I feel horrible for taking so long to update, but life and writer's block got in the way.
Somehow on Monday, Buffy was able to go into work at UNIT like normal. Sam was telling tales about her exciting weekend, Tim was working at his desk trying to be both a good listener and focused on his work, and Tommy was sitting back in chair in a way that usually meant someone was about to fall victim to one of his pranks.
Buffy said hello like normal, but instead of lingering went straight into her office. Tommy followed and closed the door behind him.
"How was your trip to the doctor's office? Did you get answers?" he asked carefully.
"Full check up," Buffy said, keeping up the code. "I'm in perfect health."
"Good," he said. "But your condition…"
"Isn't life threatening."
"But it may interfere with your duties."
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked. She couldn't remember when she had last seen Tommy so grave. In fact, thinking about it, she had never seen him so grave.
He whispered. "I've been thinking about it. If UNIT finds out, they'll use you like some sort of weapon. I'm surprised they haven't already considering your super strength. But a super strong person who can't die? I wouldn't want to be in your shoes."
"But they're so stylish," Buffy said without any real humour. She was thinking about Tommy's worries. They weren't without basis; they were very valid. "All right. You won't say anything?"
"Not a peep. But someone will notice eventually."
"Yeah. Don't worry. I just had a reason for me to leave UNIT come up. I was going to ask for leave… but maybe I'll just resign instead."
"It's not something I like, but considering… We'll miss you."
"Tommy!" They both heard the yell from Tim.
"What did you do?" Buffy asked him wearily.
"Put paint on his chair. My guess is he just stood up and saw the star on his butt. He is our stellar computer geek after all."
"I'll miss all of you too. Try not to give Tim too much grief." They could hear Tim moaning about his ruined pants. "Too much more grief anyways. I just need to type up my resignation and go see Colonel Gold. That should go well."
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"You're what?" Colonel Gold nearly shouted.
"I'm giving you my resignation," Buffy said calmly.
"But… why? I just don't understand. You are an incredible asset. Your service to UNIT has been exemplary. I thought you liked it here."
"I do, but after travelling with the Doctor, it never feels right to stay in one place so long." She hoped he bought the one lie she could come up with. "I think it's time to move on."
"Well, we can reassign you. England, Peru, Australia, Kenya… just pick. You don't need to resign."
"I think I do," she insisted, putting on her best resolve face.
"I can't change your mind?"
"No sir."
"If you are sure…"
"I am."
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Only a few days later Buffy landed in London. She thought about looking up Giles, but like the others in Sunnydale, he hadn't taken the news of Buffy in UNIT very well. And it didn't help that over the three years since her return UNIT had been keeping a very close eye on the slayers and his new Watcher's Council.
Instead, she had lunch with Martha and Martha's fiancé. Things between them seemed tense, but Buffy didn't think they even realised it. With Martha going around the globe for UNIT and Tom travelling great distances for his work, Buffy wondered if they could work it out. She also didn't think Tom had any idea about what Martha did for a living. And Buffy knew all too well how that went. But she didn't say anything. She just had her lunch with them and then took the train from Paddington to Cardiff. Just over two and a half hours later she was checking into a hotel.
'Thank heavens for payment for previous services rendered,' Buffy thought as she looked around her suite. UNIT paid a decent enough salary, but Tim helping her invest and save the money UNIT gave her for her time as a slayer and apocalypses averted in Sunnydale had made her rather wealthy. The suite with the balcony facing Roald Dahl Plass was also due to the fact that the hotel manager owed his life to a previous slayer a decade back.
She tried just sitting in her room and watching the telly after eating dinner, but she was too restless after the long journey. She needed to get out and see things. She walked around the Plass again, but she had strolled around it during the day before checking in to her hotel. It wasn't too much more exciting at night… well, apart from nearly being run over by a speeding SUV. So much for European countries preferring smaller cars.
But really Buffy needed to kill something. She grabbed the first bus at the nearest bus stop she could find and asked the driver if there were any cemeteries along the route.
It was her lucky night. The bus passed the large Cathays Cemetery. She easily jumped over the gate and started wandering around the impressive cemetery. After the cemeteries of Sunnydale she never thought another could impress her, but this one did. It was large and old and looked just as a cemetery should. But she couldn't help wondering if in a cemetery so old there would be any fresh graves or vampires.
Her luck held. She spotted a group of vamps just entering the grounds, much the same way she had. With them looked to be two students dragged against their will by the three vampires. It was time to go to work.
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Jack burst through a side gate to Cathays Cemetery, almost wishing he had a sonic screwdriver. Almost. He could have laughed at the thought of how the Doctor would react to that wish. Jack was sure he'd get a condescending "I told you so" from the Timelord, or at least just a smug smile and an offhand comment about shelves.
