The Course of Love

For aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth.
                                                – A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1)

Prologue

“Will you be alright, canağabey?” Gray asked softly. He sat on the edge of the bed where his cankizkardeş slept since their aunt had sedated the little girl. “I know the loss of your cankoca is tormenting you, but…” He looked helplessly at Misha and sighed.

“Tavi, canoğul, I’ll be fine.” Jack reached out and ran his hand over Gray’s hair. He debated with himself for a long moment. Part of him wanted to wait, tell Ianto first, but he could see all the doubts about his ability to deal in the darkness of Gray’s eyes. He looked away for a moment and took a deep breath. He let it out slowly in a quiet sigh. “Ben hamilelmak, Tavi,” he murmured. “Ben ona gerek.”

“You never use my name, Raksha,” Gray said softly. He considered his elder brother-slash-father and slipped off the bed. He crossed the few steps between him and Jack to gather him into his arms. “I thought you’d forgotten it.”

“Never,” Jack breathed. “I never forgot you, Tavi.” Jack dropped down onto the bed and sobbed softly. “It hurts. I feel like someone ripped my heart out. Like vital parts of me are missing. If it wasn’t for the baby, Misha and you…”

“I know, Raksha.” Gray held Jack tightly. He hummed softly as he attempted to soothe the other man. “He’ll come back to us. It may take some time but Tad will find his way back to us.” Once he was certain that Jack was as calm as the other man could be considering the circumstances, Gray moved back a bit to lift Jack’s chin and stare intently at his father. “You have to believe that, Dad, and live. If you keep this up, you’ll lose the baby.”

“Kakapmak,” Jack murmured. “I can’t lose this baby. He’d never forgive me if I lost his daughter.”

“Cankızevlât? Are you certain?” Gray grinned merrily at Jack. “She’ll be so spoiled, if you’re right.”

Jack found he couldn’t resist Gray’s happiness at the news. “As certain as I can be. I remember bizimanne knowing that you were a boy when she carried you. Long before the ebetedavi told her she was having a son. It stands to reason that I would know the child I carry. Want to make a…” Jack trailed off as soft gentle warmth followed through his body filling the gaps where Ianto’s presence usually lingered. He chased that feeling through his mind to the source.

Gray watched as Jack’s eyes went unfocused, staring blindly into the distance, and a gasp escaped from the other man. Before he could question, Jack was on his feet and moving toward the door. The older man stopped by the door, pulled a drawer open, and reached inside for the gun Ianto stored there. He checked the weapon over and offered it to Gray. “I know Ianto’s been teaching you how to handle this,” he said. “I’m trusting you with Misha, Tavi.”

Ben istemek savunmak kendisi ile benim hayat,” Gray said solemnly. He took the gun, cradled it in his hands, and pulled a chair over to be between the bed where Misha slept and the door.

“Teşekkür ederim.” Jack nodded and grabbed his own gun. He slipped from the room, rushing down the hall and onto the gantry beyond. He wrapped one hand around the railing and stared down at the lower level. He could feel Ianto. His mate was back. Jack started along the gantry toward the stairs. He glared at Owen when the medic held a hand up at him in a silent order to stay where he was. They glared at each other until Owen pointedly flicked his gaze down to Jack’s stomach. Getting the point, Jack bowed his head for a moment. He watched Owen move from beneath his lashes. Jack waited only until Owen’s back was completely turned to him before he started moving as silently as possible along the gantry and down the stairs.

Ignoring Owen's startled exclamation; he pushed past Tommy and stopped short at his first glance of the form lying on the gurney. He shook off the shock of seeing a petite longhaired woman instead of his Ianto. He took in a deep breath and grinned. He’d know that scent anywhere: a rich blend of coffee, cinnamon and Ianto’s unique musk. He set his gun down on an instrument tray, strode forward and gathered the woman into his arms. Jack buried his face in Ianto’s neck, whimpering softly, and clutched him… her… tightly to him.

“What do you think you're doing, Jack?” Owen hissed from the mezzanine level. “You have no idea who that is.”

“It’s Ianto,” Jack snapped. He lifted his head from his mate’s neck to stare up at Owen. “I’d know Ianto anywhere.” He stroked a hand over Ianto’s soft pale cheek before patting it gently. “Come’n Ianto, wake up for me, cariad.”

The woman in his arms whimpered. A hand waved about for a moment before blindly smacking him in the face. “Five more minutes,” a rich contralto voice murmured in Jack’s general direction. “I’m sleeping, Jack.” Before Jack could again attempt to wake Ianto, the woman that his mate had become jerked, eyes snapping open to stare up at him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Jack! Diolch i Dduw, Jack, rwy'n cartref.”

Chapter One

With Aimana cradled in his arms, Ianto restlessly paced the confines of his office. The more he moved the easier it became; however, he was definitely discovering one source of discomfort. There was no support at all for his breasts. The bounce as he walked was disconcerting to say the least. He wanted Jack. He wanted to see the children. Ianto was starting to realize he also hated protocol. Being isolated while they waited for the results of the blood tests and medical exams was driving him more than a bit mad. He understood, but hated it anyway. At least Jack was able to overrule Owen with Kate’s help, so they weren’t locked in the cells but the relative comfort of the office instead.

“Acıkmak,” Aimana said with a small whine. She looked up at him with wide blue eyes. Those eyes were all Jack. The same shape, the same bright brilliant blue ringed with a darker blue. Her small hands tugged at the low neckline of his top. “Acıkmak, sütanne,” she whimpered.

Ianto gently grasped her hand and pulled it away. She scrunched up her face. He just knew she was going to start crying so he started pacing again. He hoped to keep her calm. “I wish I could understand what you’re saying, cariad.”

“She’s hungry,” Jack said softly from behind him. “She called you mother and, from the way she’s tugging at your askerketi there, I’d say she wants to nurse.”

“You can understand her,” Ianto asked, turning to smile at Jack. He noted Kate coming in behind his husband with a stack of papers in her hand. From her expression, he assumed that meant the initial discussion would be private, held in the office, before the full debriefing with the team. Finally, he could escape this room, see his kids, and find a way to fix this mess. Just as he thought of that, finding a way to be male again, Jack’s words fully registered on him. “She wants to what?” he demanded.

“Nurse,” Jack answered.

“What!” Ianto snapped. Thoughts swirled in his head, too chaotic to make sense. “I can’t… I mean… Kate said…” he babbled. “Do something, Jack!”

“Actually, you can,” Kate interrupted. Ianto watched as she pushed Jack further into the room and again closed the door to the office. They were alone now. No one could over hear the conversation.

“Kate, you said…”

“I know what I said, Ianto, but these tell me that you can,” she explained. Her fingers ruffled through the pages, seeking the one she sought, and bent the others out of the way while she read. “There’s no other logical explanation for the high levels of prolactin in your blood work up. Everything else is just as I expected for you, the male you, save for that.” She crossed the room, sat in a chair, and tapped the papers together again. “There are hundreds of ways for the woman whose body you now have to have started lactating even as she…”

“Kate,” Ianto interrupted, blushing. “Don’t…”

“He needs to know, Ianto,” Kate replied. “That’s why he’s here and we’re doing this discussion now. You can decide what you want the rest of the team to know, but as your spouse, Jack needs to know everything.”

“This totally violates every principal of doctor-patient confidentiality,” Ianto pointed out. Again he lifted Aimana’s hand away from his chest, breasts, whatever, and returned to pacing to keep her quiet. “You do know that, Kate.”

“I’m justifying it as you operating at a diminished capacity.” She turned a smile on him before pointedly nodding toward his chest. “Even if you didn’t believe my words, there’s your proof that you can nurse the child.”

“Aimana,” Ianto snapped. He stared at Jack for a long moment, nodding in response to the question in his husband’s eyes. “Her name is Aimana.” Only when Kate nodded in response to his glare at her did he look down at himself. “Cachau,” he muttered.

“Language, Ianto,” Jack said.

There was laughter in his husband’s voice, enough that Ianto momentarily contemplated smacking the man for it. Instead, he settled for a hard glare which melted into a sigh. “You’re going to say I should, aren’t you?” he asked Kate as he settled on the office sofa. He squirmed, trying to get comfortable, and then rose a bit, pulled the long skirt of the tunic top out from beneath him and sat again. Feeling totally lost, and more than a bit alone, he looked helplessly at Jack.

“Hey,” Jack said softly. He crossed the room to sit on the edge of the sofa. His hand went out, stroking stray bits of hair off Ianto’s face. “It’s going to be okay. The team will find a solution, get you back to being you and everything will be fine.”

“Jack…” Ianto hated the whine in his voice. It reminded him of his sister when she was younger and wanting to get her own way. He dropped his gaze to Aimana who was once again tugging at his top. He ran a shaking hand over the little girl’s hair, looked back up, and sighed softly. “What about her, Jack? Shouldn’t she be weaned already? I don’t know what to do.”

“Do you trust me, cariad?” Jack asked.

Ianto stared at Jack. What kind of question was that? Of course, he trusted Jack. “You know I do,” he murmured. He freed a hand from where he was holding Aimana on his lap and reached out to cup Jack’s cheek in his hand. “Always have, always will.”

Jack smiled, turned his head and kissed Ianto’s palm. He reached past Ianto to grasp the burgundy velvet coverlet on the back of the office sofa. “Trust me and give me Aimana for a moment,” Jack half-asked, half-ordered while he draped the coverlet over Ianto. Accepting the toddler, who immediately began to put up a loud fuss, he spoke loud enough to be heard over the crying. “Take the askerketi and the asmaketi off. She’ll know what to do once you give her access to…”

“I don’t know if I…”

“Cariad,” Jack started, then stopped and took a breath. “In addition to feeding, it’ll comfort her. I know you don’t really want to, everything’s confused for you right now, but from what you’ve said to Kate and me about her, Aimana’s been traumatized enough. She’ll go through enough of an abrupt change once we find a way to give you back your proper body.” Jack looked away. When he looked back at him, Ianto could see the bright sheen of tears in Jack’s eyes. “Please, Ianto. For her?”

“Emotional blackmail,” Ianto muttered. He sighed, rose, and crossed the office to Kate, dragging the coverlet with him. He tossed the coverlet on the edge of the desk, tugged the blouse up and off and laid it on the desktop as well. Finally, he looked at Kate and, after biting his lip for a moment, turned his back to her. “Kate, could you…?” he trailed off and pointed at the ties for the top. “I don’t know how it was secured.”

“Sure, Ianto.”

“Thanks,” he murmured. He grabbed the coverlet. He shivered a bit as Kate’s cold fingers came in contact with his bare skin. As soon as the halter fell away to the floor, Ianto wrapped the coverlet around himself, covering everything, and crouched to grab up the halter. He tossed it onto the desk and swallowed. Taking several deep breaths, he turned back to Jack and started back across the room. He only managed one step before Kate caught his hand, stopping him. “What?” he snapped. “Sorry, I’m a bit…”

“It’s okay,” Kate murmured. “I understand the snapping. For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing the right thing.”

“I’m freaking out here, Kate,” Ianto replied. He shook his head and rejoined Jack on the sofa. “There are so many ways this could go horribly wrong, Jack. Starting with are we even certain this body can do this?”

As soon he was seated, Jack was tugging the coverlet loose. They struggled a bit with it, to the apparent delight of Kate if her giggles were any indication. Jack finally resorted to a totally unfair move and plopped Aimana in Ianto’s lap as a distraction. Letting go of the coverlet, which fell down about his waist, Ianto glared up at Jack for a moment even as he shifted Aimana closer to his body to be certain she didn’t fall onto the floor.

“Jack!” he hissed. “That was dangerous. I could have drop…. Oh!” he gasped, startled, and stared down at Aimana. Ianto stared at the little girl in his lap, her face pressed close to his body with her eyes closed while one hand pressed against his breast. The initial shock slowly faded morphing into an almost emotional euphoria. It confused him. As strange as it was to be doing this, it felt right in some bizarre way. He barely registered Jack pulling the coverlet back up to tuck it around them both. “Um… I guess that answered that question,” he said in a bit of a daze. All he could do was stare down at the little girl in his lap. A soft laugh, and Jack’s hand closing his mouth, brought Ianto out of his initial daze. He blinked a few times, shook his head, and sighed softly. “What do we do now?” he asked.

“That’s why we’re in here rather than the conference room,” Kate murmured. “I want to tell you what I discovered so you and Jack if you want to discuss it with him, can decide what is told to the rest of the team when the full debriefing is done.” She shifted the stack of papers she held, almost waving them at Ianto, and nodded to him. “Most of this concerns your physical changes, not the emotional trauma you’re going through or how it will affect you and all the children, including Aimana.” She dropped the papers into her lap. “Since you brought it up earlier, I should ask if you want Jack here for this.”

“I…” Ianto closed his eyes, leant his head back, and blinked away tears. He was so confused, so overwhelmed, and that was before he discovered he could apparently nurse Jack’s eighteen month old daughter. All he wanted to do was see his other kids before finding a deep dark hole, curling up in it, and not coming out until he was a man again. He sniffled and straightened, risking a glance to one side at Jack, and finally nodded. “Yeah, you were right. I’m not dealing well.” He freed an arm from around Aimana and reached out to Jack. “Don’t leave me,” he whispered. He put all his desperation to be accepted by Jack in his words and hoped his husband understood. “Please, don’t leave me.”

“Never,” Jack murmured. There was fervency in his voice. A determination that made the word seem more like a vow than a reassurance. Jack’s arms wrapped around him and Aimana and clutched at him. He buried his face in Ianto’s neck, whispering, “Always and forever, Ianto, remember. Not even this will drive me away from you because you’re still you regardless of what you look like.”

Held tightly against Jack, Ianto found himself bursting into tears. He twisted a bit, wrapping his arm tighter around Aimana so she wouldn’t fall, and turned his head to hide in Jack’s neck. He struggled between harsh sobbing and deep breaths, emotionally overwhelmed, and just clung to Jack with his other arm. “Jack. Jack. Tell me this is a nightmare,” he begged. “Can you do that, Jack? Tell me this is a horrid nightmare. Tell me I’ll wake up anytime now safe in our bed.”

“I can’t,” Jack murmured. He swayed softly, stroking his hand over Ianto’s braid, and humming softly. “I wish I could, baby, but I can’t.”

“What did you call me?” Ianto slowly pulled away from Jack to stare at his husband. He was still crying, still upset, but Jack didn’t just say what Ianto thought he said, did he?

“Baby,” Jack replied, confused. “I called you baby, baby.”

He had. Ianto growled softly, leant back and slapped Jack. “I may be a woman at the moment, but I am not a baby. Do not ever call me that again.”

“I’ll remember that, cariad.” Jack rubbed his cheek with his hand. If there was one thing that hadn’t changed, it was Ianto’s right hook. Even a simple slap was enough to knock Jack off balance. If he’d had any doubts at all over whether this petite beauty was Ianto, that hit was more than enough to knock them right out of his head. “I’m sorry, Ianto.”

Ianto dropped his head, nodding. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he said softly. A tiny laugh escaped him. “She went to sleep. How she could sleep through my crying on and hitting you, I may never know.”

“Some children can sleep through anything.” Jack reached out and stroked Aimana’s hair where the little girl rested against Ianto’s body. He was very careful not to touch Ianto, not certain if the caress he wanted to give would be welcome. “I suspect that may have been how I got her away from the Agency.” He looked up at his mate, hope in his eyes. “May I, Ianto?” he asked, nodding toward the toddler.

Ianto blinked. He was used to Jack just taking Misha from him on the rare occasions that his daughter would fall asleep when they read together. He just stared at Jack for several long moments, weighing what he saw in Jack’s eyes and the emotions he felt from his husband, and finally, he nodded. “Go ahead,” he murmured. He smiled at the excitement that lit Jack’s eyes as the man reached eagerly for Aimana. He bit his inner lower lip and buried his urge to flinch as the backs of Jack’s fingers brushed over the skin of his newly acquired breasts. “I’m going to put that top… what did you call it?”

“Askerketi,” Jack murmured absently. “It’s called an askerketi. I don’t recommend putting the asmaketi, the underblouse, back on until it can be cleaned.” He cradled Aimana in his arms for a long moment and buried his nose in her hair, breathing deeply of her baby scent. He slid off the sofa, laid her where he’d been sitting, and stretched out an arm to attempt to grab his greatcoat from the stand where it hung. Jack craned harder but his fingers barely brushed the wool. He didn’t want to move in case Aimana rolled off the sofa in her sleep. “Kakapmak,” he muttered.

“That sounds bad, Jack,” Ianto murmured. He stepped between Jack and the coat rack, lifted the greatcoat down and offering it to Jack. “Should I remind you about your language in front of the children?”

Jack laughed for barely a moment, taking the coat and draping it over Aimana. He looked up at Ianto and sucked in a sharp breath. “Ilâherica, Ianto, you look…” he trailed off, swallowed hard, and lifted his gaze to meet Ianto’s. “Hayreterici, bensevgili.” He just couldn’t stop staring at Ianto in that traditional bridal outfit. The pleating and embroidery on the bodice of the sheer askerketi gave just hints of his full breasts before spilling over his stomach. The shadows of his navel drew Jack’s attention to the low slung pants clinging to the curve of Ianto’s hips. Jack licked his lips. He forced his gaze to return to Ianto’s face, seeing the blush now darkening the high cheekbones, and again licked his lips. “I don’t mean to embarrass you, cariad, but seeing you dressed like this…” Jack trailed off, shaking his head as he couldn’t explain himself. He looked away as Ianto grabbed the coverlet and wrapped it around his body again.

Ianto huddled in a corner of the sofa. He wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his cheek on his knees. He was torn between conflicting impulses. Part of him wanted to cling to Jack, wrap himself in Jack’s arms, and let his husband defend him from everything. Another part was totally freaked out by the fact that he’d initially enjoyed those moments when Jack had stared so frankly at his body before he remembered that it wasn’t his body, but a totally different one. A third part was screaming at him for hiding from Jack, for being a coward and not facing this difficulty head on. Ianto squeezed his eyes shut. He let the initial tears flow for a few moments before freeing one hand to brush them away. He was so much more than this; he had to believe that. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his head to face Kate while reaching out to Jack. As soon as his husband’s fingers wrapped around his, Ianto clutched them tightly. “Alright Kate, talk to us,” he ordered, softly.

Chapter Two

“Where do you want to start?”

Jack manfully hid his wince as Ianto’s hold tightened on his hand. No denying that Ianto’s female body was strong. He was actually worried that Ianto might break his fingers if he kept this clutching up; however, it seemed to be helping his mate, and so he wouldn’t say a word. Instead he waited, but when Ianto didn’t say a word, he took control of the situation. “Start with Aimana. I suspect her situation is easier to explain, yes?”

A pair of relieved sighs slipped from the other adults in the room. Ianto flashed Jack a smile before refocusing on Kate who was flipping through her pages. Separating some out of the stack, she neatened the rest and started to set them aside. “Ianto, do you have some spare folders?” she asked. “I wanted to get up here quickly and forgot them.”

“Should be some on the right of the desk under that round gray thing Owen found a while back,” Ianto replied. “It’s inert and makes a good paperweight.”

“And you complained about me doing that,” Jack teased. He saw Ianto shiver despite the coverlet enveloping him and gently freed himself from Ianto’s hold. His mate looked up, panic in his eyes, but he just smiled reassuringly down at him. “Shh, I’m just turning the heat up in here. You’re cold.”

“A bit,” Ianto conceded. “You always used supposedly deactivated weapons for paperweights. Weapons that turned out to not be deactivated after all remember? At least I pick bits of tech that look intriguing but Tosh can promise me don’t do anything.”

“It was one time. One!” Jack protested. He came back to the sofa and resumed his seat on the edge by Aimana. “That was Gwen’s fault anyway. She’s the one who knocked it off the desk in a fit of anger.”

“You left it on the edge where it could fall.”

“I did not! That was you,” Jack retorted. “If I remember correctly, you shoved it over to the edge when I…”

A sound of a throat being cleared interrupted Jack’s moment of reminiscence. Both of them turned toward Kate and Jack smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Kate,” he said. “I take it you’re ready now?”

“Yes, but I have to say it was nice to see that.” Kate resumed her seat, laid Ianto’s folder aside, and flipped open the other. “Before we get going, what is her name going to be? I assume you two will be keeping her.”

“Of course, we’re keeping her,” Ianto snapped. “She’s Jack’s daughter. Those should tell you that!” he pointed at the folder in her hands. “Her name is Aimana Rhosyn Morgana Harkness-Jones. Tosh will work up and bury all the appropriate paperwork to make her our daughter.”

“Rhosyn? Morgana?” Jack asked quietly. “I don’t… well, we only ever used first names.”

Ianto bowed his head for a moment. He reached up and rubbed at his eyes again. He was never this emotional. Must be a woman thing; only logical explanation for him wanting to cry all the time. “The woman who healed me, she didn’t survive it. In fact, I believe this is her body for the most part. Her name meant ‘month of roses’. I asked. And the one who helped me after and found the outfit, hers meant ‘ocean’. So, Rhosyn which is modern Welsh for rose and Morgana which is…”

“Born of the sea,” Kate murmured. “You named her for those who helped you.”

“I won’t let them, especially the healer, be forgotten,” Ianto murmured. “Apparently the injury I had was so completely fatal as to erase me from time…”

“Cinselişki!” Jack cursed viciously. He grabbed Ianto with both hands and clutched him close. He buried his face in the mass of Ianto’s hair, whimpering softly. “Ben edememek hebatmek sen, bensevgili.”

Ianto squirmed to free his hands from beneath the tight hold Jack had on him. He wrapped his arms around his husband, threading his fingers through Jack’s hair. “Shh,” Ianto murmured. “I’m here, m’gwr. I’m here and safe.” Despite his misgivings, he knew the best way to get through to Jack. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and tightened his hold on Jack’s hair. He tugged hard, pulling his husband’s head up, and tilted his head. It took him a moment to figure out the best method, finally resorting to pulling Jack down to him while he leaned up into Jack’s body. “I promise, m’gwr. I’m here and never leaving you,” he murmured, his lips brushing over Jack’s before he pressed them hard against his husband’s mouth.

Jack froze. Ianto had just a moment to worry he was doing the wrong thing before Jack’s hand cupped the back of his head and held him still. With quick darting flicks of his tongue, Jack teased at Ianto’s mouth until a soft moan slipped from his mate. Taking advantage of the reaction, he deepened the kiss, twining his tongue with his mate’s. Jack groaned, sliding a hand down Ianto’s back, and wrapped his arm around Ianto’s waist. He pulled Ianto closer, ignored the strangeness of having soft curves pressing against him, and deepened the kiss further. Small hands pressed against his shoulders, a fearful whimper escaped from his mate, and Jack instantly broke the kiss.

“Cariad?” he asked softly. “You alright? I didn’t hurt you?” He watched Ianto intently and slumped in relief when Ianto shook his head.

“No. It’s just so different… overwhelming.” Ianto looked away and again wrapped himself tight in the coverlet. “I was frightened,” he murmured. Another soft, almost helpless noise escaped from him. He blinked several times in a vain attempt not to cry again. “I don’t like being afraid of you, Jack.”

“Hey,” Jack murmured. He reached out and cupped Ianto’s cheek in his hand. “You’ve been changed so completely without your permission. It’s alright to be frightened. Just don’t shut me, bensevgili. Everything at your pace, okay?”

“Okay.” Ianto nodded. He took a deep breath and smiled. “Thank you, Jack.” He tilted his head a bit, blushing, and asked, “That word, bensevgili, what does it mean? Context would suggest it’s an endearment.”

“Oh, you are good.” Jack grinned happily. “It’s bizimlisan and means my beloved.” He stroked Ianto’s cheek with his fingers before he dropped his hand. “Which is exactly what you are, my Ianto.”

Ianto sighed softly. He grabbed Jack’s hand, again clutching it tightly, and turned his head to consider the silently watching Kate. “I think we’re done, Kate, and you can start.”

“Jack had it right,” Kate began. “Everything that happens from now on needs to go at your pace. If things get too much, it stops.” She gave him a hard look. “That is my advice as both your doctor and your friend.”

“Kate….” Ianto considered her for a moment before he nodded. “Let’s get this done. I want to at least see the kids. I know they’re likely asleep, but I still want to see them.”

“They’re in the flat,” Jack acknowledged.

“Okay, about the new baby,” Kate began, again opening the folder she held. “As I told Ianto earlier, she’s about eighteen months old. She meets or exceeds all the standard tests for young children. She is tall for her age, but since you said she’s Jack’s that’s no real surprise. A little underweight, but that’s not a worry at the moment.” Kate flipped a page, looking up from her notes to smile at the scene before her. Ianto may not be comfortable with being a woman, but he still unconsciously sought comfort from Jack by leaning into his husband’s body. “She’ll need vaccinating…”

“Based on the bits of language she used, she’s from at least the fortieth century. They’ll have vaccinated her for everything from now and things that you wouldn’t even think of,” Jack protested. “She doesn’t need shots.”

“I don’t have a record of that. Nor am I chancing her catching smallpox or the measles just because you think she’s been vaccinated.” Kate pointed her pencil at Jack. “I’m the doctor, so she gets the shots just as Misha and Gray did.”

Jack looked between Ianto and Kate several times before sighing and nodding. “I don’t like it, but okay.” He used his free hand to stroke Aimana’s hair before tugging the coat up a bit higher around the baby’s neck. “Since we’re going to be actively looking for a way to get Ianto his proper body back, what about the nursing?”

“It’s up to you, Ianto, but I recommend continuing to nurse her but limiting it to bedtime and nap time.” She smiled at Ianto’s longsuffering look. “We start weaning her that way. She’s been through enough traumas that keeping the familiarity of being able to nurse will ease her adjustment to here. I know it’s a lot to ask, but…”

“It’s your recommendation,” Ianto murmured. He sighed and considered the baby. His thoughts swirled around in his head never settling and allowing him to make a decision. He remembered how she looked up at him with those huge blue eyes. So like Jack, those blue eyes, and Ianto looked up from the baby to look into Jack’s eyes. A tiny laugh escaped him. Jack was currently giving the same silently begging look his daughter had earlier. Shaking his head a tiny bit, he smiled. “I’ll do it,” he said. “As long as we start attempting to wean her right away, I’ll do it.”

“Thanks, cariad,” Jack murmured. Turning, he focused his attention on Kate again. “What about Ianto?” he asked.

Kate closed the folder on Aimana, set it aside and grabbed Ianto’s. “What order do you want things in?” she asked, flipping the cover open. “Or do I decide.”

“Kate…”

“Relax, Jack, there’s nothing wrong with Ianto.” Kate smiled at the relieved sigh that escaped from Jack which was almost immediately followed by a long-suffering eye roll from Ianto. “He’s a completely healthy twenty-four year old female.”

“Twenty-four!” Ianto hissed. “You’re telling me that I’m five years younger than I was this morning!”

“Calm down, cariad,” Jack soothed Ianto. “Don’t wake the baby.” He waited for Ianto to settle a bit before he nodded to Kate. “Please continue, Kate.”

“Before I begin, we’re going to be going into be going into some graphic gynecological details,” Kate said softly. “Do you still want Jack here for this?”

Ianto took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah,” he said, glancing over at Jack. “I’m more than a bit disturbed by this situation. Jack might think of things I wouldn’t to ask.” He snorted a laugh. “He’ll also remember things better than me at the moment, even if I am the one with the eidetic memory.”

“Alright. Let’s start with the easiest things and work to the hard and embarrassing ones,” Kate replied. “You’re perfectly healthy. You still have two hearts in good working order, lungs sound good, no signs of any blood disorders or anything genetic.” She turned a page and gave the men, couple, a soft smile. “I’ve already vaccinated you, just in case. I’ll space the injections out for Aimana, but you got’em all at once.”

“I know,” Ianto groused. He rubbed his free hand over his arm where she’d given him the shots. “I hate needles.”

Kate and Jack laughed for a bit and then Kate started her explanations again. “Now the embarrassing part, all those details of being a woman you really don’t want to hear.” Kate tugged a page from her stack, leant forward and offered it to him. She waited for him to take it, look, and blush brilliant red. If anything, Ianto blushed even redder now than he had when he was male. “Based on the blood work and the pelvic exam I did, you’re going to be starting your menstruation, the actual bleeding portion of your cycle, any time now. Certainly tomorrow, if not tonight.”

Kate reached down, grabbed a bag Ianto hadn’t seen her bring in, and handed it to him. Ianto peered in and whimpered at the contents. “Kate…” he whined. He then sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know if I can…”

“Cariad,” Jack murmured. He reached over and cupped Ianto’s chin in his fingers. He turned his mate to face him. “I’ll help you. I know a bit about this.”

“It’s so embarrassing.”

“I know, bensevgili,” Jack replied. He squeezed Ianto’s hand. “I know.”

“We all hate it, Ianto.” Kate chuckled softly. “It’s one of the hazards of being a woman.” She flipped through the pages again, nodded, and closed the folder. “A few final things and then, as both your doctor and your friend, I recommend you going up to bed. Leave the debriefing for tomorrow. Preferably after lunch, so you can get enough rest.”

“Jack?” Ianto asked. He didn’t know what to do. Normally he’d just accept whatever Kate recommended, but he just wasn’t certain of his ability to make decisions at the moment. “Do you…”

“Good idea, Kate,” Jack interrupted. “After we’re done, tell the team to go ahead and go. We’ll see you all about noon tomorrow. Ask Tosh to call the Doctor, ask him in. He’ll likely have a few ideas on how to fix this, if it can be fixed, that we wouldn’t think of.”

“Of course, Jack.” Kate nodded. “Three last things to deal with. First, after the debriefing, Tosh and I will take you out and do some shopping. You won’t fit into either of our things and you definitely need a bra.” She refrained from laughing at how quickly Ianto nodded in response. “Second, it’s time for your Doctor Butler to earn his consultancy fees. I think you need to bring him in, both to counsel you and the children. You’re change isn’t going to be easy on them either.” She took a deep breath. She knew he wouldn’t like what she had to say next, but as his doctor, it had to be said. “Final thing, I want to start you on the Pill. Now’s the ideal time as you…”

“No!” Ianto leapt to his feet. “Oh, no! No! No!” He whirled about, glared between Kate and Jack, and repeated again. “No! I’m not going to be like this long enough for that to be a concern. Jack will fix it!”

"Ianto, sit. Listen. This is you and Jack. We all know how you two are and we have no idea how long you're going to be like this. We might get very lucky and find something tomorrow. Or it could be months. Perhaps years before we can..." She trailed off and held up a hand forestalling his next protest before he could even start to speak it. "Don't interrupt; you have to think of these things regardless of how you feel right now. If you are female for any length of time you need to consider birth control. I sincerely doubt you two will be able to keep your hands off each other for very long. Especially since Jack's all but sitting on his hands now to keep from touching you."

“No, Kate,” Ianto repeated. He dropped on the sofa again, wrapping his arms and the coverlet around himself. “Just no. It won’t be an issue…” A surge of surprised pain echoed through his bonds to Jack. He looked over at his husband, saw the look in Jack’s eyes, and sighed. “If we do have sex, there are other methods.” He slowly reached for Jack’s hand and held it. “Okay? I need to believe we’re going to fix this sooner rather than later. I need to believe that, Jack or I’ll fall apart completely.”

“Okay,” Jack agreed. He lifted Ianto’s hand, turned it, and kissed the inner pulse point. Still holding Ianto’s hand, he looked over at Kate. “Anything else, Kate?”

“No, that’s everything.” She grabbed the folders, stacked them together, and rose. She crossed the room and hugged Jack. She started to reach for Ianto, stopped, and waited for him to nod before hugging him, too. “I’ll tell the team to leave. Both of you get some rest. Doctor’s orders.”

Ianto watched Kate leave the office. She took the time to close the door behind her again. He rose to his feet again, pacing as he listened to her talk to the team, and gave a long heartfelt sigh when he heard the cog door alarm. Soon silence fell in the Hub. Ianto turned to Jack. “Please, please, can we go see the kids? I need to see the kids, Jack. Please.”

Chapter Three

“Feel better?” Jack asked, looking up from where he was settling Aimana in Misha’s old toddler bed. “Now that you’ve seen the kids, I mean.”

“A bit,” Ianto replied. He shrugged one shoulder before sighing and pulling the coverlet back up to cover himself. “Gray wasn’t completely asleep. We talked…”

“How did he take it?”

“Surprisingly well,” Ianto answered. He crossed the room to climb up onto the bed. He rolled his eyes as again the blouse pulled beneath him. It was amazingly uncomfortable to sit on. Inching up a bit, he pulled the fabric from beneath him and sat again. “How do women do this?” he muttered, glaring at the extra fabric. He looked up at Jack. “I’m not sure he really understood, but he accepted it. Do you think the kids will understand? That they can handle it?” Ianto rubbed a hand over his face. “I know Misha’s seen a lot since I adopted her, but this is more than she’s…”

“They’re resilient, intelligent kids, bensevgili,” Jack interrupted. “They’ll be able to handle it. I’m certain we’ll soon hear them saying Andy, and all of Cardiff’s, favorite phrase.”

“Bloody Torchwood.”

“Bloody Torchwood, indeed.” Jack grinned merrily for a moment. Then he sobered. “Ianto, cariad, talk to me. What’s going on in that mind of yours? You’re blocking me out from everything but the most minimal of links. It’s scaring me.”

“Scaring you,” Ianto snapped. He flung the coverlet off, spread his arms, and hissed, “Look at me, Jack. I’m a tiny woman with a chest that Tommy couldn’t seem to stop staring at while Owen looked like if Kate wasn’t there he’d have been pinching my arse.” He flung himself to his feet. “I’m not me anymore, Jack! What happens if we can’t fix it? What if I’m like this for eternity? Will you…?” he clapped a hand over his mouth to stop the words and, whimpering, shook his head.

"Will I stop loving you? Will I stop caring about my partner, the father of my children? What the hell goes on in that head of yours, Ianto Harkness-Jones?” Jack stared at Ianto in total disbelief. He couldn’t believe that his mate could think of him like that. “Do you think I'm that shallow?"

"But I'm not Ianto Jones anymore!"

"Of course you are. You're just as much you inside your head as you were before this happened. I love you Ianto Harkness-Jones. I don't care what you look like...” Jack trailed off. He knew that look. It was strange to see the patented Ianto Jones sarcastic eyebrow rise on the delicate features of a woman, but it still worked on him. “All right, don't give me that look, but I find you sexy now and I will find you sexy if we ever get old and gray!" He rose to his feet, stalked around the bed, and grabbed Ianto’s arms. “I'm not letting you get away with that this time, cariad. I don't know how, but I'm going to get into your head that I love you no matter what you look like. I'm going to make you understand how important you are to me."

"But!” Ianto interrupted. “Jack... I... I'm not me. I don't know what I am, but I'm not me!"

"Your body is different, Ianto,” Jack replied. “Your mind... your soul are the same. Are you the man who loved Lisa so much you moved heaven and earth to save her? Are you the man who stuck to me through an eternity? Are you the Time Lord whose Tardis chose him as her partner to create a new Universe?” Jack almost chuckled at the shock on Ianto’s face. If the situation wasn’t so serious, he likely would have done just that, laughed at the shock written so plainly on Ianto’s face. “What? You didn't think I knew that? Ianto, I was the Face of Boe. I lived through the life cycle of a Universe. Did you think I wouldn't know? And I still came home to you, bensevgili.” He paused and shook Ianto just a bit. “To you, m’cariad. I came back to you."

“Jack…”

“Canımsın. Bensevgilin,” Jack murmured. He stroked Ianto’s cheek. “Benherşeysen.”

Ianto stared at Jack. The soft words combined with his husband’s tender expression and the love that echoed through their deepest links finally broke his control. A harsh sob escaped from him as he flung himself at Jack, wrapping his arms around the other man’s neck and clinging for all he was worth.

Jack caught Ianto easily. He wrapped an arm around his mate’s back, just below his shoulders, and bent, sweeping his other arm beneath Ianto’s legs to lift him from the floor. Carrying Ianto in his arms, he returned their bed, sat, and settled him in his lap. He held Ianto close, stroking his back with one hand, while his mate sobbed for all he was worth.

Ianto cried himself into hiccups. He rubbed his face against Jack’s shoulder, sniffling, and slowly sat back. He left his arms around Jack and took as deep a breath as he could around the hiccups. “I must look a mess.”

“You look beautiful.”

“Flatterer,” Ianto snarked. “I’m tearstained, blotchy, and goosepimply from the cold. How could that be beautiful…?”

“Because it’s you,” Jack replied. “You are always beautiful to me, Ianto.” He sighed softly. “And, I hate to say it, but if you don’t want to know exactly how beautiful I think this version of you is, you might want to get up.”

Ianto blinked, thought, and then began to laugh softly. He cupped Jack’s cheek in his hand, stroked his thumb over his husband’s lips, and leant forward to kiss him for just a moment. “I’m sorry I can’t just…” he trailed off, took another breath, and let it out slowly. “I can’t just jump back into bed with you. I need to get my real body back or truly know there’s no going back first.” He licked his lips and dropped his gaze for a moment. “Can you accept that, Jack? Can you wait for me?”

“I can,” Jack replied with one of his big, all-encompassing grins. “As long as you promise me you won’t flinch away every time I touch you. That hurts so much, Ianto. Like you’re rejecting me, us, and I…”

“Then help me, m’gwr,” Ianto interrupted. “Help me get used to you touching me now.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Jack murmured. He caught Ianto around the waist and lifted him up to set him on his feet. “Someday, I would love…” he trailed off with a shake of his head. No sense in wishing for something that likely would never occur. “I know you won’t understand, and I promise to not do a thing you don’t want, but will you do something for me, cariad?”

“I guess,” Ianto shrugged. “What do you want me to do?”

“Let me undress you.” Jack rose, stepped behind Ianto, and rested his hands on Ianto’s shoulders. He stroked his hands down Ianto’s arms before lifting one to point at the mirror over the dresser opposite them. “Seeing you dressed like this, in the kirmigelinlik,” Jack sighed, tilting his head to press a gentle kiss to Ianto’s temple. “It’s too complicated to explain, just know it’s something I never expected to ever see again, especially on you. And I want…”

“Go ahead, Jack,” Ianto whispered. “You don’t need to explain.”

“Thank you,” Jack breathed. He lifted his hands to Ianto’s shoulders again. He rubbed his thumbs alongside his mate’s spine. Jack took a deep breath, pressing his cheek to the high ponytail forming the base of Ianto’s braid, and stroked his hands down again. He clasped Ianto’s hands in his; lifting them up to link behind his neck, and ordered, “Keep your hands there for a moment.”

“Okay,” Ianto breathed. He couldn’t take his gaze from the image in the mirror. Jack, in his usual dark blue shirt and deep gray trousers looked a bit like a vampire from an old silent movie. All that was missing was the cape. A tiny giggle escaped him. The giggle exploded into full laughter when Jack nuzzled his neck and lightly nipped with his teeth. Jack’s own laughter soon joined his own. It felt surprisingly good to laugh. He sobered as he considered his new body properly for the first time. He was definitely short. No, petite, that was a much better word. He was petite. Jack towered over him now. That was disturbing.

“Not disturbing, Ianto,” Jack murmured. His hands came to rest on Ianto’s stomach. He started gathering up the sheer fabric of the askerketi in his hands, pleating it between his fingers, and twisted his head to press a kiss to Ianto’s temple. “Easy for me to carry you. Perhaps one day you’ll let me show you just one advantage of a strong man having a petite girlfriend,” he whispered in Ianto’s ear. He lifted his head and pulled the top up and over Ianto’s head and arms. Jack tossed the top onto the back of the armchair by the bed, clasped Ianto’s wrists in his hands, and wrapped both their arms around his mate. “So beautiful.”

Ianto shivered, swallowing hard, as his body pressed back against Jack’s. His husband ran his palms over Ianto’s stomach in a small circular pattern. Ianto found himself sucking in his breath and holding it every time those hands moved over his skin. This body seemed to find Jack just as sexy as the old one did. Ianto's thoughts were confused but his body was clear on what it wanted, and that just added to his confusion. It felt as if Jack's hands were communicating directly with Ianto's body, bypassing all conscious thought. It felt good, too good, and for a moment, Ianto could perceive a sliver of hope. He wasn't ready for more, but at least he knew his body still was. Surprised by the feelings Jack was invoking in him, he looked down at himself and blinked. “Um… Jack…”

“Yes, cariad?” Jack asked quietly. He edged his caresses lower, closer to the waist of the low slung paçalıffet, until he could slip the tips of his fingers beneath the fabric. “Talk to me.”

“I…” Ianto struggled with words and finally pointed at his breasts while blushing. The soft chuckle from Jack brought a pout to his lips. “Jack!”

“Relax, Ianto, its normal,” Jack replied, still chuckling. He stepped around Ianto to stand in front of him. He slid the pants and knickers from Ianto together, moving down onto his knees as he did so, and hummed his appreciation of the body now bared for him. He tapped Ianto’s ankle to get him to lift his foot so he could completely remove the clothing. He held the fabric in a tight ball in one hand and leant forward to press his lips to Ianto’s navel before he rose again. “Means you want me. Don’t you remember from…?”

“Enough, Jack,” Ianto snapped. His husband sounded far too proud of the fact that his touch was arousing him. “I’m not normally on this side of seducing a woman.”

“I’m sorry,” Jack leant down and kissed Ianto briefly. “I didn’t think.” He tossed the last of the clothes onto the chair and considered his mate for a long moment. “I say it again, you are beautiful.” He caught the look, so insecure, on Ianto’s face and reached out to cup Ianto’s cheek. “Pale skin, so soft to touch,” he purred. “Full breasts topped with pale pink nipples. I wish you were more comfortable because I’d love to suck them. I bet I could make you squirm and beg just from that.” He reached out a hand, rested it on Ianto’s side and rubbed his thumb along the underside of one breast. “Long legs I would love to feel wrapped around me.” He sighed wistfully. “And that’s not even counting your hair.”

“My hair?” Ianto asked confused. “What about my hair?”

“Soon, Ianto, I’ll tell you.” Jack took a step closer, breathed deeply of his mate’s scent, and smirked. “Will you want something to sleep in tonight?”

Ianto cocked his head to one side, thinking, and then nodded. “Please.” He blushed as his thoughts drifted back to things Kate mentioned in the office. “I need to…” he trailed off and nodded toward the bathroom.

“Go on. I’ll bring you something to wear.” Jack smiled, watched Ianto turn and start away from him, and the smile soon deepened into a wide grin. “Forgot to mention something… you have one lovely arse and a fascinating walk. That braid is a quite the tease, cariad.”

Ianto felt himself blush scarlet. He glared over his shoulder at Jack. “Oh, you are a right bastard sometimes, Jack Harkness!”

“You love me anyway,” Jack replied.

“You know it.” Ianto pointed at the dresser. “Clothes for me, please?” he ordered, stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind him. Once inside, he leaned on the sink, took several deep breaths, and closed his eyes. One thing was certain; it was going to be hard as hell not to fall into bed with Jack right away. A tap on the door interrupted his thoughts. Ianto cracked it open, smiled, and took the clothing offered to him. “Thanks, Jack.”

“No problem.” Jack watched the door close again. That bothered him. It felt like Ianto was hiding from him again, but they’d also made leaps and strides of progress in the short time they’d been in the flat. He thought for a moment and grinned. Kneeling on the floor, he reached beneath the bed for the trunk now stored there. It contained things from his old bunker which didn’t fit their house or the flat, yet Jack wasn’t yet willing to part with. Pulling it out, he opened it and rummaged about until he found the box containing the dresser set. That he set aside while he closed the trunk and pushed it back under the bed. Grabbing the box, he set it on the nightstand, and stripped off his own clothes. After a moment’s thought, Jack grabbed a pair of boxers and donned them before turning off all but the bedside lamp. A click from the direction of the bath had him turning and smiling. “Join me? I have a surprise for you.”

“Do you?” Ianto cautiously crossed the room. He yelped when Jack grabbed him, swung him up in his arms and dropped him on the bed. “Jack, not fair.”

Jack laughed. “But fun.” He climbed onto the bed behind Ianto, leant over and grabbed the brush from the box. “Remember I said I wasn’t counting your hair?”

“Yep.”

“This is why,” Jack murmured. “You have such beautiful hair. I know this is your hair because it’s the same exact shade as it was before you were changed. Just a hell of a lot more of it.” He lifted the braid in his hands and began to carefully unravel it. “Long, heavy, dark… it sets off your skin so beautifully. Someday, I hope you’ll let me see you, laid out on our bed with your hair spread about you on the pillows. But for now, I have something else I can do for you, something I hope you’ll let me do every night.”

“What’s that?” Ianto asked somewhat dreamily. He couldn’t believe it, but Jack was seducing him with his words. Yet, for all that verbal seduction, he kept backing off. Jack was respecting Ianto’s decision to hold off on true intimacy until they knew more. It amazed him. And made him feel so loved, wanted for himself, not his body or the amazing sex they always had together. “Jack, what can you do?”

“As much hair as you have, cariad,” Jack began. He finished unraveling the braid, wrapped his hand around the base of it, and gently tugged the anchoring tie loose. He continued to hold the ponytail in place and tossed all the ribbons onto the bedside table. He stretched a bit more, grabbed the scrunchie he swiped from Misha’s stash when they’d first arrived in the flat, and grabbed the hairbrush. Turning back to Ianto, he removed his hand and let all of Ianto’s hair fall into a puddle in his lap. “You won’t be able to sleep with it loose. So, I can do this for you, brush it out and loosely braid it so you can sleep without getting tangled in it or pulling it.” He suited action to words, lifting a section of Ianto’s hair and slowly pulling the brush through it. He smiled at the soft sigh that slipped from his mate’s lips.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Ianto murmured. It wasn’t until now, with the weight of the braid removed from the top of his head that he realized just how heavy his hair was now. “I should get it cut.”

“Don’t.” Jack leaned around to face Ianto. “Please, don’t.”

Ianto considered Jack for a long moment. Then he reached up and rested his hand on Jack’s neck. He stroked the other man’s pulse with his thumb, considering, and asked, “Promise you’ll do this every night?”

“Every night,” Jack replied with a smile. “Our own special thing.”

“Then I won’t.” He smiled back. Then ruined the moment with a yawn. “Sorry. I think it’s all catching up with me. And we have no idea when Aimana will be up.”

“Knowing our luck, the crack of dawn,” Jack replied. He went back to his task, taking delight in every soft sigh and moan as he slowly, painstakingly brushed his mate’s hair. Finally, after several long minutes, he was as certain as he could be that the mass was detangled and he set the brush aside on the bedside table. Now, Jack set to braiding the strands. It had been years, but he still remembered just the right tension to use to have the braid tight enough to hold while being loose enough not to cause tension on the scalp. Finished, he wrapped the scrunchie around the end of the braid before embracing Ianto. “Ready to sleep, bensevgili?”

“Hmm… yeah…” Ianto murmured. “I’m exhausted. And not just physically.” He twisted in Jack’s very loose hold, turning about to kneel in front of his husband, and smiled. He kissed Jack. A light kiss that soon turned passionate, finally breaking it when he needed to breathe again. “I love you, Jack. Never forget that. I love you so much, even more now when you are accepting my requests so easily.”

“It’s not easy,” Jack replied. “But it’s what you need.” He reached around, pulled the covers back and patted the bed. “Lay down, cariad,” he ordered. “Time to sleep.” He waited for Ianto to settle in the bed, reached over and turned the lamp off before using his wriststrap to activate the alien nightlight they’d long ago installed for Misha only to stop using it when she’d gotten her own room in the flat. Now they could use it to keep an eye on Amiana. He craned his neck to see the toddler and nodded to himself.

“Still asleep then?”

“Yeah. Which is something you need to be doing.” Jack lay down and reached toward Ianto. He bit his lip, torn between spooning up to Ianto like he always did and giving his mate space. The decision was taken from him when Ianto twisted around, pushed him down onto his back, and curled up against his side.

Ianto rested his head on Jack’s shoulder, brought his hand up and caught Jack’s in his, entwining their fingers. He sighed and stroked Jack’s wedding ring with his thumb. “I miss my ring,” he murmured as sleep finally claimed him.

“I’ll replace it, cariad. I promise,” Jack whispered, kissing Ianto’s temple. It was a much longer time before he too drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Four

Deeply asleep, Ianto twisted against Jack’s body. His fingers tightened around Jack’s hand. His eyes moved rapidly behind closed lids. A whimper escaped his lips. And he dreamed…

Ianto squinted against the brilliant light coming from the paired stars glimmering in the blue-white sky. At his feet, harsh sand stretched toward the horizon where it blended into the shimmering waves. It was hot. In the same way that deserts were hot. If it wasn’t for that double sun gracing the sky, he expected to turn around and find the pyramids behind him. “Where the hell am I?”

“Yarımadalı,” a softly accented female voice came from behind him. Slowly, Ianto turned, his hand reaching for a gun he didn’t have, and he blinked at the woman standing before him. She reminded him of his new body. Same curves, same long hair pulled back in a tight braid, but the clothing was different. She wore a deep sea green pants set somewhat similar to what he’d worn back home. “In a bit more than a century, a small human colony will begin just over there…” she raised a hand and pointed over his shoulder.

Turning, Ianto raised a hand to shade his eyes. As he watched, a medium sized ship landed on a peninsula of sand. People spilled from doors, shouting excitedly and dancing about, before settling into unloading the ship. They cannibalized the ship, reworking it to build their settlement.

Ianto had the incongruous thought that it looked a bit like something designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He almost chuckled, but refrained as his hand was taken by the woman’s. One moment they were on the far side of the settlement, the next they were in the middle. People moved around them, rushing about to set up the colony. Everything was so brown, drab almost, and all work. Yet for all that they seemed happy. Soon the adults were joined by children, released from school, if the bags on their shoulders were any evidence.

Ianto smiled at two children, rushing hand in hand across a square toward a particular building. There was something familiar about the boy. The girl he ran with, only recognizable as a girl from the long braid, was talking excitedly about a party. The boy promised to join her at the party. Quite daring, the boy kissed the girl’s cheek, grinning impishly as he ran away from her. Ianto shook his head at the antics. They reminded him of Jack.

Again the scene changed. Now they were at the party. Held in the square, no longer the dusty drab place of the day, but brilliantly lit with overhanging lights. The drab clothing had mostly disappeared. The men’s clothing was still simple, an echo of the garb from earlier, but the women. Oh, they were glorious. He didn’t know where to look first. From the couple sitting on a raised platform, she in brilliant red with golden jewelry, to the little girls rushing about in colorful skirts and long blouses, they’d been transformed into a sea of beauty. Ianto didn’t know where to look first, but his eyes soon found the children from that morning. The boy, still in the heavy drab clothing he’d worn escorting the girl home, was smiling, his hand held out to the same girl, who now wore a brilliant red and yellow outfit. Bracelets clattered on her wrists and belled chains wrapped around her ankles. The girl considered the boy for several minutes before taking what he was offering her, a beaded necklace that she wrapped around her neck.

Time shifted again, as Ianto watched, the children grew, changed, but always the necklace was wrapped around her neck and he seemed to be grinning Jack’s grin every time Ianto saw him. Soon, the children were grown and took their place as the honored couple on the platform. Ianto edged his way through the audience, leading the woman who’d brought him there by the hand, and tilted his head. The girl, now a woman, wore the outfit he’d had on when he’d returned to Torchwood. Brilliant red, the long tunic top both concealed and revealed while the pants preserved her modesty. Music sounded from behind him, and he turned his back to the couple watching as other young adults gathered around the fountain to rhythmic drumming. A circle dance, the same one that Gray convinced Jack to do at the wedding, began. Winding about the fountain, the young adults sang and danced, soon joined by other adults. While the dancing provided cover, the couple slipped away.

Ianto had only a moment to gasp in surprise before the scene shifted again. Now they were in a bedroom. He started to glare at his guide, but she only pointed at the scene. Resigned to feeling like a voyeur, Ianto watched as the young man paced back and forth before being shoved from the room by several older women leaving the young woman alone. Now he recognized the events occurring as the youngest woman was supported by the others, screaming and grunting as she delivered her child. The babe was cleaned, cuddled, and allowed to nurse while the older women cleaned the younger insuring all had gone well with the delivery. Only after the baby had finished its first meal was the young man allowed back into the room. Words were spoken, too soft for Ianto to hear, and the baby handed over to be shown off to the other men of the community.

“Why are you showing me this?” he asked the woman by his side. He turned and looked at her. “I don’t understand.”

“A little under a quarter century after the colony was founded, it was attacked,” she said instead of directly answering. She waved a hand and the scene changed again. They were back on the beach, but now instead of the peaceful beach he’d first seen it was full of panicking people – men, women, children – running toward the scrubland further inland. “This attack set into motion the events which brought you to me, IantoEmrys,” she said to him. “But that wasn’t the only reason I brought you here. You needed to understand…”

“This is Jack’s home?” Ianto turned in a circle, staring at the devastation, and shook his head. Then his mind flashed over the images of the couple she’d shown him. The moments from their life together and how familiar the man had seemed to him. “That couple… Jack’s parents? That was their wedding wasn’t it? And why Jack was so intent on that outfit I was wearing…” Ianto shoved his hand through his hair. “Why show me this?”

“So, are you finally going to listen to me again?” Eirian spoke. She was laughing at him. He could feel it through his connection to her. “You needed to know where he came from. This,” her hand waved at the devastated colony. “He came from this… and I know some of the customs you saw were familiar to you… Jack may not remember all the details of this life thanks to that bộnhớănmụt which attacked you in the first universe, but he remembers enough to influence his interactions with you.”

“I always listen to you,” Ianto protested. He yelped and rubbed his head when she smacked the back of it. He considered what he’d see and nodded. “You don’t want me upsetting Jack by brushing off things that he wants to do or indeed does because of his childhood.”

“I knew you were smart,” she replied. “You’ve been blocking me. Why?”

“I’m an idiot?” Ianto chuckled and wrapped his arms around himself. At least here, in his dreams, he was still himself, still male. For now, at least, he was. “I was frightened, Eirian. So, I did the stupid thing and blocked all the links I had. I’m sorry.”

“Probably,” she conceded. “At least your moments of idiocy are few and far between, unlike Theta who seemed to just always run right into danger.” She shook her head with a remembering laugh. “Are you ready to listen now?” Eirian asked.

“Yeah.”

“What you look like does not matter in the larger plan,” Eirian said. She considered him for a moment and with an abrupt blink they were no longer on the beach, but instead in the deep vaults of Torchwood where her console rested. She leant back against the railing that encircled the console and nodded to him. “Who you are and what you can do very much matter. Do you understand that?”

“It matters to me,” Ianto protested. He sat on the small set of stairs that led from the main floor to the console and rested his arms on his knees. He lowered his head to rest his cheek on his arms, turning his face so he could watch her while he spoke. “It matters to me, but I’ll trust you, Eirian.”

“You will learn differently when you have grown into wisdom,” she came over and sat beside him. Her arm wrapped around his shoulders. She hugged him. The embrace was a confusing blend of motherly comfort and lover’s caress. “Whether you are male or female, that is just appearance. It is your heart, your soul, which matters.” Her lips pressed against his temple. “Trust, IantoEmrys. Trust me, your grandfather, your friends, your children, and most of all, trust your husband. He’s the keystone to all of us.”

“My Jack is the key?” he asked dazedly. He stared at Eirian, but his Tardis just smiled an enigmatic smile. “You are impersonating the Mona Lisa with that smile, Eirian. I suppose you’re going to tell me Grandfather’s favorite word rather than answering.”

“It is a good word which people of your time understand,” she replied. She rose to her feet and offered him a hand. When he took it, she pulled him up beside her. “Spoilers, IantoEmrys. I can’t tell you more. Not yet. You have to make your own choices now.” She rested her hands on his chest, one over each of his hearts, and smiled up at him.

Ianto found himself brushing his fingers over her cheek, tempted by her, and returned her smile. Leaning down just a bit, he brushed his lips over hers. “I guess I’ll have to accept that, but I do have questions.”

“Which I can’t answer yet,” Eirian replied. “It’s time to wake up now, моетoсрце, but know I’m here if you need me.” She took a step back, her form seeming to shimmer into sparking golden warmth whose light became brighter and brighter until he was forced to look away, leaving her just a voice in his head again. “Bring the child to see me soon, IantoEmrys. You don’t have to shield her alone. Jack and I can help you. Now wake up and reassure your new daughter.”

Ianto gasped awake. He heard crying, soft and scared, and scrambled from Jack’s loose hold to slip from the bed. He crossed the bedroom to kneel next to Aimana’s bed. “Shh, caraid, I’m here,” he reached out and gathered her up into his arms. “Everything’s okay, Aimana.” Ianto considered for a long moment and, still holding her in his arms, rose to his feet. He returned to the bed, crawled up into it, and laid Aimana down next to him. She nuzzled against his breasts, whimpering, and he knew just what she wanted from him. Taking a deep steadying breath, he gathered up the t-shirt he’d borrowed from Jack, pulled it off and tossed it onto the table by his side of the bed. He stroked her hair back from her face, settled down into the bed, and pulled her closer to him.

He bit his lip, debated and silently begged his Tardis for advice. Images flashed across his mind of exactly what he needed to do to encourage to his daughter to nurse again. He knew that would calm her better than anything else. He wrapped an arm around Aimana, pulled her that last little bit closer to his breast and just managed to stifle a gasp as she latched on in response to his silent encouragement. As she nursed, Ianto found himself crooning Suo Gân to her.

“Pretty song,” Jack whispered. “I didn’t expect you to willingly do that.”

“She needed me, Jack,” Ianto replied before resuming his soft singing. She drifted to sleep against his breast. He wasn’t certain if it was the singing or the nursing, but she was asleep again. He brushed the backs of his fingers down her cheek with a soft sigh. “I’m her father… mother… whichever way we want to look at it. I had to help her. Just like I helped Misha through her nightmares and Gray through his fears. It’s what parents do.”

“I know, bensevgili,” Jack replied. “Do you want me to move her?”

Ianto glanced over at the clock and shook his head. “Unless you think she’ll disturb you, let her sleep,” he replied. “Just get the covers. I’m cold like this.” He nodded down to his bare torso.

“But beautiful,” Jack murmured back. He grabbed the covers and pulled them up over all three of them. He wasn’t in the least bit surprised when Ianto rearranged them so that Aimana’s face was uncovered. “If you’ll let me, I want a picture of you two like this. It’s so…”

Ianto twisted a bit to reach back and cup Jack’s cheek in his palm. “Don’t,” he said. “Don’t worry so. If you want pictures, then take them.” He slipped his hand behind Jack’s neck and pulled his husband in for a kiss. “Behave normally, Jack. It’ll be better for us all. Just don’t push…”

“I won’t.” Jack wrapped his arm around Ianto’s waist and curled up against Ianto’s back. “But once you initiate things, I will touch and play. I won’t press for more than you’ll give, but I will touch.” He looked down at Ianto, considering his mate’s expression, and kissed Ianto gently. “Acceptable?”

“More than,” Ianto agreed. He snuggled down into the bed and the warmth generated by Jack’s body. “Good night, Jack,” he murmured.

Jack watched Ianto go back to sleep. He knew something had happened to influence Ianto. Something or someone started him on the road to acceptance of his change. Staring into the darkness of the room, he smiled. He knew just who that someone was. Reaching out with his mind, he silently hugged and caressed that someone, murmuring, “Thank you, Beautiful. Watch over everyone for me, hmm?”

A warm pulse rushed through his body. It was a unique thank you which he would always recognize no matter what the time or place. The lights throughout the Hub dimmed further. Jack knew if there was a threat, he’d be awakened, but their sleep was guarded and he could relax completely. Soon, he too was asleep again. His arms wrapped around his mate, hand resting on their daughter’s back.

Chapter Five

The smell of coffee accompanied by the low rumble of voices pulled Ianto from sleep. He rolled onto his back stretched and immediately cursed. Frowning, he reached beneath himself and pulled his braid from under him. “That is going to be a bitch,” he muttered. “It’s a good thing I love him or it’d be getting chopped off at the first opportunity.” Sitting up, Ianto gazed about the room. He recognized Jack’s voice coming though the nearly closed door, but not seeing Aimana, he began to worry about his new daughter. “Jack?” he called, pitching his voice loud enough to carry into the next room.

“I thought I heard you,” Jack said. He leant on the doorframe, grin firmly in place, and slowly surveyed Ianto. “There’s a bag for you on the armchair.” Correctly interrupting Ianto’s look, he explained, “Rhys came by this morning with it. He dropped it off with me and took our older two to school since he had to take his kids, too.”

“Aimana?” Ianto rose to his feet, padding over to the bag, and opening it to see what it contained. “She’s okay?”

“She’s just fine. Rhys is keeping her entertained at the moment.” Jack straightened away from the doorframe and crossed the room to wrap his arms around Ianto’s waist. “I’m glad you’re comfortable enough not to wrap yourself up like a Roman matron in front of me.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Ianto murmured. “You’re my husband and I love you.” He turned in Jack’s arms to look up at him. “Though I could do without being so damned petite, I have to look up at you all the time.”

“You could stand on a chair,” Jack replied with a grin. He bent down and stole a kiss. “Will the clothes work? Rhys said that it was all clean, even if it was some of Gwen’s old things.”

“Looks like,” Ianto answered. He twisted about again to finish his rummaging in the bag. “I might steal one of your shirts though. I feel better with more covering me than this.” He held up a white camisole top and sighed. “I so need to go shopping.”

“I can’t wait to see what you find.” Jack kissed Ianto’s temple and stepped away. “I’m going to go rejoin Rhys. How do you feel about adding him to the payroll? With you like this and me being…” Jack trailed off as he realized that no one had told Ianto he was pregnant.

“You being what?”

“I’m pregnant, cariad,” Jack swallowed and watched Ianto’s reaction. “Kate confirmed it yesterday just before you disappeared.”

“You’re pregnant?” Ianto gasped. He whirled, wrapping his arms around Jack, and grinned. “Yes! We did it. Are you okay? Nothing bad happened because of yesterday?”

“Everything’s fine, Ianto.” Jack hugged back and kissed Ianto. His hands drifted down his mate’s back to cup that shapely arse. He pulled Ianto close to him. He held him flush against him with one arm while slipping his other hand up to cup one full breast. He stroked his thumb over Ianto’s nipple, teasing it, and deepened the kiss as Ianto moaned soft and low in his throat. The sound went straight to Jack’s cock, hardening it, and he forced himself to step back away from Ianto. “I should….” He pointed vaguely in the direction of the door.

“Yeah,” Ianto said dazed. He shook his head in an attempt to focus again. “I’m going to grab a shower, m’gwr. Join you in a bit, okay?”

“Sure.” Jack brushed his fingers over Ianto’s cheek in a final caress. Sighing, he started leave. He managed only a few steps before he slapped himself in the forehead. Turning back to Ianto, Jack moved swiftly back to his side. “Last night, just before you went to sleep, you complained about missing something. While you were asleep, I coerced Rhys into watching Aimana for a bit so I could go out. That’s why he’s still here.” He took a deep breath, knelt, and looked up at Ianto. “I love you, bensevgili. Male, female, your appearance doesn’t matter, your heart and soul do.” He took his mate’s hand and held it while reaching into his pants pocket to pull out the item he’d secreted there. He kissed Ianto’s fingers and slipped the ring into place. He smiled widely as he realized he’d guessed right on the size. “Ianto Emrys Jones, male or female you are my love, my mate, my reason for living. Technically, we've already gotten married four times...want to make it one more?"

“Oh, Jack!” Ianto gasped. “Yes!” He bent to Jack, kissing him with all the love he felt for Jack, and dropped down to straddle Jack’s lap. Breaking the kiss, he brushed his fingers over Jack’s face, wiping away tears, and smiled. “I’ll marry you any time you ask, my Jack. Always and forever, I’m yours.”

This time it was Jack who grabbed. He sank his hand into Ianto’s hair, wrapping the thick braid around his wrist, and attacked Ianto’s mouth with his own. He let his other hand roam over Ianto’s bare torso, fingers teasing at his mate’s nipples. He smothered the moan that slipped from his mate’s throat, delighting in Ianto’s response to him, and broke the kiss to trail his lips down over soft skin to tease at the pounding pulse at the base of his mate’s throat. “Ilâherica, Ianto,” Jack murmured. “I want you. I want to sink so deep in you, feel your body pulse around me.” He nipped at Ianto’s pulse, scraping the skin with his teeth.

“Jack... Duw, Jack,” Ianto moaned. He clung to Jack. “I… Jack…”

“What, cariad?” Jack murmured. “What do you want?”

“Mark me,” he whispered. His hands slipped up into Jack’s hair. He clutched at the thick strands and arched his neck. “I need to see it. Feel it. I need to know you truly want me. Despite the change.” He pulled Jack’s head up and stared into his husband’s eyes. “Please, Raksha, make me believe it. Claim me again.”

“Are you certain?” Jack breathed. He thought it would be weeks, if not months before Ianto would allow him to claim him in this body. “You know what’s involved in my claiming you.”

“I know you can do it without fucking me,” Ianto murmured. “The first time you marked me, on the sofa, we didn’t have sex. We just connected. I’m not ready for sex, Jack, but I need this.” He closed his eyes for a moment. Opening them, he cupped Jack’s cheek in his hand and stared deep into his husband’s eyes. “Do I need to beg, Jack?” Ianto arched his neck further into Jack’s hold. “Please, do it. Please, please.”

“Shit, Ianto,” Jack growled. His mate, surrendering to him, was the stuff of his darkest fantasies. He pressed his lips to Ianto’s pulse, nipping lightly, and nuzzled further to press his nose beneath Ianto’s ear. “Do you have any idea how hard you’ve gotten me? Just from baring your throat like that,” he breathed. He wrapped his free arm around his mate and shifted forward to tumble Ianto onto floor. He crouched over his mate, staring down at him, and ran his hand down in order to tug his mate’s leg up over his hip. Jack lowered his weight onto Ianto, pinning his mate beneath him, and groaned softly at the feel of his mate’s body. Soft curves pressed into him in all the right places. “I’m so fucking hard for you.”

“Jack,” Ianto gasped. He felt overwhelmed and surrounded by his mate. Some instinct he didn’t know he had encouraged him to follow Jack’s urging to wrap his legs around Jack’s hips. Now he could feel the firm length of Jack’s cock pressed against his pelvis. He whimpered, swallowed, and shifted restlessly beneath Jack’s body.

“Don’t move.” Jack braced himself on his one free hand. He still held Ianto’s neck arched back with his other. “If you don’t want me to strip you bare and fuck you hard on this floor, you’ll lay still.”

The snarled tones told Ianto exactly how close to the edge of his control Jack was. He closed his eyes for a moment and took several deep breaths. One part of his mind was freaking out at the mere thought of sex with Jack, but the rest of his mind was rejoicing in the knowledge that Jack wanted him. Once he was certain he could remain still, he opened his eyes again to stare up at Jack. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“Shh,” Jack whispered. “I know you didn’t mean the invitation your body made.” He smiled for the briefest of moments. “Still want this?” he asked. He lowered his head to lick at Ianto’s pulse. “Benimlevlenirmisin?”

“Yes,” Ianto breathed. He didn’t even stop to wonder how he knew what Jack was asking him. He’d worry later about how he could understand Jack’s birth language. Instead, he reached up to sink his fingers into Jack’s hair to hold him against his neck. “Oh yes,” he murmured. The words had barely left his lips before Jack moved. His neck was arched more by the pull on his braid. His husband lifted his head for a moment then pounced. Teeth sank deep into his neck, forcing a cry from his lips, and he arched into Jack’s body. Ianto dug his nails into Jack’s shoulders, clutching at him, and half-screamed half-sobbed as his husband sucked and worried at his skin. “More, Jack,” he gasped out around the sobs gathering in his throat.

Jack twisted his hand free from Ianto’s braid. He lifted his chest from Ianto’s and slipped his hand between them to cup one breast in his hand. He kneaded the soft flesh for a moment rubbing his thumb up and around the nipple before pinching and rolling it between his fingers. At the same time, he ground his hips down into Ianto’s pelvis. “Mine,” he sent to his mate. “You’re mine, Ianto Emrys Harkness-Jones. Nothing will take you from me. Nothing!”

“Yes!” Ianto answered both verbally and through their mate bond. “I’m yours, Jack. Yours, Raksha.” Ianto writhed beneath Jack’s body. A knot of tension grew in his belly. If he was male, he’d say he was about to come. Now, he wasn’t completely certain what it meant. “Jack,” he panted. “What…?”

Jack flicked his tongue over the skin caught in his teeth. Slowly, what Ianto felt flicked through their bond. He wanted to smirk. He could feel his lips curving into a pleased smile. “Let go,” Jack whispered through their connection. “Just let go, bensevgili.” He ground rhythmically against Ianto. It was taking everything he had not to pull back, strip off the little clothing his mate wore, and slid deep into that soft body. He lifted his head from Ianto’s neck and stared down into his mate’s eyes. Love, desire, confusion blended in those stormy blue eyes deepening their color to a near black. “Relax, let go. Come for me, m’cariad,” Jack ordered.

“I… Jack…”

“Do it, Ianto,” he ordered again. He dropped his head and claimed Ianto’s mouth, driving his tongue between parted lips to tangle with his mate’s. Jack shifted his weight and thrust hard against his mate’s pelvis. He rolled one of Ianto’s nipples between his fingers and pinched it hard. The kiss smothered the reactive scream that ripped from Ianto’s throat as his mate arched hard beneath him. Nails dug into his shoulders deep enough to draw blood despite the clothing he wore. He broke the kiss, lifted his head and watched as his mate writhed in the throes of his first orgasm since his change. “So beautiful, Ianto, so beautiful,” he murmured.

“Duw, Jack,” Ianto whispered as he collapsed back against the floor. “That was…” he paused, searching for words, and weakly murmured, “intense.”

Jack chuckled. “Now you know how I felt the night we married the fourth time,” he murmured. He slowly shifted off Ianto’s body, groaning in frustrated arousal, and turned his head to consider his mate. “I just…”

Ianto turned onto his side and considered Jack. His gaze roamed down the length of his husband’s body to linger on the hard length tenting the trousers. He debated for a moment then shifted closer to rub his hand over Jack’s cock. He inched his fingers up the zipper toward the button only to have his hand grabbed by his husband.

“Shit, Ianto, don’t,” Jack hissed.

“You don’t…?” Ianto trailed off confused. “I thought… well… I…” He rolled his eyes at himself. “I’m babbling like an idiot when all I want to do is free you from those trousers and suck you off. I want to taste you, m’gwr.”

“Oh, hell,” Jack groaned. He dropped his head back onto the floor. “It’s going to be so damned hard to keep from seducing you if do that,” he muttered.

“Maybe I want you to,” Ianto retorted with a grin. He crawled over Jack’s legs to kneel between them. He rubbed his palms up Jack’s thighs to his waist, deftly flicking the button open and easing the zipper down to free his mate’s cock. “You’ll just have to forgive me for not being as… adept as I usually am,” he purred with a tiny smirk. He wrapped a hand around the throbbing length before him and marveled at how much smaller his hand was now. Licking his lips, he watched Jack from beneath his lashes was he leant down to lick down the length of Jack’s cock. He reversed his path, nibbling lightly at the vein, until he could close his lips around the head. He tongued the slit for a moment before lifting his head.

“Oh, don’t stop,” Jack groaned. He reached out to grasp at Ianto’s hair. “Suck me, cariad. Let me feel your hot mouth on me.”

Ianto chuckled, but obeyed the urging of Jack’s hands. He wrapped his lips around the head of his husband’s cock. Flicking his tongue over the sensitive skin, he slowly took more of the throbbing flesh into his mouth. He wrapped his hand around the remainder of Jack’s cock, the portion he couldn’t yet take into his mouth. Ianto stroked with his hand while teasing with his tongue. A wicked smile curved his lips as he realized he’d have to relearn how to suck Jack off. He’d have a lot of fun practicing, especially if that look on Jack’s face was anything to go by. Sucking hard, he pulled off his husband’s cock with a soft pop. “Gonna come, m’gwr?” he asked. “I want to taste.”

“Yes, yes, suck me, Ianto.”

