The day dragged on for Rose. Without Martha to talk to, she felt like she was bursting with excitement with no outlet for it. She finally caved around lunchtime and told Clara everything.

"Wait, you're telling me Jack Harkness, THE Jack Harkness, had a laptop delivered to your flat this morning to apologize for being rude? I want a hot Hollywood actor to be rude to me, if this is what you get from it." Clara mused, looking jealous.

"Yeah, I don't know. It's all a bit much, you know? A lot to take in. But they're all really nice, even Jack once we were sorted. Oh, watch my stuff, yeah? I've got to run to the loo."

Clara just nodded and took a bite of her lunch as Rose left. As she was coming back, she could swear she saw Clara getting into her purse. "What's up?"

"Huh?" Clara asked, looking up nonchalantly.

"What did you need?" Rose asked, gesturing towards her purse.

"Oh, nothing. It fell over and some things spilled out, just putting them back, that's all. So, are you going to be on there again tonight?"

"Yeah, suppose so. Probably a bit later, though. Told Mum I'd watch her client's kids while she works. It's the only way she gets some of these women to come to her. They give me a nice tip, though, so I'm not complaining."

"Good point. Well, I've got to run, but let's chat tomorrow, yeah? You can fill me in on the juicy details." Clara shot her a wink before turning to leave.

"Yeah, bye Clara. See you tomorrow."

Once Rose finally got home, she couldn't wait to finish up with the kids. They were great, but her mind was very much elsewhere. And their mum noticed. She gave Rose a nasty look as Rose only just stopped the youngest from running into the table at the last minute. As they left, Rose could hear her complaining to her mum. She sighed and mentally gave up that tip money as she turned to go to her room. "Mum, I'm going to my room. I'll be on the phone, so don't worry if you hear voices."

"All right, love. Come say goodnight before you go to bed, yeah?" Jackie replied from the front hallway.

"Will do." Rose closed her door and ran over to the bed, where she'd covered the laptop with her blanket while it charged. She hadn't gotten a chance to do much more than that, as she'd been running late. She opened it up and turned it on, waiting for it to power up. She glanced down at her phone and saw that there were several people on the chat already, including Martha, John and Jack. She just barely kept herself from logging on while she waited – she wanted to use Jack's gift to log in, so she could use the video feature. As the computer powered up, she noted that it was already set up. It prompted her for a password and she froze. "What the…? How am I supposed to know the password? I just opened the bloody thing! Wait…he wouldn't, would he?" She reached for the keyboard and slowly typed out "CaptainJack" - the computer unlocked immediately. "I should have known," she muttered.

As soon as everything had loaded, she could see a file on the desktop that said "Play Me First" - she clicked on it and it opened a video player, showing Jack Harkness' smiling face.

"Hello, Rose. Once you've played this, it will delete itself from your computer. But I just wanted to say again that I'm very sorry and I hope you enjoy your present. Yes, it's overkill. But what the hell, I've got more money than I know what to do with. So why not, right? Hopefully I'll see your smiling face soon. Muah!" he concluded, blowing a kiss to the camera right before it ended, and, as promised, the file was now gone. But the desktop picture had changed to one of Jack in character from his role on Gallifrey One. He had a laser gun held up and was posed for what seemed to be one of the promotional pictures from the show. She let out a big laugh, she'd always fancied him in that costume, just a bit. Not that he needed to know that.

She saw, too, that the icon for the chat program seemed to be set up as well. All she had to do was plug in her headphones and log in. She quickly recalled that they would be able to see her so she ran off as it was loading to check her reflection in the mirror.

RoseTyler has entered the room.

"ROSE!" she heard her name come through the speakers on her headphones from across the room. She'd have to turn it down. She ran back over to the computer and put them to her ear. "Rose?" she heard again, confused this time. "Where is she?"

"Here! I'm here! Just, hold on a mo', I seem to be tangled!" she twisted around trying to get the headphone cords sorted and managed to fall down, supremely gracelessly, right in front of the camera.

"Rose? Are you okay, lass? I saw a bit of blonde there for a minute but then you disappeared again." she heard a familiar voice say.

"Yeah. I'm all right." she said, sitting up slowly, cheeks burning from embarrassment. She could have heard Jack's laughter from across the globe, if it weren't right in her ear.

