The Doctor stood outside the door to Rose's room dejectedly. He hated the fact that Rose didn't want him there when the nurses were doing their tests on her. He didn't understand it; Rose had been in hospital for a full week by now and in that time he'd certainly seen his companion go through worse.

Even when he was finally allowed back inside, though, Rose would only give him the bare minimum on what the findings of the tests were for that day.

"Everything's fine," she would say with a smile, "the marks are fading more every day."

The Doctor had found this lack of information disquieting on day three already. After having spoken to Rose and coming up blank as far as specifics on her health were concerned, he immediately moved on to interrogating Novice Hame.

She had been apologetically coy, citing doctor-patient confidentiality.

Rose simply didn't want him to know the details of what was happening to her. There was probably no conspiracy behind it all; she just didn't want him to worry about her. Ironically, this fact made him worry about her all the more.

What wasn't she telling him?

The Doctor caught himself in these thoughts once more. She was fine. She was going to be healthy in a few days time. He had to stop worrying so much. As he had been doing for the duration of their stay in the hospital, the Doctor repeated the soothing thoughts over and over in his mind. It was all he could do to stay sane during the wait for the day's round of tests to be over.

He tried to listen to what the murmuring voices were saying on the other side of the door, though he knew from past experience that this would be to no avail. All he could do was wait out the agonising period of time.

Finally, thankfully, the door to Rose's room opened. Several nurses that had been aiding in the tests scuttled, but Novice Hame remained. She had taken to being Rose's personal caretaker, it seemed. "You can go inside in a moment," she said. There was some sort of excitement in her eyes.

The Doctor was wary towards the emotion on the cat-nurse's face. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

The nurse grinned. "There's a little surprise for you waiting in there."

The Doctor's curiosity was now truly piqued. "What?" he asked again, craning his neck to see past Novice Hame and into Rose's room, "What is it?"

"Alright," Rose's voice came from the room, "Send him in."

Novice Hame stepped aside and the Doctor entered.

Rose was standing beside her bed with a massive smile plastered on her face. She wasn't wearing her hospital gown anymore. Only now did the Doctor come to realise how used he had gotten to seeing her in the outfit. She had swapped the unflattering clothes out for her usual denim and t-shirt combo and her hair was neatly brushed and shiny once again. It was one of the best sights the Doctor had seen in a long time.

He looked back at Novice Hame confusedly. "She can't possibly have been discharged already?"

The hope was ridiculously clear in his voice, but it was coloured with a fair amount of consternation. He had checked her arms that morning when he was sure Rose wasn't looking, and though the marks only looked like faded bruises by this time, they were by no means completely gone.

"I wish," Rose said. Her eyes widened and she addressed Novice Hame, "Not because I don't like you lot or anything!" she reprised.

The Doctor couldn't help but give a little smirk at this; Rose Tyler, people pleaser.

"Rose's tests showcased some good results today," Novice Hame said, "We told her that if she felt up to it, she could take a walk outside. But, of course—"

"Conditionally, as always," Rose completed the nurse's sentence, "I have to have someone with me the entire time, I have to sit down when I'm tired—blah, blah, blah. So, do you want to go?" she said the last sentence with so much enthusiasm that the Doctor could have sworn she'd turned into a five-year-old in a sweetshop.

The Doctor smiled and walked over to take her hand. "Rose Tyler," he said, "I'd follow you anywhere."

She laughed and they headed out of the door immediately. Watching them pass, one of the nurses who had remained to check Rose's monitors moved to Novice Hame's side.

"Are you sure those two aren't a couple?" she asked.

"Oh, they are," Novice Hame said with a smile, "They just don't know it."

"Alright," Rose said, anticipation filling her eyes, "on the count of three."

"One," the Doctor started.

"Two," she continued.

"Three!" they cried simultaneously as they took their first steps onto the applegrass.

Rose laughed, turning her face towards the sky and breathing deeply. The Doctor looked at her with a big grin on his face; he had missed the way her hair glinted in the sunlight.

She turned to face him and returned his grin. Then she grabbed his hand tightly. "Run," she told him.

And they did.

They ran as fast as they could up the hill facing the hospital. The scent of the applegrass mingled with the scent of the sea air made for an aroma that was both intoxicating and refreshing.

As they reached the spot at the very top of the hill, the spot where the view of New New York was at its absolute most picturesque, they both fell down on the grass, somehow laughing and gasping for breath at the same time.

