A/N: This is the second story in my family universe, the first one being "Domestic Dance". You don't have to read it to understand this story here, but you could anyway *hint hint* :)
Ianto was royally pissed off when he pulled the car into the driveway. The annual year-end conference with UNIT and the Prime Minister had been as stressful and extremely irritating as usual. Ianto still cursed the day he had agreed to handle the meetings instead of Jack.
Looking at his watch he muttered under his breath, he hadn't noticed how late it was already. Grumbling inwardly about how Jack could forget sex for the next week, he ripped the key from the ignition and pushed the driver's door open. He finally climbed out of the car, yelping loudly when his feet slid over a patch of ice on the driveway. Frantically grabbling for something to hold on to, he barely managed to avoid crashing down on his butt and breaking his neck and ended up half hanging on the driver's door, trying to get his feet under him again.
"Fucking hell!" Shouting out his anger, he used the door for support until he found a safe spot on the driveway. With a grim expression on his face, he straightened up and slammed the door of the SUV shut. This day was getting worse with every passing second. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, the cool air helping in calming him down. When he opened his eyes again, he felt just about relaxed enough to face his family, although he couldn't guarantee for not hurting Jack at least a little bit.
To avoid another acrobatic act on the driveway, Ianto jumped onto the grass beside it and made his way to the front door. Carefully climbing up the three steps, he pushed the key into the lock and opened the door, closing his eyes a moment when warm air hit his face. He stepped in quickly and closed the door when he heard excited voices filtering into the hallway from the kitchen. Ianto felt himself relax even more and the anger was melting away, especially when his nose picked up the sweet scent that wafted through the house. Quickly shedding his jacket and shoes he padded over to the kitchen, following the smell that was getting stronger.
When he pushed the door open, he needed a moment to decide if he should just laugh or have a stroke. The kitchen looked like a war zone and his family was sitting right in the middle of it. After watching Jack and the kids for a moment, Ianto decided he had been angry enough for one day and it was time to get over it and enjoy himself. The fact that he would make Jack clean up the kitchen later helped a lot in that regard. Now settled on a mood, a smile spread over Ianto's face as he watched Josh and Katie almost clamber onto the table to cut out the cookies from the dough Jack had rolled out. Jack looked equally excited and was just wiping his hands on his pants, leaving white streaks on the already flour smeared fabric.
Josh and Katie presented a similar flour covered picture. In fact the whole kitchen was slightly dusted in flour, giving it a very snowy feeling.
Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Ianto cleared his throat once before speaking in a bittersweet tone. "Hi honey, I'm home." Jack's shocked expression paired with the nervous gulp was almost enough to placate Ianto, but only almost. "Having fun?"
Jack just gaped at him, while Josh and Katie had no qualms as they squealed happily and clambered down from the table to throw themselves into their Tad's arms.
"Taddy!!"
"Hold it right there!" Ianto pointed at the twins with a finger and a very stern expression on his face, making the kids freeze in mid-kitchen. "You're not going to come near me with those hands." When he saw the disappointed expressions on both their faces he smiled quickly. "Just give me five minutes and then you can hug me all you want, okay?" Not waiting for an answer, Ianto stepped out of the kitchen and closed the door behind him. A wicked grin on his face, he ran upstairs, taking two steps at a time. If Jack wanted to make cookies, who was he to deny his family that pleasure, in fact he would help them. And he would make the worst mess possible for Jack to clean up. Oh, sweet revenge.
When he returned exactly five minutes later to the kitchen, he was wearing an old pair of jeans and a simple white t-shirt. Getting down on one knee, he spread his arms.
"Now, who wants a hug?"
Josh and Katie, until now sitting slightly subdued on the kitchen chairs, jumped up and ran to their father, almost toppling Ianto over in the process.
"Me, me!"
Laughing, Ianto hugged his children to his chest and pressed a sloppy kiss to each face before he stood up again, lifting them up from the ground.
"Whoa, you're getting heavier each day, how much of the dough have you two nibbled already?"
"Nothing, daddy said we couldn't have any because we wouldn't want to eat dinner then," Katie pouted and Josh nodded vigorously.
"But I saw daddy eat some of the dough. Doesn't he have to eat dinner?" Josh asked Ianto with a stern expression. The little boy had already perfected the stern look and turned around now to present Jack with it.
