the 20's, but do you remember it?"

"I think so," Aliya said as he put on an appropriate piece of music. "I suppose we'll find out."

"Now, when you say the 20's, which 20's are you referring to?" Yori asked them.

"1920's, Yori, one of the best 20's for sure! Now, watch and learn." The Doctor got started and Aliya followed his lead, finding she did remember more or less how to do it and could get the rest by copying him. The three humans watched them with great interest, and both Carly and Yori seemed to be itching to try the dance for themselves.

"That was fun," Aliya said, once the song came to an end, "And I think I remembered how to do it."

"You did well," the Doctor said, clapping her on the shoulder, "You're no Charley Pollard or Tegan Jovanka, but you're not bad."

"Thanks, I think."

"You might know the moves better, Doctor, from what I can tell," Yori remarked, "But her execution is better than yours. Your limbs flop like they have no idea what they're doing with themselves."

"That's just him in a nutshell," Aliya laughed, "He moves like a baby giraffe still learning to walk."

"That's really rude!" He gasped.

"It's cute."

"Still rude."

"Well, either way, it looks wicked fun," Carly told them, grinning, "Teach us?"

"Of course," the Doctor said, "Apparently, watch me for the steps and Aliya for the finer points of how they're meant to look." So he took her and Yori through it slowly, and thankfully they both caught on very fast and soon had the whole thing memorised. "Great. Let's try it with the music. Are you sure you don't want to get in on this, Lex?"

Lex shook his head adamantly. "I wasn't a dancer when all my joints were working the way they were meant to, and I'm certainly not now."

"Alright then. Can you hit the play button for us, then?"

Sure enough, when the music started up they all managed to dance it very well, and Aliya noticed a light in Yori's eyes as she kicked her legs that hadn't been there before.

Next, Yori taught them one from her colony, one that was very sweet and involved lots of spinning. The Doctor ended up falling over himself a lot, much to everyone else's great amusement. Carly's native dances were difficult to their intense speed, and the Time Lords struggled, but Yori picked it up almost effortlessly, and managed to help Aliya enough that the three females were able to dance it together while the men looked on and grumbled about their lack of coordination.

They danced and laughed until the loop came to an end.

Loop 5

"So, you have a time machine that can go anywhere in time and space."

"Yes, Caleb."

The teenager, who was sitting backwards on one of the chairs, pulled a face that told them he was impressed. "That's so cool. Where are the best places you've been?"

The Doctor lifted his eyebrows. "Big question." He and Aliya were sitting against the door of the storage cupboard, their legs out in front of them and their shoulders not quite touching. "I like Earth in the 20th and 21st century. Not sure why, though."

"I'm not sure either, but I know I'm the same these days," Aliya mused, "Maybe there's something in the air."

"Florana's good if you want somewhere pretty," the Doctor continued, "Horsehead Nebula if you're looking for a bit of trouble."

"Aren't you always?"

"Shh. Mars you have to be careful with, but if you can get the date right there are some lovely views. Planets of pure diamond I'd say the same."

"Pure diamond?" Lex asked, interest piqued. "Really?"

"Really."

"My wife would have loved that."

"It might be glamorous and pretty in theory, but it tends to be deadly in practice."

Caleb had become thoughtful since Aliya's last comment. "So you get into trouble quite a lot, then?" He asked the Doctor, who didn't seem entirely sure of how to answer him.

"I - well - I suppose the short answer is yes," he admitted, making Aliya snort.

"He's a magnet for any possible kind of conflict," she said, rolling her eyes, "We can barely step out of the TARDIS without getting our lives threatened or stumbling into some battle or invasion plot."

"Never a dull moment, though," Caleb guessed.

"No, definitely not."

"So come on, then. If you've gotten into so much trouble, you must have good stories. Tell us one."

The Doctor opened his mouth to answer before he glanced in the direction of Yori, who was also sitting on the floor and leaning against a nearby wall. Her eyes were shut. "You're very quiet, Yori."

"I'm having introvert time," she replied without opening her eyes.

"Oh. Alright."

"I'm listening though."

That was all he needed to launch into a story. "Well, one time, Aliya and I landed the TARDIS randomly and found ourselves in this city, which ended up being underwater…"

Loop 6

"And then we realised that these creatures had very poor visual memories, and all their nanoforms were based off their own biology, which meant their technology which was created by the nanoforms was programmed to show events live but couldn't digitally record anything!"

