Disclaimer: Buffy and Torchwood universes are not mine. I'm just playing with them ^^

Thank you so much for all your wonderfull reviews! I haven't much time so I couldn't answer your review personnally. Each time I received a review, it makes me smile and it's a real booster for writting. So I hope to read more of them ^_^

At this point, I had a decision to make about the development of this story. I could take a lot of time, describe day by day the development of Buffy's relationship with Torchwood but I thought it would be too long, too boring. So I tried a different option. I hope you'll appreciate it. So, I'm waiting for your opinion.

Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

Changes

Her meeting with Torchwood marked a huge change in her life. Two days later, Andy had left the hospital and Buffy told him everything about her life and her job. He had taken it relatively well. He hadn't screamed or ran away. He had asked her for a little time alone. One week later, he called her, wanting to know—to see more. So, he accompanied her on one of her patrols and he met his first vampire. Two weeks later, he was joking about it, so things worked out. Better yet, it seemed to reinforce their friendship. Buffy had feared that his opinion of her would change, but it hadn't and he wasn't asking any more from her than before. She had stayed Buffy and it had been a relief to her. In fact, he had taken the knowledge of supernatural better than her new partnership with Torchwood. She suspected that he was frightened by the idea she would drift away like Gwen had. It had taken nearly a month to reassure him. But she had succeeded in the end.

At the same time, she got closer to the Torchwood team. In a professional way with the guys and in a personal way with the girls. Living in the same building as Owen made it hard to avoid him. They seemed to run into each other every day. She was glad of that as she took every occasion she could to mock him. She found it all strangely relaxing. Most of the time, she just said, "Hi Rude Guy", and the death glare he sent her was all the reaction she needed to brighten her day. She had thought hard about the reason one day and she concluded that she missed the teasing and the tension between her and someone else. Owen seemed to be the right guy to fill that void.

As for Jack, he was flirting like Hell but she had quickly figured that he did it with everyone. He was all smiles and detachment and jokes. He seemed to be a great leader. But she wasn't interested in that. What she liked about him was his dark part, the secrets hiding in his old marvelous blue eyes. They told of fights, pain and heartache. She didn't know what happened to him exactly but it was like they recognized something in each other. And this something had created a friendship based on respect and trust. They were the good guys and they knew it.

Ianto was the most obscure one. He was quiet and respectful, always clad in one of his suits. He was always in control of himself, physically and emotionally. She had found him quite cold at first—indifferent. She had quickly understood the way Jack had described him and why he had chosen those words. The young Welshman was everywhere, acting quickly and quietly, cleaning, organizing, making sure everyone had what they needed, distributing coffee just the way people liked it. He was a shadow, a shadow making sure everything was in order for the smooth working of Torchwood. He still stayed a mystery to her. Even more since he seemed to avoid her, for whatever reason.

She remembered the day she had finally obtained her answer about Ianto and Jack. She was with Tosh and Gwen, having a good night out when she absentmindedly asked, "So, what's going on between Ianto and Jack?"

Gwen had nearly spitted out her beer. It was Tosh who answered.

"They sleep together."

"Such a waste…" Buffy whispered.

"We don't know if they are 'together' together," Gwen added. "They're complicated. They sleep together. But are they a couple? Are they exclusive? We have no idea."

"It was kind of a shock when we learnt there was something between these two."

Tosh described the day that Jack had kissed Ianto in front of everyone after having been seriously injured. Buffy caught the exchanged glance at the mention of his injuries and wondered what they were hiding behind it. There was a lot that they didn't share.

"We're used to Jack's flirting," Tosh said. "But we're less prepared for him to be involved in a relationship."

Buffy sighed and explained her questioning.

"Two gorgeous men like them. That's such a waste for us!"

Her companions laughed.

"What? Did I say something funny?"

"They're not gay," Tosh quietly said.

"But they're together."

Buffy wasn't following. Gwen shrugged. "Ianto's bisexual and Jack's omnisexual."

"Omni-what?! Is that even a world?" exclaimed the Slayer.

"Omnisexual," Gwen repeated. "It's the best way to explain it. Jack flirts with everything that's alive. He isn't bothered by the gender or the race. Men, women, aliens… If it's in his tastes, he flirts. And believe me, Jack's tastes are pretty diversified."

The blonde gasped and stayed open-mouthed for a few seconds. Gwen and Tosh laughed at her expression. She joined them.

"I heard a lot of things in my life but I have to say, that's a first!"

