Father's Prerogative
Disclaimer: I'm only playing in this sandbox. I'll (reluctantly) return the toys after I finish.
Summary: Annabelle brings home her first boyfriend. Turns out, two immortals are scary when they want to be. Ianto/Jack. Annabelle/OC. Thirty-second in the "Immortal Janto" series.
I'm back! Huzzah! Finally got power back after Hurricane Irene. I hope that everyone who was affected by Irene has been able to rebound successfully.
Yep, you guessed it. It's time for the first boyfriend to be subjected to torture that is facing Ianto and Jack. This is make-or-break time!
Annabelle is now fourteen (jumped up a few years).
Note – when I say football in this story, I mean soccer, not American football. Even though I am an American, I firmly believe that, if you're writing a story set in another county, you should use said country's terms for things, if said terms are different from your own – ergo, football for soccer.
Here's for your entertainment purpose.
Thetis rubbed against his leg, purring quietly, as he stood at the window, watching and waiting. Jack had laughed when he had taken up his sentry post, but Ianto knew that, if he wasn't there, Jack would be.
Ianto didn't remember his parents being as nerve-wracked as he and Jack currently are when Rebecca and Rhiannon brought home their first boyfriends. When Rhiannon got pregnant and married as young as she did, yes, but not over the first boyfriends. His father had been over-protective and his mother had been cautious.
It hadn't been the same whenever he and Gaven had brought home girls, Gaven more so than him. Ianto had been reluctant to bring Lisa even, back when they were together.
Still, Annabelle bringing home a boyfriend was not something that either one of them were looking forward to occurring. He and Jack had talked about it in the days leading up to the day of and they agreed that they wouldn't issue and death-threats (yet).
Annabelle had pleaded with them to let her bring the boy she was interested in out with them to dinner. It was their end-of-summer ritual to go out to dinner before Annabelle started back to school. Ianto and Jack, being the fathers that they were, had given in – eventually. It had taken a few long dosages of pleading puppy-dog pouts from their daughter to let that happen. Ianto should have known that they would have caved. Annabelle came by her puppy-dog pouts honestly.
Reservations had been made and Annabelle's boyfriend was en route, being accompanied by Annabelle herself.
Nick Jenson was fifteen and a year ahead of Annabelle in school. From what Annabelle had told them, he was a football player, as well as a bit of a musician. Apparently, he had a tendency to play with a few friends after school in the band room on free afternoons, which is how Annabelle met him in the first place.
She had been after school with friends, working on the school newspaper. When they had grilled her on Nick, Annabelle admitted that they had been friendly for a few months, getting to know each other well into the summer, before he had asked her out. He had been nervous about asking her out – apparently, he was scared of her two fathers. Their reputation preceded them clearly.
Vaguely, Ianto was glad that their reputations were intimidating. If they could scare off boys who weren't good for Annabelle, that was a good thing.
Ianto was pulled out his thoughts as he saw Annabelle and Nick, her . . . boyfriend.
"They're here," he called out, moving from his position in the living room window. He knew that Annabelle had seen him, but Ianto wasn't going to hide that he was being an over-protective father.
Jack emerged from the office. He was fidgeting with the cuffs of his shirt and his braces. Ianto raised an eyebrow. It was so unlike Jack to get nervous.
"Like you're any better?" Jack asked dryly.
The front door opened, cutting off any further conversations. The two men looked over as Annabelle came walking into the house, her boyfriend following her.
"Tad, Dad!" she said, brightly. Her eyes flicked over to Ianto. "Did you have to be on the look-out Tad?"
Ianto chuckled. "Would you expect anything less from me?"
With all the sass of a teenaged girl, she huffed. "From Dad, not from you."
He looked at Jack and shrugged.
"So, are you going to introduce us?" Jack asked, stepping next to Ianto. Ianto casually slipped his arm around Jack's waist.
For a moment, he saw Nick shift, clearly a little uncomfortable, but Ianto didn't know the cause of said feeling – it could be several things, actually. Still, Ianto knew that any boy would be nervous about meeting the parents of a girl he fancied.
"Of course, Dad!" Annabelle exclaimed. "This is Nick Jenson, my boyfriend." She looked up at the tall boy at her side. "Nick, these are my fathers, Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones."
"Hello, sirs," the boy said, his voice shaking a bit as he stepped forward to shake their hands. "It's an honor to meet you both." Briefly, he looked back at Annabelle. "Your daughter has said told me a lot about you.
"Not too much, I hope," Jack replied, with an easy smile.
Nick weakly laughed. Ianto suppressed a smile. The boy was trying, he could tell, which was a good sign.
