Fic: A Phone Call Away
Title: A Phone Call Away
Author: Erin Giles
Disclaimer: Torchwood is the intellectually property of the BBC.
Characters/Pairings: Ianto/Jack, Gwen, OCs
Summary: Four times Ianto Jones’ nephew, Finlay Evans, called his Uncle and one time he got the answer machine.
A/N: Set in Footprints in the Sand Universe. This is for electrictoes’ birthday because she loves Finn almost as much as me (and is a bad influence when it comes to that boy). HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUN! I apologise for the last phone call in advance.
I aka 'Where All Lost Phones Go'
‘Hello?’
It was two, maybe three in the morning. Ianto couldn’t tell what the display read from the way he was lying in bed. There was no answer from the other end of the phone.
‘Hello?’
Ianto pulled his phone away from his ear to check the caller display. It was his sister, Rhiannon.
‘Rhiannon?’
There was still no answer, and Ianto thought maybe she’d drunk-dialled him, or the phone had fallen down the back of the sofa and called him, or was calling him from her pocket.
‘Rhiannon!’
The bed jerked and Ianto cringed as Jack shifted in the bed beside him, trying to see the clock over Ianto’s shoulder.
‘Who is it?’ Jack asked, already settling back into the pillows.
‘Rhiannon, I can hear you giggling. You’re thirty not thirteen.’
There was more giggling down the line, followed by gurgling and Ianto realised it wasn’t his sister. He hung up and immediately dialled Rhiannon’s house phone. She answered after the second ring, sounding half-asleep and tipsy.
‘Lost your phone?’
‘How did-‘
‘Finn has it in his cot again,’ Ianto said before he hung up and went back to sleep.
II aka 'Uncle Ianto May Know All, But He Forgets Everything'
‘Hello?’
Ianto was staring out the window of a small café in Adamstown at the twilight street, people hustling along at a brisk pace, arms laden with carrier bags. Gwen had gone to get two cups of coffee while they waited for their informant when his phone had started ringing.
‘You forgot didn’t you?’ Rhiannon. Ianto went through all the Christmas plans that had been hanging about at the back of his brain for the last couple of weeks. Annoyingly, a lot of them involved Gwen’s plans that she kept telling him repeatedly. Then it came to him. Shit.
‘I didn’t forget, I just can’t make it,’ Ianto said, a pained look on his face as Gwen came towards him with two polystyrene cups.
‘You can tell your nephew then,’ Rhiannon said. Gwen handed Ianto his coffee and he mouthed thank you while Rhiannon’s phone was shifted from person to person.
‘Uncle Ianto?’
‘Hey, trouble. You all ready for your big performance?’ Ianto asked.
‘Yeah! Are you still coming?’
Ianto grimaced again and Gwen thought there was something wrong with the coffee she had brought him. ‘I can’t, I’m afraid, I’m working, but maybe you can give me a performance when I get home.’
‘Can I show you now?’ Finn didn’t wait for a reply before Ianto could hear the ping of his nephew pressing buttons on Rhiannon’s phone.
‘Here, let me,’ Rhiannon said in the background. Ianto pulled his own phone away from his ear and pressed the FaceTime button. A moment later his nephew’s smiling face appeared on the small screen, complete with tea towel on his head.
‘So who are you supposed to be then?’
‘Joseph!’ Finn told his Uncle indignantly as the screen shook slightly - no doubt Rhiannon laughing. ‘I told you yesterday, Uncle Ianto.’
Gwen caught his eye, grinning at him from the other side of the table in the small café.
‘Oh, yeah,’ Ianto said, feigning ignorance. ‘So do you know all your lines then?’
‘I don’t have any lines, I just have to sing with everyone else, and do my happy face,’ Finn said, letting Ianto see his happy face. ‘And then I have to do my worried face.’ Finn gave another example before his face contorted into a look of contemplation. ‘Are you sure you can’t come, Uncle Ianto?’
‘I’m really sorry, kid. I wish I could be there.’
