Disclaimer: as usual, I own nothing. Thanks to RTD and the BBC for creating Torchwood and not suing fanfic writers, and thanks to happy-rea for permission to use Lucy and the Lucyverse.

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Ianto headed down to the basement. Alone, as he always was.

It had been weeks since that disastrous meeting - when he'd tried to introduce Lucy to Lisa, and found out that Lisa was... What? Jealous? Or maybe not even that, maybe just envious. Lucy was free, Lucy was whole, Lucy was not in pain - everything that Lisa wanted and couldn't have, Lucy did. Was that it? She was obviously bitter anyway - more bitter than she had let him see. He should have realized - how much of his own anguish had he hidden from her? But when someone else came in - why wouldn't she lash out at Lucy?

He almost wished he'd turned down the girl's offer of support - but the truth was, he really did need it. He needed the help, he needed to not carry this burden by himself anymore. Not that Lisa was a burden - of course not. He loved her so much, it would have been so much worse if he'd lost her. But having to keep it all a secret from EVERYONE, and not just to keep it a secret, but to hide that secret under their noses, in the very heart of Torchwood itself? Surely she could understand, if only he told her in the right way. He couldn't keep doing this alone, he would break. And if Ianto broke, who would Lisa have?

He made his way down the stairs, through the tunnels. Coffee was done, rubbish taken out, Owen was happily busy carrying out gruesome and messy experiments in the autopsy bay, at least for the next couple hours, so there was no point in scrubbing it down now. Lunch was still an hour away - hopefully if anyone actually cared to wonder where he was (and they wouldn't) they would assume he was deep in the archives, trying to sort out some mess or other.

He heard a gunshot, and this time he smiled. Tosh must have finally released Lucy from her "basic" technology training session. Even with her disastrous first shooting session - her nose had, in fact, been broken - it seemed Lucy prefered the gun range to trying to hack into… well, anything, really. It was a rare day now that the sounds of muffled gunfire didn't echo through the lower tunnels, at least for ten minutes or so.

Whatever else Jack had taught Lucy about using the shooting range, he'd shown her the sliding soundproof door that first afternoon. Not that closing it silenced it completely, but at least no one would go deaf from being in the wrong tunnel at the wrong time.

He pushed the door to Lisa's room open again. She lay in the bed, eyes closed. She almost looked peaceful this morning.

Was she improving? He couldn't tell. It did look like maybe the pain wasn't bothering her as much as he'd come in the last few weeks - though she was more restless than before, wanting to be up and about. That was a good thing, right? Part of him wished he could ask Owen - irritating as the team doctor was, he did seem to know what he was doing as a doctor.

He hoped at least that maybe she'd been able to rest this was nearly by her side before she turned her head and smiled up at him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, now that you're here."

He knew it was always a lie - but maybe this time it wasn't? Maybe this time she really was feeling better?

"Is there anything you need?"

Her response was bitter.

"Have you found anyone else yet?"

What? Had he found anyone? How could she think that of him?

"Of course not! Lisa, there's never been anyone but you!"

He gripped her hand tightly with both of his, willing her to believe him.

"Please Lisa, believe me - I promise you're the only person I've ever loved!"

She smiled up at him, HIS smile.

"I know. And you always keep your promises."

She reached and grabbed for the side of the restraints, pushing down as if she could get up. When she couldn't move herself, she collapsed back with a grimace.

"But Ianto, what I MEANT was, have you found anyone else who can help me get out of this bed?"

Oh god! Of course that's what she'd meant. Why had he ever thought she meant something else? Of course! Now he'd gone and made an idiot of himself - what if she thought he was protesting too much? Relief flooded over him - he'd answered the wrong question. Now he just had to answer… oh. Except…

"I haven't, Lisa. I… I don't know where else to turn."

"It's been a month and half since the American's turned you down. You haven't found anyone else to ask in all that time?"

Shit. It had been so busy, and he'd gotten behind - now she was disappointed in him. He hated so much to hurt her - he should have been looking harder, he should have…

"I'm sorry, Lisa, I don't-"

"What about your 'friend'?"

Lucy? Of course he'd been a little busier than usual helping her settle in - but that wasn't the only reason, he'd just run out of ideas.

"Your friend"

She looked at him pointedly. Had he said something? He wasn't even sure.

"The one who 'knows.' The one who 'wants to help' - the one who moved in with you, the one who's replacing me!"

"Lisa, it's not like that! I swear, it's not!"

"Fine. Whatever."

She didn't believe him. Shit. What could he do to…

"What I mean is, since you've run out of ideas, can she help me find someone?"

His lowered his head to her hand - the hand he still clung to with both of his.

There was a soft tap tap behind him.

It was Lucy. She stood in the open doorway, lowering her hand after she'd just rapped on it - He hadn't even heard her come up.

Lisa rolled her eyes. Of course she was facing the door - she'd probably seen Lucy coming, was that why she'd lashed out?

Lisa turned her eyes to the door.

"Can you?"

Her voice hard, demanding.

"Can I help you? I don't know. I… I'll try."

"Why are you here anyway? It didn't go very well last time you came, I thought you'd run away."

Lucy hesitated.

"Well?"

"I've… I've found your sister."

Lisa froze, her hand gripped Ianto's so hard he nearly cried out.

"How?"

"I got Tosh to let me practice my hacking on the NSPCC servers. Pretended I was just trying to figure out how to do it, but…"

"Where is she?"

"She's with a family in Reading. She's… it looks like she's happy. But maybe you could…"

"And you think they'll let something like THIS near her? I'm not even supposed to still be alive! That's why I've got to stay hidden in a basement, like some monstrous THING"

Lucy looked down.

"I'm so sorry. I just…"

"No, it's ok. You 'care.' bleeding heart and all that. I used to be like that."

Lisa laughed bitterly.

"But you shouldn't be wasting your time trying to find someone who will never want me anyway. If you want to help, I'd rather you try to find a way to get me out of here. Then maybe I can spare something for my baby sister."

Lucy took a deep breath. Suddenly she stopped and turned to Ianto.

"Oh, shoot, I almost forgot! Somehow Owen ran into the coffee table, managed to spill all the coffee you've made and now they're looking for you. You probably should get up there before before someone starts checking down here."

Ianto gritted his teeth.

"Owen!"

It felt almost like a curse. He headed to the door, expecting Lucy to be right behind him. Instead, she turned back to Lisa.

"Ok, so finding Ellie was too soon. I get that now. Sorry. So, um, tell me how I can help, and I'll do my best."

"What?"

He didn't mean to say anything, but it came out anyway.

"Ianto, go. I've got this."

He looked to Lisa.

Lisa rolled her eyes, but smiled at him.

"I'm not going to bite. Get out of here."

Then Lisa turned to Lucy, effectively shutting him out.

As he headed down the hallway, she continued.

"Ok, what DO you know about the conversion process?"

He breathed easier. Maybe, with Lucy's help, this might work after all.

Then he remembered the coffee.

If the coffee machine was actually broken, Owen was going to be drinking decaf for the next year.

A/N Ugh. I hate writing Lisa - not because I don't understand her, but because I do. I've known too many narcissists, been taught by them to see their perspective as the only one that matters, even come to believe that they were right and reasonable. And Lisa knows what she wants, and she's willing to manipulate anyone and use anything she can to get it.

All that to say, sorry it took longer than I wanted to get this one out. Hopefully it won't happen again. At least not until Cyberwoman. Although at least then I won't have to write her POV just to figure out what she'd do or say before rewriting it for Ianto's reactions.