Happy Christmas!!

[jooles34]

Happy Christmas darling flist!

For those celebrating today, have a wonderful day and for those not, well have a bloody good day anyway, full of peace and love.

And here is a very fluffy slice of Christmas at Torchwood Three.

Title:  Ianto's Christmas Surprise
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack/Ianto + special guests
Words: 1,028
Rating, Warnings: PG.
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Torchwood.
Spoilers: None

“Morning Jack, happy Christmas!” Ianto bounded into the Hub with an energy he didn’t normal display this early. He had a large present under one arm, wrapped in a bright red paper. He stopped when he heard nothing but the hum of Mainframe answering him.

“Jack? Jack?” he called louder. It was early Christmas morning and Tosh, Owen and Gwen all had the day off. Ianto had agreed to watch the Hub and monitor the Rift with Jack and was quite looking forward to his day. The girls had decorated the Hub – an idea which had initially terrified Ianto, but they had done a quite lovely job.

He had fully expected Jack to be in excited-child mode this morning; it seemed no matter how long you lived, Christmas always had the potential to be exciting. So the quietness was unexpected.

But, as Ianto called, Jack’s head suddenly appeared around his office door.

“Ah, Ianto, hi. You’re early.”

“I assumed you’d be awake. I’ve been looking forward to spending the day with you.”

Ianto made to head up to the office.

“No! Nope. Let me come to you.” Jack slithered through the narrow gap of the door and closed it behind him.

Ianto was confused. “I thought I could put some coffee on, come up and we could sit a while. I got you a present.” Ianto lifted the parcel feeling quite wrong-footed.

Jack was hurrying down the stairs now.

“There’s much more space down here. Go make your coffee and join me on the sofa.” Jack flashed him a winning grin.

Ianto gave him another confused look, but headed off to do his thing at the coffee machine, before joining Jack on the sofa. As he sat down and took his first slightly-more-disgruntled-than-he-had-intended-to-be-this-morning sip of coffee he spotted something on the floor.

“Jack?”

“Yes, Ianto?”

“Can you please explain to me where there is poo on the floor?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Over there,” replied Ianto, every nerve attempting, but only just managing, to stay calm. “Some kind of antelope or deer I would guess.”

“Ahhh…”

As Jack floundered for the right words, a loud crash came from Jack’s office. Ianto leapt to his feet.

“There is someone in your office!” Ianto turned to run and investigate, but Jack grabbed him back.

“No! No, there isn’t. I was putting up shelves. Must have done it badly and they’ve fallen down. Can’t do anything right, me. Not to worry, I’ll clean it up, not your mess.”

Jack moved to push past Ianto, but before he could move any father, the office door crashed open and an animal dashed out. It launched gracefully into the air and jumped down, landing on the floor of the Hub before trotting over to Jack and Ianto, it’s glowing red nose sniffing the air in front of them. Ianto stared at the creature before looking back up to the office to see a rather rotund man puffing out after the animal. He wore black boots, a red suit with white trimming, and if Ianto had to describe the way the man’s stomach moved as he ran, then the phrase would have to be “like a bowl full of jelly.”

As the large man approached, trying to catch up with his errant pet, Ianto was aware that his mouth was hanging open. He continued staring forwards, but leant slightly to address Jack.

“Is tha…?” Ianto managed, pointing at the man in red.

“Yes, Ianto,” Jack replied.

“And that is…?” Ianto tried again, pointing at the reindeer with its still glowing nose.

“Yes,” Jack confirmed again gently.

“Right then. Jolly good.” Ianto sat down rather heavily on the battered sofa.

“Sorry to startle you, Ianto. Had some sleigh problems at the end of my rounds last night. Jacky here was kind enough to give us a hand.” The large man smiled warmly at Ianto.

“Jacky? Wait, no, not the most important question.” Ianto hoped his brain would engage properly again at some point.

The man laughed and brought his fingers to his lips. A shrill whistle later and Ianto heard the sound of sleigh bells in the air. A moment later, eight reindeer appeared from one of the tunnels, dragging a sleigh behind it.

“Here she is. All good as new and ready to get me back home. The reindeer need a rest and I’ve got a lot to do before next year.” The man looked at Ianto again. “Do you want me to explain to you how it works?”

Ianto looked up at him in surprise which was replaced by an eager expression. Then he smiled and shook his head.

“No. No, thank you. Some things are best left unexplained.”

The fat man laughed again and reached to ruffle Ianto’s hair. While they had been talking Jack had attached the reindeer with his nose so bright to the front of the sleigh with the others, and Father Christmas turned now and climbed onto it. He pointed at the large parcel Ianto had brought into the Hub.

“He’ll love it by the way. Jacky’s had one of those on his Christmas list for years.”

Ianto beamed, then his eyes opened wide.

“Wait! I have to call Rhi.” Ianto pulled out his mobile and Jack walked close to the sleigh while Ianto started speaking. “Rhi? It’s me. Remember how you ruined Christmas when I was six? Well, joke’s on you. I told you I was right…”

Jack waited until Ianto was preoccupied and turned to the man next to him.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime. I’m always willing to help out for the true believers. And it was good to see you again Jacky. You’re a lot closer to being off the naughty list at last you know.”

Jack laughed. “Oh, you know that will never happen. Give us a wave as you go over next year.”

“Always do, Jackie, always do.”

Father Christmas shook the reins and all nine reindeer pawed the ground before rising into the air. He gave a final wave and smile at Jack and Ianto as the sleigh wheeled around the Hub before disappearing into a shower of golden sparkles.