‘Okay,’ Finn said, disappointment clear all over his face. Ianto didn’t know what to say, but Gwen was making motions at him from the other side of the table. He looked up at her and found her mouthing the word ‘go’ repeatedly, complete with shooing motions.
‘What time are you going on stage?’
‘It starts at six,’ Rhiannon said from behind the camera. Ianto looked at the time in the corner of the screen on his phone. He had fifteen minutes to get there if he was going to make it in time.
‘Well, make sure you look out for a familiar face in the audience, yeah,’ Ianto said. ‘I’ve got to go now, trouble. I’ll see you later, yeah. Good luck tonight.’
Finn managed a half-hearted smile and Ianto caught a glimpse of his sister’s confused and angry face before he ended the call.
‘Are you sure about this?’ Ianto asked.
‘Go, be an Uncle for the evening,’ Gwen said.
‘I’ll be back in an hour,’ Ianto said to Gwen, pocketing his phone and grabbing his coffee as he stood up. He turned back at the last minute and pecked Gwen on the cheek. ‘Thank you.’
III aka 'What Bedtime with Jack Involves'
‘Shit.’
‘What?’ Jack asked, looking up from the room service menu he was busy perusing, his stomach gurgling every time he read a new line. Ianto was throwing everything from his overnight bag onto his side of the bed.
‘I forgot my book,’ Ianto said, re-checking hidden pockets in case he’d put it somewhere else within the depths of the bag.
‘Ianto, there are far more interesting things to do than read a book before bedtime,’ Jack said, smirking down at the menu now, having flipped to the wine list on the back page.
‘They had a library downstairs, didn’t they?’ Ianto grabbed his room keycard and was already out the room door before Jack had a chance to reply. Jack knew Ianto was an avid reader, when he found the time, but this sudden urge to read was odd even for Ianto. Jack went back to making a decision about what he and Ianto were going to have for dinner. Both of them had decided they were too tired to go out to dinner on their way back from the UNIT meeting.
Ianto’s phone was ringing. The caller display told Jack it was Home calling, which meant it was probably Rhiannon checking up on them.
‘Hello?’
‘Uncle Jack?’ Finlay sounded confused. ‘Where’s Uncle Ianto?’
‘Uncle Ianto!’ Rona screamed from somewhere in the background and Jack smiled.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ Jack asked just as the hotel room door opened and Ianto came back in with a triumphant look on his face, a book clutched in his hand.
‘Nothing’s wrong with you, but Dumbledore isn’t American and no offence, Uncle Jack, but your English accent sucks,’ Finn said. Jack could hear Rhiannon in the background reprimanding Finn for being so rude.
‘But it’s true!’ Finn protested.
‘I’d best hand you over to the master storyteller then,’ Jack said, passing the phone over to Ianto who smiled rather sheepishly.
‘Why don’t you order dinner and we’ll eat after the end of the Triwizard Cup,’ Ianto said as he took the phone and cracked open the Harry Potter book he’d found downstairs. Jack knew better than to ask - he’d been shunned the other week for not knowing what Ravenclaw was.
IV aka 'Uncle Ianto Doesn't Know About Girls Anymore'
‘Uncle Ianto?’
‘Hey trouble, what’s up?’
‘Can I talk to you?’
‘Sounds serious,’ Ianto said, still trying to tidy Jack’s desk with one hand. There was silence down the phone line and Ianto stopped tidying to sit down on the edge of Jack’s desk.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘You know I told you about that disco at school on Friday?’ Finn said. Ianto knew where this was going. It involved Kimmie - a girl that had been in Finn’s class since he’d started school - and the obvious-to-everyone-but-Finn crush he had on her.
‘Yup,’ Ianto said as he rubbed at the ring mark Jack’s coffee cup had left upon the desk.
‘Well, there’s this girl.’
‘Anyone I know?’
‘Um- Her name’s Kimmie.’
‘Is that the girl you used to make mud pies with in the back garden?’ Ianto asked, trying not to smirk. He was entitled to teasing his nephew, Finn certainly managed to wind Ianto up often enough.
‘Maybe. Uncle Ianto, I’m trying to be serious here,’ said Finlay. Ianto had to stop himself from laughing - he’d never know his nephew to be serious in his short life.
