"Are you alright?" Rose asked, watching the Doctor's drawn, tired face from her place next to Mickey.
"I'm always alright," he demurred, meeting her gaze with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, before quickly turning back to the console. Rose hesitated, waiting to see if he would say more, wanting to help but unsure how. It was Mickey who pulled her away, realizing the Doctor's apparently need for solitude.
"Come on, Rose," he said quietly, taking her hand, "It's time you showed me around the rest of this place." With a backwards glance, Rose followed him out of the room, leaving the Doctor alone with his thoughts and a final missive from Madame du Pompadour.
It was a little more than an hour before Rose returned. The Doctor was still standing by the console, occasionally touching a lever or adjusting a screen here or there, his gaze unfocused.
"Doctor?" Rose asked him quietly, hoping not to startle him. He looked up at her with a sad half smile but said nothing. Rose looked at him for a moment, and then crossed the room to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. He barely hesitated before his arms came gently around her back, his eyes falling closed as he rested his head on hers, breathing in the scent of her hair. "Are you i really /i alright?" she asked him, her voice muffled by his chest. He gave a soft sigh.
"Yes Rose, I'm really alright. A bit sad, but alright." He paused before continuing, "I disappointed her. I promised her the stars and then I left her behind. I didn't mean to, but I did, and she died waiting for me. I don't like letting people down." Rose nodded into his chest, then pulled back.
"So you're going to be okay?" He gave her a half grin in response, some of the sadness having left his eyes.
"I'm going to be okay."
"Good," she answered, nodding again. Then, without warning, she pulled back her right hand and smacked him hard in the arm.
"Ow!" the Doctor cried, wincing and rubbing his sore bicep, "What the hell was that for?!" Rose glared at him and pointed a finger in his face.
"Don't you EVER swan off and leave me behind again! ESPECIALLY without telling me how you plan to get back! Got it?" With wide eyes, the Doctor moved his right hand from his sore arm to his forehead and saluted Rose sharply with two fingers.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good," she repeated, continuing to glare at him for a moment before breaking into a smile. She nudged his shoulder with her fingertips, making him rock back slightly on his feet. "Now come on, Mickey and me are about to put on a movie in the media room. He's freaking out about the fact that we can watch films from the future so I thought I'd show him the Star Trek reboot."
"Ooh, do I get to make fun of the made up future technology?" the Doctor asked, his eyes lighting up.
"Wouldn't be you if you didn't," Rose answered with a grin. "I'm gonna go grab popcorn, meet me in there in a mo', yeah?"
"Wouldn't miss it," the Doctor answered, and satisfied, Rose spun on her heel and skipped out of the console room and down the hall. The Doctor smiled and shoved his hands into his pants pockets, following her slowly out the doorway, leaving the ghosts of France behind.