Don't Run, Nine/Rose, G
She trusts him implicitly and it is almost frightening, this faith in him, the willingness to follow him to the end of the universe., 583
019.
She learned to love him before he thought it was even possible,
so he didn't have a chance to hide & mess it up
& while it was a little scary at times,
mainly he could not even imagine the world without her there.
He's not sure exactly when he fell in love with her.
It could've been from the moment he saw her in the basement of the department store and saved her from the murderous shop window dummies. Or maybe when he took her hand at the end of the world and pulled her away from the destruction of her home planet, or when she took him for chips and grinned at him with her tongue between her teeth.
He knew he was done for when he showed his reluctance to blow up Downing Street only because he couldn't bear to lose her, even if it meant saving the world. When a Dalek could even see his feelings for what they were. When Jack joined them on their travels and he felt the first tugs of jealousy every time he saw them together.
And he knows that she loves him. He's not as blind to these things as he might appear, and she wears her heart on her sleeve.
Her love for him was more unexpected than his for her. He didn't have time to put up any walls, to keep the distance between them, and she saw him, saw his heart ravaged from the Time War, from the destruction of Gallifrey, and she loved him anyway. Her smiles grew more intimate and her hand slipped into his with far more ease.
She trusts him implicitly and it is almost frightening, this faith in him, the willingness to follow him to the end of the universe.
He'd sent her away to keep her safe, because he loved her, and she came back.
She'd forced the TARDIS to open its heart to her and she'd taken all that energy into herself and become the Bad Wolf, all for him. Because she loved him.
I want you safe... my Doctor...
He kissed her to save her life, to keep her from burning, knowing even then that she wouldn't remember it but not caring. Because he loved her.
He looks down and his hand is glowing and there is a stab of fear in his stomach.
He is about to change and he knows he will lose her, that she'll run from him, and this hurts more than the current physical destruction of his body.
He doesn't want to lose the feel of her hand in his, the warmth of her presence beside him on the jumpseat, the way she fits so easily into his arms when he pulls her in for a hug.
He is afraid. But he can't stop what is inevitable and he looks over at her, to where she sits on the floor.
She grins at him, unaware that it is she who sent the Daleks away, turned them to dust, that she became a goddess for a moment and in that moment his heart nearly burst with love for her.
It is beginning in earnest now, the buildup of energy within him and he smiles sadly at Rose, tells her goodbye, and she is afraid now too. She doesn't understand what's happening and this is his fault, he should've told her but he'd been trying to protect her and now it is too late to explain.
He only wishes that he could tell her how much he loves her but it is too late and here is the energy and now he is changing and he does not know if she will stay, but he hopes that she will.
Because he loves her.