SquidgeWorld Archive

Little Ones
by Lilithangel
http://www.livejournal.com/users/lilithbint

Three small forms stood swamped in clothing far too big for them.  They stared wide-eyed at each other and at their surroundings.
 
One of them gave up trying to hold onto his jeans and let them pool at his feet while he tugged the baggy tee shirt down and pulled the dark red shirt closer to his body.
 
The eldest of them was staggering under the weight of a large grey coat while trying to cinch up the suspenders that were keeping his own pants up.
 
The third and youngest was staring forlornly at the blue silk tie he was wearing apparently unconcerned that his pants had fallen down.  His suit jacket very nearly reached the floor anyway.
 
“Who are you?” the smallest one demanded of the biggest boy.
 
“I’m,” the boy hesitated, “I’m Jack,” he smiled, “what’s your name, is this your place?  It looks pretty cool.”
 
“I’m Owen Harper,” the small boy said, “I thought it was yours.”
 
A small sniff turned their attention to the third boy.  Jack knelt down beside him and smiled.  “What’s your name little man?”
 
“Ianto,” the boy whispered.
 
“How old are you, Ianto?” Jack asked.
 
“Five years and six months and eleven days,” Ianto replied shyly.  Owen laughed at the reply and Ianto looked at him reproachfully, his lower lip quivering.
 
“That’s very clever to know exactly how old you are,” Jack said with a frown at Owen.
 
“Yeah it is,” Owen said, feeling guilty for upsetting the younger boy.
 
“How old are you Jack?” Ianto asked.
 
“I’m nearly eleven,” Jack said proudly.  He looked at Owen.
 
“I’m eight and I don’t know how many months,” Owen replied.
 
“Is this your place Ianto?” Jack asked. 
 
Ianto shook his head shyly.  “Why don’t you know how many months?” he asked Owen.
 
“Cause I don’t know what day it is today and anyway once you’re eight you’re nearly grown up and months don’t matter,” Owen said.
 
“So if this isn’t any of our places there must be adults here somewhere,” Jack said, ignoring the second quivering lip that Ianto’s innocent question triggered, “you’re both too young to be left on your own.”
 
“Maybe they got busy and forgot,” Owen said.
 
“I want my mum,” Ianto whispered, tears running down his face.
 
“It’ll be okay,” Jack said.  He went to step closer to Ianto but tripped on his too large boots and fell over.
 
Owen darted over to him, kicking free of his own sneakers as he did so.  “Are you alright?” he asked Jack.
 
“I bumped my knee on that stupid thing,” Jack said glaring at the funny looking metallic object on the floor and kicking it.
 
“Let me look,” Owen said, pushing up Jack’s trouser leg, “I’m going to be a doctor,” he said proudly.  He pursed his lips and he carefully touched Jack’s knee.  “You should be fine, it didn’t break the skin but you will get a cool bruise.”
 
Jack smiled at Owen who smiled back shyly.  “I wonder why we’re wearing this stuff?” he said, pulling off his boots and standing up.
 
“Maybe we were playing dress up,” Owen suggested looking at what Jack was wearing.
 
Jack shrugged and rolled up the cuffs of his pants and shirt and helped Ianto out of his shoes.
 
“I don’t like it here,” Ianto said.  “I want my mum.”
 
“Let’s go find her then,” Jack said holding out his hand, “it’ll be an adventure.”
 
Ianto looked up at Jack solemnly and then put his hand in Jack’s.  They headed for the steps that led to lots of cool looking computers and stuff. 
 
Jack looked around when he realised Owen wasn’t with them.  The other boy was standing silently watching them.
 
“You coming?” Jack asked him.  Owen sort of smiled nervously at him.  “Come on,” Jack said.  Owen’s smile lit up and he scampered over to join them.
 
Ianto’s hand slipped into Owen’s who looked at him in surprise.  “I don’t like it here either,” he whispered to the smaller boy.
 
They poked around at the desks, but the computers all had boring things happening on them.  Ianto wandered over to look at the strange plants under the domes of glass but he kept looking back to make sure the other two hadn’t gone anywhere.
 
Owen followed Jack but kept a distance between them as if he expected Jack to lash out at him.  Jack was too busy ferreting for interesting stuff to really pay attention.
 
“Hungry…” Ianto had come up beside Jack and was tugging on his sleeve.
 
