11
Mort stood looking at the small child who was currently standing in the living room of the house he had been directed to, staring straight back with equal interest.
Jack wandered through stark bollocking naked while on the phone to someone and gave a wave of welcome or something before continuing to another room like it was no big thing to be stark bollocking naked in the middle of the day.
Then Ianto entered from another door a three-piece suit and immaculately knotted tie yelling at Jack that if he didn't sort out some clothes soon, he would, and Jack did not want to let him get Eddie to help with that. Not after last time.
Jack reappeared, "Fuck, I forgot. Sorry Tiger."
Ianto sighed and pivoted to look at Mort and he realized that the man had known he was there the entire time, the look of amusement clear as he started towards him "You must be Mort. Hi there. I'm Ianto, the long suffering one. The naked fucker is Jack, the cheeky one… as you can see. This is our little one Eddie. The silent one and somewhere Baxter is… ah. Behind you. He is the teethy one."
Mort turned slowly to find a huge fucking dog standing there, crouched in a threatening pose with the teeth indeed teethy. Fuck. "What… what breed is he?"
"Rare" Ianto said cryptically "But we all are ourselves. Now, your room is over here and it does have a lock on the door if you are wondering about your safety."
Mort found himself chuckling as he entered a bedroom that had a cat asleep on the luxuriously large inviting bed and Ianto sighed "James. Your mother is probably looking for you now this is not where you should be sleeping."
The little tuxedo cat stretched and gave a huge yawn before blinking slowly at Ianto, who added "This is Mort. He is going to be sleeping here for a while, OK?"
The little cat rose and stalked to the edge of the bed to look up at the man with huge, blinky eyes and a little chirp issued that he would swear sounded like 'hewo' before the cat curled up again on the edge as if to say, you can have the other half.
"I like cats" Mort admitted reaching out to stoke the little one's fur "Lovely."
"Well, he lives next door so you will see him a lot. They have kids home for the holidays and he hates them all, don't you buddy."
The cat gave a deep shuddering sigh before curling tighter and Mort laughed softly, "Awwwww. Poor sweetie. You can stay here with me. Two misplaced things."
Ianto closed the door to allow the man to unpack and he chewed over the comment, knowing this man needed somewhere to belong. To have a place.
And they were all misplaced things where they were supposed to be.
Ianto had work to do.
.
.
Mort found the now dressed Jack in the back yard hammering. He slowed as he neared and saw that it was a large archway that was being created and he looked at the precision that showed that this man was a perfectionist. Each angle was perfect.
Jack noticed him and stood back with a grin "Hey. Sorry about earlier, I was dirty from cutting all of this wood and the itching was a bastard."
"And you like to air dry after a shower?"
Jack blinked, then roared with mirth as he shook a finger at him "Ah, you get it."
"So… what are you doing here?"
"This is going to sit at the end of the pier there for a sunset wedding. It will be painted white, with white gossamer and stuff on it, the unset behind it and our kiss will be epic!" Jack gushed.
"Ah. Right, you and mister Jones?"
"Ianto. He prefers to be called Ianto. He hates being called Mister Jones, so formal. I know… so buttoned up and prim and proper but hates the formalness of a title. Ianto is…. Ah… complex. Gorgeous and funny too once you realize the sarcasm is thinly veiled wit."
"Well, Greeney tells me that you two are quite a pair and I am in the best spot to see what is going on around here" Mort agreed, making the raccoon lean out of the eves of the boathouse to peer down at him, taking him in with soft chattering.
"That's Randy. Don't trust him, he's a fucking thief" Jack waved a hand at the creature "Food especially."
"You have a racoon." Mort said with shock "I didn't know they were up this far."
"Oh, his kind are" Ianto said as he appeared from nowhere with a tray of food, lifting a bag of marshmallows to hand above his head like the little black hand snatching the bag away into the roof was normal.
"So. What is there to do around here?"
"Fishing" Owen powered past with a cooler on wheels, he was dragging it by a handle "we are going fishing. This avo. He is leaving that thing to collapse into itself while Ianto fixes it and then we can paint it tomorrow. Ianto will then sand it and repaint it without the smears and runs."
"Hey!" Jak frowned "I made a good arch!"
"Sure… sure. And you used one screw per piece, I was watching. Ianto will use at least three even for the fiddly bits. You know he will fix it. I mean… look. It's leaning already."
Jack stormed to one side to stand next to Owen and glare at the amazing thing he had made … open his mouth in confusion and then turn to shove Owen back on his arse "It's fucking perfect ya tosser!"
"I know, such language in front of the child" Ianto said softly behind Mort, making him jump "But Eddie is not really a child. This is not really anything at all like you think it is. Eddie is an extraterrestrial, there are some you have already met, others you will never guess are. This is a mecca for the misfits and the misplaced."
Mort turned to look at him and for amount he felt something brush against him… his mind felt that light feathery touch like when you see home after a long time away, the first familiar landmarks making your very soul seem lighter.
He knew.
He was looking at an anomaly in a land full of them.
He now knew why his friend had invited him here… to this house.
He was right.
He had been right all along. As the 'child' grinned at him and ran past with the 'dog' he knew.
They were not alone out there in the universe or here on earth.
First contact be damned.
They were already here.