Ianto was styling his hair in the bathroom mirror when he heard his front door open.
'It's only me Ianto,' his sister Rhiannon called out.
'I'm up here Rhi.'
He heard footsteps on the stairs and a moment later his sister's face appeared in his bathroom doorway.
'Bloody hell,' she exclaimed when she set eyes on her brother. 'Who are you trying to impress?'
Ianto was dressed in a deep red shirt; open at the neck and dark trousers, his hair was spiked up in a style that took hours to make look as though it just happened naturally. He looked at Rhiannon and shrugged.
'Nobody; you look nice too by the way.'
Rhiannon grinned. 'You look like you're going on the pull.'
'Well you never know who you're going to meet do you?' Ianto smiled and led his sister back downstairs to the kitchen where he had opened a bottle of wine.
'It's just nice to see that's all,' Rhiannon elaborated. 'You seem to be getting back to your old self again. I haven't seen that since you came back from London.'
'Yeah well,' Ianto shrugged. 'I can't keep moping forever can I?'
Rhiannon shook her head. 'So do you think you might finally be getting over You Know Who?'
'You can call him by his name you know Rhi. He's Owen not Lord Voldemort.'
Rhiannon rolled her eyes and Ianto laughed.
'Like I said, I can't keep moping forever. Owen cheated on me. He's the one who wrecked everything. I'm done crying over him.'
'That's my boy,' Rhiannon said with a smile.
'Taxi's booked for half eight,' Ianto informed her as he poured her a glass of wine.
'Oh I'm so looking forward to tonight,' Rhiannon sighed taking a sip from the glass. 'I haven't been out in months.'
'I know,' Ianto replied. 'I couldn't believe it when I bumped into Alice.'
'It'll be so good to catch up. I feel like we lost touch with everybody after Dad...' she trailed off.
'Hey now,' Ianto reached out and took her hand in his. 'No getting upset ok – not tonight. We're going to have a good time.'
Rhiannon nodded and forced a smile. 'The Jones siblings are out on the town.'
'Watch out world,' Ianto grinned back at her.
---
Jack stood at the bar and surveyed the crowd around him. It wasn't his usual sort of place but he decided that it wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting and he was starting to feel glad that he'd come and hadn't pulled out at the last minute.
Ever since Alice had suggested that he join her on this night out Jack had been contemplating backing out. He knew that his daughter's intentions were good but he also knew that allowing her to take more of an interest in his love life was going to lead to disaster and while he acknowledged that the situation was all his own fault; he didn't really know what to do to change it.
It was his own fault because he'd lied; because he hadn't been honest with his daughter; he'd hidden part of himself from her all her life. He'd made a million excuses; she was too young to understand; she might get bullied at school; there was no point rocking the boat when he wasn't even seeing anybody, but now Alice was twenty four and he'd put off telling her the truth for so long that to do so now just seemed impossible.
Alice wanted him to date. She wanted to set him up with a woman and Jack couldn't tell her that that wasn't what he wanted; that he'd known for a long time that that wasn't what he wanted; that what he wanted was to be with a man.
The barman came over to take Jack's order drawing him out of his reverie.
---
'Alice!' Ianto heard Rhiannon let out an excited squeal and she darted off through the crowded bar to the table in the corner where her old friend was sitting by herself.
Alice stood up and hugged Rhiannon warmly, she smiled at Ianto as she pulled away.
'It's so good to see you,' Rhiannon said with a grin as she slid into the seat next to her friend. 'You look so good, doesn't she Ianto?'
'Very nice,' Ianto replied and he thought that he detected a faint blush on Alice's cheeks and she looked away, avoiding his eyes as though embarrassed although Ianto had no idea why.
'Do you girls want a drink?' he asked.
'Oh – please Ianto,' Rhiannon replied.
'I'm ok thanks. Dad's getting me a drink,' said Alice.
'Your dad's here?' Ianto asked frowning and looking over his shoulder towards the bar.
'Yeah, I hope you don't mind. He hasn't had a night out in ages.'
'No, of course not; the more the merrier,' Ianto tried his best to sound casual but his heart had suddenly started racing. Alice's father was here. Mr Harkness...
Ianto remembered being eight years old; the summer before his dad had died. He remembered sitting on his doorstep playing with his toy cars on the pavement; he remembered Mr Harkness coming out of his house with a bucket of water to wash his car with; he remembered watching him work and thinking that Mr Harkness was the most beautiful man that he'd ever seen.
Ianto hadn't understood it at the time but later as a teenager, sneaking looks at the topless male models in Rhiannon's Sugar magazine, he'd realised that Mr Harkness had been his first crush and Ianto had thought about the day he watched Mr Harkness washing his car in the sunshine and his mind had embellished the details until the memory resembled a soft porn film. The images his brain had constructed had provided Ianto with a lot of entertainment on lonely nights since then.
Now he was here – Mr Harkness was here and Ianto was actually going to have to talk to him – oh God he felt like he was going to be sick.
---
Jack collected his drinks and made his way back to the table where he's left Alice. He saw that she now had company. The woman sitting beside her at the table Jack was sure he would have recognised anywhere, Rhiannon Jones had spent enough hours playing with Barbie dolls in his living room for Jack to recognise her anywhere and the man standing, with his back to him was – Jack supposed – Rhiannon's brother Ianto. The man his daughter had a crush on.
As he neared the table he heard Alice announce 'oh here he is now,' and at that moment Ianto Jones turned his head; the two men locked eyes and Jack immediately knew that he was in trouble.