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badstoriesaboutgoodpeople · 6 years ago

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Amnesia

AN: Hey! This is the first fanfic I’ve written in years, so please be nice to me lol. It’s based on the song Amnesia by 5sos, basically I wrote about Tyler breaking up with his girlfriend to move to Dallas, and of course I also wrote their eventual reunion. It’s really cheesy and I kinda hate it, but that’s ok. I hope you guys enjoy it because I read a lot of fanfics and I know how frustrating it is to read poorly written/boring work. Also I know I said this was going up on the 8th but I didn’t really want to wait because I have my Jujhar Khaira fic to post, I just posted something about PLD on my ao3, I’m in the middle of writing another fic about Tyler, and I have fics planned for draisaitl and mcdavid.

Warnings: none really, it’s sad for a bit but then it’s fluffy

You got home from work to find Tyler sitting on your couch, which wasn't an uncommon sight. You'd given him a key to your apartment when you'd moved in, and he'd often come over to watch movies after a game, or come help you make dinner when he had nothing better to do. You’d been dating for a few years, you got together before his NHL debut. What was uncommon about seeing him sitting there were the tears on his face.

"Tyler, what's wrong?" you asked, placing your purse on the ground and kicking off your heels before walking over to sit next to him on the couch. He didn't respond, he merely buried his face in your neck and continued crying.

"Ty, hun, tell me what has you so upset."

"I'm leaving."

"What do you mean you're leaving Ty, what's going on?"

"I got traded Y/N, I'm moving to Dallas."You sat there stunned, not knowing how to respond. You felt your eyes water at the thought of being without him, but you knew you couldn't let yourself be upset right now, Ty needed you to be strong. You feel his arms squeeze you tighter, and you were forced back to reality.

"What are we gonna do Y/N, you just got a promotion, you can't leave."

"We can try to make it work Ty..... we can Skype every night?" you offered, knowing this wasn't a solution, but not wanting to think about the reality of what would likely end up happening to your relationship.

"Y/N..... you know how busy I'll be, there's no way we would be able to make that work," Ty said while sniffling.

"I know, I just can't imagine being without you Ty. I'm happy for you though, maybe a fresh start will be good for you. You're a great player, Dallas is lucky to have you."

You spent the rest of the night in each other's arms, fearing what would happen once you let go.

Three Years Later

You were driving home from work one day, and you passed the restaurant Tyler and you used to frequent after he'd won a game, remembering the nights you spent there together with the rest of his team celebrating.

I thought about our last kiss, how it felt, the way you tasted

You thought back to the last time you kissed Tyler, in the airport before his flight to Dallas. He tasted like his favourite peppermint gum, and his lips felt soft and familiar against yours. You had agreed to break up before he left and he got a girlfriend shortly after his arrival, so the few times you'd been able to make it to Dallas to visit him, you weren't able to kiss him, and it's something you missed dearly.

Even though your friends tell me you're doing fine, are you somewhere feeling lonely when though she's right beside you?

You had made friends with some of Tyler's teammates the few times you'd travelled to Dallas, and you made a point to text Jaime regularly to make sure Tyler was doing alright. You still talk to Ty, but knowing him he won't tell you if anything is wrong. You still wonder if he's hiding something, but you have to tell myself there's nothing else you can do.

If what we had was real, how could you be fine? 'Cause I'm not fine at all

You haven't been able to find a date since Tyler left, knowing nobody would be able to fill the void that Ty left. It wouldn't be fair to date someone when you’re still pining after your first love who now lives almost 2,000 miles away. You tried dating apps and even blind dates set up by your friends, but they all fell short compared to what you'd had with Ty. You still wonder how he managed to find someone just months after moving to Dallas, how he was able to get over the years you had together so quickly.

I wish that I could wake up with amnesia, and forget about the stupid little things, like the way it felt to fall asleep next to you.

The first few months of sleeping alone had been torture. You'd become so used to falling asleep next to him that you found it impossible to sleep without him. No amount of pillows could replicate the feeling of him next to you, snoring quietly and occasionally mumbling in his sleep. You would often lay awake at night wondering what your life would be like if you had fought harder to keep him with you. You think about what would've happened if you'd quit your job and moved to Dallas with him. Truthfully you still do think about it, when you can't sleep or when you sit alone at my desk at work eating lunch.

