The Other Doctor (10th Doctor) {Book 1}

E I G H T

"I'm sorry...it's too late...I'm regenerating!" The Doctor said, he threw his head backwards, his arms by his side. Orange light bursts from both his hands and head. Jack covers Rose and the red haired woman's eyes from the light, I shield my eyes with my hand.

No he can't do this. I have to know more. I know I may have gotten his memories but not his experiences or emotions. I want to explore the universe with him and learn more.

No...

The bursts of orange light, still escaping The Doctor's skin. Suddenly he directs his energy to a hand in a jar beneath the TARDIS' console, the liquid in the jar bubbles and glows the energy seeming as though it's being transferred into it.

The Doctor stops regenerating and stumbles backwards. He used th"e DNA from the hand in the jar. It must be his hand. It makes complete sense now. Clever. Very clever Doctor.

The red haired woman and Rose's mouth are gaping open along with Jack's.

"Now, then-Where were we ?" The Doctor asks, nonchantly, I walked over to where the three of them stand, stunned. I close Jack's mouth, with my hand. The Doctor darts around the console. I lent against the railing, Jack fumbling with words.

The Doctor gets on his hands and knees looking at the hand in the jar, I did the same, it's still bubbling and glowing.

"There, now," He said softly to the hand, I raise an eyebrow he blows on the bubbling jar and the orange light floats away, if it was fog."You see ?" The Doctor smiles delightedly, looking at us.

"He used the regeneration energy to heal himself..." I whisper, the Doctor gave me a look.

"But as soon as that was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to, why would I ?" He said tweaking his tie "Look at me! So, to stop the energy going all the way-"

"He siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle-namely, his hand" I said finishing off his scentence again.

"My hand, there-My handy spare hand" The Doctor said with enthusiasm.

"Remember ? Christmas Day ? Sycorax ? Lost my hand in a sword fight ? That's my hand!" The Doctor said directly to Rose, she looks slowly from the hand to me, then to him still uncertain of something.

"What do you think ?" He asked her searching her eyes.

"And...you're still you ?" Rose asked edging towards him.

"I'm still me" He said his eyes twinkling, they throw their arms around each other. Jack and I grin happy for them.

"You can hug me, if you want" The red haired woman said to him jokingly, Jack laughs nervously looking over at me. I shrug "No, really, you can hug me" Jack hugged her briefly before he parted with her and walked over to me.

The red haired woman did the same.

"Donna..." She said holding out her hand "Donna Noble" She said with a smile. I took it and shook it politely.

"Athena...Athena Tamsen" I said. Jack put his arm around my shoulders.

"So!" The Doctor said parting with Rose and walked over to the rest of us.

"Does she always finish sentences or she is just super clever ?" He asked, scanning me with his eyes. Jack a jealous look on his face. Captain Jack Harkness. Jealous. That'll be something to tell Gwen when I get back. If I get back.

"Well...Doctor you'll just have to wait and find out" I said locking eyes with him. His old eyes.

"I like her," The Doctor said over his shoulder to Jack, Donna and Rose. They all had smiles across their faces "What ?" He asked looking at them. I placed both my hands onto his chest feeling both his hearts beating faster and he looked at me confused.

"Doctor" I said, he looked at me confused "You've seemed to have gone a slight shade of crimson and your hearts are beating faster" I whispered against his ear, pulled him back and he felt his face and pulled away running to his console.

"Right!" He said, everyone gathering around the console "They've got us-Power's gone..."

"...some kind of chronon loop!" I said slightly, more excited than I meant, there was a loud crash and the TARDIS shifts dangerously to one side, everyone gripping onto the console.

"They're calling it the Crucible-Guess that's our destination" Jack said gripping onto the console, holding on to dear life. 

"You said these planets were like an engine-But what for ?" Donna asked confused.

"Rose! You've been in a parallel worl, that world's running ahead of this universe-you've seen the future, what was it ?" The Doctor asked.

"Wait-WHAT ? Parallel world ?" I asked Jack.

"Not now Athena I'll explain later" Jack replied.

"It's the darkness" Rose said solemnly.

"The stars were going out" Donna said frightfull.

"One by one-we looked up at the sky and they were just dying-Basically, we've been building this um...this travel machine, this...uh...Dimension Cannon, so I could...well, so I could..." Rose said slightly embarrassed by the time she was finished.

"What ?" The Doctor asked his eyebrow raised.

"So I could come back!" Rose said, obvious, The Doctor beamed and giggled "Shut up...! Anyway, suddenly, it started to work-And the dimensions started to collapse," She said. The Doctor's smile fades "Not just in our world-not just in yours-but the whole of reality, even the Void was dead-something is...destroying everything" She said, Donna looked over at her.

"In that parallel world..." Donna said turning to her "...you said something about me"

"The Dimension Cannon could measure timelines, and it's...it's weird, Donna, but they all seem to converge on you" Rose said worried.

"But why me ? I mean...what have I ever done ? I'm a temp from Chiswick!" Donna said bemused which made me smile slightly. My attention was caught by a part of the console which started beeping.

"The Dalek Crucible-all aboard..." The Doctor said looking at the computer screen with a devilish grin on his face his eyes hungry for adventure. This was thrilling!