3
"So… did that make it all better?" Ianto asked sarcastically.
"Did you see her hair?" Ifan croaked out, one hand waving shakily over his own head.
"Beehive. At her age… maybe she hides her Chihuahua in there… or her weed" Ianto sniffed, the old man laughing softly.
"How long before they asked about your will?" Ianto asked "Did you tell them you are being buried with it? A solid gold coffin at an undisclosed location?"
"Stop it… I will need my oxygen if you don't stop" Ifan wheezed with amusement.
"The little one looked kinda cute. What is she? Asian?" Jack asked.
"From Bangladesh I think, they got her from an orphanage there" Ifan said after he had rested for a while "Told me she has some medical issues."
"No she does not" Toshiko blurted out "She has nothing wrong with her. Owen peeked at her records and she is in fine health. They see a cash cow again."
"So they were trying to hustle me on my death bed! Typical… this is the child I raised" Ifan huffed.
"Don't be silly… I am the child you raised" Ianto assured him, even as his blood boiled, "She is just something that crawled out from under a rock."
The old man tried to scold weakly, then sighed as he reached out his hand for his grandson.
Once he was asleep Ianto went to the other room where Jack sat reading the paper on the sofa, he let it drop and patted for Ianto to sit "He's asleep?
"Yeah"
"Tell me? I know I ask a lot but… you've never said what happened. What really happened between you and them?"
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Ianto was sitting near the front of the class, no quite in front as he knew that would mean the teacher would call on him and they all hated his intelligence enough. When the door opened and two men entered Ianto did not even notice, so busy copying the instructions from the board for the assignment, his friend poking him from behind to hiss that they could partner up.
"Ianto? Can you step outside?" the teacher asked in a strangely high pitched voce that made him freeze. Oh god. Rhia. This is it. He rose and followed them out, preparing himself not to cry, to be strong and accept the news that his sister had died with grace. It was weird that his parents were not here but…well… she was their favorite. They had hoped for a few more years yet. So sudden.
"Ianto Icarus Livingstone, you are herby under arrest for indecent assault of a minor and Incest…."
The rest of the rant was lost as he stood there totally lost and confused. What? They … what? He rode to the station in silence then sat in the chair at the cold metal table with equal coldness inside. After a while the two men sat and stared at him "So… Mister Livingstone…"
"I am twelve, don't' I need an adult with me?" he asked.
They paused then one said "You are sixteen. You are in high school"
"No, not me." Ianto calmly replied "I am advanced in classes several grades above me peers."
The two men stared at him like he was lying so he placed his wallet down with his student ID that showed his birth date. The two men left the room as Ianto started to feel something in his gut move. Someone was telling lies, someone who not only wanted him to be in trouble, but as an adult?
They returned and this time a woman was with them and they started again "Mister Livingstone, please tell us of the relationship between yourself and your sister."
"Well… she is very sick and my parents do not let us spend much time together at all. They want me to stay with the grandparents for now but I would miss home… and Rhiannon… so I said no to no contact… I still go home to visit her as much as I can. The only time I do spend with her is when I help my mother with her evening meals… a tube ya know" Ianto said with a frown "Why?"
"At night?"
"Mama sleeps with her, Da sometimes… I sleep where I always sleep. At my Grandparents. I live with them, have done for almost six months because they do not have time to two of us." Ianto canted his head "They say it's only for a while... until they get the money they need for her care."
"She's sick?" the woman asked.
"Dying I think. I don't know… they keep doing things and saying his time she will be OK but… each time she gets smaller and smaller like they are cutting away her soul. When I was little I used to cuddle with her and she would read to me. She is older than me by three years ya see? My big sister. Like a mama to me, my own not that loving. Then she got sick and I was pushed aside. Then send to the Grandys for a while" Ianto sat back and drummed his fingers on the table "Now she's really sick and needs more medicine. They fight with Grandy, says if he does not give them money they will make him sorry. Something about… some sort of compensation they can get for a claim… I don't know what for though."
"Compensation?"
"Grandy told them to try it… they would never dare say blasphemous things… whatever that means" Ianto shrugged.
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"How long were you held there?" Jack asked with horror.
"Three months. I saw psychiatrists, I saw detectives, all sorts of specialists before they all agreed I did not have a sexual relationship of any kind with Rhia. In that time my parents had managed to get me banned from the hospital so I could not see her, had applied for funding for her 'abuse recovery' as well as for a lump sum for her suffering from my terrible crimes they made up. They finally spoke to Rhiannon who knew nothing of their plan to get money out of Grandy by making him pay to get the charges dropped. Of course once they made them… they could not be dropped. I had to drop out of school, I lost friends who believed it, my girlfriend… it was horrible. Grandy put me through private school, paid for tutors, home schooled where necessary… I came out OK. They got not a red cent and now they seem to think it's all forgotten about."
"They falsely accused you of a sexual relationship with your dying sister to extort money, then get government funding. Are they insane?" Jack said with horror.
"She is dead. They are dead to me, too. So now they have a new little doll to try and tempt Grandy with so they can get a slice of his pie when he carks it." Ianto snorted.
"But he's not that stupid."
"No… but now at the end, I think he is enjoying watching them grovel a bit."
"Well… they can fuck right off" Jack said forcefully, his face screwed up with disgust.
Ianto could not agree more.