John Noble is four years old when he holds the three days old Rose Tyler for the very first time.
He looks up from the tiny pink bundle at the beaming faces of her parents.
"She's so small!" he squeals in awe.
It is then and there that John knows that he has never seen something more perfect.
His young mind is flooded with a future of tag and playing in the treehouse and pretending to be space explorers and fun and Rose, Rose, Rose.
"You and me are going to be best friends, Rose," he whispers as her chubby little hands fist the air and she smiles a toothless smile.
…
Six months John shifts uncomfortably in the hard church pew and tugs at the scratchy color of his new suit and decides that funerals really aren't good. Rose is placed in his arms as his mother and Aunt Sylvia comfort Jackie.
John talks to Rose even though she's sleeping.
"I'm really sorry about your dad," he tells her, "He was always super nice to me and told the best jokes. It's pretty sad that you won't remember him."
A tear trails down John's cheek and he sniffs. The adults don't think he understands about death. But he does.
…
John beams with pride when "John" is nine month old Rose's first word, second to mummy of course, but still.
"Joh! Joh!" She shrieks with joy and scoots across his kitchen floor as he pretends to run away.
It's only a few months before Rose is on her feet and toddling after him wherever he goes. When John gets home from school and goes to her house until his parents come home from work she's there, wide eyed with her hands and face pressed up against the glass door, waiting for him.
…..
On Rose's first day of school she walks with her mother holding one hand and John holding the other. They arrive early so Jackie can take pictures. Most of them end up being of Rose, in her pink shoes and pink backpack with wispy brown curls framing her face, and John, tall and sticklike, grinning and making funny faces.
John is nine now and his classroom is at the other end of the building from Rose's but he promises Jackie he'll keep an eye on her.
"I know you will, sweetheart," Jackie tells him, wrapping John up in a hug.
At the end of the school day John waits for Rose outside and grins when he sees her running up to him, a pearly white smile stretching from ear to ear. Her backpack is stuffed to the brim with pictures she'd drawn, mostly of them.
They wait for Cousin Donna, who's twelve, and together they walk back home.
….
"That one," John says, pointing up at the night sky, "that one is Pegasus."
"Like the horse?" Rose asks.
"Yup!"
"Doesn't really look like a Pegasus. 'S pretty though."
They lay on their backs in silence for a moment, staring up at the inky expanse of sky above them as they lay in the field behind John's house.
"Do you ever think about what's out there?" John asks.
"What, you mean like aliens?"
"Not just that. Did you know that every empty spot we see in the sky actually has a bunch of galaxies in it that we can't see because there too far away?"
"No, I didn't."
"It just seems silly to think that we're the only ones out there when there's so much that we can't even see."
They hear Jackie calling Rose's name and they say good bye before she takes off across the street.
Next week at John's twelfth birthday party he unwraps his present from Rose and gasps.
"Do you like it?" she asks shyly.
"Like it?! I love it!" he exclaims before throwing his arms around her.
That night Rose and John sit on the balcony attached to his room and put his new "Make Your Own Junior Telescope" kit to use.
…
At seventeen, John has garnered quite the reputation with the girls. It's not that he's a flirt or a player really, he's just very very friendly. All of the time. Being incredibly attractive is just a bonus.
Rose's friends tell her how lucky she is to spend so much time with him because those eyes are soooooooooo beeeeaaaauuuutifulllll and that smile is poooooositively gooooorgeous and that hair is rreeeeaaaalllllly grrrrreeaaat.
"It's just John," she says, wrinkling her nose. John Noble, her best friend.
….
Rose is fourteen when John packs up and heads to Uni. The night before he leaves she's in his room, helping him get the last minute things together. When they finish they stand in his room in silence. Rose is staring at the suitcases next to the door when tears start sliding down her cheeks.
"Oh, Rose," John breathes and pulls her into his arms, "I'll still visit! I'm not leaving forever."
"It won't be the same!" she sobs into his shirt.
John swallows as his own eyes start to get misty. He says nothing but pulls her closer, knowing she's right.
…..
They start off texting each other every day. They talk about Jackie and school and John's randy American roommate. Then it turns into a few times a week and then tapers off into almost nothing at all. Not for Rose's lack of trying of course. Then when John's plans to come home for Christmas fall through Rose tries not to be too disappointed.
"I'm so, so sorry Rose. The first year is always the hardest and I'm just swarmed with homework and tests and studying!"
