Part 10
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Jamie opened the tracking app on his phone and peered at the information with interest.

"Are you sure it's legal to do that?" Jenny wondered.

"Of course, it is," he argued. "The deal with Dad was, if he could track me, then I was allowed to track him."

She shrugged. "Seems fair. So, what does it say?"

"He's not moved position since we last looked. That was ages ago. Time to bring them back."

Giggling with him, Jenny pulled out her phone to dial her mother's number.

Far away in nearby woodland, their parents could hardly contain their mutual glee. They hadn't long decided to head back towards the house, having straightened ruffled hair, re-applied smudged lipstick, and adjusted things like ties, when Donna's phone rang.

"Where are you?" Jenny worried. "There's no need for you to keep searching for Vic's dog. Pixie has been found."

"That's good news," Donna responded. "Who found her?"

"Well," Jenny hesitated, going coy. "We did."

"I dug her out," Jamie supplied in the background. "She'd fell down a rabbit hole."

"Oh my. You clever clogs," Donna praised them both. "I hope you've been suitably rewarded."

"We're eating it right now," Jenny answered, somewhat muffled. "It's some posh ice cream but really nice."

Probably wiping her mouth, Donna thought as her daughter's voice became muted again. "Ah," she exclaimed knowingly, "hence the guilt."

"What? We're saving you some," Jenny vowed. "Honest."

Laughing, Donna assured her daughter, "That's alright. Eat it all. You deserve it. Me and John will be with you any second now."

"You sound in a good mood," Jenny noted.

Still grinning, Donna confirmed, "Because I am."

Winking at Jamie, Jenny pondered, "John wasn't such an arse with you this time, do I take it?"

"He behaved himself," Donna cagily replied, looking at his smug, satisfied face. "And none of that language, young lady."

"You say it," Jenny countered.

"Maybe I do," Donna agreed, "but remember you're in my boss's home."

"Can't forget it," Jenny moaned.

"We didn't exactly keep that in mind," John whispered at the same time, as he pulled Donna close in order to kiss her cheek.

She glared back at him and silently mouthed, "We agreed to keep schtum for the time being."

He quickly nodded his ascent and changed the subject. "Is she still with Jamie?"

"Who are you with right now?" she asked Jenny.

"It's just me and Jamie," Jenny admitted. "Martha is still with that other lot. The science bods." Jenny's voice then went lower as she confided, "I think she's found herself another bloke to go off with."

"Really? Who?"

"Tom somebody or other," Jenny replied. "He's quite good looking."

"She'd better warn Dad," Jamie advised from beside her. "He'll be upset otherwise."

Donna tried to glance at John while he made the most of hugging her as they walked, surreptitiously listening in on the phone conversation. "Oh, I don't think he will be too gutted to find out Martha has bailed on him."

He mimed being heartbroken, causing her to silently giggle.

"I can see the edge of the garden now. Won't be a sec. Bye!" She then turned to berate him, but he had almost danced away. As he hung onto a tree branch, she thought he was going to embarrass her by breaking into song. "Stop it! You have to think of Martha's feelings."

"Okay. I'll stop," he promised, still gripping the tree like a drunken mate. "I'm just trying to make the most of this while I can. You know, before it goes tits up."

"Why would you expect it all to go wrong?"

"Well," he swung closer to tease, "when Vic announces that I'm his new PA, you'll suddenly hate me again."

She swore later that him managing to choose that precise moment to fall into a huge bush was a complete coincidence.

"Hello!" Donna called out in greeting as they stepped onto an immaculate lawn and neared their children. A woman she recognised stood by them: Vic's wife. "Hello, Mrs Farnsworth."

"Hello. Call me Cynthia, please," she politely begged. "I've just been spending some time with your charming children." She would have said more but she spotted the state of John as he appeared behind Donna. "What on earth has happened to you? Are you alright? I do hope it isn't due to your search for dear Pixie."

"Hello," he cheerily replied. "No, I had a bit of a run in with a bush."

