AN: The suggestion of "Auntie Jack" had me giggling for hours – thank you reviewer :)
Please keep your reviews and your suggestions coming – and as always, thank you x
Ianto's niece extracted herself from his arms as he pushed open his front door and ran along with her brother into the lounge. Within seconds Ianto and Owen could make out the sound of the start of Finding Nemo, as well as a heated battle for the remote.
"Stop it." Ianto admonished as he removed the remote from his nephew's hands and paused the DVD. "Before you start watching this I need to introduce you to someone. This is Owen. Owen works with me and he's a doctor. Owen this is Mica and David."
"Hello Owen." Mica grinned a toothy grin.
"Do you like football?" David asked.
"I'm afraid not. I'm not really keen on sports." Owen replied.
"Uncle Jack plays football with me. Is he coming later Uncle Ianto?" David asked.
Ianto sighed. "No he's not." He said restarting the DVD and handing the remote back to David. "Keep the sound down and no fighting. I'll bring you out a drink in a minute." He promised before walking off towards the kitchen with Owen following. Ianto opened a cupboard door and pulled out two plastic glasses before mixing some fruit cordial in each and adding a pink straw to one. As he took them into the lounge Owen sat down on one of the bench tops and waited for Ianto to come back.
"Coffee?" Ianto offered as he entered the room. "You can have a beer when they're asleep." He commented.
"Should I go home?" Owen asked.
Ianto shook his head. "Please don't." He replied. "I'm sorry about the whole 'Uncle Jack' thing. They met him a couple of times when I babysat on a Sunday and he'd stayed over the night before. As you can imagine an overgrown child becomes the new best friend pretty quickly. Its nothing personal – they're just not good around new people." He explained.
"Does Rhiannon know about you and Jack?" Owen asked.
Ianto nodded. "Yeah." He admitted. "She turned up early one Sunday and Jack answered the door wearing just a towel. It didn't take long for her to put two and two together. I had to lie to her that we were in a relationship as opposed to the reason for him staying over being my refusal to spend every night in that pit he calls a room. He stayed over literally five or six times the entire time we were sleeping together. I just have a history of forgetting when I'm supposed to be watching the children. She knows we aren't together any more – explaining the break-up was pretty simple. One of the few times I haven't had to lie to my sister recently." He pointed out regretfully.
Owen nodded. "Will she be assuming that we're together?" He checked.
"Probably. I'll talk to her." He assured.
"Do you have a PS2?" Owen asked suddenly.
Ianto shook his head. "No. Why?" He asked.
"I'll be back in twenty minutes." Owen replied jumping down off the bench and planting a quick kiss on Ianto's lips before scurrying out the door, and the flat. Ianto walked back into the lounge where Mica and David were sat surprisingly calmly on his sofa watching the movie.
"Is Owen your special friend like Uncle Jack is?" Mica asked.
Ianto smiled at her. "Uncle Jack isn't my special friend any more darling. He is still my friend, but not my special friend. Owen is my special friend now." He explained despite thinking how ridiculous he sounded.
"What about Uncle Jack? Does he have a new special friend?" She asked.
"No Uncle Jack hasn't got a new special friend." Ianto replied.
"Poor Uncle Jack. Maybe Owen could be his special friend too?" David suggested.
Ianto shook his head. "You only have one special friend at a time, and Owen doesn't want to be Uncle Jack's special friend. He wants to be mine." He said fondly.
"Why doesn't anyone want to be Uncle Jack's special friend? Can I be his special friend? Can I?" David squealed.
"No David you can't." Ianto said quickly. "Uncle Jack will find a new special friend. Now, why don't you two watch the movie and if you're good when Owen gets back from wherever he's gone I'll order pizza okay?" He said hoping to distract them with offers of junk food.
"Yeah pizza!" The both cheered before returning their attention to the television again.
Ianto smiled as he watched his young niece and nephew focus intently on the movie they'd seen a hundred times before. He marvelled at how resilient and understanding they were, and how they managed to accept the word of a trusted adult without debate or hesitation. Ianto just wished adults were like that too. A gentle knocking on his front door broke into his thoughts and he walked down the hall to open it.
"Can I get a key please?" Owen asked as he stood there with a full rucksack on his shoulder.
Ianto smiled. "I'll get you a copy." He said as he stepped aside and let Owen back in.
"How's Nemo doing?" The medic asked.
"They are about halfway to finding him. What's in the bag?" Ianto asked.
Owen slid the bag off his shoulder and unzipped the top sufficiently to extract a slim box from it. "I don't play football outside, but I was wondering if this would compensate?" He held the box up for Ianto to see.
"FIFA 10? That might work. They have a Playstation at home so that shouldn't be a problem." Ianto pointed out. "You know you don't have to do this don't you? You don't have to compete." He added softly.
Owen nodded. "I know." He replied gently. "But this is your family, and I want to get to know them. If I'm going to be with you, and if they're going to know we're together, I'd like to think they'd be part of our lives. I'm not trying to become Uncle Owen – god that makes me sound old – but I don't want them to be disappointed when they visit and find me here, as opposed to Jack." He admitted.
Ianto pulled Owen into his arms, planting a kiss on his forehead. "They're going to love you Owen. For different reasons to them loving him. And for much longer." He murmured.
Owen smiled and nodded. "Come on – let's go watch them find Nemo, then I'll set this up." He said taking Ianto's hand and leading him back into the lounge. As they entered David looked up at the couple.
"Uncle Ianto says you're his special friend. Why don't you want to be Uncle Jack's special friend?" He asked.
Owen opened his mouth to answer before glancing at Ianto for guidance.
"Go on." Ianto smirked, crossing his arms over his chest and grinning at the scene before him, and Owen's obvious discomfort.
Owen looked back at David who had muted the movie and so Mica was now also eyeing him questioningly. "I want to be Uncle Ianto's special friend because I love him very much. I love Uncle Jack too – most of the time – but not in the same way. Uncle Jack and I are good friends. Uncle Ianto and I are – apparently – special friends." He spoke slowly and carefully, and with the briefest hint of sarcasm that went straight over the children's heads. "That okay?" He asked looking back at Ianto.
"Perfect." Ianto replied with a wink. "Now – who wants pizza?"