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Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited Slayer and a Half so far. I hope you're enjoying reading Rachel as much as I enjoyed writing her.

Disclaimer: Joss is BOSS!

Rachel barely missed the first bell, sliding into her seat in history with seconds to spare. She noticed that she was right behind Buffy- and on a diagonal from Cordelia Chase, most popular girl at Sunnydale High and as far as Rachel was concerned, Public Enemy Number One.

The teacher wrote "The Black Death" on the board before turning to the class. "It's estimated that about 25 million people died in that one four-year span. But the fun part of the Black Plague is that it originated in Europe how?"

Rachel's hand shot skyward. She loved this part of the story. The teacher noticed her, and a hint of apprehension crossed her face. "Rachel?"

An evil grin crossed Rachel's features as she answered. "Technically, it's

called the bubonic plague, although in my opinion, septicemic and pneumonic plague were so much nastier. The Black Plague entered Europe as a result of the earliest recorded use of germ warfare. Quite the ingenious strategy, tossing rotting corpses into the enemy camp." The teacher looked a tad green around the gills. Then, Rachel shook her head as she noticed Buffy sharing a textbook with Cordelia. She was absolutely determined to save Buffy from minionhood.

40 minutes later, the bell rang and the students got up to leave. Cordelia extended her hand to Buffy. "Hi! I'm Cordelia." Rachel followed them at a discreet distance.

Buffy shook Cordelia's hand. "I'm Buffy."

Cordelia smiled winningly. "If you're looking for a textbook of your very own, there are probably a few in the library."

Buffy smiled in relief. "Oh, great, thanks." They walked out of the classroom. "Where would that be?"

Cordelia smiled. "I'll show you come on." Her tone brooked no disobedience. "So you're from Hemery, right? In LA?"

Buffy nodded, not seeing how that was relevant. "Uh, yeah."

Cordelia looked enviously at Buffy. "Oh, I would kill to live in LA. That close to that many shoes?" Rachel rolled her eyes in exasperation. Was it possible for a human being to be this shallow? She trailed Buffy and Cordelia down the hall.

Cordelia was busy being ridiculous. "Well, you'll be okay here. If you hang with me and mine, you'll be accepted in no time." And this was important how? "Of course, we do have to test your coolness factor. You're from LA, so you can skip the written, but let's see. Vamp nail polish?"

Buffy shrugged. "Uh, over?"

Cordelia's tone oozed contempt. "So over. James Spader?"

Buffy laughed. "He needs to call me!" Rachel had to agree with Buffy there- she'd absolutely loved the actor in Stargate.
"Frappucinos?"

Buffy shrugged. "Trendy, but tasty." Rachel, who preferred tea to coffee, had no comment.

"John Tesh?"

"The Devil."

Cordelia smiled. "That was pretty much a gimme, but… you passed!"

Buffy grinned tentatively. "Oh, goody!"

The duo and their shadow turned towards a drinking fountain, and Rachel tensed as she saw Willow. Cordelia picked on Willow mercilessly, and Willow was absolutely terrified of her. Willow saw Cordelia and Buffy coming and straightened nervously. Rachel could practically predict what was about to happen as Cordelia strolled towards Willow predatorily, like a cat stalking a mouse.

Cordelia smirked patronizingly at Willow. "Willow! Nice dress! Good to know you've met the softer side of Sears." Cordelia teased Willow relentlessly about her normal ensemble of blouses and knee-length, shapeless jumpers. Today's was green-and-black plaid. Rachel's lips curled into a snarl. Cordelia had ten seconds to stop teasing Willow…

Willow smiled sheepishly, having completely missed Cordelia's sarcasm. "Uh, oh, well, my mom picked it out."

Cordelia nodded in mock understanding. "No wonder you're such a guy magnet." Okay, Cordelia's ass was hers.

She stepped up behind Cordelia. "Cordelia. Don't you have some boy to inflict your shallow, unintelligent self on?"

Cordelia turned to Rachel. "Well, excuse me. Did I ask for your opinion?"

Rachel pretended to think. "No. Do I particularly care? Nope."

Cordelia glared at Rachel, who glared right back. "Are you done?"

"Are you done annoying Willow?" Rachel grabbed Willow's hand and stalked off angrily, cursing Cordelia under her breath.