Ianto laughed and brushed a kiss to his son's head. "Don't worry squirt, daddy will eat dinner with us. I'm sure he'll be hungry after tidying up later."
Putting his kids down on the kitchen chairs, Ianto leant forward and pressed a kiss to Jack's lips. The older man was still standing rather tense next to the kitchen table, worry clearly etched into his features.
"I'm sorry for the mess, I wanted to clean up before you came home, but we were having so much fun playing memory earlier and started to prepare the dough later as planned and then it took longer to cut the cookies and the oven was taking so long to heat up and..."
"It's okay Jack," Ianto interrupted his rambling lover, grinning inwardly at how adorable Jack was, babbling along like this. Pressing another kiss to his Captain's lips, he smiled. "And I know that you will clean everything up after we've finished making the cookies. I will give the kid's their bath and you will use the time to make the kitchen stop feeling like a war zone. And then we will have dinner and put the kids to bed, after which you can thank me properly for taking all that crap from UNIT and the PM." Suppressing a chuckle when Ianto saw Jack nodding furiously, he thought that his lover sometimes really behaved like a third kid. "Oh and when you're at it later, you can be thankful that I didn't break my neck on that patch of ice on our driveway as well. The same driveway I believe I asked you to throw some sand on to avoid exactly something like me falling on my butt."
Jack had at least the decency to look sheepishly at Ianto, when he wrapped his arms around him and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I'm sorry you had a bad day; I'll try and make it better later."
"I'll take your word for that."
"Dad, can we make more cookies now?" Katie had hopped down from her chair and squeezed between her fathers now, looking up at Jack with big blue eyes.
Ianto saw Jack melting at the sight of their daughter and he knew that Jack would never say no to her when she looked at him that way. He had to watch out for the little lady in the future or she would wrap them both around her finger.
"Of course, trouble. Lots of dough left to cut out cookies." Bending down, Jack swept his daughter up in his arms and put her down on the chair again. "Here you go, sweetie." Handing her a cookie cutter, he turned around and checked on the oven. The first load of cookies was almost done.
Ianto stepped behind his son and wrapped his arms around the small waist, chuckling when Josh struggled against the grip.
"Tad, let go. I can't work like that." The little boy had two round cookie cutters, one smaller than the other. Ianto watched him cut the dough first with the bigger cutter and then press the smaller one in the middle of the cut out piece to get a doughnut shaped cookie.
"Josh, I have an idea, why don't you make two sorts of those round shaped cookies? One with the hole in the middle and one without. That way we can put marmalade on the whole piece and glue the other on top." Smiling when Josh turned in his arms, he brushed a strand of dark hair from the kid's forehead.
"Can we use raspberry marmalade?"
"Sure." Straightening up again, Ianto gave Jack a bittersweet smile as the older man pulled a face. "I'll get the marmalade. And then I'll have a look what we have for icing the other cookies." Smiling again at the joyful squeal from his kids, Ianto walked over to one of the cupboards to get the marmalade out when two arms sneaked around his waist from behind.
"You are an evil bastard," Jack whispered in Ianto's ear, feeling the young man shiver in his arms, when hot breath brushed over the sensitive skin at his neck.
"I have no idea, what you're talking about." Busying himself with pulling icing sugar from the board, Ianto tried to ignore the hand that was stroking circles on his belly, getting dangerously close to his groin in the process.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. The kitchen will be even more messy if you let the kids experiment with marmalade and icing sugar."
"Now that you mention it. That thought never crossed my mind. But we can't deny them that now, can we?" Turning around in Jack's arms, a smug smile played over Ianto's face. "And what's a bit of sticky marmalade and icing sugar smeared across several surfaces. The kitchen is already a mess, but you will do a great job in cleaning it up. And maybe if there's some icing sugar left, we might use it to ice something else later on." Laughing at the dreamy look in Jack's eyes, he slapped his lover on the arm. "I believe you should have a look at the cookies in the oven or they will be burnt."
"Ah damn!" Releasing his lover, Jack turned to the oven and quickly pulled out the baking tray. "I'm happy to report that it had been a close call, but the cookies could be rescued." Jack turned around, wearing such a proud expression on his face while presenting the cookies to his family that he had them whooping and laughing at him. "So is the next load ready to be baked?" Putting a second baking tray on the table, he watched smiling as Katie and Josh piled their cut out cookies on it.
