Title: Well Deserved Sanity
By: amy. j x
Pairing; Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13
Series: 1) All Change, 2) Shock To The System, 3) Breaking News, 4) A Daddy & A Pops, 5) No Time For Flattery
AN: Yet another snippet from my AU world. I seem to have writer's block when it comes to writing canon Torchwood fanfic, so instead my mind has been over taken with plot bunnies all about my beloved OC's.
Summary: Another story from my AU world. Cerys visits home after being away at University.

***

Cerys turned her key in the lock, dragging her suitcase up the few stone doorsteps, the luggage bumping against the ground, and entered her parent's house.

"Dad! Pops! I'm home!"

Ianto dropped the wooden spoon on the kitchen counter, leaving the pasta sauce to boil in the pot, before practically bounding into the hallway, enveloping the girl in a bear hug, squeezing tightly the beloved daughter he hadn't seen in months.

"Oh, Cerys, I've missed you!"

Cerys squeezed back, her long fingers splaying out over her father's back, her wavy black hair resting on his shoulder as she nuzzled into her dad's warmth.

She gently slid from the embrace, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, revealing three colourful studs, in various positions on her ear. Her dazzling blue eyes looked up at her father, lined with turquoise eyeliner and unnaturally dark eyelashes.

"Where's pops?"

Ianto looked down at his daughter, taking in all the small changes in her since she had left for university. But she was still his daughter in every way shape and form. Her bright smile and dimples, dazzling blue eyes and dark wavy hair, all Ianto. Her lightly tanned skin, although envied by many of her friends, was only a painful reminder to Ianto and Jack that Lisa was forever entwined in their lives.

"He's just went out to the shop. Don't worry he'll be back soon. He's missed you too much to spend ages filling the trolley in Tesco."

Cerys chuckled. In many ways, Ianto had remained exactly the same, and in others he had changed dramatically. His hair was now slowly greying, and his eyes were lined with slight wrinkles. Cerys knew all to well they were a variation of laughter and frown lines, that despite the happiness in his life, his existence had always been peppered with dark patches. His eyes still remained the same beautiful shade of stormy blue that she had inherited, and he could still raise an eyebrow as skilfully as he could twenty years ago, but all the signs of Ianto's gradual ageing where there to see, clear as day.

"So, how about a cup of my dad's famous coffee? Don't know how I ever survive on instant when I'm living in that hovel at uni."

…

Five minutes later, and Cerys could be found sitting comfortably in the living room, feet tucked under her body as she regaled stories of her time away from home. From her roommates, to her lecturer, to the seemingly endless essays she found herself typing at midnight the day before they were due.

When Jack arrived home, slinging shopping bags onto the kitchen table and interrupting Cerys as she divulged some particularly juicy details of her roommates recent fling with his lecturer, he instantly pulled her into a massive hug, mirroring his partners previous actions, and placing a big sloppy kiss on her cheek, before squeezing her one last time, and thrusting her at arms length to take a good look at just how her time away had changed her.

"Baby girl, I've missed you so much!"

"You too, Pops."

Despite his need for a long awaited catch up with his daughter, he figured that could wait until he had at least greeted Ianto with a kiss, leaning down to Ianto's height as he sat comfortably on the sofa, pressing their mouths together in a soft joining of lips, before standing back to full height, and grinning at his daughter.

"I got your favourites!"

Cerys squealed, too many months away from her home comforts had taken their toll and she made her way to the kitchen in hast, rummaging in the various shopping bags, coming across a few items she definitely did not want to see - when the weekly shopping confirms your parents are still having sex, you chose to either completely forget, or curl in to a ball and proceed to go insane. Cerys decided on the former.

She dug a variety of items from the bags, already pulling out a hand full of Ritz crackers and munching until her heart was content. Who needed drink, drugs and sex when your addiction of choice was biscuits?

After securing a sufficient selection of treats she made her way back to the living room to find her parents cuddling up on the sofa. An image of the items discovered earlier flashed through her mind, but deciding she had worked hard for her well deserved sanity, she shook her head, clearing it of such thoughts and sunk in to the armchair at the opposite side of the room.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Well, Sally and Rhiannon are coming over later with Harri. Your gran might pay a visit tonight if she's feeling up to it, if not she'll see you tomorrow."

Cerys wished so much that she had been at home when her granddad had passed, to have the chance to say a proper goodbye, but sadly that couldn't have been the case. She missed him more than she expected she would. They had always been close, but she had never expected his death to affect her as much as it had.

Jack noticed that Cerys had ceased popping the crackers in to her mouth, looking at her with concern clouding his face.

"Cerys, you ok?"

Cerys looked up, blinking a few times and smiled a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yeah, just…thinking."

