!Read me, cause I'm important!
A.N: So time-line clarification. I am moving up when the Scoobies (The original set) were in high school. The Fang gang, as well as the scoobies have only been in Cleveland for a year. No more. I don't want that really long gap from the end of Buffy and Angel (Season Four, in my head season five didn't happen) to when glee season two ended. So the scoobies graduated high school in the 2000's rather than in 1999.
*Shrugs* I can screw with the time line if I want to.
August 23, 2011
-Hand of Five-
She ghosted down the halls of the school towards her classroom with a quiet sneer. Once the ritual had been performed she could leave this... purgatory. After the ritual they'd all be dead, the slayers, the witches, all of one side would be battered and destroyed, just as calling so many slayers had nearly toppled their side. The balance needed to be tipped back in their favor, because she was tired of smiling at these stupid students as if they were worth more than rodents.
She nodded respectfully at the insane cheer leading coach as the woman stalked past her without acknowledging her.
She opened the door to her classroom and muttered, "For the five." That's what she had to keep reminding herself, this was all for the five.
-Rachel Berry-
She'd been called to the office and while she admitted that she'd thought about doing things that would likely lead to her expulsion she was fairly certain she hadn't actually gone through with any of her more 'Connor' like ideas. Unless she was suffering from rage blackouts now, which would just be typical.
She entered the office, prepared to demand that any type of discipline wait until Cordy got there when she stopped dead in the doorway as a woman she'd quite honestly never expected to see again turned to face her with Mr. Schue standing proudly at her side. Her glee coach offered her a paternal smile and Rachel had to squash the urge to sneer at him like Spike and Faith had taught her to.
She fingered the cellphone in her pocket when she realized that beyond the Principal there was one other man in the room in an expensive looking suit.
She hit 2 on speed dial and placed the phone on speaker before entering the office fully and shutting the door behind her.
The man whom she didn't know motioned for her to have a seat and Rachel actually did sneer this time, "What's going on?"
Her mot- Shelby spoke, "Rachel, Will informed me about your fathers, I'm here to-"
Rachel crossed her arms and cut her off, "To what? Why are you here, to take me home with you? Make sure I'm ok? Fulfill your surrogate responsibilities?" She spared Mr. Schue a harsh glare before she continued with a snarl, "I fine, I'm as happy as I can be after what happened and I'm taken care of."
Shelby crossed her arms and took the same combative stance as Rachel, "By a woman I've never heard of or met? Why is it that Hiram and Leroy never once mentioned this woman."
Rachel's lip curled, "Probably because they didn't want to discuss anything with you. They were my fathers Shelby, you're just the incubator that carried me for nine months."
Mr. Schue let out a gasp, "Rachel! Apologize!"
Rachel turned to hiss at her 'teacher' "No. What gave you the right to call Shelby. Who my guardians are is none of you business unless you think I'm being abused which I'm not."
The man in the suit held up his hand, "Miss Berry, Ms. Corcoran and I are here to inform you that she is suing for custody."
Rachel stilled and closed her eyes before she let out a heavy breath, "Inform me? INFORM ME! I'm a minor, and you have no right to be speaking to me about legal matters!" She whirled and pointed an accusing finger at Shelby, "She has no parental rights, nor does she have any claim to my affections, seeing as we 'agreed' to admire each other from afar." She growled at them, "I'm not saying another word until my real guardians get here." She shot Mr. Schue a poisonous look and crossed her arms, content to wait for hours if need be.
She only had to wait seven minutes.
The door burst open and Rachel let out a sigh of relief as Cordelia, Buffy, and Tara all stormed the office. The blonde witch immediately took Rachel in her arms and placed a gentle hand on her hair, to try and calm her down, while Buffy and Cordelia stepped around her and then stood shoulder to shoulder facing down Shelby, Schue, Figgins, and Lawyer man.
Cordelia ground out, "Do you want to tell me why my kid was ambushed for a legal discussion without her guardian present?"
