Chapter 2:

Rose lay curled up on her bed. Tears streamed down her face. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to be with the Doctor, her Doctor, in the TARDIS, seeing all of time and space. Instead she was stuck here with his reject self. All that time she had spent trying to get back to him, and he just dumped her here. Another sob racked her body as all the memories of their wonderful adventures swirled through her mind. It was all over this time, for good. The most painful question on her mind though was did she even matter to him? At this moment she felt exactly like how Sarah Jane must have felt when the Doctor abandoned her many years ago. She even had her own K-9. She couldn't muffle her sobs, so she let them come. She let the tears, the pain, and the memories drown her. She cried until she ran out of tears, and finally sleep came, taking her away to happier times.

Rose woke around six o'clock in the evening. At some point someone had come in and put a blanket over her. She sat up and tossed the blanket off of her. She felt empty and hollow inside. She sat still for a moment listening for voices in the house. Surprisingly she didn't hear anything. Usually at this time of day mum was taking on the phone loudly with one of her new friends while trying to calm a fussing Tony. Rose didn't want to leave her room for fear of seeing him again, but her stomach hurt from lack of food, and she was curious as to why it was so quiet. She opened the door and crept down the stairs and into the kitchen. The kitchen was also empty and quiet. A small note lay on the counter. Dread filled Rose. Without even looking at the words she knew that something was up. She picked up the note anyway and read through her moms quickly scrawled hand writing.

Rose,

Your dad and I are going to visit some friends for the evening. We are taking Tony with us. We will be back late. The Doctor took some more medicine before we left and should sleep through the night.

-Love Mum.

Rose groaned as she set the note back down on the table. They had left her here on purpose. That's so like mum she though angrily as she crumpled up the paper, threw it away, and walked to the fridge looking for something to eat.

"Rose."

Rose jumped at the sound of her name, and spun around looking for the source of the sound, but no one was there. She could have sworn she heard the Doctor's voice. Pushing that thought to the back of her mind; she pulled an apple out of the fridge and took a bite. She munched on it for a few seconds before deciding she wasn't that hungry. She threw it away and without even thinking she made her way back up the stairs to the spare bedroom where the Doctor was sleeping. As quietly as she could she twisted the knob on the door and gently pushed it open. The room was dark, but she could just make out his sleeping form in the bed. His chest was rising and falling gently. Rose crept over to the bed side, her heart beating fast. "This isn't him," she reminded herself quietly, but she couldn't help reaching up and brushing his messy hair out of his eyes. Her hand lingered there holding his face as she studied him. He was unmistakably identical to her Doctor. He stirred slightly at her touch, and Rose withdrew her hand quickly.

"Rose," he murmured softly, but he didn't wake.

Rose's breath caught in her throat. Had he been dreaming of her? She had often asked the Doctor what he dreamt about, and he had always avoided her questions, as he would start blabbering on about some wonderful place that they would be visiting that day while he fiddled with different switches on the TARDIS control panel. Rose sighed quietly and walked back to the door. Looking back one more time she felt a tug in her hollow chest at the sight of his sleeping form resting peacefully. Turning away she shut the door and walked back to her room, shutting that door too, and creating one more barrier between them.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The next morning Rose woke early, took a shower, and got dressed. She planned to go to Torchwood today and see what had happened since she had used the dimension cannon to travel back to her world. She needed to get away from the house for a while. She hurried down the stairs and out the front door, ignoring her dad as he greeted her. Her car sat in the driveway, and she quickly climbed in and put the keys in the ignition, starting the engine.

Rose breathed out a sigh as she entered the familiar building. She had spent so much time here after that awful day at Bad Wolf Bay. The people had become her family and, despite their reluctance, helped her build a dimension cannon to get her back to the Doctor. A small shard of hope remained in her heart. Maybe she could do it again. Maybe she could travel across the dimensions and find her Doctor again. She flashed her badge to the man at the front desk and proceeded to the elevator. She pressed the button for the tenth floor where she was usually stationed. Research, development, and alien interactions floor. Rose wasn't much a researcher, or a mechanic for that matter, but she was useful when alien problems arose. She was the most familiar with how to deal with alien problems.

Her and Mickey had spent a lot of time building up Torchwood, and teaching them about all their encounters with aliens and how to deal with them in exchange for the dimension cannon. Pete, being the new temporarily elected head of Torchwood, tried to stop her, but no one could convince Rose it wasn't a good idea. So instead they put her to work for them. As the doors for the elevator opened a frantic scientist rushed in. He stopped, putting his hand on the door to hold it open, and stared at her. "Rose?" he asked, a look of confusion crossing his face. "What are you doing here? I thought you were back with the Doctor." Rose kept her eyes down and pushed past him mumbling, "There were complications".

She continued down the hallway to the area where her team worked. It was an open room with tables everywhere. Each table was piled high with alien tech to be evaluated by the teams of scientists. Rose would supervise, and give input when needed, on certain devices. Her time with the Doctor had left her with all sorts of knowledge on how the tech of different species worked. What she was most good at, though, was being a diplomat with the other races that would come to the earth. This world was much more familiar with alien visits then her home world had been. There had mostly been peace while she was here in this parallel dimension, but a few times they had had to fight against invaders. In those moments Rose sorely missed the Doctor. She missed the way he seemed to be able to calm storms of chaos and fighting. She missed the way his face would light up when he had a solution to a particularly frustrating problem.

