11

"Taddy?"

"Hmmm?"

"You did die, didn't you? How did this work?" she demanded and Ianto looked up at her with glasses on the end of his nose that he didn't need but found comforting in his Old Man guise.

He closed the book and sighed, knowing it would be her that worked it out.

"Yes love. When you were taken I died. Like I died when the 456 farted" he nodded "Then, you pushed and made me live. This time…he did the same. A spark, a mere whisper of promise but enough for whatever this is in me to latch on and fight for both of us."

Kara sat and looked at her Tad long and hard, "Tad? What are you keeping from us still? All my life you have hidden things, moved the pieces in the puzzle. Come on. You died in that chopper crash, the reset would not have a baby on board. And getting the Jeep? The blood on you? Was some of that you too? Tad, Daddy loves you so much he is willing to pretend he doesn't have questions too but… there comes a time when we have to stop with the secrets."

"Wash your mouth out!" Ianto snorted, then leaned back as Jack entered with a cup of tea, kissing him before placing it by his book. Ianto knew this was not something that would go away. It was time.

"I did die in the chopper crash, again when a bullet caught me during your extraction. And yes, I think I did die a little when I fell through the skylight." Ianto agreed, "It was not you. Your father… he gave me a part of him that stirred something deep inside me. An ancient blood that has been dormant for…well… centuries I think. Neanderthals lived in what is now Wales, or Cymru in Welsh, at least 230,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens arrived by about 31,000 BC. However, continuous habitation by modern humans dates from the period after the end of the last ice age around 9000 BC, and Wales has many remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age. The first humans came and…well…settled. They were considered interesting and childlike by those already there. For my love, there were already Others there"

Jack found himself seated as he listened, the lovely welsh vowels more pronounced as Ianto leaned forward to look into his daughter's face and Willem froze, his brother also looking up from the floor with the dog as they heard something they suspected.

"Kara Girl …. I can trace my bloodline right back to there. That time, that moment. Don't ask me how, I don't know but time is something I have always been in-tune with. The old ones always said we were … connected." He seemed to struggle so she took the space to speak.

"Aliens? Are you saying you…there were aliens?"

Ianto blinked, then laughed softly, "No darling, we humans were the aliens really. These were the indigenous peoples of the region." Ianto snorted, "Old magic. My Great-Gran used to tell me that we were of the old blood, whatever that means. When… when I died the first time you were so little you didn't know. I wasn't sure if it really happened or not but then came Miracle Day and I knew. Jack was not enough to make me this way, he….sort of enhanced something or something enhanced his gift. All I know if that you did not inherit it but this one…I think he might. They want him, are maybe afraid of him. I have heard rustling in the trees since he started moving."

"Old creatures, ancient and powerful Nimeriga" Willem said softly, "The little people."

Jack watched his daughter frown as she considered, "Fairies? Really, Tad are you saying you are part fairy?"

"Fae" Ianto corrected, "Also called Mara."

Jack shivered, feeling the air changing as Ianto spoke and he knew he spoke the truth. He always knew when Ianto spoke the truth because of this feeling of …well…zinging in his gut.

"So.. why do I not have it but 'he' does?" she asked "Is it because it's a boy? You are having a boy this time?"

"Maybe, maybe I am stronger with this pregnancy than last time, maybe it's because your father is here renewing me each time we connect" Ianto shrugged, "Honey, you do have it to a degree. You heal so fast, you are strong, clever and that ability to intimidate people came from him, not me."

"But I got caught and I brought them here" she said sadly, "If I had zigged instead of zagged…"

"What is done is done and the reasons for thing are beyond of us anyway my darling. Maybe you were supposed to get caught, maybe this was supposed to happen. Something is happening and maybe I needed this kick-start to pull my head out of my arse and start remembering the things I was told by the old woman, her reasons for repeating herself, telling old stories and whispering things always confused me but now I know she was trying to prepare me for this."

"What is….this?"

"This is…. A happening" Ianto finally said, "Something is changing in the wind, do you feel it?"

"Yes" she whispered as she looked at her mate on the floor. "Time is slowing again."