Characters: 11 + Clara

Summary: In which the Doctor puts together an impressive light show.


Ditty

The Doctor was fiddling again. He slowly made his way around the console, playing with the nobs and levers – he would say it was adjusting but really, it looked like playing – until the TARDIS interior lights began to flash. Clara smiled, stretching tired muscles that ached from their recent duty of world-saving, and watched in wonder at the light show. It was a series of long and short pulses, blinking in a steady rhythm that seemed as if it should have been familiar. After pausing for a moment to watch the lights shift in color, the Doctor began to hum along.

She remained silent as she observed him. He resumed sprinting around the console, twisting and turning, enabling the lights to continue looping the same pattern over and over. The colors blending into each other as they continued to flicker were beautiful she mused, but there was just something about that pattern that felt obvious. He stopped humming suddenly and stood back, seemingly lost in thought as he gazed at the console while it continued to flash the pattern. This lasted for a few more repetitions before the lights came to the last bit, pulsing brightly and then fading to what she recognized was their normal glow. The Doctor gave a soft smile and looked at Clara, acknowledging her for the first time since he started tinkering.

"A favorite little ditty of mine," he said by way of explanation, giving her a grin. He then briskly walked off in the direction of the kitchen, humming the tune again with a bounce in every step. Clara smiled at his disappearing back before she looked to the console curiously, tapping out the pattern of the blinking lights. It had been so repetitive she hadn't even realized she had it memorized. As her fingers tapped out the pattern for the sixth time, she realized why it felt recognizable.

It was Morse code! She smiled, excited to have made the connection. She rushed in the general direction of the library, eager to figure out what the code translated to. Making her way down the corridors, she seemed to reach the right door and walked inside. Unsure of where to begin, she felt her grin widen as she saw the book she needed on the coffee table. This ship was simply brilliant! She opened it up and tapped out the message again, flipping to the section on International Morse Code. Finding the index, she quickly translated the pattern and frowned, feeling rather disappointed. She put the book back on the table, tilting her head in confusion, and stood to make her way out the library.

Here she was thinking it was some great big secret and she'd finally get to learn a bit more about the Doctor. As it turned out, he just seemed to have a thing for roses.


Author's Note: I like to imagine that the TARDIS can send Morse code out into time and space and all of the multi-verse can hear Rose's Ditty... Unbeta'd.