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The air is slightly colder than the TARDIS screen stated, The Doctor realizes. Watching as Rose wraps her arm tighter around him, and brings her body closer to his side. The wind picks up and sends her blonde hair fluttering around her face like a lion’s mane, and he feels like that analogy fits her perfectly. He makes a mental note to recalibrate the TARDIS’ external environmental sensors when they return. (It’s really only a 1.7 degree difference, and while Rose may not notice it, he certainly does.) But for now, he resists the temptation to reach across his chest and hold her tighter against himself.
She is breathtaking like this, her eyes wide and full of wonder as she looks around their surroundings in awe. And yeah, The Doctor chose this place for a reason, chose it to show Rose how beautiful the flowers were and the crystal clear waters of the nearby ocean with pink sand. He had gone on earlier, about the chemical makeup of the minerals in the ocean (“Non-toxic to humans, so don’t you worry, Rose!”) that had led to the appearance of the pink sand. And she watched him with that dazzling smile on her face from where she sat on the jump seat. And their eyes met, and The Doctor forgot what he was saying (something about the coral reefs and the binary star system) and felt his hearts pulses quicken in his chest. And she only grinned wider, a flash of teeth showing between her lips and her tongue poking out in ways that made him crazy in all the good ways.
And he can’t control himself now, can’t help the blush that’s overtaken his visage as he opens his mouth, lips forming ancient words and he tells her so. Tells her how beautiful she is; just like a Rose, in his people’s tongue. She glances up at him, eyebrows raised and he’s so thankful that the TARDIS doesn’t translate Gallifreyan for him.
“What?” She asks, and he can’t help but reply himself. A single melodic note leaving his mouth as he smirks down at her. He continues, telling her how much he enjoys her company; and would enjoy something much, much more as well if he wasn’t such a coward. She tries again. “What are you saying?” She asks again, a giggle escaping her lips as they cease walking. She turns in his arms, almost slipping out of them if he hadn’t hooked himself tighter around her elbow and pulled her towards his chest.
He continues, tells her that he loves her, loves her when she’s all fiery and wild like it is now when she doesn’t understand what’s going on. He means it in no ill will, means in every wonderful sense that he can possibly conceive. “I love you, Rose Tyler.” He says, knows that she still does not understand Galifreyan, and maybe one day he won’t be such a coward and will tell her properly in English.
“Oi!” She yells, face scrunched in a way that he thinks is Adorable™ and so very, very Rose. His Rose. Her hand comes up, fingers pressed against his face as he leans in closer, repeating himself because this is what he needs at this moment. “Stop it!” She laughs as her other hand balls up and playfully punches him in the arm, and The Doctor laughs with her. He pulls her against him in a hug, a hug she is always more than happy to always return. Her arms wrap around him and he pulls her tighter.
“I love you, Rose Tyler.” He repeats, loves the way that it sounds. Loves the way that she laughs against him. And he smiles, bending his head as if in prayer and presses a kiss to the top of her head in the most platonic way that he can. His eyes closing for just a moment as he breathes in deep, the smell of her shampoo is almost heavenly. And for a moment, he forgets the world around them, that it is just them. With all of time and space. Forever.