She tells him she understands as tears prick her eyes. She hears female voices in the background calling to John before he hangs up. She's not really sure what to think.
…
John isn't able to come home until summer and Rose hasn't seen him in months. He called on her fifteenth birthday and on the anniversary of her dad's death and a few times in between but still. She sits and waits with his parents in their kitchen and when a car pulls into the house next door she runs out of the house. The door slams behind her and she hears John's laugh and she throws herself into his arms.
"I thought I'd never see you again!" Rose cries into his shoulder.
"Oh you know me, Rose Tyler, I always come home!"
Rose pulls back and almost gasps. John is still pretty skinny, but his shoulders are broader and the arms that are still holding her elbows are more muscular.
John plays with her hair, now a honey blonde instead of the dark brown he grew up with.
"You changed your hair," he says quietly.
"Yeah, mum did it for me. D'you like it?"
"Yeah, yeah, it looks great!"
Someone behind John clears his throat and they both jump.
"Jack Harkness," he says with a grin, extending his hand to Rose, "And you must be the famous Rose Tyler! What a pleasure it is to finally meet you!"
Rose blushes when Jack gently squeezes her hand before letting go.
"Jaaaaack," John groans.
"What? I'm just saying hello!"
"Sure you are."
"Nice to meet you," Rose says to Jack, interrupting them, "I've heard quite a bit about you from John."
"What kinds of things is he saying about me now?" he asks, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and John rolls his eyes.
…
That night after Rose has gone home Jack lies on his back in John's bed playing with a foam basketball while John sits at his desk, tinkering with something.
"She is not the little girl in those pictures you have all over our room," Jack states and John doesn't need to ask who he's talking about.
John remembers the way Rose felt as he held her in his arms. She wasn't skinny little Rose anymore. She was all curvy and soft and… womanly. When he looked at her he wondered why he never saw how beautiful she was. Well, that wasn't completely true. He had always thought she was the most beautiful and perfect thing he had ever seen from the moment he held her as a baby but this was different. A whole new kind of beauty. He feel like he shouldn't think about her like that because she's Rose, the girl he grew up with, the one who lives across the street, his best friend. He had been so stunned he couldn't even look her in the eye, just stutter something about her hair being blonde.
A pillow hits him in the head and he snaps back to reality and to a laughing Jack.
"She's my best friend," John mutters, turning back to his tinkering.
"At the end of summer tell me how that's worked out for you."
…..
The next two months are filled with late nights getting into trouble and hot days spent at the pool where John has to concentrate very hard on not liking the way Rose looks in a bikini.
He realizes Jack is right, the lines in his head between best friend and something more are blurring and John doesn't know how to stop it. He's not even sure he wants to stop it.
The night before he and Jack leave again John and Rose are in the field behind his house. Jack is god knows where so it's just the two of them, staring up at the stars just as they did when they were little.
"Can never get used to how beautiful it is," Rose murmurs.
"Yeah," John replies, not looking at the sky but at Rose.
She turns her head and looks at him for a moment. Then his lips are on hers and he's kissing her like he's never kissed anyone else. Her lips are soft and warm and perfect and everything he'd imagined they be.
They pull away, breathless and wide eyed. John stares at her with her red lips and flushed cheeks and mussed hair and he wants to say it, he does,
I love you I love you I love you.
But he doesn't.
He just leans in and kisses her again.
…..
Rose cries the next morning as John hugs her and presses a kiss into her hair. She cries as the car pulls out of the driveway and disappears. She cries after he's gone, in her room with her head in her pillow so no one can hear.
She loves him so much and it hurts when she remembers the distance that grew between them the last time he left.
She's not sure what to do with herself now, the past sixty days have been filled with her and John and Jack and now it's just her. So she lies on her bed and thinks about the way John's lips felt when he kissed her. Gentle yet passionate with his hands in her hair and her back against the cool grass.
….
The ride back to Uni is silent. Jack can tell that John has something or someone on his mind and he doesn't push, knowing when his friend needs his space.
John stares at the road ahead of him, thoughts racing like mad. He never should have kissed Rose in the field last night. That was Rose. His best friend. He shouldn't be thinking about everything that makes her Rose, her beauty that starts from within and shines outward, touching nearly everyone she meets. He shouldn't be thinking about how her body felt under his as he kissed her in the field, the way her hands slid into his hair, her intoxicating essence of just being Rose. She was only 15 for god's sake!
He shouldn't love her like he does but traitorous feelings well up deep within him anyway.
He needs a distraction.
