Hermits United~ An RP of Pete's world awesomeness!

(yeah, and then my cooking skills are suddenly nonexistent today...but at least I did the dishes!)

"well, I'm not too sure, to be fair--remember it was just me and mum, growing up. but I think maybe most dads aren't as involved in their children's lives as you are. the mums all loved it, for sure. and I do to," she told him with a smile and a kiss on the cheek.

(Uh-oh, that doesn't sound good... x'D)

John was a bit surprised at that, his eyebrows rising up, though he smiled again as she kissed his cheek, and leaned down to return it.  "Well, I'm glad you appreciate it so much, but... but how could any man not want to be as involved in the raising of his children as he possibly could?" he then asked, a hint of incredulity in his voice.  "It's so important... and there's nothing else in the world that could compare to it..."  It was unthinkable to him to not be so involved - in fact, he wished he could be involved even more, though he knew he had responsibilities at work, as well. He adored his children, and he wanted to be there for every moment he possibly could.  No matter how insignificant that moment might seem to some, it was important to him, and he couldn't imagine feeling any other way.

(well, sorry to pop out again, but I must have slept even worse than I thought last night, and my eyes won't stay focused. I'll set an alarm and be back in about an hour~)

"I dunno...some men just don't like kids, or they're afraid of them or something. women are supposed to be the mushy lovey-dovey caretaker types and men are supposed to be aloof and tough and all that. it's honestly ridiculous." she reached for the remote, wanting to catch the 7 day forecast so they'd know what the weather would be like on friday.

(Aww. *pats* No probs, take your time.  *is tempted to take another nap too even though I already had one today xD*  I've been drawing, but I should probably reply everywhere else, too, and that'll probably take me longer than it takes you to get back xD)

John's mouth gaped slightly at that notion, his brow furrowing in disapproval.  "Whot?!  That's complete nonsense!" he protested indignantly, letting her take the remote.  "You can be strong and tender at the same time - in fact, I'd argue that being in touch with your emotions makes you stronger."  This way of thinking probably seemed odd coming from a man who had long hid his emotions from others, but at least he'd had a good reason for it, and over the past few years he'd grown much in that regard, opening up his heart and allowing himself to feel much more passionately than before, especially when it came to love.  "And besides," he added after a moment, "I'm just as much their father as you are their mother - why shouldn't that mean I should be equally as active in raising them?"

(...you were saying? XD)

she shrugged as the news reporter came on the telly screen, talking about some upcoming event in london towne centre. "I dunn. people think we're like chimps--that it's the women's job to raise kids and the man's to be off working and not really involved beyond the whole 'helping make them' part." she didn't much like it either, but it was a common attitude back in the old universe, and it seemed to be the same here, maybe even slightly more so.

(Welp. xD  At least I got everything done and got some more drawing in, and you got some extra sleep, so it all worked out~)

John gave a derisive snort at that.  "Humans... for all the technology they have, they still think so primitively," he grumbled.  He could understand having to work, regardless of which parent was doing it, but that parent should still spend time with their kids once they got home.  Parenting was a full-time job, after all - you didn't get time off when you had children.

He began paying a bit more attention to the telly then, realizing with a slight amount of chagrin that he had no idea what sort of event the reporter was referring to.  Oh, well.  Probably wasn't important.  Probably.

(I seriously got shocked awake by the alarm, turned it off, rolled over and passed out for another half hour =_=" )

"well, looks like the traffic on the morning commute's gonna be a bit worse than normal," rose commented. she wasn't entirely sure what type of event they were referring to either, but it was clearly going to attract a ridiculous amount of people in a fairly small part of the city. "oh, right, we didn't say...did you want to stay home with the kids tomorrow and have me go in?" hadn't they mentioned that earlier? they both needed a break from the monotony life had become in the past little while. "and I can bring dinner home if you don't wanna cook."

(LOL that sounds like me.  Except I don't fully wake up - I just wake up enough to turn the alarm off and then fall right back asleep x'D)

"Mm..." John grunted in agreement, frowning.  He and traffic... did not get along well.  And that was putting it mildly.

He glanced to Rose as she spoke up again, and shrugged a little, then nodded.  "Sure; if you're game, I am," he said, looking back to the telly.  "Though, if you didn't want to drive in that--" he nodded to the screen-- "I wouldn't exactly blame you.  In any case, takeout sounds good."  He didn't mind cooking, but it was refreshing to not have to worry about it every once in a while.

"awright, I can do that, then. and I'm no big fan of traffic either, but I need a breather from terrors one, two and three." she grinned. of course she loved her children, but she'd been taking care of them all day every day for quite a while now without a break, while john went in most days and was only usually around after 3 or on weekends. sometimes he'd start feeling guilty about it and go home early or stay home, but she usually sent him in so at least someone was going to work. she turned back to the telly as the weather girl came on, saying the rest of the week was going to be unseasonably warm, only cooling off on saturday evening. it wouldn't be too hot, though, pretty much perfect once the sun went down.

"Well, that's certainly understandable, as well," John giggled, though inwardly he felt a twinge of guilt.  He wished he could stay home every day to help Rose wrangle the kids, but someone needed to keep an eye on things at Torchwood.  ...Then again, if he were to stay in all the time, he'd probably go bonkers after a few days, and that would do no one any good, he knew.

He listened to the weather forecast, giving a thoughtful hum.  "Should be nice on Friday, then - the kids might not even need their jackets," he commented amusedly.

(Spellcheck how is it that you don't recognize 'amusedly' as a word. I mean... really? xD)

"I hope not," rose said with some amusement. "it's hard enough wrangling them in and out of a light jacket- imagine what winter's gonna be like!" she sniggered at the thought of the snowsuits like the one jackie had a picture of her in as a baby. the boys might well be walking by christmas...they were already just starting to pull themselves up on things to look around...

