2

Ianto stood with a look of sheer terror as he stared at the house.

The SUV had swung up the driveway that the weeping willows had stood guard along, their heads bowed over like they were whispering to one another. The house had come out of nowhere and the cliff also a surprise. Thank the gods for the good braking system as they had shuddered to a halt in front of the front porch, the sea roaring below as if it was trying to eat the ground to get to them..

"Wow" Owen said dryly, "Did we get a discount for the vampire in the belfry?"

It looked like something the Adams family would vacation in, black and foreboding with the eves painted a cheery dark purple. It looked like it had fallen off the back of a truck…a Halloween carnival one … as it leaned to one side.

"Is that even safe?" Gwen asked as she turned to Rhys like he was an expert in these things and Ianto watched Jack's eyes widen. She was looking to Rhys? Not him? The Captain? Ianto sighed as he saw problems ahead as Jack finally realised that a holiday with the 'team' was not the brightest idea, especially binging along someone who was not beholden to him and would take no shit.

"I will go check, you stay out here love" Rhys said as he pulled his pants up … yeah, I don't know why either, then he walked confidently to the front door and yanked it open, heading inside.

"It opens out" Owen said with surprise, "Don't doors open in?"

"It's the storm door" Ianto finally spoke, "It clips back against the siding, another door on the inside is supposed to be closed."

"Well it wasn't" Owe pointed out, What if there's a squatter. He's not even armed."

Gwen ran for the house, her hand fumbling with her shoulder bag as Ianto frowned and looked at Tosh, "Does she have a bloody gun in there?"

"I thought we left the firearms behind" she replied, then watched as the top window flew open….then away….slowly flying through the air to land at Jack's feet with a sickening crunch. Jack blinked and looked at it, then the hole Rhys was peering out of with surprise.

"Ah…sorry" he yelled down, "Hey … there's only two bedrooms but lots of bunks."

"Bunks" Ianto repeated softly as Owen appeared at the window next to Rhys.

"And this is one of the rooms. Bags this is the boy's room!" Owen yelled, "The girls can have the back one!"

"Bunks" Ianto repeated again, blinking as Jack grimaced and looked up.

"What do you mean two rooms? I was told this would sleep eight people!" Jack roared up at them.

"And it will!" Owen grinned with glee "Two bunks in each room, that's four beds!"

"Bunks" Ianto groaned as he slumped, "I hate fucking bunks."

Then Gwen was there like she had apparated or something, her bottom lip wobbling, "But Jack. Rhys and I…we can't sleep apart. I can't sleep without him."

"You do a pretty good job on your desk most afternoons" Tosh muttered under her breath as she and Ianto shared a look.

"Well… we can't ask Tosh to bunk in with us, that's not fair" Jack blustered, "She won't want farty men in her personal space"

Ianto gave up and went inside, horrified to find leaves had blown in and the bare floor boards were covered with dust. He knew he would spend at least an hour cleaning this one room alone, his eyes falling to the sofa. He turned to Tosh, "So. You could sleep down here alone if ya like, we push the sofa over by the fireplace and you will be toasty and warm with a power point for the laptop"

"Oh Ianto, perfect" she gushed happily as she hugged him and Jack stomped past with a look of woe as Gwen led him up the stairs to check the bedrooms, still talking about her need for her teddy bear to sleep.

Ianto knew he would give in.

The man always gave in.

Gwen looked too much like Alice for him not to.

Yeah. Ianto knew about her too.

Ianto walked up the stairs and into the room the boys were going to have, Owen swinging from the top bunk that overlooked a window as he yelled that he could spit on the SUV from here. In the room behind then Gwen's voice had risen to a shrill whine as the sound of furniture being dragged about told him Jack and Rhys were pulling the bunk beds together to create a weird four poster bed….with another bed on top.

He walked to the open hole the window had resided in for probably a hundred years and stared out at the raging sea below. He wondered if they had plastic to cover this before the rain came that he saw on the horizon.

Yep.

The slow burn was rising and his blood was starting to boil.

Fuck the margarita … let's main line some vodka and get on with it.