Deviations from the Norm -- If I Say It Enough, I'll Eventually Believe It
Title: Deviations from the Norm
Chapter Eight: If I Say It Enough, I'll Eventually Believe It
dwtwprompts prompt: Lies
Date Written: 6/2/08
Rating: PG-13/T
Word Count: 4,408 (O. M. F. G.)
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Toshiko, Owen, Gwen, OC
Spoilers: Torchwood Season 1 & 2
Warnings: Character death, angst (sorry, the bunnies are sad today...)
Author's Notes: For itoshii_chan, because this was inspired by her. Set six months after Jack and Ianto's wedding. If the Welsh is wrong for "Aunt" I truly am sorry, and let me know.
Also, there's still the prompt post, because I do take requests.
1/?: De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum Dicendum Est
2/?: It's Like Battle, But Harder
3.1/?: I'll Know It When I See It
3.2/?: Some Cupid Kills With Arrows, Some With Traps
3.3/?: Keeping Up With The Joneses
3.4/?: Speak Low, If You Speak Love
3.5/?: Shall I Never See a Bachelor of Threescore Again?
4/?: Paint By Numbers
5/?: There's No Place That Far
6/?: Its Eyes Are For The Stars
7/?: Up In The Sky...
Ianto had once joked, when they'd gotten back from traveling with the Doctor, that Torchwood ran so much more smoother with two insomniac immortals than it had with just one that maybe they should ask the TARDIS to zap the other three as well.
Jack had laughed and thrown a file at him.
It was true, after all. Ianto and Jack worked like a well-oiled machine, quite literally, on many occasions: They would work their normal hours, which was long after Tosh and Gwen had gone home. Owen stayed later now, because he was an insomniac zombie, reluctant to go home to his empty flat and watch endless hours of late-night television.
(Owen's paperwork was turned in on time. Ianto was still amazed. Jack was amused, because Owen would have it done early but wait until Ianto got on his case about it to grumble and pull it out)
Eventually, even Owen would go home, leaving Jack and Ianto to their own devices. Sometimes they went hunting, most of the time they caught up on mundane paperwork and admin that they never really had time to do during 'normal' hours. Sometimes they'd leave the Hub and go to Ianto's flat, sometimes they'd stay down in Jack's tiny room under his office. They'd relax, watch TV or cook dinner if they'd gone to the flat, sit up and sip whiskey and swap stories and just talk about general things if they stayed at the Hub. Sometimes they had sex, sometimes they didn't; either way they'd bunk down together for a few hours, snatching a few moments of quiet respite through a nap or quiet teasing pillow talk or going through the gigantic book collection Ianto had inherited from his grandfather. After a while they'd get bored, get up and get dressed and go back to work.
So when Jack heard the blast door roll back, he was only mildly surprised. Ianto had gone out to dinner with Toshiko a few hours before, promising to bring back something for his husband. Jack had been finishing up a report to send the Prime Minister, then he was going to head over to the flat, looking forward to a quiet night in. The Rift Predictor was giving the all-clear, there was a bottle of wine hiding in the fridge at home. Just a simple six-month anniversary planned, drinking and dancing in the living room, and coming in late the next morning looking ridiculously (or as Owen put it, sickeningly) happy.
"Hey, I was just about to leave," Jack called out, standing even as he hit the Send button. Email on its way to Downing Street, he abandoned his desk, heading towards the younger immortal. Ianto was taking off his overcoat, a bag of Thai take-away in his hand, looking a little dazed.
Jack cocked his head to the side. "Ianto?" he called out, frowning when the younger man didn't respond. He walked towards his husband as Ianto hung up his coat on the rack in the corner, still lost in his own little world. A little worried, he had to fight down the urge to slip himself into Ianto's consciousness.
Instead, he touched the younger man's shoulder. "Ianto."
The touch seemed to snap Ianto out of his stupor, and he blinked over at him in surprise. "Jack. I didn't hear you."
"I take it dinner with Toshiko didn't go well?" Jack said, squeezing his shoulder.
"I need a drink," Ianto said in agreement.
Jack saw his plans for the night rapidly disappearing.
"You -- what?!"
Toshiko, sitting across from him, had the dignity to not look embarrassed. "Ianto, I'm not getting any younger."
"But -- "
"I've talked it over with Jack. Not about this part, before you start getting mad at him," she said quickly, holding up her hands to stem off Ianto's right little tizzy. "I want a child, but I don't exactly have any prospects. I have more than enough for the in-vitro, and for a specimen from a sperm bank."
"So why ME?!" Ianto asked, trying hard to regain his composure. Sure, he and Lisa had talked about kids, planned for them, but this, this was completely different.
"Why not? We're good friends, you're brilliant, you're handsome, and we've all seen each others' medical histories when we do work on the mainframe.
You're an ideal candidate." She pushed her food around with her fork, looking down at her plate. "Besides, it's not like you and Jack are going to be having kids by yourself."
Ianto bit back the retort about the male pregnancy jokes Jack loved to make. He still wasn't all that sure that his husband wasn't making them up. "Toshiko, you don't have to -- "
"I'm not doing this just for you," she argued back, "and you have the right to turn me down. I know I'm asking a lot. If you say no, I have an appointment to go flip through files at a few donation centers. I just wanted you to know that you're the top of my shortlist. Jack's on it too, by the way," she said, giving him her adorable little grin. "I thought I had a better chance with you, though."
Ianto sighed softly. "Tosh, I appreciate it, I do. I just... My sister, Nonny, the one with the little girl? She had a miscarriage, before Carys. I saw what it did to her, and I... I don't know if I'm strong enough to outlive a child."
"So you won't be Dad, you'll be favorite Uncle Ianto," Tosh said with a gentle smile. "They'll never know, unless you want to tell them when they get older."
