missthingsplace | Goodnight Sweetheart 3/?

Title: Goodnight Sweetheart
Author: missthingsplace
Parings/characters: Ianto/Lisa Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Owen/Toshiko, Andy/Donna
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of the characters ... unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: When Ianto lost his job he knew it was the oppotunity he'd been waiting for but nothing could have prepared him for what was to come when he leased the premises for his new enterprise.
Warnings: Slash, fluff, romance, angst, humour, AU
Spoilers: Anything is fair game
Rating: NC17 for series

“What time do you call this?” Lisa asked Ianto - sounding a little agitated - the moment he got in through the front door.

“About eleven thirty,” Ianto replied dryly, he wasn't drunk but tipsy enough to not care.

“You found my note I take it?” Lisa asked.

“Yep!” Ianto retorted a little sarcastically.

“So you deliberately went out to avoid me, down the pub with that Rhys I expect?” Lisa asked.

“Why do you dislike Rhys so much?” Ianto asked, his annoyance mounting once more over her obvious disdain of his friend.

“He's not exactly in our league is he?” Lisa asked snootily. “I mean, he works in a printers for goodness sake.”

“Lisa, you are a snob!” Ianto retorted. “Rhys is a good mate, what he does for work has nothing to do with what kinda person he is, just because he didn't go to uni and get a degree like we did doesn't make him any less of a person.”

Lisa huffed and stomped out the room, he could hear her feet pounding up the stairs and their bedroom door slamming, with a little relief that the argument about Rhys had taken away all thought of his redundancy, at least for now Ianto took in the sight of the spare duvet and pillows heaped on the sofa.

Ianto headed upstairs to make used of the bathroom and change into his pyjamas, peeking into their room he found Lisa asleep, or at least pretending to be asleep and closed the door again quietly, resigning himself to an uncomfortable nights sleep on the sofa.

Turning on the TV, the volume low he arranged his makeshift bed, settled back against the pillows and pulled the duvet over himself against the cold of the night and watched a movie he found until he drifted into sleep.

In the morning he found himself alone again, another note from Lisa – this time on a larger piece of paper and attached to the fridge by a magnet – telling him he better be home when she returned from work that evening to talk or she would be filing for divorce spurred him into action.

He called the number Rhys had given him and explained who he was and what he needed and arranged to meet the man at the shop premises, then called Bilis Manger to arrange to collect the keys before hand.

Once that was organised he left the house, heading into town he made his way to the local café that served the best breakfast in Cardiff and indulged in a huge helping, along with three cups of tea as a rare treat and then, after paying the bill he walked the short distance in good spirits to the estate agents and collected his keys.

“You've found someone to carry out the work?” Bilis enquired.

“Yep, I think so,” Ianto answered with a smile. “this is the beginning of a new life for me.”

“And your wife, what does she think?” Bilis asked.

“She'll come around,” Ianto replied, not wanting to let her thoughts on the matter ruin his day.

“Of course she will,” Bilis replied encouragingly.

“I'll pop these back when I'm finished, okay?” Ianto asked, changing the subject and dangling the keys from his fingers.

“That's fine, if we're closed then just pop them through the letter box,” Bilis told him. “the place will be all yours in a few days anyway, the paperwork is all going through now.”

“Fantastic, thanks,” Ianto said, opening the door to leave. “bye.”

“Have a good afternoon,” Bilis said in reply and watched the young man leave before getting back to his work.

After collecting his car again he parked it against the curb a few yards away and made his way to the property, he could see someone waiting outside and glancing up and down the road as if trying to identify the person they were there to meet.

“Hi, you must be Eddie,” Ianto said with a smile, holding his hand out to the man when he drew closer. “I'm Ianto, Ianto Jones.”

“That's me,” Eddie smiled back. “so, let have a look and you can explain to me exactly what you need doing to the place.”

“Great,” Ianto nodded, unlocking the door and leading the way into the premises pulled out the drawing his had made of the space which detailed where he wanted the counter, where the coffee making equipment would be going and an area where there would be a sink and dishwasher required.

“Wow, these look very professional,” Eddie stated. “when you told me you'd drawn up some rough plans I never expected anything like this.”

“I wanted to be a architect when I left school, so I went to university to study the subject,” Ianto explained. “but it wasn't to be, somehow I left with the degree I needed but ended up being an accountant.”

“But you're opening a coffee shop?” Eddie asked, sounding a little confused.

“I worked for my father when I was at university in my spare time, he owned his own coffee shop and taught me how to make the best coffee in Cardiff,” Ianto continued. “but even though he knew how much I loved the job he wanted me to make something of myself, get a good job and be able to support myself easily. I did what he wanted but I saw how much he loved serving people the coffee they came back for time after time and I knew that one day I would follow in his footsteps.”

“What does your wife think?” Eddie asked him spying the ring on his finger and pulling out his tape measure.

Ianto twirled it absently. “She's not too happy about the potential loss of income but I'm hoping she'll get used to the idea.”

“Well, for your sake I do too,” Eddie agreed. “now as for the work, I looks like your drawing are very accurate, how about I go back to the office and price up the materials and I'll get back to you in the morning?”

“That sounds good to me,” Ianto answered, letting Eddie shake his hand again. “do you have a card, I can put my home and mobile numbers on the back for you?”

Eddie pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it over to Ianto, along with a pen who wrote his name and numbers on the back and then handed it back to him.

“I'll get going then, I'll speak to you first thing in the morning,” Eddie reassured him and then after bidding him goodbye he left, closing the door behind him and leaving Ianto alone.

Ianto moved to the rear of the building, through the small storage room and found himself at the rear exit. He located the correct key and after unbolting the door he opened it wide and looked down onto the small court yard, protected by high metal gates and guessed that the third key on the key ring opened the chain that locked them together.

With a happy smile on his face Ianto breathed in the fresh air, ignoring the chill and began to mentally prepare himself for facing Lisa that evening, praying she had calmed down by the time she got in from work, wondering just how badly she would take the news that he had already put his plans into action.

What he didn't expect while he was standing there was the young, scruffy child that seems to walk into the court yard straight through the locked gates, look up and him with a scared look on it's face and then turn tail and vanish again.

“What the fuck?” Ianto asked himself, not sure if he had just imagined it and walked down the three steps that led down into the court yard, then slowly made his way towards the gates.

TBC