"Yeah, you are." Rose gently nudged his shoulder with her head. "You think I'm supposed to believe that watching your older selves torture yourself is somehow different from this face who lost more in a shorter time period?" A snort. And Rose disentangled her hands and moved to cup his cheeks on either side of the mask. "You are. You always have been. Since the first day I met you. Tell me, you were actually thinking how stupid I was blunderin' in down there and not that you were blamin' yerself for not realizin' someone else might come in, and that an electrician died and all the rest." A snort, and Rose shook her head. "Because I won't believe you. Even when I almost fell in the void, who's choice was it to come back no matter how much you and everyone else told me not to? Mine," she growled a little ferally, but took his hand gently and kissed the knuckles. "And still, I know how much you blamed yourself. You're way too hard on yourself. I told you when I thought that the dalek was going to kill me. It's not your fault." Both hands went back to his face and her thumbs smoothed over his earlobes. "You're worse at listening than I am!" a tongue loll teasing grin.
She gently laced her fingers behind his head and pulled him forward, foreheads resting together. "Start giving us all more credit, Doctor. And yourself less responsibility. It's not your job to be God. Sometimes humans and aliens, and all of us, do things and you can't stop that. Just do your best. Your best, and take pride and joy in that, instead of focusing on the times it's not enough. It's not your fault. Life is about more than loss. It's why you have to make the brightest moments shine even more and treasure them while you can, yeah?"
Re: Garden
"Yeah, you are." Rose gently nudged his shoulder with her head. "You think I'm supposed to believe that watching your older selves torture yourself is somehow different from this face who lost more in a shorter time period?" A snort. And Rose disentangled her hands and moved to cup his cheeks on either side of the mask. "You are. You always have been. Since the first day I met you. Tell me, you were actually thinking how stupid I was blunderin' in down there and not that you were blamin' yerself for not realizin' someone else might come in, and that an electrician died and all the rest." A snort, and Rose shook her head. "Because I won't believe you. Even when I almost fell in the void, who's choice was it to come back no matter how much you and everyone else told me not to? Mine," she growled a little ferally, but took his hand gently and kissed the knuckles. "And still, I know how much you blamed yourself. You're way too hard on yourself. I told you when I thought that the dalek was going to kill me. It's not your fault." Both hands went back to his face and her thumbs smoothed over his earlobes. "You're worse at listening than I am!" a tongue loll teasing grin.
She gently laced her fingers behind his head and pulled him forward, foreheads resting together. "Start giving us all more credit, Doctor. And yourself less responsibility. It's not your job to be God. Sometimes humans and aliens, and all of us, do things and you can't stop that. Just do your best. Your best, and take pride and joy in that, instead of focusing on the times it's not enough. It's not your fault. Life is about more than loss. It's why you have to make the brightest moments shine even more and treasure them while you can, yeah?"