Rose and Jason ate their breakfast in relative silence around his small kitchen table. Just as they were finishing up and clearing the table, Jason broke the silence.

"So, I take it you must be in Manchester for vacation?" She wondered how he knew that, when he glanced over to the entry table at the pile of soggy tourism brochures hanging out of Rose's bag.

"Yeah, you could say that." Rose answered. "I guess I'm a bit of a workaholic and I was asked to take some time off before the Board of Directors forced me to do it."

"I see." He looked surprised and Rose looked at him quizzically. "Huh. I guess I expected you to be some fancy heiress who lived off Daddy's money. So I take it you work for Vitex?"

"Actually, I work for Torchwood."

"Oh! Really? And what do you do for Torchwood?"

"I'm a field agent. My team and I are the first to respond in all extraterrestrial matters."

Jason's gaze shifted to something of respect and awe. "I'm impressed, Rose Tyler. You're obviously tougher than you look."

You have no idea, Rose thought to herself. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm pretty tough too. Don't let this daft old face fool you."

"You think you're so impressive," Rose answered, holding her breath to see how he would respond.

"I AM so impressive!" he responded and Rose felt a warmth fill her heart that she hadn't felt in a long time. "I'll have you know that I'm a brilliant professor at the University of Manchester."

"A professor? What do you teach?" Rose's husband had often considered becoming a university professor. He could have taught practically any subject he wanted to, but Torchwood kept them so busy that he never had the chance to pursue it.

"Teach a little bit of everything, me. I don't like to stay on one subject for too long or it gets boring, even for me. I can teach physics, advanced mathematics, astronomy, linguistics, history, anthropology, and even a little medicine, just to name a few…" he boasted.

"Just to name a few? What, no art or music?" Rose couldn't help but smile at his self-stroking ego.

"I've got to leave something for those other stuffy academics to teach," he laughed, crossed his arms and leaned against the wall in his trademark stance.

Jason and Rose studied each other for a moment, clearly sizing each other up and deciding where they wanted to take this new relationship, if you could call it that.

"So, what made you choose to visit Manchester, then? It's not usually high on the tourism list unless you're a footie fan or history buff interested in the industrial revolution."

"A close friend recommended Manchester. I was looking to go somewhere I've never been before," Rose explained. "I guess you could say that I wanted to find a place where I wasn't haunted by memories."

"Then you've come to right place!" Jason exclaimed and clapped his hands once as if he just had a great idea. "Manchester may have a few ghosts haunting the place, but not nearly as many as I hear Cardiff has," he joked and winked at her. Rose was glad she wasn't taking a drink or she would have choked on it. "What would you like to see while you're here? I'm also an impressive tour guide." He grinned goofily at her.

"I know you are." Rose muttered under her breath. "I'd love to have a tour guide. I don't think my soggy brochures will be of any use any more."

Rose and Jason spent the rest of their morning making plans for what to see and when the rain finally let up by mid-day, they headed out arm in arm in search of adventure.