Just Like A Jones 34/37
Just Like A Jones
Chapter: 34
Rating: NC-17 for series
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto. Mica. David. Martha. Gwen/Rhys. Lois. Johnny/Rhiannon.
Synopsis: Mica may be a Davies, but sometimes she acts like a Jones. Set 13 years in the future. The world is a very different place, and Torchwood is a world that Jack doesn't want to know, but a promise made a long time ago brings him back to their door whether he likes it or not. Mica is in awe of a past she didn't know and a man she barely remembers, but her passion for his world takes her on a journey she never expected.
Spoilers: Aftermath of COE.
Disclaimer: Not mine, if it was this woul not need to be written.
Thanks. Thanks to everyone who has replied so far XD. As i have said before it was lack of feedbak that made me give up before.
PART 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
Jack leaned against the tiles in the shower and let the hot water cascade over him. He had been in there for a little longer than he should have been, maybe half an hour or so, and his fingers had started to crinkle. His mind had been working overtime, running through memories in his head, and set him into a daze as he concentrated on the greying grout between the tiles. He really hadn't thought too much about Rhiannon, not since Ianto had come back to him, but now that he did he wasn't sure what to do. He had spent so long telling her that Ianto wasn't coming back, that he hadn't even started to think about how he would tell her that he was.
He sighed heavily, turned off the water and stepped out, then wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into the living room.
“I was just thinking about the best way to--” Jack stopped talking as soon as he saw them and his contemplative frown lifted to form a smile. They had fallen asleep together exactly the way he had left them; Mica's head on her Uncle's chest with her legs up on the couch, as he wrapped his arm around her with his cheek resting against her head. He went into the bedroom and found a blanket, then draped it over them; he dropped a kiss onto Ianto's forehead, whispered goodnight, then switched off the light.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Just so you know,” Andy said, “I think this is a bloody terrible idea.”
“Did I ask for your opinion?” Gwen pulled the SUV to a stop outside Rhiannon's house and switched off the lights.
“No. But I thought I would try and be useful.” He looked at the house; all of the lights were off, barring one in the living room. “Don't do this.”
“I just want her to be prepared.”
“It's One o'clock in the morning!”
“The lights are on,” Gwen said, “I'm just paying a friendly visit.”
“Then I'll say it again.” Andy started to speak slowly, hoping that talking to her like a child would help her understand. “It's one o'clock in the morning.”
“I need to speak to her,” she said, “now.”
“She's not going to thank you for it.”
Gwen sighed and rested her forehead on the steering wheel. “Are you going to help me, or not?”
“Yes. But I can not wait to say I told you so.”
“Okay, lets do this.” She got out of the car and pulled her jacket around her then, with Andy regretfully behind her, they walked towards the front door. Gwen gave it a firm knock and waited until a young man answered the door; she recognised him as Mica's brother, David.
“Oh hello there,” she said, “my name is Gwen Williams and this is my associate Andy Davison.” She showed him her badge. “Could we possibly come in for a moment?”
“What do you want?” David leaned against the door and gave her a suspicious look.
“We were just wondering if we could have a word with your Mam.”
He shook his head. “No. She's in bed.”
“Oh, well I'll call back tomorrow then.”
David stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “Don't bother,” he said, “I know who you are and I know why you're here.”
“Al right then.” Gwen crossed her arms. “Why am I here?”
“To stick your nose in where it's not wanted.” David stepped towards her. “This is our family and we can deal with it. We don't need Torchwood interfering in our business.”
“Does she know?” Gwen looked upstairs, motioning to one of the bedrooms. “About your Uncle?”
“No.”
“Then maybe you should tell her.”
“Why?” He pulled Gwen away from the house by her arm and dragged her to the bottom of the path, well away from earshot of any open windows. “She's not ready.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I know my Mam,” he said, “until he's fit and well enough to come home there's no point. It'll just stress her.”
“Maybe it's better for her to be prepared.”
