2
Rhiannon entered the house and turned to find a teenage girl pushing past David, her face one of glee as she ran into the house to look around with wonder "Wow… Daddy… it's huge!"
Ianto had exited the kitchen and stared at the strange teenager, then at Rhiannon who shrugged to show that she had no idea who the child was moments before Jack Harkness entered with suitcases in his hands.
"Hey, they let us have an hour in the lower quad to get what we could out of our houses… those still partially standing so… where are you gonna be?" he said happily and Ianto blinked slowly, confused as to what the hell… David then entered with a blonde boy and they were holding hands, talking animatedly.
"Uncle, look. It's my friend Stephen from school. They are billeted here too!" David gushed.
Ah. Bloody Cooper. Why she had looked so gleeful.
"I see" Ianto said softly, knowing he really didn't have a choice, even if the man seemed to rub him the wrong way and they all had to do their part now. "Well… Rhia will have the room there, David and Mica already have their rooms and that leaves these two rooms here"
"Wait. You. Her. Them with one each, one for Dad, one for Stephen and that one there for me?" the girl pointed to each door as she corrected Ianto like he was insane. Eight rooms."
"That room" Ianto corrected her with a steely gaze, pointing at the closed door like she just had "Is out of bounds. It is locked and shall remain that way. It is not for general use. In fact, let me make it clear, it is off limits to all of you. Clear?"
The girl went to open her mouth to complain but Jack was quick to shut it down "Understood. Come on Jellybean, you shared with your brother on the ship, you can gain. Just for a few months."
"A few months. Are you mad? Eight rooms, eight of us. It's perfectly clear what the billeting should be" she argued back, the insolence making Rhiannon take a deep breath.
"Alice. That's enough" Jack said firmly, "I don't have time for this. You think I like turning a room into both my bed chamber AND my office? We must work with what we have. Being a spacer is all about give and take."
"And yet he has two rooms" she made a weird shrieking sound and flounced off to look at the room Ianto had indicted for them, slamming the door so loudly that Ianto grimaced.
"Sorry about that. My marriage was a nasty breakup, she didn't want the kids and they took it badly. Still in the blame stage" Jack sighed, turning to Rhiannon "Do you have bags too?"
"Yes, still in the Transporter. I couldn't gather much, thank the Gods the kids had spare clothes and such here for their sleepovers and Uncle time, I hope you managed to gather the important things."
With that, his sister and new flat mate moved outside to unpack the meagre things that had salvaged, and he felt a bit of a heel for being too brisk. Of course, the girl was upset. She had lost things, even with the salvage and was likely quite shaken.
He decided to cut her some slack.
This time!
.
.
"What is this!" the girl screwed her face up as she lifted the fork to sniff at the food on the prongs of it like it was dog shit.
"Meatloaf" Ianto answered calmly, this the third day of her antics and he was starting to think this was her actual personality.
"Well, it smells like…"
"Alice!" Jack warned "I like it, IF you don't I will have your portion."
She glared at her father and pulled her plate closer to herself as Rhiannon took a deep breath, much as her brother just had "Thank you Captain. It was our mother's recipe and I usually make it on a Tuesday. If your daughter would prefer to take over the cooking duties each Tuesday, maybe she can do better than me!"
Alice looked at the woman and her clearly hurt expression "You made this?"
Rhiannon nodded.
"Oh. Sorry, I thought he had his dirty hands in it" she said, a hand waved at Ianto as he placed his knife and fork down, looking pointedly at the man who needed to control his child.
"Alice, that's enough. If you are finished maybe clear the table." Jack seemed unconcerned, clearly used to this act and Ianto wondered what structure the girl had growing up at all. Clearly, she needed a good smacked arse.
Ianto rose and cleared his plate, leaning over to kiss his sister's cheek "Well I liked it, made me think of mama."
Rhiannon smiled again, relaxing as she saw his desire to end this evening's complications but as she rose to start clearing, she gave Jack a look to tell him he needed to do something about that child.
.
.
"Hey soldier, what are you up to?" Jack asked as he entered the bedroom to find Stephen gathering some things.
"I am gonna sleep with Davie, he has two beds and we are gonna have like a sleepover" he replied excitedly as he brushed past and Jack looked at the young woman on the unmade bed with her shoes still on.
"Alice. We need to talk."
"Oh god, here we go" she sighed theatrically.
"Alice. We are only here for a while, we are guests and we should be grateful that we are not in the communal living area right now. Have you seen that bloody air hanger people are all bunking in?" Jack asked.
She gave him a withering look.
"I mean it young lady" Jack warned "Your grandmother is showing."
Alice pulled a face at him, rolling to face the wall and he sighed softly "Baby girl, I know you are upset that we couldn't find Mamma's box but I am going back to look again. I still have another couple of days until that area is cleared and if it is still there in the rubble, I will find it."
"In a couple of days the big machines go through and clear all the rubble away, mamma's box will go too" she said into her pillow "And we both know it."
Jack cursed softly as he made a mental note to go back again tomorrow, to hunt for the fucking memory box. All that poor girl has left of her mother who not only abandoned them without looking back, but told her daughter that she was extra baggage she didn't need as she did so.
At least Alice did not blame Jack for the divorce.
Hard to when her mother's lover helped her pack.