Title: Goodnight
Author: JerBearThompson
Rating: PG
Characters: Jack/Ianto, OC
Length: 'Bout 2,000
Summary: 'Tell me a story about Taddy.'
Disclaimer: BBC, RTD, you guys know the deal.

Notes: Inspired by gracie_musica's fic, Parting Gift. I honestly did mean for it to be… sort of happy.

'Alright, come on, bed time.' Jack picked up the little girl and slung her over his shoulder. The girl shrieked in protest and hit her fists against his back in return.

'Not yet Daddy, I haven't cleaned my teeth yet!'

'You've brushed them twice,' Jack said with the emphasis of one talking to a young child.

'But what if they're not clean yet? What if they get rotten and fall out?'

Jack inwardly sighed, he knew telling her that would come back to haunt him. 'Okay,' he slowly shimmied the child off his shoulder and held her by her underarms in front of him. 'Smile for me.'

The girl did jus that, breaking out into a wide, toothy grin.

'Let's see here…' Jack tilted his head and squinted his eyes, inspecting her teeth closely. 'Mhm, yes, all seems to be in order here. Definitely clean, not going to fall out anytime soon.'

'Just once more, Daddy. I know I missed a spot, I know it!'

'No,' Jack shook his head, sitting her on his hip and carrying her out of the bathroom. 'It's bed time now, you can brush them again when you wake up.'

The girl sighed in the dramatic way that only a five year old can and frowned at her father. 'If they get rotten and fall out I'm going to be very, very mad,' she told him, sounding so much like her Tad that Jack just couldn't help but laugh.

'If your teeth fall out in the night, I'll call up the Tooth Fairy and have her grow you some new ones,' Jack promised, depositing his daughter down on the bedspread displaying some Disney princess or another.

The girl narrowed her eyes as she thought this over. Then her lips pursed slightly and she nodded. 'Okay,' she agreed, burrowing under the covers and holding her hands high above her head so Jack could tuck her in.

'So what story do you want tonight?' Jack asked, tucking the blankets in around her before sitting on the bed's edge and reaching for the collection of books piled on the bedside table. 'I Wish That I Had Duck Feet?' His hands immediately sought out the Dr Seuss classic.

'No,' the little girl shook her head, her voice noticeably softening. 'Tell me one about Taddy.'

Jack put the book back down, a distant look on his face as he absently drummed his fingers against his leg. 'Okay,' he replied just as softly. 'Which one would you like to hear?'

'The first date,' she grinned at him, and Jack widened his eyes in comical surprise at her.

'The very first date?'

'Yes,' she nodded her head confidently. 'I haven't heard that one yet.'

'Alright,' Jack smiled fondly at her. 'Well it was a Thursday, and I had agreed to pick him up at eight o'clock…'

'No!' his daughter cried out suddenly. 'You can't start there, you have to tell me about asking him out first!'

'What have they been teaching you at that school of yours?' Jack chuckled. The girl just smiled smugly.

'Hannah Lloyd says that the boy is always very nervous when he asks the girl out on a date, but then they go on lots and lots of dates and fall in love and get married and have lots of children.'

'Oh really?'

'Yes.' Again, she nodded her head confidently. 'Were you nervous when you asked Taddy out?'

'Yes,' Jack said, searching his mind for the memory of that day in the office building. 'I was very nervous, so nervous I couldn't talk properly and my words all came out sounding funny!'

The little girl giggled and held her hands to her mouth.

'But you know what?' Jack leaned in a little closer. 'I think, secretly, your Tad was really nervous too.'

'But what did you say? And what did he say back?'

'Well I started with a joke of course, one about photocopying your butt!'

'Eww, Daddy!'

'Yes, your Tad didn't seem too impressed with it either. And he was right, never ever photocopy your butt, young lady!'

His daughter shook her head solemnly.

'So I asked how he was, because I had been away for a long time, see? But your Tad, he was very polite. "All the better for having you back, sir," he said.'

'Sir? But I thought you loved him! Why would he call you sir?'

'Oh I did like him, I liked him a lot. But he didn't know that, and I think he was wondering if I still did. Either way, I told him not to call me "sir" anymore. Just Jack,'

'Not Just Jack, Captain Jack!' the girl corrected him.

'Yes,' Jack laughed at her enthusiasm. 'Captain Jack! And so I asked him – and this is the part where I stumbled over my words a bit – if he wanted to maybe see a movie sometime, with dinner afterwards. "Are you asking me out on a date?" he said.'

The girl grinned and put on a manly voice. 'And you said, "Yes I am," and then you fell in love!'

Jack laughed, 'Not quite, sport. I actually said, "Interested?" with a raise of my eyebrows, like this,' Jack demonstrated and the girl giggled again.

'Then what did he say?' she asked anxiously.

'Well we talked about some other boring stuff first, and then I had to leave. But first I turned back to him and said,' Jack cleared his throat, '"By the way, was that a yes?" And you know what he said?'

'Yes!'

