A/N - Welcome to the first chapter of "The New Doctor". I hope you're ready for this wild ride!

Strax, Jenny, and Vastra approached the TARDIS.

"So it's him, then, the Doctor?" Jenny asked.

"A giant dinosaur from the distant past has just vomited a blue box from outer space," Vastra said, "This is not a day for jumping to conclusions. Strax, if you wouldn't mind?"

Strax walked up to the TARDIS door and knocked on it. "Hello? Exit the box, and surrender to the glory of the Sontaran Empire."

A tall grey-haired man opened the door and looked out. Smoke flowed out the door. "Shush," he said and slammed the door.

"Doctor?" Strax asked.

The door opened again.

"I was being chased by a giant dinosaur, but I think I managed to give it the slip," the man said. He shut the door and then slowly opened it again. "Sleepy?" "Sir?" "Bashful? Sneezy? Dopey? Grumpy!"

He looked at Madame Vastra and Jenny and walked towards them. "Oh, you two. The green one and the not-green one. Or it could be the other way round, I mustn't prejudge."

Clara stumbled out of the TARDIS, tears still in her eyes and her clothes messed up.

"Oh, you remember, er. Thingy. The, er, the not-me one. The asking questions one. Names not my area," the new Doctor said.

"Clara," Clara corrected him.

"Well, it might be Clara. Might not be. It's a lottery."

"It is Clara."

"Well, I'm not ruling it out."

Elise stormed out of the TARDIS. "None of this would have happened if you just listened to me!"

"Stop yelling at me! I do the yelling!"

"I told you to stop touching the console! Now we're in Victorian London with a T-Rex from the Jurassic Period!"

The dinosaur roared.

"Oi, big man, shut it!" the Doctor yelled. He turned to look at Vastra and Jenny. "Oh! You've got a dinosaur too!"

The dinosaur roared again.

"Big woman, sorry."

"Of bloody course he speaks dinosaur!" Elise snapped. She was two seconds from killing him and making him regenerate again.

"Doctor, listen to me. You, you need to calm down," Clara told him.

The Doctor ignored her and continued speaking to the dinosaur. "I'm not flirting, by the way."

Clara ran over to Jenny and Vastra. "I think something's gone wrong."

The Doctor turned to them. "Wrong? What's gone wrong? Have you regenerated? I remember you. You're Handles! You used to be a little, a little robot head, and now you. You've really let yourself go."

The dinosaur roared.

"Reduce the frequency."

"I'm sorry?" Clara asked.

"Your sonic lanterns, turn them down. You're giving her a headache."

"Giving who a headache?" Jenny asked.

"My lady friend. Just an expression, don't get any ideas," the Doctor told the dinosaur.

"How do you know?" Strax asked.

"Come on, Clara. You know that I speak dinosaur."

"He's not Clara. I'm Clara," Clara said, pointing to herself and Strax.

"Well, you're very similar heights. Maybe you should wear labels? Why, why are you all doing that? Why are you? You're all going dark and wobbly. Stop that."

Clara and Strax carefully approached the Doctor. "I don't think we are."

"Never mind. Everyone take five." The Doctor's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.

Elise, despite being angry with him, still rushed to his side.

"What do we do?" Clara asked, rolling the Doctor onto his side.

"I don't understand," Jenny said, "Who is he? Where's the Doctor?"

"Right here. That's him. That's the Doctor."

"Well then, here we go again," Vastra said.

They managed to get the Doctor back to Madame Vastra's house.

Strax changed the Doctor out of his suit and into suitable night clothes (for Victorian times).

"Doctor, please, you have to lie down," Clara begged him.

"It doesn't make sense. Look, it's only got a bed in it. Why is there only a bed in it?"

"Because it's a bed room. It's for sleeping in."

"Okay, what do you do when you're awake?"

"You leave the room," Jenny said.

"So you've got a whole room for not being awake in. But what's the point? You're just missing the room. And don't look in that mirror. It's absolutely furious."

"Doctor, please. You have to lie down. You keep passing out," Clara told him.

"Well, of course I keep passing out. There's all these beds."

"Would you just lie down?!" Elise yelled.

"Would you just shut up!?" the Doctor yelled back.

"Oh wonderful, there's two of them now," Vastra muttered.

