For Schermionie's 5, 10, 20, 50, 70, 100 Fandoms Challenge.
"I love you because you've given me no choice but to stay."
— Stay Stay Stay —
Taylor Swift
Rose knows that travelling with the Doctor is dangerous.
He doesn't speak much about his previous companions, but she knows that most of them got hurt somewhere along the line, some of them were heartbroken when he left them, a lucky few left him before he had the chance, and more to the point, some of them died.
If she were a clever girl, she'd give it up. She'd tell the Doctor to go without her and she'd stay at home, safe and sound—running optional. And if she weren't selfish, she wouldn't go because then her mum wouldn't have to worry about her day in, day out and neither would Mickey. If she cared about the two of them nearly as much as she's meant to, she'd always be here and now, no question about it.
Rose knows that travelling with the Doctor is supposed to be one of those things that she's warned about as a kid: a mistake that'll leave her wondering how she could have been so stupid and reckless.
But the Doctor...he's addictive. Rose can't enough of the new worlds, saving the world and for one moment, being the most important woman in the universe. She loves sprinting into that blue box and being greeted by his mad laughter and gleeful grin as he tells her where and when they're going next. She loves how every part of him lights up when he tells her how much she's going to simply adore their next destination. She loves how he can go on for hours about something that she can't and never will understand...and how she finds it interesting anyway.
...when it comes down to it, she loves a lot about the Doctor—more than she'd care to admit.
If Rose were half the person she wishes she was, she'd leave the Doctor. She'd pack it all in and stay in London...in one small corner of a universe that's so much bigger than she'd ever imagined. But the Doctor...he's enticing. Enchanting, even. Magnetic. She couldn't leave him if she wanted to.