7. 5.45pm – Day One

"Come on" Owen hissed as he stood at the corner of the plastic tent, his face squashed against it and the semi—automatic heavy in his hands.

Ianto was moving swiftly but with stealth, hard to do in a hazmat suit and sore ankle …Oh Yeah …don't tell Owen but he cut the boot off upstairs. Shhhhhh. Owen had to give him props for making it look easy. As Ianto got to him he motioned Owen and Owen stepped back through the second seal so Ianto could enter the tent, turning to motion Jack.

Jack ran, pausing to flick a sensor into the back of a truck.

Ianto was on a knee, his gun held calmly in the direction of the looters and he was ready to fire through the open tent door as Jack slid past and patted his shoulder.

Ianto turned to follow fluidly, their training together weevil hunting showing as they anticipated each other, the tent sealing and the weed sprayers being used to sprat down each other's suits before moving into the house, the plastic covering the cages left on the floor of the tent. The entire exercise was effortless as if rehearsed.

Once inside, the kids were cooing at the animals as Jack helped Ianto from his suit helmet and as Ianto gasped for air, Jack tore off his own and lunged, kissing him gleefully before stepping back and continuing to get undressed.

"Uncle Ianto?" David said, "Are you a Nancy boy?"

Jack froze, one foot out of the suit.

"Yes David. For Jack, it appears I am" Ianto answered without blinking, "I love him and I don't care that he is a boy, not a girl. When you love someone things like that don't matter anymore."

David looked at him and then nodded, "Can I have the black bunny?"

"Sure" Ianto said as he balled up the suit and shoved it into the empty crate waiting, "Mee-mee, you pick too. The rest can go in that conservatory out back with the half dead plants. Doesn't matter what they destroy for fun then."

"Cool" the kids said and Tosh smiled as she moved the trolley in that direction, the kids following as Stephen silently eyed the cage of pissed off cats.

"That's what I love about kids" Jack sighed as he handed Ianto his own suit to add to the crate, "They accept things because they make sense. They don't go all holier than thou."

"I have never lied to them…well, apart for the fact that I work for an elite team of alien hunters answerable only to her majesty that routinely saves the world. But …you know" Ianto quipped and Jack laughed softly.

Rhiannon shakily took a seat as she watched and listened, that Jones technique was inherited apparently.

"So, I am so hungry" Jack sighed as he filed away the wee slip and loving that Ianto had declared his love for him without even thinking about it, "You think they will come this way?"

"Owen, you good on duty there?" Ianto asked as Owen grunted, standing in the window watching the men down below with intensity.

"You know Tosh will have the sensors all on line, she was probably setting them up as we dropped them. Any movement towards us and we will know" Jack soothed, "Come on tiger pants. You've not have breakfast or lunch because of that file you were updating, the dark is coming and we are out of time."

"Those idiots out there are probably already contaminated" Ianto huffed.

"Our concern is us" Jack reasoned, "They are leaving, look. Probably scared of dusk starting."

The trucks drove off with crunching gravel into the rising mist and Ianto folded his arms. He stood thinking and then turned to Jack.

"I should have thought of a way to block this cul-de-sac at the gateway." He said angrily.

"The truck should do that" Rhys answered as he went to walk past "The one I came in. It's just sitting over there, more than long enough to go across the entrance."

"If you don't think it's an advertisement." Ianto said softly

"Ianto is right, closing and chaining the gates only" Jack agreed, "If they see it barricaded they will only wonder what it's protecting."

"Yeah." Ianto nodded.

"Shit hadn't thought of that" Rhys frowned, "Now the meat is gone, you think they'll be back?"

"Hopefully not" Ianto said as he turned to smile at him softly, "However we will need fires lit as the temperature drops, they may see smoke."

"Then we only stoke them up at night" Rhys reasoned, "During the day we keep them on a low smoulder and wear extra clothing, keep busy and watch for signs. Shit, wish there was a way to see what was happening."

"Yeah" Jack said as he rubbed his face.

"Didn't we get some remote control toys from the gift shop?" Ianto asked kneeling at the bins stacked along the wall, "Cars and some little planes?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, we attach a wee camera and go exploring then" Ianto snorted. "Even when the batteries die, we have cameras set up about the town then. At least outside the gates."

"Drones." Jack grinned, "Clever boy."

"GPa always said, you have to be ready" Ianto said as he looked up at him, "He took me camping and stuff as a kid. Why I took Lisa camping, lucky to find a bird who liked my Parkour, free climbing and other madness."

"Who the fuck are you talking about" Gwen snorted for the doorway to the kitchen, "You? Free climbing?"

"Ianto is more agile than you think" Jack grinned, "When we go Weevil hunting, we really go weevil hunting. Ianto can out manoeuvre a fully grown adult. Like an interpretative dance sometimes."

Ianto's blush was sweet.

"Our grandfather was a survivalist" Rhia spoke, alerting them to her presence, "He said one day we would have to use our brains so we better have something in there to use."

"Sounded like a great man" Jack grinned.

"Come on" Ianto rose and stretched, "I am starving, tired and on the verge of cranky."

"Oh well, we better feed you" Jack snorted, "Noting worse than a cranky pants, especially a tiger pants one."

"Stop calling me that or I'll smack you one" Ianto growled and Jack laughed as he was proven right.