He took Jack’s cock back into his mouth. Sucking, tonguing, and teasing while he savored the feel of Jack losing control. Jack’s hands clutched at his hair and his thighs trembled as his orgasm crept up on him. Ianto cupped Jack’s balls in his hand. He rolled and squeezed them in his palm. Jack arched with a soft roar. His cock thrust toward the back of Ianto’s throat nearly gagging him. Eagerly, he swallowed down Jack’s release until his mate’s cock softened and slipped from his lips. Ianto shifted a bit up Jack’s body to rest his head on the other man’s stomach, sighing softly. “Still taste wonderful,” he whispered, looking up at Jack.

“And you’re still damned good at that,” Jack whispered. Then he laughed softly. “I wonder if we embarrassed Rhys?”

“Oh, fuck, I completely forgot you said he was here.” Ianto shook his head. “You should reassure him that we’re alive and haven’t abandoned him with Aimana while I take a shower.”

“I will…” Jack answered. He stroked his mate’s hair. “In five minutes. Just want to savor this for a bit.”

Chapter Six

Freshly showered and mostly dressed, Ianto considered his appearance in the mirror. Discounting the towel turban, he looked fairly presentable. Well, save for the fact that everyone would know he wasn’t wearing a bra beneath the knit vest. He glared down at his breasts with their hard pointed nipples. "Must you go about announcing your presence to the world? Learn some discretion or something," he muttered. Between the tight knit vest and the low slung jeans he felt like a child playing dress up while; to his own mind at least, he looked like a slag out on the pull. There was no help for it. He needed to find something to cover up a bit more until he could get out to the shops.

Shaking his head in disgust with himself, Ianto reached over and rummaged in the wardrobe for a shirt. He flipped through his own for a moment before his eyes lit upon the deep blue shirt Jack had been wearing the previous day. He lifted it from the floor, shook it out a bit, and raised it to his face to breathe deep of Jack’s lingering scent. He held it away from him for a moment, considering, and then nodded, slipping it on and buttoning a handful of buttons. That was better. Much better.

Taking one last look at his appearance, Ianto slipped on a pair of Tosh’s shoes she’d left in the flat ages ago. They just barely fit. His feet were a bit smaller than hers, but the ballet flats would work. He sure as hell wasn’t roaming about barefoot. It would do; however, he could not wait until he could go shopping and get proper clothing. Shaking his head, only to groan as the move dislodged the towel around his hair, Ianto started for the lounge. He reached up to steady the towel with one hand and grabbed a comb with the other.

“Jack, could you give me a hand with this?” he asked as he stepped into the lounge. He smiled briefly at Rhys, grinned at the sight of Aimana sitting on the floor playing with blocks Misha had long since outgrown, and started to pull the towel off his head. “I have no idea how to tame…” Ianto trailed off as a low, almost subliminal growl slipped from Jack’s throat. “Jack?”

Ianto looked between Rhys and Jack. Again he started to move the towel, but the growl deepened becoming the same threatening, yet possessive sound Jack had used when Andy first arrived in the Hub. Before Ianto could again question Jack, Rhys was covering his eyes with his hand and saying, “I get it. I promise not to look, Jack.”

“What the hell is your problem, Jack?” Ianto demanded. He threw up his hands. “Rhys is family, Jack! You trust him with our kids. Why is it such a big deal right now?"

“He might be family,” Jack snapped back. He rose to his feet to glare across the room at Ianto. “But I’m your husband. You don’t… this is… it’s ours, Ianto.”

Ianto growled softly. He was frustrated with Jack. He clenched his hands as he struggled to make sense of what Jack was saying. Finally, unable to figure it out, he whirled about and stormed back into the bedroom. He felt his husband following him and whipped about again to face Jack. “I can deal with a lot of things, Jack, but this is a bit much!”

"I'm sorry, Ianto. It's just that...” Jack trailed off. He shoved his hand through his hair. He struggled to explain himself to his much younger husband. “In my first culture, intimacy like this was reserved for husbands and wives. I know I'm a long way from Boeshane but sometimes, when I look at you, especially when I saw you nursing my child...” he trailed off again and looked away from Ianto. “I'm sorry. I'll try to control it, all right?"

“I’m sorry, too.” Ianto sighed softly. “I shouldn't have snapped, but it's hard for me to figure out what you're thinking sometimes. Eirian warned me, but..."

"Warned you about what?"

"This,” Ianto paused and considered how to tell Jack about what Eirian, his Tardis, had showed him about Jack’s past. “Things from Boeshane affecting us now. I should have thought, didn't, and then started snapping at you instead of listening to you."

Jack almost laughed, but refrained. Instead he crossed the small space which felt amazingly larger to gather Ianto in his arms. "I should pay more attention, too.” He swayed back and forth, stroking Ianto’s still wet hair, and bent to press his lips to Ianto’s temple. “I’ve been away for so long that I didn't realize I was still carrying all that baggage."

"We all have baggage from our childhoods, Jack.” Ianto leant back to look up at Jack. He was still not certain he was comfortable with being so petite, so small compared to his husband. “Why do you think I don't spank the kids?"

"I know. But Ianto...”Jack stopped, shook his head, and attempted to sort out his head. He failed, but still tried to explain himself anyway. “I’ve had to adapt and grow so often and so fast that I really believed that my childhood was just a memory. I should have known better. Especially now."

"I don't understand.” Ianto eased away from Jack. He climbed onto the bed, settling tailor fashion in the middle of the bed, and watched Jack. “How could you have known it would ever come up?”

Jack laughed softly. He moved over to join Ianto and leant on one of the bed’s post. “Grey showing up. And my eldest daughter. Sometimes it feels as if I'm being guided towards something.” He shrugged and looked away from Ianto to stare off toward the Hub just visible from the flat’s windows. “Why am I being guided back to the Boeshane?”

"Well, she did say she had a plan.” Ianto reached over and caught Jack’s hand in his. He lifted it to his lips and kissed Jack’s palm. “And our grandson lives on Korumalani. Somehow I suspect we were nearby... I just hope we figured out a way for Eirian to come with us. I don’t want to leave her behind if we ever leave this planet.”

"This is giving me a headache. She's using us to recreate the cultures that created me so that...” Jack trailed off. He could feel the Tardis’s laughter as he tried to figure out her plans. “You know, sometimes it doesn't pay to try to outthink a Tardis.”

"I don't even try, m’gwr,” Ianto agreed. “I just know that she has a plan." He waved the comb he was still holding in Jack’s direction. “Do my hair? We need to reassure Rhys, debrief with the team, and I desperately need to go shopping. I need decent fitting clothes.”

“What? My shirt isn’t good enough for you?” Jack replied with a grin. He took the comb, climbed up on the bed, and settled behind Ianto. He finger combed Ianto’s hair before working the comb through the heavy mass. He flinched every time Ianto hissed in a breath in response to him pulling a knot. Jack sighed, gathered Ianto’s hair up into a ponytail, and secured it with a scrunchie. Tossing the comb down, he swiftly separated the mass and braided it, tying the end off with another smaller scrunchie. “Best I can do. Make sure you add some hair accessories to your list. We can’t keep stealing Misha’s.”

“Already done, m’gwr,” Ianto replied. He grinned over his shoulder at Jack and kissed the corner of his husband’s mouth. “Now, let’s go see Rhys and Aimana.” He rose, started toward the lounge, and abruptly stopped. “Shit, Jack, are you going to throw a fit if Aimana decides to nurse while we’re talking to Rhys or during the briefing?”

"I..." Jack considered, his shoulders slumping as he acknowledged the distinct possibility of that happening. "I'll try to control my instincts, Ianto, but I can't promise not to throw a fit."

“All I can ask, Jack,” Ianto replied. He held a hand out to his husband and waited patiently for Jack to take it. Once Jack was standing, he took a step forward and pressed his free hand to Jack’s chest. He stretched up to kiss his husband. “If it helps any, think of Rhys as my sometimes annoying older brother.” He grinned at Jack’s stunned look and headed out of the bedroom tugging Jack behind him. “Sorry about that, Rhys,” he said as he entered the lounge. “Everything okay?”

“Just fine,” Rhys replied with a grin of his own. “Can’t understand a word your daughter is saying, but we figured it out.” He offered another carrot stick to Aimana. “Carrot. Can you say that, cariad?”

Aimana ignored Rhys to wave her hands in Ianto’s direction. She shoved the carrot into her mouth, mumbling, “Sütanne… Sütanne!”

Ianto laughed softly. He dropped Jack’s hand, crossed over, and picked up Aimana from the chair. “Yes, Mama’s here,” he tickled the baby while shifting her to his hip. “You can call me that for now, Aimana.” Carefully, he crouched down and grabbed another carrot stick to offer the toddler. “Were you good for Ewythr Rhys?” Ianto sighed as his new daughter just blinked at him and gnawed at her carrot. He twisted about to look at Jack. “How do you say Uncle, Jack? I’d ask the Tardis, but she’s just translating for me again. Doesn’t help a lot.”

“Hmm, you said to think of Rhys as your annoying older brother, so…” Jack grinned at the other two adults before he leant his head back to think. “Candayı,” he said finally. “The word you want is candayi.”

“If I’m you’re older brother, Ianto,” Rhys said with a grin. “Does that mean I get to threaten Jack? Demand to know when he’ll make an honest woman out of you.”

“Rhys!”

“What? I heard all of that,” Rhys retorted. He rose as a buzzing noise came from the kitchen. He started across the flat and paused in the kitchen door. “I now know far more about you two then I ever needed to know, but I also fixed up those pizzas I found in the freezer. Figured you’d be hungry.”

“Very.” Ianto smiled. He looked over at Jack, back to Aimana, and then to Rhys working in their kitchen. He tapped Jack’s arm, nodded down to Ginny’s carrier, and started toward the table. He knew Jack picked up the carrier from the dramatic groan behind him. He shook his head with a laugh, tickling Aimana again, “Daddy’s being silly, isn’t he?” He grabbed a chair, pulled it out, and sat. He arranged Aimana in his lap and considered Rhys for several minutes. He waited until Rhys joined them after setting full plates and glasses on the table and then he started a very necessary conversation. "Rhys, we've been meaning to discuss something with you. Actually, it's more on the nature of asking you a favor."

"What do you need?" Rhys asked. He set his pizza down and took a drink of his cola. “Not like I can do much for you.”

"With Jack's condition and this,” Ianto waved a hand at his new body. “We need your help. We need someone who can manage our lives for us."

"I don't understand."

"Rhys, Torchwood is becoming more and more of a family operation,” Ianto replied. “But it is still dangerous. We need someone we can trust to do all those important things we can't. And to be there for the kids if something happened to us, to any of us."

"So, I'm to be bleeding Mary Poppins?"

“More like granny, nanny, teacher, hand-holder and mess-cleaner,” Ianto said. He ate around the child in his lap. He occasionally shared bites of his pizza with his daughter. He smiled at Aimana, thoroughly enjoying the sight of her smearing her face with tomato sauce from the pizza. “And some of your charges will be adults. Ornery, nasty adults who still need looking after."

"Hey!" Jack yelled. "I am not...."

"I meant Owen, but if the shoe fits." Ianto grinned over at Jack. He wasn’t the least bit surprised to discover Ginny cradled in Jack’s arms, a bottle tucked beneath his chin as he both fed her and ate the pizza. “Seriously, Rhys, you’ve been doing a lot of the work already. This would just make that official, put you on the payroll as a freelance agent, and would mean that you would be able to speak freely with Andy. I know both of you were concerned about his discussing cases with you without clearance.”

Rhys leant back in his chair. He crossed his arms, uncrossed them, and finally settled on tapping his fingers on the table while he thought. Ianto made several good points. He already knew a large amount of Torchwood business, but not the details of the cases. Plus, his kids were close friends with the Harkness-Jones mob. No secrets from Andy, which would only help their developing relationship and all the kids would have a safe place and person to go to if the team worked late. “I won’t do… what is it Andy calls it… field work?”

“You’ll need to learn to handle a gun,” Jack interjected. “I have no problem with you not going into the field. Probably the best idea considering all the children would be your responsibility, but I’ll definitely be insisting on you learning how to handle the weapons.”

“So, you in?” Ianto asked, seriously.

“I’m in.” Rhys started to laugh, rose to his feet, and headed back for the kitchen. “And my first duty on the job is to fetch a cloth to clean up the baby.”

Both men looked down at Aimana, her face completely smeared with tomato sauce, and began laughing. Ianto shook his head, lifted the toddler and sat her on the table. “You’re a mess, cariad,” he murmured. Looking up, he smiled at Rhys. “I’m glad you agreed. I didn’t want to bring a stranger in to round out the team while Jack’s pregnant.”

“Jack’s what!” Rhys wiped Aimana’s face and hands before staring at the two men. “No, never mind, I don’t want to know the details. Jack’s pregnant, you’re a woman, and this town is a haven for aliens.”

“Pretty much,” Jack laughed. He glanced over at the clock and nodded. “Let’s head down. We’ve got enough time to add you to the systems before today’s meeting. Which you get to attend as part of the team.”

Chapter Seven

When Jack and Ianto walked into the conference room, the first thing they noticed was that the team were all as nervous as long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs; the second, that everyone relaxed when they saw Rhys come in behind them. "That was a good idea," Jack whispered to Ianto as they took their seats. "Add tranquilizer to Rhys's job description."

“Jack!” Ianto hissed as he settled into his usual chair. He looked over his shoulder at Rhys and waved a hand. “Grab a chair anywhere, Rhys.” He reached up to take Aimana from Jack, sat her in his lap, and grabbed the pen lying on his personal notepad. Ianto waited for Jack to settle in his chair beside him and nodded. “Now that we’re all here, let’s begin.”

Tommy cleared his throat, sitting forward from his chair at the far end of the table opposite Tosh. "Look, I don't want you to think I'm challenging your authority, because I'm by God not, but are you sure that you can handle a large family and this job both without going spare?"

"That's what Rhys is for, Tommy,” Ianto answered. He nodded toward Rhys who’d claimed the chair at the foot of the table. "He's agreed to help us juggle all of this. Not only for us personally but for all of us. Meet Torchwood's new executive assistant... and you can also interpret that as 'zoo keeper'."

“And tea boy? Because, honestly..." Owen started. From voice and look, Ianto knew he was checking out to see if Rhys would be able to handle his twisted sense of humor or would he have to tone it down around the Welshman.

“Oi!” Rhys snapped. He leaned across the table and smacked Owen on the back of the head. “More respect or I'll tea boy you into the Taff!"

Ianto chuckled and grinned down the length of the table at Rhys. Giving in to the nagging urge to hire the Welshman was likely one of the best decisions he’d made in a long time. Looking at the group gathered around the table, he knew they’d been right in describing Torchwood as a family operation. He’d make a few calls after the meeting, but it would be easy enough to get the Crown to agree to limit Torchwood membership to the extended family. And then he wouldn’t have to worry about corporate arrogance developing in the Institute because the agents would have been taught from childhood. “Are we ready now?” he asked, idly tapping his pen on the notepad.

When no protests came, he nodded again. “First things first, since you all know already, Jack’s off field rota as of yesterday. Kate confirmed his pregnancy. The first Harkness-Jones baby will born in late October.”

“Don’t you mean fourth Harkness-Jones baby?” Jack interrupted. “How did you know anyway? I didn’t tell you what she said my due date was.”

“I can count, Jack,” Ianto replied. He looked down at the toddler in his lap and sighed. “But you’re right, fourth Harkness-Jones baby.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “The third needs records created and buried for her. Tosh, that’s you and Kate.”

“What’s her name then?” Tosh asked. Her fingers were already poised over the keys of her laptop. “And who do I list as her birth parents?”

“Aimana Rhosyn Morgana Harkness-Jones,” Ianto replied. He reached across the table to clasp Jack’s hand in his, squeezing the other man’s fingers. Jack was unusually quiet right now. It worried him. “Birth parents are Jack Harkness and Siana Jones.”

“Do you want her listed as adopted by you and Jack?”

“Not yet,” Ianto replied. “When you’re burying her paperwork, do up a set for me as Siana Eluned Jones.” He took a moment to spell out the names for Tosh and then continued, “Set it up as if I’m my own twin sister, born a few minutes after Ianto. I can’t use any of my identification at the moment. I’ll need that done before we go shopping this afternoon.” He waited for Tosh’s nod before moving on to the next item on his agenda.

“Tommy’s already mentioned the concern about me. I’m officially placing myself off the field rota until a resolution to the gender-swap is found or for twenty-six weeks.” He sighed softly. He laid the pen down to stroke Aimana’s hair. “If we haven’t found a way to fix this and return me to my proper gender, the twenty-six weeks would give me enough time to retrain in this body and wean Aimana. I’ll still be doing all the administrative work,” Ianto paused and thought. “That includes contacting Her Majesty to inform her of the situation. Aside from Her Majesty, no one outside of this room is to know about the change in my circumstances. Understood?”

"Thank fuck for that. I wasn't looking forward to explaining this one to Her Majesty"

“No, you don’t have to call the Palace, Owen. I’ll do that when we’re done here and before I go shopping.” Ianto cast a stern look around the table. “Grandfather, I’d like you to start looking through our records. See if there’s anything that might work to make me a man again. Tosh will set you up with a login. I’ll also be adding you to the payroll as a consultant.”

John nodded to him, but laughter erupted around the table from the original members of Torchwood Three. “Oi, what’s so funny about me working for Ianto?”

“The irony of the Doctor working for the organization originally founded to capture him,” Tosh said around her laughter. “You have to admit it’s funny.”

Ianto just shook his head. Idly he wondered how anything got done in Torchwood considering what he had to work with as a team, but the fact that they were so comfortable with each other was one of the pluses. “Kate has recommended that I bring in Doctor Mark Butler. He’s a former collogue of mine from Canary Wharf. Survived the battle by being on vacation at the time,” he explained. “He’s a psychologist who specialized in alien trauma, but is licensed for both adult and child psychology. As Tosh already knows, he’s been treating Gray. Kate’s recommendation is that he be brought in to help me and the children deal with this change.”

“I don’t know,” Jack interjected softly. “I don’t really like the idea of bringing someone new into the team while I’m pregnant.”

“He is Torchwood, so his…”

“But London trained, Ianto,” Jack interrupted. “You know how London thought. I agree it’s a good idea to have someone around to talk to the children, but until we’re certain of his loyalties…” Jack trailed off for a moment. “I don’t want him in the Hub or knowing I’m pregnant.”

Ianto started to protest, but quieted when Kate raised a hand. Ianto nodded to her, but was totally unsurprised when she focused solely on Jack. “Jack, where are you planning on having the baby?”

“Here.” Jack’s reply was quick and to point. “I’ll probably spend the last month or so here in the Hub, if not more than that depending on how obvious the baby weight is.” He looked between Ianto and Kate several times before focusing solely on Kate. “I know you’ll understand this, Kate. The flat here is safe, secure, and easily defended. It makes the perfect birthing den.”

“I understand,” Kate nodded and smiled. “I’ll start making arrangements for everything we need to have on hand.” She scanned the table and laughed softly. “I’ll also make certain everyone else understands. So, meetings with Dr. Butler are allowed but not in the Hub. Set him up in an office somewhere?”

“In the City Centre,” Ianto answered. “It would work best.”

“And Rhys attends any sessions with the children,” Jack ordered.

“Agreed,” Kate replied. “Impartial observer, we’ll know rather quickly with Rhys watching the man.” She grinned at the blushing Welshman. “Tell me you don’t know more about how we work as a team just from sitting there watching and I’ll retract my statement.”

“Not saying a word,” Rhys replied. He nodded to Jack. “You know I won’t let anything happen to the children.” He grinned at Ianto and nodded to Aimana. “Speaking of children, I think yours wants to meet her great-grandfather.”

Ianto looked down to see Aimana reaching out with both hands for John. She had managed to shift up onto her knees and was leaning precariously forward over the arm of his chair to reach for the man. He nudged the chair back from the table and raised a questioning eyebrow at John, but before he could say a word, his grandfather was plucking his daughter out of his lap.

"Well, you're bigger on the inside, aren't you?" John murmured. He sat Aimana on the table in front of him and tickled her ribs. "She's wonderful, Ianto. A tiny little Jack clone. Look at that grin!"

"But what do you mean about bigger on the inside, Grandfather?"

"There's something about this one, Ianto. Something very special,” John replied. He brushed the toddler’s curls, discretely pressed his fingers to her temple, and grinned as he realized his grandson had already protected the child against being scanned. "Not that all my grandchildren aren't special."

"Good save, Doc."

"It's not a save, Jack." the Doctor turned and, holding Aimana steady with one arm, reached for Ginevra whose carrier sat between him and Kate. "Aren't you, Ginny my sweetheart?"

Jack laughed softly. "Doc, you're becoming an old softie,” he murmured as he watched his mentor and the children.

"About time, don't you think?"

"Keep it up and you'll be totally domesticated,” Jack retorted with an ever widening grin.

"Won't be so bad," John replied with a quick look at Tosh. "I can see why you like it." He refocused on Aimana after freeing his fingers from Ginny’s tight hold. “Can you say grandfather, малкуедно?” he asked. He leaned around the toddler to look at Jack. “What language is she speaking, Jack?”

“Bizilisan,” Jack replied. “The rest of the galaxy called it Türkçelisan.”

“Ah,” John smiled. “In that case, you can call me candede.” Aimana babbled back at him. John recognized only one word in three, but for a child of her age, she was remarkably articulate. He lifted her off the table and onto his lap. “Anything else, Ianto?”

“Owen, unless you get a call out, work with Rhys on weapons,” Ianto ordered. “We need to get him up to speed on sidearms as rapidly as possible. With everything that’s going on, I suspect that Rhys will have chauffeur duty with the children for a while. Tommy, monitor the Rift. Andy, you do your usual.” He thought for a moment. Ianto knew that Jack wouldn’t want to share the Hub flat, not if he was referring to it as a den. That meant they needed another space for the children to use as a playroom-slash-nursery. “Rhys, if you have the time, I’d like you to look around for a space close to the main floor but also easily secured, if needed. We need a playroom and possibly a nursery as soon as we can arrange it.”

“Why not use the flat?”

“Jack?” Ianto asked. “That’s up to you.”

“It’s already wired, easily defended, and the kids are familiar with it. We need to add a room to it. Maybe two. There’s plenty of space to work with,” Jack answered. He considered for a bit and finally nodded. “When in the Hub, unless they’re working with someone specifically, the kids can stay in the flat under Rhys’s supervision or being monitored by whoever’s on Rift duty, if we need Rhys for something else.”

“Agreed,” Ianto replied. “That work for you, Rhys?” Receiving a nod, Ianto looked down at his notes and sighed. “I think that covers everything for the moment unless one of you…”

“Acıkmak, sütanne,” Aimana’s voice interrupted the proceedings. “Acikmak,” she repeated, stretching her hands out to Ianto who sighed.

“All right, cariad,” he replied. He reached over and lifted her into his lap. She immediately started rubbing her cheek against his breasts causing Ianto to bite his lip in reaction to the slight throbbing pain from her actions. He reached for the buttons of the shirt he was wearing, trying to undo them around his daughter, and almost laughed at how quickly all the men in the room, except Jack and his grandfather, rose to their feet.

“Rhys, we can get started on your gun training,” Owen snapped. “Tommy, want to help?”

“Definitely,” Tommy replied. “Andy?”

“I feel the need to work on my aim, yep.”

All four men went stumbling out the door as fast as their legs could carry them. Ianto didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry at the abandonment. He looked over at his grandfather, but the older man was just smiling at the scene while rocking Ginny’s carrier with one hand. “Aren’t you going to run?” he asked, shrugging out of Jack’s shirt to lay it on the table.

“Why?” John replied. “It’s perfectly natural for you to nourish your child.” He looked over at Jack. “Unless you wish me to leave, I didn’t spend a lot of time among that culture so I don’t know if I’m yasaklanmışin or not.”

“You’re the maternal grandfather,” Jack replied. “It’s allowed as long as the mother allows.”

Ianto just rolled his eyes, tugged up the sleeveless vest he was wearing and nudged Aimana closer to his body. “Ow!” he yelped. He tapped Aimana’s cheek with his finger. “Watch the teeth,” he admonished to the giggles of Kate and Tosh. “Oh, I’ll remember that. When you have babies and they get you with their teeth, I’m going to laugh for all I’m worth. Don’t you two have work to do?”

“You look so adorable like that,” Tosh answered. She rose, gathered up her things, and smiled. “I should have everything done in about an hour. Is that good for you, Kate?”

“Perfect,” Kate replied as she too rose to her feet. “I’ll arrange a spa appointment for about an hour and a half from now. We’ll do that first and then shop.”

Both women paused to coo down at Aimana before leaving. Ianto just rolled his eyes, reached for the shirt and draped it over himself. “I just hope they stop soon,” he murmured without looking up from Aimana. When he received no reply, he looked up at the two men still in the room and sighed heavily. His grandfather was playing with Ginny, some complex or amazingly simple patting game, while his husband just stared at him all besotted looking. “Hopeless, the pair of you,” Ianto said long-sufferingly.

Chapter Eight

Ianto hunched further over the table. He refused to remove the leather jacket Jack had lent him. He felt exposed enough as it was in the borrowed clothing. He was certain everyone in the place was staring at him. He picked at his lunch, sighed and looked up at his two companions. “Can’t we just go straight to the shopping?”

“Eat, Ianto,” Tosh ordered. She pointed to his plate with her fork. “You’ll need your strength.”

“We’ve been given carte blanche in outfitting you,” Kate agreed. “So, eat.”

“Shit,” Ianto muttered, but did start eating. He hated this already and they hadn’t even started shopping. “I’m in trouble with you two, aren’t I?”

“Well, it’s a good thing that Jack gave you his credit card,” Tosh replied with a grin. Kate just smirked in his general direction.

“But,” Ianto looked up and took a deep breath. He had his protests already planned. “I don't need very much, just enough to get me through a few days until we find a way to fix this."

"You're going to want to impress Jack." Tosh waved her fork and lifted her drink to sip at it. “

Ianto squirmed uncomfortably in his seat and muttered under his breath, "Believe me, he's impressed enough as it is." He looked up at the sound of smothered giggles to find identical smirks turned on him.

"Now you just want to enhance that," Kate said. Her smirk deepened as Ianto felt his face heat with yet another blush.

Ianto sighed and wondered if drinking his lunch would make him feel any better about his situation. Shaking that thought away as he’d already been yelled at for considering a single glass of wine with his meal, he swallowed and cautiously asked, “So, what first? Or do I get to at least decide that?” He watched them look at each other before they looked back at him. He rolled his eyes, sighed again, and pulled a piece of paper from the pocket of Jack’s jacket. He slid it over to Kate. “How about that?”

“Shopping isn’t like one of your lists, Ianto,” Tosh protested even as she leaned over to peer at the page. “Is this in order or something?”

“Yep,” he replied. He pointed to the first shop on his list, now lying on the table, and gave them a long hard look. “They hurt, Tosh, and Kate mentioned last night we needed to find me some…” he trailed off and blushed redder as both women started laughing. “Will you two stop that?” he hissed.

“Oh, stop worrying,” Tosh murmured with a laugh. “We’re all girls here.” She grinned impishly at him and started to laugh as he shook his head in response. She watched Kate rise to pay the bill and leaned across the table to be closer to Ianto. “Seriously, Ianto, you know you can talk to Kate and I about anything, right?”

Ianto glanced around the room before scooting his chair around to close the small gap between him and his closest friend. “It’s just hard, Tosh,” he whispered to her. “I still think of me as a tall thin man, but I’m this petite curvy woman. I have to believe we’ll fix this and get me back to being me again or I’ll go insane.”

“What does Jack think?”

“He’s Jack, what do you think he thinks?” Ianto retorted.

Tosh drew back with a soft gasp. She turned her ‘you are an idiot’ look on him and hissed, “Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

“He’s been really understanding about the whole thing, but…” he trailed off. Ianto rubbed his forehead with his hand. “I’m just frustrated, lost and confused. Nothing’s right anymore, Tosh. I don’t know how to handle it. And you know how I feel about that.”

A soft laugh came from Tosh. “I do indeed,” she leaned over and hugged him with one arm. “It’s one thing that’s never changed with you, Ianto. Marriage, family, and yet you still have to know everything.”

“That’s just how I am,” Ianto replied. He leaned against Tosh’s side for a moment, took a deep breath, and nodded toward the door. “Kate’s ready.” He grabbed his list and rose, waiting politely for Tosh, and started off beside her. “I will be damned glad when I can get a bra. This is so painful.” A stifled noise from Tosh had him glaring over at her. “You better not be laughing at me.”

“Not laughing,” she said with a giggle. “Really, I’m not.”

Ianto just rolled his eyes, stalked out the door and climbed into his SUV. He looked back out the open door and called, “Are you two coming?” He laughed softly as the two women scrambled into the car with him. Doors slammed and Ianto started the car. He headed across the city to St. David’s Centre. The first shops he wanted to look at were there. It took him a while to find a decent parking place, but he finally accomplished it, parked, and climbed down from the car. “This sucks. I hate being petite! I’m going to have to trade cars with Jack. This one’s too damned high.” He glared over at Tosh and Kate as they laughed at him. Pulling the jacket close to him, he stalked toward the centre not waiting to see if the women followed him.

Once inside, he scanned the shops to find the one he wanted, found it and kept walking. He shoved his hands into the pockets of the jacket and bit his lip hard. Ianto was still struggling to figure out what to say to the shopgirls. How did he explain to them that he’d lost everything and had no idea what size he wore? The only times he’d been shopping for women’s lingerie he’d been looking for something to surprise Lisa with and it was easy, find something he’d like to see her in, buy it, and enjoy. This was a totally different ball of wax.

Taking a deep breath, Ianto headed into the shop. He could do this. No matter how intimidating the shop was on first look. He heard Tosh and Kate come in behind him, looked back at them, and resolutely headed off to find a shopgirl before they could say a word to him. Discovering one hanging up a very pretty chemise, he scanned her nametag and attempted a smile. “Enid, hello. I… um…” he paused, blushed, and sighed. He glanced about and noted that no one was close hear him talk. “This is so embarrassing.”

A soft, but commiserating laugh came from the young woman. Ianto judged her to be maybe a year or two older than him. She smiled and hung the last item in her hands. “No need to be embarrassed. First time wanting a bra that fits properly?”

He found himself nodding vigorously. “I’m trying to wean my daughter and want to surprise my husband,” he found himself saying as he reached out to finger the chemise she’d just hung up. “But nothing fits right so…” He dropped his hand from the chemise and hunched his shoulders again.

“Come with me,” Enid nodded toward the back. “We’ll start by measuring you so we know your proper size. Then you can decide what styles you want. Is your daughter still nursing?”

Ianto followed, a soft sigh slipping from his lips, and smiled. “She is,” he said. “Is that important?” he asked somewhat stupidly.

“Well, you’re going to want a few nursing bras as well as any other lingerie you like.” Enid grabbed a measuring tape, draped it around her neck and smiled at him. She waved him into a dressing room before following him. “Okay, can’t measure you through the jacket.”

Ianto laughed, slipped the jacket off and laid it over the small seat in the room. Then he undid the buttons on the shirt he borrowed from Jack. “Things have been so hectic since…” he trailed off and dropped his gaze before slipping the shirt off. “Do I need to…?”

“Nope, this is fine.” Enid smiled at him. “Despite what many people think, it’s actually better to be measured in a vest or camisole. Some bras can actually distort the measurements.” She whipped the tape around him and pulled it snug beneath his breasts. After making a note of the number, she loosened the tape and pulled it up to wrap around his actual breasts. This time it was pulled snug but not tight. He raised an eyebrow in question and received a laugh in return. “You want the cup to be comfortable but not tight, miss,” Enid answered the unasked question. “You are a thirty-six c.”

“Not to sound stupid, but what does that mean?”

“That you get a lot of choices.” Enid smiled at him. “Do you have any idea what you like? Or would you like me to bring a couple of styles for you to try on first?”

“Can we do that?” He waved a hand at his body and smiled shyly. “I have to admit that I’m not comfortable like this,” Ianto said softly.

“Of course,” Enid replied. “Give me just a few minutes to find a good selection for you to try.”

“Thank you, Enid.” Ianto waited semi-patiently while she left to go through the shop. He considered himself in the mirror, trying not to notice just how nice his body was. If he was an unattached man and saw himself, he’d be trying to hit himself up for a date. He sighed again, glaring down at his breasts and pouted. “Still haven’t learned any discretion,” he muttered softly.

“Miss?” Enid’s voice came from the other side of the door. “I’ve brought a few things for you to try on. Would you like me to stay and assist?”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all,” she replied with another smile. “We’ll take note of which styles and labels you prefer. Then when you go out into the shop, I can point you toward similar things.”

“Thank you,” Ianto said. He really appreciated the way she just accepted and helped without focusing on anything. He knew it was because to her he was just another customer seeking help with the merchandise, but it was so nice to not be reminded of the fact he was supposed to be a man. He went through the choices Enid had brought, just looking, and his eyes lit up at the sight of a deep red bra. He lifted it from the stack and smiled. “I like this.”

“That’s one of the nursing bras I brought for you to try.”

“It doesn’t look like one,” Ianto replied with a smile. He watched as Enid slipped from the dressing room, allowing him to slip the bra on, and at his soft call, she slipped back into the room. She deftly did up the clasps for him. “I definitely like this one.”

“Is it comfortable? No gaps or pressure?” Enid asked. She picked some bras out of the pile she’d brought back with her while waiting on his answer.

“No. It’s very comfortable.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “I think I’ll set this one aside so I can wear it when we’re done. Assuming that’s allowed?”

“Of course,” Enid replied. “If you’ll just hand it over the door, I’ll take the tags off for when we ring everything up.”

“Wonderful. So which one next?” Ianto asked. He accepted the one she handed him and, as soon as she left the little room, he swapped bras. This time he figured out how to manage the hooks himself. He cracked the door, offered Enid the bra he preferred and shook his head. “This one, not so good. It hurts.”

“Try another then.”

Ianto worked his way through the offerings. He quickly discovered that it was the wires which bothered him, but that certain styles while still having wire in them to provide support didn’t seem to have it go so far up the sides of the cups. Those were much better. He soon had a small stash of bras that fit comfortably. He smiled at Enid, put the first choice back on and blushed as he looked at himself in the mirror while dressing. All he could think about was Jack’s reaction to the red and black bra. He shook himself out of his thoughts and finished redressing. Slipping on Jack’s jacket, he opened the door to smile at Enid. “I want these,” he said, holding up a small stack. “But not these.”

“Are these all you’re going to want?” she asked, taking the stacks of lingerie. She set the rejected ones on a small cart while flipping through the ones he wanted. “Or would you like to look around for a few more things?”

“I’ve a bit more shopping to do,” Ianto replied. “Thank you for the help, Enid.” He considered for a moment and then smirked impishly at her. “You get a commission, don’t you?”

“Yes,” she answered nervously. “Why? I’m not…”

“Pressuring me,” Ianto finished for her. “No, I just want to be certain I find you when I’m finished. You’ve been very helpful and I like to reward people who help me.”

“Oh, thank you.” Enid carried the items he’d chosen and led the way toward the floor. “You seem to have a preference for two designers. Let me show you where we keep their things stocked. I’ll take your choices up to the counter for when you’re ready. Unless you’d prefer my help…?”

“Please,” Ianto nodded. “I’m still a bit overwhelmed.” He caught sight of Tosh and Kate, both looking worriedly in his direction while flicking through lingerie. He shook his head just a bit and laughed. “Let me tell my friends and then I’ll join you.” Leaving Enid, he walked over and poked Tosh in the ribs with a finger causing her to jump.

“Ianto,” she hissed. “Where were you? I was worried.”

“Getting fitted,” Ianto replied. “No need to worry. That’s why I chose this shop. I’m going to finish up with Enid’s help. Then we can move on. Did you two find things for yourself? I know Jack won’t mind if we get things for you two, too.”

He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead he started away from the women, all his comfort with being female ruined by Tosh’s comment, and stopped short when Kate grabbed his wrist. “Are you alright, Ianto?” she asked in a whisper. “You seem more…”

“Comfortable?” he finished. He sighed. “My breasts don’t seem to be announcing their presence anymore and my upper chest doesn’t hurt. So yeah, I’m more comfortable. Let me finish this, I’ll explain in the car on the way to the next shop.” She let him go, but not before giving him the ‘you’ll talk to me or else’ look she’d perfected long ago in dealing with him and Owen. He nodded, got a nod in return, and stalked off to join Enid.

He soon rediscovered his comfort level in the shop. Enid was calm, friendly, and knowledgeable about the merchandise. Ianto soon found himself laughing and smiling while choosing lingerie. For the first time since he’d woken up female, he wasn’t disturbed by the fact he was a woman. At first he worried about the costs, but then he remembered the one thing Jack had said to him when handing over the credit card: Get whatever you need... or whatever you like. I want you comfortable. Keeping that thought firmly in mind, Ianto kept his focus on picking out things he liked, and a few he thought Jack would like, until he felt he had sufficient lingerie. Checking out, he chuckled as both Kate and Tosh added a few things to the pile as Enid rang his choices up. He didn’t even flinch as Enid mentioned the total, well over a thousand pounds, and chuckled when the other women’s jaws dropped as he calmly handed over the credit card. The chuckles turned to full blown laughter at his two friends. Somehow he managed to calm enough to sign the receipt, tuck the credit card away again, and accept the bags offered him by Enid. “Thank you, Enid,” he said softly. “You were very helpful. Kate? Tosh? Work to do… you coming?’ he asked as he headed for the door.

Chapter Nine

Ianto set his bags in the back of the Freelander. He tilted one over to rummage in it for a moment, tugged out one of the pairs of knickers he’d just bought, and tucked them into his jacket pocket. Putting the bag back upright, he slammed the boot lid shut. He turned to his friends and sighed. “I need a coffee and we should talk,” he said quietly. He headed back into St. David’s Centre and led the way to the Soho Coffee Company’s shop. “Tosh, order me a mocha, please? I’ll be right back.” He headed off toward the restrooms with a plan to ditch the very uncomfortable knickers from the Gwen clothing stash in favor of something that would fit him. Plus, the new ones matched his new bra. Feeling better, he resettled his clothes and slipped back out to rejoin Tosh and Kate. He settled at the table, picked up his coffee and took a sip.

"Why did you suddenly pull into yourself again?" Kate asked softly. “You withdrew when Tosh asked where you were. We were just concerned.”

"I was just another customer to Enid,” Ianto replied softly. “She had no expectations that I was anything other than a wife and mother who needed lingerie.” He set his coffee down, clasped the cup in his hands, and stared down into the murky depths of the liquid as if it could answer all is questions. “I wasn't a man trapped in a woman's body. Or the leader of a secret organization. Or even a puzzle to be solved. Just another woman shopping for new lingerie and I liked that.” He looked up at his friends and bit his lip. “I needed that. To just be another woman out shopping, not a…” he trailed off and shook his head.

“Ianto?” Tosh asked softly. She reached over and clasped his hand for a moment. She waited for him to look at her again. “Would you like us to treat you like of the girls? Gossip, shopping, the works? Would it help?”

Ianto looked between Tosh and Kate, considering, and nodded. “Yeah,” he replied. “Based on what the people who did this said and my grandfather’s curses when we went to leave, I have a feeling that it won’t be easy or quick fixing this.” He swallowed, staring off into the distance and sighed softly. “I need to get used to being female. So…” he trailed off and shrugged. Then he worried as the two women looked at each other, got matching grins, and turned back to him.

“So,” Kate began, leaning closer to him across the table, and smirking. “I always wanted to know the answer to this…”

“Is Jack really as good in bed as he claims?” Tosh interrupted. “Or is he all talk?”

“Do women really talk like this when with their girlfriends?” Ianto asked. He really didn’t want to answer that question. If he told them the truth, they’d both be chasing after Jack. He’d gotten enough of that from Gwen.

"Yes, Ianto, women do, and don't change the subject,” Kate replied. She finished off her coffee and grinned at him. “I'll even tell you about Owen..."

"EEEWWW!” Ianto interrupted. He almost laughed at how girlish he sounded squealing like that. “No! I'm still his commanding officer!"

Both women laughed at him. All three of them rose to their feet. “So where to next, Ianto? Or do we start calling you Siana?” Tosh asked.

“And don’t think we didn’t notice you trying to change the subject from Jack’s prowess,” Kate continued.

“I am not going to get out of telling you, am I?” Ianto retorted. He started out of the shop and pointed down to a nearby shop. “New watch and then shoes on the other end of the centre.” He took a few steps away, turned to face them, and shrugged. “Not quite ready for the name switch, so unless we have to…”

“Got it,” Kate said with a grin. She dashed the few steps between them and draped her arm over his shoulder. “Relax, Ianto.”

“Yeah,” Tosh added from his other side. “We shop and talk about our men. It's how women bond, Ianto."

“You don’t have to say anything, but…” Kate trailed off for a moment.

"It’s especially true for us. We need the lighter things in order to push what we do away if only for a little while. We're always in danger of losing our men, Ianto, so we talk about them." Tosh grinned at the other two before focusing on Ianto. “Kate here knows more than she ever wanted to know about Tommy. I know all about Owen’s bad habits. So, of course, we’re going to see if we can learn about Jack now that we have a chance.”

“So you want to know about Jack?” Ianto laughed and led the way into the watch shop. He wandered about looking for a particular item. “Jack is... intense." He found the display case he wanted and leant against it. “At everything he does. You know how sometimes you're making love and your mind drifts? Not Jack. He's always one hundred percent focused on his partner." Ianto stared off past Tosh, remembering, and smiled dreamily. "And you know it." He shook his head and refocused on his newly acquired girlfriends. “Duw, do you know it. It’s like he has some kind of sixth sense. He always knows just the right way to touch to keep you…” He blushed, looked about for a moment, and then leaned closer to the other two, murmuring, “When he really puts his mind to it, he can make me come from just a kiss.” He laughed softly as their eyes widened and turned away to ask about the watch he wanted to purchase.

“Are you serious?” Tosh all but gasped at him.

Ianto grinned widely and handed over the credit card. “Deadly,” he replied. “He’s that good, Tosh.” He signed the receipt, took the watch and credit card back. Putting the card away, he settled the watch into place on his wrist. He felt one hundred percent better now that he had a watch again. He bounced past the still gaping women toward the door. He looked back to see them still staring at him in shock. “Coming?”

“Think he’d give Owen lessons?” Kate asked as she caught up with him. “I’m jealous!”

“So am I,” Tosh added as she too joined him. “You are lucky as all hell.”

“I know.” Ianto wandered down to the shoe store, stared at it and sighed. “Why do I find this store more intimidating then lingerie?”

A pair of laughs answered him. From each side, a hand took an arm and tugged him into the Clarke’s shop. “You need a pair of heeled sandals,” Kate informed him.

“I can’t wear heels,” Ianto protested. “Look at where we work! I’d break my neck.” He glared at both women. “And that’s not fun, I know!” he hissed.

Tosh stared at Ianto, tugged him toward the back of the shop, and set him down on a bench. “Ianto, you need to start thinking like a woman,” she said, crouching down in front of him. “Think about what Jack would like to see. I know you bought that red and black lace lingerie set. How would he react if he saw you in that, a pair of spike-heeled sandals with red lacquered toenails and your hair spilling down your back?”

“If I did that,” Ianto trailed off and blushed. He stared down at the floor for several long moments before looking back up at Tosh. “He’s already commented about my hair. He loves it, Tosh.” Ianto swallowed and reached up to brush at his eyes. “He begged me not to cut it.” He took a deep breath and licked his lips. “And you know I’d do anything for him.”

"Ianto, from what you've told me, you've loved Jack in every way possible,” Tosh encouraged. “Why not this way?"

“It's hard, Tosh, but..."

"But you want to try?” Tosh asked. When he nodded, she continued, “Then let us help you. Believe me, I know enough about Jack to know that you can seduce him any time you want."

"He's waiting for me to give him a sign, Tosh. He's not pushing, just waiting...” Ianto trailed off. He couldn’t help the smile that settled on his face. Knowing how Jack felt about him, that his husband thought him beautiful, yet was still allowing him to lead the relationship, it amazed him. “So, yeah, I want to try."

"Honey, if you wear that lingerie the way I suggested, you won't need to say a word." Tosh smirked at him. “Everything will have been said already.”

"I know. Believe me, I know.” Ianto blushed. He half-shrugged and took a deep breath. “I just worry... well, that's between him and me."

"Ianto, are you worried Jack will come to prefer this body? Have you lost your mind? He would love you in any form you had to live in, but Ianto, the young man who seduced him with a pterosaur and coffee, that's the Ianto he craves."

"No, I told him I wasn't ready for... well, you know...” Ianto blushed and tilted his head to the side. He reached up and played with a strand of hair that escaped his braid. “I'm afraid he'll be upset if I give him just a bit and not everything."

"Now I know you've lost your mind. A man as experienced as Jack doesn't think of penetration as the important part of a sexual experience. It's about satisfaction; it's about playing with all the possible variations." Tosh threw up her arms and rose to her feet to glare down at Ianto. "Why am I telling you this? You know it!"

“As I told my Tardis,” Ianto began with a little smile. “Sometimes I’m an idiot.”

"No, honey,” Kate said finally entering the conversation. “You're confused by this body and you're, as usual, over thinking. Come on, we need to find you some killer heels and then hit the spa."

"But I still need clothes,” Ianto protested. “I can't run about in just lingerie all the time. Jack would get nothing done." He blinked, chuckled, and shook his head. “For that matter, none of the men would get anything done if their looks when they first saw me were anything to go by.”

“You leave the other men to us,” Kate replied. “You’re only concern is your man.”

"Clothes are the last thing. For a woman it starts with the skin and moves outwards. You need a manicure, a pedicure, maybe a facial, and definitely a good body wrap," Tosh ticked things off on her fingers as she spoke.

"Tosh...."

“Don’t even try to stop us. You agreed to wow Jack with our help,” Kate retorted. She handed him a pair of shoes. “Try those on."

"Oh Lord,” Ianto said. He accepted the shoe box, opened it and blinked. “Not heeled sandals?” he asked in disbelief. The box Kate handed to him contained a pair of black pumps in black patent leather. He smiled. The heel was higher than he would like, but at least it wasn’t a sandal. He slipped the shoe on, held his foot out in front of him and smiled. “Like that,” he said with a smile. He slipped the second shoe on, rose to his feet and swayed a bit. “Okay, this is weird.” He grabbed Kate’s arm to steady himself. “How do you walk in these?” he asked.

“You practice,” Kate replied. “Might be more than you could manage on short notice, but do you like them?”

“Yeah, they are nice.” Ianto peered down at his shoes. And then he sighed. “I’d be afraid I’d break my neck wearing them. Definitely prefer flats and maybe a pair of trainers, but not heels. Not with our job.” He sat again, slipped the heels off and accepted a box from Tosh. Those were more his style, ballet style flats, and he grinned up at Tosh. “How do you manage to run after weevils in those heels you wear all the time?”

A laugh came from Tosh. “I wore heels at the MOD and as a child.” She smiled at him. “So I know just how to move in them to keep from falling. Well, except for that time someone moved the cabling. I tripped over that.”

“I remember,” Ianto chuckled. He tried on the shoes, rose, took a few steps and sighed. “Oh, these are great. I’ll take them. Now for a purse and trainers.”

“And then the spa?” Tosh asked.

“Yes, then you can torture me with a spa visit,” Ianto answered, sitting and removing the shoes. He put them back in the box. He rose, wandered about and found a pair of black leather trainers in his new size. He grabbed them, returned to the back and grabbed a lovely satchel bag as he passed it. That would be a great purse. Sitting, he tried on the trainers on and nodded. “These three,” he resolved. “And off to the spa. You aren’t going make me wax things, are you?”

“Wrong time for some of it, but you should do the legs and underarms,” Kate answered. “Will you get lessons in makeup? Just a bit to accent your features.”

“I could be persuaded,” Ianto replied with a smile. He slipped on his original shoes, rose again, and started toward the front of the shop. “Will you two be pissed off if I told you that I ordered my clothes online and just need to pick them up?”

“How could you…. You need to try things on,” Kate said, disbelieving.

“That eye of yours, Ianto?” Tosh asked. When he nodded, she grinned. “And you had a shop in mind that you knew the style and exact sizing for didn’t you?”

“Yup,” he replied. He stopped suddenly in the aisle, tilting his head to one side, and considered a pair of shoes. He lifted them up, took a long look at them, and nodded. He found his size and added them to his stack. “I shopped for you and Gwen before, so I knew what I needed in outer clothing, but lingerie and shoes, not so well.”

“I should have known,” Tosh replied. “You agreed too readily to this trip.”

“No, we won’t be angry. It means we can spend more time at the spa getting you ready to wow Jack.” Kate stepped in front of him, crossed her arms and glared down at him. “Just tell me you have a little black dress. Every woman needs a little black dress.”

“I have one,” Ianto answered. He waved the shoebox he just grabbed at her. “I even have the strappy black sandals.” He took a deep breath and smiled at the women. “Shall we?”

“To the spa,” Tosh nodded as they settled at the counter to pay for his sandals. “You need a perfume. We’ll get that there too, I think.” She watched Ianto pay for the shoes and bag. He took a bag; she grabbed another. All three of them headed out toward the car. “No need to look like we’re taking you off to torture. It’s just an afternoon at the spa.”

“You haven’t heard the tales I have about spas,” Ianto retorted. “Until I see or experience otherwise, I’ll believe them.”

Chapter Ten

“Do we really have to do this?" Ianto hated to hear the whine in his voice. He sounded so damned childish, but he really didn’t want to do this. "We could go some other time."

"Are you joking?" Kate pulled him along. "Do you know how hard it is to get an appointment in this place? Tosh had to hack their computers and bump a bunch of people!"

"Isn't that illegal?" Ianto protested half-heartedly. He struggled to hold onto the carrier bag he’d snatched from the car when they’d parked.

"Everything's fair in love and beauty, Siana,” Kate grinned at him. Kate opened the door and Tosh all but pushed him inside. “Let’s go.”

Ianto stepped inside the spa, automatically stepping out of Tosh’s way as she followed him inside, and blinked. He wasn’t certain exactly what he’d expected, but it wasn’t a cross between a hotel lobby and a hair salon. Black cabinetry and furnishings contrasted sharply with stark white walls while steel fittings provided glistening accents. Uncrossing his arms, he reached out a hand and ran a finger along the edge of the desk. A tiny laugh escaped him as he realized it was perfectly clean, not a speck of dust, and he smiled shyly at the woman running the front counter.

“First time?” she asked softly. She handed him a clipboard with a stack of forms and a biro. “You’ll need to fill these out for us.”

He found himself smiling more. “Yes,” he replied. He tilted his head at Tosh and Kate, both of whom were excitedly chatting about the offerings and picking out what they wanted. “They’re the experts. I think they abandoned me in favor of the selections menu, though.”

“It happens,” she replied. “Do you have any idea what you’re going to want done?”

“Not a clue.” Ianto leaned on the counter to fill in the paperwork. He watched out of the corner of one eye as Tosh and Kate took seats to fill in their papers and checked off what they wanted done. He smiled, even more shyly, and knew he was blushing. “I just want to surprise my husband when I get home this evening.”

“May I make a suggestion?”

“Sure,” Ianto answered. He couldn’t believe some of the questions he was being asked. Why did they need to know if he was pregnant or had surgery recently? He’d never understand about being female. Not at this rate. “I’d love the help.”

“Finish the basics stuff, the first two sheets, and I’ll get one of our consultants to meet with you,” she replied. “She can tell you about all the offerings, help you decide what you want, and develop a personalized package for you.”

“That would be wonderful,” he replied. He finished the first page, signed it, and then focused on the second. It was even easier to fill out and he was soon handing the clipboard back over to the receptionist. “Should I go join them?” he asked, pointing at Tosh and Kate.

“Yes.” The receptionist glanced quickly at the papers, nodded and smiled. “I’ll be back in a moment with your consultant, Mrs. Harkness-Jones.”

Ianto crossed the room, choosing a chair caty-corner to Tosh’s, and pondered the best way to sit comfortably. He couldn’t sprawl like he normally did, couldn’t cross his legs like he normally did, and finally just settled on tucking his feet beneath the chair. He gave Tosh a tiny smile when she looked up.

“Where’s your papers?” Kate asked. “We could…”

“Mrs. Harkness-Jones?” the receptionist interrupted before he could answer. “This is Nia Parry. Ms. Parry is one of our senior consultants. She’s offered to assist you this afternoon.”

Ianto was torn between laughing at Tosh and Kate’s stunned looks or being polite. He settled for polite, rose to his feet and offered his consultant a hand. “Ms. Parry,” he murmured. “Please, call me Siana. I know my full name’s a bit of a mouthful.”

“Then I’m Nia,” Nia replied, shaking his hand. She waved toward the back and smiled. “If you’ll come with me, we can get started.”

Ianto nodded, started to walk away, and then looked back to smirk at Tosh and Kate. “You know, you’ll catch flies like that. If there were any to catch,” he said. He walked away with a slight giggle and shook his head. “You’d think they’d know I’d find expert help,” he muttered.

“Pardon?” Nia asked, leading him to a small office just off the main floor. “Please, have a seat.”

“Just thinking aloud,” he responded. He sat, again tucked his feet beneath his chair, and smiled. “So…” he trailed off and shrugged.

“So, now we discuss the options, pick out the ones you might be interested in, and start your experience. Since it’s your first visit to our spa, I’ll stay with you as long as you want.” Nia reached over and grabbed a glossy brochure off her desk. She pulled her chair closer to Ianto’s and considered him for a moment. “Just please, tell me you aren’t planning to chop off your hair,” she said quickly. “We get so many women in here with beautiful long hair that cut it short and then end up in tears regretting it. We only recommend that for damaged hair which yours doesn’t appear to be.”

“Oh, definitely not,” Ianto replied quickly. “I cut it and Jack might leave me.” He laughed softly. “We’ve developed a bit of a ritual with my hair.” He smiled over at Nia. “Nia, can I be totally honest here?”

“Of course,” she answered quickly. “In fact that would be really helpful in determining your options.”

Ianto nodded. “I’ve never worn makeup. Don’t know how to tend or style my hair. My husband braids it for me.” He sighed. He felt like a failure as a woman. “My girlfriends have challenged me to wow Jack when we meet up with our men after this. I have an outfit in mind,” he paused to lift the bag he was still carting around, “but wowing him, that I’m lost on doing.”

A soft, infectious laugh came from Nia. Ianto found himself joining in for a moment. As with Enid earlier in the day, he found himself relaxing in Nia’s company. He was relaxed enough that when she opened the brochure and leaned into his personal space, he didn’t protest. Instead, he caught a corner of the page and leaned over with her. She flipped pages to the back and pointed out a package to him.

“I would recommend this package,” Nia said while he read the description. “With the addition of hair and makeup consultations, but all together….”

“It should wow, Jack?” Ianto asked. He pointed at one of the things included, shuddered, and asked carefully, “Do we have to include that?”

“No, but I’d recommend it.”

“The mere thought of waxing anything gives me the ‘ouch!’ thought,” Ianto told her. Her laugh surprised him.

“It hurts, yes, but the results are worth it. If you don’t have him suitably wowed, I’ll give you a full refund tomorrow.”

“Are you serious?” Ianto blinked at her. “How could you possibly know…?”

“We’ve never had a disappointed customer, Siana,” Nia replied. “So, yes, I’m serious.”

“I’ll try it, but…” he shook his head and reread what he was committing himself to. Massage, facial, manicure, pedicure and leg and underarm waxing, the mere thought of what he was agreeing to was intimidating. And that wasn’t even counting the hair and makeup. He took a deep breath, nodded, and attempted a smile. “Let’s do it.”

“You’ll enjoy it, Siana.” Nia smiled back at him. “Let me show you to the changing room where you can store your things in a locker, don one of our luxury robes and we’ll start with the waxing to get it over with and then move on to the facial and massage.” She rose and went to the door, waiting patiently for him.

Ianto reached down for the bag, took a deep breath, and rose. “I can do this,” he muttered. He joined her and followed her through the salon. He could see Kate, bundled in her own robe and slippers, having her brows waxed. Tosh, also robed, was sighing softly while a stylist washed her hair. Neither one seemed to see him go by.

Once he was changed, he rejoined Nia and was surprised to find her offering him a glass of wine. He debated for all of thirty seconds before accepting the sweet Riesling. He sipped at the cool liquid and followed her back through the spa for his first treatment. A small, private, but amazingly relaxing room awaited him, already set up for his waxing and facial. He pouted at the woman waiting for him causing Nia and the stranger to laugh.

“Siana, this is Linzie,” Nia introduced. “She’ll be doing the waxing for you.”

Ianto settled into the chair, took a deep breath, and an even larger sip of his drink. “Right,” he said. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” And then he yelped as Linzie started spreading the hot wax on his skin. “Someone remind me why I let them talk me into a spa day?”

“Jack,” Nia said. “You agreed because you want to wow your husband.”

Ianto chuckled and nodded. He leant back in the chair, offered the now empty glass to Nia and closed his eyes. He focused on keeping his breathing even using methods taught at Torchwood One. Despite the near constant need to flinch when Linzie pulled the wax off, Ianto found himself relaxing. It was a strange incongruity; however, he went with it anyway. To his surprise, he relaxed enough that the time flew by.

“Siana?” Nia asked quietly. “Ready for your facial?”

“Hmm…” Ianto cracked an eye open and smiled. “I guess.” He opened the other eye and blinked. “Don’t tell me I went to sleep.”

“Okay, we won’t,” Linzie said from behind him where she was washing her hands. “I think you’re the first client I’ve had who ever went to sleep during a waxing procedure.”

Ianto blushed and shook his head. “It’s been a busy week,” he said. He gave her a smile even as he followed Nia’s urging to lay back for his facial. “A very busy week.”

“You just relax,” Nia said. “Unwind. That’s what a visit to a spa is for to rejuvenate yourself.” She leaned over him for a moment. “Can I suggest an addition to your package?”

“Suggest away.”

“A body wrap.” Nia leaned over to grab the brochure and turned to a page. She offered the brochure to him, pointing at a treatment. “A seaweed wrap before your massage.”

Ianto read, considered, and nodded. “Why do I think I’ll go to sleep again?” He accepted Nia’s offered hand and followed her to another room. As they walked, he looked down at the brochure and tapped Nia on her shoulder. “Um, I may regret this, but can you add that to it?”

“A scalp massage?” Nia asked. “Certainly, now’s the best time to put one into your treatment. After your wrap, we’ll do the massage. Sound good?”

“Very,” Ianto replied. For the next several minutes, he just laid back and moved when told while first being scrubbed down with something Nia referred to as a salt scrub. It woke him up enough so he didn’t drown when rinsed off. Then it was back to laying back and letting someone else work on him, slathering him in a thick seaweed treatment before wrapping him up. He cracked one eye open when he heard Tosh speaking to someone, but really couldn’t find the energy to say a word.

“Siana?”

Kate’s voice was more urgent. He cracked an eye open to peer at her looking down at him in her robe. “Hmm?” he murmured. “Wha..?”

“You okay?” Kate asked. “You were all…”

“I’m fine,” he mumbled. “Nia’s being very helpful.”

A laugh escaped Kate. He saw her turn away. As she moved toward her own space, he heard her reassuring Tosh. Both of them were giggling, but he didn’t care. He was comfortable despite the hardening mask on his face and the scalp massage felt wonderful. Ianto realized he had at least twenty minutes of this laying down doing nothing. The last thing he thought was how nice it was to do nothing.

Chapter Eleven

“Sounds like you’re enjoying yourself.”

Ianto shivered in automatic response to the deep growl echoing through the phone. He started to answer, but the technician working on his pedicure hit another tense spot, massaged out the knot and all he could do was groan in response. Then he blushed as Jack growled again. “M’gwr, you picked a rotten time to call,” he managed to say coherently. “Was there a reason or was this just a check up call?”

“Cariad,” Jack’s soft growling as he spoke told of his increasing possessiveness. “I was worried. You’ve been gone for hours. Misha’s asking for you. So is Aimana.”

“I’m certain Rhys can find something for our youngest to snack on until I get back,” Ianto murmured. “Misha should be doing her homework. And of course I’m taking a while,” he paused for a moment and chuckled before groaning again. “Now, you tend the kids while I relax, hmm?”

“Ianto,” Jack growled softly. “You did not just…”

“I did,” Ianto laughed into the phone. “And now I’m hanging up, Nia’s going to help me choose a few things. I have a bet to win.” He flipped his phone closed, turned it off, and sat it in his lap. He smiled at Nia. “Sorry about that. I knew he’d call about now. If he didn’t get hold of me, he’d come barging in thinking I’m being hurt or something.” He shook his head a bit. “So, what did you need me to look at?”

Nia returned his smile with one of her own. “Nail lacquer,” she said softly. She waved a hand at the tray of little bottles and laughed when Ianto blinked, stunned by the sheer number of choices. “Do you have any idea what you’re interested in?”

Ianto blinked several times at all the choices before him. He tilted his head a bit and laughed softly. “My friends,” he waved a hand toward where Tosh and Kate were sitting getting their nails done. “Said I should do the toenails in red lacquer but I don’t know about the fingers.”

“Any particular shade of red?” Nia asked. She lifted one smaller tray from the table. “And I’d suggest a neutral shade for your fingernails. It’s a classic combination. Perhaps a French manicure.”

Ianto scanned the choices for several minutes. He debated shades for a bit before one leapt out of him. He reached out, picked up one bottle and waved it. “This one,” he said. “Perfect for the toes, but I have no idea about the fingers. Could you suggest something?”

“Of course,” Nia murmured. “Standard manicure or do you want a French one?”

“Standard. I’m the boss,” he replied. “No distractions.”

She laughed softly. “I understand.” She set the tray of red lacquer down, ran her fingers over the bottles, and plucked two out. “One of these two,” Nia said, offering him the bottles.

Ianto took the bottles and considered them. One was a soft creamy pink, more cream than pink, while the other was a slightly more noticeable pink. He considered, thought about Jack’s reaction, and handed the pink back to Nia. “Not that one. This one,” he handed the other bottle to the woman calmly working on his toenails.

He watched, still amazed at the number of things a woman did in order to look beautiful, and sighed softly. So far today he’d been allowed to relax so completely that his twenty minute nap was more refreshing than most night’s sleep, learned how to do several amazingly complicated yet actually simple to do hairstyles, and learned how to put on makeup from the simplest ‘dash’ of color to glamour for a night out. He was totally amazed by it. To think that Kate and Tosh did this nearly every day; well, minus the expert help, of course.

He sat, watching his toenails dry, and let his hands be done next. He glanced around, found Tosh watching him with a surprised expression. Ianto raised a brow at her, silently asking what the surprise was for, and shook his head with a slight eye roll as she held her hands up, using one to point at the nails of the others. He smiled and nodded toward his toenails. He watched her look, drop her jaw, and laughed gaily at the expression.

“What’s funny?” Nia asked. “Most clients don’t laugh when getting their nails done. Gossip, maybe, but not laugh.”

“Just my friend Tosh,” Ianto replied. “I think she wasn’t expecting me to actually do the red toenails.” He settled in for the few minutes it took for the nail lacquer to dry. Finally finished, he rose, started toward the locker room and paused as a most delicious scent drifted across his nose. He half-closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Oh, that’s nice,” he murmured. He looked about desperately seeking the source of the scent and pouted when he couldn’t find it.

“Is there a problem?” Nia asked.

After jumping startled, Ianto laughed softly. “There’s this absolutely wonderful smelling perfume,” he said softly. “I just can’t figure out what it is or where to find it.”

“Ah, that’s over here with the makeup,” she replied. She led him over to a small display counter. She leant across it, speaking to the young man shelving the perfume, and accepted a bottle from him. “This it?” she asked as she handed it to him.

He held the bottle for a moment. Slowly, he lifted the lid and sniffed. Oh, yeah, that was it. He found himself smiling and rubbing the bottle with his thumb. “That’s it,” he sighed. He considered for a moment and nodded. “How do I…?”

Nia took pity on him, took the bottle, replaced the lid and tipped it over a bit. Setting the bottle aside, she took the lid and his hand, rubbing the stopper against his inner wrist. “Like that,” she said, repeating the action on the other wrist. “You put it over your pulse points.”

“Ah,” Ianto breathed the word. He loved the scent. There were so many layers to the scent, almost like it was a metaphor for him and Jack, and therefore was perfect for him. He also knew that Jack would be all over him from the moment he breathed it in. “I want that.”

Nia handed him the bottle again with a smile. “It is a lovely scent,” she agreed. “Why don’t you take that with you while you dress? I’ll add it to the bill for you.”

“Perfect,” he replied. “I’ll meet you up front?” he asked somewhat rhetorically. At her nod, he headed off to the changing room again. Ianto dressed slowly, with the same care and consideration as he had taken with his suits, and packed away the borrowed clothing in the carrier bag his new outfit was in. Grabbing the long coat, he’d purchased, he shrugged it on and stepped into his new shoes. It took a moment for him to find his balance as he walked out to join Kate and Tosh by the front counter. “You two finished?” he asked as he pulled out Jack’s credit card and the keys to his car. “Tosh, could I convince you to get the car? It’s a bit cold to walk back.”

Tosh eyed him from head to toe, grinned impishly and snatched the keys from his hand. “Sure, Ia… Siana,” she answered. “Be right back.”

Ianto rolled his eyes at her, shook his head, and cast a smile at Kate. “One of these days, she’ll remember I’m not my older brother,” he muttered to Kate. He accepted Jack’s card back, scanned the receipt and added a substantial tip for all the help he received. He then signed the receipt and tucked away his copy for when he did the accounts later.

“Give her time,” Kate replied. She leaned close to Ianto and whispered, “After yesterday and this morning, we didn’t expect you to embrace being a woman yet.”

“I don’t have a choice,” he replied. He turned around, scanning the room to find Nia, and walked back to where she was and waited patiently for her to finish with her current client. “Nia?” he asked softly. When she turned to him, he smiled.

“Siana, is there a problem?”

“No, I just wanted to thank you for all the help today.” Ianto took a breath, reached out and gave her a swift hug. “I really appreciate it.” He let her go, took a step back and smiled before heading toward the door again.

“Siana?” Nia called.

“Yes,” he answered, turning back to her. He raised a brow in question.

“If you don’t mind,” she began as she came closer to him. “Call tomorrow and let me know if you succeeded in wowing your husband.”

“I’ll do that.” Ianto laughed and nodded. He considered for a moment. “I’d have to call you anyway. Didn’t you offer me a refund if the wowing failed?”

“I did indeed,” she replied. “You have a good evening. I hope you’ll come back again.”

“Believe me, I’m already trying to arrange my schedule so I can,” Ianto replied. He waved a hand at her and headed for the door where Tosh waited with the Freelander. He realized as he walked that the less he thought about it, the easier it was to walk in the heeled sandals. He stepped outside, pouted and climbed into the back of the car, stashing the bag on the floorboard beside him. “Oh, that’s not fair. You two got the front of the car where the heat is.”

“You’re the one who dressed like that,” Kate retorted. She twisted about to look at him between the front seats. “Why did you anyway?”

“Didn’t you two dare me to wow Jack?”

“We did.”

“So I’m wowing Jack.” Ianto considered them both for a moment. “I’ll make you a bet. If I don’t stun him speechless, I’ll give you both ten pounds.”

Kate narrowed her eyes at him. She then looked at Tosh where she sat in the driver’s seat. At Tosh’s nod, Kate turned back to him. “Make it twenty.”

“Deal,” Ianto replied. “Tosh, turn off the CCTV in the garage when you park. It wouldn’t be fair if he had advanced warning of my appearance.”

“Got it,” Tosh replied. She parked the Freelander, pulled out her PDA and typed for a few minutes. “Done.”

“Then let’s go,” Ianto replied. He reached into the bag, pulled out Jack’s leather coat, and hopped out of the car. He followed the other two women into the tunnel leading from the garage. As they got closer to the Hub, he reached out and caught their shoulders. “Not thatway. Come with me.” He tugged them off to one side of the tunnel to a barely visible keypad. He keyed in his code, pulled the door open, and led the way down a short upwardly sloping tunnel to another door with another keypad. Now they were on the lowest landing of the staircase connecting the tourist office to the Hub. “We want to do this right, need to come in the main door,” he explained. He waved Kate and Tosh ahead of him. “After you.”

Ianto followed Tosh and Kate down the short flight of stairs. He let them get several steps ahead of him, lingering back to hear everyone greet them. He grinned as he heard Jack questioning where he was and stepped down the last stairs to enter the cog door. “Jack,” he called. “I have your jacket for you.” He watched as Jack whirled about from where he was all but screaming at Tosh, demanding to know where Ianto was, to yell at him.

“Ianto! Where have you been? It never takes…”

Ianto laid Jack’s jacket over the back of a chair. He gently tugged the belt of his coat free, opened it and slipped it from his shoulders. He watched Jack from beneath his lashes and saw the moment his husband got the full effect of his makeover. Jack went from angry to startled to completely shocked in less than thirty seconds. Barely containing the urge to smirk at Jack, he draped it over the chair on top of Jack’s, reached over and gently closed Jack’s mouth. “Flies, Jack,” he murmured. Ianto took a few steps away and held a hand out to Tosh and Kate. “Money?” He laughed gaily as both women pouted and slapped pound notes into his palm.

Chapter Twelve

“You look amazing,” Jack purred. He took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Ianto’s waist. “I can’t wait until I can get you alone.”

Ianto laughed softly. “You have a one track mind, m’gwr.” He lifted up on his toes and kissed Jack, slowly and deeply, before breaking the kiss to settle back. “That will have to tide you over until after the children are in bed.” He glanced about the main room and raised a questioning brow. “Where are the kids? And my grandfather?”

Jack tensed beneath Ianto’s hands as he glanced about the Hub. “I don’t…”

“The children are with me,” Ianto’s Tardis interrupted them. “Come down.”

Ianto half-shrugged, entwined his fingers with Jack’s and started off toward the lower levels. He paused in the entrance to the tunnels and looked back at the remainder of his team. “Unless you’ve found something to report, you can head on out. Usual time in the morning,” he smiled at the group. After a moment, he focused on Rhys. “Will you take the children in to school tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Rhys agreed with a nod. “Are you going to be at home or here?”

“Home,” Ianto replied. He watched the team gathering themselves together to leave. Andy helped Rhys with his batch of kids; Kate gently bossed Owen around and Tosh checked her programs and before she shut down her station. “Since I can’t do it, I think I’ll send Jack with you in the morning to modify the paperwork on who can pick up our kids. We need to make certain you can get them if need be.”

“Good idea,” Rhys replied with a smile as he picked up Ginny. “See you then.”

“Don’t I get a say in this, cariad?” Jack asked. He laughed softly when Ianto shook his head. He then addressed Rhys, “If you want to come over for breakfast, I’ll cook.” He grinned at Andy’s enthusiastic nod as the other family was hustled out the door; Andy singing the praises of Jack’s cooking as they went out. As the group headed out the door before him, Rhys paused on the threshold. “Tommy, you want to come over for supper?"

"All right,” Tommy agreed with a smile. “Should I pick up something on the way? I'm nearest to the Tesco."

"Sure. Salad fixings,” Rhys hefted Ginny’s carrier a bit higher and started out. “This man I live with, he thinks greens are poisonous.”

Ianto looked up at Jack and tilted his head toward the door. “Did you know that Rhys and Andy had moved in together?” he asked via their bond. The shock rolling off Jack told him his husband had no idea that the other two men were that serious. The news reconfirmed Ianto’s thought that hiring Rhys was the best thing for everyone on the team. The Welshman would keep them all well grounded with his steadiness and down-to-earth attitude.

“Ianto,” Tosh called as she pulled on her coat. “Would you tell your grandfather to call me when he’s free? I think we need to reschedule our date.”

“Date?” Ianto squeaked. “You’re dating my grandfather?” He didn’t know if he was appalled, shocked, or surprised. His feelings didn’t matter though as long as Tosh was happy. That’s all he ever wanted for her - to be happy. “On second thought, don’t answer that. Just be happy, Tosh.”

“I’ll tell him, Toshiko.” Jack grinned across the Hub at Tosh. “And I’ll also…”

“Don’t you dare scare him off, Jack Harkness.”

Jack held his hands up in surrender. “Can I at least threaten a little?” He grinned wider. “You don’t know him like I do. I need to be sure... Ow! Ianto!”

