Author's Note: This one comes dedicated to my wonderful, darling, beloved Lizzy, also known as LiquidLash. Hope you enjoy it, sweetheart!
Jack sat down on the sofa next to Ruth and smiled at Ianto's worried expression. She had pulled a box of photo albums out and set them on the floor next to the sofa, and had the first album on her lap, open at the first page. "This is Ianto when he was tiny, that's Rhiannon with him, looking unusually pleased to have a baby brother. Lord knows, he was such a quiet child during the day, and she screamed her head off, then they swapped over at nights. Didn't sleep through until he was four."
"Good job I stayed good at it," Ianto muttered, reading through the cards over the fireplace. "Oh, how's Aunty Lily?"
"She's fine," Ruth told him. "She's expecting her first grandchild, or, well, Amy is."
"Really?" Ianto looked shocked. "Good grief, I haven't seen her since she was ten."
"Hmm, well she's not that much older now, teenage mother."
"I thought she must be, she can't be more than fifteen," he moved on to the next card without turning around.
"Oh, here he is!" Ruth crowed. "Ianto playing at being a king."
"Mam," Ianto groaned, turning around at last and hurrying to lean over the sofa behind him. "Why are you showing Jack pictures of me in the bath?"
"It's a tradition, Ianto," she told him firmly, turning the page to a picture of Ianto wearing an enormous grin, a tinsel scarf and nothing else on Christmas morning. "Bless him, he's always loved Christmas. You'll both have to come round for Christmas next year, dears."
"We'd love to," Jack laughed at the next picture and grinned over his shoulder at Ianto. "Ween't you sweet? What went wrong?"
"Jack..." Ianto groaned and headed back to the fireplace, but jack caught him and tumbled him into his lap. "Stop it."
"You were a really beautiful little boy," Jack told him seriously. "And you've always looked good in red."
"Yeah, I guess," Ianto sighed and slipped off his lap onto the sofa next to him instead, leaning across him to look at the photos. "Where was that one taken?"
"That's little Amy, Ianto."
"Yes, I can tell, Mam, on account of the fact that it looks just like her. Doesn't answer the question though."
"I think it's out down the coast," she mused. "Pendine Sands, judging by the size of it. Have you been to Pendine Sands, Jack?"
"A couple of times, yeah. Oh wow, Ianto in a bobble hat! That's beyond adorable," he laughed and Ianto's arms came around his waist so that Ianto could lean over him better and see properly.
"Mam," Ianto groaned and pulled away. "God this is embarrassing."
"Just be glad I've not got the videos out," she pointed out.
Jack looked delighted. "There are videos?"
It was going up eight when they left Ianto's mam's house, full of roast beef, roast potatoes, carrots, peas, cabbage, parsnips and apple pie and both extremely relieved about how well it had gone. Jack, in particular, had a spring in his step on the way to the car, and he let Ianto drive without a fuss. "I think you pass the test," Ianto smiled over at him. "And she'll warn Rhi, so I won't be so nervous about introducing you to her."
"What would you be nervous about?" Jack asked, "And what does she need warning about?"
"Rhiannon is a dreadful flirt," Ianto sighed. "Worse than you. I don't want to have to watch my sister flirting with my boyfriend whilst I reassure the flavour of the month that he's not just the flavour of the month. If she has a flavour of the month, that is."
"Ah, I see. So we're never introducing her to Owen, then?"
Ianto grunted. "No need, one of my earliest arguments with Owen stemmed from finding her number stuck to his monitor."
"Right... I'm slightly worried now," Jack confessed. "What happens if we discover that I've dated your sister?"
"Jack, my cousin is pregnant at fifteen, I won't be offended if you've had a turn on the village bike," he sighed. "My family fell apart at the seams when my dad died and, you know, I've always had a suspicion that Amy isn't just my cousin... Lily's my mum's sister, and she never seemed to have boyfriends or partners, but she's got two kids. We just don't talk about it."
"So why are you telling me?" Jack asked.
Ianto shrugged. "Because you're probably going to meet them all, and I'd rather you heard it from me how fucked up we are. I sometimes think that I'm the most well-balanced of all of us, and when you can say that about me... well, you know what I'm like."
"You do your best," Jack reassured him quietly.
"We all do, but it's rarely enough," he sighed. "I'm sorry, we were so happy a minute ago, I had to go and spoil it, didn't I? I really enjoyed today. I wish I'd taken you round to meet her sooner."
"You're not too embarrassed by the baby pictures then?"
He groaned. "Yes, but it's not going to kill me. What are you thinking?"
Jack jutted his chin slightly. "I want to see you in a bobble hat."
"Talk fast."
"Just a photo, I want a photo if you in a bobble hat and scarf, wrapped up warm against the cold," he reassured him. "A photo I can keep."
"Fully clothed?" he checked.
"Fully clothed, I promise. Please?" Jack pleaded with him, strong chin raised slightly.
"Okay," Ianto shrugged, hands on the steering wheel. "Before we leave for Australia, I'm not taking Winter clothes over there."
"Thank you," Jack rested his hand on the gear lever, so that Ianto had to cover it to change gear.