Chapter 4.
John's eyes fluttered open when the sound of pots and pans hit his ear drums. He can faintly hear groggy voices and laughter but he can't tell who it is or where he is. He sits up slowly as the smell of eggs and bacon hit his noise. John groans and holds a hand to his forehead.
"Look, he decided to get up" he hears Amy announce happily. He hears more laughter and looks over to see Amy and Jack in the kitchen with Rory. They are smiling and dancing as they cook and now he can hear the soft pop music that Amy must have picked out. He hears a soft mumble and looks over to see Rose sleeping with a smile on her face.
Her hair is fanning around her head in a golden halo and her pinks lips are curved into a gentle smile that is just begging to be kissed. Her makeup must have been washed off and John can only think of how beautiful she looks with clear skin. She is so beautiful that he almost didn't notice the small form with brunette hair lying mostly on top of his Rose. He half smiles before pulling himself off the couch and stumbling into the kitchen.
"What the hell happened last night?" John asks as he leans on the counter in the kitchen. "And why is Clara sleeping on top of Rose?"
"They were really cuddly last night" Amy giggles "You were asleep the second we got in the cab though"
"Oh" John sighs
"Rose was running her fingers through your hair" Jack announces as he piles some fresh cooked bacon onto a plate and passes it to Rory.
"Really?" John grinned and ran his own fingers through his bed head crazy hair.
"Yep" Jack said plopping eggs onto another plate and passing it to Amy. Amy and Rory dropped the plates onto the table beside a thing of coffee.
"I'm going to be sick" John groaned
"I stole these from your house" Jack said tossing a bottle of pills to John. The bottle was a little plastic one for prescriptions with a few purple pills inside.
"You stole my hangover pills?" John frowned "I made these"
"But you only get drunk with me" Jack grinned and handed his best friend a glass of water.
"Thanks" John mumbled before taking one of the purple pills.
"Wanna go wake up the girls?" Amy asks.
"No!" Jack grabs John as he turns around. "We need to prepare you"
"What?" John and Amy ask. Rory has decided that food is much more important and has begun serving food for himself and Amy. Amy grins at her boyfriend and sits beside him.
"You like the blonde and blondey likes you, I wanna help" Jack sits opposite Amy and John reluctantly takes the seat beside his friend.
"I don't need help" even John knew that was a lie. He is horrible with feelings and girls. Jack, on the other hand, is a genius with girls and guys. Of course John would never admit that he thinks Jack is a genius, guy's ego is big enough.
"You called her your sweet Wolf" Jack said, failing to hide his grin.
"Maybe a small bit of help" John admitted softly
"Okay, don't tell her about the crazy world of aliens you made up, 'cause she will ask" Jack said
"Oh no…." John chuckled sadly and buried his face in his hands. "You let me drink too much!"
"Hey, we all drank too much" Amy said, pouring a puddle of syrup onto her pancakes and bacon.
"Why would you do that?" Jack asked with a horrified expression directed at Amelia's food.
"What?" Amy asked, digging her fork into her pancakes.
"How can you taste anything with that much syrup on it?"
"I can taste the syrup"
Jack didn't even bother to respond, just gave her a disgusted face and looked back to John.
"It just makes the food as sweet as her" Rory said with a puppy dog look aimed at his fiancé.
"Idiot" Amy said but kissed his cheek anyway, leaving a bit of syrup behind. The couple both continued eating, Jack plucking a piece of bacon from the plate and munching it.
"I'm not going to pretend to be someone else" John announced, moving his food around on his plate.
"Of course not!" Jack grinned "Just don't be stupid is all"
"Right" John nodded with a slight smile.
"And nobody thought to wake us up?" Rose asked, wondering into the dining room with a yawing Clara under her arm.
"You two just looked so cute, we couldn't wake you" Jack informed them with a grin. Rose rolled her eyes and led Clara to the empty chairs at the other end of the table beside Rory and John-across from each other.
"Everything smells so yummy!" Clara said, her voice still thick with sleep. She smiled softly as Amy served her some food and slid the plate in front of her. Clara wasn't even paying attention to anyone anymore, just pilling bite after bite into her mouth.
"Someone's hungry" Jack chuckled but Clara made no effort to respond, not even glancing away from her meal.
"What's so interesting that you guys couldn't stop talking about to wake us up?" Rose asked, picking a strip of bacon of the plate.
