Fic: A Nostalgic Yearning 3/16
TITLE: A Nostalgic Yearning 3/16
AUTHOR: Erin Giles
DISCLAIMER: Torchwood and it’s characters are property of the BBC. Finn, Rhiannon, Chris and all other characters are property of me. Although why you’d want them is beyond me.
RATING: PG-13
PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS: Jack/Ianto, Gwen, Owen, Tosh, OC’s
SUMMARY: Take two men, a small child, a seaside town, throw in a few locals, some Welsh rain and you’ve got a perfect holiday. Don’t you?
AUTHOR NOTES: Second in the 'Footprints In The Sand' Series.
This chapter is for cs_whitewolf to help with her procrastination! ;)
| Part 1 | Part 2 |
“And can we take this one too?” Finn thrust another train set under Ianto’s nose as he tried to squash Jack’s rucksack in beside Finn’s already over flowing toy bag.
“We’re only going for a few days, Finn,” Ianto reminded his nephew. “You don’t have to take all your toys.”
“I know, but I want to be prepared,” Finn said, pressing the train set into Ianto’s hand before running back into the house. Ianto was left to wonder and worry just what Finn was preparing for.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” Jack groaned as he emerged from the front door, struggling under the weight of another bag. “We’re only going for a long weekend, why do we need so much stuff?”
“Well, Finlay’s now packed nearly the whole of British rail in the boot of the car so that’s not helping. But kids need a lot of things, Jack. Finn needs more changes of clothes than us because he gets dirtier quicker, he needs a changing bag, he needs toys…”
“Okay, I get the point,” Jack said, lifting the bag into the boot as Ianto lifted the child seat into the back of the car that Ria had retrieved out of her own car earlier on.
“Kids need a lot of stuff.”
“Did you bring swimming things, by the way?” Ianto asked as he tried to figure out how to fit the car seat into the back of his car.
“Why would I need swimming things?” Jack asked, peering round the side of the car at Ianto’s arse.
“We’re going to the seaside Jack,” Ianto replied as he pulled on the seat belt, trying to fit it through the straps at the back of the car seat.
“No one said anything about swimming in the sea to me,” Jack huffed as he tried to move the bags in the boot around to fit the last one in before sudden realisation hit. “Does this mean I get to see you in Speedos?” Jack leered, leaning back round the side of the car to get another eyeful of Ianto’s arse.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t own Speedos.” Ianto smiled as he ducked back out of the car to be met with Jack’s pouting face.
Ianto spotted Finn running back down the path towards the car, carrying yet another armful of toys. Ianto cut him off before he even got to the pavement.
“No, Finn! No more toys! We don’t have room.”
**
“And don’t forget to call when you get there,” Ria said, kissing Ianto on the cheek for the second time before triple checking if Finn was securely strapped into his car seat.
“Ria, we’ll be fine. And I’ll call every day if you want me to,” Ianto tried to sooth as Ria placed another kiss on Finn’s head while he tried to wriggle free from his seat.
“No, no, it’s ok. Just phone me when you get there,” Ria pulled her head back out of the car to look at her brother again, “and maybe phone me when you’re leaving on Monday,” Ria added as Jack smiled over the top of the car at her.
“We’ll call you every day. And don’t worry, I’ll take care of both of them, make sure they don’t get into trouble.” Jack winked at Ria.
“I want them both back in one piece.” Ria pointed a finger at Jack.
“I’m twenty-four, not twelve,” Ianto complained.
“Yes but you blatantly can’t take care of yourself,” Ria retorted as she reached up to touch the bruise on the side of Ianto’s face.
Ianto ducked free of her grasp. “That was Jack’s fault!” he moaned as he opened the driver’s door.
“I saved you!” Jack corrected.
“Just take care of each other, ok,” Ria interrupted, trying to diffuse the situation.
“Can we go!” Finn called from inside the car.
**
“Are we nearly there yet?” Finn piped up from the back of the car.
“We haven’t even left the road end, Finn,” Ianto replied as he shifted into second gear. He could still see Ria waving in the rear-view mirror.
