Still kneeling at her side, the Doctor gazed at Rose's peaceful face for a moment. He gently crossed her arms over her chest. A wave of grief caught him off guard. Bowed over Rose's body, the Doctor covered his face with his hands and wept. A single tear escaped between his fingers, fell to Rose's hand, and evaporated with a faint sizzle. Startled by the unexpected sound, the Doctor took his hands from his face to look at Rose more closely. At first, he saw nothing unusual. He pulled a handkerchief from the depths of his pocket and wiped his eyes. When he looked again, he noticed a yellow light skittering over Rose's hands and face.
"What?" he said flatly. The light intensified and began to spark. The Doctor scrambled backward, sitting down hard with his back against the wall underneath the picture window. Sparkling gold light now exploded from where Rose's hands and head had been.
"Now that's just cheating!" exclaimed the Doctor, squinting and shielding his eyes.
As quickly as it started, the brilliant light soon faded away. The Doctor stood up and walked cautiously back to the sofa. A petite woman with shoulder length hair, appearing to be in her late twenties, was sleeping there. The Doctor watched her chest rise and fall for a minute or two, then pulled out his stethoscope. He listened carefully at various places on her chest, then pulled the earpieces from his ears. A slow smile spread across his face. At that very moment, Rose's eyelids flew open, revealing bright blue eyes. The first thing she saw was the Doctor's grinning face.
"Hello," she said, smiling back.
"Hello," he said simply, grinning wider still.
"I feel better," Rose said. As she started to sit up, her hair swung forward over her shoulders. "What hap---"
"Rose!" exclaimed the Doctor, cutting her off, "You're ginger!"
"What?" Rose felt the top of her head, then slowly moved her fingers down to the end of a lock hair. "It's longer. how long have I been aslee--?"
"Aargh!" cried the Doctor, running his hands through his hair. He began to pace around the console room. "Ten times, nothing. Now you end up all lovely and red-headed on your first try!" he grumped, standing before her again.
"First try for what? Tell me what's going on Doctor!" As she gestured pleadingly with her arms, Rose noticed that her sleeves were covering all but the tips of her fingers, and she began to roll them up. She stopped suddenly, seeing the smooth skin on the backs of her hands. "Now I must be dead." She looked up at the Doctor. "But you're still wearing brown!" She looked down at the cuffs of her pants covering her shoes. "Are you sure I was having a heart attack? I seem to have shrunk."
The Doctor sat down next to Rose and took her hands in his. His brown eyes searched her blue ones. "Rose, you've regenerated."
Rose pulled her hands from his, gasped, and covered her mouth in shock. "Impossible!" she finally sputtered.
"Hey, that's my line."
"But why? How?" Rose stammered. "Am I still human?"
"Mostly. I think," replied the Doctor. "Although you do have two hearts."
Rose put her hands to her chest, then covered her face and groaned. "I just can't believe it." She began to shiver. "I'm terribly cold."
"Ah, yes. That's to be expected. Your metabolism is going exceptionally fast. You'll probably be very hungry soon." The Doctor reached behind her to pull the afghan from the back of the sofa and wrap it around her. He jumped up suddenly, a look of disgust contorting his face, and stared at a spot near Rose's head.
"What's the matter!" exclaimed Rose as she felt the top and sides of her head. "Have I got horns? Big ears?"
"Purple paisley," said the Doctor in a strangled voice.
Rose turned to look at the place where afghan had been. "Would you forget about the upholstery, already! Come and help me figure this out!" she demanded.
"May have gotten your mother's temper, this time," mumbled the Doctor. He sat down gingerly next to Rose.
Rose gave him a stern look, but didn't comment. She took a deep breath. "Now, slowly, and in language I can understand, please tell me how I could have possibly regenerated."
"I'm . . . not . . . sure," said the Doctor slowly.
"Argh! Useless!" cried Rose.
"Sorry. I'll tell you what I think happened. Bad Wolf."
"But I don't really remember that at all," sighed an exasperated Rose.
"Well, what were you thinking about before you opened up the T.A.R.D.I.S., before the T.A.R.D.I.S. looked into you?"
"All I wanted was to get back to you," said Rose. She looked into the distance, remembering. "To help you fight the Daleks, and then to stay with you . . ."
"Forever," they said together, their eyes meeting.
Rose's hand flew to her mouth again. "Oh my God! I've regenerated!" She sat quietly, thinking a moment. "But I didn't know what regeneration was. At the time, I didn't even know that you regenerated."
"As the Bad Wolf, you did know," said the Doctor simply.
"But why did I age first? You never age."
The Doctor shrugged. "As the Bad Wolf, you had incredible powers. You could see all that ever was, all that is, all that ever could be. Perhaps you saw the possibility of a human life with your Doctor, and worked it out so you could have that too."
Rose thought some more. "But you saw my grave stone."
"Well, the 90-year-old Rose that---"
"Eighty-seven!" exclaimed Rose offended.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "The eighty-seven-year-old Rose that everyone here knows, is gone. Perhaps it'll just be easier for the new you to let everyone believe you died."
"Huh," said Rose, trying hard to take it all in. "So," she said at last, "how do I look?"
The Doctor grinned, but didn't answer. He took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the picture window. The window gradually silvered to become a mirror. Rose shook off the blanket, stood and took a few shaky steps toward the wall. She peered into the mirror, turning her head slowly from side to side, lifted and lowered her arms a few times, turned and looked over her shoulder, then finally faced the mirror again and reached out to touch her fingertips to their reflection. She shook her head. "Turn it back. It's like looking at a stranger," she waved her hand at the mirror, "who copies well."
