26

Henry was in Caden Mode, sloping along making a fair whining noise as he clutched the toy he wanted and Ianto found it amusing to watch his son glare at his friend from behind his bug mask. The store was pretty full and not all children were as polite as his making him pull them both closer as they approached the checkout line.

Both children placed their toys down, Henry overly excited as he realised Ianto was letting him have the expensive one he had wanted for like forever. Ianto handed over the credit card and turned to address the boys when he saw someone approaching and he sighed, not wanting this confrontation.

"Turn and walk away" he said softly.

"Where is she?"

"Gwen please turn and walk away. She is not here. She is at school" Ianto said calmly, "Now you get the third and final warning before I take action. Walk away."

"School is out, can't you see all the children" Gwen demanded with her voice rising, "You can't keep her from me, she is my daughter. I bore her, you stand there with some import you took from a dying woman, you had mine already but oh no, you needed another one…"

Ianto been shocked to inaction as she started to yell but Henry, bless his wee clickers, stepped forward when his best friend was spoken of in a mean way and he reached out, a pincer neatly clipping her skirt at the waist and it was so fast that only Ianto's advanced eyes caught it.

Gwen stopped her rant as her skirt started to fall, screaming as she clutched at it and Ianto sighed.

Laughter as security arrived and Ianto calmly removed his PDA to show them the paperwork as she continued to rage, now pointing at Henry and calling him a little bastard. Now, Caden didn't know a lot of things but knew when his friend was being spoken of in a derogatory way so now Ianto was forced to face palm as his son stomped on the foot of the loud lady in an attempt to shut her up.

"ASSUALT!" she roared, "That little bugger assaulted me, did you see…GERRKKKKKKK"

Ianto watched her writhe on the floor as the security guard held his taser with a disinterested air, still reading the PDA. He then handed it back, "Have a nice day."

"Thank you officer" Ianto smiled, turning to accept his card and they headed for the Transporter. So cool. Henry was the first to giggle, laugher starting as he mimicked Gwen fairly well, even making the 'Gerk' noise as he flopped about.

"Stop that" Ianto tried to scold but laughed so much that he had to focus on flying, returning home to watch the children explode out of the vehicle and race off to tell the other kids. No doubt Henry would be rolling on the floor quite a few times. Then he thought of Alice and he swore softly, going in search of her.

"Hello smelly"

"Tad! Look, I got more homework" she was excited, the extra schoolwork he had organised feeding her mind "I almost finished it already."

"Clever girl" he smiled, then sat and told her what had just happened, not being cruel or overly explanatory. She looked at him and sighed.

"She is quite mad, isn't she?" she finally asked.

"I think she is sorry for what happened, for what she did but there is no way we can trust her not to hurt you or someone else. She clearly has impulse issues" Ianto agreed, "I am sorry love."

"Don't be, I have two parentals who love me and will never hurt me. She was the one who cooked me, you are the one who feeds me" she shrugged with that logic he seemed to have instilled in her, "Caden and I are lucky. You are our mama. You love, nurture and protect. All we need, all the things she will not be"

"When did you grow so big" Ianto asked, "Your inside parts are so huge that they fill the room."

She grinned, "I didn't have a choice. You kept loving me and my heart had to grow to hold so much happiness."

"Argh, sappy" Ianto laughed pulling her into a hug, "My perfect girl. Always will be my perfect girl. No matter what, you are mine."

"Hey, why is Henry on the ground making a weird noise?" Jack asked as he entered Alice's room, looking back down the corridor.

"Gwen says hello" Ianto replied dryly and Alice giggled as she slid from his grip to go watch the silly bug. He made a great Caden and she couldn't wait to see what a bug getting tazed looked like.

"Are you OK? You look a little pale" Jack frowned as he stepped closer, pulling Ianto into his arms, "Your shoulder?"

"No" Ianto sighed, the wound now just a sometimes pull or bite and only hurt in the evenings if he had been overly active, "I think she just startled me. So busy with the boys and their little vice versa thing that she was right there before I saw her. Now I see what Mother means about her ability to step into your space."

"I'll call legal" Jack kissed Ianto and stroked his cheek, "don't worry love. It's time I enforced some of those court orders I think."

Ianto nodded and let the warmth of his mate wash over him.

The weird niggle remained.

He was still overlooking smething in the air.