Disclaimer: See first chapter. New: The Sackett/Talon/Chantry series of Westerns belongs to the estate of Louis L'Amour. I'm just borrowing.
Notes: Still post Season 1 AU for Glee, but I am borrowing some character backstory when it fits my purposes. The adults are still the main focus of this story.
More Notes: I wanted a large, complex family as a framework for this story. The Sacketts provide that. Let me apologize in advance for the over abundance of coincidences y'all are about to be subjected to.
Word count: 4,572
Follows immediately after the previous chapter.
No leprechauns were harmed in the making of this fic.
Stepping back, Kennedy looked at Buffy and her new teen minions, trying not to laugh at the picture they presented. Four girls, two tall blondes and two shorter brunettes, and a skinny boy who was setting off her gaydar in huge, neon, rainbow colored waves. Two of the cheerleaders, the two from the restaurant the night before, were standing very closely together and though they weren't giving off obvious couple vibes, there was something intimate in the way they leaned against each other.
She still wasn't sure what to make of Rachel Berry. Something about her was still setting off her slayer instincts. She'd have to ask Buffy later if she noticed anything.
And then there was the other cheerleader, called Q by the cranky old coach. Obviously the alpha of the pack, she couldn't wait to see how the tall teen would react to prolonged Buffy exposure. It wasn't just survival that made the short blonde head slayer, even after supposedly retiring. Under that slightly ditzy, California beach bunny exterior was an alpha predator not to be trifled with. A lesson Kennedy had painfully learned herself that first year after Sunnydale after challenging her one time too often.
Buffy obviously wasn't expecting minions, Kennedy thought, watching her stare at the small group, her nose scrunched up and her left eyebrow twitching. Now would be a good time to hit the road, she decided, even if that strange Council relic had clearly told Buffy to get rid of her, something she would normally rebel against.
"Keys?" she asked, loudly.
Turning to her, Buffy raised the still twitching eyebrow in a classic, 'are you kidding me', expression.
"Or I could just hang out here," she offered with a smirk. "Being the supportive girlfriend type that I am."
Buffy glared at her for a moment, muttering a 'Willow really owes me for this' that only Kennedy could hear. "Don't go anywhere," Buffy told her minions, before grabbing Kennedy by the arm and dragging her over to her tote, out of earshot of the curious kids.
"Here," she said, digging her keys out and handing them over. "Bring it back by lunch. And keep a low profile. No tickets. If you so much as scratch it, there's nowhere you can hide!"
"Got it," Kennedy said. Waving at the kids, she winked at Buffy and sauntered off. She had a date with a fast car.
Kurt tried not to gape at the antics of the new assistant coach and her butch girlfriend. If Coach hadn't banned texting during practice he'd be spreading the word to Mercedes as it happened. Glancing to the side, he checked the others for their reactions, as he composed the text to Mercedes in his head.
Santana seemed amused by their behavior; Staring off towards the bleachers, Brittany was going for her usual dumb blonde look, though he'd stopped believing that after spying her with a copy of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" in an out of the way corner of Lima's public library last spring. Quinn looked ready to tear someone's head off. He suspected the baby fat comment from Coach Sylvester wasn't appreciated after all the groveling she'd apparently done to get back on the Cheerios. Berry was doing her diva fuming thing and he was regretting leaving his ear plugs in his locker. Any minute now she was going to explode, spewing argyle and attitude everywhere.
"Right. Names," Coach Summers said, having returned, holding a clipboard, while he was scoping out the others. "Unless you want me to use her nicknames?"
"No," Kurt quickly murmured, along with the others, grabbing the clipboard she shoved in his direction.
"Rachel Berry," Berry said. "I have more important things to do than be here. I'm sure you can do whatever megalomaniacal exercise Coach Sylvester has planned without my presence."
Raising an eyebrow, Coach Summers held up her hand, effectively squashing Berry's rant, Kurt thought smugly. "Rachel? If you could be patient for a few minutes? Thanks."
"Quinn Fabray, and I don't need to lose any more weight," Quinn grumbled, her tone a lot more respectful than he expected, given her expression.
