Chapter 6

The new year past more quickly than either of the Joneses would have liked and suddenly it was time for school the begin.

"I don't want to go," Harry said teary eyed from the back seat of the car, "Don't make me go. Let me stay with you, I'll be good, I promise."

"It's going to be alright." Ianto tried to soothe, "You'll make new friends and learn exciting things."

Harry just chocked back a sob.

"Oh, bach*." Ianto got out of the car and opened Harry's door, "I promise you'll like it and I'll be back to get you before you know it."

Harry remained stubbornly silent until they reached the door to his new classroom.

As Ianto squatted down and gave Harry a hug good bye, the boy whispered to him, "Please don't make me."

"Back before you know it." He stood as a woman approached, "And here is your new teacher, Ms. Charles."

He stayed for a while longer introducing Harry to Ms. Charles and then watching from the doorway as his son was say next to a pale girl with blond hair. It felt wrong to leave Harry with strangers but he knew it was important for Harry to interact with children is own age and to keep up with the curriculum.

This was good, this was what Harry needed. Or at least that's what Ianto kept telling himself as he exited the building.

Ianto spent the rest of the day looking for a job. Thanks to his extraordinary skill with coffee he snagged a job as a personal assistant with the hours that he needed for Harry, which he thought was impossible. So, at 3:00 he was waiting at the gate Harry walked out and, before running to his tad, waved to the blond girl he had been sitting next to.

Ianto scooped Harry up into his arms, "So, did you have fun?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Harry almost sung, "I made a friend, her name is Sarah."

"Is she the girl you were waving to?"

"Yes. There were some boys being mean to her and I told them to stop," Harry was now rambling, "but they didn't and they pushed me too. I didn't cry, I just said 'Stop being mean!' and pushed Dylan back. He did cry."

It took a minute to figure out what Harry had said and then another minute to figure out how to respond. "Good job, Harry. I'm proud of you for helping that girl." Some might say he should reprimand Harry for using violence but no one could call Ianto conventional. "I'm so glad that you had fun. We'll go home now, in a minute, but we have to stop off somewhere first."

As they drove, Harry gleefully told his father all about his new friend and Ianto listened, just smiling and not interrupting. But the moment the car pulled in front of the office containing Lisa, the car went silent.

Eventually, a voice came from the backseat, "Do I have to wait in the car again?"

"Yes, Harry, but I'll be back soon." Ianto cracked the window and locked the door before heading into the building. This wasn't unusual for them, they came to this place every 2 or 3 days. Harry had asked who was inside and Ianto had told him that it was a very nice friend but he had never let Harry into the building.

"Hello, love." Lisa greeted him.

"Hello," his voice was soft and kind but he didn't move to touch her, instead going straight to the pain medication. Things had been cold between them since their first discussion on Harry. Ianto pushed that aside and prepared the injection.

"Ianto, you look tense," Lisa fussed, "What's wrong?"

"I don't want you to worry. It's just," Ianto hesitated, "the medication is only going to last for one more month."

"That's not a problem, right? You can get more."

"Well, yes, I would get it now but with Harry, the budget's tighter."

"What about the money from torchwood? They paid well, and I know you saved most of it." Lisa was starting to sound tense herself.

"It's fine," Ianto tried to reassure her, "I'll figure it out."

"That boy, it's- "

"Don't," Ianto interrupted, "don't blame him. It's not his fault. Why do you keep trying to put all this on him?"

"I'm in so much pain, Ianto." Her voice weld up and broke at the end, calculatedly weak, "I need you, but your so distracted now. I understand that you want to help him, but what about me? I need you. I need your help."

Ianto heaved a sigh and began to administer the pain meds, "I'm sorry, I'm here now, I'm with you. There won't be a problem, I'll get the medicine."

He finished up quickly and left, explain that Harry was waiting in the car.

Ianto didn't look back as they drove away.

Slowly, the little family settled into their new normal. Up at 5:00 am, to Rhiannon's by 5:30, at work by 6:00. Then through an average day as a secretary in a mundane office doing a mundane job. Until, finally, he could pick harry up at 3:00.

It worked perfectly, Ianto had a job, Harry went to school, there was time every couple of days for Lisa and there was, most importantly, time for each other. IT was perfect, at least from the outside.

From the inside, there was a slow rot. The battle was still haunting Ianto, when closed his eyes he saw the bodies of him friends and his colleagues scattered around him, in the silence he heard their screams. Every day it ate at him, destroying him and he was terrified of dragging Harry down into the dark with him.

Even on the good days he was restless, knowing what was out there in the world, in the galaxy, and not being able to get to it. He needed to forget and move on, for his son, but he couldn't. He was trapped in the hell of his past.

They went on like this for a month, until one day in early February, they ended up back at Lisa's.

As usual Ianto told Harry to stay in the car.

"But why?" Harry complained, he was frustrated at not knowing the truth, "If it's your friend then why do I have to stay here? Why can't I go with you?"

"My friend is sick, she needs to rest." This was an old argument by now, one they had every week.

"I'll be right back," he said and headed to the doors.

"Good morning, Ianto," Lisa called, "What's today?"

"It's Saturday, Lisa."

"Is Harry with you then?" This made Ianto pause. It wasn't the first-time Lisa had asked about the boy but it was the first time she had asked this question.

"He's outside, in the car."

"Poor thing. He must be bored, outside, all by himself." To Ianto, she seemed genuinely concerned for Harry. "I, I was thinking that you could bring him inside. I would like to meet him."

"You would?" Ianto asked, socked, "Right. Right! You'll love him, he's amazing. I'll go get him."