Ianto sighed and looked down at his plate. "I just... let me think about it, okay?"
Oh, who was he kidding? He never could tell Toshiko no.
Gwen figured it out first. It shouldn't have been all that surprising that she did, being a girl and all.
Toshiko's morning sickness had only been a few days of nausea, so Owen had declared it to be the flu and banished her to her desk until she'd gotten over it. After the green tinges had long-faded, Tosh was still parked firmly behind her desk, while Ianto took her place in the field.
Ianto carefully weaned her off coffee and switched her over to tea, quickly taking note of whatever she began craving and making sure it was stocked in the Hub's kitchen. He and Jack had, of course, been told the moment Toshiko had found out -- awoken at three in the morning by sobbing, broken Japanese after she'd taken eight of the home pregnancy tests.
The younger immortal was taking the progression of the pregnancy in stride, easily smoothing over most of her mood swings and diffusing stressful situations with the practiced ease of a professional. He and Jack went shopping with her for a new wardrobe as her stomach began to swell, and Ianto was her personal chauffeur for all of her doctor's appointments.
Jack would tease him, sometimes, when Ianto would start to fret about Toshiko, and the baby. Things were progressing smoothly, but Ianto would sometimes slip into worrying fits, this thing or that reminding him of something the Japanese woman had mentioned off-handedly, or complained about.
It was important to Tosh, so it was important to Ianto. There was the faint nervous trepidation in his stomach, the one that had been there for Bethan's and Nonny's pregnancies.
Finally, when Toshiko was entering her fourth month, Gwen sauntered over and leaned against the shorter woman's desk. "So, since you're obviously not making the announcement, would I be out of line if I asked when you were due?"
Owen hit the proverbial roof at the words, then the literal one at the confirmation from the other woman. He'd ordered her into the medical bay for a full physical, fussing about and berating her for not telling him the second she found out, Gwen, Ianto and Jack looking and trying not to laugh.
"So, which one of yours is it?" Gwen asked quietly. She was standing between the Harkness-Joneses, and looked from one to the other and back again.
"What makes you think it's one of ours?" Jack asked back, not taking his eyes off of the two in the medical bay.
Gwen shrugged. "The three of you are close, and you've been particularly chummy lately."
"She went to a sperm bank," Ianto told her. "We're just helping out a good friend."
The former policewoman nodded. "Oi, Tosh! Make a list of what you need."
"Why?"
"For your shower," Gwen told her, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, what's the point in having a kid if you don't get presents for it?" she teased gently.
A faint blush colored pale cheeks. "I don't exactly have friends outside of work," she admitted.
"Nonsense!" Jack called out, making the three jump as his voice echoed. "I'll call Martha, she'll practically fly down."
"And the Doctor will probably bring you something alien for the nursery," Ianto agreed.
"Donna will go crazy, too," Jack said with a nod. "Plus there's your family."
"Mine too," Ianto agreed. "You'll probably get lots of hand-me-downs. Hope for a boy, although I guess you could dress a girl in blue."
Toshiko burst into tears. Gwen smacked both of them before hurrying down to wrap an arm around her.
Jack looked up when he heard careful footsteps approaching. Ianto was carefully picking his way around the tombstones, walking the space between the grid of graves, a wrapped bundle in his hands.
The captain gave a soft smile, which Ianto returned. He moved to sit next to Jack, making sure not to sit on anyone's grave. Cemeteries, Ianto had said once, had always given him the creeps; the lingering psychic energy of intense grief and mourning combined with human superstition of death and the dead swirled within the younger Welshman's mind and set his teeth on edge.
"I'm sorry, it's taking longer than I thought," Jack said, looking back down at the buttonhole in his hand, the dark red rose contrasted against the pure white of the baby's breath.
"It's all right," Ianto replied, reaching over to touch his knee. "You did the same with me, after Lisa."
Jack nodded. They'd driven up to London together while Ianto had been on his suspension, and he'd helped the Welshman bury the engagement ring he'd bought for the woman he loved.
When Ianto's mother had mentioned the family tradition of putting wedding flowers on the grave of a recently-deceased family member, Jack's mind had immediately flashed to Estelle Cole. And his Ianto had been Ianto and had known exactly what was on Jack's mind.
Ianto unwrapped the bundle and the scent of rosemary wafted towards Jack. He looked up at his soul mate, and got a sheepish smile in return. "'There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember'. Hamlet. Rosemary is used in protection and purification spells as well, it will help her to a happy rebirth."
Jack couldn't help but laugh. "How did you know? I didn't figure it out until she was much older."
"I helped you clean out her house," the younger immortal said. "I was raised in a magical household, I know another one when I see it."
Jack nodded. It's why he'd insisted Estelle stay in her house. The Mara-faeries were curiously bound by the Old Rules, and her house had been well-protected. Why, why had she left?
Ianto leaned over and laid the bundle at her base of the headstone, running his fingers over the polished granite. He murmured something softly, almost mouthing the words, before standing and brushing the dirt off of his clothing. "D'you want me to stay?"
Yes. Please, stay, hold me. I'm still grieving over a woman I truly loved, one that I couldn't save. "Nah, I'm okay," Jack said aloud.
The younger man bent at the waist to kiss Jack's cheek before turning. The tombstone next to Estelle's caught his eye and he frowned. "Jack?"
"I know, Yan," Jack said without looking up. "She told me one night, when we were 'tracing my genealogy'." His voice took a hard edge. "Seven years," he bit out.
Ianto knelt and ran his fingers over the inscription. 'Jackson Harkness. Named after his father to carry on his spirit.' "How?"
"Rheumatic fever." He reached over for a sprig of rosemary, pulling each leaf off the stalk, letting out a little latent anger. "Ever read Little Women? It's what the character Beth died of."
"I thought Beth had Scarlet Fever."
