17

The time passed and Ianto grew comfortable once more, the nightly phone calls to him and the kids full of laughter and stories. Jack was loving it over there, missing them and Mica and David were both excited at the promise of some 'family things' when he gets back. Jack was more of a family man than he had thought he would be. Seems he liked kids after all.

The kids were at school and Gray was doing his 'walk the line' thing so Ianto decided to clear out the attic. He had forgotten they even had one, tucked behind the studio's sofa and arm chair and crammed with god knows what. Tht house had come 'as is' … furnished with the old lady's things there. It had felt strange to throw things out willy-nilly but a lot had already made its way to the dump on the back of Blue's truck… Blue. Let's not think about him. Hmmm?

Ianto pondered the minivan and wondered if getting his own beat up old banger for things like that would be a good idea. He would fit in more with the locals at least. He grinned as he thought of himself as a local farmer with a hat slammed on his head and an arm hanging out the open window. He would draw the line at a cigarette hanging out of his mouth though.

He opened the huge cupboard doors to the back half of the roof area, surprised to find them silent and easy to move … amazed to find it crammed with boxes and windows… he really should take more interest in his own house ya know … it looked to be clean and not as stuffy and closed up as he had first thought.

He was about to lift out the first box to check what it was when he had a strange feeling he could not quite understand, a waft of Rhiannon filling his nostrils and he wondered if he had put some of her things up here while grieving and forgotten he had done so. Lavender. Strong and almost cloying.

He stepped back, closing the doors as his heart thudded in his chest and he looked around the room as he whispered "Rhia?"

He looked at the doors again and then made a decision, walking down the stairs and out of the house into the field. He must have stood there for an hour or more, the floppy hat snatched off a peg at the back door was one of Jack's.

Gray was walking up the small pathway for the stream, grinning as he saw the scarecrow waiting for him and he raised a hand in greeting as he called out "Hey there Worzel Gummige, Jack is due back tomorrow right?"

"I think Blue is in the house" Ianto said without a second thought.

"What?" Gray stopped walking, his hand going to the sidearm he had at his hip. "Why?"

"I don't go into the attic, never have. Decided to start clearing it out and when I opened the doors… I felt … someone might be in there" he said, then pulled a face "Am I being stupid?"

"No. No, you are being cautious" Gray assured him looking at the house "Do any of the windows look this way?"

"No, all look to the front and the gardens. My studio is the back half, I made sure the doors were locked on the outside." Ianto glanced back at the house with growing anger as his shock faded "He's in there, isn't he. Knows this place like the back of his fucking hand. He's there, in MY house."

"Well … I will soon find out little brother" Gray assured him "You wait here with the dog"

"The dog?"

Myfanwy exploded from the grass, wet, muddy and excited as she did big loops around them then took off again.

"That thing is mad" Gray pointed, making out they were just talking as normal with arm motions and some fake laughter and Ianto knew it was in case he was watching. That thought made him madder … that Blue might be in his studio. With his work.

"I will wait here, well … over there under the trees. It's heating up."

"Yep, midday. The afternoon will be a doozy for mad dogs and English men" Gray slapped his arm and started to walk towards the house, Ianto torn between following him or letting him do it. Gray was trained for this, he was ready for this and he said to stay out of the way. He was probably wrong anyway … nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs as his Mama would say.

Ianto walked towards the trees and told himself it really needed a little table and a couple of chairs out here. A nice little spot in the summer months for a picnic, a nice pot of tea. Ianto smiled at himself for being so damned British.

He tried not to look up at the house, not to imagine what Gray was doing up there as he walked the circumference of the tree and imagined it with some colour planted around it as well. A lovely spot. A garden that came out to form a horseshoe, the table and chairs sitting inside it like a little nook.

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Gray stood in front of the door and considered for a moment before reaching out and turning the key in the lock, moving the left door open as carefully as he could. He took a good assessing look at the boxes and saw room to slide around them without moving any or making a noise, the gun in his hand heavy but as familiar as the lower back of a lover.

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Ianto had decided it would be a wrought iron tea table, two matching chairs as the kids would run about like mad things anyway. He might need a little trolley to push along for the food... a cobbled path? Definitely cobbles instead of pebbles here … a tray might not hold enough for a …..

The gunshot stopped all thought.