"What are you doing running? Running away?" Rose asked spitefully, which was a rarity for her. The doctor looked taken aback.
"Rose you know I wouldn't run unless I had to." he said.
"Or you needed to save someone." she said pointedly.
The doctor sighed, "There's no need to snap at me Rose."
She looked tired. "Guess the years have taken their toll."
He smiled sadly "Year I s'pose. Not been that long though Rose has it?" he asked "Not that long."
"No. Not so long." Before you broke my heart she added silently.
He looked at Rose curiously.
"Rose? What's up?" he asked worriedly. You don't know how much it kills me to see you hurt.
"Take a look around Doctor. Everywhere we go, Mickey was right."
"What, destruction and all that, I thought...well you wouldn't...well not exactly mind but..." he trailed off "I'm so off aren't I?"
"You know what you are Doctor? A bloody intergalactic playboy." She started to storm off down the corridor.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him. "Am I?" he asked, her words just beginning to sink in properly. "Rose..." he trailed off. You don't know how low that was, do you? You don't know how much that hurts...how deep that went...
She yanked her arm free. "Yes Doctor you are."
He turned away, biting his lip. I could say so much, rip her world in half but I don't want to...don't tempt me Rose.
"Rose? This isn't you, and that was a low blow. Its Reinette isn't it? 'Cos if you're gonna be such a bloody kid I'll take her home!" He was yelling by the end of it. When people hurt they shout or cry, they hurt other people or they sob. I can't cry, too proud to cry. But I don't want to hurt...
"Look at me Rose." he turned back to her
Rose stared at him unblinkingly. "Yes?" she asked icily.
"That was a low blow Rose," he repeated.
"Point still stands," she growled.
"That was a low blow Rose," he repeated.
"What do you want me to do? Say sorry?" was the acid reply.
"No. I want you to stop behaving like such a child." the doctor shot back, his eyes blazing.
"And I want you to stop acting like Casanova. Looks like neither of us can have our wish." she retorted.
"Then you can tell me what's wrong...apart from Reinette." he murmured quietly.
"In a word? You." Once more she turned to walk away.
The doctor grabbed Rose's arm and spun her around. And this time he wouldn't let go. "Rose. For the first time in my life I'm admitting that I'm completely naive. I need to know what's going on." he whispered.
"Really?" Rose's eyes were blazing, "Then maybe you should bluff your way or call for back up."
"That would slightly difficult. As you're the one I'm going to have to bluff it to, and you're also generally backup."
"Is that all I am? Back up?"
"No Rose, because I have a tendency to leave back up behind."
"Like Sarah Jane? Like Mickey? One day doctor you will. And you won't look back."
"No, because if I look back I would never be able to leave." he murmured quietly.
"Then you're leaving already?" she asked bitterly. "Check your tenses...and your hearts."
"Then if I'd already left I'm be getting no where, and if I was leaving then I wouldn't still be holding on." he said stubbornly.
"Spare me the lines doctor." she said quietly, "You need a harem not an assistant."
The doctor reeled back not letting go of her arm. You don't know how much that hurt Rose. You don't know how deep that sank. No-one will heal a wound that will never go away
"I would rather have an assistant than a Harem any day."
A series of images flashed through Rose's mind. Jabe, Lynda, Cleopatra, Reinette.
"You're hurting me." she said in a childlike voice, looking at his hand on her arm.
The doctor sighed and closed his eyes. "But according to you, if I let go then I'll leave. And I could never do that. I would rather watch the galaxy rot in hell."
"I didn't mention anything about cutting off my circulation." she snapped though she wasn't as angry as she had been. "And you were the one who started that."
He loosened his grip slightly. "Then don't leave me if I let go." he said hoarsely.
"As if I could." she replied.
The doctors eyes flashed, "Is that all I am to you? A walk-in Time machine? Yell in a name and it'll take you where you want?"
For the first time in the argument Rose's eyes showed hurt. It was her turn to stumble back. I never meant that. How could he think that?
Her weight falling made the doctor let go and she fell onto the cold floor.
The doctor knelt down next to her. "You don't have take that like I meant it."
"Did you?" she asked, "Did you?"
"I could never mean it. And it wasn't meant for you." He looked down at her arm. There was a slowly spreading bruise from the second time he'd grabbed her. The doctor shifted into his pocket and brought out a swirling ball of tiny gold dust. "Do you remember?" he asked.
She took one glance at the nanogens and tears spilled down her face. We left him. Jack…alone.
The doctor placed the nanogens on Rose's arm and then looked up at her. He gently brushed away a tear. "You don't know how much it hurts to see you cry." he murmured.
She turned her head away. "Then don't look."
He turned her face to face him. "But it isn't just hard to see, it hurts to know. And it hurts to know more that I caused it."
Rose didn't have anything to say to that and her response was to look at him with the tears still falling.
"Don't cry Rose." he said sounding hurt.
She pulled her knees up and buried her head in her arms. And sobbed.
The doctor sighed and out his arms around her. "Shh Rose, I'd rather watch the universe rot in hell, than know you were crying."
I feel safe. "Decomposed planets do nothing for broken hearts."
"Well if they did there wouldn't be a heart left to be broken." he comforted her gently.
"But you would save it, Doctor. You know you would. The lonely angel saving unfriendly worlds."
"But I can't save all of it. I couldn't save home. And in the end I won't be able to save earth. In the end I won't be able to save you Rose. And it will kill me."
Rose remembered him telling her exactly the same thing before. Different face but same words. It didn't worry her this time, though.
"But we have till then."
M'rika: Hi. Ok so I didn't write this on my own. I did the parts about Rose and Salrianna did the parts of the Doctor. Uh...I hope you like and review. Thanks.
Rika