Jack nodded, giving her a genuine smile and returning to running an absentminded hand up and down Ianto's waist, as the Welshman lay nestled against his side.

"So, aren't you going to tell your old Pops about all your friends at university?"

Jack's use of 'old' didn't go unnoticed by his daughter. She knew Jack hated the fact that he was steadily loosing his looks, but it amused Cerys to no end that her friends still blushed whenever he showed up. She never did understand their attraction to older men.

The next half hour was spent with Cerys animatedly talking about all the new people she had met, Jack and Ianto nodding and chuckling in all the right places. It was strange for them to hear of her new life, no matter how old she got, they always thought of her as their baby, and it was still bizarre for Ianto to hear his daughter swear, to hear her talk like he had when he was her age and give her highly intellectual opinions on matters that she felt strongly about. She would frequently get angered by the homophobia she witnessed on a daily basis, the inequality she heard so much about, and it still shocked Ianto when it hit him that she had grown up. She knew what was in the world, how unfair people could be, and he hated that she was vulnerable to that. But he loved that she cared, that she was fair and always gave anyone a chance.

She was an adult.

And it never failed to scare the shit out of him.

…

The doorbell chimed through out the house, as Cerys applied the last of her vibrant make up and slipped her pink slippers on, concealing her nail varnished blue toenails, heading to the door.

"I'll get it!"

Jack was in the living room, watching some programme on the television that Cerys had no interest in, and Ianto was busy dishing up the dinner in the kitchen.

Cerys pulled the door open, revealing Rhiannon, Sally and Harri. Her extended family.

"Aunty Rhiannon! Aunt Sally! I haven't seen you in ages!"

She hugged them both in turn as Harri stood awkwardly on the doorstep. When the two women let her go, they entered the house, greetings ringing throughout the house as the four adults began the chatter that was sure to go on for hours.

"Cerys, hey."

Harri raised a hand in a half-hearted wave, and Cerys just looked at him and burst out laughing.

"Come her you big goon!"

She pulled him into a hug, and for a few moments Harri stood stiff as a board in her arms, before he placed his arms around her back and gently squeezed back his cousin that he had so much in common with. Both had been ridiculed during childhood for being raised by same-sex parents, both shared a passion for music, both were currently studying at university, and both were Jones down to the bone. They were so similar in so many little ways, that anyone that didn't know them would mistake them for brother and sister.

Eventually the two pulled back, sharing broad smiles, and after realising they were still stood on the doorstep for the whole street to see, entered the house, Cerys closing the door behind them and leading Harri into the kitchen, where the group had congregated.

…

Conversation soon flowed between the group as they indulged in Ianto's pasta and the expensive wine Jack had bought. It felt like ages since the six of them had been together like this, and Cerys couldn't help but notice all the little changes in Sally and Rhiannon.

Sally had yet again changed her hair colour, going for a more natural shade than her last foray into various shades of reds. Cerys had physically cringed when a forty-something year old Sally had entered the room, complete with flowing crimson hair, but now her hair matched her age, and Cerys would happily be seen in public with her favourite aunt (biological or otherwise). Like her own parents, Sally and Rhiannon were showing clear signs of ageing, wrinkles littering their faces, and despite her partners endless use of hair dye, a few grey hairs were visible nesting amongst the thick, flowing locks of Rhiannon.

They ate, and talked and drank, and eventually retired to the living room, where everyone relaxed and once again easily slipped into easy conversation, the seemingly endless banter being thrown between Ianto and his sister.

A few hours had passed, and everyone was still there, Harri and Cerys, however had retired to Cerys' room, plenty beer and music to keep them amused as they chatted about nothing in particular.

"So, boyfriend, girlfriend?"

Cerys shook her head as she relaxed further into the mattress, surrounded in a nest of cushions and teddies as old as her. Harri sat on the computer chair, swinging from side to side and occasionally swigging from his bottle.

"Nope. How about you?"

"Nope. Uni hasn't left me much time to find anyone. Nah, afraid it's just nameless fucks for me."

Cerys scoffed. "Never did anyone I know any favours."

"Hmm, well that's the thing. You can't get hurt when it's just one night stands. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I'll settle down one day, I'd like to settle down, but right now, my way of living suits me just fine."

Cerys looked deep in thought for a moment before taking a gulp of beer, and laughing.

"This conversation has gotten way to serious for my liking. And it sounds like this CD has finished, so why don't we head downstairs and see how the old folk are doing?"

"Yep, sounds like a plan. Let's go check out how the Gay and Lesbian AGM is going."

Cerys chuckled despite herself and swatted her older cousin on the arm, before grinning and shouting, "Race you down the stairs!"

Harri laughed, exclaiming, "Why do you still insist on acting like a five year old?", before finishing his beer and chasing her along the hallway.