Big thanks to my lovely friend lastincurableromatic for beta'ing this story. The first draft of story is now done and I'm just working on editing. So hopefully the updates won't take so long next time.

~oOo~

John's dreams of the Doctor haunted him even now while his human life threatened to slip away.

He was the Doctor again. He could see time stretch out in front of him, feel the turn of the Earth beneath his feet, but he couldn't stop her from leaving him. She just kept walking away, his perfect Rose. Pain, hurt and sadness, he could feel them all as he watched her leave him. But they weren't just his feelings, they were hers too. He'd hurt her, pushed her away until she broke.

"Rose," he called after her, but she didn't come back to him, didn't even turn around. She just kept moving forward, moving away from him.

Her voice was carried on the wind. "Have a fantastic life." How could he possibly do that without her?

~oOo~

Liam pulled Rose's SUV into a parking spot outside the Emergency Room. When she had called him earlier, he could hear the panic in her voice. Rose Tyler didn't do scared, at least not very often. There had been an accident and John had lost a lot of blood, not to mention being exposed to the elements for God knows how long. Thankfully it hadn't been later in the season or he'd be a goner for sure. As it was, it was touch and go. Things were so bad that Rose had asked him to bring the fob watch. She hadn't said exactly why she needed it but if he had to guess, he'd say it was to bring the Doctor back before John died. Better to regenerate than die altogether.

There had been a moment, a brief moment, when Liam had contemplated denying her request and letting nature take its course. However, that wasn't the kind of man he was. The Universe needed the Doctor and who was Liam Donnelly to let him die?

Not to mention that Aunt Sarah Jane would box his ears, or worse.

With the fob watch safely tucked in an inside coat pocket, Liam made his way inside the hospital to find Rose.

She was pacing in the waiting room. Quietly, he walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "How is he?" he asked quietly.

"Thank god you're here." She buried her head in his chest. "It's bad, really bad. He lost a lot of blood, and I'm not sure how long he was out there before I found him. If I hadn't picked that trail…."

"Don't think like that," he whispered, one of his hands rubbed her back soothingly. "You found him, and he'll be fine."

With a nod, Rose pulled back from the hug. "Did you bring the watch?" She wiped a few stray tears away from her eyes.

"Yeah, course." He dug in his pocket and pulled out the heavy metal object and held it out to her. For a moment, she hesitated before taking it.

"Thank you for bringing it. I would have gotten it myself but… Just having it here, I don't feel so helpless." Looking up at him, one corner of her mouth twitched. "It must have been hard for you to not toss it out the window on your way here."

Liam chuckled. "I won't say it didn't cross my mind, but I'm must admit I was a little afraid of what would happen to me if I chucked away the consciousness of the last of the Time Lords."

A soft sob escaped Rose's throat. "I'm pretty sure that there are several planets where you would be heralded as a hero for that." She forced herself to relax a little and let him lead her to a chair. "I can think of half a dozen off the top of my head that have banned us, and I only travelled with him for a little over a year. Imagine how many he managed to tick off in 900 years." Her hands tightened on the watch.

"Probably half as many as he saved, darling." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and noticed how cold she was. "What happened to your jacket?"

"Hmm?" She had been gazing at the watch but her eyes shot up to meet his. "Oh, I used it to try and keep the Doctor warm when I found him. It was still with him in the ambulance. Don't know where it's gotten to now."

His arm tightened around her. "Well, I can't have you catching a chill. It's bleeding cold in here." Shrugging out of his coat, he wrapped it around her shoulders. "I'll go see what they have in the gift shop. You fancy a cuppa too?"

"Yeah," she said with a small nod. "That'd be great. Thanks, Li."

~oOo~

He needed to give her a few days apart from him. Maybe if he gave her some space she would come back to him. Maybe he could think of some way to convince her how much he needed her. The Doctor in the TARDIS with Rose, as it should be.

Seven years, not seven days. How could he be so stupid? Big gigantic brain of his and he couldn't get the date right!

Rose's mother hadn't been surprised to see him. Had, in fact, nattered on about all the things that had happened since his last visit a few months ago. Apparently, he would go back into his own timeline, but why hadn't she asked him where Rose was? Surely if this was a one off trip into his future, he would have had Rose with him normally.

The answer to that question came in the form of a photograph. A man the Doctor had never seen before stood behind Rose, his arms wrapped low around her waist. His mind barely registered Jackie saying something about Rose's boyfriend through his hurt. He'd messed up the date when trying to get back, and she had moved on.

Had she thought that he'd forgotten about her? That he would give up on her that easily?

~oOo~

If it hadn't been for the sterile white walls and the constant, low beeping of the medical equipment, Rose could have convinced herself that this was Christmas ten years ago, the Doctor peacefully sleeping after his regeneration and Rose completely in the dark as to what to do next. That time she hadn't known what to do either.

It looked like he had been out for an early morning run and had fallen. His temple had struck a rock when he landed. Facial wounds tended to bleed profusely and that's why he'd lost so much blood. The doctors theorized that he had to have been there for at least an hour, if not more. The doctors said that John had been lucky to be found when he was and that he should make a full recovery. Part of her was worried about what effects the blood transfusion that he'd required would do to his body once he became a full Time Lord again. Or would the blood have cycled out of his body by then?

