"Er…Rose? We're here…" he said tentatively into the intercom as the TARDIS materialised on the Oypelian Ternst Memorial platform, specialist in star observation.

He hadn't seen her since the day before when she had stormed out of the ice room after their argument. He had heard her moving around since, but it was clear she had no wish to confront him further as she had stayed well out of his way. He wanted to try and explain things to her when they were both a little more rational, but it looked like that wouldn't be for some time yet.

Was this it then? Was she never going to forgive him? He didn't want her to leave and he still wanted to be her friend, but that look in her eyes…. She hated him. Really and truthfully hated him with a passion right now. Could she continue to explore the universe if it meant being with someone she couldn't stand the sight of?

Didn't she realise that this was already hard enough for him without her anger?

The door to the control room opened and she breezed in.

"Everything okay out there?" she asked in a curt, business like manner.

He nodded.

"Did you land us in the right time? We're here to see the birth of a star, yes?"

All the excitement in her voice at the prospect of that seemed to be gone, replaced by an iciness that made every syllable feel like a physical smack.

"Yes," he said quietly.

"Good".

She brushed past him, flung open the door and stepped outside. By the time he had plucked up the courage to follow her, she had already disappeared into the crowd of other people assembled.

Rose sat down heavily on the bench next to one of the huge glass windows, staring out into the expanse in front of her. She tried to ignore the slight reflection of her own, stormy looking face, instead concentrating on the rather amazing view. A vast cloud of dark orange gas and dust loomed in front of her, filling the normal emptiness of space as far as the eye could see. Huge columns of gas rose out of it like the stalagmites had risen out of the floor of the caves she'd been made to visit during a geography trip as a kid. Apparently they were some kind of nursery and inside them stars were being born. It didn't exactly do much but it was beautiful to look at.

And it was taking her mind off of thinking about the Doctor which was certainly a good thing.

God, did she hate him right now. How could someone so strong, brave and clever suddenly be so…? What? Weak, pathetic and stupid? That just about summed it up in her mind, even though a tiny part of her complained that that was unfair.

But she loved him and he, for whatever reason, had rejected her and that hurt.

Just as her thoughts were drifting into unwelcome areas once more, they were shoved roughly aside by a different type of sharp pain in her right foot.

"Oi!" she complained, immediately, looking up at the man who had just trodden on her, "Do you wanna watch where you're stepping?"

He was staring so fixedly out of the window that for a few seconds he didn't realise what he had done. Then he glanced down at Rose's cross face and instantly stepped back, looking apologetic.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" he said, "Are you alright?"

She nodded, trying not to be too forgiving. He was good looking though and it instantly softened her anger. He appeared to be in about his late twenties, reasonably tall, good build, with brown hair that was just long enough to run her fingers through and brown eyes that had a friendly look in them. He wore a pair of fashionable glasses that gave him a sexily intelligent look.

"No harm done," she soothed, tearing her eyes away. This was not the time to be eyeing up the locals.

She wondered if the Doctor was anywhere nearby and had seen her looking.

"Fantastic, isn't it?" the stranger enthused after a short pause.

Rose's stomach flipped. Why'd he have to use the 'f' word?

He didn't seem to notice any kind of odd reaction in her though, instead sitting down next to her without waiting for an invitation to do so. Not that she made an effort to move away.

"This is one of the most rapid-fire star birth events we've seen in centuries," he elaborated, gesturing out to the expanse in front of them, "Two galaxies collided and wham! – we get a cosmic hurricane and all sorts of exciting stuff happens."

Rose smiled and nodded, touched by his enthusiasm.

"Those nebulae, you see," he continued, pointing to the columns, "They're like stellar nurseries. The densest parts undergo a gravitational collapse and they compress down into a rotating gas globule, which quickly cools."

"How long's quick?"

"Anywhere between ten thousand and a million years."

Rose's eyebrows shot up, "I think you need to rethink your definition of 'quick'."

"Ah, but a million years is nothing but a cosmic blink of an eye," he pointed out.

She shook her head fondly. He sounded just like the Doctor.

"So what happens then?" she asked, shifting round to face him a little better.

