A / N MARK I: Sorry about the DOCTORWHODOCTORWHO thing in the story, my usual astrixes decided they didn't want to work. Ick.

AND, I am really, truly, sorry for the longest update in the History of the Updates, there were many reasons for it, but I won't bore you with them.

DISCLAIMER: Doctor Who is owned by someone other than OobieMcRuby. Which makes her very sad.

Rose had decided that flying was very comfortable.

It had a nice methodological rhythm to it, sort of like how the TARDIS hummed.

Suddenly, the graceful mountains that had surrounded Rose switched, much like changing the channels on a television, to the shiny bronze and organic setting that was the TARDIS. With the change, Rose found herself standing on the cross-hatched metal grating.

In the faint blue glow of the ancient ship, Rose expected to find the Doctor's pinstriped body flinging itself around the TARDIS console, like he usually was in her dreams.

Instead, it seemed like she was alone.

Walking up the grating, Rose made it to the captain's chair, before slumping down in it.

If this is all my sub-conscience could do, I'm now sure to go have a word or two with it, Rose grumbled, in her head.

After what felt like an age, Rose heard noises which indicated that someone was making their way over to the console room.

Well, you're certainly making this interesting for me, Rose thought, bemused, as the formidable form of Jackie Tyler in a bathrobe came sauntering over to her.

"Looks like you're finally up. Took you long enough. You don't look too good, though, sweetheart. Are you alright?" With Jackie's question, the friendly blue glow of the TARDIS slowly ebbed away, leaving Rose with the familiar room she had been given at the Tyler mansion.

"Mum!" Rose's voice came out in a gasp.

"Sweetheart," Jackie Tyler repeated, "are you alright?"

"Mum," Rose let out, again, before slumping forward in her bed, unconscious.

"Rose!" Jackie yelled frantically, "What's wrong? Rose!"

She hectically scrambled over to Rose's form, screaming over her shoulder for the maids to ring an ambulance.

Jackie snapped her head back to Rose's body, her hands automatically trying to smooth down Rose's hair. She found that she was grabbing at empty air.

Rose isn't here, Jackie thought, sluggishly. Just the imprint of her on the bed covers.

Several minutes later, the paramedics from the ambulance burst through Rose's bedroom doorway, to find Jackie Tyler sitting on the chenille-covered bed with a few silent tears running down her face.

The paramedics asked a question about the location of the unconscious woman the maids had said was found in the bedroom.

"She's gone," Jackie replied with, slowly gathering herself up, and falteringly walking out of the room.

DOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHO

Gone.

That one word was ringing through the Doctor's mind.

He knew what that word meant, better than others.

His planet. The Time Lords. All gone.

Now even Rose was gone.

See, this was an even bigger emotional blow than even Bad Wolf Bay, because he had been given one last adventure with her. And he couldn't even say it.

With a heart-broken sigh, the Doctor forced himself up from the captain's chair, thinking about picking up Martha, and taking her for a couple of trips in the TARDIS.

He thought about this while he was setting the co-ordinates for a small side alley in London.

Well, he was, until a bright gold bunch of matter forced itself into existence on the grating near his feet.

So what does the Doctor do? He crouches down and sticks his hand in.

As soon as he started wiggling his fingers in the shimmering gold, the shivering mass solidified, causing the Doctor to yank his hand out like he had been burned.

It was Rose. She was shaking, and repeatedly saying, "Doctor".

The Doctor gently picked up Rose's hand, and softly whispered, "I'm here."

Saying the Doctor's name once more, Rose fell limp on the floor of the TARDIS.

Scooping her up, the Doctor took Rose to the infirmary.

DOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHO

A buzzing noise was echoing inside Rose's head, causing her to flick her hands around in annoyance.

With that, Rose Tyler opened her eyes for the first time in twenty-four hours.

The buzzing in her head receded somewhat, but there was still back round noise in her skull.

First thing Rose spotted with her tired eyes was the Doctor's body slumped forward in his chair.

When the increase in Rose's heartbeat "bleeped" over to him from the monitor, the Doctor rocked back on his rear chair legs and woke.

"Hello," Rose said, even though she had a dry throat.

"Hello," the Doctor replied with, wiping the grogginess of sleep out of his eyes.

"I thought Time Lords didn't sleep?" Rose said with a teasing tone, even with her voice cracking.

"Well," the Doctor sat up straight and went into full lecture-mode, "Time Lords don't need much sleep, unlike you humans, because of superior biology. I only need about one to two hours a week."

"And how much did you get when I wasn't here, then?" Rose asked, her teasing tone reducing itself.

"None. Which isn't good, even for Time Lord standards," said the Doctor, with a sheepish grin.

"How long you been asleep for just then, Doctor?" Rose questioned again, with a slight frown on her face.

"Well, about ohhh. . ." The Doctor peered over to Rose's heart monitor, which had the relative time of where he was displayed in bold black digits. What he found there made him nearly fell off his chair.

