Arguing

The Doctor hated arguing- no, fighting. Their arguments always turned into fights.

He hated fighting with her. They were pointless fights, too. He knew she would win before he even started shouting, but he couldn't stop it. It was so easy to blame her for his mistakes. Dahlia didn't deserve all the hateful things he would spit when he was angry. He could see his words take their toll, how her emotional shields would end up battered and scarred after another fight with him.

The Doctor wished he was a bigger man. Then he could accept his own mistakes and he wouldn't have to make her suffer.

Relief

She only wanted to visit. She wasn't leaving him. He would've praised Rassilon if all he wanted to do wasn't to just hug the human woman and thank her for staying.

Awe

He was in awe of this woman. He couldn't bloody breathe because of her. Her and the way she'd just defended him- to Jackie Tyler of all people! He wanted to kiss her then. No, he wanted to drop to his knees and worship her, beg her for an explanation as to why she had such faith in him when she shouldn't. She should be running away from him, not with him, and yet here she was. Still with him while she knew she could probably die any minute now.

His control was slipping. He could feel it. The longer he held her stare the more he needed to show her just how much he appreciated her. But then Ricky started talking and they were all back to business.

Almost

So that was what Rose looked like. She was pretty but, she just didn't fit. Maybe she would've, in another universe that hadn't almost fallen apart, but not here. The Doctor couldn't even begin to picture someone else in Dahlia's place now, or even when she first stepped foot onto the TARDIS. She just . . . belonged there.

He knew he was dancing on thin ice as soon as he said he preferred brunettes to blondes. But it was her move now, though. He would go off whatever cues she gave him.

As Dahlia straightened her back and set her shoulders, the new, determined look in her eyes caused chills to run up and down his spine. And then she began to lean in . . . .

They were so close to each other that he could feel her breath on his lips.

Of course that would be the moment the TARDIS lurched wildly to the side, causing both Dahlia and him to jerk away from each other (and him to topple to the floor).

He didn't know how to recover from that, so he ran. Like a coward.

I'm here

Dahlia. Oh, Dahlia. It was the only thing The Doctor could think as he cradled her smaller body to his chest, rocking gently in a fruitless attempt at soothing her agony.

Seeing her like this broke his heart. He had never wanted to see this happen to her; she didn't deserve this kind of pain. It wasn't her fault she was here. And it certainly wasn't her fault that she couldn't go back to her world.

Screwing his eyes shut, he kissed her forehead and muttered in her ear, "Sshhh . . . I'm here, love. I'm here."

Betrayal

How could she? How could she keep that kind of information from him? The Dalek race still existed and she knew! She knew the entire time they had been traveling together and had never told him! Didn't she know how much he had sacrificed to get rid of the Daleks?

No. No, of course she did. Dahlia may not know everything about this universe, but she knew a lot, and The Time War was definitely one of those things.

The rage boiled under his skin and it came through as he roughly drug her back into the TARDIS and then locked her inside.

If she wasn't on his side in this, then she was just in the way.