11
Owen turns off the television.
He and Toshiko sit quietly in the closet under the stairs.
Ianto sits in a chair by the windows. He has a board on his lap. He has a hammer in his hands. Ianto drowns in his thoughts as the skies darken behind him.
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Ianto, Toshiko and Owen are seated in the upstairs hallway. There's a couple boards left leaning against the walls.
Jack comes out of the children's room with his tools. "Too many windows in the bedrooms. We don't have enough boards."
Jack stands and leans against the wall.
"We'll have to board up the bedroom doors." Ianto suggests and Jack considers.
"Where are we going to sleep?" Owen demands as he looks towards his room, his things.
"The family room." Ianto decides. Everyone sits quietly for a moment.
"What about Janet?" Owen presents the next problem, his eyes boring into Ianto.
"We'll keep her in the garage, after dinner." Ianto sounds tired, beat and he leans against Jack for reassurance.
"I'll make sandwiches." Jack says firmly as he pulls Ianto under his arm in a gentle hug.
"I want spaghetti?" Toshiko frowns
"We should eat fast Tosh." Owen frowns, his baby sister is so demanding in his eyes when the menfolk are on a crisis.
"Spaghetti sounds great." Ianto says softly, his eyes closed as he lets his head fall to Jack's shoulder for a moment.
Jack glances at Ianto.
"What do you want, Owen?" Ianto says after a moment or two.
Owen wonders as the catch "Anything?"
Ianto nods "yes."
"French toast... and mashed potatoes." Owen grins.
"Now we're talking." Ianto huffs, "How about you Jack?"
Ianto turns and looks at Jack. They stare at each other quietly. They have a conversation without words.
"Chicken Teriyaki."
"Good choice... I'm going to have a cheeseburger with bacon." Ianto sighs dreamily, "Extra bacon."
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The windows in the kitchen are boarded up, as is the back door.
The sink is piled with pots and pans. It seems like every utensil and dish in the kitchen was used.
One side of the dining room is lined with windows that have been boarded up.
The table is set. Mash potatoes, spaghetti, French toast, chicken teriyaki and bacon cheeseburgers are all displayed elegantly on serving dishes.
The family sits around the table. Beat. The scene is sombre. No one is moving.
"What's the matter with everyone?" Ianto looks around the table "Eat."
No one says anything. No one eats.
"I'm scared." Owen whispers.
"Me too." Toshiko whimpers with wide eyes.
"I don't want to hear anymore talk like that. And I don't want to see anymore faces like the ones I'm looking at. We are going to enjoy this meal. Nothing can stop us from enjoying this meal! Enjoy!" Ianto seems to be begging even as he pulls himself upright more, his chin jutting out as he tries to be strong. Toshiko sits next to her three glasses of water and begins to cry."Stop crying princess."
Owen's face is hard, but tears start to fall anyway. Ianto watches as both children cry at the table.
"Fine, if you all don't want to eat, then I'm going to have some of everything." Ianto warns with fake playfulness.
Ianto takes big scoops of every dish and piles it on his plate. He digs his fork into the pile and starts to shove it in his mouth. He swallows.
"This tastes so great."
Toshiko, Owen and Jack watch in stunned silence as Ianto stuffs more in his mouth. He chews and chews and swallows hard. He digs his fork into the pile again.
Ianto starts crying as he eats. He keeps taking more bites. More tears fall.
Owen gets up from his seat. He goes to Ianto's chair. He leans against his Uncle's arm and cries with him. Ianto's fork stops moving. He watches as Toshiko moves from her seat to his other side. She holds her Uncle's arm and cries.
Ianto pulls them both up onto the chair with him and hugs them tight. Jack leans forward and comes to the pile on Ianto's chair. Jack buries his head in Ianto's shoulder. The family huddles together at one end of the table.
The monitor suddenly bursts into life at the other end of the table.
Everyone slowly turns and looks over to Owen's place setting where the baby monitor sits on the table.
Jack sits up. Ianto puts down the children from his lap. He gets up from his seat and moves around the table and out of the dining room. He moves through the family room and into the hall.
Ianto opens the closet door and looks in at the television.
He turns it ON.
THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYMBOL IS ON THE SCREEN. A LOW TONE EMITS FROM THE TV.
Ianto changes stations.
THE SYMBOL AND TONE APPEAR ON EVERY CHANNEL. THE MONOTONE SOUND FILLS THE CLOSET.
Ianto steps out into the hall. Jack and the two children are standing there waiting. Ianto looks at them.
"It's happening." He whispers with open dread.
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Jack pounds furiously with his hammer as he nails boards to the children's bedroom door. The master bedroom door is open with a board leaning next to it. Ianto is inside his bedroom
Ianto walks to the window next to his bed. It's the same one we've looked out twice before.
Ianto looks out onto his backyard. The security lights are on and the yard in flooded with light. There is a light breeze. Nothing seems wrong.
Ianto's eyes stay locked on the crops which go on and on into darkness. He moves closer to the glass. Watches the top of the corn stalks swaying slightly with the wind.
SOMETHING MOVES IN THE DARKNESS.
Ianto's eyes moves to where the corn crops fade into black forty feet away. Ianto goes very still.
LINES EMERGE IN THE CROPS; THE KIND OF LINES MADE BY SOMEONE TRAMPLING THROUGH A FIELD. WE CAN'T SEE WHO'S MAKING THEM. ALL WE SEE ARE THE COUNTLESS LINES BEING FORMED. THE LINES MOVE FROM THE DARKNESS TOWARDS THE HOUSE. IANTO WATCHES THEM CLOSE IN ON HIS BACKYARD. THIRTY FEET... TWENTY FEET... TEN...
Ianto backs away from the window towards the middle of his bedroom.
"Ianto hurry." Jack pants from the hallway.
Ianto turns to see Jack standing with the last board in the hall. Ianto moves out into the hall and shuts the bedroom door behind him.
Jack immediately puts the wooden board up and starts hammering nails into the frame. Ianto picks up his hammer and quietly begins to hammer nails into the wood.
Ianto glances to his right as he works. Toshiko and Owen are standing together at the top of the stairs. Toshiko holds Owen's hand.
Ianto keeps hammering as he speaks.
"Did I ever tell you what everyone said when you were born, Toshiko?"
Toshiko nods "no" lightly.
"You came out of your real momma and you didn't even cry. They brought you out of the room from the surrogate who gave you to us and you just opened your eyes and looked around at everybody. Your eyes were so big and gorgeous, the ladies in the room gasped."
Ianto stops hammering. Jack keeps going.
"They literally gasped." Ianto gasps like them "Then they go, "She's like an angel." Rhia and Gray…your new mama and papa said, "We've never seen a baby so beautiful."
Ianto smiles to himself as he remembers the moment. Jack finishes hammering.
Ianto goes over and picks up Toshiko. "And you know what else happened?"
Toshiko nods, "no."
"When they put you on the table to clean you up, you looked at me and smiled. They say babies that young can't smile... You smiled." Ianto sighed happily, Ianto looks at his niece quietly. He brushes the hair out of her face as Jack moves to Owen and picks him up.
All four turn and look at the three boarded up bedroom doors.
"Let's go down now."