Spellbound 6/14 + Epilogue

[madbottoms]

Title: Spellbound - Chapter 6
Author: Madbottoms
Prompt: Practical Magic
Pairing(s)/Characters: Jack/Ianto, Donna, John (Smith), Gwen/Adam, Owen, Tosh, OC’s.
Rating: PG
Length: 25k +
Warnings: Magic, dark themes, minor character death.

A/N 1: Written for reel_torchwood  See chapter 1 for disclaimer and full author notes. Is anybody out there? Let me know what you think. Don't be shy. :)

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6

 

The next morning a car pulled up outside. Uncle John and Aunt Donna got out, followed by Ianto’s two children. Gwen watched, smiling but anxious, from inside the house. As Erin and Andrew tumbled out of the car, giggling, Gwen ran to the hallway.

“They’re here! What if they don’t like me?” Gwen asked nervously.

Ianto, dusting the non-existent lint from his clothes, rushed down the stairs. He flapped his hand to dismiss Gwen’s worries. As he reached the hall, his children came through the door and flew at him for a hug, chattering excitedly.

“Dad! Dad! We danced naked! Under the full moon! We did. Oh, my gosh, it was so fun!” they both chanted.

“Well, that’s just ...” Ianto wasn’t too sure how to react to that news, particularly when he’d specifically asked Aunt and Uncle not to let them do that. But he wasn’t really mad, they meant well and as eccentric as they were, he loved them, in spite of the naked dancing.

The children noticed their Aunt Gwen for the first time and Gwen smiled and shrugged self-consciously. The kids started to shriek, bouncing up and down. They ran at Gwen, calling her name.

“Oh, my gosh! Aunt Gwen! Aunt Gwen!” All three of them hugged as they fell to the floor.

“You guys! You guys are so big! I can’t believe this! What –“

Gwen stopped and looked at the doorway. Aunt and Uncle came in, Donna first, John trailing behind. Gwen stood up, abashed, and smiled shyly.

“Hi, Aunt Donna,” Gwen smiled.

Donna held out her arms, “My darling little girl.” She kissed her tenderly and noticed a bruise on her left cheek. “Oh, dear. Hmm. Well - a little mugwort’ll fix that right up.” Turning back to the others, she said, “Andrew, now, why don’t you and I go to the greenhouse ...” Donna trailed off as she and Andrew left the hall.

“Uncle John!” Gwen whispered as he stepped forward and they hug.

“Oh, I’m so happy to see you, sweetie!” He pulled away, looking serious. “Don’t you worry, dear. Whoever he was, he’ll get what he deserves.” He headed into the parlour, leaving Ianto and Gwen to exchange a sober look. Then he turned back and took Gwen’s arm, smiling impishly. “I think a brownie for breakfast would fix you right up.”

“A brownie?” Gwen laughed delightedly.

“A brownie,” John insisted.

“You’re still doing that?”

Exasperated, Uncle replied, “Well, of course we’re still doing th...! What do you mean are we still...?” he scoffed. “You’ve been away too long, Gwen.” And then he led her toward the kitchen, Ianto following after them.

“Some things never change in this house!” Gwen reminisced.

“How long have you been away?!”

“So, where are they?” Gwen asked eagerly, following her uncle.

Meanwhile, Erin stood at the kitchen window, staring out into the garden, looking sombrely at something no-one else could see.

*~*

A couple of days later in town, Ianto attempted to sort out his shop, unpacking more supplies in time for its opening. Owen and Tosh were there helping him as usual, as was his sister. Well, sort of.

“Oh, Ianto, I love this stuff! It’s great! You’ve done a great job!” Gwen sat at the shop window, rubbing lotion into her arms and hands, a cigarette dangling from her mouth.

Ianto was irritated. As much as he loved his sister, he really didn’t like her very much at the moment. “Gwen, if you’re going to work here, maybe you could... I don’t know... Work?!”

“I am. I’m testing the merchandise,’ she informed him. Everyone but Ianto laughed.

Slamming his journal shut, Ianto started for the door. “You guys know where you can reach me?” He received several answering mumbles in the affirmative. “I’ll be back ... if anyone cares.” He left, slamming the door.

