Chapter Twenty One: The Joneses Pt. 2
A/N: Much to my chagrin, I realized I misspelled character names in the last chapter. It's Dafydd, honest. (And I realize it should be "Kai", not Kae, but since I've stated w/ Kae, I'll stick w/ it. Kae is the name of character I wrote in an original piece, so that's my excuse…)
Thank you again for the lovely reviews, they keep me going, especially w/ my husband out of town for two weeks. I need every little smile I can get.
Ianto was finally able to get a word with Jack by volunteering to help bring supper from the kitchen to the dining room table. "Well?" he whispered; he was aware that his mother was watching from the doorway.
"Well what?" Jack whispered back in a nonchalant tone that made the younger man want to scream.
"Don't do this to me, Jack, you know what I'm asking!" he hissed.
"Relax," Jack set the roast, now sitting on a lovely China platter, in the centre of the table and took the bowl of mashed potatoes with kale from Ianto's hands. "It went fine."
The Welshman cast him a doubtful look.
"Ianto, I've faced down Daleks and Cybermen," Jack kept his tone low. "I can handle a concerned mother's interrogation."
"Oh God, it was bad, wasn't it?"
Jack laughed loudly enough that Alice gave them a look. He flashed her an apologetic smile; she rolled her eyes and stepped out of the room to give them some needed privacy.
Jack folded his arms across his chest, glancing into the living room; Dafydd was still staring out the window, while Gavin and Cade were engaged in quiet discussion.
Ianto stepped out of line of sight of the living room and stood with his hands on his hips, "So?" he asked again.
"It went fine," Jack repeated. He lowered his voice, glancing back out at the brothers again, but it didn't look like they were paying any attention. "I'm from Illinois. A town called Boeshane."
Ianto groaned.
"It was the best I could come up with under pressure."
"Fine. Anything else?"
"I've managed to avoid saying how old I am. Your mother did notice that I look older than you, though."
"Thirty five," Ianto blurted out.
"What?"
"If it comes up again, go with thirty five."
"Do I honestly look thirty five?" Jack all but yelped.
Gavin and Cade both looked up; Jack shot a wink that made Cade go red faced.
"Jack. Don't start. Please." Ianto's tone was pained.
"Do I really look thirty five?" He asked again, his voice quieter.
"Fine. Say whatever you want. Just something under a hundred would be nice!" He hissed and huffed back into the kitchen.
Jack was surprised when he realized that Gavin was headed his way; he was about to make his own retreat but the look on the other man's face stopped him.
"It was like this the first time I brought Trea over to meet Mam," Ianto's older brother told him in a sympathetic tone. "I hope you don't make the mistake of fighting with him all the way home the way we did. We never really got properly introduced, by the way," he added, holding out his hand. "I'm Gavin."
"Jack Harkness," Jack accepted the handshake and everything it meant. "Ianto's been tense about me meeting you… guys." He just barely stopped himself from saying 'kids.'
"I'll bet. Look… I don't know what he told you about what happened when he was a younger… him and Cade. And the rest of us."
Jack made the effort to keep his tone neutral, "It's none of my business."
"Your parents though, how did they take you being gay? It must've been hard… right?"
"I'm not gay."
Gavin blinked.
"I hate labels," Jack wondered just how many times he was going to have to explain it. "And my parents were fine with my sexuality."
"Really?"
"Hippies." He used Ianto's excuse instead of saying that his parents simply weren't as constrained as the sexually repressed, narrow minded population of the twenty-first century.
"Ah. Well. We grew up pretty conservative Anglican. Not that I believe in that whole it being a sin or anything, I've got a coworker whose a lesbian… am I making a complete ass out of myself?" he asked to Jack's dead-pan expression.
Jack smiled, "No. I appreciate the effort." He glanced at the closed kitchen door.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll get over it," Gavin assured him. "Try not to let Cade get to you. He's been under a lot of stress with Deidre being pregnant again. It's not really you he's got the problem with, he just lashes out."
Jack nodded without commenting. "I should probably finish helping in the kitchen."
