Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy & Fox. Numb3rs belongs to CBS. (NOT ME!!!)
AN: at the end.

First Meeting

Part I in Mathematics & Magic

By Jess S

Chapter 3: What Goes Bump In The Night?

Part I

Eppes' House, Pasadena, California – Friday, June 20, 1996

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Buffy sighed, glancing towards the door the led from the garage to the kitchen, now closed. When Charlie had asked her to come out here to help him with something, she had kind of been expecting this. A part of her had been expecting it since the day he woke up – and actually remembered her. Another part had been hoping his brilliant brain suffered at least one of the failings common to so many of their race: the inability to believe in magic and all that goes bump in the night. He'd certainly seemed innocent enough... but it seemed that was not to be.

"Please, Annie," Charlie murmured quietly after she'd been silent for several long moment. "Just help me understand."

Buffy had to smile slightly at the nickname the Eppes family had given her almost as soon as it had been decided that she would be living with them. Alan Eppes liked to shorten or, actually, rhyme all of his loved ones names, so his wife was 'Maggie,' his eldest son, Don was 'Donnie,' his youngest was 'Charlie,' and Anne had very quickly become 'Annie' in his mind, and seeing she didn't mind, his wife and son were quick to follow suit with the endearment. As she met Charlie's brown eyes, which were gazing at her pleadingly – almost desperately – the smile faded as she shook her head. "Charlie... You really don't want to know. It's kind of... you really aren't likely to see anything... like that again. You don't need to know." She shook her head and hurried on when he opened his mouth to protest, a somewhat familiar, stubborn frown settling itself on his brow. "Please, Charlie. Can't you just take my word on this?"

"I..." Charlie paused in thought, remaining silent again for several long moments before he shook his head decisively. "I'm sorry, Annie. I really am. But I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't!" he replied firmly, shaking his head again as that fierce frown took over the rest of his handsome face. "It's been two weeks since we checked out of the hospital and I... I can't stop thinking about that night! I need to understand, Anne... I've tried to ignore everything that doesn't make sense about that night." He paused, shaking his head again as he continued. "And I've tried to figure it out by myself. Neither worked..." He suddenly grabbed one of her hands gently, walking around her slightly as she tried to turn away, to maintain eye contact. "You're the only one I know that can help me with this, Annie. Please, help me."

Buffy sighed, looking into his deep, bright eyes, shaking her head slightly as she replied. "There's no going back after you know, Charlie. Believe me, I'm still trying... and it's not working." She placed a finger over his lips to silence him when he went to speak again, shaking her head firmly. "Believe me, you have no idea how much the knowledge you're asking for will change your view of the world... Right now, in the world as you know it, most things make sense to you, don't they?" She gestured to an open notebook that lay forgotten on a nearby chair, something he was probably working on not too long ago but had lost interest in since the attack. "Your Mom said you can explain almost anything with math. And math always makes sense to you. So the world, as you know it, must make sense to you." Truthfully, she had no idea how anything in life – particularly human nature – could be that predictable. But even when she had focused on her studies in school – a time some years past – her mind never would have been on par with Charlie's and she supposed the Powers That Be must do something similar all the time. Though they'd definitely fXXXXd up the most recent apocalypse-in-the-making...

Charlie nodded slightly in agreement, before shrugging his shoulders, his reply forcing her attention back to the much less painful present. "But it's all a lie, isn't it?"

"No!" Buffy shook her head forcefully, sending some of her golden hair flying from side to side behind her. "No. It's not a lie. It wouldn't work if it was a lie, would it?"

"Maybe." Charlie nodded. "But it's not the whole truth, is it? My world view is incomplete. So the data I work with is incomplete, and my conclusions are as well."

"But it works, doesn't it? Before last Tuesday night, you were happy with your world as it was, weren't you?"

"Yes... But now that I know something else is out there, I want... no, I need to know what it is." He caught her chin in one gentle hand as she tried to turn away again, gently forcing her to meet his eyes. "Please help me, Annie."

Buffy stared at him for several long moments, meeting his earnest expression head on and letting the Slayer rise up to inspect him – as it had inspected Willow and Xander, and even Giles and Merrick, and others at different point in time – before sighing as it drew back with what felt like approval even as she watched Charlie almost – almost – take a step back as a part of him sensed the all too potent shift in her being. Of course, the Slayer seemed to approve of that reaction too, it fed Her colossal ego and it proved that his subconscious at least did have enough common sense to stand a chance at surviving the supernatural world. After receiving the Slayer's evident approval, Buffy sighed, resigning herself to answering his questions and introducing him to her world, but still not liking it one bit. "How much do you want to know?"

