She stiffened at first, but the tension unwound far more quickly. It seemed her entire body sighed. Rose closed her eyes for a second and let him hold her. Let him hold her together. This was a harder thing to do than he knew, and she doubted she'd ever tell him why. Letting go of the Doctor...
Rose turned in his arms and curled her own around his waist. Her face pressed against the hollow of his shoulder. Though he didn't look like it, Matt was solid muscle all the way through. It was enormously comforting to be held as gently as he held her.
"I'm gonna make dinner cold," she mumbled against him. She didn't want to let go for a very long time. That was wrong; he'd put effort into this dinner, and she was really quite hungry after the little she ate at lunch. But this, this was better than food.