The Doctor stood staring at the wiring behind the panel. What he originally thought would be an easy hack was more difficult than it first appeared. Whoever had wired the alarm knew exactly what they were doing and as he traced the wires, he realized that they would trip a second alarm if removed incorrectly. As five minutes passed, he came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to have time to break into the vault, explore and rewire the alarm before Jack got back to the hub. Slightly disappointed, he continued to study the wires, memorizing their layout so that he could work out how to correctly dismantle the alarm while he rested. Finally, he replaced the panel trying to figure out what else he could do for the next thirty-five minutes until Jack returned.
He wandered through the cells again back to the morgue, not finding anything interesting. Going up the stairs he went down to the autopsy room wandering through it. He opened and closed the cupboards, snooping before going into the small lab just off the room. Still bored, he left quickly going back to the rift computer. He flopped down with a sigh, using his finger to tilt his coffee cup. The cup was over half empty and cold. He barely liked coffee when it was hot. He considered going to make more as he glanced at the clock. He still had over twenty minutes to wait. Standing up again he picked up the cup carrying it to the kitchen.
He placed the water onto boil while he dug through the cupboard looking for something to nibble on. The cupboards were almost bare, reminding him of his TARDIS kitchen. The biggest difference being that he could always find at least a banana in his kitchen. When Jack got back he would have to ask him about dinner. In the meantime, he made himself a fresh cup of coffee, then another cup of tea drinking it as he stood in the kitchen. He finished it off with a happy slurp. Rinsing out his cup, he wondered if he would ever be allowed to drink tea again without Jack worrying he was going to relapse. That was a problem for another time, right now he was eager for the dog to arrive so that he could examine it properly. Bored once more, he went to Jack's office. Sitting down at the computer, he easily hacked it going directly to Jack's private files. No sooner had he opened the first folder when the phone on Jack's desk began to ring. Curious he picked it up.
"Hello?" The Doctor questioned.
"You couldn't behave for another twenty minutes?" Jack asked him. He wasn't surprised by the fact that the Doctor had hacked his computer. He was shocked it had taken the Doctor so long to trip one of the alarms in the hub that automatically alerted him on his cell phone that someone was hacking the system. He wondered what the Doctor had been up to the last few hours on his own and planned to check the CCTV after the Doctor went to bed that night.
"I am behaving," The Doctor answered continuing to look through the files. They weren't any more interesting than the ones that he had found on the rift computer. "I'm just bored and tired of waiting. I hate waiting."
"I know. Gwen will be there in a few minutes and I have instructed her to order pizza for dinner. I shouldn't be too long after her and then you can confirm what this dog is," Jack told him. "If you are right and it is a Nemaskylos, we can see about taking it home once you are cleared to travel again."
"I wanted to take you to see the white coral beaches of Chron first," The Doctor informed him.
"We can go both places. We can travel the entire universe together, just not tonight. Tonight we are going to identify this dog, eat pizza then go to bed," Jack replied. The Doctor rolled his eyes knowing that going to bed meant having a sore bottom again. He wasn't sure he wanted to make love to Jack tonight after the unpleasant awakening a couple hours ago. "I have to go now, I love you and I will see you soon."
"I love you too," The Doctor told him. He hung up the phone leaning back in the chair. Hearing the hub door open, he closed out of the files that he had opened and went out to greet Gwen. Ianto was with her but he ignored the Doctor as he grabbed the few items he left at the hub before going home for the day. Gwen, though, stayed with him not commenting on Ianto's behavior. They had spoken in the SUV but Ianto had become defensive. He didn't feel that Jack should have brought the Doctor to the hub, nor should he have left the Doctor alone. He was positive they would come back to find the Doctor had raided the medications in the autopsy room. The fact that the Doctor seemed fine when they entered didn't change his mind and he left before Jack had a chance to fire him. Gwen, on the other hand, didn't think that the Doctor was going to relapse. She knew how far he had come in his treatment and how close he was to being able to see the TARDIS. Jack told her about the man by the tree, but just like him, she saw it as a momentary lapse in judgement and not a major setback.
"What kind of pizza would you like?" She questioned the Doctor once they were alone in the hub. He shrugged. While he liked pizza it wasn't normally his first choice when it came to food. "Jack likes meat pizza with extra meat while I prefer the vegetarian. They also make a really good pepperoni pizza if you would like that instead."
"Vegetarian is fine," The Doctor informed her. She ordered the pizzas for them and then started on the paperwork for the capture of the dog. She had barely begun to work on it, though, when Jack pulled up to the hub. The Doctor rushed out of the hub eager to see the dog.
"Easy Doc. He may be tamed but he is still scared," Jack commented getting out of the SUV. The Doctor looked at him to see that his arm was drenched in blood around the obvious bite mark. It was only the thought that the Doctor would never forgive him for killing the creature that stopped him from putting a bullet in its head when it clamped down on his arm.
"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked in concern even as he looked for the creature.
"Fine, it has already started to heal and within a few hours will be gone," Jack told him going around to the back. He opened the trunk of the SUV to reveal the Doctor was right.
"Aren't you beautiful," The Doctor exclaimed to the Nemaskylos. His eyes followed the rope that was tied around it keeping it in the trunk. He glared briefly at Jack before stepping slowly forward. "What has the mean old Captain done to you. You don't need a rope to keep you in place do you?" He cooed stepping forward. Jack watched the Doctor come to life again as he interacted with the strange creature. He cooed at it, making it tilt its head until the Doctor was able to scratch it behind the ears. He removed the rope throwing it aside before giving the dog a command. It jumped out of the SUV sitting at the Doctor's feet. The Doctor stepped forward and the dog followed him wagging its tails.
"We're not keeping him," Jack called after him as he followed them into the hub. The Doctor glanced over his shoulder at Jack, scratching the dog's head while he did. Jack sighed, whether or not he liked it they now had a pet. The dog stayed by the Doctor's side the rest of the evening while they ate dinner. The Doctor fed it table scraps for the night but in the morning they were going to have to pick up kibble. Jack wasn't sure if it actually ate kibble, but they would at least get it a more appropriate diet. After Gwen left, Jack tried to take advantage of them being alone except the Doctor wasn't in the mood. He avoided Jack's advances curling into himself to sleep on Jack's bed. Jack held him until he was sleeping soundly, then went back up the ladder to see the Nemaskylos waiting at the top.
"Let's see what he was up to, shall we?" Jack questioned it. Its tail thumped on the floor several times before it laid its head on its paws and closed its eyes. Jack pulled up the CCTV footage watching the Doctor drink tea and wander the hub. He watched the Doctor take the panel apart for the vault but not enter it. That confused Jack even though he was thankful the Doctor had changed his mind. He just couldn't help but wonder why. He also wondered why the Doctor had acted like he didn't want the tea when he obviously was craving it. He would ask him in the morning if he wanted tea and coffee for awhile. As long as drinking tea didn't lead him to doing drugs again, he was fine with making the Doctor a cuppa. He watched the rest of the footage before going down to where his lover was still sleeping soundly. He was a handful but Jack was pleased to see the Doctor he knew and loved was back. Climbing into bed, he took the Doctor in his arms excited for what tomorrow would bring.