Title: Positive Changes
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ten.5
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 6, 50ficlets
Prompt: 24, Bond
Author's Note: The human version of the Doctor is being referred to as John Smith in this fic, since it's the Doctor's human alias and his clone needed a name.
Author's Note: Spoilers for Journey's End, somewhat. This is an completely alternate take on the ending of Season Four.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor, or his human clone. Please do not sue.

***

Jamie stared at himself in the mirror, unable to believe that the metamorphosis had been so complete, and so seamless. He hadn't even known it when he'd become a Time Lord; he'd been floating in oblivion, unaware of the changes that were taking place.

How had it happened? And would it have happened if he hadn't died first? Was his death, and the Doctor's pain, what it had taken to force this change in him, to make him what he had longed to be ever since he had first realized he was in a human body?

He placed his hand on his chest, feeling the dual heartbeat beneath his palm. Even that felt strange; he had wanted to feel that for so long, rather than the single human heart that he had resigned himself to having for the full span of what would, to him, be a very short life.

But now, all of that had changed. He had achieved his heart's desire -- but now that he had it, he wasn't entirely sure that it was going to make him happy. Maybe he should have left well enough alone, and been more careful about what he'd wished for.

It still seemed unbelievable to him that all of this had happened; he couldn't help feeling a stab of guilt at the pain it had caused the Doctor. The last thing he wanted was to hurt the man he loved in any way, even to achieve his most ardent desire.

But it had happened -- it was over and done, and Jamie was sure that neither himself nor the Doctor would want to go back and live through all of that again, even if they could. There was no way to change what had been done. This was irreversible.

One of the things that had most worried him was that he might not be able to feel the same way about the Doctor if his heart had suddenly gone from one to two, but that hadn't been the case. Not at all. In fact, the opposite had been proved true.

His bond with the Doctor felt stronger and more secure than ever. Maybe it was simply because he was now on the Doctor's level -- a Time Lord with two hearts. But he felt even closer to his lover, better able to understand everything that the Doctor felt.

How could he ever have thought that anything could make him love the Doctor less? Their bond would never be broken, no matter what might happen in the future. It might be tested, but Jamie was sure that the two of them could never be torn apart.

They had been through too much together. And with his death and rebirth as something more than he had been, a bond had been forged between them that was stronger than desire, stronger than love, stronger than any emotion he could give a name to.

His feelings for the Doctor couldn't be described in a single word. "Love" didn't quite seem to cover all of the myriad emotions he felt when he looked into those dark eyes, or when the two of them were together, locked in the most primal of physical embraces.

Their bond was stronger than anything that there had yet been a name for. And Jamie was confident that their bond would only keep getting stronger with time; there was nothing that could hold them back now that the barrier of his humanity had crumbled into dust.

Now that he had achieved what he had always wanted, he was sure that he would be able to understand the Doctor even better than he already did. This would make their bond even more dissoluble than before; that could only be seen as a positive change.

Or was it? Jamie couldn't help but heed the little voice that persisted in piping up in the back of his mind. He was so different now, inwardly if not in outward appearance. He was no longer in a human body; he had changed in ways that couldn't be easily defined.

It remained to be seen what in their relationship would change, but Jamie was sure that if anything did, it would be for the better. At least, he hoped so. He already knew that their basic feelings hadn't changed, and that was the most important thing.

All they could do was let their lives move forward, one step at a time, and hope that all of the changes his conversion to a Time Lord brought about would be positive. There was no telling what those changes would be --- and they could only hope for the strength to face them.

***