"So did he," Jack said. "Rheumatic fever's a sometimes complication."
"I'm sorry."
That was the thing that made the others so different from Ianto. Ianto said it, and meant it. The others, they said it, but they couldn't empathize. Ianto understood the pain of the might-have-beens that plagued him in the wee hours of the night.
Jack looked up at him and gave him a little smile.
Ianto smiled back, sitting next to him and laying his head on Jack's shoulder.
Owen hadn't liked the way the baby had been positioned three days before Toshiko's due date, so they had had a cesarean section in the Hub. Jack and Gwen had acted as Owen's nurses and assisted with the operation.
Ianto had held Toshiko's hand and tried to keep both of them calm.
Two hours after they'd begun the procedure, Gwen laid Emiko Sato, named after Toshiko's grandmother, into her mother's arms. Tosh smiled down at the baby, cooing to her in Japanese.
"Her eyes are so blue!" Gwen said, and Toshiko laughed, leaning down to kiss her daughter's sleepy face.
"My father's father was a translator during the War, he married an Englishwoman," she explained. "Blonde hair, blue eyes. I guess the trait got passed down."
"It's not unusual for kids to change their eye color as they grow up," Owen added, his back to them as he cleaned his utensils. "Kid sees light, melanin production kicks in, eye color changes."
The boredom in his voice sounded just a touch forced.
"Gwen, I think Tosh needs to get to a bed," Jack said quietly. All four of them turned to look at Toshiko, who was starting to doze off with Emiko in her arms. "Why don't you help me get her horizontal for a bit? There's a cot in my office she can use until Owen's feeling up to letting her go home." The doctor rolled his eyes. "Ianto, since you're the one with experience, you get to babysit."
The Welshman stepped forward and took the bundle out of Toshiko's arms, smiling at her as she roused slightly. Gwen and Jack helped her off the table and up the stairs -- they'd used a little bit of alien tech (thank you Doctor) to help heal the incision but she was still all weak-knees. Owen stayed in the medical bay as Ianto went upstairs and sat on the couch.
She did have blue eyes, gorgeously slanted like her mother and a chubby round face. Emiko wasn't particularly beautiful at the moment, still smushed up from being in a cramped stomach for nine months, but oh she would be.
"You are going to be spoiled," Ianto informed her. "Spoiled rotten." Blue eyes focused somewhere around where his voice was coming from, and he smiled.
"You're one of the rare Torchwood babies. You are going to be brilliant and loved and we are going to pin all of our hopes and dreams for Earth on you, Emiko Sato." He leaned down to kiss her face softly, and he swore he saw her smile.
Jack and Gwen came out of his office, making their way over to the couch. Jack sat next to him, while Gwen perched herself on his other side, looking down at her. "Giving her a Welsh lesson, Ianto?" Jack teased, propping his chin on his husband's shoulder.
"Lesson number one, Emiko," Ianto replied, shifting his hold on her. He pointed at Jack. "Twpsyn."
"Dadadadadadada -- "
"Ianto?"
"No, Jack," Ianto sighed, shaking a rattle. "For the thousandth time, you are not allowed to duct tape the baby's mouth shut."
"It's a good thing she's cute," the Captain said, looking up from his paperwork at his husband. Ianto was holding Emiko, bouncing her a little as he tried to get her to calm down for bed. Their precious Torchwood baby was just shy of a year, and was spending the night in the Hub with her doting uncles, giving Toshiko a well-deserved night alone.
Ianto shook the rattle at her, giving a mock gasp when she laughed and clapped her hands. He really did make such a good father. She made him light up.
Emiko had begun her 'dadada' mantra again, laughing and grabbing at Ianto's nose as he spoke softly to her in Welsh. At the rate they were going, she was going to be growing up speaking at least three languages -- Japanese, Welsh and English. Although on the upside, Jack was picking up a bit here and there himself.
"Dada!"
Both men stopped what they were doing to stare at Emiko. She beamed. "Dada!"
"Oh my..." A slow grin spread across Ianto's face and he leaned in to kiss a chubby cheek. "Oh, your Mam's gonna be sad she missed that!"
Jack grinned and abandoned his paperwork, coming around to take the baby from Ianto and bounce her, laughing. "We've got it on tape, she can watch it over and over again."
"Still, not like being here," Ianto said, reaching out to rub Emiko's back.
Pretty almond-shaped blue eyes, oh-so-familiar, looked up at Jack. "Dada?" she asked before reaching out to Ianto.
Jack laughed and hoisted her up a little to kiss her belly. "That's right, kiddo," he said before handing her back.
Ianto shook his head, looking down at her. "Uncle Ianto," he informed her. He glanced up at his husband. "She's not supposed to be mine."
"Em-i-ko~"
Emiko Sato covered her mouth with both her tiny hands, trying to stifle her giggling. She could hear Uncle Jack's footsteps coming from upstairs. There were just so many places to hide in the Hub!
"Olly-olly oxen free!" Uncle Jack called out and she had to press her hands harder over her mouth to keep from giving herself away. He always tried to make her laugh, so he could find her and tickle her more.
She was currently hiding underneath Bopa Gwen's desk, carefully sneaking about as she heard Uncle Jack's steps on the stair. She ducked down and ran as quietly as possible to the medical bay. There were lots of drawers in there, she could hide forever and ever and Uncle Jack would never find her.
Ewythr Ianto caught her in there once, and had fussed for ten minutes straight. But he hadn't been all that mad, really, 'cause he gave her biscuits and made her hot chocolate and read her a bedtime story.
There were lots of shiny sharp things in Uncle Owen's medical bay, he'd told her what all of them were one day. That one was a scalpel, forceps, a bone saw, scissors, a needle and thread for stitches. She'd done her best to memorize each and every one of them, quizzing herself every time she walked by the bay, so when Uncle Owen held up an instrument she could answer him immediately and correctly.