“You don't know her. You don't know what she was like.” David looked back towards the house, then refocused his gaze on Gwen. “When he died she died too, something inside of her broke and she just went nuts. She started to see him, started to speak to him. How am I supposed to tell her that he's alive when we've spent thirteen years convincing her that he's dead and never coming back?” He shook his head. “No, until he's here in the flesh and we can explain it to her, Uncle Ianto stays dead.”
“David!” A voice came from the doorway, one that reverberated around the empty street. “Why are the police knocking at my door at one in the morning?!”
He turned around slowly and looked at his mother who stood there in her blue dressing gown and sling-back slippers with a scowl on her face and a cup of tea in her hand. “It's nothing Mam, go back to bed.”
“No!” She put her cup down on the step and came out of the house, wrapping her dressing gown around her. “Police don't just turn up for no reason, especially when you're concerned. What's he done now?”
Andy stepped Forward. “It' nothing to worry about,” he said in his best kind official voice, “we were just doing a door-to-door appeal for information about a serious assault in Porter St. earlier this evening”
“At one in the morning?” Rhiannon asked, crossing her arms across her chest. She was unimpressed and unconvinced.
“It was a very serious assault and your light was on so we thought we would try our luck.” He smiled. “Do you recall seeing or hearing anything around midnight?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Well, thanks very much for your co-operation, but if you do remember anything--”
“I'll let you know,” Rhiannon said, “was there anything else?”
Gwen looked between Andy and David; they were both giving her wide-eyed 'no' looks. She surrendered. “No, no that was all.” She sighed heavily. “Goodnight.”
Andy opened the gate for Gwen and they walked towards the SUV, leaving David and his mother in the driveway.
“You should have just stayed inside,” David said, “I would've handled it.”
“Yeah, I know how you handle people. Now get inside.”
“You coming?”
She shook her head. “I'm going to have a sneaky fag.”
“I thought you gave up.”
“Yeah, so does your dad.” She gestured to the house. “Get in, I'll be there in a minute.”
“Night Mam.” David walked towards the door and went inside, then closed it behind him.
“Okay, so what is it really?” Rhiannon walked towards Gwen and stopped her as she reached the SUV. “What do you really want?”
“I--”
“Torchwood don't just come knocking on your door for no reason in the middle of the night.”
“Andy, Get in the car,” Gwen said, “I'll just be a minute.”
“Gwen--”
She pressed a button and unlocked the SUV. “Get in the car.”
“Gwen, this is a really bad idea.”
She turned to face him and lowered her voice. “In the car.”
“Think about this for a moment.” Andy tried to warn her as she bundled him into the SUV. “It falls into the category of really really bad things to--”
Gwen shut the door and Locked it, then mouthed a sincere sorry before turning to Rhiannon again.
“Do you really think I don't remember you two?” Rhiannon said. “It might have been a long time ago, but not so long that I would forget who you are and what you did to me and my family.”
“If you feel that way, then why are we still having this conversation?”
“I hate you lot.” Rhiannon leaned against the wall. “But you wouldn't be here without a valid reason, not after all this time, so I'm willing to hear you out.”
“Can we talk inside?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“It's about your brother.” Gwen sighed and looked around. “ I would really rather we talked about this inside.”
“Well, I wouldn't. The one time I let you in my house you told me he was dead.”
Gwen opened her mouth to speak.
“I know Mica has something to do with you. I know she's involved with you lot somehow and I hate it, but it's her life and if I try to stop her I'll only drive her away. I can't lose anyone else, not her.”
“So you know?”
“Well, I do now.” Rhiannon shook her head. “I knew it would happen one day. I couldn't trust her not to do something as stupid as get involved with you lot.”
Gwen laughed a little and smiled as she leant back on the window. “So, sneakiness runs in the family, does it?”
“Obviously.” She stared at her. “Tell me why you're really here.”
“It's about your brother,” Gwen said truthfully, “Ianto.”
“What about him?”
“Mica is so fixated, she idolises him.”
“Yeah, I've noticed.” Rhiannon sighed and sat on the wall. “I wanted her to remember him, the real him, whoever that was. But, I never wanted her to idolise him so much that she tried to replicate his life. I'm scared she'll die young like he did. Bravery and heroics are great, dying saving the future is noble, but I'd rather she was ordinary.”
