Deny Me Not

Summary: It wasn't supposed to be like this, but his flaky sister had abruptly backed out of their surrogacy agreement at the last moment and Ianto is left with a newborn that he is in no position to care for. Janto, AU, Mpreg.

A/N: This is a Torchwood Rewrite of the Novel, " Staking His Claim" by Tessa Radley. I changed a few things around to match the characters. This story is considered an AU. I do not own the concept of "Staking His Claim" or Torchwood. They belong to their respective creators and not me. This story is for entertainment purposes only and I am merely borrowing.

Warnings: This story contains MPreg, if you do not like it. Please do not read.

Enjoy the Story!

Chapter 1

" You've decided to do what?"

It was Friday afternoon, the end of a grueling workweek, and Ianto Jones desperately wanted to put up his swollen feet... and relax.

Instead, from the depths of the well-worn couch in his comfortable sized flat, Ianto bit back the rest of the explosive reaction that threatened to erupt. He hoped wildly that his sister's next words would settle his world back on its axis so that the nasty jolt of shock that reverberated through his system might just evaporate.

As if the sight of Ianto's swollen belly prodded her conscience, Gwen's gaze skittered away towards the window; she had the good grace to look discomforted. " Grey and I have decided to go to Africa for a year."

Ianto shifted to ease the nagging ache in his lower back that had started earlier that morning in his office at the quaint coffee shop he owned. Keeping his attention fixed on his sister fidgeting on the opposite end of the couch, he said, " Yes, I understood that part, you and Grey plan to work for an international aid charity."

His younger sister's gaze crept back, already glimmering with relief. " Oh, Ianto, I knew you'd understand! You always do."

Not this time. Clearly Gwen thought this was a done deal. It was rapidly becoming clear why Gwen had dropped in this evening. And Ianto had thought his sister's anticipation about the baby's imminent arrival had driven the surprise visit...

How wrong he'd been!

Gathering himself, Ianto said slowly, " I don't quite understand the rest. What about the baby?"

The baby.

The baby in his belly that Gwen had been so desperate for. Gwen's baby. A baby girl. Gwen and Grey had been present at the twenty-week ultrasound when the baby's sex had been revealed. Afterward the pair had gone shopping to finish buying furnishings for a nursery suitable for a baby girl.

Yet now that very same baby girl suddenly appeared to have ceased to be the focus of his sister's universe.

" Well," Gwen wet her lips " obviously the baby can't come with."

It wasn't obvious at all.

" Why not?" Ianto wasn't letting Gwen wriggle out of her responsibilities so easily. Not this time. This wasn't the course of expensive French lessons that Gwen had grown tired of... or the fledgling bakery business that Ianto had sunk money into so that Gwen would have a satisfying career when the one she'd chosen had become impossible. This was the baby Gwen had always dreamed of one day having.

When Gwen bit her lip and tears welled up in her eyes, a familiar guilt consumed Ianto. Before he could relent, as he always did, he said, " Gwen, there's no reason why the baby cannot go with you. I'm sure you'll find people in Africa will have babies."

The tears swelled into big, shiny drops. " What if the baby becomes ill? Or dies? Ianto, it's not as if this is a five-star beach resort. This is aid work in a poverty-stricken part of Africa."

Refusing to be drawn into his sister's dramatics, Ianto leaned forward and tore a tissue from the box on the cherrywood coffee table in front of the couch, then passed it to Gwen.

" Do you even know what kind of infrastucture exists? You could ask whether a baby would be safe." But Ianto suspected he was fighting a losing battle when Gwen failed to answer. He tried again. " If it's so unsafe, then what about your own health? Your safety? Have you and Grey thought this through? Do you really want to be living in a war zone?"

" It's not a war zone," Gwen denied hotly. The tears had miraculously evaporated without a dab from the tissue that drifted to the hardwood floor below. " Credit me with some sense. It's Malawi. The country is stable, the people are friendly. It's poverty and illiteracy that we will be fighting."

So much for Gwen's claim that it would be impossible to take the child there. But Ianto knew he'd lost the battle; Gwen had already made up her mind, the baby was not going with her.

" So what will happen to the baby?"

Silence.

Gwen's eyes turned pleading, just like those of Myfanwy, the beloved husky pup from their childhood.

" No! It is not staying with me." Ianto made it a statement. A firm statement. The kind he used when delivering an ultimatum to opposing coffee shop supply companies.

Gwen opened her mouth.

The baby chose that moment to kick.