"So that whole time, they'd been re-enacting the landing because they couldn't remember or record it?" Aliya asked.

"Exactly! So we just gave them Kim's footage, which they thought was some kind of miracle, and told them to keep it. Problem solved, and they let us go rather happily."

"I'm glad, but I still can't believe you let the TARDIS get stolen by an ice cream van."

The Doctor made a face. "Yes. Definitely not one of my finer moments. Still, it did good ice creams, even if C'rizz didn't seem to think so."

"Lizard men probably have different taste buds," Aliya said, "But I got the idea that there were a lot of things you liked that he wasn't sure about."

"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor said, smiling at her, "He thought you were alright."

Aliya grinned, far more pleased by the comment than she let on, even if she knew it was a detail that hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things. "Well, that's good. I honestly couldn't be sure what he and Charley made of me."

"Mystery woman parks a TARDIS alongside mine, barges in and hug attacks me before getting a bit teary," he said, chuckling, "Their confusion was understandable."

"You'd been trapped in a universe of anti-time, no one on Gallifrey thought we were ever going to see you or Charley again, everyone thought you were dead!"

"You didn't."

"I held onto the belief that you always find a way to surprise everyone and come back, because the alternative couldn't bear thinking about," she corrected, and made a face, "That was not a pleasant period of my life. The moment my scanner told me your TARDIS was back in this universe, I was planning a way to find you and be sure that you were inside it and alive."

She grabbed his hand and held onto it tightly.

"Besides, you were almost as happy to see me."

"Well, when I ended up in that universe I knew there was a good chance I'd never see any of my other friends ever again. It was nice, after making it back, to have a physical reminder that it wasn't true."

"You guys have really been through some shit, huh?" Caleb asked them, making them start a little after half-forgetting that the others were even there.

The Doctor coughed. "Well, er, yes. I suppose that's one way to describe it."

"Downside of being long lived and a trouble magnet," Aliya said, "He gets into a lot of shit. Sometimes it's not that bad, and sometimes it is."

"But you're still here," Caleb said to the Doctor, who nodded.

"Always. Somehow."

"Like a cockroach," the boy said helpfully, making the man frown at him.

"A cockroach?" He repeated, quite obviously offended. "That's the best you can come up with? What about bizarrely lucky bad penny-"

"Well, that is quite a few more syllables-" Aliya pointed out, but he wasn't paying her any attention.

"Or a fantastically impressive-" His words became muffled as Aliya's hand clapped over his mouth like a vice, and he started making noises of great indignation. She ignored him and instead looked back to Caleb, who along with Lex was watching them with amusement.

"Okay, so this one time we went to a market and there was this arms dealer…"

Loop 7

"I have a new idea," the Doctor announced as they came down the stairs after barricading the door, "And this is a goodie. Talking the time away is all very well, but there's something even better than that."

"What?" Yori asked, a little warily.

He struck a dramatic pose. "Performing!"

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "I repeat...what?"

"Storytelling, Yori, but not our stories, the stories," he said, beaming and tapping his temple, "I've got a million stored up here, for emergencies. All the classics and some of the other goodies and a few of the terrible ones just for fun. Are you familiar with Shakespeare?"

"I know of him, never seen any of his work."

"Anyone else?"

"I saw Romeo and Juliet once," Lex said excitedly, "The Capulets were Blathereen and the Montagues were Slitheen, it was really something-"

The Doctor looked unnerved. "Well, er, I'm sure it was. Anyway, it's the one people seemed to latch onto, which I personally never understood given that Much Ado About Nothing is a substantially better romance if that's what you're into, with a happier ending too-"

"Spoilers," Aliya said, and grinned at him when he shot her a look, "I haven't seen Romeo and Juliet. So go on. Perform it."

That was how the Doctor ended up performing a one man show of the most popular romantic tragedy of all time. There was just enough time after it was done for Aliya to spent fifteen minutes raging about how stupid the entire story was before the loop ended.

Loop 10

After also going through Hamlet and Macbeth, the Doctor managed to rope Aliya into doing Much Ado About Nothing with him. He gave her a quick mental refresher of the show's script, given that the only time she had seen it had been back when her fourth self had been briefly travelling with his fifth (and she hadn't exactly been giving the play her full attention even then).

Given the banterous nature of the dialogue between the two leads, Aliya found very quickly that she loved playing the part of Beatrice (and a fair few others, but they were less fun). She'd not had much experiencing doing acting as a performance, but with Beatrice's character was so similar to herself that it was no effort.

