Disclaimer: You can have a jelly baby if I don't have to say it. :P

Okay, so this chapter includes a flashback, some memories and a lot of confusion.
Thanks for the reviews, and to answer a few things you mentioned:
-The Horned Marten (love the name): Don't worry, we're getting there. She's in this chapter, actually. Well, kind of.
-Since I got mixed reviews about how in character John and Rose were, I'll say this much: First, Rose isn't the same as when we saw her last in Doomsday. She's grown up quite a bit and has had to become slightly more mature; second, John Smith is not the same as the Doctor. Nor is he the same as John Smith from Family of Blood, if that's what you were thinking. I don't want to say much now, because it will ruin my surprise for later ;)
-Nice theories everyone. One of you is quite close, but I won't reveal who just yet. Jelly babies go to all that tried, just because I'm still hyper for them, lol. Keep them coming!

So, here's chapter 2! Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Not Quite All There

A fortress encased in a golden sphere…no, a clear glass sphere…it was the sky that was golden. The twin suns, burning a bright red in the ominous sky. Snow-capped mountains sloping away from him, leading far away, forever and ever. And silver leaves rustling in the cool autumn breeze, catching the light just so and making them shine across the city. A magnificent temple - the citadel of the Time Lords.
A war. The last great Time War. Fighting for all of creation.
Burning…everything burning. Gallifrey…its name just an omen of the grief it left. Gone…gone forever. Burning; the deep red grass in flames under the destroyed suns. Everything was long since gone - crumbling into non-existence. His mind was burning for all eternity…he was alone…so alone. Everything was gone - everything destroyed. His home…his mind…his heart - his hearts.

The first thing he noticed was the light. Again. He sat bolt upright, thinking to himself that he really must stop doing that, and stared straight ahead. The night's dream reappeared in his mind and he laid back, thoughtful for a moment. That's when he realised that this time, he was not on the floor. He clenched his hands into fists around smooth bed sheets and frowned. It was once again too bright, but this time, it was white. Everything was white - the walls, the bed, the floor, the ceiling, the chair by the side of his bed, the girl sitting in the chair. Wait, the girl wasn't wearing white. She was wearing brown. And a bit of white. A suit. He leant forwards to see her face, which was resting limply on her hand, with her blonde hair cascading down her face, hiding it from view.

Then it all clicked into place. The girl from yesterday who wouldn't stop staring - John made a mental note to advise some mental help when she awoke. He pulled back the bedcovers, wondering for the second time in two days where on Earth he was, and realised he was no longer wearing that ridiculous suit he had on yesterday - the one with the unusually large pockets, or those red trainers he had seen as he walked along the corridors of the building. What he was wearing, however, was unsurprisingly, mostly white. It was hospital clothes, he realised. Stepping out of bed and heading for the door, he heard the sound of someone waking up, and turned to look at the girl.

"Where d'you think you're going?" she asked, and he froze.

"Well, I was thinking…uh, outside?" he offered uselessly, and she frowned.

"No." she shook her head, and this time John frowned. "You heard what the doctors said - the actual doctors, I mean - now get into bed." John obeyed, though not sure why. With hundreds of questions on his mind, he stared at her as she had stared at him yesterday, studying her body language as she rubbed her eyes and brushed back her hair.

"What?" she asked subconsciously, and he looked away immediately. "Look, Doctor, about yesterday: I -"

"The doctors are outside." John frowned, and her face paled as it had done yesterday. "And why am I in here? I take it this is a hospital?" He asked the first two questions that entered his mind.

"You…you still think…" Rose began, but trailed off. "D'you know your name?" she asked.

"Of course I do." he replied, offended. "John Smith, nice to meet you. We didn't really get the chance to say hello yesterday." He held out his hand and she took it nervously.

"Rose Tyler." she muttered, just loud enough for John to hear. When he did, he looked into her eyes, just for a second, and it was as if something stirred inside him. Then, just as suddenly, it was gone. "What do you mean yesterday?" she added. "If you're talking about that little stint in Torchwood, that was days ago. And there's no 'John Smith' on the staff records, so don't even bother trying that one again…" He could hear her talking, but he wasn't listening to the words. Torchwood…again, it caused something to flicker in John's mind, and this 'Doctor' she kept mentioning…

"Mr Smith?" he heard, and snapped back to life.

