Time for another multi-chapter, in which we finally get to meet Jack's estranged parents.

FANTASTIC.

The water in Jack's building had been cut off, so he'd been showering at work for the past few days – which wasn't great when he had to walk past Nikki first thing in the morning stinking to high heaven (and he would have to get there really early to get in before her), before wasting half an hour of his working day showering and shaving in The Lyell Centre's locker room.

Thomas had been amused by it but remained silent, and Clarissa had teased him from the…well, she'd always teased him.

It took 5 days of this routine before Nikki offered to let Jack stay with her until his water was switched back on – which his landlord assured him would be anytime over the next 2 weeks. Jack had been furious, but his landlord insisted it was a busy time of year for plumbers in London – and he'd just have to wait it out. There was nothing he could do about it. Jack was willing to place a bet on his landlord not having enough money to fix the problem.

Clarissa had also offered, but he didn't fancy intruding upon her and her husband Max. That would make things a bit too awkward for his liking.

He'd initially protested Nikki's proposal but he soon remembered what it was like to have, well, running water – for hot drinks, for washing, for…flushing the toilet. He neglected to inform her of that last part. There was no need for her to know. And as much as Jack loved going down into London's sewer network he really needed a flushing toilet. He was a man, needless to say.

Jack began clearing his samples away. He'd been analysing DNA under his microscope…and not DNA of the good kind.

"You owe me pizza Jack!" Nikki called to him from her desk. She'd spent most of the afternoon focused on writing up an autopsy report.

Why did he always owe someone pizza? And why was that person almost always Nikki? Everything she did for him required payment in pizza.

"You uh, wanna swing by somewhere and grab some, or order for delivery?" He enquired, leaning against the doorframe.

Sometimes Jack could be too attractive for his own good, Nikki thought. She stared to file all her paperwork and shut down her computer.

"Pick up?" She suggested, putting the last file in her desk drawer.

"Sure."

She grabbed her jacket and followed him out. Tonight would be fun.

Nikki still hadn't managed to find herself the right dining table for her new house. She'd never owned a dining table before…she'd never had room for one before. So now there was a void space in her open plan living area and she felt like she should buy one. But most nights it was just her; just her with a microwave meal or takeaway. Jack suggested she should get a pool table…yeah right…Nikki, with a pool table in her house? Could you imagine? Never.

She soon found herself eating pizza out of a box, sat on the floor between her sofa and her coffee table. Jack had slumped down on the sofa. There was no way he was sitting on the floor and crossing his legs. Instead he settled for leaning over her to grab pizza.

A tiny bit of grease dripped down onto Nikki's jeans.

"Hey, watch it you." She slapped his thigh.

Jack pretended to be apologetic and devoured the slice of pepperoni pizza. They were boring. They always opted for pepperoni. Nikki had momentarily considered making him order one with spinach on, just to see his face. But she couldn't be so cruel to Jack. He was down on his luck. And she was making him buy it after all.

They finished their pizza – yep, the whole pizza (that's what happens when you skip lunch on a regular basis). While Nikki took the empty box out to her recycling bin Jack decided to try and relax. He checked his phone.

Huh, he'd had a voicemail. He dialed the number and put the phone to his ear.

A thick Northern Irish voice boomed through the speaker.

"Oh hi m'darling it's your Ma. Your Pa and I are coming down to London to see you tomorrow and we thought we might stay for a while. Could you meet us at the train station in the morning? Bye for now. Mwah."

His face dropped.

"What's the matter?" Nikki asked when she came back in.

Jack was suddenly pale, and she wondered if the pizza had been bad.

"All hell is about to break loose."

His Ma. And Pa. In London. Coming to see him. This was bad. VERY VERY BAD.

Jack paced up and down outside Kings Cross. To onlookers he probably looked like a mad man, or like he'd just lost his job. Nikki had told him he was overreacting, and it wouldn't be that bad. He'd shot back with, 'You've not met my parents!'

When he saw them he faked a smile. His mother was short, even shorter than Nikki without her heels on. She had short dark hair snipped into a bob, fierce green eyes and looks that could kill. His father however, was a gentle giant. His hair had greyed a lot since the last time Jack had seen them – and unlike his mother his father had soft calming eyes. He'd forgotten how ridiculous they looked next to each other.

"Jack!" His ma might be tiny, but when she hugged she almost rugby tackled the other person to the ground. Jack stumbled back a bit. He patted her on the back.

"How are you Ma?"

"Oh the train journey was awful wasn't it Jeremy?"

"Well I do think you're overreacting a tad their Kathleen."

Kathleen shot her husband 'the look'.

"I mean yes dear, just awful." His pa looked tired. He always looked tired. Jack speculated that it might have something to do with his ma, who seemed to have never ending energy. "How are you Son?"

"Great-"

"Oh London is awful isn't it? All the hustle and bustle and crime and filth-"

"I like it." Jack interrupted her.

"But you were such a country lad growing up weren't you? Why did this all change?" His ma pleaded with him.

"I go where the bodies are."

She didn't seem too pleased with that response. Jack caught his father silently chuckling to himself.

"What hotel are you staying in?" Jack implored, desperate to get them to where they needed to be so he could go back to work and finish analysing those DNA samples…

"Oh we're not staying in a hotel son. We're staying with you. You have the room don't you?" His ma reached up to put her hand on his shoulder. She was probably standing on her tiptoes to do so but Jack didn't bother to check. He was more concerned with what she'd just said.

"Hmmm?" He was pale again.

"Don't you want us to stay with you?" His ma looked hurt and his pa tutted away.

"I'll have to ask Nikki…I'm not sure she'd be comfortable with that."

"Oh, well why ever not? It's not really her place to tell you who can and cannot stay with you?"

"I'll phone her." Jack fumbled for his phone, and speed dialed 1.

"Give me that." His ma had snatched it out of his grasp before he could put the phone to his ear.

"No – Ma – give it back."

"Hi Jack, how'd it go?" Nikki answered.

"What's her name again?" Kathleen asked.

"Hello?" Nikki was confused. She was definitely speaking to a Northern Irish person, but that person wasn't Jack.

"It's Nikki – please don't-"

"Nikki, our Jack seems to think that it wouldn't be ok for me and his pa to stay with you both so I thought I'd best ask you."

"Kathleen, we can stay in a hotel." Jeremy persuaded. Well, he tried to.

Nikki was flustered. It was Jack's mother…and they wanted to stay with her?

"What do you say?" Kathleen pushed her for an answer.

Jack put his head in his hands. He knew exactly what his parents were thinking.

"Ok." Nikki replied, not really sure what to say. Where was Jack at this moment?

"Ok? Oh lovely I didn't think there would be a problem with that."

Kathleen hung up. She turned to Jack. "See. No problem. Your girlfriend's fine with it."

Jack was now stood with his hands on his hips shaking his head. This was worse than bad. This was hell…and they'd only been in London 5 minutes.

"Now off we go." She passed her luggage to Jack. He looked down at it, and then back at her, and then at his pa, and then back down at the luggage.

Great. Just great.