6
Jack never really thought of himself as thick, in fact he is usually one of the first to catch onto something so he was really shocked when they were almost finished the instillation and a small child came to the doorway of the house to call out "Ianto?"
"Yes love?"
Jack felt the world tilt, his entire fucking world tilt as Jones straightened up and addressed the child.
"May I please have some ice-cream?"
Ianto looked up at the ceiling of the carriage, now tunnel like he was looking at a clock, "Well, it's at least an hour before supper. OK."
"Yes!" the child punched the air and so did Andy, rushing after the child to feed.
"Me too?" Owen asked in a childish voice, "Pweese Yani?"
"Stop it" Ianto scolded, "Go on then."
Jack remained staring at him. "You. You are the Master"
Ianto turned to frown, "No. There is no Master here. Only head of the family. Don't you get it yet Jax? We are a family, not a house of servants and those to be served."
"Why did you not say, let me bluster about like a…a…"
"Buffoon?" Ianto supplied, "Or a con-man?"
Jack's arms he had been flapping fell to his sides as he stared at the man holding his gaze with unnaturally bright stormy eyes, "Jax. I see you. All of you. You are a good man, you just do not believe in yourself. Maybe if I trust you, you will trust yourself. Ever think of that? People trust because you have that ability to excel?"
"Tell that to the last person I robbed" Jack huffed.
"Asked for it. You chose only those who do not feel pain form the loss, those who are lording it over those less fortunate. Did you not think maybe there was a reason you were led this way? You sought someone who knows what loss is?"
"What do you mean?" Jack whispered as he wondered how Ianto knew so much about him. Had he been investigating him somehow?
"I asked for a sign the other night. Standing there in the dark listening to Them out there beyond the sensors and strobe lights that hurt my eyes as much as theirs. I asked the cosmos for a sign that I was not weak. That my sacrifices and pain were for something different to another imminent failure." Ianto pointed to the front yard, "You came the next morning and stopped on the same mark. I believe you were sent, look. You've already made it safer for the Babans."
"And for you" Jack said before he could stop himself.
"Ah. Too late for me. I am a part of Them. The Others feel me, as I feel them, like an itch under the skin. No. Owen thinks he saved me and I do not wish to harm his little heart but he did not save me. He is merely prolonging my pain. No. They call to me. They pressure me at night to come to them. Be one of them. The children keep me here, I pad into their rooms and look at their faces, I see what I would be sacrificing. What is more important than my own wasted life. I stay."
"Rhys knows" Jack blurted as it all made sense, "He knows you can turn. He fears. I thought he fears you, now I know he fears for you. As much as he welcomes me, he fears me finding out and …"
"Putting me down" Ianto snorted, "He has no idea, does he."
"Yeah" Jack sighed, the only thing he would put Ianto in is his bed if he could and the soft nod showed he knew it.
"Owen is studying me, trying to understand the Others and finds me a great subject" Ianto ran a hand over the tunnel's interior.
"More than that, he cares for you. He sees you are a kindred spirit, another bird beating against bars of his own making" Jack surmised, "Owen walked away from money, didn't he. He had made his bed and must lie in the discomfort if it. For he wishes he could offer Tosh more."
"Toshiko. Yes. His mother is a horrid woman who told him that if he did not follow the career path she wanted she would disown him. He turned from her and her wealth, then found something money cannot buy. His Toshiko Blossom" Ianto swung to look at him once more, "She is so clever."
"And Gwen?"
Ianto seemed to pause and then looked away as he lied, "I do not feel anything from her."
"You can't con a con-man they say" Jack softly reminded the man.
"No. She fears me. Would rather I had been put down and is searching for the hidden gold" Ianto faced him once more, "She does not believe the money Lisa and I amassed is almost gone. She thinks there is a large cache of it hidden under the floor or something and hunts."
"And you watch her" Jack grunted.
"I like the entertainment" Ianto sniffed, "So I move a painting so she checks behind it … might take her hours to get close enough with me entering the room each time she almost does. Keeps me busy."
Jack laughed as he saw the cheeky playfulness of this poor man and then saw the frailty of him was almost heart rendering.
He is an Other without the gnashing teeth.
"Oh, I have teeth" Ianto whispered before heading inside to leave Jack pondering in peace. Then Jack froze as another thought whispered in the back of his mind.
He heard that?
.
..
.
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I have not explained the Others becuase it is hard to ... like the boogeyman, they are a thing of your mind so I think alot of you aleady have an image of what they are. Like... wolf/rat things, huge... in my mind they are the size of sheep maybe? Bigger? long fur, large teeth. Merciless. You know I like monsters.