Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy & Fox. Numb3rs belongs to CBS. (NOT ME!!)
Warnings: None that I can think of... if you see anything I should warn people about, let me know... I suppose I should warn people that this is an AU fic or something like that, but it IS a crossover, so I'd think most would draw that conclusion themselves.
Summary: While struggling to ignore her destiny and forget the tragedies that resulted from it, Buffy is drawn to save an innocent and makes a new friend in the process. And Charlie learns that there's more to the world than he'd ever imagined.
AN: Hi! I've been trying to think of a crossover for these two series for a while, and though this one may seem a bit unpractical it works... And I find it amusing and I've seen worse, and so have you if you've read even a fraction of the crossovers I've read.
First Meeting
Part I in Mathematics & Magic
By Jess S
Chapter 2: A Hellish Place
Part II
Los Angeles, California – Monday, June 3, 1996 – early evening
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"He'll be all right, you're sure?" A familiar, female voice roused Buffy from her sleep some time later.
As her groggy brain made the connection between the voice and the identity of the woman, Buffy couldn't help but frown as she realized that Mrs. Eppes presence meant Buffy herself had actually been asleep for a number of hours. She hadn't slept more than five hours a night since she'd become the Slayer! She'd never needed to...
"Yes, Mrs. Eppes, I'm quite sure," Dr. Helgen's voice replied, her tone kind. "The extra blood Miss O'Connor gave him certainly seemed to help. He's been steadily improving since the transfusion."
"He hasn't woken up though?" a somewhat familiar man's voice asked worriedly. Probably Mr. Eppes, Charlie's dad, Buffy reasoned.
"No, he hasn't. But that's not surprising. He did nearly die from blood loss. He also has a mild concussion and he was in shock when he first came in. The combination would exhaust anyone. His body's just recuperating. He should wake up sometime early this evening, maybe even later this afternoon at the rate he's been improving."
After a moment's pause, Mrs. Eppes asked, "What about Anne, is she okay? She's been asleep this whole time?"
Here the doctor sounded a little bit worried as she replied. "Yes, Miss O'Connor will be fine. Though I'm afraid she wasn't quite truthful when she told us she was in excellent health for the transfusion." The latter part was said with a bit of irritation in her tone.
"She's sick? Won't—"
Dr. Helgen cut Mr. Eppes's worried question off quickly, "No. She doesn't have any actual illness. In that regard, I think she may actually be one of the healthiest people I've ever seen. From the scan we did of her blood test a few hours ago, it doesn't look like she's ever had any major illness."
"What's wrong with her then?" Mrs. Eppes asked worriedly, making Buffy want to squirm guiltily even as she fought to remain 'asleep'.
"Well, for starters, I don't she's been taking the best of care of herself as of late. She's somewhat malnourished, dehydrated and clearly exhausted. So she probably hasn't been sleeping well or eating healthily." The doctor paused for a moment before continuing with a sigh. "She was also very insistent that we take as much blood as possible for Charlie, and that has certainly helped him, though it wasn't all that good for her."
"Why?" Mr. Eppes asked, now sounding more concerned than frustrated, and again Buffy couldn't help but feel guilty at their distress.
"Well, she distracted me so we took a little more than the liter we had planned on taking. Not much more, mind you, but if we'd known she wasn't eating correctly, we wouldn't have been willing to take any in the first place. And she also lied about her weight on the form she filled in."
"I did not!" Buffy protested with an indignant frown, eyes flying open only to cringe back when the three adults in the room turned towards her.
Dr. Helgen shook her head in clear amusement as she moved to Buffy's bedside to frown down at her. "You did, Miss O'Connor. To be eligible to donate blood you must weight at least one-hundred and ten pounds. You said you weigh one-hundred-twenty pounds."
"I do!"
"No, you don't. You're only weight just over one-hundred pounds." The doctor pointed to a clipboard that was next to the IV that was hooked up to Buffy's arm along with a heart monitor. "We checked a few hours ago."