"Worth every penny, for this moment right here. Hello, Rose," he said, grinning.

"Hush, you. Leave her be. Everybody falls down now and then. Right, Martha?" John asked.

"You'd know! Hi Rose."

Rose pulled her hair out of her face, and glanced up at the screen and saw all of their faces, at last. "Hi," she muttered, embarrassed.

"There's that pretty face I remember. Jack, did I send you that picture Martha sent me?"

"No, but speaking of pictures, how do you like your desktop picture?" Jack asked, smirking. "I assume, seeing as how you're on here, you figured out the password easy enough."

Rose recovered from her embarrassment, and quickly retorted, "Bit easy to predict, mate. Hate to break it to you. But thanks, yeah? It was a big surprise."

"Well, don't worry about it. Like I said, worth every penny so far."

ImpossibleGirl: Where'd everyone go? Everyone just stopped talking all of a sudden.

"Who's that?" asked Rose, glancing down at the chat screen.

"No idea. She somehow got into our locked room and we haven't been able to figure out how, yet. She says it wasn't locked, that she just found it by accident. She seems nice enough, though. But we haven't told her we're using the video feature," said Martha, frowning. "Don't want another stalker, after the last one."

"Last one?" asked Rose, starting to get a bad feeling about who the other person in the room was.

"Yeah, John had a pretty bad stalker a while back, seems to crop up every now and then but this one was bad. She found his flat in Glasgow, even, and showed up – scaled the walls and made it to his balcony. So you can understand my concern last night, because it's happened to me, too. Not to that extreme, but still, can't be too careful."

"Absolutely," Rose agreed, stomach in knots as she looked down at her phone. She knew for a fact that she'd closed out of all of her emails before lunch and hadn't touched the email program since. If she was correct…. She pulled up the email program and sure enough, her email from Martha with all the chat room information, including the password, was opened. "Will you guys excuse me for a mo'? I need to make a phone call."

Rose turned off her microphone and walked away from the computer, pulling out her phone to make a call she didn't want to make. It rang three times and went to voicemail, so she dialed Martha instead.

"Rose? What's up?"

"Martha, don't be mad at me, but I think that's Clara there in the chat."

"What? How did she even know about it?"

"Well, she heard what you said about knowing John, and we talked about it earlier today – I was so surprised by the laptop and I just needed to talk to someone about it. And I think she pulled out my phone while I was in the loo and looked up the email you sent me."

"Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. I don't think she's trying to cause trouble or anything, I just think she was feeling left out, and, well, she sometimes has a weird way of going about things."

Martha sighed, "Well, what are we gonna do about it? Have you tried calling her?"

"Yeah, she didn't answer. She must know that I know it's her. I could go over to her flat – but I don't want her to think I'm attacking her. I just want to talk to her."

"All right, why don't you let it go for now – maybe text her and ask her to call you and see how things play out. If there's no issues, then maybe we don't have to say anything about it."

"Yeah, guess that makes sense. Oh, wait, she's calling me now, I'll call you right back."

"Okay, talk to you in a bit."

Rose switched the call over to the other line. "Hello?"

"Hey Rose, sorry, I was in the shower when you called. What's up?"

Rose paused, if she was really in the shower then it couldn't have been her in the chat. Or she was lying. Rose had to decide whether to trust her instincts, or to trust one of her oldest friends even if she thought she was lying to her. She sighed, "Clara, I know you weren't in the shower. I'm not mad at you, not really. But just be honest with me and admit that you looked through my phone on lunch to get the chat information."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about. I told you, I was just putting things back in your purse that fell out."

"Yeah? Then why was my email opened to that message, when I distinctly remember closing out of it."

"I dunno, love. Phones are weird like that."

Rose sat back down to the computer, minimizing the chat program and pulling up the browser and logging into her email. She wanted to confirm her suspicions before continuing on the accusation. "Yeah, well I'm looking at my email now, and for some reason, the last outgoing message I have is a forward to you. I haven't emailed you in weeks."

There was an awkward silence on the line. Then it disconnected. "Clara? Clara! Dammit." Rose dropped the phone, rubbing her temples in frustration. She realized she was still on camera and pulled the chat back up, putting her headphones back in. "Sorry about that," she said, "I'm back."

