"I think you need a Doctor." The Doctor whispered to Rose before kissing her soundly on the lips, drawing the time vortex into himself. Rose collapses against him as The Doctor exhales the energy, watching as it flows back into the TARDIS. The console closes silently, sealing the energy away.
"Ew!" A young female voice exclaims as golden energy, not dissimilar to what just exited The Doctor's lips, dances along his arms. Glancing around, The Doctor doesn't see anybody as he hurries Rose into the TARDIS and sets it to dematerialize before Jack Harkness can reach the ship.
"You know? I don't think I've ever seen you without hair before." The same young voice as before mused. "I don't like it."
The Doctor looks around wildly. "Who are you? Where are you? How did you get on my ship?"
The voice scoffed in return. "Give me a few minutes, I'm still getting the hang of this materializing thing."
"What are you?" The Doctor yelled at the TARDIS ceiling.
Rose groaned from the floor and he immediately refocused his attention. "What happened?" She asks.
"Don't you remember?" The Doctor asks cautiously in reply.
"It's like there was this singing..." She responded groggily.
"That's right. I sang a song and the Daleks ran away." The Doctor replied, resigned.
"I was at home. No, I wasn't, I was in the Tardis, and there was this light. I can't remember anything else."
Golden light flared brighter along The Doctor's skin.
"Rose Tyler. I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses. Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny." He mourned.
A snort could be heard from the ceiling. "Overrated."
"Then, why can't we go?" Rose inquired.
"Maybe you will, and maybe I will. But not like this." He sighed, before calling to the voice. "It is not overrated!"
"Doctor, you're not making sense." Rose replied, "and who are you talking to?"
"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head. And don't say that's an improvement. But it's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're going to end up with." The Doctor replied, distractedly. "Can't you hear that voice?"
"I see you are always this dramatic." The voice commented, "You'll be fine. I assure you, you will have a head. A cockamamie head, but a head."
Suddenly The Doctor doubled over in pain and Rose rushed towards him, yelling for him.
"No!" The Doctor responds, "Stay away!"
"Doctor, tell me what's going on." Rose pleaded.
"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that. Every cell in my body's dying." He exhaled in pain.
"Can't you do something?" Rose asked, anxiously.
"Oh, where'd you pick this one up, then?" The voice snarked, "Should be obvious you're doing everything you can."
The Doctor glared out at the room. "Excuse me, I only take the best! But, yeah, I'm doing what I can now. Time Lords have this little trick, you see, it's sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I'm going to change, and I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go..."
"Don't say that." Rose sniffled.
"Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I."
The Doctor leaned back, embracing the regeneration as golden light burst from every uncovered section of skin. The Doctor's image wavered as a new face appeared.
"See! I told you, face." The voice pointed out. Out of the corner of his eye, The Doctor could see a wavering shadow, slowly becoming more prominent.
"Hello. Okay. Ooo, new teeth. That's weird." The Doctor licked his teeth, seeming to feel the difference in them with his tongue. "So, where was I? Oh, that's right. Barcelona. Oh, and a mysterious voice."
"Six pm... Tuesday..."The Doctor busies himself setting navigation, "October... 5006... On the way to Barcelona!"
Suddenly he wheels on Rose, a feverish look in his eyes. "Now then... What do I look like?" Before the overwhelmed girl can answer, The Doctor moves on. "No, no no, no no no no no no no. No. Don't tell me."
The Doctor starts patting himself down. "Let's see... two legs, two arms, two hands... Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle. Hair! I'm not bald!" He exuberates.
"I did tell you." The voice comments drily.
"Ooh, and a hallucination! Never had one of those before. Can't forget the hallucination."
"Oh, thanks." The hallucination sassed, "How degrading. I am a ghost, thank you very much."
"Oh, Oh! Big hair!" The Doctor continued, feeling up his face and wiggling around. "Sideburns, I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin. Little bit thinner... That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it. I... have got... a mole. I can feel it. Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole. That's all right. Love the mole."
"Go on then, tell me." The Doctor wheels on Rose, grinning maniacally. He straightens for assessment. "What do you think?"
Suddenly The Doctor stiffens and turns to where the voice came from before. "Wait a minute, ghosts don't exist!"
"Unless they do." The voice responded, once again behind him.
"Who are you?" Rose asked, unable to hold it in longer.
"I'm the Doctor." The Doctor responded, deflating.
"No... Where is he? Where's the Doctor?" Her voice rises with her panic, "What have you done to him?"
"You saw me, I, I changed..." The Doctor fidgeted uncomfortably as he gestures to where he regenerated, "right in front of you."
"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 stubbornly demands.
The Doctor shifts in place, uncertain. The voice, which has resolved into a green glow, has no such reservations. "He regenerated, you cow! How would you like it if someone told you they wished you were never born when you were fresh from hatching."
"You're not fooling me." Rose declared.
The Doctor rocks backwards, disappointed in the girl.
"I've seen all sorts of things. Nanogenes... Gelth... Slitheen..." Rose reaches for an explanation, giving him suspicious looks. "Oh, my God, are you a Slitheen?"
"I'm not a Slitheen."
"Send him back. I'm warning you; send the Doctor back right now!" Rose shouts in fear.
"Rose, it's me." The Doctor pleads, leaning towards the distressed girl. "Honestly, it's me. I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body. Every single cell, but... it's still me."