Shelby opened her mouth to speak but the lawyer placed a hand on her shoulder, "Ms. Corcoran is the girl's birth mother, she has every right to speak with her child in light of what has happened to her fathers."
Cordelia let out snarl, "She doesn't have any rights. None. She signed those away."
The lawyer hummed before asking placidly, "How old are you Miss Chase?"
Cordelia snapped back, "25."
The man smirked, "And you have a 17 year old son?"
Rachel stiffened at the implication as did Tara.
She watched as Buffy's fist curled though Cordelia simply rolled her eyes, "Yes."
The Lawyer seemed surprised that he hadn't gotten a rise out of Cordy, "And he's your biological son?"
Cordelia's eyes narrowed, "He's my son in every way that counts, and I'd fight to make sure anyone who challenged that knew it. Just like I would for Rachel."
The Lawyer nodded and held out an envelope, "Then a fight is what you'll have."
Cordelia opened the envelope and as she read her shoulders tensed and her mouth tightened into a thin line. Finally she handed the set of papers to Buffy and took a threatening step forward.
With a quiet hiss she spoke, "I hate lawyers, I loathe that they come in and prey upon people when they're vulnerable, but in the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I also eat them for breakfast, as does my son's father. What firm are you with?"
The man smirked and held out a card, "Wolfram and Hart."
Cordelia took the card and crumpled it before flicking it back into the man's face, "Hmm, and were you aware that there is still an airtight contract baring Ms. Corcoran from contacting Rachel until her eighteenth birthday? A contract that would allow me to have every adult in the room jailed and sued for facilitating this... ambush." She eyed Schue who gaped at her, "Of course you and Principal Inept weren't aware, but Shelby here was, and I'm betting her lawyer was."
She got in the lawyer's face, "You won't get Rachel this way you evil piece of crap, you couldn't take Connor, I'm still alive, and you can not have Rachel. I'll die first."
The Lawyer's eyes narrowed and he purred, "That can be arranged."
Shelby spun to look at him, "Lincoln!"
The man ignored his employer, "This isn't over Ms. Chase. Mr. McDonald and Ms. Morgan may have had a soft spot for Angel Investigations but I do not."
Cordelia's hands shot out and grabbed the man by his lapels, "Soft spot? They played a part in kidnapping our son, they nearly drove me insane and on more than one occasion they tried to have us killed because we looked into their shady business dealings."
The Lawyer stared at her placidly, "Enjoy you time with Rachel while you can Ms. Chase, we'll be in touch."
He pulled himself from her grasp and slid from the room while Rachel stared after him, shaking with barely concealed rage, "Do you think... do you think he played a part in my dads' deaths?"
Every adult in the room turned to look at her and Cordelia sighed, "I'm not going to start lying to you now kid, he probably did."
Rachel's hands balled into fists as she shifted on the balls of her feet before she turned to snarl at Shelby, "You will never be my mom." She leaned back into Tara's embrace and scowled up at Shelby and took no small amount of pleasure in the fact that Shelby looked extremely hurt by her declaration.
Shelby seemed to shake off the hurt quickly as she turned on Cordelia, "What was that with my lawyer?"
Cordelia sneered at her, "My son's father and I used to run a detective agency out of L.A. Among our other cases we looked into the very dirty dealings of a law firm called Wolfram and Hart. We went to war essentially, and I thought we'd escaped when we moved but thanks to you we are back on their radar again, and now they have a vested interest in seeing Rachel taken away from us."
Shelby folded her arms across her chest, "So if I were to pursue this Rachel would end up in the system?"
Cordelia scoffed in Shelby's face before shrugging and reigning herself in, "Sure, let's go with that."
Shelby held her hand out, "May I have the papers?"
Cordelia eyed her suspiciously but nodded to Buffy who handed them over, Shelby took them, "I'll tear these up on the condition that I get to see Rachel every week."
