~oOo~

For the next four days Rose threw herself into her work. She was not avoiding John, not really. They had talked on the phone a couple times as well as had a few casual conversations when they ran into each other. However there had been no more meals together, not since that first night.

There was a looming deadline for her new project to think about. At least that's what she kept telling herself. They had texted back and forth a few times since the awkward ending to their evening out. If she was entrusted with keeping the human John Smith safe then she couldn't just ignore him. She just didn't have a whole lot of time to spend with him right now. That caused her to feel almost equal amounts of relief and guilt.

She was conflicted, very conflicted. Her life now was fantastic and she loved it, loved everyone in it, and she didn't know if she wanted to be caught up in the Doctor's slipstream again. She needed someone to talk to because right now she couldn't trust herself to make any kind of decisions.

Setting her take away down on the counter and slipping off her shoes, she made a decision. It was time to call Jack. It was half six here and would be well past midnight In Cardiff. Thankfully her impossible friend didn't sleep much. She just hoped she didn't catch him and Ianto in their naked shenanigans time. Activating the vid-com she kept in the lounge, she placed the call and plopped down on the sofa, tablet in hand. A moment later Jack's face filled the screen.

"Hello, gorgeous. Long time no talk." Jack was chipper as always. And thankfully not naked. Rose could see his rolled up shirt sleeves and typical braces.

"Oh, you know, work just keeps me busy. My newest project has to be ready to roll out by the end of the month. And you know what a tight-arse my boss is."

"Might I remind you, you're your own boss but I must say that you have a very tight arse. Still think you should come work with me. I miss you. When are you coming to visit?"

"Oh Jack, I miss you too and I've got a holiday planned after the New Year and stop asking me to come work at Torchwood. You know I'm probably going to end up there eventually. After things start to become noticeable." She waved a hand around her face. "You're gonna be stuck with me for a long time. Might as well get some experience on my own first." She cleared her throat. "But that's not why I called. I have a little bit of a tricky situation on my hand."

Leaning into the camera, he asked, "What's wrong, Rosie?"

Rose stifled the urge to roll her eyes. Jack was the only person that she would ever allow to call her Rosie. "I'm sending you a file. Watch it and then we'll talk." Pressing a few quick commands on her tablet she sent him the Doctor's message and rules that she'd downloaded from the TARDIS. While he watched, she went and grabbed her dinner. She was just settling back down when Jack finished watching the videos.

He chuckled. "I love how I got my very own rules."

"I thought you might get a kick out of that," Rose laughed.

He peppered her with rapid-fire questions. "So he's really there? And he has no clue who you are? Have you seen him as this human yet? Any idea how long it's been for him?"

"Of course he's really him, either that or someone managed to clone a one-hearted version of him. He doesn't remember anything about the Doctor because the Doctor is trapped in a fob watch. John and I had dinner a couple nights ago. He's been here less than a week. And I have no idea how long it's been. Could be a hundred years or a few months."

"You went on a date with John Smith? I mean I know that you missed him, but that's a little fast for you." He was grinning from ear to ear. "And more importantly, what does Liam think about it?"

"Stop it. It wasn't like that. If I need to keep the Doctor safe I need to at least be friends with him. I mean her seemed interested but I can't. I just can't. Besides I haven't seen him since that night."

"If I were you, I'd be getting that man in bed…"

Quickly Rose cut him off. "Yes, Jack, I know exactly what you'd do." He gave her a cheeky grin and she shook her head. "Now focus for a mo. Have you ever heard of the Family of Blood? Sounds ominous, I know, but how big a threat are they really?"

"Off the top of my head I don't recall having heard of them. But I'll check the Torchwood archives and see if I can come up with anything." Jack let out a deep sigh. "Are you okay? I mean, you haven't seen or heard from the Doctor in ten years; it must be overwhelming to say the least."

"He's not the Doctor, Jack, he said so himself." She didn't bother to correct him on the point of not hearing from the Doctor in that time. Although flowers, a necklace and one card didn't really count as contact, did they? "The Doctor is in the watch. I'll keep it safe and John safe because that's what he asked me to do. And in three months we'll go our separate ways again."

"Are you sure that's what you really want? For you both to walk away from something great again?"

Rose bit her lip. It wasn't a question that she wanted to answer right now, if ever. "Jack, I can't right now. Let me know if you find anything. Gotta run."