"Six hours! I was asleep for six hours!" the Doctor exclaimed, running his hand through his hair, violently. "I haven't slept that long for years! Possibly a few centuries!"

The Doctor turned back to Rose, who looked like she was trying to conceal a weak smile.

"Six hours, Rose! And you're laughing!" he scoffed, placing his pouting-but-he's-not-really-because-Time-Lords-just-don't-do-that-Rose-face on.

It wasn't a successful endeavour though; because Rose's small weak smile became a full-blown grin.

"Anyway, leaving that," the Doctor started, "How are you feeling now, Rose?"

"I'm fine," Rose replied with, shortly, trying to cover up that lie with her next sentence. "Do you know what happened?"

"Well," the Doctor relented, not completely fooled, "I can presume, that the moon, on both Universes, is a weak spot within the Void. Obviously, the power the plasma coils generated was enough for the hospitals on each Universe to merge together. So that caused Pete's hospital to burst through to ours."

"What about that woman Martha and I were with? She knew both of our names, even though there was only one of each of us in each Universe," Rose asked, curiously.

The Doctor thought through his answer before replying. "I'm going to guess that each of her was like a half, and they fitted together, so this third woman, hypothetically, had more knowledge than the previous two. This is probably what happened for everyone else that had two of themselves in the hospital on both of the Universes."

Rose started fiddling with her hands and had her eyes downcast. "What about me?"

The Doctor took Rose's hand to find it shaking. "Maybe we were lucky."

Rose's gaze lifted, to meet the Doctor's. "But I remember going to the other Universe. My mum was there."

"Maybe the Void realised that you didn't belong in that Universe."

The Infirmary collapsed into silence.

"So," said the Doctor, breaking it, "nice way of diverting my attention from how you feel, Rose Tyler. How do you feel?"

"And don't bother hiding anything from me, Rose. I might know how to cure it," he quickly added, before Rose could reply with another lie.

"Umm. . ." Rose stated, reluctantly, "I've got a killer headache, and my neck hurts."

Timidly, the Doctor stood up from his chair, and he gingerly placed his hands on Rose's neck.

"That's where the plasmavore took the blood out of you," he dryly informed her, "There's only a small red mark there. I could have fixed all of it, but it's probably better if your body healed itself. And all I can say for the headache is sleep. Doctor's orders." The Doctor gave a sly grin to his bad pun.

The Doctor went from cheeky to serious, with what he said next.

"Traveling through the Vortex, not to mention the Void, is nasty, but coupled with how much blood that plasmavore sucked out of you? It's a wonder you're still alive."

"Oh, well. I'm still alive," Rose gave the Doctor a slightly sad and slightly tired smile. "What about you? It's not every day you nearly get drained to death, now, is it, Doctor?"

"I'm fine," he automatically replied, "Time Lord, me." But the Doctor couldn't hide from Rose the tiredness and sadness in his face and eyes, from her.

"I think that both of us should get some sleep, Doctor," Rose said quietly. And then added, in no more than a mumble, "Can you stay with me?"

"Of course." The Doctor dragged the chair from behind him over, and sat down while taking Rose's hand.

Last thing Rose saw was the Doctor smiling sweetly at her.

DOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHODOCTORWHO

"Rose. . . Rose. . ."

With the Doctor's calling, Rose woke to a face full of him.

"Rose!"

The Doctor, in surprise, fell back (again) in his seat, and squeaked, probably for the first time in his many lives.

"Jeez, Doctor," forced Rose, through her giggling, "Would you like something?"

"Rose, since you're all better. . ." the Doctor said, after he pushed himself up from his hilarious fall.

"Yes, Doctor?" Rose said with a resigned sigh and a roll of her eyes.

"Could we go pick up Martha?" The Doctor's eyes lit up.

"Yes! Of course!" Rose exclaimed, "I can be a thank-you present for her. A couple of trips in the TARDIS. . . Yes! We should do it. Now, before you think of some crazy planet you want us to see, instead."

"Thanks, Rose!"

The Doctor gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and then ran towards the Console room before she could ask why.

Had their relationship changed? Rose wondered, before shaking her head of the question. Of course it had. They had been lonely for those months they were away from each other. He had even admitted it.

Still they were the Doctor and Rose, so, when the change came, hopefully they could work through it.

A / N MARK II: Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! You readers have been the most supportive lot a writer could have!

Thank-you for all of your support through the reviews, it made me smile to read each and every single one! Thanks also for taking the time to read this story, I hope you enjoyed it! This has been the longest thing I have EVER written. . . Much to all of my teachers' chargin. I think they wish I put more time into my work, rather than my talking.

And remember: Doctor Who will always be awesome, BUT the Doctor and Rose romance was one of the best things that came out of it. It's what made me hooked in the first place. . . And the aliens too!