Revelations

SEVEN

It had been three days since Rose had returned to the flat, wearing only her pyjamas and the Doctor's suit jacket, shivering from the chill she had caught from being outside. Jackie had been with her from the moment she heard the door click shut; she had taken Rose's bags from her, and hadn't questioned straight away whether her daughter was planning on staying here permanently now - though Jackie wasn't going to deny that it was the first question she thought of asking after she asked if her daughter was alright (and, of course, she already knew the answer to that one).

That night, Rose had barely said a word to Jackie, not wanting to go into what she and the Doctor and talked about; not wanting to discuss what happened now. For that night, she had wanted to try and forget that any of it had happened, but knew that it was unlikely to stray from her mind for any longer than a mere few seconds. She didn't cry, she had felt almost too numb for that: both from the cold that she could still feel lingering in her bones and the shock that she didn't know would ever leave her.

Once she had gone to bed, hoping to get some sleep, but knowing it was unlikely, Rose couldn't help but let her mind wander to the Doctor and what he had told her. He hadn't wanted to forget what had happened and had admitted that he even tried to look out for her even when he had no idea who she had been. She had found it hard to believe that the Doctor's own people would make him forget, but then again, he never spoke about them to her - only when he had no other choice. She had no idea what they had been like, but she had always pictured them as the kind of people who were kind, unlike some of the other races she had encountered over the last couple of years. However, as she had lain there thinking over what had happened, she had started to wonder if that was just the way the Doctor had chosen to remember his people since he was the only one left.

It didn't slip from her mind the fact that, had the miscarriage never happened, that statement would no longer be true. She felt tears in her eyes at the thought of not only what she had lost, but the Doctor as well.

Her sorrow had soon turned into anger when her mind reminded her that he had left her behind all those years ago without so much as an explanation - despite what he had just told her.

Eventually, she had fallen into a troubled sleep, her last conscious thoughts surrounding the ideas of what was going to happen now and, more importantly, what she wanted to happen.

She never came up with an answer that night.

~oOo~

That had been what had happened three days ago. Now, Jackie was just plain worried. Despite the fact that she was still incredibly angry at the Doctor for what had happened and that she still didn't know the full extent of it, she knew that Rose was taking it very hard and wished for nothing more than for this whole mess to sort itself out - in whatever way possible.

She had hoped that something might happen the morning after. She had almost expected one of them to run to the other to talk, but that didn't happen. When Rose had woken that morning and made her way into the living room simply just to turn the television on, Jackie couldn't help but go into her room and look out the window. She hadn't been sure what she had been expecting, but she had half expected the Doctor to have vanished, his box with him. But, as she had looked out of the window, she could see the blue shape of the TARDIS still parked where it had been since it had arrived. So he hadn't left then?

Today was the same, as yesterday had been and the day before. Each day, Jackie had looked outside her bedroom window and seen the TARDIS in the same spot. She hadn't seen the Doctor himself, but she knew he was in there. Part of her knew why.

By the end of the third day, Jackie had had enough. Rose still hadn't told her what had happened that night and was still in a state of depression. Jackie wasn't going to deny it, she was worried that her daughter might relapse as a result of this. She was worried that Rose might have to go back on the antidepressants that she had spent so much time trying to get off of. If things didn't get sorted out, then there was no telling what would happen to Rose. Jackie knew her daughter was strong, but also knew that this had been a time in her life which she had found very difficult to deal with. Having that brought up again and knowing that her best friend - the man Jackie knew her daughter was very much in love with - had played a part in the mess that had happened, despite the actual details, could prove to be the undoing of all the hard work that it had taken to get them where they were now. The worst thing of all, though, for both Jackie and Rose, was that they only really had each other. No one else would understand.