Unexpected Gifts

[aviv_b_artwork]

TITLE:  Unexpected Gifts
Author: Aviv_b
RATING:  PG
CHARACTERS:  Ianto/Jack, Gwen/Rhys, Tosh, Owen, Other Canon Characters 
DISCLAIMER:  Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: ~ 11300 (Mini Bang)
Written for  tw_classic_bb
Beta: My incomparable co-worker LJ.

SUMMARY:  The team is forced to confront long held secrets. Secrets about themselves, their families, and Torchwood all collide after an encounter with the Faeries. Will these painful revelations help them to forge a closer bond or tear them irreparably apart?

A/N:  While this story references canon events, I’ve moved them around in time significantly.  None of the team know that Jack is immortal.

Part I   

It was the first day back at work for the full team following Christmas.

The rift had given the team a wonderful present this year. For a full week prior to the holiday, nothing came through that needed more than a basic retrieval. And if Tosh’s predictions were correct, they’d have another three days before anything potentially dangerous would arrive.

They sat around the Hub as Gwen regaled them with stories from her family Christmas celebration.

“You won’t believe what Mother Williams got me this year,” Gwen said laughing and shaking her head. Gwen opened the duffle bag she had on her lap and pulled out an enormous pair of knickers. The team howled with laughter.

“Those would probably be too big for Rhys,” Tosh said choking on her coffee, “what on earth was she thinking?”

“Apparently since Rhys and I have been together for a couple of years, she thinks it’s past time I produced an heir for the Williams clan.” Seeing the confused looks on everyone’s face, Gwen continued, “Yeah, they’re maternity bloomers.”

“Are you trying to tell us something, Gwen?” Jack asked looking a bit concerned.

Gwen winked at Ianto. “Yes I am. If my arse is going to get that big, I’m never getting pregnant.”

The team laughed again.

Unfortunately, it was all a bit down hill from there. Owen had spent his time off “boozing and bird hunting” as he so nicely worded it. “And I’m only being polite due to the presence of the ladies,” he said with a wicked smile on his face.

“Remind me to catch up with you later,” Jack said with undisguised interest.

Tosh had been allowed a single call to her mother in Osaka. She seemed quite pleased with it but no one knew quite what to so say. “Oh that’s nice,” Gwen chirped trying to keep the mood up.

Jack had been on rift watch and dismissed the holiday with his usual aplomb. “You know in the 51^st Century, we don’t have celebrations anymore. It’s just a party everyday. And before Owen says it, I’ll skip the details and save him the upset stomach.”

The group laughed nervously. Only Ianto was left to speak. “Spent time cleaning my flat, I’ve hardly had any time to set up my new apartment.” He was staring at his coffee mug and didn’t look at any of them.

The rest of the team was silent. Ianto had been back for several months since his suspension, but with one thing and another, including their run-in with cannibals, Ianto had only found a new apartment a few weeks prior. And while the team had forgiven him for the most part, there was still an awkwardness to everyone’s interactions with him.

When he finally did make eye contact with the others he saw the concern on everyone’s face. It hadn’t been his intention to make everyone feel badly so he quickly moved to lighten the mood.

“Oh, and remind me never to go to the IKEA store the week before or after Christmas. I’d rather deal with a pack of weevils then shoppers desperate to get their last gift or the first sale item. I have a huge bruise on my arm from a little blue haired lady smacking me with her handbag. She apparently took exception to my taking the last set of sale towels.”

“So who got the towel set?” Jack asked. 

“Well I did of course. Had to threaten her with my weevil spray, but at least I came away victorious.” Everyone smiled and Ianto stood saying, “Well that was fun, if you need me I’ll be down in the archives sorting through a box of odd artifacts.”

“Anything interesting,” Tosh asked hopefully.

“Just one small item. Metal, and if you press one end the other end opens with some sharp prongs and tiny blades. Can’t decide if it’s an olive pitter or a nose hair clipper or both. Such is the life of the archivist,” he said smiling.

Tosh and Owen breathed a silent sigh of relief. From prior experience, they knew they had dodged the proverbial ‘don’t ask Ianto about family’ bullet.

