A companion piece to the previous chapter, suggested by WickedWitchoftheSE – thanks. Ianto is without Jack in Italy …
Together Again – April 4706, Arezzo, Italy
The children were sleeping peacefully after a very full day. Ianto pulled Minda's covers straight and bent to kiss her forehead before doing the same for Luke. In the other room, he could hear Giovanni and Christina clearing away the remains of the late supper the three adults had shared and talking softly, well used to being quiet around their own sleeping children. They had three now, all boys, and the family was happy living in chaos and confusion – Christina was not an organised person - but her home and family were always welcoming despite their volatile tempers which led to many flare-ups but no lingering grudges.
Wanting to give the couple some time to themselves, and liking being with his own children, Ianto stayed in Luke and Minda's room, sitting on the wide window ledge and looking out at the garden which was bathed in moonlight. It was beautiful here and the scents of the flowering plants were heavenly. He was not an expert and could not identify them all but he recalled other gardens from his childhood so many years ago which had smelt much the same; some things never changed. Closing his eyes he rested his back against the thick, cool wall and remembered walking through such a garden with Jack when they had been starting to think of building their own home at Ogmore years before they actually got round to doing it. That garden had been fresh and pleasing to the eye and nose but Ianto primarily remembered it as a rare quiet moment with Jack at a time when they had both been busy running Torchwood.
He missed Jack now, missed him a lot. Two days, that's all it was. Two days and one night apart but already the longing to be with the older man was there in his heart. They had been apart for longer periods in the twelve years Ianto had been in this century and every time he had felt this tugging at the very centre of his being telling him something, someone, was missing. It was frightening how much the man meant to him. All day, as Ianto had been conducting business and walking round the town with the Petrellis, he had turned expecting Jack to be at his side to make a comment, point out a particularly fine view or share a joke. It was ridiculous to feel so bereft because the man was not there. The day had contained only small, insignificant moments yet they were all precious and he had wanted to share them with the man he loved.
He missed his older children too. This was one of the few times Ianto had been parted from them and he thought of them now, asleep in their rooms in the Cardiff apartment and wondered what their day had involved, if they had missed him. In his head he knew they would have managed fine, probably enjoyed Jack's more free and easy approach to parenting, but in his heart he worried for them. Holly was growing up, quite a young lady now, and Owain always needed an eye kept on him or he would end up in trouble. Ianto wished he could have sat with Holly and heard her news and felt part of her ever expanding world. He'd have liked to be with Owain too, to make sure the boy had completed his assignments from classes and to help him burn up some of his seemingly inexhaustible energy in harmless ways.
Opening his eyes Ianto turned and looked across at the twin beds and the two younger children sleeping soundly. They had been so good on the trip here, content to stay close and hold his hand as they made the four teleport jumps. And once they had arrived, they had played with the Petrelli children as if they met every day not just on their annual visits; three year old Minda could barely have remembered the last time they were here. Luke, coming up to six, remembered the boys well but had had more fun with Giovanni's sister, Lucia, who still lived in the old family home further up the hill. Together, the two had prepared lunch which the whole family had enjoyed in her courtyard garden. The same courtyard where Ianto had eaten many happy meals over the years. Minda had loved that garden too, running in and out of the plants just as Holly had done ten years before. Ianto's rambling thoughts were interrupted when the bedroom door opened and Christina looked in.
"Have you seen the time, Ianto?" she said quietly, a smile on her face. She was still handsome but marriage and motherhood had taken a little of the bloom from her features.
"Oh, thanks." Ianto left the room with one last glance at the sleeping children.
"Use the office, it is private." She nodded towards the room and then left him, disappearing into the family room.
Sitting at the desk, Ianto checked his chrono and saw that it was indeed more than time for his call to Jack. He opened up a vid-link and waited impatiently until it was completed and Jack's face appeared on the screen. The man was in the office at Cardiff, Ianto could see that, and he was smiling broadly.
"Ianto, you're late. I was about to call you. I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, cariad." They smiled at one another, both men drinking in the sight of the person who made them complete. "Everything all right there?"
"Fine. How was your trip? Did the kids behave themselves?"
"Good as gold. And they had a wonderful day."
"Tell me everything." Jack sat back in his chair and listened as Ianto related the details of their day. He could envisage it all having visited Arezzo every summer for the past ten years for the family's annual vacation.
"But what about you, what have you been doing?" asked Ianto when he had finished with his own day.
"Not much, definitely not as exciting or interesting as your day. Holly went home with Reswale from classes so I barely saw her and Owain was doing his assignments."
"Did you check he did them? He usually just plays that computer game."