Those kinds of nights out had become a habit for the three women. Toshiko was a shy and discreet woman. She reminded Buffy of Willow when they had first met, so long ago. She was reserved, nervous and not too confident in herself. She rarely looked people in the eyes, especially if she didn't know them. She stayed in the background while in a group, keeping her thoughts to herself, observing and rarely intervening. She was so insecure. So much like a young Willow! So, Buffy pushed a little, wanting to break through the shell. Slowly, she succeeded. That's when she met the passionate, smart, nice and funny woman underneath. Toshiko was an amazing person. She was completely dedicated to her work with Torchwood. She could talk about it for hours, never losing interest. She was always amazed by everything she discovered. When she watched the stars, she knew what wonders were hiding there and it touched her. But it was also a source of sadness for her. Because over the years, she had understood that these wonders were also keeping her isolated from the rest of the world. She couldn't share her discoveries with anyone. And it saddened her.

Getting closer to the Asian girl allowed Buffy to get closer to Gwen. The Slayer wasn't really happy about that at first. She didn't like the brunette and she didn't want to know her. But she did. And it had been an interesting thing, because she understood a little more about how Torchwood worked. Gwen Cooper was a very curious woman. Curiosity had led her to the secret organization. While most people would have closed their eyes at the weirdness, the policewoman had pushed the issue, investigating into Torchwood. She had walked right into the Hub with a pizza! When she had discovered everything, going back to her little job and her little life hadn't been possible. So, Jack had hired her. After trying to Retcon her of course.

The brunette confessed to her that Jack had a condition when she joined: she had to hold on tight on her life. Gwen hadn't understood at first, but Buffy had. Having a secret identity, a secret mission, she knew how hard it was. But Gwen had found out eventually. She couldn't talk to her family—to her boyfriend. Her life had turned into a bunch of lies, almost ruining her relationships. She explained how, depressed with her life, she had slept with Owen. In all the shit going on, Rhys discovering what had been happening was the best thing that could have happened. He had learnt everything at the same time Buffy had met the Torchwood team. After that confession, the Slayer couldn't help but feel closer to Gwen, because she knew exactly how she felt.

Working for Torchwood might be something wonderful. But it isolated you. How could you talk about trivial things when you knew that such marvelous things as aliens existed? How could you feign interest about unimportant gossip when you knew that there were other planets and species in the universe? When you were so close to it that you could touch it? But you couldn't talk, you couldn't share. So you lied. You lied to your family, to the people you loved. You changed. You became distant and the rift between you and your family, between you and the rest of the world grew bigger. Finally, your work became everything. You lose everything else.
Buffy knew that because she had lived it. Being a Slayer had ruined her life. Soon, her life had narrowed to her duty, her best friends, her Watcher and, later, her mother. She had never been able to live a normal life. The last time she had been friends with people who didn't know about her world was back in LA, ten years ago. She had tried with Andy and look how long that had lasted? It was impossible to have a normal life. To even feign one while knowing such a big secret. It took all of you. Every part.

All in all, six months after she arrived in Cardiff, Buffy had made herself a nice little life and some great friends. Somewhere, she had even met Rhys and had liked him at first sight! He was funny and reminded her of a huge teddy bear. She didn't think that it was possible to not like him.

She had barely spoken to her friends since then and she hadn't seen them. They were rapidly drifting apart and she didn't know if she wanted to stop the process. For the first time in a long while, her life was hers. And she liked that.

Buffy's arrival also had an impact on a few Cardiff inhabitants. Andy didn't know if he was glad he had befriended the woman or not. She was funny, nice and beautiful, but she was also bad news. His world had been turned upside down. Now, he was carrying stakes, holy water and crosses with him every time he was out at night. Aliens, that was okay. How could you deny it when spaceships were appearing in the sky or destroying monuments? Hell, people were deserting London each year on Christmas because of them. But demons? They were myths! Or so he had thought. Discovering that the monsters he had feared since he was a child were real had been a hard pill to swallow. Especially since he had learnt that just after having been almost eaten by an alien. And, to make everything more confusing, his new best friend, the hot little blonde woman, was a superhero. He would not have believed her but after he saw her reduce a vampire to dust, he had done it completely. He had wondered if he should continue to see her. But his life had been really more interesting since he had met her.

The life of the Torchwood members also became much more interesting since they met her.

At first, Tosh had been on guard with Buffy, like she always was with someone new. The woman seemed too young, too popular. She reminded the Asian of those popular and superficial girls in high school who would look down at you with spite and be mean just because they could. She had known all too well what harm they could do. So, she was really surprised when, one day, Buffy proposed that they go out and have a drink. She had agreed and it was the first of many other drinks. Slowly but surely, she had opened up to the girl who was much nicer than those high school bitches. There had been shopping, movies, girls nights at her apartment with Gwen, clubs, and pubs. In the end, Tosh was glad of Buffy's arrival. Now, she had something outside the work, a relatively normal social life.

