A/N:
Thank you again for all the lovely reviews, favourite/alert listings!
I would have had this up yesterday, but have you ever had one of those days where every ten minutes SOMEBODY needs you for something? ;-)
Chapter Sixteen: Home Sweet…
When you look at your life,
the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.
~Joyce Brothers
"Papa! I want to see the baby!" Jason protested into his father's ear as Jack carried him into the kitchen.
"I know… just give me a minute, ok? Then we'll go say hello to your little sister."
Reluctantly Jason nodded into his shoulder, silently taking note of that word 'sister'. He liked the idea of being a big brother, but he had been hoping for a little brother. Before they left, Papa and Tad hadn't made up their minds yet.
Jack set him onto one of the chairs. He stepped back, still holding onto his son's hands and looked at him… really looked at him. Those bright blue eyes full of mischief just like his own. Dark, tussled hair. His other father's nose… his own chin… and if his mother hadn't brought her old photo album, Jack would never have remembered what his son had looked like as a baby.
When he and Roan brought him home, he stuck around just long enough to recover from the caesarean section and only because Roan insisted on taking care of him while he convalesced. It wasn't a lengthy process… he might have stayed a little longer than was necessary because it was nice to have somebody looking after him.
Not that he had appreciated it, he knew that much of himself. But he remembered, in a vague and hazy sort of way, Roan making him chicken and dumplings and bringing him hot tea in bed. Fussing over him. Bringing him books to read.
In a week, maybe two, Jack got restless. He packed his bags, moved back to his own place. Went back to work.
Went back to John's bed. Others' beds. He remembered John accusing him of binging on sex, as if he had room to talk. He was the one who had ended up in rehab over his destructive tendencies. Jack knew how to keep himself in check… or at the very least not raise any red flags with his behaviour at the Agency.
In hindsight, however, he wondered if he had realized that when he walked out on Roan, he was running away from what should have been some of the best moments of his life. He wondered if he'd given even a single thought to what he was missing out on.
Jason's first steps. His first words.
Roan had kept him updated, of course, and he thought he might have made it to one of his son's birthdays, he just didn't remember which one. He remembered his mother giving him the icy, silent treatment the whole time, though. She didn't speak to him much in those days… sometimes he still thought she was only tolerating now him for Jason's sake. They got along, but he seemed to remember that she'd been a lot warmer towards him once upon a time, a very long time ago… he wondered if he would ever get that back.
"Papa?" his son asked in a soft tone. "Is something the matter?"
Jack pulled him into another fierce hug. "I just… I missed you, is all."
Jason hugged him back. Being a child of the fifty first century, he understood time travel – or at least he liked to think he did. He knew all about how some people lived on different personal time lines and how even though it had only been a couple of weeks for him, Papa and Tad had really been gone for a whole year. Papa couldn't very well walk around the twenty first century pregnant, after all. Men didn't do that yet.
"I know it was just a couple of weeks for you…" Jack murmured, cupping the back of his son's head and hanging on as tight.
"I missed you anyway," Jason told him. "I thought about you every day and tried to figure out how much time was really passing for you. I think I figured it out," he added, pointing to the calendar he'd made up and stuck to the refrigerator. It had the days marked off on both their timelines, two weeks for him, one whole year for his Papa and Tad.
Jack smiled and pressed a firm kiss onto his son's forehead. "I love you so much."
"I love you too," he held on just as tightly as he could, causing his father to completely lose his battle with the tears that had been welling up for some long moments.
Jack only barely took note of the hand on his shoulder; he recognized his mother's touch.
She'd seen him slip out of the crowded living room and had come to see if everything was all right… she'd let him know, privately so as not to upset his partner, that she had just as many concerns over their decision to have a baby as Ianto's mother did. Maybe more. Her reasons were entirely different, of course.
It was Jack and Ianto's work. She'd seen her son's husband come home with serious injuries on more than one occasion. A child should have at least one parent with a stable, safe job.
