Chapter Text
The school emptied quickly on the last day of the school term when they were getting off for Christmas, everyone was excited for the extended break and were hoping that they would get some snow when they were off.
Ianto and his friends were going to go to the Holmes house to hang out in his bedroom for a while, he had the biggest room and his Mam-gu and Bampi were amazing because they never told them off for being too loud. Violet liked to hear the teenager’s laughter throughout the house and loved making snakes for them, she had never had the chance to do those types of things before.
Ianto had just told his friends that he was living with his grandparents now and they didn’t really question it too much, they could tell that Ianto was a lot more relaxed and happy living here. They hadn’t even seen him this happy when his mum was alive. Those friends had been around for a long time, two of which he met was in nursery school with and they met the other one when they all went on to high school.
But as they were leaving the school gates, Ianto was stopped by the presence of Rhiannon standing at the gate. It looked like she was waiting for him so he told his friends to hang out for a bit so he could talk to her.
She explained that she wanted to see him on Christmas Eve, have a catchup with Chinese and that she went over to the old house the night before but nobody was there. Ianto was taken a bit aback because he hadn’t been living there since August, it had taken her months before she even came looking for him.
Ianto told her that he would only go as long as Steven wasn’t going to be there, but, Rhiannon said that it was no problem because he would be working and Stevens mum would be out at her singing club, she was spending her night carolling. It was when Ianto was assured that nobody else would be there that he agreed to meet her.
***
Ianto found the house very easily; it was just a few streets away from their old house. It was a part of the same estate. It made Ianto a bit angry that she lived so close but never tried to come find him. She was so close, but he didn’t even know to be able to reach out to her.
He stood at the door battling at his inner wills. He wanted to see his older sister after such a long time but at the same time he still didn’t want to look at her. But here he was standing outside of the door, he had made his decision and now just needs to knock.
The door suddenly swung inwards and he was met with an adult he had never seen before, wearing tinsel around her hair and a lot of strong and festive makeup. His shock and surprise were probably very easily seen on his face. The woman had an initial reaction of shock at a child standing on her doorstep, but quickly realised why he was there.
“You must be Ianto, Go on in. Your sister is in the kitchen. I’m running a bit late for my carolling group. Just go on in.”
She left in a whirlwind, the sparkling of tinsel from the streetlights and the faint sounds of bells from the pockets of her coat. She left the door wide open and Ianto could see the light coming from a room at the bottom of the hallway, he knew it was the kitchen, these houses all have the same layout.
He made his way down the hall and closed the door behind him. He walked in announcing his presence so that his sister didn’t get a fright.
“The crazy lady in tinsel let me in when she went out”
His sister was standing at the back door smoking in a dressing gown, it looked like she didn’t think anyone would be in the house. He had never seen her smoke before, but he knew she had taken it up at some point, she always smelt of it.
“Ianto, Sorry. I thought I would have like 30 minutes before you came. I’ll get dressed and we’ll go get that Chinese. My treat.”
Ianto watched in silence as his sister made his way up the stairs after stubbing out the cigarette in the ash tray on the counter at the back door. It looked like she changed a lot in the time that they had been apart.
He noted that she looked older and had gained a bit of weight, but he heard that that would happen if you got into a relationship, she just looked like she was beginning to get lines in her face. This is what was most concerning to Ianto. This shouldn’t be happening so young, but he couldn’t really do anything for her. He knew that stress could age someone and that the best cure would be getting away from the stressful environment, in this case it would probably be Steve.
When she was away getting dressed, he made the decision to tell her what happened, the full story, and there was another spare room across from him at the Holmes Cardiff house that they had offered her.
Once Rhiannon was ready, they began the walk to the Chinese.
They began talking about what they were going to order, even though they order the exact same thing each time. Sticky BBQ ribs a gravy chip for Rhi, and a half and half, curry sauce peas and onions for Ianto and a portion of chicken balls to share. They will exclaim that they say its too much food when they unpack it, but will end up eating everything, even the complementary prawn crackers that come with the order.
It is almost a ritual at this point to talk about the different food that they wouldn’t order before settling on their usual. It also helped break the ice that had formed over their relationship, to show that they were both acting ‘normally’.
As they were sitting waiting for their order, Ianto decided to begin to talk.
“Rhi, there’s been some things that have been happening since you moved out.”
“Yeah, I noticed that neither you or Dad were at home when I've walked past the past few times.”
“I don’t live there anymore, Dafydd thew me out on my birthday.”
