Fic: Future Ways Of Dealing With Stress - Ianto/Jack - PG13 - Torchwood
Title: Future Ways Of Dealing With Stress
Author: Celebrian.
Web page: http://www.livejournal.com/users/celebrian_lotr/
http://users.insanejournal.com/_bad_wolf/ (under construction, but if you have an IJ and want to friend me, I will be posting the stories there too :))
Pairing: Ianto/ Jack - Tosh/ Owen (hinted) Gwen.
Rating: PG13
Summary: No matter how experienced you are, dealing with Alien/ Futuristic tech might have a consequence, even if you are careful when trying to categorize it before it goes to the archives.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Warnings: Fluff?
Author’s notes: One shot. Finished.
And for the record, I suck at summaries, sorry about that.
Feedback: Is addictive and encouraging ;-)
Thanks to Beta xibalba who is a saint and reads stories about a fandom she’s only heard me rambling about and just4bri & blackblaze_dd All remaining mistakes, my fault.
Ianto waited impatiently for the rest of the team to arrive back from a last minute mission, good-naturedly pushing a pawn into place before looking at the little boy, who gave him a deep thoughtful frown as he looked back down to study the board.
Little legs crossed where they were sitting on the floor, and expectant, if not bored eyes glanced up at him. “It’s not difficult, plus you know what is next” He assured before the little boy groaned at him.
“This is BORING, can’t we play anything else?”
Arching an eyebrow Ianto considered this, and looked at the chessboard; where he had been trying to teach the little one how to play. Ianto had started learning at six, an early age, but he had sat for close to an hour per weekend with his grandfather, when the old man sat at the table to play.
Eventually, Ianto had grown up enough as to play against him; until, when seventeen, he eventually won.
Of course, he had been allowed to win before, but that was only because his grandfather had loved to see him smile in that giddy way, whenever Ianto thought he had managed to out-smart him. “What would you like to play?” He asked patiently, whilst looking at the six year old.
“I’m a pirate, but not the ones on the sea ships; I am a pirate that has a space ship. I travel the universe and I end up here!” The little boy exclaimed as he stood up excitedly.
Ianto chuckled and looked at the little boy who’d started looking around, before Ianto stood up in a more leisured way.
“And you’re an alien, you were my prisoner and escaped so I followed you to this planet and now I have to catch you! And take you back!”
“What would you do when taking me back?” Ianto asked, resting a hand on the little boy’s shoulder as the boy kept on looking at the guns and back at Ianto with twinkling excited eyes. “I don’t think so…” He said with a chuckle that earned him a big sulk.
“But I need guns to take you down!” The little boy said looking over his shoulder at Ianto who hummed whilst thinking.
Ianto smiled down at him. “I’ve got an idea” he said, and led the way to the stairs that lead to the archives and storage rooms. He noticed the little boy standing there, frowning deeply at him whilst big blue eyes looked from the flickering lights of the tunnel and back to him.
“It's dark.”
Big blue eyes locked with his and Ianto stretched out his hand in the air. “It’s alright, I promise.” He assured, and smiled when the boy took his hand and hurried to stand by his side.
By the end of the stairs he had the little boy clinging to his leg and waist as if for dear light.
Apparently the humming of the lights and the dark looking corridors were a bit too much for his obviously vivid imagination. “It’s ok,” he assured, and wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulders. He felt him practically climbing until Ianto was holding him in his arms. “Alright,” he said with a smile, and looked into the other’s blue eyes.
“Let’s explore.” He smiled and stroked the boy’s back reassuringly as they walked down the hallways, which were actually more like an endless maze, but Ianto knew all floors like the back of his hand.
Little arms wrapped around his neck and Ianto looked at the little one again.
“You’re not scared of the dark?”
“It is not really dark, we’ve got lights.” Ianto pointed out to the flickering lights.
“It’s still dark…”
Looking at the wall Ianto found what he was looking for and got one of the lanterns that were there, ready in case the lights did go out. Turning it on, he handed it over to the boy with a comforting look. “Better?” He asked and couldn’t help smiling when the other one grinned and nodded sagely back at him.
“Yes.”
One little arm remained steady around Ianto´s shoulders and neck whilst they kept on walking. “Just illuminate the way. We’re going there and then we’re turning that way.” He explained.
“What are we looking for?”
“Guns,” Ianto said wiggling his eyebrows. “you need guns to capture the alien don’t you?”
“But you said I couldn’t have guns!”
“I said, not ´those´ guns, but we are finding you some” He assured and they were soon in the room Ianto had put those infamous ´weapons´ away after he’d managed to confiscate them.
Realising the little boy wasn’t going to let go, Ianto managed to open the storage box with one hand and crouched, letting the other’s feet touch the ground, even though the boy didn’t move an inch away from him.
Getting a couple of large water guns, Ianto smiled at the boy who was giving him a confused look. “Come on” he said and picked him up again, and continued onward until they were both in an un-used bathroom.
“Oh!” The little boy exclaimed and clapped his hands excitedly.
“I won't be happy about this later on…” Ianto muttered to himself as he loaded the other large water gun so each of them had one.
Before he could say even another word, he felt himself getting splashed, followed by a fit of giggles and the blond looking boy gave him big puppy eyes, whilst trying to restrain his giggles, without much success.
Now Ianto´s suit was partially soaked. But instead of thinking about it, he splashed the boy back and grinned. “You started it,” he pointed out with a laugh and the other one followed suit and started laughing too.
“Come, I'll show you something else,” he said and taking the boy's hand he led the way through the hallway, or tried to, because soon he had an armful of a clinging boy again and he turned on the lights of a large room with pretend buildings.
“Here's your city,” he said, feeling quite an achievement when hearing a disbelieving ´Wow!´
“You're going to have to let go to catch me again, otherwise it'll be no fun,” He pointed out.
“I win!”
The glee in the other's voice as Ianto got a squeeze-hug made him laugh heartily as he helped the boy down.
“What if I get lost?”
“I'll find you,” The Welshman assured and nodded once. “I promised you, you were going to be alright, didn't I?”
“Yes you did.”
“And I never break my promises,” he winked to win himself a bright smile in response to his statement. “Just think of it as a scary city. I’m hiding here, you have to find me. The water injures me, but it won't kill me, so you'll have to get me to complete your mission,” He said, inventing the rules of a recently conceived game.
“Ok!”
“Ok… you can't catch me,” Ianto said, and started running away from the little boy who was trying to splash him; and actually managing to, because Ianto wasn’t escaping for real. The laughter and giggles echoed in the room as the boy tried catching him whilst soaking him with the water gun.
“Nooo,” Ianto pretended to scream, when the blond boy caught him by the arm. Ianto dramatically fell onto his knees and hung his head in defeat. “I’m captured now, please don’t send me back Captain! I promise I will hide and harm no one!” He dramatized, and looked at the other because they were at eye level now.
“I will take you to your planet! And you will not escape again!”
“Can’t I stay here even if I say please?” Ianto joked.
“You can’t say please…”
“Why not?”
“Cuz you’re evil…”
“Oh, right, sorry. Hmm, release me! Or I will blast all chocolate cookies with my special wristband device and you shall run out of chocolate forever!” Ianto said with a ´scary´ voice, and felt like laughing as the boy actually gasped before clinging to his neck as if trying to subdue the alien threat.
“You will not escape!!!”
“I shall be free!” Ianto growled and got a safe hold on the boy as he clung to Ianto’s back whilst they pretended to struggle, until Ianto eventually gave up and knelt before the other. Water gun aimed at his chest, quite missing where the heart was but still making a point.
“Now I will take you back to your planet and you will stay there!”
“But they don’t have Oreos there,” Ianto pretended to complain.
“What are Oreos?”
