A/N: I think I am just going to have to ask you all to please bear with me a bit until after my exams... I am just so stressed at the moment and it is so difficult to find time to rite, neve mind to find inspiration after I haver revision-ed my brain to death! I hope this chapter lives up to all of your expectations, and I promise that as soon as I can write someting I will- it might just be about another week or so! Hannah xxx

It's Friday now, and I must say that it has been absolutely marvellous having my proper, visible, normal body back these past few days; not only has it meant that I am able to once again leave the house like any other normal person rather than sticking to back alleys and skirting away from society, and not only has it meant that Jack and Gwen can talk to me properly now rather than the strange no eye contact conversations we were having previously, it has also meant that for the last few days Jack has been appeasing and grovelling his socks off. And quite rightly so I might add, it's a once in a life time thing (or perhaps a never in a life time thing for most normal people) to accidentally turn your other half invisible, and I think that in the light of that it's only fair to put a great deal of effort into making it up to the affected party considering the severity and strange uniqueness of the event.

As soon as Jack had gathered up my clothes and allowed me to make myself decent once again, I headed straight back out into the hub to greet a startled, yet pleased, Gwen who was more than relieved that things were back to normal, before heading back to the apartment accompanied by Jack. I didn't want to make him feel to awful about what had happened as it was blatantly clear that he felt guilty about it enough through his own contemplations on the incident without me hamming up the victim act, but I did ensure that I let him know that never again, under any circumstances, was he to try out any piece of technology in the hub on me without first knowing exactly how it worked. And, more to the point, the defabricator would remain shut away in the weapons store and he or I would just have to perform its role by hand; he was more than happy to agree which surprised me, I thought he might be a bit put out by me making requests of him, but he just said that he wanted me safe and where he could see me and for that he was willing to not even use his wrist strap around me to dim the lights. To which I just laughed and told him not to be silly, he's used that wrist strap near me a thousand times but that I appreciated his sentiment – which of course I did.

When were home he was especially nice to me, he told me that this evening I was to expect to be treated 'like royalty' and that I wouldn't need to 'lift a finger' aside from finding the chinese take away menu as Jack couldn't seem to see it anywhere and if he was insisting that I needn't bother cooking, then I sure as hell wasn't letting him at my kitchen! Once I'd found the menu (which was only behind the letter rack where it always is!) and chosen what I wanted, I really didn't have to lift a finger for the rest of the evening. Jack was attentive and was constantly checking to make sure I didn't want a drink or something else to eat or a jumper or whatever, essentially mothering me which was all a bit odd, even stooping as far as to give me a foot massage which was really more of a foot tickle…

And later when we went to get changed into pyjamas (well, I into a t-shirt and boxers, and Jack simply into boxers – he doesn't really do night wear) and settled down for a nice bit of telly curled up together under the duvet with brimming mugs of coffee, which Jack had made and were to my surprise relatively good. He even let me choose what we watch which is a rarity as he claims that all of my television programmes are 'boring' or 'dull as hell' or, heaven forbid, 'educational' where as he prefers the likes of Top Gear and Eastenders and The Only Way is Essex and the like. I must admit that I do enjoy watching all of those programmes too, along with a good old sit com, which is why we mostly end up watching 'his' TV but he let me put on Louis Theroux's latest documentary without complaint, which was really sweet of him.

Moreover, he's been deliberately giving me the nicer tasks at work, and letting me off some of my usual less appealing duties such as 'Weevil cell cleaning' in order to try and appease me further and gave me the afternoon off on Thursday to go and pay a quick drop in visit on Rhiannon to 'prepare' her for our re-arranged lunch this upcoming Sunday. The visit itself turned out to be a real 'mixed bag' of an occasion; in many ways it was lovely – lovely to see Rhi again (even if she was incredibly peeved with me initially for taking a rain check with her last Sunday) and it was definitely good for me to try and warn her about some of Jack's unique tendencies before out lunch together on Sunday… but in otherwise it wasn't exactly as I had hoped as, the initial 'peeved-off-ness' that I've just mentioned was really rather unpleasant to sit through, I've always hated being nagged at or told off by her, and it was heightened further by the fact that – not to stereotype – she must be at that stage in her pregnancy when her hormones are really flaring up a bit as it's been a good while since I've seen her that angry! Furthermore, she didn't exactly take my warnings, and guidelines, for Sunday all that seriously…

Throughout my half shift at work on Thursday, I was feeling absolutely fine in anticipation for said trip round to Rhiannon's, but by the time it came to standing outside her door and ringing the bell, I was completely enveloped by nerves and my stomach was swarming with butterflies as it always is before I drop in on Rhiannon.

