Ha! Anonymous reviewer mystery solved! There's some kind of joy in that. Having 'anon' in a review isn't very personal. I wouldn't suggest making anonymous reviews. And, speaking of reviews, congrats to Rach6 and WhisperLuna who finally said what we were all thinking (well, maybe). Of course, I'm not planning to discuss exactly who Sim is with all of you. I'm hoping that I can convey my message in a concise way through my writing… Which is just another way of poking my tongue out at you all and taunting "Nah, nah nee nah nah. I'm not telling you." But that would be a little immature of me, wouldn't it?

Without further ado, I give you my chapter name, which I didn't want to put in the list because that would spoil it. Hehe, not that I'm not spoiling it for all of you, you just had to wait a while before you could see it.

8. Sim meets… The Doctor?

Rose smiled at the apparition in her bedroom. If she hadn't known it was impossible, she would have been completely sure that he was really in her room, watching her sleep with that silly, proud grin on his face, as if she was his.

"Did you miss me?" He asked as she slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Rose smiled.

"When have I ever not missed you?" She asked sleepily.

"Never." He said softly, sitting on the end of her bed, but the bed did not acknowledge his presence. None of it moved. He wasn't really there.

"Can you tell me?" She asked hopefully. "Is it time for you to tell me, yet?"

"Rose…" The Doctor sighed sadly. "You know that I can't do that. Only he can tell you. It would be empty coming from me."

"Tell me anyway." Rose's filled with tears and The Doctor looked alarmed.

"No Rose, don't cry." He pleaded, removing himself from the end of her bed in order to envelop her in a hug. "Why do you want me to tell you I love you?" He asked. "You know I was going to say it anyway, and it won't get rid of your pain."

"You're right. It didn't." Rose told him, breaking out of his hug and wiping her eyes. "But it was good to hear you say it." The Doctor smiled slightly at her, and jumped up once more.

"So…" He began. "Who's this Sim character that you've been hanging out with, then?" Rose blushed a little.

"He's just a friend." She told him.

"Oh, I think he's so much more than a friend, Rose Tyler. I think he's taken my place. You aren't as sad as you were the last time I was here."

"No." Rose stated firmly. "No one could ever take your place, Doctor." The Doctor chuckled.

"I didn't mean the real me. I just mean… I haven't been around as much since he's been with you."

"That's not my fault." Rose almost cried again.

"Shhh. No. That's not what I meant." The Doctor comforted her, cupping her cheek in his hand. "It's just that you've got someone other than me to share your problems with, Rose."

"Maybe I have." Rose stated contemplatively. "But Doctor… Don't ever leave me." He smiled broadly at her.

"You know I never will. As long as I can make you feel crazy, I'll stay."

OIOIOIOI

"Rose?" She heard Sim's voice call out to her, but hadn't heard the door open or close. He had to have been really quiet. Or maybe she was just too engrossed in the act of looking into her Doctor's eyes to realise that anyone had entered her flat.

"Hang on a minute." She called out to him. "I just got outta bed, so just wait there and make me a cup of tea." She ignored the sounds that started coming from her kitchen and looked back up into The Doctor's face. "Don't leave me just because he's here." She told him. "I want you with me all day today."

"And it's all day today that you're going to get, my beautiful Rose. You know I could never resist your charms… or demands." He pretended to cringe and Rose smiled at him, pretending to hit him with her pillow. "Do I have to get out while you change?" He asked suggestively.

"Just turn around." She laughed at him. "And don't peek. I don't care if you're real or not."

"I'm real to you." The Doctor whispered in her ear as he leant on her shoulder. She shrugged him off.

"I need to go out and see Sim." She told him. "He wouldn't come in with his key and this early in the morning unless it was important." The Doctor nodded and moved into the corner, turning to face the wall.

"You really do like him." He mumbled into the wall, sounding a little bit hurt.

"Doctor…" Rose sighed. She was only half dressed, but she went up and hugged him around the middle. He didn't turn around; he obviously knew that she wasn't fully dressed yet. He just held her hands around his middle, making little circles as he rubbed her fingers.

"I wish we could be together, but if you love Sim, then it's okay with me."

"You know no one could ever take your place." She murmured into his back.

"Have you told him?" The Doctor asked her. "About me, I mean."

"I told him who you were."

"But nothing else?"

"Doctor, you already know everything that I do."

"Yes, but I don't know what you do with him. Sim is a complete mystery to me. Like I can't get into the part of your mind that he's in."

