welcome

[Susan Foreman]

~~Thread stars with susan in her first form, and I'll have her regenerate by the end
~~

Travel, travel, one place to the next, and on and on. What else was she to do? Susan, a Timelord and, as far as she knew, the last. Well, it was worse than that. Not just as far as she knew, thre was almost no other option. The Timewar had been devastating for both sides, and it had left nothing behind. She was it, and she had never felt more alone. She would never forgive herself for not being there, though. If she hadn't been on Earth, she could have been back on Gallifrey and she could have helped.

Maybe she could have done something that would have turned the tables and let the Timelords had a chance. Maybe one, maybe she could have saved just one. But she hadn't. The Doctor had left her on Earth, and he'd left her to live a human life with the man she'd fallen in love with. She was glad that he did, in a way, but she'd had no way to get to Gallifrey, no way to even know that the Daleks had attacked and that there had been a time war.

She'd felt it, she'd felt her people die, and then all she'd had were rumors. Susan hadn't had a TARDIS of her own, so she hadn't been able to go anywhere, leaving her stuck. It wasn't until aliens became more obvious on Earth, and humans had reached out to the stars that she'd been able to get off the green and blue planet, and travel again. By that time her husband had died, leaving her all alone again. It wasn't easy to be left alone.

In that way, she might never be able to forgive The Doctor for abandoning her on that planet. She'd been left to live on with noone that she could trust, and that she could be with. Still, she had been able to get herself to move on. Whenever she thought about that, she thought back on all of those times she'd spent with David. Those were moments she wouldn't give up for anything.

And no matter why she had ended up where she had, the fact was that she was there. The only problem was, traveling wasn't as much fun as it used to be. There wasn't the same spark in going somewhere that they used to be. When she'd been with her grandad, there was always excitement in where they might end up. When David had died, she'd needed to get away, and to do something to keep herself sane, and feeling alive.

Now, however, things were just much more plain, and it felt like she was only doing things so that she wouldn't be sitting around doing nothing. She needed to find someone to enjoy again.... and she would. Susan knew that, eventually, she would feel like her old self again. Somehow she would get over all of the heartache she'd aquired over the years.

One thing hadn't changed over all the years that had passed, though. She still favored Earth and humans. It was something that always made her feel connected to The Doctor, and therefore, to her people. She stayed near them, and while she went other places, she always came back to their empire. That afternoon she'd found herself walking down a rather boring street, and into a plain and average market, or so she'd thought. She'd been browsing the some of the drinks when she heard shouting and screaming.

Her head shot up, and she moved forward in the isles, but she could already tell what was happening. A fight had broken out, and a really bad one. Two groups of people, different races, were shouting, throwing punches, and insults at each other. It seemed one had crosses to the other's territory, and now someone had to pay. It only took her a moment to see the flash of metal, and there were the guns. The innocent shoppers got scared at that, and a couple of the women screamed. This could get bad, especially with the exit blocked. The scaled people didn't want the more human looking ones to get out.

Susan took a careful look around the shop, and saw that some people were already crouching on the ground. They didn't want to get in the way of any shots that might be misfired. No... no, that man was protecting his little child. A small girl with pig tails. Susan's sharp eyes moved back to the fighting, which had already knocked over a rack of crisps and smashed two bottles of liquor on the ground. Stepping forward, her mind moved quickly, trying to find a solution that would end things peacefully.

"Stop it!"

[The Doctor]

The Doctor had always promised that he would go back for Susan. He even made a speech through the TARDIS, making himself smile, his voice full of determination and pride. Back then, it was easier for the Time Lord to hide his true feelings. He had missed his granddaughter terribly, but he always knew that he had done the right thing. If he had kept her with him, then she would have ended up resenting him. Susan had believed that she needed to stay with her grandfather, just so she could look after him. That was what she had wanted to do when he was banished from Gallifrey, right back at the beginning. Susan had been the only one that had stood by him, and the Doctor would never, could never, forget her. He didn’t want to.

It had been centuries since he had seen the young girl last – he would always see her as such – and now, so much time had passed that the Time Lord was almost afraid to go looking for her. What would be the point, really, considering that he couldn’t feel her in his head any more anyway? Since the Time War, the Doctor had slowly been coming to terms with the fact that she was dead, too. He was alone. The last one. It didn’t matter anymore, though. So much had gone on, that the Doctor was just living day to day, mainly on his own, travelling because that was the only thing that he had left. Since the incident with the 456, he couldn’t even rely on his link to humanity, despite his few adventures with one Miss River Song. No, she didn’t change anything. The Doctor wasn’t going to let someone influence him that much – not any more.

Still, the Doctor did rely on the TARDIS randomiser the vast majority of the time, and it had taken him to a fifty-first century planet in the Boeshane Peninsula. For some reason, the symbiotic machine had grown rather attached to this time period, taking him again and again to the century. The old girl wouldn’t budge when he tried the randomiser again, though, so he knew that he would have to get out and explore. Sometimes, she was just as stubborn as he was. Maybe the pair of them were just getting too old.

