Torchwood: Fanfic: A first for everything

[m_findlow]

Title: A first for everything
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Gwen, Jack, Ianto, Rhys, OCs
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,621 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for juliet316's prompt "Torchwood, Gwen Cooper, this wasn't how she ever imagined celebrating her first child's birthday" at fic_promptly
Summary: Sometimes the best days are the ordinary ones.

Gwen held Anwen close to her as she stepped out into the backyard, admiring the job Rhys had done. Thankfully the Welsh weather had made itself absent for the day, letting the sun shine through the gaps in the clouds, sending the lawn a bright green and adding a sheen to the coloured balloons and streamers littered around the yard.

Immediately she was struck by the hum of friendly chatter amongst her guests and the delicious smoky smell wafting from the far end of the yard where Rhys had meats grilling away. On the other side of the yard were lined up the tables with plates and cutlery, salads and drinks. Taking one last judgmental look at it, she convinced herself that there was nothing missing.

'Let's go say hello to everyone, hey?' she said to Anwen, bouncing her in her arms.

'Here's my gorgeous girl,' Jack said, as Gwen came out into the backyard with Anwen clutched in her arms. Jack quickly divested her of his favourite adopted member of the family, making all kinds of happy gurgling noises at her.

'Oh, and what am I? Chopped liver?' Gwen said, pecking Ianto on the cheek.

'Please,' Jack replied, 'there no way you can compete against this,' he said, referring to the bundle in his arms.

'Such a charmer your husband is,' Gwen said to Ianto.

'Few have tamed, fewer still have mastered,' Ianto replied. 'The place looks great,' he said, before handing over a small bag with a gift inside.

'You shouldn't have,' Gwen said.

'Of course we did. It's not every day someone turns one,' he replied, reaching over and giving Anwen a teasing little touch of her nose. She looked so adorable wrapped up in Jack's arms, that he wondered for a moment if they might ever have a family.

'You're getting so big, Missy,' Jack said, hefting her up higher as she squealed, letting Jack toss her in the air. 'You'll be chasing down aliens in no time.'

'I sincerely hope not,' Gwen said, the idea thoroughly unappealing. She still wasn't overly keen when Rhys got himself involved.

'That makes two of us,' Ianto added.

'I'm telling you,' Jack said, 'it's all in the genes.'

'In which case I hope it's Rhys' genes she's inherited,' Gwen replied.

Jack feigned horror. 'Please tell me you're not serious.'

'Ah, here she is,' came a voice from behind Gwen. 'How's my darling little granddaughter?' She spotted Anwen cuddled up in Jack's arms and frowned at him.

Jack paused at the sight of this diminutive, yet imposing woman. 'Mrs Cooper,' Jack greeted hesitantly.

'Captain. Still around I see. Still making a nuisance of yourself, leading everyone into danger?' she said, taking her grandchild out of his grasp.

'No, ma'am,' Jack said. 'Gave up the leadership business.'

'Oh? Finally something sensible you've done, then.'

'Oh, no, ma'am, I did it all for love,' he said, squeezing Ianto tight against him.

She took one look at the pair of them and put two and two together. She narrowed her eyes. 'I see. I trust that your... other half... might be a more diligent and careful supervisor.'

'Yes, ma'am, he is,' Jack said, gritting his teeth and tensing his arm around Ianto.

'Good,' she said, handing Anwen back to Gwen and giving her a kiss.

'I'll see you later, Mum,' Gwen said, dismissing her mother. 'Sorry,' she apologised as soon as she was out of earshot.

'It's okay,' Ianto said, filling in before Jack could put his own sixpence in. 'At least now she hates us both equally.'

'I still don't know why,' Jack complained.

'Well,' Gwen began, 'you did crash our wedding day. I don't think she ever quite got over that.'

'What little of it she remembers,' Ianto added.

'All in the line of duty,' Jack replied. 'Don't take it personally, but I'd have crashed anyone's wedding.'

'Alright?' Rhys said, appearing from nowhere, pumping Jack's hand and smiling like any proud father. 'Barbeque's fired up, can I get you both a sausage? Got some nice scotch fillet, too.'

Jack smiled and quirked his eyebrows in Ianto's direction. 'I do love a good sausage,' Jack said, his old cheekiness returning.

'Coming right up,' Rhys replied.

'I'll come help you,' Ianto said, finally slipping out of Jack's grasp.

'Brilliant,' Rhys said, clapping Ianto on the shoulder. 'Good thing right, because I've been meaning to bend your ear about something. It's about these fridges, see...'

