"Wait, you did this on purpose? Can she turn you back to normal then?" Amy asked.
"Is he not normally this size?" Yaz looked around.
"I KNEW I'd gotten shorter!" The doctor smacked her forehead lightly. "Was driving me absolutely mad; I couldn't tell if it was our hair or the jacket- that's a nice look, by the way, very vintage us." The doctor shot him a finger gun and the time tot did the same.
Amy blanched. "Oh my god, there really are two of them. Rory!" She rushed inside to the stairs while the smaller Doctor (baby doctor? mini Doc? Yaz wasn't sure what to call him) peered up at them both.
"Your coat's long." He frowned.
"Oh yeah, thanks! Do you like it?" The doctor asked.
"No."
Yaz snorted while the Doctor glared.
"I don't think I like old us very much"-
"You're old, 'cause you're big." The little doctor pointed out. Yaz was set to jump in when their hosts reappeared.
"Sorry Ames I was just running the bath so we could clean him up and-" Rory Williams came jogging down the stairs, pausing in his explanation as the other three stepped inside to greet him. "Right, you said we had company?"
"Rory! Rory Pond and Amy Pond!" The doctor rushed forward, pulling them both in. Blinking in bewilderment, they hugged her back. "The Ponds, hello, Ponds! Group hug, do we still do that? We do that, right?" She shrugged and squeezed them tighter. "I've decided; I'm gonna do it."
"Um... Amy? Who are we hugging?" Rory asked, unable to squirm away.
"The Doctor called them - him- her-" Amy huffed. "Themselves. This is the doctor too."
"Right... okay. You look, um... different?" He tried to get a better look.
The doctor pulled back with a nervous laugh. "That's right. You don't know this face. Not to worry, still me! Just taller."
The couple shared a look.
"Taller?" Rory asked. Amy slapped his arm.
"So!" Amy smiled brightly. "Who's your friend?"
"Oh, I'm Yaz-"
"This is Yaz! We're traveling." The doctor shifted. "Not like- well, sort of like-. Anyway. This is Yaz, and you're Amy and Rory." She smiled tightly. Her eyes hadn't left the couple yet, with a pained and wistful expression Yaz had only seen a handful of times.
"Well!" Yaz clapped her hands to break the awkward smiles. "It's really great to meet you. The TARDIS brought us here, but we weren't sure why. I'm guessing it has something to do with"-
"Short me! Of course!" The doctor shook herself out of her stupor, whipping out her sonic and waving it over the little boy. "We've shrunk a good... what, five inches? Six?"
Curiously, the little doctor reached for the sonic, glaring when it was pulled out of his reach.
"Amy, I want more custard." He said. She squatted down to his eye level.
"You've already had two bowls, I don't think even Timelord's tummies could handle more." She said.
"I've got two hearts. Maybe I got two tummies?" He suggested. She smiled.
"Don't think that's how it works, Doctor. C'mon, let's clean you up, then you can get on the wii if you like."
"Ooh! Can I have a turn?" The Doctor interrupted. "I'm killer on the wii."
"No you don't!" Amy got back up. "I need you to fix him- you- first."
The Doctor groaned. "He'll grow into his new face, I promise!"
"Doctor, he's a kid." Yaz nudged her. "Like a little kid. I think we're supposed to help turn him back."
The Doctor sighed. "Right! Course. Timey-wimey things. Should turn him back quick as we can." She tossed her Sonic lightly. "D'ye know what? I could really go for a cuppa right now. Had tea at Yaz's; that was great, never done that before. Shall we have tea at the Ponds? Come on, Yaz!" And she made a beeline for the kitchen.
"Uh- The Doctor, she-" Yaz tried to explain, but Amy shook her head.
"Same as our Doctor. Rory, I'll get the kettle on; take the doctor up for a bath." Amy moved to follow the other woman before Rory caught ahold of her arm.
"The thing is, I don't, um..." He lowered his voice, looking towards the child who was attempting to pull open the drawer they'd locked his sonic in for the time being. "I don't think he likes me very much."