Ianto shook his hand and smiled. “That’s my grandfather you’re talking about,” he retorted. “Go on, Tosh, we’ll send him along as soon as we can.” He watched her leave the Hub, tightened his hold on Jack’s hand and started back into the tunnels. “Come’n, she won’t wait long.”

“We could take the vortex…”

“No,” Ianto cut Jack off. “We don’t know if traveling through the vortex will affect the baby. I don’t want to risk it.”

“You’re no fun,” Jack pouted. Still he followed Ianto’s lead down into the depths of the Hub. The lower levels were damp, somewhat dank, and definitely not easy to walk through. He wasn’t surprised when Ianto paused at the top of a stairwell, reach into a niche on the wall, and pull out a flashlight. “I wish she could…”

“Could what?” Ianto asked, flicking on the Maglite. He reached out and rested a hand on the stair rail. “Jack, she could what?”

“Move closer to the upper levels,” he replied. “You know I don’t like the deep levels. Too many ghosts. In some cases literally.”

Ianto laughed, opened the door, and reached back for Jack’s hand again. He led the way down the stairs and through the twisting tunnels that made up the deep levels of the Hub. "I asked her once. She said her room made a good bolt-hole for the children. And if she truly had to, she could pull on the Rift and take the room she's in and it's occupants into the Vortex to hide them." Ianto paused in the walk, turned back toward Jack and smiled. “Between her and I, we’ve been secretly training the kids in different ways to get down to the Tardis room from just about any point in the Hub, but especially the flat.”

“I…” Jack shook his head and smiled. “I should have known she’d have a reason for being so far out of reach.” He tugged Ianto to a halt and playfully slapped his mate’s arse. Even with the playful slap, his tone was serious when he spoke again. “You however are in trouble. You should have told me you were working with the kids like that.”

“I didn’t even think of it,” Ianto admitted sheepishly. “I’ve been working with Misha on ways to both hide in and escape from the Hub since I took her in. I know she’s been teaching Gray where her favorite hiding places are.” He sighed and started walking again. “I’m sorry, Jack. I should have told you.”

“Yes, you should have,” Jack conceded. “I should tell you that Gray is teaching Misha Türkçelisan. He told me yesterday while we were waiting on you to return from wherever you’d been snatched to.” He followed Ianto deeper into the bowels of Torchwood Three. “We need to work on our communication skills.”

“When have we ever communicated well?” Ianto asked. He stopped before the door to the Tardis room, rested his hand on the doorknob, and looked at Jack. “Seriously, Jack, how long did it take us to admit our feelings aloud when we both knew how we felt from the moment you told me that you came back from your trip for me?”

“Too long,” Jack murmured. He reached out and cupped Ianto’s cheek in his hand. He leant down and kissed his mate, lingering in the kiss for several minutes, and broke it only when they both needed air. He rested his forehead on Ianto’s for a moment, staring deep into his mate’s eyes, and sighed softly. “I was already bonded to you, bensevgili, when I lost you. I knew you were gone long before Gwen came to tell me about your death.” He clutched Ianto tight to him. “One moment I was happy, anticipating your reaction to my planned surprise, only to have my soul torn from me in a single painful moment. Nothing was the same after I lost you.”

Ianto squirmed a bit, getting his arm free from Jack’s tight hold, and reached up to brush his fingers over his husband’s cheek. “I’m here, Jack,” he murmured. “I’m never going to leave you again. Not willingly. Eirian and Faith made certain of that. We’ll be together forever.”

“And I am so grateful for that,” Jack whispered. “Even though we’re going to outlive all our children, I am so grateful I have you.”

Ianto didn’t even want to think about the possibility of them outliving their children. He just rose up, kissed Jack, and smiled as he turned the doorknob. “Speaking of children, we should find out what ours are up to with my… our… Tardis.”

“Our?” Jack asked. He took a step back so Ianto could pull the door open. “So you’re willing to share her with me?”

“We’re a pair, Jack,” Ianto replied. “I think she already thinks of herself as ours. I’m just acknowledging it.” He pulled the door fully open and gently shoved Jack into the Tardis room before following him. He closed the door, listening for the moment the door clunked shut, and turned toward the rest of the room as soon as it closed completely. “So what are you all…”

"Daddy, Tad, Eirian says we have a baby sister and another on the way!" Misha threw herself at her parents, wrapping her arms around them. "Can Aimana stay with me in my room? I can help take care of her. Please say yes!"

With a startled oof, Ianto staggered back a step even as he caught Misha against him. He went down on one knee, brushed her hair back and laughed softly. She was literally vibrating with excitement. He held her loosely in one arm and watched Gray come to join them.

“It's nice," said Gray, who had followed his sister at a more sedate pace, "I always wanted sisters." He looked a Jack mischievously. "No offense."

"Plenty taken,” Jack retorted with a grin to soften the remark.

Ianto gave Jack a stunned look. "Misha, Gray, do you know who I am?"

"You told me last night, Tad,” Gray replied. He glanced back to where his adopted grandfather was tending to his current baby sister. He half-shrugged as he turned back to his parents.

"And Gray told me,” Misha added with another bounce.

Ianto knelt fully on the floor so he could look his children in the eye. "And is this all right?" he desperately needed to know that the children okay with the situation.

“It's Torchwood, Tad. Why wouldn't it be?"

"You're going to try to fix it, right?” Gray asked.

“Yes, of course."

"But before you get turned back, Tad," Misha said slyly. "I want you to teach me about makeup. I mean I was going to ask the aunties, but it's so much better when it's your Mam who teaches you!”

"Brat!" Ianto replied with a laugh and a headshake. “You are such a little brat sometimes.”

"Come on, Mam,” Misha replied. An impish grin came from Misha when Ianto growled softly at being called Mam. “I can't call you Tad until you're all fixed."

Jack watched Ianto with their children. He could feel his mate relaxing more and more as the children proved just how much they accepted this change to their Tad. The more Ianto relaxed, the better Jack felt. So that was good for everyone. With a little grin, Jack walked over to where the Doctor stood, watching the scene with a very familiar look of satisfaction. "So, Doc, you were in on this with Eirian?"

"Me? Now why would you think that?" John handed Aimana to Jack. "Here, smile at your child."

"Nice try, Doc, but I've known you for millennia.” Jack calmly accepted the toddler from his mentor. He rested Aimana on his hip, stroking her back with his hand, and continued speaking to the Doctor. “And however much Eirian is now ours, she was yours first. The two of you probably think in tandem!"

"We do not!" John yelped. "That's so not fair"

"When it comes to the two of you, fair is a place where you go see which Hibernian sphinx won the blue ribbon." Jack rocked Aimana expertly, swaying from foot to foot in an attempt to ease the child toward sleep. "What are you two up to, Doc?"

"Nothing. I'm not up to anything but escaping for my date. She's the one with all the plans."

"Well, then it's my pleasure to tell you she wants you to call because she might need to reschedule." Jack smirked at the panic that over took John’s smug look. It took all his willpower not to laugh as the Doctor began frantically searching his pockets.

"What? Oh, no, no... Do you have any idea how long it took me to get her...." John pulled out his mobile and started for the door while he dialed. "Toshiko? I'm on my way..."

“That was cruel,” Eirian's voice admonished them. “He's really taken with her.”

“I have to tease him sometimes,” Jack retorted. He’d long missed the Tardis. There was just something about her that had caught his attention in a way no one other than Ianto ever had. That she was now speaking to him in words ranked up there as one of the best things to ever happen to him.

"Yes, I suppose so."

The weary, put-upon sigh which brushed across his mind had Jack grinning widely. "Actress!"

"If you're done flirting, Jack, I'd like to get the kids home and fed,” Ianto interrupted Jack’s conversation with the Tardis. “And sort out who's going to sleep where."

Jack took his cue from the Tardis's sudden silence. Keeping one hand on Aimana’s back to keep her from squirming while they walked out of the lower tunnels, he followed Ianto and the children back up toward the upper level. It wasn't until they had nearly reached the door that Eirian spoke again. And then her words were directed only to the adults. "By the way, Siana, red and black really are your colors."

Ianto blushed and shook his head. Jack couldn't wait to figure out why the words made his mate turn such an interesting shade of red. He followed his brood with a barely concealed smirk on his face. It was going to be an interesting night. A very interesting night indeed, he thought as he followed Ianto through the halls. It was a good thing the walk required such concentration or he’d have certainly fallen more than once so intent he was on the sway of his mate’s arse.

Chapter Thirteen

Jack slipped into the bedroom and eased the door closed behind him. He leant back against the frame to watch his mate. Ianto was apparently finished putting his new clothes away as he was peering into one of the drawers of their toy chest. His mate had changed out of the red wrap dress and into a black mid-thigh length robe that shimmered with the sheen of fine silk. Jack wondered what was beneath that robe even as his eyes slid lower over the long length of Ianto’s legs to where his bare toes curled against the floor. He reversed his path back over those curves to linger on the nape of Ianto’s neck. Tiny curls escaped from the knot on the top of his mate’s head to tease at that pale skin. Jack licked his lips, moved silently across the floor, and bent to press his lips to that skin.

“Jack!” Ianto gasped startled. He jumped, dropped what he was holding in his hand, and then leant back against the warm bulk of his husband’s body. “You scared me.”

“Hmm,” Jack purred. He eased his arms around Ianto’s waist. “Didn’t mean to,” he murmured. He nuzzled beneath Ianto’s ear, chasing the illusive scent that was his Ianto, and asked softly, “What are you doing?”

“Wondering about something,” Ianto said softly. He tilted his head to the side and arched his neck in silent invitation. He ran his fingers over the contents of the drawer again before looking up at Jack. “Would it feel different now?”

“Would what?” Jack asked. He nibbled at Ianto’s neck. He worked his way down to fasten his mouth over his mate’s pulse where he sucked hard.

“Duw, that feels good,” Ianto moaned. He swallowed a couple of times before he could focus again on the drawer in front of him. “If you fucked my arse.”

“Shit, Ianto,” Jack groaned. He trailed his hands lower on his mate’s stomach, pulled Ianto close to him, and ground his suddenly aching cock against said arse. “Want to find out?” he whispered into his mate’s ear.

“Don’t tempt me,” Ianto whispered back even as he lifted a tube of lube from the drawer and slammed it shut. He fondled the tube for a moment, rolled it between his fingers, and sighed softly. “Tell me what you want to do to me, Jack?”

"I want to sink into your soft flesh and lose myself in you." Jack flicked his tongue against the corner of Ianto’s mouth. “Feel your body clench around me when you come.”

Ianto twisted in Jack’s embrace. He took a wicked delight in his husband’s groan as he moved. He reached up to wrap his arms around Jack’s neck. He tilted his head back and smirked. “Surely that isn’t all you want,” he murmured. “What if I want to play with this?” he asked sliding his hand down to cup Jack’s cock through his trousers.

“I won’t stop you,” he replied through a groan. “As long as you accept I’m going to want to play, too.”

Still smirking, Ianto took a step back from Jack. He considered his husband for a moment. He backed toward their bed, untying his robe as he moved, and shrugged, letting the fabric drop to the floor. He watched Jack’s eyes widen when he realized Ianto was nude beneath. He laughed softly and reached up to free his hair. The heavy mass tumbled down his back; the loose strands teased at his arse and made him shiver. “Like what you see?” he asked softly.

“Fuck yeah,” Jack growled. He took a step forward but stilled when Ianto held a hand up. “What…”

“You told me something last night,” Ianto said softly. He climbed up onto the bed, kneeling for a moment as he rearranged the covers, and then he lay back amongst the pillows. He reached up and shifted his hair so it lay around him. “Is it everything you imagined?”

“More than,” Jack breathed. He swallowed hard. His mate looked so damned sexy laid out before him. That lush dark hair framed that pale skin so beautifully. Pink nipples pulled into hard little nubs as he stared at Ianto. Long legs, one now pulled up, as a hand stroked over the tense thigh. “Sizibak lezzetli, cankarımı,” Jack whispered. “Are you certain? I thought you were…” he trailed off and licked his lips.

“Hasn’t started yet,” Ianto returned with a soft blush. He held a hand out toward his mate. “Fuck me, Jack.”

Jack threw his head back with a laugh before grinning at Ianto. “One thing that hasn’t changed a bit,” Jack said in answer to Ianto’s affronted look. “You are still demanding in bed.” He considered his mate for a moment, reaching up to begin stripping off his clothes, and sighed. “I didn’t get to go shopping. Did you?”

Ianto chuckled. He reached up beneath the pillows and pulled out the item he’d secreted there while he was unpacking. “The things you find in specialty lingerie shops. Concealing them from Kate and Tosh, that was the hard part.”

Jack grinned, tossed his clothes away, and climbed over the footboard of the bed to prowl up the bed toward Ianto. “Are you certain, Ianto?” he asked. He curled a hand around one ankle, stroked his thumb over the pulse throbbing so hard beneath that beautiful pale skin. “You are temptation incarnate, bensevgili,” he murmured. He lifted Ianto’s leg to press a kiss to that ankle. “Once I have you,” he paused to stroke his thumb over the arch of Ianto’s foot.

“I know, Jack,” Ianto moaned. He’d never thought his feet would be so sensitive to touch. “Just…”

“Just what?”

Ianto swallowed back another moan. He stared down the length of his body, seeing the blush that covered so much of him, and whimpered softly. “Kate says this body is virginal,” he whispered. “So, just be careful.”

“I’ll have you begging for me long before I deflower you, cankarımı,” Jack purred. He stretched up an arm to run his fingers over the hollow of Ianto’s hip. “I need to claim every inch of you all over again.” He returned to his stroking of Ianto’s ankle, loosely holding the delicate joint in his hand, and soon detected a tiny tremble racing through his mate’s body. “Cariad, are you certain?” Jack murmured. “Because as tempting as it is to have you splayed out before me like a buffet, you aren’t ready for this.”

"This is new,” Ianto replied. He sat up a bit to consider Jack for a long moment. “You're playing the reluctant groom?"

"Considerate lover, cariad,” Jack corrected. “I don't want you regretting things in the morning. I can feel you trembling... you truly aren't ready for this."

"Oh, Jack! I do, I do, but....” Ianto broke off. He dropped his head, absently shaking his hair forward to hide behind the long, tangled strands, and bit his lip. He didn’t know what to say. He wanted Jack. He needed Jack. Yet at the same time, his husband was right. He wasn’t ready for sex. “You do know I love you, right?"

"Yes, bensevgili,” Jack murmured. He turned his head to press a kiss to Ianto’s inner ankle. “Now stop trying to seduce me and tell me the truth."

"I'm a little afraid. I don't know myself, this body.” Ianto took a deep breath, brushed his hair back, and peered up at Jack through his lashes. “I don't understand,” he swallowed hard, continuing in a nearly inaudible whisper, “I thought I would, I've had female lovers, but this is different."

"It's always different.” Jack released Ianto’s ankle, crawled up the bed, and lay beside his mate. He propped himself up on one arm and reached out to gently swirled his fingers over his mate’s stomach. “This is you... and regardless of everything we've done, this body hasn't experienced any of it. Your instincts are all screaming at the very idea."

"So maybe you're right. I'm not ready to... to… to go all the way." He blushed at the unintended pun. "But I wouldn't mind starting the trip."

"We'll take the scenic route." Jack grinned at Ianto. “Sit up for me,” he ordered softly. “Let me braid your hair and relax you again.” He waited for Ianto to move, sat up himself and scooted behind Ianto. He leant over grabbed the hairbrush from the bedside table and a pair of hair elastics. Looping the elastics around his wrist, he started brushing Ianto’s hair. Jack took a wicked delight in every soft moan that slipped from Ianto’s lips while he worked the heavy bristles through the heavy thick mass. Gathering it up in his hand, he ran the wavy mass though his fingers. He leant around and pressed his lips beneath Ianto’s ear. “Touch yourself, caraid,” he ordered softly. “Find all the spots that make you moan. I want to hear you find them.”

“Jack, I…” Ianto swallowed hard. “I don’t think I can…”

“You can,” Jack replied with another kiss. “Would it help if I gave you instructions?”

“Please,” Ianto breathed on a moan. “Help me, m’gwr.”

“Always.” Jack sat back again. He pulled Ianto’s hair up into the ponytail, wrapped the elastic around it, and eased back a bit to resume his hairbrushing. “Stroke your breasts. A light touch. Like when you tease my cock, just barely touch your skin.”

Ianto obeyed the instruction. He traced the veins in his breasts with the tips of his fingers. He found himself arching into his own touch. A soft moan slipped from him as he realized that the closer he was to his nipples the more intense the feeling. Soon he was concentrating slowly on the area around his nipples. “Duw, Jack,” he whimpered.

“Good?” Jack asked softly. He laid the brush aside to start braiding Ianto’s hair. “Pinch your nipples, cariad. Show me just what feels good.”

“Jack,” Ianto gasped. “I… I want you…”

“Want me to what?” Jack murmured as he tied off Ianto’s braid with another elastic band. He released the braid, leant around and rested his chin on Ianto’s shoulder. He swallowed hard as he watched Ianto fondle his own breasts. The soft lighting in the room highlighted the droplet of milk squeezed from one tight nipple. His mouth watered with the urge to taste that droplet before suckling his mate. “Tell me, bensevgili,” he whispered before licking Ianto’s neck.

“I want you to suck me,” Ianto whispered in a tight choked voice. “Is that twisted of me? To want you to suckle?”

“No, Ianto,” Jack replied. He eased out from behind Ianto and came around to kneel in front of his mate. He reached out to cup Ianto’s breast, stroked the underside with his thumb, and smiled. “There are some cultures who find that highly erotic.”

“And you?” Ianto moaned. He released his nipples to smooth his fingers over his skin again. “What do you think?”

Jack decided that demonstrating what he thought was more direct than explaining. He held Ianto’s gaze with his own as he lowered his head toward his mate’s breast. He flicked his tongue out to lap up the drops of milk oozing over Ianto’s soft skin. He smirked at the moan that slipped from Ianto in response. Jack reached around behind Ianto, rested one hand high on his mate’s back and purred, “Lay back for me.” As Ianto’s weight came back onto his palm, Jack eased him down onto the bed. He shifted upwards as Ianto went back and smiled before closing his lips around one tight taunting nipple. He teased the soft flesh with his teeth, flicked it with his tongue before he drew more of Ianto’s breast into his mouth to suckle. Jack smirked when a startled squeak escaped from Ianto and his hands dug into his hair.

“Oh, fuck, yes!” Ianto moaned. “That feels so damned good, Jack.” He shifted restlessly beneath his husband until he could wrap his legs around Jack’s hips. “Harder, Jack.”

Jack lifted his head with a chuckle. “You taste delicious,” he purred. He propped himself above Ianto with his hands on either side of his mate’s head. He leant down and kissed Ianto, delving his tongue into his mouth to tangle with his mate’s tongue. He teased Ianto, thrusting his tongue in the way he would eventually like to thrust his cock into the soft body writhing beneath him. Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead on Ianto’s for a moment. “More?” he asked, quietly.

Ianto twined his hands deeper into Jack’s hair, nodding vigorously. “Want more,” he replied, breathless. “Would you…?” he broke off with a deep blush.

“Just tell me, Ianto,” Jack murmured. “There’s nothing you can request of me that I haven’t tried at least once. Remember how long I’ve lived and just ask.”

“Use your teeth,” Ianto rushed out. “Suck my nipples and use your teeth to tease them.”

“Like this?” Jack asked. He lowered his head again and enveloped the opposite nipple in his mouth. He alternated sucking hard at the soft flesh with teasing bites and flicks of his tongue.

“Yes!” Ianto keened. He arched hard beneath Jack’s body. He could feel that tension, what he now knew was his orgasm, building in his belly. “Just like that.” He tightened his hold on Jack’s hair, pressing him closer to his breast. “Press me into the bed,” Ianto panted. “I want your weight on me… like this morning… please, Jack, please.”

Jack lifted his head for a moment. A soft disappointed sound came from Ianto as his hands tried to force him back toward his breasts. He shifted his weight, sliding his knees back to rest more of his weight on his mate, and pinned Ianto’s hips to the bed. “Like that?” he asked, softly. He rocked his hips to rub his cock against his mate.

“Yes… yes…” Ianto panted. He twisted and writhed beneath Jack’s weight. He soon picked up Jack’s rhythm, thrusting his hips in counter to his husband’s moves, and tugged on Jack’s hair again. “Please, Jack… I need… I want…” he shook his head, desperate for that last bit of pleasure to throw him over the edge into his orgasm. He arched his back and whined. “Suck me again, Jack,” Ianto demanded. “I…”

Jack chuckled and let Ianto guide him back to his breasts. He wrapped his lips around one nipple teased and tugged it with his teeth before shifting his attention to the other and repeating his actions. He ground harder against his mate. He wanted to shift that last little bit to slip into Ianto’s hot wet body but knew if he did he’d be betraying the trust his mate was giving him in this moment. He sucked hard on the nipple in his mouth and hummed softly.

“Oh, fuck, yes!” Ianto screamed. His back arched, his hands clenched in Jack’s hair, and to his surprise his toes curled. Every muscle in his body tensed and then released as his orgasm crashed over him. “Jack… Jack… yes!” he cried. He collapsed beneath Jack, panting desperately, and forced himself to free Jack’s hair.

Jack lifted his head from Ianto’s breasts. He determinedly ignored the heated throbbing of his cock in favor of watching his mate struggle to breath. The sight of Ianto, his eyes dilated with lingering pleasure, was making it amazingly difficult for him to not slip into his mate’s body. Still, he summoned a smile and leant down to kiss Ianto. “Good?”

“Amazingly,” he breathed. Ianto stroked his hands over his husband’s shoulders and around to his chest. “So good… so very good… but you…”

“This wasn’t for me,” Jack replied. “It was for you.” He stroked his fingers down Ianto’s cheek. “And you are so beautiful, taste delicious, and I can’t wait to taste you in other places.” He watched his mate swallow and take several deep breaths. “But that can wait until you’re ready for that.”

“Jack?” Ianto asked softly. “May I...?” he paused, thought, and twisted beneath his husband using his leverage and knowledge of Jack’s body to flip them over so Jack was beneath him. “I think I need to discover if I can still deep throat you, Jack…” he smirked down at his husband.

“Oh, ilâherica, bensevgili,” Jack growled. “Do it… I want to feel your mouth around me, sucking me hard, until I come down your throat.”

“Soon, m’gwr,” Ianto purred. “I have a bit of exploring to do first. If that’s alright with you.”

“More than,” Jack replied. He threw his arms out and settled amongst the pillows. “Explore to your heart’s delight.”

Chapter Fourteen

Ianto clung to Jack’s hand and leant against his husband as he stumbled alongside the taller man toward their favorite coffee shack at the Quay. “Why did I hire Rhys? I thought I’d get to sleep in, but nooooo,” Ianto grumbled good-naturedly at Jack. “You drag me out at this unholy hour of the morning after exhausting me all night.”

“Me?” Jack grinned down at him. “You were just as involved as I was.”

“But you’re the one who woke me up at the crack of dawn.”

“Yeah,” Jack laughed. “Mostly because I don’t have the right equipment to make our youngest happy.” He kissed Ianto’s temple. "And you went back to bed and I let you sleep until 8. We're usually the first ones in." He sang in Ianto's ear. "Peeeople will say we're in looooove."

Ianto muttered curses under his breath. It was so not fair. Why did he have to get up at some ridiculous hour with next to no sleep to feed the baby? “I need coffee.” He stopped walking and glared up at Jack. “Why couldn’t I have at least been allowed my own coffee before we came out?”

“Because you slept in while I went with Rhys to take the kids to school,” Jack replied. He thought Ianto was completely adorable when he was uncaffeinated. “I also got the papers necessary to register our youngest for nursery. It’s only a year and a half away. I want her space secured.”

“Hmm, ‘kay,” Ianto yawned. “I’ll fill’em out once I’m awake.”

Jack twisted, leant down and kissed Ianto. “Cariad,” he murmured. “You’re so cute.”

“I’m not cute.” Ianto stalked off toward the coffee shack. He headed right for the counter and ordered a latte for himself and a decaffeinated coffee with a lot of sugar for Jack. He took the latte, took a long drink and sighed softly. That was much better. Caffeine! The best thing he’d ever found for insuring his wakeup. He accepted Jack’s drink, looked around and found his husband leaning on a small wall with a huge grin on his face. He shook his head with a sigh, crossed over to Jack, and opened his mouth to question when he was silenced by a long lingering kiss. “What…?”

“Shh,” Jack murmured. He took his coffee, sipped and frowned. “This isn’t…”

“No caffeine, Jack.”

“But!”

“No caffeine,” Ianto repeated. “It’s bad for the baby.” He grinned at the pout and stretched up to kiss Jack. “Now who’s cute,” he murmured. “So what are you doing over...” Familiar and long missed laughter echoed up from the other side of the plantings topping the wall. “Is that Tosh?” Ianto asked, circling the planter to look.

Sure enough, there was Tosh. She was sitting with Tommy, laughing and smiling, while she nibbled at éclairs. He listened as his best friend continued to regale Tommy with stories from her date. The words didn’t register on him. The joy in her did. Her ready smiles, the joyous laughter, those had been long missed. He could come to accept his grandfather dating his best friend if it brought those smiles back to Tosh’s face. He bit his lip to contain a groan as Tosh caught a bit of the filling on one finger and sucked it off. Jack’s groan, however, was very audible causing the couple to look over at them. Tosh waved them over while Tommy kicked out a chair. Ianto just shook his head, came over and sat. “What are you two up to this morning?”

“I’m just having a nice chat with my best friend,” Tosh replied. She offered him an éclair off the plate in the middle of the table. “Here, eat something with your coffee.”

“I thought I was your best friend. I’ve been replaced,” Ianto teased. He took the pastry, bit into it and groaned. He loved the pastries from this particular coffee shop. A bit of the filling escaped his which he caught on a fingertip. Before he could suck it off, Jack caught his wrist, enveloped his fingertip in his mouth and teased it with his tongue before releasing Ianto’s wrist to allow him to pull away. “Jack,” Ianto hissed.

“That should be illegal, Captain,” Tommy said.

“Jack,” Jack corrected. “We’re not at work.” He looked between the other two with a grin. “So what are you two talking about?”

“Tosh’s date,” Tommy replied. “It’s been… interesting.”

“Tosh!” Ianto mock shrieked.

“Relax, Mommy, baby's all grown up,” Jack teased. He reached over and stole the remainder of Ianto’s pastry. “She can take care of herself.”

"I'm worried about my grandfather!" Ianto snapped. “How long has it been since he’s had a relationship?”

Tosh gave Ianto a wink and a wicked little smile. It was the same smile she used whenever she came up with a new twist on their tech. "Oh, he can take care of himself too, very well."

"Too much information, Tosh!” Ianto squeaked. “I don't need to even think about my grandfather's sex life!" He glared at Jack when both the men at the table began laughing hysterically. He pouted. He couldn’t believe his husband was laughing at him for not wanting to know. “Jack,” he whined. “Stop it.”

“What’s so funny?” John’s softly accented voice drifted over them. He stepped close to Tosh, leant down and lightly kissed her. “Good morning, сакана” he murmured.

Ianto’s jaw dropped as Tosh scrambled up, wrapped her arms around his grandfather’s neck, and tugged him back down to him for a proper snog. It was long, leisurely, and when he wasn’t looking away in embarrassment he realized that his grandfather ranked up there with Jack in his technique.

“Oha, iro,” Tosh murmured when she finally released John.

“Branding me in public, сакана?" John murmured. He leant back against the wall by Tosh’s chair and laughed at Jack’s look. “What, Jack? I told you domestic was starting to appeal to me.”

“But… but…” Jack managed to work out around the shock tightening his throat. “You never…”

“I loved her because she saved me from myself after the destruction of Gallifrey,” John replied sadly. “But not as a man loves his woman.” He reached over and stroked Tosh’s hair, smiling at her, and sighing. “You understand what I mean, don’t you Jack?”

Jack nodded with a sad little smile. “Yeah, I do,” he replied. He looked over at Ianto and reached over to brush his mate’s temple. “I know very well.”

“I thought you might,” John replied with a smile. “So what’s the plan today?”

“Usual, monitor the Rift, chase weevils,” Ianto replied. He finished off his coffee and chuckled. “You and Tosh need to work on fixing me.”

Laughter circled the table as they all rose. Ianto grabbed Jack’s hand and waited for the others to join him. He blinked, smiled, and watched with a cross between embarrassment and pride as John wrapped an arm around Tosh’s waist. “Grandfather,” he called. He waited for John to wait for him, dashed the few steps to join him, and stretched up on his toes to murmur in the older man’s ear. “If you ever harm Tosh, I’ll beat you to death with a shovel… through every regeneration you have left… and then use that shovel to bury your pitiful remains where they will never be found. I don’t give a damn about the Tardis’s plans. Tosh means a lot to me.” He settled back, stared up at his grandfather, and smirked. “We understand each other?”

“Yeah,” John laughed. He reached out for Tosh again. “I’m glad to know she has such fierce friends.”

“Family,” Ianto corrected as they walked toward the Tourist Office entrance. “Tosh is part of my family, Grandfather. All of the team is. We’ve become a family through this job.”

“I can see that,” John replied. He grabbed the door and held it for Tosh and Ianto. “Still glad and now I have seven great-grandchildren to spoil.”

“Seven?” Tosh muttered, leaning over the counter to push the entrance button. “I thought there were three.”

“Seven,” John repeated. “Rhys’s three, Ianto and Jack’s current three and Jack’s new daughter.”

“It’s a girl,” Ianto gasped softly. “How did you know?”

“You mean you don’t know?” John turned from Tosh to stare in surprise at Ianto. “All you have to do is feel her to know.”

“I don’t know how…”

“You know how to touch your other children, right?” John interrupted before Ianto could finish. “It’s the same method. A bit more work as she’s so young, just a few weeks past conception, but I can already sense her presence.”

Ianto closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating, and stretched out with his mind. He sought his children. Gray, a wild coastal storm barely leashed; Misha, the first warm rains of spring; Aimana, a quiet snowfall in the darkest night; and buried beneath them, the vaguest impression of warm, comfort and happiness. All of it tinged with the same female feel as his other two daughters. “Myn Duw,” Ianto murmured. He reached out and rested his hand on Jack’s stomach. “She’s happy, Jack.”

“Why wouldn’t she be?” Jack replied. He bent down and kissed Ianto. “Both her parents are here to keep her safe while she grows and gets ready for the world.”

“I just wasn’t expecting that.”

Jack laughed gaily. “I’ve known for a bit that the baby was a girl. It was instinct.” He swallowed, blushed faintly, and licked his lips. “I’ve been calling her Lahini. Keeping to the tradition my mother began.” He drew in a breath and sighed heavily. “We’re a new canaşiret. So, I thought…” he trailed off embarrassed.

“You call her whatever you wish,” Ianto murmured. “You don’t have to explain to me. I know you and Gray have names your mother gave you. If you want to continue with our baby, that’s fine with me.” He oofed in surprise as Jack grabbed him in a very tight hug.

“I love you,” Jack murmured into Ianto’s hair. He deftly tugged his mate out of the way of Tosh and John as the other couple followed Tommy’s lead down into the Hub. “Thank you… for letting me…”

“That’s a part of you,” he replied. “I won’t take the things that make you Raksha away from you any more than I would try to change the things that make you Captain Jack Harkness. I love you, m’gwr. Just as you are.” Jack’s hands came up, cupped his face, and held him still for a long lingering kiss.

“Are you two at it again?”

The interrupting voice came from behind them. They broke the kiss and Jack turned back toward the door to the tourist office. “Andy! So good to see you,” he said with the irrepressible Harkness grin. “So what are you…?”

“Tone it down, Mulder,” Andy replied. “I don’t need impressing. I’m just bringing the baby bag to Rhys. He forgot it this morning.” He held up the black pleather diaper bag. “Then I’m off to work. I am still a detective or have you forgotten that?”

“You have a standing job offer with us,” Ianto reminded Andy. “Don’t need to stay with the police.”

“And we pay better,” Jack added. “Something to think about when you have three kids.”

“Look who’s talking, Mulder.” Andy calmly reached out, lifted Jack’s arm, and slid the bag up to the other man’s shoulder. “Take that down to Rhys for me. I’m running late.”

Ianto collapsed against Jack, laughing for all he was worth, as his husband’s mouth worked. Jack was speechless, totally speechless, after Andy’s actions. Ianto managed to lift a hand to wave at the detective as Andy headed back out the door. Once it was closed, he reached back to hit the door release again, grabbed Jack’s hand, and tugged him through the door. “Come on, Jack,” he ordered. “I’m certain that Rhys would like to have the bag for Ginny.”

Chapter Fifteen

Gray slipped into the shooting range observation area. He watched his father practice on the other side of the glass. He couldn’t believe Jack’s accuracy. Well, until he considered that his father had been shooting that pistol of his for more years than he could properly imagine. He waited for a pause in the practice and tapped the intercom to get his father’s attention. “Dad?”

“Gray?” Jack looked over at the dividing glass and smiled. “What are you doing down here?”

Switching languages to their birth tongue, Gray spoke, “Looking for you, Raksha.” He sighed softly. “Misha needs a name, canağabey. A family name, Raksha. Like ours showing she’s a part of the canaşiret.” He tilted his head and smiled. “Can I come in?”

Keeping to the same language, Jack grinned. “Come on,” he waved a hand toward the door. “Show me what Ianto’s taught you while we talk.”

Gray laughed and let go of the intercom. He left the one room to join his brother in the other. Crossing the echoing space toward the table holding the weapons, he selected his favorite and expertly broke it down as a distraction while he gathered his thoughts. Once the gun was reassembled, he accepted a clip from Jack and slapped it into place. “He taught me a lot,” Gray began, still in their childhood language. “There’s things I know that Tad doesn’t know I remember. He thinks I learned how to do this from him. It was just a reminder. As soon as he handed it to me, I remembered.” He gave his brother a quick glance before lifting the gun, sighting down it, and fired off the clip in a tight cluster around the target’s heart. Popping the first clip, he let it drop to the floor, replaced it, and repeated the rapid firing. This time he aimed for the target’s head.

A distinct click from Jack’s direction had him lowering the gun to look over his shoulder at his older brother. “I remembered, Jack,” Gray said sadly. “I remembered shooting my aunt. The aunt who takes hours to explain to me the differences between the maths I learned on Boeshane and the ones taught here. Why I can’t use quadratics in sixth year. It’s frustrating.” He sighed, reached over and put the gun on the table. He rested his hands flat on the table and bowed his head. “It’s hell, Raksha,” he said softly. “It’s hell having those dreams, knowing they aren’t really dreams, and feeling I have to lie to everyone.” He sighed heavily. “I don’t want to remember, Raksha.”

“When did you know?”

“Know what?” Gray looked up from the table. “That they weren’t dreams?” When Jack nodded, the gun still unwaveringly held on his head, he sighed again. “When Tad brought me up from the Tardis Room,” he said softly. “The first time I saw the Hub, I knew they weren’t dreams. At least the shooting that happened there, but I’m still not certain about the rest.” He stared at Jack, intent, and bit his lip. “I don’t want these memories, Raksha.”

“What do you want?”

“To be Misha’s older brother,” he began. “I want to be your son, Tad’s son, and the büyükoğul of the family. Not a murderer.” He sighed again, shoving his hand through his hair, and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m sorry, Raksha. I’m so sorry… but please, please… get rid of it for me. I don’t want to remember!” He circled the table to drop to his knees in front of Jack. “Raksha, I’m begging you. I don’t want to remember and possibly grow up to be that man.”

Jack stared down at his baby brother. The child he’d tried for so many years to find and rescue was now kneeling before him in tears begging him to fix the situation. Taking a deep breath, Jack eased the hammer down on his pistol, set it aside, and dropped down to gather Gray into his arms. “Hold on to me, canazkekardeş,” he murmured. He reached behind Gray blindly programming his vortex manipulator with the coordinates for the Tardis Room. “I know someone who can help us.” Rising to his feet, he held Gray, finger poised over the button, and sent a thought to Ianto, “Grab Toshiko and get your ass down the Tardis room. We have a problem!” Then he pressed the button.

He appeared in the chilly space. Before he could say a word or even move, a beautiful dark haired woman took Gray from his arms, sat on the edge of the console platform, and began crooning an ancient Boeshane lullaby. Jack could only blink in shock as her voice registered fully in his mind. “Beautiful?” he half-asked, half-cried in shock. She merely raised golden hazel eyes shimmering with power to his, smiled, and returned to her comforting of his baby brother. Jack staggered several steps to sit on the stairs leading up to the platform.

The sound of running feet, clearly noticeable from the clicking of heels, warned of the arrival of Ianto and Toshiko. Jack rose again, torn between meeting his mate and watching the Tardis comfort Gray. The slam of the door as it was flung open to bounce off a wall announced the other’s presence. Ianto led, Toshiko only a breath behind, but bringing up the rear of the group was John. Only the seriousness of the situation kept him from laughing as the Doctor bent over panting for all he was worth in the doorway. Ianto continued toward him; Jack met him halfway.

“What’s going on?”

“Gray remembers shooting Toshiko,” Jack said flatly. There was no way to sugarcoat it. “He begged me to get rid of the memories for him. He doesn’t want them. He just wants to be our son.” Jack swallowed, looked back at the Tardis’s human form, and sighed. “He’s afraid of growing up and becoming that man he was again.”

“I’m not losing my son,” Ianto hissed to Jack. “So don’t even think…”

“Do you think I want to lose him?” Jack growled. “He’s our büyükoğul. He’s also my canazkekardeş. I’ll do anything to save him. You know that.”

“This should not be possible,” John’s voice interrupted Jack and Ianto’s staring contest. “No Tardis was ever…”

"John, love, we'll talk later. But your grandson needs our help,” her voice was both audible and telepathic. Eirian smiled up from where she sat. “You remember how to do a walkback?"

"Ah... yes." John crossed the room. It had been ages since he’d done one, but he still remembered the technique. “I remember.”

"What the hell is a walkback?" Ianto exploded. He glared at both Eirian and his grandfather. He wanted answered, straight answers, not more of their talking around him.

However, John merely sat down next to Eirian. He reached out to brush his fingers over Gray’s hair, sighing softly at the pain and fear radiating off his eldest grandson. "It's a way for a Time Lord to relive a memory at a distance. You walk back over your memories instead of reliving them. It was developed to deal with the survivors of the Dalek wars." John looked over at Ianto; his grandson was staring back at him. Pain, fear, worry, all etched on his features. "If we can get Gray to walk back his memories of his other life, he will be able to put them in perspective.”

“We hope,” Eirian said. Her gaze scanned them all before focusing solely on Ianto. “I would never harm the children, моетoсрце. They are my children as well, IantoEmrys.”

Ianto stared intently at Eirian. Blindly, he reached out to grab Jack’s hand. He clutched it tightly and took several deep breaths. “How do I help?” he asked.

“Come, sit,” Eirian ordered. “You just need to be here for him. Give him your support and strength,” she explained. “John will lead Gray through the memories themselves while I help buffer them.”

“What about me?” Tosh asked carefully. She pitched her voice as softly as possible. “What do you need me to do?”

“Come sit, сакана,” John said. “You may not be talented, but your support will be invaluable. Just being here is important.”

Jack led Ianto over to the platform, sat, and settled his mate into his lap. He eased his hand free of Ianto’s tight grip, reached around him and clasped Gray’s hand. He considered the Doctor for a long moment, silently debating, and sighed in resignation before focusing on the physical manifestation of the Tardis. “Beautiful,” he began, carefully. “I know you know who I was. Can I help this any? All the burden shouldn’t be on John.”

She shook her head at him. “I need you to provide an anchor for us, not intervene directly,” she said softly. “John needs to lead this while showing Ianto how to do it. Just in case he needs to help someone in the future. I’ll provide a buffer and…” She paused. The pause grew in length as she thought of how best to say what she promised Gray. “If needed deal with things.” A soft protesting sound from Ianto drew Eirian’s attention. She took a hand from Gray’s back to clasp his fingers in hers. “Ianto, моетoсрце, I promise nothing will happen to Tavi. He’ll still be your son, just as he was always supposed to be. Now let me help him.”

Ianto nodded, reached out and stroked Gray’s temple. He trailed his hand down to clasp his son’s wrist and relaxed his mind in order to connect to Gray. This was something London had taught him. Not this ‘walkback’ or whatever it was that Eirian called it. London had taught him how to use his natural empathy to connect to people in order to calm them after attacks. It was why he was in the archives rather than a field agent, despite his training. True empaths were amazingly rare; ones who could do what he could, actually enter another’s mind, even more so. So he’d been protected. “Where are we?” His grandfather’s voice drifted into his mind. Ianto opened his eyes, looked about the landscape of his son’s mind and sighed softly. “The Hub,” he murmured.

“So where is he?”

Ianto looked around himself. He could feel Jack’s presence lurking in the back of his mind, a steady link to the real world, and looked over at John. He raised an eyebrow at his grandfather. “Leather?” he asked softly. “I think I prefer the suited edition of you.”

“No comments on which version of John you see, IantoEmrys,” Eirian interjected. “You need to find, Gray, not fight with your grandfather. This is his previous incarnation. He learned the therapy we need as his Ninth self, so…”

“He chose the version most likely to know the most about what we need to do,” Ianto interrupted. He yelped when Eirian smacked him. “Must you do that?”

“If you’re going to act like a child, I’ll treat you like one. More respect моетoсрце,” she said. “He is a hero and your elder.”

“Yes, Eirian,” Ianto sighed.

“If you’re quite through,” the ninth incarnation of the Doctor interjected. He crossed his arms and considered the young man, apparently his grandchild if his Tardis was correct, and shook his head. “We need to find the child.”

Ianto felt even more like a child in the face of that look. It looked like ‘I’m done indulging your antics. Get to work’. He nodded, scanned the room, taking a step and almost slipping. He looked down and immediately recognized the trail of blood he’d spent weeks on his hands and knees scrubbing from their floor. “Shit!” he muttered. “I know right where he is. Why doesn’t Gray understand he’s not that man anymore?” He didn’t wait for an answer to the question but took off running for the morgue.

“He’s frightened,” the Doctor answered. “If you were a frightened child with memories like his…”

“I’d be hiding as well,” Ianto continued. He came to an abrupt halt in the entrance to the morgue. He leant his head back. “Oh, Gray, m’bachen,” he murmured. He crossed the catwalk to the back wall of freezers and scanned the doors for the right drawer. “I’ll need your screwdriver.”

“She’s right. You are a bit like a rude child.”

Ianto kept his back to the Doctor and rolled his eyes. He undid the latches, pulled out the cryogenics drawer and knelt beside it. He looked up at the Doctor asked in a sarcastically polite voice, "Grandfather, may I please borrow your screwdriver?"

"And mouthy, too." Still there was a hint of pride in those glacial blue eyes. The other Time Lord knelt opposite him. The sonic screwdriver was pulled from an inner pocket to scan the drawer. A single brow was raised in his direction.

“Torchwood’s used the system since the 1890s. Reverse engineered after a ship crashed.” Ianto wondered why he felt it necessary to explain himself. “Jack used it on Gray because he didn’t want to lose him.”

“Hmm,” the Doctor hummed as he scanned the box. After a moment, he changed the settings on the screwdriver and used it activate the cyrogenics. The machine cycled for several long minutes before the lid slid back. He scanned the boy lying inside while covertly watching his grandson.

“Gray,” Ianto whispered. He reached out to brush his son’s hair back. He looked so like his older brother when he was asleep. Ianto swallowed hard, resting his hand over Gray’s heart, and glared over at his grandfather. “Please, wake him,” he murmured. He was desperately trying to be respectful like the man wanted, but he wanted his son. Wanted to know Gray was okay.

His grandfather ignored him. He just fiddled with his screwdriver, scanning Gray and muttering things to himself, and every minute that passed worried Ianto even more. Ianto chewed his lower lip, worried, and went back to stroking Gray’s hair.

“Come on, come on,” The Doctor muttered. The repetition disturbed Ianto. He knew that his grandfather was doing more with that screwdriver then just reversing the cyrogenics. Ianto had a sneaking suspicion the Doctor was reworking Gray’s memories, easing the concerns his son had, before waking the child. “Come on, please,” the other man murmured. “Give me this one.”

“Grandfather….” Ianto hissed softly. Something about the Doctor’s shenanigans just rubbed him the wrong way. It was almost like he was testing him as much as helping. “What are…?” A soft gasp from Gray tore his attention from the adult to the child. He cupped his son’s cheek in his hand, murmuring, “Gray?”

Dazed blue eyes looked at Ianto. There was pain, fear, but a lot of hope in those eyes. “Tad?”

“I’m here,” Ianto murmured. He pulled Gray up from the coffin-like box and into his arms. Gray clung, fingers digging painfully into his shoulders, but he didn’t care about the pain. He blinked back tears as he smiled at his grandfather around the boy he was holding so tightly.

"Today, nobody dies,” the older Time Lord said. A triumphant grin crossed his features as he smiled at Ianto.

“Thank you,” Ianto whispered. He lifted Gray, groaning slightly at the boy’s weight, and grinned back. “I mean it. Thank you.”

“It’s not over yet,” the Doctor replied. “We still need to…”

“Duw,” Ianto murmured. “I was hoping…”

“It may be sonic, but it’s not magic.” The reply was tinged with a bit of frustration. “Gray, is it?”

“Yes, sir,” Gray replied. He turned his head to look but still clung tightly to Ianto. “I don’t…”

“Shh, bachen,” Ianto murmured and soothed his son. “You aren’t that man. And you never will be.” He cupped his son’s chin and forced Gray to look into his eyes. “Rydych chi fy mab hynaf. A byddaf bob amser yn caru chi. Waeth beth. Cofiwch fod.” He released Gray and stared at his grandfather. “What do we need to do?”

“We take him back through those memories,” Nine said. There was a heavy sadness in his words. “I’d hoped I would never have to do this again. It’s the only thing I was glad was lost when Gallifrey fell. The need to do this.”

Ianto freed a hand, reached over and squeezed his grandfather’s. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “If I knew how…”

“You do pretty well already,” Nine replied. “Not many of you apes can slip so easily into another’s mind.” He rose, offered Gray a hand, and then smiled at Ianto. “Let’s do this shall we?”

Chapter Sixteen

Ianto rolled his eyes at being called an ape. Sighing softly, he turned Gray toward him. “Look at me, bachen,” he said softly. “I know your scared, but I’m here, Tad-cu’s here, nothing’s going to happen to you this time.”

“I don’t want to do this, Tad,” Gray replied. The shake in his voice told more of his nerves than anything else. “I really don’t.”

“I don’t either,” Ianto agreed. “I’ve seen Jack’s nightmares of that invasion. I’m certain yours are much, much worse.”

"Memories shouldn't be allowed to fester.” The Doctor took one of Gray's hands. “Especially in a Time Lord's mind."

"But I'm not a Time Lord,” Gray protested softly. He rolled his eyes in a spot-on imitation of Ianto causing Ianto to chuckle. “So how can you tell?”

"You will be," The Doctor reminded him. “You are your fathers' son. And Jack's little brother. How could you not be?" He smiled at the boy. "You're going to be brilliant, Gray. But first we have to make sure you understand that nothing you did in your previous life will be repeated here. You made a different choice. And that's all that's important, моевнук. The choices we make."

Watching Gray straighten his spine, Ianto found himself smiling at just how like Jack Gray really was becoming this time around. Shaking his head, he took Gray’s offered hand and nodded to the Doctor. “So who leads this expedition?” he asked cautiously.

“Gray,” The Doctor said. “He takes us back through that lifetime while I buffer the emotions and reactions.”

“I can do that,” Ianto murmured. “I used to do that for some of London’s field agents during debriefs. Didn’t have a name for it though.” The withering look he received from the Doctor actually made him flinch. Ianto knew he was blushing, but the sight of Gray laughing at him made the embarrassment livable. “You’re the expert though.”

“Good of you to agree,” The Doctor retorted. “Ready, Gray?”

“Yep.” Gray looked up at the two adults. “Go back to the beginning?”

“Always the best,” the Doctor agreed.

“Alright then,” Gray replied. He closed his eyes for a moment, seeking the earliest thing he remembered from that lifetime; it was the same thing he remembered from this life before he’d awakened in Cardiff. Opening his eyes, he smiled at the scene of him playing with a much younger Jack on the beach opposite the settlement. He looked up at his Tad and his grandfather and smiled. “Just before they invaded, work was done for the moment and our father let us play with some of the others.” He laughed softly. “It was peaceful, just a regular day, and then they came.”

The quiet almost idyllic scene was broken by the most awful screeching. It wasn’t just audible, but a subliminal noise that vibrated through the body and reverberated in your brain. Gray swallowed hard, sniffed, and dropped the Doctor’s hand to swipe at his nose with his sleeve. He pouted up at his Tad when a handkerchief was dangled in front of him. “Our father grabbed us, ran a bit up the beach, then told Jack to take me and run. Jack begged our father to come with us, but he said he had to find our mother.”

Gray almost sobbed. He knew that Jack was just as angry, disappointed, and upset with that moment. He wanted his father with him, to protect him, but had only his brother. Jack grabbed his hand, both of their hands sweaty from fear, and they ran into the dunes headed toward the low scrub forest that edged the beach. The trees weren’t much but they would provide shelter. “I tripped,” Gray murmured. “And our hands slipped. Jack didn’t even notice that I wasn’t with him.”

The image shifted again. Beside them Gray tensed. “You want the first set of memories, not the ones related to my coming here,” he said. There was a stressed edge to his voice. He yelped when his Tad rested a hand on his shoulder, looked up and attempted to smile. He knew he failed when his Tad squeezed reassuringly. “That time, the first time, I didn’t hear Jack calling for me like I did the second time. I tried to get up but…” As they watched one of the creatures landed, its wing claw scraping along Gray’s jaw as it subdued the child before grabbing it in beak and clawed limbs to fly off again.

“Is that why you’re afraid of Myfanwy?” Ianto asked softly. “They look a bit like one of the later pterosaurs.”

“They’re the Kucumatz,” The Doctor explained. “They’re intelligent fliers able to survive both in an atmosphere and without. They live by scavenging. People, things, whatever they need. They steal from others.”

“So why take Gray?” Ianto asked. He was half afraid of the answer, but wanted to know anyway. “He wouldn’t survive a trip outside his world.”

“They knew, Tad,” Gray said. “And they wanted us for this.” He pointed in front of them where the scene had changed again. Large pens of people, sorted by age and sex, filled the view. Gray pointed to a particular pen. “I’m there,” he said. “And my best friend, Nagaina, is in that one. She was terrified.” He shook hard, all but whimpering, and dropped his head. “She died less than a yaşene later. I remember how she screamed and screamed but they wouldn’t let anyone help her, even the büyükadıns. They didn’t care about her, only her baby…” Gray swallowed hard, looked up, and shook his head. “When we weren’t… well…” he shrugged and bit his lip. “They kept us chained when we weren’t training. All the time... and if you failed, you died.” The images changed so rapidly Ianto could barely keep up with them until they ended with an image of the version of Gray he’d actually met that first time in the other universe chained to a wall surrounded by stacks of chained corpses.

“Them,” The Doctor spat. “They did this to you?” The question seemed redundant. The Doctor crouched down in front of Gray. He closed his eyes and Ianto could feel the power in his grandfather as the other man concentrated. A cold smile settled on the Doctor’s lips. “Well, моевнук, you need not worry. I took our family's vengeance on them a long time ago." He nodded toward the view in front of them. Now, the image showed the Doctor leaning back on his Tardis as something destroyed the aliens yet left the slaves free to be helped by a different set of aliens. Aliens Ianto recognized from Jack’s memories as the Catkind.

“I thought you didn’t,” Ianto began softly.

“There are some things that I won’t allow, Ianto,” The Doctor replied. “At least before the Fall of Gallifrey, now…”

“I understand,” Ianto replied. He looked down at Gray, crouched down beside him and hugged. “You understand that the man you became because of them doesn’t exist now? That’s another life. You had no chance there, bachen.”

"Then it wasn't my fault?” Gray asked. He looked between the two adults with desperate hope in his eyes. “Or Raksha’s fault, either?"

"No,” The Doctor replied. “You had no chance, either of you."

Ianto nodded in confirmation of his grandfather’s words. “You were also children. There was no way you could manage.”

"And what happened to me, then?” Grey asked. “Did I go mad? Could it happen again?"

"It couldn't, моевнук. Here you are loved,” The Doctor assured his grandson. “And I make you a promise. If anything ever happens to you I will find you and bring you back. You are mine and I won't let you go."

"Yes, candede,” Gray replied with a little smile before reaching over and hugging the Doctor tightly. “Thank you.”

Ianto closed his eyes for a moment. The prickle of tears in his eyes surprised him. He could also feel Jack’s increasing tension back in the real world. He tried to reassure his husband, but knew he was failing. He sighed softly, opened his eyes and considered Gray. “Ready to reassure Jack, bachen?”

“Yep,” Gray replied with another grin.

Before Ianto could say or do anything, the Doctor reached out, grabbed his and Gray’s hands and the world around them shifted, twisted, and then they were back in the real world. Ianto whimpered and pressed his hands to his eyes. That was disconcerting to say the least. He heard Eirian reassuring Gray just before Jack all but yelled in his ear, “What took you so long?”

“It takes some time to do a walkback, Jack,” John said softly. “We saw what attacked the Boeshane. It was the Kucumatz, Jack. Your people didn't stand a chance."

“Cinselişki!” Jack snarled. “I learned about them at the Agency. No one ever knew who or what destroyed them, only that they were suddenly gone.”

“Dad!” Gray blinked at his father and shook his head. “Candede destroyed them.” He looked over at his grandfather and chuckled. “I think I liked the leather jacket better than the suit.”

"You did what?" Jack asked. He was in total shock. He knew that the Doctor did not kill lightly so to hear that his oldest friend had committed genocide thrice over was a total shock.

"They were attacking the Catkind, and I couldn't afford to have them do that,” John replied. “By that time, I knew what would happen to you and no Catkind, no Nurse Hame for the Face of Boe. The Universe couldn't afford that."

Jack made a soft sound of agreement. He ran the conversation over again in his mind and blinked in surprise. He stared intently at John. “Leather?” he asked in a bit of shock. “What does he mean by leather?” To his surprise, John blushed, looked at Tosh, and then shook his head.

“My previous self is more experienced at doing walkbacks, so…” John trailed off and shrugged wordlessly.

“Jack, don’t worry about it,” Ianto muttered. “Gray, you still okay?” His son didn’t answer him. As Ianto watched Gray squirmed out of Eirian’s lap, took the few steps needed for him to reach Tosh, and dropped to his knees beside her.

“Canteyze Toshiko?” Gray asked softly. “I’m sorry for…”

Tosh reached out, ruffled his hair, and smiled. “He wasn’t you, yuushi,” she said. “You are an entirely different young man. You don’t even look like him.” She leant forward and hugged Gray tightly. “Why don’t you come with me, reassure your sisters, and help me with that project we started?”

“You’ll still trust me with it?” Gray asked, stunned and surprised, but he still nodded. He rose and offered Tosh a hand.

“Of course,” Tosh laughed. “You’re one of two people I’d trust with it.” She let him help her up, smiled at the rest of the group in the Tardis room, and gave Gray a look. She managed not to laugh as Gray rolled his eyes at her before turning back. “He’s developing your mannerisms, Ianto.”

“I know,” Ianto replied, accepting Gray’s tight hug and murmured thank you. “Let the children know we’ll be up shortly.”

He slipped out of Jack’s lap, rose to his feet, and leant on the railing around the console. He watched Jack and Gray interact, their voices too soft for him to hear and in a language he didn’t recognize. He glanced over at his Tardis, but Eirian just smiled back at him. He knew any other time she’d be translating for him, but right now, she let his husband and son keep their conversation private. The tight hug and soft sob from Jack before he released Gray told Ianto just how much these events had upset his husband. As Gray walked away with Tosh and their grandfather, Ianto moved to Jack’s side, enveloped him in his arms and held him tight. “It’s alright, Jack,” he murmured. “He’s just fine. A perfectly normal, if too smart for his age, little boy who’ll be off playing rugby with Tommy, Rhys and Andy soon enough.”

“When he told me he remembered,” Jack began on a half-sob. “I was terrified that I would have to kill him to protect the rest of the canaşiret.” He clung to his mate, buried his face in Ianto’s neck, and cried. “To know he’s fine…”

“He’s more than fine, m’gwr,” Ianto replied. He stroked Jack’s hair and back. He hummed softly and smiled when Eirian briefly hugged them both before fading away again. “He’s our son. His sisters may drive him crazy, but he’ll be the protective older brother. Don’t worry about him ever being that man he’d become in the other universe… everything is different here.”

“I know,” Jack murmured. “But I was so…”

“I know, cariad,” Ianto whispered. “I know. Just let it out, m’gwr. Let it out, let it go, and don’t think of it again. Can you do that for me?” He felt Jack nod against his neck before he was grabbed tightly enough his ribs creaked in his chest. Ianto knew he’d get bruises, but if this helped Jack heal from this fear, every mark would be worth the momentary pain.

Chapter Seventeen

Three weeks had flown by since Gray’s stunning announcement about his memories coming back. The good side, no more nightmares, but the bad side was his quiet laid back son had turned into the whirlwind of energy Jack remembered Gray being from his own childhood. Jack sighed softly. He couldn’t begrudge Gray the release of the tension he’d been living under for so long; however, if Gray and Bran didn’t settle down soon, Ianto might strangle them for waking Aimana from her nap.

Jack scanned the lower level, looking for his mate, and smiled. He still wasn’t certain if he should refer to Ianto as male or female. Regardless, he couldn’t keep himself from admiring his mate every chance he had. Somehow, someway, Ianto had figured out that he had to keep his hair bound up in some way in order to keep Jack from losing it around the other men on the team. So Jack had been treated to a variety of hairstyles until Ianto settled on a loose topknot in the style of a turn-of-the century chignon. There was only one problem with the hairstyle, Jack found himself constantly wanting to nibble on the nape of Ianto’s neck.

The sound of a toddler crying brought another sigh. The boys roughhousing had done it now. They’d woken the babies. Any minute now…

“Gray Ifan Harkness-Jones!” Ianto snapped from the doorway of his office. “What did I tell you about running and screaming in the Hub?”

“But Tad, Bran’s…”

“Don’t you but me!” Ianto interrupted. “You’ve woken Aimana after I’d finally gotten her down for a nap. Settle down!”

“Tad…”

“Ianto,” Jack interrupted before his mate could go off on one of his long rants about the children’s behavior. “It’s quiet. Let me, Rhys and Tommy take the kids over to the park. Rhys can give the boys more rugby lessons while Tommy and I watch the girls.” He started down the stairs, but froze when they creaked ominously beneath his feet. As soon as the stairs stopped shifting, Jack hurried down to the lower level to join Ianto. “The kids can run out some of that energy there. Aimana will go back to sleep and you can get some work done.”

Ianto looked between Jack, the boys in question, and Tommy several times before nodding. “Fine,” he muttered. “Just no ice cream, Jack. It defeats the purpose of taking them out.”

“No ice cream,” Jack repeated, nodding. “Got it.” He turned to the two boys and smiled. “Get your coats and help your sisters with theirs.” A chorus of ‘yes, sirs’ and off they ran again. He shook his head at Ianto’s long-suffering sigh. “I’ll keep them out of your hair for a couple of hours.” After receiving Ianto’s approving nod, he leant forward and kissed his mate. “Love you, cariad,” he murmured. “Call if you need us.” Jack slipped on his great coat and turned, intending on hurrying the kids along, when Rhys handed him Ginny’s carrier. The baby already securely fastened inside. “Uh, Rhys?”

“Take her with you,” Rhys ordered. He handed Tommy the baby’s diaper bag. “I want to get a look at that staircase without all of you in here trying to use it. I know you felt how unstable it’s getting.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “It’s bad. Thanks, Rhys.”

“I’ll send Andy around to join you as soon as he’s done with his meetings,” Rhys replied.

Jack nodded, gathered up the waiting kids and headed off to the park. It wasn’t that far from the Hub, so they walked over. A short twenty minutes later and the kids were running about like wild heathens while he and Tommy settled on an empty bench to watch them. There were other kids in the park, also off on a term break, and soon the boys had managed to find enough other boys to set up a haphazard rugby match while the girls played on the playground. Jack set Ginny’s carrier on the bench beside him, lifted her out and, after wrapping her securely in a blanket, cuddled her beneath his coat. She was soon staring about, hazel eyes wide with fascination, and occasionally babbling in the way all babies did as they started to learn to talk.

They sat in silence. Just watching the children play and making that small talk that people who don’t quite know what to say use in order to fill silences. A very familiar squeal caused Jack to hand the baby to Tommy before starting off to end yet another fight between his son and nephew and some fool who had attempted to bully their sisters. It was but a few moments work to sort out the mess and send the kids back to playing. Jack started back toward Tommy and raised a mental eyebrow at how awkward the youngest agent on the team looked holding the infant. “She won’t bite, you know,” he said as he resumed his seat on the bench.

“She’s very small,” Tommy murmured. He held the baby out to Jack and breathed an audible sigh of relief when the Captain took her back from him.

“She’s fine for her age,” Jack replied. He cradled Ginny in one arm while he rummaged in the diaper bag for her bottle. Shaking it for a moment, he expertly popped the teat in her mouth. He smiled as she ate. “She’ll grow fast.”

“How can you know that for certain?”

Jack attempted to smother a laugh but it slipped out anyway. “Just look at them,” he replied, pointing at the kids. “They were all her size once. Aimana’s not long out of the babe-in-arms stage.”

"Yeah, but...” Tommy trailed off for a moment. He wasn’t certain exactly how to say what he wanted to say; however, he knew if anyone would understand it would be Jack. “She's still too young. How can you be sure?"

"Sure of what, Tommy?"

"That she'll survive!"

Jack stared at the young man. He was astounded by the question. "Is that why you keep away from the kids until they're older?” he asked, still shocked by the other man’s words. “I thought it was the nappie stink or something."

"Two of my sisters and several cousins died before they were two,” Tommy explained. He looked over at the foursome running about on the grass in front of them. “Children don't make it sometimes." He looked back at the baby and sighed softly. "It hurts too much if you get attached."

“I know exactly what you mean,” Jack replied. He licked his lips, considered, and sighed himself. “We didn't even name babies until their first birthday." He smiled at Tommy’s look of astonishment. “I may be from the technologically advanced fifty-first century, but I was raised on a colony world. A world under constant threat of invasion. So, the mortality rate for infants and young children was very high.”

“Really?” Tommy asked. He was surprised by Jack’s openness. The older man didn’t usually talk about his past at all. “I mean…”

“I know,” Jack interrupted. “My bizimanne, that’s mine and Gray’s mother before you ask, lost two children between Gray and me. One was stillborn, the other died in the storm season at about six months.” He shook his head for a moment. “That’s why there was such a gap between my age and Gray’s when we were first separated. Plus, my sütanne, or foster mother, lost several as well.”

Tommy considered the other man for a long moment, thinking over his words, and finally asked the question that was starting to nag at him. “Then why do you carry Ginny around so much?"

"I learned the value of memories." Jack leant his head back for a moment to stare up at the sky. “Tennyson said it best,” he began, looking back down at Tommy. “You might even know the quotation. It’s better to have loved and lost…”

“Than to have never loved at all,” Tommy finished. “I do know it. An aunt quoted that to me once when I asked why she kept having children if hers kept dying,” he shrugged self-consciously. “I wasn’t the most considerate of young men.”

“But you’ve learned differently,” Jack said, smiling at the other man. “Gray was right. I need to name the kids.”

“Why?”

“Do you really want to know?” Jack asked.

“Of course. I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t interested.” Tommy drew in a breath, let it out, and shook his head. “We started off wrong, Captain. I let the prejudices of my youth keep me from learning things about this time. Rhys and Andy have been very good at explaining things without making me feel like an idiot for not understanding.” He stopped for a moment and reached out to brush his fingers over one small hand firmly clutching a nearly empty bottle. “I think you might be the only one to truly understand some of my problems connecting with this time.”

“I did live through much of what you did,” Jack agreed with a small smile. “The first time around that is.” Chuckling, he tugged the now empty bottle away from Ginny, handed it to Tommy, and grabbed a small blanket to drape over his shoulder. While he winded the baby, he gathered himself to explain naming traditions to Tommy.

“You don’t…”

“I think I do,” Jack interrupted Tommy again. “If I can explain it to you so you understand, then I should have no problem explaining my reasons to Ianto and Rhys.”

“Okay, you have a point there,” Tommy agreed. He capped the bottle and put it away in the bag sitting between them. “So, naming the kids…?”

“In the Boeshane, where Gray and I are from, everyone was a member of both a clan and a family. A few weeks back, just after Tosh and the Doctor had their first date, I told Ianto that we were creating a new canaşiret.”

“Canaşiret?” Tommy asked. “Did I say that right?”

“Almost, the accent’s on the middle syllable. You were closer than Ianto.” Jack grinned again. “Anyway, a canaşiret is a clan usually made up of several loosely allied or distantly related families. This allows any children of the canaşiret to intermarry without prejudice to the relationship.”

“So, our canaşiret,” Tommy paused to grin at getting the pronunciation correct. “Ours would be Torchwood.”

Jack blinked. He hadn’t thought of that when he’d mentioned that they were creating a new canaşiret to Ianto, but Tommy was right. They were a clan of allied families brought together by Torchwood. He smiled at the young soldier. “You’re right,” he agreed. “By the traditional definition, our canaşiret is Torchwood. Anyway, the children of the clan are brought before the senior female at or shortly after their first birthday to be named. Usually, the mother has already chosen an appropriate name and privately conveyed that name to the matriarch. There’s a big party and the Aileisikadın will gather any children to be named before her, consider them for a few moments, and then announce their names. Those are their names within the larger group, what Ianto refers to as their true names, but a child’s father will usually have given his child a name at birth which most everyone uses.”

“So one name used for ceremony and a different one for every day?” Tommy asked, quietly. “It’s almost like a confirmation name in religion.”

“A bit,” Jack agreed. He half-shrugged and resettled the baby in his arms. “My father named me Jack and my brother Gray, but my mother gave us different names.” He looked over at his companion. “And no, I’m not telling what mine is. I learned recently it’s actually a woman’s name.”

Tommy struggled not to laugh at his Captain, but the combination of rueful look and blush was just too much. He started to chuckle which only made Jack blush a deeper red and him laugh harder. Finally, he leant over gasping for breath. “If you could have seen your face, Jack!”

“Finally!” Jack cried happily. “I wondered if you actually remembered my name.”

“Oh, I knew your name,” Tommy replied, sitting up and wiping away the tears the laughter had produced. “I hear Ianto scream it often enough around the Hub.”

“Brat!”

“But you love me anyway,” Tommy retorted with another grin. “So, if we’re a canaşiret, who’s the... how did you say it… Aileisikadın? Would that be Kate?”

“You would ask the hard question, wouldn’t you?” Jack replied. “Actually, I am. I’m older than Kate.”

“So, you being you wouldn’t matter?” Tommy asked. He then thought about what he said, shook his head, and started over. “Let me try that again. Despite the fact that you’re male, the fact that you can have a baby makes you matriarch?”

“Pretty much.” Jack grinned at Tommy. “Here,” he said, “Practice.” He calmly handed Ginny back to Tommy, rose and stepped behind the younger man. “Pull her in close to you so your chest helps support her,” he instructed. He gently guided Tommy to properly hold the baby and squeezed his shoulder when the other man looked up at him. “You’ll need the practice. I think I’ll ask Ianto if I can name you tanrıbaba to the new baby.”

“Tanrıbaba?” Tommy asked carefully. “What’s that?”

“It’s a complex term. The closest equivalent now is godfather.” He smiled, circled the bench, and sat again. Jack twisted about so he could keep an eye both on Tommy and the kids at the same time. “It’s part guardian, part teacher, and part parent. The person outside the canevhalkı, but still in the genişaile who a child can go to for help, protection or advice when they aren’t comfortable speaking to their parents.”

Tommy stared in shock at Jack. “But… you… I mean…” he took a deep breath and suddenly knew this was the olive branch being offered to him by Jack. An offer of friendship given in manly terms he’d understand. “If Ianto agrees, I’d be honored.”

“I’ll speak to him…” Jack trailed off with a shake of his head as his mobile rang. Since it was just his going off, it clearly wasn’t Rift related. Pulling the phone out, he laughed. “Speak of the devil,” he murmured to Tommy before rising and taking a few steps away. “Bensevgili, we were just talking about you.”

“All good I hope,” Ianto said. His voice had a vague echo to it. He was likely calling from one of the tunnels in the Hub. "I thought we deserved a night to ourselves, so I asked John to take the kids for the night. He and Tosh will watch them. Tosh said something about 'practicing'."

“And Doc didn’t run screaming the other way?” Jack asked with a laugh. “It must be serious.”

"Jack, it terrifies me,” Ianto replied. “I'm going to end up with uncles and aunts that are younger than my own children!"

Jack couldn’t help it. He laughed softly at the exasperation in Ianto’s tone.

“Don’t you laugh at me, Jack Harkness!” Ianto snapped.

"I'm sorry, Ianto, but...” he paused and sighed. “Look at it from my point of view. I'm married to my big crush's grandson and I'll be playing uncle to his children with one of my best friends. Life does get complicated for people like us."

"Complicated is putting it mildly. But as long as Tosh is happy…,” Ianto retorted. “I’ll see you at home. John and Tosh will be heading over to join you with the kids in a few minutes. Rhys is waiting on Andy and then he’ll over too. Any time after that, you can head back to the house.”

“Anything you want me to bring?”

“A bottle of wine,” Ianto replied. “Something sweet… a nice Riesling, perhaps.” There was a pause, then Ianto continued, “And yourself, m’gwr.”

“I’ll be there soon, caraid,” Jack replied. “Does this mean I get to do more exploring?”

“You’ll find out,” Ianto replied. Before Jack could think up a suitable reply his mate severed the connection leaving Jack to stare at the phone in shock; his mate hadn’t just teased him by phone, had he?

Chapter Eighteen

Tucking the box containing the outfit he’d worn back to Cardiff from Korumalani under his arm, Ianto headed down into the depths of the Hub. He remembered from the dream Eirian had given him that the outfit was worn by a bride at her wedding. A niggling idea had begun to take root in his head after that, yet it had taken him nearly a month to commit to going through with it. Only after his grandfather and his best friend had both separately told him there was nothing in the archives to return him to his male body was he able to fully move forward and accept the changes he’d gone through. He was a woman now, with all the attendant problems, and he just had to accept it. And this was the first step in fully committing to who and what he was now.

“I really need to stop thinking of myself as a ‘he’,” Ianto muttered to himself. He ducked around a corner, stopped and leant back against the wall for a moment. He set the box down at his feet, reached down and pulled out his mobile. From memory, he dialed Jack’s mobile and listened to it ring before Jack picked up on the other end.

“Bensevgili, we were just talking about you.”

“All good I hope,” Ianto answered with a small smile. He crouched down again to retrieve the box from the floor. With it tucked securely under his arm, he continued walking down toward the Tardis room. “I thought we deserved a night to ourselves, so I asked John to take the kids for the night. He and Tosh will watch them. Tosh said something about ‘practicing’.”

“And Doc didn’t run screaming the other way?” There was laughter in his husband’s voice. He could help smiling in response to it. “It must be serious.”

“Jack, it terrifies me,” he replied. He crept down the slightly creaky stairs with all the stealth he’d learnt back when he’d hidden Lisa down in a disused archive room. “I’m going to end up with uncles and aunts that are younger than my own children!” More laughter echoed down the connection. Ianto frowned, pulled the phone from his ear to glare at it, and then put it back to snap, “Don’t you laugh at me, Jack Harkness!”

“I’m sorry, Ianto, but…” There was a lengthy pause before a soft sigh caressed his ear. “Look at it from my point of view. I’m married to my big crush’s grandson and I’ll be playing uncle to his children with one of my best friends. Life does get complicated for people like us.”

“Complicated is putting it mildly,” Ianto agreed. He stopped in the hall to lean against a wall again. “But as long as Tosh is happy…” he trailed off, smiling to himself. That was all he wanted for the woman who had saved his sanity so many times before Jack’s return to his side. “I’ll see you at home. John and Tosh will be heading over to join you with the kids in a few minutes. Rhys is waiting on Andy and then he’ll be over too. Any time after that, you can head back to the house.”

