Regenerate Me
As she begins to fall, he reaches out to catch her. They scream in unison as golden light surrounds them.
When the light clears, they are left huddled on the sand, somehow, impossibly, unchanged. It is Donna who stands first, initially a little shaky, but gaining steadiness as she stretches and blinks dazedly. Frowning a little, she turns back to face the Doctor, extending a hand to help him up.
He doesn't take it.
Shaking her head to clear the last of the fuzziness, Donna realizes that he hasn't moved, is still curled in on himself, trembling faintly. Moving to kneel beside him, she wets her lips and begins to speak, placing one hand gently on his shoulder.
"Doctor. Doctor, it's alright. Look, I didn't burn up. See?"
Still, he doesn't move.
Worried now, she continues:
"Doctor are you alright? C'mon now, talk to me sweetheart."
Unable to stop himself, he lets out a ragged, broken sob, clutching desperately at her hands.
Realization dawning, she pulls him quickly into an awkward sort of hug, both of the half sitting, half kneeling in the sand.
"Hey, it's alright. I'm alright. Let it out, Timeboy, that's the way. Everything's gonna be fine."
When his sobs have quieted, he looks up at her, disbelieving.
"You're alive."
"Yep."
"You didn't burn."
"Nope."
"How?"
"You regenerated. Or rather, we regenerated. Together. Since I only had the remnants of the metacrisis, there wasn't enough energy to completely change either one of us- just enough to heal you and to give me this."
She takes his hand and holds it to a spot just above her right breast, where, against all logic, he can feel a second heart beating, strong and steady.
He shakes his head rapidly in denial.
"But that's not possible. It's literally not. Possible! You should have died!"
Donna looks affronted. "Aren't you glad to see me then?"
"No. Donna, that not what I..."
He trails off when he sees she is smiling widely.
"You tricked me. Again."
"S'not my fault you're easy, spaceman."
He chuckles ruefully.
"S'pose I am."
Without warning, she slaps clean him across the face. He doesn't even flinch.
"I deserved that."
"Yes you did you numpty! You wiped my mind!"
"I'm sorry." he says miserably. "It was the only way to-"
She cuts him off "Obviously not. If you had taken the time to listen to me instead of just assuming you knew best, as usual, I would have told you there was another way."
She pauses for a second before resuming her speech, now sounding a little uncertain.
"You gave up a life to save Rose, and I know- I know I'm not that important to you, but I just thought- you wouldn't have even had to change your face- you haven't now. You could have tried."