Emi just loved Uncle Owen's smile.
She carefully, quietly opened one of the doors with the big numbers on the front and was just about to sneak in when an arm wrapped around her waist. She let out a little shriek before a big hand covered her mouth, and she looked around to see Ewythr Ianto, his eyes narrowed. He took the hand off her mouth to press a finger against his mouth, and she giggled softly and did the same.
"What did I tell you about hiding in here?" her uncle asked in quiet tones, and she gave him her best poor sad baby girl look. She was only five, but she knew the buttons to push (her Uncle Jack had taught her well, but she wouldn't figure that out for another ten years or so).
"Aha!" Uncle Jack cried, jumping down towards the medical bay. "Found y -- Oh, so did Ianto." He put his hands on his hips and gave her a glare that she knew wasn't real. "Emi, were you trying to hide in the drawers again?"
The idea to say no flitted through her little head, but she was smart enough to know that lying wouldn't work. "Hai," she said softly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that," Ewythr Ianto said, cocking her head to the side. It was one of his Rules -- and he had a lot of them -- if someone you were with didn't speak a language, you didn't speak it in front of them, because it was rude. And Uncle Jack didn't speak Japanese.
"Yes sir," she said, ducking her head.
Uncle Jack shook a finger at her. "You naughty girl, you know better than that," he scolded. "No hot chocolate tonight for you, Missy."
"None for you either, Jack," her uncle said, kissing her forehead as he walked up the stairs. "Playing instead of doing paperwork. You know better than that."
Uncle Jack's pout made her realize that the hot chocolate Ewythr Ianto made for him must be really good.
"Uncle Jack?"
Jack didn't look up from his work. "Yes angel?" he asked, half disinterested. He did love Emiko, but this thing was giving off some seriously odd readings and he wanted to figure out what it was.
"How do you and Ewythr Ianto have sex?"
"Oh, it's easy eno -- " Wait. Pause. Reverse. Play. "What?"
Emiko sighed impatiently, putting her hands on her hips and looking so much like her father. "How do you and Ianto have sex?" she repeated.
Sex and Emi had always been a somewhat touchy subject. Sex and reproduction was so ingrained into cultures across the Universe that it was impossible to tap-dance around them for the sake of one human child. While the others never lied to her about it, Tosh, Owen and Gwen still felt uncomfortable sitting down and having a frank talk about sex with a ten-year-old. Jack still laughed when he remembered the look on Gwen's face when Emi had asked where babies came from when she was seven.
"Um... are you sure it's okay with Mum?" he asked, looking across the Hub at Tosh. Toshiko, however, was steadfastly ignoring her, and Jack would bet a year's paycheck that she was recording every single word. Gwen and Owen were sitting by Owen's desk, murmuring conspiratorially. Ianto was nowhere to be found.
Jack smelled a set-up.
"I asked her first, but she said I should ask an expert."
Oh. Damn. Totally a set-up.
Revenge would be so sweet.
Toshiko Sato fell bravely in the line of duty when Emiko was fourteen. Her last request was that her daughter was allowed to make up her own mind about Torchwood, not to just be directly recruited into the organization.
Which is why Jack and Ianto were standing in a terminal at Heathrow at eleven-thirty in the morning, Emiko's carry-on bags in their hands. They shouldn't have even made it this far, but the Torchwood name still carried enough authority to get both of them past security with no more than a how d'you do.
"You'll call us when you land, Emi," Jack ordered, handing over the laptop.
"Of course, Uncle Jack," she replied, slinging the bag over her shoulder before hugging him around the middle. She was the image of her mother, a tiny little pixie face with a big toothy grin and those blue Jones eyes hiding behind black-rimmed reading glasses. And oh, she was so smart, she was going to put her parents to shame one day.
A little mischievous grin crossed her face. "Of course, it will be late when I land. I might be interrupting."
She definitely was a Torchwood baby. The best and worst of all of them, mashed together into this little angel standing before them.
Emiko Sato was going to be a terror. He couldn't be prouder.
Ianto handed over her backpack as the flight attendant called over the PA for the boarding on Emi's flight, London to Tokyo. Tosh had never married, and since Ianto never claimed his parental right, she was going to live with her grandparents.
"You know you can come back any time," Ianto told her. "We'll always have a bed for you."
"I know, Ewythr Ianto," she told him, burying her face in his chest when she went to hug him.
Ianto closed his eyes and returned the fierce embrace, burying his nose in her hair. Jack almost wished he had a camera before deciding that he didn't need one; He'd never forget the image in front of him, no matter how old he got.
"I'll email you every day," she said, her voice muffled. "And call once a week at least, so I don't forget all my Welsh."
"Perish the thought!" Ianto said with a laugh, kissing her dark head before letting her go. He touched her chin. "Love you, little one."
"I love you too, Ewythr Ianto," she said, leaning up on tiptoe to give Ianto a kiss on the cheek.
"Fly safe kiddo," Jack said as he leaned over for his good-bye kiss. She gave him a salute and Jack swatted at her head. "Cheeky brat."
"Learned from the best," she shot back, picking up her backpack. She filed into the queue, turning to give them a wave before disappearing down the hallway to board the plane.
Jack reached over to wrap his arm around Ianto's waist. "There she goes."
"D'you think we'll ever see her again?" Ianto asked, voicing his worst fears and letting Jack pull him close.
"Probably." He smiled, turning to tuck Ianto's head under his chin. "She was talking about coming back for her vacation last night."
"She was?"
The older immortal squeezed his husband's waist gently. "She'll be fine. She comes from good stock, those Sato and Jones genes will give her more strength than she'll know what to do with."
"She was never mine," Ianto corrected softly.
Jack just held him, and didn't comment when his shirt became wet with tears.