XXX

"Up next, Rachel versus her lunch." Rachel scowled at an unappetizing-looking ham and Swiss cheese sandwich positively swimming in mayonnaise. Ordinarily, she packed her own lunch, but she'd been up really late last night doing homework, so her uncle had packed her lunch. He wasn't a bad cook, but he could not make a sandwich if his life depended on it. He always forgot that she liked turkey, Parmesan, and ketchup on her sandwiches, and he overdid it with the condiments.

Willow smiled sympathetically. "You can have half of mine if you want, Rachel."

Rachel smiled and shook her head. "It's okay, Will-bear. I've eaten worse."

Just then, Buffy walked up. Rachel glanced at her coldly. Until Rachel was sure that Buffy had escaped minionhood, she'd keep her guard up.

"Uh, hi! Willow and Rachel, right?"

Willow looked like a startled bunny. "Why? I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want us to move?"

Buffy smiled at Willow, and Rachel detected genuine goodwill in the smile and relaxed somewhat. "Why don't we start with "Hi, I'm Buffy," and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor." Buffy plopped herself down next to Willow. "It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."

Willow frowned hesitantly. "But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?"

Buffy shrugged. "I can't do both?"

Willow shook her head. "Not legally." Rachel rolled her eyes. Who would want to hang out with that bitch in the first place?

Buffy breathed out exasperatedly. "Look. I really wanna get by here- new school- and… Cordelia's been really nice… to me… anyway, but, um, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that Willow was the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up."

Rachel decided Buffy might be a good sort as a huge smile broke across Willow's face. "Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?"

Buffy shook her head shakily. "Or not. Or we could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins." Rachel hid a smile- her uncle could have that effect on people.

Willow just nodded understandingly. "Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's a great collection, and the librarian is really cool."

Cool? Her uncle Rupert would not know cool if it bit him in the ass. Rachel interrupted, rolling her eyes. "Of course, cool's a matter of taste. He used to be a curator at the British Museum. He knows just about everything about boring, obscure crap that nobody except museum curators actually cares about, but he does have a rather excellent collection of books you could use as a doorstop."

Xander and Jesse came up to the three girls around then. Xander hopped up on the wall behind Rachel and sat down. Jesse stood in front of them and dropped his bag. "Hey!"

Xander followed right on Jesse's heels. "You guys busy? Are we interrupting?" He tossed his bag to Jesse.

Rachel smirked. "Hey, Harris. And yeah, you're interrupting."

Buffy and Willow waved, and Jesse dropped Xander's bag next to his own as he leaned against the railing.

Rachel waved a hand at Jesse. "Buffy, you've already met Harris, so allow me to introduce you to Jesse McCarthy. He also answers to Nimrod."

Buffy laughed, and Xander proceeded to make himself look like an idiot. "Oh, me and Buffy go waay back, old friends, very close. Then there's that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people, but now here we are, like old times. I'm quite moved." He said this while nodding sagely.

Rachel cocked a pencil-thin eyebrow. "Is it just me, or are you turning into even more of a babbling idiot?"

Buffy shook her head at their antics. "Well, it's nice to meet you guys, I think."

Rachel rummaged in her satchel; looking for the stake Buffy had dropped earlier. This would be a good chance to test whether she'd been right about Buffy being a Slayer. "You dropped this earlier. I assume it's for self defense?"

Buffy looked spooked as she took the stake, looking at Rachel with a hint of apprehension in her eyes.

Xander smiled. "My bet is that you're building a really little fence."

Buffy laughed shakily, trying to brush off Rachel's insinuations. "Yeah, it's for self-defense. Everyone has them in LA. Pepper spray is just so passé." Actually Rachel thought pepper spray was quite useful, but she would keep that to herself.

Xander leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, grinning like a street urchin. "So, what do you do for fun, what do you like, what do you look for in a man, let's hear it."

Jesse leaned in on his other side, an identical grin on his face. "If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish?"

Buffy laughed sarcastically, and a touch of irritation entered her voice. "Gee, everyone wants to know about me. How keen."

Xander shrugged apologetically. "Well, not much goes on in a one-Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You're pretty big news."

Buffy shook her head like she wanted them to drop the subject. "I'm not. Really."

Just then, Cordelia walked by, condescending as ever. "Are these guys bothering you?"

Rachel scowled at Cordelia. "No. But you're bothering me, so go away." Then she heaved an exasperated sigh and grimaced as Jesse hopped up next to Cordelia.

