Celebrate Good Times, Alright!
Disclaimer: I do not own a thing here.
Summary: The next generation is growing up quickly and Anwen is celebrating her third wedding anniversary with a small party. What happens when the TARDIS crew attends said party and Gwen realizes who Annabelle's boyfriend is. Ianto/Jack. Sixty-second in the "Immortal Janto" series.
It occurred to me that I hadn't written a story that included Rhys, Gwen, and Anwen in it. To set it up, Annabelle is twenty-three, Theo is twenty-five, Anwen is twenty-nine, and the twins are thirty-one(ish).
Note: Okay, so I've gotten a lot of people asking why don't I just these stories into one big fic and post each one-shot/two-shot as individual chapters. I understand where you guys are coming from, I really do. However, that being said, I would like to say that, by the time someone asked that question, I had already made the decision to keep posting individual pieces. It would consolidate space, if every story was in one larger fic. At this point in time, I will continue to do so. I hope this answers your questions!
Now, enough of my prattling, I hope you all enjoy this fic!
They should have expected to get the invitations to Anwen's anniversary party. Last time Ianto and Jack had talked to Rhys, the Welshman had told them that Anwen had announced to Eleanor and himself that she was pregnant, which would make this year special. She and her husband, Gerry, decided that they were going to break convention and have a small joint anniversary and baby shower party.
Jack was quite eager to go to attend, as usual.
He did love these sorts of things – especially when said they involved someone he genuinely cared about. Rhys and Anwen had been a staple in both his and Ianto's lives over the years. Both were very easy around the two immortals, along the rest of their oddball family, which was a small blessing, in and of itself.
And Rhys had been actually very supportive of Annabelle's relationship with Andy, when Ianto had spilled the beans. Rhys did like Andy. The blond had, likewise, grown on Rhys, who looked past the fact that Andy had, once upon a time, had had a relationship with Gwen. It was much to Andy's credit that he had long since gotten over Gwen and it was a shared opinion by everyone who knew Annabelle that she was the far better choice for Andy than Gwen ever was.
Give to Anwen, Ianto mused, to be the one to decide to throw her own baby shower though. She certainly had that way about her. Gerry, likewise, had gone along with it, being the one to say that they should celebrate it on their actual third wedding anniversary, inviting their families and close friends along.
Gerry was a good man that way. He, like Anwen, was a school teacher and was so excited about having a baby. The few times that Jack and Ianto had spent time with him, he had been very courteous and gentlemanly towards them, actively engaging them in conversation.
Regardless, as they arrived at the venue for the party, Ianto felt the faint, tell-tale signs of nerves wash over him – not nerves at the prospect of one of his adopted nieces having a child of her own (no, he was so happy for her), but at the prospect of seeing Gwen for the first time in many years. It was a hard pill to swallow, but he knew that she was going to be at the part. Rhys had told the entire TARDIS crew so much and it was only right that she would be there.
Gwen was Anwen's mother after all and rightly should have a part in her grandchild's life.
But that didn't allay his nerves or that old fear that still lived in his gut. As much as he had his own personal feelings of Gwen's actions towards himself, Ianto did have to give her some credit. In the last few years, she had made a significant effort to mend the distance between herself and her now-ex-husband and their daughter. He had to guess that it had something to do with reality hitting her after a particularly bad week at work and the fact that Rose had finally gotten on her last nerve.
Jack slipped an arm around his waist as they walked into the hall, heading towards an open table, Annabelle, Andy, the Doctor, Donna, and the twins following behind them. Ianto looked over at him and smiled a bit.
"You were thinking about Gwen, weren't you?" Jack asked, knowingly smiling at Ianto.
He nodded, his eyes flicking to the front of the room, where the soon-to-be grandmother was sitting, hands folded on her lap, next to Eleanor. It was a pity, Ianto mused briefly, Gwen hadn't found herself another husband. The guilt of ruining a perfectly good relationship and marriage haunted her still, he noted, if her posture and general uncomfortable air towards Eleanor was anything to go by, but he was not going to fault Rhys and Eleanor their relationship. Those two were good together and they proved that, as time went on, their love for each other only got stronger.
