amuly | Gwil's Guide to Growing Up Torchwood: Chapter 17

Title: Gwil's Guide to Growing Up Torchwood: Chapter 17
Pairing: Jack/Ianto, Gwil, + Team, + Andy
Word Count: 3,591
Rating: PG
Summary: When a seven-year-old boy falls through the Rift, Ianto and Jack decide to adopt him. This is the story of his life at Torchwood.
Chapter Summary: Gwil's 8^th birthday; Gwil's 8^th birthday take two.
Warnings: none
A/N: 1.] Sorry this is so late, IRL was being kind of shit to me, including fucking up my neck to the point that I could only write this in 20 minute stints or so.
2.] This is the last chapter of The First Year for Gwil. There will be more Gwil, I'm just splitting it up into years for organization's sake.
3.] Gwil is going to go on a temporary 1-2 week hiatus as I get everything in order. I've got to organize the 2^nd year, write some fest fics, and just generally work on fics that aren't Gwil.

Previous Chapters:
Prologue
The First Year:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

Ianto was sitting on Jack's desk, laughing quietly into his cup of coffee, when Gwen came in. "Jack, about the time off schedule..."

Ianto winced and stood up immediately, trying to excuse himself as inconspicuously as possible. Gwen noticed and tapped him on the arm. "Oi! I'm not trying to be difficult. I just want to switch weekends with someone for next weekend. It's my birthday and Rhys wanted to take a little holiday to a romantic cabin." Gwen made googly-eyes, grinning at the thought.

Jack poked at Ianto, gesturing around his desk. "Ianto, could you..."

with a sigh, Ianto deftly opened one of Jack's drawers and extracted the spreadsheet. He honestly had no clue how Torchwood had functioned before he came along. Actually, he did: if the state of the archives were anything to go by, Torchwood's only consistent governing type for the past century had been "disorganized".

Ianto peered at the spreadsheet, figuring who could swap what weekend with Gwen. His first instinct was to swap himself, but Gwil had a footie game that weekend that he really couldn't miss if it could be at all helped. He didn't think Tosh or Owen had anything going on, so he made a note to ask them as soon as they returned from collecting that alien fossil out in Newport.

He told as much to Gwen, who smiled broadly. "Oh, you are a dear, Ianto. Thank you!" She turned to leave, and Ianto thought that would be the end of it. He went to resume his position on Jack's desk, when Gwen paused and turned around, half-way to the door. "You know, now that I'm thinking about it, Gwil hasn't had a birthday the whole time he's been here."

Jack and Ianto frowned in unison, glancing at each other. “He never mentioned one...” Jack drawled out.

“You never mentioned one either, sir. We still celebrated,” Ianto pointed out.

“Oh yeah...” Jack's face took on a dreamy quality that made Gwen giggle and Ianto blush. She couldn't possibly know about the chocolates and the swing and the tentacle, but still...

Ianto coughed delicately and straightened his tie. “I can't imagine he has one, coming from a textile mill,” he mused. “We could assign him one? The day he fell through the Rift, perhaps?”

Gwen immediately clapped her hands together and smiled. “It's perfect! Every kid deserves a birthday, after all. Especially since we were all abducted for Christmas last year and the poor dear missed out on the two weeks surrounding the 25th.”

Ianto nodded and looked pointedly at Jack. “I'm going to have to agree with Gwen.”

Jack's hands were already up in front of him in surrender. “You don't hear me protesting. I embrace any opportunity to spoil my son rotten.”

Ianto frowned down at the schedule, making some notes. “We're already scheduled for time off the weekend of his one-year Rift anniversary. We could do something in the park? Maybe even take him on holiday to London? He'd probably love the Eye...”

Gwen, whom Ianto hadn't noticed was still hovering in Jack's office, stepped closer. “Why not have it here? We're all going to get him gifts anyways.”