Rose realized people were staring at her as she stood frozen in the entrance way of the tech room. Rose mentally shook away the painful memories, and walked over to a particularly chubby scientist who was bent over the table examining some type of ray gun he had managed to acquire.

"Hey Charley," She said smiling at him as he looked up, startled. "Rose?" he said in shock studying her like she was a ghost. "I thought we had sent you back to your world," he continued. Rose ignored his words and instead asked "Is the dimension cannon still working?" Charley shifted uncomfortably on the cushioned stool he was sitting on. "Pete had us destroy it after you left," he mumbled. "He said it was to dangerous and that it would destroy our world if it was ever to be used again." Anger surged through Rose. What gave him the right to decide something like that? "You can build another one though right?" she yelled slamming her hand down on the desk with a bit more force then she had meant, making the pudgy little man jump.

Charley was sweating now as he looked around the room for help. "All the blueprints and information on it was destroyed too," he replied, his voice quavering as he spoke. A wave of emotions threatened to crush Rose as she stood, fists clenched glaring at the man. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Rose I think you should leave," a voice said. Rose wasn't listening anymore though. The hope that had filled her heart when she had woken up that morning was gone now. She had lost him. Her Doctor wasn't coming back for her, and she had broken her promise to stay with him forever. Rose barely paid attention as she was escorted out of Torchwood and back to her car. She climbed in, started the car, and drove back to her parents home. She felt numb as she exited the car and walked into the house. No one said a word as she entered. They were familiar with this "Rose". This was the Rose from Bad Wolf Bay all those years ago. This was the Rose the Doctor had left behind.

Rose climbed to stairs slowly, to exhausted and numb to confront Pete, and went to her room, shutting the door behind her.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The Doctor sat up in bed blinking his eyes in confusion. The room was dark and quiet. He wondered how long he had slept this time. Frustration pricked his heart. This regeneration was taking way to long in his half human body. He stood slowly and stretched. His body was no longer screaming at him in protest as he did so, and that pleased him. A bit of gold laced regeneration energy escaped his mouth as he yawned. He wandered out of his room and into the hall. Everything was quiet. He assumed the Tyler family was asleep. This came as a bit of a relief to him. The Doctor knew his presence here hadn't been a very comfortable one, especially for Rose. Rose. He wondered how she was doing. He stood still listening for any signs that she was awake. He heard none, and decided, against his better judgement, that he would peak into her room. He crept down the hallway to her room. The bedroom door was cracked slightly, but no light spilled out. As gently as he could he pushed the door open and peaked inside. Rose was in her bed. Her slow breathing suggested she was asleep so he walked to her bed side and sat down. She didn't stir. Rose wasn't a light sleeper. He had visited her room many times in the TARDIS while she was asleep. Sometimes he would only stay for a few moments, and others he would allow himself to linger as he studied her peaceful face. She looked so young and helpless when she slept. He had never allowed himself to say the things that he knew she would like to hear though. He never wanted to complicate their relationship. He had long since forbade himself from falling in love with those he brought with him in the TARDIS.

Now, though, as he sat beside her he spoke the words he should have so long ago. His voice was no more then a whisper, and it shook as he spoke.

"Rose Tyler, from the first time I saw you I knew you. I don't know how, but I did. I wanted to take you with me so bad. When you came with me I was thrilled." his voice cracked as he tried to choke back tears that were welling up. Stupid human emotions he cursed mentally. He took a deep, steadying, breath and continued. "During my ninth regeneration I tried so hard not to fall in love with you, but when I regenerated everything changed. I couldn't deny my feelings anymore, so I resigned myself to keeping my mouth shut, assuming you knew how I felt about you. T-there were so many times when I wanted to tell you how I felt. When we were trapped on that space station I almost did, but I was a coward. I'm so sorry Rose," he said quietly. He couldn't go on. Tears streamed down his face as the memories swirled behind his closed eye lids.

"Doctor," Rose said sitting up in bed. She hadn't been sleeping when he had crept into her room, and when he had begun to talk, she listened. The Doctor jumped as she sat up. The fear of her rejecting him, again, gripped his heart. Rose looked him in the eyes, those impossibly old eyes. She could see the pain, and longing in them as he held her gaze. His eyes begged for forgiveness. His words were so true, and sincere.

"Doctor," Rose said again, her eyes welling up with tears as she saw him for the first time. This man. He was her Doctor. Rose tentatively reached her hand up and touched his face. He remained frozen under her touch, afraid that the slightest movement would scare Rose away forever. Suddenly Rose flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shirt collar. She began sobbing, her tears flowing fast onto his wrinkled pajamas.

The Doctor slowly wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly as his own tears fell. Rose let the pain and anger she had been feeling flow out of her in the form of hot tears. She knew that there would always be a place for her Time Lord Doctor in her heart, but this Doctor was him too, and maybe, just maybe she could love him too. The Doctor, unaware of the emotions running through Roses head, sat quietly holding her. Somewhere in the early hours of the morning she had stopped crying, and had fallen asleep still cradled in his arms, and so he stayed like that. Holding her through the night, not knowing what morning would bring for them. For now though, he thought, he had his Rose Tyler back.