Rose looked back at him from the empty spot where the TARDIS had been just seconds before.
It felt colder there, almost colder than it did when his hologram had faded those years ago in this very spot. Everywhere was cold, but his hand...his hand was warm in hers. Now what? she thought as she studied his features- the same. Everything was the same. The hair, the sound of his breathing, the eyes that looked so much older than he looked, the way his Adam's Apple moved when he swallowed, and really, that hair alone must be alien, even his voice when he whispered those words into her ear.
Even thinking about it sent a slight chill through her.
But there were things about him that were just slightly off- different. But not bad different...just... different.
His hand was warmer. His skin was warmer altogether. His chest moved more when he breathed, and his single heartbeat within that chest. It was like she could feel it through the hand she held. Beating loudly in her head.
She hadn't realized that her hand had linked into his just that much tighter during her quiet assessment, and loosened it as her mother was approaching to tell them to get in the jeep, the zeppelin would be at the designated spot soon.
Wordlessly (really, what WAS there to say?), she pulled him towards the car, taking one last look at the last place she would ever want to go again, and only briefly let go of his hand to climb into the back seat, leaving room for him next to her.