“Yeah, but are we nearly there yet?” Finn asked again. Jack chuckled as Ianto sighed, exasperated.
“No, Finlay, we are not nearly there yet,” Ianto replied, losing patience already as he indicated right.
“Can we sing a song?” Finn asked after all of two seconds of silence. Jack twisted in his seat so he could see Finlay, ignoring Ianto who swatted at his shoulder as he tried to see out the side mirror.
“What would you like to sing?” Jack asked earnestly, pulling on the seatbelt so he could twist a little further.
“Um.” Finn had a look of great concentration on his face as he thought about all the songs he knew. There was the Thomas the Tank Engine theme tune although that didn’t have any words. There was ten green bottles but he liked to do the actions to that and he couldn’t do them properly in the car without Uncy Yan yelling at him - again. There was also ten in the bed, but that needed actions too, maybe he could ask to sing that at bed time tonight? Finn was all ready for suggesting Old Macdonald, prepared to impress Jack with his wide knowledge of animals when he suddenly got a better idea.
“Wheels on the bus!” he shouted, trying to jump out of his seat.
“Good choice.” Jack smiled as Ianto let out a slight groan.
“Do you know the words?” Finn asked dubiously.
“Why don’t you start off to remind me.”
Finn didn’t need prompting twice. “The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round,” Finn started off, slightly out of tune but he didn’t seem to care as he started moving his hands in a wheel motion.
“The wheels on the bus go round and round,” Jack joined in, looking pointedly at Ianto who was just as meaningfully looking at the traffic lights ahead of him, waiting for them to turn green. “All day long.”
By the time they’d reached the seventh verse, Ianto was pulling onto the M4 and was most definitely grateful for the fact that the wheels on the bus finished with the people chattering. Jack had also joined in the actions by the second verse, beeping his imaginary horn and dinging his imaginary bell. Ianto was not however prepared for extra verses.
“The ghosts on the bus go boo boo boo,” Jack started as Finn giggled.
“Jack, don’t be silly, there’s no ghosties on the bus,” Finn reprimanded and Ianto wanted to kiss his nephew for stopping the song.
“Well, what else do you get on the bus then?” Jack asked, twisting in his seat again so he could see Finlay. “We can add more verses.”
Oh, God, Ianto thought as he overtook a Harwood’s lorry. He glanced sideways as he passed it to see if Rhys was behind the wheel but it wasn’t someone he recognised.
“What about a dog?” Finn’s face was twisted into a look of concentration.
“And what would a dog go?”
“Ruff!” Finn barked, clapping his hands happily as he and Jack started the song again, Jack adding Grannies who knitted. Finn came up with monkey’s who, well Ianto wasn’t sure there was a word to describe the noises Finn and Jack were making. Ianto put his foot down though when Jack strayed into Torchwood territory.
“Why don’t we put a story CD on?” Ianto asked suddenly, reaching over Jack’s knees to fiddle with the glove box handle, fishing through the CDs inside trying to find the one CD of Finn’s he knew he had in his car.
“How about we listen to Peter Pan, yeah?” Ianto didn’t wait for a reply, pushing the CD into the car player, trying to keep one eye on the road. Peter Pan didn’t even last to the end of the M4.
“Are we nearly there?” Finn asked from the back of the car just after they’d passed the turn off for Port Talbot.
“No, not yet, Finn.” Ianto sighed. “Why don’t you have a sleep and me and Jack will wake you up when we get there?”
“Not sleepy,” Finn retorted. Ianto didn’t have to glance in the rear-view mirror to see that Finn was pouting and had his arms crossed in a look of childish defiance. Ianto glanced imploringly at Jack but he still seemed to be smarting from the fact Ianto had interrupted the modified version of the wheels on the bus and was busy staring out the window at the smoking chimneys of Port Talbot disappearing into the distance. Ianto muffled a yawn as he pulled back into the inside lane. He could certainly do with a nap even if Finn couldn’t.
“You ok?” Jack’s head snapped round. “Want me to drive for a bit?”