In another new brown, pinstriped suit – he had several, and several more were now almost completely threadbare – the Doctor stepped out into a bustling city with an outdoor market. He stuffed his hands neatly into his pockets, Converse trainers slapping the ground noiselessly compared to the sounds made by the mixed-species crowd. Humanity was in prevalence, of course. They always were. Avoiding as much eye contact as possible, the Time Lord glanced at the different objects for sale. Aside from the fruits and vegetables, there was clearly an important amount of tourist trade on the surface. Worthless trinkets and jewellery were fashioned, the keepers belting out different prices in competition with each other.

All in all, he didn’t really need to pay too much attention to the inhabitants. It was a usual day for the people – right up until he heard voices reach a crescendo, with wailing screams only a few streets away. With a frown, the Doctor started pushing his way through, much to the chagrin of other punters around him. Unknown people came from the opposite direction, children crying, men shouting warnings. He kept pushing. On, on, on and on through the mess of strangers, tipping over a robotic cart. Frustration turned into a Gallifreyan curse, and finally he was there. It was humanity, again. And a race that had bred with humanity, an almost crocodilian species.

Reaching the outer circle, the Doctor heard a young woman shout for them to stop. Gang war. Territory. He had come across it before, the members angry for no reason. It was all about poverty, about so-called ‘respect’. Disgusting. Inside the shop, there were children, the Doctor glancing at a man desperate to protect what had to be his daughter. It reminded him briefly of the human-Hath wars that had nearly destroyed them both, all because their facts had gotten mixed up. Pathetic.

He still had to be careful, be vigilant. It would have been easy to go in and look angry, the Doctor freezing to the colder Time Lord that he had already become, but this was a case for delicate interference. Forcing a smile as he breezed right into the middle of the situation, the pinstriped male cleared his throat loudly, gaining a lot of attention. Guns. He always hated guns. “C’mon. There’s no need for guns or anything. How about we all calm down a bit, eh? This can’t be any good for business.” Stepping over to the woman that had spoken before, the Doctor rested his hand on her shoulder for a moment. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine, but you should get back. It’s not safe.” With that, his hand fell, then turning his attention back to the tripper-happy factions. “It wouldn’t be the time to suggest a nice old chat over a cup of tea, would it? I love tea.” Hopefully, they would end up being more confused than angry – the Doctor didn’t really fancy getting shot again.

[Susan Foreman]

When Susan had spoken up, a couple of the men looked at her, but it seemed like most were still caught up in the heat of their argument. They took the shout for no more than just another noise adding into the chaos of the civillians and their cries. She was going to have to make them listen to her, somehow. She might not feel like she was really a aprt of their world anymore, and maybe she didn't truely belong anymore, but this was her life. She was there, at that moment, and she could help. She was going to help, and nobody was going to die, if she had anything to say about it.

She was about to try again, when she heard a new voice join in all the comotion of the hour. It was a calm voice, which didn't quite fit in with the mood that surrounded them. Her dark eyes looked away from both sides of the fighting going on in front of her to see a man stroll in. He was wearing a suit, and he looked like a tourist or something. He didn't quite fit, but there was something familiar about the way he carried himself, and the way he spoke. Still, she'd known a lot of people in her very long life, it wasn't strange for someone she met to remind her of someone from her past.

He seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Susan, wanting to calm things down and make sure that things didn't get too dangerous for the people around them. He moved over to her, resting a hand on her shoulder, and was a little surprised when he told her to moveback, to try and keep her safe. She was trying to do that for him, and everyone else. She was the Timelord, she was the last one, but still, the responsibility rested on her shoulders to protect the rest of them. It was her heritage, and in her blood. It was what her grandfather would have wanted.

But what was he trying to do? Bebrave? Was he a part of law enforcement, or just trying to do something nice? Or was there another reason, maybe he had a death wish, or he had a history with one or both gangs who were putting their lives in jeopardy that day. As his hand fell, she watched him address them again, and she kept her eyes moving, trying to make sure she didn't miss anything. She could tell that his suggestion angered the men, and within seconds, two guns were pointed at the man. He was noble, but he was going to get himself hurt, and the Timelady wouldn't allow that.

"Listen, don't do anything meaningless. All of these people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just let them go."

They were too anry, and too caught up in their own lives and problems to simply put their weapons down and let it all go. But maybe they would see to reason, or at least, have some mercy. Maybe they would have a heart and let the children go, and the people who had simply been going about their every day lives. Even the man who'd chosen to walk into the bad situation, he didn't need to get shot either. Then they could go back to their war. It was a different problem then, and Susan could work with it as soon as everyone else was safe.

[The Doctor]

“Okay, maybe not.” The Doctor’s nose wrinkled as two guns were trained on him – one at his head and the other at his chest. If both hearts were put out of commission, then he wouldn’t be able to regenerate. Even after everything, he didn’t want to die because of a stupid gang war. Still appearing to be as light hearted as possible, he turned his head slightly to address the unknown woman. “It’s alright.” Intense gaze straight at the men in front of him, the Time Lord took a deep breath. “You’re not going to hurt any of these people, are you?” Unlike the softer tones that he would have used when he was younger, the smile disappeared, leaving a daring streak behind. “You’re not going to hurt people that have nothing to do with this.”

