Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: So, I love Crossovers. Seriously, I am absolutely bonkers for them. Though, when it comes to fanfic, it can either be the greatest pleasure or the biggest heartbreak.

Sometimes you find authors on the same wavelength as you who see two characters from two completely different 'verses and think, 'hells yeah these two would be awesome together!' and write a story about it - and the satisfaction of finding and reading those stories is indescribable. (I told you, BONKERS.)

And then others, it's like you're standing in a crowded room right after you asked, 'wouldn't these two be GREAT together?!" and all you get is the sound of chirping crickets and everyone is giving you a weird look like you just told them to make out with their mother.

The Buffy/Jasper pairing sadly falls into the second category. While I'm bummed that no such stories exist on this website, I'm thrilled to be the first to post one. So even if nobody reads/reviews this story, at least I can be content in the knowledge that if someone else out there someday thinks these two would be awesome together and comes to this site in hopes of finding a story... at least they'll find mine. :)

Oh, and to the probably four people that read The Slayer Chronicles (and that wasn't a bitter observance, I'm actually grinning as I write this) you might recognize this first chapter as being a re-tooled version of the first chapter of that. And because of that, I have deleted TSC. (But I will be posting the crossovers I originally intended for that as One-Shots... when I write them, of course.)

Buffy blinked her eyes, rapidly trying to adjust them to the blinding whiteness of the room. The last thing she remembered was kissing Dawn goodbye and doing a swan dive into Glory's portal.

"Am I dead?" she wondered out loud.

"Not exactly, kid."

Buffy's eyes narrowed at the figure that stepped around the corner, sheepishly tipping the fedora on his head. She hadn't seen him in years (not that she missed him or anything) but recognized him immediately. "Whistler," she hissed.

He faltered slightly, obviously taken aback by the venom in the single word.

"Where am I?" she demanded. "What's going on?"

He cleared his throat. "As I was trying to say, you're not dead, you're simply in between."

"In between what?"

He shrugged. "Your past and your future."

She began tapping her foot impatiently. "Which means what exactly?"

"Why you in such a hurry? Got somewhere you need to be?"

She glared, putting the full weight of her Slayer stare behind it.

He stepped back, hands held up in submission. "Easy there Slayer, I'm just trying to tell you that your life ain't over yet. In fact, it's just beginning. You–"

She put a hand up to halt his words. "You really think I'm gonna listen to the guy who pointed Angel in my direction, but kindly left out the important details of his curse? I don't think so."

He looked frustrated. "We don't have time for this."

"Why are you in such a hurry?" she mocked. "Sounds to me like all I have is time; time I'm gonna use to ignore you." She turned her back to him, proceeding to do just that.

"Slayer..."

Buffy ignored him, lowly humming 'This Is the Song That Never Ends', and getting increasingly louder with each repeated verse of it. She knew she was being a little childish about the whole thing, but it didn't stop her from feeling a pleasant thrill of satisfaction as he unsuccessfully attempted to talk over her humming.

Buffy's humming tapered off when she noticed the sudden silence in the room, but she was still reluctant to turn around.

"It's alright. He's gone now."

Buffy slowly turned at the musical, female voice behind her and suspiciously eyed the woman who stood in Whistler's vacated spot. She was shorter than Buffy (which Buffy didn't think was even possible) and strangely plain for someone that was undoubtedly some sort of higher being. Then again, Whistler wasn't much to look at either. She had a short bob of brown hair, thick but sculpted eyebrows and thin lips that were sporting a serene smile. Her eyes were amazing; a shimmery lavender framed by thick eyelashes, and were beautiful enough to make the woman almost pretty.

The woman took a step forward, the toga like apparel she wore fluttering around her slightly boyish frame and motioned to two large white pillows that were suddenly in the center of the room.

"The Powers apologize for their error. They wrongly assumed you would be more willing to hear this from a familiar face."

"The PTB brought me here?" Buffy asked, a mixture of confusion and anger in her voice.

"Indeed," the woman nodded. "Be seated, and I will explain."

Buffy hesitated briefly, before tentatively making her way to the pillow and easing herself in it. She couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips as it almost tenderly encased her frame. It felt like she was sitting on a cloud.

"It is nice, no?" The woman asked with a smile.

Buffy nodded in agreement.

"Before we begin, I should introduce myself. My name is Reeza and I have been watching over you for a very long time."

"Watching over me? Like a guardian angel or something?"

"Or something," Reeza agreed.

Buffy scoffed. "Well, no offense, but you've done a pretty terrible job."

