Chapter 28: Interlude: Coping
Inspired by interactions in the Hotel California Panfandom RPG, this is a joint project between two women who adored the idea of Jack recruiting Buffy to Torchwood. Perhaps they adored it a little too much, but that remains to be seen.
Title: So Buffy Met Jack...
Authors: Amy tainted_crimson & Sarah magicom; Guest writer Danielle colorofangels
Crossover: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Torchwood
Spoilers: Through Buffy / Angel series finales and Torchwood Series 2 / Doctor Who Series 4. (Some elements borrowed from Season 8 comics)
Rating: FR-15 (for usual Torchwood-ness)
Disclaimer: Everything is owned by Joss/Fox and Russell/BBC!
Summary: After spending a few weeks trapped in an extratemporal holding cell together, Captain Jack Harkness offered Buffy Summers a job at Torchwood. And how could she ever turn down an offer like that?
Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
INTERLUDE: COPING
Buffy's hands couldn't stop moving. Her fingers traced the lines of stitching on her coat, fiddled with the buttons on the car door without actually pushing any of them, tapped on the keys of the information station in the back seat... She felt like she was about to come apart at the seams, she had so much energy to burn, and most of it was not the good sort. They would be back at the Hub in a few minutes, of course, she could easily work out her issues in her training room, but Spike would be waiting, watching her with those all too understanding eyes...
She just didn't think she could take it yet.
"Could you let me out here?" she asked suddenly, her voice much calmer than it should have been, with the way she was presently feeling.
Jack looked at her in the rearview mirror as he drove.
"Here?" he said.
"Do you even know where 'here' is?" Ianto asked curiously, turning in his seat. They weren't in a neighbourhood he expected she would know well, considering where she lived and where she worked.
Buffy nodded, not meeting either man's gaze and instead glancing out the window. "Yep," she confirmed in an unconvincingly cheerful tone. "I see a store, and you know me, can't resist the call of... kitchen utensils..." Why couldn't it have been a shoe store outside the window? That seemed much more commonplace than a luxury kitchenware shop?
She grimaced slightly and slid down in her seat. She was so busted.
"I've been in your kitchen," Ianto reminded her. He cleaned it up when she'd been called away to America for the Slayers' funeral.
Jack took another look at her in the mirror, then turned in a direction away from the Hub.
"Let's go get a drink," he suggested. They may have just left a pub, but Buffy hadn't touched her food and he had something stronger than Diet Coke in mind to drink.
"A drink would be good," Buffy agreed quietly, her eyes still on the world passing them by. There were so many people out there, living happy, relatively uncomplicated lives, not having to worry about the end of the world or how to keep two secret organizations from killing each other. Lucky them.
Jack took them to a pub he and Ianto had been to a few times before. It was out of the way and usually quiet. That evening was no exception. He parked the car and led them inside. As Jack steered Buffy to a seat, Ianto went up to the bar to get their drinks.
Buffy had never been to this particular pub before, but she liked it. The loud, fun times pubs were nice for the good days, but for the not so good ones, the quiet types were best.
She slid into her seat but didn't say anything, just stared at her hands resting on the table and pondered just how long she could avoid facing her current predicament.
"What is it?" Jack asked, watching her avoid his eyes. "Is it them?" he added, referring to her former friends.
A deep, shaking sigh and a nod were all the answer she could manage.
"Buffy," Jack said slowly, reaching across to take her hand, "this is serious business. I know you know that. I need you to tell me right now: are you going to be able to do this? Because I have to plan for it if you can't."
"I can do it," she told him, her eyes on their joined hands now. "It's what I've always done. The Slayer can't let anything get in the way of the job, no matter how much it hurts."
"But Buffy can," Jack told her in a soft but firm voice. "You don't have to do this alone anymore. If you can't, then just tell me. Don't kill yourself over it."
