The doctors agree to release Rose if she stays with someone she doesn't see in the mirror every morning.

Naturally, Jake volunteers to stick with her, and she loves him for that. But, he has a life of his own, and she doesn't want to impede on that; his husband can't be very pleased that Jake is spending all his time with a pretty girl, even if she is dying, thinks of him as a big brother, and in love with someone else.

She turns him down, and orders him to get back to base.

Alec watches Jake slink off, and then quietly extends to her an offer to stay with him.

Her mouth falls open as the offer sinks in, and she thinks about it for all of five seconds before blurting, "Yes! Thank you, that's so sweet."

He turns red—she remembers what he said about no one ever calling him 'sweet' before, and she can't imagine why not, because he is, and he looks adorable when he blushes like that—and stands up, hastily wiping his hands on his pants.

"Yes, well," he says, sliding from Alec Hardy back into Detective Grumpy Hardarse, "it's no problem. I'll be at work mostly, so you won't be in the way."

Rose sighs the sigh of the long-suffering, and lets the doctors look over her one more time before they sign her release forms. So much for progress, she thinks as she gingerly pulls on some clothes; gingerly, because she's actually very sore from losing consciousness and banging her head and every other bone in her body on the pier. But, that's alright, because she's dealt with awkward—Mickey, cough—, emotionally distant—Doctor, cough—, and damaged—Jack, cough—men before. She can do it again. Mentally, she makes a vow as Alec leads her out of the hospital and into his car; she walks a few steps behind just so she can watch his behind. Oh yeah, that's one for the Bucket List.

Upon her honor as the Doctor's companion, she will get Alec Hardy—head Detective Inspector of Broadchurch, renowned for being grumpy and socially retarded—into bed.

And she's suddenly very glad that Alec isn't a mind reader. God, that would be embarrassing. On the other hand, she muses, maybe it would help skip the round-about they've been doing and go straight to the shagging. Sometimes she wishes she could've done that with the Doctor. Now it's too late. She doesn't want it to be too late with Alec.

She cranks up the heater in the back of Alec's police-issue vehicle and curls up, staring out the window at the town as it passes.

Rose grew up in London, lived her whole life out of that little flat on the Powell Estate, and she loved it. She still does—her London most of all, but she's come to…appreciate Pete's London and all its differences. She loves the fast pace of a city, overcrowded, brimming over with every sort of person imaginable. When she was first assigned to Broadchurch, Rose had been absolutely certain that she would hate it. A lifetime of the big city and the bigger universe, and she couldn't imagine a life in a small town; it seemed to her the closest thing to hell on Earth for someone like her.

Now, she can imagine it.

She watches the village go by them, sees the people walking down the streets, so friendly with everyone else. No fights breaking out over stupid stuff, no muggings, no asshole smoking on the corner, no hobos hogging the benches. People are nice, and they care about each other; everyone knows everyone else. She thought it would bug her, but it doesn't. She likes how pleasant it is, and the low murder rate is a dream.

Rose can imagine having a life here. She could get a house, or a flat, probably, and go to work every day. She could get a dog—she's always loved dogs, their love is unconditional—and take it for runs every morning down at the beach. She could imagine a future—marrying a good man, taking a position as a secretary or analyst, having children.

She will never have children.

A tiny sob builds up in her throat and she clamps her hand over her mouth to muffle it. She doesn't want Alec to hear, he would only worry, and his heart doesn't need that right now.

She will never have children. She's known that for a long time, but never before has it seemed so…real. When she was with Mickey, they were children themselves; having children had seemed so far off, it wasn't even a thought. When she was with the Doctor, and she imagined that she could have a life with him as more than his companion, she'd resigned herself to never being a mother. The Doctor and her—they were different species, and she'd taken enough biology classes in school to know that different species couldn't reproduce. She would never have his children. And she was alright with that, as long as she had him.

But Alec…

She wipes away tears with the back of her hand. Even if she wants to have children with Alec, she can't. She wouldn't live long enough for it to be a viable option.

Somehow, that hurts more than she thought possible.

oOoOoOo

Consider this an early Christmas present-to me, that is. Your pain makes this all worthwhile.

So, I got a few questions, like I asked.

GitaMerah asks: "Ten 2 factors significantly into the plot" Soo... does this mean we're going to have a hot Ten2/Rose/Alec threesome? :)

That was probably meant as a joke, but I'm gonna answer anyway: I hate to crush your dreams (and, come to think of it, mine), but that's not very likely. Though, now that you give me the idea...

Fernands10 asks: Is she gonna die? Why did The Doctor sent her back?

Weeellll...You don't really want me to answer that, do you? As River might say, SPOILERS! As for the second question...now, that one, I can answer. The Doctor sent Rose back to Pete's World because it was the only way to restabilize the time/space cracks created by the Daleks and Pete's World Torchwood's Dimensional Cannon.

So, now that that's settled...

Any more questions for Rose? Or me, for that matter? Because this is getting really fun.

Review please!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, whatever the hell you want.

Happy Holidays!