“Let us make a truce and go for some milk and Oreos, you’ll see.” He smiled brightly and waited for the boy to think about it, because he was still the Captain.
“Alright.”
“Alright,” he agreed, and got up, but once again he had an armful of a boy in no time. Who would have thought he would be so clingy?
“What are Oreos?”
“I’ll show you, you’ll love them. They’re) biscuits.” Ianto explained as they made it upstairs again. “You’re soaking wet, we need fresh clothes now.” He pointed out pressing his hand to the boy’s back.
“So are you.”
“Erm... yes I am.” Ianto chuckled and rubbed the others back caringly until they made it to the heart of the hub. Ianto found himself being stared at by the rest of the team, and he just smiled when he felt the little one's arms tightening around his neck.
“Yan…”
The young voice muttered uncertainly whilst clinging on to him, and Ianto held him tighter. “It’s alright; these are the people I was telling you about before,” he explained.
“This is Tosh,” he introduced, “and Gwen.”
“Hello,” Gwen waved at the boy.
“And Owen,” Ianto introduced him to everyone.
“And who the hell is this?” Owen snapped and gave him a glare. “Does Jack know you’re babysitting God knows who in the Hub? And, what the fuck were you doing?” He added, noticing that both Ianto and the kid were soaking wet.
“He said the F word…” The little boy whispered and giggled, covering his mouth and pointing at the funny man before beaming a smile at Ianto who had apparently chuckled at what he said.
“He usually does, we’re still trying to train him so he stops, but we’ve never managed.” Ianto said winning himself an eye roll from Owen before he sat on his chair and started chewing his pen.
“So where is Jack?”
“I think that is Jack,” Tosh said with a small frown and looked from the boy to Ianto, who nodded at her.
“Ha Ha, very funny. Jack went back to a five year old state and we need to raise him. God, what he would have been like during puberty.” Owen frowned, making a face.
“Six, I’m six.”
“He is six,” Ianto agreed and moved to the work station, though he didn’t touch it; and pointed a finger at one particular screen. “That’s what happened, and the device is still on Jack’s desk, could you please run the translation program? As far as I know this is a temporary effect, but I don’t know how long it will last… Jack didn’t manage to tell me. We were taking notes for the archives and the thing triggered itself… all I know is it’s some sort of device that takes you back to a period of your life when there were no real worries.”
“Like some sort of relaxing method?”
“Therapists use it, sometime in the future,” Ianto said as much as Jack had told him before he went into his six year old state. “When people become too stressed, they give them a day off, so as to put it, with this tool. They are kids for a day, a week; depends on the level of stress, which is determined by the doctor, and when they are back to their present time selves, they feel more relaxed.”
“You’re shitting me.” Owen said, because until now he’d thought that it was a joke and the kid was some sort of relative.
“No, he isn’t” Tosh said looking at the screen and seeing the point at which Jack actually turned into that little boy now clinging to Ianto as if for dear life.
“Where did you get the clothes?”
“Torchwood has a wardrobe, downstairs with different clothes for different periods, ages and sizes…” Ianto explained when Tosh asked. “It never came in as handy as it did this time.”
“He’s soaking wet Ianto,” Gwen pointed out and Ianto could hear the scold in her voice.
“So are you,” Tosh added looking at him from head to toe.
“Yes, erm... Changing!” He smiled. “Would you run the translator please?” He asked Tosh who nodded and gave him what he thought was an amused smile. “It is not dangerous, Jack told me as much. We just have to wait until the effect wears off.”
“I will try to get an estimate,” Tosh assured, and Ianto nodded thankfully at her again, before noticing Owen giving them a look.
“Biccies,” Jack whispered to Ianto’s ear because he didn’t really want to interrupt but he was hungry.
“Ok, yes. You do that, I’ll go change.” He said and put the water guns down to rest them on the floor.
“So let me get this straight; you confiscate the water guns from us, but you and Jack get to play with them? How fair is that?” Owen complained.
“Go back to being six and I will gladly hand them over to you again, as long as you do not use them on this level,” Ianto stated and felt Jack’s little head resting on his shoulder. Apparently so much playing had made him rather exhausted.
“You keep on talking and he’ll catch a cold,” Gwen pointed out and carefully tried to get Jack away from Ianto. But Jack resisted whilst whining loudly, and Ianto complained because Gwen was tugging on Jack, and Jack was tugging on his neck.
“Come on Jack, let’s get you changed and do something fun,” She offered, trying a different approach.
Ianto noticed Jack scowling at her and he shook his head. “Be nice,” He scolded little Jack.
“But I want to stay with you.”
Noticing the pout Ianto sighed and smiled apologetically at Gwen, “It’s ok, I’ll change him,” He assured, and headed off to do exactly that.
After having hot chocolate and Oreos while they were in the meeting room with everyone else, as they waited for the program to finish running. Ianto allowed himself to relax into his seat while Jack was playing with some alien markers and colouring books that had come through the rift.
“He was quite cute,” Tosh said looking from Jack to Ianto.
“Oi Jack, what are you going to do when you grow up?” Owen asked, knowing Jack had no recollection of his life; another bonus that the alien device had caused.
“I’m gonna be a pirate, and a Captain and I’m gonna have a space ship, big big space ship and I’m gonna catch aliens.” He said, picking up his book and markers and taking them to Ianto, showing him proudly that he hadn’t gone outside the outlines as he climbed up onto Ianto’s lap.
“’s got to be the first kid who actually knows what he wants. Sort of…”
“It is probably some residual memory,” Tosh suggested “I do not know about the pirate part though…”
“Yeah, well we don’t have an autobiography for Jack Harkness; for all we know, he could have been a pirate.” Owen stated looking at Tosh before grabbing an Oreo from the plate, but his hand met Jack’s as they’d both aimed for the last one there.
Ianto noticed the glaring duel over the biscuit and he bit back a snort. “There are more in the cupboard” He pointed out and with that Owen released his grip on the half of the biscuit he had managed to get and let Jack have it. “Under the coffee machine,” Ianto called out as Owen went to get more biscuits. He looked down at Jack who had snuggled up and settled against his chest.
“He won’t sleep later if you let him nap now.” Gwen said from where she was sitting and looked at Ianto.
“Yes I will.” Jack replied before yawning widely and snuggling up more comfortably.
“Who is going to take care of him?”
“I thought Ianto would,” Tosh said looking at the image of a six year old swiftly falling asleep whilst cuddling up to Ianto.
“I think maybe he should stay with you or me… until he’s back to normal.”
“Why?” Ianto asked looking at Gwen with curious eyes.
“Because, you’re obviously spoiling him.”
“He is six,” Ianto said trying not to raise his voice because he could feel Jack was sound asleep against his chest. “He will be six for days, or maybe only today,
“He can be spoilt for one or two days, he was scared earlier. I’d think anyone would like to be spoilt in his situation,” He said seriously.
“I don’t think you are thinking clearly.”
Ianto glared at Gwen disbelievingly and frowned a little trying to see her point. Because he couldn’t think of one at the moment, not any plausible ones at least.
“I mean rationally, he should stay with anyone but you,” She said trying to sound neutral. “He is not your kid… he is Jack.”
“But he is a kid,” Ianto remarked.
“And your experience with kids is?”
“I think he has been doing a good job, up until now.” Tosh interceded quietly.
“Well, he isn’t; first he gets him soaking wet, then he gives him a load of chocolate milk and chocolate biscuits and now he’s letting him nap. Let me guess, dinner, pizza and a late night watching movies?”
“What did I miss?” Owen asked sitting back in his chair. “Who annoyed Gwen?”
“I did, I’m spoiling Jack” Ianto said, visibly restraining himself from rolling his eyes.
“No news in that,” Owen said to himself looking from Ianto, and the kid that was their team leader, to Gwen.
“But he’s six!” Gwen insisted.
