"I thought I told you not to wander off," the Doctor reminds her but she ignores him.
"I changed my mind," Cherry muses, a small smile playing on her lips.
"You want to go home?" The Doctor assumes and she shakes her head.
"No, of course I don't,"...
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Cherry doesn't really know how to come to terms with everything they learned at Demon's Run. She stays in bed for days after their return to the asteroid base. And then it's weeks. The Doctor has to force her to shower and brush her teeth and eat food. She really just doesn't see the point in anything anymore. She cannot comprehend how a group of people could be so unimaginably cruel to her. There's no possible explanation she will accept. The Doctor tries to convince her it's his fault, and she doesn't listen because she doesn't care why they did it. Nothing in the world could justify what they have done.
For a while, she tells herself that she hates everything. That everyone deserves to die in fire and pain, but then she remembers how angry and rude she was as a child from the loss of her parents, and she doesn't want to go through that again. Cherry likes who she was before Demon's Run got their hands on her. She was kind and sweet and the Doctor was enthralled by her. Now she's like a hollow shell. She can feel it. And she knows he does too. The way the Doctor looks at her with such sorrow and regret every time he comes into their room, is enough to break her heart. She wishes she could convince him that it's not his fault, that she truly does not blame him.
She tries and every night before she goes to sleep they talk in the low light of the room. They talk about the future together because it seems Cherry has a lot longer to live than they both previously thought. At first, she was devastated by the news, and now it feels like a blessing and a curse all at once. She knows it's good that she will get to spend more time with the Doctor than both of them originally planned, and she could understand it if he was maybe pleased when he found out, even just a little, but she knows what it means. She knows she will outlive everyone she has ever known or loved. Maybe even the Doctor, if he does die on that lakeside. And then where will she be?
He tries to cheer her up, telling her about all the places he wants to take her, all the things he wants her to see, but she can't help but focus on the bad things. She will never be able to cope with Amy and Rory growing old without her. The thought of it is horrifying. Now she understands why the Doctor put off his relationship with Cherry for so long. The thought of that happening to someone she loves and cares about is too awful, and the Doctor will have had to do that with Cherry. He isn't selfish. Not really. He gave in to make her happy, and he was expecting to suffer an immeasurable, painfully slow loss if she didn't die in an accident before then. Coming to terms with the fact that she had put him in a situation like that made her feel sick. She apologised profusely to him, crying in his embrace for hours, but he just dismissed it.
She does slowly start to feel better. A bit more like herself. Especially when the Doctor is around because even his presence is soothing to her. Eventually she gets out of bed and she spends time in the kitchen with Amy and Rory, or days in the library or cinema room. The Doctor even convinces her to go swimming at one point.
He does everything he can to make her feel better, fuelled by his concern and his guilt. He takes her out on trips when she's feeling up to it, taking her to see the most beautiful sights in the galaxy, which he assures her there are more than enough to see in her prolonged lifetime. They begin to travel properly with Amy and Rory again, who don't really understand what has happened but are more than happy to see Cherry beginning to cheer up.