…
Rose picks at her gaudy red Christmas sweater and watches stray snowflakes fall as she waits for John and Jack. She bounces her knee nervously. She hasn't had any contact with John since they left. She shot him a text on his birthday, but it went unanswered.
She'd come up with thousands of reasons why he wouldn't, but none of them were very satisfactory. She had asked Jack but he'd been just as evasive.
She's determined to get some answers out of him this week.
She hears a car pulling into the driveway of his house across the street and despite the fact that she's upset with John she can't deny how excited she is to see him again. She controls herself though. If he wants to see her, then he can come over himself.
She peeks out of her bedroom window and her heart plummets.
Who's that girl?
She's blonde and tall and beautiful and holding John's hand.
Rose stomach turns and she feels nauseous. She makes a mad dash to bathroom and gets sick in the toilet.
"Rose, sweetie!" Her mother's voice floats up the stairs, "John is- oh honey, are you okay!"
Jackie rushes to her daughter's side and holds her hair back as Rose vomits again.
"You poor thing! The stomach flu has been goin' round, you know."
Rose nods weakly as her mother helps her stand and make her way back to her room.
"You just put you jim jams on and I'll bring you some toast and ginger ale, okay sweetheart?"
Rose's eyes fill with tears and her mother pulls her into a warm embrace.
"I know, hon, it's no fun being sick is it? I'll go call Sylvia and tell her we can't make it to dinner tonight."
"No, mum," Rose shakes her head, "You can go, I'll be fine on my own."
"Nonsense! My baby girl is sick and there is no way she's spending her night alone."
"Really, mum, you should go. I'd rather be alone right now, anyway."
Jackie sighed.
"Alright, if that's what you want. I'll be right back."
Rose puts on her favorite pajamas and crawls into bed, pulling her pink duvet over her head. Her mother comes in a few minutes later but Rose shuts her eyes and pretends she's asleep. Jackie tiptoes in and sets a tray on the night stand before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Rose waits for her mother to leave before allowing herself to cry.
How could he do that to her?! Kiss her, leave, and then come back with some hot blonde he met at Uni?
John was her best friend and that's not what best friends did.
…..
"Rose is sorry she couldn't make it tonight, the poor thing's got a stomach bug!"
"Well give us her best, would you?" John's mother asks.
John can feel Jack's eyes boring into him but he refuses to meet his gaze.
"Of course, I know she was looking forward to seeing you all. But maybe she'll be better for Christmas dinner in a couple of days," Jackie offers and conversation goes elsewhere.
John's thoughts, however, stay with Rose. He's almost relieved he doesn't have to see her but feels guilty for it.
Just add that to the list of my crimes against Rose Tyler, he thinks.
"You okay?" Reinette asks him, sensing he's not with the rest of them.
"Hmm? Yeah, fine."
"I was looking forward to meeting her, maybe would visit her?" She says to John, who nods weakly in reply.
"Well, John, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Jackie asks.
"Oh, right, sorry Jackie. Jackie this is Reinette, and Reinette this is Jackie, Rose's mum."
The women exchange pleasantries and dinner starts with the chatter of voices and the clatter of forks and knives against plates. Reinette sits down at his right and he almost tells her no, because that's where Rose always sat. Since she was in a highchair that was Rose's seat, next to him.
After dinner Jack excuses himself and John breathes a sigh of relief, glad to no longer be under his scrutiny.
….
Rose is lying in bed, eyes swollen but dry, having cried all the tears humanly possible when she hears footsteps. She closes her eyes and tries to control her breathing, hoping whoever it is will think she's asleep.
"Rosie?" Jack's voice floats through the door.
"Don't come in," Rose calls out grumpily.
Jack was ignoring her too.
"Can I come in? Please, Rosie?"
"Fine," Rose sighs and the door opens.
She doesn't look up until she feels the bed sink lower and a hand lands on her shoulder. Her lip starts to tremble as she meets Jack concerned gaze. Her shoulders shake once and a sob rips its way through her throat and then Jack's arms are around her and she's bawling into his shoulder.
"What did I do wrong?"
…
After John helped Reinette set up the guest room he flops unceremoniously onto his bed. Without warning, Jack barges in, fuming.
"Where've you been all night?" he asks Jack nonchalantly.
Jack doesn't say anything, instead discarding his button down shirt and throwing it at John.
"Woah, Jack, I thought I made it clear that-"
"Do you know how much of a prick you are?" Jack interrupts.
