Wish - Chapter 8

VIII

Ianto came over for dinner before their date as agreed. Thomas was still home, but he had plans to go visit his girlfriend as well. They all talked about their classes mostly, since other things were now mildly awkward.

“You look pretty,” Thomas finally and begrudgingly complimented his sister.

“Talya insisted that I wear this. It's actually rather perfect considering the chilly weather.” Sarita held up her lacy bell shaped sleeves. Her dress was a light blue one that looked like a cross between old-fashioned and modern. It had dark blue trim and accessories.

Ianto – knowing that Sarita usually wore something a bit dressy made by Talya – had decided to wear gray dress pants and a faintly pin-striped, cream colored shirt. He looked like he was ready for church, but it looked good next to Sarita.

Thomas stood up and carried his empty plate to the dishwasher. “I'm going now!”

Ianto glanced at a clock. “We should get going soon too.”

Sarita nodded in agreement before carrying their plates to the dishwasher as well. Thomas took them from her so that she didn't accidentally get her sleeves dirty. She kissed him on the cheek.

“Have fun.”

He harrumphed softly. “You too.”

Ianto brought her to see an interesting and funny movie set in Ireland about a fairy girl falling in a forbidden love with a leprechaun boy. Even though she held hands with Ianto the entire time, she couldn't help but think of Liam. Dancing with him had been one of the funnest things she had ever done!

After the movie, Ianto drove her home. “I should stay a while so that you aren't all alone until Thomas gets back.”

“That's a great idea,” Sarita agreed with a smile. She led him into her room and turned some music on so that they could dance.

Ianto held her close as they swayed. He himself couldn't really dance, but he could do a fair imitation of a slow dance. Sarita knew this and snuggled into him.

After a while, Ianto yawned. “Sorry... I'm more tired than I should be.”

“That's okay,” Sarita assured him. “I don't mind if you go home.”

“No, I'm fine,” Ianto informed her.

Sarita pulled free of his arms and sat on the edge of her bed. “Are you sure. You look a bit pale.”

“I'm sure,” Ianto stated.

“Well I'd feel better if you sat down and rested for a bit,” Sarita murmured.

“Alright,” Ianto acquiesced. He sat next to her on the bed, pulling his phone out to check a text he'd just received. “My parents just want to know how my date's going.”

Sarita watched him text: Good, having fun. The movie was funny.

With a smile, Sarita kissed him. “I'm having fun too.”

Ianto returned her kiss, mentally smiling when she put her arms around his neck. Once again, she timidly licked his lips. This time, he was slightly better prepared for this – mentally – and opened his mouth.

They practiced their kissing for several long minutes before Ianto pushed her away. “I can't...”

Sarita smiled. “That's okay. I'm happy with this.”

She looked at his face again and noticed that he still looked pale. Concerned, she wondered how to help him feel better. Mostly, she was worried that he thought she was pressuring him to do more than he wanted to.

“Will you do me a favor?” She asked, a thought making her smile.

“If I can,” Ianto replied, curious to know what she had in mind.

“Will you stay here with me until I fall asleep?” She inquired. This seemed perfect because he would then have to rest, and hopefully get a little color back in his cheeks.

“I can do that,” Ianto murmured.

Sarita helped him stand up for a moment so that she could roll her blanket off to the side. Then she lay down and patted the bed next to her. “Just sit here, and when I fall asleep, you can cover me with the blanket and go.”

Ianto smiled softly at her. He held his breath to prevent a grimace of pain from showing. Using the excuse of putting his phone back in his pocket, he grabbed a tiny tablet and secretly slipped it under his tongue.

Sarita had closed her eyes, but she sensed that something was wrong. She opened her eyes to look at Ianto again. He simply smiled at her... until a yawn erupted from him.

Still concerned about his paleness, she patted her bed again. “Why don't you lay down for a bit? Just until I fall asleep.”

With another yawn, and a chest pain that almost made him gasp, Ianto nodded. “Just for a little bit.”

Sarita shifted so that she was laying in her favorite spot, making room for him to lay behind her as she faced her closed door. Ianto lay on his back staring up at the ceiling. He wondered if it would be safe for him to drive home once his meds kicked in. Usually, he didn't have to worry about driving when he had chest pains.

Slowly, he felt a lot better. He almost sighed in relief. Rolling over slightly, he put an arm around Sarita's waist. “I should probably go now,” he murmured, whispering in her ear.

“Not until I'm asleep,” she insisted. Her voice was soft, suggesting that she was about halfway to dream land.

“Okay,” Ianto murmured, kissing her on the cheek. In the time it took her to fully drift off, he fell asleep himself. A slight chill prompted him to tug her blanket over them, but it was sloppy, only really covering their waists and his arm.

