10

"Whatcha reading lover?" Jack asked as he entered the office to find Ianto swinging in his chair with one of those pursed lip things he does when not only is he shielding, but he is actively trying to glean something from the screen. In the three months since they had settled into a familial routine after THAT date, Jack find himself learning more every day about this man.

"This report about the bloody Xenomorph XX121 creatures. They give me the utters. I am trying to read the report between the lines" Ianto replied, turning to lean back for a kiss, their lips fitting together like a hand in a glove.

Jack leaned forward to scan it and sighed "Right. This is the final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer. Ah…. Ripley, right? Old, the recent one from the colony is here too? Ergh. Come on love, these are at last three galaxies away from us. Like… they would have more luck reaching Old Earth than here."

"That was a terraforming colony they overran, Hadley's Hope, that had been established on LV-426 and I am sure to them it seemed to be more than safe too" Ianto leaned back "I don't like it. I am going over the schematics for the bunker system and if these little buggers ever arrived here, they would get in as easily as they did on Hadley's Hope. Look at this… they used the duct systems, the fucking walls… coolant in the ships to help travel… like rats." Ianto pointed out.

"So… you think slamming some grating and stuff about the place will make you feel better?" Jack asked.

"Slam… you think I am overreacting or something?" Ianto leaned back to take a long, hard look at him "Jack… I never question your way of doing things, you never question mine. We are a Mutant Colony, ostracized from our home planets and here to settle into some routine that makes sense to us. I did not expect to be minimalized over something as simple as safety. I really thought my powers would cause friction… wow."

Jack opened and then closed his mouth "Wait… hang on, that's not what…. Ianto!"

Ianto turned back to the screen with a glare and Jack found himself out of the room standing in the hallway and he had not even consciously thought about it. Had Ianto just ejected him?

Jack found it oddly amusing.

But maybe Ianto was right… it did not hurt to look at safety measures.

Man, he was touchy lately.

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"Where were you?" Alice asked as she watched her father enter the kitchen to slowly pace it, checking the food she was preparing. Replicator Meals tonight, but still a nice assortment. Like a buffet.

"Ianto has some sort of conniption about Ripley's Reports, and we were looking at the bunker systems all day for any weaknesses anything larger than a mouse can fit through" Jack sighed, leaning against the counter to watch her "Look at you. You look just like your mother, so organized. You did NOT get that from me."

"Don't change the subject, what is Ripley's Reports?" she turned to face him, her head tilted in an Ianto kinda way that made him feel a swell of affection for her. She felt it and smiled softly.

"Actually, you remind me of something else. He scolded me for it again earlier, wait a sec" he left the kitchen, and she sighed going back to her work as she lamented that this is something her mother always went a little mad about. Attention span of a goldfish… whatever a goldfish was.

"Here we are darling" Jack reappeared and in his hands was…. She was screaming, her hands flapping as she felt it before even turning to see it, her eyes wide as her mother's box looked back at her.

"Oh Daddy!" she sobbed, snatching it to clasp to her chest "Why did you not give it back?"

"You hurt Ianto and I was… OK… I was being selfish. I felt her too… hadn't before but once Ianto said there was latent energy from her, I felt it too. Silly really, like I might discover why she stopped loving me from a box. She is not Ianto and I have decided not to compare this relationship to the last, to stop being afraid that he will leave me too" Jack shrugged, the adult conversation one he didn't think he would be having with his daughter.

"You let him see it?" she was not sure how to feel about that. Sure, she was happy here now and Ianto was a good man but still… this was something special. Private.

"Well, that's the other reason I held off. I didn't want you to think I was using it as leverage there" Jack grimaced.

"How?"

"Well…he is the one who searched and found that for you. While you were looting, he was thinking of you. I would never have found it where he dug. His power is so strong… he heard that energy calling to Melissa. It sort of unnerved me at first to know he could hear the box but… since I have been connecting to him I hear it too… soft, faint but now I realize it is a comfort too and I should have handed it over, despite my fear that you might not be happy Ianto touched it."

"Connecting. You are really bonding with him, right?"

Jack rubbed his face, then added "I love him. I am in love with him. I don't want you two to fight, I don't want to be forced to leave him as it would kill me."

She stood holding the box as she knew several things at once. He would have left Ianto for her. She would have been the reason for his heart breaking all over again. Ianto found the box and had searched for it for her while she was being horrid.

She was a twat.

"Well, I might take after Mama in the kitchen but clearly the Twatness comes from you" she finally said, and Jack blinked, then started to laugh.

Cheeky mare.

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"So, how long have you felt like this?" Owen asked poking at Ianto as he reached out for a body scanner.

"About a week. I put it down to Ripley's Reports making my skin crawl. Did you read them? The recent one on the colony?" Ianto asked, watching Owen as he waved the scanner then brought it close to his face like he was half blind.

"Yeah, Toshiko was a little freaked out too… fucking things. But there is more chance of one getting to Old Earth than here" Owen replied, then choose another scanner.

Ianto was surprised and asked calmly "So Jack talked to you about it too?"

"How did you know that?" Owen was genuinely surprised, then laughed "Oh… yeah… that was his take on it. Shit, that brain of yours. I will NEVER play any games with you or Toshiko. Freaks."

Ianto laughed as well, not taking offence at the tag too hard as Owen was a freak too… here on this planet we are all allowed to be one.

"Well, Toshiko is onboard with the idea of meshing the place" Owen finally said as he placed the second scanner down and stared into space, like reading the screen still. Ianto was curious, he had never seen Owen using his powers before and it was interesting to see that he could remember a spot second image and was still going over it long after he had put the scanner down. Gleaning, much as Ianto had with Ripley's Reports.

"I will feel a lot happier once I now those things who I am repeatedly told will never get here cannot get in" Ianto nodded then added "Oh… and this."

He lifted his tunic so show a small pimple on his stomach "A gorch. I have another on my shoulder too. I only ever get these when I am run down like after a mission or something. I've not had one in years."

"Well… about four, right? Four or five?" Owen muttered as he stared at it and then let his eyes move up to focus on Ianto's face "Think about it buddy. What happened about five years ago now? your system had a bit of a surprise? What did you and Lisa do? Remember the turkey baster?"

Ianto did.

He paled.