6

"Taddy?"

"Yes Mimi?"

"Is he always going to be like that with Bruiser?"

Ianto sat back and sighed as he looked at his sweetling and her look of doom, her hand clasping the collar of her dog. Clearly she had extracted herself from a situation in the other room and taken her dog like savage it from a hostage situation.

"Why not go and check your homework is all done" Ianto finally said and she nodded, relief evident as she took off for her room and Ianto entered the main room to see the reason for her annoyance.

"Jack… what the fuck!" Ianto spluttered as he stood gaping at him.

"Damo found it at the thrift shop today while I was looking for those street lamps we need to replace" Jack said with glee "Just a few little adjustments with safety pins… see?"

Ianto blinked as he stared at the baby front-pack that had the leg holes closed over so the little shit of a dog could happily stand in it and peer out at the world from Jack's chest.

"See? Win-win. Hands free… right? They should have invented these for dogs ya know" Jack said as he patted the front pack lovingly.

"They did" Ianto said in a low tone, "I just never thought someone would be stupid enough to purchase one."

Jack lit up "Really? Oh… where do you think I can get one his size? The pet shop might have a catalogue" Jack was gone, leaving Ianto gaping at the space he had just inhabited.

"You know…" Ianto said to himself as he started to close and fold the newspaper still all over the table "you really need to stop speaking thoughts out loud around that one."

.

.

"Dad! Look!"

Franklin looked up and stood with wide eyes as his son proudly walked across the lawn from the HJ house towards Franklin's. The little dog was in a tiny front-pack similar to a doll's size and the puppy looked… strangely content.

"Has Ianto seen that?"

"Yeah… his idea. Can you imagine that? He's finally coming on board, isn't he Bwwwwwusier… yeahhhhh… taddykins is getting on boawwwwwwwwd" Jack jiggled the pup.

Franklin blinked as he saw Ianto in the doorway of his house, the look of doom telling him it had not been taken in the spirit it had been spoken. Oh no. Ianto was starting to get pissy now.

"So, it's someone's birthday coming up… you got that sorted?" Franklin asked and watched Jack's face go slack, his eyes widening. "Oh Jackie. You have not forgotten Mica's Birthday!"

"No… ah.. no… ah…" Jack was now calculating what time he had, the week enough time still. Mimi has her birthday a week before Christmas Day "thanks Dad."

"Don't mention it… for fucksake… do NOT let on that you forgot!" Franklin warned.

"But I didn't .. I know exactly what I am doing" Jack scoffed, swinging to leave and it was not until he was driving off that Franklin realized the dog was still strapped to his chest. He went into the house and said so to Ianto who sighed, and put down his paring knife.

"Still on his chest? The seatbelt over it too?" Ianto asked, then turned to pick up the phone. "Cariad? Hello sweetie… hello Bruiser bum… Cariad… is he still on your chest? Cariad… if you have an accident he will die. He will die. No… he will die. The air bag will kill him if your weight does not crush him against the seat belt. No… pull over first… JACK! PULL OVER! OK… calm down… it didn't happen and he is still fine. Yes... the booster seat. Yeah, clip him in his special seat. Yeah. OK. He is fine… right… OK."

Ianto placed the phone down and placed his head against the fridge door for a moment. Franklin realised he was quietly counting. He couldn't help it as he asked "Booster seat?"

"When he got the front pack he also got a booster seat. It is like a capsule that sits in the front passenger seat, clipped in with a seatbelt and has a Perspex cover so the airbag cannot harm the puppy inside it… of course Bruiser will not grow too big and will fit it for the term of his little life… one that is getting shorter each time I find another fucking shoe under Jack's chair full of pinhole bites." Ianto frowned, then opened the fridge he had been leaning against to check the milk supply.

"So… this puppy is another baby" Franklin surmised "Jack is nesting."

"Yeah. I think so. Everything that happened. I think Jessie has made him clucky. Alice was never really his, not his sweetling. Lucia had the brains to be in charge there and now he had a relationship where the freedom is so… epic… he is not saying but I think ... he is wondering what we would be like as parents to a baby. Bruiser is filling that need." Ianto agreed.

"So… you don't want one?"

"I don't want the kids minimalized any more than they already are. They all share, they are all such good kids. One day… when they are older maybe… when everything is… calmer. Maybe one day I would like a baby of our own… or adopt some little one in need… I could see that." Ianto finally admitted "But I am selfish and not afraid to admit it. Damo was an adjustment. Sharing Jack with that dog is driving me insane. I do not know if I could be as calm if it was another little life… another child that took his smile from me. Is that wrong?"

"No… it tells me how much you love him son. I understand. I did not want Gray. I didn't. Seeing the work Jack was… as much as I adored him…I knew she would sunk herself into another one and… I love him with all my heart and would not have it any other way even with the pain of losing him like we did but… there was a moment or two… that I felt left out." Franklin admitted softly.

Ianto nodded, understanding perfectly.

Ianto wanted Jack all to himself.