A.N. If you get confused, Chapter 2 might be enlightening.

After the explosions, no one could reach Jack or John Hart. The rest of the Torchwood team were on their own and Gwen was taking charge. The first thing was assessing the damage.

Tosh gave the list. "Fifteen major explosions at strategic points across the city. There's currently a surge in traffic trying to leave the city, but the explosions have cut off all major routes in and out. Landlines, mobile phones, and IT networks all down. TV and radio off air. He's completely crippled us, Gwen."

Using her handheld, Buffy confirmed the readings and looked at what the computers at the Central Server said. They were well and truly humped.

"The nuclear power plant looks intact," Buffy said, "but power has been cut off from the city. I'll try to get it online from here."

"You can do that?" Spike asked. "No offense, Slayer, but computers were never your thing."

"That was before I got hit with mystical spacey energy and turned out to be half alien," she replied. "You've noticed before. How many times have you asked 'when did Buffy get so smart?' Now you have your answer. Plus, I spent a lot of time with Tosh and with computers at UNIT. I've got this."

Spike looked to Ianto, but the Welshman only shrugged his shoulders.

"How long will that take, Buffy?" Owen asked over the comms. "The backup generators gave out in the blast. Every single machine in this hospital is down. It's a disaster."

"I don't got this," Buffy said. "Damn it! I can't fix it from here. Maybe Tosh and I can do it at the Hub, but we might have to go to the power station itself."

"Okay," said Gwen. "All of you, listen to me. We're going to fix this. We're gonna put this city back together, we're gonna find Jack, and we're gonna punish John. Now, I need you to be careful and to regroup at Torchwood, see what John has done. I need to stay here at the police station. Owen, will you stay at the hospital?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, Buffy, Ianto, Tosh, get back to the Hub, get power back online, and see if you can find Jack."

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Back at the Hub, Buffy, Tosh, and Ianto worked furiously to get things back online. Tosh was working to hack into the Turnmill power station systems, Buffy was contacting UNIT to see if they could sweep in to help, and Ianto was assisting both women while going over recently recorded data to try and locate where Hart would have gone with Jack. Spike was pacing, and would occasionally disappear as he roamed the Hub.

"So Tosh," Buffy said. "Have you and Owen gone on a date yet?"

"Buffy, I don't really think this is the time to discuss that sort of thing," Tosh answered. "Especially not when…"

"When what?"

"When we're dealing with Jack's psycho ex-partner and… ex-partner."

"What?" Buffy looked confused for a moment, but then the meaning dawned on her. "Oh. Oh! Oh god."

"Wait," Spike said. "You mean… He and him… with my… Oh, this is all shades of messed up! Hey Suits, you ever want to take another swing at me, I get it now. Go ahead."

"Thanks," Ianto answered, "but I'll save it for the real thing."

"It's not working!" Tosh shouted in frustration. "Everything should be working. None of the explosions should have affected the power like this."

"If you were trying to cripple a city, wouldn't the power station be the first thing you'd go for?" asked Buffy. "No power means half of practically everything shuts down. Plus, a meltdown at the nuclear power station—that would cause maximum panic and destruction. But the explosions look like they went out of their way to hit everything but the power station. Why?"

"Wait," said Ianto. "There was Rift activity there."

"What?" asked Tosh as she looked again at the readout on the screen. "No. I checked. That's too small to be anything."

"Small next to all the explosions maybe," Ianto argued. "And it's a few seconds later. Corresponding with this small blip here."

Buffy looked at where he was pointing: Cardiff Castle.

"It might be nothing under normal circumstances, but with what's happening now?"

"Ianto's right," Buffy said. "If this John Hart wanted Jack to see everything when the bombs went off, I don't think he could find a better viewpoint than the castle. So this means he took Jack to the power station."

"It looks that way," Ianto agreed.

"You can't know that for sure," Tosh argued. "It's circumstantial at best."

"And all we have to go on," said Ianto.

"Yeah," said Buffy, "I'm gonna go with my gut. Jack's at the power station."

"So how do we get in there?" Spike asked.

"Ring the doorbell?" Buffy suggested with a shrug. "Got any ideas, Tosh?"

"A few."

"Please tell me they don't involve any corpses this time," said Ianto.

She looked at Spike and raised an eyebrow. "Well technically speaking…"

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It was decided that while Spike and Buffy mounted a rescue mission to the power station, Ianto and Tosh would sort out getting a generator to the hospital. Word from Owen emphasised how dire the situation was. With government and UNIT help still on the road, and no knowing how long it would take for Buffy and Spike to sort things at the station, getting immediate power back to the hospital was crucial.

