Ch 25

Rob spoke up, the glitter in his eyes turned up to almost a maniacal gleam, "you are a very unique creature," he moistened his lips with his tongue, "we have, of course, heard of the legend of Time Lords, but of course never had one in for examination. You are a fascinating blend of that exotic breed with just a dash of humanity thrown it. Pete said you were told you were a human with a Time Lord brain, but you are more than that..." he swallowed dryly before wetting his lips once more, "you have little quirks in your biology, things that are definitely not human and one could spend a life time studying you."

John backed away, not taking his eyes from the clearly overexcited man, "I don't relish being a lab rat," he shook his head.

"No, of course not," Rob tried to reassure him but he wasn't very convincing, "normally under these circumstances we'd keep you here until we could finish our exploration..." he glanced meaningfully at Pete, "but under the circumstances, if you could be so kind to agree to come in for periodic check ups instead..." he offered hopefully.

John reckoned he'd rather eat broken glass or tongue kiss The Master first, but as this overheated scrap of a man was between him and the doorway he just settled for a non-committal "we'll see."

Pete couldn't see the mad twinkle in his employee's eyes, so he didn't quite understand what had John so discomfited, "well," he clapped a fatherly hand on John's shoulder, "I think lunch and a ride home for you are in order."

Rob looked crestfallen, clearly wishing he could keep John, study him, perhaps even dissect this unique specimen, but he stepped out of the way and let him pass. He had almost allowed himself to believe he would be able to keep and pour over the findings when Pete stepped back into the room and held his hand out, "I'll take that as well," he snapped his fingers as Rob reluctantly handed over the folder.

Pete insisted on eating in the employee cafeteria everyday to "mingle with the little people" as Jackie would say. He felt it helped him seem more accessible and more of them than the head of Torchwood. It made it easier for his employees to approach him with concerns or report irregularities and most importantly it kept him from getting too big headed.

He smiled as several women and a few men spun around to watch the two of them enter the room. He knew that the admiring glances were not aimed at him, he held no illusion that he was anything more than average. It was rather the tall trim man at his side who was garnering these looks.

And the best part was that John was completely unaware of this going on. He was instead still apparently deep in thought about the test results.

Waiting until they both had a tray of the regulation lunch, today being fish and chips with a side of mushy peas and had found a quiet corner Pete spoke up, "you have questions," he prompted.

John left off picking at his food, "I do, but I'm not sure you can answer them."

Pete nodded at that and took a bite of the fish, "I used to get fish and chips wrapped in a newspaper when I was a lad," he sighed, "they don't taste the same like this."

Not exactly sure what he was meant to say at that John stayed silent.

Pete was about to attempt another try at conversation when Rose burst into the cafeteria, she swooped down on John, practically yanking him to his feet and tried to drag him out the door.

"Hello, love," Pete smiled up at her.

"I'm taking him home," Rose scowled at her stepfather.

"He hasn't finished his lunch!" Pete argued gesturing at the mostly untouched tray.

"I'm not really hungry anyway," John offered as Rose tugged at his hand.

"Better learn to stand up to her," Pete picked up a chip and popped it in his mouth, "or she'll turn into Jackie junior," he advised as Rose practically dragged John out of the room.