Doctor Who

BodySwap

Featuring The Ninth Doctor and Tenth Doctor

Written By Mark Lomas

This is the first proper chapter to this special Doctor Who story. It is the beginning of a special series, nicknamed 4.5, and has its own 'story arc'. The first person who can guess what the 'story arc' word is will get a character named and designed after them. Thank you for reading.

Also, for the sake of this story, Elizabeth will be played by Joanna Page.

Chapter One: Introductions

'Civilisation is unbearable, but it is less unbearable at the top' –Timothy Leary

The following takes place between Journey's End and The Next Doctor

"Alright, I'm coming" Elizabeth Swanson shouted down the stairs from the upstairs landing to the person knocking loudly on the front door.

Dressed in a fluffy blue dressing gown and matching slippers, long blonde hair a scraggly mess down her back. Her bedroom door was slightly ajar behind her, warm dawn sunlight streaming in and concentrating on where her head should have been on her pillow. It had been this that had woken her up, but it was the rapid and loud knocking on the front door downstairs that forced her up and out. She glanced at both her watch and bedside clock to make sure her muddled brain hadn't created some alien time or manipulated her own perception; it was 6am

She and her parents, married for 30 years and lived in the village for 50, lived above and ran The Sheppard's Bush pub situated in the main square. Serving traditional food and drink all day, every day, Elizabeth and her parents were ideal residents for the village of Plucknit and the ancient traditions and rituals that came from being such. But in all the 25 years they had run the pub, never had a loud banging echoed throughout the old and traditional bar, bedrooms and living rooms. For the 18 year old Elizabeth, the successive banging could possibly have shattered her happy reality.

As her parents weren't responding to the knocking or giving any indication they ever heard it, Elizabeth reluctantly decided to tend to the source of the problem. In a blur of fluffy blue nightmare, she descended into the dark and dank bar and padded across the room to the heavy oak door with more locks than was needed. There was no crime rate or reports of burglaries; everyone trusted each other so there was no needed to lock the door in the first place. But it took her a good 2 minutes to find the keys behind the bar and unlock the front door.

Standing in the doorway, hand held mid-knock in the air, stood a man who reeked of danger and mystery. Taller than she was, he had a head of closely cropped black hair, huge ears dominating an middle-aged yet tired looking face. He was dressed in a dusty and worn down black leather jacket atop a casual green jumper and black trousers. Elizabeth was slightly taken aback but when the stranger, in one sudden moment, burst into the biggest and happiest and most genuine smile she had ever see, her heart seemed to relax and for a brief moment smiled back.

"Hello, I was wondering if you had any free rooms?" the stranger asks, dripping in northern drawl. When Elizabeth said nothing, he put his thumb up and cocked it towards a chalk-board sign nailed to the door that said, 'Rooms Available. Just Ask :)'

Elizabeth said nothing but subconsciously stepped aside to let the stranger in, who marched in with hands shoved in his jacket. While he took in the room with a quick succession of glances, she moved to a small table and picked up a red leather book. The stranger, in a one moment, spun round on the spot and faced her with his hands held behind his back.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way" the stranger identified, looking up at the ceiling and probably guessing where the spare room likely was.

Elizabeth nodded and wrote down the name, scrunching up her nose slightly as she finished the 'r' from 'Doctor', looking up at him in a quick succession to make sure the man was real and not some figment of her sleep deprived mind. It was true, she hadn't been in a mood to sleep of late, resorting to watching trashy 80s horror movies on her DVD player and eating popcorn. She had tried not having her usual cup of coffee before bed, going to bed earlier, watching a real boring program on TV which her parents found riveting. But it didn't work; her mind was just too active of late.

That and her boyfriend Jonathon was being a real pain in the backside, sometimes refusing to answer her texts and hanging up during an argument on the phone. She had plans to leave the village at some point, move away to the city and go to college. She wanted real education, not just the mandatory lessons she'd been given when she younger at the local school. Her life had been planned out from beginning to end by her parents, wanting her to run the pub when they eventually retired, or worse, died. Jonathon wanted her to stay, and had taken to taking out Zoe on the occasional evening to make her jealous.