"Yeah." he replied. "Days ago, you say?" He frowned, his mind working furiously. When he saw her out of the corner of his eye, he could see her staring at him once more. "You're doing it again." he said simply, and she knew what he meant immediately. She looked away, flushing, then turned back to face him, avoiding eye contact.

"Sorry." she said meekly. "It's just…I've got this friend. You look just like him. I mean really, just like him. And he sometimes went by that name - John Smith." she stopped abruptly, not knowing why she was opening up about the Doctor to a complete stranger, when she had refused to talk about him to anyone else for almost five years now. John didn't answer, and he felt the past few days' events wash over him as he properly awoke.

"I remember now…I fell over - no, I fainted - outside, at Torchwood. Was it Torchwood, did you say? And then I saw you...And the doctors, yeah, they said I had to rest. Then they stuck a needle in me. Then I fainted again. I do an awful lot of that, don't I?" he finished with a distateful look, and Rose couldn't help but smile. "But you just said I wasn't on the system." he said suddenly, turning back to Rose. "How can I not be - I've worked there for years!" Rose frowned.

"Alright, well just…give us your ID card and let me make a call." She stood up and reached for her bag, but changed her mind and left it on the floor. John glanced around at the white room and saw his blue suit hanging on the door of a wardrobe. He made a movement to get up, but Rose put her hand on his chest to signal for him to stay in bed. John flinched at the connection, as if static electricity was running through him, and he could have sworn Rose felt the same. They froze for a second, and John could have sworn he felt her feeling his chest for something. Then she pulled away abruptly and walked over to his suit, avoiding looking directly at him.

"Left pocket." he said, still recovering from the surprise of the contact, and she delicately reached into his pocket and pulled a number of things out. She inspected the outside of the pocket with a frown, but shook her thoughts away and looked at what she had pulled out in her hand. She threw it down on the bed in front of John, still avoiding his gaze, and he rifled through it distractedly. There was a piece of string, a number of pens, a key (he could have sworn that Rose shivered when she saw it), a few wires, an old fob watch, and the leather wallet. Again, he was sure he saw Rose back away when she saw it, and when he held it out to her, she only took it reluctantly.

"I'll be right back." she whispered, taking her phone out of her back pocket and clutching the leather wallet as if afraid it would slip out of her fingers. "Don't go anywhere." she added, walking out of the door, and looking - if John didn't know any better - rather scared.

"Mum, I'm telling you -" Rose was cut off by her mother's voice on the other side of the call.

"Rose, darling, I know you miss him, but you've got to face it some day. He's not coming back, and you -"

"Mum, I swear, it looks exactly like him." Rose insisted, and she could sense already that she was going to get another lecture on the importance of getting enough sleep so you don't become delusional. "Look, just get dad, will you?" she asked, before Jackie could start talking. She heard a sigh on the other end of the line and waited for her dad to come to the phone, subconsciously twirling the leather wallet around in her hand. She looked at it for a second before opening it slowly. Blank. A blank piece of paper was the only thing that the wallet consisted of. Rose blinked a few times, but it was still blank.

"Rose?" she heard on the other end of the line, and she looked away from the wallet.

"Dad? Yeah, it's me. Look, this John Smith guy, you said he wasn't on the records, right?"

"Yeah. You're not still at that hospital, are you?" Rose could almost see him frowning in disapproval.

"Look, it's him, dad, I swear." she insisted. "Anyway, can you check the Torchwood system again? 'Cause he says he's worked there for years." She heard a muffled "yes" and turned off the phone with a sense of achievement, even though nothing had been done yet.

She walked back into the hospital and found her way back to John's room, with just one thing playing on her mind. She hadn't mentioned the blank ID card.

