Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor

The Christmas Invasion

The man turned to the console and started typing in commands. "6PM, Tuesday, October 5006... On our way to Barcelona." he muttered to himself then turned to face the women.

Rose was staring at the man in shock, while the Artist seemed completely unfazed by what had just happened.

"Now then... what do I look like?" the man asked. The Artist opened her mouth to answer, but the man cut her off. "No, no no, no no no no no no no. No. Don't tell me. Let's see..." He examined himself. "Two legs, two arms, two hands... slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle." he observed as he rotated his wrist, then ran his hand through his hair. "Hair! I'm not bald! Oh, oh, big hair. Sideburns, I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin."

"Don't worry, they're sideburns." the Artist assured him, joining him by the console.

The man then noticed just how baggy the Doctor's clothes were on him. "Little bit thinner..." he observed, patting his stomach, "Gimme time, I'll get used to it." Then he shifted slightly. "I... have got... a mole. I can feel it. Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole."

"Could be worse." the Artist remarked.

"That's alright, love the mole." the man grinned, "Go on then, tell me, what d'ya think?"

"Not bad." the Artist nodded her approval, "You might wanna get changed through, those clothes don't suit you anymore."

The man turned to Rose, who hadn't moved from her spot by the Y-beams. "What do you think?" he asked her.

"Who are you?" Rose asked quietly.

"I'm the Doctor." he answered as if it was obvious.

Rose shook her head. "No... where is he? Where's the Doctor? What've you done to him?!"

"You saw me, I... I changed... right in front of you." the man frowned, confused at Rose's behaviour.

"I saw him sort of explode, an' then you replaced him, like a... a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something."

"Listen, Rose..." the Artist began, but the human ignored her and advanced on the man.

"Ya not fooling me." she burst out, "I've seen all sorts of things. Nanogenes... Gelth... Slitheen..." She gasped. "Oh, my god, are you a Slitheen?!" she accused.

"I'm not a Slitheen." the man replied flatly.

"Send him back." Rose demanded, not convinced in the slightest. "I'm warning you; send the Doctor back right now!"

"Rose, this is the Doctor." the Artist told her calmly, "He's regenerated. It's something we Time Lords do when we're dying. Every single cell in our bodies change, but we're still the same person we were before. I've done it too."

But Rose still wasn't convinced. "But he can't be." she shook her head.

"Then how can I remember this?" the man asked, stepping forward, "Very first word I ever said to you. Trapped in that cellar, surrounded by shop window dummies... ooh... such a long time ago." He took Rose's hand, reliving the moment. "I took your hand... I said one word, just one word. I said 'run'." he said sincerely.

Rose stared. "Doctor." she breathed.

"Hello." the Doctor grinned, and ran to the console. "And we never stopped, did we? All across the universe, running, running..." He turned to the Artist. "And dancing. Remember that?"

"How could I forget?" the Time Lady smiled, then the Doctor took her hand and pulled her into a twirl. They both broke apart laughing. "And that time you two had to hop for it." she reminded.