It was Buffy who hissed, "You are in no position to try and extort Rachel's time, we have a contract that would allow us to take Rachel anywhere in the world and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. You say you're her mother, then prove it. Protect her."
Shelby slumped slightly but she did rip the set of papers right down the middle, "Ok..."
Rachel cocked her head and spoke, "I'll come see you... if Quinn and Noah can see Beth."
Shelby balked, "I..."
Rachel shrugged, "You decide." She turned away from Shelby and hugged Tara and then Buffy before squeezing Cordelia, "I have to get to class."
Cordelia smiled down at her, "Of course Rach..." She turned to hiss at Schue, "From now on you stay out of Rachel's life or so help me god I will see you fired."
Rachel didn't offer Schue a smile, instead she hefted her bag and strode from the office with a heavy stride.
As she headed to her math class she had to force herself not to head to the parking lot, in hopes of catching the lawyer and beating him to death. Instead she fired off a text to Quinn so that the young witch would save her a seat.
-Santana Lopez-
Rachel, Connor, Q, Dawn, and Blaine were missing from the lunch table and it was starting to piss Santana off. She didn't so much care about the two hobbits, freak Boy, or hot girl, but Q missing lunch and not even bothering to tell her was rude.
Not to mention Glitter boy was freaking out that his guy seemed to want to spend all his time with Rachel and her peeps instead of him. Or maybe he was upset that he wasn't a peep. Whatever, lunch sucked.
And Britt kept staring off into space, wincing every few seconds and muttering to herself.
Santana had long ago learned to ignore Britt's crazy but she was only able to do it by focusing on something else.
She finally snapped, "Hummel shut up! Look come with me and we'll go find your hobbit and Q."
Kurt perked up but eyed her suspiciously, "Why do you care?"
Santana shrugged, "Because Q is too tall for the shire."
Kurt rolled his eyes but stood to follow her.
Britt called out, "They're in the small gym with the wrestling mats."
Santana turned to look at her, "How do you know that B?"
Brittany shrugged, "I just do."
Santana shook her head and lead Kurt from the cafeteria as the boy asked, "Where should we look?"
Santana turned to scowl at him, "Didn't you hear Brittany?"
Kurt nodded hesitantly, "Yeah..."
Santana rolled her eyes, "B has a freaky way of always knowing where people are. We'll look in the small gym."
Kurt stuffed his hands in his pockets, "And if they aren't there?"
Santana huffed, "They will be, now hurry up afores I ends you."
The two of them stood outside the gym and it galled Santana to admit it but they were peeking through the tiny window on one of the double doors, "What are they doing?"
Santana scowled at Kurt, "How should I know. It looks like Berry and the Freak are beating the crap out of each other."
Kurt shook his head, "That's what it looks like to me too, but Rachel doesn't believe in violence."
Santana shrugged, "I don't know Hummel. Losing your parents is bound to make even the wussiest pacifist angry."
Kurt drooped, "Blaine looks happy... he looks happy, like he doesn't even miss me."
Santana turned to look at her fellow gay, "Look Hummel, he changed schools for you."
She turned to look at the five teens in the gym even as Kurt muttered, "Then why do I get the feeling that changing schools wasn't about me?"
Santana didn't have an answer for him. And it bothered her that Quinn seemed perfectly content sitting between Dawn and Blaine, watching Ru Paul and Crazy Cakes wail on each other.
She huffed and turned from the doors and didn't bother to wait on Kurt. He'd follow her if he wanted to.
He followed her.
September 3, 2011
-Faith Lehane-
Faith watched her charges as Rachel and Connor sparred under Cordelia and Buffy's watchful eye, and couldn't help but feel redundant, again.
It was a horrible feeling, to know that you weren't really needed. Cordelia and Buffy were the bosses, and if Buffy would cop to it Cordelia was the big boss, just like in L.A. Buffy was the senior slayer, she was able to teach Rachel things that Faith couldn't. She could teach her about light and good, and all the things Faith had failed at on her own.