"He did them," assured Jack with a smile. "Then we went up for a spin in the flivver, just the two of us. I let him take the controls, he took to it like a duck to water."
Ianto frowned and said nothing for a moment or two. "He's very young, Jack -"
"I know," Jack cut in, "but he's also very sensible and I kept a close eye on him. There was no danger. You know me better than that."
"Yes, I do," agreed Ianto with a small smile. "I bet he was thrilled."
"Oh yeah, especially as he's younger than Holly was when I let her do the same. They were bickering about it from the time we picked her up 'til they went to bed."
"I can imagine. I wish you could all have come over," he added wistfully. "I really do miss you all so much."
"Couldn't get away, you know how things are, and its not fair on Holly and Owain to take them out of classes." The two men had gone over this before but still returned to it as if circumstances might have changed. "It was pretty quiet here without you all, I was reduced to reading one of Minda's picture books!" He explained what had happened and the two men laughed.
"Are you working now?" asked Ianto.
"Umm, getting some of the routine stuff done. Oh, I've agreed to watch Owain play on Thursday. He seemed a bit down that no one went along any more."
"It's difficult with Minda, and there's Luke to pick up and -"
"Hey, I know. I wasn't criticising, nor was he. Just thought I'd make the effort as you're busy with the little ones."
"That's good of you. Feel like taking Minda with you? I could drop her off at the Castle on my way to pick up Luke. In fact, he and I could probably make the second half of the game too. It could be a family outing." Holly did not leave her Academy until later so she would not be able to join them.
Jack laughed. "You've got it planned already, that's my Ianto. I think it's a great idea but let's talk it over tomorrow before deciding for sure."
"Okay." He paused then said, "I suppose I ought to go."
"I suppose." Jack placed a finger on the screen and traced Ianto's face. "I really miss you, love. The bed's going to be really lonely."
"If you ever get into it! Make sure you do, Jack, no working all night." When Jack's finger was removed, Ianto did the same from his end. "I shall miss you too, in my cold and lonely bed. But we'll be home tomorrow afternoon."
"Can't come a moment too soon. You'd better go and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you then." Ianto kissed his finger tips and placed them on the screen. "Goodnight, cariad."
Jack mirrored the action and their fingers appeared to touch. "Goodnight, love."
Closing the link, Ianto sat back in his chair and smiled to himself, thinking back over all Jack had said and imagining what had happened in Cardiff. He stayed there for five minutes before stirring and, after a word to Giovanni and Christina, made for his bed. Lying under the light covers, hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling, missing the familiar body beside him, Ianto was still reliving the conversation when he gradually dropped off to sleep.
"Tad, wake up." Minda stood beside her tad's bed and patted his arm. "Taaad!"
Groggily, Ianto surfaced from a dream involving Jack, cherry blossom, strawberries and a kipper. His gaze landed on Minda's delighted face. "Minda? What time is it?" He struggled to sit up.
"Sun's up and it's time to get out of bed," she pronounced, a favourite saying of Jack's when he got her up in the morning. Clambering onto the bed, she wrapped her arms round her tad's neck before giving him a sloppy kiss.
Never a natural morning person, Ianto groped for his chrono: 5:37. "It's very early, sweetheart. Don't you think you should sleep a bit more?"
"No." She shook her head decidedly. "I got book." She clambered down to the foot of the bed, crawling over her tad's legs in the process, and retrieved a book and Foo-Foo. "Story time." The book was thrust into her tad's hands while the girl settled on his knee. This was her normal routine. Whenever she awoke, her dad was there and they sat together – sometimes in her room, sometimes in the living area – and he read her a story. She saw no reason for that to change just because she was in a different house and her dad was not here.
Accepting the inevitable, Ianto opened the book and began to read The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle to the girl. The words swam in front of his blurry eyes but Minda knew the story well enough to correct him when he went wrong. Ianto was aware Jack had early morning routines with all the children but despite having to fill in when his partner was away, Ianto had never registered exactly what these routines were and certainly was never enough awake to do them justice himself. Somehow, he stumbled through the story and Minda appeared satisfied. But Ianto's pleasant thoughts of another hour's sleep were dashed as Minda then demanded they play the word game.
"I don't know the word game," he muttered, feeling Minda had changed into a tyrant overnight. He was also starting to curse Jack for his inventive mind. Only he could devise games to be played at this hour of the morning.
"We go round house and say words." Minda was already climbing down and gesturing for her tad to get up. "You point, I say."
"Oh." Reluctantly, very reluctantly, Ianto got out of bed and wrapped his robe around him. He pointed. "There you go, I'm pointing."
