Remember Time Brings... [attn: Jack]

Rose nodded. "Yeah, I can think and everything now." She gave him a teasing smile, and would have, had it been almost anyone else, felt the need to inform that really, she didn't usually go sit alone in pubs. "What about you? Alright?"

"That's good to know." Jack shrugged in response to the question. "Yeah, I'm fine. Catching up on paperwork." Yeah, that sounded about as boring as it was.

Rose gave him a sympathetic look, she'd had her own share of honestly rather stupid paperwork to deal with before. "Never really thought of you as the office type..." Her voice was thoughtful.

"I'm not," Jack replied honestly, shaking his head. "There's just some of the office work that's unavoidable." As opposed to the field work, which he took part in as much as was possible. The field work and the post-field work was what made the job bearable. The bureaucracy just made it possible to keep doing the rest of it.

"What's the rest of it then? The non-officework. You mentioned emergencies." Her brow creased slightly as she asked, expression inquisitive. Rose felt like she was being nosy but... he had said he'd explain in the morning, and she wanted to know.

He should have known that was coming, and now it was down to him to actually think of an answer. It was Rose, so believability wasn't even a factor, but... "Most of it's classified," he began - and because it was Rose, he made sure she knew that before he started; most people he would have let go on believing what he told them was it. "We keep an eye on the Rift here in Cardiff, what passes through it.. and on alien involvement in the area." A pause, partially for effect and partially so that he could decide whether to use the name or not, and he added, "Welcome to Torchwood."

She fit together what he'd been telling her during the pause. Rift patrolling, and taking care of anything alien that came through, alright. Part of that seemed more than a little familiar but... Ah. Rose nodded almost unnoticeably at the reveal of the name Torchwood, and it was a few seconds before she spoke.

"How long've you been working here?" She didn't know if she wanted the answer, but she asked anyway, almost casual. There was a hint of a different question in it though.

That was a difficult question. Something he hadn't even told the team -- or the Doctor, for that matter. How long he'd been with Torchwood? Sometimes he didn't even remember properly (that was a lie, he would always remember). "A while," was what he decided on, with a shrug, make it look a little more casual. "Long enough, I guess." Long enough to run the place.

His answer did little to appease her, but she didn't let it show. "Can't have been that long, can it? I mean... You look almost exactly the same." Rose pointed out innocently, watching him. As an afterthought she smiled slightly.

Jack shrugged again, neither confirming nor denying what she was saying. "So just as handsome as before, you mean?" He asked a little teasingly, then changed the subject. "You never said how you got here.." Yeah, real subtle, Harkness.

Rose winked at him playfully in return, then moved onto his other question, though a mental note was made as to the topic avoidance. "You brought me, remember?" She paused, but spoke up again before he had a chance to comment on that. "It's a long story, lots of techno talk I can't remember."

"You'll have to tell me sometime," he replied with a smirk, though he didn't press the issue at the moment. There was time for that. Time for anything, really, for him, though Rose might not have the same luxury. "But really, out drinking? I'm surprised," he told her, in a mockingly disapproving tone that no one who'd known him for more than a minute would take seriously.

"What I can." She promised, before moving on to respond to his other question more seriously than was meant. "It was... just a lousy day. Found less than nothing. It's about the twentieth trip I've taken back over to look, nowhere to stay between them really 's why there's so many. Sort of realized I'd gotten nowhere. Stayed over here for it cos..well.." Rose gave him a small smile. "Didn't want to end up explaining to any of them."

"Makes sense." That was an impulse he could understand, concealing a failure, putting off the inevitable. He couldn't help thinking whoever she had waiting for her would probably be worrying-- and he couldn't help not caring, which was selfish, but they'd had her for who-knows-how-long, and he hadn't seen her in more than a hundred years. They could wait. "Looking for him, huh?" There was no doubt in his mind that she would know who he was talking about.

Rose gave him a grateful smile. Her mind was far from worrying about checking in, they knew if something happened it would take her all of a moment to go back. "Yeah. He said crossing over'd be impossible..." She didn't feel the need to add that it obviously didn't seem to be.

There was a moment's pause and she looked at him apologetically. "If I'd known you were in this time, I would've looked for you. I tried, after, to get him to find you, to stop, but..." But she'd gotten excuses and changed topics and told he was busy.

A nod - he didn't state the obvious, that the Doctor had clearly been wrong. That was implied and he didn't feel the need. Her sort of apology made him look away a bit, though. At the wall. "He wouldn't, I know," he said after a moment, trying on a small smile that didn't look as forced as it was, but close. "It's over and done with. Here now, right?" Not that it didn't still sting a little, but he could ignore it.

Rose almost wished she hadn't brought the topic up. "Yeah...right." She didn't quite nod, but made her way over to Jack and gave him a hug, muttering something into his shoulder anyway. After that she'd let the topic end, since it hadn't been much of one to start with, and she got the impression he'd rather it was let go.

When she hugged him, he returned the embrace, hugging her tightly for a moment. This he'd missed, too. "Hmm?" a sort of questioning noise when she said something against his shirt, too low for him to hear. He wanted to tell her that it was alright, he'd gotten (mostly) over it, but that would probably mean explaining just how long he'd had to get over it.

She took a moment to ponder whether or not to repeat herself, and in the end decided to. Rose pulled just her head back slightly, and told him this time a little louder. "Doesn't mean I can't be sorry still." Her voice was soft somewhat, and she looked up to meet his eyes.

"Shouldn't be," he replied, a little more gently, but he didn't look away this time. "Not your fault." It had been the Doctor's fault - maybe he'd been right to do it, maybe he'd been wrong, but in the end it didn't matter so much, except that the Doctor had been the one who left him there. Not Rose. She had saved him.

"Tough." Rose told him in that same quiet tone, but she gave him a soft smile. So what if it hadn't been strictly 'her fault'. She still probably could've done something, not let the Doctor get away with skirting the subject. It wasn't that she felt responsible either, it was just..something.

"Pushy," he replied, teasing lightly, "Fine, have it your way." There wasn't much point in arguing it, was there? Certainly not in arguing with her. There were better ways to spend whatever time they had - and for once, he didn't mean that in a perverted way, either.

"Good." She didn't want to argue it either. Besides, there had to be some better things to talk about. Rose thought about something he'd said. "There's confidential stuff in here you said, right? Not going to get in trouble for bringing me in, are you?" She asked him.

Jack shrugged slightly at her question. "No, I won't," he replied, then thought that might have been a bit lacking in the answer department and added, "I'm the boss here. I get other people in trouble." He was joking a little, hoping she wouldn't question it too much. But since when had anyone done things the easy way?

"Really?" Rose couldn't help some surprise there, but she guessed it wasn't too far-flung an idea. He'd have lots of experience with aliens. Surely that would help qualify him some. "Bet you're great." There was no bias there whatsoever. Nope.