Scolding An Ex.
By James Carmody.
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the property of Joss Whedon, and his alone until he decides otherwise. I will not accept a single red cent for this or any other fanfic set in his works- same goes for Angel the Series.
Pairing(s): Angel/Buffy Summers, previously: Buffy/Faith catfight, and Angel/Faith counseling, Buffy/Riley Finn.
Characters: Elizabeth {Buffy} Anne Summers, Liam {Angel}, other characters may show up within the tale as it progresses.
Summary: Angel confronts Buffy about her intent when she showed up at his place with the intent to murder Faith- his charge, and kind of a kid sister to him. Please read, review/comment, and enjoy.
Story Notes: Set in season 4 of Buffy and season 2 of Angel, he's confronting her about her bullying of Faith. Story may well be only one chapter, but might be more, depending upon how much of a reply I get- or it may not indeed, depending upon the type of responses I get.
This may or may not show up, but this [text] refers to telepathic speaking of any kind: temptation, mental prayer, telepathy, you name it, any mind-to-mind communications that show up in those series's or in real life (temptation and mental prayer are by far the most common).
Tags: Bigotry- influenced by past experiences, need for forgiveness, Bullying, Intervention to prevent a crime, Prayer, Peace-Making, Episode Re-Write.
Chapter 1.): A Friendly Rebuke...
Beginning Chapter 1 Author's Notes: Please, tell me what you think.
Angel sat down next to Buffy on her bed in her dorm room, folded his hands in his lap and carefully considered his next move. He was quite upset with her, to see her actually threaten to murder another human being was arguably the most upsetting thing his ex-girlfriend had ever done in his sight! He had always considered her to be the sweetest thing he could imagine, and to see her threaten to actually murder someone he cared about as a big brother would, well, that was absolutely devastating!
When Elizabeth Summers, better known by her nickname of "Buffy" had come over to check on him, her true intentions had shown forth: she hadn't come to verify that he was alright, that was just a ruse, she had come with murder in her eyes for a certain brunette slayer he was trying to rehabilitate- her actual 'uncloaking' of her intents towards Faith was when Faith was about to try to make right with her, and Buffy had told her in no uncertain terms "If you even try to apologize to me, I will beat you to death!" That's when he knew he had to intervene! He had personal experience with the kind of darkness in which his ex-girlfriend was now dealing with; and he knew well where that would lead: straight to serving the First Evil, Lucifer itself!
"If Buffy gives into this, she will never get out on her own." Angel thought to himself immediately when he heard her say that threat to his house-guest. Liam knew well how dangerous Faith was, but she had started to open up to him, and they had established a re pour with eachother, almost as if he was her elder brother. Indeed, they shared a deep bond by means of sharing the exact same personality glitch: psychopathy! He, like her, dealt every day with a deadened conscience and deadened emotions, and hearing that someone else had beaten the same personality glitch had given her hope. He, without thinking, but reacting purely upon some old battle-training and instinct based upon his experience with darkness, ordered Faith to run, and stood in Buffy's way, making clear to her that he wouldn't stand for this bullying she was doing to her. He knew that now neither woman was in the right, but this nonsense had to stop somewhere, and the sooner it did the better for everyone!
He knew well how close his ex-girlfriend was to permanent slavery to Darkness, and its permanent "Prince", Satan itself, and if she actually acted upon her deadly intents now, she'd need an actual act of God to retrieve her from this state of addiction to evil. Having tasted evil himself, he knew how profoundly addictive it was, and he didn't want that for this woman he loved- even in spite of the breakup they had engaged in- he didn't want her enslaved to darkness, but free to act as she ought- as a daughter of God!
After some five minutes of just them sitting side-by-side in silence, she spoke up, demanding to know why he first ordered her out of his city, then came here to begin pounding on her boyfriend. "About the fight you just witnessed that you referred, quite possibly correctly, as a, and I quote "case of testosterone poisoning", which you may well be correct on that detail, his men ambushed me and they didn't give me much chance to explain- it was self-defense. Regarding the previous matter of me ordering you out of, as you described it 'my city', you know what your attitude was, you didn't come there to treat her right, nor did you arrive to make certain I was safe,,, you came to murder her, and hence had to be stopped!" his voice was rising in volume as he continued this speech, to the point where he practically shouted the last overall phrase from "you" to "stopped". It was then that she realized for the first time the true level of the hatred she had in her heart for Faith, and how she had indeed intended to murder that brunette she had done nothing but fight with.
"I don't know what happened between the two of you that got you so homicidal towards her, but whatever it was, you have to put down your upset feelings regarding that and dispose of them now, or you'll never be safe to be around- what if it was Dawn who'd done something you find that unforgivable? I honestly have no idea" he said, shaking his head sadly "what Faith did to you that got you so upset as to come over with the intent to bully her and then murder her, but you were definitely in the wrong, Buffy, to want to do that." he said, with his head down. "I want to know, though... please explain how she hurt you so." he looked into her eyes, begging her to be sensible with him.
