A/N: I don't own a thing, not even any DVDs. Series one is reshowing on BBC3 this week though...yay!
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"I'm sorry," she told him, sincerity etched throughout her face from the downward curve of her lips to the dull pleading in her eyes.
"Don't be," he said shortly and for a moment she wasn't sure if his tone was a result of an irritation that she was even talking after what she'd done or because he didn't want her to take the blame. His eyes were blazing but that didn't tell her much; they frequently were, their emotion just as regularly unreadable or indescribable. However, his hand over her own quickly evaporated any fears she had of his anger. "You've got nothin' to be sorry for."
"But – " Rose knew perfectly well what she'd done, how she'd put everyone in danger and nearly got herself killed to boot.
Voice just as short but tone slightly softer, he said, "No buts."
"I should've known, I shouldn't've trusted it without knowing what it was…" she insisted, wriggling slightly as his intense, unreadable stare made her uncomfortable. She liked to know what people were thinking and, while she probably could have stayed exactly where she was all day, it was quite disconcerting to feel she was under such scrutiny and to not know what the results of it were.
"Never apologise for being human, Rose," and for once she felt this was a compliment. The pressure on her hand increased slightly before dropping away completely. "Go on. Go find your pretty boy; make sure he hasn't got eaten by the fridge or something. And keep him out of trouble – I'll not be held responsible for what the TARDIS does to him if he tries to outsmart her with his A-Levels."
Unable to keep herself from smiling, she counterbalanced it by sticking up for Adam, trying to justify his being there. "He only wanted to see the stars, Doctor. If I have the chance to see all this and I haven't even spent my whole life obsessin' over it like he has…"
She looked to him, hoping for a reaction, he knew, hoping to be told it was alright that Adam was on board and that he didn't begrudge her the romance she was failing to extract from him. Secretly, she rather wanted to hear that it wasn't alright for Adam to be on board; that he was insanely jealous and did not want to share the TARDIS, much less her, with anyone else.
However, much as he did not want to let her out of his sight, he stayed silent, knowing it to be the quickest way to get rid of her. He could never give her the answer she wanted and now was not the time to try, not with his mind full of Daleks and the boy hovering awkwardly in the air between them. Metaphorically, of course, though he reflected that he wouldn't mind too awfully if he found Adam hovering literally around the TARDIS.
As she exited the room with a light sigh, he felt as though all the clean, pure oxygen went with her, leaving only stagnant, rotting memories in her wake. When she was around him, he could drive them away for a while, but the second her presence was removed they returned in full force.
Perhaps he could let her out of his sight for now, but that didn't stop the memory and guilt of losing her returning with all its fervour and venom as the sound of her echoing footsteps slowly died away. He'd almost killed her today. He knew he should have spent the previous five minutes convincing her to leave, convincing her that she wasn't safe with him, but he couldn't. He needed her so much it scared him even to admit it in his thoughts. With the blood of two entire races staining his hands and the weight of the debris from countless other planets stooping his shoulders, she was full of an innocence and ignorance he could only dream of.