9

Ianto rose to start the day and found the kitchen heaving with activity as Kara happily cooked breakfast, "Morning Taddy. Gonna take some grunts along the wall today, thought we would fuel up first. Hungry?"

Ianto looked at the kitchen, the raw egg dripping down the side of one of his lovely apple green cupboards…a little sliver of shell racing along like a boat on the river…. Now a tiny waterfall. He looked at the bacon sitting on the counter without cover, the bacon grease dribbling down the splash-back and the toaster and the sugar bowl which was there because she was also poaching some tomato halves.

He swallowed.

Jack came in behind him and looked up from the handful of post, seeing the ramrod back and he slowed. "Babe?"

Jack stepped around him and looked at his daughter who was dancing around the kitchen as she sang to the radio, Willem sitting in a chair nearby polishing his boots without a newspaper on the table.

"Ah, shit" Jack said softly, "This is not good."

Kara turned to face them, the spatula flicking egg and grease onto the floor "Hey Dad. Hungry? I thought it would be nice to cook breakfast."

"It's like…I mean…." Ianto fumbled.

"Honey, this would have been sweet when you were like…eight or something but ….ah… a bowl of cereal and half a glass of orange juice sliding about on a tray is a bit different to this" Jack said as he looked around and then saw Ianto looking up, following his gaze to see something on the ceiling.

"What's that?" Ianto seemed so…calm.

Not good.

"Oh, don't worry about that" Kara laughed, "I threw that pasta up there the other night, gods are you just noticing?"

Ianto looked at her silently for several beats, then asked "Is this about the baby?"

Willem looked up from his task with surprise as Ianto took a step closer to his daughter, "Are you angry? Are you looking for an argument so you can leave?"

"What" she was confused now.

"Well, you've trashed my kitchen. Your dog is taking a dump in front of the closed door and you seem hell bent on upsetting me. Are you angry about the baby? You don't want to live here so you want me to lose my shit and then you have an excuse to leave? Move out and tell everyone its hormones?" Ianto frowned at her.

"Oh Taddy" she sighed as her shoulders lumped, "You really think I'm not happy about the baby?"

"Well… I don't know what to think. You know how I am about my kitchen. Look at what you've done" Ianto growled and she turned, seeing it all for the first time through his eyes.

"Well I was gonna clean it up" she defended.

"Gods you are so much like your father" Ianto sighed as he settled into his chair, "He used every fucking pot when he cooked. Why I banned him."

"Look, I don't think she meant to upset you love" Jack soothed as he made motions at Willem to clean up the doggy-doo, "I think she was so focused in the food she forgot the golden rule of 'clean as you go' you instigated. You know your standards make us all look like slobs. Yeah?"

Ianto huffed as he begrudgingly agreed.

"Sorry Taddy, I will clean it up and I forgot about the pasta" she said sadly, sitting and facing him "I am happy about the bub. Honest, I am really happy for you. I know me growing up and moving on is something that scares you, I am not moving out. You've made sure I have more than enough things to do here without ever leaving our little patch of paradise. OK? I want to be with Willem and he likes it here too. Family, yeah? We will build the extension, we will all live here and maybe…maybe this house will team with kids, yeah? I know you are a wonderful Tad."

"Sorry love, I think I am a bit … touchy at the moment. I want to sort things in my head, I want to be settled in my mind before it all becomes …ah….real" Ianto grimaced, "When the town finds out they will turn into mad women wanting to smother and feed. I know how this works, that poor young mum almost had to go into seclusion to get any peace in her final trimester in the New Year."

"Oh Taddy, you know you can't hide!" she laughed, "They already all think they own you. You are their favourite son, even if you are older than some of them!"

"Gods" Ianto sighed.

"Come on, a pregnant man? They really don't believe us about Kara, now there will be no confusion when they see him growing" Willem snorted.

"True" Jack pointed happily, "Love?"

"Yeah. I guess they will be more understanding of the added security too" Ianto agreed, finally admitting he had to tell the humans.

After all, they were all in this together.

Right?