"No worries, love. We made it through somehow. But you know, you and Martha aren't exactly sneaky, going off to make phone calls to each other. We were starting to think you were talking about us," said John, grinning.

"Maybe we were," added Martha, winking at the camera.

"Yeah, could be," said Rose, trying to lighten the bad feeling she had in her stomach.

ImpossibleGirl has left the chat.

"Oh, that's too bad. She was nice," said Jack, putting on a fake pout.

"Oi! We not good enough for you tonight, Mr. Harkness?" asked Martha, feigning offense.

"No, it's me that's not good enough for you, Martha. As always," he shot back, blowing her a kiss through the computer.

"And don't you forget it!" she replied, smiling.

A knock on Rose's door surprised her. "Hold on, there's someone here. I'll be right back."

"But you just got back, lass!" cried John, frowning.

"I know, sorry," she muttered, "'S probably my mum. And well, as great as she is, it's probably for the best she doesn't know what I'm up to. She still thinks everyone on the internet is a dirty old man looking to kidnap me."

"She's not wrong…" muttered Jack, grinning towards John's portion of the screen.

"Watch it, you! She'll be on to us and then where will we be?" John replied, holding his finger up to his lips to indicate silence.

Rose laughed and muted herself again while she went to get the door. To her surprise, it was Clara, not her mum. "Clara! What are you doing here?"

"Can we talk? Outside, maybe? I know you're on the chat thing, so that's probably best."

"Sure. Mum, Clara and I are going out to talk for a bit. Don't lock me out, yeah?"

"All right, but close the bloody door. It's freezing out there."

Rose and Clara left the apartment and walked down towards the stairwell and sat down, as they'd done for most of their lives.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I did it, I'm sorry I lied, and I'm sorry I hung up. I just kind of panicked when you caught me and didn't know what to do. So I thought I should just come over here to talk in person. Better that way."

Rose nodded, looking down at her feet. "Why, though?"

"I dunno. I just, I guess I just wanted to be a part of it, yeah? I didn't want to lose you to Martha. We've been friends our whole lives, and then here comes Martha with these famous guys and suddenly she's got something to offer you that I don't. I guess I just feel like we've drifted apart since you came home after Jimmy, and I don't want that. But I don't know what to do about it."

Rose sighed, "I don't know either. I wish you'd just asked, though. It probably wouldn't have been a big deal. But now, I dunno." Her phone started buzzing in her pocket. "It's Martha, hold on." She answered the phone, "Hey Martha."

"Hey, what's up? Did she call you?"

"No, she's here. She came over."

"Can I talk to her?" asked Clara, reaching for the phone.

"Yeah, hold on. Martha, Clara wants to talk to you," Rose said, handing the phone to Clara. She got up and walked out of Rose's earshot to take the call, but Rose overheard her apologizing as she went. She got up and walked back towards the door to her flat, and leaned against the railing, looking down at the courtyard below. A few minutes passed before Clara returned, smiling, and handed the phone back to her. "How'd it go?"

"Just fine. I apologized, and told her what I told you, and she said not to worry about it and said I should come join you guys in your room. She'll just tell them you've got a friend over and they never need to know that I was in there. That way if they like me, I can come back, with a new screenname. And if not, she'll change the password on the chat. Seemed fair. You okay with that?"

"Yeah. That's…that's brilliant actually."

"Well, you know, now that I've talked with her for a bit, I think I can see what you like about her. Aside from the famous friends, part," Clara said, winking.

"All right, well, let's go back in. I'll get in there first and let them know you're coming, yeah?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

Clara was, of course, a hit with everyone. Rose was a little annoyed that what was supposed to be a big night for her to get to talk to them had turned out to be mostly about Clara. But it was nice to get to spend some time with her friend, and it was a relief that things had worked out. John had only been around for about fifteen minutes after Clara got there, then he had to go to an appearance. And Martha had an early class the next day, so she'd only been around for about an hour before she called it a night. So it had just been Rose, Clara and Jack. And they'd got on very well. Clara and Jack were a force to be reckoned with when it came to flirtatiousness. And Rose found it difficult to keep up with them at times, but was highly amused, none the less. Clara, it turned out, had snuck in a bottle of whiskey and she and Rose had traded off drinking tiny amounts. Clara had said earlier that she thought Rose was a bit shy, so she should drink a little to help loosen her tongue. Jack had whole heartedly agreed, and despite being eight hours behind them, making it early afternoon for him, had declared that it was his day off and he'd day drink if he wanted to and had joined them, toasting through the camera.

