Chapter 14
Ianto sat down on the coach, beer in one hand, dressed in Jeans and a nice shirt as his sister began to tell him about the plans for her wedding next year.
His twin sister had been engaged to her fiancée for a month now and were planning to get married late next year.
Taffy was no where near as organised as her brother so it was his job to sit down and listen to the list of things she has done or still has to do and point out what she was missing, much to the amusement of Venn who quite often managed to vanish out of the room.
"I think you're jumping the gun a little of the flower arrangements," Ianto replied flicking through the photo album she'd dumped in his lap.
"Why?" Taffy asked screwing up her nose at him in confusion.
"What happens if they have a bad year for that colour rose or this flower, then they might not be able to get them, the prices might go up then you'd have to give up what you'd set your heart on." Ianto shrugged.
When he didn't receive a reply he looked up to find her watching him with a thoughtful look in her eye.
"What?" Ianto asked confused as she took the photo album off his lap and closed it, tossing it onto the heap of other wedding plans that were scattered all over the kitchen table.
"What's wrong?" She asked turning to face him fully on the coach glancing briefly at Venn as he walked into the room and sat down in one of the nearby chairs.
"Nothing," Ianto replied sipping his beer and not quite meeting her eyes.
"Don't lie to me," Taffy warned and Venn quickly covered his chuckle by coughing at the dirty look she sent his way.
Watching his fiancee and her twin always amused him they were so similar sometimes it was scary, then other times they were complete opposites.
One thing however never changed and that was how close the two were. They would tell each other anything and everything and they always seemed to know when something was wrong with the other.
Ianto was just about to reply when his mobile beeped at him.
Pulling it out of his pockets he smiled as he read the Christmas message from Tosh.
He quickly sent one back and before he could shove it in his pocket two more came through from Owen and Gwen obviously having been reminded by Tosh to send out their own messages so he replied to those as well.
"Is that thing going to go off again or can I get a straight answer out of you now," Taffy asked a little miffed.
"They're Christmas messages from Tosh, Owen and Gwen, you know I work with them," Ianto replied
"I thought you worked with four others, isn't there another guy as well, did you get a message from him earlier?" Venn asked
Ianto froze, no he hadn't received a message from Jack, hadn't heard from him since he left last night in his car and apparently ruined it, though Arabella was the one who brought him a new car that morning.
"Yes there's another, my boss and no I haven't heard from him," Ianto replied downing the last of his beer and heading into the kitchen to get another confusing the pair he'd left behind in the living room.
A knock at the door made everyone pause though Ianto only for a second as he continued into the kitchen and into the fridge.
"I'll get the door, you sort out Ianto," Venn suggested getting out of the chair
"Fair enough," Taffy replied heading into the kitchen after her twin.
Venn opened the door to come face to face with a tall man wearing what looked like the old RAF coat his grandfather had in storage.
"Can I help you?" he asked pulling himself up to his full height of a couple of inches taller than the stranger in case he was some crackpot who needed to be scared off.
"I'm not sure… I was looking for Ianto Jones, I was told this is where some of his family lives but…" The guys paused looking at him in confusion.
Venn realised he was trying to figure out a polite way to say that Ianto was snowy white in complexion not chocolate black like he was without seeming rude, so he decided to save the man the trouble and introduce himself.
"That's right my fiancée and I live here. I'm Ianto's future bother-in-law; I'm marrying his twin sister Taffy,"
"Twin?" the guy asked honestly surprised, whoever he was he obviously didn't know a thing about Ianto's family if he didn't know of Taffy, those two were like two peas in a pod.
"I don't want to talk about it," Ianto said hearing his sister walk into the kitchen behind him.
"Talk about what the fact that you're moody and obviously upset about something you don't want to talk about," Taffy said leaning on the counter next to where he stood infront of the sink staring out the kitchen window into the yard.
"Who's at the door?" Ianto asked trying to change the subject
"It's girl problems isn't it? Last time I saw you at my engagement party you said you met someone and you had that look to you. Now you're sad, so what happened with her?" Taffy asked completely ignoring his question
"Ianto there's some guy at the door for you?" Venn said walking into the room as the twins turned around to look at him.
"Jack?" Ianto blurted as he noticed the man following Venn into the kitchen
Taffy watched in amusment as various emotion flicked across her brother's face, anger, hope, wonder, hurt before landing on confusion. How very interesting Taffy thought as she turned to look at their unexpected guest.
He was gorgeous, she'd give him that, tall only a few inches shorter than Venn, around the same height as Ianto. Thick brown hair, strong jawline, captivating blue eyes and while his outfit hid his body from wandering eyes there was no doubt in her mind that it was something to behold.
"Oh so you do know him? I was beginning to think he was some sort of weirdo," Venn replied but the joke fell of deaf ears.
Ianto and Jack were staring at each other neither wanting to speak first. Both seemed antsy around each other which for some reason just looked wrong for them.
