Rose was furious when she woke up to see he clock blinking 6:46 at her. She jumped out of bed and ran into the hallway to where Jack slept, yelling profanities all the way. She didn't knock before entering.

"Jack! Jack, wake up!" She shook him and he rolled over in bed to face her.

"Hmm…wha? Go away," he told her.

"Jack, what time does your watch say?"

Jack realized that he had fallen asleep fully dressed. "9:30," he replied.

Rose let out a screech in her frustration. "Did you unplug my alarm clock?"

"Possibly," came his muffled reply.

"Why?" she demanded.

He rolled over again. "Well, god, Rose, it only went off for about 10 minutes. And it was early- I didn't want to get up."

Rose frowned. "So you unplugged my alarm clock and let me sleep?"

"Yeah."

She let out another shriek and grabbed one of the pillows off the bed, hitting him with it, hard. "I can't believe you!" She went back into her room and changed, screaming at Jack the whole time for being 'insensible' and 'heartless' towards the Doctor and 'his current condition.' Jack groaned and sat up in bed, finally deciding to change into a new day's clothes.

It was still stormy when they left the TARDIS that morning, which, despite her optimistic thinking the previous night, made Rose feel a little glum. They both jogged across the street and courtyard, into the hospital. As they approached the Doctor's room, Rose thought she could hear voices.

"Whaddaya mean, 'he's almost healed'?" Both Jack and she heard House's voice as they neared the hallway.

"I mean 'he's almost healed'!" said Foreman. "We took a follow-up X-ray and his ribs are almost…"

"That's impossible," said House. "How is that possible? It's impossible. Impossible!"

"Take a look yourself," Chase said, indicating the room the X-ray was in.

Rose and Jack had finally joined them.

"What's up?" she asked briskly.

"You!" House ordered. "You're sure all of this happened just three days ago?"

"Well, yeah, he fell three nights ago, yeah," Rose said, looking less scathing than puzzled. "What's the problem?"

"No problem," Foreman said, half-smiling. "The Doctor's doing great, in fact."

"Really?" Rose asked hopefully.

"Too great, I'm afraid," Cameron said. She saw Rose look disappointed. "But in a good way, I mean. He's healing very quickly, and we're just wondering why that is."

Rose didn't have a clue. "I dunno," she replied honestly.

"How quickly is 'very quickly'?" Jack asked.

"Well, ribs usually take at least a week and a half to heal, if you're lucky," Foreman explained. "And if you take all the proper procedures…"

Chase butt in. "The Doctor's only had 1 day of bed-rest and he's at the same stage as a patient that's been resting for 8 days."

"That's not normal," Foreman said.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," House said, leaning forward on his cane. "There are a lot of things that aren't normal about the Doctor. This is just an…addition to the list."

Rose tried to ignore House's last comment. "So, he'll be alright to go, then? Soon?"

"Probably," Foreman said, elongating the word. "But we want to observe him for a while."

"Now, wait, I won't have him being 'observed,'" Rose said testily. "He's not a lab rat."

"Not like that," Cameron said quickly. "Lord, no. We're just keeping track of him, so we can put it in his file…"

"Which you will burn as soon as we're done here?" Jack finished for her.

"Yes, yes," Cameron said. "Of course."

"Well, that's wonderful news," Rose said. "Can I go in and see him?"

"Not right now, actually," Chase said. "He's sleeping. For the first time in hours, too. He kept waking up during the night."

Rose's smiled faltered just slightly. "Oh. Well. I think I'll get some breakfast then, eh, Jack?"

He agreed and nodded in thanks at the doctors, before walking off down the hallway with Rose.

Cameron watched leave, thinking. "Foreman, Chase, you don't need my help for the time-being, do you?"

The both shook their heads.

"Where are you going?" House asked.

"No where," Cameron said, smiling. "Just have to ask Miss Tyler a few questions. Be back in a flash." She handed her clipboard to Chase and sped off down the hallway, right behind Rose.

Rose didn't wait for Jack- she began eating as soon as she sat down, tearing open a small box of cereal and adding milk from a plastic bottle. She was munching it happily and reading the newspaper when she saw Dr. Cameron out of the corner of her eye.

Warily, she waved at her. "Hey," Rose said, borderline cheerily. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing," Cameron said, smiling. "Can I sit down?"

Rose looked over at Jack, who was fiddling around with the ice dispenser. "Sure," she said. Cameron pulled the chair out and sat down, taking her glasses off and pocketing them.

"How have you been?" Cameron asked.

"Er…just fine," Rose replied.

"I mean, I know it must be difficult for you."

"I suppose," Rose said.

The sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Why did you really come to see me?" Rose asked, folding and re-folding her napkin. She looked around for Jack, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, fine," Cameron sighed. "I need to ask you another question."

