Enjoy!

CHAPTER 3

Jack rushed over to the boy and grabbed his small hand, forgetting all about the banana. "Hayden? Hayden, can you wake up? Are you alright? Hayden?"

Ianto reached across the table and placed a hand on top of Jack's. He looked like he was about to say something, but decided not to, comforting Jack with his mere presence instead.

Minutes later, the tendrils of golden light and energy started to clear away. They weren't gone, but it was possible to see through them a bit. Ianto watched in horror as Hayden's messy black hair grew and fell out, only to be replaced with much better behaved, dark brown locks, which curled slightly around his temples. Jack watched the child's face as the nose and chin changed shape. The whole facial structure shifted, leaving him with a wider, fuller face and a nose that looked suspiciously like Ianto's. So absorbed were they in those details, that neither of them paid much attention to the larger alterations. Hayden gained two inches in height, his shoulders broadened, and his skin tone darkened and cleared ever so slightly.

When Owen arrived, they hadn't moved. They were stuck to their spots, staring at Hayden, and were alerted to the doctor's presence by shouting. "It's bloody four in the morning! This had better be bloody well important!"

Jack turned his head upwards in acknowledgement and greeting and Ianto replied verbally, but without looking up from Hayden's face. "I think this qualifies as important, Owen." Dr. Harper descended the stairs two at a time and jumped over to the autopsy table.

"What happened? This isn't the boy I left here, Tea-boy."

"He woke up and started panicking. When we touched him, it felt like he burned our skin and he passed out again. A few seconds later, he was surrounded in energy and a few minutes after that, his features were changing."

Owen grabbed a small light out of a drawer and nudged Ianto out of his way. Holding open the child's eyelids, he shone the light into his right eye to test pupil reaction. It was normal, but Jack didn't miss that Hayden's eyes had changed color. They'd gone from bright green to dark blue—blue so dark that it looked like the deep ocean on a stormy day. From a distance, they would have looked nearly black.

Quickly, Owen initiated a series of scans and started checking everything he could think of. When the first few sets of results showed up, he announced his findings. "His entire body is in a state of flux. Each one of his cells is changing to match an entirely new template. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that this kid wasn't human."

"What is he, then?" Jack countered.

"Well how should I know?"

"I'll check the archives." Ianto stood up and left for the basement.

A while later, Ianto located something that looked promising. Stepping away from the computer screen, he walked down the correct aisle, counted down to the shelf, and pulled out a manila folder. After glancing through the contents, he tucked the folder under his arm and jogged up the stairs.

"Jack, Owen, I think this is it."

Owen took the folder, looked through it himself, compared bits of the information with the results on his screen, and nodded. "Almost definitely. I'll run some DNA comparisons to be sure, but I think he's officially yours now."

"What?" Jack asked.

"He looks like a Tenza," Ianto explained.

"And he's bonded to you. It doesn't look like there are any reported cases of them switching a bond after they've formed one, but there really isn't much information at all. There are certain tells, but overall, they're experts at hiding themselves. Most parents don't ever suspect that their kid isn't theirs."

"I've heard of Tenza. He's-?" Owen nodded and started the DNA comparisons. "Wow."

Ianto didn't really notice his fingers entwining with Jack's as they gazed down at the sleeping Hayden. "When will he wake up again?"

"Not a clue. He's out from pure exhaustion again."

"You should go to sleep, Ian. I can stay up with him."

"You need sleep too, Jack," he shot back.

"Not as much as you. Please, just get a bit of rest. I'll wake you up when he wakes."

Ianto stayed where he was for only a few moments before giving in and wearily climbing the stairs to the bedroom behind Jack's office.

In a castle in Scotland, several small, silver trinkets began whistling and spinning in place. No one was in the office to observe them, however, and the problems they indicated went entirely unnoticed.

Hayden still hadn't woken up when Gwen and Tosh arrived. Owen had set some alarms and fallen asleep on the couch and, with the girls there, Jack felt it was safe to go upstairs to join Ianto. They didn't really look down into the med-bay and didn't ask too many questions, so they didn't notice the changes the young boy had undergone in their absence. Jack though that was fine, though, since it let him go to bed sooner. Careful not to wake his lover, he crawled into the bed and let himself fade into unconsciousness.

Owen woke in the early afternoon to the alarms he'd set and he rolled off the couch to attend to his patient. He didn't rush too much because he knew the kid was too pumped up with drugs to do much of anything, awake or not. So, when he stepped down into his work area, he was met with the sight of a shocked and speechless Tosh looking down at Hayden. The kid wasn't moving much—just rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Could you back away, please, Tosh? There's a good girl." Lack of sleep turned him into a patronizing git and he knew it, but he didn't much care. He took Hayden's pulse then tapped his com. "Jack, Ianto." Rolling his eyes, he waited a few seconds for a response. "Jack." Giving it up as a lost cause, he said, "You might want to remove your coms, girls," then shouted into the tiny microphone, "Oi! Tea-boy!"

Ianto fell out of the bed and rolled across the floor, clutching his ear. Jack just moaned, having left his com on the bedside table. "Coming, coming," he finally managed to say.

Owen grinned evilly.

It took a few minutes to rouse Jack and Ianto didn't wait up for him afterwards as he darted down the stairs. Of course, once Jack was awake, Ianto not waiting up didn't prevent him from following right behind him. They stumbled into the med-bay to see Gwen and Tosh staring unabashedly at Owen trying to get a sleepy and drugged child to drink some orange juice.

