Helloooo readers.
Firstly, I guess I owe you an apology again. In truth, this was written months ago, but I guess I'm gonna have to be beta-less for the next while. Exams suck, and then Lara's computer broke, so yeah.
Secondly, I'm not one to blow my own trumpet, but I'm quite fond of this chapter. There's a lot of teasing involved, just ... banter. Ayy lmao (happy, Sinead?).
Thirdly, and finally, I made a poll, concerning the title of this fic. Please go and vote =]
Chapter Eight
"How does it feel to be going back?" Jenny asked curiously, from where she sat in the middle of the SUV next to Sky. She, Luke, Sky and Jack were on their way to Bannerman Road, and then Oxford, to see Luke off. It felt strange to be saying goodbye to him, even if it was only for a short while. He would return to see them in a few weeks, when he could find the spare time.
"The same as ever, I suppose," he shrugged. "Something's different, though."
"You're leaving different people behind than you were last year," said Jack, changing gears. "That might be it."
"Maybe ..." Luke murmured absently.
They reached 13 Bannerman Road fifteen minutes after that. Luke barely made it out of the vehicle before he was attacked by a young woman with black curls spilling down her back.
"Luke!" she exclaimed, delighted, as she hugged him tightly.
Luke politely waited for her to release him, while Jenny knew she would have been struggling and grumbling had she been in the same position.
"This is my friend, Jenny," said Luke, glancing behind him. "And Jack, my boss ... I think."
Jack chuckled. "The job'll still there, when you come back, if you want it."
"Well, that's nice to know. Thanks, Jack."
"I'm Maria," said the young woman, with a small smile, having found an opening. "I used to live across the road."
"I heard," said Jenny, offering a hand, which Maria shook. "I'm Jenny; the Doctor's daughter."
She laughed. "I heard."
"Where're Clani?" asked Luke, frowning slightly.
Maria rolled her eyes at the term. "Inside. There should be tea, if you want to come in."
"I like tea," said Sky with a smile.
"I remember," Maria responded, putting an arm around the girl's shoulders and leading her into the house. "One sugar and biscuits for dipping."
Jenny fell into step beside Luke as they followed. "She's even nicer than you describe."
Luke smiled. "It's hard to do her justice."
Jenny shook her head. "You are so smitten, it's unbelievable. It's like one of those romantic comedy things that Gwen has half a million of."
"You know you and Sky would be much better off watching documentaries than rom-coms."
"Don't change the subject, mister."
"Hey K9!"
"Greeting, Master," the robot dog, that Jenny had only briefly heard about, replied. "Mistress."
"Hi," she patted his head, surprised at the title but willing to go along with it. She'd have to question Luke later. "Have you been keeping an eye on the place for Luke?"
"Affirmative, Mistress."
"Maria and I are staying," said Rani, from where she leaned against the staircase. "Mum and Dad can still keep an eye on me and they don't have to listen to me. Heaven."
Luke laughed, embracing the young woman. "Well, you haven't trashed the place, as far as I can tell. I have to check and see if Mr Smith is still functioning."
"Ha ha."
"Thank you," Luke concluded. "For looking after the place."
Rani smiled. "What are friends for?"
They climbed the stairs to the attic, which was a wide, spacious room, with a large screen on the wall. A purplish design swirled around the screen.
"Greetings, daughter of the Doctor."
"Just Jenny," she responded. "Pleased to meet you, Mr Smith."
"Hey, Mr Smith," Rani sat down on the steps.
"Greetings, Rani. Luke. What a pleasure it is to see you again."
"How did you know who I was?" asked Jenny, curiously, sitting next to Rani.
"DNA components show direct relation to the Doctor."
"Oh. Can I ... see my components?"
"Certainly, Jenny."
The swirling design was replaced with a model of someone. Her. Two hearts, an abnormally large brain (in human standards), an accelerated respiratory system, normal human excretory and reproductive systems.
"Conclusion: Time Lord DNA. Relation to the Doctor: offspring."
"Hmm," she said. "Can you tell me if I can regenerate?"
The data disappeared, the words 'FULL BODY SCAN' appearing at the top of the model.
"A total of twelve regenerations remaining," said Mr Smith.
"Thanks, Mr Smith."
"Do you lot want tea?" yelled Clyde from the kitchen.
"Yeah!" Rani yelled back, without consulting the other two. "C'mon, let's go get some."
They went back down the staircase and into the kitchen, where they found Maria sitting at the table, before a line of mugs, which Clyde was pouring tea into; Sky sitting on the worktop, legs swinging merrily; and Jack talking to someone, presumably Gwen, through his earpiece.
"Yeah, I'll be back in an hour or so ... you can ask for UNIT's help, can't you? Call me back after. Yeah. Bye."
"What's wrong?" asked Jenny, leaning against the counter next to Sky.
"Gwen found a group of aliens. She doesn't know what they are. Neither do I, to be honest. She's going to call UNIT for backup."
"You should go. I'll be fine on my own."
"We came with you for a reason, Luke," said Jenny. "UNIT will help Martha. Kate Stewart is a lovely woman."
"Her father knew yours," said Jack.
She rolled her eyes. "Everybody involved in aliens knew my father."
"Can we come with?"
"Sure," Jack agreed. "There's plenty of space."
"Settled," Clyde threw an arm around Luke's shoulders. "We'll send you off in style, Lukey boy!"
"Never call me that ever again."
Clyde laughed, "No promises."
