25

"Owen could you at least lift your bloody feet, ya lazy bastard!" Andy growled as he tried to vacuum under Owen's work desk.

"I'm not lazy" Owen snapped, "I'm on energy saving mode!"

"Owen" Jack warned as he wandered past looking for Ianto, "Andy is doing Ianto's job there."

"So?"

"Owen please, don't make me pull rank!" Jack had stopped walking and his eyes narrowed.

"Look mate, if I was meant to be controlled I would have come with a fucking remote!" Owen said in a bored tone.

"Owen, feet please" Ianto said as he walked over with a cup of coffee and Owen obediently lifted his feet and grinned at the little imp peering out from the front pack.

"Hey wee man" he crooned and Heath grinned back.

"Owen, could you please check that body you have defrosting?" Ianto asked with distaste, "It smells awful."

"Really?" Owen asked with surprise, "I don't smell it."

Ianto raised and eyebrow and Owen rose to comply. He eased down to the med-bay where the large seven foot long Terillian lay, dripping softly on the floor and he grimaced as he knew Ianto would hate cleaning this p if he could smell it so keenly.

It was like a bigfoot, of a bigfoot were bright blue.

"Bugger" he huffed.

He began wiping it up with paper towels, kneeling on the floor and he finally got a whiff as well, screwing his nose up.

There was a scrabbling noise and Owen looked up as Ianto leaned over the top of him, the cyber arm holding down the creature, calmly crushing the thing's throat.

"Fuck" Owen spluttered, "They can reanimate?"

"Appears that they hibernate" Ianto replied as he looked down and raised an eyebrow.

"Shit. Right" Owen stood and moved for a hypodermic as Jack moved over to the railing with Heath in his arms.

"Everything OK down there?"

"Yep" Ianto popped the P calmly as Owen raced about.

"Babe? Is that ….awake?"

"Yep" the P a bit more forced as it shuddered, "Owen, it's becoming more aware and it appears to have quite large talons."

"What?" Owen swung to see talons slowly emerging from its fingers.

"Owen?" Ianto sighed, "A little haste please mate?"

"Yeah, yeah" Owen panted as he jammed the needle in and instead of calming the situation it caused the creature to roar and try to get up.

Ianto gave a grunt of surprise, then ripped its throat out, stepping back with the flesh still in his fist as the creature convulsed on the table.

"Shit" Owen gasped, shifting back against the wall with wide eyes.

Ianto moved in front of him, covering him as he watched the thing try to rise again, the Webley loud as its head rocked back from the thud of contact, Jack's snarl of rage punctuation to the matter.

"Ta" Owen said lamely, then started to laugh, his head falling against Ianto's back.

"Everyone OK?" Jack called out.

"It caught my hip" Ianto answered, "Burns like hell."

"Fuck" Owen was pulling at him, his hands shaking and Ianto tried to reassure him that it was OK, they were not known to be poisonous.

"That's gonna need stitches" Owen muttered kneeling as he propped at the three inch long slice and Ianto grunted with pain, "To the bone."

"Incredibly sharp. Can we ….HEATH?" Ianto called up to their baby, still in Jack's arms and Jack remembered him, looking at the terrified little face, "Taddy's OK darling. Naughty, nasty thing is all dead. Daddy saved me darling."

Heath took a deep breath and started to cry, loud jagged howls as Jack rushed down to Ianto so he might comfort the terrified chick. Ianto scooped him from Jack's arms and held him, letting him smell him as a little hand scrabbled. Ianto knew what he wanted, opening his shirt so the hand could settle over his heart, as a tiny ear was soon pressed there as well.

"See? Taddy is OK" Ianto crooned softly, "Daddy will always save us. Daddy is brave ad strong and dangerous."

Heath had stopped crying and was stroking Ianto's chest softly, making little cooing noises.

"Owen, I am moving to the room, you can stitch me up on the bed. We know the nanites will take care of it in a day or so. Heath is more important right now, he needs comforting." Ianto informed Owen, then he and Jack went to their room, settling in the bed with the baby between them and the hip on the outside of the clutch to allow Owen room to work.

"There are bad thing out there" Jack admitted to his son, "There are bitey things, evil things. That is why Taddy and I work so hard to catch them before they hurt innocent people. Taddy and I are super tough and we will always fight. OK?"

Heath reached out and touched Jack's chin, sliding his thumb into the cleft as he looked at Jack, his long lashes wet from crying.

"No matter what happens, Taddy and I will always come for you, OK?" Jack promised, "We will always come for our baby boy. We love you and you are safe."

Heath sighed and closed his eyes as he let himself relax in the warmth.

Safe.

Daddy said so.