4
Ianto returned later that day to a silent house. He didn't know what was worse, one full of bullshit and bluster or silence. He walked around and came to the conclusion after listening for a while that no one was home.
He felt relief, entering his room and closing the door to remove his clothes and shower the stench of death from himself before they returned. The body recovery was still underway, and he was now sure there were no more left alive, the scant eight souls saved… not counting a certain group of looters…. Was a sorrowful celebration.
He let his head fall back to hit the tiles, staring intently at nothing, letting the water loll and soothe until his mind wandered back and he saw his son playing in the rain, his little bare skin glistening as he laughed, his mother scolding as she chased him trying to catch him with a towel that was quickly becoming as wet as both of them.
The distant slam of a door had him falling back to reality and he stepped from the shower to dress quickly, entering the main room with his hair till wet to watch Alice slamming her bedroom door after a scream of rage and Jack collapsing into the chair that had become his.
"All OK?" Ianto asked hesitantly.
"I made her go give an account, confess to what happened and she feels that I betrayed her by not covering up her crime" Jack said with a soft snort of annoyance "Like I can ignore it, head of security can just let his daughter break the rules I am trying to enforce."
"She will not see it that way" Ianto settled in the chair next to him that was clearly Ianto's.
"Tell me about it" Jack laughed bitterly then rose "Thank for today."
"At least she has the box, that will please her yes?" Ianto asked, then canted his head as he stared at Jack intently "You've not told her you found it?"
"No. You found it. She does not deserve it right now, I think she needs to earn her bloody happiness like the rest of us" Jack rose and Ianto went to say something but thought better of it.
Not his child, not his family. Butt out.
That was a bit of a slap too and Ianto accepted Jack's silent rebuff with grace, heading instead to the kitchen to check the situation for the evening meal and sighing "Rhia had left a note here. She has taken the beasts to some movie about sea creatures from different planets the kids wanted to watch. Will be bringing home the evening meal."
"Right, well I might as well have a shower and do some paperwork after today's fun" Jack levered himself from the chair and headed towards his room.
"And I might go get some soft drink from the quartermaster to go with the evening meal since we are low and bubbles always help" Ianto replied, leaving the house with a lighter step. The two men not only more comfortable with one another… Ianto had actually started to like the oaf… in a way.
Once the house was quiet once more Alice left her bedroom to stand and stare at the living room wall, the portrait of Ianto, Lisa and little Jayden. She then turned to look at the door that was firmly locked, the Out Of Bounds room. After standing there for a while like she was arguing internally, she strode forward, seizing a knife from the knife block as she rounded the kitchen island and headed for the door, slamming the blade into the locking mechanism with an animalistic snarl.
She would know why this room sat vacant while she had to share with her little tattletale arsehole brother. How else was Daddy to know she was there, why else was he there but to catch her out.
Stephen must have told.
Even if this is a broom closet the little shit can sleep in here for all she cared, but to have an entire room locked off when the house is bursting at the seams is just wasteful.
And Alice would not have it anymore.
.
.
Rhiannon entered the house with the boxes full of food, lifting them to the table as the children placed the boxes that had each carried proudly as well and as David went to get plates he froze, his hand on the counter and his eyes wide with horror.
Rhiannon looked up and saw his face, moving from the table "David? What is it love?"
She turned her head to look in the direction of his gaze and saw the open door, walking slowly towards it "Ianto?"
She pushed the door open and found Alice in there, drawers open and cupboards too, toys strewn about and ripped posters on the floor as she trashed the room with wanton abandon,
Rhiannon did not stop to think, did not hesitate to consider the fact that this was not her child. She stormed across the room, seized the girl by her arm as she yanked her off the bed she was standing on to rip stars from the ceiling and slapped her hard across the face.
Jack ran from his room as his daughter's howling began and he was confused when she was not readily visible, then she was. Being thrown from the room and across the floor to land by his feet, Rhianon exiting with her face contorted with rage "You little bitch. You nasty, unfettered cow of a child. How could you do that!"
Jack picked up his daughter, noting her red face and swung to step between her and the woman intent on hitting her again.
"What the fuck is going on" he snarled, meeting Rhiannon chest on.
"That little bitch broke int my nephew's memorial and trashed it. She has destroyed the remembrances, I don't even know where the candles are that Ianto lit each night to pray to their lost souls" Rhiannon was calm, speaking ever so calmly even as she moved and Jack to try and seize the girl again.
"What is going on?" Ianto asked from the doorway, the bottles of soda in his hands dropping to the floor as he noted the door "No. No… no …. Oh god… what have you done."
He stepped towards the door and saw the destruction through the open gap, stepping back now "No. No. No…. what have you done to my child's room…. No."
Ianto looked at Alice, looked at the little t-shirt still in one hand and the glow in the dark star in another, his son's things… desecrated… and started to roar. It was a deep, bellowing wail that came from the depths of him a he doubled over and Rhiannon stepped towards him only to stagger back at the psychic force of his anger.
"Oh goddess … Ianto…" she sobbed as he took a deep, shuddering breath and spun on his heel to leave the house.
Jack was clutching Alice so hard he would leave bruises on her arms later but the only pain she would remember was the one that psychically attacked her in that main room, the force of his despair entering her very bones as he screamed at her.
And she would finally understand despair.