'Good morning, Tegan!'

Tegan Jovanka grinned, as Nyssa Traken walked through the door, smiling prettily. She was wearing her white sundress, with contrasted nicely with her pale skin and curly hair. A small white cardigan (originally gifted to her by Tegan a few years before) was draped across her shoulders, as the weather in the mornings still had something of a nip to it.

The two of them had been friends for years, having worked in the department for… was it coming up to the ten year mark? Gosh, that time had sure flown by. They had met on the first day Nyssa had started working at the University. They made something of an unusual pair; the brash Australian and the sweet-tempered southern Englishwoman, both working in the admin department for the University of East Anglia.

'Cuppa?'

'Oh, yes, please. May I have-'

'Milk and no sugar?'

'You know me too well.'

The two of them chuckled, and Tegan headed into the kitchen. As the kettle boiled, she could hear the sounds of Nyssa turning the radio onto Classic FM. Nyssa had something of a fondness for classical music; the sight of her face lighting up whenever one of her favourite pieces came on was like sunshine. Tegan smiled, knowing that Nyssa was probably already nodding her head along to whatever was now playing.

Her best friend really was awesome.

Taking care not to spill tea on her blue button down shirt and white capri trousers, Tegan carried the two mugs back into the office. Nyssa smiled at her in gratitude as she approached.

'Good weekend?'

'About the same,' Nyssa said, taking her mug from Tegan. The mug had been bought while Tegan had been on holiday back to Australia, and was emblazoned with "you're just my cup of tea". 'My landlord is still unsure of what to do with the cottage, though. They said they'd let me know sometime today as to their final decision.'

'Hmmm,' Tegan said, pursing her lips as she cupped her own mug ("lady of the manor") between her hands.

'You never have liked my landlord, have you?'

'Whatever gave that impression?'

'Oh, one or two things…' Nyssa said, chuckling. 'But how was your weekend? How did that date go?'

'Urgh,' Tegan groaned, making a face. 'No spark whatsoever. Seriously, is it too much to ask to find one woman of a certain age in this entire city who isn't boring as sin?'

'Oh, Tegan…' Nyssa sighed, sympathetically. 'I'm sure there's someone out there for you; you're amazing.'

'You might want to tell other women that,' Tegan chuckled, setting her mug down on the coaster. 'Nah, it's fine; you know me, I've always had difficulty finding someone.'

'I know, but I want you to be happy,' Nyssa said, looking genuinely grieved. 'You deserve the best.'

Tegan reached across and squeezed Nyssa's hand.

'Nyssa, if it means so much to you, if I'm still single at 70, we can get married.'

'Oh, I'd be a terrible wife,' Nyssa said, giggling. 'And don't make fun!'

'You'd be the best,' Tegan replied, with a grin. 'C'mon, am I that predictable-'

'Ah, Tegan! Nyssa!'

Tegan rolled her eyes and reluctantly let go of Nyssa's hand, turning in her swivel chair as a blonde man stuck his head into the office. He was one of the professors for the sports department, but was also a) a massive dork and b) a right pain in the arse. This beige-clad twit exclusively wore Edwardian cricket gear and a cheerfully bewildered expression.

He was also notorious for being late with his paperwork. Assignments, class updates, working timesheets, you name it; the man could not keep a handle on any of them. Which made both Tegan and Nyssa's working lives a nightmare, especially around the end of each semester. The git.

'What is it this time, Doc?'

The man sighed, frowning as he put his hands on his hips.

'You really are so pessimistic, Tegan.'

'Can you blame me?'

At this, Nyssa snickered, catching eyes with Tegan.

The man sighed.

'I can't help it if my paperwork gets a little shoddy at times. That moron who shares an office with me keeps leaving cat badges everywhere.'

'I'll tell him you said that.'

'Good; although it probably wouldn't do much. Can you imagine being around someone who is so unbearably smug about everything?'

Tegan stared at him.

'Vividly, yes.'

The blonde man glared at her.

'Oh, very funny,' he said. 'Nyssa, your partner is a piece of work.'