“When Ianto died--”
“When he died I lost everything, including my sanity for a while, and I don't want to talk about him with you.”
“He had so much unfinished business, so much that he didn't want to leave behind. He didn't want to die and--”
“But he is dead.”
“What if he wasn't?” Gwen asked. “What if he was alive?”
“But he's not alive, is he?” She said. “He's dead. I spent a good few years believing that he was alive and it did me no good.” Rhiannon sighed and shook her head. “I don't want to think about it, and I really don't want to discuss it with you.”
“I miss him,” Gwen said, “not a day goes by when I don't think about him, and how my life would be different if he was sill here.”
“You don't miss him, not like I do.”
“Of course not.”
“I remember him when he was a baby, crying until it hurt because his Mam wouldn't pick him up, and staying that way until Dad came in from work shattered and changed him. I remember feeding him because Mam forgot. I remember picking him up when he fell over and kissing his knee better because she was in another world.” Rhiannon walked towards Gwen, stopping just in-front of her. “I remember promising myself that I would never turn into the person she was, but what Torchwood did to him made me everything I hated about her. And I hate myself for that every day.”
“I'm so sorry.”
“Have you got a family?” She asked. “Kids?”
“I'm married, I have one boy.”
“Are you there for him when he needs you?”
“As much as I can be. Torchwood keeps me busy, but I do the best I can.”
Rhiannon smiled and it was sincere. “Good. Then go home to your husband and your son and please just leave me alone.”
“That's what you really want, is it?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”Gwen surrendered. “Sorry to have bothered you.”
Rhiannon watched Gwen as she unlocked the SUV and opened the door. “But if you see Mica, tell her to come home soon. I worry.”
“I will.” She got inside the door and closed it, then followed Rhiannon with her eyes as she walked back into the house.
Andy glared at her. “Let's play a game, Gwen. It's called odd one out. Your keys, A Labrador, Andy and a tractor. What's the odd one out?”
“What?” Gwen looked at him confused. “No idea.”
“The tractor. Do you want to know why?”
“Why?”
“You've never locked a tractor inside your car.” Andy stared out of the window. “I'm not a tiny pine tree or a pair of fluffy pink dice, Gwen. You wouldn't treat a dog like that. Next time at least leave me a water bowl and crack the window open a smidge, okay?”
“I just wanted her alone, that's all.”
“You shouldn't be allowed to talk to people on your own without someone standing behind you with a roll of electricians tape to shut you up.” He sighed. “So, how did it go?”
“It didn't. You're right, maybe I should just leave it.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ianto woke from his doze to a static DVD menu screen and squinted in the darkness to read the clock. It was almost half-past two and he was still in the living room in the same position as he had been two hours ago, or at least the last one he remembered being in before he drifted off to sleep; he looked down at Mica who lay with her head resting on his chest. Her breathing was deep and steady as she slept against him, her arms tucked underneath the blanket.
“Mica?” Ianto's voice came out groggy and rough. “Time to get up.”
She just groaned and settled further into him.
“Come on.” He stood, being careful to support her as she flopped down onto the couch. “Bed time.”
Mica tried to open her eyes, but gave up. “I'll sleep here.”
“You can't.”
“I'm comfortable. You go.”
Ianto switched off the DVD and put their cups into the sink, then returned and crouched down beside her. He shook her a little. “You've got to drive home tomorrow,” he said, “you need a proper nights sleep in a proper bed.”
He looked at her for a moment and considered just draping the blanket over her and fetching some pillows, but when she shifted uncomfortably in her sleep he knew what he had to do. Ianto took a deep breath and bent his knees, then put one arm beneath her knees and the other under her neck; he hoisted her up and stood still for a moment to get his balance before walking with her towards her room. She was a lot heavier than she had been the last time he had done this, then again she had been four and he hadn't just come back from the dead. He felt his knees buckle just a little as he made his way towards her room, but managed to keep standing. He was regretting his decision now, and that uncomfortable sleeping position and a blanket seemed like a much more attractive option than dropping her on the floor in the hallway. Ianto felt her slip from his grasp, but kept hold until he reached her bed and laid her down on it. He took off her slippers and put them down beside the bed, then covered her over with the duvet.