"Well, to be fair, I think I'd have trouble too if I was trying to put on a coat that weighed as much as I did," John replied with an equal amount of amusement, grinning at the mental image of David and Matthew in puffy snowsuits.  "Hopefully the boys will take a bit longer than Maggie did to start walking.  That would make it at least a bit easier to wrangle them when we go out..."

"yeah, you're not kidding!" Rose let out a little giggle at the thought of having to chase 3 shenanigan-causing children instead of just one. one person trying to wrangle 3 2-foot-tall minions that could run in 3 different directions at once sounded like a nightmare!

the news continued on to the sports section and Rose yawned, blinking tiredly. she was already comfy on the couch, snuggled up against john, and he was warm and comfortable even if he was a bit on the bony side rather than soft.

It was indeed a terrifying thought.  He was just glad they wouldn't be tall enough to open doors for a little while yet; the thought of that was even more terrifying.

As the newscast moved onto the sports highlights, he gave a slightly scornful grunt.  "Meh...  Sports again," he mumbled, echoing Rose's yawn a moment later.  "Maybe we should just go to bed.  It's after nine already. Probably be good to turn in before we fall asleep right here..." He smirked slightly in amusement, his eyes half-lidded with sleepiness.

Rose stifled an even bigger yawn and nodded, turning off the telly and getting up to put the remote away where maggie couldn't reach it. "or we could do something else~" she suggested, then paused on the way out of the living room and sighed. "no, never mind."

John got up and began to follow her, though he paused with slight puzzlement as she stopped.  "...Why?  What's wrong?" he asked curiously, not really taking the hint on what she'd likely been wanting to suggest, and thus unaware of what could have caused her to backtrack in her words.

Rose sighed again, continuing to their room and starting to get ready for bed. "I forgot, I haven't been back to a doctor for a while...I haven't got any pills. I haven't had them since before maggie was born, y'know, cos they expire and all. so...yeah. I should go get an appointment soon." that was not a thing they needed to go through twice!

John followed her as she continued onward, though he paused briefly once more with a bit of surprise as he realized, feeling sheepish that he hadn't picked it up before.  "Ah...  ...Yeeeaaah... that's... probably not the best idea..." he mumbled, reaching to rub the back of his neck as he began to search up some pajamas.  He was quiet for a few moments before adding, "Your scent's starting to change just a little again, too, which means it's probably not the greatest time of the month for such a thing..."

"which is probably exactly why it's so tempting...bloody hormones." she hunted through the dresser drawers, finding a comfy nightie and putting it on so she could crawl under the comforter, sinking into the soft bed with a sigh of relief that the long day was over. not that it had been at all a bad day, just...very long.

John gave a snort of amusement at that, glad that he didn't have to put up with such hormonal fluctuations.  As it was, being mostly Time Lord, he was probably quite a bit less... preoccupied... with such activities than most human males, though that certainly didn't mean he was against the idea.  In any case, tonight was clearly not the night, and he was quite content to simply snuggle up under the covers next to Rose once he'd put his own pajamas on. 

"Gnight," he mumbled happily, letting his eyes drift closed.

Rose snuggled up underneath him, almost, head tucked into his chest with a happy little hum as she drifted off.

a few hours later, a little after midnight, Rose was awakened by loud whimpering from the nursery. she sat up, bleary-eyed, wondering what the sound was and what or who it was coming from...

As soon as the whimpering began, John woke abruptly, quickly shifting himself upright in bed.  There was a feeling of unease within the house, and his eyes darted around the dark room, as if expecting something to be there.  A moment later, his brain registered what had woken him up, and he frowned, listening tensely to the whimpering sound.

"...Is that... Maggie...?" he asked Rose softly, climbing out of bed and heading for the door to check on the children, still feeling uneasy.

"I think so..." Rose said, getting up, now fully awake, and following john down the short hall to the nursery.

John had barely reached the doorknob when maggie suddenly let out a high-pitched scream of terror, waking her brothers and making them start to wail in fear also.

Thoroughly alarmed now, John practically flung open the door and hurried inside, immediately moving over to Maggie.  "It's okay, it's okay, sweetie...  Shhhh..." he murmured soothingly, lifting her up and wrapping her in his arms.  He cuddled her against his shoulder, head rested against hers protectively, then moved over to attempt to comfort the twins, reaching in with one hand to stroke their little heads.  "It's okay, little ones - you're safe.  It's alright..."  He frowned worriedly, moing his eyes to look over at Maggie, though he couldn't really see her in the dark, with her head on his shoulder.  "What happened, Maggie?  What's wrong?" he asked in a calm, if noticeably concerned, tone.

(This is a terrible time to poof, I know, but I had another therapy appointment today and now I'm crashing because meds.  e_e  Sorry 'bout that; be back in a couple hours.)

(it's fine, I was about to say I had to go pretty soon, and I'm not sure when I'll be back tonight~ after 8 for sure. my friend's dog got run over today, and we're going to bury her this evening, and comfort my friend.)

Maggie was still just crying loudly, terrified and overwhelmed by her memory-nightmare, and couldn't explain what was wrong. Rose had run in on john's heels and reached into the crib to comfort the boys, petting heads and tummies and stilling flailing limbs. after a few moments, she had the presence of mind to turn on the light, as the nightlight was nowhere near bright enough for this situation.

after a few minutes of terrified crying, maggie calmed down enough to explain. "bad men...came and took me away and tied me up and it HURT!" she clung tightly to her father, glad of his comforting arms.