Prompt: Alive
Pairing: Implied Jack/Rose, Pre- Jack/Rose/Nine

He didn't regret it. Sacrificing this body to save her wasn't really much of a sacrifice as far as he was concerned. He also didn't regret kissing her; it was the first, and most likely last, time he'd get to kiss her. He'd lose her over this, even if she handled regeneration well (which he wasn't holding his breath for) having to bring her lover back to life would only reinforce how dangerous his life is.

What he did regret was not explaining regeneration before he was in the middle of it; the fear in her eyes hurt almost as much as the process itself. No time for a better explanation now, the pain was overtaking him.

The first thing he noticed was that sometime during the change, Jack had made it back to the TARDIS. The second thing he noticed is he can't feel a difference between this body and his previous one. His brow furrowed in confusion; that had never happened before. There's always been something noticeably different. His curiosity piqued, he went to ask what he looked like but Rose interrupted as confusion and fear turned to anger.

"What the hell was that?"

"That was regeneration, see Time Lords have a trick to cheat death; every cell changes causing a completely changed look and some changes to personality. Speaking of, how do I look?" He asked, brow furrowing again as he noticed the same Northern accent.

"The same." Both Rose and Jack responded. His old girl, sensing his confusion and curiosity, made a mirror appear before him. He frowned at seeing the same face he'd had before. The only thing he could think of is that the regeneration had gone wrong. Both his companions followed as he moved toward the med bay.

###

An hour later, he'd run every test he could think of short of forcing another regeneration and as far as he could tell, there wasn't anything wrong. There was no regeneration sickness, no ill side effects to not changing, no external signs whatsoever that he'd regenerated at all. Yet, he knew he had; the process had started and the internal damage from taking the Time Vortex from Rose was completely healed. Frankly, it had him utterly baffled.

In that same hour, while the tests ran, he answered Rose and Jack's questions about regeneration so that if (when) it did happen again, they wouldn't be in the dark like they'd have been had this regeneration went the way it should have went. Then came the question that was also his first clue to figuring out what happened,

"How am I alive Doc? I mean, I remember a light and then waking up to Dalek dust. I should have been dead." Jack asked. The Doctor thought about what to tell them before deciding on the truth.

"You were dead. Rose brought you back to life."

"Whatya mean? How did Rose do it, and how is Rose here anyway? I thought you sent her home." Jack questioned.

"I did, but Rose looked into the Heart of the TARDIS and took the Time Vortex into her mind which allowed her to pilot the TARDIS back. She turned the Daleks to dust and brought you back from the dead. She's behind Bad Wolf warning we've had following us." He flashed back to part Bad Wolf's speech,

How can I let go of this, I bring life. As he quoted it to them, other parts of her words came back to him, I can see everything, all that is, all that was, and all that ever will be...I want you safe, my doctor. A thought occurred to him, she'd seen the time lines. That had to be how she knew that Jack needed to be brought back to life, she'd seen his time line end. I want you safe, my Doctor she'd said while able to see time lines. Could that be why he'd not externally regenerated as he should have? Had she seen his new body, and not understanding what was happening decided to 'save' him? It made sense, in fact, it was really the only thing that fit.

"Did I do anything else?" Rose's question brought him out of his thoughts. He thought about explaining his theory but decided to spare her unnecessary guilt until he had a clearer picture of what she'd done. Instead, deciding to focus on them being alive, he said,

"I don't know. Now about a quick trip to Jackie then Barcelona, the planet not the city?"