Back again with another chapter wrapping up a few questions! Let me know thoughts below!

Hesitant Explanations

The first thing Rose noticed when she came to awareness was the fact that her ankle throbbed a quite a lot more than she was used to. Still, she wasn't enthusiastic to opening her eyes if that what she thought happened actually did. She had broken her promise to Kelly, she had actually fainted on stage. It was more than embarrassing, she was sure she had just lost her job and that just wouldn't do.

"Rose? You are awake, aren't you?" Claire, one of her coworkers, asked her the moment she made a sound. "Listen, Kelly was too pissed to come down here herself, so I volunteered to."

"Wha…What?" Rose mumbled, rubbing her eye as she slowly came into awareness. She was obviously in a hospital room, but she was alone in the room with only Claire for company. As far as she could tell the only thing that was physically wrong with her was a bright pink cast on her foot. "What happened?"

"Fractured your ankle," Claire explained as she sat on the edge of Rose's bed with a smirk on her face. "The doctor said that you had sprained it multiple times and just kept putting pressure on it and not allowing it to fully heal or something. Apparently it just gave out in the middle of the show and you just collapsed. Oh, and I got to pick out the cast, do you like it?"

"It's nice," Rose casually said as the reality of what happened hit her. "Shit, shit, shit….I can't believe that happened."

"Yeah, it sucks," Claire continued as she began to pick at her fingernail polish. "Sort of like the time that Emily was pregnant and didn't tell anyone and passed out during practice. Except you broke your ankle instead…"

Rose sucked in a breath as she tried to push herself off of the bed, already dreading how much the bills for the hospital would be. And from what Claire had said about how Kelly had been pissed, she was sure she didn't have a job anymore. "So…what is the message Kelly wanted you to give me?" Rose asked, wanting to get it done with once and for all.

"She said…she said a few curse words at first, complaining about how you used to be the most talented dancer," Claire explained in an offhand tone. "If you were anyone else she would just fire you straight off, but she is making an exception for you, Rose. So she said not to call her until your ankle is completely healed. If, and only if, she may give you your spot back."

"Thank you so much, Claire!" Rose announced as she held back the urge to hug her. Even though she saw Claire all the time they were not necessarily friends.

"Yeah, whelp, I have to get home," Claire awkwardly proclaimed, pushing off of the edge of the bed and making her way to the door. "Hopefully see you in about a month or so."

Rose sent a smile to Claire, but didn't even notice her departure. All her mind kept doing was going over and over all of the money she wouldn't be making while her ankle was healing. She just hoped that the café where she worked during the day would be forgiving and let her take on more hours. It was embarrassing how little money she had saved up. And since almost all of her family she would ever contact had passed away there wasn't even anyone there to bail her out. It had all started eight years ago when she met fucking Jimmy Stone. Her old mum had warned her and how she wished she would have listened since she missed her so much since she died five years ago. First Jimmy had just wanted a loan to go buy a new car and then things had spiraled out of control for her and he disappeared a year later with almost all of her money. And that was just the first blow, Mickey came next. He was a real sweet guy and he never meant to hurt her, it was just bad luck. Saying she had potential, he had helped her sign up for more advanced dance classes and had even helped her get an agent. Of course that was the last straw when that all fell through and she ended up past her eyeballs in debt. It was only last year that she scraped enough money up to pay off the debt, but that literally had left her penniless and she relied on every single paycheck. And now one of her jobs was no longer paying and she was sure the hospital bill would be astronomical.

Just as Rose was beginning to calm herself down a doctor came in and told her everything that Claire had already explained. She would have to be in this cast for six weeks with crutches and then after that she would have two weeks with a walking cast before she could go back to her normal life. Of course the nice old doctor did say not to do any strenuous strain like dancing for three months, but Rose knew she couldn't take his advice.

Once she was home safe and sound Rose knew exactly what to do to get rid of the swirl of thoughts in her mind. Finding the bottle of wine that she had been saving for a special occasion, Rose figured now was worth it. Popping the bottle open, Rose settled down alone on the couch prepared to finish the whole bottle and attempt to relax and forget about her worries for a few hours.

It was early afternoon on Sunday when Rose woke up with a throbbing headache and the sound of someone knocking on the door. She groaned, hoping that Jessica would get it when she remembered she was gone for a weekend to visit her parents. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes Rose made her way to the door to go check to see who it was.