‘Sorry.’
‘So this girl-‘
‘Kimmie.’
‘Uncle Ianto!’
‘Sorry, I’ll be quiet.’
There was a pause in the conversation, like Finn was waiting for his Uncle to say something. Ianto was too busy smirking at Jack who was now stood in his office doorway, frowning in question.
‘So if I wanted to ask this girl to dance, should I ask her to go to the disco with me or just ask her to dance when we’re there? Also I don’t think I can dance very well,’ Finn said, the last part whispered as if he was trying not to be overheard. A moment later he could hear Rona in the background, banging on a door.
‘Tell Mam I’ll be down in a minute, I’m talking to Uncle Ianto.’ A pause. ‘No, I’m talking to him. Go away.’ There was the banging of a door again and the stomping of feet. Ianto waited until Finlay prompted him with a serious of grunts before he gave his answer.
‘I think you should go to the disco and ask her if she wants to dance, that way it’ll be less awkward if she says no,’ said Ianto.
‘Do you think she’ll say no?’ Finn sounded worried and Ianto realised this would be harder than he thought. He considered handing the phone over to Jack since he had more experience with dating than Ianto, but Ianto didn’t think he could handle the teasing he would get from Jack, never mind the ribbing Jack would give Finn.
‘She might, but if she does it’s not the end of the world, she just might not want to dance. But if she does say yes then you can dance together. Make sure it’s a slow song though so you can hold her.’
‘How do I hold her? Like Ryan holds Mam? Or like you and Uncle Jack hold each other?’ Oh, God, Ianto thought, I’m an awful influence on children. Jack was stood in front of Ianto now, trying to nudge Ianto’s knees apart so Jack could stand between them. Ianto wouldn’t budge though - he was not the one who was the bad influence.
‘You put your hands on her waist, just above the hips and she’ll probably put her hands on your shoulders or round your neck.’
‘And what should I do after? If I want to see her again?’ Finn was whispering again and Ianto could guess that Rona was probably on the other side of the door listening.
‘You should tell her. Maybe suggest going to the cinema together or-‘ Why didn’t children drink coffee? Coffee simplified everything. ‘Maybe invite her to go to St. David’s.’
There was a pause where Ianto could practically hear the cogs turning in Finn’s head while Jack tried to find other ways to distract Ianto, leaning past Ianto with the pretence of retrieving his mug but actually kissing the side of Ianto’s neck. Ianto gave Jack a shove with an open palm.
‘So I shouldn’t try to kiss her then?’
Ianto’s brain froze. His nephew was eleven. ELEVEN. Ianto had been fifteen when he’d had his first kiss and that was only because Becca Bevan had been so drunk on alcopops she’d mistaken him for Morgan Cooper.
‘I think you should wait to see if she kisses you,’ said Ianto, thinking it best that he not tell his nephew how to kiss a girl, mainly because he feared for his life if Rhiannon ever found out her brother was giving her son dating advice, considering the man he went out with. Jack was still trying to get at Ianto’s neck, but an elbow in his ribs was keeping Jack away.
‘Dinner’s ready, so I’ve got to go now, but could you maybe take me shopping tomorrow for some new jeans?’
‘Sure, trouble,’ said Ianto, smiling as Jack made a huffy face at him. ‘Tell your mam I’ll pick you up after school.’
‘Thanks, Uncle Ianto.’ Finlay hung up and Ianto pocketed his phone as he stood up from Jack’s desk.
‘So, wanna go to the dance with me on Friday?’ Jack asked, acting coyly and shuffling his feet as he gazed down at his fidgeting hands.
‘No, but you can buy me a coffee now to make up for being a bad influence,’ said Ianto, already on the way out of Jack’s office.
Jack frowned. ‘Since when was I a bad influence?’
V aka 'Relationships with Answering Machines are Hard'
‘This is Ianto Jones, leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.’ Beep.
There was a lengthy sigh followed by Finn’s voice. ‘Uncle Ianto?’
He didn’t expect a reply; he knew perfectly well there was nothing but a recording service at the other end of the line.
