Fandom: Torchwood

Characters: Jack, Ianto, OCs

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 2,850 words

Content notes: none

Author notes: Written for Challenge 220 - Fall

Summary: Christmas isn't complete without a story



'Tell us the story again,' one of the girls asked.

'What story?' Jack replied, acting coy, even though they all knew perfectly well which story his great great grand niece was referring to.

'The one about how you and uncle Ianto fell in love.'

It happened every Christmas without fail. It had become something of a family tradition. No sooner than Ianto had everybody's coffee and tea served, someone was duty bound to ask the question. It almost always fell to one of the youngest members of the family, those who'd yet to experience it for themselves often as not, their eyes glistening with happiness and hope. There was also always the predictable groan from some of the male members of the family, who often chose this moment to disappoint into to backyard to discuss more important matters such as the state of the national rugby team or their views on whether negotiations between the Arkan Seven conglomerate and the Eltisians would ever go anywhere, and why did they refuse to let Torchwood intervene.

Many of them had heard the story a dozen times, or even more. Jack looked across at two of his granddaughters, now old women themselves, remembering it was their mothers who had first asked the question on Christmas day, starting the tradition. He snuggled up closer to Ianto who was lounged back on the sofa next to him, clasping his own cup of delectable coffee.

'Whose turn is it this year?' he asked, resting a hand on Ianto's leg.

'Yours, I think.'

'Didn't I do it last year?'

'Maybe. But you tell it better anyway.'

Jack grinned. He did so love to tell a good story. 'Now, some of you may not believe it,' he began, 'but once upon a time I used to be a bit of a playboy.' There was a titter of giggles around the room. No one believed for a second that Jack wasn't still a shameless flirt. 'It's true,' he protested. 'It wasn't until I met Ianto that everything changed. There hasn't been anyone else since we met.'

'I should hope not,' Ianto said, giving him a nudge.

'Never. Except that one time in 2062 when we all got exposed to that gas. There was that cute little biochemist, oh, what was her name?'

'Veronica.'

'That's right. Veronica. Anyway we,'

'Keep it PG, Granddad,' one of the women warned. 'It's Christmas for God's sake.'

'Yes, 'Ianto agreed, 'let's discuss what you and Veronica did later.'

'Only if you promise to recount the story of how you spent those excruciating five hours locked away in the hothouse.'

Ianto flushed bright red and loudly cleared his throat. 'So, we first met in 2005 in London in a rainy day, though Jack doesn't even remember it.'

'I can't be expected to remember every pretty face I see in London.'

'This one offered you an umbrella to stop you from getting soaked.'

'And you are never going to let me forget that, are you?'

'Not a chance.'

'Well, since I'm the one telling this story, it actually starts in 2006.' He was always loathe to admit that he couldn't recall the time their paths had crossed after Jack had finished suffering through meeting with Yvonne Hartman. 'The battle of Canary Wharf had just happened and it was only a few weeks after we'd finished clearing up all the mess that we finally had a bit of a lull back in Cardiff to recharge the batteries. It didn't last of course. The second I give the team the night off, there's a weevil alert. Of course, it's just one weevil, right? A walk in the park, literally, since it's turned up in the middle of Cathays Park somewhere close to midnight. He's not the biggest, and yes, size does matter, but I can take him. Or so I thought. One second I'm about to tranq Bruce Willis and the next he's got me locked in an iron grip on the ground about to tear my throat out. I always hate it when they kill you and get away. So, anyway, there I am about to be turned into dogfood, and then someone comes up from behind and clubs the weevil with a tree branch. You try and take down a weevil with a stick that makes you either very brave or very stupid in my books.'

There was the traditional side poke into his ribs from his lover, who corrected him, before Jack playfully reminded him how close his husband had come to having a chunk taken out of him for his bravery. It was all part of the show they put on, and the family ate it up every single time. 'I didn't hear you complaining at the time,' Ianto quipped.

'Believe me, I was happy not to die right then, but then Ianto, bless him, now has himself right in the line of fire. I didn't think, I just crashed tackled that weevil right then and there, getting it to the ground and sedating it.'

'What did you think when you first saw him?' The question came from someone who was a recent addition to the Jones Harkness clan, fiancé to a grand nephew.

'He was hot,' Jack grinned. 'Those tight jeans and that studded belt. Then he opened his mouth and the most beautiful Welsh vowels I've ever heard came out of it. I thought maybe I really had died and gone to heaven. Then he had to go and ruin it all by being a smart arse and admitting he knew what a weevil was.'

