Title: Waiting For You
Series: Waiting
Rating: PG-13
Pairings/Characters: Jack/Ianto, the Tenth Doctor. OCs include the Jones children: Ianto Jr., Carryn and Sabrina (adults), Eric, Darlene and Charlene (younger children), along with grandchildren, great-grandchildren and 33rd century Torchwood members. Mentions of the team we all love and adore (Tosh, Gwen and Owen).
Disclaimer: Definitely don't own Torchwood. I'm fostering Jack and Ianto 'cause their owners don't know how to take care of them.
Warnings: M/M (slash), MPREG, some violence, mention of past child deaths (mostly grown children) and miscarriage, past character deaths (21st century Torchwood characters), character deaths (not permanent but one gruesome). There might be more as I finish this (looks at sneaky muses).
Summary: In the 33rd century, Torchwood has spread out to become a universal organization that keeps peace among human inhabited planets. Jack and Ianto are in charge of everything. However, Ianto has been made to sit on the sidelines until he gives birth to the couple's latest baby, while Jack had to go off planet to handle what was thought to be easy negotiations.
Beta by: Grace_Musica; Additional assistance and support: cjharknessgirl, bookwrm89 & cyberdigi
Notes: I have been promising teachwriteslash this for a long time, but she finally got me into action by being one of the two winning bids of my offer to write fic over at Help Haiti LJ community. Originally I was hoping to have one nice long 10 - 20 page fic but already the muses turned this into a multi-part. How many? I don't know. This is a sequel to "Wait For Me". (And yes, whenever time finally permits me, I will be doing more fics in this series, including back when Ianto becomes immortal).

OoOoOoO

CHAPTER ONE

Ianto Jones, otherwise known to the world as Sean Jones, stretched as he stood up from the couch he had been lounging on. With a heavy sigh, he said, "Video off." The wide screen that took up most of the upper half of one wall went blank. "Video away," he added. He did not bother to watch as the screen regressed into the wall while hidden panels slid into place to hide the screen. On the wall was an assortment of framed art that he and Jack had purchased on a world far across the universe while on a vacation the year before Jack became pregnant with Eric. There was also a multi-tiered geometrically shaped curio cabinet on that wall, an anniversary gift from their daughter Sabrina, filled with trinkets and knick knacks, each one having a story behind it concerning each of their children, from birth to death or the present for those of their children now living.

The twins already had their nap, and Sheila had taken them out to the park for a few hours. As what had become normal for Ianto at this time of day, boredom started to set in and would remain until Eric returned from his classes. While the boy would have assignments he needed to do before any playtime, chances are he would sit quietly the lounge and not need much help with his assignments. Ianto was near to tears with boredom.

Rubbing his belly, he made his way to the comm system on a desk and pressed a button.

"What can I do for you today, Sean?" Isaac Radzinsky's cheerful voice greeted.

"Tell me I can do something other than sit on my bloody arse all day," Ianto ground out annoyed.

"Sorry, boss. As much as I'd love to do that, it's not advisable. Hang in there for another 3 weeks. You recover quickly and you'll have a newborn to keep you busy."

Ianto tapped his fingers on the tabletop, biting back an impulse to snap at the doctor. "Isn't there anything I can do from here? How bad can it be for me to sit down with a computer and work on some paperwork or something? Anything!"

"Not advisable, Sean. No stress and Torchwood work always has some level of stress. Especially when you're one of the men in charge of it all."

"What about the stress from my having absolutely nothing to do but watch Laxanian soap operas? This is killing me, Isaac. And not having Jack around these last few days only makes it worse."

"He'll be back in a few days," Isaac assured Ianto.

"Fine. But he's not here now, and he hasn't been for the last three days. I'm going to go into stress overload from attempting to be stress-free. It's not working, Isaac. Really."

"If you feel that way about it, Sean, then be prepared to see me soon. I'm on my way up to give you a full check-up."

"I didn't mean for you to…."

"I know what you mean, but if you're as stressed as you claim you are, and sound like you are, then it's my duty as your medical officer to give you a once over. I'll never forgive myself if anything is wrong with the little one, never mind how you and Jack will feel. So shut up, sit down, elevate your feet and I'll be up there as soon as I can get away. No arguments, Sean."

"I assume this is a medical order, thus making me unable to override it?"