"Right. Well. Look… it's good to meet you. Ianto turned into a recluse after Lisa; for a while I didn't think he was ever going to come out of it. I'm glad he's getting his life back together, it doesn't matter who… you know." He floundered a little, shrugging his shoulders. "I really could care less if he's gay or bisexual or whatever, I'm just glad to see him happy again."
"Me too."
…………………………………………….
"Yan?" Nerys asked when Ianto came into the kitchen, a brooding expression on his face. "Are you all right?"
"Never better, thanks."
She frowned; Ianto waved it off. He didn't want to tell his sister that he and Jack had just had a spat over how old he bloody looked.
He glanced at the kitchen table to see if Deidre needed any help. The older children were assembled and settling in to supper. The only ones missing were Trea and she and Gavin's one year old daughter Olivia. They were probably upstairs; Olivia was still breastfeeding.
"Uncle Ianto," Kendra, Deidre and Cade's eight year old, looked up at him from the table. "Is it true? Is that man really your boyfriend?"
Kae shot her a look that rivaled one of his father's.
"Yes," Ianto began slowly, trying to gauge his sister in law's reaction to the question. She seemed suddenly interested in looking at anything in the room except for him.
"See," Rem's tone was triumphant, "I told you, Kae."
"What's going on here?" Nerys moved back over to the table, with Ianto just behind her.
"Kae didn't believe me that Uncle Yan and Jack were boyfriend and boyfriend," Remi informed her mother.
"How come you have a boyfriend?" Kendra asked before any of the adults could respond. "You're a boy. You're supposed to like girls, everybody knows that."
"They're just friends," Kae snapped at his sister. "Right?" he looked to Ianto, clearly expecting him to say yes. "Boy. Friend. It doesn't mean anything, Uncle Ianto isn't a queer. Right?" he seemed almost desperate for one of the adults to back him up.
The only thing he got was his mother telling him in a stern tone that she didn't want to hear him using that word again.
"But Dad says it all the time," insisted Kendra.
"He also says we shouldn't talk about it," Kae told her, still sounding defensive.
Deidre cast a brief apologetic look in Ianto's direction before addressing her children, "Your father says a lot of things, that doesn't mean you should be repeating them. Perhaps not talking about it is a good idea."
And apparently de'Nile isn't just a river in Egypt, Ianto thought to himself.
He looked at the other children who were seated at the table. Cameryn, Cale and Deidre's seven year old, looked uncomfortable. Jarred and Dillon, both five, looked confused. Tarra was too young to understand.
Remi, however, was looking at him expectantly. Hers was the expression that got to him. He couldn't just let it lie where it was without some kind of explanation, even though he was certain that Deidre would probably prefer it if he did.
Ianto took a breath and knelt down to the children's level, "Not talking about something doesn't make it go away, does it?" He asked his nephew in a patient tone.
"But you're not… like that." Kae said, shooting his mother a quick look. "You had a girlfriend."
"You're right. I did. And I loved her very much."
Just then, Jack stepped into the kitchen. Ianto smiled at his Captain's impeccable timing; he held out his hand. Jack crossed the distance between them and took it without hesitation. Ianto stood up and pulled him closer, welcoming the warmth of the older man's presence. "Now I have a boyfriend. And I love him very much," Ianto glanced back at Jack, hoping to convey how much he regretted snapping at him in the dining room.
Jack's smile was a good indication that he understood.
Ianto gave him a quick smile in return before turning his attention back to his nieces and nephews. "This is Jack," he told them. "Jack - Kae, Kendra, Dillon, Cameryn, Remi you've met, and of course Tarra," he nodded to the toddler in the high chair who was more interested in her mashed potatoes than anything the adults had to say.
"But it's not that kind of love, men don't do that!" Kae insisted.
"Some men do," Ianto told him. "I do. Jack does," he pulled both of Jack's arms around his waist in a clear demonstration of affection.
"I think that's enough," Deidre said in a soft tone, looking mostly at the children. "Your supper's getting cold."
………………………………………….….
"What exactly do you do all day?" Dafydd asked Ianto and Jack as the food was being passed around the table. "What is the life of a tourist office clerk or whatever, really?"