'I thought I was developing common ground between us. I should have known Jack would be suspicious,' Ianto said.

'What's he's trying to say is that he thought my libido would override my common sense.'

'More or less.'

'I was suspicious,' Jack confessed. Jack would tell them that he'd become eve more suspicious of Ianto when he'd gone back to the hub that night and done a little research, uncovering that he was from Torchwood One.

'When he came back the next morning, I knew he was up to something. Nobody wants a a job with Torchwood that badly. The coffee though, well, that was something else.' He reached over and took his own from the side table sipping it with a pleasurable little hum. 'Just as good as the very first time.'

'So, what you're saying is you fell in love with my coffee first.'

'Hey, don't look a gift horse.'

'It still wasn't enough to get me the job. I think I should be offended.'

'Don't be. When I saw Ianto standing there in the light of a new day, no longer jumped up on adrenaline and the fear of being mauled to death, all I saw was a kid who was suddenly adrift in life with no purpose. He should be damn lucky he survived, I thought. I meant it when I told Ianto to find a new life. Torchwood hadn't killed him yet. It was the second chance the rest of the people who'd worked in London never got. I intended to make sure he walked away from this life and didn't look back.'

'So, you nearly didn't get together?'

Jack himself still wasn't sure that there was a particular moment where he knew for sure that he was in love with Ianto. He knew it definitely hadn't been love at first sight. He was glad though that Ianto was a stubborn as he was. Had he taken Jack's advice and walked away then, Jack wouldn't be here today.

Jack never glossed over the fact that at the time, it had been Ianto trying to work his way into Torchwood Three so that he could save the life of the woman he loved more than anything else, even if he was fairly certain the battle had already been fought and lost. After so many years, he wanted everyone to know how proud he was of his husband for his determination and his devotion to the people he loved. He was pretty sure they knew already. Every child, grandchild, niece, nephew, grand niece, grand nephew and in-law had first hand experience of just how loved they were by the patriarchs of their family. There was nothing Ianto wouldn't do for his family and friends. And it had started all those years ago, on that day that for many years, Ianto would have preferred to forget.

'Ianto though, as you all know very well never gives up on anything. Just when I thought I was rid of the troublesome man, speeding my way into the night to a rift alert, Ianto returned. We had four cases running simultaneously that week,' Jack said. 'Like always, the rift decided to throw everything it had at us, so everyone was working something different and I was busy trying to coordinate them all as well as chase down an alert myself. It should have been straightforward, I figured. Get there, get out, get back as quick as possible. Pedal to the metal kind of stuff. And suddenly there he was, standing right in the middle of the road! I almost didn't didn't see him in the dark but the headlights were so bright that night and then he was just there!' The girls squealed as Jack laid the drama on thick. 'Had it not been for my amazing reflexes, he'd have been squashed flat all over the road.'

'He wouldn't have run you over, would he Uncle Ianto?'

'It was wet that night. Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done. If I'd known what Jack's crazy driving skills were like beforehand, there's no way I would have tried it.' Those same driving habits hadn't tempered one bit in the last century. It was just awfully lucky that he was immortal these days. Jack had gotten him into more crashes than he could remember.

'Tell us about the clever plan to lure you to the warehouse.' That question came from a granddaughter who'd heard the story many times before.

Jack laughed. He really had been taken in hook, line and sinker. 'Well, I could hardly say no to a pterodactyl! I think Ianto got terribly lucky on that one.'

'Luck had nothing to do with it,' he scoffed, enjoying the banter that was as much a part of their story as anything. 'There'd been half a dozen minor alerts I chased down first but I didn't think you'd find the burnt out shell of a mini minor very alluring. Pterodactyls are way sexier.'

'Not the word I'd use to describe our first encounter with Myf.'

'You weren't the one who nearly lost a hand the first time I found her. You've never seen someone look so dodgy walking around Tescos late at night, buying only chocolate.'

'So anyway,' Jack continued. 'After threatening to retcon him, he pulls out the fact that he's found a pterodactyl in a warehouse on the outskirts on Splott.'

'Otherwise known as the romance capital of Cardiff,' Ianto joked.

'Yeah, so I let him get in the car and direct us to the warehouse.'

'And all I can think of is how amazing the car smells. It wasn't until we got there I realised what I could smell was Jack. I though maybe it was some kind of drug he'd let off in the car to confuse me.'

'In a way it kinda was. A shame it didn't work on the dinosaur, though.'