"So, Jack. What's the most embarrassing moment you've ever had in public?" asked Clara, pulling another drink of whiskey.

"Oh, there are some good ones. But I'll have to say one of the first times I ever got recognized in public was one of the most embarrassing moments. I was at an electronics store, blowing my first paycheck that hadn't gone to pay off my student loans, and there were these two girls who kept eyeing me and whispering to each other. Trying to be suave, I went to lean on a display and pose. Just as they looked back, the display fell over and I fell flat on my arse."

"Oh my god, you did not!" squealed Rose, falling back onto her bed laughing.

"I swear, it happened. John was there, ask him about it next time you see him."

"I will, you just watch!" exclaimed Clara. Her phone buzzed and she looked down to check it, she sighed and turned to get up. "It's Kris. Hold on, I gotta take this. I'll be right back."

"Keep it down though, yeah? Mum's finally gone to bed, I don't want her in here checking on us."

"Why, you ashamed of talking to me, Rose Tyler, who needs a better screen name?" Jack asked, laughing.

"Not at all, Captain Jack who needs a better screen name. I just don't want her to come in here and start yelling at you for corrupting her daughter."

"Please, if I wanted to corrupt you, I'd have done it already," he replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, reckon you would have," she admitted, grinning.

"Who's this Chris bloke Clara's talking to?"

"Not a bloke. It's Kris with a K. And I'll let her tell you, if she feels like it. Not really my place. Only they do tend to get a bit loud on the phone and I really hope she doesn't wake up my mum."

"Loud as in…?"

"No! Get your mind out of the gutter, Harkness! Just, heated. Anyway, it's not my business to talk about it."

"Got it. By the way, just so you know, neither of us are fooled about her. We both kind of figured out she was the girl who was in here earlier by your dramatic exit and multiple phone calls with Martha after we brought it up. Don't worry, it's fine. But, well, I just don't want you to make it a habit of lying to us. She's a nice girl, but you really need to talk with us before giving out this information because as we've told you, it can go wrong pretty easily. I'd hate to have to stop talking to you guys and find another place."

Rose thought about what he said, her cheeks burning from being caught out. "Yeah. I'm sorry, Jack. You must think I'm awful, after all this."

Jack sighed, "Rose, if I thought you were awful, I wouldn't be wasting one of my rare days off talking to you. And I certainly wouldn't have bought you a laptop. I just think you're young, and a bit overwhelmed. And that's fine. Just, I want you to not think about us as 'famous' or anything. We're just a couple of blokes who enjoy talking to good people – without the pressure of having to be 'on' all the time, you know? It's more important to John, really. But he's my best friend and if this is what he wants, I'm all for it. Means we get to see each other's faces more often."

"Yeah. I can understand that. So what happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

"With the stalkers?"

"Yeah."

"Well, sadly, they started off just like this. Of course, the first couple were before we started doing the video chats. John got a kick out of going into chat rooms and talking with people, just as a random stranger. Not telling them who he is. But after a while, they would get on well enough that he'd tell them. And sometimes it would turn out okay. We met a few good friends that way. But sometimes, well, people couldn't get past it. Couldn't see us as anything but actors. It started off innocent enough, but if we didn't pay them enough attention, they got angry and jealous when we talked to other people. And everytime we would come on, it was like they were waiting for us and showed up immediately. We'd change rooms, they'd follow us. A couple people managed to track down our personal information, phone numbers, address. That's how John got the one that showed up at his flat."

"That's awful," Rose said, leaning back against the head board of her bed. "How'd you manage to get rid of them?"

"Changed our screen names, for a lot of them. It sucked, and a lot of times we'd have to give up talking to the rest of the people we'd met because the person would track them, too. Otherwise, everyone would end up changing their screen names and we'd all start over again. Eventually, we decided it was easier to just stick to the few good friends we'd made, either online or the ones we'd met in person, like Harry and Martha. And we found this program. It's not as entertaining for John as the random chat lottery was, but after the last time, he's okay with that. His girlfriend was the only one home when it happened, and she had to call the police to come get the girl off the side of the building. Scared him pretty bad, that he wasn't there to do anything about it."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Rose murmured.