“If you think about it Gwen, sweetheart, it‘s more pathetic that he spoils him in Jack’s real timeline; him being over a hundred, than when he is actually six…” Owen chuckled.
“I am just saying it makes more sense if Tosh or I take care of him…”
“Don’t include me; I have no clue when it comes to kids.” Tosh chirped and shook her head.
“Well I do, my sister has three kids, I take care of them all the times she visits or I visit, because she has no free time on regular basis.”
“Can’t even call it sexual tension now, what’s the fun in that?” Owen muttered and ate another Oreo.
“This is serious Owen!” Gwen said raising her voice with annoyance. “He could be like this for days, months or years! We have NO clue. Why am I the only one worried?!”
“We have no other choice but waiting it out,” Ianto said looking at Gwen with a renewed glare because she’d made Jack stir in his arms.
“He needs something resembling a normal life Ianto; you can’t deny him that, even if it’s only for a couple days, he is just a little boy who needs stability.”
Waking up at the raised voice, Jack blinked a couple times and looked around before pouting noticeable, obviously confused as to where he was.
Tosh looked from Jack and Ianto to Owen before looking at Gwen and shrunk a little in her chair, not sure what to say. Gwen was the stubborn type; there was no stopping her when she wanted something. “The translation program might give us an estimate as to how long he will remain a little boy,” She said quietly.
“He is tired, he needs to sleep” Ianto said before Gwen could open her mouth again, and picking Jack up, he stood up, running his hand over the boy’s back soothingly.
“Did you hear a word of what I said? I can take him home now; he can have a real home with normal things until he’s himself again,” She offered. “He is six; do you want him to be trapped in the Hub until he comes back? Doesn’t he deserve more than this? To go to the park, play in the mud, under the rain, being silly… the games in the lower levels will get boring soon, it is not enough Ianto. You know that,” She said seriously.
Ianto noticed her imposing body language and he sighed softly to himself.
He didn’t want to let go of Jack, but perhaps...
“If he remembers Ianto, later on, do you think he’d like to know that you took care of him whilst he was like this?”
“I’m putting him to bed,” Ianto stated and left the conference room to go settle little Jack in bed. The little boy was thrilled to find out the bed was in a big hole and down some ladders. He said it felt like a space ship and Ianto smiled whilst tucking him in.
Maybe he shouldn’t nap, but well, Jack was sleepy… Ianto didn’t really see the harm in that. He’d seen Lisa’s nephews and nieces nap and the world hadn’t come to an end because of that, they were only a little hyper before dinnertime and that had been pretty much it.
Sitting by the bed, he smiled when Jack glanced up at him and grabbed his hand, not wanting him to go. Who was he to deny him? He stayed there with him until Jack fell asleep, before resting his head against the wall and closing his eyes himself. He was in for a long day and probably a long night…
Night time came before any of them could notice.
Despite being a terror when older, Jack proved to be more than well behaved at the age of six.
After his nap he focused on his colouring book, writing some things down, and he even sat at Tosh’s work station to learn how to use a couple of easy programs. Though in the end, as predicted, Tosh managed to find a regular kid’s website for him, and Jack was more than happy gathering things for his Neopet whilst playing the games on the site.
It was adorable to see Tosh attempting to help him out.
Eventually even Owen rolled his chair over and took over the computer, because Jack kept on losing on a particular game, one that was meant to give him a lot of points to buy things for his virtual pet.
Resting his head on the back of the couch Ianto sensed a presence resting next to him, and raising his head again he noticed it was Gwen.
“Sorry about earlier.”
“It’s Ok.” Ianto assured. “You just want the best for him, we all do.” He smiled and nodded at her. Ianto looked over at little Jack, who was `still` six years old, and sighed softly. Tosh’s translation programme was still attempting to decipher what had, unfortunately, turned out to be a rather complex alien language.
“You know what is best for him Ianto. He cannot stay here… he shouldn’t. Do you think he would be alright at your place? You are never there, for all we know you might only have a bed and food, or maybe not even that… I’m sure you always eat here,” she frowned.
“As surprising as it might sound Gwen, I do have a fully equipped flat, which I might not use as much as a regular person would, but I do use it.”
“You only go there to sleep…”
“That is using it,” He pointed out, resting his hands on his thighs.
“It is late for a little boy; he should be having a substantial dinner and heading to bed.”
“He is not a regular boy,” Ianto said tiredly because she went around and around in circles. “He is Jack, he will be back to being the Jack we all knew in no time.”
“But what if it is more than just a day or two?”
“What are you going to do? Send him to school?”
“Yeah.”
Gwen’s reply came quite easily and Ianto turned to look at her. “You want to send to school a kid that actually knows what Quantum physics is and how it works?” He asked seriously and rubbed his brow.
“He doesn’t belong here, not now.”
“He doesn’t belong out there either.”
“Putting him out there and pretending he is someone else is putting him in danger,” Ianto said, trying to think what would be best for Jack; he didn’t want to think long term, but even if it was long term, he was more than willing to be there for him.
Jack was never going to be a regular kid, he needed a different kind of nurturing, he needed to learn things only they could teach him, he couldn’t just go to school and mingle.
The sound of cheering got Ianto’s attention and he smiled, noticing Jack was looking their way with a bright grin, because Owen had managed to defeat the game he had being trying to win for a while now.
“He can work out Quantum physics but he has trouble with a kid’s game?” He said, with a little bit of amusement and shook his head. “I can’t Gwen, I’m sorry. I do not think that is the best for him. I know you mean well, but the answer is no.”
“And who put you in charge? You’re not the only one who cares about him you know.” She said in far too loud a voice, which made Jack snap back to look and see why they were arguing.
Tosh and Owen soon put themselves to the task of trying to distract him again, but apparently Jack could sense that there was something wrong, because in no time he was clinging to Ianto’s leg while the Welshman rested his hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“Want to come home with me?” Gwen asked, as she crouched before Jack to give him a charming look, and a big convincing smile.
“We could have something good for dinner, then watch movies and maybe wake up early tomorrow and go to the park.”
Ianto bit back a sigh for Jack’s sake, and smiled down at him. Gwen didn’t mean any harm; she was just... at the moment Ianto liked to think of the term obtuse. She was a great cop, but like any cop she still couldn’t see past the obvious sometimes.
She simply saw a lost boy needing a home, but lots more than just that was required for this particular boy. A man who was over a hundred years old, trapped in the mind and body of a six year old. A boy who despite acting like, and enjoying things all boys his age would, had somewhere in his mind more knowledge than all of them put together.
“Would you like to go with Gwen for the night Jack? We could keep on playing at the Hub later during the afternoon,” he said kindly, not willing to bribe him. “It would be fun.”
“We can go see the boats tomorrow, and get ice cream; I’ve got this really nice neighbour too, she’s seven, you’d really, really like her.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Owen interrupted, but when Tosh elbowed him, he looked at her. “Well, smaller, but still Jack,” He said, and shrugged when Gwen glared at him.
“Want to stay with Yan,” Jack said, reaching for Ianto´s hand, he tugged on it until the tall man picked him up. He looked at the woman from where he was, cuddling up against Ianto.
Ianto coped with Gwen’s glare stoically and forced a smile, whilst she muttered something under her breath.
“Alright,” Gwen said and kissed Jack on the head. “if there is anything you need, just give me a call, yeah?”
“I will,” Ianto assured, before shaking his head at Jack who was looking up at him with an ´Ew she kissed me´ face and a wrinkled nose.
Ianto heard Owen chuckle and noticed Gwen giving Owen a glare as she got her things and left the building whilst stating once more that this just wasn’t right.
“What are we going to do now?” Tosh asked.
Looking at Jack who was wide awake, Ianto considered. “I’ll take him home and get him some decent food,” He said, because that was probably the next thing to do.
