Work Text:
He looked a bit worse for wear when Jackie found him. Then again, it was New Year's day, and everyone looked a bit worse for wear after a night of partying, and judging by the rather silly costume he had on, it had been some party. “You all right?” She called, wondering if he needed help.
He looked up at her, but it was more like he was looking through her, a sort of distance to his blue eyes she was fairly familiar with from those mornings after she’d lost Pete and all she could bring herself to do was stare in the mirror. “Hmm?” He asked.
“Are you alright?” She repeated. “Must have been some party last night.”
He blinked slowly and looked down at himself, “Oh! Yes, some party.”
“Do you need help getting home? I can call you a cab, if you like.” Jackie offered, gesturing over her shoulder to the payphone that was just around the corner.
He gave a dark sort of chuckle that made Jackie’s heart ache. “That is the real question, isn’t it? Should I go home? I’m not even sure I’ve got much of a home to go to.”
Jackie appraised him once again and made a snap decision. “Come on then, I’ll make you a cuppa.”
He looked at her like she’d suddenly grown a second head. “What?”
“I don’t live far from here. And you look like you could use a strong cuppa.”
She watched as he stood up and tried to brush some of the dirt off his trousers. “Do you do this often?” He asked with a note of dry humor in his tone.
Jackie frowned. “Keep the cheek up and you can stay here.”
He held up his hands to placate her. “I mean no offense. Not often you meet people who are just willing to help. And besides, I never turn down tea when it's offered. That's how wars start, you know.”
Apparently the promise of tea had really been enough to lift his spirits because he even offered to help her carry her shopping up to the flat, despite the slight limp he had.
Jackie fumbled with the keys to the door, asking herself again just what she was doing. He’d just looked so lost, sitting there in the cold. God knew Jackie understood exactly how that felt. Maybe they were both just needed a friend today.
“Sit anywhere you like. I’ll put the kettle on.”
He didn’t sit. Instead, he slowly looked around, examining the photos she had on the walls and coffee table with a sad smile. “Is this your daughter?” he asked.
Jackie peaked out of the kitchen to see what photo he was looking at. It was one from a few months ago, right after Rose had hit a growth spurt and turned into a gangly thing that was all knees and elbows, made even more endearing from the missing two front teeth in her smile. “Yeah. That’s my Rose.”
“She looks very much like you.”
“Thank you.”
*
Tea was served and the two of them sat in silence, Jackie watched him carefully, trying to figure out what she should make of him. “Not that it's any of my business, but I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”
He looked up at her from the pattern he’d been tracing on the table with his fingertip. His tea, with honey and lemon, surely must have gone cold by now, but he was still steadfastly taking sips from it every so often. He seemed to gauge what he could say and Jackie waited for him to be ready. “I’ve got to go home soon.” He started slowly. “And I’ve never really gotten on with my… family. But there’s been some trouble, and I want to help. But I don’t know if the whole thing isn't just doomed to begin with. And the longer I stay away, the more people are suffering.”
He just seemed so sad that Jackie couldn’t resist asking the first question that came to mind, even if it was a bit silly, “Blimey, you're not some sort of long lost royal or anything, are you?”
He threw back his head and laughed. “No, I’m afraid not.”
“Would have never guessed with the way you're dressed.” Jackie mumbled into her tea.
“I’ll have you know, this is the height of fashion.” He retorted, taking another sip of his tea with his nose in the air like some sort of aristocrat.
Jackie snorted. “Yeah, two hundred years ago.” She pushed her cup aside and stood up. “Alright, scoot your chair to the center of the room, I’ll be right back.”
His eyes went wide with something a bit like fear. “What? What are you doing?”
“Your hair needs at least a thorough brush. Your tangles have tangles, and with how wild those curls are, I wouldn't be surprised if you had a mat or two in there. I’m a hairdresser and I certainly won't be sending you back out into the world in that state. It would ruin my reputation if any of the neighbors saw. Nancy on the left is an awful gossip too.”
By the time she came back with her tools and set them on the table, he was sitting in the chair, having removed the velvet jacket and the fancy neck scarf-tie thing he’d been wearing. His waistcoat was pock marked by little holes that almost looked like cigarette burns but he didn't smell anything like cigarettes. “You said you’re a hairdresser. Could you just cut it off?”
She blinked at him. “Are you sure?”
He sighed and his hand came up, trying to run through the curls but catching nearly instantly so the hand fell back into his lap with a dull thump. “I won't say that I won't miss them. But they’re a reminder of a life that I won’t be able to go back to, once I go home. And it will just be easier if I don't have to worry about taking care of my hair everyday.” There was grief in his eyes so Jackie looked away to give him a bit of privacy. “You can even shave it all off, if it's easier for you.”
Jackie was never more thankful that Mickey had ‘borrowed’ her clippers a month ago and never returned them. “Don’t have clippers. So you're just getting a cut.”
The tension seemed to go out of him and he sagged back against the chair. “Thank you.” He said softly.
“Thank me after we detangle.” Jackie said dryly.
*
Two hours later, he looked like a new man.
She’d ‘accidentally’ spilled conditioner on his trousers and convinced him to take a pair of Pet’es that she’d been holding onto for too long. And a dark green frock coat that Pete had used for a pirate costume the year Rose had been born.
It seemed to settle on his shoulders when he put it on, like it had always been his coat, and Jackie had just been holding onto it for a little while. “Go look in the loo and tell me if the cut is alright. I can trim more off if you really want. But it frames your face nicely as is.” Plus, she’d managed to save a little bit of length in the front, so he still looked a bit like a romance novel hero.
He popped into the loo and she could hear him quietly whispering to himself before he stepped back out again. “Thank you. It's perfect. I don’t think I could ever repay you for this kindness.”
Jackie waved a hand. “I remember what it's like to lose someone you love. Sometimes all we need is a bit of help to get back on our feet.”
His eyes narrowed just the slightest bit. “I didn’t tell you that I’d lost someone.”
“You didn’t have to. I know that look. Saw it in the mirror every morning for years.”
“Ah.”
She nudged him playfully, “Go on then. I don’t have all day to mother you, you know.”
“Have lots of other people to mother?” He asked, a bit of his earlier cheek returning.
Jackie’s gaze jumped over to the stack of missing posters. “Just the one, but she’s been missing nearly a year now.” She picked up his scarf thing off the table and passed it to him.
His expression was painfully kind and she refused to look at him properly, the pity was more than she could handle. “She’ll be home before Easter, I would think.” Then he pulled the silly looking pin off of it and handed it to her. “Here. As a thank you.”
He seemed so sure of it. Like he knew for a fact that Rose would be home in just a few short months, after being gone for so long. Everyone had told her to give up. That Rose either didn’t want to come home or couldn’t. She took the pin from him, daring to hope that he was right. “You’re welcome. Stay safe, alright? Don’t let your family bother you too much.”
He smiled, but it was entirely without humor. “My family would destroy the universe if it meant getting their way.”
She wanted to believe he was joking, wanted to brush it off as a comment made by some mad man, but she believed him. “Sometimes, the people we love do things that hurt people. But you can't just sit back and let things happen, you know? It's important to stand up and tell them no. Tell them, enough is enough. No more.”
He nodded, a grim look on his face. “You’re right. Thank you.”
Then he slipped out the front door and was gone. It was only hours later, when she was turning the pin over in her hands to admire the yellow gem, that she realized she’d never gotten his name.