Title: Fallout Christmas (Fallout Part Thirty)
Author: Emma
Characters: A whole bunch of folk.
Rating: Starts PG, but hey, it’s got Jack in it!
Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?
Author’s Note: This transformed itself from a plot bunny to a plot tribble. Fallout was meant to be a simple CoE fix-it fic. Except it keeps breeding!
Author’s Note: Cawl Cennin is Welsh leek soup – one of the multiple ways of using leeks in Welsh cooking. Many, many versions but here is one that’s a stew: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/food/pages/cawlcennin.shtml and here’s one with cream: http://www.fastrecipes.com/recipe/cawl-cennin-a-hufen-(leek-soup,-creamed)-welsh-2009051729891/

Link to previous parts here


“Jack! Answer the door!”

“I’m finishing the tree!”

“If you want cawl cennin for a first course tonight you will get your lovely arse to the door!”

“Do you really think my arse is lovely?”

“Jack! Open. The. Damn. Door.”

Humming a syncopated version of Winter Wonderland, Jack obeyed Ianto’s distinctly enunciated command. “Well, hello, lovely people! A happy Christmas to all. Welcome to Chez Jones!”

Tish sniffed at Jack's mouth like a wolfhound. “Have you been dipping into the eggnog already, Jack?”

“Nope. Not even a nip of Penderyn all afternoon. I've been putting up the Christmas tree and it's my life's worth if I break even one of Yan's antique ornaments. In, in! Packages under the tree, as tradition will have it.”

“My antique ornaments?” Ianto came out of the kitchen wiping his hands on a towel. “You're the one who showed up with two dozen Victorian paper maché cornucopias and a box full of Waterford crystal pieces.”

“I didn't take you for a collector, Jack,” said Tom Milligan.

Jack shrugged. “I had forgotten I had them. When I bought my first place in Cardiff they were in the attic. After I sold the house I put them in deep storage. Turns out the bomb they put in me couldn’t even dent the doors in that side of the Hub. I had Gwen send them on. It’s been a long time since I had a tree.”

Kathy had been investigating the tree. “You filled the cornucopias with sugared almonds?”

“Tradition.” Ianto said. “And the fact that I hate candied fruit.”

Martha entwined her arm with Ianto's. “So, what's the schedule for the rest of the week?”

“We leave for Cardiff early tomorrow. Lunch with Gwen, Rhys, John, and Andy. Then Christmas dinner with Rhi and the family. Grandfather and Donna are joining us.”

“Maybe.” Jack said darkly. “He tends to miss dates.”

Martha laughed. “Don't I know it. He's promised to come to our New Years' Eve party. I keep telling Tom we should expect him to arrive in three years or so.”

“Oh, I don't know,” Kathy said with a sly grin. “He's been keeping rather close these days.”

“I've noticed,” Tish said. “Family and a certain redhead, I think.”

Tom, Jack, and Ianto exchanged a thoroughly male look.

“Matchmakers,” Tom muttered.

“Well,” Jack said philosophically, “they have a very limited field these days.”

Tom looked at them with undisguised glee. “Are you two making a formal announcement, then?”

“Don't you start!” Ianto grumped. “We will be ready when we're ready and not before.” His cell phone rang. He said yes… yes… and then hung up. “Here, you two help me finish setting the table while those three finish saving the world one engagement at a time.”

Jack grabbed the silverware. “Um… Yan? We have too many place settings.”

“No we don’t.”

“But….”

“Get the door, Jack.”

“Doorbell isn’t,,, ah. Be right back.”

As Jack reached the door, he could hear giggling and whispering on the other side. Curious, he flung the door open, and found himself with an armful of boy.

“Hello, grandpa!”

“Steven!” He looked up at the woman, wary. “Alice?”

She smiled nervously. “Ifan… I’ve been talking to him, and he said…”

“We’re going to stay in your flat and you’re going to move in here with Ifan,” Steven was bursting out with excitement, “and Mom has a new job with some people called UNIT as li….li….”

“Liaison,” Alice prompted.

“As liaison with a whole bunch of other people, and I’m going to go to school here in London.” He peeped over Jack’s shoulder. “Hi, doctor Martha.”

“Hello Steven. Welcome home!” She extended her hand. “Want to look at the tree? There’s sugared almonds in the cornucopias.”

He ran trustingly to her. “Yeah!”

“I hope it’s all right,” Alice said. “Ifan said… “

Jack enfolded her against his chest and nearly wept as he felt her arms go around his waist. “It’s more than all right, Alice. Welcome home.”