Chapter Thirty Eight

Rose slowly opened her eyes and noticed Alan was up on his side looking down at her.

"Hello there," he said.

"How come you're always up before I am?"

He grinned.

"Because you're so beautiful, I always rush to wake up so I can enjoy your sleeping face for awhile."

She smiled as he stroked her face.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Kick the Valeyard's ass again?"

"No, I…"

She frowned. She tried to remember what she was dreaming about, but for the life of her, she couldn't recall it.

"I can't remember what I dreamed about," she said.

"You can't? That's a first. Usually you can recall right off the bat. But, then again, it must be a good sign since I'm sure if it were a nightmare you'd remember that."

"Yeah, I think I had a good dream actually."

"Well, good, I'm glad to hear that."

He kissed her on the lips.

"So," he said, sitting up. "You want to head off or do you want to rest some more?"

Rose glanced at her watch. It was 8:42 in the morning.

"Why don't we rest here awhile and then practice some aikido, rest some more after that and then see if we can find a restaurant nearby?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," he said, reaching for his rucksack. "I'll read awhile if you don't mind."

"Go ahead. I need to go pee," she said, sliding out of her sleeping bag while Alan took out a paperback copy of Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time.' Rose glanced at it as she reached into her rucksack for a roll of toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

"Recreational reading?" she said with a grin.

"You like Nora Roberts, I like Stephen Hawking," he said, shrugging.

He smiled when she tousled his hair and walked off in search of a suitable spot to pee. She found a secluded spot, took off her trousers and knickers and squatted down. She wiped herself after she was done, wadded the toilet paper up and buried it in the dirt. She put her clothes back on and used the sanitizer to clean her hands.

On the way back, she paused at a tree when she noticed a green caterpillar going up the trunk. She studied it for a moment before she laid her hand up against the trunk in front of it. She grinned when it walked onto her fingers. She pulled her hand away and walked back to Alan while the caterpillar walked across her palm. Alan was still reading when she saw him. She walked over to him and held her hand in front of his face. Alan smiled when he saw the caterpillar.

"I see someone else is up early," he said.

Laying his book down, he put his hand on Rose's arm and watched while the caterpillar walked onto it. He touched its body and the caterpillar instantly curled its body up and lay still in the palm of his hand.

"Very clever buggers, caterpillars," he said. They didn't have anything like this on Gallifrey."

"You didn't have butterflies?"

"No, unfortunately. Would have been quite a sight seeing them fly among the silver leaves of the trees."

He stared at it for a moment and then carefully laid it on a nearby log. The caterpillar remained in the ball for a moment, then slowly uncurled and went on its way across the log.

"Have a good day, little fella, watch out for birds," he said to it.

He studied it for a moment and then looked at Rose.

"Where'd you find him?"

"Over there on a tree trunk," she said, pointing off to her left.

"I can't help but wonder if the caterpillar picked that tree trunk for a specific reason and now because of us, he has to walk all the way back and now his whole day is ruined."

"Gee, now I feel bad, thanks Alan," she said as he giggled.

She put her things back in the rucksack and got out her crossword puzzle book while Alan went back to reading his paperback. She leaned over and stared at the page he was reading.

"You know, it's rude to read over someone's shoulder. I'm not fully human and even I know that," Alan said, keeping his eyes on the book.

"I was just thinking. Don't you already know all this stuff or did that go into Donna as well?"

"No, I know it. But if I'm gonna read something, I'd rather it was something like this. Stephen Hawking is brilliant. His thinking is more advanced than most humans, so I can read this without getting bored."

Rose nodded and opened her puzzled book. She worked on one for a couple of minutes before looking at Alan.

"Alan?"

"Hmmm?"

"All this knowledge you got through the Doctor, was that part of the looming too?"

"Yes and no."

"What does that mean?"

Alan laid his book down.

"There's a process called brain-buffing. It's a time during childhood when all the information is sorted out that has been downloaded into the brain at birth. Then at the age of eight, everyone enters the academy where they are taught even further. Gallifreyan minds are equipped to handle all the info which is why most of my knowledge went into Donna. People who were loomed to be Time Lords like the Doctor also get extra information that is geared to them like the knowledge of the time lines. And, they also went through special classes at the academy that no one but Time Lords was permitted to take."

"So not everyone on Gallifrey was Time Lords?"

"Nope, Time Lord is the Doctor's profession and title, not his species. No, only a certain number of Gallifreyans could be Time Lords or Ladies at any given time. When they reached the limit proscribed by law, no more could be made until one died. It was a way to keep things under control. So, the Doctor kinda belongs to an elite club, if you will, and that's kinda why he's a bit pompous at times."

"Then what did the people who weren't Time Lords do for a living?"