Ianto dropped down to the floor, resting his head against the side of the bed and got his breath back; for the first time in his life, Ianto Jones felt old and unfit.
“Are you okay?” Mica's groggy voice came from behind him. “You should have left me.”
“I'm fine.” He pulled himself up and sat on the edge of the bed. “You're just a lot heavier than you were when you were four.”
“I would hope so.” She turned onto her side and tucked the duvet under her chin. “Otherwise I would be severely malnourished. I would've been okay there tonight.”
“I couldn't just leave you, I've left you for long enough already.”
“It wasn't your fault that you haven't been around for the last thirteen years you know?” She said. “You died.”
“Yeah, I did.” He sighed. “And look what it did to Rhi.”
“You can't blame yourself for that.”
“I know.” He turned around to face her. “Try and prepare her for when I come home.”
“I will.” She smiled. “Go to bed.”
“Okay.” Ianto pressed a kiss to her forehead and then stood up. “Rhi doesn't handle surprises too well, so just try and do the best you can.”
“Go to bed,” Mica said as she snuggled into the warmth of the duvet, “You're not as well as you think you are.”
Ianto closed the door behind him and walked into his bedroom, sighing at the sight of Jack's towel lying on the floor. He picked it up and tossed it into the hamper, then stepped out of his shorts and took off his shirt before slipping under the covers.
“Jack?” Ianto whispered.
He wrapped his arms around him and pressed his lips against his bare back, pulling him in close. “Are you awake?”
“Nope.” Jack's smile changed the shape of his cheeks, but he didn't open his eyes. “I'm fast asleep.”
“Well, in that case, I won't disturb you.” His lips caressed Jack's neck as his fingers stroked his stomach.
“Disturb me all you like,” Jack said, turning around and pinning him softly to the bed. “I've had lifetimes of sleep without you.”
Ianto smiled and surrendered to Jack's lips completely as he kissed him into the mattress
PART 35 HERE.
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Chapter: 34
Rating: NC-17 for series
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto. Mica. David. Martha. Gwen/Rhys. Lois. Johnny/Rhiannon.
Synopsis: Mica may be a Davies, but sometimes she acts like a Jones. Set 13 years in the future. The world is a very different place, and Torchwood is a world that Jack doesn't want to know, but a promise made a long time ago brings him back to their door whether he likes it or not. Mica is in awe of a past she didn't know and a man she barely remembers, but her passion for his world takes her on a journey she never expected.
Spoilers: Aftermath of COE.
Disclaimer: Not mine, if it was this woul not need to be written.
Thanks. Thanks to everyone who has replied so far XD. As i have said before it was lack of feedbak that made me give up before.
PART 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
Jack leaned against the tiles in the shower and let the hot water cascade over him. He had been in there for a little longer than he should have been, maybe half an hour or so, and his fingers had started to crinkle. His mind had been working overtime, running through memories in his head, and set him into a daze as he concentrated on the greying grout between the tiles. He really hadn't thought too much about Rhiannon, not since Ianto had come back to him, but now that he did he wasn't sure what to do. He had spent so long telling her that Ianto wasn't coming back, that he hadn't even started to think about how he would tell her that he was.
He sighed heavily, turned off the water and stepped out, then wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into the living room.
“I was just thinking about the best way to--” Jack stopped talking as soon as he saw them and his contemplative frown lifted to form a smile. They had fallen asleep together exactly the way he had left them; Mica's head on her Uncle's chest with her legs up on the couch, as he wrapped his arm around her with his cheek resting against her head. He went into the bedroom and found a blanket, then draped it over them; he dropped a kiss onto Ianto's forehead, whispered goodnight, then switched off the light.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Just so you know,” Andy said, “I think this is a bloody terrible idea.”
“Did I ask for your opinion?” Gwen pulled the SUV to a stop outside Rhiannon's house and switched off the lights.
“No. But I thought I would try and be useful.” He looked at the house; all of the lights were off, barring one in the living room. “Don't do this.”
