Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters

Chapter 7

"Tell me everything?" Bobby said to his grandson.

Andrew winced at Grandpa's voice and told him everything. Bobby growled; 'He threw a knife at his granddaughter just to prove she was the Slayer? Weren't there any better goddamned tests than that? What if she couldn't catch? Would he have shrugged and moved on to some other poor girl?'

"Okay Andrew, I'm coming up there," Bobby said, "Tell your momma when she gets home that I'm going to be on the first available plane."

He grabbed every bit of lore he could find on the Slayer, most hunters had heard the legend of the Slayer and almost all of them considered them legends told by demons or the other things they hunted but Bobby always figured that there might be something to the legend. After all the Slayer was mentioned in just about every culture but even then it was usually just a couple of paragraphs of a legend.

Andrew put the phone down and he said, "Buffy, Grandpa's coming up here and I think he's going to be here tonight."

Buffy sighed with relief, she always felt better when he was here and maybe he could help with the crazy guy.

"Come on," Andrew said, "I got some money from mom she and dad wouldn't be home in time for dinner, so I thought pizza?"

"Yes," Buffy groaned in relief, "Anything to help me forget today."

Andrew smiled and said, "If Grandpa Bobby can make it tonight we'll wait for him."

Buffy nodded and said, "I'm going to sleep," Andrew nodded and she fell asleep, she began to dream again; it was odd, this time it didn't look like it was so far in past. As she watched she saw a man who she knew was her teacher, guide and friend; he was held up against the ceiling by a man who had yellow eyes and he set her teacher on fire and he looked at her with his hideous yellow eyes and grinned.

She woke up in a cold sweat and moaned, "What the hell was THAT?" It was getting freaky and not in a good way, she just wanted her life to be normal, she wanted to have family outings. She got up and walked out and saw Andrew and Dawn watching TV.

Andrew looked up and said, "Are you alright Buffy?"

"Yeah," she lied; she didn't want her brother to be even more worried than he already was. She sat down next to him and Dawn and asked, "What are you guys watching?"

Dawn said, "The news, it looks like more people are disappearing."

"People are disappearing?" Buffy asked surprised, "Where?"

"Mostly the homeless in the north," Andrew said, "But some students from Hemery have disappeared too."

Buffy sighed, she had heard about them but she really hadn't cared because they weren't her immediate family or friends. She looked at Andrew and Dawn and wondered what she would've done if it was them who disappeared?

Andrew smiled brightly to attempt to calm her down and it was kind of doing it but she was still worried, Buffy said, "So, pizza?"

"Not yet, I tried to call Grandpa Bobby but I think he's already on his way," Andrew said, "And depending how fast he gets here we can wait."

"Yeah," Dawn said, "It's kind of cool that Grandpa Bobby is coming here all of a sudden," and gasped, "Did we tell mom and dad?"

"Yeah," Andrew nodded, "I called Dad's cell so they know and besides, they never minded Grandpa, do they?"

"Nope," Buffy said, "Mom likes him a lot, it's just Dad that feels threatened by him sometimes," and she walked into the kitchen to look for something to eat.

Andrew sighed as he tried to remember what he had read about this Slayer thing in Grandpa's books but it wasn't much, he wanted to be more helpful. As he was watching TV he heard a knock on the door and opened it up warily and sighed, it was Grandpa.

Bobby pulled his grandson into a crushing hug and said, "It's good to see you kiddo," he walked in and saw Buffy walking out of the kitchen, he smiled and waved.

She nearly screamed with joy, ran out and hugged him and let go when he coughed and said, "When did you get so damned strong?"

Buffy shrugged and said, "Sorry Grandpa, I guess I don't know my own strength," and sat down a bit regretful.

"Don't feel bad," Bobby said as he sat down. "So, some ass threw a damned knife at you?"

"Yeah," Buffy said and told him the whole story about meeting Merrick and him telling her that it's her destiny to fight evil and no one else's but the Slayer's duty.

Bobby frowned; he could mention some hunters who would have things to say about shouldering one kid with the responsibility with fighting demons and monsters with almost no support, hell, if he could find this Merrick he would show him what happens when you threaten family.

Andrew said, "Grandpa, you got here pretty quick; what did you do take an express plane?"

"Yeah, it had sounded like you kids need help," Bobby said and snapped his fingers and brought out several letters addressed for him and said, "Sammy sent these for you."

"Oh," Andrew said as he took the letters and began to read them, he loved to hear from Sam though the letters were a bit infrequent now but he could tell that Sam's dad was still moving them around and he was getting annoyed at his father and brother.

As he read the latest letter; Sam was talking about his school, it seemed John finally settled down for them to go to school, he read he was trying to be a Mathlete? Andrew thought that was cool, he knew Sam was pretty smart and he just hoped he'd work things out with his family. He knew they had their problems and for some reason it was just getting worse with them.