It kinda killed her to watch the little slayer smile at Buffy, like she held all the slayer answers, like she was end all in slayerdom. What killed her even more was that B kinda was the end all. She was the good slayer, the slayer that had never faltered, she'd screwed a vamp (two) and still came out smelling of roses and sunlight. Faith... was a screw up, what's more she knew she was a screw up.
How was she supposed to help Rachel, Connor, or even Quinn and Blaine, fight the good fight when she'd strayed so far off the path herself once?
Wasn't that why they wanted Tara, the embodiment of goodness and light, to teach Quinn her craft instead of Willow, who was by Tara's own admission, a more powerful witch? Tara had never strayed, had never been tempted to use her powers for dark purposes, not like Willow, and Tara had been practicing far longer, which had to mean that she'd had years of temptation on Willow and yet she'd never faltered. That's why she was the perfect one to teach Quinn.
Red had faltered and that kind of weakness couldn't be allowed to influence Quinn... Faith couldn't help the wry grin the flitted across her face. Wouldn't that just piss Red off, to know that she and Faith were similar in that regard. That they'd given into evil, they'd both stained their hands with blood. Granted Warren had had what Willow did to him coming in a big way, and Faith didn't begrudge Red that particular bit of vengeance, just like she knew even Buffy with her sanctimonious squawking didn't feel bad about Warren.
But then that's what made her and Buffy different. Buffy couldn't mourn the death of someone who'd murdered someone she'd loved, but Faith? Faith would have gutted Warren herself.
The dark slayer turned to look at Tara, who was sitting cross legged in front of Quinn, meditating with the younger witch.
She let her lip curl into a snarl, less two months with Tara and she could honestly say that if the Warren showed up today wanting to hurt T, she'd slit his throat.
She smirked, in hindsight it was probably a good thing that she hadn't gone with B, Cordy, and T to lay the smack down of Rachel mother and her asshat teacher, she'd have ripped the lawyer's lungs out through his nostrils.
She stood and brushed her hands on her jeans, this was why she wasn't right to teach the kids. She was still angry and rough sometimes. Sometimes she wanted to belt B across the face for looking at her or Spike wrong... or for looking at Cordelia at all.
Faith scowled and folded her arms, what was it about B that meant she got the guy? First Angel, then Riley, and even Spike, who was still stupid in love with B even though she didn't give him the time of day anymore. As she watched Cordelia and Buffy demonstrate a move to Connor and Rachel her scowl deepened, cause now it looked like she'd even get the girl.
Faith shook her head and turned her attention back to T and Quinn and grinned back when T offered her a lopsided smile.
She watched Quinn catch the exchange and lean forward to talk to Tara who blushed prettily and rolled her eyes before adopting a stern expression and tapping Quinn on the forehead.
The younger blonde rolled her eyes and then closed them, intent on practicing her craft. Faith winked at Tara and then turned to go inside. She almost ran into Watcher Jr. who was staring out at Rachel and Connor with an unguarded look of sadness.
Faith nudged him, "You ok Blaine?"
He started and offered her a bright, fake smile, "Yeah Faith, I'm good. Just watching Rach and Connor. They're both really good at the fighting thing... I'm actually a little jealous."
Faith nodded, choosing not to comment on his look, "I thought watchers had to learn how to fight?"
He shrugged, "We do, I know all sorts of forms and stuff, cause when I was young I was going to classes or learning from my dad when I wasn't singing or dancing."
Faith motioned towards the grass and waited until Blaine had seated himself before she dropped down next to him, "So why are you jealous?"
Blaine smiled ruefully as he pointed to Rachel who had just kicked Connor in the face while executing a back flip, "Cause I will never be able to do anything like that."
Faith cocked her head and watched as Cordelia shook her head and demonstrated the kick on Buffy this time, "Sure you will. C!"
