Family

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon and Brothers & Sisters belongs to Jon Robin Baitz

Summary: Buffy already thought she had a big family, but she discovers an even bigger one, the Walkers. Slightly dysfunctional, but loving; just like the Scoobies.

Spoilers: Post "Chosen" and some large ones for season 8. Post "Love is Difficult" and goes AU afterward, though I'm doing something that wasn't done on the show.

A/N: As follows: Sarah 39, Kitty 38, Tommy 36, Kevin 34, and Justin is 28. And yea, Buffy is 26.

A/N2: So, as it turns out, Justin is 26. For this story, he shall remain 28!

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"I can't believe I thought this would work," Buffy told the vampire as she punched him across the face. His head was practically in the ground as the frustrated slayer attacked him as she straddled him. She reeled back for another when she looked at him, "I mean, how would you feel if your step sister you never knew existed showed up out of no where?"

"I wouldn't really believe it was true," the vampire managed to groan out.

Buffy glared at the vampire as she continued punching him, "Oh, what would you know?"

Faith heard a little bit of the conversation, but was preoccupied with her two vampires. The first one was the newly risen one, so he attacked her without any plan behind it; he was just hungry. She easily sidestepped him and drove her stake through his back, dusting him easily. The other vampire thought he could sneak up from behind her and grabbed her in bear hug. His barred his fangs and tried to sink his teeth in her neck. Using her strength, she kicked at the vampire's shin, forcing him to jerk back in surprise. Taking the moment, Faith spun, her arm extended and knocked the vampire back even more. Ending it quickly, she staked the vampire.

"B, get the kill," Faith told her.

"Huh," Buffy turned to Faith, confused. Faith nodded her head toward the vampire and Buffy looked back at him. He bruised and bloody, barely recognizable. He didn't deserve this. Faith tossed her a stake and Buffy quickly planted it in the vampire's chest.

"Thanks," the vampire groaned as he turned to dust.

"Sorry," Buffy mumbled a quick apology to the vampire and Faith.

"Don't worry about, you're still dealing with everything."

A ringing filled the night air and Buffy searched for her phone. "What now?"

"If it's another apocalypse, I'm not here," Faith shook her head as she backed away.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy looked at the number and frowned. She wondered why the Walkers' were trying to contact her, especially after the blow-up earlier that evening. "Hello?"

"Is this Buffy?" a male voice asked.

"Yes, who is this?" Faith could see the confusion on her face.

"I'm Justin. Sorry about earlier, my family's just a close-knit group, no matter how dysfunctional."

She smiled, the first real genuine one in a while. "No, it's fine. I shouldn't have expected everyone to be like Nora."

"Well, it doesn't excuse the fact," she could almost see the smile on his face. "So, I'd like to make it up to you and your friend."

"Are you treating?"

"To Burger King, yes. Anywhere without a value menu, no," he laughed.

"That's fine," she nodded. "We really didn't get a chance to eat before."

They agreed to meet at a Burger King that was closest to the both of them and hung up. "So, why are we meeting at a Burger King, not that I'm complaining about a free meal."

"Justin, the youngest of the Walker family. He wants to meet," Buffy told her as they walked back to their car, parked across the street from the graveyard.

"And the rest of 'em?"

Faith unlocked the doors as Buffy answered. "They won't be there, I'm hoping. And hey, I'm supposed to drive!"

"B, no offense, but the last time you drove--"

"That light post came out of nowhere," Buffy reminded. "And this car is in my name, by the way."

"Fine," Faith gave up. She knew this was her first mistake.

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"I-We can't believe you're meeting her."

"Kevin, she's our sister," Justin defended, but Kevin was quick to remind him. "Supposed half sister, Justin."

"I believe her and I want to get to know her. Mom is the one that found her, not the other way around, Kev."

"And she has yet to show us these letters!"

Justin could hear his mother in the background as he spoke to his older brother over the phone. She too was defending Buffy. It seemed that only he and his mother wanted Buffy to be a part of the family, the others, not so much. All that was left was Kitty and there was no telling how'd she react.

"You tried to get a DNA sample, Kev!"

"Oh, way to go, mom," he heard Kevin speak. "Justin, it was just a little hair follicle."

"Yea and then her friend stopped you. You're angry because you got caught."

"Maybe her friend stopped me because she knew I would find out the truth."

"Kev, they're here. You, just think about what you did."

"What, am I on punishment?"

"Uh, yea, you are. I'll talk to you later, Kev."

He saw the car pulling up, and tensed at the almost death of its occupants. And it was just supposed to be a simple parking job, too. The doors opened and he saw two women step out, a smiling blonde, the driver, and an angry looking brunette. Her anger was at the blonde, probably because of her parking capabilities.

They walked to the doors, the blonde coming in first and she spotted him. "Justin?"

"You must be Buffy," he held a hand out. She took his hand and smiled.

"That's me, Buffy. This is Faith, don't mind her."

"Yea, and I guess that kid came outta nowhere like that light post?" Faith snapped. She sized Justin up, "You still paying?"

"Uh, yea," he gestured toward the line. "Do your worst."

"That was a big mistake," Buffy sighed.

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As he watched Faith dig into to her meal, which cost several dollars, even though everything was from the value menu, he got to know his half-sister.

"Before Giles came to America, he worked for a company in England. After seven years here, they wanted him back so we all went with him."

"Just packed up and left?"

"You heard about Sunnydale, right?" she asked. "Big hole in the ground? There was nothing left here, and it was a job."

"What'd you do?"

"We taught girls," Faith took over. "Private school, self defense and stuff."

"And then I got a job offer in Rome and my sister and I moved there. And here we are," Buffy smiled. "What about you? Your mom didn't tell me much."