It mean that he cared enough about Annabelle to face the scrutiny of her parents. Annabelle was very important to both Jack and Ianto and they were important to her, which was why it was a long standing agreement between the three of them that she bring home any boy who she was interested in. Annabelle was still clearly nervous though. Nick was her first boyfriend.
"So, reservation's in a half hour. Why don't we get this show on the road?" Ianto asked, knowing that both Annabelle and Nick would be grateful for the diversion.
The car ride was relatively reasonable, broken up with idle conversation, covering the most basic topics – school, favorite activities, Nick's family. Ianto could tell, from his vantage point in the front seat, that Annabelle was worried for her boyfriend. They all knew that the relationship between the father and the boyfriend could be very interesting and Annabelle had two fathers to worry about.
At the restaurant, a nice Indian place that Jack had stumbled upon a few years prior that had quickly become a favorite of the three of them, Ianto noted how Nick had been quick out of the car, hurrying around to the other side to hold the door for Annabelle as she climbed out. The girl smiled brightly at him as he took her hand and closed the door behind her. Jack saw it too, because he squeezed Ianto's hand. They shared a look. A point in Nick's favor then. Common courtesy was always nice to see.
Both Ianto and Jack had forgone their usual coats for the sake of seeming more approachable, which expedited the process of getting to their table. It had been hard to convince Jack to go along with it, but Ianto had reasoned that Nick would be scared enough as it were, so he didn't need the extra fright of seeing the two men in full-blown imposing mode.
It turned out that dinner was a very pleasant affair, especially after their food arrived.
Apparently, Nick had never tried Indian before, so it was a new experience for him. It was humorous to see his reactions to the spice in the food that Ianto, Jack, and Annabelle were all accustomed to tasting. Still, the boy handled it well, which was another good sign.
Their conversation never really strayed into the strange or the uncomfortable. Nick even asked after their work with U.N.I.T. It was common knowledge around the neighborhood that Ianto Jones and Jack Harkness worked for a government organization contractually, though the specifics of their works were never discussed, mainly because the two kept a lot of that quiet. They didn't go into too much detail, answering Nick's questions, mainly because, if they did, it would probably scare him off for good. Regardless, Nick did seem interested in some of the more technological things that they brought up.
Ianto had to raise an eyebrow in surprise. Played guitar in a band? Was on the football team in school? Liked technology and science? This boy was almost too good to be true!
He wasn't going to say anything at the moment, but Nick did seem like a good enough boy to be Annabelle's first boyfriend.
The rest of the evening progressed well enough and, as they were leaving the restaurant, Jack's mobile went off, playing the customized ring tone for Donna. The two men looked at their daughter.
Annabelle seemed to understand because she managed to pull Nick out of hearing range.
"Yes, Donna?" Jack said, as he answered the mobile. Ianto stepped close to him, close enough to pick up what Donna was saying.
"I'm really sorry to have to drop this on you. I know you are out to dinner with Annabelle's boyfriend," Donna replied, through the mobile, "but the Doctor needs you and Ianto to help him with a TARDIS problem."
Jack looked at Ianto. Ianto nodded.
"It's alright. We've finished up with dinner anyway. We'll drop the kids off and be over as soon as we can."
"Alright." There was a brief pause, before Donna asked, "So, what do you think of Annabelle's boyfriend?"
Ianto chuckled and took the phone from Jack. "He's nice enough. I think we'll keep him around a little longer."
He could almost hear Donna shaking her head.
"I won't keep you," she said. "I'll tell the Doctor to expect you."
As they hung up, the two men looked at each other. "There goes a quiet evening then."
"Hey, a little fun with the Doctor never hurt," Jack answered. They looked over at Annabelle. "I guess we need to go play the harbringers of bad news."
"We have to go home anyway," Ianto reminded Jack.
"Why's that?"
Ianto laughed. "We need our coats, of course!"
"Good point."
The two men shared a laugh as they went off to collect the two teenagers. Jack was right, Ianto mused, as they drove to the house. The Doctor did have a knack for providing adventure, even if it meant that they had to cut their evening off early.
Nick had taken the news graciously. Annabelle, knowing that, when the Doctor and Donna called, they were needed, had offered to walk Nick home, promising that nothing would happen and Ianto knew nothing would. She was well-trained by her fathers, her uncles, and her aunts to handle herself in a fight.
Besides, as Ianto and Jack pulled on their coats back at the house, Ianto saw the flash of fear rise in Nick's eyes. They had their game faces on. That, accompanied by the coats, gave an imposing image.
It was always good to strike fear where fear was appropriate. That, after all, was a father's prerogative.
So, what did you think? Let me know! I really enjoy everyone's feeback on these stories. They give me more reason to write more Janto-goodness!