Rose sat in the small café eating chips and watching the falling rain outside make intricate patterns on the glass panel in front of her. She liked to watch the rain now, she'd been indifferent before, but now she felt connected to it. It was falling—falling from the sky above, and metaphorically speaking, so had she.
It had been over a year since she'd said goodbye to the Doctor at Bad Wolf Bay. Sometimes she went back there just to feel close to him. She'd stand there as the wind blew about her and imagine it was his warm embrace, rather than the harsh, cold reminder that she was completely alone. Well, not completely, she had her family—her mum and Pete, and her baby brother, not to mention Mickey constantly clinging to her. She smiled a bit remembering how she'd "imprinted on him like a mother hen". He didn't remember, he couldn't, but sometimes she had a feeling he sensed that connection he'd made when he was younger.
She frowned, however, when she remembered the events surrounding the encounter. That was one of the many times she'd "lost" the Doctor, and she hated reminders he wasn't there.
Even with her family by her side offering support, comfort, humor, and affection, she still felt empty. She sometimes caught herself looking at her hands and wondering why they felt so cold. She'd stare at the stars at night for hours and not even realize it until someone did something to bring her back to "reality". She'd even caught herself looking around frantically when she heard any sort of mechanical grating noise, only to find that it was a car engine that wouldn't turn over, or a box being drug against some metal, or some other mundane earthly annoyance.
She was silly for hoping, she knew she'd never feel the warmth of his hand again grabbing hers for no reason other than to feel that tactile comfort of her presence, the comfort she welcomed so whole heartedly. She knew that in all of those stars blinking back at her during the late hours of the night, none of them held her Doctor looking back. She knew that not once would she turn around and find that the noise she heard was the Tardis. But she'd keep hoping just like her tears would keep falling like the rain outside the window.