"Of course," the Doctor replied with a curt nod. His blue eyes had never looked away while she poured her heart out, his face never changed from the dull mask that he wore. All he did was stare and listen to her fury. When she was done, he turned and motioned for her to follow him with a small jerk of his head.<br/><br/>They walked across the beach in silence for a minute or two before he finally spoke.<br/><br/>"I can't help regenerating Rose," He said softly with his deep smooth voice. "I can't help that we were separated and I can't help that you feel like I abandoned you. You should know that it killed me just as much to have to leave you there, but what was  supposed to do? Break the universe? Kill billions of innocent lives out of the selfish wish to see you one more time?"<br/><br/>"Even if I had gone through with it, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate it for very long. Our atoms would have been wrenched apart within seconds of the universe fracturing. You, me, your Mum, your Dad, Micky, Toby, all dead, because of my selfishness. Would you honestly want that?" The Doctor asked with no accusation in his voice. "I don't think either of us would have wanted that blood on our ha-"<br/><br/>The Doctor paused, something was bothering him. Something he had said wasn't sitting right with him. There was something huge in front of him that he couldn't see. It was staring him in the face, but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't make sense of it. It almost felt as if he had told a lie, but not to Rose, to himself.<br/><br/>Something he had said was...inconsistent.<br/><br/><em>"That's an inconsistency."</em>A little of the fog in his mind seemed to clear as he recalled a cheerful voice. He didn't know where it came from, but it sounded pleasant...and so very, very familiar.<em>"Now, how you take advantage of an inconsistency is pretty simple. If something is inconsistent, then you have to create a certainty to counter it. In other words, you have to prove that reality is right"</em><br/><br/>He shook his head violently, dismissing the strange memory from his head before he turned to look at Rose again. "I'm sorry Rose," he said quietly after a moment hesitation. "I'm so sorry for putting you through all of this. I'm sorry about how things turned out. I can't imagine the distress I'm causing you by showing up looking like this," he said before pointing to his face with both fingers.<br/><br/>"But, if its any consolation..." he said, his voice trailing off as he looked away, "I'm...happy I got to see you again... I don't know why I'm here and why my mind is so lost right now, but I'm glad you're here."