DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of these fandoms. Basically, if you recognise it, it's not mine. Pippa and Matt, however, are :)
(See the end of the work for more notes)
Work Text:
There are 14258 Slayers worldwide. 14000 work with the New Watcher's Council. 250 want nothing to do with the calling. 3 are in Council holding cells. Four are classified as rogue. One is on the equivalent of the Mossad Red list, and all council operatives have orders to shoot her on sight. That's me. Pippa Fletcher. Welcome to my life.
Pippa Fletcher pulled herself up onto the wall outside the cemetery and watched as her foster sister, Vi, fought a group of Vampires. Drumming the heels of her Doc Martens against the ancient stonework, she waited while her red-headed friend decimated the group and then jumped down, easily sliding into step as the two proceeded into the main street outside. It was two o'clock in the morning.
"Father said we were going to make contact with the other white hats here today." Pippa said, bouncing on the balls of her feet as the two girls made their way back to the NOT Hyperion Hotel that had yet to be named, despite the fact the girls called it HQ, and Andrew, Matt and Nico called it Professor Xavier's Academy. Vi rolled her eyes at the silly grin that appeared on her new sister's face the minute she called Spike Father. It must have been something to do with the shiny new forged adoption certificate in the desk draw of Spike and Xander's office. They rounded the corner and almost ran smack bang into the crazy almost-turok-han thing.
They may have been Vampire Slayers, but running into something that has more need of a dermatologist than the Master with no warning still scares a girl.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" the two of them yelled in unison.
The weevil stared at them oddly.
Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper rounded the corner behind the weevil and ended up staring straight into the faces of the vampires who were sneaking up on Vi and Pippa.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" screamed Gwen.
In perfect synchronisation, the Slayers realised there was something behind them, and pivoted to deal with it, while Jack dealt with one incredibly confused weevil. As the vampires crumbled to dust, and Pippa and Vi exchanged a high-five, while Pippa giggled over 'synchronised Slaying', Jack asked the girls what definitely started out as a calm question, but ended up sounding more like a frantic demand.
"Who are you?"
Vi and Pippa smirked. The carbon copy of Spike's smirk strikes again.
"I'm Vi, and this is Pippa."
"We're sisters."
"You don't look alike." Jack said.
"Foster sisters." Vi replied, rolling her eyes. "Pippa looks like Father more, though."
"Who's your father?"
"Who are you?" countered Pippa.
"My name is Captain Jack Harkness. I work with Torchwood."
"Oh! In that case then.." said Vi, and nudged Pippa, whispering something into her ear.
"Remember that meeting you have tomorrow?" Pippa said finally. Jack looked slightly surprised. The blonde girl sniggered.
"See you in the morning, Captain." She drawled, and then pulled her red trench coat closer around herself, and linked arms with the red-head. As the two of them vanished into the darkness beyond the streetlight, Gwen turned to face Jack.
"Who were they?"
Jack looked positively ecstatic.
"Vampire Slayers!"
The next morning dawned bright and clear, and Pippa rolled out of bed quickly and easily. Today she met Father's new White Hats officially, and in (hopefully) a very different situation than last night. She dressed comfortably, in a Green Day tour tee, black skinny jeans and red high-top converses, pulled her still-messy hair into a simple ponytail, and took the stairs two at a time to get to the lobby.
The lobby of the NOT Hyperion (which still had no official name, although they were toying with Orion, or Artemis) was made of marble, with big dramatic columns and a large reception desk with an old executive's office behind it. Andrew sat behind the desk now, looking warily at the phone, as if the thing was threatening to explode at any minute. Rona and Shannon were lounging on the lower stairs of the big and imposing grand staircase that covered the back half of the room, while Vi was arguing with Matt about the importance of a Watcher's Journal. Nico, Sam and Ronan were discussing who would go out on the patrol that evening and who would man the books, while Claudia was working away busily on the laptop computer she had on her lap, as she perched on the outer edge of Andrew's desk. Spike and Xander were in the office, deciding on a school for the girls to attend, and Locke, Xander's seven year old foster son, ran around like a crazy fool.
"Good morning, Pippa!" cried Connor cheerfully, rounding the corner that Pippa had just turned.
"Hey, Conn. Looking forward to the meeting?"
"Definitely. Vi said you two ran into the leader guy last night. What did you think?"
