"Cassie? Cassie please." The pain was gone. Just like that. I was numb, I couldn't move or speak. I couldn't even open my eyes. The light hurt too much. But there was the voice. So familiar, so close. I opened my mouth and tried to answer but my throat was so dry, my lips so cracked. "Can you hear me? Cassie, nod if you can hear me." The Doctor's voice was so concerned, so desperate that I used all the energy I had to nod.

I could make out his sigh of relief. "You're safe now," he engulfed me in a hug. "You're fine. You're back at your house. The cyberman is gone and you can sleep." I tried to respond, but it was useless. It was so nice now. My brain switched itself off and I slept. I slept for a very long time, though it was a dreamless sleep. I remember waking up a couple of times to water being poured in my mouth, a welcome relief to my raw throat. All seemed well.

When I finally woke up and could struggle (only slightly) to a sitting position, I noticed a couple things. The first was that I was in the bedroom I had slept in for the five years that I had lived in this house, the same lilac colored walls and grey curtains. There was the blue dresser and oval mirror. The light coming from the window was that of early morning. My first thought was that it had all been a dream. The Doctor arriving and taking me to see the universe, mum's return, the cyberman. That was the only reasonable explanation. But then I saw the note scribbled on an index card on my bedside table in red pen: When you wake up come downstairs. We are making waffles blueberry jam. The Doctor.

I chuckled. So it was true. All those amazing things had happened, as well as the horrible. I was fine now, but I could still remember the pain. It had been my sacrifice and the Doctor had saved me, but I still shivered. I looked down at what I was wearing – my floral night gown – and noticed something else, something peculiar. I perceived that my hands were different. I know that sounds strange, but I think I know my own hands. My fingers were longer and more slender than I could remember them being. I inspected them closer and could have sworn my skin was never as freckled as it was now. Then I noticed something else: The hair, my hair, resting on my shoulders was neither blonde nor the mess of curls it used to be. Soft, auburn waves now surrounded my face.

I ran the dresser, looking in the mirror I saw someone else looking back. She looked about seventeen with grey eyes and red hair. She looked as shocked as I felt. Her cheeks flushed pink in a way I knew mine couldn't. Who was she and why was she in my mirror? I bit my lip, she did the same. I help up my hand, she copied me. I turned away from the mirror, but I could see that she had done the same. I ran out of the room and didn't look back. I was on the second floor so I was only one level away from the kitchen, which meant one level away from the Doctor. My legs ached, they complained about my running, but I ignored them. I could still picture the girl in the mirror. The auburn hair that flew around me while I ran was a constant reminder that something was wrong.

"Doctor! What's happened to-" I ran into the kitchen to find them doing it again. Snogging. Upon my arrival mum and the Doctor parted, but I had seen enough. I don't care if the Doctor's my dear old dad, that's just not okay. "Please, you two, can you not do that here?" I plopped down at the table. The Doctor, like before, looked flustered, but mum just grinned slyly.

"Sweetie, how are you feeling?" She sat down next to me and put her hand on top of mine. It was warm. I liked it.

"A bit achy, but I can live. How are you?"

"I'm superb, dear. Don't worry about me at all." The last time I saw her, she was unconscious. It had scared me so much and I was so relived to see her again, that I no longer felt resentment towards her, or the Doctor for that matter. It had happened and was in the past, everything was where it should be except…

"What's happened to me? Why do I suddenly have red hair and freckles?"

"You're part timelord," this was the Doctor. He walked to the table and took the other empty seat next to me. "Actually you are mostly timelord."

"So?"

"You can regenerate."

"What?" Where had I heard that before? I thought back to my days of research. Timelords did this thing where they changed their appearance. Every atom renewed itself and the same timelord would completely change the way they looked, but I couldn't remember what that was called. Could it be the thing that he was referring to? "Is it that thing where your people can change the way they look?"

The Doctor nodded.

"So that girl I saw in the mirror, I'm her?"

The Doctor nodded again.

"I see…" There was awkward silence. No one really knew what to say. Finally, I got up. "I'm starving, where are the waffles and jam I was promised?"

"We never really got a chance to making them," the Doctor responded. Mum winked. It was really disgusting.

"Well then, better get to it." So they got up and bustled around, going in and out of the pantry. I sat there, watching them and smiled to myself. They were my parents, they were actually parents. Both of them. They were making me breakfast and they were laughing and talking to themselves. It was so routine, so ordinary, yet so beautiful.

The waffles smelled delicious and I got a large whiff of them as mum set the plate down in front of me. My mouth watered. I took the fork in my right hand, but something felt off. It was as if my coordination was unbalanced. My right hand no longer felt right.