Jack nodded. 'He said it so quickly he had to repeat himself, in case I hadn't heard him the first time. And then…' Jack hummed as he thought for a moment. 'What happened next…?'

'It was a Thursday, and you were going to pick him up at eight o'clock!' his daughter told him sternly.

'That's right! And so I did. Dressed in my best black slacks and my fancy white shirt with my big coat thrown over the top, I went and picked him up. Ten minutes late, actually, I don't think he minded though…'

'I bet he looked handsome,' the girl said in that same soft voice she had used earlier.

'He was,' Jack nodded slowly. 'He took my breath away.'

His daughter sighed in content and he smiled. She loved the romantic stories.

'I took him to the movies, and I bought him popcorn, and I held his hand for the entire time.'

'And then you took him to a big fancy restaurant,' his daughter prompted.

'I took him to the best fish and chips shop this side of Wales,' he grinned at her. 'I took him to the Bay and we ate it there, watching all the lights reflect off the water. And we laughed and told each other stories for hours and hours until it was way past both our bed times.'

'So did you take him home and tuck him into bed?' The little girl wriggled around a bit underneath her sheets to emphasise her words.

'Not quite,' Jack laughed. 'I wanted to take him somewhere first, somewhere that Daddy goes often.'

'Daddy, you took him to work? That's terrible!'

'No! No, I took him somewhere else. I took him to a roof, the highest roof in Cardiff where you can see the whole city!' Jack threw his arms out either side of him, indicating the size of the city.

'Oh,' the girl breathed, her eyes wide as she watched him. 'Did he like it?'

Jack nodded. 'He did, he liked it a lot. But Daddy had done something bad, you see when I went to take him to the roof the building was closed. But this,' Jack tapped two fingers against his leather-clad wrist, remembering the good times he'd had with the vortex manipulator, 'can open any door, and it got us in.'

'You broke in?' the girl gasped. 'You can't do that! It's igellal!'

'It is illegal and very wrong, and Daddy shouldn't have done it but he really wanted to show your Tad something special.'

'Did you get caught?'

A slow smile spread its way across Jack's face. 'Almost. The police came and yelled at us, but I grabbed your Tad's hand and we ran. They chased after us but we were just too fast for them! We went this way and that, trying to dodge them until we got back to the place where I had parked the SUV. Now,' he pointed a stern finger at his daughter. 'That was very wrong of us, and you are never to run from a police man, okay? In fact, you shouldn't need to run away from a police man in the first place.'

'I'll be good, Daddy,' the girl smiled sweetly, showing off her newly brushed teeth.

'Good girl,' Jack brushed her fringe out of her eyes and smiled fondly at her. 'So then I took him home, and I walked him to the front door like a true gentleman.'

'And did you kiss him?' the little girl giggled.

'Once,' Jack held up a finger and tapped it to his cheek. 'On his cheek. I was being very cautious, I wanted your Tad and I to last for a very long time.'

'And you did,' his daughter smiled.

'Yeah,' Jack breathed. 'Right to the end.'

A short moment of silence passed, while Jack reminisced. Then he patted the blankets atop his daughter's stomach and said, 'Alright, bed time now. Are you going to say goodnight to Tad?'

The girl nodded and lay back against her pillows, closing her eyes and raising her voice to the ceiling.

'Dear Taddy, I hope you're having a nice time in Heaven, and you aren't missing me and Daddy too much. I know you're always watching over everything I do, and Daddy tells me you're very proud of me. He gets sad a lot when he talks about you, and I know that probably makes you sad too but you need to watch over him and keep him safe.
I wish you were here to hug me goodnight, but Daddy always says that you're hugging me in spirit. He says not to cry because you wouldn't want me to, even though I know he cries sometimes too. I'm teaching him to be brave, but it's hard sometimes.'

The little girl paused, as if wondering if she could say anything else. Finally, she concluded with, 'I love you Taddy, and I really, really miss you. I hope you sleep well so you can watch over me again tomorrow. Goodnight Taddy!'

When she opened her eyes again, Jack wasn't crying but his eyes were quite diluted and he was smiling proudly at her.

'Goodnight Daddy!' she grinned, holding her arms out to him. He leant forward and hugged her tightly, feeling the familiar weight of her small arms sliding around his neck. 'I love you.'

'I love you too,' he pressed a fierce kiss to her cheek. 'Your Tad and I both love you so much.'

As she pulled her arms back and slid them under the covers, Jack flicked on the night-light beside her bed, saying, 'Sleep tight,' before getting up and making his way to the door. He turned the light off, leaving the door slightly ajar as he headed back to his own room.

After showering, brushing his teeth and making sure all the doors were locked and lights were turned off, he crawled into the cold sheets of his bed and breathed out heavily. 'We have a beautiful child,' he told the photo frame propped up on his bedside table, the picture illuminated only by the moonlight filtering through the window. Jack smiled softly and closed his eyes, turning his face into his pillow, away from the smiling photograph.

'Goodnight Ianto.'