Time was a funny thing for John Smith. In his memories and in his dreams he had been a Time Lord with all of space and time at his hands. He could saunter back to the TARDIS and go on to the next adventure either by himself or with a companion by his side. Though he loved all of his companions in his own way he never dreamed that one day he would give it all up to spend a life time with one. That was until he met her.
He never really stood a chance with Rose Tyler. He had met her right after he walked away from the Time War, alone and broken. He couldn't understand how she could love him, when for months after his regeneration he refused to look in a mirror at himself. He was the killer of his own people and a monster in his own eyes, yet she had shown him he didn't have to be. That he could be loved and that he could be happy. In a time before his creation, he had ran with her across planets both young and old. He had held her beneath star filled nights and just laughed with her as they enjoyed the splendors the universe had to offer. She made him feel alive again and her and Jackie gave him a home. He knew he couldn't really spend forever with her, but he dreamed of it.
That dream was torn from him, on that dark day at Canary Warf. He walked away once more broken and alone as he watched the childish dream of forever fade. He had raced the TARDIS against time in order to find her and hold her once more, but in the end all he could tell her was goodbye. The goodbye would never be enough for him though. He still dreamed of her every night. Sometimes when he was on a new planet with his companion, he would picture her there too. He could see her disappointed by the way new earth changed, fascinated with the ood and just someone to hold onto after midnight. He was never quite able to let her go and so she was always there with him, even as she lived her own life.
The day she returned was also the day he was created. The Doctor's forever was ripped from his hands once more and though John knew he would be devastated the Doctor had given it all up to give Rose a better life. One where she could grow old with him. He thought it was what she really wanted but in a way he never really understood Rose Tyler. For though she had the life the Doctor wanted for her, she would have been happy living among the stars as long as she with him. Taking his hand and running on a new planet, loving him even if she never had the children she longed for. She had meant what she said when she promised him forever even if all he could ever give her were his two hearts.