Thank you to VeraSorger, my faithful fanfiction buddy and beta reader!

Only one in three crashes/fights/etcetera did the TARDIS actually require physical repairs, but when she did they were excruciating. Tonight, the Doctor found himself on his back, placed on a flat little cart, rolled underneath her console and wrestling with a tangled mass of gray and blue tubing, with some red, green, and black wires mixed in. It looked like someone had gutted a cybernetic elephant. In a graceful, beautiful way, of course.

The TARDIS must have been listening to that train of thought, as sparks flew and engines sputtered. The Doctor put his arm over his eyes. This was easily going to be another all-night repair.

Safe and sound in her outer-space bedroom, Rose Tyler found that the only thing she was missing was exhaustion. Despite having had an incredibly strenuous day (and it being goodness-knew-what time in the morning) she lay wide awake. The ceiling offered a dull, pulsing glow, at which she stared for a good twenty minutes before swinging her legs from the bed and marching with bare feet down to the console room. Just as she'd expected, there was her Doctor. Doing some technical thing or another, surely. She didn't interrupt him. She meandered off, in search of the chocolate-chip biscuits the Doctor had stashed somewhere.

"Come on, girl," mumbled the Doctor, "it can't be that bad." He reached over his head and pulled down on a lever. The underside of the console dropped down four or five centimeters, then froze. He sighed and jiggled the handle a bit, knocking on the metal frame. It finally fell down to where it was supposed to be, and the Doctor once again rolled underneath the console, where he promptly tangled himself up. Quite literally. Tightening one tube had caused another to constrict about his wrist and some of his forearm. Groaning, he reached up with his other hand to try and loosen the mess, but somehow wound up worsening it. His head rolled back in frustration. The only way to undo this mess now was to press the release button, which would drop all of the wires and tubes underneath that section of the console. He would have to start all over.
Resigning himself to the setback, he went for the button...to discover that his other wrist had somehow become entangled in the same set of wires as his first. He wriggled a bit, attempting to ease his hand out. The knots only tightened.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor startled, head bumping into a metal railing. He huffed a little. "Rose! Hello!"

"I brought you some biscuits," she said. Her pajama bottoms were just visible through the jungle of innards before his face. Pink pajama bottoms, spotted with red hearts. They were a little transparent with this light.

"Oh, thank you!" He said, tone perky. "Do something for me, feel right underneath that ledge right there, you should find a little red button. Push it, please?"

"Um, alright," she turned to the right, then to the left. What was she doing? There was a clicking noise and a quiet thunk, like she'd set something on the console. Then a whirring sound. Like she'd set something in a bad place on the console.

"Whoops! Sorry!"

The frame lifted up a bit, clunked, and readjusted into it's proper position. It took the Doctor's wrists with it. His arms stretched, far above his head, until they were nearly straightened out.

"I hit that lever with your plate, is that bad?" Rose's face appeared, her pajama top hanging open slightly.

The Doctor's nose twitched a little and he set his eyes upon something other than the beautiful, pajama-clad woman in front of him. "It's fine, just...hit that red button for me?"

"This one?" She pointed.

"No, that's mauve. The red button."

Rose stared at the panel of red, pink, fuschia, and heliotrope buttons before her. "Which one's the red one?"

"That one, there." He nodded.

"Could you point to it?"

He gritted his teeth. "See, that's why I need you to push it. I'm a bit...stuck."

"Stuck? As in...you can't get out?"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes as his cheeks flushed. "Yeah, a bit like that..."

An amused smile cracked out across Rose Tyler's face. "You're stuck?"

He sighed. "Yes. Now could you please press the button?"

She laughed. "Wait!" She whipped out her cell phone, (the Doctor tried not to think about where from) and snapped a photo of him. He made a silly face for her.

"Yes, okay, the Doctor's all tied up in the Tardis, haha it's rare and hilarious. Help me, please?"

"Alright, alright. Just tell me which button is the right one."

"The red one!"

"They're all red!" She gave his leg a gentle thwack.

"Okay, okay. Point to them all, one at a time, and I'll tell you which one to push. Alright?" He tried to keep the utter frustration out of his voice. It wasn't the situation so much that had him snippy, but her sheer amusement at his predicament.

"Alright! God, don't be such a baby!" She smirked. The Doctor rolled his eyes. Rose's fingers traveled to the first button.

"Wrong."

The second button.

"Very wrong."

The third button.

"Oh god, don't push that, that's the fan and it's broken." The Doctor laid his head back, neck beginning to ache from the strain.

"Broken how?"

"Well all it does is kind of...poof very cold air under the console. I've been meaning to repair it..."

"Like what?"

Before he could respond, a burst of, by description, very cold air blasted past the Doctor's face and through his clothes. He gasped, goosebumps breaking across his flesh an an uncomfortable tingle making him shudder. It was very, very cold air.

"Rose!" He all but screamed. She looked down at him and pouted, letting off into giggles. He couldn't help but smile and laugh. Just a little.

"You're adorable!" Rose exclaimed.

"You're very funny. Now could you please let me down?"

"Doctor, I'm bored!" She whined. In a moment, she was down on all fours and underneath the console with him.

"Rose, please, I do have quite a bit of work to do." The Doctor wriggled uncomfortably, trying to get a view of Rose's face over his arm.