She opened the door with a fairly neutral expression which quickly brewed into a fuming scowl as she saw my innocently smiling face greeting her at the door step.

"No, sorry, you can't come in" She said coldly, doing her utmost best to keep her boiling rage under control for the minute.

Her remark surprised me somewhat, as I had been expecting the usual shouting and 'we live in the same city and I have seen you for months… you're so secretive and unreliable… you're the only family I have apart from Johnny and the kids…. Etc.' that I am usually met with, and so I was caught a little off guard from the start. "Erm… why can't I?" I asked, confused.

"Because if you haven't got time to spare yourself for a pre-arranged visit then I sure as hell haven't got the time for a spontaneous one!" She bit back allowing a little of the anger to seep through.

"Oh come on Rhi! I told you, there was an emergency at work that both Jack and I had to attend to, it wasn't my fault! Please let me in, you're just being childish now!" I tried to reason.

"Ianto you're a civil servant! What on Earth kind of emergency could you have, run out of paper for the printer did you?"

If only she knew, "its government business, I can't tell you what the emergency was, but I am sorry that I had to cancel on you, I know you had been looking forward to it"

"Yes, I had! And not only because I would get to meet this mysterious man of yours at long last, but also because I don't like not seeing you for ages! You're always doing this Ianto, we live so closely to one another, we really should make the most of it!" She ranted, beginning her usual pattern of attack now.

"I know, I know that you were looking forward to it, and like I said I really am sorry! And I do feel awful for not seeing you that often, but I have a very demanding job whether you believe it or not"

We stayed there in the door way for a further ten or fifteen minutes or so before both of our arguments for our own respective cases had been fully expressed and allowed to die down, after which she did – with an eye roll which Jack would have deemed very 'Ianto esque' – eventually welcome me in and usher me to sit down accompanied by a cup of tea (She's severely off coffee at the moment) and two shortbread biscuits.

We sat in a contrastingly relaxed silence for a few moments before I spoke:

"You're looking well" I said, nodding towards her now obvious bump.

"I look fat." She replied.

"You look pregnant!" I corrected.

"Exactly, fat"

"I just chuckled and accepted defeat, "What are you five, six months now?"

"Nearly six yeah" She smiled.

"And how is… it?"

"He's good, normal and healthy and kicking me like mad!" She laughed

"Good, good" I smiled.

"So… is this what you came here to talk about?" She asked sceptically.

"Umm… well… no, not exactly."

"So, what did you want to talk about?" She asked straightforwardly, evidently wanting to get down to business.

"Actually, I came here to talk about Sunday"

"Oh for heaven's sake, if you're going to cancel again then you can leave straight away now!"

"No, no! I don't want to cancel… I just wanted to go over a few little ground rules for Sunday" I said cautiously.

"What exactly do you mean by ground rules?" She asked, one eyebrow raised.

"I mean that I would ask you please not to embarrass me!" I begged.

"Aww now, why would I do that?" She answered back feigning innocence.

"Pleas Rhi! No childhood stories; no photos of me in the bath or dressing up in Mam's clothes or as Angel Gabriel in the year two nativity; no comments about my rebellious teenage years and absolutely under no circumstances any revealing of my old nickname!" I gushed out, pleading.

She just stayed quiet and grinned widely in response, and I could practically see the thousands of cogs turning away in her brain trying to sift through and find the best (worst!) stories and recall where old photographs had been stored.

"Rhiannon, I'm being serious – please! I really like Jack and, well, once you meet him you'll understand why I don't want to be embarrassed in front of him, he's just so… cool… but don't tell him that I said that!" I begged further.

She sighed, "Fine, fine, I will be on my absolute best behaviour"

"Promise?"

"Promise." She agreed reluctantly.

"And no big sisterly 'what are your intentions with my brother type questions either!"

She rolled her eyes, "No I won't, okay? You happy now?"

"Relatively… and well, also, I think it's only fair if I warn you about Jack…"

"Warn me? What do you mean warn me? He's not some ex criminal or skinhead or murderer or something is he?" She asked.

I just laughed while inwardly I knew that technically at least two of those were true, "No, no, it's just he can… well, he's rather outrageous and unconventional. He's the most ridiculously flirtatious and charismatic person I know and he's always telling ridiculous and exaggerated suggestive tales, and I just wanted to say – please don't pay any real attention to it!" I said, praying that she wouldn't have much to ignore as I had already planned to request that Jack was on his very best behaviour.