October

One day your boss called you into his office, with a proposal. He told you they're planning on opening a new location in the south, and that they'd love to have you there working for them. You swore you misheard him because it sounded like he just said it will be in Dallas. You immediately took the offer, willing to take any opportunity you had to get closer to Tyler after three years without him in your life. You pulled out your phone to text Jaime once you returned to your desk.

Y/N: hey uh weird question but do u know if ty is single rn?

J: he's painfully single, he complains about it every chance he gets

Y/N: on a scale from 1-10 how happy do u think he'd be if he found out I'm moving to dallas for work

J: probably a 10 tbh, he misses you more than he'd like to admit

Y/N: I'm planning on surprising him will u help me? make sure he doesn't find out I'm moving!!

J: will do, look forward to seeing ur stupid face again

You also texted Ty, and begin laying the foundation for your surprise.

Y/N: hey ty, i know i said id try to make it to dallas for ur bday but I'm getting really busy at work rn :( my boss says it doesn't look like ill be able to get time off until march. i promise ill come down then, I'm really sorry i won't be there for ur bday

T:Hey! No worries Y/N, I understand. I look forward to seeing you in march :)

January 28th

You arrived in Dallas two weeks ago, and avoiding Ty had been pure agony. You met up with Jaime and a few of the other guys for dinner, getting all the updates on their lives and Tyler's. You found out he has three dogs now, and you must say you're not surprised. Tyler and you were going to adopt a puppy but then he got traded, and you knew it was only a matter of time before he finally got one. You decide to text him to put the finishing touches on your surprise.

Y/N: hey stranger!! I sent u a bday gift, it should hopefully arrive sometime soon :D

T: aw thx, you know you didn't have to get me anything

Y/N: hey, i had to make up for missing ur bday somehow. I hope you like it!

T: ill love anything you picked out for me :)

Y/N: oh shut up XD

You decided his "gift" is going to arrive on the 30th, considering you wanted to be with him on his birthday, plus you didn't know how much longer you could wait to see him. You texted Jaime and tell him to make sure Tyler doesn't have any plans that day, and you went to buy some balloons. You bought some green and white ones for Dallas, and some yellow and black just for good measure. You squished them in my car and drive back to your apartment buzzing with excitement.

January 30th

You woke up an hour before your alarm was set, unable to contain your excitement. It was only 8AM, but you decided to text Tyler to let him know his "gift" would be arriving soon.

Y/N:hey ty, just checked the tracking and it says ur gift should arrive this afternoon

T:ooooh any hints?

Y/N:no!! be paaaaaaatient

T: but that's no fun :(

You smiled as you set your phone down and began to get ready. As 1PM rolled around you could hardly contain your excitement anymore. You still felt a slight bit of anxiety, worrying Tyler won't be as happy to see you as you were hoping he'd be. You heard your phone buzz, and see a text from Jaime.

J: hurry up and go take back your bf, if i have to hear him bitch about being lonely one more time i s2g ill scoop my own brain out w a spoon

Y/N:stop being so dramatic I'm just about to leave

You gathered the balloons and the gift bag containing some snacks from back home in Boston, a card from all his friends, and a nice watch you'd picked out for him. You glanced at yourself in the mirror and took a deep breath as you walked out the door of your apartment.

You soon find yourself in his driveway, and you could barely contain yourself as you got the balloons out. You slowly walked up to the door, unable to believe what you were about to do. You knocked loudly, and heard a dog begin to bark.

You heard a familiar voice shout, "Gerry! Be quiet! It's just the mailman for god's sake," and hear footsteps approaching.

You felt a huge smile form on your face as Tyler opened the door and was greeted with a face all of balloons.

"Surprise!" you yelled, feeling what you assume was Gerry jumping all over you.

".......Y/N? What are you doing here? I thought you couldn't get time off?" Tyler said in disbelief, and you felt two strong arms wrap around your shoulders and squeeze you tight.

"That may have been a lie...." you said sheepishly, handing him the balloons and gift bag. He looked so much different than the scrawny boy that left Boston, now sporting a full beard and tattooed arms. You took a moment to savour being around him again, before he ushered you inside.

