A/N: this takes place in Pete's World, just to clarify :)

Rose

Rose woke up again, in the same room she was in not 24 hours before. Or had it been longer? She couldn't tell; there were no windows in her cell, save for the aperture in the door behind her.

Rose closes her eyes and feels tears slide down her face once more. The Doctor had plagued her dreams before; she could have sworn she saw him sitting with his feet up on a coffee table not two weeks ago. She had heard his voice, too, but never that clearly. Last night was real, she knows it.

She hears the familiar click of the electric lock behind her, and steels herself for another firm chastising, perhaps a warning of solitary confinement for good measure.

As predicted, Dr. Stone comes in the room and sits upon the foam mattress opposite her.

"Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose," he says sadly, looking at her as if she were a badly cracked porcelain doll.

Rose's tears seem to dry up from the heat radiating from her face. She was angry now.

"Stone," she spits (she had refused to call him Doctor since day one), "I don't need your pity. I'm not a broken toy, nor am I a rabid beast! I am not insane, everything I've told you is true, just ask Torchwood, just talk to Captain Harkness, please talk to them, I'm not crazy!"

The tears are back now; she's struggling to keep them at bay.

Stone keeps the look of pity on his face, but it is coupled with frustration.

"Rosemary," -Rose flinches at the use of her real name- "we have looked into your claims, Torchwood doesn't exist, there are no records of Daleks or crying angels or metal men or anything like what you've described. You didn't even exist yourself until a month before you were first checked in to a hospital. Officially speaking, of course," he adds with a hollow chuckle. Rose is in complete distress, her face twisting with the effort of keeping the tears back.

"That's-because-he-erased-himself!" She chokes, "He didn't want-he didn't want-us to be in d-danger."

Dr. Stone gives her another sad smile. "Well, he didn't do a very good job now, did he?"

This is too much for poor Rose Tyler. She breaks down and starts crying, her silent sobs wracking her small body, which was thin from stress and malnourishment. All she wants to do is curl up in a ball and die, but even this small wish is denied by the straps and buckles holding her limbs in place.

Doctor

"GodDAMMIT, Richard!" The Doctor shouts, beating the TARDIS console with his fist, sending sparks shooting into the air. "You said she would be safe. You said she'd be happy!"

The man he was currently raging at sat on one of the makeshift seats strapped to the guard rail of the control platform. He was a tall, regal black man whose glasses sat on the tip of his nose. That combined with his hands placed under his chin in a steepled position gave him an air of intelligence and superiority.

"Yes, Doctor," he says with the attitude of speaking to a small, thick-headed child, "I said she would be safe, but never did I say happy. She's in a mental hospital, for God's sake!"

"I know, but you'd think we'd be able to find a way to get her out after 4 bloody months!" The Doctor yells back. "Just tell me we are a bit closer, just a bit, to finding a tear large enough to fit through to her universe."

Richard sighs, lowering his hands and looking at them clasped in his lap. "Yes, we are. But don't get your hopes up," he adds, noticing the Doctor's features lighting up, "it's still going to take time. It's one thing to get a few words into an experienced time-traveller's head, it's a completely different feat getting an entire TARDIS through a theoretical gap the size of a twenty-pence coin!"

The Doctor runs his hands through his spiky hair and sighs irritably and frustratedly. "Jesus Christ, Richard, do you think she even still wants to see me?"

Richard's gaze snaps up, a fire burning in his dark eyes. "Doctor, I'm not going to play this game with you."

"I'm not playing a bloody game, Richard-"

"Yes, you are! You're playing the 'Let's feel sorry for Doctor' game, you ask self-deprecating questions that we both full well know the answer to, and when I give you the answer you're looking for, be it truthful or complete bullshit, you either stalk off in a mood or you sigh forlornly and wallow in self-pity!"

The Doctor is taken aback by the sheer bluntness of Richard's words. He finds his voice before Richard can continue chastising him.

"Yeah, but did you hear what she was screaming? She was asking me why, why did I leave her, why am I torturing her with my presence, WHY haven't I come back for her!"

"And you can tell her when you find her again." Richard says with a finality. "But until then, you will just have to tell her to remember you. It's all she can do. It's rather a lot to do, actually, considering what they're going to do to her..."

"I know." The Doctor says, burying his head in his hands. "I know."