The hum of the green, lighted center column was the only sound in the expansive room aside from the soft clicking and tapping of metal on metal coming from underneath the console. It was there, the sound of tinkering, but it was ever so light. The hum nearly drowned it out.

Rose Tyler, a nineteen year-old female human walked out into the control room. She was elegant and quite stunning, but very spunky and more than a match for her maniac companion, the Doctor.

She found it a little odd; she couldn't ever remember a time when the control room, or even the TARDIS in general, was this quiet. It was practically silent, and she felt certain that if a pin dropped, she would hear it. Usually while they were in the TARDIS, the Doctor was jumping around the console, flipping this, pumping that, spinning dials and pressing buttons with more energy than she ever knew any thing could possess. And if he wasn't doing that, he was fervently messing with something on the console, muttering or singing to himself, sometimes even playing music, while his hands worked rapidly away.

But she heard nothing like that today. No talking, no singing, no music, no tinkering. There was no jumping or running. Just the hum of the engine and the faint clanking of metal hung in the air. The Doctor was no where to be seen.

She glanced to one of the support beams, glittery and gold, its shape vaguely reminding her of underwater coral. His light brown trench coat was lying in its usual crook. At least she knew he hadn't left her.

She perked as she noticed that what few fidgeting noises there had been floating in the air had fallen silent, leaving only the engine's whirring for noise. Her eyebrow unconsciously cocked itself a little at the anomaly, and she slowly started to walk around the console. Halfway through her orbit, she found what she was looking for.

The Doctor, a mysterious man who looked to be in his twenties or so, had half his body shoved under the console, casting dark shadows across his young face. Although he appeared quite human, Rose knew otherwise. He was far from it. However, it didn't bother Rose very much. So far as she was concerned, he was her constant companion, and furthermore, her friend.

Her head titled a little. With a wrench in one hand and his trusty sonic screwdriver in the other, it appeared he was messing with the TARDIS again, though his hands lay still. He, himself, was just lying there, his dark brown hair, wildly flung across his face, sonic screwdriver held tightly in the hand that laid on his chest, the wrench loosely held in at his side in the other. Clad in his usual brown, pinstriped pants and coat, he looked as he usually did, save for his lack of tennis shoes and socks. What he was doing bare foot, Rose didn't dare ask.

For a second, she truly believed he used up his allotted vigor and had finally just died. She honestly thought that both his hearts had given out. To watch him, it wasn't very hard to believe. Despite his appearance, he was actually a nine-hundred year-old Time Lord. It still shocked Rose that someone as old as he was could have more energy than he knew what to do with.

She hesitantly took a step forward before letting out a sigh of relief from a breath she didn't realize she had been holding when she saw he was still breathing lightly.

Sleeping.

The man with a seemingly endless store of energy was actually sleeping. It was so surreal to her. Never before had she caught him sleeping. Not that it was a crime or anything, but his vigor seemed boundless. She guessed he had probably fallen asleep while working on the TARDIS, as was evident by the tools in his hand as well as his current position.

"Doctor?" Rose called, lightly kicking his knee.

The Doctor jerked up, giving a surprised snort, and whacked his forehead on the edge of the console piece he was lying under. He fell back a little with a groan before easing his body out and sitting up on the floor, rubbing his injured head where a long, red mark spanned his forehead.

"Oi! What'd you scare me like that for?" he asked Rose.

He was wide awake now, all traces of sleep gone from his dark eyes.

"Not my fault. I wasn't sure whether you were alive or not," Rose put her hands on her hips.

"You what?"

"I thought, just for a moment that you were dead. That you had checked out."

"You thought I was dead? Whatever for?"

"You was sleepin', you were, and I've never see you do that before. I was worried."

"Well, as amazing as I am, I do sleep. Even Time Lords need sleep you know. I just sleep while you aren't paying attention, when you're sleeping," he grinned. "How else could I possibly have the energy to keep up with this old ship and you as well?"

Rose laughed. "Okay, so you sleep. But tell me, how come you decided to sleep on the floor with your head in the center console?"
"Oh…right. Well…it's unexpected, right? Gotta keep you on your toes!"

Rose shook her head a little, but couldn't stifle a little laugh. She dropped her arms and watched the Doctor. His head ducked under the console again and he gave his sonic screwdriver one last squeeze, shining it on something to finalize the change before closing up the panel and jumping to his feet. He was all smiles and grins now, his eyes bright and excited.

"So, where to you want to go?" he stood in front of the monitor on the console, hopping from one foot to the other in anticipation.

"Don't you usually choose?" Rose pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm feeling generous today. And lazy. Very lazy," he smiled.

"I dunno. You choose. You've never disappointed me before."

"No? What about all those times we ended up in the wrong place?"

Rose shrugged. "Ah, so what? They were an adventure all the same."

"Well, still, I don't really feel like picking this time. I don't want to work that hard. So, Rose Tyler, it's your decision. Where would you like to go?"

Rose lightly bit her lip as she thought, her eyes roving up to the roof. Then they dropped back down to the Doctor and a small, almost ashamed, smile came onto her face.

"Well…I was kind of hoping we could go see my mum," Rose tenderly stated.

"Oh, do we have to?" was the Doctor's reply.

"What?"

"I can take you anywhere, any when, and you wanna see your mum?"

"She's probably worried about me."

"Don't you call her regularly? And don't say no because I know you do."

"Yeah, I do, but I know she still worries. You can hear it when you talk to her. She needs to see me every now and again. Besides, I've kind of wanted to check on her since we narrowly escaped that black hole. Just to know…everything in my universe is okay."

"But…anywhere! We could go anywhere! And when. We could go any when!"

Rose laughed. "Alright Mr. Smartbritches, do you have a place in mind then?"

The Doctor paused, sighed, and hung his head in mock shame, but a little smile creased his face all the same.

"To your mum's it is then," he looked up at her, his eyes twinkling.

With a pull of a lever, punch of a button, and a spin of a dial, the huge center column began to creak to life, moving like a pump, up and down, gaining speed with each cycle. The engine began its signature wheeze as it revved up and started for their destination.

"And you better behave when we get there!" Rose called to the Doctor over the almost deafening noise.

The Doctor flashed his winning grin at her. "Of course. Don't I always?"

Rose just laughed.