Glutton for Punishment {Open}

They were so close to being ready. Casey could feel it, and so could many of those involved in planning it. Casey could tense the anxious anticipation in the air surrounding meetings whether he actually attended or had to stay and tend to Seren. Evie's idea was extreme, and so many recent events were putting kinks in things. The muggles were aware of supernatural presence now. Only werewolves had revealed themselves, but that meant people were wondering what else was out there. And of course, Williams' abdication had put a greater kink in Evie's personal plans for the night of the attack. Wherever Williams was, he didn't want to be found. There had been no slip-ups since Casey had happened across Seren and his son a month ago, and Casey had been watching with few exceptions. Breaks had been necessary for sanity, after all, and to ensure he kept a keen eye.

Casey was on his way to the kitchen to get Seren some water to keep at her bedside when he heard three successive knocks. The sound made him jump, stop where he was, and look toward the side door. The question was who would be here this time of night. If Evie had called someone here for a meeting, the person would have let themselves in. No one ever knocked here as few were welcome enough to come over unannounced. Casey sighed, unsure what he wanted to do. Did he just ignore it? Well, of course not. The person seemed not to be relenting. There was a second set of knocks, this time three. Then a cadence.

Casey supposed there was nothing he could do but investigate. He cast a spell on the door as he reached it that allowed him to see through to the other side. He didn't recognize the girl. She was young, brunette. Looked harmless enough and the sort of person who might be part of Isis were it not for the seeming innocence still evident in her face. "Who's it?" Casey called out. "Your name and business!"

Now what did he do? What if she wasn't someone Evie knew or someone she knew but did not trust?

Casey stood there a moment weighing his options. There were plenty of Isis members he didn't know. He could chalk it up to an honest mistake if it ended up Evie did not know this Lydia. And to be even safer, he could simply keep a close eye on her, keep her away from the holy altar of "I-hate-Trevor" just in case. And Seren. He had to protect Seren at all costs. It seemed like a viable decision. After all, he knew no test code to use, and it wasn't like Veritaserum was easily brewed or like he knew where to find it if Evie happened to have a stock of it. So, he'd stop worrying about it and see who this woman was.

Casey stepped closer to the door and grabbed the handle, turning it and pulling it open. The girl on the other side (for she definitely was a girl by comparison) looked at him with wide eyes and an emotion that Casey didn't comprehend. In turn, Casey regarded her with a vague sense of familiarity. There was something about her appearance that seemed familiar, though he couldn't place it. Probably nothing, he thought as he stepped back. "Come in," he told the girl with a small smile. The girl kept her eyes on him but nodded. "Afraid Evie's out for a while," he told her. "I'm not quite sure when she'll be back, especially if she's gone to get a status update from Ianto."

Too much information? Perhaps, but it wasn't enough to place him in danger. He was pretty sure at least. Maybe. Casey scratched his neck and slightly furrowed a brow as the girl stepped in and walked past him, her body turning so her eyes didn't leave him. Why was she staring at him like that? Had she felt the familiarity, too, and was just odd in how she presented this? But no, there was something deeper to the emotion written on her face. Her eyes were tearing now and roving back and forth studying his face. Casey cleared his throat. "So, um, I suppose you know where everything is? Help yourself!"

Casey wished very much to run back to Seren's room and hide. This just felt awkward all because of that stare and those big, watery doe eyes from a perfect stranger. But the way she was acting, she'd probably follow him. Until he knew for sure she was someone he could trust, there was no way he was leading her back to Seren. Still, there had to be somewhere safe he could seek reprieve should this girl continue to act so awkwardly.

Lydia grabbed the door frame as soon as the door was opened, floored by what she was seeing. It was... "Oh, my gosh," she said, her hand going to her mouth as she felt her eyes bug out. It had to be him. There was no one else this could be. That trace of a smile, the matter of fact speaking that continued despite her shock. It was what she remembered of her father. It had to be him.

Lydia made her way in as he explained something about her mother, but it barely registered with her as Lydia reached behind herself and found the high island countertop and leaned back. Her eyes had never once left her father on her venture in. She didn't know what to feel, but her body was deciding for her that it was best she felt like she was an outsider looking in on her own body. She wasn't in control. She couldn't speak, she couldn't move any further than she already had. She simultaneously wanted to jump him with a bear hug and smack him and ask him why he hadn't come to find her.

But he didn't recognize her. Lydia realized that as she began to feel just so slightly more grounded. He even seemed uncomfortable with her staring. Well, sorry, I can't help it, she wanted to say, but no words would come. Her mouth was dry, her voice mute yet her mind racing with unspoken thoughts. Did he know she was here? Had mother said anything at all to him?

The sound of footsteps finally drew Lydia's eyes from her father. Her head turned and her eyes fell on the unmistakable form of Ian just feet away. Her mouth opened in protest as he began to speak and got far enough to realize what he was about to say, but it was too late. Her head snapped back so she could look at her father, uncertain what to say or do now. He seemed the same to her.