Unfortunately, Gwen hadn’t received the memo. “But Ianto, don’t you have family to spend Christmas with?” she asked as he began to walk away.

Owen and Tosh winced. Ianto turned back and stared at her.

“Haven’t spoken to my sister in years. Doesn’t approve of having queers in the family. Oh, and before you ask, my father drank himself to death and my mother died in a psychiatric institution. Happy Christmas, Gwen,” he said as he turned and walked to the stairs leading down to the archives.

“Shite,” Owen grumbled.

Gwen looked mortified. “I didn’t know. Did you know?” she asked looking frantically from one teammate to the other.

Jack shook his head. “Gwen, even I didn’t know all of it. I knew he had a sister and that his parent’s were dead, but did anyone else know about his mother?”

Tosh nodded.  “He told me about her while he was on suspension. Said she was always a bit flighty, but he remembers her telling him increasingly strange stories about being visited by spirits and monsters and fairies. It got to the point where she started hearing voices and the family began to fear for her safety. And theirs, I’m sure. He doesn’t remember much more but that they visited her once or twice in some type of hospital. And then he was told that his mother had died.” 

Owen couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “It would have been nice if you had shared that with us, Tosh. You’d think as his physician he would have told me, but all I know is what his records from Torchwood One said. Parents deceased and one sibling. What the hell were you thinking?”

“That it was none of your business. He confided in me as his friend. Why would he tell you Owen, when all you do is snipe at him? If he doesn’t trust you, that’s your fault,” Tosh added as she got up angrily and headed over to her desk.

“Gwen didn’t know, so don’t blame her, and Jack,” she said looking back at him through narrowed eyes, “didn’t care enough to see anything beyond the great cup of coffee and the attractive backside in a suit.”

Owen and Jack both looked like they’d been slapped. “That’s us told,” Owen said as he rose to go to the medical bay. Jack sat holding his face in his hands.

“I’m sorry…” Gwen repeated in a whisper.

“Just leave it, Gwen,” Jack said getting up and heading to his office. Gwen stared at the enormous knickers bunched between her fingers. As she headed back over to her work station, she threw them in the small bin next to her desk. “Bah humbug,” she thought.

No one was surprised when Ianto declined to join the others that day for lunch, but by the following day everyone behaved as if nothing had happened. Ianto and Tosh seemed to have forgotten about the conversation, Jack and Owen were more than happy to move on and only Gwen was left feeling badly with a knot in her stomach and an ache in her heart. She tried to bring the subject up with Tosh, and then Owen and finally Jack but they all told her to let it be. Tosh explained that ‘ignoring things is how we survive,’ but it didn’t seem right somehow.

***

Just as predicted, the rift became more active as New Year’s Eve approached, so the team prepared for possible mayhem in Cardiff during the celebration. All time-off was cancelled though Gwen was granted permission to take a week off beginning on January 2^nd. This caused no end to grumbling, especially by Owen who saw New Year’s Eve as a prime opportunity for debauchery going to waste.

As the evening started, the anxious team spread out across the city in an attempt to neutralize any alien threat. The police were out as well, but they were focused primarily on alcohol related offenses; from petty fights to drink driving to serious assaults.

Tosh and Jack were celebrating New Year’s in style at the St. David’s Hotel. Jack looked handsome in a black tuxedo with grosgrain lapels, white shirt and a matching black tie offset by a silver satin waistcoat. Tosh wore a sapphire blue strapless cocktail dress with a beaded top and a full sheer taffeta skirt that hit just above her knees. Jack had surprised her with matching Max Kibardin heels that she had to practice walking in.

“If any weevils show up,” she told him as they danced slowly to the Big Band orchestra, “I’ll brain them with my shoes.  I can’t run in them, but no way am I leaving them behind.”

“And here I thought all these lovely ladies were drooling over me, but you’re right, those shoes are attracting a lot of attention.”

As they continued to dance, Jack drew Tosh in closer, thinking about New Year’s celebrations gone by. He sighed as he thought about his only New Year’s with Estelle. The horrible dinner at that cheap supper club, and her in an ill-fitting dress she had borrowed from her sister; she was radiant, and they had been so much in love. He checked up on her welfare from time to time, but he had wisely ‘disappeared’ during the war.

