A/N: Hello again! So, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy! It took me a time to write this, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out! Thanks to all of you who reviewed / favourited / put the story on alert, it means a lot! So, once again, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, or any of it's characters, I'm just playing with them.
"Mum? You home?" Rose called as she poked her head through the doors to the mansion. She heard a week mumble from the kitchen, stepped inside, and closed the door behind her. She started to make her way to the kitchen. She took her time, taking it all in. There was a chance that she wouldn't get to do that again. She wasn't sure if she should be happy or upset by that thought.
She entered the door to the kitchen and saw her mum sitting by the table with little Tony on her lap. She looked up at her, and broke out into a smile "Hello sweetheart!" she said, and gestured for Rose to sit down next to her.
"Hi!" she said as she sat down, "How was your trip?"
"Oh, it was great! Berlin's amazing this time of year! You should've come with us!" her mum said, and Rose could see the spark in her eyes. It was a spark that Rose hadn't seen until they got stuck here. It was nice, having her mum be as happy as she'd been while she was travelling with the Doctor... A shame they hadn't been happy at the same time.
"That sounds great mum, but there's something I have to tell you..." she took a deep breath, and considered how she was going to put it. She should have thought this through before she came! Oh, why was she such an idiot? She felt like smashing her head into a wall or something, but decided – considering that what she was about to say would make her look completely mental – to just do it later, when no-one else was around.
"What is it sweetheart? Is something wrong? Is it work? Is it Mickey? Oh, it's Mickey, isn't it? What has he done now? Has he gone and done something stupid again?"
"Mum, it's not Mickey... it's, well... it's the Doctor" Rose said, and looked as her mum's mouth dropped open in utter shock.
"Tony, darling, why don't you go play in your room, 'ey?" she said, her eyes still locked on Rose. She put Tony down on the floor, and he started walking towards the door. Jackie didn't open her mouth again until he had left the room.
"Rose, what are you talking about?" she said carefully, trying not to sound too alarmed.
Rose swallowed, and looked at her mum. It was now or never (OK, so technically it wasn't but it felt like it)
"I've seen him mum, not only seen him, I've talked to him, I've been on the TARDIS with him! I know you probably think I'm mental, but it's true!" she said, and waited for her mum to respond. She didn't, she just sat there, looking at her as if she had lost all ability to speak. "Mum, please say something, anything really!"
"Sweetheart, you know that's not possible, you know you can never see him again, he told you so..." she said, and covered her arm with hers. "You've got to let him go Rose; it's not healthy for you to hold on this tight..."
"But mum, it's real! I saw him yesterday, and I'll see him again tomorrow! There's this thing you see, I fall asleep in one universe, and wake up in another! It's real mum, it is!" she exclaimed, and stood up angrily. She wasn't sure why she was getting so angry. Maybe a tiny part of her still wasn't 100 percent sure that it was real, and having her mum tell her it wasn't, was just too much to handle.
"Honey, sit down, and listen!" she said calmly, "It isn't real, no matter how much you want it to be, no matter how much you miss the Doctor, he's never coming back, and you're going to have to deal with that... Maybe you should try dating again? Is Mickey seeing anyone new? You know he'd take you back in a second..." Rose just stared at her in complete anger and hurt.
"Mum, it's real! I felt his skin touch mine, I felt his breath, I even felt his bloody heart beats! I'm telling you mum, it's real, and soon I'll be going back permanently!" And with that, she stormed out of the mansion, and started walking towards her flat.
She felt so angry. She had thought that her mum was the one person who would believe her. But instead she'd thought she was crazy. But what if you are? A small voice from the back of her mind whispered. What if you are crazy and you've just imagined the entire thing? "No, I haven't it was real..." she muttered to herself. But was it? What if it's all just a dream? "It isn't! It wasn't! I felt him, and I was there!" she mumbled, a bit louder this time. Were you though?
