Sleepover at the Harkness-Jones House
Disclaimer: Sorry guys, I don't own a thing here!
Summary: Annabelle has a sleep-over for her new school friends. Lots of crazy adventures ensue. Ianto/Jack. Part of the "Immortal Janto" series.
Of course, as any little girl is want to do, there will be a sleepover for Annabelle and her new school friends. But there is always a twist. Jack and Ianto have a knack for having interesting adventures, where they least expect it.
Please read my note at the end of this – it pertains to the timing of the posting of future fics (no worries, there will be plenty more). There are lots of awesome Ianto and Jack adventures ahead, but I do want you guys to know the reasons why I will be taking more time with the writing and posting of my stores. So, please read!
Enjoy!
It had been Ianto's idea to begin with – have a sleepover for Annabelle, inviting some of her new friends from school.
Jack had thought that it was a good idea, in theory, and Annabelle had squealed with delight when she heard. After all, Jack had rationalized, if they were having five little girls, ages five and six, it would be manageable. They had faced worse problems in the saving of the galaxy before.
Normally, any father would tell Jack that those were fighting words – and famous last words. But Jack and Ianto weren't the ordinary fathers. They could handle this.
Annabelle had been keen to decorate invitations (that Ianto had carefully penned), giving it the glitz and glitter that only a small girl could. As the invitations went into school, Jack had received all of the calls from the parents. Each of the little girls invited had been very excited and their parents, having met both Jack and Ianto, were more than happy to go along with the plans, especially Jack mentioned something about dress-up and keeping the girls into the afternoon the day after.
He could sympathize with the parents about enjoying a break from parenting for a little while. Donna and the Doctor had already cashed in a few baby-sitting nights so that Ianto and Jack could go out for a date night.
Still, nothing could prepare Jack for the five girls surrounding Annabelle on the day of.
The first few hours had gone over well. Annabelle had taken the girls to her play-room, where a carousing game of dress-up had taken place. Jack, when he had gone in to take snacks, had gotten roped into their very large dress-up doll. He emerged, after forty-five minutes, with make-up, glitter, fairy wings, a tiara, a boa, and a tutu.
Ianto snickered behind his hand.
"I didn't know little girls could be so . . . forceful," Jack said, indignantly.
"That's why I sent you in," Ianto replied, recovering, rolling his eyes. "I have sisters."
Jack growled a bit. "If it makes you feel any better, I think you pull it off better than anyone I've ever seen."
That did make Jack feel better and he gave Ianto a secret smile. "Just you wait until later."
He pulled Ianto into a little kiss, only to be disturbed by the feet of little girls, who, having exhausted dress-up for the time being, decided that they wanted to start movie time. Jack gave Ianto a begging look and the Welshman kissed him on the cheek and went to go put in the movie, Disney's Tangled.
As the girls watched, Jack scrubbed himself up, though he kept the boa on. Ianto heated up dinner, a very simple and delicious home-made pizza (which he had had the foresight to prepare in advance and freeze). Given that five- and six-year-olds were prone to changing their minds about food on a regular basis, he had made three separate kinds of pizza – cheese and pepperoni for the girls, and a Ianto-original for the adults (consisting of sausage, green peppers, pineapple, onion, and a chili-looking alien herb).
Just as the movie was ending (and Rapunzel saved Eugene), Ianto brought out the pizza. Jack covertly watched the ending, smiling to himself, thinking about a very similar moment between himself and Ianto, many years earlier – only, with them, the kiss had been a hell of a lot better.
Still, dinner went smoothly enough. Annabelle gave the rest of the girls the idea to play outside for a while. That went over well.
Jack and Ianto kept an eye on the girls from the back porch, as they played in the generous backyard, chasing each other around and making up games, as the sky grew steadily darker.
Finally, the girls tired down enough to come back inside and change into their pajamas. Jack didn't know how they got their energy or where they kept it, but he was glad when they settled in to watch another movie, another Disney film, Beauty and the Beast, as they munched on homemade s'mores, made courtesy Ianto (again).
Jack covertly watched Ianto eat one. As he finished, Jack took great pleasure in taking his hand and gently licking off the melted chocolate and marshmallow. Ianto had to stifle a little moan, but Jack saw the way his eyes flashed in pleasure. He was so glad that the girls were all glued to the television screen at the moment.
