Title: Walk On

Rating: K +

Pairing: 10th Doctor/Rose, Other/ Rose

Summary: You said it before, humans wither and decay, you can't spend the rest of your life with me and I won't spend the rest of mine with you.

Walk.

It seems like that's all she ever did now in days. She could hear the echo of her shoes against the pavement as she kept on moving forwards, never allowing herself to halt. The night was dark and cold and she could feel a slight chill working itself all the way into her weary soul.

Finally coming to her stop she could feel her heart contracting as it thumped madly in her chest. Placing her hand above it she closed her eyes for the briefest of seconds, willing it to seize the wild beating and calm down.

Perhaps she had closed them longer than she had thought for when she looked up she met his gaze – warm and cold at the same time, sometimes she wondered how he was able to do that.

Sitting down on the bench behind her she waited for him to join her. Slowly his body lowered onto the bench and their shoulders touched as they sat in silence. Opening her mouth she watched as the warm steam floated above her.

"Rather nippy tonight" he commented while looking down at his hands.

Rose looked over at his long elegant hands as they lay motionless on his lap. No matter how cold he would always forgo wearing gloves and they contrasted beautifully against his own chocolate color coat.

"Yes it is, normal I suppose since the winter is setting in", her voice sounded different as it died away and a silence hung between them. She wasn't the same Rose he had once known, that was for sure…she knew it and so did he and in the a small ways it made her feel good because she knew that it hurt him deep down in the inside.

"I heard that it might be a very pleasant winter this year, not too much snow. It's absolutely perfect for going on a holiday to the countryside. It's a shame I never took you to the ice planet where it's winter every day of the year. The sun never comes out and if you travel up to the top of Mount Crest you can reach out and literally pick a star out of the sky".

Rose could feel him inching even closer as the warmth of his body seeped into hers. His hands moved off his lap as he reached out for her left one. Taking the black leather glove of it he ran his fingers along the palm and then turned it over to trace the golden band on her finger.

"A holiday would be nice; I'm sure little Charlie would love it. He's crazy with frosty the snow man. Last winter he stayed outside until his lips almost turned blue, building a snow man and insisting John dig out a black top hat, a carrot, buttons and a few branches for his arms. You should of have seen the look on his face, that wild abandonment, it reminded me so much of…."

Immediately she stopped and her heart began to beat wildly once more. Snatching her hands from his she brought it to her side as if she had been burned. Immediately she mourned the lost of his warmth, his fingers gently tracing a circular patter on her palm.

"Rose, don't do this. Please don't spoil these few moments we have, it's not fair to me, to us" he finished lamely, knowing that no matter what he said the damage could never be repaired.

"Fair? You're telling me about fair? Look at us Doctor, sitting here, holding hands talking about the bloody weather!" she practically screamed, turning around to face him.

Their gazes locked and she could see that old flame burning in his eyes, just like it was in hers as well. They had changed so much, but deep down there was still the essence of what they had once been.

Scratch a little bit deeper and the truth will be found.

"I don't know what else to do Rose. I can't…" his voice was almost shaking, "…I can't give you what you want and I can't let go either".

He tried to somehow convey what he was feeling, the whirl of emotions that brewed within him, about ready to finally spill over but he could never open the release gates. No matter how hard he tried in the end he could never fully give himself over to his heart and damn the rest.

Hanging his head in defeat he could feel her sliding closer to him and taking his head in her hands, running her fingers through his soft messy hair. He hadn't been touched like that in years, at least not by her, oh how he missed her.

He snaked his arm around her waist and brought her up against him as their chests touched.

"Rose" he whispered trying to get to look at him but she avoided his gaze as well as his lips. Instead he kissed her cheek, her neck and every available bit of skin he could reach, but never her lips.

"Stop" he tried to command her but still she resisted until finally breaking away from his arms and standing up on shaky legs.

"I can't Doctor, not now, it's too late…I have Jon and Charlie, I just can't do this to them" and with that she began to walk away from him, her Doctor, her protector and endangerer.

"I love you" she faltered as his words reached her ears. But instead of turning around and losing herself in his warm embrace once more, as every fiber in her being cried for her to do, she stood still and took a deep breath.

Bringing her hand once more to her chest she held it there tightly, what she was about to do would break her heart and she feared that it would burst into a million little pieces.

His hands came to her shoulders and she was finally were she had longed to be her entire life…in his warmth.

"Did you hear me? I love you." He repeated the words but with a painful sorrow attached to hem, he wasn't dumb, not at all, he knew and yet the rebel in him insisted against the impossible.

"Sometimes love isn't enough," Rose words stung him fiercely and she silently begged him for forgiveness as her fingers squeezed his forearm.

"I have responsibilities, I'm not the same young Rose from before, the simple shop girl that could throw caution to the wind and run off with you. Not now, I can't…I have a family doctor and they need me. You said it before, humans wither and decay, you can't spend the rest of your life with me and I won't spend the rest of mine with you. But I can with them, I can give them everything I have and that will be enough. I don't think I can say the same for you."

Slowly he began to let go of her, drifting back into his own world, the doors to his hearts closing bit by bit.

"I'm sorry" she added softly and began to take a few small steps away from him.

"I should be going", the mood around them began to shift and she could feel him retreating away from it all, burying himself once more behind his trusty armor.

"Goodbye Doctor"

"Goodbye Rose"

And in that moment you will be blessed and stricken, for the truest truths are what hold us together or what keeps us painfully, desperately apart.

FIN