As soon as she entered the TARDIS, she knew she would have to regenerate. And though she was quite young considering and she had never done this before, the regeneration was not the distressing part of the ordeal. The part that had caught her off guard most was the fact that as she sat in her room preparing herself, all she could think about is what he would think of her new body.

 

She looked at her face in the mirror, soft brown hair cascaded over her shoulders and her dark eyes glimmered in the soft light. Did he like her appearance now? That man had never said either way. Not that his was anything to look at really; all tall and lanky with that ridicules scarf. The sight of that scarf really annoyed her at times, the way it hung on his body, over his broad shoulders... What use could it really have anyway? Tying up someone? Images flashed through her head that included a scarf, a pole and not much more... Ahem.

 

He never even bothered to get her name right either, but she had gotten used to this shortened version; Romana, she even quite liked it, but that wasn’t the point here. He had no respect for her anyway and he was a bumbling moron with an obsession with earthlings; he was below her in every way. Well, except a way that she’d never admit she wanted. Did she want? She tried to shake away the thought; there was no logical reason that she should be thinking about things like this. Her pink lips parted to allow golden energy particles to escape them; it was coming so quickly.

 

Romana could feel her hearts pick up their pace and her breathing became heavy. She wondered what regeneration would be like. He had done it three times before, so if couldn’t be so bad if he could survive. How did he die anyway? Something incredibly stupid no doubt; stupid but brave, that was him in a nutshell. Maybe not even as stupid as he wanted others to believe even though she was clearly smarter by any test score. But he always seemed to know what to do in every situation with that blasted screwdriver. Who makes a sonic screwdriver anyway? Maybe he needs a little more spice in his life if he had the time to think of that one. Maybe he needed a woman; maybe her. She wondered if he liked the look of that princess.

 

She shook her head again as energy spilled from her lips. No, this was the stress of regeneration talking. The radiation hadn’t been too bad and if she remembered her training, she should be able to choose a new look successfully. She stood up from her bed and took her full body in on the mirror. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t as stressful as it could have been, but it still didn’t mean she was thinking clearly.

 

She though back to the practices they had done at the academy. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, letting the shimmering light flow freely from her mouth and her hearts speed to nearly a constant pulse. Her body set a light and her mind burned but she continued to breathe steadily until the light faded and the fire was gone. Romana took her appearance in again. It wasn’t so bad; the body of the Princess Astra. It was quite pretty and he did seem to like it... Might as well go see what he thought; not that she cared.

 

**

 

Turns out he didn’t like it, or at least said he didn’t. But she saw the spark in his eye when he thought she might be the Princess; but of course, that glimmer wasn’t for her. But he was an idiot anyway, so she didn’t mind; really, she didn’t. She was back in her room contemplating what image to try on next. The regeneration energy was still pulsing through her body, ready for the next step.

 

With each of her next attempts, she got a new reaction and she gauged each one; merely for research of course. She’d gotten indifference on the first try and clearly frightened on the second. She indignantly tried a very tall model next. How would he feel to be intimidated by her presence? How would he feel if he were the one at her every whim; if he were the one that would do anything to please her? If only he would do anything to make her love him... She couldn’t look at him that time around but obligingly left when he merely said to ‘take it away’.

 

Romana fell exasperatedly back on her bed causing bits of energy to shoot from her lips. Why was she trying so hard to please him? It was him that she was trying to please, wasn’t it; because it certainly wasn’t her. He’d never really care would he? Suddenly there was a knock on her door and his voice spilled through to her ears.

 

“What you want is something warm and sensible. Something that will wear well, something with a bit of style!” his booming voice rang off her ears. Was he really concerned with her regeneration? She sat up on her bed and took one last shot at what she wanted.

 

**

 

There was a smile on his face when she reentered the console room. She had mimicked his look in every bit of her clothing. He really seemed to like it; and he called the other Time Lords pompous. What was it that they said about the highest form of flattery?

 

“I thought you said external appearances weren’t important?” She couldn’t help but tease back when he complimented her.

 

He smiled and said that she’d gotten it right or something of the sort, her hearts swooned too much for her to remember. When he pulled the hat off of her head though, his smile faded, though she could still see a glint in his eyes. He scolded her for assuming the Princess’s body again, but when she mentioned making alterations, he didn’t want to hear of it.

 

“Have it your own way, but get rid of those silly clothes, eh?” The Doctor sighed and placed the hat back on her head atop her now blonde hair.

 

Romana continued to grin as she skipped back to her room. She didn’t know when she had started caring what the Doctor thought of her, but she supposed that she did. Had she fallen for him? She wasn’t sure what had happened during their search for the Key to Time, but she wasn’t, literally, that same woman who had stepped aboard the TARDIS. She was supposed to be smart and on her own but this renegade had stolen her hearts.

 

After battling Daleks and Davros and after saving the Mona Lisa in Paris; she complied with his earlier command. She did remove those silly clothes along with his as well. Well, except for that scarf; that might just come in handy.

 

And it just so happens he liked this body on her; a lot.