"I know when I'm getting the brush off, sweetheart, even though it doesn't happen often. Just promise you'll think about what you want to happen when all of this is over."

Rolling her eyes, Rose promised him she'd think about it, even if such thoughts were against her better judgment. "I'll talk to you soon. Night, Jack. Love you."

"G'night, sweetheart. Love ya too." He winked at her before signing off.

Rose snuggled into the sofa and picked at her dinner. Calling Jack had only made her feel nominally better. Tomorrow, she resolved that she would have to see John again, get to know him. She would take this one day at a time and hoped that her heart didn't caught up in the mix.

~oOo~

On Friday morning, John settled into the booth he'd been using at the café for the last several days. The kitchen in his flat was not at all conducive to cooking, and this place had wonderful pancakes.

The waitress, Carol Ann, placed a cup of coffee in front of him. The woman was middle aged, fairly pretty, ginger and more than a bit of a flirt. John mostly bumbled through conversations with her when she was flirting, He didn't want to encourage her but apparently, as Rose had predicted, many of the women in this town took his friendly demeanor and British accent as tantamount to him being a Lothario. Not exactly the reputation that he wanted to have.

"Mind if I join you?" Rose asked, sliding into the booth across from him. She looked as if she had just been out for a jog; her golden hair tied back in a ponytail and she was wear a lavender tracksuit and trainers.

"Yeah, sure," he replied with a smile. He'd spent the last two days analyzing every moment of their dinner. After its abrupt ending he'd assumed that he had done something wrong, but Rose had texted him the next day. She had said that she was busy with work, however she hoped to see him soon. Since then it had been nothing but text messages, a phone call and a chance encounter or two.

He thought that he had scared her off but here she was, sitting across from him.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked as Carol Ann set mug of coffee down in front of her.

"No, I'm just happy to see you again." He smiled shyly at her.

"John, you didn't tell us that you knew Rose here," the waitress said, resting her hand on his arm. "Are you two kin or something?"

Scooting slightly across the bench seat, he managed to get Carol Ann to let go of him. "Nope, not related what so ever, nope, nope, nope." He was babbling and he knew it. Rose leaned over the table and laid her hand over his and he instantly felt a warmth flow through him.

"We just met Saturday. John slipped on the sidewalk outside my house. I brought him in and made sure he was all right." Rose squeezed his hand, and he turned his over so that their palms were touching.

"Just hit it off." John smiled first at their waitress and then at Rose. "It's nice to have someone to remind you of home."

"So are you two… you know? Together?" Carol Ann asked, sounding a bit dazed.

A small giggle escaped Rose's lips. "I never kiss and tell." Rose squeezed his hand before letting go. Immediately, he missed the connection to her. However, he was confused by what his breakfast companion had just intimated about a relationship between them.

"Can I get oatmeal with brown sugar and a side of toast, please?" Rose asked, smiling in spite of the strange look the waitress was giving them. "What did you want, John?"

Quickly, he ordered what was to become his usual, banana pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. The moment the waitress collected the menus and turned around Rose moved her hand from underneath John's. Immediately he felt its loss. He looked over at Rose, confusion all over his face.

She smiled. "Carol Ann is on the prowl," she whispered. "Looking for a husband, a way out of this town, and you could take her pretty far away from here. I just figured if she thought you were unavailable, she'd leave you alone."

His eyes scanned the room until he saw the subject of their discussion. "Well, Carol Ann looks like she might be quite the catch, buuuuut," he drew out the word as he leaned back into his seat. "I'm not looking to settle down just yet and for the moment, I'm very happy here with my new friend, Rose."

For a moment she didn't react and he was afraid that he'd said something wrong. Then she laughed. Her next question was a complete non sequitur. "Do you like running?"

"Oh, I love it." He leaned forward again, elbows on the table. "Haven't had a chance to do much since I arrived here. Takes a while to acclimatize to the altitude."

"I'll say," agreed Rose. "I've seen people sick for a week when they first get here. You seem to be doing alright though; appetite doesn't seem to have suffered."

He gave her a wry smile. "Guess I was just blessed with good genes."

A single eyebrow shot up as she looked at him appraisingly. "Not that good."

"Oi!" The protestation came out louder than he meant it to.

