Disclaimer; I do not own the rights to Doctor Who, nor do I mean to infringe on BBC's copyright for publishing this work of fanfiction.

-x-

When they clasped each other's hands in that dungeon in Cardif, they didn't think they needed to voice the feeling that had grown in their hearts.

When Rose impressed the Doctor over and over, he didn't think he needed to tell her how proud he was of her. She wasn't the same girl that had hopped out of her boring life hanging out in the chippy and working at the shop and into his arms, and he believed her when she smiled sympathetically at him and said "there's me" when he told her he had no one left.

When they were stranded on Station 5, they didn't think they needed to say anything more than their usual banter. After she became the Moment, the Bad Wolf, the Doctor didn't think he needed to tell Rose what was in his heart as he kissed her, as he took the Time Vortex from her head and saved her.

When the Doctor returned to Rose with a different face and a different personality, she didn't think she needed to tell him what was said when their eyes and hands met for the first time.

When Cassandra left Rose's body, the Doctor didn't think he needed to tell her how much he cherished her; how much he had hated not having his Rose by his side.

When she returned to him, face and all, the Doctor rejoiced and embraced her, but he didn't think he needed to explain how much he missed her smile, how much he had regretted not kissing those bright pink lips before they were taken.

When they locked themselves in the library to escape the werewolf, he didn't think he needed to tell her how frightened he was that he would lose her.

When the Doctor returned from being stuck inside a drawing (and carrying the Olympic Torch to the end for good measure), Rose didn't think she needed to tell him what was in her heart as she hugged him.

When they were stranded on that impossible planet, suspended over a black hole, they didn't think they needed to say what was exchanged through glances and brushes. When Rose waited for the Doctor to return, and the Doctor began to fall, he knew that she knew what was tangled inside his hearts.

When the Doctor returned from being stuck in eighteenth-century France, Rose didn't think she needed to tell him just how worried she was, how afraid she had been. She didn't think she needed to tell him how much she needed him as she cried in his arms when they returned to the TARDIS.

When the Doctor felt her slipping away from him, becoming obsessed with the Pete of a parallel world, he followed her, knowing she would be okay because he would be there beside her. It didn't make sense to tell her what she already knew.

But as three hearts broke on the shores of Dårlig Ulv Stranden, and Rose choked out the words that had escaped them for so long, the Doctor regretted every second he hadn't said it. He hated himself for not telling it to Rose every moment he was with her, every time he held her in his arms, every time he saw her stumble groggily into the console room and mumble "good morning" to him.

But he had that chance to say it, right there on that beach. He had the chance to say what he always meant to, and he was going to do it right.

Rose would know just how deeply he loved her after he spoke those three words. He started with her full name — as intimate as he could get as a hologram — and ended it with those three syllables.

"I love you."

If only the words accidentally spoken to the TARDIS core had reached Rose...

If only he hadn't left her stranded on that beach with those words still unsaid...