56

That night a pack came slinking along the perimeter fences as John watched with open unease. They seemed to be testing it every now and then, checking for something. Jack stood behind the chair with his hand on the shoulders of his old lover watching with equal unease.

"How often do they do this?" he finally asked.

"Third night in a row" John answered in a whisper as if the creatures might hear him "It looks like a new strategy. See the one with the torn ear? She is their Alpha."

"Hmmm" Jack leaned in "Every night? Same places?"

"No… they seem to remember where they have checked already and check new spots. They are systematically going over the entire grid looking for a week spot" John looked up at him "I don't like it Jax."

"Me neither" Jack agreed, "Best slide some watches topside for the night. A little cool but not cold. Come winter we will have to rethink things. The snows will raise the ground, the fences will short.. they will come around again."

"Yeah. I don't know if they have a contingent for that. They must have winter provisions and stay indoors? Hard to imagine we have been here this long. We came in early spring… right?" John asked.

"Yeah… the tail end of winter was when we split, I came here then sought you to join us. Winter about to start now… soon it will be a year" Jack was surprised. It felt like only yesterday he had ridden in seeking that job as a means to hide for a few weeks but at the same time, it felt like he had belonged here always.

Next morning Jack approached Ianto and since this was something they seemed to have agreed to with regard to questions, openly asked "Ianto, how do you exercise the kids in winter when we cannot keep the Others out with fences?"

Ianto pondered, then grinned "Ahhhh…. Time to go down a level or two."

"Or two… I knew it. You do have a lower one than the basement you cad!" Jack growled.

"Maybe… maybe I have several levels beneath this house… maybe… maybe I have a tunnel system that leads back to the far hillside too … who knows" Ianto tapped the side of his nose "But you know.. if I did have such a thing… it would be locked away up the wazoo as Lissy knew about it too."

"You… you cad!" Jack said as he followed Ianto down a few flights of stairs to a large open room that seemed the size of the house above them. Wow. Huge. There were toys down here, games and the walls were covered in bright handprints where paint had been used at some stage to 'pretty the place up' for little minds to have fun.

"The light is the same theory as the light upstairs… solar panels as well as some natural filters pulling it down. Each level we traverse gets darker, some unused. In winter a skeleton crew stays topside to keep watch."

"How many?" Jack asked calmly as he hung over the railing of the stairs to see nothing but darkness below.

"Five basements" Ianto finally answered "The one where Owne keeps his 'Other' bits and pieces and where Joshua's cage is… this one… another below this that I use mainly for storage. Then one that has some work to be done as it is still rather plain. One day I intend moving all the storage down there so the third level can become sleeping quarters. If we ever lose the house or something happened, we can survive down here. The lower you go, the warmer it gets."

"That's four" Jack said, knowing something was happening here "You said five."

"The fifth one is the one that has the tunnel to the hill back there. It was always our escape plan. IF attacked we could run for that, the cave system … but… she knew as she helped design this place. So … it became a mote point the first time she used it to bring the pack this way. I had to seal it all off." Ianto shrugged his regret there genuine.

"I like the idea of living quarters down here. Maybe we have the kids sleep down here now and then like an adventure. If we ever get a grid failure during the Pack Wars we can be safer down here than topside." Jack said as he turned slowly.

The Pack Wars were a touchy subject. A time once every few years in the winter' cold when wildlife to eat is scare and humans even scarcer … the packs go mad and attack another openly in the daylight, their need to maintain their patch stronger than the pan of bright light. Just like the fight that had occurred outside when Jack had arrived here, a Pack War would be worse as they would not only attack one another, but seek to kill anything they could. Stock. People. Wildlife. It is a form of insanity that takes them. The Hunger.

"Do you feel it?" Jack asked gently, suddenly remembering that his mate was connected to the Others "Do you feel their madness?"

"Yes. More like… rage. I swallow it down but I am more withdrawn during the Pack Wars. Yes. Fear too… I feel a lot of fear as the air crackles with their intent." Ianto stepped into Jack's arms "Maybe this deep I will not feel them this time? Maybe… maybe I might be insulated? After all.. Joshua is a factor here too. He will also feel them, I have no idea how he will rect. He had only suffered two since he turned and it ws horrible. The first one he threw himself around the cage until he was bloody and had to be sedated for the entire duration. The next time, we simply sedated him as soon as I felt the wave of anger flowing over me. I was so scared for him."

"Right" Jack looked around with added interest "Deep… the dirt might insulate some. Worth a try."

And Jack had a new mission.