Lifting his hands to show that he had no weapons, the Time Lord’s eyes widened. The woman made a decent request, and the Doctor wasn’t going to let the opportunity drift by. “She’s right, you know. These people are innocent. They don’t need this.” Taking a careful step forward, the Time Lord then felt as if a slab of concrete had smashed down on him. That wasn’t just an ordinary woman looking out for her people. That was a woman full of life, full of possibilities… and full of the Doctor’s genes. Taking another glance at her, narrowing his eyes for a moment, the Doctor was sure. She was Susan. Oh, she was older, that was for sure, but that was a given. But why couldn’t he feel her? Why was there no contact in his mind? He should have known about her existence, but even knowing physically that she was merely a few feet away – no, still nothing. It was like he was still completely alone.

But that fact would have to wait until later. As would any reunion.

Forcing his attention back to the issue at hand, he subtly moved himself in front of Susan, just so hopefully no one would take a pot shot at her. Luckily for them both, she wouldn’t be able to recognise her grandfather. If she had changed her appearance, then it would have been impossible for the Doctor to know who she was. This just meant that he would have to be careful as far as name-dropping was concerned.

A man stood, the one with the daughter wrapped in pigtails, and another gun was swung over, pointing directly at his head. No one was going anywhere, apparently. “C’mon… where’s the honour in this, eh? Where’s the practicality? I’m sure it would be more fun to shoot each other away from children. There is never any excuse to hurt a single child.” Unfortunately, the Time Lord’s fury started to bubble up, burning the edges of his skin. He was convinced now that all of this was posturing. Until one side backed down or hurt someone else outside of the gangs, then this was stuck in a stalemate. “If you don’t let these people go, then you’re going to have to deal with me…” Wow, the Doctor couldn’t believe that he was going to say this. It had been so long, and he knew that the name ‘John Smith’ wouldn’t have any clout, so he only had one name that possibly would make a difference. “…Captain Jack Harkness.”

[Susan Foreman]

Susan couldn't help but be impressed with the way the man acted and spoke. He had a grace about him, and seemed to be calm in all of this, which she'd rarely come across in her life. He was trying to take control of the situation, and even if he never got it, he still sounded like he had it, or at least that he should. It was extremely admirable, and she had a great deal of respect for him, but she coouldn't just lethim risk his life like that. She might not have been able to do many of the things that Timelords were supposed to do like travel, and look after the universe, but she could look after the people here.

Some points in time were fixed, and there was nothing anyone could do about them. What happened had to happen, and would always have to happen, no matter how devastating it was. But this wasn't one of those time. Time was in flux here, and if someone might have died, the women to the right, or the little girl behind her, or her father, it didn't have to happen like that. It wouldn't happen like that. She just had to figure out how. Blide rage was a very hard thing to reason with, there was no logic or point to it, it was all insane.

It was way he talked aboutthe child, and the tone of voice that made her look at him a bit more carefully. There was something more to him than met the eyes, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe there would be time for that after this ended, and hpefully, ended well. When he move to step in front of her, she was grateful for the chivalry of it, but couldn't let him do that. Placing a slender hand on his shoulder, she gave him a firm grip before stepping around him. Her eyes met the gaze of the leader of one of the gangs, before the other. Everyone would have to agree before sudden moves were made.

Some of her questions were answered when he introuced himself. She knew the name of Captain Jack Harkness. He was somewhat influential, though Susan was slightly confused about him. She knew the name from now, but also from the past. Maybe it was a relative, but either way, she knew there was some power behind the name, and it made them stop. This was her chance to try and get them to see that there was another way to go about doing this, and it didn't have to involved hostages.

"I know you might not care about these people, but you don't want to kill them. You don't want their blood on your hands, if the officials come. Let them go, call it mercy... or an investment, if you ever need a witness that will owe you something."

She knew that appealing to his concience might not do any good here. He didn't care about right or wrong, people like him, people who pulled out their guns so quickly, didn't care about the consequences. She wished it were different, but she'd been around humans long enough to see them, and the aliens they fought so often with. The only thing was to make it about them, and make sure they saw what they could get out of it. And she knew that she was making sense. There were long moments of silence before she got a nod.

That was enough to make her feel relief. This was enough to make her think that things were moving along in the right direction. Turning around, she looked at the man and his daughter, and gave him a reassuring smile, telling him it was okay to move. After that, she turn to try and get the rest of them out, but unfortunately, not everything was as agreed upon, as she'd hoped. A man in the back wasn't happy with any of this, and he seemed to think that Susan's plan was worthless and doomed to fail.

And while his intentions that morning may not have been to do anything violent, he choose that moment to take matters into his own hands. He pulled out his gun, and aimed it at one of the scaled men, firing without warning. Susan hadn't seen it coming, and as soon as the first shot was fired, and her head jerked to his direction, she saw him get hit with at least three bullets, and then there was no stopping it. It was the domino effect, and the guns went off. People ran, and Susan quickly moved into action, trying to help eeryone make it out safely... at least, alive.

"Keep your heads down!"

