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”Do you have a regeneration bucket-list?” asked Rose.
Her and the Doctor had headed back to New New York after dropping off Chip (Cassandra? Rose’s head was still a bit funny thinking about it). The Doctor had insisted that they head back get Kronkburgers and pajitos, which were apparently enjoying a revival in popularity at the time. As ever, Rose just went along with it, but decided to swap out her pajitos for chips — they were purple, and had an aftertaste of liquorice, but she thought that they weren’t half bad.
The Doctor turned to Rose and held up his hands in a mock surrender, before he continued making his way down the bustling metropolitan street. “Blimey, what have I done that’s so bad that you’re out to murder me already? I’ve already done my fair share of dodging death in this body from spending that week at your mother’s after Christmas! I still don’t think I’ve managed to pass that bit of nut loaf she forced me into eating.”
Rose laughed, so naturally the Doctor laughed too. She gave him a nudge with her shoulder before responding. “No you plum, I was just thinking. Cassandra wanted to be called beautiful — call herself beautiful? — one last time. I know in your old age —“
”oi!”
”— okay, extensive life experience, you’ve probably done everything at some point, but does it feel any different when you do it with a different face? You know, getting up at the crack of dawn to see a sunrise, skinny dipping in a lake, getting in the background of a news report and flashin’ on live TV? Snogging someone in an alleyway who you’ve just met in a club and think is fit, just for the hell of it?”
The Doctor shot her a quizzical look. “Are they things on your own bucket list, or things you’ve already ticked off it? Never mind, I think I know the answer to that.”
Rose grinned. “I’m sure you do. But seriously though, are there things you try to do in between regenerating? Or does it just seem all the same?”
Chewing thoughtfully on a pajito, the Doctor shrugged his shoulders before swallowing. “Depends… take food for example. New tastebuds and I have no idea what I like! So clearly with every new body I need to try everything anew. Some things are a constant —“
”— like bananas? —“
”— exactly like bananas!” The Doctor beamed. “One of the best things to come out of planet Earth. I’m pretty sure it’s a universal constant that I’ll like bananas. However, I am unfortunately having second thoughts about pajitos.”
Pulling a face, the Doctor tossed his takeaway tray and the remaining pajitos into a nearby bin.
“And need I remind you about pears?”, he continued.
“Nope!” Rose snorted. “Poor Mo, she was so proud of that cake too. Doubt Mum’s gonna get invited up to visit her in the Peaks again now either so I’m sure that’ll come back to bite you at some point.”
“Who puts pears in a cake? I’m sorry but your cousin created an abomination there.” The Doctor was only half-joking, and Rose stifled a laugh. They continued meandering along the bustling street in the direction they’d left the TARDIS, and Rose slung her arm into his.
“I suppose” she wondered aloud, “that bucket lists are made for how most people in the Universe live their lives, from one boring day to the next. You start off wondering if you could throw a clothes hanger from across the changing rooms and manage to hit that demanding customer. The next thing you know, Shareen’s found an axe throwing lesson on Groupon and you figure that’d do nicely to try it out.” She became lost in thought, and made a mental note to give her friend a call next time she went home for a visit.
”Well, did it?”
“Hmmmm?”
“Did it do the job? Was axe-throwing deemed a bucket-list worthy item? Between that and your axe-wielding down with the Nestine Consciousness, should I be worried?”, the Doctor expanded.
Rose looked sheepish. “We didn’t make it to our booking in the end — we may have had one or four too many the night before. I was trying to get over a bad breakup — I’ve told you about Jimmy haven’t I? Anyway, I think I’d just turned 18 and still had the novelty of being able to use my own ID to get into clubs, rather than begging someone’s older sister to borrow theirs, having to do our hair to match the photo on it, and memorising all the details off it. Definitely had too much to drink that night, but at least I managed to tick a different item off the bucket list”.
She shot the Doctor a flirtatious grin as they rounded the corner to a back street and the TARDIS came into view. She might still not know quite where things stood between her and the new him, but she was eager to continue testing the waters.
In response the Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Would that be the sunrise-seeing, the skinny dipping, the flashing or the snogging?”
Rose blushed — she hadn’t expected the Doctor to remember the list. Now she came to think of it, he did recently seem to be paying more attention to “domestic” things she’d mention. As they walked up to the TARDIS and the Doctor took out his key, she took a deep breath.
“Oh”, she replied, gesturing around them and winking. “That would be the snogging. Technically I’ve only recently met this you, and we are in an alleyway… shame I’ve already ticked it off of my list, but better luck next time if you’re wanting it for yours.”
With that, she brushed past him into the TARDIS. Now it was the Doctor’s turn to blush as he turned around to look back at the alleyway, before shaking his head slightly and following her inside. He still had no idea if she remembered Cassandra’s kiss, and it this point he was too afraid to ask.