Ties Between Time and Space

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Prologue
The Same But Different

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"Barcelona. Bar. . . ce. . .lona? Barcelona!"

Emma Winchester watched as the new Doctor sounded out their next destination and his hands worked at the console on overtime. She leaned an arm against the wall as she looked at him.

The new Doctor. Her new Doctor.

It was strange and she was in shock. Of course, she was, who wouldn't be? Regeneration, she once remembered him saying was a lucky packet. Not even the Doctor knew who he was about to turn into and she couldn't be more grateful that he warned her about it beforehand. He'd shown her pictures of his previous faces and bodies and believe her, his last one was an improvement over all the rest.

But now again, he was someone else. New and all regenerated.

"March 1316. . . here we go, Barcelona!" The Doctor straightened up from the control panel and smiled back at Emma. He held his arms out and started laughing slightly, "Well then?" he asked, "how do I look?"

Emma stared back at him looking somewhat caught off guard. "Well. . ." she started, unsurety coating her voice.

"No, no, no, no, no, don't tell me," the Doctor waved his arms about cutting her off. He then preceded to bounce on the spot before stopping and self-assessing himself.

She watched a small smile forcing its way onto her face.

This was already more than he usually spoke, he was more excited too if that were even possible, and his expressions were more expressive, all in all, this version of her Doctor seemed a lot happier and free to say or do whatever he felt and thought.

She maybe already liked this version of him just because of that.

"Let's see, shall we?" he asked and she returned out of her thoughts to watch him. "Two arms, two legs. . . two hands, two feet," he paused bringing his hand up to his face. "One nose, oh, that's a relief," he grinned and Emma laughed. "But the teeth. . ." he tsked in somewhat annoyance.

"And?" the Doctor asked, turning to look at her. "It's alright, isn't it? What do you think?"

"Umm. . ." Emma carefully started as her eyes flicked over him. "You're still completely insane, so nothing new there," she joked and he grinned back at her. "But what is new, is that this is the most you've said to me all in one go."

"Hmm," he hummed thoughtfully. "So this one's got a mouth on him, could be worse," he finally shrugged.

Emma took a step forward, catching his undivided attention. "You're still. . . you, though. Right? The Doctor, my Doctor?"

His excited smile softened for her. "Hello, Angel."

She released a breath at that, just like an angel, she thought. All he really did was change his vessel, nothing else really changed. She returned the smile and he took it as an encouragement and a reassuring understanding between them.

And so he started talking again. "Oh, well, that's a relief. I got a bit worried there for a second," he admitted looking back at her as he walked up to the console. "Thought I'd have to convince you with the whole 'run' thing or even worse Jackie's slap and your father's punch. Still feeling both by the way," he pointed at her and she laughed. "But we did so much running, didn't we?" he asked, starting to pull switches and push buttons.

"We did," Emma agreed, moving to stand beside him.

"That one time we had to hop, do you remember that, Em? Hopping the entire time! No breaks, no pauses! Hopping for our lives we were!" She giggled as he took a step back and started to hop around her in a circle. "Yeah, Hopping! Wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the entire day. Oh, well. You remember that, do you? Hopping for your life? Yes? Hop, hop, hopping, and the-"