4

Jack nervously entered the room, finding Ianto slumped in a chair by the bed asleep.

Jack felt a tinge of pity for the man, his jet lag must be a killer bitch.

Ianto suddenly sat upright with a sharp intake of breath and looked around the room before looking at him. He blinked and then rose, "Jack. Sorry, I dozed off."

"Perfectly alright" he said softly, "Damned hot in these places."

Ianto nodded and rubbed at his eyes, "Right. We need to talk. Um. Clearly you have been told that I've added you to the visiting list. You can see the baby being monitored here, this little machine checks it's heart rate and stuff."

"Healthy?"

"Prefect, apparently." Ianto snorted, "Shame about the mother."

"About Gray, I…our mother will want me to take him home for burial, we have a family cemetery on our ranch in Montana" Jack explained, "It will take about three days. A day to transport the body, a day for the funeral and then a day to come back. I would come back directly after the funeral but there will also be legal matters to see to. Gray and I co-owned the ranch. With him gone it falls to me until the baby is born and inherits."

Ianto looked at the body in the bed.

"I should go too" he said after a while, "She won't exactly miss me and I need to be able to tell my niece or nephew everything about his or her parents. That will include everything about now. I know, my mother died when I was small and I still cling to everything I know from her hair to her love of the colour red. The father's family is important too, I want to describe the funeral. Maybe some photos for a wee book about his or her father's childhood home?"

"I would be honoured if you travelled with me" Jack said, "I don't drive like my brother and…shit. I do not believe I just said that, shit. Sorry."

Jack turned away, upset at himself for the old running joke he had said so crassly and Ianto snorted, "I hope not because I DO wear my seatbelt."

Jack relaxed, "Good. Mother hates to fly, has a thing about it. It would be nice for her to meet you, to see where her grandchild came from, ya know?"

Ianto moved towards the door, "I need to repack and make some arrangements for while we are gone. Meet back here in an hour?"

"Yeah, sounds good Jack smiled, then he looked at the chair Ianto had been sitting in and saw his Great Coat on the back of it, striding over with glee to pull it off the chair and he smelt it, breathing in the lavender scent of the beauty who last wore it.

"That was left for you, apparently someone borrowed it last night?" Ianto said over his shoulder, "She seemed grateful."

Jack grinned as he remembered those long legs.

Damn, he had missed her.

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Ianto packed as Charlie watched nervously, "Three days?"

"Yeah, I don't know how late we will get in but that's how it goes" Ianto sighed, "We fly out with the casket, the hearse meets us the other end. A night there at the house, the funeral and another night, then home. Hopefully we leave early in the morning so I can avoid having to touch anyone more than needed."

"You and your hatred of physical touch" Charlie sighed, "Lisa really hurt you."

"I have the scars to prove it" Ianto snorted softly, the scar on his upper arm itching as if responding to his remarking on it.

She had set fire to the flat when he said he was leaving her. It had been an inferno that he had woken to, the blow to his head as she had swung the bottle of wine had left him concussed and confused as he tried to save her, pulling her body through the flames as they both burned.

She was already dead, the cut wrists having done their job.

Ianto would never trust again.

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Jack watched Ianto fiddle with the seat belt, looking out the window of the airplane, then fiddling some more. He had not let Jack help with his luggage and had shied away from him showing a lack of trust.

Gray had said Rhiannon's brother was a strange bod, a horse of a different colour and Jack now saw that he was delicate.

The coffin had been loaded in the cargo hold and Ianto had watched Jack fighting to maintain his composure as the doors thudded shut.

As the lane lifted off Ianto wondered what they would find when they touched down. Judging from Jack's look of worry their mother must be a strong woman.

Ianto just hoped he would be treated with some respect.

He meant what he said about keeping a record for the baby the diary heavy in his carry on.