Title: Accidents Analysed (1/21)
Rating: PG-13 to 15
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto; Team; ? (appearing later); OCs - Griffin, Niamh and Bryn.
Spoilers: Everything shown in DW and TW to be safe
Warnings: fluff; mild angst; smut in later chapters

Summary: It's been a decade since Jack met Ianto, but there's still something not quite right. How will he react though?

Disclaimer: The boys don't belong to me, RTD and BBC own them - but I own all the relatives!

**Chapter 6 contains semi-graphic 'smut' but it's not gratuitous or sex for the sake of it - it's all part of the 'emotional' story! That is the only chapter that is M rated, so the overall rating of the fic is staying as PG-13 to 15 (advanced warning here - if you'd like to read the story but don't want any graphic scenes, just message me and I'll write an editted version of that chapter for you via message)

Enjoy!

Accidents Analysed

CHAPTER 1

As soon as the cog door had rolled open, Griffin ran through. It was Friday, which meant he got to spend the afternoon with Auntie Tosh, helping her with her computer.

He carefully put down his backpack and climbed up onto the seat that the Japanese woman reserved for the seven year old. She smiled down at him and Griffin was instantly lost in conversation about computers that, somehow, he understood to a certain degree.

Trailing behind him was Jack, looking partly disgruntled, but mostly just resigned. It seemed to him that being an active parent was sometimes almost enough stress and pain to make becoming a parent not worth it. Of course, it was only a rare, stray thought – yet he'd been having it more and more often over the past few months.

Right now though, he was debating the merits of slipping a low dosage of tranquilliser into Niamh's juice to calm her down. Ever since she'd started school several months beforehand, she'd not only revealed herself to be cunning, but very good at playing those around her.

Jack still insisted that she hadn't inherited either trait from him. Ianto, of course, insisted otherwise - and when there was a disagreement, Ianto was almost always right. Jack had learnt that a very long time ago.

He sighed heavily and wondered just when it had been that he'd become this domesticated. Since you got pregnant, idiot, a voice said with more than a hint of mockery. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the voice. It had been a pretty useless question to ask after all.

Deep inside, Jack had found himself harbouring an uneasy feeling. It didn't change the fact that he loved his children and Ianto, but he couldn't help but feel lost, restless even. There was no other way to explain it. I guess this is what a mid life crisis is then… he frowned slightly. Would he only live another hundred or so years then?

No, this was just Jack being Jack-like.

"Daddy, I want Tad." Niamh declared, wiggling in Jack's arms. He just held tight to stop her from falling.

"He's working, sweetheart, but I'm sure he'll be around as soon as he's done." Jack almost yawned - and that wasn't normal. Niamh frowned at him and pushed herself away deliberately. Jack let her go and she stumbled towards Gwen at her station, the woman instantly greeting her and scooping the little girl onto her lap.

Jack stretched a little and went into his office, giving in to the urge to be alone. It had been plaguing him all day, but for some reason or other, he'd not had a chance to indulge it yet. He closed his office door gently and sat back at his desk, closing his eyes and concentrating on the rhythm of his breathing.

He could hear the beat of his heart deep inside and the warm rush of blood pumping through his veins. With a sigh, he concentrated on working out the tension from his muscles, relieving the aches that had built over the past day.

It had started when he woke up that morning, Ianto already gone from the bed and in the kitchen with both children. Jack had no idea why, but after so many years with the young man, waking up alone made the uneasiness set into his bones.

Ianto had noticed the difference the moment Jack had walked into the kitchen. Without saying a word, he'd made him a cup of coffee and continued feeding Niamh her breakfast. Similarly, Griffin had noticed and had kept himself from showing Jack the drawing he'd done – for whilst Ianto had to keep his attention on the little girl, he'd developed the habit of drawing to occupy himself.

Jack glanced towards the back of his office, where it lead round and down to the archives. The door to the room the team – mainly Gwen and Tosh – had set up for the children stood open. He slowly stood up and walked towards it, flicking the light on as he stepped inside.

For the past few years, as Ianto had had to return to work and the kids had needed to be in the Hub more and more often, the old storeroom was discovered and converted, the door moved to the current wall for easier access.

Now, the brick was plastered and painted yellow, covered in drawings by the two Harkness-Jones children. There was a low bed for them to nap on and a sofa, as well as a few toys and books scattered around the place.

Jack snagged the edge of one of Griffin's jumpers from where it hung dangerously from the low book shelf and headed across the room. As he folded the garment, he sat on the sofa and looked over the pictures.

Niamh's were surprisingly intelligible for a four year old. She conveyed everything from weevils to dinosaurs, to fairytales, to Godzilla trampling Cardiff. Jack silently wondered just what went on in his daughter's head. Godzilla at four? Maybe not.

Griffin's showed a few of the same, but mainly Myfanwy in various different places and the people he'd grown up around. There were many of Tosh and Gwen, several of Owen and a lot more of Ianto, Jack and Niamh – even some of Bryn and her husband, Marcus. Jack smiled briefly before noticing a crumpled up piece of paper in the corner, hurriedly stuffed behind the bookshelf.

He crouched down and pulled it free, smoothing it out and staring at it in concern.

The A3 sheet clearly showed a bright blue box, with a flashing lamp on the top of it. Stars were scattered on the background, and Jack stood next to it, another man standing on the other side of it, wearing a suit and a long brown coat. Jack's heart pulled guiltily and he briefly wondered how Griffin had found the images and who had ripped the picture from the wall.

"Daddy?" A small voice came from the doorway and Jack looked up in surprise. Niamh was holding onto the door and peering in nervously. Jack quickly folded the picture up and slipped it into his pocket before holding a hand out for Niamh to take.

She walked over and he pulled her onto his lap. She cuddled closer to him and looked up with her big blue eyes, staring at Jack imploringly. Jack sighed and held her closer, hoping it would do something to ease the dull haze across his vision.
It really wasn't his day today.