John sits up and goes to throw Jack's shirt back at him when he feels something… wet. He holds it up and spots a large wet patch on the shoulder. He opens his mouth to ask John what the hell he's been doing when his nose catches a familiar scent. A scent he would recognize anywhere. His heart drops and he looks at Jack, words catching in his throat.
"Have fun fixing this one," Jack tells him, giving John a look bordering on disgust.
And then John is bolting out the door and across the street, not even feeling the cold seeping through the thin fabric of his Oxford. He knocks hesitantly on the door and Jackie opens it, smiling brightly.
"There you are! It's a bit late but you can still try. Just make sure you walk quietly in case she's asleep."
John nods and makes his way to Rose's room, taking the stairs two at a time. He stops outside her door before raising a hand and knocking twice.
"Is that you mum?" Rose's voice carries through the door.
"No, it's uh, it's John," he answers, his hand self-consciously rubbing the back of his neck.
There's silence and John wonders if he should just leave when the door opens and there she is. His beautiful Rose. Her eyes are red and swollen and he knows she's been crying, into Jack's shirt no less. It hurts unlike any other pain he's felt before, knowing that he's the one that caused them.
"What do you want?" she asks, a small frown gracing her features.
"Jackie said that you were sick and I… I uh, just wanted to check up on you," he stammers.
"I'm fine."
John wants to tell her that no, she's not fine, that he can see the hurt in her eyes and he's sorry. He's sorry because he's the one that hurt her and it's all his fault. That he loves her and that Reinette is nothing but a distraction because he shouldn't feel the way he feels, because the way he feels about Rose terrifies to him to no end. But he doesn't.
"Oh, okay."
"I should get to bed," Rose says stoically and John is sure he visibly deflates.
"Yeah, I guess you should. I'll, um, see you around?" he asks but the door has already closed.
He gives Jackie a bright smile as he leaves, hoping that she doesn't know how he treated her daughter because if she did, he was in for one hell of a slap.
He takes his time, meandering across the empty snowy street. He thinks about what he's done to Rose and what he's doing to Reinette and how he really deserves neither of them.
…..
John, Reinette, and Jack leave the day after Boxing Day. Rose sits in her room, having already said goodbye to Jack and Reinette, who Rose actually really liked. Things between her and John had been painful, to say the least over Christmas Eve and Christmas day and once Rose's presence was no longer needed she had shut herself away in her room.
There's a knock at her door, followed by a "Rose?"
Rose sighs, it's John.
"Yeah?"
The door opens and he stands awkwardly in her doorway. Rose doesn't look at him, instead pretending to be engrossed in her phone.
"We're leaving," he says with a shrug.
"Yeah, okay. Have a safe trip," Rose says breezily with only a quick upward glance at John.
"Goodbye, Rose," he tells her, the hurt evident in his voice.
Rose feels a little bit guilty and almost caves but the waste basket filled to the brim with snotty tissues eases her remorse.
"Bye."
John closes the door and Rose finally allows herself to look at the empty space where he stood seconds ago.
There's another knock at the door and Rose sighs.
"What now?"
The door opens again and Rose is surprised when Donna pops her head in.
"Oh, sorry Donna, I uh, thought you were John."
Donna takes the liberty of letting herself in and sits at the foot of Rose's bed.
"I thought you and Lee had already left."
"No, we're heading out in a few minutes I just wanted to check on you."
Rose wipes any and all emotion from her face except for a plastered on smile.
"Thanks, but I'm fine!"
Donna gives her look.
"You haven't been yourself all week Rose," she states.
"Really, I'm great," Rose says brightly and even though Donna doesn't buy it, she doesn't press the issue.
"Well if you ever need to talk, you know how to get a hold of me," Donna tells her with a warm smile, laying her hand of Rose's knee.
Donna had always been the older, more authoritative figure in their dynamic but Rose finds herself smiling back, sincerely this time, and nods.
"Thank you, Donna."
…..
Rose decides it's time for her to let go, be a teenager, and have a little fun. John is obviously having plenty of fun if he forgets her sixteenth birthday so why can't she?
So when she sneaks out one night to go to a party with Shareen and meets Jimmy Stone, she thinks, "Why not?"
….
John is woken up late at night, surrounded by textbooks, by his ringing phone.
He picks it up and frowns.
Why would Jackie be calling at this time of night?
He answers and Jackie is in hysterics.
He only manages to catch snippets of what Jackie.
Rose, not listening to me, moved out, only sixteen, dropped out of school, Jimmy Stone.
