Author's Notes: This was written for Timepetalsprompts weekly drabble theme: Never Again. It is the first story in a series of works all based on weekly drabble prompts. Currently I have 5 of them written and plan to continue the verse, with weekly updates. Thanks for reading, and if you have a moment to spare, please leave a review.
She was watching him through the crack in the door. She didn't mean to say all the things she said. Really, she didn't. The words just slipped out. No taking them back now. Never again, she said. Never again. His blue eyes snapped to her face for a second, mouth half open, hurt in his gaze, like he'd been slapped. Then he turned and left. She didn't stop him. Why didn't she stop him? She could hear his black boots echoing on the TARDIS floor as he made his way to his bedroom. She didn't hear the door close, but she felt it slide shut. Felt it somewhere in the middle of her chest like an iron fist.
She stood by the console and tried to think of something that would make it better. Her mind was blank. When the tears finally came she could hear her own voice in her head shouting, "How could you just leave them? They were asking for your help! They were innocent. I've had enough, Doctor. I'm not travelling with you anymore. I can't do it. I won't do it. Never again!"
She shuddered and bit her nail. Even now, five days later, the words made her cringe. It was a mistake, giving into the hurt like that. She was upset, and shaken, and angry and looking for someone to blame. The Doctor was the only one there…
They hadn't spoken since. Well, of course they did, but not like they used to, not with any kind of ease. He grunted out one word responses to her questions and didn't look at her anymore. She tried to apologize, but he cut her off every time. Brushed her off like an annoying insect. Is that what she was to him? She would have found it a ridiculous notion a week ago, but now Rose wasn't sure.
At present she was standing behind the door leading to the console room, watching as the lights flickered across his face, feeling utterly powerless. They were going to land soon. She knew his movements well enough by now to know what the crease in his brow meant. She just wished she knew where they were heading.
As the TARDIS put them down gently, the fear rose up in her chest again, clutching at her lungs, forcing her to gasp, shaking her frame slightly as the Doctor moved around the console. She heard him mutter something that sounded suspiciously like "Earth" and her stomach dropped like a stone. She knew this was coming, yet held onto that last little ray of hope that she might be wrong. But now she knew she was right all along, and the realization filled her with more dread than she thought herself capable of feeling. The Doctor was taking her home.