"You get used to it," said the Doctor lightly, as he made the mirror transparent once again.
"Ooh!" said Rose, startled. "But not quite as strange as them. Doctor, who're they?" She pointed to two beings that were peering at her through the glass. Each was about six feet tall, had a long, oblong head, two iridescent bulging eyes, and eight arms coming out of its face.
"Oops! Found me." The Doctor turned the window back to a plain wall and leaped to the monitor. "Those are Sepiidans. Kind of look like a cuttlefish, don't they?" he asked as he began to work the controls.
"Because they're so cuddly?" said Rose, aghast.
"Well, I suppose their mothers think so. But no, I said cutt-le-fish," the Doctor said slowly, annunciating the 't'. "Like squid. When they get really nervous, they spray a brown acidic fluid in an eight foot arc."
"Let's not make them nervous, then."
"Good plan. They've come for the gate maker. I need to get back to my T.A.R.D.I.S. and lead them back to my universe." The Doctor pushed a button and engaged the engines, but did not yet take off.
In the lab, the Sepiidans heard the grind of the engines. The Doctor and Rose watched them in the console's monitor as one of them spoke a command into one of his many wrists. A few seconds later they disappeared into a haze of purple light. "Transported back to their ship," explained the Doctor. "They need to be ready to follow me."
"Where's your T.A.R.D.I.S.?" asked Rose.
"In the woods, behind the estate. The Sepiidans will be able to locate me in a minute or so, now that they've tracked the gate maker's true signal." He turned to Rose, "I'll need to go soon after we land."
"I'll go with you. But when everything's settled, come with me to see Lonnie. I could use your help explaining all this." She gestured vaguely from her head to her knees and smiled up at the Doctor.
The Doctor flipped the final switch, and the T.A.R.D.I.S. was transported nearly instantaneously to the woods. The Doctor looked up from the controls and off into the distance. "You know, Rose, it's a funny old life," he said softly.
Rose's smile vanished.
"I can't let the Sepiidans keep the gate maker. They aren't very dangerous, but they are shrewd businessmen. Now that they've seen what it can do, they'll want to sell the gate maker to the highest bidder. I can't let this technology get into the wrong hands. If I can't negotiate, I'll have to destroy it. If you come with me, you might not be able to get back."
She nodded, tears in her eyes. "I can't leave Lonnie, now that I have another chance to be a part of his life."
"I know," said the Doctor, tucking a stray strand of her copper hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry, Rose. I have to go."
"I'll walk you to your door, at least. Come on." She reached out her hand. The Doctor grabbed hold and they walked together out the door and into the woods. The first light of dawn was just beginning to filter in between the tree trunks. Birds sang and darted busily up in the leaves. The Doctor's T.A.R.D.I.S. sat about 10 feet from where they'd landed.
The Doctor let go of Rose's hand to unlock the door. He returned the key to his pocket, then turned back to Rose.
Rose was looking around at the rain spattered undergrowth, now sparkling in low rays of sun, and then up to the high branches moving gently in the breeze. She brought her gaze back to meet the Doctor's eyes. "Well, at least it's not the beach."
The Doctor smiled weakly, opened his mouth to speak, but Rose cut him off by jumping into his arms and kissing him fiercely on the lips. "Come back to me," she whispered in his ear.
The Doctor held Rose for as long as he dared, then reluctantly let her go. "I'll try." His smile was stronger now. "Maybe the third time's the charm. After this, no more goodbyes."
"No more goodbyes," echoed Rose softly.
They both looked up as a loud humming filled the air. The Sepiidan ship hovered just above the tree tops.
The Doctor gave Rose one last look and ducked quickly into his T.A.R.D.I.S. She heard the engines grind and watched the blue box gradually fade from view. The Sepiidan ship rocketed away soon after.
Rose squared her shoulders and walked back to her T.A.R.D.I.S. Her mind was already working out a plan. She was just opening the door, when she heard the sound of the Doctor's T.A.R.D.I.S. returning. Rose gaped as the blue box became solid. The door squeaked open, and the Doctor poked his head out.
"Rose!" he called. "Don't leave your T.A.R.D.I.S. in the lab!"
"Why not?"
He pointed to his eye. "You might not be able to get back in!"
"Ah."
The Doctor waved goodbye, closed the door, and the T.A.R.D.I.S. disappeared once again.
"So maybe the fourth time will be the charm," muttered Rose. She pushed the door to the T.A.R.D.I.S. open, her brain working out a slightly different plan. She walked to the sofa and bent down to retrieve her carved walking stick. She had decided to walk back to the house, and while she no longer needed the cane's assistance as a walking aide, she would need it to leave with her note to Anne. She felt a different sadness then, as she thought of her loyal friend. "She'll understand," Rose rationalized. "And without me to look after, she'll have more time for her grandson."
Rose locked the door to the T.A.R.D.I.S. and strode purposefully out of the woods and onto the wide lawn. She turned to look at the white gazebo as she passed, silently saying goodbye. Then she raised her chin and pressed on. She had a lot to do. Smaller clothes to find, a bag to pack, a note to write, and just in case, another key to pocket. Then, off to 4157. But first, chips. She would definitely have chips for breakfast.