John's stomach turns to ice at the last two words. He knows exactly what kind of person Jimmy Stone is and if Rose has gotten mixed up with him, nothing good will come from it.
Please help.
"I'm on my way," he tells Jackie and hangs up in the middle of her crying.
He starts throwing things into a bag and makes enough noise to wake Jack up.
"It's Rose."
Those two words are enough to get Jack up from bed and packing his own bag. John is grateful for his friend who makes calls to their professors and tells John to let him drive before he gets them both killed from not focusing on the road.
John leans his back on the headrest, replaying his conversation with Jackie over and over. Two words especially give him a punch in the gut.
Only sixteen.
He stares out the window, at the lights of the buildings and cars they pass by, and then at Jack.
"I forgot her birthday."
…
After a brief and somber hello to his parents and Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Geoff they arrive at Jackie's around three in the morning. She's got her head in one hand as she leans on the kitchen table. Her makeup is smudged and she smiles listlessly as the boys enter.
She sniffs and smiles weakly at them. Her tea has gone cold and Jack offers to make a fresh pot.
"Thanks for coming boys," she says, sounding defeated.
"I guess she's been seein' this boy for a while. Never told me nothin' about it. One of the ladies I do hair for told me she seen 'em together so I asked Rose about it and we got into an awful row. Told me that she didn't need anyone buttin' into her life and that he wanted her to move in with 'im. I told her no way that was gonna happen and then she said "watch me", packed a bag and left. She's been acting so strange lately, since Christmas," John feels a stab of guilt at these words, "I have no clue what's gotten into her. She won't listen to me, John. Maybe she'll listen to you."
"I'll try," John tells her.
"Do you know anything about this Jimmy?" Jackie asks, "You two are about the same age."
John sighs and shakes his head.
"He's bad news, Jackie."
She starts crying again and John puts and arm around the distressed woman.
"I'm sorry, boys," she says, blowing her nose and wiping her eyes, "I'm a right mess. Now are you staying at your parents John?"
"We can stay here, if you'd like," John offers and Jackie nods.
"Don't think I want to be all alone in this house tonight."
After John and Jack convinced Jackie to go to bed John wanders up the stairs and finds himself in Rose's bedroom.
Oh, Rose.
The pillows are gone off of the bed and drawers are open with clothing haphazardly spread across the room. It's obvious that someone packed and left in a hurry. John takes a step inside, wincing as his foot lands on something sharp. He looks down and sees a picture frame. Tears prick his eyes when he bends over and picks it up. The picture is of him and Rose, the very first time John held her all those years ago. He's not looking at the camera, but at Rose, and her little eyes are looking straight back at him. His legs go weak and he collapses on her cold bed. He clutches the picture to his chest and remembers all those days of getting into mischief, planning wild adventures, and running side by side, hand in hand. Holding the picture close to him, he falls asleep.
…
Jackie tells John and Jack that Rose got a job at a shop when she dropped out of school, a place called Hendrick's in central London. Under normal circumstances John wouldn't go and confront someone at their place of work but these weren't normal circumstances. John also didn't want to risk running into Jimmy.
She's folding clothes when they walk in and John stops short. She looks tired and worn out and John can tell she hasn't been taking care of herself. She spots them and quickly ducks away between the clothing racks but they find her anyway.
"Rose," John says.
"Aren't you two supposed to be at Uni?" she snaps.
"Aren't you supposed to be at school," John retorts and regrets the words as soon as the leave his mouth.
"Sorry, Rose," John says, trying to backtrack, "I didn't mean that."
"Sure you did."
"Rose," Jack steps in, "we only want to help."
"Well you can help by getting the hell out of here, I'm going to get into trouble."
"Look, Rose, I'm not going to waste any time. You and I both know what kind of a person Jimmy Stone is. You can't be serious about what you're doing!"
"'S none of your business John, so just stay out of it, okay?"
"You're throwing your life away," John pleads.
"Well it's my life, and I do what I please with it," she hisses, straightening a display of hats.
"Rose, look at me please!"
"You need to leave," she says in a low voice, eyes burning with anger.
John takes a deep breath.
"Are you sleeping with him?"
Rose whirls around and glares at him.
"I really don't see how that's any of your business!"
"You're my best friend, Rose!"
"Am I?" She asks and looks satisfied when John's face falls.
"Rose, please!"
"Yes."
"What?"
"Yes, I am sleeping with him. But your opinion doesn't matter because he loves me."
No, Rose. I love you.
