Author's Note: This was written for Naughtylupine's prompt of cat/dog runs away and other person finds it AU and I also incorporated this week's theme on Timepetalsprompts - "Do you think I could try again?". It got a wee bit angstier than I intended, but should still be safe.

"Donna! Donna! Come back! Oi, why do you have to... Shit."

Rose stopped on the street corner, and leaned on the wall of the post office with one hand trying to catch her breath.

"Oh, every time! I swear, I'm gonna give you to Mickey! I know I left you at mum's, but she's not that bad. I'm sure she even gave you food for once," she muttered to herself as she made her way towards the park on the opposite side of the street.

Her dog was nowhere to be seen of course. She was a coonhound, with very red fur and a quite amiable temperament; somewhat too independent at times. Rose loved her to bits, but really wished she'd trained her better when she was still a puppy. The damage was done now and no power on earth could convince Donna to behave when she didn't want to.

"Donna! Donna, come back!"

Rose knew shouting was pointless, but she had no idea what to do, other than run around the park madly and try to spot her. She looked under the bushes, circled around every tree, almost ran over a man in a pinstriped suit (really? who wore pinstriped suits nowadays?), and finally sank down onto a bench, utterly exhausted and a little bit desperate.

She knew Donna was a very intelligent dog, but it didn't keep her from jumping to worst case scenarios and worrying about whether she'd be hit by a car, or caught by a stranger and taken to a shelter. She didn't have her collar on - got out of it at the beginning of their walk, when they were barely out of her mum's flat.

"Clever, clever girl. Where did you go?"

She got up and was just about to start looking for Donna again when another dog - a light brown Doxiemo - bounded out of the bushes to her right. Tongue lolling, he ran towards her, jumping up and knocking her back onto the bench, licking her face madly as she laughed and tried to get him off herself.

"Okay, that's enough now. Enough, I said! Hey, calm down."

The dog didn't seem to notice or care about her protestations and continued to lick at her face until she managed to stand up and push him off her lap.

"Jack? Jack! Where have you gone to? Come on boy, come back. Jack!"

A man in a battered leather jacket came into view and the dog at Rose's feet started to wag his tail and bark playfully. She smiled and shook her head as she spotted Donna running after the stranger, taking large leaps and entangling herself between the man's legs. He went down with a loud thud and a yell.

Rose giggled and walked over with Jack, admonishing Donna, who promptly turned her back and ran off towards the lake with the other dog.

"Sorry about that. She can be a bit of handful sometimes," she said, extending a hand to the stranger who took it gratefully and got to his feet.

"That's alright. Jack's a bit of trickster himself. I'm Leo, by the way."

"Rose. You're not from London, are you?"

"Nope. Manchester, me. Well, I live here now…" He trailed off, looking into the distance and Rose couldn't help but notice the sadness in his eyes. They were the bluest pair of eyes she had ever seen and they mesmerized her completely. Before she realized what she was doing, she took his hand, entwining their fingers. The question slipped out before she could stop herself, "Why did you leave?"

He seemed to be taken aback, but looked her straight in the eye when he replied, "I lost someone precious to me and it was too painful to stay."

He lowered his head and let go of her hand. "Well, I lost everyone to be exact. My whole family… My friends… Even some of my enemies."

He had a half smile on his face and an icy glare in his eyes that broke Rose's heart. She stepped closer to him, trying to show him she cared, that he'd have someone if he wanted it now, but he didn't look up.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this. You probably think I'm sick. Or unhinged. Or both…"

He laughed then; a broken, raw sound and Rose could feel her heart shatter inside her ribcage.

She took his hand again, too stubborn to let go so easy, and enveloped him in a hug, lowering her head onto his shoulder when he didn't protest. They stood like that for quite some time, Rose feeling his heartbeat steady under her palm, Leo letting silent tears fall from his cheek onto hers.

When they finally looked up, Jack and Donna were lying on the grass a few feet from them, soaked to the skin, but otherwise quite content. Donna had Jack's head between her two front paws, looking as if she were hugging him. Rose sniffled - for she started to cry shortly after she felt the first tear fall from Leo's eyes - and attempted a shaky laugh.

"Look at them, having all the fun!"