‘We missed you at Sunday dinner. Mam made roast potatoes and gravy to go with-‘ Another sigh. ‘Mam doesn’t make as good as gravy as you. It was more lumpy than usual on Sunday and Grandpa forgot desert so Ryan had to go to ASDA and get ice cream.’
Finlay ducked into the downstairs toilet when he heard his mother coming down the stairs. She called out to him, but he didn’t reply.
‘I drew another Flaming Finn cartoon in art class on Friday. The Captain gets rescued from Flaming Finn by his sidekick, Jonesy, in this one and there’s a huge car chase and lots of fire and-‘
Finn stopped talking again, closed the toilet lid and sat down on it.
‘I really wish-‘
‘Finlay,’ a knock on the bathroom door. ‘Are you in there, love? Your Uncle Jack is here with the car.’
‘I’ve got to go, Mam’s calling me.’ Something caught in Finlay’s throat. ‘I love you, Uncle Ianto.’
He hung up and emerged from the bathroom to find his mother stood in the hall, dressed in black, his Uncle Jack dressed as he always was in his military uniform, waistcoat on today.
‘Who were you calling?’
Finlay shrugged as he put the phone down on the hall table, looking down at his feet so that no one might see the tears forming in his eyes. He could tell his mother and uncle were looking at one another and he shifted uncomfortably, trying to reign in his emotions, because he had to be grown up today.
‘Come on, kid.’ Uncle Jack was holding out a hand towards him but Finn’s eyes were looking at Uncle Jack’s face and the look of stoic grief already present. Finlay followed him out to the car where they waited for Rhiannon and Rona to join them. Ryan was already shuffling about by the front gate, a cigarette in hand, like he didn’t belong there.
‘Uncle Jack?’
‘What is it, kid?’
‘Do you-‘ Finn didn’t know how to ask the question, and he felt stupid now for bringing it up. ‘Have you-‘
‘I called him yesterday evening to say goodnight,’ Jack said, his hand finding Finlay’s shoulder as Rhiannon and Rona came out the front door and got into the black limousine to head towards the crematorium.
Author: Erin Giles
Disclaimer: Torchwood is the intellectually property of the BBC.
Characters/Pairings: Ianto/Jack, Gwen, OCs
Summary: Four times Ianto Jones’ nephew, Finlay Evans, called his Uncle and one time he got the answer machine.
A/N: Set in Footprints in the Sand Universe. This is for electrictoes’ birthday because she loves Finn almost as much as me (and is a bad influence when it comes to that boy). HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUN! I apologise for the last phone call in advance.
I aka 'Where All Lost Phones Go'
‘Hello?’
It was two, maybe three in the morning. Ianto couldn’t tell what the display read from the way he was lying in bed. There was no answer from the other end of the phone.
‘Hello?’
Ianto pulled his phone away from his ear to check the caller display. It was his sister, Rhiannon.
‘Rhiannon?’
There was still no answer, and Ianto thought maybe she’d drunk-dialled him, or the phone had fallen down the back of the sofa and called him, or was calling him from her pocket.
‘Rhiannon!’
The bed jerked and Ianto cringed as Jack shifted in the bed beside him, trying to see the clock over Ianto’s shoulder.
‘Who is it?’ Jack asked, already settling back into the pillows.
‘Rhiannon, I can hear you giggling. You’re thirty not thirteen.’
There was more giggling down the line, followed by gurgling and Ianto realised it wasn’t his sister. He hung up and immediately dialled Rhiannon’s house phone. She answered after the second ring, sounding half-asleep and tipsy.
‘Lost your phone?’
‘How did-‘
‘Finn has it in his cot again,’ Ianto said before he hung up and went back to sleep.
II aka 'Uncle Ianto May Know All, But He Forgets Everything'
‘Hello?’
Ianto was staring out the window of a small café in Adamstown at the twilight street, people hustling along at a brisk pace, arms laden with carrier bags. Gwen had gone to get two cups of coffee while they waited for their informant when his phone had started ringing.
