TITLE: Family Matters 3/?
AUTHOR: Erin Giles
RATING: PG (for swearing)
SUMMARY: Ianto asks for a personal day, which in itself is an oddity. Jack's curiosity gets the better of him and before he knows it he finds himself in the middle of Ianto's family. Set from Jack's POV.
PAIRING: Jack/Ianto
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, and never will be sadly.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I think I've domesticated Jack and Ianto in this part, also mentions of the cartoon Pocoyo narrated by Stephen Fry because it is made of awesome:)
Jack was busy watching Pocoyo with Finn on his lap when the stairs started to creek and a set of footsteps padded down them.
"Sleepy bird!" Finn called out, clapping his hands together, distracting Jack for a moment as Ianto entered the living room. Yesterday's suit was gone now, and Jack was grateful to see there wasn't another one in its place, not even a shirt in sight. Ianto was dressed in jeans and hooded sweatshirt, hair damp and curly and absent of gel.
"Jack! Jack!" Finn was pulling on Jack's cuff, pointing wildly at the television, "Train!" Jack managed a smile at Ianto before he was looking at the television again and the blue cartoon child that had Jack not known better would say was holding an alien artefact in it's hands.
Ianto sagged onto the sofa beside Jack.
"Ria persuaded me to take today off." Ianto explained as he pulled a cushion out from behind him, hugging it to his chest.
"Smart woman your sister." Jack replied, still watching the television intently, intrigued somewhat by the multicoloured remote.
"The train's turned red!" Finn said, clapping his hands again, "It's James!"
Jack frowned slightly at the television.
"I'm not sure about this cartoon's whole press buttons now ask questions later approach." Jack tried to keep his face serious but with Ianto sat next to him staring incredulously he found it rather hard. Finn giggled as the plane turned blue, which set Jack off chuckling.
"Pressing the buttons!" Finn giggled and before Jack knew it Ianto was smiling, almost laughing as all three continued to watch Pocoyo feeling like 3 year olds, only one of them able to lay claim to that fact.
"Remind me never to let Owen watch this; it'll just give him ideas." Jack said as the laughter subsided now that Ellie and Pato weren't smiling anymore.
"No!" Shouted Finn at the TV as Pocoyo turned Pato pink.
"I would imagine it would." Ianto said, still smiling.
"No!" Finn shouted again as another set of footsteps made their way down the stairs.
"Yes!" Finn and Ianto shouted simultaneously as Pocoyo turned Pato yellow again, "Pato's yellow!"
Jack and Rhiannon both started laughing then as Rhiannon crossed the living room to the side of the sofa Ianto was sitting on, perching on the arm while she leaned into Ianto.
"Don't you think you're a little old to be watching this?" Rhiannon mocked.
"Just getting in touch with my inner child like you keep telling me to." Ianto replied.
"I wasn't talking to you." Rhiannon said, smiling at him before she placed a kiss on his brow, pulling herself to her feet, "I know you'll always be my baby brother."
"She's pink!" Finn yelled at the TV again.
"Come on you, breakfast time." Rhiannon said, scooping Finn out of Jack's lap.
"But what about Pato's hat Ma?" Finn said, waving vaguely at the television over his mother's shoulder.
Jack and Ianto watched the credits roll before either of them moved. Ianto pulled himself to his feet, looking round at his living room, still signs of yesterday scattered here and there.
"I'll give you a hand." Jack said pulling himself to his feet as well.
"You know you don't have to do this Jack." Ianto said softly as he gathered up cold and dry sausage rolls next to wrinkled looking mini-quiches.
"No, I don't, but I am." Jack said as he started to gather glasses and take them through to the kitchen.
"I just need to nip to work for a couple of hours Yan, some crisis with one of the publishers or something." Rhiannon announced as she entered the living room, bending down to give Finn a kiss, "You be good for Uncle Ianto." Finn didn't even seem to register that his mother was leaving. Rhiannon rolled her eyes as she crossed the room to Ianto, kissing him as well.
"I'll be back before lunch hopefully. If you want to go out for something to eat? Also I thought we could maybe go for the whole of Sunday?"
"Where to?" Ianto looked momentarily confused as he watched his sister heading towards the door.
"Dad's." Rhiannon replied rather solemnly, "He'll need a hand to sort out some things." Ianto frowned before he nodded slowly.
Jack spent most of his morning with marigolds on, stood at the sink, up to his elbows in soap suds. He had to stop himself from smiling every time Ianto brought him more dishes. He couldn't stop himself though when Ianto picked up the tea towel and started to dry the glasses. He let out a dazzling smile, staring straight at Ianto.
"What?" Ianto asked, dubiously returning the smile.
"Nothing, just," Jack chuckled slightly, "It's nice."