Rose was confused, and she opened her mouth to say so, but was interrupted by a yell from Sim.

"Rose!" If you're not out of there in five minutes I'm coming to forcibly get you out of that bed." Rose sighed and moved over to her cupboard. She pulled a t-shirt off its hanger and pulled it over her head.

"I'm ready, Doctor. You can come out with me if you like. Meet Sim and see what he's like."

"You go talk to him first. I don't want to interrupt your time with him."

"What do you-?"

"Talk to him without looking at me for a while." The Doctor cut her off forcefully. "When I'm in the room…"

"All I see is you." Rose finished for him. "Okay." She said finally. "Just don't disappear on me again." Rose left the room and approached Sim.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." He said happily.

"You're here early." Rose pointed out. "I was having a good dream before you came in."

"What kind of dream?" Sim raised his eyebrows at her.

"Not a dream about you." Rose said pointedly, slapping him on the shoulder as she picked up her tea.

"You aren't going to tell me, then?" He asked, looking up into Rose's eyes with his puppy dog look.

"No. And that face isn't going to work, either." She sipped her tea. "Why are you here so early, anyway?" She asked him.

"I… well… I wanted to…" Sim stumbled over his words. Rose was curious. Sim was usually so confident, so what could possibly be making him this tongue-tied? He looked over her shoulder at something, and Rose was about to turn to see what he was looking at, but he stopped her. "Is there anyone else here?" He asked her seriously. "Because I could-"

"Don't be silly." Rose looked up into his eyes. "Who else would be here so early in the morning?"

"Well then I must be crazy too." Sim stated. "Because I can see your Doctor."

"What?" Rose spun to see The Doctor standing in the doorway between her bedroom and the kitchen. "You heard me talking to him, didn't you?" Rose asked suspiciously. "And now you're making fun of it because I haven't seen him since I met you."

"No, Seriously. If your Doctor is here, then I can see him." Sim was looking over towards the doorway, too.

"Yeah right." Rose said sarcastically. She sipped her tea once more and then put it down on the bench. "Now-"

"He's standing in the doorway, right?" Sim cut her off.

"Anyone could see me staring that way." Rose countered.

"He's wearing a pinstriped suit." Sim told her.

"You've got a good memory. I can't even remember telling you that." Rose conceded.

"No!" Sim said loudly. "I see him there." Rose was no longer smiling as if it was all a joke. She stepped backwards and felt The Doctor step up behind her protectively – not that there was much he could do about a real person. He could comfort her, and that was all she needed from him. He didn't need to be her protector any more. "I'm not going to hurt you." Sim held up his hands in defeat. "I just wanted you to know I can see him, standing behind you with his hand on your shoulder, looking like he wants to hurt me for scaring you." Rose glanced at The Doctor, who just shrugged.

"Wasn't me." He stated simply.

"See?" Sim said excitedly. "I can hear him, too. He just said… wait. What wasn't him?"

"This boy is intriguing. Where'd you find him?" The Doctor asked her, stepping closer to Sim. "He seems to share in your delusions."

"But… how?" Rose gaped at him, open-mouthed.

"Better not try to explain it. It'll hurt your head." The Doctor told her cheerfully. "It was obviously something to do with you."

I know, I know. I'm evil. So sue me. You don't even know my full name. I misled everyone, of course, and there's no way you're EVER going to get me to talk about what happens. With that in mind, though… I respect my readers and, you know. Don't want to lose you all. I'm not trying to insult you or anything. It's just fun to be misleading… although I did put a question mark in the chapter title. Anyway, please review. Tell me off for being evil or whatever. I like hearing people's thoughts on what I'm writing.

By the way, If I tell you all that my story is coming to an end, will some of you want to hurt me or want to write an especially passionate review about how I could have continued it on for longer and made it more interesting with more fights and aliens and crazy stuff – hey, maybe Sim is an alien! I know that I have been particularly disappointed when in the course of the story the author has written that it is drawing to a close, when there's so much potential for more in their story.

Alas, sadly, my vision of where this fic would go is reaching its end. There's not much more I can write without ruining my original place for this story to go.
If I tell you all its ending, is it one of those spoilers that I hate so much? Or does the fact that I didn't specify how many chapters there are to go mean that this fic could still go anywhere?

And would it make it better is I said I was planning a sequel? What do you think?

And oh yeah, i took so long to write this chapter that i couldn't be bothered to check it. maybe i will some day, but forgive any spelling errors

Mikkifavo