Ianto squeezed his eyes shut and suppressed a gasp at the hard jab against his ribs. Perspiration pricked at his forehead. He rubbed his side.

Thrusting the pain away, he opened his eyes and said to his sister, " Have you spoken to Tosh about your new plans?" Ianto suspected Toshiko Sato, the social worker who had been involved in helping arrange the paperwork side of the adoption for Gwen and Grey, would be as floored as he was by Gwen's change of heart.

" Grey is right. We're too young to become parents," Gwen said, sidestepping Ianto's question. " We haven't even been married a year."

Drawing a deep breath, Ianto replied slowly, " A bit late to come to the conclusion that you're not ready to be parents."

Nine months too late to be precise.

Ianto patted his own swollen stomach and watched mercilessly as Gwen flushed.

" This baby is due next week. All your life you wanted to get married, start a family... that's why you did an early childcare course." It was why Ianto was now stuck across the couch from his sister like a stranded whale with a bulging belly. " How can you walk away from your child now?"

He had a nasty suspicion that he knew what, or rather, who was behind the change of heart. Grey's older brother. Jack Harkness.

Bossy big brother. Billionaire. Whorish sex-fiend.

Ianto couldn't stand the man. He'd been furious to discover that Grey had gotten married without his say-so. He'd caused poor Gwen endless tears with his terrifying tirades. Only by signing a post-nuptial agreement that allowed Gwen the barest of maintenance in the case of divorce, and skewed everything in favor of the Harkness dynasty had Gwen escaped his ire. Ianto'd had a fit when he'd learned about the contract, and his alarm had grown when he read the terms. But by then it had been too late. The marriage was a done deal.

And Gwen hadn't asked him for his previous expertise... or his help.

Of course, Jack hadn't been in favor of the baby plan, either. Ianto had known from the moment he'd switch to a language that even Ianto had never even heard of. Grey had gone bright red, clearly he'd been less happy with Big Brother's opinions.

Now it sounded like Big Brother had finally gotten his way and managed to persuade Grey that he wasn't ready to become a parent.

Shifting again to ease his body's increasing discomfort, Ianto tried to stem the emotions that were swirling around inside him. Disbelief. Confusion. The beginnings of anger. None of this cocktail of emotions could be good for the baby. And, even though Ianto had never any intentions of having his own child, he'd taken great care of this one. He'd eaten well, going to extreme lengths to cut out his never-ending cups of coffee habit, he'd even shortened his workday and made certain he'd been in bed before 22:00 each night. He'd even taught himself to meditate so that the baby wouldn't be contaminated by his stressful business-running thoughts.

All because he'd wanted to make sure the baby was perfect. His gift to Gwen.

A gift Gwen was now returning. Unborn, rather than unwrapped.

How did one return a baby, for heaven's sake. A baby that was a week away from becoming a live person?

Which brought Ianto to...

" You're not leaving for Africa before the baby is born." He'd made it another statement. " There will be decisions that have to be made before you go."

Panic turned Gwen's eyes wide. " No! I can't."

" What do you mean you can't?"

" I can't handle those decisions. We've already booked our tickets. You'll need to make the arrangements."

" Me?" Drawing a deep shuddering breath, Ianto went cold. " Gwen, this is a baby we're talking about, you can't just walk away."

His sister's gaze dropped pointedly to Ianto's very round stomach. " You're still the legal carrier, the adoption doesn't kick in until twelve days after the baby's born. You know that Ianto. Because you told me so yourself."

Of course he knew it. Knowing stuff like that used to be part of his job as one of the most respected lawyers for Torchwood in London, before he returned home to Cardiff after the death of his girlfriend, Lisa Hallet. But the knowledge was only just starting to sink in that Gwen was planning to leave him holding the baby!

" Oh, no!" Shaking his head, Ianto replied emphatically, " The only reason I lent you my body was so that you could have the baby you always dreamed of having. This is your dream, Gwen. Your baby!" My nightmare. Then, in case it hadn't sunk in, he added pointedly, " Yours and Grey's."

" It's your egg."

" Only because you can't..." Ianto bit off the words that had almost escaped his mouth.

Too late.

Gwen had paled.

Driven by remorse, Ianto pushed his colossal self from the couch and reached for his sister. Gwen was as stiff as a wooden block in his arms. " I'm sorry, Gwennie, I shouldn't have said that."

" It's the truth." Gwen's voice was flat. " I don't have eggs or anything, I can't have children."

" So why..." Ianto almost bit his tongue off. He tightened his hold on his sister.

