38

- Jack

I don't know when it started but I have find myself counting Ianto's mouthfuls at the dinner table. I have to stop it, I think he has noticed this annoying habit that we both do not need right now. As much as he worries, so do I.

I want us to be safe here. I like it here. This is our home away from home and right now neither place seems secure. I do not like it one little fucking bit.

"Mom and Dad are heading out for the week, going over to Spain to check their house over there" I suddenly remembered "We could do some house sitting if you like."

Ianto is looking at me in that silent way that I am never sure if it's a scold or just resting bitch face so I push on "Gray will be there, the kids love him and it's still warm enough for the hot tub. We can use the guest house and settle in there if you do not want the main house, I know mom's things creep you out. Gray will help distract them."

Still I get that silent stare but at least he is chewing while considering an answer, snippy or contrite. Who can really know. I love him. I love the way his fork is slowly circling like he is incanting a spell while staring at me, like a wizard capable of amazing thing.

"The week?"

"Yes, I forgot. Just remembered dad saying about the luggage fees. I will call and say yes?" I offer, even though there was no request as Gray always minds the place since he lives in the garage apartment but Dad knows what is happening so he will be glad to have us all safer. That place is so wired up it is like a fricking NASA installation. He loves all the modern security stuff, even those I thought too extreme for here.

"Sure" Ianto finally nods then looks down and takes another bite of food.

I slide from the chair, kissing his forehead, then lean over to kiss our youngest child's pouty face too. Little shit has me right where he wants me that one. I call Dad who instantly says it's a good idea. I am sure the kids will be excited and so will mother who will see this as a chance to leave them little gifts in their Guest House Rooms… yeah… the guest house now has had more rooms built on as she finally accepted Ianto will never sleep in her house.

Ianto seems to be chewing over this thought and he rose from the chair to flick thought the writing desk and gather papers, not aware of me being able to still see him as I talk softly to Gray on the phone. Toshiko's security system she installed in the Olds Place is as flash as I remembered, the numbers he was reading off the board to me telling me she has updated it recently too … good girl. Each new piece of tech we got was being added to all systems, including theirs.

We would be safe.

But then… I thought we were safe here. I knew I was over-thinking things, much like Ianto was but I could not get past the fact they got right into the fucking house. I also knew there had been more than the fucker in the wardrobe. The other one had got away. I have the cold light of day to now focus and realize Ianto wipes his feet. Something he thought of at the time which is why when I threw the gun on the bed he had scooped it up. Two infiltrators… and one got away.

So at least one likely to try again.

"I need to pack some things, your mother always has too many pink things for Mimi's tastes" Ianto says close to me, then he frowns and focuses "Spoken to Rose lately?"

My sister.

Right. Cover all bases. I find myself grinning as I reach out and touch Ianto's cheek, the soft brush against the rare stubble comforting as I call my little sister and find her happy at uni, laughing with her friends she is walking across campus with. Far away from this. Safe.

I will talk to John. Maybe putting a man on the campus to leisurely wander between classes close to her for the next few days. Overkill. We are all about the overkill… the blood still seeping into the carpet on the bedroom testimony to that.

I wish I could shoot him again.

I feel David's eye son me and I take a breath and then motion him outside where we watch the mad dog race about smelling so many things at once, she is like a kid in a candy store. "Dave. We have a breach last night. Two men entered the house… we shot one in the bedroom but the other one got away."

He's a man. A child by many standards but he is my son and he is a man too… time I started training him as such and the sharp intake of breath followed by eyes searching the bushes around us tells me it is the right thing to do "Tad and I want to go hide at the Olds. The blood in the bedroom and the bullet holes in the wardrobe… along with Tad's dead suits… I don't want Mimi to see and be afraid. She is our little gem and Jessie… he will have nightmares. You know about those. Of course… you know bogeymen are real. Like me and Tad do. One came for us and we put him down. Another might come but we will put him down too because we are not scared of the bogeyman. We eat him for breakfast."

"Dragons do" David agrees "With tomato ketchup."

I am so proud of him.