Something New

The door to the room slid open a few moments later and Wilfred Mott, grandfather to Donna, the woman who'd helped to save twenty-seven planets, walked into the room. He didn't know that there would be something different about Adelaide now, but thankfully he hadn't actually been around Caroline enough to notice the change in her appearance.

"Aye, aye," he said, walking more towards the Doctor, believing him to still be the one in charge at the moment. Adelaide continued to let him think that. "Got this old tub mended?"

The Doctor nodded. "Just trying to fix the heating."

Wilf took a seat next to the Doctor, staring out the large window next to them. "Oh…I've always dreamt of a view like that." He smiled. "Hee, hee. I'm an astronaut!" He pointed at the planet. "It's dawn over England, look. Brand new day…" and then he paused, his smile fading. "My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now. Do you think he changed them, in their graves?"

The Doctor looked away from Wilf, and even Adelaide had to close her eyes. This was her fault. "I'm sorry."

Wilf shook his head. "No, not your fault."

"Isn't it?"

"No," Adelaide said quietly, making both men look at her. Wilf smiled at her, believing her to be a supporting companion, but the Doctor knew what it really was.

Wilf turned back to the window, pointing at another point on Earth. "Oh, 1948, I was over there. End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was. Stood on this rooftop, in the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad." He chuckled sadly. "Yeah, you don't want to listen to an old man's tales, do you?"

The Doctor glanced at Adelaide, but she wasn't looking at him. "I'm older than you."

"Get away."

"I'm nine hundred and six." Adelaide raised her eyebrows at that. Time Lords that had been gallivanting throughout the universe saving people tended to have much shorter lives.

"What, really, though?"

"Yeah."

"Nine hundred years." Wilf shook his head. "We must look like insects to you."

"I think you look like giants."

Wilf pulled out the gun the Master had found. "Listen, I…I want you to have this. I've kept it all this time, and I thought…" he held it out for the Doctor to take.

"No."

"No, but if you take it, you could…"

"No." He swallowed. "You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then."

Wilf chuckled. "Too scared, I suppose."

"I'd be proud."

"Of what?"

"If you were my dad."

"Oh, come on, don't start…" Wilf paused, thinking. "But you said, you were told 'he will knock four times' and then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it? The Master. That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you."

"Yeah."

Wilf offered the gun again. "Then kill him first."

"And that's how the Master started." Adelaide knew that the Doctor was looking at her now. "It's not like I'm an innocent. I've taken lives. I got worse. I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long." He shook his head. "I can't. I just can't."

"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?"

"I don't know."

"Doctor, what happens?"

"The template snaps."

"What, they go back to being human?" Wilf waited for the Doctor to nod. "They're alive, and human? Then don't you dare, sir." He sounded bitter now, though it was wavering, emotions sneaking through. "Don't you dare put him before them. Now take this." He almost shoved the weapon into the Doctor's hand. "That's an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save your life. And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die."

The Doctor pushed the gun away. "Never."

"A star fell from the sky," the Master's voice was transmitted throughout the ship. "Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor, Adelaide. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond is a Whitepoint star." Immediately, Adelaide straightened, turning to look at the Doctor. They both knew exactly what the Master meant. "And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Time Lords. This should be spectacular. Over and out."

The Time Lords didn't have to say anything, didn't really have to know anything about each other, to know what the Master was about to do was a very, very dangerous thing.

"What's he on about?" Wilf asked, not realizing that the Doctor was looking at Adelaide. "What's he doing? Doctor, what does that mean?"

"A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey. Which means it's the Time Lords."

Adelaide nodded, standing. "The Time Lords are returning."

Wilf's eyes widened. "Well, I mean, that's good, isn't it? I mean, that's your people."

The Doctor didn't answer. He grabbed the gun, staring at it for a moment before following Adelaide back towards the observation deck of the ship. As they ran, a high-pitched signal, four beats, broadcasted.

"What's that?" the female Vinvocci asked as the Time Lords ran in.

"Coming from Earth," the other said. "It's on every single wavelength."

The Time Lords didn't need to speak to each other as they ran throughout the control room, trying to fix everything the Doctor had broken, because they needed to get to Earth, now.

"But you said your people were dead," Wilf asked the Doctor. "Past tense!"

"Inside the Time War. And the whole War was Timelocked. Like…sealed inside a bubble. It's not a bubble but just think of a bubble. Nothing can get in or get out of the Timelock. Don't you see? Nothing can get in or get out, except something that was already there!"

