Chapter 4: Snyder, the School Years

Warning: I don't know; maybe language and innuendo somewhere along the way.

Challenge: #5837 'YAHF: Human Sire' by OldManAlexi. Also from a forum 'challenge' to write a Snyder-Stu.

A/N: Is anyone else surprised to be feeling sorry for the troll?

Thanks to my betas: zigpal, AerynSpeedleCaine and AshDawnSoulmates.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Twilight characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Summers home

That night…

It didn't even startle the Slayer when she dreamed again about Snyder's past. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know more or not – especially if it was as bad as last night's dream.

Dream Flashback…

High School

"I'm appalled that you would flout our rules by cheating, Mr. Snyder. One week's detention. If this should happen again, you will be suspended," the school principal threatened.

"What about the others?" Rayner inquired, not holding out much hope that it would be as severe as his punishment – even if the jocks were the ones to blame for this. After all, it wasn't as if he got anything out of the arrangement of writing the papers for them. It didn't even stop them from shoving him into lockers, or sticking his head in a toilet, or a number of other things.

A sentiment that was prophetic, it seemed. The principal replied, "They are doing special work for the teachers in order to receive credit for the classes."

Later, Rayner found out that 'special work' was a euphemism for wiping the blackboards and emptying the trashcans…for one day.

*skip*

College/Work

"Goodbye, Snyder. See you next weekend," Rayner's boss called out as he clocked out of the fish processing plant. God, he hated the smell of fish! But it was a job, and if he wanted to be able to attend night school, he needed the money it gave him.

Strangely enough, it wasn't as disgusting as his job at the train station. He may never eat fish again, but at least fish guts weren't as revolting as cleaning up after all kinds of people: from the ones who simply litter, to the derelicts who vomit and use the secluded parts of the station as their private bathrooms.

Oh well, only two more years at this rate and his eight year stint as a part-time college student would be over. After that, no more fish or trains…ever.

End Dream Flashback…

Just like the day before, Buffy felt she needed to talk to Principal Snyder again about what she learned, so she got dressed and made her way over to his house.

"Good morning, sire," he welcomed, not as concerned by her visit as the day before. "Did you have another dream?"

"Good morning, Rayner," she greeted him, using his first name since they were in private. "By the way, did you know your name means 'worthy protector'? I looked it up in the library last night."

"No, I didn't. I wonder why they called me that?" he whispered to himself, forgetting that she could hear him.

Buffy put her hand on his arm and said, "Because somebody was smart enough to see what you could become someday – with the right encouragement."

Embarrassed by the strange feelings her kindness stirred up in him, Rayner changed the subject, "Your dream, sire?"

"Oh…yeah. Can I just say how impressed I am at your persistence in getting a college degree?" she commented proudly, making him blush even more. "To work at those places for eight years just so that you could do something better with your life. You must have really wanted to become an archeologist a great deal."

Rayner shrugged self-deprecatingly, "It's interesting; and as long as I stuck to the tasks of searching for artifacts, I didn't have to worry about being good with people."

Buffy thought it was a shame that he wasn't doing something he enjoyed. "Why didn't you stay with it?" she inquired.

"Because things don't always work out the way we want them to." Desperate to change the subject again, he asked, "Is that all you dreamed of?"

"No. I dreamt about the jocks bullying you into doing their homework for them, and what happened when you were caught." She paused for a moment, trying to word this correctly so she wouldn't hurt his feelings. "What I don't understand is, why do you let the popular kids get away with the same things? I could feel how angry you were at the injustice of the situation."

"Because I'm too weak to stand up to them – even now," Rayner answered, staring at the floor in shame.

Unwilling to let him do that to himself, the Slayer tipped his chin up with her fingers. "Hey, did you forget something? You're virtually indestructible now. All anyone would accomplish by hitting you is breaking their own hand. You might not be able to stop bullying altogether, but you can at least slow it at the school."

Rayner knew she was right, but knowing it intellectually and knowing it in his heart were two different things. But he could feel her displeasure, and it bothered him…more than the fear he felt from his past. "Are you going to order me to do something about it?" he inquired.

"No, 'cause that would be a different form of bullying. I'd rather not order you to do anything." Before he could ask or comment on her previous orders, she explained, "I will make an exception for the feeding thing, though. The rest of your life should be your choice."

