AN: Thank you for your continuing reviews, and thank you to "rosieposy" for her rather entertaining suggestions. I'm still going to say no, but they keep me amused.
Please keep reviewing x
Ianto had left the Hub a little after 5 to allow himself sufficient time to make it to Newport. The early evening traffic was still reasonably quiet, the rush hour not usually beginning till later, so he made it to the address he'd been given in good time. Parking his car on the street opposite the house in which he now knew his mother was living he turned off the engine. Checking his watch he saw he was fifteen minutes early. Tugging his mobile from his jacket pocket he speed-dialled Owen.
"Hey – you made it?" Owen asked gently.
"Yeah I'm parked outside." Ianto replied.
"Are you okay?" Owen asked, hearing the glint of nerves in the Welshman's voice.
"I'm scared. Scared what I might find out." Ianto admitted.
"You can turn around and come back if you want to Ianto – nobody is making you be there." Owen began. "But I think we both know you're going to regret it if you don't walk up to that front door. At the end of the day she's your mother, and she wanted to find you for a reason. You're her son, and she wants to know you. And she is going to love you." He said gently.
Ianto exhaled softly. "Pep talk received and understood." He said with a smile. "Thanks Owen."
"Anytime. Let me know when you're on your way home." Owen requested.
"I will." Ianto nodded unseen. "I love you."
Owen smiled. "I love you too."
Ianto hung up, pocketing his mobile as he removed the keys from the ignition and climbed out of the car. Locking it up he dropped the keys into his other pocket and crossed the street nervously. As he pushed opened the garden gate of his mothers house the front door opened. Ianto closed the gate and walked carefully up the path towards her. She had the same dark brown hair that he had, though hers was shoulder length and speckled grey. She wore wire-rimmed glasses over her gentle blue eyes, and her skin was as pale as his.
"I've been trying to think of something to say to you all day, something better than simply saying hello, but I forget what I decided on." She admitted lightly, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Hello is fine." Ianto replied as he stood on the step in front of her.
"Hello Ianto." She said with a small smile.
"Hello… Mum." He said, choking slightly on the word.
Bronwyn beamed as tears filled her eyes and slid down her cheeks. "I've missed you so much." She murmured.
He nodded. "I missed you too." He admitted, stepping closer and allowing her to pull him into a bone-crushing hug. Releasing him from her arms Ianto's mother guided him into the house and closed the front door.
"My husband, Gareth, has gone out for the evening so it's just the two of us." She explained as they walked down the hall into the kitchen. "Can I get you a drink?" She offered.
"Water would be good." He admitted.
She took a glass from the cupboard and filled it under the tap before handing it to Ianto who took a sip. "I made cottage pie. I hope that's okay. I didn't really know what else to do." She said.
"That's fine. Makes a change to takeout." He replied with a small smile. "I work some crazy hours, and it doesn't leave much time for cooking." He admitted.
"Your father used to send me a note every Christmas, just to let me know how you were all doing, just to let me know where you were. The last note I had told me you were working at Canary Wharf, though he didn't know what you were doing. After the attack I needed to know you were safe. I needed to know if you'd been working in the tower that was attacked. I spent months searching the Internet and trying to find out where you were. I found your name in a list of survivors, and it mentioned the word 'Torchwood.' It meant nothing to me, but with a bit of persistence I found a link between 'Torchwood' and the defence department. It took me a while but I wrote the letter you got and sent it off. I guess you still work for this 'Torchwood' and someone passed the letter on?" She asked.
Ianto nodded. "We have a base in Cardiff." He admitted. "You're quite the detective. Must be where I get my research skills from." He added with a smile.
His mother nodded. "I work at the archive department at Newport Council." She said.
He laughed softly. "I run the archives at Torchwood."
She moved towards the oven and donned her gloves before pulling out the large dish inside, laying it steaming onto the bench. "I hope you're hungry. I made far too much. Must be my maternal instinct to overfeed coming out." She admitted as she served Ianto up a large plateful and setting it down on the kitchen table, offering Ianto a seat. As he sat down she joined him, settling herself opposite him with a smaller serving.
"Do you have other children?" He asked carefully, not really sure which answer he'd prefer.
She shook her head. "Just you and Rhiannon." She admitted. "I got sick a few years after I left your father, and complications and treatment left me sterile."
"I'm sorry." Ianto said softly.
"Don't be." She said shaking her head. "I will always be mother to two children, and Gareth and I are very happy." She smiled fondly. "Is Rhiannon in Cardiff?" She asked.
Ianto nodded as he swallowed a forkful of food. "She's married and has a boy and a girl. She's happy." He replied.
"Are you married? Any children?" She asked.
"No I'm not married." He answered. "I nearly was once, but she died in the battle." He spoke sadly. "I live down by the Bay in Cardiff… with my boyfriend." He admitted nervously.
"And you're happy?" She asked, not battering an eyelid at Ianto's admission.
Ianto nodded. "I am. Owen is… well he's… I love him. I love him more than I have ever loved anyone. He makes me happy." He explained with a smile.
"I can tell. Your eyes sparkle when you say his name." She said with a grin. "You have your fathers eyes you know?" She asked.
Ianto nodded. "I know." His tone turning solemn.
"He used to be a good man Ianto, a man to be proud of. He wasn't always the man you remember." She said gently.
"I wish I could remember him as good, but I just remember the bully he became after you left him." Ianto replied. "I just remember the way he treated me, and I can't ever forgive him that."
"If I'd found out that he'd died at the time, I would have come to the funeral, if only to see you and Rhiannon." She confessed.
"Well I wasn't there, so you would have missed me." He replied. "Have you tried to contact her?" He asked, needing to change the subject.
His mother nodded. "Twice. She never replies, so I assume she isn't interested. Did you tell her you were coming?" She asked.
"No." He answered, finishing up his meal. "I didn't really have chance to tell her. I called you as soon as I'd decided that I wanted to see you, before I had the chance to change my mind. I needed to talk to you, to find out why you left, to see if you're happy."
"I am happy Ianto, and I wouldn't have been if I'd stayed. But I promise you that my leaving was nothing to do with you, or Rhiannon. I left your father, not you. I never forgot about you. I always loved you." She reassured.
Ianto nodded. "I'd have left him too." He admitted. "In fact I did, the first chance I got."
"I'm sorry… for what happened to you after I went." She said softly.
"Yeah me too." He replied sadly.