Chapter 11: Moving forward…

"Honey stop waving that stick around, we don't want you to poke anyone's eye out," Jackie yelled after Tony almost hit Mickey in the head with the magic wand Santa Claus had brought him. Rose giggled when Tony, as a protest to his mother's orders, decided to start hitting his own head instead. Tony was her little brother and she loved him dearly, but Rose had to admit that even for a four-year-old he was not the sharpest pencil in a pencil case.

"You mental little boy! Stop laughing Rose, you're encouraging him! Tony give me that stick right now!" But alas Tony just ran out of the living room still hitting his head with the wand. Jackie went after him, leering towards Pete and mumbling how she always had to be the one running after their rascal, while everyone else in the room tried to hold back their laughter.

"More wine for anyone?" Pete asked lifting the second bottle.

Rose grinned as she raised her class.

Rose loved Christmas. She loved the carols, ornaments, food and the overall atmosphere. And for this particular Christmas she had managed to achieve something a month ago she wouldn't have thought to be possible: a restful mind and heart. She was sitting in the Tyler living room with her parents, her brother, Mickey and -somewhat to her surprise- also Martha, who apparently wasn't that close to her family. After hearing this, Jackie had insisted that Martha joined them. Mickey had spent his Christmases with the Tyler's ever since he'd been eighteen and his grandmother had passed away.

Mickey had actually given Rose the best present by announcing that he would be staying in London permanently instead of heading to God-knows-where after the holidays. Apparently, the army wanted more people in the city, promoting their work and Mickey had volunteered.

"It really is a new challenge. I get to meet a lot of new people, run projects and find new recruits. It's going to be exciting and… and… Okay, mostly it is going to be paperwork, but even that is a nice change of pace. I need a break from Africa." Mickey said while pouring what remained in his wine glass down his throat. Martha sat down by his legs and leaned on them.

When you came to think of it, Rose rarely even knew where Mickey was located when he was on a mission. It was all very secretive and often he didn't have any way of letting even the closest people to him know he was okay. Before Rose had accepted the fact that she could not be in contact with her best friend, but now after her accident she had been reluctant to even think about Mickey's job. Being a soldier was dangerous and one could never know which day would be the last one. Rose had already lost so much -three years of her life to be exact- she wasn't ready to think about possibly losing Mickey until they were both old and grey, living in the same retirement house.

"And am I glad about that," Martha said while sitting on the floor leaning on Mickey's legs letting him play with her hair. Mickey looked at her and chuckled and Rose smiled when she saw the warmth and love in his eyes. She was so happy for him – for both of them. They deserved the best.

But as she watched Mickey and Martha looking each other almost overly sweetly, she felt the familiar sting of guilt in her chest. You see, Mickey's eyes reminded her of someone else´s warm brown eyes that had turned so cold because of her. Yes, she knew she had made the right decision dumbing John, she didn't love him, but she still felt guilty over it. Apparently after Rose, Mickey and Jack's wine-and-catch-up-night together, the boys had spent two highly drunken nights with John at Jack's cottage an hour away from the city.

"To be honest I don't remember that much about those two days," Mickey had told her after their trip. "but I think John blew off most of the steam during our little cottage weekend. He's not happy, but he'll get over it. John's a big boy. And if it helps, he really does understand your reasonings, he just doesn't really agree with them."

Rose shook her head and focused her eyes on Jackie, who had finally gained the possession of Tony's toy wand, throwing the stick on top of the book shelf while Pete was doing his best – although a bit tipsy – version of 'Come all ye faithful'. Mickey was right, John was a grown man, he would get over this. It's not like it was his first break-up. So instead of thinking about him, Rose gave all her focus to her family and friends.

Two weeks later somewhere in Scotland

John knew he hadn't been the best of company after Rose had ended things. He had been keeping it together in front of the patients and colleagues but when he was home alone, he would start sulking. After he had thrown Rose out of his apartment he had spent the next weekend at Jack Harkness' cottage more or less drunk the whole time, complaining about life until he got a grip of himself. It wasn't like he didn't get why Rose had come to the conclusion she had, but he had come to a conclusion of his own.

It wasn't fair.

He could not wrap his head around the fact that he and Rose were done just like that. Usually when there was a break up, feelings of love and affection would slowly fade away, not end up in a completely sudden stop. No, he was lying to himself, it hadn't been a complete surprise. If he was honest, there had been a slight fear at the back of his head that this might happen ever since she had woken up, but he had pushed it further away, thinking that this was just a little bump in the road before they would reach their happily ever after. Clearly, he had been wrong.

So yes, he had been hurting a lot recently but right now, after over four weeks of sulking, as he found himself standing in front of a motel in a small town in Scotland, he was genuinely smiling out of excitement for the first time in over a month.

Even though at first, he had been a little reluctant taking on this co-working project with the archaeological students, John had grown more and more excited over it as the project moved forward. Planning this trip with River had been hard and exhausting, he had made dozens of phone calls and written probably hundreds of e-mails, but after all that hard work, it had been more than rewarding seeing the excitement in the eyes of the students as they finally stood foot in Scotland.

He and River had actually arrived a few days before the students just to make sure everything was ready and functional. And thank God for that, because even though he had double-checked everything, the motel had mixed up their reservation and they had booked four rooms too little, so the first day John and River had been running around town trying to find a place for the twelve students which currently didn't have beds to sleep in. River had proven out to be a hard negotiator, and so she had managed to secure rooms for the students only a mile away from the motel the rest of them were staying, and had their original motel paying for those extra rooms.

John felt truly blessed that River had been the one assigned for this project with him. She was headstrong, loyal and truly a funny woman. And he had to admit that she was also rather attractive with her crazy curly hair reflecting her wild personality.

Since the students had that Friday night free as well, he and River had decided to get wild and instead of eating some very suspicious-looking soup at the motel, they would go out for a dinner and maybe even for a few drinks afterwards. And as he saw River stepping out the motel door to meet him he knew there was still life after Rose.

At dinner they were going through some crazy student/patient stories. She told him how one young fellow had mistaken archaeology for astronomy and hadn't said anything until the third lecture, wondering how any of River's teaching included into the solar system. John told her about one of his patients with a skull fracture. Poor guy had been hit by a tea cattle by his wife because he had intentionally missed his mother-in-law's visit without telling his wife.

"To be fair, I kinda understood the wife, the husband was having an extended weekend in Spain while she was left explaining her mother that her husband was on a 'business trip'. A business trip which apparently included a lot of golf-playing and bar hopping with his friends," John said while River wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Well, to be fair to the husband, mother-in-laws can be seriously terrifying!" she giggled.

"Tell me about it. I will never forget the first time I met Rose's mum. Jackie gave me a fifth degree. I'm telling you, nothing has ever scared me as much as that woman in her pink tracksuit."

"Oh, no!" River laughed. And John realized this was the first time after their breakup when saying Rose's name didn't hurt. Well, no that was a lie, he could definitely feel something. But it only stung a little. In a way that was very much bearable.

They had great time talking. When River suggested a walk after they had finished their third drinks John happily accepted. He was never to decline a good company. Donna always said he had a problem letting people in, but he could really see himself and River becoming great friends and maybe as time went by, they could become even something more.