Wilf nodded. "The signal. Since he was a kid."

The Doctor nodded. "If they can follow the signal, they can escape before they die."

"Well, then, big reunion. We'll have a party."

Adelaide scoffed. "There will be no party."

Wilf frowned at her and the Doctor. "But I've heard you talk about your people like they're wonderful."

"That's how I choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old. But then they went to war. An endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You're seen my enemies, Wilf. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them."

The female Vinvocci shook her head. "Time Lords? What Lords? Anyone what to explain?"

Adelaide paused her work, turning to the female alien. "You know all those old fairy tales about Time Lords that you thought were complete and utter nonsense?" she was making assumptions now, but based on what the Shadow Proclamation had said…the universe believed Time Lords to be a forgotten myth after what the Doctor had done. "They're very, very real."

The Doctor nodded. "This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"So, you've got asteroid lasers!"

"Yeah, but they're all frazzled."

The Doctor threw a lever and the doors in question opened. "Consider them unfrazzled. You there, what's your name?" he pointed at the female, but he didn't wait for an answer. "I'm going to need you on navigation. And you," the other one, "get in the laser-pod. Wilfred."

"Yeah?"

"Laser number two. The old soldier's got one more battle."

"This ship can't move," the Vinvocci reminded them. "It's dead!"

The Doctor just shrugged. "Fix the heating?" he threw two more levers and the ship powered up completely.

"But now they can see us!"

"Oh, yes!"

"This is my ship, and you're not moving it! Step away from the wheel!"

The Doctor didn't move. "There's an old Earth saying, Captain. A phrase of great power and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need."

"What's that, then?"

"Allons-y!" the Doctor pulled back on the controls, sending the ship practically plummeting back towards Earth, the windows glowing gold as they hit the atmosphere. "Come on! Come on!" he looked over at Adelaide when he heard her laugh loudly, looking increasingly gleeful despite everything that was happening.

"You are blinking, flipping mad!"

The Doctor nodded at the Vinvocci and Wilf. "You two. What did I say? Lasers."

"What for?"

"Because of the missiles. We've got to fight off an entire planet!" the two rushed off almost instantly after that.

"We've got incoming," the female said just as the missiles were picked up by the monitor.

"You two, open fire!" the Doctor turned the ship violently as he spoke, Adelaide not risking doing much moving around at the moment. "Come on, Wilf!"

"And there's more. Sixteen of them! Oh, and another sixteen!"

The Doctor shrugged. "Then get on the read gun lasers!" Thankfully, she followed the orders. "You two, open fire! Now!" the ship veered to the side again, making a complete full circle. "No, you don't! Fire!" Two missiles exploded right in front of them, smashing the front window. "Lock the navigation!"

The female hurried back into the room. "Onto what?"

"England," Adelaide said, taking over for the Doctor at that moment. "The Naismith mansion!"

They speed over land. "Destination?"

"Fifty kliks and closing. We've locking on to the house. We are going to stop, though?" Neither Time Lord responded. "Doctor? We are going to stop?"

"Doctor?" Wilf said, struggling to come back into the room. "Doctor, you said you were going to die!"

"He said what?"

"But is that all of us? I won't stop you, sir. But is this it?"

The Doctor managed to pull the ship upright at the last minute before both Time Lords ran to a panel on the floor, the Doctor sonicing it open and pulling out his gun. He looked up at Adelaide, forgetting for a moment that she was a Time Lady.

But then she, who was partially responsible for everything that was happening today, jumped out of the ship first.

He had no choice but to follow.

They broke through the glass ceiling and landed directly between the Master and the newly resurrected Time Lords. The Doctor landed on his stomach a second after Adelaide fell on her side, facing the Time Lords. She looked right into the eyes of the President Rassilon and he smirked at her.

The Doctor, still clutching the gun, tried to raise his arm and point it at the President, aiming over Adelaide's back, but it was too weak, they'd fallen too far.

Thankfully, Adelaide's body had had enough time to readjust to being a Time Lady. She didn't want to think what would happen otherwise.

Rassilon stepped forward, looking down at all of them. "My Lord Doctor," he practically glared at the man. "My Lord Master," he received an adoring smile. "My Lady Adelaide," and that smirk, that horrible smirk, because her plan had failed, the Time Lords were winning, she was forced to see the consequences of her actions. "We are gathered for the end."

"Listen to me!" the Doctor tried. "You can't!"

"It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child." Rassilon nodded towards the Master.

"Oh, he's not saving you," the Doctor shook his head. "Don't you realize what he's doing?"

