1
Ianto was standing in the bathroom shaving, his hum soft as he listened to the children screaming outside. Apparently they had come to the lighthouse to play tag outside in the wind, their calls snatched away and distorted.
"TA-ta-ta-ta?"
Ianto grabbed a towel as he turned in time to see Bella in the doorway, clutching the doorframe with her big eyes, "Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta?"
"Hello Puku" he said, using the Maori word for stomach (Poo-coo) and she giggled as she smacked her fat little belly with her hands, looking down at it with pride.
"Tada Wea Dada at?"
Ah, lovely sentence, well done" Ianto plucked her up, relieved that she was talking more lately. He had been worried as she had seemed to resist the act and only after he had realised Dendy was talking for her had he been able to remedy this as he had gently explained to Dendy that she was being lazy.
Dendy hated laziness.
Such a buzy little bee himself.
Ianto walked out to the front door of the lighthouse, the large white building looking out over the tip head of the river mouth. The river fed into a bay and the point was the home to the lighthouse, the sea on the other side of the rise. Ianto scanned the area and then pointed, "Look Puku, Dada is over there. See? There is his hat."
She squealed and wriggled to be put down then toddled off in the direction of the man who was standing down on the beach watching the children dig for pipi, a small shellfish that lives in the sand. Jack heard the squeal of his daughter and turned with his face full of glee, then he ran to meet her as she half tumbled, half threw herself down the steps.
"You bloody maniac" Jack laughed as he caught her, the soft pig fern and tussock grass along the steps having protected her little limbs as she had tumbled down. Jack picked her up and kissed a chubby cheek as he looked back up at Ianto standing at the start of the walk. He waved and Ianto turned away, no doubt going back to finish shaving.
"Come on missus" Jack removed the cowboy hat and placed it on her head, her squeal of glee muted inside the hat as Jack laughed and tilted it back to see her face again.
Ianto returned to the bathroom to find Tosh had taken it and was brushing her teeth.
"Are you OK?" he asked with concern and she turned to reply with her hands over her own extended belly as her morning sickness thrummed.
"God, how the hell am I going to make it?" she sighed.
"Come on, it might fade away. Trust you to listen to the elders and their horror stories. Come on, let's remember the payoff, right? Hopefully it looks like you, all I'm gonna say" Ianto said cheekily as he skirted around her to reach for his razor and she slapped at him as she laughed softly.
"Speaking of the troll, is he down with Janet again?" Ianto asked as he did a final sweep around his jaw line and then wiped his face clean.
"The troll as you call him has taken her out to check the crop" she scolded with a mock frown as she knew the affection between the two men was that of brothers.
"Ah, Manu seemed excited about it" Ianto nodded, "Owen's green thumb had really pleased the plants apparently."
"For a small crop it is a bumper one" she agreed, "They are hoping to harvest soon. I heard some of the women say they are baking with the shade leaves."
"Chocolate cake or brownies are best" Ianto said absently, then flicked his eyes to the mirror and her grin, "so what Ms Sato? I was young once, even had a few tokes and shit."
"You know, it still seems strange when you let your voice drop into their vowels and terms. We are becoming more colonial each day." She giggled.
"Well Dendy is brown enough to pass for one, damned boy is naked half the time!" Ianto frowned, "I swear to the gods, the first time he realised they could run naked I think he had a wee conniption."
"Almost as much as Jack when he found the adults don't care either" she giggled and then started to laugh as Ianto rolled his eyes at the memory of Jack's first naked dance in the firelight. The catcalling and screams of glee had made him angrier and more possessive than he thought it would. Jack had enjoyed the resulting anger no end….well…his end did.
"Go lay down and I will get you some of that nice fried bread yeah?" Ianto asked and she smiled.
"Nah, yeah. Sounds good."
Her use of their common tongue was hilarious as she used their weird yes-no answer to her advantage. It had taken ages to get used to the fact that when they said no they were sometimes about to say yes and vice versa.
But he loved it all.
