Author's note: Ianto got better. We've skipped forwards a week, it was sure to happen somehow. Otherwise Jack would be a whole lot more panicked.


The day before Ianto's birthday dawned bright and clear, just like every day for over a week. People were making jokes about miracles and the end of the world, and Jack and Ianto were checking the Rift monitor every day. So far it seemed to be an ordinary, boring anticyclone, hovering over the UK and bathing them in scorching heat. Reservoirs were getting low, the grass and the people were getting steadily browner and ice cream sales were up 30% on the previous year.

Jack was the first awake, as always, and he leaned in the kitchen doorway to watch the sun rise over the valley and the ripples that the wind made in the grass he hadn't got around to cutting yet. The only one he had cut was the big meadow where Ianto's party would be held, but it was flat and easy to do, so Ianto hadn't asked too many questions about why the others hadn't got the same treatment. He'd nagged a bit and threatened to do it himself, but Jack had insisted that he'd get around to it, and Ianto had made enquiries about borrowing a couple of sheep from the neighbouring farm.

Flapping footsteps approached through the house, and Jack looked over his shoulder to greet Mica. She had her hand raised over her eyes to keep the sun out of them, and was squinting tiredly. "God," she muttered, "I thought I'd be the only one awake this early."

"Nope, you've got me too," he smiled at her and lifted one arm, inviting a hug. "Sleep well?"

"Mmm, yeah," she snuggled into his side and sighed. "Not for long enough, but well."

"Always the way, isn't it? Still, you've got a fabulous view to make up for it," he pointed out. "It's not often you get to see the dawn at this time of year."

"Yeah. It's pretty," she said approvingly.

"It is," he agreed. Mica hummed quietly and he looked down at her, brushing her hair back from her face so that he could see her better. "Do you want some breakfast?"

She grinned up at him, showing the gap where she'd recently lost one of her baby teeth. "Yes please!"

"Okay, then," he steered her into the kitchen and put the door prop in to keep it open. "And you can help me make up a picnic for Ianto's birthday, too."

"Yay, picnic! Will you make a picnic for us, too?" she asked eagerly.

"Well, I can try." He thought about it whilst he got the sausages and eggs out of the fridge. In preparation for his and Ianto's big day out, he'd stocked up on what he needed to make a picnic for the two of them that they could take up onto the hill tops to enjoy the view and the food at the same time, but he didn't know if he had enough picnic suitable stuff for the whole family, which would include Ruth, Rhiannon and Johnny. Still, he was nothing if not creative. "I think I can. We can make a pasta salad, boil some eggs, we've got quite a lot of cheese, I can do a quiche and some mini pizzas... And lots of sandwiches, of course."

"Trifle?" she asked hopefully.

"If you'd wanted trifle, you should have asked last night," he chided her somewhat apologetically. His voice echoed around the cupboard, and he finally located the big frying pan. "There we go. Sorry doll, but we've not got time for the jelly to set before I have to go out."

"Oh..." Mica sagged.

He ruffled her hair and pushed her head gently. "I can make apple turnovers, though. Or Eccles cakes. I think I have some puff pastry in the freezer... Or cake..."

"Cake!" she interrupted cheerfully. "Fruit cake."

"I think we might actually have one," he pondered aloud. "I'm just going to go and get what I need from the pantry. Don't touch the frying pan."

"I won't," she promised, clasping her hands tightly behind her back.

The pantry at the back of the kitchen was half the size of the kitchen itself, but cool and dark because it was windowless and unheated. It was one of his favourite rooms in the old farmhouse, although he couldn't have explained why. It was something about the old way of living it recalled, even though he'd installed a chest freezer in here. The room was cool enough to keep cheeses, milk and fresh meat on the slate shelves, especially since he'd had them overlaid with marble. He had to make three trips to collect everything he thought he'd need, including the enormous jar of pasta and the picnic basket that lived on the top shelf.

Mica was standing where he'd left her, fingers still twined together behind her back, and she watched him curiously. "What are you cooking?" she asked, as innocently as a child enquiring after breakfast can.

"Well, first I'm going to fry sausages and eggs for us, that we can have with dippy bread. And then I'm going to make two picnics. Does that sound okay?" he asked, although he was already dropping sausages into the heated pan.

"Yay!"

"Shh," he pressed one finger to his lips and glanced at the ceiling pointedly. "We can't wake Ianto up."

She nodded and pressed her hand over her mouth, then tried to speak through it. When he pulled her hand away, she tried again. "Do you want me to do anything?"

"Yeah..." he looked around and sighed. "I forgot the bread. Can you get me two loaves from the pantry?"

"Okay!"

He smiled and turned his attention back to the hissing sausages, scudding them around the frying pan to keep them from burning or sticking to the pan. Mica returned quickly with the two loaves and set them on the table, then knelt up on a chair to watch him cooking. "Careful," he warned. "Don't want you falling onto this floor."