Ianto decided to drop that Bomb as early as the conversation allowed, he wanted to have time to be able explain what happened, but also to explain how he couldn’t find her.
“What really? Where have you been living? Why didn’t you come to see me?”
“Yeah he didn’t like me much since Mum told him that he wasn’t my Dad, he got very violent when you weren’t around. I was on my own for like a week before the police picked me up for petty theft, they gave me the option to ring someone. You didn't leave an address or number so I couldn’t contact you, but I tried the number that mum had. You know, Mike. He answered and came down to pick me up immediately. His name is Mycroft and he works in London. I’m living with his parents, my grandparents Mam-gu and Bampi in a cottage outside town.”
Rhiannon sat taking in the information that Ianto was telling her, realising that he has found a completely new family and that he has two parental figures that obviously take care of him and that her brother has found a new family.
“What happened to Dafydd?”
Ianto knew the question would be coming. He needed to tell his sister that her Dad was currently in prison because of something done against him, it was good that they were in public in case this took a turn. He hesitated to say something until he looked up and made eye contact with her, he quickly looked away before answering.
“I wasn’t in a good condition when the police got me, they sort of took some photos for proof of what I looked like. Dafydd got very drunk and angry on my birthday. He got violent, not for the first time. This time I had bruises all over my face too, I couldn’t hide it and didn’t want to lie about it anymore. They documented it all and the fact that I had been thrown out, I think that either the police or Mycroft have charged him with child abuse.”
As Ianto finished talking about that night, he saw that his sister was very shocked. He let her mull over what he had told her without interrupting her. They sat in silence until the worker at the counter called out “Jones”. They collected the bag of food and made their way back to the house that Rhiannon was living at.
“Are you going to stay a Jones?”
“I think so. It was Mums last name and its your last name. I took mums name, not Dafydd’s. Plus it’s a whole lot of hassle to change it, they sound the same. Jones and Holmes.”
It drew a laugh out of Rhiannon, Ianto’s slow and exaggerated pronunciations of the names. It reminded her of how he acted when he was trying to make their mum laugh. He was trying to make sure that she was comforted after the information he told her, this was what he always did if he felt like someone else was down. Rhiannon knew her brother couldn’t feel her emotions, but sometime its like he knew exactly what she was feeling.
***
They got into the house and set about getting plates to set their respective meals onto them, the Styrofoam lids used to hold the divvied up chicken balls. Ianto always argued that the plates weren’t needed because they were eating out of a container, but there was almost always curry or gravy running down the sides of the containers, pooling onto the plates. So Rhiannon always made sure that they ate it off a plate, because cleaning plates is better that trying to get a curry stain out of a wooden table.
They migrated to the sofa in the front room, each of them feeling groggy after eating so much food. Rhiannon had changed back into her comfy clothes and house coat as she was now in for the night.
Ianto relished in the option he was given to curl up on a sofa beside his sister, neither of them had had this for a while. The sat talking about any other random updates in their lives that they could remember.
Rhiannon was told about how Ianto had now joined the school rugby team, that he now had time to hand out with his friends after school since he didn’t have to catch the earliest bus anymore. He also spoke about how Violet makes the best Sunday Dinner that he had ever eaten and gave her an invitation to come round any week. He left the address in a notebook that was laying around so that she would have it.
Ianto was able to hear about how her sister had been working as a cleaner in a hair salon, they were also teaching her. There was an option to joining the next apprenticeship opening starting January and she had signed up for it in the tech. the salon she was working in were trying to get her a qualification so she could get paid more.
They lost track of time catching up and it was only when they heard someone coming through the front door, they realised how late it was.
The steps were a lot heavier than Ianto expected of the crazy lady that let in, it was then when he realised that it wasn’t the woman, it was Steven.
“I think that it time for me to leave, if he goes into the kitchen or upstairs I’ll leave. I don’t want to see him again.”
“I don’t know why you both hate each other, but give me a hug before you leave.”
As they stood up for a hug, they heard Steven walk into the kitchen and back out. Ianto could tell he was looking for Rhi and he wasn’t going to get as clean a get away as he hoped.
The door opened and Ianto ran past him and out of the front door, he didn’t want to deal with the guy after such a good night with his sister. He could hear him and Rhi as he left.
“Who was that?”
