25
"Right, so… we are all going to be home this weekend?" Jack asked as he tinkered quietly with the piece of what Ianto suspected was a car part.
"Yes. Rose and Gray are going to be at the Glass House with your father. Lucia as well, seems the two of them have started to build a friendship and I for one think it's a good idea. She needed someone to fuss on now Alice has gone on Teenager on us, he needs someone to fuss on him and also someone for him to protect and look over lovingly when you three kids are all busy. Helps keep his mind off your mother too" Ianto replied. "Your mother never really allowed them to get to now one another, nice to see them click."
"You don't think…"
Jack, not everyone has that on their mind ya know. No, nothing sexual. He has always been fatherly towards her; I find myself doing the same thing even though she is older than me. I don't see a problem with her being another daughter to him." Ianto scolded gently, knowing Jack did not see the bigger picture.
Lucia was lonely. Franklin as too. Also, he was loving the fact she was interested in his work, helping him with paperwork and learning more about wine. Seems they both like red wine.
"Alice is painting again?" Jack lowered the piece of tat and sniffed the air.
"Yeah, apparently the purple was too bright, she has a darker purple for the wall behind her bed. The lavender for the windowsills and then …. I swear to fucking god… she will want a new duvet cover to match her purple grape fucking thing." Ianto grimaced and Jack laughed at a rare display of snobbishness from his beloved Tiger. But for Alice… he would allow it.
"And what will she do when she's finished that" Jack finally picked up the piece of junk and frowned as a small tinkle was heard, looking at the little nut that had fallen out of the part. "Fuck."
"Hope not, she's a bit young for that yet" came the cheeky reply as Ianto slid a sheet of newspaper under Jack's hands with another scolding look. Jack grinned widely like he had been waiting for that response and Ianto muttered "tosser" sounding just like their son.
Jack laughed, then turned the part over in his hands as he tried to determine where the nut had come from.
Ianto shook his head as the silly bugger had never been automotively minded.
.
.
"Whatcha doing Taddy?"
"Ah. Secret?"
Steven slid into the room more, his eyes drinking in all the catalogues and things scattered about, the pieces of paper on the floor and the otherwise empty room that had been his when he had shared with Daddy.
"I am thinking about starting to design the nursery" Ianto finally said "Now we have the three-month mark done, Donna seems to be able to keep both of the bubbas so..."
"So… she might have lost one? Aren't they in her belly? How would she lose one? A sneeze might shoot one out her belly button?" the child frowned, and Ianto remembered the age of the little one, crouching to be face to face as he stroked his face.
"In the beginning, sometimes it doesn't work right. You worked perfectly, of course you did, because you ARE perfect but sometimes… it's not that easy" he softly explained "But I should have known, these being your sister and brother, that they would be strong."
Steven grinned as he reached out, mirroring his father with a hand on his cheek "And I will show them how to be not too crazy around here, Daddy might have to get one of those warning sign things on him for a while until they remember he's a bit nuts."
Ianto felt the giggling bubbling up and he nodded solemnly, swallowing down the mirth as the more than serous little man looked around the room, sighed and said "Good luck with this. I dont' know how you will fit two in here, a girl needs soooo much. Alice is mad ya know."
"Yes darling" he choked out, rising to watch the little one wander off, already bored with the idea of interior decorating. Just as well, this was going to be Alice's thing in order to help her bond with the babies, her slight pulling back was because one was a girl and he knew it.
Even if she openly gushed.
She felt unsecure.
And he was going to fix it.
.
.
Jack was standing on the front veranda, looking t the rustic veranda posts and pondering if one was rotten when he heard the unmistakable sound of motorbikes, making him turn to watch Ianto approaching from the kitchen with speed.
This was clearly not an authorized meeting and Jack felt a soft fear wafting off Ianto as he brushed past to skip down the steps and out into the yard where the bikes were pulling up.
"Bumpy? What's the go?" Ianto called out as he recognized one of the bikers.
The man who pulled off the helmet was average looking, except for the large tattoo covering half his face and his grin was a little… maniacal.
"Hey Boss, sorry to come out here when you're having some down time but… I have a little problem and was wondering if you could accommodate us a bit." The man said, the usually high pitched voice not matching the macho exterior.
"I don't think I know what I can possibly do from here. You know I am on a sabbatical for the…" Ianto stopped speaking as a young man emerged from the sidecar, a mere scrap of a boy in his mid teens maybe. Skinny, unkept, clearly roughed up pretty good, and scared. "Bumpy?"
"Er… right. This is Colin."
"Colin." Ianto repeated like it might mean something if he said it a few times "Colin who?"
"Colin Mayes."
Ianto felt the blood draining into his shoes as he took a physical step back from the son of one of the most ruthless and influential developers in the entire fucking UK. "Fuck."
"Yeah. His old man did that" Bumpy pointed to the boy's face "Apparently some money went missing from the safe and he thinks Col took it. Thing is… the silly twat here is number dyslexic so can't even remember his own phone number, I don't know how he is supposed to remember a six digit pin."
"I didn't do it. I would never steal from Pa" the boy said sullenly "It's that bitch Cassandra. She told him she saw me. I don't know why."
Ianto did.
Clearly… anyone with a few more brain cells than your average dork would know why.
"Come on, let's get you inside and see if I can get hold of someone who might be able to help us. Your Pa has got that high rise with all the electronic gizmos right?"
"Yeah, up the wazzo. I get locked out all the time because the voice identification thing keeps forgetting who I am" the boy sighed "I think Cassandra is fucking with it."
Ianto wondered what else the bitch could fuck about with.
Toshiko would know.