"Hey! Cordelia!" Honestly, what did Jesse see in her?

Cordelia brushed Jesse off. "Oh, please!" Then, she turned to Buffy with a fake-looking smile on her face "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker?"

Buffy and Rachel responded at the same time, all humor leaving their faces and voices. This was serious. This was potential Slayer business.

Willow gasped in shock. "What are you talking about?" The redhead had absolutely no stomach for anything related to people getting hurt. She even had trouble dissecting worms in biology. Rachel put a comforting arm around Willow's shoulder.

Rachel knew that Cordelia wasn't bluffing when she answered Willow matter-of-factly, with no snark or sarcasm. "Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker!"

Rachel was already scarfing down her sandwich, heedless of the taste, so that she could go investigate the stiff. She didn't fight well on an empty stomach. Buffy, meanwhile, was cross-examining Cordelia like a defense lawyer. "Dead."

Cordelia nodded, shock written on her too-perfect features. "Totally dead. Way dead."

Rachel piped up around a mouthful of sandwich, prompting a disgusted glance from Cordelia. "As opposed to mostly dead?" Okay, it was the wrong situation, but she absolutely loved The Princess Bride. She took every opportunity she could to quote it.

Xander jumped on her train of thought. "Or not just a little dead, then?"

Rachel knew Cordelia had recovered from the shock by the withering contempt in her reply. "Don't you have an elsewhere to be?"

Rachel glared at Cordelia, grey eyes narrowing. "Don't you?"

Jesse looked at Cordelia adoringly. It made Rachel sick. "Y'know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on…"

Buffy's tone of voice was all-business. "How did he die?"

Cordelia glanced at Buffy. "I don't know." Big surprise.

Buffy let Cordelia's general annoyingness wash over her. "Well, were there any marks?"

Cordelia curled her lip like she'd suddenly smelled cow manure. "Morbid much! I didn't ask!"

Rachel smirked up at her. "You know, you keep making that face, it might stay that way."

Cordelia just huffed and stomped off, and Rachel grinned evilly. She was so very good at getting the last word.

Buffy looked around at everyone uneasily, packing up her stuff and tucking the stake into her bag. "Um, I gotta book. I'll, I'll see you guys later." She left, walking towards the outer entrance of the gym.

Rachel also got up, grabbing her bag. "I'm off- Chernofsky wants to see me about systems of equations." There was slaying to be done.

When Rachel arrived at the gym, she noticed a giant hole in the door where the lock would have been. She smiled thinly- everything was pointing to Buffy being the trueborn Slayer, not an imitator like Rachel. The stake, the freaking out at the mention of Rachel's uncle, asking whether the stiff had any marks on him, and now the strength to break through wood- the signs were all there.

Rachel carefully pulled the door open, avoiding the sharp edges so she didn't get splinters. She hated getting splinters. She slid the stake out of her sleeve and crept into the locker room, sticking to the walls and trying to step silently. It wasn't very easy to do in heeled boots, but Rachel had had a lot of practice.

Then, she noticed a blonde girl crouching over the corpse, pulling back the sheet. This girl might be a vampire. Or she might be a paramedic checking on the corpse.

Ah, well. Better safe than sorry.

Rachel quickly edged towards the girl and stabbed at her back with her stake. The girl noticed, rolling over and snapping her legs out to kick Rachel in the stomach. Rachel went flying, then rolled and popped up into a fighting stance. The girl got up, and Rachel aimed a quick punch at her jaw. It hit home, and the stranger turned with the force of her blow, using the momentum to aim a snap kick at Rachel.

Rachel ducked under the sweeping leg, elbowing the girl in the stomach. As she doubled over, Rachel grabbed her and drove the stake towards her chest.

The girl grabbed Rachel's wrist and pressed her own stake to Rachel's chest, right below her heart. Rachel got a clear look at her opponent for the first time.

"Buffy. I might have known."

Buffy's eyes widened in recognition, and she stepped back, brushing herself off. "Rachel? What are you doing here!? Why do you have a stake?"

