13

"You have to be odd to be number one, Doctor Seuss sez so!"

"So … it's OK?" Penny looked at his hair, the patches visible with Angel's visit so long ago "Like … I have bits missing"

"We all have bit missing" Ton snorted, "I am missing my fingernails today coz Taddy cut them in the bath last night. I didn't die. Ask Walty, he is missing some skin from the burns. And Taddy … he is missing bits from the cancer. And what about Skidmark! Have you never noticed he is missing half his little finger?"

"What?"

"Yeah. I never asked what happened coz I forget. See? It doesn't make him half a Skidmark. It makes him special coz he is the only one I know with half a finger. He's a number one!" Ton smiled and waved, the man in question wandering into the room.

"Hello men, the Queen is going to town. She has to find a new hat for something. Wanna come? You know you can all get a new hat and do a hat parade later. Ianto likes that. Gods, Babs used to get dressed up and prance all the time. Only yesterday actually"

"Skiddy? How did you lose your finger bit?" Penny decided to ask. Nothing ventured nothing learned or whatever.

"My brother did it" Skiddy looked at his hand like he had forgotten all about it, "We was fighting and I was running from him, he slammed the door on my hand and the finger was sort of … chopped. We opened the door and the end was hanging off … just some skin holding it. We were both so scared Mum would kill us … he yanked it off and I hid it for about … three days until it hurt too much"

"Did it hurt?"

"It burned sort of, I think it was later it really hurt" Skidmark smiled softly, "I don't really remember now."

"We agreed"

"Agreed what little man?" Skidmark pulled Penny into his lap, loving the little one who reminded him of Walter.

"That you are a number one!"

Skidmark almost wept with delight as he cuddled the kids to him. He had never been anyone's number one, not until he met Ianto and then was shown love… given love and found family.

"It takes one to know one, shinny Penny" he crooned and Penny lit up.

His Daddy called him that too.

Maybe he was shinny.

Poppy said he was his sunshine.