[[So, I watched "The Girl in the Fireplace last night and I, like many other Doctor/Rose shippers am not a huge fan of the episode considering how selfishly the Doctor acts and how he disregards Rose completely. However, every time I do watch it, I'm left wondering how Rose spent those 5.5 hours waiting for him to come back, not sure if he even will, so I decided to write a fic about it. I think I'm going to add one more chapter to this of Rose and the Doctor talking about his abandonment of her if I'm feeling inspired. Let me know what you think!]]

She'd been the one to urge him to and save her. She'd been the one who told him he had to do something.

He'd disappeared 'round the corner.

"Where are you going? They're gonna kill her!" she had plead.

"I know what to do," he'd shouted as he ran off. Seconds later, he rushed past them on Arthur the horse, heading straight towards the time window.

"But Doctor—" But he was gone before any more could be said. She watched the glass shatter into little shards, reflecting the image of her loss a hundred times. In her mind, she'd reached out after him, followed him through or tried to stop the window from closing somehow. Better to live a life stuck in 18th century France with him than be stuck here without him. But her body hadn't been so quick to react and she stood still as a statue as the picture slowly faded into the cold metal hull of the ship.

"What happened? How's he gonna get back?" Mickey was shouting from somewhere behind her but his voice sounded like it was underwater, or maybe it was her that was drowning. He had gone. He had left her here. No emergency protocol one. No instructions on how to rescue him. Just nothing.

"We can't fly the TARDIS without him? How's he gonna get back?" Mickey repeated, calmer this time. She must have been standing there staring at the broken glass for several minutes now, ignoring his queries because she didn't want to face the answers. She glanced up at the stars, knowing that one of those out there was home and she might not ever see it again now. Then there would be Raxacoricofallapatorus about six thousand light years to the left. She remembered how he'd picked her up in a hug the first time she'd been able to say its name without stuttering. And three hundred and twenty-six light years down from there was the planet with the great waves of ice…she couldn't think of the name of it now. They'd only been to handful of all the planets out there but the Doctor had been clever beyond imagination on them all and gotten them out of the most impossible situations. Surely, he'd do the same now. Surely, twenty minutes from now, he'd show up as though he'd never left. Surely.

The first hour was the shortest because she'd spent it all with the utmost faith that this was not her fate. Her doubt in the Doctor had been miniscule and her assurances directed at Mickey were genuine.

"He'll think of something. He's the Doctor."

And that had shut him up for about half an hour. He'd sat on the floor with his legs crossed and tried his hardest to just be patient. He'd whistled for a bit and though he was a bit tone deaf and was unrecognizable as a melody, she'd humoured him and let him carry on to keep him in good spirits. Eventually, he got antsy again.

"I dunno, Rose. It's been a while now."

"It's fine Mickey; we just have to wait."

She hadn't left her stance there in front of the shattered glass since it'd been whole. She realized maybe if she relaxed a bit, so would he. She squatted down beside him and leant back on her hands while she let out a sigh.

"We just have to wait…"

By the second hour, they'd gone into the TARDIS, unable to stare at the empty space where Versailles had once been any longer. Mickey had gone to Rose's room to lie down as the TARDIS, sharing a mindset with the Doctor, had not wanted Mickey's stay to seem permanent and neglected to create him a room of his own. Rose sat in the captain's seat in the cockpit staring up at the big blue waves in its core and finding their constant undulation soothing. She fumbled with the key that had let them in between her fingers, thinking of the promise he'd made her long ago by giving it to her that he'd never just disappear. She clasped the chain in her palm and pressed the cool silver face to her cheek.

Why hadn't he taught her to fly the TARDIS? He'd told her to push a button or pull a lever or spin a ball before. She'd follow his command with a coy smile and a "Like this?" and he'd nod proudly with a "Perfect" and then come around behind her and reach for something above her head so his chest would press in close on her shoulders and sometimes she swore he was just doing it for an excuse to touch her innocently. But none of that had ever compared to any sort of lesson and she'd be kidding herself if she thought she could successfully navigate the cosmos now.

