5
"Come on Dougie" Jack said as he tried to cajole his friend into getting up, the man on the ground refusing. They had been walking for hours, the ridgeline still at least half an hour away, the last clear area Jack could remember. "Douglas, they can't see us. The plane is in the trees, they will miss it from up there. We have to get to high ground, flat and clear ground so they can see us"
"God. I don't know if I can" Douglas panted, his chest on fire from the broken ribs.
Jack took a seat next to him on the log and they took a moment to regroup. The pilot was dead, three of the crew were dead. Just him, Douglas and Sven made it. Sven was in a bad way, his arm dangling and clearly dislocated if not broken. He was ahead of them scouting for good footfalls as they could not afford to have Jack injuring himself any more than he already had. A movie ahead ya know. The scalp would had stopped bleeding and was not a gooey mess in his hair, all of them glad it was above the hairline and would not show as a scar in the camera lens. Yes. They were all that shallow folks.
"What is it?" Jack finally asked "What is making you so… distant? I don't' just mean today. The last few weeks you seem out of sorts."
"Rhia and I are trying for a baby. You know this. Been trying for over a year or so. No dice. I think… deep down I think it's me but she keeps saying it's OK. Each month, the blow is horrible on her face" Douglas sighed, leaning back to let his face get some sun.
"Well, you know there are heaps of eggs from the harvest. We only used some of them, we have four? I think four embryos on ice, the rest of the eggs are still there intact. If your swimmers are slow, IVF can help the little buggers into one of her eggs we already have left over from the twins" Jack said, totally forgetting the 'don't tell Doug' rule. Head trauma ya know.
Douglas stared at him then said softly "Come again?"
"When Rhiannon gave us the eggs for the twins, she gave us a ton of them. A great harvest. We only used some of them, and then only impregnated Toshiko with a few. We have more if Ianto wants another one later on… the eggs left over were probably going to be donated for sterile couples or something" Jack shrugged, "I don't know."
Douglas leaned back more, almost over-tipping on the log as he gaped "The twins… they're hers?"
"Well, ours. But yeah. How else do you think Nate got Ianto's nose?" Jack laughed, and then sobered "Fuck. We were not supposed to say. She didn't want you to know. Thought you might be mad she gave us a baby before you, but it was before you two were you two right?"
"Stupid mare" Douglas laughed "this is great news. So… brilliant. They are still viable ya think?"
"Should be, Ianto was saying something about them the other day" Jack tried to remember "Something about the boys being at school and him being bored. I said maybe it's time for another one, being silly and he did that little look he does when he is still chewing over the same thought."
"Well, if Rhiannon is going to be happy about it, I think it's a great idea. Hell, if you get a baby at the same time, they can grow up as besties!" Douglas said with glee.
"Up ahead, a clearing with rocks we can fashion into an SOS or something" came a faint yell "I can't move them. My arm."
"my arm, my arm" Jack said in a croaky voice while flinging his arm about and Douglas snorted with mirth, the mood so much lighter now the men had a plan.
No idea the mess they would be returning to.
..
.
Ianto had contemplated getting a hotel room for the night and then told himself not to be a dickhead. He DID tell security at the gates that a certain someone was no longer on the visiting list. See how she likes them apples. Bitch. Hell, given Rhiannon's decision to step over the Line and betray him by risking the boys… she can fuck off too.
When the call came that they were found and OK, he sat and wept for a little while, then rose to sort some clothes for Jack who would not want to be photographed looking anything less than manly and triumphant or whatever.
Ianto did not think about anyone else, just Jack and the twins who were asleep. Toshiko and Owen were there, preparing to stay with them and the security guards posted at the front door as well as those in the guard house at the front gates who assured him that all would be well.
Ianto drove to the hospital and watched the chopper land, following the nurse to the trauma room where Jack sat talking excitedly about the day's adventures while getting some stitches in his head. Like he knew he would be. Douglas was there too, hugging a teary eyed Rhiannon who was clinging to him for grim life. Ianto ignored her. He was ready to go scorched earth there if need be. She knew what she had done, he gave her the chance to pull back her decision but she didn't.
It was later, once Jack was home and in bed cuddled in close that he noticed Ianto's own head wound and bruising now creeping down from his hairline across his temple "Look at us. A matching pair, only…. Yours is not from a flying camera too, right?"
"Your mother took the twins and attacked me, rang the police and said I was trying to abduct them, that I am not their Taddy and tried to have me arrested." Ianto said softly, done with it all.
Jack stared at him long and hard sensing the anger there. Finally he said softly "Well. Fuck. My day was better than yours, and people died."
Ianto only snorted back.
A shitty day all over and best done with.
Best not say about the IVF thing. Right?