TITLE: Family Matters 5/?
AUTHOR: Erin Giles
RATING: PG (for swearing)
SUMMARY: Ianto asks for a personal day, which in itself is an oddity. Jack's curiosity gets the better of him and before he knows it he finds himself in the middle of Ianto's family. Set from Jack's POV.
PAIRING: Jack/Ianto
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, and never will be sadly.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I found this part really hard to write, because a lot of you had such high hopes for the Sunday dinner, as did I, so I didn't want to let you down. Also, in case some of you aren't old enough to remember or likewise are too old to remember - Alf was an awesome TV show about an Alien Life Form aka Alf who lived with a family called the Tanners who had to hide him from the government until he fixed his spaceship - and it was awesome:) (Ianto would have been about 6 when it first started airing if we're going by GDL age)
Jack and Ianto ended up walking to Ianto's childhood home on the Sunday morning at Jack's persistence because, 'It was such a lovely morning.' It had nothing to do with the fact that Jack thought Ianto was going to have a panic attack at any moment and wanted to have some time to calm the man down.
As a result they were late, although Ianto had informed Jack that morning that Sunday dinner was an informal occasion while Jack had watched him go through every shirt in his wardrobe, twice. Jack was grateful that he hadn't taken the same care with the jeans - throwing on the first pair that came to hand - otherwise they would have been lucky if they had made it there before Monday.
Ianto spent most of the walk warning Jack about his father; things he liked, things he didn't like, things not to do, things to just ignore. He was still trying to give bits of advice as he rang the doorbell and Jack had given up all pretence of trying to calm him down. It was at the last minute that Ianto wrenched his hand from Jack's grasp as the door opened to reveal a middle aged man that barely resembled Ianto.
"Hiya Da." Ianto tried to say as cheerily as possible.
"You brought company I see." Ianto's father said, eyeballing Jack and his attire. Jack returned Ianto's father's stare with a dazzling smile, holding out his hand.
"I'm Captain Jack Harkness." Jack's hand was ignored.
"Oh, a military man is it Ianto. Well I suppose you both best come in then. Mind you wipe your feet, Captain." Mr. Jones called over his shoulder, the emphasis on Captain, leaving Ianto and Jack stood on the front doorstep. Ianto motioned Jack inside.
"Rhiannon's in the kitchen Ianto, trying to cook dinner. Why we have to keep doing this now your Mam's gone I don't know. Seems like a lot of fuss over nothing to me." Mr. Jones continued to babble as he went into the living, "I said it's a lot of fuss over nothing Rhiannon!"
"I heard you the first twenty times Da." Rhiannon said as she emerged on one side of the hall just as Ianto was taking Jack's coat from him and hanging it over the banister. Rhiannon hugged Ianto and went on to hug Jack without hesitation, catching him somewhat by surprise.
"Nice to see you again Jack." Jack gave her a smile in return.
"Well, you going to stand in the hall all day chin-wagging like women or you going to come in?"
Ianto gave a long suffering smile to his sister before he led the way into the living room.
"So who are you then? Friend of Ianto's? Some random stranger he picked up on the street?" Jack hadn't even been introduced to the man who was sat on floor helping Finn set up his train set, hadn't even met the rest of Ianto's family and he already felt like he was playing twenty questions.
"I work with him Da." Ianto was saying as he shook hands with the man, patting Finn on the head before he slouched onto the edge of the couch, imploring Jack to join him.
"Oh another one from work is it? That bloody Torchwood again?" Mr. Jones was waggling a finger at Jack now, "You know that black jeep of yours nearly ran our neighbour down last year." Mr. Jones had turned accusatory eyes on Ianto now, "That's what working for the bloody government does to you Ianto. Tries to bloody kill you and then compensates you by offering you a shittier job than you had before!"
Jack watched as Ianto blushed bright red, averting his eyes from his father's gaze before pulling himself to his feet.
"I'll go see if Ria needs a hand in the kitchen." Ianto said before quickly making an exit.
Mr. Jones gave a dramatic sigh.
"I swear that boy doesn't have his head screwed on straight some days. He like this at work as well?"
"No, nothing like this." Jack said through gritted teeth to stop himself from saying more than he wanted to.
"No, I suppose he wouldn't be. One wrong move and he could accidentally get a paper cut." Mr. Jones scoffed, turning on the television and changing it immediately to S4C before starting to jabber away in Welsh.
"I'm Chris by the way," Chris said, holding out a hand as he lent back against the couch, "Ria's husband."
"Jack."
Matters hadn't improved much by the time they were all sat round the dinner table. Finn started throwing his food half way through the starter, making it his own personal challenge to get it just beyond the laminate flooring and onto the rug that signified the start of the lounge.
"Don't want it." He proclaimed banging his knife and fork on the table, "Where's Granny!"
Finn started screaming at the top of his lungs then while everyone else fell silent before Chris picked him up and carried him out the room.
"You two would have got a clip round the ear if you'd have done that when you were kids."
"Yeah, well things change Da." Rhiannon said in rather clipped tones as she finished off her food and started collecting plates. Jack offered to help, and Rhiannon was too busy trying to keep her temper under control that she forgot Jack was supposed to be a guest.
Jack brought the plates through into the kitchen to find Rhiannon leaning heavily on the sink.
"I'm sorry about him Jack," she sighed, opening up the dishwasher to load it, "It's just the way he is I'm afraid."
"Don't worry," Jack replied, putting the forks into the cutlery holder, "Ianto gave me plenty of warning on the way over here. In fact I would go so far as to say it resembled a public service announcement."
