Shark infested Custard

Ianto eat his breakfast with gusto. He loved cornflakes and with Jack still in bed he could add as much sugar as he liked. He was extra hungry today from helping Jack this morning. He was hoping he could persuade Tosh to make him pancakes with maple syrup but Tosh had told him this was for special occasions only. Owen was sitting opposite drinking coffee.

"Err, I think that's enough sugar," Owen said as he watched Ianto heap on another spoonful. Ianto pouted but moved the spoon away from the bowl. He saw him smile.

"That's what Jack says," he looked at Owen shyly. "I loved your joke, have you got any more?" Ianto asked outright.

"Oh the joke from the party," he said recalling he had told Ianto the most pathetic joke in history and it had been a huge hit. "Okay here's one: what's yellow and exceedingly dangerous?" He saw Ianto think, shake his head then look at him, excited to hear the punch line.

"Shark infested custard," he declared.

Ianto burst in to laughter. "Oh that is really good!" He turned to Tosh who was busy preparing her own breakfast. "What's yellow and exceedingly dangerous?" he saw her shake her head. "Shark infested custard," he declared as she laughed. "I like that, but how would you get the shark into the custard? It's like getting a clock into a crocodile...very hard, I'll ask Myfanwy later she might know," Ianto said, taking a drink of juice and picking up a slice of toast.

Owen and Tosh watched Ianto, as with extreme care he buttered his toast. They could see it was taking all his concentration. The effort was evidence that Ianto was still working on his physical recovery. He looked awkward as he took butter onto the knife and tried to spread it. Owen wanted to take the knife from him and do it for him but knew better. Jack had made it very clear this morning Ianto was to do as much as he could without intervention, and unless they saw him getting frustrated or he asked for help they were not to step in and assist. He was capable it just took him time, so be patient.

"Do sharks like custard? Or would they swim about and eat all the custard? Like swimming and eating all at the same time? Maybe they would swim with their mouths open? Marigold likes custard, because she ate all the leftover trifle from my party. That had custard, she likes everything, nasty and nice, she's so greedy. She likes me but she likes me more when I have loads of things for her to eat so I always make sure I have something," Ianto added as he now carefully measured out a teaspoon full of jam from the jar on the table. "Jack says this way it's not so messy." He spread the jam on the toast.

"Jam is my second favourite," he said taking a bite. "My best favourite is maple syrup; it's wonderful, all sticky and sweet. Sometimes if I'm extra good Jack makes me things with maple syrup."

"Ianto, tell me about Jack's dreams," Owen asked him.

Ianto licked his fingers. "He has terrible bad dreams."

"Are they all like the one last night?" Tosh queried, blowing on her tea to cool it down then taking a sip.

"Sometimes he calls out asking the bad man not to hurt me and asks me to forgive him. Those ones are easy, I just tell Jack I'm okay, kiss him and hold him close," Ianto said licking the spoon clean. "To begin with those dreams were hard because I kept telling Jack I didn't know what 'forgive' meant. He got all upset when I kept asking him so I asked Myfanwy and she told me to say I forgave him. I did and that really worked. Do you know what that word means? I tried looking it up but I'm not sure if I spelled it right and I didn't want to ask Jack in case I upset him in the day time." He looked at Owen then at Tosh.

"It means when someone does something really bad and hurts someone else the person who did the bad thing might wish to ask for forgiveness from the person they hurt," Tosh replied and saw Ianto stop to think.

"But it was the bad man who did bad things to Jack? Why would Jack ask me? Jack's never done bad things to me!"

"It's a complicated concept," she said after several moments had passed.

Ianto looked at her, baffled. "I get confused over words," he added sadly and she immediately realised her mistake.

"Ianto have you ever done something that you felt really bad about and later on you felt like you needed to say you were sorry?" Owen asked him.

"Yes, last Christmas; I was really angry and mean to Jack," he replied after several moments.

"And I bet you said you were sorry?" Tosh added and saw Ianto nod.

"Well forgiveness is another way of saying sorry, only bigger," Owen explained. Ianto nodded his understanding.

"So when someone asks for forgiveness it's a big way of saying sorry," he reflected back. "Jack's has never done a big mean thing to me so I reckon it's something in his dreams because dreams are like that, things happen."

"You said sometimes Jack has other types of dreams," Owen nudged him verbally, getting the conversation back on track.

"He just screams and screams and screams. I get sad and worried because I can't get him to stop; he throws his arms about and then tries to curl up and keeps asking the bad man to stop. I tell him that he's with his Ianto and I love him, I asked Myfanwy on how to help but she had no idea so I just try to hold him and tell him he is not there anymore. I think sometimes he thinks he is back in the first bad place. That was where the bad man was really mean, but not for real just in his dreams so he thinks it's real but it's not." Tosh put her hand on Ianto's shoulder as Owen absorbed what Ianto was telling him.

"How often does he have these dreams?" Tosh asked gently.

"Sometimes every night, sometimes lots of times every night, sometimes not at all, other times he just talks a lot, like he's having a long talk with someone," he added as he stood and started to clean up. Owen sat back deep in thought.

"I like cleaning and washing up. It's fun," he said picking up the cereal packet and folding the top down.

"Has Jack always had bad dreams?" Owen queried.

Ianto stopped to think. "I can't remember. When I think back too hard things get all jumbled up. I can't think of a time when he didn't have the bad dreams. They've got bigger," Ianto tried to explain.

"Do you mean they've got worse?" Tosh asked

"No, they've always been worse, but they're bigger now," he added as he continued to clear the table.

Owen creased his forehead and looked at Tosh trying to work out what Ianto was trying to tell them.