Susan had almost made it out when she saw someone out of the corner of her eye. There was a young man curled up, trying to hide behind a shelf, and clearly terrified. He hadn't moved, maybe he was too afraid to get to the exit. The noise of the guns and screams must have made someone call the authorities, but they might not arrive in time for that man. She went back, there was no other choice. Reaching him, she grasped his hand, her eyes meeting his to try and make sureshe had his attention. He had to trust her to get him out of there.

"Come on. I need you to be brave. I promise to get you out, okay?"

It took her a minute to be able to get him to focus on her, but once she did, it seemed like he would be able to force himself off of the ground, which was now covered in products from the store, as well as a bit of blood. She made sure to try and keep hersef between him and the firing that was going on, there was no other way it would work. She didn't stop moving, until she was halfway to the door, when the young man found the courage to run, or perhaps just so afraid, he had to run. She was about to follow after, until she felt a sharp pain in her chest.

She'd tried to be careful, but she had to make sure everyone was out. She didn't think anything could stop the gang's frm what they had already started, but she still wanted to try. And yet, it wasn't to be. She couldn't humor them, or reason with them, or try to talk to them, as one of the shots missed it's target, and hit Susan in her chest. The dark haired Timelord fumbled as she tried to get to the exit, and ended up hiding in one of the empty isles, sitting on the floor and leaning back against the boxes lining the shelves.

[The Doctor]

The Doctor wished that he could just get this all over with. The situation was too tense to be anything other than an open tinderbox. Time wasn’t fixed here, but there was no counting on behaviour between men and women determined to hurt each other. It wouldn’t have been as bad if he were there on his own, but now that he knew that Susan was here, it made the entire operation even more delicate. A terrified part of himself knew that this wouldn’t end well. He had dealt with humanity too much in the past to convince himself of anything else.

Susan put her hand on his shoulder and moved him out of the way again. Jaw clenched, the Time Lord just wished that he could tell her who he was. Right now wasn’t the time, though. Plus, he had genuinely thought that the name ‘Jack Harkness’ would mean something to these people. Jack still had to be around, didn’t he? It wasn’t like the man could die. He was a fixed point in space and time, a blip in the Doctor’s ability to see everything that was, and everything that could be. Still, he had to let the woman speak. If there was any dissidence against people trying to make the situation better, then the warring gangs would end up opening fire anyway. That was just how it worked. He had to say, though, that he was proud of his granddaughter. She said everything that he was going to say – albeit in her own way. It was the best, and possibly only, set of solutions to the problem. Keeping his eye on the weapon-bearing men, he stifled a hopeful sigh. There was a nod. Maybe there was a chance that no one would get hurt today. Everybody lives.

Right up until a flash of black metal shrieked a shot. Three more shots fired in quick succession, the impatient and angry human slamming down to the floor. The store erupted. More shots. Blood spattering around. Instead of diving to the floor, the Doctor found himself on the opposite side of where Susan landed. Bending down, trying to avoid gunfire, the Time Lord whispered promises of safety to the terrified people. He needed to make them concentrate, not shrink in fear. His hands found their way on backs, on shoulders. The frontage of the shop was shattered. Glass shards bit their way into pedestrians outside. More ran outside. A few fell, red painting the floor tiles. There was little else that the Doctor could do. This had already happened, and people were already dead. Humans and others hid behind stacked shelves, sticking out limbs all to try and catch unprotected flesh. Run. Just run. It was the calm voice that told others to save themselves, not to look back.

The screaming was deafening, but most survivors were outside. They were scrambling away, desperate to reach some kind of temporary safety. In the distance, over shots, a whirring could be heard. Loud blasts of noise, drawing nearer. The equivalent of the police, then. And they had come too late. Instead of saving lives, they would be picking up murderers. It’s all over. The Doctor had to make sure that there was no one left inside. He had to make sure that Susan was safe. Backing down behind a cabinet, the Time Lord’s hearts pounded out a vicious rhythm. He hadn’t been this afraid for someone’s life in centuries.

From a couple of aisles away, the Doctor saw a man being pushed out of the charnel house. With Susan giving him the strength to go on. Finally, with the doors in sight, the young man began to run, sprinting away, forgetting his saviour. Susan, obviously now satisfied that he was safe, moved to follow the same path. And another shot rang. “NO!” From his crouched position, the Doctor screamed, eyes wide. No. Susan, no. As she was trying to leave, one of the gang members forced a bullet through her back. Through her chest. This couldn’t be happening. If the TARDIS had brought him a couple of hours earlier, he could have seen her, had their reunion and then just be with each other. Now… now she was hurt. She’d be forced to regenerate. And the Doctor would lose everything that he knew of his granddaughter, the regeneration making her into someone completely new. What was worse was that he couldn’t help her. He hadn’t saved her.

Watching where she crawled to, tears streamed down the Time Lord’s face. The gang obviously heard the law enforcement, instead deciding to move their gun-slinging further down the street. The scaled beings forced humanity back, ‘taking over’ the store. Soon, it was abandoned, left for the dead and dying.

