45

"So we are green for go?" Jack asked the table. The white board behind him was full of scribbles and ideas, directions and even a crudely drawn map. The recon for Ianto's Hoard as it was being called, was almost a go and they had to go soon, winter was coming and coming fast.

Even if they recovered some of the stuff, then resealed the site… they had to try. Ianto knew something they didn't… he remembered something they could not possibly even know. They needed what he had just… twenty years ago… put away in a time bubble out in the bay.

Jack felt it too, the knowledge that if they didn't all agree Ianto would go by himself if need be to get whatever it was out there.

Time was running out.

"YES!"

The many voices called out and one of them took Ianto's eye, his gaze sliding to look over at the one who had been invited to the recon talks. She was from the new group and while things had been busy lately she seemed to have slipped into the fold with ease.

The fact the kids had welcomed her in made Jack seem to accept her, even if slightly with ill ease, his gaze moving to Ianto for confirmation and he nodded, knowing he had to finalize that one last thing before take-off.

"Jessica. Do you have a moment?" Ianto asked sweetly, his smile soft as he motioned with his hand for her to follow him, the baby in his other arm taking her attention as she followed him with interest.

"We've not really had a chance to talk, not with everything that's happened and with my birth, so… why not have a cuppa with me and we take some time to say hello" Ianto offered.

"Sounds good to me" she replied, settling in as she knew, had been warned, this one was not your usual inquisitor. This msn can see your soul.

And judge.

.

.

It was Pip that had first noticed this family. This group within the group. The Shitheads. That was what the pups were calling this latest batch of rude people in their lair. But within the Shitheads was this little family that stuck out like a sore thumb as not the same.

Like that old game … one of these things just doesn't belong here… one of these thing just isn't the same… you know the song. Is it in your head?

Tell me which thing doesn't belong here… before I end this game.

Jessica. Her husband Stan and the teen girl that had been thought to be their daughter but Pip knew from the scents alone that she was actually the sister to the woman. Born after Shit Hitting Fan. Jessica cared for her sister like a Mama Bear.

"So, you were not with this lot from the beginning, that's clear" Ianto said softly trying to lead the conversation in the direction he needed it to go "You sort of... got swept along in the dame direction?"

"My Dada is… was SAS. Highly trained, so is Stan."

"Stan, your man."

She grinned "Stan the Man. Yes. I met him in the middle of a pub brawl believe it or not."

"I sort of can. How old were you?" Ianto canted his head, misjudging someone's age was rare. She was older than she appeared? Well… some of us are I guess.

"I was sixteen… well… near as" she shrugged like it did not matter that she was in a public house for over 21 years olds. I suppose, right now, it doesn't anymore.

"And he?"

"Twenty three then" she smiled softly, wistfully "and looked like a Greek god."

"Ah. I have one of those me own self. Perhaps you've met?"

She laughed, her head tipping back and her throat displayed to him. A wolf offered a throat so gamely. Yes. He liked her immensely and saw why the kids did too. Her hair was dark, thick and almost Italian in it's design. Or Spanish. Definitely from good blood stock, that's for sure. Her eyes were expressive behind the dark framed glasses that she sometimes wore, had done for the meeting to see the whiteboard. It was almost like she hid behind them. Ianto understood that, he hid too.

"So. I know of your father… and your man. And you?"

"Oh. I was only a kid, I just cared for the animals on my parent's hobby farm" she shrugged.

"Liar, liar pants on fire!" he smiled back "come on. Tell me."

"OK… maybe I had some basic training in ordinance and stuff. My Ma… well, she was… god. I guess it doesn't matter. My mother was Irish."

"Ah. The Troubles. Really? She was involved with all of that?" Ianto was focused now. IRA was something that had always been not only a strange fruit, but a dangerous one. One you wanted on your side. Ianto knew some from back then who lived a quiet life, albeit a paranoid one.

"After it all, her and Daddy purchased land, settled to their life and left it all behind. They believed in being prepared. The world was changing, ever evolving and one day it would all implode. We had to be ready." She nodded "When it all went tits up, we were there. We survived."

"Young, your mother had you young? Your sister is … fifteen? Sixteen?" Ianto canted his head as he calculated "you survived well for a time?"

"After it all went down we buckled down. We had a bunker and we went down below, just the livestock up top and it all looked pretty abandoned. Some came and spent the night or two in the homestead, moved on. We were restocking the pantry with a few things, trying to help without it being obvious. We foolishly thought it would pass, that in five or six years we would all be OK."

"The realization that this was the new reality must have bit hard" Ianto sighed softly.

"And how." She said softly, her eyes shifting to the side as she remembered the day it all changed for them.

The day her Mama died.