There was a hesitant look shared between Jack and Ianto, before Jack spoke up. “Yeah, but he spends all his time down here already. I'd rather take him out that weekend – see the sights of modern Britain.”

With a somewhat apologetic – and completely insincere – smile, Ianto nodded at Gwen. “I agree with Jack. Gwil deserves some time away from this place.” His gaze drifted over to Jack, and he said, more sincerely, “We all do.”

They were just rounding the top of the London Eye when the call came through.

Gwil was clutching the lap bar, leaning as far over his fathers as he could. First he'd lean over Ianto's lap, gaping and gazing at everything on his side. Then he'd lean over Jack's lap, mouth hanging wide open and big blue eyes bulging almost out of his head.

“Jack! Where are you?”

Ianto sighed, already thumbing off his gun's safety and making sure Gwil was buckled in securely.

With a resigned glance between the two men, Jack tapped his comm. “We're on the London Eye, Owen. What is it?”

“Turn around.”

Ianto, listening in on the same line, turned around before Jack did. On instinct he grabbed Gwil with one hand and covered his eyes with the other. There was a...Ianto fumbled for a label. It was basically a monster climbing up the bridge behind them, roaring like something out of a bad fifties movie.

Jack's mouth had dropped open, hand still pressed to the comm in his ear. “Oh, not one of you.”

Ianto, hands still firmly clasped over Gwil's eyes, turned to Jack. “I suppose this is a problem?”

“Big. Problem.”

“Sorry your eighth birthday didn't go better, champ.”

Rubbing a towel over his head, Ianto smiled over at Gwil as Jack spoke. Gwil was sitting on the double bed in their hotel room, remote firmly gripped in his small hands as cartoon images from the telly illuminated his skin.

“When we get back to the Hub, Auntie Gwen will have a little party ready for you, okay? But your tad and I are going to have to spend the rest of the weekend working.”

Ianto sighed, tossing the towel at Jack as he shucked on one of the plush hotel bathrobes and walked over to the bed. Crawling onto it, Ianto sat behind Gwil and pulled him into his lap. The boy instinctively cuddled against Ianto, dropping the remote and tangling his fingers into Ianto's bathrobe. Ianto pressed his nose to Gwil's hair and breathed deep, satisfying himself that the shower had gotten all of the – yet to be identified to him by Jack – alien guts from his hair.

Jack started toward the bed, only stopping to throw a robe on when Ianto glared at him from above Gwil's head. Regardless of what Jack had argued about it not mattering at Gwil's age, Ianto felt eight was a bit old to have your dads wandering around naked in front of you.

Gwil was grinning up at Jack as he joined them on the bed. “I get two birthday parties?”

Ianto and Jack's eyes met over Gwil's head, and they smiled.

“Sure do, champ. Tad'll call Gwen tonight, and she'll have it all ready for you when we get home.”

When they pulled into the Hub, Gwen was waiting with party hats and noise makers. “Happy Birthday, Gwil!”

She blew on the noise maker, running over to them and pinning a hat to Gwil's head. He grinned up at her, pushing the hat out of his eyes. “Thank you, Auntie Gwen.”

Cooing all the while, Gwen ushered Gwil inside as Ianto stared dejectedly into the boot of the SUV. “What do you want me-”

Jack cut him off with a wave of his hand and squeeze to his arse. “Worry about that later. Right now, we've got Gwil's second eighth birthday to attend.”

With a sigh, Ianto closed the heavy door on the SUV, leaving the desiccated remains where they were. Jack was right: it could wait until after Gwil's party.

They waked into the Hub together, following the sound of Gwil's cries of delight. The main area of the Hub came into view as they rounded the corner, and Ianto raised his eyebrows as he saw the decorations Gwen put up. There were streamers and balloons and banners proclaiming “Happy Eighth Birthday, Gwil!” In some dark corner of his mind, Ianto silently bemoaned the fact that he'd be the one to clean all this up. But he quickly shoved the thought down, replacing it with the bubble of joy at seeing Gwil exclaiming over the pile of presents waiting for him on their raggedy old couch.

