Accountability

Chapter Summary: Our favorite alien is starting to realize his clothes don't quite fit the way they used to. The name game begins and Jack's clothes as well as some household items have started disappearing. (little bit of a skip).

Warnings : I'll admit this is pretty much filler since my own baby is due any day but I wanted to leave you guys with something before I have a newborn to care for. Not sure how often I'll be able to update after that but I will not abandon the story!

Chapter 14: What's in a name?

The Doctor sighed as he tried to button his shirt. He really didn't want to go find a bigger one but it didn't look like this one would cooperate. He was sixteen weeks now and it was growing increasingly obvious that he was not the only one living in this body. With a huff, he gave up, smoothing a hand over the bump instead.

"Can't you scoot back a bit or something? You've got plenty of room."

Nothing, not that he had actually expected the baby to move. Well, he'd just have to keep the web cam at chest height. Jack had arranged for him to continue teaching his class using a laptop. He could teach from home, see his students and his students could see him under the pretense that he was out of the country for awhile while he and his husband were looking to "adopt" a child. It was a pretty good cover. It was well known that the adoption process was a lengthy one in the US.

There was a tiny flutter against his mind and the Doctor smiled, grasping onto the little tendril of thought. Squiggles and scribbles filled his mind's eye with little specs of color here and there. A feeling of curiosity made itself known and a muffled voice echoed in his ears. Jack's tone and laugh were unmistakeable.

That's your daddy, he projected back. He looks like this.

Concentrating on Jack's face, he tried to send the image to the little mind inside him.

He loves you already you know. So do I.

There was that inquisitive touch again as his own voice repeated the word love back to him. He smiled, letting the love he had for this child flood him and sent that feeling back through the link.

That's love, he explained.

The curiosity eased and then the contact receded. The baby was having trouble holding a mental connection for very long, but he was doing exemplary for being a child and half human. The Time Lord cherished those little moments he got with his baby. It was something they could share and no one else could. It was something all their own. Having another presence in his mind from time to time was comforting. It helped fill the void that had been left by the death of his people. He could remember a time when thousands of voices took up that space in his mind, a constant reassurance of white noise. It had been the thing that bothered him most after Gallifrey had burned. The complete, absolute, deafening silence. It was indisputable proof that he was alone.

Shaking himself from that train of thought, the Time Lord stepped away from the mirror. Jack was in their bedroom, tearing apart the dresser drawers in search of something.

"Have you seen my gray sweater? I was sure it was in the top drawer."

"I haven't seen it since I did the laundry last," the Doctor told him. "You folded them. It's wherever you put it."

"Obviously not because I put it in the top drawer."

Jack opened said drawer to check yet again and see if he missed it somehow.

"Jesus. Dish towels, the TV remote, my favorite T-shirt and now my warmest sweater. I swear, this house is eating things. I'm gonna be so late."

"Well, why do you have to have that sweater," the Doctor asked. "I thought you didn't like sweaters because they were too concealing."

With a huff of frustration, Jack slammed the drawer shut. Now he would have to wear that ugly red, argyle monstrosity a past mother in law had knitted him. The woman had never liked him and every Christmas, when the other son in in law got a nice looking scarf or a watch, he would get an ugly sweater or fuzzy mittens or even socks that she hadn't even tried to make the same size. Still, he kept them because they did remind him of the wife he had loved. It didn't mean he liked to be seen in them though.

"Typically, I don't like sweaters unless they're on you. You do look yummy in a nice, tight sweater by the way. But it's preferable to freezing my bits off."

"The heating still isn't fixed?"

"Well I can't exactly hire someone to come do it or I'd have to retcon them after," Jack told him. "It's going to have to wait until Ianto can get to it."

"Or I can fix it. Christmas break starts after today and I was hoping to help out at the hub during it anyway," the Doctor offered, trying to choose a tie.

"I don't want you overexerting yourself," Jack said. "Ianto's very capable of fixing it."

"I wouldn't be overexerting myself. Not with this," he told the captain, wiggling his sonic in his direction. "It can pin point the problem easy peasy and fix it quick as a flash."

Jack seemed to think about it for a minute. Turning, he leveled the Doctor with his gaze.

"Alright. You can fix it on two conditions. One, you need something lifted or a panel moved you ask me or Ianto to do it. Two, you only repair it. None of your improvements. You've already wasted two refrigerators, we can't afford to replace the heating system for the entire hub."

"Deal."

The Doctor smiled, giving Jack a kiss as he left the room to put the kettle on. He hadn't meant to ruin the refrigerators. He was trying to increase the efficiency of the coils but apparently 21st century models were at their peak capacity. How was he to know they would snap when resonated? He'd given up on improving their appliances though.

