I know I have a few other stories I should be working on but I had this idea and I couldn't resist. Enjoy!
DWDWDW
Out of all the secrets that The Doctor confided in Rose, there was one he always kept. Through the thick and thin. All the happy memories of chips and smiles that cover the girl's entire face. Of pink hoodies and long hugs. All the bad memories too. All the almost deaths and even a few times when The Doctor thought he lost her. Lost his Rose. But this one secret he always kept.
You see The Doctor had flown away in his TARDIS. Flown far far away from the big bad wolf. For a long time. Well, it felt long, because he was alone. He traveled alone. He traveled to galaxies and watched them burn. Watched the birth of a star. Might have even introduced Christianity a few years early. These things happen.
But through all the laughs, it was never right. It was never right because he was all on his own when he knew that there was someone out there who was perfect for him. A reignition to the hope that had burned out in him during the war. He saw it in her eyes when they first met, that fight she had deep down. He saw it in that basement, a girl all alone down there facing monsters. You'd expect her to have been crying or screaming, but no. But he knew he couldn't take her. No, he was a broken old man. No use in ruining a young girl's life.
Then he saw her through the cat door. His only thought was that this can't be a coincidence. But no. He doesn't deserve the time of another, he'll just end up screwing up her life. He would fix the problem and leave. Simple as that. But when that thing had grabbed her, he snapped. Who the hell would touch a kind, brave, beautiful, girl with absolutely no provocation. The anger scared him, and the second he could, he left.
Now here's the thing about a brave girl like Rose Tyler. Plastic mannequins attack her, mysterious man saves her, another attack of the plastic, another visit from the mysterious man. Well, she wasn't just going to let him disappear. So she had followed him. Still the negativity stuck in The Doctor's mind and he left her behind. It wasn't until he had watched her swing down to his rescue. It wasn't until her speech and the, "I got bronze." That he decided to take her. Because, well, she was just a shop girl. If anything he would be helping her out. Most definitely.
The devastation when she said no. Had it been before the war, he would have just forgot about her. Found someone else to travel the universe with. But this wasn't before the war. This was the first person he had asked since his people burned. And she said no.
Six years of time and space. All on his own. And yet somehow his thoughts always drifted back to her. So, after six years by himself, The Doctor made a decision. He threw on the same clothes he had worn that day and he went back. To just a second after asking her the first time.
And God he wished he had came back so much sooner.