Inwardly glad for relatively dry eyes, the Doctor's mood lifted higher each second that ticked away at her interest in his creation. He'd spent some time waiting for Donna to be ready to go adventuring in the Golden State with him, time dedicated to polishing the rose quartz and shaping it to fit the setting.
That she liked it almost made his distance worthwhile, at least something beautiful had come of it. Disenchanted the instant she suggested she had anything to apologize for, however, he instantly disagreed. He'd been insistent with Kate that Rose had nothing wrong, and that needed saying.
"I know it's what you'd intended," the Doctor started. "You were guiding, not pushing, Rose. You've nothing to apologize for, nothing at all."
Aware he hadn't exactly denied being uncomfortable with the notion, the Doctor's hands rose and abruptly fell to her shoulders. Their dynamic hadn't changed much in the grand scheme, the only real difference being the magnitude of affection he openly displayed with her. They weren't conventional, but that's something he loved about being with Rose, the entire lack of definition. It was so much more than a human coupling just as much as it was exactly that at the same time.
The bottom line of that was that communication still played a part, and he needed to start being better about not retreating for so long (and so far for that matter) as a knee-jerk reaction.
"I know without a shadow of a doubt I could tell you anything, Rose," he began sincerely. "Anything. It isn't about ability in the strictest sense rather than it is my... apprehension of forming words, it's like giving life to what I snuffed only to watch it fade into this... unshakeable empathy on your face. Essentially, I've no desire to make you sad anymore than I want to dredge up memories of faces I seldom saw in a mirror."
With a critical conjunction hanging on the edge of his tongue, the Doctor resolved himself to opening up at least one floodgate to her--if only because he knew perhaps he needed to on some level.
"But, I can try. I should. Even memories shouldn't sleep for that long."