Rose sighed as she looked through the contents of her wardrobe. What exactly did you wear for a date with an astrophysicist? For that matter, what did you wear to dinner on a star observation platform floating in the middle space? Was there a dress code?
It wasn't like she could go and ask the Doctor.
She was just about to give up and go for a pair of black trousers and decent top when she remembered something. Hurrying over to the chest of drawers she pulled open the bottom one to reveal just one item; the dress she'd worn to her secondary school prom. She'd only brought it for sentimental reasons, never thinking that she would ever have occasion to wear it. It wasn't perfect but it would do.
Forty minutes later, she was just putting the final touches to her appearance and looking critically at herself in the mirror. The dress was calf length, maroon silk with thin straps and a v neck front that wasn't too indecently low cut. Pulled in at the waist, the skirt was then floaty which seemed to go well with the black strappy sandals she was wearing. She decided the corsage looked at bit silly so she pulled it off and instead poked it into her clipped up hair. That was better. Picking up her phone out of habit, she headed out into the corridor.
She had hoped the Doctor would have tucked himself away somewhere, not really wanting to have to tell him where she was going, but unfortunately for her was still in the control room when she arrived. What did she have to feel guilty about though? She wasn't exactly cheating on him after all – he didn't want her.
Walking passed him with her head held high she had almost escaped through the door before he spoke.
"Going somewhere nice?" he asked, his voice sounding odd.
She slowly turned back to look at him. The look on his face was apprehensive and with good reason. Her anger had lessened somewhat over the last few hours but that didn't mean she liked him any more than she had.
"Dinner," she said shortly, feeling no need or want to explain her actions. And, if she was honest, probably a little ashamed of herself. Have an argument with the potential love of her life and a few hours later go to dinner with the next cute guy that came along? Not really her proudest moment.
"You don't get dressed up like that for a burger and chips," he prodded, eyeing her suspiciously.
"No," she replied, irritation in her voice at his questioning and what she considered as his attempts to make her feel bad, "But you do if you're going to dinner with an astrophysicist."
"You're what?" he asked, genuinely shocked.
Rose felt pleased at the pained look on his face although she didn't like herself for it.
"His name's Matthew," she said, almost defiantly, "I met him this afternoon."
A flurry of anger flitted across the Doctor's usually unreadable features. Good – it was about time he got as upset about the whole situation as she was. Served him right.
"Well, don't you just work quick," he said bitterly, "Some pretty boy I'd imagine..."
But she wasn't going fall for that bait.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked, with angry honesty, "As you pointed out I don't have all the time in the world to waste. And since you've made it quite clear that you don't want me, I need to start looking elsewhere, whether it's alright with you or not."
She walked out of the TARDIS, slamming the door behind her.
Rose walked arm in arm with Matthew back towards the main observation deck where they had first met. They had left the restaurant holding hands but Rose had been uncomfortable with that and swapped position. His hands were too small and not rough enough. It was funny how you could so unknowingly get used to something.
She had been right though, having dinner with him had been pleasant. He was sweet and attentive, he had a wonderful sense of humour and she found him very easy to talk to. She wondered how long the Doctor intended for them to stay here and if she had time to get to know her new friend a little better.
Although if she was really honest with herself she expected him to have prepared the 'I'm not sure this is working out, why don't I take you home?' speech by the time she got back. There were too many raw feelings between them for anything to be easily healed, and maybe it would be better not to try. Not that Rose wanted to go home. Whether things between herself and the Doctor worked out or not, she didn't think she could face living her tiny, limited existence anymore, not now she knew what was out here. But if she asked him to leave her here, where things were at least a little more exciting and she had a potential boyfriend in line, she may never see her mum again.
All through dinner Rose's inner monologue had be kicking and berating her. Why had she gotten herself into this situation? If only she hadn't kissed him. If only she could take back everything she had said. They were happy as friends, why had she pressed him for more? Why had she ruined it? She'd had the best life and she'd thrown everything away because she couldn't keep her hormones in check. She was such an idiot.
Hindsight was certainly a wonderful thing.
"Okay," Matthew said beside her, catching sight of her far off gaze, "I know I'm boring but I didn't expect to make you slip into a coma."
Rose looked up apologetically, shaking her head to clear her dazed thoughts.
"You're not boring," she reassured, "In fact, you're lovely. It's just been a weird couple of days for me, that's all. I think my brain's still trying to catch up."
He nodded, understandingly, "I get like that from time to time. Although it tends be just because my sums won't add up."
She gave him a slightly wry smile.
"I do sometimes have more interesting problems in my life, you know, honest," he said with a grin.
"Such as?"
He shrugged, "Well at the moment there's you."
"Oh, I'm a problem am I?" she teased.
"Yeah, actually, you are," he said, stopping and peering down at her, "You see, I haven't quite figured out yet whether or not you're going to let me kiss you and the anticipation is killing me."
Rose smiled coyly, feeling the slightest flutter of butterflies in her stomach. Handsome man talking about kissing her? Couldn't be a bad thing.
"You could always ask," she pointed out.
He smiled, slipping his arms around her waist, and pulling her closer, "May I kiss you, Miss Tyler?"
She looked down at the arms around her waist, "That's a little presumptuous, don't you think? How d'you know I'll say 'yes'."
"Gut feeling."
Rose grinned, slipping her arms around his neck, "Your gut is good."
She pulled him down to her, brushing his lips softly with hers. He was a good kisser, gentle, tender and not in too much of a hurry. It was a bit like kissing Mickey again.
