A Second Chance at Happiness (9/22?)
Title: 
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Team Tardis, Team Torchwood, Lacey, Tessa, Devon, Mere, Tony, Tavish, Jack/Ianto, Master/Ten/Rose, Gwen/Rhys, Mickey/Jake, Jackie/Pete
Summary: Lacey and Owen are stuck in the their childhood again, will this time be better?
Jack stormed out of the office at the sound of Mickey and Jake yelling at Lacey and Owen to knock it off. Sure enough the two were in the middle of another silly string fight, which was spread all over the Hub now. Their ammo out, they were taking chunks of it and throwing it at each other, and the immortal sighed. “Lacey, Owen, circles, now.” He crossed his arms, waiting until they went to their respective corners of the Hub. “And after your time out, you’re both cleaning this mess up. And no dessert tonight.”
“Dad!”
“Jack!”
“You heard me. Ten minutes in the Circle. Then cleaning. I warned you yesterday about this. Talk back and it’ll be no dessert tomorrow either.” He shook his head as he went back into the office to the two sulking in the circles. He sat down again shaking his head. The cup of coffee like a gift from heaven as Ianto set it down in front of him. “I don’t know if I can take another week like this, Ianto.”
Ianto sat on the desk next to Jack, looking down at him. “They were a little….rambunctious.”
“A little?” Jack gave the younger man an incredulous look. “They acting like...like wild animals.” He said lamely, looking at Owen in his Max costume that he had insisted on wearing and Lacey in her fairy princess costume. Thank god it was October and he’d been able to get them the damn things. “And this is before we throw Tessa into the mix.” He shook his head.
Ianto looked out at the children, before looking back Jack. “I think bringing them to the Hub is a mistake.” At Jack’s questioning look, he went on, “Jack, they’re in a place that last week was where they worked. Now, Owen can’t go into the Med bay unless he’s the patient, and Lacey can’t go into the archives unsupervised. That was their jobs, but while they remember how to do everything, and what they used to do, they have the coordination of any kid their age, not to mention the height issues alone. Add to the fact that every time we go out on a job, they’re left behind with Rhys, Gray, or the Doctor and Saxon.”
They’d had this discussion before, the Saturday they ran all the tests on the two and found nothing. “Where else can they go, Ianto? Leave them with Rhys, Gray, or the Doctor full time?”
“They could always go to school.”
Jack shook his head. “I can’t do that, not until we are positive we’re not going to randomly have the adults back. Besides, I have feeling that they’d both be indignant at the thought. It was one thing for Lacey to go to University, but send them both to elementary school?” He watched the kids cleaning up their mess, occasionally pausing to shove at each other or throw their collected strings at each other, but mostly cleaning. This was better than the last few days, when it ended up being him and Ianto cleaning it up. “So that leaves them with a full time babysitter.”
Ianto shrugged. “Rhiannon and I were left alone for a few hours by ourselves when we were their age.”
“One, that’s a few hours, not all day. We’re here sometimes til one in the morning. Two, you and your sister didn’t have adult memories.”
“They’re acting more like children each day that passes, Jack. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad, but it can’t be ignored. And I didn’t say leave them one all day, but keeping them here at the Hub isn’t doing them any good either. Let them spend the afternoon at the manor. Gray will be done at the Diner before we’re done, so they’ll have time to themselves, and then someone there to check up on them.” He smirked, “We could also use it as an excuse to take an hour to ourselves, to check on them.”
Jack looked at Ianto, giving the man a bit of a smirk. “All right, we’ll try it.” He got up to call to the two, when he turned to Ianto. “Maybe you should call them in. Every time I’ve talked to them today has been when they’re in trouble.”
“How is that any different than before,” Ianto asked before going out of the office to collect the two handfuls. Jack chuckling as the two came into the office, obviously expecting another lecture.
“Relax, you two, you’re not in trouble, we just have something we want to run by you.” They gave him a skeptical look. “Obviously, letting you run around here and getting under everyone’s feet is getting on everyone’s last nerve. I never thought I’d say this but you are more hyperactive as kids than I thought possible.” This got two identical shrugs. “So here’s what we’re thinking. You two come in with us in the morning, and try to at least pretend like you’re not bored. We’ll head back to the Manor for lunch, then you two can stay there by yourselves for a few hours, until Gray closes up the diner, he’ll take care of your dinner and, once John’s back, he’ll stay until we get done here.” He sat back. “This is provided you two promise to not to completely wreck the manor while you’re on your own. What do you say?”
