Disclaimer: Don't own Buffy. There'd be a lot less Angel, a lot more Spike if I did.

Author's Note: So the plot is slowly forming, thickening, fermenting even. And this is the product. Spike fans, do not despair. He'll be back and it's part of the plot. So just bide your time. Hope you guys like it.


After It All Ends

Chapter II

"Buffy, what's this meeting about?" Giles confusedly rubbed his glasses, his mind far more preoccupied with deciding whether to taste the cookies or not. Dawn was a far better cook than Buffy had ever been but that didn't mean her cooking was edible. Although the cookies did smell appetising.

"It's too quiet."

"Wharf shoo qwait?" Even though Xander spoke with his mouthful, the others had learnt to interpret it and Buffy had no hesitation in answering his almost incoherent question.

"Everything's too quiet. I mean, this city is dead. Well, not dead dead, or undead dead but dead quiet. And I haven't heard much from any of the other slayers, so it sounds like everything's quiet, which means that the big bad baddies are plotting something."

"Buffy?" Willow asked tentatively. She had that look on her face, the one when she was going to say something unpleasant that she really didn't want to say and was afraid of the consequences and sometimes, like right now, it really pissed Buffy off like nothing else, because, seriously, get a damn poker face or suck it up and tell it straight.

Instead, Buffy carefully controlled her voice to be light. "Yeah, Willow?"

"Well, it's just that, you know, the other slayers have each other. So they're not necessarily going to call you for help. I mean, for the big stuff, of course they're going to call you. But if there's a bunch of small stuff going on, they may not."

"I know that. But I also know that I've been keeping in touch with them, keeping an eye on everything that might be going on and, honestly, nothing is going on. Which usually means that something big is going on. See what I'm getting at?"

It was clearly writ across Willow's face that she disagreed, but before she could say anything, Dawn chimed in. "I agree." Seeing the startled looks across the room, she hurried on, "I mean, I know I'm relatively 'new' to the whole thing but, well, Buffy's instincts are pretty reliable. And even I've noticed that it's been too quiet."

"Aw, Dawny," Buffy wondered if Willow was intentionally being patronising, because it sure came across that way. And how much was it against the code of Slayerhood to kill a friend? Were there exceptions if that friend was really annoying or really conceited?

Before her itching fingers could reach the dagger that was so close to her, the phone rang. Divine intervention, Buffy presumed, to stop her from being an eternally damned Slayer or something. And to stop her from pissing Giles off. That would be bad. That would be very bad.

"Hello?" There was silence. Before she could slam the phone down, a familiar voice came through.

"Buffy," Angel's voice was intense as always and it brought up familiar feelings in Buffy as always. Like concern about what could be so bad that he has to call her.

"Angel. Hi," She could feel the sudden tension in the air and there was a very small part of her that felt smug towards Willow. "What's up?"

"There's something big happening," Came his cryptic reply. "I need to see you. I'm flying in tomorrow and I'll come by yours."

She was human enough and petty enough to be irritated by the fact that he just assumed she would have nothing better to do than to have him come round. The fact that he was right pissed her off all the more and she honestly wondered what was happening to her, for her to be so irritated, first by Willow and now by Angel, when yet another possible end-of-the-world scenario could be coming up. She didn't remember being this...emotional, back in Sunnydale. "Yeah, that would be fine but what is going on, Angel? All I've noticed so far is that everything's way too quiet."

There was a further cryptic silence, as Angel clearly debated what to say or how much to say and Buffy was so focussed on interpreting this silence that she didn't hear the doorbell ring or hear Giles mutter quietly that he'll get it.

"Angel, come on, you know I need to know this. And you know you're going to tell me eventually. You might as well give me a heads up so that we can get some research done by the time you get here." Buffy heard a surprised "what?" from Dawn but ignored it, focussing instead on wheedling some more information from the reticent vampire.

"I don't know much." He finally said. "All I know is that vampires are being killed by someone or something that isn't a slayer or, well, me and one of my guys. And there's silence on all of the other monster fronts. It's starting to look like something has taken control and we're not sure what. I'll be over tomorrow with more information." Another one of his infamous pregnant silences took place and then, "Goodbye Buffy. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sighing, she turned around and her mouth, that had opened to discuss Angel's news and impending arrival, instead remained open as she stared at the latest addition to the Scooby meeting.

