Rift, Hellmouth, Same Difference (8/?)
Title: Rift, Hellmouth, Same Difference
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: "Buffy" through The Becoming, all of Torchwood.
Summary: Buffy gets sucked into the Hell vortex at the end of Becoming, only to end up on the rain-slicked streets of Cardiff. What's Torchwood to do with a lost Slayer?
Disclaimer: Joss owns "Buffy," RTD and the BBC own "Torchwood," I own my iPod.
AN: Thank you to the amazing revdorothyl for betaing!
Chapter One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven
Banner by the awesome skylar0grace
Chapter Eight
The next day when Ianto and Buffy arrived at the Hub, they found that the situation with the Truckee Orchid, or whatever it was called, had been resolved, with the only casualty being Owen getting a small whiff of the thing. That left him slightly loopy for the next twenty-four hours, much to Buffy’s amusement.
“You need to stop tormenting Owen,” Ianto told her after Jack had sent Owen home for the day, with Tosh alongside to keep him out of trouble.
“But it was so much fun!” Buffy protested, still amused by Owen’s reaction to flickering lights. “It’s not my fault that the lights got all flickery when he was around.” Ianto suppressed the urge to sigh, but was secretly glad Buffy was no longer brooding as much over the Bernie Harris incident.
“You know, I’m kinda sad that you never got a whiff of the Treacle Geranium, or whatever it was Jack called it,” Buffy complained. “I wanted to see how you’d react under the influence.” Ianto didn’t verbally respond, but he did cut off her coffee for the rest of the day in retaliation. Buffy was tempted to up the ante by hiding his favorite suit, but decided she valued her daily dose of caffeinated yumminess too much to put it in further jeopardy.
Another week went by, and before Buffy realized it, she had been with Torchwood for about a month. The nightmares that had plagued her after first arriving were still happening, but with a marked decrease in frequency. She was glad, since it meant she didn’t come into the Hub every day with dark circles under her eyes due to lack of sleep. The nightmares had changed, however, from simply being about Angel to involving everyone she had left behind blaming her for what was going on in her absence. Her dream phantoms never got into specifics, but kept repeating the point that everything was going to hell because of her selfishness. She could deal with Angel/Angelus going after her, but the new nightmares left her more emotionally drained and feeling guiltier than before.
Other than the new brand of “Let’s see how long Buffy can survive on little to no sleep” nightmares, life with Torchwood was going fairly smoothly. Although there were times when Jack would give her odd, appraising looks, for the most part, the team had accepted her as a kind of team little sister. She was never allowed out in the field, to her annoyance, but she was allowed to help out around the Hub, mainly in the Archives with Ianto. That would be, of course, the times when she could find the magical, vanishing Ianto Jones.
“Ianto?” Buffy called out one morning, glancing all around the empty Hub for him. She wanted to ask him what he what he’d like her to do, but he had pulled another Disapparation on her. Growling in frustration, she debated whether it would be worth getting in trouble to track down Ianto and put a damn bell on him.
Although she was now kinda-sorta part of the team, the one thing that everyone was strict about was her not roaming the lower regions without someone from the team present. She was tempted to offer to fight Janet just to show them that she could handle herself, but she wasn’t in the mood to deal with the questions that would inevitably ensue.
Biting her lip in thought, Buffy quickly made up her mind about what she would do. The new gym that she had helped Ianto set up was right along the main route to get in and out of the vaults, which meant she had a better than even chance of ambushing Ianto if he went that way.
Making sure that the papers she’d been going through were carefully put away, she grabbed the gym bag that was now her constant companion and made her way down to her little sanctuary. Even though the gym was technically open for anyone to use, she was the only one who was in it on a regular basis. It wasn’t fancy, but the punching bags and weights gave her an outlet for all the Slayer energy that wasn’t getting used.
Humming slightly off-key to an old (in this world, at least) Brittney Spears song, Buffy quickly lost herself in her workout, going through a variety of moves that Giles had taught her, as well as working in some of the tricks she had learned during her time in Hell. There were no weapons in the gym, mainly due to Jack not wanting her around all things sharp, pointy, shiny, and liable to hurt anyone. By the end of an hour, she heard the distinct sounds of the team returning. Grimacing, she realized Ianto had used one of his other ways to get back to the main area without her noticing.