He poured himself a mug of tea and settled on the couch with his laptop, preparing to start his class. Jack was quite late today. The captain was usually gone long before now. Typing in the security code to link to the school's computer, he hit enter and was greeted by the sight of his students, all sitting at their desks and ready to start the lesson.

"Good morning. And how are we doing today?"

There was a chorus of "Good morning, Mr. Smith" in reply. His class had grown in the last few weeks due to word of his enjoyable and entertaining classes spreading around the campus.

"Right. Now, where did we leave off last time?"

"Alright, I'm going," Jack said, walking into view of the web cam while pulling his jacket on. "Drop over around lunch if you feel up to it. Lacy hasn't seen you in awhile.

"Jack! I'm kind of in the middle of something," the Doctor chastised him.

"Right. Sorry."

The captain came over, tipping the Time Lord's head back and swooping in for a kiss. He moved his lips firmly against his lover's softer ones, nibbling gently on that full bottom lip. When he finally pulled away the Doctor was flabbergasted.

"Jack!"

"What? I can't have a goodbye kiss," he asked with a wink.

"That was not a goodbye kiss! That was a showoff kiss and you know it!"

"I'll see you later."

"We're not done talking about this. You're in trouble."

"Sure I am," Jack said, closing the door behind him.

The Doctor scowled in the direction the other man had exited and turned back to the screen.

"Rochelle! Chelsea! Phones away right now!"

xXxXx

When lunch time rolled around, the Doctor had made his way to the hub to see Jack. The alarm went off as the cog door opened. It was nice to be back in the hub. He still loved the place even though he needed his own space. As the door closed behind him he was immediately greeted by Lacy. She ran circles around his legs, whining and pawing at him in a plea for affection Obviously, she'd missed him more than Jack let on.

"Hello, sweetheart. How have you been," he asked, kneeling down to scratch behind her ears.

Her tail thumped against the floor and she pushed into his hand, loving the attention. She followed him across the grated floor into the empty main room. All was quiet except for the sound of the water tower and Myfanwy's occasional noise. It was quite nippy, he thought to himself, pulling his coat tighter around him with a shiver. He walked up to Jack's office and found it empty as well. Where was everyone?

Well, he could always fix the heating while he waited for them to get back. The Time Lord pulled out his sonic and aimed it at the heating unit along the office floor to start tracing the wiring.

xXxXx

Jack threw his coat to the floor angrily. Wiping at his face again, he flicked his hands, sending some of the green goo flying in random directions.

"Yuck! I really hate getting eaten!"

"Well no one asked you to throw yourself into it's mouth," Gwen said, flicking a bit off her sleeve.

Jack was covered from head to toe in the sticky mess, his hair plastered to his head and his clothes soaked and heavy with it. The alien that had come through had been nothing but a voracious tube of flesh, sucking in anything and everything in its path, including one Jack Harkness. He had gotten off a few shots inside before he'd been digested, causing enough damage before he died to at least get the beast to regurgitate everything it had pulled in. It seemed the TARDIS wasn't the only thing bigger on the inside and Ianto had his work cut out for him on clean up. Once Jack had been upchucked, Ianto had cleverly gotten the creature to eat one of their explosives. Of course, now he was sweeping up alien chunks so he didn't feel too clever anymore.

"Being eaten is the absolute worst. No, wait, burning. Burning first, then digestion. Especially when you have to grow everything back and you wake up before your skin's regrown."

Gwen winced at the lovely picture Jack had painted for her. That's what she wanted to picture, Jack without skin. Sitting down at a computer, the Welsh woman checked over all the readings and the cameras. It was so routine, she wasn't paying full attention. Thus, it almost escaped her notice that one of the weevil cells was open and empty.

Launching up from her chair, she turned to Jack, hand flying to her gun.

"Jack, one of the weevils is loose."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," he growled as he peeled off his shirt. "Just what I need. A fucking Weevil hunt."

He could check the CCTV. It would be simple enough. But he wanted to try something new. Putting two fingers in his mouth, the captain blew a high pitched, echoing whistle. Within moments, the jingling of tags could be heard as Lacy ran toward him. Normally she would've jumped all over him and assaulted him with kisses but instead, she wisely stopped short at the sight of him. He couldn't exactly blame her. For once, he wouldn't want to lick him either. He patted the back of his leg, signaling her to follow and headed toward the cells. When they had reached the cell, he sent her in to sniff around.

"You got it?" She barked at him. "Go find it," he told her.

The pup took off up the stairs into the main room, nose to the ground. Jack followed after her, hand on his gun as they made their way through the hub. Lacy stopped at an open service panel in the floor. Looking down, then to Jack to be sure he was following, she jumped down. Jack dropped down after her. The service paths. Either the weevils were getting smarter or someone had helped it. The captain was even more wary now, anticipating the possibility of an intruder as well as an escaped, feral alien.