"Everything!" Charlie immediately insisted, his chocolate gaze bright and eager like a puppy that had just realized it could win treats by staring at people and whimpering.

Buffy smiled slightly at his enthusiasm, but her smile faded again as she started to reply. "What do you remember?"

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"About the attack?" Charlie frowned, but sighed as he received a nod in return. He closed his eyes, struggling to call up as many of the details as possible before opening them again to respond, his mind still turned inward to memories of that night. "I... I talked to my parents on the phone around ten PM. They called me after they finished breakfast. Mom told me to go to bed soon..." he felt his cheeks warming slightly at the memory of his mother's clearly necessary demands, while waiving a hand at a nearby notebook half-full with math notes. "I tend to get caught up in my work, and I agreed, but then I, uh—"

"Lost track of time?"

"Um, yeah... And, then the doorbell rang a few hours later. Just after one AM, I remember 'cause I looked at the clock as I was going to answer it... I looked through the side window – Don's always lecturing us on keeping the door locked and checking before we open it and everything. He's a little paranoid... though I guess not really."

"He is an FBI Agent," 'Annie's' soft voice drew Charlie back to the present for another moment, and he nodded in response to her comment and the gentle smile that was gracing her face.

"Yeah... I'm glad Mom didn't tell him how badly I was hurt."

At that 'Annie' snorted, and when Charlie looked at her in confusion, she told him, "From listening to her talk to him, it sounded more like you'd had a major clumsy moment and knocked a book case over onto yourself."

Charlie laughed, easily able to imagine his mother spinning such a similar story. "Did she actually say that?"

"Well yeah...'cept for the bookcase and any real details about how you got hurt...or how badly you were hurt. Mostly you just fell and needed to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion... And somehow a stranger who's now living with you became involved... That was 'bout as clear as she seemed to get from when I was listening."

Charlie shook his head in bemusement, "I gotta wonder what happened to his phone, though. I mean, he's an FBI Agent so I doubt he just lost it."

"Sounded to me like it was broken somehow... though I'd think he should have still gotten my message if the Bureau replaced it right away. Even if he was on the road going after someone for a little while when it was broken."

Charlie shook his head again, before sighing, "He's gonna be terrible the next time I talk to him... though I'm glad he won't be worrying too much."

"Big brother pretty protective?"

"Yeah," Charlie shook his head again. "It used to drive me nuts, you know... I skipped a bunch of grades because of… my, uh, gifts. Ended up in high school with Don. We graduated the same year." He sighed again, moments of some of the worst years in his life coming to the fore of his mind. "I was so excited at first, and so disappointed when Donnie basically wanted nothing to do with me. What teenager wants to hang out with their genius-kid brother?" he asked, nodding in agreement to Annie's sympathetic wince.

"How much older is Don?"

"He was five when I was born. I was nine when we started high school. Thirteen when we graduated together..." Charlie shook his head again, willing his high school memories to fade into the back of his brain again. "Looking back on it, I can see how hard that must have been for him. But being ignored still really hurt..."

"But he was still an over-protective big-brother?"

"Yeah," Charlie smiled slightly, shaking his head as more memories came up, these ones better because they were some of the occasions his brother showed interest in him. "I was something of an enigma in high school. Don wouldn't let anyone bully me, and he was popular, so most people just ignored me. I got teased sometimes, but the few times someone actually tried to bully me in any way, Don set them straight pretty quick..." Charlie frowned sadly again, as this brought some of the people he really hadn't liked back into his mind. "The only people I had a lot of trouble with were Don's friends. Some of them really didn't like me, and as long as they weren't too open about it and didn't physically hurt me Don didn't care if they teased me... so I tended to avoid some of them."

"He never said anything?" Annie asked.

Charlie looked up to see that she was frowning again and shook his head. "He told them to cut it out a few times, when they got really bad. And I think he might of said something when they were getting really bad from time to time... It seemed to go in cycles like that. They'd tease me a little bit. It'd get worse. Then really bad. And then they'd ignore me for a while. Then it'd start all over again." Charlie shrugged. "The only times that changed was when someone outside of Don's friends tried to bully me into doing their homework for them, or letting them cheat off of me in tests, and Don found out. Then he'd be really protective for a while and his friends wouldn't go near me... The girls were always nice, though."