'Oh, ha ha…'

Tegan rolled her eyes. People had a weird habit of calling Nyssa that; for the life of her, Tegan couldn't work out why. Yes, Nyssa was great, but it wasn't like that between them. Clearly, people were just being silly. Goodness forbid two women be such good friends that they could finish each-others' sentences.

'Peri seems to spend half her life trying to stop those two fighting,' Nyssa said, chuckling to herself.

'I wouldn't wish that on anyone,' Tegan replied. 'Poor love must pull her hair out at times-'

'Heya!'

Two women had poked their heads through the door. One was blonde and seemed to have too many teeth when she smiled. The other was calmer, with a warm Sheffield accent and a cheerful grin.

'Hello, Yaz,' Tegan said. 'Hello, Doc.'

The two fiancés stepped into the room. The Doctor was wearing her normal raincoat with the rainbow-striped top and slightly-too-short trousers. Yaz was, of course, wearing her standard leather jacket and jeans.

'This one's got some paperwork to hand in,' said Yaz, bumping her partner on the arm affectionately with her elbow. 'And on time, just for once.'

'Oy!' the Doctor said, pouting a little as she handed over the papers. 'I'm not that bad; that one with the bow-tie never hands anything in.'

'Pretty sure he's in Central America on some expedition right now,' Tegan said, chuckling. ' Your wedding plans going okay?'

'Just about,' Yaz said. 'Your invite should be going through the post now.'

'Wonderful!' Nyssa said. 'I do love a wedding, and you two are so sweet together.'

'Oh, stop…' the Doctor said, but with a tone that clearly didn't mind. 'Still can't quite believe it, m'self.'

Yaz flushed a little, grinning as she pressed a kiss to her fiancé's cheek.

'Okay, lovebirds; this is a workplace, not a registry office. Off you go,' Tegan cheeked, grinning. 'And I'll look out for the invite.'

Yaz and the Doctor waved, before leaving, hand in hand.

Nice couple, Tegan thought. Yaz had briefly worked alongside Tegan and Nyssa, before moving to work with the estates team. She'd met the Doctor at some random faculty party, and the two of them had been inseparable since. Tegan smiled; it was nice to see a couple so in-tune with each other.

The Australian swivelled around again, and was just opening to mention this to Nyssa, when she saw that the curly-haired woman's brow was set, her eyes scanning an email.

'Nys… everything okay?'

Nyssa stared down at her computer screen for another moment, before turning her seat to face Tegan.

'Not exactly. My landlord just send through the final notification through; my tenancy is definitely not getting renewed.'

'Oh, no!' Tegan replied. 'But you love that place!'

'Yes, the cottage is lovely,' Nyssa sighed. 'But the landlord really can't keep it going with just myself as a tenant. They're going to get it marketed up for a higher price. Which I definitely cannot afford.'

'Such a shame, Nys,' Tegan said, placing a hand on her friends arm. 'Do you know where you're going to move to?'

Nyssa shook her head.

'You know how difficult the rental market is at the moment. And it's not as if the university is paying me a huge salary.'

'Hang on,' Tegan said, her brain suddenly firing on all cylinders. 'My old roommate is moving out next month; why don't you move in with me?'

Nyssa stared at her for a second.

'I- oh, Tegan; that's so thoughtful of you,' she said, mouth widening into a huge smile. 'That wouldn't be imposing on you, would it?'

'Not at all!' Tegan replied, grinning. 'I'd love it! And it would be great to finally room with someone I know well.'

Nyssa reached out and squeezed Tegan's hand, smiling.

'I do so appreciate it; you're wonderful, Tegan.'

Tegan felt her cheeks flush. Oh, Nyssa was so sweet.

'Oh, stop it-'

'No,' Nyssa said, giggling. 'You are truly wonderful and I won't hear anything against it-'

There was a cough from the door.

Oh, what now?…

'Sorry to butt in,' came a Mancunian accent, quickly followed by a man with short hair and a leather pea coat. 'You seen that Southern prat with the pinstriped suit? Tosser shoved his paperwork onto me; said he had a date and booked it out of the office.'

'Oh, not again,' Nyssa said, sighing. 'We have told him to try and coordinate his time better.'

