ericadawn16 | Sippy Cups Aren't Foolproof

Title: But Time Marches On
Characters: Jack, Iefan, Selene Jack/Ianto Rhi, Johnny Rhi/Johnny David, Emyr Mica
Rated: PG-13 ANGST COE Spoilers MPREG
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Everyone arrives in Italy.
Previous Segment: BooBoo
Author's Note: The Sequel to But Time Didn't Stop

Previous Chapter: BooBoo

Masterlist: http://ericadawn16.livejournal.com/113396.html

Sippy Cups Aren't Foolproof

Jack sat in a sandwich shoppe with Iefan on his lap. His son was eating apple slices while he ate a roast beef wrap. When he had asked for a bun, the girl had given him a look as though he were crazy. Sometimes, the years he missed didn't make any difference and sometimes, the contrast was incredible.

"Jack!" Selene exclaimed and came over, "I wasn't expecting to see you. Shouldn't you be on a plane to Italy?"

Jack wanted to have the visit as soon as possible. Iefan tried to feed one of the slices to Faba and said, "Mummummum, all up."

"Tomorrow, today is packing, but we needed a break," he explained and set his food down, "What are you doing out?"

There was laughter from the young woman with her long, black hair in a bun.

"I know, right? Somehow, my stuff is done and theirs isn't so I volunteered to do the lunch run," she explained and not for the first time was he reminded of Tosh. However, while Tosh had a paler, more British skin, Selene's skin was more the color of caramel.

"Get everyone a sweet and have it put on my expenses," Jack told her which made her smile.

December 17th, 2017

Rhi squeezed Johnny's hand. Johnny had his eyes shut tight.

"Are we landing yet?" he asked and she chuckled before turning back to the window. The view was incredible. She'd never been on an airplane before. A familiar giggle filled the cabin and she turned to see her daugher tickling her nephew. The smile on her face grew bigger at the sight. If only things could go that well with Alice, she hoped. It didn't seem right that she and Jack never spoke, but she had seen the same thing between her own dad and Ianto. They'd never patched things up and then, it was too late. Life seemed so short sometimes. She watched the two of them a little longer until her dark thoughts passed.

"Look Iefan, that's France!" Mica spoke in an excited tone as she pointed outside the airplane window. Jack smiled at them.

"Ants!" Iefan shrieked and he heard groans from several of the passengers. He didn't care. It could have been a lot worse. The entire experience had been fit-free except for when his ears popped and that wasn't Iefan's fault.

"Uncle Jack, what if one of the other passenger's is a Sontaran clone?" Mica questioned with suspicious brown eyes that were now glancing around the cabin.

"I think we would have noticed that by now," he argued with a grin.

"Sarah Jane says they can make one of their clones to look like anyone and you wouldn't know it..."

"At first," he interrupted, "Yes, but after awhile of them acting peculiar...you'd know."

While he was glad that Sarah Jane had helped Mica to see that there were good aliens, her interest in them had only intensified.

"Where exactly are we going in Italy if we're landing in Nice?" David asked; leaning forward in his seat behind them.

"Apricale," Jack told him and saw David give Emyr a questioning look, "it's on the border with France on the Alps."

"That sounds cold," Mica complained while tickling Iefan's belly.

"Twelve degrees Celsius, that's not too bad," he said and tried to use the chitchat to distract himself from thinking about what might happen with Alice. Mica was still frowning. The fourteen year old must have thought he had meant a seaside villa or something.

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Mica was happy to see that Jack wasn't entirely right. They had taken two cars from the airport so that she was sitting on the backseat beside Iefan in his carseat. Jack was driving while all the couples were in the other car. To her left were the Alps he'd mentioned, but to her right were signs to the seaside and the occasional glimpse of blue. They weren't that far from the water after all. Iefan held up his sippy cup for her to take, but she was distracted by the French buildings. There was a thud followed by a popping sound.

"Shit!" she hissed as Jack asked, "What just happened?"

For a second, she saw his concerned blue eyes in the rearview mirror before she bent down to get the plastic pieces.

"I thought they were supposed to be spill-proof!" Mica complained as the chocolate milk settled into the light-colored fabric.

"They are if you put them together correctly," Jack retorted back and she opened her mouth, but couldn't argue with that. They had been in a hurry. It was possible that she hadn't put it back together right.

"Uh oh," said Iefan and laughed as she pulled nappy wipes to try and soak up the brown liquid.

"Don't," she told him with a glare before asking in a louder voice, "Wonder where he gets it from, this habit of dropping his cup for fun? I bet it wasn't Ianto."

She hadn't remembered about the wipes having moisture of their own. It mixed with the chocolate milk to make a lighter color that spread farther. An expletive almost came out, but she remembered how Jack didn't like her saying things in front of Iefan. He'd told her that more than once since the incident where Iefan's favorite word for two days was "uck". She had been a little surprised he hadn't said anything about saying "shit". It was quite some time before Jack had agreed to her earlier statement, "No, it probably wasn't." Mica gathered up the sopping wipes and stuck them into a sealable plastic bag. It was hopeless. He'd just have to pay the charges on it when it was returned. She looked out the window and saw that they were nearing Italy.

"Italy! Result!" she yelled and held her hand up near Iefan until he hit it back. He was slowly learning. However, they did need to teach him not to drop sippy cups wherever. Mica also reminded herself that she'd promised gifts for Chris and Sian when they came back.

***********************************************************

"Are you sure you don't want to rest at all, Jack?" Rhi asked him as they walked through the narrow walkways of Apricale less than an hour later. He was about to remind her that he didn't need sleep that much when he saw the real reason. Rhi looked exhausted and he knew that they should rest because everyone was probably tired, but he wanted to get it over with. He hated admitting that, even if it was only in his head.

"No, I want to do this. This is what we came for, right? We just have to find her," he replied before opening the wooden door to the school. The other four went to enjoy the sights of the medieval town.

" Vorrei parlare con Melissa Moretti," he said to the first person he found inside and hoped his rudimentary Italian would be enough.

" Senora Moretti ha lasciato per il giorno. Lei è a casa," said the woman wearing a tight red dress.

Casa? He thought he knew that one.

"She's at home?" he guessed in English.

"Yes," the other confirmed and he pulled up her address on his mobile.

"Thank you," Rhi told her as they left.

"Dow! Dow!" Iefan yelled into his father's ear and Jack shook his head, "Not a chance, Iefan, you're staying in your carrier. If I set you down, you'll run off and get lost."

"No! No! No!" he complained from his seat on Jack's back.

Halfway to the villa on the road leading into Apricale, Iefan gave up on wanting to be let down. Actually, Jack wondered if he was asleep, but he couldn't see and didn't want to ask Rhi. She wore a huge grin on her face at the valley down below. It didn't disappear until they neared the stone structure.

"What is it?"

"I was just thinking about Ianto. He would have liked this...all of us together," she said and took his hand.

"He would have made me come, too," Jack agreed and thought of Ianto. It was nice to realize that Ianto's smile always came to mind first. It didn't used to be that way. For a long time, any thought of Ianto would make him think of that last day together; his last moments with his body. He knew a lot had to do with more than two years passing by and Iefan, but it also helped that whenever he died...Ianto was there.

"You can do this," Rhi told him as they stood to the side of the villa.

The Best of Intentions