Leo released her and shuffled his feet, looking somewhat embarrassed, his ears turning pink.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… well, I guess it's done now…"

Still not looking up, he shoved his hands into his pocket and added hastily, "I should probably go."

Rose couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment at his refusal to even look at her, not to mention have a proper conversation. They shared a connection she never felt with anyone before and it hurt to be ignored that way. At least she thought for a moment they had shared something special. Apparently he didn't feel the same way.

"Okay. Sure. Yeah. We… erm… we've gotta go too. Grocery shopping."

She forced a smile onto her face and went to Donna to put her collar back on. Her dog wasn't exactly happy about the separation from the handsome Doxiemo and protested by digging her nails into the ground and refusing to move. Rose had to practically drag her away. She wanted to say something to Leo, just a "see ya around" or some form of goodbye, but the tears were choking her, and she wasn't sure she would be able to say anything without breaking down. So she just turned her back and walked away, Donna straining against her leash and whining all the way home. She managed to wait until she was safely tucked under the covers in her bed to start crying. Donna curled up next to her and she fell asleep with her face buried in the dog's soft red fur.

Two weeks later they were walking in the same park (decidedly not because Rose couldn't get Leo out of her mind and even dreamt of him sometimes), when she spotted Jack, without his owner, running around a rock garden chasing butterflies. Donna went wild as soon as she realized it was her Doxiemo friend, barking, jumping up and down and trying to get her head out of her collar, almost choking herself in the process.

Rose laughed and let her go, putting her collar in the handbag she brought and sitting down on the same bench Jack had found her a fortnight ago. She had hoped Leo would be here as well, but he was nowhere in sight. Resigned to not meeting him again, she took out a book from her bad and started reading.

Rose was so absorbed in the novel that she didn't bother to look up when someone sat down next to her, presuming it was just another walker looking for a spot of shade in the scorching weather. Therefore she was quite surprised - so much so that she dropped her book - when Leo's voice called to her from the other side of the bench.

"Do you agree with the ending?"

She whipped her head around and was momentarily lost in his blue eyes, before clearing her throat and turning back to her book.

"Yes."

She could feel Leo fidgeting next to her, hesitating to interrupt her again, but he seemed to decide on putting his fear aside and carried on, "Some critics say that's where Bronte fell short. She's written a strong, independent heroine unlike any before her, who longed for freedom and who deemed keeping her true self more important than anything or anyone else. And then she went and married her off, placing her in possession of a man, rendering her independence non-existent once more."

Rose looked up, a scowl on her face and launched into a long defence of her favourite novel.

She was in the middle of elaborating how most of the critics saying that were men and had no understanding of women and their feelings, how Jane actually had the power in that relationship, how she was the light in Rochester's life, how idiotic it was for anyone to suggest that just because she married him she lost her independence; when she realized that Leo was smiling. She stopped mid-sentence, mouth open as she took in his mischievous grin, his low chuckle, and the sparkle in his eyes that made him look ten years younger and melted Rose's heart.

"You don't agree with the critics," she said flatly.

He burst out laughing and a grin slowly spread on her face too. Her tongue poked out between her teeth and he grinned back at her, taking her hand and squeezing it.

"I'm sorry I was such an asshole last time. I'm not really well suited to every day conversations, as my friends were kind enough to point out a few hundred times…" His face darkened at the mention of his past, but he carried on, "I know I mucked up our first meeting, but I'd really like to get to know you." Looking up at her, his blue eyes wide and vulnerable, he added quietly, "Do you think I could try again?"

Rose smiled and nodded, her heart leaping as she watched his face brighten.

"Fantastic!"

She picked up her book and put it back into her bag, turning her body towards Leo so they could look at each other properly. Not letting go of his hand, she started talking about books - her favourite topic. He seemed relieved to be given a topic to build a conversation around and quickly became more animated, his manner losing its sharper edges, his eyes lighting up with an inner light that blinded Rose. He smiled more and stumbled on his words less as they went from Austen to Dickens to Poe and Tolstoy.

And as the sun sank down below the horizon, Rose thought it wasn't so bad that she didn't train Donna properly after all. She wouldn't have missed this for the world.