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And do you hear my heart beating?
And can you hear that sound?
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His hearts raced as Rose shifted her hands in his, angling them over the left part of his chest. He watched, mesmerised, as her fingers, in his, drummed delicately on his chest. He fought back the shiver that ran through him at the touch. Her eyes drifted up to him and she smiled.
"Two heartbeats," she spoke quietly with wonder, her eyes shining.
The Doctor nodded, with a grin. "Two hearts," he reminded. Her gaze shifted down to his shirt again, her eyes seemingly locked on where their hands were clasped. It was all he could do to keep his legs from buckling at that look across her face.
His heartbeats sped up, racing like the London the marathon runners, bursting with pride and excitement and her exquisite touch. His breath was smooth and slow, tickling the hair around her forehead as he exhaled. The Doctor swallowed again, silently, as a small frown flickered over her face before she looked up to him again. The statement was plain across her face: she'd felt the speed of his heartbeats.
"Well," he choked out, abashed to hear his voice slightly broken. He let go of her hands and stepped back a little, blinking at the TARDIS controls. A thick fog seemed to have taken his mind, and he couldn't think properly. "I s'pose we'd best be off, then."
"Yeah," Rose said quietly with a shrug. The sound of her feet turning on the grille of the TARDIS floor echoed around the silent room.
The Doctor watched her with a frown as she made for the corridor.
"You sure you won't go?" he asked tentatively and saw her slow but not turn.
"Never liked birthdays much anyway," she mumbled quietly. "'Sides, I'm sure there's loads more out there better than hangin' 'round Earth, yeah?" She did turn now, her eyes large and pleading. "Find somewhere nice. We– I'll – do the birthday thing another time."
He listened to her footsteps ebb away down the corridor, his face pulled into a calmness as he watched her go.
Without a word, the Doctor turned and made his way around the controls of the TARDIS, pulling a lever here, pushing a button there. He looked up to the door silently, his eyes glittering in a sombre silence as he hovered his hand over a dial.
"That's what you think," he said quietly, and the TARDIS disappeared into the realms of time and space.