This piece belongs to my "Domestic" series and it's set half a year after Domestics: Torchwood Style
It took Jack a few days to make the connection. At first he had blamed the leftovers of the Chinese takeaway. He had had no idea how long they had been in the fridge, but he was hungry after chasing a Weevil through the sewers. The next day he had suffered the consequences and started the day with his head in the toilet. Ianto had been at his side and was half soothing him, half chiding him for eating probably spoiled food.
They'd just returned from their long weekend away after their Civil Partnership and Jack had cursed himself for being so stupid to eat spoiled takeaway. Although his stomach wasn't normally upset that easily, this time there had to be something in the food that could even send his 51st century stomach into a frenzy.
Ianto had put him back to bed and ordered him to stay there until he felt better and for once Jack had complied, feeling utterly exhausted. He had been asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow and therefore had missed the worried expression on Ianto's face. This had been the first time he had seen Jack being sick and although he knew that Jack would get better eventually, he couldn't help the knot he felt in his stomach.
Then Ianto had shaken his head. Hell, maybe it hadn't been spoiled food after all, but a stomach bug and he had caught it as well. Sighing, Ianto had brushed a kiss to Jack's forehead and had left their flat, hoping for the sake of the city that it was indeed Jack's stupidity and not the flu. With Torchwood Three only consisting of Jack, Gwen and himself, it would be a catastrophe if two of them were knocked out by the flu.
But when Jack had showed up in the Hub in the early afternoon and had proclaimed that he was feeling much better, everything had seemed to go back to normal. Ianto had eyed his partner warily for a few hours, but when Jack hadn't shown any signs of being sick, he had been satisfied that it had only been the damn takeaway.
Until the next day…that had started exactly like the day before with Jack's head in the toilet. Now Ianto had been seriously worried and had ordered Jack to stay at home and in bed.
"If this doesn't get any better, you will go and see a doctor!" With his hands on his hips and a stern look, Ianto had stood next to the bed and had glowered down at the miserable figure that had peered up at him. That day Jack hadn't come into work and when Ianto had gotten home he had found him where he had left him- In bed.
"How are you feeling?" Ianto had sat down on the bed and brushed a stray strand of hair from Jack's forehead.
"Tired, but okay."
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not a child Ianto, don't treat me like one. I'm feeling much better. No urge to hug the toilet and I even ate a proper dinner."
"And by proper dinner, you mean pizza, am I correct? How is that a proper meal for an upset stomach?" Ianto had tried to keep a stern face, but Jack's sheepish expression had been giving him a hard time.
"I was hungry and I'm still feeling okay, so it couldn't have been that bad," Jack had defended himself and had let his hand crawl under Ianto's shirt, making the younger man shiver.
The discussion had been officially ended when Ianto had let himself be pulled down into a kiss and could convince himself first hand of Jack's fit state. Clothes had been quickly shed and limbs had tangled, while mouths had been pressed together.
Sufficiently sated after a slow love making, they had both slipped into a deep sleep, their legs still entwined.
---
It was when Ianto was awakened to the now familiar sounds of Jack retching in the bathroom that the young man made the decision to force the Captain to see a doctor. This was no food poisoning anymore. He slipped out of the bed and padded over to their en-suite, squatting down next to Jack and rubbing soothingly over his back.
It took a while until Jack finally fell back and rested against their bathtub. His body was trembling from the strain it had been put through and his breathing was wracked.
Picking a washcloth out of the small closet, Ianto held it under cold water and started to wipe it gently over Jack's face. The older man leaned thankfully into the touch, his eyes already half-lidded closed again.
"You will see a doctor today," Ianto stated and threw the cloth into the wash basin.
"I'm fine."
"You're obviously not fine, Jack. This is not open for discussion. I'll put you back to bed now so you can rest and I can go to the Hub and sort things out. Then I will take you to a doctor. Or I will bring one to the flat, if you're not feeling well enough to leave the house." Ianto grabbed his partner under the arms and pulled him up, almost carrying him back to bed. "Now, try to get some sleep and no pizza!"
