Remember When
Chapter Two
A/N: When I was a child the Mrs Piggle-Wiggle books, written by Betty MacDonald, were some of my absolute favourites. I'm sixty now and I just read them again last summer; they are still just as wonderful as they were five decades ago.
Looking behind him, Ianto whistled softly, then stopped to wait for Myfanwy to decide if she wanted to get out of her soft bed and come to the garden with him or snooze on. One of the first things Ianto had done after moving into the new house was to go straight to Cardiff Dogs Home on Penarth Road and rescue a dog… or two. The big backyard was just begging for canine companionship and as luck would have it, there was a dog the same breed and colour as his grandfather's beloved dog and she was just waiting for a loving home. When the attendant pointed out that the dog sharing her cage was her brother who also needed a home, he and Jack welcomed the siblings with open arms.
At the moment, Scooter was with Jack running errands. Ianto shook his head as he and Myfanwy entered the garden; he still didn't understand why Jack had given the dog such a silly name, and every time he asked, Jack would just laugh and lay a finger aside his nose. As a man who prided himself on knowing everything, the fact that Jack refused to share the information really irked him when he took the time to think about it.
Pausing just inside the gate, Ianto and Myfanwy surveyed the land before them. To his left the tall corn was laden with ears of golden sweetness, ripening in the summer sun. Behind them stood a long double row of sunflowers, their big heads following the sun from morning to night. The heads were heavy with seeds that Ianto would dry and put in the bird feeder during the winter months. Snaking all along the ground beneath both crops were the pumpkin and squash vines. There were several excellent prospects for the "best Jack-o-Lantern ever!" according to Jack.
On the right were the fences and poles for the pea vines and runner beans, both heavily laden and waiting to be picked. Ianto glanced down at his trug and knew he'd need a bigger basket, maybe even two. His mind was already organising his time for the next few days so he could get some more canning and freezing done. With a sigh he returned to the planting shed and gathered two more wicker baskets large enough to contain the bounty he knew was waiting.
The rest of the large garden was filled with rows of cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli, tomatoes and cucumbers, beets and carrots, and he noticed that it was time to thin the second planting – 'or is it the third?' he vaguely wondered – of radishes and leaf lettuce.
Starting at the rear of the large plot, Ianto settled in for his afternoon of gardening. Spending time working under the sun and amongst all the growing things was his idea of true relaxation. For Jack, it was putting his feet up and settling down with a good book, preferably science fiction or a ripping who-dun-it, but Ianto loved smelling the fresh dirt and enjoying the fruits of his labour. He loved seeing the rows of shiny glass jars filled with colourful pickles and vegetables, and knowing that the chest freezer in the utility room just off the kitchen was full of vegetables better frozen than canned. They were all his pride and joy, his reward for a job well done. It was so very fulfilling, using the skills he'd learned from his grandmother over the years to provide for his family.
While Myfanwy foraged under the cabbage leaves and around the pumpkin patch, Ianto pulled weeds and filled half a basket with sweet peas – 'I shell these later tonight' – and the other half with lovely green beans, Jack's favourite veg. He picked plump ripe tomatoes and long cucumbers, then he thinned out the lettuce and radishes, already picturing the salad he would serve with dinner that night.
Reaching the top of his garden, Ianto stood up, stretched like a cat to get all the kinks from his muscles and then he plopped back down in the dirt and laid himself out to bask in the warmth of the sun. 'Gotta pick some dill for tomorrow's pickling' was the last conscious thought he had before he fell fast asleep. He didn't even notice when Myfanwy came and laid down with him, adding her soft snores to his own.
Sometime later, Ianto gradually came awake, slowly becoming aware that his sunbeams had gone away. Reluctantly he opened his eyes and when they'd focused he discovered that Jack was standing between him and the rays of the sun with a look of intense concentration on his face.
"Jack?"
The moment Jack heard his husband's voice his face lit up. "You're awake!"
Ianto rolled his eyes with fond exasperation; somehow Jack always managed to wake him from his naps, sometimes accidentally, sometimes intentionally. "When did you get back?" He yawned deeply and sat up, then accepted Jack's hand to stand.
"About fifteen minutes ago."
Nodding, Ianto waved towards the pumpkin patch. "There's some real treasures in there. I think you're going to be very pleased to have more than one perfect pumpkin this year."
"Yeah?" Jack danced like a child for a minute, with jazz hands completing the picture. "Yay!"