"Still, we get to meet new people – like you guys! So it's not a total loss," he added, trying to lighten the suddenly dark mood.

"I dunno, we're stuck with you, so…" she said, grinning.

"You wound me, Rose Tyler!"

The door opened and Clara returned to the room. "I'm back. Sorry about that."

"Everything okay?" asked Jack.

"Yeah. It's just, complicated."

"Who was it?" he asked.

"My girlfriend. Sort of. I mean, I'd like her to be. But she's married, so…you know, complicated."

"That does sound complicated," he agreed. "What did she want?"

"Wants me to come watch her kids tomorrow night."

"Kids too? Thats…"

"Complicated, I know. Anyway, I keep trying to end things, but she keeps managing to draw me back in. Every time. And it's like…like I don't have enough to deal with being openly bisexual, no. I've got to have all this on top of it."

"Well, did you know she was married when you started seeing her?"

"Yes. And no. We were friends. And it just kind of grew from there. Didn't even know I fancied women, too, until I met her. I don't want to keep doing this anymore. But she's my best friend, no offense Rose."

"None taken, love."

"I feel you," said Jack, opening another beer. "I really do. Literally feel your pain. I've been in love with my best friend for, oh….ten years?"

"But isn't your best friend…" began Clara.

"Yeah. Only, not only is he taken, but he's also straight. And that's okay. It's a shame to lose your best friend over unreturned feelings. So I got over it. Or so I say. But every once in a while, it's hard. Because we spend so much time together."

"I'm sorry, Jack," Rose said, "That must be painful."

"Don't be. It was my choice to keep him in my life. And he is my best friend, and friends like that in our line of work are rare. So I'm lucky. Just, you know, don't tell anyone. Not that I think you would, but I've got an image to maintain as a Hollywood playboy. I'm not quite ready to be out, yet. And who knows who I'll end up settling down with? If I meet the right woman, it may never have to come out. And if I meet the right man, well, I guess I'll deal with that when the time comes."

"Your secret's safe with us, mate. Don't worry," said Clara, glancing down at her phone to check the time. "Look, I should probably get going. But it's been great talking with you both tonight."

"Yeah, it was. And just keep in mind that you're worth more than to be someone's backup, okay? I know you may feel like the bad guy for being with a married woman, and in some senses I guess that's true. But what she's doing to you is just as bad. So don't let yourself get walked on, okay? Stand up for yourself, and ask that she make a choice. And if she won't choose you, then you really aren't losing anything – even if it hurts," said Jack. "Take it from someone who's been there a time or two, yeah?"

"Yeah, thanks Jack. Rose, I'll see you later, okay?" she turned and gave Rose a hug. "And keep the whiskey, you're not working tomorrow after all."

"Thanks. Text me when you get home, yeah?"

Clara rolled her eyes. "It's literally a two minute walk down to the next level. But yeah, I will. Goodnight you two!"

"Goodnight!" they chorused.

"Well, I should get going too," said Jack.

"What? I thought it was your day off?"

"Yeah, but I'm supposed to make an appearance at a premiere tonight, and I'm this close to being pissed so I need to take a nap first. But I'll talk with you again soon, I promise."

"All right then. Have a good nap, Jack."

"Thanks. I'll have sweet dreams of you," he said, grinning lasciviously at her.

"You're hopeless, you are! Go on, then. Get your beauty sleep."

"Bye Rose," he gave a quick salute towards her and then his screen blacked out, leaving Rose's face alone in the program.

"Well, that certainly wasn't how I thought the night would go," she murmured to herself, glancing over at the clock. It was roughly midnight. She was just contemplating getting ready for bed when another face popped up on her screen. This time it was John.

"Anybody there?" he called out, slurring slightly.

"Yeah, mate. I'm here," she replied, sitting back down and putting headphones in.

"Who's that? Is that Rose….Roooose. I like that name. Rose Tyler. A pretty name for a pretty girl."

Rose giggled. "Thanks, I think? Are you pissed?"