The Northerner sighed, handing the paperwork over.

'Sorry; I know how hard you two work.'

'It's fine,' Tegan said. Unlike most of the other Doctors at the university, this one was basically a hero when it came to helping out with the admin. She found it hard to dislike him. He was just so… earnest about everything. 'Thanks, Doctor; fantastic as always.'

'Ta,' he said, forehead crinkling into wrinkles as he smiled. 'I'm off to help Martha Jones with her dissertation; see you both later.'

The moving-in day arrived. It was a Saturday, at the start of a bank holiday weekend, meaning that they had three whole days to get everything moved in.

The process of actually moving everything in took all day. Nyssa had a fair amount packed, so the two women spent a good few hours driving back and forth from Traken Cottage to Tegan's place. Mercifully, Tegan lived on the ground floor, so they didn't need to worry about carting Nyssa's wardrobe up several flights of stairs. It also helped that Tegan had called in a few favours from some people amongst the University staff, meaning that Dan, Ryan and Ace were helping them out.

'Nyssa, where do you want this?'

Ace and Ryan were trying to jimmy the wardrobe through the doorway. Both of them were rather red in the face from the effort.

'Just to the side of the bed, please,' Nyssa said.

'Your wish is my command, my lady,' Ace said, winking.

Tegan rolled her eyes and swotted Ace on the arm.

'Sorry, Tegan,' Ace chuckled, the light of the overhead lamp glinting off her leather jacket. 'Trust me; I've no intentions whatsoever on your wife.'

'Best friend,' Tegan and Nyssa corrected, in unison.

Ryan chuckled, grunting as he helped Ace manoeuvre the wardrobe into place.

'This solid oak?' he asked. 'Did they not have Ikea back when you bought this?'

'It was from an antique fair,' Nyssa said. 'Tegan insisted on splitting the cost with me.'

'Well, your rent had just gone up,' Tegan said, already dusting the wardrobe. 'And it was too lovely to just leave there.'

Nyssa chuckled, nudging Tegan with her shoulder playfully, the two women grinning at each other as they applied wood polish to the oak.

Ace and Ryan both rolled their eyes.

Eventually, after a lot of heavy lifting, lots of swearing (mainly from Tegan and Ace, with a couple of minor curses from Ryan and Dan) and a few splinters off the wooden furniture, all of Nyssa's things were unpacked, sorted and placed into her new room.

After thanking the other three for their help as they left, the two women then collapsed onto the living room sofa, with two very soothing cups of tea on the table sat on coasters in front of them.

'Well, that was that,' Tegan sighed, stretching out her toes on the carpet. 'A day well spent, I think.'

'Indeed,' Nyssa said, reaching forward to cup her mug in her hand. 'Thank you so much for helping me with the moving.'

'Hey, what are best friends for?' Tegan replied, shrugging. 'Besides, I know how expensive those moving companies are, and I only charge in biscuits and tea.'

Nyssa chuckled, fondly, sending her mug back down on the coaster before leaning back into the sofa.

'Ow,' Nyssa said, adjusting where she was sat. She reached under the cushion. 'Somethings poking into me…'

Her hand pulled out of the cushion, something grasped in her fingers. And Tegan felt her throat seize up as she realised precisely what had been stuffed underneath there.

Nyssa stared at the long silicon cylinder.

'Tegan…' she said, slowly. 'What… what is this?'

Tegan's face had, by this point, raced past red and was rapidly approaching a delicate shade of maroon that it had not achieved since she was a teenager.

'Er… w-well…'

Nyssa's face registered the embarrassment plastered over her friends face, and her brain seemed to put two and two together.

'Oh.'

There was a very prolonged pause. Tegan's palms seemed to be sweating.

However, the two of them then looked up, took one glance at each other, and both descended into fits of laughter

'Oh, Tegan…' Nyssa gasped, eyes watering. 'Your face was a picture!'

'So was yours, Nys! "Tegan, what's this?", as if you didn't know what it is!'

'Well, you don't expect to be sitting on your friends vibr-'

'Shhhh!' Tegan spluttered, and the two of them descended further into laughter. 'You can't say stuff like that, not with that posh voice of yours!'

