The air was different. The smell of cleaners and body fluids was gone. The metallic hint of air purifiers and the ever present bit of antiseptic was missing. Rose took a deep breath and realized that the machine was also gone. She wiggled her toes. It took her a moment before she realized it. She'd wiggled her toes! She sat bolt upright in bed and stared around her widely. She'd wiggled...she was sitting up!
Then it hit her. Her room, she was in her room in the TARDIS. The soft hum of the ship was all around her. The hint of alien worlds lingered in the air. Heaven was the TARDIS? She knew she'd been dying. She could remember staring up into the Doctor's eyes, wanting to tell him...things. So many things, but not having the strength. Seeing his tears and wanting, needing to tell him it was alright, it was time. She'd died. She knew...
There was a soft laugh to her right and she whirled around to stare at the doorway where said Doctor was leaning, hands in his pockets and his hair ruffled. "Doctor?" Her voice sounded funny and she raised a hand to her throat. What was wrong? Why...her skin was smooth and soft. She looked down, her hands were different. The fingers were straight and not bent at funny angles. The skin was pink and healthy, not the drawn wrinkled yellow it had been the last time she'd been able to hold them up in front of her.
The Doctor smiled at her and moved into the room, sitting on the bed. He reached a hand out and fingered her hair. Wait, she had hair? Out of the corner of her eye she saw the strands fall through his fingers.
"Ginger. Rose Tyler, on your first time out you manage ginger." He smirked at her and winked. "Really, you must tell me how you managed it."
She just looked him. What was going on? His hand dropped from her hair and picked up her hand and squeezed it. "Welcome back, Rose."
"What..." her voice startled her again. It wasn't her voice. "What's going on?" For a moment she feared he'd done something horrible. Turned her into a Cassandra or something. The fear must have shown in her eyes because he shook his head quickly and squeezed her hand again.
"I don't know, Rose." He smiled a large, frantic grin. "See, I haven't quite figured it out yet. Somehow, somehow you've regenerated."
Regenerated? She blinked at him in confusion and then looked back down at her hands. They were different, not just younger. Her fingers were longer and there were tiny freckles on the backs. Not ages spots, real freckles. She made a small sound in the back of her throat; something close to panic, and it took her a moment to realize the Doctor had pulled her into a hug, his face buried in her ginger hair.
"It'll be okay, Rose. I promise. First time's always the worst. New teeth and all. Takes some getting use to."
Why she hadn't noticed the teeth was beyond her. She clutched at him, trying to wrap her mind around it. "How?" She finally managed to croak out and the Doctor pulled away to look her in the eye, all joking gone from his expression.
"You died, Rose. In my arms, in the med bay." He dropped his gaze and there were tears in his eyes again. "I didn't know this would happen." He looked back up at her and tried to smile. "You started to glow and..." He did smile. "You regenerated. I couldn't believe it. But you did." He picked her hand up and laid it on her chest and she squeaked. Two heart beats. "Somehow, you've changed."
"I don't understand." She was clutching his arms again, almost shaking him. "How did you do this?"
He looked sad for a moment before breaking her hold and standing up to pace, running a hand through his hair. "That's just it. I didn't do anything. I..." He looked sharply back at her. "It was you, Rose. It has to be something to do with you and the Vortex."
The shipped hummed loudly and Rose knew, just knew. "No." She whispered. "It was the TARDIS." He looked at her sharply and she threw off the covers and stood up, wobbling a bit and he moved to steady her. "I looked into the heart of the TARDIS and she looked into me." He nodded. "I...I think she gave me what I wanted most. Just like she did for Margaret."
The Doctor frowned slightly. "It can't be that simple."
She wasn't listening anymore and was making her way to mirror. She stared at herself for a long moment before tentatively reaching a hand up to her face, running her fingers over the arched eyebrows, down the much larger and sharper nose. She looked about 35 or so, with rather thin lips and a long neck, dark eyes. Gangly if she was honest.
The Doctor came up behind her. "Weird, isn't it?" She nodded at his reflection and ran her tongue over her teeth. At least they were straight. He chuckled softly. "I remember my first time. Ended up with the worst hair and this horrible breath."
She laughed and then stopped abruptly. She was almost his height now. It felt strange. The Doctor took her by the shoulders again and led her back to the bed, sitting down with her on the edge. "Look, I don't have a lot of information for you."
She nodded and pulled her legs up until she was sitting cross legged on the bed and facing him. "Alright then. What do you know?" Her tone was all business and she could feel herself slipping back into Torchwood mode.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair again, still looking straight ahead and not at her. "I know you died from some sort of cancer caused by radiation. I know you outlived everyone else that was exposed to it by decades. Has to be a connection." He paused to throw her a look and she nodded for him to continue. "I know that you regenerated. It looked like the process was pretty much standard, well standard for me." She reached a hand out to take his. "I know..." his voice wavered a small bit. "I know that whatever's happened your DNA is no longer human."
She sucked in a deep breath at that. "So, what am I now, then?"
He did turn to look at her, taking both her hands in his. "Gallifreyan." He looked deep into her eyes. "I think you might be right. The TARDIS, she may have..." He looked back down at their entwined hands. "She may have set up some sort of delayed reaction. Planed for your death and programmed you to...change. She couldn't have done it all but I think she guided how the regeneration turned out." He swallowed and hung his head. "For me."
Rose pulled one hand free and used it to tilt his head back up so she could look him in the eye. "For me too you silly git." He smiled shyly and she hugged him this time, holding him close like she'd wanted so desperately to do on her death bed. "Have you asked her?"
"It doesn't work like that. I don't, can't communicate with her in words. It's always...vague." He sighed and brushed her hair away from his mouth. "I get the impression she's quite pleased with herself." The ship hummed louder for a second. "Okay, very pleased with herself." Rose chuckled. "I just wish I'd had some warning."
"You wish? I'm the one that woke up ginger!"
He downright giggled and suddenly she was being swung up into the air and twirled around. "Rose Tyler, how would you feel about another adventure with your old friend the Doctor?"
She eyed him carefully as he set her back down. "What..." she smirked as he pulled her even closer "did you have in mind?"