“Alright, why don’t you go? I’ll order in for here?” She offered.
“You sure?” Ianto asked, not wanting to make the others feel he was imposing or trying to get out of his chores, he didn’t mind cleaning up before leaving either.
“Yes, don’t worry, I’ll try my best and Owen will give me a hand,” she added, and looked at Owen who gave her an annoyed look.
“Why me? I was going to go to the pub and... why can’t I go back to being six. Oh wait, I know, because it sucks.” He snorted and got a plastic bag from the side to get rid of paper cups that were all around, without complaining much.
Ianto had to admit to himself he was quite surprised that Owen was cooperating; he gave Tosh a curious look to which she replied with a wink that made him grin, because of what it implied. “Alright, we’re off then. I’ll see you two tomorrow.” He said, more willing to leave these two alone now.
“Yeah, don‘t make a habit of it,” Owen called back.
“I won’t,” Ianto assured, and left Jack down on the ground, because he asked him to. Ianto smiled when he noticed Jack scamper to tug at Tosh’s clothes until she bent down so he could peck her on the cheek, before doing the same to Owen. Once he was finished saying his good byes, he went back to take Ianto’s hand, so they could leave.
“Come on; let’s go get something to eat.”
“Am hungry,” Jack stated clinging on to Ianto’s hand.
“Me too,” Ianto agreed, and they made it out of the hub and into his car, until eventually they arrived his flat.
Ianto instructed Jack on how to feed the goldfish, and after that and a quick shower, Jack was wearing one over sized shirt whilst sitting at Ianto’s table. The wrinkled nose spoke more than a million words too.
“You’re not having enough vegetables in your diet,” He pointed out, because of late, Jack was the one lacking vegetables in his diet; so he nodded at the little boy to eat his.
“But I do not know if I don’t, cuz I don’t remember yesterday,” Jack retorted, shifting in his place.
“You’ll have to trust me on that,” Ianto said with a smile and ate some of his vegetables. “They’re not bad,” He assured, and after some hesitation he did manage to convince Jack to eat some.
“Can I go use your PC?” Jack asked after dinner.
Ianto nodded and started doing the dishes; and putting things in order around the place until everything was to his liking.
He found Jack in Neopets again.
This time he had gotten there on his own, no one had to help him even turn the PC on. Ianto considered that to be a good sign.
Checking the hour he sighed softly and sat next to Jack. “Time for bed Captain,” He said caringly and stroked Jack’s hair.
“Aw, just one more Yan, Pleeeease?”
Big blue puppy eyes, the same thing that had caused him to get soaked earlier that day, and that had earned him a glare from Gwen along with one of the many scolds too.
“One more, and then bed,” He said seriously, and smiled when Jack nodded whilst biting his lower lip. Ianto had been going to get up to go do something else, but Jack reached out for his arm blindly, so Ianto sat again and watched him play.
His reflexes were definitely not the ones of an ordinary six year old…
“Alright, bed now.”
“But Yan...” Jack pouted at him, trying the big blue eyes again, but Ianto shook his head. “We keep our promises. Come on, it’ll be there tomorrow.”
Tucking Jack into his bed, Ianto made sure to settle him in the middle, in case he rolled over; and smiled reassuringly at him. “You alright?”
“I guess,” Jack pouted a little.
Watching Jack fidgeting with the coverlets, where his hands rested over his stomach, Ianto frowned a little and sat on the edge of the bed. “You guess? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to go with Gwen, tomorrow or the next day, I want to stay here with you… you’re fun. She screamed. A lot.”
Ianto wanted to chuckle at that but tried hard not to, it wouldn’t be right. “She cares a lot about you Jack, that’s why she raised her voice before; she was worried you wouldn’t be alright.”
“But why?”
“Because...” Ianto frowned a little, as he tried thinking how to put things.
“You were worried when I appeared, but you didn’t raise your voice...”
“Different people react in different ways, to different situations.”
“Huh?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ianto said and rested his hand over Jack’s in a soothing manner. “You just focus on how many people care about you, alright? Doesn’t matter how.”
“Alright,” Jack smiled.
“Ok, good. Now I have to go do some things before I go to sleep, will you be alright in here alone?”
“Don’t I get a story?”
Big blue puppy eyes again. “What kind of story would you like to hear?”
“I don’t know; a story… a good one,” Jack beamed.
That was enough for Ianto to comply, and thinking back to his childhood he started re-telling one of his favourite stories from that time, until Jack was fast asleep.
Smiling softly to himself, Ianto pressed a kiss to Jack’s brow and got up from the bed to head outside; he left the door partially open so the light of the hallway would get inside the bedroom and, after rearranging some things he laid down on the couch where, before even noticing it, he fell asleep.
Ianto woke up with a start and pulled back briskly on feeling lips pressing against his own.
His eyes widened and he focused on the man crouching before him.
“I don’t know what you might have done last night, but I don’t think you could actually do anything ´that´ bad, which would cause me to kick you out of bed.” Jack grinned at him and Ianto blinked a couple times.
“Are you alright Ianto?”
“Yes, yes... just...” He raised a hand in the air, a sign for Jack to give him a couple minutes, and he rubbed his eyes. “You’re back.” He grinned.
“I’m back from…?”
“This has to be the first time you’ve pulled away from a morning kiss; and woken up on the couch,” Jack pointed out with a frown. “What happened?”
“You don’t remember anything about yesterday?” Ianto looked at Jack carefully, and chuckled when Jack shook his head.
“Did I get drunk and pass out in your bed after stealing one of your shirts?” Jack asked, because he had noticed he was wearing one of Ianto’s shirts.
“I wish.” Ianto laughed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Oh, shit fuck no!”
Apparently it was hitting him… “Yeah.” Ianto smiled at Jack patiently, whilst his lover’s eyes widened.
“Please don’t tell me I was five months old and you had to change my nappies.”
Ianto laughed hard and shook his head. “Trust me, I would have sent you home with Gwen if that had been the case.” He snorted and looked at Jack. “You were six.” He smiled. “You were actually adorable, but we spent most of the day in the Hub, so you will be able to go through the events of the previous day by watching the CCTV footage, and rejoice in the things you did during your day as a kid.”
“You are still taking care of your virtual pet though; I have enough taking care of Torchwood’s pets as it is, without adding a virtual one to the list!”
* * * * *
“Jack,” Gwen called out after coming back from a mission that same afternoon, whilst thanking God things had gone back to normal. She probably needed to apologize to Ianto, but she still thought that she had had a point… “Jack?”
“In here!” Jack called out from behind the desk and poked his head from under it. “Hey,” he smiled dashingly at her.
“What are you doing under there?” She asked and gave him a weird look as he made the universal sign for her to be quiet.
“Found you!” A child’s voice came from out of nowhere, and giggling followed.
Getting up from under the desk, Jack tried following Ianto; but Ianto got to the wall first and started jumping up and down on the same spot, because he had won their Hide and Seek round. “Not fair! Gwen gave me up!” Jack complained.
“I win! I win!” little Ianto cheered and laughed.
“Please, do tell me it was an accident,” Gwen said looking at Jack and little Ianto now…
“It is only fair! He was teasing me about my Neopet! The way I see it, THIS is the only way we’ll get our personal scores even!” Jack laughed out loud and caught Ianto in the air before the little boy could scurry away to find the next a place to hide.
“And I thought I was the one with the dysfunctional relationship.” Gwen said shaking her head a couple times before her hands waved in the air.
“I’ll be at my station.”
“Alright. I have lots of catching up to do with this little one,” Jack said and swung Ianto in the air causing him to laugh. “I’m having one problem though... he keeps trying to steal the remains of coffee from the mugs to sniff, before wrinkling his nose and stating that it’s no good.” He laughed to himself and headed down the stairs to find something fun to entertain Ianto with until he turned back into his normal self.