"How long do you plan on staying?" she found herself asking, as the Doctor leaned against the bar she had put herself behind.

His eyes twinkled slightly as he smiled at her and took a glance at the home-made calendar hanging behind the bar, decorated by the local kids in the style of their favourite movies.

"A few days maybe, probably three at the most" he replied, leaning back and scratching his hair.

She could tell he had probably been caught in the small downpour she had heard about 5am when she'd woken from a nightmare of giant snakes, her old headmaster and a dancing scarecrow. It had simply been a slight misting, not doing any lasting damage but on the side caused the lights from the lampposts to be reflected in patterns on the pavement. Looking into her booking book saw that '5' was available and took the key off the hook from under the bar.

"Room 5 is free upstairs, first door on the right with the eagle plague" Elizabeth handed him the key, feeling a tingle through her body as their skin touched.

For a brief moment, she looked up at the gentlemen before her, all leather jacket and northern accent, and could suddenly see an infinite amount of experience in his eyes. Like he travelled far and wide and never had a home, always kept running and didn't look back. Like he'd seen the explosion of a dying star and the destruction of the Gods. She shivered.

"Thank you very much" he said, giving her a wide grin that took her back abet. She felt suddenly much better about being in his company.

The Doctor palmed the keys and turned to the stairs, smiling back at Elizabeth before ascending the stairs, his footsteps echoing off the wooden steps and throughout the inn. As she heard him put his key in the lock and open the door, she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and rubbed her eyes, trying to clear the blur from her eyes. Sun had begun to shine in through the windows dotted about the small ill and she glanced down at her watch to check the time. It wasn't even 7am. Back to bed.

-Doctor Who-

His brown overcoat flapped in the wind as he stood on the cliff, the wind blowing through his impossible hair. His TARDIS stood in the wet grass behind him, door locked and engines asleep. At times he would sometimes just land on a planet and let the TARDIS rest, it was the least he could do for all she did for him. The last child of Gallifrey, She too had been affected by the Time War, and the Doctor could feel it in his hearts that she was hurting. It was probably why she'd land in 1879 instead of 1979.

The Doctor had found out that he'd landed in 2009 Earth in a small costal town called Littlerock Bay, reading a discarded newspaper in a small bin beside the TARDIS. He'd wanted to make sure he knew where he was before exploring, wanting to make sure Daleks or Ice Warriors lurking about. There could still be some about, but the percentage was cut from 50% to 9% just by picking up that paper. His hearts were at least again for a moment, but the pain lingered again about reason and he thought about why the TARDIS had brought him here in the first place.

He glanced down across the open sea and breathed in the salty fresh air, suddenly wishing there was someone he could share this simple and human sight with. He missed having a companion and friend to travel the cosmos with, an equal to share the sights and wonders of the universe with. He'd enjoyed taking Donna to the Third Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade, Martha to the Crystal Pyramids Of Mars; and Grayla to the Dust Mines Of Telmon. But the life he led; travelling across and around the universe fighting the forces of evil and unjust just for the goodness.

He glanced down onto the beach below and saw something that was out of place, the first thing he'd noticed. A row of gravestones lay in the sand, all of various shapes and sizes. There was no fence to protect them from the general public; they simply sat there crudely in the sand like a cruel mockery of death and despair. The rest of the beach was plain and covered in sand, small rocks jutting out. A small rock pool lay across from the graves, but he was too high to see if crabs or other life was swimming in its grimy depts.

He wandered towards what looked like the path to the beach and saw that a winded path had been formed around the outside of the cliffs, moving deeper and outwards the further you went down A wooden barrier the height of his waist was the only thing to stop him tripping and tumbling to his next regeneration. His sneakers echoed against the walls and the open air and he took the steps one at the time to save him a fall. The path looked well trodden, with small dinks and kinks in the rough stone. He reached terma firma and his shoes sank into the wet sand.