"I wonder that you are still talking, Signior Benedick," she said boredly, "Nobody marks you."

The Doctor whipped around to look at her. "My dear lady disdain," he remarked, grinning, "Are you yet living?"

"Is it possible disdain should die, while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to Disdain, if you come in her presence."

Carly and Yori burst out laughing from where they had brought their chairs together so that they could watch the performance, as they had done with the others. Lex also cracked a grin.

A little further down they reached the party scene when Benedick was masked, where the Doctor pulled a proper masquerade mask from his pockets and held it in front of his face, to everyone else's amazement.

"Will you not tell me who told you so?" Aliya asked him.

"No, you shall pardon me."

She tilted her head at him. "Nor will you tell me who you are?"

"Not now."

"That I was disdainful, and that I had my good wit out of the Hundred Merry Tales," she said thoughtfully, before grinning and clapping her hands. "Well, this was Signior Benedick that said so."

"What's he?" The Doctor asked, Benedick's curiosity hidden under mock innocence.

"I am sure you know him well enough."

"Not I, believe me."

"Did he never make you laugh?"

"I pray you, what is he?"

Aliya took a step forward, and then another, so that she could smirk up at him with only a foot between them. "Why, he is the Prince's jester, a very dull Fool: his only gift is in devising impossible slanders. None but the libertines delight in him, and the commendation is not in his wit but in his villainy, for he both pleases men and angers them, and then they laugh at him and beat him. I am sure he is in the fleet, I would he had boarded me."

The Doctor swallowed. "When I know the gentlemen, I'll tell him what you say."

She just laughed, and swung back on her heels, giving him his personal space back. "Do, do. He'll but break a comparison or two on me."

Not long after, Aliya switched characters to Don Pedro as the story continued.

"The Lady Beatrice hath a quarrel with you," she said, "The gentleman that danced with her told her that she is much wronged by you."

The Doctor laughed, but with great disdain. "Oh, she misused me past the endurance of a block: an oak but with one green leaf on it would have answered her." He bristled. "She told me, not thinking I had been myself, that I was the Prince's jester, that I was duller than a great thaw; huddling jest upon jest with such impossible conveyance upon me, that I stood like a man at a mark-" He grounded his stance and melodramatically spread his arms out to make his point. "- with a whole army shooting at me! She speaks poniards, and every word stabs: if her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her: she would infect to the North Star!"

He let out a long, annoyed sigh.

"I would not marry her, though she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed. She would have made Hercules have turned spit, yea, and have cleft his club to make the fire too." He waved his hands with annoyance. "Come, talk not of her."

Carly cackled, and Aliya only half succeeded in not doing the same. The Doctor's rant of a performance was just too enjoyable, and she knew that he saw as well as she did the truth behind the words they were speaking. He was a jester of sorts, and she certainly had the ability to be one of harsh words.

The play went on.

"It seems her affections have their full bent," the Doctor said to his audience of three (although Aliya was currently watching from the side), "Love me...why?" That made them all laugh. "It must be requited. I hear how I am censured. They say I will bear myself proudly if I perceive the love come from her, they say too that she would rather die than give any sign of affection."

Aliya bit her lip, as it all rang home just a little too true. But in the end it was the opposite of a problem.

"By my troth, it is no great addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her folly," he was continuing, and his gaze fell on her, "For I will be horribly in love with her."

Aliya smiled at him, and for a second he smiled back, but he faltered a second later, a strange look having crossed his face that had her worried. But a second later it was gone and he was continuing with the monologue.

Later it was her turn, for Beatrice's version of the same.

"What fire is in mine ears?" She demanded. "Can this be true? Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much? Contempt, farewell! And maiden pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of such. And Benedick, love on; I will requite thee." She grinned at the Doctor who was now taking his turn on the side. "Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand."

The next scene was Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato discussing Benedick possibly being in love, and Aliya knew going into it that something had gone wrong. The Doctor was hesitating on all of his lines. Still, she didn't know what to do other than keep going.

"Well, everyone can master a grief but he that has it," he was saying.

"Yet say I, he is in love," Aliya replied.

"There is no appearance of fancy - no." The Doctor's shoulders dropped as he broke character. "I'm sorry, this wasn't a good idea."

"What?" Carly asked, frowning at him. "What do you mean?"

"This play. It's not - I - I'm bored."