“Me too,” Jack said, looking around, “that looks like a fridge.”
 
Owen went over and opened the fridge.  He screwed up his face at the strange things inside and then smiled.  “Leftover pizza,” he said, “do you think anyone will mind?” he asked anxiously.
 
“We’ll say sorry,” Jack said, pulling the pizza box out and offering it around.  Owen hesitated for a moment and then snatched a piece as if he expected Jack to pull the box away.  Ianto looked distressed but took a slice and snagged a tea towel from the bench before he started eating.  Jack tried to shove a whole slice into his mouth at once and grinned at the others.
 
“Gross,” Owen said, only shoving half a slice into his own mouth while Ianto carefully ate with the tea towel under his chin.
 
A noise startled them and all three spun around.
 
“Jack, Ianto,” a female voice called out, “Owen, is anyone here?”
 
Owen dropped the remains of his pizza back into the box and put his hands behind his back quickly.  Jack swallowed his mouthful as best he could and Ianto kept chewing calmly, but he looked hopefully towards the voice.
 
Two pretty women walked into the small kitchen area and looked at the three boys in surprise.  Jack smiled winsomely at them while Owen backed away sullenly.  Ianto’s face fell when he looked at them.
 
The two women stared at each other for a moment and then one of them knelt in front of them.
 
“What are your names, sweethearts?” she asked, “How did you get here?”
 
“My name’s Jack, this is Ianto and this is Owen,” Jack said, “we were hoping you might be our mothers but I’m guessing not.  Do you know where our parents are?”
 
The woman stood up and exchanged another glance with the other woman and then looked back at the three boys.
 
“My name’s Gwen and this is Tosh.  You don’t know who we are?” Gwen asked.
 
“I wouldn’t forget such pretty ladies,” Jack said with a smile.  He looked at Owen who shook his head and Ianto just looked down at his feet, lower lip quivering again.
 
“We’ll help you find out what happened,” Gwen said, “but you shouldn’t be down here, it’s not safe for little boys.”
 
“I’m not little,” Jack protested and Gwen smiled indulgently at him.
 
The three boys sat on the sofa and watched as the two women talked urgently but softly to another man they had called.  He kept looking at them oddly and shaking his head.
 
Ianto moved closer to Jack, staring solemnly at the adults while Owen glowered at them from the other side.
 
“You have to, Rhys,” Gwen was saying, “please.  Tosh and I have to figure out what happened and it’s not safe here for them.”
 
“What am I going to do with them?” Rhys demanded.
 
“Buy them ice cream,” Tosh said and Owen perked up, “play some games with them; you’ve got video games haven’t you?”
 
Rhys sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “alright,” he agreed, “but you need to sort this out quickly.”  He turned and smiled weakly at the three boys.
 
“Where are our parents?” Jack demanded as Gwen came over to them with Rhys.
 
“They asked us to look after you sweetheart,” Gwen said, “they won’t take long I promise.  Rhys is going to take you for ice cream; you like ice cream don’t you?”
 
Ianto nodded and raised his arms to Rhys in the classic ‘up’ request.  Rhys complied automatically and Ianto giggled as he was swung up onto Rhys’ shoulders.
 
Rhys had arrived with a bag full of clothing unable to get his head around what Gwen had told him had happened.  One look at the three boys and he had believed, especially Jack who still managed to look charming as an almost eleven year old.
 
Luckily Rhys had picked out plain tee shirts and trousers that the boys couldn’t find a lot of fault with.  Although Jack obviously thought they were too ordinary and Ianto had insisted on his tee shirt being tucked in.  Owen had taken off his old shirt reluctantly and quickly tugged the new tee shirt on.
 
“Alright you two, let’s get ice cream,” Rhys said, galloping off with Ianto.
 
Owen looked at Jack who grinned and jerked his head in encouragement and both boys chased after Rhys.
 
“What do we do now?” Gwen asked Tosh as the boys left.
 
“We scan the Hub and check the CCTV records to see if anything happened to cause this,” Tosh said, “right after I upload all the photos I took.”
 
* * * * *
 
Rhys walked wearily into the kitchen and poured a large glass of wine.  The three boys were finally settled in front of Star Wars.  Ianto sat between Jack and Owen a large bowl of popcorn in his lap and a napkin tucked into his shirt.  Owen’s tee shirt was already covered in melted butter and fingerprints even though he hadn’t noticed.  Jack looked as calm as always although his eyes were lit with excitement as he watched the TIE fighters on the screen.
 
