Rose's head felt woozy and strange and she found herself swaying a little on the couch. She had grown quite accustomed to feeling strange these past few days but this strange feeling was different and it was actually a welcome distraction from normal.

"I don't believe you" Rose insisted, finishing off the last of the beer she had and putting the bottle in the empty pizza box that sat in between her and John on the couch.

John rolled his eyes as he took a drink. "Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it isn't true" he insisted just as persistently.

Rose laughed; the alcohol that was making its way through her made it so much easier to feel at ease and forget the strange events of earlier. "I know that…..but look at you. All leather and tough guy…..there's no way you can dance like that" Rose said gesturing toward the television where two sweeping figures danced across the screen.

"Tough guy?" John asked, looking as if he didn't know if he should take it as an insult or not. "Well, tough guy or not, I am a fantastic dancer."

Rose didn't buy it; she couldn't imagine him dancing. "Prove it" she said boldly, leaning back on the couch and fixing him with a daring smile. She was quite sure that he wouldn't be able to refuse.

John stared at her in refusal for several seconds before he opened another beer and handed it to her. "You finish this and then we will be see who can dance and who can't" he challenged.

Rose took the bottle, though the trade seemed a little unfair in her opinion. "Fine…deal" she said confidently. She drank the vile liquid as quickly as she could before dropping the bottle again. Her head swam and her stomach warred for a minuet as if it was deciding whether or not to accept the new contents before it calmed. "There…now you have to dance" she said triumphantly.

John looked at her with a look of surprise and slight admiration. "Well, I must say you are determined" he admitted. "I suppose I can't refuse now, but what kind of partner will you be with all of that running through your system" he said, pointing to the empty bottles between them.

Rose jumped up, ignoring the slight lightheaded feeling that it earned her. "Hey, some of those are yours" she argued with a smile. "And I'll do just fine"

After the strange incident earlier, she and John had spent the rest of the day watching telly and while it had been so comfortable the past few days, it felt awkward. Rose was relieved when John had gone to get dinner and came back with the pizza and beer. The conversation between the two of them had begun to get easier and the hiccup in their plans earlier seemed forgotten.

"I guess you're right" John said with a slightly smug look on his face. "How can you possibly be a bad dancer with such a skilled partner as me?"

John jumped up from the couch, taking one of Rose's hands and putting his other arm behind her back. He began to dance around the living room with big sweeping motions as much as he could in the confined space. Rose had to admit, at least to herself that he was better at dancing than she gave him credit for; she wondered vaguely in the back of her mind if they had ever danced before she lost her memory.

John twirled her around dramatically and she found herself losing her balance; she crashed into the side table, knocking several items off it with a crash before John pulled her back to him. Her chest collided with his gently and she found her cheeks warming up as she looked up at him. "Thought you said that you were good at this" John teased with a wicked sort of smile as he began to lead Rose in the dance again.

"I am" Rose said, her heart still hammering from the brief but close contact. She felt unsteady on her feet and she didn't know how the drink was responsible for all of that. "You are just going too fast"

"I'm not going fast at all" John argued as he twirled her around again. Rose tripped over her shoes that had been carelessly tossed to the floor from yesterday. She came dangerously close to crashing to the floor before John caught her by the hand and pulled her back up to him. She could feel his strong arms behind her holding her tightly and she desperately hoped that her face wasn't as red as she felt it was.

"See…you must be rubbish at this" John said in a teasing voice but the smile he had on his face was soft. Rose was trying to think of something to say but she found herself simply staring into his icy eyes, lost for words. She knew that John was waiting for a response, waiting for comeback and she forced her mind to work.

"You'd be rubbish at it too if I was twirling you across the whole flat and expecting you to keep your balance" Rose finally shot back with a smirk on her face, satisfied at the smile that it earned from John.

"Oh, yeah? You think?" John asked. "Then do it…..I'm fantastic. I won't be tearing up the whole flat just because you twirled me a bit"

John gave her a teasing smile and Rose began to lead the dramatic style of dance as best she could. She did have to admit that her head was swimming a bit but she didn't try to focus on it. She led John from one side of the room to the other, twirling him around before leading him across the room again, slightly disappointed that he did indeed keep his balance. Rose pulled him across the room, taking his hand and turning him round and round several times when they reached the couch, not about to be undone.