Anne raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

Charlie shrugged again, "I was a pretty cute little kid, I guess. And I didn't hit puberty until just before graduation, so was always 'Don's cute little-kid brother' to them. Don didn't mind that when it meant getting more attention from girls because of me, but it bothered him whenever they paid more attention to me, especially when his friends would hang out at the house with their girlfriends."

"So you were a chick-magnet?" From her tone of voice, Anne was clearly amused.

"Yeah, I guess," Charlie shrugged again, his face a little warm. "It was nice, though. 'Bout the only thing about high school that was... Some of the girls were even smart enough to ask me to tutor them in math. That's what made me realize I'd like teaching."

"Has your relationship with your brother improved?" Anne asked, her voice soft again. "Since you graduated five years ago, I mean?"

Charlie shrugged, glancing at the nearby telephone before looking back at Anne again to answer, "I guess... We hung out a bit before we parted ways for college. Don took some went to a school in DC on a baseball scholarship. He got his bachelors in three years there and..." Charlie shook his head. "then he was playing baseball for a while, I think. Never big leagues, though... I didn't know he'd graduated early cause I was finishing up my thesis paper for my first doctorate then, and Mom said he didn't want to distract me. I didn't even go to his graduation." Charlie sighed, shaking his head again. "Though I guess he really didn't want me there. Genius-kid-brother taking the spotlight again."

"Maybe he really didn't want to distract you, Charlie." Anne offered, her voice gentle as she caught one of his hands in hers and pulled him closer to her, into a hug. "Your Mom says you get pretty focused when you're working on something. And you must have been nervous for something that big."

Charlie shrugged, relaxing a bit in her embrace, "I guess."

"You went to his graduation from Quantico, didn't you?"

"Yeah. That was last year, actually." Charlie smiled at the memory. "It was really cool."

"And Don invited you to that?"

Charlie nodded again. "Yeah. He told me about it before he left for Quantico. They train their for seventeen weeks. Then they're Special Agents, I guess... I never really did figure out how that worked." His smile faded a bit. "I only saw him a few times when we were both back for holidays during school. And I don't think we've talked on the phone more than two or three times since he joined the agency... I think he calls Mom occasionally, but I haven't spoken to him in months." Charlie sighed again, his expression downcast before he suddenly frowned, turning a mild glare towards her. "But we're getting a little off topic."

"Guess we have. You started it."

"I d—Oh. I did, didn't I? Sorry... Uh, anyway, I checked and all I saw standing outside on the porch were three blonde girls. One looked about fifteen. The other two were younger... I think." Charlie shook his head. "I know with the time of night I should have been suspicious of something, but...they just looked so harmless! So I opened the door to ask them what they needed and they said they were trying to find a friend's house that was supposed to be nearby, but they'd passed my house several times already and were wondering if they could use my phone to get directions... I offered to try to give them directions myself, but they didn't know a specific address or any landmarks I really recognized, so I said they could come in to use the phone..."

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"That's a big no, no." Buffy cut in as Charlie paused, holding a hand up to forestall his equivalent of an indignant 'no duh!' before he could say anything. "I mean the invite. Never verbally invite anyone inside your home, especially at night. Say something like 'it's open,' or 'are you gonna stay out there all night?' not 'come in' or 'welcome.' Or, if you can manage it, don't say anything. Just open the door and step aside, that's the easiest one. That way your visitor knows you want them to come in, but a vampire won't be able to since it's not an actual invite." She paused for a second then shrugged. "Also welcome mats are evil. Don't ever let your parents put any out."

"Right..." Charlie nodded, his eyes a little bit distant in thought. "Vampires. Right."

"Some demons can't enter a living human's home without an invite too, but most can. Though a lot of 'em won't even bother using doors... And vamps are the big one, since they're the ones you're more likely to see on your doorstep."

"...Demons, too?"

Buffy sighed, shaking her head at the slightly dazed expression on Charlie's face, taking hold of his arm, she gently drew him over to one of the nearby chairs. "Have a seat," she ordered, half-pushing him into the chair and half-holding him up to make sure he landed in it gently. Once he was firmly seated she grabbed one of the water bottles they'd brought out with them, opened it and handed it to him. "Take a small sip, and swallow" nodding as he obey she continued, "and again... and again... good." Taking the bottle back, she screwed the top on and set it on the table again before gently claiming the seat next to him and gently taking hold of one of his hands. When he finally looked at her again, his expression a little less dazed, she raised an eyebrow. "Feel better?"

That seemed to mostly snap him out of it, and he nodded. "Y-Yeah... Vampires? Demons?"

