Trying to lighten the mood a little, he tried on an American accent, aiming for a sort of nineteen-forties' gangster feel. "So it's just you and me now kid."
"Yeah, I guess." Rose was distant, vague. She looked exhausted.
He dropped the act. "Rose, come away from the door. We've got to go."
She obeyed him and stood by the console, her hand resting lightly on it while they moved away from the parallel universe. She wiped her face with her sleeve.
"Did we have to go so quickly?" she asked eventually.
He looked up from the screen. "The energy wouldn't last forever. We'll need to go and recharge as soon as we get back to our world." He looked down again. "Anyway, there wasn't much left to stay for."
"How can you say that?"
"Well, we'd done all we could. Saved the world again, blah blah, no need for thanks." A thought suddenly struck him. "You know, have you noticed how no one ever says thank you? Never even acknowledges our intervention! You'd think we'd get some gratitude!"
Rose ignored his rambling. "What about Mickey? And Jake? And all those other things out there just waiting to destroy things? What about them?"
"They'll be fine." He shrugged. "You know, Mickey really has gone up in my estimation! He's a fast worker."
"Not enough to get him to stay though."
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't even try and convince him to come with us," Rose pointed out. "You just… let him stay."
"I never make people come with me." He paused. "At least, not when they're happy and at home."
"What do you mean, happy and at home?" Rose demanded. "His home's miles from there! His home's back where mine is, back in our London!"
"But that's not your home anymore, is it?"
"What?"
He sighed heavily. "Rose, think about it. If you went back there today and stayed, would you be happy? Stayed forever I mean."
Rose shrugged. "I'd be okay."
"Maybe. But would you be happy?"
She shrugged again before shaking her head slowly. "But that's different."
"No it's not. Mickey's got a place back there, a family, a purpose. He's not just sitting and hanging around for you to get back."
Rose didn't reply but stood, picking at her fingernails distractedly. He wanted to rush over and give her a hug and tell her it would all be fine, but he knew he needed to take a step back now. So much had happened to her recently; she'd found her dad again, only he wasn't. She'd watched her non-mum die. She'd said goodbye to her best friend. He wasn't what she needed right now.
"I thought we might call in on your mum," he informed her, programming the co-ordinates. "Drop in, have a cup of tea, get slapped…. What do you think?"
Rose didn't reply for a while, and then finally jerked herself into the present. "Yeah. That would be nice," she said softly. "Thank you."
He smiled at her. "Anytime."