The End …
Author: Celebrian.
Web page: http://www.livejournal.com/users/celebrian_lotr/
http://users.insanejournal.com/_bad_wolf/ (under construction, but if you have an IJ and want to friend me, I will be posting the stories there too :))
Pairing: Ianto/ Jack - Tosh/ Owen (hinted) Gwen.
Rating: PG13
Summary: No matter how experienced you are, dealing with Alien/ Futuristic tech might have a consequence, even if you are careful when trying to categorize it before it goes to the archives.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Warnings: Fluff?
Author’s notes: One shot. Finished.
And for the record, I suck at summaries, sorry about that.
Feedback: Is addictive and encouraging ;-)
Thanks to Beta xibalba who is a saint and reads stories about a fandom she’s only heard me rambling about and just4bri & blackblaze_dd All remaining mistakes, my fault.
Ianto waited impatiently for the rest of the team to arrive back from a last minute mission, good-naturedly pushing a pawn into place before looking at the little boy, who gave him a deep thoughtful frown as he looked back down to study the board.
Little legs crossed where they were sitting on the floor, and expectant, if not bored eyes glanced up at him. “It’s not difficult, plus you know what is next” He assured before the little boy groaned at him.
“This is BORING, can’t we play anything else?”
Arching an eyebrow Ianto considered this, and looked at the chessboard; where he had been trying to teach the little one how to play. Ianto had started learning at six, an early age, but he had sat for close to an hour per weekend with his grandfather, when the old man sat at the table to play.
Eventually, Ianto had grown up enough as to play against him; until, when seventeen, he eventually won.
Of course, he had been allowed to win before, but that was only because his grandfather had loved to see him smile in that giddy way, whenever Ianto thought he had managed to out-smart him. “What would you like to play?” He asked patiently, whilst looking at the six year old.
“I’m a pirate, but not the ones on the sea ships; I am a pirate that has a space ship. I travel the universe and I end up here!” The little boy exclaimed as he stood up excitedly.
Ianto chuckled and looked at the little boy who’d started looking around, before Ianto stood up in a more leisured way.
“And you’re an alien, you were my prisoner and escaped so I followed you to this planet and now I have to catch you! And take you back!”
“What would you do when taking me back?” Ianto asked, resting a hand on the little boy’s shoulder as the boy kept on looking at the guns and back at Ianto with twinkling excited eyes. “I don’t think so…” He said with a chuckle that earned him a big sulk.
“But I need guns to take you down!” The little boy said looking over his shoulder at Ianto who hummed whilst thinking.
Ianto smiled down at him. “I’ve got an idea” he said, and led the way to the stairs that lead to the archives and storage rooms. He noticed the little boy standing there, frowning deeply at him whilst big blue eyes looked from the flickering lights of the tunnel and back to him.
“It's dark.”
Big blue eyes locked with his and Ianto stretched out his hand in the air. “It’s alright, I promise.” He assured, and smiled when the boy took his hand and hurried to stand by his side.
By the end of the stairs he had the little boy clinging to his leg and waist as if for dear light.
Apparently the humming of the lights and the dark looking corridors were a bit too much for his obviously vivid imagination. “It’s ok,” he assured, and wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulders. He felt him practically climbing until Ianto was holding him in his arms. “Alright,” he said with a smile, and looked into the other’s blue eyes.
“Let’s explore.” He smiled and stroked the boy’s back reassuringly as they walked down the hallways, which were actually more like an endless maze, but Ianto knew all floors like the back of his hand.
Little arms wrapped around his neck and Ianto looked at the little one again.
“You’re not scared of the dark?”
“It is not really dark, we’ve got lights.” Ianto pointed out to the flickering lights.
“It’s still dark…”
Looking at the wall Ianto found what he was looking for and got one of the lanterns that were there, ready in case the lights did go out. Turning it on, he handed it over to the boy with a comforting look. “Better?” He asked and couldn’t help smiling when the other one grinned and nodded sagely back at him.
“Yes.”
One little arm remained steady around Ianto´s shoulders and neck whilst they kept on walking. “Just illuminate the way. We’re going there and then we’re turning that way.” He explained.
“What are we looking for?”
“Guns,” Ianto said wiggling his eyebrows. “you need guns to capture the alien don’t you?”
“But you said I couldn’t have guns!”
“I said, not ´those´ guns, but we are finding you some” He assured and they were soon in the room Ianto had put those infamous ´weapons´ away after he’d managed to confiscate them.
Realising the little boy wasn’t going to let go, Ianto managed to open the storage box with one hand and crouched, letting the other’s feet touch the ground, even though the boy didn’t move an inch away from him.
Getting a couple of large water guns, Ianto smiled at the boy who was giving him a confused look. “Come on” he said and picked him up again, and continued onward until they were both in an un-used bathroom.
“Oh!” The little boy exclaimed and clapped his hands excitedly.
“I won't be happy about this later on…” Ianto muttered to himself as he loaded the other large water gun so each of them had one.
Before he could say even another word, he felt himself getting splashed, followed by a fit of giggles and the blond looking boy gave him big puppy eyes, whilst trying to restrain his giggles, without much success.
Now Ianto´s suit was partially soaked. But instead of thinking about it, he splashed the boy back and grinned. “You started it,” he pointed out with a laugh and the other one followed suit and started laughing too.
“Come, I'll show you something else,” he said and taking the boy's hand he led the way through the hallway, or tried to, because soon he had an armful of a clinging boy again and he turned on the lights of a large room with pretend buildings.
“Here's your city,” he said, feeling quite an achievement when hearing a disbelieving ´Wow!´
“You're going to have to let go to catch me again, otherwise it'll be no fun,” He pointed out.
“I win!”
The glee in the other's voice as Ianto got a squeeze-hug made him laugh heartily as he helped the boy down.
“What if I get lost?”
“I'll find you,” The Welshman assured and nodded once. “I promised you, you were going to be alright, didn't I?”
“Yes you did.”
“And I never break my promises,” he winked to win himself a bright smile in response to his statement. “Just think of it as a scary city. I’m hiding here, you have to find me. The water injures me, but it won't kill me, so you'll have to get me to complete your mission,” He said, inventing the rules of a recently conceived game.
“Ok!”
“Ok… you can't catch me,” Ianto said, and started running away from the little boy who was trying to splash him; and actually managing to, because Ianto wasn’t escaping for real. The laughter and giggles echoed in the room as the boy tried catching him whilst soaking him with the water gun.
“Nooo,” Ianto pretended to scream, when the blond boy caught him by the arm. Ianto dramatically fell onto his knees and hung his head in defeat. “I’m captured now, please don’t send me back Captain! I promise I will hide and harm no one!” He dramatized, and looked at the other because they were at eye level now.
“I will take you to your planet! And you will not escape again!”
“Can’t I stay here even if I say please?” Ianto joked.
“You can’t say please…”
“Why not?”
“Cuz you’re evil…”
“Oh, right, sorry. Hmm, release me! Or I will blast all chocolate cookies with my special wristband device and you shall run out of chocolate forever!” Ianto said with a ´scary´ voice, and felt like laughing as the boy actually gasped before clinging to his neck as if trying to subdue the alien threat.
“You will not escape!!!”
“I shall be free!” Ianto growled and got a safe hold on the boy as he clung to Ianto’s back whilst they pretended to struggle, until Ianto eventually gave up and knelt before the other. Water gun aimed at his chest, quite missing where the heart was but still making a point.
“Now I will take you back to your planet and you will stay there!”
“But they don’t have Oreos there,” Ianto pretended to complain.
“What are Oreos?”
“Let us make a truce and go for some milk and Oreos, you’ll see.” He smiled brightly and waited for the boy to think about it, because he was still the Captain.