"Hey, after this regeneration thing, can other things change?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like my hand," I raised up my right hand. "Can which hand I use to write, eat, and do most other daily habits with change?" The Doctor nodded. "Well then, that's just great." I switched the fork into my left hand and started to eat. I coated every waffle with a layer of gooey blueberry jam. It was so scrumptious that I did not stop eating until there was only a sticky residue left on the plate. Then, content, I leaned back in my chair and sighed.

"So, now what?" I turned to mum. "You have to go back eventually don't you? You can't stay here."

"We've been thinking a lot about that." Mum's eyes looked a bit sad. "I do have to go back to prison. There is no escaping that."

"So I'll be travelling with you then?" I asked the Doctor hopefully. He shook his head.

"It isn't that I don't want that, I really, really do. More than you think, but you're what, sixteen years old now? You've already missed out on so much of the human experience of growing up."

"Like?" I stared at the Doctor, unsure of what he was telling me.

"Like high school."

"High school?" I looked at him, dumbfounded. "Are you serious? I probably know more than most of those people combined."

"But we aren't going to leave you here alone again." Mum leaned over and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "You need to be surrounded by people your age. You need to live a normal life."

"Why? Why can't I just go on adventures with the Doctor?" I turned to face him. I wasn't exactly angry, just confused. "You said that you wanted that, so why not? It'll be great. It'll make up for the fact that I just found out that I have a father. It'll be like extreme father daughter bonding time, yeah?"

"But it won't be healthy, just you being with me all the time. You need to experience things. High school is a great learning experience. Observe the human teenager in its natural habitat. Have your own adventures." He sounded just like mum had the day she left when I was ten. It was unsettling.

"Right, so say I do go. My only communication will be with people I can't actually talk to about my life. I can't tell them anything and you two will be off and I'll still be alone." I was upset. High school was one thing, but the idea having students being my only companions was unbearable. "Doctor, can't you stay with me? So I won't have to be on my own?" The Doctor's eyes widened. Domestic life was not for him and it was cruel of me to ask it. Asking him to give up the universe was like asking Vincent Van Gogh to stop painting or asking William Shakespeare to stop inserting innuendos into his plays.

"Cassie, sweetieheart, you won't be alone because you'll be staying with my parents." I had grandparents? Well, wasn't my family full of surprises?

"You have parents?" I imagined a little, old couple in their seventies. I had seen enough television to put together the lifestyle I would have to adjust to. "Are they physically able to take care of me?" The Doctor and mum shared an amused look and then, much to my surprise, started to laugh. "Hey? What is it?"

"You'll see." Mum winked. She got up with my plate and hers and went to the sink. The Doctor joined her. I took one look towards them and escaped back to my room. According to the sun, it looked like it was maybe eleven thirty in the morning. I turned towards the mirror and inspected myself. I cocked my head to the side. My hair gracefully fell in a waterfall of red. I looked very pretty. I smiled, realizing that I could live with this new body. I also, after much thought, realized I could live with high school. It would be an experience and probably good for me. It would cause me to fend for myself in a social situation, but still have adults to come back to at the end of the day.

There was a knock on my door.

"Yeah?"

"Can I come in?" The Doctor's voice was slightly muffled by the door.

"Of course." I sat on my bed as the Doctor entered. "What's up?" He sat down next to me and ruffled my hair.

"Brilliant, you are." He grinned at me.

"I guess I am. Yeah." I smiled back at him.

"You'll be amazing," he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "So, what have you decided about school?"

"I could deal with it," I squeezed his hand back. "It won't be as good as Barcelona, but then again, nothing can beat dogs with no noses." We both laughed. "Promise me you'll visit? Now that I know you're real, you have to come back."

"Of course I'll come back, I always come back." We got up and he embraced me. It was a long hug and neither one of us wanted it to end, but it had to. Once we parted, he put my face in his hands. "I don't believe in many things, but I believe in you." He kissed my forehead. "Goodbye Cassie." With that he turned away from me and left my room and that was that. I didn't cry, not really. I was sad because I knew it would be a while till I saw him again. The Doctor, my dad. It was all still so unreal to me. Then mum came into me room and told me to pack. She told me that the house I would be living in would not be nearly as large as this one and I told her I was fine with that.

"We'll need to get you new clothing now that you've regenerated," mum observed. "So don't pack any clothing. I'll have my mum take you shopping once you get settled."

The only thing I packed was my book of fairy tales.

Only the epilogue left. Please review and tell me what you think.