The Doctor sighed heavily, leaning against the doors of the TARDIS, as Rory and Amy were off oo-ing and ah-ing over the self-cleaning willow pattern plates. Typical. He takes them to Bazool, the only planet in the Universe with glass that grows itself, and Rory wants to go shopping. Amy wasn't too keen on the plates at first, until the Doctor pointed out that they'd never need to wash up again. She was very interested after that.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me, then," he smiled, rubbing the TARDIS's wooden panels. She hummed back appreciatively in reply.

The gangly gallefreyan then saw both Amy and Rory come into view. Through he was disappointed to see that they were not heading back towards him, merely into another shop. He finally admitted defeat and returned to the magnificent interior of the TARDIS, making a few adjustments on the console here and there. When there was finally nothing left to do, he slumped onto the crash chairs and tapped on the railings. Why did time have to move so slowly?

"You know," he said to no one in particular, "it's times like these that I wish River was around. At least she keeps me guessing."

The TARDIS let out a high-pitched whine that sounded a lot like a sob.

The Doctor sat upright. "Are you all right?"

She let out another sob and the Doctor rushed over to the console, checking and double-checking the readings, but everything seemed normal. He had no idea what to do, so as his faithful time machine continued to wail, he simply stroked the various instruments, repeating the words, "Shh… shh, it'll be fine, shh."

The cries eventually died down just as Rory and Amy entered. They were both laughing, but Amy's expression slipped when she saw the Doctor's chalk-white face.

"Doctor?" she said hesitantly, cautiously moving towards him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know… It's the TARDIS…"

Now it was Rory's turn to pale. "We won't be stuck here, will we?"

"No," the Doctor replied, "she's working… fine. Just, before she sounded like she was… crying."

Rory frowned. "Crying? How can a time machine… cry?"

"Handsome bloke like you," Amy punched the Doctor lightly in the arm. "Bet you'd make even a TARDIS swoon."

At that moment, the TARDIS let out a deafening howl. The trio clapped their hands over their ears until the shriek subsided.

"What was that?" Rory demanded, turning to the Doctor.

"I don't know," he bit his lip.

"Well that's a first;" Amy attempted a smile, but she was white and worried-looking, "you, not knowing something about your own time machine."

"Yeah…"