‘You forgot didn’t you?’ Rhiannon. Ianto went through all the Christmas plans that had been hanging about at the back of his brain for the last couple of weeks. Annoyingly, a lot of them involved Gwen’s plans that she kept telling him repeatedly. Then it came to him. Shit.
‘I didn’t forget, I just can’t make it,’ Ianto said, a pained look on his face as Gwen came towards him with two polystyrene cups.
‘You can tell your nephew then,’ Rhiannon said. Gwen handed Ianto his coffee and he mouthed thank you while Rhiannon’s phone was shifted from person to person.
‘Uncle Ianto?’
‘Hey, trouble. You all ready for your big performance?’ Ianto asked.
‘Yeah! Are you still coming?’
Ianto grimaced again and Gwen thought there was something wrong with the coffee she had brought him. ‘I can’t, I’m afraid, I’m working, but maybe you can give me a performance when I get home.’
‘Can I show you now?’ Finn didn’t wait for a reply before Ianto could hear the ping of his nephew pressing buttons on Rhiannon’s phone.
‘Here, let me,’ Rhiannon said in the background. Ianto pulled his own phone away from his ear and pressed the FaceTime button. A moment later his nephew’s smiling face appeared on the small screen, complete with tea towel on his head.
‘So who are you supposed to be then?’
‘Joseph!’ Finn told his Uncle indignantly as the screen shook slightly - no doubt Rhiannon laughing. ‘I told you yesterday, Uncle Ianto.’
Gwen caught his eye, grinning at him from the other side of the table in the small café.
‘Oh, yeah,’ Ianto said, feigning ignorance. ‘So do you know all your lines then?’
‘I don’t have any lines, I just have to sing with everyone else, and do my happy face,’ Finn said, letting Ianto see his happy face. ‘And then I have to do my worried face.’ Finn gave another example before his face contorted into a look of contemplation. ‘Are you sure you can’t come, Uncle Ianto?’
‘I’m really sorry, kid. I wish I could be there.’
‘Okay,’ Finn said, disappointment clear all over his face. Ianto didn’t know what to say, but Gwen was making motions at him from the other side of the table. He looked up at her and found her mouthing the word ‘go’ repeatedly, complete with shooing motions.
‘What time are you going on stage?’
‘It starts at six,’ Rhiannon said from behind the camera. Ianto looked at the time in the corner of the screen on his phone. He had fifteen minutes to get there if he was going to make it in time.
‘Well, make sure you look out for a familiar face in the audience, yeah,’ Ianto said. ‘I’ve got to go now, trouble. I’ll see you later, yeah. Good luck tonight.’
Finn managed a half-hearted smile and Ianto caught a glimpse of his sister’s confused and angry face before he ended the call.
‘Are you sure about this?’ Ianto asked.
‘Go, be an Uncle for the evening,’ Gwen said.
‘I’ll be back in an hour,’ Ianto said to Gwen, pocketing his phone and grabbing his coffee as he stood up. He turned back at the last minute and pecked Gwen on the cheek. ‘Thank you.’
III aka 'What Bedtime with Jack Involves'
‘Shit.’
‘What?’ Jack asked, looking up from the room service menu he was busy perusing, his stomach gurgling every time he read a new line. Ianto was throwing everything from his overnight bag onto his side of the bed.
‘I forgot my book,’ Ianto said, re-checking hidden pockets in case he’d put it somewhere else within the depths of the bag.
‘Ianto, there are far more interesting things to do than read a book before bedtime,’ Jack said, smirking down at the menu now, having flipped to the wine list on the back page.
‘They had a library downstairs, didn’t they?’ Ianto grabbed his room keycard and was already out the room door before Jack had a chance to reply. Jack knew Ianto was an avid reader, when he found the time, but this sudden urge to read was odd even for Ianto. Jack went back to making a decision about what he and Ianto were going to have for dinner. Both of them had decided they were too tired to go out to dinner on their way back from the UNIT meeting.
Ianto’s phone was ringing. The caller display told Jack it was Home calling, which meant it was probably Rhiannon checking up on them.
‘Hello?’
‘Uncle Jack?’ Finlay sounded confused. ‘Where’s Uncle Ianto?’
