A/N: I promised another chapter tonight, and I've delivered! Well.. At 4:30 am. Same difference. Please review, and thanks so much to everyone who's reading and enjoying this so far!

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

The next couple of days passed in a blur for Rose. She felt numb, felt like she was going through the motions of life rather than actually living. Pete decided that she should take some time off. He told her that before she left the medical unit. She didn't even look at him.

She felt betrayed by him, by everyone in Torchwood. After everything the Doctor had done for them, and they wouldn't even help to find him. She still had Pond, and she was so grateful for that. He was the only person she could bear to be around. She hadn't even seen her mother since the night before she found out about the Doctor.

Rose liked being around Pond because he didn't constantly ask her how she was feeling. He didn't pry. He could tell when she wanted to talk and when she wanted to be quiet.

Rose acted like she was fine, but of course, she wasn't. She hid behind a mask, hiding how she was really feeling. She would brush off any questions by saying that she was alright.

She thought that this must be how the Doctor had felt when he lost everything.

Because she had. As far has Rose Tyler was concerned, she had lost everything.

She never let herself consider the possibility that he wasn't coming back. She knew she was going to find him, one way or another. So she kept smiling.

As the phone rang for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Pond looked up from the book he was reading, looking in Rose's direction. "Are you going to answer that?" He said, frowning.

Rose was looking at an atlas, muttering to herself, crossing out countries and writing little notes on the side. She looked up at him as he spoke. "It's probably Mum." She said. "I'll call her back later."

"Rose, you've been saying that for the last three days." Pond sighed.

"Has it really been three days?" She said, sounding like she couoldn't believe it. She looked back down at the atlas, shrugging. "You can unhook the phone if it's bothering you. I don't really feel like talking to her."

Pond sat in silence for a moment, unsure whether he should take the conversation any further. It had been three days since he had brought Rose back from the flat after the incident at work, and she hadn't said much about what had happened. He had stayed away from it, kept from prying. He thought she would talk when she was ready. But at this stage it seemed like she was just going to stay quiet about it forever. He didn't want her to feel like he was pressuring her into talking about something that she wasn't ready to talk about, but at the same time, he didn't want her to waste away inside the shell she had built around herself.

Because he had noticed it, little cracks in her shell from time to time. When she thought he couldn't see her, or if she came across something the Doctor had owned in the flat. Sometimes the shell would crack, and she would look as though she was about to burst into tears.
He hadn't seen her cry. He didn't think she had cried at all, which worried him. Didn't grief usually cause humans to cry?
He stopped himself, shaking his head. Had he really thought that? Had he just referred to people as humans, like he wasn't one of them? He sighed heavily. He needed fresh air.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" He asked hopefully.

Rose shook her head, not taking her eyes off the book in front of her. Pond nodded. He had been expecting that. She hadn't left the flat since that day, always scribbling in that bloody atlas.

"Rose, I think you should come with me." Pond said in a stern voice.

That got Rose's attention. She looked up, surprise on her face. "I'm fine here." She said. "Thanks, though. Maybe next time."

"Rose, you can't.." He swallowed, not sure if he was doing the right thing. It was still early days, after all. "You can't just sit in the flat all day, reading the atlas. You need to get out. You need to stop ignoring your parents." He stopped, studying her face.

Her expression was carefully neutral, but he thought he caught a hint of annoyance in her gaze. Oh, well. Better than nothing.

"You need to talk to me." He finished. "..Please." He added as an afterthought.

"I don't need to talk. I'm fine." Rose said, and it hurt her to say it, to lie to Pond, even if he saw straight through her.

"Rose.." He started again, sighing, but Rose stopped him.

"I'm keeping busy, see?" She said, holding up the atlas.

"Yeah, what's with the atlas?" He said, genuinely curious. He had asked her what she was doing with it when she first picked it up but she had ignored him.

"Oh, this and that." She muttered, flicking through the pages.

Pond stood up, running a hand through his hair. "You're trying to figure out where they went." He said. "You're still going to try to find him." It was a statement, not a question, but Rose answered anyway.

"Yeah." She admitted, catching his eye. She was surprised by how concerned he looked."Is there a problem with that?"

"Rose, you're.. I'm sorry, you're not going to find him." Pond said. He hated saying it, hated seeing the hurt on her face as her mask momentarily fell.

"I can try." She whispered, her voice sounding desperate.

"Oh, Rose." Pond said quietly, moving over to her side of the table. He gathered her in a hug, and she let her head fall against his chest, hearing his heartbeat through the cotton jumper he was wearing. She closed her eyes, trying to think about anything but the conversation they were having. She knew if she thought too much, she might lose the already shaky grip she had on her emotions.

Pond held Rose tightly against him, and he'd be lying if he said that he was only thinking about comforting her in that moment. He felt her silky hair on his cheek as he rested his chin on her head, wrapping his arms around her. He found himself wondering how it would be if they could be like this all the time, if he could call Rose his own. He knew how selfish his thoughts were, but he couldn't stop them. He allowed himself to imagine.

He felt an odd sort of anger towards Rose's Doctor. He couldn't believe he had left her to go on that mission to God knows where. Pond thought that if he had her, he wouldn't leave her out of his sight. He tightened his grip on her subconsciously, but the spell was broken when Rose spoke.

"Tomorrow we're going to find your family." She said.

He pulled away from her, still touching her hand. She didn't hold his, but she didn't pull away either. "Sorry. I know we should've been doing it from the start, but with all this stuff.." She trailed off thoughtfully before looking at him again. "Me and you. We'll find something tomorrow. Promise." She smiled at him, and he smiled back, even though inside he was thinking that he didn't care if they found out who he used to be. Because he liked this strange little life he had built around her.

He was Pond and she was Rose.

And they were brilliant.

"Look, go on that walk." She said, moving her hand away and standing up. Pond straightened up, too, feeling sheepish. "I'll call my Mum back."

He nodded, grabbing a jacket from the back of his chair. "I'm gonna go to the little shop. Want anything?"

Rose shook her head, stretching, glancing towards the phone. "I'm alright. What are you getting?"

"Oh, I dunno. Think I'm in the mood for bananas." He headed down the hall. "Bananas are good." He said, almost thoughtfully, before he went out the door.

Rose didn't call her Mum. Instead, as soon as Pond closed the door behind him, she went into the room she shared with the Doctor. She lay down on her bed, pulling the cover over her, and for the first time, she allowed herself to cry. She cried for everything that she had lost, everything she knew could never happen. She cried for the Doctor. And she cried for herself, because how could she ever get over him when the stranger in her flat reminded her of him in so many ways?