2
Taxi pulls up to a converted warehouse. Ianto bolts out, sprinting for the door.
Black and white. Like a checkerboard. We are seeing a group of penguins waddling against a black and white backdrop. We see a white waiter in a black tuxedo holding glasses on a tray. A black woman, Iman, in a white dress glides through it all.
In the centre the only dash of colour is Ianto - who has just entered and starts expertly directing the action. he calls out to his assistant, Andy. Perpetually hip. Perpetually young. "Andy, back the fill off I don't have enough shadow..."
"You've got a fruit loop in your hair." Andy blinks with shock.
"You say that like I don't know that."
"I once threw an entire bowl of jello on my stepmother's head" Andy supplies.
Ianto lowers the camera to ask "And when did that pass?"
"Actually, never." Andy apologises "They'll always hate you. There's a gene for it."
Duncan Samuels - Ianto's boss, an elegant, edgy, Englishman interrupts them. "Congratulations. Only forty minutes late. You're handling this promotion really well Ianto."
"Duncan. My work is everything to me." Ianto promises "This'll never happen again. Now stand back - this session's gonna make you remember why you hired me even though I wouldn't sleep with you – Andy let's get these penguins dancing.
Duncan backs off, charmed by his ballsiness. The music blares just then, and a penguin juts forward and nips the model. The flash of the camera. We FREEZE for a second, seeing the photo Ianto just took. An Avedonesque portrait of a model being GOOSED by a penguin COLLIDING with a maitre'd who SPILLS his tray and the penguins seem to be POINTING and LAUGHING uproariously.
It's an inspired photo.
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SCHOOL COUNSELOR'S OFFICE - 2:30 THAT DAY
Gwen and Jack Harkness - ruggedly handsome man, mid-forties, charming, disarming, and smart as they come. They sit side by side on a couch across from Estelle Franklin, an Elementary School Counsellor.
"Mr. and Mrs. Harkness, while change is exhilarating for adults, it can be quite challenging for a child."
Jack's beeper beeps. He ignores it; focuses on Mr. Franklin. "I won't get that...It's fine. Change. We were talking about change."
"The fact that you two are remarrying obviously has Toshiko overjoyed..." they look at her, dumbfounded "And she's very excited about your move to Switzerland."
"She said we're getting remarried?" Gwen blinks.
Suddenly - a long bell rings - Gwen stands up, startled.
"Only a fire drill. My concern is that Toshiko seems apathetic towards her work knowing she's leaving before the end of the semester." Mrs. Franklin sighs.
"Mrs. Franklin we're not …" Gwen splutters.
"Planning on getting" Jack agrees.
"Remarried. There is no move." Gwen finishes.
trying to appear unfazed she asks "Really? Well then my concern for …"
Jack's beeper BEEPS again. They talk right over Mrs. Franklin...
"Are you here?" Gwen snarls.
"I'm here."
"Because you don't really seem here." Gwen scoffs.
"I'm here. I've got a case where they're this close to sequestering the jury but have I answered the goddamn thing?!" Jack hisses back.
Gwen slowly speaks "Something's up wi..."
"You think I didn't get that?" Jack snaps.
She cuts a look at Mrs. Franklin. "Excuse him. He never learned how to turn the darn thing off."
And reaches. Does it for him.
Mrs. Franklin asks "I'm wondering if there's anything going on at home that could be intensifying Toshiko's need to create this fantasy?"
Long pause. Then suddenly they both start speaking AT ONCE.
"I've been with someone for quite some time, and didn't feel it was appropriate for him to move in too quickly. But after a lot of thought and careful discussion with him - and the kids I might add - he moved in last month." Jack says calmly.
Gwen speaks louder over top of him "Since our divorce Jack has seen a number of different women and men I might add in three short years and without a lot of warning for the kids, he's now living with a man half his age …"
"Ianto's not half my age." Jack challenges.
"We're not discussing your age." Gwen rolls her eyes.
"Well, we're not discussing Ianto's age either." Jacks' face had a finality to it and Gwen knows she is pushing.
"They want to be with you Jack, they go to your house to be with their father."
"Gwen, they come to be part of my life." Jack is almost pleading with her now "Ianto is part of that life."
