Bar Night: An Alternate Take
Title: Bar Night: An Alternate Take (or: The Dangers of Not Re-reading One’s Own Work)
Author: jlrpuck
Rating: K
Characters: Mickey, Jake, James, Penny, and Anna
Disclaimer: Characters from Doctor Who are the property of BBC, and are used with the greatest of love and respect; no profit is intended from the writing or sharing of this story.
Summary: You’ve read Bar Night --but what if it actually happened like this?
Notes: Written for
hazelwho, who won my services through a generous donation to the September Support Stacie auction. Her prompt was, “Another missing scene from TWoT like Bar Night, where the guys discuss Carlisle and Rose's relationship.” I, uh…well, as the title and summary imply, I failed to actually re-read the relevant bits of TWoT, and so it wasn’t until after I’d written this and sent it off to Ms. Who that I worked out that I set this on exactly the same night as “Bar Night”. Much facepalming ensued, as well as a promise to Ms. Who to re-write it. She, bless her, wrote back suggesting this go up as a “Clue”-style “Or maybe it happened like this!” thing, and my beta’s agreed. So here it is.
You’re still getting another story, Ms. Who, set at a different time during TWoT. I just need to move house first. *hugs*
Many thanks to
earlgreytea68 and
chicklet73 for their beta and feedback on this. Any errors in the story, though, are mine and mine alone.
Bar Night: An Alternate Take
As was usual by this point, Penny was the first to the pub. He was sat at the usual spot, in the back corner of the low room, and Jake couldn’t help but laugh as he saw five pints arrayed on the table in front of the man. One for each of them: Penny, Anna, Mickey, James, and Jake.
They’d got into the habit of meeting up, supervisor-free, early on in the investigation. They’d all noticed the tension between Carlisle and Rose; they’d all had their own theories about it, discussed during their various jaunts to different places around Kendal. Penny still seemed to have a hard time believing that anyone could find his DI worthy of dating-Jake suspected that Penny still had a bit too much of the nasty, spiteful gossip of many of the detectives in the station ringing in his ears-but what had most amused Jake had been the fact that it was Penny’s girlfriend, Anna, who’d seemed to work things out the fastest where Peter and Rose were concerned.
She joined them as the four men were halfway through their first pints, her hair windblown, her cheeks rosy, her perpetual smile present even as she took in the somber mood around the table. “Tough day, lads?” She wiggled into the tiny open space of the booth, reaching for her pint and taking a long sip.
“It was, uh, lively,” Penny offered, leaning over to buss a kiss on Anna’s cheek. She grinned at him, then took another sip of her beer.
“Carlisle still mooning about?”
“Still sulking,” Mickey groused.
“Now, Mickey, he wasn’t sulking the entire time. Looks like hell. Comparatively,” James added, giving a half-shrug. “Looked like someone kicked his cat after that call this afternoon.”
“Just because he couldn’t see fit to-” Mickey began.
“Micks.” Jake gave him a warning glance. “What happened between him and Rose, stays between him and Rose. Kapeche?”
“But she-”
“Leave it, Mickey.”
“Didn’t think you’d be taking his side in this,” Mickey muttered into his nearly-empty glass.
The table fell into awkward silence, which was mercifully broken by the trilling of James’ phone. He reached into his pocket, pulling it out, and gave a slow whistle as he looked at the caller ID.
“It’s Rose.”
He left the table before taking the call, ambling to the front of the pub, leaving those still at the table to look around at each other and speculate.
“She’s not coming back.”
“She’s totally coming back.”
“Why would she come back?”
“I bet she’s coming back to talk to Carlisle,” Anna offered, smirking.
“Feminine intuition?” Penny asked, his arm now draped around Anna’s shoulders.
“Nah. Optimism. Carlisle was a prat before he met Rose; I’d hate to think how much worse he’d be if she jilted him.”
Mickey snorted his ale, leading to a coughing fit.
“And come on, Charles-you said yourself he’s been better since he’s been seeing her outside of work hours. Been treating you like a human being, hasn’t he? She’s good for him.”
“Unless she stays in London, that is,” Penny replied.
“Might be good for him then, too.” Mickey muttered again.
“You need to stop listening to that poison they spew ‘round the coffeepot in that station,” Anna said to Penny. “And you.” She turned to Mickey. “Need to give the DI a chance. What do you know of what happened to him before? You’ve been here a month, and I’m sure Rose has been hurting, but from what I hear the DI hasn’t had a sunny go of it since his last live-in lover left him and then died.”
“Geez. Everyone really does know everyone else’s business in this town,” Jake muttered.
