Title: Flirt
Author: bendingwind
Notes: [Doctor Who | T/PG-13 |627 words]
Characters: River/Doctor, Amy/Rory, Jack, mention of Jenny
Summary: In which the Doctor invites Jack to River’s thirtieth birthday party, and Jack doesn’t find quite what he bargained for. For the
spoiler_song ficathon, prompt by
mewiet.
The Doctor finds a quiet moment to sit alone in a booth, watching the celebrations around him without interruption. It is River’s thirtieth birthday, and she is partying in true fifty-first century style. Or, as close as one can get when one has invited their thirty-year-old mother and thirty-four-year-old father, and quite a few strays they’ve picked up across the galaxy.
A familiar face catches his eye, and he stops to watch Captain Jack flirting with Jenny in the corner of the pub. Jenny looks amused, and her mouth quirks up in an adorable smile before she pours her drink down his shirt.
“I always wear instant drying shirts!” Jack calls out as Jenny skips away, and then he laughs. The Doctor assumes that there must be a point in every intergalactic sex fiend’s life when they accept being beered as a fact of life and find ways to make it easier on themselves. He’s chuckling to himself over this thought when River joins him at his table.
“You’re such an old stick in the mud,” River teases, and the Doctor smiles at her and shrugs.
“I’ll dance later,” he promises, and her laughter trills loudly through the room, drawing the attention of the other patrons of the bar.
“Please don’t, sweetie. I’d hate for you to embarrass me on my birthday.” He pouts at her, and she giggles. It’s wonderful to see her so happy.
“Don’t look at me like that, you know it’s true. Maybe, if you’re very, very good, I’ll save a slow dance for you later tonight.”
The Doctor smiles at her and brushes his hand over hers as the Ponds come to join the two of them.
“Stop being antisocial and hogging our daughter in the process,” Amy demands, “It’s her birthday and I fully expect her to party properly.”
River rolls her eyes, but she smiles. “Mum, I honestly don’t need to party every second of this evening.”
“In that case, budge over,” Amy says, and she slides into the booth beside River. Rory takes the seat beside the Doctor, carefully sitting as far away as possible.
“I see that I’m missing out on the real party,” Jack says, joining them. “Hello, Doctor. And, if it isn’t the Long Centurion, long time, no see.”
“It’s the Lone Centurion,” Rory replies, in the tone of someone who’s had this argument far too often. Jack smirks and pats him roughly on the back, as the rest of the table’s occupants watch with bemusement.
“Whatever you say, gorgeous. And who might you be?” he asks, this time addressing his question to River. Her mouth quirks up in a smirk that the Doctor is very familiar with, and he winces for Jack as River stands and leans across the table to whisper in the Captain’s ear.
Jack jerks back, pale, and shoots a terrified glance at Rory. For his part, Rory looks almost absurdly smug.
“That’s right, Captain,” Rory says, “touch my daughter and I will make sure your balls don’t grow back. You know I know how.”
“And how, may I ask, do the two of you know each other?” Amy interjects, and the Doctor smiles to himself. Amy never did have much tolerance for a mystery.
“I did hang around for two thousand years,” Rory points out, sounding a little embarrassed.
“Rory and I have something in common,” Jack says, smugly, “We’re really, really long-lived, and we have memories of things that never happened. And I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.” This time, the Doctor visibly grimaces for Jack.
“Oh, I’m the Long Centurion’s wife.”
Amy offers Jack her sweetest smile, and to no one’s surprise, he suddenly realizes that he has urgent business elsewhere.
“Dad, you are so bad,” River says, laughing again as Jack scrambles away.
Disclaimer: The BBC owns Doctor Who and the rights to related material, and I am not making any profit from this work of fanfiction.