Sunlight.

That was the first thing Rose could feel upon waking. A bright and intense light that burned straight through her eyelids.

She turned her head to escape the sun and felt the sand that clung to her sticky skin.

Then she felt the heat, a suffocating and oppressive heat that sat like a stone on her chest and made it hard to breathe.

Then there was something cool and wet that tickled at her sides slightly before fading. Rose stretched her hand out after it, almost begging it to come back.

And come back it did.

A rush of water crashed over her limp and weak body and pulled her into its chilling embrace. She gasped for breath as the shock of it knocked the air right out of her lungs. Her nostrils and throat burned as salty water rushed into her airways. She choked and coughed as another wave surged over her, pulling her farther from the sand.

"Rose!" she heard someone shout, "Rose!"

A man hovered over her with blood on his face and fear in his eyes.

He has really great hair, she thought sleepily.

The man picked her up, gently sliding one arm under her knees and the other supporting her shoulders and carried her until he carefully placed her down on the soft, warm sand.

His face comes into Rose's vision again and she feels cool hands on her cheeks.

"Rose, Rose… can you hear me Rose?"

Who's Rose? She wondered as her head limply fell to the side and her eyes slid closed.

"Rose, stay with me!" The voice came again.

Oh, that's right. I'm Rose.

The man seems worried about her. He shouldn't be worried. She's fine, just a little tired is all. She just needs a good kip. No biggie.

Rose tried to tell the stranger this but when she opened her mouth to talk salty water sprang forth and she started coughing and choking. The man helped her sit up so she could breathe properly. From her new vantage point she could see fire. And people. People running and people crying and people screaming and people lying in the sand, unmoving.

"Rose… Rose can you look at me?"

Rose turned her head to the voice. It's the man again, the stranger. Wait, no. Not a stranger.

John.

"John?" She croaked.

John grinned, relieved.

"Yes, it's me, John."

"You… you held my hand."

"Yes, yes I did. I held your hand," he laughed.

"There was… a plane. It was shaking and there was this… noise. Oh my god," Rose felt faint and her head was pounding as memories began pouring in.

"Rose, I need you to stay here okay? There are other people who need my help but you just stay right here. Just lie down right here and get your strength back. I'll be back for you as soon as possible, just don't move. Can you do that for me?"

Rose nodded weakly and John lowered her back onto the sand.

With one final glance at Rose, John took off in search of others in need. Rose closed her eyes and lay as still as possible and the pounding in her head began to fade. Once she felt her strength returning she rolled over on her stomach and managed to get in a kneeling position. She waited until she caught her breath before finally rising to her feet. The sand moved beneath her shoes and she wobbled slightly before regaining her bearings.

Rose took a few unsteady steps before feeling fully in control of her limbs. Deciding she was well enough she began to look for anyone who might need help. It didn't take her very long to spot an injured man only a few feet from her.

She knelt next to him and gasped when she saw the jagged piece of metal lodged in his abdomen, blood soaking his once white, pristine shirt.

The man moaned and his eyes fluttered open.

"Hello there," Rose said, trying to keep her voice from trembling, "My name's Rose. What's your name?"

"Pete," the man sputtered.

"Nice to meet you, Pete. Funny, that, uh, was my dad's name. Now uh, I'm just going to look… I'm going to take a look at…" Rose trailed off as she slowly and gently unbuttoned the man's shirt.

Her vision swam for a moment when she pulled the fabric back and revealed the gruesome wound. Rose was no doctor but she knew that it was a lost cause. Maybe in a hospital with equipment and a team of nurses and doctors he would have a fighting chance, but here on a beach with nothing?

"How bad is it?" Pete rasped.

"Oh not too bad," Rose lied.

Pete chuckled and then grimaced.

"It's bad isn't it?"

"Don't worry, Pete. You're gonna get help, okay? We're gonna get you stitched up and… you'll be fine."

"Your dad is a lucky man, Rose."

Rose could do nothing to stop the tears from streaming down her face as she smiled a watery smile at the man. Her dad had died alone in the middle of the road and there was no way she would let that happen to this man. She grasped his hand as she sat in the sand while the man's breathing became more labored. His hand went slack in hers and her tears turned into sobs that wracked her body.

She felt a presence behind her and then a comforting hand on her back. John knelt next to her and placed two fingers on the man's neck and silently gathered Rose in his arms, letting her cry into his shoulder.


Evening had fallen on the stranded passengers who now had moved to a different part of the beach to avoid the site of the crash. Some sat numbly around fires that had been started while others were making plans of what to do next.

John, Rose, Jack, River, and a few other men and women were gathered on the edge of the forest that covered the majority of the island. Large plumes of smoke were seen farther inland and after assuming that it was another part of the plane, a team was being organized to see if there were any other survivors.

"I would like to join that team," said a young woman as she approached the group, "I'm a doctor, well I will be after I graduate, but there could be injured people that need immediate treatment. I've gathered up as many medical tools as I could from the wreckage."

"What's your name?" Jack asked.

"Martha, Martha Jones."

"Good, I'll also add you to the team going to out to find other survivors tomorrow."