Lisa gave him an encouraging smile as he tried to walk calmly back outside to the car.

Harry's face lit up and he gasped when Ianto opened his car door only minutes after leaving. "Done," Harry wasn't asking.

"No, not yet." Ianto explained, "My friend wants to meet."

He lifted Harry out of the car and they began to walk to the building. "My friend's name is Lisa. She's very nice but her cloths are strange. You don't have to be scared, I'll be with you the whole time."

They walked into Lisa's room with Harry hiding behind Ianto's legs, clutching his trousers. The space was dim and a woman lay on a metal bed. The woman, Lisa, was wearing, what seemed to Harry to be, metal underwear with some metal straps connecting the top and the bottom. She also had a neck brace and hat with a handle on the top of her head, all made from the same metal as her underwear. As the went further into the room Harry almost tripped on the mess of wires that covered the floor but managed to keep upright using the trousers in his hand.

The entire room was frightening to Harry and he could feel his chest tighten and his breath get stuck in his throat. He didn't understand why his tad had brought him to this spine-chilling place or why Lisa would want to live there.

Ianto crouched down to Harry's level and gave him a comforting smile, "Harry, I'd like you to meet my very good friend, Lisa."

"Hello Harry," Lisa softly smiled at the child but it made Harry's stomach roll, "Ianto has told me so much about you. He says you're a very special boy. Why don't you come over here and shake my hand?"

Harry looked up to his tad for reassurance and Ianto nodded his approval. He hoped that this meant that Lisa had accepted Harry and that when he found a way to cure his girlfriend, they could be a family.

Approaching the bed, Harry felt something warm gathering in his belly and his fingers began to tingle. The closer he got to Lisa greater the sensation became, until she started to reach for him and the feeling exploded out of him.

As Harry approached Lisa, Ianto was anxious and excited. This was a big step for all of them and he was hopeful it was a sign that Lisa was returning beck to original self. In an instant, it all changed. Lisa reached toward Harry and electricity arched from Harry to her, then the lights shut off.

"Harry!" Ianto desperately called. He tried to move forward toward his son but instantly tripped on the cables and sprawled on the ground. "Harry?"

The lights flickered and came back on and Ianto's heart stopped. Right in front of him, Harry was crumpled on the ground, alive or dead, Ianto couldn't tell. He scrambled to reach his child, imagining the worst. As soon as he could, he gathered Harry in his arms and felt for a pulse. 'Unconscious,' he began to breathe again and only then noticed that the bed next to him was empty.

He stood slowly but his head was constantly moving, looking for Lisa, looking for danger. Harry was clutched to his chest, his steady breathing a comfort to the agitated father. Something behind Ianto crashed to floor and he whipped around but there was nothing there. Ianto knew that he needed to find Lisa but he also need to het Harry out of this place. He turned to the door, ready to run only to stop at the sight of his tormented ex-lover standing in front of the only exit.

"Lisa, what are doing?" Ianto kept his voice even so not upset her. "How are you… You shouldn't be up, you're ill."

"No Ianto," her voice grated at his ears, electronic at its core and filled with static, "I have been upgraded, I am Human Point Two."

"It's not too late, Lisa. Look at yourself there's still time to save you." He was desperate to get his message across, to find the remaining humanity inside of her.

Lisa turned to a nearby mirror and a look of disgust overcame her. "I am incomplete." Hope rose in Ianto's heart as he heard her sad declaration.

"It's not too late. I can save you."

"I must start again, upgrade properly," the words rung with finality. She turned to face her prisoners. "And you, I can upgrade you and we can be together. We can create a better world together."

"No!" He begged, "Lisa!"

"Isn't that what you want? To be with me forever?" And finally, it was clear to Ianto that this was not the woman he had loved, this was a machine who's programming could not even begin to grasp the meaning of the word.

"No," this wasn't Lisa and Ianto only understood that when it was too late.

"Then we are not compatible," she took a step toward the pair, "you must be deleted."

"I'm sorry," and he meant it. Using all the courage he could muster, Ianto reached behind a table with his free hand and retrieved the gun he had stored there. In one practiced motion, he aimed and fired one shot into her forehead just above the eye, trying to avoid the helmet of the cyberwoman.

He couldn't look after that. Just dropped the gun and held Harry all the tighter. This was all he had left now, this small, helpless boy lying limp in is arms. The warmth gave his courage as he made his way to the door. When he went to step over the cyberwoman's crumpled form he couldn't help but look at her face, or more accurately where her face used to be. He had missed. Not by much, but enough that he had hit her closer to the center of her face, caving it in and making her unrecognizable as the woman she once was.

Bile built up in his throat and he ran until the frigid air hit his lungs and the rays of the morning sun blinded him. It seemed so wrong. Surely it should be dark out, raining, anything but the cheery Saturday he had been experiencing only 10 minutes prior.

It was too much, Ianto let his mind shut down and his training take over. He secured the still unconscious Harry in his car seat and drove to his sisters. She would later tell him that he had not said a word when she had answered the door. Just handed her boy, got back in the car and drove away. He disposed of the body and all the machinery as only an agent of Torchwood could, not leaving any hint that a creature that may have very well ended the world, once called the place home.

For days, Ianto would wander around his flat despondently, his mind trying to understand what had happened but whenever he would come close to accepting the events, he would reject the reality and the struggle would begin again.

Eventually, he settled and remembered the child he had left with his sister. Upon arriving at her house, he was with a hug from Rhiannon and snot and tears from Harry. It was a good reminder, he was not alone, this was his family and he could not fail them like he had failed her.

*bach = "little one"