A special thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favored this story.

I said before that the Doctor will appear in his eighth form, but he's actually supposed to be in what I can only call a state of limbo between 1989 and the events of the 1996 movie, appearing only through the minds of other people. As a result, he'll mainly appear in his seventh form, but also through other forms for reasons which will be explained later on in the story. Also, the reason he's called John Smith is because Rose is a young child at this point, so simply calling himself "The Doctor" would cause her to feel confused about who he is, and therefore, she wouldn't be able to trust him.

Enjoy this next chapter.

When Jackie finally did set foot out of the car, she felt as if she had just stripped naked in front of a large crowd, even with her sunglasses still on. Her coworkers, some who were already standing in the corner of the building with their mindless gossip going on with little shame, immediately turned around and aimed their sharp, judgmental eyes in her direction. One woman, Lisa Holmes, who had dyed blonde hair and makeup that made her look more like a creature in a horror film than the winner of Miss Universe, let out a small chuckle. Another, Clarice Johnson, who still wore her light brown hair in that messy, overly curly eighties style, whispered something to a new worker whom Jackie didn't know.

There was no need for anyone to tell her: they nearly all despised her. They all knew that her life was difficult, that she dealt with her problems by either writing or drinking. They knew she would never have another man in her life, and that the best luck she'd have as a writer would be the freelancing she did for minor newspapers and magazines that only local residents of London and maybe the suburbs would ever read. But worst of all, they were fully aware of how deeply she cared about Rose. As far as they were concerned, Jackie was an unfit mother, despite the fact that she was willing to do whatever it took to keep her job, including avoiding drinking before work and avoiding saying the first thing that came to her mind when they bothered her. The pay wasn't the best, but the head of the nursery school, Karen Andrews, told her that if she continued doing well that she would help her pay for additional studies that would prepare her to be a certified instructor. Was this what she wanted? Not necessarily, but she wanted what was best for Rose above all else.

"Jackie! How are you?"

It was Hannah Lewis, Jackie's only friend at Rolling Meadows Nursery School. She had just earned her teaching degree, so she was going to be enjoying a raise and was planning to travel to the states during winter holidays. She had long, straight brown hair, and wore a white shirt and a long red skirt. Hannah sometimes drank with Jackie, but unlike her, she wasn't an alcoholic, limiting herself to one glass of beer or wine during social gatherings. She continued to get support from her upper middle class parents, and since they were Mormons, they would not tolerate someone with a drinking problem, and they were already suspicious of the things she did during her free time.

"I'm fine, Hannah. I just dropped Rose off for her first day of school."

"That's wonderful! Rose is certainly a child you can never forget meeting. Someone as smart and sweet as she is should have no trouble succeeding in school."

Jackie could not forget the look on Rose's face as she stepped out of the car. It was that same one she saw as she'd find herself drinking three cans of beer, when she arrived home late at night, when she lost her temper, or whenever Rose suspected that something was going wrong. As a matter of fact, the first time she saw that expression on her face was when she was about to get back home from the hospital and confront her parents with the fact that she had decided to keep her baby. Rose was only a week old, but that look on her face made her seem much older: a mixture of sorrow, fear, and empathy that was obvious just by looking into her eyes.

She had been crying hysterically when the time for Jackie to leave was about to come, and the doctors kept trying to see what was wrong but found nothing, so at the end they advised Jackie to come back if there were any problems. After she'd seen that look for the first time, which was when she was about to walk into the apartment building where her parents lived, she opened the door, prepared to face whatever fate had in store for her. And it was awful. Her mother had called her every horrible name in the book, declared that she wanted nothing to do with her anymore, and that if she was to be reduced to scum on the street, she would not care. After that, she just slammed the door in Jackie's face, and that was the last time she'd heard from her family. And throughout the whole time, that look on Rose's face had remained as it was.

"Jackie? Is everything all right?" Hannah asked with concern.