"He looked like a decent leader, and he had a really genuine smile… I think he looks like a lot of fun."
Pippa grinned at her boyfriend, and grabbed his hand as the two of them walked over to where Rona and Shannon sat, flopping down onto the stairs.
Half an hour and a furious, lobby wide debate on the relative merits of different kinds of swords later, the sounds of a car pulling up outside had all the inhabitants of the cautiously named Artemis running for the doors. The three men and two women who entered were not at all what they expected.
"I'm Captain Jack Harkness." said the man in the RAF greatcoat, in an American accent. "My team and I are here to see Mr Fletcher."
Pippa and Vi, now sitting next to Claudia on Andrew's desk, grinned.
"He and Mr Harris are in the office. Rona, Shannon, if you would go fetch Spike and Xander, please?"
Sam smiled. "My name is Sam Winchester. I help out with the girls and the research."
They shook hands. Jack introduced the rest of his team – Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper and Gwen Cooper – and Sam introduced all the girls and the various others.
"Claudia Donovan, our hacker and all round tech expert, Ronan Dex, our weapons consultant, Nico Di Angelo, our Necromancer, Connor Angel, the Destroyer, Locke Harris, our Seer, Andrew Wells and Matthew Tunsden, our Watchers, and our Slayers," said Sam, as Rona and Shannon re-entered the room, "Rona Indigo Dex and Shannon Martins Dex."
"Pippa and Vi I believe you met last night, Captain."
From their seats, Pippa and Vi saluted with a giggle. At this point, Xander emerged from the office, and told Locke to stop attempting to climb one of the pillars. Spike followed him, and much to the surprise of the Squad, the members of Jack's team, and Jack himself, promptly pulled out a variety of guns and levelled them at him. This – of course – resulted in them all being promptly disarmed by the Slayers.
"What in the seven hells was that about?" asked Xander, having finally persuaded Rona, Shannon, Vi and Pippa that the team weren't going to shoot Spike, and that there was no need to kick them into oblivion now that they were on the floor.
"He looks like my ex." said Jack, frowning. "Exactly alike."
"That must have been one hell of an explosive breakup, then." Claudia joked.
"He turned up recently and tried to kill us all." Ianto explained.
"Ah." Claudia said sagely, and then all the girls erupted into giggles.
"Girls!" said Spike. They all looked up at him.
"Take Clauds, Sammy boy, Conn and Nix with you and go do some training. Ronan, if you could run them please? And do take Locke with you."
"Yes, sir, Mr Fletcher, sir!" said nearly all of the squad.
"Yes, Father!" said Vi and Pippa, who promptly erupted into giggles and took off at high speed up the staircase.
"You'll have to excuse our girls. They can be … overexcitable." said Xander, smiling.
"Now," said Spike, leading the way to the large table in the office, "What can the Phoenix Academy do for you?"
Pippa whirled around to face her attacker and drew a long Katana out of the sheath that was strapped to her back. The sword flashed around with ease, beheading and stabbing the variety of demons and Vampires that surrounded her. Finally, the last vampire collapsed into dust, and the graveyard she'd been standing in fizzled into nothing, leaving her to get high-fives and pats on the back from her friends. Claudia looked up from behind the computer that controlled the holograms and gave her a thumbs up. Moments later, Spike and Xander entered the room, leading Jack and his team.
"Pippa, Connor, Vi and Nico. I want you guys to run a sim, taking the Captain and Mr Jones with you. I believe it would be fruitful for their acceptance of the demonic underworld." said Spike calmly. Pippa smiled, and rushed over to Claudia, leaning down to help her friend to pick the new simulation for them to run. The others began to slip into the back nooks and crannies of the old cellar. Nico selected a black short sword from the weapons rack at the back of the room. Next came Vi, who chose an axe that looked a little like the scythe, and Connor, who picked a broadsword. Jack and Ianto were motioned into the centre of the room, and the fighters formed foursquare around them to cover all angles of attack. Pippa nodded to Claudia, and the room began to swim out of focus, being replaced with a large cemetery. The six were immediately surrounded by thirty or more demons and Vampires, which Nico, Vi, Pippa and Connor immediately jumped on, swords and axes whirling furiously. Jack stood in the middle, calmly taking in as much as he could, while Ianto flinched every time one of the fighters surrounding them got hit. Nico was calmly controlling several skeletal warriors and guiding them to destroy the Fyrals that were in the mix. Connor was guarding his back. Vi and Pippa were taking out the vampires and low level demons that tried to get to Ianto and Jack. One dodged past Vi and growled deep in its throat as it lunged for Ianto. As Jack turned to fire at it, Pippa's katana shot out in a steady, practised arc, and looped off its head. She glided in front of the two men, and slid the sword back into her shoulder sheath while she danced around to face a demon with a long stick in its hands. She glided in next to it, striking towards its face. As it jumped back, she laid her hands on the end of the stick closest to her, swinging it forward and then sideways, sending him flying across the room. As they finished off the last of the vampires and demons, the sim flickered and faded, leaving the four to turn back to their friends, and hang up their weapons. Jack frowned at Spike as he turned back to take in the Slayers and their friends.
