ever so much more than a pretty girl

[sortofaman]

The Doctor was sort of adjusting to being a woman again. Sort of. At least, this time, she hadn't screamed at the bits, at least this time Chase was himself, and she couldn't exactly spend ages having a good cry when there was a wee Nate to care for, a Will to remind to eat, and plenty of people to reassure that it was going to be all right, that

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[unit_girl]

The trouble with men being women and women being men at the moment was that it was hard to recognise people she knew. All of a sudden it looked like there were a lot more strangers on the island.

So she didn't take any notice of the woman also in the rec room until she heard her speak and knew she could only be one person.

"There isn't a Feminine Mystique, Doctor." Although if anyone had asked her what it was, she wouldn't have been able to say.

She took her tea to sit beside him on the sofa. "Did you regenerate or did the island do this?"

[sortofaman]

"You never read it? Wait, I suppose not, before your time."

It was a relief to see Jo herself, and the Doctor managed to peel herself off the newspaper. "This is island doing," she assured Jo. "No regenerations necessary, all 100% skinny not-ginger Doctor DNA, just with an extra X in place of the Y."

[unit_girl]

"Oh, good," she said with a sigh of relief. "I'd just got used to you looking the way you did and I'd hate for you to change every year."

[sortofaman]

"Frankly, so would I," the Doctor said, and reached for her mug of tea. "Believe it or not, Jo, you become accustomed to one over the other, and I wasn't ready to give up this one just yet."

She was pretty sure that she wouldn't be doing any more regenerating on the island, anyhow, which was somewhat of a relief. This body was quite nice. Even the mole on her back. Which was, in this version, still there.

[unit_girl]

"I suppose it's a bit like having a new haircut," she said thoughtfully and had a sip of her tea. "It's strange at first, but then you get used to it and you can't imagine how you would ever go back to the new one."

[sortofaman]

The Doctor pondered this for a moment, then said, "Actually, that's quite accurate." She wrapped long fingers around the slowly cooling mug of tea and chewed on her lower lip.

[unit_girl]

She smiled at getting that right. "What does Chase think of you being a woman? It must be very weird for him."

[sortofaman]

"He seems to be taking it well," the Doctor said. "He lived through it himself, the last time, so he knows better than to say anything."

[unit_girl]

"Oh." She frowned. "I hope it doesn't happen to me. I like being a girl."

[sortofaman]

"It's a strictly temporary thing," the Doctor assured her. "It only happens very occasionally, I promise."

She sipped some of her tea and pondered it. "There are worse things the island can do."

[unit_girl]

She frowned. "Like what? Worse than alien invasions on Fridays?" It was nice not to have to deal with any here. Although she wouldn't have said no to a bit of excitement.

[sortofaman]

"Close enough to alien invasions on Friday," the Doctor said, and stared down into her tea like it could tell her something. "Though I think it was Wednesday."

[unit_girl]

Jo wondered if something really horrible had happened to the Doctor. On a Wednesday. "What happened?" she asked, worriedly and went over to sit beside him.

[sortofaman]

The Doctor shrugged one shoulder. She didn't intend to be cold, but she had little desire to address the hell that had been Halloween of 2007 again. "Daleks showed up. Long story, island wrought. This gender thing's a mere bagatelle, really."

[unit_girl]

"Oh, no, that's terrible!" Daleks anywhere was terrible enough, but it was so nice and peaceful here that it seemed all the worse. "What's a bagatelle?"

[sortofaman]

"French," the Doctor said, and sipped her tea. She was good at that, at the teaching bit. "It means 'a trifling thing'."