‘Uncle Ianto!’ Rona screamed from somewhere in the background and Jack smiled.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ Jack asked just as the hotel room door opened and Ianto came back in with a triumphant look on his face, a book clutched in his hand.
‘Nothing’s wrong with you, but Dumbledore isn’t American and no offence, Uncle Jack, but your English accent sucks,’ Finn said. Jack could hear Rhiannon in the background reprimanding Finn for being so rude.
‘But it’s true!’ Finn protested.
‘I’d best hand you over to the master storyteller then,’ Jack said, passing the phone over to Ianto who smiled rather sheepishly.
‘Why don’t you order dinner and we’ll eat after the end of the Triwizard Cup,’ Ianto said as he took the phone and cracked open the Harry Potter book he’d found downstairs. Jack knew better than to ask - he’d been shunned the other week for not knowing what Ravenclaw was.
IV aka 'Uncle Ianto Doesn't Know About Girls Anymore'
‘Uncle Ianto?’
‘Hey trouble, what’s up?’
‘Can I talk to you?’
‘Sounds serious,’ Ianto said, still trying to tidy Jack’s desk with one hand. There was silence down the phone line and Ianto stopped tidying to sit down on the edge of Jack’s desk.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘You know I told you about that disco at school on Friday?’ Finn said. Ianto knew where this was going. It involved Kimmie - a girl that had been in Finn’s class since he’d started school - and the obvious-to-everyone-but-Finn crush he had on her.
‘Yup,’ Ianto said as he rubbed at the ring mark Jack’s coffee cup had left upon the desk.
‘Well, there’s this girl.’
‘Anyone I know?’
‘Um- Her name’s Kimmie.’
‘Is that the girl you used to make mud pies with in the back garden?’ Ianto asked, trying not to smirk. He was entitled to teasing his nephew, Finn certainly managed to wind Ianto up often enough.
‘Maybe. Uncle Ianto, I’m trying to be serious here,’ said Finlay. Ianto had to stop himself from laughing - he’d never know his nephew to be serious in his short life.
‘Sorry.’
‘So this girl-‘
‘Kimmie.’
‘Uncle Ianto!’
‘Sorry, I’ll be quiet.’
There was a pause in the conversation, like Finn was waiting for his Uncle to say something. Ianto was too busy smirking at Jack who was now stood in his office doorway, frowning in question.
‘So if I wanted to ask this girl to dance, should I ask her to go to the disco with me or just ask her to dance when we’re there? Also I don’t think I can dance very well,’ Finn said, the last part whispered as if he was trying not to be overheard. A moment later he could hear Rona in the background, banging on a door.
‘Tell Mam I’ll be down in a minute, I’m talking to Uncle Ianto.’ A pause. ‘No, I’m talking to him. Go away.’ There was the banging of a door again and the stomping of feet. Ianto waited until Finlay prompted him with a serious of grunts before he gave his answer.
‘I think you should go to the disco and ask her if she wants to dance, that way it’ll be less awkward if she says no,’ said Ianto.
‘Do you think she’ll say no?’ Finn sounded worried and Ianto realised this would be harder than he thought. He considered handing the phone over to Jack since he had more experience with dating than Ianto, but Ianto didn’t think he could handle the teasing he would get from Jack, never mind the ribbing Jack would give Finn.
‘She might, but if she does it’s not the end of the world, she just might not want to dance. But if she does say yes then you can dance together. Make sure it’s a slow song though so you can hold her.’
‘How do I hold her? Like Ryan holds Mam? Or like you and Uncle Jack hold each other?’ Oh, God, Ianto thought, I’m an awful influence on children. Jack was stood in front of Ianto now, trying to nudge Ianto’s knees apart so Jack could stand between them. Ianto wouldn’t budge though - he was not the one who was the bad influence.
‘You put your hands on her waist, just above the hips and she’ll probably put her hands on your shoulders or round your neck.’
‘And what should I do after? If I want to see her again?’ Finn was whispering again and Ianto could guess that Rona was probably on the other side of the door listening.
