"The Void," she breathed, "I fell into the Void."

"You did," the Doctor confirmed in a strained voice. "You fell."

Rose wasn't quite sure how to handle that information. She couldn't really remember what the Void was exactly, but she knew it wasn't a happy place.

"Wha…what does that mean?" she asked slowly.

"To be honest Rose, I don't really know," the Doctor sighed. When he saw her skeptical look he added defensively, "I don't! It's not something that Time Lords wanted to mess around with."

"But 's bad, yeah?" she asked.

"The Doctor called it hell," her mum said in a choked voice.

Jackie and the Doctor continued talking, but Rose tuned them out. Hell? Well that was something. She had faced down the devil, so she guessed she shouldn't be so surprised that something like hell existed too. But the fact that she had been there herself…

"Rose," she snapped out of her daze when the Doctor laced his fingers through hers and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Sorry," she said, "Sorry, just…'s a lot."

"I know," the Doctor agreed, "Should we take a break? Do you want more to drink?"

"No," she shook her head, "M' ok. Wanna know."

"Alright," the Doctor said after taking her measure for a moment. "Yes, you fell into the Void, which some, I suppose, would call hell or a hell-like place. No one really knows what's there though. People who fall in without the protection of a capsule…well they don't ever come back out."

"But…I did."

"You did," he confirmed with a weak smile. For a moment they just stared at each other as if neither could believe the enormity it all. Her brain almost threatened to go dark again, but the steady brush of his thumb on the back of her hand kept her anchored.

Rose blinked when her mum spoke and the odd spell between her and the Doctor was broken. "The Doctor did it," Jackie beamed over at the Time Lord. "He stayed with us for weeks after we lost you, and then came to visit all the time once he went back out traveling. Then one day, he came calling, with breakfast and everything, and he told us he was gunna try to get you back."

Rose looked back and forth from her mum to the Doctor, though it made her dizzy. She was amazed not only with what her mum was saying about the Doctor hanging around, doing domestic, but also with the warmth in her mum's voice as she beamed at the Doctor.

"And you did," Rose finally said, wishing she could squeeze his hand. She settled for a grateful smile instead. "How long was I…?" She asked.

The Doctor let out a long sigh, "Ohhh probably about…thirteen, fourteen months, Earth time. Bit less for me. But legend says time works differently in the Void, or maybe doesn't exist at all."

And there was the pounding headache back again. Rose wasn't sure if it was knowing how long she'd been stuck there or the concept of time not existing, but it hurt to think about. Her heart ached too, at the thought of the Doctor on his own. And her Mum and Pete starting a new family without her. She'd missed so much.

"You ok?" the Doctor asked, giving her hand another squeeze.

"Dunno," she said honestly. After collecting herself for a few moments, she decided to press ahead. She was exhausted and wanted to understand the full shape of things before she drifted off again. Furrowing her brow against the pain that continued to escalate, she asked, "Why don't I 'member bein' there? Or comin' back? Why am I…" Broken she wanted to say, but couldn't get the word out.

"I don't know," the Doctor was apologetic, "You've been very ill, Rose. And I'm so sorry but I don't know why. I want to give you an answer though, and I think the closest I can get is to say it's a lot like you had a brain injury." Rose did not like the sound of that at all. She closed her eyes as another wave of pain and dizziness came over her.

"We didn't know if you'd ever wake up, ever come back to us," her Mum said sniffling.

"How long was I…" Rose asked, her voice muted with apprehension and fatigue.

"You've been back a few months now, but you weren't…well you were awake, sometimes, but not…not you. Not Rose Tyler," the Doctor said, "Sort of like a coma, I guess you could say."

She wanted to tell him that she still didn't feel like Rose Tyler. But she was too wrung out to cover anything but her most pressing questions.

"Will I…will I get better?" she asked and hated how tight and pitchy her voice was. She had to get better, right? She couldn't be like this and continue traveling with the Doctor. And the thought of having to go live with her mum…be taken care of like a helpless infant…she couldn't face it.

And god, she hurt. The pain pounding in her head and prickling over her skin was enough to make her breath catch. She couldn't feel this way forever. Pain was something that got better eventually. People got hurt, yeah, but then they healed, they got better.

The Doctor cupped the side of her face and wiped the tears off of her cheek, "Oh Rose, you're getting there. And we'll do everything we can. You are so, so strong. But it's going to take time."

Rose blinked through the stinging tears to look at the blurry shape of the Doctor. She had so much she wanted to ask, wanted to say, but all that came out was, "M' sorry," before she was crying too hard to get any more words out.

"Oh sweetheart," her mum said. There was some small commotion and she felt the bed dip and then strong hands easing her into her mum's arms. She cried as her mother held and rocked her like she had when Rose was very young. Well almost like back then. Now Jackie had a very large belly that was partly in the way. But they made do.

At some point she recognized the Doctor's reassuring voice and she focused on that.

"It's alright, Rose. It'll be alright. Just look how much better you're already doing. Just this morning you could barely talk or stay awake. Now you're asking questions, all the right questions. Just like you always do. And we'll be here with you the whole time, I promise."

His soft voice and the words he said were comforting, but she didn't know how he had such optimism. Yes, she was awake…for the moment, and now that he mentioned it, she was somewhat less muddled, but she was a far cry from running from werewolves or whatever type of trouble they tended to get themselves into. There was an awful long way for her to go to get from here to her old self. And she was so bloody tired...

She'd do it though. She'd do whatever she had to in order to get back to who she was. But…she'd do it later. With her most urgent questions answered, she let her puffy eyes close and drifted back off to sleep.