Open for Business

Open for Business


The Doctor raised a skeptical eyebrow at Jack as the former conman strutted into the console room, making his way towards the TARDIS doors. “You’re not going out in that, are you?”

Jack fingered his shirt as he looked down at his outfit—teal silk shirt, left open to his navel, tucked into a pair of leather pants, with the legs tucked into a pair of black boots that hit him mid-calf. “Something wrong with my outfit, Doc?”

Jack saw a muscle twitch in the Doctor’s jaw at the nickname, but the expected correction didn’t come. “Bit obvious, isn’t it?”

Rose walked into the room then, gossip magazine tucked under one arm. “What’s obvious?”

“Jack’s current choice of attire.”

Rose gave Jack a visual once over, and he shifted his stance to pose for maximum effect. Instead of swooning, though, Rose just wrinkled her nose at him. “It is a bit flash…”

“Flash is what I do, Rosie.” Jack winked at Rose, who rolled her eyes in response before flopping gracelessly onto the so-called ‘Captain’s Chair’ and opening her magazine. “Besides which, how is my adoring public supposed to know what’s available if I don’t display some of the goods?”

“There are less obvious ways of hanging out your shingle, Jack,” the Doctor grumbled, his eyes once again glued to the monitor in front of him.

If anything, Jack’s grin got wider in the face of the Doctor’s consternation. “Yeah, but they’re a lot less fun.” Jack strode down the ramp to the doors, twirling to face his two traveling companions before swinging out the door. “Don’t wait up for me, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

Silence settled over the room in the wake of Jack’s departure. After a moment, Rose turned the page on her magazine and asked, without looking up, “We’re going to have to break him out of gaol later, aren’t we?”

“Most likely.”

“Ah.”