SpecialFaiths: Yeah but they've got Jack

LittleWing: So would I but Ianto has Rhi to think of. Glad you liked it, don't have Dyslexia but ADHD so I know what it's like for people to be moody or sulky about things like that. I go to a group and some of them were a bit rude asking if I leaned one way or the other which annoyed me and really didn't help. Thought they would have been more understanding about it. Glad you gave it a chance! ^^

hotflower901: I know, sorry

katwinchester: There'll be more insight with Ianto's family and sorry it was so sad. I like the angst, I work well with it

TeamBarrowman: Ianto's not going to be that open and out about it and that's going to step on a few people's toes.

proum: Rhiannon? Is that who you meant? I kinda took from that imaginary season... CoE was it? She'll be supportive heheheh ^^

Efern: Ianto's mam has OCD and it's getting worse, she freaked because he touched her hand. Sorry that it wasn't clear... they touch upon it in this chapter when he's talking to Tosh.

deemama66: I have exciting plans for that hog. Ever since I saw that pic GDL on that motorbike... my happy fangirlism ran away with itself.

Jessie Blackwood: Thank you. I really liked reading your story Bomber Command as well, it was very moving at the end. It's one of my favourites ^^

Amethystbutterflys: It's here, sorry it took so long. Was reading stuff and writing stuff I shouldn't... really need to finish that fic about the shoes and posted it on here ;]

Authors/Note: Sorry, really, really sorry that this took so long. I promised that this would be out and since I normally put stuff out on a friday here it is... once I've posted this I'm going straight to finish off that B13 chapter and that shoes story that Amethystbutterflys inspired and I'll try and post them tonight... failing that I'll post them once they're complete which might not be tonight. Okay... on with this chapter! David tells his mam about Ianto and Jack, she googles and accepts ;] Tosh turns up wanting to talk to Ianto about her problems, Ianto sort of outs himself to here, Jack calls for help and Gwen verbally kicks butt. I wonder if what she says would win over any Gwen-bashers? As usual read and review! Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve

Rhiannon closed Micah's door then wandered down the hall to David's room, he was sitting upright in bed staring off into space

"David?" she called his name and he jumped, he hadn't even known she was there "Do you want me to tuck you in?"

"Okay" he nodded, she smiled relieved that her little boy was still her little boy and crossed the room to perch on the edge of the bed. David lay down, snuggling against the blankets she smoothed out

"I was worried when you ran off. You know that your tad wouldn't hurt us" she told him, that had probably been what he was thinking about when she stood in the doorway

"I know. Mam, when I went to Uncle Ianto's... Jack was there" he began nervously "I woke up early and saw them in bed together"

"You didn't see them doing stuff did you?" she asked; Rhiannon wasn't sure she wanted to have this conversation yet and she didn't like the idea of having to explain what her little brother got up to in bed

"No, no. They were asleep" he replied, then looked away sinking back into thought before turning back to his mother "You're not going to be angry with Uncle Ianto because Jack was there are you?"

"No, sweetheart, why would I be angry? Ianto told me about her, she sounds like a nice lady"

"What are you talking about?" David looked confused rather than angry

"Ianto's new girlfriend" stated Rhiannon, feeling a little confused herself

"Girlfriend? Mam, Jack's a man. Uncle Ianto was in bed with a man" he explained and her jaw dropped wide open

"But..." she shook her head and trailed off "No I'm not angry about that. Thank you for telling me, you better get some sleep now. You've got school in the morning"

"Okay but don't tell Uncle Ianto I told you, I don't want him to be angry at me. He doesn't know I know" she kissed his head then left the room turning out the light as she went.

Rhiannon went downstairs, moving without thought, Johnny was on the couch watching Eastenders. He was oblivious as she sat down next to him trying to wrap her head around what her son had just told her; was Ianto really gay? No, that couldn't be right, she told herself! She shook her head as she leaned back, Ianto had always been attracted to girls Mary in high school and then Lisa and Toshiko so why on earth was he in bed with a man? Why had he lied?

