Ill Of The Dead

by Caz251

Summary: Owen and Ianto talk about his comment before Gwen's wedding, with Ianto talking a bit about his Mam and his Aunt Morana. A oneshot in my Addams Family/Torchwood universe, set after She Doesn't Know, and earlier in the day of A Tale Of Many Addams

Title: Ill Of The Dead

Author: Caz251

Summary: Owen and Ianto talk about his comment before Gwen's wedding, with Ianto talking a bit about his Mam and his Aunt Morana.

Characters: Owen and Ianto, mentions of team, Rhiannon, Ianto's mam Grizelda and his aunt Morana.

Spoilers: Spoilers for Torchwood and The Addams Family

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I don't own either the Addams Family or Torchwood, no matter how hard I wish it were so.

AN: Another oneshot in my Addams Family/Torchwood universe, this is set after She Doesn't Know, and earlier in the day of A Tale Of Many Addams. Critcism is welcomed, be it constructive or not.

He couldn't believe that he was having this conversation with Owen, it seemed absurd. If he had ever thought about having a conversation about his childhood he was sure that he would have envisaged it being with either Toshiko or Jack, the two he was closest to on the team. But here he was sat in the SUV with Owen on there way to pick up something that the rift had spat out at them, Jack and Toshiko catching a weevil and working on a new program respectively.

Gwen had been away on her honeymoon for a few days now after the wedding of her nightmares, there was no way that it was her dream wedding, but it was a wedding that his family would appreciate for all that happened. It certainly wasn't boring, in fact it was probably one of the liveliest weddings he had been at in years, even if the majority of the guests fell asleep during the reception. You could say that the excitement was too much for them, or to be more truthful the sedative in the retcon they were supplied kicked in.

The conversation about his childhood had started simply enough with Owen calling him a liar, although not in as many words. They had been talking about something trivial when the other man had piped up that, "There's no way your mother taught you to never to speak ill of the dead, even if they still do most of the talking for themselves. I mean apart from me, talking dead isn't exactly a common occurrence."

Ianto had just snorted, it was more common than most people thought, and his family certainly knew it. "My mam was a bit different from normal mams, trust me when I say she taught me that."

Owen had still looked as though he thought he was lying, something that he didn't want, after Lisa he had promised never to lie to the team again, not outright anyway, by omission is a very different thing. He let out a sigh before beginning to speak, "My family are very in touch, as some would say, some of them more than others. But my mam was very superstitious, especially where death is concerned. She had all sorts of rules that me and Rhiannon were to follow, and that was just one of them. She always said that we should never to speak ill of the dead, as they were the ones who were most likely to hear us speak."

Owen stared at him for a moment, as if considering what he had just said before replying, "Fine, I'll believe that bit, many people teach their kids not to speak ill of the dead, but the bit about even if they still do most of the talking for themselves, that's bull and you know it."

Ianto thought for a few minutes as he watched the road ahead of him, he knew that he was telling the truth, but how to get his point across to Owen he wasn't sure. The other man, despite the way they acted towards each other at times, was his friend, and he really didn't want to have to tell the story of his family to him, in case he wasn't afterwards. He decided that he might as well go for it, if something really bad was going to happen as a result of this conversation Andy, his cousin and resident seer, would have called him and warned him to shut up.

"Right, when I said my family was in touch I meant it. We definitely aren't what you would call a normal everyday family, and some of the talents were more pronounced than others. My Aunt was one with such a talent, and the reason for my mams words. Aunt Morana was a channeler, not a term you hear often, but it means that she channeled other people, and she did it quite often. A channeler is someone who allow other people the use of their body or mannerisms to get a message across." Ianto started then paused to check that Owen was alright with what he had said so far and that he was keeping up with the conversation.

Owen nodded at him, a bit perplexed, but willing to listen, he worked for Torchwood, it wasn't the oddest thing he had heard of after all. He listened quietly as Ianto explained that his aunt had often channeled the dead, relatives in particular, but not restricted to them alone. It did seem to fantastical to be true in a way, but so were all the tales of Death walking the Earth and aliens, he knew that things so out of the realm of possibility happened, so why couldn't this. He nodded once to show that he believed him before sinking into his own thoughts, he couldn't help but wonder all who Ianto had spoken to, there were some amazing people who were dead, how many of them had Ianto's aunt channeled.

He was brought out of his musings by a casual statement on Ianto's part, he'd continued talking to him even though he had been lost in thought, one that shocked him into silence, a statement he wouldn't be telling Jack about, especially due to the deceased's aims and goals for the Empire. "How did you think I knew so much about the creation of Torchwood, the records from those days aren't great, but Queen Victoria always loved a good conversation."