23

The two men had slept like the dead each night in their huge bed. For the final week Ianto felt a strange melancholy. As he stood watching the large prefabricated pool getting lowered into the ground he wondered how to prolong the experience, even as he knew the time away from the babies was telling on himself and Jack.

He loved this place so damned much.

With a sigh he turned to the landscaper who was standing waiting patiently for the Welshman who seemed to zone out at times only to come back with great ideas "So… over in that corner."

"Yes, it will be expensive though?"

"Yes but we have more than enough in the budget thanks to winning room reveals" Ianto assured him "I want three. I like threes."

"Of course Mister H.J." The man nodded "and you still want that grass?"

"Yes" Ianto said as he crouched to pick up a handful of dirt "But I do not like this ground for it, another layer of filler first so I know it is not only flat but rich."

"That is not a problem… also… the other teams have swing sets…."

"No. I have that in hand. Don't you worry… you get the one I want… I will sort the rest. I pointed it out to you in your yard yesterday when I came by… that one with the little notches in the wood."

"OK"

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Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch as the huge tree got hoisted into the yard by the crane, the foliage held tightly in netting like it was wearing a mesh cap and as it swing to get into position they could all see the huge strong boughs.

Then two more smaller ones were lowered in and Harry turned to Miles to say softly "He is going to crush us again."

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Ianto was inside the yard helping position the trees where he wanted them and then he stood back and let them uncouple everything before they patched the lavender grass and dirt around the roots. One of the boughs was long and strong, the branch reaching over the sandpit area.

"Deano" Ianto called out to one of their workers "Go get that swing from the garage. That branch there… there is our swig set."

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"I want to get in" Jack said again, his hands clasped together.

Ianto was crouching next to the pool ignoring his husband as he adjusted the little table next to the recliner. He then rose to look around at their creation with a soft smile. The pool fencing was not clear glass like the other houses, rather it was thin black metal railings that a little hand might reach through to pet a doggie outside the fence, but a little body had no chance of fitting through. It meant the pool would be visible but there would be a definite divide. The back yard was clearly a child's area, not the pool.

Ianto then walked to the end of the pool and the door inside the pool house, stepping in to look for the little toy fishes he knew were in there somewhere. Three plastic goldfish that had batteries in them and once released to the pool they will swim it for days.

Yeah… he was tying it all together in his unique way. A duck statue stood at the edge of the water staring down in like it was about to take the plunge and another on a lead sinker to stabilize it floated in there seeming as if it waited for its mate. Ah. There.

Ianto scooped up the bag an looked in, extracting the little ducklings he had forgotten and he rushed to add two little fluffy ducklings to stand by the hesitant duck. It all looked so cute. He grinned as he sat and let his feet slip into the water. Jack was now loudly complaining "Why are you allowed in."

"If you splash my things I will hold you under until the bubbles stop" Ianto said as he turned a little fish over to fiddle with the battery and Jack striped to his underwear, then in a very refined way for a madman… he walked down the steps into the water and let himself sink.

Jack sat on the bottom watching Ianto undulate as the water ripped above, the handsome man looking down at him with that smile, then reaching in and a fish was released. Wow. They look so real. Jack swam up to tell him so and found himself getting a kiss.

"Cold?" Ianto asked.

"gorgeous… like you" came the retort as Jack went under again and as soon as the little fish were flicking their tails around the pool Ianto rose and headed to the gate, reaching up to open it and slip into the garden to make sure the last finishing touches on the kid's paradise were almost complete.

Yes... the cameras caught it all for those to swoon over.

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"Come to Tadda" Ianto said as he removed Nate from his little car seat and carried him into the lot, people stopping to finally see the two little twins the men had kept from the limelight and cameras for so long. They all saw the raw love as the men held their little beasts and DJ squealed loudly as he reached for something, so Jack-like.

They led Toshiko and Owen into the house, Gwen hesitating outside to look at the letterbox and giggle, the little dollhouse was so quaint, a replica of the real house it was representing. The little cat's face squished against the windows like a moggy was trapped in the toy house was clearly Ianto's touch.

They walked through the house to the back yard and Owen was the first to speak "Fuck mate… how will you give this up?"

"I know… it is really a place to fall in love with" Ianto agreed, watching Jack as he crouched by a flower bed to let DJ look at the flowers, Nate preferring to sniggle into his Taddy with glee. He did love his Taddy so.

Gwen entered "Boys… your mothers are outside wanting to know who can come in first. I think it may come to handbags at noon. Rhys can't hold them back much longer."

They went out to defuse the situation and encouraged both women in, Jack going first with his mother as Ianto asked his to stay back for a moment "Mama… I just wanted a moment to say… I am glad you are here"

She preened, totally unaware that she had just been piped at the post and they went in.

"Oh, this is lovely" they both agreed, for once more entertained by the house than arguing with one another about who was the best mother.

Finally after they had all gone Ianto sat and rubbed his face as Harry approached with a coffee "Here ya go mate. You look like you need this."

"Thanks" Ianto accepted it "silly that after all this time I still look for her approval."

"Ah… mothers and sons. Yeah" he patted his knee "you OK?"

"Yeah. I just... I put more into this than I thought I would. Really I should have known. I think I get that from my mother. Not a single movie has she walked away from or held up. No take one too many to get it right. I remember as a little boy watching her on stage going over lines. She was always… immaculate. Da said to me once… he said that Mama was queen for a reason." Ianto smiled as he sighed softly and leaned back "I sometimes wonder if I am immaculate to please me Da who will never even know it… or for her to show that I am still her son."

"Ianto, anyone would be proud to have a son like you. And Jack. You are good people" Harry assured him, patting him on the shoulder as he went to leave.

Ianto was not so sure. Never was. In his mind he knew he would never measure up to the son his mother had hoped she would have.

The reality was that he would never be perfect.

But for Jack… he seemed to do.