" Don't worry, you can ask. No, I'll ask for you. ' Why are you doing this? Why are you going to Africa without the baby?' That's what you really want to know, isn't it Ianto?"

Ianto inclined his head.

" I'm not sure I can explain." Gwen shrugged out of his hold. Given no choice, Ianto let go of his sister.

While Gwen gathered her thoughts, Ianto became aware of the stark silence that stretched to the breaking point between them across the length of the couch. A silent divide. It might as well have been an ocean because his sister had already retreated mentally farther than the arm's length that separated them.

Then Gwen started to speak. " This is something both Grey and I have to do." The blank, flat stare she fixed on Ianto was a little unnerving. " I have to find myself, Ianto. Find out who I am. All my life I wanted to teach little children, and have a houseful of kids at home." Her eyes grew darker, pained. " But things didn't go according to plan."

" Gwen..."

" I loved my job at the Little Angels Care-Center..."

" Gwen." The pain in his little sister's voice was unbearable. " Stop. Please!"

But Gwen carried on as if she hadn't heard. " I couldn't work there after the accident... after I found out the truth, that there never would be any babies."

" Gwennie..."

Gwen ducked out of Ianto's reach.

An unwelcome sense of rejection filled Ianto. Followed by emptiness. Instantly he scolded himself for his selfishness. He shouldn't feel hurt. Gwen was suffering.

Yet, despite all his empathy for his sister, the most important question still remained unanswered: What about the baby? The baby I helped create to fulfull your dream? " But Gwen, you will have a baby now. Along with a husband who loves you."

Wasn't that enough?

Eyes softening, Gwen admitted, " Yes, I was very, very fortunate to find Grey."

Ianto hadn't been so sure of that in the beginning. In fact, he'd foreseen nothing but heartbreak ahead for his sister. The arrival of Jack Harkness in Cardiff had been big news. Not satisfied with inheriting millions from the hotel empire built by his father, the American has expanded the dynasty by building up the best cruise liner operation around the world. What had been a complete surprise was what everyone learned through the newpapers. The American had fallen in love with Cardiff and planned to relocate himself permanently. He'd sent his brother to Cardiff to secure corporate offices and staff them for Harkness Cruising's new base. At first Ianto had been less than impressed with the younger Harkness. With all of the Harkness money Grey threw around, Ianto deemed him spoiled and irresponsible. Nothing fortunate in that. Yet there was no doubt that he loved his sister... and thankfully lost that reckless edge that had worried Ianto so much at first. But heading off to Africa without the baby was not the right thing for Gwen.

The baby...

Ianto's hand crept to his stomach.

Mindful of how much his sister hated it when he nagged, Ianto tempered his outrage. " You can't just leave a baby for a few months... or even a year... and hope it will be there when you get back."

" I know, Ianto." Gwen's eyebrows drew together. " Don't try to put the guilts on me. I'm not ready for a baby, neither of us are."

Ignoring his sister's unfair accusation, Ianto tried to fathom out what Gwen's response meant. Did she intend to give the baby up for adoption? Shock chilled Ianto. Had his sister thought this through? He would hate to see Gwen suffer when it one day came home to her what she'd lost. Perhaps Gwen needed to be reminded of that.

" If you're thinking about giving the baby up for adoption, just remember it's not going to be easy to find a surrogate again if you decide you want a baby when you come back from Africa."

He certainly wouldn't be doing it again. He shouldn't even have done it this time. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb decision. That's what came of making decisions with his heart rather than his head.

Gwen flicked back a lock of her hair away from her face. " We can do what Jack suggested when we first talked about you being our surrogate, put our names down to adopt a baby."

He'd known Grey's high-handed brother was behind this!

The ache in his lower back that had been worsening all day, intensified. It wasn't worth arguing with Gwen, pointing out that putting down your name didn't guarantee a baby because so few become available for adoption. And when one did, the legal carrier of the child had the final say. That person alone could choose whichever couple they wanted, there no waiting list, no way to predict who that person would choose.

But right now Gwen's future plans were not his concern.

" And what about this baby?" Ianto knew he sounded angry. But, damn it, he was angry. Jack made his blood bubble, even when he wasn't present. Just the mention of the man was enough! " You just can't dump it..."

" I'm not dumping it, you're the legal carrier. I know you'll make the best decision for the baby." There was an imploring expression in his sister's eyes that caused the hairs at the back of Ianto's neck to stand on end.

Hell no! Gwen had planned to leave the baby with him and come back to claim it. Panic prickled through him. " I can't keep the baby."