There was also Jack's track record with fatherhood. It had been one thing for her son to not want to be Roan's husband, but to walk out on his own son…? What did that say about his ability to be a father to this new baby? She wondered if he really wanted this child because he wanted it, or if he was doing what he'd done with Roan, giving in to something out of some sense of obligation or maybe guilt. Whatever the reason, she knew he'd never really wanted Jason.
She resented her son for that, for the way he so easily walked away from the people who loved him. For how easily he had started over again. No matter how much time had passed for Jack, it wasn't fair to Jason for him to have started a new family as if his old family had never even existed. She wasn't sure it was fair of her son to be adding to that family now that Jason was a part of his life again.
She still harboured a mixed set of feelings towards Ianto. He wasn't a child, he'd proven that. He was a good man. He was considerate. Compassionate. Loyal. Well grounded. He reminded her so much of Jason's other father sometimes that she wondered what Jack saw in one that he had missed in the other.
She hoped that Jack was as good for him as Ianto had obviously been for Jack.
"Your guests are starting to look for you," she said soft tone.
Jack nodded. "I just… needed a minute," he said, knowing that didn't really explain anything.
She smiled anyway. "Sometimes you don't realize what you're going to miss until it isn't there for a while."
"I know I haven't always been the best person, Mom…"
Ella cut him off with a shake of her head. "Just be a good person now."
………………………………………………………………….
"All right, all right, let's do this properly," the Doctor lifted Seren away from Gwen, who had somehow managed to get in a second turn at holding her. He returned the child to her Tad. "Where's Jack?" he asked the young Welshman quietly, glancing around but finding the Captain nowhere in sight.
"I'll get him," said Sara (American Sara as some of the others were calling her, to clearly distinguish her from Sarah Jane, not that the Doctor had any trouble distinguishing the two, even in conversation.)
She slipped into the kitchen… "Jack?" she hated to interrupt the scene she found… father and son… son and mother… "Sorry," she flashed a shy smile. "But they're looking for you."
The Captain nodded, wiping the last of the moisture from his cheeks, not that he thought anyone would begrudge him a few tears. He cleared his throat, to try and loosen up the lump that had settled there and hoisted his son up to his hip. "Ready to meet your little sister?" he asked.
"How come you had to go and have a girl, anyway?"
Jack couldn't help but laugh at his son's disgruntled tone. "We already have one boy… it's only fair to your Gramma to even the numbers out a little…"
"Oh, you Leave me out of this, Jack," she said, although clearly she was only teasing at him.
He shot her a wink and ventured into the living room where everyone seemed to be enjoying one another's company. How exactly they were all cramming in there, especially with the TARDIS dead in the middle of the room was a mystery, but no one seemed to mind the cramped quarters.
He settled in next to his partner draping his free arm around the younger man's shoulders; Ianto had finally managed to get Seren back. He looked all the happier for it, too. "Sorry about that," Jack apologized for leaving him to fend for himself.
"No worries, Cariad," he assured him.
Just then an sudden ear splitting whistle pieced through the room, silencing conversation. "Thank you," the Doctor looked rather pleased with himself for getting them all to quiet down. He gave a nod in Jack and Ianto's direction.
The young Welshman felt suddenly uncomfortable with all eyes on him. He really wasn't very good at public speaking, even if the 'public' were really his closest friends. "Well," he fidgeted, clearing his throat. "First… Ella, I… we…" he glanced at his partner; Jack smiled, blue eyes twinkling, brimming over with emotion and tears. He felt himself relaxing. "We'd like to introduce you to your granddaughter, Seren Toshiko Jones Harkness," he said the name loudly enough for everyone to hear her full name. He noticed the way Gwen's breath hitched and smiled at her briefly, but quickly turned his attention to Jack's son. "I know you really wanted a little brother…"
Jason shrugged. "I guess a sister's ok too. Can I hold her, now?"