"They do this nightly?"
"Yup." said Xander, grinning.
"Would they be able to come to the Hub? I would like to see them take on a weevil."
Pippa smiled. Vi and Shannon high-fived each other. Andrew started dancing on the spot like some kind of crazy thing.
"Sure. I think the girls would love that." Xander said. It took a minute for it to register, and then Andrew, Matt, and
Locke started complaining very loudly.
"Why can't we come too?"
Jack looked over at three identical puppy-dog eyes from three pouting sci fi fanboys. He smiled.
"You guys can come too." The girls cracked up watching the various expressions of delight dance across the faces of the three boys.
They all loaded themselves into the Impala and the Torchwood SUV, joking and laughing. Pippa, Vi and Locke went with Jack and Ianto, and the others rode with Spike. Jack brought them in through the tourist bureau, and introduced them properly to the rest of the team. Pippa was soon seated on the gurney in the autopsy bay, laughing over a Discworld joke with Owen, while Locke danced around the both of them and Vi slid back and forward on one of the freezer trays. Jack was standing on the top of the stairs, laughing his head off as he watched Owen handle the kids like he'd been doing it for years. Ianto was talking to Rona and Shannon about the weevils and how they understood the rift worked, and Andrew and Matt were picking Tosh's brain. Spike walked up behind Jack and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Do you have CCTV footage of your lookalike me?" he asked. Jack nodded.
"I can show you if you like."
A few minutes later, Tosh had pulled up the security footage from the day John Hart had been in Torchwood, and it was playing on the screen.
"Hold it there." Jack said. "And enlarge the image."
Spike studied the face with something not unlike shock and complete confusion. Finally he spoke.
"It can't be him. It can't be."
Jack raised an eyebrow.
"He's… He's my elder brother."
Pippa slid off the gurney and made her way to her Father's side, squeezing his waist as she did so.
"That's my Uncle?"
"Yup. That's my elder brother. Elijah."
"Cool." Pippa turned back to the medical bay, leaving one hand wrapped around her Father's waist.
"Vi! Locke! Come take a look at our uncle!"
The girls crowded around the screen, commenting eagerly on the new face, while Pippa lifted Locke up so the he could see. It was about then that it happened.
Spike's phone rang.
Xander was hurt. Xander, thought Spike, as he watched Owen fixing up his friend, was always hurt. The man had been cut by
a bringer's knife. He had been protecting Claudia. The girl stood at the top of the autopsy bay, silent tears coursing down her cheeks.
"He got hurt," she was explaining to Sam, "because of me. Because I didn't know what to do. Can you teach me?"
Spike leant over the railing to watch more closely as Owen fixed the last of the stitches in place. Harris would be fine. He wouldn't have to worry. Owen stripped off his gloves and turned back to the DNA scan on the wall behind him. Something flashed on the projection, and Owen rushed over to the laptop, fingers flying over the keys. With a frown, Spike tilted his head to one side, trying to see what Owen was doing, through Locke, Pippa, Vi, Rona and Shannon, who had come to talk to a newly awake Xander. Owen finally tapped his comm and said something the Spike had to tune his vamp hearing in on to hear.
"Ok Jack. I need to see you. Now. Something very strange just turned up in Xander's DNA analysis."
"What kind of strange?" came Jack's reply.
Owen's voice dropped out of the register of undead long-distance hearing. Spike swore. Surprisingly, so did Pippa.
