Chapter Seventeen
I'm so sorry it's been so long! I only got back from my holiday a few days ago, so I've been super busy as you can imagine. Possibly two chapter updates today to make up for the awfully long time I've been away!
Needless to say, you could cut the tension with a knife at breakfast. The Professor walked into the kitchen, to be faced with the awkward situation of Jack and Tia sitting at the table already sipping cups of tea. "Morning Professor" Tia said, smiling. The Professor grunted 'morning' as a reply, avoiding eye contact with both her and Jack. Jack raised his eyebrows, but chose not to say anything.
So the three of them sat in the kitchen for a good ten minuets in an uncomfortable silence, all silently praying that The Doctor and Rose would waltz in with their cheery personalities and ease the tension a little. They all let out little breaths of relief when the infamous pair stumbled through the doors, but were all quite shocked.
The doctor and Rose both looked dishevelled and tired, dark circles forming under each of their eyes lightly. They barely acknowledged their three friends sitting at the table, The Doctor slumping down in the seat next to Jack- not giving a second thought as to why he was there- as Rose pulled two mugs out of the cupboard and started making two cups of black coffee.
"Are you two alright?" Tia asked, raising an eyebrow. The doctor and Rose both just grunted in reply, which unnerved the three people sitting at the table. They were used to the pair's routine now, the age old morning traditions they had possessed since becoming a couple. Every morning they would wake up, usually the doctor first. The Doctor knew better than to wake Rose up, and often sat up and read for a little while, or just simply watched her sleep. Not in a creepy way, of course, but it was just that she fascinated him in every way. After Rose would eventually wake up, the two would sit in bed and chat for a while, before getting up beaming and heading to the kitchen, where Rose would make the tea and he would make the toast, before sitting down and pleasantly asking what everyone would feel like doing today.
But not this morning evidentially. "Brother," The Professor said, glancing over at The Doctor "Any reason why you're both grumbling about like someone's bombed several churches?"
"Sorry," the doctor said rubbing his eyes hard as he accepted the cup of coffee out of Rose's hand as she took a seat next to him "Xavier was up on and off all night."
"Trouble in paradise?" Jack joked, but Rose just cut her eye at him.
"Shut up Jack, I'm tired. And so would you be if you hadn't gotten up twelve different times in the night."
"Each" The Doctor added.
"Alright, alright. Perhaps a smile next time?" Jack said, feigning an innocent look on his face.
"Well we can't all go out and chase skirt all night Jack," The Doctor said, running his hand through his hair "What are you even doing here anyway?"
"Yes Jack, why are you here?" The Professor pressed.
"Well for your information, time lords, I was with the lovely Tia last night, drinking in a bar. And then, after doing the gentlemanly thing and zapping her home, my manipulator ran out of power, so I simply crashed here for the night."
"Where did you sleep?" The Professor asked, trying to act casual, but he didn't miss the odd looks he received from The Doctor, Rose, Tia and Jack. "Just wondering is all" he said, drinking his tea nonchalantly.
"Well Professor, if you really must know.. Tia and I had quite the girly sleepover, lying around her room talking about boys all night. Standard."
The Professor made eye contact with Jack, who just kept the permanently smug look on his face. He knew what The Professor thought of course, and decided to at least play along. Call it a social experiment, he thought. The Professor however, did not view this in the same light as Jack, and stood abruptly, his chair screeching against the floor, followed by a piercing cry come from down the hall.
"Well done," The Doctor said, "Now you've woken Xavier!" he turned to Rose and yawned, "I'll go" knowing she would be better at diffusing the situation.
"My apologies but I think I'm going to go and… erm… check something in my bedroom." The Professor said quickly, before scurrying out of the room. Tia immediately stood up as he left. "I should go after him." She said before heading off after him. Jack just smiled wistfully, mission accomplished he thought. But he was brought back to reality by Rose, who was fuming.
"Captain Jack Harkness tell me you didn't." she said a warning tone in her voice.
"Hey," Jack said throwing up his hands, "I swear to you I didn't. She called me up last night, sounded kinda upset. Said she wanted to go to a bar, so I took her but it was obvious she had other things on her mind than a random hook up and some booze. So we had a little heart to heart about her undying love for The Professor etcetera, then I zapped her back here and my manipulator went flat so I crashed in her room. No touching, clothes included." He noticed the still suspicious look that Rose was giving him, so he added "Rose, come on, you know me. If I really wanted to, I would've slept with Tia, and as much as I really want to I didn't, because I knew how much she liked The Professor. Convinced?"
Rose pondered for a moment, when The Doctor walked in holding Xavier. He sat in the seat next to Rose facing Jack. "Tell me you didn't," he said warningly before placing his hands over his son's ears and adding "because I won't hesitate to fucking throw you into the vortex."
"Me and Rose have just had this conversation, I didn't I swear."
"What's your verdict Lewis?" The Doctor said turning his head to Rose.
Rose pondered it for a moment, before smiling, "I believe him. He genuinely cares about Tia as a friend, and he knows that she loves The Professor."
"Thank you!" Jack exclaimed, before standing up and pulling on his leather coat. "Now doctor do you think you could zap my manipulator so I can get back to Cardiff and not cause any more family dramas?"
The doctor sighed, before pulling the sonic screwdriver out of his pyjama bottoms pocket. "You sleep with that thing?" jack asked.
"No I sleep with this thing," The doctor said, gesturing to Rose with his head and winking "The sonic just tends to come in handy someti-"
"Oi!" Rose said quickly, cutting him off and giving him a light shove, "Little ears around!" she reminded him.
"Right yes of course. I'll tell you the rest of that story when we get a chance." He said smirking.
"You'd better not." Rose warned, but she was smirking too all the same. The Doctor just kept a smug grin on his face and soniced Jack's wrist.
"Now, I don't want you larking about through space and time with this thing," The Doctor warned "You could go anywhere, twice."
"The second time to apologise." Rose added, laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jack droned "I'll be fine, drop me a call or come visit soon okay?" Jack said.
"Of course, can't have little Xavier running around without an Uncle Jack to advise him about the women of the universe can we." The Doctor said, smiling.
"Good." Jack said smiling, before zapping out. He would never tell either of them this, but it made him feel really good when Rose or The Doctor talked about Jack being there for Xavier in the future. And calling him Uncle Jack? It made him feel warm inside. Almost as if he was part of their little dysfunctional family.