A/N: The correct answer to the question: "What is the Doctor Who quote?" is when Tugger said: "New teeth. That's weird" and no one got it right. Clearly, you guys need to watch more Doctor Who. ;)
Thanks to Puredeadthingy for telling me how much a tuna wrap and a glass of milk can cost in London. .:smooch:.

Six: Tom in the City

Tugger found to his immense relief that the bathtub also had a showerhead. Paige had showered him once or twice, and even though he had hated it, it was a lot more bearable than having to be completely emerged in horrible, suffocating water.

He carefully turned on the water and stepped into the tub. First he felt the water with one hand, and then he stepped under the beam with a horrified shiver. To his vast surprise, it wasn't all bad. The perpetual cold he had felt ever since he transformed vanished completely, and the water gently massaged his skin, making him much more alert. He could feel the dirt from the junkyard wash away. It was actually... nice.

Tugger even took a closer look at the several plastic bottles on the shelf beside him. He sniffed at them, trying to figure out which one he should use. Finally he went with the one that smelled the nicest and squirted out almost the entire bottle in the palm of his hand.

"Oops."

Ah well. It would have to do. He washed himself as thoroughly as he could, he even put some of the white goo in his hair to get the grime out. It took him thirty minutes to finish, and then he turned off the water, stepped out of the tub, and clumsily wrapped a towel around his waist. He had seen Paige's father tie a knot to make sure the towel wouldn't fall down, but he had no idea how to do that, so he just tucked it in.

Tugger took a look at the clothes he had worn. He could hardly put them on again, then he would smell just as badly as he had done before he'd showered. He needed new clothes.

He went out to the others in the living room. There Victoria sat in the middle of the floor, keeping a close watch on Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, who were innocently walking around checking the place out. Etcetera and Jemima had found a stuffed mouse-toy, which they were loudly arguing about in a corner. All Jellicles looked up when Tugger entered.

"Victoria, my pet," he said smiling, "where can I possibly get my hands on some clothes in this house?"

"Oh. Um. Yes, I suppose you'll need that. Um. It's over there." She nodded towards a closed door. "It leads into the bedroom. I'm not supposed to be in there. You can take whatever you want, just not the blue suit, because my humans would notice if that one was gone. It's the male's favourite."

Tugger went into the room. He grabbed the first shirt out of a drawer that he could get his hands on, and a pair of trousers from a hanger in a closet. These clothes were a bit fancier than the ones he had worn the day before. The trousers were black and had buttons and a zipper, which Tugger had to experiment with quite a lot before he could manage to zip up. The shirt was simple and white. Tugger looked at his own reflection in the bedroom mirror and nodded with a smirk. He looked damn sexy, for a human.

His stomach growled angrily. He had not eaten properly since yesterday morning, and that cup of coffee he had forced himself to drink in Paige's company had hardly managed to fill him up. He needed something to eat.

Tugger sauntered out to the others again.

"Mind if I have something to eat, love?" he asked Victoria. "I'm starved."

"Um, okay, just don't take too much. I'll get in trouble if there's a lot of food missing."

Tugger went to the kitchen and amused himself with selecting something edible. He finally went with some leftover beef casserole that smelled not unlike from the food he usually got, and he sat down by the table to eat.

"Don't forget the fork, mate!" called out Mungojerrie cheerfully. "Ya'd better practice that right away!"

Eating with utensils was harder that it looked. Humans did it so easily. Tugger had to fight to even get food into his mouth, not to mention making it look as if he had done it his entire life. The table was covered in brown stains when he had finished (it was good that the Jones' hadn't had a tablecloth), but at least he was full.

"Ohhh, human food off the table..." purred Mungojerrie and jumped up to feast. "Don' mind if I do..."

Tugger chuckled. "Help yourself." He leant back in his chair with a content sigh. "This is not a bad life."

"What are you going to do now, Tuggy?" asked Etcetera, who sat wide-eyed by his feet.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Paige won't be home for a few hours. I can't call her yet."

"You could come back to the junkyard with us until then," suggested Jemima shyly.

Tugger shook his head. "Nah, that's boring. I think I'll... explore. Yeah. Go out for a walk. Check my surroundings."

He stood up, careful not to step on anyone's tail. Outside the window the sun had fully rose and it looked like it might be a warm day, but to be on the safe side Tugger took a grey jumper and tied it around his waist. He went into the bathroom to fetch the money he had left, and the piece of paper with Paige's phone number on, and put them in his trouser pocket. With a groan he forced his feet back into his old trainers, and then he took a quick look in the hallway mirror.

"Not bad, not bad..." He turned to his feline friends. "Victoria, you've been the supreme hostess." He tickled her chin affectionately. "I'll be back tonight."

He left.

Tugger had a nice time out. He went into several stores, pretending he was as human as the rest of the people in there, but he didn't dare buy anything. He had no idea how much anything cost, but he had a feeling that the coins he had left would not be enough. He also soon noticed that not all people went around with coins, but seemed to be using bits of paper instead. He made a mental note to chat with Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer about them, since they seemed to be worth more than the money he already had.

He made it into a game to watch how human couples acted towards each other and tried to remember it all. Luckily he had been very interested in watching humans as a cat as well, and found their silly little games rather amusing. He followed one couple, a dark-haired young man with his arms protectively around a petite, blonde woman, trying to be inconspicuous. Thankfully the couple were too wrapped up in themselves to notice the tall man stalking them, smiling bemusedly.