"Couldn't he have set a course for you with his sonic screwdriver again, like last time? Just one second out of his time before galloping off. Or you could take us to pick him up. Surely we're out of events enough now that we could go pick him up. Even if he had to spend a few years there first. Not that he'd mind."

She set the key down on the seat beside her. She wasn't sure what she'd expected, talking to a spaceship. It was alive and she could feel its presence. She could imagine how the Doctor could travel with it and not feel utterly alone but she could also understand why he kept friends around who actually answered his questions as she screamed at its silent parts.

"Come on! You helped me save him before. Why won't you do it now? Sure, I had to pull your arm and leg to do it last time and I don't remember most of the details of what exactly we did, but I know we did it together and he's alive and breathing out there because of us!"

She had stood up and placed her hands on the railings as though she could shake sense into the TARDIS.

"Won't you miss him? He's stuck out there without us." Her passionate shrieks had gradually declined into dejected appeals. "Won't you miss him?"

She was tempted to break into the TARDIS's heart again because if she couldn't get to him, the Bad Wolf certainly could, but her faith in the Doctor hadn't completely diminished yet and she couldn't bear to imagine him losing that fluffy hair and toothy grin just to save her again.

The third hour was spent lying on the waffled floor of the cockpit, spread-eagle, dozing in and out of sleep. Mickey was still napping and she imagined if she could just manage to do the same, the time would pass quicker and she'd wake up to his face hovering above hers making some comment about how lazy humans are.

She was awoken in the fourth hour by Mickey's footsteps echoing in the corridors. He was glaring at his watch and mumbling something about how the Doctor had been gone for too long. She sat up and his voice became a little clearer.

"Four and a half hours, Rose. He's been gone four and a half hours. I think it's time we start considering that he's not coming back for us. That we're stuck here."

"Living in the TARDIS won't be so bad. It's got a swimming pool, you know."

"I'm not joking around, Rose. We're never going home. We're never gonna see Jackie again. We're never gonna see the next Prime Minister election. We're never gonna see grass again or watch a sunset. We're never gonna have real lives."

"Shut up, Mickey! Just shut up!" Her outburst had pushed him into the set next to the abandoned key and she now hovered over him.

"He didn't just leave us here. He wouldn't do that. If he wasn't coming back, he'd have sent us home or something. Don't you remember? He sent me back to you and mum last time. But he didn't. We're here and if we're here, we're meant to wait for him."

"Oh, right, I forgot. The great Doctor can do no wrong in Rose Tyler's eyes. Stranded us here in a broken down ship in the 51st century to chase a pretty French girl and you're still drinking his Kool-Aid. Accept it, Rose. He's no different than the rest of us."

"Don't you say that. It's not like that. I told you, he wouldn't leave us. He wouldn't leave me. He and I—We're—" But there was no word for it and her sentence fell short. She was in Mickey's face now and he could feel the heat of her breath on his cheek. Another tear made its way down her cheek, following the streak marks of its predecessor. She knew if she kept her proximity, Mickey would do something stupid like try to kiss her so she spun around swiftly and circumambulated the control panel.

"That's just fine then," Mickey retorted with a sarcastic nod as he stood up and turned to leave. "I don't even know why you let me come along. Obviously you don't want me 'round."

She took a step towards him, "Mickey…" Her tone was entreating him but all she could manage to say was his name.

"No, I get it. How could I compare?"

She closed the rest of the space between them. "I'm sorry, Mickey. You know I care about you." She implored him with her eyes as much as with her tone. She placed a peck upon his cheek and she watched his defenses crumble.

"I know. I'm just sick of waiting."

"He'll come back soon. I know he will."

"If you believe in him, I believe in him."