"SHUT UP!" she exclaimed, gaining a lot of strange looks from the people surrounding her. She kept walking, pretending not to notice them. But the argument still went on inside her head.
-DW-
Rose entered the 24th floor of the Torchwood building, and headed for her desk. She didn't pay any interest to anything going on around her; she was focused on getting to her desk, and doing something, anything, to keep her mind off the Doctor.
"I thought you were sick?" an annoying voice asked. Olivia. Couldn't she ever keep her nose out of other people's business?
"I felt better, thought I'd come in, get some work done..." she muttered, not really facing her.
"Well, you should at least go down to third floor and get a check up, you never know, could be a serious, alien virus spreading or something..." Olivia said, and left her alone.
"You should at least go down to third floor, could be something serious!" Rose mumbled in a high pitched voice. Third floor was the medical department of the building. They had everything, from shots that could cure the poison of a Maloincous (terrible, purple alien with three horns sticking out of its head), to normal human stuff like headache tablets to... to sleeping pills. Pills that would make it easier for you to sleep, pills that could make you sleep even if you weren't tired...
Even if the voice in the back of her head was right, if seeing the Doctor wasn't real, it was still a dream, a dream that occurred every time she fell asleep. And right now she would rather be in the dream than in this life. Maybe she should go down to third floor, just to, er... satisfy Olivia...
-DW-
She was waiting in an exam room. The nurse had said that a doctor would be with her in about ten minutes, and she wasn't going to waste any time. She ran through the few cupboards that was there, and looked at every single label. There weren't that many, and the more serious stuff was obviously kept somewhere you couldn't just grab it, but thankfully, she found a small, orange container, labelled 'sleeping pills'. She jammed it in her pocket, and went back to waiting for a doctor to come see her.
A short man, with grey hair and a beard came through the door. "Ah, Miss Tyler, is it?" he asked, and she nodded in response. "Well, good day! I'm Dr. Lynch! So, what seems to be the problem?"
"Oh, 's nothing, really. I just wasn't feeling very well this morning, but I felt better so I came in anyway, but my, er... friend wanted me to get checked up... So I agreed, just to make her feel better..."
"When you say you weren't feeling well, what do you mean?" he asked, and sat down of a chair.
"Er, just stomach aches, and a slight head ache... Nothing much really."
"Well, you seam fine now... Let me just check your pupils and take your temperature, and you should be good to go!"
"Thank you, Dr. Lynch" Rose said, and smiled a polite smile.
-DW-
Dr. Lynch hadn't found anything wrong with her, but she still went directly home after she left the exam room. She wasn't going to spend the entire day at Torchwood, when she could be spending it with the Doctor.
She entered her flat, and went directly to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She then went to her bedroom, put the glass on her nightstand, and pulled the sleeping pills out of her pocket. She didn't know how many to take, but decided to be careful, and start off with one. If that didn't work she could always take another one.
She swallowed the pill, and drank the water. She then lay down on the bed, and waited for the effect to kick in. It didn't take long, just about thirty minutes, and then, she was sleeping. Another thirty minutes passed, and she slowly faded away.
-DW-
She woke up in her room in the TARDIS. The Doctor was no where to be seen, but that wasn't much of a surprise, he wasn't expecting her yet. She got out of bed, and headed to find the Doctor.
"Doctor?" she shouted, "Doctor, where are you?" she heard footsteps coming from the control room, and when she turned a corner, the Doctor was standing in front of her.
"Rose? What are you doing here so early?" he said, walking towards her. He was smiling, and he gave her a tight hug before she could answer.
"Oh... just a rough day at work... I felt tired, and luckily I was able to fall asleep!" she said, without even thinking. She didn't want to tell him, didn't want to upset him or anything.
"Well that's great! And specially, since I've got a visitor I want you to meet!" he said, took her arm, and pulled her into the control room.
There was a person standing by the controls, back faced against them. It turned around, and smiled cheerfully. "Hello!"