“No, I’m fine for the moment,” Ianto lied, trying to muffle another yawn. “Maybe when we get to Llandelio you can drive the rest of the way.”
Ianto later regretted asking Jack to drive.
“Again! Again!” Finn clapped his hands in the back as Jack swerved round another corner at too fast a speed for the road.
“Jack, could you slow down a bit.” Ianto reached out a hand to grab onto the dashboard. “I want to get there alive.”
“Stop being a killjoy, Ianto,” Jack jeered as he swerved round a tightening bend, looking at Ianto as the car teetered over the white line and Ianto’s door came very close to the wall there.
“Jack, slow down! I don’t want to almost die in the arse-end-of-nowhere Wales again!” Ianto yelled, stamping on imaginary breaks. There was a gasp from the back of the car and Ianto’s head flipped round to check Finn was alright. The little boy had his hands over his mouth, trying and failing to hide a growing grin.
“Uncy Yan!” Finn gasped again. “You said a bad word!”
“I’ll say more bad words if Jack doesn’t slow down,” Ianto ground out through gritted teeth.
Jack put his foot on the brake and cruised round the next corner at a more leisurely pace. “Sorry,” Jack mumbled apologetically, glancing sideways at Ianto and feeling slightly guilty about the whole situation. He had forgotten they were only a few short miles from the Brecon Beacons. Jack hadn’t realised that Ianto had seemed to plan their route so they avoided driving through the national park. It would have been a nice drive if it didn’t harbour so many bad memories.
Ianto didn’t say anything, just went back to staring out the passenger window as Jack flicked the radio on. The only radio station he could get to work was Radio Cymru though and Ianto had yet to teach him a word of welsh, telling Jack he only knew a few words. Jack was sure he was lying though. He knew for a fact that all Welsh people spoke welsh, even though Gwen and Ianto insisted otherwise. Also he had heard Ianto muttering in another language under his breath a few times.
It wasn’t until Jack glanced at Ianto and Finn when he stopped at the traffic lights for the roadwork’s in Lampter did he realise he was the only one still awake in the car. Finn’s head was resting against the side of his car seat, mouth open as he drooled all over his chin. Ianto wasn’t much better, head cradled on the seat belt, jerking every so often as he drifted that bit too deeply into sleep. Jack worried that he would whack his already tender head off the window if Jack braked too suddenly and slowed down to well under the speed limit as he passed out the other side of the University town.
He drove the rest of the way lost in his own thoughts, trying to remember the last time he had been on holiday, if he had ever been on holiday. Tosh was right though he decided. It would be nice to spend some quality time with Ianto away from the end of the world and aliens. Jack was worried he would get bored though, although he doubted that with Finlay in tow.
He found himself wondering if Ianto had been like Finlay as a kid. Ria had always tried to paint a picture of her little brother growing up whenever she spoke to Jack but she seemed to deal only in circumstantial details that never revealed Ianto’s true character. The only glimpse Jack had got of Ianto as a child had been when he had caught Ianto watching family films the week after his mother had died. All that had told him was that his older sister’s used to pick on him and he loved his mother very much. That and he had owned Postman Pat slippers.
Clearing out Ianto’s old room had also unearthed a childhood Ianto, but again it hadn’t really revealed anything telling about Ianto’s character. Alf was still sat on the bookshelf beside Ianto’s double bed though and Jack was sure he had glimpsed some of the Beano albums Jack had stuffed into black bags under the bed.
Jack hoped that the presence of Finn would worm out some of that childish innocence that Jack knew lay somewhere in the recesses of Ianto’s mind. He’d already seen the naughty child in Ianto. Jack smiled to himself as he drove past the welcome to Aberystwyth sign, plucking the map from Ianto’s lap without waking him. Jack reluctantly woke Ianto though when he drove down the same street for the third time in ten minutes.
“Hmm?” Ianto yawned, stretching slightly in the confined space of the car, rubbing his cheek where it had been resting against the seat belt.
“Uh, I think I got us lost.” Jack smiled apologetically as Ianto plucked the map from Jack’s hands. “I got us to Aberystwyth, though.”
