Rose found herself on a quiet street as she walked out of the TARDIS. Night had fallen and there were only a few people walking around the area. She recognized the street as one not far from her home but she could clearly see the time was not her own. A theater stood directly in front of her. In her time it was an old theater from the early 1900's that had been turned into a movie theater. She had often gone there to see a movie as a child. Unfortunately, it had fallen into disrepair and had closed some years earlier. She had always been amazed by the old theater and had often pondered what it must have been like in its time. Even though time had taken its toll on the theater she could tell it had once been majestic.

But as she was across the street from the theater now she could tell that it was not that old at all. It stood impressive and new. The cars on the street were also a good clue as to what year it was though she could not tell the exact year just from tasting the air as the Doctor seemed to be able to do. She felt a thrill of excitement go through her as she realized that this is where he had brought her and that she would actually get to see it. She did not see any sign of him as she made her way across the street and to the theater.

She opened the doors and walked in, not seeing anyone. The theater was massive, filled with thousands of deep red velvet covered seats on the floor and the large balcony. A deep turquoise colored the ceiling with white clouds and angel figures painted all along it. Massive ornate gold colored wood carvings stood on either side of the stage which was wrapped in waves of red curtains. It was mostly dark in the theater except for soft golden light coming out of hidden places all around the auditorium. She had never seen the theater in such a beautiful state and her mouth literally hung open at the sight of it.

"Blimey," she whispered to herself.

"I hope that means you're pleased," she heard the Doctor call out.

She jumped slightly as his voice broke the silence in the massive room. She whipped her focus back to the stage where the Doctor's voice had come from. He stepped out from one side of the stage and she was shocked to see that he was wearing a tux. She looked down at herself a little self consciously as she slowly made her way the rest of the way up to the stage.

She walked up the steps to join him on the stage but stopped with space in between them, too much space in between them. They both looked around and stood in silence for a few seconds before he spoke.

"You look beautiful," he said sincerely. She looked up at him and waited for a few moments for him to add some comment like 'for a human' to remove the seriousness of the moment. But for the first time since she had known him he did not.

"Thank you," she managed to say in response, looking down as she felt herself blush. "The dress is perfect."

"I had a bit of help from the TARDIS on that," he admitted. "I'm glad you like it."

"I do. She did a good job. You look quite dashing," she said gesturing towards him.

"Thank you," he said looking a bit embarrassed himself. She was very surprised to see that he was not the confident sure man he usually was. "So what do you think?" he said gesturing out towards the theater.

"It's amazing. I always loved this theater. I always wanted to see it like this. I would say that it is pretty early in its history."

"This is the very night that the theater opened," he said with a goofy excited smile. "I thought you might want to see the opening show. But I convinced the man in charge to let us in for a few moments before the action started."

Rose's breath caught in her throat and she looked away as in this special moment it came crashing down on her. This was traveling with the Doctor. This was seeing the impossible; anything you could ever want and everything you could never dream of. She'd only just scratched the surface of it. And she realized that none of it should be hers. These adventures were amazing but they carried with them a responsibility. She'd never really realized that before. There were rules set in place for a reason and she had not followed them.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked quietly still looking out over the theater rather than looking at him. She didn't deserve this. It was so special and she didn't deserve it. Especially at a time like this.

"I remember you talking about it one time when we were home," his voice turning serious at the distress he sensed in her. "We were passing by and you said you would have loved to see it when it was new. It had occurred to me then to bring you, I just never did," he said. Then thinking and adding in a distant voice "I don't know why I always put things off."

"But why now?" she said looking back at him.

"I wanted to do something special for you."

Rose's eyes filled with tears. "Why?" The last thing she felt like she deserved right now was him doing anything special for her. "Why should you want to anything special for me?"

"Because you're special."

"Doctor I-"

"Rose…please let me start." The remaining traces of excitement left his face and it started to cloud with darkness. He stepped towards her closing the gap between them and took both of her hands in his own and knelt in front of her. Her tears were becoming harder and harder to contain as she saw him in this humble position. She looked down at him but at first he didn't look at her but down at the ground.

"I don't know how to fix this," he said and his voice was heavy with emotion; something she was not used to hearing. "I have made a mess and I don't know how to fix it."

"You didn't..."

"Yes, I did," he said stopping her words and looking up at her. "I messed up horribly." There were tears in his eyes and she was taken aback. Seeing tears in his eyes made it impossible for her to keep hers in her eyes anymore.

"Doctor?"

"I'm sorry. To think that I made you feel that way...it's the very opposite of what I would want you to think."

This was so unlike him. He always concealed his emotions or tried to anyway. Even when he really wasn't he was, as he said, always fine. But right now, he was being completely honest with her. He was being vulnerable for her. He was sad, truly sad, and he was letting her see because she was the reason why.

This was the truest of apologies: to see that hurting her had truly hurt him. Seeing him, who was always striving to be happy and composed, in a state of openness and tears meant more than any words he could say. Because words could be faked; it was so easy to say false words. But this display of raw emotions could not. He did not need to say how much he regretted what he had done; she saw it.

"Rose, you mean so much to me. I can't believe that I said what I did. Being among anyone that made you feel bad about yourself is not a place that I want to be."

"I shouldn't have said that. It's not your fault what anyone else has said."

"No, its not. But I am responsible for my own words. I don't think you're stupid. I don't think you can't do anything right. I don't," he said squeezing her hands for emphasis. "I don't need to tell you that I'm not very good at this," he said pausing searching for words that were difficult to say, for once being completely honest about his feelings. "I've been on my own for a long time. I have forgotten how to be around people. I know that it's not an excuse but I often get carried away and speak before I think."

