28
Jack settled next to his unhappy mate at the little tidal pool, letting his feet join Ianto's. Chrystal was quiet today, Coral humming softly in her little corner. The cavern was the quietest place at the moment with the hive of activity that always accompanied spring.
"Thanks. Hope came to me about your trip today and … thanks. I know you made a silk purse out of my sow's ear of a mess up" Jack said as he looked at the far wall of the cavern "You warned us then. You … Gods. Am I ever going to learn that you see and hear things I don't? You could have really put my pot on today. Also … I understand why you changed the creek and well around. You don't want her to drink from a well. To never drink water she does not know has been tested because if she does, others will follow her. Holdfast, I did not mean to then as I don't mean to now. I seem to … shit. Do you forgive me?"
Ianto considered his words as the warm water tickled and he couldn't help but smile as a fish darted past his toes. "Jack. We are a mated pair, equals. But I am Wolfling and you are … human. Everyone looks up to both of us but listens to your voice. You are their leader. Their Captain. The kids listen to us and look up to us but in the end … my voice is law. I am Alpha. Not with you, but with them I have to be the last word. There will be times the bond fails you. You die, or come back confused for a while ... have to re-bond. The kids need a constant. I have to remain the constant Alpha here or we all fail. Hope will never learn what is needed to take over Fallback … or open another pack in the far sections underground or whatever she is planning. One day she will have her own pack, you know that right? Dean and Frank will too I think. The twins … scary to even consider their future. Rosie is suck a lovely little soul she will simply be a soldier happy to protect anything. The leader is the one who controls the tempo, mood and safety. You know this. If you want to be Alpha fine, but stop confusing things."
Jack glanced at Ianto "I understand. I do not want to shake you from the spot in our children's hearts. I … I didn't realise I was challenging. Sorry Holdfast."
"I am not ready to go yet. Pip is not ready to accept the length of time we will be apart and Hope is still deciding her part in all if this. I will not rush it. A week away. A long time with us not who we once were. Those early recons messy and mad. I still don't know how we survived some of them. We have to be polished. Clipped. Safe. I want more than just a cursory meeting and a show of hands, then off we go. I want a handpicked group, I want drills, fucking tests. Simulations."
"I hear you" Jack nodded. "I think Tosh needs some simulations too, she is stale. You want to set up some firewalls and maybe a Trojan or two to startle her?"
Ianto looked surprised and nodded "I hadn't thought of that. Yes. I will isolate it so as not to harm her precision tech … but not tell her so. Will let her panic a bit. Good for the blood flow."
Jack grinned "Ianto … I love you. Sorry, I am such a child sometimes."
"Well .. .if we are looking at your life in those terms I guess you are. We may live hundreds of years if we are careful so this is still the teething part where hopefully I don't rip your head off and stick it in a big jar or something."
"Like the Face of Boe" Jack snorted with amusement and Ianto frowned at him.
"The Face of Boe?"
"Yeah, he's like … 54th Century? I don't know ... he can move through time. Anyway … he is a huge head in a jar. A jar like a big wine vat or something, just the head. So clever. They say he has lived forever." Jack sighed.
"Bullshit" Ianto laughed "I can't believe that. Just a head?"
"Hey, he's a bloody soothsayer!" Jack said with a frown "They say he is a seer."
"Well … whatever Ianto stretched "Tell you what. A dip in this lovely water before we go back to the grind and start talking to others about this thing. Maybe we set it for …. Two months time when the last snow has melted?"
Jack perked up at both the offer of some skinny-dipping in the Crystal River and the timeframe he hadn't thought could be that close. As they slid into the water he also knew he was lucky to be forgiven as he had acted like the Jack of old, someone he really never liked and had thought was well and truly gone.
"Hey" Ianto whispered into his ear "Stop worrying about that. Fill me."
Jack stopped worrying about that.