"Santana Lopez, and unlike Juno here, I think she could lose some," Santana said with more than a touch of her normal snark. Kurt tried to put some more distance between himself and Quinn without being too obvious. He really didn't want to get in the way of the two as they jockeyed for head cheerleader if they decided to get into here.
"I'll keep that in mind," Coach Summers said.
"Brittany S. Pierce, not Spears," Brittany said, her eyes focusing on Coach Summers for a moment, before returning to looking elsewhere.
"Okay..." Coach Summers looked confused, a common occurrence when unprepared adults first encountered Brittany. Kurt snorted, drawing her attention.
"And you are?" she asked him.
"Kurt Hummel," he said, just barely refraining from reflexively trying to out-diva Berry.
"Coach appears to believe you all need extra training," she said. "She has apparently left the kind of said training up to me. You aren't quite what I'm used to working with so I'll need to know what you do for physical activity, besides the obvious." She gestured at the Cheerios being run into the ground by Coach Sylvester. Kurt winced.
"I..." Rachel began before being stopped again. Kurt snorted in amusement again.
"Write it down," she said, pointing at the clipboard Kurt was holding. "Five minutes."
"Your life stories weren't necessary," Buffy grumbled, quickly reading the collection of autobiographies, one of them three paragraphs long. Based on what he wrote, Kurt seemed to be the least physically active of the five. But Buffy could have guessed that just from looking at them. Even Rachel, the smallest of the girls, had a stronger physical presence. Unfortunately, although he was her designated assistant she did expect him to keep up.
They'd all had some kind of dance training, she noticed. That might make things easier. At least they had something in common.
"Capoeira?" she said, looking up at Santana and Brittany in surprise. One of the slayers from Brazil was teaching it in Cleveland and she'd sat in on a few sessions before moving to Lima but she couldn't claim more than a passing awareness of it.
"It's a family thing," Santana said, shrugging. "I've gots an uncle who teaches it in Cinnci."
"It's like dancing," Brittany added. "Me and San do it together."
Buffy nodded. She didn't have a real plan yet, but she was getting an idea or two to run by Sue. "We won't be doing anything too strenuous today. Just a quick run to give me a feel for your condition. Six laps?"
"I'm not dressed for any physical activity," Rachel protested. "And school hasn't started yet, so my gym clothes are at home."
"I'm sure we can find someone to lend you sneakers," Buffy said. "Or not," she muttered, noticing at the reactions of the other kids to the idea, all of them trying to subtly distance themselves from the girl.
Sighing, Buffy slipped into Sue's office. She'd extracted a promise from Rachel to meet her back at the school track later before letting her escape. The other three girls hadn't even broken a sweat during their laps, not unexpected from Sue-trained cheerleaders. Kurt, on the other hand, had survived but was going to need to spend some time working on his endurance. She wondered if she could get Giles to send her the physical training guides used to train new Watchers.
"Did you know who I was back in LA?" she asked, plopping down onto one of the chairs in front of her desk.
"Not until that old fool Merrick got in the way of Lothos," Sue said.
"He wasn't a fool," Buffy protested.
"He was a loose cannon," Sue said dismissively. "No one knew he was even training you until he died."
Buffy winced at her expression. Dawn had found the Council report on Merrick's death in a pile of other documents retrieved from Quentin Travers summer home after the new Council had taken possession of it. It might have echoed Sue's opinion, in a politer fashion, but it still rankled.
"Coach? What's really going on?" Buffy asked, deciding to not pursue the issue. "You don't really need an assistant coach."
"I don't normally explain myself, but for you? I'll make an exception," Sue said, smirking at her from across her desk. Standing up, she turned around and moved aside a trophy and large photo of herself wearing a medal of some sort to reveal a small wall safe. Opening it with a few quick turns, she removed a folder and a small vial.
"Back before your little dust-up in Sunnydale, I'd been researching the distribution of potential slayers in a given population, when I noticed that Lima has had at least two at any one time for the last century. But they've never been chosen." She handed Buffy several charts. "The Council agreed, with a bit of the usual encouragement, to fund my research."