“Alright.”
“Alright,” he agreed, and got up, but once again he had an armful of a boy in no time. Who would have thought he would be so clingy?
“What are Oreos?”
“I’ll show you, you’ll love them. They’re) biscuits.” Ianto explained as they made it upstairs again. “You’re soaking wet, we need fresh clothes now.” He pointed out pressing his hand to the boy’s back.
“So are you.”
“Erm... yes I am.” Ianto chuckled and rubbed the others back caringly until they made it to the heart of the hub. Ianto found himself being stared at by the rest of the team, and he just smiled when he felt the little one's arms tightening around his neck.
“Yan…”
The young voice muttered uncertainly whilst clinging on to him, and Ianto held him tighter. “It’s alright; these are the people I was telling you about before,” he explained.
“This is Tosh,” he introduced, “and Gwen.”
“Hello,” Gwen waved at the boy.
“And Owen,” Ianto introduced him to everyone.
“And who the hell is this?” Owen snapped and gave him a glare. “Does Jack know you’re babysitting God knows who in the Hub? And, what the fuck were you doing?” He added, noticing that both Ianto and the kid were soaking wet.
“He said the F word…” The little boy whispered and giggled, covering his mouth and pointing at the funny man before beaming a smile at Ianto who had apparently chuckled at what he said.
“He usually does, we’re still trying to train him so he stops, but we’ve never managed.” Ianto said winning himself an eye roll from Owen before he sat on his chair and started chewing his pen.
“So where is Jack?”
“I think that is Jack,” Tosh said with a small frown and looked from the boy to Ianto, who nodded at her.
“Ha Ha, very funny. Jack went back to a five year old state and we need to raise him. God, what he would have been like during puberty.” Owen frowned, making a face.
“Six, I’m six.”
“He is six,” Ianto agreed and moved to the work station, though he didn’t touch it; and pointed a finger at one particular screen. “That’s what happened, and the device is still on Jack’s desk, could you please run the translation program? As far as I know this is a temporary effect, but I don’t know how long it will last… Jack didn’t manage to tell me. We were taking notes for the archives and the thing triggered itself… all I know is it’s some sort of device that takes you back to a period of your life when there were no real worries.”
“Like some sort of relaxing method?”
“Therapists use it, sometime in the future,” Ianto said as much as Jack had told him before he went into his six year old state. “When people become too stressed, they give them a day off, so as to put it, with this tool. They are kids for a day, a week; depends on the level of stress, which is determined by the doctor, and when they are back to their present time selves, they feel more relaxed.”
“You’re shitting me.” Owen said, because until now he’d thought that it was a joke and the kid was some sort of relative.
“No, he isn’t” Tosh said looking at the screen and seeing the point at which Jack actually turned into that little boy now clinging to Ianto as if for dear life.
“Where did you get the clothes?”
“Torchwood has a wardrobe, downstairs with different clothes for different periods, ages and sizes…” Ianto explained when Tosh asked. “It never came in as handy as it did this time.”
“He’s soaking wet Ianto,” Gwen pointed out and Ianto could hear the scold in her voice.
“So are you,” Tosh added looking at him from head to toe.
“Yes, erm... Changing!” He smiled. “Would you run the translator please?” He asked Tosh who nodded and gave him what he thought was an amused smile. “It is not dangerous, Jack told me as much. We just have to wait until the effect wears off.”
“I will try to get an estimate,” Tosh assured, and Ianto nodded thankfully at her again, before noticing Owen giving them a look.
“Biccies,” Jack whispered to Ianto’s ear because he didn’t really want to interrupt but he was hungry.
“Ok, yes. You do that, I’ll go change.” He said and put the water guns down to rest them on the floor.
“So let me get this straight; you confiscate the water guns from us, but you and Jack get to play with them? How fair is that?” Owen complained.
“Go back to being six and I will gladly hand them over to you again, as long as you do not use them on this level,” Ianto stated and felt Jack’s little head resting on his shoulder. Apparently so much playing had made him rather exhausted.
“You keep on talking and he’ll catch a cold,” Gwen pointed out and carefully tried to get Jack away from Ianto. But Jack resisted whilst whining loudly, and Ianto complained because Gwen was tugging on Jack, and Jack was tugging on his neck.
“Come on Jack, let’s get you changed and do something fun,” She offered, trying a different approach.
Ianto noticed Jack scowling at her and he shook his head. “Be nice,” He scolded little Jack.
“But I want to stay with you.”
Noticing the pout Ianto sighed and smiled apologetically at Gwen, “It’s ok, I’ll change him,” He assured, and headed off to do exactly that.
After having hot chocolate and Oreos while they were in the meeting room with everyone else, as they waited for the program to finish running. Ianto allowed himself to relax into his seat while Jack was playing with some alien markers and colouring books that had come through the rift.
“He was quite cute,” Tosh said looking from Jack to Ianto.
“Oi Jack, what are you going to do when you grow up?” Owen asked, knowing Jack had no recollection of his life; another bonus that the alien device had caused.
“I’m gonna be a pirate, and a Captain and I’m gonna have a space ship, big big space ship and I’m gonna catch aliens.” He said, picking up his book and markers and taking them to Ianto, showing him proudly that he hadn’t gone outside the outlines as he climbed up onto Ianto’s lap.
“’s got to be the first kid who actually knows what he wants. Sort of…”
“It is probably some residual memory,” Tosh suggested “I do not know about the pirate part though…”
“Yeah, well we don’t have an autobiography for Jack Harkness; for all we know, he could have been a pirate.” Owen stated looking at Tosh before grabbing an Oreo from the plate, but his hand met Jack’s as they’d both aimed for the last one there.
Ianto noticed the glaring duel over the biscuit and he bit back a snort. “There are more in the cupboard” He pointed out and with that Owen released his grip on the half of the biscuit he had managed to get and let Jack have it. “Under the coffee machine,” Ianto called out as Owen went to get more biscuits. He looked down at Jack who had snuggled up and settled against his chest.
“He won’t sleep later if you let him nap now.” Gwen said from where she was sitting and looked at Ianto.
“Yes I will.” Jack replied before yawning widely and snuggling up more comfortably.
“Who is going to take care of him?”
“I thought Ianto would,” Tosh said looking at the image of a six year old swiftly falling asleep whilst cuddling up to Ianto.
“I think maybe he should stay with you or me… until he’s back to normal.”
“Why?” Ianto asked looking at Gwen with curious eyes.
“Because, you’re obviously spoiling him.”
“He is six,” Ianto said trying not to raise his voice because he could feel Jack was sound asleep against his chest. “He will be six for days, or maybe only today,
“He can be spoilt for one or two days, he was scared earlier. I’d think anyone would like to be spoilt in his situation,” He said seriously.
“I don’t think you are thinking clearly.”
Ianto glared at Gwen disbelievingly and frowned a little trying to see her point. Because he couldn’t think of one at the moment, not any plausible ones at least.
“I mean rationally, he should stay with anyone but you,” She said trying to sound neutral. “He is not your kid… he is Jack.”
“But he is a kid,” Ianto remarked.
“And your experience with kids is?”
“I think he has been doing a good job, up until now.” Tosh interceded quietly.
“Well, he isn’t; first he gets him soaking wet, then he gives him a load of chocolate milk and chocolate biscuits and now he’s letting him nap. Let me guess, dinner, pizza and a late night watching movies?”
“What did I miss?” Owen asked sitting back in his chair. “Who annoyed Gwen?”
“I did, I’m spoiling Jack” Ianto said, visibly restraining himself from rolling his eyes.
“No news in that,” Owen said to himself looking from Ianto, and the kid that was their team leader, to Gwen.
“But he’s six!” Gwen insisted.