“What did I miss?” she asked Tosh, while sneakily snagging an unopened bottle of water from Owen’s desk. Tosh rolled her eyes at Buffy’s antics, but gave her a small smile.
“Just a standard Weevil retrieval,” Tosh explained. “Of course, the Weevil managed to get itself surrounded by some guard dogs in a junkyard.”
“Who drew the short straw?” Buffy asked, watching Ianto out of the corner of her eye. He was moving around like he always did, but there was something about his expression that she just couldn’t place at the moment.
“
“Jack, for once, although I think Owen cheated,” Gwen chimed in. “That, or Jack always cheats,” she added thoughtfully.
"It wouldn’t surprise me,” Buffy said. “Where is he, by the way?” Tosh and Gwen glanced at each other, amusement etched on both of their faces. “That bad?” Buffy asked.
“One of the dogs took a particular liking to Jack,” Tosh explained. “He’s with Owen right now getting patched up.”
“I would stay clear of him for a bit, if I were you,” Gwen advised. “The dog got blood on his coat, and it has to be dry cleaned before he can wear it again.” Buffy made a face. Jack was a little too attached to that coat for his own good, and he would be Major Cranky-pants until the greatcoat was back in his hands.
“So I guess good-natured teasing would be out of the question?” Buffy asked, causing Tosh to shake her head in amusement. “Oh well. I guess Owen’s still fair game.”
“Don’t you think you prank him enough as is?” Tosh asked. Buffy gave an evil cackle in response, but stayed by Tosh’s desk. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, except for Ianto getting a mysterious phone call on his cell and disappearing for a few more hours. Buffy had been the only one around him when he had received the call, and tried covertly to listen in before she realized he was talking in Japanese.
“Where did you learn Japanese?” Buffy asked on the drive back to his apartment. She refused to give into tweediness and call it a ‘flat.’ Ianto started slightly, but otherwise remained calm.
“I’ve learned a lot of little tricks over the years of working with Torchwood,” he explained, parking the car and turning off the engine. “Japanese happens to be one of them.”
“So who was that then?” Buffy asked, determined not to let this go. So maybe she was being a little hypocritical about wanting to crack Ianto’s secrets when she had plenty of her own, but he was hiding something and she wanted to know what was going on.
“Just some Torchwood business that needed to be taken care of,” Ianto said. “So, what do you want for supper?” he asked, changing the subject. Buffy didn’t comment, but filed the incident into the growing collection of weird incidents.
That night, after she was supposed to have gone to sleep, she sat curled up on her bed with a flashlight and a notebook, trying to figure out the puzzle that was Ianto Jones. So far, all she had written down were weird conversations in Japanese, numerous disappearing acts, adept at hiding thoughts/feelings/things in general, and that mysterious blue light, which she was sure had something to do with whatever he was hiding. “What are you up to, Mr. Jones?" she muttered under her breath, trying to put together the pieces.
~*~*~
Ianto lay on his bed, wondering when Buffy would finally turn off her damn torch and go to sleep. He needed to make sure he had all the supplies needed for when Tanizaki came to help Lisa, and there was no way he could get out of the house without Buffy being asleep. That girl was like a cat, always sniffing around and being too curious for her own good.
He was lucky that she hadn’t discovered Lisa so far, although it wasn’t for lack of trying. When she had almost walked in on Lisa all those weeks ago, he had been forced to move her further down in the sublevels to hide her. So far, Buffy was the only one who suspected anything, but that was mainly due to the fact she was in the Hub more than anyone other than him.
That brought up another problem, he realized with a groan. How was he supposed to bring in Tanizaki without his teenaged shadow knowing? He would need to find a way to get her out while the rest of the team was gone. He couldn’t have her around, not if he wanted to keep Lisa safe from the rest of the team. Although Buffy was good at hiding her own secrets, he wasn’t sure how well she could hide his.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the dim light underneath her door flicked off. He breathed a sigh of relief, but waited an additional ten minutes to make sure that there was a better chance of her being asleep. Creeping out of his room, he made his way outside of his flat. He had a lot to do if he wanted to be ready to help Lisa tomorrow.
~*~*~
“What are they up to?” Buffy asked Ianto the next day, her ears catching the sounds of the rest of the team doing…something that was making a whole lot of noise.
“How would I know?” Ianto asked, a slight undertone of bitterness to his voice. “I’m normally in the Archives or in the Tourism Office when they do stupid antics like this.”