"Okay," Buffy murmured before looking at the top chart. It resembled a fancy family tree, with almost unreadable small print, even to her eyes. Touching one of the highlighted sections caused it to expand. "Neat trick. How'd you get this?"
"Mayan witch doctor," Sue said. "Took some clever bargaining, but they don't call me Slick Sue just because of my looks."
"So some of them are related?" Buffy asked, spotting several names mixed in with what looked like random numbers. She wasn't sure what the terminology was for such distant cousins. "Do they know about this?"
"All slayers are related," Sue told her, "if you go back far enough. I'm not one to interfere in that little incest thing you have going on with your girlfriend, I had a third cousin who could do this thing with her tongue that you wouldn't believe, but telling Q and S they share DNA would get in the way of their competitive edge. So don't tell them," she growled.
"Got it. Keeping the minions in the dark," Buffy said, nodding. "For now. But I think the word should be passed to the appropriate parties."
"This is proprietary information, Summers," Sue said. "I expect you to keep this to yourself while you prepare them."
"Prepare them?"
"Yes. Just because you're overrun with bloodthirsty little assassins up in Cleveland doesn't mean you can't use Team Sue to help out when you need to inconspicuously insert a team into a situation. Who better to give them that added edge?"
"I have connections," Buffy said, pulling out her phone. One thing at a time, she decided, taking a slow, deep breath. Sue's plans for using the girls as a mobile slayer hit squad could wait. "I've heard you enjoy scrabbling around and scheming for funding but this tidbit? I can almost guarantee you that we can get you more without having to cash in that favor Giles owes you."
"I'm listening," Sue said, smirking.
Shaking her head in amusement, Buffy hit the speed dial for Willow. As soon as it started ringing she tapped the combination to put it on speaker and placed her phone in the middle of Sue's desk.
"Hey Buffy! Have you talked with Kennedy? She hasn't called me yet," Willow said.
"Willow, speaker phone!" Buffy said quickly. "Can we discuss your wayward girlfriend later?"
"Sorry," Willow said. Buffy could easily picture her sad expression from the tone of her voice. "What's up?"
"What do you know about slayer genetics?"
"Not much. We know the old Council was starting to look into it, before the First got them, but all we have is a note from Quentin Travers mentioning an S. Sylvester," Willow said. "I'd really like to spend some time getting together a team to look into it but right now it's a low priority. I just have too many other responsibilities."
"Well, if that 'S' means 'Sue', I have the old Council genetics expert right here, and you'll never believe who it is," Buffy said.
"You do?" Willow said, her excitement obvious even over the phone.
"Yup, say hello to Sue Sylvester," Buffy said.
"Your crazy old coach from Hemery?" Willow said. "Oops. Sorry, Ms. Sylvester."
"I wear my crazy proudly," Sue said, winking at Buffy. "It's the only way to stay sane dealing with the incompetents and clueless mouth breathers around here."
"Um, okay," Willow said. "Where exactly is 'here'? Buffy, I know you're living in Lima."
"Coach is working on her seventh National Cheerleading title here at McKinley," Buffy said. "And she was kind enough to let me help out while I'm doing my practicum."
"You can only learn so much from Erma and her groupies," Sue said, tapping the charts on her desk. Buffy nodded at her.
"What do you have for me?" Willow asked. "You could have told this to me next month at the next Council Board meeting."
"I have four teenage potentials here in Lima," Buffy said, knowing that Willow was keeping an eye out for any post-Sunnydale potentials who cropped up.
"Really? In one town that size? That's a bit unusual," Willow said. "That's more than we've found in all of Canada. Any chance you could give me their names?"
"Santana Lopez, Rachel Berry, Quinn Fabray, and Brittany Pierce," Buffy said, quickly rattling them off.
There was a pause and the faint clacking of keys could be heard in the background. "Huh. Three of those are new ones. Kennedy's mother was a Lopez, one of those Brazilian demon hunting Lopez's. I wonder if that Santana is related."