Lacy turned the corner, barking excitedly. Jack rounded the corner as well. There was the escaped Weevil, standing in the middle of the tunnel and holding a wall panel. However, he was more interested that there were feet poking out of the open section of wall. Red, high top trainers. With a huff, Jack took his hand off his gun.

"What are you doing?"

The Doctor poked his head out and looked the captain up and down.

"What on earth happened to you?"

"Never mind that. Why is there a weevil down here with you," he asked.

"Well, there was no one else here and you made me promise not to do any lifting," the Doctor told him. "I'm just about done with the heating. I think you have a rodent problem by the way. The wires were chewed."

He looked Jack up and down again.

"Seems you've been chewed as well," he said, sliding back into the opening and the whir of his sonic filling the tunnel.

"Yes," Jack said. "And not in the fun way."

"I didn't know there was a fun way to get eaten," the Doctor teased.

"Really," Jack asked with a cocky grin. "Then I haven't been doing my job well enough."

The captain took hold of one foot, pulling the Doctor out. He moved to lean in for a kiss but was stopped when a palm met his face.

"No offense, but you're kind of...well...disgusting right now. You'll want to shower before that dries. That glop sets like cement." He slid back in. "As much as I love you the idea of being that stuck to you doesn't have much appeal. Besides, I believe I was told to come here for lunch and you can't go out looking like that."

Again, the Captain couldn't blame him. He was covered in green slop and it was starting to harden. He'd have to incinerate these clothes. There was no saving them. He looked down at the tacky mess in disgust.

"Shower would be a good idea." Jack said. "Give me twenty minutes and we can go. And make sure that gets back to the cells when you're done."

xXxXx

Jack followed as the Doctor went from shop to shop, waiting for something to pique his interest. He loved watching his lover flit around, looking at the different chalk board menus and occasionally becoming side tracked by a shop display. For the first time he could remember, the Time Lord had his trench coat buttoned. Not just that, but underneath was a TARDIS blue hoodie. He wasn't taking any chances of exposing the newly formed baby bump, though it was hardly noticeable unless he was trying to squeeze into his old clothes.

The Time Lord stopped outside an antique shop, mesmerized by whatever was in the window. Jack turned his head to see what had caught his lover's eye. It was an old fashioned rocking chair. The wood had a beautiful cherry finish, the cushion a cream color. He looked over, seeing the Doctor put his hand against the glass.

"So I guess you like it," he asked.

"It's...familiar."

Very familiar. But they weren't his memories. They were John Smith's. It was the chair from a frequently visited home, the chair that the Matron could have rocked their babies to sleep in. When he had used the chameleon arch he hadn't just changed his memories. He had literally rewritten his DNA. He had been a human, capable of siring children instead of bearing them, no actual breeding season to effect his judgment or reduce him to incoherency. Part of him would've liked that. Part of him still wanted that.

But that part of him was very small. How could he honestly want that, he thought to himself, looking at Jack and smiling, when he had this? Jack had such a love for him and a devotion the likes of which he'd never encountered. Sure, they clashed here and there and they would grate on each other now and again, but what couple didn't? Besides, it would be boring if they got along all the time.

Taking the captain's hand, he pulled him along before he got it in his head to go buy the old thing.

"You know what I do like," he said. "Zeffron."

"Zeffron," the captain asked. "As in Zach Effron?"

"Oh. I was wondering why that name rung a bell."

"The name? You wanted to name our child Zeffron?"

"Well what would you suggest then?"

"I don't know," he said. "David, Michael, something that won't get him tormented on the playground."

The Doctor pouted at him. "What makes you think he won't get teased for something else? Oh, like having two dads for instance."

"Well I never said there wasn't that chance," Jack said. "I just don't think we should give the other kids any more material than they've got already."

They walked down the street together, lunch almost forgotten as the topic of what to call their child reared its head. A Gallifreyan name would do him no good living on earth and if Jack had any real family names before the Time Agency, he had forgotten them. The fact he had held onto Jack Harkness for so long is something other agents would consider odd. However, if there's one thing he had learned and held onto from that, it was various names along with their origins and meanings.

"Benjamin?"

"Hmmm. I do like that. And old Benny boy was quite brilliant in his own sort of way, despite the whole electrocution. Invent the library and it's Ben who, but fly a kite in a thunderstorm and they remember that forever," the Doctor said, reminiscing about time spent in the American colonies. It had been quite fun to watch the inventor cook a turkey with a redirected lightning bolt.

"Benjamin. Benjamin Sergius. Benjamin Sergius Harkness. Has a nice ring to it!"

The Time Lord grinned. It was good to have something to call his child besides he or the baby. It made the bond between them so much more real.

"Our little Benjamin. Oh and he'll be brilliant," he said, his expression glowing.

"And handsome," Jack told him.

"And brave."

"And charismatic."

"With a brain for science and maths and engineering,"

"Are we talking about the same kid," Jack laughed.