The plan for getting into the power station was simple: go there, break in if necessary, but be stealthy. Who knew what other explosive devices Hart had with him?

The plan was working so far. She and Spike were able to make good time getting there; Torchwood had a motorcycle and Spike was an experienced driver—even with Buffy hanging on to him with all her supernatural strength. It was a good thing he didn't need to breathe. He might like the bike, but she certainly did not.

They had just stashed the bike and were looking for the best way over the fence when an ear-splitting siren screeched through the air. They covered their ears until it was over.

"Sodding hell!" Spike said in a shouted whisper. "What was that?"

"Not good," Buffy answered. She was looking around the area. Weevils were coming out of the ground, and they didn't look happy. Not that weevils ever really looked "happy." These, though, appeared more than normally vicious. And they had spotted the blond duo. "Hey everyone," Buffy said over the comms, "we've got weevils popping up like daisies here."

Buffy jumped into the fight and Spike was only a step behind. There were four of them. Buffy easily dispatched one with a surprise lunge and a twist of its neck. Spike was boxing against another. The remaining two charged at Buffy together. She held off one, but the other got its teeth in her arm. With a scream she shook it off. She backed away as they regrouped. Spike, meanwhile, had noticed the blood and it fuelled his attack. His weevil was soon dead and he attacked the remaining two. He killed one, and with her good arm Buffy helped him kill the other.

"Buffy."

"I'm fine," she said.

He took off his leather coat so he could remove the button-up shirt layered over his tee. He used that button-up to bind the wound and slow the bleeding. Slayer healing could take care of the rest.

"Are you all right?" came Gwen's voice over the comms.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "We're fine. Please tell me that noise wasn't some sort of dog whistle Kujo-ing all weevils in the city."

"I'm afraid that's exactly what it was," said Tosh's voice. "It originated from the power station."

"Buffy," said Gwen, "if Tosh can't reverse it, you'll have to. This is creating a worse panic than before."

"Right. At least tell me you've gotten power to the hospital."

"They are hooking up a new generator as we speak," said Ianto.

"That's one small relief. Tosh, I'll keep in touch about that weevil whistle." Buffy ended the communication.

"Do you get the feeling someone might be expecting us?" Spike asked.

"Yeah," she agreed. "And the disturbing idea that maybe it's more than just him too."

"That's a relief. Thought it was just me having an Admiral Ackbar moment." He pulled his coat back on. "Shall we?"

"You know me; life's no fun if you walk away from a trap."

Now that they had reason to, they proceeded with more caution. Spike searched out the best route in to avoid any security cameras. That sorted, they jumped the fence and made their way to the main building. They had to duck into a shaded niche when they spotted a couple guards patrolling the area.

"Bollocks," Spike muttered.

"Hey, wait a minute," Buffy whispered more to herself. "Those uniforms. They look familiar."

Spike peeked around the corner the see the two men now talking to one another. "Don't recognise it. But you'd have more experience with uniforms."

"Yeah," she mumbled absently, still trying to place where she had seen the clothes. They weren't exactly military—more security guard than anything else.

They waited, but the men showed no signs of leaving. Buffy searched for some way of avoiding their notice, some way of distracting them, but there wasn't anything.

Buffy tapped the comm. "Hey Tosh, is there any way to hack into anything around here and make a distraction. We're kind of stuck."

"I've been trying," Tosh's voice answered. "But the security is impenetrable. The only new information I've found is that the systems inside the building have heat sensors."

"Wonderful."

"I'm still working on reversing the weevil signal, but I don't think I can do much from here."

"Yeah, we're on it." She ended the call.

"You got a plan?" Spike asked.

Buffy's mind was whirling over all the options, all the known variables, all the foreseeable possibilities. "Yeah, there's one big obvious idea but I don't think you're gonna like it. I get caught by the goons and you follow while they hopefully take me to the same place they're holding Jack."

"Are you out of your mind, Slayer?" Spike had difficulty in keeping his voice quiet.

"You heard Tosh: heat sensors. They're gonna spot me right away, but you? No body heat. You can slip past them. Plus if you can follow close enough, there might be fewer locks to bust." She waited for him to agree. It took a few moments of him glaring straight at her before he finally nodded. She turned from him to leave the niche, but he pulled her good arm to face him again.

"Be careful, Buffy."