This time Rose got exactly the reaction she was looking for; John lost his balance, hitting the couch and knocking all of their trash from dinner into the floor before he fell into the floor himself. Unfortunately, he did all of this while holding Rose tightly so she came crashing down to the floor with him.

Rose landed on John's chest and could feel her heart hammering in her chest so hard that she was sure he must be able to feel it. Her head was dizzy and she forced herself to breathe. John was looking up at her and when he burst into laughter, she followed suit.

Rose was still lying awkwardly on top of John, not too eager to move, laughing until she felt tears in her eyes, when she heard her mum's voice dangerously close to her.

"Alright you two, party's over"

Rose looked up to see Jackie, tousled bed hair, red eyes and a very annoyed expression standing next to them. Rose jumped up as quickly as she could manage and John jumped up faster than she thought he should have been able to.

"Afraid I have to be the buzz kill tonight, you two are entirely too loud and some of us have to be up early in the morning" Jackie said in a miffed tone. Rose didn't miss the disapproving expression that she gave to John. "I think it's high time that John go home "

John looked away from Jackie's harsh stare. "Yes, of course" he said, looking uncomfortably towards Rose. She fought the urge to laugh; she was glad that she didn't because Jackie might have killed her, the way she looked.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you later" Rose muttered, finding it awkward to say goodbye to John with Jackie standing a few feet away. She had wanted to bring up the subject of their working on her memory tomorrow but she didn't. It might be just the thing to set off her mum at this point.

"Yeah" John said quietly. He gave her a smile. "See you tomorrow" He made a quick line for the exit and Rose hoped that Jackie would just go to back to bed. When she just stood there, however, Rose felt something awkward coming on. She averted her eyes and began to pick up the trash that was scattered in the floor, feeling suddenly a little embarrassed by the amount of bottles that she found.

Rose took longer than was needed to pick them up and was dismayed to find her mum was still staring at her when she stood back up. "What?" Rose asked defensively as she walked to the kitchen to throw away the trash.

Jackie leaned against the doorframe and stared at her. "Rose, I thought you and John were just friends" Jackie said softly. Softly wasn't good when it came to her; it was dangerous.

"We are" Rose argued, leaning against the counter and crossing her arms. This was the last argument that she wanted to have right now. She didn't know what she and John had been; she had felt like, from the moment she woke up, that they weren't just friends but she had been running on the knowledge that everyone else said that they were. She didn't want to think about the way she felt when she thought of him or how excited she got when she knew he was coming over; she was confused enough with all the problems with her memory.

"Really?" Jackie questioned. "Because that right there looked pretty damn comfortable to me."

Rose felt a surge of emotions rise in her; annoyance, anger, sadness and insecurity. Stupid hormones. "What are you looking for, mum?" she asked angrily. "You want me to tell you we are a couple?"

"No, I'm hoping that you don't" Jackie said. "If you are, then I'd like to know. What's going on here?"

Rose honestly didn't know what was going with her and John and that was the problem. In her mind, she had only met John days ago and yet it felt like so much more. She knew what everyone was hiding things from her and it was incredibly frustrating. She didn't know what to think, what to feel or even who she was anymore. She felt small and lost; these were exactly the feelings that she was trying to run away from.

"I don't know mum!" Rose burst out angrily. She could feel tears in her eyes and even though she didn't want to cry, she didn't try to stop either. "I don't know what I feel about this or anything in my life! I don't even know what I'm doing! In my mind I met John only a few days ago but it feels like more and it feels like you two aren't even telling me everything I need to know! I'm just so confused!"

Rose could feel tears beginning to run down her face and she didn't try to stop them. She saw Jackie's expression soften. "Oh, Rose" she said, walking forward to put her arms around Rose. "I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have pushed you"

Rose considered pushing her mum away but ultimately decided against it. She swatted at her tears and quickly tried to hide the fact that she was crying, suddenly embarrassed that she had been crying.

"It just…..freaked me out a bit" Jackie said quickly, trying to explain away her behavior. "Seeing you…all sprawled out on top of him."

"I wasn't sprawled out on top of him" Rose argued, finally detaching herself from her mum and rubbing her face of the last of the tears. "We fell down"

Jackie was obviously unconvinced but she didn't push it. "I'm sorry…..I forgot for a moment how difficult this must be for you." She said apologetically.