"You do remember one of the girls grabbing you and biting your neck right? ...You remember how quick she was? How strong? And the fact that you nearly died from blood loss that night despite the fact that there were only two little holes in your neck and there was barely any blood around you and only a little on your shirt afterwards?"

"...Y-Yeah. I remember. It's just... vampires."

Buffy laughed, offering a smile as she nodded sympathetically. "Well, this has kind of been my life for the past few years, but I do remember the shock of finding out. Don't worry, it'll pass. Like I said, it'll change a lot about how you view the world, but you're a human being, you'll adapt." 'Or intentionally forget,' she thought, but didn't say, considering that was the way most vamp-victims reacted to the experience. But then again, most victims didn't come to her afterwards and ask what the hell happened to them.

Charlie was silent for a while after that, and Buffy let him think, watching as he seemed to stare at nothing for a few minutes. And then watching as he brought a hand up to rub his neck, only to make himself wince as he applied a little too much pressure to the newly formed scar. That seem to bring him back to himself again and his eyes met hers again as his hand dropped away from his neck. "I'm sorry for being so difficult. I just... I guess it's because I'm a scientist at heart. I'm used to being able to explain anything with math and logic but..." he shrugged a bit sheepishly, "vampires and demons are a bit out there for me."

"I remember the feeling," Buffy murmured in reply, sighing. She was silent for a long moment before she met his eyes again. "There are times the demony parts of the world still give me the wiggins, but... I guess you get used to it after a while. It doesn't seem to bother Giles, at least. And it didn't bother Merrick."

"Who are they?"

Buffy sighed at the softly spoken question. "Watchers. My Watchers. Merrick is the one that found me here in LA, told me my destiny. Got me ready. Sent me out..."

"Destiny?"

"...Yeah." Buffy paused for a moment, before shaking her head and meeting Charlie's eyes again. "I'm the Slayer. The one girl in the world Chosen to stop the spread of evil."

Charlie nodded in thought for several moments before murmuring, "I guess that's, uh, why we're still around?"

"Huh?"

"Well, most people think mankind's the top of the food chain. But from what you're saying we're really not. Vampires eat us. And demons...do they?"

"Not really. Some do. Most of the bad ones either just don't like humans and want to kill us all or they just really like killing. Or both. Actually the last two are much easier to fight then the first in groups. Easier to turn them against each other. And vampires don't eat us, per say. They drink our blood."

"The results the same, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah... You know you're actually taking this really well. Most people just don't remember. Those that do usually take a while to process it. And I get a lot of shocked silences and stupid questions."

"Whereas I'm asking smart-questions?" Charlie asked with a small, amused smile.

"Um, yeah."

Charlie shook his head, wincing as his wound ached again before frowning and asking. "Well, this one'll probably sound stupid to you. But...will I become a vampire?"

"You're not dying."

"But when I do... Say I get hit by a car tomorrow, will I wake up a vampire?"

"Actually, since you still have some of my blood in you, you might survive getting hit by a car – but that's not the point. And no." Buffy shook her head. "To become a vampire they have to suck your blood. And then you have to suck their blood. It's a whole big sucking thing. Mostly, they're just gonna kill you."

"Oh. Th-That's...uh, good. Wait, what do you mean, about your blood?"

"I'm The Slayer."

"...Yes. You said that... What does that actually mean?"

Buffy sighed again. "It means I'm suppose ta protect humanity from everything that goes bump in the night. For the most part, it's a lot of vampires. But there are a bunch of demons everywhere too. There are just a lot more vampires... But I was Chosen by the Powers That Be—"

"You mean, like... God?" Charlie asked, a clear note of uncertainty in his voice.

"No. Maybe. I don't know." Buffy shook her head again. "I just met a representative of theirs a while back, he never actually said...But anyway, they're some kind of higher power," she continued, waving vaguely towards the ceiling as she made the reference, "that is responsible for keeping the balance between good and evil here on Earth. As part of doing that they... created the first Slayer, I guess. I don't know the details around that... but since then, there's always been a Slayer. One at a time. A girl around my age, or younger, with supernatural strength, speed, agility, senses, immunity to most non-mystical poisons, fast healing powers," Buffy frowned in thought as she tried to remember it all.

"How do you hunt vampires?"

"Oh! I can also sense anything supernatural... vampires are easier than anything else to find, cause slayer look for them the most. But I can sense demons too. And I have visions."

"Visions?" Charlie frowned, a strong note of skepticism in his voice.

