36

The relief at surviving another day was immense and Ianto wondered if each new day dawning would be met with the enthusiasm they were ending this one with. Gods, they had slept the rest of the afternoon away and felt energised now, his eyes sliding to Jack as he wondered if Jack felt that same buzz deep in the very marrow of his bones.

Jack was talking and turned his head, Ianto catching his eye and the wink confirmed Ianto's unspoken question.

Yes.

Gonna have to be quiet as church mice while enticing the devil himself in a few scant hours. Ianto felt scandalous in the raunchiest possible way, trying to stave off a blush at the thought of what he wanted to do to this naughty Captain whose hand had slid under the table to stroke Ianto's thigh ever so gently.

Lovingly.

Again Ianto was reassured that the affection was real. Instead of chastising or moving his leg like he might have in 'the other time', Ianto leaned against Jack slightly to show acceptance of his affection. Both men tried to act nonchalant about it but Abner's look of quiet reflection told them he knew damned well they were lusting like young fools.

Tosh agreed that she could fix something to recharge the batteries on the barrows, the ideas for their usage flying as they all laughed softly.

Owen cleared his throat and Ianto turned with interest, this being something Owen did before asking a question.

"Look, as soon as you two had left we all talked about what happened, sorry if that's rude but we are all sitting here politely ignoring the big Welsh Elephant in the room." Owen said calmly, "I really want it explained."

"An alien artefact in one of the boxes attached to Ianto" Jack replied, "My fault. I forgot to warn him. It's safe, just a form of armour."

"Oh" Owen snarked with exaggerated relief, "Thank fuck for that. I thought a whip of fiery death that transforms into a staff with stabby bits and then shrinks away into some sort of tattoo was dangerous"

Ianto pulled the knife from his pocket and placed it in Owen's hand, "This is the knife."

Owen jolted in the seat, then frowned as his fingers explored what he could not see, "Really? A pocket knife thing?"

"Yeah"

Owen snorted as he grinned, his head turning in Ianto's direction, "But you are OK?"

"Yeah" Ianto assured him, touched that he showed concern, "It doesn't hurt. I am fine. Jack explained it all at the time and I didn't panic because he spoke the truth. I can't really say what happened because it's all new to me too. But I promise, if I felt weird or sick in any way you would be the first person I tell. You are my doctor, right?"

Owen nodded, looking relieved in Ianto's words and Ianto rose to clear the table.

"Right" Abner clapped his hands, "Shut down. Come on kids, we have to get this right, the more often we do it the better. We start with the barn and surrounding area. Checking the electric fences are working, right?"

Clyde and Dawn were racing to put their shoes on.

"They need more" Ianto said softly, "Gumboots for a start. Toys and such. Winter clothing. We left in such a hurry, I grabbed what I could from the mall but it's not enough."

"I can make a map of the farms in the area that had kids" Abner offered, "Then some wee excursions? Day trips on horseback to check?"

"Yeah" Ianto nodded, "We can test those walkie-talkies more and I also want more electric fencing. Gorse too. A drone or two of our own would be nice, some older kids might have one."

"That's a brilliant idea by the way" Abner praised, "Gorse for fencing was traditional, remembering that was great. We can hide the electric fencing more, by having it messy and now orderly in design it will just look like bushes from the air, those drones will not pick up a pattern."

"That's what I thought" Ianto nodded on agreement, "It will take a while to grow, a season or two so if we cut some now and just place it, it won't look out of place as it is all dying off for winter."

"Agreed" Abner rose and Ianto looked to Rhys who still sat quietly.

"What do you say Rhys?" Ianto asked calmly, "Tosh gets those barrows working maybe some of the closer homesteads can be visited with those? We can pick the last of the seasonal fruit along the way too."

Rhys looked up with surprise as being included, then smiled wanly and nodded.

Ianto made a mental note to be a better friend, the man was hurting ever so quietly. What a huge sacrifice, his own girlfriend. Ianto thought of Lisa and the fact he couldn't do it, he could not pull that trigger.

Rhys had.