“I told you I was getting a Chinese with Ianto tonight. We lost track of time and he needs to get back home now”
Ianto could tell that the conversation continued when he was out of earshot, but he really didn’t want to talk to someone who obviously hated him like Steven did. They didn’t see eye to eye and that was because Steven was an idiot, well that was what Ianto thought. Ianto had a bad feeling about him and it wasn’t helped by the guy treating him like a toddler.
***
Ianto took a long walk back to the cottage, he had the option of having a lift, but he wanted to clear his head a mull over his night. He felt like the only way it could have went better was if steven never came home, but that would make Rhi sad, so he would have to take it.
Ianto arrived back to the cottage much later than he expected, but after he opened the door, he saw that the living room door was closed and a note was placed on the handle with his name on it.
“Ianto we hope that you had a good night with your sister. We have placed things in this room for Christmas tomorrow and would appreciate it if you didn’t look in it when you arrive home.
Signed, Your Mam-gu and Bampi.
Mycroft should be arriving in the morning at around 10 when we will have a special breakfast. We usually have our Christmas dinner at around 5pm.”
If the note wasn’t there, Ianto would have probably went to his room without stopping. It was the note that stopped him, it was very out of place. Just by its presence Ianto knew that he was on their mind when they went to bed, he was one of the last things that they were thinking about before they went to sleep.
After getting into his room Ianto noticed that there was a wrapped present sitting on his bed with another note sitting on top of it.
“We got you some new festive pyjamas so that you can join in on an all day pyjama day tomorrow, we couldn’t remember if we had told you about it yet.
Signed, Your Mam-gu and Bampi”
Ianto went to bed thinking about what a special Christmas breakfast would consist of, and he could feel that Aerfen would take up the invitation that was also extended to her weeks ago when they was at a Sunday dinner. It was going to be a different Christmas compared to other years, but hopefully that won’t be a bad thing.
***
Ianto woke up slowly on Christmas morning and he could tell by the light in the room, that it was a lot later than he would normally wake up. He realised that someone must have disabled his alarm on his bedside table. It was an amazing thing, a radio alarm, it played his favourite music station (Red Dragon Radio) to wake him up and had never let him down, yet, so someone must have turned it off. It was too big of a coincidence, that and he had been told to sleep in.
They were sneaky people if they really wanted something. But they didn’t know how to disable the alarm of the radio, they had just turned it off (It was probably Bampi), but he was going to need to fix the time at some point before school started. He couldn’t be mad though, he knew that it was done with good intentions.
The alarm clock being out of commission also meant that he had no idea of what time it was that he had woken up. He knew it was later than the rest of the times he got up that week, but how much later was a mystery to him.
He had slept in the new pyjamas and they were very fluffy and felt very soft when being worn. It wasn’t like the normal fabrics that his were normally made of, he liked these, they were long fluffy dark blue trousers with yellow stars and the top was a mimic of a woollen Christmas jumper, different patterns with red, white and green. He didn’t think he had ever had clothes like it before.
After he gathered his mind and prepared himself to be around everyone with an unknown amount of stimulus, he decided to venture out to the kitchen, where he believed that his grandparents would be in.
When he opened the door he saw that it wasn’t just his Mam-gu and Bampi in the kitchen, but Mycroft and Aerfen were there as well. It was much later than he had thought. He had woken up just in time for this special breakfast.
They were all gathered around the kitchen table, catching up of their lives talking about stuff that they had to before they could begin the festivities. (Mycroft was giving them an update on what was happening with Sherlock and were hoping to meet with him in the new year, but Sherlock wasn’t using the phone that was given to him. They hadn’t left sherlock out of the festivities, but he had been against the festive season for years, even before he moved out, and had made it clear he wasn’t going to ever come home for it.)
Violet began taking out the Christmas breakfast out of the oven. It was a decorate your own pancake stack. She brought out a large tray of thick fluffy pancakes and set them in the middle of the table and began setting many different toppings on the table. There was such a wide range of topping being placed on the table, including fresh fruit, jams, syrups, scrambled egg and bacon. A small bowl of porridge was also placed at each table setting as well, to keep everyone full until dinner.
Ianto sat down at the table beside Mycroft who was talking to his dad on the other side of him, they were having an intense discussion on whether they should have sweet or savoury toppings, and which was arguably better. Mycroft was saying that bananas and chocolate syrup with cream on top is the best, but William was saying that bacon, eggs and beans were better.
Ianto took note of what they were saying as he reached for his own topping. The playful arguing died down as they watched Ianto place bacon on his and covered with syrup and a big dollop of cream, sweet and savoury, something that could be viewed as a silent protest of their stupid argument that was taking place after he just woke up.