Sunnydale High Detention room

That afternoon…

"Does anyone know what Snyder's malfunction is? Why we're in detention?" Cordelia's voice almost reached screeching levels as she huffed over to her seat.

"I know what you mean," Larry agreed, sitting on the desk next to her. "It was weird when he gave me my slip. All I did was knock a girl's books to the floor and stare at her while she picked them up. It's not as if he hasn't seen me do that a thousand times before, but now it's suddenly 'bullying' and has to stop."

One of the jocks pointed to himself and his teammates while he added, "And he stopped Jonathon from giving us our homework assignments; told us we had to do them ourselves or we couldn't play on Friday. Then he gave us detention for trying to cheat, but let the geek go."

"Exactly!" Queen C screeched again. "And just because I told some losers to get away from me at lunchtime, suddenly I'm a bully, too."

"Think maybe we should teach him a lesson?" Larry asked, cracking his knuckles in a threatening fashion. He never beat up a teacher before, but didn't mind making an exception in this case.

Cordy looked at him like he was deficient – which he quite possibly was. Didn't he realize that he'd get expelled or something for that? – then sniffed haughtily, "It would probably be better if I had Daddy talk to the school board about him."

The Bronze

"Guys! Did you hear what happened after school today?" Xander practically shouted as he flopped down on the couch between his best buds, shifting his butt to make room.

Rolling her eyes at his not-so-subtle attempt to sit next to her instead of on the open side of Willow, Buffy simply answered, "I was in the library, training with Giles." She and Snyder finally got to a point of understanding that just because she didn't want to be in his presence all the time, didn't mean she was rejecting him personally. She just didn't want to be with adults 24/7. He was currently at the library, talking to Giles and getting to know her Watcher better.

"And I was there, doing research on Angel's curse," Willow added before taking a sip of her drink.

Xander looked disgusted at the mention of the ensouled vampire. "Why?" he asked.

Willow simply shrugged in return, "'Cause it just sounds like something interesting to learn more about. Like, did you know that with curses, there's often a loophole? Something that can break it?" she asked, getting excited to share her discoveries.

"What do you mean?" Buffy questioned, wondering if it was a good thing or a bad thing to break this particular curse. After all, it was a curse on a vampire. But calling it a curse bothered her, too.

"Okay, you know Sleeping Beauty was awakened by 'true love's first kiss'?" When they both nodded, she went on, "It's probably something like that."

"So Angelus is sleeping and waiting for true love's first kiss? Can demons feel love though?" she pondered thoughtfully. Then another idea came to her, and that one upset her. "Wait, I've kissed Angel before and nothing's happened. Are you saying I'm not his true love?" Buffy asked, starting to hyperventilate.

Willow put her hand on Buffy's mouth to stop the babble. Is that what she sounded like when she got worked up? Wow! "I'm not saying it's exactly the same thing, Buffy. I was just using that as an example."

"So what's Deadboy's loophole?" Xander inquired, cutting to the chase.

Buffy scowled at him, still distressed by the possibility that she wasn't Angel's true love. "Quit calling him that."

"I haven't been able to figure that out," Willow admitted, looking apologetically at the blonde. "We'll probably need to find a gypsy – preferably from the clan that cursed him – to learn that."

"Can I vote that we find out as soon as possible? As much as Deadb-" When the Slayer glared at him, Xander quickly corrected himself, "Angel bugs me, I don't think I want to deal with the version without a soul."

Seeing the pensiveness of her redheaded best friend, Buffy prompted her to speak up, "Willow?"

Willow bit her lip nervously. This wasn't good news and she wasn't sure how Buffy would take it. "Umm, I learned more about Angelus, too. I don't think you'll like what I found out."

"He was a normal vampire; I assume there was death and destruction involved," Buffy replied casually, worried that wasn't going to be the case, but needing to enjoy her real estate in Egypt a little bit longer.

Looking like she was about to cry, Willow shook her head sadly. "He wasn't normal though. Death and destruction weren't enough for him; he liked mind games and torture more than simply killing."

Xander let out a low whistle, for once not trying to make a funny remark to ease the tension. "Guess we know why he feels guilty all the time."