"So how are you? I feel like I haven't talked to you in forever?" you asked, sitting down on a large couch in his well decorated family room.

"You literally texted me this morning," he replied, sitting beside you while the other two dogs attempted to climb over him to come say hi.

"Don't be a smartass, you know what I mean. We haven't had a proper conversation since before the season started."

"Things have been great. I love it here, the weather is so much better than Boston. The guys here are awesome, the chemistry we have as a team is amazing. I still miss home though, those guys will always be my family. I miss you too, you know. I tried to replace you but I just couldn't. Hell, I bought three dogs and even that didn't work. You're clearly pretty special Y/N, if even three cute labs can't replace you," said Tyler, with a hint of sadness in his eyes. It hit you then that you had to tell him you weren’t leaving, that you could finally be together again.

"Hey, you gotta open your present, I traveled a long way to deliver it personally," you joked, handing him the gift bag. You watched his eyes light up as he saw the snacks, and a large smile form when he read what his former teammates wrote for him. You told him you can return the watch if he doesn't like it, but he insisted he loves it. You laid on the couch for a bit, and you could tell he wanted to get closer to you but won't.

After a while he asked, "Hey Y/N, how long are you in town for?"

"Well I was gonna wait to give you the last bit of your surprise but since you asked I guess I can tell you. I moved here, Ty. I've been here for two weeks. The company is opening a location here and they wanted me to come work here. Once they told me it was in Dallas I couldn't resist."

You watched a look of realization develop on his face, and the next thing you knew his lips were against yours. They were just as soft as you remembered them, and he still tasted like peppermint. Without saying a word you felt him pick you up.

"Tyler what are you doing?!" I shriek as he begins walking somewhere.

"Making up for the three years I spent without you," he explains as he carried you down the hall towards his bedroom.

#tyler seguin #tyler seguin imagine #nhl #dallas stars #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #hockey oneshot #hockey writing #hockey imagines

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lirlovesfic · 6 years ago

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The Choice

A Doctor Who fanfic

Summary: After GitF, the TARDIS brings the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey back to the estate to solve a problem involving the TARDIS herself. But when they see a familiar face, the face of someone who should not exist, they realize the problem is deeper than they thought and could endanger the Doctor’s very existence. Primary characters: Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Jackie Tyler. Genres: Romance, mystery, adventure, drama, character study, HN AU, fobbed!Nine, sick TARDIS. Pairings: Nine/Rose, Ten/Rose Rating: Adult

Warning: none for this chaper

a/n: I am currently working on editing this chapter-by-chapter, with the hopes of completing a chapter a day until I catch up with myself. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m doing it to try to get back into the swing of writing and to build some momentum in order to finish this. Also, there have been some tiny things nagging at me for a while (grammar, punctuation, etc.) so I’ll be correcting as many of them as I can find as I go. The story will not change. In fact, most of the changes are going to be so minor that I doubt anyone (besides myself) will notice. But to keep myself on target, I’ll be posting it all here as I go, with links to the other websites it’s on. I hope you enjoy it.

Catch up: on AO3, on TSP, on ffnet

This chapter: on AO3, on TSP, on ffnet

Chapter Fourteen—The Time Vortex, twenty-five hours after leaving the Powell Estate, and London, 15 July, 2007

"Ha!" the Doctor cried triumphantly. He crawled out from underneath the console. "Dismantled the space-time redundancy limiter. Now all that's left is to set the coordinates for Southampton, 10 April, 1912. But before I do that, the question is, 'Where will I be?'"

"Can't we just look for you the way we did last time?" Mickey asked.

He had been sitting on the jump seat, dressed in clothes appropriate for England in the early twentieth century and watching the Doctor working on the TARDIS, for what felt like hours. After witnessing the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas, his initial excitement at traveling to key points in history was gone. At this point, he was just anxious to get the trip over with.

The Doctor shook his head. "We could, but the risk of detection is much greater. We need to figure out what he's doing there and what might have happened to both him and the TARDIS without either of my previous selves realizing that we are there."

Mickey shook his head. "I'm going with you to look for you to find out what you're up to, and at the same time we have to avoid being spotted by you. And another you. This is giving me a headache."