Rose suddenly had a hard time swallowing her food. "Um…go ahead."

Cameron looked Rose in the eyes. "Did you see the Doctor yesterday night?"

Rose winced. "Yes."

Cameron sat back in her chair. "Alright."

Rose was confused. "That's all? I'm not going to get in trouble?"

"Nope," said Cameron, smiling. "I just figured you did, so I decided to ask. No biggie."

"How'd you know?"

"He slept for a few hours and then he woke up, and after that he had lots of trouble getting back to sleep. He'd fall in and out of it, and I just…didn't know if maybe you had something to do with that."

"Oh, great, he didn't get any sleep because of me. Brilliant."

"Well, maybe you just have that effect on men," Cameron suggested. Rose laughed.

"Ha, I wish."

Rose's laughing died, and Cameron decided to be bold. "Care to tell me a little about yourself?" she asked. When Rose said nothing, Cameron added, "I just though…since… to make you feel a little at home, that I'd ask…"

"I know," Rose said. "It's fine. I was just planning my words."

"Oh." Cameron fell silent.

"Well, hi," Rose said, finally. She stuck out her hand for Cameron to shake. "I'm Rose Tyler, from London, England. This is my second visit to the USA."

"Second, really?" Cameron asked. "I've never been to Europe."

"We were in…oh, watsitcalled…Utah?"

Cameron nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, Utah, for a bit."

"Oh. That's fun."

"Well, it wasn't very fun." Her face fell. "It was quite traumatic, actually. But then, all my plights with the Doctor are, so I probably shouldn't be so surprised."

"If he's from a different planet, and you're from London, then, how did you two meet?"

Rose took a bite of her cereal. "You won't believe me…"

Cameron threw her head back and laughed. "I recently saw the X-ray of a man with two hearts. And you think I won't believe you?"

Rose smirked. "You've got a point, yeah. Well, I was 19 at the time…I'm 20 now, and I was working…" Rose went on to tell her about it. By the end of the story, Cameron's mouth was slightly agape.

"…And then he comes back and he says, 'Did I mention it travels in time?' or something like that, and I got in the TARDIS and I'm…well, the rest is history."

"That's amazing," Cameron said.

Rose sipped her tea."What's amazing is how long it's taking Jack to get his food."

"I gave up on him long ago," Cameron said. Rose laughed.

Cameron laughed, but became somber. "There's just one other thing…"

"What's that?" Rose said.

"I…uh…about your story…the hill one?" Cameron said. Rose nodded- she knew exactly what Cameron was talking about. "House doesn't believe it."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, he… thinks you're lying."

"I'm not lying!" Rose looked around before asking, "Do you think I'm lying?"

"Me?" Cameron asked. "Well, not exactly…"

Rose raised her eyebrows inquisitively.

"Listen," Cameron said. "House asked the Doctor the same question we had asked you, by sheer coincidence, and his story was a little different than yours."

"How so?"

"He completely left out the part about drinking."

"Well, that doesn't mean he's lying, it mean's he's embarrassed," Rose said, shaking her head.

"That's what I think," Cameron said. "I understand." She paused. "But…is there anything else you'd like to tell me?"

Rose looked down at her food. "Well…well," she began. "Maybe there were some parts we, uh, omitted."

"Care to tell me?"

Rose looked unsure. "Will you tell House?"

"Not unless I find it vitally important…" Cameron saw Rose still looked uncertain. "So, probably not."

"Alright," Rose said. "I'll tell you, I swear. I just didn't want to say the whole truth in front of everyone else- Dr. Foreman, and Chase and Jack…"

At precisely that moment, Jack Harkness sat down next to Cameron; a Pepsi and a bag of Animal Crackers in his hands.

"You know," he said, ripping the bag open, "I was going to get some orange juice and a waffle, but the line was too long, and I wait for no man. Found a vending machine."

Both Cameron and Rose had taken very deep breaths in anticipation, and they both let them out at this moment.

Jack looked at them both. "Did I miss something?"

"Nope," Rose said quickly, taking a swig of tea."Not at all."

Cameron got up to leave. "So, Miss Tyler, we'll resume our little talk in Dr. House's office? At 2:00, lets say?"

Rose looked confused at first, but she suddenly understood what Cameron was trying to say. "Oh, of course, Dr. Cameron. Sure."

Cameron smiled, nodded at Jack, then turned and briskly walked out of the cafeteria.

"What was that all about?" Jack asked, still eating Animal Crackers.

"Nothin'," Rose said, shaking her head. "Nothin' you need to worry about."

A/N: I know, I know- left ya hangin' again, did I? Won't cut to the chase, will I? Sorry about that, really, I feel your disappointment… But do leave a review. They're great ways to express your feelings, believe me; especially those feelings of deep and utter hatred for an author that drives you crazy. (Like moi.)