"But that was the demon's fault. Did your research say anything about the human he was before he was turned?" Buffy asked, her eyes pleading with Willow for some kind of good news.

Those hopes were dashed when Willow shook her head again, "Sorry, unless the person was kind of important, it's not the sort of thing they put in the books."

The Slayer took a deep breath and sighed, determined not to let this bother her until she had all the facts…starting with talking to Angel about his human life. She smiled at Willow and said, "Thanks for finding out what you have. Do you mind still looking for answers? Maybe there's something on the 'net about the curse and loophole?" she suggested.

"I was going to try that tomorrow," Willow confirmed. "Thought I'd ask Miss Calendar for help since she's a technopagan. You don't mind if she knows, do you?" she checked, hoping Buffy wouldn't.

"No, the more people helping, the better. If you tell me what to do, I can look too," Buffy offered, knowing she wasn't as good at research as Willow or Giles. This was about her crush guy though; she should help if she could.

"The loophole would have to be pretty rare if it hasn't happened yet," Xander stated with none of his usual snarkiness. "I mean, it's been how many years since he was cursed?"

"Almost 100; he was cursed sometime in 1898, I think," Willow answered easily. That was the year a gypsy tribe was wiped out, so it made sense that the two things were connected.

That reminded Buffy of the Sleeping Beauty analogy again, so she inquired, "You think there's a time limit on it? Don't you think it's weird that we met him just a year before the hundred year anniversary of the curse?" she pointed out when they looked at her doubtfully.

"I don't know, but I can add it to my list of questions if I can ever find a gypsy." Coming to a decision, Willow stood and gestured to the blonde. "Buff? Can I talk to you in private for a second?"

"Sure, hurt my feelings," Xander replied with a mock-pout.

Willow just glared at him. "It's a girl thing, Xan."

When they were in a semi-private place, Buffy asked, "What's the what?"

"Umm, I know I said this wasn't the same thing as the Sleeping Beauty deal, but you may want to keep from doing any other…uh, firsts with him – just to be safe." Willow's eyes widened as she realized that she didn't ever talk to Buffy about this particular matter before, and she started babbling, "Assuming it would be a first for you…not that I'm suggesting-"

It was Buffy's turn to put her hand up to cease the babble. "Stop, Will. I wasn't planning on doing that first with him, but I'll keep this in mind if I ever start to think I'm ready for that first. And it would be my first. Thanks for the head's up," she said, giving the redhead a hug.

"Okay, Xander, what was your big news?" Willow inquired as they resumed their positions on either side of the brunette male.

"The Troll actually gave Cordelia and some jocks detention today," Xander gleefully shared. "He must have finally snapped something in that evil brain of his."

Buffy stood up and hissed quietly at her friend, "Stop talking about him like that! You have no idea what misery he's been through. Did you ever stop to think that maybe he was trying to change? Make things better for the kids who get bullied at school?" She stormed off, not wanting to share Rayner's secrets with anyone without his consent – even if it was in his defense.

Shocked at her strange behavior, Xander blinked a few times before remarking, "Wow. Never thought I'd hear the Buffster defend Snyder."

"She is his sire, Xander," Willow reminded him. "You basically just told a mother than her kid sucked. And you know how Buffy is about hurting the people she cares about."

Xander winced, recalling all the times she defended him in similar situations. "I know, I just forgot that Snyder was included in that category now."

"She does have a point about him though. Well, two points," she corrected herself. "One, we don't know anything about him – which is normal, and she can't really hold it against us – and two, maybe he is trying to stop the bullying that goes on at school. You have to admit he hasn't been that bad towards us the last couple days."

"No, but that's because he spends most of his time drooling at Buffy's feet," he replied with a hint of snark in his voice.

Willow felt he needed to be teased just a bit and said, "Jealous that you have to share that spot with another vampire?"

"He's not as bad as Deadboy, I guess," Xander conceded. "He just wants to keep Buffy safe and happy. But if she ever starts making googly eyes at Snyder, I'm tossing my cookies," he warned.

"Right there with you on that one," Willow agreed with a shudder. Somehow she thought Buffy would feel the same way.

A/N: Next…Snyder, the adult years.