Chapter Text
Jed lay on the sofa, hands behind his head, feeling simultaneously jumpy and exhausted, listening to the muffled splash of water as Rose showered in their suite's bathroom. He wasn't at all sleepy, but his eyes were closed because he was tired of staring at the clock and willing it to go faster. The thought of taking a turn in the shower after Rose was tempting; he understood the impulse. It wasn't just an excuse to relax under a spray of warm water, it was a way of restoring order and normality to the tiny bit of the Universe one could personally control.
Although he had to admit, the Universe was doing a pretty good job of staying normal and orderly all on its own. The household in general was ticking along through its daily routine, steady as the sun marking time across the sky, for all that news of the Doctor's spectacular departure had spread like wildfire. An old proverb from fifty-first century Boeshane said the only thing that traveled faster than a ship in hyperspace was gossip, and it was every bit as true here in the twenty-first century.
The Doctor's absence left a gap, but not an unbridgeable one. It was a strange realization; Jed had always oriented himself so completely around his partners, he'd failed to notice there were greater structures in place than just a bond between two people, stretched to accommodate three.
If he'd had any lingering doubts about his place here, they'd been dispelled by the combination of sympathy, embarrassed silence, and/or general tiptoeing-around he and Rose had received. It wasn't just Jackie who considered him an equal partner in the now-wobbly triad -- and it was especially significant coming from people whose culture didn't normally recognize multiple-partner relationships.
I've been needing a kick in the ass for a while now; I just wish it hadn't had to happen like this . . .
A familiar knock at the suite's door interrupted Jed's train of thought, informing him that the youngest member of the Tyler family was accounted for and probably on a fact-finding mission.
"Come in," Jed called, swinging his legs around so he was sitting upright. "The door's open."
Tony let himself in and made a beeline for his favorite chair. He was still wearing his uniform.
"Hey, sport," Jed said. "How was school?"
"Okay," Tony said, sitting down. He was silent for a moment, studying Jed with great concentration. "So what did you and the Doctor fight about?"
Jed rubbed the bridge of his nose, but couldn't help smiling behind the cover of his hand. Well, at least there's one person around here who isn't afraid to come right out with what's on his mind. Aloud he said, "It's kind of a grown-up thing."
"That's what Mum said," Tony responded, sounding unimpressed. "What's that mean, anyway?" His voice took on an edge of suspicion, tinged with disgust. "It's not about sex, is it?"
Jed managed, just barely, to turn a startled laugh into a cough, grateful his hand was still blocking most of his face from Tony. Well, in a roundabout way it is, he thought, followed immediately by, Give it another couple of years, kid, and you won't be using that tone of voice. But I'm so not having that conversation today. "It's more just . . . complicated," he said, regaining control of his expression and dropping his hand to his lap.
"Huh." Tony didn't sound satisfied, but changed subjects anyway. "When's he coming back?"
Jed's couldn't help glancing reflexively at the clock, but some vague superstition kept him from quoting Rose's estimate, as if he might jinx the Doctor's return by mentioning a specific time too often. "Dunno. He needed to take some time out, like when you go to your treehouse. He'll be back when he cools off." I really, really hope.
Tony nodded in understanding, solemn and worldly as only a pre-adolescent could be. He was growing fast and looking more like Pete every day, ginger-blond and grey-eyed, but with a hint of Jackie's bone structure around the jaw and cheekbones. Set him and Rose side-by-side and their relationship was immediately apparent, despite the wide gap in their ages.
Every now and then, Jed still had flashes of vertigo from being in the presence of someone destined to be a legend for millennia, but as time went on the legend of Anthony Tyler had been eclipsed by the everyday reality of Tony the Terror, as he was widely known. Not that he was a bad kid – just bright and rambunctious, with all of Rose's gift for getting in trouble but less of her knack for wriggling out of it. Somewhere along the way, Tony had adopted Jed as his favorite non-parental adult, and Jed responded by giving the boy advance training in the tricks of a field agent's trade, scaled down to be age-appropriate. While some of that was aimed at molding a future hero, most of it was simply for Tony, in and of himself, because he wanted to learn and Jed found he wanted to teach.
More wake-up call material, Jed thought. "Uncle Jed" isn't just a courtesy title. I've really worked hard to stay clueless, haven't I?
"Oh, hello, Tony," Rose said, stepping into the room. She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and was toweling her hair dry. She still looked worn-out, but her body language was more relaxed than it had been for hours. "How was school?"
