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"Closure"

Chapter 3: Revelation

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He seems to grow angrier as they walk. He says nothing else, after grasping her wrist to pull her to her feet, just looks back at her now and again, his frown increasing each time. Worry begins to gnaw at her gut. She's reminded of the first day she met him. She'd been afraid. He was dangerous. She can sense that again now, and it frightens her. She feels his pace quickening, and struggles to keep up with his long-legged stride.

"Are we headed for the TARDIS, then?" she asks. Her head is still spinning from the alcohol as he drags her along the deserted streets.

He turns on her, shoving her against a wall and pointing a menacing finger at her, "Stop that! Stop it. Look, I don't know who you are, or where you've come from, but you know far too much about me and my ship. I am NOT taking you to the TARDIS, because I don't trust you, alright? So we'll stop right here and you'll tell me exactly what's this game you're playing. How does that sound?"

Rose recoils, shrinking away from the venom in his voice. "I'm not playing any game. I thought you were a friend, is all."

"Usually I make it a habit only to be friends with people I know, and that's not you."

"No! So obviously I made a mistake about that!"

"Alright, so we're not friends. What are we then, Rose? What else do you know about me?"

She swallows, nearly in tears now from anger and shock. She thinks of the man she knew so well. His humour and compassion. His child-like wonder. This man is so resentful, so bitter. Was he really this way before she met him? But right now he's sneering at her, waiting for her to answer, to defend herself, "I know you travel through time. And space. I know you're alien. Not human, I mean. And your ship is the TARDIS, and it's bigger on the inside, because it's transcen- dimensionally transcendent. I know you love adventure. And you always try to help people, even when it gets you into trouble. And you hate it when I go on like this, babbling. And I know- I know you've lost your home, and you think you've got to do it all on your own now," she finishes in a tiny voice. There's an expression in his eyes that she can't read. Quizzical, and... something else.

"Where did you come from, Rose?" he asks, sounding suddenly tired, and every day of his 900 odd years. "Who brought you all the way out here, so far from home?"

She begins to tell him she's from Earth, when she realizes he already knows that. She takes a breath, and leaps.

"You did." God, she wants to hold him when he looks like that. Like the weight of the universe is on his shoulders. "You brought me here. From your future."

He turns away from her. "What future?"

She goes to him then, touching him softly on the shoulder, gently, afraid he'll flinch away. Or worse, turn his anger on her again. But he doesn't, just stands there, still as stone, his head hanging as he stares at the wet pavement beneath his feet.

"Look," she starts, unsure of how much she can say, "can we go somewhere? Talk? I know, you don't trust me, you don't know who I am. But, you're a Time Lord, right? I mean, it's not all that weird that you'd run into someone you haven't met yet. Yeah?"

This time she takes his hand. It nearly breaks her heart as she feels his long, calloused fingers slipping so easily between hers. This familiar touch, skin on skin, palm to palm. It shouldn't make her feel so much, after so long. But she can't stop the way her pulse quickens and her breath gets short. He looks up at her, at last, and she blinks away the tears that are beginning, and smiles at him. "Come on then, lead the way."

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He looks down at their hands, linked. Comfortable. He rubs a thumb experimentally over her fingers. They're not as soft as he'd expected. She's not had an easy life, this one. She's done her share of work. That comforts him, somehow, and he finally looks up to meet her eyes. "Come on then," she says, "lead the way." It's her smile that does it. She smiles at him and he can't help but trust her. He'd suspected the truth when she'd begun telling him what she knew. But her smile has something in it. It's the smile of a Companion.

He nods once, and begins to walk, her small hand still clasped in his, until they reach the residential section of the city. He spots a crumbling bench in the remains of a park, a flat featureless square covered in litter and refuse. It's dark here, he notices. A few streetlamps loom overhead, cracked and unlit. At least it will be quiet.

"I'm sorry," he blurts, surprising her as much as himself. But he means it. He'd regretted his outburst as soon as he'd seen the hurt in her eyes. He tries to continue, and realizes he's run out of words. Wanting for anything better to do, he sits beside her on the bench, feeling it shift beneath his weight.

"It's alright," she says, and grins cheekily at him. "You've always been a bit moody."

He turns and stares at her, a strange sort of lightness growing in his chest. "I think I ought to resent that."

She's still grinning, but there are tears sliding down her cheeks. "God, Doctor, I've missed you!" She wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand. "You were so- Shit. I shouldn't- I mean, it's not good to talk to you about it, about you, on account of it's your future and all. Right?"

He wants to say no. He wants to tell her to talk to him, to tell him what to do, to make him promises that there's more to the rest of his life than this bleak despair he's felt for so long. He wants to know where he's going, and whether he'll make a difference there. But she's right. Whatever she could tell him, there's the chance that the telling could send it all awry. He's seen enough of the chaos caused by distorted time lines. He'll be content to let his own flow naturally. He's got to be. And suddenly he feels the tiniest spark of hope. This bright, lovely woman, he'll mean something to her someday. Could be there's a future to look forward to after all.

"Rose." He tastes the word on his lips, and she looks up at him, hazel eyes bright and expectant. "Just, tell me. Is it alright? Is it going to be alright?"

"You showed me the stars, Doctor. You showed me everything." Her hand touches his face again, and this time he doesn't pull away. Emotions begin to stir within him, as her fingers slide across his cheek, emotions he'd forgotten he'd ever had. The aching emptiness recedes, abates, and he shuts his eyes, savoring the feelings as she presses her lips to his.

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