A/N To my readers and hopefully reviewers, sorry this took so long. I promise I have not forgotten this or any of my other stories. What I have done is broken my wrist falling into a flight of stone stairs. Please bear with me, there will be more story as soon as I can type in this bloody cast. Thanks.
The meal had gone better than expected, Ianto reflected, as he sat outside the kitchen watching the clean up. Alice and Gwen had organized the clean up, barring Jack from the kitchen and limiting his participation to sitting in the place that Jack's daughter had vacated earlier to supervise. While they, with the help of Rhia and Lois, organized the packing of leftovers, surprisingly few considering the amount of food Jack had made, Rhys and Andy were relegated to the task of clearing and taking the leaves out of the table, and setting the living room back to rights, more or less. Jack, who should have been exhausted, was on the floor, paper crown still perched rakishly on his dark head with the children playing some game of their, or possibly his invention. All in all it was a pretty good outcome. He toyed with his wine glass and reflected on everything.
Jack had served both a turkey complete with trimmings and a smallish goose. Ianto was still not sure how he had got them in the oven, but didn't dare ask, not while there were civilians present. Then there were the roasted vegetables, sprouts, potatoes, mountains of buttered peas, and two bowls of gravy, not to mention chipolatas and stuffing for both birds. The audience was suitably appreciative, though Rhia had opined that it was a good thing that Jack could cook, since her brother may be god's gift to coffee but if they waited for him to cook they would surely starve to death. Jack gave a cheeky grin and commented that it didn't matter, as they had complementary skills. Ianto tried not to blush at that, but everyone laughed and Lucy chose that moment to remind them that they hadn't pulled their crackers, which distracted everyone for a while.
In fact there was only one disruption to the for once completely normal, noisy family holiday dinner, and that in itself a normal disruption. Between carving the turkey and carving the goose, David had decided to drop something in his sister's hair. There was much screaming and flailing about as his sister screamed and the team to their credit failed to draw weapons, though Jack did wave that carving knife a bit more than was necessary before they sorted it out.
"Ahhh, there's a reptile on her, get it off before it bites her," Rhia shrieked.
"It is not a reptile, it is an amphibian," he had said calmly. His sister always responded to calm. "A fire belly toad, I believe, though how it got to the table…" he paused and tried looking severe though it was hard to even keep a straight face. Jack wasn't bothering and Johnny had turned his back to grin after a stern look from Rhia. Meanwhile David and Stephen were trying desperately not to laugh themselves silly.
"Stephen Joseph Carter, what did I tell you about bringing your pet today?"
"But Mum, I wanted to show Uncle Jack, and then…" he stopped, clearly not wanting to get his new friend in trouble, though it was obvious to everyone that he didn't do it, sitting as he was on the other side of the table. Ianto quickly captured the creature and held out a hand, until David put the jar with holes cut in the lid and water in the bottom that was serving as a travel container into his hand with a sheepish look.
"I will just take this," he said standing up, giving Jack a look that dared him to say anything. He was obviously as amused as everyone else.
"No," all the children called out at once.
"Christmas dinner is a time for family, and that…" Rhia started.
"But Charlie is family," Stephen said.
"He can sit by me," Mica said, clearly not traumatized by her experience but enjoying her new position as center of attention.
"Yeah, he should be with us, we'll take care of him. Not those nasty boys," Lucy added giving her brother a sharp look. After a short argument, it was decided that Charlie could stay, as long as he was in his jar, and the girls would look after him until dinner was over. Jack said nothing, after Ianto's quelling look, but he firmly expected his lover to spend some time with the little amphibian after dinner. After that the rest of the meal was downright sedate. It appeared the children had bonded, as had Rhia and Gwen, while Alice was enjoying talking with both Lois and Andy, the latter still trying to get the new London operative to notice him.
"Ianto, this platter?" Gwen called, pulling his attention back to present.
"Lower cabinet, the one under the window," he said, absently looking over at his lover, on the floor with only the two girls now, tickling Lucy while Mica tried to distract him. The boys had abandoned play for the handheld computer games that had been gifts from the two of them. Apparently they had sorted how to play two person wirelessly and were now in competition with one another while waiting. The children had each been given one present to open, to keep them occupied while the adults cleaned up. Rhys and Johnny had the table sorted and Rhia was giving them the bins to empty when the doorbell rang.
Ianto rose to get it, waving Rhys off. He really hoped they weren't being too noisy but it was the holidays after all and he knew for a fact that Mrs. Evans next door always went to her son's in Abergavenny for the holidays. He opened the door, his best conciliatory smile on his face.
"Oi, Eyecandy, not going to invite me in? I've been hearing all about this festival they have on this mudball, thought I would stop by."
"Ah, no, not him…" Rhys said from behind him before he could stop himself.