A/N: I have finally got my laptop back from computer hospital - hence the masssssive gap between now and my last post. Yes, I hate myself too.

Chapter 10

Confrontation

It had only been a few minutes since it had ended.

Gwen had watched in silent fear as, once again, every single child had screamed.

The army officers had even fallen back at a command over their communication systems, stopping the adamant troop from tearing the small child from the Welshwoman´s arms.

Looking on in uncertainty, whilst assessing the radio transmission, they each had begun to slowly retreat from the barren field back towards the more active suburb, leaving behind the now confused few adults and many children.

And now, stood perplexed and looking into the little girls wide eyes as she sat in her arms, Gwen finally realised the truth.

It was over.

"Rhys!" she called instantly to her husband, now talking to an anxious Rhiannon.

Both looked up sharply at the sound of her voice and jogged the few paces to meet her.

"What is it sweetheart?" the Welshman queried, expectantly gazing between his wife and her colleague´s sister:

"Jack-" she broke off, peering down at the little girl in her arms, the first real smile in a while plastering over her lips. "It´s over," she stated.

It was during times like these that Rhys couldn´t help but like Jack. The handsome bastard.

Before he could respond, however, Ianto´s sister had launched herself into the other women´s arms, embracing both adult and child. Continuous murmurs of thank you could be heard, though muffled by a face full of Gwen´s coat and her own tears.

Pulling back, Rhiannon swiped both hands across her face and managed a tentative, watery smile.

Within seconds, both her children came rushing forwards in the realisation that they´d made "the noise" again. With calls of "mam" and "mammy" they each grabbed hold of a leg, wrapping their arms firmly around a thigh and each resting a head on a hip.

Cradling each of their heads with one of her hands, she gave them each a satisfied grin. Suddenly she encountered a sinking feeling as her daughter asked "mammy, where´s Uncle Ianto?", with her son following up the question with "We heard you talking about him before. Is he okay?"

She peered expectantly towards Gwen who seemed as lost for an answer as she did.

For now, as she waited, less than patiently (it could be said), for Jack´s phone call, neither of them had a proper idea of the answer.

***

The Doctor kept his thumb firmly pressed upon the second button of the device held steadily in his hand. Assessing the trapped child, his eyes skirted over to the two men on the floor.

The younger had managed to wriggle in the other's arms to cause the two of them to lie in a rather forced embrace. Jack's arms were still wrapped securely around Ianto in a manner which left no argument as to the fact that the other man would not be getting away too easily, and the Welshman was completely tense and rigid, staring with resigned but fiery anger at the man containing him.

"Okay..." spoke the Doctor, rather uncomfortably, realising that he was obviously intruding on something rather personal. "Well, I´ll just be taking this wee young scally wag back down to the cells then." His voice trailed off slowly to end in a nervous cough. Casting a final furtive glance towards the two individuals - noting that they had shown no sign of recognising the fact the Time Lord had spoken - he scurried away down the stairs, boy in tow.

Giving a small but forceful shove, Ianto finally managed to glare Jack into dropping his embrace. As he scrambled to his feet, he cast Jack a withering glance. "Might be nice to know what the hell is going on in this place once in a while," he remarked quickly.

"I had no idea you were awake, Ianto, I'm sorry," said Jack, as he too, started to move to his feet, leaving a small but comfortable enough distance between him and the Welshman.

The comment only seemed to anger the younger man more though. "So you'd rather I slept through... whatever it was you were doing," he demanded, voice harsh .

"I didn't want it to complicate things," Jack replied. "Having to explain would have taken up time that we didn't have."

"Well you have the time now!" Ianto shot back vehemently. His words showing his expectation of an answer, and for that answer to be soon.

The Time Agent pressed his forefinger and thumb to the bridge of his nose, exasperation written all over his face. "The boy," he began, "he was an alien-"

Ianto scoffed, turning back away. As Jack broke off, he received a pointed look from the other man. "Well obviously," he stated sarcastically. "Get to the point."