Gathering up his tools, Ianto handed one basket of vegetables to Jack and took the other two for himself. Glancing back to see if he'd left anything behind he noticed that Scooter had joined Myfanwy and it looked like the dogs were closing in on prey but then they both jerked back comically as a large grasshopper jumped out of the strawberry and nasturtiums patch and bounced off Scooter's nose.
"Get your big feet out of there, you two!" Ianto roared. "You'll squash all my berries!" He had big plans to try making jam this year and the last of the summer's strawberries were just days away from being picked; those that had come before – at least what Jack hadn't eaten – were in the freezer waiting to fill the lovely little handmade jam pots Ianto had found during a visit to the local church fete.
Jack laughed as he watched the dogs run from the garden like daemons were chasing them.
As they stopped by the hose to wash down Wellies and vegetables alike, Ianto could tell that Jack had something on his mind. "So, how was your trip into town?" Even though 'into town' meant a fifteen-minute drive to the nearest grocery store and not the nearly hour-long trip on bumpy dirt roads that he'd enjoyed at his grandparent's farm, Ianto still used the term.
"Great!" enthused. "Wilbur at the bank and Glynith at the post office say hi, and I'm supposed to tell you not to forget that you've got story hour at the library next week."
Ianto nodded. "It's on my calendar. I'm thinking of one of the Mrs Piggle-Wiggle stories."
"I love those books!" Jack was again an excited child as he clapped. "Which story are you gonna tell?"
"Well, I was thinking 'The Slow Eater, Tiny Bite Taker' or the 'The Radish Cure', or maybe both."
Jack frowned. "Which one is about radishes?" It sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place it.
"The little girl who wouldn't take a bath, remember? So her mum planted radish seeds in the dirt on her arms and they grew."
"Oh yeah! Both! I want both!" Jack crowed like the big kid he was. Ianto noticed something white as Jack's jazz hands appeared again. "And what about 'The Know-It-All Cure'? I like that story."
"Yep," and Ianto popped his 'P' just like his grand-tad had always done. "That's a good one!"
"You could read 'The Fraidy-Cat Cure' and 'The Tattletale Cure' and the…"
Ianto laughed. "Jack, I've only got an hour, remember?"
"Oh, right…" the older man deflated just a bit and put his hands on his hips as he thought about which stories were the absolute best.
"Whatcha got there?" Ianto spied the white thing again and asked ever-so-casually as he rinsed the dirt from this trowel and dried it off.
Abruptly Jack stopped dancing about and turned serious eyes on Ianto; the white thing disappeared behind his back. "Umm… Ianto?"
"Yes?" Ianto used Jack's shoulder to steady himself as he pulled off his Wellies.
"Remember…" Jack cleared his throat and started again. "Remember this past April?" He was obviously quite nervous. "The first of April?"
Ianto had very vivid memories of April Fool's Day. 'There must have been sunspots or something that day,' he thought back, 'or else, Owen dosed us with that alien aphrodisiac spray.' That was the only conclusion his logical mind could come up with for the way they'd behaved that day, shagging like bunnies at every opportunity. They'd started out the moment they'd woken and then their morning shower had taken twice as long as usual, followed by a quickie in the car park before they'd entered the Hub.
Later Owen had caught them in the greenhouse and then just before the team left for the day, Gwen had walked in on them up in Jack's office. Ianto had remarked that "somehow, she always knows where we are when we're doing this!" Finally, after one last marathon session of love-making later that night, they'd drifted off to sleep in one another's arms, sated and so exhausted that Jack slept through the night instead of waking up after a couple of hours and feeling fully refreshed, and Ianto, who normally woke up thirty minutes before the alarm, slept through the hideous noise for nearly eight minutes.
"Yeah, vaguely," Ianto replied with a twinkle in his eye. "I still don't know what made us act like that or how on Earth we survived!" He laughed at the memory of Owen's numerous snarky comments about he and Jack "…walking funny" all day long.
Jack also smiled at the memories; 'I hadn't had that much sex in one day since I was in the Vegas Galaxies!'
"And the white thing behind your back?"
With that Jack left the pleasure domes of the Vegas Galaxies and slammed back down to Earth. His eyes darted back and forth as he tried to recall the speech he had practiced in front of the bathroom mirror just before seeking out Ianto, but every word had run for the hills. Mutely, he just held out the white stick, pretending not to notice the slight nervous tremor in his hand.