"Do you mean they go on for longer?" Owen asked after few moments, uncertain he understood.

"Yes, no,' he looked at Owen in confusion, creasing his face and starting to get agitated.

"It's okay, you've been a great help," Tosh said quickly smiling at Ianto who looked uncertain.

"I have to really think about the right words and they get all mixed up in my head, words are very hard," he explained. "I draw things when I can't explain, I can draw it for you," Ianto offered and placed the dirty dishes in the sink.

"That will be brilliant mate, that would really help me understand so I can help Jack," Owen told him.

"Did Jack really fall asleep while he was walking?" Ianto asked after a few moments. Tosh and Owen shared glance.

"Jack is feeling very tired, so he's going to sleep lots," Owen told him.

"He is very tired, so he needs lots of sleep, but I need to go to him if he gets bad dreams because he needs me," Ianto told them.

"Ianto I'm glad you brought this up because I need to apologise...say I'm sorry," he added quickly. "I should have listened to you yesterday when you told me you needed to be with Jack. So is there anything else I need to know?" He saw Ianto brighten a bit as he thought.

"Jack likes being in the garden, it's very special." He stopped and thought some more. "And..." he hesitated.

"It's okay you can say," Tosh encouraged.

"I'm not sure but," he took a breath "Jack is very heavy. I'm worried he might fall down asleep again and I can't do things because of my back and…" Tosh interrupted as she realised Ianto was asking for help.

"Owen and I are here. We are here to help get Jack better," she said with a smile. "And I know Mac will help too if he can."

"That's good because I really need Jack to get better," he added.

Tosh put her arm around him. "So what's the plan today?" Tosh asked Ianto as they heard a knock on the door.

"Hello Mrs Fisher," Ianto said as he opened the door to an older lady holding out a tin.

"Hello Ianto, I came to drop this off. I heard Jack's not well, and he liked my banana cream pie so much at the art display supper I thought I would whip him one up."

"Thank you Mrs Fisher," Ianto said taking the tin and lifting the lid. "Oh yes, Jack will love this it's his favourite. This is Jack's friends Owen and Tosh," Ianto said introducing them as he placed the pie carefully on a plate and handed her back the tin.

"Owen told me a great joke." She smiled and he told the shark custard joke.

"That's a good one," she said winking at him. "You tell Jack to get better soon. You let him know to call if he needs anything."

"Thank you Mrs Fisher, I will and thanks for the pie," Ianto said waving her off and closing the door.

"So what's the plan for today?" Owen asked bringing the conversation back as Ianto put the pie in the fridge. Now he looked at the clock as he licked his fingers and moved to the large fabric calendar.

"Today is Thursday," he said looking out the window, "it's cloudy," he picked up a fabric cloud and I pred," he struggled with the word, 'predic, predict it's going to rain." He took down the white fabric cloud and replaced it with a black one and added one of rain drops. Carefully he placed it on the cloth under Thursday. He stood for a moment then stated, "I'm feeling sad, unhappy and worried," as he spoke he placed the emotions on the calendar.

Turning he faced Owen and Tosh. "First I need to give Jack his good morning kiss, because he hasn't had a good kiss yet, and we always give each other a morning kiss. Then I am going work on my maths and jigsaws. We have morning tea. I then do some reading and Jack helps me with the words. Ben will pass in his van and the newspaper will come. Jack will read the paper cover to cover. I will do the Sudoku and Jack does the crossword, then it's lunch time."

"Could you do the drawing for me first?" Owen asked. He saw Ianto hesitate and momentarily freeze.

"I do drawing in the afternoon," he said slowly as he picked up then gripped Myfanwy closely.

"Of course," Tosh interrupted recalling Jack's words this morning reminding them that Ianto found comfort in the routine he followed. As there had been an upset they were to allow him to follow it as closely as he needed.

"This afternoon will be fine," Owen agreed. Ianto relaxed.

"That's good because I, I, I need to do things in order," Ianto added with relief.

"I'll go and give Jack his kiss now because he will be lonely and we always give each other a good kiss in the mornings," he said as he turned and raced up the stairs.

Opening the door Ianto saw the breakfast tray he had brought up earlier was on the side of the bed. Jack had had some toast and coffee. Coffee was so strange; he loved the smell but he didn't like the taste. He picked it up carefully and placed it on top of the dresser. As he did Jack opened his eyes and he went and lay down next to him and Jack put his arm around him.

"Mrs Fisher brought you a banana cream pie and I came up to give you a morning kiss," Ianto told him as kissed him.

"Emm, banana cream pie, my favourite," Jack said after Ianto had pulled back. "Have you had breakfast?" Jack said in a huge yawn.

"Yes Owen told me good joke," he said repeating the joke. Jack laughed.

"Owen says you're going to stay in bed today," Ianto double-checked and Jack nodded.

"I'm sorry I can't stop sleeping," he yawned.

"Are you really okay?" Into asked hesitantly.

"I just need to sleep," he said as he gave Ianto a squeeze and Ianto lent down and kissed him deeply.

"Yes sleep," Owen agreed as entered the room and witnessed the snog and felt uncomfortable.

"If you're asleep who will help me with my reading?" Ianto asked

"Tosh can help she's a good reader," Owen told him.

"She's so good at maths so it will be good if she can help me with my reading. I love reading but words are very hard and after my reading I'll bring you lunch and the newspaper," Ianto told him. He pulled back and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips.

"It's time now for you to go start working on your maths," he told him gently. Ianto gave him another quick kiss on the lips then stood up, took the tray and left quietly.

Owen came and sat on the edge of the bed. "Now tell me about your dreams?" Owen asked.

"What dreams?" Jack asked as he forced his eyes open followed by his jaw.