Violet and Aerfen watched this all happen in amusement from the other side of the table as they placed their own topping on their pancakes. They had both placed an array of fresh fruit on theirs, but Violet had opted for a blackberry jam being placed between the fruit and pancakes and syrup being poured over everything. Aerfen had topped hers with a dusting of sugar and lemon juice, with a bit of butter being placed on top.
It was a very different Christmas for Ianto to be part of, they were all eating different things but it was a family breakfast, a special type of breakfast.
When they finished their pancakes, the bowls of porridge had cooled down enough to be ate and they were interrupted by the laughter of the two women. They had been watching as all of the men had moved the bowl in front of them and had all taken a spoonful of the brown sugar to sprinkle on top. The grandfather, father and son were all in sync as they did these actions, and it was funny to the others at the table. They had no clue why they were laughing and had to wait until they had calmed down enough to be able to inform them that they were like a line of copycats.
The special breakfast went well and when everyone had eaten their fill, they retired to the living room with fresh hot drinks in their hands.
Letting Ianto be the first to open the door into the room. He was met with all of the blast of warmth, the fire was blazing in the hearth and the combination of the fire and the lights hitting the tinsel around the tree made it look so magical.
There had been presents sitting under the tree for days, but their numbers seem to have multiplied overnight. It looked like a scene out of a Christmas movie.
Ianto had never seen something like this before, usually at Christmas they had some presents placed under a tree in the front room. But this felt completely different. It looked magical and felt warm, not just from the fire but warm from inside is heart as well.
For the last 2 years there hadn’t really been a Christmas in the Jones’s house because of his mum’s mental health problems, but before that it wasn’t ever like this. Ianto had only thought that this atmosphere was only achievable in the movies.
Christmas was usually a day that was fun in the beginning when they woke up and saw what present they got that year, but Ianto remembers that his Mum would begin to get stressed out about the dinner. That was because she didn’t know if she would get everything ready for lunchtime. As he got older, he realised how little fun his mum had during Christmas morning, she was always running around, cleaning wrapping paper, finding batteries and having to cook the food.
It made him a bit sad that Christmas morning didn’t have to be as stressful as his mum thought. It made him miss his mum.
Last year they didn’t even have a Christmas celebration because she could barely get out of bed. He sat on the bed with her watching the Christmas day tv programme, sharing a Christmas pudding and custard for dinner when Ianto eventually got hungry and it was the only thing he could find in the house. He had no memory of where Dafydd was last year, but he knew that he wasn’t present on Christmas day.
Last year it was just Ianto and Rhiannon laying on their mums bed on either side of her. It wasn’t a good day, but it was just hitting him that it was the last Christmas he ever would have with his mum.
***
Mycroft watched as he saw Ianto look around the festive room, eyes flickering around to take everything in. He was in awe too, his parents hadn’t went all out like this since when Sherlock was a child, before he hated the entire holiday season. It was nice to start celebrating it properly again as a group larger than himself and his parents.
He noticed Ianto he lost in his head as he was looking at the decorations and decided that it might be best to take away his tea, in case he lost the grip on it. When he turned back to Ianto after setting their drinks down he noticed that his sons face had fallen, and he was beginning to start to tear up.
Mycroft remembered that the last time that Ianto had cried in front of him, he ended up on his lap with his head to his chest, looking for safety. He didn’t know why Ianto was crying but he could try to comfort him the same way that he did the last time. So, he tried to lift him up and sit with him on the couch, but it wasn’t as easy as he thought. Ianto had gained a bit of weight after eating a normal amount of food, so it was more like an awkward shuffle back to the couch.
It concerned everyone when Ianto started sobbing into his Tad’s chest but when they heard him try to mumble a few words, they could hear one clear sentence.
“I miss my mummy”
They had all known that it was a possibility coming up today because it is a celebration that is usually to do with being around families, but grief was a strange thing and they wouldn’t know what would trigger him. They knew that last year’s Christmas was probably not ideal as she passed away at the beginning of January, but they had no idea if that depression was present before the New Year.
Once they got him calmed down he asked if there was going to be Christmas pudding and custard after dinner later. Violet answered that she had some that her friend had homemade and that there was custard in the cupboard in the kitchen if her husband hadn’t snacked on it since she bought it, he retaliated saying that he wouldn’t just steal custard and that he didn’t take it as there was nothing to eat it with.
