PROLOGUE - Winning, Losing, and Starting Again.

"Yes... Cor, I suppose it makes sense." The War Doctor's eyebrows rose as he gazed down at his suddenly glowing hands, not much caring that his ship was traveling to a destination of her own choosing. "Wearing a bit thin..."

Looking up to the roof of the console chamber, he speaks aloud to his TARDIS as the regeneration energies begin to suffuse his body. "I hope the ears are a bit less conspicuous, this time..."

Minutes later, a new man is prone on the floor of the same chamber, unable to stop sobbing out his grief.

The distinctive squeak of a door hinge interrupts his misery, and alerts him to another presence entering his ship. He looks up to see an attractive young man with impossibly old eyes looking down upon him with a set expression.

"Well, that'll teach you to be thinking about your ears when you regenerate, won't it Doctor?" The man asks, gracefully arching an eyebrow. "You can really only blame yourself for this one."

"How did you get in here?' The Doctor asks with a glare from his position on the floor, only slightly startled when his hoarse voice comes out sounding like an English Northerner, he ignores it to continue. "I don't know you. I don't want to know you. Just go away!"

"Well, that's very rude of you." The man replies, not seeming particularly offended, spinning on his heels and heading toward the door. "Up you get, then. I don't intend to put up with a rude Time-Lord parking his TARDIS in my guest room forever. Come along. What you need is a good cup of tea. All those tannins and free-radicals will help you get your head on straight again."

"I'm not going anywhere." The Doctor growled.

"I said, get up!" The man turned to narrow his eyes at the Time-Lord.

Without even realizing how, the Doctor found himself on his feet. He blinked at the young man, looked down at his new body dressed in near-rags, and back at the man in front of him.

"I don't suppose you'd mind giving me a moment to change first?" He finally asked, the fretful tone in his voice annoying him despite his inability to control his own emotions at the moment.

The man rolled his eyes, and cleared his throat meaningfully. Out of the corner of his eye the Doctor saw a flash and when he looked closer, there was now a full outfit; boots, leather jacket and all, sitting on the console next to him.

"Black for mourning. Yes, well I suppose it would be..." The man sighed softly, then turning again for the door he continued briskly. "Come out when you're presentable. She's not likely to let you run off after bringing you here, so no point trying. Kitchen is at the end of the hall on the left. I'll just start the water boiling."

"How did you..?" The Doctor began.

"Gorgeous ship you have, Doctor." The man tossed over his shoulder, as he exited the TARDIS. "I think she rather likes me..."

Author's Note: There is such a lovely amount of blank space between the Doctor's regeneration from the Hurt Doctor to when the Eccleston Doctor met Rose. When I saw the 50th anniversary special, I couldn't help but take advantage of all that unknown time to further fill out the timelines in the Torchwood AU story I've been quietly working on for years. It was inspirational, and gave me a starting point I hadn't come up with yet that wound up affecting the entire story. Kind of like the butterfly effect in time-travel, the short scene you've just read forced the re-writing of thousands of words I'd already completed. I suppose only Time will tell if it was worth it.