"Oh, different things, farmers, teachers, workers, same as Earth."

"Did the Doctor do well at academy?"

Alan chuckled.

"Well, up until he got booted out of the academy when he was two hundred, he did fairly well. He was brilliant at some subjects, but he was also a bit of a troublemaker."

"What doesn't that surprise me?"

He laughed.

"Yes, my dear, the Doctor was a bit of a rascal. Mainly because he was bored with his studies and also because of the clashing over ideologies. The Master was his dorm mate, although at that time he was known as Koschei. Both of them were holy terrors. They were always in trouble. They were in the Prydonian chapter of the academy which had something of a reputation. It was kinda like Slytherin House in Harry Potter. A lot of the people who were in the Prydonian chapter turned out to be renegades, rogues and evil nutters."

"The Valeyard," Rose said.

He nodded.

"Yup, even the Doctor could eventually live up to that reputation. But here's the real truth, my dear. The man you fell in love with and gave your heart to is basically the Gallifreyan equivalent of Bart Simpson."

Rose laughed.

"Yeah, that's a good way to describe him."

She leaned back against the log and worked her puzzle, letting Alan read his book. As she worked the puzzle, she thought about what Alan had told her and tried to imagine the Doctor as a lonely kid and rebellious teenager.

"Alan?"

"Yes?"

"What did the Doctor look like when he was young?"

"Well, he had hair about the same color as I do now and it was cut short, kind a cross between this Doctor and the one before him. Short, but not as short as his previous life and he had piercing blue eyes like your other Doctor and a chubby face, but not a chubby body. He was thin, but not as thin as I am now."

Rose smiled, imaging that.

"Do you mind if I ask you something else?"

"Not at all."

"Well, I hate to bother you while you're reading."

"Nah, you're fine," he said, laying the book down. "Ask away."

"I was just wondering, how does the regeneration thing work?"

He frowned.

"I thought you knew that."

"No, I mean, how does the Doctor decide what to look like? I mean, I guess he doesn't have any control over it since he wanted to be ginger."

Alan chuckled at that. He scratched his chin while he thought.

"You don't know?" Rose asked.

"No, I know, I'm just trying to think how best to explain it to you. Um…you see, it all goes back to the looms. When they made the looms, they programmed in several million different…templates, if you will, of different looks, both male and female of thousands of different species. So, when the Doctor regenerates, he is given one of those templates. He has control over sex and species, but not the look of the body, which is why he couldn't be ginger."

"Wait, he can be a woman if he wants to?"

"Or he could even be a different species. But, he chooses to be humanoid because he likes the humanoid form."

"So, if he wanted to, he could be a female Slitheen in his next life?"

He smiled.

"Yeah, but I seriously doubt he would choose that."

"Has he ever been a woman?"

"Nope and he's never had any body type other than humanoid."

And his personality is separate then? He has control over that?"

He nodded.

"When he regenerates, he gets a bit of temporary amnesia because of the shock to his system and it takes awhile to get all his memories back and in that time most of the incarnation's personality is formed. But, by law, they were only limited to twelve regenerations because each time it happens, there is more and more stress on the body and mind. Thirteen lives is the most a Gallifreyan can endure and still function properly, so most choose to end their life after that, although the Master has found ways around that…or did until he made himself die. But, he's died before, so I wouldn't count him out just yet."

"He has a problem with that, with enemies reappearing all the time, I mean."

Alan rolled his eyes.

"Yes, he has that problem quite frequently," he said, dryly. "I suppose my efforts were for naught as well. For all the Doctor's talk about genocide, I'm sure Davros or some of the Daleks survived, things are like bloody cockroaches. Mark my words, Rose, if he doesn't deal with them again, we probably will at some point."

Rose groaned.

"Who would have thought a dustbin would turn out to be such a pain in the ass?"

"You're telling me? Dear heart, you've only dealt with them on three occasions. The Doctor's been fighting them for most of his life along with a host of other baddies, that's why he's beginning to feel that it's futile fighting them. But, just imagine what would happen if he didn't fight them."

"I do know that. In Donna's alternate reality, the Doctor died and everything slowly went to Hell because he wasn't there to stop it. It was terrifying to see and it's why I hope you can become a full Time Lord, so it doesn't happen in this universe."

"Become the man I was loomed to be?" he said, winking.

"Exactly."

Alan leaned back against the log and thought.

"I'll be a universal protector only if you do it with me."

She smiled.

"It's a deal."

"Brilliant, then between the two of us maybe we can keep this whole universe nice and peaceful."

"Too right we will."

He gave her a kiss.

"Now that we're rested, you wanna practice some aikido and then find somewhere to eat dinner?"

"Sounds good."

"Great, then let's get to it," he said.