ETA: Chapter nine here
Chapter Eight: If I Say It Enough, I'll Eventually Believe It
dwtwprompts prompt: Lies
Date Written: 6/2/08
Rating: PG-13/T
Word Count: 4,408 (O. M. F. G.)
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Toshiko, Owen, Gwen, OC
Spoilers: Torchwood Season 1 & 2
Warnings: Character death, angst (sorry, the bunnies are sad today...)
Author's Notes: For itoshii_chan, because this was inspired by her. Set six months after Jack and Ianto's wedding. If the Welsh is wrong for "Aunt" I truly am sorry, and let me know.
Also, there's still the prompt post, because I do take requests.
1/?: De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum Dicendum Est
2/?: It's Like Battle, But Harder
3.1/?: I'll Know It When I See It
3.2/?: Some Cupid Kills With Arrows, Some With Traps
3.3/?: Keeping Up With The Joneses
3.4/?: Speak Low, If You Speak Love
3.5/?: Shall I Never See a Bachelor of Threescore Again?
4/?: Paint By Numbers
5/?: There's No Place That Far
6/?: Its Eyes Are For The Stars
7/?: Up In The Sky...
Ianto had once joked, when they'd gotten back from traveling with the Doctor, that Torchwood ran so much more smoother with two insomniac immortals than it had with just one that maybe they should ask the TARDIS to zap the other three as well.
Jack had laughed and thrown a file at him.
It was true, after all. Ianto and Jack worked like a well-oiled machine, quite literally, on many occasions: They would work their normal hours, which was long after Tosh and Gwen had gone home. Owen stayed later now, because he was an insomniac zombie, reluctant to go home to his empty flat and watch endless hours of late-night television.
(Owen's paperwork was turned in on time. Ianto was still amazed. Jack was amused, because Owen would have it done early but wait until Ianto got on his case about it to grumble and pull it out)
Eventually, even Owen would go home, leaving Jack and Ianto to their own devices. Sometimes they went hunting, most of the time they caught up on mundane paperwork and admin that they never really had time to do during 'normal' hours. Sometimes they'd leave the Hub and go to Ianto's flat, sometimes they'd stay down in Jack's tiny room under his office. They'd relax, watch TV or cook dinner if they'd gone to the flat, sit up and sip whiskey and swap stories and just talk about general things if they stayed at the Hub. Sometimes they had sex, sometimes they didn't; either way they'd bunk down together for a few hours, snatching a few moments of quiet respite through a nap or quiet teasing pillow talk or going through the gigantic book collection Ianto had inherited from his grandfather. After a while they'd get bored, get up and get dressed and go back to work.
So when Jack heard the blast door roll back, he was only mildly surprised. Ianto had gone out to dinner with Toshiko a few hours before, promising to bring back something for his husband. Jack had been finishing up a report to send the Prime Minister, then he was going to head over to the flat, looking forward to a quiet night in. The Rift Predictor was giving the all-clear, there was a bottle of wine hiding in the fridge at home. Just a simple six-month anniversary planned, drinking and dancing in the living room, and coming in late the next morning looking ridiculously (or as Owen put it, sickeningly) happy.
"Hey, I was just about to leave," Jack called out, standing even as he hit the Send button. Email on its way to Downing Street, he abandoned his desk, heading towards the younger immortal. Ianto was taking off his overcoat, a bag of Thai take-away in his hand, looking a little dazed.
Jack cocked his head to the side. "Ianto?" he called out, frowning when the younger man didn't respond. He walked towards his husband as Ianto hung up his coat on the rack in the corner, still lost in his own little world. A little worried, he had to fight down the urge to slip himself into Ianto's consciousness.
Instead, he touched the younger man's shoulder. "Ianto."
The touch seemed to snap Ianto out of his stupor, and he blinked over at him in surprise. "Jack. I didn't hear you."
"I take it dinner with Toshiko didn't go well?" Jack said, squeezing his shoulder.
"I need a drink," Ianto said in agreement.
Jack saw his plans for the night rapidly disappearing.
"You -- what?!"
Toshiko, sitting across from him, had the dignity to not look embarrassed. "Ianto, I'm not getting any younger."
"But -- "
"I've talked it over with Jack. Not about this part, before you start getting mad at him," she said quickly, holding up her hands to stem off Ianto's right little tizzy. "I want a child, but I don't exactly have any prospects. I have more than enough for the in-vitro, and for a specimen from a sperm bank."
"So why ME?!" Ianto asked, trying hard to regain his composure. Sure, he and Lisa had talked about kids, planned for them, but this, this was completely different.
"Why not? We're good friends, you're brilliant, you're handsome, and we've all seen each others' medical histories when we do work on the mainframe.
You're an ideal candidate." She pushed her food around with her fork, looking down at her plate. "Besides, it's not like you and Jack are going to be having kids by yourself."
Ianto bit back the retort about the male pregnancy jokes Jack loved to make. He still wasn't all that sure that his husband wasn't making them up. "Toshiko, you don't have to -- "
"I'm not doing this just for you," she argued back, "and you have the right to turn me down. I know I'm asking a lot. If you say no, I have an appointment to go flip through files at a few donation centers. I just wanted you to know that you're the top of my shortlist. Jack's on it too, by the way," she said, giving him her adorable little grin. "I thought I had a better chance with you, though."
Ianto sighed softly. "Tosh, I appreciate it, I do. I just... My sister, Nonny, the one with the little girl? She had a miscarriage, before Carys. I saw what it did to her, and I... I don't know if I'm strong enough to outlive a child."
"So you won't be Dad, you'll be favorite Uncle Ianto," Tosh said with a gentle smile. "They'll never know, unless you want to tell them when they get older."
Ianto sighed and looked down at his plate. "I just... let me think about it, okay?"