"So Ianto are you going to introduce us?" Taffy said looking between the two and for once in her life unable to read her brother clearly enough to be able to figure it out.
"Um, Yeah… Jack this is my twin sister Taffy and her fiancée Venn. Taf, Venn this is my, boss, Jack." Ianto introduced ignoring Jack's flinch at being referred to as his boss, at least he knew how much trouble he was in.
"Can I talk to you… in private please?" Jack asked raking his hand through his hair in a nervous gesture.
Taffy looked at her brother not willing to move unless he wanted her to, Ianto nodded and she took Venn's hand leading him out of the kitchen.
"We'll be in the lounge if you need us." Taffy replied locking eyes with her brother making sure he knew all he had to do was say her name and she's be there.
"What are you doing here Jack?" Ianto asked as soon as he figured the other two were far enough away that they had some privacy
"I'm sorry?..." Jack began
"Wha…" Ianto replied but paused as Jack held his hand up
"Please let me just say this," Jack sighed running his hand through his hair and begining to pace
"Ok," Ianto agreed making himself comfortable leaning back against the counter.
"Recently I've been having a bad feeling about something, there's something coming, something really bad and I was worried that you would be hurt, that's why I've been pushing you away lately. I didn't want you getting hurt," Jack began,
Ianto snorted, "I can't be hurt anymore. Not permenantly,"
"Which didn't completely register until I had it beaten into my thick skull. I'm sorry, I made a mistake," Jack replied glanving up to see ianto's reaction though not quite meeting his eyes.
"And my car?" Ianto asked folding his arms "I happened to like my car, John steals it you go after him and vanish and then the next thing I know Arabella's dropping me off a brand new car in the morning with no explanation only 'a talk to Jack'."
"By the time I got to John your car was already ruined, he was trying to gas himself in it, there was no way you'd have ever got the smell out of it and the upholstery would have been ruined." Jack reasoned pinching the bridge of his nose as he stopped pacing and just stood their awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen.
"That explains the new car. You said trying, so you obviously got there in time, what took you so long." Ianto asked his anger sliding away as the minutes progressed.
Jack slowly slumped back against the bench behind him not meeting Ianto's eyes instead staring at a spot on the ceiling.
"I couldn't talk him out of it. No matter how hard I tried he was bent on killing himself so he could be with his family. I couldn't let him go through it alone… so I sat with him. I sat in the car with him as we both died from monoxide poisoning. By the time I came back the car was so thick with it and my body was still trying to get rid of the last lot in my system that I died again very quickly. I didn't even have a chance to reach for the handle. It took me six revivals to be able to get myself out of the car."
Jack explained shuddering in remembrance and Ianto's heart tore at the look of complete sadness and defeat that crossed Jack's face. Stepping forward he pulled Jack into his arms as he continued.
"I used the last of my strength to get back to the hub, but I passed out before I even made it to my office. Luckily Ari was there to sort me out. I'm sorry about your car," Jack mumbled into Ianto shirt as he clung to him for support and comfort finally letting the emotional strain from the past few days seep out.
"God, Jack the car doesn't matter," Ianto sighed pulling back to look into his eyes.
"I really am sorry, about everything. The car, the distancing, my complete stupidity," Jack replied nothing but complete honesty showing in his eyes.
"You silly old bastard," Ianto sighed resting his forehead against Jacks
"Will you forgive me?" Jack whispered
Ianto didn't reply, he just tipped his head forward capturing Jack's lips and pulling him into a tight embrace.
"So who's this Jack guy?" Venn asked looking at his wife who was sitting on the couch next to him one ear listening to what was going on in the kitchen.
They couldn't hear enough to be able to making out words, just enough to know that the pair were talking pretty intensely about something.
"I don't know, Ianto introduced him as his boss, but I get the feeling there's something else going on," Taffy replied frowning slightly causing her to look so much like her brother.
"Whatever it is, they've gone awfully quiet," Venn said glancing towards the door.
"I know. I'm going to go and check on them. Make sure Ianto's ok," Taffy said getting to her feet.
"Are you sure you should be going in there, they did ask for privacy," Venn replied catching her wrist as she went to walk past him.
"And it's still our house, we can go anywhere we like," Taffy replied a determined look on her face.
"We?" Venn repeated knowing what was coming next
"Yep come on," she replied pulling him to his feet and in the direction of the kitchen.
What they saw when they got to the door was the last thing they had expected.
They'd expected to find the two men mad or upset with each other standing silently in the kitchen not speaking.
They could have even handled the two men reading some sort of official document from work, as they both knew Ianto worked for some sort of secret government agency where he ran a tourist shop as cover and couldn't tell them anything about it.
What they didn't expect to see was the two men wrapped in a rather intimate embrace snogging in the middle of their kitchen.
Taffy was the first to break out of her shock and she noisily cleared her throat causing the two men to jump apart looking guilty
"Ianto is there something you want to tell me?" she asked sweetly to her now scarlet coloured brother.