DOCTOR WHO: LAZY FRIDAY
Apparently it was Friday in the TARDIS, no-one was sure how as days were so easily lost inside the cavernous thing, but it felt like a Friday. And for the TARDIS trio, a Friday could only mean one thing – 'Lazy Friday' – where the TARDIS would remain as quiet as it could in the depths of space whilst the Doctor, Amy and Rory could just relax as best as they could. However it had only just become Friday when Rory was stirred from his sleep and saw his alarm clock against his side of the bed he shared with Amy.
"2 bloody 30…." He grumbled to himself quietly. He wasn't exactly sure what had woken him up and now he was awake, he certainly couldn't get back off to sleep. "Typical…" he then muttered. To make best use of the situation, Rory decided to get up and out of bed. He knew even if he collided into something he was unlikely to disrupt his wife as she was fast asleep and snoring even louder than normal. Maybe this was why he was stirred from his sleep? He thought not as Amy snored loudly anyway and he'd coped fine in the past. As Rory got up and looked around his and Amy's darkened room, he just thought about how odd life is for him now. He'd not been seen in the Royal Leadworth Hospital for some time now and his home life or whatever he had of one because of his long hours at the Hospital simply couldn't compare with life on the TARDIS. Picking up and putting on the nearest pair of boxers he could find, Rory made himself a little bit more decent just in case the Doctor was around the TARDIS as he prepared for a venture around. He put on his dressing gown too just to make himself a little more comfortable.
Slowly, Rory ventured outside his and Amy's room and made his way to the centre console where he saw the Doctor manically moving around the gleaming surfaces that the TARDIS had made for him all that time ago. Rory could see from the Doctor's clothing that it must have been a Friday as his Tweed Jacket and Bow-Tie were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the Doctor was dressed or like Rory not dressed in very much in just a pair of stripy red boxers. He looked as mad as ever and didn't stop when he saw Rory come into full view.
"Ah! Rory the Roman! You're up a bit early!" he beamed as he skimmed around the console once more. He wasn't actually working the TARDIS, it was almost as if he was dancing with it.
"What are you doing, Doctor?" asked Rory groggily as he still hadn't fully woken up yet. The Doctor just looked up at him. He could see Rory was bleary-eyed and his hair was in a right mess. He could also see he hadn't shaved for a while too, but then again he hadn't either and shaving was something that was never done on a 'Lazy Friday' at all.
"Stuff…" came the Doctor's eventual reply.
"What kind of stuff?" asked Rory. "If its loud stuff, it's probably what woke me up! Bloody nuisance at times you are, you know!"
"It's not noisy stuff at all….just stuff…" expanded the Doctor as he whizzed past Rory. Rory had seen the Doctor naked and the Doctor had seen him naked but the sight of seeing him in just a pair of boxers like this was just a little odd even for his own odd standards, especially when he was this tired.
"Well, what woke me up then?" Rory then eventually asked as the Doctor then sat down on the seat beside the centre console.
"A nightmare, perhaps? A bump in the night? Ann Widdecombe?" quizzed the Doctor jokingly. Rory just looked at the Doctor with a face that showed utter sarcasm. The Doctor just smiled back and all Rory could do was smirk as the Doctor's stupidness as times was what made Rory trust him even more.
The pair of them just then remained quiet before a faint ticking noise was heard emanating from inside the centre console of the TARDIS.
"What was that?" asked Rory. The Doctor just looked at him puzzled. He didn't seem sure either. It certainly wasn't a usual noise for the TARDIS to make even after she'd been inside that woman at the end of the Universe. The Doctor then pinned himself up against the centre console and listened even more closely.
"It's definitely a ticking noise…" he said.
"Ticking for what though?" asked Rory. "A repair? Servicing like my Mini does every so often? The TARDIS is quite old…"
"Oh, I'm not denying that…" said the Doctor. "But it's something strange…I heard it earlier but I dismissed it. I thought it was coming from yours and Amy's room."
"Obviously it wasn't…" sighed Rory as he tightened up his dressing gown. The cord around it has always been coming loose and now wasn't the best time for it. But the Doctor had seen him naked, so seeing Rory in his boxers wasn't as bad. The ticking then suddenly stopped and all fell silent. The Doctor then looked over to his watch which was by his pile of clothes on the glass floor of the centre console. It read '3AM'. He sighed. He and Rory then just remained silent waiting for the ticking to start again…
The time was now 3:30AM and the Doctor and Rory were still curious as to what had been ticking inside the centre console. In the meantime, Rory had been in and checked in on Amy and saw she was still fast asleep and snoring loudly, so he ventured back to the Doctor who was looking very concerned by now.
"It shouldn't tick!" he said. "Watches tick! Microwaves tick – well, some do! But TARDIS' certainly do not tick! So, what is ticking in my TARDIS?"
"Calm down Doctor..." said Rory reassuringly. "It'll just pass over I imagine." He added just as his dressing gown came undone again. "Oh, this bloody thing!" he then cursed. "Might aswell get rid of it!" he continued as he took off his dressing gown and threw it to the floor in frustration. Rory and the Doctor were now both just in their boxers and neither seemed to give a damn at all. If Amy stumbled by just at this moment, it would be awkward but probably nothing she wouldn't entirely unexpect.
"Rory…" then said the Doctor. "Can you here that?"
"Hear what?" asked Rory as he leaned toward the centre console. There, he then heard the ticking noise resuming once more. It was getting increasingly louder and louder as the seconds then passed by. "Oh my god…" Rory then said. "What the hell is doing this?"
"Something has got control of her…" scorned the Doctor. "Some fiend has warped my girl!" he added as he slammed a clenched fist onto the centre console. With that, the TARDIS lurched and set off a spark of light with it. A little flame then trickled into sight too as the TARDIS lurched once more.