“Gotcha,” Buffy said, as they entered the main room, to be met with the sight of Owen, Tosh, Gwen, and Jack playing some sort basketball-esque game with loads of cheating on all sides. “Government dollars put to work,” Buffy commented wryly, as the team ignored their presence, completely focused on their game.
“It’s pounds here, not dollars,” Ianto corrected, as Owen scored what he supposed was the winning basket in whatever inane game they were playing.
“Girls, grab your handbags!” Owen shouted. “Jack’s buying us drinks tonight!”
“I didn’t agree to that,” Jack protested, grabbing his coat on the way out. Owen tossed the ball to Buffy, who caught it neatly.
“And here we are again. Alone,” Buffy commented, glancing around the empty space. Ianto shrugged and began straightening the room. He had just reached Tosh’s desk when he noticed she had left her purse behind. Looking at the purse, he realized he had the perfect tool to get Buffy out of the Hub for a few hours. Even with Jack buying the drinks, Tosh would want her purse just in case.
“Buffy,” he called out, looking around for her. Her blonde head popped up from around Jack’s desk, where he was sure she was planting some sort of surprise for Jack. “Tosh forgot her purse. Do you think you can get it to her?”
“Um, yeah, sure, but I don’t know where they went,” Buffy said, walking over and leaning against the desk.
“I’ll give you a list of pubs that they like to frequent, as well as a map with their locations,” Ianto said. “Most of the places they go are within walking distance, and, since the SUV’s here, I don’t think they went to one of the further ones. Here’s the list and here’s the map,” he added, placing the items, as well as the purse, into her hands.”
“Okey doke,” said Buffy. “I got my cell in case anything goes down you need me for. Don’t burn down the Hub while I’m gone.” With that, she hopped on the invisible lift and gave him a small wave goodbye. As soon as she was out of sight, Ianto gave a quiet sigh of relief. The pub he knew that they had gone to was at the bottom of the list, and unless Buffy called the team to see where they were, he would be good for a couple of hours. It was time to give Tanizaki a call.
~*~*~
Buffy wandered around the Cardiff streets, checking the pubs Ianto listed. “Where are they?” she grumbled softly, glaring at the page. She had gone through half the list already, and she hadn’t found the rest of the team. She paused for a second, realizing something. “Of course he put the one I needed at the bottom,” she complained. “Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Why didn’t I just call them, for that matter?”
Dialing Gwen’s number, she waited until the other woman picked up. “Hey, Gwen. Tosh forgot her purse and I just wanted to check you were at the Black Knight?”
“Can you repeat that? It’s a bit loud in here,” Gwen shouted back. Buffy repeated what she said, and this time apparently Gwen heard her. “Yeah, we’re here, sweetheart. Good thing you got Tosh’s purse; she’s going a little crazy trying to find it.”
“I’ll be there soon,” Buffy said, hanging up the phone. “Ianto, we are going to have a lot to talk about when I get back to the Hub,” she muttered under her breath as she stalked through the streets.
~*~*~
After having safely delivered Tosh’s purse and ignored pleas from the team to stay, Buffy inched her way along the path leading up to the Tourism Office. She didn’t want Ianto seeing her on CCTV and hiding whatever he was doing.
When she entered the Hub, she heard the soft noises of two men talking, and…something mechanical? Crouching low, Buffy edged her way around the desks. When she reached the autopsy area, she bit back a gasp of shock.
Ianto and another man were hovering over a, well, what could be a cheap version of a Borg. She had metal bits stuck all over her body, and she was hooked up to some strange sort of machine. Was this what Ianto had been hiding all this time? She got her answer when she saw Ianto lovingly caress the thing’s cheek. All Buffy could do for a few moments was silently stare at the picture before her. Finally, she worked up her courage and straightened up.
“Ianto, what’s going on? Who are these people?” she asked, causing him to turn around and stare at her in shock. Oh, this was going to be so much fun, Buffy thought sarcastically, taking in Ianto’s guilty face. As much as she needed to keep her secrets from the team, she was so ready to be done with ones that had the potential to bite her in the ass. Oh, wait a minute, that was pretty much all of them. “You going to tell me, or are you going stare at me like a fish?” she demanded, resisting the urge to find a weapon.
“Bu-Bu-Buffy, I can explain everything,” Ianto stammered as Buffy made her way down to the railing and glared at him.
“Then you best get talking,” she said in a soft voice. “It’s always good to begin with the who, the what, and the why.”