“I just want her to be prepared.”
“It's One o'clock in the morning!”
“The lights are on,” Gwen said, “I'm just paying a friendly visit.”
“Then I'll say it again.” Andy started to speak slowly, hoping that talking to her like a child would help her understand. “It's one o'clock in the morning.”
“I need to speak to her,” she said, “now.”
“She's not going to thank you for it.”
Gwen sighed and rested her forehead on the steering wheel. “Are you going to help me, or not?”
“Yes. But I can not wait to say I told you so.”
“Okay, lets do this.” She got out of the car and pulled her jacket around her then, with Andy regretfully behind her, they walked towards the front door. Gwen gave it a firm knock and waited until a young man answered the door; she recognised him as Mica's brother, David.
“Oh hello there,” she said, “my name is Gwen Williams and this is my associate Andy Davison.” She showed him her badge. “Could we possibly come in for a moment?”
“What do you want?” David leaned against the door and gave her a suspicious look.
“We were just wondering if we could have a word with your Mam.”
He shook his head. “No. She's in bed.”
“Oh, well I'll call back tomorrow then.”
David stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “Don't bother,” he said, “I know who you are and I know why you're here.”
“Al right then.” Gwen crossed her arms. “Why am I here?”
“To stick your nose in where it's not wanted.” David stepped towards her. “This is our family and we can deal with it. We don't need Torchwood interfering in our business.”
“Does she know?” Gwen looked upstairs, motioning to one of the bedrooms. “About your Uncle?”
“No.”
“Then maybe you should tell her.”
“Why?” He pulled Gwen away from the house by her arm and dragged her to the bottom of the path, well away from earshot of any open windows. “She's not ready.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I know my Mam,” he said, “until he's fit and well enough to come home there's no point. It'll just stress her.”
“Maybe it's better for her to be prepared.”
“You don't know her. You don't know what she was like.” David looked back towards the house, then refocused his gaze on Gwen. “When he died she died too, something inside of her broke and she just went nuts. She started to see him, started to speak to him. How am I supposed to tell her that he's alive when we've spent thirteen years convincing her that he's dead and never coming back?” He shook his head. “No, until he's here in the flesh and we can explain it to her, Uncle Ianto stays dead.”
“David!” A voice came from the doorway, one that reverberated around the empty street. “Why are the police knocking at my door at one in the morning?!”
He turned around slowly and looked at his mother who stood there in her blue dressing gown and sling-back slippers with a scowl on her face and a cup of tea in her hand. “It's nothing Mam, go back to bed.”
“No!” She put her cup down on the step and came out of the house, wrapping her dressing gown around her. “Police don't just turn up for no reason, especially when you're concerned. What's he done now?”
Andy stepped Forward. “It' nothing to worry about,” he said in his best kind official voice, “we were just doing a door-to-door appeal for information about a serious assault in Porter St. earlier this evening”
“At one in the morning?” Rhiannon asked, crossing her arms across her chest. She was unimpressed and unconvinced.
“It was a very serious assault and your light was on so we thought we would try our luck.” He smiled. “Do you recall seeing or hearing anything around midnight?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Well, thanks very much for your co-operation, but if you do remember anything--”
“I'll let you know,” Rhiannon said, “was there anything else?”
Gwen looked between Andy and David; they were both giving her wide-eyed 'no' looks. She surrendered. “No, no that was all.” She sighed heavily. “Goodnight.”
Andy opened the gate for Gwen and they walked towards the SUV, leaving David and his mother in the driveway.
“You should have just stayed inside,” David said, “I would've handled it.”
“Yeah, I know how you handle people. Now get inside.”
“You coming?”
She shook her head. “I'm going to have a sneaky fag.”
“I thought you gave up.”
“Yeah, so does your dad.” She gestured to the house. “Get in, I'll be there in a minute.”
“Night Mam.” David walked towards the door and went inside, then closed it behind him.
“Okay, so what is it really?” Rhiannon walked towards Gwen and stopped her as she reached the SUV. “What do you really want?”
“I--”
“Torchwood don't just come knocking on your door for no reason in the middle of the night.”