The Doctor crawled through blood, through broken glass and smashed boxes. He found himself in the empty aisle that Susan had retreated to. “Oh, no,” he wept, looking at the bullet wound. On his knees, he leaned forward and used a hand to stroke her hair back out of her face. What could he say? The Doctor had always promised to come back, but he never did. The timing was never right, and now this. Offering a forced smile, sniffing through his tears, he just kept stroking her hair, running a thumb down her cheek. “You’ve grown into a beautiful woman, my dear,” he croaked, echoing the endearment used in his first incarnation. So much time had gone, so many of his own incarnations lost. “But, but we can get through this. We’ll get you back to the TARDIS. You’ll be fine. Just a bullet.” The Doctor didn’t even realise that he hadn’t told her who he was, but there was enough information to make the assumption. There was so much blood.

[Susan Foreman]

Susan had lived through a lot of things, and through a lot of pain. You couldn't go on and on through centuries and not deal with pain, physical and emotional. Not if you were really living life. And while she had begun to fade a bit and part from the rest of the word in her own way she'd really tried for so much of her time on Earth. She and her husband had done so many things toether, good time and bad times, and after he'd died, she'd tried to live on that way. She'd gotten into plenty of trouble helping people, and she'd tried to do what she was supposed to. Even with her people gone, she'd wanted to live on, for them.

But getting shot was a new experience, and one that she'd wished she hadn't had to try. The bullet pierced her skin, ripping through her jacket and top and into her flesh. She had hoped to get out, but soon found that she couldn't go any further than where she'd hidden. The dark haired Timelord could feel the damage being done within her body, and it hurt more than any other physical pain had before. Well... maybe it was a close second, but it was defintiely one of the top two. She felt it ripping apart her insides, and she new that it had pierced one of her hearts.

She wasn't going to make it out of this alive, she knew a lot about medicine, and that was clear to her. At least, not alive in the way she had always been. Timelords had a special trick, a way of cheating death when other species and races would die. They could regenerate, and she could already feel the energy moving, preparing to change and burst through her. The only problem was, she was afraid of it. She had spent her entire life in this form, hundreds of years. She had beent his way on Gallifrey, and when she'd been traveling.

She had been Susan Foreman, in this body, with this personality, throughout her entire marrige and for centuries after that. This was who she was, and who she'd always been. And she'd spent most of her life around humans, watching their lives, and their life styles. She'd seen them grow old and die and hald become accustomed to their biology and histories, and everything. She had been shut off from her own people, and when they'd all been destroyed, she couldn't even feel them anymore. If she changed, everything would chang. And more than that, she had on idea what it was like.

Would it hurt? She knew that it would, but what kind of pain? Would she feel each of her cells changing and morphing her into a different person? How would it affect her mind, and how would it feel? Would she be aware of her conciousness changing and altering into a differnet person? And more importantly, what kind of person would she be? The looks weren't what worried her, but the person herself. What if she was cruel? It would have been easier with her kind around to guid her, and so she would have grown up with it all around her, instead of humans and other short-lives beings.

All of those thoughts ran through her mind as the blood was pumped out of the holes in her body, as her hearts began to beat slower. Her eyes had closed as she delt with everything that had happened, to the best of her ability. It wasn't until she felt a gentle hand stroke her hair that she opened her big brown eyes. She hadn't expected anyone to be there, possibly law enforcement, but they wouldn't touch her like that. She'd almost thought she might have passed out and was dreaming, but it was real. Then she recognized the man kneeling above her.

He was the one who had tried to help her. He'd even stood in front of her, protectively. But why had he come back, and why was he crying? Had he, or someone he'd known been harmed? No, if that were true, he wouldn't be there, with her. She was about to ask him who he was, but he spoke first. The first comment made her brow furrow in confusion. She knew those words, she thought about them quite often. Why would he say them? Why did he know her? It wasn't until all the clues had fallen into place, that she suddenly realized, there was only one person that he could be.

"Grandfather?"

It had to be him, and looking into his eyes, she could remember the way he looked at her, and the way that look had always made her feel safe. Loved and wanted, and like she had a place. He had changed, regenerated, and now he was there, with her. What had taken him so long? She wanted to ask him that, but before she did, she felt a jolt of energy run through her. It was almost like a mild acid buring in her veins, melting away who she'd been to make way for who she was. Her body jerked, and her body stiffened as she felt the regenerating start.

Time became a bit of a bur, and there was no way for her to know if it had taken a matter of seconds, minutes, or longer, but she could see the bright lights that poured from her through her closed eye lids. Her form melted away, skrinking to be shorter. Her hair, while still brown, lightened. Her skin remained fair, though had more freckles, and the biggest change was her eyes, from a deep brown to an amazingly bright and clear blue. The bleeding holes in her back and front healed, leaving no scar, and when everything settled, Susan fell back against the shelves.

*bled, horrible bad post*

[The Doctor]

That was enough. The girl – she would always be that little girl – gave the Doctor the title she reserved only for him. Grandfather. He had missed that more than he would care to admit. But this was something else. Now, the Doctor knew that he wasn’t the last. If he couldn’t feel anyone else, then surely Susan wouldn’t be able to feel him, either. Guilt nipped at every part of his existence. That meant that Susan had been left, thinking that she was completely alone. Where the Doctor had the TARDIS, forever running from his past, she had been forced on the slow path. David, the man she fell in love with, would have withered and died in front of her, the woman staying exactly the same. She hadn’t even changed much – bar the knowledge that lay behind her eyes. Those beautiful, brown eyes. The eyes that were becoming dull, ready for the next stage. The only thing that the Doctor was grateful for was that she wasn’t alone during her first regeneration. And he was also glad that she hadn’t been around to witness any of his.