The two went into a small café, and Tugger went in there with them. He was hungry anyway, and it was past lunchtime already. He looked at whatever the other customers did, and mimicked it as well he could. Since he couldn't read the signs and therefore find out what was on the menu, he listened to what the couple ordered.

"What do you want, honey?" the man asked the woman, smiling grandly. "It's on me."

"Oh, you know what I like!" twittered the woman. Her big blue eyes shone. "Just order anything!"

The man turned to the woman behind the counter and promptly ordered one chicken salad with low-fat dressing and no olives, and a tuna wrap. He also decided on something called a "cafe latte" and ice-water when he was asked what they would like to drink. He paid, and the couple went off to sit by a table to eat.

It was Tugger's turn. He smiled charmingly at the woman by the register.

"Hello, pretty one. One tuna wrap." No matter what these humans could do to tuna, he was pretty sure he'd be able to eat it anyway.

The woman coloured slightly. When Paige blushed, her entire face went red like a ripe tomato, but when this other woman did it, it was more like a sunrise. Tugger gave her an appraising once-over. She was pretty, with blonde hair and a slight spray of freckles across her nose. She looked young, older than Paige but definitely still a kitten.

"What would you like to drink?" she asked nervously.

Tugger paused. "Anything but coffee. I hate coffee. What else have you got?"

"Um. Tea, pop, water, milk, juice..."

"No cream? Sad, sad..." Tugger shook his head and sighed. "Ah well. Milk then, I suppose."

"Okay." The woman looked at him a little oddly, but didn't comment. Her cheeks were still flushed. "That will be two pounds thirty, then."

Tugger took all the money he had out of a pocket and put them on the counter with a confident grin. "I'm new in the country, love. Is this enough?"

With nimble fingers the woman selected a few of the coins, and nodded. "Sure. Wow. Your English is really good."

"Pardon?"

"Your English. Um, you said you were new in the country. But your English, well, it's really good. No accent at all."

"Thanks." Tugger grinned at her and put his change back into his pocket.

The woman seemed to gather her courage. "Hey, I get off at five, do you think we could maybe get together and, um, have a cup of coffee. Or not coffee," she added when she noticed Tugger's faint sneer of disapproval, "but, you know, something else, maybe?"

Tugger thought it over. If he had still been a tom and the woman had been a queen, there was no doubt as to what he would have answered. But things were different now. The reason he had gone through with this was for Paige, and he wasn't about to cheat on her.

"Sorry, love," he said kindly. "But I'm sort of already involved with someone."

"Oh." Her disappointment was obvious. "Okay. Um. Sorry."

"No need to apologize..."

"I... I'll get your food."

She left the counter, not looking at him. Her face was red with embarrassment. She brought him his tuna wrap and a large glass of milk, placed them on a tray and gave it to him. He thanked her warmly, she muttered something like "you're welcome," and Tugger left the counter to find a place to sit. The couple he had been following had disappeared somewhere in the crowd, but he didn't care so much about them anymore.

It was soon time to call Paige. He would need a phone. Tugger had a vague idea on how one used a phone. He had of course seen both Paige and her parents spend a considerable amount of time talking to colleagues and friends with the help of the strange mechanism, but since it had rarely concerned him, he had not paid it much attention.

While he chewed on his tuna wrap (which was good, if slightly doughy) Tugger sat and pondered where to go. He could go back to Victoria's flat and borrow her phone, of course, but that would take some time. He wanted to call as fast as possible. When he had finished his lunch, he went up to the counter and carefully asked if there was a phone anywhere that he could borrow.

"There's a pay phone right outside," said the woman without looking at him. "You can use that."

Then she went to take care of another customer. Tugger went out and localized the pay phone immediately. To be on the safe side, he dumped every last coin he had into the slot, and then he picked up the phone. He stared at the crumbled note Paige had given him. After a while he noticed that the symbols on the note were visible on the buttons by the phone as well, so he dialled the number.

To his immense relief, Paige picked up after two long signals.

"Hello?"

"Paige? Hi. It's Tom. From last night?"

"Oh! Oh hi!" Her voice sounded tinny, but he could almost hear her blush.

"How are you?"

"I'm good! I... I wasn't expecting you'd phone me."

"Why wouldn't I phone you?" asked Tugger in genuine surprise. "I had a lovely time yesterday."

"Really?" she breathed.

"Really. So my lady, when can I see you again?"

"Ah... I don't know. My... my mum wasn't very happy when I got home late last night. So I might not be able to go out."

Damn it.

"Oh, that's too bad," sighed Tugger. "Maybe tomorrow night, then? We could... maybe have a picnic?" he suggested, grabbing onto the first idea that came to his mind.

When Paige had been very small, her parents had taken her out on picnics every weekend. Tugger had not been around back then, but he had heard her tell him about those trips many times, and how sad she was that her parents never did that anymore.

"A picnic?" repeated Paige.

"Yeah. You bring sandwiches and a blanket, and I can bring something to drink and Flea-bag. We can meet up by the café we went to yesterday. What do you say?"

He knew she'd say yes before she even spoke.