"I lost my job," Rose explained when she looked through the peephole the door to see John standing there with a concerned look on his face.

"You didn't answer your phone for five days and didn't show up for our date. So, since I know where you live I came over…" John said to the door as his eyebrows furrowed. "Wait a second, what happened, Rose?"

"You already heard me," Rose muttered as she attempted to smile only to remember that he couldn't see her through the door. "Hey, I'll meet you at…umm…" Rose stumbled through her words, wracking her mind for a solution. "At that one little diner you first took me to in an hour, yeah?"

"But, Rose, why won't you ever let me in?" John complained and Rose was certain from the way his voice sounded that he was trying to peek into the peephole.

"I have to shower and stuff. Plus my place is a disaster zone right now," Rose explained with a huff. "Please, I'll just meet you there, okay?"

Apparently that was enough to appease John because she heard his mumbled reply as he left and she ran towards the bathroom in an attempt to make herself presentable. It was harder than she thought even though she didn't really had a hangover anymore, just tired and crabby. Her hair was a mess even after she showered and was only able to tame it when she threw it into a braid. Her cast on her ankle was even brighter than she remembered and she winced at how it clashed with the outfit she had picked out. Once that was done she warily eyed her crutches, wondering if there was a way she could go without them. After a few failed attempts she resigned and grabbed them, awkwardly floundering around the small flat for a few minutes until she got the hang of it.

Finally, Rose arrived at the diner she was supposed to meet John at, surprised by how different it looked in the daylight. But it was still just as adorable as she remembered, even if it was much more crowded than it had been before.

When she walked in a gray haired man with a moustache warily approached her and helped her with the door and her crutches. "Are you Rose?"

"Umm…" Rose mumbled, confused why in the hell this man knew her name. "Yeah, why?"

"Come along then," the man said, beckoning her to follow him as she crutched after him. "Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Stan, my wife and I own this diner."

Rose was thoroughly confused when she went to a back room of the diner, she was surprised they even had one. However, she understood when she saw John sitting in a chair talking to an elderly woman who she assumed to be Stan's wife. "Hi," Rose said after Stan closed the door behind her.

"What?" John asked as he noticed her standing there, his eyebrows flying upwards. "What happened to your leg, Rose? Why are you using crutches? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Rose explained as she sat down on the chair John had pulled out for her, relieved to stop using her crutches. It was actually much harder than she had imagined it would be. "I just umm…fractured my ankle."

"You poor thing!" the woman exclaimed as she patted Rose on the head. "I'm Suzy, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Rose replied with a glance in John's direction. He still seemed to be only paying attention to the bright cast on her foot and didn't notice her confusion about the situation.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Suzy replied, her voice so sincere Rose knew she would instantly like her. "No need to be nervous around Stan and I. We've known little John here since he has been fifteen years old. Ever since that song of his got popular he can't just eat out in public in peace without tons of teenage girls rushing over trying to kiss him. Anyway, Stan and I consider John the son we never had, so of course we wanted to meet his lovely girlfriend."

Apparently Stan left the room then because the sound of the door shutting surprised Rose. Stan seemed like a sweet old guy, even if he didn't have a lot to say. She was very surprised when Suzy had said that she was John's girlfriend, but she supposed that is what she was…they had never really talked about it and she doubted they ever would.

"I'm going to bring you two fish and chips," Suzy announced as she stood up and wiped her hands on her apron. "Oh, and Rose do you want a vanilla or chocolate milkshake?"

"I don't need anything, ma'am," Rose responded, trying to ignore the fact that John had currently scooted closer to her in the booth and was tracing a pattern on her palm. "I really am fine."

"Nonsense, a tiny little thing like you needs to get some meat on their bones," Suzy said with a laugh. "I'll just bring you a chocolate one. Oh, and please call me Suzy, you don't need to ma'am me."

Rose sent her a smile and a quiet thank you before Suzy vacated the room, leaving her and John alone for the first time. "So…"

"Rose, has your ankle been hurt since you fell in the street when we first met?" John asked in a tense voice as he leaned down to get a closer look at her cast.

"I thought it was getting better," Rose explained, letting out a giggle when John actually kissed her cast in an attempt to magically heal it. "But I hurt it again on Friday night…You see," she explained, quickly coming up with a good lie. "Umm…I have a second job where I have to roller skate as a waitress at night and…I fractured my ankle and got fired."