Chapter Nine
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: "Buffy" through The Becoming, all of Torchwood.
Summary: Buffy gets sucked into the Hell vortex at the end of Becoming, only to end up on the rain-slicked streets of Cardiff. What's Torchwood to do with a lost Slayer?
Disclaimer: Joss owns "Buffy," RTD and the BBC own "Torchwood," I own my iPod.
AN: Thank you to the amazing revdorothyl for betaing!
Chapter One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven
Banner by the awesome skylar0grace
Chapter Eight
The next day when Ianto and Buffy arrived at the Hub, they found that the situation with the Truckee Orchid, or whatever it was called, had been resolved, with the only casualty being Owen getting a small whiff of the thing. That left him slightly loopy for the next twenty-four hours, much to Buffy’s amusement.
“You need to stop tormenting Owen,” Ianto told her after Jack had sent Owen home for the day, with Tosh alongside to keep him out of trouble.
“But it was so much fun!” Buffy protested, still amused by Owen’s reaction to flickering lights. “It’s not my fault that the lights got all flickery when he was around.” Ianto suppressed the urge to sigh, but was secretly glad Buffy was no longer brooding as much over the Bernie Harris incident.
“You know, I’m kinda sad that you never got a whiff of the Treacle Geranium, or whatever it was Jack called it,” Buffy complained. “I wanted to see how you’d react under the influence.” Ianto didn’t verbally respond, but he did cut off her coffee for the rest of the day in retaliation. Buffy was tempted to up the ante by hiding his favorite suit, but decided she valued her daily dose of caffeinated yumminess too much to put it in further jeopardy.
Another week went by, and before Buffy realized it, she had been with Torchwood for about a month. The nightmares that had plagued her after first arriving were still happening, but with a marked decrease in frequency. She was glad, since it meant she didn’t come into the Hub every day with dark circles under her eyes due to lack of sleep. The nightmares had changed, however, from simply being about Angel to involving everyone she had left behind blaming her for what was going on in her absence. Her dream phantoms never got into specifics, but kept repeating the point that everything was going to hell because of her selfishness. She could deal with Angel/Angelus going after her, but the new nightmares left her more emotionally drained and feeling guiltier than before.
Other than the new brand of “Let’s see how long Buffy can survive on little to no sleep” nightmares, life with Torchwood was going fairly smoothly. Although there were times when Jack would give her odd, appraising looks, for the most part, the team had accepted her as a kind of team little sister. She was never allowed out in the field, to her annoyance, but she was allowed to help out around the Hub, mainly in the Archives with Ianto. That would be, of course, the times when she could find the magical, vanishing Ianto Jones.
“Ianto?” Buffy called out one morning, glancing all around the empty Hub for him. She wanted to ask him what he what he’d like her to do, but he had pulled another Disapparation on her. Growling in frustration, she debated whether it would be worth getting in trouble to track down Ianto and put a damn bell on him.
Although she was now kinda-sorta part of the team, the one thing that everyone was strict about was her not roaming the lower regions without someone from the team present. She was tempted to offer to fight Janet just to show them that she could handle herself, but she wasn’t in the mood to deal with the questions that would inevitably ensue.
Biting her lip in thought, Buffy quickly made up her mind about what she would do. The new gym that she had helped Ianto set up was right along the main route to get in and out of the vaults, which meant she had a better than even chance of ambushing Ianto if he went that way.
Making sure that the papers she’d been going through were carefully put away, she grabbed the gym bag that was now her constant companion and made her way down to her little sanctuary. Even though the gym was technically open for anyone to use, she was the only one who was in it on a regular basis. It wasn’t fancy, but the punching bags and weights gave her an outlet for all the Slayer energy that wasn’t getting used.
Humming slightly off-key to an old (in this world, at least) Brittney Spears song, Buffy quickly lost herself in her workout, going through a variety of moves that Giles had taught her, as well as working in some of the tricks she had learned during her time in Hell. There were no weapons in the gym, mainly due to Jack not wanting her around all things sharp, pointy, shiny, and liable to hurt anyone. By the end of an hour, she heard the distinct sounds of the team returning. Grimacing, she realized Ianto had used one of his other ways to get back to the main area without her noticing.
“What did I miss?” she asked Tosh, while sneakily snagging an unopened bottle of water from Owen’s desk. Tosh rolled her eyes at Buffy’s antics, but gave her a small smile.