God, he loved this. There was a twisted portion of his soul (and really it was probably the larger portion of his soul at this point) that really enjoyed messing with Casey. The young woman standing next to him, his daughter, was just colateral damage at this point. And Ianto really didn't care about that. Instead, he just smirked and pulled off his drenched coat to hang it on the back of a chair. He could have dried it, but Ianto often did things the muggle way because it was just simpler that way.

Ianto decided to take a seat, leaning back in the chair and carefully lacing his hands in his lap. He really was enjoying this far too much. Though there was a bit of an internal stutter at the mention of death. Ianto knew what it was like to lose family, it wasn't nice. But he buffered that emotion away all too easily as Casey started to head out of the room. "She didn't, apparently. This one is also from the future. She proved it to Evie and myself." Of course, Evie had been quick to agree, but she had at least asked Ianto to look it over because of emotional reasons. Ianto kept on smirking just ever so slightly.

"She looks like you. Can't really deny that." He was really trying to goad something out of Casey. It wouldn't be the first time the two men had gotten into a fight, though the last one was a bit... blurry because of the booze they had been drinking. Maybe he was trying to start another fight to help his bad mood. Ianto certainly wouldn't mind hitting Casey in the face a few times to make him feel better. So the dark haired man waited for some sort of reaction, giving the girl nothing more than a glance in the process.

Did children always throw temper tantrums like this? Ianto had been pretty certain that you grew out of such things the older you got, but apparently the little brunette standing next to him hadn't done nearly enough mental growing yet. Perhaps she thought she was an adult, but that kind of yelling would get her anywhere in life. It just made herself look... well, childish. He looked at her calmly even as she tried to take her silly amount of anger on him. One eyebrow slowly lifted and Ianto turned his blue eyed gaze on her.

The things he had seen, the things he had been through, and the people he had dealt with in order to get things done meant Ianto didn't care about her or her feelings. Nor her opinion on him. But why did her mother keep him around. A dark, dry chuckle escaped him and Ianto slowly stood. He wasn't the tallest of men, but he certainly towered over her all the same. Why did Evie keep him around? Ianto already knew the answer to that. It was because he was a weapon. Perhaps there was a little black lash here or there among their numbers, but no one was more dedicated than Ianto Sayer. He was the man who would die for the cause and kill others for it. The guy who would see it through til the end no matter who got weak kneed. He wouldn't fail. He wouldn't be weak willed. He could and would be disgusted with his actions and who he was, but those emotions wouldn't control him. That's why Lydia's mother kept him around.

"Your father is a distraction and barely useful as it is." Oddly enough, Ianto honestly believed that being blunt and up front in the situation when there was no emergency would be better in the long run. Now he'd have a couple of days to get over it. If it happened at a bad time, then the man would crumble like a badly made building. The slightest breeze would topple it. But did Ianto get pleasure out it? Did he enjoy the pain he caused? Of course he did. Casey had taken his own jabs at Ianto over the course of knowing each other and had caused the dark haired man pain in a different way. "But you're worse. We don't have time to coddle either of you. Get over it." Did Ianto walk away at this point? Of course he did. The little girl wasn't important to him. Wasn't important to what was going on. What was important was Casey. He had to force all these emotions to the front now and get them handled the right way before shit hit the fan. Just because there was a lull now, even for a few days, did not mean that Casey had time to set around and deal with his emotions.

This was another reason while Ianto was around. Other people could hate him for what he did, but he did everything he could to make people function. He understood loss so great you felt like you couldn't move on. He had tried to kill himself. He had dealt with that depression and the lowest of lows he had hit after his family had been murdered. And he had taken a long time to shelf the emotions and get functional. In Ianto's opinion, Casey just didn't have that much time. So he strode after Casey with the intentions of starting a fight and getting those emotions out. Yes, Ianto would get a kick out of it, but he'd also get done what needed to be done. "Casey. Don't ignore me. She's not dead." He could have said something worse, much worse than what he was, but the truth was... he was treading on careful ground despite it all. "Just turn around and talk to her. Stop being a coward." He was hoping for a reaction. Merlin, he was hoping Casey would swing at him.

He needed to butt out of things that weren't his business? There was an argument that was waiting on the tip of Ianto's tongue, but he couldn't speak it. Ianto was of the mind that all the Winslows minus Evie needed to butt out of everything that had to do with ISIS. It seemed like there was always drama hiding around just about every corner with the Winslow name attached. Ex-husband attempting to talk Evie out of things, kids from the future, what could possibly be next?

Of course, Ianto was just incredibly frustrated. His neatly laid plans had fallen apart when Trevor had pretty much vanished into thin air. He had been scrambling to put it all back together but more often than not, Ianto felt like he was the only one really working on anything around ISIS because everyone else seemed to be far too wrapped up in their stupid family drama. Didn't they understand that he didn't want to deal with this? Didn't they understand that more important things were at hand? Of course not. The lot of them were just a bunch of idiots.