She was elderly now he thought sadly, and here he was dancing with another beautiful young woman as if not a day had gone by.  That was why, he reminded himself, he couldn’t get involved with Ianto. Even if Ianto survived past thirty, he knew that eventually they would break apart as one of them aged and the other stayed the same forever. He glanced at his watch. Ten o’clock, all was quiet, but the night was young.

Owen and Ianto were hanging out at The Bionic Party at the Code Nightclub but as it was only a quarter after ten, it was very quiet there as well. Owen was dressed in slacks and a sweater while Ianto was still in a suit, albeit with a clean dark red shirt open at the neck. “Oi, bachelors hanging out together on New Year’s Eve, we’re pathetic.”

Ianto laughed. “Speak for yourself. In about an hour this place will be filled with lovely ladies all looking for a nice man to go home with. If you play your cards right you might just be able to do your job and have some fun. I certainly intend to.”

“You?” Owen retorted. “I would have thought that WOW would have been more your speed.”

“Not necessarily, Owen. I can just as easily pick up someone here as you. In fact, I’ll put money on it. Twenty quid to whoever gets hit up first.” They both stayed sober until it was almost midnight and then drank and danced just enough with a group of women so as to not look out of place.  By one thirty in the morning, it looked like there would be no alien appearances at the club.  They got the okay from Jack to call it a night, so they both began to troll the crowd with more interest.

Owen lost the bet when Ianto headed home with a long-legged brunette less than an hour later. “Good luck, mate,” Ianto whispered to him. “Mandy and me here are going home to party some more.” Mandy was almost as tall as Ianto, and Owen ached as he pictured her long legs wrapped around him. Time to get busy.

Even Rhys had been enlisted to help. He thought Gwen worked for some type of government anti-terrorism group and it was easy enough to gain his assistance with crowd watching on New Year’s Eve. They were at the Civic Center for the traditional Welsh Calennig. Gwen snorted. The Utter Madness tribute concert was not her idea of traditional, but Jack had paid for a nice dinner beforehand and a suite at the Radisson Hotel for after, so she kept one eye on the crowd and the other on Rhys as he sang loudly (and a bit drunkenly) the words to ‘One Step Beyond’.  They watched the fireworks at midnight and Gwen was shocked when Rhys got down on one knee and proposed to her.

They hung around until almost two when the buses stopped running. The crowd had thinned out considerably as they headed over to the hotel to continue to their own celebration.

Back at St. David’s, Tosh’s feet were killing her. She loved the shoes, but they were not made for standing, let alone dancing. So she and Jack had sat at their table for the last hour as Jack told her about his New Year’s with Estelle, carefully altering the dates so that it seemed like it happened only a few years prior.

Finally, just after two in the morning when neither one could stay awake, Jack walked Tosh back to her room.  As they passed the lobby, they heard some laughing and then some shouting. Then they heard a scream.

Jack took off running while Tosh kicked off her shoes, tucked them under her arms and ran after him.

A weevil in a party hat was snarling at two men just outside the front door. Apparently he had taken the hat and a noise maker from one of the men who in their very drunken state thought that the weevil was a costumed celebrant.

“Give me that hat back,” one of them shouted as he tried to grab the weevil. His friend held him back and tried to calm him.

“Oi, he looks big and we don’t want any trouble,” he wisely observed as the weevil growled at them.

Jack pulled his Webley out and yelled for everyone to move back. The horrified crowd watched as Jack shot the weevil and then dragged the two intoxicated men into the lobby.

“Special Ops,” Jack told the crowd. “No one leaves the lobby until they are questioned.” There was some grumbling, but as Jack still had his gun out and there was a dead ‘man’ in front of the hotel, no one was going to put up too much of an argument.

In the meantime Tosh had called both Owen and Ianto who were on their way. She had reached Ianto first and it was clear from the giggles in the background that he wasn’t alone.

As he dressed, his date was very put out.

“What do you mean you’re leaving? I’m tired and I’m not going anywhere.”

Ianto didn’t have time to argue so he just continued dressing. “Fine, I don’t know when I’ll be back but I doubt it will be before evening. Feel free to use the shower and have some breakfast, but please be gone by the time I get back.”