"You're lying," Aliya said, narrowing her eyes, "I can tell."

"Yeah, well, I still don't want to do it," he answered, rather defensively, "Look, that's enough Shakespeare, let's play a game or something-"

"No, I need to know how the story ends!" Carly told him hotly. "So suck it up, and keep going."

The Doctor's mouth set in a firm line. "No."

Yori stared. "Why not?" He said nothing. "Oh, now, now you go silent on us. That figures."

Aliya could tell just by looking at the Doctor that whatever was bothering him wasn't anything superficial, and she could vaguely sense a discomfort in him. Like he was shaken somehow. As much as she was confused, she knew she had to stand up for him in this instant.

"Look, easy solution. Transfer the script to Carly, she can do your bits," she suggested, "Unless you want to wait until you're Caleb, Carly."

"Nah, Carly's the performer," Carly told her, grinning as she got out of her seat, "I'd just stumble on my words if I was Caleb. Is this going to be a weird mind transfer?"

"Aliya, can you do it?" The Doctor asked, but the blonde shook her head.

"I don't have much experience with connecting with human minds," she pointed out, "I wouldn't want to risk hurting her if I came on too strong."

He nodded. "Fair point." He approached Carly and then rammed their foreheads together, making them both cry out in pain and stumble backward. Yori leapt to her feet, staring at her mechanic with concern, but the Doctor and Carly quickly came right.

"Ow," the latter complained, clutching her head, "A bit of warning might have been nice."

"Sorry."

"Oh, hey, this play is ace, though. Great ending." Carly grinned at Aliya. "Alright then, where were we? There is no appearance of fancy in him, unless it is a fancy that he hath to strange disguises."

They finished the play with great enthusiasm, and though Aliya was a little surprised when Carly actually kissed her on the mouth where appropriate, it was over fairly quickly and wasn't unpleasant regardless. Apparently her face had been amusing to watch, though, if the other three's chuckles were anything to go by.

"Well, that was fantastic," Yori told the three that had performed, "And the cast change halfway through was surprisingly fine."

"I think I identify with Benedick a lot, actually," Carly mused, sitting on the floor and leaning back on the heels of her palms, "So it was really fun. Not to mention I got to kiss a pretty girl."

Aliya went red. "I am far too old for you," she said firmly, and Carly just grinned.

"I know. It was still fun."

"Hmm."

"What? Are you not into girls?"

Aliya opened and shut her mouth several times, wondering how on earth they'd gotten from Shakespeare to this so quickly. "Well, that's a complicated question-"

"Why?"

"Because I'm a Time Lord."

"And?"

"And things like that just tend to be a bit...different with us, is all, and it's not really something we talk about-"

"Why not?"

"Carly," Yori warned, shooting her a look, "Don't press her. You have no idea of the cultural differences you might be dealing with. You should know this sort of thing by now."

Carly bit her lip. "Sorry, Aliya. I was just curious."

"It's okay, it's just that we-"

Loop 11

"We're all on the asexuality spectrum, our species," Aliya continued the moment she and the Doctor got to the bridge and went about working on the door, "So the thing is that some of our species were interested in that sort of thing under certain circumstances and a lot weren't no matter what the circumstances, so it's considered very private. You would never know about what kinds of attraction people other than yourself experienced unless it was someone you were personally involved with."

She and the Doctor had come down the stairs at that point.

"Carly or Caleb?" The latter asked.

"Caleb," the boy replied, eyes still watching them curiously, "So your species are on the ace spectrum. I know I shouldn't ask about you guys, but from watching you guys this long...I mean, I'm fairly sure you two are screwing."

They both turned scarlet and tried to speak but he kept going.

"I definitely heard something in there about going at it for four months, which sounded weird and certainly impressive if that's what you meant, but I guess it-"

"Caleb, I told you to stop," Yori said from her seat at the bridge, her voice and glare very firm, "This is a proper warning. I won't tolerate this kind of cultural insensitivity from you, Time Loop or no."

The Doctor sighed and took up his spot on the floor against the wall from a few loops before, and Aliya joined him. "No, Yori, it's alright."

They all sat there in brief silence.

"Demiromantic demisexual," Aliya said quietly, her cheeks burning even as she forced the words out.

"What?" Yori asked.

"Caleb wanted to know. That's me, personally. It can vary within regenerations, but mine never has for some reason."

