Locked In.
"What do you mean she's doing it on purpose? How can a ship do anything on purpose?"
"Rose the ships alive. You've always known this. She's alive and can at times be extremely temperamental."
"Great…so were dealing with a ship with PMT!"
Both the Doctor and Rose glared at the console as if simply looking would make the Tardis feel guilty and start co-operating.
"She's your ship…fix her. Why is she being like this?"
"I don't know. Lets run through the facts. She's taken us somewhere…won't tell us where...obviously wants to keep us safe, but wont let us out. She must want us to do something, but I can't think for the life of me what."
"Well you're the genius…figure it out. And while you're doing that I'm gonna take some down time so that when we do finally get an adventure, I'm not too knackered to do the traditional running for my life bit!"
Rose stormed away leaving a sad and crestfallen Doctor in her wake. She marched from the control room, through the depths of the Tardis towards her bedroom. She felt guilty now about snapping at the Doctor but honestly, going out and nearly getting killed was what kept her sane. Without the distraction all she could think of were very bad thoughts that would lead to very bad actions that would lead to very uncomfortable moments and a heck load of tension between the Doctor and herself.
The thought of being cooped up with him until they figured out what the Tardis wanted left her feeling incredibly nervous. What if they didn't figure it out? How long could she be alone with him with no distractions before she did something that would seriously undermine the feeling of 'friends' in their friendship?
She couldn't bare it. What if she did something and made a complete fool of herself. The Doctor could never think of her like that. Apart from the minor jealousies towards Jack and Mickey, the Doctor was the most asexual bloke she had ever met.
But maybe that was just his alien side coming through. Maybe Time Lords and Ladies weren't an overtly sexual race. When considering it, Rose had never asked about the relationships between people from Gallifrey. She had never considered the birds and the bees in that context. Maybe because their biology was different then so was their reproduction. Maybe they weren't sexual because sex didn't play into it. After all he was alien. But then again the only thing that made him noticeably alien was the fact of the double hearts and the increased mental capabilities. Not too mention the handy trick of regeneration. She then remembered him insisting in his ninth body that he was nine hundred years old and had obviously 'danced' within that time. Rose then proceeded to mentally scold herself for not changing topic within her crazy inner dialogue. She was still contemplating the Doctor's sex life, which she kept telling herself, was a completely no go area.
Rose had a pounding headache by the time she reached her room. She charged in slamming the door and flung herself down on to the bed.
She wasn't angry with the Doctor. Not even the tiniest of tiny bits. Call it defence mechanism or whatever but truly she was angry with herself. Angry about these feelings that she couldn't control and definitely couldn't allow herself to give in to.
She also knew that this was something that she simply had to let herself get over. But what to do in the meantime? She couldn't avoid him forever, or alternatively shout at him every time she did happen to see him. That would just make him and her miserable.
Rose lay there for some time, feeling glum and contemplating the unfairness of it all until her headache reached fever pitch. She decided to brave it out and suffer the headache in silence. She didn't want to ask the Doctor for any painkillers because she didn't know just what to say as apology.
She drifted off to a troubled sleep.
She tossed and turned for some time, her subconscious plaguing her with guilt trips and unrequited passions.
She awoke a few hours after falling asleep, not quite sure what had roused her. Admittedly her dreams had not been enjoyable but they were nowhere near bad enough to have woken her up.
She lay atop her magnificent double bed, upon a beautiful duvet that the Doctor had acquired for her on Io. She cast a confused look around trying to determine why she was awake.
It was then that she noticed the strange sounds coming from the walls. There was a strong noise overpowering the usual hum of the Tardis. The old girl was clicking and clacking in a way that Rose had never heard before. It sounded persistent and kept going relentlessly.
Curiosity sparked, Rose swung herself around and hauled herself out of her nice and comfortable bed. Maybe this weird clacking had something to do with why the Tardis had trapped them.
She decided to bring this to the attention of the Doctor just in case it could help him figure out how to get the Tardis to cooperate.
She went straight up to the console room. The Doctor was there so often tinkering that it was the most obvious place to find him. She walked in, casting her glance about only to find it deserted. She couldn't even hear any tinkering going on. It was slightly strange but not enough to make her worry. It was possible that he was down in the kitchen making his own tea for once. Rose went down to the kitchen but couldn't find him in there either.
All the while the strange noises coming from the Tardis had increased in frequency and pace. They sounded urgent and sent an uneasy chill down Rose's spine. She traipsed through the Tardis looking in any door she came upon. She checked every room that the Doctor had ever taken her to or even mentioned in passing but wherever she went she just couldn't seem to find him.
