Our story begins as he wakes in the medbay of the TARDIS grown from his TARDIS' coral...and with Rose weeping beside the bed.

One More Time, Rose Tyler

Even for him, this was passing strange. He knew he was in his clone, yes. He had the clone's memories from when he'd left him along with Rose in this Universe. He knew that in his old universe, his 12th form was in charge, yes...he knew all these things. He knew that Rose hadn't aged in the fifty or so years that she had been here...and he knew that the clone had...and he knew this because the clone had known it. He could feel some heavily guarded, blocked off areas in the clone's memories and didn't touch them. He also knew that his ability to heal the body had removed the evidence of those years...which Rose would surely notice once she lifted her head...and she did so the moment he lifted a hand to run his fingers through her hair.

"John?"

"No. Just me." The Doctor peered at her in confusion...why was Rose flinching away? "Something strange happened, very strange. I don't understand yet. I was regenerating into my 12th form and my mind, my knowledge...were suddenly here. In John. His mind died, Rose...but his body hadn't yet shut down. So, it's only me in here. I have his memories though, along with my own. Well, most of them. There are some areas that are locked away, lots of protections on them...I'll leave them alone."

She stared at him, her jaw sagging.

"We...he and I, I mean, we never..."

"I know."

"He didn't want to."

"I know. A woman that's a good fit for me on the TARDIS..."

"Yeah. He said." A single tear dropped from her right eye. "And when we found out I wasn't aging and he was, he was so angry. Wasn't long ago, really. He dove head first into all sorts of things that no human was ever intended to survive...and that...th...that...incident. Couldn't wait to go. To leave me."

"I know." He whispered, hurting for her. He sat up, drawing her into his arms for a tight hug. "We'll work it out, meantime, it seems this personality is in the wrong body. On the plus side, having both a me and a TARDIS on both sides of the void means I can have a bit of a chat with myself and find out what's going on."

"But what if you contact the wrong you?"

"Um...dunno. With the void separating us, though, it shouldn't be too serious."

"Okay." She handed him a few instruments and waited expectantly while he ran several tests on himself. He finally sighed.

"What?"

"There are no markers for earlier bodies. Like tree rings, each body leaves evidence of itself. It was once a way for Time Lord medical staff to count regenerations on someone that was tranced down or worse, completely unconscious. This body doesn't have any because it was a clone...which means that for all intents and purposes I'm now the First Doctor of this Universe."

"So...does that mean I won't outlive you?"

"Probably. Yes, I think so."

She just looked at up into his green eyes and finally, burrowed her face into the side of his neck, trembling a little in his embrace, and that was where she stayed for most of the rest of the evening. He did lift her, once and carry her over to a couch where he made them both comfortable, but he didn't move her much. 11th had more pure empathy than 10th had and he sensed she needed the contact with a 'real' Doctor. He knew, without one word being said about it, that it wouldn't have mattered which him, not to her. He had missed her so much...

**TBC**