Gwen's eyes teared up again. " I know I shouldn't have expected you to. But you always wanted the adoption of the baby to us to be an open one. So I hoped you would consider..."

" No!" Ianto bellowed, panic wrapping around his senses. " We have a surrogacy arrangement..."

Gwen was shaking her head. " But Ianto, you explained we can't actually adopt the baby until after you sign the consent to give her up on the twelfth day. As the legal carrier, you're entitled to change your mind, but so are we."

He'd explained the legalities too well to his sister. Ianto swallowed a curse. " You can't change your mind, because I can't keep this baby, Gwen!"

Gwen sighed as if she had not a care in the world. " We already have. We're not ready to raise a child. I don't even want to think about the decision you're going to have to make, but you have to do what you feel is right, Ianto. It's your body, your b..."

" Don't tell me it's my baby!"

Gwen's eyes became wide and dewy. " I think I always knew deep in my heart that you wouldn't agree to keep her, and I've made peace with that. Even though I hoped..." His little sister's voice trailed off.

Did Gwen not know how much this hurt? What she was asking? The pain that pierced his chest was sharp and unforgiving. And guilt made it worse. Ianto wished he could burst into tears... weep and wail. But he couldn't. Instead, he fought for composure.

He'd always been the adult in their relationship. No doubt Gwen had known all along he would agree to sort everything out.

His heart was racing, and his head had started to pound. The ache in his back seemed to be growing worse by the minute. Ianto knew all this couldn't be good for the baby. He had to calm down. Think of the baby. He drew a shuddering breath... counted to five... and exhaled slowly.

" I don't have time for a pet, Gwen, much less for a baby. I have a job, a demanding business to run."

Gwen was staring at him again, her bottom lip quivering.

Ianto refused to feel one bit guilty. He was not going to be left holding the baby; he couldn't keep it. That had never been the plan. The baby had been conceived for Gwen, and Grey, to parent. This was not his baby.

Lifting his hand from his belly, he said, " Then we're in agreement. I have no choice but to give your baby up for adoption."

" If you see no other way out."

Before he could reiterate that this was not his preference, that the baby was Gwen and Grey's responsibility, to his horror he felt a sharp crippling pain in his side. He let a scream tumble from his lips.

Gwen's baby girl was not going to wait another week to be born.

Night had already fallen by the time Jack Harkness strode into the waiting room set aside for family visitors on the hospitals first floor. He didn't notice the calming decor in gentle blues and creams lit up by strategically placed wall sconces. Instead, his focus homed in on where his brother sprawled across an overstuffed chair while watching a wide-screen television.

Fixing his startlingly blue eyes on Grey, he demanded, " Where is he?"

" Who?" Grey gave his older brother a blank look, confused.

" The child."

" It's not a boy... it's a girl," his brother corrected him even as the football game on the television recaptured his attention. " I told you that after the ultrasound."

Jack suppressed the surge of bitter disappointment. He'd been so sure that the ultrasound had been read wrong. He should've known. For almost a century his family had produced boys... there hadn't been a girl in sight. How typical of Ianto Jones to give birth to a girl. Contrary creature.

He waved a dismissive hand. " I want to see her."

Retracing his steps out of the family room he emerged in time to see his sister-in-law appear through the next door down the carpeted corridor. Jack strode forward. Nodding at his startled sister-in-law as he passed her, he entered the private ward beyond.

Gwen's icicle of a brother was sitting up in bed, propped up against large cushions.

Jack came to an abrupt stop. He had never seen Ianto Jones in bed before.

The sight caused a shock of discomfort in his stomach. Despite the fact that the man was almost as tall as him on his feet, he'd always seemed so formidable. Stern. Businesslike. Even at family occasions he dressed in a sharp, formal fashion. Dark colors, mostly three piece suits with ties in muted shades.

Now he allowed his gaze to drift over Ianto and take in the other differences.

No suit. No tie. No perfectly shined shoes. Just a dark red housecoat surrounding, covering his body. He looked younger... paler... more fragile than he'd ever seen him. The icicle must be thawing.

Jack shook off the absurd notion.

As though sensing his presense, Ianto glanced up from the screen of a slim black phone he'd been squinting at. Antagonism snaked down his spine as their eyes clashed.

" What are you doing here?" Ianto demanded.

" Where is the baby?"

Jack expected to find the child in the man's arms. He should have known better. Their wasn't a caring bone in Ianto Jones' frozen body. No softness. No tender feelings. Only a sharp, steel-trapped brain and fridged blue eyes that matched his heart.