Jack grumbled something incomprehensible into the pillow, but made no effort anymore to fight Ianto regarding seeing a doctor and that worried the young man more than anything. Carding his fingers gently through Jack's hair, Ianto bent down and brushed a kiss to his partner's forehead, immediately feeling the warmth eradiating from it. Ianto sighed and straightened up again, this seemed to be much more serious than he had thought. Pulling the duvet over Jack, he switched the lights off and grabbed his clothes to get ready for work.
Jack heard the front door shut half an hour later and moaned into the pillow. His stomach was still giving him hell and he felt so damn tired. But instead of closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep, he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. A long forgotten memory had pushed itself into the foreground and Jack sighed heavily.
It couldn't be, could it?
Pressing both his hands on his belly, Jack felt the heat emanating from it as well as light tremors.
It could just be gas. Or a stomach flu. Or still that damn takeaway.
Jack screwed his eyes shut at the thought of food, or to be more explicit, Chinese food. Taking a few deep breaths to fight the nausea back, Jack threw the duvet off and glared at his offending stomach.
Only one way to find out.
Grabbing his wrist strap from the bedside table, he flicked it open and pressed a few buttons before holding it over his belly. It took only a few seconds before he heard a low beep and he pulled his hand back, letting it drop to the mattress, still holding the wrist strap.
"Come on Jack, don't be such a wimp!" He chided himself while still staring at the ceiling. When he finally gathered enough courage, he brought his hand back up and squinted at the tiny display of his Vortex Manipulator. "Oh crap."
---
Cursing, Ianto went over the readings of the Rift monitor from the night before. He couldn't really concentrate and had to scroll back up every so often. His mind couldn't focus on the data but would wander back to Jack in their flat. They had just made the step to become civil partners; it would just fit into their world if some strange fucked-up virus would take Jack away from him.
"Shut it, Ianto Harkness-Jones!" Ianto muttered under his breath. It's not like Jack could die of a virus and hell, he had only vomited a few times now, nothing serious. Cursing himself for clearly overreacting, Ianto shut down the program, satisfied that it had been a quiet night and glanced at his watch. Still half an hour before Gwen came in. She had covered the late shift and was not coming in until 10 am. Muttering again about how stupid he was to be so worried about Jack, Ianto walked over to the coffee machine and prepared himself a cup.
It really started to become harder and harder to operate Torchwood with only three people. But, Jack wouldn't recruit anybody. He was still tetchy on that subject, as it had been him who recruited Tosh and Owen. And he felt responsible for their deaths, no matter how often Ianto tried to tell him otherwise.
But it was exactly times like this, when they were one agent short that Ianto felt the urge to throttle Jack and punch some sense into him. Luckily they had no major catastrophe coming down on them yet. Well, besides the Earth being pulled into the Medusa Cascade and Daleks invading. But the Doctor had been there then. Only they couldn't trust for the Doctor to always come to their aid. Torchwood was the first and last line of defence against any alien threat. Yes, there was UNIT, but their solutions weren't always the best. Ianto still shuddered when he thought of that Osterhagen key.
No, they needed more personnel and maybe now Jack would listen to him.
Ianto gave a relieved sigh, when he heard the cog door finally rolling open. Instantly dismissing the reports he was working on, he strode to the coffee machine and prepared a cup of coffee for Gwen.
"Hey Ianto," she greeted merrily and threw her bag onto the sofa in the main area, gratefully accepting the mug, Ianto pressed into her hand. "Oh, bless you." She flopped down in her chair and took a sip from her coffee before looking around. "Jack not here?" The worried expression on Ianto's face immediately told her there was something wrong.
"Jack is not feeling well. I'm about to head back home to take him to a doctor," Ianto sighed and wished he would feel as confident as his voice had just sounded.
"Do you need any help, sweetheart?" Gwen had put her mug down on the table and took Ianto's hand now in hers. "I'm sure he will be fine."
"Thank you." Pulling his hand free, Ianto grabbed his jacket and headed for the cog door, turning around shortly to give Gwen an apologetic glance. "I will be back as soon as possible. Call me, if there's something you need help with."
"Don't worry. I'll handle the aliens, you go and handle Jack," Gwen smiled and was relieved when a smirk played over Ianto's lips.
