55
Over the next few days Kev spent time with Ianto, watching him move gingerly in the first day, carefully on the second and on the third day he walked with him the length of the tunnel system to Holdfast where they were met by excited children all talking at once, pulling at their arms.
Frank sat on a little motorbike waiting, his helmet shoved back as his goggles gleamed in the sunlight and Ianto started to giggle as Ifan roared up on a larger model and stopped next to his little brother, "Come on Frank, I'll race ya, ya snivelly dog!"
Frank snarled and turned the small switch as the four wheeler roared to life, the two boys speeding off as Dean pointed excitedly at the Tank.
It sat in the middle of Holdfast, like some weird garden ornament and the large track farrows dug in the lawn showed where it had come from the barn, across the road, through the gardenias and then the marigolds and taken a hit…or a squash I suppose it the correct term...to rest on top of what had been a statue of some weird thing the kids called a dog. They had created it out of paper ache and the next rains were gonna destroy it anyway but still…the tank did look impressive.
And fucking destructive as Ianto looked once again at the chaos it had caused in its wake.
"Cariad?" Ianto called softly, "How did you get in there?"
"Told you he would know what you were doing" Mickey's voice echoed.
A head popped up and Ianto was not surprised to see Jack grinning at them, "A back hatch Holdfast. I didn't climb, honest!"
"And you wonder why I prefer to run with dogs" Ianto muttered quietly and Kev snorted with mirth.
"Cariad, is it safe? I mean, is there some sort of safety or something?" Ianto asked as Jack disappeared, then there was a clunking noise and a portion of the back swung out to reveal it was a door, Jack clambering out, holding his belly awkwardly.
"Babe, it's a tank. Of course there is no safety switch. Just aim…boom…move on!" Jack said, his hands doing motions as he spoke and gushed ever so slightly…well…a lot.
"So, the kids can't get in!" Ianto said and Jack frowned again, "No, don't' tell me. It's a tank. It doesn't have central locking."
Jack grinned as Mickey's arm appeared, slapping at his shoulder.
"So…you plonk it there in my garden, no safety procedures in place and our daughter has just climbed in while you're looking at me" Ianto said calmly.
"Huh?" Jack swung to peer inside as the Tank made a whirring noise and the turret swung. Mickey made a weird barking noise of alarm and Hope's faint laugher was heard in reply.
"Is it loaded?" Ianto asked with the same level of calm, "Because she is about to torpedo the school or whatever."
"Fuck! Mouse, grab the…" Jack shot back inside as Kev laughed softly, pointing as he struggled to speak and Ianto looked up to see Dean and Bella on top, Dean having found a helmet that kept slipping off.
Bella was looking down at her father with interest through the gunner's turret and Ianto wondered how long it would be before she dropped on top of him like a spider monkey.
"Oh gods" Ianto sighed, "We've created monsters."
Kev bent over as he roared with mirth and faint scolding inside was dimly heard, muffled by the metal and eventually Hope stomped back out turning back to scream, "Then don't bloody tell me!"
She stormed off and Ianto watched Jack pour himself out again.
"Tell her what?"
"She was pushing buttons, like …erg..erg…erg.." Jack made motions like a crazed pianist or something and Ianto snorted softly as Kev sat on the ground, his knees weak from laughter, "She was almost to the fire controls. Fuck, what if she works out the sequence?"
"So I suggest we remove the weaponry, put the ammo somewhere easily assessable in time of crisis but not where they can get it" Ianto said with a slow blink, fucking calm as a cucumber and Jack grunted, then swung and clambered back inside.
"Fuck he's a big kid" Kev panted though his tears.
"Yep" Ianto sighed as he sat on a stump, "And it's not gonna change. He's hundreds of years old so it's pretty set that he's a bugger. He's been waiting ages to play with it. Far too excited to be reasonable right now, especially with Mickey in there egging him on."
"You face" Kev pointed still chortling, "Like the fucking Mona Lisa."
"If I show any emotion he will grab onto it" Ianto explained, "His hormones are everywhere. He will either get pissy and want to defend his new toy or he will reject it to please me. Best act like it's no big deal either way and he will feel happy playing…down."
Ianto dropped, pulling Kev with him as a gun suddenly fired a round, shattering a pot of colour on the nearby wall.
"FUCK" was roared inside the tank and both men popped their heads up to stare at the broken pot.
"Right, maybe now is when I tell him I know how to remove the ordinance" Kev stumbled to his feet, and walked over to tap on the machine, "excuse me? Permission to come aboard Captain."
The laugher was faint and Ianto smiled as he watched Kev get included as Mickey and Jack let him play, big kids in an unusual fort.
Whatever.
