m_findlow

Title: Spring has sprung
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,062 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt 'any, any, Gardening' at fic_promptly
Summary: Ianto’s back garden is quite something else

Jack was enjoying the quiet Sunday morning at Ianto's house. Whilst the young man has been showering, Jack had padded through the tidy kitchen, past the lounge and was staring out the large windows that faced the courtyard outside, admiring the lush greenery, neatly trimmed hedgerows, and beds of bright yellow daffodils, vibrant red tulips, blue hyacinth, white jonquils and soft pink peonies.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Ianto's footfalls coming down the hall.

'When did you take up gardening?' Jack asked.

'You're hilarious,' Ianto replied deadpanned, still toweling off his hair as he approached. 'We work for Torchwood, who's got time for gardening?'

'Well, I was just going to say that it looks pretty good.'

'Har har,' Ianto replied, coming over to join him at the windows. 'I know it's a bit of a mess, but I've only been here a few months and you can hardly exepct-'

Ianto stopped dead in his tracks. 'Oh,'

Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and looked thoughtfully at him.

'So, I'm guessing you didn't do that?' he asked, pointing his head in the direction of the immaculately manicured garden.

Ianto was gobsmacked. In his head he'd had a long list of things that needed doing just to make the yard presentable, but most days it was all he could do just to have enough time to keep the hub respectable, let alone anything else. He wandered through the garden now, ticking them all off in his head. Pebble paths needed resurfacing, done. Weeding the paved courtyard, done. Mowing, trimming, planting, all done. It didn't even look like his garden, the poor site had been so overgrown and unloved by the previous owner. Now it was beyond anything he himself could have done. Along the back wall he even spotted a patch that seemed to be hosting a variety of carrots and leeks, small butter squash, and enormous green beans crawling up the side of the wall.

'It's amazing,' Ianto breathed.

'Question is though, if you didn't do it, then who did, and when?' Jack responded.

'Well there's no back gate, so they couldn't have gotten in that way, and the wall is a good eight feet high.'

'And who would bother?'

Ianto gave him a withering look.

'I mean,' Jack clarified, 'who'd break in and overhaul a complete strangers garden?'

'I know what you mean. There's only one explanation for it.' Ianto sighed wearily. 'Why do there have to be aliens in my garden?'

They continued their exploration of the yard, reaching the back corner whereby stood a sad looking potting shed.

Jack raised his eyebrows at Ianto questioningly. Ianto to returned his look earnestly.

'Haven't had a chance to open it.'

'Wait here. I'm going back inside to get my gun.'

'What?' Ianto exclaimed.

'Well, I didn't think I'd need it over bacon and eggs!' Jack retorted.

'You think they're hostile?'

'Don't you?'

Ianto rolled his eyes. 'Yes Jack, first they take over my garden, then the Chelsea Flower show, then the world! Of all the- Oh, just go get it then!' he hissed.

Jack returned swiftly and handed Ianto his own gun as well. Ianto considered tucking it into the back of his jeans in protest but then thought better of it. Jack could be right, they could very well be hostile.

They positioned themselves on either side of the shed door. On Jack's cue, Ianto thrust open the rusty door and Jack swung inside, webley pointed directly at four very scared quivering creatures.

If Ianto had had to describe them, he would have said they were a cross between a gnome and a womble, and about the same size. Clearly frightened by the intrusion, Ianto quickly disarmed himself. Jack followed suit.

It turned out that they'd fallen through the rift, just like everything else, and had found shelter in the small potting shed several weeks ago. They were avid gardeners and came from a world with no predators. They'd barely seen any humans in the house so they thought they'd be safe to make their home in the garden.

After Jack and Ianto had asked all the basic questions that accompanied dealing with new arrivals, they turned to the more curious aspect, being the current state of Ianto's garden.

They couldn't quite explain how it was that they'd made the garden without any seeds or supplies, they just seemed to commune with the earth itself and the plants would spring up from nowhere. It was what they did on their home world so they hadn't given much thought to it. It was just a natural instinct to cultivate. Jack knew that there was some sort of scientific explanation for it, but for now calling it magic was close enough.

The Gnombles as they'd called them, for they didn't seem to have a name for themselves, seemed worried that now they'd been found they would have to find a new home. Jack asked them if they wanted to go back to their old home, and then tried to figure out if they even could send them back. They didn't seem at all fussed, just so long as they could have somewhere they could live in peace amongst flowers and trees. The solution therefore was obvious. They could stay just where they were.

He could see the childlike delight in Ianto's eyes that he now had cute little creatures living in a magical garden at the back of his house. He offered to fix up the shed for them, so that they would have somewhere a bit more comfortable to sleep, and they willingly obliged him on the promise that they could keep tending his garden. He laughed and told them he'd be disappointed if they didn't. He loved it so much that he knew he'd never be able to maintain it himself.

Jack made a request that they plant a large apple tree in the far corner of the yard and they happily agreed.

As Ianto and Jack left them to enjoy the garden, retreating back inside for a now very late breakfast, Ianto asked Jack why he had asked for an apple tree. It seemed a bizarre request, but then Jack was always full of surprises.

Jack smiled. 'So I can carve our names into it, and we can have apple pie whenever we want.'