Rose knew her grip on John's hand had to be bordering on painful as they stood in the train station, waiting for Jackie to disembark.
"It's going to be fine, Rose," he said, knocking their joined hands against his leg.
"You can't know that."
"One of us has got to be optimistic! Plus it's only a couple of days, what could po-"
Rose cut him off with a glare. "Don't you dare jinx it, John Noble."
"I wouldn't dare."
She looked up at him, worried expression fading into a smile. "Thanks again for going along with this. I really appreciate it."
"Believe me, it is my absolute pleasure," he replied, returning her smile.
"Think you two can stop being all lovey-dovey for a few seconds and give me a proper hello?" Jackie's voice made them both jump.
Rose dropped John's hand and went to go hug her mum. She really had missed her loads since she moved.
"S'good to see you, Mum," she said, pulling back but leaving her hands on Jackie's shoulders. "You're looking good. Howard must be treating you well."
"Sent me up here to see you, didn't he?" she retorted, grinning at her daughter.
Rose laughed. "He did."
Jackie looked over Rose's shoulder, gaze locking on John who was standing there with his hands in the pockets of the brown pinstriped suit he'd put on for the occasion. She ran a critical eye over him, taking in everything from his messy hair down the plimsolls he insisted went with his suit.
"This himself, I take it?" she asked Rose.
Rose couldn't help the fact that her smile widened. Despite the circumstances and the lies, she was really excited to introduce her mum to one of her favorite people. "Yeah. This is John."
She stepped back and reached for John's hand, twining their fingers together. "John, this is my mum."
"It's lovely to meet you Mrs. Tyler. I've heard wonderful things about you."
"Flatterer," Jackie shot back but Rose could hear the smile in the single word. "But you're apparently making my little girl happy so I suppose that's alright."
"I try my best."
"You better.," she warned before turning her gaze back towards her daughter. "Now, Rose, love, I want to see your flat. I'm sure the video I've seen doesn't do it justice."
"The video really doesn't lie, Mum. It'll probably just look smaller in person."
"Still want to see it."
"Of course, Mum," Rose said. "John drove, so we don't even have to catch a cab."
"Right, forgot you had a car. Cheers, cabs are murder when you're travelling with luggage."
"Rose told you about my car?" John asked, shooting a questioning look at Rose. She just raised her eyebrows at him.
"Tells me almost everything, now doesn't she."
"Right, of course. Can I get your bag, Mrs. Tyler?" John asked, dropping Rose's hand and reaching towards Jackie's suitcase.
"Yeah, alright. And call me Jackie. No need to be all formal with me."
He snagged the handle of the suitcase and gestured in front of him. "After you, ladies."
Rose flashed a grateful smile at him and then turned her attention to Jackie. "So, tell me how things are going with Howard. And how's Bev doing?"
She listened to her mum go on about her friend and boyfriend as they walked out to the car park and tried to ignore the fact that what she really wanted to was to linger behind and slip her hand back into John's.
The ride in the car felt much longer than necessary. Rose was in the backseat on her own, having given the front passenger seat to Jackie. Her mum had asked John about his work so he was rambling excitedly about what he was doing in the lab currently, gesturing with one hand as did. Rose couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. Her mum was completely lost but was nodding along anyways.
"Is he always like this?" Jackie asked, craning her neck to look at Rose when John stopped for a breath.
Rose's smile grew. "Yeah."
"Could talk someone's ear off," she said as she turned back around in her seat.
"You're one to talk," Rose teased. "I've heard you on the phone with Bev."
Jackie huffed but Rose could see a smile tugging on her mouth.
"So are you working this weekend?" she asked John.
"Well actually," he started to say.
Rose scrambled to interrupt him knowing he was about to tell Jackie the truth that he had a long weekend and lose his only escape route for if he needed to get away for a bit. "Actually, he's on call this weekend for if something goes wrong at the lab."
She reached over the seat and squeezed his shoulder, silently promising to explain later and hoping he understood.