"I might have had a drink or two. Or more. I stopped counting."

"I thought you were going to that charity thing?"

"I thought so too. Seemed my better half had other plans. I asked her to marry me, you know. I don't know if I'd told you that. Shite, I don't think I've told you anything about her. Anyway, this was my fourth time asking her. She said no again, if you couldn't tell."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, well, I just keep asking. Definition of insanity, that. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Only this time she reckons I was 'asking for the wrong reasons.' That was her reason for saying no this time."

"What does that even mean?" asked Rose, settling down under the covers.

"It means I was pretty sure she's fucking her colleague, pardon my language. She's a dancer. And this bloke's a dancer. And they've been spending a lot of time together, 'rehearsing' but, I reckon they're not rehearsing at all. She's there now, with him. She went to his flat after our row. It's been four hours. What exactly does one do at a colleague's house for four hours, in the middle of the night? No, don't answer that. I don't want to know. Fuck, I need another drink. I'll be right back," he got up and stumbled out of the frame. Rose began to get a bit worried for him as he returned a few minutes later with a large, half empty bottle of scotch. "That's better. Now where were we, Rose Tyler?"

"I dunno, mate. You were telling me what happened tonight."

"Oh that. Yeah, rubbish, that was. Why doesn't she want to marry me? I mean, I'm not a bad looking guy. Pretty good career, even if it isn't what it used to be. I'm sure lots of women would want to marry me."

"I'm sure they would."

"Yeah. But I can't let her go. I don't even know why anymore. It's been rubbish for a long time now. I should have known after the second time I asked her to marry me that I should walk away. Just waaaaaalk away. But I don't. So really, I do this to myself. Every time." He took a long gulp from the bottle.

"Maybe you should slow down, yeah?"

"Or maybe you should speed up, hmm?" he replied, nodding toward the bottle of whiskey to her right. "I see you lot had fun without me. That's good. Someone should have fun tonight."

"Yeah, well it was all a bit of soul sharing and sadness around here. But I'd say we had a better night than you, that's for sure."

He snorted and took another drink, reducing the bottle's contents to half of what they'd been. "Yeah, well. Can't win 'em all, right?"

"No, you can't, I suppose. Listen, you should probably go to bed. Not that I don't enjoy talking to you, but you're going to have one massive hangover tomorrow as it is. On top of everything else you've got to deal with."

"You're right, Rose Tyler. You're a smart lady. A beautiful one, too. I wish you were here."

"I am. I'm right here. Just, put down the bottle, yeah? And go get yourself a water. You'll thank me in the morning."

"I'd like to thank you for something else in the morning," he muttered, giggling into the bottle as he took another drink.

"Now I know you're pissed. Look, you're just angry with her for whatever it is she may or may not be doing. But you don't want to stoop to that level. You're better than that. And maybe she is too, yeah? You never know. But I do know that if you do something stupid tonight, you're going to regret it. And I don't want that for you. So you should really go have a lie down."

"I'm hungry," he said suddenly, clearly not paying her any attention. "I'm gonna see what I can find in the kitchen. Don't go anywhere!"

"Be careful!" she shouted at his retreating figure. "Blimey, he's likely to burn the flat down, he is." She rolled her eyes and looked around her room, trying to clear her head. The buzz from the whiskey had started to fade and she gently tossed the bottle away from her bed, where it rolled and hit the wall. Suddenly she found she had no interest in it anymore. She went to the message section of the chat program and looked up Jack's name.

RoseTyler left CaptainJack a message:
Jack, when you get this, I need you to log into the chat, immediately. Please. x Rose

CaptainJack left you a message:
Miss me already, sweet Rose? And I hadn't even fallen asleep yet…

John returned to the screen just then, sucking on his finger from where he'd clearly burned it making whatever it is he'd made. "Toast is evil, Rose. Don't trust toast. Also my scotch is gone and that's the last I had in the house. I'm going to have to go out and get some more."

"John, I think that's a very bad idea. Is there someone you can call? Someone who can come over and stay with you?"

"Why, you sick of me already?"

"No, but I'm not exactly there with you."

"A fact I'm all too aware of," he sighed. "Donna. But I don't want to call her this late."

"Is Donna your sister?"

"Yeah. Donna's great."

