Rose awoke in the same bed three days later, feeling much better. She stretched, feeling that her muscles weren't quite as sore as before. She was still ill, and the plague did take quite a toll on her. Her face was paler than usual, and she lacked the good ol' Rose spirit she was usually so full of, but she was getting better.

Even the plague wasn't so scary when you had The Doctor by your side. He took her into God knows what hospital, and in what century, where plagues were cured as easily as the common cold. She just hoped there were no patients stuck in cells beneath it, though, since that had happened once. That sort of thing happened quite often with The Doctor around. And this was the first time in a while Rose had stopped to think about it. Running with The Doctor, it was brilliant, it was mad, and it was, overall, dangerous. And the best part? She didn't even care. For the first time in nineteen years, Rose truly felt alive.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the very person she was thinking of entering the room. She smiled brightly up at him, beaming, evidently more cheerful than when she sat in there alone.

"How's my favorite, and only, patient doing today?" He greeted cheerily as he closed the door behind him and sat at her bedside.

"Much better, thanks to… Whatever those things are." Rose waved her head toward a bottle of green pills on the little table next to her bed.

"Pestis curatione." The Doctor corrected her. It was actual Latin for 'plague treatment'. "When do you think you'll be back to running about?"

Rose stretched again, taking his hand in hers and just playing with it like a baby. "Dunno. I feel better, though." She added reassuringly, flashing him a smile. "Why ask?"

"Well, I get out of the TARDIS, visit another planet, and there's no one holding my hand and giggling by my side." He answered, mirroring her smile. "It's quite depressing, actually."

"And there I was, thinking you had replaced me with an alien already." Rose joked, knowing well that the last planet they had landed on consisted purely out of living, moving plants and decorated bushes.

The Doctor wrinkled his nose slightly at the thought. "Naahhhh, no rose could replace my Rose."

Rose beamed up at him as she tugged on his sleeve. And though she was smiling, her eyes betrayed sadness. She hadn't forgotten about the child she had saved, well, almost saved. The poor thing was so ill, it surely must have died not a day later.

"What's wrong?" The Doctor asked, the smile fading away. "Are you hurting?"

"No, no, I'm fine." Rose reassured him once again, though she couldn't help but let out a shivering sigh. "I held him in my arms… And then he was gone. Just like that." She let it all out at last, as if she were mourning her own child.

The Doctor sadly gazed down at her, his eyes showing pity. And Rose knew he would go back, she knew he would try and save all of those people, if only the plague wasn't such a big event in history. A timelock has been placed on it, and not even The Doctor was able to break trough. "Rose…" He began, giving her hand a soft squeeze. "We can't always save everyone." His face lit up a bit as he recalled her telling him she got the child out of the pit. He was truly, truly proud of her. "But we can try." He added softly and bent down to kiss her forehead.

Rose blinked a tear that has formed in her eye away and managed to smile up at him.

"Now, promise me you'll get some sleep. I'm lost without my companion." He gave her a soft smile, and she returned it with a nod.

"Oi!" She called after him as he was at the door. "Don't let those flowers seduce you while I'm not there. They might smell nice, but you don't wanna get too close to the thorns."

"I can't make any promises." The Doctor answered with a teasing smile as he began closing the door. He could see Rose pouting like a child, and it made him smile.

"You arse." He heard her say affectionately as she covered her head with a pillow, determined to get back to sleep.

The smile he had on his face faded as soon as he shut the door. He leaned on them, sliding down to the floor with a heavy sigh. Rose had brought up a painful subject. Throughout the years, he saved many, and lost little. But the ones he lost still pained him. Rose had yet to learn to let go, to try to ignore it, although she'd never quiet forget it.
But one thing he did holds true. He told Rose he'd try to save them. And he would. He'd always try.