"So Jack, what is it that you actually do at the Tourist Bureau?" Johnny asked once things had wound down enough to talk about other things.

"Paperwork, mostly." Jack said and Ianto snorted. "I do it. I don't like it, but I do it."

"Only when I make you do it," Ianto said. Jack could hear the implied sir at the end of that sentence and he grinned at the man across from him.

"I also have to deal with the bureaucrats who try to change the rules when they don't know what they're talking about," Jack said. Ianto nodded and looked down to mop up the remains of the gravy on his plate.

"That's a swanky Landie you have out there," Johnny noted. He had admired the vehicle when they had come in, and had tried peering in the windows, but couldn't see anything because of the tinted windows. "Bureau must pay well for that."

Jack shrugged. "I do a lot of driving about to the different areas around Cardiff and occasionally to London, so I thought it worth getting something rugged. It's one of the perks of the job." He grinned at Ianto's brother-in-law amiably. He was trying to think of some reason as an excuse for not showing Johnny the interior in case he asked. One look inside would show that wasn't typical government provided transportation for a mid level supervisor. Ianto changed the subject to Johnny's work, asking how things were getting on at the office, and Jack gave a sigh of relief that they had sidestepped that issue.

It was just about the time when they were thinking of afters when both Ianto's and Jack's mobiles went off simultaneously. They shared a troubled look before both checking the displays.

"Problem?" Johnny asked. He had little Gwyn on his lap, feeding him little bits of his dinner.

"It never ends," Jack said. He stood up and excused himself, going into the next room. Ianto looked up from his own display and shoved the mobile back into his pocket.

"It's an automated responder for something going on in the city," Ianto explained. "Since the trouble a while back, all civil servants have been asked to do double duty as emergency response teams." His sister and brother-in-law nodded, but his mother had an anxious expression on her face.

"I've never known that city to be so dangerous. Ianto, I wished you didn't live there," she said with a worried tone to her voice.

"Mam, there's trouble everywhere. You can't get away from it these days," Ianto said. He could hear Jack talking intently in the other room and had a feeling they were going to have to leave.

"Yeah, look at that horrible case of those people killing tourists and hikers for sport up in the mountains," Johnny said. Ianto gave him a startled look. "What? Didn't hear about that? It was all over the press at the time. People aren't right in the head."

"No, I suppose they're not," Ianto said. He hadn't realized that the press for what had happened up in the Brecons had reached this far.

"That doesn't stop me from worrying, annwyl," his mother said with a worried look on her face. Ianto smiled at her and saw Jack returning.

"Find out anything?" He asked Jack.

"I'm sorry, everyone. We need to go," Jack apologized with a rueful expression on his face. Ianto stood up immediately. "Need to get back to the city."

"So soon?" Rhiannon said with a disappointed look on her face. She had hoped that they would be able to stay longer. Jack walked over to her and gave her a hug.

"Sorry, honey." He said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Duty calls." The rest of the family got up to see them out, but not before Ianto's mother insisted on putting together a care package for them for the ride home. Ianto accepted the bag from his mother and giving her a hug and a kiss as an apology for having to leave so abruptly. He brought it out to the car, a preoccupied expression on his face as he did so. Alys decided to wake up at the moment, so she prevented Johnny from following Ianto out of the SUV.

Jack said his goodbyes and was headed out the door to follow Ianto when Mrs. Jones put a hand on his arm to hold him back. He looked down at her and smiled, though his mind was on what they needed to do when they got back to Cardiff.

"Please take care of my son," Ianto's mother said softly.

"Mrs. Jones, Ianto is more than capable of taking care of himself. And in fact, he takes care of me far better than I could do for him," Jack said with a smile. "Your son is an amazing man, and I couldn't do without him." She smiled up at him, hearing the sincerity in his voice.

"Do I get a hug?" She asked. He grinned and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a light squeeze. "You've made quite an impression on my family, Jack."

"I hope it's a good one," he said with a grin. "Come say goodbye to Ianto before we leave." She followed him out the door and Ianto met them on the path.

"Bye Mam, sorry we have to go like this." Ianto wrapped his arms around his mother and gave her a hug. She kissed him on the cheek. "I'll give you a call later, yeah?"

"Oh, I suppose you'll forget, because something else will come up. But please do at some point. I don't want to think that you may have fallen off the earth, after all." His mother said with a smile. "Go on, you both have a long drive ahead of you."

With a nod and a quick hug for his sister and brother-in-law, Ianto got into the SUV, letting Jack drive back. He wanted to get on the computers and find out what was going on. It would also be good for him not to see the road while Jack was driving. He waved to his family as Jack backed out of the drive and headed off in the direction of home.

"All right, what do we have?" Ianto said. As soon as they were out of sight he activated the console which would bring the computer display and keyboard in front of him. He had modified the SUV some time ago so that this could be run from the passenger seat. The display was low enough not to be seen and the keyboard came up from below the dashboard.

Jack gave him a swift glance as he took a left and headed towards the motorway. "Obnoxious aliens on the doorstep leaving a mess."

"Ah, the usual," Ianto said as he started typing. "Why can't we run into neat aliens? Why do they always think they can dump on us? Do we have a sign over our planet that says 'Dumping zone' or something?"

Jack chuckled at the tone of annoyance in his partner's voice. He thought he should just let Ianto get on the com and berate them. Yes, he thought as he drove. Ianto was more than capable of handling anything that the rift or of the universe could send them. He grinned and pulled onto the motorway, speeding up to take advantage of the light traffic leading back towards the city…

~*~