The sound of a vaguely familiar tune the band was playing drifted through the walls. Rose took deep calming breaths. Any minute now Jack Harkness was going to walk through those doors and they were going to drink champagne and dance. And it wasn't a dream. He would gather her up in his arms and try and seduce her. Her mind raced thinking of all those beautiful lines he had used on women over the years. Would he use one of those lines or would he come up with new words just for her?
Any minute now, Rose told herself over and over again, humming along with a couple songs. By the end of the fourth song, Rose figured something was wrong. The band had already played 'In the Mood' and had moved onto the slower songs. He should have been here by now. What was keeping him? Maybe she had imagined the entire day. Maybe she had fallen asleep on the train and was still there. She had just made the decision to leave when she heard the door open.
"I thought you'd forgotten about me." Rose turned around with a huge grin on her face. But it wasn't Jack standing there, it was John. Disappointment coursed through her veins.
"You, Rose Tyler, are completely unforgettable." He held out two champagne flutes to her. "Could you hold these for a second?"
Rose took the glasses and watched his long fingers wrap around the cork and open the bottle with a loud pop. "Where's Jack?" she asked.
"Ah, Jack." John filled both glasses and took his back. "He sent me with his apologies." John set the bottle down on the floor. "There was a slight incident and he won't be able to make it."
"Is he alright?" Rose's fingers tightened on the stem of her glass.
"He will be perfectly fine. Just needs a couple of stitches, he sat on some glasses." John sipped his drink.
"Should I go see him?" Rose started towards the door, but John laid a hand on her bare arm to stop her. The hairs on her arm stood on end and she shivered at his touch.
"I'm afraid Martha insisted that he go the hospital. You can see him tomorrow." John cleared his throat. "After years of watching these parties from that tree, you're finally at one. You look lovely, Rose, easily the prettiest woman here tonight, the belle of the ball." John licked his lips. "You've always been pretty, now you just look so grown up."
"I… I should get back to the party." Yet, she didn't make any move to leave. "I still haven't said hello to Donna yet."
John hesitantly removed his hand from her arm then moved closer to her. "And leave me here by myself?"
"What did Jack say about me?" Rose asked, trying to shift the conversation.
"I've never seen him in such a state. He seems to have forgotten that he's an engaged man." John forced a smile to his face. "He wants you."
"I've loved him my whole life," Rose said with more bravado than she felt.
"Of course you have." A muscle in John's jaw twitched. "That's it then. There goes the engagement."
"You wouldn't object?" Rose smiled.
"To you?" John shook his head. "I would never object to you. When you're here it's like a light has been turned on to combat the darkness."
Rose blushed. "When I saw you, I thought you were sent here to deal with me."
"Deal with you?" He sounded a little confused.
Rose took a large gulp of her drink, wishing now for something stronger. "This feels like one of those old movies…You know the ones where the prince falls in love with someone inappropriate, like a shop girl, and the family sends one of their stately Lords to deal with her." She looked up at him, trying to see if his face would betray that this was his real reason for being here. His face didn't give anything away.
"To buy her off?" John asked.
"Exactly." She took another drink. "He offers her 10,000£. 'No' she says. '25,000£', he counters. 'No'."
"A hundred thousand," John said, almost as if he's testing her.
"No," Rose replied flatly. Her whole body tensed at the implication that the shop girl could be bought off.
"A million." John looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "No self-respecting Lord would offer less."
Rose felt the bottom drop out of her stomach, the tension in the room was palpable now. "No self-respecting shop girl would take it."
He beamed brightly and the mood shifted. "Good girl." He quickly kissed her cheek and it left her skin tingling. "How does it end? The movie?"
"Oh, I don't know, they run off together to America, maybe on a zeppelin." A soft smile passed her lips.
"And then open up a bakery, specializing in banana pastries," John added with a goofy grin that she had never seen before.
"And live happily ever after." Rose smiled and caught the tip of her tongue in her teeth. It wasn't her normal smile; in fact she didn't think that she had ever smiled like that before.
John swallowed hard and raised his glass. "Cheers to happily ever after. May we all find it one day."
"Cheers," she whispered and finished her glass. Another slow song began to play and John took her glass, setting it and his own off to the side.
"I know I wasn't the one you were expecting to dance with tonight. But I would be honored if I could have this dance." He extended her a hand. "Jack isn't the only one that has the moves; it's all in the family."
Rose smiled, again catching her tongue between her teeth and she let him pull her into his arms. "Oh, you think you're so impressive."
"Oh, I am so impressive." His voice was low, almost like a growl in her ear. "You have no idea how impressive I can be."
"Then show me your moves." And he did. The band played on for several songs and to Rose there was nothing else in the world except the two of them. True to his word, John was an exceptional dancer. No doubt that his mother had forced him into dance lessons, too.
At the end of the fifth song, John pulled back. "If Jack were here right now, you'd expect him to kiss you." His tongue darted out to moisten his lips.
Subconsciously or maybe consciously, Rose mimicked his actions. "Yeah." Her reply was so soft, she wasn't sure that he heard her. Then he moved, one hand coming up to cup her face, the other on the small of her back. Slowly, he brought his lips down to hers.
Rose could have sworn that she felt the world spinning under her feet as he gently caressed her lips with his. Her chest tightened and she felt like she couldn't breathe. She parted her lips to take in air and he must have seen it as an invitation to deepen the kiss.
Quickly, her mind jerked back to reality and she pulled herself out of his arms. "What was that?" She tried to keep accusation out of her voice.
A deep blush crept up John's face and his right hand tugged at his ear. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away there."
"Yeah, you did." But she had too. Rose enjoyed that kiss more than she was willing to admit, even to herself. She was in love with Jack; she had been imagining it was Jack that she was kissing. That had to be it. Right? "I should go."
She was halfway to the door before he stopped her. "Rose, if you come by the main house in the morning, I'll make sure that you get to see Jack."
She hadn't turned around to look at him. "Thank you." She took a deep breath and left the tennis courts. As fast as she could, in her heels, she ran back to her room above the garage. What the hell had just happened?