The expression on her face changed. She looked dead serious, and he felt himself get just the slightest bit nervous. "Alright, then you can prove to me just how good those genes are." There was something about her. He'd known her such a short period of time but he felt like he would live or die by her good favor. He wanted more from her, but he knew he'd have to hold back if he didn't want to scare her off.

His voice caught on his next words. "What.. What did you have in mind?" Anticipation built as he waited for her to reply. Right now he was certain that he would do anything that she asked of him.

Leaning forward on her elbows she mirrored his position and one corner of her mouth curled upwards. "Running, five miles every morning. All types of terrain. I bet you won't be able to keep up with me."

The mood shifted to a more jovial one. "Oh, I think I can more than keep up with you. I think you will be, what's the saying?" He paused and grinned wickedly at her. "Oh yes. Eating my dust, Rose Tyler."

"You're on." She grinned back. "Meet me at my place six am tomorrow, sharp."

The rest of breakfast was enjoyable. The pair enjoyed an easy back and forth style of banter. An hour later when John finally made it back to his flat, he felt inspired. Cracking open his laptop, he began to type. Words flowed easily from his fingers. His muse had been found in the beautiful, intelligent, spitfire known as Rose Marion Tyler. He was so wrapped up in his writing that he didn't pause to think how he knew her middle name since she had never once mentioned it to Mr. John Smith.

~oOo~

Rose sat at her desk in her office several days later. Her eyes had begun to glaze over as she entered her third hour of redoing her department's budget. Unconsciously, she rubbed her the ring finger on her left hand with her thumb. This was by far the worst part of her job, the paper work. She would much rather be in her lab or meeting with investors or clients.

Tea, she needed tea and thank God that her assistant knew how to make a decent cuppa. She hit the intercom. "Clara? Can I bother you for some tea?"

"Yes, ma'am," the thick southern American accent came thru the callbox. "Anything else?"

"No, thank you." Rose released the button and tried to go back to her work. After a few minutes she gave it up as a bad job and closed that file and opened another one. Her fingers nimbly typed the password, Iamnotamused. She had only looked at this file once since she had been here and only a handful of times since she'd created it ten years ago.

It was her diary, sort of. Really it was a written compilation of her experiences. She'd scanned in all of the pictures that she had taken with her, which was only about half of the ones that had been in her room on the TARDIS. There was no doubt in her mind that her room was gone now. Probably destroyed by the Doctor soon after she left. Maybe the ship had saved the pictures. It had been a mistake to leave so many behind with her second Doctor.

...

John was restless. He'd woken early after having the strangest dream. There had been time to write before his run with Rose. After breakfast, he'd run to the bookshop in town to buy a journal. There were several things from his dreams that he had wanted to sketch.

Following that he took a leisurely walk around town, something he liked to do even after his run in the morning. Time spent with Rose made him feel alive and this time spent meandering helped him to process the inspiration that she gave him into the written word. In fact, he had finished chapter two just after lunch but didn't have the desire or motivation to move on to the next chapter.

He wanted to do things that didn't involve sitting. His energy was spent cleaning his small flat, trying to get rid of that slightly stale air smell that never seemed to go away. Maybe he could ask Rose round this evening to watch a film. Of course after that he became fixated on the fascinating woman that he was so enamored with.

Quickly, he decided that he needed to see her. She had worked straight through the weekend; apparently there was some deadline that had to be met. At breakfast this morning, however, Rose had told him that the project was now complete, and she would be spending the day doing boring paperwork. That was no way to spend the day! No, this was a rescue mission.

It was a short walk across town to her office. In a few minutes he was opening the door to Rose's office building for the first time. Looking around he saw nothing extraordinary about the place. There were some fairly uncomfortable looking chairs, motivational posters that were more entertaining than motivational. A high receptionist's desk sat opposite the door; behind it sat a pretty young woman. She beamed at him when she caught his eye.

"Hello, how can I help you today?" the woman asked.

"I'm here to see someone," John replied, coming over and leaning on the desk, his head in his hand.

"Anyone in particular? Or are you open to someone new?" The woman with dark blonde hair walked her fingers up his arm until her hand rested on his bicep. "Because I'm available."

"Ahhh, ummm," John spluttered, unsure of what to do next.

"That's enough, Joan," another woman with a thick southern accent and long brown hair said, saving John from the uncomfortable situation. "Can I help you, sir?"

He scrambled to stand up straight. "Yes, I'm here to see Ms. Rose Tyler."

