17

"Kitchen week… good. It can then blend to the living room and dining… oh shit. Kitchen AND dining" Jack said as he read "Well… that makes sense I guess."

Groans as everyone saw to jobs but Ianto lit up as he knew it was a great idea. He again turned to Jack "You do dining, I do kitchen and we meet in the middle."

Jack knew just what he wanted for a dining room… Ianto did too. Why he let Jack have it. He focused on HIS room in the house… the kitchen. He started with choosing the flooring, a nice soft honey stained herringbone… then went with white cabinets and… yeah… white tiles for a flashback… we all know why now and so did everyone else but they could not work out what he might paint.

The white ware was just that… white. Others went for chrome, brushed metal and one went for all black. Yeah… Carl was embracing it now. It seemed to be a rather quiet week with everyone focused on a win but then on Thursday if all fell over.

Well… the young couple with all the tattoos and piercings that had kept to themselves…he fell from the scaffolding while painting around his skylights, falling heavily onto the tiled kitchen floor. His high pitched scream of pain the first indicator that he was hurt and everyone ran for the house.

Once the poor fella was scooped unto an ambulance and taken away Ianto was left standing in their semi-finished room with a look of determination. "Right. Clear here what they wanted to do, look… even had a sketch. Nice. I hope he's OK… she will call right?"

Everyone went back to their houses and Ianto made a decision as he stood looking at his clear titled splash back in his pristinely perfectly white kitchen that was already finished apart from his 'touch'.

She rang. "He has three broken ribs and a concussion, they want to keep him overnight and then it's just light duties."

Douglas did not know how to respond so Jack simply took the phone "Donna love… I am so sorry this happened. He will not be able to compete in the way he has been and we do want you both to finish… is there someone who can substitute for him? A brother? Cousin or Dad or something? I think we can convince them to let you do that, we can hold a body corporate meeting and vote in it… Cunt… sorry Carl will say no but we will all outvote him. Just talk to your friends and family, find someone with a bit of spunk and maybe some experience and we will slip them in as a dark horse… what do you say hmmm?"

Ianto listened and nodded his approval with this, secretly excited to see Carl have a tantrum.

.

.

"That's not fair" Carl wailed, stomping his foot "We don't get a third person!"

"Technically it will be … two and a half I guess" Jack screwed his face up, then watched Carl have another little conniption there in the middle of the cul-de-sac.

"I vote yes… all in favor raise your hands" Ianto said gleefully and all hands went up except for Carl and Helen. Ianto silently admonished her with a look, and then said brightly as a throwaway comment to Carl "Vote carried. Cool, now… let's get back to it… oh and I want to remind everyone that the compliance officer will be doing his rounds with his ruler and little meters later today since everyone is just fine tuning things now."

Ianto walked away jauntily as Carl screamed bloody blue murder.

.

.

"It's perfect, stop fiddling with it" Ianto breathed as he stood back to admire his work, the brush in his hand getting a soft rub with the cloth he liked to use while painting. He then turned to call out "Cariad, I am slipping next door for a spell."

"OK Tiger…love you" came a final reply as Jack knelt fiddling with his staging "Will be there soon."

Ianto wandered across to find Donna in her dining room trying to do a flower arrangement. Mildred and George had seen Ianto walking across and went after him onerously, entering to find Ianto wandering through the kitchen looking at it "Mildred dear… Donna needs you touch."

Soon the sounds of the two women softly laughing was heard and Mildred did the flowers expertly and Donna sat tired yet relieved that someone came to help. Her father was coming next week for the next room, so she was no longer upset.

Ianto poked at the bare kitchen and sighed. Unfinished. Damn.

"Tile. Shit… musta hurt" George said softly as he looked at their feet and Ianto looked down as well.

"Drop a plate or bottle of wine on that and the price to replace a tile will hurt too" Ianto whispered and the men shared a look, then Ianto said loudly "right then. Come on… touch ups."

By the time Jack arrived the other middle aged couple were there helping in the dining room cleaning as Mildred knelt with Donna to finish the skirting boards. In the kitchen Ianto was up the scaffolding inspecting their paint job and George was doing a doorframe.

"Right" Jack looked around slowly "Tiger?"

"Hon… we got any of that gold paint left over from the bedroom thingies?"

Jack looked up at him and frowned "Yeah? You got a big pot so we didn't have to look for more, being so hard to find and all."

"Can I have… about… a tray full?" Ianto called down and Jack nodded, wandering off to please his lover. The wallpaper the poor man had been trying to hang was in a mess at the bottom of the scaffold where it had fallen with him, long since dried and unusable, the faint marble pattern still visible.

"Here we are love, anything else?" Jack asked as he handed over the paint tray and watched Ianto tap it with a potato of all things.

"The mess on the floor? And then see if we can polish this turd" Ianto muttered as he went back up and Jack grinned as he salted his boss.

.

.

The judges were surprised Carl's bold dining room slash bar room and again commented that this was not going to be a child friendly home but a young couple who entertained would move it. Carl looked at the others with open glee and Ianto resisted the urge to poke his tongue.

They went to Miles and Donna's to gush over the colour scheme, especially the gold fleck in the walls like marble but clearly with real gold paint, the way it shifted in the light inspiring. Decadent. Rich.

Donna turned to look at Ianto with open affection as she mouthed her thanks.

Then came Ianto and Jack's.

The judges loved the dining room with the warm colors, the two high chairs set up like heathens were about to be fed and the sweet artwork of a teddy bear picnic on the wall. The little sofa and high chairs down one end interesting and then one of them got it "A play area. Look… when the kids are done they can play and wait on the adults still eating. Be released to the play area. The table pushed to the wall when not in use… look here… cupboards…. Ah… it's a play area. Inspiring."

Then they went to the kitchen and stood looking at the splash-back.

A lake this time. The embankment covered with wild flowers and the sunset just starting over the dark water. The little boy standing by the shore with his back to them shielding his eyes also looking in the same direction as them at the swans on the lake that were moving towards the shore as another little boy ran with a red kite in the distance on the other side of the lake. A window into an idyllic late afternoon/early evening close.

"Wow" one of the judges said softly "I… I am there. I can smell that rambling rose… wow."

"He just keeps surprising us."

Carl was incensed and waited his time for them all to finish, then once he saw the scores he stepped forward "I object. Donna and Miles Cheated… and since HE did the painting in their house…. HE should be disqualified too!"

Ianto looked at the finger being shook in his direction and held back the urge to bite it.

""Sorry… only contestants can paint, that's the rule but it is not reserved for their own houses." Stevie said as he grinned widely "The scores stand. Donna and Miles are the winners!"

Ianto clapped with glee.