"I'm being careful," she sighed, probably with an accompanying eye-roll. "How are the sausages looking?"

"They're looking like sausages, ma'am," he informed her. "How do you want your egg?"

"Dippy."

"As dippy as you?" he looked over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out at her. "Can you get me two plates out as well, please?"

She scrambled down from her chair to do that and he stabbed the sausages with his fork. They were nearly cooked, so he collected the eggs. "One egg or two, Mica?"

"Two please."

He cracked the eggs into the frying pan, two for each of them, and concentrated on keeping them detached from the bottom of the pan and from the sausages. Mica hovered close to him, watching the oil hissing and spitting. "Mica, back off a bit. I don't want you to get splashed with oil."

She took a step back and bit her lip. "Is it hot?"

"Very hot," he smiled down at her for a second. "Well, think of how hot your sausages are when they come out of it."

"That's hot," she agreed. "Too hot to eat."

"Usually. There we go, dippy eggs and slightly split sausages," he winked and transferred the frying pan to the kitchen table to scoop the eggs and sausages onto the plates that Mica had set out. "I spoil you, don't I?"

"Can we have ketchup?"

He sighed theatrically. "Oh, alright then. Let me cut the bread first."

They ate quickly, but with great enjoyment. It was nice to be able to start the day with just Mica's company, Jack thought. He and Ianto saw her and David a lot, but rarely on their own. Siblings came as a boxed set, almost, especially with Mirabelle and Andrew along as well. The cousins loved each others' company.

Mica proved to be an able assistant in the preparation of the picnics. They prepared a dozen rounds of sandwiches, cut into triangles, and put some into the picnic basket for Jack and Ianto's trip and the rest in a box in the pantry. In the meantime, a large quiche for the pantry, a tray of little sausages and a tray of apple turnovers were cooking in the oven. Jack buckled the picnic basket shut and lifted it to test its weight. "Right, Mica, I have a mission for you."

She beamed up at him and accepted the basket, then watched him cross the room to the key rack. "Do you want me to hide it?"

"I do," he confirmed, finding his car keys and returning to offer them to her. "Put it in the boot of the Jaguar and come straight back, because then I want you to go and wake David up."

"Okay," she balanced the keys on top of the basket so that she could carry it with both hands. "Don't burn the turnovers."

He shook his head and laughed, winding through the living room to climb the stairs as quietly as he could. His first stop was his and Ianto's room, where he sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, just watching Ianto sleep. One of his hands was curled loosely around the edge of the pillow, and his lips curved into a soft pout. Jack brushed his fingers through the hair at Ianto's temple and leaned down to kiss his forehead gently. "Wakey wakey, Ianto."

Ianto stirred slightly but didn't wake, so Jack drifted his fingers lower and started massaging the back of his neck. "Ianto... Come on Ianto, don't make me deal with my mother-in-law on my own."

It took a bit more coaxing and cajoling, but Ianto eventually grunted and turned his head to the side to invite a proper kiss. "Time is it?" he asked groggily, reaching out for Jack.

Footsteps thundered up the stairs and then up the next set of stairs to the attic, and Jack chuckled. "Breakfast time. It's nine."

"Nine?" Ianto opened one eye enough to glare at him. "You woke me at nine?"

"I've been awake since half three," he protested with a pout. "I was getting lonely."

Ianto grunted and let Jack pull him up against his chest, hugging him back. "But still... nine in the morning..."

"Ruth and Rhiannon are due to arrive at eleven, remember?" he smiled at the wall when Ianto snuggled against him more. "You're not going back to sleep, no matter how sweet it is. You've got half an hour until breakfast will be ready, anyway."

"And I suppose I have to get the children up whilst you cook?" Ianto guessed.

"Only Belle and Andrew," Jack reassured him. "Mica's been up nearly as long as I have, and she's..." he was interrupted by a thump and a yell from upstairs, then more thundering feet. "David's awake."

Ianto groaned and buried his face in Jack's chest. "Life made so much more sense when I was asleep."

Jack kissed the top of his head, because it was all that was in reach. "I have Welsh Dragon sausages."

"You have hash browns?" Ianto pulled back to look up at him.

"Mr Harkness-Jones," Jack chided in scandalised tones. "Of course I have hash browns; what do you take me for?"

"I love you," Ianto muttered, stretching and yawning. He smirked as Jack's eyes widened slightly and traced across his chest. "Like the view?"

Jack smiled and drew him close for another kiss. "I love the view. I love you." He sighed and held on for a bit longer. "And now I really am going to go and do breakfast."

"Okay. I'll be down soon," Ianto assured him, reaching for a T shirt. "Don't forget to do Mirabelle a tomato."

"As if I would," Jack laughed. "Our daughter is..." he sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I'll go and separate the warring factions first."

"Good luck," Ianto chuckled. "Now I know that life is back to normal."