This has been sitting in my computer for a while now...what do all men not understand? Well, even the Doctor? :)
Read on, my brave warriors!
"You know what I don't understand?" The Doctor commented absently, leaning nonchalantly against the door of Mickey's car as the latter attempted to get the beaten old thing started; Mickey scoffed, his head appearing from where it had been muttering darkly under the steering wheel.
"You?" he said, "Don't understand something?" Mickey rolled his eyes, "Now that's unheard of."
"No, really," he sighed, kicking his foot carelessly up against the door, his eyes on Rose – she was sitting on a low wall a few metres away, swinging her legs and chatting on her phone, "I mean it..."
"Alright then," Mickey stuck his head out of the window, forcing the Doctor to turn around lest he should get poked in the back – he grinned and crossed his elbows in the empty window-hole, "Hit me. What does the big Timelord Doctor not understand?"
"Women. That's it," he stuck his hands in his pockets, lifting up his feet as he mused to himself, "I really don't understand women."
"Tell me about it," Mickey sighed, "They're more alien than...well, the aliens." The Doctor was silent, and Mickey knew exactly where his gaze was headed, who he was watching...who he was most likely attempting to understand. Then again, you never could tell with him. "So you," he hung out of the window, tilting his head and attempting to claim his attention, "I bet the women are falling all over you, yeah?"
He seemed surprised, "What, me?"
"You got that whole mysterious, brooding thing going on, don't you?" Mickey said, "See, that's the difference between you and me Doctor: you're the scary mysterious one," he grinned, "And I'm the sweet and cuddly one."
He seemed unconvinced, "Sweet, cuddly...yeah, that's it."
"Hey!"
"Mysterious?" he'd moved onto another trail of thought already, "Me?"
"Yeah."
"Well...it makes sense...though I don't understand why some of them get so...attached to me," he looked slightly disgusted, and Mickey raised a brow.
"Modest one, aren't you?"
"I'm not boasting!" he said, "It's true! It's hard to shake most of them off...especially the red-heads."
"Like Rose?" Mickey challenged him, knowing he shouldn't but doing it anyway, "Are you trying to shake her off?"
"Rose isn't red-headed."
"They get attached to you and you run off and leave them behind, is that it? Without a second thought?"
"No!" the Doctor said at once, "No, no...well...I never intend for that to happen." When Mickey looked even more angered by this, he rolled his eyes, "Look, it's hard to explain."
Mickey was insistent, "We have a while." He nodded towards Rose, "Knowing her, she won't be off the phone for ages yet. And you would never leave without her, would you, Doctor?" His gaze was penetrating, strangely serious for such a jovial personality, the Doctor thought...and he didn't like it. He attempted to avoid the question, but Mickey wasn't having it, "Come on, Doctor," he said, "No need to be shy...you're not afraid of anything, are you? So why can't you answer me?"
"I am afraid of things, Mickey," he said quietly, "Many things."
"I am too," Mickey said, "And it's right in front of me," he nodded at the Doctor, "You."
"Me?"
"I'm afraid of what you'll do to her," he said, his voice suddenly harsh, "To Rose."
The Doctor sighed, "Mickey-"
"Stuff that you don't intend to do, isn't it, Doctor?" Mickey carried on, "But you still do it."
"Mickey, I-"
"Are you just going to leg it one day? Because you know and I know, Doctor: she's never going to leave you by herself. And she really needs to, because she's human, she's not like you, she's like me. Me. Why can't you just accept the inevitable and leave her, because we both know it's going to happen one day. Doctor-"
"I don't."
Mickey raised his brows, "What?"
"I don't know what's going to happen, Mickey. Rose thinks she does, but she doesn't. Not even you do, though you so foolishly want to believe that you do. I am never going to drop everything and leave, because we both know what she would do."
His eyes burned, and Mickey swallowed. "She would chase you," he admitted, and the Doctor nodded.
"How could I do that, Mickey? Leave someone like that? Pick up and run and give them a chance to come after me? That would be worse than staying." He glanced at Rose, sighing, "The least I can do for her is stay, take her where she wants, help her to see the stars, give her a time she can remember for the rest of her life...it's the least I can do, since it's my fault she's here in the first place. Isn't it much better closure, Mickey, to know that I did everything I could to keep her with me, to try to be the person she wants me to be? Because I've had a lot more time to think about it, Mickey, and..." His gaze became sad, "This is the only solution I can come up with."
"Can't you just leave her alone?" Mickey growled, "Can't you just leave us all alone?"
He knew the answer, even though he didn't want to.
"No."
"You like her, don't you, Doctor? More than you let on."
He looked towards Mickey again, and the ancient sadness in his gaze was nothing short of heartbreaking. "Yes," he said, his voice breaking a little, "Yes, I-"
"Ready to go then?" Rose's bright, cheerful voice broke into the heated conversation, and they both turned to her, dropping their serious expressions at once – Mickey went for an unsteady smile, whilst the Doctor simply attempted to look innocent. Rose raised a brow, "So...what were you men talking about while I was gone?"
"Nothing."
"Nah, Rose, you think I could ever have a serious conversation with Mickey?" the Doctor was back to his joking self – though Mickey thought it was more of a charade now, "Of course not."
"Yeah...sure." She stared at him for a minute, then shook herself as if she were trying to rid herself of a thought, turning to Mickey and planting a kiss on his cheek. "See you soon," she grinned, though he knew her well enough to see that she was dying to get away from him, even though she might not know it, "I'll see if he can't get me back for tomorrow."
Mickey laughed half-heartedly, "Knowing him, I'll be eighty before I see you again."
"Nah," the Doctor broke in, defending himself, "I'm not that cruel...forgetful, maybe, but not cruel."
"Right." Rose laughed, but they both knew that Mickey was deadly serious.
"Well," Rose took a step away, "See you, Mickey."
"Yeah," the Doctor stepped towards her too, nodding at Mickey, "See you."
They both turned, and Rose at once reached out for his hand as they reached the open Tardis door – the Doctor looked back at Mickey for a second longer before he took her hand in his...and there was a little possessiveness in his gaze as he pulled her into the spaceship and shut the door behind them. Rose was already too engaged in him to wave at Mickey, even though he raised his hand to her, and he sighed before turning to his car and finding that, with one turn of the key, it started smoothly.
The Doctor's work, of course.