"Daddy, you need to roll out the dough again."
"I'll be there in a second Josh, let me put this in the oven first." Jack quickly shoved the tray in the oven and then stepped back to the table to help Josh with the dough.
Ianto smiled happily at the scene before him. The twins were four and a half years old now, but the domesticity still amazed him, especially Jack being such at ease with their children and embracing every second they had with them. Jack would fight aliens and save the world, but when he was with Josh and Katie, he was only a loving father without the heroics. Ianto loved that side of his partner and he was proud to be the one person Jack had chosen to share this part of his life with.
He knew he must have had a dreamy expression on his face when Jack winked at him suggestively. Rolling his eyes at his partner, he finished preparing the icing sugar and carried it along with a packet of sugar pearls over to the table. He picked Josh up and sat down on the chair the boy had been standing on, seating him on his lap.
"Hey partner, wanna help me ice the cookies?" Chuckling when Josh nodded furiously and grabbed for the icing bag, Ianto pressed another kiss to his boy's head and pulled him close to his chest.
"Tad, let go." Squirming on his father's lap, Josh stretched his arms out, trying to get the icing bag.
"Sorry buddy, couldn't resist hugging you." Releasing his son from his grip, he placed his arms loosely around his waist and watched the boy trying to squeeze the bag and point the tip of it at the cookie at the same time. "Need help there?" Ianto took the bag from the small hands and held it over the cookie. "Come on, let's work together. I squeeze the bag and you move it over the cookie and do the icing, okay?"
"Okay." Grabbing the tip of the bag with his stubby fingers, Josh moved it slowly over the cookie, telling his Tad when to squeeze and when not to. Together, they managed to ice all the cookies before Jack dumped the next load in front of them.
"More work to do," Jack smiled and carded his fingers lovingly through Ianto's hair, bending down to press a kiss first to Josh's forehead and then to Ianto's, whispering "I love you" in his lover's ear before straightening up again. "The cookies look delicious, Josh."
"I want to do icing as well," Katie finally whined. The girl had been very quiet until now and had busied herself with cutting out cookies, but the increased attention her brother was getting prompted her to call for attention as well. "Daddy, can we ice cookies now?"
"Of course sweetie, but let's finish off the last of the dough first, okay? Come here." Sweeping her up in his arms, Jack sat down at the table as well and placed the girl on his lap. "Let's see what we can make with the rest of the dough."
"But I want to do the icing now." Squirming on her father's lap, Katie was definitely not happy with cutting cookies anymore.
"Well, we have to bake cookies first in order to ice them. So what about we form a few cookie people and you can ice them when they are baked. You could make it look like as if they are wearing clothes." Jack grabbed a bit of the dough and rolled it to a ball before flattening it on the table; he then added four rolls as arms and legs and another flattened ball as head.
"That is a really fat man," Katie giggled, but grabbed for the dough herself now. Jack helped her roll the dough and build more people, glancing at Ianto every once in a while and sharing a smile with the younger man.
Josh and Ianto were by now dropping big dollops of marmalade onto the round cookies and pressing the doughnut shaped ones on top. The table was smeared with marmalade and icing and it had somehow transferred to Josh's and Ianto's faces as well. Jack smiled at the look of his two favourite boys covered in sugar and red jelly.
"You two look perfectly edible. What do you think Katie; maybe we should have Tad and Josh for dinner." He chuckled at Ianto's indignant expression and burst out laughing when Josh wore the same expression in a perfect mirror of his Tad. The boy looked more and more like Ianto every day.
"But I want spaghetti," Katie murmured, not even bothering to look up, but concentrating on building a cookie woman, including a skirt and long hair from the last bit of dough.
"You're right, Katie. Too much sugar is not good for our teeth and Tad and Josh are so sweet, we would get a tummy ache." Pressing a kiss on his daughter's hair, he glanced over at Ianto, seeing the young man smile fondly at the implied compliment.
"I'm done, can we do the icing now?" Katie squirmed again on Jack's lap, turning around and wrapping her sticky fingers around her father's neck.
"We have to bake them first, squirt. Then you can do the icing." Standing up again, Jack put the girl back on the chair before he fetched the baking tray and carefully transferred the cookie people onto it.
"How long do we have to wait?" Katie was pouting now and eyed her brother enviously.