"Could be. Kennedy did say that she looked like a distant cousin," Buffy said. "Which one do you recognize?"
"Remember Sister Mike?" Willow asked.
"Sunnydale Sister Mike?"
"Yup," Willow said.
"She let me try on her wimple," Buffy said. "She said I wasn't nun material."
Willow giggled. "I bet you looked cute in it," she said. "I don't think she was really nun material either."
"No?"
"She moved to New York a few years ago. She's now a tattoo artist," Willow said.
"That's different. How'd you find that out?"
"She lives with one of our New York lawyers," Willow said. "I ran into her last month when we had that barbecue with all the New York/Jersey slayers, Watchers, and their families."
"Okay..." Buffy said, wondering where Willow was going with the trip down memory lane. "And?"
"Guess who else was there? Blonde, model thin, teenager," Willow said. "Gives the impression that she's taller than she is."
"With a Cordelia-lite attitude a mile wide?"
"Yup."
"Quinn Fabray?"
"That would be her," Willow said.
"Does she know she's a potential?" Buffy asked.
"No."
"Why not?" Buffy asked, surprised. The new Council had very strict rules about approaching potentials and their families, not that she really expected Sue to go along with them.
"Post-Partum?" Sue said, frowning.
"How'd you guess?" Willow asked.
"Q reminds me of a young Sue Sylvester, with her vicious, possessive, take no prisoners attitude," she said, "but pregnancy is a game changer. Knowing Q and that bleeding heart she hides from her Bible-thumping parents, she probably hasn't gotten over tossing the spawn away. Yet."
"She really had a baby?" Buffy asked. "I thought that was just you being, well, you," she said.
"Whenever have you known me to coddle or lie?" Sue asked Buffy.
"Never," Buffy answered.
"Apparently she took the whole vampire and demon thing surprisingly well, but her sister agreed that telling her about being a potential should wait a few months," Willow told them. "Besides, I'm not sure why she's still just a potential. Even with the pregnancy, she should have become a slayer by now with our normal newbie attrition."
"That, my dear Tree, is what makes this pit stop on the way to Hell so interesting," Sue said. "Every generation there have been at least two potential slayers in Lima but none of them have ever become a slayer."
"Ah, any theories?"
"Possibly," Sue said, pointing at Buffy.
"Oh yeah. Willow?" Buffy said, knowing a cue when she saw one.
"Yeah?"
"Coach is being funded out of one of those old Council budget lines Giles has been trying to find and shut down."
"And?"
"I would hate for all her research to go to waste. You know how stingy Travers was," Buffy said. "And Giles is showing signs of the same stinginess. I think we need to make sure Coach is given the additional funding she needs to figure out the Lima Potential mystery. And a safe spot on the Council Org chart so he can't take it back."
"Head of the Genetics department?" Willow asked.
"That's between you and Coach," Buffy said. "I'm retired."
"Got it. Don't hurt the poor slayer's head with the science."
"Damn right," Buffy said. "Do you need Coach's number?"
"Nope, got it and her email," Willow said.
"Efficient, I like that," Sue said.
"We'll let you go now, and I'll see you next week in Cleveland," Buffy said.
"Okay Buffy," Willow said. "Love yah."
"Ditto," Buffy said.
"Try not to abuse her enthusiasm for sciency things," Buffy said to Sue as soon as Willow had hung up.
"Me?" Sue said, not hiding her smirk. "Abuse the weak?"
"Yes, you Coach. She sounds sweet and gullible but Willow is probably the most powerful, ruthless witch on our side. You don't want to get on her bad side, it can be deadly," Buffy told her. She'd give Willow a call later with advice on how to deal with craziness of the Sylvester sort. "And she'll probably be the next head of the Council when Giles retires."
"Gotcha," Sue said, nodding. "The Tree is a worthy power in the Sue pantheon."
"They don't call her the Red Goddess just because of her hair color," Buffy said.
"I'll keep that in mind," Sue said. "Don't you have a meeting with the Scheuster Hair Fairy fan club?"