"Yes. I'm just feeling a little tired right now."

After that incident, Pete had promised to take care of her and Rose. They had married a month before Jackie had given birth, and despite being deeply upset about being rejected by her mother, she had seen it coming. Neither one of her parents had ever cared about her. They were both alcoholics who barely managed to keep a job. Most of her childhood memories consisted of her parents screaming and sometimes even hitting each other at the living room or kitchen, and the various punishments she was submitted to. She spend a lot of time in her room, drowning out the noise her parents made by turning on her small radio and then spending hours either reading or writing, going to become a good student. She'd managed to successfully complete high school before her pregnancy, and she even had plans to attend university part- time as an English major after Rose turned a year old.

But exactly a year after Rose's birth, Pete was hit by a car as he crossed the road. He was reported dead upon arrival at the hospital, and with that, all of Jackie's plans for the future went downhill...

"Jackie!"

"I'm sorry, Hannah. I don't know what's gotten into me."

"We must get inside unless we want to get the talk from Karen."

Jackie followed her friend into the small, welcoming building which formed the nursery school. She was fully on her own, and if Rose was to have a good future, she'd have to do things she'd rather avoid. In some ways, this job was only the smallest of her obstacles.

...

So far, school didn't seem like the nice place her mummy had described. Max and the other bullies had complained to the headmistress about Mickey having beaten them, and he, Rose, and some other children caught looking into what had happened were called into the office. However, because the other children were able to back Rose and Mickey's side of the story, Mickey was left off the hook with only a warning. Rose ended up coming in late for class, which was bad enough, and to make matters worse, the other kids in her class had heard things about her being crazy. It got to the point where only her teacher, Ms. Bryan, used her name. All the other kids were calling her nuts, looney, or just the crazy girl. One girl even managed to hear something about John Smith, and had asked, "Hey Looney, is John Smith planning to take you to America? Because crazy girls can't stay in this country!"

She was relieved to see Mickey standing near the entrance when she got out. He was a year above Rose, so they couldn't see each other during class.

"How was class, Rose?" he asked, looking as if he expected what she had to say.

"Awful. All the kids think I'm crazy."

"But you know you're not, so the dumb stuff they say shouldn't bother you," he responded with full confidence in what he was saying.

Rose wished she could believe him. She'd been wondering if she was crazy ever since she first learned the meaning of the word back when she was three, which was the same time when John Smith first appeared to her. It was also around this time that the incident where her mummy gotten angry and broke Rose's arm had occurred. John Smith was always trying to assure her that she was not crazy, that she just had "special abilities", and that her mummy had something called an "addiction". But because some of the things he said to her were confusing, as well as his insistence that she avoid telling anybody about him, Rose often wondered if she just might be that way.

"Mickey!" called a woman driving in a strange green car. As the car came closer to them, Rose saw that she had brown hair that went down to her shoulders, a pale face, and dark eyes.

"Who's that?" Rose asked Mickey.

"That's Sarah Jane Smith, but we're not related. She's a friend of my parents and an investigative journalist." Turning to the woman, he said, "Sarah, this is my new friend Rose Tyler."

Sarah opened up the car's window and smiled at Rose, saying, "Hello, Rose. Any friend of Mickey's is a friend of mine."

After a while, Rose noticed that Sarah couldn't stop staring at her, with her smile soon disappearing. It was as if there was something about her that she found frightening, and soon after that, she noticed that she was wondering, Could it possible? Am I really meeting another...

"Miss Smith?" she found herself asking

Then Sarah smiled again and said, "Never mind, dear. I'm just here to pick up Mickey. Did you want to come along with us?"

"No. My babysitter Ella is going to be picking me up."

"Bye, Rose. I'll see you tomorrow!" Mickey said as he stepped into the car.

Sarah looked at her silently for while. Then, as she was closing the window, Rose heard a thought that was clearly directed towards her:

See you later, Rose Tyler.