Mandy was ready to start a fight, but when she saw him take the TM Hi-Capa out of a drawer and holster it she went silent.

“Hell, what are you, some kind of spy? Or a copper, you’re a bloody copper, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, something like that. Don’t worry, you’re not in any trouble, even coppers are allowed to spend time with beautiful women.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Leave your number, I’ll call you.”

Once Ianto was gone, Mandy couldn’t get out of the flat fast enough. “Bloody cozzer, how did I end up here?”

Owen had just arrived home with a woman and while he was very unhappy with the interruption, he was able to cover it more gracefully.

“That was the hospital,” he said as he tucked his mobile away in his pocket. “There’s been a serious accident and I’m on call.”

“You’re pissed, you can’t go in like that.”

“Yeah, well I sober up fast. Can I drop you anywhere?”

His date had no choice but to let him drive her to a taxi stand and see her get safely into the cab.

“Sorry,” he told her as he handed the driver a twenty pound note.

“Call me,” she yelled from the cab window as Owen got back in his car.

“Yeah, I would, but I don’t even know your name,” Owen thought glumly as he drove toward the St. David’s hotel.

Clean up took a good part of the next day. They had to remove the weevil, retcon all the guests and staff and plant a plausible story for the press about a suspected terrorist attempting to escape arrest.

Dinner on New Year’s Day was cold pizza at the Hub. Everyone but Gwen sat silently at the boardroom table in a state of total exhaustion. Jack finally spoke.

“Well we almost had a nice New Year’s for once. Oh, I almost forgot, Gwen got engaged last night.” Three sets of bleary eyes looked across the table at Jack 

“You’re kidding,” Tosh replied.

“Nope. Gwen thought she and Rhys were taking a week to spend together in London, and they will, but first they are going to see both sets of parents to give them the good news,” Jack said chuckling. “She didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about it for some reason.”

Owen started laughing which set off everyone else. “Oi, she hit the jackpot with that one. Instead of a nice romantic week together, they’re off to see Mrs. Williams of the giant bloomers. I thought I had a bad night; poor Gwen, she’s probably kicking herself for saying ‘yes.’”

“Well I had a very nice evening,” Jack said winking at Tosh. “I danced with a beautiful woman which I haven’t done in some years.”

“And I’m sure you behaved like a perfect gentlemen which must have also made a change of pace for you.” Ianto teased. “I met a woman named Bambi or Candy or something. She was lovely. But she didn’t like my gun.”

“I’m sure it’s not the first time a woman has told you that,” Owen snarked. “I actually met someone nice, but now I can’t remember her name.”

“Owen, that’s pathetic,” Tosh said laughing.

“I’m betting her name was Janet,” Ianto said, “which is why we had to deal with her angry date later in the evening.”

“Well, I got shoes,” Tosh said holding up her pair of Kibardins.

“Those could be dangerous,” Owen said eyeing them suspiciously.  “Can you actually walk in those?”

“Not really, but I can’t wait to tell Gwen what Jack bought me when she shows me her ring,” Tosh said smirking. “She’ll be so jealous.”

“Let’s see, designer shoes or Rhys,” Owen paused for just a moment. “Yeah, you’re right, you got the better deal.”

“I’m not so sure, at least Rhys can cook,” Ianto teased.

“Now children,” Jack said interrupting, “the rift looks quiet for the next twenty four hours, so go home, get some sleep, and be back here tomorrow at nine. And let’s all be grateful that we aren’t the ones on the way to visit Mrs. Williams.”

On that point, they were all in agreement.

Part 2

Gwen sat in the passenger seat of the car and sulked. Rhys had promised that the trips to his parent’s house and hers wouldn’t take more than a day and then they’d have six days to themselves in London. The ring was lovely, but for heavens sake she didn’t want to spend even one day visiting relatives they had just seen at Christmas.  Rhys, however, was not to be deterred. So she gritted her teeth and hoped for the best.

The visit with Rhys’ parents was remarkably drama free. From the way his mother reacted (and as she reflected on the gift she had received the week before) Gwen was certain that Rhys had already let her know that he was planning on proposing.