"Yeah. I think the PTB send 'em to me. When I'm sleeping, if they know something really bad is about to happen that they want me to be aware of, they send me a vision... Or maybe all Slayers are somewhat psychic, Giles never did clear that up." Buffy raised an eyebrow at his expression. "Don't believe in psychics?"

Charlie shrugged, a small frown still set on his face. "I suppose I should reevaluate some of my beliefs but... stuff like that has always seemed so fake to me."

"Stuff like psychics and...?"

"...Numerology. Spiritual values and all of that tied to numbers..." Charlie shook his head. "I don't know. It's just, in my mind, math is an exact science."

"So the spirituality stuff bothers you."

"Yeah, I guess."

Buffy smiled, nodding. "Well, I'm not sure if it'll help, but I can tell you we actually have souls for sure."

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Charlie blinked at the revelation. He cocked his head slightly to the side, but had to abort the motion partway through as it made his neck scream in painful protest, but he still stared at 'Annie' in interest. "How do you know that?" he asked, a dozen possibilities flying through his mind before she even began answering.

"When one vamp makes another vamp, some bits of the former human's personality may still be there: specific characteristics, speech patterns, they usually even have some memories of the human life. But that's only because that is still, I think, in the physical brain. My Watcher, Giles, says when a vampire decides to turn you, your soul passes on to...somewhere. We're not sure where. Angel thought it was some kind of limbo, but he barely remembers it. Then the demonic soul takes possession of the human body as a vampire. Driven more by demonic blood lust thank anything else."

"Who's Angel?" Charlie asked, his mind immediately flying to his memory of her even as he watched her skin pale and eyes widen, suddenly full of pain for several long moments before she seemed to shake herself out of it and looked away as she answered

"Angel... Angel was a vampire who's soul was restored."

"Restored? How?"

"He was turned about two and a half centuries ago. Became a really nasty master vamp called Angelus. He and some of his kindred were call the Scourge of Europe... then he fed off a gypsy princess and the gypsy clan cursed him with the restoration of his human soul, to make him feel remorse for what he'd done."

"But..." Charlie shook his head in confusion, common sense and a few classes in psychology not following where this story was going. "He wouldn't have had any control over the vampire's actions, would he?"

"No," Annie shook her head, clear irritation in her tone and on her face clashing with some degree of what appeared to be relief at his observation. "And it wasn't a very good punishment. Demons don't feel grief or remorse. And the human soul is innocent of the demon's crime. By forcing his soul back they made him suffer for what the demon had done in his body, and to live the life of a vampire, the only one of his kind that would not prey on the innocent for over a century with demon living in his head. Taunting him. Torturing him. And after he goes through all that, he had to find that a single moment of true happiness would break his curse, sending his soul back into limbo and setting the demon free to prey upon the innocent aga—"

Anne stopped abruptly, seeming to suddenly come back to the present, her wide eyes locking with Charlie's own wide-eyed stare.

"I'm sorry, I—"

"You knew him?" Charlie asked softly, reaching out to grab one of her hands as she had released his a short time before. "Annie?"

"Y-Yeah." Anne nodded shakily, looking down toward the floor. "I... I loved him, actually."

"That must have been hard." When she didn't answer immediately, Charlie continued, his quick mind seeing how this story must have ended with all the pain this 'Angel's' name clearly brought her. "Loving him and knowing he's one of the creatures you're supposed to slay... Did his soul make him feel different at all to you?"

Anne thought about if for several long moments before she nodded. "Yeah. I didn't notice when I was just comparing him to other fledglings. But when I compared his presence to the Master's – he was a really old vamp – and when... when I compare it to what Angelus's presence felt like, there was a really big difference... If a human being is going to attack me, my slay-dar picks up a faint danger signal. When a vamp is going to attack, it's stronger. A fledgling's signal is fainter than an older vampires and much fainter than a Master-Vampire's. Angelus was a very strong Master-Vampire. Angel, unless he was actually angry or when we were sparring, didn't even feel like a fledgling. He was just... a little more dangerous than a human being. But only just."

"Still must have been hard."

"... Yeah. It kind of was. Especially with the way my Watcher and friends reacted to him. Giles and Xander hated him..."

"Why?"

"Because he was a vampire. It was really as simple as that." Anne shrugged. "I mean, I think on Xander's side it was partially jealousy at first, since he'd had a crush on me for a while. But the first vampire Xander ever staked was one of his best-friend's growing up. I think to justify it to himself after that he kept telling himself what Giles had told him that night: that he was not killing his friend, he was killing the monster that had killed his friend. I don't know. Maybe the idea that Jessie could've, maybe, been saved with a soul-spell was too much for him..."