"You can't be." Rose whispers.
The Doctor pointedly ignores a "Wow, you really know how to pick 'em!" from the peanut gallery.
The Doctor steps back. "Then how could I remember this? Very first word I ever said to you. Trapped in that cellar. Surrounded by shop window dummies.... Oh..." The Doctor reminisces, "... such a long time ago. I took your hand" He reaches down, interlocking their hands. "I said one word... just one word, I said... 'Run'."
The two stare into each others eyes for a minute before Rose admits to what's in front of her eyes. "Doctor." She whispers.
The Doctor grins, gently. "Hello."
The manic air comes back over the man in a flash as he runs to the console, flipping switches, giddy on regeneration energy. "And we never stopped, did we? All across the universe. Running, running, running... One time we had to hop. Do you remember? Hopping for our lives." The Doctor hopped around the console, continuing to flip switches and press buttons. "Yeah? All that hopping? Remember hopping for your life? Yeah?! Hop? With the..." The Doctor turns to Rose, seeing her unresponsive. "No?" He asked, innocently.
"Can you change back?" Rose interrupts.
"Do you want me to?" The Doctor asks, insecurely.
"Yeah."
"Oh."
"Can you?"
"No." He turns, disappointed.
"Do you want me to leave?" Rose asks, shocked and hesitant.
"No!" The Doctor hurries to reassure the upset girl. "But... your choice... if you want to go home..." The Doctor sees the answer on her face. "Cancel Barcelona. Change to... London... the Powell Estate... ah... let's say the 24th of December. Consider it a Christmas present." He grins at her sadly as Rose edges closer to the console.
"There." The Doctor steps back from the console, arms tucked defensively. He glances surreptitiously between the nervous girl and the green blob. He turns to the green glow, waving his sonic screwdriver at it. "Glancing at the readout, his eyes narrow. "Impossible, what are you?"
"I'm going home?" Rose interrupts, "And who are you talking to? There's no one there!"
"Up to you." The Doctor replied, "Back to your mum... it's all waiting. Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast... no, Christmas! Turkey! Although... having met your mother... nut loaf would be more appropriate."
"Was that a smile?" The Doctor asks, relaxing his defensive posture.
"No." Rose smiled at her shoes.
"That was a smile..." The Doctor teased lightly.
"No it wasn't." Rose insisted.
"You smiled." The Doctor declared, suddenly sure.
"No I didn't." Rose demanded, "and who were you talking to?"
"It seems this regeneration comes with a hallucination. One who is very adamant in not being a hallucination. She claims to be a ghost. Well, I assume she, sounds like a she, and I imagine she'd correct me otherwise. Possibly helpful in organizing my thoughts, almost like there are two of me! Oh, what a day that would be." The Doctor notices he's losing Rose. "Oh, come on, all I did was change, I didn't..." He cuts himself off to gag, the TARDIS shuddering with him.
"What?" Rose asked, surprised at his sudden cut off.
"I said I didn't..." He gags again and can hear the apparition repeating "Oh shit" Over and over in the corner.
"Uh oh." The Doctor agrees with the hallucination.
"Er... are you alright?" Rose cautiously approaches him as gold vapours come out of his mouth, "What's that?"
"Oh... the change is going a bit wrong and all." The Doctor grits out in pain, gagging as he falls to the floor.
"Look... maybe we should go back. Let's go and find Captain Jack, he'd know what to do." Rose insists anxiously.
"Gah, he's busy! He's got plenty to do rebuilding the Earth!" The Doctor replies shiftily, examining the TARDIS console only to flick a button. "I haven't used this one in years."
"What're you doing?!" Rose asks fearfully as the TARDIS shutters and seems to pick up speed.
"Putting on a bit of speed! That's it!" The Doctor grins crazily, messing with more knobs and buttons. "My beautiful ship! Come on, faster! That's a girl! Faster! Wanna break the time limit?!"
"Stop it!" Rose pleaded as she hung on for dear life.
"I've got to agree with her this time." The ghost adds, "SLOW DOWN!"
"Ah, don't be so dull... let's have a bit of fun! Let's rip through that vortex!" The Doctor almost snarls at the two of them before seeming to have a moment of calm and grimacing in pain. "The regeneration's going wrong. I can't stop myself. Ah, my head..." And like that the calm is over as he flips back to his reckless personality. "Faster! Let's open those engines!"
The Cloister bell sounds. "What's that?" Rose asks in distress.
"Not again!" The ghost groans.
"We're gonna crash land!" The Doctor laughs maniacally as he pops up next to the human girl.
"Well then, do something!" Rose responds.
"Too late! Out of control!" The Doctor responds, still hopping around. "Oh, I love it! Hot dawg!"
"You're gonna kill us!" Rose responds.
"Again!" The ghost girl snarls.
"Hold on tight, here we go!" Is The Time Lord's only response as he grinned madly at Rose across the console. "Christmas Eve...!"
"Nope!" The ghost girl responded. "I'll see you after Christmas, there's no way I'm spending another Christmas with you!" The green glow faded as the TARDIS hurtled towards its impromptu landing.
Come on, it's a time travel story. The first chapter has to be called the epilogue.
I don't own Doctor Who, etc. Original character, etc. Don't copy. Apologies for messed up idioms.
I don't know when I will continue this, but be assured it is a work in progress.