The two looked at each other, having a silent conference. After a few nods, shrugs and silent debates, Owen shrugged at Jack. “Yeah, sure. This place gets boring as hell after about an hour.” Lacey chuckled as she nodded.
“All right, think you two can stay out of trouble the rest of the day, and we’ll start this little plan tomorrow, deal?”
They nodded, and went back out into the Hub, grabbing their DS’s and sitting down to play against each other. Jack watched them a few moments as they sat on the sofa, one shoving the other whenever they tried to peek at their game, then he turned back to his paperwork.
It was a slow day, the only alarms didn’t even require a full team, which meant he stayed behind with the kids while Ianto went to pick up Tessa from school and Gwen led the rest on diverting some lost aliens back on course.
Rose walked in, having a late class that day, seeing the kids actually napping on the sofa, their games on and forgotten. She chuckled, taking the games out of her friends’ hands and made sure to save whatever they had done before turning them off and setting them on the coffee table. She waved a Jack sitting out at one of the workstations. “Slow day, Jack?” She asked, sitting down at her own station, booting up the computer.
Jack looked up from the report he was reviewing. “Yeah, the team was just helping some Antarions that were lost. Should be back soon. Hey Rose, got a favor to ask you,” he said, looking over at the sofa. “Ianto and I decided to let them stay the afternoon at the manor by themselves, provided they don’t get into trouble, but…”
Rsoe gave him a nod. “You want me to check in on them when I get done with classes?”
“Yeah, just make sure they haven’t broken their necks.” She nodded again in agreement. “Thank you. I’ll probably have the twins and Devon check on them as well. They’ve already been trying to see how hyper they can get them last Sunday when they watched the terror twins.”
Rose chuckled as Ianto walked in with Tessa, her dropping her school bag on the floor by the door. Ianto cleared his throat, and the teen rolled her eyes and picked up her back and moved it where it wouldn’t be in the way.
“Aww, look at the little babies, naptime all ready?” She cooed, teasing them even while they were oblivious.
“Tessa, don’t tease them, what have I told you about that?”
“What? It’s not like they’re even awake, Dad,” she said, sitting down between them, grabbing the boy’s DS and starting it up. “Oh good, he got past the point I can’t get through. Heheh.” Rose took the game away from her, snatching up Lacey’s DS before she grabbed at it. “Oi! Rose.”
“Leave their games alone, Tessa,” Rose said, handing the girl some bubblegum and a magazine with a new article about Twilight. The girl promptly took them and propped her feet up on the coffee table.
“Tessa,” Ianto said warningly, and the girl rolled her eyes, but dropped her legs, muttering something about never being allowed any fun.
Gwen and the rest of the team arrived a half hour later, looking tired, but in good spirits. “All taken care of, Jack,” she said, pausing as two red headed blurs were chased by a dark haired blur. She chuckled. “Got direction to where they were going, and I think we might have made some friends, or at least,” Mickey and Jake came in, loaded with gifts, “they did.”
“Oh yeah, should have warned you about that,” Jack chuckled, “that race has very few males, let alone males that can join together in love. They eat that kind of thing up. Sentimental sops, the lot of them. They will more than likely be in touch, especially since, you know, you’re both pregnant.”
“This is a good thing, right?” Mickey asked, slightly concerned, looking at the stuff they had been given.
Lacey stopped running around to look at the men. “On some planets, it’s considered good luck to have an Antarion bless your kids,” She gave an oof as Owen ran right into her with a ‘you’re it’. “Ohh, that’s not fair!” She laughed chasing him and her sister again.
“What’s this? A game of tag, and we weren’t invited?” Devon said, walking in with the twins as usual. “Who’s it?”
Lacey skidded to a stop in front of Devon, and grinned madly, “You are!” She said, tackling the older woman before darting off again. “Guys! Devon’s it now.” She yelled to her partners in crime, giggling brightly, Devon fast on her heels.
Meredith stood back, watching with an amused smile, while Tavish just shook his head. “They’ve been like this a week, and they’re acting like they really are eight.”
