m_findlow | Fffc March Special Bingo

Title: Out of time
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Rhiannon
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,076 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for fffc March Special Bingo Card - Prompt 5 - Wildcard - Overworked
Summary: Ianto needs a way to create more time.

Ianto consulted his watch. Bollocks. Where the hell was Jack? He let out a vexed sign and hit the speed dial.

'Kinda busy right now, Ianto,' came the yell from the other end of the phone.

'It’s ten to three,' he replied, sat comfortably behind his desk back at the hub.

'And?'

'And it’s your turn to pick up the kids.'

'You’ll have to,' came the terse reply, along with something akin to a grunt.

'I’ve got a call with the PM at three,' Ianto said in response.

'So get your sister to pick them up, then. I'm sure she’s not doing anything.'

Dear God, don’t let her hear you say that, Ianto thought. She likely had radar and had already heard it. 'I really can't afford to skip this call, Jack. You’re absolutely sure you can’t make it?'

'End of the world scoring a ten right now.' Ianto heard the honesty in his voice. If there was any way he could have gotten out of what he was doing right now, using picking up the kids from school as an excuse, he would have.

'Okay, okay. I’ll call her.' Bloody hell. How hard could it be to stick to a rota? He'd scheduled his entire week and all his critical appointments around it. A shame the rift couldn't abide by schedules. Sighing, he dialed the next number on his list. 'Rhi, yeah hi, it’s me.'

'Hello. What d'you want, then?' came the answer.

'Normal people get "hello, nice to hear from you",' Ianto replied.

'Yeah, well, you're not normal, are you?' his sister quipped.

Point taken. 'Um, listen you couldn’t by any chance pick the kids up from school, could you?'

Rhiannon set down the tea towel on the edge of the sink and nestled the phone between her ear and her shoulder. 'What’s wrong with you? Got a bone in your arm or something?'

'I got tied up. It’s Jack’s turn and he can’t get there.' No sense in lumping all the blame on himself. They were in this together, after all.

'And what’s your excuse then? Car broken down or something?'

'Teleconference with the PM,' he replied quickly.

'Oh, and she’s more important than your kids, is she? You and all your high fallooting Torchwood business.'

'Yeah, I’ll just tell the PM I had to cancel our meeting on account of the fact that I have to go and pick up three nine year olds from school, taken them home, feed them and supervise them doing their homework. I’m sure that since she’s not a mother herself, she’ll understand perfectly!'

'Alright! No need to get your knickers in a twist,' Rhiannon said.

'Postponing to save the world from aliens intent on eating out people brains I think she’ll be okay with. Skiving off to do the local school run, not so much,' Ianto said.

'How many times did I ever ask you to do the school run for David and Mica, Ianto?'

He rolled his eyes, the question essentially rhetorical, but knowing he was obligated to reply. 'None.'

'Exactly. Yet here we are.'

'Here we are,' he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. Why couldn't anything in life ever just be simple?

'And you are coming to get them just as soon as you’re done with Miss Fancy Pants PM, aren’t you? Johnny won't be happy if I tell him I've got to stay over at yours whilst the kids are in bed waiting for you two to decide to come home.'

Really? He had two more phone calls he couldn’t put off after this one and about twenty more reports he hadn’t even looked at yet. He could have taken them home with him, but it was nigh on impossible to try and work through them when all Tom, Sian, and Eleri wanted to do was play with their dads. If he was going to get anything done, he needed to be here to do it. Overworked was the understatement of the century, and here was his sister giving him the third degree. Did she really think he'd rather be here stuck behind his desk getting hassled by every national and international government department under the sun? Right now he'd have given anything to be out in his backyard playing with the kids and the dog. He felt compelled to conference call Jack into the conversation so that he could share some of the pain. She was his sister too, now, even if she was only an in-law.

'I’m not your twenty four hours babysitting service, d’you hear me, Ianto? I love them to bits, but I’ve got a life too. I can’t just be your beck and call girl because it suits you.'

'Please?' He really hated begging, but what was he supposed to do?

'Fine. And what do I tell them when they ask where their Dad is?'

'Preventing the world from descending into chaos,' he replied, letting out a small breath of relief that she wasn't going to leave him high and dry.

'Yeah, fair enough. And what's your excuse?'

He growled under his breath. She always had to have the last word, and Jack always got far less grief than he did, even when they were equally to blame. 'I love you. You’re the best. Okay, gotta go,' he said, quickly hanging up. He knew she’d never not pick them up. He’d just pay for the favour later.

No sooner than he'd hung up then Jack was calling him.

'Ianto, can you arrange for Rhys to send up his biggest lorry? Oh, and you'll probably be getting a call from the Mayor in the next hour. He's pretty pissed. Sorry. We tried really hard, but the entire length of Lloyd George Avenue is now one long slip and slide of alien goo, and hate to say it, but it's a little on the caustic side. The road underneath is pretty much melting as we speak. We're gonna have to shut off all the water supplies to the city before it seeps into the sewerage system. That's gonna take me a few hours. Probably best you don't wait up. Give the kids a kiss for me. Love you, bye.'

He dropped the phone back down on the desk and slumped back in the chair staring at the huge piles of reports taking up every last inch of his desk. Then his landline began ringing. Two guesses who that was.

'Worst. Parents. Ever,' he muttered.

Fffc March Special Bingo - Out of time

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