I have this headcanon, drew a picture, and decided it'd be nice to write a fic about it. Enjoy!
The TARDIS hummed.
It always hummed, Rose noticed as she stepped from the earth-like carpet of her room to the hard floor of the corridor, but at night the humming was more than just the vibration of a machine. It was like it was singing, murmuring some old Gallifrey tune that she couldn't understand. Maybe it really was the language of the Time Lords, maybe not. But it was only at night, only when she was sleeping.
She wasn't sure why she thought 'night', either. It wasn't night, was it? She was suspended in space, in who-knows-where, in who-knows-when, in the endless maze of the TARDIS. It wasn't day or night, or even in time for all she knew. If a few years ago she had been clinging to the surface of the earth, then now, now she had most certainly let go. But still, she was human, and humans sleep at night. So night it was.
The walls glowed a soft green-blue, leaving Rose just enough light to walk. She couldn't sleep for the first time in ages, since… well, since she had started traveling with the Doctor. But omens and doom echoed through her mind, and she felt restless, like something bad was about to happen, or like someone was watching, or like the end was near.
She shivered, and continued walking.
The blonde didn't know where she was walking, not at all, but the time machine had a mind of it's own. It wound her through the labyrinth with ease, and she knew that when she was ready, it would lead her back. That's how the TARDIS worked.
So, one step after another, she walked, taking in the strangeness and alien-ness and doctor-ness of it all. And the lights to her side grew dimmer, and suddenly she was walking towards a light, a soft blue glow, just a bit ahead. She recognized this bit of hallway, she thought. The console room. It was the console room.
With nowhere else to go, she slipped into the room. It was darker than usual, with the blue glow of the console as the only source of light. It seemed as though the room was asleep too.
But then there was the doctor. Sleeping against the console. Kneeling on the ground, body slumped against the cold metal, head cradled in his arms, arms resting on the musty brown surface of the controls. Illuminated by the icy light.
It was so strange, seeing him so vulnerable. Rose didn't think she had ever seen him sleep, excepting just after he regenerated. She hadn't even known if he slept at all, if Time Lords slept at all, and yet here he was.
He looked more peaceful and more distraught than she had ever seen him, and it was so peculiar. She knew his story, she knew what he had done, and she could see that now more clearly than ever. The guilt, the pain. But at the same time, he looked so innocent and peaceful in a way she couldn't explain, the way everyone looks when they sleep.
Rose smiled.
She couldn't bring herself to wake him, despite all the questions running through her head. Instead, she opened a compartment in the floor, and pulled out a fleece blanket. The blonde placed it softly on the Time Lord's shoulders, and backed away. Then, she turned around and walked back to her room, a sad smile still playing at her lips.
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