"Jed already asked me that."
"Well, I'm not Jed. Tell me."
A shrug. "It was okay. Mum wants to know if you'll be down to eat with us."
Rose looked at Jed. "It's about that time, isn't it? I'm really not hungry, but it'd probably do us good." She was talking as much to him as to Tony.
Jed was opening his mouth to agree – the last thing either of them needed right now was low blood sugar – when he was interrupted by the sound of a timeship beginning to materialize outside. Rose, having the advantage of already being on her feet, beat Jed to the door, but only just.
--
They reached the back of the mansion just as the Mark II ran through the last pulse of her materialization cycle and became fully solid in her usual spot. The familiar sound had attracted everyone in the house, but most of them hung back discreetly, letting Rose and Jed step alone through the door and onto the lawn. Tony, who'd been right on their heels, tried to follow; Pete, recently arrived home from Torchwood, caught his son by the collar.
Halfway to the ship, Jed paused, looking back. Jackie had joined Pete and Tony at the door, their postures indicating that they were interested, but were going to leave things to the principals to sort out. Hints of movement at various windows and balconies indicated where other members of the household -- staff and security -- were lurking; Jed couldn't blame them. A person would need impossible self-control not to lurk in a situation like this. But instead of making Jed nervous, the audience was oddly comforting. He and Rose weren't in this alone.
He glanced down at Rose and she took his hand. Her smile was shaky, but reassuring. Together, they turned to face the Mark II as a united front. Jed took a deep breath and felt a marvelous sense of groundedness sweep over him. It was similar to finding one's stance in martial arts and feeling the absolute certainty of proper balance . . . or, even more accurately, like having been treading water to the point of sheer exhaustion and giving up, only to find a solid surface beneath one's feet.
I've been treading water for years, but not any more, Jed thought, and that gave him the strength to face whatever was coming next. Rose tugged his hand and he followed, resuming their approach to the Mark II. They'd only taken a few more steps when the timeship's door was flung open and the Doctor all but tumbled out.
He was wearing different clothes, pulled from the stash of spare garments they kept on the ship. Stubble shadowed his cheeks and his exceptionally spiky hair reinforced his rather desperate expression. He spotted Jed and Rose instantly; if anything, his desperation intensified.
He crossed the distance to his partners with long strides, not quite running, and flung his arms around them, burying his face against Jed's chest and Rose's shoulder. Jed had begun to suspect the Doctor's ribs were no longer cracked from the way he'd been moving; the strength of his embrace cinched it, especially when Jed's free arm automatically went up around the Doctor's body and he could feel only bare skin through the other man's shirt, no bandage beneath. The Doctor had been gone longer than it took to just grow stubble.
Jed managed to trade a glance with Rose over the top of the Doctor's head. Any angry or snarky opening he might have considered making had evaporated in the face of the Doctor's greeting.
Rose spoke first. "You're early," she said, taking a half-sarcastic approach. "I wasn't expecting you for another hour and a half."
"I know," the Doctor groaned, his words muffled because he didn't pull away from them to speak. "I'm sorry; I didn't want to be gone too long, but I didn't want to come back too soon, either. I didn't think you'd want to see me again right away." He pulled back, his eyes and face damp. "I hope that was right," he continued, looking worriedly back and forth between them. "I've had a lot of practice at leaving, but not much at coming back. I'm not very good at it, yet."
"With any luck, you won't have to get good at it," Jed said. "If you stop running away, it stops being an issue."
The Doctor gave a slightly choked laugh followed by a sniffle, looking like he was torn between grinning and starting to cry in earnest.
Rose had been biting her lip, watching them; abruptly she blurted out, "Look, I'm sorry I snapped like that. I shouldn't have shouted at you, but I was getting so frustrated at the way you wouldn't talk to me at all . . ."
"No," the Doctor said, interrupting her and shaking his head emphatically. "No, no, no. Do not apologize to me, Rose Tyler. You were right, and the first thing I'm going to do is run those compatibility tests." He stopped and swallowed, looking very scared all of a sudden. "If you'll have me back and you're, er, still interested," he added, in a small voice.
Jed snorted and thumped the Doctor's shoulder with his fist -- lightly, since he wasn't sure how healed those ribs were, though the Doctor hadn't shown any sign of pain during their embrace. "Of course we'll take you back. Haven't we as good as said so?"
"And we're still interested," Rose said.
"Both of us," Jed said, just as firmly.