"And I love him," she finishes quietly, "So the two of you are really wasting your time here. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work."
Rose stalks away and Jack puts his hand on John to stop him from following her.
"There's nothing we can do, John."
….
Reinette calls John on the drive back to Uni.
John had forgotten about her.
"Sorry, something came up," he tells her.
"You sound off, John. Are you alright?"
"I'm always alright."
…
Summer rolls around and John doesn't visit home. He and Reinette travel Europe instead. He cries when she's asleep. He and Rose had always planned to travel together.
….
Jackie sells the house and gets an apartment on the street over. It's just her in the house now. There's no need for three bedrooms and two bathrooms anymore. She cries packing up Rose's things.
…
Rose lives a life of work and food and sleep and Jimmy. Jimmy keeps promising his band is going to make it big.
"Any day now, babe," he tell her.
When Jimmy passes out drunk, Rose cries for her mum, her old life, and her best friend who is miles away.
….
Reinette starts talking about finding a place of campus together and John keeps putting it off until he can't anymore.
"Are you even listening to me, John? You are so out of it lately! I can't keep doing this you know. It's like your heart isn't in us anymore!"
John has nothing to say and Reinette gives up trying.
"I'm sorry, John," she says from the doorway.
"Me too."
….
Rose is seventeen when Jimmy walks out. His guitar and clothes are gone. The fridge and cupboards are empty, but there wasn't much in them to begin with. She walks to the bank in a panic and her worst fear is confirmed. The account was drained that morning.
She breaks down in the next to empty flat.
"Mum… can I come home?"
…
John wakes up in the middle of the night again. It's his aunt Sylvia. He hesitates before answering, remembering the last time he got a late night call from home.
…..
His parents and Uncle Geoff were coming for a surprise visit to see John and Donna. Aunt Sylvia was sick, so she stayed home. The driver of an eighteen wheeler fell asleep and hit their car head on. It was instant, the police assured them. No pain.
No, John thought, no pain. Not for them, at least.
…
Rose slips into the pew beside John and holds his hand during the funeral. She looks healthier since he last saw her over a year ago, he thinks as the vicar makes his way up to the pulpit.
"Thank you," he whispers, "for being here."
Rose merely nods and squeezes his hand.
After the funeral they lay in the field behind John's house, just like they used to. The same place where John showed her Pegasus, the same place where they kissed for the very first time.
Their hands are still linked as they stare up at the sky.
"I'm an orphan," John laughs bitterly.
Rose says nothing. There isn't really anything she can say.
The minutes tick by and the warm spring breeze blows.
"Where's Reinette?" Rose asks.
"She left."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Yeah."
Silence.
"Where's Jimmy?" John asks.
"He left."
"Sorry."
"I'm not," she says, turning her head and looking at John.
"I've missed you," he says, facing her.
"I've missed you, too," she whispers, tears falling down her face.
John wipes them off with his thumb.
"I was horrible to you," she tells him.
"I'm pretty sure I deserved it."
"Yeah, you kinda did, didn't you?"
John laughs softly.
"Never again, Rose. I promise."
Rose nods.
"Never again."
The lay there in the field, her in her funeral dress and him in his funeral suit, best friends reuniting.
…..
John finishes the semester at home and Rose goes back for her A-levels. The field becomes their place of refuge when everything becomes too much. Rose is still patching things up with her mum and John is still grieving. His parents left him everything and he and Rose have been boxing up his parents things, a little bit at a time. At first they didn't get much done, they would cry together as the memories of his parents and Uncle Geoff hit with full force, they may as well have been Rose's parents, too.
Lately there was mostly laughter though, the memories were turning fond rather than sad and they consider a step in the right direction.
Jack comes at the beginning of the summer and it's almost the same as it was those two long years ago. Another summer spent in each other's company. Rose and John falling in love all over again although, in reality, they never really stopped.
This time around though, John doesn't fight it because he realizes that Rose had never just been her best friend.
So when they find themselves in the field again the night before John leaves for his third year at Uni and Rose for her first and John finds himself looking into Rose's eyes, those three words pounding around in his skull again, he doesn't hold back.
"I love you, John," she whispers, foreheads touching.
"I love you, Rose Tyler," he replies before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers.
She throws her hands around his neck and he holds his hands at her hips.
"Forever?" Rose murmurs against his lips.
"Forever."
His mind is flooded with a future of a house and kids and love and Rose, Rose, Rose.
They lean in and kiss again, the constellations watching over them.