branwen_blaidd

Title: His Captain and His Angel 7/22

Pairing: Jack/Ianto, Ianto/John

Rating: Adult
Spoilers: Mild for COE (background information)

Summary: Captain John Hart always gets what he wants.

Disclaimers: I own nothing.

Notes: This is the third in the series of stories about Ianto’s past. It follows Blue Moon’s Child and The Lost Son. I’ll be posting this once a day until it is finished. Special thanks go to czarina_kitty for being such a wonderful Beta. Also thanks to rowanheart24 for helping me brainstorm the original idea. Comments please!

It was Sunday. Ianto hated Sundays. The ritual was always the same. Up with the sun for prayers until half past eight when it was time to leave for the 9am mass. Iestyn insisted they dress in their best and Ianto hated the scratchy stiff suit he had to wear. At mass, they spoke in ritualised replies and went up to accept the body of Christ. That was one food Ianto could never refuse. His da told him that and his faith told him that. It wasn’t food. It was life and love and Jesus Christ.

Ianto struggled to reconcile those separate parts of himself. Part of him wanted to be the perfect child of God. He wanted to live a pure life, make his da happy and please the Lord. But the other part of him, the confused part of him, wouldn’t let him.

After Church, they would walk home and then was the part of Sundays Ianto really hated. Da had always cooked a full breakfast after Church. Ianto knew he’d done it since his first Sunday as a married man. All through Ianto’s life, he’d done it and Ianto had been expected to eat it. But sometimes, he struggled. Some weeks, he struggled with food. He always had, since the day his mam had changed. But if he didn’t eat on Sundays, trouble always followed.

That day, Ianto stood in the doorway of the kitchen and watched his da cook. He put a hand on his tummy. He felt sick. He hadn’t eaten anything at all for nearly two days and the thought of that greasy breakfast made him want to throw up.

“Da, I’m not really very hungry,” he said as he watched his da count out the sausages into the pan.

“Hungry or not, you’re going to eat this breakfast. I won’t have you turning your nose up at good food.”

“I’m not turning my nose up. I’m just not hungry.”

Iestyn tutted. “Not hungry indeed. You’ve barely eaten anything this past week. Your body will be crying out for a bit of sustenance. I don’t want to hear any arguments, boy, you’re going to eat.”

Ianto rested his head on the doorframe and closed his eyes. “Please, Da.”

Iestyn banged down the tin of baked beans he’d been about to open. “By the Lord, Ianto Jones, are you ever going to behave yourself?” He turned to face Ianto.

Ianto opened his eyes and saw that his da’s face was creased with fury.

“Defiance! Nothing but defiance, I get from you. If your tad-cu was here now, he’d be ashamed of you. He’d know how to deal with you, all right.”

Ianto frowned. “What does that mean?” He felt anger flaring up inside him.

Iestyn pointed a finger at him. “It means, he wouldn’t be afraid to damn well strap you.”

Ianto swallowed. “You’re not…”

“The times I should have, Ianto. So many times, I should have took my belt to you but I haven’t, have I?”

“No but…”

“Have I ever done more than give you a smack on the bottom or a few with the hairbrush?”

“Well, no but…”

“Well, maybe if I had you wouldn’t be like this now. Maybe if I had beaten you, you would have a bit of respect for me. That’s how my da raised me.”

Ianto blinked hard. He could feel tears in his eyes but he was determined not to let them fall. “Da, I’m sorry. It’s just…it’s so hard to eat sometimes. I don’t mean to disrespect you, or God I just…” He rubbed his sniffling nose with the back of his hand, trying so hard not to cry. “I don’t know what to do.”

Iestyn softened. His anger melted away into weariness. He sighed, then walked up to Ianto cupped the back of his head and brought him close for a manly hug. He patted him on the back.

“Now, don’t take on,” he said awkwardly. “Do you want to go to confession later?”

Ianto shook his head. “I don’t want to talk to Father Joseph.”

Iestyn sighed and pulled back from the hug. Ianto wished he’d hug him properly. “Well, you go to your room and you talk to God. Maybe he can help you see the way forward. I’ll call you when breakfast is ready.”

Trying desperately not to cry, Ianto nodded, then turned and made his way upstairs.

In his bedroom, he shut the door and stood by his window. He looked out. It was raining. Their tidy little backyard looked grubby and miserable in the thick rain. Beyond their back fence, was another row of houses, all with the same sorts of people in. He wondered how many of them went to Church every Sunday. He was certain none of them felt like he did. None of them felt this confusion and none of them had a guardian angel like he had.

* * *

“Your guardian angel?” Jack asked carefully.

Ianto still had that vaguely confused look about him and he was still gripping his cross tightly. “I…that’s what he told me, that he was my guardian angel.”