Looking chagrined at the other two, Gwen asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

“Phone-Tree Day,” Tosh said.

“Phone-Tree Day,” Owen repeated, enunciating each word carefully.

Gwen looked between the two, confused.

“Parent’s hotline. If there’s an emergency, like a snow day, they decide who’s the most responsible...” Tosh explained.

“You mean, the most popular,” Owen added.

“... responsible mother, or father in Ianto’s case, to sound the alarm. Each parent calls the next one down on the list. It’s a big deal to get chosen,” Tosh finished.

“But Ianto never gets picked ‘cause everybody knows he’s a war...” Owen paused thoughtfully, “... different.”

 “Hmm.” Gwen sucked meditatively on her cigarette.

*~*

Ianto sat at the back of the classroom, alone, while all the other mothers chatted loudly to each other. Not surprisingly, he was the only father in the room. What he wouldn’t give to have Lisa sitting here in his place. Sometimes, he just wanted to crawl up into a little ball and forget the world. Other times he wanted to slap most of these short-sighted bigoted women for their snooty and thoughtless attitudes.

One of the mothers stood behind a podium at the front of the classroom and called for order.

“Ah, quiet! Quiet, quiet!” Everyone turned the noise down a notch. “Third name from the top of the phone-tree is ...” She picked up a cardboard leaf with the lucky winner’s name written on. “Carys Williams!” All the other mothers turned to Carys and made admiring noises. Ianto looked crestfallen, but unsurprised.

All conversation suddenly grinded to a halt as the door opened and in walked... Gwen.

“Hey. Sorry to interrupt.”

“Can I help you?” the woman at the podium asked frostily

“I was ...” Gwen noticed Ianto at the back. “Oh. My brother. Just... wanted to see my brother.”

The woman straightened up slightly, smoothing down her stomach, a mostly unconscious reaction to being in the presence of a woman younger and prettier. As Gwen slowly walked across the room toward Ianto, whispers started in the flock.

“Is that a dragon tattoo?” One mother asked, noticing the ink on Gwen’s midriff.

“Yeah. And there’s one on her boob too,” another said.

Gwen grinned and turned to face the group. “Yup, that’s right. I’m back. Woo!” She raised her arms above her head and wiggled her hips seductively, clapped her hands on her waist and thrust her pelvis forward. “Hang onto your husbands, girls...”

Some of the assembled group laughed, others looked disgusted but she did not care in the least and sat down at the empty desk beside Ianto.

Ianto looked a little embarrassed but smiled despite himself. “All that’s missing now is me naked without my homework.”

The mother behind the podium looked disconcerted but started up her little speech again. “Ladies,” she said, basically ignoring Ianto’s presence, “the second from the top of the phone-tree will be ... Abigail Little.” Again, appreciative noises sounded from some of the group.

“This is for real?’ Gwen asked, covering her mouth with her hand as she giggled.

One of the mothers sitting in front of Gwen and Ianto whispered loudly to a neighbour. “You know, she screwed Mr Williams, the History teacher.”

Gwen whipped her gaze forward to stare at the back of the mothers’ head. On the desk in front of the mum was a ring binder, the rings themselves standing open. They promptly snapped shut of their accord, catching the mum’s thumb.

“Ow!” The mother shoved her pinched finger into her mouth.

“Don’t do that!” Ianto scolded Gwen in a low voice.

Gwen looked almost insulted. “It wasn’t me.”

“Well, I certainly didn’t ...”

“It was you.” The two siblings giggled together.

“Finally... oh, I’m so pleased to report this! The top of the phone-tree list is ...” The woman started flipping through pages of little tree diagrams in her ring binder. At the top of every list was Ianto's name. “One moment. It’s, um ...” she paused, then gave in. “It’s Ianto Jones.” Noises of confusion from the surrounding mums erupted and Gwen clapped loudly.

“Woo! Go, Ianto!” Gwen cheered, and in a lower voice to Ianto, “Now, that was me.”

*~*

A lot of lights were on at the Manor. In the back yard though, it was dark and in the mud where Adam was buried, something moved in the soil, squirming. A toad crawled up close to watch.

Inside, Donna and John sat together in the kitchen concocting something and calling out their list of ingredients with great glee.

