Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.

Beautiful In Blue

Chapter One

The TARDIS could hardly believe she was walking around London. Her, walking! She'd spent weeks creating this body, and her Thief had gone for a walk before she finished, so the TARDIS went to look for him. It was a good thing she always knew where he was, because the world around her was just a little…distracting. "Ooh!" she exclaimed, running over to smell a bouquet of fuchsias. "These are very pretty, I wonder if the Pretty One would like them? Oh, no, he's gone. And the Orange One too, they have a Child, my Child, do you think she'd like them?" she asked the stall owner.

The woman running the flower stall looked nervously at the TARDIS. It had to be said, her tattered gown and birds nest hair made the TARDIS look much like the madwoman she was. "Do you think the water song child will like them? Likes them, has liked them?" The TARDIS frowned in puzzlement. "Err, y-yes, I'm sure she would. Here, have some for free" said the stall owner. The TARDIS beamed at her and wandered off, clutching the flowers to her chest.

She wondered for a moment why everyone will be, was giving her odd looks; then she spotted a tasty looking cake in a bakery window across the street. She started walking towards it when - Screech! "Hey, lady!" yelled the man driving the silver Toyota, that had almost hit the TARDIS. "Use your eyes!" The TARDIS frowned at him. "You're rude" she informed him shortly, before swanning across the road and up to the window. She'd never had cake before, but she knew it was supposed to taste nice.

The baker looked up as the TARDIS entered. "Can I help you?" he asked in a bored voice. The TARDIS smiled brightly at him. "You're…opposite of rude…polite! Yes. Can I have some cake, please?" she asked. She remembered now, humans always said please when they asked for something. "What sort of cake?" asked the baker. That stumped her; she didn't know about cake. What sort of cake did her Thief like? "Err, chocolate. Yes, that's it. Chocolate cake" she nodded confidently.

He cut a slice of chocolate cake and placed it on a paper plate. "That'll be six pounds fifty" he grunted. The TARDIS looked at him blankly. "You know, to pay for it. This isn't a charity shop, honey". Oh, of course, payment. "Pay, with money? I don't think I have any" muttered the TARDIS. "Sorry. No cash, no cake". The baker swiped the slice out of her reach. "But I want cake. Thief will have some money, I'm sure. I will return shortly" the TARDIS said firmly. Then she left the bakery, still holding the flowers.

Now she had to find her Thief. Where was he now? The TARDIS reached out her mind for him. She felt his jolt of surprise, and then elation. He was a warm word…happy! Why was he happy? He thought she was a Time Lady. She had the body of a Time Lady but she was something completely new. Eventually, the two time travellers came face to face in a park. The Doctor stared at the TARDIS. "What?" he asked, bewildered. She giggled at his confused face.

The Doctor approached her cautiously, and reached out a finger to poke her in the shoulder. "Do you have money?" the TARDIS asked out of the blue. "What? How can you even be...why aren't you in your box?" he asked. "I was bored. You weren't inside me when I made this body so I came looking for you". A nearby jogger picked up his pace as he passed them. "Shh, keep your voice down. Wait, hang on, you've been walking around all day in that?" the Doctor said incredulously, gesturing to her Victorian gown.

She tilted her head in puzzlement. It's kind of cute when she does that- no, focus Doctor! "What do you need money for? Oh no…don't tell me you stole those flowers" he groaned. The TARDIS gave him an indignant pout. "You are the only thing I wish to steal, my Doctor. The nice lady gave them to me. They're for the child, the song water child that likes guns" she explained, and added "I need money to pay for chocolate cake – what was that?" she asked, startled.

The Doctor bit his lip and said "That was your stomach growling. Okay, err, let's find a café and get you something to eat". They entered a small, crowded establishment a few streets from the park. "Do they have chocolate cake here?" asked the TARDIS. "Probably, let's have something savoury first. How does a hamburger and chips sound?" suggested the Doctor. They were tucked into the back corner of the café, half hidden behind a potted plant. "I'd like to try chips. I think I'd like to try everything".

The Doctor placed their substantial order with the surly waitress. "Oh, and can we have some of those little biscuits to dunk in our tea?" he added. The TARDIS didn't exactly enjoy everything the Doctor convinced her to eat, but it was still fun, and the cake tasted even better than she'd hoped. On the walk back to the box, the TARDIS asked incessant questions about everything around her. The Doctor answered them as patiently as he could, but when they were inside the box, he spun to face her and said "Okay, I've answered all your questions, now will you please answer mine?"

She nodded and cleared her throat. "Do you remember when we talked, all those years ago? Ever since then, I've wondered what it would be like to be human. Ah, not human – Time Lady. I didn't see the point in recreating a body if it was simply going to die again" she began. "When I sensed you I thought…never mind. So you can regenerate?" questioned the Doctor. He had to be sure. "Yes" the TARDIS replied firmly. "After this body died…again…and dissolved, I managed to save a sample of DNA".

"Then we were running, so fast and far, and now that you're safe", here she smiled fondly at him, "I decided to use it. So I used the basic components of your DNA, Thief, to alter the cells from human to Time Lady. Of course, I can't hold form in a flesh body, so I bonded some of my own coral DNA to the structure. I suppose you could say that I'm part human, part Time Lady and part TARDIS". The Doctor gave an impressed whistle. "I'm impressed, old girl. Okay, let me see – you're sure that body can contain your soul without any side effects" he stated.

The TARDIS nodded. "I didn't insert my entire Matrix in here, merely an…echo, of sorts, of my consciousness. Any form of energy I intake, even food and drink, will be converted by the coral cells to huon energy to sustain me indefinitely" she clarified. The Doctor frowned as her words sunk in. "Hang on, so that means…the more energy is in a food, the more…well, that explains a lot" he chuckled. "Err, you're going to need a name, aren't you? A proper name, I mean, Sexy isn't a proper name and you know it. I suppose we could just call you Idris" he suggested indifferently.

"I'm not sure about that. I feel rather guilty about using the poor girls body, I don't want to steal her identity as well" said the TARDIS. The Doctor tugged nervously on his bowtie; he had barely given any thought to the woman who came before his TARDIS. "So what would you like to be called?" he asked, to change the subject. "I quite like the name Anna" she mused, and then clapped her hands with a suddenness that made her Thief jump. "I'm going to the wardrobe. You can fix the couplings on the atom accelerator whilst you're waiting".

Half an hour later, the Doctor looked up from his work at the sound of footsteps. Anna had changed out of her impractical attire, into blue jeans, a white and blue striped shirt and a TARDIS blue trench coat, similar to the one he'd worn in his tenth incarnation. "Err, you look nice" he said awkwardly. Anna beamed at him. "You've done a good job. Thank you" she smiled, and abruptly pounced on him. The Doctor stiffened as her lips touched his, but before he could make up his mind whether to hold her or not, she'd pulled away.

"There's an uprising on the planet Peridor. How do furious leaders, explosions and lots of running sound?" Anna asked cheerfully. A wide grin spread across the Doctor's face. "Sounds wonderful, dear" he said nonchalantly, as they flew the box together. It shook a lot less than usual, with no opposition from its pilot. They pulled down the handbrake as one and shouted with glee, "Geronimo!"

A/N: With regards to the name 'Anna' – it's a vague nod to Surranne Jones, and Susannah Leah (the girl who designed the junk TARDIS for a Blue Peter comp.)