"I don't know." she said, her blonde, permed locks hanging down around her noggin [should I tell him] she sent a message to her Guardian Spirit, wondering if she should inform her ex about what Faith did in her body when they engaged in an unplanned (at least for Buffy) body-swap, how Faith, in Buffy's body, had had sexual relations with Riley Finn, her boyfriend, and tried to royally work-over Buffy's friendships and basically screw-over Buffy's life by engaging in sexual relations with Buffy's boyfriend in Buffy's body. [Yeah, he probably should know, thanks for helping me reason it out], she thought, before mentally high-fiveing her Guardian Spirit- better known as a "Guardian Angel". She then let rip the reason why she was so upset with Faith as to want to murder her "She kind of stole my body."
"Oh, Buffy. I. I don't know what to say. Except, I'm so sorry." Angel said, in a state of shock, while pulling his ex-girlfriend into a hug, all the while completely misinterpreting the circumstances. It was only when he asked her "Are you OK?" that Buffy realized that he had made a tremendous error- he thought that Faith had somehow raped Buffy!
At first Buffy wondered if she was indeed jumping to a conclusion about what Angel was thinking. But then she heard him ask her again "Buffy, are you okay, she didn't, did she, she didn't actually force herself on you, did she?" he asked again, in shock about this "Oh, no! Buffy, did you get checked out by a doctor?" she then realized that Angel was sort-of freaking, and he needed to be removed from his error about this situation.
"Wait a minute." Buffy said to Angel "You actually think that Faith raped me?" she asked, pushing back from the hug intended to comfort her in order to look him in his eyes. "If anything, she used my body to violate my boyfriend, we were in eachother's bodies, remember?" She asked him, face-palming, kind of shocked at his interpretation of the events, and concerned about his idea of what had happened. "No! She robbed me of my life, and took it for herself. Good Heavens! There's more ways to violate somebody than just sexually, you know- we switched bodies, so we switched lives, and thanks to her smoking habit, she was somewhat less healthy than myself." Buffy exclaimed in a desperate attempt to correct her ex-boyfriend's misconceptions about what had happened between those women that night.
Riley Finn overheard this through the door, and he was getting pretty darn mad at Faith, it was clear to him that this mysterious bad woman didn't care one bit about him, she just wanted to hurt his girlfriend! "What a B*tch!" Riley thought, furious at this strange woman who had stolen his girlfriend's body apparently in-order to have sexual intercourse with him! Luckily for his relationship with Elizabeth Summers, his military training kicked in and he didn't let out his angry words about Faith, but he was concerned about how his girlfriend, Buffy, was faring regarding her recent 'body-trip' within some other woman's skin! Upon considering this idea, he thought "That was indeed weird!" the mere idea of wearing somebody else's body and them being in yours is indeed freaky, something his psychology professor, Maggie Walsh, would most definitely classify as "Uncanny" in the Freudian term- meaning something familiar yet disturbing.
"I can't absolve you of your offense, its not that its unforgivable, but its beyond my purview." Riley heard Angel tell Buffy quite clearly through the door. "You're going to have to have a little chat with a cleric, I recommend Fr. Gabriel or some other priest you know and trust. Remember, the very same "Power" " here they both knew that Liam was referring to one of the Choirs of Celestial Spirits known commonly as "Angels" "that tried to get me to commit suicide has many operatives, some are hidden in plain sight- and clearly humans in league with that evil spirit. Trust no-one that you cannot verify, and until you have verified their loyalty, don't trust them." he told her in no uncertain terms, with these words, to be careful, extremely careful as to whom she trusted. Many ordinary humans are taken along for a ride by the First Evil's lies to humanity, and many of them become its willing servants. Both knew this well.
Angel then told Buffy, seated to her right the whole time, "You know well why I took her in, I was trying to rehabilitate Faith. Buffy, she's been a slave all her adult life, and apparently for much of her childhood." he was appealing to her to show her colleague mercy, and Buffy, in her white sleeveless t-shirt and black pants, hung her head, as her ex-boyfriend continued "I know she's got the most cruel master imaginable, and I'm trying to break her from that. Liz" he used yet another of her nicknames "I hate slavery. I grew up around it and in a society that embraced it at that time, and it was frankly disgusting... our people, mine and hers, were treated as slaves for roughly three-hundred-years by the British... now you see why I have had a hatred of them as a whole." he then picked up her head by the chin to look into her eyes, and she let him, knowing that he wasn't going to hurt her "You've proved me wrong about at least some of them, and for that I personally thank you." he told her.
Buffy then realized she had been unbelievably wrong to do what she had done to Faith, and she wanted to set things right, but didn't know how to do so.
"I hope you understand" Angel said, as Buffy hung her head, ashamed that she had bullied someone and tried to murder her "I was upset, and I didn't know how far I'd have to take this criticism to make certain it sticks, so I went with overkill." to which she nodded, sad that she had threatened someone else's life- and resolving to make up if at all possible.
"Remember: A Slayer isn't a murderess." she reminded herself, furious with herself over this misbehavior she had engaged in by threatening someone's life "No matter what the reason, its wrong to threaten another human being's life!" she rebuked herself, feeling rightfully ashamed and guilty, but she knew it was the good guilt.
The End, or is it?
End Chapter 1 Author's Notes: Please do tell me what you think. This may indeed be the first story in a series about being reconciled. That's what I think I'll call the new series "Being Reconciled", next story may well deal with an attempted peace-making effort between Buffy and Faith.