"Well," he explained, moving closer, using his hands to demonstrate the process, "The globule rotates faster and faster, and the centrifugal force that builds up separates the parts to create a central core and a protoplanetry disk. Then, if the baby star's lucky and it has enough material, the core will become the star itself and the disk will become the planets and asteroids that orbit around it."

"And if it's not lucky?"

He shrugged, "It'll become a very dim, very tiny brown dwarf star that nobody will care about."

Rose grinned, "The universe is harsh, isn't it?"

He smiled in return at that sentiment and then looked mildly apologetic, "Sorry. I didn't mean for that to become a lecture. I can't help it, I'm an astrophysicist."

"How do you know I'm not?" Rose challenged demurely.

He shook his head, "No, you're far too pretty."

She instantly blushed the full way across her cheeks, shuffling uncomfortably in her seat.

"Well, you're right," she said after an awkward pause, still feeling a little embarrassed, "I'm not an astrophysicist. I'm just here to watch."

"Really?" he asked in surprise, "You must be pretty rich then – they don't let just anybody up here to look around."

His face suddenly screwed up and he was apologising again.

"Sorry, that was tactless."

She shook her head, "No, it's alright. And I'm not rich. A friend of mine brought me here. He's good at getting invites to things like this."

At the thought of the Doctor, Rose felt her blood begin to boil in anger again and the pain in her chest return. She wished she could settle on one reaction to him. It would make things so much simpler.

"He?" her new companion asked, trying to sound nonchalant about the matter and failing.

Rose shook her head, "It's not like that. We just travel together."

That was one thing she could be certain of now.

"Oh…" he said, nodding thoughtfully.

Rose glanced at him with a curious frown, picking up on something in his tone.

"Would that be a good 'oh' or bad 'oh'?"

He smiled. He had a lovely smile. Made his face look adorable.

"For me?" he asked, daring to glance straight at her, "A good 'oh'. Or at least I hope it is."

"Oh," she returned, with mild teasing.

There was a small pause.

"Look," he rushed, suddenly looking very nervous, "I'm rubbish at all this beating around the bush and being smooth and suave, so I'll just ask you straight off - do you want to have dinner with me tonight?"

Rose smiled gently, undeniable pleased by his offer, "Really?"

"Yeah, of course. You're pretty and you seem really nice. I'd deserve to be shot if I wasn't at least curious about you."

Rose knew she shouldn't really. It wasn't fair and probably wasn't right either. She'd told one man she loved him yesterday and now, here she was, letting herself be chatted up by another man and on the verge of accepting a dinner invitation. But if the Doctor was going to be childish about this then what did she owe him? And this guy was really sweet. She'd be a fool to turn him down.

"Okay", she said, nodding in confirmation, "Black tie?"

He gave her a cheeky grin, "Well I hope you'll wear a little more than that. Unless you were intending on causing a riot."

She laughed, "You know what I mean."

"Yeah," he said with a glint in his eye, clearly enjoying her company, "Bring yourself and a nice dress. I'll do the rest."

She looked at him for a long moment, trying to sum up in her head who he was. Handsome, clever and charming, if in a slightly awkward way. She certainly knew enough about him to guess that dinner with him wouldn't be a chore. She was just missing one vital piece of information.

"You realise, I don't even know your name," she reasoned.

"And yet you still accepted my invitation to dinner," he pointed out with a knowing look, "So that's got to be a good sign, right?"

"Maybe," she said evasively.

He had the good grace not to push her any further on that.

"My name's Matthew," he answered, and off of Rose's surprised look added, "Yeah, I know. Really old fashioned, right? My parents had a thing for classical names. I've got a brother called Daniel and a sister, Lucy. What's yours?"

"Rose."

He grinned, "Like the flower. They're extinct now, aren't they?"

Rose nodded, "I guess so. Probably."

"Then you're extra special then, aren't you? The last of your kind."

He smiled jokingly, not noticing the thoughtful expression that crossed Rose's face at that.

"Meet you here at eight?" she asked almost too brightly, shaking herself out of her stupor.

He nodded, "It's a date."

"Certainly is," she muttered to herself as she headed back to the TARDIS, feeling happier although not really sure if it was for the right reason.