It was secluded where he was stood, the cliffs looking down on him like behemoths from the stars. They reminded him of the Giants Of Kratos, except they weren't breathing fire and blasting lightning from their eyes. He took a glance at the gravestones, crouching down in the sand and getting his knees wet as he ran a finger along the crude script on the front. It looked rush and amateurish, most of the graves themselves just planks of flat wood rather than traditional stone. Only first names showed that they had owners. He stood up and dusted the sand off, walking with a slump towards the rock pool.

The water of green and slimy, which showed a great deal of uncare. He could see shapes and shadows below the slime, and didn't want to risk putting his hand in to see it they were fish, crabs or something else. Other than that, the beach was peaceful yet had a sense of desolation that haunted his bones. He raised a finger into the air and felt the wind brush against his skin, discovering that the closest civilisation wasn't far. Shoving his hands into his coat pocket, he began to make his way back up the cliff.

-Doctor Who-

A Dalek moved through the citadel, flanked by two more blasting two Time Lords into skeletons. The Doctor, velvet waistcoat and a head of brown hair, stood at the top of the steps. Romana, or Romanadvoratelundar, crouched down behind him, having regenerated since their last encounter. The 'weapon' lay in her hand, taken from the top of citadel to use against the invading Dalek forces. They seemed more agitated than usual, more than likely due to Davros' death at The Gates Of Elysium and at the jaws of the Nightmare Child.

"Take this" Romana gasped, passing the 'weapon' into the Doctor's hand as he glanced round and stared at her with hollow eyes.

His Eighth regeneration was younger than most of his more recent ones, yet his eyes seemed to burn with haunted age as he looked at the object in his hand and then into her own eyes, silently praying that Gallifrey and the fabric of time could be saved without the use of such a weapon. He hated violence, never carried a weapon. Events had been this severe before, during the first Time War against the Black Sun, but never had the 'weapon' ever been in question. His two hearts ached with sorrow.

"But to use such a weapon...this could be the end of our people...the entire Time Lord race..." he begged as he rose to his feet.

Romana clambered up his arm and leant against him, her auburn hair smattered against her face amid the blood of countless Time Lords on her shallow cheeks. She gripped his hand and the weapon secured within, and kissed his softly on the lips as he fought to hold back his tears and the emotions swelling up within his hearts. He loved this woman more than he would ever admit out loud, a feeling he wanted to hold onto forever. But he could tell that this was the last time he would ever hold her in his arms, would kiss her and worry and protect her.

"Do the right thing, for the sake of everything. Do it for another Genesis" Romana cried, pulling away and squeezing his hand.

The Doctor wiped his face with his shirtsleeves, turning towards the Daleks moving towards them through the hall. Romana backed away towards the stairs towards the tower, picking up her discarded sonic screwdriver as she went. They shared a last look before she vanished upwards, knowing where she was going. 'It' needed to be shut down, so that the Daleks couldn't use it against them or against the cosmos. It would possibly cost her life, but they were dead anyway.

"You are The Doctor, an enemy of the Daleks!!!" the black Supreme Daleks barked up at the shadowy figure walking down the steps towards them.

In all his grace and wonder, as The Oncoming Storm, as The Destroyer Of Worlds, The Doctor nodded his own sweet way and ran forwards...

-Doctor Who-

The Doctor screamed out and jumped up in bed, sweat and tears running down his face. He breathed in deeply and glanced around the room he was in, surprised to see small rays of light coming in from behind the curtains. He could tell almost immediately that he'd only been asleep for 10 minuets, but he'd experienced everything and everyone and he scared him to death. The memories of the Time War still warped his mind and he afraid to go the sleep or even close his eyes. Jumping out of bed and moving to the window, he swept the curtains open and saw something that shocked him.

From his window, he could see over the main street and the neighbouring shops. There was an old fashioned sweat shop, a bakery that he could smell, a toy shop and newsagents. But it was the tens of people, dressed in stages of undress, walking down the street towards the beach. He couldn't see their faces or tell their expressions, but something didn't sit right. Call it a Spider-Sense if you will, but he could tell that something was wrong. Grabbing his leather jacket off the end of the bed, he ran out the door.