A/N: Firstly, I want everyone to know I like Peter Capaldi, I think he would make an excellent Doctor if the team wrote him a little better. I love Doctor Who but the latest season just hasn't been enjoyable. Maybe it's me growing up - I certainly hope not - but I think it has more to do with the writing this season. I'm sure I wasn't the only one displeased with Matt's regeneration so I rewrote it. 90% of it is accurate to the show itself save for the last 10% where I take control. In this version of events however, Matt does not regenerate into Peter
Thank you.
The Tardis glowed a soft green as Clara made her way through the control room. Clothing was strewn across the floor and atop the control panel she found the remains of fish fingers and custard. Whilst she had grown accustomed to some bizarre circumstances since choosing to travel with the Doctor, something here didn't feel quite right.
Confused, Clara followed the trail of clothing. First a shirt, then some trousers. Cautiously, never entirely sure what waited around the next corner where the Doctor was concerned, she began to make her way down a set of stairs. She couldn't remember if these stairs lead to the engine room or the Doctor's chambers. As she had never really been to either, she was not entirely sure.
Half way down the stairs however, she faltered. Amongst the gentle hum of the Tardis' engine, Clara heard the unmistakeable sound of slow, careful footsteps from behind. Hesitantly she turned around to see the Doctor rising from the stairwell on the opposite side of the panel, his leather shoes squeaking with every foot movement.
He stood before her, tall and strong as she had remembered. His hair once again thick and brunette, his face filled with youth once more. He was no longer the old man. She could barely hold back the smile that spread over her features "Doctor!"
Excited, she practically leaped back up the stairs. He smiled back at her with the fondness of someone seeing a friend they had dearly missed. His eyes shone with his usual absurd mix of childish mischief and ageless wisdom.
"Hello" Clara didn't detect the hollowness to his voice. She couldn't see the sadness in his smile as he looked down on her. She was all too happy to have her best friend back to see what was wrong with the scene.
"You're young again, you're okay…" she stood, nervously picking at her fingernails like a school girl talking to her crush. She felt the prickle of tears threatening to betray her. She had to momentarily look to the floor, away from the Doctor, to gain control of the emotions warring through her "…you didn't even change your face"
The Doctor clapped his hands together and laughed, a short almost anxious laugh.
"It's started, I can't stop it now this is just the reset" He began thinking with his hands, a habit of his that never ceased to make him look eccentric. Well…more eccentric, the purple suit and bow tie generally alerted the public to the Doctor's eccentricities before he started with the hand gestures. Clara stared at him wide eyed, unsure what all of this meant. She watched as he made his way around the central panel, occasionally touching the levers or buttons affectionately "A whole new regeneration cycle! Ooh!"
Clara couldn't hold back the giggle as she watched the man paused at the sight of the fish-custard remains. Without the need of a spoon, the Doctor tipped up his bowl and drank down his leftovers like an overgrown toddler. He was hesitant to put the bowl down, his childish excitement from seconds ago suddenly replaced by the worry of a dying man.
"It's taking a bit longer…" he placed the bowl on the panel once more, this time very slowly. He held his hands in the air as he made his way to the monitor. Clara got the distinct feeling that he wasn't entirely sure what to do with himself. "…just breaking it in"
She watched, feeling rather scared and helpless, as she watched him struggle from the monitor back around the control panel to where he had originally began. Whilst he acted like the man she had knew and loved, twitching dials and stroking the machinery intimately, it no longer felt like she was in the same room as him. This wasn't the Doctor. This was an old man, struggling with his age, making the occasionally "ooh" and "ah" that came when life became an effort.
He pulled down a lever, bent over the panel as his the movement had tired him out. He looked pained and unless Clara was mistaken, he seemed to be avoiding making eye contact with her. He focused somewhere on the wall behind her as he pulled himself up, still leaning against the Tardis for support, though it wasn't clear exactly what kind of support he needed.
"It all seems to just disappears, doesn't it? Everything you are gone in a moment, like breath on a mirror…" The Doctor leaned forward, as if he was getting to the climax of a really exciting bedtime tale. He spoke in a hushed tone, almost a whisper "…Any moment now, he's a comin'!"
"Who's coming?" edging slightly closer to the Doctor, she wanted so desperately to touch him. To reach out to him and offer the support she felt he needed. Yet, she held back. Something told her to try and keep her distance.