Reeza's lavender eyes darkened with sorrow. "I am sorry, but I had no control over the things you experienced. Interference was strictly forbidden."

Buffy's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What about what happened with Angel?"

An angry frown settled on her face. "Whistler was merely supposed to set the souled one on his path to redemption and, despite my warnings, he somehow got it into his head that you could be the key to that. What happened afterwards was... unfortunate. The Powers were furious when they found out, but it was already too late, the path for that plane of existence had been set."

"Unfortunate?" Buffy said lowly, struggling to choke back the anger. "That unfortunate incident almost got me and everyone I cared about killed."

"I apologize for my poor wording, I am unused to talking with mortals and fear I'm not choosing my words as wisely as I should." She tilted her head, and stared thoughtfully at Buffy. "But you cannot deny that you survived, and it made you stronger than ever."

Buffy opened her mouth to refute her words, but realized she couldn't. Though she had struggled greatly and came close to the edge many times during those torturous months of Angelus – and then the subsequent year after she had been forced to kill him – she had finally accepted that what had happened had not been her fault. When she realized that, she had felt stronger and freer than she ever had in her entire life. It had only been with the unfortunate arrival of Glory that she ever truly felt weak again.

Her head jerked up. "Glory?"

"Dead. The Watcher disposed of her while she was trapped in her human form."

"Giles?" she asked, stunned. She hadn't thought it was capable for him to even take a human life. But then again, Ben really wasn't human. Not entirely at least. "And the others?" she questioned hesitantly.

"They are fine as well. Shaken by your sudden disappearance, but slowly accepting the fact that you have passed on."

Her heart squeezed painfully. "So I am dead."

Reeza shook her head. "No, but because it allows them closure, that is what they believe."

"Well, if I'm not dead, I can go back." Buffy smiled as if she had solved all her problems with a few simple words.

"You cannot, your time on that plane has come to an end."

"But... Dawn, Giles, everyone... I have to... who will protect them?" she asked desperately.

Reeza smiled gently. "Your sacrifice did much more than you could imagine. The one who called herself Glorificus," the name was spoken with a slight wrinkle of Reeza's thin nose, "was forced to harness all of the energy of the Hellmouth to create the door that the key – Dawn," she amended politely with Buffy fixed her with a warning glare, "needed to unlock. And you, Buffy, you were the lock."

Buffy's brow creased in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It means the Hellmouth under Sunnydale is now considered dormant."

"So," Buffy began slowly, "does that mean no more Slayers?"

"Oh, goddess no," Reeza laughed. "Though the Sunnydale Hellmouth was considered the largest in the world, there are still several smaller ones scattered throughout. As we speak, a new Slayer is already on her way to the next largest. In Cleveland," she clarified.

"And they'll be heading to Cleveland too?" Buffy grimaced at the thought of them starting the cycle of apocalypses and frequent brushes with death anew with another Slayer – though she wasn't quite sure if it was out of worry for their safety or jealously that she was being replaced.

"They will not," Reeza returned calmly. "They, like you, will soon begin new chapters of their lives."

Buffy waited for Reeza to elaborate, but when she didn't, she huffed angrily. "I don't understand why they can't just send me home."

"Because you have outgrown that world."

"What the hell does that mean?" Buffy asked bewilderingly.

"You have broken every barrier, climbed every hill and achieved every goal. You have reached your full potential as a Slayer on that plane. Potential fully realized when you willingly sacrificed yourself to save your sister's life. It is a feat no other Slayer has achieved before. It is impossible to go any further on that plane, when you have already reached the end. To do so would greatly upset the balance."

Buffy was unable to stop the flush of pride that stormed through her and lowered her head in shame.

"Why do you lower your head? Down there you may have felt the need to hide your true strength, for fear of making your friends feel less, but you do not have to feel that here. Here, there is no need for shame, you should be proud of your accomplishments."

Buffy closed her eyes, letting her words be a soothing balm to the feelings she had long tried to ignore.

How many times had Giles said she was getting cocky because she wanted to celebrate a victorious end to that week's baddie? When Xander would get hurt trying to live up to the standards that she hadn't even been aware that she'd set. The weeks spent wondering if the reason Willow took up dangerous Magicks was so that she wouldn't feel so much like the simple sidekick that she seemed to truly believe Buffy thought she was – if her accusations during that whole 'fear demon' were anything to go by.

She had never appreciated the pedestal her friends had put her on. Less that they felt the need to elevate themselves to the same level – knowing deep down that they never would – and hating herself sometimes that she was so different from them.

They were the only people who could make her feel so blissfully normal one minute and heartbreakingly abnormal the next.