"If we don't solve this undetected, we'll have a lot more to worry about than a simple headache. This situation is much more delicate, for reasons that go far beyond just running into myself in triplicate. That's dangerous enough, but we're crossing my timeline in a way that has the potential to shatter the fabric of space-time."

"I don't get it. How is this different than what we did before?"

The Doctor didn't answer immediately, and for several long seconds, Mickey wondered if he even would. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, his tone more serious than Mickey had ever heard before. "Mickey, has Rose ever told you about the Time War?"

"Yeah, a little. When you sent her back that time and we opened up the TARDIS console so she could get back to you."

"What did she tell you?"

"Just that there was a war, a big war that could have destroyed the entire universe."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, that you ended it somehow," Mickey said grudgingly. A small part of him was still resistant to acknowledge anything good the Doctor had done. "And managed to save the universe from being destroyed."

"When you met me, I was fresh from the Time War, but the other me we're trying to avoid has not yet fought in the war. In fact, the war hasn't even begun. Only the first battles have been fought, and it isn't at all clear to anyone that a full-blown war is about to start. And for him, our planet is still there, our people are still there. If we have contact with him, we could unintentionally change the outcome of the war. And if we did that… well, we wouldn't have to worry about what I did on the Titanic, because the entire planet wouldn't be here.

"That's why we absolutely can't interact with him in any way. And the only sure way to do that is to try and avoid those places where he was. And since I don't remember everywhere I was, the only way to do that is to know exactly where we'll find the me you know, find him and find out what we need to know, and then get out of there as quickly as possible."

"You don't remember where you were the first time you were here?" Mickey asked incredulously.

The Doctor gave him a withering look. "It was at least a hundred years ago, possibly a lot more. By comparison, I'd ask you if you remember where you were on a specific day ten years ago, but you probably don't even remember what you had for tea last Tuesday."

"Yes, I do!" Mickey automatically replied. "I had…" His forehead wrinkled in thought. "I had… Damn, what did I have?"

"You had fish and chips," the Doctor told him.

Mickey's jaw dropped. "How do you know that?"

"I was there," he said. "It was while we were sorting that business at Deffry Vale with Sarah Jane."

"Was that only last Tuesday? Seems like longer ago than that."

"That's what time travel does. Completely screws up your sense of linear time. Anyway… to get back to the matter at hand, we need to figure out approximately where my last self is going to be so we can find him without running into, well, me."

"So how do we do that?"

"Mickey, did Rose tell you anything about that picture of me on the Titanic? Whether I was on the ship itself or on the dock? Who I was with, perhaps."

Mickey screwed up his face in concentration. Finally, he shook his head. "I don't think she told me, and if she did, I don't remember. That was a long time ago."

The Doctor let out a harrumph of frustration.

"Why don't we just call Rose?" Mickey asked. "I mean, she's the one who actually saw the picture. She should be able to tell you."

"I really, really don't want to do that," the Doctor told him. "I promised her I'd be back in ten seconds. Once we phone her, we put ourselves into her timeline. If we reach her an hour later, or a day later, we won't be able to come back when I said we would."

"So if we call her and she says we've been gone a week, then we can't go back until a week after we left. Right?"

The Doctor's eyes widened in surprise at the comment. "Yes, that's it exactly."

"Which is more important, getting back ten seconds after we left, or not running into that other you?"

The Doctor's mouth opened… and then abruptly shut. With a growl of frustration, he picked up the receiver and began to dial. After a moment listening, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"What?" he muttered. He hung up the phone and pulled his glasses out of his pocket. He peered through them at the communication control panel on the console. "Hmmm." He picked up the receiver and tried again. The look of confusion grew. "This is impossible." He disconnected and urgently dialed twice more, each time becoming more and more panicked.

"What's goin' on?" Mickey asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor said. "And when I say I don't know, I mean I really, really don't know. This shouldn't be able to happen." He pressed a button and a mechanized voice echoed through the chamber.

"Your call could not be completed. The number you have dialed is out of range.

"Your call could not be completed…"

The Doctor quietly pressed the button again, and the voice was silenced. He stared at the console, devoid of expression.

"What does that mean, out of range?"

He turned to face Mickey and then leaned against the console, crossing his arms and ankles in an overly casual pose. "One of three possibilities. First, that somehow Rose has moved out of the range of the TARDIS's communications systems. Since she's on Earth that would mean the entire planet was out of range as well, either moved to where even the TARDIS couldn't find her or totally destroyed. Not entirely impossible, but extremely unlikely."

