AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hope you enjoy XD

The men jumped apart.

"Calm down, Rosie. There was only one bed in here, and I guess we just cuddled in our sleep." Jack sat up and stretched.

"Oi, Time Lords don't cuddle." The Doctor piped up, still laying down to avoid having to meet Rose's gaze.

"They do so." The Immortal said. "See? You cuddled with me last night."

"Well, it wasn't on purpose!" He sounded horrified.

"Um, excuse me." Rose said. "If you cuddled in your sleep, what else did you do? You're both naked. Doctor, are you kidding me? Didn't take you too long to move on, huh?"

Jack hopped out of bed and gave Rose a pointed look before pulling the covers off of his bedmate. "See? Not naked."

"Oh." She said quietly. "Sorry for doubting you, Jack." She turned to head back to the bedroom without another word.

"That was rough." Jack commented once Rose was out of sight.

The Doctor made a sound of acknowledgment and sat up in bed. "She's still angry with me."

"Well, yeah, it's going to take some time. You got her clocked in the head with a brick." The man reached for his clothes and began pulling them on.

"Thanks for the reminder." The Time Lord said dryly as he did the same.

"Let me talk to her, Doc. I'm going to take her out to lunch while you're at work. By the time you get home, I'll have a plan."

But the Doctor was too busy staring out the window to hear him. The Immortal strolled over and peeked out. "What's going on?"

"There's an ambulance at Coll's house. Wonder what's happened." They watched the slim man being carried out on a stretcher.

"Who knows." Jack said, turning away from the window

The Doctor took a quick shower and grabbed his things before heading out to work. As he walked, he sent Rose a text.

Doctor: I love you, and if you're up for it, I'd really like to talk about things tonight. Maybe we could do dinner? Have a good day, Darling.

The entire walk, he kept his phone in his hand, praying for a response. When there was none, he gritted his teeth, put on a fake smile, and entered the building to begin his day.

It was just after noon and Jack and Rose were sitting in a booth at the diner down the street from the apartment. She had ordered tea and was sipping contentedly. He was glaring down at his cup of coffee, silently wishing for Ianto's brew.

"So, how bad was he last night?" She asked quietly.

"Well, that depends on what you mean by the question." He gave a suggestive smile.

"Emotionally."

"Ah, well... He came clean with you, which wasn't easy to do, and you kicked him out of your bed to go sleep with a man he doesn't really care for. How do you think he was?"

She ducked her head. "I had to, Jack."

"Why?"

"It's a lot of things." She looked up and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "One, he got me hurt. Two, he lied about why it happened. Three, he's a junkie. I'm not doing that again."

"Rosie, he slipped up once. He has a history, a dark one, with drugs. He managed to do it once and then never again because he cares about you and didn't want to mess things up. Doesn't that count for anything?"

"No." She said. "Once is enough."

"Why are you acting like this? What happened to you that was so bad?"

She sighed heavily. "My first real boyfriend, Jimmy Stone... I thought he was going to be a famous musician, so when he showed interest in me, I felt special. More special than all the other girls. I quit school to move in with him because I was so scared he would find someone else. I wanted to be around all the time. A little bit later, he started coming home out of his mind. One of his bandmates introduced him to drugs, and he jumped in head first. He started to get abusive and mean. He stole my money to pay for his addiction. So, I cut my losses and left before it got too bad."

Jack stared at her for a moment. "You know the Doc isn't Jimmy Stone, don't you?"

"Of course I do, Jack. I just refuse to get into another relationship with someone who does drugs."

"Did drugs, Rosie!" He raised his voice, drawing looks from across the room. "Sorry. Did drugs. Got over it. Had one tiny slip up."

"I got hurt because of it."

"And you don't know how bad he feels. Last night, he went to the man's house to try and stand up to him. He got hurt pretty badly, but he did it anyway."

She looked down at her cup. "He did? How bad?"

"Well, I snapped his nose back into place, for one. His hand is messed up pretty badly, and he probably had some bruising in his stomach muscles."

"Oh." She sighed. "Oh, Jack, what do I do?"

"He needs you, Rose. He's not going to get through all this shit without you. If you're not willing to help him, you need to pack up and go home to your mother." He stood and went to pay the bill, leaving her alone at the table.

She pulled her phone from her pocket and saw she had one message from the Doctor. After reading it, her eyes filled with tears.

Rose: I love you, too. Yes, we can talk. I've got things to tell you too.

Jack returned as she hit send. She glanced up. "We're going to talk tonight."

His smile was genuine. "Good. Now that that's taken care of, I have something to say."

"Oh?" She returned the smile.

"I behaved myself last night, but if you send your boyfriend back to my bed again, I won't. He's got such an adorably scrawny body." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Speaking of which, why were you really cuddling?"

"He won't want me to tell you."

"But you will anyway because you're my best friend?" She batted her eyelashes.

"He was crying and I held him." Jack blurted out.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"He realized how bad he'd messed up, and he was upset. So, I hugged him and I guess we fell asleep. Oops."

She smiled and reached for his hand. "Thanks for taking care of him."

"You're welcome, Rosie."

The Doctor felt his phone buzz in his pocket, but the gun being pointed at his chest was enough to keep him from checking it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, what'd you think? Is it good? Reviews get updates! Promise!