"Right," Buffy said, putting away her phone and standing up at Sue's non-subtle dismissal.
Only two hours in, and Kennedy was in love. The car wasn't just beautiful, it was heaven on four wheels. Whomever had given it to Buffy really knew how to tune a car for slayer reflexes. It made every other car she'd ever driven feel like a Yugo, even her father's prized M5 and the M Roadster he'd given her for her sixteenth birthday. It wasn't just fast. It loved to hug the road, especially curves, and hills. Driving it wasn't the same intense experience as fighting evil, or epic nights driving Willow crazy in bed, but it beat almost anything else she'd done since becoming a slayer.
She'd do almost anything Buffy asked to keep driving it. Almost.
Slowing down on her way back to McKinley, Kennedy noticed a small coffee shop. Hit by the urge for a hot cup of flavored caffeine, she quickly found a parking spot.
Kennedy stared up at the three story building, down a side street across from the coffee shop. She'd spotted a For Sale sign on her way back to the car and, on a whim, decided to investigate. It vaguely reminded her of a brownstone in Harlem an old schoolmate had lived in. It wasn't very large but it had possibilities. Gulping the last of her coffee before tossing the styrofoam cup into a nearby trash can, she climbed the steps, stopping briefly to stare at the double glass doors.
The lobby was clean, if a bit worn and dingy. The directory had a single entry, for the second floor, a "Miriam's Dance Studio". A bulletin board mounted next to it contained several notices for a school play, and something at the local community theater.
She decided to start at the top and work her way down. There was an elevator with a large 'Out of Order' sign pasted across the front. Frowning, she looked around for a stairway.
The top floor seemed to be offices, all empty. All locked.
The dance studio took up the entire second floor. The hours posted on the door said noon until 9PM. She wondered what kind of money it made with those hours. It was too dark to see beyond a desk in the reception area.
Back on the ground floor, there were two doors, in addition to the stairway and elevator. Peering through the grimy window of the one closest to the stairs, it appeared to be a small office. The other door had a faded sign for one of those chain Kung Fu businesses from the early Eighties. When she'd first had the idea for opening her own dojo, prodded by her Watcher to find something to focus her energy on if she never became The Slayer, back before Sunnydale, she'd spent months looking into how they operated, and usually failed.
Nodding to herself at the possibilities, Kennedy took out her phone and called a rarely used number.
"Alice, this is Kennedy Sackett. Could I speak with Mr. Bryce, please?"
Buffy leaned back in the chair. Emma Pillsbury reminded her of an early, shy Willow with an added bonus phobia. "How did you become a guidance counselor?" she asked.
"Well..."
A loud cough interrupted them. Standing in the doorway to Emma's office was Rachel Berry.
"Ms. Pillsbury, I need your help," she said, "Oh, hello, Coach Summers," she added, blushing, as if just noticing Buffy when Emma waved her into her office.
"It's Ms. Summers when I'm here," Buffy said, vaguely gesturing at Emma's office.
"Ms. Summers is doing her Counseling practicum with me this fall," Emma told her, in response to the girl's puzzled look.
"Oh," Rachel said.
"How can we help you?" Emma asked.
"Well..." she gave Buffy a nervous look.
"I don't bite," Buffy said, echoing Emma's tone. "Anything you say here is just between us."
"Within reason," Emma added, nodding.
Rachel took a deep breath before continuing, "Coach Sylvester is up to something. She singled out several of us from Glee this morning. I really don't have time for another extra curricular activity, especially one that has no bearing on my future Broadway career. Principal Figgins said I had to talk to you."
"What kind of activity?" Emma asked, looking at Buffy.
"She wasn't too clear on that," Buffy said, wincing at Emma's raised eyebrow. Strictly speaking, Sue hadn't given her detailed instructions, though she could definitely read between the lines, for training the group without them learning about being potentials. But if Sue thought she knew why the four girls were still potentials, there was a very good chance she had a fix. And if there was a fix they would definitely need some kind of training.