Oh, who was he kidding? He never could tell Toshiko no.
Gwen figured it out first. It shouldn't have been all that surprising that she did, being a girl and all.
Toshiko's morning sickness had only been a few days of nausea, so Owen had declared it to be the flu and banished her to her desk until she'd gotten over it. After the green tinges had long-faded, Tosh was still parked firmly behind her desk, while Ianto took her place in the field.
Ianto carefully weaned her off coffee and switched her over to tea, quickly taking note of whatever she began craving and making sure it was stocked in the Hub's kitchen. He and Jack had, of course, been told the moment Toshiko had found out -- awoken at three in the morning by sobbing, broken Japanese after she'd taken eight of the home pregnancy tests.
The younger immortal was taking the progression of the pregnancy in stride, easily smoothing over most of her mood swings and diffusing stressful situations with the practiced ease of a professional. He and Jack went shopping with her for a new wardrobe as her stomach began to swell, and Ianto was her personal chauffeur for all of her doctor's appointments.
Jack would tease him, sometimes, when Ianto would start to fret about Toshiko, and the baby. Things were progressing smoothly, but Ianto would sometimes slip into worrying fits, this thing or that reminding him of something the Japanese woman had mentioned off-handedly, or complained about.
It was important to Tosh, so it was important to Ianto. There was the faint nervous trepidation in his stomach, the one that had been there for Bethan's and Nonny's pregnancies.
Finally, when Toshiko was entering her fourth month, Gwen sauntered over and leaned against the shorter woman's desk. "So, since you're obviously not making the announcement, would I be out of line if I asked when you were due?"
Owen hit the proverbial roof at the words, then the literal one at the confirmation from the other woman. He'd ordered her into the medical bay for a full physical, fussing about and berating her for not telling him the second she found out, Gwen, Ianto and Jack looking and trying not to laugh.
"So, which one of yours is it?" Gwen asked quietly. She was standing between the Harkness-Joneses, and looked from one to the other and back again.
"What makes you think it's one of ours?" Jack asked back, not taking his eyes off of the two in the medical bay.
Gwen shrugged. "The three of you are close, and you've been particularly chummy lately."
"She went to a sperm bank," Ianto told her. "We're just helping out a good friend."
The former policewoman nodded. "Oi, Tosh! Make a list of what you need."
"Why?"
"For your shower," Gwen told her, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, what's the point in having a kid if you don't get presents for it?" she teased gently.
A faint blush colored pale cheeks. "I don't exactly have friends outside of work," she admitted.
"Nonsense!" Jack called out, making the three jump as his voice echoed. "I'll call Martha, she'll practically fly down."
"And the Doctor will probably bring you something alien for the nursery," Ianto agreed.
"Donna will go crazy, too," Jack said with a nod. "Plus there's your family."
"Mine too," Ianto agreed. "You'll probably get lots of hand-me-downs. Hope for a boy, although I guess you could dress a girl in blue."
Toshiko burst into tears. Gwen smacked both of them before hurrying down to wrap an arm around her.
Jack looked up when he heard careful footsteps approaching. Ianto was carefully picking his way around the tombstones, walking the space between the grid of graves, a wrapped bundle in his hands.
The captain gave a soft smile, which Ianto returned. He moved to sit next to Jack, making sure not to sit on anyone's grave. Cemeteries, Ianto had said once, had always given him the creeps; the lingering psychic energy of intense grief and mourning combined with human superstition of death and the dead swirled within the younger Welshman's mind and set his teeth on edge.
"I'm sorry, it's taking longer than I thought," Jack said, looking back down at the buttonhole in his hand, the dark red rose contrasted against the pure white of the baby's breath.
"It's all right," Ianto replied, reaching over to touch his knee. "You did the same with me, after Lisa."
Jack nodded. They'd driven up to London together while Ianto had been on his suspension, and he'd helped the Welshman bury the engagement ring he'd bought for the woman he loved.
When Ianto's mother had mentioned the family tradition of putting wedding flowers on the grave of a recently-deceased family member, Jack's mind had immediately flashed to Estelle Cole. And his Ianto had been Ianto and had known exactly what was on Jack's mind.
Ianto unwrapped the bundle and the scent of rosemary wafted towards Jack. He looked up at his soul mate, and got a sheepish smile in return. "'There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember'. Hamlet. Rosemary is used in protection and purification spells as well, it will help her to a happy rebirth."
Jack couldn't help but laugh. "How did you know? I didn't figure it out until she was much older."
"I helped you clean out her house," the younger immortal said. "I was raised in a magical household, I know another one when I see it."
Jack nodded. It's why he'd insisted Estelle stay in her house. The Mara-faeries were curiously bound by the Old Rules, and her house had been well-protected. Why, why had she left?
Ianto leaned over and laid the bundle at her base of the headstone, running his fingers over the polished granite. He murmured something softly, almost mouthing the words, before standing and brushing the dirt off of his clothing. "D'you want me to stay?"
Yes. Please, stay, hold me. I'm still grieving over a woman I truly loved, one that I couldn't save. "Nah, I'm okay," Jack said aloud.
The younger man bent at the waist to kiss Jack's cheek before turning. The tombstone next to Estelle's caught his eye and he frowned. "Jack?"
"I know, Yan," Jack said without looking up. "She told me one night, when we were 'tracing my genealogy'." His voice took a hard edge. "Seven years," he bit out.
Ianto knelt and ran his fingers over the inscription. 'Jackson Harkness. Named after his father to carry on his spirit.' "How?"
"Rheumatic fever." He reached over for a sprig of rosemary, pulling each leaf off the stalk, letting out a little latent anger. "Ever read Little Women? It's what the character Beth died of."
"I thought Beth had Scarlet Fever."
"So did he," Jack said. "Rheumatic fever's a sometimes complication."