On to Part 4
AUTHOR: Erin Giles
DISCLAIMER: Torchwood and it’s characters are property of the BBC. Finn, Rhiannon, Chris and all other characters are property of me. Although why you’d want them is beyond me.
RATING: PG-13
PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS: Jack/Ianto, Gwen, Owen, Tosh, OC’s
SUMMARY: Take two men, a small child, a seaside town, throw in a few locals, some Welsh rain and you’ve got a perfect holiday. Don’t you?
AUTHOR NOTES: Second in the 'Footprints In The Sand' Series.
This chapter is for cs_whitewolf to help with her procrastination! ;)
| Part 1 | Part 2 |
“And can we take this one too?” Finn thrust another train set under Ianto’s nose as he tried to squash Jack’s rucksack in beside Finn’s already over flowing toy bag.
“We’re only going for a few days, Finn,” Ianto reminded his nephew. “You don’t have to take all your toys.”
“I know, but I want to be prepared,” Finn said, pressing the train set into Ianto’s hand before running back into the house. Ianto was left to wonder and worry just what Finn was preparing for.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” Jack groaned as he emerged from the front door, struggling under the weight of another bag. “We’re only going for a long weekend, why do we need so much stuff?”
“Well, Finlay’s now packed nearly the whole of British rail in the boot of the car so that’s not helping. But kids need a lot of things, Jack. Finn needs more changes of clothes than us because he gets dirtier quicker, he needs a changing bag, he needs toys…”
“Okay, I get the point,” Jack said, lifting the bag into the boot as Ianto lifted the child seat into the back of the car that Ria had retrieved out of her own car earlier on.
“Kids need a lot of stuff.”
“Did you bring swimming things, by the way?” Ianto asked as he tried to figure out how to fit the car seat into the back of his car.
“Why would I need swimming things?” Jack asked, peering round the side of the car at Ianto’s arse.
“We’re going to the seaside Jack,” Ianto replied as he pulled on the seat belt, trying to fit it through the straps at the back of the car seat.
“No one said anything about swimming in the sea to me,” Jack huffed as he tried to move the bags in the boot around to fit the last one in before sudden realisation hit. “Does this mean I get to see you in Speedos?” Jack leered, leaning back round the side of the car to get another eyeful of Ianto’s arse.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t own Speedos.” Ianto smiled as he ducked back out of the car to be met with Jack’s pouting face.
Ianto spotted Finn running back down the path towards the car, carrying yet another armful of toys. Ianto cut him off before he even got to the pavement.
“No, Finn! No more toys! We don’t have room.”
**
“And don’t forget to call when you get there,” Ria said, kissing Ianto on the cheek for the second time before triple checking if Finn was securely strapped into his car seat.
“Ria, we’ll be fine. And I’ll call every day if you want me to,” Ianto tried to sooth as Ria placed another kiss on Finn’s head while he tried to wriggle free from his seat.
“No, no, it’s ok. Just phone me when you get there,” Ria pulled her head back out of the car to look at her brother again, “and maybe phone me when you’re leaving on Monday,” Ria added as Jack smiled over the top of the car at her.
“We’ll call you every day. And don’t worry, I’ll take care of both of them, make sure they don’t get into trouble.” Jack winked at Ria.
“I want them both back in one piece.” Ria pointed a finger at Jack.
“I’m twenty-four, not twelve,” Ianto complained.
“Yes but you blatantly can’t take care of yourself,” Ria retorted as she reached up to touch the bruise on the side of Ianto’s face.
Ianto ducked free of her grasp. “That was Jack’s fault!” he moaned as he opened the driver’s door.
“I saved you!” Jack corrected.
“Just take care of each other, ok,” Ria interrupted, trying to diffuse the situation.
“Can we go!” Finn called from inside the car.
**
“Are we nearly there yet?” Finn piped up from the back of the car.
“We haven’t even left the road end, Finn,” Ianto replied as he shifted into second gear. He could still see Ria waving in the rear-view mirror.