The fifth hour the left the TARDIS and sat outside the broken window again, afraid that if the Doctor came through somehow and didn't see them there that'd he'd think something had happened to them. Mickey had taken to preoccupying himself playing with loose wires, thinking he could hotwire them like a car, and clicking buttons on the computer because he'd always been fairly good with those. Rose took a spot on the TARDIS threshold, liking to straddle dimensions.

She watched Mickey fiddle with technology way beyond his comprehension. Finally, she thought she understood him. Understood his place in all this. Here he was, pursuing her despite the obvious evidence of her affections towards the Doctor. But she always pulled him back in. She could have let him storm off in there, just a while ago. She could have let him finally accept that she wasn't in love with him anymore, if she ever truly had been. But she hadn't. She thrown out her lasso and roped him back in with the false hope that maybe there was still a little spark left in her that sputtered for him.

Now she was another cog in the machine. She'd thought yesterday when the Doctor had told her that he wasn't planning on just dropping her off and leaving her…she thought he'd meant it. She thought they had something special. She thought she'd been special. She swore he'd almost said it—almost admitted it. But she must have imagined it. Mickey was right. All it had taken was a pretty French girl who'd obviously been more impressive in the several hours he knew her than Rose had been in the whole year they'd been travelling together. Despite his unwillingness to admit any real feelings towards her and despite the obvious attraction he had towards Reinette, she'd believed that the Doctor still cared for her, just as Mickey did. Here she was, waiting for him like a lost puppy when he'd obviously chosen a life with Reinette instead.

Then they heard a familiar sound. The sonic screwdriver, coming from the other room. The fireplace. Voices. The Doctor.

"Pick a star, any star." She could see him crouched down looking through the flames at her. She stood up and walked a few steps to greet him. He was sprinting towards them. That was a good sign, wasn't it? Obviously he'd wanted to come back to her them if he was running. He enveloped her in one of their bear hugs, one so tight that sometimes she forgot where her body started and his ended.

"How long did you wait?"

"Five and a half hours." She couldn't hide the waver in her voice.

"Great! Always wait five and a half hours."

"Where have you been?" She asked, grazing his arm, hoping he would give an answer that would grant her relief at his absence.

"Into the TARDIS. Be with you in a sec."

Mickey followed his instructions and jumped back into the blue box but Rose stood there and watched him run back off again, shouting her name. He'd told her to always wait. That must have meant he always intended on coming back, mustn't it? Of course, what other options did she have? And their reunion hadn't lasted more than thirty seconds before he was off pursuing her again. But still, he had come back. Surely she could live a life of being second best as long as he was in it.

As he sauntered in, dragging his heels on the floor with no French courtesan on his arm, she knew it was out of circumstance rather than choice.

"You all right?" It didn't matter that he didn't choose her. He was hurting and she loved him and she would be there for him if he asked. As soon as she said the words, she knew he wouldn't, but she wouldn't be herself if she didn't at least inquire.

"I'm always all right."

That's when she knew. Though she'd suffered a bit of amnesia after the fact, the images that were in her head when she was the Bad Wolf came back to her in her dreams. Or nightmares, depending on the night. Some evenings, she was taken away to beautiful worlds with lavender skies and trees as tall as skyscrapers. Others, she was shown the most horrific creatures committing horrific acts. And one night, she'd seen it—the Time War. She saw what he'd done, she saw what his people had done, she saw what the Daleks had done. She'd never told him, certain he'd feel endless guilt at her having to live those memories vicariously. But she'd understood everything he'd done since she met him and she'd understood how having her around had made him better. Maybe that was why she believed she was special to him. And maybe she was, but not in the way Reinette had been today. If he lived with all those thoughts going on in his head at once all the time and that's what he considered being "all right", she could only imagine what he was feeling now. He had loved her and he had picked her and was only coming back to them begrudgingly.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to hug him or yell at him but she did neither as Mickey began tugging at her arm. "It's time you showed me 'round the rest of this place."