Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or any of the characters found therein.

Reviews would be wonderful but I'll keep posting chapters weekly regardless. Also, a special shout-out to gabrielleizzy45 for her encouragement. Check out her story "A Human Wife" as it is well worth the time.

"He really loves her," Rose thought to herself as a tear trickled down her cheek. Behind her, Mickey was still demanding to know how the Doctor was going to get back and how they were going to get home. Unlike Rose, he had yet to realize how much the Doctor sacrificed in order to save his precious Reinette.

"Rose, please answer me!" Mickey shouted, grabbing her upper arm and shaking her. Although he was trying his best to remain calm, Rose was drawing further inside of herself with each passing second. "How is he going to get back? He has to come back and save us!"

"He's not," she replied softly, her eyes still staring at the now blank area where she had last seen the Doctor. "He's trapped there." She shook with a silent sob and wrapped her arms over her chest in a failed attempt to keep herself together. Her hazel eyes went vacant as she stared dumbly at the place where the time window had been. Rose felt hollowed out inside, as if she had been cored like a cabbage. That would have been bad enough, but now she was stuck here, destined to wait for him until she died.

"But he's the Doctor," Mickey groaned, his confidence quickly dissipating. "He's got to figure out some way to come back and take us home."

"Mickey," Rose sighed. Her former boyfriend and still best human friend fell silent. "I'll figure something out, I won't let you die here. Let's just wait a bit and see what happens, okay? He might come back, we can't give up yet," She had to take command. She had to remain calm. She might not be some mighty Time Lord but she was still Rose Tyler. She'd think of something. Or the TARDIS would. Or the Doctor would. She had saved him before, maybe she could do it again. She scrubbed a hand through her frizzy blonde hair, wishing she had taken time to dry it out flat before meeting the most beautiful and accomplished woman on Earth. Next to Reinette's poised beauty and grace, Rose had felt like a little girl with a runny nose dressed in filthy rags. No wonder he had left her, he deserved so much more than what little she could offer.

"We can't fly the TARDIS without him…"

"Actually, we might be able to just this once," Rose thought quietly to herself. She had only the vaguest of memories of how she had flown the TARDIS back to Satellite Five. She had a feeling that it would kill her to do it again but if the Doctor was trapped in eighteenth century France, she had to at least get Mickey home and then see if there was some way to rescue the Doctor. When that was done it didn't matter anymore whether she was still alive, as long as the Doctor was safe with his TARDIS. Maybe Reinette would come along as well. Rose snorted softly, of course she would come; he loved her. Killing herself to rescue the Doctor and Madame du Pompadour so they could jaunt out among the stars. At least if she were dead, she wouldn't hurt so much. Even if she did survive, there was no way she could travel with them. Although she could put on a brave face, she couldn't watch him fall in love with someone else. But there was always a chance he would come back. She had to have at least a little hope. She wouldn't give up on him just yet.

"Let's just wait a bit and see what happens, alright Mickey? You've got to trust me one more time."

"I suppose," he sighed, scrubbing a hand over his own close-cropped head. His dark skin was flushed with a mix of anger and fear. He couldn't believe he had been daft enough to think that traveling with Rose and the Doctor would be good for him. "How long? How many days until we give up?" he asked.

"Until I know for sure that he's unable to come back," she snapped. All she wanted was to find some quiet corner where she could hide and go to pieces. That, Rose realized with a groan, was probably why the Doctor had enjoyed being in Reinette's company more than hers. She already wanted to give up. The Doctor had left them – had left her. Granted, Madame du Pompadour was definitely a step up from plain old stupid-ape Rose Tyler, but it still hurt. Mickey kept jabbering on, oblivious to Rose's inner turmoil. His constant questions and raised voice were giving her a pounding headache. Ignoring Mickey's comments – most of them were just bad-mouthing the Doctor - Rose slipped silently through the TARDIS's doors and knelt beside the console.

