Nightmares and Poppy Fields - A Ianto Jones Fanfiction

Chapter VIII - The end of the war

Late April 1945

By the time that late April 1945 rolled around, Ianto had was nineteen and Sophia had turned eighteen in February. In the two years that the young Welshman had been honourably discharged from the RAF, he was able to regain most of the function in his legs and was now walking with a cane that Alun had gifted him for his eighteenth birthday. Sophia was now working as a trainee nurse at the hospital in the morning. 

Rhiannon had moved out of the Jones residence, got married to an ambulance driver from Newport and was already seven months pregnant with their first child. The Jones family were overjoyed at this news, but Ianto was scared that he wouldn't be a good uncle, still being traumatised from his experiences on the airfields. He woke up Sophia at least three times a week with his screaming and she was barely getting any sleep herself. She would never complain, but she would climb into his bed and hold him through it all. Jack was the only person he could trust with the contents of his nightmares and was always updating the American on what was going on in their mundane life in Newport. 

In the last week of April, Jack had been granted two weeks of leave and he spent almost every day of it with the Jones family. He would take care of Ianto whilst Sophia was at the hospital and would help Alun with the renovations that were underway at the shop in the afternoons. Sometimes, the American would also go to Rhiannon's house to help her and Johnny prepare the room for the new baby and all the housework Rhiannon wasn't able to do, now that she was almost about to pop. He would also join the younger couple's tradition of going out into the woodland behind the house to star-gaze and read and would often tell the lighter stories of what went on in the airfields. 

Three days before he was due to go back to the airfields, Sophia ran home from the hospital and as soon as she opened the door, she screamed for Jack and Ianto, who were in the garden. Jack ran into the house, with sweat on his brow and a panicked expression. "What's wrong?" he asked. 

"Where's Ianto?" she replied. He pointed towards the garden. She ran up to her Welshman and twirled him around. "The war is over Ianto!" she shouted. 

"The what?" asked Jack, re-emerging from the house. 

"The war is over. I just heard that the Germans surrendered to the Allies!" 

"How?" replied the stunned Welshman.  

"The hospital had their radios on and everyone was celebrating. I ran home to tell you since we don't have a radio here! Oh Ianto I'm so happy!" 

"Jack, does this mean we're free?" asked Ianto. 

"Yes dears we're free. I can finally go home to my mother alive," the American replied with tears in his eyes, engulfing the teenagers in a hug. As soon as he released them, Ianto let go of his cane and brought Sophia's face to his in a passionate kiss. His hands moved to her back and hers wrapped themselves around his neck. Jack watched the pair with a smirk on his face. If only I was able to love someone as openly as these two, he thought. I'd probably be shot on sight if I did. He'd have to be a guy worth dying for. 

It was just that moment where the rest of the Jones family, including Rhiannon's husband, arrived at the house and they all celebrated the end of the war in Europe together, with Alun opening that good bottle of champagne he'd been saving for about ten years and Rhiannon getting upset that she wouldn't be able to drink it.  Although Sophia wished she was able to celebrate this momentous change with her parents, she knew that Wales had now become her home and she wouldn't change it for the world.