The rest of the Torchwood team was gathered around the couch, party hats on them all (except for Owen, who was scowling at Gwen and backing up every time she came near). There was even a cake with nine unlit candles stuck in it. Ianto was surprised – and grateful – for Gwen's thoughtfulness: Myfanwy tended to get skittish whenever there was an open flame in the Hub.

Jack immediately inserted himself at Gwil's side, tugging him into his lap and poking at the presents simultaneously. “Want to open your presents before cake?”

Ianto frowned, but Gwil pipped up, shooting a glance at him: “Tad said 'patience is a virtue', Dad.”

Gwen, Tosh, and Owen and burst out laughing at the affronted expression on Jack's face. Rhys and Andy chuckled more quietly behind their hands.

Jack recovered quickly, ruffling Gwil's hair and bouncing him on his knee. “Fine, fine. Killjoy.” Jack and Ianto shared a grin across the coffee table. “Cake, then?”

Ianto smiled as he looked down on the cake. It was a dinosaur cake, complete with little plastic dinosaurs stuck into it that would serve as nice bath or sandbox toys later – after they were cleaned of cake, of course. Gwen must have gotten it, and Ianto made a note to let her have an extra day off sometime soon. This whole thing was really quite nice of her, and well-done.

After a round of “Happy Birthday”, Ianto started forward to cut Gwil's cake. He hesitated, knife hovering in the air. “Gwil, do you want to cut the first slice? It's good luck.” Gwil grinned and started forward, moving to snatch the knife out of Ianto's hand. He pulled back, hesitating. With great reluctance he handed the knife over to Gwil, but then curled his hand on top of his tiny one, guiding the cut. As soon as the knife touched the bottom of the cake, Ianto nudged Gwil away and took over.

Gwil gobbled down two pieces of cake before Ianto put a stop of it; Jack managed to scarf down three himself before he received a similarly reproachful look from him.

Once the cake was finished – in record time, but then again Gwil was the only child present, and the adults around him certainly had a healthy appetite – Jack poked at the brightly-wrapped packages. “Presents now?”

Ianto nodded, surreptitiously checking his watch. He'd look up the CCTV footage later so that he could pull photos from it. “One at a time, Jack!”

Jack pouted, setting down two presents and handing Gwil just one. With a glance at Ianto, Gwil pulled dutifully at the card first, slitting it open with tiny fingers and holding it out in front of him. “Birth...day...Auntie Tosh!”

Tosh smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I hope you two don't mind, but I thought it'd be a nice change...”

“A Wii?! Thank you, Auntie Tosh! Owen and Chris and Liam have one!” Gwil informed the adults around him.

Tosh pointed at the box, where controllers and wheels and game packages were spilling out. “There's Wii Sports, Mario Kart, and Super Mario Galaxy for fun, but then Big Brain Academy and Word Coach for educational purposes. I hope you don't mind...”

Jack was grinning madly and clutching the plastic little baseball bats and tennis rackets. “Mind? Mind! Tosh, this is amazing! Ianto, we've got to play with these tonight!”

Gwil was blinking and staring at the back of the Mario game. “I know him! He's in my Gameboy.”

Owen butted in, reaching across the table and snatching at one of the presents. Ianto had assumed it was his from the beginning, seeing as it was the only gift wrapped – poorly – in newspaper. “Mine's next. Tosh and I collaborated.” He winked at Ianto. “Gotta make sure your kid's getting a proper education.”

Ianto didn't have long to wonder what Owen meant by that, when Gwil tore open the newspaper to reveal three more Wii games: Call of Duty 3, Red Steel 2, and Golden Eye 007, along with two adaptors to make the Wii-mote into a gun or samurai sword. Owen hurriedly snatched at the Golden Eye game, shoving it at Ianto. “And before you go off about the violence, check it out: James Bond. You've got to admit, that's a good choice for the kid.”

