[ role play for rude_not_ginger; breaking her heart into two. ]

[roseoflegend]

Rose had been certain she was losing her mind. There was no other logical explanation that her mind was willing to come up with, no rationality that would break itself through the unrelenting, dense clouds of disbelief and prove a reasonable enough result as to how he had come. Had she not known him implicitly, without needing so much as a second

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[roseoflegend]

The pain in her chest was tightening and Rose was beginning to truly wonder if she was going to be able to breathe again. Her heart was ripping itself into two pieces, and she didn't know if they were equal halves or completely uneven, but it didn't seem to matter because it was still hurting. And the hurting wasn't going to go away.

When he came back she was waiting, closer now to where he had been standing, and Rose lifted her hands to take the wine bottle from him. Her hand stopped, lightly, on his wrist and she was struck again by the warmth of his skin and how, almost impossibly, that same warmth seemed to transfer into his eyes. He never looked at her in any other way.

But I have to go."You are so.." It wasn't what she had meant to say initially at all, but it was all that came out and Rose couldn't take it any longer. She set the wine bottle down and threw her arms around his neck. Her nose was squashed against his shoulder and she didn't care, and when she shut her eyes she could feel the hot burn of tears in the corners

[roseoflegend]

It had taken her a long time. Rose had gone back to her mother, who had protested vehemently that she go off anywhere else again, but Rose was just as stubborn as the woman who had raised her - if not moreso. Jackie had known where John went, and Rose had followed. It wasn't hard, but it was long and painful and tedious. She didn't even know if he'd want to see her again at this point, but she had to.

Because he was the reason he came back.

Finding him in Japan had been the hard part at first, but Rose was admittedly surprised at how few Smith-comma-Johns were staying in Japanese hotels. The first one was a businessman who asked her if she was who he had requested for entertainment. The second was a father with a family of three.

The third, she had yet to find out.

With her heart in her throat, Rose tapped her knuckles against the closed door.

[rude_not_ginger]

Thank you for your patronage, Mr. Noble. Read the card on the side table. At least they were polite enough to accept his alias. Why he felt the need, even he wasn't sure. Maybe so Pete and Jackie couldn't find him. He sighed and dropped it into the bin.

John decided to head out for ice. He'd ordered a little room service and he was thinking about adding a bottle of wine to that. Since alcohol affected him much more easily now, it wasn't difficult to think of it as a fun recreation. A once-in-a-while getaway. And he was on holiday, he deserved it.

He opened the door to his hotel room, sparing a quick glance to the hallway beside him. There was a woman standing at the door to the room next to him. He did a double-take. Was that---?

"Rose?"

[roseoflegend]

Admittedly, the first thing that had slammed into and assaulted her senses was a hot, pressing blush. Oh, God, what would I have done to explain myself to another person who wasn't him? The thought was brief and inane, but it disappeared with the sound of his voice. There hadn't really been any time to prepare, either. Rose had thought she would be ready for seeing him again, that she knew exactly what to say, but in her heart she knew that had all been wishful thinking and completely wrong.

Her hair whipped against the side of her face when she turned to his direction, her lips parted in a half astonished, half embarrassed expression.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "yeah. It's me."

Just me.