"Come now, ten minutes of fun won't hurt ya!"

"Ten minutes of your kind of fun might," he countered.

Rose's jaw dropped as he snickered, and she smacked his ribs. "Shut it!"

"Ow! Easy!" He laughed, trying to defend himself with his elbow.

"Whatcha gonna do about it?" She asked.

"I may tickle you!" He threatened. Then clamped his mouth shut.

It was Rose's turn to snicker. "Oh, I see what you're like!" She clambered on top of him, squeezing between his body and the console.

"Rose, don't. Don't you dare...!"

"What a brilliant idea, Doctor! I never would have thought of it."

The Doctor whined, weakly, pretending to be crushed under her realistically-featherweight force. "But I can't breathe!"

"I'll show you 'can't breathe', Doctor!" In a moment, her fingers were dancing along his sides. The Doctor closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, eyebrows drawn together. After a moment, he kicked his feet wildly. Rose's fingers dug suddenly into his ribs, and he choked out a short burst of laughter, then held his breath again. He peeked up at Rose's face; she was biting her lip and smirking...almost an evil expression.

"Please...!" Was all he could manage, before she began tickling faster, and his head dropped backward, laughter echoing about the small space they shared beneath the TARDIS control panel.

"Ro-hose st-stop, hahah! Stop it!" He gave a violent shake, before bursting again into laughter.

"What's the magic word?" Rose teased, quietly.

"Plehease!"

"That's not my magic word!" She pulled his shirt out from his belt and attacked his bare skin, prodding lower and lower until she was pinching his hips.

The Doctor jerked about, and cried out, "What? Please-hahaha...please is uhu-universal! Ohow!" And melted back down into intense giggles. "Please is al-always the m...hahahow! Always the magic word!" His sentence melted back into hysterics, and he again attempted to shake her off.

"Not in my universe!" Rose laughed. "You'll have to guess!"

"Oh, I dohon't know! Ohohoh...Rose...!" Tears formed in the corners of his eyes, and he tugged as hard as he could on his arms. But his TARDIS was built well; she didn't budge an inch.

"Not until you say the magic word!"

He pressed his lips together, wracking his brain for some secret word Rose Tyler might use as a password.

But he found himself unable to focus on anything. The combination of the worst tickling experience in his life, and possibly the most beautiful woman in the entire universe, both besetting him at once, nearly completely shut his brain off.

So he said the only thing he could think of. "Rose Tyler...I love you!"

Thus far, it was the most effective sentence he'd sent her way that night. Her fingers stopped wriggling, and the Doctor gasped for air, arms tense and even trembling a little.

Rose rolled from atop him. "What?"

He said it a little more timidly this time, "I love you." He could feel his face flushing, but was just relieved to again be taking up oxygen.

"You love me?"

"I do. Very, very much."

She looked stunned, just staring at him. He wished she would say something. She was so close. He was suddenly very aware of just how close she was, her sweet breath barely brushing across his face. He felt very, very warm. But her cheeks were also bright pink, and her plump, pretty lips were barely parted in a surprised expression. They suddenly cracked a smile.

"Why didn't you say so?" Her voice was quiet, put perky, and in a moment those beautiful puffy lips were pressed against his. It was a kiss that lasted only a moment, then she was again looking at him, tousling his messy hair.

She scooted out from next to him and reached up, jabbing a button. The red button. All manner of wires and tubes and pipes (and some other things) clattered to the floor. The Doctor's arms dropped to his sides, and he lay perfectly still for a moment, still staring at nothing.

After a moment, he registered what just happened. "Oi! What was that?" He rolled out and jumped onto his feet, giving Rose a stern look. "You knew which button it was!"

She smirked.

"You knew, the whole time you knew and you...oh, you cheeky little sneak!" He didn't know whether to slap her or kiss her, so he did the only thing he knew he'd be comfortable with; gave her a great, big hug.

Rose laughed. "You're an awful lot of fun all tied up," she said, eyebrow quirked.

He put a finger in her face. "No. Absolutely not. Never, ever do that to me again!"

"Not even with your permission...?" She folded her hands and bit her lip, swaying slightly.

He paused to speak, then sighed. "You are just worlds of trouble, Rose."

She smiled. "Don't I know it. But isn't that why you love me?"

The Doctor sighed, and pulled her into another tight hug. It was nights like this he remembered why he brought her aboard the TARDIS in the first place.

The Doctor helped Rose back to bed, the latter of which had begun yawning and offered little resistance. He tucked her blankets in about her and gave her a tender kiss on the head.

She pulled her arms from beneath the blanket and reached for him. "Come with me?"

He smiled. "Not tonight, I've still got a lot of work to do. And you," he tapped her on the nose, "need to get some sleep!"

She pouted, but after another yawn, conceded. "Goodnight, Doctor." She turned on her side and pulled her covers over her shoulder.

The Doctor flipped of the light and walked to the door. Before allowing it to slide closed, he gave her a very long, very thoughtful look. He let out a quiet sigh. "Goodnight, Rose." He strolled back into the control room, found the platter of biscuits she'd left, and grabbed a couple before putting back to work.

Rose fell right to sleep. She stayed so for the remainder of the night.