"The Doctor!" his whisper seemed to fill the room better than any shout could have. His smile was slipping and with each passing moment his eyes grew sadder and sadder. She had only just got her Doctor back, yet Clara couldn't help but feel like this was a goodbye.
"You…" she paused, confused by the Doctors words "You are the Doctor"
"Yep…and I always will be" His voice cracked. Pain was apparent on his face, more than just the terrible pain raging through his body as it began to shut down and prepare itself. He fought back the tears that were welling in his eyes and he leant forward, fighting against his body. He lifted his hands up to examine and much to his regret, he saw the soft golden glow that was the regeneration process beginning to work "But times change, and so must I…Amelia!"
Clara looked around for the Amelia that he called out for. She could not see the children's colouring pages or hear the soft giggle that came from the little girl running in front of the Doctor. Her hair the colour of ember was tucked beneath a blue woolly and she wore a winters coat to hide her night dress. He could remember it now. Little Amelia, running from her home to see what had crashed to the bottom of her garden.
The hallucination was a private thing, for the Doctors eyes only. Clara was an outsider to this moment, leaving her confused as to who the Doctor was looking at and why it had brought a smile to his face "Who's Amelia?"
"The first face, this face saw" he explained, but his attention was focussed on the small Scottish girl cheerily running across the balcony, giggling to herself. His mouth hung open like a goldfish as he watched her, with Clara watching on with tear brimmed eyes "We all change"
The Doctor sounded much calmer now. The sight of little Amy had given him strength to face what was coming. He collected his thoughts, he didn't have much time left. This was his last chance to say goodbye.
"When you think about it, we're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay, that's good. You've gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be" The Doctor brought his hands together and paused for a moment. Even if he didn't have much time left he refused to rush through his farewell "I will not forget one line of this. Not one day. I swear. I will always remember when The Doctor was me"
That's when he saw her. Her hand trailing down the bannister and her face no different to the day he said goodbye to her. No longer the little Scottish girl he had met, he watched as Amy made her way to him. A full grown woman now, beautiful and strong. She approached him slowly, her lips curving into a smile and The Doctor couldn't help but smile back.
"Raggedy man" Amy whispered to him before lifting her hand to gently cup his cheek. He touched hers, in disbelief that he got to share this moment. Every regeneration was different, you never really knew what to expect from them. He was glad that this time, he was reunited with someone he had dearly missed "Goodnight"
And just like that, Amy was gone again. The Tardis walls were no longer cluttered with her childhood drawings. It was just The Doctor and Clara. Solemnly, he pulled loose his bow-tie and let it fall to the ground. He closed his eyes and braced himself for what was coming.
"No, no!" Clara stepped forward, reaching her hand out to him "Please, don't change"
"Hey…" The Doctor slowly reached out to hold her hand, her small fingers appearing ghostly white in contrast to his glowing gold. He was inches away from her before he jerked back. His head was thrown back in a sudden flood of golden light which flooded his face.
Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the light was gone, but so was The Doctor that Clara had knew.
The man that stood in his place was just as tall as the man before him was but this time he was older. He looked to be in his mid-forties with a head of unruly jet-black curls. His eyes were dark green, the colour of seaweed. His lips were thin and surrounded by the tell-tale lines of age. He had a long nose and what must have been rather large ears, though it was hard to tell with the tangle of hair.
He looked down at his hands, first examining his palms before quickly flicking them around to see the backs then flicking them once more to palms. His shoulders, now being somewhat broader than they had been before, did not look at all comfortable. The Doctor had to admit to himself that they did not feel at all comfortable either, but there was no time for a costume change.
"Well…that was fun!" he said leaning forward and clapping his hands together as if he had just watched a wonderful performance The Doctor flashed a grin at Clara who stood staring at him, completely shocked by everything that had unfolded before her eyes "Now! We have so very much to do, far too much to do. I'm afraid, Miss Clara, we are very late…you ready?"
"For what?" Clara held onto the Tardis' railing for support. She almost felt annoyed with this new…man. She refused to acknowledge him as The Doctor. He was a stranger to her. An imposter.
"An adventure!" And with that, he turned and began playing with dials like a mad man with a new toy…