In the TARDIS

by mara-anni

Chapter One - Bigger on the Inside

The Doctor's head popped up out of the floor when Rose called and she handed him his coffee – white with no sugar. He'd pulled a section of the grating up making a large rectangular hole by the TARDIS console, inside which he'd been tinkering when she'd arrived with his cuppa.

'We're nearly out of milk.' She sat on the floor, dangling her legs over the edge of the opened section and sipped her tea.

'Balabas Four has the creamiest milk in their galaxy. Famous for it, they are. They get it from…'

'No, Doctor.'

'But-'

'No. Remember what happened last time?'

'That was an isolated incident. Besides, it wasn't even technically milk since it…'

'No.'

'But Rose-'

'No.'

'Fine,' he sighed, resigned. 'I just wanna make a few adjustments to the TARDIS, then we'll stop at Tesco's.' He rolled his eyes at her.

Rose hid her smirk behind the rim of her mug; he was adorable when he was surly. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the various culinary delights of the universe; she did. They'd had to munch on all sorts of bizarre things so as not to 'offend the natives', as the Doctor would say. Rose had drawn the line on only two things: food that still moved of its own volition, and milk.

She glanced up at the central column which was still moving steadily with its gentle grind. 'Are we still in the Vortex?'

'Yep, we'll stay here a while.' The Doctor gulped down the last of his coffee and ducked back under the grating to work.

'What, so, you don't need to land to do whatever it is you're doin'? Turn the TARDIS off or anythin'?'

'No,' came the somewhat muffled reply from somewhere under the console. 'The Time Vortex. Safest place in the universe…sort of.'

'It's not really in the universe though, is it? That's what you said.'

He popped up again, grinned at her and said 'exactly!' before ducking under again.

'So how long's this gonna take, then?'

Some shuffling, a bang, and what Rose could have sworn was a curse, later, he emerged out of the opening once more. He looked at her as he pulled off his leather jacket and tossed it up onto the grating.

'A while. Why?'

'I thought I'd go explore some more.'

'Okay, have fun.' He ducked away again and Rose gathered up both cups.

She turned when she heard him shout her name just as she'd gotten to the hallway.

'Watch out, though. Even I can't remember what's in all the rooms.'

She started to leave, but thought of something. 'Doctor, can I get lost in here?'

'No,' he shouted from under the floor. 'If you decide you've had enough and can't remember how to get back, just keep walking. You'll end up back here.'

Right. Can't get lost, Rose thought. Well that was comforting. She'd considered asking how, if the TARDIS was apparently so big even the Doctor didn't know quite how big it was, you would end up back at the Control Room if you just kept walking. But then he'd probably make some remark about stupid ape brains or something, especially if he was having a bad day with the TARDIS. So she just trusted him, replaced the cups in the kitchen for the TARDIS to take care of, and went exploring.

She walked past their bedrooms. She'd left her door open this morning, but it didn't matter, she always found it shut when she returned. Opposite hers, was the Doctor's; not that he used it often. He didn't need much sleep, apparently. Still, more often than not, she'd shuffle drowsily into the console room after a night's sleep to find him slumped in the pilot's seat, legs crossed at his ankles, arms crossed over his chest, fast asleep. She'd call his name and his eyes would pop open, instantly awake-annoyingly the Doctor was never drowsy- he'd jump off the seat and tell her it was about time she woke up coz he was getting bored. He'd roll his eyes about humans and start throwing levers around, asking her where she wanted to go next and pout if she insisted on breakfast and a shower first.

She left the wardrobe behind and decided she'd go in completely the opposite direction.

She hadn't thought very much could surprise her anymore. But apparently she'd been wrong. Here she was in the TARDIS, standing in a field, with lush green grass under her sneakers and a bright warm sky. She tried to peer up at the sky to see if she could make out some sort of elaborate lighting system that made it look-and feel-like the sun was beating down upon her head. But it was too bright, it made her eyes water and caused a sharp ache in her head. So she gave up. Instead she looked around her, deciding where to go first. How big the room was, she couldn't tell… could you call a paddock a room? It just went off into the distance. She spent ages just gazing out at it, catching herself squinting-as if that was going to help…thank god the Doctor hadn't been there to see that, she'd never have heard the end of it. There was just something…off… about the view, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She stepped onto the bottom rung of one of the wooden fences. Even this didn't seem right in a space/ time machine; it was the type of fence she'd expect to see in some American Western or something. But here it was. Using it for a higher vantage point, she looked into the distance again, past the few trees that dotted the landscape, over the sea of green-she wasn't even going to begin to think about trees and grass in the TARDIS yet-and then it hit her. There was no curvature. The sky wasn't blue at the horizon, which was actually a relief coz the whole thing would have been even weirder if it had been; instead it was the same colour as the rest of TARDIS's walls and ceilings and there, where the green of the grass met the russet of the ceiling, the ground was flat.