“Andy, Get in the car,” Gwen said, “I'll just be a minute.”
“Gwen--”
She pressed a button and unlocked the SUV. “Get in the car.”
“Gwen, this is a really bad idea.”
She turned to face him and lowered her voice. “In the car.”
“Think about this for a moment.” Andy tried to warn her as she bundled him into the SUV. “It falls into the category of really really bad things to--”
Gwen shut the door and Locked it, then mouthed a sincere sorry before turning to Rhiannon again.
“Do you really think I don't remember you two?” Rhiannon said. “It might have been a long time ago, but not so long that I would forget who you are and what you did to me and my family.”
“If you feel that way, then why are we still having this conversation?”
“I hate you lot.” Rhiannon leaned against the wall. “But you wouldn't be here without a valid reason, not after all this time, so I'm willing to hear you out.”
“Can we talk inside?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“It's about your brother.” Gwen sighed and looked around. “ I would really rather we talked about this inside.”
“Well, I wouldn't. The one time I let you in my house you told me he was dead.”
Gwen opened her mouth to speak.
“I know Mica has something to do with you. I know she's involved with you lot somehow and I hate it, but it's her life and if I try to stop her I'll only drive her away. I can't lose anyone else, not her.”
“So you know?”
“Well, I do now.” Rhiannon shook her head. “I knew it would happen one day. I couldn't trust her not to do something as stupid as get involved with you lot.”
Gwen laughed a little and smiled as she leant back on the window. “So, sneakiness runs in the family, does it?”
“Obviously.” She stared at her. “Tell me why you're really here.”
“It's about your brother,” Gwen said truthfully, “Ianto.”
“What about him?”
“Mica is so fixated, she idolises him.”
“Yeah, I've noticed.” Rhiannon sighed and sat on the wall. “I wanted her to remember him, the real him, whoever that was. But, I never wanted her to idolise him so much that she tried to replicate his life. I'm scared she'll die young like he did. Bravery and heroics are great, dying saving the future is noble, but I'd rather she was ordinary.”
“When Ianto died--”
“When he died I lost everything, including my sanity for a while, and I don't want to talk about him with you.”
“He had so much unfinished business, so much that he didn't want to leave behind. He didn't want to die and--”
“But he is dead.”
“What if he wasn't?” Gwen asked. “What if he was alive?”
“But he's not alive, is he?” She said. “He's dead. I spent a good few years believing that he was alive and it did me no good.” Rhiannon sighed and shook her head. “I don't want to think about it, and I really don't want to discuss it with you.”
“I miss him,” Gwen said, “not a day goes by when I don't think about him, and how my life would be different if he was sill here.”
“You don't miss him, not like I do.”
“Of course not.”
“I remember him when he was a baby, crying until it hurt because his Mam wouldn't pick him up, and staying that way until Dad came in from work shattered and changed him. I remember feeding him because Mam forgot. I remember picking him up when he fell over and kissing his knee better because she was in another world.” Rhiannon walked towards Gwen, stopping just in-front of her. “I remember promising myself that I would never turn into the person she was, but what Torchwood did to him made me everything I hated about her. And I hate myself for that every day.”
“I'm so sorry.”
“Have you got a family?” She asked. “Kids?”
“I'm married, I have one boy.”
“Are you there for him when he needs you?”
“As much as I can be. Torchwood keeps me busy, but I do the best I can.”
Rhiannon smiled and it was sincere. “Good. Then go home to your husband and your son and please just leave me alone.”
“That's what you really want, is it?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”Gwen surrendered. “Sorry to have bothered you.”
Rhiannon watched Gwen as she unlocked the SUV and opened the door. “But if you see Mica, tell her to come home soon. I worry.”
“I will.” She got inside the door and closed it, then followed Rhiannon with her eyes as she walked back into the house.
Andy glared at her. “Let's play a game, Gwen. It's called odd one out. Your keys, A Labrador, Andy and a tractor. What's the odd one out?”
“What?” Gwen looked at him confused. “No idea.”
“The tractor. Do you want to know why?”
“Why?”