"More like a fall in," Donna interrupted.

"Okay, a dispute of some kind with some foliage on the way back from looking for Pixie," he amended. "Is she alright?"

"She is loving the attention and seems fine now," Cynthia gushed, "thanks to the efforts of your brave son."

"What did…?" John began to ask, when his eyes took in the little white dog nestled on Jamie's lap, the proud grin on his face, and the grimy state of his once pristine shirt. "Jamie! That shirt was brand-new on this morning," he complained.

"Sorry Dad, but I had to dig Pixie out of a rabbit hole, or she would have died," Jamie explained, giving the dog a fond stroke.

"I'm beyond grateful for his quick thinking which certainly saved my precious baby," Cynthia defended him. "He and young Jenny here worked tirelessly to get her out. Please let me replace their ruined clothing."

"Don't worry," Donna consoled the woman's fretting. "Nothing more than a decent soak and a proper wash should fix it." The smudges of dirt on Jenny could soon be dealt with but the sorry state of Jamie's shirt might be another matter unless John was willing to bleach it. "Isn't that right, John?"

"Well… erm…," he floundered to find the words to express his feelings. "Probably. I'd better find Martha and then we can head for home and get you cleaned up properly."

"But…," Jamie went to argue. However, Jenny threw him a cautionary look. "Yes, Dad. She went to get us a drink."

"Ah yes, good idea," he said, nodding to himself. "Would anyone else like some refreshment while I'm there?"

"Not for me, thanks. I'd better carry on with my duties and will collect Pixie in a moment or two," Cynthia replied, drifting gradually away to talk to someone else.

"I'll have the same as you," Donna informed him. "I could do with some refreshing."

"Er…" He floundered for a moment, not sure how to take that, before finding his voice again. "I'll be right back."

"Well?" Jenny eagerly leaned forward to ask as soon as she thought he was out of earshot. "How did the search really go? Anything of interest happen that you want to tell us?"

Retaking her previous seat, Donna answered, "Not really. We weren't as clever as you two in finding Pixie here." She leaned across to stroke the dog before cautiously adding, "But we did get the chance to talk."

"And?" Jenny encouraged.

"And what?" Donna wondered. "Nothing else although we agreed to keep our truce."

Jenny eyed her in disbelief. "You're lying. There's more to it."

"Why would you think that?" Donna demanded.

Unable to keep quiet any longer, Jamie observed, "It might be because your lipstick looks a lot different now to when we began the search."

"You wore half of it off when we ate lunch," Jenny clarified when her mother's questioning stare was upon her. "You've put more on, for some reason, like… say, kissing a certain handsome co-worker?"

"I did not…," Donna began to deny. "I would never… We didn't…" Under their continued disbelief, she caved. "Alright, we did." Two bright grins of triumph hit her immediately. "But I never said he was handsome."

"Then what does 'too good-looking for his own good' mean?" Jenny teased, to Jamie's amusement. "Come on, Mum. Share the goss'."

It didn't help her wits to know her cheeks were flaming red. "I don't think I should until Martha has been informed of his change of heart."

"Oh, as if she cared in the first place," Jenny grouched. "Tell her, Jamie."

"They barely spoke to each other in the car, and I'm sure she came to be seen and flirt with that tech guy," he commented. "What was his name?"

"Tom," Jenny supplied. "And I can't say I blame her. He's gorgeous. No offence to your dad, by the way, but Tom is a right nosh."

"Jenny!" Donna exclaimed in shock. When had her daughter become such an ogler of men? "She could have at least dumped John first."

"I think she's doing that right this second," Jenny observed. "Anyway, can we go home soon too? I can't wait to get out of this stuffy outfit."

"Yes. Bath for you as soon as we get home, and I'd put that dress into soak. Now where's my drink?" She got up to go investigate.

Behind her back, Jenny shared a conspiratorial smile with Jamie.

"We have a winner," he quietly declared.

A/N: for those who don't mind smutty DVD extras, I wrote two and posted them on AO3 (my username is the same as here).