"It's alright" Rose said, crossing her arms and wrapping them around her. Her head was swirling with her troubles, the ones that she sought to find sanctuary from and she had a feeling that her dreams wouldn't be calm this night. She thought about John and how he seemed to make the dreams go away and she couldn't help but feel a pang of want in her chest, knowing she would be sleeping alone and full of turmoil.

….

Rose had touched his mind; it was just for a second, hardly any time at all but it was enough to thoroughly bother the Doctor. It was supposed to be a one-way connection. He was supposed to be able to help guide her mind; she wasn't supposed to be able to do anything with his mind. But somehow she had and that's why the Doctor found himself drinking the Crestilian ale that Captain Jack had given him when he had been traveling with them. He wasn't much of a drinker but as he sat in the TARDIS kitchen, staring into the glass he held too tightly he didn't have much of a reason not to.

The Doctor could feel the warm, comforting touch of the TARDIS wrap around him like a hug. He could feel her consciousness ripple across his own, opening herself to the deeper touch that they had shared earlier but he declined. As tempting as the offer was, he wasn't interested. All he could focus on was Rose and how the small touch of her mind against his had felt. Since the war, his mind had been barren and cold, so empty without the telepathic connection that he had lived his whole life with. While he considered the TARDIS an essential part of himself, connecting with her was not the same as connecting with a person and he had almost forgot what it was like.

The Doctor drained his glass and left the kitchen, walking toward his bedroom. He knew that sleep would elude him but he wanted to at least relax with his thoughts and his now swirling head. He shed his customary jumper and leather, slipping into sweatpants and a t-shirt before lying down on his bed. The TARDIS even felt emptier without Rose sleeping down the hall.

The Doctor had been scared; it had felt so good that he hadn't wanted to pull away. He had wanted to keep going, to go deeper into her mind and let her go into his. For a moment, it hadn't mattered that she didn't remember he was a time lord and that it wasn't fair to join to her mind without her complete knowledge of it. His own desire had almost won; he had almost let it.

He felt the TARDIS' mind intruded upon his, none too gently either. The thoughts he had at nights, the ones that he tried to put out of his mind but never could, intruded upon him from the outside. He thought about chiding her, the way he had done a few nights ago when she had suggested the thoughts but tonight he was tired. He was tired and lonely and he missed his pink and yellow human. He missed her hugs and her smiles and her warmth; he missed her sleeping just down the hallway and the small glimpse he would sometimes get while she was far away in dreamland.

In the morning, I'm going to blame you for this, The Doctor said to the TARDIS, earning a laugh from her before he allowed his lonely mind to run away with the fantasies.

…

Rose woke up in the middle of the night, sweaty and disoriented. She fought her way out of the sheets and climbed on top, eyes struggling to adjust to the near pitch black of her room. There was a sliver of light coming from the moon in the window and a small light from under the door but it was otherwise dark.

Rose lay on her back, eyes finding the ceiling as they adjusted to the darkness. Just like she had suspected, her sleep was not silent. She had dreamed yet again but these dreams were different. Instead of disjointed dreams about the bright light and the strange blue box, she had dreamed of John. While she knew this was natural, expected even, having spent nearly all of her time with him lately this was different. This wasn't just a dream, this was a memory. She might have been gullible or naïve for thinking that, but she was sure that it was something that she had actually experienced.

John had snuck up beside her; she had jumped as if she hadn't expected him. He had grabbed her by the hand and they had run down a long hallway. Her heart had been beating out of her chest and she got the sense that they were fleeing from something dangerous though she didn't know what. It sounded a little far-fetched but she knew was too encouraged by the fact she was making progress.

Rose got out of bed and walked to the kitchen, feeling parched as though all of her fluid had been sweated out in her sleep. She grabbed a glass of water and sat at the table, staring out the window.

She rememebered….it was a small bit of hardly anything but she had remembered something. She could remember the way John's hand fit inside hers, the way her heart beat quickly, the sound of John's footsteps thundering along with hers. She sat back in the chair and closed her eyes, letting her mind fully think about the memory. She willed her mind to find more of it but she couldn't. Rather than be discouraged she was hopeful for what might happen when she and John worked on her memory more. She was anxious for the morning, when she could share her progress with John; she squinted at the clock, seeing the red 4:56 flashing and reminding her that she still had a long way to go. With her head pounding, this time not from her head injury but for a quickly developing hangover, Rose went back to bed hoping to pass the rest of the time quickly.