Rachel nodded, breathing hard- she hadn't realized just how hard a real Slayer could hit. "I'm here for the same reason you are- to investigate dead guy over there. And as for why I have a stake, I hunt vampires. Just a little hobby of mine. Sorry about attacking you, by the way. I didn't recognize you- I've got a slight tendency to slay first and ask questions later." She paused for a bit. "Oh, who are we kidding? You're the Slayer, I'm pretty sure I didn't even scratch you. I'm not sorry at all." She moved over to the stiff, pulling back the blanket so she could see his neck. They'd have to move fast- Rachel was surprised that the corpse hadn't been taken to the morgue already. She really didn't want to have to explain herself to the cops.

There were two tiny puncture marks there, along with the fainter outline of teeth. Rachel cursed- it looked like they had a vampire on their hands instead of a regular old dead person.

Buffy was shaking her head. "You're not the Slayer and you hunt vampires?"

Rachel nodded absently. "Yeah. Vampires killed my mom, so it just seemed like the thing to do. Plus, it's a great workout." She straightened up. "Did you see this guy's neck?"

Buffy nodded. "Come on. Back to the library, I guess." Rachel nodded, and the duo walked out.

XXX

The library was a very comfortable place, with double doors, a checkout desk to the left of the entrance, and an oval table surrounded by comfy wooden chairs with just the right amount of cushioning. A second floor curved around the table and chairs. Staircases at either end led to the upper level. Shiny oak railings surrounded the upper level, and the walls were lined with overflowing bookshelves. An aura of comfort and quiet pervaded the place, at least until Rachel and Buffy barged in.

Buffy noticed Rachel's uncle in the stacks. "Okay, what's the sitch?"

Rupert Giles, librarian, Watcher, and legal guardian/uncle to Rachel, turned around. "Sorry?"

Rachel plopped into a chair, putting her feet up on the table. Buffy crossed her arms insistently. There was a very subtle air of not happy about her. "You heard about the dead guy, right? The dead guy in the locker?"

Giles stepped into the light, adjusting his glasses. "Yes."

Buffy dropped her bag on the table next to Rachel's feet and headed up the stairs. Rachel tipped her head back to look at her uncle. "Yeah, Buffy and I were just in there. It's just the weirdest thing- he's got two pinholes in his neck, and there's no livor mortis. All the blood's been drained." Rachel also enjoyed Kathy Reichs novels.

Buffy cocked her head challengingly as she looked at Giles. "Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going, 'ooh'?"

Giles sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I was afraid of this."

Buffy just blew up at him. "Well, I wasn't! It's my first day! I was afraid that I was gonna be behind in all my classes, that I wouldn't make any friends, that I would have last month's hair. I didn't think there'd be vampires on campus. And I don't care." Rachel shot upright. Buffy was the Slayer, and she didn't care?

Giles just looked at Buffy. "Then why are you here?"

Buffy stammered- she clearly hadn't expected that. "Rachel seems to be doing fine slaying vampires anyway. I'm here to tell you that… I don't care, which… I don't, and… have now told you, so… bye." She turned to leave.

Giles called after Buffy. "Is he, w-will he… rise again?" Her sweet uncle did not really know how to deal with a reluctant Slayer.

Buffy turned around to look at him. "Who?"

"The boy."

Buffy sighed- clearly, she wanted to be out of there. "No. He's just dead."

Giles leaned forward intently. "Can you be sure?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, and then began to explain. It sounded as if she was reciting something from rote. "To make you a vampire they have to suck your blood. And then you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole big sucking thing. Mostly they're just gonna kill you. Why am I still talking to you?" She turned and stomped down the stairs.

Giles moved over to the railing, yelling after Buffy. "You really have no idea what's going on, do you? You think it's coincidence, your being here? That boy was just the beginning."

Buffy threw up her hands and groaned. "Oh, why can't you people just leave me alone?"

Giles started coming down the stairs. "Because you are the Slayer. Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt-"

Buffy rolled her eyes, clearly more than a little peeved with Giles. "With the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil blah, blah, blah… I've heard it, okay?" Wow, this girl really didn't want to be a Slayer.

Giles frowned. "I really don't understand this attitude. You, you've accepted your duty, you, you've slain vampires before…" Clearly, Giles' boss hadn't covered Convincing Reluctant Slayers in Watcher training.

Buffy glared ferociously at Giles. "Yeah, and I've both been there, and done that, and I'm moving on."

Giles walked towards his office, where he kept all his ongoing research. (It was a very cluttered office- you couldn't see the walls through the massive stacks of books littering the place.) "What do you know about this town?"

Rachel groaned. "She just got here, Giles. She doesn't live in the stacks like you do."