“Don’t you forget it, either.” Anna gave a firm nod. “None of them but for my Charles are prizes in that station, but the rot starts at the top. And out of the lot, Carlisle’s the only one I’d be happy to have Charles work with. And if Charles is working with him, then I want Carlisle happy, not getting lost in his own head as I’ve heard he tends to do.”
“Right,” Jake drew out slowly, not quite sure what to make of the woman before him. She’d always been outspoken when she’d joined them, but he’d never heard her quite so vehement in her defence of the DI.
James chose that moment to return to the table. “Rose is coming back.” He glanced ‘round, looking for his drink before taking a seat.
“What?” Mickey’s tone was flat.
“Tonight. She called from somewhere outside of Manchester.”
“Well. Should make for an interesting day tomorrow,” Jake observed slowly. “Did she ring the DI?”
“I got the impression she had not. I’ve no intention of doing so myself, but she didn’t say not to tell him…” James glanced over to Penny.
“I wasn’t planning to call him tonight; he said something about going home and passing out for the night.”
“Self pity is hard work.” Mickey offered, turning his glass in his hands.
“Hm. So’s dealing with hostile co-workers,” Penny offered, not quite challenging Mickey, but coming close enough to cause all of the Torchwood team to glance up at him.
Time seemed to hiccup at the table.
And then Jake began to laugh. “Oh, well-played, Penny! That deserves another round!”
Penny gave an embarrassed smile as James joined Jake in laughing. Mickey didn’t seem to find it nearly as funny, but after a bit of further teasing from Jake he finally relaxed enough to say, “Ha, ha.” Anna was back to smiling, her hand now twined with Penny’s as she pressed into him.
Another round was procured and talk slowly drifted away from a discussion of the Detective Inspector and the Field Agent, shifting towards more mundane topics of football (Mickey and Penny’s favorite), cricket, and what everyone might do if they remained in Kendal for another weekend.
It wasn’t until they were walking home, shortly before ten, that the topic of Rose and Peter came up again.
“Don’t be too hard on him, Mickey. And don’t be too hard on Rose, when you see her tonight,” Jake offered, watching as James stumbled along in front of them. Anna and Penny had walked in the other direction, headed for Anna’s flat.
“I just want to see her happy.”
“Then trust she knows what she’s doing. If she’s still miserable by the time the case closes, then you can rip the DI limb from limb, with my full support. Fair deal?”
Mickey sighed. “Fair enough. C’mon-let’s make sure James doesn’t stumble into the Kent.”
~ fin ~
Author: jlrpuck
Rating: K
Characters: Mickey, Jake, James, Penny, and Anna
Disclaimer: Characters from Doctor Who are the property of BBC, and are used with the greatest of love and respect; no profit is intended from the writing or sharing of this story.
Summary: You’ve read Bar Night --but what if it actually happened like this?
Notes: Written for
hazelwho, who won my services through a generous donation to the September Support Stacie auction. Her prompt was, “Another missing scene from TWoT like Bar Night, where the guys discuss Carlisle and Rose's relationship.” I, uh…well, as the title and summary imply, I failed to actually re-read the relevant bits of TWoT, and so it wasn’t until after I’d written this and sent it off to Ms. Who that I worked out that I set this on exactly the same night as “Bar Night”. Much facepalming ensued, as well as a promise to Ms. Who to re-write it. She, bless her, wrote back suggesting this go up as a “Clue”-style “Or maybe it happened like this!” thing, and my beta’s agreed. So here it is.
You’re still getting another story, Ms. Who, set at a different time during TWoT. I just need to move house first. *hugs*
Many thanks to
earlgreytea68 and
chicklet73 for their beta and feedback on this. Any errors in the story, though, are mine and mine alone.
Bar Night: An Alternate Take
As was usual by this point, Penny was the first to the pub. He was sat at the usual spot, in the back corner of the low room, and Jake couldn’t help but laugh as he saw five pints arrayed on the table in front of the man. One for each of them: Penny, Anna, Mickey, James, and Jake.
They’d got into the habit of meeting up, supervisor-free, early on in the investigation. They’d all noticed the tension between Carlisle and Rose; they’d all had their own theories about it, discussed during their various jaunts to different places around Kendal. Penny still seemed to have a hard time believing that anyone could find his DI worthy of dating-Jake suspected that Penny still had a bit too much of the nasty, spiteful gossip of many of the detectives in the station ringing in his ears-but what had most amused Jake had been the fact that it was Penny’s girlfriend, Anna, who’d seemed to work things out the fastest where Peter and Rose were concerned.
She joined them as the four men were halfway through their first pints, her hair windblown, her cheeks rosy, her perpetual smile present even as she took in the somber mood around the table. “Tough day, lads?” She wiggled into the tiny open space of the booth, reaching for her pint and taking a long sip.