“Yeah, but are we nearly there yet?” Finn asked again. Jack chuckled as Ianto sighed, exasperated.
“No, Finlay, we are not nearly there yet,” Ianto replied, losing patience already as he indicated right.
“Can we sing a song?” Finn asked after all of two seconds of silence. Jack twisted in his seat so he could see Finlay, ignoring Ianto who swatted at his shoulder as he tried to see out the side mirror.
“What would you like to sing?” Jack asked earnestly, pulling on the seatbelt so he could twist a little further.
“Um.” Finn had a look of great concentration on his face as he thought about all the songs he knew. There was the Thomas the Tank Engine theme tune although that didn’t have any words. There was ten green bottles but he liked to do the actions to that and he couldn’t do them properly in the car without Uncy Yan yelling at him - again. There was also ten in the bed, but that needed actions too, maybe he could ask to sing that at bed time tonight? Finn was all ready for suggesting Old Macdonald, prepared to impress Jack with his wide knowledge of animals when he suddenly got a better idea.
“Wheels on the bus!” he shouted, trying to jump out of his seat.
“Good choice.” Jack smiled as Ianto let out a slight groan.
“Do you know the words?” Finn asked dubiously.
“Why don’t you start off to remind me.”
Finn didn’t need prompting twice. “The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round,” Finn started off, slightly out of tune but he didn’t seem to care as he started moving his hands in a wheel motion.
“The wheels on the bus go round and round,” Jack joined in, looking pointedly at Ianto who was just as meaningfully looking at the traffic lights ahead of him, waiting for them to turn green. “All day long.”
By the time they’d reached the seventh verse, Ianto was pulling onto the M4 and was most definitely grateful for the fact that the wheels on the bus finished with the people chattering. Jack had also joined in the actions by the second verse, beeping his imaginary horn and dinging his imaginary bell. Ianto was not however prepared for extra verses.
“The ghosts on the bus go boo boo boo,” Jack started as Finn giggled.
“Jack, don’t be silly, there’s no ghosties on the bus,” Finn reprimanded and Ianto wanted to kiss his nephew for stopping the song.
“Well, what else do you get on the bus then?” Jack asked, twisting in his seat again so he could see Finlay. “We can add more verses.”
Oh, God, Ianto thought as he overtook a Harwood’s lorry. He glanced sideways as he passed it to see if Rhys was behind the wheel but it wasn’t someone he recognised.
“What about a dog?” Finn’s face was twisted into a look of concentration.
“And what would a dog go?”
“Ruff!” Finn barked, clapping his hands happily as he and Jack started the song again, Jack adding Grannies who knitted. Finn came up with monkey’s who, well Ianto wasn’t sure there was a word to describe the noises Finn and Jack were making. Ianto put his foot down though when Jack strayed into Torchwood territory.
“Why don’t we put a story CD on?” Ianto asked suddenly, reaching over Jack’s knees to fiddle with the glove box handle, fishing through the CDs inside trying to find the one CD of Finn’s he knew he had in his car.
“How about we listen to Peter Pan, yeah?” Ianto didn’t wait for a reply, pushing the CD into the car player, trying to keep one eye on the road. Peter Pan didn’t even last to the end of the M4.
“Are we nearly there?” Finn asked from the back of the car just after they’d passed the turn off for Port Talbot.
“No, not yet, Finn.” Ianto sighed. “Why don’t you have a sleep and me and Jack will wake you up when we get there?”
“Not sleepy,” Finn retorted. Ianto didn’t have to glance in the rear-view mirror to see that Finn was pouting and had his arms crossed in a look of childish defiance. Ianto glanced imploringly at Jack but he still seemed to be smarting from the fact Ianto had interrupted the modified version of the wheels on the bus and was busy staring out the window at the smoking chimneys of Port Talbot disappearing into the distance. Ianto muffled a yawn as he pulled back into the inside lane. He could certainly do with a nap even if Finn couldn’t.
“You ok?” Jack’s head snapped round. “Want me to drive for a bit?”
