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You were losing track of time. Which, honestly, was probably to be expected whilst living on a time machine. But you really hadn’t thought the lack of consistent days would get to you; you were slowly realizing that wasn’t quite the case.
If you were away with the Doctor on some alien planet for a few days and then she dropped you back on Earth minutes after leaving, your body would have aged even if time hadn’t progressed much for everyone around you. And what about planets whose days were longer or shorter than twenty-four hours? If it was already impossible to keep track of the time while you were hopping between planets rotating at different speeds from Earth, it was made even more difficult by the fact you were usually running for your life on said planets. The hour of the day always seemed slightly less important when you were being chased by aliens.
It was all a lot to think about. But it felt important to try to keep track. You probably weren’t especially accurate, but the multiple calendars you had stashed in your room in the TARDIS did the job fairly well, you thought.
So you were pretty confident today was just an ordinary day. Just a normal, plain, unremarkable day.
You weren’t paying much attention as you headed toward the console room, you’d done it so many times is was routine. What certainly wasn’t routine (well, most of the time, at least) was the Doctor jumping and shouting as soon as you entered her field of vision.
“Surprise!”
You jumped about a meter in the air, heart racing as the Doctor waved her arms about, goofy grin plastered on her face.
“Happy half birthday, Y/N!”
As you got your breathing under control from the shock, you felt confusion write itself on your face as you choked on a surprised laugh. “It’s my half birthday? On Earth? Humans don’t usually celebrate half birthdays, Doctor,” you said, biting back a smirk.
Clearly not the reaction the Doctor was expecting, she scronched her nose at you. “Or maybe it’s your whole birthday? Full birthday? Unbirthday? Life anniversary? No, that can’t be right,” she frowned, furrowing her eyebrows and tilting her head like a confused puppy.
As she continued muttering to herself, you took in the rest of the console room. She’d clearly been enthusiastic about decorating for this, whatever this occasion actually was. Foil balloons were tied to the pillars surrounding you and confetti littered the grated floor. You even spotted a small wrapped box tucked amongst the levers and dials on the console.
“Is it Christmas? No, that can’t be it, bad things usually happen to me around that time,” she frowned. “I do keep track of some things, y’know. Steel trap, this is,” she nods seriously, tapping her temple.
You stifled another laugh at the lost look on her face. For a Time Lord, she seemed worse at keeping track of time than you were.
“It’ll come to me,” she sighed, shrugging and spinning on her heel toward the console, snatching up the gift sitting there. “While we wait for Yaz to bring the cake, care to open your present?”
She tossed you the box as you bounded toward her, both of you grinning ear to ear. The shiny blue paper was almost overshadowed by the obscene amount of tape she’d used to secure it in place. Tongue poking out of your mouth in concentration, you pried the wrapping undone, laughing at the grimace that flashed across the Doctor’s face as you struggled.
Popping the box open, you couldn’t help but gasp at the contents. An intricate fobwatch sat on a velvety pillow of blue, the shiny face reflecting the lights of the TARDIS. The Doctor picked it up gingerly and snapped open the lid, revealing several more clock hands than you were expecting.
“I know you like to know the time,” she started explaining, “so I wanted to make it a tiny bit easier for you to do that. It’ll show you Earth time while you’re away, TARDIS time while you’re here, and this hand here syncs to the local time of whatever planet we’re on, so you can even keep track of how long we’re offworld.”
You were utterly speechless. It was such a thoughtful gift, and you still weren’t even sure what it was for. Without thinking, you flung your arms around the Doctor’s neck, hoping you could convey your gratitude through the hug. She froze a bit in your arms, but after the initial shock wore off, she wrapped her hands around your waist, pulling you close.
“Happy anniversary, Y/N!” you heard Yaz shout, startling you both out of the hug. Jumping back to give the Doctor some space, you turned to see Yaz holding a generously frosted cake, wearing a party hat, and pinching a noise maker between her teeth.
The Doctor brightened at that. “Right! It’s your anniversary! See, I said anniversary earlier, I knew I was getting warmer.”
Puzzled, you glanced between them. “Anniversary of what?”
“It’s officially been a year since you’ve joined Team TARDIS,” the Doctor grinned. “Which is definitely a cause for celebration. Always glad when a friendship lasts a whole year!” The wide smile on her face flickered slightly at that, and you knew she was trying not to remember all the friendships she’d had that hadn’t made it that long.
She shook her head and brightened again, snatching up a party hat and plopping it on your head.
As Yaz set the cake down, she glanced at the Doctor suspiciously. “Doctor, did you not remember this was an anniversary party?”
“Yaz, I’m a Time Lord, I have an innate sense of time, sometimes I just keep track of so much time I forget what I’m keeping track of,” she shrugged, running a finger through the icing on the side of the cake.
“This whole thing was your idea!” she laughed, swatting the Doctor’s hand away as she reached for the frosting again.
You could tell they were about to descend into a tense bout of banter, so you cut in as the Doctor opened her mouth to reply.
“Doctor, you mentioned birthdays before. When’s yours?”
She froze for a moment and tilted her head. You could see the gears turning behind her eyes, and you were curious if she’d really tell the two of you.
“Oh, y’know, when you’re a time traveler, you sort of lose track. Not even quite sure exactly how old I am anymore,” she said, eyes thoughtful.
You raised an eyebrow, curious if she’d elaborate.
“Well, at least a couple thousand years. Probably. Maybe a few billion, depending on who you ask,” she shrugged as if that was a perfectly reasonable thing to say. “And I have no idea how many regenerations-“ she cut herself off, frowning.
Before she could get too lost in her own head, you leaned into her space, snapping a party hat onto her head and tucking the string behind her ears. A goofy grin lit up her face as she looked up, trying and failing to see how she looked.
“Happy anniversary,” she smiled.
“Thanks for keeping me on board, Doc,” you replied.
Offense flashed across her face as she batted your arm. “Of course,” she smiled softly. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”