She gave a reassuring smile, but his worried eyes held hers. She lost her thoughts for a moment while they stared at each other. Then some impulse overtook her and she quickly pressed her lips to his. He held on to her immediately and kissed her back with desperate fervour. It only lasted a moment before she broke away and left the hiding spot.

She crept around, trying not to look like she wanted to get caught, and waited for the guards to spot her. It didn't take too long for them to spot her, hold her at gunpoint, and lead her away.

At some point en route past guard stations and into the main building Buffy's hands were placed in cuffs behind her back. To anyone who might have asked, she would have said it was her resolution to stick to the plan that subdued her inner slayer's desire to rip the bonds apart. In reality, the one thing keeping her calm was feeling Spike's presence at the edge of her senses.

She was expecting to be taken to the brains behind the whole operation, probably to some industrial control room with computers and things. Maybe Jack would be there—tied up and bleeding of course. Hart, who more and more Buffy thought was just a front man, would be walking around making cocky comments and being told to shut up by the big boss man. Naturally there would be moustache twirling and gleeful hand rubbing from the evil genius. Really her imagination was just creating a James Bond scenario. And of course she was 007 in this scene.

Did that make Spike a Bond girl? Given the kiss they had just moments before… yes.

Buffy had to stifle the giggle that wanted to break free.

They arrived at their destination. There were computers and industrial looking instruments. Hart was walking around the edges and poking at things. Jack was sitting on the floor with his hands chained to a large, heavy table with computer screens. And in the middle of it all was a suave looking man in a well tailored suit. And he had a moustache.

Buffy burst out laughing.

Hart stopped dead in his tracts to stare at the crazy woman, but the man in the suit gave her a calculating look.

"I'm sorry," Buffy said after controlling her hysterics. "But you gotta admit this is straight out of a Bond movie."

"Either you are very brave or very stupid," the suit said. "You think this is some sort of rescue?"

She shrugged.

"There will be others to follow her. Go and deal with them." He looked at Hart.

Obviously resenting the order, John nevertheless obeyed and left the room. That left one guard, the man in the suit, Jack, and herself the only people there. Buffy spared a glance to make sure Jack was relatively okay, kept an eye out for the controls she would need, and still focused on sizing up her opponent.

Suddenly the familiarity struck her. "Tony. I should have known."

He smiled. "So you remember."

"I remember the Doctor ratting out your whole mob to the police."

Tony sneered. "It will take more than that to get rid of us. We Buonarroti are not so easily crushed, and when we get our revenge…"

"We'll wish we had never been born," Buffy interrupted. "Yeah, yeah, spare me the villain's speech and revealing your evil schemes. I can guess what they are. After you escaped arrest, you learned about the Doctor. You can't exactly find a guy who bounces around all time and space, so you found this Rift where he refuels. You came here with the help of John Hart to take over the city and have a trap ready for the Doctor when he eventually shows. Is that right?"

"I may have misjudged your intelligence," Tony admitted.

"Villains always do. It's kinda their tragic flaw."

Noise of a fight echoed from outside. Buffy used the distraction to break the handcuffs and throw Tony across the room. He crashed in a heap. Next Buffy tackled with the guard and bashed him across the head so that he too was on the ground. Having noticed the computer she needed while talking, Buffy raced to it and sent out the reverse weevil signal. She looked up when the door opened. It was Spike, and it was obvious that he too had been in a serious brawl.

She tilted her head towards Jack, and wordlessly Spike nodded and went to help him. Buffy was busy trying to undo the blocks Buonarroti had put up and restore power to the city. She was just finishing when Jack yelled her name and a gun went off. Buffy felt the blast and looked down at the blood coming from her chest. The screens flashed that power was restored just as Buffy fell to the floor.

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The shot had come from the guard on the floor; he had recovered enough to pull his weapon. Spike, who had just come to her side after helping Jack up, crumbled beside her and pulled her in his arms. She was dead. Spike clutched her close as the tears fell.

Jack meanwhile kicked the guard with repeated violence and picked up the fallen gun. He held it up and put a bullet through the guard's brain. He then calmly walked over to Buonarroti and tied the man's wrists. The mobster was slowly regaining consciousness.

"You can hand him over to me now." Jack and Spike turned to see Hart walking in while holding a gun. "If I can't get paid for this job, at least I can get some money for giving him back to the family."

"Not gonna happen," Jack said.

As Hart came closer he saw Buffy's body in Spike's lap. "Oh, you got a blonde. I said you needed a blonde. Too bad though. Oh well, you'll find another one for you team."