But her breath hadn't caught, her toes weren't tingling and she didn't feel like flinging his clothes across the room this very instant. It wasn't like kissing the Doctor had been.
Rose suddenly pulled away, looking down, confused and disappointed.
"That bad, hmm?" Matthew asked after a moment, tilting her chin up to look at him.
She was silent, not knowing what to say.
"Someone broke your heart pretty badly, didn't they?" he said with a thoughtful frown, reading her perfectly, "And as lovely as I undoubtedly am, I'm just not him."
"You really are good," Rose said with a half hearted smile.
"But not good enough," he pointed out.
At Rose's sigh he grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her towards the bench looking out into space. Sitting her down, he joined her with a sympathetic squeeze of her hand.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling terrible.
He shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I had a great time but I wasn't planning to propose to you or anything. Not yet anyway."
She managed a small smile at his attempt to cheer her up.
"Was it your travelling companion?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Saw him wandering around earlier," he commented, "At least I know you're rejecting me for someone vaguely good looking."
Rose laughed quietly.
"So what did he do then? If you don't mind me asking."
She didn't mind at all. In fact, she was quite grateful. She told him the basics, omitting the fact he was a Time Lord whose people apparently had rules against these things, and instead saying that it was an age issue. That was another thing she added to Matthew's list of good qualities – he was a great listener. It was a shame she couldn't like him as much as he deserved.
When she finished he shook his head.
"Do you know what I think?"
Rose looked at him hopefully.
"He's completely insane."
She smiled.
"I'm serious!" he protested, "You wanna be careful. You're obviously travelling with some kind of crazed individual. He likes you, you clearly like him and if he is going let something so stupid stop you getting together then he needs his head examining."
"Try telling him that," she said bitterly.
"What are you going to do?"
She shrugged, "I dunno. Go home probably."
"But you don't want that, do you?"
"No", she admitted, "But I don't think we're going to sort this out."
"You never know," he muttered, suddenly quiet, "Now might be your chance. He looks a bit jealous if you ask me."
Rose glanced up and saw the Doctor crossing the room towards them. She sighed angrily; did he have to ruin everything?
"I'll leave you to it," Matthew said, standing up and squeezing her shoulder reassuringly, "Tell me what happens later, yeah? And good luck."
He walked off, heading in the Doctor's direction.
"Hi! Nice to meet you," he said brightly, as he passed him, "You're an idiot."
And with that he left the room.
Rose glanced up at the Doctor as he came to stand a few feet behind her, still looking a little perplexed at Matthew's comments. After a short moment she turned away with a heavy sigh. Did he have to come here now? Did he have to tell her he was taking her home her right this second? Couldn't it wait until she was in less danger of bursting into tears?
There was a long silence which Rose eventually broke when she couldn't stand it any longer.
"I backed the wrong horse, didn't I?" she said bitterly, "I should've stayed at home with Mickey and got on with my life. We could've been married by now. We could have had a future. Kids. He'd have been a great dad."
"He couldn't have given you what I have," the Doctor said with a solemn shake of his head.
"Yeah, but he never would have hurt me," she threw out, her anger flaring briefly, "He never would have put my life in danger just for a thrill."
Both true, but a low blow and she knew it, even if she didn't care. Right now he deserved to hurt just as much as he hurt her.
"You wouldn't have been happy," the Doctor continued, using a deep calming breath to help him ignore her last comment.
"And do I look happy to you now?" she asked with resentment.
He had no answer to that so he remained silence.
"And him," she said, pointing to where Matthew has left the room, "He is so lovely. So perfect and he likes me. And I'm going to let him go because…"
She didn't need to put it into words.
"I really hate you, right now," she added with some venom, "I hope you know that."
There was a long pause and the Doctor had that stony, thoughtful look on his face that she detested so much.
"Look," he said eventually, shuffling his feet in an uncomfortable manner, "I've booked you a room."
She turned back to look at him, suddenly genuinely afraid and unable to hide it, "You're just leaving me here?"
How could things been that bad that he couldn't stand having her in the TARDIS long enough to take her home?
"Only for a few days", he reassured.
She stood up to face him, not liking this at all, "Why? Where are you going?"
He shook his head, "There's just something I need to do, alright. You'll be fine here."
He placed a key tightly in her hand, "Everything's prepaid so use whatever you want."
Then he turned on his heels and headed back towards the TARDIS. Rose was so shocked that she didn't move until she heard the familiar whooshing sound of the time machine in motion. It was already too late though, and by the time she had run there it was gone.
Heading up to her room, as indicated by the number on the key, Rose felt depressed and worried. What on earth had made him leave her here like this? Where was he going that she couldn't? Was he even coming back? Maybe this was just his way of avoiding goodbyes. Maybe this was his way of punishing her.
Opening the door, she slipped inside, barely noticing how nice the room really was and how much it would have cost. She sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, tears in her eyes, wondering what she was going to do next. Was this it? Was she doomed to just sit here and hope that someday he'd come back for her?
Would see even see him again?
As she got up to find herself a tissue, wanting to dab at the tears in her eyes rather than smear her mascara everywhere, she noticed the scrap of paper sitting on the dressing table. It was so out of place in the immaculately tidy room that it might as well have been a flashing beacon. She crossed over to it and picked it up, unfolding it carefully. Written inside were three words in the Doctor's unmistakably scruffy hand writing.
I love you.