When she returned to John Smith's room, closing the door quietly and slowly to give herself time to think, he was sat in the hospital bed frowning. She sat in the chair and looked over to where he was staring - at the bare white wall in front of the bed.

"I…" he began, trailing off. "I work at Torchwood." he started again. Rose didn't reply. "I remember that. I've been there for years. Then I woke up. Outside…I was outside, and there were boxes." he turned suddenly to look at Rose. "Lots of boxes outside." She still didn't speak, although the poor man looked to her like he had a severe case of memory loss - although he still seemed to know who he was and where he worked.

"I think it's probably just the treatment." she told him, trying to be comforting but not able to keep the image of the Doctor out of her mind. "The nurses said it might give you a bit of amnesia. It'll wear off after a few days."

John nodded slowly, still frowning, and didn't speak for a while.

"Martha!" he burst out suddenly, and Rose jumped out of her skin with surprise.

"Sorry?" she asked, eyes wide open.

"There…there was a girl with me. I'm sure. She was…dark hair. Dark skin. Red top, and jeans. Martha…Martha…" he searched his mind for a last name to company the image in his mind. "…Jones." he said finally. "Martha Jones, her name was."

Rose nodded. "Okay." she said slowly. If this was the Doctor, who was Martha? A new companion?

'Actually, even if this is the Doctor, he doesn't seem to know what he's going on about anyway.' she thought, giving him a sceptical look.

Before Rose could ask who Martha Jones actually was, a nurse entered the room and walked over to John's side.

"Good morning, Mr Smith." she said, politely but slightly motherly. He gave a small smile in return, but didn't speak as she busied herself checking his vitals and writing on a clipboard. "You're finally awake then, I see. We were getting worried." John still didn't reply, and neither did he say anything when the nurse left.

"Look, I'd better go." Rose said suddenly, realising that she had no clear reason to stay - at least, it wasn't clear to John.

"Oh." He said, surprised. "I…okay then. Why were you here, anyway? Did you faint too?" he asked, joking, but Rose could feel the heat rising to her cheeks.

"I..I, uh, did, actually. Yeah. But I woke up straight after. You've been out for days. I just came to check you were okay." Rose said nervously, pretending to look for something in her bag. "Yeah, so I'd better be off." she said, and walked towards the door.

"Are you sure?" she was asked, and she turned back to look at him, hand on the door handle.

She nodded, gathering up her things. "I should get back to work. Mr Tyler might be my father, but I was supposed to go in yesterday, and I would've done if -"

"He's the boss." John interrupted suddenly, and Rose smiled a little.

"That's right. Told you your memory'd come back soon enough." John frowned - he had no idea how he'd known that, even though he was sure he'd worked in that building. "Look," she continued, walking slowly to the door. "I've asked dad - Mr Tyler, I mean - to check the records for your name, but I can't promise he'll find anything. But if he does, I'll probably see you at Torchwood. Oh yeah, and you'd better have this back." she took a few steps forward and threw the leather wallet onto the bed a couple of inches in front of John's hands, which flicked open to reveal his ID card. She walked forward a few more steps.

"But that's…" she blinked, but it was still there, clear as the sky outside. She looked up at John, who showed no emotion, and then turned around quickly and walked out of the door.

'I'm going mad, I'm going mad, I'm going mad, I'm going mad…' she thought as she power-walked down the halls of the hospital, suddenly feeling quite sick. 'This is just wrong. A man who looks like the Doctor but has no idea and is, quite frankly, a bit of a nutter. ID cards that disappear randomly in front of your eyes. It's all this paperwork - it's getting to me at last.'

And with that through, she burst out of the double-doors at the entrance to the hospital, practically leapt into her car, and raced home to have a long, soothing bath.

Aww, poor Rose is going mad. Or is she? And if any of you thought you saw the VERY important but only VERY briefly mentioned 'thing' in this chapter that will tell you everything you need to know about the plot, let me know with a subtle review. But don't give the game away for those that didn't see it.

All will become clear next chapter. :cue dramatic music:

Review please! And it's Silence in the Library tomorrow! Whooo! Enjoy it! :)