Gwen wasn't too happy. She didn't know why but the petite American bimbo was really annoying her. Maybe it was the way she was constantly annoying Owen, or how she was easily comfortable with all the weirdness, or the way Jack was constantly flirting with her. Maybe, it also had to do with the world she was bringing into Cardiff. They had enough problems with aliens without adding dangerous things like demons and all that stuff. Or maybe Gwen didn't like her because Buffy—and what kind of name was that anyway?—turned her world upside down, after Torchwood had done it, and when she already had so many problems. But Tosh had begun to hang out with her and the brunette had found herself joining them. She had found that hating Buffy was more and more difficult as the time passed. The girl was always cheerful and joking. She was nice but could be a bitch when she needed to or just wanted to, as she had discovered while working with her on a few cases. Then, she had introduced her to Rhys who had befriended her quickly. All in all, she didn't know when exactly it happened, but Buffy became a friend.

Rhys had heard of Buffy long before he had met her. At first, Gwen talked about this new organization which was toying with their nerves. He hadn't listened because he was mad at his fiancée and was trying to come to terms that the woman he loved was hunting aliens. Aliens for Christ's sake! Then, one day, she came home and began ranting about that stupid American girl who was treating them like idiots. He had listened, like every other time, nodding or making a sound when needed. After a while, she started to speak more kindly about Buffy, saying that she was not that bad. At last, the hated woman had become one of her best friends and one evening, he had finally met her. He had immediately liked her. They had spent the night joking about nothing and everything. Now, he considered the woman like a friend, even if he had a hard time believing she was hunting demons and vampires. Because, hey, she was too thin and those kinds of things didn't exist, right? Right?

Ianto didn't know what to think of the woman. She was an asset to Torchwood. She rarely worked with them. However, they called her every time a Weevil was on the loose and he had seen her in action. She was strong and focused, hunting her prey like a true predator. Their hunts with her ended very quickly compared to if they were alone. But that fact scared him. The cold look in her eyes when she was in 'Slayer mode', as she called it, frightened him a little. Then, there were the mood swings. She could go from the typical Californian blonde, brainless, bimbo, to a scary old warrior in the blink of an eye. She was unpredictable. And if there was one thing he hated it was unpredictability. So, he avoided her. It wasn't an easy thing to do since Gwen and Tosh had become her best friends, Jack was thinking of employing her for more cases and Owen was always complaining about her.

Jack admired Buffy. There was something about her, about the way her hazel eyes darkened when she was pissed or when she was lost in thought, about the way she spoke, the way she fought that called to something inside him. She was a warrior and he had no doubts she had seen her fair share of horrors in her life. Sometimes, he caught her day-dreaming and she had such a sad expression on her face that he would start feeling it as well. Because he was sure he would have the same one when he was thinking of his past. She kept her secrets and he didn't push. He hadn't told her anything more about himself and she had respected that. He wasn't one to trust easily, but with her, respect had come instantly. And, she was funny too. She answered each of his attempts at flirting with ease. There were no worries though; they knew that nothing would happen between them. Why? He really didn't know. It was just a silent understanding. She had never talked about her past life, not even about her friends. They knew her mother was dead and her father was nowhere to be seen but that was all. She never mentioned anything. And they respected that. She was alone, as much as they were.

Owen was fuming. "Buffy this way, Buffy that way." He was hearing her stupid name too many times a day. The blonde was haunting him,
hiding in every corner of his life. Even when he went home, he wasn't at peace; she was always there, giving him those little annoying smiles and calling him Rude-Guy with that little annoying American accent. He was going crazy! The worst part was that the doctor in him was dying of curiosity. She could do inhuman things and he would love to learn more, to understand the how. But it would mean spending more time with her and he couldn't bear that. Hell, he would have to ask her! Nicely! She had taken light injuries and he had watched them fade incredibly fast. And being observant had another bad effect: he had discovered that she was hot. She lacked most of the curves he liked in women but she seemed so passionate and she had such incredible gifts he wondered how it would be to have sex with her. That was unnerving him more than anything! He couldn't let his body betrayed his mind. He was stronger than that. So he stayed as far away from her as possible. The less he saw her, the better he felt.

Yes, life had become even more interesting in Cardiff since Buffy had moved there. But for better or for worse?

¤ ¤ tbc ¤ ¤