"Oh." Buffy frowned. "Well I didn't lie. I thought I weighed a hundred and twenty pounds."
"When was the last time you checked?"
"...My weight? I don't know. A month or two ago, I think... Sometime in April?"
"Has your diet changed significantly since then?" the doctor demanded, her pen poised over the clipboard she grabbed a moment before.
"...Um. A little, I guess. I moved away from home this summer, and have an apartment downtown now. I work at a diner near there, and we get lunch and dinner free when we're working."
"And breakfast?"
"I'm usually not hungry in the morning. I might have a muffin or fruit, sometimes yogurt, but usually I don't eat much till lunch."
"Well," Dr. Helgen shook her head disapprovingly. "You have to stop that. It's not healthy. You need to eat breakfast regularly. It's the most important meal of the day. And you should have quite a bit more variety in your diet. Surely diner food must get awful boring after a while?"
Buffy shrugged. "I guess. I'm not usually that hungry. I just eat whenever the other waitresses grab me to sit down for lunch or dinner with them..."
If anything, that seemed to make the doctor's frown deepen. "Are you unhappy with your appearance, Miss O'Connor?"
"Umm..." Buffy frowned, glancing down at her body and shaking her head. "No?" then with a start, she looked back at her body again and demanded, "Hey! Where's my uniform?"
"The nurses thought you'd sleep more comfortably in that," the doctor replied, her tone mild. "Your clothing will, of course, be returned to you when you check out."
"I never checked in!" Buffy protested, a bit worried at any background checks they might run on her for her medical information and such with her as a patient, but hoping that Angel was right and his spell still worked on anyone that used his surname and wanted to remain unnoticed.
"Yes, you did. For the transfusion, remember?"
"Oh. Yeah... But I don't need medical attention. I feel fine."
"You were unconscious for nearly eleven hours. Have you not been sleeping well?"
"Eleven – Is Charlie okay?!" Buffy demanded, her eyes flying to the concerned Eppes, who were standing a little ways away, closer to Charlie's bed. "I'm so sorry! I—"
"No, no, dear," Mrs. Eppes quickly reassured her, coming over to take one of Buffy's hands in her own. "He's fine. You saved him."
"Yes, I dare say you did." Dr. Helgen conceded with a kind smile, before shaking her head again. "We didn't need to wake you for anything concerning Dr. Eppes. His health has steadily improved since the transfusion. As you can see for yourself," she nodded to the other bed, and Mrs. Eppes moved a little so that Buffy could have a clear view of Charlie.
He was still a little pale, but looked mostly healthy. He was breathing regularly, and accept for the bandages around his neck, right shoulder – and maybe his ribs, though she couldn't see because he was covered by a blanket – and all of the equipment attached to him, he looked like he was sleeping peacefully.
"That... That's good." Buffy murmured, after a moment's silence. Then she frowned, her mind suddenly catching on to the significance of 'unconscious for eleven hours' after giving blood in the early morning hours, Buffy blurted out, "Wh-what time is it?"
The doctor glanced at the watch on her wrist before replying, "Almost two o'clock," she moved forward to help Mrs. Eppes keep Buffy in bed as she struggled to get up. "What are you doing?"
"I have to get to work! I'm already late!"
"No. You need to rest." The doctor said firmly, "I can call your supervisor myself, if that would make you feel better, but you will certainly not be going to work today. Or any of the next few days, probably."
Buffy stared at her for a few seconds before shaking her head, frowning as she protested, "What? Why? I feel fine! And I need the money."
"You need to rest, Miss O'Connor. And eat. By your own admission you've unknowingly lost a dangerous amount of weight in a short amount of time due to your schedule and poor eating habits."
"I did not!"
"Anne. Anne, please," Mrs. Eppes placed a gentle hand on her cheek, turning Buffy's panicked face towards her as she continued. "Listen to Doctor Helgen. I can't thank you enough for saving Charlie, but you need to take care of yourself, too."