Internally, Ianto was conflicted, but he nodded politely at Owen. He could test the games himself later and swap them out of they proved too violent. “Thank you, Owen. Very thoughtful. And thank you too, Tosh. But if he falls behind in his studies because of this you have no one but yourself to blame.” He paused, mock-considering. “And Owen, I suppose.”

Tosh smiled craftily. “I'm counting on the games accelerating his literacy and spatial reasoning, actually.”

Jack was already moving on to the next gift as Wii games and accessories spilled down around them. Belatedly, Ianto pulled out his notebook and started writing down a list of gifts and gift-givers so that he could make Gwil write proper thank-yous later. Gwen's gift was tossed into Gwil's lap, who tore at the paper. It was Muppet Show DVDs, along with a stuffed Kermit the Frog. Gwil gaped and hugged the frog to his chest, squeezing him tight and closing his eyes.

Gwen smiled at Ianto. “I knew he was his favorite. Hopefully he doesn't already have the DVDs...”

Ianto had snuck alongside Gwil and was sorting through them. Along with two seasons of the Muppet Show were A Muppet Christmas Carol, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and Muppet Treasure Island. Ianto smiled softly down at the picture of little (frog) Tiny Tim, dressed all-too-similarly to how they had found Gwil himself. “He doesn't have any of these, Gwen. Thank you.” He smiled at Gwil, who was still clutching Kermit tightly and stroking at his flippers. “Though it seems the least expensive part of the present was the biggest hit.”

Rhys stepped in then, pointing a finger at the stuffed animal. “That's an original version, I'll have you know. Cost me almost fifty quid.”

Gwen silenced him with a slap to the arm, waving her hands dismissively at Ianto. “We don't have any little ones, or even nieces or nephews to spoil. It's our pleasure.”

Andy's present was next: a little package compared to the other three. He shuffled his feet, shrugging as Gwil opened it. “Gwen helped me out with it,” he admitted. It was a set of Legos, designed to build a TIE-fighter. “She said you had been showing him them for educational purposes. I thought she was joking but...” Andy looked a little confused. “There aren't...is it really a historical drama?”

Mock-glaring at Jack, Ianto shrugged nonchalantly. “If you believe everything Jack is, it's his biography. At least, parts of it are.”

“Princess Leona was, if you can believe it, even more attractive than Carrie Fisher. She was also blue.” When Andy seemed to be taking this news relatively well, Jack continued with a wicked grin. “And had six arms. And a prehensile tail. With fingers.”

With Andy suitably astonished, Jack glanced around the couch. “Ianto? Where's our gifts?”

But Ianto was already heading to the stairs that led down to their rooms. “Well, I didn't expect the welcome home party. One moment.”

Gifts successfully retrieved from Ianto's hiding spot in the back of their closet (Jack's own birthday and Christmas presents were already tucked safely away back there), Ianto brought the two carefully wrapped packages up to Gwil. “One from your dad and one from me,” he instructed, indicating which box was which.

Gwil took a moment carefully considering each box before deciding, evidently based on the fact that Jack's was heavier, to open Jack's first. It was an entire set of items, designed – as Jack had explained to Ianto one night – to turn Gwil into the next great fighter pilot. There was a little leather bomber jacket, two model airplane kits, fighter goggles, and – to Ianto's surprise – a Wii fighter pilot game. He frowned at that addition, which he wasn't aware of several weeks ago when Jack had shown him the rest of the presents. Jack smiled apologetically. “I might have checked everyone's credit card history for ideas.”

Four of the adults in the room squawked indignantly at that, with only Andy looking wide-eyed and confused. “Can you do that?” A blush rose on his cheeks and Jack waved reassuringly at him.

“Don't worry, Andy: it was strictly for gift-giving reasons. I didn't look into your online porn subscriptions and adult toy orders.”

Ianto made a note to bring Andy an extra batch of coffee and chocolate biscuits tomorrow.