Cordelia turned to look at Faith, "Yes?"
Faith sprang to her feet, "When did you learn that kick?"
Cordelia squinted as if trying to figure out when exactly she'd been taught the move, "Pre-Connor."
Faith hummed, "So before you got all demon'd up?"
Cordelia nodded and turned back to Buffy and the two teens she was coaching.
Faith smirked at Blaine and yanked him to his feet, "Angel taught her that kick, B taught him, and I taught B, so I can teach you."
Blaine stubbornly shook his head, "You and Buffy are both slayers and Angel is a vampire, your logic is flawed."
Faith flicked the kid on the forehead, "Weren't you listening, Queen C was a human when Angel taught her. Sure she's all mystical and powerful now but she was just a simple human when she learned how to do that kick."
Blaine let out chuckle, "I doubt Cordelia has ever just been a simple human."
Faith nodded seriously, "Are you?"
Blaine faltered and then turned to look at Rachel and Connor, and then Quinn before his jaw tightened and he turned to look at Faith with fierce eyes, "No."
Faith grinned, "Atta boy." She clipped his shoulder and led him to a clear spot on the grass so that she could begin her lesson.
As Blaine watched her carefully, all of his attention focused on her, as if she held the secrets of the universe, Faith felt a little bit of that useless feeling fade.
-Spike-
He straightened as Buffy and the rest entered the house from outside. The slayers, all three of them, made a beeline for the fridge, though Buffy and Faith both let Rachel dart in front of them and get a hold of the soybeans before they jostled with each other.
Cordelia shook her head and plucked the phone from off the counter, "I'm ordering take out. Who wants Chinese?"
Hands went up around the kitchen as Cordelia started dialing, "Spike, do you want anything?"
Spike couldn't help his pleased smile, he still wasn't used to anyone asking the vampire of the group if he wanted food but Cordelia had learned quickly that Spike sometimes liked to pour blood over human food, "No Pet. I just ate actually."
Cordelia frowned at him, "I wish you had called me in, I'd have heated it up for you."
Spike scowled playfully, "I have been heating my own blood for four years now."
Cordelia waved a hand, "And yet I'm still better at it." She turned away from him and spoke into the phone, "Yeah hi, I'd like to place an order for delivery..."
Spike huffed and tuned her out as he turned to smile at Dawn who'd just wandered into the kitchen, "Chinese Lil' Bit?"
Dawn offered him a small smile, "Sounds good."
She turned away from him almost immediately to ask Tara a question and Spike had to stop his shoulders from slumping.
He knew his relationship with Dawn would never be the same, not after what he'd nearly done to Buffy right before he'd gone to get his soul. Hell, he got it. That moment, what he'd tried to do, that was why he'd gotten his soul after all. Even his demon, more gentle, a bit softer than most demons, more human, had been horrified. Even now he knew his struggle wasn't like Angel's, his demon was nothing like Angelus.
He shook his head, he'd thought that he'd loved Buffy without a soul but that had been impossible, Vampires, evil in general wasn't capable of love, true selfless love, but his demon and what was left of the man he'd been without his soul had gotten startlingly close.
The soul just made it so that he knew exactly why Dawn would never look at him the way she once had.
He turned to gaze at Cordelia and was yet again reminded of why he often wanted to cave Angel's stupid face in. All those years ago, Angel had been cursed with a soul and he'd had Buffy, had her love, her devotion, and he would forever have the lion's share of her heart unless someone managed to wrest it away. What's more, he'd had Cordelia, he'd had a woman who's love was so true, so deep that she'd given up her humanity for him. He shared a child with Cordelia even if she hadn't given birth to the boy.
Angel had a son and sometimes, Spike hated Angel for it.
His only consolation being that Connor actually seemed to like him better than Angel most of the time.
In his deepest, most honest moments, Spike wished he'd killed that gypsy girl all those years ago, instead of Angel. He wished he'd been cursed.