“Anything you want me to bring?”

“A bottle of wine,” Ianto replied after a moment’s thought. It was the one thing he hadn’t managed to pre-purchase and hide from Jack. “Something sweet, a nice Riesling perhaps,” he paused for a moment and smirked to himself. “And yourself, m’gwr.”

“I’ll be there soon. Does this mean I get to do more exploring?”

It took every ounce of Ianto’s self control not to react to that seemingly casual statement. Exploring had become their euphemism of the moment, replacing weevil hunting as a code word, as he endeavored to get used to his female form and how it reacted to Jack physically. Swallowing back the moan that threatened to escape as thoughts of previous explorations raced through his mind, Ianto replied, “You’ll find out.” Rather than linger in the conversation, he cut the connection and tucked the mobile away in his shoulder bag.

Ianto leant his head back against the wall behind him, sighed, and swallowed hard. Why was this so hard to do? It was a simple matter of stepping into the Tardis room and asking Eirian for help dressing. So why was he out here torn between whimpering in fear and running away screaming?

“Because you’re nervous, моетoсрце. All brides are before their wedding,” Eirian’s voice whispered across his mind. Just hearing her calmed him down from stark terror to a more manageable level of fear. “Come inside. I have a gift for you.”

Shaking his head, Ianto reached over to open the door to the room where his Tardis rested. He stepped inside, a smile lingering on his lips, and chuckled. “Why do I even bother trying to keep things from you?” he teased. “You always seem to know what I want before I ask.”

Eirian sat in her human guise on the stairs leading to the Tardis console. She reminded him a bit of a forties starlet, all curves and glamour with long dark hair tumbling about her shoulders. Only her eyes, golden-hazel with hints of fire, the vortex energy which made her, gave away her true identity. If he was still male, he’d have had no qualms at all attempting to seduce her into his bed. Well, if he wasn’t with Jack that is… or maybe he could talk Jack into… Ianto shook his head to refocus his thoughts and smiled. “You’re laughing at me,” he said as he crossed the room to join her. “I can tell by the way your eyes sparkle.”

“Just a bit,” she replied. Even her voice reflected that forties glamour. All smoky and rich with the faintest hints of his own Welsh accent lacing her words. “But you are fun to tease, моетoсрце,” Eirian said with a laugh. “Come sit. Talk to me.” She patted the space next to her on the steps.

“If you already know what I’m going to ask you, why do I have to say it?” Still, he sat on the steps, twisting about to face her while setting the box on the platform which surrounded her console. “I just don’t understand that.”

“Because, no matter how powerful I am, I’m not a deity,” Eirian replied. She reached over to clasp his hand for a moment. “So I need you to tell me exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you want me to help you before I can do anything.”

“Oh.” Ianto felt very stupid after she said that. He should have thought it was something like that. He considered his plans for a moment, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “I need your help. I want…” he trailed off again and swallowed hard. “This is so hard to say. Harder than I thought it would be, but… I need you to help me dress as if I was a bride from Jack’s culture. I want him to know I’d marry him there as well, even as the woman I am now.”

“моетoсрце, how far are you willing to go?” Eirian asked. Before he could answer, she reached out and rested a finger on his lips. “Shh, just listen for a moment. Do you want to just dress the part as you were when you returned here from the future or do you want to do it all?”

“All?” Ianto asked curious. “What more could there be?”

“This,” she said. Eirian twisted, reached behind her, and turned back to set three heavy wooden boxes in Ianto’s lap. “Open them, моетoсрце, and then tell me your answer.”

“But what…” he trailed off when she pointed commandingly at the boxes. He stared down at the boxes for a long silent moment. “The boxes are beautiful, cariad,” he murmured. Finally, he gave in and opened the first and smallest of the carved wooden boxes. Inside, separated by velvet dividers, were several pieces of jewelry in glittering gold. He lifted one of the pieces, a fine Figaro chain, and ran his fingers over the beads dividing the chain. “Are these what I think they are?” he asked as he returned the chain to its place in the box. “No, don’t answer yet,” Ianto continued. “I should look at the rest before asking questions, right?”

“Yes.”

He shook his head with a soft laugh and laid the smallest box aside. He left the lid open, still not certain about what Eirian was doing, and opened the middle box. This one, divided in half rather than a lot of small compartments like the first one, held a stack of bangle style bracelets and what Ianto was certain was a choker necklace, much like the Edwardian dog collar chokers. He traced the design on the wide band of the necklace, raised an eyebrow at Eirian, and set that box aside as well. The last box, and the heaviest, remained in his lap. He wondered how much of the weight he held was the box as opposed to the contents. He traced his fingers over the carvings on the lid before finally flipping up the latch and opening it. “Myn Duw,” he murmured as he lifted the contents from the box. “Tell me this isn’t real gold.”

“What would you do if I didn’t?” she replied. “If I told you it was real gold and rubies, what would you do?”

“Faint.” Ianto blinked, stared and ran his fingers over the rolled edges of the belt in his hands. “What is this, Eirian? I mean…”

“This is all the jewelry a woman of the Türkçelisan people would wear for her wedding,” she answered. “I know you wouldn’t do some of the things because of time constraints and Torchwood, but wearing this would…”

“Shock the hell out of Jack,” Ianto interrupted. “But how is it all worn? With the outfit I mean.” He scanned the open boxes for a moment, licked his lips and chewed on his lower lip for a moment. “Especially this piece,” he said, nodding to the piece he still held. “It’s awfully heavy for someone to wear.”

“It’s the Kızlıkbelkemeri. It’s worn around the waist beneath the overblouse.” Eirian reached over and took it from him. She deftly opened the back of the belt, slipping the ends from beneath the loops holding them secure, and laid it out across her lap. “Translated it means ‘maiden’s belt’ and essentially means that the woman wearing it is going to her wedding and bridal bed a virgin.” She grinned at him. “And I know, no matter what you two have done, you haven’t done that yet, Ianto.”

“Siana,” he said quietly. “If I do this, then I’m going to do it all. That includes accepting the change in my name.” He reached out, unsurprised to discover that his hands were shaking, and stroked the belt. “Will you help me?”

“All of it, моетoсрце?” She asked again. When he nodded, his eyes still on that heavy belt, Eirian grinned. “Then strip, Siana.” She laughed at his shocked look and stunned blink. “We have a lot to do before you need to leave for home. Luckily, Toshiko had guessed what you were thinking of when you went past her with the box. She’ll be delaying Jack until I page her that you went home.” She lifted the box from Ianto’s lap, set it aside with the belt draped over it, and ordered, “Now, strip.”

Ianto blinked again, nodded, and rose to his feet. There was just something in the brisk way she said those words which rushed though him. He had one brief moment to wonder exactly why he reacted that way, and to see her start to reach for the buttons on his blouse, before he was obeying the softly spoken order. He stepped out of his heels and shivered for a moment as his bare feet met the cold floor before the room began to warm around him. Ianto stripped his clothes off, handed each piece to Eirian who folded the clothes and stacked them on the lid to the box with the bridal outfit in it. Finally, he was down to just the skimpy black and red knickers he’d purchased on his dash out to the spa and shops after Jack had taken the kids out to play. He hooked his thumbs into the waistband, intending to remove them too, when Eirian spoke again.

“No, those stay,” she said. She picked up the belt, rose and stepped around him. “You’ll want to grab the railing, моетoсрце.”

“Why?” Ianto asked. He craned his head to watch her move. Still, he did what she said and wrapped his hands around the railing in front of him. “Eirian?”

“Because I intend, if you’ll cooperate, to indulge one of Jack’s well-hidden wants,” she replied. She reached around him and settled the belt around his waist. “Which means that this goes on first rather than last.”

“But…” Ianto broke off his protest with a startled gasp. “That’s cold,” he protested. Then he realized what she was doing. She wasn’t just putting the belt on him. After she threaded the ends through the guides again, she began to pull them tight. He let her, not protesting beyond the fact it was cold, until it felt like she’d forced all the breath from him. Then he whimpered softly as he bit his lip.

“Shh, cакана,” she murmured. A hand smoothed over his hip and arse soothing him. “We’ll leave it there for a bit while you get used to it.”

“And then what will you do?” he demanded, glaring back over his shoulder at her.

“Tighten it again.” She stepped around him and cupped his cheek in her hand. “Tell me you don’t want to do this, please him, and I’ll stop. All you have to do is say it.”

“I can’t,” he replied. He looked away from her toward the console and sighed. “You know what I did today. I know you do. I wouldn’t go through that kind of pain for just anyone.”

“I know.” She laughed softly. “Shows how much you love him.” Eirian brushed her fingers over his lips before trailing them down along his body to stroke the upper curves of his breasts. “Besides, I think this,” she mused. She lightly pinched one of his nipples between her fingers causing him to gasp. “This says you’re enjoying what I’m doing to you.”

“Eirian,” he hissed. “I…”

“You know I won’t cross any boundaries. You’ll still go to him as virginal as you arrived in this room,” she replied. “But you are as much mine as his, regardless of what form you have or name you choose, and I want to touch you.”

Ianto bit back a moan as she stroked her palm over his breast and nipple before she stepped away to go back to the jewelry and clothing. He watched her unfolding things, draping the clothes over the railing nearby, and bit his lip hard. He didn’t understand why he responded so readily to her now that he was female at least. If he was still male, well, she was the perfect woman for him in those circumstances.

While he thought, she’d returned to him, cloth draped over one arm and the smallest of the jewelry boxes in her hand. She ducked beneath his arm where he still clung to the railing and knelt in front of him. The box was set down beside her in favor of shaking out the fabric before she gathered it up in one hand and grinned up at him.

“Okay, Сакана, step in one leg at a time.”

He rolled his eyes at her stating the obvious, but obeyed the instruction. Soon, Eirian was kneeling up, tugging the soft gray pants up to settle them in place just above the waistband of the scanty knickers he wore. He blinked down at her, unnerved by the couple of inches of skin exposed between the bottom of the wide belt and the top of the pants. “Weren’t they higher when I wore them home?” he asked softly.

“Trust me,” Eirian replied. She settled back on her knees, smiled up at him, and reached over to pull a pair of chains out of the box. She wrapped one about each ankle, fastening them securely, and trailed her finger over the chain. Soft bells chimed in response.

“You know I do,” he replied. “This is just so…” he trailed off, at a total loss for words, and dragged in a breath. “You know what you said about the belt…?”

“Of course,” Eirian replied. She lifted another chain from the box, held it in one hand and stroked the belt with the other. “Comfortable?”

“Yeah,” Ianto answered. “It’s heavy, but doesn’t feel tight now. I suppose that means you’re going to…”

“In a minute,” she interrupted. She took a step forward, cupped her cheek in his hand, and kissed him very briefly. “I have something else to finish first,” she murmured with a smirk before claiming his lips again.

It was a strangely hungry kiss and almost as arousing as Jack’s. Possessive, yet teasing by turns. Ianto closed his eyes and fell into it, responding to every teasing flick of her tongue, and moaned softly in response to her. He barely noticed her hands stroking over his skin, down his sides and across the upper edge of the belt on a path toward his breasts. It was only when he felt a sudden bit of pressure around one nipple that he broke the kiss with a gasp. “Eirian, what are you doing?”

“Putting your jewelry on,” she replied with a deceptively innocent expression. She played with his other nipple, bringing another soft moan to his lips, and watched him watch her. Eirian smirked as she slipped the soft loop at the end of the chain around Ianto’s nipple. Slowly she tightened it just enough to keep the chain in place without slipping while leaving the loops loose enough to do no harm to him. “You can’t tell me you don’t like this, моетoсрце,” she purred while setting the chain to swinging between his breasts.

“Eirian,” he hissed. “That’s just not…” Her finger pressed against his lips, silencing him, and he waited to hear what she’d say.

“You wanted everything, remember?” Eirian ducked down, slipped beneath his still outstretched arm, and slowly moved behind him. Her fingers trailed along his skin following the upper edge of the belt. “Now let me keep working. Luckily, you had your hair done at the spa earlier. So I only need to dress and adorn you.” Her hands settled on the ends of the belt, freeing them and she asked, “Ready?”

“Yeah,” he replied. He dropped his head down, watching almost fascinated as the nipple chain swung with every breath he took. “Go ahead.”

She chuckled softly behind him. A kiss was pressed to the nape of his neck. “Relax, Сакана,” she ordered. “This won’t work as well if you tense.” Eirian waited, stroking his back with her palm, and humming softly until the tension in his body eased. Then she tugged on the ends of the belt until it was as tight as possible against his skin. She slipped one finger beneath the heavy metal to mentally count the remaining holes on the strap. “Almost there,” she murmured and slipped her arms around his waist. “I can stop here, if you want, but…”

“But you’re hoping I’ll let you finish tightening it,” Ianto finished for her. “I just wish I knew why you wanted to do that. I know you said it was for Jack, but why?”

“Have you noticed how Jack will come up behind you and clasp your waist in his hands?” Eirian asked as she slipped away from him. “Spread his fingers over your stomach and squeeze just a bit.”

“Yeah,” Ianto shook his head with a soft laugh. He watched her grab up the halter top and drape it over her shoulder before crouching and picking up the necklace. “He does it at least once a day now that I’m female rather than the come up behind, slide his arms around me thing he did when I was male. I don’t get it.”

“I noticed it when he traveled with John and me. He’d do it to Rose, too. At least until she got fed up with it and hit him one day. He never did it to her again, but he’s doing it to you now,” Eirian replied. She came back to him, stepped behind him and settled the necklace around his neck. She took her time securing the clasp before she continued to speak. “So, I slipped into his dreams to find out why. Something about tiny waisted women really turns him on, especially if their waists are small enough for him to wrap his hands around them.”

“He has a corset fetish.” Ianto laughed and shook his head. He freed a hand to help hold the halter in place for her to tie it behind his neck and back. “Not something I would have thought of, but it does explain the waist grab move.” He leant his head back to consider the ceiling arching above them. Of all the kinks he’d expected to hear Jack having, and the man did have a hell of a lot of them, that was rather low on his list. Of course, discovering that despite the initial pain when she tightened the belt and the constant sense of pressure on his belly constricting his breathing just a bit, he shared that little kink with Jack was totally disturbing. Yet, he wanted both to do this for Jack and to experience it himself. He closed his eyes for a moment, drew in a breath, and let it out slowly. He looked down again to see Eirian reaching for the overblouse. “Do it, Eirian,” he quietly demanded. “If you think you can manage it, go ahead and finish tightening the belt.”

“Oh, I can do it, Сакана,” she confirmed with a grin. “I just figured you wouldn’t do it. You’re going to have such a tiny waist when I’m done.”

“And a drooling husband when he discovers what we did.”

She laughed gaily. “That too.” Eirian returned the tunic top to the railing and joined him where he was standing. “Just don’t act like Scarlett and whine about it hurting,” she ordered.

Ianto laughed and shook his head. He knew exactly what scene in that dreadful old movie she was talking about. “I promise not to whine. Curse maybe, but whine no.” He consciously relaxed his body while tightening his hold on the railing in front of him. “I just… no, I probably don’t want to know after all.” A chuckle followed by a kiss caressed his back. He felt her stroke his back several times before she took hold of the belt.

“This will be the hardest part of this,” Eirian explained. “I’ll be nice to you and let you rest between spots rather than just pull it tight like I did the other two times.” She didn’t wait for him to agree, just tightened the belt, murmuring, “One.” She held it in place while he sucked in a breath and let it out again. Then, she pulled it a bit more always keeping the tension even so the belt didn’t loosen up any.

“That’s two,” he panted. “And very tight.”

“Yep, one more to go,” Eirian replied. “Still want it?”

“Yeah,” Ianto said. He nodded as well. He didn’t get any warning before she cinched the belt the last little bit. He heard a soft click noise just before she murmured ‘three’, but it was all he could do to keep from crying out in an odd combination of arousal and pain. “Cachau!” he snapped. He panted, flexing his hands against the railing, and struggled to centre himself again. Finally, he knew he could speak coherently again and quickly asked, “Did you get it fastened?”

“I did.” Eirian wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek against his back. “Our Jack is going to die seeing you like this. Tiny little waist, full round breasts, and all dressed up like a woman of his people.” Her lips brushed his shoulder just before she stepped away again. “I think I envy him a little, getting to unwrap you and take you to bed later.”

He chuckled, released the railing and turned to watch her gather up the blouse. “You could always…” he trailed off. Ianto couldn’t believe what he was about to suggest. “Cariad, you could always join us one day. You know he won’t object any.”

“What about you?” she asked. She slipped the blouse over his head and tugged it down to settle it properly. “Would you object to finding me in your bed one night?”

“No,” he reached out and brushed his fingers over her cheek. “Not at all.”

“I’ll remember then,” she replied, stretching up to kiss him again before settling back on her feet. “One last piece for me to do,” Eirian said, dangling an earring between them. “Don’t be surprised if he asks you to wear this piece regularly after tonight. It’s a symbol of the canevhalkı, your family, and marks you as his wife much as the rings you exchange on earth do.”

“Okay,” Ianto murmured while she settled the elaborate earring in place. “How do I get the belt off? I mean, all the rest is pretty self explanatory, but that…”

“Jack knows how. Don’t worry about that.” Eirian stepped back from him, appraised him from head to toe and nodded. “Perfect. When you get home, take your shoes off. Barefoot is better for this.” She grinned as he carefully stepped back into his heels. Crouching down, she gathered up everything, stacking it for him, and smirked. “I suppose I should warn you that Rhys is waiting outside the door. I pinged him to come down so he could carry all this up to the car for you. The bangles you can put on when you get home.”

“I don’t know whether to yell at you for doing that or thank you,” he replied. “This,” Ianto paused and ran his fingers over the belt beneath the loose tunic. “It’s heavy, tight and a bit difficult to breathe in.”

“Which is why Rhys is going to help you to the car,” Eirian explained. “By the time you get home, you’ll be used to it.” She looked toward the door, waved a hand and smiled as it swung open, silently inviting Rhys inside. “Besides, you’ll need him to move your furniture for you. I know you’ve discovered you can’t bend over in that.”

He rolled his eyes and nodded. Ignoring Rhys, he took a step closer to Eirian, stroked her hair and face and kissed her. He put every bit of the skill he’d learned from Jack into the kiss, savoring her unique taste, before breaking it to smile at her. “Thank you, cariad,” he whispered. “For everything, both this help and the lessons before. I owe you.”

Chapter Nineteen

“Ianto! I’ve got the wine!” Jack’s bellow announced his presence long before the slam of the door did. “Where are you? Ianto!”

Ianto bit his lip hard and took a breath. He was terrified of Jack’s reaction to what he was doing. He wasn’t even certain Jack would understand what he was doing and why. Swallowing, he rose to check his lipstick in the dresser mirror. Satisfied that he hadn’t messed it up, he called, “In our room, Raksha.”

“Raksha?” Jack called up the stairs. “What did I do, Ianto?”

“Nothing!” he called back. Ianto moved back to the table he’d brought up from downstairs. He’d dragged Rhys over to help him set the stage before shooing the other Welshman off to his kids. Now, instead of the bench and sofa between the bed and fireplace, one of the round tables from the sitting room dominated that space. After lighting the candles on the mantle, he knelt down by the table and lifted the lid to check that the brazier was still lit. He set the lid aside and smiled. Everything was as ready as he could make it. Except for him, he was nowhere near as ready as he was trying to appear to be. Ianto rose to his feet again, licked his lips, and turned toward the door just as Jack came bounding into the room.

“Ianto, you wouldn’t…” Jack trailed off and stopped so suddenly his upper body was still moving forward while his feet stood still. He staggered, almost fell face first into the floor, and stared at Ianto. “Ilâherica,” Jack breathed. “Müthişen görünüyorsun.”

A tiny giggle escaped Ianto. He couldn’t help it. The way Jack nearly fell at his feet relieved a bit of his nerves over what he was doing. He smiled, dropped his gaze for a moment, and then looked back up. “Jack…” A finger touched his lips silencing him.

“Goddess,” Jack repeated his earlier words. “You look absolutely amazing.” He took the few steps necessary to bring him before Ianto. Setting the bottle of wine he still held down on the table, he reached out and clasped Ianto’s hands in his own. He lifted them up, breathed deeply of the perfume his mate had claimed as his own, and kissed one palm then the other. “A beautiful bride,” he whispered. “My beautiful bride.”

"Yes,” Ianto murmured back. The relief he felt at Jack’s understanding rushed through his body leaving him a bit dizzy and weak in the knees. “I want to be that tonight. I want you to know that no matter what I am committed to you in every way."

"Thank you,” Jack replied. He still held Ianto’s hands in his and rubbed his thumbs over the pulse that raced beneath the bangles around his wrists. “I want you to know, to understand, that no matter what body you inhabit, you are the one I love. Your bravery, your gallantry, your ability to love me no matter what...” he trailed off for a moment before continuing, “that is what I love. Whether it is Ianto or Siana."

"And loving you is the prime requirement, right?" Ianto rose up to press a gentle kiss on his husband's lips. "Then we will be very happy together because no matter how long, how far, or how strange, I can't seem to be able to stop loving you." He gently freed himself from Jack’s hold and stepped back. "And we have to stop this or we're going to start to sound like a bad Boon and Mills."

"Is there a good one?" Jack chuckled and looked down at the bottle of wine he’d sat down moments before. He scanned the table and settled on the brazier in the middle of the table. "Is this what I think it is?"

“Depends on what you think it is,” Ianto replied. He watched Jack circle the table. It took every inch of his control not to nibble his lip while his husband considered the items on the table.

Jack smiled his sweetest, gentlest smile. It was the one Ianto loved because it showed him the true Jack under the Captain Harkness disguise. "If we were in the Boeshane, I would say I'm getting married."

“Then it’s exactly what you think it is,” Ianto murmured. He could feel his face heating up and didn’t even need to look in the mirror to know that he was blushing. In spite of the blush, he reached across the table to Jack’s hands in his own. He bowed his head for a moment, centered himself, and in the hidden depths of his mind said goodbye to ‘Ianto’ and became ‘Siana’. Lifting his head, he smiled across the table to Jack, and swallowed hard. “I, Siana Eluned Jones, pledge my love to you, and everything that I own. I promise to honor you above all others. Our love is never-ending, and we will remain, forevermore, equals in our marriage. This is my vow to you.”

Jack rubbed his thumbs over Ianto… no, Siana’s palms. He would never have expected this from his mate, but now that the words had been said, the ceremony begun, nothing would stop him from claiming her as his bride in the ways of his childhood. “I, Raksha called Jack Harkness, accept your pledge and offer you my own. I shall be the shield for your back, protecting you from all dangers as you shield my heart with your love. I pledge you my love, and all that I own. Above and beyond this, I will cherish and honor you through this life and into the next.”

Siana smiled. She released one of her husband’s hands and tugged him around the table to join her. Moving slowly, with the grace that Eirian had drilled in her for hours every day, she slipped to her knees before the brazier. She looked up at Jack, smiled, and freed her other hand to reach for the puffed rice. She scooped it into her hands and bit her lip waiting for Jack’s next move. A soft sigh escaped her as Jack’s hands rested on her shoulders for a moment as he settled on his knees behind her. The warmth of his body heated her back. She wanted to lean back into her mate, but didn’t move. This part wasn’t taught to her by her Tardis, so she had to follow Jack’s lead on what to do.

Jack pressed his chest to Siana’s back and his cheek to hers. He reached around her, cupping her hands in his, and breathed the words of the ancient ritual as he moved their hands over the brazier. “Ilâherica,” he murmured. “Bizikorusun. Bizikorusun canevhalkı.” He then separated their hands so the rice could spill down into the brazier.

Silently, Jack urged Siana to lean back against his chest. He reached around her to open the bottle of wine. He offered the bottle to her and watched as she reached forward to lift a small burnished chalice. Jack couldn’t resist the smile as he saw the engraved triquetra on the side of the chalice bowl. Jack bit his lip hard as the tip of Siana’s tongue slipped between her lips as she decanted wine into the chalice. To distract himself, he eased back from her and shifted to kneel beside and facing her. She turned to him, her hands cradling the chalice, and with such a serious expression, Jack found himself echoing her silence and seriousness. He took a breath, reached up and covered her hands with his own. He stroked the side of her hand with his pinky even as he lifted the chalice to his lips to drink his portion of the wine. Swallowing, he lowered the chalice and licked his lips. Jack caught the sudden indrawn breath from Siana and smiled slowly. He shifted his hold on the chalice and lifted it to her lips. He watched her drink her portion, a smile curving her lips around the metal edges as she lowered the chalice.

“Ilâherica,” she murmured. Siana took the chalice, stretched her arm out to pour the last drops of wine into the brazier. “Bizikorusun. Bizikorusun canevhalkı.” She smiled at Jack as he drew in breath in surprise. Setting the chalice down, she lifted the cover to the brazier and put it back in place. It still warmed the room, but there was no risk of a fire from the hot coals inside.

“Dduwies, bendithiwn ni a bendithia ein cartref,” Jack whispered as he reached over to rest a hand on the brazier for just a moment. Then, he reached for Siana’s hands again. He rose to his feet and pulled her up with him. “Mae fy ngwraig yn annwyl, gadewch i mi cariad i chi a ydych chi'n hawlio fel fy hun nawr?”

“Oh, evet,” Siana murmured. “Ydw, Raksha, wrth eu bodd yn gwneud i mi.”

Jack dropped his wife’s hands for a moment. He framed her face with his hands, stroked his thumbs over her cheeks, and slowly lowered his head to kiss her. “M’ngwraig,” he breathed, breaking the kiss for a moment. “Cankarımı, he whispered as he kissed again. “Seniseviyorum, bensevgili.”

The long silence that fell between them brought every one of Siana’s nerves back. She made a little sound in her throat, almost a whimper, and murmured, “Raksha…?”

“Shh,” Jack purred. “Remember that first night?” he asked. He lifted her hands again, gathered her bangle bracelets together and slipped them off. He bent to set them on the low table beside them before straightening and smiling at her. “When I undressed you so carefully?”

“Yes,” Siana murmured. “I remember. You made me feel…” she trailed off and dropped her gaze to the floor, blushing.

“How did I make you feel, bensevgili?” he asked. He lifted her chin with his fingers and bent for another kiss. “Tell me.”

“Cherished… protected… small…”

“Small in a good way, I hope,” Jack replied. He carefully freed her earring and held it in his hand. “Will you…?”

“Will I what?” Siana murmured. “Jack?”

He shook his head. “Later, that’s for a later discussion,” he said. He dropped the earring on the table amongst the bangles and stepped behind her. “Look, Siana, watch me do this,” he ordered, turning her just a bit to see them together in the mirror across the room from them. He removed the necklace easily, carelessly dropping it onto the table, and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I never thought I’d see you in this, the kirmigelinlik, again. I’m almost reluctant to take it off.”

“Would it help to know that I had pictures taken in this?”

“Much,” he replied with a soft laugh. Jack gathered the top in his hands and pulled it over her head to drop it onto the floor. His hands stroked down Siana’s upraised arms along her sides to rest on the belt cinched tightly around her waist. “I can almost span your waist with my hands with this on.”

“Eirian’s idea,” Siana replied. “She also came up with the design.” She traced the raised gold triquetra with its ruby centre with her fingers. “It took quite a while for me to get used to it after she fastened it. Not only is it tight, it’s heavy.”

He laughed softly. “But it defines you so well.” He stroked his fingers along the scalloped edges. “Did she tell you what it means to wear this?” The blush staining his mate’s skin told him the answer to the question. “Would you be upset with me if I told you I don’t want to take it off yet?”

Siana considered her husband in the mirror. Delicate little shivers seemed to race through her every time he stroked her bare skin just above the belt. She wondered what he’d think of the other bit of jewelry she wore, still concealed beneath the outfit’s underblouse, and the other thing she’d bravely done to fit with the rituals of his home. She bit her lip, watched him, and finally softly asked, “You want to fuck me while I wear it?”

“If you’d let me,” Jack replied. “I would.” He pressed the tips of his thumbs together against the small of her back just over the buckle of the belt and wrapped his hands around her waist. One tiny part of his mind wondered what it would be like to see her in a corset, her waist cinched tight enough his fingers would touch over her stomach, but shoved that thought away for another time. “Ilâherica, Siana, you have no idea what this does to me,” he growled into her ear.

She pressed back against him, grinding her ass against his pelvis for a moment, before straightening again. “I think I do,” she murmured. An impish smile curved her lips. “You can,” she said, twisting her head to kiss his jaw. She reached up and back with her hands, linking her fingers behind his neck, and smirked. “Wait until you see what else I have on,” she paused; the smirk deepening as he stared hard at her and their gazes met via the mirror. “And what I’ve done.”

Chapter Twenty

“So, what have you done?” Jack asked. He could sense Siana’s skittishness. She was as edgy as a new filly but so determined as well. “Will you tell me? Or is it a surprise?” He smoothed his palms over her stomach again. Warm skin contrasted sharply with the slight chill of the metal belt wrapped around her. “Siana?”

“Hmm,” she purred softly. She leant her head back and just hummed in response to her name. Siana shifted a bit, a tiny displeased noise slipping from her as she realized that Jack was fully dressed. Not that she could truly say anything as she was still wearing the majority of her clothes. Jack having only managed to remove some of the jewelry before getting distracted by the belt wrapped around her.

“You’re like a kitten looking to get petted,” Jack murmured in her ear. Another low soft purr answered him. He just chuckled and shook his head. “A very pretty kitten.”

Siana rose up on her toes, deliberately pressing her back against her husband’s chest as she moved, and leant her head back against his shoulder. “Meow,” she said into his ear before catching the lobe between her teeth for a moment in a quick bite. She flicked her tongue over the soft skin for a moment before releasing him and settling back on her feet.

“Wicked little kitten,” Jack murmured. He had no idea why Siana was so out of it, but he was totally fascinated by how small she was with that belt on. “I cannot believe…” he trailed off for a moment, swallowing. “I just can’t believe how tiny you are with this on. I’m almost tempted to get the tape measure.”

“I’m almost afraid to find out, but…”

“But what?” Jack asked. “Ianto, what?” he gave a rueful shake of his head. “I’m sorry, I mean Siana, what?”

“It’s okay, Jack,” she replied. She covered the hand resting on her stomach with her own. “I haven’t discarded Ianto. I’m still here inside. I’ve just added another layer to myself, accepted that this is what I am now, but I know we’ll both slip up sometimes.”

“And the team,” Jack agreed with another soft laugh. “So, what are you almost afraid to find out?”

“The measurement… I’m curious about it, too.” She twisted her head back to look up at him before returning her gaze to the mirror. “After everything I went through while Eirian cinched it, I want to know but at the same time I don’t.”

“I may regret asking this, but how tight did she get it?” Jack stroked Siana’s stomach again. He loved the little shiver that raced through her whenever he did that. It was a little twitch, nothing more, but he was coming to adore it. And the way every time he ran the tips of his fingers along the edge of the belt her breathing would speed up before calming again. “Do you know?”

“Yep,” she replied. Her hand clasped his wrist, stilling his caresses, and her thumb stroked over his pulse. “I know. You’ll probably drool over how tiny I am even more if I tell you.”

“I can find out without you telling me.” Jack freed his hand, took a half step back from her body, and ran his fingers around to her spine. “All I need to do is slip my fingers between you and the belt.”

“I doubt you could get a finger in there,” Siana murmured. She craned over her shoulder and smirked at him. A giggle escaped her at his expression. “I let Eirian cinch it as far down as it would go, m’gwr,” she said softly. Another giggle escaped when his jaw dropped. “Exactly.” She turned, reached up and gently closed his mouth with her index finger. “I knew you’d do that.”

“I’m stunned,” Jack finally managed to say. “It’s not too tight? I mean…”

“It’s tight,” Siana replied. “It was a shock just after she did it and secured it, but I’ve had time to get used to it.” She tilted her head to one side, thinking, and dropped her gaze for a moment before looking back up at Jack from beneath her lashes. “I like it. I love how it makes me feel. I enjoy how you look at me.” She rested a hand on her husband’s chest, feeling his heart racing beneath her palm, and then slid her hand down to cup his erection through his trousers. “And I really love how you respond to me wearing it.” She brought her hand back up, playing with his shirt buttons, and smiled up at him. “That’s why I agreed so readily to keep it on.”

“Oh you are definitely a wicked little kitten,” Jack growled down at her. He cupped the back of her head in his palm, bent down and kissed her hungrily. He devoured her mouth and delighted in the soft moan she gave as she wrapped her arms around him. Despite the changed appearance, the kiss was the same; still Ianto’s where his mate dominated as much as he submitted to him. He took even greater delight in the tiny begging noise she made when he lifted his mouth from hers.

“Kediyavrusuim,” he murmured. He wrapped his arms around her, trailed his fingers up her spine and tugged lightly on the ties holding her halter on. He striped the fabric from her, stepped back and tossed it away. Her sharply indrawn breath brought his gaze back to her and he raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I think you’ve just been upgraded from wicked to evil.” He reached out, hooked a finger around the chain now freely dangling between her breasts and tugged.

“Oh, fuck, Jack!” Siana cried. She dug her nails into Jack’s shoulders and arched her back. “Don’t do that…” she moaned between sudden panting. “You know…”

“I do know,” he replied, tugging lightly on the chain again. “I know just how sensitive your breasts are. How you love it when I catch your nipples in my teeth to tug and bite them. I bet this piece of jewelry has you so wet, so ready to be taken.”

“Please,” she begged softly. “Jack, please….”

He released the chain to swing freely again. He watched her pant, her eyes so dark now as to border on black, and smiled. “I take it that’s the something you’re wearing,” he murmured softly. “Now I’m curious as to what you’ve done.” He took a step forward, wrapped his hands around Siana’s waist, and pulled her flush against him. He slipped his hands beneath the back waist of her pants to cup her arse. He caught the waist of her knickers and the pants, pulled them both down as he slid down her body to kneel in front of her. He eased the pants over the ankle bracelets, threw both onto the pile of discarded clothes, and then looked up at his wife. “Kakapmak,” he breathed. “You went to the spa and…”

“Yeah,” Siana replied a bit breathlessly. “And whoever said it doesn’t hurt is a fucking liar.” She playfully slapped Jack when he began to chuckle softly. “Don’t laugh. I…”

Jack caught her wrist, turned his head and kissed her palm. Still hold her hand in his, he looked up at her, leant forward and pressed a kiss to the newly bared skin before him. “Shh,” he murmured. “I’m not laughing at you. That you did all this for me…” he trailed off and sighed softly. “It just makes me love you even more, kediyavrusuim.” He wrapped his free hand around her side and rubbed his thumb in the hollow of her hip. He watched her face as he stroked her hip, slowly edging his hand around to cup her, and delighted in the soft moan which slipped from her lips as he rubbed his thumb over her bared pussy.

“Oh!” Siana squeaked. “Fuck, Jack…” she panted. Her hands grabbed Jack’s shoulders, nails digging deeply into his shirt, and whimpered. “Touch me, Jack, please.”

Jack continued to watch his mate, his husband turned wife, yet despite it all still his everything as she panted. Her chest heaved as she drew in harsh breaths. He watched as she licked her lips; little wordless cries escaping her mouth. Jack continued to stroke her with the pads of his fingers, slowly parting her flesh until he could reach her clit and circled it once with the pad of his thumb. As he stared up at her, fascinated by her reactions, Siana flung her head back with a wordless scream. He continued to caress her, pushing her orgasm higher, until she went completely limp. He caught Siana around the waist as she crumpled. Jack rose, swung her up in his arms, and carried her to their bed. He set her in the middle of the bed and straightened. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered. “So beautiful when you come. You always were.”

“Men aren’t beautiful, Jack,” she murmured to him. “Handsome, I’ll give, but beautiful, no.”

“You were,” he replied. “I think it was the second thing I noticed about you.”

“Second?” Siana asked. “What was the first?”

“Your pteranodon,” Jack replied with a grin. “Now that’s a courting gift, if I ever saw one.”

“Brat!” Siana said with a grin. She reached up, tangled her fingers in Jack’s hair, and pulled him down to her. She pressed up to meet him, kissing him, and slipped her tongue into his mouth to tangle with his. As his arms came back around her, Siana slid her hands around to begin undoing her husband’s shirt buttons. She finally broke the kiss when she needed to breathe and stared intently at him. “You’re wearing far too many clothes,” she whispered as she stripped the shirt from his shoulders. “I want you naked.”

Jack shook off her hands and stood. “Take down your hair,” he ordered softly. “I want to see it tumbling about you.” He watched her as he stripped off his clothes and tossed them down into the pile with hers. “I love your hair. I love to tangle my fingers in it. Hold you still for my kisses.”

“Among other things, as I remember,” Siana interrupted with a little smile. She fingered the chain hanging between her breasts. “Do you want me to…?”

“Don’t take it off.” Jack dropped the last of his clothes on the floor. He stepped back to the bed, rested his knee on it, and wrapped a hand around her ankle. He stroked the inside of the ankle, savoring the feel of her skin beneath his fingers, and smiled at her. “I know you, Siana,” he said quietly. “Every time you breathe and that chain moves, it arouses you even more.” Jack shifted to kneel on the bed. “I can smell you, how wet you are, and I can’t wait to taste you.”

Siana finished taking down her hair and shook her head. The thick mass tumbled down around her, soft strands tickling her breasts and back, and she reached up to shove her hair behind her. “I think I want to taste you first, m’gwr,” she said. She reached across the bed and threw the covers back. “I want to lick you, tease you, take your cock into my mouth and throat until you’re begging for me to let you come and then I want to drink every drop while you scream my name.”

For one impossibly long minute, all Jack could do was stare at his mate. Then he moved to sprawl amongst the pillows at the head of the bed. He spread his arms wide and grinned. “Your banquet awaits, my lady,” he said. He waited patiently for her to move.

Siana stretched out a hand and ran her nails over her husband’s stomach. Jack’s sucked in breath made her grin as she crawled toward him. She climbed over his leg to kneel between them and rested her hands on Jack’s stomach. She stroked his skin with her palms, considering her options, and attempted to bend to kiss his belly. She bit her lip as she was vividly reminded of the heavy belt wrapped around her stomach. Siana tilted her head, thought for a moment, and shifted backwards to lay on her stomach between Jack’s spread legs. She squirmed forward a bit and ran her tongue up the underside of Jack’s cock and sucked the head into her mouth for a moment before pulling away with a soft pop. “You taste delicious,” she murmured.

She curled her hand around the base of Jack’s cock and held it steady while she licked and teased his flesh with her tongue. She swirled her tongue around the head of his cock before once again taking it in her mouth. Slowly she worked her way down his cock, sucking softly, before pulling back again. Siana peered up the length of her husband’s body from beneath her lashes meeting his now passion-dark gaze with her own and hummed softly.

“Ilâherica,” Jack gasped. “You fucking tease.” He reached down and tangled his fingers into her hair. “Suck me, kediyavrusuim,” he ordered.

Siana pulled off his cock to smile up at him. “I am, m’gwr,” she purred. “I told you I was going to tease you first, remember?” She rubbed her cheek along Jack’s cock before taking it back in her mouth. This time, she teased the vein on the underside with her tongue as she worked her way down the long thick length. She’d always loved the feel and taste of Jack, the weight of his cock on her tongue, and purred as she sucked him deeper into her mouth. She freed one hand, trailed it down over soft skin to cup his balls in her fingers, and rolled them. She squeezed lightly and delighted in the soft cry which came from Jack’s lips.

“Ah, God,” Jack groaned. He tightened his hold on Siana’s hair and dropped his other hand down to tangle those fingers in her hair. “Take me deeper,” he groaned out. “Stop teasing, Siana. Take me deep and suck me harder.”

Siana hummed again. She slowly pulled off Jack’s cock. “Tell me something, Jack,” she murmured, wrapping her free hand around his cock and slowly stroking the throbbing flesh while her other hand continued to play with his balls. “What would you do if told you not to hold back?” she asked, ducking her head to tongue the slit of his cock. “Would you…”

“Kediyavrusuim,” Jack groaned deeply. “I’d hold you still and fuck your pretty little mouth until I came down your throat.” He managed to lift his head to stare down at her. “But you’d never…”

“Do it, Jack,” she said, interrupting him. Siana sucked him deep into her mouth and relaxed her throat to take him even deeper. She started to pull away, but was stilled by Jack’s hold tightening on her hair. He held her head still and thrust his hips up. She purred softly and let him guide her as he fucked her mouth. She sucked him hard every time he slipped deeper. She knew from the slight swelling of his cock in her mouth that it was only moments before he’d come.

“Ian…Siana!” Jack gasped and arched his back. He thrust hard upwards and groaned hoarsely as she swallowed around his cock. “Yes, kediyavrusuim, yes,” he panted.

Siana sucked and swallowed as Jack came, delighting in the taste of his come, and licked his cock clean as it softened. She purred as his cock slipped from her lips and slid up his body as Jack tugged her up by her hair until he could claim her mouth in a deep, hungry kiss. She straddled his stomach and rocked against him while moaning into the kiss. When it broke, she sat up and rested her hands on his chest to stare down at him.

“You are a very wicked little kitten,” Jack panted. He wrapped his hands around her waist again, held her still for a moment, and slowly slid them up until he could stroke the underside of her breasts with his thumbs. “A sexy wicked kitten I will claim as mine tonight.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“Will you now?” Siana murmured. She rocked again, rubbing against Jack’s stomach, and bent at the hips to rest her forearms on his chest. She knew he was distracted by her appearance. Siana just hoped it was enough of a distraction to keep her husband from picking up on her nerves. “Is that a proper claiming or are you just going to fuck me?”

“You’ll find out,” Jack said softly. He reached up and trailed a finger down her jaw. “And don’t think I can’t tell you’re still nervous about my fucking you, Ian… Siana.” He shook his head with a soft laugh. “That is going to take getting used to.”

She laughed softly. “Would it help to know that Siana is the feminine form of Ianto?” she said. “I knew if we didn’t find something to reverse this, I’d have to change my records or at least modify them. So…” she shrugged, and then whimpered softly. “Oh, I shouldn’t do that with that chain on.”

Jack trailed his hand over her neck. He stroked the upper curve of her breasts before dropping down to catch the chain in his hand and tug lightly. “No, you shouldn’t,” he agreed. “I can feel just what it’s doing to you.” He laughed as she shifted on his stomach and tugged again before letting the chain go. “I hoped we could change you back, you wanted it so badly, but,” he paused for a moment and sighed softly. “I can’t say that I’m sorry we didn’t either.”

Siana moaned and rolled her hips. Her eyes closed for a moment as she dropped her head. Slowly, she opened them to stare down at Jack. “I’m not certain exactly how I feel about being a woman for the rest of eternity.” She pressed her fingers to Jack’s lips, quieting him, and shook her head. “It scares me, Jack, and then you look at me and…”

“And what, kediyavrusuim,” Jack asked. He rested his hands on her waist and rubbed his thumbs over her lower stomach just above the now bared flesh of her pussy. “Talk to me.”

“I realize it doesn’t matter if I’m Ianto or Siana, you love me anyway,” she replied. “You get the same look in your eyes. It warms my soul, Jack, and as long as you love me I can survive this.”

“You’re starting to sound like that Boon and Mills again, Siana,” Jack laughed. He smiled at the affronted look on his mate’s face. It was so familiar, classic pouty Ianto, and he shook his head a bit. “I understand, kediyavrusuim, completely. I have to admit to liking this side of you. You’re freer with your feelings now.”

“Women have it easy. Allowed to be all emotional,” Siana replied. “Tosh explained that one to me.” She shook her head, smirked just a tiny bit at Jack’s indrawn breath, and continued quietly, “I’m becoming quite the sappy female, aren’t I?”

“I don’t mind,” Jack replied with his trademark grin. “You’re more likely to yell at me now then leave me wondering why I’m getting decaf all of a sudden.”

“You better not be drinking caffeinated coffee, Jack Harkness,” Siana scolded. “You’re pregnant. It’s not good for the baby.” She grinned at him. “I control the coffee and don’t you forget it. You are on decaf for the next seven months.”

“I hate decaf,” he replied. He ran his hands down her outer thighs to her knees where they rested on either side of his body. He felt the reactive shiver, grinned back up at Siana, and reversed his path with his fingers. With each sweep of his hands over her, he drifted around to her inner thighs, always edging higher and higher but never actually touching her. “The only thing about carrying your baby I don’t like - decaf coffee.”

“I promise to make the good stuff for you as soon as you deliver,” Siana told him. “You can’t have any real coffee until…” she trailed off with a soft gasp. “Oh! Jack, what are you…?” She shivered all over, sat up again, and panted softly. “Do that again,” she demanded.

“What?” Jack watched his mate pant above him. “This…?” he asked and ran his fingers up her inner thighs to just brush the edges of her pussy. “Or would you rather this?” He stroked one finger between the newly bared flesh to circle her clit.

“Cachau!” Siana cried. She sat up and rested her hands on Jack’s chest. “Oh, cachau Jack. That.” She rocked her hips, silently demanding to be touched, and begged, “Please, Jack, touch me.”

“Come here, kediyavrusuim,” Jack commanded. He wrapped his hands around her waist again and tugged her higher on the bed. “And I’ll do more than just touch.”

Siana stared down at her husband for a long moment. She didn’t resist his moving her, but she didn’t help either. Then she recognized his expression. The last time she’d seen that expression was right before Jack had introduced her to the pleasures of rimming just days prior to when he’d taken what had been her male virginity. It was a combination of ‘I dare you’ mixed with ‘trust me’ and she’d never been able to resist a challenge from Jack. She lifted her hands from his chest and, following the urging of his hands, crawled up the bed. “Um…”

“Grab the headboard,” Jack ordered. He watched her shift above him until her hands wrapped around the upper curves of the iron headboard. “That’s my kitten,” Jack murmured. He stroked his hands over her body from her outer thighs up over her stomach to just reach the underside of her breasts before reversing his path until he could wrap his hands around her hips and hold her still for him. Jack nuzzled her for a moment and then ran the flat of his tongue over her. He lapped at her for a moment, pulled away and looked up at Siana. “You still taste like you, bensevgili,” he said softly, “but different too. Richer, a bit spicier, but still you.”

He refocused his attention on her and the now hairless flesh in front of him. Of all the casual comments he’d made about Siana’s body over the last three weeks, he’d never expected her to actually do this; however, now that she had, he was going to show her just how good it could be. Jack petted and stroked her body with one hand while he lapped at her pussy with his tongue. He could sense her thoughts running in tangles from her natural nervousness at the thought of being fucked to mental begging for more. Somehow he managed to keep from laughing and turned that urge to laugh into a soft hum against her newly bared skin. Her startled cry from above him made him smirk.

Jack spanned her hips with his hands. He rubbed that spot over her femoral artery where Ianto bore a faint scar from his repeated claiming bites on him. Siana didn’t have that; he missed it. The increase in her breathing told him that even without the scar, she was still turned on by the thought and touch to that spot. Jack made a mental note to mark her there again before the night was over. But that was for later, much later. Now, with her beautiful woman's flesh right over his mouth, there were far more interesting things to do.

“Jack!” Siana gasped. She clenched her hands on the headboard rail and clung to it while she panted. She rolled her hips and dropped her head back. Her hair teased her back in a soft counterpoint to Jack’s leisurely licking of her pussy. “Oh Duw Jack,” she panted. “More, m’gwr,” she begged, “please, more.” His chuckle teased her, rolled across sensitive flesh, and she arched her body, squirming, in response.

Jack’s fingers opened her. She could feel him staring at her before his tongue darted and flicked over her clit. All she could do was cling to the headboard and keen in response. It felt so damned good. Better than any momentary fantasy she’d entertained since her change from male to female. She could feel her orgasm building in her belly and panted, struggling at bit to breathe because of the constriction of that belt around her stomach, but even that added to her pleasure. She wanted more and bowed her head to stare down into his eyes where he lay beneath her. “I want… Jack…” she didn’t get to finish the sentence before he slipped a single finger inside her. The action forced another sharp cry from her throat. “I’m so close, Jack, but…”

“Let go, bensevgili,” Jack’s voice teased across his mind. It was a mental caress as intimate, if not more so, than his teasing tongue and slowly thrusting finger. “Come for me, kediyavrusuim. I want to hear you scream while you come, want to taste your pleasure just as I always got to drink your come before this change.”

“Don’t tease me, Jack,” she panted. “I need…”

“I know what you need,” he sent to her mind. “This.” He slipped a second finger inside her while he slid his other hand around to slide a finger between her arse cheeks to tease the entrance hidden there. At the same time, he sucked her clit into his mouth and flicked it with tongue. “Now scream kediyavrusuim.”

“Jack!” She arched and screamed. Her whole body tensed, every muscle locking, as her orgasm crashed through her. She writhed with the pleasure of it before collapsing forward to rest the top of her head against the wall in front of her. She panted, struggling to catch her breath, and stared down at her exceedingly smug husband beneath her. “Duw, Jack, fuck me,” Siana demanded. “I want you in me.”

“All you had to do was ask,” Jack purred. He licked his fingers, sucking the taste of her off his skin, and slid from beneath her. He ran a hand over her hip as he moved and delighted in her soft begging whimper. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me for so very long.”

Jack rested his hands on Siana’s shoulders, ran them down her back and around her body following the line of the belt’s upper edge. “Spread your legs wider,” he murmured into her ear. He slid his hands lower to her inner thighs helping her position herself as he wanted. “That’s my kitten,” he whispered, pressing kisses to the side of her neck. “You’re gorgeous, Siana, all flushed and wet.”

Siana arched her neck, baring more of her throat to him, and moaned softly. “Jack,” she all but whined, “take me.” She shifted her hands on the arched headboard to better support herself. All she wanted was him. Inside her, deep and hard, and as always he was teasing her instead of fucking her. He lifted her hair to trail it over his shoulder and pressed against her bare back. She rocked against his cock where it brushed against her pussy, never quite penetrating her, and begged, “Do it, Jack… I want you in me so deep I can taste it when you come.”

He pressed a hand against her lower abdomen, lifting her pelvis just a bit, and rubbed his cheek against hers. “You’re still as demanding as ever in bed,” he growled into her ear. “Ianto… Siana… you always know just what you want and how to get it from me.” Jack positioned himself and eased into her. He groaned softly; she was so damned tight. He clenched his jaw and hissed in a breath between his teeth in an attempt to hold onto his control when all he wanted to do was drive into her in one hard deep thrust. He stroked his hands over her, dropping kisses on her neck and shoulder, and slowly worked his cock into her in small thrusts of his hips.

Soft whimpers escaped her. Siana dropped her head back to rest against him. She wanted more. She wanted him to fuck her. Even the first time he’d fucked her arse in that other universe, he’d never been so careful of her. She twisted her neck, caught his earlobe in her teeth and bit gently. Releasing him, she purred, “I won’t break, Jack.” She nuzzled her nose beneath his ear. “Fill me, fuck me,” she demanded. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Make me scream for you.”

“Little bitch,” he growled. He flexed his hips and curled over her, pressing her closer to the headboard, and ran one hand up her torso to catch her nipple chain in his fingers. He tangled his fingers in that bit of metal and tugged. He smiled against her neck as she half-moaned, half-screamed in response. “You want me to just fuck you?” he murmured. “Is that what you want?” Jack pressed his other hand against her pelvis, holding her in the position he wanted, and pulled back until he was just barely inside her. “Is it?”

“Yes,” she moaned. The way he held her, surrounded her, made her feel owned by him. The belt constricted her breathing, made her all lightheaded and hungrier for him to take her, and now he was tugging on that chain attached to her nipples. She was so ready, wanted him so badly, and he was just teasing her. “Yes, dammit, ye…” she broke off to scream as Jack finally, finally, gave her what she wanted. She arched into his body. Her scream trailing off into a moan as Jack drove deep into her pussy. It was pain and pleasure in the same moment and so totally wicked. Siana ground back against him, wanting him to move, and whined low in her throat when he didn’t.

“Oh, no, kediyavrusuim,” Jack growled into her ear. “The rest of this is on my terms.” He licked her neck before scraping his teeth over her pulse. “You may have pushed me to take you, but now… oh, now, you’re mine,” he said quietly. Using his own legs, he pressed hers a bit further apart. He slid the hand on her pelvis lower, over the soft mound of her pussy, to stroke his fingers over her clit and around the edges of her vagina. He tugged intermittently on her nipple chain and just barely rocked his hips. He knew his mate’s noises well despite the change to her appearance and waited for that soft little whine that said ‘I’m yours’ much more than any verbal response. Siana’s was slightly higher pitched than Ianto’s, but it was the exact same noise. He fastened his teeth over her throat, sucking hard on her skin, and began to thrust his hips. He set a gentle, almost lazy rhythm and took a perverse delight in every begging whine coming from his mate.

“Jack, Jack,” Siana chanted. She rocked her hips as much as she could between his thrusting hips and teasing fingers. “More, Jack,” she whined. She tightened her hold on the headboard of the bed and used it for a bit of leverage to thrust her hips back. “Harder, Jack, please.”

Jack used the hand on her pussy to urge her up onto her knees. He put Siana into what was arguably one of Ianto’s favorite sex positions. She was on her knees, braced against the headboard, and so very open to him. Jack went back to stroking Siana’s clit while increasing the speed and strength of his thrusts into her tight, wet body. He momentarily freed her nipple chain to brush his palm over her breasts. Then he grabbed it again and pulled hard once as he pinched her clit between his fingers. She shrieked in pleasure and writhed with her orgasm.

As she dropped her head between her arms, Jack caught her hips in his hands. He let that last thin thread of his control go. He thrust harder and deeper into her body as he stroked his hands from her hips down her thighs and back up until he could wrap his hands around her tightly cinched waist. His own orgasm caught him a bit by surprise and he flung his head back, grinding hard into her, and cried both her names. Jack all but collapsed onto her back, taking them both down onto the bed, and managed a faint chuckle at her soft moan from beneath him.

“Okay?” he breathed into her ear. Jack looked up, reached over and gently pried each of Siana’s hands from the headboard. He entwined their fingers and rubbed his cheek over hers. “Ian… Siana, you okay?” he asked again, concerned when she didn’t immediately answer him.

“More than,” Siana murmured between panting breaths. “Very okay and…”

“And what?”

“Wondering when we can do it again?” She twisted a bit to look back at Jack and smirked. It was the wicked smirk that Jack so adored as it meant Ianto was in a sexy yet playful mood. “I mean, don’t you have another virginity of mine to take tonight?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jack rolled off Siana to flop onto his back beside her. He shook his head, laughing, “I may have fifty-first century genes, but even I need some recovery time!” He reached over and ran his hand down her spine to stroke his fingers back and forth across her back just above the belt.

Siana turned her head to peer at him. She laughed throatily. “Now I have proof that all those stories of yours are just stories.”

“Are you casting aspersions on my honesty, Miss Jones?”

She smirked. “Yep.”

“Oh, now that’s just not right,” Jack growled softly. He shifted his hands and began to tickle her. He grinned and laughed as he chased her around the bed. She’d squirm from beneath his hands; he’d grab and tickle more. When she collapsed panting for breath beneath him, Jack levered himself up on his hands above her. He brushed his fingers over the belt and sighed, “As much as I like this on you perhaps we should…”

“Not yet,” Siana interrupted. She twisted beneath him forcing Jack over onto his back so she could straddle him. “Not yet, Jack.”

“Why not?” he asked quietly. He was concerned for her. The way she’d start panting after any exertion was starting to worry him. He might like the way that heavy belt accentuated her waist, but not if it hurt her. “Siana, if it reduces you to panting so much, why would you want to keep wearing it?”

“I like it,” she replied. She shrugged and considered him for a long moment. “I know. That’s not enough. I see those worry lines.” She stroked her hands back and forth across his chest, occasionally dragging her nails over his nipples, and thought about what she was feeling. She bit her lip before licking it with a quick sweep of her tongue. “I like how it makes me feel. The constriction of it and…” she paused and rushed out. “Makes me feel like I’m yours.”

That surprised him. He thought she was wearing it for him, to please him, not because she wanted to. “All right,” he murmured. Jack ran his hands up over her thighs to clasp her waist in his hands again. “But won’t you be uncomfortable?”

“I’m certain as innovative as you’ve proven to be,” Siana began with a smile. “We can come up with something.”

His concern changed from her ability to breathe to worry that she’d be too sore for more sex. He gazed up at her and cupped her cheek in his hand. Jack was determined that she understood just how worried he was for her, and how serious his question was. “Are you sure you want to do this now, Siana?” He rubbed his thumb over the curve of her cheek. “You must be sore from before.”

“Good sore,” she conceded. She tilted her head into his hand. “I’ve never known you to turn down sex.”

Jack sighed. In typical Ianto fashion, now that she’d made the decision to go all the way, she was throwing herself totally into the experience. “Ianto, you are smaller than you used to be and, as much as you want to ignore it, you aren’t as strong physically,” he explained seriously. As much as he loved the idea of fucking her every way possible and then some, it was not worth a moment of pain on her part. “I want to be able to enjoy this without worrying about you. Hurting you is the last thing I want to do.”

"Believe me, Jack,” Siana said with a smile. “If I wasn't enjoying you'd know it. Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you to want to push the envelope!"

She poked him in the chest with one fingernail. "You are the one who taught me to speak up and go for what I wanted,” she reminded him. “Now you're complaining when I do!"

"I’m not complaining,” Jack snapped. “Just wanting to make sure you're all right. But if you’re sure..." he flipped them over and lowered himself down on her. "Let's play."

"Took you long enough, Jack,” Siana replied. She draped her arms around his neck and grinned up at him. She rolled her hips, lifted her legs and wrapped them around his hips. “Hmm, I like this position.”

“Do you?” Jack purred. He shifted his weight to rest more of it on her. He grinned as she moaned in response. “I think you just like when I pin you beneath me.”

“Maybe I do,” she conceded. “That bother you, m’gwr?”

“No,” Jack murmured. He rocked his hips against her, forcing a soft moan from her as he moved. “Here, it’s all good.”

“You always say that.”

"And it's always true,” Jack said with another grin. “Everything we do together is good as long as we both want it." He arched over her and stretched his arm out to rummage in the drawer of one of the bedside tables. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” He frowned down at Siana as she pouted up at him. “Don’t pout at me,” he scolded softly. “You’re the one who moved everything around.”

“I needed someplace to store my hairbrush and elastics since you always brush my hair in bed,” Siana explained. “The lube had to move.”

“And now I have to move,” Jack retorted. He rose up on his knees and lightly slapped her arse. “No lube, no anal. You know that.”

“Oh, all right,” she pouted. Siana shifted, pulled her legs from around him and sprawled out on the bed. She watched him, sighed, and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Jack. I’m being childish.”

“Just a bit,” Jack agreed. He stood and crossed the room. He leaned against the tall narrow chest of drawers which held their toy collection. He rummaged blindly in the drawer, searching for the lube by touch, and watched her shift about on the bed. She’d been lying at an angle, now she was properly situated, propped up amongst the pillows and watching him intently. His fingers curled around a small item he’d secreted in the drawer days ago. He pulled it out, put it in his other hand and continued hunting for the lube. “Touch yourself,” he ordered. He tossed the small toy to Siana who automatically caught it just as Ianto always would. Never had to say a word, just throw things in his general direction. Jack grinned, nodded to his mate, and repeated himself, “Go on, Siana, touch yourself. Make yourself come for me.”

“I don’t…” she began only to trail off in confusion as she opened the little bag Jack had thrown her. “What’s this?”

“I’m certain you’ll figure it out.” He shoved the drawer shut, turned and leant back on the chest. Now he had a prime view of her whole body laid out before him. From the thin gold chains wrapped around her ankles up over long shapely legs to her denuded pussy and higher over the nipped in waist still bound by that heavy gold belt and the gold chain that pooled on her chest between her full breasts. She was lush, lovely and extremely tempting. “I want to watch you come,” Jack growled.

“Jack,” she drawled. Siana watched him from beneath lowered lashes and licked her lips. She was already wet just from the sound of him growling orders at her. There was something about the way his voice deepened during sex that always got to her. As Ianto, she was instantly hard and ready; now, she was wet and panting. “You’re not playing fair,” she murmured. Still, she investigated the tiny toy and laughed softly as she realized it was a miniature vibrator. “Exactly what am I supposed to do with this?”

“Whatever turns you on, kediyavrusuim,” Jack replied. He crossed his arms against his chest and raised a brow at her. “I know you’ve been playing without me, so show me what you’ve learned about yourself.”

Siana raised an eyebrow at him, flicked on the tiny little vibe and stroked it across her breasts. She’d thought she’d been discrete in her playing, confining her explorations to the shower and the waterproof toy Tosh had helped her buy, but apparently she hadn’t been discreet enough. She dragged the toy lower, over her stomach, while she played with her nipples with her free hand. Siana laid her head back, it was easier to do this without seeing him watch her, and started stroking her hand over her body. Long brushes of her fingers over skin, working ever lower until she parted her labia with her fingers, only then did she bring the vibrator up from where it rested against her inner thigh to join in the play.

She hissed in a soft breath as she traced the edges of her vagina with it easing her way up to work it around her clit. She shifted, planted her feet on the bed and rocked her hips. She ran the vibe around in ever decreasing circles to just graze her clit before reversing the pattern. Siana cracked her eyes open to consider Jack. He was watching her so intently but she wanted him to do more than merely watch. And she knew just how to get him over to her.

“You only want to watch, m’gwr?” she purred. She teased the opening of her vagina with the vibe before moving it back up to her clit. Her other hand, she brought back to her breasts to pinch and tug her nipples. “I thought you’d want to be here. Slide your fingers inside me,” she murmured. “Or perhaps your tongue would be better. Didn’t you say you liked the taste of me?” She watched him from beneath her lashes, managed somehow to keep from smirking at his expression, and licked her lips. “Shall I tell you what I’ve imagined while playing in the shower? How I would wonder if you’d grab me one day, throw me on this bed and just take me – hard, deep and fast – until I’m torn between begging to come and begging you to stop. I love when you do that – surprise me – and I bet it’ll be even easier for you to do that now. No need to stop the surprise to find the lube.”

Siana caught the nipple chain in her fingers and tugged it. The surge of pleasure that ripped through her body caused her to arch her back with a soft cry before she settled back on the bed. “What would you do if I told you I’ve wondered more than once if you’d innocently find something for me to dig up in the archives, something that would take quite a bit of time to find, and then you’d come looking for me. Maybe pick me up and press me against a wall before you took me.” She panted for breath and eased off with the toy. Duw, she was close to coming, but she wanted get him over there with her. “Quick and dirty in the archives, we haven’t done that in a long while. Always the chance to get caught even if no one goes down there but you or me.” Just as she was about to slip the vibrator inside her, get off from that, Jack’s hand closed around her wrist. He pulled her hand away and she whined in her throat before looking up at him. “I thought you wanted me to come, Jack,” she murmured with a smug smile.

“Change of plans,” he growled. He pealed her fingers off the toy, switched it off and dropped it on the table. He leant down and caught the nipple chain in his teeth, giving it a tug and a playful little shake. Her soft cry in response had him grinning around the chain. He repeated the move before dropping it again in favor of kissing her. Breaking the kiss, he nipped and licked his way along her jaw to her ear. “You are a wicked, wicked little kitten.”

“And I know all your buttons,” she purred into his ear. Siana draped her arms around his neck and tugged him back to her for another kiss. “I’m so wet, m’gwr,” she whispered. “And I still want your cock in my arse, making me come. You gonna do it, Jack, fuck my arse, or just tease me all night?”

The challenge in her words couldn’t have been more blatant if she had shouted them. Jack smiled, snatched a quick kiss and knelt between her legs. "You should know better than to dare me, love."

He took the cap off the lube and squeezed some gel onto his fingers. He chuckled softly at how she lifted her hips slightly as he reached for her. “You are eager tonight,” he murmured. He teased at the hidden rosette with the tip of one finger, circling the muscle with ever increasing pressure until it relaxed for him. Only then did he slip the tip of that finger inside her. He dropped the lube onto the bed and reached up a hand to press his palm against her stomach, rubbing circles against her skin to soothe her. “Relax, cariad,” he murmured. “You have to relax, remember?”

He felt her take a deep breath, or as deep of as she could with that belt on, and let it out slowly. “There we go,” Jack quietly praised her as he eased his finger in deeper. “You’re so tight, Siana.” He worked that single finger inside for a while before gently pressing a second against her opening. More lube eased the entrance of his two fingers into her body while he alternated stroking her stomach and thighs with his free hand. “Small, tight, hot,” he muttered. “Can’t wait to feel you around my cock.”

“Jack, please,” Siana begged. She rocked her hips, rode his fingers for a moment before she reached down and began teasing her clit. “Fuck me.”

“Nope,” he replied. “You’re not ready yet.” He eased his hand from beneath her arms, handed the toy back, and retrieved the lube again. Pulling his fingers from her, he added more lube before sliding them back inside. Slowly he worked a third finger into her and took immense satisfaction in her soft keening cry at the penetration. “Like that, don’t you?” he asked rhetorically. He knew the answer from the way she was screwing her hips. She alternately thrust down on his fingers and up into the toy she teased herself with.

“Jack… Jack…” Siana chanted. She was right on the edge of another orgasm. “I need… I want…” She opened eyes she hadn’t realized were closed to consider him and grabbed the hand not occupied with her arse. She pressed his fingers against her pussy in a silent request for him to fill her. “Please,” she begged.

Jack chuckled. He was coming to adore the sight of Siana so close to coming that all her inhibitions were lost in the pursuit of pleasure. He easily slid two fingers into her pussy, thrusting them in counterpoint to the almost gentle massaging motion of his fingers in her arse, and leant up over her to catch her nipple chain in his teeth again. He smirked around it, waiting for her to look up at him, and felt the smirk turn into a grin as her eyes widened. Then he pulled, once, on the chain, just hard enough to throw her over that edge into the orgasm her body demanded.

While she writhed in pleasure, Jack dropped the chain, pulled his fingers from within her and lined up his cock with her arse. He eased inside her with slow measured thrusts of his hips. As much as he’d love to take her with one hard thrust like he so often took Ianto, he couldn’t yet. Her hands flew to his shoulders, the vibrator dropped amongst the bedding, and her nails dug into his skin. Jack braced himself on his arms above her and watched her for any signs of pain as he worked his way into the tight clasp of her body.

“Oh, fuck,” Siana gasped. She rolled her hips encouraging the penetration despite the burn and aching stretch of muscle as he pulled back only to thrust deeper. She lifted her legs, wrapped them around his waist and crossed her ankles behind him. “More, Jack,” she whined, her voice breaking just a bit as her body couldn’t decide between ‘this is great’ and ‘fuck that hurts’.

He shook his head; tossing sweat dampened hair out of his eyes, and reached up to catch her wrists. He tugged her hands away from his shoulders and, entwining their fingers, pinned her hands to the bed on either side of her head. Jack bent down to kiss her, claimed her mouth with hard thrusts of his tongue and smothered her soft cry as he worked the last few inches of his cock into her tight body. He broke the kiss, rested his forehead on hers, and stared into her eyes. Just a bit of pain shadowed her passion-dark eyes, but he knew that couldn’t be helped. It just wasn’t possible to completely eliminate any pain the first time you had a cock up your arse. “Okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” she replied. She tilted her head and kissed him. She turned the kiss into a tease, flicking her tongue over his lips and teeth, pulling away and darting deep before finally breaking it to smile up at him. She could feel the tremble in his limbs, knew how much holding back for her was costing him and concentrated for a moment before deliberately clenching her pelvic muscles.

“Cinselişki, kediyavrusuim,” he gasped out. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” she asked innocently. “This?” She repeated the clench and release of her pelvic muscles only to cry out in a combination of shock, pleasure and pain as he shifted over her to pull back and thrust back in hard.

“Yeah, that,” Jack growled. He struggled to stay still, let her adjust to being taken like this, and hissed, “I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

“And I told you, I wasn’t breakable,” Siana snapped back. “I’m not fragile, Jack. I won’t break if you give in to your urges.” She dragged her nails across the back of his hands and thought for a moment. “I know exactly what you want to do, m’gwr,” she purred. “You want to pin me to this bed so I can barely move while you pound my arse so hard I’ll still feel it tomorrow. You want to stake your claim to my body so completely I’ll never think of even looking at another man, not that I would in the first place, and…” she broke off with a startled cry as he moved, a sharp sudden thrust of his hips.

Jack knew what she was doing. As she said, she knew all his buttons and just how to push them. He told himself not to give in to her goading even as he pulled partway out of her and thrust in hard. He loved the noise she made in response – a startled, yet still pleased cry. Jack shook his head again and gave up trying to fight Siana. She wanted it and he wanted to give it to her. He shifted over her, putting more of his weight on her body to pin her in place beneath him and bent to kiss her. He started with slow, easy thrusts which very rapidly turned to hard driving thrusts.

Siana pulled out of their most recent kiss with a keening cry. She stared up into Jack’s eyes. There was something almost feral in his brilliant blue eyes. That darkness she saw so rarely from him. It called to her, roused deeply hidden urges, and she held his gaze while arching her head back to bare her throat to him. He’d marked her, lightly, before; however, she knew him. That wouldn’t be enough for him in this mood.

He watched his mate submit to him and growled deep in his throat. Jack watched her and eavesdropped on her mind. He waited until she was right on the edge of yet another orgasm and pulled nearly out of her hot tight body. He paused for a moment before simultaneously dropping his head to sink his teeth into her throat, marking her as his again, and thrusting hard and deep into her body.

She arched into his body and wordlessly screamed in that delicious combination of pleasure and pain which only Jack could manage to make so wickedly perfect. Siana clung to him, her nails dug into the back of his hands while her legs tightened around his waist. Her vision darkened as she bordered on fainting as her latest orgasm crashed over her.

As she collapsed beneath him, Jack lifted his head and body off Siana. He rode her orgasm, thrusting only a handful of times more before coming himself. Momentarily exhausted, he dropped down to rest on her and freed her hands to stroke her tangled hair back from her face. Immediately, she wrapped her arms around him. Her small hands rubbing his back as they both attempted to recover.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jack watched the water fill their massive corner soaking tub. He checked the water, so hot as to border on scalding just as Ianto loved it. He grabbed a small bottle tucked into a nearby basket and poured the contents into the water. He swirled the oil into the water with one hand while capping the bottle with the other.

“Hmm,” a sleepy voice purred. “That smells lovely.”

“It’s your scent,” he replied, “With a few extras which went well with it.” Jack smiled a welcome to Siana. She was leaning heavily on the doorframe as if that was the only thing holding her up. She shifted, a small pain filled noise escaping her, and he rose. Crossing to her, he swept her up into his arms.

“Jack!” she gasped and clutched at his shoulders. “I’m not a fragile female.”

“Indulge me,” he murmured. He carried her across the room and set her on her feet outside the tub. He sat on the edge and wrapped his arms around her. “But first, we need to remove this,” he whispered.

“But…” she whined, shaking her head, “I…”

“Shh,” he pressed his fingers against her lips. “Let’s not take the risk of it being damaged in the water.” Jack laughed softly at her pout. He leant forward and kissed her lightly. Settling back, he turned Siana around so her back was to him. It took him a moment to remember how to free the hook on the back of the belt, but soon the memory returned from the depths of his mind. He eased the heavy metal open and bit his lip hard at the sight of the red marks from the edges of the belt. Jack pulled it away and dropped it to the floor. He stroked one of the marks, leant down and brushed his lips over the reddened skin. “Kediyavrusuim,” he sighed. “I should have taken it off before now.”

She drew in a deep breath, swayed and leant back against him. Her vision blackened around the edges as the shock of the ability to properly breathe nearly made her pass out. Still, she reached back to brush her hand over his hair. “I’m fine,” she said. “It was worth the little bit of pain, m’gwr.”

“I don’t like you hurting,” Jack snapped. “Especially when it’s because of me.” He turned her around again and cupped her cheek in his hand. “I never have, Ianto, and that’s only increased now that you’re female.” He shook his head at her stubborn expression. Sometimes, it wasn’t worth the effort to argue with Ianto, but this was one thing he couldn’t back down from. He thought for a moment and shifted his hands to remove her nipple chain. “Dammit, Ianto, I know you don’t like to think about it, but you’re smaller and much more fragile as a woman then you were as a man.”