Ianto had hidden under Jack’s arm a couple of times when the movie got scary and now Jack just left his arm around the smaller boy’s shoulder. 
 
When they had stopped for ice cream all three had been very well behaved and Rhys had started to relax.
 
Until Ianto dropped his ice cream on his new shirt and cried until Owen gave him his and Rhys assured the small boy that they could clean the shirt.  Jack had shared his ice cream with Owen and both boys had ended up with more on their faces than in their mouths.  Juggling three boys, his wallet, keys, ice cream Rhys had finally managed to get them home.
 
It had taken Rhys half an hour to get all three cleaned up and then the two older boys were bored and started poking around.  Rhys managed to stop them before they got to Gwen’s underwear drawer and suggested a video game while he and Ianto waited for the wash to finish.
 
The video game ended in a fight and Owen sitting on the far side of the room refusing to admit he was crying.  Ianto, in his freshly cleaned tee shirt, had run over to Owen and given him a hug before going over to Jack and hugging him too.  Rhys had taken Owen into the kitchen to make the popcorn and when they returned the boys shoved each other in apology and settled down to watch the movie.
 
Rhys grabbed the phone and rang Gwen.  “Any luck?” he asked as soon as she answered.
 
“We’re not sure,” Gwen said, sounding just as tired as Rhys felt, “Ianto had something in his hand but none of the cameras got a good image.  Owen grabbed for it, there was a flash of light and then they were standing there as little boys.  We’ve looked at it a hundred times and we can’t see what it was and we can’t find anything… wait…” Rhys heard Tosh’s voice in the background.  “I’ll get back to you love,” Gwen said excitedly and hung up.
 
Rhys finished his glass of wine as a small hand tugged on his shirt.  “Mr Williams,” Owen stood there his head lowered, “I’m sorry but I got your tee shirt all dirty.  I didn’t mean to.”
 
Jack was up off the sofa before Rhys could say anything.  “He really didn’t mean to, it wasn’t his fault.”  Jack stood in front of Owen as if he thought Owen needed protecting from Rhys.
 
“That’s alright,” Rhys said, “we’ll just pop it in the wash like we did for Ianto’s.  It comes out clean and warm doesn’t it Ianto?”  Ianto was kneeling up on the sofa watching them and he nodded happily.
 
“You’re not mad?” Owen said cautiously.
 
“Why would I be mad?  It’s only a tee shirt,” Rhys said, kneeling down to Owen’s level.
 
“I shouldn’t have got it messy, I should’ve been more careful,” Owen said.
 
“Boys will be boys as my mum used to say,” Rhys said jovially and Owen relaxed a bit.  “We’ll just pop it into the wash.” Rhys reached for Owen and stopped when he flinched.  “I’m not mad, honest.”
 
“I haven’t got anything else to wear,” Owen said tugging on the hem of the shirt.
 
“You can wear mine,” Jack said, “I don’t mind.”  He pulled off his tee shirt to demonstrate.  Owen pulled his shirt off and snatched Jack’s up, quickly pulling it over his head.
 
Rhys put another wash on; grateful at least that he had figured out how to use the machine before all this happened.  The boys were back on the sofa.  Jack had pulled Ianto onto his lap and Owen was curled up next to them.  All three were completely absorbed in the movie again and Rhys envied them the focus of youth.
 
It was still weird to look at the three of them, acting so much like their adult selves but not.  It was disconcerting and served to remind Rhys that Torchwood dealt with things he couldn’t imagine.  His time with the team had opened his eyes to a universe he didn’t know existed, but this was real and as in his face as the space creature he had seen.
 
The only other thing he knew for certain was that he could only hope that when they were your own you didn’t mind so much.  Because looking after three kids for the afternoon was harder than juggling six delivery schedules with only four drivers.
 
When the movie ended all three boys were curled up on the sofa and Rhys was fast asleep in a chair.  Gwen watched them all sleep with a soft smile, not wanting to wake them even though Tosh had worked out what had happened and how to fix it.  She knew all three would want to be back to normal as quickly as possible, but they looked so peaceful she didn’t want to disturb them.
 