Rose smiled. She wondered if a person could walk off the edge of the world here.

Maybe it should have been disturbing, but Rose liked it. It was a reminder that she hadn't been accidentally beamed onto some alien ranch. She was in the TARDIS and the TARDIS had a Paddock Room. She wondered if that's what the Doctor called it. She wondered if he even knew it existed. He said there was a pool somewhere, but he'd lost it. She'd thought he was joking at the time, but now….

Still, as lovely as it was here, there were other places, rooms to see. Rose laughed audibly as she jumped off the fence and jogged back toward the rustic low-lying buildings where the door was.

Stables.

There was still a large stall with hay stacked up neatly. The hay was a lovely beige colour and fresh as the day it was piled up here. She inhaled the sweet tang of it.

Shareen had grandparents with a small farm in Devon and sometimes she'd gone there when they were kids during school holidays. Shareen's Pop took them on drives in the tractor and even taught Rose to ride a horse, and it had smelled just like this.

There were no horses in these stables, though. The equipment was still here; bridles, saddles, brushes, rugs, everything you could need to care for a horse and all in their neat positions and not a speck of dust on anything. But no life. If it had ever housed horses, there wasn't a trace now. Not a hoof-print in the dirt.

Back in the corridor, Rose considered.

There was another door directly opposite the Paddock Door…Stable Door? That was probably a more dignified name for it, she thought, The Stables. She'd have to ask the Doctor what he called it. Actually, now that she thought about it, she really should ask him if the stables were for horses at all, or some weird alien versions.

With a shrug, she figured what the hell and popped into the opposite room.

The lights were dim here, so it took a moment for Rose's eyes to adjust. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking at. It was a room as big as a warehouse, partitioned with floor to ceiling walls. She walked down one of the aisles, careful to keep the door in sight. You may not be able to get lost out in the corridors, but she wasn't so sure about in here. The walls were set with regimented roundels-that's what the Doctor called the circles set in all the walls throughout the TARDIS-but there was something subtly different about these.

She ran a hand lightly over one.

A low hum sounded, echoing around the room and made her jump guiltily. But the roundel she'd touched flared with light, made a one hundred and eighty degree turn and slid forward with a hiss. They were drawers, she realised, not the usual roundels at all. The inside glowed with a white light, making Rose squint down at it. She saw globes, hundreds of tiny glass-or at least something that looked like glass, possibly crystal-globes were nestled inside the drawer. She reached in carefully and touched a fingertip to one of them. It was cool and smooth. Along the sides of the drawer were what she recognised as Gallifreyan symbols. She sighed just a little. The writing was so beautiful and not for the first time she wished she could read it, but it was the one thing, the Doctor had told her, that the TARDIS didn't translate. She'd noticed at the time he never said 'couldn't' translate, just 'didn't'. But she'd seen enough of the hurt in him to let it go.

Still it didn't help her here. She had no clue what it was she'd found in this room, in these drawers. She shrugged and decided she'd just ask the Doctor about it later. Gently, she touched the front of the drawer again and immediately it withdrew, did another turn, the light went out and it was as dormant and ordinary looking as the rest of them.

Rose left the way she'd come and was back into the corridor again. There were a few options. There were more doors down the corridor, a couple of turnoffs, stairs up, stairs down. Going one door at a time felt a little boring and too regulated to her; it would be far more fun if she tried rooms in more of a random fashion-like Forrest Gump and his box of chocolates.

With a grin, Rose closed her eyes, spun herself around, opened them and did what seemed the most natural thing in the universe: she ran.

She'd made several random turns, passed who knows how many doors, up three sets of spiral stair cases before she finally stopped to catch her breath. She was puffing a little now and thought this looked a promising corridor…even if it looked just like every other corridor.