"Hey, no, hey!" the Master pointed at him in annoyance. "That's mine. Hush!" He threw his arms out wide to the President. "Look around you. I've transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them, because now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord. Oh, yes, Mr. President, sir! Standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit. Think of how much better you're going to look as me!"

Rassilon, however, raised his gauntlet and every human began to shake again. He was reversing the damage the Master had done.

And as much as Adelaide hated Rassilon, she had to applaud him there.

"No, no, don't!" the Master cried. "No, no, stop it! No, no, no, don't!"

Rassilon looked around at the gathered humans. "On your knees, mankind!" They all obeyed.

"No, that's fine, that's good, because you said salvation," the Master said, nodding. "I still saved you. Don't forget that."

Rassilon looked up, grinning. "The approach begins."

"Approach of what?"

"Something is returning!" the Doctor said. "Don't you ever listen? That was the prophecy. Not someone, something."

"What is it?"

"They're not just bringing back the Time Lords." Adelaide hadn't taken her gaze off of Rassilon. "It's Gallifrey."

The Earth shook as the planet approached.

The Doctor managed to push himself to his knees, hunched over from the pain. Adelaide just held herself up by her arm, already feeling the lingering regeneration energy healing her before any injury had the chance to last. Behind them, the Master fell to his knees. "But…I did this. I get the credit. I'm on your side!" The room shook even more violently and, if they looked up, they could see Gallifrey approaching across the sky. "But this is fantastic, isn't it? The Time Lords restored."

"You weren't there in the final days of the War," the Doctor sneered. "You never saw what was born. But if the Timelock's broken, then everything's coming through! Not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-Have-Been-King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-weres. The War turned into hell! And that's what you've opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending."

With each name the Doctor listed off, Adelaide's eyes couldn't help but widen. She'd left when the war was bad, when there was no hope, when she'd believed that it would all implode before it had spread throughout the universe, but if the Doctor were telling the truth, if this much had descended onto Gallifrey...

She'd made an even worse mistake than she'd thought.

The Master just smirked. "My kind of world."

"Just listen! Because even the Time Lords can't survive that."

Rassilon nodded. "We will initiate the Final Sanction! The end of time will come at my hand! The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart!"

The Master shook his head, eyes wide. "That's suicide!"

"We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be."

The Doctor nodded. "You see now? That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them!"

And Adelaide was glad he did.

The Master pushed himself up. "Then, take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory!"

"You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more!" Rassilon raised his glove, ready to strike the Master down. But the Doctor stood and pointed his weapon at the President himself. The man glared. "Choose your enemy well. We are many. The Master is but one."

"But he's the President," the Master prompted, egging him on. "Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours." But the Doctor turned to point the weapon at the Master, the shock of it making Rassilon lower his gauntlet. "He's to blame, not me!" The Master's eyes widened. "Oh, the link is inside my head. Kill me, the link gets broken, they go back." He sneered. "You never would, you coward. Go on then! Do it!"

The Doctor turned his weapon on Rassilon.

The Master nodded. "Exactly! It's not me, it's him. He's the link. Kill him!"

"The final act of your life is murder," Rassilon said. "But which one of us?"

Adelaide looked up at the Doctor, still lying on her side, helpless to stop him or force him to do anything. But she'd removed herself from the war and its outcome, she'd sent herself away. It was the Doctor who was at the heart of the Time War, the one who had to make this choice.

No more.

The Doctor turned back to face the Master. "Get out of the way." The Master moved instantly and the Doctor shot the Whitepoint star itself. He spun to face Rassilon, dangerous pride on his face. "The link is broken. Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell."

Rassilon raised his gauntlet again. "You'll die with me, Doctor!"

"I know."

"Get out of the way." Everyone in the room turned in shock as the Master rubbed his hands together, prepared to sacrifice himself to save the Doctor. The Doctor stepped back, Adelaide standing to follow. "You did this to me!" he fired a bolt of energy directly at Rassilon's chest, making the man stumble. "All my life! You made me! One!" he fired another bolt, and he flicked a skeleton again, counting off each bolt of energy. "Two! Three! Four!"

Another burst of bright light filled the room, blinding the last two Time Lords as Gallifrey disappeared once again, returning to where the Doctor and Adelaide had doomed it in their own separate ways.

|C-S|

When the last two Time Lords came to once again, they were alone.

And alive.

Adelaide wasn't that surprised she was still there, given the only prophecy about her had been that she'd be returning. But they were both surprised the Doctor was.