Her own parents were more subdued. This surprised Gwen as not a month went by without either her father or mother asking when she and Rhys were going to ‘make things legal.’ When her father invited Rhys into the lounge to make some celebratory drinks, Gwen confronted her mother in the kitchen.

“I thought you’d be thrilled I’m getting married. You and Tad have asked me about a hundred times when we were going to. And now all you are saying is, ‘oh that’s nice, let us know the date.’ I don’t believe you two. You haven’t even said anything about my ring,” Gwen said holding up her hand for inspection.

It really was a lovely ring, maybe not as big as her cousin Bethan’s, but a perfectly respectable just shy of a half caret diamond. That was one good thing about Torchwood; she was so busy that they didn’t spend much money on going out as couple so they had been able to save up quite a bit toward the wedding.

Her mother forced a smile on her face and held Gwen’s hand. “It is a beautiful ring, and we are happy for you, it’ just…”

At that moment Rhys and Gwen’s father came back into the kitchen and handed Gwen and her mother a drink.

“What? Something’s wrong, someone’s sick, I can tell by the look on your faces,” Gwen said as she glanced frantically between them.

“No, it’s nothing like that,” her father said taking the kitchen chair next to her and motioning Rhys to the vacant seat between Gwen and her mother.

Her mother took a deep breath. “We should have told you sooner, but first we thought you were too young, and then it didn’t seem important, and now, it seems like we should have told you ages ago.”

Gwen was growing more frantic by the minute. She couldn’t imagine what was going on. Rhys could see that she was going to come completely unglued if her parents didn’t get to the point. Diplomatically he said, “We’re a family and we’ll deal with whatever you have to tell us together.”

Mrs. Cooper smiled and squeezed Rhys’ hand. “Thank you. You really are a good man. I almost got cold feet because I was as afraid of your reaction as hers.”

This had obviously been a source of friction between Gwen’s parents for suddenly, her father blurted out, “For goodness sakes, Mary just tell them. It’s really not that big a deal.”

“Well it is to me,” Mrs. Cooper said tearfully.  “We should have told you long ago but we’re not exactly who you think we are. We’re not exactly your real Mam and Tad.”

Gwen was shocked. This had to be a joke. “What do you mean? I look just like Tad. I look like Tad’s mother, I’ve seen the pictures.”

Rhys watched the color drain out of Gwen’s face and felt anger building up in him.

“Mother Cooper, with all respect, will you just tell us what’s going on. Your daughter, my future wife, looks like she’s going to faint.” It came out a bit more gruffly than he intended but his tone served to focus Mary on Gwen’s welfare rather than on her own embarrassment.

“Your Tad is actually your Uncle. His sister had a baby when she was very young. She couldn’t raise you on her own so we adopted you.”

“Wait,” Gwen said holding up her hand, “Are you telling me that Aunt Lenora is my mother?”

“Lenora is my older sister, but I actually had a younger sister, Joanna,” Geraint Cooper replied. She got pregnant when she was fourteen. Your Mam and I had been married several years when this happened. She came to live with us and when you were born the plan was for her to stay here and for all of us to raise you together.”

“Joanna just couldn’t cope with the situation,” Gwen’s mother continued. “She’d get angry that I was taking care of you, but when we’d ask her to help she was unable to accomplish the simplest task. She wouldn’t remember to test a bottle before giving it to you; she gave you one so hot it blistered your mouth.”

Gwen’s father shook his head sadly. “She always was a dreamer. She had imaginary friends as a child, not so unusual, you had them as well. But she never gave them up. She would blame them for her mistakes; they were distracting her or telling her to do things or I don’t know what.”

“She and I had a huge row one day. It had been building up all week. Every morning she’d say she didn’t feel well. Too sick to help with the laundry, or the shopping or the cleaning, but by afternoon she’d suddenly feel much better, right when a few girls from the street would be heading into town.”

Mrs. Cooper sniffed. “It was just before your first birthday. Sick or not, I left you in her care for a few hours so I could get some shopping done for a little party we were going to have. My parents had seen you, but your Tad’s parents hadn’t. They were always afraid that people from their village would find out.”