"Don't assume, Director Jones. Let me finish some things and I'm on my way. Look at it this way, at least you'll have some company. And if you allow me to do all the tests without putting up a fight, I'll even grant you all the snark tossed my way that you like."

"You're getting snark whether you like it or not, if you step through my door, Dr. Radzinsky," Ianto commented dryly.

Isaac's chuckle came through the comm. "Sean Jones, the day there's no snark from you is the day that I'll really be worried. See you soon."

Before Ianto had any chance to reply, the medical officer turned off the communication. He muttered some curses in several intergalactic languages directed for the doctor as he turned off his own communication.

OoOoOoO

Ianto Jones, otherwise known as Sean Jones, stretched as he stood up from the couch he had been lounging on. With a heavy sigh, he said, "Video off." The wide screen that took up most of the upper half of one wall went blank. "Video away," he added. He did not bother to watch as the screen regressed into the wall where hidden panels slid into place to hide it away. On the wall hung an assortment of framed art that he and Jack had purchased on a world far across the universe while on a vacation the year before Jack became pregnant with Eric.

The twins had already had their nap, and Sheila had taken them out to the park for a few hours. As had become normal for Ianto at this time of day, boredom started to set in; and would remain until Eric returned from his classes. While the boy would have assignments he needed to do before any playtime, chances are he would sit quietly the lounge and not need much help with his work. Ianto was near to tears with boredom.

Rubbing his belly, he made his way to the comm system on a desk and pressed a button.

"What can I do for you today, Sean?" Isaac Radzinsky's cheerful voice greeted.

"Tell me I can do something other than sit on my bloody arse all day," Ianto ground out annoyed.

"Sorry, boss. As much as I'd love to do that, it's not advisable. Hang in there for another 3 weeks. You recover quickly, and you'll have a newborn to keep you busy."

Ianto tapped his fingers on the tabletop, biting back an impulse to snap at the doctor. "Isn't there anything I can do from here? How bad can it be for me to sit down with a computer and work on some paperwork or something? Anything!"

"Not advisable, Sean. No stress, and Torchwood work always has some level of stress. Especially when you're one of the men in charge of it all."

"What about the stress of me having absolutely nothing to do but watch Laxanian soap operas? This is killing me, Isaac. And not having Jack around these last few days is only making it worse."

"He'll be back in a few more days," Isaac assured Ianto.

"Fine. But he's not here now, and he hasn't been for the last three days. I'm going to go into stress overload from attempting to be stress free. It's not working, Isaac. Really."

"If you feel that way about it, Sean, then be prepared to see me soon. I'm on my way up to give you a full check-up."

"I didn't mean for you to…."

"I know what you mean, but if you're as stressed as you claim you are, and sound like you are, then it's my duty as your medical officer to give you a once over. I'll never forgive myself if anything is wrong with the little one, never mind how you and Jack will feel. So shut up, sit down, elevate your feet and I'll be up there as soon as I can get away. No arguments, Sean."

"I assume this is a medical order, thus making me unable to override it?"

"Don't assume, Director. Let me finish some things and I'm on my way. Look at it this way; at least you'll have some company. And if you allow me to do all the tests without putting up a fight, I'll even grant you all the snark tossed my way that you like."

"You're getting snark whether you like it or not if you step through my door, Dr. Radzinsky," Ianto commented dryly.

Isaac's chuckle came through the comm. "Sean Jones, the day there's no snark from you is the day that I'll really be worried. See you soon."

Before Ianto had any chance to reply, the medical officer turned off the communication. He muttered some curses in several intergalactic languages directed for the doctor as he turned off his own communication.

OoOoOoO

"It's about damn time you called," Ianto snapped as he opened the communication that he knew was from Jack. Long ago Jack had devised a leather strap much like his own to give to Ianto. Other than being able to control many things at home and work with the strap, it was also a direct means of communication between them, no matter how far apart across the universe they were. Ianto knew Jack had had some help by the Doctor to make the communications work. It had been hours since Ianto had expected to hear from Jack, but while he had been tempted to call his long time partner he'd resisted, not wanting to catch Jack at a bad moment.

However, as afternoon turned into bedtime for the twins, it did not stop Ianto from being in a bad mood when it came to Jack.

"Taddy said another bad word," Darlene giggled.

"Taddy has been saying lots of bad words," Charlene said, nodding sagely before she, too, fell into a fit of giggles.

Ianto had just finished reading with the twins and was about to tuck them in for the night.

