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And then I looked up at the sun and I could see
Oh, the way that gravity turns on you and me;
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They must have sat there for an entire minute not saying anything. Their eyes refused to shift from one another, as if moving would mean breaking the spell they had both fallen under. It was the Doctor who first broke the silent magic, but his eyes were soft.
"You gonna sleep then, or what? I'm not just sittin' here lookin' pretty."
Rose laughed to herself before slipping back, her head against the headboard. The Doctor grinned at her and reached for her hand. He coaxed her gently into closing her eyes which, after a moment or two, she did.
"See?" he asked softly, blinking at her with compassion. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
She opened one eye exaggeratedly to look at him, her eyebrow rising with it. She looked so comical that he almost burst out laughing.
"You're not gonna disappear off, are you?" she asked with a slight frown. "'Cause quite honestly, Doctor, it'd be better if you just went off now. It's weird wakin' up alone when you fell asleep with someone."
The Doctor raised an interested eyebrow.
"You sound like you're speaking from experience," he commented, doing well to hide the dark tone in his voice. Any fool who would up and leave Rose while she was sleeping deserved to be shown a thing or two about being a gentleman. "And no, I'm not goin' anywhere."
Rose looked away from him, but was comforted when his fingers began to make their way around hers.
"It's jus', y'know..." she tried to explain with a motion of her free hand. "You go to sleep an' it's all warm. But then you wake up and everythin's cold 'cause it's not what you fell asleep with. If you... get what I mean."
He laughed wryly, sighing out through his nose. Gently, tenderly, he shifted slightly up the bed. When his eyes fell on hers, she didn't look away.
"Yeah, I get you."
She had to work very hard to remember to keep breathing. It had suddenly become very difficult to regulate the rise and fall of her chest, and the thumping of her heart wasn't helping.
And then, with no warning whatsoever, the Doctor stood and slipped his hand out of Rose's, heading over to the other side the room. She looked up at him, her heart now plummeting to the depths of her stomach. Of course he wasn't going to say. He didn't do things like that. She was tired, and the TARDIS needed fixing. Perfect combination.
Rose watched mutely as the Doctor headed slowly over to the door, her body getting heavier with every step he took. He reached for the handle and hesitated, before casting a look back at the girl on the bed. She was just blinking at him, confused. Hurt. With the smallest of sighs, and the tiniest of smiles, he shut the door. With him still in the room.
"Sorry," he chirped brightly, his manic grin appearing again. "You know what they say about draughts. And I can't exactly have you catching a cold, can I?"