Thankfully Suzy returned with the food just as she had promised just then before John had a chance to reply. So now if John was asking her something she couldn't answer she could just shove chips into his mouth. "That is really…unfortunate," John said, his eyebrows scrunching in such a way that he knew she wasn't saying everything he was thinking. "Why didn't you tell me it was still hurting? You probably just injured it even more by keeping walking on it."

"It really isn't that big of a deal, John," Rose replied in a light tone. "Seriously, don't worry about it or anything," Rose continued with a wink. "Though now I can see why you said they had the best apple pie here."

John sighed and swiftly stole the milkshake from her and began slurping it down himself. "Yeah, Suzy and Stan are great. I worked here until I went off to college. I always came back to work during breaks too. Must say, that job was much easier than the job I have now."

"You don't like it all?" Rose asked as she ate some of the chips. "Isn't it fun sometimes? I mean, everyone wants to be with you, most blokes would love that. And the traveling, that must be nice. But I think I would love the performing most of all. You know that old fashioned stage not far from here? Well, I have always had this dream of being on that stage all alone with all eyes and lights on me. The feeling….it would just be…fantastic. You never really tell me anything about it, like at all, John."

After a silent moment John pushed the half-finished milkshake back to Rose. "I've performed there before, it was one of my favorites actually. And I don't really like all the attention on my personal life."

"Why not?" Rose mumbled as she scooted closer to the spiky haired man. "I mean, I think you can trust me, John."

Rubbing his eyes, John turned away for a moment before responding. "It's just that…everyone always say that, Rose," he explained, leaning in and quickly kissing Rose on the forehead. "The people I've been with in the past…let's just say they didn't really mean it."

"I mean, I'm not doing all of this because you are John Smith," she said, reaching out and taking hold of his hand to prove her point. "It isn't because you are famous because I would honestly prefer it if you weren't," Rose peeked at him, wincing at what she had said. "Not that you can change that or anything, I guess you are just too irresistible to be normal."

"Nice to know you think of me that way, Rose," John smirked with a wink in her direction. "But I do like the younger fans, they are just adorable if they come up to me. I just don't like all of the silly magazines publishing blatant lies about me all the time. You know once a reporter pretended to be choking so I had to do the Heimlich on her and then wrote an article about how I would kiss random people on the street…"

"Oh!" Rose squealed as she held back a laugh that she was sure he wouldn't appreciate. "I remember that! I read that article and thought it seemed a little…odd."

"I can't believe you read that!" John said in fake distaste. "I don't want to think about what else you think about me…"

Leaning back in her chair, Rose took in her surroundings, not wanting to answer his unspoken question about what preconceived notions she had about him. It felt odd to be sitting here separated from the rest of the restaurant, but she knew it was a necessity if she wanted to talk to John without other people listening in. Still, she could hear faint remnants of the conversations from the other room. John was still smiling at her and she couldn't help but grin back, she was still surprised when she thought of the fact that he would actually be interested in her. When she looked up at his eyes again she noticed they weren't focused on her and almost laughed at the irony. "What are you looking at? Wait a second, you are looking at my crutches, aren't you?"

"No…" John lied as he fixed his gaze back on her. "But if I were it would be because I always wanted to know if I would be good at crutching about?"

"Since when is that a verb?" Rose laughed as she playfully poked his shoulder. "How is it possible for you to write songs when you can't even use the English language properly?"

"You are a tough critic, Rose Tyler," John exclaimed, a devilish sparkle in his eyes. "About everything, though…I wonder…"

Reaching over to grab a chip, Rose glanced back at John and found him scooting towards her, obviously intending to kiss her. "Whoa," she announced, using the chip to block his lips from meeting hers. "We can't do that here. What if Stan or Suzy walks back here?"

Frowning with a pathetic humph, John snatched up the chip and quickly ate it. "You do realize that I have seen, on countless occasions, a couple full on snogging in this very diner. Plus, it'll help me not be so distracted thinking about kissing you that I will be even better at doing some impressive tricks when I use your crutches."

