Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Note: In the U.S. the 10th Doctor will turn into the 11th tomorrow. In the U.K. it's already happened. So I'm posting this short little one-shot, which is rather appropriate, about the Doctor's previous regeneration. I hope you like it!
Rose is worried and the Doctor feels every cell in his body dying. As he tells her about regeneration, he can also feel those cells getting ready to repair themselves. To change.
He's been through this so many times before that it comes naturally. When faced with death, his body regenerates first and thinks about it later. It is almost as if the Doctor has no choice in the matter.
The reaction is so fast it catches him by surprise. It is all he can do to warn Rose, to say goodbye, because he has no idea what he'll be like on the other side.
All he knows is that he'll lose everything, the good and the bad of this personality he's created for himself, just when he was getting used to it. And poor Rose. He feels for her, too, because she has no idea what's going on. And she, too, will have to get used to a new man that is somehow the same but different.
The Doctor is thankful, of course, for this ability to cheat death, otherwise he would have died a long time ago and he never would have truly lived. He doesn't regret the extra years. But each regeneration has left him even more tired than the last and he wonders what it would be like to just let go and die, as he is, rather than having to get used to being a completely different person.
He casts one last glance at Rose as all the cells in his body start to tingle, and he can only hope that they both end up liking the new man he's to become.