3

Ianto was sitting at his desk, clicking on sites as he tried to find the perfect things for the habitat he intended building.

His eyes kept flicking between the screen and the lizard that sat calmly staring back.

"JOHN!"

John swung around the doorframe and plonked into a chair, "Yes dear?"

"What sort is it?" Ianto tasked slowly.

"A lizard"

"What breed, you get different breeds, just like different cats and dogs." Ianto sighed, "Check the receipt for a name. It might be listed."

"Huh!" John pulled out his phone and started flicking through it.

"You purchased on line?"

"In the city!" John defended, "You said I didn't research enough. I found the store on-line and purchased …. There. Iguana."

"Iguana" Ianto looked back at the lizard, roughly the length of a banana. "A baby green Iguana."

"Yep."

"Did they tell you a lifespan or adult size?" Ianto was trying to stay calm as he stared at the images now on screen.

"Nope."

"So, about twenty years, up to six or seven foot long and the thickness of my thigh." Ianto read impassively as John paled. "Ah, 18 pounds?"

"Well. The habitat will need to be a wee bit bigger!" Ianto huffed, feeling his temper start to show its ugly head.

John smelt the danger and slid out of the room, cursing softly as he hurried to tell Connor what he had done. He certainly wasn't going to tell Jack what was happening.

Ianto started researching for real, getting more interested as he went and by that evening he even had a wall sized habitat sorted until the beast was bigger. By that time, he knew he would need to work on Babbit's room.

A tunnel, a heat lamp and rock to 'sun' on as well as a shaded area a food area. Ianto actually started to see the humor in the thing, knowing John was beyond horrified at this stage.

He saw how sociable they were and wondered if it needed a friend, then started to laugh at himself as he got an image of 'Lizard Man' as he lounged on a sofa surrounded by lizards like a weird version of a mad cat lady.

"Hi Taddy" Babbit said happily, retuning to check the new 'baby'.

"Bert looks quite settled darling" Ianto said softly as he watched Babbit tap the glass and grin.

"Papa was telling Uncle Con that Bert will get bigger" Babbit crowed.

"Quite a bit, but over a long period of time. He will live longer than a dog." Ianto told him and Babbit huffed happily, "Wow! Dogs live forever!"

Ianto smiled as he glanced out the window and watched Myfanwy wander past, wishing that were true.

His big girl was lagging these days and the cold was really starting to bite at her joints.

Ianto didn't know how long she had left but had already started wrapping her at night to ensure she was warm in her special bed that sat above the cold floor.

Jack had complained about her being inside at night as it also meant Grub but Ianto's soft sigh had him relenting.

Ianto also knew this is what had stopped the nightmares about the fire, that feeling of safety as she snored from the hearth.

Poor old lady.

She deserved the best he had to offer.

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So Fanfiction is down for most people and is it refusing to let new chaps post through it's server …I am currently cheating by editing a Chap already in the Doc Manager but an becoming increasingly frustrated with the slowness and time consuming involved. Hoping it is fixed soon. On A03 I am AwatereJones which is my real name and everything I post here is posted there, plus I put pics on some chaps too. There is a bit of chatter that only one guy runs this entire site and might close it down. If so, please remember I am on A03 and do not intent to let any of my stories die.