As soon as Buffy got to her flat, without thinking, she picked up her mobile and dialled.

"Buffy?"

As soon as she heard his voice what she was doing hit her. "Yeah, um… sorry, Spike. I don't know what I was thinking. I… I'm sorry. I'll let you get back to doing what it was you were doing."

"Wasn't doin' much of anything. I'm a bit surprised that you called, happy but… Do you need to talk?"

"I don't know."

"Buffy, if this Torchwood keeps upsettin' you, get the hell out of there. You've got friends here that miss you." Unsaid was the repetition that he missed her.

"No, it's not that. It was better—no aliens, just cracks in time. It's just… it brought up old memories."

"And I'm to take it that these memories aren't all puppies and candyfloss," he stated.

"Yeah."

"If you don't wanna talk about it…"

"No, it's just… A friend was falling in love with this guy, but the guy was the only one who could stop the cracks in time by going through to 1918 and sealing it all behind him. And she had to be the one to convince him to do it. Sound familiar?"

There was a long pause. She heard him take a deep, and unnecessary, breath. "Angel. Right. Wanker. I don't know what to say, Slayer."

"That keeps happening," Buffy said and decided to lighten the mood. "I think it means your personality is improving."

"That right?"

"Or the world is ending."

"Not the right time of year," they both said together.

"That was creepy," Buffy said. She heard a knock at the door.

"Sounds like you gotta go," Spike said. "Later, Slayer."

She hung up and opened the front door. Tosh stood there. "Ice cream and movies?" she asked.

"I've got plenty," Buffy said and motioned Tosh to enter.

"Were you talking to someone?" Tosh asked while indicating the phone still in Buffy's hand.

"No, yes, someone."

"A boyfriend?"

"God no. Just a friend. That's a guy. Kind of."

"Oh."

"No, no, not like that. He's a vampire."

"You're friends with a vampire?" Tosh sounded surprised and a bit alarmed.

"Kind of. It's complicated. He's… complicated." Buffy walked into the kitchen area while Tosh looked around the flat. It was only the early afternoon, so they'd have time for a few movies and girl talk. Tosh looked like she needed it; she had a sad distance in her eyes that Buffy knew well. "Listen, Tosh, it may seem crazy, but I do know what you're going through."

"How could you?" she asked, but not unkindly. Buffy didn't think there was an unkind bone in the Asian woman's body.

"Because I had to…" She wondered just how much she was going to tell. The more time as a slayer the less and less she was share girl.

"You had to what?"

Oh what the hell. "I had to send my boyfriend to hell."

"What do you mean…"

"Fire, brimstone, endless torment. That hell. It's a long story with so much baggage; all you need to know is that in order to save the world I sent my boyfriend to hell."

"How did you deal with that?"

"Not well, but I was only seventeen at the time. It took me a while to realise I just needed to get back to my job and help people rather than mope about it. Anyway, how about those movies?"

HXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXH

A few days of quiet later, Buffy came in late. After she dropped her bag by her station Ianto handed her a cup of coffee.

"Where have you been?" Jack demanded.

"UNIT called about a previous case," she explained. "It took a while to clear things up. Something happen?"

"Suspicious meat in one of Gwen's fiancé's moving trucks." They both approached Owen's pit. Sure enough, there was a lump of bloody meat on the autopsy table. Owen wore a heavy apron and gloves.

"There is evidence of a vertebral column, but its genetic makeup isn't compatible with any known animal," he said.

"Any idea what it is?" Jack asked.

"Have to scan it. But whoever's farming this meat knows it's dodgy." Owen held up a label. "You see this? Official vet stamp, 'Fit for human consumption.' It's fake. It's good, but it's fake."

Jack walked over to the other workstations. "Tosh, get on to the haulage firm. Find out where that meat is from and where it's heading."

Buffy stayed with Owen and frowned as she drank her coffee. "How would they find out in the first place if it was okay to eat? I've never exactly looked at an alien and thought, 'Oh, that looks like it'd be tasty on my dinner plate.'"

"I think we can file that under 'questions we never want the answers to,'" he replied. "How can you drink that with this smell?"

