oOo
The Doctor opened his eyes, not sure why he'd closed them. Nor why he was lying on his back on the floor. He blinked as Romana's concerned face peered down at him. "Are you all right?" There was a trace of belligerence behind the concern.
"You hit me." The empirical evidence was overwhelming, from the pain in his jaw and blood on his lip, to the way Romana was massaging her right hand. She nodded, reaching down with her left hand to help pull him to his feet.
The Doctor probed gently at his aching jaw, dabbing at the blood on his lip with the end of his scarf as he released Romana's hand and flopped onto the closest seat. "You seem to be losing your Gallifreyan detachment," the Doctor said after a long moment passed.
Romana's back was to him; he thought her heard a choked-off laugh as she slowly moved toward the sofa, joining him after a further moment's hesitation. "Is it bad?"
"Bad? No," the Doctor replied, his words tinged with offense. "How could it be? I mean, look at us!" He indicated the disparity in their heights and relative body masses with vague waves of his hands. Never mind that he'd been the one laid out flat.
"Let me see." Romana's hands were gentle as she turned his head towards her. He allowed the movement, wincing only slightly as her fingertips brushed the rapidly forming bruise on his lower jaw. She'd put everything she had into the punch, and all frivolity aside, it hurt like the devil. "All this without a slingshot," she murmured, her lips twitching with what looked suspiciously like a proud smile.
The Doctor pulled his head back. "Remind me never to get you angry at me again."
Her eyes met his, squarely this time. "No, remind me never to take out my self-directed anger at you again." She raised a hand to silence him as his mouth opened. "You were right, Doctor, and I didn't want to admit it. I chose this form deliberately, and not just because I thought Princess Astra was pretty. I also regenerated deliberately. There was no physical reason for it, I think you already know that."
The Doctor nodded. "Yes." His voice was as serious as hers. "I assumed you had your reasons for simply throwing one of your lives away."
"It seemed a fair trade." Romana half-rose to her feet, then sank back down, leaning her head back on the top of the sofa. "A life for a life. I hated what happened to her. I've never felt so...powerless."
"But regenerating was something you could control, is that it? A way of honoring her sacrifice?"
Romana's eyes widened slightly. "You do understand!" she exclaimed, sounding almost accusative.
The Doctor nodded. "I did. I do. But I wasn't sure if it was a conscious decision."
"Quite conscious, Doctor." Impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed him on the side of his mouth that wasn't bloody. "I'm sorry for that." She indicated his injuries with a nod.
"What, this? It's nothing," the Doctor pshawed, smiling and then wincing in pain. "But perhaps I'd best do something about it."
"Obviously kissing it and making it better isn't working," Romana agreed solemnly. The Doctor laughed, startled, then winced again, but continued laughing. Romana joined in, and he impulsively hugged her.
She stiffened in his embrace, but before he could release her or blurt out an embarrassed apology, she relaxed and allowed herself to snuggle closer. "You've picked up a lot of non-Gallifreyan habits, I see."
"So have you," the Doctor noted with a grin.
"This habit is one I might be willing to learn." She reached up and pulled his arm down around her shoulders. "This physical closeness is more enjoyable than I would have imagined, based on the descriptions I've heard." She made a face.
"Descriptions of what, exactly?"
"Oh, you know, exchanging bodily fluids. Intimacy sounds so...messy." She shuddered, lightly, with more humor than real distaste.
"It is," the Doctor murmured, his grin vanishing. "In every sense of the word."
"Then why bother with it? You have, haven't you? Bothered with it?" Romana studiously examined her hands as she spoke. Avoiding his eyes.
"Yes, many times. Too many times, perhaps. Another weakness of mine, another bad habit, if you will."
"But one you're not willing to give up?" She looked at him that time, squarely, eyes to eyes, no dissembling and no laughter.
"Not in the least." The Doctor's answer was firm, unhesitating. "I hope one day you'll understand why."
"I think I'm half-way there," Romana admitted. A smile returned to her face, creeping over her lips and illuminating her eyes in a way that made the Doctor's hearts pound. Impulsively he leaned down, pulling back as her eyes widened in alarm. "Doctor, were you about to kiss me? In a bodily-fluids kind of way?"
"Well, I thought you might appreciate a little empirical evidence, but I thought better of it. The split lip would make it less than pleasant for either of us. And, of course, there's always the matter of permission, I suppose." The Doctor knew he was babbling, and shut up abruptly if only to spare his brain from screaming at his mouth to cease and desist.