The phrase totally destroyed left a sick feeling in the pit of Mickey's stomach.

"Okay," he said. He swallowed nervously. "Uh, so I guess that's out."

"Possibility number two," the Doctor continued. "Somehow we are out of range of her. That's even less likely, because we're in the Time Vortex. Within the Vortex, the TARDIS simultaneously touches every point in space and time. That's how she's able to disappear from one spot and reappear at another almost instantaneously."

"What's the third one?"

"That the TARDIS herself is having trouble sending a signal out of the Time Vortex." The Doctor didn't continue. Instead he returned to examining the console, this time without his typical exuberance.

"And?"

"And…" he said without turning, "that would mean that whatever damaged the TARDIS in the past has filtered through time to affect us." He peered into the monitor and then began to rapidly type into a keyboard that had suddenly appeared on one of the control panels. Or at least Mickey had never noticed it before. "If that's the case, that means it might be difficult for the TARDIS to navigate in and out of the Vortex. In fact, we may not be able to get out of the Vortex at all. And even if we do, we probably won't be able to get back in." He said it all in an overly casual, matter-of-fact way, as if he was discussing the weather in London or the taste of his tea. In fact, Mickey was certain the Doctor would have shown more emotion about the rain or sugar content in his tea.

"So we'd better get you back home," the Doctor continued. He moved to another control panel on the console. "Let's see, Powell Estate, Sunday, 8 July, 2007. Ten o'clock in the morning, just to be safe."

"No."

The Doctor turned back to him. "No?"

"No," Mickey repeated. "I mean, if I understand you right, the TARDIS right now has maybe one trip left, one shot to get out of the Vortex. And if we use it to go back to the Estate, we won't figure out what's wrong with her. And if that happens, the other you stays human. If that happens, what happens to you? This you?"

The Doctor didn't answer.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Mickey continued. "So I say, let's get this sorted while we still have the chance."

"I have to remind you that the next place we're going is 1912. If this doesn't work, you'll be stuck there," the Doctor warned. "I won't be able to get you back."

"Then the sooner we get started, the sooner we get this sorted, and the sooner you get me back."

The Doctor stared at him. In turn, an odd combination of amazement, shock, and gratitude flitted across his face. His mouth opened and closed several times, as if he was trying to talk but couldn't come up with words. Then he began to smile, a small, proud smile that slowly grew to a wide, delighted grin.

"Mickey Smith, you have made me speechless, something that very few in my life have ever been able to do." He whirled back to face the console. He raced around it, pressing buttons, flipping switches, and spinning dials. "Right!" he said as he pulled down a large lever. "Let's get this sorted!"

~oOo~

Rose slowly awoke, gradually and reluctantly returning to consciousness.

Warm, she thought. She sighed contentedly.

She shifted her shoulders to snuggle more deeply under the blanket and tried to fall back to sleep. She was completely comfortable despite being in an awkward position: on her stomach with her left arm and both legs twisted sideways and jammed into a narrow space, preventing movement. Something heavy lay sideways across the middle of her back while her free arm was tightly wrapped around something, like she was hugging a pillow.

A hard, warm, breathing pillow that was quietly snoring.

Her eyes flew open. John was stretched out the sofa with his head on the armrest, and she was half on top of him, tucked firmly under his arm and with her legs stuck between him and the back of the sofa. One of them at some point must have pulled the blanket up to cover them both. She scanned her memory of the past night, or actually early morning. Rita and Chuck. Tea. Acupressure to relieve her aching back and head. A hug that turned into a snuggle that must have turned into falling asleep.

That was… new. Although the Doctor had never had much concept of personal space where she was concerned, particularly after his regeneration, he had limited his contact with her to exuberant hugs, an occasional an arm around her shoulders, and a single, chaste kiss in Ancient Rome.

They had certainly never had a full body snuggle on the sofa to the point of both of them falling asleep.

She was torn. On the one hand she knew she should get up. Despite his current situation, John was the Doctor, and she was certain that had he been in full possession of his memories, the Doctor would never have allowed himself to cross over that line that he had carefully drawn between them, the one that would change them from being best friends into something more. And she was sure that a snuggle like this would be perilously close to crossing the line for him.

