Following that last confession, it stayed silent for a long time and finally Rose faced the Doctor.

"You're an alien!" She cried.

She then corrected herself and spoke in a softer tone: "After all that you have shown me, do you know, this hardly comes as a surprise. Off course you are an alien, every sign points in that direction."

She took a step back, releasing his hands, and began to examine him, as if she saw him for the first time.

"You do not seem to be any other than human, are you-" She swallowed. "Are you different on the inside?"

The Doctor smiled and gently took both her hands. He next placed them on his chest and waited.

Rose was about to say something, confusion written all over her pretty face, until unexpectedly she felt it.

Thump-thump thump-thump.

Instead of the double beat of one human heart, she heard, or rather she felt four thumps. Succeeding each other pretty quick. At first she did not believe it and tried to reason away what her touch made apparent.

"T-" The word got stuck in her throat. "Two?"

"Binary vascular system. I also posses a respiratory bypass system, which helps me to go without air longer than a human and it is very helpful when there is a foul stench in the air."

"You really are alien." Rose took another step back and had to admit the news startled her more than she first let on.

She looked through the door to the empty Gallifreyan lands. Here she was, a young woman of nineteen, living among all the comforts of a luxurious small world, facing a sudden drastic change in point of view. Finding her cosy little world being no longer as little as it once was. Did she care for those changes? Had she not rather been left ignorant?

Rose stared at her feet, a moments bewilderment overwhelming her, making her hands tremble and knees go weak. Her hands, ripped loose from the Doctor's, came up to hide her face and she could not withhold a moan.

He was before her in an instant, wrapping her up with arms strong and tender. Rose knew that no man of her acquaintance, her circle in lifestyle, gave such a display of affection. It shocked her even more than his words had done. Yet she instantly felt secure and comforted and she knew that this was a place she irrevocably desired to dwell in as often as possible.

"Forgive me," he softly whispered near her ear. "I should have taken this more slowly. The situation allowed me to run far ahead of myself. Your beauty and openness evoked me to be thus forthcoming. Believe me when I say, I only made myself known to you out of a heartfelt wish, to be seen by you as the person that I really am."

He hesitated and then quietly added: "Do you wish me to escort you back to your home?"

Rose instantly looked up and exclaimed: "No!"

Her next tendency to laugh, made her cry again. However this time it was of short duration, as she quickly pulled herself together and insured the Doctor: "No please, I am not appalled, nor am I disappointed. It is simply the shock of your revelation, I am afraid it does do more to me than I anticipated."

The Doctor nodded, found a white handkerchief in one of his pockets and handed it to her.

"There is one thing though, that I cannot comprehend," Rose said, after finding some composure.

"Only one?" The Doctor replied in jest.

Rose gave a watery smile and continued: "Of all the worlds and I imagine species you can find and must undoubtedly know, what made you come here?"

"I did not."

"Pardon me?"

"Weeeeell." The Doctor stretched the word so, it made Rose burst out in giggles.

"You must know, this is a very old ship, much older than I am, and that is saying something. Piloting her demands a degree of-"

The Doctor searched for a word and came up with: "Philosophy, you might say, relying on her ability to not always take you where you plan to go, but to certainly arrive where you need to go. Never worry yourself with where I had planned on going, just believe me to be tremendously pleased to have found myself here."

Rose nodded, handed the handkerchief back, and upon his gesturing, held it with her.

"Come with me."

The Doctor closed the door and led her back to the first room they entered.

"I give you my word that we shall come here again, but I feel you need to be in familiar surroundings to steady yourself and we have but little time before we are expected to dinner."

Rose nodded, looked around her, took one step to follow the Doctor towards the door, but then came to a halt.

"Doctor?"

"Yes, Rose?"

"Promise me-" She tried to look in his warm brown eyes, yet failed to do so and her cheeks gained their familiar colour once again.

"What is it, Rose?" He walked back up the metal grating ramp, until he faced her, and lifting her chin with a gentle hand, he said: "If I can, I will."

With a heavy sigh and an audible inhalation she then spouted: "Promise me you'll ask me here."

When he let go of her chin in surprise, she looked down again and faintly added: "If- if you still want to, that is."

The next thing that happened, Rose would always remember, the Doctor left.

He took a few steps, then quickened his pace until he actually ran out of the room. From somewhere inside the corridor he disappeared in, she heard his voice faintly: "- minute-." And then she was alone.

Eyes wide in horror, mouth agape and unable to even think of a possible explanation, Rose stood there. On the grating, in front of the strange hexagonal centrepiece.

The handkerchief fluttered to the ground.

Bereft of all hope, Rose believed her future to have collapsed with it. Her heart faltered and she felt utterly desolate.

He left her.

A sob escaped her and in a state of bewilderment, she turned and fled the room in haste.

The rain had not seized and she found herself soaking wet within the next minute. She also found she did not care. The Doctor did not want her, nothing else mattered. She could fall ill, never recover, her life a total waste, it would suit her. To once have known a man, such a man, to once have allowed a hope, so great, so life altering, nothing would ever add up to that again.

Rose struggled her way through the drenched bushes and sweeping branches. Dark clouds made finding directions difficult and muddy slopes left her often slipping to the ground.

Completely saturated, Rose finally gave in to despair and after stumbling once more, she stayed down. Closing her eyes, she felt consciousness leave her and thankfully giving in, she passed out.

Thus the Doctor found her, mere minutes later. A curse under his breath escaped him, when seeing her lying there, dishevelled and unkempt. Her cheek, once pink and soft, as it should be, now bore a mark of a branch, swept against her face. Her dress torn and stained, no longer white, one shoe missing, and her hands convulsively turned into fists.

He lifted her up and carried her back, all the while castigating himself for making her flee.

Back inside the TARDIS, he hastily moved towards the infirmary and carefully placed the girl on the examination table. Quickly obtaining warm towels, he wrapped her up as best as he could. She had not been outside long and even though the rain had been severe, it was still summer and therefore not to cold.

Running a hand trough his hair, he noticed he was rather wet himself also. He therefore took up an other towel and dried of his hair in a few hurried sweeps. When he placed the towel back on the counter and turned to look at Rose again. Her eyes were open and she was staring at him.

Hurriedly he leaped to her and upon seeing her trembling lips, he said in a voice thick with guilt: "O my sweet, dearest Rose, what have I done. Forgive me, I beg of you. Being on my own for so long- forgive me, I should never have left you. How you must have felt. Stupid, stupid me."

Rose moved, eager to have her hand free. Finally managing, she placed it on the Doctor's arm.

"Please." Her voice sounded a little hoarse and she cleared her throat with a small cough.

A watery smile formed on her lips. "The first time one of your peculiarities amazed me, my voice sounded like this. I was in need of water and you gave it to me."

Her smile faded.

"I thought you had left me. I thought my impertinent request made you surmise this was a mistake. You have given me the most wonderful expectations and hopes for the future and suddenly they were all gone. I was afraid-"

She choked. "I was afraid you did not want me any more."

The Doctor grabbed her hand and held on to it for dear life.

"Never-" he shook his head. "Never will do."

With a soothing gesture, he stroke a few loose strands of hair behind her ear and then looked into her eyes again.

"Rose Tyler, I-"

His pause made Rose's gaze slip from his face to his sleeve and suddenly her eyebrows quirked up.

"What are you wearing?"

The Doctor, a little puzzled by her sudden change of tone, looked down and understanding dawned.

"Ah, yes, this was the reason I left. I felt I could not propose to you dressed in any other attire than my own."