Hello everyone. I'm still about. Just been crazy busy the last couple of months, so my stories have taken a back seat. Thanks for your patience. Enjoy!

xxx

The soft mattress had done nothing for John's rest. He had tossed and turned, hearing every little sound as a potential danger. He had even gone so far as the poke his head into Rose's room just to check that she was safe. He found her under the blanket and heard quiet sniffles that told him she was there, but not asleep. Like the coward he had always been, he closed the door quietly behind him and returned to his room. He reminded himself for the one thousandth time that night not to be concerned about her feelings. His job was simply to keep the woman alive.

Blinking blearily and rolling over, he immediately felt a draft and sat up quickly. A small figure sat cross-legged on his floor.

'What're you doing?' he blurted.

'I'm sorry,' she stood, and John caught sight of her face.

'No, it's alright,' he sat up. 'Were you going over the board again?'

Rose nodded and sniffed. John pretended not to notice her puffy eyes and red nose as he reached blindly for his glasses on the table beside him.

'So many people without faces,' she said after a moment. 'It's amazing that more people don't know who they are'.

John sighed and rose to stand beside her. 'You haven't met any of them, have you?'

Rose frowned at him. 'I wasn't in the heart of the operation. I barely knew anything about it. I've heard a couple of the names though, especially the Master's. How can one man oversee so much, and no one knows what he looks like?'

'Well, it's simple,' John shrugged. 'They do and they just aren't telling anyone. Getting to one of those top dogs may well be the best way to get to him in the end'.

They stood in companionable silence for a few moments. John knew that Rose was looking over the board, but all that he could focus on was the blank silhouette in the middle.

'Anyway,' Rose turned as if to leave. 'I'd better leave you in peace. Sorry for barging in'.

John had to resist correcting her. She had snuck in, not barged. Whilst he deemed the distinction between the two worth acknowledging common sense won out. He hurried to dress, only to stop when he realised that there wasn't anywhere he needed to be. So he took his time, carefully smoothing the front of his oxford and relacing his shoes. Once John Smith would have laughed at this practice, but not anymore. Circumstances had made him cautious and smothered the spontaneity that had dominated his youth.

The sound of something scraping against metal met his ears as he entered the kitchen, and his nose was immediately assaulted by the smell of burning eggs.

'This stove is a bit unpredictable,' Rose growled as she attempted to remove the partially charred remains of breakfast from the pan.

John stood stiffly by the door, unsure whether to enter.

'Would you like some help?'

Rose turned to face him and let out a bark of laughter before turning back to the pan.

John frowned. 'Is something funny?'

She flashed him a grin. 'Are you going somewhere?'

'No, I…' he trailed off, feeling his ears grow hot. 'Never mind'.

Rose abandoned the pan in the sink and turned her back to it, looking him in the eye with her arms folded across her chest. She wasn't smiling anymore.

'What's the matter with you, Doctor?' she snapped. 'I know you don't want to be here, that much is clear, but I thought you could at least take a joke'.

'What made you think that?' he asked calmly. 'We don't know each other'.

John instantly regretted his words. Rose's hardened expression sent a shiver down his spine. If he had wanted to distance himself, he could be sure that the wall she had just erected would help.

'No, we don't, but I thought we would over time. We are stuck here, after all. Liking each other's company may have made everything a bit more bearable, but you do what you like. I don't need you either'.

'Rose…' he trailed off as she brushed past him. He winced as the door to her bedroom slammed. Her words echoed through his head, bouncing off the walls that he had carefully erected to protect himself from harm.

It was hours before he saw her again. He exited his room cautiously, hoping to avoid further confrontation. If not for the sound of her sniffing, he wouldn't have noticed her as he crossed the living room to make his way to the kitchen.

'There's a sandwich for you on the counter,' she murmured. Her voice was strangely muffled and when John turned, he saw that she was mostly obscured by a large, purple blanket.

'Thank you,' he continued through to the kitchen and saw a wholegrain sandwich on the bread board. Taking half of the sandwich in hand, he scanned over the contents – ham, cheese, and tomato. His stomach growled.

Deciding that Rose was trying to make amends with the gesture, he put the sandwich on a plate and brought it out to the sitting room. Rose had taken refuge across half of the three-seater lounge, leaving him plenty of room to sit by her without being too close.

'Sandwich not too boring for you?' she asked quietly as he tucked into the lunch hungrily.

'Why would you think it was?' he frowned. 'I'm not a snob, Rose'.

'You're a doctor,' Rose shrugged, shifting in her blanket to sit up better. 'I guess I just assumed…never mind'.

John felt a smirk growing on his lips. 'You assumed I wouldn't eat a sandwich?'

Rose shrugged and refused to meet his eyes.

'I'm not rich, Rose,' he laughed. 'I'm not struggling by any means, but I'm not so absurdly wealthy that I don't eat sandwiches, and I don't look down on people. You should know that'.

Rose laughed softly. 'Not even me?'

'Especially not you,' he replied earnestly and took another bite of his sandwich. 'You're just trying to make your way in the world like anybody else'.

She gave him a small smile. 'Well Doctor Smith, what should I do from here?'

He held her eyes for a moment and smiled back. 'Well you can call me John for a start. We are living together. I think that the use of formal titles is a little unnecessary given the circumstances'.

'I'm sorry you're stuck with me'.

John shrugged. 'Not stuck. Just keeping you safe until the trial'.

Rose nodded and John noticed a little of the humour had left her eyes when she looked back up again.

'I really don't know what I'm gonna do,' Rose's voice quavered a little. 'Once I testify then that's it. I can't set foot anywhere again'.

'Why would you want to?' John frowned.

Rose gave him an annoyed look. 'It's my life. I don't expect you to understand it. You come from a different way of life. I got to know those people. Some of them weren't good people, but they were familiar'.

John had to fight the urge to say something pitying. 'What if you could get away from here? Travel, study. You could be free'.

Rose laughed humourlessly. 'With what money? Anyway, I've wasted too much time with a nothing man who turned out to be a murderer,' she scoffed.

'I'm sure there's some way,' John paused, watching as Rose's face turned stricken and she silently blinked a tear down her cheek. 'There's more important things to worry about, you know?'

Rose gave him a teary frown. 'Like what?'

'Like catching the bad guys'.

Rose was quiet for a moment. 'What do you get out of this, John? Really. Aside from the whole glory of bringing down a criminal network, what's driving you?'

John felt as though his heart had short-circuited. 'Is the desire to bring evil to justice not enough?'

Rose gave him an incredulous look and gestured in the direction of the bedrooms. 'I doubt even the most dedicated detectives have a setup like that'.

'I'm not like other detectives,' he stood and left the room, dropping his plate in the sink on his way through the kitchen and retreating to the relative safety of his room.

Starring up at the wall of pictures and notes, his eyes drifted to a picture of two people smiling happily at each other in a snowy forest. A man and a woman, both in their late forties, looking every bit the picture of perfect health and contentment. A shadow of a smile spread across his lips. It had been freezing that day and he had complained bitterly that one photograph would be more than adequate to commemorate the day, but they wouldn't have it. He had stood in the cold pretending to be furious as they ruined multiple photos by pulling silly faces at him.

His eyes drifted to the note beneath the picture which read 'Professor and Doctor Smith' with a large red question mark beside it.

xxx

So I have planned out most chapters for this story, but the next ones will be a bit of a wild bunch. Rose is a little all over the place at the moment so I feel like her mood swings and sensitivity will be big players for a little while. She won't be insufferably angsty the whole time though, don't worry. She's just going through a lot. Thanks for reading!