She took one of her hands and placed it on his cheek. "It's fine. I know you didn't mean it."

"I know that I hurt you."

"It did hurt to hear you say that," she admitted. "I won't try to pretend like it didn't. But I deserved it. I was out of line both with the things I did and with the things I said."

There was very deep regret in his face when he spoke again. "You are so valuable to me. I'm so fortunate that you want to travel with me. I…can you…I'm sorry."

It didn't matter that she didn't blame him. It didn't matter that in her eyes there was nothing forgive. It didn't matter that she didn't need to say it; he needed to hear it. This man who blamed himself for everything, for things that were in his control and out of his control alike, for things that were dead and buried and could never be forgiven, he needed to hear that he was forgiven. There were times he could never hear those words and other times it would simply be withheld, but this time he could be allowed to hear it and she wanted him to hear it.

Tears continued to burn her eyes. She hadn't meant to make him feel this way but even though it wasn't her intention she would fix it. She looked into his eyes her finger tips still gently against his cheek "I know you're sorry. I can see it so much. And I forgive you."

He hung his head at her words and she looked at this man and she knew. Though he had never explained, she knew. Before her he had been so lonely, so broken. He still was; she could see it right now. He was desperate for her. Before her there had been no one there for him; no one to care about him, to take care of him, to love him. He had thought that no one ever would again and he thought he deserved it. He hated himself, the things that he had done, the things that he was. He didn't think he deserved to be cared about.

She didn't know what was happening between them. She didn't know what he was becoming to her; there didn't seem to be a word for what he was to her. Much more than friendship but not yet romance. But one thing she did know was that she loved him. She had a good feeling she was falling in love with him. And she had been the end of him.

Rose placed her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. The Doctor looked up at her in confusion as her face contorted in pain. "Rose, what is it?"

"You were dead," she sobbed. "For an agonizing amount of time you were dead. And it was my fault," she said losing control of the cascade of emotions that had wanted to burst forth. She started to sob and he opened his arms and she fell forward to rest on his lap and in his arms.

She sobbed as she mourned for him. It might not have been real now, the damage undone, but for a real amount of time it had been reality. To know she had the ability to cause it made it hard to forgive herself.

The pieces in the Doctor's head were starting to sort themselves out. He held her against him as she buried her face in his shoulder. He loved to hold her but his heart was breaking at the sound of her cries. As he realized that she blamed herself for this he put his hands on either side of her face and looked into her eyes. "Rose, whatever happens to me you are never to blame yourself."

"But it was my fault!" she cried.

"No. I take responsibility for anything that happens to me. Got that?"

"But Doctor…it was my fault."

The Doctor was momentarily in awe. She mourned for him. She cared about him. All this time he had assumed that she was upset about how things had happened with her dad. He had assumed that she was sad because of his death and their inability to fix it. To an extent she was but it was not the greatest pain she held inside of her. All this time she was most upset about his death and the fact that she blamed herself for it. She had been upset about what he had said about her but she had also felt a lot of guilt too.

She needed to be forgiven just as much as he did. And he realized that he had not done so. He had asked her to say she was sorry for the events that she had caused and she had said it. He had smiled at her and hugged her and he thought that took care of things; he always assumed that actions spoke louder than words. But sometimes the words needed to be said too.

He wanted to tell her that she had nothing to be sorry about. He wanted to tell her that this whole thing really was his fault. He knew he held the responsibility here in every way. But Rose was holding the guilt of death upon her and he knew exactly how that felt. He didn't want her to carry that. And forgiveness was the only remedy.

Her face was still held between his hands. "Rose," he said most gently. "I'm not angry with you. Of course I forgive you. I never could blame you."

She smiled, tears still heavy on her face. He pulled her back in an embrace and for a long time she just rested her head against his shoulder. He loved having her in his arms. He could spend the next 900 years of his life doing what he was doing right now. He had missed her so much in these past few days and it was such a comfort to have her back. He needed her so much in every way.

Against him she took comfort being held in his strong arms. It was rare that they expressed themselves so freely and she was taking advantage of it. These past few days had been emotionally draining, made even more difficult by the fact that she had been separating herself from him. She needed him in so many ways and if she could just manage to not mess things up she would stay with him forever. Because traveling with him was the best thing that had ever happened to her and she loved every minute of it.

After a while he felt her relax against him and he stood up her hands still in his. He held one of them still in his and put his other on her waist. She smiled as she realized and she put her other hand on his shoulder. They swayed a little back and forth in the silence of the massive room.

"So, did you use the physic paper to get in here?" she asked with a smile.

"I'll have you know I used my wonderful charm to get us this lovely place all to ourselves."

She raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "OK," he admitted, "Charm and plenty of currency."

"That sounds more like it," she said with a smile. "Well, either way it's perfect."

"Well…almost perfect," he said with a smile, stopping for a second to get the sonic out and point it at something to the side she could not see.

Music started to flood in around them. She laughed as he started to dance again. "You're right; now it's perfect."

"I'm glad you like it Rose," he said with a genuine smile.

"One might even say you were becoming a bit of a romantic," she said with a teasing smile.

"Oi!" he said in mock offense. "There's no need to go offending me."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it."

"Because if you're going to be that way about it Rose Tyler, then I might just stop this sort of thing all together," he said giving her a mock serious face. She gave him one in return but it wasn't long before they both cracked a smile and were laughing.

Forgiveness truly was a wonderful thing to experience