Rose emerged slowly from sleep, and for a moment bathed contentedly in the streams of sunlight seeping through the thin white curtains to her right. But before she could move or stretch a horrible crushing ache plummeted down over her limbs, and she groaned in surprise and pain.

There was, at once, a rush of movement to her right and, on a delay, the sound of a curtain being thrust aside to her left. There was a pause. Rose kept her eyes shut, not wanting to provoke her viciously aching body.

Her mum's voice, in a harsh whisper: "No, she's just woken up. No thanks to you, I might add. I've half a mind to kick you out, you know, after what's happened —"

"Mum, leave him alone," said Rose indistinctly. It was more an automatic response than anything; Jackie was speaking in what she recognized as her mum's 'Doctor' voice.

There was another pause overhead, and hand brushed her hair away from her forehead.

"All right, sweetheart, if that's what you want." And to the Doctor: "Five minutes, no more, and I'll be back to check on her." Jackie's presence swept away and a moment later came the sound of a door opening and closing, and silence.

Rose opened her eyes and there was the Doctor standing over her with a grimace on his face, wearing the same tattered suit he had been in the last trip in the TARDIS... the TARDIS!

"What happ... did we save them?" she asked blearily.

The Doctor sucked in a breath and said, "No. No, they died."

"What — all of them?"

The Doctor nodded, and suddenly sat down hard in a chair beside Rose's bed and covered his face with his hands. With an exclamation Rose tried to sit up, but the pain in her limbs drove her down, so she reached out and drew his hands gently away from his face and saw that he had tears on his cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he said. His voice, at least, was steady but his gaze burned into Rose in a way she wasn't at all sure she liked. It was a look she had once seen at Canary Wharf. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. I was just too slow. It's not your fault."

"But it is, though. If I'd never taken you —"

"Don't be stupid," said Rose. "Anyway it's not your fault. I can take care of myself, you know." She attempted a smile, but dropped it when he did not respond in kind. "My mum's been talking to you, hasn't she? You shouldn't let her get to you like that..."

The Doctor's voice was firm and quiet. "We need to stop."

"No, you can't... you promised you'd never leave me behind." She knew she was in the right on this one. "You can't."

"Rose — Rose, I mean us. Both of us. Traveling. It's time to stop."

She stared at him, openmouthed, as his meaning dawned on her.

"You mean — we're gonna stop traveling."

"Yeah."

"Both of us."

"Yes."

"And you're — you're going to just, stay here, in boring old England on Planet Earth forever?"

"Yes."

Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Okay."

They stared at each other for a long minute in silence. Then Rose said, "But what about the TARDIS? You'd give up the TARDIS for — for domestic?"

This time, he looked up and gave her one of his slow, bright-eyed smiles. "You are worth more to me than a hundred years in the TARDIS — and believe me, I've had a few. But I can have that sort of life now. That adventure. But maybe..." He drew in a breath. "Maybe we need to stay in one place long enough to have it."

Rose smiled. There was a flower blooming in her heart. She hadn't realized, really, until now just how wonderful that sounded.

"Okay."