“Just a standard Weevil retrieval,” Tosh explained. “Of course, the Weevil managed to get itself surrounded by some guard dogs in a junkyard.”
“Who drew the short straw?” Buffy asked, watching Ianto out of the corner of her eye. He was moving around like he always did, but there was something about his expression that she just couldn’t place at the moment.
“
“Jack, for once, although I think Owen cheated,” Gwen chimed in. “That, or Jack always cheats,” she added thoughtfully.
"It wouldn’t surprise me,” Buffy said. “Where is he, by the way?” Tosh and Gwen glanced at each other, amusement etched on both of their faces. “That bad?” Buffy asked.
“One of the dogs took a particular liking to Jack,” Tosh explained. “He’s with Owen right now getting patched up.”
“I would stay clear of him for a bit, if I were you,” Gwen advised. “The dog got blood on his coat, and it has to be dry cleaned before he can wear it again.” Buffy made a face. Jack was a little too attached to that coat for his own good, and he would be Major Cranky-pants until the greatcoat was back in his hands.
“So I guess good-natured teasing would be out of the question?” Buffy asked, causing Tosh to shake her head in amusement. “Oh well. I guess Owen’s still fair game.”
“Don’t you think you prank him enough as is?” Tosh asked. Buffy gave an evil cackle in response, but stayed by Tosh’s desk. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, except for Ianto getting a mysterious phone call on his cell and disappearing for a few more hours. Buffy had been the only one around him when he had received the call, and tried covertly to listen in before she realized he was talking in Japanese.
“Where did you learn Japanese?” Buffy asked on the drive back to his apartment. She refused to give into tweediness and call it a ‘flat.’ Ianto started slightly, but otherwise remained calm.
“I’ve learned a lot of little tricks over the years of working with Torchwood,” he explained, parking the car and turning off the engine. “Japanese happens to be one of them.”
“So who was that then?” Buffy asked, determined not to let this go. So maybe she was being a little hypocritical about wanting to crack Ianto’s secrets when she had plenty of her own, but he was hiding something and she wanted to know what was going on.
“Just some Torchwood business that needed to be taken care of,” Ianto said. “So, what do you want for supper?” he asked, changing the subject. Buffy didn’t comment, but filed the incident into the growing collection of weird incidents.
That night, after she was supposed to have gone to sleep, she sat curled up on her bed with a flashlight and a notebook, trying to figure out the puzzle that was Ianto Jones. So far, all she had written down were weird conversations in Japanese, numerous disappearing acts, adept at hiding thoughts/feelings/things in general, and that mysterious blue light, which she was sure had something to do with whatever he was hiding. “What are you up to, Mr. Jones?" she muttered under her breath, trying to put together the pieces.
~*~*~
Ianto lay on his bed, wondering when Buffy would finally turn off her damn torch and go to sleep. He needed to make sure he had all the supplies needed for when Tanizaki came to help Lisa, and there was no way he could get out of the house without Buffy being asleep. That girl was like a cat, always sniffing around and being too curious for her own good.
He was lucky that she hadn’t discovered Lisa so far, although it wasn’t for lack of trying. When she had almost walked in on Lisa all those weeks ago, he had been forced to move her further down in the sublevels to hide her. So far, Buffy was the only one who suspected anything, but that was mainly due to the fact she was in the Hub more than anyone other than him.
That brought up another problem, he realized with a groan. How was he supposed to bring in Tanizaki without his teenaged shadow knowing? He would need to find a way to get her out while the rest of the team was gone. He couldn’t have her around, not if he wanted to keep Lisa safe from the rest of the team. Although Buffy was good at hiding her own secrets, he wasn’t sure how well she could hide his.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the dim light underneath her door flicked off. He breathed a sigh of relief, but waited an additional ten minutes to make sure that there was a better chance of her being asleep. Creeping out of his room, he made his way outside of his flat. He had a lot to do if he wanted to be ready to help Lisa tomorrow.
~*~*~
“What are they up to?” Buffy asked Ianto the next day, her ears catching the sounds of the rest of the team doing…something that was making a whole lot of noise.
“How would I know?” Ianto asked, a slight undertone of bitterness to his voice. “I’m normally in the Archives or in the Tourism Office when they do stupid antics like this.”