Rose couldn't help but nod and let out a giggle at what he had said, wondering what you could ever do with crutches except walk with them. Closing her eyes when she felt one of his hands hesitantly rest of the back of her neck as his lips met hers, she decided that she didn't have to worry right now. Because her ankle wasn't going to ruin anything, Kelly had basically promised she would have her job again once it was healed. And it wasn't like John had to know everything, everything was just find as it was.

It was a full month later when Rose found herself sitting in a recording studio watching John record his new album. He had played all of his songs to her multiple times and she thought they sounded a lot better before they were added to the robotic quality of recorded music. Still, she did enjoy being there while he was recording. She had only been there a few other times because the café had thankfully increased her hours. Still, she was barely scraping by with the hours she had, but didn't want to try to get a new job now because she was positive she would be moved up to managerial level soon. The owner of the café had a long chat with her before giving her more shifts, reminding her that she was late a lot and if she was late one more time she would be fired. Rose tried not to role her eyes, it wasn't like it was easy to wake up in the morning when she had been a dancer. Which reminded her that she would get her walking cast in two weeks and not long after that she would be able to go back to her second job.

"Hey, cripple," Jack called out to Rose as he motioned for her to crutch over to him. Jack was John's manager and she had met him on many occasions and was rather fond of him. The American was very charming and he knew that he was attractive and used it to his advantage all the time. But that didn't make Rose like him any less and she did consider him a friend. It was funny how the moment he met Rose he began to flirt with her, only to be shut down by John with only a few words and a tense look.

"Yeah?" Rose asked as she spun her chair towards him, too lazy to get up.

Before Jack had a chance to explain John spoke up into the microphone, stopping tuning his other guitar when he heard their conversation. "Oi, don't call Rose a cripple. Just wait until she gets that cast of hers off. Then she can one-up you in her dancing abilities, right, Rose?"

"Definitely!" Rose called back confidently, smiling at John through the glass. "I could right now with one leg, but I don't want to act too conceited about it."

"I thought I told you to stop rerouting the connections so you can hear what is being said out here without me hitting the intercom button," Jack said as he turned towards the sound board and clicked a few buttons, apparently ending whatever John had did. "Better luck next time, Doctor," he said into the intercom before he turned towards Rose so that John couldn't hear him. "It is rather annoying how good he is around all of that technical stuff."

"So, what did you want that deserved for me to be called a cripple?" Rose asked, faking intense sadness at his words.

Jack rolled his eyes, his gaze drifting off for a moment in such a way that Rose was sure he had caught his reflection and just had to check himself out. "Just wanted to tell you about the time I was speeding and got pulled over by two cops."

"Is this a story about how I shouldn't speed because I don't even have a car…" Rose said with an exaggerated eye roll. She glanced back at John, smiling when she saw that he was just rehearsing a part of the song he was supposed to record next over and over again.

"Nope, but it can be a lesson in something else, Rose," Jack replied with a wink. "Anyway, they both wanted to give me a ticket. Of course I had to intervene and try to unravel the technicalities of their rational in pulling me over…" Jack continued, laughing that Rose hadn't caught on to where this story was going yet. "They couldn't even agree about who could have the pleasure of Jack Harkness, so I, the generous fellow that I am, decided I just had to share. Long story short, I ended up in bed with them the next morning. I'm still surprised I was able to pull that off, but I still keep in touch with them. They actually got together, have a little baby girl now."

Rose mocked a scandalized look, knowing that Jack thought that she was little Miss. Innocent. The truth was that this was nothing compared to what she was usually surrounded with. Jessica told her all about orgy parties in great detail whenever she had anything to drink and she knew a great deal too much about a few of Jessica's clients as well. Still, she knew the whole sex thing was completely different with this group of people who had money to waste. "I really didn't need to hear that, Jack."

"Wait until you hear about the whole swimming pool incident last year, Rosie," Jack announced in a proud tone, commencing into a story that made even Rose's eyebrows rise up in surprise. As if that wasn't enough Jack had to slip in one more line before he went back to talking to John through the glass. "You see, I gotta get you all loosened up and ready for Johnny boy."

Knowing she was blushing madly, Rose pulled on an extra pair of headphones and began listening to one of the songs that was completely done being recorded. With John's song in her ears, Rose glanced up at him, thinking how adorable he was sitting perched on a stool arguing with Jack about the chords that he wanted to change.

So things keep going on with the story, but can it go this well for long?

Gabrielle