"Is that true?" Ianto heard coming from his wrist strap. "By the way, I miss you too, Ianto."

"It's true, Daddy!" Darlene called out in amusement, knowing her other father could hear her.

"Taddy made Ariel say a naughty word," said Charlene.

"I did not, you imp," Ianto grunted, but his eyes were twinkling with amusement. "You two stay here, while I call your brother in."

He stepped out of the room and walked short distance down the hallway to knock on the closed door. Outside of the door was painted with abstract shapes in many colours, along with bold letters stating "Eric's room". It had been a joint effort of Eric's and Jack's, once the boy had been old enough to move out of the nursery and into his own room. When the twins had become old enough to sleep in beds, Jack and Ianto had converted the nursery into a child's room, along with the twin beds. With the exception of using purples and blues in the colour scheme, their room was not as personalized as Eric's. Yet.
Jack and Ianto had been lately subjected to the twins pleading that they wanted loft beds. The two men managed to convince the girls to wait until the baby was born and settled in the new nursery. They promised the twins that then they would take them shopping and redo their room to whatever the two could agree on – within limits. That stipulation was from Ianto. As usual, Jack would give in, giving his children anything they wanted as long as it was not dangerous. Jack was prone to spoiling their children, and lately the twins were Daddy's Little Princesses.
Not that Jack made Eric feel left out, nor was Ianto the sole disciplinarian when needed. If any of their children did something that was wrong and Jack was around, he could be as tough as Ianto. Ianto was also relieved that Jack usually backed him up when he felt discipline was needed.

"Eric!" Ianto called out. "Come on out and speak to Dad."

He started to walk back toward the twins' room when he heard the door to Eric's room open. "Dad!" Eric called out.

"I missed you too, Jack," Ianto said with a chuckle as he re-entered the twin's room, with Eric behind him.

Ianto sat in the easy chair in a corner, while Eric sat on the floor between the twins. Ianto pushed another setting on the wrist strap and Jack's holographic image appeared between the beds, a few feet from where Eric sat.

Ianto had to smile as he was able to make out Jack's apparel for the day. Usually Jack donned suits for negotiations. The RAF WWII greatcoat had been retired a very long time ago, but Jack still managed to maintain a fashion style of whatever was considered retro for the time, except for some of his suits. Ianto knew Jack was wearing the high end style suit they had purchased in the salon of a renown designer from across the galaxy. He loved the way the summery dark blue trousers managed to hug along the fine curves of Jack's lower half and yet did not look as though he'd painted them on. Ianto was not able to make out the shirt colour, but he knew Jack was wearing his teal waistcoat. His shirtsleeves were rolled up, and the top button of his shirt was open. Ianto assumed Jack started the day with the suit jacket to match the trousers and a tie, but (as usual whenever Jack wore a suit) he had lost both items throughout the day.

He allowed the children to tell Jack about their day while Jack gave a few funny stories that were safe for all ages. Ianto then tucked the twins in their beds as Jack said good night to them. Eric would be up for a couple of more hours, so Ianto ruffled the boy's hair outside the girls' room and watched as his son went back to his room to most likely play one of his holographic action games. Ianto resented not being able to join the boy. He would never allow anyone to catch him playing any of the games by himself, but he enjoyed the time spent playing with his son.

Ianto went into the living room and dropped onto the soft comfortable couch, as Jack's holographic image appeared in the middle of the room. "I'm sorry I couldn't call you earlier," Jack said softly.

"I assume you had to stop some interplanetary war or something equally important," Ianto grumped, his good mood from being with his family going away.

"Well, since you put it that way," Jack started.

There was something in Jack's tone that made Ianto look sharply up at Jack. "What happened?" he asked.

"This mornings negotiations were going really well." Jack explained. Ianto watched as the holographic image shoved his hands inside the pockets of his suit trousers. "So much that I let the proceedings go over lunch until we broke. As I was hoping, we had enough to have a draft of the agreement drawn up while we broke for lunch. We thought we could go over the draft in the afternoon, and possibly go back into session after lunch for the signing." Jack sighed, turning his head in Ianto's direction. "If that happened, I had every intention on firing up the shuttle to start the journey home."

"So since you're still there and not aggravating the shuttle crew, I take it something went wrong." At Jack's nod of his head, he said, "Well? I'm not in the bloody mood for twenty fuckin' questions, Jack."