"Ms. Tyler is very busy today. Do you have an appointment, Mr...?"

"Smith, John Smith, and no, I don't have an appointment. I'm here to whisk her away for a day of adventure." John shifted from one foot to the other; perhaps he should have called first. Between the aggressive flirt and the keeper of the keys, he wasn't sure that he'd get to see Rose.

"Please wait here while I see if Ms. Tyler is available." She turned to address the receptionist. "Ms. Redfern, please find a way to behave with some decorum."

Joan looked down at her hands. "Yes, Ms. Oswald."

Turning on her heel, the petite Ms. Oswald walked back down a hallway, into the bowels of the building.

...

There was a knock at the office door, and Rose abruptly shut the file. "Come in." She turned to see who was there and smiled when she saw Clara holding a steaming mug of tea.

"Here you are. Just how you like it." The young brunette set Rose's favorite mug on the corner of her desk. "Just received a call from Mr. Copper confirming that you would be in Denver on Friday to meet with a new investor. Your mother called again; she'd like for you to call her back when you get a chance. She has Sophie today and thought that you'd like to have a chat. Also there is a gentleman in the lobby who said he's here to, let me get the phrasing right. Oh yes. He was here to whisk you away for a day of fun and adventure."

Rose smiled. "Right. Let me guess, he's a good looking, tall, skinny bloke with a great head of hair that calls himself John Smith?"

Wrinkling her nose, Clara replied, "Well, he's really not my type, but I guess he's nice looking. The dragon lady certainly seems to think so. Do you want me to let him in or send him away?"

"I don't think it would work if you tried to send him away, and I think I could use the distraction today. Give me a mo to finish up here and I'll meet him in the lobby. Oh, and get him a visitor's badge. Might as well give him a tour while he's here."

"Yes, ma'am." Clara gave her boss a wink before walking back out of the office.

...

"Ugh, she is such a stick in the mud." Joan rolled her eyes before batting her lashes at John. "So like I was saying before, did you want to get a drink later?"

His eyes went wide. Were all American women this forward? "Erm…No, thank you. I'm not really on the market right now. Sorry." Walking backwards, he sat down in a chair and pulled out his mobile.

"Are you married?" Joan pressed on, apparently not deterred by his not so subtle brush off.

"No," he replied, not bothering to look up at her.

"You got a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Oh…" She paused for a moment and he thought that finally she'd gotten the message. "So you're not into women then? A little light in your loafers?"

He looked up at her astounded. "What?"

"We just don't get many of the gays around here." She made air quotes with her fingers when she said gays. "Well, some do vacation at the resort and some come into see our quaint little town. So you're welcome here, I guess."

Now he was livid. Slowly he walked over to her desk and leaned over it. "Do you know what year this is?"

Joan raised an eyebrow. "Are you are insane too? It's 2016."

"Exactly. It's 2016, and that kind of narrow minded thinking isn't going to get you very far in life." Anger grew in his eyes. "And what does it say about you that you jump to conclusions about my life simply because I'm not interested in you. Maybe you're the nutter since you don't seem to grasp the subtlety of being let down easy. I'll be having a word with your boss about your treatment of visitors to this business. I'm sure that you are not the image that this company, or any company for that matter would want to portray."

Joan stood and got into his face. "You have no right. I'll have you know that my father works here, and you just took things the wrong way." She picked up the receiver on her phone. "I'm calling security."

"That will be enough Ms. Redfern. It is completely unacceptable to treat a visitor like this," Ms. Oswald reprimanded, coming back into the room.

"Ma'am, this man verbally assaulted me." Joan pointed a short finger at John. "I want him kicked out of here and banned from the building. I may even need to go home because of all the abuse."

Ms. Oswald pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just stop it, Joan. You seem to forget that there are cameras in the lobby and audio feeds."

"That's a violation of my rights," Joan protested loudly.

"And those rights end when you walk through those doors. In your contract it clearly states that everything here is monitored." Sighing, Ms. Oswald turned to John. "I'm very sorry for all of this, Mr. Smith."

"Call me John," he replied automatically.

"And you, John, can call me Clara." She grinned brightly at him. "If you'll come with me, I need to get you a security badge before I take you back to see Rose. I'll deal with you later, Joan," she said in an aside to the younger woman before they disappeared down the hallway.