2

"Wye Valley?" Lisa said as the vehicle roared along now, Ianto putting as much distance between them and the soldiers as he could, the red paper comment far too scary for him to speak just yet.

"Didn't your Grandys live up this way?" she asked, "Rhiannon has been bleating for months about you two going to clean it out to sell it since your Nan finally passed. God, I wouldn't be surprised if she drove up here and smothered her will a pillow or something and you are the only thing ….IANTO!"

Ianto swung wildly to avoid the stock on the road and he swore as he hit the first cow, knowing the next one would soon follow, "Hold on love."

He swung the wheel so his side would take the impact and he let go of the wheel as the drift turned into an uncontrollable slam, the car jumping the dirt curb to end up down in the ditch with the dog yelping in the back with shock. Ianto let it continue into the nearby copse until it kissed a tree.

"Lissy?"

"Good"

"Fuck" Ianto looked at the console, then the fuel gauge that was low anyway. He had estimated that they might not make it to the house and now knew it was gonna be a hike.

"Is the car visible from the road?" he asked as he opened the back and release Crypto, then began pulling out their packs.

Lisa scrambled up the bank to the road and walked to where a vehicle would be driving past, looking down, "No. The scrub has closed over."

"Good, come on, we can hike the rest of the way" Ianto called back, "Will be there by dark."

"Good, I need to pee"" she called back as she slid down the embankment and laughed, bouncing over to kiss him then bounce into the bushes.

"Lissy, come on" Ianto sighed, annoyed once more. Their relationship had been strained lately, her childish ways and repeated shrugging off anything he wanted to do had started to grate. Like this weekend away, she planned their life like he was some sort of bloody pushover. He loved her. He knew he loved her but… after discovering that she had been secretly texting another man he had started to see that she did not love him the same.

Of course she denied it, then when faced with the facts had wept and told Ianto is was his fault for being too wrapped up in his work. Of course she got him the spot at her work, somewhere that both excited and terrified him, then she wangled him a spot on her floor. He now saw that her manoeuvring had all been for her own gain, not his. Her boss loved Ianto and his edidic memory, his acidic wit and especially his coffee. The hand on his butt had been the last straw as he knew he had to tell her that he was going to quit, no matter what it meant to their relationship.

She knew he hated tents yet had decided a camping holiday in the fucking wilderness might save this?

As if hearing his thoughts she stopped shucking on her pack to look at him with silent question.

"Let's go" he finally said, moving towards the outcrop on the horizon and the homestead beyond. Lisa stood watching him and the dog running ahead to pee on things then she sighed knowing what he had been thinking about, and she wished she could take it back.

The affair.

Of course he knew.

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Dawn lit the sky with such a glorious display that it took his breath away. He smiled softly as he revelled in it, like a fire cleansing and wiping clean. The cleaning cloth of the gods.

Crypto padded into sight, the rabbit in his jaws welcome and he found a catch in his throat that even in the moment when he thought here were fates worth than death such a small thing might rouse him again.

Ianto rose to his feet and let his eyes search the dog for any sigh of injury and was satisfied by his easy gait and white unblemished fur that he had not met anyone this night, stepping aside as the dog entered the house with his offering.

"Come on boy, I'll make us a nice stew with this. You want that beef bone in the fridge?" Ianto pulled open the old decrepit refrigerator that was humming away, flicking a beef bone with meat still on it at the dog who caught it and padded off to eat.

That roast was only a few days old but he knew he couldn't eat it now, might never eat roast beef again.

Ianto shook himself and he started to gut the rabbit, careful to place its innards in a bowl to burry later.

Another fucking day had begun.

He wondered if there was any point.