Rose shifted uncomfortably, willing the ache in her legs to go away. She wondered briefly how the Doctor could be managing to stand there calmly, eyes closed as he tried to think of a way out of this. Bloody aliens… sorry… people. OK, so they'd been caught in a restricted zone. She'd expected being locked up. But why did they have to chain the pair of them up facing each other with arms tied behind the others' backs? The fact that, any other time, she'd have found herself all schoolgirl about being this close to the Doctor was besides the point… OK, Rose – need to get your mind off THAT train of thought! She was trying to think of something boring like darts when she noticed something.
"Oh, those bastards! They're tryin' to torture me!", she moaned.
The Doctor's eyes flew open, quickly scanning the room for anything harming Rose. He couldn't see anything, "What? What you on about?".
"Can't you smell it? They must've gotten into my mind, found the perfect smell to torment me with. Psychological torture…", she said sniffing the air again.
"Rose, I can't smell anything! What...?"
"Honey! I love the smell of honey. These gits have found out an' they're trying to break me with it!"
The Doctor looked sheepish, "Erm… actually… that's me…"
She stared at him, "What? What d'you mean, it's you?"
He locked his gaze resolutely on a patch of grime on the floor, "I mean it's me! That's how I smell! I'm Gallifreyan – we don't have the same pheromones as you lot!"
Rose fought back a giggle. She leant a bit closer, breathing in deeply - he wasn't making it up. But… "Hang on – we've been in close quarters before… why haven't I noticed this earlier?"
"Biocontrol. Most of the time, I just tell me body not to release the pheromones."
She was about to ask how the hell he could just tell his body what to do when a more obvious question struck her, "You said 'Most of the time'… so how come you're not doin' it now?"
He returned his gaze sharply to the grime, "Rose… I'm chained up very close to an attractive member of the opposite sex, albeit of the wrong species. Of all the things I've got to tell my body not to do at the moment, d'you really think 'sweat' is at the top of the list…?"
Oh. She was a bit taken aback, but smirked nevertheless. The invisible Rose with horns and a pitchfork who was sitting on her shoulder was whispering "Go on – see how good his 'biocontrol' is…!". She moved against him.
"Oi!", he gasped sharply. "This is tricky enough, minx! D'you know, I could break a bone and not even feel it thanks to biocontrol, but you wriggling like that…", he broke off, suddenly breaking into that big goofy grin of his. "…hang about! That's it! Fantastic!"
She look puzzled, "Not exactly the reaction I was after… mind lettin' me in on it?"
He gazed warmly at her, "Rose Tyler – you are a genius! I can use biocontrol to ignore pain!"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, I can dislocate me arm so I can get these chains past your shoulders, over your 'ead an' then I can reach me spare sonic screwdriver!", he beamed.
"Spare screwdriver? They searched us! Where did you… no, don't tell me! I'm not sure I wanna know…"
…………………………………………………………………………………………...
Much later, after he'd gotten them back to the TARDIS and popped his arm back into joint, she wandered into the console room to find him tinkering away with a collection of battered circuit boards. "So, Doctor? This biocontrol thing of yours?"
"Yeah, good innit?"
"Mmm. But, from now on, you don't need to shut off those pheromones, y'know. I kinda like the smell…"
He peered out from under the access panel, looking bemused, "Erm… Okay…"
"And, Doctor? I know it gave you the escape idea, but…"
"Yeeesssss…?"
She gave him that smile, the one with her tongue pushed into the side of her cheek. He gulped.
"Next time we're restrained… you don't have to be…"
Biocontrol or not, he blushed like a teenager.