He will knock four times.

"I'm alive," the Doctor gasped, pushing himself up. "I've…there was…I'm still alive."

There were four knocks.

The Doctor froze.

Four knocks.

Someone was knocking on glass.

Four knocks.

The Time Lords looked over and saw Wilf standing in the glass booth. Adelaide hadn't really been paying much attention to him with the Time Lords there, of course, but she had heard him enter the room. He must have saved someone, releasing them and letting them run. "They gone, then?" the man waved weakly. "Yeah, good-o. If you could let me out?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah."

"Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of noise."

He stood. "The Master left the Nuclear Bolt running. It's gone into overload."

"And that's bad, is it?"

"No, because all the excess radiation gets vented inside there." He nodded at the booths. "Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred thousand rads, about to flood that thing."

Wilf chuckled. "Oh. Well, you'd better let me out, then."

"Except it's gone critical. Touch one control and it floods." He pulled out the sonic. "Even this would set it off."

"I'm sorry."

The Doctor nodded. "Sure."

"Look, just leave me."

He smiled painfully. "Okay, right then, I will. Because you had to go in there, didn't you? You had to go and get stuck, oh yes!" he backed up slightly. "Because that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this. Waiting for me all this time."

"No really, just leave me." Wilf sounded near tears. "I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time."

"Well, exactly. Look at you! Not remotely important! But me? I could do so much more. So much more! But this is what I get. My reward. And it's not fair!" he shoved a stack of papers off the desk, leaning against the empty space, hanging his head. "Oh…oh, I've lived too long." He stood there for a moment longer, breathing hard, before standing and walking towards the booth.

He didn't look at Adelaide, and she was glad.

She'd had enough of choices, and she didn't want to admit what her's would have been in this moment.

"No. No, no, please, please don't!" Wilf shook his head. "No, don't! Please don't! Please!"

The Doctor stopped with his hand on the handle. "Wilfred, it's my honor." He took a breath. "Better be quick!" he stepped inside the booth. "Three," he released Wilf. "Two." Adelaide walked towards him slowly. "One." The last button and he collapsed to the ground, convulsing with the pain as all of the radiation flooded his body.

By the time he stilled, Adelaide was standing before him. That amount of radiation wouldn't normally kill a Time Lord dead, but the Doctor had so few regenerations left…

His hand twitched.

Adelaide would never admit it, not to anyone in the entire universe, but she was so impossibly thankful that the Doctor had survived this.

He would regenerate, that was for certain, but he would survive this.

The Doctor moved slowly, pushing himself up to sit. He didn't meet her eyes.

"Hello," Wilf said quietly.

He nodded. "Hi."

"Still with us?"

The Doctor pushed himself to his feet, touching the controls. "The system's dead. I absorbed it all. Whole thing's kaput." He pressed the door open. "Oh. Now it opens, yeah." He stepped out of the booth and Adelaide stepped back.

"Well, there we are, then," Wilf nodded. "Safe and sound. Mind you, you're in hell of a state. You've got some battle scars there." The Doctor just ran his hands down his face, using the first bits of his regeneration to heal himself. "But they've…your face. How did you do that?"

The Doctor just looked at his hands. "It's started.

|C-S|

As the Doctor returned Wilf to his home, Adelaide stayed inside the TARDIS. Technically, she knew the Nobles about as much as the Doctor did, except for his first accidental adventure with Donna. She'd been on the street when the Doctor had first encountered Wilf, and she'd been alongside him every point in the future.

But she knew this was far more important for the Doctor. It was his life that was ending, his companions he was preparing to say goodbye to. Adelaide was simply the newly reborn Time Lady with an undefined relationship with the Doctor. She had no right to intrude on his moments.

Instead, she took the time to remind herself how to actually pilot a TARDIS. It had been a long time since she'd tried, and even then she hadn't actually had this type of TARDIS. She'd flown a Type 40 TARDIS before, back on Gallifrey, but it had been centuries since then.

Thankfully, most of the technology had remained the same between this type and the one Adelaide was more used to, so there wasn't any worry of anything disastrous happening.

She did a small scan for her own TARDIS but wasn't that surprised that nothing came up. It had been badly damaged when she'd arrived on Earth, retreating within itself in order to heal. Designed to only appear to the pilot until it was fully repaired, and that would take some time.

She'd have to be patient.

When the Doctor re-entered the TARDIS, she knew he was a bit surprised to see her standing there, forgetting again that she was a Time Lady. She supposed she'd have to get used to that; the Doctor had gotten so used to her being Caroline that it was understandable he'd forget, occasionally, who she actually was.