Jack held his hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry. Sorry. Look, I know it's hard, Ianto. Isaac sent me the results of his exam this afternoon, and I'm sorry that my being unable to get in touch with you until now added to your already bad mood. But I'm in the middle of a murder investigation while trying to prevent an interplanetary war."

Ianto sucked his breath in. He watched as Jack ran both his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Looks like I'm stuck here indefinitely, even if we have a suspect in holding," Jack continued, sounding annoyed and disappointed.

Ianto leaned further back on the couch and rubbed circles on the side of his swollen bump. "I'm sorry, Jack," he said softly. "I wish you could be back here already, but I understand."

"I'm sorry, Ianto."

"It's fine, Jack." At the hologram's stare in his general direction, he added, "Okay, it's not fine, but we don't have a choice. It just sucks. Just be glad I can't get my hands on that son-of-a-bitch who did it because that's how I'm feeling about your return being delayed."

"More like a bitch," Jack corrected. "Female. Human species."

Ianto nodded. It meant the female they had in custody was of part human descent, but was mostly of an alien race. Just like most of the beings on the colony planet a race was partitioning to be allowed to set up several colonies on. "Who was killed?"

"Dyleena," Jack replied, his voice breaking.

"Oh dear goddess!" Ianto covered his mouth with his hand, looking distraught. "Why?"

Dyleena Ambraxsis was the Torchwood head of government on the world designated for the negotiations. He was hand picked by Ianto and Jack, having known the man since he was hired at Torchwood New York to handle New York alien immigration. He had a way about him that quickly got his ultimate bosses' attention. As Dyleena rose through the ranks in Torchwood, he became a close personal friend of theirs. Dyleena's children had played with Eric until Dyleena accepted his new post to govern the Torchwood controlled world, simply named TorchWorld. Ianto still rolled his eyes at that, being it was Jack's suggestion when they were working on plans for the small planetoid, and he was not fast enough to come up with a better name before everyone had embraced it.

Jack's holographic image started to pace nervously. "I really didn't want to tell you, but then I realized you'd find out as soon as the communications make it to Earth, and you'd get pissed off at me because you'd realize I was holding back…."

"Jack, stop babbling," Ianto snapped, sitting forward. He attempted to rest his elbows on his knees but didn't quite make contact because of the baby bump getting in the way. He cursed under his breath as he settled for resting his hands on his belly. "Thank you. Yes, I'm upset now, but not as much as I would have been if I found out later through someone else. So thank you."

"I know you're already stressed," Jack said with a sigh. He glanced down at his wriststrap. "Shit, I'm pushing power here."

Ianto looked down at his own, knowing once he opened communications, he was projecting his own image as a hologram back to Jack. It was power draining and they usually used it to talk for no more than ten minutes a day. They were mostly meant as a means to getting through to each other in the case of an emergency, but they could not resist using it at least once a day whenever one of them had to be off planet. "I know, Jack."

"I'm going to send everything we have so far through encrypted communication for your eyes only. You can then decide how much to share with the others. I also regret that you'll have to at the least make a holovid statement by tomorrow night, which is when the news will probably start arriving there."

"I understand. Isaac won't be happy, but it's necessary," Ianto said. "How's Latimer and the kids?"

"I'm putting them on a shuttle soon and sending them for Earth. I can't take a chance of any of them also being a target. If you can have a safe house set up for them and a security team, that would be wonderful."

"You got it. Anything for them. I'll probably meet them at the port. And don't worry, Jack. I'll stay off my feet whenever I'm not doing something that I can't delegate."

"Just make sure you delegate most of the duties as the shit starts to hit the fan tomorrow, even if I know there are some things that must be handled by you. Just take it easy, Ianto."

"I have the baby's well-being in mind," Ianto assured Jack. "Now, as much as I miss you, you best go before we blow something."

"I love you, Ianto. I'll be in touch one way or another as soon as I can. I'll be having updates sent your way throughout tomorrow."

"I love you, Jack. Just be careful."

"I'll be fine, Ianto. You know I always come back." Jack winked. "Just like you. But our baby can't, so I know you have things to do, but don't overdo it."

"I won't." Ianto watched as Jack gave him a smile as his holographic hand went to the wristband to turn off communication. With a heavy sigh, Ianto turned off his end of the communication.

"I should have known," Ianto sighed. "Be careful what you wish for. Shit." He leaned back into the memory cushions of the couch and closed his eyes, giving in for the moment to the grief over losing a friend.

OoOoOoO