11
Ianto felt strangely empty. Once again it was only the child in his arms that grounded him to this earth and kept those dark thoughts away. He had failed. He had missed them, failed to get Emma to safety, failed to get to Jack and failed in his idealistic dream of their reunion. Stupid really, as if Jack would hug him in public, kissing him lustily with tears in his ears. So fucking romantic. So stupid. Been reading too many of his sister's Mills & Boons right? Jack would have possibly nodded and just put him to work. Toshiko would be happier to see him. They did not know when the team were coming back, Andy saying he was leaving with them next time due to the small boat's weight limits and so many families that wanted to go this time. Made sense. Whatever the large boat was that was offshore and never came in, it must be huge. They would be back for more. They had promised.
With this self deprecating thought of cheerfulness for the day Ianto stood in the bathroom washing for breakfast, straightening from the sink full of hot water he had washed his face with to stare back at the bearded man. Ianto smiled at himself, amused at how much older he looked. Like his Uncle Neal.
Emma was awake, now she was a toddler who could toddle. A strange thing, a dangerous thing and he knew the others were shaking their heads at his unwillingness to let her out of his sight. In the two weeks that he had been here though, they had learned of their initial mistake in judging his character and were now all willing to let him do whatever he liked as he was proving to be a hell of a soldier.
Booby traps, the fencing and even some flash bang grenades he developed himself that would scare the Uglies into running back to the trees. Everyone was relieved to have a good system now, even if saying this made him shake his head at them like they were nuts. It would not work forever.
Today the name of the game would be surveillance cameras. Ianto had discovered the drones, surprised that farmers used these to survey their fields and now he was willing to talk to them about using those same drones to keep an eye on their 'neighbours' as they kept calling the Uglies.
He felt uneasy. Their daily attacks had stopped. For three straight days there had not been a single Ugly seen out there. They all seemed relieved by this, talking about the fencing and defenses working so well that they had scared them off but Ianto knew better. Like those Raptors in Jurassic Park, the fuckers were testing the fences.
They were seeking a weakness and he could not help but think that maybe they had found one. These cheery thoughts for a lovely rainy day. Good one Ianto.
Ianto wanted to carry her but the little one made a fuss about walking so he sighed, bending to take her hands and let her walk in front of him while he steadied her, the little one stomping in her tiny little sandals someone had found for her with the determination of the Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters, intent on eating things.
"EMMA!" Gail called out, crouching to clap her hands and then hold them out. Ianto reluctantly released his child to let her take a few free steps to the woman who had been looking after his child during the day. Don't get me wrong, Gail is a nice lady but Ianto was still wary and found himself constantly reminding everyone tht she is still his. I think they were all slightly amused by it now.
He wasn't. He was still nervy as hell.
He was soon seated with some scrabbled eggs and toast, watching Gail happily feed the rascal who was trying to simultaneously feed herself with her fingers and talk with the same hands, causing food to fly as Gail laughed and ducked it.
"Emma" Ianto said gently, then signed 'calm down' before going back to his food and she looked at him before signing OK and eating for real.
"I still need to learn that one" Gail said as he wiped up the mess.
"Calm down" Ianto showed her.
"Ah." She smiled "I hope my Scottish accent does not show with her being used to Welsh."
Ianto blinked then to his shock he laughed, and then sobered quickly, looking down at his plate like he was breaking some law by doing so. Others looked around the table and then nodded, going back to their own food and he felt a flare of anger. They were all happy because they thought a budding romance or something was happening. They somehow thought they could…. Stop it. You are doing it again. Stop it. Ianto took a deep cleansing breath as Lisa's voice soothingly purred in his ear like she used to at the pub when a remark abut his black girlfriend made him wanna smash a pint of Brains into the fucker's face.
Stop it.
Ianto started to eat, watching Emma as she finished and reached both hands eagerly for the Sippy Cup.
Ianto rose to head to the meeting room, his thoughts and ideas for the day to be spoken along with everyone else's as they liked to share before beginning work. Ianto actually found this productive.
"BREACH!" someone shouted faintly, then the sound of gunfire and Ianto swung to look in the direction of the thundering noise, then he watched Gail scoop up his daughter to run for the safe room along with the other women and children, those few remaining women moving for weapons instead, not hesitating to kiss their kids goodbye.
Ianto hated always being right.
