Heart of Gold

Old Dog, New Tricks

"You, where the hell did you come from? You're a different, different kind of fun, and I'm so used to feeling numb. Now, I got pins and needles on my tongue. Anticipating what's to come. Like a finger on a loaded gun." - Kelly Clarkson: 'Heartbeat Song' (Piece by Piece [2015])

~**~

The Powell Estate

Because it was Christmas, the Doctor graciously decided to let Katy and Rose stick around for an extra day to spend time with Jackie, while he did some tinkering with the TARDIS, as he vaguely remembered crash landing in the middle of the courtyard when he was in the middle of regenerating, and wanted to check if there were any damages made to his beloved ship.

But however grateful she was for the Doctor to do this for them, Katy wasn't really in the mood to go visiting Bev like Jackie had promised during Christmas Eve when they were waiting for the Doctor to recover. So, she left Rose and Jackie to it and stayed behind.

While Rose and Jackie were out visiting, Katy went for a walk to the nearby park, coincidentally where Rose and Mickey had spotted the 'Bad Wolf' graffiti that had inspired Rose to risk everything and go back to 200,100 to help the Doctor. Also suspiciously, the graffiti seemed to have disappeared too.

Katy took a seat on a vacant park bench that had a view of the swing-set and jungle gym, just watching children playing amongst themselves underneath the watchful eyes of their parents, just absently playing with her locket.

"So, this is where you went off to," Katy turned her head and saw the Doctor standing beside the bench, looking at her with a pleasant cheerful smile on his face. She grinned back at him, and shuffled over on the seat, inviting him to sit down with her.

"Is the TARDIS okay?" Katy asked, and the Doctor nodded.

"Yeah, no harm done. Just needed to make a few repairs to the console after that incident involving you and Rose." The Doctor narrows his eyes at Katy, and she flushed guiltily.

"Hey, that was Rose not me. I tried to stop her from doing that," Katy protested her innocence. "If I hadn't, it could've been much worse." The Doctor sighed heavily.

"Yeah, but the point is, it should not have happened in the first place. Just as well, it's in the past; nothing we can do much about it now," He admits. The Doctor then looks seriously at Katy, making her feel a little bit nervous about what he possibly would want to say. "Now, let's continue on where our conversation left off, shall we?" Katy winced, having anticipated that that was one of the reasons why the Doctor had delayed taking her and Rose on their next adventure with him.

Too bad one of the topics was a little bit difficult to talk about with him.

"I suppose we do, don't we?" Katy acknowledged. "Where do you want to start, then?"

"You tell me," The Doctor retorted, and Katy raised a confused eyebrow.

"I don't follow you?"

"Well, you must have questions about regeneration. After all, you just witnessed me going through one," He pointed out, and Katy nodded. It was a fair enough observation. "So, fire away when you're ready. I'm all ears." Katy was silent for several minutes, before she swallowed and looked vulnerably at the Doctor who immediately looked concerned.

"Does it hurt?" Katy muttered, quietly. The Doctor blinked in astonishment at the question.

"No. Just unpredictable and potentially dangerous for bystanders if they stand too close," The Doctor replied.

"What do you mean?" Katy frowned.

"A Time Lord's regeneration can sometimes be explosive, depending on how severely they have been injured or from other circumstances," The Doctor explained. "Though, I doubt that will be the case with you, since we don't know how many times you've regenerated in the past when we were still living on Gallifrey."