'Cheek!'

Nyssa gently shoved Tegan, and the two of them landed in a heap on the sofa, both laughing their heads off.

'Why… why do you have it, then?'

'Oh, my cousin Donna got it for me as a joke last year for Hannukah,' Tegan said, her cheeks sore with laughter as the two of them sat back up. 'I've never actually… y'know-'

'I get the picture,' Nyssa said, quickly.

'Yeah, you do!' Tegan cheeked, winking.

The two of them laughed again.

'Korma alright?'

Nyssa nodded.

'Delicious,' she said, covering her hand with her mouth as she gave a small burp. 'It's been a long time since I had a takeaway.'

'Really?' Tegan replied, her mouth full of naan bread. 'Gosh, looks like you moved in just in time; you need to have treats more often, Nys.'

'I do!' Nyssa said, in mock outrage. 'I'll have you know that I bought double-chocolate digestives last week!'

The two women chuckled, enjoying the others company. They had been close for so long that it seemed strange that they were only now living together. But it was… nice. If this evening was anything to go by, this new living arrangement was going to be a lot of fun.

After the washing up had been done, Tegan grabbed a bottle of wine and pulled Nyssa over to the sofa.

'To celebrate a successful moving-in,' she said, liberally filling their glasses.

'Indeed,' Nyssa said. 'And thank you again!'

Their glasses clinked together.

There wasn't a huge amount on telly that evening, so Tegan pulled out her old DVD of 'The Wizard Of Oz' and set it playing. It had been one of the first films that she had loved as a kid, and she had never quite found herself able to stop watching it. Whenever she was a little lonely or upset, she'd watch it and everything would feel… well, not alright, but that things could get better if she kept trying.

Sometime during the movie, the two women found themselves resting back against the sofa, Tegan's arm around Nyssa's shoulders.

'Tegan…' Nyssa said, her voice slightly slurred. 'Are you going to bring women back here? Will I have to keep to my room?'

'What?' Tegan replied, surprised. 'No; I'm a bit beyond that stage of my life. Besides, if I ever did bring home someone, I'd want them to meet you.'

'Whatever… whatever for?'

'So I could say to them "this is my best friend; we live together and I love her very much. If that's a problem, there's the door".'

'Oh…' Nyssa's face broke into a wide smile as she turned her head. 'You love me, Tegan?...'

'Course I bloody do,' Tegan said, smiling. 'Haven't I made that clear already?'

'Yeah, but… but you never said you loved me…' Nyssa said, giggling. 'Oh, but I'm not a lesbian, though…'

'What are you then?'

'A little tipsy,' Nyssa giggled. 'Yes, a rather tipsy bisexual.'

Tegan chuckled. Nyssa leaned into her side, and the Australian wrapped her arm closer around her friend. Damn, Nyssa smelled good. Was she using a new conditioner? Pomegranate, perhaps. It suited her very well.

'Thanks for moving in, Nys,' she said, softly. 'You're the best.'

'No…you are…' Nyssa replied, a little sleepily. ''nd pretty too…'

Wow, that wine had really gone to her head, hadn't it? Tegan let out a chuckle, eyes closing.

'Love you too, Tegan… love you too…'

Tegan got the vague sense that a pair of lips had just pressed a kiss to her forehead. But she was probably just imagining it… after all, only Nyssa was here, and she didn't see Tegan that way…

Beep, beep, beep…

Tegan startled. Sitting up numbly in bed, she turned her alarm clock off. She must have forgotten to turn the blasted thing off. Typical; now she was awake early on a Sunday.

Tegan yawned and stretched. Deciding she might as well get some food, she climbed out of bed, pulled her dressing gown around her and headed towards the kitchen. The sunlight was already filtering through the closed blinds, and outside she could hear the sound of birdcalls. Tegan set the kettle going, and started putting bread in the toaster.

'Morning…'

Tegan turned. Nyssa had walked in, wearing an adorable velvet robe in deep purple. Her hair was slightly rumpled and her voice still had a slight husk from sleepiness.

As ever, Nyssa somehow managed to make even early-morning-starts look gorgeous. And yet Tegan found herself unable to be jealous, only contentedly thoughtful.

