12
Yan and Byrd stepped out into the sunshine as the children roared past, Luc following them with glee and his laughter was echoed by Jack's as he tried to catch up.
"Hold on there!" he called out "I didn't agree to the pool yet! I haven't waxed!"
Luc turned to say something smart back and he stopped, seeing something in Yan's hand that stopped his heart as well as his game.
The blade.
He walked slowly towards the two women and as he did his face changed, his memories slammed home and the paradox(es?) ended as Yan reached out to place the small knife into the hand of the child who had passed it to her in battle, his own life considered forfeit if needed to be save her.
"Hello Luc"
"Hello Styx" he croaked with emotion, looking at his blade.
"You never lost it" Yan smiled "You lent it to me once upon a time. I needed it, I needed you."
"You … I don't understand."
"My power is from one of those stones. Do you understand me now? I AM a stone" Yan let herself bleed into Kali, then into Ianto, never once releasing the hand and the blade within, "this is my strength. My power. Luc. You are not the little boy who loved that elephant anymore."
"You are a man who saved a village" Byrd agreed.
"I did love that elephant" Luc grinned.
"Quite the mind-fuck, right?" Byrd asked as Luc blinked slowly.
"We saved them. How could I have forgotten that?" he asked with confusion.
"Time. You were young, it was horrible and it was better to place it to one side. You don't have to now. You can remember now. Be brave. Be proud. You saved that village as much as we did. Without your father's blood, help or love. For whatever he is to you now, remember … you are the hero here" Ianto started to laugh softly "And I thought I was so clever setting you up with my sister. Even then … even then the Gods were playing with us. Destined to be together. Crazy!"
"Crazy?" Byrd snorted "What's crazy is that Tardis waiting all those years for the right pilot to come along."
Ianto looked at his daughter with a mixture of affection and exasperation as she pulled her leather bomber jacket on and slammed a Russian fur hat on her head "Darling?"
"I'll be back for dinner" she promised as she winked and started to walk towards a tree in the yard that they had never noticed before, turning on her heel to wink as the trunk opened and Blaine leaned out.
"Hurry up love, Piney is whinging about …awwww!" Blaine disappeared and laugher echoed as she reached the door of her Tardis and looked into the large expanse inside.
"OI! Who bloody put that there!" she yelled as she stepped over the threshold "I hate that bloody colour. Put it back in the other room with …"
Then … she was gone.
"Ianto?" Jack said calmly "Was that tree a Tardis? Did you get our daughter a Tardis for her birthday? I thought I was in charge of birthday things."
"Well … technically it was from Luc I guess" Ianto screwed his face up as he considered "Does it matter? She won't be stealing the Doctor's now and he will stop blaming your influence on her."
"What?" Jack gaped as Ianto started to swagger off and he followed.
"Babe? Tiger? Me?" Jack squeaked "He blames me?"
"Well, he won't blame me" Ianto hooted over his shoulder "He likes me."
"WHAT?"
Ianto's laugher was eerily like his daughter's as he left the day to its business.
He was bloody exhausted after all that.
And his heart?
Never stronger now it's mother was free.
And so was he.
.
.
.
THE END
Thanks for reading this latest installment of madness … now the mad thing has her own box … who knows what may happen next.
