CH. 20:
DISCLAIMER:BtVS is owned by Joss Whedon & Mutant Enemy. Boondock Saints is owned by Troy Duffy & Franchise Pictures/Stage 6. Highlander is owned by Panzer/Davis and Rysher TPE. I'm just borrowing it for unpaid entertainment purposes only.
SUMMARY: A changed take on the episode 'Smashed'. And a call for help from an old friend Wesley's.
TIMELINE/SPOILERS:BtVS: Slightly non-canon versions of the episodes 'Smashed', 'Wrecked', and 'Gone'. Boondock Saints: Set before the sequel. Highlander: Haven't figured it out just yet…
A/N:Non-Canon compliant. I'm sorry if you're displeased, but it's necessary. Also, a huge debt of gratitude goes out to my beta: mmooch.
To the few who reviewed the last two chapters… thank you. And to everyone else… WTF? Where's the love?
Faith headed to the Magic Box that night in hopes of seeing Buffy, and getting her to agree on a joint patrol. It had been just over two weeks since they'd last patrolled and hung out together, and Faith missed her sister-Slayer. But, she got the reasons why Buffy had been MIA lately.
Apparently, Buffy and the pipsqueak's father had shown up on their doorstep out of the blue recently, looking to reconcile with them. Both Summers' girls were willing to give their old man the benefit of the doubt, and reacquaint themselves with him, especially after he explained the reasons behind his estrangement.
It was pretty trippy to think that Buffy's life had been that drama filled. Finding out that everything you'd ever thought and believed about yourself could be wrong; and your world turning upside-down all because of a few well intentioned half-truths. Still though, Faith was a bit envious, and would gladly take Buffy's life over her own screwed up childhood and life- but not in the 'Single White Female' kind of way. While Joyce may not have been Buffy's birth mother, she'd at least loved Buffy like she was. Faith's own mother had been more interested in her latest boyfriend- whenever she wasn't fixated on her next buzz or high- than on her own daughter. But she wasn't quite so bitter about it… anymore.
So while Buffy and Dawn had been occupied reconnecting with their Pop, she'd been taking the nightly patrol duties solo, because she was still pissed at the Scoobies, and had point-blank refused their offers to help out.
When she was two blocks from the Magic Box, Faith saw Xander and Anya walking towards her, so she stopped them long enough to ask them of Buffy's whereabouts, before departing from their presence. Trotting in the general direction Buffy had last been seen, hoping she wasn't too far behind her.
Pulling up even with the alley that ran parallel with the Magic Box, the sounds of a scuffle reached her ears. So, erring on the side of caution, Faith used the Slayer's inherent ability to blend into the shadows to her advantage, as she crept further into the alley and closer to the sounds of trouble.
What she saw surprised the hell out of her. Buffy and Spike were in a real knock down, drag-out fight. But that wasn't what was surprising, it was the fact that Spike was able to hit Buffy without the excruciating pain that normally came with harming humans. 'Why was Spike able to hit Buffy? Has his chip stopped working? And if that's the case, why hasn't B dusted the peroxide wonder yet?' So, while she was concerned, Faith knew that Buffy could handle herself, so she decided not to intervene just yet.
When Buffy shoved Spike into an abandoned building, she followed them, curious to see what would happen. Tuning into the words that were being spoken, Faith almost broke in, just so she could dust the bleached menace herself. 'That stupid excuse for a bloodsucker. How dare he taunt Buffy about coming back wrong!'
As he continued to taunt her, Faith could see the anger and fear in Buffy's expression. She was actually buying into his lies, even though verbally, she was giving back as good as she got. When Spike claimed he was in love with Buffy, Faith couldn't help but shudder in revulsion. She smirked at Buffy's retort that he was in love with pain, and that was why he followed her around like a puppy. That seemed more the likely scenario, in Faith's opinion. Entertained, she watched as Buffy whaled on Spike; though she was becoming a bit concerned for her and Buffy's safety, as the building started coming down around them. Faith was brought out of her musings, when she noticed a change in the tone of the fight.
Suddenly, it seemed more heated, more sexual in nature. It was taking on an almost foreplay-ish quality. When Buffy started kissing Spike, Faith decided it was time to intervene.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Faith demanded, as she pulled Spike off of Buffy, earning herself a fist to the jaw for her troubles. She watched dispassionately as Spike grabbed his head with an agonized yell.
Ignoring Spike for the moment, Faith turned to Buffy, "What the hell are you doin', B? Why are you kissing Spike again? Are you trippin' or something? I thought he disgusted you?"
Looking down in shame, Buffy said nothing. She couldn't. There was no adequate way she could explain why she was kissing Spike again.
Seeing the remorse and shame on Buffy's face, she softened. "Look, B, I'm not judging you, alright? I just want to help you. And believe it or not, I get it. I may not know exactly what you're going through, but I get that it's been difficult for you being back here again, after being happy and at peace. But what you're doing now? This punishing yourself and self-hatred kick you're on? It doesn't work. And whatever you were thinking of doing with Spike, it won't solve your problems. In fact, it'll make everything worse. Take it from someone who knows."