"You should call her."

"Nah, I don't feel like it. I feel like…." his words were cut short, as suddenly he fell over, off of the chair.

"John? JOHN! John, are you okay? John! Talk to me!"

He didn't respond. She reached for her phone again.

RoseTyler left CaptainJack a message:
Sorry, but it's really important. I need to talk to you now – something's happened to John.

CaptainJack left you a message:
What's your phone number?

Rose had no sooner sent her number to Jack when her phone rang.

"What happened?"

"I dunno. He came on right after you left, totally pissed and he drank about another half a bottle of scotch while he was on with me. Which wasn't very long. Something happened with his girlfriend, and he was really upset. And he just sort of fell over and he hasn't gotten back up. Before that, I asked him if there was anyone he could call, and he said his sister, but I don't have any way to reach her and I don't know where he lives so I can't call an ambulance and I'm scared, Jack. I don't know if he's okay. Can you reach his sister?"

"Yeah. I'll call her now. I'll call you back. Stay by the computer."

He hung up after that and Rose sat watching the computer, feeling utterly helpless, as she waited for something to happen. She'd never felt so powerless in her life, except for the night her dad died. Finally her phone rang again and she answered it immediately. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Jack again. I reached Donna. She tore me a new one for calling this late, but she's on her way over to his flat now. My internet crashed after I did so I can't get on the video chat. Will you stay on the line with me until she gets there?"

"Of course."

"Have you seen him?"

"No. I think he's on the floor."

"How much do you think he had?"

"Well, the bottle was half empty when he came online and he was already pissed, so I'd say he drank the whole bottle."

Jack swore. "The idiot. He does this every time. And it's not like he doesn't already know she's using him. And she treats him like crap. And he just keeps taking it, and just keeps getting drunk hoping it will help. And I honestly don't know what I can do, really."

Rose said nothing to this, not feeling like it was her place to voice an opinion on the topic. Finally, she heard noises on the other end of the chat in the headphone that was still in her ear. "Jack, I think she's there."

"Thank god," he muttered.

Rose watched as a red haired woman came into the frame and squatted down to where she was pretty sure John had fallen to.

"Come on, love. Come on. Let's get you to bed."

"Wha's happening? Donna? Why're you here?"

"Because you've got yourself some really good friends, and had yourself way too much to drink. We can talk about it tomorrow but you need to get to bed. Come on."

Rose watched as Donna led John out of the room. "He's all right," she informed Jack. "She got him up and is getting him to bed."

Jack let out an audibly relieved breath. "Thanks to you," he said.

"Yeah, well, I didn't do much. You were the one that got a hold of his sister."

"But I wouldn't have known I needed to if it weren't for you. I'm glad you were there."

"Yeah, me too."

"All right, well I've really got to get going to this thing. It's kind of mandatory for me to be there. But I'll talk to you again soon. I'm really, really glad you were there tonight, Rose. You probably stopped him from doing something really stupid. And I'm sure once he's back in his right mind, he'll agree with me. Go get some sleep. You've earned it."

"Thanks, Jack," she said, "Goodnight."

She sat looking at the computer a while longer, wondering if she should close the program or if she should wait to see if anything changed. Finally, after a minute or two, Donna appeared back in the frame and approached the computer. "Are you Rose, then?"

"Yeah," Rose answered, timidly.

"Thank you, Rose. That would have been a lot worse if it weren't for you. So really, thank you. I'll make sure he checks in with you tomorrow, but you might want to send him a message – tell him what a dumbo he was tonight, and tell him you saved his skinny arse. Do him some good to remember that there are people who care about him. I'm going to go, now. But take care. And thanks again."

"No problem, thank you, too. Dunno what I would have done if he hadn't told me about you."

Donna eyed her appraisingly. "You're a smart girl, you'd have figured something out. Goodnight, Rose."

"Goodnight, Donna."

John's screen blinked out and Rose was left looking at her own face before she closed the video function. She pulled up the message section and jotted out a note to John before going to bed.

RoseTyler left JNlad79 a message:
Hi there. I hope you're feeling okay, by the time you see this. Drop me a line later, if you can? Just want to make sure you're doing all right.

With that, Rose realized there was nothing more she could do about any of it for the night, and decided to go to sleep.