Her fingers tightened around his hand, willing him to wake up even though the she had been assured that he would most likely sleep through the night. Still, she wanted to see for herself that he was alright. It had been nearly twelve hours since she had found him lying on that mountain trail, and the light peeking the windows told her that dusk was beginning to fall.

Inside the pocket of the fleece jacket that Liam had bought her at the gift shop sat the Doctor's consciousness in the form of the fob watch. She had been tentative about taking it when Liam had brought it earlier because she remembered what had happened the last time she touched it. Later she had asked him if he heard anything when he held it. When he'd said no, she thought that she must just be a nutter then.

Or maybe it was just her that could connect to the Doctor in the watch. Every time she held it she could hear his voice in her head, and she would see flashes of what were presumably his memories. She couldn't make much sense of what she saw, but she could hear the longing in his voice when he said her name.

Part of her felt guilty for leaving the Doctor alone, but she had made her choice just as he had made his. Besides from what she had been able to piece together, the Doctor had started traveling with Martha fairly soon after she left. Certainly there had been many more in the years since. If she had learned nothing else in the last decade, it was that she was just one in a long line. Rose stood up, let go of his hand and went to stand by the window. Her back was to the man lying in the bed.

This, her life, her relationships with John, Liam and the Doctor, everything it was all so bleeding complicated. She had been happy here, a little lonely perhaps being so far from home. Overall, however, she had been happy.

Then the TARDIS had landed in her basement, and the Doctor had breezed back into her life in the form of John Smith. She felt alive again when she was with him. Despite the claim that the Doctor had made in his message to her, that John was in no way the Doctor, he was so wrong. Every day, she had seen the Doctor poking through. John was that part of the Doctor that he never let himself be. It had been so easy to fall down that rabbit hole again.

Reality had slapped her in the face when Liam arrived. Her sweet Liam, who was currently on a coffee run while she stays at another man's bedside. She loved him and Sophie. They had been a family. They were still such a big part of her life and always would be. Things may not have worked out the way that she thought they would but that didn't mean that she should just walk away. Did it?

"Excuse me, ma'am," a nurse said from the doorway. "Visiting hours will be ending in fifteen minutes."

Rose blinked in surprise. "Oh, I thought visitors were allowed till half nine. It's not even six."

"Not on Sundays, visiting hours end at six on Sundays." She walked over and pushed a syringe into John's IV line. "Just something to let him sleep a little longer and let him heal a little more and you won't miss him waking up."

Disappointment filled her. "If he does wake up before I get back, will you... will you tell him that Rose was here and that I'll be back as soon as I can?"

"Yes ma'am," the nurse responded before making a notation on John's chart.

~oOo~

Engaged. She was engaged to that man, that simple human man and the Doctor felt something inside him shatter. Rage, hurt, grief, defeat and overwhelming sorrow filled him. He beat a hasty retreat from Jackie's flat. There was no doubt in his mind that he was running away. As much as he begrudgingly liked the woman, he couldn't stand around and listen to her yammer on about her daughter's wedding ideas.

It was only a small star in a long dead solar system. No indigenous people would be harmed by the sun's destruction. Standing in the open doorway of the TARDIS while the ship orbited the now dying sun, he could feel the power of what he had done. Blowing up a sun did little to soothe the irrational sensation of utter betrayal that he felt. He knew that even eight years on for her and fifteen or so for him since they had parted ways, that she had no obligation to him. He had betrayed her first, made his bed and now he had to lie in it. That knowledge didn't make any of this less painful.

~oOo~

"I've been meaning to ask you," Liam began as he pulled onto the main road, heading towards the hospital the following morning. "Your engagement ring, why aren't you wearing it?"

Rose turned away from the window to look at him. "You want to talk about this now? The Doctor, I mean, John is in hospital."

"I know that." A muscle twitched in Liam's jaw as he clenched his teeth. "But we need to talk about this. I have to go back to London in a few days and I was hoping to have things settled between us before I left. I spent the last year working the system to get the last of Gemma's visitation rights revoked so that Sophie and I could join you out here and I arrive to find you babysitting the Doctor and not wearing your engagement ring. Part of me can't help but wonder if the two things aren't related."

'Well, they're not," Rose countered tersely before turning back towards the window. "Can we please just not do this right now?"

Liam sighed, not quite ready to give up on this conversation. However he knew Rose well enough to know that any attempts at rational conversation wouldn't go over well right now. "Fine, I'll drop it for a little while, but you can't just push me out forever."

"Thank you," Rose whispered, leaning her head against the glass.

For the rest of the drive, Liam kept stealing glances at her, wondering what she was thinking, what she was feeling. As he pulled up in front of the hospital once more, he noticed that she tensed. When she stood outside of John's room she looked slightly apprehensive. After Rose sat down next to the bed and curled her fingers around the sleeping man's hand, he watched her relax for the first time since they had gone home last night. A bitter pang of jealousy punched him in the gut. He hated having to stand here and watch his fiancée comfort another man. And not just any man at that.