"About ten minutes." Jack lifted the girl up and sat down again, reaching out for one of the finished cookies only to get his hand slapped away by Ianto. "Ouch!"
"No cookies before dinner. You know the rules, Jack." Looking sternly at his lover, Ianto had to swallow the laugh that wanted to escape his lips, when Jack showed the same pout as Katie.
"You're no fun."
"Eating cookies now, will only spoil your appetite," Josh stated matter-of-factly and in a way only a four year old could muster.
Jack glared at Ianto who was visibly restraining himself to keep a straight face. If Josh with his four years was already acting like his Tad, what would he be like ten years from now? Jack sighed at the thought of having a teenage mini version of Ianto putting him rightfully in his place. It seemed he had to grow up before his kids were done with it.
"I think your cookies are ready, Jack," Ianto pressed out between clenched teeth, still fighting the laughter that wanted to break out of him. He knew exactly what was going on in his lover's mind and enjoyed every second of it. "Josh and I are done with our cookies so you can have the icing bag." Sliding the bag over to Katie, Ianto watched how Jack got the remaining cookies from the oven and dropped them in front of their daughter.
"Give it a moment sweetie, they're very hot." Jack placed the tray in the sink and retook his seat, pulling his daughter onto his lap once more.
"I'll put the water on for the spaghetti," Ianto announced and peeled himself out from under the table, sitting Josh down on the chair. When he had put the pot with water on the stove, his gaze fell on his hands and arms which were both smeared with icing and jelly. A look at Josh told him that some cleaning was in order. "I'll get myself cleaned up a bit. Check on the water, will you?"
When he saw Jack nod, Ianto left the kitchen and headed for the bathroom. It took him only a moment to wash the sticky mess from his hands and wet a wash cloth to wipe Josh and Katie clean. Making his way back to the kitchen, his heart dropped at the sight before him.
"Josh, no!" Dropping the wash cloth, Ianto crossed the kitchen in the blink of an eye and grabbed his little boy who was just reaching for the pot on the stove.
Jack jerked around and saw in horror what had Ianto screaming. The pot was already at the edge of the stove. Just a small tug and the hot water would have scalded Josh all over. Jumping up from the chair, he was next to Ianto in an instant, clutching Katie to his chest.
The boy was already on the brink of tears, frightened by Ianto's loud shout and the fact that his Tad had yanked him roughly away from the stove.
Ianto's heart was beating so fast, he feared it would jump out of his chest. Kneeling down, he quickly examined Josh and finally pulled him relieved to his chest when he found his boy unharmed.
"That was very dangerous, Josh." Pulling back from the embrace, he looked at his son, the seriousness of the situation clearly edged into his features. "You know that you're not allowed to go near the oven or the stove. Why did you reach for that pot?"
Josh was trembling now; big tears were streaming down his face as he cried silently. "You… you said to," he sniffled miserably, "...check on it," he finally managed to press out before a sob wracked his body.
Understanding dawning on his face, Ianto pulled Josh back into his arms. "Oh baby, I hadn't meant you to watch the water, I was talking to daddy. I'm sorry." Clutching the small frame to his chest, Ianto rubbed one hand over Josh's back, soothing the boy. "You gave me quite the scare here."
"I'm sorry." Josh mumbled, burying his face in his father's shoulder.
Jack released the breath he was holding and pressed a relieved kiss to Katie's cheek before hugging her close. The girl was also on the brink of tears, the quick change from happily icing cookies to a shouting Tad and a crying brother had been too much. He sat down at the table again when Ianto stood up from his kneeling position, Josh still close to his chest.
Sitting down as well, Ianto shifted Josh onto his lap so he could look at the tear streaked face. "Do you know why you're not allowed to go near the stove and the oven?"
Josh sniffled and looked at him with big blue eyes, still a bit frightened. "Because you said so?"
Ianto smiled and caressed the boy's face, wiping away the last tears. "Yes, but do you know why I've said that?"
"Because it's dangerous, cause it's hot," Katie piped up, safely snuggled up to Jack, but her attention was trained on Ianto and Josh.
"Exactly. Because you could hurt yourself badly. When I was a kid, about the same age as you are now, I wasn't careful and I got burned."
"Really?" Josh's eyes widened. "Did it hurt?"