“Yeah. It’s me, Susan.” Despite all of the commotion outside, the Time Lord whispered. Back in his first incarnation, the Doctor had been desperate to grow up. Deliberately letting his body age, he wanted to come across as important and all-knowing. He had been much more arrogant than he was now. At first, away from Gallifrey, he really didn’t have too much of a playful side. There had been laughter, but he hadn’t let go. If Susan hadn’t accidentally brought her teachers to the TARDIS, he would never have fallen in love with humanity in the first place. She was the reason that he had been there for them so many times. Knowing that Susan was with David… well, if the Doctor was around humanity, he could almost feel that he was around her, too. It must have been a shock for her to see how much he had changed. Unlike his first incarnation, his body was young, but his gaze was ancient. Centuries had passed for him – more than he would ever care to honestly admit. “Just… just try to relax. You’re going to be fine.”

He certainly didn’t feel calm. Gold flecked across the girl’s skin, and then the older Time Lord was forced to move backwards, dragging his knees behind him through glass shards. The Doctor didn’t feel any pain; he was far too concerned about how Susan was feeling. Light played across her features. Every muscle became electrified. Her head snapped backwards, limbs taut. For a few moments, she didn’t even breathe. Biting his lip, the Doctor swallowed, forcing himself to squint. The gold was almost blinding. He really was too close, and he could feel the energy begin to sear the air around him. There was never a time that he prayed, or followed any kind of religion, but his hoping was almost past that. Regenerations could go wrong, although it was terribly rare. Hearts pounding in his chest, his throat dried, sandpaper wrecking his voice.

The form that the Doctor had seen and loved straight from the Loom began to change. He had never been more heartbroken. Light poured from every bare pinprick of skin. The glow echoed across her clothes, an extra opening where the bullet pierced through her top. That golden form slowly softened, but the body was shorter. Her hair lightened, a wave of freckles dotted across her features. Thirty seconds, and the regenerative energy fizzled away into nothing. Susan then slumped backwards, resting on the broken shelves behind her. At least she was breathing.

Moving forward again, the Doctor breathed heavily. Susan just had to be okay. “Susan. Susan. Are you alright?” It wasn’t the best question to ask. It was something that she had probably thought about a great deal. Every atom in her body had just changed, and she still needed to work out exactly what had happened, and who she had become. That was always difficult. The Doctor’s last regeneration had been awful, but that was because of the TARDIS energy within him, over-stimulating his cells. Not that he really wanted to think back to all of that. “It’s alright. I’m here now. Everything’s going to be okay.” What else could he really say? I’m sorry you got shot? I’m sorry that I basically abandoned you, because I was too much of a coward to see if you were happy? “I think the gangs have gone. But you need to relax. The first twenty-four hours of a regeneration can be difficult.” If the Doctor stuck to the facts for a moment, then maybe she wouldn’t have a chance to get too angry with him. If he could take her back to the TARDIS without any interference, then there was hope that he could put this back on track. There was nothing else that he could do.

[Susan Foreman]

After all this time, after so many years has past her by in a very slow and slowly getting worse line, there he was. Her grandfather, and one of the only people of her kind that she'd ever truely trusted and loved, and really felt like she understood when nobody else could. She'd loved being with him, and discovering things with him. He had taught her so much, practically everything she'd known, before being left on Earth. She'd known why he had left her, and a part of her hand been grateful, but then she'd been left alone after David had died.

The thing that had always made her so sad was the fact that he'd promised to come back for her. She'd aways known that he would never break a promise to her, he'd never let her down before, but time passed, and Earth changed, and he'd never returned. When she'd heard about the Timewar, and felt the connection to all of her people breake, she'd been more afraid than she ever had in her life. She'd felt them all die, until there was an emptieness in her that she'd never experienced before. Nobody would be coming back for her, now, they were all dead.

Susan had found herself believing, without a doubt, that she was the last of her kind. She was the last of the Timelords, and would have to go on, on Earth. But all of that seemed to be wrong, she wasn't as alone as she'd thought. Her grandfather was right there, kneeling in front of her and trying to comfort her. She wanted to be confused and ask him questions, but there was no time, and before she knew it, she was trying to get her head wrapped everything that was new in her head. Her thoughts, while some of them were the same, same morals, same I.Q., but different emotions. It was wierd.

After a few seconds she heard her grandfather's voice, and her darkly lashed eyelids opened to take in the broken mess of a store. More importantly, the Timelord who she had first thought might have forgotten about her, and then had been brutaly killed in the war of Time. She felt stronger with her wounds healed, but exhausted frm the regeneration, and yet with all of the conflicting feelings, her mind was as sharp as it adalways been. Her grandfather was there, and he was alive. She was thrilled, and though that her eyes would water from joy, but still confused.

"You're really here... How? I thought..."