"Any biscuits?" Jenny piped up. Maria wordlessly handed her a packet of chocolate digestives. She smiled. "Thanks."
"What time do you have to be there, Luke?" Sky asked her brother.
He shrugged, "Any time. Today's about getting us back and settled. Classes start back on Thursday."
"So ... when are we going?"
"Quick as you like," said Jack. "I'm just the chauffer."
Jenny shot him a look not unlike Gwen's 'behave' one, that was used more often than anyone cared for.
"After we finish this tea," Luke decided. "That all right?"
"Sure."
So it was that, after they had dumped their mugs in the sink and locked up, they climbed into the SUV, Jenny sitting in the front (with a slight ulterior motive), Luke, Sky and Maria sat in the middle, and Clyde and Rani in the back.
"Is that a computer screen?" Rani demanded, after they were about five minutes into the journey.
"Tosh used to sit there," was all Jack said. Jenny glanced over her shoulder (and Sky's head) at the young woman.
"Toshiko Sato," she explained. "Computer genius. She worked at Torchwood until ... her untimely death."
Jack looked at her. "How do you know that?"
"Torchwood files. Honestly, do you even know what's in that Hub?"
"Yes," he said defensively. "I just didn't know you knew where they were."
"I know everything," she said, despite the fact that it wasn't (strictly speaking) true. Still, she knew much more than the average human.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"When's my birthday?"
Jenny scoffed. "Trivia is not knowledge."
"I beg to differ," was his reply. "I'm a fixed point in time."
"That was down to Rose, not you."
"It's April third, by the way," he said to the whole vehicle. "Feel free to buy me presents."
"Don't count on it," said Rani cheerily.
They stopped at a traffic light.
"I'm hurt," said Jack, clutching his chest dramatically.
"Green light," Jenny pointed out.
They drove on.
"Wow."
"It's so big."
"It's beautiful."'
Luke laughed at all of his friends and his sister staring up at all Oxford had to offer in complete awe. With Sky, it was expected; Jenny too perhaps. But Clyde, Rani and Maria were too staring.
"It's a University," he said. "God knows there are plenty of them."
"You don't believe in God."
"It's an expression," Luke said. "Slang, right?"
Clyde nodded, laughing.
"You've done a lot of work with him since I was last here," Maria grinned.
"Are we going in?" asked Jack, sounding mainly impatient.
"I'm sure things were more impressive in the 51st century," said Jenny.
"Will be, technically. And no, not really. The Boeshane Peninsula was a small town."
"Isn't it a beach town?" Jenny frowned as they walked towards the 'dorms' as Luke called them. "They're supposed to be busy ..."
"Don't get me wrong, we get tourists, but there weren't many people living there."
"And you had a brother, right?"
Jack nodded tersely. "Gray."
"Here we are," said Luke, obviously wanting to steer the conversation away from memories that were painful to Jack. Jenny felt slightly guilty She was naturally curious, but in a different way to Sky.
"Anyway, I thought you didn't want to know about me."
"I never said that," Jenny replied, as they entered the building and followed Luke up the busy staircase.
"You did!" Jack called, from several steps above. "You said 'trivia isn't knowledge'."
"That doesn't mean I don't want to know the trivia," she said, as they reached the landing.
"I had no idea you were so interested in me."
She rolled her eyes. "Give me that box."
She took the cardboard box full of Luke's things and walked off, seeking the company of her other friends instead.
Luke was standing outside the door of his dormitory, talking to a friend; a young man, slightly shorter than Luke, with dark red hair that was (most likely deliberately) very unkempt.
"Is this the girlfriend?" he asked, glancing at Jenny.
She smiled. "No. His girlfriend's over there. The one with the curly hair."
"Jenny!"
"What? About time you two got together."
The young man laughed. "We're in the same boat, then. I'm Charlie."
"Jenny," she smiled. "I'd shake your hand, but ..." she raised the box slightly, turning to Luke. "Where do I put this?"
"On the bed," he decided, as the three of them entered the room. Jenny deposited the cardboard box on the bed and sat on a free portion of mattress.
"Do you go here?" Charlie asked her. "I don't think I've seen you. Would've remembered a face like yours."
"No," she said, recognising the flattery and ignoring it. "We're friends. We've got a mutual boss," she glanced out the door, "... who is currently chatting up one of the students."
"He's always like this?" Charlie asked, noting Jenny's exasperated tone.
"Pretty much."
"Anything that moves, our Jack."
"Where is it you work?" asked Charlie interestedly.
"Tourist information centre," she said, remembering Torchwood's cover; the desk that no one ever seemed to sit at. "Cardiff."
"You're a long way from home," he remarked.
"You've gotta go where the work is," she shrugged. A head of curly black hair appeared in the doorway. "Ah. This is Maria," she smiled at the young woman. "The girlfriend," she whispered to Charlie. Luke scowled at her.
"Did you get a date?" Jack teased her, as soon as she had sat into the SUV beside Sky. She and Maria sat on either side of Sky, ready to comfort her should she become upset.
She gave him a look of disdain with the aid of the rear-view mirror. "We swapped numbers, if that's what you mean. But I think it's more of a combined effort to make Luke wish he'd picked better friends than anything else."
"What are you doing to him?" asked Maria, with a grin.
"Trying to push him together with this girl we both know he really likes," Jenny smiled back, wondering if the young woman would understand that she meant her.
"Oh ..." she sounded disappointed. She hadn't realised, then. "Good luck with that."
She barely suppressed a sigh, glancing back at Clyde and Rani.
Humans were hard work.