"Oh, that was a bad idea!" Rose said in-between the gasping and the giggling.

"And for a change it wasn't mine," the Doctor joked.

He came upright faster than Rose, obviously more accustomed to the running than she was in her state. He helped her into a sitting position. They just sat there like that for a while; shoulder to shoulder, looking at the view of the city.

Rose allowed her eyes to slide to his face inconspicuously. She looked at his profile in the light and the way his hair blew in the breeze. It was only in direct sunlight that you could see the small freckles that dotted his nose. Rose liked to give him grief about the freckles from time to time, but secretly she loved them.

Sobering, she turned her gaze back to the city, watching the hover-cars whizzing about in the sky.

"Remember when you took me to that planet—what was it called— Volatilla? The one with the flying manta rays."

The Doctor looked at her, but she didn't look back. Her eyes were fixed on a non-descript point of sky.

"Yes?" he asked, recalling the memory. He found it strange that she would bring up that specific trip, seeing as they never talked about it.

"Remember what we talked about that day?" Rose continued.

The Doctor frowned. They especially never talked about that part of the trip. He remembered it well, though; it had been one of the small moments of weakness he had had with Rose. He'd known that he shouldn't ask her the question, but at the time, he just couldn't help himself.

"I asked you how long you were going to stay with me," he said with a nod. The direction this conversation was heading was causing small pins and needles to prick in his hands.

"And I said that I would stay with you forever," Rose said the words that he had been thinking. She still wasn't meeting his gaze.

"You did," the Doctor agreed.

Rose finally looked at him. There was an indiscernible look in her eyes. It was equal amounts intensity, sadness—and fear.

"Mind if I make a small adjustment to that promise?" she asked.

The Doctor stared at her for a minute before finding his voice. He wasn't used to her being as up-front about these things as she was being. "Go ahead," he told her.

"I know that my definition of forever and your definition aren't the same," she started.

The Doctor was already shaking his head. "Rose—"

"Please let me finish, Doctor," she told him seriously.

The Doctor stopped talking, immediately clamping his mouth shut and gesturing for her to continue. He had no idea where this conversation was going, but it seemed that it was certainly going somewhere.

"I know that my definition of forever and yours are two very different things," she started again, "and I know that forever for me isn't really a very long time in your eyes," she dropped her gaze to her hands in her lap, "The point that I'm trying to make, Doctor, is that I think you and I both realised on this trip that I'm not always going to be there. However many times we travel to the future or the past, however out of sync with time I may be, I'll never be free from it. Not like you are."

The Doctor didn't say anything. His face was completely blank. Rose's words were like echoes of his own darkest thoughts that he had had. At least he had the power to repress those thoughts, though. To hear Rose saying the words out loud—well, he'd settle for saying that it was heartbreaking and leave it at that.

"So," Rose said after a pause, "I'm going to change my promise. I won't be able to stay with you forever, but I'll stay with you for as long as I possibly can."

She paused again. "For as long as I live."

Her last words hung in the air.

Hearing her say that sentence, make that vow, the Doctor felt his hearts fill up with both joy and terror.

Generally, he tried to avoid the idea of losing Rose as much as possible, and here she was bringing the scenario up herself. The Doctor had always been content with living in blissful ignorance of the fact that Rose wouldn't be able to stay with him for as long as she had initially promised.

He found that the problem with all people was that, while they were all so brilliantly human, they were also so painfully mortal. And he would have been fine with this problem, honestly. He would have accepted this flaw and moved on with his life—

Had Rose not been one of them…

It seemed that she was finished with her speech.

The Doctor looked at her with a frown on his face. "Where's all this coming from?" he asked her quietly, "Why are you telling me these things now?"

Rose smiled and spread her arms out grandly in front of her, including the hill and the entire city in her gesture. "It's a pretty special spot, this," she told him, looking around her fondly. She turned the fond gaze to him and smiled that tongue-touched smile that he loved so much, "Guess I was just feeling sentimental."

He looked at her arms and noticed that she was shivering. "You cold?" he asked, already shrugging out of his coat. He placed it over Rose's shoulders.

"Thanks," she told him, pulling the coat around her.

"Let's go back inside," the Doctor suggested.

"Yeah, I suppose that's a good idea," Rose said a little sadly. Then she chuckled, "before this cold wind turns out to be the death of me!"