Ch 27
As they pulled into the drive of Pete's estate Rose finally let up on the door handle. She should have known, she chided herself as she tried to get her heart back into a more normal rhyme that when John had said 'pilot' he would treat her little coupé more like an aircraft than an auto mobile.
She had never had it up to those speeds and certainly never managed to get it to corner on only one set of wheels and up until now she didn't even know it would go that fast.
Luckily, she opened the door and put her feet out, grateful for the still ground she was now resting on, they hadn't encountered any police on their trip back, not that they would have been able to catch them.
John jumped out of the car as soon as he parked it, handing the keys to Rose before giving the car an affectionate pat, "that was fun!" he declared with a wide smile, "not nearly as challenging as steering around a black hole or a supernova but it was definitely enjoyable!"
"Next time," Rose took a deep breath, before continuing, "we'll work on obeying the traffic laws. There are such things as speed limits."
"Were there?" John looked down the drive towards the road, "I didn't see any signs."
"I don't doubt that," she smoothed her hair down, sure it was still sticking straight up from fright, "at the rate we were going you wouldn't see a ruddy great whale if it was hitching a ride."
John looked back at her, "do whales typically do that?" he asked perplexed.
Rose was about to explain the concept of sarcasm to John when Jackie came stomping down the drive, "there you are!" she poked a finger at Rose, "I thought we were going shopping today? You promised me you'd go with me to the sales!"
"I'm sure they're not all sold out this early, if you want we can..." Rose started, then turning to ask John if he wanted to go, found he was no where to be seen. "Where'd he go?" she murmured to herself.
"Who cares?" Jackie bellowed, "sales, now!" and yanking the car door open she plopped herself down in the passenger seat arms folded.
John had, courtesy of his borrowed memories, images of swift hunting and dangerous creatures. The Cryust, and their unfortunate habit of devouring their foes whilst still alive came leaping to mind when he heard Jackie suggest, no demand, to go shopping. Obeying his, admittedly underdeveloped, sense of self preservation, he high-tailed it out of there before he could get dragged along.
Besides, he reasoned, he had a lot to think about. He smiled as he carefully removed the thick file folder from underneath this shirt. The warning, "do not remove, property of Torchwood," emblazoned on the cover, in bright red made him laugh once with derision. He had expected a security tag or at the very least to be scanned as he left the building so just waltzing out of there with the file containing his medical exam results was almost too easy.
Maybe Pete wanted him to take it?
After all when they sat down at the table and Pete dove into his food he set the folder down and never once looked for it. He had thought at the time that the other man was just being careless, but Pete was not to be underestimated. Rethinking it now, it seemed blindingly obvious he was set up to take it, perhaps for his own safety.
Either way, he had a lot of questions and the quick skim of the results while the wound-up little man bounced around him like a terrier on energy drinks hadn't even begun to answer them.
He looked up at the house, trying to convince himself a quiet read in the bedroom he had been assigned would be the best place to study the contents of the folder. But as it loomed over him he decided, instead, that the quiet garden he had fled to in his previous attack of terror and panic would be a better spot. More isolated, and less likely to be interrupted.
Unless of course, he grinned remembering the Koi pond and the activities that led to before, Rose decided to join him.