A/N: Thanks to Jiminxx for being the 50th reviewer and using such awesome words about my story - I actually blushed!
50 reviews were kinda a big deal for me, so thanks for everyone who have reviewed so far and I hope everyone, especially all you great people who have favoured this story, will review. I'm still battling the writer's block, so I apologize in advance if the updates get slower. I know the outline of the story and how it's supposed to end, it's just hard to make it work on paper right now.
Love game
There was a weird sort of feeling in the air inside the hub. Gwen had stormed out after their meeting and Jack had locked himself in his office (but unable to spend time with his favourite limb as the Doctor had taken repossession of his severed hand). Rose was chatting mindlessly with Owen while Tosh glared daggers at them. Ianto was walking around in the hub, sometimes taking a few steps towards Jack's office before briskly walking the other way.
Gwen almost stormed in a couple of hours after the meeting, furiously wiping her eyes and avoiding eye contact.
"Gwen are you alright" Rose asked as Gwen threw herself into her seat behind her desk and started to hammer away on the keyboard.
"Yes! Fine, everything's fine" she said and wiped another tear away.
"Okay, it's just… You don't look fine."
"Well we can't all be blonde and dandy like you."
"No… No, we can't. But you're crying, so I just figured" Rose said in a somewhat uncertain voice.
"I'm just tired…"
"It's three in the afternoon" Owen supplied, ever so helpful in all matters regarding Gwen.
"Well I was here bloody early" she almost shrieked at him. It was a complete lie, though.
"Do you, um… Do you perhaps want to talk about it?" Rose was standing at arms length, worried Gwen might whack her over the head or something.
"Why would I want to talk about the fact that I'm apparently a lying, cheating whore who was nowhere to stay, because her boyfriend, sorry, ex-boyfriend, kicked her out! There's nothing to talk about, I'm fine."
"Oh… Um… Maybe you should take the rest of the day off" Rose suggested.
"And go bloody where?" Gwen yelled and stood up. "Rhys is packing all my things as we're speaking."
"Oh" Rose said, feeling a little embarrased. "You can stay with me, if you'd like?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, sure you can. I don't mind" Rose said and smiled tentatively.
Gwen nodded and started to cry again, as she flung herself at Rose in a tight embrace. Rose wasn't sure what to say or do, so she settled on patting her awkwardly on the back while Tosh and Owen looked at the scene with equally surprised expressions.
"Thanks" Gwen said as Rose handed her a cup of tea.
"It's fine."
"I'm sorry about earlier."
"It's fine" Rose repeated.
"How are you holding up, with everything?"
"I'm not" Rose replied honestly. "It's more of a numb feeling now, like it's not even happening to me, like it's some horrible dream and any second I'll wake up and the Doctor will be there and everything's fine again. So until I wake up. I'll settle for numb."
"And vodka" Gwen reminded her.
"And vodka" Rose repeated with a laugh.
"Did you and Owen…"
"No. He kissed me, though."
"Did you mind?"
"No it was quite nice, actually. Bit surprising. And wet."
"Wet?"
"I cried."
"Oh…"
"How about you and Jack, did you…" Rose made a gesture with her hands.
"Yes" Gwen sighed.
"Did you mind?"
"No it was quite nice, actually. And wet…"
Rose laughed. "I'm sorry about Rhys."
"Why bother, it's my own fault for sleeping with Owen and Jack. Can't even blame him for tossing me out."
"No, but still... Do you love him? Rhys, I mean."
"I do, I really do. No one ever put up with all my shit like Rhys did. And he was safe, safe to come home to and safe to love."
"Not like Owen or Jack."
"Or the Doctor."
"Yeah definitely him too" Rose said and sipped her tea. She has briefly thought of spiking it with something, but she was still somewhat hungover from their night of drunken debauchery and thought it best not to, given the circumstances.
"Why is it that we are so attracted to these men who are apparently quite incapable of returning or feelings?"
"Because we're sad sad people" Rose answered.
"Ianto, are you sure you translated this correct" Jack asked and held up a paper.
"Yes, why?"
"The Ambassador wants back his disco stick?"
"That's what he said."
"What the hell is a disco stick?"
"Maybe it's like a rhythm stick, only disco?"
Jack looked at the alien symbols on the page. "Maybe it's like his ruling stick, to rule with?"
"Yes it could be that as well" Ianto said in a rather embarrassed voice.