'Morning, Nys,' she said, shooting a grin at her friend. 'Cuppa?'

'Yes, please,' Nyssa said, smiling as she got a bowl out of the cupboard. 'I'll just make myself some porridge. May I have-'

'A spot of milk and no sugar?' Tegan finished. The two of them shared a smile. 'Of course you may.'

This felt… right, having Nyssa here. Like they should have been living together long before this. A few minutes later, the two of them sat down at the small kitchen table, both focusing for a while on their respective breakfasts.

'Everything alright, Tegan?'

'Hmmm?'

Nyssa grinned, halfway through her bowl of Ready Brek.

'You're staring at me.'

Tegan blinked. Yes, she had been staring at Nyssa over her mug of tea, plate of toast ignored.

'Sorry; you just look really pretty.'

Nyssa's cheeks flushed.

'Oh, stop it…'

'I'm serious!' Tegan exclaimed, smiling. 'You're gorgeous, Nys; seriously, how no-one hasn't snatched you up yet is beyond me.'

Nyssa smiled, her face flushed prettily pink. Well, Nyssa was pretty anyway; the blush just accentuated it further.

'I could say the same for you, Tegan.'

Tegan felt her own cheeks flush.

'Flirt,' she giggled, taking a bite of her half-cold toast. 'Just because I'm living with a glamorous lady like yourself, that doesn't mean I'm that predictable.'

Nyssa let out another giggle. It sounded like birdsong to Tegan's ears as she quickly polished off her toast.

'Well, I'm going to have a shower,' Tegan said, standing up. She crossed the room and gave her mug a quick rinse under the tap before putting it in the bowl to wash up later, along with her plate. 'Are you going to have a lie in? That wine went to your head last night, after all…'

Nyssa chuckled. The two of them had dozed off for an hour on the sofa after watching the film, and Tegan had helped Nyssa to her room; the poor woman really had no tolerance for alcohol.

'No, I'm fine. I'll read some of my book and hop in the shower after you've finished.'

'Just a word of warning; I do sing in the shower.'

'I'll make a note of that if I ever decide to join you in there.'

'Don't tempt me with a good time; that bathroom doesn't have a lock on it,' Tegan said, giving a quick wink as she walked past Nyssa and out of the kitchen. She could hear the tinkle of Nyssa chuckling to herself as she walked down the corridor.

Tegan headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind her, and began to brush her teeth. She was just about to spit the toothpaste out when a sudden memory rose from her unconsciousness.

A… kiss?

Tegan startled for a second, mouth full of minty paste. Was… was she remembering that right? Nyssa had kissed her on the forehead. Yes, that would be right, since there was no-one else in the room. It had felt… nice. Nyssa had lovely lips, after all. Not that Tegan looked at her best friends' lips, of course. This was just a platonic observation. It was just now that Tegan knew that Nyssa's lips felt nice, too. When she was kissing someone. On the forehead. Platonically.

What the hell am I thinking?

Feeling her cheeks flush, Tegan spat out the toothpaste, and wiped her mouth with the hand-towel, feeling rather out-of-sorts. Well, she mused, not exactly. Tegan hardly disliked the idea. But that was normal for two friends, especially best friends. Best friends did that, right? Perfectly normal platonic affection. Obviously.

Then… then why had her heartrate increased when she had first remembered it?

Tegan discarded her pyjamas and climbed into the shower. As she set to work shampooing her hair, she couldn't shake the strange feeling that was bubbling in her stomach.

Don't be silly, she told herself, sharply, I don't fancy Nyssa. I'm not some adolescent with a crush! This is my best friend we're talking about; Nys probably didn't mean anything by it! We had both had a few glasses, after all.

Yeah. Yeah, that was it. They were two best friends who were now living together, and enjoying each others' company more now that they were sharing a flat. Yes, Nyssa was wonderful, and funny, and smart, and sweet, and utterly gorgeous, but Tegan didn't see her that way. Definitely not. Nyssa was her best friend, after all. Best friends didn't look at each other like that.

Best friends didn't think about each other in that way.