Rose Tyler woke abruptly to the sound of her fiancé shouting her name and calling for her to get down.

"John? What?"

Rose reached over for the lamp. The sudden illumination showed John's face clenched in fear and streaming sweat. She managed to catch his flailing hand just before it struck her cheek. Nightmare or no, she knew John would never forgive himself for that.

"Get down, Rose!"

"John? John, hush. It's fine. I'm fine. We're safe. John?"

Abruptly, his eyes shot open, but it was a long moment before Rose saw enough awareness in his expression to release his arm.

John stared at her tiny hands wrapped around his arm in horror. "Oh, God, Rose….did I-"

"No, you didn't," Rose soothed, stroking his forehead gently.

Gradually, John's breathing slowed to normal.

"D'you want somethin' to drink?" Rose offered quietly.

"Please. I'm gonna…" John gestured vaguely in the direction of the loo.

Rose kissed his forehead softly before sliding out of bed.

When John returned to their room, Rose handed him a tall glass of iced tea and a fresh tee shirt. She had also fluffed the pillows and straightened the bedclothes.

"I don't deserve you," he muttered, as he gulped down the soothing beverage and exchanged his sweat soaked shirt.

"Too bad. You're stuck with me." She sat down on the bed and drew him down with her. "What was that? From the army? Can you tell me?"

John dropped his head into his hands. "It was…a lot of things, jumbled together. That first time that Harry dropped you in rehearsal, you said you didn't react to protect yourself from the fall, because you were trusting him to do his job. I…when I was overseas…there was this night…"

Rose kept silent, reaching out to rub his back soothingly.

"There was this night, and this fellow that was on watch, and we were trusting him to do his job…" John sucked in a ragged breath that bordered on a sob. "But he didn't, and a lot of good men died that night. Somehow, my brain jumbled things together, an' you were there, too."

"John? John, look at me," Rose ordered. She smiled when he turned his head and she could see his crystal blue eyes. "I'm here. You're here. We're home, in England, and we're both safe. All right?"

John finally nodded, and Rose wrapped her arms tightly around him. "I love you, so much, and I am so sorry that meeting that miserable little creep triggered something like this."

"Not your fault, love," John murmured, his arms locked so tightly about Rose that he almost couldn't tell where he left off, and she began.

"You an' me," Rose murmured, "we're all that matters. Harry an' all this…it's not forever, but you an' me, as long as we're together…we could go anywhere, do anything."

John lifted his head from her shoulder. "Rose? Are you happy here? Is there something-?"

Rose smiled nervously. She hadn't meant to bring this up just yet, but surely John could do with the distraction tonight.

"Out with it," John demanded.

"John, have you ever thought of running away to join the circus?"

John blinked. Whatever he was expecting, that was not it.

"Well, I've been runnin' away most of my life, but I can honestly say, I haven't considered the circus a viable option since I was a small lad."

"What if it was? A viable option, I mean?" Rose asked eagerly.

"An audition?" John asked, as comprehension slowly dawned.

She nodded, biting her lip.

"Rose Tyler, if you want to run away and join the circus, then that's what we'll do. Together."