"Doing the dishes?" Ianto asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yes," Jack said nodding, "Being domesticated. I like it. I think I could aspire to something like this. Watching cartoons with the kids, doing the breakfast dishes, buying one of those aprons that show the naughty bits," Jack smiled suggestively at Ianto, "I think I could get used to this way of life."
It was Ianto's turn to smile now, shaking his head at Jack as he opened the cupboard above his head to start storing the glasses away.
"You know you're full of surprises."
Jack smiled again as Ianto's house phone started ringing. Before Ianto even had a chance to put the glass he was drying down there was a noise resembling a stampede and as Ianto turned Finn was picking up the phone in the hall, obviously a new game he had discovered that Rhiannon had failed to tell Ianto about.
"Hello this is Finlay Lloyd. Can I help?"
Jack smiled as Ianto rolled his eyes in an almost relieved kind of way that at least his nephew knew how to answer a phone. Ianto was already halfway to the phone when Finn turned holding the phone up to Ianto.
"Uncy Yan, a lady with a funny name wants to speak to you." Finn passed the phone over to Ianto, suddenly disinterested and wandered back into the living room to see if there was anything worth investigating. Jack swore under his breath. He hadn't phoned the team to let them know he and Ianto wouldn't be in work today.
"Hello Tosh." Ianto said as cheerily as he could as he wandered back into the kitchen, "I'm okay, thank you." Ianto smiled at something Tosh said as Jack tried to look apologetic, "He's my nephew." Ianto's smile suddenly disappeared, "There's not a problem is there Tosh? Jack and I could…"
Jack heard Toshiko reprimanding Ianto for jumping to conclusions as Ianto scratched at the back of his head, "Let us know if you do need us though Tosh."
There was a long pause in which Ianto looked awkwardly at his feet and Jack went back to doing the dishes, listening intently, trying to hear both sides of the conversation.
"No nothing like that Tosh, it's just me Mam." There was a pause in which Ianto swallowed audible and Jack heard Tosh say, "She's not worse is she."
"She passed away this weekend, it was the funeral yesterday," there was another pause in which Jack could vaguely hear Tosh offering her sympathy, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Ianto's voice was disappearing and Jack turned to see him retreating into the hall.
Jack sighed, slightly annoyed that Toshiko seemed to know more about Ianto and his mother than Jack did. Jack suddenly felt another wave of guilt pass over him for his lack of knowledge in the situation. There had been a time when Jack had asked numerous questions of people, eager to know anything and everything about them and now he knew next to nothing. He hadn't even realised that Tosh and Ianto were that close.
"We'll see you tomorrow then Tosh." There was a beep as Ianto put the phone back in its cradle in the hall.
"Tosh says she'll call if the world tries to end." Ianto said picking up the dishcloth again and going back to drying the glasses.
"What did, I mean, how did," Jack continued to stare intently at the dishwater that was almost cold now, unable to look at Ianto out of guilt and shame that he didn't know the man better.
"She had lung cancer. They said she was in remission." Jack heard the clatter of the glass being put away in the cupboard and turned to look at Ianto, his eyes slightly misty, "She was out at the supermarket, doing the shopping for Sunday lunch and she just," Ianto trailed off, the image too real to voice the harrowing truth. "They said it had spread to her brain, she had a stroke and there was nothing they could do." Ianto had stopped mid-drying, staring vaguely at the kitchen tiles on the splash back above the sink.
Jack didn't even bother to remove his marigolds before he was encircling Ianto in a hug.
Jack stood at the door of the living room, a mug of tea in either hand. He felt for the first time today like he was intruding on a family matter that he was most certainly not a part of. Finn had crawled into Ianto's lap with his teddy while Jack had been absent from the room and was holding out the teddy to Ianto.
"Don't be sad Uncy Yan." Finn's voice was soft and concerned as Ianto took the teddy from him, sniffing. He enfolded both the teddy and the boy in a hug and from where Jack stood he could see chubby hands playing with Ianto's ear affectionately.
"I miss Granny too." Finn said quietly into Ianto's shoulder. There was a pause in which Ianto pulled away from Finn, sitting him down in his lap. Finn snuggled into Ianto, holding his teddy close for a long moment before he spoke again.
"Do you think she'll be back for Sunday dinner?"
Jack's heart almost broke as he heard a sob hitch in Ianto's throat. Jack wanted to make his presence known, hoping that he could break the uncomfortable silence in which Ianto was probably tearing his heart out, but shame kept him rooted to the spot. He suddenly hated the fact he was immortal when he didn't want to be.
"You won't see Granny again for a very long time." Ianto's voice was barely above a whisper, full of emotion and heartbreakingly poignant.