“I’m fine, Jack.” She yawned and shook her head. “Okay, I’m tired, but you didn’t hurt me. Not once.” She rested her hands on his shoulders, stroking her thumbs over his collarbone and gathered her thoughts. “We’re just going to have to agree to disagree on this. You want to protect me from everyone and everything because I’m female and your mate,” she shifted a hand to press her thumb over his lips to keep him quiet. “You know I’m right, m’gwr. Just accept that I know my limits, all right?”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Jack replied. He shook his head a bit and offered Siana a hand. “Climb in, kediyavrusuim.”

“You going to join me?” Siana asked quietly. She took his hand and climbed carefully into the tub. The water felt wonderful, delightfully hot, and she leant back with a soft sigh. “Jack?”

“In a minute,” he murmured. He reached down and stroked his hand down her leg to circle her ankle. He lifted her leg up to rest in his lap, turned the chain around until he found the clasp and removed the bit of jewelry. “Do me a favor, Siana? Never wear this in bed again. That chiming is a bit weird while I’m pounding into you.”

She laughed. She couldn’t help it. His expression was comical as he told her that. “Promise,” she murmured. When he released her leg, she lowered it back into the water and lifted the other with a soft groan. “Okay, I’m feeling it now.”

Jack shook his head. “I knew you would,” he replied. He removed the second chain and stroked her ankle with his thumb. “Thus I did up this bath for you.”

“Which I’m really starting to appreciate,” Siana responded. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes with another sigh. “It’s nice.”

“Just nice?” Jack laughed. He leaned across the tub to turn off the water. He grabbed a cloth and, using her new bath gel, soaped it up. He ran the cloth over her leg, around her ankle, and used his thumb to massage the bottom of her feet. “And this?”

“Even nicer,” she agreed with a soft moan. She cracked her eyes open to smile up at him. She watched him bathe her with long sweeps of his hands over her body. If she wasn’t so tired, she was certain this would be turning her on. “Do my hair?” she half-asked, half-begged.

“Of course,” he agreed. He took his time bathing her. He wanted her to relax and soak the developing aches away. “You know I love to do that for you.”

“Uh huh,” she murmured. She moaned softly each time he stroked a sensitive place. "Lift up a little. I need to rinse your hair with fresh water." She moved just enough to drape herself over him, sleepy-eyed and limp, but he could feel her hearts speed up. "Why, you little minx. Are you trying to seduce me?"

"Is it working?" she murmured dreamily. She peered up at him from beneath her lashes. She eased an arm around his back to rest just above the curve of his arse.

"It always works,” he replied. He worked the shampoo into the thick mass of her hair. “When it comes to you I'm the easiest guy in the world."

"Then yes, I'm trying to seduce you." She moaned softly as he worked his fingers through her hair and massaged her scalp. She dropped her head a bit to flick her tongue once over his nipple.

"All right,” he sighed. “Stand up, let me rinse you and dry you."

"Aren't you going to argue with me?" Siana asked. She rested her hands on his shoulders and levered herself up onto her feet. She hummed softly as he reached around her to massage her back before turning to draining the water from the tub.

"Why bother?” Jack asked. “You'll win anyway."

"It's no fun when you give in."

"But it gets you want you want faster,” Jack said reasonably. He stroked his hands down her body again before reaching around for the hand held shower. He kept his arms around her while he worked blindly to turn on the water. Hot, but still cooler than before and began to rinse the soap off her body

"Hmm...” she hummed softly. “Good point.” She smiled at him and stroked his nape with her fingers. “Okay, give in.”

Jack’s laughed. “You love when I give in,” he murmured. He tugged gently on her hair to get her to tilt her head back. He aimed the shower at it, working the water through the thick mass to rinse it. “I should comb this out and braid it before anything else happens.” Finished, Jack shut off the water, reached for a towel and wrapped it around her. He grabbed a second towel for her hair and handed it to her. Once she had her hair wrapped, he grabbed her around the middle and lifted her out of the tub.

“Show off,” she muttered. She stood, swaying slightly, and let him dry her body while she squeezed the water out of her hair. “Sometimes I hate when you do that.”

“Do what?” Jack asked. He considered her for a moment while he tossed the towels haphazardly over a nearby rack. She was swaying with exhaustion, yet arousal glimmered in her eyes. He smiled down at her, swung her up in his arms, and carried her into the bedroom. “This?”

“Yes, that.”

He laughed and shook his head. Carrying her to the bed, he settled her in the middle and sat behind her. He pressed a kiss to the back of her shoulder and stretched out an arm to grab the comb and brush out of the bedside table along with elastic to secure the braid. “I told you there were advantages to being the mate of a strong man,” he said quietly. “I can carry you when you’re exhausted.”

She sighed, leaning back to rest against his chest. It was so hard to explain things to Jack. Even more so now that she was this tiny little woman instead of the man she’d been born as. She semi-shrugged and sighed again. “It makes me feel weak when you do that,” she murmured. “I don’t like feeling weak, Jack.”

“Oh, Ianto,” he said sadly. “You’re one of the strongest people I know. Not many men would be able to adapt so quickly or so well to what’s happened to you. They’d have been running screaming through the streets or…” he trailed off and focused on working the comb he held through her hair while trying to suppress a shudder.

“Or what?” Siana asked. She reached back and stroked his hand and arm. “Jack, or what?”

“Or they decide to eat a bullet,” he finished in a whisper. He dropped the comb to wrap his arms around her waist. He rested his cheek on her hair. “When this first happened to you, I worried. I hid it, but I worried so much. And then you were all cheeky on the phone the next day and teasing when you got back from shopping. I…”

“It’s how I am, Jack,” Siana began. “You should know that. Life throws things at me and I deal with them. In this case, there were only two options. I could deal or I could go mad. So, I put together a list.”

“You and your lists,” Jack interrupted. “I think you even have a list of sex positions. Did that, did that, didn’t do that yet.”

“Hey, trying to be serious here,” she complained. She stroked his arms with her fingers and waited for him to settle again. Once certain he was listening, she started again. “So I made a list. I couldn’t go mad, there’s you and the kids, so that was out right away. That meant I had to deal with it. I put the team to work on trying to reverse the change while I set to work doing what was needed to establish myself as a woman in this time.” Siana drew in a breath and released it slowly. “I hoped for them to find something, but I always knew there was a chance they wouldn’t. I can’t change this; I can only live with it.”

The resignation in her voice disturbed him. Jack tightened his hold for a moment before leaning back to get back to work on her hair. As enjoyable as the earlier events were, now he found himself questioning them. It was a few minutes work to braid her hair, practice making it easy, and he tied off the braid with an elastic. “So, earlier…” he trailed off, unsure of exactly what he was attempting to ask, only that he had to know something about those events.

“Oh, Jack,” she murmured. She twisted in his arms until she could face him. She climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms around him. “I wanted you. I wanted us back.” She shook her head, slid her hands along his jaw and cupped his face in her hands. “I’m saying this badly, I know,” she murmured. “A large part of our relationship from the very beginning has been based on sex. We connect so well in bed, cariad. That connection anchors us.”

Siana lifted his head just a bit so she could meet his eyes. “Look at me, Jack,” she demanded. “I love you. I think I’ve loved you from the first moment I ever saw you, trying to fake me out over your accelerated healing after that weevil fight, and nothing will ever change that. Not even my being a petite woman,” she explained. “All of tonight was an attempt to reclaim us in the most basic way possible while showing you that I love you enough to embrace your culture as much as my own.” She licked her lips before sucking the lower one into her mouth for a moment. Releasing it, she let down the shields she kept around her most personal of thoughts and reached out for him with her mind along the thick chain of links amazingly still strung between them. “Look, Jack, and understand,” Siana invited.

Jack considered her for a long moment before accepting the invitation into her mind. She held nothing back from him. From her desperate, all consuming love for him to the fear he wouldn’t want her now that she wasn’t male, Siana left everything open for him to look through. Jack wrapped his arms tight around her body, rested his forehead on hers and scanned both her thoughts and her emotions. Her mind, her soul, was still his Ianto – everything in perfect order, a veneer of civility hiding deep passion – though her body was now the lush curvy woman nestled in his lap. He released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and slid his hand up her back to cradle the base of her skull in his hand. He tilted his head just a bit, trailing light kisses down her face until he could brush his lips over hers. He left the connection between them open, letting her feel everything he felt for her, both Ianto and Siana, and gently kissed her. “Mine,” he murmured along that connection. “You’re mine, Ianto, and I will never let you go.”

“Yours,” she replied. Her mental voice was all Ianto, a soft baritone that deepened and roughened when aroused. “I’m yours, Raksha, always and forever.”

Jack broke the kiss to stare at her. He stroked his fingers over her body in an idle, almost lazy caress. He could see how tired she was in the way her eyelids drooped to veil her smoky blue eyes. The sleepy hum in response to his touch just further confirmation of her exhaustion and he twisted them about in order to urge her backwards onto the bed. Jack smiled, settling beside her, and settled her down amongst the pillows. “You need to sleep, kediyavrusuim,” he whispered.

“What’s that mean?” Siana asked. She caught his hand and played with his fingers. “Ked… Kediya…” she stopped, shook her head and pouted playfully at him. “I don’t like your language. There’s no logic to it.”

“And Welsh has logic?” Jack retorted. “All those vowels in everything.” He ducked back to avoid her light, playful smack and fell, limbs flailing about, right off the bed onto the floor. “Ow!”

“Are you okay?” Siana asked around giggles. The sight of him falling off the bed onto the floor was just too comical for words. She found herself wishing she’d had a camera to record the moment. “Jack?”

“No broken bones,” Jack grinned up at her. “Slight loss of dignity.”

“Nothing’s changed then.” She broke out into full fledged laughter. “That’s my line.”

“Oh, I’ll show you changed,” Jack retorted. He surged up from the floor, caught Siana, and tossed her back on the bed. He straddled her, caught her wrists in one hand and set to tickling her with the other. “You can be quite the little minx sometimes, kediyavrusuim,” he muttered.

“And you love it,” she snapped back between laughter and squirms. If she really wanted to, she knew she could escape his hold on her, but was enjoying the moment too much. It released the tension from their conversation and made him relax. And a happy Jack, especially in the bedroom, led to a very happy Ian… Siana. She shook her head, still laughing from the tickling, and told herself once again that she wasn’t Ianto but Siana. She had to remember that. “You still haven’t told me what that word means.”

“It’s not a word,” Jack explained. He shifted over her, leaning down to steal a kiss. “It’s a phrase.”

“Word, phrase, whatever,” she groused. “What’s it mean?”

He laughed, stroked a finger down her nose and rose off her. He walked around the room blowing out the guttering candles before returning to the bed. He sprawled next to her in the dark room and propped himself up again to consider her. There were just enough hints of the streetlight outside creeping in around the curtains to see by and he smiled at her slight pout. “It means ‘my kitten’,” he murmured. “I’ve been using it as an endearment. If it bothers you, I’ll stop.”

“Hmm, no, doesn’t bother me. I just wanted to know what it meant.” She smiled up at him. “I like it, but now I’m cold. You need to lie down and warm me up again.”

“Do I now?” Jack teased. He sat up a bit more, resting his weight on his hip, and reached down for the covers now a tangled mess at the foot of the bed. “I could just do this.” He tugged the covers up, fluffing them a bit and flinched when the miniature vibrator went flying across the room to clatter on the floor. He shook his head, chuckling along with Siana’s sudden laughter, and finished straightening the covers. Jack tapped Siana’s nose with his finger. “I’m so glad I make you laugh.”

“Sometimes, you’re absolutely hysterical,” she replied. Then she yawned, an audible pop coming from her jaw, followed by her yelping softly. “Oh, I hate when I do that.”

“Sleep, caraid,” Jack ordered. He settled down on the bed. He stretched out an arm and let her cuddle into him. Her head rested on his chest, his fingers stroked her hair. “Just sleep because I’m thinking…”

“Thinking what,” she murmured against his chest.

“I’ll wake you up and do this,” he whispered. He closed his eyes and focused to send her an extremely explicit image of them together. She moaned and squirmed against his side. “But only if you go to sleep now.”

“Oh, you bastard,” she hissed. “How am I supposed to sleep with that in my head?” Still, she shifted about to be a bit more comfortable. She was exhausted. Siana wanted to protest again as he chuckled at her, but the thought wouldn’t form as sleep finally claimed her.

Jack watched his mate sleep. It was when she slept that Siana most reminded him of Ianto. Awake, her voice was different and she had slightly different mannerisms, being more willing to touch and openly emotional than Ianto; however, she slept just like him - Totally relaxed, limp and boneless with just the faintest hint of a snore while snuggled into his body. Jack sighed and stroked her hair. He stared up at the ceiling and prayed to a goddess he hadn’t believed in since he’d lost Gray all those millennia before that something, anything, would appear and give him back his Ianto. The longer Ianto was female, the more he changed. It wasn’t a bad thing, everyone changed as they aged, even immortals and near immortals, but Siana wasn’t Ianto. And he missed Ianto and Ianto’s body… yet he knew he couldn’t say a word or it would cause problems, big problems. Jack curled his arm around his mate and sighed. His free hand drifted down to rest over where his daughter, little more than a ‘speck in her parent’s eye’ to use the age’s old phrase, grew. He rubbed his hand there, closed his eyes, and drifted to sleep with a small frown on his face. He never noticed Siana peering up at him from beneath her lashes, her hand creeping up to brush away the tear he didn’t know he’d cried.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ianto thrust his hips up, driving his aching cock into the tight grasp of Jack’s hand, and whined in his throat. He sank is fingers into Jack’s hair where his lover teased his nipple with his teeth. “Ah, fuck, Jack,” he murmured. “So good…” He moaned and shoved at Jack, trying to force him down to suck his cock. The low chuckle caused a shudder to race through him.

Jack lifted his head from his chest with an exceedingly smug grin. “Want something, Ianto?”

“You know what I want,” he growled back.

“You need to tell me,” Jack replied. He lowered his head and flicked his tongue around one nipple, his free hand stroking and pinching the opposite one, and always, he stroked languidly up and down the throbbing length of Ianto’s cock.

“Dammit, Jack, suck me,” Ianto snarled. He thrust his hips up again, panting. “I want your mouth on me.” He shoved again at Jack’s head. He arched and drove his cock into Jack’s lazy stroking. The stimulation wasn’t enough; he needed more. A soft whine came from him.

Jack chuckled again. He switched his attention from one nipple to the other. This one he bit just sharply enough to provoke a cry from his lover before stroking the flat of his tongue over the hard nub of flesh. He twisted his head to watch his hand stroke over the shaft of Ianto’s cock. The head was red and swollen, leaking pre-come over his fingers. Jack stroked slowly down the shaft, then back up to the head enveloping it in his hand and twisting his wrist.

Ianto flung his head back and screamed as his climax hit hard and fast... it seemed to go on and on… until his own pleasure filled cries woke him…

“Jack!” She keened and writhed beneath his body. Siana thrust her hips upward, panting, and whined as she clung to Jack’s hair with one hand. “Ah, hell, Jack… too good…”

Jack pulled off her nipple with a soft pop of released suction. He smiled down at her while still petting her pussy. He hadn’t done more than softly stroke her while he suckled her. He smiled down at her. “Want me to stop?”

“Hell no,” she replied. “It’s just not fair to you, is it?” Siana ran her free hand down her husband’s side. She ran her hand back up over his skin while scratching lightly with her nails. She considered him for another heartbeat and smirked. “Come’re.”

“Siana?”

“Come here, Jack,” she repeated. “Let’s make things mutual.”

Jack grinned happily. He shifted on the bed and trailed kisses down Siana’s torso as he twisted about to straddle his mate’s face. He settled comfortably over her. “Okay?” he asked, not wanting her to be uncomfortable while they enjoyed each other. He pressed a kiss to her belly while he watched her.

“Yup,” she purred. She reached up and stroked her hands over his thighs. Siana spread her legs in invitation while tugging him down toward her. She arched her neck, flicking her tongue out to lick and tease at the head of his cock.

Jack groaned and thrust his cock toward her lips. He watched as she sucked his cock into her mouth. He ground his teeth while she teased him with swirling flicks of her tongue. Forcing himself to look away from her, he ran his hands over her inner thighs and spread her further before lowering his head and firmly licking her. He groaned as she sucked him deeper into her mouth. Her enthusiasm was contagious and Jack focused on pleasuring her.

It was a struggle not to just thrust his cock deep into her throat. Jack eased two fingers into her, seeking out just the right spot to make her scream, and groaned softly at just how tight she was. As much as he missed his mate’s male body, he was finding dozens of ways to love her new one. He found that spot, stroked it, and groaned again as she moaned around his cock.

Siana sucked him deeper. She arched her neck to take him deep into her throat before humming around his cock. She loved the taste of him – his skin, his come – and wanted it now. “Come for me, Jack,” she purred into his mind. “Want to taste you…”

And then both their mobiles went off.

“Cinselişki!” Jack snarled. He shifted off Siana and leaned over to the bedside table. He grabbed his mate’s mobile and tossed it to her while he scrabbled around the floor for his own. He took a second to look at the display before opening it. “What?”

“Oi, Captain Spooky, tone it down,” Andy’s voice echoed through the connection. “I'm one of the family, remember?"

“What do you want, Andrew?” Jack asked. He was endeavoring to be calm, but watching Siana wander their bedroom while talking on her own mobile wasn’t helping his situation. She was quite the distraction as she moved.

"What I want is for you to stop by the station on your way in today. There's something going on that I think its right up your alley."

"You called me at...." Jack trailed off to look at the clock. Right, that wouldn’t work as a complaint; they’d slept really late. He sighed softly. "Mind if I bring Siana or do I drop her at the Hub?"

"Bring her,” Andy replied. “I have a feeling this is going to go pear shaped on us, Jack. I don't understand what's going on but something is wrong here."

"All right, give us thirty minutes,” Jack agreed. Andy had damned good instincts. He made a good advance scout for Torchwood. He smiled, sighed and nodded. “And have something more than 'something' for us when we get there."

"I have reams of stuff. Nothing fits properly."

"And I suppose you're the reason Toshiko called Siana?" Jack asked semi-seriously.

"Yes,” Andy sighed softly. The sound echoed through the mobile connection. That Andy called Tosh before calling them worried Jack. “I called her earlier and asked her to get into some databases for us. I don't have anyone with her skills."

"There's no one else out there with her skills,” Jack replied with paternal pride. Rescuing her from UNIT was one of the best things he’d ever done. She was just so damned good. “We'll get dressed and head out in a bit."

“Thanks, Mulder. Ianto… I mean Siana knows where the office is,” Andy said. There was a sharp click as the connection cut. Jack flipped his own phone closed, tossed it back on the nightstand and looked around for Siana. “Siana!” he bellowed.

“You bellowed?” Siana said quietly. She leaned on the doorframe and propped one hand on her hip. She grinned at him, slowly straightening to saunter toward him. “You must like what you see. You’re all but drooling there, m’gwr,” she murmured.

“Oh, you know I do,” Jack reached for her only to drop his hands when she took a step back from him. He blinked in shock only to drop his jaw when she brought her other hand out from behind her back. She dangled the waistbelt between them. “Cariad?”

“Put it on for me?” she murmured. “Please.”

“Of course,” he replied. He reached out and covered her hand with his. He slid his fingers over hers until he could take the belt from her. “Turn around, kediyavrusuim,” he ordered. Jack wrapped his arms around her to bring the belt around her. It took him a moment to get it situated where it was supposed to be. “How tight do you want it?”

“How tight can you get it?” she replied. She tilted her head back and smiled up at him. “I know you can’t get it as tight as Eirian had, but I don’t want it loose either.”

Jack laughed and leant around to kiss her before nudging her away from him. “Definitely not as tight as her, but I think I can make us both happy without pressing on your bruises.” He crouched down behind his mate, threaded the belt together and pulled it taut. Holding it in place with her hands, he rose and pressed a kiss beneath her ear. “How’s that?”

Siana took a breath, released it slowly, and nodded. “That’s good,” she answered. She turned a bit to look at him. “And no, it’s not pressing on the bruises either.”

“Perfect,” he agreed. He focused on the belt again. “It’s been so long since I saw these. Going to take me a moment to…” he trailed off, shifted it a bit, and then grinned as it clicked into place. “Ah ha!”

Siana laughed gaily. She twisted about in his arms to smile up at Jack. “You are just too happy about that,” she murmured. She rose up on her toes to kiss him and lingered in the kiss for several minutes before finally settling back onto her feet. “You need a shower,” she complained playfully.

“After that kiss, definitely,” Jack agreed. “Add in this…” he leant back to survey her and sighed. “I really hate that Andy called when he did.”

“So am I,” she agreed. “But duty calls, Jack.” She reached around to slap his arse. “Go shower. The sooner we sort this out, the sooner we can get back to the fun things.”

“Wench!” Jack yelped. He started for their en-suite but paused in the doorway to mock-glare back at her. “I’m going to get you for that later.”

“Promises, promises.”

“It’s more than a promise,” he retorted. “It’s a guarantee.” Jack gave her a leisurely once-over before slipping into the bath. He thought for a moment and then leaned back out the door to smile at Siana. “Coffee?”

“And some toast,” she agreed from where she was rummaging in the wardrobe. “I’m hungry. Meet me in the kitchen?”

“Deal,” Jack replied. “I told Andy thirty minutes. He sounded worried.”

“If he called directly, he is. Now, go shower!” She pointed imperiously towards the bathroom.

“Yes, ma’am.” Jack saluted. He caught the vibrator she threw at him and grinned as he headed off.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Oh, now this is a real breakfast!” Jack said happily as he spied the box of pastries set out on Andy’s desk. He grabbed one of the jam filled donuts, sprawled in a chair, and ate half of it in one bite. He glanced about for coffee and frowned when a glass of juice was handed to him by Andy. “But…”

“I was already threatened by Rhys,” Andy explained with a grin. “No coffee or I’m a very unhappy Welshman.”

“How is that going anyway?” Siana asked as she entered more quietly behind Jack. She sat, carefully, and smiled. “I didn’t even know you’d moved in.”

“We kept it quiet,” Andy explained. He poured another glass of juice and handed it to Siana. He reached over to the box of the pastries and handed a plate of beignets to Siana. “His divorce isn’t final yet. We don’t want Gwen’s parents to try for custody of the kids. It would cause problems.”

“I understand that,” Siana agreed. “You know I’m on your side in this. As much as Gwen was a friend,” she paused and nibbled on the pastry. She pouted as she spilled powdered sugar on her deep red sweater but shrugged. She still had nothing on Jack and his tendency to spill crumbs everywhere. She looked over at Jack, shook her head and sighed. “So, what’d you need? Tosh said you had her hacking museum databases?”

Andy sighed. He circled his desk to grab a stack of files off the credenza against the back wall of his office. “There’s been a series of break-ins at both museums and private collections in and around Cardiff,” he began. He handed the files to Siana as he returned to perch on the edge of his desk. “Most people wouldn’t connect them, but you taught me to see unexpected connections, Iant…” he broke off with a shake of his head. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Siana replied. “Jack does it, too. I know it’s going to take everyone time to get used to this.” She flipped through the folders, looking at the photos inside and shaking her head. There was something familiar about the items shown in the insurance photos, but she couldn’t quite recognize it. As she finished with a folder, she handed it over to Jack for his opinion. “I’m still not used to thinking of myself this way,” she said quietly.

“Son of a bitch,” Jack hissed. His feet dropped to the floor with a thud. “I need a magnifying glass.” He grabbed pictures from several folders and laid them out on the desk in front of him. “This can’t be what I think it is… it just can’t… it…” He looked up at Andy. “I mean it, Andy, a magnifying glass.”

Andy looked at Siana who shrugged back at him. He went behind the desk, pulled out a drawer and handed it across to Jack. “Here you go,” he said, coming around to join Jack. “It’s that mark, isn’t it. The little squiggly thing there.” Andy pointed at a particular spot on the photograph of the largest item stolen; it was listed as a large pottery fragment from the earliest days of recorded Welsh history.

"And it shouldn't be here." Jack moved from picture to picture in rapid succession. With every image, his curses became more creative as they moved from language to language. “It really shouldn’t be here.”

"Earth to Jack,” Andy waved a hand in front of Jack’s face. “What shouldn't be here?"

"It's a map."

"A map?” Andy leant on the desk, absently shoving the pastry box out of his way. “You mean like a treasure map or something?"

"Yes... or something,” Jack conceded. He leant back in the chair and twirled the magnifying glass between his fingers. “It’s a map to one of the most protected places in the known universe. A sanctuary."

Siana rose from where she’d been watching them talk. She crossed the few steps that separated them and rested a hand on the desk. “Jack, are you saying...” she trailed off and shook her head. “How could that have gotten here?"

"Yes, there,” Jack agreed with a quick nod. “And it doesn't matter how it got here. We need to protect it. There's something about that place. When you need to find it, you can... otherwise it's hidden by the dark matter of the supervoid."

Andy looked between the couple. It took all his control not to sigh in frustration. He hated when they did that in-talk of theirs. "So this is a map to a place people shouldn't find? Are there other pieces we should be looking for?"

"Yeah," Jack shifted the pictures around. He could almost see how they went together. "And we need to get these back. There's enough here to still get you there if you're careful."

"Do we know what the rest of the pieces look like?"

"Never knew what the map looked like.” Jack shook his head. He looked up at the other two people in the room. “It was a legend. Like the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant. I know I heard of the place and seemed to dream of how to get there. It's one of the last things I remember before the Time Agency erased two years of my memories."

“Things are never easy with you, are they?” Andy held up a hand before Jack could reply. “These are all the pieces that have been stolen. Where do we go from here?"

"Torchwood,” Jack said flatly. It was stating the obvious. Everything they needed to work was at the Hub. “We need Toshiko to check any CCTV for the break-ins. Siana, raid the archives and see if there's any pieces down there. It goes together like a jigsaw... ideally you need all of it to get there safely."

Siana nodded. She gathered up the photographs and the folders, stacking them up together, and cradling them in one arm. “I'll have Tosh make some 3D versions of these. It will give us a better idea of how the jigsaw fits together."

"And what's missing,” Jack agreed. “Good idea, cariad,” he praised as he rose to his feet. He leant over and kissed Siana. “Call Rhys, tell him to get lunch arranged... and we need John. He'll likely know the legend as well."

“So bloody Torchwood takes over again, eh?” Andy groused.

"You should have known when you called us,” Siana pointed out reasonably. She smiled even as she turned toward the door.

"I suppose so,” Andy conceded to Siana. “All right, you lot best be off to your spooky dos then."

"Keep us posted, Andy.” Jack rose and started to follow Siana from the room. She’d left her hair down in a long braid which brushed her arse as she walked. He just loved to follow her around. He stopped in the doorway and looked back at Andy. “Oh, can I have those?” Jack asked while pointing at the pastries.

“Sure,” Andy said with a smile. He closed the box and carried it to Jack. “The way you eat, I'll be seeing you waddle before much longer."

“Hey!” Jack protested playfully. He shook his head as he followed a laughing Siana through the halls of the police station.

It was a few minutes’ drive from Cardiff’s central police station to the Hub. Siana drove and Jack ate the rest of the pastries while reading the reports of the break-ins. By the time they reached the Hub, Jack was regretting eating all the pastries. He really didn’t need to be developing morning sickness. The women on the team would never let him live it down. As they stepped into the Hub, he gave Siana a pleading look.

“Yes, dear,” she replied to his unspoken pleas in perfect wifely tones. She giggled as she walked across the Hub toward the kitchenette. “Ginger tea coming up.” While the water heated for Jack’s tea, Siana set to work on making a new batch of coffee for the team. She still giggled periodically.

“Someone got lucky,” Kate’s voice teased from behind her.

“And she’s not sharing,” Tosh agreed.

Siana twisted about to peer at the other two women. “Don’t you two have work to do?” she asked while making their coffee and handing it to them. “We do have a new case.”

“Haven’t had a briefing so…”

“Spill,” Kate ordered. She leant against the entranceway to the kitchen effectively cornering Siana. “Details, please.”

“Details?” Siana repeated with a raised eyebrow. “You want details?” She smirked at their matching nods. "I'm not a kiss and tell sort of girl, but let's just say...” she trailed off for a moment, thinking about the previous night. “Remember what I told you during our shopping spree? Well, double it. No. Triple it.

"Lucky bitch," Kate replied with a grin. "And I mean that in the best way possible."

"I am, you know," Siana said pensively, "I am." She rested a hand on the belt hidden beneath her sweater. She could feel Jack watching her and turned to look at him. She blushed as he raised an eyebrow while nodding to her hand. A soft sigh escaped her, but she still smiled back. She shook her head, forcing the thoughts of all the things she and Jack could do together in bed away, and turned back to what she was doing. “Very, very lucky,” Siana murmured. “But we have a case, so, no more gossip.” She laughed freely at the matching pouts. “Let me take Jack his tea. Can you get everyone else together? We’ll meet in the conference room in twenty minutes. John should be here by then.”

“Serious?”

“Deadly,” she nodded and lifted the tray of tea things. “We need to solve this one or…”

“Or I could potentially lose Aimana…” Jack interrupted. He rested a hand on her back and curled his fingers around the back of the belt. “Siana and Aimana, if we don’t solve this, could be dead. I am not allowing that to happen. Understood?” A chorus of yeses echoed from the members of the team closest enough to hear him. Jack nodded and nudged Siana toward the office. “Let us know when Doc arrives. Otherwise…”

“Don’t finish the sentence,” Owen interrupted. “We don’t need to know… I’ll run out of retcon at this rate.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

As soon as they were out of sight of the team, Jack took the tray from Siana and set it aside on his desk. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her flush against him. “I can’t lose you,” he murmured. “I’d be lost without you.”

“Not going anywhere,” she whispered. She tugged him over to the desk chair, pressed him down into it, and settled in his lap. “We’ll find whoever is behind this and stop them. By whatever means necessary.”

Jack reached around Siana for the tea alternately drinking it and letting her sip from his cup. He wanted to believe her, but he’d seen just how quickly an easy case could go bad so many times before. He wrapped an arm around her, his hand stroking over her far hip, and kissed her temple. “We both know there’s the chance we’ll lose.”

“Not going to happen, Jack,” she replied. She took the cup from his hand, turned and straddled his lap. “I refuse to even consider the possibility. Thinking of defeat is the first step toward losing,” she explained. “Besides, isn’t the fact that I’m here sitting in your lap proof that we win?”

“Wha…?”

She cut him off with a laugh. “If Korumalani didn’t exist, then I couldn’t have gone there to be healed and find Aimana. Therefore, we find the map and keep it out of the wrong hands.” She rested her arms on his shoulders, absently playing with his hair with her fingers, and smiled. “Place has to exist in the future, we have a time traveling grandson living there.”

“Something in that statement is wrong,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Remember, time isn’t an if-then statement. It’s always fluid, always changing. We could do something now which would change the timeline and you wouldn’t go there.” He sighed tiredly. “I always hated trying to explain temporal mechanics. Too many tense variations.”

“I still refuse to consider defeat,” Siana retorted. “We have a baby to plan for, revenge to plot, and…”

“I hope that revenge is against Andy.”

“Who else?” she questioned with a grin. “He interrupted us. I was just getting to the good stuff too.”

“You were? I thought I was the one getting the good stuff. I had you exactly where I wanted you…”

“Oh, did you now?” She smirked at him while rocking her hips in his lap. “I thought I had you right where I wanted you…” Siana ground down onto him and ran her nails down his chest over his shirt. “And you wanted to be…” She leant in close, licked his ear, and purred her last words to him, “deep in my throat ready to come.”

Jack’s head dropped against the back of the chair. He barely bit back a moan even as he clasped her waist in his hands to hold her firmly against him while he thrust up into her body. He turned his head to claim her lips in a kiss, devouring her, and reached behind her to brush the few things in the center of the desktop out of the way. He heard something fall to the floor and roll beneath the desk but shrugged it off in favor of lifting Siana up onto the desk. “You are wearing far too many clothes, kediyavrusuim,” he growled as he stepped between her legs.

She reached behind her to rest her hands on the desk. Nothing had shattered in his preemptive sweep of things onto the floor, so she wasn’t worried. Everything could be picked up later. She leant back to rest her weight on her hands and smirked. “Gonna do something about it then?”

“Damned straight, I am,” he growled. He tugged her sweater up to grasp the waist of her leggings. He tugged at the fabric and laughed at how eagerly she lifted her hips to help him pull it down. “I’m going to take you over this desk and make you scream so loud that Owen will go running for the retcon.”

“Jack!” John cried as he bounced in the office door with all his usual energy. “Your team’s been telling me for the last five minutes not to…” he trailed off.

“What is this?” Jack groused while glaring at the door. “National Prevent Jack from Getting Laid day?” He took a step back so Siana had room to adjust her clothing before lifting her off the desk. “Need something?”

“Well, at least you've answered the question everyone has been asking. You two are as oversexed now as before!" John shook his head. “No, I was tired of waiting to find out what this apocalyptic event is that you needed me to pawn my classes off on my graduate students for.”

Jack pulled Siana against him and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “The Korumalani Mekansalharita is here. In pieces and someone’s stealing them.”

“That’s a legend, Jack,” John replied snappishly. “Korumalani doesn’t exist. It ranks up there with Atlantis, Cam…”

“I’ve been there,” Siana interrupted. “It’s where I was healed and Aimana was hidden by Jack. We apparently have a grandson who is a zamm… zamm…”

“Zamanseyyah?” Jack interrupted to say. He laughed as she pouted up at him.

“Yes, that,” she nodded. Siana brushed her hands down her sweater before starting toward the door. “He brought us back here after I met Aimana.” Slipping past her grandfather, she started toward the rest of the team. “Okay, everyone, conference room. Let’s see what we have.” She paused only long enough to grab a cup of coffee before heading down herself.

They settled around the table in their usual places, though Tommy took the end of the table spot Rhys usually took. Siana reached up and took Aimana from Rhys, settling her in her lap, and grinned as Jack took Ginny’s carrier, removing the baby from it to cuddle her in his arms. Once everyone was settled, Siana nodded to Tosh but blinked as she nodded to Tommy who rose and took her place at the computer projection screen.

“Okay,” Tommy said. He glanced around the table and swallowed hard as everyone focused on him. He really hated being the center of their attention. He glanced down at the computer in order to focus on what he was doing. He wasn’t good enough yet to work without looking like Tosh did all the time. “Tosh has been teaching me to use the graphic programs. I've been trying to reconstruct the piece. Here's what I got so far.”

“Nice work, Tommy,” Jack praised as he considered the projected object. Even with large pieces of it still missing, it dominated the screen. There were a few pieces not yet added to the central object, but Tommy really hadn’t had that long to work on it. The sound of a chair scraping back from the table had Jack shifting his focus to the rest of the team. As he watched, John circled the table to stand next to Tommy.

“May I?” he asked, nodding to the mouse. Tommy stepped back to give John room to work with the machine. A few quick clicks of the mouse and the un-added pieces were soon slipping into place amongst the assembled ones. “All things considered, you did very well. This takes a kind of eyesight humans don’t have.”

"I would have gotten it eventually,” Tommy protested. “That's what the zoom is for."

"Not quite, Tommy,” John grinned over at him. “This item exists in four dimensions."

"All my hard work,” Tommy complained playfully. “And he shoots me down."

"Again, not quite. You made far more progress than I would have expected a human to make.” He considered the young man for a long moment. John looked from the screen to Tommy and back again before smiling at Tommy. “I think I shall appoint myself your maths tutor, Thomas. Tosh is right. You've been hiding your light under a bushel."

"I'm nothing much, sir."

“Tommy, you don't know what you are yet. You might surprise yourself. But to get back to this thing…” John trailed off while he used the mouse to sketch in the missing pieces. “That's what it looks like when it's whole. And that's impossible."

"This is Torchwood, Doc,” Jack replied. He was grinning for all he was worth. “Nothing's impossible.”

“This one should be, Jack.” John sketched in a few more details. The more he did; the more impossible it was to believe it existed. “That is a manifold generator. It was designed as a backup engine for a Tardis."

"Doc, that's the Korumalani Mekansalharita.” Jack shook his head and accepted the bottle Rhys handed him. He fed Ginny even as he explained what he knew to John. “Every Time Agent has seen pictures of it. It's a map, the only map to Korumalani. We were all told to always look out for it. There was a standing order to bring it back to the Agency."

“Jack, that's a manifold generator for a Tardis,” John disagreed heatedly. “It creates a shape that can be imposed on real space and allows a Tardis to move without needing to enter the vortex. Or at least that's what it was supposed to do. The research was abandoned early."

"And I'm telling you it's the map through the Eridani Supervoid to Korumalani."

Siana rolled her eyes. Sometimes she swore they argued for the sake of arguing. She slammed a hand on the table, startling everyone and silencing the argument. Lifting her hand, she absently shook it. “Okay, we know it's an impossible thing that shouldn't exist. I don't care about the name. It's here and we need to find all its pieces before some idiots get hold of it and cause problems."

Toshiko finally decided to enter the conversation which seemed to be going over the heads of both of the team medics. “Actually, Siana, we might need to know one before we can get the other. John, do you know why the research was abandoned?”

"Not really,” he shrugged apologetically. “Tardis research was always top secret."

"You said the manifold creates a shape. What if it actually created a place?"

“Tosh, what are you asking?" Siana asked as confused at Owen and Kate at the turn of the conversation.

Rhys leant forward and rested his elbows on the table. "It was used to create the planet or whatever that Ianto went to out of this void?" he asked as he looked intently at Tosh.

“I think so, yes.”

“So they build this thing and they test it and there's this place they cannot...” Tommy began slowly. You could almost see the wheels in his mind turning as he thought it out. “Doctor, this shape was supposed to be ephemeral, right?" He waited for the Time Lord to nod in response to the question before he continued. His voice was firmer as if he was pleased with his conclusion. "Then that's what happened. The manifold made this world and it was real and permanent. The Time Lords got scared by the possibilities and stopped the research."

“Maths three times a week for two hours, Thomas,” John said, grinning at the young man. “I'll arrange your schedule with Jack."

Siana rolled her eyes again. She knew she’d be the one arranging schedules. Jack hated paperwork with a passion and, considering how he sometimes completed the paperwork, she was more than happy to take it over for him. “Then they broke it up,” she began, almost shrugging, “and it somehow ended up here?”

“I don't think so,” John began tentatively. “It would have been buried in a secure vault somewhere. Somebody found it and brought it here."

"Somebody?” Jack repeated. Total disbelief colored his voice. He pulled the now empty bottle away from Ginny, set it on the table, and, lifting her to his shoulder, rose to his feet to pace while he winded her. “Doc, if the Time Lords hid it, it couldn't have been found by chance."

"Why don't you ask Ianto's Tardis?” Rhys interjected in a reasonable tone. It seemed perfectly logical to him. She knew more than even Ianto’s grandfather did about these Time Lords, so ask the expert. “Would she know?"

“I think there's more than one light hiding around here, Jack,” John said with a grin. He was really coming to enjoy this substitute family Jack had created around himself.

"Not really, John,” Rhys said, shrugging. “It's just that sometimes common sense resembles genius when it states the obvious."

“He's right, Rhys,” Jack explained. “Sometimes common sense hides great talent.”

“Can we contact Eirian from here?” Siana asked Tosh. She wasn’t certain if the conference room was fully wired to the mainframe or if they’d have to go either upstairs to the main floor or down to her room. Before Toshiko could answer, a hand rested on her shoulder, stroked along her back, and Eirian herself sprawled in Jack’s abandoned chair.

"I moved it,” she said quietly. Eirian ignored John’s shocked look and startled exclamation. “Along with a few other things we'll need soon."

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“You what!” John shouted. He rose, leant on the table and glared across at Eirian. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“I did what was necessary,” she retorted.

“Necessary!” He started ranting at her in Gallifreyan. Hands waving, raised voice, the works; this was one extremely angry Time Lord. Siana couldn’t decided if this was fatherly angry or Oncoming Storm angry, but whichever one it was it clearly showed John was pissed off. A quick glance around the table confirmed she wasn’t the only one completely lost as to the conversation. None of them had a clue as to what the long screaming fit, answered by calm comments from Eirian, was about.

A movement by Rhys caught Siana’s attention. She watched as the Welshman leant back from the table to peer toward the door behind him. A smile quirked the older man’s lips as he spoke, “I thought I told you lot to stay in the play room"

"But you never tell us anything,” Misha protested. She was giggling so hard she was leaning against Bran to stay upright. “If we don't listen how are we going to know?"

"We'll discuss that later, young lady,” Rhys replied with a frown. Stern tones warned that none of the older children would come out of that conversation without regrets or punishments. “Now, what is so funny that you are all giggling?"

"I could tell you what he's saying but you've told me not to use such language,” Misha replied. She grinned at everyone at the table. “Tad-cu needs to add money to the jar for all that.”

“Misha!” Siana scolded. Then she realized what exactly Misha said. “How do you know what he’s saying?”

“Üveyanne Eirian,” Misha paused and looked at Gray. “Did I get that right?” When he nodded to her, she continued. “Üveyanne Eirian has been teaching us.”

“You taught them Gallifreyan?” John all but spat in disbelief. “Why? Gallifrey doesn’t exist. Not here… and even if it did, it’s timelocked. There’s no need for them to know the language.”

"You are still trying to see this Universe through the lens of the old one, love,” Eirian replied. “Gallifrey exists as long as I am alive. And as long as you are alive.” She beckoned to Ceriddwen and lifted the girl into her lap when the child came to her side. She stroked her hand over long tangled curls and sighed. She shifted a hand, a small brush appearing in it, and started brushing out Ceriddwen’s hair. “Gallifrey exists in the children we are raising to take our place."

Snapping a vicious curse in Eirian’s direction, John threw up his hands and dropped back into his chair beside Toshiko who in turn laid a soothing hand on his arm.

“John,” she murmured. “This is an argument you can’t win.” She paused, took a breath and smiled at him. “Think of…” she trailed off and shook her head rather than complete her sentence.

"Doc, what did I tell you about my Toshiko?" Jack said, mock glaring at his old friend. He looked about for a chair while waving the children into the room. They were here; they might as well stay for the rest of the briefing. He blinked in surprise when several chairs seemed to appear from thin air for him and the kids. He looked at Eirian and chuckled when she winked at him. Jack grabbed a chair, settled into it and gave John a stern look.

"You know, Jack, I just realized what my fate is. I'll spend my life surrounded by people like you!" John laughed, reached down and picked up Tosh’s hand. He kissed her palm before releasing her with another softer laugh. "Oh well, it could be worse."

“Can we get back to the matter at hand?” Siana interrupted with a longsuffering sigh. Meetings and briefings never went to plan when she had both Jack and her grandfather in the room.

Toshiko rose to her feet and pulled a stack of papers from the sideboard behind her. “All right,” she began, handing the pages around the table. “Here's what I found out...”

“Wait a minute,” John interrupted. He stared across the table at Eirian. The embodiment of his former Tardis met his gaze without flinching or looking away in the slightest bit. “What else did you take that’s now missing?”

"What would you not have left behind?" she murmured.

"That!” John’s jaw dropped as he stared at her. There was only one item no Time Lord would have left behind on Gallifrey if they were able to take it away before the planet, but especially the Citadel fell to the Daleks. “You brought it? Are you mad? Of course you are.... where is it?"

"I have no idea at the moment,” she replied. “But I know it's safe."

“It's safe but you don't know where.” John stared at her. Her golden eyes were totally enigmatic as was the smile on her lips. Even now she was far too independent for a Tardis. He dropped his head onto the table with a soft curse. “Too damned independent,” he muttered.

Jack looked between Eirian and the Doctor. He was too angry, too upset, for this to be something they could let go while they focused on getting the Korumalani Mekansalharita back from whoever was trying to reassemble it. He leant forward and asked carefully, “Beautiful, no offense, but how do you know?”

Eirian flashed him a quick smile. “Because I’m a part of it,” she explained patiently. “I would know if anything was wrong.”

"What is it?" Siana asked.

“Whatever it is,” Tommy expanded. “It's got your grandfather totally scared out of his mind.”

“What… is… it…?” Siana repeated. Her voice was icy cold as was her look around the table before she set freezing glances on both her Tardis and her grandfather. “Don’t make me ask again...” she trailed off threateningly.

"The Eye of Harmony,” John muttered into the table top. He swallowed hard as he lifted his head from the table to look down it at Siana. He took a deep breath before continuing after a long, long pause. "We, the Time Lords, used it in the birthing of a Tardis. Our legends hold that Rassilion took a stable singularity and used it to create the Eye of Harmony before bringing it back to the Citadel on Gallifrey.”

Toshiko’s shocked gasp echoed through the room. She turned quickly to Eirian, leaning forward in her urgency to address her. “You brought a naked black hole to Earth and proceeded to lose it?” she asked in total disbelief. She nodded in response to Owen’s muttered ‘oh fuck, that’s not good’, but kept her focus on the near-godlike being seated at the other end of the table.

“No, it's in a stable container,” Eirian replied. She smiled indulgently at the woman. “I gave it to someone. What he's done with it since...” she trailed off with a slight shrug. “That's what I don't know, but it is nearby and safe." She reached over to gently squeeze Siana’s hand in reassurance, taking a moment to stroke her fingers over the sapphire ring gleaming beneath the conference room lights, and nodded to Toshiko. “I would know if it ever started to hint at becoming unstable and would be able to remove it from the planet before there would be any danger. The Eye of Harmony resided safely on Gallifrey for millennia without any mishaps.”

“You’re certain it’s safe,” Siana asked. “And that you can monitor it?”

“Yes.”

“Fine, you manage that. Just don’t destroy the world,” Siana said firmly. “Tosh, what did you find…”

“That’s it?” Owen asked in shock. “You just found out the ultimate doomsday weapon is missing and you’re not going to do anything about it.”

Siana sighed. Some days she adored Owen. He was the older brother who annoyed the hell out of you yet made you feel protected and safe at the same time. This was one of those other days where the urge to shoot him came to the surface faster than anything else. Shaking her head slightly, she twisted a bit to look at him. “I trust Eirian, Owen,” she began. “If she says this Eye is safe wherever it is, then I’m not going to worry about it at the moment. Let’s deal with this…” she trailed off and considered the item on the display screen for a long moment. Slowly, she rose to her feet and handed Aimana to Owen. Walking around the table, she moved closer to the screen and tilted her head at it. “John?” she asked softly. “Do you know what color it would have been?”

“Coppery, I think,” John replied. He frowned at his oldest grandchild. Ianto-Siana was closed off to him, completely, save for the most basic of links letting him know another Time Lord existed in the universe. He wondered why the sudden disconnect. “Inscriptions would have been made in a contrasting color etched into the metal itself.”

“Cachau,” she murmured. She took another step closer to the screen and held her hand out a bare minimum of space between her fingers and the high definition monitor. She traced the path of one of the circuits, memory filling in the gaps as she recalled records from the now lost London archives. “It was designed to break if misused, wasn’t it?”

“Ianto?” Kate interjected. “What do you know?” She recognized those actions. They were close to losing Siana to memories from before Canary Wharf. Things the young man had buried so deep as to potentially never think on them again; however, it seemed Siana didn’t have the same defenses in place as Ianto had forced himself to learn. Almost as if she had to relearn the skill. “You recognize it, don’t you?”

She nodded, humming softly, and licked her lips. “It’s the Stockham Bequest,” she murmured. “Well, part of it anyway. The largest piece, actually. Lucy Stockham gave it to Yvonne Hartman.” She twisted a bit to look back at Kate. “Those two – I never knew why they were so close – but they were always plotting and talking from the moment Lady Stockham’s husband was named to the cabinet.”

“And you know this...?” Kate asked softly. She knew she had to keep Siana talking or there would be problems. Big problems.

“It was in the archives,” she said quietly. “The first thing I had to file actually. There was one piece left when Yvonne and the few survivors of her experiment arrived back in London. It was given to me along with their reports, a list of the dead, and all the original photographs.”

“Where is it now?” Jack asked. He kept his voice low. He knew what Kate was doing. He’d done it himself for others who had similar problems. “Do you remember?”

“I always remember, Jack,” she replied. “You know that.” She leant her head back, considering, and nodded. “It should be downstairs in the archives. The piece I mean.” Siana looked back at the screen again. She shifted her hand, spread her fingers and rested it just a hair off center of the image. “It’s the central piece. About five inches around, very jagged, and,” she broke off with a soft laugh. “It fell on Yvonne’s foot, broke it. She was on crutches for weeks after that. Never did another field test again, but then it didn’t matter as they started work on what became known as the Ghost Shift just days later.”

A shudder raced through her body. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Siana considered, swallowed, and nodded one last time. “I’m nearly certain the piece was in the things I threw together to bring to Cardiff with Lisa,” she explained. “All the initial Torchwood London reports should be with it too. As well as a record of what happened that led to the breakup of it.” Siana turned around to look at Jack. “Those should help in finding it now, shouldn’t they?”

Jack took one look at Siana and tensed. He handed the baby to Tommy who was now seated right behind him and rose. He reached across their link to soothe Siana even as he advanced on her. Gathering her up in his arms, he took Toshiko’s abandoned chair and settled her into his lap. “They should, kediyavrusuim,” he murmured. He held her tight against him while silently urging her to anchor herself on his mind. Jack brushed a hand down her back and tugged her long sweater from beneath her to slip his hand up onto her bare back. He rubbed his fingers over the small of her back along the lower edge of the belt she wore.

A strange noise from the other end of the table had Jack momentarily looking away from Siana. She was teetering at the moment; things could go either way with her. He knew he really shouldn’t take his focus off comforting her and bringing her back, but he still wondered what the rest of the team was doing.

“Where are you going?” John asked Owen as the medic headed for the door. Kate, on the other hand, rose and came to kneel by Jack’s chair, her hand loosely wrapping around Siana’s wrist to monitor her pulse.

"To get some sedatives in case they become necessary,” Owen explained. He paused for the briefest of moments. A long look shared between him and Kate. Jack pondered the look even as he hummed to his mate.

"It looks like Jack is coping,” John said. His voice held the disbelieving tone of someone who didn’t rely on medicine to solve every problem. It clearly said ‘what can you do that Jack isn’t’ without having to actually say the words.

"Jack always copes the same way,” Owen retorted. “Me, I'm a doctor. I stick to the recognized pharmacopoeia.” He looked down at Kate again. “I’ve got my comm if I need to rush,” he explained as he headed out the door.

Jack refocused his full attention on Siana and felt the moment her mind slipped from the past closer to the present. A burst of surprised pleasure surged across his mind from her. He sent back the empathic equivalent of a tight hug while pressing a kiss to her temple. A long, almost convulsive shiver raced through her body as she twisted about to cling to him, her head dropping to rest on his shoulder with her face buried in his neck. Her arms came up, clutching at him, and she began to sob. Hard, rasping sobs such as he’d never heard from her before.

“Shh, kediyavrusuim,” Jack murmured. “It’s over. It’s the past, cariad. Nothing can harm you.”

She shook her head and clung tighter to him. Her nails dug into his shoulders deep enough to draw blood. He hissed in a breath in response to the slight pain. Siana didn’t even seem to notice as her sobbing became louder and harsher to the point where she struggling to breathe.

Jack looked helplessly down at Kate. The other medic was already on the comm to her husband, calling him back from the upstairs medical bay. Owen must have known what was going to happen as he came running into the room headed right for Siana. A reassuring smile was given, even as Owen tugged up Siana’s sleeve, uncapped the syringe he held with his teeth to give the sedative. Between one harshly indrawn breath and the next, Siana dropped to sleep.

“Give her to me,” Owen said. His voice was a bit rough. He took a step closer to the chair and reached for Siana. “I’ll carry her up to the flat for you.”

“I can…” Jack began, only to receive a headshake in return.

“I want Kate to check your blood pressure first.” Owen carefully eased Siana from Jack’s lap into his arms. Shifting her about to be comfortable, he straightened. “Jack, you’re completely flushed and I know you were doing something to try to get Ianto back via those psychic links you have to each other. Let Kate make certain you’re fine, then you can come up and get him… her settled in bed. I gave her enough to sleep for several hours while we get started on this.”

“Just don’t…”

“Jack…” Owen rolled his eyes at the older man. “That would be like trying something with my kid sister. I do have a few scruples.” He laughed softly before turning and heading for the door. “I’ll leave all that to you but we will be discussing one thing,” he paused and waited for Jack to give him a questioning look. He looked pointedly at his arm under her back and nodded when Jack blushed in response to the look. “Whatever it is that made my skinny sibling so heavy.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

After giving a few orders to the team to get them started searching for the remaining pieces of the Korumalani Mekansalharita and agreeing to join Rhys in the playroom in thirty minutes for a discussion with the children, Jack headed up to the Hub flat in search of Owen and Siana. He heard Owen long before he saw the medic. A one-sided rant was going on as he entered the flat’s bedroom, Owen bitching out Siana for not seeking help with her post-traumatic stress.

“You know Ianto will never admit to a weakness,” he said as he entered the room. He crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed. “She okay?”

“No,” Owen replied flatly from the other side of the bed. “She’s vastly overstressed, underweight, and nearing a breakdown. And then there’s this...” He reached down and pulled her sweater up to expose the thick belt still wrapped around her stomach. “Exactly what is this, Jack?”

“It’s something from my people,” Jack answered. He reached out and laid a hand over the belt with a sigh. “Normally, it’s only worn for a few hours during the wedding ceremony but…”

“But what?” Owen asked when Jack remained silent. “Jack…”

“Siana likes it. She asked me to put it back on her this morning,” he explained. Jack stroked his palm back and forth over the metal feeling it and the soft skin above and below the belt. “So I did. Why?”

“It needs to come off.”

“No.” Jack’s response was a flat hard negative. “She wanted it, Owen. I’m not taking it away from her.”

“And I’m telling you, it needs to come off.” Owen sat on the bed and pointed at the developing bruises on Siana’s stomach and sides. “There’s these, for one. Plus, she can’t breathe properly with it on. I don’t care how much she likes it, it comes off.”

“And I said no.” Jack glared over Siana at the medic. “Don’t ask me to…”

“I’m not asking, Jack. I’m telling you.” Owen returned the Captain’s glare with one of his own. “I don’t care what kind of kinky game this is becoming between you two. Either you take it off or I find something to cut it off her.” He lowered his voice to a hiss. “She can’t breathe, Jack! Do you understand?”

“She’s fine, Owen,” Jack snapped back. “I’d know if there was a problem.” Even so, Owen’s words brought to mind memories of the previous night and how Siana would pant so desperately for breath sometimes. A soft sigh slipped from his lips. Jack reached over and gently eased her into her stomach. Leaning down he found the clasp for the belt, freed it, and worked the belt from under her as gently as he possible could. “Tell me, Owen, what do I do when she wants it back on again?” he asked, his fingers gently tracing the dark marks on her pale skin. “Hmm?”

"You ask her if she thinks the head of Torchwood should be given to Victorian fainting fits because her corset cuts off her breathing."

Jack raised an eyebrow before dissolving in laughter. He shook his head, still laughing and finally managed to gasp out, “You weren’t there last night, Owen. That would just encourage her.”

"Jack, get your head out of the bedroom for a moment. If she keeps going this way she will do herself harm. With all due respect, and we have been friends long enough for you to know I respect you, Ianto...” Owen stopped and barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “Siana... is the head of Torchwood. She has to be one hundred percent functional."

"I know that. You know that.” Jack rose to his feet and paced beside the bed. “But how in the hell do we get that through to her. It's like this change has flipped a switch in Ianto. He's letting all his submissive tendencies come out now that he feels he can." Jack sighed tiredly. "I really don't want to be the bad guy in this. I'm not Siana's father and, dammit, she knows how much I like seeing her in that."

"Then use those submissive tendencies,” Owen explained reasonably. He gave Jack a long hard look. “Give her orders, Jack. Order her to keep off the belt except in the bedroom."

"All right." When it came to medical related details, he trusted Owen’s opinion. If he said it stayed off, it was off. He shoved a hand through his hair. "We're going to have a fight over this, you know that, Owen."

"Yes, but if you do it right you’ll also have the best make-up sex of your life. I trust you on this one, Jack." Owen gave him a cheeky smirk. His eyes sparkled and Jack momentarily wondered if the other man was speaking from experience. "You're a master in this area."

Jack smirked back at him. “Other than that,” he began overly casually. “Anything else wrong with her?"

"Now that I have you here in private,” Owen paused and smirked. “Have you two been using condoms?"

Jack blinked. Owen did not just ask what he thought Owen asked - did he? Jack thought for a moment and slapped his hand against his forehead. Amongst everything else they’d done, he’d completely forgotten about condoms. Siana was going to kill him. Maybe she wouldn’t realize they screwed up.

"Look, it's your business, but,” Owen broke off to grin cheekily at him. “Do you know what we used to call Catholics using the rhythm method?"

"What?" Jack snapped.

"Parents."

"Owen,” Jack growled at the grinning man. The medic was enjoying this far too much. He had a feeling that in the near future, this conversation was going to come back to haunt him.

"Just think about the consequences, all right?"

"Owen, let me ask you something,” Jack said, quietly. He waited until he had the medic’s full attention. “If Siana had to stay female, what would you and the others do?"

"Follow her, of course,” Owen replied. There was firm conviction in his words. As if the discussion had already occurred and the decision made. “Inside that pretty petite body is Ianto's brain, Jack. And Ianto is probably the most brilliant leader Torchwood has ever had. No offense, but you were erratic, and you had this habit of running off with your wife's grandfather...."

Jack reached down, grabbed a pillow from the bed and flung it at Owen with a soft snarl. He would have followed that up with a scathing remark, but a soft mutter from Siana had him smiling down at her instead.

"You two argue too loudly." She blinked up at them, her eyelids rising just enough that she could see them standing over her on either side of the bed. “How am I supposed to get any rest with you two arguing right over my head?” She shifted on the bed, pulled her sweater down, and sat up slowly. “Jack,” she whined softly. “Where is it?”

"I told you so, Owen,” Jack said. He threw a grin at the medic before coming to sit on the side of the bed again.

“I had him take it off so you could breathe.” Owen explained. “Amazing things, lungs, but they need space."

"But...” she trailed off for a moment, gathering herself, and then snapped, “Dammit, Owen, I was fine!” She settled tailor fashion in the middle of the bed. “It was tighter than that..." she trailed off in a blush.

"Whatever else you do in your life, do not finish that sentence." Owen sighed. He could see that this was going to be a long and difficult conversation which ideally needed to occur between Jack and Ianto. "Ianto, last night you were having fun. Today, you went into a hysterical jag and you couldn't breathe. Different circumstances. I told Jack and I'm telling you, Torchwood needs its leader one hundred percent in control. Especially now."

"It would serve you right if I did finish it," she snarked. "I'm fine. I was fine then. I'm managing perfectly well. There's no need for you to..."

"Do I have to make it an order, kediyavrusuim?" Jack interrupted Siana’s developing rant. He ignored Owen staring at him in order to maintain his focus on her. “I will if I have to.”

“Look, this is something you have to settle alone,” Owen said before things could progress any further. “But Ianto, I’ll say it again, Torchwood’s leader needs to be at peak fitness.”

"I'm fine,” she repeated to Jack. “Why does he keep saying I'm not?"

"No, Ianto, you aren't.” Jack fixed his expression into its sternest form. “Yes, I'm calling you Ianto. I think I'll have a better chance arguing with him. What happened out there was not fine.” He stabbed a finger in the general direction of the conference room before pointing at her. “You were not fine. This thing we're looking for will throw you right back to London, to a place you have done your best to forget. You have to be able to cope."

"Fuck, Jack,” Siana snapped. “How is taking something I want from me going to help me cope with that mess? What gives you the right to do that?"

“I'm not taking it from you. I'm asking you to limit its use to when we are alone.” Jack took a step toward her only to stop at the scathing glare she turned on him. “And being your husband gives me the right. I would expect you to do the same to me."

"You are, Jack! I..."

"Ianto, you're acting almost as if you were afraid to be without the belt.” Jack felt he was being reasonable, offering a workable compromise. So what was going on with his mate? Ianto… Siana’s behavior was making no sense at all. “Why?”

"I told you!" she all but screeched at him.

“Tell me again,” Jack said quietly. “Make me understand.”

She unfolded herself from the middle of the bed and slipped off it. Siana glared at him across the width of the mattress. "I like how it makes me feel, Jack," she snapped. "It reminds me of you. That I’m yours and I like it. Is that enough?"

“No,” Jack bit out. “You should know by now in your heart, in your bones that you belong to me. Why do you need a reminder?

“Because you haven't done it!"

“Haven't done...” he trailed off in confusion. “Ah, come here, Siana.” When she shook her head out him, silently defying him, he snapped, “Now.”

"Why should I?” she asked. She crossed her arms and continued to glare at him. “Answer me that, Jack. Why should I?”

Jack leapt onto the bed and grabbed her hair. He pulled, twisting and tumbled her onto the bed. He straddled her and snarled, “Because I said so.”

Siana pulled back and hit him for all she was worth. "Don't even try it, Jack,” she yelled. “I'm pissed with you." They struggled for a while. Jack eventually got the upper hand because of his superior size and weight. He caught her hands, pulled them down to pin her beneath him only to let out a vicious curse in his native language as she brought her knee up into his crotch. Siana shoved him off her, scrambled off the bed, and whirled about to glare at him. “You ever grab me like that again and I’ll shoot you,” she snapped.

“What the hell?” Jack growled. He was torn between a fierce anger and an urge to cry. Siana’s behavior wasn’t making one logical bit of sense and was completely contradictory to everything leading up to this moment. Ianto sure as hell never acted like this. “What the hell do you want from me?”

"If you don't know,” she began with a smirk. “Then I can't explain it."

“You manipulative little bitch,” Jack growled at her. He rose slowly from the bed, watching her intently all the while, and started to stalk her. “I don’t know what you want from me, but this game needs to stop.”

“It’s not a game,” Siana snapped back at him. She backed away from him, suddenly afraid, and clenched her hands on her arms. Something inside her wanted to goad him into killing her. It disturbed her. She whirled away from him. “I’m sorry, Jack,” she said softly. “I can’t… We aren’t allowed to talk about it.” She peered back at him. “Please, Jack, don’t.”

“Who can give you orders other than your husband?” Jack murmured. He got as close as he dared to Siana’s back. He just barely touched her. “Your alpha?

"It was before you, Jack,” she murmured. She peered back at his hand. Her voice dropped for a moment, becoming almost that of a much younger woman, as she continued, “And you never talk about it. No one would understand. What they did to you... made you do... all to be better and more skilled...” she trailed off, shaking, before looking up at him. Her eyes were Ianto’s again, but completely terrified. “I... Jack, please... I can't."

“Ianto,” Jack said, taking another step closer, “Have you thought this through?” He rested a hand on her shoulder, stroking her back just as he had ages ago after Lisa’s death and before the loss of Jasmine to the Mara. “Whoever they were they conditioned you to obey their orders so well that you're fighting me. What if they show up one day and order you to kill your family? You won’t be able to defy them.”

"They did it to the women, Jack, not the men,” Siana looked up at him. There was more of ‘Ianto’ in her eyes, but there was something else in them as well. “But I saw it. And I had to help them heal from it so they appeared normal. It’s almost like they did it to me. And now..." She swallowed, shaking all over as she struggled to force those memories back into the dark corners of her mind. "It feels like she did it to me, not someone else. How do you get close to men in power you think are alien and neutralize them..."she trailed off, hoping Jack would understand.

“You helped train honey traps?” Jack asked. He could hear the total shock and disbelief in his voice. Not his Ianto. Ianto was too sensitive, too loving, to have done something so callous.

“Is that what you call it?” She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Mostly, I just helped afterwards. It's how I knew what to do to help Gray. Slip in someone's mind, ease the memories so it doesn't affect you daily..."

Jack reached out and turned Siana toward him. Now he was starting to understand. He shook her lightly. He had to reach Ianto beneath all the conditioning that was creeping out of the depths of his mate’s mind. Starting with using his real name, as Ianto had told him, names have power. Here’s hoping it really worked. "Ianto, there's something about that sort of training you should know. When they train the,” he paused, debating what to say.

“Well, in the Time Agency we used to call them Mậtongbẫy,” he began again. “They planted a certain kind of instruction very deep in the subconscious. You see, part of the information you helped these women forget passed into your own mind. It can't be helped. So if you do it for any longer than a few months, you become a walking repository of all sorts of secrets. Secrets too dark to ever see the light of day."

"What kind of instructions are you talking about, Jack?"

"Self-destruct,” Jack spat flatly. “If the Mậtongbẫy ever felt that those secrets would be revealed, then the trigger would activate. For some, it was a simple suicide trigger. For others, it was…” he trailed off and sighed. “They would push their target in ways designed to make the target kill them.”

"Something about this current situation is making me relive that time,” Siana said quietly. She looked up at him and bit her lip. “And all sorts of things are surfacing is that it?"

"Yes.” Jack’s voice was flat and cold. All emotion erased from it. “And if we don't override the instructions, you will self-destruct."

"But how do we do that?” Siana asked softly. “I was fine until last night."

"Yesterday you trusted yourself to me,” Jack murmured. He stroked his hands over Siana. “Body and soul, cariad, you trusted me with all of you. That’s the kind of threat the instructions are designed to detect and counteract. Trust is the biggest danger people in that line of business face, and the biggest taboo. You broke it last night."

Jack felt something – dark, dangerous and deadly – spark across Ianto’s mind. He knew what it was and sighed regretfully. He reached out, wrapped an arm around his mate and murmured, “I’m sorry, Ianto.” Then he put all his considerable will into a focused thrust into her mind and forced her unconscious. Catching her in his arms, he pulled her into his lap. He pressed his lips to her hair, took a deep breath of her scent, and started programming his vortex manipulator. Activating it, he sent an unfocused telepathic broadcast to the team on the main Hub floor. "Doctor, I need you in the control room. Rhys, take all the children to your place. Call Andy for help for help with them. Kate, take your peds kit and go along with Rhys, just in case. Owen, get yours and follow John. Tommy, Toshiko, handle the Rift."

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The gathered team stared at each other. That demanding voice was definitely their captain, but never had he used telepathy with any of them before. Only Ianto ever had that sort of connection with Jack. What was going on which needed him to do such a thing now?

Owen considered for less than thirty seconds. He remembered what had happened upstairs in the flat. The way Ianto seemed to be two vastly different people in the same body. Something even more disturbing had to have happened after he left them alone for Jack to be giving orders in such a fashion. He leant over, kissed Kate, and grabbed the spare medical kit from beneath his desk. He reached out a hand, wrapped it around John’s wrist and snapped, “Where are we going?"

“The Tardis room,” John replied. He spared a moment to kiss Toshiko’s cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, Сакана,” he whispered. He glanced around the Hub. No one was moving, still in shock over hearing Jack’s voice ringing in their heads. “You heard him,” he ordered in the same clipped tones. He put the full force of his title as the Oncoming Storm behind the words. “Get to it.” He looked at Owen, grabbed the man’s hand, and took off at a dead run through the Hub toward the lower levels. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on,” he explained to Owen as the pelted through the corridors. “But I have the distinct feeling it’s not going to be pretty.

“When is it ever with those two?” Owen snapped back. “Though something strange was going on with Ianto before I came down from the flat,” he continued. “She was acting, well, whiny.”

They reached the Tardis room where it was tucked away in the deepest recesses of Torchwood Cardiff. To neither man’s surprise the door was already open to admit them. They skidded into the room, stumbling a bit as they tried to stop before they ran right over Jack and Siana.

Owen could do nothing more than stare as Jack knelt astride his mate’s body. It was clear he was using his weight to restrain the currently unconscious woman as he leant forward to snap a set of handcuffs around one of the uprights to the supporting railing around the Tardis’s console. One end of the handcuffs was already secured around Siana’s wrist. As Owen watched, jaw dropping in shock, Jack brought her other hand up and snapped the cuff in place around that wrist. The Captain then settled back to kneel over the woman. "You called us down for one of your sex games?" Owen asked in disbelief. Owen actually felt himself shrink an inch or two in response to the scathing glare Jack turned on him.

“Owen, your job will be to monitor us at all times,” Jack bit out the words. His tone reminded the medic of the harder, meaner Jack from before the man had fallen so hard for Ianto.

“Who is us?” he asked. He kept his voice level and even as he spoke. He moved slowly across the room to crouch by Jack.

“Ianto, John, and me,” Jack replied.

“What’s happening, Jack?” John asked. He too moved across the room to join the trio already on the floor. The situation didn’t make sense and he knew that Jack would never forcibly restrain his grandchild without a damned good reason.

"It's Ianto,” Jack replied. His voice was still cold, hard and unyielding as he spoke. Yet, the gentle caress he brushed over Ianto’s cheek belied that tone. “Something happened to him at Torchwood One and we need to deal with it right now."

"What am I watching for?" Owen asked. He moved around Jack to the other side of the pair where he had more room and light. He laid the case he still carried down, flipped it open and considered the contents.

"Anything,” Jack answered. He turned his head to watch Owen. “And no matter what happens do not release her until I give you the all clear.

"That really limits what I can do, Jack." Owen rummaged in the box, pulling out items he’d likely need. “You understand that right?”

"I know.” Jack stared at Owen. He tried to convey all his trust in his medic through that stare. “Do your best, Owen. I'm trusting you with Ianto's life."

Owen blinked. Several things began to click into place in his mind. He nodded more to himself than to Jack. "So I wasn't imagining things upstairs,” he mused, not really expecting an answer to the statement. “I'm on it,” he said. He pulled a few more things from the box, nudged Jack out of his way, and set to work. “Let me get a line in before you get started on whatever it is you’re going to do."

“I'd like an explanation,” John said. He could see the strain in his old friend. “I need to know what we’re potentially dealing with.”

“Torchwood London trained Mậtongbẫy,” Jack spat viciously. He caught Owen’s questioning look out of the corner of his eye. “You would know them as ‘honey traps’, Owen. Spies and assassins, usually female, trained to get close to a target by using sex. There’s just one drawback. They learn things. Things people often don’t want to get out, so they are also given a self-destruct trigger. Ianto was apparently involved in either the training or the debriefing of these Mậtongbẫy which Torchwood created.” He looked between the other two men, noting their equally shocked looks, and nodded. “Somehow, enough of that training settled into his mind. After last night, it’s active in him now.”

Owen stared for another full minute before nodding once. That explained a hell of a lot of what was going on with Ianto lately. “You know what you’re likely to find in her head?” he asked.

"Yeah,” Jack said with a tired sigh. He did indeed know, far too well, what might be buried in his mate’s mind. “And it's going to be hell on Ianto." He twisted about to look at John. “And Doc, sorry, but I’m going to need Nine.”

“I know,” John nodded. He didn’t even want to think of what his grandson had seen or experienced that would leave him like this now that he’d been turned into a woman. “Don't think I would be in the proper frame of mind for this anyway. I’d just hinder you."

Owen looked up from where he was finishing setting the femoral cath. “I'm ready, Jack,” he murmured quietly. “And for what it's worth, I'm sorry.”

"Don't be sorry yet,” Jack replied. He reached over and squeezed Owen’s forearm. “This isn't a fight I'm going to lose, Owen."

"I'm sorry for what you're going to find,” Owen replied. His tone was sad, but serious. “You didn't read the publications coming out of London's medical research department. Some of those men were twisted bastards."

"Good,” Jack all but snarled. “I can work out my frustrations.” There was a feral smile on his face as he looked between the two men in the room with him before focusing on Owen. “And when this is over, you and I are going to see what these folks are up to in the here and now."

"Count on it,” Owen agreed. He hated torture. That was what this amounted to - torture, physical and psychological torture to create the perfect female weapon. He took one last look at his supplies as certain as he could be that he was ready for any eventuality. “We're as ready as we can be, but Jack, don't sit on her. She's bruised enough as it is."

"What do I do, then?"

“I'm not exactly certain what you're going to be doing in her head, but..." Owen pulled out a syringe out of his kit, considered the contents for a moment, and injected about half of them. "Muscle relaxant... she can't fight you and you have her secured. Now, get in her head and get us our Ianto back. That whiny brat upstairs wasn't my commander."