"Oh Ianto, I'm sure he isn't that bad!" She shrugged it off light heartedly.

"Honestly, you don't understand how he can be sometimes" I persisted, but she continued just to pass off my remarks as 'over exaggerated themselves'.

So I gave up trying to warn her or prepare her for our upcoming Sunday lunch and we settled into further conversation about the new addition to the Jones/Davies family until around four thirty when I left to go back home and start cooking dinner for Jack and I. All I can say is that I hope she isn't too shocked if Jack does happen to not be able to contain his usual quirks.

I am absolutely, completely and utterly shattered, but that doesn't matter because it's Sunday evening and somehow – God knows I will never quite get my head around how exactly – Jack, Rhiannon and myself managed to survive today's scheduled family gathering unscathed. In fact, I would say, that we more than managed to survive it, I'd go out on a limb to say that today actually went far better than I thought it would do. There were touch and go moments, as there always are with such things, and points at which it was tempting just to give up there and then with trying to make things work out, but the main thing is that the two of them got on with each other well and I was inflicted with as little stress or embarrassment throughout the day as possible

I set the alarm for seven thirty on this morning which was probably far earlier than Rhi ended up getting up, and far earlier than most sane human beings I suppose, but to Jack and I it was actually a lie in and a welcomed change from our usual six o'clock routine. I made us both breakfast in bed, which was also a nice change, that consisted of two cups of super-industrial strength coffee to wake us both up for the days busy activities and waffles with strawberries and syrup for a sugar boost.

"So…" I began after settling back down into the duvet, now accompanied by food and a steaming mug of rich, dark liquid. "You know the rules for today?" I asked.

Jack nodded and smiled, "Indeed I do. All phones, wristwatches and portable rift monitors are to be turned off and left upstairs – ignored – whilst your sister is here, and in the even that somehow we are contacted in any other manner for any rift or other Torchwood related reason, all requests or reports will be ignored until Rhiannon is ready to leave" He replied, grinning at himself for remembering everything I had run by him in a panicked state the evening before.

"Very good" I smiled back and briefly kissed his shoulder, "but what else did I say?"

Jack just rolled his eyes, "Honestly Ianto, I don't know what it is you're expecting me to do that'll be so terrible!" He complained.

"Jack come on, please! I've asked you to be on your best behaviour and I mean it! No excessive flirting with my sister, no stories of how you and the chief secretary of state from 1972 ended up naked at Whitehall together, no alien related jokes – or sex related jokes for that matter, and absolutely no references to any of our private life. Please?" I begged.

He rolled his eyes again, "I promise, I promise! But I feel a little offended that you feel the need to ask, as if I'd do any of that anyway!" He said indignantly.

It was my turn to roll my eyes then, "Jack… do you not remember how you behaved when you first met Rhys? Or how you talk to pretty much anyone you meet? Or the things you tell, or suggest, about our sex life to near strangers?" I persisted.

"Oh come on! I only like showing you off" He winked, "And well, Rhys didn't care did he?"

"Hmm" I just replied, clearly not looking impressed as Jack suddenly turned to face me with a very serious look on his face.

"Ianto Jones, I understand that you want today to run as smoothly as possible and though it's in my nature to behave a little outrageously as you so put it, I will endeavour to control myself around Mrs Davies in order to secure your happiness" He smiled.

"Thank you" I smiled back, trying not to laugh at the peculiarly posh tone of his words and voice.

"I'm glad we have that sorted" He replied, taking a large bite of his waffle.

"Though there is just one more thing… don't talk like that again… it's not right" I laughed.

"Shut up!" He mumbled through a mouthful of breakfast.

Post breakfast I set about tidying up the apartment which Jack had insisted was already 'perfectly tidy' but which in actual fact I found to be littered with coffee mugs (none of which were mine I might add) all over the place, and numerous paper aeroplanes strewn across various parts for no apparent reason. Once the flat was spick and span I had to start work on the roast in the kitchen; I prepared the vegetables and put the lamb in the oven to start cooking – I like chicken best, but I know the other two prefer lamb – and laid the table ready. I also made the apple crumble in advance and left it stored in the fridge so that it was ready to go straight into the oven once the main meal was served.