Ianto hadn't answered. A haunted flicker in his eye captured Jack's attention, but then the fleeting expression vanished and Ianto's focus shifted beyond him. Wheeling about, Jack spotted the crib. Two strides and he stood beside it. The baby lay inside, snugly swaddled and fast asleep. One tiny hand curled beside her cheek, the fingers perfectly formed. Her lashes were impossibly long, forming dark curves against plump cheeks. Jack's heart contracted and an unexpected, fierce rush of emotion swept him.

It took only an instant for him to fall deeply, utterly irrevocably in love.

" She's perfect," he breathed, his gaze taking in every last detail. The thatch of dark hair, the Harkness genes. The red bow of her pursed mouth.

A smile tilted the corners of his mouth up. He reached out gently touching the curve wherechin became cheek with his index finger.

" Don't wake her!"

The strident demand broke the mood. Turning his head, Jack narrowed his gaze and pinned the other man in the room.

" I had no intention of waking her," he replied softly, careful not to disturb the infant.

" It's only a matter of time before she wakens with you hovering over her like that."

" I never hover." Jack replied, moving away from the cot and closer to the bed.

Ianto didn't respond. But Jack had seen that look in the other man's eyes before. He wasn't bothering to argue... not because he'd been swayed by his denial, but because he was so damn certain of his own damn opinion. He was the polar opposite of his sister, she at least had a mothering bone in her body where as Ianto did not.

Maybe it was best Ianto wasn't cradling the the baby; he'd freeze the little bundle if he got close enough. Ianto was ice to the core, he'd been mistaken to imagine a thaw.

" Grey called to tell me you're planning to give up the child for adoption?" No discussion. No consultation. Ianto had made a life-changing decision that affected all of them, by himself. It was typical of the man's selfishness.

" Then you must've heard that your brother and my sister have decided not to adopt the baby."

Was that irony buried in his voice? Jack couldn't read his expression. " Yes, Grey told me at the office."

" At the same time Gwen was visiting me."

This time he definitely detected an edge. But he was less concerned about Ianto's annoyance than discovering the fate of the oblivious newborn in the cot. " So it's true? You intend to give up the baby just like that?"

Ianto's chin shot up three notches at the snapping sound his fingers made. " I will take care of the arrangements to find a new set of parents as soon as I can." Ianto glanced down at the phone in his lap, then back up at Jack. " I've already left a message for the social worker who's handling the adoption proceedings for Gwen and Grey, notifying her of their change of mind and requesting that she get in touch with me ASAP."

" Of course you have." It certainly didn't take him long to start the process to get rid of the baby. Anger sizzled inside of him. " You never considered keeping her?" Not that he'd ever allow the child to stay in Ianto's care.

He shook his head, and a few loose, dark curls fell into his eyes. " Not an option."

" Of course it isn't."

Ianto stared back at him, managing to look haughty and removed in the hospital bed. So certain of the rightness of his stance. " Identifying suitable adoptive parents from Toshiko Sato's records is the only feasible option."

"'Feasible option?'" Was this how his own mother had reasoned when she divorced his father and lied her way into sole custody, only to turn around and abandon the same sons she'd fought so hard to keep from their father? " This is a baby we're talking about, you're not at work now."

" I'm well aware of that. And my main concern now is the best interests of the child, exactly as it should be."

Jack scoffed. " You are a divorce lawyer..."

" I was a family lawyer, I am no more." He corrected Jack. " Marriage dissolution was only part of my practice. Looking after the best interest of children and..."

"Whatever." Jack waved an impatient hand. " I'd hoped for a little less business and a little more emotion right now."

From the lofty position of the hospital bed he raised an eyebrow in a way that instantly rankled. " You don't transfer skills learned from business to your home life?"

" I show a little more compassion when I make decisions that relate to the well-being of my family."

Ianto laughed, a disbelieving sound. Jack gritted his teeth and refused to respond. Okay, so yes, he had a reputation, well-deserved, he conceded silently, for being ruthless in business. But that was irrelevant in this context. He'd always been fiercely protective of those closest to him. His brother. His father. His grandmother.

He studied Ianto's face. The button nose, the lack of amusement in his blue eyes - despite his laughing mouth. No, he wasn't going to reach him, he doubted Ianto had any warmth to which he cold appeal.

Giving a sharp, impatient sigh, Jack said, " You've got blinkered vision. You haven't considered all the feasible options."

For the first time emotion cracked through the ice. " I can't keep the baby!"