16
"Good morning Sergeant" Alice decided to take the high road and take her lumps along the way.
"Good morning Private" came a soft reply, Rhiannon seeming… tired. Alice paused and looked over at Ianto's closed door, then moved closer.
"Are you OK?" she asked softly.
Rhiannon shrugged, picking up the mugs of coffee before replying "I am doing the best I can. All we can do with what we are given."
"So, the kids are having a Parental Day coming up and with Steven's father not here I was wondering, do you know if my Dad can cover instead?" Alice asked something else, hoping to clear the air a little.
"Yeah, I asked Tee to come for Mica and David. I don't know if he will, he hates being in front of people unless it is leading them into live fire" Rhiannon answered and suddenly both of them were giggling.
"God, mine will be a peacock" Alice hissed.
"Where as mine is more like a viper, sneaking around to strike" she snapped her hand out and they giggled some more, their animosity dissipated and Alice was relieved that whatever she had done, it was over now. She might not be totally forgiven but… it was a start. And they had time, right?
And they both knew that if their fathers ganged up on the bully's families…. They would not stand a chance.
.
.
Ianto was humming as he tended the garden, still stoked beyond explanation that some of the SOL3 plants seemed to thrive here and he was just about to water his latest 'burials' as David called the bulbs, when Mica came storming up the path with a look of gloom.
"Pooky?"
She glared at him and stormed inside, his shock as she swung through the door to reveal one pigtail half the length of another making him follow with open anger. By the time he was inside his daughter was already ranting, pulling on her coat "Tad, you stay out of this!"
"I don't even know what THIS is Jelly Bean" he admitted, watching his daughter storm out of the house and as he stepped into the doorway he saw Alice fly out of her own house next door to fall into step with Rhiannon, the young lad watching from the doorway with Jack, the lad was sporting a lovely black eye.
Both men shared a glance, and then went into their respective houses.
They had promised to stay out of it and so they shall… for now.
.
.
"So, GeeTee?"
Ianto smiled as his granddaughter sat with her sporty new hairdo, the lovely curly locks brushing against her shoulders like Meg Ryan… yeah… into liked the classic movie stars of yesteryear. "You look so fabulous. I will kill anyone who wants to marry you so I can keep you forever."
"Stop it" she said, her face glowing with delight as he brushed the hair back from her face, the little mark by her earlobe almost gone. It had been a livid scratch a few hours ago, the boy who trimmed her hair had inadvertently cut her when she swung to look at what had made the sound.
For a Norm, that would take days to heal like that. To see his gift handed to his grandchild was both a comfort and an immense pain. It skips a generation. It skips. No way to save his daughter, even as he knows the watered down gift will mean Mica gets an extra 30 to 50 years of longevity to a Norm… why could his sweet daughter not get it too. Like his first sweetling that he lost… he will lose his only other one too. The Gods are cruel.
Rhiannon knew what he was thinking, why he was stroking the little red mark so she changed the subject "Yeah Tee. You gonna talk about your job at the ministry?"
"Well, if Jack does I guess I better, so the kids know the real stories, not whatever weird thing Jack tells them about the coffee machines or something" Ianto shrugged seeing his daughter's need for a better subject "anyway… whatever shall I wear!"
The kids giggled as he camped like an absolute nutta.
.
.
"You going to the parental thing?"
Ianto turned to find Jack leaning over their shared fence, watching him hang out washing. "Yeah, not wanting to but I do not want Johnny Fuckface to have any excuse to come near the kids."
"Maybe you should just take him out or something."
"Excuse me?"
"You know, for a word. A drink and a kind word to let him know that he might be taken out in another way if he doesn't stay in his sector with his new family?" Jack grinned.
"Well, that's mote." Ianto laughed "he's on the other side of the planet and I have a no-fly on his name."
Jack blinked, then roared with mirth.
Cheeky.
.
.
Ianto was watching as David wrung his hands together and he knew his little girl was not the only one being hassled at school. Despite Rhiannon and Alice talking with the school staff, clearly the walk home after school was open slather on the 'space scummers' as the kids were calling them. Ten Credit Solly Space Scummers.
Ianto went outside and talked over the fence to Jack, both men now sure there had to be some intervention of some kind without stepping on their daughter's toes.
The two men came up with a plan.
As each man pulled on a coat and struck out into the afternoon cool, calling back over their shoulders that they were going for a walk, they knew there were doors to knock on and soldiers to call to attention.
For they were gonna put on a show for these kids they would never forget… or their parents.