Once that was all sorted it was nearing eleven and Rhi was set to come over at half past, so there was just enough time left for me to quickly hop in the shower and wash the smell of 'cooking' out of my hair, and to dress. I'd planned out carefully the night before what I was going to wear today, and I know that that makes me sound like a thirteen year old girl planning for a mufti day at school, but I didn't want the added stress in the morning. I'd also planned out Jack's outfit as well… which probably (on top of the teenage girl resemblance) makes me appear to be some sort of strange control freak, but, and I know it's silly, but I just wanted us to both look nice. And also, to make sure it didn't look as though we had picked out 'matching outfits' or that our clothes were horrifically clashing with one another. Oh god, just writing it down I can tell I over thought it all a bit… Anyway, I wore my light coloured straight leg jeans, a white shirt and a grey cardigan and Jack wore a pair of black jeans and white t-shirt accompanied by a tweed blazer.

Standing next to each other in the mirror Jack commented that we certainly made a good looking couple, and whilst at the time I just brushed the comment away, I do feel a little inclined to believe him… at least, on his part of the 'couple' anyway. Just as we were stood there at the mirror, Jack preening and I making last minute adjustments to my hair, I heard a knock at the door.

"Hello" I beamed, biting back the nerves as I kissed her on each cheek and welcomed Rhiannon inside.

"Hello" She grinned back, stepping inside. "I don't know why you've never had me over before Ianto, you're apartment's gorgeous, it's so spacious and I love the 1930s design and…" She stopped mid-sentence as Jack entered the room.

"Good morning" He smiled his trademark Harkness grin, "you must be Rhiannon, it's pleasure to meet you" He finished, taking her hand and planting a kiss on it.

"Hello… I err, yes, Hello" She stuttered nervously, seemingly stunned by Jack's charm (which was simply that, charismatic charm, with no excessive flirtation) and dazzling good looks. "You must be Jack" She managed to state.

He just nodded still smiling.

"Well I was going to do the introductions… but I guess you two have beaten me to it" I chuckled, "Can I get you something to drink Rhi – tea?"

"Mmhhmm yes please" She replied, still seeming a little stunned.

"You drink tea when you've a coffee wizard for a brother?" Jack asked with mock incredulation.

"Rhiannon doesn't like coffee" I called from the kitchen.

"I've never been a big fan, and since I've been pregnant I just can't stand it!" She clarified. "Do you like coffee then?" She asked, clearly wondering what on earth they should be talking about, which made me feel a little guilty for just leaving both of them in there.

But Jack just laughed, making light ease of the potentially awkward situation as he always does, and replied, "I'd kill for a cup of your brother's coffee!"

Rhiannon laughed lightly in response.

"Hmm I'm not sure if he heard me or not" She said to Rhi – though of course I had heard - and then repeated the words in a louder, suggestive tone "I said I'd kill for a cup of your brother's coffee" making Rhiannon laugh again.

"Fine, but try not to get any blood in the apartment while you're doing so, I don't know how we'd explain the stains away to the police." I replied jokily.

"Oh ha-ha"

"I was just saying to Ianto… it's a really nice place you have here" Rhiannon said.

"Thanks! Though I can't really take much of the credit for it as it's all Ianto's decorating and furnishing etc. not to mention the fact that it's his. But I like it too, I like that it's all in his style, I think my taste would be rather a bit too garish for a period property, don't you agree Ianto?" Jack asked laughing.

"Indeed" I called back.

"I dread to think what your old apartment would have looked like then!" Rhiannon laughed.

"Well, actually it wasn't too bad! It was relatively small, and it never really felt that homely – not like living here anyway, though that might just be the company. The one good thing about it was that it was really close to work" He answered and I could hear the grin in his voice.

I smiled in the kitchen, both at his comment to our apartment feeling homelier than the bunker at the hub and to his description of it being 'closer to work' which really was a bit of an understatement.

"And it was always a mess" I added as I brought our drinks through to the living room.

"It wasn't that bad!"

"It was!" I insisted

Rhiannon laughed again, "Are you two always like this?" She asked.

I looked to Jack and he looked at me and shrugged, "Pretty much" We replied both at the same time, sounding ridiculous like Siamese twins or something.

"Do you not hate living with Ianto then? Isn't he still a bit of an OCD neat freak?" Rhiannon asked shooting a wink at me as I shot her a scowl back in return.

"Oh thanks" I rolled my eyes.

"Well…" Jack started and then broke into a grin, "I was going to make something up, but I can't lie. It's irritating at times, like living with anyone (more so for him I imagine though!), but all the neurotic neatness and excessive cleanliness is worth putting up with to be able to come home from a stressful day at work to our apartment" Jack smiled and I smiled back.

