AN: So it has been a year since I updated this, sorry the last year has been a bit of a crazy train for me, hopefully updates will be more frequent from now on. I'm trying to set aside time each day for writing, so hopefully they will be a lot more regular.
Ianto looked around the room at the members of his family gathered together, Andy was giving his lovers what appeared to be a crash course on aliens, the Doctor, Torchwood and the Addams family relation to them. Rhys was being interrogated by the redhead from Chiswick about their family, not in a malicious way that Ianto would need to take action for, more that her curiosity about the interlinked situation the family had with the Doctor and Torchwood needed to be sated.
The Doctor was talking with his Uncles and Johnny, about swords if Ianto was hearing correctly, no doubt they would be fencing up and down the manor soon enough. His sister was helping Aunt Morticia and Grandmamma sorting through a rather large crate that the Doctor had rushed back off to the TARDIS to collect, his gifts from the market he had said. Ianto couldn't wait to try whatever Grandmamma cooked up with the ingredients he had brought her. His lover was also with that group, looking at the crate and the ingredients a bit askew.
Wandering over to join them Ianto reached them as Jack began to question the origin of the ingredients. He took Jack's hand in his and squeezed it a little in reassurance as Grandmamma launched into her tale of the markets she had visited when travelling with the Doctor, of all the delicacies that she had tried, the recipes she had learnt and the vast array of peoples she had met during her time as a companion. Ianto felt Jack's grip tighten on his hand as Grandmamma spoke of her favourite market from the very first trip she took with the Doctor, a lovely market in the Boeshane Peninsula.
Grandmamma noticed his tensing as well and called him on it before Ianto could intervene, "You have heard of the place? It is beautiful isn't it?"
"The market was in ruins when I was there last," Jack recalled, "There had been another attack, one more in the endless stream of carnage that seemed to plague us. It was what prompted me to join the Time Agency."
Grandmamma reached for his hand taking it from Ianto, "You're from Boeshane? From the Time of Strife? It ended, the carnage and raids, and the colony flourishes. You've never been back?"
"We were forbidden from travelling into the linear future by the agency, we worked mostly in the past and it was a rule I never broke, not that I am aware of anyway, whatever I did in the two years they stole from me is still a mystery. When I wasn't at work in history somewhere I stayed in Agency barracks and never felt that I could go back to Boeshane, at least not returning I still had hope that there were still people alive I knew rather than returning and shattering that hope." Jack explained. "Mum was the last of us on the colony, but I hadn't heard from her since I left to become a Time Agent."
"The Strife ended Jack," Grandmamma told him gently, "It lasted twenty five years, but after that Boeshane flourished, their market is one of the best in the galaxy and the people are happy and prosperous. Have you never asked the Doctor about Boeshane? I'm sure that he must have mentioned it to you at some point, he tends to use the market to stock up the TARDIS."
Jack looked towards the Doctor who was now examining a sword that Gomez had handed him. "I'd heard him talk about a market, but I had never asked for any details. We didn't really talk about where I am from other than the century really, I think I only mentioned Boeshane to him the once, recently when I returned to Cardiff. I wonder what it's like now, how different it must be."
Ianto made a mental note to corner the Doctor later and ask him about a quick trip to the market for him and Jack, and maybe a fact-finding mission for the Doctor and Donna first to find out if Jack's mother was still on the colony. He was sure that Donna would be able to get the information, she seemed to be the type to talk her quarries into submission until they gave in and told her exactly what she needed to know. She was still talking to Rhys but Rhiannon had left their group to join them and she seemed to be being peppered with questions by the redhead with barely enough chance to answer before she was bombarded with the next question. Ianto was impressed, and he could see from the look on his cousin's face that he was at least intrigued by the redhead.
A clanging of metal had Ianto turning to watch the Doctor parrying against his uncle, bringing a small smirk to his lips, Uncle Gomez had turned it into a ritual of sorts to have a sword fight with someone at nearly every family gathering recently. Ianto's favourite of course was his fight with Jack, watching his lover prove to his family that he was no slouch when it came to a variety of different weaponry, however his fight with Owen at his and Wednesday's wedding was a close second, if just for the look on Owen's face when his uncle had drawn his sword and challenged him to a duel for his daughters hand.
Ianto led Jack back over to a couch to watch the floorshow and to allow his lover a bit of a chance to sit and reflect that his home world had come through the death and destruction that had plagued it in his formative years. Most of the family were surprised when the Doctor won the match, pacifist that he was they didn't expect him to be so handy with a sword. Ianto watched as Thing tapped Uncle Fester on the shoulder and waited with outstretched palm, money was exchanged for the wager he had obviously won and once it was secreted away Thing burst into rapid movement.
'That's his fighting hand' Thing signed to them. 'I was more of a lover.'
Ianto chuckled at the expression on his lovers face, knowing that Jack was thinking about Thing and his potential exploits. Knowing that Jack would want to speak with the Doctor at some point soon, but that he was still emotionally reeling from all the things he had learnt that evening Ianto moved to play host.
He quickly offered rooms to everyone for the evening, although he knew that the Doctor would no doubt retire to the TARDIS once he and Grandmamma finished catching up, the other man having been lured off to the side after his side by Grandmamma's smile and a pot of tea. Donna however accepted the offer of a room, just as he suspected she would. She left the room following Lurch, who was showing her how to get to her room, muttering to herself about staying in a manor, and how her mum would never believe it.
Ianto then quickly made his way around the room saying his and Jack's goodnights, promising Andy that he would sort his paperwork the next day requisitioning him from the Cardiff Police for Torchwood, and then congratulating Rhys quietly on the beginning stages of his breaking free from Gwen. He then led Jack out of the room, his lover allowing himself to be led up to Ianto's room in the manor without protest even though they had intended to drive back to the flat after dinner tonight.
Once the door was closed on the rest of the manor Ianto turned to Jack who was stripping down and climbing into bed, "That was a lot tonight, I didn't expect any of this, are you okay."
He undressed, hanging his suit ready to go to the dry cleaners, and made his way towards the bed. Jack still hadn't spoken and Ianto was beginning to worry a little. "I'm sorry I should have told you about the Doctor and Thing before now, but I could never find the right time to bring it up."
Jack pulled Ianto close as he joined him on the bed, "It's okay," Jack began, "I understand, he's family, you Addams' protect your own."
With the lights turned off, the rest of the family still downstairs, and Ianto ensconced in his arms Jack finally began to talk. "She might have survived. I always thought after I left that she had died in one of the attacks, especially when I didn't hear anything. Maybe she just never forgave me for Gray, for what I did, and that's why she never replied to any of the letters or holovids I sent. It's been some time now though, I wonder if she would welcome me home."
Ianto could feel the tension in his lover, the other man had often felt lost at times he could tell, unanchored to the world even though he remained tethered to it by life. "You have a home with me Cariad, with us, you're an Addams too, they love you like one."