She tried the first door to her left. It was dark inside, which was weird. But as she placed her foot inside, the room burst into light. Wall lamps blinked to life, one after the other, along with the several chandeliers that hung from the vaulted ceiling.

'Oh my God,' she said, aloud.

Of all the rooms she'd seen, this one seemed the least useful to someone like the Doctor. She wondered if it had ever been used, or if it existed simply because… well, just because.

Rose spun in a slow circle when she reached the centre of what could only be called a grand ballroom.

Large, gilded mirrors lined the walls, so that the room and she, standing in the middle of it, went on and on for eternity. Between each mirror the posh wall lamps cast their ambient light over the sculptures that stood beneath them.

She looked up at the gigantic chandelier above her. Hundreds of crystals dangled off silver chains and the light sent rainbows dancing along the pink marble floor.

Rose tried to imagine the Doctor actually hosting a ball. The image made her laugh; she saw him scowling at anyone who had the audacity to attend, the only concession to formalwear would be a change of jumper under his leather jacket, and he would grumble all night about a bunch of strangers being in his TARDIS.

Not that he would ever open up the TARDIS to a bunch of strangers; which just made the room all that much more unnecessary.

It was lovely though, she thought. The mirrors were perfectly spotless, not a streak. The floor was smooth and gleaming. With a grin, and quick look at the door to make sure she was alone, she did a quick two-step.

Her sneakers squeaked on the polished marble and echoed around room. It was a lonely sound, she thought. And she thought of the Doctor wandering the TARDIS corridors alone for so long.

But not anymore; not if she had anything to say about it. She closed the door to the ballroom behind her and decided that one day she'd make him dance with her in that room.

A few paces up the hallway she stopped at another door. It no longer surprised her that there was a door so close to the previous one…each room within the TARDIS was bigger on the inside, too. This one was quite different; it was circular with no door handles or latches, or buttons or anything, instead it rolled aside smoothly when she approached it.

Rose gasped, enchanted and just a little bit unnerved. What she saw drew her into the room and she moved inside before she'd even realised it. Goosebumps prickled her flesh and her heart pounded, but she knew what she was looking at-she'd seen it in the monitor of the control console-so she knew she was safe. But seeing it like this…like she was inside it, in the midst of it…

The Time Vortex.

It whirled in streaks of blue all around her. She twisted to look back at the door. It stood inset in only a few feet of wall, and then the wall seemed to drop away into the Vortex. She didn't know if it was glass or some gigantic viewing monitor, but the 'window' was more like a bubble, with her in the centre. She stood atop a long narrow bridge that expanded into a wide round platform suspended in mid-air in the very centre of the bubble.

Looking at her feet, she did a little bounce. There was no shift, the bridge stayed still and steady. The churning Vortex she could see over the edge made her slightly dizzy, so she raised her head quickly. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of losing her balance.

She moved onto the large platform and it was only then she noticed the two reclining chairs side by side in the centre of the platform. At another time she might have thought that strange, but now, seeing this, she could understand why someone might just want to sit here and be mesmerised by the magnificent view. She skirted the chairs and approached the front edge of the platform.

Before her, above her and all around, the funnel of the Vortex swirled as her bubble seemed to fly swiftly through it. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Scary but thrilling, roiling and pulsing with power yet somehow peaceful; strangely, it reminded her of the Doctor.

She sat on the floor, cross-legged and just let it swamp her. The Doctor had once said to her that people just filled their lives with work and food and sleep. Back on Earth, at whatever point in time, that's just what people were doing, but here she was, she thought, looking into infinity. How many people could say that? Not inside the universe, but not outside of it either. She didn't really understand it, exactly, but she didn't have to; she just had to live it. The Universe flowed around her.

She had no idea how long she'd been sitting there when she felt a slight jolt. The streaking colours of the tunnel dissipated and suddenly stars blinked into existence. And not just stars. Giant clouds of colour in glowing reds and yellows and greens and blues all swirled together; bright flares of light as the swirling colours shifted and parted then merged together again. This was a different kind of beauty, she thought. Not more or less, just different.

She heard the door slide open behind her and twisted. She got to her feet and faced him when the Doctor started clomping up the bridge toward her; the door rolled shut and behind him a million shimmering stars shone. She felt something inside her chest tighten.