Pushing aside thoughts of the Doctor and focusing on the present, Jack flipped open his wrist-mounted vortex manipulator. There had been reported sightings of monsters that were probably just a couple of loose weevils. In Cardiff, deformed faces and sharp teeth meant weevils. But when he reached the area of the sighting he didn't pick up any signs of weevils. He had searched around for a while to be thorough. No signs of weevils. But then there had been another signature—and it wasn't human. He had followed it and was astonished that it led him to Cathays Cemetery.
He walked further into the cemetery. Then he heard what sounded like a fight further ahead. Coming around a tree and stone angel he saw what looked like three men fighting a blonde woman while two other figures ran for the cemetery gates.
Vampires. And apparently a slayer.
It was so much like the last time he had met a vampire slayer.
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He might have been slightly drunk at the time. Just slightly… in that completely pissed out of his head kind of way.
He had been stuck in the nineteenth century for just over a decade. After being so cruelly abandoned by that big-eared U-boat captain he just had to get stuck in a time of extremely primitive technology. Well, at least it wasn't the Dark Ages.
But walking (or the attempt thereof that was really more of a drunken swagger) in the London cemetery in the middle of the night, it certainly was dark. He didn't remember how he had ended up all the way in Highgate Cemetery, especially when he had started drinking in a dodgy pub a bit too close to Southwark. He vaguely remembered wanting to go to Bromley, but that was on the opposite side of the city from Highgate, wasn't it?
Well, he was here and might as well make the most out of it. He wondered where Karl Marx was buried. Was he even dead yet? Eh, communism wasn't really Jack's thing anyways.
Stumbling over a headstone, Jack fell and stumbled through a patch of trees and shrubs. He looked up and saw four really ugly characters ganging up on a tall boy. Their faces looked deformed, and he thought he could see pointed teeth. He glanced at his wrist and then had to look at it again. The men weren't registering as men. No body heat, no nothing, except an unusual energy reading in the non-circulating blood.
He looked again at the fight. There were now suddenly only three, and who he thought was a boy he could now see was a girl. She was wearing the clothing of a lower class boy, but her long dark braid had come loose out of the hat that had fallen to the ground. She registered as human… barely. Something was slightly off.
There were only two of the creatures now. Where did the other ones go? He moved a few feet closer, careful not to be seen. He would have rushed into the fight, but the young woman was doing well. All of a sudden, she punched one of the things' chests. Or did she thrust something into him? But as soon as she pulled back the creature dissolved into dust. But the woman just kept fighting the last one. It didn't take long for her to do the same to it. And in her hand was what looked like a pointed piece of wood. A stake?
No, no, no, no, no. That woman was not just fighting vampires.
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She had been fighting vampires, just like this tiny blonde. Now that she had stopped moving in a blur of fighting, he saw just how small she was. And boy was she tiny!
She suddenly turned in his direction and he hid behind the angel. Thistime he actually could silently hide; the last slayer had seen him. He didn't think this one had spotted him, but she was fast. Too fast. She had to be the Slayer.
A slayer, he had to remind himself. Rumour was that a few years back someone meddled with magic and called them all. Jack was sceptical at first, but then some government contacts confirmed it. Jack just kept repeating to himself that magic was just a different form of science and not supernatural. Still, even with so many slayers now, a slayer in Cardiff was rare. The government didn't trust them and the slayers didn't trust the government, so they had a mutual silent agreement to avoid each other. That meant that slayers weren't really supposed to be in Cardiff and Torchwood's turf… not working anyways. Jack decided to keep an eye on this one.
He followed her and saw her get onto a bus. It was one of the buses that led all the way to Mermaid Quay. He got the number, ran to the SUV, and found the bus again along its route. He followed it, waiting for the woman to get off. As they got closer and closer to the bay, Jack was wondering if perhaps he had missed seeing her get off. He was just about to give up and turn towards the Plass when he saw her get out and head in that very direction. He parked the SUV and followed her from a couple hundred feet away. Her light hair in the street lights stood out enough to keep in sight. He stopped when he realised she was heading for St. David's Hotel.
Tiny, fast, strong, an amazing fighter, and wealthy. He'd have to keep a very close watch on this one.
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The next day Ianto, per usual, was the first to enter the Hub. And luckily he was just the person Jack needed to do a little information gathering on the new slayer in town.
"Ianto!" he called across the Hub as he walked towards the Welshman.
"Captain," Ianto replied and waited.
"I need you to get me a list of people staying at St. David's Hotel. A list of the women specifically."
Ianto looked puzzled and slightly disapproving. "Will I get to know why you need a list of the female guests at the hotel?"
"Need to know," Jack answered. His team had enough trouble handling their knowledge about aliens; they didn't need to be burdened with slayers and demons too.
Ianto didn't look happy, but he nodded anyways. "I'll get right on that, sir."
"Thank you, Ianto," Jack said softly. "No need to mention this to anyone either. It's more a personal matter than Torchwood business."
