22
Jack came to in a chair with Mickey talking to him as he held him up and gently shook him.
"Jack? You with us?" Mickey repeated and Jack blinked as it all came flooding back.
"Where's Ianto?" he asked as he struggled to get out of the chair.
"Graves. He stormed out there and yelled at us to leave him alone." Martha said softly, "I think he's filling them in."
"Oh god! He shouldn't be overdoing it, he's pregnant!" Jack gasped, running out and leaving Mickey gob smacked as his wife face palmed.
Jack called out as he drew near and Ianto turned to face him, his shirt off and his pale skin glistening with sweat in the dying sun's muted light.
"I can do that, you take a breath" Jack said as he reached for the shovel and Ianto seemed to consider pulling it back, but then let him have it.
"I love you, so much" Ianto said softly and Jack felt his heart soar then realized he was talking to the grave.
Ianto knelt as the dirt stopped piling up and started to smooth it out with his hands.
"Ianto, it will settle" Jack said and Ianto growled softly.
"It's Tosh. You know it has to be nice and tidy" Ianto muttered as he started placing rocks around the edge of it.
"Ianto, we need to talk about you. The baby" Jack knelt and watched Ianto's face as he ignored him.
"Ianto?"
Ianto finally sat back on his heels to glare as him and Jack saw the dirty face streaked with tears.
"Ianto. That was then, this is now" Jack said softly, "She … was not mate material. Me? A terrible dam. I get sick, I whine a lot and none of my children I ever carried survived to full term."
Ianto balked as his hands went to his stomach at the thought of a stillbirth.
"God. The chairs" Jack finally got it.
Ianto snorted and rose to brush dirt off his knees.
"Ianto, I love you. I want you. Gods, you really want me to admit that I need you too?" Jack asked as he stepped around the grave to approach him, "Ianto. I don't know what is going to happen, I have no idea what your future holds but I want to be in it. Do you understand me?"
Ianto was now breathing normally as he scrubbed at his face and Jack pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to him with a soft smile.
"Ianto, I love you." He offered as well.
"We can get through this together" Jack assured him, also starting to relax, "We can survive this. The baby, we can handle it. I will love you, and love it because it came from you."
Ianto dropped his hands and frowned at Jack with confusion.
"As long as we face it together, we can endure" Jack now reached out to take Ianto's hands and he hunched slightly so Ianto was looking at him, "I can love this baby, for you."
Ianto's frown deepened as he tried to understand why he was talking like that, then he clicked and his face changed to one of complete horror.
He took a step back, pulling his hands out of Jack's.
"Ianto?"
"You think this is a … what? Alien? A Predator baby? Some hybrid abomination that you will accept for me?" Ianto spluttered as he felt his anger growing again.
"Ianto .. I …." Jack wondered if he had been misreading things again.
Ianto looked around as he sought an escape, wanting to smash something again.
"Ianto. Oh god. Are you telling me … are you telling me this is mine?" Jack felt his knees shaking as he watched his love intently, the small twitch at the corner of his mate's eye as he struggled to control his emotions told Jack he had finally gotten something right.
And gods, had he gotten so much wrong.
What a fucking mess.
"Ah shit" Jack wailed as his words repeated in his brain and he heard them as Ianto had been.
Ianto balked and Jack grabbed him, pulling him in tight, "No. No, stop misunderstanding me. No."
Ianto broke down and started to sob as he leaned into Jack's smell and warm body, his heart rendering intakes of breath making Jack wince.
Oh god he had hurt him so much.
Jack felt like a first class prick as he stood rocking them both as the air cooled and the evening chill finally alerted him to the dark.
"Come on baby" he said softly, "We still have that meal waiting and I know your skin is crawling from all that dirt."
"I never got to say some words and stuff" Ianto huffed softly.
"Tomorrow" Jack promised, "We will have nice grave markers and we will place them there and then it will be complete. Some flowers and stuff?"
"Rose bushes?" Ianto asked in a small voice as he let Jack lead him back to the house and the warmth waiting within.
"Yes, rose bushes and a nice garden area. A nice seat and spot for you to be alone with Tosh." Jack agreed, "Me with Gray. We all need a space to think sometimes. Christ I have to start trying more."
Ianto snorted.
"So, my baby maker? My lover and my big mouth?" Jack asked as he rubbed Ianto's back while walking, "Poor baby. It will be a little hellion."
Ianto snorted as he finally started to hope that this might work out.
His hand over his stomach matched the other one over his heart.
Either way, he was going to find out.