“If you think about it Gwen, sweetheart, it‘s more pathetic that he spoils him in Jack’s real timeline; him being over a hundred, than when he is actually six…” Owen chuckled.
“I am just saying it makes more sense if Tosh or I take care of him…”
“Don’t include me; I have no clue when it comes to kids.” Tosh chirped and shook her head.
“Well I do, my sister has three kids, I take care of them all the times she visits or I visit, because she has no free time on regular basis.”
“Can’t even call it sexual tension now, what’s the fun in that?” Owen muttered and ate another Oreo.
“This is serious Owen!” Gwen said raising her voice with annoyance. “He could be like this for days, months or years! We have NO clue. Why am I the only one worried?!”
“We have no other choice but waiting it out,” Ianto said looking at Gwen with a renewed glare because she’d made Jack stir in his arms.
“He needs something resembling a normal life Ianto; you can’t deny him that, even if it’s only for a couple days, he is just a little boy who needs stability.”
Waking up at the raised voice, Jack blinked a couple times and looked around before pouting noticeable, obviously confused as to where he was.
Tosh looked from Jack and Ianto to Owen before looking at Gwen and shrunk a little in her chair, not sure what to say. Gwen was the stubborn type; there was no stopping her when she wanted something. “The translation program might give us an estimate as to how long he will remain a little boy,” She said quietly.
“He is tired, he needs to sleep” Ianto said before Gwen could open her mouth again, and picking Jack up, he stood up, running his hand over the boy’s back soothingly.
“Did you hear a word of what I said? I can take him home now; he can have a real home with normal things until he’s himself again,” She offered. “He is six; do you want him to be trapped in the Hub until he comes back? Doesn’t he deserve more than this? To go to the park, play in the mud, under the rain, being silly… the games in the lower levels will get boring soon, it is not enough Ianto. You know that,” She said seriously.
Ianto noticed her imposing body language and he sighed softly to himself.
He didn’t want to let go of Jack, but perhaps...
“If he remembers Ianto, later on, do you think he’d like to know that you took care of him whilst he was like this?”
“I’m putting him to bed,” Ianto stated and left the conference room to go settle little Jack in bed. The little boy was thrilled to find out the bed was in a big hole and down some ladders. He said it felt like a space ship and Ianto smiled whilst tucking him in.
Maybe he shouldn’t nap, but well, Jack was sleepy… Ianto didn’t really see the harm in that. He’d seen Lisa’s nephews and nieces nap and the world hadn’t come to an end because of that, they were only a little hyper before dinnertime and that had been pretty much it.
Sitting by the bed, he smiled when Jack glanced up at him and grabbed his hand, not wanting him to go. Who was he to deny him? He stayed there with him until Jack fell asleep, before resting his head against the wall and closing his eyes himself. He was in for a long day and probably a long night…
Night time came before any of them could notice.
Despite being a terror when older, Jack proved to be more than well behaved at the age of six.
After his nap he focused on his colouring book, writing some things down, and he even sat at Tosh’s work station to learn how to use a couple of easy programs. Though in the end, as predicted, Tosh managed to find a regular kid’s website for him, and Jack was more than happy gathering things for his Neopet whilst playing the games on the site.
It was adorable to see Tosh attempting to help him out.
Eventually even Owen rolled his chair over and took over the computer, because Jack kept on losing on a particular game, one that was meant to give him a lot of points to buy things for his virtual pet.
Resting his head on the back of the couch Ianto sensed a presence resting next to him, and raising his head again he noticed it was Gwen.
“Sorry about earlier.”
“It’s Ok.” Ianto assured. “You just want the best for him, we all do.” He smiled and nodded at her. Ianto looked over at little Jack, who was `still` six years old, and sighed softly. Tosh’s translation programme was still attempting to decipher what had, unfortunately, turned out to be a rather complex alien language.
“You know what is best for him Ianto. He cannot stay here… he shouldn’t. Do you think he would be alright at your place? You are never there, for all we know you might only have a bed and food, or maybe not even that… I’m sure you always eat here,” she frowned.
“As surprising as it might sound Gwen, I do have a fully equipped flat, which I might not use as much as a regular person would, but I do use it.”
“You only go there to sleep…”
“That is using it,” He pointed out, resting his hands on his thighs.
“It is late for a little boy; he should be having a substantial dinner and heading to bed.”
“He is not a regular boy,” Ianto said tiredly because she went around and around in circles. “He is Jack, he will be back to being the Jack we all knew in no time.”
“But what if it is more than just a day or two?”
“What are you going to do? Send him to school?”
“Yeah.”
Gwen’s reply came quite easily and Ianto turned to look at her. “You want to send to school a kid that actually knows what Quantum physics is and how it works?” He asked seriously and rubbed his brow.
“He doesn’t belong here, not now.”
“He doesn’t belong out there either.”
“Putting him out there and pretending he is someone else is putting him in danger,” Ianto said, trying to think what would be best for Jack; he didn’t want to think long term, but even if it was long term, he was more than willing to be there for him.
Jack was never going to be a regular kid, he needed a different kind of nurturing, he needed to learn things only they could teach him, he couldn’t just go to school and mingle.
The sound of cheering got Ianto’s attention and he smiled, noticing Jack was looking their way with a bright grin, because Owen had managed to defeat the game he had being trying to win for a while now.
“He can work out Quantum physics but he has trouble with a kid’s game?” He said, with a little bit of amusement and shook his head. “I can’t Gwen, I’m sorry. I do not think that is the best for him. I know you mean well, but the answer is no.”
“And who put you in charge? You’re not the only one who cares about him you know.” She said in far too loud a voice, which made Jack snap back to look and see why they were arguing.
Tosh and Owen soon put themselves to the task of trying to distract him again, but apparently Jack could sense that there was something wrong, because in no time he was clinging to Ianto’s leg while the Welshman rested his hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“Want to come home with me?” Gwen asked, as she crouched before Jack to give him a charming look, and a big convincing smile.
“We could have something good for dinner, then watch movies and maybe wake up early tomorrow and go to the park.”
Ianto bit back a sigh for Jack’s sake, and smiled down at him. Gwen didn’t mean any harm; she was just... at the moment Ianto liked to think of the term obtuse. She was a great cop, but like any cop she still couldn’t see past the obvious sometimes.
She simply saw a lost boy needing a home, but lots more than just that was required for this particular boy. A man who was over a hundred years old, trapped in the mind and body of a six year old. A boy who despite acting like, and enjoying things all boys his age would, had somewhere in his mind more knowledge than all of them put together.
“Would you like to go with Gwen for the night Jack? We could keep on playing at the Hub later during the afternoon,” he said kindly, not willing to bribe him. “It would be fun.”
“We can go see the boats tomorrow, and get ice cream; I’ve got this really nice neighbour too, she’s seven, you’d really, really like her.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Owen interrupted, but when Tosh elbowed him, he looked at her. “Well, smaller, but still Jack,” He said, and shrugged when Gwen glared at him.
“Want to stay with Yan,” Jack said, reaching for Ianto´s hand, he tugged on it until the tall man picked him up. He looked at the woman from where he was, cuddling up against Ianto.
Ianto coped with Gwen’s glare stoically and forced a smile, whilst she muttered something under her breath.
“Alright,” Gwen said and kissed Jack on the head. “if there is anything you need, just give me a call, yeah?”
“I will,” Ianto assured, before shaking his head at Jack who was looking up at him with an ´Ew she kissed me´ face and a wrinkled nose.
Ianto heard Owen chuckle and noticed Gwen giving Owen a glare as she got her things and left the building whilst stating once more that this just wasn’t right.
“What are we going to do now?” Tosh asked.
Looking at Jack who was wide awake, Ianto considered. “I’ll take him home and get him some decent food,” He said, because that was probably the next thing to do.
“Alright, why don’t you go? I’ll order in for here?” She offered.