Buffy frowned. "It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?"

Giles dug around in his office as he answered, so the walls muffled his voice. "Dig a bit in the history of this place. You'll find a, a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences. Now, I believe this whole area is a center of mystical energy-" he came out of the office carrying a stack of four old books- "that things gravitate towards it that-that, that you might not find elsewhere." He put the books on the table.

Buffy nodded, comprehension dawning. "Like vampires."

He began giving Buffy the books. "Like zombies," (he added a musty black book), "werewolves," (green volume several inches thick), "incubi," (brown with yellowed pages), "succubi," (another black book), "everything you've ever dreaded was under your bed, but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day. They're all real!"

Buffy looked apprehensively at the books. "What? You, like, sent away for the Time-Life series?"

Rachel nodded. "One of the dorkiest things he's ever done. We still have the calendar."

Buffy nodded, clearly itching for this encounter to be over. "Cool! But, okay," she handed the books back to Giles, "first of all, I'm a Vampire Slayer. And secondly, I'm retired. Hey, I know! Why don't you kill 'em?"

"I-I'm a Watcher, I-I haven't the skill…" Giles blustered. That was a load of crap. He had taught Rachel everything she knew about slaying.

"Then what about Rachel? She's pretty good. Why can't she be the Slayer?"

Rachel shrugged. "I wasn't born to it. I have the skill and the smarts, I'm stronger than most girls my age, and somehow I'm really fast, but I'm not you. I don't have the memories. I can't recognize a vampire on sight. I'm not as strong or resilient as you."

Buffy scoffed. "Oh, come on, stake through the heart, a little sunlight… it's like falling off a log." Maybe it was easy for Slayers, but in Rachel's experience, vampire slaying was only easy with the really stupid ones.

Giles stammered again- he was so clearly out of his depth here. "A, a Slayer slays, a Watcher-"

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Watches?"

Giles nodded awkwardly, still holding the books. "Yes. No!" He put the books on the table next to Buffy's bag. "He, he trains her, he, he, he prepares her-"

Buffy cut across him. "Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go ahead! Prepare me." Despite herself, Rachel sympathized with her. Xander, Willow, and Jesse were the only friends Rachel had ever had. She knew they'd always stand by her, but she knew she'd have probably ended up like Buffy without them- alone and slightly bitter. As it was, it secretly burned Rachel every time she had to lie to them.

Buffy and Giles looked at each other for a moment. Then, Buffy exhaled sharply and turned. The door shut behind her with a bang.

Giles only had one word. "Damn!"

Rachel nodded. "I agree, Uncle. That could have gone a lot better. But, well, Buffy hasn't been slaying vampires since she was a little kid like I have. She probably had a completely normal life before she got called. And she's lost that. I think we'd better go after her." Giles nodded and got up. Uncle and niece exited into the hall.

"It's getting worse!" Giles sounded considerably freaked out.

Buffy glared at Giles angrily. If Giles wasn't careful, he'd probably wind up knocked out. "What's getting worse?"

Giles guided the girls over to the wall and spoke in a low, serious voice. "The influx of the undead, the… supernatural occurrences, it's been building for years."

Rachel nodded. "When I was little, I'd have to slay vampires maybe once a month. Nowadays, I'm on patrol every night, usually staying up till midnight with homework. It's gotten to where I can't catch up to everything on my own- sometimes Uncle Giles has to go with me. There's a reason why you're here now, Buffy."

Buffy sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, clearly trying to regain control of her temper. "Because now is the time my mom moved here." She tried to evade them, but Rachel's arm shot out to stop her. Buffy looked down at the muscular limb. "You weren't kidding when you said you were fast."

Giles tried to regain Buffy's attention. "Something's coming, something, something… something is, is gonna happen here. Soon! OW!"

Rachel had stepped on his foot. "Way to be specific, Rupert." She only used his first name when she was annoyed with him.

Giles sighed. "Please don't call me that. The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less." Rachel rolled her eyes. She hadn't really understood what Giles meant by signs. There had been a lot of trawling through every single newspaper in existence, and then there had been all those obscure calendars…

Buffy just looked skeptical. "Oh, come on! This is Sunnydale! How bad an evil can there be here? And are you two related or something?"

Rachel smiled grimly. "Yeah, he's my uncle and legal guardian, I've lived with him since I was two. And as for how bad it can be here? You'd be surprised."