She couldn't even say it. She couldn't say that she'd been so sure that he'd been dead, it hadbeen too horrible to think, let alone speak out loud. Accepting it had been the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, and now, it was proven to be false. It was a lot to take it, absolutely wonderful, but a lot. He told her to relax, and sheknew he was right. She could feel her body adjusting to it's changes, and she felt tired in a way she'd never been before. But she could just lay there and let it go, as if this were an every day occurance. Susan pushed herself to sit up, her hands moving to touch him.

He was definitely real, no figment of her imagination. He was warm, and solid beneath her new fingers. She had one hand on either arm, and she looked him over before her new blue eyes met his brown ones. It really was him. He'd changed, regenerated after so much time, but he was definitely still the same man she'd grown up with as a young girl. The confusion and hope in her face changed as she broke into a smile. This was so fantastic, it was the best thing that could possibly have happened. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him in a long awaited hug.

"Oh, Grandfather. I've missed you so much."

[The Doctor]

Her eyes were different. It hurt to see that they had changed, although the Doctor knew that there was no other way. She couldn’t stay the same. He now knew how his companions had felt, witnessing his changes. The fears that they had, not wanting him to become someone new. What was worse, was the fact that the Time Lord knew what regenerations could consist of. The basic personality stayed the same, but there were different nuances there. Each of his own incarnations had been distinctly different, but all very ‘Doctor’. That ‘cheating death’ was terrifying. Still, one ‘life’ always ended, becoming a brand new phoenix in a golden fire. The woman there was still his Susan. The face was different, the body had changed, but who she was would never alter.

The first thing that the Doctor really noticed was the change in her voice. Everything else still felt rather ethereal. Susan’s voice sounded a little more grown up, maybe a little more sure of itself. Then, he noticed the scorch marks left in her top, where the bullet had entered her body. It would be vaporised now, with the power behind the regeneration. Her hair was glossier, too, despite all of the dust that had yet to settle in the shop. It was her eyes, though, those eyes that were much more important. They reminded the Doctor of someone else, and that hurt, too.

As Susan asked her half question, the Doctor stayed kneeling, not saying a word. It wasn’t a time for explanations. Too much had just gone on to sit around and not worry. Once the enforcement officers found and stopped the warring men, then they would return to this scene of the crime. If he and Susan were caught in that, well, Time Lords weren’t exactly prolific in the universe. The Doctor had already been stuffed into an interplanetary ‘zoo’ once, and he didn’t want to have to escape another one.

Despite everything, being called ‘grandfather’ again was still something that he would have to re-get used to. In the past, it was much easier. He looked like a grandfather back then, but now, he probably wouldn’t even pass for Susan’s father, let alone another generation above hers. For now, though, that fact didn’t matter. Her hands found his arms, and they looked into each other’s eyes, trying to figure out the puzzle. Each Time Lord examined the new bodies that they would have to get used to. Susan had never seen the Doctor looking younger than perhaps a fifty-year-old human, so that would be a first. And meeting Susan, only to help her into her second incarnation, well, that wasn’t easy either.

The Doctor hoped that she wouldn’t be too angry with him. Staying silent, he waited for his granddaughter’s next move, trying to gauge her reactions. Luckily for him, she pulled him into a hug. It took a moment to soften, to believe that this really was happening, before he hugged her back tightly. Lifting his head to rest on top of Susan’s, he whispered a hush. “I’ve missed you too, Susan.” His eyes were red, but the crying had stopped. Now was a time for control. She would need that, especially during this difficult part of her latest incarnation. “But we need to get out of here. The TARDIS isn’t too far away. Can you stand up?” Taking the lead, the Doctor let go of the girl, pushing himself upright. It took a few brushes to get rid of the glass fur on his knees, leaving minor scratches on his palms, but they weren’t important. They would heal. Offering a hand to help Susan up, he gave a small smile. Everything would be alright. This time.

[Susan Foreman]

There were almost no words to describe how good it felt to be holding someone that she'd thought was dead for so long. This was the first time she had't felt completely alone in the universe, and if she hadn't been so tired, she might have cried. She wasn't the last of her kind, he was still there. He was alive, and strong, traveling, or something, she wasn't positive what he was doing there, but he was there. He was so different from when they'd parted, and gone their seperate ways, but while it would take some getting used to, she didn't care. Whatever he had regenerated into, in his hearts he was the same man.

But she still didn't understand why he was there. Or, more importantly, why he wasn't on Earth. Why had he never come back to get her? He knew the lifespan of a human, surely he wouldn't have stayed away, leaving her stranded, not intentionally. He knew thatshe had no TARDIS of her own, he'd left her to live as a human with a man she'd fallen in love with.... They had both known what that would mean, in terms of time, so what had happened? Something had to havekept him from returing, he would have been forced to stay away... She couldn't believe he would simply forget her.

"Where have you been? Why didn't you come back?"

Her last question was spoken in a quiet voice, almost like a part of her didn't want to ask. She wanted to know the answer, but she was amost afraid to know what it would be. What if she was wrong? What if he'd changed when he'd been away? Would his regeranation have changed his personality so drastically that he wouldn't feel the same way about her anymore? She'd assumed he'd died in the Timewar, which was excuse enough for him to not show up. But if he'd been alive, with his TARDIS... what was it?