A half an hour or so passed before Thomas got home. He noticed a light on in Sarita's room, and since he hadn't gotten a text from either of them letting him know their date was over – it was usually Ianto that kept him informed – he figured that they must be having a snack or something.

He knocked softly before opening the door. The sight of them sleeping felt like a punch to the stomach! He inhaled a gasp of surprise even as his eyes assured him that they were both still fully dressed.

Not knowing what else to do, Thomas stumbled backwards – bumping into a chair – before turning and running out the door. He burst into his room and slammed the door shut.

Ianto had heard the knock and the gasp in his sleep. The chair being bumped into woke him up fully, and he looked up just in time to see Thomas run out of the room. The door slamming made Ianto sit up, alarmed. He looked to see that Sarita was still completely asleep, and then adjusted the blanket so that it covered her much better.

Just as Ianto closed Sarita's door behind him and crossed the hall, he heard something shatter. He threw Thomas' door open in case he needed help or first aid. Thomas was roaring as he held a bat up to smash his other table-top lamp.

“Thomas!” Ianto called out, shocked by his friend's behavior.

Thomas stopped just before he shattered the lamp, but then turned to beat his bed with the bat. Ianto wanted to grab the bat from him, but was more than a little afraid of getting hit accidentally. Or worse! His heart stopping from the rush of adrenaline!

“What's wrong?!” Ianto demanded, seriously worried about his friend.

Thomas threw the bat on his bed and watched it bounce onto the floor. “As much as I love that she makes you happy, when I see you with her, I just want to kill something!” He roared.

“Thomas...” Ianto murmured, stunned. “If you don't want me dating your little sister, then why didn't you say something? Hell! Why did you tell me to do it?!”

“Because... I want you to be happy!” Thomas admitted loudly. “But I'm not like Talya! She can just sit there and watch the one she loves be happy with someone else, but I can't!”

Ianto was seriously confused. “Wait, so uh... Are you saying that you... love your sister...?” This would totally explain Thomas' sister complex.

“What?!” Thomas shouted incredulously. “No, you idiot!”

“Then what?” Ianto demanded cluelessly.

“Then what, you ask!” Thomas muttered, shaking his head. “How much more obvious can it be?” He grabbed Ianto's face and held him still while he kissed him.

Ianto was so shocked that he felt like a bucket of cold water was dumped over him. Then he noticed that a heat flooded him like he had never felt before. His heart was beating erratically, but – maybe because he had just taken some medication – it didn't hurt at all.

Slowly, he wrapped his arms around Thomas and deepened the kiss. Thomas felt so relieved that he broke off the kiss so that he could hug Ianto. Ianto stared off into space, wondering how he had never noticed any of this before.

“Oh...” Ianto murmured, finally understanding why he always wanted to be near Thomas. Neither said anything as they stood there hugging for a long time.

“Now what?” Thomas finally gathered up the courage to ask.

“Now what...?” Ianto softly repeated. Then he shrugged helplessly. “I think I need to think about this. I have to figure out how I'm going to tell Sarita.”

Thomas pulled slightly away from Ianto so that he could look at him. “Do you mean tell her that I kissed you, or tell her that...” He faltered, suddenly afraid that he was reading too much into the situation.

Ianto couldn't put his feelings into words just yet, so he decided to kiss Thomas again. Thomas trembled, hoping beyond hope that Ianto had just chosen him. He clutched Ianto's shirt, desperately longing to hear the words out loud.

A very soft cry startled them both. Sarita was in the hallway watching them with her hands covering her mouth and tears pouring from her eyes. She backed away slowly, trying to gesture for them to not follow her.

“Sarita!” They both called out in concern.

“I'm going to Talya's tonight!” Sarita yelled much louder than necessary since they were only a few feet away. “So just leave me alone!”

“Sarita!” Ianto called after her as she slammed her bedroom door shut. “Please let me explain!”

Sarita firmly pressed the inside of her door shut so that neither of them could open it. “I understand completely, so there's no need to explain!” Sarita shouted.

“Sarita, I didn't mean for it to happen this way!” Thomas cried out, feeling terrible that he had hurt her like this.

“I knew how you felt about him, so this was probably inevitable!” Sarita yelled, her voice wobbly from the tears that continued to pour from her.

“How did you know?” Ianto demanded in surprise. “I had no idea!”

Relieved that they had stopped trying to open her door, she turned and leaned her back against it. Pulling her cellphone out of a pocket, she quickly texted Talya: Send someone to come pick me up right away!

A reply came in fairly quickly. No problem, eta 5 minutes.

Why so quickly?

I happened to have someone in the neighborhood.