"Doctor!" called Rory loudly as he hung on as tightly as he could. The Doctor was whizzing around the centre console like he was earlier manically searching for the right lever or button that might stop his girl lurching ever more out of his control.
"Rory, just hold on!" he called out as sparks narrowly missed his bare back. Rory did as he was told as ducked and dived to avoid being burnt by fire and sparks that were littering the TARDIS. Somehow, the commotion hadn't seemingly woken up Amy. The Doctor then explained that when in danger, the centre console can screen off the rooms of the TARDIS from any potential danger. So, basically even if Amy was now awake, she'd be totally unaware of the troubles the Doctor and Rory were facing.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" shouted Rory as the TARDIS groaned loudly.
"Flick the decrompressors!" came the Doctor's hoarse reply. Rory was stuck as he didn't know which ones the decrompressors were and he didn't want to ask at a time like this. So he guessed. He guessed wrong as the TARDIS seemingly did a loop-de-loop and both he and the Doctor struggled to hold on.
"Not that one!" cried the Doctor as he looked on.
"Sorry!" apologised Rory as more sparks then flew everywhere. Some caught the Doctor and burnt him briefly. Rory looked on concerned in his best Nurse frame of mind but until the TARDIS was still again, he couldn't do a thing. The TARDIS kept rocking and lurching even more and then suddenly, it stopped without warning. The sudden stop caused the Doctor and Rory to fall over and slam onto the cold glass floor of the centre console.
"I think 'ow' is an understatement…" muttered the Doctor as he and Rory tried to catch their breath as the TARDIS hissed into silence.
The Doctor's watch now read 3:41AM and both the Doctor and Rory were exhausted after their efforts at keeping the TARDIS still and safe. Neither were still sure as to what caused the TARDIS to tick and then react like it had and the Doctor's burnt back was for now more of a priority.
"It doesn't look good it has to be said…" observed Rory as he looked over the Doctor's bright red burnt back. He yelped in pain whenever Rory even put his hand anywhere near the burn, so it was almost as if the Doctor had had some electric shock at the same time too.
"Will it mend though?" asked the Doctor.
"Well how am I meant to know?" smirked Rory. "I don't know the ins and outs of Time Lord Skin and how it repairs."
"Well just get some cream from the medicine cabinets in the sick bay. You know the way, Rory…" the Doctor then ordered as he seethed once more in agony. Rory obliged and made his way. He returned soon after to find the Doctor grimacing in even more pain. The burns he'd received on his back weren't the only ones the Doctor had got as the top halves of his legs were now also shown to be burnt too. Rory had seen far worse at the Hospital in his days there but seeing the Doctor in as much agony as he was wasn't a nice sight at all. Rory let the Doctor apply the medicinal cream himself as Rory thought it would be a bit weird otherwise if he did it. The Doctor explained to Rory that the cream had come from a Plantation on the planet Grarnus – a supposed hive of medicinal treatments and that it can repair skin within 4 hours. Rory rather hoped this would be true and soon helped the Doctor back onto his feet in a way without causing him any further pain. The ticking TARDIS noise still hadn't been explained but the safety and wellbeing of a friend was more important at the present.
It was now 4AM and the Doctor and Rory were still wide awake. A few minutes earlier the ticking noise had begun again and then it had coughed out of existence once more. Both the Doctor and Rory were frustrated with this now and then suddenly the TARDIS made a coughing noise, a proper coughing noise.
"How's that even possible?" asked Rory.
"Oh…" said the Doctor. "I know she's alive but this is a new kind of alive even by my experiences." The coughing noise then got louder and louder and then even louder once again and then suddenly an object flew out of the heart of the TARDIS. It clattered against the glass floor. It was certainly metal and as soon as it landed onto the TARDIS floor, the Doctor's old girl was humming normally once more as if anything that had happened over the last hour had never occurred.
"What?" said a more than surprised Rory. The Doctor just shrugged at him and then looked at the metal object on the TARDIS floor. The Doctor picked it up and observed it closely before a smile began to appear over his face.
"It's a Spock!" he declared triumphantly. Rory looked aghast.
"A what?"
"A Spock! A cross between a Spanner and a Clock!" explained the Doctor. "Spock's are cool!"
"I gather that's what was ticking then?" Rory said arms-folded.
"I gather so…" said the Doctor. "Obviously the old girl had swallowed it up some time ago without any of us knowing and now she was only just feeling the repercussions. Poor girl!" he added as he patted the centre console. He then patted Rory on the shoulder to thank him for the help. Rory patted him in return but caught his burns by error.
"Sorry!" he apologised. The Doctor just smiled and gave him a hug.
"Ah…Rory the Roman. No problem. It was just another interesting aspect of our lives. I'm sure it will heal soon."
The Doctor's watch now read 7AM and Amy was now awake and immediately saw that she was alone in the bed.
"Oh, lovely! Leave me alone then Rory! Cheers!" she said to herself as she got up. With a dressing gown on over her nightie, Amy walked out to the centre console where she saw the Doctor and Rory both fast asleep and both in just their boxers on the TARDIS floor. "Oh, typical…" she then sighed with her arms-folded. The TARDIS was humming quietly as her husband and the Doctor slept silently on the cold floor beneath them. Amy could only smile. "I think it's safe to say it's a 'Lazy Friday' then!" she said as she then leant down and kissed Rory on the forehead before making her way to get some breakfast. Today was going to be a relaxing day. No Monsters. No Aliens. No Running for your life. No issues whatsoever. If only Amy knew what had happened only hours earlier on a 'supposed' Lazy Friday…
