[The overmuch moving makes her smile a bit though. In return she scooches a bit closer so that she is absolutely settled against him.] Yeah. Better.

Don't know why we didn't have one of these before. We should definitely have had one of these before. Did you know about them? [He is going to take that as a sign that it's okay for him to get his arm out from being stuck between the pair of them and very casually put it around her.]

[Definitely okay. In fact that's exactly the sort of thing she was hoping he'd do. It lets her sort of rest her head against his shoulder.]

M'not sure you were ready for this sorta reclinin' on the TARDIS before.

That's n-... ot entirely inaccurate. More reason to sit still long enough for it now, I suppose.

[She's a bit surprised at that and it shows in her expression. After a moment she nods.]

S'pose so. Neither of us are goin' anywhere for a while. Might as well sit still.

[She's not entirely sure how she feels about that. The bitter, hurt part of her wants to take it entirely the wrong way: this is only worthwhile because they've got nothing better to do. The part of her that's trying to give him a second chance and restore some of that faith, wants to take it in the best possible light. Their life was far too chaotic to sit like this. There always would have been something to run from or save.]

S'nice regardless.

[He has the indescribable feeling she did not take his words in the manner he meant them. At some point he's going to have to properly work out how to talk how he means to.]

Nice regard...ful, too. [The way it comes out it's somewhere between a statement and question and bordering on hopeful. If that doesn't work, he'll have to work out something else to say. That one was just the first and easiest thing that came to mind.]

[Indeed, however she's just as bad.]

Regardful? [Give her a moment to figure out what this made up (?) word means exactly.] Nice in spite of circumstances? Or with circumstances?

[Regardful is a sort-of-word he's made on the spot that actually is a word but it means something different than what he's trying to say. He lets her try and work out what it was before pausing to figure out what he actually did mean by it.]

Nice with circumstances, better in spite of circumstances, brilliant, regardless of circumstances, and... [This has all been said quietly, and somewhat quickly, but he's just got to the end of what he'd had worked out in advance.] and happy. Absolved of everything else. Separate. Just, happy.

[Her eyes fill with tears but they're a good, mostly, sort of tears. She nods in agreement.] Happy. At least in the moment, no matter what. Guess that's more than lotsa people get, yeah?

[They're almost to understanding one another. He senses the watering and glances down at her, mildly alarmed she seems to be crying. Must have really said something wrong then. Damn. But then her words. Makes a little more sense. Maybe she did get them. He uses the arm that's around her to pull her a little closer, brushing hair aside that didn't really need to be brushed aside but sort of did so that he would have something comforting to do.] Yeah. Good deal more than.

[It's kind of a girl thing and a human thing and probably just a Rose thing. It's also probably a conditional thing. As in particular to the circumstances. The hair brushing is nice. She tilts her head slightly toward his brushing.] So it's selfish of me to want more, yeah?

[He considers that for a moment, a small pause in the brushing indicating a moment where he needed to put a little more thought into it, although the brushing returned quite quickly after as the thought process was no longer needed.]

No, Rose. It's not selfish to want more. Particularly not when there's more freely willing to be given.

[She still doesn't ever really think of the Doctor looking at her that way despite some fairly good evidence that he does. At least occasionally.

No magical powers but they do seem to often be in sync with the needing of hugs and that sort of thing. She's quiet and still for a long moment, listening to both of his hearts. When she finally speaks, her voice is husky and very quiet.]

I love you and it doesn't matter if you can't say it back. Doesn't matter if it's on a beach in Norway or two years ago or a hundred from now or if I'm angry at you or hurt. Doesn't matter if I'm happy with someone else or miserable all alone 'cause it's as much a part of me as breathing. It's part of what makes up Rose Tyler.

[All of those emotions that went into that little speech are pouring right into him from their clasped together hands because she hasn't forgotten how that works in the last few hours. There's probably also a little latent hurt and insecurity laced with the I love you]

[Occasionally. Probably more often than she thinks but likely not when she expects it. There's a shift in that sort of awareness taking place as things change between them.

He is going to have a hard time responding to that for multiple reasons. It's direct, very direct, which he squirms away from. It's probably a very large deal of emotions being shared and given to him, and they're multi-faceted and need to be worked through. There's also his simple inability to figure out what sort of words you need to reply to something like that. If she's still listening to them, she can hear his hearts beating a bit harder, if not also faster. There is a decided lag before he finally speaks as well, having made like he was going to a couple of times and then paused again.]

I -... It's bad to say 'thank you', isn't it? I know 'I know' is wrong - can't pull that off without being scruffy-looking, and even then it's a bit of a stretch. I think I remember having a conversation about shaving anyway. 'Thank you' doesn't seem right either. Not enough. Then again, the phrase itself also doesn't seem like enough, so maybe that's fine. Shouldn't have the same word you can use for cheese and then turn around and use it on the most important person you happen to know. But there's certain things I suppose not even actions are enough to accurately express or convey. [All of this started off somewhat slowly and gradually picked up speed and all of it is said on the most cursory and casual of levels, which all just goes to indicate how well he's noting the actual significance of things. There's a pause here though, before he starts again, back to more halting phrases.] Lots of things run together in the end anyway. Words and such. Keep going long enough, they start to merge until you can't really see them not running together.

[The lag is all right. She doesn't expect him to say anything. She wouldn't have spoken up if she had because she knows that's a road to sure disappointment but the way his heartbeats change does make her curious. She hadn't expected that sort of reaction.]

There was a conversation 'bout shavin'. [She's still trying to catch him doing it.] I don't think you can ever get away with 'I know' even if you do. 'Least not seriously. Maybe durin' some teasin' sort of I love yous. You don't have to say anything though. [She bites her bottom lip] 'Sides, I sorta think you did in all that ramble. Most important person you happen to know...I don't mind bein' that person.

[Because he knows and has known some amazing people; people that Rose would consider much more important than her.]

[Honestly he sleeps far too little for her to have an adequate chance at catching him in what he considers 'morning'. There's also where it's usually lumped in with showering and such. He still doesn't really understand why she wants to watch anyway.]

Good, because at this point there's not much you can do about it.

[She doesn't even exactly know why. It's just something she's decided she wants to watch. It's ridiculous really. She smiles a bit at his words and nods.]

Just make sure you keep it that way, Doctor. Wouldn't take too well to changin' that now that I know.

[He's liable to just wake her up one day he needs to do it then, since she wants to, thinking that four hours was completely enough sleep.]

Well, in that case... [Teasing.] Nahh. Couldn't change that. One of those across the board things, I think. Honesty thing'll get me in trouble someday.

[She wouldn't complain but she might fall asleep on him when they're still for long.]

Honesty thing? I like the honesty thing. 'Specially when you're being honest out loud. [Yes, she likes it when you talk, Doctor.]

[He can just poke her until it's apparent that she actually does need the sleep, at which point he'll go try and find something moderately not-raucous to do.]

Yeah? Well. Might try and keep it up. I'm good at being loud anyway.

[She will reluctantly go to bed after extracting a promise from him that he won't take off out of the apartment without waking her/without her.]

Fantastic at it. [She's teasing him.] Just got to work on vocalizin' the loud. [And because she doesn't expect this sort of actually talking behavior all the time] 'Least to me.

[That will take some extracting. His promises haven't had such a great track record recently and also that just sounds like a possible lot of waiting, which is boring.

He's going to ignore the tautology within 'vocalising the loud'.] I doubt it would be happening to anyone else given how difficult it is with you to begin with.

[Mostly she's got the fear of waking up to find he's just gone and it's a rather strong fear at the moment.]

Guess I ought to just count myself lucky.