"Why don't you give Gramma a chance first," Jack suggested, even as Ianto was handing Seren over to her.
Ella took the baby from him with a wan smile… she hadn't been entirely certain how she was going to feel about her new grand child. She'd dodged her turn at holding Seren twice already, saying that she would have all the time in the world with her, best let all of the boys' friends have their chance first…
Looking down at her now, Ella's smile warmed and she realized she had been silly to think she wouldn't love her every bit as much as she loved Jason... "What a long way you've come, just to come home," she crooned softly. She turned her smile up at her son. Maybe he was ready for this. Maybe there was something about Ianto that she hadn't discovered, something that made Jack happy.
Or maybe the something was in Jack… Maybe it had been there all along, or maybe it was something that had happened after he left… she supposed it didn't really matter. She favoured her son in law with an equally warm smile. "Now let's hope she's more of your temperament than his," she winked.
Ianto chuckled, pulling in closer to his Captain. "He's not all bad, you know."
Ella made a point of refraining from commenting… she motioned Jason to the sofa where they could sit down so he could hold his little sister...
Wendy slid in next to Jack and Ianto, wrapping her arms around the latter's waist. "She is beautiful, Yan," she nodded towards Seren.
Bobby was standing just behind her. "Congratulations, guys," he said simply.
Martha was in next to congratulate them… them Gwen and Rhys… One by one, two by two, they came over to welcome Jack and Ianto home personally, to congratulate them on their daughter.
At length, Jack felt the Doctor's hand on his shoulders, "Quite the family you've got here, Captain," he said over his shoulder.
"They're as much mine as they are yours, you know," he replied. Tegan and Johnny. Sarah Jane. Victoria. Martha. Liz. He only wished that Rose were here, too… Donna…
The Doctor seemed to understand. He raised his glass to Jack's, "To absent friends."
"Absent friends," Jack agreed.
……………………………………………………………..
By the time Jack had gotten the last of their guests out the door – and the Doctor had finally moved his TARDIS to the back garden – Ianto was passed out cold on the sofa, his stocking feet sticking out from underneath the throw Jack had covered him with. Jason was in bed… Ella had retired for the night as well. Jack was noticing that more and more she was going to bed earlier… dating just slightly less… getting older.
Just as Jack was settling in next to his partner to wake him and drag him off to bed himself, he heard Seren fussing over the baby monitor Ianto had insisted they keep downstairs with them after she went to bed.
"I've got her," the Doctor told him before he could get up.
"You sure?"
He laughed, "I think I can manage."
"Thanks," Jack slid back down next to his partner. He laid a hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle nudge. "Sweetheart… everybody's gone…"
Ianto stirred. "Hummm?"
"Come on. It's late, let's get to bed."
Coming to wakefulness Ianto realized he could hear their daughter…
"The Doctor's got her. Come on. Let me take you to bed."
"I can…" he started to get up, despite the protests of every exhausted muscle in his body.
"I think he wanted to, Sweetheart." It hadn't escaped his notice that the Doctor seemed terribly fond of Seren.
He knew that the Doctor had practically raised his granddaughter, that she'd travelled with him. He never said what had happened to her parents and Jack never asked. He promised to look in on her when the time came. The Doctor had left her on earth after the Dalek invasion of the 22nd century; he hadn't seen her since.
Still groggy, Ianto looked up as the Time Lord came down the stair carrying very fussy little girl. "Hungry, I think," he told the fathers with a smile. "Nothing I can't handle, honest," he added.
Reluctantly Ianto nodded; even after his nap, he was exhausted from the party. He let Jack haul him to his feet and pull him upstairs…
"I'll get you tucked in and then go check in them," Jack promised. Then he pressed his lips to his partner's mouth. "Welcome home, by the way."
The Welshman smiled at him, "It's good to be back. Don't stay up too late…?" he asked.
His answer was a long, sensual kiss…