She was caught of guard by a sudden fogginess and tried to wave it away with her hands.
Realising this was quite impossible, she searched for the guard rail, but it wasn't there.

The fog was drying her eyes and she kept her hands in front of them to protect them.
When she realised she wasn't walking stairs anymore, but some sort of carpet, she finally opened her eyes again.
Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.. was her first thought as her eyes scanned the room.

Royal deep red colors, satin, curtains, tassels and gold.
She stared at the riches around her, somehow they seemed familiar.
Turning slowly, she saw a brilliant fireplace and realisation hit her.

This is the fireplace the Doctor travelled through when we were in that old spaceship.
She also remembered the human parts they had seen and smelled, together with the clockwork robots.
And of course, she remembered her.

Rose saw the back of a cream coloured dress, with blond hair in a difficult but beautiful up do.
Madam de Pompadour.
And she saw him. Her Doctor.

They were standing close, their noses almost touching. And then, without a warning, they kissed.
Not a simple kiss, but a full mouth and tongue included snog.

Before Rose could even recover from what she had just seen, the scene faded into an office, where her Doctor was now kissing the next woman.
A dark-haired woman in a white lab coat, fading into a somewhat older red-head on a party of some sort.
Rose felt as if she was on a carnival ride, being thrown back and forth in history and flashbacks.
Now there was a black-haired woman in a bus that was kissing him, next some ghost woman, and there were more.
Rose's heart broke into a million pieces, scattered all over the universe.

She fell on her knees as the flashbacks continued, like a knife cutting deeper and deeper in her soul.
Her head was nearly exploding from a terrible headache and the emotional pain she was feeling.
She wanted it to stop, pleaded for it to stop for she could not take it anymore.
With tears running down her cheeks, she realized this was even worse than seeing her Doctor die.
Much worse.

And she nearly wished him dead.

Rather dead then not mine..

"No." She whispered. "No, that thought is not mine.. I will never wish him dead, even if he will never be mine.."

She closed her eyes and held her head, pounding from all the imput it just had.
And darkness surrounded her.


'Well, are you coming?'

Rose opened her eyes and blinked. Her eyes were still hazy from her tears, so she blinked a couple of times.
The elderly man was looking down at her, his face serious.
'Well? If it's life and death, we can't have you lying around here like that, can we? Chop chop, on your feet and on your way.'

He turned and continued his way up, leaving her heartbroken and in pain on the floor.

She gathered all her inner strength to get up and once more climb the endless stairs that seemed to go nowhere.
"Please," She pleaded once more. "Where are we going?"

'Do you want to save him or not?' He returned the question.
She nodded twice softly, then let her head hang, still pounding and heavy from all that had happened.
'Then follow me. And answer my questions. Since you are traveling with him, how well do you know him?'
Slowly looking up at the man, she frowned.
"I know him quite well.. a bit well.. I don't know.. I think.. really.." Her voice wavered as she realized she knew nothing of the Doctor.
Not his favorite color, or food. She knew little about his childhood, or where he came from. Only what she had heard when the Master became a thread.

'Hmm. And here I was, thinking you might be a special one..' The man grumbled.

Rose felt lost and alone. She wanted to save the Doctor, but felt blinded and hurt by what she had seen.
Why should she safe him?
She heard what the man said, she wasn't special,
not to him and not to the Doctor.

Just the next companion to fall head over heals and be left in the cold for another pretty head.