Bobby smiled, he could tell that Andrew was concerned about Sam, he still wondered how they could be friends like this as they only met each other a couple of times and both visits were pretty short. As Andrew looked at the letters he was opening a picture came out of one and he realized that it was one of Sam and Dean.

Buffy saw Andrew hold up the picture and said, "Oh god, who's the guy in the jean jacket?"

"I think its Dean," Andrew said, "No, I'm sure it's Dean, the other one is Sam because he always has long hair."

"Andrew," Buffy said, "I'm very disappointed that you kept major hotties from me, your loving sister," and laughed good naturedly.

"Please, I don't even know where they are half the time, Grandpa has to forward the letters to me," Andrew said, "Also I'm not sure how well you and Dean would get along."

Buffy said, "Don't worry, I just said he was cute, not that he was my type," and laughed again.

Bobby shook his head and said, "Buffy, Andrew; tell me more about what this Merrick said to you?"

"Okay: he said that I'm the Slayer and I have to fight alone against the darkness, the demons and vampires," Buffy said, "Personally, I thought he was nuts."

"Does he know where we live?" Andrew asked, a bit worried that a knife throwing loony might know where they live.

Dawn sighed and said, "I'm hungry, can we get pizza now?"

Bobby nodded and said, "Yeah, I left in a hurry so I'm getting a mite hungry myself."

"Okay," Buffy said, "Gonna order the pizza now," as she grabbed the phone.

Andrew sighed as he read the letters; Sam always felt like he was hiding things from him, he could swear that Sam was hiding things from him but he was just happy to hear from Sam and even Dean put some sentences in, mostly about how he was sure that he needed to live with Grandpa.

He shook his head; Dean hadn't changed a bit; always calling his adoptive family 'the fake family.' He had a theory that if Dean ever met Buffy and called her 'the fake sister' she'd slug him one.

Buffy jumped in and said, "Pizza's ordered and it has almost no animal fat," at Bobby's shocked look she grinned, "Just kidding, its pepperoni and sausage."

As they talked Bobby could tell that both Andrew and Buffy were worried and they were both trying to keep Dawn from knowing, he could read his grandchildren like a book. He said, "So, where's your parents Buffy?"

"Oh, they're doing some big Gallery opening," Buffy said, "It's been pretty stressful on both of them and they've been arguing a bit more often too."

Andrew sighed, it was getting stressful on of all of them, Buffy and he did their best to stay out of it so they wouldn't be forced to pick sides and Andrew did his best to keep Dawn distracted.

Bobby sighed, he saw it often enough, particularly amongst hunting couples; he knew Joyce or Hank wouldn't hurt their children and, if necessary, he could take the kids for a couple months so they could work out whatever was going wrong with them without worrying about the kids.

They settled down to watch TV when the doorbell rang and Buffy looked at her watch and thought that the pizza guy was early, she opened the door and saw Merrick looking at her, "Oh god, how do you know where I live?"

Merrick walked in and said; "Ms Summers, it's your destiny to fight…" as he began to say his line again Bobby walked up to him and slammed his fist into Merrick's face.

Bobby glared at him while he sputtered and said, "Look, I'm sure your willing to tell her that she has no choice but I'll be DAMNED if I let my granddaughter fight against whatever you want alone."

"It's her destiny," Merrick coughed out as he got up, still in pain.

"No such thing as destiny," Bobby said, "She has free choice and to shoulder this kind of pressure on a kid is absolute shit. Also you threw a damned dagger at my granddaughter, what if she hadn't caught it or was bit slow?"

"She is the Slayer," Merrick said, "Her path must be walked alone. What I did to your granddaughter was part of an approved test."

"No way!" Bobby said as he looked at Buffy, "She's a kid and while I'm sure at one point in time sixteen was considered old now, its garbage, she has her whole life in front of her. And about the test; there has to be better ways to test them rather than using deadly weapons."

Andrew simply glared at him and said, "Tell us what Slayer is NOW or else we can call the police and let them deal with you."

Merrick looked at them and found himself respecting them, he had read the Watcher's journals and read how some families just handed their daughters over without any fight but these two men were going to stand by her, he could respect that. He made the decision and said, "I guess I have no choice, I'll explain everything too you all."

Bobby nodded and pulled him inside the house so they could talk, he'd give the man a chance to explain himself but god help him if he started on about destiny or no choice again.

TBC

Poll question: Did Bobby overreact with hitting Merrick? Personally, I don't think so but I'd like your opinion on it. Also, should Merrick survive past the movie part? Also if I have Merrick in it still I'll have Giles still being her watcher in Sunnydale, not sure what will happen to Merrick if that happens though. Also what do you guys think about an eventual Andrew/Sam pairing with others to be announced as they come?

Please rate and review.