"Where do you want to go?"

Adelaide helped the Doctor pilot the TARDIS to visit his past companions. As time went on it grew more difficult for him to move because he was putting off his regeneration for far too long. She wondered how he would have managed all of this on his own because she had a bit of experience with prolonging regenerations. She hadn't done it for as long as the Doctor was now, but she'd done it for a bit, and it had been horrible.

She could only imagine what the Doctor was feeling now.

She waited outside the TARDIS in the end, ready to help him if he needed it. The Doctor wanted to see his companions on his own, but that didn't stop Adelaide from wanting to help him when simply walking became too difficult.

The Doctor staggered around the corner of the street, struggling, and he fell to the ground before Adelaide could reach him. He took a moment to pause, breathing hard, and when he looked up they both saw Ood Sigma.

"We will sing to you, Doctor," the Ood said. "The universe will sing you to your sleep." Adelaide reached him and the Doctor leaned on her, letting her help him stand. "This song is ending, but the story never ends."

Together, they reached the TARDIS, though Adelaide had to abandon him almost instantly because his hand had started to glow. Even another Time Lord couldn't survive the other's regeneration. She backed up so that they stood facing each other. "You're going to cause quite a large explosion," she said quietly, though she knew it was far colder than anything Caroline had ever said.

"You have experience with prolonging regeneration then."

She nodded. "Once. But I have experience with energy. I know a dangerous concentration of energy when I see it, even if it is simply regeneration."

He nodded. "I'm going to regenerate."

Adelaide could see the shock in his face when she looked empathetic. "Yes, you will. You've regenerated before."

There was gold streaming out of everything by then. His regeneration was coming and he couldn't avoid it. He didn't know exactly why he wanted to, but he felt like he did. He felt like he had to hide and run and stay alive, even if he wasn't going to do. "I don't want to go."

She gave him a small nod, smiling sadly. "I know."

And then he was regenerating, the energy ripping through his system and changing each and every one of his atoms. Adelaide, moving backward even further from the danger, watched with wide eyes.

She wasn't certain why she was terrified because she knew exactly what would happen. There was nothing Adelaide should have been worried about. She had seen regeneration, had studied energy and force. And she was a Time Lady, a member of a species and society where regeneration was a natural factor of life that everyone understood.

Why on any planet in the universe was Adelaide terrified about what was happening to the Doctor?

And why, when Adelaide had been opening her fob watch, had the Doctor been terrified about what was happening to her?

When the energy faded the Doctor stumbled back, taking quite a few breaths. Quite a few fires had started around the TARDIS, like Adelaide had expected. He looked himself over, touching everything as he named it. "Legs. I've got legs. Arms. Hands. Ooo, fingers. Lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose," he grimaced, "I've had worse. Chin, blimey. Hair…" he froze, holding a bit of his fringe before his eyes. "I'm a girl! No. No." He grabbed his chin, feeling his Adam's apple. "I'm not a girl. And still not ginger!" He looked up at her before noticing the amount of damage his regeneration had actually done. "And something else. Something important. I'm…I'm…I'm…"

There was a loud bang and they were both flung against the console. "Ha! Crashing!" The TARDIS was plummeting back towards Earth, but the Doctor didn't seem to care at that moment. He was too excited about the prospect of everything to be worried. And when he looked at Adelaide again, he was almost shocked to see a large grin on her face. "Whoo hoo hoo!" he cheered. "Geronimo!"

A/N: The Doctor's regenerated! The two Time Lords have quite an interesting time ahead of them.

The next story should be posted shortly after this once!

Notes on reviews:

time-twilight: We'll learn Adelaide's age eventually, but it will take a bit of time. Wasn't just the Doctor thinking that ;)

AxidentlGoddess: I'm glad you liked how the timing worked out. Regeneration/new companions will always be a very fresh start for the two of them, helping them get new perspectives on their relationship :) Though I will admit, it would have been interesting to see how Caroline would have done as 11's companion.

Guest: It does indeed ;)

Guest: Don't worry, Adelaide's right alongside the Doctor this time. These two will have quite a big issue with communication ;)

flowerangel502: Don't worry, he's not mad at her, especially as he doesn't really know how much of the stories were true about her. Aligned isn't exactly like mating/bonding. I guess you'd say it's closer to Linking, but still very different; we'll find out more in the future. And, spoilers, there are currently no Time Tots in the works for this story ;)