Change back?
Summary: I loved the regeneration from 9th to 10th Doctor so much that I think it should be told in more detail. 9Rose & 10Rose
Disclaimer: All official Doctor Who stuff belongs to BBC etc. - I only borrow it for this story.
Notice: The story continues – after another unintended long pause. Your reviews are part of what keeps me writing, thank you!
From now on the story will be based on the regeneration-special, too. If you didn't have the chance to watch it, do it – it's great :)
It seems my beta-readers have deserted me again. So please just let me know when you find any mistakes etc..
This chapter has been partially rewritten and re-published with some additions but without being beta-read again on 12th July 2008.
The fact that she still stared at him as if he was an alien with two heads was not very surprising, after all she obviously had just seen him regenerate right in front of her, and he had to admit that really could be weird.
Chapter 4 – You saw me
Nothing seemed to have changed. The control-room of the Tardis was still bathed in dim orange-green light and the central-column emitted its regular swooshing sound. A man with dark hair in an old, black leather jacket was handling all kinds of switches and levers, mumbling about something that appeared to be coordinates in time and space. For a moment, Rose wondered why she was holding her breath, when this was just an ordinary day with the Doctor.
But then the spell broke, and the young woman realized that the exotic atmosphere and look of the space-ship was as dear and familiar to her as always, but the stranger in front of her just shouldn't be here. From one instant to another he had replaced her friend. Literally, because this man had even wore the same clothes.
OOO
The coordinates to planet Barcelona were set rather fast. The knowledge of controlling a TARDIS had been his for hundreds of years, so it was almost as natural to him as breathing.
The journey would take a little while though, because his chosen destination was not only halfway on the other side of this universe, but also in another time. But this provided a good opportunity to study his new body.
Full of expectation he turned to his companion and asked for her opinion about his looks. Considering her dumbfounded stare, however, the Doctor didn't wait for an answer and made a quick check by himself.
OOO
'What's going on here? Who is that guy?' Rose wondered. 'Is he another Time Lord who somehow switched places with the Doctor? But he had said he was the last one.'
She couldn't help but jump a little when the man suddenly turned away from the console and faced her. No, in fact he literally presented himself to her, as if he had dressed up for a special occasion. "Now then, what do I look like?" The woman was too stunned to answer.
He didn't notice her hesitation or her discomfort at all. "No, no no no no, don't tell me. Let's see ..." Like one who doesn't want to be told about something exciting, but rather see it for himself, he began to count limbs and explore his body, as though it was all brand new to him. „Two legs ... two arms ... two hands ... slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle ..." Suddenly the stranger grabbed a handful of the ruffled mass on his head. „Hair! I'm not bald! - Oh, oh! Big hair! - Sideburns, I've got sideburns!" The sheer delight on his face made Rose smile, albeit she still found this whole situation quite scary.
OOO
The Doctor was quite pleased with this new body. The leaner frame felt lighter than his previous form, but he was sure that he still was athletic enough to run for his life if necessary. He was particularly fascinated by a mole between his shoulder blades, he hadn't had one in such a spot for ages. A human probably wouldn't even notice such a trivial thing, but the Time Lord could actually feel a nice little tickling there.
Finally, he asked Rose again what she thought about him, expecting her to share his enthusiasm.
She was glad that he stopped his ramblings for a few moments. This gave her the chance to really look at him and helped her to decide that he probably wasn't dangerous after all. With a thin voice Rose asked: „Who are you?", deliberately ignoring his own question.
"I'm the Doctor!" His tone was still joyous, but his face immediately lost that stupid grin.
Nothing in the universe would make her happier if this was true, but the young woman couldn't believe it. This pale man was nothing like him, especially not with his unruly hair and those soft brown eyes. Afraid and angry at the same time, she demanded: „No ... where is he? What have you done to him!?"
All cheerfulness left the Time Lord when he realized that Rose didn't recognize him. And what was even more alarming, she didn't believe him.
„You saw me, I - I changed ... right in front of you." He pointed over his shoulder to emphasize his statement.
'How could I have been so blind?' Not until now he noticed that his companion didn't stare at him in astonishment over the regeneration, but out of fear of something she couldn't understand. And to make matters worse, this disillusion made him prone to regain the rest of his memories, which until now had not caught up with the change of his brain.
OOO
Hundreds of years he had travelled through time and space. He had become an outcast, because he couldn't accept that his people, the Time Lords, wouldn't use their power and knowledge to fight against the evil of the universe.