'You can't win them all.'

'And that was first moment I fell for you.'

'Quite literally. Small wonder you didn't break anything, falling on to of me like that.'

'Your great, great grandfather,' Jack said, leaning down to one of his youngest girls, 'tried to be a hero and catch me when I lost my grip on Myf.'

'He was quite a catch,' Ianto agreed.

'Still am,' Jack argued.

'Yes, you still are,' Ianto said, patting a hand on his knee. One or two grey hairs, but otherwise he was as beautiful as that very first day.

'Did you fall in love with Jack, too?'

Jack watched amused as Ianto dodged the question with a small coy smile. He'd loved Lisa with all his heart, that much Jack knew, but there was no denying that something sparked between them that night.

'I don't think either of us really knew at the time,' Jack said, coming to his lover's aid. 'I certainly didn't, though I was ridiculously attracted to him,' Jack confessed. 'Ianto?'

'No. Confused as hell, but not in love. That came later.'

'Once you finally gave into my irresistible charms,' Jack said, squeezing him close. 'I went to work on him straight away, giving him a job and teasing him about how delicious he looked in those suits of his.'

'That's not love, Jack. That's infatuation.'

'True. But I was falling for you more and more each day.'

'And then I shoved Jack through a portal to another dimension one day, when I couldn't take the loss of Lisa anymore.'

Yes, that really had been a defining moment that had changed everything.

'Ianto blamed me for everything that happened, and when the chance finally came along to get his revenge on me, he did.'

There was an audible gasp around the room. They knew Ianto would never do anything like that, even to someone he hated. Doing it to Jack seemed just unthinkable.

'I deserved it,' Jack admitted. 'I should have done more to help, more to try and be the friend he needed, but I let him push me away all too easily. I should have lost Ianto forever that day, but thank the goddesses I didn't.'

'It took time for me to realise I'd make a terrible mistake,' Ianto replied. 'But then I knew from that moment on that I needed you. I risked everything jumping through that portal to try and find you, and then I thought you were dead. I thought I'd lost you.'

'And you know what he did? He kissed me. And I just happened to come back at that very moment, and he honestly thought he'd kissed me back into life.'

'My kisses are legendary for their restorative quality,' Ianto argued.

'I can attest to that. You've never been properly kissed until you've had a Ianto Jones kiss. But you came back for me. I could have been trapped there forever, living and dying over and over again, but you loved me enough to come and save me. And I thanked you by being mad and storming off.'

'Jack had a lot of emotions to contend with that night. We shouldn't hold that against him. And I did come after you, even when you thought I wouldn't.'

'And that's when it happened,' Jack said. 'One second we were discussing how painful life could be and how we all just had to learn to deal with it as best we could, and then he reached across and kissed me. Totally out of the blue. I didn't even think he fancied me. He said I could kiss him and when I didn't, he went straight in for the kill anyway.'

'Like I said. I'm a lot more complicated than people think.'

'Did you kiss him back, Grandpa Jack?'

'You bet I did kiddo! But it was a pretty short kiss by all accounts. Ianto pulled away before I could give him the full Jack Harkness special.'

'And then what?'

'Then Ianto convinced me somehow to go back to his place, just for one night. It didn't take a lot of arm twisting. One night which became many, many more nights. He didn't like to admit it, but he was falling helplessly in love with me.'

'And you, Uncle Jack?'

'Utterly smitten. Your Uncle Ianto got right under my skin and I couldn't get him out of my head even if I tried. Not that I'd want to. Falling in love is the best feeling there is.'

'I'd disagree on that,' Ianto said. 'Falling is the fun part, but knowing what you have is going to last forever, that's the best feeling of all.'

Jack smiled reaching across to cup Ianto's a cheek and kiss him. There was a murmur of happy sighs around room, and watching the pair oblivious to the rest of them.

'Come on everyone,' one of them said. 'Outside for touch rugby,' she said, shepherding them out to meet the boys in the yard. The park was only a block away from their house and had become the traditional venue of the annual Christmas rugby game.

'We're coming, too,' Ianto said, breaking away from the kiss for a moment. Rugby was the best part of the day's celebrations, watching the generations compete against one another. Cousin versus cousin, aunt versus uncle, grandparents versus grandchildren. Everyone got involved.

'Oh no,' Jack said, leaning back over his husband. 'We're so not. We'll catch up with you in a while.' Jack went in for another tender kiss. He wasn't done with falling in love just yet.