"Xander's related to Jack?" she shrieked, spinning around to face the young doctor.
That was all it took. The girls were yelling, Locke started dancing around the autopsy bay, Xander went white, and Spike just about fell over. For almost five minutes, pandemonium rained in the hub as the news slowly was passed on to all those who worked there. Finally, all that was left was uproarious laughter from the Torchwood team at Jack's face, and giggles from the Artemis crew about Xander's.
"Well," said Pippa, through her giggles, "I guess that explains his taste in women!"
Jack looked over, and a tiny smirk appeared on his face.
"I think I need to hear the rest of that story."
"No you don't." said Xander.
"Praying Mantis Teacher." said Locke.
"Inca Mummy life-sucking girl." said Vi.
"Ex Vengeance demon." said Pippa.
"Ms Rosenberg." said Rona. The Artemis crew erupted into laughter.
"You totally owe us one, Grandpa." said Pippa.
"Grandpa!" yelped Jack and Ianto at the same time. Xander laughed at their faces.
"Ok. So now we have that strange and unusual relationships thing sorted out," said Vi, grinning, "I say we party!"
"Party?" questioned Owen, from where he had pinned Locke onto his lap to stop the boy running around the medical bay and injuring himself on something.
"When the world comes crashing down, who's ready to party?" sang Pippa and Connor in unison.
"Scooby knee-jerk reaction. World save-age, we party!"
"Did we save the world?"
"Oh yeah. We never had a party after Dabbat. We were too busy storming off."
Xander sighed at the memory, and then sat bolt upright, thinking back to his vision in the Scotland base. Jack and Ianto – they were the people he'd seen in his vision! Jack seemed to notice his reaction, but didn't ask anything.
"Is there a hotspot around here?"
"Yeah. The Silver."
Xander sniggered.
"Let's roll, then."
Pippa Fletcher came into the lobby of the Artemis in a tartan miniskirt and a black asymmetrical top with one sleeve, black leggings, knee-high black Docs and fingerless black leather motorcycle gloves. Her long blonde hair ad streaks in it. The two on the right were red and blue, and the one on the left was purple. She wore it out, and a black cord with a six-pointed star Irish knot pendant was wrapped around her neck. Over one arm, she carried a red trench coat.
"This is new." said Spike, giving her new look a critical once-over.
"I decided I wanted to look like a rogue Slayer."
"You look fabulous." said Spike, although in his head, he added, and if Connor doesn't notice I'll slam his head into a wall.
"Thank you Father. We ready to go?"
Spike grinned. He and Xander were leaving the patrol to Sam, Nico and Ronan, and the books to Claudia and Locke so that they could take the girls – and Jack's team – out clubbing.
An hour later, Spike and Xander, along with Tosh and Owen, watched the girls bags while they danced. Watching Pippa's new streaks bounce, Spike smiled at the lyrics pumping through the speakers.
Do you like Paul Verlaine? Is it gonna rain today? Shall we have our photo taken? We look like Death and the maiden
The girls danced together in the middle of the floor, with boys closing in, Connor hovered just out of the borders of the dance floor, next to where they waited with the bags.
"Just ask her, Connor," Spike sighed finally. Connor looked up, stunned.
"Really?"
"Yes. Go, Connor, go!"
With that, Connor darted into the clump where the girls were dancing as the song wound down. As Vi, Rona and Shannon returned to their seats, Pippa and Connor began to dance to the slower song that had come on. With the girls sitting down, Spike headed to the bar. About a minute after, he smelt Xander coming up behind him. As his friend took the seat next to him, Spike raised an eyebrow.
"I can't talk about shoes for more than five minutes. Especially not when they are being evaluated for their efficiency as weapons."
Spike smirked. That was his girls all over. He kept half and eye on Pippa and Connor as he waited for his drink. She was laughing t something he'd said. Good. Now, Spike turned back to where Xander was seated at the bar, pausing for a moment to take in how good the boy looked tonight.
"Feel like dancing, Harris?"
Xander's eyes widened, surprise pasting itself all over his face.
"With you?"
"No. With someone else. Of course with me."
"O-ok…"
And as Pippa, Vi, Shannon, Rona and Connor stared in surprise, and Jack began to grin, Spike and Xander danced.
And through Winter's advancing, we'll stay young, go dancing.