Rose Tyler, I-" And he disappeared.

Her heart shattered in that moment. She didn't think she could feel that much pain on the inside. It broke her.

She raced over to Jackie who met her half way, and held on as she lost her strength to stand. Her sobs were too intense to be vocalized, silent tears streaming down her face.

Rose woke up with sobs wracking her body. She felt herself choking on her tears, unable to breath properly. Objectively, she could feel herself hyperventilating between sobs, but she couldn't do anything to continue. The pain... So much pain, in such a short period of time...

The Doctor was in the console room, fiddling with something below the console as he waited for Rose to wake up after the whole ankle ordeal. He was working mindlessly as he tried to not think about his situation with Rose. He wasn't succeeding. He kept seeing her lying on that hospital bed, lying there all alone.

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He had no excuse to send her back, none that would be acceptable for either him or her. He couldn't just drop her off somewhere, not without Jackie there to be with her. But that was just it, he didn't want to send her off. He wanted her with him. Forever. But that wasn't an option.

Then the TARDIS began acting up, tearing him from his thoughts. Lights flashed in the control room, a low hum indicated urgency.

As he pushed himself out from underneath the console, the TARDIS sent him an image of Rose. The telepathic link between himself and the TARDIS allowed the ship to alert him to where the problem laid.

Rose.

He immediately raced to her room, not even thinking twice before pushing open her door and entering her room. He froze for only a fraction of a second when he saw her and the shape she was in. Concern and worry began warring inside him as he crossed over to her. He sat down beside her, gently pulling her towards him as he fought to stay calm for the both of them.

Rose latched on to him as he tried to ease her panic and even out her breathing. He rocked her slightly as his heart broke for her. Her crying was so heartfelt and intense, he knew he would never get that image out of his mind. An unconscious part of him came to a decision as he sat there, comforting her.

Had the Doctor been paying attention to his surroundings, he would have connected the dots. As it was, only a small part of the Doctor noticed the TADIS calming down along with Rose

A couple minutes later, Rose was only shuddering in his arms, no longer crying. "Sorry," She spoke into his shirt, her voice hoarse. She had thought she was over the whole crying thing, but it appeared she was wrong. And that dream, she hadn't had it for a year or so, she thought she was done with reliving that particular memory. Once again, she was wrong.

She struggled not to think any more about it, knowing she would start crying after even a moment's thought about it.

Then the Doctor pulled back, worry in his eyes. "You don't ever need to be sorry for crying, Rose, ever."

Rose closed her eyes, struggling not to let more tears fall. She still couldn't let go of him, the memory of his fading image still forefront in her mind.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The Doctor's voice was soft above her.

Yeah. Talk about how my head breaks every time I think about how you have never said those words. How you just /wont/ say those words that I so /need/ to hear. That would go over well. She shook her head. "It was just a bad dream."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he detected the false note in her voice. "Rose, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

Rose pulled back from him then, shaking her head. "I know, but - " She was interrupted by that pain in her chest once again, only this time it wasn't quite so focused. The pain traveled outwards, only a little, but enough to cause her to cringe and reflexively try to flinch away from the pain. For several seconds she sat straining against the wall behind her, gritting her teeth.

Her mind couldn't help but try to figure out what was causing the pain. She went through a mental list of possible causes, but couldn't really come up with anything concrete. The only guess she had was that she hadn't eaten, so maybe it had something to do with that.

Vaguely, she noted how the Doctor hovered hopelessly over her, worry in his face as he called her name. She tried to force a smile for him, but guessed that it came out more as a grimace due to his concerned response.

Then the pain slowly receded and she could breath easy again.

"Rose?" the Doctor spoke hesitantly, as if the wrong word would set her off again. "Are you okay?"

She smiled again, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm okay, just some chest pains. They should go away -" And as if on cue, her stomach growled, "once I get something real to eat, I think. I haven't eaten since... Well, before I got here."

The Doctor was silent, only for a moment, as he though through her answer. Logically, he knew that hunger wouldn't cause chest pains, but if she was hungry, maybe some food would ease the discomfort.

He hid his concern, not wanting to risk inflating her's. The situation was bad enough without her panicking about it. So, to deflect any additional concern, he quickly jumped off the bed. "I know just the thing to fix that! You stay put, Rose Tyler! Doctor's orders!" With that, he was bounding out the door, leaving Rose to sit there with an amused look upon her face.

As soon as he left the room, though, her expression grew dark. She didn't know how much longer she could put upthe facade of not caring. Not only was her heart breaking every time she thought of him, and her family back in the other universe, but now she had a physical pain to go with it.

Her mind then wandered to her ankle. She had fallen asleep while he was working on it, so she wasn't sure what exactly he did. She pulled her leg up towards her and gently rolled out her ankle. Only part of her was surprised when she didn't feel the slightest bit of pain. The Doctor and his toys did tend to prove useful.

She was still massaging her ankle when a knock sounded at her door. "Come in!"

The Doctor entered with a breakfast tray, an image that cause Rose to grin. So much for not doing domestics. He set it down in front of her, revealing fish and chips, along with a cup of tea.

She knew he must be seriously worried to have stooped down to domestics to try to help.

"Bon a petit!" The Doctor was putting up a happy face for both of them, but he knew something was going on with Rose. She was dealing with pain, both physically and mentally, and he knew that. The physical, he needed her to tell him about it before he could do anything. The mental, he was pretty sure he knew what was bothering her there. It was bothering him as well.

When he decided what he was going to do, he was surprised to find himself already fully accepting of the idea.

So, on his way out the door, he pause, and looked back. Rose was already eating, proving how hungry she was. Normally she would wait until he wasn't around before she ate when they were in the TARDIS.

"When you are finished eating, Rose, I want to show you something." He was all seriousness now. He only waited until he got her nod, then he left the room.

In the console room, he stopped and braced himself. Nothing in the universe scared him more than what he was about to do.

Then he got the TARDIS going.

Rose hadn't realized how starving she was until she took a bite out of one of the french fries, at which point she began devouring her food. She had completely forgotten the Doctor was in the room with her. So when he spoke up, she was slightly startled. Then when he asked that question, a sense of foreboding came over her.

The meal wasn't nearly as satisfying as it was before. She finished up quickly, and didn't even bother taking the tray back to the kitchen when she felt the TARDIS activate. Her curiosity only grew more.

She walked down the hallway, hesitant in her steps. All she could think was that the Doctor was acting strange... why?

She paused at the entrance to the console room when she saw the Doctor staring at the doors of the TARDIS, a hand running through his hair.

"Doctor?" She spoke softly, not wanting to startle him, but worried about what was going on.

He spun around, his entire expression guarded. "Rose." He reached a hand out, waiting for her to take it. She was struggling not to panic with the Doctor acting the way he was.

She walked across the room and took his hand, at which point he led her to the doors of the TARDIS, still saying nothing. Opening the doors, what lay before them was magnificent.

"Is that-"

"A supernova." The Doctor answered for her.

She could feel his eyes on her as she stared out into space. It was beautiful.

Then the Doctor spoke. His voice was quiet, but it was loud enough that she could hear. "I burnt up a sun just to say goodbye."

She froze.

Author's note: I know. I want to hurt me too. That was a cruel and evil way to end the chapter. Especially since it will take me a few days to finish the next chapter. But it just had to be done.

I want to thank you all again for reading this! It has been really nice to see the interest in this story that has been sitting -no- BOUNCING around my mind for a while now. I appreciate any and all reviews! Thanks again!