8
Ianto knew something was happening by the way Owen and John were not talking… talking like… glances and nods. Then he decided to take little Hunter out for some air, walking around with the tiny bub on his chest as he took in the new fencing going up… things dug up and put back… a little chicken run in the middle of the field… weird but whatever… and what appeared to be stakes put down for something to be built or moved there.
Ianto decided that whatever they were doing, it was not a Hunt thing, it was some sort of brotherly bonding thing… yeah… he knew their bloodlines were the same … and left them to their games. Cousins or something… like second once removed or something… they seemed happy with it anyway.
Ianto found a chair in the trees.
Nice.
He settled in it with the sleeping newling in his shirt, sitting then looking out over the field to his house… this was a good spot… a great view of both houses… the RVs… on raised ground. Didn't even appear noticeable from the field like a hidden …..hide. Huh. Ianto looked around and noted the knives stuck in the tree trunk, some clearly for hanging guns and such on and realized he was sitting in a guard house.
They were taking turns at night to watch over things?
Ianto rubbed his little one's back lovingly as he considered this development and knew deep down that it was warranted. Whatever was happening within the World of The Hunt.. it was coming to some sort of crescendo and he had a feeling that he was not going to like it.
.
.
"Jack?"
"Yeah?" Jack looked up for the wood basket he was picking out a piece of wood for the fireplace from.
"Mama wed her guard… Da was her man. Assigned to her and when she ran.. he helped her. Maybe there was love but… he was human." Ianto sat and placed the little sleeping tot in Jack's arms "What if… what if the Hunt was to wake sleeper agents… to find me as I was old enough to be felt in the bond. We are both Boeshanninan. The blood is stronger now… when Hunter was born he joined the bond immediately… right? So… they are not here for me but him."
"Yes?" Jack held his son tightly "I agree."
"So… the men have been building moats right? The landmines and man traps scattered around here prettily like most man eating things… right?" Ianto asked. "They are ready for a war to come home?"
"Riiiight"
"OK" Ianto sat back and Jack wondered what they were agreeing to.
.
.
Rhiannon drove the RV into the barn and made room for Toshiko and Own to slide in as well, then they headed into town and the hotel arranged for them, including the kids and Max's family. It hurt Ianto to hand over Hunter but he knew the bugs going with them would guard them well, the vehicle one of Max's and an unknown.
The little man was a force to be reckoned with as he called his friends as well.
They were ready.
.
.
They came that night.
Silent, crafty and clearly well trained. They did not count on bugs… a Hart or a bloody dwarf who yelled 'Towanda' for some reason as he hit the buttons to let off pyrotechnics. More little people flying about like weird alien midgets. It was chaos.
It was like a movie scene were the special effects failed or something. Insanity. Come the morning the place looked like a war zone with more than one body being quietly dragged off by the bugs and Ianto left watching Jack stomp some divots back down.
Ianto leaned back and looked at the sky, his mind wandering as he tried to work out what all of this meant. So many clues… what was real… what simple red herrings. What were crumbs. Crumbs. Ianto fingered the button on his shirt as he let his mind go back to those buttons on the floor of the tunnel. His Da's trail of breadcrumbs to the skeleton of Claire. Why leave those if he had the carvings in the walls already? Why was he being obvious?
Ianto went over things more. He fingered the medallion inside his shirt now, pushing off from the doorframe as something rose to the top of the swamp of confusion.
Surely not.
Ianto knew.
He knew.
.
.
"Why?"
"I don't know" Ianto said as he watched Jack change their son for bed "I just feel that I have to go back there… I have to understand what it was they were doing in that tunnel. I know Da did the old feint and dodge but… why was that place important in the first place."
"God… are you serious?" Jack sighed.
"I want to visit the site, place a rose for Claire. Take a moment to grieve and move on. I feel the need. Things are insane, I know but… I need to do this" Ianto argued "It can wait… I don't have to go now if you don't want me to I just… you know me. It's stuck in my brain now… this idea."
"That you cannot explain to me"
"That I cannot totally explain it to myself either… this is something I feel. I feel an irresistible pull there… please. I hated him for so long when all this time… all this time he died protecting me. Keeping them away. Sacrificed her not for himself… but for me" Ianto looked at his son "For him… I would do the same. I want to stand at his grave and…. Give him respect."
Jack sighed as he lifted their son to his shoulder and turned to stare at him "OK. If it means that much… ok. An afternoon of fun for the kids and maybe…. You lay it to rest."
"Thank you Cariad."