"Rose, darling, I'm going to grab a cuppa from the canteen. Can I get you something?" He needed to get away from the room before he said something he might regret or do something to the unconscious man.

She didn't turn to look at him. "Sounds great, thank you."

Slipping from the room, Liam knew that he might just have a fight on his hands. A fight that he didn't intend to lose.

~oOo~

He shouldn't be here. It wasn't his place to say anything to this man. Yet he still waited for Rose's betrothed outside the house of one of his dearest friends. He wanted to blame Sarah Jane for this. For introducing Rose to her godson. For encouraging Rose to move on from him.

But that wasn't fair. He would keep his anger directed at the man who had the life that he wanted, a life with Rose in it on a daily basis. It was the kind of like that he could never have and the Doctor would make sure that Liam Donnelly would know that there would be consequences if he ever hurt Rose.

The Doctor's perfect Rose.

~oOo~

There was something warm and soft in his hand, his fingers instinctively curled around it as he began to stir. Eyelids began to flutter as he slowly opened his eyes. For a moment his vision was blurry, and he couldn't make out anything but shapes. His throat burned, and his mouth was dry. "Water," he said in a raspy voice as he tried unsuccessfully to sit up.

A straw was at his lips. "Slow sips," a familiar reassuring female voice soothed him. "Liam, go get a nurse, please," she ordered someone else who was in the room.

His head felt fuzzy and like it weighed a ton. He raised his fingers to his temple, trying to rub away the dull ache. "Ow," he flinched when he made contact with his head and the dull pain was replaced with a searing one.

"Careful, John, you took a pretty nasty fall, and you don't want to pull out the stitches," Rose's voice calmly reassured him as she took his hand. Her name was Rose, he remembered that now. But he didn't remember where he was or how he had gotten here.

"Where am I?" he asked softly.

Her fingers clenched around his and she set down the cup of water. "There was an accident. You're in hospital." That was all she was able to tell him before a doctor and two nurses pushed past her and relegated her to a corner of the room with another man. Liam, that man was Liam, Rose's sort of fiancé. Everything was flooding back now and he could answer all the questions that he was now being bombarded with by the medical staff. He kept his eyes on her whenever he could. After several minutes of being poked and prodded, the medical professional declared that he was doing well and could continue to have visitors as long as no one upset the patient.

"Shouldn't you be at work today?" John asked softly when there were only three people left in the drab hospital room.

Her grin looked a bit forced. "Called in sick. I didn't..." She turned and looked over her shoulder at the other man. "We, Liam and I, didn't want you to wake up alone." Walking over, she laid a hand on John's arm. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I fell and hit my head," he chuckled dryly, "second time that's happened since I met you."

Rose's hand clenched on his arm. "Only this time you could have... you could have died."

He had to look away from her for a moment. The hurt and fear in her eyes was almost too much to bear. "Just a bit jeopardy friendly, me."

Rose's hand fell from his arm and she turned to look away, distracted. Before she could say anything else Liam spoke up. "We're glad you're alright, mate. Both of us have been here the entire time. Except for when they made us go home last night. But we came back as soon as visiting hours opened up."

"Glad you're gonna be alright." Rose shifted her stance, looking more confident. "Don't scare me like that again, mister."

Painfully, John nodded. "I'll try, Rose. No guarantees though." He licked his dry lips. "I like a life of adventure." His eyes began to drift shut and sleep tried to drag him back under. There was the sound of a chair scraping across the floor and he felt a small hand fit into his. Rose squeezed and he let himself fall back to sleep, letting his mind and body heal.

His hand slackened in hers, and Rose sighed. It was scary that even being awake for that short period of time, forty-five minutes maybe, had taken so much out of him. The hand not holding his pulled the pocket watch from her pocket.

"Do you think we're out of the woods for needing the watch?" Liam asked, leaning up against the wall.

Nodding slightly, Rose spoke, "I think so. The doctors said that once he woke up and was coherent, we'd most likely be out of the woods. And even in this form, the Doctor's strong, you know."

"So I've been told," he replied dryly, pushing off the wall and crossing the room. "Do you want me to take the watch back home? Put it back in the safe?" He wrapped his fingers around her hand and the watch.

Immediately, Rose wrenched her hand away. "No! I mean not right now, Li." She took a shaky breath. "I'll put it back later, when they release him from hospital. Thank you for offering. I just want to take care of it myself. Alright?"

Liam held up his hands in surrender. "Sure, no problem. I'm feeling a bit peckish. I'll just head down to the café and grab a bite. You want anything?"

Rose turned to him and grinned. "That'd be great. Not sure what they have today but just grab what you think I'd like. You know well enough."

Without answering, Liam turned and headed out of the hospital room. At the door he stopped and turned to look at the woman he loved sitting vigil at 'the Doctor's' bedside. Maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought he did. Or maybe this was just another manifestation of the compassionate woman he'd always known. Either way, he wasn't just going to let her slip through his fingers.

A few hours later, after Liam had come to take Rose home and the nurse had gone back to her station, there was no one around to hear John Smith softly call out for the woman he loved in a language that no one left in the Universe spoke.