Glimpses of Time

By Lumendea

Chapter Three: Lucky Thirteen

AN: Congratulations to Jodie Whittaker! I look forward to the new season and am celebrating the fact that my OTP is now even more interesting than before! This is very short, but I had to write something!

….

Regeneration was always strange. You'd think after twelve times it would feel old hat, but it never did. This time was no different and as always there was a twinge of fear as the energy began to pulse through them. There was no time to stop it. There was nothing for it at all, but to regenerate and hope that everything fell into place.

At least they were on the TARDIS. Rose had seen to that. Their beautiful, marvelous, and darling Rose. Even now, Rose was standing just a few feet away, watching them with sad, but loving eyes. She was always sad to see a body go, but it wasn't a rejection. The Doctor being so injured that they had to regenerate was always hard on Rose. They tried so hard to protect each other.

Then the energy washed over them. The Doctor gave her one more smile as his grey curls began to change. Rose gave him a soft smile in return and nodded gently. Permission, acceptance, and a silent promise that she'd be there in a moment. That was all he needed. At least, nowadays, he had Rose with him. Sometimes he wondered how he'd ever managed regeneration without her warm presence. Then it was over and the pain was gone. The aches that had begun to take hold in his bones had eased, but the world was a bit… taller than before.

"Rose?"

The voice was wrong and not even in the usual changed way. It was softer, higher, and too much like his wife's. Rose was blinking at him in surprise and then he realized. Two hearts and all the proper organs, but a few things that they hadn't had before. And a couple of things missing. Their eyes widened.

"Oh."

"Oh," Rose repeated. Then she started to smile, looking like she was holding back a laugh. "You looked shocked, Doctor. Didn't you know?" There was a hint of worry in Rose's voice now and she looked regretful for her mirth.

"It's always been possible," the Doctor said. Nervousness churned in her gut, regeneration was one thing and Rose had always been good about it, but to a species like Rose's, this was. "Rose, I'm sorr-"

"Shhh," Rose said. She crossed the gap between them in a split second and set a finger over the Doctor's lips. Smiling, Rose brought up her other hand and traced a finger down the Doctor's new jaw. "You're beautiful. No surprise there."

Then Rose leaned up and kissed her. They were still taller than Rose then. Not as much, only about an inch, but it was comforting in a way. At least that hadn't changed. Turning her head, the Doctor focused on returning Rose's soft kiss. It still sent sparks racing down her spine. Good, she didn't ever want that to change. The kiss was fairly chaste with Rose's fingers gently moving across her jaw and cheekbones. Rose's fingers were warm and the last vestiges of discomfort from regeneration faded.

"So you're okay with this?" she asked when Rose pulled back.

"I love you," Rose said. Her tone left no room for argument. "Nothing will change that, not different bodies."

"Yes, but this is a very different body."

Rose laughed again and the Doctor felt her hearts jump at the beloved sound. She was still gone on Rose Tyler, still utterly in love with her. Nothing could change that at this point. She felt her mouth turn up into a smile at the idea. It was comforting and Rose wasn't pulling away. The Doctor slowly brought her shorter arms and wrapped them against Rose. Her wife leaned against her and the Doctor took on the warm weight.

"It doesn't bother you, does it?" Rose asked. "I mean, I've never got the sense that you cared about gender stereotypes."

"That was one thing that Gallifrey got right," the Doctor agreed. "We were beyond all that."

"Good," Rose said. "If it was always possible then I'd dare say that you were overdue."

Rose leaned up and pressed a kiss to the exposed skin of her neck. The Doctor shivered at the feeling of Rose's soft lips against the new skin. This body was different and untested. She wondered what she looked like. Rose said she was beautiful, but love had always had a strong effect on Rose. After all, she'd found grumpy ninth and old twelfth bodies attractive. Looking down, she peered at her new hands. They were pale with good strong looking fingers. They weren't as long and didn't feel very musical. Pity that, but hopefully they'd so other talents.

"The biggest problem that I see is you deciding how much you want to follow gender conventions," Rose said. She was smiling that tongue touched smile that still made the Doctor's stomach swoop. "Cause I'm Mum, so start thinking if you want the kids to call you Dad or something else."

A laugh escaped the Doctor. She had no idea what to say to that. Honestly, the idea of how people would react when her children called her Dad was very attractive. Smiling even more widely, the Doctor suppressed the urge to find a mirror, pick a new outfit, or more importantly go to their bedroom to start sorting through this new body. Instead, she lowered her head and nuzzled Rose's neck.

"I love you," the Doctor said. "No matter the body, I love you."

"And I love you," Rose replied. Her voice was thick with emotion. "Forever."

The Doctor sighed happily and tilted her head, trying to move even closer to Rose. Her wife laughed a little in amusement and the Doctor caught a glimpse of blond hair. It wasn't Rose's and her eyebrows went up in surprise. She regretfully pulled a hand away from Rose's waist and caught the strand.

"Still not ginger," the Doctor said.

"No, sorry my love." Rose was grinning again. "Welcome back to blonde."

The Doctor groaned loudly which only made Rose laugh. Her wife threw her arms around her neck before she could say something clever. This time, Rose attacked her lips with a smile and the Doctor decided to put her thousand years of experience kissing Rose Tyler to good use.