A single tear gathered in her eye, and trailed down her cheek, quickly followed by another. As the tears flowed, they were accompanied by a comforting sense of... relief. Relief that she could finally feel and think the things that she kept so carefully bottled inside.

There was a soft rustle of fabric, before the pillow dipped beside Buffy and dainty arms wrapped themselves around her shoulders. She started slightly at the unfamiliar, yet not unwelcome, touch before burrowing her face into Reeza's neck and inhaling her soothing scent, distantly realizing that it was the same as her eye color. Lavender.

"Hush, hush," Reeza murmured softly, running her fingers through her hair. "It is alright to cry."

The tears fell faster and Buffy gave into them, sobbing as she huddled in her embrace. She hadn't had someone hold her like this since her mother died. After a few long moments, she pulled back and wiped the tapering tears and their remnants away. She felt strangely clean.

"Despite everything, I don't regret what I had with them," she said, meeting Reeza's eyes with a firm gaze.

Reeza smiled softly, and brushed a strand of golden hair away from her face. "Nor should you. In their own way, however misguided, they helped shape you into the woman you are, helped you reach your true potential."

"And they'll be alright?"

"Changes will happen, and the road won't always be smooth, but yes, they will be fine. They, like you, have earned it. The Powers have promised this much."

Buffy shoulders slumped as she pulled away completely and leaned back into the pillow. "What now?" she questioned softly.

"Now, you are needed elsewhere."

"To fight the good fight I suppose?" she replied resignedly, a little frustrated that even with the supposed promise of a new life her fate was still in someone else's hands.

Reeza smiled secretively. "Not exactly."

Buffy tilted her head curiously. "Then what?"

"To get what you deserve, of course."

"What I deserve?" She swallowed loudly. Sure, she had slayed a lot of vampires and demons, but they weren't humans (or in a vampire's case, not anymore), right? Surely all the deaths she was responsible for didn't mean she'd earned a one-way ticket to Hell. The PTB weren't that cruel. Were they?

She must have had a look on her face reflecting the tumultuous direction her thoughts had taken, because Reeza laughed loudly. "Always so quick to assume the worst, aren't you my dear?"

"Well, what do I deserve than?"

"Simple, my child, love."

"Love hurts," Buffy replied softly, remembering her parents' divorce and her one disastrous relationship after another. She'd almost prefer Hell over the pain that eventually came with love.

Reeza nodded. "That type of love does," she agreed, pointing in the direction of what Buffy assumed was Sunnydale. "Because that type of love is false. A filler for what that world can not provide for you."

"Why can't it?"

"Because your soul mate does not exist on that plane. He never has."

Buffy sputtered indignantly. "So you're saying if I remained there," she flailed her hand in the same direction Reeza had, "I would have never had real love? Ever?"

"Incorrect. The only reason you would have stayed on that plane is if you had not realized your full potential, which means you would have been a different woman entirely. And that woman would have had a soul mate on that plane."

Buffy shifted guiltily. "So you're saying there's some guy wandering out there right now that will never experience real love because I'm not that woman?"

"Of course not, because the path had been set, that man does not exist."

"Why doesn't he?"

"Because that woman does not exist."

"What? But that doesn't... it doesn't..." She clutched at her head, the beginnings of a headache throbbing behind her eyes. The pain was almost welcome, at least now she knew for certain that she wasn't dead. "I'm so confused," she moaned.

Reeza patted her knee. "It's best if you don't think about it. It is incredibly complicated and not meant for mortals to understand in the first place." She soothed her hand over Buffy's forehead and the pain immediately went away.

Buffy shot her a grateful smile and Reeza returned it with a brilliant one of her own.

"Do you wish to discuss things further?" Reeza offered.

"No." Buffy blinked, slightly surprised at the calm assurance in her words. She knew she should be concerned, but it was a hard emotion to feel, especially when she felt a strange sensation, similar to puzzle pieces finally snapping into place. The world hadn't ended, her sister and her friends were alive and well and, if The Powers kept their word, they would stay that way. That was all she needed to know.

Her time was over. She was done.

At least on that plane.

"So, soul mate?" Buffy said, unable to keep the hint of anticipation out of her words.

"Yes," Reeza replied solemnly. "It may not be easy at first, but I promise in the end it will be worth it. After all, Whistler spoke the truth; this is just the beginning."

A/N: I hope you'll give this story a chance. Even if you're not feeling the pairing, I promise lots of humor and snarkiness and baby-steps towards the lemons I fear writing so much. Kinda like water with a slice of lemon in it... ;)