Caleb eyed her with an expression she couldn't quite read. "Thanks. Sorry for asking. It's just that you two are so strange and you're these fancy rare aliens-"

"Your curiosity is understandable, Caleb," the Doctor told him gently, "We mean it when we say that it's okay. We're not on Gallifrey anymore, it's good for us to get more used to dealing with people who view this sort of thing differently."

"I'm bisexual, myself," Caleb said, seeming more cheery after the Doctor's reassurance.

The Doctor's lips twitched. "Panromantic demisexual," he said, before frowning. "Well, generally. Like Aliya said, it can vary, and I've definitely had some different experiences."

"Your eighth?" Aliya asked.

He nodded, and let out a small laugh. "Something along the lines of demiromantic grey-ace, I think. Charley told me that people came onto me all the time and I had absolutely no idea. The times I was aware of it...well. I had no idea what to do, all I knew was that I wasn't remotely interested."

"You were very pretty and very sweet," she said affectionately, "I can see why they might have shown interest."

"Is this what we're doing now?" Yori asked them, lifting an eyebrow. "Sexuality reveal circle?"

"Well, it sounds weird when you say it like that," Caleb muttered.

Yori just rolled her eyes. "Aromantic asexual."

The Doctor beamed at her. "You know, I did wonder!" She seemed surprised by his reaction, but gave him a small smile. "The disdain for the marriage customs of your planet. Not really an ideal environment for someone such as yourself."

"No," she agreed. "Space is much more interesting."

He laughed. "I have to agree."

"Heterosexual," Lex said, from where he was contently leaning back in his chair. He grinned at them. "I have a definite weakness for beautiful women. Or, I did. Bit old for that sort of thing now days."

"Ooh, fun fact," Caleb began, pushing at the ground with his feet to let his chair roll back so he could look at all of them, "Back in almost all ancient Earth times, you'd be the only one considered normal, Lex."

"Huh?" Lex frowned deeply at his fellow male crew member. "What do you mean?"

Yori seemed similarly troubled. "Only him?"

"Yep," Caleb said, seeming glad they found the information interesting, "Weird, huh? They had some weird concept that any relationship that wasn't going to be making babies was wrong. And they didn't even believe in things like the ace spectrum til way later."

"My people find the ace spectrum to be inconvenient, but they're still, you know, more or less okay with it," Yori murmured, "Thankfully most people see the stupidity in getting annoyed about something someone else isn't doing."

"But people do have a capacity for being remarkably stupid, humans especially," Aliya said, snorting, "Their ancient times were governed by strange religions involving stories about nailing people to crosses-"

"Well, actually, Aliya, that's something the ancient Romans did on a regular basis, the Christians didn't just make that up-"

"And so it's no wonder they got idiotic ideas in their head about something as irrelevant as sexuality, to be honest," she finished.

Caleb nodded. "They had it in their head there were only two genders too, and that you had to have physical surgery if you wanted to change. God knows what they thought of non-binary people like me. Probably thought we didn't exist, like ace people."

"How did you know that, Caleb?" Lex asked. "Your historian gran?"

"Yep. I couldn't believe it either when I found out. It's just so bizarre."

The humans continued to discuss it amongst themselves, while the Time Lords opted out of the conversation. Aliya could still sense that tiny smidge of wrong in the way the Doctor was acting and she wanted to know what it was.

"Do you want to explain what happened?" She asked, quietly enough that the others couldn't hear.

"Explain what what happened?"

She gave him a sharp look. "Doctor, I'm not blind. And I can sense there's something off about you. Why did you stop wanting to do the play?"

His eyes flicked to the humans, who while not listening were still very close. "Do we have to do this now?"

"We might be in this loop for lord knows how long," she said flatly, "So yes, we do. Come on." She stood up and pulled him with her, ignoring his sigh. As they headed for the supply cupboard, Caleb let out a wolf whistle only to get whacked on the head by Yori. "Thank you Yori."

"My pleasure," the other woman replied mildly, "He needs to learn to get his head out of the gutter."

"We're just talking," the Doctor told them, rather defensively, before they went into the supply cupboard and shut the door behind them.

It was cramped inside, so many random objects of varying sizes stuffed everywhere to the point where Aliya had to sit down on the end of a broken console column. The Doctor had to hunch over to avoid hitting his head on some bizarre looking spikes on a high self that didn't have any immediately obvious function.

They stood, rather uncomfortably, in a silence that lasted for about fifteen seconds.

"I'm waiting," Aliya said finally, and he let out another sigh.

