2

The second day of the seminar and a restless night since Anna refused to talk to him on the phone, his sister making small talk while her husband spoke too loudly while telling her that the bastard was not worth the waste of time when her own kids needed bathing for bed.

Yeah.

Such as deep love there huh?

"Got your call in to home?"

Ianto looked up to find his area manger and smiled softy "Yeah. I am definitely in the doghouse over this. My daughter is NOT a forgiving soul at this age."

"How old is she?"

"Six going on twenty"

Some soft laugher as everyone around the table agreed that he was toast and maybe a gift from the gift shop might help. He rose to go peruse the merchandise and found a bright rainbow coloured unicorn he knew she would love.

Yep.

Unicorns are cool.

Would have to do and he knew that she would love it even as she pretended not to.

He went back to his room and sat on the bed, pulling the backpack towards him so he could stuff the toy in the bottom to keep it safe. The little key ring attached swinging to hit his hand, making him catch it and stare at it for a while. The little purple puppy staring at him with wide eyes and a look of total glee. It was old, beaten and had clearly been washed many times. But his face was full of affection. It was clearly a love token.

This was the one toy that she wanted, always had but it was the one he always had with him. Usually on his car keys and now currently attached to the backpack for this trip, for luck. He told her he had been gifted it on Valentine's Day by his first love and she had decided that was her mother. He did not correct her. What would be the point?

No. His first love had been someone totally different who he had thought he would be with for the rest of his life. A moment of infidelity later and it was all over. His pain at the betrayal so raw but Jennifer had been there to comfort and guide him through his grief and the love between them had grown from there. Don't' get me wrong. He did love her. But not like that. That soul consuming, all needing ache that came from true love. No, discovering someone else sharing their bed sort of fucked that one over pretty damned fast.

Ianto never loved Jen the same way but he had tried. She had been sufficient as a life partner… so he had thought. To learn that she was also unfaithful had been a knife to the heart and he knew that deep down he would never trust anyone again. Jen's unborn child had not been his. The DNA results taking his breath away as the police openly accused him of murdering her due to the affair. God it was a bloodbath. He knew his daughter was his, they tested her as well. Without his permission there. He was treated like some sort of monster until they finally agreed it was an accident. God, this was something that stayed in his mind, going around and around at the most importune times. The memory of that feeling of grief and betrayal coming back in a flood.

Shame her brother could not forgive him for not being there. Why could he not blame the affair partner for not being there to save her and the unborn child then? No, conveniently that was never considered. The affair partner never hauled in and blamed. Right.

Ianto knew the hatred his brother-in-law felt would never go away, not matter how he poorly masked it with indifference. He had to get out of that house, had to get his daughter into a more normalized routine. That house was becoming toxic and the longer he stayed the harder it would be to tear his child from that couple who were starting to act like she belonged there, even if he never would.

Accommodation in the town was hard to come by, but there had to be something, somewhere he could settle.

He had voiced this at the evening meal after a few drinks, the area manager a nice guy called Ralph who had nodded and then suggested options for him that Ianto had not known were open to him. One of them really catching his attention.

Ianto had spent the night considering the offer of another position in another country. A fresh start for him and Anna. A clean break from the life that was nothing but a living torture for him. And her. He knew she heard her uncle's cruel words, not only about the feckless man his sister married but his own sister's feckless baby brain.

While sitting at the breakfast table contemplating the offer, he had noticed people racing to the media room, something happening.

"God, not the bloody Russians again I hope" he muttered as he Rhiannon to go see if World War III was starting.

Oh it was worse.

So much worse.

.

.

"We are getting reports of the ships over all major cities worldwide. It is believed that this may be the First Contact spoken of recently in the address of…"

Whatever else the reporter was about to say was suddenly gone, the bright white screen making several people grunt as the image of the woman and the disc shaped vessel over the White House disappeared.

"Someone slap the side of the fucking TV" someone yelled angrily.

"I don't think it's the telly" came a nervous reply "The media is going mad online. Some sort of white light came from the vessel and engulfed the area."

It really isn't that hard for you to know what happens next. All the sci-fi horror movies are the same and reality was no different. How cliché. How bloody typical that a laser beam really just wiped the ground clean, leaving a black ring of scorched earth where everything above ground level once stood.

Ianto knew several things at once.

He knew they were royally fucked, the world was about to change forever and most importantly... he knew that he needed to get out of here before everyone else realized it too.

The three hour flight was not an option, all aircraft grounded and only military personnel allowed free reign as a national curfew was announced as well as regional lockdowns that would come into effect at midnight.

Fuck that, he had to get out of the city and back home to Anna, no matter what.

Was anything going to be safe now?