Rose stood on that damned windy beach, staring at the spot where the TARDIS had been. The new Doctor still clutched her hand tightly, and that's when it occurred to her…
"He did it, again," she choked out, with a strangled little half-sob. "The whole time he was sayin' goodbye, ever since we left the TARDIS…he never touched me."
The Doctor looked at her with affection mingled with a touch of shame. He reached out with his free hand to brush the tears from her face. "Oh, Rose…he was protecting himself."
"How d'you mean?"
He smiled then, the Doctor's achingly familiar just-for-Rose smile. "If he'd allowed himself to touch you now, do you think he'd ever have been able to let you go?"