Chap 8

Ianto was snoozing in the afternoon sun. The swing seat Jack had placed on the deck at the backdoor shifted gently as Ianto moved his bodyweight in his sleep. Jack let himself in and left the door swinging as John followed him through into the kitchen, where Tosh was making a smoothie. She smiled and nodded in the direction of the backdoor, and Jack wandered out to see Ianto.

The blanket had slipped off as Ianto moved, and Jack scooped it up off the decking then began to carefully tuck his love back in.

John was rifling through the cupboards with a slice of ham hanging from his mouth. He knew there had to be mustard here somewhere because Ianto had served some the other day. All these pill bottles and vitamins could start a pharmacy. John picked a bottle and looked at it. It had Ianto's name on it and he frowned as he typed "Toposar" into his phone's Google app. When he got the results, he stood for a long time just holding the bottle before carefully placing it back on the shelf and closing the cupboard then leaving the room, the ham left behind on the benchtop.

John walked out into the backyard and watched Jack as he smoothed the hair back from Ianto's forehead and kissed him lightly. As Jack tucked the blanket some more, his hands shook. John turned to walk back inside, unable to watch. Tosh looked up from her laptop as John wandered past, and she went to speak but hesitated when she saw his strange look. She leaned out over the edge of her chair to watch as he quietly let himself out.

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Although they had told Gray and Rhia, Jack and Ianto had agreed to keep it to themselves for now. With the oral chemo underway, Ianto was tired and irritable. His stomach rebelled as the medication took effect, and while Ianto hoped to keep his hair, he knew there was a chance he might lose it.

Gray and Rhia had announced their engagement at Ianto's birthday lunch and Ianto had insisted on holding the engagement party at his place. It was secretly agreed to have it there so Ianto didn't have to travel in the night air. Also, having it there meant Walter could be the excuse for Ianto going to bed early by saying he would be staying with Walt until he was asleep and then Jack could say he found Ianto asleep with their son and left him sleeping.

Ianto knew his fathers might notice something if they spent too long alone with him, so Tosh and Owen had been roped in to run interference. Gwen had been invited, much to Ianto's surprise, and Jack had joked that maybe they should just "fuel her up" with alcohol and let her go as everyone would be too busy watching her to notice Ianto's frail condition.

John was late, and Jack had wondered if he was going to show at all. When he arrived with a toy fire engine for Walter that had him squealing and then proceeded to present Ianto with a long-stemmed white rose, Ianto blushed deeply.

"I thought this was my sister's night," Ianto joked as he accepted the rose, and John shrugged.

Ianto was still blushing as he went to shut the door and was surprised by the hand that closed over his. Looking up with surprise, he found his Taddy holding his hand as he stepped through the doorway.

"Ifan? My god, you look so pale, munchkin," he murmured as he reached out to touch Ianto's face. Ianto stepped back.

"Sweets, why is our boy trying to evade you?" Ianto's father droned as he strode in behind his mate and frowned at the two men.

"Hello Teddy, goodness. Do you have a bug? We should have had this at Rhia's if you're poorly," his father agreed, and Jack advanced, wondering which father was which.

"Ah, hello James," Jack said as he closed the door for Ianto.

"Hello Jack," replied the taller, thin man with salt-and-pepper hair, and Jack now knew the other one, who was shorter, was Eugene Senior.

"And Gene, you want to give me your coat?" Jack held out his hand as the shorter, dark-haired one that Ianto took after slid his jacket from his shoulders.

"Well, I may not be a doctor but … oh, I am a doctor!" Gene said with a grin as James rolled his eyes at the obviously old joke.

"I have to ask. Ianto has your looks but your, er … manner." Jack pointed between the two men.

"My first wife, River. Lovely! Bit mad but, well, Eugene he was her brother. How me and Eugene we met. My first marriage was just a silly high school crush, but we both knew it was not meant to be. Eugene, well he was the real deal. Bit of a mess for a while but in the end we all realised what we really wanted. I wanted him. She wanted a man she met during our marriage counselling. We put a line under it and moved on. She was surrogate for us when we realised something was missing.". James laughed at the memories.

"Our beautiful boy, Eugene Junior, was ours. Then she wanted her own baby;, Rhiannon was hers and her second husband's. Then Ifan got mumps off little Rhia and he became sterile. Wanted another baby so we agreed to donate for the cause." Eugene cut in with a soft smile.

"Three miscarriages later, Eugene and I were about to call it quits but it seems this wee man was hiding behind his dead twin. We went in to the hospital thinking we were taking home a little body to go in the family cemetery and got a little boy instead. When River died it was awful. Then Ifan fell down the stairs drunk and broke his neck when little Ianto was what? Ten, hon? We took the kids and legally adopted them both." James smiled at Gene lovingly. "Looks just like him, eh?"

"Whereas Eugene looked so much like James. So tall, wasn't he?" Eugene smiled wistfully.

"Ianto? Are you OK?" Gene said, touching Ianto's arm. "You look like you're going to-"

Ianto doubled over and threw up on Jack's shoes.