Tosh had finally thought to go beyond the incident that turned the three into children and noticed Jack kicking something aside.  A search of the area turned up the item in question.  A few diagnostics later and Tosh was pretty sure she knew how to reverse the effects.
 
A part of her really wanted to reverse the effects while they were all snuggled up together, but she had a pretty fair idea about how that would go so she carefully shook Rhys awake and together they woke the boys up.
 
Gwen couldn’t help but smile as Rhys lifted the small form of Ianto into his arms to go down the stairs.  She had always known that Rhys would make a good dad and seeing him with the three boys only reinforced that.
 
Jack had managed to get one of her tee shirts to wear and Gwen didn’t want to know why the young Jack had been drawn to the blue shirt with the big glitter star on it.  All she knew was that only Jack could get away with wearing it.
 
Owen was clinging to her hand managing to appear shy, cocky and terrified all at once and made her wonder just what sort of childhood could have shaped the boy into the man she knew.  Owen was chattering about the movie they had watched looking at Jack for support for his story.  Jack would interject with his own comments and make Owen laugh which completely entranced Gwen.
 
She took them down the invisible lift because she couldn’t resist the delight in their eyes, even though Ianto and Owen were scared by Myfanwy.
 
Once inside Owen ran over to Tosh’s side, curious to see what she was doing.  Jack’s hand was getting way too close to Gwen’s bottom so she sent him to fetch their original clothes.
 
“Tosh is going to do a magic trick,” Gwen said, “but you have to be in these dress up clothes for it to work.”
 
“What’s she going to do?” Owen said suspiciously.
 
“I’m going to make you big,” Tosh said, “you’ll like it I promise.”
 
“Promise?” Ianto said seriously.
 
“It’ll be fun,” Tosh said reassuringly, “if you don’t like it, I’ll stop.”
 
Rhys and Gwen helped the boys into the too big clothes, trying not to laugh at the sight.  As soon as they stepped away Tosh fired the device and there was a large flash of light.
 
When the light faded three men stood staring at them in bemusement.
 
“Oh thank god,” Tosh said, relieved that she hadn’t turned them into babies.
 
“What just happened?” Jack said, looking around the room.
 
“The device you found appears to be an alien fountain of youth machine,” Tosh replied, “You were ah… a bit younger for a while.”
 
Ianto took the device from Tosh, “secure vault I think Jack,” he said and Jack nodded.
 
“We didn’t do anything too embarrassing did we?” Owen demanded, feeling nervous at the way the girls were looking at him.
 
“You were all perfect little gentlemen,” Gwen said, her lips twitching.
 
“Yes,” Tosh agreed, “absolutely adorable.”
 
“Oh god,” Owen groaned.
 
“Right,” Rhys said, “if everything’s back to normal I’ll be getting back to work.”
 
“Don’t forget these,” Gwen said, “Ruth wanted to see photos of your nephews.” She handed him an envelope.
 
“Gwen you didn’t…” Jack said in horror.
 
Rhys slipped out of the door as Gwen ran interference laughing so hard that Jack nearly got past her.
 
“We will get you for that Gwen Cooper,” Jack said.
 
Later that night Jack, Ianto and Owen were the only ones still in the Hub after Jack sent the girls home claiming they were of no use if they were going to keep giggling in corners.
 
Ianto found most of the footage Tosh had hidden and they could only hope that the rest wasn’t too incriminating.
 
“So, what do you remember?” Owen asked as they all sipped on whiskey and tried not to meet each other’s eyes.
 
“Snippets,” Ianto said, “ice cream, popcorn, washing machines.”
 
“I can’t believe I never saw Star Wars when it first came out,” Jack said, “I’m pretty sure George Lucas is a time traveller, because there were too many coincidences otherwise.”
 
“So we’re agreed that we never mention this again right?” Owen said.
 
“Absolutely,” Ianto said quickly.
 
“It never happened,” Jack agreed.
 
“Right,” Owen said, finishing his drink and standing up, “I’m going home for a wank, now that I actually remember what it’s for.”  Ianto cringed and Jack laughed.  “Oh and thanks,” Owen said as he pulled on his jacket, “for being my friends.”
 
“You’re welcome,” Jack said with a smile.
 
“Thank you for the ice cream,” Ianto said to him.  “And thank you for being my protector,” he said, turning to Jack.
 
“I would never forget that,” Jack said, pulling Ianto’s head down to rest on his shoulder.
 
END