Sitting there Rhiannon thought back to when he told her about Jack and she gasped; she'd assumed that Jack was a girl and he'd went along with it. She could still see the surprise, shame and relief in his eyes... he'd been trying to tell her and she'd made it worse! Suddenly she jumped up as an idea came to her and she hurried over to the computer that was set up in the corner of the room and searched for Jack Harkness. It wasn't that hard to find him, he was actually quite famous and she was rather surprised she hadn't connected the dots on her own.

"Whose that then?" Johnny asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. She turned around away from Jack's picture never noticing that her husband had been standing behind her

"Oh. I was just looking something up, he's a friend of Ianto's"

"Is he one of those movie stars? He looks it" he mumbled as he leaned closer to get a better look at Jack Harkness not realising that he was looking at his brother in law's boyfriend. Rhiannon closed the window and switched the computer off before coming to sit back down on the couch; no matter how she felt about it she knew that Ianto was happy and that wasn't something to be messed with.

***

Monday morning was quite interesting for Ianto Jones. He drove to the training grounds on his bike and felt so happy to be back on it! As soon as the lads from the team saw it they were ribbing him with good natured jealousy and tried to convince him to each let him have a turn

"No, sorry lads. No one rides Maggie but me" he told them as he loving patted the handle bar

"She's a real beaut!" Andy stated as he crouched down near the bike "How did you manage to afford her?"

"I didn't. My tad found her in a scrap yard not long after I turned seven, we rebuilt her ourselves" he answered, Andy whistled

"Now that is impressive" the blonde welshman stood up and swung his sports bag up onto his shoulder "Come on, we better get inside before the coach gets prissy again. Is she gonna be alright out here?"

"Of course, it's a secured car park" nodded Ianto was he grabbed his backpack and fell into step with his best friend on the team "So how was your weekend?"

"Same ol', same ol'... out on the town with some of the boys. Seriously you should come sometime, the rest of us are starting to think that you don't like us!"

"Don't be daft, okay... on Saturday if you guys are out and about I'll come with. But I'm not really in the mood to chase tail; I'm happy with the one I've got"

"Oh yeah... your girlfriend" smirked Andy knowingly, Ianto paused looking a little surprised

"Yeah" Ianto mumbled

"It's okay. I'm happy for you" he tried to convey that he knew without actually using the words. Ianto nodded a smile spreading across his face

"Thanks, Andy"

Ianto trained and ran plays with the rest of the team until the coach called them in; he was exhausted, far sweatier than he liked and all he wanted to do was have a long shower before wandering around the shops. Ianto felt like spending some of his hard earned and unspent money on something nice for Jack.

He staggered into the large locker room showers and quickly ducked under a shower head, unbdden he thought about the last time he'd had a shower and it had been with Jack. That had been fun even though they'd been interrupted, we have to do that again Ianto thought as he washed his hair. What can I get Jack? I want to get something nice that he'd really like, he told himself as he scrubbed off the sweat, but I don't know what he likes. Well, thought Ianto, I have the whole afternoon to look!

It didn't take him that long to get dressed and he left the club with some of the boys from the team, they were laughing and wolf whistling and when Ianto stepped past them he saw what they were looking at. Toshiko was sat on his bike sidesaddle with her legs crossed, her skirt was pulled tight and high emphasising her long legs

"Is that your new missus?!" someone called, before another man commented "Way to go, Jones!

Ianto just rolled his eyes as he reached his ex girlfriend, she was smirking up at him loving the attention the rugby players were giving her

"Can you get off my bike. I just got her fixed" he ordered, he didn't want to sound angry but despite having a calm tone the words were aggressive and she hopped off with a scowl on her face

"I remember a time when you loved me sitting on the back" she commented as she hiked her skirt down

"Yeah. We're friends now, friends don't do things like that... I just don't feel that way about you anymore" he told her

"I've got the afternoon off. There's no lectures this afternoon and I'm all up to date with my work so I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch"

"How come you're asking me and not John?" he inquired as he attached his bag to the back of his bike

"He's working on updating the systems on some planes or fighters... I forget which one but he's doing that because in a few months they're going out there"

"Out there? Is he going as well?" Ianto asked her, they both knew what a sore subject it was

"I'll pay for lunch"

"Okay" he nodded, he held out his arm for her and they headed out of the club car park and down the road looking for somewhere nice to eat. They settled on a nice pub that wasn't too busy and found a table.