Ianto cracked a smile at the married couples antics and decided to tell them that they had ate a large Christmas pudding with custard in a bed watching TV the year before. When he noticed the adults looking a bit concerned, he made sure to tell them that it was one he and Rhiannon had bought the night before, it was one of the really big ones. Nobody was supervising the 13 year old and the 15 year old when they went out on Christmas eve, so the bought the biggest Christmas pudding that they could.
Ianto told them that when he walked in to the room he remembered how his mum was when he was little That she was always so stressed when looking back at it, and that he wished she could have experienced a Christmas like this at some point.
They managed to calm him down and reassured him that it was alright to miss family members that couldn’t make it for the holidays, or if they didn’t want to. William began telling Ianto a story of a Christmas from long ago, one where a 5 year old Sherlock was using a new science kit that he had gotten as a present and he blew up the turkey, right when William was trying to carve it at the table.
Hearing the random stories about his uncle always amused Ianto, he believed that his uncle would be considered ‘quite a character’. They only told him funny stories, but he could tell that the way he currently lived was hurting them. They were very upset that their youngest hadn’t reached out since they knew that he had a phone, that he hadn’t reached out for a holiday that they loved.
***
After they had swapped stories, Aerfen began to get a bit restless and stopped the talking by giving Ianto a small wrapped box from her bag.
“Sorry, but we can talk later, but I was promised present time would be before the Queens speech and then the dinner will need preparing. We need to do it now unless we want to unwrap presents when we are ready for a nice nap after food and I couldn’t think of anything else worse.
Ianto that is something that is considered the number 1 present this year and I don’t know if you will like it or not, but I didn’t want you feeling left out if you got back after winter break and didn’t have it.”
Ianto carefully opened the box and recognised it immediately, it was a Tamagotchi. He had seen it advertised a few times when watching TV and had heard a few people talk about them at school. He was curious. After lifting it out of the box he turned it over in his hands, not turning it on. He looked back up at her;
“Thank you so much, I was talking to some friends and they were getting Tamagotchi’s and I was really curious about them. Did you get one for yourself?”
He watched as her cheeks began to redden. He knew that she was almost expressionless at work and just a simple question from him caused her to lose all composure from embarrassment. It was just a simple bit of banter, but he was having fun.
Mycroft watched as his son was able to deduce from the present being given to him, that his secretary had also gotten the toy. He hadn’t even seen it at all and it was amazing to watch it happen, but he felt stupid. It made him ask himself if that was how normal people felt around him?
They all began swapping presents and they were mostly all clothing related, like socks and jumpers. Mycroft had gotten his parents each very good jackets, since neither of them had a decent once and the winter in Wales was a bit worse than just outside London. He wanted to make sure that his parents were being taken care of even when he wasn’t around.
William and Violet each had gotten Mycroft new ties, each picking out one to add to their sons growing collection of ties. Violet got him a nice navy tie with a thin red line crossing it diagonally It was a very professional looking tie, fitting for his job. William had gotten him a funky tie that was marron and had mini cookies on it.
Mycroft loves the funky ties that his dad gives him. They look very professional at a distance, but the pictures are able to be seen only if they are close up. It was fun to wear them to functions to see if anyone is actually paying attention to him, it was a fun game that he liked to play.
Then it was Mycroft’s turn to give a present to Ianto and he passed over a large box wrapped in festive paper. Ianto had seen that box under the tree and was hoping it was for him, but he did not know, not until it was handed to him. He shook the box a bit trying to figure out what was in the box, but could not figure it out. It was relatively light and didn’t make any sounds when being shook.
All of the adults were watching him closely to open the box, he could tell that they were waiting for his reaction. This means that they all know what the gift was.
He carefully opened the top of the box and what greeted him made him collapse in laughter. It was a teddy bear, similar to the bear he had gotten Mycroft on his birthday, but this one was wearing an England rugby shirt. It was probably the best thing he had gotten this Christmas, he was going to keep it forever. It a physical reminder that the person who ruled the British government was able to get into a petty war with his son about rugby merchandise.
Inato was so caught up in the pettiness that was the whole premise of the gift that it took him a while to see the envelope that the bear was holding. He lifted out the envelope and everyone was watching him for a reaction again. He opened the envelope and saw what it was, tickets. They were tickets to the England vs Wales match in the 5 nations championship. Ianto was ecstatic and flung him into his Tads arms to give him a hug in thanks.
