It was always hard to tell the exact time inside the TARDIS. Of course, you could tell the time of places you visited and planets you explored. But inside, it always felt a little timeless. Your body-clock, however, told you that it was very late and a time for you to be sleeping.
You had always found your room in the TARDIS to be extremely comfortable and the kind of room you had always imagined. And yet... you couldn't sleep. You tossed and turned until you just couldn't stand it any longer. "Fine," you grumbled. Slowly, you sat up and yawned. You slipped on the sneakers that you kept by the bedside and walked to your bedroom door. If you couldn't sleep, you may as well do some exploring. It had certainly been a long time since you began travelling with the marvellous Doctor and there was still plenty of things inside the TARDIS that you had not discovered. Even he barely knew most of the rooms in his beloved time machine.Glancing side to side, you decided on heading right. Just incase the Doctor was asleep (if he even slept), you crept along the corridors silently. The first door you came across led into a huge room that you assumed was a ballroom of sorts. Several large, crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, shining yellow light onto the blue and silver wallpaper. Stepping into the room to explore, you found another door right on the other side.This one led you to a swimming pool. You had definitely been here before. But you could've sworn you had come another way... Maybe there was more than one? Moving on, you re-discovered the Library, found two colourful bathrooms, a kitchen, several other bedrooms, an art studio and finally, a storage room."Made in Taiwan?" You said as you picked up an item from the shelf, "...In the year 100,347...that explains it."The stuff you found in the rest of the storeroom was altogether odd as quirky, although you had keen interest in each object. Even the ordinary items had some kind of way to tweak your fancy.Just as you turned to leave the room, something caught your eye. It was quite large and had been covered over with a throw. You wondered how the heck you had managed to miss it before. Dramatically, you flung the cover to the ground."Oh my god," you coughed and spluttered as dust flew everywhere.Underneath the throw had been a beautiful (although dust-covered) wooden crib. It had been painted a storm cloud blue and gold but the paint was obviously chipping away. A mobile hung from the highest part of the crib, displaying many wonderful-looking bronze planets and silver stars.You bent down to examine it further, running your fingers across the wood. Some kind of symbols were written in gold on the side."Beautiful..." You said to yourself quietly. The sudden noise of something moving made you jump. You looked around, but nobody was there and nothing seemed out of place. You shrugged it off and decided that it was time to leave.As you walked on, the corridors all became much more familiar. You noted walking past your own bedroom and the main kitchen.As you approached the control room, you could definitely hear movement."Hey, Doctor," you said, stepping down the stairs. The Doctor's attention was dragged from the console and to you. His hair seemed to stick up more than usual and the blue lights of the room were casting dark shadows across his face. He raised an eyebrow."(Y/n)...didn't expect you to be up," he said, flicking a switch."Well... I couldn't sleep," you said with a yawn. You watched as the Doctor's face grew with concern."Is everything okay?" He asked coming closer to you, "Are you alright?""I'm fine!" You said a little to quickly, "I'm not having nightmares or anything if that's what you're thinking."There was a pregnant pause in the conversation. It was so quiet you could even hear the TARDIS whirring. "Hey!" The Doctor burst out suddenly causing you to jump again, "Sorry...I was just wondering... I set the TARDIS to drift around for a bit. I thought maybe you might want a look?""Umm... Okay," you laughed. You and the Doctor walked to the TARDIS doors, which you opened. You felt your breath catch in your throat. The view was amazing.You were looking out upon a nebula - or so the Doctor told you. Clouds of orange gases looked as if they were caving in on a dark blue mist, speckled with millions of glimmering stars. A green haze swirled right in the centre of all the beautiful chaos.You turned and gave the Doctor a huge smile and he beamed back at you."Not bad, eh?" He said, crouching to the ground and swinging his legs out of the TARDIS."It's absolutely wonderful, Doctor," you said, sitting down beside him, "Just amazing!"The Doctor stared at you as you soaked in the view. He noticed how much your eyes were sparkling with fascination. He found it intriguing how you could always feel so amazed by things he'd already shown you many times before and not get bored. It was one of the many things he liked about you. No, not liked. Loved."Doctor?" Your voice brought him back to reality. "When I couldn't sleep... I did a bit of... Exploring."The Doctor didn't say anything. "And well," you continued, "I found this beautiful blue crib lying in a dusty storeroom. If you don't mind me asking... Who's was it?"The Timelord shuffled uncomfortably and suddenly had interest in the view again. Seconds later, he looked back to you."It was mine," he said. You stared into his massive brown eyes. They looked sad, as if old times hurt to remember. You could relate to that in a way. Probably not on such a as scale such as his but the feeling was still the same. The last few years had been nothing but easy for you. Until that night the Doctor turned up and saved you from those horrible statues. That's when things began to look up - that's when things got brighter.You thought back to that one night where you and the Doctor had kissed under the fall of alien snow. Those were the kind of memories that you wanted more of."The symbols on the side of the crib..." You said, "What did they mean?"Once again the Doctor looked a little uncomfortable. For a moment you regretted ever asking. But then he answered."My name," he said quietly, "Not 'the Doctor'...my real name.""Oh..." You said, "Well I think it's beautiful." The Doctor drew in a sharp breath and instantly looked happy again."Anyway..." He said cheerfully, "You need sleep, missy because it is now..." He checked his watch, "Half past two where you come from.""But--" you grumbled."Nope, off to bed," he said, cutting you off."Yes, dad," you said, "But on one condition."The Doctor quirked that eyebrow at you again."Depends on the condition.""The condition is..." You started, "That you come to bed with me.""But, (Y/n) I don't need sle--" the Doctor complained."I don't care what you say. Every living being needs to rest at least once in their existence," you told him. "Now c'mon! I'm actually really tired."The Doctor sighed and accepted the hand you held out for him."I'm not the only one who needs sleep," you whispered as you both trailed back down the corridor and into your bedroom, before both falling gently to sleep.
