The Doctor was frozen; his body unmoving in front of the TARDIS. He knew he should get back inside and run as far away from here as possible, he knew that he couldn't keep standing on the street. As he forced himself to turn his back to Donna's house and return to the TARDIS a very big part of him wished that he could go and find her, and ask her to come with him. Just a one stop tour. The Doctor Donna, together again. But he knew that he was fooling himself, and it hurt him to think that he was the person who had caused this. He knew he was to blame for losing his best friend, and he hated himself for it. He hated himself for always hurting the people he loved and he had never felt more inward hatred than he did now.

Thinking about Donna sent a compound of emotions coursing through his body and his mind. He could almost hear the distant sound of Donna calling his name. 'Stop it' he muttered to himself, as his mind accused him of delusions and insanity. He sank to the floor against the console as the voice in his head became gradually louder, and sounding more and more convincing. The Doctor was positive he had lost his mind, and promised to take himself to some deserted distant planet, where he couldn't get himself into any trouble and could take a long deserved break. The Doctor hadn't stopped running for years. Even his trips to holiday planets with Amy were fraught with peril, or as he liked to call them 'Adventures'. The voice in his mind was now painfully loud, and he dropped his head onto his knees, his arms curled around them, and prepared himself for a long day of sitting around and wallowing in self pity.

His track of thought, however, was interrupted by a loud bang as the TARDIS door was thrown open and an excited Donna Noble almost threw herself into the TARDIS. The Doctor, bewildered, stood up and stared blankly at the woman in front of him

"Who the hell are you?" Donna almost spat at him

The Doctor just mumbled a series of incoherent and inaudible words.

"Well" Donna said, impatience making her tone of voice rude and demanding. 'Same old Donna' thought The Doctor. "Are you gonna answer my question or what? Who are you? Where's The Doctor?"

The aforementioned man was puzzled as to why she didn't know who he was and had no idea what to say, when he realised that his appearance had changed since he last saw Donna. He had regenerated saving her grandfather, not that she'd ever know, she couldn't know.

"But. You're. No. Impossible" The Doctor was rambling. His speech slowly returning to him

"Who. Are you?" Donna demanded. "Are you another Time Lord? Is this a different TARDIS? Is this even a TARDIS?"

"It's the same one" The Doctor said quietly.

"Oh! So you're talking now are you? Good. What the hell have you done with The Doctor?"

" I'm" The Doctor began to say, when a thought he had overlooked suddenly returned to him. "How do you know about The Doctor?"

"I'm his friend. You still haven't said who you are"

"I'm. I'm The Doctor" He said, suddenly looking cautious of Donna's health. He had no idea how her memory had returned, and what it would do to her if she knew who he was.

"No you're bloody not" Donna said, clearly thinking he was a madman.

"I am. Look. Same TARDIS. Just a little brighter, and a bit more polished. She's still the same one. And I am The Doctor. I've just got-"

"A new face?"Donna interrupted The Doctor, incredulous. "You grew. A new FACE?"

"Well sorta, yeah. It's a bit more complicated than that though"

"You regenerated. Yeah, I was there last time when you almost regenerated. With the Dalek, you remember? Do you even remember? Do you still have his memories?" Donna said, accentuating words in the way only she can.

"Yes." The Doctor replied, a haunted tone creeping into that one word, showing all his pain and regret.

"Are you okay though, Doctor?" Donna asked, concerned by the tone of his voice.

"Me? Yeah. I'm fine. Of course I'm fine. I'm always..fine. I'm not convincing you am I?"

Donna had been looking at The Doctor with an expression on her face that said she wasn't falling for his 'I'm fine' routine. She knew The Doctor; even if this wasn't her Doctor. And he knew it. He couldn't pretend with Donna, nor did he have to.

"Nope. Not at.." Donna was interrupted by the TARDIS suddenly shaking and throwing her around.

The Doctor, confused and a little panicky, ran to the other side of the console, pressed a few buttons, pulled a few levers, and for the first time in 4 days spoke aloud without feeling like an idiot.

"We're being hijacked. I can't control her. Or stop it"

"Oh. It's always the same with you isn't it. Does it ever stop?"

"Nope" The Doctor said, with a triumphant smile. "You'd better hold on. This could be a long one"

And so the TARDIS hurtled towards an unknown destination in an unknown time period, and The Doctor rejoiced in the fact that he had his best friend beside him once again.