Meredith looked over at Tavish. “What, not enjoying being the oldest now, Big brother?” She put a bit of an emphasis on the big, more than usual.
Tavish shrugged. “It’s just awkward. Though,” he watched as Devon grabbed Lacey, the ginger girl giggling as the older woman swooped her up into a hug, “she seems to be enjoying herself.” Devon caught Owen next, who made a face of as proclaimed loudly that he was still too old to be picked up, even though he was smirking. “Ok, so they’re both enjoying themselves. It’s just odd.”
It was nearly eleven thirty that night before Jack and Ianto left the Hub. Jack was carrying a snoring Owen, while Ianto carried Lacey, who wasn’t quite snoring so much as having a rather unintelligible conversation with what they were sure, was a talking goat, and Tessa was trudging along behind them, “Tessa,” Jack said softly as they walked into the quiet manor, Gray having already gone to bed most likely, “go on up to bed, you have school in the morning.” He followed Ianto up the stairs to the room they’d finally given up and rearranged to be both kids room, since one or the other always ended up in the other’s room. Jack pulled the duvet back, setting the sleeping boy down carefully so he didn’t wake up. He pulled off his trainers and took the crown that he insisted wearing off, setting it on the nightstand. He looked over as he tucked Owen in as Ianto pulled off Lacey’s wings and set them down next to her pink trainers and her fairy crown and wand on the nightstand. He smiled as the other man kissed their daughter on her forehead before going standing up and looking back at Jack, returning the smile, motioning that they both head out and let the two sleep.
Jack walked over to Lacey’s bed, kissing her goodnight, chuckling at her curled up with her stuffed frog. He joined Ianto outside in the hall. “Well, one week down. I think we’re getting the hang of this,” he chuckled.
Ianto nodded. “At least you’ve already done this before. And we’ve had our practice with Tessa, but still.” He gave Jack one of his smirks. “Come on, I think it’s time we headed to bed ourselves.” His tone implied that sleep was still a ways off for both of them.
Jack returned the look. “Oh yeah? I love the way your mind works, Ianto.” He followed his lover down the stairs to their room.
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Team Tardis, Team Torchwood, Lacey, Tessa, Devon, Mere, Tony, Tavish, Jack/Ianto, Master/Ten/Rose, Gwen/Rhys, Mickey/Jake, Jackie/Pete
Summary: Lacey and Owen are stuck in the their childhood again, will this time be better?
Jack stormed out of the office at the sound of Mickey and Jake yelling at Lacey and Owen to knock it off. Sure enough the two were in the middle of another silly string fight, which was spread all over the Hub now. Their ammo out, they were taking chunks of it and throwing it at each other, and the immortal sighed. “Lacey, Owen, circles, now.” He crossed his arms, waiting until they went to their respective corners of the Hub. “And after your time out, you’re both cleaning this mess up. And no dessert tonight.”
“Dad!”
“Jack!”
“You heard me. Ten minutes in the Circle. Then cleaning. I warned you yesterday about this. Talk back and it’ll be no dessert tomorrow either.” He shook his head as he went back into the office to the two sulking in the circles. He sat down again shaking his head. The cup of coffee like a gift from heaven as Ianto set it down in front of him. “I don’t know if I can take another week like this, Ianto.”
Ianto sat on the desk next to Jack, looking down at him. “They were a little….rambunctious.”
“A little?” Jack gave the younger man an incredulous look. “They acting like...like wild animals.” He said lamely, looking at Owen in his Max costume that he had insisted on wearing and Lacey in her fairy princess costume. Thank god it was October and he’d been able to get them the damn things. “And this is before we throw Tessa into the mix.” He shook his head.
Ianto looked out at the children, before looking back Jack. “I think bringing them to the Hub is a mistake.” At Jack’s questioning look, he went on, “Jack, they’re in a place that last week was where they worked. Now, Owen can’t go into the Med bay unless he’s the patient, and Lacey can’t go into the archives unsupervised. That was their jobs, but while they remember how to do everything, and what they used to do, they have the coordination of any kid their age, not to mention the height issues alone. Add to the fact that every time we go out on a job, they’re left behind with Rhys, Gray, or the Doctor and Saxon.”