"Just a bit," Ianto admitted to Jack, a few seconds later.
"We don't have to talk to her, if you don't want to," Jack promised. Ianto was grateful for that, though he saw the deviousness in his husband's eyes. "But, you have to admit, you do want to see what she'll say about Andy and Annabelle."
Ianto snorted as they took their seats. "Oh, yes. That'll be hilarious."
When they had absconded with Andy, back in 2015, it had been some stroke of luck and (probably) temporal design that Annabelle had not been with them when they cleared out Andy's desk at the station. Gwen had been there and she had been quite miffed to see Andy leaving the station. Under a previous agreement (enforced by the Doctor), Jack and Ianto had played dumb about the real reason that Andy was leaving – something about the fact that they were protecting future encounters that Gwen would have with their past selves. That was why they happened to be at the station by coincidence on Andy's last day before he left the Cardiff Police Force for good.
And Andy hadn't been in contact with Gwen since, which was good.
That meant that, for a little while, they were able to enjoy the party, before the sparks started to fly.
The party itself was fairly simple and most everyone was enjoying themselves. Anwen looked like the image of beauty at six months, her baby bump quite obvious. Ianto was so proud of his niece. Was it only yesterday that she had been four years old and he was just meeting her for the first time?
Ianto could hardly believe how fast children grew up sometimes.
Eventually, however, things got interesting.
They had managed to congratulate Anwen and Gerry eventually, handing off their gift, a spa weekend for Anwen, after the baby was born, and a wooden rocking chair from the late eighteenth century that Jack had remembered from a shop in Victorian London, and spent time with Rhys and Eleanor before Gwen caught up with them, Donna and the Doctor joining them moments later, smiles going all around. Jack had been the one who first caught sight of Gwen approaching them. He nudged Ianto's side, drawing his attention.
"Hello, Gwen," Ianto said.
"Jack, Ianto," she replied, looking between the two of them, sniffing a bit. "I should have expected to see you here."
"Of course," Jack said, an easy grin crossing his face, "we wouldn't miss Anwen's party for anything in the universe." He quirked an eyebrow at her, a little habit that Ianto found to be quite endearing and caused the Welsh immortal smile, despite himself. "After all, we couldn't miss out on this shindig. You know how much I love parties!"
Ianto saw the little hint of a plan in Jack's eyes. He knew where Jack's brain was going, only because of the many years that they had spent together.
"Well, and Annabelle wanted to bring her boyfriend along too," Ianto added, throwing a little bone for Gwen.
"Boyfriend?"
Both Ianto and Jack glanced back to where Annabelle and Andy were standing, chatting with the twins and Theo. Gwen's jaw dropped noticeably. The gears in her head were turning and Ianto knew that she was thinking back to the last time that she had seen and spoken to Andy, all those years ago. The story that Andy had fed to his family was that he had been offered a position with an organization that went into war zones and other difficult areas, to help people. It wasn't a totally false situation. Traveling with the Doctor was a lot like that.
Annabelle looked over at them, as if sensing Gwen's gaze on them. Ianto saw her smile a bit and touch Andy on the arm. The blond Welshman followed her gaze, eyes locking on Gwen, who was still gaping at them.
The duo walked over and joined them.
"Hello, Gwen," Andy said, giving her a warm smile. He didn't have anything against Gwen, Ianto knew that for a fact.
A long time ago, Andy set aside those romantic feelings he had for Gwen, when he realized that the relationship that they had shared had simply been one of connivance and not one that would have been good for either one of them. Besides, Ianto knew, for a fact, that Andy genuinely loved Annabelle and that the relationship that the two of them shared had a really good chance of being successful.
"Andy . . . you're . . . you're dating her?"
Gwen's loud exclamation caused a few people to turn in surprise, clearly in shock to see Anwen's mother very close to throwing a fit. All of the signs of a Gwen-Cooper-temper-tantrum were all there. Even after all this time, Ianto still recognized the signs. Jack and Rhys did too and, out of the corner of his eye, Ianto saw the two men shift, following his lead, trying to block Gwen from view as they tried to talk her down from the tantrum.