Ianto shot Jack a look, silently praying for just one Dalek to land at Downing Street, never mind that that was in London and UNIT would be called out to deal with it before Torchwood would ever receive a call. "It's… dull." Ianto said, passing the mashed potatoes on to Nerys without taking any.
"You need more vegetables," Jack, who was sitting on his other side, chided.
Ianto rolled his eyes at him.
"And I think Ianto is being too modest," Jack gave a wry little smile over at Dafydd.
"What is it then, just handing out brochures and pamphlets all day?" Cade asked; whereas Dafydd's question had rung with honest curiosity, his tone was nothing but condescending.
"Actually since his promotion, Ianto's hardly in the office at all," Jack favoured Cade with a sly little smile.
"You didn't tell us you'd been promoted," Nerys looked over at him.
"When did this happen?" Alice inquired of her son.
Jack was faster at opening his mouth: "While I was away on… a medical leave."
Oh God, here we go… Ianto groaned softly. To make both his mother and Jack happy, he took a small portion of carrots, shooting them both looks.
"It was nothing serious, I hope," Trea asked in Jack's direction.
Jack's grin was mischievous, "Nothing the right Doctor couldn't help me with."
"So what's your new job then?" Nerys asked Ianto.
"Office manager," Ianto answered simply, wishing that someone would come up with something else to talk about, but not having any idea how to accomplish it himself.
"So what do you do?" Trea asked Jack.
"He's the boss," Nerys told her.
There were several glances from around the table.
"At work we're strictly professional," Jack assured the lot of them. "Ianto got his promotion because he earned it."
"So if you work at a tourist office," Trea went on, as they settled into eating, "Do you ever get special promotions or anything?"
Gavin groaned.
"There's no harm in asking, Gav."
"What're you looking for?" Jack inquired.
Giving her husband a look that clearly indicated he'd better not laugh, "I've been trying to win Johnny Chess tickets on the radio… he's playing at the Millennium Centre next week and the show's been sold out for months… I know it's silly," she blushed a little, looking down at her plate.
"Consider it done," said Jack, before setting in on his food.
Ianto dropped his fork.
"Are you all right?" Trea and Nerys asked at nearly the same time.
"Perfect," he glared at Jack; Jack seemed to be making a point of not noticing.
"You can really get Millennium Centre tickets?" Dafydd asked him, sounding more curious than skeptical.
The older man smiled, "Sometimes."
"But the show's sold out…" Ianto tried to sound reasonable.
"I've got it covered," Jack assured him. "And no, you're not going to see it on an expense report," he added in Ianto's direction. "I made the mistake of letting Ianto take over the books," he said the inquisitive looks he was getting from the Jones family. "The way he goes on about every little thing, you'd think we were responsible to the Queen herself for our expenses," his tone was ripe with sarcasm.
Ianto nearly choked.
"Don't eat so fast," Alice advised him.
Clearing his throat, Ianto reached for his water, glaring hard at the man sitting next to him. Jack smiled back impassively.
"As kind as the offer is," Gavin spoke up, "The reason we didn't get tickets in the first place was that we couldn't afford them."
Jack waved it aside, "When I say I've got it covered, I've got it covered. I might even be able to get you backstage passes."
"No!" Trea gasped. "Could you… really?"
"I'll make a few calls in the morning and see what I can arrange."
"Right," Cade muttered.
"Were you interested in going?" Jack asked him with a mischievous grin.
"You work at a tourist shop," the elder brother scoffed. "And here you are trying to make it sound like you're some big shot."
Jack just shrugged and continued eating. "Oh," he said after a moment, looking back to Trea, "How many tickets did you need?"
"There were a couple of us at the office who wanted to go… but really… I don't want to impose."
"It's no imposition. In fact, it would be my pleasure."
…………………………………………………..
"Jack. You can't honestly get Johnny Chess tickets, can you?" Ianto asked as he piled dishes into the dishwasher. Nerys was in the kitchen helping them, too, washing up the larger pots and pans. The kids had gone off to play outside after desert, saving any more awkward conversations.
Jack handed him another plate, "It just so happens that I can. I got lucky, actually." he admitted when Ianto shot him a disbelieving look.