"Oh yes. I didn't listen to my mam and grabbed for a pot on the stove and it toppled over and the hot water splashed over my arm and scalded my skin." Ianto stretched his left arm out and showed Josh the scars that were still visible. "It was very painful and I had to wear dressings for weeks. And as you can see, I have still the scars."
Josh looked at the scars and reached out with his hand, but pulled back again, tilting his head up to look at Ianto. "Can I touch them? Do they still hurt?"
"No, they don't hurt anymore, but they remind me to be careful. You can touch them." Ianto smiled down at Josh and watched as little fingers gently stroked over the scars on his arm. "Do you understand now, why it's so important for me that you don't go near the stove?"
Josh nodded, being fascinated with the scars for the moment, he totally forgot that he had been crying just a minute ago.
Ianto finally pulled his arm away and put his finger under Josh's chin to turn his head. "Promise me you won't go near the stove anymore."
Josh looked at his father for a moment before he opened his mouth. "I promise."
"Good." Pulling the boy to his chest once more, Ianto felt the tension fall away from his body. Glancing over at Jack and Katie, he fixed his daughter with his gaze. "You have to promise to me as well."
Katie nodded instantly. "I promise, Tad. Can I touch the scars?"
Chuckling, Ianto nodded. "Yes sweetie. You can do that in a moment when we go upstairs so you can have your bath. Actually, why don't you two run ahead? I'll be with you in a minute." Slipping Josh from his lap to the ground, he watched as the toddler walked to the door and turned around again.
"I'm sorry, Tad."
"It's okay baby, no one was hurt." Smiling encouragingly at his son, he motioned him to go on. It was Katie who took her brother's hand and pulled him out of the kitchen in the end. When Ianto heard his kids trampling up the stairs he allowed himself a moment of weakness. Burying his face in his hands, he took a few deep breaths, trying to hold his tears back. Jack's arms were wrapped around him a second later, rubbing soothingly over his back.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't pay attention to Josh. I was so occupied with Katie. Damn it, I should have been more careful." Muttering to himself, Jack felt the shock hit home full force now that everything was over. Clutching Ianto to his chest, he buried his face in the younger man's shoulder when he couldn't stop the tears from falling. "I'm so sorry!"
"Hey cariad, it's okay. No one was hurt. We all had a good scare and I'm sure the twins won't go near the stove ever again." Pulling out of the embrace, Ianto pressed a tender kiss to Jack's lips. "Now, I need to go upstairs and put the squirts into water. Will you tidy up a bit and start dinner? We can clean up the rest when the kids are in bed." Taking another deep breath, Ianto got up and stroked Jack lovingly over the head when the older man remained in his squatted position on the floor.
Later that evening when Josh and Katie were safely tucked in, Jack had read them their bedtime story and a soothing quiet had settled over the Harkness-Jones household, Ianto snuggled into Jack's arms on their big comfy couch. They had cleaned the kitchen together after the kids were asleep and had settled down on the couch to watch a mindless movie on ITV. Jack's hands rubbed gentle circles on Ianto's back as he watched the pictures flicker over their LCD-TV, not really paying attention to what was going on in the movie. He was deep in thought about what had happened earlier in the afternoon.
"I really should have paid more attention," he finally said in a low voice.
"What do you want me to say now?" Ianto replied calmly and shifted onto his back so he could look up at Jack's face. "Sure, you should have paid more attention, but you know how the twins are. How kids are. There's no telling what they will do next. And they are quicker than a Weevil when they want to do something." Ianto lifted his hand and gently caressed Jack's cheek, smiling when the older man nuzzled his face into the warm palm. "We can only try to keep them in our sight, but we can't wrap them in cotton wool. I'm sure this won't be the last time one of them will almost get hurt and I'm sure there will be tears in the future in one form or another, but we have to accept that and just try our best to keep them safe."
"You have the wisdom of old age, Ianto Harkness-Jones. And you're only 31." Jack bent down to press a kiss to Ianto's smiling mouth. "Thank you for not blaming me."
"The situation could have easily been reversed. Let's just promise to each other that we will do our best to keep our children out of harm's way."
"Of course."
"Good. Now I think I remember something about you thanking me properly for suffering through the conference today. And if I'm correct, there was the mentioning of icing something."
"Oh, what you do to me." Jack smiled wickedly. "Let's take this to bed and I will be at your service."
A short while later the sounds of passion and love were filling the house, reminding everybody of the importance of living. Life was never easy but you have to make the best of it.