"Chair. That's easy. Do difficult one." Minda was bright eyed and eager.
The game continued, first in the bedroom and then ranging around the house. As time progressed, Ianto woke up properly and started to enjoy the game. It seemed he could throw in a hard word every now again but two in a row was cheating. As the pair roamed the house, they came across Giovanni with his youngest boy, Carlo, who was almost two years old, drinking juice in the kitchen.
"You too?" asked Ianto as Minda tugged him towards the dew-dappled garden and more pointing.
"This one, he is always up early. Christina, she says it is my job to keep him quiet." He grinned widely as he said this, not at all put out. "You want a drink?"
"That sounds wonderful. Come on, Minda, let's have some juice."
The girl grudgingly agreed and they joined Carlo at the table as Giovanni poured the drinks for them both. Over the next hour, the other children joined them. First came Stephano, four years old and a handful, followed by Luke who looked neat and tidy. The Petrelli's oldest boy, a few months older than Luke and already past his sixth birthday, who had been named Iolo, an old Welsh name (that also sounded Italian) in honour of Ianto, showed up last of all, yawning widely. Breakfast, for which Christina did not appear, was a lively meal made even more so when Lucia arrived to join them. As Ianto made coffee, listening to the chatter behind him, he again missed Jack who would have been in the thick of the conversation and full of ideas and games to amuse the children.
With the meal eaten and the children, and himself, washed and dressed, Ianto went off to the workshop with Giovanni leaving Luke and Minda in the capable hands of Lucia and Christina, who had finally appeared. They all met up again for a lazy lunch on the shaded patio running the whole width of the house and overlooking a sloping patch of grass, still green at this time of year, and bordered by a profusion of shrubs and trees. The table groaned with fresh bread, salad and pasta with plates of cheese and a selection of oils.
"You must all try the pasta," commanded Lucia. "It was made by my little chef, Luke." She beamed at the boy who was sitting opposite her beside his tad. "Such a talent in one so young," she enthused.
"Did you make this?" asked Ianto of the boy, putting an arm round him.
"I helped," he replied modestly.
"Nonsense! He stirred and he rolled and he filled all the ravioli." Lucia was waving a serving fork in Ianto's direction. "He will be a great chef one day." Luke blushed: cooking was his hobby, it wasn't a proper job. He turned his gaze to his dish of pasta and was pleased when the conversation moved on to other matters.
All too soon, the time came for Ianto and the children to leave. The place was so magical it was hard to tear themselves away no matter how much Ianto especially wanted to get home to the rest of his family. In a large group, they all made the climb up to the town's teleport, the Welshman's backpack full of wine and cheese as well as their few spare clothes and night things. With a lot of kissing and farewells, Ianto took Luke and Minda's hands and they stepped onto the teleport and were whisked away. After a journey that took almost an hour, the three finally stepped off the teleport outside the Cardiff apartment. It was just after five o'clock in the afternoon and standing there were Owain and Holly who rushed forward to great their tad and siblings. Ianto looked round but Jack was not there and his heart, which had leapt at seeing the two older children, returned to its normal place. It was Glonnix, standing a little way apart, who had brought the children down to meet them.
In the apartment, the children were still excitedly exchanging news and rushing around as Ianto stood in the middle of it enjoying every moment. It was good to be home. Finally sending Holly and Owain off to do their assignments – there was at least one every night – and seeing Luke disappear into the kitchen with Glonnix, Ianto and Minda went round putting away all their possessions. The little girl loved being helpful and ran around eagerly with the spare clothes and toys under her tad's direction. They had almost finished when the front door opened and Jack appeared.
"Hello, petal," he said as the little girl rushed to him. He swung her up in his arms and kissed her cheek. "And hello, handsome." He smiled across at Ianto.
"Hello yourself." The two men met in a familiar embrace and kissed softly and deep.
"I played with Carlo," said Minda, "in garden."
"Did you? I bet that was fun." Jack tickled her and then put down. "Off you go and play, I want to talk to your tad." He gave her a little push in the direction of the playroom and took Ianto by the hand and walked with him to their bedroom. Once safely inside, the two men kissed again, hands exploring well known and well loved bodies. "I love you," murmured Jack into Ianto's neck.
"Really? I think you ought to show me how much," replied Ianto. "Especially as I was woken at some unearthly hour this morning and forced to play the word game." He poked Jack hard in the shoulder and pulled a face.
"Minda loves that game," laughed Jack, unrepentant. "Have we time for a little loving?" He was pressed up close to Ianto and it was obvious both men wanted there to be time.
"Let's make time."
They grinned at one another and began to kiss again. They were only ten minutes late for supper.
