Torchwood: Fanfic: With a single stroke

[m_findlow]

Title: With a single stroke
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack, OCs
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,279 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for oneill's prompt "Any, any, brushing someone else's hair" at fic_promptly
Summary: Ianto knows just how to soothe his daughter's troubles.

'I'm going to be lonely forever,' she said, dropping her head down in shame.

Ianto sat down on the bed next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. 'No, you're not, sweetheart.'

'I am,' she argued.

Jack was standing in the doorway, ready to lend assistance, but a brief look from his husband told him that, on this occasion, he'd be okay handling this himself.

He picked up the hairbrush off the small set of drawers next to the bed and began combing it gently through the long mouse brown hair. It was slightly tangled from the earlier rage with which his daughter had flown through the house, despairing at the fact that the boy she'd wanted to hang out with on the weekend had other plans, which she took to meant other girls. He pulled back a long section of hair which was blocking his view of her face, brushing it back across her shoulder. To her credit, she hadn't cried. He'd half expected it to come. She was the more openly emotional of the two girls, and used to making her feelings known. Today she'd found some inner reserve in which she was bottling up the pain. When it came to all things romance, Jack should have been the one to turn to, but Ianto was the expert on bottled up grief.

He stroked her hair again, slowly working out the tangles, brushing each one out with the tenderness of the mother she'd never had. When they'd both been younger, he'd loved brushing their hair, feeling how soft and silky it was, combing it until it gleamed. Inevitably they'd grown older, able to do it themselves, and certainly not wanting their dad to do it for them anymore, but there was still the odd occasion where it was okay. There was something of a soothing quality to the gesture that calmed them and made them forget their troubles. Jack called it his magic hands, which Ianto only laughed at, telling Jack he'd know better than most just how magic they were.

'He thinks I'm ugly,' Sian continued, working her way toward those tears that hadn't shown themselves yet.

'No, he doesn't,' Ianto replied, bringing the brush down through the hair again, noting how long it was getting. 'You're very pretty,' he added, meaning every word. She had Jack's easy grace and good looks. She was only just beginning to grow into those looks that she'd carry with her all her life.

'Then why did he say no?'

Ah, teenagers. Could there be a worse part of your life than those awkward years between childhood and adulthood? He'd hated them. Uncool and unpopular, too smart for his own good, but no desire to apply himself lest he make himself even more unpopular. Better to hang out with idiots in gangs and tag buildings and rail lines with graffiti.

And as for girls... He was lucky he could identify their heads from their feet. Girls were a mystery to him and continued to be so for more years than he cared to remember. He never knew the right thing to say to make them think he was cool. He'd probably said the wrong thing more often that he'd said the right thing.

'Maybe he was nervous,' Ianto offered. 'He might have been scared.'

She turned to face him. 'I'm not scary.'

Ianto laughed, brushing a few strands behind her ear with his fingers. 'To a sixteen year old boy, you're scarier than a whole bunch of weevils.' She huffed but let him continue brushing.

He'd tried to suss out as much about this Marcus boy as he could. Sian was sweet on him and mentioned him as often as she could. Neither he nor Jack had quite been ready for the boy factor to come into their lives. There were already two men in their girl's lives and that was quite enough for them. Three if you included their son Tom. Jack was even more protective, prepared to break the knee caps of any boy who crossed his path wanting to hang out with his little princesses. God forbid what he might do if one of them broke their hearts.

Tom seemed to be the best and most reliable source of information about this particular boy. Ianto had hoped that he'd say Marcus was a complete twat and that might be the end of it. Instead he'd just shrugged and said "he's alright, I guess. Bit of a nerd but he's a decent winger."

A nerd. Yes, big double tick in the acceptable box. He expected Sian to go for the popular, sporty types, which he supposed was where the football came into it. A kid with a bit of an intellectual slant was more than he could hope for.

He slipped the brush forward through her hair again, pulling it back into a low ponytail. Even after all these years, enough brushing still brought out the golden shine in it.

'Dad?'

'Yes, baby?'

'Did you always know Dad was the one?'

Who are you and what have you done with my sixteen year old daughter, he felt like asking. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and leant his head on her shoulder. 'No,' he replied honestly. 'I fell in love lots of times before your dad came along, and not all of them loved me back either. It's okay to fall in love, even if it isn't forever. It just makes it that much more special when it is.'

'So, you're saying Marcus isn't the one.'

Sweet goddesses, he hoped not. He wasn't ready to let his little girl go just yet. 'I don't know,' he said. 'But if he isn't, that's okay.'

There was a knock at the door, and Jack poked his head in. 'We okay in here?'

'Yeah, thanks, Dad,' Sian said. 'I really like it when Dad brushes my hair.'

'Me too,' Jack replied, receiving an eye roll. 'You got a minute?' he asked, holding up his phone for Ianto to see.

'Sure.'

'Dad? When you come back, can you braid my hair like we used to?'

'Of course, sweetie,' he said, bending down to kiss her on the head.

He padded down the hall and out of earshot. 'What is it?' he asked Jack.

'So, I've been doing a little digging on this Marcus kid.'

'Please don't do this, Jack. They're just teenagers. We don't need to give him a night down in the cells as punishment.'

'Ianto! You wound me with your accusations! Do I look like the kinda guy who likes to break bones? No, I've found something that might explain everything.'

Ianto let out a little sigh. 'Please don't tell me he's an alien.'

'Nope. But he does have his grandfather living at home with him and his mum. Apparently he has dementia and things at home have been a little crazy lately. They're moving him to a nursing home just as soon as a place opens up, but they've been on the waiting list for months.'

That did explain a lot, especially why he might not be so keen on having someone around the house. 'Is that something we could maybe help with?'

Jack waggled an eyebrow at him. 'I don't know. You tell me. Of course it would mean that Marcus would have a lot more spare time on the weekends for entertaining young ladies.'

'I could think of worse things,' Ianto replied. 'He could always come around here if you're worried.'

'You're not worried about letting our baby girl out into the big, bad world of boys?'

'I thinks it's they who should be worried.'

Comments

[jo02]

Oh yeah, I really liked this :)

[bk_forever]

Oh lovely, I adore sweet fics with their family!