7

It was time. Jack was talking about the baby again, this time saying that they would pay for a nice facility to put Lucy in or something, dismissing Ianto's argument that she might fully recover from her injuries.

Ianto now knew he was beyond reasoning with, the bedroom games over since Gray's death and the reminder of Gwen having been in their bed was something that also made Ianto feel… unsexy.

"Jack. We need to talk" Ianto finally said as he sat on the edge of the bed watching Jack as he rolled his socks down. Ianto hated that. You know, since Gwengate Ianto had started to notice more and more things that pissed him off. He told himself it was hormones, Jack and his donut socks were not a new thing but… today he stood there sniffing one.

Sniffed it.

What?

"I don't have time for your problems today, I have to go see this care facility for Lucy" Jack said without looking away from his sock donut.

"Jack, that's what I need to talk to you about. You know how we talked about marriage, kids…"

"Look. My first and only concern right now is that baby. I am adopting her, making her a Harkness. You have to get on board and suck it up" Jack said as he finally dropped the sock donut on the floor and leaned over to start rolling the other one.

"Excuse me? Get on board? Jack I thought your mother… wait. If you adopt this kid then your mother will be here every fucking day as her 'mama' right?" Ianto rose from the bed with horror "No. What? Where do I fit into all of this? OUR children?"

"When this little one comes Mom will be likely here a lot, yeah. I will change the spare room into one for her and the baby. For the first few months at least" Jack snorted. "You know, come to think of it … Her and Dad are fighting about something and she will not say what but she thinks it best to move in here for a while anyway. I was still thinking it over but if she is in here before the baby comes it will be easier for me. Win – win. And Our children? One will be enough don't ya think? Little Alison will be my only concern."

"Why can't she have the baby at her place? You visit?" Ianto spluttered, the thought of two babies at once startling in itself without the mother-in-law from hell as well.

"Ianto this is my home ya know. My name on the lease so I can have whoever I want here!" Jack sniffed the second sock with a look of satisfaction. "My mother is welcome here."

"Right." Ianto sat back on the bed heavily as it all hit home. He could not do this. No, he could not live this life.

His child would not be second fiddle to another, even if it sounded horrible. Ianto watched Jack start to drop his pants to step out of and leave on the floor, saw his life ahead of himself raising two kids on his own as the idiot there was too busy sniffing his own fucking socks. And Mother Harkness spending every day scoffing at his lack of parenting skills.

Ianto had to say sorry to Franklin and get out of here while he still could. Before he was showing, he had to get out of here and go home.

To Wales.

.

.

Jack drove him to the airport and even lifted his bags onto the scales. Ianto waited for the kiss, the one last signal that he would be missed, that this was still just a holiday. One last Hail Mary. Jack did not even wait to see him down the line to the counter, walking off with his phone out talking to his mother. Ouch. Ianto took one last look around at the last part of America he felt he would ever see.

Time to let go of a dream, reality was all too close.

.

.

So, now you know. Ianto didn't have much choice in the end, not when it was all happening like a multiple car pileup in front of him. He did not want to be one of the casualties. Franklin kept his word, not telling anyone about where Ianto was or the fact he took a part of Jack with him. Each time Jack hired a PI to hunt him down Franklin quietly paid double to plant false leads. He protected him, the only part of him left fighting for. His little doppelganger who even had the Harkness chin.

Rhiannon and Johnny broke up, (messy and violent scenes there) they moved with Ianto to another town … yeah… Cardiff… where they both got jobs. Ianto was happy, she was very happy with her job at the school cafeteria where she could watch the kids and Ianto was relieved to find a new life as a librarian of all things suited him well.

Franklin visited now and then, revelling in his grandson and at first he tried to talk about Jack, brought pictures of the little girl but in time he learnt to keep it to himself. While here, he was much more comfortable being Grandy. He loved the little boy.

McKenzie or Mac. But for some reason Franklin called him Stew, from before he was even born. Said it was because Ianto stewed on things so much he created another entity of worry. This was something that at first annoyed Ianto but by the time he wrote out the birth certificate, after a week of deliberating on a name, he found himself writing McKenzie Stewart Harkness-Jones. And so Stew seemed to stick. Stew knew he was in trouble when he was called Mac, more so if the entire McKenzie was snarled out. Not that it happened too often. Not with his charming little smile and wide sapphire eyes. A replica of Jack, the little boy was Ianto's' child in manners to a T, down to his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness. Franklin loved him to bits and was touched by the inclusion of the name... especially the Harkness part.

Right now Ianto is in a terrible place, well.. not a terrible place. The Beach house is actually really nice, I mean a terrible space in his life. The Beach House Franklin left him was the one the Harkness family used to come to every summer as a young family. The sandy dunes outside that Ianto stood staring out the window at was the same sand Ianto and Jack had met on, had run across and later in their teenage years they first made love in.

He knew this was why Franklin left him this place. A place where they were happy, their first time was under the boardwalk out there on the beach towels they had taken down with them. The heat of their kisses, their hands roaming and then came the surprise of great sex.

This is where is all began.

What a sad place to be now, so cold and dreary in the winter air.

Had it all been a dream?