"You can love someone so much...But you can never love people as much as you can miss them."
John Green

"Sweetheart?" Jackie called softly, knocking on the door to Rose's room. "Can I come in?" She heard a muffled, mangled yes from the other side of the door. The knob turned quietly, which surprised Jackie, who was so used to the loud squeaks of the doors back at the Powell Estates.

"Oh, Rose…" she said Rose lifted her head up, she wanted to cry at her state. Her daughter's eyes were red and puffy, and her cheeks were wet. There were dark circles under her eyes from the obvious lack of sleep.

"What do you want, Mum?" Rose asked. She buried her head back into the bright pink pillow on her bed.

"I know how it feels, darling," Jackie said quietly as she sat down on the edge of the bed, rubbing circles on Rose's back. All she got in response was a noise between a whimper and a grunt.

"It wasn't easy, losing your father. All I had left was you. Life was hard, but I moved on. I had to," she explained softly. Rose lifted her head up.

"I miss him so much, Mum! It isn't fair! I love him!" Rose sobbed. She sat up and threw her arms around her mother's neck, crying into her shoulder. Jackie couldn't help the single tear that slipped.

"I know you do, sweetheart, I know you do. It's not going to be easy, I won't lie to you. But I'll tell you what – he might not have gotten to finish his sentence on that bloody beach, but we both very well know that he was going to say that he loves you too. And he was going to mean every word of it. It's not going to be easy for him, either," Jackie said.

"It is, though! He's over nine hundred, Mum! He's had companions before me. He hardly ever mentioned them until I met one, Sarah Jane! He loses people all the time. He's probably used to it by now! He probably doesn't even care! All he has to do is go pick up some new companion and he'll forget I ever existed!" Rose cried.

"Rose Marion Tyler! Don't you dare think that way! The Doctor loves you!" She pulled back from their embrace to look her in the eyes. "You know what you're going to do?" Rose looked confused.

"What?"

Jackie got up from the bed and dashed over to the closet, throwing open the doors and grabbing Rose's favorite blue leather jacket. She tossed it at Rose, who caught it, still looking absolutely clueless. Jackie came back over and put one hand on each of Rose's shoulders.

"You are going to put that jacket on, head straight over to Torchwood, get that bloody job, and start looking for a way back to him."

Rose's eyes widened. "But he said it was impossible, Mum!"

Jackie rolled her eyes. "I don't care what that daft alien said. He's wrong. Nothing stands in the way of true love, not even a parallel universe."

"But Mum…I miss him. What if I can't do it?"

"Rose, if you never try, then you have absolutely no chance of getting back to him. You'll spend the rest of your life missing the Doctor, and that's all you'll ever do. I can see how much you miss him. Even more than you love him. Which is why I'm telling you: get up out of bed, get dressed, and head out. You'll find your way back to him. Do you know why? Because he loves you too."

For the first time in about a week, Rose Tyler got out of bed.

~~:::~~

"Doctor?" Martha called down the corridor. She got no response. She laid a hand on the TARDIS wall and asked softly, "Where is he?" A pink door appeared to her left. Murmuring a quick thank you to the ship, she quietly opened the door.

"Are you in here?" she asked aloud. She glanced around. Pink…pink everywhere. What was the Doctor doing in here? Martha walked over to the dresser, stepping over piles of dirty clothes and other belongings that littered the floor. Pictures were scattered across the unmade bed, and there were more on top of the dresser. She got a closer look.

Most of the pictures were of the Doctor with a young blonde girl. Something clicked within Martha. "Is that Rose?" she whispered aloud.

"Yes," came the Doctor's solemn voice from behind her. Suddenly Martha felt very out of line.

"I'm sorry. I was just looking for you, and when I asked the TARDIS, she brought me here, so…"

"It's alright, Martha, really. But yes, that's Rose. This is – was – her room," the Doctor said.

"That explains all the pink then," Martha said weakly. The Doctor just gave a sad smile. He walked over to the dresser to stand beside her, picking up one of the pictures. It showed him and Rose on Christmas, the day he regenerated. His smile became slightly more genuine as he thought of that day.

"You know Martha…you never know how much you love someone until they're gone. And then once they aren't there anymore, you miss them more than you ever loved them in the first place," the Doctor said quietly, his voice hoarse. Then he continued even quieter, but Martha still caught it. "I miss Rose more than I've ever missed anyone else before in my lives."

She laid a hand on his shoulder, knowing she would likely never understand what he felt. "I'm so sorry, Doctor."

"It hurts sometimes. I miss her so much it actually, physically hurts to think about it. But I wouldn't trade the memories for the world." With that, the Doctor walked out of the room, and Martha followed quickly behind, wondering what Rose had done to make the Doctor fall so in love.

Then she thought about the truth of his words.

"And then once they aren't there anymore, you miss them more than you loved them in the first place."

She prayed for the sake of her friend's happiness that one day Rose would return.

A/N: Okay, I saw this quot and it immediately hit me how perfect it is for the Doctor and Rose. So naturally I typed this up. Let me know what you think!

~RoseKatnissWeasley7