Jack chuckled as Ianto was lead off on yet another of Rhys' mad conspiracy theories. He looked back at Gwen and then around at the bustling backyard. There was quite a crowd. Old Torchwood friends, new Torchwood friends, Gwen's mother, Rhys' parents, a handful of Gwen and Rhys' other friends. He'd spotted Rhys best mate Daf chatting up Penny over coleslaw and spare napkins; Andy had a beer in hand, telling Johnson what looked like a joke, and even more surprising was that she was actually laughing; Martha and Tom were making conversation with Rhys parents; Jez was teasing Gwen and Rhys' dog with a lamb kebab, chained up near the fence, and Adelaide was quite visibly telling him off. It was a strange combination yet it worked.

Gwen set her little girl down and watched as she toddled off, winning over everyone she came into contact with. 'Not how I imagined Anwen's first birthday,' Gwen mused.

Jack cocked his head at her. 'How did you picture it?

'Oh, you know, weevils rampaging through the streets, rain of fire, mystery plague. Anwen stuck with a sitter whilst the rest of us try to stop the world from ending, only to discover the sitter is an alien hell bent on taking over whatever is left.'

'So, just a regular day at Torchwood?' Jack joked.

She smiled. 'Yeah. This is just so... domestic.' It might have been how she'd dreamt life would be ten years ago, but everything had changed since then. Danger and excitement were the norm. A barbeque on a sunny spring day in their backyard, surrounded by family and friends was just so pedestrian.

Ianto returned with three plates laden with sausages and bread, salads and sauce.

'Thanks, Ianto,' Gwen said. 'I've been so busy trying to get everything organised and make sure everything is sorted that I'd forgotten all about eating.'

'All part of the job,' he grinned, remembering a time not so long ago when he'd been the one at the bottom of the organisational hierarchy, making sure everyone was fed and organised.

'Speaking of,' Jack said, muffled by the enormous mouthful he was still chewing, 'did you sort out Rhys' problem?'

'I think it's safe to say we can shelve that one until Monday. Hey, and did I see Penny exchanging phone numbers with one of Rhys' fiends just before?'

'I know! Who knew?' Jack replied. 'I keep telling people that shy thing is all an act.'

'Which one?' Gwen asked.

'Uh, green t-shirt?'

'Daf,' Jack supplied.

'Well, good,' Gwen added, taking a forkful of salad. 'He's been single for so long he's had three staying single stags dos. Do him good to go on a date with a nice girl like Penny.'

'I'm guessing she'll have more than just archiving on her mind tomorrow,' Ianto mused.

'Chalk up another win for the Torchwood dating service,' Jack said. 'Bringing couples together one alien invasion at a time.'

They all laughed and then Ianto heard his phone beep. A moment later, Jack's vortex manipulator started up.

'Is it?' Jack asked.

'Yep,' Ianto said, having pulled out his phone and consulting it. Just as he said it, Johnson and Jez, Adelaide and Andy all came over to huddle around them. They all been alerted by the computer system back at the hub. Out of habit, they waited for Ianto and Jack to give them instructions.

'Rift alert in Roath Park,' Ianto informed them. 'Guess that's us done for the afternoon.'

'I thought you said the predictor program had things being dead quite for the next few days,' Jack complained.

'Well, I did shoot the rift a memo two weeks ago asking that, if at all possible, could it please refrain from trying to destroy the world today on account of us wanting to celebrate the first birthday of the daughter of a Torchwood agent who made it beyond the age of thirty.'

Jack folded his arms. 'You know, Ianto,' Jack said, 'I'm never quite sure if you're being serious when you say those kinds of things.'

Ianto just rolled his eyes, sipping his lemonade, then sighed. 'A Torchwood leader's work is never done. Come on,' he said, grabbing Jack by the arm. 'Looks like it's probably only a two man job. The rest of you should stay and have fun. No sense having the entire party ruined by having half the guests disappear.'

'No, it's okay,' Johnson said, interjecing. 'Jez and I can go and check it out.'

'Oh, man. Are you serious?' Jez moaned. 'I was just getting the party started! I teamed up with my man Rhys and had the Spotify playlist sorted and everything.'

She placed a placating hand on his arm. 'Let's let the original crew enjoy a well deserved afternoon off. The party will survive without your impressive DJ'ing skills.'

Jez sighed, but agreed in theory. 'Alright, you cats have fun, but save, me some cake, yeah boss?' he said, pointing at Jack.

'No chance,' Jack called after him, grinning from ear to ear. 'If you're lucky I'll bring you back a balloon.'

Jack watched them go before lifting his bottle of cola off the table and toasted Gwen. 'To just another day at Torchwood.'

'Another day at Torchwood,' she toasted back.

Comments

[jo02]

Lol, quite charming - and the fridges cracked me up.

[bk_forever]

I love your team! Good to have them all together for a happy occasion even if it did get interrupted.