A/N: Hope you enjoy: first bit's a tad depressing, and sorry for killing Johnny, but you're about to find out why.
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood, or the characters from Torchwood. Ditto to Doctor Who.
Chapter 10
The Christmas Party
Johnny's funeral took place a week after he had died, with all the Torchwood them there, except Rhys, who'd volunteered to watch the rift, saying he'd feel bad about attending, as he'd never met Johnny or Rhiannon. Martha and Tom were present, as was the entire Jones family, minus Daffyd Ifan Jones, of course.
Time moved on and Christmas approached. Jack and Ianto sent the invitations out to the Torchwood family, and some other friends, including Sir Alistair and his second wife, Doris, who had sent a response, saying that whilst he would definitely attend, his late wife, sadly, could not, mostly due to her lack of pulse, and general deadness.
Christmas Eve arrived, and Jack and Ianto were the first to officially arrive at the party. They waited at the door to greet their guests, with their presents safely stashed under the tree. Cainwyn arrived first. She was alone, having recently broken up with Danny. Rhi arrived next, in a black dress and holding a very exited pair of children. Mairwyn, Seren and Owain arrived together, and were closely followed by the Brigadier, Martha and Tom. Rhys, Tosh and Owen were the last to arrive, and they all sat around the large table. Jack had sneakily ensured Rhys and Rhi sat together, and Mairwyn and Sir Alistair were also paired off.
They all feasted on the sumptuous three course meal, and then sat around the Christmas tree. Ianto played Santa, and passed out the presents. They had organised a secret Santa among the adults, to ensure that each adult needed to only get two or three presents, depending on whether they were getting joint presents for the two children, or not. Again, Jack had deviously ensured that Rhys and Rhi were each other's secret Santa, but believed that he would be too obvious if he'd done the same for Mairwyn and Alistair, who were looking decidedly comfortable together.
After the present opening, and multiple jokes, Jack stood and said "I believe that now, we share any news, good or bad. Then we'll sing some carols, and dance a little." He grinned wickedly at Ianto, and said "or a lot." And everyone laughed.
"So, I'll go first. I want to offer a job to Oops and Rhi, Oops will be a field agent, and Rhi will help her Mam, so they can both have days off, and free time. What do you both say?"
"Yes!" Owain replied enthusiastically, whilst Rhi said "Umm, okay. I guess I do need money, now more than ever."
Jack and Ianto grinned at each other, glad their idea was agreeable.
"My turn." Said Seren as she stood up. "I'm pregnant." Everyone rushed to congratulate her, except Cai, who glanced nervously at her feet before standing and saying "I guess this is when I tell you the truth. I'm pregnant, too. That's why Danny left. I said I wanted to keep the baby, he didn't."
Jack, instantly noticing the now awkward mood, stood and said "Congratulations, Cai. I can't wait to see my little niece or nephew. They'll be spoiled rotten!"
Ianto, realising what Jack was doing, stood and repeated his congratulations, before saying, as casually as possible "Where is Danny living now, Cai?"
Fully comprehending her brother's intentions, Cai said "I refuse to tell you, in fact, I ban each and every one of you from approaching him. We all know that each time he saw something weird, you Retconned him, so he won't tell anyone about Torchwood. Therefore there is no need for you to go near him."
Pouting, Owain, Jack and Ianto all nodded, and everyone else laughed at their unhappy expressions.
"Okay, so continuing on with the news telling. Johnny's parents are trying to file for sole custody of David and Mica. They say I'm not a 'fit mother', and want to take my babies." Rhi blurted out, before bursting into tears. Everyone stood, shocked and awkward, until Rhys wrapped his arms gently around her, and pulled her into a hug, muttering "There, there, Rhi. No one here will let them take David and Mica. You have several internationally respected people in this room, who are family. They won't let anything happen."
An murmur of assent flowed around the room, and everything remained tense until Alistair said "I had to steer UNIT in the right direction, again. They'd tried to shoot down a spaceship, that had been hijacked by a bunch of teenage Catkind. The ship was owned by the Shadow proclamation, and, well… let's say their ears were ringing for a while." He completed with a smirk.
Jack laughed and clapped his friend on the back, recalling the time whilst he was still with the Doctor, when they visited him, and ended up almost being killed by both UNIT and a group of Graskes. They'd had a blast, Jack recalled, and the telling off UNIT received, well…
They put Christmas music on, after all the news was shared, and Jack took to the stage, and looking straight at Ianto, began singing. After the momentary shock at how beautiful his voice was, everyone led their partner to the dance floor, until the only people not dancing were Cainwyn, Mica and David- all of whom had fallen asleep under the table, cuddled together- and Ianto and Jack, who stared at each other, as Jack's honeyed tones and smooth voice sang gently and lovingly.
After two songs, Jack put on several tracks to play automatically, and he danced with his partner.
The room remained almost silent as everyone danced, holding their partner close, the need for contact at Christmas time too great to care about time. Eventually, Jack's wrist strap bleeped, and the team sighed as one. They had to go. Alistair drove Mairwyn and Cai home, Tom took Rhi and the kids home, and Owain and Seren left together. Jack turned off the music, and the team left, arriving at the Hub prepared for their Christmas plans to be ruined by aliens trying to conquer Earth. What they arrived to, however, was shocking to say the least. There were seven boxes, with tags, ribbons and holes punctured in. The first box was addressed to Jack and Ianto, the second to Martha and Tom, the third to Owain, and the fourth to Rhys, Rhiannon, David and Mica. The fifth was to Tosh and Owen, the sixth to Cai, and the seventh to Sir Alistair and Mairwyn. They were from the Doctor.
Jack grinned. He knew it, his plans would succeed!
As Jack congratulated himself, Ianto opened their box, and inside was a catlike creature with ruby red fur, and a note. It read:
Dear Jack and Ianto,
Merry Christmas!
My present to you is this Henax. They are basically an alien cat. They eat the basic stuff, metal, plastic, left over food; really, they're like rubbish and recycling bins in cute, fluffy forms. They are all different colours as they're all different breeds, but I made sure they were all male, and had their bit cut, so earth wouldn't become populated by them.
Before I forget, they also act like cats, so you'll get them snuggling you.
Enjoy, and Merry Christmas,
Doctor
A/N: Ooooh! It is now getting interesting :D Typing up the next chapter now, hope you like how its going-maybe you could tell me, eh? Anyway, I won't see you and you won't see me, but I'll post soon. TTFN and DFTBA!