Sarita instinctively knew that this meant that one of Talya's bodyguards had probably surreptitiously taken pictures of her on her date, and then hung around to keep an eye on her until her brother came home so that she wouldn't be alone if an intruder tried to break in. Sarita accepted this mild intrusion of her privacy with a sigh. Then she wondered why Talya hadn't been taking the pictures herself.

“Sarita?” Ianto called out again.

“I knew because it was obvious by the way he looked at you, okay?!” Sarita shouted. “And I also knew that you consider Thomas more important than anyone! You only spend time with me when he has other things to do! So let's just say that I saw this coming and leave it at that!”

“Whoa...” Ianto was absolutely floored.

When she said it like that, and he had a moment to think about it, she was right. He had never once spent time with her without first asking Thomas what he planned to do. He had always just thought that he was being considerate of his best friend, but now he realized that it was because he really did prioritize Thomas over Sarita. He turned to lean his back against her door and then sank to the floor.

“Sarita?” Thomas called out softly. He really wanted to comfort her and apologize in person, but he also wanted to finish his conversation with Ianto in private.

“Just don't!” Sarita roared. “Go away and leave me alone! I'm going to Talya's tonight, and then when I get back tomorrow, you can say whatever you want. I just don't want to hear it right now!”

“Sarita...” Thomas murmured sadly.

Their doorbell rang, letting them know that Sarita's ride was here. Cradling Indigo in her arms, she threw open her bedroom door and stared down at Ianto – who had almost fallen into her room. Thomas hastily helped him to his feet. Then both stepped aside to watch her in silence.

Sarita almost never cried. She was usually very cheerful and soft spoken. Only Thomas ever managed to provoke anger or aggravation from her. At the moment, she looked utterly miserable.

“I'll see you tomorrow,” she stated, trying to sound normal, but failing. She quickly rushed toward the door.

Thomas let her leave with a sigh. “I don't know what to do anyway,” he muttered.

Ianto squeezed his hand. “I'm going to go too. I know you probably don't want to be alone, but I don't know what to do either. I need to think, and ...”

“And it would be easier to think without me around confusing you,” Thomas murmured in understanding.

Ianto nodded his head.

***

Sarita was astonished to find Liam at Talya's, but found that she really couldn't care less. She threw her arms around Talya and sobbed. Talya completely dropped everything that she was doing – which was taking Liam's measurements and designing new costumes – and pulled Sarita onto her couch.

“What's wrong?” Talya asked, rubbing Sarita's back soothingly.

It took Sarita a long time to stop crying enough to answer the question. She just held Talya tight and cried. Talya could sense that this was emotional trauma rather than physical – such as rape or something – and so simply hummed and stroked Sarita while letting her cry.

Finally, Sarita started to feel a bit numb. She still had her face in Talya's bosom, but a squeeze of her hand made her realize that Liam was sitting next to them, holding her hand and trying to comfort her too. She felt strangely happy that he was there for her.

“I am pretty sure that Ianto and I just broke up,” Sarita eventually informed them.

“What?!” Talya blurted out in shock. “Why?”

“That's not really all that important, except that he has someone else that he loves more than me,” Sarita explained. She didn't want to out both her brother and Ianto as gay without their permission, not even to her best friend.

“Oh...” Talya murmured in understanding. “I see...” She actually did too. She had been around Thomas and Ianto enough to know that there was a secret undercurrent to their relationship. She stroked Sarita's back some more.

“I guess I always knew it too, but I just wanted so badly to be with Ianto,” Sarita confessed. “Whenever I look at him, I feel all warm and lovey dovey.”

“Well... did you ever picture the two of you getting married someday and having babies?” Talya wondered.

Sarita sat up abruptly. Her expression bordered somewhere between shock and disbelief. “Actually... no...”

Talya nodded as if she had expected that answer. “Well, then he wasn't the one.”

This stunned Sarita. “Oh... I never even thought about it like that.”

Talya gave her a tiny smile. “Even if you plan to have multiple relationships someday – like my aunt – you still tend to picture the ones you truly love as people you want to grow old with. If all you can think about when you are with a person is making them happy in the present – but don't think about the future with them – then they aren't the right person.”

“That actually makes sense,” Sarita murmured softly. She took a deep breath, and then exhaled a long sigh. “When I pictured him in the future, I pictured him doing things like playing basketball with Thomas while I stood off to the side and watched.”

Talya gestured to Liam to pour some tea from a pot a maid had brought them into a cup. Liam did so, and then handed it to Sarita. Sarita drank it with a soft moan of appreciation.

“More than anything, I just want them to be happy,” Sarita admitted, feeling vastly better than when she had arrived. Exhaustion hit her, making her lean against Talya rather abruptly. “So sleepy...”

Talya slung an arm around her. “That's okay...”

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