"What? Of course, he does. You're like his favorite person."
He scoffed. "What, after you, you mean?"
Amy smiled. "Yeah, exactly. Doctor?" And she knelt again, still smiling as the little boy ran over. "Rory's gonna help you clean up. Then you can come to play."
"Wit my sonic?" He asked hopefully.
"Um. Actually!" She scooped him up. "Know what? Rory's got some really fun bubbles he's gonna put in your bath and a boat-"
Rory blinked. "Dad just built that boat. I can't-"
"Brian won't mind." She handed the boy off. "Get nice and tidy and then you can come back. Right? Can't have my boys a mess."
"Can I really have a boat?" The doctor peered up at him. "Can it be a TARDIS boat? Can I make the TARDIS into a boat?"
"I bet Brian would love that idea." Amy smiled, and Rory huffed at her. "Share the boat with Rory, alright, Doctor?
"Will you tell Dad you're the one who asked for it?" Rory accepted a kiss, still grumbling as he carried their young charge upstairs. With the Doctor under her husband's watchful eye, it was time for Amy to deal with the second problem.
"Doctor, I don't think you can just go into someone's cupboard-" Yaz began, glancing back at The Doctor rummaging around the small sage green kitchen. True to her word, she'd put the kettle on, only to announce she didn't remember how to make proper tea and ask Yaz to do it.
Though Yaz expected it had less to do with memory and more to do with The Doctor's sudden distraction over the serving bowl on the wooden dining table.
"Oh good, they've left some! It's like they knew we were coming!" She scooped up a bowl of custard for herself and snatched a fish finger off the plate sitting out. "The Ponds always were a thoughtful pair." She dipped the fish finger into the bowl of custard and then took a healthy bite. "Mmm! That's absolutely rubbish." And she spit it into the sink.
"Well, of course, it is, it isn't-"
"Wait, no lemme try again." She dipped and took another chew. "Yeah, that's the stuff!"
Yaz watched her in disbelief. "Does it taste better?"
"Nope. Still terrible. Ah well, new mouth, new me." She bit into it again, making a face as she chewed thoughtfully. "Although I didn't think getting taller messed with your tastebuds."
"Right..." She watched the doctor grimace through another mouthful. "Doctor, will you tell me how that little boy can be you, but you're - also, you?" She asked.
"Simple, really. He's me from before, and I'm me from right now." She finished off her snack and set the bowl aside, interested in the knickknacks along the white breakfast bar, and the orchids in the window beside it. "But if he's that small I guess he probably stuck his nose where he shouldn't have and now we've got to put him back." She sighed, heavily put upon. "Before me always was a nosy sort, worse than I am if you can believe it. That's how we ended up engaged to Nefertiti."
Yaz's eyebrows shot up. "You're married?"
"But what I can't figure out is how it happened." She continued as though she hadn't heard her. Instead, she pulled out her Sonic and tried to scan the room. "Amy said they saw him change, but I'm not getting any readings on my sonic to indicate what caused him to deage."
"Maybe it didn't happen here." Yaz looked around, heading to the window and peering out. "Maybe it happened in his TARDIS?"
"Oh, is it out there?" The doctor perked up.
"A phone box is, yeah."
"Clever girl, always settling in wherever she needs to. Let's have a look." The doctor started for the backdoor, only to be stopped by Yaz's hand on her arm.
"Doctor, you still haven't said how you knew these people. Or why we're not supposed to be here. Are we in some kind of danger?"
There was that same painful pause again.
"They're good people. Don't worry about the rest."
"But did you-" She shifted, tried to smile. "I mean, were they like me? Traveling with you? Did- did they stop, like Ryan and Graham?"
There was a dark edge to the Doctor's gaze, her smile and silly babbling dropping away like a mask. "Like I said. We shouldn't be here, don't worry about the rest. We'll put past me back to the right age and body, and then we're going home. That's all you need to know."