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"Yeah, he has grown faster than a human baby so physically he's only about eighteen months old but mentally the little bugger is about five or six" Owen agreed as he watched Heath calmly dissect a complex puzzle.

"Yeah, and poor Ianto is copping it at the moment as Heath is still learning to speak. Cuckoos communicate telepathically for the first few years of life, this speech thing is a bug-bear for both of them as Heath was saying things to Ianto I can't hear and I knew by his face that they were beyond naughty. I have made a rule of 'out' talking" Jack sighed, "Problem is that he doesn't have the vocabulary in spoken word to express himself and it is leading to temper tantrums. Like a three year old asking for something and getting tongue tied, even his mental voice is stalling out."

"Well, we have to nurture the spoken voice" Owen said firmly, "Little bugger is so stubborn that if we can't' get him to master it now we might have problems later. The real problem is that he is expecting more of himself as well, his frustration comes from anger at himself, not us."

"I agree" Ianto said as he swept into the medical bay with a tray of drinks and Heath calmly accepted the sippy cup as if one of the adults having a conversation about work and too busy to look up from his task.

Ianto hesitated and raised an eyebrow at the child.

"Fangoo Tadda"

"Good boy, well done" Ianto crooned, kissing a little cheek, "That was a lot clearer."

Heath brightened and took a sip, his eyes widening as the chocolate milk slid down and he hummed happily.

"Musical" Owen muttered, "Thought of singing?"

"Huh?" Ianto hesitated again.

"Well, singing is easier than talking, they teach people with speech problems sometimes" Owen frowned, "Teach him to sing what he wants to say, after all, you are birds…singers, right?"

"Owen, you are a genius!" Ianto stepped over and clasped Owen's face in his hands kissing him with delight and Jack barked as his arms fell from his chest where they had been folded in hero default pose.

"Oi! That's mine, don't be giving him my kiss!" Jack spluttered and Ianto laughed as he stepped over and lovingly placed his hands on Jack's face, pulling him in for a gentler, much longer kiss.

"Better?"

"It'll do for now" Jack bristled, glaring over at Owen who couldn't resist patting his lips.

"Finish!" Heath said happily as he slid the last piece of the 3D puzzle into place and he examined it for fault, could find none so he did the best part of completion …destruction.

"I was thinking, some big building blocks, foam ones. I bet he would have fun with those." Owen smiled as he plucked up the little boy for a cuddle.

"I saw on the internet the other day someone had gotten a whole heap of those noodle things they use for swimming, you know, the long foam tubes? Anyway they painted them brown and cut notches either end to make a little log cabin" Ianto was saying as he cleared away the mess on Owen's work desk, "Brown for the house and the yellow ones were left their true colour for the roof. Looked sort of…."

Ianto turned to find three faces full of excitement as they started at one another, gleefully imagining the possibilities.

"Cariad?" Ianto called out as the two men and a baby took off up the stairs, "Just a wee one, right? Jack?"

Tosh looked up from her workstation and Andy started to giggle into his folder as the men rushed past, both talking at once as the baby was passed between them like a hot potato, both wanting to get their coats on.

"Give 'im here for Godsake!" Rhys rescued the baby and stood listening as the two men babbled, then his eyes widened, "A green mat for grass?"

Now he was handing the baby back as he reached for his own coat, "I know just the place. Non-toxic stuff, we have to be careful with that, right?"

By the time Ianto reached the Hub level the alarms were already fading as Andy rose from his workstation to blink, then look over at Tosh with open confusion, "What the fuck was that?"

"Oh goddess on a stick I think that was my big mouth" Ianto sighed.

He brought up the picture he had seen and Tosh crooned as Andy made excited noises, moving from foot to foot as he also wanted to 'help'. Big kids and their building blocks!

"Finish your shift first!" Ianto scolded, "When you are done and can shut done to standby mode for the night, come home and see the bloody …whatever this is going to become. I will cook tea."

Tosh clapped as Andy hooted and resumed his work eagerly, the sooner he's done with the reports the sooner he could go.

Ianto slouched off home to move furniture.

They would put it goddess knows where if he didn't at least stipulate a 'madness zone' for their project.

At least Heath had learnt a new word, he had repeated is several times as he caught the images Jack had been projecting.

"House"