"I'm sorry."
That was the thing that made the others so different from Ianto. Ianto said it, and meant it. The others, they said it, but they couldn't empathize. Ianto understood the pain of the might-have-beens that plagued him in the wee hours of the night.
Jack looked up at him and gave him a little smile.
Ianto smiled back, sitting next to him and laying his head on Jack's shoulder.
Owen hadn't liked the way the baby had been positioned three days before Toshiko's due date, so they had had a cesarean section in the Hub. Jack and Gwen had acted as Owen's nurses and assisted with the operation.
Ianto had held Toshiko's hand and tried to keep both of them calm.
Two hours after they'd begun the procedure, Gwen laid Emiko Sato, named after Toshiko's grandmother, into her mother's arms. Tosh smiled down at the baby, cooing to her in Japanese.
"Her eyes are so blue!" Gwen said, and Toshiko laughed, leaning down to kiss her daughter's sleepy face.
"My father's father was a translator during the War, he married an Englishwoman," she explained. "Blonde hair, blue eyes. I guess the trait got passed down."
"It's not unusual for kids to change their eye color as they grow up," Owen added, his back to them as he cleaned his utensils. "Kid sees light, melanin production kicks in, eye color changes."
The boredom in his voice sounded just a touch forced.
"Gwen, I think Tosh needs to get to a bed," Jack said quietly. All four of them turned to look at Toshiko, who was starting to doze off with Emiko in her arms. "Why don't you help me get her horizontal for a bit? There's a cot in my office she can use until Owen's feeling up to letting her go home." The doctor rolled his eyes. "Ianto, since you're the one with experience, you get to babysit."
The Welshman stepped forward and took the bundle out of Toshiko's arms, smiling at her as she roused slightly. Gwen and Jack helped her off the table and up the stairs -- they'd used a little bit of alien tech (thank you Doctor) to help heal the incision but she was still all weak-knees. Owen stayed in the medical bay as Ianto went upstairs and sat on the couch.
She did have blue eyes, gorgeously slanted like her mother and a chubby round face. Emiko wasn't particularly beautiful at the moment, still smushed up from being in a cramped stomach for nine months, but oh she would be.
"You are going to be spoiled," Ianto informed her. "Spoiled rotten." Blue eyes focused somewhere around where his voice was coming from, and he smiled.
"You're one of the rare Torchwood babies. You are going to be brilliant and loved and we are going to pin all of our hopes and dreams for Earth on you, Emiko Sato." He leaned down to kiss her face softly, and he swore he saw her smile.
Jack and Gwen came out of his office, making their way over to the couch. Jack sat next to him, while Gwen perched herself on his other side, looking down at her. "Giving her a Welsh lesson, Ianto?" Jack teased, propping his chin on his husband's shoulder.
"Lesson number one, Emiko," Ianto replied, shifting his hold on her. He pointed at Jack. "Twpsyn."
"Dadadadadadada -- "
"Ianto?"
"No, Jack," Ianto sighed, shaking a rattle. "For the thousandth time, you are not allowed to duct tape the baby's mouth shut."
"It's a good thing she's cute," the Captain said, looking up from his paperwork at his husband. Ianto was holding Emiko, bouncing her a little as he tried to get her to calm down for bed. Their precious Torchwood baby was just shy of a year, and was spending the night in the Hub with her doting uncles, giving Toshiko a well-deserved night alone.
Ianto shook the rattle at her, giving a mock gasp when she laughed and clapped her hands. He really did make such a good father. She made him light up.
Emiko had begun her 'dadada' mantra again, laughing and grabbing at Ianto's nose as he spoke softly to her in Welsh. At the rate they were going, she was going to be growing up speaking at least three languages -- Japanese, Welsh and English. Although on the upside, Jack was picking up a bit here and there himself.
"Dada!"
Both men stopped what they were doing to stare at Emiko. She beamed. "Dada!"
"Oh my..." A slow grin spread across Ianto's face and he leaned in to kiss a chubby cheek. "Oh, your Mam's gonna be sad she missed that!"
Jack grinned and abandoned his paperwork, coming around to take the baby from Ianto and bounce her, laughing. "We've got it on tape, she can watch it over and over again."
"Still, not like being here," Ianto said, reaching out to rub Emiko's back.
Pretty almond-shaped blue eyes, oh-so-familiar, looked up at Jack. "Dada?" she asked before reaching out to Ianto.
Jack laughed and hoisted her up a little to kiss her belly. "That's right, kiddo," he said before handing her back.
Ianto shook his head, looking down at her. "Uncle Ianto," he informed her. He glanced up at his husband. "She's not supposed to be mine."
"Em-i-ko~"
Emiko Sato covered her mouth with both her tiny hands, trying to stifle her giggling. She could hear Uncle Jack's footsteps coming from upstairs. There were just so many places to hide in the Hub!
"Olly-olly oxen free!" Uncle Jack called out and she had to press her hands harder over her mouth to keep from giving herself away. He always tried to make her laugh, so he could find her and tickle her more.
She was currently hiding underneath Bopa Gwen's desk, carefully sneaking about as she heard Uncle Jack's steps on the stair. She ducked down and ran as quietly as possible to the medical bay. There were lots of drawers in there, she could hide forever and ever and Uncle Jack would never find her.
Ewythr Ianto caught her in there once, and had fussed for ten minutes straight. But he hadn't been all that mad, really, 'cause he gave her biscuits and made her hot chocolate and read her a bedtime story.
There were lots of shiny sharp things in Uncle Owen's medical bay, he'd told her what all of them were one day. That one was a scalpel, forceps, a bone saw, scissors, a needle and thread for stitches. She'd done her best to memorize each and every one of them, quizzing herself every time she walked by the bay, so when Uncle Owen held up an instrument she could answer him immediately and correctly.