Furrowing his brow at the Welshman's sudden snappiness, Jack continued unperturbed. "He has the same genetic makeup as that of any child. Practically human. At least enough so that we were able to reverse the wavelength through him," he explained briefly, finishing with, "the 456 have been destroyed."

Ianto's eyes flickered back around to meet Jack's at his final statement and then shot quickly away again, the man himself, however, stayed silent.

Noticing Ianto's distance, Jack slowly took a step forwards and moved his arm up to gently lay his left hand upon the other mans shoulder.

Stiffening noticeably, Ianto paused briefly before flinching and then jerking brusquely away. When he spoke, his voice was little above a whisper. "Don't touch me, Jack. You don't have that right."

Confusion seeped into the older man. He knew that he'd upset Ianto about the child, but not to the extreme of how Ianto was reacting now. "Ianto what's going on?" he asked, bewildered.

The Welshman seemed to be fighting an internal battle with himself, keeping his eyes firmly locked away. He knew that should he turn to face him, he wouldn't be able to say what he needed to the other man. Just looking at Jack was enough to tie his logic in knots.

Jack perceived him unconsciously twisting his fingers, his eyes searching as his face turned slowly more and more pink, and, in Jack´s opinion, looking thoroughly more and more lost.

And then Ianto exploded.

"Because, Jack-" he broke off as suddenly as he had begun and heaved out a large sigh, shooting the Captain a glare before launching right back into what he was saying.

In Welsh.

"Achos er 'r ffaith a cei a fake blentyn yn hidlo am , balli at ddeud 'm beth s ar gerdded. Fel Fi agos ymdopa at atal 'ch chan yn achub 'r 'n waedlyd byd.*"

Ianto pointed in the direction that would lead towards the cells. "A Chymera 'i a ddyn was 'ch 'n waedlyd Ddoctora!*"

His rant paused for a second or two whilst his eyes softened for a brief moment, only to regain a neutral expression, his voice this time held an edge to it that Jack could not quite distinguish. "A achos er bopeth , 'r 'n flaen amsera Ca ddigon ddewrder at ddeud 'ch a Cara 'ch ydy pryd fi m yn darfod i mewn 'ch arennau , a pawb alli dybied chan i mewn ateb ydy at ddeud 'm mo at.***"

And now it was Jacks turn to be totally lost. He couldn't assess the situation fully without knowing what the other man had said

Ianto's now re-softened features turned around to look pointedly at the cog door and then back to the Captain, only to land upon the door again as he purposefully began to stride silently towards it.

"Ianto?" called Jack with as much confused force as he could muster.

Allowing a small growl, the anger and vehemence returned to his voice as the Welshman span around, marching the few steps back to Jack and reverting back to English, "And it's your own bloody fault you didn't understand a word I just said. Because despite living here for over a century," he boosted his point by giving Jack a firm poke to his shoulder with his index finger, "you haven't even bothered to learn a single damn word of the language!"

With his final exclamation, he turned to fully storm off again, the time making it out of the Hub.

Cog door rolling into place, Jack was left to stand dumbfounded, guessing at what he couldn't have known, only able to call after Ianto in hope he'd return, "hey!" Realising the man was hardly about to come back, he shouted defensively to thin air, "I know 'hello'!"

A/N: *Welsh to English translation (please don't hurt me if my online translation is wrong!): Because despite the fact that you have a fake child running around, you refuse to tell me what's going on. So I almost manage to prevent you from saving the bloody world

**And I take it that man was your bloody Doctor!

***And because despite everything, the first time I get enough courage to tell you that I love you is when I'm dying in your arms, and all you can think of in reply is to tell me not to.

And yes I do realise that Gwen does seem a bit lost to what's going on... Everything's been so hectic in this story that there never seemed to be quite the right time to find out. But don't worry! All will be revealed to her soon!

I am finally writing chapters ahead, due to not being able to damn well post! ARGH! But it does now mean I have at least a rough idea where I'm going with this.... for the next few chapters anyway :S