Ianto absent-mindedly accepted the piece of plastic; he'd just noticed a little frog on his lettuce so he carefully picked it up and carried it back into the garden, setting it down near the row of beets. As he walked back to the house he glanced down at the thing Jack had given him. It took several seconds for his brain to register what he was seeing.
"Do you know what this is?" Even to his own ears it sounded like a stupid question and Ianto rolled his eyes. "I mean, you do know what this means, right? A plus sign?" He mentally kicked himself. 'Of course he knows that it means, you twpsyn! He's the one who peed on it!"
For his part, Jack stood there holding his breath while a nervous giggle kept bubbling up in his chest. "What do you think?" he whispered as Ianto stood there gobsmacked.
"Me?" Ianto suddenly grinned like a lunatic. "Cariad, this is brilliant!" He flung his arms around Jack and danced him about the yard. "We're having a baby!" he shouted to the world as the dogs ran circles around them, barking excitedly.
Jack stopped abruptly, clapped a hand over his mouth and raced into the house, heading straight for the bathroom. When the toilet flushed Ianto was right there with his toothbrush and a wet face cloth.
"I'm so sorry, Cariad." Ianto drew Jack into his arms and rubbed his back soothingly. "I forgot how delicate your poor tummy is at this early stage."
"Uh-huh," Jack moaned piteously and he leaned more heavily against his Welshman, as if his own legs could no longer hold him up.
Ianto swallowed down his laughter, knowing just what Jack was up to. "Would you like me to fix you some tea, Cariad? Would that make you feel better?"
"Uh-huh." This time Jack nuzzled Ianto's neck. "My tummy is very upset."
This time Ianto chuckled. "Would some ginger biscuits make it all better?" He could feel Jack smile against his neck.
"If you think they would help." Jack sounded like he was five years old.
"Oh, my poor sweet baban," Ianto crooned as he led Jack to his favourite chair and settled him in the afternoon sunshine. "You sit here and think calming tummy thoughts to our baby and I'll get things started."
Ianto set the kettle on the hob and got his tea tray, setting out the sugar bowl and matching milk pitcher, the cups and saucers, and a plate of the ginger biscuits he always kept on hand for when the twins weren't feeling well. Speaking of the twins…
"Jack, when are Lily and Gareth supposed to be home?" He warmed the teapot and checked on the roast in the oven. Seeing that he had just enough time before the kettle boiled, Ianto went back outside, retrieved his baskets of vegetables and sorted it all out on the big kitchen table. As the kettle began to whistle merrily, Ianto realised he hadn't heard Jack's answer, and after setting the tea to steep, Ianto stuck his head around the door.
"Cariad? The kids…" Ianto got his answer in the form of a snore loud enough to wake Scooter who was sleeping on the floor next to his master's chair. With a fond smile, Ianto pulled the throw from the back of the sofa and laid it across his sleeping husband. "Sweet dreams, my love," and he kissed the top of Jack's head, "I love you." Reaching down, he patted Scooter; "keep an eye on him for me, okay?"
Scooter banged his tail on the floor several times and then went back to sleep himself. Over in front of the fireplace, Myfanwy seemed to shake her head as she settled down to maintain her own vigil. She knew there was something new and special about her master's beloved; she could smell it on him.
Returning to the kitchen, Ianto decided he still wanted a cuppa to sip while he cleaned the makings for their salad. 'Jack gonna need to eat lots of veg from now on.'
Once everything was cleaned and sorted, and he'd gotten some of the prep work done for the next day's canning, pickling and preserving, Ianto sat down and began making lists. After hanging on to all the twin's baby things for nearly six years, he and Jack had given up hope they'd have more children. When Tosh and Owen had shared their baby news with their best friends, Jack and Ianto had given them furniture, clothing, toys, everything he'd set aside. Once the attic was emptied of those things and the other stuff Ianto had declared "clutter and bits", Jack had turned the area into an office for them to share.
"Let's see, we'll need a crib and bassinet, a complete layette, bedding, nappies, bottles…" He finished his tea as he debated between a Winnie-the-Pooh theme – 'the old-fashioned one with the softer colours' – or one with forest animals romping around the walls. "I'll get Tosh's thoughts on…" Ianto trailed off as he heard a car pull into the drive and he jumped up and ran to the front door, hoping to head off the twins before they got inside and woke Jack from his nap. They were always quite boisterous after spending the day at Tosh and Owen's, and Ianto blamed it all on the medic. 'I know he deliberately gives them too much sugar so they'll come home and act like holy terrors til bath time!'