20
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Hmmm?" Ianto looked up from the sleeping child in the cute little bed Jack had made Hr. Shay was as spoilt as Hawk but in another way as the little bed resembled a boat. A pea green one complete with an Owl and a Pussycat of plush cuteness inside it. And yes, the light shade was a round ball like the moon.
"Ianto? Are you going to tell me what is going on with Sam?"
Ianto knew he would ask sooner or later. Knew if he did it would be a moment he would not like as they agreed never to keep secrets from one another. Who was his loyalty to? Her or him? Damn it. He had warned her and she had just shrugged and said it was his choice. She knew the pain of a secret.
"Sam was a little bit preggers. Just the beginning of a promise of it and… timing was not right. It's gone and after a lot of thought and talking between her and Fen they have agreed that it is for the best, the timing was wrong and they are happy with how things are" Ianto said as he knew he would die if he kept it from him. Even as he watched Jack's face, knowing he understood the words not said. A flash of anger. Damn.
"And she's OK?"
"Sad. Guilty for not wanting the change and she was sure I would hate her. She is still working through this Cariad. She is now certain that I do not hate her or judge her for something that was not my place to have an opinion on. She has enough of that in her own head. But she is right. The kids all off at school, time to herself. Still so young and she needs to express herself. Have a life, some fun. Who knows, in a few years another might be wanted." Ianto said softly "the world is a scary place right now. Too scary."
Jack sat on the edge of the bed and sighed "Gwen too right? Why they seem to have formed a little club of two?"
Ianto did not answer and Jack flopped back on the bed to stare at the ceiling "You're right though. Sam was talking the other day about going back to school, getting a degree or something. She is more than a baby maker and no one can say she hasn't provided for the madness. And like you say… just a hint. And Gwen, she is done with her kids. Lovely little buggers but she is so active and she loves her life and her job. Sometimes it's not fair that the female body has a mind of its own like that. Periods come every month like some punishment for having boobs. I already thought that was so unfair even before Alice told me about the pain of them. Our periods are more like a Male Grump Syndrome. Theirs are messy, painful and sometimes sad."
"Lisa wanted a baby so badly. When we lost Skyla, she cried every month. I knew she had her periods as she would cry in the bathroom before coming out. I hated that as much as the pee sticks in the trash she thought I didn't see." Ianto sighed "Cruel. Yeah. Those who so badly seek a child are left hanging while others are left in a terrible state with one that was not asked for."
"At least she had the choice and made the right one for her" Jack said firmly like he was now in the corner of having to defend her "She's her own person and she has the right to her own body!"
Ianto settled in the bed with quiet satisfaction as now Jack would not say a world, anyone else did and he would thump them to defend his little sunflower.
As any Dad should.