Emi just loved Uncle Owen's smile.
She carefully, quietly opened one of the doors with the big numbers on the front and was just about to sneak in when an arm wrapped around her waist. She let out a little shriek before a big hand covered her mouth, and she looked around to see Ewythr Ianto, his eyes narrowed. He took the hand off her mouth to press a finger against his mouth, and she giggled softly and did the same.
"What did I tell you about hiding in here?" her uncle asked in quiet tones, and she gave him her best poor sad baby girl look. She was only five, but she knew the buttons to push (her Uncle Jack had taught her well, but she wouldn't figure that out for another ten years or so).
"Aha!" Uncle Jack cried, jumping down towards the medical bay. "Found y -- Oh, so did Ianto." He put his hands on his hips and gave her a glare that she knew wasn't real. "Emi, were you trying to hide in the drawers again?"
The idea to say no flitted through her little head, but she was smart enough to know that lying wouldn't work. "Hai," she said softly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that," Ewythr Ianto said, cocking her head to the side. It was one of his Rules -- and he had a lot of them -- if someone you were with didn't speak a language, you didn't speak it in front of them, because it was rude. And Uncle Jack didn't speak Japanese.
"Yes sir," she said, ducking her head.
Uncle Jack shook a finger at her. "You naughty girl, you know better than that," he scolded. "No hot chocolate tonight for you, Missy."
"None for you either, Jack," her uncle said, kissing her forehead as he walked up the stairs. "Playing instead of doing paperwork. You know better than that."
Uncle Jack's pout made her realize that the hot chocolate Ewythr Ianto made for him must be really good.
"Uncle Jack?"
Jack didn't look up from his work. "Yes angel?" he asked, half disinterested. He did love Emiko, but this thing was giving off some seriously odd readings and he wanted to figure out what it was.
"How do you and Ewythr Ianto have sex?"
"Oh, it's easy eno -- " Wait. Pause. Reverse. Play. "What?"
Emiko sighed impatiently, putting her hands on her hips and looking so much like her father. "How do you and Ianto have sex?" she repeated.
Sex and Emi had always been a somewhat touchy subject. Sex and reproduction was so ingrained into cultures across the Universe that it was impossible to tap-dance around them for the sake of one human child. While the others never lied to her about it, Tosh, Owen and Gwen still felt uncomfortable sitting down and having a frank talk about sex with a ten-year-old. Jack still laughed when he remembered the look on Gwen's face when Emi had asked where babies came from when she was seven.
"Um... are you sure it's okay with Mum?" he asked, looking across the Hub at Tosh. Toshiko, however, was steadfastly ignoring her, and Jack would bet a year's paycheck that she was recording every single word. Gwen and Owen were sitting by Owen's desk, murmuring conspiratorially. Ianto was nowhere to be found.
Jack smelled a set-up.
"I asked her first, but she said I should ask an expert."
Oh. Damn. Totally a set-up.
Revenge would be so sweet.
Toshiko Sato fell bravely in the line of duty when Emiko was fourteen. Her last request was that her daughter was allowed to make up her own mind about Torchwood, not to just be directly recruited into the organization.
Which is why Jack and Ianto were standing in a terminal at Heathrow at eleven-thirty in the morning, Emiko's carry-on bags in their hands. They shouldn't have even made it this far, but the Torchwood name still carried enough authority to get both of them past security with no more than a how d'you do.
"You'll call us when you land, Emi," Jack ordered, handing over the laptop.
"Of course, Uncle Jack," she replied, slinging the bag over her shoulder before hugging him around the middle. She was the image of her mother, a tiny little pixie face with a big toothy grin and those blue Jones eyes hiding behind black-rimmed reading glasses. And oh, she was so smart, she was going to put her parents to shame one day.
A little mischievous grin crossed her face. "Of course, it will be late when I land. I might be interrupting."
She definitely was a Torchwood baby. The best and worst of all of them, mashed together into this little angel standing before them.
Emiko Sato was going to be a terror. He couldn't be prouder.
Ianto handed over her backpack as the flight attendant called over the PA for the boarding on Emi's flight, London to Tokyo. Tosh had never married, and since Ianto never claimed his parental right, she was going to live with her grandparents.
"You know you can come back any time," Ianto told her. "We'll always have a bed for you."
"I know, Ewythr Ianto," she told him, burying her face in his chest when she went to hug him.
Ianto closed his eyes and returned the fierce embrace, burying his nose in her hair. Jack almost wished he had a camera before deciding that he didn't need one; He'd never forget the image in front of him, no matter how old he got.
"I'll email you every day," she said, her voice muffled. "And call once a week at least, so I don't forget all my Welsh."
"Perish the thought!" Ianto said with a laugh, kissing her dark head before letting her go. He touched her chin. "Love you, little one."
"I love you too, Ewythr Ianto," she said, leaning up on tiptoe to give Ianto a kiss on the cheek.
"Fly safe kiddo," Jack said as he leaned over for his good-bye kiss. She gave him a salute and Jack swatted at her head. "Cheeky brat."
"Learned from the best," she shot back, picking up her backpack. She filed into the queue, turning to give them a wave before disappearing down the hallway to board the plane.
Jack reached over to wrap his arm around Ianto's waist. "There she goes."
"D'you think we'll ever see her again?" Ianto asked, voicing his worst fears and letting Jack pull him close.
"Probably." He smiled, turning to tuck Ianto's head under his chin. "She was talking about coming back for her vacation last night."
"She was?"
The older immortal squeezed his husband's waist gently. "She'll be fine. She comes from good stock, those Sato and Jones genes will give her more strength than she'll know what to do with."
"She was never mine," Ianto corrected softly.
Jack just held him, and didn't comment when his shirt became wet with tears.
ETA: Chapter nine here