Merry Christmas Diane.

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1

The payout for his service had surprised Ianto. Hush money more like… and as for that Million?

Apparently, everyone 'forgot' about it and when he tentatively mentioned some money in his account there was a flurry of activity to release his bank accent that had been frozen, telling him there was no further action to be taken. Ianto pondered this, then visited a lawyer with some letters after his name, covering arse, as the saying goes.

Jack was overjoyed t have Ianto move in, as was little Rose of course. The only problem was that now Ianto had nothing to do with himself but…. Yeah… clean. And it was getting a bit… ah… death by bleach if ya know what I mean.

It was a week into the new life that Ianto was waiting for Jack to appear from the office he kept downtown that it caught Ianto's eye. A little note Sellotaped in the window of the downstairs vacant store that Jack worked above.

An old coffee shop. Ianto remembered it well, full of books, board games and banter, where the kids got an ice cream sundae for pennies and the adults got slices of cake far larger than needed.

"Hey" Jack appeared with a wide grin, pleased to see Ianto there like he had not expected him. Startled out of some train of thought.

"It's closed."

"Yeah, the old man got dotery, they put him in a home and you know that son of his wanted to be a florist so… closed. For sale."

"I see that" Ianot leaned closer "I loved this place. Remember we all trapsed in here after a day roller skating for some hot chips."

Jack turned to look up at it and shrugged "Old times."

Hmmmm, good times" Ianto corrected as he accepted the hand being offered, not the least bit afraid to walk down the Main Street holding the hand of his lover.

Yeah.

Times do change don't they.

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Toshiko's ability to find the positive in everything and spin it in his favour was legendary. Although Ianto hadn't worked for the money to set up Dragon's Den, he had all worked extremely hard in the last year to bring the dream into fruition.

The sun shone down on their friends, Neighbours, and even strangers who had come to celebrate the opening of the shop. Toshiko and Jack were mingling outside while Ianto and Rhiannon were inside answering questions from interested parties. Black bookshelves boasted rows and rows of books in every possible genre: from fantasy to science fiction to romance and even something called LitRPG—whatever that was. Toshiko assured them it was very popular these days.

At the other end of the building, white cube-shaped cubbyholes housed wool, thread, knitting needles, crochet hooks, and all the other accoutrements one would expect in a haberdashery store.

In the middle was a counter holding Jennifer's baked goods.

they had employed a small group of workers from a nearby agency to serve people whatever they wanted for the day. On Monday, they hoped they would all return to pay for the goods they were sampling for free.

"Uh-oh." Toshiko squeezed Jack's arm. "Problem incoming, three o'clock."

Jack turned to his right. Elaine McDonald, Roger's wife, was barrelling through the crowd towards them. Anger was written across her attractive face. She stopped inches away from his face and jabbed a finger into his chest. "I hope you're happy with yourselves."

"Opening this place up again is like winning the lottery and it has certainly helped to improve our general countenance," Toshiko said, deliberately misunderstanding Elaine's words.

"The Silver Spoon has been in the village for years. It's unfair that you have opened direct competition to our family business."

Jack didn't want to tell her he hoped the clientele would differ greatly from theirs. They were hoping for a younger customer base—not the village old ladies who spent two hours drinking one plain coffee and a slice of Victoria sponge.

Ianto's plan was to attract visitors to the area— holidaymakers, who would take an entire cake for their family to enjoy, office workers who wanted to bring their colleagues takeaway coffee, as well as those people looking for the latest bestseller or items for their craft project.

"I'm sorry if you think Dragon's Den will take your regular customers." Jack sighed.

"I didn't say that" Elaine snapped. "We are not afraid of your shop. I just think that friends don't do this sort of thing to each other."

Jack and Ianto had never been friends with Elaine—at least not since Jack had been seen kissing Elaine's boyfriend behind the bike sheds at school. As far as Elaine was concerned, they had all been mortal enemies since. She had kept up the animosity with no difficulties for over a decade or so.

Toshiko pulled her mobile phone out of her bag. "I've been taking selfies with my friends all day long for our social media channels. Let's take one together." Elaine looked as though she wanted to grab the phone out of Toshiko's hand and throw it into the village pond. However, Toshiko placed Elaine in between the two of them and raised her arm into the air, moving the screen towards them to form the perfect angle.

"Smile!" Toshiko nudged Elaine. The other woman tried, but the result was more like a frightening baring of her teeth than an expression of pleasure.

"I'll be sure to tag you in it." Toshiko screeched with laughter as Elaine pushed back through the crowds as quickly as she arrived.

"You shouldn't antagonize her."

"She doesn't need winding up," Toshiko replied. "You felt sorry for her a minute ago."

"That was when I temporarily forgot what a nightmare she is. If only she'd get over me and Tony Henderson enough to relax, she might not be so bad. Christ we were only eight years old".

"Have you seen the state of Tony Henderson these days?"

Jack pulled a face. "Who would've thought 1992 Tony would grow up into the 2012 version?"

Toshiko sighed. "He was completely gorgeous."

Jack shrugged like he had not noticed, like he had not been one he snogged as well. Hell, over half the boys and girls in the class felt the Harkness Heat at some stage during their schooling.

"I don't expect anyone would want to get caught snogging him these days." Toshiko shuddered. "I think his beer belly would prevent anyone from getting close enough."

Jack frowned and nodded towards a man he didn't recognize, talking to Elaine. "Who's that?"

"Don't you remember?" Toshiko asked. "It's Hamish something. He's Roger's business partner."

Jack snapped his fingers. "Of course. I forgot he was involved."

"Don't you think Connor Watson is attractive?"

Jack searched the crowd for Connor, who ran the ecigarette shop next door to The Silver Spoon, though he didn't need to look at him to form an opinion. "He's very good looking, but at least fifteen years too young for you."

"He possibly was last year," Toshiko replied. "But that was before I met Owen Harper…. Doctor if you please."

Jack shook his head.

Toshiko was irrepressible. "Pray for Doctor Owen Harper… I might wreak him."