6

Jack entered the apartment calling out their names and the dog answered loudly with a bray of glee. He found the little girl in the living room with the fire going. A fire. Jack didn't even know these apartments had fireplaces and the light from it was warm and inviting.

"Daddy, there is no power so we are camping!" Alice told him with her cheeks flushed from the excitement of it.

"I am glad you are all OK. God, this came out of nowhere and was vicious. We have some structural damage, a shopping centre's roof collapsed in and caused casualties and some other things" Jack said without adding 'deaths' around his daughter "I passed the playground on my way here and it's down too. Looks like the dome imploded there too, the big dome thing Alice plats on is totally flattened. Has she been in there… it does not bear thinking about."

Ianto motioned him into the kitchen and he followed him into discover boxes on the counter being filled. A cooler on the floor filled as well.

"What are we doing?"

"Well no power. It will be a couple of days of madness around here so we are going now. School will be out early now anyway so we can leave now and get a good four or five days at my other place" Ianto straightened up and smiled at him.

"Really?" Jack said, then saw that it made sense. Cardiff was a no-go right now.

Ianto watched Jack leave the room to tell Alice they were going across to their apartment to pack some things and he sighed softly, looking around his kitchen a moment or two longer before he went to a cupboard and removed something.

It looked like a long slightly squiggly stick, long enough to be a walking stick complete with a knot at the top and he placed it near the door like it was going with them. He had a feeling they needed all the protection they could get and his great grandfather's stick was a good'un.

.

.

Jack could not believe the cat as she sat on his daughter's knee like a little dog, looking out the car window with interest as they drove past the destructive carnage left by the quake. Front facades had come down from stores, some power poles down from either the quake or vehicles hitting them as drivers panicked and speaking of that, the car accidents were gnarly. Alice noticed none of this as the dog seemed adept at getting her attention as they passed crime scene tape marked off areas with a body under a sheet here and there.

Ianto had a huge SUV, one that rivalled Jack's own girl and he was impressed. More so by the fact he did not see Ianto as a survivalist type and once again knew Ianto was a horse of many colours. This thing was almost military grade and for the first time Jack wondered what Ianto did for a crust. I mean, this was an expensive piece of kit and those sexy suits were clearly tailor made, where did this money come from?

As they left the city the feeling of doom seemed to fall away and soon they were singing to show tunes and enjoying the breeze with the windows down a bit. Alice refused to allow them down too far in case the kitty got out no matter how much Ianto assured her that Janet was happy to ride with them.

After a couple of hours drive Ianto turned the wheel and they left the main road, the little dirt road they turned onto more like a bloody goat track or something and Jack was about to ask what the hell he was thinking when they rounded a cope of trees and turned onto a pretty well kept sealed road again.

Hidden.

The first word that popped into Jack's mind. Hidden. That was a deliberate misdirection so people did not know this place was here and Jack was impressed, tuning to say so but finding the words dying as he saw the horse running alongside Ianto's side of the vehicle. The huge creature running with enormous strides, its mane flying back and it's eyes wide with glee.

Magnificent.

Others joined, peeling off from the trees and shaded areas to run around the vehicle as Ianto slowed and Alice let out a squeal of glee as a white one came close to her window and Janet climbed up to reach out the window to bop the horse on the nose.

"Janet, don't be rude. They are just happy to see me" Ianto scolded as he turned the wheel and they saw a small village ahead, what seemed like little thatched cottages near one another. It reminded Jack of the medieval villages that were plundered by the arseholes.

They passed through it, more than one person waving out and Ianto waving back, then they were past them and sill moving back into the trees and it was like a tunnel of branches now, the trees seeming to lean over to greet as well. A natural arch of comfort.

They came out to a clearing beside a lake. A lake with a cabin beside it.

"Home?" Alice asked.

"Home" the cat replied calmly as she stretched and Jack felt his blood run cold as Ianto drive to a stop and turned to look back.

"Janet, we talked about this. No talking in human voice aroid the Norms" he scolded.

"oops? Ah… Meow?"

Ianto frowned, then he laughed softly as he turned to Jack "Right. Now you know. She is my Familiar and is actually a witch trapped in a cat's body. She did something bad in a previous life and must now repent. Not that I see any repenting going on missy!"

"Suck my balls" the cat said as she stretched and then reached out with both paws, yanked on the door handle to open it and squealed with shock as the dog leapt over the child's lap taking the cat out the open doorway with it.

"Ha fucking ha" Ianto yelled after the cat, then sat back and grimaced "I know. Don't' say it. Swear jar."

Alice started to laugh while she was struggling out of her seatbelt, as Jack blinked and told himself it was fumes from the exhaust or something, maybe he had fallen asleep and still was.

"You're not asleep." Ianto said like he heard the thought "Come on… we need to get out and unpacked before they come"

"They come?"

"Yeah, those from the village we passed through. They will come to say hi soon and you want to pretend to be calm then" Ianto said as he slid out the driver's door and was gone leaving Jack alone in the vehicle as his daughter danced in the logon grass, her arms held out like she was embracing the world while her bare feet were drumming.

"Toto, we ain't in Kansas anymore" Jack said to himself as he undid the seatbelt.

"No shit Sherlock"

He turned to look at the cat who had clambered back in to pull at her little bag of toys Ianto had lovingly packed for her.

"That's me. Jack Sherlock Harness" Jack said with a grin and then he started to snigger. Why not.

This was fucking mad.