"Oh, this new nose is so reliable!" the Doctor cried, as she, with one finger in her nose, collapsed into a dead faint. Her regeneration was catching up with her.

She felt the arms of Ryan and Grace as they caught her, and she felt the world go dark around her. But then, a second later, she felt alert again, and the arms around her had reduced from four to two. She looked around in confusion but could see only darkness.

And a familiar pair of eyebrows.

"Come on, lass! On your feet! Up, up!"

That Scottish voice – sounded so weird from the outside.

The Doctor straightened up, dusted herself off and turned to find the Doctor looking back at her. That same gaunt face, the long nose, the furrowed brow, the stock of white hair… Just as she remembered from looking in the mirror that morning.

"… Where am I?" she asked curiously. Not even a teensy bit afraid.

"Where'd you think you are?"

"Well, to hazard a half-educated guess, I'm going to say inside my own head!"

He smiled brightly. "Yes, well done. Safe space inside our mind. Locked the door and thrown away the key."

"But… don't we usually pretend we're in the TARDIS when we do that?"

"We do… but the TARDIS isn't here. What's more, we don't know what it looks like now. She's in a state of flux."

"Fair point… So you're, what, a ghost? Mental avatar? What're we going for here?"

"Just an after-image. Like the rest of us. Mental impression on the mind. You know how we always hear that jangling of voices in our head like a particulalry-chatty windchime? It's them. Well, us. Nattering away. Providing the DVD commentary about whatever we're doing. Nosey lot of 'em, I tell ya."

The Doctor smirked. "Need you to keep 'em in line, do they?"

"Well, of course! It's only natural."

Smiling, she struck a pose for him. "So! What do you think?"

The Doctor stared blankly. "About what?"

"About me! New body! How's it look?"

"… Er… Intact?"

She gave him a look.

"… Which is impressive, considering you dropped from orbit. Thankfully, the first fifteen hours after a regeneration are the best. I knew heat-resistant clothes would come in handy one day. Nardole thought it was a waste of money."

"Come on, I'm serious! What do you think? How's it look?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I dunno, do I? Not up to me. It's up to you. What do you think?"

He gestured behind her, and she turned to see a mirror. She looked herself up and down. The velvet coat was much too big, and the pockets much too empty. She tried slipping it off, now in the shirt and waistcoat. She frowned a bit.

"… I think I might be too attractive?"

He tilted his head quizzically. "Are you?"

"I dunno… I can't really tell."

"Neither can I. I never can."

She ruffled the clothes a bit. "I'm not impressed by the size much…"

"Well, admittedly, you're a bit shorter than I was, but you'll soon adjust."

"Not lengthwise. I meant width. I'm too thin. I'm always thin, lately. It'd be nice to be fat for a change. Don't you think? Can you imagine me fat?"

He shrugged again. "I suppose. When you're back up top, have yourself a fried egg sandwich. That might help."

She patted her flat stomach despondently. "Worth a try, I suppose…" She turned to face him. "Anyway! Why am I here? What was the point? Not that it's not nice to see me again, but it's a tad inconvenient."

"Would've been more inconvenient if I'd brought you here during your half-hour fall, or that business on the train…"

"You brought me here? As in, you specifically?"

"Yeah, I waited for a break in the action. Just wanted to say a few words, but of course, it snowballed. Like it always does when we talk."

"So what's up, then? You wanted something? Give me any last words of advice? Any last minute reminders? Forgot where you left your keys?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "No. No advice. I did that already. I just wanted to say… keep at it."

"Keep at it?"

"You're doing great. I'm really properly impressed. Keep doing what you're doing."

She hoped the big goofy grin about to split her face wasn't too obvious. "… Really?"

"I told you to always try to be nice, and never fail to be kind. You've already spent an hour with these people, and you've already memorized their names. Better than I ever managed, always forgetting names once the people stopped 'mattering'."

She smiled sympathetically. "You were still getting over Trenzalore in the beginning. We were recovering. Didn't know how to cope. Plus, the first time we'd started a life in a long time that wasn't under the shadow of the Time War or being the last of our species. You had to figure out how we would be the Doctor all over again. Had to figure out what you would be."

She took a step towards him, smiling proudly.

"And you did, y'know. You figured out what kind of man you were. And so the angry old man became the kindly old professor. Won a swordfight with a flower. Started keeping notecards. Was married for twenty-four years. Learned how to hug."

He gave that small embarrassed smile he always gave when he was embarrassed. "Yes, well… You ought to get back to it. Being you. Because frankly?"

He gave a much bigger smile.

"Being you is fantastic."

She beamed and pulled him into a big hug. His arms stuck out awkwardly at first from the shock, but eventually, he relaxed and stiffly maneuvered his arms until they were in a similar hugging state.

When they separated, she rubbed her collarbone with a frown. "Can you feel that? Feels like something's… not right…"

The Doctor smiled. "Yeah, looks like you have work to do now. Off you get."

"No, hold on, I'm not done regenerating. I need to stay here for a while longer…"

"Sorry, Doctor. Time's up. You're on in five!"

"No, wait! I can't!"

She gave a sharp yelp of pain and felt herself sit up. They were all there – Ryan, Yasmin, Graham and Grace.

"You woke me up too soon!" she complained, but they didn't know she wasn't talking to them.

Sometime later, when she finally got her TARDIS back, and they were all standing in the new control room – and gosh, didn't the old girl look sexy, as always? – she was fiddling with the controls – not to mention eating her fifth fried egg sandwich in the last half hour – when she came across something sitting on the console.

A familiar pair of sunglasses.

Smiling to herself, she slipped them on briefly, enjoying for a brief moment.

"Doctor?" Yaz said.

The Doctor looked up, slipping the shades off again. "Yes?"

"What are we going to do now?"

She looked amongst her new companions for a long moment. She looked back at the shades. She smiled again. Gosh, she did that a lot lately.

"Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind," she replied, pulling on the main lever.

The TARDIS jerked towards its next destination – maybe Earth, maybe not.

She found a drawer and opened it, and inside, she found a few bits and bobs – a ring, a recorder, some car keys, a bag of jelly babies, a cricket ball, a cat brooch, some spoons, a cravat, a bandolier, some psychic paper, a pair of glasses, and even a fez.

She gently placed the sunglasses in with them and slid it shut.

Doctor, I let you go.