"Could vampires be 'saved' that way?" Charlie asked curiously.

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Buffy thought about it a moment, then shook her head. "I don't think so... It's not an easy spell, and there are a lot of vampires in the world. And even if it could be done, I don't think it would necessarily work."

"Why not?"

"Well, for the ones that have been vamps awhile, it would be a horrible punishment for their human soul. And for the younger ones..." She shook her head again. "I think that might actually be worse. Because even Angel, an older master vampire, had trouble controlling demonic urges from time to time. The bloodlust, sun-phobia, crosses... everything. All it might take to destroy the human soul is a slight loss of control near an innocent. And it's not like all human beings are innocents, either. I'd rather not stick the legal system with a bunch of vampires with restored human souls that still continue to kill humans." Buffy paused again, wincing before finishing with, "I mean, regular human murderers get off with insanity-pleas already, don't they? All a vampire would have to do to prove they have no control of their actions is have someone shove across in their face and say that the demon that's also inhabiting their body did it."

"There are evil humans out there," Charlie nodded in agreement. Thinking of the work his brother's life now revolved around.

"Yeah," Buffy nodded. "And I really don't think we need to bring them into the supernatural world."

Charlie nodded slightly then stilled for a moment, his entire focus apparently focused on one thought before he blinked and turned his eyes to hers again. "Annie...Can I – Can we tell my parents about this...please?"

"Have they asked you about the attack?" Buffy asked with a frown, as she hadn't heard them ask Charlie anything about that night since they'd sat in the hospital room, listening to two LAPD detectives take his statement on the 'break in.'

"No, but they must wonder—"

"Charlie," Buffy cut him off gently, shaking her head. "Most people don't want to know about the supernatural. Most people seem to have this subconscious inclination to avoid it at all costs. Usually when I save people from vampires they'll thank me at the time, then the next time I see them they'll ask me if I saw them the night before, because they don't remember. Cops, when they see links to the supernatural, almost always overlook or over-evaluate every clue that points to the supernatural activity, they make jokes about it or try to rationalize it. Or they just forget about it. The case isn't solved, it just becomes another cold case that will never be seriously reconsidered or a journalist writes an article about it and attracts a demon hunter. Or the Slayer."

"But Mom and Dad—"

"Are human too. And they haven't asked, have they?" Buffy sighed when he shook his head but his expression clearly stated he wasn't convinced. "If you really need to tell them, we can, but... When I tried to tell my parents about it, they put me in an asylum for a few months while they got a divorce. And when I brought it up again after my Mom was attacked by a vampire that I staked right in front of her she kicked me out of the house."

If anything, this seemed to shock Charlie more than the revelations of vampires and demons. "I'm sorry, Annie."

"Thanks, I guess," she replied with a shrug, shaking her head again. "If you really want to tell them, I'd say pick one and tell them by themselves. Don't tell them together, that gives them the opportunity to deny it together, and reassure each other... From what I've seen, your Mom's more likely to give us the benefit of the doubt on something like this."

"'Cause she's more superstitious then Dad?" Charlie asked with a frown, thinking of some of the times she'd joked about old superstitions and whatnot. That's all they'd ever been though, jokes.

"Somewhat. But also because I've seen her glance at you neck a few times and look at the... where it happened a few times too. I've never seen your Dad look at your neck."

"So she's... curious?"

"Yeah. Maybe she's seen some of the supernatural before, and her maternal instincts are making the connection. Maybe it's something else entirely... but I still think she's the best choice..." Raising an eyebrow, Buffy then commented. "Though I'm really surprised you haven't asked for some kind of proof that I'm not nuts already."

"...What kind of proof could you give me?" Charlie asked, a clear note of hesitation in his voice.

Buffy shrugged again. "I could take you on patrol, I guess. LA's not as active as the Hellmouth, but there are still quite a few vamps and demons lurking hereabouts."

End of Chapter 3: What Goes Bump In The Night? – Part I

AN: Well, there's Chapter 3! And the next chapter is pretty much done. I just have to proof-read it and decide I don't hate it.

A beta-reader would probably be really helpful too.

Please review and tell me what you think so far... I've mostly figured out what's happening in this part of the series, but suggestions would still be appreciated.

NEXT: Chapter 4: What Goes Bump In The Night? – Part II

Bye for now! ^_^

Jess S