She pulled out of the hug as the older man did, and she looked into his face again. He said that he misse her, and she could read in his voice that he meant it. He was right about her regeneration, though, Timelords were most vulnerable after they regenerate. She didn't want to deal wit law enforcement, and to be honest, she was desperate to be in one of their people's beautiful and brilliant ships, and traveling homes. Taking his outstretched hand, she let him help her rise to her feet. She was weak, but strong at the same time, one of the quirks of regenreating, sometimes. Strong, yet slightly shakey. A new body took some getting used to.

"Come on, let's go."

[The Doctor]

The Doctor knew that those questions would be soon in coming. He just wasn’t sure how to answer them. Over the centuries, though, the Time Lord had learned how to avoid such interrogation. It was easier to let others paint their own picture. What was more important was that the pair of them were back together again. Now, he had a chance to redeem himself and protect his granddaughter – they were the last in the universe, after all. As Susan took his hand, he helped pull her up properly. There was a minor shake in her step, but there was a definite air of confidence about her. It would take a while to properly figure out her new personality traits, but that wouldn’t be a problem.

Looking towards the door, the Doctor instinctively took hold of her hand and pulled her towards the crowd outside. Humans had a horrific sense of curiosity. They swarmed around accidents, gasping in awe as they witnessed blood and violence. And all whilst pretending to be utterly sickened by the whole situation. Despite his interaction with the species, there were some things that the Doctor would never truly understand. Pushing through the hustling bodies, keeping a tight grip on Susan’s hand, he felt like he was almost drowning in the throng. “Not long now,” he said, mostly under his breath. It wasn’t like he was used to talking to a companion any more. Most people that ended up in his ships ended up staying for a handful of trips before being left back at home. The Doctor didn’t want to start any close relationships. They would just wither and die, and he would carry on. It wasn’t fair on anyone.

Turning corners, wanting to get away from human touch, the Time Lord quickly became impatient. Frowning and often growling in an indeterminate language, the pair finally managed to end up on the same stretch of street that he had parked the TARDIS. Pausing, he nodded towards the blue police box, he looked at Susan, trying to gauge her expression. “There she is. She hasn’t changed too much.” Back when he was travelling with Susan, the police box disguise had been perfect upon their first drop on Earth, before the circuit had become damaged. Since then, the Doctor couldn’t bear to change it. He had all of the components, and it wouldn’t take too long to fix, but… well, it was almost his trademark.

The Doctor then let go of Susan’s hand, using it instead to explore in his inside pocket. Sticking out his tongue as he searched, the Time Lord finally found what he was after. Hand extending to his granddaughter, the Doctor held a silver-coloured Yale key. “I know you don’t have a key anymore, so…” As he had left Susan behind, he had kept watching her, and witnessed her dropping the key where the TARDIS had once stood. Now, she could be the one to go and greet the symbiotic machine. It had certainly been a long time, and the TARDIS loved her, too.

[Susan Foreman]

The Doctor hadn't answered her question, but she knew him better than to just let it go. Well, she had once, and she'd hoped that she still did. He had changed a great deal since they'd last seen each other, but had they changed to much that he would be an absolutely different person, entirely? No, his actions with the gang situation had showed that, deep down, he was the same person. The same bravery and noble hearts that had beat in his chest when they'd traveled together were still there, even if they were a bit older, and regenerated.

But even if she wasn't going to let it go, she wasn't going to push the issue at that moment. There was a lot going on, and time needed to be taken to let it all get absorbed. She needed time to adjust to her new form, and her semi-new thoughts, and make surethat everything was still alright. Mostly, she really wanted to get away from all the blood and the bodies that were around her. It wasn't exactly a slaughter house, but there was far more than she was comfortable with. She liked... well, none, preferably, it just wasn't an option that day.

She let him take her hand and lead her out, and into th crowds. It was really great, the way humanity could over-look Timelords, and what she'd just done. She just didn't want to have a clever one realize what she had done. People didn't know about Timelords, they were all but extinct, and she didn't want to deal with anything that might come of being found out. She walked with him, letting him lead the way, as she didn't know where to go, or where he'd parked. He assured her that they were nearly there, and she found that she couldn't wait. It hadbeen decades since she'd been near her beloved TARDIS.

Well, really, it was her grandfather's, of course, it had been his for so long now. But back when they'd first left Gallifrey, it had been her home, too. She'd considered it to be their TARDIS, even if it waschanged now. When they finally arrived, Susan wouldn't have been able to hold back her smile, if she'd tried. She was so beautiful, and could already feel her from here. She looked the same, and it was a picture that warme her hearts. She'd thought that she would never see that beautiful ship ever again, or even her grandfather, for that matter.

She glanced at him when she heardhim speak again, and saw him hold out a key. She gave hima grateful smile, taking the key from him, like it was some kind of rare and precious treasure. And it really was. Making her way to the door, Susan unlocked it, and slowly stepped inside. She could feel it humming, and she would have returned the sentiment, if her body worked like that. Istead, all she could do was let a happy tear fall from her eyes. She hadn't felt this good in so many years, not since David. She's been so afraid that she was alone in the univers...