Rose? the TARDIS asked. Rose gave a start and looked around for the source of the voice. It's me, the TARDIS. Normally, Rose would have assumed she was going crazy, but the voice was so comforting, familiar somehow, and that was exactly what she needed right now.

"Oh, hello TARDIS. I don't even know what to say to you," Rose said, swallowing a sob. She stroked the control panel tenderly, fresh tears welling up in her eyes as she remembered how the Doctor used to twist the dials, push buttons, and pull levers to get them where he wanted to go. There was a time when she thought maybe one day he would teach her and she would become less of a burden on him. But that day would never come now. He was a madman in a pinstripe suit and trainers, his brown hair sticking out every which-way and his eyes filled with amusement at practically everything. Rose had loved watching his eyes, no matter the color. They changed with his moods even back when he was a leather-clad, blue-eyed, big-eared and big-nosed biker reject who sounded like he was from the North. His current regeneration, though, was more than foxy with heart-melting brown eyes, soft brown hair, and a way of looking at her that made Rose's knees go weak. "Are you all right?" she asked, wondering just how the TARDIS was handling the separation from her Time Lord. Although they had never directly spoken about it, Rose knew the Doctor would be torn up if he lost his precious ship and she assumed the reverse would be true for the TARDIS.

Where is the Doctor? I cannot sense him any longer. The TARDIS sounded forlorn and frightened. Rose patted the console comfortingly, unsure of how exactly to calm the machine down. She had accepted long ago that the TARDIS was alive, but it was odd to discover just how many emotions the ship possessed.

"He had to rescue someone. Someone very important to him. Much more so than me even," Rose tried to explain, still not fully understanding it herself. She forced her voice to sound more confident than she really felt. "And he's trapped in a time and a place that isn't his own. I'm sure he misses you. But, he's the Doctor. He's brilliant and he'll find a way back to you. So don't you worry."

He abandoned us, didn't he?

"No, no," Rose protested, wincing at how truthful the TARDIS was. "He didn't abandon you. You have been with him for centuries."

But Rose…he did. If he hadn't, I would be able to sense him and guide us to him…

"We're just going to have to sit tight and wait a bit," Rose said firmly, taking control once more. "Then we'll decide what to do, okay, sweetheart?" she stroked the console, wondering why it felt so right to call the TARDIS "sweetheart." "I'm not going to have to open you again, am I? It was hard enough to look into your heart the first time, I don't know if that could happen again. We don't have a big yellow truck handy this time," she laughed softly. "That didn't hurt you, did it? I never really apologized for that."

It didn't hurt me, the TARDIS replied. I wanted you to do it to save the Doctor. I let you in. The truck didn't make a difference. But Rose…it could kill you, trying to guide the Vortex. You're human, not a Time Lord. It could kill you…

"That's a risk we'll have to take, if it comes to it," Rose said in a tone that brooked no argument.

I don't want you to die.

"We'll wait a bit, then. If the Doctor doesn't turn up, we'll just…cross that bridge when we get to it," Rose explained. The TARDIS's words had affected her. It was a relief that someone didn't want her to die. She wasn't sure she could say the same about herself.

Don't leave me, Rose. I don't want to be alone again.

"I won't, sweetheart. I'll stay right here with you the whole time…until the Doctor comes back for you. We'll be like sisters," Rose laughed. An eleven dimensional telepathic creature that could travel through time and space and Rose Tyler, stupid ape from planet Earth, as sisters was just too comical to imagine.

I always wanted a sister, the TARDIS giggled. Rose's heart nearly stopped at that and tears of gratitude and love spilled down her cheeks. She had forgotten how much she wanted to hear those words, to have someone that would always be there to support her. She used to think that person was the Doctor, but that simply wasn't true anymore.

"Me, too. Sisters, then?" Rose smiled through her tears as she reached up to stroke the pumps.

Sisters. Forever.

"Forever and always, sweetheart. Forever and always."