"Yup! On call all weekend," he said, voice pitched higher than normal in the way it did when he was hiding something. "Hopefully they don't need me though."
John pulled up to their building and into the first parking space he found. "This is us. You can leave your luggage in the boot if you want and I can drive you to your hotel later."
Jackie sized him up again. "I think you found yourself a keeper, Rose," she said after a moment. "That'd be lovely, John," she continued over Rose's embarrassed groan. "I really hate taking cabs."
They headed into the building and took the lift up to Rose and John's floor, mostly quiet. Rose was fidgeting, picking at her nails as she watched the numbers tick up, until John reached over and took one of her hands. Their fingers twined together like they'd done this a million times and Rose's heart jumped when he ran his thumb across her skin in a soothing rhythm.
She stepped closer to him and shot him a grateful smile. She might not get through this weekend with her heart completely intact but at least she had John for right now.
The doors slid open on the fifth floor and they filed out.
"That's John's flat," Rose said as they passed the door for 5C. They stopped in front of 5G and Rose dropped John's hand to dig in her bag for her key. "And this is me."
She led them all inside before closing and locking the door behind them.
"Oh look at all the light you get in here! Much brighter than our flat," Jackie exclaimed.
"Big reason why I picked this place," Rose said with a laugh. "Can actually see what I'm painting when I work here. The gallery lets me stay afterhours and paint in one of the workrooms, though, so I don't paint in here as often as I'd like."
Rose saw John open his mouth and then close it after looking at Jackie, obviously filing whatever question he had for when they were on their own.
"And look at these!" Jackie cooed, standing in front of the two canvases hanging behind the sofa. "I haven't seen these. New work?"
"Finished them a few months ago," Rose said, moving to stand next to her mum. "I'm thinking about making a series of them, actually."
"Well, you know I could use something new for the living room back home," she said.
Rose slung her arm around Jackie's shoulder. "I'll bring something when I come visit at Christmas," she promised.
Jackie looked around for a bit longer, walking through the kitchen and poked her head into the bedroom before excusing herself to go to the loo.
Rose exhaled loudly and looked over at John who was looking a bit lost as he stood in front of the sofa, studying her paintings. She tried to think of what he might see. They were flowers, bright and bold with a single bloom taking up the entire canvas. John had complimented them when he'd seen them the first time so she didn't know what was catching his attention now.
"You alright?" she asked, moving to stand next to him. She slid an arm around his waist so she could lean against him and sighed quietly when he draped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer.
"I didn't know you painted these," he admitted, voice quiet and a almost forlorn.
Rose looked up at him, confusion wrinkling her brow. "You told me how much you liked them right after I hung them."
"But I didn't know that you were the artist."
"Did I not tell you?"
"Rose, you've never told me you were an artist at all."
She pulled away and stepped in front of him so she could see his face. He looked a little hurt and confused. "I had to have. You know I work down at the gallery."
"Yes, of course. I know you love art, I just didn't know you also created it." He ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the ends a bit.. "How did I not know this?"
She shrugged and opened her mouth to answer but then she heard the toilet flush and water start running in the sink. "Can we talk about it tonight?" she asked, taking his hand again.
"Yeah."
Rose wrapped her arms around him, drawing him into a hug that she hoped doubled as an apology. He hesitated for half a second before returning the hug.
Jackie walked in to the sight of them wrapped around each other. Rose had her eyes closed as she rested her cheek on his chest and John's mouth was pressed to the crown of Rose's head in an extended, barely-there kiss.
She smiled. The man was obviously as in love with her daughter as she was with him and she was just so happy to see Rose happy.
"Alright you two," she said, making them both jump and disentangle from one another, "I'm knackered. If you'll get me to the hotel, I'll leave you to the rest of your evening."
Rose knew she was blushing, she knew it, but there wasn't anything she could do about it or the suggestive tilt of her mum's cocked eyebrow.