"You have the easier job then," Ianto joked and actually felt better even if only for a short moment. He then made his way out of the Hub and to his car, already mentally preparing himself for the task of convincing Jack to see a doctor when he climbed into his Audi.
---
When he parked the car in front of their flat, he took a deep breath before opening the door. He just knew this would end in a fight, but he wouldn't budge this time. Jack was ill and he would see a doctor today.
After climbing up the stairs to the second floor, Ianto took another deep breath before entering his flat. He put the keys on the small table by the door and shrugged out of his jacket before making his way to the bedroom. However when he passed the living room, he saw a figure standing at the window.
"I see you feel well enough to stand up," Ianto said softly and stepped into the living room. "You're already dressed, we can go…"
"Ianto…"
"No Jack, this isn't up for discussion. You're sick and…"
"Ianto…"
"You're sick Jack! And it's not getting any better. I want you to see a doctor."
"Ianto please, just sit down for a minute?"
"No Jack, I won't let you talk me out of this." Ianto stepped closer to his partner, who still hadn't turned away from the window.
"Ianto, please," Jack sighed.
"I just want to help you Jack. I'm worried."
"I know." Jack finally turned around and looked at Ianto. "Just hear me out, will you?"
Actually taking in a sharp breath, when he saw Jack's face, the knot in his stomach tightened even more. Ianto instantly stepped closer to Jack and put his hands to his lover's face, the worry now pouring out of him. "What's wrong, cariad?"
"Sit with me?" Jack's eyes darted to the sofa and Ianto took the hint, pulling Jack to the desired object and pushing him down.
"You're really starting to worry me here."
"I know and I'm sorry." Jack gave his lover a half smile and took one of Ianto's hands in his. "This will not be easy to take in, so just hear me out first, okay?"
"Okay." Now seriously freaked out, Ianto grabbed Jack's hand tightly.
Taking a deep breath, Jack started the monologue he had practiced all morning.
"You know that I'm from the 51st century," Jack began and looked at Ianto, continuing when the other man nodded. "Well, that fact alone makes me a bit different. By then evolution will have changed the human race, not much, but with the help of a bit human engineering and genetics a lot of things are possible. And I don't just mean the pheromones, although they're a nice touch."
Jack paused and looked down, his gaze falling on their entwined hands and a smile played over his face. When he lifted his head again, he saw Ianto watching him curiously. The young man had every right to ask questions, but he was waiting for Jack to finish and that simple fact made Jack love him even more.
"Anyway, like I was saying, a lot of things will be possible. Medical science will be far advanced and they've tried to break every boundary known to mankind. In the future humans will be scattered all over the Universe, some will live in colonies; others will mingle with different species. And reproduction will be one of the big topics then." Jack glanced at Ianto, hoping that the young man would see where this conversation was heading, but he was only met with one of Ianto's stoic faces.
Sighing, Jack gathered his thoughts again. "I've told you about the Boeshane Peninsula where I was brought up. It was a human colony, living under the threat of invasion. There was a lot of death and destruction. The population started to get thinner every year. And as a consequence of this the doctors found a way to genetically enhance the chances of population growth. You have to know that the balance between male and female babies dropped in favour of male babies. And therefore reproduction became an issue as time went on." Jack stopped, not really knowing how to say the next bit.
Ianto regarded his lover for a moment and replayed everything he had heard in the last minutes. A picture started to form, but something inside him was struggling with the message that image was telling. Then he remembered the last days and even more pieces slotted into place. But it couldn't be.
"Jack, are you trying to tell me, that you're pregnant?" Ianto suddenly blurted out, his fear at once confirmed by the shocked face of his lover.
Jack didn't know if he should be happy that Ianto had come to the right conclusion and spared him the rest of his speech or if he should fear what Ianto's next reaction would be. So he gaped at his lover, opening and closing his mouth a few times before lowering his gaze to their still entwined hands.
"What if I were?" He finally whispered.
Now it was Ianto's turn to gape. His emotions were running extra hours and he couldn't really pinpoint what he was feeling right now. Fear? Anger? Joy? Confusion? He settled for a mix of all in the end.
"I… I… well… but how?" The second he had said the words, he felt incredibly stupid and he was rewarded with a coy smirk from Jack.