"I'm a lucky man," the Doctor said, sagging with relief and catching them in another, far less desperate hug. "A lot luckier than I deserve."
Rose laughed. "We'll see if you still feel that way after Mum's done with you," she told him. "'Cos the first thing you're gonna do is have dinner with us and after that we're gonna sit down and talk a few things through. Tests can wait."
The Doctor pulled back and blinked at Rose, then, for the first time, looked past his partners to the mansion and the audience arrayed at its doors and windows. He swallowed again, audibly, and Jed began laughing under his breath at his partner's deer-in-the-headlights expression.
"Um. Er, you know," the Doctor said, pulling his partners closer and dropping his tone conspiratorially, "if we made a run for it, I think we could be in the Mark II before any of them make it this far . . ."
"Forget it!" Jed told him. "What'd I just say about running away? That holds true whether you run with us or without us."
"How can we do this if you can't deal with Mum?" Rose said. "Remember, we'll be making her a grandmother. She's involved, too. She's family."
The Doctor took a deep breath, visibly struggling with himself. "Okay. Yeah. Sorry. You're right. Dinner with the family it is."
"And don't think Jackie's your only worry," Jed added, pulling away and emphasizing his point with a poke at the Doctor's chest. "I meant what I said about taking you back, but I'm still pretty pissed off at the way you tricked me out the door so you could go haring off for . . . however long you've been gone, your time. And you were way out of line in what you said to Rose." As he spoke his voice developed more of an edge than he'd initially intended, but the hurt was still there under the relief of their reunion.
"Yeah, we spent four hours on pins and needles 'cos of you," Rose said. "You'll be a long time making that up to us."
The Doctor took another deep breath and looked down at his trainers. "Don't I know it," he muttered; his tone was dry, but in a rueful way that indicated he blamed himself. “Sorry. I know I keep saying that, but I do mean it. Especially this time.”
Rose and Jed traded another glance. "You keep this up, we'll have to run more tests," Jed said, softening. "I'm starting to think you're a pod person or something."
"Who are you and what have you done with the Doctor?" Rose agreed with a wry grin.
The Doctor laughed again, and this time it came out clearer and easier.
"Not a pod person, I swear! I just . . . did a lot of thinking while I was away. Spent some time getting in touch with my inner ginger."
"What did she have to say, then, your inner ginger?" Rose asked, giving both her partners a tug in the direction of the house.
"Nothing complimentary," the Doctor said, ruefully, as they began walking towards the rest of their family. "But it was good advice."
Rose, at his side, wrapped her arm around his waist and gave a little squeeze. "Seems like," she agreed.
Jed, moving to the Doctor's other side, draped his arm around the Doctor's narrow shoulders.
"Blimey, your mum looks like a slap waiting to happen," the Doctor told Rose as they got closer.
"We'll protect you," Jed said. "We won't let her rough you up. Much."
"I'll remind her you're gonna be the father of her grandkids," Rose added. "Some of 'em, anyway."
Jed's stomach muscles gave a little twitch at that, an involuntary reaction somewhere between "happy" and "startled." It still sounded strange to be talking, out loud, about the increasingly-real notion of him becoming a parent in his own right, not just an “Uncle Jed” to Rose and the Doctor's kids. With the Doctor back and the emotional tone of things settling down, Jed realized they might just be embarking on the scariest adventure they'd ever had, facing down alien invasion fleets included. At least, that was how it felt to him just then, with the prospect staring him full in the face for the first time.
"Oooh, this is gonna be weird," Jed said out loud. "Responsible adulthood, at last."
"Again," the Doctor said. "For me, anyway." He sounded serious, but not unhappy. “Another chance to get it right.”
"A fresh start?" Rose asked, looking up at his face.
The Doctor smiled. "Something like that," he said, before Tony, finally released by his parents, launched himself into a flying tackle aimed mostly at the Doctor.
Pete and Jackie moved aside to let the prodigal and his partners through the door, home and family wrapping around them with the promise of peace and security -- eventually, anyway, once the inevitable shouting was over. When that was finished, the next thing would start, the wheel would turn again, and again after that: eternally the same but always different, full of old joys and new surprises. There would be setbacks and sorrows, as well, but through it all the circle would remain: joined hands, joined hearts and joined hopes, spinning the stuff of life from time and stardust.
It wasn't lilac season, but in the garden the Mark II shook herself and contentedly burst into flower, settling in to wait.