Chapter 8
Ianto looks down and nods, he rests against Jack before he starts to talk. "The day after you left, I started to feel sick. I thought...I thought it was because I was so down about you not being around." He mumbles embarrassed. "But then it was a constant sickness, not just in the mornings. More, every minute of every hour of every day sickness. Owen was worried. I told him nothing to worry about. You know me, I don't like the fuss."
"Hope you out grew that." Jack whispers rubbing Ianto's arm softly as he speaks. Ianto smiles weakly and nods slowly.
"After a month. I started to notice things. Whenever I went to make coffee I felt sick. Like...not like I'm about to throw up sick, but just sick. My body felt more tired then sore and my stomach felt really tender. I thought I was going crazy. Well, at first I thought that an alien had made me go crazy."
Jack chuckles watching him. "I asked Owen to do some tests. I didn't tell him what I was worried about. Could you imagine what he would have said if I went, Hey Owen do you have any pregnancy tests for men? He would have...well, he would have done what he did when he found out. He would have laughed in my face."
Jack felt his blood run cold. "He laughed?"
"It was funny at the time. I mean...A pregnant man and all that? Me pregnant. I laughed too. And it felt good. Just laughing. Everything was falling apart but it felt good to laugh a little. That's until I laughed so hard and then I started to cry, and then I didn't know how to stop."
"Hormones in male pregnancy hit earlier then females." Jack says looking at Ianto.
"Yeah. They really do." Ianto sighs, fidgeting in his lap and getting more comfortable. "We didn't tell the girls at first. First of all we thought that they would freak out completely, then in case something happened..." Ianto looks down. "Owen kept me off heavy duties. I stayed in the Hub, did all the work like normal, but I wasn't looking after myself properly."
"Yan...?"
"I wasn't sleeping, and eating made me feel sick so I didn't. I hated being pregnant. Just before I was three months along I passed out. Owen found me in the archives, when I was awake he screamed at me. The girls heard and well, Owen screaming that I needed to look after myself because I was pregnant gave the game away. They didn't freak out though. They just...They was there. Gwen brought me in meals that wouldn't make me feel sick as much, and Toshiko gave me remedies for my sore ankles and nausea. Owen wasn't so stressed now he wasn't keeping this big secret and they were there. Rhys was the only one who freaked out."
"I can imagine." Jack smiles.
"But I was with him when he...when baby Jack decided it was time to say hello to the world."
"You were?"
"He was driving me home. I was on maternity leave but I was staying in the hub most of the time. I hated being here on my own. It was...lonely." Ianto holds onto Jack tighter. "We was in his van and my stomach felt as though it was being ripped open. I remember him screaming about not getting blood or anything on his new seats. And then it all went black."
"You...The pregnancy...the birth was okay?"
"I don't remember it. I remember being in his van and then I remember waking up on the autopsy table. And there was crying. So much crying."
"Babies do that when they come out." Jack smiles, tears in his eyes. He wished he could have been there.
"I couldn't hold him." Ianto whispers.
"Why?" Jack rubs his hips softly; soothingly.
"I was scared I was going to break him. Scared that he'd look too much like you. Scared he'd be an alien. Or sick... Owen couldn't figure out how I became pregnant. All the tests he'd done had come back like a normal pregnancy except for the obvious."
Jack nods slowly. "But you held him?"
"Yes. When I did I couldn't let go. He became my world." Ianto whispers looking at him.
Blinking back his tears, Jack leans forward and captures his lips in a soft kiss. "And now your worlds complete again." he promises.
