like im sure its been written a thousand times already but im still not over nine asking rose about leaving and her telling him 'you wouldn't' without even considering it was an option for her. because he would if she asked him to, actually. and that's exactly why he sends her away anyway.
because people like her-- people who don't consider running to save themselves-- need to be saved and protected. because nine was thinking about it, he's the one who brought it up, after all. about how fruitless and destructive trying to stop the daleks would be, how little time they had, how everything that happened to satellite five was his fault. how, the last time he encountered the dalek army, it all played out exactly the same way things are going now.
but. he stays. and sends rose away. and when she comes back to save it all in exactly the way she shouldn't have, he gladly takes the burden from her. he saves her again, like he always will, and in doing so, she saves him from himself. from repeating his mistakes. they save each other, like they always do.
in saving her, he becomes a new man.
