Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or any of its characters, or anything else I mention here.

She really can't take it anymore. It's been two hours of him silently tinkering with some wires in the console room. He doesn't say a word just to try to prove that he is alright, because he knows that she knows him better than that, she knows he is anything but alright.

And as much as she prays to the Heavens to make that daft alien shut up sometimes- specially when it comes to a certain Jackie Tyler who did not take kindly to him telling her that her "gas exchange" could make her get confused for a Slitheen and get arrested in at least twelve different planets- she kind of wishes he would babble about things that don't matter.

With that thought in mind, she gets up from the jump decisively, and sits down on the TARDIS floor, right next to where he is buried under the console floor from below the belt. Not that she thinks much about him below the belt, because she really doesn't. Not that she needs to justify herself if she did, because she has every right to- okay, babbling is officially contagious, even if it thankfully stays inside her head.

"We need to talk", she says and pats the space next to her, even though he is looking anywhere but at her. He puts aside the wire that was clenched in his teeth- add that to the list of inanimate objects Rose Tyler is jealous of, please- and sits down quietly next to her, hugging his knees to his chest. And once again the nine hundred years old man seems like a little kid. "You can tell me anything, you know?"

Oh, he knows. But she has to tell him anyway, in case she's in some kind of The Truman show reality and people are watching, and are gonna accuse her of being a jerk and not saying it, because, duh, does it need saying?

He doesn't know where to begin. So he starts with what he knows best- apology one-o-one. "I'm sorry. I should have asked you before I brought a new companion on board."

She wants to hold it against him, "it" being the grudge for how he invited that French woman onboard, "it" definitely not being any of her body parts that happen to be aching for his touch, because they are most definitely not. She wants to hold a grudge so bad for being almost murdered by villainous clockwork droids. But right now, her best mate needs her, and she has to forgive him. "It's okay, Doctor, I completely understand."

Of course she does. Rose Tyler, the most compassionate woman in his world, or in various other worlds, he suspects. She doesn't say "your ship, your rules", because she knows she is as much hers as his now- "she" being the ship, the TARDIS, "she" definitely not being a certain pink and yellow human called Rose Marion Tyler, because that would have been against the fifty-third century intergalactic feminism laws that state every female is her own property and therefore no male can own her, which was a huge problem for him when he landed there with his TARDIS, because she wasn't considered his there and they tried to- right, digression, Rose. He is so glad that he met her.

"It's hard to lose friends." She says, and her eyes soften around the edges. She can tell that he's a little embarrassed to be so blatantly upset, but she doesn't understand what the big deal is. This isn't the first and definitely not the last time that she's seen him upset, after all.

And then he answers her unspoken question. "If my people could see me now, they would probably chuck me in the vortex. Sulking like this for an inferior species."

She really doesn't want to fight over the nth insult to her species, because when she complained about being called a stupid ape once upon a time, he took her to the planet of the apes and showed her how cruel the intelligent apes were, torturing the less intellectually gifted, until one stupid ape brilliantly fought their way to freedom, so really, it was a compliment and she should thank him, and he definitely doesn't mean thank him in the thirty six nefarious ways that he thought of and dictated to a certain human centuries back when said human was writing some book called Kama Sutra.

She mentally counts Daleks and calms herself- and ignores the voice at the back of her mind that tells her that counting a psychopathic genocidal alien species that look vaguely like her grandma's old salt-shakers should not be this calming. "Well, I'm sure some of your people must have felt the same way."

He snorts. "I highly doubt that."

"Oh, come on. At least someone would have understood. You've all lived in many ages and many planets, yeah? I reckon they must have seen some society where this kind of..." She searches for the right word, and her mind supplies her with that forbidden l-word, but she shoves it back inside the folds of her brain, the same way she shoves her clothes inside her drawer without bothering to fold them. "...bond was acceptable." And blimey, she can't control herself anymore. She has to know if he loves that other woman, has to ask him without asking. Subtlety, a highlight on her CV- obliviousness, a highlight on his, may the more stubborn one win. "Maybe someone may have fallen in love even?"

