Rose lay flat on the floor of Floor 500, slowly blinking her eyes. In a rush, it all came back to her. Opening the TARDIS, absorbing the TARDIS, Bad Wolf, and…the kiss. Rose sat straight up, gasping. The Doctor lay beside her, unmoving. Her Doctor, with glistening yellow energy rippling through his skin. Rose fell to his side, shaking him,
"Doctor! DOCTOR!" He sat up with a gasp, though his eyes remained shut.
"Rose?" he said quietly. Rose threw her arms around him but the Doctor scrambled up, away from her.
"No, Rose. You shouldn't touch me."
"But why?"
"Because I'm processing the Time Vortex, which takes a bit of concentration. If you touch me, I'll get distracted and you could get hurt. I have to focus. Have to stay me. Can't…can't go." He said with a grunt. Rose slowly stepped forward, her hands hovering inches above him.
"Are you…Are you dying?"
"Wellllllll—oh! That's not me. That's new me." He said. At first he smiled, but it was a strange smile, not the smile Rose was familiar with. Then his smile fell and her Doctor was back, his brow furrowing and there was something breaking in him, some fine filament snapping.
"New you? Doctor, what are you doing?" said Rose worriedly.
"See, Time Lords have this trick where we can process time energy."
"So you aren't dying?"
"Yes and no."
"Doctor, just tell me!" shouted Rose, hands clenching and unclenching in an effort to not reach out to her Doctor. At last, he opened his eyes. The yellow shimmer on his hands glowed bright in his eyes and Rose stepped back, instinctively sensing the danger.
"I'm regenerating, Rose. I'll still be here, but I'll look different. I'll be different."
"But it'll still be you?" said Rose nervously. The Doctor shouted,
"ROSE! Listen! I won't be me. I'll be someone different. A total stranger. I need you to understand that, Rose." The Doctor reached out a hand to her, placing it on her cheek. Rose reached out to him but the Doctor stopped her. Rose nodded tearfully. The Doctor's fierce expression broke to reveal the frightened Time Lord beneath.
"Rose?" he whispered, "Are you still here?"
"Yes, Doctor?"
"I love you." And then he was gone. His arms flew out to his side and the golden energy shot out from all over him. Rose could only watch in awe and horror with tears in her eyes as the energy disappeared in a flash, leaving a new man in her Doctor's clothing.
"Doctor?" she said uncertainly. He grinned at her and the smile was so different, nothing like her Doctor's.
"Sorry. I think I blacked out for a moment during that." said the new man. His voice was different, almost grating on her ears. Rose sighed,
"What's the last thing you remember?" asked Rose, dread growing in her stomach. He wouldn't remember. The Doctor's brow furrowed,
"We were talking about new me and 'welllllll,' I think. Why? Did I miss anything?" he asked, the childish question not surprising Rose. She still felt the world fall out around her. He didn't remember he said it. He said he loved her. Her Doctor had loved her. This new Doctor, with his spikey hair and flat ears and patchy memory, this Doctor would never love her.
"No, nothing important." said Rose, concealing a sigh and hoping he wouldn't notice her tears.
"So where shall we go?" said the new Doctor, rubbing his hands together. Rose wiped the tears from her eyes,
"Well, it's a new you. You should probably see Mum before we forget she doesn't know what you look like." said Rose. The Doctor grumbled but set the coordinates. Rose sat back in her chair, thinking. New Doctor, new man. New love. Her Doctor said he'd be a new man. Nothing was the same. He couldn't love the same Rose. New Doctor, new man. Same old Rose.
