A bit of 11th Doctor/TARDIS fluff, of sorts. Eleven's interactions with the TARDIS, even when she's a box, are my favorite :3


"Rory and I are heading up to bed, Doctor." Amy called over her shoulder as she followed her husband up the stairs leading to the nearest corridor. "See you in… whenever morning is."

"Good night, Ponds!" The Doctor answered, not really looking up from a bit of wiring he was doing. All in all, the Doctor couldn't be bothered with something like sleep. He was a Timelord- no, the Timelord, he was the Doctor, he was the Oncoming Storm, he was… The Doctor stifled a yawn.

No. Not now. He would not give in to the urge for sleep. At that moment, as though she were the voice of temptation, Amy popped back into the room. "Doctor, do you have a bedroom?"

"And why do you ask?" he called back.

"I just notice that in the hall there are a lot of bedrooms that have never even been used. And you're always up later than us and earlier than us. Do you just, sleep out here, under the floor?" she questioned.

"No, I do not sleep under the floor. Run along, Pond."

"Alright, no need to be all Grumpy Face with me." She walked back off, but his relief was short lived, because she was back quicker than he could say, "Now where is she gone off to?", if he had wanted to say such a thing.

"Doctor, do you sleep?"

"Yes, Amy, sometimes I sleep. But I don't need any sleep right now, so why don't you just go to bed?" There was a note of mild frustration in his voice at the end of his sentence, mostly because his wiring was not going well and talking to Amy wasn't making it any easier.

"So sometimes when we're asleep you aren't sleeping at all, you're just… sitting here."

"Yeah."

"Alone?"

"No, not alone, with the…" He pushed back another yawn. "With the TARDIS."

"Oh, you know what I mean. The box can't talk to you. I mean, you don't have anyone else sneaking in to see you."

"Like who?" He asked as another one of the wires short circuited and showered the area with sparks. He brushed them off his jacket, then, as an afterthought, took his jacket off and tossed it over the railing.

"Oh, like a certain River Song, for instance?" Amy suggested… well, suggestively.

"No Amy, I can assure you I am spending quality alone time with my old girl." Which was almost completely true, because there had been one night when River insisted on joining him…

"Ok, then." She looked a bit… baffled as to why he'd want to sit alone with his box. "Just don't get sleep-deprived."

"You're not my mother." He muttered under his breath as another cascade of sparks obscured him from view.

"Oi! The last thing we need is you driving drowsy. Now I'm going upstairs to my new room. And you, should sleep." She left again, and the Doctor couldn't help a bit of frustration as he realized that she was right- he did need sleep. Even Timelords, now and then, needed to sleep.

But not tonight. He was going to procrastinate tonight, and finish this wiring if it killed him, which it better not, because he was entirely enjoying being this regeneration, and if he was going to die, he'd prefer it to not be from sleep-deprivation and wiring.

Once or twice the room started to swim before his eyes, and his eyelids started to droop, but he kept himself up, fighting with his seemingly impossible task. No matter how hard he worked at it, it couldn't seem to get any better, and everything seemed to be getting foggier. He would finish… would get all the wires right… and… Just six hours or so until the Ponds would be up and everything would be moving again and he could keep running on adrenaline. Six hours. He could make it. And from there would come another time when his human friends would want to rest again, and it would start. All. Over. Again.

The TARDIS let out a soft bleep, which was not quite startling but more unexpected. "What's the matter, Old Girl?" He asked softly, resting one hand on the nearest column. The lights in one of the corridors suddenly flickered on. The Doctor stood up, stretched, fixed one of his braces, and walked over to investigate. No sooner had he reached the end of the corridor when the lights turned off, and a different hall lit up instead.

"So you want me to come see what's wrong?" He mused, starting off. His sonic screwdriver was back in the main control room, so if something really did need fixing, he'd have to walk back and get it. But there was certainly never anything he could fear inside the TARDIS, so he may as well leave it behind.

The chase continued, the Doctor beginning to jog, mind alive with possibilities. Where could the TARDIS be taking him? Any attempts to ask her were futile; she gave no clues. Finally he reached a hallway with only one light in it- right near a door. It wasn't one he recognized, although he knew where he was. Then again, the TARDIS could create new rooms as needed, and with the size of the place, it wasn't surprising for him to find somewhere he hadn't been, especially since she'd recently redone the interior.

The Doctor opened the door slowly, wondering what it was that his TARDIS could be leading him to. The room was a cozy looking one, though there was only one piece of furniture: a bed.

"Oh, not you too!" The Doctor practically shouted at the TARDIS, although he had no idea if she could even hear him. "For the last time, I am not tired!"

The TARDIS responded, to his surprise, with a contradictory sort of whir. "Alright, Sexy Thing." He said slowly, walking back to the bed. "I'll just lie down, for just a few minutes, and make you happy."

It was a bed with a ladder, he noticed, although it had no lower bunk. The TARDIS must have overheard him mentioning to Amy and Rory the other day about his enjoyment of bunk beds. Honestly, who wouldn't want to sleep up high, where you could see the whole room?

The Doctor climbed up the ladder and lay down on his new bed, which was remarkably comfy. In his exhausted state, it seemed to be calling to him. The covers were already pulled back, but he lay on top of them, not bothering to pull them up. "Just a few minutes." He insisted, whether it was to the TARDIS or himself he didn't know.

"Only a few… minutes." The Timelord closed his eyes, finally letting himself fall asleep. As he was on the very verge of consciousness, he could swear the covers pulled themselves up, and he was pretty sure he felt a breath of warm, soft air brush against his face and run through his bangs. It might have been the beginning of a dream, but he knew he heard a voice whisper, "Goodnight, Thief."


The next morning, Amy and Rory were surprised to find themselves alone in the TARDIS kitchen when they went for coffee. "Normally he's in here with omelets or something by now." Rory commented as he poured a cup for himself and his wife.

"Yeah…" Amy agreed. While it was strange to have the kitchen all to themselves, she hoped it meant he had taken her advice and gone to bed. "He's probably, you know, off doing Timelord stuff."

"Stuff, right." Rory agreed. They sipped their coffee in peace for once.

I've never written for Doctor Who before so let me know what you think about the characterization, please!