On the other hand, John was the Doctor, even if he didn't know it, and she'd been in love with him practically since they'd met. And he was holding her in a way she had always longed to be held by him.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of his soft T-shirt under her cheek and the comforting weight of his arm around her while she debated between getting up and staying put. She finally decided to get up, but not due to any highly principled, unselfish motives. The deciding factor was that she now desperately needed to use the toilet.

She began to squirm out from under his arm, trying not to wake him up in the process, and his grip on her tightened, holding her in place.

"Mmm." The sound reverberated deep in his chest, and she froze. When she realized he hadn't woken up, she slipped out from under his arm and carefully climbed over him. As she tried to get off the sofa, she got tangled in the blanket and landed on the floor with a loud thud. She winced at the sound, but to her relief he still didn't wake up.

She covered him up again with the blanket and then headed to the bathroom. After doing what was necessary—and discovering that toothpaste on her index finger didn't work as well as a toothbrush but would work in a pinch—she headed into the tiny kitchen. The tea and a small covered bowl of sugar were on the counter, along with a partial loaf of bread and a couple of bananas. No coffee maker, but there was an electric kettle and a toaster.

She filled the kettle and turned it on before rummaging for something to make to breakfast.

There was almost nothing in the fridge: a little milk, a little butter, some beer, a couple of half empty takeaway containers. Then she turned to the cupboards.

As she had expected, there was almost nothing in them either. A few ancient pots and pans. Some cutlery. A set of four plates, four bowls, four glasses and two mugs, most of which were chipped and none of which matched. For a moment she wondered why there were only two mugs and then remembered there were two more in the living room.

She pulled the clean mugs out and placed tea bags in them before continuing her search of the cupboards. In the last one were several tins of tuna. She cocked her head, puzzled. There was nothing else. Just tuna.

She didn't think the Doctor even liked tuna.

Well, obviously John did.

She sighed. Well, there weren't any eggs and there wasn't any jam, but there was bread and butter. So buttered toast, she thought. She put bread in the toaster and took the butter out of the fridge.

The water in the kettle began to boil, so she turned back to it to make the tea… and almost jumped out of her skin.

There was a small black cat sitting in the sink.

"Now, I know you weren't there before," she said. "Where did you even come from?"

The cat blinked at her.

She ran a hand along the cat's head and received a loud purr in a response. "Well, you certainly are a pretty boy." She tilted her head, considering. "Or girl. Whatever you are, I'll bet you're hungry."

She opened a tin of the tuna, dumped it in a bowl, and placed it on the floor along with a bowl of water. The cat immediately jumped down and began to eat, continuing to purr loudly.

"You know you're not supposed to talk with your mouth full," Rose mock-scolded as she poured the water from the kettle into the mugs. She frowned. "Although I suppose purring doesn't really count, does it? How do you do that anyway?"

"Some people think they use their vocal folds and the muscles of the larynx to make the glottis resonate back and forth while they breathe in and out."

She glanced at the door. John stood in the doorway to the kitchen holding the two missing mugs. He had a small smile on his face.

"I actually meant, 'How do cats do that and eat at the same time?'" she told him.

"Ah. Well, that I don't know."

"You have a cat," she said.

"No, I don't," he answered.

"Really? Then what's that on the floor eating your tuna?"

"A cat."

She raised her eyebrows at him.

"'S not mine," he told her as he placed the mugs in the sink. "She comes and goes."

"And eats your tuna."

"You're the one feedin' it to her."

"And you're the one who bought it. For her, yeah? She's here, and you're feedin' her. That makes her your cat," she said teasingly.

The toast popped up in the toaster. John put it on a couple of plates and began to butter it. "Just because someone's in my flat doesn't make her mine."

She stopped breathing. She stared at him, wondering if he was still talking about the cat. He didn't look at her, seemingly intent on what he was doing. Before she could stop herself, she said quietly, "Maybe in this case it does."

He froze.

Damn, he had heard her.

"Uh, so, what's her name?" she asked lightly, trying to change the subject and unable to think of anything better to say.

"Doesn't have one so far as I know."

"So what do you call her?"

