Chapter Seventeen: Cardiff

A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
George Edward Moore

It felt strange driving through Cardiff with Jack again after been away for so long. Cardiff itself looked just exactly the way Ianto remembered it; after all, it had only aged a fortnight. He and Jack were the ones who were older… he hadn't considered until that moment that come his next birthday (just a month away), he was going to be 27, but he would only be celebrating 26 years on earth… then again, he would only have been on earth for 26 years. He supposed the technicality made him feel a bit better about lying about his age; people who lied about their age struck him as vain and vain wasn't something Ianto believed himself to be. At the very least, it wasn't something he wanted to be… the desire to look good wasn't the same thing as being vain. He was sure of that.

He wondered absently if Jack ever felt odd about celebrating the wrong number of years with each birthday, especially the birthdays they celebrated with Ianto's family. Then again how on earth would we fit 2000 candles on a cake…? he mused, glancing over at the man sitting next to him, driving as usual – but differently than usual, mindful of Jason and Seren in the back. Using the turn signal, taking corners at a reasonable speed… not that Jack was reckless, per se. As far as Ianto knew, he'd never been in an accident. Still his driving could be a bit frightening at times. But not today.

Ianto watched the city go by taking it all in, all of the little details it seemed like he was seeing for the first time…

Jack reached over and took the his; he smiled. It felt strange to be driving through the streets of Cardiff again, but it felt good. Anything done with Jack felt good.

You make me so happy, he thought in the older man's direction. "I love you," he said aloud in a soft tone.

The words brought a smile to his Captain's. "I love you too." He brushed his lips against his partner's knuckles; a driver in another car glanced over, looked briefly startled and then went back to minding her own business.

"I'd almost forgotten the funny looks we sometimes get," the Welshman commented. He'd gotten used to being able to walk down the street without garnering any particular attention at all. Three thousand years into the future, they were just another family walking in the park.

"I think they're just jealous," Jack replied. "After all, I'm out here with the handsomest guy around."

Ianto chuckled. "Somehow I doubt that's the real reason, Cariad."

"What…? You don't think they're staring at me, do you?" he teased. "I mean, I know I'm gorgeous…"

He just shook his head. "I really do love you, Jack."

"Glad to hear it," he grinned as they rounded the corner to his mother in law's house. He felt Ianto tense up when they caught sight of Cade's truck in her drive. He gave his partner's hand a tight squeeze.

Ianto forced a smile. The plan had been to let his mother, sister and niece meet Seren first, then the rest of the family later… but that had been when the plan was for them to return home last week. He stifled a sigh, telling himself that sooner was probably better where his family was concerned, anyway.

As soon as Jack pulled up, Remi can running out of the house. She dashed as fast as her legs would carry her all the way to the curb, then skittered to a stop, carefully looked both ways before barrelling across the street and slamming into Ianto full force. "Uncle Ianto! Uncle Jack!" She gave the former a hug as the latter was getting the baby out of the back seat. "Is that her? Can I see her?" she tried desperately to peer over Jack's arms. "Please!?"

Chuckling, Ianto hoisted his niece up into his arms so she could see… and so she would calm down.

"She doesn't look foreign!" she cried; then looked mortified. Clearly she hadn't been supposed to say that… "Hi Jason," Remi added in a subdued tone, almost as an afterthought – or possibly to cover up her faux pas.

Jason took it in stride (even though it frustrated her that they couldn't just tell people the truth.) "Hi, Rem," he smiled up at his cousin. "This is Seren. And no, she doesn't look foreign."

Jack shot him a look, but Jason stood his ground. Even if he couldn't tell people the truth, he could at least stick up for his sister's looks. Not that he had any idea what they were all expecting her to look like, anyway. Even if she were foreign, it wasn't like she was an alien or something.

"She's so tiny," Remi said then.

"Babies usually are," Ianto told her.

"I was never that small."

Jack tried to hide his chuckle. Seren fussed briefly as he lifted the carrier off its base and brought her out into the bright Cardiff sun. He made a soft crooning noise at her and she quieted back down again. Ianto only hoped her fussing wasn't a sign of the way the rest of the afternoon was going to go…

"Stop it," Jack told him in a surprisingly stern tone (surprising to Ianto, anyway. Jason gave him a look, too.)

"What?" the Welshman blinked.

"You're fretting. Now stop." Jack encircled his partner's waist with his free arm and drew him across the street.

"I can't help it," he said, "I'm nervous."

"How come?" Remi wanted to know.

"How come he's fretting or how come he can't stop?" Jack interjected before the younger man could answer.

"You're not helping – either of you," he looked from the man holding onto him to the child he was carrying and then back again. Jack was helping the least. He also seemed to be enjoying himself. At my bloody expense…

The Captain flashed another bright smile, "What's the worst that can happen, Sweetheart?"

Ianto groaned.

"Now you've gone and jinxed it," Remi informed him.

Jason blinked up at her, "Jinxed what?"

"Whenever someone says 'what's the worst it can get', something bad always happens."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Tell me about it," Jack shot his son a wink. They'd arrived at the front door; Alice was there to greet them, wearing an expression very much like the one she had the first time Jack had met her. He began to wonder if Ianto was right to be worried about how things were going to go…