a/n: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Great to know the story is being read and enjoyed. I've been thinking of bringing in Hobbs like he was in Fast Five. Review and let me know what you think. Fast and Buffy characters are still not my property. If you want background music, I wrote this with Lorde's Buzzcut Season in mind.

Chapter 4: Sharing the Good Times

Dom came awake in his bed to metal scratching on wood. He was laying on his back with his hands behind his head. His "thinking pose" as Mia used to call it when they were younger and he was a broody teenager. There was a faint blue glow on the ceiling and wall from the digital clock and the very early or very late numbers it displayed. Amber light glowed on the other walls from the street light that glowed through his thin curtains.

After twenty minutes, Dom gave up trying to trick himself into going back to sleep and rolled out of bed. He blinked at the clock and its proud 2:43am and groaned. He had no trouble staying up late, whether it was a race night or his past trouble keeping him on the run but the emotional back and forth throughout the house had been exhausting.

Giving in to his circling thoughts, he pulled on a pair of light weight navy sleep pants and picked his way carefully down the creaky stairs. Finding his way into the kitchen in the dark by memory, Dom gently took a glass from the cupboard above the sink and poured himself a glass of cold water. The sound of scraping wood was still there and louder. Tilting his head, he followed it to the back porch, back door open but the screen door carefully latched. Dom wasn't worried about thieves. No one in this neighbourhood would deign to attempt to steal from him. Let alone hang out on his porch after breaking in.

Buffy sat in the wicker chair he'd vacated some hours earlier. The only light was the faint glow from the street lights peaking through the trees and past the neighbour's house. Staring straight ahead, her hands worked mechanically, a wicked sharp whittling knife deftly shaving the piece of wood into a deadly point.

Brian's words rattled around in his head and he watched her eyes glaze over as she relive memories and nightmares outside her dreams.

"Aren't you going to join me?" Dom started at her soft voice.

"I didn't think you noticed I was here," he admitted quietly. The corners of her mouth quirked up briefly. Dom did his best to open and shut the screen door without too much noise and sat in the other chair beside her, sipping his water.

"Brian talked to me last night," Dom said after some time.

"I know." Buffy didn't look at him. He looked at her in surprise and she turned to look at him with a small cheeky smile.

"I could hear you talking. I might have been asleep, but the slayer part stays awake." She tossed the giant toothpick up in the air, giving it a twirl before setting it on the porch and pulling her feet up to rest on the edge of her seat. She set the knife on the side table, the dull lights catching the blade in a disquieting glow.

"Then you know he just gave me the layout. You wanna fill in some of the blanks?" he asked. Buffy avoided eye contact for a bit and picked at her finger nails.

"We didn't have enough power to defeat The First ourselves. Willow managed to come up with a spell that awakened all the slayer powers in all the potential slayers out there. All the girls that would be the possible next link in the chain after Faith croaks."

"Faith?"

"Sister slayer. She's the current slayer in the original chain."

"What about you?"

"I drowned for a couple seconds and stopped breathing long enough for the next slayer to be called. The slayer line continued without me."

Dom nodded in understanding, guessing that was the woman he had faintly heard talking to Brian during the phone call the day before.

"Trying to organize that many girls in a crisis situation, training them, following prophetic dreams, and balancing the new team need for leadership was too much. They tossed me from my own house after a raid to find a specific weapon ended with casualties. Like that was a surprise." Buffy sighed and rubbed her hands over her face.

"I had been right. The scythe was there. And the second raid they lead and the girls injured in it was all for nothing. Power does strange things to those who aren't burdened with the consequences. My mixed family showed me that."

"And when it was all over, the effect of that power was still there," Dom reasoned. "Politics instead of familial support." Buffy nodded.

"Ten years Dom, since I was called. Died twice, lost so many." Her voice was quiet but didn't shake. She let her head fall to the side, meeting his eyes. They had a slight glow behind them, letting him see the green in her eyes despite the lack of light.

"I'm so tired, Dom."

Not thinking, he set his glass on the table, reached over and plucked her up from the chair and folded her into his arms on his lap. That seemed to be the right thing because the stress of the past weeks escaped her in a rush of air and her whole body deflated to conform to the shape of his chest and embrace. Her head lolled against his shoulder and she pushed her nose against his neck, inhaling his clean warm scent.

"I'm no slayer but I've had my fair share of trouble over the years. Keepin' on my toes with the heists, watchin' out for the gang, bein' on the run, evadin' the cops, then trying to reconcile with Brian while driving for Braga, it drains you. Being that tensed for so long, it leaves you with a deep weariness. Coming back here has helped. There's no danger, everyone is together and safe. All I need now is time. The same for you, I would think." Dom's words soothed and planted the seeds of sleep in Buffy's head.

"That's just it," she mumbled, tucking further into his bare chest for warmth, like a small animal. He looked down at her but was only able to see the top of her head.

"What is?"

"I don't know how much time I have. Some demon'll get lucky. Or the world will try to end again. Shit, I was at my expiry date at nineteen." She rolled her head back and met his gaze.

"Where do I go now, Dom? Sunnydale's gone."

Dom tightened his arms around her.

"Who says you've gotta go anywhere? Stay here Buffy. Let family do what it's meant to and help you put yourself back together." Dom would never admit it but there was a sort of warm soft feeling thinking about developing as he held her steady gaze.

They sat together in silence. Both relaxed and near sleep but not tired enough to drift off. Finally Dom's curiosity got the better of him.

"Was it all bad? Your years as the slayer? Brian said they called you the Queen now that there are so many."

Buffy snorted. "The first year and a bit were fucked up. We had a substitute teacher in high school at one point who turned out be a giant praying mantis. My friend Xander had a crush on her. As if her being a teacher didn't make it weird enough."

"A giant bug was your teacher?"

"Yeah, she'd have sex with guys then bite their heads off during the happy moment." Buffy didn't have to look at Dom to know his face was twisted with disgust.

"That's some messed up shit."

"Oh it gets better. There was some cursed candy going around that made adults revert to their teenaged selves. Couple weeks after that I got the nifty ability to read minds after getting demon blood on me. Turns out while my mom and watcher were feeling young and red blooded, they decided to boink on the hood of a cop car." Dom couldn't hold his laughter in and his whole body shook as his gravelly laugh filled the porch.

"The days after I got myself sorted out were a till awkward," she said.

"I'll bet."

"Xander also ended up nearly seduced by a Mayan mummy, possessed by demonic hyena spirits, dated the most popular girl in school. Not supernatural or anything, but definitely the least likely. Skip forward a couple years you've got a musical Sunnydale. I'm never ever going to sing again."

"Do me favour?" Dom asked.

"What?"

"Don't bring your friend Xander around to my garage. I hate to think what his bad luck could do to my car."

Their shared laughter hailed the morning as the first rays of sun touched LA. An auspicious start, maybe this is what I need, thought Buffy.