"It's not - it's stupid. You don't need to worry, you fixed the problem."

"What, by having Carly do it?"

"Yes."

"I don't understand."

"I couldn't say the words." His voice sounded odd, and the artificial light of the cupboard created shadows that only emphasised the unfathomable look on his face.

"What do you mean?" Aliya couldn't help the worry that was setting in inside her chest. "Doctor, please, just tell me what's wrong."

"If we'd kept going, I'd have had to say-" He swallowed, his fists clenched. "I couldn't have the first time I said those words to you be when I was speaking for someone else."

For a second she just frowned, not understanding, until she thought over the second half of the play and it all clicked. The confessions. The incredibly human and open confessions of love.

"Oh, Theta," she whispered, blinking. Her hearts panged and she got up from her perch to come close to him even if it was difficult in their awkward setting. "I didn't even think."

"I'm sorry," he murmured, pointedly looking at the floor and not her. She rested on hand on his tweed jacket and used the other to tilt his face so that he was forced to meet her eyes.

"There's nothing to be sorry for."

The Doctor shook his head, just a fraction. "You deserve someone who can just...say it."

Aliya, lips slightly parted, looked at him with dismay. "Please, let's not get onto anything like that. What I deserve is someone who likes me enough to want me around all the time. Who makes me laugh. Who cares about me enough to be willing to put themselves at risk to save me when I'm in danger, who looks at me in a way that means I don't need any petty words that anyone can say on a whim."

There were actually tears forming in his eyes. "I don't know why I can't. Say it, I mean. I've been able to tell people before, but then the Time War-" His voice choked and he shook his head. "I'm a coward. That's it, I think."

"No, you're not," she said firmly, lifting her hands so that she could cup his face with them, "You are the bravest person I know."

"You called me a coward once."

"We were fighting."

"It's still true."

"You are the bravest person I know," she repeated.

"I'm too scared to say three words. Just three words, because they would make it real and if it's real then it can be taken from me," he whispered, "I'm a coward of the worst sort."

"You don't have to say anything, you've never had to, I thought you knew that," Aliya said, staring at him with melancholy disbelief, her thumbs stroking gently across his cheekbones, "It's not about what you tell people, it's about what you show them. Words can lie, actions don't. You don't have to say anything because you show me every day."

He stared at her, eyes watery, and without another word wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her against him and into a tight embrace. She relaxed into it with a tiny exhale of relief, letting her hands come to rest in the bottom of his hair as she buried her head in his neck. His body shuddered as he let out a breath he had apparently been holding.

"I don't want to hear anything about what either of us supposedly deserve ever again, do you understand?" She breathed against his skin, but it was close enough to his ear that he was able to hear it.

"I-"

When she said it again her voice was like steel. "Not anything. Ever. Do you understand?"

There was a hesitation. "...yes. Sorry."

"Good."

She had a strong reflex to tell him that she loved him, but given what they had been talking about, it seemed like the one time that it wasn't a good idea. Instead she just pressed herself into him tighter.

They stayed like that for a long time. When they finally pulled away, the Doctor bent down to kiss her. It was heartbreakingly soft, and tender in the way that it lingered.

"Thank you," he eventually whispered against her lips.

"For what?"

"Everything. For just being...you."

She tilted her head up so that she could kiss the corner of his mouth. "You don't need to thank me for that, idiot."

He let his forehead rest against hers and shut his eyes. "I want to."

"You really are an idiot."

"Maybe. But if I am, then I'm probably your idiot, and that makes all the difference."

Some Daliya fluff, because we haven't had enough lately because there's been too much going on. There's a fair amount of Daliya in the next chapter, but I'm not so sure I'd call it fluff. You'll see.

Everything after the Time Loop arc, which is now all written, is going to be easy because it's covering the rest of of the series arc, and I'm so excited to be writing it. Prepare for a lot of feels coming your way very soon.

Also, Face the Raven was amazing and I don't think I'm going to be able to handle Heaven Sent/Hell Bent in the slightest.

-MayFairy :)

Guest Review Replies:

EvenEth13 - so glad you're liking it! I really wanted a non-binary character because there's basically no representation for nb people in the media (Carmilla is literally the only thing I know that has a nb character) so it's been really fun to make that happen. It's also a bit of a precursor to having a more major nb character later on in the series, to make sure the concept is in people's heads enough before it actually happens even though it's a long way off. Thanks!