Chapter 2 - Making New Friends
Ianto was up at 6:30 the next morning, too excited at the prospect of seeing Jack again to sleep any later. He dressed himself, and at seven, he had enough of waiting and ran to wake up Harriet. "Nan, wake up! I wanna go see Jack already! Come on Nan, wake up!" he shook her gently, trying to get her to wake. He finally succeeded and she looked at him bleary-eyed.
"Ianto Gareth Jones, why on earth are you awake so early? Jack's probably not even awake yet, and Estelle and Alice are probably asleep too. We'll go at ten, okay?"
""Kay fine," he pouted. "But I know Jack up too, I just know that he is. You can't ask me how but I know."
Harriet laughed. "If you say so, my dear. Let's have breakfast - would you like some pancakes?"
"Yes please, Nan," he responded politely, having calmed down enough to remember his manners.
Harriet studied him for a moment. Jack seemed to be good for Ianto, he was still sad, but not overcome with it like many kids would, that they couldn't do anything. He seemed to be coping better after meeting Jack - maybe they were meant for each other after all. Only time would tell, she surmised. Noting that Ianto was looking at her curiously and impatiently waiting for breakfast, she shook herself and smiled at him. "Come on Ianto - I'm going to make them with a little surprise in them. But you can't watch me, because then it wouldn't be a surprise, so in the meantime you can watch cartoons. How does that sound?"
"That's a good idea, I like! How long it take you? An' how long 'till it ten o'clock?"
"It should take maybe half an hour to 45 minutes to make, I think. As for the time, it's only 7:15, so it'll be another 2 hours and 45 minutes until ten o'clock. Think you have enough patience until then?"
Ianto considered the question, then, with a very serious look, said, "We'll have to see, I guess."
She tried not to laugh at that, not wanting to offend her precious grandson.
Meanwhile… over at Jack's house….
Jack woke up around the same time as Ianto, almost as if the two shared a bond and could almost communicate through it. He somehow sensed that Ianto was awake too, and burst into his mother's room, bouncing onto her bed and shouting "Wake up mom, wake up! I wanna see Yan-Yan already!" Estelle rolled over with a groan, looked at the time, and lightly scolded Jack for waking her at such an early hour.
"But mom! I want him to come here again already! He probably also awake now anyway."
"He might be awake, but Auntie Harriet is probably still sleeping, I'd bet. Go get dressed, and I'll be down soon with Alice to give you breakfast. What do you want to eat?"
He thought seriously for a moment, then a grin lit up his face. "I wan' pancakes, please! I think Yan-Yan havin' pancakes for brefkast so I also want. Please?"
"Oh alright, why not. Go get dressed now, young mister, while I wake your aunt and we get dressed. She'll put on cartoons for you and then help me make the pancakes while you watch."
"Okay, yay!"
She shook her head with a small smile as she watched her son hurry off to dress. He really seemed to like Harriet's grandchild, and after a conversation much like Ianto had with his grandmother, she thought maybe, just maybe, they actually were a match. She'd have a talk with Harriet that evening once the boys went to bed.
When ten o'clock came, Ianto practically ran to Jack's house with Harriet right behind him. He couldn't wait any longer, and the moment he knocked on the door it opened to reveal an equally excited Jack.
The second Jack heard a knock on the door, he knew it was Ianto and pulled it open. He had been waiting impatiently next to the door for the past hour, pacing back and forth and asking over and over when Yan-yan would be there. He opened the door and grabbed Ianto into a tight hug, calling to his mother "Mom, Yan-Yan is here! We going to play in my room!"
That afternoon, there was another knock on Estelle's door - the other children of the neighborhood had come to meet Ianto. Alice led them to Jack's room, and let him know who came. "Hey Jack, Ianto - Martha, Toshiko and Luke are here! I'm sending them to your room!" she called through the closed door.
"'Kay Aunt Alice! Come in guys - I want you to meet my new friend Ianto Jones! An' I can call him Yan-Yan but only I'm allowed to so you have to call him Ianto. Yan-Yan, these guys my friends Martha, Tosh, an' Luke."
"I Ianto Jones, nice to meet you." Jack introduced his friends - Martha - a dark-skinned girl who Ianto realized was going to be very pretty, Tosh (Toshiko) - a cute Japanese looking girl, and Luke - a cute little boy. Despite all his new friends having good looks, he didn't care for any of it, except his Jack who 'is the most beautiful of all,' he decided.
As the kids were playing in Jack's room, Alice, Estelle, and Harriet were sitting at Estelle's kitchen table, chatting. Suddenly, they heard a shriek, followed by crying. Alice muttered "shit" as she recognized Jack's wails. All three women ran to check on the kids.
"Jack, are you alright? What's going on?" his mother asked. He was sobbing too hard to be coherent, so she turned to Ianto to find out what happened. The little boy had a stricken expression.
"We was just- we was just playing and- and Jack picked up a toy an his hand got all red an bloody. I dunno what happened." Ianto looked as if he was about to start crying too, so Harriet went over to try to comfort him.
"Jack. Jack - let me look at your hand."
Quieting down, but tears still sliding down his cheeks, he gave Estelle his left hand. There was a huge gash that had split open his palm through the center.