"But I... I need to go to work." Buffy protested, though much less forcefully.
"Doctor Helgen said she would call your boss for you. And you'll have a hospital note when you return, so they legally can't fire you for missing work."
"But..." Buffy shook her head, "I won't even be able to pay for whatever bills I have from last night if I miss too much work."
"I'm sure your paren—" Mrs. Eppes paused, shaking her head. "No. My husband and I will take care of the bills. You're here because you saved Charlie, after all."
"That's right," Mr. Eppes agreed, stepping up beside his wife to smile down at the pretty blonde. "Don't worry about any of that, dear."
Buffy sighed, lying back a bit as she offer another half-hearted protest. "I hate hospitals."
Dr. Helgen laughed, "I know, you admitted that last night, remember?" she asked with a warm smile. "Unfortunately, I can't agree to you going home by yourself until you get your weight up to an acceptable level."
"How long will that take?"
"That really depends on you. On how much you eat and rest. If you want to get out sooner, you need to really concentrate on getting better."
"Couldn't I... I don't know. Go home and come back a few times, for check ups? I promise I'll try to eat more. And rest. I'll rest a lot better at home."
"I can't agree to that, Miss O'Connor. At least not until you've put a bit of weight on. Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't had some kind of problems before now. Have you?"
"What kind of problems?"
"Dizziness? Fainting spells? Random bouts of weakness?"
'All things Slayer-healing would take care of before they became problematic, or even noticeable,' Buffy realized with a frown as she shook her head. "No," she told the doctor, 'Of course, being the Slayer may be the problem. I haven't been patrolling or working out, so it hasn't been directed at anything, like Giles said it needs to be... I wonder if that'd actually do something...' She shook her head slightly, looking up at the doctor again to ask. "I haven't been exercising as much as I used to. So I've lost some of the muscle I used to have, could that be what the weight loss was?"
Dr. Helgen frowned, shaking her head again. "Well it might have been some of it, I doubt you've lost twenty pounds worth of muscle, dear. Well you might be able to gain that much if you really worked at it, you wouldn't be able to loose it in just a few weeks, especially without noticing the loss."
"Oh..." 'Well, I can't really ask her about my mystical powers...' Buffy thought with a sigh, shaking her head again. "Couldn't you send me home with a list of meal requirement and a schedule, or something like that? I really don't want to stay here."
Before the doctor could respond, Mrs. Eppes cut in. "If I may, could Anne come home with us, doctor?"
Dr. Helgen paused for a moment in thought before nodding. "That might work better. If you're comfortable with it, Miss O'Connor. I don't like the idea of you going home by yourself where you could pass out or something similar without anyone noticing. And I'm sure that Mr. and Mrs. Eppes could help you with your diet."
"Indeed, we could!" Mr. Eppes cut in with a wide smile. "My Maggie makes some of the best family meals you'll find anywhere!" he told them with a smile.
"Alan," Mrs. Eppes shook her head with a fond smile, before nodding to the doctor. "If you gave us some kind of guideline, I'm sure we could work it out." She then looked at Buffy again. "Would that be all right with you, Anne?"
Buffy looked around at the three watching adults a little uncertainly, shrugging as she replied, "I... I wouldn't want to impose."
"It wouldn't be an imposition at all, dear." Mrs. Eppes quickly assured her. "We have a guest room back at the house, two actually, since our eldest live in D.C. now. And we have plenty of room in the house. Actually," she smiled warmly as Buffy, "I think it'd be rather fun. I can't remember the last time I had another girl living with me for an extended period of time... Not since college, at least."
"Well... umm. Okay," Buffy agreed, deciding that there really wasn't any way the Council could trace her to the Eppes anyway, and since Charlie had already been targeted by vampires in an area that didn't see many of them, she probably should keep an eye on him for a bit anyway, just to make sure he hadn't recently become a vampire or demon magnet like Xander. "If it's okay with you... And Charlie. If it's okay with your whole family."
