Rose sat staring at the fireplace; she despised it and everything it represented. It wasn't the fireplace's fault or even the fault of the woman on the other side of it. Honestly, she didn't know who to blame for this, him for doing this to her or herself for blindly believing he was different than any other bloke or that she was special.

Just a day or so ago, outside of that chippie, after they met Sarah Jane, Rose had been convinced that the Doctor had almost let it slip that he loved her. He had started talking about humans withering and dying. 'Imagine that happening to someone you…'

She knew he'd meant to say someone you loved. Foolishly, she'd thought that he meant that he loved her. Now she thought that he actually meant Sarah Jane. The more she thought about it the more sense it made. He hadn't promised she could stay because he loved her. She was simply someone that he was comfortable with. Rose was company.

He had left Sarah Jane behind because he loved her and didn't want to see her grow old. He must had promised to never leave Rose behind for a different reason. Not that that mattered now, because he'd left her anyway. He'd left her without a second thought, without a way home, without making sure she would be safe.

Gone now were the thoughts he'd never leave her behind because he loved her. Now, six hours after he'd jumped through a time window and left her behind for another woman, she was beginning to think that the Doctor had made her that promise because the opposite was true. That he didn't love her and he wouldn't be bothered when she withered and died. Rose was disposable to the Doctor and he had proved that today.

He'd fallen in love with another woman and had left her and Mickey here to die. This shook her to her very core. Everything that she had believed to be true was tipped sideways.

Rose took in a shaky breath and blinked back her hot tears. She steadfastly refused to shed even one more tear over that alien. He had made his decision and it was time she made hers. Time moved faster on that side of the time windows. They had seen Reinette go from a little girl to a young woman in matter of minutes, so who knew how many years had passed now that he had been gone for hours. The Doctor had seemingly chosen to do domestic with the uncrowned queen of France.

Reinette was a courtesan, to Rose, that meant that she was nothing more than a whore; it didn't matter if she was French or not. A woman married to one man, mistress to another married man, and now she was engaged in nefarious activities with another man, one more powerful than any king. Reinette was the consort of a Time Lord, the last of his kind. Rose hoped that the Doctor's 'superior biology' could protect him against 18th Century venereal diseases.

No, it wasn't right to think of her like that. She was an accomplished woman in her own right. And who wouldn't fall in love with the Doctor? This was on him and Rose shouldn't take out her frustrations on the other woman.

Something was unsettling about the Doctor's action however. The more time she was left alone with her thoughts, the more skeeved out she became with the whole situation. The Doctor suddenly having a romantic interest in someone he met as a child right before kissing her? Disgusting. Oh yes, Rose had seen that, and it made her skin crawl just thinking about all the dancing he and the courtesan were getting up to in their time together.

Bile rose in her throat. Of course he would choose the most accomplished woman he'd ever met over her. Who wouldn't? It wasn't that she had nothing to offer. Just nothing that could compare to King's mistress and nothing that would seduce this new pretty boy Time Lord.

Rose was smart even if she hadn't completed her A levels. She was also quick thinking, pretty but not stunning, brave and loyal, even if her loyalty was apparently misplaced. It wasn't her fault, or his really, that what the idiot alien wanted wasn't her.

More than anything, she just wished he wouldn't have sent so many mixed signals, acting like he wanted to be with her and then shoving her away when she got too close. His previous actions and attitude had given her hope and that was the cruelest thing he could have done.

This wasn't the first time she'd been in an abusive relationship. Although Jimmy had never hit her, he did everything in his power to make her feel like less than a person. He had taken all of her insecurities and used them against her, the same way the Doctor had today.

After Jimmy had left her, she vowed that she would never again let another man do that to her. Yet here she was, clinging to any scrap of affection the Doctor would give her. Still hoping that she meant more to him then she obviously did.

This was on her just as much as it was him, maybe even more. Over the course of their last two adventures, he'd made it perfectly clear that she was nothing more than a friend, an assistant really. Someone to keep him company and hand him tools while he tinkered.

If she was completely honest with herself, she had no real claim on the Doctor. There was no justification to be jealous that he had fallen for the French bint. No matter how much it hurt, and oh yes it hurt. She couldn't let him hurt her like this ever again.

But after seeing the universe, she couldn't just go back to her old dead-end life. No, instead she would take control of this situation. It was time to lock her heart away and just enjoy the adventure while it lasted. It was time to be nothing more than the Doctor's friend because even all of time and space wasn't worth losing her heart over. No matter what Sarah Jane had said.

Behind her, the TARDIS felt the sorrow and anguish of her pink and yellow human. She ached to her very heart for her Wolf; she hated seeing her girl in pain. But this was necessary. The time and space ship had spent centuries combing through possible timelines looking, searching for the best outcome for her Thief and her Wolf. Although there may be pain now, in the end the three of them would have the best of times. Together. Forever.