"Yeah, we'll drive you over. It's not far," Rose said.
They all bundled back into John's car and drove the ten minutes to the hotel with the radio making the majority of the noise.
"I'll come over tomorrow morning," Jackie said once John had unloaded her suitcase and they were all standing on the curb. "Don't worry about picking me up or any of that nonsense."
Rose hugged her tight. "I'm glad you're here, Mum."
"Me too, sweetheart. I'll see you tomorrow."
Jackie headed into the hotel to check in and Rose and John climbed back into his little blue car. The silence on the way home was too thick for some pop song to comfortably cut through. Once they were in their hallway Rose broke the silence.
"Do you want to talk at yours or mine?" She paused then offered, "I have wine in the fridge."
He nodded sharply. "Yours, then."
Rose quickly unlocked the door and made a beeline for the kitchen where she poured two glasses of the white she'd opened the previous night. When she came back out, John was staring at the paintings again.
"Why didn't you ever tell me that you're an artist?" John asked quietly, accepting the glass of wine she offered and taking a large sip.
"I honestly thought that I had," she admitted.
He tore his eyes away from the paintings to look at her. "You're my best friend, Rose, and I didn't know."
Rose bit her lip. "I didn't mean to keep it from you. I guess I'm just used to everyone knowing because people did back home. I don't really talk about it that much because," she shrugged a shoulder, "well, because it's not like I'm some big name artist. I've had one piece make it into a gallery show and it was a gallery I worked at."
"But it's still something you love."
"Yeah, it is."
He tugged her closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "You're extremely talented, Rose."
She turned her face into his shoulder instead of answering.
"I mean it!"
"I know you do." She squeezed him in a half hug before pulling back. "Do you want to sit?"
He nodded and they settled on the couch, Rose stretching out and tucking her toes under John's thigh.
This was a normal, every day occurrence.
Except it wasn't. It just felt like one. Rose was positive that now that she had a taste of just casually touching John, more than what she could justify as a friend, she was never going to be able to go back to how they were.
"So, how long have you been painting?" he asked, eager now to know more about her art.
They talked through their glasses of wine and a refill, moving closer together on the sofa as they did so.
"So why did you tell Jackie that I was on call this weekend? You know I'm completely at loose ends," John said, eyebrows drawing together in confusion.
"Oh, I just wanted you to have an out in case you got tired of hanging out with me and my mum. Work's always a good excuse for that," Rose explained.
He grinned at her, all bright and sappy and a bit tipsy. "Oooh, I doubt I'll ever get tired of hanging out with you, Rose Tyler."
Rose's heart was pounding and she grinned right back at him. He was so close and his eyes were sparkling and all she wanted to do was lean up and kiss that smile off his face and see what happened from there. Tonight had been wonderful and she thought maybe, maybe…
He blinked and pulled away before she could decide.. "We should probably go to bed. Sleep, I mean. I should leave so we can both get some sleep."
Rose giggled. "Alright. Thanks again for doing all of this, John."
"It is my genuine pleasure." He said, popping up to his feet and stuffing his hands in the pockets of his suit trousers
"Need me to walk you back to your flat," Rose asked, shooting him her tongue-in-teeth smile.
His cheeks pinkened and she was delighted at the way he seemed to get even antsier at the thought of what had happened when he walked her back earlier that evening.
"Umm, I'm fine I think. No need for you to get up, I'll just… go." He headed towards the door and then paused with his hand on the doorknob. He smiled back at her. "Goodnight, Rose."
"Goodnight, John."
Rose flopped back on the sofa with a sigh as soon as the door clicked closed, the moment where she could have kissed him playing on repeat in her mind, taunting her with all the what-ifs. She groaned, throwing her arm over her eyes. John didn't want that with her and she needed to remember that he was just playing the part she'd given him for the weekend with the same enthusiasm that he did everything..
Two more days and they would be back to being the just the best of friends and Rose could work on piecing her world back together once that happened.