Buffy closed her eyes and gripped his hand a little tighter. "I can't let them win," she said with a shake of her head. "I did that once before, I can't do it again."
"Okay," Jack said, understanding that. "But if you need to back off, then back off. We don't expect you to..."
He stopped when Ianto returned to the table and put a beer in front of Jack and a rum and Diet Coke in front of Buffy before sitting down next to Jack with his own pint.
Jack looked at Buffy again. "We're going to come out the other end of this the same team we are now, regardless of how it goes," he assured her. "So whatever they say, don't let it get to you. It's temporary and they can't touch you here."
If they weren't in a public place, Buffy might have just let herself start crying right then, even launched herself at Jack for one of those amazing hugs of his. Instead, she gave him a slightly unsteady but completely grateful smile.
Her hands shook a little as she wrapped them both around the sweating glass, but she relaxed just a little bit as the cool drink slid down her throat. A drink with friends, that was just what she needed.
"They're coming to the Hub tomorrow," Ianto reminded her. "Are there any security precautions we need to take?"
Apart from needing to know, he thought dealing with something as concrete as logistics might help her distance herself emotionally a little bit. It helped him.
Buffy frowned, giving the problem a great deal of consideration before answering. "We should probably make sure all the alarms are set for the normally locked areas," she decided. "A few of them might decide to try 'getting lost', and we really wouldn't want that." Especially if it was Kennedy. The last thing they needed was that girl getting her hands on some nifty alien weaponry.
"Archive, arsenal, cells," Ianto said, making a mental list.
"Shooting range," Jack added, not wanting anyone who was, as Buffy had once put it, 'automatically amazing with weapons' getting their hands on anything that could harm his personnel.
Ianto nodded that he'd noted it as well.
Buffy cringed at the idea of any of the other team getting into the shooting range. Dani she'd trust in there, but Willow had never been great with weapons, Xander now had depth perception issues, and Kennedy... She got the chills just thinking about it.
"And make sure we know where they are at all times. I don't want anyone leaving their designated areas without an escort."
Ianto nodded again, taking in the information and committing it to his very reliable memory.
"You know, under normal circumstances, I would probably be excited about showing off the Hub," Buffy commented with a pout. "It's pretty neat, as far as secret bases go. But all these precautions remind me a bit too much of preparing for a yearly apocalypse."
"You've met his ex," Ianto said flatly. "We've learned the value of these precautions."
"Oi," Jack said with mock indignance. "He wasn't invited."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "When are the exes ever invited?" she asked with a knowing tone. If Angel showed up next week, she might just leave the continent.
"Who in the history of anywhere has as many as him?" Ianto said, nodding towards Jack.
"You don't know how many I have!" Jack argued.
"Do you?" Ianto shot back.
"That's not the point," Jack grumbled.
The banter between two of her favorite people in the world left Buffy in giggles so strong she couldn't even manage to take a drink. She set her glass down with a thud and tried very hard not to fall out of her chair.
Jack could see Buffy's mood had improved some and that she'd finished her drink. He looked across at her with a bit of a smile.
"So are you ready to do this now?" he asked. "Because if I don't get you home at a decent hour, your vampire is going to get stroppy."
The word 'stroppy' completely killed her composure again, but she managed to squeeze out between laughs, "Yeah, okay, let's go!" Maybe there was a bit more rum in that drink than she'd first thought, or maybe this was just how it felt to be around good friends -- it wouldn't have been hard to forget after the week she'd been having.
"He has less patience than you do," Ianto told Jack mildly, referring to Spike.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean by that," Jack replied. He pulled the SUV keys from his pocket.
"I'm sure you don't," Ianto said dryly.
By the time they reached the Hub, Buffy was more than ready for a publicly appropriate 'Welcome Home' greeting from her vampire; they'd save the really good stuff for when they got back to her place later. Work was only allowed to be a sexy place when it was Jack and Ianto after hours, and she was more than okay with it staying that way.