“It was, uh, lively,” Penny offered, leaning over to buss a kiss on Anna’s cheek. She grinned at him, then took another sip of her beer.
“Carlisle still mooning about?”
“Still sulking,” Mickey groused.
“Now, Mickey, he wasn’t sulking the entire time. Looks like hell. Comparatively,” James added, giving a half-shrug. “Looked like someone kicked his cat after that call this afternoon.”
“Just because he couldn’t see fit to-” Mickey began.
“Micks.” Jake gave him a warning glance. “What happened between him and Rose, stays between him and Rose. Kapeche?”
“But she-”
“Leave it, Mickey.”
“Didn’t think you’d be taking his side in this,” Mickey muttered into his nearly-empty glass.
The table fell into awkward silence, which was mercifully broken by the trilling of James’ phone. He reached into his pocket, pulling it out, and gave a slow whistle as he looked at the caller ID.
“It’s Rose.”
He left the table before taking the call, ambling to the front of the pub, leaving those still at the table to look around at each other and speculate.
“She’s not coming back.”
“She’s totally coming back.”
“Why would she come back?”
“I bet she’s coming back to talk to Carlisle,” Anna offered, smirking.
“Feminine intuition?” Penny asked, his arm now draped around Anna’s shoulders.
“Nah. Optimism. Carlisle was a prat before he met Rose; I’d hate to think how much worse he’d be if she jilted him.”
Mickey snorted his ale, leading to a coughing fit.
“And come on, Charles-you said yourself he’s been better since he’s been seeing her outside of work hours. Been treating you like a human being, hasn’t he? She’s good for him.”
“Unless she stays in London, that is,” Penny replied.
“Might be good for him then, too.” Mickey muttered again.
“You need to stop listening to that poison they spew ‘round the coffeepot in that station,” Anna said to Penny. “And you.” She turned to Mickey. “Need to give the DI a chance. What do you know of what happened to him before? You’ve been here a month, and I’m sure Rose has been hurting, but from what I hear the DI hasn’t had a sunny go of it since his last live-in lover left him and then died.”
“Geez. Everyone really does know everyone else’s business in this town,” Jake muttered.
“Don’t you forget it, either.” Anna gave a firm nod. “None of them but for my Charles are prizes in that station, but the rot starts at the top. And out of the lot, Carlisle’s the only one I’d be happy to have Charles work with. And if Charles is working with him, then I want Carlisle happy, not getting lost in his own head as I’ve heard he tends to do.”
“Right,” Jake drew out slowly, not quite sure what to make of the woman before him. She’d always been outspoken when she’d joined them, but he’d never heard her quite so vehement in her defence of the DI.
James chose that moment to return to the table. “Rose is coming back.” He glanced ‘round, looking for his drink before taking a seat.
“What?” Mickey’s tone was flat.
“Tonight. She called from somewhere outside of Manchester.”
“Well. Should make for an interesting day tomorrow,” Jake observed slowly. “Did she ring the DI?”
“I got the impression she had not. I’ve no intention of doing so myself, but she didn’t say not to tell him…” James glanced over to Penny.
“I wasn’t planning to call him tonight; he said something about going home and passing out for the night.”
“Self pity is hard work.” Mickey offered, turning his glass in his hands.
“Hm. So’s dealing with hostile co-workers,” Penny offered, not quite challenging Mickey, but coming close enough to cause all of the Torchwood team to glance up at him.
Time seemed to hiccup at the table.
And then Jake began to laugh. “Oh, well-played, Penny! That deserves another round!”
Penny gave an embarrassed smile as James joined Jake in laughing. Mickey didn’t seem to find it nearly as funny, but after a bit of further teasing from Jake he finally relaxed enough to say, “Ha, ha.” Anna was back to smiling, her hand now twined with Penny’s as she pressed into him.
Another round was procured and talk slowly drifted away from a discussion of the Detective Inspector and the Field Agent, shifting towards more mundane topics of football (Mickey and Penny’s favorite), cricket, and what everyone might do if they remained in Kendal for another weekend.
It wasn’t until they were walking home, shortly before ten, that the topic of Rose and Peter came up again.
“Don’t be too hard on him, Mickey. And don’t be too hard on Rose, when you see her tonight,” Jake offered, watching as James stumbled along in front of them. Anna and Penny had walked in the other direction, headed for Anna’s flat.
“I just want to see her happy.”
“Then trust she knows what she’s doing. If she’s still miserable by the time the case closes, then you can rip the DI limb from limb, with my full support. Fair deal?”
Mickey sighed. “Fair enough. C’mon-let’s make sure James doesn’t stumble into the Kent.”
~ fin ~