He smiled at her, his wide, infectious grin and pointed to the clouds outside.

'So, what d'ya think?'

Rose turned back to gaze at the view again. 'It's beautiful. Where are we?'

'That's weird,' he said.

Confused, she looked back. 'What's weird?'

He waved at one of the chairs. 'There used to be only one chair in here.'

He looked up at her. A frown creased his forehead, but before she could ask what the problem was, he grinned at her again, his eyes lighting up.

'What d'ya say? Where are we? In the Vizante System. Good isn't it? Thought you might like the view.'

'You came here for me?'

'Well…I was done with repairs…and you weren't back yet, so… I checked and saw you in 'ere…and…just thought you might like…I dunno…the colours. But if you're bored-'

'I love the colours,' she said quickly. 'Where'd you say we were? The vig…' She stumbled over the word.

'Vizante System.'

'Will you tell me about it? Where all the colours come from?'

For a moment he just blinked at her and she thought about retracting her request. It was probably stupid and he would rather just go on another adventure right away. But just as she was taking the breath to tell him not to worry about it, he smiled and took her hand.

He led her to one of the chairs and sprawled into the other next to her. She looked up into space as he spoke; as he told her why some of the clouds were green and others orange; where the wind that whipped them into a frenzy came from; how far away they were from the nebula to be able to see it this way; and how long the storm had been raging unobserved by anyone else in the universe until this moment.

For some reason she felt the prick of tears in her eyes.

When he was done they lay in silence for a while. She had so many questions for him, but right now they didn't seem to matter much; they could wait till later. Right now she just watched stars being born with the Doctor.

'Look, that cloud,' she pointed. 'It looks like a map of Britain.'

'Humans. Always seeing things that aren't there and not seeing the things that are. That's hydrogen-'

'And over there, that's a banana.'

She glanced at him briefly, just enough to see the smile creeping onto his face. 'I like bananas.'

She knew he did. There was a larder in the kitchen stacked full of nothing but bunches of bananas that never browned or went soft, but stayed eternally perfect and ready to eat and she didn't think a morning went by that he didn't inhale one with breakfast.

How long they lay together finding shapes in matter that was, before her eyes, becoming stars, planets, galaxies she didn't know. She didn't care.

'That one looks like a face,' she said.

'Big, vacant eyes…reminds me of your boyfriend.'

'Shut up.' She swatted his arm. She shouldn't have laughed, really, but she couldn't help it.

It was his turn, and she was turning to look where he pointed when she felt it. A tremor vibrated up through her chair. But before she had a chance to ask the Doctor about it, the TARDIS rolled. She grabbed onto her chair to keep herself from tipping out. The vibrations grew until her teeth chattered; she looked over at the Doctor who was standing now looking up through the bubble above. She struggled to her feet to stand with him.

'What…?' She didn't get to finish.

A gigantic vessel zoomed over them, making them duck out of instinct. It looked to Rose like it had missed their bubble by mere inches. She had no idea how close it really was to the outside dimensions of the TARDIS, but she figured their ship had moved out of the way for a reason.

She and the Doctor twisted as they watched it pass, then flinched when a huge blast shot out from below. The fire went out almost instantly, but the engines spluttered and then the vibrations stopped. As they watched, the ship lolled to its side and drifted along in silence, its momentum carrying it forward.

The Doctor turned to her and grinned.

She grinned back. 'Trouble?'

'Yup.'

He took her hand and they bolted down the bridge and out of the room. He pulled her around the corner, opened another door, and charging through it with him, Rose found herself back in the Control Room.

He let her hand go and started his manic pulling of levers and rotating of dials. The central column pulsed.

She held onto the console, opposite, ready in case of another rough landing. 'I take it we're checking on that ship?'

'Someone might be in trouble.'

'Yeah, it's usually us.'

He ducked his head around the column to look at her. She could feel herself grinning ear to ear at him.

'Let's find out.' The TARDIS fell silent except for its usual comforting hum. 'Here.'

He snatched her jacket off the pilot seat and threw it at her. She caught it and shrugged into it as she followed the Doctor down the ramp and out of the TARDIS.

A/N: So... reviews? Yes please! Not that I'm needy or anything.