NOTE: Told you we'd get it out before Christmas! Cutting it a bit close, but we'll try to get back to regular updates. Happy Holidays, everyone!
Title: So Buffy Met Jack...
Authors: Amy tainted_crimson & Sarah magicom; Guest writer Danielle colorofangels
Crossover: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Torchwood
Spoilers: Through Buffy / Angel series finales and Torchwood Series 2 / Doctor Who Series 4. (Some elements borrowed from Season 8 comics)
Rating: FR-15 (for usual Torchwood-ness)
Disclaimer: Everything is owned by Joss/Fox and Russell/BBC!
Summary: After spending a few weeks trapped in an extratemporal holding cell together, Captain Jack Harkness offered Buffy Summers a job at Torchwood. And how could she ever turn down an offer like that?
Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
INTERLUDE: COPING
Buffy's hands couldn't stop moving. Her fingers traced the lines of stitching on her coat, fiddled with the buttons on the car door without actually pushing any of them, tapped on the keys of the information station in the back seat... She felt like she was about to come apart at the seams, she had so much energy to burn, and most of it was not the good sort. They would be back at the Hub in a few minutes, of course, she could easily work out her issues in her training room, but Spike would be waiting, watching her with those all too understanding eyes...
She just didn't think she could take it yet.
"Could you let me out here?" she asked suddenly, her voice much calmer than it should have been, with the way she was presently feeling.
Jack looked at her in the rearview mirror as he drove.
"Here?" he said.
"Do you even know where 'here' is?" Ianto asked curiously, turning in his seat. They weren't in a neighbourhood he expected she would know well, considering where she lived and where she worked.
Buffy nodded, not meeting either man's gaze and instead glancing out the window. "Yep," she confirmed in an unconvincingly cheerful tone. "I see a store, and you know me, can't resist the call of... kitchen utensils..." Why couldn't it have been a shoe store outside the window? That seemed much more commonplace than a luxury kitchenware shop?
She grimaced slightly and slid down in her seat. She was so busted.
"I've been in your kitchen," Ianto reminded her. He cleaned it up when she'd been called away to America for the Slayers' funeral.
Jack took another look at her in the mirror, then turned in a direction away from the Hub.
"Let's go get a drink," he suggested. They may have just left a pub, but Buffy hadn't touched her food and he had something stronger than Diet Coke in mind to drink.
"A drink would be good," Buffy agreed quietly, her eyes still on the world passing them by. There were so many people out there, living happy, relatively uncomplicated lives, not having to worry about the end of the world or how to keep two secret organizations from killing each other. Lucky them.
Jack took them to a pub he and Ianto had been to a few times before. It was out of the way and usually quiet. That evening was no exception. He parked the car and led them inside. As Jack steered Buffy to a seat, Ianto went up to the bar to get their drinks.
Buffy had never been to this particular pub before, but she liked it. The loud, fun times pubs were nice for the good days, but for the not so good ones, the quiet types were best.
She slid into her seat but didn't say anything, just stared at her hands resting on the table and pondered just how long she could avoid facing her current predicament.
"What is it?" Jack asked, watching her avoid his eyes. "Is it them?" he added, referring to her former friends.
A deep, shaking sigh and a nod were all the answer she could manage.
"Buffy," Jack said slowly, reaching across to take her hand, "this is serious business. I know you know that. I need you to tell me right now: are you going to be able to do this? Because I have to plan for it if you can't."
"I can do it," she told him, her eyes on their joined hands now. "It's what I've always done. The Slayer can't let anything get in the way of the job, no matter how much it hurts."
"But Buffy can," Jack told her in a soft but firm voice. "You don't have to do this alone anymore. If you can't, then just tell me. Don't kill yourself over it."
Buffy closed her eyes and gripped his hand a little tighter. "I can't let them win," she said with a shake of her head. "I did that once before, I can't do it again."
"Okay," Jack said, understanding that. "But if you need to back off, then back off. We don't expect you to..."