The Doctor turned to Clara and Jenny. "Why do you keep talking like that? What's gone wrong with your accent? Why...?"

"Nothing's wrong with her accent," Jenny said.

"You sound the same. It's spreading. You all sound all English. Now you've all developed a fault. Why are Elise and I the only right ones?"

Elise felt her hearts jump. He remembered her name and who she was.

"Doctor, I need your help with something," Vastra said, mimicking Elise and the Doctor's accents.

"Finally, someone who can talk properly."

"I'm having difficulty sleeping." She slowly coaxed him towards the bed.

"Oh? Oh, well, I wouldn't bother with that, I never bother with sleep, and I just do standy-up catnaps."

"Oh really, how interesting. And when do you do those?"

"Well, generally whenever anyone else starts talking. I like to skip ahead to my bits. It saves time."

They sat down on the bed.

"Save me time, Doctor. Project an image of perfect sleep into the center of my mind."

"What, do you want a psychic link with me? The size of my brain, it would be like dropping a piano on you."

"Be gentle, then."

"I'll try. Brace yourself. Piano."

They placed their fingers on each other's temples and the Doctor fell back onto the bed.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!" Elise screamed, running to his side.

"He's fine, dear. I just reversed the effect is all," Vastra said gently.

Elise's nerves were clearly fried and she wasn't thinking clearly.

The women tucked him into bed.

Elise sat next to him on the bed and held his hand in hers, resisting the urge to cry.

"So what now?" Clara asked.

"He needs rest," Jenny said.

"So what do we do? How do we fix him?"

"Fix him?"

"How do we change him back?"

That comment stung Elise in her hearts. She was supposed to be their friend. Well, his friend.

"Jenny, I will be in my chamber," Vastra said, "Would you be kind enough to fetch my veil?"

"Why, are we expecting strangers?" Jenny asked.

"It would seem there's already one here." Vastra left the room.

"What have I done wrong?" Clara asked.

The dinosaur wailed in the distance.

"The dinosaur doesn't seem very happy," Jenny said.

"What's wrong with it?"

"I dunno. The Doctor's the one that speaks dinosaur. Excuse me, ma'am. The wife doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Where did he get that face? Why's it got lines on it? It's brand new. How can his hair be all grey? He only just got it."

"It's still him, ma'am. You saw him change."

"I know. I do. I...I know that."

"Good."

"It's just..."

"What?"

"Nothing. If...If Vastra changed, if she was different, if she wasn't the person that you liked?"

"I don't like her, ma'am. I love her. And as to different? Well, she's a lizard." Jenny left the room.

Clara walked over to the window, observing the moaning dinosaur.

"I am alone. The world which shook at my feet, and the trees and the sky, have gone. And I am alone now. Alone," the Doctor spoke in his sleep.

The two women in the room looked at the Doctor.

"Are you translating?" Clara asked him.

"The wind bites now, and the world is grey, and I am alone here. Can't see me. Doesn't see me. Can't see me."

"Who can't see it? I think all of London can see it."

"Clara..." Elise said.

Clara had never heard her so heartbroken.

"I've changed...regenerated, before. This is my second body."

"Really?" Clara asked. She couldn't imagine the hotheaded Elise any differently.

Elise nodded. "I used to be a timid, brunette with blue eyes. I was scared of everything. You died, well your Victorian self, trying to save me. And my father didn't once look at me and want me to change back. He accepted me and we moved on."

Clara, for a moment, wasn't sure if Elise was  insulting her or not. But this was a rare instance of Elise being vulnerable around  her. Strax entered the room and it was like Clara could see the walls  going back up.

"Boy? Madame Vastra is waiting," he barked.

"Okay. Whatever," Clara said, walking over to him.

"I will convey you to her chamber. May I take your coat?"

"Not wearing a coat."

Strax pointed up and down. "What's all that?"

"Clothes."

"May I take your clothes?"

"Probably not."

"Are you wearing a hat?"

"It's hair."

"No, I think it's a hat. Would you like me to check?"

Strax and Clara disappeared down the hallway, leaving Elise alone with the Doctor.

She dropped her mental barriers and sent him happy memories of the two of them together. She was exhausted from the events of Trenzalore/Christmas, so she laid her head down on his chest, the sound of his beating hearts rushing over her.