"We'll also need people to go out in search of food and water. There's some food from the plane but not enough to last very long, especially if we could be having more join us," John added.

"Right, do you and Rose want to head that up? River and I will take Martha and-"

"Who the hell put you in charge?" An older blonde woman interrupted Jack.

"Well we need someone to and no one else was-"

"What makes you qualified to be our "leader"! How do we know if we can trust you!" A man yelled, taking a few steps toward Jack.

John immediately stepped in between the two.

"Everyone just needs to calm down, okay? We aren't going to survive if we don't work together."

"You all are making it sound like we're still going to be here tomorrow! People are going to come looking for us. They know where the plane went down and I bet we will all be back in our own beds by tomorrow night!"

"Actually," said a voice belonging to the airline stewardess, "We were experiencing slight malfunctions with the navigational instruments. We diverted our course to the nearest airport to get things fixed. I'm not saying that we won't get rescued but we were off course so it could take a bit longer."

The man stormed off and the blonde woman followed after him.

Jack turned to the stewardess.

"Just how far off course were we?"

"I'm really not sure. Like I said there were navigational errors but at least 80 miles. I'm Clara by the way."

Jack sighed in frustration.

"Maybe we should continue this in the morning. I'm sure it'll be easier for us to think straight after a good night sleep," John suggested.

The group agreed and after dispersing Rose went in search of Donna. Donna was sitting in front of a fire next to Lee, whose leg was bandaged.

Donna smiled weakly at Rose as she approached.

"How's your leg?" Rose asked Lee.

Lee shrugged.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Donna answered, "But he should stay off it for a while."

"Oh I was going to ask you two if you wanted to come look for food and water tomorrow with me and John."

"I would but…" Donna trailed off, gesturing to her invalid husband, "Anyway, I wouldn't want to interfere with your alone time with Dr. Stick Man," she added, grinning.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Rose protested, blushing.

She and Donna chatted amicably for a while before Rose felt her eyelids getting heavy. After saying goodnight to Donna and Lee she went in search of her suitcase, hoping it was amid the large pile of luggage that had been retrieved from various parts of the beach. She smiled when she spotted Amy also searching through the pile of suitcases and duffle bags.

"Any luck?" Rose called out to her.

"Not yet," the Scottish girl replied, "It's not like I really packed for a deserted island anyway. Oh is this yours?"

Rose almost squealed as Amy held up a bright pink suitcase. A cool breeze had started to blow as soon as the sun went down and Rose searched her luggage for something to put over her bare arms and shoulders. Her torn yellow halter dress wasn't cutting it.

"I know, I don't think bikinis and sundresses are going to do me much good," Rose sighed as she came up empty, except for her favorite striped scarf.

"Well you're better off than me," Amy snorted good naturedly, "I didn't bring much other than lingerie. It's supposed to be my honeymoon after all!"

The girls laughed and Amy went off in search of her new husband. Rose sighed and looked down at the multicolored scarf in her hands. She buried her nose in the soft fabric, relishing in the familiar and comforting scent of her home. She tied the scarf around her neck and walked to the area not far from the fire where people had begun to settle down for the night.

After tossing and turning in the sand with nothing to separate her from the elements she gave up on sleep. Quietly tiptoeing her way around the sleeping figures she made her way to the edge of the ocean. She removed her shoes and placed one toe in the water. It was warmer than she expected as she took a few tentative steps in. She stopped when she the water was about halfway up her shin and the waves barely skimmed her knees.

Rose shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as the cool breeze blew. She looked up at the night sky and it nearly took her breath away. The sky was an inky black peppered with stars. She never saw this kind of sky in London. The sky and the ocean stretched out as far as she could see and suddenly she was so tiny in the vast expanse of sea and sky. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't hear someone else swishing through the water behind her.

She jumped as a torn suit jacket was placed around her bare shoulders. She smiled as she saw John, suit pants rolled up and exposing thin pale legs. She giggled slightly as she recalled Donna's words. "Dr. Stick Man".

"What?" John asked and Rose just shook her head before looking back to the sky.

"It's so beautiful," she murmured.

John stared at Rose curiously and it was Rose's turn to be confused.

"What?"

"We're here stuck on this island after with the chance that we might not make it home for a very long time. But you, Rose Tyler, you look up and see the beauty," he said, looking at her almost wistfully.

"D' you really think we're stuck here?"

"I have no clue. This whole thing is just… not good."

"Oh I don't know, stuck with you… 'S not so bad."

John grinned at her.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Rose moved closer to John and put her head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her waist. The pair just watched the world in silence as the tide ebbed and flowed around them.


A/N: I just want to thank all of you who read and reviewed and followed and favorited! A thousand hugs to you all!

Someone made the comment of how this was a bit like Lost and I noticed that when I was planning out the plot. There are a couple of parallels especially with Amy and Claire, but that's all I'll say for now because SPOILERS! But I want to try and keep all of the crazy plot twists from Lost out of this story because I would get a headache trying to write it.

Next chapter: I promise we will see some actual plot forming and more fuzzy cuteness.