Spike shook away his maudlin thoughts and stepped past Dawn to announce, "I'm going patrolling."
Faith pouted as Buffy whined, "But... Chinese..."
Spike shrugged, "I'll go alone. Haven't been much in the way of beasties anyway."
Faith eyed him, "You sure Spike?"
Spike grinned at her, "Yeah, I know you like to get me all to yourself but you should stay and eat."
Faith scoffed and popped him in the shoulder, "Yeah right."
Spike ran a hand over his still perfect abs and smirked, "You know you want to lick chocolate off of these."
Rachel piped up from in between Quinn and Connor, "Who wouldn't? They're better than Mike's."
Tara let out a scandalized huff, "Rachel!"
The little slayer blinked at her, "What? They are."
The blonde witch rounded on Spike as Cordelia and Buffy turned their attention his way as well, "And why does Rachel know how great your abs look?"
Spike didn't let it show, but that flash of distrust in Tara's voice and in Buffy's eyes hurt, "Well Glinda..."
Cordelia's voice cut in, "He'll take his shirt off if you ask him to."
Buffy turned to glare at Rachel, "And why did you ask him to take his shirt off?"
Cordelia stepped in between the two slayers, "She didn't, I did."
Buffy's eyes narrowed further but she had the good sense not to take her previous tone with Cordelia, "Why?"
Cordelia arched an eyebrow, "I wanted to see if they were as good as Faith claimed. She said it was one of the perks of sharing a room with him, all the eye candy."
Spike offered Faith a smirk and received a scowl in return as Cordelia continued, "Rachel and Quinn came in and they helped me judge. The man does have some fine abs."
Spike preened as best he could while he internally squashed the residual hurt from Tara and Buffy's outrage. Even with his soul he still wasn't trusted, not really, even though he'd face the sunrise with a sad smile if it kept him from hurting Rachel.
He turned to the door to go before anyone could notice him but was stopped by Cordelia, "I'll keep an eye on you Spike, ok? You won't really be alone."
He turned and shook his head, "I think I'd like to be... just for tonight?"
Cordelia peered at him and then her eyes cut to Rachel, then Buffy, then Tara and he gave the slightest of nods.
She softened and tipped her head in agreement, "Just for tonight then."
He slipped from the kitchen and out of the house into the Lima night.
-Hand of the Five-
The man tapped his ear and spoke softly, "Sir?"
"Go ahead?"
He smiled, "The Seer isn't watching them tonight."
The voice on the other end gave a disgusted huff, "Finally."
The hand nodded, "Orders sir?"
There was a pause "Take them both out. Tell the teams."
The hand grinned into the night though no one could see him, "Understood sir, for the five."
His ear-bud crackled to life once more, "For the five."
-Spike-
He strolled down one of the alley's off of main street and lamented Sunnydale. He missed the town, or rather he missed the action. Lima was dead, mostly because it was small enough and far enough from Cleveland that very few vampires and even fewer demons made their way through. It was boring, and a bored Spike was never a good thing. What's worse, a bored Spike and Faith were actually a little dangerous. It wasn't any more boring than Cleveland had been though. In Cleveland there had been so many demon fighters that Spike had rarely seen any really action even on the hellmouth.
He glanced up and let out a sigh, at least out here he could see the stars.
He nodded to a couple as he stepped out onto the sidewalk and received a polite smile in return.
Spike picked up his pace, mostly so that his coat would flare out behind him. He did love his duster and if he couldn't kill something evil he could at least look impressive on his walk.
He took a deep breath and almost imperceptibly his step faltered. He smelled fresh earth... a newborn.
His lips curled into a deep smirk as he took another sniff and then loped off in the direction it was coming from. Seemed he would be getting a little action tonight after all.
September 4, 2011
-Buffy Summers-
She settled herself onto the sofa and watched as Connor and Blaine squabbled over what game to play on the Wii that Cordelia had bought.