He stopped when Ianto returned to the table and put a beer in front of Jack and a rum and Diet Coke in front of Buffy before sitting down next to Jack with his own pint.
Jack looked at Buffy again. "We're going to come out the other end of this the same team we are now, regardless of how it goes," he assured her. "So whatever they say, don't let it get to you. It's temporary and they can't touch you here."
If they weren't in a public place, Buffy might have just let herself start crying right then, even launched herself at Jack for one of those amazing hugs of his. Instead, she gave him a slightly unsteady but completely grateful smile.
Her hands shook a little as she wrapped them both around the sweating glass, but she relaxed just a little bit as the cool drink slid down her throat. A drink with friends, that was just what she needed.
"They're coming to the Hub tomorrow," Ianto reminded her. "Are there any security precautions we need to take?"
Apart from needing to know, he thought dealing with something as concrete as logistics might help her distance herself emotionally a little bit. It helped him.
Buffy frowned, giving the problem a great deal of consideration before answering. "We should probably make sure all the alarms are set for the normally locked areas," she decided. "A few of them might decide to try 'getting lost', and we really wouldn't want that." Especially if it was Kennedy. The last thing they needed was that girl getting her hands on some nifty alien weaponry.
"Archive, arsenal, cells," Ianto said, making a mental list.
"Shooting range," Jack added, not wanting anyone who was, as Buffy had once put it, 'automatically amazing with weapons' getting their hands on anything that could harm his personnel.
Ianto nodded that he'd noted it as well.
Buffy cringed at the idea of any of the other team getting into the shooting range. Dani she'd trust in there, but Willow had never been great with weapons, Xander now had depth perception issues, and Kennedy... She got the chills just thinking about it.
"And make sure we know where they are at all times. I don't want anyone leaving their designated areas without an escort."
Ianto nodded again, taking in the information and committing it to his very reliable memory.
"You know, under normal circumstances, I would probably be excited about showing off the Hub," Buffy commented with a pout. "It's pretty neat, as far as secret bases go. But all these precautions remind me a bit too much of preparing for a yearly apocalypse."
"You've met his ex," Ianto said flatly. "We've learned the value of these precautions."
"Oi," Jack said with mock indignance. "He wasn't invited."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "When are the exes ever invited?" she asked with a knowing tone. If Angel showed up next week, she might just leave the continent.
"Who in the history of anywhere has as many as him?" Ianto said, nodding towards Jack.
"You don't know how many I have!" Jack argued.
"Do you?" Ianto shot back.
"That's not the point," Jack grumbled.
The banter between two of her favorite people in the world left Buffy in giggles so strong she couldn't even manage to take a drink. She set her glass down with a thud and tried very hard not to fall out of her chair.
Jack could see Buffy's mood had improved some and that she'd finished her drink. He looked across at her with a bit of a smile.
"So are you ready to do this now?" he asked. "Because if I don't get you home at a decent hour, your vampire is going to get stroppy."
The word 'stroppy' completely killed her composure again, but she managed to squeeze out between laughs, "Yeah, okay, let's go!" Maybe there was a bit more rum in that drink than she'd first thought, or maybe this was just how it felt to be around good friends -- it wouldn't have been hard to forget after the week she'd been having.
"He has less patience than you do," Ianto told Jack mildly, referring to Spike.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean by that," Jack replied. He pulled the SUV keys from his pocket.
"I'm sure you don't," Ianto said dryly.
By the time they reached the Hub, Buffy was more than ready for a publicly appropriate 'Welcome Home' greeting from her vampire; they'd save the really good stuff for when they got back to her place later. Work was only allowed to be a sexy place when it was Jack and Ianto after hours, and she was more than okay with it staying that way.
NOTE: Told you we'd get it out before Christmas! Cutting it a bit close, but we'll try to get back to regular updates. Happy Holidays, everyone!