“No, I’m fine for the moment,” Ianto lied, trying to muffle another yawn. “Maybe when we get to Llandelio you can drive the rest of the way.”
Ianto later regretted asking Jack to drive.
“Again! Again!” Finn clapped his hands in the back as Jack swerved round another corner at too fast a speed for the road.
“Jack, could you slow down a bit.” Ianto reached out a hand to grab onto the dashboard. “I want to get there alive.”
“Stop being a killjoy, Ianto,” Jack jeered as he swerved round a tightening bend, looking at Ianto as the car teetered over the white line and Ianto’s door came very close to the wall there.
“Jack, slow down! I don’t want to almost die in the arse-end-of-nowhere Wales again!” Ianto yelled, stamping on imaginary breaks. There was a gasp from the back of the car and Ianto’s head flipped round to check Finn was alright. The little boy had his hands over his mouth, trying and failing to hide a growing grin.
“Uncy Yan!” Finn gasped again. “You said a bad word!”
“I’ll say more bad words if Jack doesn’t slow down,” Ianto ground out through gritted teeth.
Jack put his foot on the brake and cruised round the next corner at a more leisurely pace. “Sorry,” Jack mumbled apologetically, glancing sideways at Ianto and feeling slightly guilty about the whole situation. He had forgotten they were only a few short miles from the Brecon Beacons. Jack hadn’t realised that Ianto had seemed to plan their route so they avoided driving through the national park. It would have been a nice drive if it didn’t harbour so many bad memories.
Ianto didn’t say anything, just went back to staring out the passenger window as Jack flicked the radio on. The only radio station he could get to work was Radio Cymru though and Ianto had yet to teach him a word of welsh, telling Jack he only knew a few words. Jack was sure he was lying though. He knew for a fact that all Welsh people spoke welsh, even though Gwen and Ianto insisted otherwise. Also he had heard Ianto muttering in another language under his breath a few times.
It wasn’t until Jack glanced at Ianto and Finn when he stopped at the traffic lights for the roadwork’s in Lampter did he realise he was the only one still awake in the car. Finn’s head was resting against the side of his car seat, mouth open as he drooled all over his chin. Ianto wasn’t much better, head cradled on the seat belt, jerking every so often as he drifted that bit too deeply into sleep. Jack worried that he would whack his already tender head off the window if Jack braked too suddenly and slowed down to well under the speed limit as he passed out the other side of the University town.
He drove the rest of the way lost in his own thoughts, trying to remember the last time he had been on holiday, if he had ever been on holiday. Tosh was right though he decided. It would be nice to spend some quality time with Ianto away from the end of the world and aliens. Jack was worried he would get bored though, although he doubted that with Finlay in tow.
He found himself wondering if Ianto had been like Finlay as a kid. Ria had always tried to paint a picture of her little brother growing up whenever she spoke to Jack but she seemed to deal only in circumstantial details that never revealed Ianto’s true character. The only glimpse Jack had got of Ianto as a child had been when he had caught Ianto watching family films the week after his mother had died. All that had told him was that his older sister’s used to pick on him and he loved his mother very much. That and he had owned Postman Pat slippers.
Clearing out Ianto’s old room had also unearthed a childhood Ianto, but again it hadn’t really revealed anything telling about Ianto’s character. Alf was still sat on the bookshelf beside Ianto’s double bed though and Jack was sure he had glimpsed some of the Beano albums Jack had stuffed into black bags under the bed.
Jack hoped that the presence of Finn would worm out some of that childish innocence that Jack knew lay somewhere in the recesses of Ianto’s mind. He’d already seen the naughty child in Ianto. Jack smiled to himself as he drove past the welcome to Aberystwyth sign, plucking the map from Ianto’s lap without waking him. Jack reluctantly woke Ianto though when he drove down the same street for the third time in ten minutes.
“Hmm?” Ianto yawned, stretching slightly in the confined space of the car, rubbing his cheek where it had been resting against the seat belt.
“Uh, I think I got us lost.” Jack smiled apologetically as Ianto plucked the map from Jack’s hands. “I got us to Aberystwyth, though.”
On to Part 4