"I'm pleased to inform you," the doctor said, "that your son is alive and awake." He gave up his fruitless efforts and handed the glass of juice to Ianto. "Also, all of his injuries are completely healed. He's entirely healthy and I'd estimate that he was 'born' six years three months ago with a birthday in late July. Of course, it's impossible to know how long he was floating around in space before that." Owen washed and dried his hands and climbed the stairs to join the girls by the railing. "He's off all the drugs now. It'll take about three hours for them to clear out of his system. Have at it." He watched them for a moment before leaving them to it and heading off in search of leftover pizza. Gwen followed him and Tosh went back to her desk, knowing that they'd either tell her when they were ready or she'd pry it out of Ianto later.

"Hayden?" Jack whispered as he approached the table. The child looked towards him and Jack smiled. "Hey, Kido." He reached out and touched his son's shoulder. Unlike before, the boy did not flinch away. Pleased beyond words, Jack grinned and wrapped Hayden in a hug.

Ianto watched, paralyzed, as Jack hugged their son. Their son. How had that happened? Slowly, he took one step. And then another. He set the juice on a counter. Jack pulled away a bit and Ianto took several more steps towards them. He reached out and grasped Hayden's hand. "Hayden?"

The boy turned his head to face the new sound and his eyes locked with Ianto's. The child didn't smile, but he also didn't flinch away or look frightened. Ianto squoze the small hand gently and Hayden groggily turned back to look at Jack. "Where am I?"

The voice was small and quiet, with an unrecognizable accent, but both men breathed a deep sigh of relief at hearing him speak for the first time. "You're at a place called Torchwood. You're safe," Jack answered. "We've been calling you Hayden. Do you have another name?" The boy shook his head slightly.

"What happened?"

A smile played at Jack's lips. "I'm not rightly sure, Kido, but it's okay now."

"Hayden, I'm Ianto and this is Jack. What do you remember?"

He rubbed his face with his free hand before responding. "Everything's all fuzzy. I remember Mummy, and Daddy's voice, then a green light." He looked very frustrated for a moment as he scrunched up his face, trying to remember. "I can't!" he burst out. "I can't remember! I know it's been a long time, but…"

"It's okay. Do you want something to eat?" Hayden shook his head. "Alright. Let's get you to bed, then. This table isn't very comfortable—I know." Ianto stepped back and let Jack pick up the boy, then said, "I'll ask Owen if we can take him home. We'd be more comfortable in my apartment." Hayden snuggled into Jack's chest and held on tightly, wrapping his hands in the material of the shirt. , and Ianto went in search of the doctor.

"Are you my new Daddy?" Hayden murmured.

Jack smiled. "Yeah, Kido. I am. And Ianto's your Tad." For the first time, Hayden smiled.

Hayden slept through the ride to the apartment and was carried upstairs by his Dad. Ianto unlocked the door and pushed it open. Stepping inside, he dropped the bag of clothing and the two stuffed animals by the couch and followed Jack into the guest bedroom. Ianto pulled back the covers then helped Jack get Hayden into some pajamas before sliding the boy under the blankets.

"He looks so much like you," Jack commented.

Ianto brushed the dark hair out of Hayden's face and kissed the boy's forehead. "This is crazy. He's got two genetic fathers. I wouldn't have thought it possible."

Jack laughed. "Not so uncommon in the future."

"I don't think I want to know." Ianto continued carding through the boy's hair as he spoke. "I was thinking; Ifan is a strong name, but it's also a bit common. Maybe something like—" he paused for a moment, "Dieithr."

"Alien?"

Ianto nodded. "It fits. Hayden Dieithr Harkness."

"Not Jones?"

"Nah. He's got two Welsh names for me and he can have Harkness for you."

Jack sat down on the edge of the bed beside Ianto and took his lover's head in his hands. Smiling, he kissed his Welsh boy full on the mouth. Ianto returned the kiss, but when Jack moved to deepen it, he pulled away. "Maybe we should move into the other bedroom first, Sir."

The morning came and Jack woke slowly to the pale light filtering through the curtains. Propping himself up on an elbow, he watched the steady rising and falling of Ianto's chest and pondered their current situation. How had it all happened? It'd gone by so quickly and left him slightly queasy from the roller-coaster ride the day had been. He was a father again. It was a bit hard to take in.

A scream woke Ianto and jolted Jack out of his musings. In seconds, they were both in Hayden's room.

"Hayden?" Ianto called out, concerned. Jack hit the light switch and glanced across the room. Locating the boy, he zoomed in on the figure. Hayden was sitting in the bottom of the open closet, rocking back and forth, screaming, while clutching his forehead. Jack started to move, but Ianto got there first. "Hayden?" Gently grabbing the child's wrists, he tried to pull Hayden's hands away from his head. These efforts were met by more screams and the discovery of blood dripping down from behind the hands.

Jack knelt down by Hayden and pulled him out of the closet. The young person thrashed around and yelled and protested, but if there was blood, there was a problem, and they needed to be able to see him clearly. Once out into the open part of the room, Jack pulled his son into his lap and pulled the hands away from his face. Ianto grabbed the child's face and held it securely while he looked at the wound. He gasped in shock as he saw a lightning bolt cut cleanly into the skin, blood flowing freely. Ianto reached to touch it with a thumb only to feel it giving off an inordinate amount of heat. "Jack, we need to get him to Owen. Now."

So, there you have it. Harry's lightning scar disappeared like all the others when he changed, but now it's back. But, if he's got new DNA and is bonded to Jack and Ianto now, will he still have magic?

The Welsh version of John, although a wonderful sounding name, didn't feel quite right for Harry, so I changed it. I looked for the Welsh 'James,' but I didn't like that, so his middle name is Dieithr, now, which means alien.

It also occurred to me that I got my idea for this story from "An Atypical Adoption" without even realizing it. It's a good story and you should all check it out. After all, who doesn't love a 'Harry is an alien' story?

I appreciate all comments and suggestions, so leave a review!

Thanks for reading!

-MP