The three of us stayed there chit chatting and sipping our drinks while the roast cooked for another hour or so, seeming not to talk about a great deal – this year's Apprentice contestants, the nice weather we've been having recently and the price of petrol all came up, along with a few compliments from Rhiannon to Jack about his choice of outfit which I couldn't help taking a little of the glory for. It was surprising really how well everything had gone initially, how readily the two of them had slipped into easy conversation and how well behaved they had both been. I was a little worried about how Jack might tackle the mentions of his family and background when Rhiannon brought it up as we were tucking into dessert, but he just told her the truth (near enough) that he had moved away from his home town in New Jersey a good while ago and that he hadn't really had any family left to leave behind which was just as well as moving to Wales was probably one of the best moves he had ever made in his life he grinned at me and I couldn't help but blush slightly. I kept waiting for something to go wrong, for Rhiannon to suddenly mention that photo of me dressed up in Mam's nightie and make-up pretending to serve tea, or for Jack to crack out an innuendo, but the time never came, nor even a worry of such a time until after dinner.

We were sat back in the living room again and Rhiannon brought the topic of conversation around to a slightly tricky subject, and one that we really probably should have pre-discussed how to respond to: work.

"So, now, Jack… what exactly is it that you two do then, Ianto's ever so secretive?" Rhiannon asked.

Mine and Jack's eyes met quickly across the room.

"Well, I doubt I'll be able to give you much more of an answer than he can" Jack brushed it off with.

"Oh come on, I mean, I know you're civil servants – but what does that mean? And what exactly is it you do that's so important that my visits get cancelled?" She asked shooting my amok angry look at the end.

"Umm" Jack just shot me a question look as if to say, 'civil servants?'… I really should have told him about that before I introduced the two of them, "Yes well, I'm afraid I can't tell you exactly – I could get the two of us into some trouble, but it really was a dire emergency, we were so tied down with work last weekend that I didn't even see Ianto for about two days" He said, and I narrowed my eyes at him, letting him know I didn't appreciate his reference to my brief invisibility.

"Alright, ok…" Rhiannon said, seemingly unconvinced with that answer, but Jack swiftly changed the subject…

"When's the baby due then?" He asked cheerfully.

"Late July" She replied.

"Ah, if it's late then it could end up having the same birthday as Ianto" He smiled at me and patted my knee – a gesture which did not go unnoticed by Rhiannon.

"I can tell you now; it is not going to be late! 9 months is enough thank you very much!"

Jack laughed, "Ianto tells me it's a little boy – thought of any names yet?"

"Not really, Johnny and I haven't really had a chance to talk it through properly and any names I've suggested in passing he's hated and vice versa"

"You should ask Ianto for some help, he's great with names!" Jack smiled.

"Oh really?" Rhiannon asked questioningly, suspicious probably for some adopted child we had tucked away knowing he fanciful imagination.

I on the other hand had an expression frozen with worry plastered on my face, I genuinely thought that he was referring to my naming of our newest Pterodactyl – that he was about to tell my sister about our Pterodactyl…but really I should give him more credit.

"Yeah, yeah we have a couple of rabbits – Thelma and Louise – he chose the names and I have to admit I rather like them"

I breathed a sigh of relief.

By the time it reached four Rhiannon was sorry to leave, and Jack and I were sorry to see her go, but Mica needed picking up from swimming so she had to leave. We'd all had a very pleasant lunch surprisingly enough, Rhiannon especially who pulled me to the side while Jack nipped to the loo to tell me just how fantastic he was and how unbelievably gorgeous he was and how I'd been unfair in saying that he was so outrageous because he was perfectly charming etc… I didn't mention that today had been one of his rare well behaved days; I just let her carry on complementing him, overjoyed that she seemed to like him almost as much as I did.

After she eventually did leave, I just grinned at Jack, still stood in the door way.

"That went remarkably well"

"It really did didn't it?" He grinned back, walking over to wrap his arms around me. "So you think she liked me then?"

"Of course! She was raving about you every time you left the room" I laughed, "Did you like her?"

"She was lovely" He grinned wider and kissed me on the cheek, "Surprisingly like you actually and not nearly as overly-protectively-big-sisterly as you had told me" He laughed.

"Well, you weren't the only one instructed to be on your best behaviour…"

"Oh really?" He asked, one eyebrow raised. "Now, speaking of that, Jones you promised me a reward if I was well behaved."

"No I didn't"

"He rolled his eyes, "Ok, no you didn't – but don't you think I deserve one?"

"Hmmm" I smiled, "Maybe…"

He smiled back, "Definitely?"

"We'll see"

"That means yes" He said grinning like a child, "But first – one question, civil servants?"

I just laughed in response.