"Nothing!" John said, wide eyed and blushing
"Sounds like something to me, but okay" Rose shrugged and took a bite of her breakfast.
"Why didn't you invite River before she left?" Amy asked.
"She didn't want to, would rather pack" Jack grumbled
"Aw, jealous of her suitcase?" Amy giggled
"No, just…quiet Amelia" Jack mumbled half heartedly before shoving away from the table. "I have to get to the school"
"It's Saturday!" Amy replied as Jack grabbed his coat.
"So?"
"You're going to River's, aren't you?" Rose grinned, tongue poking out from between her teeth
"Lock up when you leave!" Jack called as the door closed behind him.
"Wanna go see what's hidden in Jack's closet?" Amy asked her fiancé.
Rory's eyes bulged out of his head and his cheeks flushed a deep pink. He almost choked on his food before gulping down water like a man lost in the desert. He shoved his plate to the middle of the table and glared at the ginger woman. "No"
"Why?"
"He's Jack bloody Harkness!" Rory cried "who knows what could be back there!?"
"You sound terrified" Amy rolled her eyes "What do you expect to find? A giant head in a jar?" she pushed away from the table and scoffed when the blonde nodded like a scared child.
"Rose?" Amy asked
"No thanks" Rose half laughed
"Suit yourselfs" Amy sighed before wondering down the hall.
"And they never saw her again" John mumbled, Rose giggled and Rose looked terrified at the thought.
"Why are you so scared of Jack?" Rose asked
"He set himself on fire to get some guys number, who knows what he would do to keep one around" Rory shuddered "He could have a sex robot"
Rose huffed out a laugh and almost knocked a plate off the table. "Yes, Jack is hiding a sex robot when he has River"
"Well, he hasn't always had River" Rory countered
"Ya, but he is gorgeous, he could have anyone!" Rose added. John's jaw twitched at Rose's description of his friend but made no comment.
"Not Amy" Rory frowned
"Okay, ya, certainly not Amy, but anyone else" Rose smiled warmly. "Should we go or, watch a movie or something?"
"Let's go to that cute book slash coffee place on third" Amy said, walking into the room again
"Anything worth mentioning?" Rose asked
"Nothing I didn't already knew he had" Amy sighed "Sucks having a friends who is so open about himself that I can't find anything interesting in his room"
"I love that place on third" Rory chimed in
"Great, get cleaned up and let's go"
John decided to take a shower so Amy took the others to the place on third. He said he would catch up later.
The place on third was called 'Torchwood' and was a tiny old book store with a not very popular coffee shop inside. The outside was plain and average, like it was trying too hard to blend into a normal town; but the inside was beautiful. Bookshelves lined every wall and were so high that there were a few ladders that rolled along the shelves. Posters about books, movies and a few that should not be hung in public were hanging on what little wall space they had left. Bean bags and a worn down couch were stuffed around the area in front of the shelves and beside the coffee stained counter.
The counter was stained with coffee cup rings and crushed beans, an old cloth used to clean it lying on the end. A few dirty bar stools sat in front of the counter and a couple dishes sat in a pile waiting to be cleaned up and glinting dreamily in the dimly lit space. It wasn't dim enough that someone would have trouble reading but enough to make it feel cozy and like a dorm room perhaps. The coffee machines and flavors and such were stacked on a splintering wooden shelf behind the counter, obviously used and probably in need of replacing. There was a door on the far wall behind the counter with the words 'Employees only' stamped across it in slanted black lettering.
A young woman with straight dark brown hair and warm brown eyes smiled-a gap between her front teeth- as the group walked in. she introduced herself as Gwen Cooper, owner of the shop since Jack (Who knew he worked here? long story according to Amy) left. The back door swung open and a man in a leather jacket and faded jeans swaggered in with a grin. He was introduced as Owen Harper, not to be taken seriously ever as Gwen said. Gwen explained that Tosh was another young woman who worked with them but was on leave due to illness. The last in the group of coworkers was a man named Ianto Jones, coffee extraordinaire and ex-lover of one Jack Harkness.
Gwen made Amy a latte of some sort before the ginger was led into the depth of the store by Rory. Rose took a seat on one of the beaten old bar stools and decided to get to know these people and find out why Jack left.