"Annabelle? Yeah, I'm her boyfriend," Andy said. He glanced over at Annabelle, smiling, and reached over, taking her hand. His choice of words was not lost on Ianto. "What's wrong with that?"
The dark-haired woman looked from Annabelle and Andy to Ianto and Jack. Her jaw was set and there was a fire in her eyes.
"How can you let this happen, Jack, Ianto?" she spat out. "This is why you left, Andy? To travel through time and space? To be with their daughter? How can you justify standing here, when you'll let Andy travel with you?"
Ianto looked at Jack and then back to Rhys, Donna, and the Doctor. They all had similar looks on their faces.
"Andy is a good man and he's proved himself on more than one occasion," the Doctor explained, cautiously. His tone was dark and level. Ianto tensed. Everyone, even Rhys, did the same at the sound of his voice. The Doctor was using his Oncoming-Storm voice. "I've watched you over the years, Gwen Cooper, so you can't play the moral high ground here. You cannot tell us what to do, especially who travels with us and who dates Annabelle. That is a private matter between Annabelle and Andy."
Jack was about to step forward, but Andy cut him off. Ianto saw the determined look on his face and he applauded the blond for it.
"I don't know what your problem with Jack and Ianto is and I honestly don't care if you hate them or hate me because I'm dating Annabelle," he said, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, his tone even and near deadly, a good companion to the Doctor's Oncoming-Storm voice. "Jack, Ianto, and Annabelle are some of the best people I've ever met. You should know. You worked with Jack and Ianto all those years ago with Torchwood." Andy's tone was getting more forceful and impassioned. "Get over yourself, Gwen. If you can't handle the fact that I've clearly moved on from you and found someone who loves, appreciates, and supports me, then I would appreciate it if you didn't deride myself, Annabelle, and Annabelle's family."
Gwen was clearly pissed off, though she couldn't take the moral high ground here. She was already causing enough of a scene. Rhys stepped forward, reaching out a hand to his ex-wife's elbow, steadying her. Gwen flinched away from his touch.
"Gwen," Rhys said, "please calm down. You're being ridiculous."
The woman looked at him. She was angry alright, Ianto could tell.
Gwen didn't say anything. Her hackles were up and she turned, stomping away. The tension dissipated in the air, slowly but surely. Ianto let out the breath that he didn't know that he had been holding.
"That went . . . well," he said, a few seconds later. It was a lame attempt to break the ice that was hanging over them, he knew it, but it was still an effort.
Andy shook his head.
"It was interesting, to say the least," he agreed. Andy wrapped an arm around Annabelle, pulling her into a comforting embrace. "Though I'm glad we dealt with this. Chances are, we would've had to deal with Gwen at some point during the day and I'd rather that we deal with the elephant in the room now, rather than later. It would have ruined the rest of the evening for us." He gave a smile to Annabelle. "Besides, I'd rather Gwen know now that I've the best girlfriend in the entire universe and I'm not giving her up for anything."
Annabelle grinned at that. "Thanks, Andy," she said before sighing heavily, looking at her fathers. Ianto saw the look in her eyes. "I hate that Aunt Gwen doesn't support us – and you, Tad and Dad – like you said that she used to. Is there any chance she'll return to how she used to be?"
Ianto shrugged.
"I don't know, Annabelle," Ianto told her, honestly. "But that's not the point right now." He looked over at Rhys. "Anwen is having a baby and we're all here to celebrate that!"
Jack looped an arm around his waist, squeezing tightly, pressing a kiss to Ianto's cheek.
"That we are," Jack said. "And you all know how much I love these kinds of shindigs."
They all laughed. That much was still true about Jack.
He did love parties, even when he wasn't the center of attention. Those parties were always more fun, in retrospect.
Well, what did you all think? Good? Bad? In the middle? Please review and let me know. I do love your feedback!
And, as I always say, I will put up the next story, when the Muse is kind to me.