“Anyway, I came back from shopping and you were screaming and Joanna no where to be found. You’d messed your nappy and she hadn’t changed you. She left you like that; it had to have been for at least an hour. After I changed you and got you calmed down, I looked for her and found her in the garden dancing. And when I scolded her for ignoring you, she said it didn’t matter that she was going away with her friends and she’d never come back.”

“Two days later, she was gone.” Geraint continued. “We couldn’t find a trace of her. She didn’t go back to Swansea and there wasn’t a way to really look for her. Today things are different, but back then she could have gone to London or some such place and it might as well have been the moon. We put out inquiries, and recently we actually looked on the Internet but we couldn’t find anyone named Joanna Cooper that would have fit her description. If my folks ever heard from her, they never told us.”

Gwen’s mother began to cry. “We should have told you, but we were afraid you wouldn’t understand or you’d want to look for her, and maybe we were selfish, but Joanna was so strange and we didn’t know if she’d take you away or turn you against us, or what might happen.”

Gwen looked at her parents. Her father looked like he had aged just sitting at the table. And her mother, well her aunt, no her Mam, she thought resolutely, was absolutely distraught. For the first time in her very much doted on life, she realized what keeping this secret had cost her parents. And how much they had loved her and wanted to protect her.

“So you’re saying that you are not my biological parents but my aunt and uncle.”

Her parent’s nodded.

“You’re wrong,” she told them. “You are my parents, my only parents and I would never give you up for anyone else. Wherever Joanna is, if she’s even alive, it has nothing to do with me. I can’t believe you were worried about telling me. Though it does maybe explain why I never had any brothers or sisters.”

“Never could manage to have one of our own…”

“I am your own,” Gwen declared.

“You know what I mean,” her mother said. “I was so afraid I’d find you dancing in the garden or talking to yourself that I have to admit I was relieved when Joanna disappeared. I always meant to tell you, and I didn’t want you to start your new life with Rhys without you knowing.”

“Well Rhys,” Mr. Cooper said as he got up to freshen his drink, "still want to marry my daughter?”

Rhys didn’t miss a beat. “I’m glad you told Gwen. You know everyone has something in their family that’s embarrassing,” he continued. “Gwen’s got a co-worker who has had a tragic family life.”

“You mean Ianto, yeah?” Gwen asked. “You won’t believe it but his father was an alcoholic who drank himself to death, and then his mother went mad, or was it the mother went mad first… Anyway, he lost his parents when he was a pre-teen and then was raised by his older sister but now they don’t speak because he’s, well, he’s gay sort of.”

“No you mean he turned gay after his girlfriend was killed in that terrorist attack at Canary Wharf a few years back,” Rhys interjected.

“I don’t think you can turn gay, can you? And he took a girl home with him at New Year’s didn’t he?” Gwen replied.

Gwen’s mother cleared her throat. “I think we should stop right here. It sounds like the poor man’s had a very traumatic life. And this was the type of gossip that we were afraid of for all these years.”

Rhys nodded. “You’re right. It’s human nature to gossip, but not the best part of us.”

“I’m ready for another drink,” Gwen said to change the subject.

“You’ll get no argument from me on that suggestion,” Mary Cooper said holding up her glass.

Rhys was a bit surprised that Gwen didn’t mention the startling revelation her mother made during the rest of their trip. He only raised the issue once as they got ready for bed after a chilly night out at the London Eye. “Think your, uh, birth mother’s alive?” he asked as they snuggled under the covers.

“I have no idea whether my Aunt Joanna is alive or dead. And for once, I’m going to leave things alone. What if she is alive? She ran off and left me. What if she’s dead?  How would my father feel if something awful happened to her? Promise me Rhys, that you’ll never say anything to my friends and especially not your Mam.”

Rhys almost laughed at Gwen’s concern but the look on her face brought him up short. “You promise me Rhys Williams or you’ll regret it,” she said as she put her ice cold feet on him.

“Oi, what is this, some type of special ops torture technique.”

“Promise me,” she insisted.

“Okay, I promise. Now get your feet off of me.”

“I was sort of hoping you might help me warm up,” she said smiling.

“Now that’s more like it,” Rhys said embracing Gwen and kissing her breathless.

Parts 3 & 4: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/135585.html