"How are you, Ianto?" Tosh asked not long after they'd sat down and ordered

"Me? I'm okay" he replied thinking about how up and down his weekend had been

"Just okay? You look a little lost" she commented reaching across the table to put her hand over his, to Ianto it felt weird the way she was touching him and he held himself tight from pulling his hand away. He didn't want to be afraid to touch and be touched; that was how things started with his mother

"It's mam, she's getting worse. I went to see her yesterday and she's back to how she was before she was in Providence"

"Oh, Ianto" she whispered softly, her hand tightening around his offering comfort

"I just... I don't know what to do... I can see her getting worse and I'm... I feel so guilty because all I can think about is what if it's happening to me?"

"You should talk with your sister and maybe your mam needs help? No one would blame you if you got her help from a specialist"

"Specialist? I don't think there's a specialist for OCD craziness" he shook his head and sighed "Enough of my weekend, you wanted to talk"

"John's conscripted" announced Toshiko

"Shit. Tosh, I'm sorry"

"Thanks. I don't know what to do about it... I don't want him to go but if I told him I don't think he'd like that and would probably dump me" Ianto couldn't help feel a spike of anger welling up inside him. Toshiko had dumped him without a second thought as soon as she'd found someone better and now that there was a possibility of it happening to her she wanted all the support and sympathy available!

"When's he going?"

"In a few months time" she replied "He's on leave at the moment but he's still going through training and helping out with the systems and intelligence"

"I think you should tell him that you don't like that he's going to leave but don't tell him that he shouldn't go. Just tell him and enjoy the time you have, no one knows when it's going to end"

"You're right" she nodded "You're so right! You never know when your time is up... like that poor friend of Gwen's that passed away"

"F-Friend?" Ianto stammered as his heart fell into his suddenly lead lined stomach "Who?"

"Katie Harper, she passed away yesterday" Tosh told him, Ianto felt such relief that it wasn't Jack and such sadness that Owen had left his wife

"Katie" he whispered, he didn't really know her all that well but she was nice and Owen loved her; that much was clear to anyone who knew him. Owen was cold, indifferent and cruel on his own but as soon as Katie was in the room he shone like a different person, he was the moon to Katie's shining brightness

"Did you know her?" Toshiko asked as she ordered another coffee

"She was Owen's wife"

"Whose Owen?" Ianto pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contact list until he found his boyfriend's number

"A friend of Jack's"

"Gay Jack?" she asked and Ianto scowled, just because he was gay didn't mean he had to be solely defined by it

"Jack, hey it's me. I just heard... how is he?" he asked once Jack answered the phone

"Pretty broken up. Gwen and me came over as soon as we heard but Gwen had to go home to feed Gethin"

"Do you need anything? I could pick stuff up and bring it round?"

"Yeah, I'm going to stay with Owen for a few days. Could you stop by my place and pick up some clothes for me?"

"I can't break in like Owen can" he commented with a small smile

"I know. The key is under the garden ornament in my front garden"

"Right, I'll pack a bag for you and bring it round"

"Thank you. I'm sorry if this is interrupting your training"

"No it's not, not at all. I'm done for the day and don't worry about it, I just want to help. I can only imagine what Owen must be going through"

"Me too baby, but I'm going to look after him... Gwen will as well, he's our brother"

"I'll see you in a bit"

"Bye" Jack rung off and Ianto put his phone back into his pocket. Toshiko had been listening to Ianto's side of the conversation

"I didn't know you were so friendly with him? If he's trusting you to go into his house on your own"

"It's not like I haven't before" he commented as he stood up putting his jacket on "Why? Why are you being so sulky about Jack?"

"Because he likes you in a completely different way than you like him. It was clear to me when he first met you that he was looking at you without any interest of keeping it platonic"

"And that bothers you?!" he snapped gruffly as he pulled out his wallet to pay for his meal and drink "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I don't want it to be platonic? That I want what he wants?"