Hart smirked, and Spike set Buffy down and moved forward. He punched Hart's nose and the brunet fell to the floor clutching his face in pain. He looked up in shock at the bleached blond with his face. But he recovered quickly and shot off several rounds into Spike while he stood back up. Spike looked at the holes in annoyance and let his true demon face show. Hart wasn't smirking any more.

"Bloody fuck!" John yelled. He looked at Jack, but Jack's face was hard and unreadable.

John and Spike fought over the gun and in the wrestle the weapon fell and was kicked out of reach. John pulled his sword. Spike hesitated, and in that moment John surged forward and raised his sword to swing.

Suddenly the arm holding the blade was yanked behind him and the sword fell with a clatter and a chorus of John's "ows." Buffy slapped him upside the back of his head. "Shut up."

"If that's everything, why don't we get out of here," said Jack. He grabbed Tony and forced him to walk in front while Buffy did the same with John.

Spike, dumbfounded, followed just behind. He had to be imagining things. But the blood on his hands and clothes and on Buffy told him otherwise. He wanted to ask questions but he couldn't form the words. The guards he had beaten unconscious in the hall began to stir. He knocked them out again and then ran to keep up with Buffy and Jack.

Outside a helicopter was landing. A couple men in UNIT uniforms got out and talked to Buffy and Jack. They took Buonarroti, but left Hart in Torchwood's care. UNIT grunts from the helicopter went into the building to finish off the cleanup operation. Buffy, Jack, John, and Spike were then given a ride back to the Roald Dahl Plass in the chopper.

Once the chopper left, Jack turned to John. "You're done here."

"I thought I'd stick around, explore this rock you're so fond…"

"You're done here," Jack repeated. "And you're not coming back."

John stared him in the eye for a moment. "I'm not coming back. Can I get a little help with the magic door out of here?"

Jack hit the comm. "Tosh?"

Across the Plass there was the gold shimmer of the Rift. John walked towards it and disappeared. Jack joined Buffy and Spike on the square in front of the fountain and the lift lowered. It wasn't until they stepped off that Spike unleashed everything he had been holding back.

"Buffy, you were dead! I saw it, I felt it, and you were dead. This isn't slayer healing!"

"Did you die again?" Owen asked from Tosh's desk. Her arm had been set and he was bandaging a gash on her neck while she continued to work.

"Yeah," Buffy answered.

Owen just nodded his head with a frown. Tosh, however, stopped her typing and leaned around the computer screen—much to Owen's annoyance.

"You haven't told him about it?" she asked.

"Uh… no?"

"Told me?" Spike asked. Apparently all of Torchwood was in on it.

"Runs in the family," Jack said. His arms had been crossed over his chest while Spike had his moment, but now Jack uncrossed them and stepped forward. He pulled up to his full height to tower into Spike's personal space. "We just don't die. Buffy, can I see you in the conference room?"

Spike understood the threat—Jack couldn't be killed, but he could easily destroy the vampire. That clear, Jack walked to the conference room.

Spike looked to Buffy.

"Surprise?" She shrugged. "I was meaning to tell you, I just never found the right moment."

"Did you not trust me? I thought… no. No. God, I'm a fool."

"Spike… I… I've gotta go talk to Jack. We'll finish this later."

Not knowing what else to do, Spike walked away and ended up with Ianto by the coffee machine. Ianto was brewing much needed coffee for everyone. The physical danger gone, it was now time for the cleanup and paperwork and coordination with official organisations.

"Where's the Welsh girl?" Spike asked.

"Gwen? Still out giving orders to the police and coordinating with other services."

Spike just nodded.

"Hart gone?" Ianto asked after a couple minutes of Spike just standing there in silence.

"Yeah," Spike said with a sigh.

"So he's paid to ruin the city and then just gets to walk free," Ianto grumbled. "I guess there's too much history for Jack to actually…"

Spike looked at him, but the Welshman wasn't going to finish the thought. "If it helps, I broke his nose. Good left hook to the face."

"How'd that feel? Punching yourself?"

Spike paused for a moment. "Really good. Now I know why they go for the nose."

Ianto gave a small smile. "But you really didn't know about Buffy not dying? Well, they die but they don't stay dead for long."

Spike shook his head. "How is that even possible?"

"Something happened to Jack, he won't say what, and through complicated circumstances and a one in a million chance Buffy inherited the same curse. And a curse is really what it is. It looks terribly painful. And living all those years, watching everyone die but unable to end it." Ianto stared into space for a moment, lost in thought. He shook it off. "You shouldn't hold it against her."

"But you all knew?"

