The Girl Who Accidentally Ran Away (A Doctor Who Fan-fiction)

Chapter Forty: The Girl Who Accidentally Skipped A Doctor

I woke up to a fading golden glow.

I bolted upright, breathing heavily.  I put a hand on my chest, feeling both of my heartbeats. I was alive. I heard another gasp, and looked to my right to see Jack, also alive.

"We're alive." I said. "How are we alive." He looked at me, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Who the heck are you?" I furrowed my eyebrows. Golden light...I died...

I reached up to my hair, feeling it. It was short now. I pulled it in front of my eyes to see that my dirty blonde was replaced with a dark red. I looked at Jack.

"It's me...it's Katherine." He looked at my clothes, my red dress and the Doctor's Jacket.

"Katherine...what happened to you?'

"Well...that's a bit more difficult to explain." We stood up, and I opened my mouth to tell him when I heard the whoosing of the TARDIS. "No. NO!" We both took off running to level 500 just in time to see the TARDIS dematerializing. "DOCTOR!" I shouted. I ran a hand through my new hair, sighing. "He left us...he left me." I looked at Jack. "You said he would never leave me."

"He probably thought you were dead." Jack reasoned. "We can still find him."

"How?! How, exactly?! We're stuck on a satellite in 200100, he could be anywhere in the universe right now..." I trailed off. "But if we're still alive, that means that the Daleks didn't win. So...he must've gone back to Rose! London, early 21st century! But how do we get there?"

"I've got this." He held up his wrist, revealing what I now recognized to be a Vortex manipulator.

"That...you shouldn't even have that." I told him.

"Is now really the time for Time Lord morals?" He questioned. I shrugged and he typed in the coordinates, grabbing my arm. "Hang on!"

There was a bright light and then we were standing in the middle of Powell Estate. There were Christmas lights hung over the streets and it was snowing.

"Is it really Christmas time?" I wondered out loud. The Vortex manipulator started making a beeping noise, and I turned around. "What's wrong with that thing?" I asked. 

"I don't know...it glitches every now and then...I don't-" There was another flash of light and he disappeared. 

"Jack!" I shouted. I sighed. "You've got to be kidding!" I wrapped the Doctor's jacket around myself. Well, the Doctor will be around eventually. I looked around, searching for any sign that he was or had been here at some point. I turned around and saw a man in a trench coat limping towards me. "Hello?" I called. "Are you alright?" I ran over to him, coming to a stop in front of him. There was something about him, something felt strange. "Sir? Are you ok?" His eyes traveled down to my clothes.

"Kath...Katherine?" He asked. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"How...do you know who I am?" He fell forward heavily, his arms wrapping around my waist.

"Where have you been?!" He sobbed. "I thought I'd lost you, I was sure of it." My eyes widened in realization and I pulled away from him.

"Doctor?" I asked.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you? You've regenerated since then." I shook my head. "I'm regenerating...I need to get to the TARDIS." He wrapped an arm around me and I helped him to the TARDIS. What is happening? What is going on?! This is not the same regeneration, and he hasn't seen me in a long time. Jack, where did you drop me off?!

The Doctor stumbled, bringing me with him.

"Doctor, what's going on?!" I asked, confused tears welling in my eyes. He looked at me, realization flashing in his eyes.

"How..." He groaned in pain. "How long has it been? Since Satellite 5, how long has it been for you?"

"I don't know...a few minutes, maybe? Why?" He shook his head.

"Katherine...you've missed an entire regeneration." My jaw dropped. I got up, helping him to his feet and half-dragging him the rest of the way to the TARDIS. We walked in and he leaned heavily against the door. The console room still looked the same.

"How...how have I missed an entire regeneration?!" I asked.

"How did you get here?"

"Jack...he had a Vortex manipulator...of course! Those stupid things can never be trusted..." The Doctor smiled.

"That's back in the early days, then..." I shook my head.

"I missed...an entire regeneration...a whole part of your life and I missed it! I've missed everything!" He grabbed my waist, pulling me against him. I put my hands on his face, a face that was brand new to me and very old to him. "What is happening? I don't understand what's going on." He let go, backing away from me as the golden energy seeped out of his hands. Tears streamed down my face. "How could I have missed so much time?!" He walked over to the console, starting the engines.

"You came back...Katherine you came back, that's all that matters." I shook my head.

"No, it's not all that matters! Doctor you, this version of you, were supposed to be my future! There is a whole slew of events that you aren't allowed to tell me about, our time line has been royally screwed up in every possible way!"  He shook his head.

"I'm...it's happening." He stood up, walking around the console and stopping in front of me. "I...I don't want to go."

"Doctor..." His face started glowing gold, and I shook my head, my mind going insane. This isn't right, something is very wrong here, something that must be fixed. "DOCTOR!" The energy exploded out of him, blasting through the TARDIS windows and catching the console room on fire. I ducked, falling to the floor and throwing my hands over my head, bawling my eyes out.

Something is very, very wrong here. Something very wrong indeed. One of the pillars crashed down around me and I screamed. The Doctor let out a scream as well, and I felt his hands on my arms, pulling me to my feet. A new face stood in front of me now, with long brown hair and quite a large chin, wearing the previous regeneration's suit. I stared at him with wide, tear-filled eyes.

"Legs, I've still got legs." He brought his knee up, kissing it. "Good. Arms, hands, fingers." He looked at his hands, moving them in strange ways. "Eyes too, nose," He felt his nose, "I've had worse, chin...blimey. Hair..." He pushed his hair back. "I'm a girl! No, no," He felt his adam's apple. "I'm not a girl! And still not Ginger!" He looked at me. "You're ginger, that's nice. There's something else, something important." He grabbed my arms, searching my eyes. "I'm, I'm, I'm..." The TARDIS shook, sending me against his chest. He laughed. "Ha, ha! We're crashing! GERONIMO!" 

~~~End of Book One~~~

Now, before I get seriously attacked for skipping David Tennant, trust me when I say he will be coming back. I just thought I'd shake up the time line a bit, make things complicated in true Doctor Who Fashion. So don't worry, the Tenth Doctor we'll be back. Just maybe not exactly when he's supposed to be.

Story continued in "The Girl Who Accidentally Skipped A Doctor".

-TIMEYWIMEYPRW