She took another sip of coffee. "Too much time around hygiene-deficient vamps. It's like they die and lose all concept of B.O."

"If I die, don't let me come back as a vampire."

"Right, you die and I'll decapitate you just to be sure."

"Friendship at its finest," he muttered sarcastically. "So you've heard that Gwen's fiancé is involved in this one?"

"Yeah," she said. It seemed she couldn't come in to work at Torchwood without something from the Initiative being triggered in her memory. "Reminds me of this ex-boyfriend of mine and when I found out he was involved with majorly evil special-ops."

Owen shook his head. "You are so much like your father."

"What do you mean?"

"He's always talking about ex-boyfriends."

Buffy diverted the subject. "Your screen's blinking over there."

"Yeah, hang on." He looked at the screen and then at the meat again. "Jack!"

"Yeah!" Jack shouted back and they all came over to the autopsy area.

"Scan shows it's definitely alien meat."

Jack sighed heavily. "Where the hell would they get it from?"

"If it's going into the processing plant," said Tosh, "that means it's going into pies, burgers, pasties—everything."

Gwen made a noise of disgust. "That means people have been eating it for months."

Owen pointed to the screen. "Well, the DNA traces are stable. There are some signs of animal sedative, but no detectable diseases or residues. My guess is it's good to eat."

"Would you eat it?" Gwen asked.

Ianto joined them. "Pizza's arrived—presumed it would be a late one."

Owen sighed. "What'd you get me?"

"Usual—meat feast."

"Lovely," Owen muttered as he stared at the slab of meat on the table.

HXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXH

Plans were discussed over the pizza. Owen sat between Buffy and Tosh picking the meat off the pizza.

Ianto paced while eating. "I've narrowed it down to three potential areas; only one warehouse is unoccupied. It's just outside Merthyr."

"Makes sense," Owen said. "Who knows what goes on there?"

Jack spoke with his mouth full. "We've got to shut the operation down, neutralize whoever is doing this, and identify the alien meat." Though Gwen started to check her phone, Jack continued. "Tosh, you can coordinate."

Gwen spoke up. "I have to slip home and check on Rhys first."

"Good idea," Jack agreed. "Find out how much he knows."

"That's not what I meant," she said and left.

"Let me guess," Buffy said with obvious fake cheeriness, "I get to sit here and help Tosh!"

"You wouldn't if you would carry a gun," Jack said.

"Not this again," Owen muttered and was ignored.

"Jack, do you not get that I'm a slayer. Pretty much a human weapon here. I don't need a gun."

Jack just threw up his hands. Buffy's phone then went off.

"Summers," she answered. "Colonel Gold, I didn't expect to hear from you… No, I don't think so… Did you try talking to him? … What do you mean? … Sir, I don't know what more you expect from me… All right, I'll see what I can do from here."

Jack, having explained the plan to the others while she was on the phone, now stared at Buffy. "UNIT?"

"That thing from this morning is still of the bad. They need me for the solvage, I guess. Is there somewhere I can video conference with them and get this all cleared up?"

"I'm not sure that was entirely English, but go use the conference room." She started to leave, but he called out to her. "I hope this won't be a habit. You work for UNIT or Torchwood, not both. You have to choose, Buffy."

They shared a long look, both trying to read the other and getting nothing. "I'll let you know by the end of the day."

HXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXH

When Buffy finally finished things with UNIT, she found the central hub area tense and quiet. Ianto had brought out the beer instead of the coffee, so Buffy knew something was up. Jack was on the phone—presumably with Gwen since she was the only one absent from the team.

"She's bringing him in," Jack announced.

Buffy looked to someone for an explanation, but got nothing. Eventually Ianto spoke up.

"Well, this is unprecedented: a fiancé finding out."

"Mainly because we're all sad and single," said Tosh.

"Speak for yourself," Owen said. "I am better off without that kind of hassle."

"Maybe the answer is to go out with someone who knows what you do," Tosh said, ever hopeful.

"Look around you, Tosh," Owen replied, "only we know what we do."

