10

Ianto was watching Jack through the kitchen windows as he paced the backyard, Ianto's hands paused in the sudsy water. He knew what he was doing and was in two minds as to whether he wanted it, knowing it was not really all up to him but still… ergh.

Finally Jack came in to find Into drying the remaining dishes while looking at the calendar like he was trying to work out their dates.

"Hey, I've been thinking" Jack said as he entered and came to a halt "Whatcha doing?"

"Working out a birthday for the boy."

"Oh. Well… out there on the lawn… we can have some chairs… a nice little aisle and maybe… an arch? Or a nice raised stage? Or something?" Jack asked like it was just a loose thought, not something he had Ianto working on for the last hour or so in the dimming light.

"Ah"

"Ah?"

Ianto turned back for another bowl to dry "Well…. Ah."

"You had something else in mind?" Jack screwed his face up "No… don't tell me. Nothing!"

"No. Actually…no. It's silly" Ianto shrugged "We will go with your idea. Much better than mine."

"No… no you have to tell me now!" Jack demanded, his arms folding into hero stance.

"Well. It's just… come here and look at the end of the dock."

Jack stood next to him and loked out at the dock and the water beyond, then to the sunset that was putting on a show as the entire sky lit up, the water reflecting it. "Wow."

"I thought… silly really and so much work. A twilight wedding. But… if we had an arch there at the end of the dock… just a pain white painted arch we stood under and we wed at dusk… floating candles on the lake water around us, that sunset behind us and just some white gossamer or something in the arch's latticework… I think… or some white roses… the real colour is the sky as we will be all in white too… stark against the brilliant sky and water… it might look…."

"Wow. Us in the light… the darkness beyond that will never touch us… oh I like that!" Jack lit up, now moving to press himself against the bench to look out at the dock "And the edges can have candles running the length of the dock either side… some white roses… oh… some ivy too. I like ivy. So… that's incredible."

"And that bench was still wet, I hadn't finished wiping it down."

Jack stepped back to look down at his now wet front and laughed good-naturedly.

"Looks like we might need washing up ourselves" Ianto quipped, reaching out to smack an arse and Jack roared as he chased him through the living room, the little man and his 'dog' ignoring them both as they continued to pull apart a transiter radio while Eddie loudly argued into the air that this primitive stuff was fascinating, what do you mean it's messy?

Messy fits in this house.

.

.

"Well, the seventeenth is the best" the mayor was on a phone call when Ianto entered the office and waved him towards his chair. Yes, Ianto had his own chair there, he actually had several peppered around the town now as people not only accepted him as a part of the family, but tried their best to encourage his visits. He was always calming.

Ianto loked at the paper that lay folded on the edge of the desk, picking it up to find it was from the city with an article on the part folded back, about crime rates. It was grim reading, ram raids, car thefts and even people robbed at ATMs, the world was a scary place out there. The article spoke of a neighbourhood under siege, the elderly afraid to go out during the day.

He placed it back and focused on the mayor who was finishing of the call to sit back and rub his face.

"A problem?"

"No. One of my old buddies form my days in the Big Smoke, a fellow officer, wants to come visit. He was one of those named in that article, his life is a bit difficult at the minute as the little shits know he wore a badge and seem to be targeting him with harassment" Greene sighed, "He is not usually a problem but he can be… inquisitive."

"Is he trusty?"

"Yes." Greene nodded, the word Ianto used for those they welcomed into the inner fold, trusty.

"Well… why hesitant?"

"Well, my wife for one. He pisses her of no end and she always complains about his shoes left by the door, the toilet seat left up, the mess from a midnight feed… you know. He lives alone, no family or anything and I am his real only friend but she ats like he is invading or something" Greene huffed. "And my youngest Maisey is coming home from uni for the holidays… it means he will have to sleep on the couch, another reason to bitch."

"Well, our house is quiet now with Tosh and Owen moved out, Gwen and Rhys just moved too… he can have one of the spare rooms if he is willing to put up with Jack" Ianto shrugged, making Grene roar with mirth, then sober slightly.

"Are you sure? I mean… that's a big ask. I love him but Mortimer can be a bit bloody annoying."

"No… I sort of will be irritated but we both now Jack will love another man to mess about with and he knows all about creating mess." Ianto assured him "Besides. A total immersion into Eddie Life might not be a bad idea. For either of them."

Ianto was not really so sure but he had seen the despair on the man's face and heard the plaintive request or help. If this man, this ex-cop was his friend that he loved like a brother, then one way or another he had to be accepted into the tribe as family too.

And he knew Jack would be exited.

.

.

"An old cop? Greene's friend? Mort, right? He's talked about him, loves fishing. Oh boy, we can make a day of it on the lake… he's very good with engines. Rhys will get along with him… do you think he will be OK in the smaller room… Eddie really wanted the big one next to us and Bax has the other one… what?"

"No… Baxter does not need the other double room Cariad. He's been teasing you. He sleeps with Eddie every night, moves from the spare room when you're in bed. I hear the door opening."

"What? Wait… he's playing me? And after I did the whole redecorating thing?"

"Cariad… he is not really a dog so… the spread that looks like a pizza was kind of cool but… he's not that fussed."

Jack was aghast as he stood there "And he let me spend over half an hour going between that one and the one with fries on it? And he does not even sleep on it?"

"Well… if you put it on the lovely two seater couch in Eddie's room he would" Ianto said, watching as Jack stormed off to look at the bed the dog never slept in, the ghastly throw rug that was round and looked like a pizza, then he snatched it off the bed and raced into Eddie's room to place it on the little two seater couch along one wall that usually had toys on it.

Jack finally saw that there was no toys on it, just a pillow.

The fucker HAD Ianto sleeping in here.

Ianto sighed with relief as the spare room now looked more…. Normal.

He just had to convince Jack that the two hamburger shaped cushions still on the bed could go too.

Ergh.

A food theme.

Only Jack.

Sigh.