Chapter Thirty

Jack opened his eyes and smiled a greeting to the man beside him. Leather jacket, big ears, cold blue eyes, this was the version of the Doctor he’d first met and knew best. He nodded to him, looked about himself, and sighed before reaching out with his mind to seek Ianto’s. Even here, inside the maze that was Ianto’s mental defenses, he’d be able to reach the core of his mate’s mind with his own. He turned around, swept his coat behind himself and started stalking down the corridor toward where he could dimly sense his mate. Jack rested his hand on his gun and apprehensively glanced to the side where the Doctor matched him pace for pace down the glittering white hallway.

The hallway was lined with non-descript equally white doors labeled only with small numbers. Some had large plate glass windows beside them showing the medical labs beyond the doors; however, the doors nearest the center of the tower were only numbered with ultra-high tech keypads beside them. Their pace increased. Jack could sense Ianto’s mind. It was rebelling. Not only against them being here, searching through his memories, but against what he was currently reliving as they walked the corridors of his mind. Jack glanced over at the Doctor seeing his own tension and fear reflected in the Time Lord’s face.

They didn’t need to speak. From the moment the Doctor put his hand in Jack’s in preparation for Jack bringing them into Ianto’s mind, they’d been united in their purpose to seek out the triggers in Ianto’s mind, to fix or erase them, before healing Ianto’s mind, soothing the injuries away. They were nearing the center of the Tower now and getting closer to Ianto himself. Jack reached out a hand, brushing his fingers along the doors they were passing; however, what they sought wasn’t on this side of the hallway. A few more feet and he whirled about to pace back the way they came until Jack found one door which drew his attention more than any other in the hall. He stopped, his arm outstretched to one side, and slowly turned toward the door. First his head turned to stare at it, followed by his body, as he pressed his palm flat against the door.

Cold steel snapped into place around trembling wrists.

Blue eyes tortured as they met and held.

Burning pain and the sting of sweat combined to drag shrill screams from an already raw throat.

The taste of her teacher’s come and her own blood forced on her again and again.

His tears as he watched her suffer, determination in his eyes that she not be alone no matter how much watching tore him to pieces.

“Please… please… no,” she begged. Her voice was as broken as her self-respect. “No, please, not that…”

Cool hands trembled as they soothed her pain away.

Welsh murmured between gentle kisses pressed to her temple.

A soft voice reminded she was safe with him… always safe with him.

“Pretty, pretty girl… come here to me…” She crawled, knelt trembling before the director; sighed as soft feminine hands petted her hair and lifted her chin to stare into her eyes. “Perfection, both of them. I think we’ve done it…”

“He’s here,” Jack murmured. They were the first words spoken since they’d begun this trek. Jack stroked his palm along the door. He felt the heavy tangle of Ianto’s thoughts on the other side of it. Ianto’s surface emotions were a confused mix of need and want, pain and pleasure, hate and longing; yet, beneath, Jack could feel stark terror and suppressed screams. “And he’s hurting.”

“We knew that would be the case,” The Doctor replied. He held up the sonic screwdriver and nodded toward the keypad next to the doorknob. “You or I?” he asked.

“You,” Jack murmured. He freed his gun from its holster and thumbed off the safety. “I’ll get the door.” He shook his head at the Doctor’s disapproving glare at his gun. “You don’t know Torchwood, Doc. We need to be ready for anything.” He nodded to the keypad, wrapped his hand around the doorknob and slowly twisted the knob. At the older man’s nod, he eased the door open, slipping inside and waiting only long enough for the Doctor to follow him before slowly closing it again. Better to be safe than sorry when sneaking through a Torchwood trained mind.

The room on the other side of the door was heavily shadowed. Nearly all of it lay in darkness, yet there was still enough light drifting over from the far side of the room to make out the shapes of the furnishings. Jack scanned the room quickly. In front of him, bound securely to a chair, was a young man. Jack would know that body anywhere. “Ianto,” he whispered, pointing to the bound figure. He crossed the room in swift, yet silent strides, and knelt beside the chair.

He surveyed Ianto. His mate was dressed in the majority of one of his impeccable suits. Dark slacks with a tone on tone pinstripe, classic white shirt, and a tailored vest to match the slacks. Tie and jacket were discarded somewhere. Ianto’s thick hair was greasy, tangled and fell untamed into his face. Stubble grew into an almost beard, unusual for his usually fastidious mate.

Jack reached up and cupped his mate’s rough cheek in his hand. Ianto didn’t once look at him. He flinched in reaction to the touch, yet never took his gaze from the other side of the room. “Ianto,” he breathed, “Come on, cariad, look at me.” He sighed softly. It disturbed him that his mate was in tears yet wouldn’t turn to him for comfort now that he was beside him. Jack looked up at the Doctor who gave him a concerned look back before kneeling to start using the sonic screwdriver on the cuffs and chains binding Ianto to the chair.

“He’s free,” the Doctor murmured. “So why isn’t he moving?”

“I don’t know,” Jack murmured in response. He stared up at Ianto for a long moment. He rested a hand on his mate’s neck, feeling his pulse thudding beneath his fingers, and sighed. “They must have done something to get him so compliant.” A just barely audible whimper from his mate turned Jack away from the Doctor to focus on Ianto again. “Cariad,” he whispered. He rose to his feet, stepped around behind Ianto and rested his hands on the young man’s shoulders. “Bensevgili, look at me,” he commanded. “Everything’s…” A muffled scream from across the room took his attention from Ianto though Jack noted Ianto’s convulsive shudder and hard swallow in response to it. Jack looked up and a low deep growl rumbled from his throat in response to the sight before him.

Bright stark lighting showcased a raised platform bed. On it, shackled wrist and ankle to the corners of the bed and securely gagged, was his Siana. Her dark hair was a tangled mess around and beneath her. Dark bruises bloomed over her torso and hips. Bite marks marred her full breasts. Deep scratches oozed blood down her hips. Her screams were silenced by the ball gag stretching her lips wide. Dark circles ringed her blue eyes as tears ran unchecked over swollen cheeks. And those eyes, those blue eyes Jack adored, were shadowed with pain, her suffering unhidden as she stared in their direction. Currently, she was being brutalized, gleefully torn apart by one of the more sadistic directors of Torchwood London. It all registered on him in an instant. Before the Doctor could do more than part his lips, Jack brought his gun up, aimed and fired. One shot to the temple and that bastard collapsed onto the woman he was rutting upon.

Now, Ianto moved. He rushed across the room to shove the corpse off the woman. The other two men watched as Ianto stroked her cheek with one hand while the other scrabbled about the floor. Jack looked at the Doctor who gazed steadily back at him.

“This is going to be a lot harder than we thought,” the Doctor muttered. His grandson, no matter what his current outward appearance Ianto was his grandson, had been severely traumatized by things he’d seen at Torchwood Tower, even before the hell that was the Battle of Canary Wharf. “A hell of a lot harder,” he murmured, shifting his gaze back to Ianto.

“I knew it was going to be harder than you thought,” Jack snapped back. “You forget what I did before I was betrayed by the Agency.” He clenched his hands by his sides. His fingers itched. He wanted to go stalking through the Tower, find every person involved in the Mậtongbẫy program and personally put a bullet in their heads. Quick clean deaths that were far better than they deserved, but they’d still be dead and unable to harm anyone else again. He forced himself to take calming breaths and relaxed his clenched fists. “The things I did before I met you.”

"I didn't forget,” the Doctor replied softly. “You never told me."

"Well, I was a go to guy,” Jack retorted with a falsely cheerful laugh. He’d left that part of himself behind a long time ago. Now, now that very part of him was pressing at the corners of his mind. He wanted revenge. For Ianto, for Siana, and every other woman Yvonne’s Torchwood put through hell in their pursuit of empire. He turned a bitter smile on his companion. “Very popular with the superiors."

His fear for her as he paced their quarters… No, their prison, it would never a home.

Her screams echoed in his nightmares.

Beautiful girl, his oldest friend and all but sister, so desperate for sex she turned her training on him.

“Siana, please,” his own voice, begging and pleading, while she teased him. “Please!”

He cried, broken beneath her, as she forced yet another orgasm from his body.

“You promised!” she hissed, lips pressed to his ear. “You promised to stop me before it came to this!”

Her skin, warm beneath his fingers, as he touched her… distracted her… until he could wrap his hands around her throat.

The crunch of bone as his hands twisted. Her eyes wide in shock. Her body limp beneath him.

Applause echoed in the room.

He twisted, looked, grimaced as the director smiled happily at him. “Very good, Mr. Jones,” she praised. “No other we trained would do it... could do it.” Her voice held so much joy it turned his stomach. “I was right when I called you perfect.”

The director held out a hand, a folder placed in it, offered to him. He forced himself not to shake as he took it, stared at her. “Now, Mr. Jones, about your assignment…” She was interrupted by the slam of a door reverberating about the room. The director’s eyes widened in fear and she stumbled back a step…

“Hello, Ms. Hartman,” the Doctor snarled. He stalked across the room and slammed his hands onto the table beside Ianto’s chair. “I’m certain you know who I am.”

“D…D… Doc…Doctor,” she stuttered. She leant back in her chair and crossed her arms over her breasts. “Yes, I know who you are. I’m certain you know who we are. So why would you willingly walk into my office and interrupt my meeting with one of the best operatives I ever trained.”

"Don't try to come all over Little Miss Empire with me, Ms. Hartmann or you will regret it,” the Doctor snapped. His voice was all controlled anger. Enough ice in the words to create a miniature ice age in this conference room. “Your meeting is over. I'm taking Ianto with me."

She smirked and raised an eyebrow at him. She knew how to control volatile men. She uncrossed her arms and leant forward, shifting just a bit too accidentally allowing her blouse to fall open and asked “Just why should I allow you to take him?”

“Allow me? There's nothing you can do to stop me." His gaze burned right through her. Chilled her to the bone and she knew she’d made a deadly enemy in this man. "I will explain this once. The Doctor you think you know? The one in UNIT files? That man doesn't exist anymore. I am out of patience with people like you, Ms. Hartman. And after watching that horror show, I am out of mercy."

“Fine,” she snapped. “Take him,” she smirked at Ianto, reached across the table and ran her nails over his forearm. She delighted in his shudder beneath her move. “But know he’ll always be mine.”

"That is where you are wrong, Yvonne." The manic grin surfaced. "He is mine. Blood, bone, and spirit. And you are nothing but a ghost. And I am very good at fighting ghosts."

“Son of a bitch!” Owen’s voice, pain-filled and angry, echoed across the construct around him. “Jack! Doctor! Get your arses back here!”

The construct shifted, melted away around them. Jack staggered from the abrupt shift. John reached out a hand clasp the back of his old friend’s neck, reaching into his mind to soothe the shock of being thrown out of Ianto’s head so harshly. Both of them looked at Owen. The other man curled up on the floor clutching his balls.

“What happened?” John snarled. The cold tones of his previous incarnation still laced his voice. “Owen?”

“Ianto just snapped,” Owen bit out. “Broke the handcuffs, beat off me and Jack, and took off. Eirian says she’s blocking him but is apparently headed for the flat.” Owen barely got the words out before Jack was scrambling to his feet and running from the room. There was a moment’s pause before John too was running from the room.

Chapter Thirty-One

Siana scrambled into the flat. She was shaking all over, freezing, and desperate. She felt filthy. She knew it was all in her head; however, that didn’t stop her skin from crawling. Or from her feeling like she’d been the one so brutally trained. Memories flashed through her mind, a vicious blending of both their torments. She twisted the knobs hard on the tub, desperate for it to fill, and listened as the pipes rattled before steaming water began to spill into the deep tub in the en-suite bath.

She didn’t wait for it to fill, just climbed in, fully clothed. She hissed, almost screaming, at the heat of the water. She huddled in the bottom of the bath. She sobbed, digging her hands into her hair, and rocked. She hated this. She didn’t want to remember. Why did they make her remember?

Siana sobbed and curled up tighter. She wrapped her arms around her upraised knees. She made herself as small as possible and hid beneath her now loosened hair. Tears ran freely from her eyes, chill against her overheated skin, and she shook in the water.

Another sob slipped from Siana’s throat. She shuddered; she didn’t want to remember, but between them, Jack and the Doctor had destroyed all her defenses. She could no longer hide the memories or hide from them. Now with the memories free, she was trapped, forced to face them when she’d much rather bury them as deep as possible.

Siana sobbed harder. She reached out, fingers scrambling amongst the items discarded on the surround around the tub. Her fingers closed around Jack’s straight razor. She stared at it for a moment and pulled it toward her, almost fascinated by the way the overhead lighting glinted off the highly honed edge Jack kept on the metal. She brought it closer to her, twisting it, and gasped as Jack’s hand closed tight around herwrist.

“Give it to me, Siana,” Jack whispered. “Trust me, bensevgili, and let me have the razor.” He let his desperation bleed across their mental link. He couldn’t lose Siana to this insanity, these demons in her own mind, not after everything they’d survived to get to this point. A pained gasp escaped from his throat; he pressed a hand to his stomach and dropped to his knees beside the tub.

“Jack?” Siana gasped. She reached toward him. “What is it?” A startled cry escaped her throat as her fingers were peeled away from the razor. She looked up, startled, and stared wide-eyed up at her grandfather. “John?”

“You think you’re a monster?” John hissed. He stared down at his grandchild intently. “You’re sinning above your pay grade, Siana. You haven’t earned those stripes and you never will.”

Siana rested her free hand on Jack, stroking her husband’s cheek and throat, and shook her head up at her grandfather. It was a mute denial. John didn’t know all the things she’d done… didn’t know about Lisa and the destruction she’d nearly unleashed on the world then.

"You and Jack,” John began calmly. He shifted his hold on Siana’s wrist from confining to reassuring. “You have sinned against other human beings. I have destroyed whole races. I am Shiva, the destroyer of worlds. I am the Oncoming Storm.” John paused, crouched down and cupped his grandson’s cheek in his palm. “There's nothing you have done that comes close to what I am." At Siana’s continuing denials, he pressed against the younger Time Lord’s shields, slipping inside them to show her his memories. “Let me show you,” he murmured.

Women with long hair, Carrionites, being sucked into a glass globe… A girl in a mirror, her brother a scarecrow, trapped forever… A reptile race, in retreat, being blown out of the sky… Humanoid feline screaming as she fell to her death, her skin corrupted by a multitude of diseases… Gaseous film possessing a young woman who sets herself afire… Giant crabs enslaving humans… A creature of lava invading, their destruction destroying an ancient city… a giant creature, half woman half spider… the Toclafane… the Cybermen… And the Daleks… always the Daleks… again and again they appeared, menacing and intractable… their saucers skimming the world, Gallifrey, as millions died beneath their guns… until it ended in explosion and fire... his hand, his own hand, on the button… a single tear dropping onto his skin…

Wide-eyed and trembling, Siana stared up at his grandfather. A soft whimper escaped her throat in the face of his pain. She was torn between comforting him and helping Jack. She didn’t know what to do. Then another soft pained gasp slipped from Jack. With an apologetic look toward her grandfather, Siana scrambled out of the tub to wrap her body around her husband. “Jack,” she whispered. “Relax, Jack, please.” She looked up at John and begged, “Find Owen. Ask him to look at Jack.”

“Can I trust you not to do anything irrevocable while I’m gone?” he replied. He stared down at Siana, his eyes hard and intent, until his grandchild nodded in response. Only then did John leave the room in search of the sometimes acerbic team medic.

Siana watched her grandfather leave the bath, heard him exit the flat soon after, and turned her focus on Jack. She rubbed her palm on his stomach trying to soothe away any pain Jack was experiencing. “What’s wrong, Jack?”

“You’re shutting me out, Siana,” Jack murmured. He struggled to his feet, swayed, and sighed as she rose and wrapped an arm around his waist. He leant on her for a moment and breathed in her scent. “Why?”

"I'm not... I'm... Duw, Jack, I don't want you to see me,” Siana murmured. She gently turned Jack toward the bedroom and silently encouraged him to head for their nearby bed. “I don't want you to see what I am."

"Why?” Jack asked, confused. Still, he obeyed the urging, moving to settle on the bed, and sighed. Again, he rubbed his stomach. “You know what I did,” he said quietly. “Why would you hide from me?"

"Remember how I once told you that you were a monster? I was wrong. You weren’t. I was,” she replied. She knelt at his feet to remove his shoes and set them to one side. She looked up at him from beneath the tangle of her hair. “I am.”

"You're not, Ianto… Siana... whichever name you want to use.” Jack leant forward and brushed the back of his fingers over his mate’s cheek. “No matter what they made you do, you are not a monster."

"I... It hurts to think about this,” she admitted, leaning into Jack’s brief caress. “I don't know if I can deal with this, Jack,” Siana shook her head again. “I don't know if I can accept it and stay sane."

“You have to, Siana,” Jack said firmly.

"Jack,” Siana paused, swallowed. “Grandfather showed me his life. I know enough about yours...” she trailed off for a moment, looking away into the darkened lounge, and sighed. “How do you survive it? How do you accept it and move on?"

"I don't know how he did, but under his instruction I began to atone for all that I did.” Jack smiled as he remembered those heady first months on the Tardis. He frowned for a moment, remembering Emily and Alice; only to smile again as he remembered how he slowly, subtly began to change Torchwood into something to be proud of. “And I did a hell of a lot more than you likely ever did."

"I need to know that I can atone,” she murmured. “I need to know that I have."

"You already are, cariad," Jack replied. "Look at all the good you've done here."

“So much evil, Jack. So much unspeakable evil." She shuddered and tears started to pour down her face. "Do I have a right to be happy? To have a life at all?"

"Always." Jack pulled her up off the floor, ignoring the slight twinge in his side and her waterlogged clothes, and settled her into his lap. "We all have the right to be happy, Siana. To live and be happy." He pulled her close to him, rocking her, and sought desperately for some way to get through to her.

"Why? We have seen so much evil in our life,” she mumbled. “We have done so much wrong."

"And we did good, too. Look at the children, Siana,” Jack urged. “They give us joy, happiness, should something take them away from us because of our past?"

"Maybe we're not entitled to them,” she murmured. She twisted in his arms torn between seeking comfort and pulling away. “Maybe they should be loved by someone who is cleaner, better." She wept, sobs coming from her throat, and spoke in a strangled voice. "But they’re my children. I don't want to lose them!"

He shook her once, twice, barely containing his urge to slap her out of this downward spiral. "Siana! Ianto! Dammit! I don't know what to say to you since you're so determined to see the bad in this," he snarled softly. "Where's my Ianto - so determined to continue on?"

"Your Ianto was built on lies!” Siana screamed at Jack. She stumbled to her feet. “The junior researcher was a lie. His fiancée and their love was a lie. Everything was a lie! Can't you see that?"

"No, I can't!" Jack snapped back. It was so hard to contain himself. All he wanted to do was shake sense into her to get her to see reason again. "I won't believe that because then every single thing, every moment between us was another lie, another manipulation by you." He bit his lip hard and then decided to throw all caution to the wind. "What about this baby you said you wanted so much? Was that another lie to? Would you care if I lost it from the emotional stress of watching you destroy yourself for those useless bastards in London?"

"The only thing that kept me from slicing my wrists open in that bath was the thought of you and the children,” Siana growled. She whirled and paced, too restless and tense to stay still. She was glad they were in the bedroom because as tense, angry and wired as she felt right now it would be so easy to take that straight razor and slit Jack’s throat. The long suppressed memories and skills were there, right at the front of her mind, and so was the urge to do it. Only Lahini, his tiny speck of a daughter, currently growing beneath Jack’s heart stopped him. “But I'm not you, Jack,” she continued, words rushing from her as she spoke. “I can't just wall away the past and move forward. I envy you that ability."

"Then tell me what would help you," Jack urged. "What would help you move on from this?"

"Finding the people who did those things,” she immediately answered. No thought was necessary. “Making certain they're not still doing it. Find Siana...” she trailed off as pieces of a puzzle came together in her head. “If Eirian made this world out of choices, what choices did she make?"

"The first two are a given, Siana," Jack paused and shook his head. "Or do we go back to calling you Ianto?" A soft laugh escaped him when she shook her head in denial of the question. He considered for a moment. "I don't think you'll find Siana. She was in your head, cariad, but I don't think anywhere else. I think she would have found you by now."

"Maybe. But I can still look for her." She knelt beside the bed and rested her hands on Jack’s hips. She looked up at him for a moment, tears still gleaming in her eyes, and then leant forward to kiss Jack's stomach. Siana told herself she had to focus on the future, not those horrific days in London, and this baby was the physical manifestation of the future. "And I will take care of you and love you, little one. I will keep this world safe for you and your brothers and sisters."

Jack stroked her hair and sighed. "Better?" He smiled when she nodded. She was better, ready to deal, though definitely not healed yet. Another pain seared through his stomach. He clenched his jaw again and dragged in a breath. "Because I'm not."

"Owen!" Siana screamed. “Where the hell are you?"

"Waiting for the latest domestic to end," Owen snarked. "Can we come in now?"

"Someday, Owen, you're going to push me too far and you'll find yourself doctor to an Antarctica expedition." She gave him a phony sweet smile. "A long term expedition."

Owen just smirked. "Right, I'll believe that when I see the paperwork,” he replied, smothering a grin. He pulled the scanner from his kit. A single look had Jack lying back on the bed so he could work. “Kate goes with me, you know."

"We'll see about that, Owen,” Siana snapped. “Concentrate on Jack."

"What do you think I'm doing?” Owen groused. He moved closer to the bed, crawled halfway onto it and considered his captain. He knew just from looking at the man that Jack had been keeping things from them. “Waving medical equipment about for my health?"

"Ianto, leave the man alone to work,” John ordered. His voice was soft, but the command unmistakable. “Come here, please."

"But...?" Siana protested. She wanted to stay with Jack. She knew she’d caused this pain. She had to be there while it was dealt with. “I…”

"But nothing,” John replied. He held out a hand for his grandchild to take. “Owen is an excellent doctor. Let him do his job. You and I have to talk."

“What about?” she asked warily. She eased away from Jack, looked down at him seeking reassurance, and only at her husband’s nod did she cross the room to join John by the door. “Sir?”

"When I made my choice, I set the Time Lord aside. I wanted to have a normal life, never have to deal with things like... like what I saw in your mind... anymore. But we cannot allow these people to set up shop again." He made a gesture that reminded her of the towering being she had seen inside her mind and his determination to take her away from Yvonne. "I'm going back into the Oncoming Storm business until this is resolved."

Siana raised an eyebrow. "You know she's not going to let you go back to being a mere human if you do this?" She giggled, the sound abruptly cut off as she realized how inappropriate the laughter was in the wake of what just occurred. "Eirian's already told me my desk ornament wants to be your Tardis."

He seemed startled for a moment, but then shrugged. "I'll have that argument when I get to it. Now, I'm going to talk to Toshiko and Tommy about starting some searches on Yvonne and the erstwhile Torchwood One."

“Yes,” Siana nodded. She had no trouble confirming that order. She considered for a moment, looked back at Jack and sighed. “Call the rest of the team back. Make certain Rhys brings Andy as well.” She bit her lip, swallowed hard, and nodded, more to herself then the others. “I’ll be down once I’m certain Jack’s resting comfortably.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Siana watched Owen and John leave the room. She turned back towards Jack, licked her lips and just stared at her husband. She considered for a moment, took a step and frowned at the squelch she made as she moved. “Shit,” she murmured. “I’ll be right back.”

“What?” Jack twisted to watch her dash for the bathroom. “Siana? What are you doing?”

“Turning off the water!” she called back. She returned to stand just inside the en-suite’s doorway. “We forgot to turn things off when we left the room.”

“Oh, cinselişki,” Jack cursed. “We didn’t flood the room, did we?”

“No, I got there in time.” Siana smiled for a moment. “And I’m drenched from my abortive dive into the tub.”

“You are kind of dripping,” Jack acknowledged. He laughed at her affronted look. “It’s a good look for you.”

“Good thing I love you,” Siana snarked. She reached down, grabbed the bottom of the sweater and stripped it off. She dropped it to the tiled floor of the en-suite and frowned at the dull splat it made. The rest of her clothes quickly followed. Nude, she padded across the bedroom, pulled open a drawer and grabbed the first clothes that came to hand. Slipping the t-shirt over her head, she turned back to Jack and giggled. “Like what you see?”

“Damned straight I do,” Jack growled. He patted the bed beside him. “Come here?” he asked. He could hear the slight tremble in his voice, knew it was the outward sign of his fear that Siana wouldn’t want him now. “I want to hold you.”

Siana considered him for a moment and smiled. She sat on the edge of the bed long enough to slip on the sweats she’d pulled out. Then she crawled across the bed to lie beside Jack. She propped herself up on one elbow, reached out and held her hand just inches from Jack’s stomach. “May I?”

“Only if you come closer,” Jack murmured. “I told you. I want to hold you.”

She dropped her hand onto Jack’s stomach. She scooted closer to Jack eventually settling against her husband’s side and rested her head on his shoulder. His arm wrapped around her, his fingers stroking though her hair and over her shoulder. She shifted a bit, pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw, and sighed softly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“For what?”

“That I hurt you,” she murmured. Siana tugged lightly at Jack’s shirts until she could slip her hand beneath the fabric and rest her hand on his bare skin. He was always so warm to the touch, her own personal furnace, and even more so now that he carried their child. “Is she okay?”

“Well,” Jack began slowly. “She’s better now. Lahini definitely has her Tad’s temper.” He felt Siana’s start and chuckled. “You were frightened. I was angry. We both were upset… and she was not happy. She made certain that I knew she wasn’t happy too.”

“How did she manage that?” Siana asked bewildered. “She’s so small that Kate won’t even be able to get a good heart rate for another week or so.”

“I don’t know,” Jack conceded. “Maybe we should ask her?”

“Think we can?” Siana leant her head back to look up at Jack. “I mean, I can barely sense her presence. John has a better connection to her than me.”

“I think that’s because you’re afraid to connect to her.” Jack cupped Siana’s chin, stroked her cheek with his thumb, and smiled. “Having your male partner carry your baby has to be disturbing. So many things could go wrong, so you’ve been holding back.”

“Okay,” Siana murmured. She rubbed her hand back and forth in small circles on his stomach. “Go ahead, Jack,” she said quietly. “See if you can get anything more.”

Jack’s hand covered hers, stilled her idle caress, and they lay in silence for a while. Both of them attempted to reach the baby’s developing mind with their own. Siana felt little more than she had weeks before feelings of comfort, security and warmth with the faintest echo of Jack’s heartbeat ghosting along her mind.

"Um, Ianto?” Jack choked out. “How do you feel about reincarnation?"

Siana jerked. She twisted about to look up at Jack without ever removing her hand from his belly. "She didn't!" she cried shocked.

"Oh, but she did." Jack retorted. He wasn’t certain if he wanted to be overjoyed resulting in a maniac grin or concerned which would have him scowling. Instead, he watched Siana and tailored his reaction to hers.

"I thought she meant I would find her and adopt her or something!"

"She took a more direct route,” Jack retorted with a soft laugh. “She did say she wanted to be your child.”

"Little brat,” Siana replied. She glared at Jack’s stomach and poked with one finger. “You are a little brat, m’merch.”

"She's laughing."

"Really?" Siana blinked several times at this bit of knowledge. "How do you know?"

"I can hear her,” Jack said softly. Now that he was focused on her, he could sense all of his new daughter’s developing thoughts. “She's so happy, Ianto. Happy that she will have a family that will love her. Brothers and sisters. And that she'll walk in the sunlight and under the stars and she will never have to hide again."

"She's saying that?" Siana murmured. She was so shocked at how much Jack was picking up off their baby so early, but then she often forgot just how strong a telepath Jack was. “Really saying that?”

"No, it's more feelings,” he paused, picking words. “Emotions, rather than words, but she's strong, this one."

"With us as parents?” Siana asked calmly. “What else could she be?"

"Let's not tell anyone, all right? She should grow up a normal girl,” Jack trailed off for a moment and laughed. “For a Torchwood measure of normal anyway."

"Agreed. She's going to have enough weirdness already." Siana paused and rubbed his hand over Jack's stomach. She leant over and pressed a kiss to that still flat expanse. "Seren. I want to call her Seren."

"That's lovely,” Jack agreed with a smile. “Can we have Rose as a second name? Somehow it feels right. Seren Rose."

"Seren Rose Harkness-Jones,” Siana murmured. She listened to how it sounded. How the name felt to her mind and how she’d feel screaming it across a playground. She nodded and grinned. “Perfect."

"Now she just needs a bedroom,” Jack laughed. He grinned down at Siana where she rested against his stomach. “We need to finish remodeling the second floor.”

"God, Jack, don't get started,” Siana cried. “At the rate we're going we're going to have to buy the house next door and expand!"

"You know you're tempting fate with that statement."

“No, I’m not. No!” Siana made the traditional gesture to ward off the evil eye. “Just, no!”

"You know it won't work for you, right?” Jack laughed. Sometimes it was such fun to rile up his mate. “You're not Italian."

"Dammit, Jack!"

Jack just grinned. He knew what she didn’t. They’d already tempted fate with their marathon sex romp the previous night. “Just think about it,” he muttered.

"I think I hear the team assembling,” Siana said. She sat up a bit and smiled down at him. “Do you want to come along or would you prefer to rest for a while longer?"

"I'll come.” Jack sat up slowly. He smiled and released a relieved breath when there was no pain in response to the movement. “You'll likely need me,” he explained, “and now that you're calm, Seren's calm."

“All right,” Siana conceded. She slid off the bed and offered Jack a hand up. “But no more talk about babies for a while." She smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Do that for me?”

“Overwhelmed, are you?”

“Just a bit.” Siana looked away for a moment. She slowly released Jack and glanced about until she found a pair of flats to slip on. Right now, she didn’t care what she looked like, she was comfortable. “Can we send the kids up here, m’gwr? I don’t want them to know about...” she trailed off and dropped her gaze to the floor.

“Of course,” Jack replied. He reached over and hugged her tight. He pressed a kiss to Siana’s temple, took her hand, and led her from the flat. They moved slowly, at Siana’s pace, out onto the gantry. Roughly one story below, the team gathered around the small break area next to Toshiko’s desk. He considered the gathered group, squeezed Siana’s hand, and called down, “Gray, bring your siblings and cousins up here.” He waited for the children to join them, biting back his urge to wince as Siana’s hand tightened on his for a moment. “Cariad?”

“I’m going to make the coffee,” she answered. Her voice was tightly controlled, matching her suddenly blank expression. “Will you want tea instead?”

“Since I can’t have your coffee, I’ll take the tea.” Jack lifted her hand, kissed it and smiled. “It’s going to be fine, cariad. Let me talk to the children and then we’ll get started, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Jack watched Siana head along the gantry to the stairs. With every step she took, the controlled mask fell back into place. She was hiding; he could feel it. Only the clothes gave away the fact that control was an illusion. Hearing the children run along the walkway, he tore his gaze away from Siana and focused on them. Gray carried Aimana on one hip, every inch the eldest brother, while chivving the younger siblings in front of him.

“I need all of you to promise me you’ll stay up here in the flat,” Jack began. He crouched down a bit to be on the children’s level. “This briefing isn’t for you nor do you need to know what’s going on during it. Now, give me your word you’ll stay up here and do your homework.”

“But Daddy!” Misha whined in protest. “We never…”

“Misha Rhiannon!” Jack snapped. “I will not tolerate that behavior out of you.” He saw her start to open her mouth to protest again, but to his surprise, Gray’s hand on her shoulder silenced her. “Now,” he paused and considered Gray for a long moment before switching to their birth tongue. “Eneskoğlum sen diğerleri için sorumlu olursunuz.”

“Tabiiki,” Gray replied. His tone was low, soft and even. This was not Jack’s fun loving, sometimes wild son, but a young man determined to make his father proud of him. “Buradanları koruyacaktır. Istediğinizerde. Banagüvenebilirsiniz.” He inclined his head to Jack and nodded as he switched back to English. “I promise, Dad,” he said quietly. “I’ll keep us all up here. I think I can even manage to heat up some pizza for us.”

“Teşekkür ederim,” Jack murmured. “Be careful. Use the microwave. And thank you, Gray.” To his surprise, one by one, each of the children agreed to his request. Misha was the last, a bit grudging, but she agreed. He hugged them all and smiled as he watched them head into the flat. He took a deep breath, nodded to himself, and headed off to rejoin Siana. Her worries were starting to affect him. They needed to get this briefing started before she snapped from the strain she was placing herself under worrying about the team’s reactions to the discussion.

Chapter Thirty-three

Jack stalked into the conference room, flung himself in his chair, and stared across the room at his mate. It was taking every inch of his control not to go to her, wrap her up in his arms and coddle her; however, he knew she had to do this. This was the first step in her taking back the control she’d lost by remembering all that happened to her at Torchwood London. “The children are in the flat. I have their word they’ll stay put,” he said flatly. “Gray’s given me his word he’ll keep them upstairs.”

“Thank you, Jack,” Siana replied. She stood by the screen, her back to the gathered team, and debated the best way to discuss this filthy secret from her past. Finally, she decided to treat it as she would any other case. Lay it out, split the team, and play to their strengths to achieve their goals. “Toshiko, would you bring up the CCCP-IJ-23 file. It should be filed under Torchwood One, Research. Password there is 16SEJ23. The file’s password is…”

“19IEJ21A,” Tosh interrupted in a whisper. There were tears in her voice which shook as she spoke.

“Tosh?” Siana whirled about to stare at his friend. She crossed the few feet separating them in quick strides. “Are you alright?”

“You don’t need that file, Ianto,” Tosh said quickly. “That’s not important anymore. Not here. And it’s no one’s business anyway.”

“How do you…” she trailed off at the shake in her voice. She swallowed hard, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Once she was certain of her voice, Siana began again, “Tosh, how do you know about it? What do you know about it?”

“You know me,” she replied with a faint blush. She looked up at him for a moment before looking back at her laptop. “I can’t leave that sort of challenge alone. I found the Torchwood One Research secure files a couple of years ago.” She gave him a bitter, almost self-loathing smile. “I worried at it until I got it open.”

“You knew about this, Tosh?” Stunned, Siana knelt in front of Tosh. She couldn’t believe her current closest friend knew her darkest secrets and never said a word about them. “And you didn’t say anything, do anything?”

“Why should I?” Tosh twisted in her chair. She rested a hand on Siana’s shoulder, squeezed gently. “You have more than made up for it, Ianto. You have suffered and sacrificed and worked to make everything better."

"Well, now it’s all come back to bite me in the arse, Tosh,” Siana murmured. She shook her head and rose to her feet again. “And I don't want them to start up again."

"You think they would?” Tosh almost gasped the question out. Then, she shook her head. Those types of people, they’d do whatever they thought they could get away with. “No, of course they would, inhuman bastards that they are."

"I can't risk them starting the program again,” Siana replied. She glanced at the team again. “We may be the only official branch of Torchwood in this universe, but like minded people tend to gravitate together. If they thought they could do it, they would."

“Once again I feel like I came in on the third act,” Rhys interjected into the conversation. “What is this all about, you two?”

“You came in on the fall out, Rhys,” Siana chuckled bitterly. “It's about Torchwood One's Close Contact and Containment Program."

“And what is that when it's at home?" Rhys asked. He hated the long names Torchwood used when a single word or two better described something.

"Slang term is honey trap,” Siana explained as she surveyed the team. She met Jack’s eyes for a moment and tried without words to reassure him. She was managing. Every time they accepted what she said without judging, the calmer she felt. “Spies, assassins. I was part of it."

“You must have been what, all of twenty?” Andy asked in shocked disbelief. “Jesus, Ianto.”

"Nineteen,” Siana replied. “I was recruited by them at nineteen. I was twenty-three when the Tower fell to the Cybermen."

“They trained children as assassins?” Rhys all but sputtered the question. “What kind of monsters were they?”

"Yvonne wanted to restore the Empire, Rhys,” Jack explained bitterly. He leant forward to rest his arms on the table. “They were obsessed. And obsessed people don't act rationally." He paused, drew in a harsh breath before continuing, "Plus..."

"There are those who like having barely legal girls in their bed,” Ianto interrupted to finish for Jack. “More likely to talk to 'innocents'."

“Jesus. And they made you,” Rhys paused. He just couldn’t believe that someone had turned Ianto into that kind of person. The young man was far too sensitive for it. “They trained you to do that?”

"No, my best friend, damned near sister,” Siana retorted. It was strange, but the more she explained the easier it became. “She got that training. They just made me watch it." She looked away for a moment as the memories crowded back to the front of her mind. "I made her a promise when it started, kept it and learned that was actually what Yvonne wanted me to do." Siana smiled bitterly at what she knew now. "She liked to call us 'perfect'.”

“And you think that bitch is trying to do it again?” Andy asked. Siana could already see the cop wheels turning in the detective’s mind. “To other children?

"I wouldn't put it past her.” Siana closed her eyes and bite her lip while she thought. “She doesn't have the Ghost Shifts as a distraction. Plus, we don't know exactly what some of the leaders of that program have done in this world. We all know how we came to be here,” she trailed off and watched as several of the people at the table nodded. “So they could be recreating the program underground."

“All right, then,” Rhys conceded. “We find them and we take them out with, what's that old phrase, extreme prejudice.”

"Damned straight." Owen interjected with a thump of his hand on the table. “Damned fucking straight.”

Siana blinked a couple of times. She shook her head in surprise. "We need to look for them, especially Yvonne and the program director.” she explained. “That's one team. The rest of us will deal with the manifold-map thing." She paused for a moment, considered the group for a moment. Her grandfather’s opinion she already knew, but Tommy had been strangely quiet through the whole briefing. “Tommy, you haven’t said anything.”

“What does it take, to train someone like,” Tommy paused. He tried to think of the most polite way to phrase the question, but ended up lamely finishing with, “you were?

Siana took a deep breath. A very deep breath and released it slowly. It was a calming technique she’d learned in London, one of the few good things to come out of that training. “You don't want to know, Tommy.”

“I think I do, Ianto,” Tommy replied. He deliberately used his boss’s real name.

“Think of every possible perversion you've heard of, imagined, and think of that being done to an eighteen year old,” Siana began quietly. She took a breath, let it out, and took in another. “Rape is the easiest of the things you see or experience. First it's done to you, and then you're taught how to do it.” She paused, closed her eyes for a moment to force the memories back again. “And I watched them break Siana before rebuilding her the way they wanted her to be.” She turned a hard look at Tommy. “That enough?” she all but snapped.

“Yes,” Tommy answered quickly. “I needed to understand.”

“And to judge?” Siana snapped.

“In a way. Every one of us, even the worst sinner, gets a chance at redemption,” Tommy smiled at his commander. “Now I know why you work so hard at yours.”

Siana inclined her head and gave Tommy a faint smile. "I don't think it'll ever be enough."

“Not for you to judge,” Tommy replied. “Or me.” He leant forward toward Siana and stared intently at the young woman his commander now was. “One thing, though, I want in on the cleanup crew. I have a certain experience with the old bastards who send the young men to kill and die in their behalf.” His lips twisted in a bleak smile. “And then murder them when they flinch.”

"Deal,” Siana replied with a bitter laugh. She understood Tommy’s point of view perfectly. “You, my grandfather, Andy... will work on that." Siana caught Andy’s startled look from the corner of her eye. "We'll need your police contacts, Andy, so you're on that team."

“All right,” Andy conceded. “Give me names and I can start asking discreet questions. I have some mates in London. They owe me a few.

"I better be on that team," Owen snapped. He turned a hard almost cold look on Siana.

"And Owen,” Siana conceded. She nodded to Andy. "Some of the names are in the files. I'll have Tosh print them off for you. Just don't..." she trailed off. "Never mind, none of you are the type. I'll check and if there are names I remember, but aren't in the file I'll note them for you."

“What do you mean none of us are the type?” Andy asked. He was already thinking of ways to start work on the case and made a mental note to stock up on ale. He was going to need it.

"All the 'training rooms' which were also our quarters were wired for video,” Siana explained with a shake of her head. “The recordings are in the files."

“You'll excuse me if I give them a miss,” Andy retorted. “What you're saying is we’re not young enough or pretty enough. Thank God for small favours.”

Siana began to laugh. She couldn’t help it. Sometimes Andy would just say the right thing in just the right way to snap her control. This was one of those moments. "Andy, promise me you'll never change."

“Well, I can't avoid the gray hairs, sorry,” Andy retorted. “That's for you lot. Let's start working on that list.”

Siana chuckled again. "Before we go any further, Kate, Jack, Tosh and I will work on finding the manifold parts,” she stated. “Rhys, that means you're stuck with nanny duty again."

“That's what I do best,” Rhys replied with a lazy smile. “And Siana, if you'll take a word of advice from a friend,” Rhys paused and considered for a moment. “You need to talk this out of your system.”

"There isn't anyone I can talk it out with, Rhys,” Siana replied. She knew she needed to talk to someone; however, there honestly wasn’t anyone she trusted enough to speak to about those years. “Give me a few days, I'll be fine again."

“All right, I'll leave it for now,” Rhys conceded. “But you better remember something. You have children and more on the way. They need their parents healthy and whole.

"I won't be allowed to forget it,” Siana replied with a grin. She nodded in Jack’s general direction. “I have one very strong willed baby coming."

“You're already sensing her?” Kate asked in shocked disbelief. “Jack is only five weeks pregnant!”

"Ianto..." Jack hissed. He couldn’t believe his mate was spilling the beans about their daughter after their talk upstairs. "I can, Ianto can't. I'm the stronger telepath."

“Another typical bloody-minded Harkness-Jones on the way,” Rhys grumbled playfully. “Lucky me. Do you need me here still? If you don't I'm going to take that lot upstairs to our place and settle them all down together for the night. Sleepover. Tomorrow's Saturday. We can let them sleep late.”

"Seren's as stubborn as her Tad,” Jack chuckled.

"No, I think we're done,” Siana answered Rhys. She considered for a moment and murmured softly, "Thanks Rhys, I need...”

“Time to think? Time with Jack?” Rhys asked rhetorically. “Yeah, I think you do. Don't worry. One of the lovely things about your grandmother's house is that huge back garden. They can run riot tomorrow and none's the worse.”

“All of the above,” Siana answered with a smile. “When we have a day to take a breather, Jack and I will take the wild heathens, give you and Andy a day alone.

“I’ll take you up on that. I've wanted to show Andy my uncle's cottage, up in the Beacons,” Rhys said. “Left it to me when he died. I was so surprised I nearly drank a pint to his health before I remembered what a cold-blooded sod he was.”

“Bloody countryside,” Owen muttered just loud enough to be heard causing Siana to laugh again.

“We'll take them for a weekend. There's something I want to teach them anyway,” Jack said with one of his trademark Harkness grins. "I'll even take the baby."

“You're going to teach them something? Don't scare me, Harkness,” Rhys retorted. “All right, off I go. See you all tomorrow. Andy, I'll keep supper for you but won't expect you.”

"Andy can go with you,” Owen interjected before Siana could retake control of the briefing. “I'm putting my medical officer foot down. We’re breaking now. We all need some rest. Jack, you take care of Siana. She's swaying on her feet."

“Owen!” Siana snapped.

“Don't argue with me, boss,” Owen snapped back. “You know the rules.”

"I don't like it, but fine,” Siana conceded the point grudgingly. She did indeed know the rules. She’d helped rewrite them with Owen. “Meet here bright and early tomorrow. I want to get started on both these projects before we fall any further behind."

“I'll even bring the pasties,” Owen snarked. “Now, off you go. “

Siana threw a salute at Owen. “Fine, we’re going.” She smirked at the medic. “Since you’re kicking me out for medical reasons, you get to shut down the Hub. Don’t forget to feed Myfanwy and Janet.”

“Get plenty of the jam filled ones,” Jack ordered as he rose. He waited for Siana to join him. As soon as she was close enough, he reached out and took her hand. “See all of you tomorrow,” he said as he led Siana from the room.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Stripping off her clothes, Siana stalked toward the en-suite. The house was secure. The kids settled at Rhys’s place for the night. Now, she needed to finish settling herself. “Duw,” she muttered. “I need to wash all this off me.”

“Am I allowed to join you, bensevgili?” Jack asked. His voice was so quiet as to be nearly drowned out by the thudding of her hearts in her ears.

“Of course you can,” Siana replied. She paused in the doorway to look back at him. His body was tense; his eyes worried. She could feel his concern for her even as he tried to hide it from her. She smiled, feeling shyer now than she had the previous night when she set out to seduce him. “I need you to show me the reality of what we have here and now.”

“You’re certain?” Jack asked. He straightened away from where he leant against the armoire watching her. Slowly, he began to move toward her, not wanting to frighten her. Despite her mental steadiness, the physical wariness had returned on their drive to the house.

“I wouldn’t say so if I wasn’t,” she murmured. She gave him another smile and slipped into the bath. She started setting the temperature controls on their steam shower. “Jack, I need normality. I need to prove to myself that the past can’t win.”

“All right,” Jack murmured. He started unbuttoning his shirt while watching her move around the room. “Let me take care of you tonight."

"Please,” she all but whispered. “You're so good at that. You always were. Have I told you how much I love that about you?"

“Not recently."

“Well, I do. Love you. For everything." She giggled and shook her head. Her loosened hair tumbled about her body. "Listen to me. I can't even come up with a full sentence."

"At least you aren't quoting Mills & Boon books at me." He grinned at her affronted look. Quickly, he finished stripping off his clothes. "I should tell you something, bensevgili."

"If it's not good news,” Siana trailed off and sighed. “No, that's silly, Torchwood being what it is. What do you want to tell me?"

“I meant what I said earlier at the Hub,” Jack began. He let his gaze roam over her naked body backlight by the shower’s internal lighting. Ilâherica, she was beautiful. “We're tempting fate lately. I know you're fertile, Siana."

“Fertile? What are you,” she broke off abruptly and shook her head in denial. She dropped down onto one of the cypress benches normally inside the shower. "Myn Duw, Jack."

“Yeah,” he sighed. “That's what I meant." Jack stared down at her for a long moment before turning away to rummage in a nearby cabinet for the shower gel. He couldn’t look at her when he asked the question he so desperately needed to know the answer to. If they did keep up the way they were going, well, Owen would be laughing at them both for weeks. "Would it be a bad thing?"

"Bad thing? Bad thing?” Siana half asked, half demanded. “Jack, we have a baby barely out of swaddling clothes and you're pregnant. Can you imagine another one?"

"The truth?” Jack asked. He slowly turned to face his mate. “Yeah, I could."

"Of course you would,” she replied. She laughed softly and shook her head again. “The more babies the better chances for a colony. You can take the boy out of the Boeshane..."

"You're picking on me,” Jack interrupted, pointing a finger at her.

"Now, Jack,” Siana began reasonably. “If a wife cannot pick on her husband what is the point of having one?" She took a deep breath and stood up. She held out a hand to him and smiled. "Come wash my hair, my love."

“My love? “ Jack repeated. “You're being sappy again." He laughed softly at her pout, but took her hand anyway. He reached past her and pulled open the shower door. "What about...?"

"Let's take it one step at a time, Jack."

"You can't yell at me later and say I didn't warn you,” he retorted. Playfully, he tapped her on the nose before following her into the shower enclosure. “Remember that.”

"I won't,” she murmured. She raised their joined hands to her lips. She took a step closer, rose up and pressed a quick kiss on his lips. Slowly, she turned around, deliberately rubbing her body against his, and took pains to hide her smirk at his reactive groan. “Wash my hair?”

“Little tease,” Jack muttered playfully. He briefly tickled her before reaching past her for the shampoo. “You know I love to play with your hair,” he murmured. He took the handheld shower attachment and used it to soak the thick mass before gathering it up in his hands and dumping the shampoo on it. He hummed softly while leathering it up, making little mountains out of the suds and her hair, before digging his fingers through it to massage her scalp, and then backing off to repeat the actions again.

“Are you making soap sculptures out of my hair?”

“Would I do a thing like that?” he asked in return. Jack put all his skill at dissembling to work as he tried for an innocent tone of voice. He still hummed tunelessly, gathering a handful of her hair and setting it up in a somewhat unsteady pile on the top of her head. It kind of looked like a swirled mass of whipped cream was dropped on Siana’s head. He barely managed to refrain from chuckling. “I mean, really, would I?”

“If you thought you could get away with it,” Siana began. She giggled to herself as she watched his antics in the reflective chrome shower trim. “I think you would.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Yes, you would,” she snipped back. It was taking everything she had not to break up laughing at him.

“No,” Jack retorted. “I wouldn’t.” It was so good to see her happy again.

“Yes, you would.” She bounced a little on her toes and copied Misha’s sing-song style of teasing Gray. “Yes, you would.”

“No, I…” He trailed off as she broke down into giggles. “You’re laughing at me.” He attacked her ribs with his fingers. “And just why are you laughing at me?”

Wordlessly, still giggling for all she was worth, Siana pointed at the reflective trim in front of them. She slipped from giggles into full blown laughter as he pouted.

“Spoil my fun, why don’t you,” he muttered.

“Aw, poor baby,” she murmured. She twisted about in his arms, looped her own around his neck and tugged him down to kiss him. “Let me kiss it better.”

“Hmm…” he purred. He broke the kiss, ran his hands through her hair to start rinsing it, and whispered. “I’d rather you were kissing something else.”

Siana stared up at him. She clenched and unclenched her hands on his shoulders. A million reactions ran through her mind before she whispered, a bit carefully, "And if I wanted you to kiss me, Jack?"

"All you'd have to do is ask," he murmured. "You know that, cariad."

"You know my body better than I do,” she replied. She swallowed, smiled and demanded, “Kiss me, Jack. Everywhere."

“As you wish,” Jack murmured. He reached over and changed the settings on the shower, switching the water over to the large overhead shower head which mimicked a gentle rain shower. He pressed a kiss to her temple, trailed his lips down over her eyes and cheek to meet her lips again. He slowly urged her back to lean against the shower’s back wall. He broke the kiss, met her eyes, and smiled. “Everywhere?”

She made a soft agreeing noise; he chuckled softly. He kissed her again, lazily, and broke this kiss to work his way down over her jaw. He nuzzled against her neck and braced his hands on the wall on either side of her body. Jack licked her pulse, teased the spot with his lips, and tugged a bit of her skin into his mouth to worry at it with his teeth. She gasped and moaned in response to the teasing. Jack grinned against her skin as he released her.

He stroked his hands up and down her sides deftly avoiding her ticklish spots. Jack worked his way closer and closer to her breasts until he could cup one full, firm mound in his palm. He rubbed his thumb in wide circles around her nipple, never quite touching that bit of slowly puckering flesh, and watched her from beneath lowered lashes. He pressed lazy kisses along her collarbone, working his way lower in soft kisses and licks. As much as he wanted to use his teeth to mark her skin, he knew she was in no way ready for that. Not yet. Instead, he rubbed his cheek over her other nipple before slowly wrapping his lips around it and sucking. Jack buried his smile as she gasped, startled, and her hands flew up to tangle in his hair.

“More, Jack,” she whispered. “Suck me, please.”

He lifted his head for a moment, replacing his lips with his fingers and smiled. “If that’s what you want,” he murmured. He shifted his attention to the other nipple and teased it with his tongue. He ignored the water that poured down on him and the throbbing ache of his cock in favor of sucking her nipple into his mouth to tease with his lips and just a tiny, tiny hint of his teeth. When her hands pressed him closer, Jack opened his mouth wider, took more of her breast into his mouth to suckle at her nipple. Her every cry encouraged him, spurred him to a greater determination to please her. He kneaded her other breast, rolling and pinching her nipple with his fingers, and settled on his knees in front of her.

Jack swept his free hand down her side to rest on her hip. He wanted her to come because of him, yet knew he couldn’t push her. If he pressed for too much before she was ready for it, Siana would run from him. Not physically, but emotionally. Her mind would rebel if he pressured her. He rubbed his palm over her stomach, eased ever so slowly closer to her pussy and paused with his palm pressed to the bare flesh of her pubic mound. He pulled off her nipple with a soft pop and looked up at her. “May I?”

She answered, not with words, but a low soft moan while her hips canted forward silently offering herself to him. Jack hummed softly against her breast, suckling harder, and rubbed his palm over her pussy. He moved slowly, determined not to frighten her, and petted gently. Twisting his wrist, he slipped his fingers between her folds and just barely swallowed his groan at how wet she already was. He pulled away from her breast and licked beneath the firm flesh before licking and kissing a trail down over her belly toward her pussy. Jack closed his eyes, forcibly burying the mental image of her round with his child, and teased her navel with his tongue.

Her hips rocked against his fingers. A hand tangled in his hair and pressed him lower. Her soft moan as much a demand as the movement of her legs as they parted and braced her against the shower wall. Jack smiled against her stomach. She wanted it, wanted him, and he continued his leisurely trek down her body. He licked the crease of her hip. He felt her double pulse throb beneath his lips. He yearned to bite there, mark Siana as he’d long ago marked Ianto, but forced that thought away as well. Now was not the time, when she asked him for it, then he’d do it. Now, now it was time to taste her.

Jack looked up from beneath his lashes. His gaze taking in her flushed skin and heaving breasts. Her head was thrown back, her eyes closed, and she panted for breath. He smiled again, a feral smile he knew, and spanned her hips with his hands. Lazily, he stroked her skin until he could part her most intimate folds with her fingers. Then, he leant forward and kissed her there as well. Quick kisses to bare skin punctuated with darting flicks of his tongue until he was teasing her clit. Her moans became cries. Little keening sounds, desperate and greedy, and she arched her body further toward him.

“Please, Jack,” she begged. They were first words spoken by either of them in some time. “Duw, please!”

He chuckled and shifted his light hold on her body. He pressed his face further into her, teased her clit with his teeth, and then moved a bit lower to thrust his tongue up into her body. Unable to suppress the sound, he growled softly. She tasted delicious, just as she always had, and Jack thrust his tongue into her body in a gentle mimicking of their usual lovemaking. He helped brace her body with one hand while the other drifted down to allow his fingers to tease at her clit.

She trembled and writhed. Her soft keening drifted into the demanding moans of a woman on the edge. Her hand tightened in his hair, pulled him closer, and he pulled back just a bit in response. His tongue slipped from inside her, trailed up to curl around her clit before again teasing it with little darts and flicks. Jack watched her from under his lashes as he eased one finger into her pussy, thrusting it almost lazily inside her. Her only response was a demanding growl of her own. He added a second, working them inside her until he could find her g-spot. He stroked it, reached up with his free hand to blindly find one nipple to pinch as he all but sucked her clit into his mouth and gently nipped it with his teeth.

Her shriek of pleasure echoed in the shower. To hear her scream his name as she came from his touch was the best reward. Jack pushed her higher, dragged her orgasm out until she was limp and panting, only his hands holding her up, and then eased her down again. He shifted, biting his lip hard as his cock protested his denying it the chance to fuck Siana, and rose up to press his lips to her skin over each of her hearts. Jack wrapped his arms around her and held her up. “Good?” he whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck.

Chapter Thirty-Five

“Very,” Siana breathed. Her words were barely audible over the pounding water. “Very, very good,” she said a bit more loudly. She surveyed him from his shadowed eyes to his heavily engorged cock. Her mouth watered as she stared at him. She wanted to taste him. To have what Andy’s call that morning denied her. “Let’s go to bed, Jack,” Siana said in tones that bordered on an order.

“If that’s what you really want,” Jack returned. He hoped the strain of his arousal wasn’t audible in his voice. “We did get a little carried away though. I still need to finish with your hair.”

She laughed softly and smiled up at him. “And the rest of me,” she replied. “How about I wash you and you wash me?” she suggested with a little smirk. “Then we go to bed and I’ll take care of this.” She trailed her hand down his body to curl her fingers around his erection.

“Cinselişki, Siana,” Jack hissed between clenched teeth. “I…” He clenched his hands by his sides and leant his head back. “Oh, hell, don’t,” he gritted out as her hand slid along his cock. “All I want to do right now is pick you up and thrust deep into your body.” He opened his eyes and looked down at her. “And you doing that is not helping my control any.”

Siana considered him for a long moment. She tilted her head to one side, thinking, and finally smiled. “How much control do you have, Jack?” she asked. She didn’t wait for an answer, just continued speaking, “If I went to my knees right now, would you be able to keep your hands off me, let me take complete control of this?”

“Ugh…” Jack gurgled softly as all his higher brain functions died in the rush of blood from his brain to his cock. He swallowed repeatedly and struggled to find his voice. “Yeah,” he croaked. “What do you want me to do?”

Siana stared at him for a long silent moment. “Lean back against the wall and put your palms flat against the tile,” she finally said. She looked up at him from beneath her lashes and smiled. It was Ianto’s smile – the you’re going to love every moment of this if you just do as I say smile. “Don't move them until I tell you."

“All right,” Jack croaked out. He eased around Siana to take her spot by the back shower wall. He leant back; shifting his position a bit until he was certain he could take anything she did to him, and pressed his hands flat against the wall. “I’m all yours.”

“I know you are,” she replied. She took a step back, tilted her head back and worked her hands through her hair to get the suds out. Lowering her head again, she grinned. “I didn’t want soap in my eyes.” Siana shared the laugh with him before taking the single step necessary to press against his body. She cupped his face in her hands, rose up and kissed him deeply. It had been ages since they shared a kiss like this – deep and hungry – which spoke without words the depth of their feelings for each other. She lingered in the kiss while she eased her hands down onto his neck. She stroked his skin and measured the heavy pounding of his pulse with her fingers. Finally, the need for air drove her to break the kiss. “You’ve been mine from the moment my Myfanwy dropped you into my arms.”

“Sia… Ianto,” Jack gasped the words even as he nodded. “More like from the first sip of your coffee.”

“I never knew that,” she murmured. She considered him for a moment. Nerves wracked her, made her fingers shake as she slid them down his neck toward the hard nubs of his nipples. Siana felt as she had all those years ago when she, as Ianto, had finally given in to the constantly rising tension between them. Nervous, yet fascinated by the power she held over Jack. “I should have guessed,” she whispered.

She considered her husband and licked her lips. She took another step closer to him, pressed against him, and bit back a moan as she felt his cock press against her body. He groaned and swallowed hard; she watched his reaction. Saw him close his eyes, his fingers flex against the tiles. She tilted her head, stretched up and pressed a kiss to his jaw. She worked slowly, more slowly than he had, at licking and tasting his skin. His delicious scent – cloves, cinnamon, some indefinable thing that was just Jack – wove through her senses. She could so easily drown in it. She pressed her nose beneath his ear, drew in a deep breath, and pressed a sucking kiss to that soft skin.

Siana shifted again, bracing her hands on his chest, and nibbled her way down his neck, across his throat, and up the other side of his jaw to repeat the deep breath on the other side. Again, she drew a bit of his flesh into her mouth to draw up a short lived mark. Her fingers flexed on his chest and her palms drifted over hairless skin to rub across his nipples. She tweaked and pinched them with her fingers as she laid a trail of kisses back to his lips which she claimed in another deep kiss.

Breaking it, she smiled at him. The strain he was under showed in his eyes, in the tension in his jaw, yet he never moved more than was necessary to drag in harsh breaths or make her kisses easier. It was heady the sense of power which came from having this strong man bend so freely to her will. Siana worked her way down his chest until she could catch one nipple in her teeth. She bit just hard enough to draw a gasp from him before soothing the slight hurt with her tongue. She nibbled, licked and sucked at that small bit of flesh until she could have sworn he sobbed in reaction to her teasing. She could feel his cock throbbing against her belly and absently rubbed against it as she switched her attention to the other nipple.

“lâherica, Ianto… don’t…” Jack panted between heavy harsh breaths.

“Don’t what?” she murmured. Siana ran her tongue across his chest. He tasted good. Salt, sweat and Jack, her second favorite taste after properly made coffee. She peered up at him from beneath her lashes. She held his gaze with her own as she left a trail of sucking kisses and gentle bites on his torso as she slid to her knees in front of him. She rested one hand on his hip to steady herself as she rubbed her cheek over his cock. Pre-come already leaked from the tip; she laved it away with the flat of her tongue.

“Fuck,” Jack hissed. “Suck me, Ian… Siana… I want your mouth on me.”

“In my own time, Jack,” she purred. She wrapped her hand around the thick throbbing organ and leisurely stroked once from root to tip before reversing her course back to the root of his cock. Siana tightened her hold at the base enough that he wouldn’t be able to come, improvising a cock ring out of her fingers, and slowly licked his cock with quick swipes of her tongue. She hummed softly as she worked a smirk beginning to appear as he whined low in his throat. She felt his muscles bunch beneath her restraining hand. He wanted to thrust into her mouth, but held back because she’d asked him too. Siana looked up at him and demanded, “Watch me, Jack.” Only when he looked down at her, did she take pity on him and slide the head of his cock between her lips.

“Yes,” he hissed out between clenched teeth. “Oh, fuck yes. Feels so good, cariad.”

She swirled her tongue around the head and grazed the underside with her teeth. She worked her way down Jack’s cock, stroking the thick vein on the underside, until her lips met her hand. If her hand wasn’t there, she’d take him deeper, but she wasn’t quite ready for that. A soft moan slipped from her as she pulled back, sucking hard, only to repeat the process. And all the while she held his gaze, her eyes locked to his as she worked his cock.

There was something about Jack’s eyes. She’d always been fascinated by his eyes. They said so much in the long silences where words weren’t welcome. Right now, his brilliant blues eyes begged for him to be allowed to come… for her to take him deep into her throat and swallow every drop of his come… and she knew her eyes teased him back, telling him – not yet, patience, it’ll be worth it when I take you deep. She purred around his cock and took a perverse delight in his impatient groan.

Slowly, she pulled her hand from around the base of his cock and slipped a finger into her mouth to suck on it. When it was well wetted, she eased her hand around behind him and ran the digit around his opening. The tremble in his hip and thigh muscles increased as he struggled to do what she asked and stay still for her. She smiled around his cock and eased her finger into his arse. She stroked it in and out, worked it deeper inside him until she found his prostate. Siana relaxed her throat and took his cock all the way into her mouth, nuzzling her nose in his pubic hair, and massaged his prostate at the same time.

“Fuck! Shit! Ianto…” Jack gasped repeatedly as he hung on the very edge of coming, the fine knife edge where pleasure bordered on pain. “Ianto… Siana…. Cariad…”

She purred again, deepening the sound, and swallowed hard around him. That was it. His head went back with a long, barely understandable cry of her name, her real name. It was so delicious, watching him come undone, and she eagerly drank down his come and sucked harder until he was completely drained. Siana eased back, licking his cock clean, and finally let it slip from between her lips. She rose to her feet, pressed herself against him and reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair. She tugged him down for a long lingering kiss, sharing the taste of his come with him, and broke the kiss to whisper, “Hold me, Jack.” Immediately, his arms came up, wrapped tightly around her, and his face pressed against her hair.

“Always, cariad,” he whispered. “I’ll always hold you.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

"I should have known there was a problem," Jack said. He leant on the en-suite’s doorframe and watched Siana write in her ever present diary. Well, the diary that was an extension of Ianto; he hadn’t seen it out once in the last month. "I just realized I haven't seen you write in your diary for a while."

Siana capped her pen and tossed it down on the open book. She twisted a bit to look over at her husband. Warmth pooled in her belly as she stared at him. He’d dressed in pajama pants which just barely clung to his hips. Deferring to her nerves, she knew. “I know what comes next.” She extended her hand to him in silent invitation. “Come here, Jack,” she demanded quietly. “You’re not going to start blaming yourself. I won’t have it!”

He shook his head and stubbornly stayed right where he was. If he touched her, he’d want to reassure himself of her health and safety in the most ancient and most basic way possible. "I should have noticed,” Jack asserted.

"It's not as if nothing else were happening, Jack,” she replied. She let her hand drop back into her lap. To distract herself from the sudden feeling of being rejected, Siana focused on her diary. She painstakingly secured her pen, tucked it into the book and closed the book. She twisted about to set the diary on the bedside table. “We were busy.”

“Nothing,” Jack all but snarled the word. “Nothing is so important that I shouldn't have noticed you weren't acting like yourself."

"Stop that this minute!" Siana rose up on her knees and glared across the room at him. She wanted to smack some sense into him. "I haven't been acting like me for a while, Jack. Look at me! Of course I've been acting different. Everyone expected me to be acting differently."

Jack thought for a few minutes. It was true, they’d all expected Ianto to act differently as he adjusted to being female, but still. "Different, yes," Jack conceded the point, "but not that different.” Jack shifted against the doorframe. “Siana, you've been on a single minded quest to seduce me ever since you got back from shopping that day with Tosh. I just never really noticed there was more to the seduction than you wanting me. And that disturbs me."

“Why?” Siana asked. She flashed him a quick smile. “I wanted to make love with my husband, Jack." She drew up her legs and folded her arms around them. "Maybe some of it comes from the past but most of it was me."

“It bothers me that I didn't see the shifts in your personality,” Jack quickly replied. “I was so fascinated by your appearance I didn't see you."

"Jack, you did notice. You noticed Siana was not like Ianto. So did I! And I attributed it to the same thing you did.” Siana shoved a hand through her wet tangled hair and sighed. She really didn’t need Jack to go on one of his guilt-trips. She had enough problems without him getting all broody over that rather than their future daughter. “Neither one of us had any reason to think beyond the male-female differences."

“You're mine," he hissed. Jack crossed his arms and set his jaw. "And I should have known something was wrong before it reached the stage it did earlier."

“Don't do this to us, Jack,” she pleaded. “Don't make yourself into my owner. You are my husband and my lover and the father of my children and I belong to you. But I'm not a child or a toy that you take care of."

"How many times have you noticed when something was bothering me? When I was disturbed or upset or just needed you?” Jack demanded. He stared intently at Siana. “I didn't manage to do that for you!"

"Yes, you did!” she cried. “You did! But neither one of us understood the reason beneath the reason, Jack. How were you to know things I had forgotten?"

"I should have, Ianto,” Jack insisted again. “I should have,” he repeated himself. “I failed you. And that hurts."

"You did not fail me.” Siana shifted on the bed to get a bit more comfortable. She rested her cheek on her upraised knees and sighed softly. “The only way you could have failed me is if you had left me. You saw the most terrible things about me, Jack, and you hung on. That's all I need. For you to hang on, no matter what!"

"Always,” Jack hissed. “I always will but dammit,” he paused for a moment. “I want to protect you.” He shook his head, frustrated, and desperately tried to explain himself. “Here I am pregnant by you and, by all rights, should be longing for you to protect me yet I take one look at you and I want to just hide you away from anything that could possibly harm you.

"Tell me something, Jack,” she asked as carefully as she could. “Would you have felt the same way about Ianto?"

Jack blinks at him. "What?" The question didn’t make sense to him.

"You look at me and you don't see Ianto,” Siana explained quietly. “This body triggers all your Boeshane upbringing. You feel about Siana the same way you felt about Rose Tyler and Gwen as she was when we first met her.” She paused and sighed softly. “But I'm not them. This body is young and female, but I'm Ianto inside my head."

"It's confusing the hell out of me,” Jack grudgingly conceded. “Intellectually, I know you're more than competent but that doesn't stop me from wanting to protect you."

"And it doesn't help that sometimes I give you the impression that I want that protection, does it?” She shrugged one shoulder and sighed heavily. “We're going to have to deal with this sooner or later, m’gwr. There's a good chance that I'm going to stay this way."

"Especially last night." He shook his head tiredly. "Everything last night just reinforces those instincts, cariad."

“I know. I know." Siana worried her lower lip between her teeth. "What are we going to do, Jack? How do we regain our footing?"

"I don't know." Jack silently urged her to look up at him. He waited until her tired blue eyes met his own. "I just know I can't lose you."

"That's not an option, Jack,” she quickly replied. “We are never going to lose each other." She extended her hand to him again. "Come here and cuddle."

Jack pushed off the doorframe and took her hand. "You look comfy in your pjs."

"I am,” she replied. “It's one of the things I find when I'm alone with you. Comfort."

“I’m glad. I find that with you myself.” He chuckled and settled the bed behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "Cute too."

"If I weren't so comfortable I'd clip you one in the ear,” she retorted. She laughed quietly. “Women don't like to be called cute, Jack. I'm beautiful, exotic, exciting... cute is for babies and kittens."

"I'm not allowed to call you cute?" Jack pouted. She just loved to spoil his fun. It was also confusing as he’d been encouraged to call Ianto ‘cute’.

“No, you can’t,” she replied. "And don't pout.” Siana giggled softly. “Yes, I know you're doing it. I can feel your pouts." Jack just pouted more causing Siana to laugh. “If you keep pouting, Jack Harkness, I’m going to have to kiss it off your face.”

“Is that so?” Jack purred. He settled a bit more comfortably behind her and pouted even more at the back of her head.

“Yes, it is,” Siana retorted. She twisted about in his loose embrace and cupped his face in her hands. She kissed him, slow and lazy, before pulling away to smile at him. She considered Jack, his eyes now dark with lust and smirked. “That’s much better.”

“Is it?” Jack murmured. He threaded his fingers through her hair. “Are you angling for something, bensevgili?”

“You to stop brooding,” she replied. She stroked her hands up and down his chest and smiled.

“Well,” Jack drawled. “You’ve made a great start.” He chuckled softly. “Want to keep going?”

"I... I… I don't know." She pouted and shook her head at him. "Now I sound like a nervous virgin."

"Then maybe I should treat you like one." He brought her head down to press soft nibbling kisses along her jaw. "Slow. Gentle. Sweet."

Siana moaned softly. She arched her neck to give him better access to her skin. “I don't think we've ever done that,” she whispered.

“Then it's high time we did,” he murmured in her ear. He held her loosely while he nuzzled against her neck. “Would you like that?”

“Um…” she trailed off and laughed nervously. She pulled away from him and swallowed. “I would, but….”

“Come here,” Jack ordered softly. He stroked his hands over her shoulders, smoothing his hands over the slick cotton of her pajama top, and palmed her breasts. He kneaded the soft flesh gently, stroked her nipples with his thumbs and tilted his head to kiss her leisurely. Slowly, he worked his way to the buttons of her top. “Let me…” he drifted into silence as he slipped a button. Leaning down a bit, he pressed a kiss to the newly bared flesh. “Let me take this off.”

One by one he freed the four buttons of her top and slipped his hands beneath the fabric. Jack ran his fingers over her skin, palms brushing over Siana’s breasts, and eased the cloth off her shoulders. He reached back, grabbed the top and dropped it over the side of the bed. Jack shifted his position on the bed and lifted Siana into his lap. He nipped and licked at her neck in a slow descent toward one of her nipples which he pressed a gentle kiss to before switching to press a kiss onto the other.

“Jack,” she breathed. “I…” Her voice shook with sudden nerves.

“Tell me what you want me to do,” Jack demanded. He leant back to brush her hair back from her face. He held her as loosely as he could and pressed a kiss to her temple. “I know what you’re feeling,” he whispered. “You’re afraid I’m going to hurt you, trap you, and you won’t be able to escape from me.” He pressed a barely there kiss to her lips. “So, tell me what you need, caraid?”

“Jack!” Siana blinked. She shook her head in automatic denial even as she knew the words were true. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“You aren’t consciously, no,” Jack replied, “but your subconscious is screaming at you that I’m bigger, harder, and far stronger than you.”

Closing her eyes, Siana nodded and sighed. She sucked her lower lip between her teeth for a long moment before opening her eyes again. Releasing her lip, she murmured, “I’m not just afraid, I’m terrified.”

“So what would make you feel safe,” he said. Jack stroked her back with his hands. He would do whatever it takes to make Siana feel safe with him. “Anything you need me to do, Siana. I’ll do it.”

She stared at him. She couldn’t believe what Jack was offering her. They’d played games all over the spectrum before this had happened to her, but this… this was so different. “Can I take over?” she asked softly. She swallowed hard, desperately hoping he wouldn’t notice the tremble in her voice, and continued in a whisper, “Can I be in charge?”

“Yes.” Jack dropped his hands from her body and rested them on the bed on either side of her hips. “Absolutely.”

Siana smiled and climbed off his lap. She considered him for a moment debating exactly what she wanted him to do. “Take your pants off,” she ordered. “Then lay in the middle of the bed.”

Jack slid across the bed to the middle and wiggled his way out of his pants. He tossed them onto the floor, shifted a few pillows beneath him and smiled at her. “Good?”

“Perfect,” she replied with a wide grin. She reached out and rested a hand on his stomach. She lightly scratched him with her nails and considered his body. “You are so handsome, Jack,” she murmured. “Brilliant blue eyes, strong jaw, and this lush body.” Siana ran her hand up to tease a nipple with one fingernail before trailing that hand down to cup his cock. “And this,” she purred. “Thick, hot, and so very hard. I love your cock.”

