"Well, one of these has got to be right," Yaz looked at the Doctor, frustrated.
The Doctor was walking up a Sheffield High Street, occasionally stopping to peer into clothes shops. So far, she'd scrunched up her nose and walked away from over ten of them. Her scruffy clothes were getting looks from some of the early morning shoppers.
Trailing behind the Doctor were her new friends, Yaz and Ryan. Although Yaz thought 'friends' seemed odd. She'd barely known the Doctor for very long at all and was sure that she'd be leaving soon. Yaz wasn't looking forward to that. There was something intriguing about the Doctor, and she hadn't been able to work her out. Yaz was proud of the fact that, normally, she was a good judge of character, but the Doctor seemed immune.
Ryan was on his phone. Yaz was surprised he'd decided to come, but supposed that it must've been good to get out. Take his mind off things.
"I'm just not…" the Doctor wound her arms round in circles to try and find the right word. "Feeling any of them. What do you two reckon?"
"Well, I shop in that one," Yaz said.
"Which one?"
"The one you just walked past."
"How did you decide to shop in that one?"
"I just liked the clothes."
"What about you, Ryan?"
Ryan looked up from his phone. "I don't shop in that one."
"No, I mean, how did you pick these?"
"Uh, I dunno. They were comfy. Gran said my old ones were getting worn out."
"Grace had a very good sense of style," the Doctor agreed. "Maybe I could just wear what you're wearing."
"Well, not while I'm wearing it," Ryan smiled politely.
"No, but where did you get it?"
"I can't remember. They're men's clothes anyway."
The Doctor stretched her arms out, as if to make a point. Then, as if realising that the point she was making was no longer valid, she drew her arms back in.
"Clothes shopping is very confusing. I just don't know what I like. I don't know what would suit me. Ooh, I could wear a suit. No, I've done that. I want something…" the Doctor again tried to find the words. "New."
They walked on, and Yaz's eye was caught by an accessory shop. In its window, there was a sign advertising ear piercing.
"Have you ever had your ears pierced?" Yaz asked.
The Doctor stopped, turned, and looked puzzled. "No. I don't think so. Well, I once wore fake earrings when I was undercover as a Venusian Prince. But that was a long time ago."
"Maybe you could do that," Yaz said. "I got mine done at that place."
The Doctor turned to look at the shop Yaz had seen. "You know what, Yasmin Khan? That's a brilliant idea." The Doctor strode towards the door, and then quickly walked back. "I'm a bit worried I'm scared of sharp objects, I might need you to come with me."
Ryan looked up from his phone again. "You jumped a crane the other day!"
"Exactly! Give me a crane any day." The Doctor took Yaz's hand and walked towards the shop. Yaz turned back to look at Ryan, and beckoned him into the shop.
"You mean I can have any of these?"
"Well, if you pay for them, yeah," Ryan said.
"There's so much choice! I'm gonna be a while, guys." The Doctor was lifting earring after earring from the racks, trying to find something she wanted.
"Those ones are nice," Yaz pointed out a cuff made up of stars.
The Doctor's mouth opened, and she picked up the earrings as if cradling something precious. "Amazing. Excellent choice, Yaz."
"You can't wear just those," Ryan interjected. "You gotta have something to go on this bit as well," Ryan pinched his earlobe, and the Doctor nodded, taking everything on board.
"Bit of an expert," Yaz said to Ryan.
"I was gonna buy my gran some earrings a couple of Christmases ago, but then I thought Graham was, so I bought her a frog necklace. Turns out Graham bought her a necklace as well."
"That was well co-ordinated," Yaz smirked.
Ryan nodded in agreement, but went quiet. He wasn't really ready to talk about Grace again yet.
The Doctor's face appeared from behind another rack. "Would it be impractical to wear all of them?"
Yaz politely thanked the woman who had pierced the Doctor's ears, as she might've thanked an adult for looking after a difficult child. The Doctor had been in and out of the chair, getting distracted by more and more earrings that she could wear.
When it was done, and the Doctor had decided on the earrings she wanted, she looked at them in the mirror.
"They're so cool! And a little bit painful. Oh well, I've just changed every cell in my body, so I guess this is nothing! Thanks for this Yaz!" Then she pointed to Yaz's earrings, and her own. "Look at us!"
"Now we've just gotta find you some clothes," Yaz said.
"And maybe get some lunch?"
"Ooh, lunch sounds good!" The Doctor said.
Yaz shot Ryan a look. "The shops'll be closing at this rate."
"We'll get there. I'll know what I want when I see it."
As they left the shop, Ryan's attention was drawn to a small charity shop. He'd volunteered there for a few weeks back when Grace had first been seeing Graham, mainly just to get out of the house. But Grace was always donating clothes and books and boxsets that she'd never get round to watching.
It was always going to remind him of her, Ryan realised. This whole town was. Places that they'd had lunch, places where she bumped into a friend or one of the other nurses and talked for hours.
Lost in his thoughts, Ryan didn't realise that the Doctor and Yaz had stopped too. The Doctor was staring at the shop, suddenly delighted.
"Let's go here!" And she rushed inside.
Yaz looked at Ryan, bemused, and followed the Doctor in. Ryan took a moment, quickly surveying the inside to make sure no one Grace knew was working. He wasn't sure he could deal with any questions.
Then he stepped inside, thinking that this might take a while, and that food might be a long way away. But he had no idea quite how much of a detour him and Yaz were about to take.