“You've never locked a tractor inside your car.” Andy stared out of the window. “I'm not a tiny pine tree or a pair of fluffy pink dice, Gwen. You wouldn't treat a dog like that. Next time at least leave me a water bowl and crack the window open a smidge, okay?”
“I just wanted her alone, that's all.”
“You shouldn't be allowed to talk to people on your own without someone standing behind you with a roll of electricians tape to shut you up.” He sighed. “So, how did it go?”
“It didn't. You're right, maybe I should just leave it.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ianto woke from his doze to a static DVD menu screen and squinted in the darkness to read the clock. It was almost half-past two and he was still in the living room in the same position as he had been two hours ago, or at least the last one he remembered being in before he drifted off to sleep; he looked down at Mica who lay with her head resting on his chest. Her breathing was deep and steady as she slept against him, her arms tucked underneath the blanket.
“Mica?” Ianto's voice came out groggy and rough. “Time to get up.”
She just groaned and settled further into him.
“Come on.” He stood, being careful to support her as she flopped down onto the couch. “Bed time.”
Mica tried to open her eyes, but gave up. “I'll sleep here.”
“You can't.”
“I'm comfortable. You go.”
Ianto switched off the DVD and put their cups into the sink, then returned and crouched down beside her. He shook her a little. “You've got to drive home tomorrow,” he said, “you need a proper nights sleep in a proper bed.”
He looked at her for a moment and considered just draping the blanket over her and fetching some pillows, but when she shifted uncomfortably in her sleep he knew what he had to do. Ianto took a deep breath and bent his knees, then put one arm beneath her knees and the other under her neck; he hoisted her up and stood still for a moment to get his balance before walking with her towards her room. She was a lot heavier than she had been the last time he had done this, then again she had been four and he hadn't just come back from the dead. He felt his knees buckle just a little as he made his way towards her room, but managed to keep standing. He was regretting his decision now, and that uncomfortable sleeping position and a blanket seemed like a much more attractive option than dropping her on the floor in the hallway. Ianto felt her slip from his grasp, but kept hold until he reached her bed and laid her down on it. He took off her slippers and put them down beside the bed, then covered her over with the duvet.
Ianto dropped down to the floor, resting his head against the side of the bed and got his breath back; for the first time in his life, Ianto Jones felt old and unfit.
“Are you okay?” Mica's groggy voice came from behind him. “You should have left me.”
“I'm fine.” He pulled himself up and sat on the edge of the bed. “You're just a lot heavier than you were when you were four.”
“I would hope so.” She turned onto her side and tucked the duvet under her chin. “Otherwise I would be severely malnourished. I would've been okay there tonight.”
“I couldn't just leave you, I've left you for long enough already.”
“It wasn't your fault that you haven't been around for the last thirteen years you know?” She said. “You died.”
“Yeah, I did.” He sighed. “And look what it did to Rhi.”
“You can't blame yourself for that.”
“I know.” He turned around to face her. “Try and prepare her for when I come home.”
“I will.” She smiled. “Go to bed.”
“Okay.” Ianto pressed a kiss to her forehead and then stood up. “Rhi doesn't handle surprises too well, so just try and do the best you can.”
“Go to bed,” Mica said as she snuggled into the warmth of the duvet, “You're not as well as you think you are.”
Ianto closed the door behind him and walked into his bedroom, sighing at the sight of Jack's towel lying on the floor. He picked it up and tossed it into the hamper, then stepped out of his shorts and took off his shirt before slipping under the covers.
“Jack?” Ianto whispered.
He wrapped his arms around him and pressed his lips against his bare back, pulling him in close. “Are you awake?”
“Nope.” Jack's smile changed the shape of his cheeks, but he didn't open his eyes. “I'm fast asleep.”
“Well, in that case, I won't disturb you.” His lips caressed Jack's neck as his fingers stroked his stomach.
“Disturb me all you like,” Jack said, turning around and pinning him softly to the bed. “I've had lifetimes of sleep without you.”
Ianto smiled and surrendered to Jack's lips completely as he kissed him into the mattress
PART 35 HERE.
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