Violet was watching as her son gave her grandson a gift that he would have probably been wishing for his whole life. They all knew how mad about rugby Ianto is. She decided to go and get Iantos disposable camera that he had gotten for Mycroft’s birthday. He hadn’t filled the camera yet, so she decided to take a few photos of the first Christmas Ianto was spending with them. She had them sit with the teddy bear between them, holding the tickets for the photo.
***
They finished opening all of the presents and Violet brought in a tray of tea in preparation of the Queens Christmas Day address. The past year had drawn a lot of attention to the royal family and Mycroft was watching to make sure that she only mentioned and talked about all of the points that they had agreed upon in their meeting earlier in the week.
This year was the 40th year that it was televised, but the first time that it was being produced by a new news station the Independent Television News, this was what was making Mycroft nervous. They watched the TV as she reminded everyone of the Princesses death and went on to speak about her own golden wedding anniversary. She also spoke about the delegation of power to Scotland and Wales, talking about how becoming a United Kingdom was a benefit to all of the countries.
After the message from the Queen, Violet began working on the final preparations of the food for the dinner. When his mother was preoccupied, Mycroft had decided to take a walk outside to congratulate the Queen on her performance and also took the opportunity to sneak in a quick smoke as he knew that his mother was too busy to catch him.
What Mycroft didn’t think of, was now there is a teenager who is also able to catch him as well and when he turned back to the house, he was met with Ianto standing in the doorway with his arms crossed, trying to act like he was angry. Mycroft held his hands up, beginning to make excuses.
“I don’t smoke often, but I have been very stressed lately and thought I deserved one.”
He was met with an unmoving and unforgiving face of a teenager.
“I know they are bad for you, I’m sorry.”
Mycroft was begging with his son and it wasn’t doing anything. Ianto uncrossed his arms and held out a hand. He placed the packet of cigarettes he had into the outstretched hand and the boy left the doorway, going back into the living room.
Mycroft followed Ianto close behind, curious what he was about to do. Surely the worst he could do would be telling on him, that was what he thought. However, Ianto decided to throw the packet into the roaring fire, letting the packet burn to a crisp as everyone watched.
Ianto had no idea what he was thinking when he found Mycroft smoking, but he decided to do what he couldn’t do with Rhiannon the night before, he took a stand and decided to let his thoughts be known. Plus, it was satisfying to watch the packet burn while nobody could do anything about it. He heard his Bampi burst into laughter at his actions and at fact that he basically told on Mycroft’s smoking. Aerfen smiled as it all happened, she hated smelling stale smoke off of Mycroft when they were in the car, Ianto had just done her a favour.
Violet called them into the kitchen when the food was ready and they all moved to the dinner table. Nobody mentioned to her about the fact that Mycroft had been caught smoking, they weren’t that reckless. Aerfen decided to take a photo of the family around the table before they started to eat.
***
After eating the dinner they returned to the living room, letting the food settle until they ate their dessert and Ianto got a bowl of warm Christmas pudding topped with custard.
They had kept the tv on in the living room and just let it play the Christmas day programme in the background at a low volume. The warmth from the fire, being well fed and the soft lull of sound coming from the TV was the perfect combination to justify a nap.
Violet had decided to get a head start on the dishes after eating dessert, but when she returned to the living room she was met with everyone else in the house sleeping. Her husband was sitting on a single armchair close to the fire and he had nodded off when trying to read the newspaper as it seemed, it was crumpled on his lap and the glasses on his face were crooked as he rested his head against the back of the chair.
What was more adorable than her own husband was the three sleeping on the couch, the unconventional family that had been thrown together. Aerfen had been sitting at the end of the couch and her head had fallen onto Mycroft’s shoulder and Mycroft was resting his head against the top of Aerfen’s head and the back of the couch, similar to his father. Ianto must have been resting against Mycroft before they had fallen asleep as Mycroft’s arm was around him, but he had curled up beside his Tad in his sleep. They looked like a family as they were all still in their festive pyjamas.
Violet thought they looked like an adorable sight and so took a photo to commemorate it. She went and got a blanket from the hot press and put it on their laps and around Ianto, letting them rest.
***
They eventually woke up from their naps and enjoyed some mince pies and cream for supper while watching some Christmas movies. Their movie watching lasted until late into the night until it everyone agreed that it would be best to go to bed.
Mycroft and Aerfen left after lunchtime on boxing day as there was an incident in Montserrat.