“You sure?” Ianto asked, not wanting to make the others feel he was imposing or trying to get out of his chores, he didn’t mind cleaning up before leaving either.
“Yes, don’t worry, I’ll try my best and Owen will give me a hand,” she added, and looked at Owen who gave her an annoyed look.
“Why me? I was going to go to the pub and... why can’t I go back to being six. Oh wait, I know, because it sucks.” He snorted and got a plastic bag from the side to get rid of paper cups that were all around, without complaining much.
Ianto had to admit to himself he was quite surprised that Owen was cooperating; he gave Tosh a curious look to which she replied with a wink that made him grin, because of what it implied. “Alright, we’re off then. I’ll see you two tomorrow.” He said, more willing to leave these two alone now.
“Yeah, don‘t make a habit of it,” Owen called back.
“I won’t,” Ianto assured, and left Jack down on the ground, because he asked him to. Ianto smiled when he noticed Jack scamper to tug at Tosh’s clothes until she bent down so he could peck her on the cheek, before doing the same to Owen. Once he was finished saying his good byes, he went back to take Ianto’s hand, so they could leave.
“Come on; let’s go get something to eat.”
“Am hungry,” Jack stated clinging on to Ianto’s hand.
“Me too,” Ianto agreed, and they made it out of the hub and into his car, until eventually they arrived his flat.
Ianto instructed Jack on how to feed the goldfish, and after that and a quick shower, Jack was wearing one over sized shirt whilst sitting at Ianto’s table. The wrinkled nose spoke more than a million words too.
“You’re not having enough vegetables in your diet,” He pointed out, because of late, Jack was the one lacking vegetables in his diet; so he nodded at the little boy to eat his.
“But I do not know if I don’t, cuz I don’t remember yesterday,” Jack retorted, shifting in his place.
“You’ll have to trust me on that,” Ianto said with a smile and ate some of his vegetables. “They’re not bad,” He assured, and after some hesitation he did manage to convince Jack to eat some.
“Can I go use your PC?” Jack asked after dinner.
Ianto nodded and started doing the dishes; and putting things in order around the place until everything was to his liking.
He found Jack in Neopets again.
This time he had gotten there on his own, no one had to help him even turn the PC on. Ianto considered that to be a good sign.
Checking the hour he sighed softly and sat next to Jack. “Time for bed Captain,” He said caringly and stroked Jack’s hair.
“Aw, just one more Yan, Pleeeease?”
Big blue puppy eyes, the same thing that had caused him to get soaked earlier that day, and that had earned him a glare from Gwen along with one of the many scolds too.
“One more, and then bed,” He said seriously, and smiled when Jack nodded whilst biting his lower lip. Ianto had been going to get up to go do something else, but Jack reached out for his arm blindly, so Ianto sat again and watched him play.
His reflexes were definitely not the ones of an ordinary six year old…
“Alright, bed now.”
“But Yan...” Jack pouted at him, trying the big blue eyes again, but Ianto shook his head. “We keep our promises. Come on, it’ll be there tomorrow.”
Tucking Jack into his bed, Ianto made sure to settle him in the middle, in case he rolled over; and smiled reassuringly at him. “You alright?”
“I guess,” Jack pouted a little.
Watching Jack fidgeting with the coverlets, where his hands rested over his stomach, Ianto frowned a little and sat on the edge of the bed. “You guess? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to go with Gwen, tomorrow or the next day, I want to stay here with you… you’re fun. She screamed. A lot.”
Ianto wanted to chuckle at that but tried hard not to, it wouldn’t be right. “She cares a lot about you Jack, that’s why she raised her voice before; she was worried you wouldn’t be alright.”
“But why?”
“Because...” Ianto frowned a little, as he tried thinking how to put things.
“You were worried when I appeared, but you didn’t raise your voice...”
“Different people react in different ways, to different situations.”
“Huh?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ianto said and rested his hand over Jack’s in a soothing manner. “You just focus on how many people care about you, alright? Doesn’t matter how.”
“Alright,” Jack smiled.
“Ok, good. Now I have to go do some things before I go to sleep, will you be alright in here alone?”
“Don’t I get a story?”
Big blue puppy eyes again. “What kind of story would you like to hear?”
“I don’t know; a story… a good one,” Jack beamed.
That was enough for Ianto to comply, and thinking back to his childhood he started re-telling one of his favourite stories from that time, until Jack was fast asleep.
Smiling softly to himself, Ianto pressed a kiss to Jack’s brow and got up from the bed to head outside; he left the door partially open so the light of the hallway would get inside the bedroom and, after rearranging some things he laid down on the couch where, before even noticing it, he fell asleep.
Ianto woke up with a start and pulled back briskly on feeling lips pressing against his own.
His eyes widened and he focused on the man crouching before him.
“I don’t know what you might have done last night, but I don’t think you could actually do anything ´that´ bad, which would cause me to kick you out of bed.” Jack grinned at him and Ianto blinked a couple times.
“Are you alright Ianto?”
“Yes, yes... just...” He raised a hand in the air, a sign for Jack to give him a couple minutes, and he rubbed his eyes. “You’re back.” He grinned.
“I’m back from…?”
“This has to be the first time you’ve pulled away from a morning kiss; and woken up on the couch,” Jack pointed out with a frown. “What happened?”
“You don’t remember anything about yesterday?” Ianto looked at Jack carefully, and chuckled when Jack shook his head.
“Did I get drunk and pass out in your bed after stealing one of your shirts?” Jack asked, because he had noticed he was wearing one of Ianto’s shirts.
“I wish.” Ianto laughed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Oh, shit fuck no!”
Apparently it was hitting him… “Yeah.” Ianto smiled at Jack patiently, whilst his lover’s eyes widened.
“Please don’t tell me I was five months old and you had to change my nappies.”
Ianto laughed hard and shook his head. “Trust me, I would have sent you home with Gwen if that had been the case.” He snorted and looked at Jack. “You were six.” He smiled. “You were actually adorable, but we spent most of the day in the Hub, so you will be able to go through the events of the previous day by watching the CCTV footage, and rejoice in the things you did during your day as a kid.”
“You are still taking care of your virtual pet though; I have enough taking care of Torchwood’s pets as it is, without adding a virtual one to the list!”
* * * * *
“Jack,” Gwen called out after coming back from a mission that same afternoon, whilst thanking God things had gone back to normal. She probably needed to apologize to Ianto, but she still thought that she had had a point… “Jack?”
“In here!” Jack called out from behind the desk and poked his head from under it. “Hey,” he smiled dashingly at her.
“What are you doing under there?” She asked and gave him a weird look as he made the universal sign for her to be quiet.
“Found you!” A child’s voice came from out of nowhere, and giggling followed.
Getting up from under the desk, Jack tried following Ianto; but Ianto got to the wall first and started jumping up and down on the same spot, because he had won their Hide and Seek round. “Not fair! Gwen gave me up!” Jack complained.
“I win! I win!” little Ianto cheered and laughed.
“Please, do tell me it was an accident,” Gwen said looking at Jack and little Ianto now…
“It is only fair! He was teasing me about my Neopet! The way I see it, THIS is the only way we’ll get our personal scores even!” Jack laughed out loud and caught Ianto in the air before the little boy could scurry away to find the next a place to hide.
“And I thought I was the one with the dysfunctional relationship.” Gwen said shaking her head a couple times before her hands waved in the air.
“I’ll be at my station.”
“Alright. I have lots of catching up to do with this little one,” Jack said and swung Ianto in the air causing him to laugh. “I’m having one problem though... he keeps trying to steal the remains of coffee from the mugs to sniff, before wrinkling his nose and stating that it’s no good.” He laughed to himself and headed down the stairs to find something fun to entertain Ianto with until he turned back into his normal self.
The End …