Oblivious to the adult conversation going on above him, Gwil had already slipped on the bomber goggles and jacket, and had moved onto Ianto's gift.

Ianto waited with bated breath. He had known when he bought the gift that it might not rank in Gwil's top favorite gifts, but he had really wanted for Gwil to have it. And how many video games and DVDs did one little boy really need, anyway?

Reverently Gwil brushed aside the tissue paper, gasping as he gazed down at the gift. Jack beamed down at him, already aware of what Ianto had gotten him.

“Well? What is it, dear? Show the rest of us!” Gwen prompted.

Gwil stuck his hands in the box and carefully, carefully pulled out the tiny, tailor-made three-piece suit, complete with tie, cufflinks, and even socks, shoes, and underwear to go with it. “Now I can be just like Tad,” he breathed.

Ianto had to turn away and scrub at his eyes, ignoring Jack's knowing gaze.

With the wrapping paper thrown away and gifts carefully stacked downstairs on their kitchen table, Gwen pushed them all together, camera dangling from one wrist. “Come on, come on. We have to get a picture! Jack, get in there, let's go.”

Ianto winced, eyes flickering to Jack. His thoughts went to the box hidden in the bottom drawer of Jack's desk, with all the old pictures from past families – wives, children, lovers. Jack's eyes met his, and Ianto looked away. One day, he and Gwil would only exist as a photo in Jack's box. But at least they would be there.

Gwen passed the camera off to Rhys, pulling Andy in on the end and checking to make sure everyone was in place. Gwil climbed up into Ianto's arms, tie around his neck and bomber goggles on his forehead. Gwen and Andy were on his right; Jack, Tosh and Owen on his left. Jack's strong arm wrapped around his waist, pulling Ianto and Gwil in close to his side. With a sigh Ianto relaxed into him, smiling easily at the camera.

“Alright, smile on three, everyone. Ready?” Rhys held the camera out in front of him, squinting down at the picture on the back. “One, two, three!” On three, Jack leaned in and pressed a kiss to Ianto's ear, causing his mouth to drop open in half-reproach, half surprise. The flash went off and Ianto groaned, nudging Jack with his hip. “You ruined it!” he hissed.

But Rhys was grinning down at the picture, before turning the camera around and passing it over to them. “I don't know, mate: I'd say that's a keeper.”

When Ianto saw the picture, he found himself reluctantly agreeing with Rhys. He might have looked shocked, but it was a happy sort of shocked. In his arms, Gwil was laughing, entire face lit up. And Jack...well, he looked the happiest Ianto could ever remember seeing him. Ianto sighed and passed the camera back over to Rhys. “I think you're right. Print me out a few copies?”

Rhys winked and nodded. “No problem.”

An hour later, Jack was sending everyone home and Gwil was tucked into Ianto's arms on the couch, sleeping off a sugar crash. The tie was still looped loosely around his neck, and the goggles were pressing circular indents into his forehead. Ianto slipped the goggles off his head, rubbing at the marks and then carding his fingers through Gwil's hair, which was flattened oddly.

A shadow passed above him, and Ianto looked up to see Jack smiling down fondly at him. “Worn out?”

Ianto groaned, passing Gwil up to Jack. “The both of us. I think I need to sleep for ten hours to get over that...what was that alien, anyway?”

Securing Gwil to his shoulder, Jack rolled his eyes. “Oh, them. They're a major pain in the ass.” Winking, he extended his free hand down to Ianto. “Give me a pain in mine and I'll tell you all about them?”

Ianto laughed and let himself be pulled up into Jack's chest. “I was under the impression that pain wasn't the object of my interactions with your arse?”

Jack kissed him before hurrying off downstairs with Gwil, calling back over his shoulder: “Not always!”

With one last glance around the Hub for residual mess, Ianto shut down the main lights and started down after them, quiet grin refusing to leave his face.

End of The First Year. | Continue onto The Second Year.

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