Pete was red faced, defending his desire to keep Rose from harm, and Jackie chimed in that her daughter was ungrateful for his protection and John wanted to crawl under the table.
He hadn't meant to start a war, he had been curious and attempting to make small talk, which he just remembered The Doctor was pretty lousy at as well.
Taking advantage of not being the centre of attention he slipped out of his seat and out the dining room door unnoticed.
The butler was standing just outside the door, clearly eavesdropping. He stood up with a start, looking at John with a guilty expression. "guess they won't be wanting dessert," he smiled winningly.
"If it's fruit on skewers or anything on a heavy plate," John gestured at the room, "I wouldn't suggest it."
"I like you," the butler laughed and his posh accent slipped as he punched John lightly on the arm, "let's say we get in a few while the toffs are finishing their row?"
Not exactly sure what the man meant but eager to get away from the still screaming Tyler family John followed the man. He was led to a small pantry off the kitchen. The butler got up on a step-ladder and reached behind two large containers, one marked sugar, the other flour and pulled out a half empty bottle of some amber liquid.
Opening the bottle the butler took a large swig of the contents, his head tipped back so far it was quite easy to see his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. Then he lowered the bottle, used a dish towel to wipe the mouth of it clean and handed it over to John.
"Get some of that in ya," he instructed.
Sniffing the contents closely John was not too keen on putting any of that into his mouth, but the butler was looking at him expectantly and he didn't want to see standoffish so he tipped some of the beverage into his mouth.
Almost instantly he choked and started coughing violently. This didn't seem to bother the other man who just patted him on the back unhelpfully, and waited until he could breath again normally before warning, "that stuff is harsh," he admitted, "but it gets the job done."
Taking the bottle back the butler took yet another large gulp of the stinging liquid, "once it numbs the throat," he rasped, "it goes down easier." He handed the bottle back.
Figuring one more go wouldn't hurt John went to take another sip but his grip on the bottle slipped and in trying to correct it wound up dumping most of the rest of the harsh drink into his mouth. He swallowed it before it could drown him and almost immediately a warm sensation, that started in the pit of his stomach, started to spread all throughout his body.
He felt relaxed to the point of being almost boneless and sat down on a sack of potatoes with a crooked grin.
The butler was smiling as well, "at least you left me a drop," he laughed, draining the rest of the bottle before fishing a tin of breath mints from his pocket,"you may want one of these," he put two of the mints in John's hand.
Then he eyed the pantry door, "think it's quieted down a bit," he winked at John, "I'm Derrick by the way," he held out his hand, "nice to meet ya."
John tried to reach up and shake his hand but his vision was so blurry he aimed for the wrong image of the man and managed to knock over a tin of sardines.
Derrick laughed at this, "I'll tell em you went for a walk or something," he waved and left John alone in the pantry.