At last, the girls were tired enough to troop back up to the play room, where they laid out their sleeping bags in a haphazard fashion.
"Daddy!" Annabelle called.
"Yes, angel," Jack replied, poking his head into the play room.
"Will you tell us a story?" she asked, sweetly. The other girls cheered. Ianto nudged Jack in the side.
"Only if your Tad helps out." He was so getting back at Ianto for dress-up right now.
"Okay!"
It had been hard to gage a story appropriate for the little girls. Annabelle knew the TARDIS and would get the stories related to that, but they had explained, carefully, to her that most people didn't know what the TARDIS was and they had to keep it a secret. Fortunately, one of the girls, Emma, gave Jack an idea.
"Will you tell us a fairy tale, Mr. Harkness?"
Jack looked at Ianto and smiled. "That sounds like a good idea."
He sat down and crossed his legs, pulling Ianto down next to him as he went. The girls gathered around them.
"Once upon a time, not too long ago," Jack began, grinning, "there was this very handsome captain –"
"– who always wore a gray cape," Ianto added.
Jack glanced at him, eyebrow cocked in challenge, before he continued, "This captain liked to help people. For a while, he traveled around with this very smart man, before he decided to create his own team, to try and help as many people as possible. His team was very special. There was a talkative doctor, a pretty computer genius, a good police officer, and a very smart and organized archivist. They saved the world a lot. The archivist was the captain's best friend. He was funny, kind, and made really great coffee. Soon they fell in love with one another. The captain knew that he had found the person he wanted to be with for the rest of his life. But, one day, there was this evil machine that was trying to take over their base."
"The archivist had been trying to help the machine because it had once been human," Ianto continued, taking Jack's hand. "But it didn't work. The machine was completely evil now and there was no trace of humanity left. And then something terrible happened."
The girls were all entranced, staring at the two men with wide eyes.
"What happened next?" one of the other girls, Lily, asked.
"The machine was going on a rampage, destroying the team's base. In the process, the archivist had gotten very hurt. He was dying. The captain was afraid that the archivist would die and he would be all alone again. So, he kissed the archivist and, just like in all of the stories, the archivist was healed through the power of true love."
All of the girls gave happy sighs at that.
Ianto squeezed Jack's hand. It was still a painful memory for Ianto. Lisa had been his last girlfriend.
"But the machine still had to be stopped," the Welshman continued. "The archivist couldn't destroy the machine since the machine had been his good friend when it had been a human. So, the captain made a hard choice and destroyed the machine for the archivist."
"The archivist was very sad," Jack picked up. "But, eventually, with the team's help, he was able to move on and live happily ever after with the captain."
All of the girls giggled at that. Those giggles quickly turned into yawns.
"I think it's bedtime for all of you," Ianto said. The girls gave token groans as they slid into their sleeping bags. He kissed Annabelle on the forehead. "Good night, girls. Sweet dreams."
After they had turned off the lights and shut the door, Jack drew Ianto into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry if I dredged up memories of Lisa."
Ianto kissed his cheek. "It's alright. That was a long time ago."
They walked down the hall and back downstairs, relatively silent. Back in the kitchen, Jack found his boa. He picked it up and grinned before walking over to Ianto, draping it around his husband's neck. Pulling Ianto close to him, he whispered, in a husky voice, "You owe me a date night after today."
Ianto's stormy blue eyes danced with light. "We still have tomorrow to deal with."
Jack smiled and groaned.
Yet, as much as Jack made a fuss about being a dress-up doll, he secretly loved it. His daughter was worth it and he would face another day of being the play-thing of a group of little girls.
To be perfectly honest, Ianto was right. Jack could pull off a tiara, a tutu, fairy wings, and a boa.
Cute, kind of silly, but hey, you got some good mental images there. Let me know what you think. I'll try to post another story soon, though I make no promises as to the timing.
Yeah, you read that right.
I'm being creative and all, but I am starting to feel the pressure of posting every day, so there will probably be more of a gap between when I post stories. Never fear, if you have me on your Author Alerts, you'll know when I post a new story. I'll be as regular as I can with stories, but it probably won't be every day. This way, I have more time to come up with ideas and to keep them as well-written as possible. Quality is important to me!
Still, keep on reviewing and let me know what you think! I really do like, enjoy, and appreciate all of your feedback.