If Rose had known where John had ended up, she wouldn't have gone, obviously. He'd wanted to visit Sherlock, and he'd wanted to be on his own. God knew she wasn't one to invade someone else's privacy. Sometimes you really did need to be alone. Oh, she understood why her friends hovered at times. They were worried. Yes, it still hurt and yes, sometimes she needed to be around other people to drown out the ache of being left behind yet again. But there were times when she really did need to be alone. To cry, to rage against the world, or just not to let others see how weak she could be. Cara, for all of her faults, was right. She was letting herself down by falling so far not just once, but twice. There was a war to be getting on with and, as she'd told Guy, she was just plain tired of fighting it.
So when John said he needed some time to himself, she didn't argue. She took the still unnamed and unclaimed puppy to her flat and let him run around and do silly things and make her smile. If nothing, the dog was good for that. She'd actually seen John smile more since the puppy had found him than she had in a very long time. And...well, for that matter, so had she.
It was evening when she ended up taking the dog for a walk. He was still little and still learning to walk on a leash, but frankly, she enjoyed it. Just another challenge. She needed challenges then. They made her not think. Throwing herself completely into school, the youth center, and Eponine's inn gave her more than enough to think about and she didn't have to have that lingering presence in her head. It was when she took time to stop that she had problems.
Rose put the dog in its tiny harness and clipped on his leash, all of which she'd already spoiled him with. Chances were, she'd be even more heartbroken than John if they found an owner. But so far it seemed her suspicions proved true; he was simply an abandoned dog, probably from the litter of a backyard breeder, or some jerk who hadn't bothered to take care of the mum and had just left her puppies on their own.
The park wasn't far, but best of all, it was in the opposite direction of the TARDIS. Somewhere she just couldn't be yet. She'd tried. Of course, she'd had to be drunk the entire time and had held a pretty consistent buzz all through Thailand. But she'd at least made an effort. But for now she was trying that whole sober thing, especially when being responsible for someone else's living, breathing animal.
Though she had little experience raising dogs, she'd done some reading on how to train them to walk on the leash. And, at first, she was actually having fun trying to convince little Colt (as she'd taken to calling him because really, who named a dog Anderson?) not to pull or run ahead. Or to just plop down and sit. It was one or the other with him. But when he started whining, she grew worried. Until she looked up and saw why. He wanted to be with his new dad.
She considered walking away, giving him the space he needed, but when she saw the position he was in, she couldn't. Rose Tyler was nothing if not compassionate. Anyone who'd encountered her on any planet, in any time, could tell that. All she wanted was to help people. And she was his friend, if not the close sort that Sherlock had been, and she wouldn't let him suffer alone.
Scooping the puppy into her arms, she made her way quietly to his side. She didn't speak, merely dropped into the grass next to him and placed her arm tightly around him. He'd talk if and when he was ready. And she'd be there when he was.