"We knew about Jack. Then when Buffy came none of us, not even Jack, knew she was like that too until later. She took a bullet for Owen." Ianto paused again in thought. "Huh. It was Owen shooting Jack that revealed his secret in the first place. Ironic."

"Yeah," Spike agreed—even if he was confused and unhappy he could see the symmetry of it all. "I don't, though, hold anything against her. She doesn't owe me anything, and it's daft to expect she'd confide in me about this."

"Really?" Ianto held out two cups and put one in Spike's hand. "This one is for Buffy. Go talk to her."

Spike wanted to protest, but Ianto was insistent. Apparently Buffy had taught him Willow's resolve face. Ianto started delivering the coffee to the rest of the team. Jack was back in his office, but Buffy wasn't anywhere in the main Hub so Spike went to the conference room.

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"I suppose I should thank you for all your help today," Jack said when Buffy joined him in the conference room.

"It'd be nice," she said, "but not necessary. I knew you were in danger so I had to help."

"How did you know?"

"Prophetic dreams are part of the slayer package."

He sighed. The S word reminded them both of the last conversation in this room. "I'm glad you came. Thank you."

She saw a new sadness in his eyes; they looked even older than before. "Jack, is there something else?"

He took a moment to consider before speaking. "My brother. I lost him when we were kids, and though I searched for years I could never find him. John Hart did. He was chained with countless corpses… just as dead… I always hoped…"

Buffy put a hand on his. "I may not be part of this team anymore, but that doesn't mean I won't help if you really need me."

"I'd ask you to come back…" His hopeful tone faded with her shaking head. "No, you're right. Just not Torchwood material."

"Exactly. I gotta do my own thing."

He shook off the sadness. "What is this new thing? Any future plans? I know Dawn's getting married soon."

"Yeah. I'm going back to the States to help out, try and mend our relationship. We haven't been close since… well since everything. And I do have a new project in mind. I'm going into the private sector and being my own boss. I don't know if it'll work, but it's time for me to stop following and make my own way. I should probably go soon. We've got a flight to catch the day after tomorrow."

"You and…"

"Spike, yes." She frowned. "How wrong is it that I'm with a guy that looks just like my dad's psychopathic ex?"

Jack laughed. "I can't say I like it, but Ianto assures me they are nothing alike. He talked me out of following you and staking him, actually."

"Wow. That's just… wow."

Jack smiled. "I'd wish you luck, but you don't need it. You'll do wonderfully."

He hugged her and left the room.

A short moment later, Spike walked in and handed Buffy a mug of coffee and took a sip from his own cup. He moaned. "Damn that man is good."

"He's the Coffee God. I'm working on a shrine."

"I'll have to contribute an icon or two."

There was an awkward silence as they sat. There wasn't just an elephant in the room—there was an elephant doing a one-man rendition of the complete works of William Shakespeare while tap dancing in roller skates.

"I did almost tell you," Buffy said. "It was never about trust—it just didn't seem the thing to do over the phone. Spike, I trust you more than anyone."

"That right?" Spike put up a cocky front, but it was obvious that her words touched him. He turned serious. "But is it a curse? That's how Ianto described it. What exactly does it mean?"

"You kill me and a little bit later I pop up good as new. Well, not exactly good as new. There's a killer headache, and it does take a few minutes for all the wounds to close, but that's better for me with slayer healing than for Jack."

"So there's no chance of killing him? No silver bullet mystical exception?"

"Nope. Not that he's found. He gave me a list of all the ways he's died in the past century or so; it's fairly comprehensive."

"So he doesn't age either? Well isn't that just peachy."

"Which means I won't age," Buffy added with emphasis.

Spike just nodded and drank more of his coffee.

"I won't age," she repeated. "And you don't age. So if we started dating, it could go on for a really long time."

Spike's eyebrows rose. "Wait. Are you…"

"Asking you to be my boyfriend? Yeah, kind of trying to get that point across."

While Spike's mouth was opening and closing like a fish his eyes were hopeful. Buffy shifted her chair closer and kissed him. His arms immediately wrapped around and pulled her into his lap. Their mouths moved together until Buffy pulled away for air.

"So is that a yes, because I really need a date for this wedding coming up."

He narrowed his eyes at her teasing. He decided to silence her again with more kissing.

A.N. So what do you think? Big apologies for taking so long. I've been behind on my writing schedule and ComicCon was extremely distracting. Plus this chapter has been rather tricky to finish. I hope you like it! The story is actually drawing closer to its end and there are only a few chapters left. In order to finish it satisfactorily, updates will happen once a week instead of twice.