"There's UNIT," Buffy said, still the organisation's poster child. "Lots of hot guys there that know about aliens. Then again, not in Cardiff. London, mostly. And long distance works less than hiding what you do. Trust me."

"Is that why you aren't with that friend of yours?" Tosh asked her. "Is it the distance? Or wait… the vampire thing?"

"What?" Buffy squeaked and drew everyone's attention. "No! God no! I would never… and that one time totally didn't count because of the spell. No… just no."

"Am I missing something?" Owen asked, and even Ianto looked curious.

"No! Nothing. There is absolutely nothing here," Buffy said. Fortunately she was spared any further interrogation by the simultaneous arrival of Gwen and Rhys via the lift and a text from UNIT. Jack was coming down while Buffy went up to the greenhouse. She rolled her eyes and held up her phone; he frowned but didn't say anything. Instead he watched Rhys' amazement at seeing the dinosaur. Even though she was out of sight and texting UNIT back, she made sure to listen and keep an eye on everyone else.

"That looked so real," Rhys laughed.

"It was real," Gwen said.

"They're extinct, Gwen."

"In your timeline, yes," Jack said and shook Rhys' hand. "Captain Jack Harkness. Thanks for dropping in, Rhys."

Gwen introduced them. "This is the rest of the team: Owen and Toshiko, Ianto." She looked around

"Pleased to meet you," Rhys nodded politely.

"Welcome to our headquarters."

"They're bigger than mine," Rhys joked. "So, Gwen tells me you catch aliens."

"That's right," Jack said.

Owen gave the rehearsed answer. "There's a rift through space and time that runs through Cardiff, Rhys. And stuff slips through it from other timelines, and planets and it's our job to monitor it."

Rhys eyed Owen and slowly stepped off the lift block. "You sure they're not some weird kind of cult?"

"You saw that alien in the warehouse." Gwen nudged Rhys. "Go on."

"What did you see?" Jack asked.

"Uh, it was like this huge, shapeless beast filling the space, like a mound of flesh."

Buffy had to draw her full attention back to her phone. The problem with UNIT was finally drawing to a definite close and she wanted it to get there quickly. She registered in the background that the creature was still alive and growing. Her attention was fully back to Torchwood when Ianto said the oddest thing.

"We could release a single."

Oh, right. There was some eighties song about feeding the world and Christmas.

Jack stopped Ianto's joke from going anywhere. "We're talking about dodgy pies and Merthyr, okay? And the fact that they're cutting it up alive—" he turned to Rhys, "—which we could've put a stop to already, if it wasn't for you."

"I thought my fiancée was in danger," Rhys argued.

"Well, Mr. Caveman, she wasn't. She can handle herself."

"Jack," Gwen said with a motion for him to stop. He didn't, so Buffy put all her attention on Torchwood. This was getting intense.

"All you did tonight was mess things up. Now, we have to think of a way to get back in. And thanks to you, they'll have tightened security!"

Jack turned, but Rhys put in his side. "Well, if you stopped and asked me exactly what I saw in there, instead of showing off round the place—"

"Do I show off?" Jack asked Ianto.

"Just a bit," Ianto answered with a nod.

"—you'd know that I got out by telling them I wanted a job as a delivery boy. So rather than cock things up, I found you a way to get in!" Rhys got right up in Jack's face. "But if you can't handle that, big boy, then you can stuff it!"

Jack waited a beat and looked at Gwen. "This is quite homoerotic."

"No, no, no, no, Jack," Gwen protested. "He is not getting us in."

"Team meeting." Jack pointed at Gwen and then to Rhys. "You too!"

They all followed Jack to the conference room. Buffy finished with UNIT, adding that if they bothered her again in the next twenty-four hours they would regret ever hiring her. She arrived in the conference room just as Ianto was laying out maps of the warehouse on the table.

"Hey," she greeted Jack and stood next to him while everyone was sitting down.

"Rhys, meet the last member of the team," Jack said. "Miss Buffy Summers."

Rhys' eyes went wide. "THE Buffy Summers?"

And with that cliffhanger... I'm once again working on this story. Hopefully I can keep it up.