She huffed and turned to look at Cordelia. The Seer ignored the look, and Buffy huffed again. She liked the Wii, but Cordelia was seriously spoiling the kids.
She had to smile as Quinn stood, slipped past the two boys and slipped a disc into the console and announced, "We're bowling." The blonde ignored the indignant yelps from the boys.
Rachel yawned from Cordelia's other side, "Mmkay..."
Buffy turned to look at the little slayer, "You can go to bed if you want to Rach."
The diva shook her head stubbornly, "It isn't a school and you said we could stay up late."
Dawn flopped down next to Rachel and poked her, "Yeah but it's barely past midnight and you're already yawning."
Rachel glared at her, "I trained today."
Dawn shrugged, "Ok... light weight."
Buffy rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to head off an argument but was saved the trouble as Quinn pulled Rachel to her feet, "Bowl with me Rachel."
Rachel let herself be pulled to her feet by her friend, "Can we play teams?"
Quinn nodded, "Dawn, do you want to play?"
Dawn shook her head, "I suck at video games."
Quinn turned to the four grownups who were all lounging on the chairs and couch and smiled when they all shook their head, "OK then, boys verses girls."
Connor turned to Quinn, "Blaine and I are going to win," He turned to glare at Blaine, "We're going to win."
Buffy let out a chuckle and jostled Cordelia, "Who does he get the competitiveness from?"
Cordelia didn't look up from the magazine she was flipping through, "Angel."
Buffy let out a bark of laughter, "Yeah right..."
Cordelia spared her a glance and let her mouth curl into a grin, "Mostly Angel then."
Buffy stamped down the flutter in her chest at Cordelia's smile and had to wonder how she'd never noticed how amazing it was in high school.
Angel blinders most likely.
She cleared her throat and tried to force away the slight heat in her cheeks as she made eye contact with Tara who was smirking at her. It was not something Tara did often so the look was even more pronounced.
Buffy narrowed her eyes and then scowled at Tara ignored the look and smiled her lopsided grin which Buffy just had to return.
Seriously, it was like a rule or something, that you had to smile when Tara grinned like that.
As the Buffy refocused her attention on the four warring teens the doorbell chimed.
The room stilled as they all exchanged looks and Buffy spoke, "It's really late for visitors." She looked at the teens, "Were we expecting any of your friends?"
Rachel spoke up, "No..."
Buffy frowned and would have hauled herself to her feet if Dawn hadn't beaten her to it, "I'll see who it is."
Buffy scowled at her little sister, "Don't open the door to anyone you don't know."
Dawn rolled her eyes, "I'm not five." She headed out of the room and a few moments later she called out, "It's a package! There isn't anyone on the porch!"
Buffy cocked her head, "Are you sure?"
Dawn shouted back, "The flood light out there makes it look like daytime Buffy, I'm sure!"
Buffy lurched to her feet as the door opened and then let the tension drain a bit as it slammed shut again, "It's just a box Buffy! Not even that heavy."
Buffy relaxed a little and then her whole body tightened as a scream rang out, "Buffy!"
Buffy bolted from the room with Cordelia and Faith right on her heels and the rest of the family right behind them.
She nearly barreled into her sister who was staring at the box on the round table in the foyer with abject horror.
Buffy gripped Dawn's arms, "What is it Dawnie?"
Dawn pointed a shaking hand at the box and Buffy hurtled towards it. She looked into the open box and stilled.
For a long moment she stared before she reached a trembling hand into the box a removed a familiar coat from it. She heard the gasps of horror as fine dust poured from the coat, most of it settling back into the box, though some drifted to the floor in a small macabre cloud.
She swallowed as the smell of the dust hit her nose. She'd know that smell anywhere
Spike's coat flared out as she freed it from the box completely, vampire dust still clinging stubbornly to the black leather in some places.
Read and Review... and yes... I know I'm an awful person.