Rhiannon let out a sharp laugh.
"Sometimes you need one when you come into this house." She smiled slightly as she closed the dishwasher, glancing in the pot on the stove before taking a dramatic breath. "Once more into the breech."
Ianto disappeared from the dinner table after the main course, apparently no longer able to stomach the food or the conversation. Jack gave him until after pudding before he excused himself quietly from the dinner table.
He found Ianto lying on the floor in the middle of one of the spare bedrooms, eyes closed. It was the smallest of the rooms that he had come across on his brief search of the house, but it wasn't any less loved. Remnants of its previous occupant still remained; a scuffed Oasis poster was still on the wall, and there was a rather ragged looking Alf on the book shelf, sandwiched between a few battered looking Hardy Boys books and some Beano albums circa 1990.
Jack didn't say anything as he shut the door behind him, lying down on the floor beside Ianto, staring up at the mottled magnolia ceiling. He grasped blindly for Ianto's hand and found it easily, giving it a firm squeeze of reassurance.
"We can leave if you want."
"Mam's been telling me for years that I needed to clear out my old room." Ianto said after a moment's pause, ignoring Jack's offer, "She kept threatening to throw everything in the bin, but she never did."
Jack could hear people clearing the dishes away downstairs, the sound of high heels on the kitchen floor, raised voices and the sound of running water.
"She never did." Ianto repeated quietly.
Ianto had gone to retrieve another black bag a good ten minutes ago. Jack was starting to feel extremely uncomfortable at being left alone in a house he felt sorely out of place in. He traversed the stairs, passing Ria and Chris in the dining room pouring over bills and pension notices, taking a wide berth round the living room where he could hear the sounds of the afternoon races. Jack found Ianto in the kitchen, staring at the answering machine. As Jack got closer Ianto pressed the play button again.
"Hello this is Rona and Dylan Jones. We're not in at the moment, but if you leave a message we'll call you back." There was a long lingering beep in which Ianto continued to stare at the answering machine.
"I thought you said you wouldn't be a minute?" Jack asked, not wanting to intrude, but he couldn't bear to think how long Ianto had been stood there listening to his mother's voice on the answering machine.
"Sorry Jack," Ianto said standing upright, holding the black bags out before him, "I got sidetracked."
Jack could see fresh tear tracks on Ianto's face, his eyes bloodshot and heavy lidded.
"You know everything doesn't have to get done today, we can come back later on in the week if you want?"
"Uncy Yan," Finn was in the kitchen now, tugging on Ianto's jeans and gazing up at him, "Mummy said to ask you if you wanted to come and play in the playground."
"You go get your shoes on and I'll come join you." Ianto said while Finn squealed in delight and rushed from the kitchen. Ianto looked back up at Jack, rubbing at his eyes before handing over the black bags.
"Make sure you keep Alf."
Jack was stood at the door of the Jones' family home, staring across the road to the children's playground there. He hadn't felt comfortable going through Ianto's childhood and casting half of it aside because it had no meaning to him. He supposed that was why Ianto had bequeathed him with the task though. Jack could see the obsessive part of Ianto trying to horde everything and cramming it into the spare room in his terraced house.
He watched the young energy of Finn running from the bottom of the slide to the top again, never tiring of the repeated motion and the thrill of life it brought with it. He could also make out Ianto and Rhiannon sat on separate swings, not swinging and kicking their legs out and screaming wildly at the rush of the wind in their ears. They were just sat there, heads turned towards each other slightly, resting on the chain of the swing conversing about something Jack could only begin to wonder at. He watched as the swings swayed slightly as brother and sister's hands grasped for each other in some form of comfort.
Jack was jostled aside by Rhiannon's husband Chris bringing out another bag for the charity shop which he placed in the boot of their Ford Fiesta before turning back towards the house, stopping to look at what Jack was staring at. He lent on the wall next to the bay window of the living room, arms folded.
"You know Ria was beside herself when Canary Wharf was on the news. I had to drive her round here because Rona was on the phone in hysterical tears, both of them thinking that they'd lost him." Chris sighed, "Never known a family so close."
There was a pause in which both Chris and Jack watched Ianto relinquish his swing to Finn and begin pushing him on it.
"They didn't find out he was alive and well until about a week later, almost made themselves sick with grief. Only twenty-seven survivors apparently in the end, and they kept every single one of them locked up for a good month after the incident, damage control or some such nonsense."
There was a squeal of laughter as Finn rose up into the air, titling his head back slightly followed by the sound of both Ria and Ianto admonishing him and telling him to hold on tight.
"He never talked about what happened, not to his Mum, nor Ria, not anyone as far as I know. Course you'd know all that working for Torchwood yourself." Chris said looking to Jack for conformation. Jack tried to nod. He should know these things, these simple facts about Torchwood One and he did, somewhere in the deep recesses of his brain, but he had never made the connection between them and Ianto. The two just didn't fit together, no matter what the reports said.
"What I don't understand is why Ianto went back after everything? True he didn't go back to London, and to be honest I don't think Rona and Ria would have forgiven him if he did, but he went back to work for the organisation that almost took his life. Would you do that?" Chris turned a questioning gaze on Jack and Jack wasn't sure if he should reply or not. "I know I wouldn't." Chris sighed before he turned back into the house, Jack presumed to fetch another bag for charity.
Jack did understand why Ianto had come back and the misguided reasons for it and it made him feel sick to his stomach thinking about it. What he didn't understand was why Ianto now stayed.