2
AJ and his sister Rebel were already jogging with Giles and Robin, all making room for Ianto as he joined them with a gentle lope.
"We were just talking" Rebel panted, "Is it going to be apple pie again? God, I miss chocolate."
AJ groaned as Giles laughed softly then agreed, "Mathew is being impossible lately. He hates apples apparently. All these years together and I never knew apples were the food of the damned!"
Everyone laughed as they turned to cut across the main street.
Several dogs had been waiting and exploded from under the front porch of the big house, baying like banshees as Ianto laughed and took off at a sprint, followed by the eager dogs.
"God, so much energy!" Rebel sighed.
"Yeah. If only we could bottle it!" her brother agreed.
"You two are moving into the Stronghold this week, right?" Giles asked and the siblings nodded happily.
"Art is taking Freddie down there again today, his mental mapping is going well. Sounds like he has most of the internal tunnels within our safety zone memorized." Rebel talked as she stretched through her cool down, "Such a clever young man. I forget he's blind sometimes."
"I forget he's just eleven!" Giles laughed, "He's so advanced for his age. Tall too. Tosh was so clever to set up the Braille Control Board so he can monitor the air levels and such. The kid loves the responsibility. That Billy is so patient with him."
"Speaking of Billy" Jack interrupted as he came up to the group, "Has anyone seen our boy about this morning?"
"Early patrol" Rebel sad, "Something about feeding the dragon?"
Jack snorted as he knew his son had gone to the neighboring farm to visit Myfanwy and release one of the sheep kept there for her.
"Stephen went with him" AJ offered and Jack sighed as he knew the two fifteen year olds would be doing more than just visiting Myfanwy.
They had taken to searching the old buildings and bringing back random things for the other kids to fight over.
It had been a Miley Cyrus CD last week that had seen Kitty and Gill locked in deadly battle, the little girl showing her animalistic side as she bit the little boy and left him wailing with a broken heart.
Ianto had been so angry that he was taken the CD and placed it up on the mantelpiece where the kids could see it, but not touch.
Francine had talked to Jack and Ianto, her fear for Kitty as her temper seemed to flare more as she got older. The time spent in isolation after the shit hit the fan had made her quite feral but it was no excuse. At least they knew her real name now, Jack's game of calling her Bartholomew still going occasionally, much to her delight.
The naughty chair was getting a workout and Jack knew it was down to boredom. The kids were cloistered away beneath the dome with the same old toys and same old faces.
They were craving something new.
Ianto was getting antsy as well, signaling another recon as his mental list of things grew.
Jack sighed as he scanned the fields, wondering how far away those bloody kids were. It was going to give Anna a heart attack if she realized those two were sneaking off at sunrise again.
He made a mental note to ask Tosh how often they were doing it, knowing she would be keeping track of the dome deactivations each time and he went inside, just in time to see his child throw a major tantrum as Ifan stood mocking her as only an Owen mini-me can.
Owen and Jack separated the children as Ianto slammed into the room and everyone fell quiet as he stood panting, his eyes narrowed.
"Ifan? What did you just call her?" Ianto asked calmly and the little boy paled in his father's arms.
"He called me a dog" she said angrily, "I'm gonna thump him!"
"No you are not" Jack struggled as the child slithered and twisted as she attempted to get free.
"I said she had the same name as the dog" he whined, "She just misheard me!"
"That's enough!" Ianto growled, "Both of you! Next one to show disobedience goes on the naughty chair for five minutes!"
Both children stilled and pouted as they were set down and they moved off warily.
"God, but those two are a handful" Francine said to Anna and both women laughed softly as they went back to the kitchen to check the bread, used to the tantrums of their babies.
"I thought Ifan would be back by now, was he going to lay those eggs himself?" Francine asked her friend and Anna giggled at the image of her husband squatting over a giant nest.
"Well, he would if he could" she spluttered, "He'd crow about it all bloody day as well."
As if hearing then, he appeared with the basket of eggs and a cold looking five year old.
"Clay!" Francine cried, pulling the child into her arms and rubbing at his bare arms with soft clucking.
"Wee bugger was watching the chicks again" Ifan puffed, "Paranoid since we read the book about foxes in the henhouse."
"Darling, a fox couldn't get past the dome" Francine crooned, "The Chickens are perfectly safe."
"But foxes are smart!" the boy wailed, "What if they hide and wait for the dome to go down and then sneak in and kill Fluffy or Daphne?"
"God. I wish the kids hadn't named them" Ifan sighed as he started to wash the eggs, "Makes it harder to cut its head off."
Clay gasped with horror, then started to wail as his Nainny slapped stupid Poppy hard in the back of the head.
"Good going there Einstein" she snarled, "Tell the kid where roast Chicken comes from. Another Vegetarian is born!"
"Ah shit!" he slapped his hand to his face, "I'm not telling the boy!"
"He already knows" Ianto said as he entered and scooped up the crying child, "Hey. We don't eat our family honey. We eat the ones from the other farm, like the sheepies."
"Really?" he asked with tears in his eyes as he looked up at Ianto and Ianto crooned as he kissed the little boy.
"Don't worry" Ianto whispered as he rubbed a boney little back, "We don't eat family here."