"I don't call her anything."

"Well, you've got to call her something."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because you do."

"All right, what about The Cat?"

"Seriously? 'The Cat.'"

"Why not? What's wrong with calling the cat Cat?" he asked.

As smoothly as if it had been choreographed, they picked up their plates and mugs and returned to the lounge.

"What's wrong with a normal name? Like Blackie or Midnight or Fluffy or something?"

John snorted as he sat down on the sofa. Rose sat down next to him.

"'Fluffy'?" he said incredulously. "What kind of name's 'Fluffy'? Besides, the cat's a shorthair. She's not even fluffy."

"Well, maybe not, but you've got to admit it's better than 'The Cat'."

"The cat doesn't seem to mind," he said.

The unnamed cat walked past them, headed towards the front door. "Dunno about that," Rose said with a laugh. "Looks like she's leaving."

John chuckled.

As they ate, they fell into a comfortable silence. After they finished, John sat back and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You stayed," he said.

She bit her lip nervously, clearly uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation. "Couldn't exactly help it," she said, "being asleep 'n all."

"No, I meant after you woke up," he said. "You stayed after you woke up."

"Wasn't I supposed to?" she asked hesitantly.

"Only if you wanted to," he told her.

She smiled shyly. "I wanted to."

A grin spread across his face.

"So… when I was falling asleep, why didn't you wake me up and send me home?" she asked.

His face warmed. He looked away, suddenly unable to meet her eyes. "Well, you seemed so comfortable…"

"I was," she said, just a hint of amusement coloring her tone. "Were you?"

He looked back at her. She was giving him that smile again, the one where he could see the tip of her tongue peeking out between her teeth. She was going to be the death of him, he just knew it. Her flirting was going to kill him. Possibly literally.

But two could play at that game. He met her eyes and raised an eyebrow as his mouth twisted into a smirk. "Very comfortable. Thanks for asking."

Rose opened her mouth to respond when a loud meow startled them both. She shook her head.

"Still can't believe you've got a cat."

"She's not my cat," he said automatically. "But why can't you believe it? You got something against cats?"

"No. I like cats. We used to have one. But having a pet… it's a bit domestic, yeah? You just don't seem like the type."

He was about to ask what type that was when the cat meowed again, this time louder than the first. He frowned.

"Y'know, I've never heard her meow before, and now I've heard her do it twice."

"She probably just wants out and doesn't want to use the cat flap. Our cat did that. Would sit and meow at the door until we opened it for her."

"'S probably it," he said.

Rose started to tidy up when the cat meowed a third time. She laughed. "You'd better go and let her out. If she's anything like our cat was, she'll go on for hours." She picked up their dishes and headed into the kitchen.

John walked down the short hallway to the door. As Rose had predicted, the cat sat at the door, staring at it.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked. "You've got your own flap. You don't need me to open and close the door for you." As he began to let her out, he saw that there was something jammed in the cat flap, preventing it from opening. "So, this is why you couldn't get out." He bent down and pulled it out. It was a rolled-up piece of paper.

"You gettin' your mail here now?" he asked as he smoothed it out. He raised an eyebrow when he read the brief message on it.

Mind yer own bizness, ya twat.

"Well, I know you didn't write this," he said to the cat. "Your spelling would be better."

~oOo~

Across the courtyard, Jackie walked up the stairwell in Bucknall House, her stomach churning and her head pounding. Her hair hurt. Her teeth hurt. She definitely shouldn't have had that last whiskey sour last night, she thought. Or probably the three before that.

As she approached the door of her flat, she spotted a bright yellow scrap of paper shoved between her door and the frame. She glanced at the doors of the nearby flats. None of the others had them.

Yawning, she pulled it out. It was an advert for a local pizza place. The corners were ripped as if it had been posted somewhere else first and then roughly pulled off before being stuck in her door.

She carried inside with her, but just as she was about to throw it out she noticed there was writing on the opposite side. She turned it over and read the brief message.

Bitch, you are ruining my life.

Jackie sighed wearily. "This could be from anybody."

#the choice #ficandchips #nine x rose #ten x rose #fobbed!Nine #probably only chapter I'm updating today #I have to work #and the summer concert season is starting #still committed to doing a chapter a day #or more #but we'll just have to see

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