Lots of different companions had been at his side. Most of them had been adventurers or had been just as restless as he always had been. But sooner or later they all had left him, when they finally had found a place to settle down or he had decided it would be better to move on without them.
He never had stopped, and only occasionally had returned home to Gallifrey. After all, it was one of the most beautiful planets he had ever known.
Then had come the last great Time War and at its end everything had changed.
Suddenly, he had been alone in the universe.
The sacrifice he had made to protect countless planets and lives had nearly been too much to bear. But he had continued to travel and fight, because it had kept him busy enough not to think too much about his loss.
It had not been until he had met a young, blonde human female of Earth's 21st century that he had wanted to have a companion again. Rose Tyler had reawakened something in him.
At first he hadn't minded too much that she had refused his invitation. As always he even had been somewhat relieved, because the adventures he offered usually could get quite dangerous and he felt responsible for whomever he took with him as companion. But then he had looked around in the Tardis' control-room, and it had felt as if something was missing.
For the first time in his all his nine lives he had asked someone twice to accompany him.
They had not been travelling together for long, when she had told him for the first time that he wasn't alone anymore. He had no choice but to admit that he felt as if an essential jigsaw piece had slid into the right place.
For a while they had been as carefree and happy as adventurers like them could be, although he had always known that this would come to an end eventually. However, he had to trick her when she wouldn't even leave his side although they faced a whole army of the deathliest creatures in the universe.
It had been rather easy to give up while he believed her to be save. How could he have known what sacrifices she would be willing to make, just to save his life?
He had not needed to think twice to save her life in return, after all one of his regenerations wasn't such a high price for what was at stake.
But now he realized that he might have lost her nevertheless.
OOO
„I saw him sort of explode, and then you replaced him, like a ... a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something." Rose was partly talking to herself and partly accusing the imposter. The Doctor however, got pulled back out of his own thoughts to the here and now by her words.
Suddenly, the young woman gathered her courage and stepped forward. The look in her eyes reminded him a bit of her mother Jackie, whenever she was about to slap him.
Rose was glad that he didn't move. He just kept standing there, staring at her, although he seemed to rather see right through her. In fact the man reminded her a lot of her Doctor in that moment. He sometimes had had this vacant but sort of serious look on his face, too. Like when he talked about his lost home Gallifrey, or when they were in mortal danger with apparently no way out.
Instead of being slapped in the face, the Time Lord just got nudged with the girls flat hand on the chest. Not hard, she didn't push him away - that was at least something. It seemed more as if she was convincing herself that he was real. Still speechless and clueless how to regain her trust, he just gave in to the soft shove and rocked a little back and forth on his heels.
'Don't you know it's still me?' His silent plea was a bit frustrated, because beings that were at last a bit psychic like his own people would recognize him, no matter how his current face looked like. But it was never that easy with his human companions.
„I've seen all sorts of things." Rose retreated from the stranger. Her touch had proved that he wasn't a hologram, and thus she tried to search for another explanation. „Nano genes ... Gelth ... Slitheen ..." She felt somewhat proud about what seemed to her like a vast knowledge of alien life-forms that could be responsible for this weird situation. The Doctor had shown her so much of the universe! But many of the wonders she had seen were treacherous. A terrible suspicion began to manifest in her mind, and it seemed to be encouraged by the stern look the man gave her. „Oh my god, you're a Slitheen!"
When his companion began to list all the aliens that actually could act as an imposter or be the cause of something similar, the Doctor realized in how many dangerous adventures they already had been involved together. 'No wonder she did become this sceptical. There once had been a time when Rose would even walk up to a Dalek, full of compassion for a trapped, lonely creature, without any prejudice.' His face darkened. Not as a reaction to her accusations, but due to a bitter realisation. 'Because of me she learned that some beings just can't be trusted. In the end she even put her own life at risk to fight my enemies when I was about to give up.'
No matter how deep the Doctor would be in his own thoughts, this young woman had the talent to always reach him. Right now she actually believed him to be a green, bulky Raxacoricofallapatorian, who liked to pose as humans by wearing the skins of their victims. Under other circumstances he would have answered with a mock insulted remark and they would have laughed, but not now.
The Time Lord knew those fiends had given her some nightmares every time they had encountered them. So he just raised his eyebrows in an attempt to pull the tension out of this situation and told her in a calm voice, that he was not a Slitheen.
To be continued ...