“Fuck,” Jack hissed. He clenched his jaw and his hands. The blow job in the shower had done nothing to more than take the thinnest edge off his hunger for his mate. “I love how you touch me.”

“Do you?” She smirked. “I bet I know something you love even more.”

“What’s that, caraid?” He managed to get the words out around the clutch of desire clogging his throat. “Gonna tell me.”

“I think I’ll show you,” Siana replied. To his surprise, she slid off the bed and slowly tugged the drawstring on her pajama bottoms. Freed, a quick twist of her hips dropped the fabric to the floor. She stepped from the pile of cottons, climbed onto the bed and crawled toward him. “Would you like me to show you what I think you’d love for me to do?”

“Sure,” he gurgled.

She rested her hands on his chest, swung her leg over his hips and reached down to stroke his cock once before steadying it beneath her. She started to sink down on it when Jack reached out and grabbed her hips.

“Ianto…” he hissed. Just the head of his cock was inside her. She was so hot and so tight. It was taking all of his self control to stop her. Jack stared up at her. “Are you…?”

“Yes!” she cried. She caught his wrists in her hands and tugged his off her hips. She entwined their fingers and sank down onto his cock. She hissed in a breath and released it on a moan. “Duw, you feel so damned good inside me.”

“Cinselişki!” Jack growled. “You have no idea how good this is… how beautiful you are…”

“Tell me?” she asked. She tightened her hold on his hands and used that as leverage to rise up and nearly off his cock. Siana sank down slowly, moaning deep in her throat, and clenched her pelvic muscles around his cock. “What do you see?”

“My beautiful mate,” Jack growled. “Your breasts bouncing with your every motion over me. Nipples hard and tight… I want to suck them… taste you… I know you’re still nursing Aimana and that so turns me on…” He shook with the strain of holding back. “Ilâherica, I want to just thrust up into you, feel your body clench on mine.”

Siana shuddered and moaned. She’d always loved how vocal Jack was during sex. He knew how to use words to seduce. She arched her back, riding him harder and demanded, “Move, Jack.”

He growled again, the sound even more feral if that was possible, and thrust his hips up in counterpoint to her movements over him. They set up a quick, almost harsh rhythm as they strove for their orgasm. He clenched his hands on hers and panted through his clenched teeth. “Ianto… shit, Siana, you…” Jack arched his back and drove deeper into her body. She felt so damned good around his cock. “So fucking tight… wet… love the feel of you…”

“More, Jack,” she demanded. She freed his hands and rested hers on his chest. She played with his nipples and stared into his eyes. “Love you…”

“I know…love you too” he panted between thrusts into her pussy. He caught her hips in his hands. “Siana… good, so good…” Jack dragged in a deep breath and shuddered in response. He could smell her – her arousal, her need, her fertility – and groaned again. “Siana… dammit, Siana, stop… if you don’t stop now…”

“Do it, Jack,” Siana demanded. “I want to feel you come in me. I want to know I made you fall apart. I want to see it.” She ground down on him, clenching all her muscles around him, and leant down to kiss him hard. She sucked his lower lip into her mouth to gently bite and suck it before releasing it to devouring his mouth. She broke the kiss, nibbled his jaw, and hissed in his ear. “Come for me, Jack,” she ordered. She sank her teeth into his neck and sucked hard on his pulse.

Jack clenched his hands on her hips and thrust as hard up into her body as he could. The feel of her teeth in his skin, marking and claiming him, was the last straw on his control. He threw his head back, roaring Ianto’s name, and held her hips against his as his climax rushed through him.

Siana lifted her head, a keening cry escaping her. She panted, her nails digging into his chest, and rocked her pelvis against his hips. “Jack!” she shrieked. “I…”

“I know, bensevgili,” he said brokenly. Jack slid a hand down over her pussy to find her clit with his fingers. He stroked it and pressed the pad of his thumb hard over her heated flesh. “Love to watch you come… “

“Jack! Jack!” she chanted, arching up and back, as her climax stuck her hard. Siana writhed and keened with pleasure. Panting, she dropped forward to collapse against his chest. “I needed that, Jack,” she murmured. She pressed a kiss over his heart. “Thank you.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Jack followed Siana into the Hub. He was torn between deeply conflicting impulses. One part of him was screaming he needed to tell her what he knew while the rest muttered that she needed to figure it out for herself. He watched her walk, her hair swaying as she moved, and sighed tiredly. Jack scanned the Hub and smiled. Kate was just coming up from the autopsy bay. And if there was one person here who could help him figure out what to do, it was Kate. She’d become a combination of mother and elder sister to the lot of them. He crossed the room in quick strides, grabbed her hand, and tugged her into a shadowed recess beneath one of the Hub’s staircases.

“Jack,” she hissed. “What are you…?”

“Ianto’s pregnant,” he blurted out in a harsh whisper cutting off her demand for an explanation. “She conceived last night.”

Kate blinked at him. Of all the reasons for him to drag her off for a private conversation, this was not the one she’d anticipated. “Have you told Siana yet?” She tilted her head to consider him. “For that matter, how do you know she’s pregnant?”

“No.” Jack shoved a hand through his hair and sighed tiredly. “I haven’t told her. It’s not like I can walk up to her and tell her she’s stopped smelling like fresh brewed coffee and now smells like coffee flavored crème brûlée.”

“Jack,” Kate began, reaching out to rest a hand on his arm. “You have to tell her sooner rather than later. The two of you need to start making decisions.”

“I…” Jack trailed off in favor of watching Siana move about the Hub. She was handing out coffee and chatting briefly with everyone. That was the Ianto he knew best in this world. The commander using the cover of the morning coffee rounds to check on the progress of his team’s projects. “What kind of decisions?” he finally asked.

“If Ianto is pregnant and we find a way to turn him back...” she trailed off suggestively. “What are you going to do?"

“Cry." Jack half spat the word. He knew what would happen if Siana became Ianto again. They’d lose the child she currently carried as Ianto’s male body wouldn’t be able to support the pregnancy. “I’d hide somewhere and cry for hours.”

"If both of Torchwood’s leaders are pregnant, we will need to make alternative arrangements.” Kate’s mind whirled with all the implications of Jack’s statement. “Neither one of you can risk your child." She paused to consider him. “Cry is a good place to start, but it’s not the end. You have to think about it, talk it over with Siana, Eirian, maybe even the kids. You have to plan.”

“If we can convince John and Andy to work full time for us,” Jack mused. “We’ll still have a viable field team. Ianto and I can coordinate from here.” Her words finally registered on him and he turned his hardest, coldest glare on her. “Plan what, Kate!” he snarled.

“If you decided to keep the pregnancy, you run the risk that Ianto will stay female forever.” Kate returned his glare with a serious look of her own. “Or you can abort the fetus and live with the sorrow of it all your lives. That’s what you have to plan!”

He growled an automatic denial of her words. “Don’t ask me to think of that, Kate,” he hissed.

“If Ianto is indeed pregnant, as you suspect,” Kate began. She wasn’t going to let him intimidate her with the growls and snarls. She could be just as much of an alpha bitch as he. “The time of denials is over, Jack. We can help you, all of us, with whatever you decide.” She reached out and laid a hand on his arm. “We know you will not make the decision lightly whatever it turns out to be, but there has to be a decision as you won’t be able to live with yourself if there isn’t.”

“Dammit, Kate,” Jack muttered. She was right. Maybe this, her telling him straight out what needed to be done is why he talked to her first. He and Ianto… Siana… whichever name his mate was using that day… they would have talked around the subject in an attempt to do what the other wanted. “I can't do that,” he said quietly. He shoved a hand through his hair. “I just can't. Everything you're saying rebels against my every instinct. And it's not my choice to make anyway is it?"

“I know, Jack,” she murmured softly in response. “And yes, ultimately it would be Ianto's decision.” She smiled at him. “But the two of you have the strongest marriage I've ever seen, and I don't think he would keep you out of it.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm trying to say is this: if you make your decision now, if you act now, you will hurt and grieve together and put behind you as much as you ever can. But if you let it ride and have to make a hasty decision, you will never recover from it."

“I can’t tell her,” he snarled again. He turned to one side and hit the wall. He was so frustrated with Kate being reasonable. He knew she was right, but he didn’t have to like it. “I just can't, Kate."

"Jack, why are you snarling at Kate?" Siana asked. She held a mug of coffee out to Kate while offering a tea mug to Jack. “As far as I know she hasn’t done anything deserving of snarling yet today.”

"Come on you two," Kate ordered. She took the coffee mug from Siana and set it down on the stairs. She took hold of their arms and tried to tow them out from under the stairs in the direction of the TARDIS room. "We need to talk."

"What about....?" Siana muttered all confused. "Kate... Jack... we have work to do...”

"No." Kate put so much authority behind the word that they were silenced by it. "We need to talk, and Eirian needs to be present. Now."

"I'm already here, Kate,” Eirian said from where she was seated on the stairs. She fingered Kate’s abandoned coffee before picking up the mug and drinking some. She wondered what was so fascinating about the drink that her Time Lord and his mate were addicted to the stuff. “You don't need to go looking for me."

“Good,” Kate snapped. “Something has come up that needs some thinking about and its best if the three of you do it together."

“There's nothing to discuss,” Eirian replied with another one of her enigmatic smiles. “Everything's going as it should be."

“Not in their heads, it isn’t,” Kate retorted. Sometimes she had no idea how this team functioned since Ianto’s Tardis stuck her nose into things. “This is what comes of being larger than life, or larger than time, or whatever it is you are. You lose track of what it is to be human."

Siana looked from Kate to Jack to Eirian. Jack looked worried, but hopeful. Eirian was smugly pleased with herself. And Kate looked pissed as hell. Siana took a step back, slid down the wall behind her and huddled on the floor. She dropped her head into her hands and dug her hands into her hair as some of Jack’s comments from the previous even raced through her mind again. Looking up, she stared at all them. “Tell me you aren’t talking about what I think you’re talking about,” she half-pleaded, half-demanded.

“I was never human to begin with,” Eirian explained. She ignored Siana’s demand for the moment to focus on Kate instead. The human woman was quite intriguing.

“Yes,” Kate snapped. “And that's the problem. It's hard for you to think in terms of everyday reactions to every day events. You have a long term plan, whatever it is, but you don't notice the fallout as you go.” She took a deep breath. She just knew the Tardis wouldn’t understand how humans hated being manipulated by what were essentially deities. Instead, she turned to Siana. “This is something you have to decide, but I want to tell you I'll be there for you no matter what the decision is.” She glared one more time at Eirian before walking away.

“I may have underestimated that one,” Eirian mused.

“Everyone underestimates Kate,” Siana replied. “She's married to Owen. She's a lot stronger than she looks.”

“Yes, but,” she sighed and shook her head. “Never mind. That's for another day. Maybe there are some things I should tell you."

Siana finally tore her gaze away from Jack’s confusing mix of an expression to stare at Eirian. She was never able to interpret her Tardis’s expressions so she looked back at Jack. Jack now looked slightly guilty, but his eyes were worried as he stared at her. “Oh, fuck,” she murmured. She dropped her head back to thump it on the wall behind her. “You warned me, Jack.”

“I tried to, yeah,” Jack whispered. He held a hand out to Siana and waited. A soft relieved sigh escaped him when she took it. He pulled her up from the floor and held her loosely. “But you were rather single minded last night.”

"May I?" Eirian interrupted them. She reached out and placed both hands on Siana's lower abdomen. “Oh! Now that's a pleasant surprise."

“What?” Jack demanded.

“There’s a large possibility there will be two,” Eirian replied. Her enigmatic smile morphed into a pleased smirk. “A very large possibility.”

"What!" Siana snapped in shock. She looked down at her stomach and then up at Jack. “What?” she repeated, her soft voice shaking slightly.

“Twins, моетoсрце,” she replied. “I'm talking about twins.”

"I knew that!" Siana snapped. She was torn between hitting the embodiment of her Tardis and passing out. The slight anger at Eirian’s smugness was winning the fight at the moment.

“Sorry, моетoсрце,” she murmured to Siana. “I wasn’t certain.”

“You're very happy about this,” Jack said. Suspicion laced his words. He had a bad feeling she was already plotting futures for all three of their children. That was something he wasn’t going to allow her to do. Their kids were going to be allowed to make their own choices.

“Why wouldn't I be?” Eirian asked in reply. “The two of you make lovely babies.” She took a step away, disappearing into the ambient light of the Hub and leaving the two lovers alone to make decisions.

“Breathe, cariad,” Jack ordered, giving Siana a gentle shake. “You need to breathe.”

“I am breathing,” Siana gasped out. She was overwhelmed but she did know one thing for certain. They’d have to rearrange bedrooms at the house. “I'm just trying to figure out how to convince Gray to move upstairs so we can have his room for a nursery! Three babies at one time..."

“You…” Jack trailed off. He was shocked, yet hopeful. Let those words mean what he hoped they meant. “You want to keep them?”

"Why wouldn't I?" Siana asked quietly.

“Ianto, if we figure out a way to turn you back,” Jack rushed out. He had to know that she really wanted this, not just to please him but because she wanted it. “You have always seemed desperate to return to being Ianto.”

Siana reached up to rest a hand on his neck. "Then it will have to wait a while won't it? Grandfather says that barring a miracle from the Rift, it'll be quite some time before the right tech is developed. As much as we romp, it was inevitable I'd end up pregnant eventually.” She smiled up at him. She took a step closer, rested her hands on his chest for balance as she rose up on her toes and whispered in his ear, “I think I made the decision last night when I demanded you to come in me. You told me I was fertile earlier. You tried to stop me...” She trailed off for a moment and settled back down on her feet. She stared up at him in silence for a moment, desperately trying to read his emotions, and asked cautiously, “Don't you want them?

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“Of course I do,” Jack bellowed. He sank one hand into Siana’s ponytail and hauled her in for a deep kiss. He broke it, rested his forehead on hers, and whispered reverently, “I do, cariad. I want them very much.” Jack picked her up, spun her about and grinned happily when she squealed at him.

“Oi!” Owen interjected. “Trying to work here.”

“Shut up, Owen!” Jack snapped. He grinned down at his mate, silently asking if it was alright to share the news with the team. “I’m trying to be happy here!”

“You want to let us in on the secret then,” Owen asked. He spun his chair about to consider his commanders. “The rest of us want to share.”

“Siana’s having twins,” Jack crowed. He laughed softly when Siana dropped her head onto his chest and shook it back and forth. “November, I think.”

There was dead silence in the Hub. Not even Myfanwy’s shrieks broke the heavy silence. Slowly, Siana turned to consider her team. All of them wore varying expressions of shock mixed with joy, though Kate’s expression also held a deep sadness. She hated that her friend was hurt by her being pregnant. A sigh slipped from Siana’s lips. She started to pull out of Jack’s loose hold, intending to comfort Kate, when Tosh’s voice broke the silence.

“Oh Lord, we're going to need to recruit."

“Doc and Andy,” Jack said quickly. He nodded to the detective hard at work on one of the main floor stations. “I’m not bringing in strangers right now.”

Siana stared hard at Tosh. His oldest and closest friend on the team was refusing to meet his gaze. He reached out with his Time Lord senses and his eyes widened in surprise. “Tosh?” he asked, half-stunned by what he felt from her. “You…?”

“Yes,” she replied. A faint blush colored her cheeks and she quickly ducked her head to concentrate on her monitors.

Siana shook her head, one hand rising to smack her forehead. All three of them pregnant and due within weeks of each other; it was a recipe for disaster. Still, she couldn’t resist smiling. It was good to see Tosh happy again. “What does Tommy think of this development? Does he even know?"

The man in question came in, followed by John. Both of them were carrying pastry boxes in their hand. Tommy was grinning and chatting, but clearly heard the question as he turned to Siana with an even bigger grin. “She told me yesterday at breakfast,” Tommy replied, dumping the pastry boxes on the cluttered coffee table. “And it's wonderful!”

Siana shook her head back and forth. She was torn between grinning and screaming. Absently, she reached up to close Jack’s mouth and giggled when his jaw immediately dropped again. “Three of us pregnant,” she mused. She shook her head again. “It’s a guarantee of chaos.”

“That it is,” Tommy replied. The young agent bounded over to his station and started working through his project from the night before. “On the other hand, it's not always that your uncle is born at the same time you give birth to your own children, is it?” he asked with a hint of snark.

Siana grinned. It was so nice to see Tommy coming out of that shell he’d pulled around him when Jack arrived. Then the question registered on her. “Oh hell,” she muttered, “how are we going to explain that one?”

The room exploded into laughter as Siana blushed in response. She shook her head, but sent a burst of happy support to her grandfather. When he looked up from talking to Tosh, she smiled at him. Siana drew in a breath, even the laughter at her expense felt good after the last few days. She took a step to one side, leant back against Jack’s chest and drew his arms around her. She stood there and watched their team work together in the semi-peaceful silence that fell in the wake of the laughter. It was nice. Yeah, they were busy as hell with two cases at the same time, but it was a nice peaceful moment rather than the usual chaos.

“Got one!” Andy yelled from the station he’d commandeered. “I finally got you, you son of a bitch,” he muttered.

“Andy?” Siana asked cautiously. She clasped Jack’s hand in hers and started down to join the others. “Got one what?”

“One of those bastards,” Andy snapped.

“I think he means one of those men we’re looking for,” Jack clarified. He wrapped an arm around his mate, holding her tight to his side, and nodded to Andy to continue. He risked a quick glance to one side at John and barely held back the threatening grin at the expression on his mentor’s face. “So…”

“I want a piece of the bastard,” Andy snarled. He flipped screens on the monitor, occasionally nodding to himself, and glared back at Jack. “Torchwood can do what I can't. You guys don't give a damn about 'trial by jury', 'witness recanting' or 'chain of evidence'."

“But we do,” Jack retorted. “At least the chain of evidence part.” He reached down and squeezed Andy’s shoulder. “Choices, remember?” he asked. “We need to be certain before we act.”

"You want evidence, Jack?” Andy demanded. “I'll give you more than evidence. I can take you to meet the girl whose mind he broke so badly she'll never come out of care. She's at Providence Park. We found bodies in his yard, but the fucking bastard got off. He found a way to blame someone else.” Andy clenched his fists for a moment and took several deep breaths. “That's not even talking about what we think was on the computer we weren't allowed to search!"

“You think this man was one of the London operatives?” Jack asked. He kept his voice even, calm, despite the anger radiating off Andy and the increasing tension in Siana.

“He’s right here!” Andy waved the list Tosh had complied. “There!” he stabbed the page with one finger. “Doctor Alan Shaker, psychologist,” Andy explained. “According to your list here, he worked as Assistant Director of Acquisitions and Training for Torchwood London. After Canary Wharf, he was hospitalized for a while under UNIT supervision, released, and disappeared for a few years.” Andy now pointed to a screen in front of him. “He surfaced again in Glasgow but left the city under suspicion in the disappearance of a young woman. Now he’s here in Cardiff. Slick bastard.” Andy shook his head, jaw clenched tight as he fought down his anger and frustration. “Three times I’ve nearly had a case against him and each time he’s slithered away like the snake he is.”

Jack drew in a pained breath. Siana’s nails were dug deep into his forearm as she shook by his side. He pressed his lips to her temple. “Shh, cariad,” he murmured.

“Don’t tell me to shh,” Siana snapped. She reached for her gun. She remembered Dr. Shaker far too well. Her body ached with remembered pain. She wanted to kill him. Torture him as much as he tortured her and then kill him slowly. “You have no idea…” The gun was snatched out of her reach. She glared at her grandfather. “What are you…?”

“You are pregnant,” John snapped back. There was a cold, fierce anger in his voice. “There's no way you are going to subject my great-grandchildren to that kind of stress.”

“How the hell do you know I’m pregnant? You weren’t here!” she snapped back. “I just found out this morning.”

“I can smell you,” John retorted. “Jack’s not the only one with advanced genetics in this Hub.” He allowed a momentary smile to grace his face before the stern lines returned. “How do you think?”

“Oh, that’s just not fair!” Siana snapped. “Both you and Jack knew before me.” She turned, rested her hands on her hips, and glared at her grandfather. “That bastard destroyed me. I think I have the right to confront him.”

“It’s not a matter of fair,” John snapped back at her. “It is a matter of sane. Do you really want your children born in Providence Park because their mother insisted on exposing herself to this kind of madness?" He shook his head and tucked Siana’s gun into his pocket. He may hate to use them, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know the value of a gun when threatening someone. He caught the mulish look on Siana’s face and decided it was time to take charge. “Enough! No more arguing. Andy, Tommy, with me."

“Yes, sir,” Tommy snapped as he leapt to his feet. He grabbed his jacket, tossed Andy his and started for the door. That was a commanding officer and he knew better than to dawdle when one was in that kind of mood.

“So I have to stay here and play the little wife!” Siana bitched. “I'm not even twenty-four hours pregnant and already I'm being coddled!”

“Stop being obtuse, Ianto!” Tosh interjected before John or Jack could retort. “Yes, they want to protect you but it has nothing to do with being coddled. They are protecting their leader, and the mother of future leaders. Don't you understand? Your children, our children, are the most important thing right now."

“Fine,” Siana spat. “I’ll be in my office.” She didn’t wait for anyone to answer her, just stalked off and slammed the door behind her.

Jack looked torn, but nodded to John as the Time Lord headed for the door waving for Tommy and Andy to join him. He took a couple of steps after Siana, but stilled when a hand closed around his arm. He turned to the owner with a questioning look.

“Let me,” Owen said softly. He waited for Jack to nod before heading off to the office. He knocked even as he opened the door and stepped inside. Owen stared across the room at his friend and commander. “You want to risk your children for revenge? Not only the ones to be born but the ones already here? What happens to Misha, and Gray, and Aimana if you’re dead or insane? Do you care so little for them?”

“How can you say that?”

“Because I’m standing here watching you sulk, that’s why,” Owen replied calmly. “Do you truly know how much I want children? Kate and I, we've cried over not being able to have them. And here you are, ready to risk yours for nothing.

“Nothing!” Siana cried. “It’s not nothing. You have no idea…”

“Yeah, nothing,” Owen interrupted. “These people did terrible things, unspeakable things, but revenge.” He paused and shook his head. “Ianto, there's a saying. Before setting off on revenge, you must first dig two graves. Is that what you want your children to know about you?"

"I want them to suffer, Owen. Like I did. Like she did. You have no idea what they did to us." She swallowed and played with something on the desk. She didn’t care what it was, just something to keep her hands busy. "I'm afraid of Jack, Owen.... and you have no idea how much that upsets me."

“I do know. I spent the night going over the medical reports. Medical!” He snarled and shook his head in denial. “They were butchers, not doctors. But I know because I saw it. And you know what I came away with?” Owen paused and, when Siana didn’t respond, sighed before continuing, “Respect. You managed to survive that and become a human being. You not only survived them, you outgrew them." A smile settled on Owen’s face as he settled into one of the office chairs. "You and Jack, you'll be all right in the end, because you both became so much more than what people tried to make you. They are nothing. We will deal with them to protect others. But they aren’t worth revenge.”

“I'm sorry, Owen,” Siana sighed softly. “I'm sorry you read those papers. They became the embodiment of that proverb, didn't they?” She set the pen she’d been playing with down on the desk and sighed again. "Promise me something?"

“Whatever you need,” Owen replied. He leant forward in the chair to observe his commander. She was settling which was definitely better for her and her barely beyond conceived babies. “You know that.”

“Don't let me become like them.” Siana lifted her gaze from the desktop to stare intently at Owen. “Please, don’t let me become like them.”

“What in the name of hell makes you think you can become one of them?” Owen asked, shocked at the turn of the conversation.

“Because it's all there in my head, Owen,” Siana explained. “How the ends always justifies the means? How we're outside of it all and no one can stop us from doing whatever we want,” she paused for a moment. “Because I'm in charge, Owen. What's to stop me from using those skills to reach a needed goal?”

“The fact that you know you could,” Owen quickly replied. “That's the difference between them and us. We know we can, but we don't, because we're decent human beings." Owen considered for a moment. “You know, at least two of them show all the signs of being true psychopaths. No human response at all. That is a disease you don’t have.” He smiled over at Siana. “If anything, you are too human.”

“They couldn’t train that out of me no matter how hard they tried,” Siana replied. She settled back in her chair and shook her head. “It was Yvonne’s one complaint about me.” She smiled tiredly at Owen. “I really should apologize to everyone for that tantrum.” She giggled as the thought struck her, she’d likely be doing a lot of apologizing over the next several months. “Oh, meant to ask, have you started researching IVF yet?”

“Why?”

“Kate didn't tell you?” Siana answered Owen’s question with one of her own. She looked up at the door and smiled a welcome to Jack where her husband slouched in the now open door. “Jack offered to carry your baby next year if Kate doesn't conceive first.”

“He what?” Owen gasped out, shocked and stunned.

Siana laughed softly. “Jack and I talked about it this past New Years,” she explained. “After he has Seren, when his cycle comes again, he's willing to play surrogate for you and Kate. So you need to study up on IVF. It's not like he can go to a reproductive specialist.”

“I need to talk to Kate about it,” Owen said. He rose, turned to leave the office, and then turned back to Siana. “I wonder why she didn’t tell me?”

“Afraid to hope too much, probably,” Jack murmured quietly. “She's gone through so much. Then Ianto turned up female with Aimana.” He sighed and rubbed his face with a hand. “Kate’s up with Myfanwy, but that’s the most logical thing. Between my pregnancy, you being female and Aimana, she’s likely thinking I won’t want to help her anymore.”

“I’m going up there,” Siana said. She rested her hands on her desk and levered herself to her feet. “I need to talk to her.”

“What are you going to say to her?” Jack asked curiously.

“How much you like being pregnant,” Siana retorted.

“You like it?” Owen just stared at Jack as if the man had grown another head or something. The thought that Jack liked being pregnant just did not compute.

“I don’t have much morning sickness,” Jack began. He shrugged and gave them a rueful smile. “And it energizes me. Trick metabolism, I guess.”

“Women all over the world hate you right now,” Owen retorted.

“Starting with me!” Siana snapped to both men’s obvious delight. She shook her head, balled up a piece of paper and threw it at Jack. “That’s just totally unfair!”

“I think I’ll leave you to the domestic again,” Owen interrupted. He headed for the door with a smile on his face. “I need to talk to my wife.” He paused on his way out the door and squeezed Jack’s arm. “Thanks.”

“It’s nothing,” Jack replied.

“To you maybe,” Owen said. “To us, it’s everything.” With a nod to Ianto, he slipped out the door headed for Myfanwy’s lair near the top of the Hub.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Siana headed for the coffee machine, fully intent on making her mid-morning cup of coffee, when she stopped in her tracks. “Cachau!” she cursed, loudly and repeatedly, as she stood there. Jack started laughing at her and she went off in a torrent of Welsh at him, cursing him for getting her into this condition winding up with “It’s all your fault!”

“I told you last night you couldn’t blame me,” Jack retorted. He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. “So, decaf or tea, caraid, but no coffee.”

With more curses, Siana stalked toward the kitchenette. She paused along the way to grab up one of Owen’s many toys and threw it at Jack’s head. “Decaf is not real coffee, m’gwr,” she snarled. “It’s an abomination just barely more tolerable then instant!” She slammed a mug onto the counter, grabbed the kettle and put it on to boil. She was going to have to look for some decent teas now. This just… there were no suitable words for what this meant. “How am I expected to work without coffee?” she demanded of everyone and no one.

The whole team began laughing. Jack’s laughter was heartiest. She pouted at them all which only made the laughter louder. “I should take you all off coffee for the duration for that,” she muttered. There was no surprise to how quickly the laughter cut off. “Thought so,” she snapped as she fixed the tea. “No coffee… humph.”

Siana fixed the tea, lifted the tray and stalked toward her office. She paused along the way to smack the back of her hand into Jack’s arse. “I could so hate you right now,” she muttered. “But I love you too much to do so.” She stretched up to kiss him and sighed softly. “No coffee, so unfair.”

“No, coffee, Siana,” Kate called. “And you need to come down for an exam. You too, Tosh.”

“But…” Siana protested. Jack took the tray from her hands. She peered up at her husband from beneath her lashes, but quickly realized her silent pleading was lost on him as Jack was staring over her shoulder at Kate. She turned to see what had so captured Jack’s attention. Kate was tearstained, her face blotchy, and her eyes were pained. “Kate? What’s…?”

“What did you do, Owen?” Jack snarled. He took a step toward the team medic; his eyes intent on the shorter man. “What did you do to my canablam that made her cry?”

To Siana’s complete amazement, Owen started crying. It started with that same hitching breath she remembered from the last time she’d seen Owen cry. Within moments, he’d cracked, the tears flowing unchecked, and Jack reached out to pull Owen into his chest.

“It’s okay, Owen,” Jack murmured. “Let’s go in my office. We can talk there.” He hugged the other man tightly for a moment until he felt that Owen was able to manage the short walk to the office. He nodded to Siana, guided Owen that direction and gently closed the door behind them.

Siana turned to Kate and immediately poured her a mug of tea. “Here,” she said softly. “Tell us everything.” She fixed up a mug for Tosh as well before doing up one for herself. The three women settled on the sofa. She herself curled up on one end of the sofa, twisted about so that she could watch the office while she listened to Kate talk. She listened with half an ear until Tosh spat, “Now, that was a bloody stupid thing to do.”

Siana blinked and refocused on the conversation in front of her rather than attempt to figure out what Owen and Jack were discussing in the office. She ran the conversation through her mind again and chuckled softly. “But typical,” she said, toasting Kate with her mug. She rose to her feet, crossed to the kitchenette and grabbed the biscuits. She popped the lid on the tin, grabbed a chocolate coated one and offered the others the can. “Jack does the stupidest things thinking to protect me. You’ve both seen it.”

“And you’re in fits when you find out,” Tosh retorted while Kate chuckled. “I get the same thing out of John sometimes.” She shook her head. “Ever since we found out, he refuses to let me carry anything heavy. And by heavy, I mean a full kettle!”

Kate half-giggled leaning forward to grab a biscuit which she used to punctuate her next remark. “If you think it’s bad now…” she trailed off and smirked. “The poor dears, they can’t help themselves. You both know it’s going to get a hell of a lot worse the further along you get.”

Siana growled, grabbed another biscuit, and snarked, “Jack may live to regret that. I can still withhold sex for a while. Though that will only work until he starts showing. Then I’m out of luck.”

“Now you’re thinking like a woman,” Tosh replied with a grin. “Me, I can claim a nine month headache if John keeps it up.”

“Still, they mean well,” Kate interrupted. “We should give them some leeway.” She laughed softly. “A tiny little bit of leeway.”

“But if we give them an inch…” Siana began. She shook her head rather than finish the sentence. She watched the conversation in the office. She smiled over at Kate. “He loves you, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kate murmured. “He might drive me insane sometimes….”

“But you can’t imagine life without him,” Tosh finished.

“Exactly,” Siana affirmed. She toasted the other two women with her mug before rising to her feet. “More? I’m going to…” The phone ringing interrupted her request. She sighed, set the mug aside and grabbed it up. “Torchwood,” she snapped into the phone. She paused, listened and frowned. “He’s busy, Helen. I’ll come out and take care of it. Give me an hour. Of course… thanks, Helen.” Siana hung up the phone, still frowning, and turned to the other women. “Could you let Jack know I’ve gone out to the island? I’ll be back as soon as I can be.”

Chapter Forty

Siana stood on the boat, one foot propped up on the deck rail, and watched the rocky coast of Flat Holm start to loom large before them. Her mind wasn’t on the supplies or the stupid mix-up that led to the delay in getting them out to the island, but on what she’d find there. The island, with its hidden hospital, was a bone of contention between the Cardiff Council and Torchwood. It had been since Jack opened the place when he took over Torchwood Cardiff at the turn of the millennium, but the tension had been increasing ever since as eco-tourism became a viable revenue stream for Wales. The council wanted the island, but Torchwood had no place to shift the patients where they wouldn’t be discovered. It all came down to secrecy.

She sighed, shoved her hair back out of her face again, and worried. Soon, she knew, they would have to move the patients off the island. She’d already gotten hints of that from Her Majesty. It was only a matter of time. Siana knew she needed to think of where to move them, find a secure facility, yet she didn’t have the heart to do so. Not now. Not with the other situations going on around Torchwood.

And then there was Gwen.

Keeping Gwen on the island kept her safely away from Jack. It kept the peace. Siana was torn between her memories of Gwen Cooper – friend and coworker – and her more recent memories of Gwen Cooper-Williams – vindictive bitch. She missed the woman she could tease with or pass a few minutes in silence over coffee. Definitely missed the woman who understood completely what she’d meant by ‘he cheats, he always cheats’ even as she remained focused on her own goals. They’d had so many good times before… yet now… she didn’t know what had happened to Gwen. She wanted her friend back. Sometimes she was tempted to retcon Gwen just to get that other Gwen back; however, she knew that wasn’t a viable option because of the children.

The thump of the hull as it met the dock drew Siana out of her thoughts. She jumped from the vessel to the planking of the dock and smiled at Helen. “Supplies are below, Helen,” she said by way of greeting. “Things are sorted out. There shouldn’t be any problems with the deliveries now.” Siana managed to not laugh at Helen’s expression, instead waving a hand toward the path up to the hospital, and walking slowly beside her. “Anything we should know about?”

“Nothing major,” Helen said after a moment of silence. “There are a few minor things…”

Siana listened attentively as they walked and spoke about the facility. By the time they reached it, she’d learned all about the current residents’ status, what the doctor’s thought of them and how much Helen had come to appreciate the way Gwen Cooper had taken over the paperwork for the facility. With her doing the administration work, Helen could better concentrate on tending to the patients. “What did you say?”

“Gwen,” Helen repeated slowly. “She's been a godsend. I must say, Ianto, I wasn't sure about this at first, but it has turned out brilliantly."

“That’s what I thought you said,” Siana replied thoughtfully. She didn’t bother to correct Helen on her name. As rarely as she saw the woman, unless she was indeed permanently female, there was no need to worry about it for the moment.

"She's taken over all our paperwork,” Helen explained. “She was the one who discovered the supply snafu, you know. Doctor Douglas swears by her transcriptions of his notes. He's taken to asking her opinion of some of the patients. He says she's a natural at figuring out how people's minds work."

“She always was,” Siana said. “She busy? I think I'd like to talk to her.”

“ No, I don't think she's busy right now. We're about to serve lunch and she usually takes some time then. Walks on the cliffs.” Helen pointed toward the lighthouse path. “That way.”

“Thanks.” She smiled at her old friend and nodded. “I’ll just go find her.” With another nod, Siana started off toward the lighthouse leaving Helen to supervise the supply delivery. She took her time walking along the twisting, sloping path which connected the hospital to the dock and then on to the lighthouse. A soft laugh escaped her. It would be just her luck to slip and twist an ankle. More ammunition for Jack’s campaign to keep her bundled up in cotton wool. Topping the rise, she raised a hand to shade her face and smiled. Sitting on the edge of the cliff in the shadow of the lighthouse was Gwen, Siana would recognize that particular leather jacket anywhere. “Gwen!” she called.

Gwen turned, stared, and surprise colored her expression. Siana watched her reach for a weapon she no longer carried. She continued her walk up toward the cliff edge and paused just a bit out of reach. She herself had taught Gwen a lot of unarmed combat techniques and didn’t want to be to close until she’d convinced the other woman who she was. “It’s Ianto,” she announced. “Got a minute?”

“What do you mean ‘Ianto’?” Gwen demanded. Her hands rested on her hips while she shifted her weight readying herself for anything. “If this is a joke, it's not funny.”

"Not a joke,” Siana replied with a laugh. “It's a Rift thing. It's really me." She tilted her head and considered for a moment before quietly saying, “Shall I be making you some sushi?”

“Stupid blowfish.” Gwen laughed softly at the memory. “Hello, Ianto,” Gwen smiled at her. “Nice to... well, see you again, though..." she gestured helplessly at him helplessly and laughed, “Bloody Torchwood.”

"Tell me about it.” She chuckled and shook her head. “You wouldn't believe me if I told you what was going on...."

“Then maybe you shouldn’t tell me,” Gwen said as she turned away to look out over the water.

Siana took the few steps necessary to reach Gwen’s side and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I think you'd be the only one who'd understand it.”

Gwen reached up and gripped Siana's hand as it rested on her shoulder. “Probably, yes,” she reluctantly acknowledged. “But I'm trying very hard not to think about it all yet, Ianto.”

“We all have problems, Gwen.” Siana turned her to face him. “Ours are just harder to deal with than most.” She shrugged and sat on the cliff. “And I've got a bunch of people telling me that I need to talk and no one to talk to about it." She looked up at Gwen. “We used to be able to talk about anything... remember the 'Jack leaves biscuit crumbs in bed' talk?"

Gwen laughed gaily. “And then I go blurting it out.” She looked at him eager yet sadly. “They were good times, weren't they? In spite of everything?”

Siana patted the spot next to her in silent invitation. "Yes, they were." She shook her head. "Now I have him trying to bundle me up in cotton wool. Won't let me do it to him even though the risks are higher while he carries Seren, but determined to do it to me anyway. Damned man."

“You're pregnant?” Gwen crowed delightedly. “And so is Jack?”

"Me, Jack and Toshiko,” Siana confirmed. She smiled shyly. “And Jack just loves to brag about how pregnancy is easy for him."

“Bloody man. I threw up for three straight months with Bran.”

Siana pouted at her. "Oh, don't you start!" She shook her head again. "His only complaint: no coffee. I'm not happy over that either, but I'll manage because it's best for the twins. Tosh is already throwing up though she hasn't told my grandfather that. I'm certain he knows though."

“Your grandfather?” Gwen asked confused and surprised. “What are you talking about, Ianto?”

"It's a long story, Gwen.” She peered up at the older woman. “Remember Jack's Doctor?"

“Yes, of course.”

"He's my grandfather who's dating Toshiko who's in the middle of a divorce from Tommy Brockless."

“Duw, Ianto, this is just so Torchwood.” Gwen laughed, but the laughter quickly turned to tears. “Oh, Ianto.”

“Oh no,” Siana protested. “Don't do that! I may be female but I still have no idea what to do when women cry!"

Gwen laughed and cried at the same time. “You never could.” She dried her cheeks with the back of her hands laughing and crying at the same time. “You brought the supplies? Is Owen all right?”

"I brought them. Owen,” she paused and sighed softly. “He's in the middle of a minor meltdown. Jack's helping him."

“Jack could always help Owen.”

Siana nodded. That was definitely the truth. "Yeah, sometimes I think Owen's actually Jack's oldest son but neither of them will admit that. Maybe younger brother would work since we're raising Gray now."

“I'm happy for all of you, I really am.” Her face closed up as she withdrew emotional from the conversation. Distanced herself just when Siana needed her most. “I need to go in and help with lunch.”

"Gwen, please.... I..."

"Ianto, what is it? Are you all right?” The questions came fast in typical Gwen fashion, no pause for Siana to answer, and the older woman knelt on the rocks.

"No. I..." Siana huddled up on herself. "Since this,” she paused and waved a hand at herself, "I remembered what Torchwood One did... and...” Remembering made her breathing quicken. She knew she needed to calm down again, push those memories back into the depths of her mind, but she just couldn’t concentrate enough to do so.

“What is it, sweetheart?” Gwen asked softly. Unable to stop herself, she reached for Siana and pulled her in for a hug. “What’s wrong?”

Siana whimpered. "I killed my best friend. We grew up together. She was all but my sister and I killed her because I promised her I would while they were training her.” Another whimper escaped turning into a sob. “Training... torture would be a better term. They made me watch, Gwen, and I couldn't do anything for her but kill her later."

“Oh, Ianto. So much pain,” Gwen murmured. She stroked her back and kissed her hair. “Why did you do it? Why did you put yourself in a position like this?

Siana shook her head and murmured, “I wanted to protect her. Lisa recruited us for the program.”

“I don't mean that. I mean now. You could have made a clean start. Why do this again?

Siana pulled back from the hug and blinked at her. “I was waiting for Jack. I thought you knew that. I knew if, no when, he arrived it would be at Torchwood. I had to be there with it for him.” She was confused, everyone knew of the depth of her feelings for Jack.

“Jack,” Gwen muttered bitterly. She dropped her arms from around Siana and rose. “Of course.”

"Is Jack always going to come between us, Gwen?” Siana asked. She sighed tiredly. “I thought we had a friendship beyond that."

“Is that what you think this is about? My crush on Jack faded away a long time ago, Ianto.

"Then what's wrong? Why is it so bad I waited for him? It's like you hate me. I don't understand it."

“You don't know how hard it was for me! I was coming to tell you I thought I was pregnant, and instead they told me you were dead. And then I wasn't pregnant and Jack up and leaves with John Hart. With John Hart! And there I was, stuck with Torchwood because the aliens didn't stop coming and I was the only one who knew what to do about it!"

"That was a bit shit of him,” Siana acknowledged. “But why get on my case when I started it again."

“Ianto, I was working as a desk sergeant for a bunch of reactionary old men, wasting away at a piss-poor job. And you come back, and you want me to be liaison,” Gwen snapped at Siana. “I was head of Torchwood for decades, Ianto! And you didn't think I was worth a real job!"

"You were pregnant!"

"That didn't matter!” she spat. “Maybe I would have turned it down, or asked for desk work until the baby was born or something. You devalued my years of experience and you took my ability to choose away from me."

"You didn't ask for anything else, Gwen. You just demanded to be in charge,” Siana replied. “And when I wouldn't hand it over to you, you got all vindictive."

"I know. I'm not saying I'm not at fault here, Ianto. But, you know, you were the best friend I ever had,” Gwen paused and sniffed. “And you didn't even think of asking me about my life. Nothing." Tears ran down her face. "You had your goal and I was something you needed to get there."

"Gwen...." Siana trailed off and shook her head. “I was waiting for Jack,” she explained, or at least tried to. “I made no bones about that, everyone knew it, and I heard from Rhys about you,” she paused and drew in a breath. “I didn’t want to ask." She sighed. Talking to Gwen could sometimes be exhausting, but it was also worth it. "And after what you did with Misha when she was orphaned, well, I didn't like you very much."

"I know. I haven't liked myself for a long time. There are no excuses I can make, Ianto.” She rose again and dusted herself off. “All I had is now gone. I have to think about the rest of my life and it doesn't include my past." She stood up, the old determined light in her eye. "Thank you for talking to me."

"Hey..."

“I won't forget you, you know. Any of you. But I have to rebuild my life. I don't know quite how yet, but I think it starts with,” she trailed off and semi-shrugged. “Understanding myself." Gwen smiled, and Siana finally, finally, saw the friend she had missed so terribly. "You know me. Once I start fighting I don't stop until I win."

“Yeah, I know..." she trailed off for a moment, considering. "I think you have a good understanding already. Want a suggestion...?"

"Yes."

"All the help you've given me over the years, just listening, think about going into psychology. You'd be good at it." Siana's lips twisted in a familiar smirk. "I think I can even tweak the Torchwood expenses to cover specialized training for our detached agent."

"The first thing you have to do is to be psychoanalyzed yourself, right?" She considered the options."Yes, that might work."

Siana rose, dusted herself off, and reached out to carefully hug Gwen. "Think about it, let me know,” she trailed off and smiled. “And I’ll arrange it.”

"I will. And thank you. I felt... normal... for the first time in a long time."

"Me, too,” Siana replied with a soft laugh. “Thanks, Gwen."

Siana watched Gwen as she started back down the trail toward the hospital. She started walking after her as she knew she should be heading back to the mainland herself. At the fork in the path, she called after her old friend, "Gwen?” Siana waited until the other woman looked back at her. “You can call me as well as Owen, you know. It's just Jack that's touchy at the moment."

“I know,” she replied with a laugh. Now she sounded like the old Gwen again.

Siana considered for a moment and then ran over to her. She hugged her tightly again and kissed her cheek. “I better get back before he decides to go vortex hopping looking for me.

“ Ianto, wait!” She hesitated for a moment. “Ah... don’t misunderstand this, yeah? But,” she paused, hesitated again, then rushed out, “Watch out for John Hart. He's not going to give up on Jack, ever.”

“I know.” Siana nodded. "I have a gun specially loaded just for him, Gwen. He did something to Jack I could never forgive him for,” she trailed off, a bitter smile twisting her lips. “I see him again, I'm shooting first and asking questions of his corpse."

“So,” Gwen considered for a moment. “Use a knife.”

"No, special bullets. No coming back for him."

Gwen grinned fiercely. “Good.”

"Yeah,” Siana know she was echoing that smile. “I have several reasons for taking him out. And I only get more committed to the course every time I watch Jack cling to Ginny."

“God, Ianto, don't!”

"Fuck, I'm sorry, Gwen,” Siana quickly apologized. “I didn't think.”

“Just tell me,” Gwen asked quickly. “Are they all right?”

"They're a bunch wild heathens." Siana laughed. It was true, but it was also true the whole team wouldn’t have them any other way. "Bran and Gray have teamed up to bully anyone who threatens their sisters. Ceri's turned fierce about Aimana,” she paused and debating explaining who Aimana was, but decided that wasn’t germane to the discussion at hand. “And Jack's spoiling Ginny even more than Andy and Rhys are."

“Andy and Rhys?” Gwen asked a bit dazed. A surprised look settled on her face as she repeated, “Rhys and Andy?”

“Yep,” Siana acknowledged. Then she smacked herself on the forehead. “I forgot that you didn't know about that either.”

Gwen merely gave Siana a look, so similar to one of her own, and raised an eyebrow in question.

"They thought they were hiding it. Rhys was certainly stunned enough at Christmas.” An exhausted sound escaped Siana. "Rhys is part of the team now, so you know. He's part executive assistant part nanny. His job is to manage the kids and make sure we remember to eat."

“It's what he does best, bless him. “ She looked at Ianto uncertainly. “I do miss him.”

“I think he misses you, too.” She looked away, then back. “I miss you. I miss the woman I could gossip with who understood my silences and my complaints about Jack.”

“I miss you, too.” Gwen reached out and stroked her cheek. “Maybe someday, Ianto. Maybe someday...” she trailed off and laughed. “Especially if you look like my Ianto again!”

Siana echoed the laugh. “We're working on it,” she shrugged. “But it'll be at least a year... maybe longer. I have to have the twins first.”

“Send me pictures, yeah?”

“Of course. I need to go.” Siana hugged her hard. “I'll be back, Gwen. You, you I can talk to. And I need to talk about some things.”

“We always could talk, you and I,” Gwen replied with a smile.

"Yup." Siana smirked. "Call me if you need me."

“Will do,” Gwen acknowledged. “Tell Owen I'll be sending him those suggestions we were talking about.”

Siana tossed off a salute. “Will do.” She started down the trail, paused and looked back at Gwen. She smiled to herself. Her old friend was still inside that bitter woman. The healing had finally started. Siana now turned her mind to figuring out how to heal the rift between Jack and Gwen in addition to healing her own mind.

Chapter Forty-One

Three days. Three days with no contact from half the team. No official contact that is; Tosh was getting a single call late at night from John reassuring her that they were alive, but none of the men had made official contact with the Hub. Siana paced her office. She was worried; they all were. She flung herself into a chair with a heavy sigh, twisted about and watched the activity on the main floor.

Lifting a hand, she rubbed her temples and then pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes. Her head ached abominably. It was nearly impossible to concentrate on the research she needed to be doing on the Korumalani Mekansalharita with her head pounding in time to her pulse. She couldn’t even take something for it as Owen had banned her from painkillers. Siana leant her head back and closed her eyes. She wanted, no needed, a coffee. If she thought she could do it, she’d find some excuse to get out of the Hub and sneak one, but Jack would know immediately if she did that.

“Here,” Jack’s voice drew her out of her thoughts. A mug of herbal tea was placed in front of her. “I thought you could use this, bensevgili.”

“It’s not coffee,” she muttered, pouting up at him. “I want coffee.” She took the mug anyway and flinched at the amount of sugar in the cup. “Why so sweet?”

“It’ll help the headache,” he murmured. He stepped behind the chair and rested his hands on her shoulders. “It’s so bad for you that you’ve started giving it to me.” Jack stroked her shoulders, kissed her temple and quietly ordered, “Turn toward the desk and rest your head on your arms. Let me help you some.”

Siana set the tea down, turned and obeyed the softly spoken order. She almost yelped when Jack began to press his thumbs along the sides of her neck and spine.

Jack massaged gently, gradually increasing the pressure and smiled when Siana sighed softly in response. “That’s it, bensevgili,” he murmured. “Close your eyes, relax…” Jack slowly worked the kinks out of Siana’s upper back, knowing that tension wasn’t helping her headache any, and smiled as his mate began to relax under his hands. Her breathing evened out, her body relaxed, and Jack chuckled quietly as she drifted to sleep in the chair. Maneuvering carefully, he pulled the chair back, picked her up and carried her to the sofa. Settling her there, he rose, grabbed his greatcoat, and covered her with it. His smile widened as she snuggled into the coat. Pressing a kiss to her temple, he slipped from the office to join the rest of the team.

“Toshiko,” he called as he closed the door behind himself. “Can you tone down the proximity alarms? Siana’s napping.” Jack crossed the room to kiss Toshiko’s temple. “And if I see dark circles under your eyes, you’re joining her.”

“Done,” Tosh replied, smiling up at Jack, and then she laughed. “I know I need to sleep, Jack. I’m worried, but not stupid.” She shook her head and pointed at a nearby stack of folders. “Why don’t you work on the theft reports? Siana’s not been able to concentrate on them.”

"Done." He picked up the folders. "I'm still trying to figure out what's going on here, Toshiko. Who, other than the Doctor and I, would know what this thing is used for?"

"They may not have known exactly, but London could have been experimenting on it." Tosh rolled her chair back from her desk with a lazy shove of her foot. She took her glasses off, tossed them onto her desk, and smiled at Jack while stretching to relieve the kinks in her back.

"I don't think they had all the pieces,” Jack mused as he flipped through the reports trying to put them in some semblance of order. The fact they were so disorganized told him just how badly the caffeine withdrawal was affecting his mate.

"It started out in one piece. It broke when they attempted to connect it to the Rift." Tosh laughed and handed him a photograph. "Siana had that picture, a report, and the one remaining piece. It's on the table in the armory."

"Damn,” Jack muttered. “They must have at least some idea of what it did. Or maybe they had a mistaken idea of what it did."

"I don't think they knew but were guessing,” Tosh replied. “Yvonne thought it would provide more power. Sort of what she thought the London anomaly would do but got the Cybermen instead."

"But if they have a copy of the readings of the Rift experiments, they must know that it's not just a generator of some sort."

"They didn't get any readings." Tosh reached over and grabbed the copy she had of the original report on the experiment. She turned to the relevant page and offered it to him. "They hooked it up and turned it on. It whined and shattered in a blast of heat and light. Killed all the tech team, part of it broke Yvonne's foot, and three of the secretarial pool, including a new temp, disappeared completely. Not even a body."

Jack stared at Tosh. "She thinks it's a weapon. The stupid woman thinks it's a weapon."

"Which is why we need to get it from her before she learns what it really is,” Tosh said earnestly.

"All right. Toshiko..." he said thoughtfully. "What do we know about Yvonne? What is she doing these days? What life did she choose? There is no Torchwood London, so that is out. Let's start with her."

"I'll get a search started on her. I don't know what she's doing. Ianto's the Head of the Torchwood Institute now. Direct mandate from the Queen." Toshiko turned back to her computers and donned her glasses to read the monitors. “And believe me, Ianto’s a hell of a lot easier to work for then London ever was.”

“That’s my Ianto,” Jack replied with a grin. He looked toward the office, sighed sadly, and leant back on the sofa. “I…” he paused and shook his head. He wasn’t going to think about it because to think about it would mean thinking about the possibility of Ianto wanting to change back which meant they would lose the twins. He smiled tiredly at Toshiko, lifted the first folder from the stack and flipped it open. He looked up at her again. “Yvonne wouldn’t be too far from levers of power. She likes them, too…” Jack broke off as the cog door rolled back announcing the return of their missing team members. He watched, intent, as a very subdued Andy and Tommy entered the Hub followed by a still fuming Doctor. “About time you got back.”

“Missed me, Jack?” John asked as he descended the final two steps into the Hub. He was smiling, yes, but his eyes screamed his anger as he looked toward the immortal.

"Always."

A clearly unwilling grin settled on the Doctor’s face. “I thought Ianto had broken you out of the flirting habit, Jack,” he said. He came down to rest a hand on the back of Tosh’s chair.

Jack threw his head back with a laugh. "Oh, I'm allowed to flirt, just not follow up on it. So I stopped.” He grinned back. “It lost its appeal.”

"Well don't get back into the habit,” John retorted. “Especially with your grandfather-in-law of all people!"

"Right,” Jack laughed again and laid the paperwork in his lap aside. He leant forward and stared intently at the three men. “How was it?”

"It went fine. We got some more names to follow up on." He bent down, kissed Tosh’s temple and hugged her tightly. "Hello, love."

Jack took a long look at John, nodded to himself and shifted his attention to Andy and Tommy while Toshiko worked on both relaxing John and setting up the search for Yvonne Hartman. “Andy, Tommy, report,” he ordered.

"He's downright scary,” Andy muttered. He pointed a finger at John. “Damned scary.”

“I know that, Andy,” Jack replied. “Let's try for some information, all right? What happened?

"We found the target.” Tommy began. He treated this just as he would any other field report to his superior officers. “Observed for a brief period of time, and then entered the target's home. Dr. Smith here interrogated him, very cold and harshly, before judging him."

“Oh Lord,” Jack muttered. “What did he do, Tommy?” he asked again.

"I'm not exactly certain what he did, Jack,” Tommy replied. “I just know that the bastard will never be harming anyone again." Andy mumbled repeatedly. Tommy shook his head in response. “I think he broke Andy too.”

“Andy,” Jack began carefully. “What did he do?”

“He sealed that so-called doctor, Alan Shaker, inside his own head,” Andy replied.

“That's what he did,” Tommy acknowledged. He nodded as well. “Scared the crap out of Andy.”

“It was justified, Jack,” John interrupted the conversation.

“ Exactly what does the sealing inside his own head entail, Doc?”

“I locked him into a perpetual loop of his own memories,” John explained. “All of his memories, both from here and before. He'll relive everything he's done.” His lips twisted in an evil smile. “But he'll relieve it from the point of view of his victims, Jack. Their pain, fear, suffering,” John stared intently at Jack. “He'll experience it all.”

“Did you give him a way out, Doc?” Jack asked. “Any way out at all?”

John sighed. He pressed a kiss to Tosh’s hair again before he answered Jack. “As much as I’d rather not, if he ever accepts that what he did was wrong, then yes, he'll come free of it, but only then,” he said quietly.

“Thank God,” Jack breathed. “All right. Andy, go home to Rhys and take Tommy with you. Get yourselves good and pissed. Don't come back until lunch tomorrow.”

Tommy nodded. “Thanks, Jack,” he said. He tugged Andy up from his chair. He knew a good glass of ale and some time with Rhys would settle the Welshman again.

“Andy, Tommy,” John paused and shook his head. “I'm sorry. I should have gone alone.”

Tommy shook his head as he guided Andy toward the door. “Hell no, sir,” he retorted. “You find the others, I'm going again. What you did...” he trailed off for a moment. “It was better than he deserved. Andy's just a bit sensitive is all.”

“It's not that. It was just,” Andy paused and looked between Jack and John several times. “You spent your lives fighting horrors like that and now you've chosen to do it again. In the name of God, why?”

"Because sometimes we're the only ones who can do it,” John quickly retorted. “I won't let things like that stand, Andrew.”

"And he raised me, Andy,” Jack explained. “From a cheap con-man to... whatever I became. So I take after my tad."

"Cheap?" The Doctor howled in outrage. "You weren't cheap!"

"Lord, don't you two start.” Andy laughed wearily. “I'm going home and getting drunk off my arse and I'll be fine tomorrow. Come on, Tommy."

Tommy saluted. “I'll spring for more ale on the way.” He nodded to Jack and followed Andy back out the door.

"What do you mean cheap?" the Doctor continued bellowing at Jack. "You were stealing starships when I met you! Do you know how expensive those are?"

“You fell for it, Doc,” Jack said reasonably.

"Can't a gal get a nap around here?" Siana asked. She leant on the doorframe to her office and rubbed her temple again. “I mean really.”

“Not if we don't separate these two,” Tosh replied. “I'm taking John home and I suggest you take Jack away, too. Owen, Kate, can you handle the place for a while?”

"We're good,” Owen called up from the autopsy bay. “Head on out.”

"I'll get Jack home and dump our batch of wild heathens on him so I can rest." Siana draped Jack’s coat over her arm, crossed the Hub and gave Tosh a quick hug. “Take care of him,” she whispered. She watched the other couple leave while offering Jack his great coat and turning to allow him to help her with her own. “Call us if you need us, Owen, otherwise we’re off for the night.”

“Deal,” Kate called back. “Now get out of here.”

Calling their goodnights, Jack led Siana out to the Jaguar, settled her into the car, and circled it to get in. Starting the car, he smiled over at her. “How much did you hear?” he asked softly.

“Enough,” Siana replied. “Take me home, Jack. I need that nap you interrupted.”

Chapter Forty-Two

“Trust me, Tosh,” she said quietly. Siana tugged open the shop door and waved Tosh inside. The tiny Indian shop was hidden between two other larger shops in one of the Cardiff arcades. “Jack wants you to have a proper wedding just as any woman of his family would,” she explained. “You know he considers you his eldest daughter.” She rested her hand on the other woman’s back and propelled her through the door. “In you go, we need to find your bridal outfit.”

“Here?” Tosh asked in shocked disbelief. “I'm supposed to find a wedding dress in a sari shop?”

"Wedding outfit, not dress." Siana smiled encouragingly at the other woman. "Remember what I was wearing when I came back with Aimana?"

“That gorgeous outfit?” Tosh asked. She brightened considerably. “That's a wedding dress in the Boeshane?”

“Yep. That it is.” Siana blushed and ducked her head a bit before looking up to smile at Tosh. “It's similar to an Indian salwar kameez which is why we're here."

“So as Jack's oldest I'm going to be married Boeshane-style?” Tosh broke down giggling. “Did anyone tell John about this?”

Siana laughed gaily. “I think Jack's informing my grandfather of this today.” She led the way through the shop to where there were piles of neatly folded fabric waiting to be fashioned into salwars and leghanas. “It's very ritualistic, Tosh,” Siana explained. She sighed softly before smiling at her friend. “Wait until you see the jewelry Jack's getting together for you to wear.”

“All right,” Tosh conceded. “Let's see what we can find here.”

“I have my eye on a few things. I'm thinking something in blue,” Siana murmured. She tilted her head to consider the fabrics and Tosh. “Maybe with silver trim.”

Tosh hummed softly and nodded. “Yes, I'd like that. I used to have a kimono in those colors.” She looked at the shop floor and then back up at Siana. “I want to be beautiful for him, Siana. I want him to look at me and be so dazzled that he doesn't see anyone else,” she trailed off and blushed. “Oh, God. I've gone overboard, haven't I?”

Siana held her fingers a tiny bit apart. “Just a bit.” She smirked at Tosh. “I get the same way about Jack though,” she paused and smoothed her hand over her stomach. Only three months pregnant and she was already showing her pregnancy while Tosh and Jack barely had a bit of a bulge and were a month further along then her. “Anyway, I'm going to play wedding fairy for you and help you out here.”

Siana waved off the shopgirls and set to work sorting the piles of fabric. Definitely not red or orange; not purple, though purple was an option if they couldn’t find a good shade of blue. “Nope, nope, definitely not,” Siana muttered. Near the bottom of the heavy pile of silk netting, she found it. An absolutely beautiful piece of deep blue fabric embroidered with silver metallic threads. She grinned, holding it up to the light, and turned to Tosh. She draped the fabric over Tosh’s shoulder. “This…” she murmured. “This will be perfect.” She turned Tosh toward a nearby mirror. “What do you think?”

Tosh stroked the fabric with the tips of her fingers. She stared at herself in the mirror and smiled. “This is perfect,” she murmured. She shifted the long length of fabric around to get another look and sniffed. “Oh, Siana, it’s perfect.”

Siana grinned and handed over a handkerchief. “Let me make the arrangements to have that made up for you.” She lifted up the fabric and began folding it. “Do you want the pants in blue, silver or striped?”

“Striped, I think,” Tosh replied. “I like the way…” she trailed off for a moment considering. “Can they pleat the pants so the silver flashes as I walk?”

“Yes, they can.” Siana nodded and draped the folded fabric over her arm. “Blue underblouse, blue and silver pants,” she mused. “You’ll be lovely.”

“Can we have the tunic embroidered at the neck and sleeves? Just a little silver.”

Siana considered for a moment. Her own outfit was embroidered with gold and ruby metallic threads. “Of course,” she replied. “Anything in particular you want on it?” She held up her arm to display the fabric. “This is the net fabric for the top. The rest of the outfit will coordinate with it.”

“Can Eirian find some samples of Gallifreyan embroidery in her files?” Tosh asked by way of reply. “I’d like something to honor John’s heritage too.”

Siana tilted her head for a moment while she questioned her Tardis. Despite the distance between the little shop and the Hub, Eirian’s voice was clear. She smiled at the answer she received. “She says she can,” Siana relayed to Tosh. “She’ll put some files on your computer for you to look through. Once you decide what you want, I’ll bring it here for the workers to add to the top.”

“That will be wonderful,” Tosh said. “What else do we need to get?”

Siana laughed at Tosh’s enthusiasm. She was now ready and truly happy to be marrying again. “Well, a lot of the rest can wait until the day of the ceremony.” She started toward the counter where the shop owner was patiently waiting for their order. “Wine, rice, the jewelry,” Siana listed. “I’ll lend you the brazier I bought for when I did the ceremony with Jack.”

Siana leant on the counter, speaking in a rapid fire combination of Welsh, English and Hindi, and finally handed over a credit card when she was certain that the order was noted down correctly. Signing the necessary paperwork, Siana accepted the receipt and card back before turning back to Tosh. She watched her for a moment and saw the moment Tosh realized what else she needed to purchase for the planned wedding.

“Knickers,” Tosh muttered. “I’ll need sexy knickers to match.”

“Very true,” Siana replied with a gay laugh. She confirmed the anticipated completion date with the shop owner and turned Tosh toward the door. “Though let me tell you, Jack didn’t even notice mine. He was too fascinated by…” she trailed off and blushed deeply.

“Spill,” Tosh ordered. “I want details.”

Siana knew she was turning a deeper red as she led Tosh out toward the Jaguar she’d borrowed from Jack. “It was the combination of one piece of jewelry and something I did in response to an idle comment from Jack.” She drew in a breath and let it out quickly. “I waxed, Tosh. Which was a bitch by the way. And wore this tightly cinched belt.” She shrugged one shoulder. “That was when I discovered Jack’s corset fetish.”

“Wax? There?” Tosh looked thoughtful for a moment. “I don’t have much body hair to begin with,” she murmured. “No, maybe not. John…” she trailed off with a blush of her own. “He likes me this way, but he is rather sensitive to perfumes.”

“Yeah, I did. I remember.” Siana smiled reminiscently. “You wouldn’t need to. I only did it because of that comment of Jack’s.” She considered for a moment. “I didn’t know that about John. Perfume, not necessary unless you want it.”

“No, no,” she protested. “I mean he likes them. Always sniffing at things. I want something he can only smell when he’s near me.” Tosh turned a serious look on Siana. “That kind of perfume.”

“Ah,” Siana breathed. “A signature perfume, hmm?” She watched Tosh as they walked. “Like the one I got at the spa?”

“Yes, but….” Tosh trailed off. “Not that one. I noticed that he likes flowers like jasmines and tuberoses. He also likes sandalwood and goes mad over coconut and vanilla.”

Siana stopped walking and leant her head back to think for a bit. The combination of scents Tosh had mentioned sounded familiar. Familiar enough that Siana was pretty certain that she knew a perfume which used that exact combination and, if she was right, there was a shop in this very arcade which carried the perfume. “I think I know just the thing,” she said to Tosh. She grabbed Tosh’s hand and led her through the arcade. “Come’n, I think we can get it at a shop just up here.”

“Since when are you an expert in perfumes?”

“I know everything, Tosh,” Siana retorted. She smirked as she opened another shop’s door. “Remember?”

Tosh laughed, stepped into the shop, and blinked. The scents inside were overwhelming. Intriguing, but overwhelming. She waited for Siana to join her and looked at her in question; however, the younger woman just smiled as she walked deeper into the shop. Tosh wandered slowly, picking up the occasional bottle of perfume to sniff, but never managed to find exactly what she was looking for. She sighed tiredly and blinked almost stupidly when Siana rejoined her with a small bottle.

“Try this,” Siana said. “Go on. Try it.”

“What is it?” Tosh asked. She took the bottle and considered it from every angle. “Siana?”

“It’s called Ysatis,” she said. “Just smell it and tell me if that’s what you were thinking of.”

Shrugging, Tosh opened the perfume, sniffed and smiled. “Siana!” she gasped while grinning. “That’s it exactly. How did you…?”

“Don’t worry about that,” she laughed. “Let’s get you a bottle as well as the things that coordinate with it. I’m certain John will enjoy it.”

Tosh just grinned at her younger friend. As much as she missed Ianto, she was coming to enjoy Siana’s company. She followed her to the counter to finish up here and nudged Siana with her elbow. “What next?” she asked when Siana looked questioningly at her. “Jack gave us the whole day off.”

“Baby shopping,” Siana replied. “I do have three babies to prepare a nursery for. Thankfully we finally finished moving Gray up to the second floor so I just need to repaint his old room and get furnishings. So, we need to start picking out things.”

“Oh,” Tosh shook her head. “We need to do that, too.” She grinned over at Siana. “Mothercare from here?”

“Definitely,” Siana replied. “Then we can head back and bug our respective men.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tosh agreed.

Chapter Forty-Three

Laughing and smiling, Tosh and Siana reentered the Hub hours after they’d left. Both women were pleased with their purchases as well as the ideas they’d acquired for the respective nurseries. Tosh had decided on a cream and chocolate color scheme paired with traditional cherry wood furniture. Siana, on the other hand, chose an angelic theme in antique butter cream, pale yellow, and cornflower blue to create a more fanciful nursery for what everyone was referring to as the triplets. The furniture was ordered from the manufacturer all they needed to do was paint the rooms in question.

They bounced over to the sofa, settled on it with matching sighs, and smiled at each other. Siana looked up, grinned and yelled, “Hey, Kate, come here.” They waited for her to get closer before Siana continued excitedly, “We found the material for Tosh’s bridal outfit today.” She waved an envelope in the air. “Want a look?”

“Of course!” Kate joined them on the sofa listening intently as Siana excitedly explained what they’d ordered, the colors and the reasons for it. “It sounds delightful.”

Tosh watched as Jack and John wandered over. John was grumbling about the wedding plans. Tosh slipped off the sofa, eased around Kate and joined John by the water tower. “If it bothers you,” she murmured. She rested a hand on his arm and swallowed down her disappointment. “We can do something else.”

John looked at her and shook his head. He bent down and pressed a kiss to Tosh’s temple. He rubbed his cheek on her hair and hugged her to his side. “I’m happy if you’re happy, Сакана,” he murmured. “I just can’t let Jack know I’m comfortable with this.”

“You’re as much of a brat as he is,” she replied. She smiled up at him, chuckling for a moment, and then turned serious. “Are you certain its okay? I mean….”

“It’s fine,” he reiterated. “Truly. If Jack wants you to wed in the manner of his tribe, then we’ll do it.” John stroked the back of his fingers over her cheek. “We’re all ready married, Toshiko. You wouldn’t have conceived the baby if we weren’t bonded.” He laughed softly when she stared up at him with wide-eyes. He bent closer, whispering, “You accepted me not just into your body, Сакана, but your mind. That psychic bond is the basis of a Gallifreyan marriage.” He nodded in response to her surprise. “I may have retired from being a Time Lord, but I’m still alien. So…” he trailed off, shrugged, and then yelped when she smacked him in the chest with the back of her hand.

“You mean you had the nerve to… to… marry me without telling me?”

“You agreed, Tosh!” he answered quickly. “I asked, remember?”

“And what exactly did you ask, John?” she crossed her arms and tapped one foot at him.

John shoved a hand through his hair. This wasn’t how this conversation was supposed to go. “You expect me to remember?” he asked in surprise.

“Aaarrrrgh!” Tosh growled. “Just for that, mister, not only are we going to get married according to Jack's tribal customs but I'm going to ask him to pick the longest, most elaborate ceremony!”

“Tosh....” John trailed off and considered for a moment. “Oh, that's fine! Great even!” He smiled at her and muttered softly to himself, “At least I'm not banished to the sofa.”

“Don't tempt me!” She relented and kissed him softly. “I do love you, you maniac.” She leant against his side and smiled up at him. “And have you thought about baby names like I asked you to?”

He sighed relieved. “Dona, if you don’t mind.” John tilted his head to consider her for a moment. “For Donna Noble.”

“Ah,” Tosh replied. “Middle name… Ami. It’s Japanese for ‘beautiful blossom’.” She smiled up at him. “Does that sound good to you? Dona Ami?”

John thought about it for a moment. “Donami,” he said quietly. “I like it.”

“Um, love, it’s Dona Ami.”

“That’s what I said, Donami,” John replied.

“Hey, Tosh, be happy. If he had insisted on a Gallifreyan name, you'd still be saying it. He used to travel with one everyone called Romana but it took two lines of script to write down her name.

John twisted about to snarl softly at Jack. “It was Romanadvoratrelundar, and if we want to talk about names...”

“Never mind, Doc,” Jack quickly interrupted. He raised his hands in surrender. There was no way in hell he was allowing the Doctor to let out the secret of his real name. “I like Donna Ami too.”

"I'm glad you agree, Jack."

Tosh quickly stepped between the two men before they could get involved in another one of their snark wars. “Did you find anything interesting in the Interpol art theft records, Jack?”

“I did indeed,” Jack replied. He smiled at her. He recognized the diversion for what it was. “Summary is on your desk. None of the pieces have been sold anywhere and the one that was out of the country was the first one stolen."

“I have an idea,” Tosh began. “I'm going to run the shapes and dimensions of the missing pieces through some of the art databases to see if we can find them. Tommy drew up several variations of the fragments, since we don't know exactly what they look like.”

"Sounds like a plan, Tosh,” Jack agreed. “Think we can find them?"

“Depends on whether they were bought by legitimate buyers or whether the owners want to be identified. But I think we can make a start. I'm going to ask Andy to start collecting names.”

“Go ahead, but remember to rest,” Jack ordered. “Don't get caught up in the search and forget."

"Jack, nobody lets me forget around here!" She exclaimed. She started away toward her desk after a final kiss for John. Both men heard her mutters as she moved away. The words weren’t clear but they were able to pick up her complaints about them thinking her breakable and being silly. She looked back at them; both of them having followed to watch her get started and growled at them. “Now go do something else and let me get to work.”

Jack pouted at Tosh, shrugged at John and crossed the few feet separating Tosh’s desk from the break sofa. He leant a shoulder on the tiled wall, crossed his arms, and settled in to watch Siana work on her baby shopping list.

“Go away and do something, Jack,” Siana complained. “You’re breathing down my neck.”

“But!” Jack protested. He continued to pout down at Siana.

“But nothing,” Siana replied. “Go do something productive.” She looked up at him from her list. “Somewhere else! We’re not hothouse flowers. You’re just as pregnant as we are and you don’t see us bitching at you to rest all the time.”

Jack pouted one last time before chuckling. He straightened away from the wall, bent to kiss Siana’s temple, and headed out of the main room for the shooting range. He could always practice his aim for a while until Owen realized where he was and came down insisting he get away from the gunpowder smell.

Siana heard Jack leave the room. She sat for a bit longer, silently observing the Hub while pretending to work on her lists. Everyone was suitably busy. This was the perfect time for her to speak to Jack about Gwen. Rising, she closed her book and slipped off into the tunnels to head for the range. Siana waited for a break in the gunfire, slipped into the room, and mentally tapped Jack to get his attention. “Hey, Jack,” she said when he turned to her. “We need to talk.”