Toshiko's jaw dropped open in shock as he walked out of the little pub. Ianto stomped back up the street to get on his bike, he pulled his helmet on and headed to Jack's house. Back in the pub Tosh pulled out her phone and called Gwen

"Hey, Tosh. I'm kinda busy at the moment, I was just about to head over to Owen's"

"T-That Jack friend of yours has been putting daft thoughts in Ianto's head!" she snapped rather loud and indignantly

"What are you talking about?"

"I just had lunch with Ianto and he came out with the mad notion that he and Jack aren't platonic!"

"Yeah and?"

"Wait, you knew about this?" Tosh shrieked

"Of course I did. Jack's my best friend, of course he told me when him and Ianto started dating"

"Dating?! They're dating?!"

"Tosh, look what's your problem? I thought you were friends with Ianto now"

"Yeah but I'm still his ex, this is my fault! I've driven him to an extreme... he wouldn't have done this if it hadn't been for me"

"Toshiko, honey, I love you. You're a wonderful friend but you need to stop being so homophobic. Ianto's a grown boy and he was into Jack way before you dumped him for Cheekbones and now I really have to go. A friend of mine with real problems needs me, y'know, my friend who just lost his wife? I'll talk to you later" Gwen hung up leaving Toshiko to stare at her phone

"Cheekbones?!" she repeated in disbelief

***

He'd never been here by himself before, he'd been here without Jack but Owen had been there at that time so it didn't really count. Ianto found the key where Jack said it would be and let himself into the house. Jack's house.

Ianto mentally made a list of the possible things that Jack would need while he stayed at Owen's, he'd need his toothbrush, toothpaste, a towel, some trousers, a couple of shirts and... underwear. He couldn't help the blush that spread across his face; there wasn't really anything sexual about boxer shorts... at least there never had been before but now all he could think about was Jack wearing them. Underwear was such a personal thing and Jack had pretty much given him permission to wander through them! Well, not wander through them, Ianto was sure that Jack didn't want him doing anything silly with his underwear like sniff them or put them on his head or anything. But still that level of trust astounded Ianto.

He quickly headed upstairs to Jack's room, memories of the time he'd almost given up his virginity to Jack flashed through his mind as he stood in the doorway of his boyfriend's bedroom. Treading softly over to the nicely made bed he came to a decision; when the time came when he was ready to give it up to Jack he wanted it to happen here, in this bed. Ianto sat down running his fingertips over the comforter before turning back to his mental list and started gathering up the things Jack would need.

Ianto tried his best not to think about how similar this was when he was getting the things together for when his mam's stay in Providence Park or the time he helped his tad pack when he was going into hospital. Poor Owen, he thought as he put some towels in the small case he'd found under the bed, it hurt to loose people and when it was sudden it hurt all the more. Owen lost his wife, he thought as he neatly folded the clothes then it hit him that Katie had been pregnant as well. Ianto stopped what he was doing, holding a half folded cashmere jumper to his chest as tears prickled his eyes. Not only has he lost his wife but he's lost his child as well!

"God" Ianto gasped as he sank down onto the bed tightening his arms around the jumper; how people suffered. Sitting there he was overwhelmed with guilt; what if it had been Jack? What if he'd been married to Jack and it had been their child as well that had died? How could he live? Why would he even want to? Is that what Owen felt? Would Jack be able to help his friend his back from that, wondered Ianto?

The little suitcase was packed and he was ready to head over to Owen's but it occurred to him that he didn't know where Owen lived. Ianto pulled out his phone and called Jack

"Hey, I've got your stuff. Would you be able to send me his address so I can bring it round?"

"Yeah, thanks for this baby, I would have done all this myself but I don't want to leave him on his own" explained Jack

"Don't worry about it. Anything I can do to help" he replied then hung up. Ianto carried the suitcase out to his bike then remembered that his bag was taking up the space on the back, thinking quickly he left his bag in Jack's hallway and fastened the suitcase to his bike. He put the key back under the ornament before he climbed onto his bike and waited for the text off Jack. The phone buzzed a few minutes later with the address, Ianto pulled his helmet off and headed to Owen's.

TBC...