"Do I really have to go into the 'how' part?"
"Well, obviously we… but how… I mean, you're a man," Ianto stuttered, still overwhelmed by Jack's confession. Pregnant? They would have a kid. Okay, now he was definitely getting scared.
"Like I said, the doctors found a way to make up for the lack of women in our colony. Every boy got a special genetic treatment before he was even born. In some cases it never worked, but the majority of us were able to get pregnant."
"You're really pregnant?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Wow." Ianto pressed out and let himself fall back onto the couch.
"Are you going to freak on me?"
Ianto could have laughed at the fear in Jack's voice, but he knew better. Jack was just as scared as he was. "No, I think, I'm done freaking out. And by the way, give me some credit, I'm working for Torchwood and have seen weirder things than a pregnant man." He glanced up at Jack with a smirk, relieved when the older man smiled back. "So, how exactly does this work now?"
Jack felt as if a mountain had been lifted from his heart. He had expected Ianto to freak out and scream, but he really should know his partner better by now. "Well, it's fairly the same as female pregnancies go. It will be nine months from now, I will get bigger and the hormones will flood my body. Obviously I can't give birth in the usual way so it will be a C-section in the end."
"Wait, you're saying nine months from now," Ianto propped himself up on his elbows. How can you be sure you're pregnant? I thought it took at least four weeks before you could tell if a woman is pregnant or not?"
"Well, as I might have to remind you, I'm not a woman." Ignoring the huff from Ianto, Jack continued. "Actually the conception was about four weeks ago. You see, my body doesn't have a permanent womb, it's only when special circumstances come together that I can develop one. If that's the case the sperm is kept in some kind of storage bubble until the womb is built. After that the bubble is released into the womb where it changes into an egg and the real deal begins. That womb building process takes about four weeks and in the last stage when the bubble's planted in the womb the body reacts to the new part."
"That's why you were hugging the toilet every morning?"
"Exactly."
"But for all I know morning sickness doesn't start before the foetus is at least four weeks old?"
"I said male pregnancy is fairly the same like a female pregnancy, not exactly like it. We get the morning sickness as a reaction of the body for the new womb. And of course the hormone level is completely whacked out of balance and I react to that as well. It will be over in a week or so, when my body has accepted the womb and the hormones have ended their fight, well, have agreed to a truce for the time being." Jack grinned when he saw the amazed look on Ianto's face. "What?"
"This is just unbelievable. I've always wanted a family, but after Lisa…" Ianto stopped himself. "It's just, well…" Fighting to find the right words, Ianto squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have brought that up. I love you Jack, and I love being with you and with that, I had accepted not to have kids. But that was okay as long as I had you. And now…" Ianto broke off, finding he couldn't talk for the lump that had formed in his throat. He would be a Tad!
"Hey, it's okay." Jack reached out and put his hand on his young lover's cheek, which nuzzled his face into the warm palm instantly.
"I will be a Tad!" Ianto sobbed out and grabbed for Jack, pulling him into a heated kiss.
The Captain let himself be pulled and shifted just a bit so that his body was now pressed flush against Ianto. The relief that his partner was actually happy about becoming a father was indescribable and Jack poured all his emotions into the kiss which quickly changed into something more.
Hands were roaming over warm skin after offending clothes had been pulled off and the passion was sizzling in the air. It didn't take long for a slick finger to enter Ianto, quickly replaced by Jack's throbbing erection as they started their familiar dance.
When they both had reached their climax, Jack collapsed on top of Ianto, who instantly hugged his lover close, his thumbs stroking lazy circles on Jack's back. Nuzzling his nose into Jack's hair, Ianto inhaled the well known scent of his lover and sighed happily.
"We're going to be parents," he whispered into Jack's ear.
"Yes, we are."
Ianto could feel Jack smiling against his shoulder and pulled the older man even closer. There were still so many things to discuss, so many questions he needed to ask, but right now, he was just content to hold his lover, the father of his unborn child.
"We will have a kid." Ianto needed to say it out loud as if it would only be true then.
"Actually," Jack drawled out, pressing a small kiss to Ianto's shoulder, "we'll have two. Didn't I mention that? We're going to have twins."
"WHAT?"