“What about?” Jack asked cautiously. Lately whenever Siana used that phrase, he felt about two feet tall after the conversation. It always meant he was in trouble.

“Gwen.”

Jack growled in his throat and slapped his gun down on the table. He removed his safety glasses and ear protectors. “I don’t think so,” he snarled in reply.

“We need to talk about her.” She sighed tiredly. Keeping this secret from him had been completely exhausting. She closed the range’s door and leant back against it. “I've been going over to talk to her. She's been helping me, Jack."

Jack’s jaw dropped in shock. “Since when?” he asked. He was barely able to control his shock at the knowledge that Siana was going to visit Gwen.

“Months, Jack,” Siana replied. “Since the day you told me I was pregnant in fact.”

“Why, Siana?” Jack struggled to keep his temper under control. The last thing either of them needed was a fight of any kind. “After what she did to Misha, to her own children...” he trailed off, staring hard at his mate. “How could you?”

“I needed to talk to someone who wasn't involved in things. Who wouldn't question me or worry about me.” She shook her head. “She just let me talk, Jack. No questions... just let me talk about the things I remembered. I needed that.”

Jack rested his hands on the table and thought about this for a while. “All right, maybe I understand that.” He looked up to stare intently at Siana. “But Gwen? She was always trying to fix people's lives for them. Quietly listening doesn't seem her style.”

“She's learned since she's been there,” she replied. She laughed softly. “I want us to sponsor her university studies with an eye toward her taking over as Flat Holm's staff psychologist when she's done.”

“That good?” he asked somewhat thoughtfully. He thought about it some more and then nodded to Siana. “Yes, I think I’d like that. I want her happy. I want our Gwen back, even if things can never be the same.”

“I was hoping you’d agree.” Siana inclined her head to him. “She’s coming back, Jack. Our Gwen’s still there, but she knows it won’t be completely the same either. We’ve all changed too much.”

“Do you need me to do anything?”

"Just co-sign the authorization papers as second in command.” Siana smiled over at him. This, getting Jack to agree, was a weight off her shoulders. If he could agree to this, then the road was paved for a future reconciliation between the two most stubborn adults Siana knew. “She'll be listed as a detached agent. Torchwood will pay for her schooling once she decides on where."

“All right,” Jack agreed.

“Thanks, Jack.” Siana quickly crossed the room to hug him. She tangled her hands in his hair and pulled him down for a kiss. “I know you aren’t happy with everything, but thanks.”

Jack deepened the kiss. They’d gotten creative when it came to their sex lives now that they were both getting bigger, but they were managing. The irritating beep of the intercom interrupted their potential moment. Jack growled softly, but reached over to acknowledge the call. “Yeah?”

“Jack, sorry to interrupt practice, but I’ve found a dozen possibilities for pieces of the manifold. You want to come up and check them?”

Siana sighed as Jack acknowledged the request. They kissed one last time before Siana pulled away. “Work to do,” she murmured as she took Jack’s hand to head back up to the main level in order to hear Tosh’s report.

Chapter Forty-Four

Jack propped himself up with pillows in the bed to watch Siana sleep. She was huge. Bigger than both he and Toshiko, yet she still had more than a month of pregnancy left. The manifold search was getting more and more frustrating. They knew the unknown buyer had six pieces while they managed to find five large pieces and a dozen smaller fragments. Despite the progress, they were no closer to finding the thief or knowing exactly how many pieces the manifold was in. Or even who the actual buyer was for the thing. The only good thing to come out of that search, John had found a perfect Tardis engineer in Tommy. Or so the elder Time Lord claimed.

Tommy was slowly reverse engineering the manifold from the pieces they had in their possession, John’s knowledge of Time Lord mechanics and Siana’s sketches of the piece from her own memories of it. It was strange to see the manifold being put together out of standard twentieth century metals rather than futuristic alloys. Under John and Eirian’s tutelage, Tommy had gone from a quiet, almost shy boy to a confident young man. It was fascinating to watch.

Jack resolved to speak to John in the morning before he approached Tommy directly. He wanted to send Tommy to Cardiff University’s School of Engineering. If he was that good with just his instincts and casual instruction from John and the Tardis, then the young agent would be magnificent with formal training. Torchwood was already paying for one agent to attend university – Gwen was due to start at the University of Glasgow with the January session – and Jack saw no reason why they couldn’t extend the same courtesy to Tommy at Cardiff University.

A soft sound from Siana brought Jack’s attention back down to his mate. He reached down to stroke his fingers over her back and shoulders in order to soothe her back into sleep. While Siana still had nightmares, she’d started sleeping much more soundly since John, Andy and Tommy had found the last of the directors of the honey trap program. She’d struggled with the knowledge that the man was punishing himself far harder than Torchwood ever could as he’d turned to the church, becoming an avowed contemplative monk.

Jack knew he should wake Siana. There was a busy day ahead, but she was sleeping so peacefully he didn’t have the heart to wake her. Still, he knew he needed to wake Siana to begin what would be a very long day as they saw their Toshiko married to John. Luckily before Donami was born, though from the grumbling Jack had been telepathically picking up from Toshiko's baby lately, he fully expected the baby to make her appearance in the middle of the ceremony. Chuckling to himself, Jack shifted down on the bed to gently kiss Siana. He reached down and rubbed his palm over her stomach. He felt the twins shift beneath his hands. He slid further down in the bed, pressed his lips to Siana’s stomach, and murmured, “Come on, canaskim. Help me wake Mommy.”

Their daughter, smaller but much more impish than her brother, was more than willing. Olwen shifted her position in her mother’s womb and landed a solid kick on Siana’s bladder. Dylan, not to be outdone, proceeded to shove an elbow into Siana’s diaphragm.

“Oh!” Siana gasped. “Must you two do that?”

Jack chuckled as Siana rolled onto her back and glared up at him.

“You know, if I was as mean as you, I’d get Seren to kick you in the bladder,” she grumbled. “Now get up and help me out of bed. You didn’t gain anywhere near as much weight as me.”

Jack laughed gaily, rolled off the bed and held out his hands to Siana. “Our babies like me,” he explained. “So she wouldn’t hit me anyway.”

“Wanna bet?” Siana replied. She took a moment to rest a hand on Jack’s stomach before letting Jack pull her to her feet. “We’ve got a lot to do today. Our Tosh is getting married and I want things perfect.”

“You sound like she’s your daughter,” Jack replied. He wrapped his arms around his mate and smiled. He pressed a gentle kiss to Siana’s lips. “I dread what you’ll be like when our actual daughters get married.”

“I will be the mother-in-law from hell,” Siana replied with a smile. “I want our girls to have the weddings of their dreams.” She sighed softly. “All goes well; by the time they want to marry I’ll be male again.”

They stared at each other in silence. Neither was willing to say more. They’d all searched the Archives repeatedly yet found nothing. The descriptions of recent finds told them what the Doctor needed to return Siana to her male body was somewhere in the Hub. It was finding it which was the problem. Both of them sighed before Siana grabbed Jack’s hand and led him into the en-suite for a shower. No sooner had they stepped under the water than Jack was doubling over with a groan.

“Little brat!” he growled. “She just kicked me in the bladder.” Then he pouted as he realized Siana was giggling softly. “And you put her up to it.” He kissed Siana before stepping out to take care of business.

Soon they were dressing. Jack in his usual 1940s getup while Siana took the time to dress in a deep golden orange outfit which would have been perfectly at home on the Boeshane. Jack stared at her for a long moment before enveloping her in his arms and kissing her deeply and stroking her cheek. “You look beautiful, cariad,” he murmured. “Thank you for doing this.”

“If you think I look good, just wait until you see the rest of the clan,” Siana murmured.

She took Jack’s hand and led him into the lounge of the Hub flat. She walked backwards so she could see Jack’s expression when he saw the rest of the family. From Tosh in her blue and silver kirmigelinlik with the silver and sapphire jewelry Jack had created for her to Kate in copper and brown to the surrounding children in their Boeshane style holiday finery. Jack raised an eyebrow as he realized even Rhys, Andy and Owen were dressed Boeshane style. “I feel underdressed,” he murmured.

“Well, isn’t it a good thing I have a great eye?” Siana replied. She nodded to Gray who pulled out a paper wrapped parcel which he offered to Jack. “All you need to do is change then we can head down.”

Jack threw his head back with a laugh. He nodded, took the parcel, and headed off to change. “Be right back,” he called behind him as he headed back into the bedroom. It didn’t take him long at all to toss off his usual gear and slip into the clothing of his youth. What took longest was him staring at himself in the mirror and realizing he looked like the patriarch of a canaşiret. He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering all the lessons he’d had as a child, before opening them again and taking a deep breath. He smiled at his reflection and headed into the lounge again, stepping inside to the applause of his children, and nodded to them. He knelt to catch his current youngest as Aimana came running across the room to fling herself at him with a constant scream of ‘Daddy’. Shifting her to his hip, Jack rose to his feet and shook his head. “Andy, why are you fidgeting?” he asked. “No one's going to notice you with these beautiful women around us.”

“And thank God for that,” Andy snarked right back. “Because I feel a right berk dressed up like I'm going to go hiking in the Sahara!”

A chorus of laughter answered Andy’s complaint as all the children, Siana and Kate broke up at his complaint. Even Tommy was chuckling when Owen snarked, "Yeah, where's the camels?”

Jack shook his head, handed Aimana to Kate, and waved a hand. “Come’n men, we have a groom to find,” he ordered. He smiled at Siana. “Can I trust you to manage to get Tosh to ‘camp’?”

“We’ll be there before you,” Siana grinned. “I think he’s hiding.”

Jack shook his head again and headed off with the guys. Siana nodded in response to Gray’s questioning glance. She knew that her oldest child felt more like a young adult, even if he was only ten, then one of the children. Siana made a note to ask Jack if there was a ritual to denote the transition form child to young adult which they should do for Gray. Letting Misha and Ceri take the lead the women headed off to the transformed shooting range.

Siana stepped around the group to unlock the door and pushed it open for the rest of the group to head inside. She seated Tosh on the small raised dais, settled closer to the brazier herself and smiled. She knew Jack’s jaw would drop when he saw the room. Stripped of its usual accessories and draped in heavy canvas to conceal the walls before brighter silks covered them and elaborate carpets covered the floor. It looked like the inside of a tent, elaborate, yet easily put away for travel or everyday living. It had taken months of patient work to find everything they needed and hours of work by Rhys, Andy and Owen under Eirain’s demanding supervision to get the look they wanted. Now, she just had to wait for Jack.

“Amansin!” Jack gasped. “Ilâherica… how…?”

Siana smirked as she watched him stand in shocked silence in the doorway for a good solid minute before Gray gently shoved him into the room. Jack staggered the few steps necessary to get out of the way and stared about him for several more minutes before joining Siana by the brazier. Leaning over, Jack whispered, “Thank you, bensevgili. You didn’t need to do this.”

“Yes, I did,” she murmured back. “Now, help Toshiko get properly married.”

Chapter Forty-Five

Finished changing into her current favorite comfort clothes, Siana settled on the edge of the bed and smiled at Jack. “It went well, I think,” she said quietly. She reached over to rub Jack’s stomach. “Even if you spent most of the afternoon looking like you had indigestion.”

“It was nice,” Jack agreed. He shifted on the bed, grimacing, and rubbed a knuckle into the small of his back. “Gray egging Andy on to join in the dancing has to be one of the highlights. I just hope you didn’t cover the CCTV cameras while setting things up. A video of everything would…”

“I didn’t,” Siana interrupted with a smile. “Tommy insisted on leaving the cameras exposed. He’s going to put together a video for Tosh and John as a wedding gift. Should I tell him we want a copy as well?”

“Please,” Jack replied. His answering smile quickly shifted to a frown. He shifted again. This backache just wouldn’t go away. He debated asking for a backrub when a particularly bad pain caused him to grit his teeth and grunt in response to it.

“Are you okay?” Siana asked quickly. She reached for her mobile even as she anxiously waited for his answer.

“Ye…” Jack broke off mid-word. “Maybe not.”

“What!”

“I think the baby’s coming now,” Jack replied. He forced himself to remain in one position rather than curl up around his stomach. “It’s been a while, but I’m certain that was a proper contraction.”

"Seren can't be born now!” Siana protested. “I'm the only one here!"

“Nevertheless...” Jack snarked back. He attempted to get up.

Siana stared at Jack for a long moment, whimpering. “I gotta call Owen,” she rushed the words out. She dialed the phone one handed while forcing down her urge to panic.

“Yes,” Jack replied reasonably. Now that he knew for certain the source of the backache, he was a lot calmer. He was able to focus on what needed to be done to deliver his daughter even as he attempted to get Siana to focus through her own panic at the situation. “Then you can help me back to the firing range.”

With the mobile pressed to one ear, Siana stared intently at Jack. That request didn’t make any sense at all. She blinked and, feeling somewhat stupid, asked, "Why do you want to go there?"

“Because it's the only place that has enough unobstructed space for the pacing and bracing beams on the ceiling for the ropes,” Jack explained.

“Right… whatever...” Siana mumbled while getting up. She wondered why the mobile wasn’t being picked up, pulled it from her ear, and dialed again. This time she paged Kate instead of attempting to call. All the while, she endeavored to look like she understood the explanation.

“Ianto,” Jack began patiently. “It's all right. I know what to do. So does Kate. Just trust me to know.”

“Right,” Siana nodded. “I'll just get you down there and let Kate handle it.”

“Oh no, Mr. Jones,” Jack growled back. “You’re the one who got me pregnant. You're going to stay around for every sorry minute.”

“I didn't say I was leaving,” Siana hastened to explain. “I said I was letting Kate handle it.”

“That's better,” Jack grumbled. “Fuck… Ouch. We better get down there now, Ianto.”

“Well, come on then.” Siana hauled Jack off bed. “I paged Kate she wasn't answering.” She wrapped an arm around Jack’s waist to steady him as they moved through the flat and out into the Hub. They had to pause every few feet to let Jack breathe through another contraction. It took far too long for Siana’s peace of mind to climb down the stairs from the gantry to the main floor and then down the internal stairs to the tunnel where the shooting range was located.

Supporting Jack with one arm, Siana fumbled the range door open. Inside, nothing had been cleaned up from the wedding yet. There were still piles of cushions everywhere amongst the debris of the post-wedding party. They made their way across the range to the pile of pillows they’d just abandoned an hour before after the wedding. She settled Jack on the cushions as comfortably as she could and knelt down beside him. “What else do you want me to do?”

Jack hissed in a breath, held it through the next pain, and released it slowly before answering Siana. “You need to get a long length of rope,” he began. “Bring it down and throw it over the support beam there.” Jack pointed toward one of the central beams crossing the range. “Tie the ends together in a large knot. Don’t worry about securing it to the beam, looping it over is fine.” He broke off for another contraction. They were coming closer together then he would like but there was no pressure to push yet so Seren hadn’t completely settled in for the delivery. “Once that’s done, pile up some of the cushions beneath the beam and cover them with towels.”

“Okay… okay…” Siana replied. She rushed about the room as quickly as she could manage at eight months pregnant to complete Jack’s requests. Rope was easy to acquire. All the fabrics lining the range were draped over long lengths of rope, so a few tugs and a twist and one rope. Siana rolled it up, moved to the indicated beam and debated a bit before tying the end of the rope around a mug and using that as a counterweight to pull the rope over the beam. That done, she unwound it, tied it in the requested knot and left the rope to hang while she moved cushions around the place.

Pausing in her work, Siana tugged out her mobile to again dial Kate. She tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear, listening to it ring, and went back to tugging cushions around the range. The line finally connected, Kate’s London accent sounding amazingly chipper. “Kate!” Siana wailed into the mobile. “Jack’s in labour!”

“I got your message, dear,” Kate said. “I’m almost there.”

“We’re in the firing range,” Siana whimpered into the mobile. She tossed the last cushion on the pile and looked at Jack for approval.

“Siana… Ianto… it’s going to be all right,” Kate spoke reassuringly. “Really. It’s going to be fine. Take a deep breath and do whatever Jack asks you to. I’ll be there in two minutes.”

Siana took several deep breaths, nodding, and murmured, “Yes, Kate.” She disconnected the call, took another breath and turned to Jack. “Okay, what do you need me to do? Kate says she’s almost here.”

“Help me back up,” Jack ordered patiently. He knew his mate was on the border of a major panic attack. Once on his feet, he deliberately leant on Siana’s shoulder. “I need to walk. It’ll make labor progress faster.”

“What’s the rope for?” Siana asked curiously.

“Balance,” Jack murmured. “And leverage. It’s easier for me to deliver a baby while squatting.”

“But women are supposed to have babies lying down!”

Jack turned a dirty look on Siana. “Do I look like a woman to you?” he asked with a soft growl. He gave Siana a pointedly surveying look as they turned to make another circuit of the cleared space in the range.

“But!” Siana sputtered. “But…”

“Ianto,” Jack said patiently. “Just help me and I’ll explain.”

“I did… I am,” Siana replied. She was clinging to the things Jack asked of her as a way to keep from falling part in a panic. “Put the rope over the beam. Stacked the cushions beneath, yep,” she rattled off. “Oh, shit… forgot the towels.” She shifted from beneath Jack’s arm, waited a moment to be certain Jack had his balance and started for the door. “Need to get the towels.”

“Siana! Ianto!” Jack yelled. He waited for the moment she looked back at him. “We’re next to the gym. Just go there and get some towels from the showers.” He reached out, grabbed the hanging rope and clung to it while another contraction hit.

“Right… okay,” Siana nodded. She waddled off as fast as she possibly could to find the towels. She stacked up as many as she could carry and rushed back to Jack. She found him lying on the pile of cushions by the rope he’d requested. She knelt down by him and sat the stack of towels within easy reach. “You okay?”

“I’m in labor,” Jack snapped. “What do you think?” He sighed and shook his head. “Come here, Siana,” he urged, holding a hand out to her. “Please?” When Siana got within reach, Jack pulled her down until she rested against his shoulder. He was completely unsurprised when she hid her face in his neck and whimpered softly. “It’ll be all right, I promise,” he murmured to her. “We can do this, Ianto. Just take some deep breaths for me and relax.”

“I have no idea what to do, Jack,” Siana murmured. “I'm fat. I waddle. And I can't really do a damned thing to help you. If I was male, at least I could pretend to know what to do and go make coffee or boil water or something."

Jack laughed softly. “You do know the reason why men boiled so much water was because the women wanted them out of the way, right?” He nudged her around to kiss her. “You can help me a lot. All I need is for you to rub my back from time to time and to help me walk when I need to. Come on, help me to the rope and I'll explain.”

“Okay.” She helped him up and the few steps to where the rope hung waiting. “I’m sorry I’m falling apart.”

“I’d be worried if you weren’t, love.” Jack smiled at his mate. He grabbed the rope in both hands and clung to it. “Remember, I’m from a colony world. Yeah, it’s the technologically advanced future, but it was still a colony world. We were more interesting in surviving than all that tech.” He laughed softly. “So a lot of things went back to very ancient ways. Women tended to other women. Extended families lived together. And the oldest methods of childbearing came back.”

“I should have known,” Siana nodded. “A traditional method of having babies.”

“For me, it’s part tradition and part health,” Jack acknowledged. “Men are narrower in the hips than women. I need even more help from gravity.” He chuckled. “Besides when I lay down my tackle gets in the way!”

Siana collapsed to the floor in giggles. She shook her head, still laughing softly, and smiled up at Jack as he groaned through another contraction. The sound of the door opening drew both of their attention. Siana’s smile widened as she struggled up to greet Kate. “Kate. You’re here!”

“Well, Jack,” Kate said by way of greeting. She entered the room with her kit in hand. “You and Tosh have timing issues to work out. You only get me, Jack. Owen’s dealing with Tosh upstairs.”

Siana laughed again. She ducked Jack’s halfhearted smack in favor of hugging Kate tightly. “I am so glad you are here!” She stepped back and waited attentively for orders from the medic.

“I’m certain Jack could have managed without me,” Kate replied. She took Siana’s arm, led her over to Jack, and urged her to sit. Setting her kit down, she flipped it open and turned her attention to her actual patient. “All right, Jack,” Kate wrapped her arm around him and took his weight. “How far do you think you are?”

“It won’t be long,” he replied.

“Well, let’s get these trousers off then,” Kate said with a nod. “Lay back and let me check and we’ll decide from there.” Kate let Siana strip her husband while she walked over to a nearby sink, washed up, and pulled a pair of gloves out of the kit. Slipping them on, she knelt down and began a gentle examination of Jack. She started with a palpitation of his distended stomach before shifting her attention to a very careful internal pelvic exam. She raised an eyebrow at her findings and shook her head. “Well, good news, you’re fully dilated and ready to deliver.”

“I know that phrasing,” Jack muttered. “What’s the bad news?”

“Your membranes haven’t ruptured yet,” Kate said. She reached over and picked up a long metal instrument shaped not unlike a crochet hook. “I can rupture them which will likely speed the labor along,” she smiled at Jack. “It’s not required, but I would recommend it.”

Jack closed his eyes for a moment and then nodded. “Do it,” he ordered. “I hate not being able to have painkillers, so anything to speed this up would be nice as long as it doesn’t harm Lahini.”

“Seren,” Siana corrected. “And you know you metabolize painkillers too quickly for them to do any good.”

Jack just glared at Siana as Kate did what was necessary. Then, he groaned hoarsely. “Oh, fuck,” he clenched his hands on the cushions beneath him and panted. “I need to…”

“I know, Jack,” Kate said. She tossed down the instrument, shifted back and nodded to him. “Siana, help Jack balance while he positions himself. It won’t be long now at all.”

Siana scrambled across the now damp cushions to kneel behind Jack. She helped him up and let him rest back against her. She wrapped her arms around Jack and pressed a kiss to the side of his neck as he crouched over the towels Kate was spreading over the cushions. Every groan that slipped from Jack had her clenching her jaw and whimpering softly. “Kate, I want drugs,” Siana said, leaning around Jack to look at the doctor. “Got that.”

“Not now, Siana,” Kate muttered absently. She positioned herself, looked up and nodded to Jack. “Whenever you and she are ready, Jack, I’m ready to catch.”

Jack gritted his teeth, pushing hard with every contraction. He snarled softly. “Out, damned child,” he muttered. “I know it’s warm and comfy inside, but there’s no more room for you.” He would pause to drag in a breath, grit his teeth and groan as he bore down to have the baby. “Out,” he ordered. “I am so glad I have small babies… this is hell!”

“You do realize that the next one you carry will likely be bigger,” Kate explained even as she gave a soft triumphant cry. A cry echoed by Seren as she protested being born. The baby’s screams echoed throughout the shooting range, but quieted to whimpers as Kate quickly wrapped her up in a spare towel. Siana accepted the baby, cradling her against her breasts, while Kate helped Jack through the last stages of the childbirth.

Siana shifted over to a different pile of cushions to unwrap Seren. She minutely examined the baby, counting fingers and toes, and smiling at the tiny wisp of dark curls on her head. Sleepy blue eyes stared up at her while a small red mouth pouted at her. “Beautiful, Jack,” she murmured, feeling the cushions shift as Jack settled carefully beside him. “She’s so beautiful.”

“Yes, she is,” John breathed as he entered the room. He looked up at soft laughs and shook his head. He moved exaggeratedly slowly. He was terribly afraid that he’d drop the precious bundle in his arms. An embarrassed smile settled on his lips as he looked over at Jack and Siana. “Ianto, I mean Siana, my wife wanted me to bring our daughter down for you to meet.”

“Come meet your great-granddaughter,” Siana replied. She went back to staring at her newest child with what she was certain was a dopey smile.

“Hey,” Jack pouted. “Why am I being ignored here?”

“You’re being ignored because you just bounced back from this as if you were never pregnant,” Kate interjected from where she was still cleaning up the birthing mess. “And pretty babies make men silly.”

“You're my great-grandchild's mother, Jack,” John replied. “And my grandson's husband. And you're still the prettiest thing in the room. There. Feel better?”

“Immensely,” Jack snarked. “Now let me see Dona."

“I think she looks like Tosh,” John murmured. He knelt down and handed his tightly swaddled daughter over to Jack. “Has her mother’s eyes.”

Jack took the baby and cradled her against his chest. He considered the sleeping baby and nodded. “Better than looking like you.”

“Oi!” John protested. “I take it back. You’re not the prettiest thing in the room. Our daughters are.”

“I can agree with that one.” Jack laughed heartily. “They are beautiful.”

“All right, people,” Kate interrupted the mutual admiration society developing. “Let’s get these girls fed and comfortable. Their mothers, too.”

Jack took a moment to press a kiss to Dona’s forehead. He murmured a soft, barely audible prayer before handing her back to John. “Okay, Doc, take her up to Tosh. I’m certain Owen’s done whatever he felt he needed to do without you there.” He grinned at John’s affronted look. “We’ll be up in a bit.”

Chapter Forty-Six

Siana settled on the office sofa and accepted Seren from Jack. Even at three days old, Seren was a demanding child and knew just how to get attention from her parents and siblings. Currently, she was screaming her head off wanting to be fed. Her cries had woken Donami who was also demanding to be fed. Siana cradled Seren against her and sucked in a breath as the baby settled in to nurse. The dip of the sofa behind her, as well as arms sliding about her waist, told Siana that Jack had settled in for the duration. They’d discovered that these moments where they fed the baby were some of the most peaceful of their day.

Siana squirmed backwards, settling comfortably against Jack’s chest, and sighed. She looked down at Aimana playing on the office floor. She just watched their daughters, one daughter playing while the other ate greedily. Swallowing, she murmured, “I know you want Tommy as one of Seren’s godparents. Did you ever decide on the other?”

“No,” Jack said quietly. “Why?”

“How about Andy?” Siana asked. “I want him to have a position in connection to the children.”

“Not one of yours?” Jack questioned. “I mean…”

“No, Dylan’s godparents are Kate and Owen,” Siana explained. “Our other daughter’s will be Eirian and…” she trailed off before continuing more quietly. “Gwen. I want Gwen for the position. Okay?”

"You really want her?" Jack knew Siana had been seeing Gwen regularly and he could see those long conversations had helped her, and he had read the reports on Gwen's work in Providence Park and at school, but he still wasn't sure he wanted Gwen back in their lives. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Siana said. "I have a feeling Gwen will be good for Olwen and Olwen for Gwen. Don't ask me why."

Jack nodded against her shoulder. “If that’s what you want,” Jack murmured. He kissed the side of Siana’s neck and smiled. “She’d definitely be a good strong female figure for Olwen.”

“A good strong ‘I’ve screwed up and have come back from it’ female figure,” Siana retorted. “All our girls need strong women in their lives, but somehow, somehow this just feels right to have Olwen’s connection be with Gwen.”

“Just one question,” Jack said. “Have you asked Rhys how he feels about all this? Checked with him as to how he feels about Gwen’s new life?”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t want to know,” she replied. She looked back at him for a moment, half-shrugged, and switched Seren from one breast to the other so the baby could finish nursing.

“We'll leave it for now. He needs to get his roots down solid before he's secure enough to deal with it all." Jack hummed softly while he thought. He smiled down at their older daughter and handed Aimana one of the alien learning toys Misha had long ago outgrown. "Talk to Andy. He might want to keep track."

"Will do,” Siana replied. She twisted her neck to smile back at Jack. "Thank you for agreeing."

"I never ignore those sorts of hunches,” Jack replied. “Besides I love you."

"I love you, too." She chuckled softly and sat up a bit. Siana shifted an arm away from Seren to point at their toddler daughter where the little girl was on her hands and knees scrabbling beneath the desk. "Now get down there and get Aimana's toy from under the desk before she throws a tantrum and wakes the new babies."

Jack sighed, eased out from behind his mate, and crossed the room. He crouched next to the toddler and rubbed Aimana’s back. “Hush, canaski, I’ll get it,” Jack reassured her. He knelt down, peered under the desk, and stretched out a long arm to grab things from beneath the desk. He pulled out a couple of pens, Aimana’s toy and one other piece of tech from beneath the desk. Quietly, he said, “Ianto?”

“Yeah?” Siana shifted Seren onto her shoulder to wind the baby. “What?”

Silently, Jack rose to his feet. He held the toy in one hand and the other round ball in the other. He turned to Siana and silently showed them to his mate.

“Why are you so worried about my paperweight?” She blinked, wrinkled her nose as Seren burped, and then blinked again. “Oh, fuck, my paperweight is the missing Khôngian truyềnay?”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. He handed the toy down to Aimana forestalling the toddler’s tantrum.

“All this time,” she muttered, “and it was on my desk.” She shook her head with a soft blush. “I feel like an idiot.”

“Technically, it was under your desk.” Jack grinned widely. “We need a better cleaning crew.”

“I am the cleaning crew in here,” Siana retorted. “Rhys doesn’t clean our office. And it’s not like I can get down there at the moment.”

“Exactly,” Jack said. He set the tech on the desktop. He fingered it for a moment and swallowed. “What are you going to do?”

Siana blinked at Jack. She shifted Seren from her shoulder, confirmed that the baby was asleep and laid her in her Moses basket. “What do you mean by that, Jack?” she asked in a soft hiss.

"I know you want to go back to Ianto,” Jack replied. “I also know you also want to have the babies. So you need to decide when you will make the change."

“When the babies are weaned,” Siana replied. She sighed softly. “I've been Siana this long, I can wait."

Jack reached out and pulled Siana into his arms. He kissed her deeply. He smoothed his palm down over her breasts to rest on the curve of her stomach. “We have a complicated life, don't we?”

Siana leant into Jack and savored the kiss. She’d been missing the physical side of their relationship for the last few weeks while they were both in the final stages of pregnancy. She moaned softly, broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to Jack’s chest. “Complicated is putting it mildly, Jack,” she complained. “I want the best for our babies... so...” she trailed off, leant her head back and did some swift mental calculating. “Assuming they're weaned, I know what I'm giving you for Christmas next year.” Siana smirked and ran her fingers down the center of Jack’s chest. “But first things first, put that in the secure archives,” she ordered. She pointed at the office safe. “We don't want to misplace it again!”

Chapter Forty-Seven

“So what have we got?” Siana asked. She settled cautiously onto the sofa. Her back ached abominably; however, she knew the pain would ease off again soon. Kate told her she was worrying too much. Sighing softly, she shifted a pillow behind herself and focused her attention on Tommy.

The young agent smiled as he set a large metallic object on the coffee table. “That’s what we have,” he said. “This is the reconstruction of the manifold as your grandfather and you recall it. Not active, of course, but once we have all the pieces I can use this one to rebuild the original from them.”

“Hmm,” Siana hummed quietly. “What’s the status of the search?” She gritted her teeth again. That spasm was worse than the previous one. “Do we have any leads or have we crashed into another brick wall?”

“Andy called from the station. He got some support from the local constabulary and is headed to Mr. Niemczyk’s house. He wants Tommy to meet him there with the SUV,” Rhys said. “He thinks that he’ll be able to catch our elusive cat burglar tonight.” He handed Seren to Siana and watched the young woman closely. As he returned to his seat, he saw Siana flinch as she settled Seren in to nurse. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “Just a back ache.”

“Has Kate or Owen looked at you?” Jack demanded. He turned to the doctors in question. “This is your first pregnancy…”

“She’s fine, Jack,” Owen interrupted before Jack could go off on a lecture. “She’s not in labor yet. Her body’s preparing for it, but she’s not in actual labor. Relax.”

“And I need to go,” Tommy interrupted the conversation. “I promised Andy I’d meet him there once I turned that over to you. Good thing the owners of our potential target trust Torchwood.”

“Who doesn’t?” Jack asked.

“Oh… the half of Cardiff who you’ve driven crazy with your maniac driving,” Tommy retorted. “I’ll call in when I get there.”

“And keep us updated,” Siana ordered. “Jack can coordinate for you since Tosh and I are tied to babies for the moment.”

Tommy nodded, grabbed his jacket, and headed out the door. Luckily no one had yet to turn the alarms back up to full volume so there wasn’t a chorus of screaming babies as he left. Jack rose to his feet after a long look at Siana and took his place at Tosh’s computer. He fitted a comm to his ear and started typing in the commands to connect his unit to the frequency that Andy and Tommy were using to communicate both with Torchwood and their local police backup. Jack thought about it for a moment, rose and grabbed his coat. “I’m going to join them,” he snapped. “Rhys, you know enough to coordinate for us, right? If you can’t, get Kate to do it.”

Siana bit her lip to contain her urge to beg Jack to stay in the Hub. Instead, she quietly watched him bound from the Hub in Tommy’s wake. She listened with half an ear to the slight squabble between Rhys and Kate over who would manage communications. In the end, Rhys won. She laughed softly, but broke the sound off as another spasm wrenched through her back. Stifling a groan, she levered herself up to her feet to carry Seren back up to the Hub flat where the other children were playing quietly under Tosh’s watchful eye.

Siana smiled at Tosh and paused to kiss Donami’s forehead as she headed through the lounge to settle Seren in her travel cot in the bedroom. She stood watching her for a long moment. It was hard to believe the little girl was now two weeks old. Seren didn’t look any bigger than she had the day she’d been born. Siana laughed softly to herself. It would be easy, assuming she gave birth soon, to pass the babies off as a set of triplets despite their disparate birthdates.

Her back cramped again. The pain radiated around to her stomach. Siana reached out to grab one of the bedposts to cling to until it passed. Sighing, she rubbed her stomach until she felt a couple of kicks from twins. Siana sighed tiredly. She would be so glad when they were born. She rested her head against the bedpost for a while before she straightened up and headed back into the lounge. She paused in the doorway, clinging to the frame, and reached up to call Kate on the comms. “Kate? I think this is happening sooner rather than later.”

“I just checked you a few minutes ago,” Kate replied. “I can look again if you’re really worried about it.”

“Please check,” Siana pleaded. “It’ll make me feel better.”

“All right, pet,” Kate replied. “I'll come up and look you over. I'll even bring the monitor to check the babies.”

“Thank you,” Siana replied. She smiled reassuringly at the gathered children though she noted that Gray didn’t return the look. Her oldest was so serious, especially when Jack wasn’t around, and sighed as he scrambled up to his feet. “Gray?”

“Let me help you to bed,” Gray said. He wrapped an arm around her and offered her a hand to cling to. “You’ve not moved in a bit, Tad, and you’re clinging to the doorframe as if it’s the only thing holding you up. So let me help and then I’ll distract the other kids.”

Siana laughed softly, but accepted his help. “Thanks,” she muttered. It took a good five minutes to cross the short space between the door and the bed. It seemed every other step caused a spasm to ripple through her back and lower abdomen. Once seated, she reached up and hugged Gray for a moment. “Do me a favor?” Siana waited for Gray to nod before continuing, “Don’t tell Jack. He’s got enough going on.”

He looked like he’d protest, but finally he nodded to her. “All right,” he conceded. “I don’t like it, but all right.” Gray rose, nodded to Kate as his aunt came into the bedroom, and started out toward the lounge. “I’ll keep us out of your hair, Tad.”

Siana groaned softly and tried to smile at Kate. She shifted back on the bed. She was well versed in the routine of monitor belts and exams now. She absently rubbed her distended stomach while Kate settled the actual monitor on the bedside table. Siana smiled as the sound of the twins’ heartbeats echoed in the room. They would race for a moment or two in time with the increasing the back spasms then settle back to their usual rate.

Kate scanned the printouts from the monitor, rested a hand Siana’s stomach and sighed. She gave Siana a rueful smile and a half-shrug. “Heavy contractions, but no fetal stress,” Kate explained. She moved down to the foot of the bed, sat and nodded to Siana. “You know what comes next.”

“I hate this, you know that?” Siana complained as she squirmed a bit to lay flat. She brought her legs up and settled into the position needed. She hissed in a breath as Kate set about doing the necessary pelvic exam. “Well?”

“Yes, you’re right,” Kate conceded. “You are further along then you were two hours ago.” She held up a hand before Siana could say anything. “But… you aren’t in active labor yet. This could taper off in just a bit or it could continue. We just have to wait and see.”

“How long?” Siana demanded. She groaned softly as another contraction rippled through her stomach. “When do we know it’s active labor?”

“If by how long you mean how long labor lasts,” Kate began. “That’s as long as it takes. I’d definitely prefer to have as natural a birth as possible, so no caesarian unless absolutely necessary. We talked about that before.” She smiled at Siana. “As for when you are in active labor, that’s determined by when the cervix has thinned and dilated. Yours has thinned completely, but not dilated yet. So…”

“So we wait,” Siana said tiredly. “All right.” She laid her head back against the pillows. “Don’t tell Jack… he’s so excited about working again.”

“And you don’t want him to hover while nothing’s happening,” Kate said.

“Exactly.” Siana shifted a bit onto her side and reached for the covers. “I’ll just lie here, if that’s okay.”

“Of course, get some rest if you can,” Kate replied. She helped Siana settle the covers over herself. “I’m leaving the monitors so I can keep track of the contractions. If they start increasing in frequency or intensity, I’ll come up and check again.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Jack juggled take away cups between his hands. He finally sat one on the roof of the SUV in order to open the passenger door. He handed one cup across to Andy, grabbed the one off the roof to hand it back to Tommy as he slid into the vehicle. “Don’t tell Ianto about this,” he said as he closed the door. He sipped from the cup he held and groaned appreciatively. “I miss Ianto’s coffee, but he’s refusing to make any as long as he’s pregnant.”

“He does make the best,” Tommy acknowledged.

“I feel like I’m cheating on him,” Jack replied. He didn’t stop drinking the coffee though. He really missed caffeine over the past nine months. “This is nothing like his, but…”

“But you’re going to drink it anyway so be quiet and let me drink mine,” Andy snarked.

Jack pouted, especially when Tommy started laughing at him, but settled back into his seat to drink the Starbucks coffee while watching the building in front of them. It had the potential to be a long boring night, but Jack didn’t care. He was finally allowed to work again. Much to his mate’s disgust, but he was no longer confined to the Hub. Jack reveled in the chance to get out and work. He glanced over at Andy, the detective an expert in stakeouts, and asked, “So, how long will this take?”

"Well, Jack, see when the little hand gets to the big hand...” Andy trailed off and glared at Jack for a moment. He went back to staring out the windshield. “How the hell should I know?"

"You're the expert," Jack replied. "You're supposed to know these things."

“The whole point of a stakeout is to see what happens, you twpsyn,” Andy retorted. He never took his gaze from the building he was watching. “You wait and see. Now shut up and enjoy your…” he trailed off and grinned. “Well, hello there, mister burglar."

Jack growled softly first at Andy, then at the burglar. "How long to we wait before snatching him?" he asked quietly.

“We need to let him get inside the room,” Andy explained. “Once he has his hands on the piece, we'll step in."

"I hate doing things legally." Jack slumped in his seat and sipped coffee. "It's boring."

Andy rolled his eyes. "Just my luck to end up employed by a criminal,” he muttered. He shifted in the driver’s seat in preparation for leaping out after the burglar.

“Technically,” Tommy interjected. “You're employed by Torchwood.”

"Actually, we're all employed by Ianto on behalf of the Crown,” Jack explained. “I just like doing things directly. Ianto likes doing things properly."

“Next time I'll bring ear plugs.” Andy shook his head. He was never doing another stakeout with Jack. “There we go... now...,” he muttered. “Now.”

"Yes!" Jack set his coffee down, scrambled out of the car and started after the burglar.

“Dear God,” Andy groaned. “Tommy, you go down that side street and make sure there's nobody else waiting for our thief. I'll cut through here and trap him between me and Jack.”

"Sure thing." Tommy pulled his gun and rushed off in the indicated direction.

Jack stalked down the street, stepped up behind the burglar and tapped him on the shoulder. He laughed when the man jumped, caught his arm and smirked down at him. "We need to have a talk," he said, then pouted when the burglar tried to run only to crash into Andy. "They always run.”

“Nutters... I work with nutters,” Andy muttered. “You,” he said, tapping the thief on the shoulder, “are under arrest. Let's go."

“I want my solicitor,” the thief demanded. He stared wildly between Andy and Jack.

“I think you're laboring under a misunderstanding,” Andy replied. “We're not the police. We're Torchwood.”

Jack pouted but led the way back to the SUV. "Which means the police will get you when we're satisfied." He opened the back door for Andy to shove the thief inside. He waited for Andy to climb in after the thief before he slammed the door behind the two men. Jack climbed into the driver’s seat, reached for the keys and started the SUV. He waited patiently for Tommy to come running back from the alley. Once Tommy was settled into the passenger seat, Jack roared away toward the Hub.

All his passengers gasped as he roared through the streets back toward the Plass and Jack grinned ferally. He loved the reaction to his driving. It was just such fun to scare them. He’d never yet had an accident he was just that good with the SUV. After dodging asteroids in tiny timeships or Chula warships, driving the streets of Cardiff was ridiculously easy. Squealing into the garage, Jack parked the vehicle and hopped out. He opened the rear door, grabbed the thief’s arm and tugged him out of the SUV.

Jack frog marched the thief through the garage entrance into the Hub’s interrogation room. He didn’t really care if the idiot saw anything that was what retcon was for. He forced the man down into a chair, snapped a cuff on his wrist to secure him, and stepped around to slam his hands onto the table. “Let’s talk,” he growled at the young man.

“I want my solicitor,” the thief demanded. “You have no right to hold me.”

“You weren’t listening, Christian,” Jack snarled. “This isn’t the police station. We can keep you here as long as we want. You. Me. Alone. For as long as it takes.”

“That’s illegal!” Chris protested. “I want my solicitor!”

“You aren't listening, Chris,” Jack snapped. “I can leave you in a cage downstairs at Her Majesty's pleasure, and let you out when you're ninety-four. Understand?

"But! I didn't do anything!"

“Sure, Chris,” Jack said reasonably. “You just broke into someone's house and walked out with his property while sleepwalking. Several someone's houses.”

"You ain't got any proof of that...” Chris snapped back. “I was just out for a walk!"

“You keep making this mistake, Chris. You think we need proof.” Jack smacked his hand down on table. “Evidence is irrelevant, Chris. We have you here, and unless you give us the information we need, here you stay.”

“But!”

“Boss?” Tommy asked cautiously. He took a step back from the glare Jack turned on him.

“No buts, Chris,” Jack snapped. He glared down at the young man. “Let me explain this clearly. You have been stealing items that have little value in the art market. You couldn't sell any of them for more than fifty pounds, not even to an American billionaire. So we know that you're either the stupidest thief in the planet or you're on commission. You're not stupid. Who's paying you for the jobs, Chris?”

Chris shook his head. “Got nothing to say.”

“Tell you what,” Jack said reasonably. He straightened up from the table. “I'm going to leave you here to think about it. You let Tommy here know if you have anything to say.” Jack stalked up from the interrogation room. He came around to stand by the observation glass and smiled at Gray who was watching the room below.

“You, me, alone,” Gray murmured to him. “For as long as it takes.” He shrugged and smirked a bit. “Terrifying.”

“Really?” Jack asked surprised. Something about this conversation seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

“Absolutely,” Gray replied. He looked up at Jack with a small smirk. “Shivers down my spine even.”

“You don’t look scared,” Jack retorted.

“We've heard this one before,” Owen interrupted. He handed a folder to Jack. “It's easy to see who's kid Gray really is.”

Jack growled softly, first at Gray then at Owen, before snatching the paper from Owen’s hand. He shook his head and stalked back down to the interrogation room while reading the printout. Confirmation of Christian’s lies in plain black and white. He slammed the door open, stalked in and slammed the folder onto the table. He perched beside it, fanned the contents out across the table, and snarled, “Plenty of proof here for us to make you disappear.” He leant forward and growled lower, “permanently.”

“I tell you…” Christian trailed off suggestively. “What’s in it for me?”

“Tell us what we want to know, give us the stolen items, and then we’ll bargain,” Jack retorted. “Start talking.”

“Package arrived by courier,” Chris began. “It contained an untraceable cell phone; one of those prepaid ones, and ten thousand pounds. There was a preprogrammed number. I called it. A nice deal was made which would make me another twenty thousand pounds.” He shrugged on shoulder. “It was a very nice deal but I got curious one day and attempted to trace the number.” He laughed. “Everyone has to have some computer skills these days, but this number, it eluded me. It connects to a secure system at 10 Downing Street.” He looked up at the mirror angled against the ceiling before looking back at Jack. “I wasn’t about to go any further. Government people, you know.” Chris glared at Jack. “Hell, you’re government people!”

“The number,” Jack demanded. He listened as Chris rattled off the digits from memory. He nodded, rose, and patted Chris’s shoulder. “Good man. You wait here now.” He left the room again, headed up to the main floor and smiled at Owen who was fumbling his way through the system in an attempt to trace the number. Jack laughed softly when Andy shoved Owen out of the way to do the trace himself.

“This is familiar, Jack,” Andy said even as he typed. “I know I’ve seen it before.” He left the trace running, opened another window, and ran the phone number through the Torchwood’s own databases until the recent references to the number came up. “Son of a bitch,” he hissed.

“Same number, right?” Jack asked. He leaned on the back of Andy’s chair as he watched the information compile on the monitors.

“Same number,” Andy confirmed.

"I know who it is,” Jack snapped.

"Who, Mulder?"

“Her name is Yvonne Hartman,” Jack snarled. “Find out where she is and what she's doing. Give me everything you can on her, Andy.”

"Yes, sir!" Andy snapped. If he could, he would have saluted. As it was, he began running all the traces on the name Jack had given him.

“Now I need to tell Siana.” Jack sighed softly and started toward the stairs. “Owen, give our guest sufficient retcon to forget this entire escapade. Leave him somewhere with a suitable cover story.” He waited until Owen was getting the retcon from the secure cabinets before actually climbing the stairs. He had no real proof, but everything pointed at Yvonne. He was going to confront that bitch now.

Passing through the lounge, he smiled at Tosh and the children before slipping into the bedroom where Siana was resting while being monitored yet again. “Siana,” Jack murmured. He perched on the side of the bed and brushed her hair back. “Cariad, I have no direct proof but a lot of suspicion that Yvonne Hartman is behind the thefts.”

“No, Jack,” Siana protested. She struggled up from her horizontal position. “You can’t confront her.”

“I’ll go with him,” John interjected from the armchair where he was watching over Siana. “I have accounts pending with Little Miss Empire.”

“Jack,” Siana murmured. “Can’t this wait until we have proof?”

“No, it can’t,” Jack retorted. “Yvonne didn’t handle surprises well, you know. We’ve been keeping all we have been doing under wraps.” He leant down and hugged Siana. “It’s time to tell her that both her plots have gone pear shaped in a big way.”

“She doesn’t know about me either,” John added. “I’ve made sure I was well below the Torchwood radar.” He smiled. It was the cold smile of the Oncoming Storm. “It’s time I said hello again.”

“We’ll be back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest,” he said with a smile over at John. He bent forward, brushed Siana’s hair off her forehead, and kissed her gently. “I won’t miss the baby’s birth, I promise.” He stroked her stomach for a moment. “We’re still in wait and see mode, remember?”

"All right,” Siana replied. She sighed softly. “Go ahead, but don't get me in trouble with the Queen, all right?”

Jack grinned happily. He kissed her again before rising. “Promise.” He nodded to John and headed out of the bedroom. He stopped off to hug Toshiko, kiss the top of Donami’s head, and speak briefly to each of the kids. He rose to his feet again as Kate came into the room. He reached out and caught her arm, tugging her back out onto the gantry. “Kate? I know you’re monitoring Siana. She going to be okay for me to head to London?”

Kate tilted her head back to consider for a moment. “First baby,” she murmured. “And twins. She shouldn’t go into labour until tomorrow morning at the earliest.”

“Great,” Jack replied. He kissed Kate’s cheek. “Keep an eye on her for me. You know how to reach me if something changes. I’m heading to London with John. We should be back by midafternoon.” He headed down to the main floor, giving orders as he grabbed his coat and the SUV keys. “Andy, you’re in charge until I get back. Kate, Owen, and Tosh are all busy enough with Siana and the children.” He shrugged into his coat. “Rhys, would it be all right for you to stay here all day tomorrow?” At Rhys’s questioning look, he smiled and explained, “I need you to keep the kids busy and out of the way though none of them are likely to want to be away from their mothers for any length of time.”

Jack took one last look at the team, thinking quickly, and nodded. “I think that’s everything,” he said. He smirked at the Doctor as the older man joined him. “I have my mobile and my comm, if you need us.” He waved toward the garage entrance and headed off with John. They had work to do in London.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Jack strode into 10 Downing Street as if he owned the place. His coat flew out behind him as he stalked through the hallways toward Yvonne’s office. He knew without looking to either side that every eye in the place was on his and the Doctor’s progress through the building. If there was one thing he had plenty of practice at doing, it was making an entrance. He paused before the secretary guarding Yvonne’s office and pasted on his best come-hither smile. “I’m Captain Jack Harkness,” he purred down at the seated woman. “I need to speak to Ms. Hartman immediately.”

“I’ll see if I can find her for you,” she replied. Jack managed, barely, to refrain from chuckling as the woman blushed prettily at him. “If you’d like to wait in her office, I’m certain she’ll be with you directly.”

“Thank you,” Jack murmured. He caught the woman’s hand in his, lifted it and kissed the back. “You’ve been most helpful.”

"Jaaack!" the Doctor drawled.

"I'm only saying thank you!" Jack protested.

"That's bad enough, coming from you!" John retorted.

Jack grinned merrily at the Doctor. Sometimes, only sometimes, he missed the banter with his old mentor. He let the secretary lead the way into the office and smiled at her again. He nodded in response to the woman’s soft assurance that Yvonne would be along directly. As soon as she left the room, he slipped around the desk, sprawled in Yvonne’s chair and propped his feet on a corner of her desk. He reached forward, grabbed the folders off the desktop and started flipping idly through them. “Doc?” he called. “Come look at this.” He handed the folder up to the Time Lord for the other man’s perusal.

“The Valiant plans?” John muttered.

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “What would Lady Stockham’s social secretary being doing with plans for a warship?”

“It’s a special birthday surprise for the Prime Minister,” Yvonne’s cold tones cut across the conversation.

"I don't think so, Yvonne,” Jack bared his teeth at her in a mockery of a smile. He dropped his feet off her desk and leant toward her. “Tell Mrs. Prime Minister to buy her husband a nice set of cufflinks. The moment I leave this office I'm contacting UNIT. There are people there who still remember the Valiant and not with any degree of pleasure.”

“Do you really think that the Prime Minister will deny his wife anything?” Yvonne leant back on her office door and crossed her arms. “Nearly everything done for this country since his election has been at her direction.”

“It doesn't really matter whether he will or not.” Jack folded the papers and put them in his coat pocket. “There's something you had better understand, Yvonne. Torchwood is still here, and this time you're not invited.”

“And if Torchwood doesn't stop you, Ms. Hartman, you still have to deal with me.”

Yvonne stared at the man standing behind Jack. She had been concentrating on the Captain, and hadn't noticed him until he spoke. “You! You're... impossible.”

“No, that's Jack. I'm just improbable.” The Doctor echoed Jack’s mocking smile with one of his own. "Tell me, Ms. Hartmann,” he murmured. “Have you had a chance to talk to your money manager? You know the one that manages those funds you would rather Whitehall accountants didn't find out about? You should. The conversation will be very enlightening."

“He knows to call me if there are any difficulties,” Yvonne retorted. “But since you pointed it out so nicely, I’ll take a few minutes over lunch to speak to him.”

"Maybe he hasn't contacted you because it's hard to explain the loss of several million pounds, as well as the disappearance of his primary contacts in two major projects." The Doctor just smiled politely was he watched Yvonne start to seethe in front of him. He took a couple of steps toward her, freeing up the space Jack needed to rise to his feet, and continued reasonably, “I’m certain you’re familiar with that feeling from your days at the Tower.”

“What have you done?” Yvonne bit out the words in coldly polite tones.

"The honey trap doctors are out of business permanently. If you want to see how, here's the address of the sanitarium where they are being kept." The Doctor handed over a slip of paper. "And as far as the manifold, well, your thief was very forthcoming when we explained to him his choice. Information and all the pieces or a weevil cage at Her Majesty's pleasure."

Yvonne snatched the paper from his fingers with an inarticulate snarl. “Get out,” she ordered. She stabbed her finger toward the office door.

"With pleasure,” The Doctor replied. “But let me offer you some advice. Stay here. Play at being powerful. This sphere will have ample opportunities for you to apply your talents. But stop trying to rebuild your little Empire. There's no place for it in this Universe.

"Just get out before I order you thrown out.” Yvonne again stabbed her finger at the door. “You have no idea the plans you've ruined with this stunt."

“Yvonne, darling, you can't get us thrown out of a bad club.” Jack grinned at Yvonne and flung the door open. “I'm Torchwood, and this time around, not even the Prime Minister has a say in what I do. And as for ruining your plans...” he trailed off for a moment, smirking. “My pleasure. Let's go, Doc."

They stalked back out the way they’d come in, pausing only for a smile of goodbye at the secretary, and again caught everyone’s eye as their coats swept out behind them as they moved through the halls. Jack chuckled softly as he realized all they needed was some suitably dramatic music to look like heroes in some old movie serial. Reaching the ground floor, Jack groaned as his mobile chirruped, the ringtone totally not working with their stalk, and he snatched the handset up to answer. “Harkness.”

“Get your arse back here,” Owen’s voice snarled. He nearly talked over Jack’s greeting. “Siana’s in active labor and progressing fast.”

“Shit,” Jack cursed softly. “Are you certain?”

“Of course I’m certain,” Owen snapped back. “I’m a doctor. Trust me to know what I’m doing. Now get back here.”

Jack was left staring at the mobile as Owen disconnected the call without waiting for an answer. He shut the phone off, tucked it away and reached out to grab the Doctor’s wrist. “We need to go,” Jack said quickly. “Siana’s gone into labor.” He all but dragged John after him toward the entrance to 10 Downing Street and snarled softly as the Prime Minister pulled the door open from the other side.

“Ah, Captain Harkness,” Reise Stockham said. “I hope there’s nothing wrong with Torchwood.”

“No,” Jack replied. He shifted his weight back and forth. “I’m sorry I can’t linger, sir, but my wife’s gone into labor back in Cardiff.” He sighed when Mr. Stockham pointedly looked at his companion. “Oh, this is my wife’s grandfather, Doctor John Smith. He sometimes consults for Torchwood.” Jack waited semi patiently while the two men shook hands. “Doc, this is the current Prime Minister, Reise Stockham.”

“Delighted,” John said. He bounced slightly on his feet as he appraised Mr. Stockham. “Absolutely delighted.”

“Doc,” Jack hissed. He turned to the Prime Minister. “I’m sorry, sir, but…”

“You’re too young to be a grandfather,” Reise said. He tilted his head to one side to consider the two men. “Definitely too young.”

Jack laughed softly. “These days we take them as we find them,” he replied. He gently shoved the Doctor closer to the door. “I’m sorry, sir, but we really do have to go…”

“Yes, of course,” Reise replied. He stepped back out of their way and leant over to hold the door for them. “Go… go… and my congratulations to you and your wife.”

Jack nodded to the Prime Minister, ushered the Doctor out the door and strode briskly toward the SUV where it waited a few feet away under police guard. He nodded to the guard, opened the door and climbed inside. He started the car and glared over at the passenger seat. “Doc!”

“Yeah,” The Doctor fumbled for the door while he looked back at Number 10. Standing on the porch, one hand still resting on the door stood the Prime Minister. Reise Stockham stared back. His gaze was intent, unwavering, and the Doctor couldn’t seem to look away. It was only Jack’s insistent calls tore his attention away from the Prime Minister. He jerked the car door open and climbed into the SUV. “Sorry, Jack,” John apologized. “There was just something…” He craned his neck to stare again at the Prime Minister as they roared away toward Cardiff.

Chapter Fifty

“Did you get in touch with him?” Siana demanded as Owen returned to the infirmary. She clutched at the bedding beneath her as another contraction tightened her abdominal muscles. “Owen!”

“Yes,” Owen replied distractedly. He crossed over to stand by the raised medical bed and checked the monitoring equipment. He made a note on the clipboard beneath the monitor before flipping pages to read Kate’s notes. “I called him. He’s on his way back.”

“Tell me I can have drugs,” Siana demanded. She panted through another pain. This was hell. She was going to kill Jack when she saw him again. Not only had he gotten her pregnant but he wasn’t even here like he promised to be. “Please, I’m not doing this without…”

“I know, Ianto,” Owen snapped. He stepped over to the bed and caught Siana’s hand in his. He pressed his fingers to her wrist and sighed. “You need to relax. We have to wait until you’re at least six centimeters dilated before we can give you the epidural. You’re progressing well. So it won’t be long.”

“Owen…” she snarled. She reached over with her free hand and grabbed his shirt front. “I’m only going to say this one more time. I want the drugs and I want them now.”

“Stop attempting to strangle my husband,” Kate interjected. “I’ll check you now while he preps things. All right?”

“Okay,” Siana released Owen and settled back on the bed. “I still reserve the right to strangle him if he doesn’t get those drugs to me soon.”

“Why are you threatening me?” Owen retorted as he stepped away to gather the necessary supplies. “It’s not my fault you’re in pain. Threaten Jack.”

“He’s not here,” Siana said reasonably. “So you get the threats.” She sucked in a breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out in a whine. “Trust me; I’ll threaten him as soon as I see him.”

Owen just shook his head while he gathered together the necessary things to give Siana an epidural to ease her pain for the rest of the delivery. He would be damned glad when Jack arrived back from London. It would be a hell of a lot safer for him. Harkness wouldn’t stay dead if Siana carried through on her threats. Setting the needle, tubing and drip near at hand, he turned back to Siana in time to have his hand grabbed in a hard crushing grip as the woman panted through another contraction.

“Kate,” Siana whimpered. “Can I push?” She struggled a bit to lift her head up and stared over her stomach at her friend and doctor. “I really want to push right now.”

Owen debated, reached up with his free hand, and hit his comm. “Rhys!” he snapped. “Come down here and play support for Siana.” He panted as Siana’s grip tightened. “I need my hand unbroken.”

“No!” Rhys immediately replied. “Actually, hell no.”

“Rhys!” Owen all but screamed into the comm.

“What?”

“Get your arse down here and help now,” Owen ordered.

“Just as soon as you tell me how I'm going to feed Aimana and Ginny, make sure the older ones do their homework, and make some dinner for all of us,” Rhys retorted. “While dancing attendance at the birth.”

“Have Tosh handle it.”

“Look, I’m sending Gray down,” Rhys replied. “He says he wants to be with his Tad.”

"Gray?” Owen gasped in disbelief. “But he's a kid."

“Have him tell you some of the things he remembers,” Rhys replied. “Colony kids are never kids after they reach a certain age.”

“Fine,” Owen sighs. He looked up as Gray came running into the room. He automatically used his free hand to steady the kid as Gray skidded to a stop next to the bed Siana was occupying. Owen stumbled back a step as Gray bumped him out of the way, pried Owen’s hand free from Siana’s and let her squeeze his instead.

“Hey, Tad,” he grunted. He took a step closer, maneuvering a bit to slide an arm behind Siana, and smiled at his father. “No torturing the doctors.”

“Hey,” Siana protested. “I'll have you know they're torturing me!”

“I think that’s my siblings,” Gray laughed. “You can do this, Tad. Relax some.

"Gray, you are my best beloved son but if you tell me to relax one more time I won't be responsible for what happens!" Siana snarled. This fucking hurt. She wanted her drugs. She wanted this over. She wanted Jack. “This fucking hurts!”

"Alright, Tad, then don't relax,” Gray replied. “Bear down instead and get the babies born."

"Gray, so help me...” Siana trails off. She curled up and groaned as her body tightened with pain. “Oh, God here it comes!"

"Go on, Tad,” Gray urged. “I want to meet ... hmm... is it the boy or the girl?"

"I don't know and who cares?” Siana snapped back. “Owen, where are my drugs?!"

"You progressed too fast, Ianto,” Kate said. She looked up from where she was seated between Siana’s upraised legs. “No drugs... now push.”

“Push? I'll give you push, you...” Siana snarled. “Aaaarrrgh!" she screamed as she bore down with the hard clench of her stomach muscles.

“Good... good… keep going..." Kate encouraged.

"Won't be long, Tad,” Gray said just as loudly.

"Keep going?” Siana demanded between panting breaths. “What the hell do you mean keep going you utter... Here it comes again... Ahhhhhhh!" Gray slipped up onto the bed and put an arm behind Siana’s back to provide support. "Cachau! Ahhhhhh!"

"Such language, Tad.” Gray laughed softly at Siana’s affronted look. “Misha would have you adding money to her collection.”

“Once more and we’ll have the first one, Ianto,” Kate explained.

“If these babies don't pop out soon I'm going to burn your ears! Where the hell is Jack anyway? Oh god, Kate...” Siana broke off with a wail. “I think its coming!" She doubled over and bore down. "I think its coming!"

Kate grinned up at Siana, worked to help the baby slip free, and cleaned his mouth of mucus. "There's one. Now lay back and rest a bit." She checked the infant over for a moment then laid him on Siana’s stomach.

“It's the boy, Tad,” Gray murmured. “Look. He's beautiful.”

“Dylan,” Siana panted. She stroked the baby’s head. “He’s Dylan Emrys.”

“Merhaba, Dylan,” Gray murmured. “Mübarek olabilirsin.” He smiled shyly. This really was Jack’s responsibility to welcome the babies, but he could do it. “I’m you’re older brother. Your older sister, Misha, and I will take care of you.”

Siana raised an eyebrow in question. “What’d you say?” She groaned in pain again. “Is it supposed to start up again so damned fast?”

“It can,” Owen said. He reached down for Dylan. “Now let me take Dylan to examine while you work.”

“All right, Tad. Here we go again.” Gray smiled and shifted a bit to provide more support to Siana. “Let’s get my little sister born.”

Siana glared at him. Then she screamed, “Shit! Shit… this hurts more.”

“Come on, Ianto,” Kate ordered. “She’s almost here. Push!”

“I am pushing!” Siana snapped.

“Push a little harder, Tad,” Gray said, giggling a bit. “Let me hold you up a little.” Gray suited action to words. “Now push!”

Siana grunted and bore down, glaring all the while at Gray. "Remind me to hit your dad when he finally gets here!"

“I will,” Gray assured Siana. “But first let me see my little sister. One more time will do it, right, Kate?”

“Should,” Kate agreed. “One more then you can rest while we clean you and the babies up.”

"Promises, promises,” Siana snapped like an angry turtle. “Here it comes... damn this one hurts. Aaaaahhh!"

"There we go... come on, little one... and...” Kate trailed off. She twisted Olwen a bit to ease her passage out and grinned as the baby began screaming. "Oh, she has Jack's temper... she is not happy.” Kate laid Olwen on Siana's stomach while both baby and mother rested a bit.

“Give her to me,” Siana demanded. She cuddled the baby close to her chest. “Olwen, you are home with your tad, and your daddy, and your brother and sisters who love you. Nothing can harm you here. You have a grandfather who will always protect you. And a grandmother that will teach you Japanese and an uncle,” She paused and smirked at Owen. “Who will teach you all sorts of bad habits.” Siana smiled as Olwen quickly quieted and blinked up at her.

“You summarized that well,” Gray said with a soft laugh.

“Would you look at that?” Kate said. She grinned through tears as she watched Siana with the baby. “She knows her tad’s voice already.”

Siana chuckled and smiled at Kate. "We've talked to the babies from the day we knew I was pregnant,” she explained. “Same with Seren."

“I’ll have to remember that,” she trailed off. Kate refocused on the post-delivery clean up of Siana. “Although talking to Jack's stomach is going to be a bit strange.”

Siana laughed gaily. “He'll encourage you to.” She stroked her daughter’s cheek and reluctantly handed Olwen to Owen for her exam in exchange for Dylan. She settled her son to her breast and smiled as he started nursing. “He definitely will encourage…”

“Don’t tell me I missed it,” Jack interjected. He came running into the room, greatcoat flying out behind him, only to stop so quickly at the sight of Siana nursing a swaddled baby that he tripped over his own feet and fell to the floor. “Shit,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, caraid.”

“Yeah, but I didn't,” Gray retorted. He slipped off the bed, tucked a couple of pillows behind Siana and nodded to Jack. “Come meet my brother and sister, canbaba.”

Jack smiled, crossed the room, and rested an arm atop the pillows behind Siana to look down at Dylan. “Thank you for being here, Gray,” he said quietly. He pressed a kiss to Siana’s temple. “Which one is this, bensevgili?”

“Dylan,” Siana said quietly. She yawned, and then blushed because she yawned. “Sorry, I’m tired now.” She shook her head a bit and ran her fingers down Dylan’s cheek. “Owen’s checking over Olwen now.”

“I…” Jack broke off with a small headshake. “I should have stayed. I’m sorry I broke my promise.”

“They were quite determined to get here when they wanted to,” Siana replied. She reached up and squeezed his hand. “Jack?”

“Hmm?” Jack asked absently.

“Did you ever decide on names for them?” Siana considered for a moment, tugged him down and whispered, “Raksha? Names for the babies?”

“Actually,” Jack debated for about ten seconds. “I think Gray should name them. He was here for their birth.” He smiled encouragingly at his son. He took Olwen from Owen and handed the baby to Gray. “Go on, benbüyükoğul,” Jack encouraged.

Gray blinked, looked at Siana for a moment, and asked, “Tad?” When Siana nodded to him, Gray drew in a breath and let it out slowly. He looked down at the baby he was cradling and laughed softly. “She’s Kıvamına,” he said, brushing his fingers over her forehead. He looked up at Jack and grinned. “You missed her screaming her anger at being born, Dad.” Gray reached over and, after taking a deep breath, repeated the caress of his fingers over Dylan’s forehead while trying not to blush as his fingers brushed against Siana’s breast. “And he’s Koşma.”

“Interesting choices,” Jack said. He reached down and took Dylan from Siana. “I’m going to take the babies up to meet the rest of the family. Or would you like them to come…” He trailed off with a soft chuckle. “I think we’ll just let you sleep, caraid,” he whispered. Jack kissed Siana’s lips gently and nodded to the door. “Kate? Owen?” he asked.

Kate shook her head. “I want to monitor Siana for a bit, but Owen can go up with you.” She yawned herself and shook her head. She accepted a kiss from Owen before waving them toward the door. “Go on, but bring the babies back in no more than ten minutes so they too can be monitored. They’re early, but not too early,” she explained in response to Jack’s questioning look. “It’s just a precaution.”

“Okay,” Jack agreed. He started out the door, paused, and looked back at Siana. He shook his head with a sigh. He owed Siana. He broke his promise to be here for the baby’s birth. “We won’t be long,” he said before leaving the room to head up to the main Hub.

Chapter Fifty-One

The Doctor joined Jack on the gantry overlooking the main level of the Hub. He leant forward, clasped his hands over the open space beyond the rail, and smiled down at the scene below. “You ever think men like us would achieve this?” he asked softly.

“No.” Jack chuckled softly. He shook his head and leant on the rail by the Doctor’s side. He twisted his head to smile at his old friend. “We’re in charge of saving the Universe.” He tapped his wristband, nodded to the key the Doctor had never managed to get rid of despite the loss of his Tardis. “We didn’t run for the office, but somehow we got elected.”

John hummed softly in agreement. He turned back to the scene below. Despite the business of saving the world going on, there was still time for laughter and play. The older children ran rampant around the lower level of the Hub under their nanny’s watchful eye. The women tended to the new babies and called out corrections of the children even as they worked the systems. Teasing laughter joined the children’s shrieks of joy to echo through the cavernous space. He reached over and clasped Jack’s wrist.

“Somehow,” Jack murmured as he straightened away from the railing. “It didn’t seem to come with home and hearth as an option.” He crouched down to catch the child running along the gantry toward them. He swung her up onto one hip with one of those classic Harkness grins. “But now that we have it…”

“Wouldn’t change a thing,” John concluded. He grinned back at Jack. “My turn to tend to Donami,” he said as he too straightened. “Jack…”

“Yeah, Doc?”

“You did good.” John tossed off a careless salute before heading for the stairs. “Very good.”

“It’s not over yet, Doc,” Jack replied. “You know that.”

“Just invoke the Curse of Murphy on us, why don’t you?” the Doctor replied. “I know that, Jack. I’m enjoying the moment.”

“So am I,” Jack replied. “So am I.”

Epilogue

One year later…

Ianto Jones walked into the house and sighed. It had been an exceedingly long day doing all the preparation work for the ‘disappearance’ of Siana Jones. Between him and Tosh, they’d created a paper trail which led away from Cardiff. So, officially, Siana would be missing, postpartum depression after giving the twins to their fathers after the surrogacy causing her to leave Wales for an extended period of time. All the appropriate paperwork for the twins was filed. They were now their children legally as well as physically.

Ianto closed the door, reaching over to type in the security codes, and tugged the bit of tech he needed from his pocket. He left his coat on the hall tree, slipped off his heels, and padded barefoot up the stairs. It was going to take some time to get used to thinking of himself as ‘Ianto’ and a man again. He’d definitely miss the monthly visit to the spa for a massage, but he’d be damned glad to be himself again.

Smothering a chuckle, he rounded the split landing and headed up to the top floor of the house. He slipped down the hall to stand for a moment in the doorway of Gray’s second floor bedroom. Like the girl’s room one floor below, Gray’s room overlooked Roath Park. Personally, Ianto thought his oldest son had the better view from his room then the girls did from theirs. He leant on the doorframe and smiled at the scene in front of him. Gray and Bran, who was apparently spending the night, had crashed out asleep on the bedroom floor beneath the telescope Jack had purchased for Gray. Shaking his head, Ianto crept across the room to cover the boys with a couple of blankets. Kissing their foreheads, he left and pulled the door mostly closed behind him.

Retracing his route back down the stairs, Ianto paused at the bottom of the stairs to cautiously open the door to the girls’ room. It was the largest bedroom in the house and also overlooked the park. He stepped into the room and again shook his head. In the two years since Aimana had joined the family, the room had transformed itself from a pink princess room to a more mature pink and chocolate room softened with touches of cream. It was still a girlish fantasy room, but wasn’t a ‘princess’ room. Ianto shook his head again, crossed the room to the daybed Aimana slept in and crouched down to brush her hair back. He tugged the covers up a bit higher on the now three year old and kissed her good night. Rising, he crossed back toward the door and paused along the way to smile down at Misha sprawled across the width of the double bed she’d slept in since he adopted her. It was hard to believe that four years had passed since his daughter had crashed into his life. Ianto carefully set the tech down on her bedside table and shifted her about to be lying properly in the bed again. The seven year old was a very restless sleeper and he knew by morning she’d be lying at a diagonal or horizontal again rather than the proper way. He kissed her cheek, retrieved the tech and slipped from the room.

Two steps took him to the nursery where the three youngest children slept. Pushing the door open, he chuckled to himself. Make that the four youngest children slept. Dylan, Olwen and Seren slept in their cots while Jessie Harper, the most recent addition to what Andy referred to as the ‘Torchwood Horde’, slept nearby in a travel cot. The baby monitor blinked from the dresser showing that Jack was keeping a watchful ear on the room. Ianto checked each of the babies, smiling, and slipped from that room, too.

He climbed the four stairs of the half flight which lead to his and Jack’s room at the other end of the building. Ianto rolled the tech in his hands and laughed as the bedroom door opened. Jack leant in the doorframe watching him. “Why do we have Jessie tonight?” he asked quietly.

“Kate wanted to surprise Owen,” Jack replied. “I told her we wouldn’t mind having her.”

“Ah,” Ianto murmured. He ducked under Jack’s arm only to yelp when Jack tugged a piece of his hair. “What was that for?”

“You’re plotting something, Siana,” Jack retorted. He turned to watch Ianto wandering about the bedroom. “It took you longer than usual to join me.”

“I just checked on the kids,” Ianto replied. He crossed the room to lean against the armoire and tucked the hand holding the tech behind his back. “I’m not plotting much.” He smirked at Jack. “Nothing more than getting naked and nailing you to the mattress,” he purred.

“You’re missing some parts to do that, Siana…”

“Ianto,” he corrected. He shifted a bit to bring his arm around. “I brought your Christmas present home. Still want it?”

“Oh, fuck, yes!” Jack breathed. “I have been missing the other you. Not that this you isn’t great, but…”

“I know what you mean, m’gwr,” Ianto interrupted. “So, get naked while I deal with this, hmm?”

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