‘You should tell her. Maybe suggest going to the cinema together or-‘ Why didn’t children drink coffee? Coffee simplified everything. ‘Maybe invite her to go to St. David’s.’
There was a pause where Ianto could practically hear the cogs turning in Finn’s head while Jack tried to find other ways to distract Ianto, leaning past Ianto with the pretence of retrieving his mug but actually kissing the side of Ianto’s neck. Ianto gave Jack a shove with an open palm.
‘So I shouldn’t try to kiss her then?’
Ianto’s brain froze. His nephew was eleven. ELEVEN. Ianto had been fifteen when he’d had his first kiss and that was only because Becca Bevan had been so drunk on alcopops she’d mistaken him for Morgan Cooper.
‘I think you should wait to see if she kisses you,’ said Ianto, thinking it best that he not tell his nephew how to kiss a girl, mainly because he feared for his life if Rhiannon ever found out her brother was giving her son dating advice, considering the man he went out with. Jack was still trying to get at Ianto’s neck, but an elbow in his ribs was keeping Jack away.
‘Dinner’s ready, so I’ve got to go now, but could you maybe take me shopping tomorrow for some new jeans?’
‘Sure, trouble,’ said Ianto, smiling as Jack made a huffy face at him. ‘Tell your mam I’ll pick you up after school.’
‘Thanks, Uncle Ianto.’ Finlay hung up and Ianto pocketed his phone as he stood up from Jack’s desk.
‘So, wanna go to the dance with me on Friday?’ Jack asked, acting coyly and shuffling his feet as he gazed down at his fidgeting hands.
‘No, but you can buy me a coffee now to make up for being a bad influence,’ said Ianto, already on the way out of Jack’s office.
Jack frowned. ‘Since when was I a bad influence?’
V aka 'Relationships with Answering Machines are Hard'
‘This is Ianto Jones, leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.’ Beep.
There was a lengthy sigh followed by Finn’s voice. ‘Uncle Ianto?’
He didn’t expect a reply; he knew perfectly well there was nothing but a recording service at the other end of the line.
‘We missed you at Sunday dinner. Mam made roast potatoes and gravy to go with-‘ Another sigh. ‘Mam doesn’t make as good as gravy as you. It was more lumpy than usual on Sunday and Grandpa forgot desert so Ryan had to go to ASDA and get ice cream.’
Finlay ducked into the downstairs toilet when he heard his mother coming down the stairs. She called out to him, but he didn’t reply.
‘I drew another Flaming Finn cartoon in art class on Friday. The Captain gets rescued from Flaming Finn by his sidekick, Jonesy, in this one and there’s a huge car chase and lots of fire and-‘
Finn stopped talking again, closed the toilet lid and sat down on it.
‘I really wish-‘
‘Finlay,’ a knock on the bathroom door. ‘Are you in there, love? Your Uncle Jack is here with the car.’
‘I’ve got to go, Mam’s calling me.’ Something caught in Finlay’s throat. ‘I love you, Uncle Ianto.’
He hung up and emerged from the bathroom to find his mother stood in the hall, dressed in black, his Uncle Jack dressed as he always was in his military uniform, waistcoat on today.
‘Who were you calling?’
Finlay shrugged as he put the phone down on the hall table, looking down at his feet so that no one might see the tears forming in his eyes. He could tell his mother and uncle were looking at one another and he shifted uncomfortably, trying to reign in his emotions, because he had to be grown up today.
‘Come on, kid.’ Uncle Jack was holding out a hand towards him but Finn’s eyes were looking at Uncle Jack’s face and the look of stoic grief already present. Finlay followed him out to the car where they waited for Rhiannon and Rona to join them. Ryan was already shuffling about by the front gate, a cigarette in hand, like he didn’t belong there.
‘Uncle Jack?’
‘What is it, kid?’
‘Do you-‘ Finn didn’t know how to ask the question, and he felt stupid now for bringing it up. ‘Have you-‘
‘I called him yesterday evening to say goodnight,’ Jack said, his hand finding Finlay’s shoulder as Rhiannon and Rona came out the front door and got into the black limousine to head towards the crematorium.