Mrs. Eppes laughed, shaking her head. "I'm sure Charlie won't mind at all, dear. And Donnie won't either, if he does come to visit for a bit... Did you get a hold of him?"
Buffy frowned, quickly snatching Charlie's cell phone off of where it sat at the bedside table, just as she'd left it hours before and flipping it open, shaking her head as no messages appeared. "No. I left him a voicemail, but he hasn't called back."
"Oh, well. No harm done. I'm sure we'll get a call from him soon enough. Though I should probably try him again soon, just to tell him Charlie's all right and that he doesn't have to fly out hear if he's too busy to."
"Charlie is definitely all right, though?" Buffy asked quietly, glancing towards him again. "I'm surprised we didn't wake him up."
"His body's still recuperating, dear. I'm sure he'll be awake soon... You don't mind staying in the hospital till he does, though, I'm sure?"
"No. No, I can wait here for him." Buffy agreed quickly, though a part of her wasn't sure it was the best idea for her to keep herself cooped up here, another part of her really didn't want to leave.
"Good, then," Dr. Helgen smiled as she made her way towards the door. "I'll have the nurses bring some lunch trays up and I'll be back to check on you and Charlie in an hour or two. Call for a nurse if he wakes sooner, and they'll page me, all right?" At their nods she raised an eyebrow and asked, "Would you like some lunch as well, Mrs. Eppes? Mr. Eppes?"
"We'd love some, thank you," Mrs. Eppes thanked her, shooting her husband a look that silenced him when it looked like he might protest.
Then the doctor left, almost closing the door behind her but leaving it slightly ajar for the nurses. Buffy waited a moment, then murmured. "I'm sorry."
Mrs. Eppes frowned, "For what, dear? About your weight? That's hardly—"
"No," Buffy shook her head, blushing. "I didn't know about that. I... I meant about having to take care of me and for lying, about... about being Charlie's girlfriend."
Both Eppes stared at her for a moment before bursting out laughing.
In retrospect, she supposed it had been a strange thing to apologize for, when she'd just saved their son's life. But she'd saved many people before him, and couldn't remember receiving a 'thank you' from any of them. So the idea that they wouldn't mind that fib and that they'd actually want to repay her somehow kind of baffled her.
After a few moments of silence, with the elder Eppes catching their breath after laughing so hard, Buffy remembered another thing that had been mentioned earlier. "Wait... Charlie's only nineteen, isn't he?"
"Yes, dear," Mrs. Eppes replied, a small smile on her face as she continued before Buffy could ask the question she saw coming. "And yes, he is a doctor. Not a medical doctor, mind you. He has a doctorate in applied mathematics. So he can teach it at a college level."
"I... I thought it took years to get that. And that's after regular college, isn't it?"
"Normally yes. But Charlie went through the school systems very quickly. He basically tested out of most of school, and started high school with his older brother. He and Don graduated together when Charlie was thirteen, then he went to Princeton. He finished his doctorate there last year."
Buffy glanced at Charlie again, trying not to stare before she turned her attention back to his proud parents. "Wow, that's... wow. So he's a genius?"
Both Eppes laughed and Mr. Eppes nodded, "To put it mildly, yes. Actually a lot of geniuses find him overwhelming..."
The three chatted for a while after that, Buffy reluctantly forcing herself to eat the whole meal that one of the nurses set before her under Mrs. Eppes' watchful eyes as they talked about Los Angeles, Charlie's schooling, Buffy's – very light – background, and so on. Buffy made a continual effort to redirect the conversation to the Eppes family whenever possible, not wanting to lie to them but not willing to tell them the entire truth about herself. A part of her wished she wasn't stuck here as one, she hated hospitals and two, she wasn't used to spending time with victims and their family after saving them. But another part of her, after several weeks on her own, drifting from day to day in mindless nothingness found the pleasant small talk nice and she found she was actually rather happy at the idea of staying with this nice family instead of going home to her rundown, cold and lonely apartment.
