This is just a short little drabble that I've wanted to write since I finished season one. Unfortunately, it's taken me almost a year to actually get around to doing it. Anyway, without further ado, my take on what happens to the old Doctor after he regenerates.

"And you know what?" I asked Rose as she stared confusedly back at me, "So was I."

I could see the tears well up in Roses eyes but I couldn't do anything. No sooner had I finished my goodbye than I felt the power coursing through me. It burned me like fire and cooled like ice, flowing through my veins and remaking them. Then, just as soon as it had started, the sensation stopped. I stood behind the new me and looked at Rose gazing quizzically at him.

This was the part that I had always hated the most, it wasn't the physical pain, it was the emotional. How could I leave Rose like this? We had so many more things to do together. And how could I leave her with a me like that? Sure I was nothing too much to look at, but this me looked like an inexperienced child. How would he be able to protect her?

"To be honest, you weren't the best at protecting her either," I heard a voice say from behind me. I turned and saw a young girl dressed in a red tunic with the Galifreyan symbol embossed over her left heart. She wore her long curly brown hair in a high pony tail but the ringlets still managed to reach to her waist. She sat on the deck above me and stared at me with her deep chocolate eyes.

"So you're the one who's come to get me," I said and she just stared at me, I turned back to face Rose and the new me before continuing, "And at least I sent her back."

"Yes, you did," she said, now standing next to me, "But maybe that hurt her more than had you both stayed."

I turned and looked questioningly at her. Standing next to me I could see that she was at least a full head shorter than me, even with the heels that she was wearing, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing," she said innocently and rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Can't I go back?"

"You know that's not how it works. We each get our time, and then it's ripped from us too soon. I figured that you off all the Time Lords would be most thankful to leave, after all, you are the man born from war. Destined to remember alone."

"Yes, I used to think so too," I said as I watched the new me run around the TARDIS flipping knobs and pulling switches.

"He'll be good to her," she said sounding a bit remorseful.

"If he'll be so good than why do you sound so sad about it?"

"Because, like you, their parting will also come too soon."

"Will she be okay?"

"She will rejoice and she will grieve like we all do. But in the end she will be stronger and happier than she thought she could be. It will just take time, and a little bit of patience."

We watched as Rose watched me, him, helplessly as he gallivanted about the TARDIS. He seemed to know his way about, though he was a bit clumsy about it. My gaze shifted to Rose as she silently tried to take it all in. She was strong, stronger than I ever was and I knew that she would be able to handle whatever life threw at her.

"I think I'm ready," I said and turned to my companion.

I felt the tight hand on my heart loosen its grip and a smile lit her face reminding me just how young she was. She offered me her hand and I took it, "Lets go see mom," she said and led me into the Heart of the TARDIS.

I hope that you liked it. The girl was the Doctors daughter (his real one that he mentioned in The Doctors Daughter, not his biological clone one).

All spelling and error mistakes are entirely my own.