11

Fish and chips were a hit, Max in the bath tub with so many toys he would prune before agreeing to get out, so Jack padded though to the living room with the bathroom door open and the baby monitor on the boy. So ... OK it was a full on camera and everything but this was their only baby ya know, the large screen full of the boy laughing as everyone watched.

"OK. Odin" Owen said and Ianto turned ot look at him with interest.

"Odin is the chief god of Norse mythology, who gained great wisdom by undergoing several trials. In order to achieve knowledge from beyond the realm of the dead, Odin decided to sacrifice himself. He took a spear and drove it into his side. Then he tied a noose to the world-tree Yggdrasil, and hanged himself for nine days. He then returned stronger than ever. The God of Gods." Ianto informed him.

"Also … the name of a Muskrat Yvonne was invested in. Something to do with some blood samples from like … years ago. Decades. Like … ah… 1927. Called the Angelo Samples." Owen was talking and looked up in time to see Jack pale, "Hit a nerve?"

"I was … subjected to an experiment back then … yes. That name … Anglo was someone involved. I was bled dry several times so they could watch me come back. They sold the blood like it was some elixir. Stands to reason she somehow got some"

"the thing I notice most in all this is that he had not reacted to the name even if it was clearly recognised as part of the Muskrat. Maybe that was left out of the files that were handed to the participants." Owen pointed at Ianto who frowned. He was still stuck on the image of Jack's torture. Gods, that would haunt him now.

"So … why did the others die? Three of us didn't. What happened to the other two?" Ianto asked.

"I tracked one down. In Provy House!" Tosh said with delight, "He is not the other provider. That one died. This is the only other remaining one."

"No offspring?" Owen guessed and she nodded, "Poor bugger is mad and safe at least in there."

"I assume that's why he's been under the radar for the Thing. He went about quarter of the way through, nowhere near what Ianto went through. He scrubbed out as they were satisfied that he didn't seem to take to the treatment." Tosh agreed. "No offspring ... no trigger."

Ianto rose and went to the bathroom, setting on the side of the tub and Jack placed his hand up to halt all talk, "Ianto is getting upset, let's call it a night."

"You are pruning, look at you. Benjamin Button getting older and younger at the same time. Look at those fingers!" Ianto was scolding over the monitor and Jack smiled as he watched Ianto lean over to kiss the little boy on the screen, "Well? Can't have a bedtime story with Daddy if ya don't' get PJs on young man."

Everyone watched Max light up as he scrambled out of the bath and held his arms out for Ianto to dry him lovingly, talking excitedly, "Daddy makes all the noises too. He is the bestest ever reader ya know. Out loud I mean."

"Well … sometimes he reads to me in a silly voice too. A big weird when it's a letter from her Majesty mind. I had no idea she sounded like a sailor" Ianto replied and the sweet little laugh echoed as Max threw his head back, his hands on Ianto's shoulders as he stepped onto his PJ bottoms.

"Taddy?"

"Yes my little stinker?"

"You will not leave me…right?"

Ianto looked up at Max and Jack watched something flicker across his face as he took Max's face in his hands and leaned in close "Max. I swear to you on Odin Himself. I will never go away. Me and Daddy are here forever, "

"Good. I don't ever want to be alone. They were nice but … not my parents. I knew that. They tried but .. .didn't feel right. You do. You and Daddy are the same as me. Right?" Max canted his head, "Like Odin. We just come back. Right?"

"Shit" Owen breathed, "Was he listening?"

"No. He knows" Tosh said as she considered things, "Ianto 2.5. He has listened all along, thought about it, surmised, read what was on our desks … like Ianto … gleaning from everything around him. He is almost a clone."

"Wait. Ianto is immortal?" Rhys asked.

"Think so. Like me. My blood … some sort of weird project…don't know. Seems so" Jack nodded as he watched the screen, Max doing up his buttons as he went through the prime numbers with Ianto then moved on to spelling. Jack didn't voice his other fear. What did this make Max?

"Wait. Did he just spell Lamination?" Owen gaped.

"Yep, and that was Crematorium" Jack said proudly.

"How old is he again?" Rhys asked.

"Sixth birthday coming up. We have to think about putting him back into school but he is so advanced." Jack smiled, "Thinking about a dog."

"Does he like them?" Gwen asked, "Or is he a cat person? Ianto is so …so him. I see Ianto with a cat for some reason."

"I don't know…ya know … I never thought to ask. He did like Moses." Jack considered, "Huh. Ya never know."

"Well ask. He might be allergic or something" Gwen nodded, satisfied that she had done her duty as a mother hen.

Now Jack was worried.

He already had the bloody dog picked out.