Just Imagine...

Rose Among The Other Flowers

"So this is what you've been doing all this time?" Rose asked, glancing at Jack's little team, who were talking quietly in the living room. She and Jack had gone out on the balcony to talk in private.
"For the past few years." Jack murmured with a chuckle.
"The Doctor told me that I turned you immortal," Rose said, guilt welling up in her chest, "and that you'd been living on earth for over a century. Alone. Waiting for the Doctor to come back and thinking I was dead."
"But you're not," Jack said seriously, "and he did, eventually, and I'm not immortal anymore."
"You're not?"
"Something happened when we first got here, something drained me of my immortality. So now I don't have to lose anyone else and I can grow old with..."
Jack trailed off, but Rose saw his eyes drift to the young Welshman named Ianto. She had to admit, he was cute, and totally Jack's type.
"So how serious are things between you two?" She inquired.
Jack twitched as if he'd forgotten she was there and he hadn't been expecting her to ask that question.
"I'm... not sure what you mean." He laughed awkwardly, scratching the nape of his neck and glancing anxiously between Rose and Ianto. Rose giggled.
"It's kind of obvious, Jack. I don't think I've ever seen you this smitten before."
"I'm not smitten!" Jack protested, blushing.
"Sure you aren't." Rose teased.
"Oh, shut up. Do you wanna officially meet everyone or not?"
"Officially meet everyone?"
"Yeah. You and the Doctor are gonna be staying here for a while - if not permanently - right? I want you to get to know my team. Or even become a part of it."
Rose grinned.
"Of course," she said, "thank you, Jack."
"C'mon." Jack murmured, offering her his hand. She took it and allowed him to lead her through the glass sliding doors and into the living room.
This was Sam Ryder's house, and the place where Jack's whole team was currently staying. Sam had brought them here after the Cardiff Rift had destroyed itself and a new one that had been dormant for centuries had awoken here in Saint Lucia. Rose didn't know much about Sam, except for the fact that she had also travelled with the Doctor a long time ago and she was Jack's adoptive renther - and it was obvious that he admired and adored her greatly. She also had three other children besides Jack, all very young in age.
Rose had been briefly introduced to the other members of the team as well, but all she knew were their names - Ianto, Sam, Gwen, Toshiko (or Tosh), and Owen. They were all older than her by at least three years, and that made her feel awkward - which she didn't quite understand, after all, her husband was over nine hundred years old and that had never bothered her.
Once inside, Ianto immediately gravitated to Jack's side, presenting him with a kiss on the cheek as he wrapped his arm around his waist. Jack blushed again and Ianto chuckled, tapping him on the nose with his finger. Rose squashed a smug grin and instead turned her attention to the others.
"There you two are," Sam said, "we were just gettin' ready to play Crazy Eights, you wanna join?"
"Umm," Rose murmured, glancing at Jack, "sure."
"Don't be shy," Sam said encouragingly, "we don't bite, we promise."
"Well, Sam might," Owen spoke up, "we're still debating whether or not she was raised by chimpanzees."
"I'll go full chimpanzee on your ass if you don't stop makin' that joke." Sam sneered, but her tone was more teasing than threatening, and Owen smirked as he gave her the finger.
"Mom, do we have any ice cream?" Jack asked as Rose tentatively sat down between Gwen and Tosh, who both smiled at her. Rose smiled shyly back.
"Ah shit, it's in the freezer in the basement." Sam replied to Jack.
"No problem, I'll go get it." Jack murmured.
"Bring two tubs!" Sam called after him as he started down the stairs, "cuz I know you'll manage to eat one before you get back up here!"
If Jack had heard her, he didn't respond, and everyone laughed loudly - even Rose.
It seemed like Jack hadn't changed at all in the many years since they'd last seen each other.
"Who wants to deal the cards?" Sam asked, picking up a deck of brightly colored playing cards from the coffee table in the centre of the room.
"I know I don't want it to be you," Owen said, "because you're shite at shuffling."
"Fine," Sam responded with an edge to her voice and an annoyed twitch of her eyebrows, "what about you, Ianto? You're a good shuffler."
"Thank you," Ianto murmured proudly, taking the deck from her, "I've been practicing."
Sam rolled her emerald eyes affectionately, leaning back in her spot next to Owen.
"Now Gwen," Owen murmured with a smirk, "no cheating this time, alright love?"
"Oi!" Gwen exclaimed, "I don't cheat!"
"Sure you don't." Owen chuckled.
"I don't! How the bloody hell could you cheat at Crazy Eights??"
"Gwen, darling, he's winding you up." Sam murmured matter-of-factly.
"If anyone cheats, it's probably Tosh." Ianto spoke up, dealing out the cards.
"I don't cheat," Tosh responded, "I just have a very good strategy."
"Yeah, the cheating strategy." Sam huffed.
Rose wasn't sure to be amused or unnerved by the endless stream of banter. It seemed like something the others were all used to and that she shouldn't join in, it might be perceived as aggressive or desperate.
"You okay, Rose?" Gwen asked suddenly, and all eyes turned to her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Rose half-lied, "just wondering what's taking Jack so long."
"I'll tell ya what'll get him up here," Sam murmured, "Ianto, take off your underwear and throw 'em down the stairs for me, would ya?"
The room erupted in laughter as Ianto hurled a throw pillow at Sam from across the room.
"Oh, that's the game you wanna play, is it?" Sam taunted, grabbing a pillow of her own, "THEN IT'S WAR!"
Rose grabbed a pillow from behind her almost instinctively as a pillow fight broke out. Without even thinking, she got swept up in it, laughing and swinging the pillow at the mass of moving bodies around her.
Everything stopped when Jack reappeared at the top of the stairs with the ice cream, looking slightly betrayed.
"You started a pillow fight without me?" He demanded, "I was gone for two minutes!"
"Oh, stop whining," Sam murmured, tossing a pillow at him, "you wanna join in or not?"
Jack grinned in response, setting the ice cream down on the kitchen counter, where it would surely melt.
But that didn't seem to matter.