"Owen!" Gwen barked as the man shot whipped cream into his mouth. He glared at her and rolled his eyes but placed the can back on the shelf.
"If Jack's a teacher why'd he work here?" Rose asked, Ianto hopping around the small area to make something Rose didn't even order. They all say he can just know what someone will love without having to hear them speak, it's a gift.
"He wasn't always a teacher, why do you think he teaches sex ed instead of science of something?" Gwen said, leaning against the counter.
"I thought it was because he wanted a class where it was okay to make innuendos until he's blue in the face" Rose smiled, tongue between her teeth, Owen snickered.
"That's one of the reasons" the man said before Gwen glared at him and he vanished in the back.
"What's the other reason?"
"Why don't you ask Jack?" Gwen asked nervously
"Just tell her, you know you want to" Ianto said as he poured something light brown and frothy into a cup before dropping behind the counter for something.
Gwen sighed and bit her lip guiltily before nodding. "Okay, Jack and Ianto open this place like eight years ago" Gwen explained. "They were young and in love and Jack loved books and Ianto loves coffee, perfect idea until River Song stumbled into Jack's life along with his need for adventure"
"Adventure?" Jack has told many stories over the short time Rose has known him, but he never actually mentioned where they took place, guess traveling around all the time never crossed her mind.
"Jack had never lived in one place for more than a few months before he met Ianto" Gwen continued "And Ianto knew that Jack wasn't going to be able to stay here long either, he thought the shop would convince Jack to stay but it didn't work"
"And River?"
"She was an archeologist, who traveled the world on a monthly basis, plus she was smoking hot and witty; how could Jack say no?" Gwen sighed and Rose heard Ianto grumble something under his breath.
"Jack tried to stay with Ianto because he did truly love him but in the end Ianto let him go, let the crazy man travel and possibly fall for someone else"
"Oh" Rose picked at her nails awkwardly.
"He came back of course, River does live here after all" Gwen went on "and Jack got a quick degree in sex ed so he could teach for only half the year and travel with River the rest."
Rose wasn't sure how to respond to that story. On one hand, a man's heart was broken because Jack couldn't keep still but on the other hand, River and Jack are so perfect together. River loves adventure and always has a witty remark up her sleeve, they can be flirty or so sweet you feel sick, it's like you look at them and their lives and think that maybe true love does exist. But how can you say that in front of the man who was left behind?
"its okay, Rose," Ianto said with a smile. "Been over Jack for awhile now" he placed a mug in front of her and stepped back to see her response. Rose smiled warmly at the well dressed man before bringing the drink to her lips. It was warm and creamy, sliding smoothly down her throat and leaving behind a gentle taste of raspberry and that strong taste of Columbian beans.
"Holy shit, Ianto!" Rose grinned "You could make a fortune for predicting and making things like this!"
The man blushed and said something about not needing the money before taking the dished into the back. Rose sipped her drink happily as Gwen talked about her husband, Rhys, and there new born son.
"You seem to have the perfect little life, Gwen" Rose smiled, her hands wrapped around the warm mug and a content smile on her lips.
"You could say that, it's a sweet little thing" Gwen smiled shyly before frowning as Owen stumbled out the door.
"Fuck off!" he barked backwards, obviously meant for Ianto.
"What now?" Gwen sighed
"He was sleeping again!" Ianto called over the sound of running water.
"Owen, go make sure the books are neat" Gwen shooed him away.
"Can't I leave?" he whined but obeyed the woman in charge and trudged into the sea of books.
Rose could hear Amy giggling and the tumbling of people falling over, it made her smile. She already had such amazing friends and she already loves them so much even if she has only known them for a matter of days. Sometimes people just click, maybe it's because they need something to hang onto, maybe it's because the universe just wants it that way, Rose doesn't really know or care why, and she just wants it to stay this way. She had never had too many friends growing up in a tiny flat with her mom. She had Mickey but things got complicated when he fell in love with her and she ran away with her friend instead. His name was Chris and they were closer than normal friends but nothing ever happened, and then he died. That's why Rose went back to school and became a teacher, she needed a new start or she would go crazy with grief.
"Know you what, Rose?" Gwen spoke again "I think you're going to be one of us for a long time" the two grinned at each other before Gwen squeezed her hand and vanished in the back room. Rose smiled at her coffee before sipping it, warmth spreading through her body and making her feel happier then she has in a long time.