54

Ianto entered the kitchen to find Owen and Gwen going head to head, sighing softly as he wondered what she had possibly done to annoy him when they had been doing so well.

"Look Gwen, I am trying to see your point of view but my head won't fit up your arse where you already have yours!" Owen snarked and she blustered back.

"You are too small to reach my arse anyway" she spat and Ianto was surprised, wondering if she had purchased a book on comebacks.

"I'm just saying, I could eat alphabet soup and shit a better reason than that!" he said and Ianto knew he didn't really want that image.

"What are we discussing?"

"I am worried about Rhiannon on her own in that house" Gwen swung to Ianto, "I know it's just next door but she needs some form of protection."

"She has mainframe patched in, Ianto next door and what's his face on the other side" Owen threw his arms into the air.

"You know my brother's name" Ianto scolded softly.

Owen poked his tongue out.

"She's just a woman on her own" Gwen repeated, "She needs a man to watch out for her."

Ianto blinked as Owen turned to Ianto, "Look you need to speak with her, I don't talk her kind of stupid."

Ianto watched Owen stalk of and he sat facing Gwen, "I know you mean well, I know you worry but you forget one thing. She is my sister, the same as me. She is Kelpie too. Just because she doesn't show herself, it doesn't mean she can't. The fact she hasn't is her trick you see. She appears human, just another mother doing the best she can, our women grow that way. Trick that way. Their prestige? Their hidden magic is the fact they are as vicious and deadly as heir men."

"The babies" Gwen said, stubbornly trying to make her point and not hearing him.

"Gwen, if we were in the middle of a shootout and I stood up to walk into the line of fire with my guns blazing and a look of destruction on my face would you follow or try to stop me?" he asked.

"Follow of course" she blustered, "always."

"Good" That answer pleased him more than he thought it would and he was comforted knowing that in a shit-storm she would defer as she should, "Gwen, why hold her back instead? She is of me. She is of my fire, my anger rolls in her too. I am touched beyond words for your affections, that you look at her and show your heart but if the shit hits the fan best step back because she can go off on one!"

Gwen nodded as she sat back, "I was being sexist too, god. I can't believe I said that she needed a man. Where the hell did that even come from?"

"Your mother probably" Ianto shrugged as he a gentle pat to her hand to show he wasn't upset with her, "She probably said it a lot and it stuck. Conditioning. Parents do that, it's their job to imprint on you the important things to remember, your mother is of a time where a good man provided. You worry. It's sweet and I thank you for that."

"The house with the roses" Gwen plucked at the table cloth, "I see Rhys in there moving things about, it that for one of your family?"

"Yes" Ianto smiled as he settled into a more comfortable position for this. "It is for my other sister."

Gwen looked up at her through her bangs, "Oh? I didn't know you had another sister."

"I didn't know either until I met her" Ianto replied, "Gwen, that house is for you. You and your good man who I now see as a brother."

Gwen gaped.

"I want all my pack close, you are pack. We might not both be Kelpie but we are both Torchwood and that is my pack. You are my pack. I want you in my life. Wick needs you and Rhys to help him become a good man too."

"Oh…oh…" her hands flapped and then as he knew she would, she launched herself into his lap and he held her and she cuddled him, glad the chair was sturdy as she laughed and kissed him, "Oh P…Ianto."

"It's OK, you can call me Pet now, I know it is not leant as it is heard by others" Ianto sighed, "But I would prefer Brother."

She nodded enthusiastically then got off him to whoop and run for the door, slamming into the entering Jack and forcing him back again the doorframe with an oomph.

"What the hell….did you give her a magic mushroom or something?" he demanded as he rubbed the back of his head where it had met the wood.

Ianto rose and stalked over, pulling him forward and kissing the knot forming, "No, I told her Rose House is for her."

"It is?" Jack is with open delight.

"Like I said, all my family close."

Jack's kiss was sweet, gentle and grateful.

Ianto also knew he was thinking of that other hidden family.

Alice and Stephen.