They’d had this discussion before, the Saturday they ran all the tests on the two and found nothing. “Where else can they go, Ianto? Leave them with Rhys, Gray, or the Doctor full time?”
“They could always go to school.”
Jack shook his head. “I can’t do that, not until we are positive we’re not going to randomly have the adults back. Besides, I have feeling that they’d both be indignant at the thought. It was one thing for Lacey to go to University, but send them both to elementary school?” He watched the kids cleaning up their mess, occasionally pausing to shove at each other or throw their collected strings at each other, but mostly cleaning. This was better than the last few days, when it ended up being him and Ianto cleaning it up. “So that leaves them with a full time babysitter.”
Ianto shrugged. “Rhiannon and I were left alone for a few hours by ourselves when we were their age.”
“One, that’s a few hours, not all day. We’re here sometimes til one in the morning. Two, you and your sister didn’t have adult memories.”
“They’re acting more like children each day that passes, Jack. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad, but it can’t be ignored. And I didn’t say leave them one all day, but keeping them here at the Hub isn’t doing them any good either. Let them spend the afternoon at the manor. Gray will be done at the Diner before we’re done, so they’ll have time to themselves, and then someone there to check up on them.” He smirked, “We could also use it as an excuse to take an hour to ourselves, to check on them.”
Jack looked at Ianto, giving the man a bit of a smirk. “All right, we’ll try it.” He got up to call to the two, when he turned to Ianto. “Maybe you should call them in. Every time I’ve talked to them today has been when they’re in trouble.”
“How is that any different than before,” Ianto asked before going out of the office to collect the two handfuls. Jack chuckling as the two came into the office, obviously expecting another lecture.
“Relax, you two, you’re not in trouble, we just have something we want to run by you.” They gave him a skeptical look. “Obviously, letting you run around here and getting under everyone’s feet is getting on everyone’s last nerve. I never thought I’d say this but you are more hyperactive as kids than I thought possible.” This got two identical shrugs. “So here’s what we’re thinking. You two come in with us in the morning, and try to at least pretend like you’re not bored. We’ll head back to the Manor for lunch, then you two can stay there by yourselves for a few hours, until Gray closes up the diner, he’ll take care of your dinner and, once John’s back, he’ll stay until we get done here.” He sat back. “This is provided you two promise to not to completely wreck the manor while you’re on your own. What do you say?”
The two looked at each other, having a silent conference. After a few nods, shrugs and silent debates, Owen shrugged at Jack. “Yeah, sure. This place gets boring as hell after about an hour.” Lacey chuckled as she nodded.
“All right, think you two can stay out of trouble the rest of the day, and we’ll start this little plan tomorrow, deal?”
They nodded, and went back out into the Hub, grabbing their DS’s and sitting down to play against each other. Jack watched them a few moments as they sat on the sofa, one shoving the other whenever they tried to peek at their game, then he turned back to his paperwork.
It was a slow day, the only alarms didn’t even require a full team, which meant he stayed behind with the kids while Ianto went to pick up Tessa from school and Gwen led the rest on diverting some lost aliens back on course.
Rose walked in, having a late class that day, seeing the kids actually napping on the sofa, their games on and forgotten. She chuckled, taking the games out of her friends’ hands and made sure to save whatever they had done before turning them off and setting them on the coffee table. She waved a Jack sitting out at one of the workstations. “Slow day, Jack?” She asked, sitting down at her own station, booting up the computer.
Jack looked up from the report he was reviewing. “Yeah, the team was just helping some Antarions that were lost. Should be back soon. Hey Rose, got a favor to ask you,” he said, looking over at the sofa. “Ianto and I decided to let them stay the afternoon at the manor by themselves, provided they don’t get into trouble, but…”
Rsoe gave him a nod. “You want me to check in on them when I get done with classes?”
“Yeah, just make sure they haven’t broken their necks.” She nodded again in agreement. “Thank you. I’ll probably have the twins and Devon check on them as well. They’ve already been trying to see how hyper they can get them last Sunday when they watched the terror twins.”
Rose chuckled as Ianto walked in with Tessa, her dropping her school bag on the floor by the door. Ianto cleared his throat, and the teen rolled her eyes and picked up her back and moved it where it wouldn’t be in the way.
