2
Gwen rose to leave and Rhys cleared his throat, "No. Sit down. We will sort this here and now."
She glared at him but resumed her seat as Rhys looked around the table and asked, "If she pulls her head out of her arse can you all give her a chance? Gwen has this habit of flaring up when stressed. She doesn't mean to be a bitch, it's like a default."
"Rhys" Gwen spluttered but he waved his hand at her.
"No. I'm talking here missus" he growled, "the amount of times I almost walked out, left her, ya know? Only child, her Daddy's little girl was a spoilt little princess and she can stomp her feet and blow out her cheeks like a right madam but underneath it all she is honestly a good person. Please, like Ianto said, not even a week since it all went to hell and we all need a blow out. We are all so…twisted up. Not a time for mourning, tears and regret. We've been pushing forward to survive and until we can sort out the feelings we are swallowing down we will keep sparking off each other."
"Rhys is right" Ianto nodded, "We are all tired, cranky and seeing the worst of one another. Maybe now we have some semblance of a routine we can take a day to just…be in our own heads. We need to grieve, get our heads around things."
"Maybe a day of reflection today and then tonight we can have a little service of sorts? Something symbolic? I don't know how you all choose to but…when I was young my father and brother were killed and my mother and I had a burning. We each wrote something on a piece of paper, a memory or feeling and then we sat and fed those scraps of paper to the flames in the hopes the smoke might carry them up to the heavens so they would know we mourned their passing." Jack suggested, "Today we will spend the day quietly doing our chores and taking time to write our messages, build the bonfire out back where it will not be visible from the road. Then tonight we give our offerings and hopefully feel some peace from it. Tonight we all go to bed and hold who we have, or we remember those we will never hold again."
"I have some paper, I will cut it into strips to make it easier. Leave it on the hall side table with pens" Ianto nodded, "That sounds like a wonderful idea. Maybe we will eat out there, enjoy some silence. The fences will all be up by then so nothing will surprise us and we will be well lit by the fire to see what we need to do."
"I need one more spool of wire to run a second bottom row since…what we saw" Owen grimaced and Ianto nodded.
"There were three or four rolls of chicken wire at the other place, we could run that around the fences, nothing can get in then. We run it right around the homestead fences, make this place secure. Only way in or out will be the front gate." Ianto offered, "Maybe we can go this avo after lunch and get them, take the buggy."
"Cool" Owen perked up, "Ya know, we could run that around the perimeter and still have time for a wee dip in the river."
"You and your water" Ianto nodded, "As long as it's in undies, I do not want the vision of you in the nuddy, honestly man that image is not one to take to my grave."
"Shock. Hurt even" Owen said with fake horror, "you know, I am quite nicely proportioned."
"Have you seen your Captain?" Ianto asked and Owen frowned as he nodded with a slump of his shoulders. "Well…that's the only neekid man I want in this mind ta."
Owen perked up, "So...scared I might be competition?"
Ianto laughed softly as he shook his head and rose from the table, Jack rising as well, "I'll come with. Maybe she can read to me while you change."
Ianto blushed as everyone knew they were sharing a bed and then he nodded and shot from the room, Jack turning to eyeball them all before following him up.
He found Ianto changing his shoes for some sturdy boots as he told Micha that he and Owen were going to measure the perimeter before leaving after lunch.
"Can I come?" she asked with interest.
"You can help with the measuring but not when we go for the wire" Ianto said gently, "I need you to stay here and make sure the gate stays shut until we get back, I can't trust just anyone to protect the sheep."
She looked at him long and hard, then nodded, "Do I get a gun?"
Jack stifled laughter behind a cough, then knelt to address her, "You know, there are some walkie-talkies down there, you can tell us how things are here while we are gone."
Ianto hid his surprise at learning Jack was tagging along and glanced at Micha again as he told himself she would be fine with Suzie and Tosh.
It wasn't until he was halfway down the stairs he realised he hadn't included Gwen in the motherly role.