"She wants me to put four Cheerios - Quinn Fabray, Santana Lopez, Brittany Pierce, and Kurt Hummel," Rachel nodded, "and Rachel through some extra physical training. Together," Buffy told her. "It was apparently a surprise to all of us."
"No offense, Ms. Summers but I don't have time for anything extra," Rachel said. "That hour before school starts is the only time I can use the auditorium without being interrupted."
"You can't do that after school?" Buffy asked. "Or weekends?"
"On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I have dance. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have voice lessons," Rachel said. "On weekends I help out at the Community Center and spend time with my dads if they're home."
"Busy," Buffy murmured. "When do you have time for fun?"
"I'm going to be on Broadway," Rachel told her confidently. "That is what I do for fun."
"Give it a couple weeks," Buffy said. "If you think it's still a waste of your time I'll talk to Coach Sylvester myself."
"That sounds reasonable," Emma said.
Rachel huffed in clear annoyance. "I will take the idea under advisement. Have you decided to join us for dinner tomorrow?"
"Dinner?" Emma asked.
"A little 'Welcome to the neighborhood' social event," Rachel told her. "Coach Summers and her girlfriend moved in next door this summer while I and my dads were in London."
"She's not my girlfriend," Buffy grumbled. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"
"I have two dads," Rachel said. "Although I don't self identify as gay myself, I do have a well developed gaydar. And, I apologize for being so forward, but you set it off."
"Should you be outing someone without their permission?" Emma asked.
"I didn't think it would be a problem for you Ms. Pillsbury," Rachel said. "You've always set off my gaydar."
"Um, well," Emma blushed. "I think you might want to reconsider this gaydar thing."
"Yes," Buffy added. "While I'm not offended, and Kennedy's real girlfriend has been my best friend since high school, I'm really not."
"If you say so," Rachel said, obviously humoring them. "So, will you be joining us tomorrow?" she asked Buffy.
"I can't speak for Kennedy but I would be happy to join you," Buffy said, to Rachel's obvious delight.
"You won't regret it," Rachel said. "Come over at 7. You can come also," she told Emma."
"I'm sorry Rachel, I have a prior engagement," Emma said. Rachel nodded and turned towards the door.
"Hey Boss!" Kennedy said, appearing in the doorway. "Guess what I just bought!"
"Excuse me," Rachel said, standing in front of her. Winking at her, Kennedy stepped aside and waved her through.
"We should probably get going also," Buffy said. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"A building? In Lima? Do I even want to know why?" Buffy asked, unlocking her car. Waiting until they were both inside and buckled in, she continued. "You were right," she said to Kennedy before pulling out of the school parking lot.
"I was? About what?" Kennedy asked.
"Coach is planning to turn cheerleaders into slayers," Buffy said.
"Oh," Kennedy said, gaping at her. "Is that a good thing?"
"In this case? Maybe," Buffy said, frowning. It'd taken her years to accept being a slayer. She wasn't sure she wanted the girls being forced to become slayers, crazy Sue Sylvester scheme or not. "The girls this morning? Unactivated Potentials. Coach thinks something in Lima has turned them off and plans to fix it."
"So, they weren't randomly picked for minion-hood," Kennedy said.
"Nope."
"Well, that explains Rachel Berry," Kennedy said. "I knew there was something special about her."
"Coach doesn't want them knowing they're potentials," Buffy told her. "So no telling, for now. Though Fabray was apparently introduced to our world by her sister, whose law firm represents us in New York, she has no idea about being a potential. Her sister wants to tell her in a few months."
"That's a big coincidence," Kennedy said. "Ran into one this morning taking care of the paperwork for my new building."
"Well, we might have another one," Buffy said, pulling into the parking lot of her current favorite Lima diner and getting out of the car. "I'll buy you lunch and you can tell me about this building you bought and what you plan to do with it."
"Okay," Kennedy said, hopping out of the car.
"And then you can tell me all about a certain family of Brazilian demon hunters," Buffy said, speaking over her shoulder. "Last name Lopez. Matches a certain potential in the group."
"Oh!" Kennedy gulped nervously, before nodding and following her into the diner.