"Yes, let's go with that, shall we…"
"So you and Gwen?"
"Me and Gwen what" Jack asked, not bothering to look up from the paper.
"Are you….?"
"Are we what, Ianto?" Jack finally looked up. "If you want to know something, just ask. I'm not in the mood for games."
"Well, it's just that Tosh mentioned something… About the two of you leaving together the other night."
"So? You made it pretty clear that we're over. I think the words you used were "this is to much.""
"So you and Gwen are together?"
"No."
"No?"
"No. She's with Rhys and I'm me…"
"Oh. Good" Ianto said and loosened his tie before closing the door to the office.
Martha Jones was beyond frustrated. She knew that the Doctor was hung up on Rose but this was just unbelievable! She had tried pretty much anything to get the Doctor's attention (including a nightly, very well-scheduled walk to the kitchen in nothing but her underwear), but nothing seemed to work (he hadn't even looked at her breasts).
"I'm sick of this" she exclaimed when she and Donna sat down at the kitchen table. "We haven't been outside the TARDIS in days and all the Doctor do is mope around in the library. He doesn't pay any attention to us!"
"Martha, he mourning!"
"I'm aware and I feel bad for him, I really do, but this has gone one long enough."
Donna rolled her eyes. "Martha, I like you, so I'm just gonna be blunt: he will never ever feel the same for you! He loves Rose, he truly and honestly loves Rose with both his hearts and nothing is going to change that. Certainly not a purple lacy bra!"
"How did you know about that?"
"Please, it was so obvious! And did you never wonder why Jenny looked the way she did?"
"What do you mean? She was an imprint, she just was…"
"Martha, use the illogical part of your brain, just for a second, please! It didn't occur to you that Jenny didn't look like the Doctor at all?"
"She was stick thin" Martha intervened.
"Alright, so they're both a piece of paper in the wind, but she looked like Rose! She was even blond!"
"She wasn't Rose's daughter or anything like that, she was barely the Doctor's daughter."
"She had two hearts!"
"And we both have one heart, it doesn't really make us related, Donna. I'm sorry that Jenny died, I really am, but the Doctor chose to leave Rose behind. That means something."
"It means he's scared! He's scared to love Rose because it will end in tears."
"Why?"
There was obviously many things the Doctor hadn't shared with Martha, Donna was now realizing. "Just give it up. Don't make this some twisted love game between you and Rose."
"Do you want to go out?"
"No" Rose said in a tone indicating that was pretty obvious. "Do you?"
"No!"
"We'll stay in then?"
"Yeah" Gwen answered. They were lying on Rose's kitchen floor (Rose had tripped over herself, taking Gwen with her in the fall and neither made any attempt to get up).
"Is this weird?"
"Yes."
"Figured… So, you and Jack, huh?"
"Yeah, me and Jack."
"Was it nice, honestly? I mean, it's Jack… You sorta get the idea that…"
"It was nice. Very nice, actually."
"Thought as much. Better than Rhys?"
"Different. How about you?"
"I wouldn't know, haven't slept with either of them" Rose laughed.
"Cow! I meant the Doctor."
"I don't know, it was weird, I suppose…"
"Weird?" Gwen turned her head to look at Rose. "I don't think sex is meant to be weird."
"Well, you slept with Jack, so no judging! I don't know, it wasn't like it was with Mickey or the others…"
"Oh, have there been many?"
"Coming from the office tart I find that very hypocritical."
"Oh ha ha."
"He's telepathtic."
"Who?"
"The Doctor."
"He is?"
Rose suddenly realized Gwen still believed the Doctor was human like them. "I might have forgotten to mention that he's sort of also an alien."
"Seriously?"
"Time Lord."
"Sounds fancy. Good on you, not wasting your time with a Time Peasant. Go right after the top of the food chain."
"His race is called Time Lords. He's the last."
"Did he kill the others?" Gwen laughed at her own joke, or attempt thereof.
"Sort of, yeah." At Gwen's concerned look Rose just mumbled that it was a long story. "It was good, nice, bit weird but nice. Wouldn't mind doing it again." They lay in silence for a while. "I really am sorry about Rhys."
"Yeah well, at least I still have Jack, right?"
"Yeah" Rose just agreed, not feeling as sure as Gwen sounded.
Complete filler-chapter, I know. There'll be some actual plot in the next, promise and pinky-swear