Ianto sat on the tatty couch in the Hub, frowning skeptically at his mobile.
"You're looking... glum," Jack observed, sitting beside Ianto with a distinct lack of grace. "Where's your holiday spirit? I even heard Owen singing some kinda song in the pub last night."
Ianto glanced over at Jack. "That's because it had dirty lyrics. And because he'd had, by my count, five pints in the space of about 80 minutes."
Jack shrugged. "Okay, so holidays spirits. I've got some sherry up there, if that'd do it."
Ianto shook his head. "Far be it from me to turn down a glass of sherry, but I don't think it'll do much for my shopping list."
"Oh, come on. You're great at shopping. You have a sixth sense for it or something."
"A sixth sense?" Ianto laughed. "What, just because I'm not distracted like a magpie by every shiny thing I walk by?"
Jack pouted. "I prefer to think of it as being a thorough comparison shopper." It just earned him a classic eye-roll.
"It's not the actual shopping that's the difficulty anyway. All I've got to do for that is load up on coffee, make sure I've got an emergency packet of Panadol, put my head down and go. Bit like walking into a Weevil nest, really."
Jack chuckled. "You know there's such a thing as shopping online now, right? No risk of headaches from overcrowded, overheated shops, no awful music, no bell-ringing…."
"A tempting option, absolutely," Ianto conceded. "But not helpful in this case."
Jack looked over at him for a moment. "Alright. Wait here. Don't move." A minute later Jack returned with a couple cordial glasses and their matched cut-glass decanter. "Here we go. Do you mind it room temperature? It's usually cool enough down here and it don't like it chilled."
"I'm really not that fussy," Ianto said, gratefully taking the little glass of liquid amber.
"You'll really get the full flavor of it like this, I think. Cold kills the taste and ice waters it down. Anyway… what about this shopping list? What's the matter with it?"
"I have no idea what I can give my sister and her family," Ianto sighed. "Not that I'm short of ideas, there's a lot they could do with. I do could something really helpful for them, you know? But… they'd never accept it. Last time I tried to help, Rhi told me off, loudly, for being 'grand'. I don't understand what I'm supposed to do. I get a guilt trip no matter what I do."
Jack shook his head sympathetically. "Yeah, been there."
"It's not that I don't understand, I do. Too well. But I'm stuck, aren't I? Bloody hate this time of year," Ianto said miserably.
Jack was quiet for a long while. He'd had exactly the same problem when trying to send gifts to Alice and Stephen. If it was something too big he was accused of trying to buy their affection, if it was something simple he was stuck with the guilt that he could have done more – and sometimes heard caustic comments about 'not even bothering'. It was always a lose-lose situation, but then, it always had been for him.
"What if you sent something anonymously?" Jack said suddenly. "You know, a 'Secret Santa' kind of thing – maybe a gift card or whatever. I don't have to tell you all the sneaky ways we've got for making sure nobody finds out where something in the post actually came from."
Ianto took a sip of Jack's sherry while considering that. "Might work. I could send them a proper gift that way, something they could really do with, and then just give them something a bit less grand on the day."
"That's the idea," Jack said, shifting closer. "Then even if they don't know it was you who sent them whatever, you're still absolved of any phantom guilt."
"Of course, even that doesn't get me out of going to Christmas dinner," Ianto sighed. "Any alien invasions in the offing this year?"
Jack shook his head. "Sorry, looks perfectly quiet. In alien and Rift terms, anyway. And the rest of it, I can't do anything about. Well, not much," he said, reaching over to top up Ianto's glass. "You could always just say you can't stay late… gotta drive home and all. And you'll know where to come for a nightcap and post-mortem," Jack smiled.
Ianto smiled and held his glass up to touch Jack's. "I will thank you for that," he said, finishing off his drink and dropping his head back to rest on the arm Jack slipped around his shoulders.
"No thanks needed," Jack promised, "just happy to help."