Ianto didn't say anything else. Jack knew he was unhappy about it, that all the team still didn't trust him not to run away again. They only barely trusted Jack after all the secrets that had come out: he couldn't die, he used to be a conman, he was partners with a man like Captain John, and that was only the beginning. Jack let out a sigh as he sat behind his desk. It was just going to take time to make them realise how much Jack did want to be with them and did trust them… and that they could trust him.
The rest of the team slowly arrived. As Ianto brought coffee around for everyone he left a folder with Jack's cup on his desk. He still hadn't had a chance to go on that date with Ianto. He was thinking he better make it a special one. Jack sipped the coffee and then opened the folder.
He scanned the guest list. Ianto had highlighted all the females. Jack wasn't worried about the slayer sharing a room with someone else and under that someone else's name. He hadn't seen a watcher with her last night, so she was most likely travelling alone. He wasn't sure what he was looking for exactly; he was first just narrowing it down to the names that looked like they might fit her. Most of the Welsh names he immediately threw out. She was too blonde and just didn't move like a citizen of the British Crown. One name caught his attention almost instantly: Buffy Summers.
Who named their kid Buffy?
But something about the name stuck with him, so he looked her up on the computer first. He was in complete shock to have a UNIT record come up. He opened the file and read through it.
Buffy Anne Summers. Born 1981. Joined UNIT three years ago, resigned just days ago. Exemplary service, high honours. Called to be the Slayer at age 15. Lived in Sunnydale until 2001 when she was presumed dead. Didn't reappear until 2005 when she joined UNIT. It was very odd because even his clearance couldn't access the file UNIT had on the missing years.
A slayer and she had a chunk of her life completely sealed? What was she doing in Cardiff? And staying in the hotel closest to Torchwood?
"Sir," Ianto said from the door. If he was calling Jack "sir" then he must still be upset with him. Yup, that date had to be pretty special… if Ianto would still go. "Local police have spotted what appears to be a Klingon running around the Millennium Stadium."
"Klingon? Sounds like some sort of a prank and not our problem."
"According to one of the constables at the scene, the language being shouted from the Klingon-like person is not even close to the Klingon language, as well as there being several other notable differences. They seem sure that this is in our jurisdiction."
"Leave, come back, and what do I get? Klingons," Jack grumbled as he pulled on his coat.
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It took the rest of the day to deal with the "Klingon". Really it turned out to be a Dargemk who wanted to see a rugby match. It took a whole lot of "persuasion" and even more running to get rid of him. More than once he wished he had a super strong slayer around to help with the persuading. It was a shame that slayers couldn't liaise with the organisations fighting alien threats. So far only Miss Summers had.
While Jack let everyone go home for the night, he headed back to the cemetery in hopes that Miss Summers would return. He wandered among the gravestones for over an hour without any sign of her.
Then he noticed movement: a weevil. Of course, tonight it would be a weevil. He pulled his weevil spray out of a coat pocket and walked towards it. It naturally had to take off running. Jack pursued it. He finally cornered it between a couple of large grave statues. Then it started to fight back so Jack had to start throwing punches and try to hit it with some of the spray. Unfortunately, this weevil was pretty strong. Jack was on the ground and it was looking like he might add one more return from death to his total when the weevil was thrown off of him. Jack could only watch in admiration as Buffy Summers kicked and punched in a blur of motion. She certainly had style.
"Are you going to help?" she called to him as she ducked away from the weevil's teeth.
"Looks like you have it under control." Jack replied as he stood up.
She didn't respond. A few more punches and then there was the flash of a knife. With one quick plunge into the heart, the weevil was dead.
"Did you have to kill it?" Jack asked.
"It was trying to kill you," she answered, still holding the knife defensively. "Should I apologise for saving your life now?"
"I don't know. Captain Jack Harkness," he introduced himself. "And you are a vampire slayer, Miss Summers."
She looked surprised for a moment, but quickly hid it. "How do you know who I am?"
"I followed you last night. Vampire slayers are rare here, so I wanted to know who you were."
"You looked me up?" It was more of an amused statement than a question.
"Buffy Summers, vampire slayer working with UNIT. What brings you so far from San Diego? Business or pleasure? Because word is you just quit."
"Both I guess. I would have thought someone in Torchwood would know how to fight better."
He laughed. He wasn't too surprised that she knew who he was and who he worked for. But she was right; Torchwood should have more muscle with their guns. "How about this: you come work for me. Are you interested?"
She stared at him for a moment, sizing him up. "Why?"
"You're the only slayer to fight threats from both under the earth and beyond it. Your references are, quite frankly, brilliant! I don't know why you are here now, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Torchwood could use a slayer, especially one with your experience. So, are you interested?"
She looked like she was thinking it over. He gave her a few minutes. "Yeah." She nodded slowly. "Why not? It's all in the family."
It was an odd statement, but he'd ask her about it later. "Come to the tower fountain across from the Millennium Centre tomorrow morning at nine. I'll give you the tour." With that, Jack left with a smile across his face.
PLEASE let me know what you think. I'm having a spot of trouble and need to know what you like, where you think it should go, any random thoughts or ideas.