Rose Tyler sat on the floor of her living room, glaring at the contraption in her hands. "Work, you stupid piece of technology," She told it, grumbling. Biting her lip, she picked up a thin tool from the floor and inserted into a a hole inside of the machinery in her hands.
"Please, please please..." She pleaded, hearing the click of the tool. She stood, brushed herself off, and watched it. Nothing happened. "Ugh!" Rose yelled, siting down with her head in her hands. She was never going to get it to work. It would never work. She was a failure. It was all her fault. Everything was her fault. She should just -
"Shut up!" She told her own mind. "Shut up, shut up, shut up." She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to think of something, to think of anything other than that. She understood how the Doctor felt all of the time, now, and she pitied him.
Rose stood, running her hands through her hair. If it wasn't going to work today, then fine. She would have to find something else to do. If she spent too much time sitting there, tinkering with it, she would go mad.
She walked towards the kitchen, rummaging in one of the drawers for tea. She selected a bag at random, and set it on the counter before going to heat up some water. While Rose waited for the water to heat, she pulled out her computer from it's bag on the floor and flipped open the screen.
IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED, the screen read, and, sighing, she typed in her codes. The screen redirected the webpage, and soon she was staring at a list. It was a list that she had gone over many times, a list that still didn't make sense, a list that never made sense. She knew what it was, of course. She just didn't know what it meant. Rose stared at the instructions willing them to make sense. But they didn't. Random numbers, letters, phrases and words splattered themselves across the page. Even Rose's time lord - or rather, time lady -mind struggled to understand it. Every time that she thought she understood, she realized that she didn't know at all what she was doing. Rose opened another window on her computer, not wanting to continue to stare at the one puzzle she hadn't been able to solve. In the new window, she typed in a website, and waited a moment as the computer loaded.
Her internet was slow, but usually it wasn't a big deal. Before, with the doctor, she hadn't needed Internet. Or a house. Or money. Or a job. He'd given her this things. But now that she was alone, Rose had to fend for herself. It has been hard but not as hard as she would've thought. The first time she been left in the universe she hadn't even gotten a job. When the doctor and come back to say goodbye to her, And asked her what she was doing with her life she had the heart to tell him she was working in the shop again. After seeing the disappointed look on his face when she told him, she quickly taken it back claiming she worked for torchwood. Back then even saying that she works for that place had disgusted her. Torchwood was was what had torn her from her doctor. She would never have worked there.
But the second time that he'd left her, with the metacrisis that she could never have because she knew she would outlive him, Rose had begun to tire of her boring life. Every day she went to the shop. Every single day. After what Rose had thought would be a lifetime of adventuring the stars with the doctor she couldn't just go back to being a shopgirl. So she'd done some research. Although she hadn't liked it, she got a job torchwood. At first she thought of doing it because of Jack. He worked it torchwood, she knew. And even though she wasn't her Jack wasn't a little bit of him better than nothing at all? But she'd been in for a nasty surprise. The Jack this universe had died many years ago. Because there wasn't a doctor in this universe. Because there wasn't a Rose Tyler.
Rose heard the sound of the tea kettle whistle and stood to go get her tea. She pulled down her favorite mug, The same blue as the tardis, and pour the steaming hot water into it. She grabbed the teabag, absentmindedly dipping it into the water. She brought it to her lips, and instantly regretted it. The water was boiling hot. Yelping, she pulled the mother away from her mouth. Rose ran over to the bathroom to wash out her mouth with cold water.
She stared at herself in the mirror. Her long blonde hair was messy, for she hadn't brushed it in days. She looked tired. Rose stared at herself for a minute more, before sighing and looking away from the mirror. She headed back into the kitchen and caught a glimpse of the object that she needed to make work in order to get home, and sighed. Soon, she promised herself. She would make it work soon. She just needed to figure out how.