He had worked too hard for this to all go down the drain. And even though Ianto was trying, in his own way, to help Casey, he was walking a very thin line. He had his own anger simmering on the back burner almost constantly. But his eyes tightened as he stared down Casey. Apparently, the need to talk a lot was a genetic thing. Ianto felt his hands curling into fists at his sides and he felt the knuckles pop more than heard them. He didn't care what Casey had done. The past was the past and the man wasn't being useful now, so that was all that the short sighted Ianto Sayer cared about. "Then handle it. Soon." He brushed past Casey, figuring that if there was somehow any more trouble from the man or his children, Ianto would do something about it. There was always the option of going out on a mission with Casey and supposedly getting him killed. If he was that much of a distraction, then Ianto would take that route. Just like he had considered seducing Evie in order to keep her on track instead of getting distracted by Casey. This family was nuts. He was already beyond frustrated with Trevor, who was all connected to them too. Merlin, he better be found soon. The sooner the daughter was gone, the better. And only Merlin knew what the son was up to.

Just add that to list of things Ianto did not have time for. Ianto paused a few steps down from Casey and turned slightly to look over his shoulder. "Apparently, she came with her brother too. I don't know where he is. Might want to track that one down too." There, that would give Casey something useful to do. Ianto would have put someone on tagging along after them both if he hadn't been so busy pretending to be a government official from the states helping find the missing Lord.

Casey knew where his son was? That was oddly competent of him. Ianto grunted slightly in response to it, as if that were closing the subject. He also continued to walk towards what served as his "room" at the headquarters. It really wasn't more than a closet to hold a few things. Ianto never slept here, instead he was typically on the job at nights, sleeping where his "character" was supposed to be. He stopped by the headquarters when he could, but he was mostly undercover at this point.

The dark haired man didn't think that Casey would follow him, so when the other man did, he was a little startled. And very scowly. His issues? Another grunt escaped him and Ianto removed the tie that had been hanging in a frumpy way around his neck. "I have had a problem with you since day one." Ianto's voice was a low growl as he spoke and he started to unbutton his shirt, not giving a damn that Casey was there. "Everything started to go sideways the moment you showed up. Evie started to doubt because of you." In fact, Ianto had had to work rather hard at the time to keep her on track. When Evie had nothing to do with her family, everything moved smoothly. But when they were around, Ianto was suddenly struggling to keep everything together.

Casey was a threat because he represented Ianto losing the one thing that made him keep moving forward. If Casey took away Ianto's ability to truly get revenge, then Ianto would kill him. If he did anything to mess it up, Ianto would kill him. But he hadn't, not yet, he had just made Evie doubt really, but when the leader of a faction like this doubted, the rumblings were felt to the smallest members. She was the one who drew people, who kept them going, who moved things forward. If she suddenly changed her mind, everything would fall apart. First it was Casey, then it was their supposed children from the future. How could he keep Evie on track about Williams while also being undercover finding Williams? He couldn't do both. He couldn't do everything, no matter how much he went without sleep.

"My problem with you is simple. I'm not fully convinced you're as dedicated to this as everyone else is." The reality was... Casey was far too nice for what they were planning. He had his dark spots, Ianto was sure, but he seemed like someone who could feel mercy despite it all. Ianto didn't pretend to know Casey for real, it wasn't like they had become friends over their drunken night together. Ianto couldn't trust Casey. And Casey had sway over Evie, despite her best efforts. So that made Ianto extremely wary of the man despite the fact they seemed to share a common goal.

"I get the impression that you'll fold at a critical moment. Maybe not as willingly as you'd like, but you show mercy and care where you shouldn't. I don't. You're far too soft for me to like." His tone had lowered as he pulled off his drenched shirt and pulled on another one. It was clear that he would be heading back out into the field shortly, with very little rest in between. Ianto at least believed that Casey meant well, but he was just... he was the type of person that Ianto's wife would have admired. Someone who had more or less stuck to their morals despite it all. Someone Ianto had been before his twin and his wife had died. In fact, Casey was a lot like Ianto had been, and that disturbed him too. In his shoes, in his circumstance, Ianto would have probably turned out rather similar to him. Would have made the same choices. And that unnerved him, because he was jealous that Casey's family was still alive, if splintered apart. He couldn't be jealous of Evie, but he could be jealous of Casey.

"So until you convince me otherwise, I don't trust you." He did up the buttons to his shirt, pulled out a new tie, and quickly tied it in place. At least he was being matter of fact about it. And it wasn't something Ianto was going to budge on. Ianto was willing to go the distance to see the job done and he was completely willing to get his hands dirty to see it through. He just couldn't see Casey doing the same and it shook Ianto's foundation because he was so close to Evie and Evie listened to him. Frankly, it was the workings of an extremely paranoid, damaged mind, but it was logical in it's own way. Ianto wanted to die and he wanted to take the entire damn system with him. It was the reason he got up in the mornings. It gave him life when the pain threatened to overwhelm him. He wouldn't let anyone take that away from him. "So. Now the question to you. What's your problem with me?" Ianto knew he wasn't exactly a charmer, but there had to be more to it. He was efficient and he got the work done. So was it just because Ianto didn't like him or was there more to it?