Maybe the Tardis had stopped being unhelpful while she had been asleep. Maybe the Doctor had fixed the problem whatever it was and they had materialised somewhere else. Maybe he had gone out exploring on his own because he was angry about Rose's temper exploding at him.
The guilt renewed itself within Rose's heart.
Rose decided to head back up to the console room. If he had gone out without her then she could be glaring when he got back but if he was somewhere else in the Tardis, he wouldn't stay away from the console room for long.
Entering the room, she looked strained her ears, hoping to hear that he had indeed returned to the room and was at that moment back to his usual tinkering habits.
Hearing nothing, Rose made her way to a chair and sat down, quietly fuming. Sitting their contemplating where he could be, her attention was brought to a hatchway behind the console by a very small rustling sound. A frown creased her brows. She had not thought to physically look around the room when she had not heard the usual tell tell signs of the Doctor.
Cautiously, Rose manoeuvred herself closer to the hatch. Just in case there was something there that shouldn't be, Rose didn't want to attract any more attention than she already would have done.
Peering over into the hatch, Rose gasped at what she saw there.
Curled up practically out of sight was the Doctor, scrunched as small as he could possibly have made himself. He sat there, knees pulled up to his chest with his arms clasped around his legs. His head was resting on the walls of this little den-like hole in the floor. His eyes were open wide and he seemed to be silently muttering to himself, not blinking, just staring. If he noticed the presence of Rose, he made no indication whatsoever. The noise that the Tardis had been making ceased immediately and he just sat there.
Deeply concerned Rose climbed down into the hatch to sit beside him.
"Doctor…you all right…what's wrong?"
When she had started to speak his mute muttering had ended. Blinking slowly, his head turned to take her in. he looked at her as if he had never looked at her before in his life. As if just realising that she was not simply a figment of his overactive imagination.
"Doctor speak to me. Look I'm sorry for being all bitchy about the Tardis and all…I shouldn't have snapped and I'm really really sorry. I'm sure you're gonna figure it all out and everything will be fine. Can you find it in your hearts to forgive me?"
He looked at her with a curious expression of confusion.
"Rose?"
A knot appeared in the depths of her stomach. The Doctor was definitely acting stranger than normal. He seemed completely helpless and disorientated which were not words she would usually associate with the wonderful man before her.
"Oh no Doctor don't tell me that you're broken too. That would be bad…very bad. I like you not broken."
"You like me not broken"
Rose's level of confusion rocketed upon his repetition of her sentence. Repetition, in her experience, was usually a sign of broken and crazy people. She really didn't know what she would do if the Doctor had become a broken crazy person. He'd never taught her to fly the Tardis let alone fix it. She'd never be able to take him anywhere to get him any futuristic alien psychological help.
"Please don't be broken."
Rose protruded her lip in a Tyler pout and looked through her lashes at him. Now she was feeling vulnerable.
"Rose…how can you like me at all…after this?"
Glad that he was lucid but not comforted by what he had said to her, Rose raised her eyebrows at him in concerned question.
"I'm sorry Rose…I'm so sorry…there is nothing wrong with the Tardis. Nothing at all. She's told me herself. She just says that she's tired and she won't go anywhere else. I promised to show you the cosmos and I got you stranded in a blue box. I'm so so sorry."
"Oh you silly sod."
Startled, the Doctor simply looked at her as if she was the one who had finally gone crazy.
"Do you really think I mind about being stranded in the Tardis. She won't stay here forever. She'll get as bored as you do! And until that happens at least I know that I have the best company that this god damned cosmos of your has to offer!"
The doctor looked at Rose in amused but grateful bewilderment for a few moments until he grinned his incredible manic grin.
"Rose Tyler…you are the greatest, most wonderful, fantastic ape it has ever been my fortune to know!"
Pleased with his compliment, she seized him in a powerful hug.
She clung to him with her head on his shoulder.
He clung to her, stroking her hair.
They stayed that way for quite longer than either had expected. Their grips loosened yet they still did not fully part. They moved slowly back to look at each other. Staring at each other's eyes, they could practically taste the change of atmosphere.
Looking at his completely serious expression, Rose could feel his breath on her face. Knowing that he would soon grow to his senses and leap up and away, Rose Tyler did the only think that was in her at that time to do.
She brought her face closer to that of her amazing Doctor.
Allowing her eyes to flicker closed; she touched her lips to the Doctor's for a sweet, tender, yet bashful kiss.