“Gotcha,” Buffy said, as they entered the main room, to be met with the sight of Owen, Tosh, Gwen, and Jack playing some sort basketball-esque game with loads of cheating on all sides. “Government dollars put to work,” Buffy commented wryly, as the team ignored their presence, completely focused on their game.
“It’s pounds here, not dollars,” Ianto corrected, as Owen scored what he supposed was the winning basket in whatever inane game they were playing.
“Girls, grab your handbags!” Owen shouted. “Jack’s buying us drinks tonight!”
“I didn’t agree to that,” Jack protested, grabbing his coat on the way out. Owen tossed the ball to Buffy, who caught it neatly.
“And here we are again. Alone,” Buffy commented, glancing around the empty space. Ianto shrugged and began straightening the room. He had just reached Tosh’s desk when he noticed she had left her purse behind. Looking at the purse, he realized he had the perfect tool to get Buffy out of the Hub for a few hours. Even with Jack buying the drinks, Tosh would want her purse just in case.
“Buffy,” he called out, looking around for her. Her blonde head popped up from around Jack’s desk, where he was sure she was planting some sort of surprise for Jack. “Tosh forgot her purse. Do you think you can get it to her?”
“Um, yeah, sure, but I don’t know where they went,” Buffy said, walking over and leaning against the desk.
“I’ll give you a list of pubs that they like to frequent, as well as a map with their locations,” Ianto said. “Most of the places they go are within walking distance, and, since the SUV’s here, I don’t think they went to one of the further ones. Here’s the list and here’s the map,” he added, placing the items, as well as the purse, into her hands.”
“Okey doke,” said Buffy. “I got my cell in case anything goes down you need me for. Don’t burn down the Hub while I’m gone.” With that, she hopped on the invisible lift and gave him a small wave goodbye. As soon as she was out of sight, Ianto gave a quiet sigh of relief. The pub he knew that they had gone to was at the bottom of the list, and unless Buffy called the team to see where they were, he would be good for a couple of hours. It was time to give Tanizaki a call.
~*~*~
Buffy wandered around the Cardiff streets, checking the pubs Ianto listed. “Where are they?” she grumbled softly, glaring at the page. She had gone through half the list already, and she hadn’t found the rest of the team. She paused for a second, realizing something. “Of course he put the one I needed at the bottom,” she complained. “Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Why didn’t I just call them, for that matter?”
Dialing Gwen’s number, she waited until the other woman picked up. “Hey, Gwen. Tosh forgot her purse and I just wanted to check you were at the Black Knight?”
“Can you repeat that? It’s a bit loud in here,” Gwen shouted back. Buffy repeated what she said, and this time apparently Gwen heard her. “Yeah, we’re here, sweetheart. Good thing you got Tosh’s purse; she’s going a little crazy trying to find it.”
“I’ll be there soon,” Buffy said, hanging up the phone. “Ianto, we are going to have a lot to talk about when I get back to the Hub,” she muttered under her breath as she stalked through the streets.
~*~*~
After having safely delivered Tosh’s purse and ignored pleas from the team to stay, Buffy inched her way along the path leading up to the Tourism Office. She didn’t want Ianto seeing her on CCTV and hiding whatever he was doing.
When she entered the Hub, she heard the soft noises of two men talking, and…something mechanical? Crouching low, Buffy edged her way around the desks. When she reached the autopsy area, she bit back a gasp of shock.
Ianto and another man were hovering over a, well, what could be a cheap version of a Borg. She had metal bits stuck all over her body, and she was hooked up to some strange sort of machine. Was this what Ianto had been hiding all this time? She got her answer when she saw Ianto lovingly caress the thing’s cheek. All Buffy could do for a few moments was silently stare at the picture before her. Finally, she worked up her courage and straightened up.
“Ianto, what’s going on? Who are these people?” she asked, causing him to turn around and stare at her in shock. Oh, this was going to be so much fun, Buffy thought sarcastically, taking in Ianto’s guilty face. As much as she needed to keep her secrets from the team, she was so ready to be done with ones that had the potential to bite her in the ass. Oh, wait a minute, that was pretty much all of them. “You going to tell me, or are you going stare at me like a fish?” she demanded, resisting the urge to find a weapon.
“Bu-Bu-Buffy, I can explain everything,” Ianto stammered as Buffy made her way down to the railing and glared at him.
“Then you best get talking,” she said in a soft voice. “It’s always good to begin with the who, the what, and the why.”
Chapter Nine