'Doctor, it's just for tea.' Rose chased him through the corridors of the TARDIS, begging him to stay at her mothers flat.
'Not hungry.' The Doctor didn't even look over his shoulder to talk to her.
'You're gonna have to do better then that.' Rose said. 'It's only an hour. You can come for tea then go and tinker with the TARDIS for a while until its time to go if you want, just, please, come for tea.'
'You can be as domestic as you want to be. Outside.' The Doctor said, a little harsher than he meant to. 'You can go and have your little tea party, but I am staying right here.'
'Is domestic really that bad? Can you come, just once, would it kill ya?'
The Doctor stopped, leaning heavily on the consol. His was facing away from Rose, so all she could see was his broad leather clad back, she saw him drop his head.
'Doctor?' She asked cautiously.
'It's like when you were a kid,' he started, still turned away from her, 'Fathers day would come around and you'd see everyone else playing with their dad, having fun and laughing.' The Doctor turned around and reached out for her hand. He didn't meet her eye, but had his gaze fixed to the floor beside her. 'You'd see them with their fathers and you'd hate them, hate the fact that they were happy and you were not. You knew it wasn't their fault; there was nothing that you or they could do, but you still hated them for it. They were happy, you were not.' His hand dropped from hers. 'That's why I can't come, now run along, Rose, go have tea.'
He turned back to the controls of his ship. Rose just watched him, mouth parted slightly. He continued flicking switches for a while before he turned to Rose.
'What?' he asked impatiently.
Rose just shook her head, beginning to understand. 'It's not fair.'
'What is?'
'I never realized…' Rose trailed off. 'That's what's running through your head, every time you see me with mum?'
'Yes.' The Doctor answered simply. He didn't speak for a while after that until he slowly sank into the captain's chair. 'I had a life like that once. But now it's gone.'
In these rare moments with him that he opened up to her, Rose felt her heart breaking slightly. He was a war torn man, haunted by his past.
'It…' Rose swallowed and started again. 'It doesn't have to be like that.'
The Doctor hung his head and smiled sadly. 'Yes it does, Rose.'
She didn't want to see him hurting like this. 'You could come to tea, mum would be happy to… We could be your family.' She finished lamely; she just wanted him to be happy.
The Doctor smiled coldly. 'You can't, Rose. But, thanks for the offer.' He stood and began turning dials on the consol.
'Its… it's not fair.' Rose said again.
'No, its not. But don't worry your little head about it.' The Doctor grinned, his maniacal grin, but it's hollow. 'Just go and have tea.'
She accepts it, because she knows that he doesn't want to talk about it. She knows it hurts him. So Rose goes and has tea, but she can't stop thinking about him, about the pain he suffers that she is never aware of, about how empty his life must seem. But he has her now.
The next time he refuses tea, she understands.
She is happy.
He is not.
And he hates it.
My first Ninth Doctor fanfic, did I do well? I hit a bit of a writers block on another fanfic and found this one half finished, so I finished it. Please please review, it lightens up my day!