"If your next sentence has the phrase 'my ex boyfriend' in it…'" Ianto gave him a warning glare.
Jack laughed, "Not for lack of trying, but no."
"You've a lot of ex boyfriends, then?" Nerys asked him suspiciously.
Jack shrugged, scraping another plate into the bin before handing it over to Ianto.
She didn't look impressed by his lack of response.
"I was teasing, Ner," Ianto told her. "Sometimes it just feels like half his sentences start that way, but it doesn't bother me," he added.
"You know, it really isn't considered polite to talk about your ex boyfriends with your current boyfriend," Nerys told Jack as she washed the last pot and set it over in the drainer to dry.
His look was one of pure innocence. "It isn't?"
"Jack," Ianto warned.
"What?"
"I'm about to say that word I said I wouldn't say."
Jack just laughed, "We should probably go soon, anyway." He'd noticed the way Ianto had started favouring his wounded arm about an hour ago.
"Jack… do you mind giving us a minute?"
"Nerys," Ianto protested.
Jack, however, nodded and made his exit, his hands stuffed into his pockets.
"Nerys, honestly," he said to his sister. "I was just teasing him. I know I'm not his first boyfriend. He's older than me, remember?"
"I just don't want you ending up getting hurt, that's all. I do like him," she added. "But there's… there's something about him… I can't put a finger on it. He's different."
There's an understatement, Ianto stifled a laugh. "Jack is… a compulsive flirt," he leant against the counter as he spoke. "And sexually he's… well he's got different… a different outlook," he struggled to put into words she might be able to understand and hopefully not judge too harshly. "But I'm the one he loves. We've had our ups and downs," he admitted. "There were times when I thought I'd never speak to him again, he'd made me so angry. But I've realized I couldn't live without him and life is just too short and too precious to waste it being mad at the one person who makes me feel whole."
"Ianto," she laid her hand over his. "No one is so important that you can't live without them. No one. Believe me, I thought JP was it, the last man I would ever love or need or want and now look at us."
He curled his fingers into hers, "This is different. I know it is. He's… he's everything to me, Ner. I can't explain it any better than that."
"But what are you to him?" she wanted to know. "If he won't even call himself gay or bisexual, if he won't admit…"
Ianto shook his head, "It's not about admitting or not admitting, he just honestly doesn't care for labels. If you pressed him hard enough, he'd say he was omni-sexual."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That when his ex comes around, we'd better hide Mrs. Marston's poodle."
"What?"
"It doesn't matter," he gave her a half-smile. "What matters is that Jack promised… he said he would always love me. I believe him."
Nerys regarded him a moment. "Always is a long time."
"You have no idea how long," he glanced out the kitchen window at the darkening evening sky. "Someday it's all going to go dark," he told her softly. "Every star will go out… but wherever he is, whatever he's doing, he'll remember… he'll remember that Ianto Jones existed and that I loved him more than anything," he met his sister's perplexed gaze and smiled.
"Yan?"
He shook his head, realizing he'd said more than he'd intended. But since he was on a roll, "I erm… if anything ever happens to me… "
"Ianto…"
"No, I mean it. If anything ever happens to me, I want you to be the one who… who takes care of… certain things. My bank account, that sort of thing. You don't have to worry about my personal things," he added. Torchwood would handle that. All of his possessions would end boxed up in storage. "I'd like to put your name on my accounts."
"Sweetheart, you're only twenty four. You're not going anywhere…"
He caught the nervous look in her eye and the way she squeezed his hand just then. "I know," he lied. "I just want to know that no matter what, you and Remi will be ok."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, "Please tell me there's nothing wrong with you, Ianto."
"There is nothing wrong with me," he promised, holding onto her with his good arm, just as tightly as he could. "But Lisa was only twenty three when she died, remember?"
"That was an accident, a fire…"
"Exactly. You never know what's going to happen next. For all I know… for all I know I could have an incident with a toaster," he smiled despite the pang of loss he felt remembering Tosh's final message.
Nerys laughed, "All right. Just… just tell me you're going to be around for a long, long time."
"I'll do my best."