He grimaces at that, mentally making a note to himself to not take Rose to certain planets. "Well, there are societies where, uh, those happen. But they are usually frowned upon." He frowns, as if to emphasize his point, his eyebrows knotted together in deep thought. "I'm not sure how I feel about that myself, to be honest, Rose."

She feels her heart sink a little. Is he seriously this adverse to a relationship with a human?

"What about me?" She asks before she can seal her lips with crystalline-polymerized-megawhatever cement from the planet of the Labour Ants, but then again, there are more damaging and much more interesting things she could have done to him with her lips, like attacked his mouth or that tongue that is always tasting everything but her, or draped her lips over his- does he even have a- why don't they teach alien anatomy in school again?

"What about you?" He asks, clueless about what the question is.

What do you feel about me? She wants to scream. Again. But doesn't. Again. "Your people would have hated me too, I bet."

"Don't be daft, Rose." He mock scolds, taking her hand in his and giving it an assuring squeeze, his eyes shining with a hint of mischief. "Rassilon probably would have waged a war against earth and demanded your hand in marriage to mark his victory."

She knows he's joking, of course, but she does feel giddy inside to know he holds her in such high esteem and thinks she's worthy of Rassilon. She feels hopeful about that maybe-some day-what if- that she daydreams about more often than she would like to admit. And then an offending thought occurs to her. "Earth could have won too! How do you know Rassilon would win?"

He stares at her like it's self-explanatory. "It's Rassilon! He's a hero!"

"You are too! You save worlds." She pokes at his chest with her finger, like she wants to do every single day in between many other things. "You saved her", she says softly.

He sighs, the pain and the guilt returning to his face. "I was selfish today. I didn't think of the consequences. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too." She says, and because her life is straight out of the song You belong with me, offers to lend a shoulder while he mourns the fish-eyed woman he most definitely does not belong with. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

He hesitates, fiddling with her hand that is still held in his while staring at the finger that has gone from poking his chest to playing with his lapels, and somehow that is making thinking more difficult for him. "Well, it's like, there was this void in my heart for a long, long time that nobody could fill, until..." He trails off, and a part of her feels sad. She thought she is the one who saved the life of an angry, bitter, war-torn Time Lord Victorious, she thought she has filled that void in his heart ever since the day they ran and she brought home a mannequin hand with very questionable intentions. And now Reinette is filling that void? In a matter of a few hours? Yep, she will never understand how time works, she is sure about that.

He resumes talking, having given up on finding the right words. "I can't explain it. You won't know how it feels until you feel it."

The look in his eyes breaks her heart. She has seen that look only once, when they had landed on a planet of muppet-like creatures, fondly nicknamed Steve's world, where said Steve loved to mess with cannons, and had banned bananas all over the planet, confiscating every single one The Doctor had in his many, many, pockets. He had to go two days without a single banana, until they could get back inside the TARDIS, and his teary reunion with his estranged edible friends brought a perfect roll to her eyes.

"You can get one too, you know?" He says suddenly.

Get one what? Companion? Lover? Snog-buddy? Shag buddy? Her heart sinks at that thought. So he really isn't interested in her then? He wants her to- "Is that why you brought Mickey along?" Her eyes go wide in apprehension.

"Tin-dog." He chuckles, then checks himself. "That was rude. No, Rose, that's not why I brought him along."

She's a little relieved. But that doesn't last long, because another scary thought enters her mind. "Do you want to get another?" Another what, she isn't sure.

He shrugs uncertainly. "I don't know. I honestly don't think anyone can replace Arthur."

Yes, how can anyone ever replace such a pretty, sophisticated, educated blonde who- Wait, what?

"Though I never thought I'd get another pet after K-9 either."

Is he talking about...

"I guess Arthur and K-9 each have their own place in my hearts? Two hearts, two pets?"

That bloody horse?

"I just hope Reinette took good care of him. She promised me that in exchange of one trip to the stars. But I couldn't take her to the stars. I don't know if she would keep up her end of the bargain. Your history books are incomplete, they never mention the King of France having a horse named Arthur. Although, they might have changed his name. Maybe they named him Poirentoinant? Or maybe-"

WAIT. WHAT?

A/N: I don't know how this plot bunny attacked me, lol. Hope you like it. Please review! :D