"That's cheating young man!" Rhys scolded as Griffin once again looked at his card before throwing it on top of the already growing pile of up facing playing cards on the floor of the hub.
Rhys had been playing an animated game of Snap with Griffin for about half hour to keep him entertained. He wasn't quite sure when he had been recruited as the Harkness-Jones' babysitter but since his hours had been changed at work, he could manage to work around it and help the two men out occasionally, plus he absolutely loved looking after Griffin. He was the cutest five year old imaginable and Rhys loved him. He had positively beamed when Jack and Ianto had started to allow Griffin to call him an Uncle and they both agreed that Rhys deserved the title.
"Not!" Griffin answered as he looked at yet another card and yelled triumphantly "Snap! Won again!" he grinned. Rhys rolled his eyes and let Griffin gather the cards and put it back into his pile then looked down at his, he was down to about five cards. "So looking at them before you place them on the pile isn't cheating then? And that's about the eighth time in a row that you've won Griffin" Rhys asked with a chuckle.
"It's not cheating! It's learning!" Griffin declared, giving Rhys a serious look. "How exactly?" Rhys asked before shaking his head in amusement, Griffin was only five years old, it was obvious that he was going to cheat and he should really be letting him win anyway otherwise the little boy would start getting grumpy at losing. "Never mind, you won so you start the game".
"What's going on in here?" Jack asked as he waddled in. Rhys couldn't quite help terming Jack's walk as a waddle. Jack was heavily pregnant and due to it, his strut had suffered quite a bit. Rhys had witnessed a pregnant Jack when he had been carrying Griffin but it was still quite a shock to the system to see a man pregnant. Despite Gwen and Ianto explaining that Jack was from the future and somewhere along the line, it became natural for a male to carry young, Rhys still found it quite unbelievable to witness.
"Your son is cheating at Snap. Its alright though, its to be expected" Rhys explained with a shrug. Jack looked at Rhys then at his son with raised eyebrows before shaking his head. "No, he's not cheating. We're nipping that in the bud right now" Jack told them both.
"Shouldn't you be sitting down Jack? It might be easier on your back" Rhys suggested, gesturing to the nearest workstation which happened to be Toshiko's where her chair was tidily tucked under her desk. "You shouldn't be standing for long periods in your condition" he added as he saw Jack make no movement towards the chair.
"Have you been reading a lot of pregnancy books Rhys?" Jack asked in amusement but did what he was told, turning the chair so he was facing Rhys and Griffin, secretly grateful to Rhys for suggesting him to sit down, his feet and back were beyond killing him. "Well sort of, me and Gwen are trying" Rhys replied truthfully. "Really? Any luck?" Jack asked, surprised and suddenly very interested.
"No, we're having trouble conceiving. We'll keep trying though, if we keep having problems then we're going to see a Doctor and see what they suggest. Anyway enough about me and Gwen, where's Ianto?" Rhys told him, quickly changing the subject. He didn't really want to discuss his personal life and Gwen with Jack Harkness or with little ears listening in. Griffin wouldn't understand much of what was being said but he still had to be thought of when the adults had conversations otherwise it was question time for ages.
"Oh he's gone out with his sister on a shopping trip. Griffin needs new clothes and he needs to get other stuff in. Like food. I'm not really a shopping person so Ianto phoned Rhiannon who was delighted at being asked. Which brings me to another question, are you ok with babysitting Griffin? Rhiannon is more than willing to take him off our hands for a couple of hours so we can work. Well the best that I can now anyway before my due date. It probably would make sense since she's his real aunt" Jack asked, sounding a little tentative as he explained.
"No I'm fine babysitting him Jack. Don't you worry, he's an absolute treasure to look after….but his real aunt should baby sit if she wants to spend time with her nephew" Rhys sighed, looking disappointed at the very idea. "No, I'll just explain that we have a brilliant babysitter at the moment. I kinda hoped you wanted to keep babysitting him…and the baby once he's born?" Jack asked, looking hopeful. "Of course!" Rhys announced happily.
"Right, let's get to teaching this little cheater then shall we? Griffin, give your cards back to Uncle Rhys so he can reshuffle them and then you are going to play properly and no tantrums about it" Jack ordered his son, rolling his eyes as Griffin pouted at him but gathered his messy pile of playing cards and handed them over to Rhys who patiently started to put them back in a neat pile before reshuffling the pack once again.
"Ok, now we don't look at the cards before we put them on the pile. You just put them down. As soon as there is a match, it's the faster person who shouts snap who gets the card. Not that hard, now I'm going to watch whilst you play another game with Uncle Rhys and make sure that you don't cheat young man" Jack explained, his one hand resting on his baby bump as he made himself comfortable.
Griffin sighed dramatically as he took his share of cards from Rhys as the Welshman offered them to him and put his first card down which was 8 of Hearts. Rhys followed suit with a 6 of clubs. Jack watched as they played, nodding in satisfaction when a match came up in the game and Griffin yelled out Snap. It was obvious that Rhys was letting him win but as long as his son wasn't cheating then Jack was happy.
"Right, I'll leave you two to it then. I'm going for a lie down for a little while. Rhys, put Griffin down for a nap in about twenty minutes. Ianto, will wake him when dinner is ready" Jack smiled, getting up with a little bit of difficulty.
When Jack had gone, Rhys looked at Griffin mischievously. "So shall we have another game? Daddy's way or cheat? I won't tell him if you cheat" Rhys promised, crossing his heart as he said it. Griffin grinned cheekily back and announced happily "Cheat!"