“Aww, look at the little babies, naptime all ready?” She cooed, teasing them even while they were oblivious.
“Tessa, don’t tease them, what have I told you about that?”
“What? It’s not like they’re even awake, Dad,” she said, sitting down between them, grabbing the boy’s DS and starting it up. “Oh good, he got past the point I can’t get through. Heheh.” Rose took the game away from her, snatching up Lacey’s DS before she grabbed at it. “Oi! Rose.”
“Leave their games alone, Tessa,” Rose said, handing the girl some bubblegum and a magazine with a new article about Twilight. The girl promptly took them and propped her feet up on the coffee table.
“Tessa,” Ianto said warningly, and the girl rolled her eyes, but dropped her legs, muttering something about never being allowed any fun.
Gwen and the rest of the team arrived a half hour later, looking tired, but in good spirits. “All taken care of, Jack,” she said, pausing as two red headed blurs were chased by a dark haired blur. She chuckled. “Got direction to where they were going, and I think we might have made some friends, or at least,” Mickey and Jake came in, loaded with gifts, “they did.”
“Oh yeah, should have warned you about that,” Jack chuckled, “that race has very few males, let alone males that can join together in love. They eat that kind of thing up. Sentimental sops, the lot of them. They will more than likely be in touch, especially since, you know, you’re both pregnant.”
“This is a good thing, right?” Mickey asked, slightly concerned, looking at the stuff they had been given.
Lacey stopped running around to look at the men. “On some planets, it’s considered good luck to have an Antarion bless your kids,” She gave an oof as Owen ran right into her with a ‘you’re it’. “Ohh, that’s not fair!” She laughed chasing him and her sister again.
“What’s this? A game of tag, and we weren’t invited?” Devon said, walking in with the twins as usual. “Who’s it?”
Lacey skidded to a stop in front of Devon, and grinned madly, “You are!” She said, tackling the older woman before darting off again. “Guys! Devon’s it now.” She yelled to her partners in crime, giggling brightly, Devon fast on her heels.
Meredith stood back, watching with an amused smile, while Tavish just shook his head. “They’ve been like this a week, and they’re acting like they really are eight.”
Meredith looked over at Tavish. “What, not enjoying being the oldest now, Big brother?” She put a bit of an emphasis on the big, more than usual.
Tavish shrugged. “It’s just awkward. Though,” he watched as Devon grabbed Lacey, the ginger girl giggling as the older woman swooped her up into a hug, “she seems to be enjoying herself.” Devon caught Owen next, who made a face of as proclaimed loudly that he was still too old to be picked up, even though he was smirking. “Ok, so they’re both enjoying themselves. It’s just odd.”
It was nearly eleven thirty that night before Jack and Ianto left the Hub. Jack was carrying a snoring Owen, while Ianto carried Lacey, who wasn’t quite snoring so much as having a rather unintelligible conversation with what they were sure, was a talking goat, and Tessa was trudging along behind them, “Tessa,” Jack said softly as they walked into the quiet manor, Gray having already gone to bed most likely, “go on up to bed, you have school in the morning.” He followed Ianto up the stairs to the room they’d finally given up and rearranged to be both kids room, since one or the other always ended up in the other’s room. Jack pulled the duvet back, setting the sleeping boy down carefully so he didn’t wake up. He pulled off his trainers and took the crown that he insisted wearing off, setting it on the nightstand. He looked over as he tucked Owen in as Ianto pulled off Lacey’s wings and set them down next to her pink trainers and her fairy crown and wand on the nightstand. He smiled as the other man kissed their daughter on her forehead before going standing up and looking back at Jack, returning the smile, motioning that they both head out and let the two sleep.
Jack walked over to Lacey’s bed, kissing her goodnight, chuckling at her curled up with her stuffed frog. He joined Ianto outside in the hall. “Well, one week down. I think we’re getting the hang of this,” he chuckled.
Ianto nodded. “At least you’ve already done this before. And we’ve had our practice with Tessa, but still.” He gave Jack one of his smirks. “Come on, I think it’s time we headed to bed ourselves.” His tone implied that sleep was still a ways off for both of them.
Jack returned the look. “Oh yeah? I love the way your mind works, Ianto.” He followed his lover down the stairs to their room.