9

"Look at that. He has a little hand print on his bum" Jack said as they leaned over the stall door watching the mare proudly feed her little foal.

"Yeah… think it's an omen that this one might need a few smacks there" Ianto replied, the birth anything but calm as the little bugger had turned his head back forcing Henry to push the foal back in and hook the head around even as the poor mare felt the pain of it.

Now the little stinker was here she had forgiven them. Mother and child doing fine.

"Well, he will be feisty I reckon, a start in life like that" Jack laughed.

"Wow!" a little voice crowed, Charlie racing for a bucket to stand on so he can see better and then Dickie did the same, two little boys gushing over the foal as they argued names.

Finally Charlie said to Dickie "If you can't think of a real name and not a stupid one I will thump ya one!"

"Charles!" Ianto swung to scold as Jack started to laugh.

"Perfect. Thumper. You think… when he is a huge stallion with that pretty pale hide and those liver coloured spots on him, as well as a single handprint like someone smacked his arse, thumping his hooves it will be a good name right?" Jack laughed "Thumper."

Ianto watched his son's face light up as he saw that he had been the cause of the name, turning to his father with wide eyes "Can we? Can we really call him that?"

"Well… since he is your first horse… I guess so" Ianto finally said, making the boy's mouth fall open.

"What?"

"Well, if you re gonna grow up to be a cowboy you have to have horses. This will be your little boy OK? You will raise him, learn to train him, ride him and one day either sell him or breed from him. This is the first day of being a cowboy!" Ianto declared "Well? Why are you standing there? This stall is a mess. I expect this hay cleared out and fresh for that mother to lie in later if she wants a rest!"

Jack followed Ianto outside and said softly once they were out of earshot "That was sweet. Also, we already did the stall."

"I know. I wouldn't want him to see the blood and gore of that foal's birth. After all, he has a bad memory of that experience. Don't you see? Now he will view the birth of a new life as something positive. This is the first one he has come to look at, we have a yearling over there he will not even acknowledge. He just kept asking if the mare died. He is healing, slowly but surely… he is healing from his mother's death and if he sees this foal as a positive thing, I will reinforce that."

"Good idea. Yeah I get it." Jack nodded, "Also, leaning to raise, train and breed a horse from scratch is a good way to get him to understand the land more. If he is to inherit this place one day, he will need to know how to run it. To run a place like this, you must feel a connection to it or you will abuse it instead of nurturing it."

"Exactly" Ianto smiled that blinding smile once more, and then he added to Jack "come on. I want to check the pigs."

Jack followed him to the pig pen at the back of the homestead, in behind some sheds. "Here for the smell factor?"

"No, the Blue Bear factor. Owen is not the only one to have pigs taken. They seem to have a taste for the damned things so I banned the pig pens from the close place they had by the house. Henry then argues their worth so the compromise was way back here so that if a Blue Bear does get at them there are still all the buildings and such between it and us. I do not like the thought of one on my property at all. That one we saw was too close for comfort." Ianto explained.

"I have seen them attack. I understand your discomfort. Damien wants to go ride along the fence lines looking for that missing steer. I will also be checking for scat, to be safe" Jack assured Ianto "You know… I have heard tell that they don't like loud sounds. I don't know if that is true, shooting at them must just pass them off but maybe they mean like a gunshot or the sound of rocks banging together? Who knows? If one is shot in the past then it would associate the sound with pain right? After all… with those hides a gunshot will not kill them."

"No… but it must hurt like the dickens" Ianto frowned as he pondered this too "Of course.. most guns are not Sonic weapons. These are not easily obtained out here."

"You had one?"

"In the barn fire, yeah" Ianto grimaced "Not that strong, old but… it worked."

"I will take that up with Art, they want that hunt for the Blues along Owen's borders tomorrow" Jack nodded as he reached out and he had patted Ianto's arse before he even registered the thought, Ianto looking at him with something that was a mix of scolding and amusement.

"Shit. Sorry. I am a toucher."

"I've noticed" Ianto said dryly then to Jack's relief he started to giggle "good thing for you that I like you being a toucher. My wife was not. I was raised without contact and find physical contact hard. Hugging my son was…. Strange at first. I am growing, learning and to find that I like your touch is a relief. I would hate to shy from you. Seriously."

"Oh Ianto Jones, I am never serious" Jack winked, gaining another smile.

Then Ianto said "Oh no… you don't get to do that. It's Harkness-Jones now."

Jack's smile in return was just as blinding.