Charlie woke about three hours after that. More than a little confused at how well acquainted his parent's had become with his roommate. But then again, he'd been pretty confused by the fact that they were there at all, as they'd been in Paris the last time he was awake.
Buffy had been watching him as he woke up, talking quietly with his parents, and met his eyes with a smile when he turned to look at her and froze, staring at her. "Is... Is something wrong?" she asked with a frown.
"You... the angel...?" Charlie murmured quietly, starting when his mother put a gentle, concerned hand on his shoulder even as Buffy fought back the onslaught of emotion the word 'Angel' wrought inside her mind.
"What was that, sweetheart?" Mrs. Eppes – who wanted to be called 'Maggie,' – asked him.
"I..." Charlie took a deep breath before continuing. "I remember seeing you. When I was lying there... I thought you were an angel," he told her with a small smile, his blush matching Buffy's as both his parents chuckled. After their warm chuckles died down he met her eyes again, and the warmth in his chocolate-brown eyes made her breath catch. "Thank you."
Buffy blinked at him for a moment, shaking her head. "I didn't..."
"Thank you for saving me. And for being there..." he smiled brightly at her, making her breath catch again. "You were holding my hand, weren't you?"
"Y-yeah." Buffy nodded a bit unsurely.
"Thank you." His smile faded as his eyes scanned her form, mostly hidden by the blankets that covered her. "Wait, what happened to you? Did they hurt you?"
"No! No." Buffy shook her head quickly. "I'm fine. I guess the shock just caught up with me after I gave blood and I was out a little bit longer than they liked, so now they're holding me prisoner. Accept without bars and shackles and...yeah."
"Gave blood?" Charlie tilted his head to the side, his eyes then trailing to the bandage on her arm and the one on his. "You gave me blood?"
"She did." Mrs. Eppes confirmed with a warm smile. "The doctor said it probably saved your life. Which we can't thank you enough for, dear."
Buffy looked down, blushing as she mumbled. "I didn't do that much..."
"Yes. You did. You saved our Charlie's life twice last night, Annie," Mr. Eppes – who she was supposed to call 'Alan' – told her. "So I don't want to hear even one word of modesty pass your lips for at least a week, all right? If you must be modest, say 'your welcome' and nod a lot."
Charlie was chuckling at his father's demands, but he frowned as his brain caught part of what he said. "A week?" he looked at Buffy again. "You're going to be here for a week? What—?"
"No," Mrs. Eppes cut in shaking her head from side to side and drawing his attention to her where she sat in a seat between the two beds. Her husband had drawn a seat up to the end of the bed, but she'd wanted to be closer to both of them. "She'll be coming home with us for a bit, apparently she hasn't been eating as much as she should go giving blood wasn't the best of ideas. But we'll have her fixed up in no time."
"Uh—um. Okay." Charlie nodded, then smiled brightly at Buffy again. "Well, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other for a while, won't we? ...I'm glad."
Buffy met his eyes for a few moments before nodding slightly. "Me too..."
End of Chapter 2: A Hellish Place, Part II.
AN: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. I'm glad you like the story. To the reviewer who commented on the measurements of blood... Thank you, but I've decided to leave it as it is. Despite being unrealistic, whenever I think of the word "pint" and liquids, the scene in the Fellowship of the Ring where Merry gets a pint of beer pops into my head. Strange, I know, but enough of a reason for my tired brain at the moment. But once again, thank you for pointing out the error.
Continuing on that line of thought, I AM looking for a beta-reader for this fic, so if anyone is interested, please let me know. More than that though, if there's anyone reading this that really understands a lot of the math that Charlie uses in NUMB3RS before the 'Charlie Vision' comes up to explain it, I could use some help in making those parts of my NUMB3RS related fics more realistic later. Any help at all would be appreciated.
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and where the stories going so far.
Comments and constructive criticism are still more than welcome, so please REVIEW!!
Bye for now!
Jess S