“Eye of newt, toe of frog. Wing of bat, tongue of dog,” Donna chanted.

“Adder’s fork and blind worm’s sting ...” John continued.

“Barbados Lime is just the thing.”

“Fragias Salt, like a sailor’s stubble ...

“Flip the switch, and let the cauldron bubble!” And then Donna let rip the blender full of liquid and they watched it as it whirred loudly.

The sound travelled upstairs to Ianto’s room. Gwen was already awake, and was lying on Ianto’s bed, tickling his nose with a feather.

“Wakey-wakey!”

Ianto, unhappy at being disturbed, slapped Gwen away. Gwen stilled him, and they listen. Ianto, too, heard the sound of the blender.

“Midnight margaritas!” they both yelled excitedly.

“Come on!” Ianto didn’t need telling twice and they tumbled out of bed and bopped down the stairs to the tune of Harry Nilsson’s Coconut, that Aunt and Uncle had playing.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were each handed a margarita. They danced around the kitchen, singing loudly and sipping the margaritas as the music played. Eventually the four of them sat around the table, telling fortunes. Gwen read Ianto’s palm, while Aunt and Uncle drank out of a tequila bottle, passing it back and forth between them. They all laughed like loons, obviously having had too many margaritas.

“No, no, no, this is serious!” Gwen insisted. “I see a man ... I see a man in your future and he is, whoa, he is gorgeous.” They all ‘awwwwed!’ and then Gwen paused. “Oh, and... oh my goodness! He is big!” She grinned madly. “But you're scared to death! And you wind up like a frigid old man, with your frigid old aunt and uncle!” she cackled.

Ianto’s smile began to look forced and he looked at Gwen incredulously. Donna and John also exchanged looks of surprise at Gwen’s meanness.

Gwen stopped and looked about her, confused but still giggling. “I don't know where that came from. That was weird.”

“She's never been interested in her gifts. She just made that all up.” John said about Gwen.

“Don't lie. Gwen has her own magic... and we all know what it is!” Donna insinuated, the last six words almost became lost as she dissolved into hysterical giggles. Donna stopped and looked surprised at herself. Gwen didn’t look too pleased, but tried to smile as she poured herself more to drink from the tequila bottle.

“Oh, please, since when is being a slut a crime in this family?” Ianto looked shocked at himself and covered his mouth with his hand. But soon, more laughter emerged and they all went off.

Still laughing, John said to Ianto, “Oh, my boy, what would you know about it?”

“When we put that spell on you for Lisa, we had to bind it with molasses just to get you to open your pants up!” Donna screamed with laughter.

“Nooo! That’s so wrong!” Ianto said and filled his glass with more tequila again.

“You self-centred nag!” Gwen screamed at John.

“Ingrate!” John threw back at Gwen

“Goody two-shoes,” Donna insulted Ianto.

“Witch!” Ianto threw back to Donna.

They all cackled raucously, then abruptly, all sobered up and the giggles died down. Donna emptied the bottle of tequila into one last glass. Then John started singing, “Little things, I should have said, and done...” Donna leaned on John’s shoulder and joined in. “I just never found the tiiiiiim ... You were always on my miiiiind... You were always on my miiiiind...”

Throughout this, Gwen and Ianto looked at each other in alarm. Gwen turned the bottle around. The faded brown label read ‘Diablo’ and the bottle was now half-full. It was also the same bottle that Adam had been drinking when he kidnapped Gwen and Ianto. Ianto picked it up and examined it.

“Where did this bottle come from?” Ianto demanded. The only reply was drunken smiles. “Where did this bottle come from?”

Donna and John answered to the tune of the song, “Someone left it on the poooooorch ... Someone left it on the pooooor...”

Ianto looked, wide-eyed, at Gwen. Gwen shot to her feet, holding the bottle by the neck. Before their Uncle and Aunt could finish singing, she smashed it in the sink. The singing stopped immediately, and John and Donna sobered at once. John got up and approached Gwen, who was staring at the smashed bottle in mute horror.

 

 

 

Comments

[missthingsplace.livejournal.com]

Oh boy ... here we go!

[madbottoms.livejournal.com]

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