He shook his head, "She wouldn't. I'm a soldier in the army. I'm back from Afghanistan. When I came back, I got into some stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Drugs, B," Faith clarified. She could see it; saw it many times before when she was younger. Something traumatic happens, there's only a few ways to cope with it besides getting actual help.

"I'm getting better, though," he reassured her. "Rehab, AA. I'm good, really."

"We had a friend who dealt with addiction," Buffy spoke. "We're really good, with the dealing a-and stuff."

"Yea, a real team," Faith rolled her eyes.

The rest of their dinner was spent talking about their childhood. He even got to know Faith a little, which surprised her. She was just here for Buffy. Faith didn't need a family, as she always told the Scoobies whenever they wanted to include her in their activities.

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The next morning found the entire Walker family in the kitchen ready to start their day, except no one felt like starting it because they were too busy dealing with the fact that they had a new sibling, that only a few of them wanted to get to know.

There was one family member who had yet to have met Buffy and she stayed silent during the explosion. Justin thought she was great, as well as their mother. Sarah, Tommy and Kevin, on the other hand weren't ready to accept Buffy with open arms. They had their reasons, though some of them were not valid. Sarah's husband, Joe, and Tommy's wife, Julia, sided against their spouses and thought that Buffy should be given a chance.

"What was she like?" Kitty Walker, the second eldest child asked.

All arguments stopped as one by one, the heads turned to face Kitty, who stood close to the doorway.

"She's great, Kitty," Justin answered. "We had a good talk. She's a good person."

"I think you two might get along," their mother smiled at Kitty. "Well, I was hoping that all my children would get along with her, but I guess that's too much to ask."

"Mom."

"Don't you start with me Tommy," Nora pointed at her son. "All I'm asking is that you give her a chance. She needs a family, besides her best friends. I could hear it in her voice."

"You sure you just didn't want to hear it in her voice?" Sarah asked.

"That's it!" Nora snapped as she threw her hands down on the counter. Everyone jumped, a little frightened by her outburst. She didn't normally get this angry, but when she did, her kids were usually more compliant "You're going to get to know her and you're going to accept it. No matter how long it takes. We're going to be one big happy family!"

With that, Nora left the kitchen, letting her children take in the news. No one moved from where they stood or sat, they just stared at one another. It was Kitty that spoke first, "Maybe us girls should have lunch?"

"Yea," Sarah nodded. "That sounds good. We can give her a call and meet later today, if you're not busy with the Senator."

"I'm sure she'll be plenty busy," Kevin mumbled.

"Oh grow up, Kevin," Kitty rolled her eyes. "Maybe Buffy has a friend who can keep you busy."

"There is Faith," Tommy smirked. At seeing his wife narrowing her eyes, he coughed. "Not that I was looking for myself."

"And I think Faith might be a little much for Kevin," Justin smiled. 'Y'know, not being a dude or anything like that."

"Well clearly I meant a man for him," Kitty sighed. "We'll ask later today. Do you have her number, Justin?"

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While the Walker family was busy discussing what to do about their new half sister, Buffy and Faith were in their hotel room, doing business. Since no one wanted to stop Buffy from seeing her new family, they couldn't bear to tell her that there was a demon uprising that was due to happen in Los Angeles. Of course, when she called that morning, the slayer she spoke to was too nervous that she spilled the beans.

"Just put Xander on the phone, please," Buffy sighed.

"S-sure, Miss Summers."

Covering the phone with her hand, Buffy complained to Faith, "Again with the Miss. Didn't anyone get that memo I sent out?"

"That's why I don't tell the mini-slayers my last name, B," she shrugged. "We're authority now, it's gonna happen."

"We never did it," Buffy countered. "Hello, Xander."

"How's my favorite slayer doing?"

"Things are great, but what's this about an uprising?" her clipped tone made him wince.

"You're living the family life, we didn't want to ruin it. But don't worry, there's a slayer at UCLA and we're flying in a couple more experienced slayers from Cleveland."

"Well--"

"Their flight should be landing in a few hours at LAX. They were told to be expecting you. I knew you'd find out."

"You're the best Xand," Buffy smiled. After saying their goodbyes, Buffy explained the situation to Faith. "Alright, so, get some lunch, swing by UCLA to get the slayer there and then to the airport."

"After that, wait for dark and go kick some ass," Faith nodded.

"Suit up, though. I don't know if we'll be back here or not."

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By the time the slayer attending UCLA, Megan, had been picked up and the plane had landed, carrying Nicole and Samantha, Buffy was banging her head against the window in their car.

"Is there something wrong?" the one to ask was Nicole, an African-American slayer. Her long hair was pulled in a ponytail for the upcoming fight.

The UCLA slayer, a shorthaired brunette, Megan, answered her. "Miss Summers' family called before we picked you up. They wanted to have lunch, but were too busy. So, they asked to have dinner."

"And being the nice person B is, she accepted."

"Is this going to interfere with the slaying?" Samantha spoke up, a little annoyed. The dark haired slayer was a potential that knew of her status and had trained for the day when she might be called. Like a few other slayers who were originally under the Council's thumb, she dedicated her life to slaying, nothing else. It was hard for her to break out of that.

"No," Buffy finally spoke. "Faith's going to lead you guys and I'm going to the dinner. Hopefully, it'll be quick and I can help you guys."

"You better save some food," Faith turned away from driving to stare at Buffy.

"Yea, yea," her eyes rolling were a good indication of how likely that was going to be. She knew this was coming, a confrontation between her and her family without her rock, Faith. "Don't let me screw this up."

As long as a demon didn't attack, she'd be just fine.

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