bluesuit_handy

Who: Handy and Rose
Where: Hallway/Banquet Hall
When: Evening, after Handy's chat with Jack, and after he meets Temperance Brennan; also after Rose's conversation with Jack.
Summary: Troubled by what Jack said about Rose avoiding the Doctor and about her being from "after" Handy, said Handy decides to seek her out.

Handy left the library sometime in the late afternoon to take up wandering through the hallways of the hotel. He wasn't entirely sure whether or not he was looking for Rose - he both desperately wanted to talk to her after what Jack had told him and, at the same time (though he would never admit it to himself) he was at least a little bit afraid at what her reaction might be to seeing him again (not to mention that, as obvious as it was from what Jack had said, he didn't want to confirm the fact of his own death). He couldn't remember a time as the Doctor when he'd been so shy about anything, but then he wasn't really the Doctor. Not completely. A few speech patterns hadn't been the only thing he had inherited from Donna. For all that she was so brash and loud and brave on the outside, she (and thus Handy) didn't have that old self-assurance that had gotten the Doctor through so much of his life. They were both good at pretending, though, even to themselves, so Handy told himself that he hadn't immediately sought Rose out when he discovered her presence because he'd wanted to spend some time exploring by himself, not because he was afraid that the person on whom he'd come to rely for stability in his thus far very short life would turn him away.

It was good that he'd managed to convince himself of that, or else he might have turned right back around and gone back to hide in his room when he turned a corner and spotted her.

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Handy thought about that idea, and quickly came to the conclusion that he did not like it. "Hmph. Because it's not bad enough that our timelines are all jumbled up without throwing in temporal instability within the hotel. Gives me the willies to think about it."

"Me too," Rose murmured in agreement, turning away to continue on towards the door, giving his arm a gentle tug. It was horrible to think about, so she'd really much rather not. There didn't seem to be much they could do about it at this point anyway.

They stopped again at the door. "This is my stop," said Handy, gesturing toward the door. He stood for a moment, unsure of what else to say. When nothing came to him, he started digging through his pockets for his key, having forgotten which one he'd put it in. Out came the usual pens, bits of string, and small toys until he finally found the right pocket and pulled out the key, stuffing the other things back into his pockets haphazardly.

She watched him pull the mishmash of items from his pockets until he found what he was looking for, remembering when once she'd had to go through those pockets. It had been a different suit, but he'd always kept all sorts of things in them, useful things, amusing things, things he'd picked up and things he'd been given. It was like a life story laid out among the bits of lint. She felt on the verge of tears for a moment, then blinked them away.

"Doctor," she said quietly, "'m glad you're here." She wasn't sure if she was lying or if it really was the truth, so confused were her own emotions, but she felt it was something that needed to be said. She didn't want this awkward to hang between them, if only for his sake.

Handy looked up from rearranging the contents of his pockets at Rose's words to see her giving him that look that he knew meant she was thinking of something terribly painful to her. Without saying anything, he reached out and pulled her into a hug, one hand reaching up to rub in gentle circles on her back.

"I'm glad to see you," he said softly.

Oh, if only he hadn't hugged her. She was alright when she wasn't in his arms, able to keep up that mask that allowed her to seem a bit like the old Rose he'd once known. Now though... Now she clung to him and struggled against those familiar tears, pulling in deep breaths to keep the flood gates standing strong.

"'ve missed you," she said in a breathy voice, slightly muffled as she tried to hide in his shoulder. "So much."

Handy simply kept holding her, bringing his chin up to rest as close to the top of her head as he could in a gesture that was almost unconsciously protective. He kept silent, knowing that nothing he could say could fix what was hurting her. The best he could do was what he was doing now - being there and holding onto her.

Rose stayed like that a few moments longer, then gently eased back, pulling away from that warm embrace she remembered so well. It was different than with the other one, he'd always been different in ways only she seemed to see. "Sorry," she mumbled as she wiped the corners of her eyes. "I'll try not to do that to ya all the time. Really."

"It's all right," said Handy gently. "Whatever happened...I know it was hard for you."

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