Clearing his throat a little uncomfortably, Giles began. "So...you've noticed Oz. As it turns out, he was a little concerned about things too. So it seems like we have a lot to discuss. Was that Angel on the phone? Is he coming here tomorrow?"

She snapped out of her daze. "Er...yeah, yes it was. He's...flying down now, I guess. And meeting us here tomorrow."

"Guess we're having another meeting tomorrow then," Dawn grumbled, staring at the pile of cookies that was almost gone. She didn't mind cooking. She actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It's just that she would have appreciated some warning so that she could fit the baking in between homework and hanging out with the few friends she could stand in her new school. It didn't help that she didn't really like Angel that much. He wasn't fun to be around, he didn't crack jokes and he was more overprotective than Buffy, without having the excuse of being an older sibling. That was unforgivable in Dawn's eyes.

"Yeah, that's probably the best idea anyway." Oz finally spoke up, uncomfortable aware of all eyes being trained on him. "The Pack has found out about a few happenings we thought you might be interested in-"

"The pack?" Willow turned scarlet as she asked.

"Yeah, there's a few of us...werewolves...and we kind of banded together. Making us a pack of werewolves, or whatever."

"Is that safe?" Willow could have kicked herself for saying that. She literally could've, she was almost certain she knew a spell to do it. What she couldn't do, and wouldn't try, was to take back all the foot-in-mouth moments she was having today. Firstly, phrasing her doubts so that it sounded like she wasn't giving Buffy a fair go, then talking like Dawn was still a kid, and now questioning Oz on the safety of being around other werewolves? It felt like nothing she could say or do right today. Her day in college had been even worse. She'd come across like some conceited know-it-all bitch, she'd been dismissive of some of the feminists and she'd managed to even annoy her professor. It just wasn't her day. It felt like it hadn't been her a day in a long time. Since Tara had died, in fact. And she hated feeling so lost and wrong and like everything was wrong. She wished she could do something about it but all she could do was suck it up and deal with the guarded, defensive look Oz was giving her now.

"It is safe. When we're all wolves together, we can keep each other under control. It actually helps a lot with the animal instinct. Anyway, I should probably head off now. I just wanted to make sure if it was ok for all of us to come and talk to you tomorrow but I can just represent them all."

"No, no, of course all of you can come. Just give us a rough number. So that we have enough cookies," Buffy explained, reminding herself to seriously talk to Willow about tact and thinking before talking. Wasn't that a lesson she should've learnt when she was seven or something? "Angel's coming by tomorrow with some news too, so it could like the good old times. End of the world, good food, cookies. Hey, we could have some milk with the cookies too!" She was rewarded with a small smile as Oz left.

"Willow, are we going to have to chat about that whole 'thinking before talking' thing again?"

"I know, I know, I can't believe I said that," Willow burrowed her face into her hands. "I just can't seem to say anything right today. I think I'm gonna call it a night, guys. I'll see you tomorrow. If I don't get clobbered to death because of somebody else I manage to annoy in the meantime."

They all took this as their cues to leave. After they had all left, with their differing goodbyes and Xander's inappropriate comments, Buffy and Dawn were left alone to clear the tables when Buffy abruptly said, "You've got good instincts."

"I do?" Dawn felt herself perk up.

"Yeah, you do." Buffy didn't have to say anything. Dawn could read the approval between the lines. It was kinda nice to have an older sister who would back you up when you disagreed with their friends. It was also kinda nice to know that your instincts were along the right lines. Maybe she could actually help out properly this year? Not that she was hoping the world would nearly end or anything, but it would be nice to be a proper part of the group. It's partially why she missed Spike so much. He never treated her like a baby baby. Sure, he was protective but he also joked around with her about inappropriate things, didn't nag her about bed-time or homework and he...just treated her like a friend. She missed that. She missed him a lot. She missed his jokes and the way he pissed everyone off, she missed the way he'd give her tips about fighting and how to mouth off someone in those stand-off kind of situations. She missed how Buffy used to be simultaneously annoyed and amused when he was around and how content she seemed. She wished she could bring Spike back but she'd learnt from her mistakes with Buffy. He could be in a happy place and she so didn't want to bring him back from there, if he was.