"Mr. Harkness, I hear you talking about your life, your needs, but are you really in touch with what Toshiko needs?" Mrs. Franklin asks.
Jack leans back as if struck and Gwen is suddenly fierce "This man would walk through fire for Toshiko, gladly, any day of the week."
"Napalm." Jack agrees.
"Except for last Thursday when Ianto forgot to pick them up" Gwen finishes with a look of triumph.
"Gwen, he was five minutes late" Jack is angry again.
"I'm wondering if Toshiko is responding to the underlying hostility that exists between Ianto and Mrs. Harkness..." Mrs. Franklin frowns.
"Cooper actually" Gwen corrects.
Jack flaps his arms with frustration "Of course she's responding to it. You think it's easy for any of us? You think it's easy for Gwen to watch her kids being looked after by someone who has less than half the experience she does? Of course she's going to be hostile, irrational, and defensive."
"Thank you Jack."
Mrs. Franklin doesn't quite know what to say. The bell rings.
"Thank you Mrs. Franklin. Gwen?" Jack is polite again. "This has been very valuable for us. And I'll have a serious talk with Toshiko tonight."
"It's Wednesday night. She's at my house." Gwen reminds him "I'll talk to her."
"I'll call from work. We can have a conference call." Jack says with a nod of his head.
You tried that last week and we were on hold forty-five minutes..." And they're out the door. You can hear the fight as it echoes down the elementary school hallway.
Gwen and Jack exit the pleasant suburban school. Head for the parking area...
"You ask me that counsellor's making a mountain out of a molehill..." Jack scoffs.
"I'm worried." Gwen admits
"Me too." Jack sighs.
"Jack, I need to switch next Friday for Thursday, so why don't you take the weekend..." Gwen says pointedly "...that way you'll be there, and I'll pick up Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday."
"Fine." Jack stops walking then says "But I wanted to take the kids to work with me on Wednesday so I'll take Wednesday, and you can pick up that Thursday, Friday after soccer, and Saturday before riding."
"Easy enough." Gwen nods.
"Good...Well...Take care."
As if on automatic pilot they move in to kiss each other goodbye then stop. Each takes a step back. 15 years of hellos and goodbyes. A beat. A wave. They head their separate ways.
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Gwen setting the table. Toshiko recording the moment with her omnipresent Video camera... "I didn't say that. Why would I say that?"
"Well Daddy and I were thinking that sometimes people tell a story about what they wish would happen." Gwen says, not waiting for the conference call clearly.
"I don't want that to happen" Toshiko snorts "Why would I want that to happen?"
"Well you're telling your teachers and your friends …"
"Mass hysteria".
"Maybe you're upset that Ianto moved in." Gwen glances at her.
"I'm not upset. Why would I be upset?"
"Look if the truth is you don't feel like talking about this right now that's fine. But don't look me in the eye with a big smile on your face and lie to me." Gwen warns "Cause there are only so many lies you're allowed to tell before it starts showing on your face. You wind up looking like..."
She stops. It's just too horrible. Was she about to be nasty to her own child?
"Like who?"
"Well, he's not president anymore, so why be petty."
Owen enters in white gloves and Gwen's scarf. "Pick a card. Any card."
Gwen picks a card.
"It just slipped out." Toshiko whimpers softly.
"It happens" Gwen forgives.
Toshiko glances at her then asks "What happens when he loves Ianto more than us?"
Gwen feels her heart cleave "That will never happen.
"Never say never you always say that." Toshiko sniffles "I'll bet daddy's mad at me now."
"Queen of diamonds." Owen says with flair, totally ignoring his sister's meltdown.
"Seven of clubs." Gwen shrugs "Nobody's mad we just want to talk about it."
"I'm gonna call him." Toshiko decides.
"Toshiko, daddy and I will always be there. That's one time always is always. You can call him after dinner but..."
Toshiko runs out of the room. Gwen watches her sadly. Owen hits Gwen hard with his magic wand. "Poof! You're happy now."
"Thank you Owen." Gwen sighs then unhappily follows her daughter "Toshiko!"
Owen finds himself alone in the kitchen. He hits himself on the head, hard. Poof! He begins to serve himself dinner.
Alone.