“Was it John?”

Ianto frowned. “I don’t know. I can’t…get it clear in my head.” He reached out and took hold of Jack’s hand. “Jack, take me home.”

Jack shook his head. “You can’t go home, Ianto. It’s not safe. You’ve got to stay here where we can keep an eye on you.”

Ianto shook his head earnestly. “No, I’ve got to show you something. Please, Jack.”

Jack hesitated, then glanced at Tosh. “Can you keep a track on us?”

Tosh nodded. “No problem.”

* * *

Ten minutes later, Jack was in Ianto’s car and they were driving back to Ianto’s place. Jack was anxious. He’d taken Tosh aside to talk to her before they’d left. If John was using time travel to get to Ianto, Jack had to go after him. He’d given her some readings from his wrist strap. She might be able to help him find a way back with it, if she could get it working a bit better.

“So, what are you showing me?” Jack asked, watching Ianto as he drove.

Ianto stared resolutely at the road. “You’ll see.” His thumbs twitched on the steering wheel.

Jack leaned back in his seat. “I’m worried about you, Ianto.”

Ianto hesitated and bit his lip. “I’m worried about me too.”

Jack watched him, waiting for him to speak more. After a minute, he did.

“Do you think…John is really trying to take me away?”

Jack sighed. “What I know about John tells me that he always does what he threatens.”

Ianto chewed on his lip some more. “He said he was going to punish me. I thought he meant…some kinky shit but…maybe this is what he meant? Maybe he’s just messing with my head for kicks.”

Jack reached out and touched his arm gently. “If it was just that, I wouldn’t be this worried. I think he’s got something else in mind.” His hand twitched on Ianto’s arm. “I think he’s trying to take you away.”

Ianto nodded. “I know. That’s what I wanted to show you.”

Ianto didn’t speak again until he was leading Jack into his house. “It’s in my bedroom,” he said.

Jack followed in silence. He could see Ianto was nervous. He knew him well enough by now to see the signs. He kept straightening his tie and fiddling with his cufflinks.

He went to his wardrobe, pulled out a cardboard box full of stuff and sat down on the floor with it. Jack sat down next to him.

“What’s this?”

“My stuff from when I was a kid.”

Jack reached for the box but Ianto pushed his hand away.

“Don’t. I’m just showing you this one thing.”

Jack leaned back and watched Ianto as he riffled through the box. As he looked at him, he suddenly realised how little he knew about Ianto’s background. All he knew was in Ianto’s file, and there wasn’t exactly a lot of information there. Though, there were those two times he’d met Ianto before. Of course, Ianto didn’t remember that. Ianto never talked about his past, never gave the slightest bit of information away about himself. It was hard enough to get him to talk about their shared past.

Ianto brought out a pile of books. They were notebooks used as diaries, just like the one Ianto wrote in now. He found the one he was looking for, then put the rest back.

He flicked through it until he came to the page he was looking for. Wordlessly, he passed it over to Jack. Jack kept his eyes on Ianto’s face for just a moment, then looked down.

The page was covered in a drawing of a large pair of white angel wings. Written in the same pencil across the wings were words, in Ianto’s handwriting.

My guardian angel is going to take me away from all this shit. I’m never going to see Da again. He could never understand me anyway. But John, my angel, understands me. He’s going to look after me, take me to paradise. God sent him for me.

Jack swallowed. He looked up at Ianto, who was watching him.

“What does this mean?”

“It means we have to stop him.”

Jack looked back down at the page. “John. John is your guardian angel?”

Ianto bit his lip. “I…I remember writing that but I didn’t. I ranted about my da that day cause we had a fight. I didn’t know John but…”

“He’s changing the past.”

“Yeah and we need to stop him. Look, Jack, I was…vulnerable back then. If he’s trying to get me to go with him, he won’t have to try very hard. We’ve got to get back and stop him.”

“You’re talking about time travel.”

Ianto’s eyes were hard. “If John can do it, you can.” He smiled. “After all, your wrist strap is bigger.”

Jack returned his smile. “True. I was thinking the same thing. Actually, I’ve got Tosh working on it.” He reached out and touched Ianto on the shoulder. “I need you to work out exactly when I need to go back to.”

“You?” Ianto laughed. “Oh, I’m coming too, Jack.”

“Ianto, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. If you run into yourself…”

“I have no intention of meeting myself as a teenager. But I also have no intention of allowing you to roam free in my past. Got it?”

Jack frowned at him, then nodded. “Fair enough.”

“And if you find anything out, you shouldn’t…”

“Ianto, I’m not going to let any of your secrets out, okay?”

Ianto gave him a hard look then turned away, closed his diary and held onto it tightly. “We should get back to the hub.”