In a small voice, Buffy asked, "What's wrong with me, Faith? Why do I feel so disconnected?"
"I don't know, B. I honestly think you need to speak with a professional. As lame as it sounds, seeing a shrink really helped me out. McBroody found her, and she's in the know about the supernatural, so it ain't like anything you tell her will come as a shock."
"Yeah, Goldilocks, that's just what you needed, advice from the psychotic, dysfunctional Slayer!" Spike sneered, looking at Faith scornfully.
"I'd watch it if I were you, Willy Wanna-Bite. I haven't even gotten started on you yet!" Faith said darkly.
"But there must be some truth to what Spike's saying. Why else can he hit me? Maybe I did come back wrong… less human somehow." Buffy muttered, almost to herself.
"NO! No. You are still 100% human, I'm sure of it. You don't ping on my Slaydar, so you can't be less human, no matter what!" Faith assured Buffy. "But if it makes you feel any better, we can go see Wes, and ask him his opinion. I just think it has something to do with the magicks used on you."
Nodding in agreement, Buffy felt a bit of the fear slide away. Maybe with Wes' help, the three of them could come up with a solution for what was wrong with her. "I'm just going to head outside now, you coming with, Faith?"
"I'll be a minute, B. I want to have a few words with the bleached menace."
"Okay, just don't dust him. Dawnie cares about him, and she'd hate us for dusting him, unfortunately," Buffy requested.
Not promising anything, Faith replied, "Go on, I'll be there in a moment." Turning to glare at Spike, she stalked menacingly towards him.
"You just got lucky, vamp. If it hadn't been for B and the pipsqueak wanting you spared, you'd be dust in the wind right now. I know what you're up to, and it ain't gonna work. Not so long as I'm around watching her back. I'm not B, and as far as I'm concerned, you're a soulless monster, and there are no redeeming qualities in you! If you keep trying to mess with her head, I won't hesitate to dust your ass! So I'm warning you right now, and this is the only warning you're gonna get from me: Stay the fuck away from B, if you don't wanna be fitted for an ashtray. If I catch you lurking around her or her house, or the Magic Box, or anywhere else she goes, you're finished, you got me?"
And with that, Faith walked out of the building, leaving Spike behind.
Next Evening
Faith and Wesley's Apartment
Faith, Buffy, and Wesley sat around the dinner table with open books surrounding them, trying to find out the reason why Spike was able to hit Buffy. After a couple of hours of trying to concentrate on the task at hand, Wesley couldn't ignore the fact that both Slayers were getting restless, and it was starting to show in their fidgety movements. So, tiring of trying to concentrate with their bored sighs, he dismissed them to go train.
After they left the room, Wesley immersed himself in his books, making occasional notes on things that seemed even remotely relevant to the matter at hand.
In Faith's makeshift training room, Faith and Buffy went through the Tai Chi katas they usually started off with whenever they trained together. To anyone who watched, it would be quite interesting to note how well the Light and Dark Slayers complemented each other. They were like two sides of the same coin.
Finishing up the katas, Faith spoke, "So, B, do you wanna jump right in to the dance, or should we start off with something lighter?"
Feeling slightly more cocky than usual, Buffy smirked before responding, "You that ready to have your ass handed to you, Faith?"
"Well, look whose feeling over-confident. What makes you so sure that I'm gonna get my ass handed to me, Blondie?"
"Well, it's happened so many times before, I'd think you'd be used to the inevitable by now."
Both Slayers grinned ferally in anticipation. They enjoyed the rush that came with these particular sparring sessions. Standing opposite each other, they began to circle, each searching for just the right opening to strike. Buffy was the first to see an opportunity, so she threw the first punch, which Faith easily blocked. They exchanged taunts as well as blows. But as the fight progressed and the hits came faster, with the movements becoming a blur, it was easy to see that while they were pretty evenly matched, Buffy had more creativity to her moves, and could improvise a little bit better than Faith. Not that Faith was a slouch in the creativity department, but her moves were more raw and undisciplined; whereas Buffy's moves had more flair, as she drew from her ice skating and cheerleading experience to think outside the box.
Wesley was deep in research mode when the telephone started ringing. Softly cursing the interruption, he got up to answer it. "Hello?"
"Hello, is this Wesley Wyndam-Pryce?" asked a cultured voice Wesley thought sounded familiar.
"This is he. May I ask who's inquiring?" Wes replied cautiously.
"My name is Adam Pierson, we met a few years ago, when you were still at the Watcher's Academy, I was one of your guest lecturers there." Adam answered.
"Oh, I remember you now. How are you doing, Adam?"
"I'm doing well. You, my friend, are a hard man to find. I tried getting in contact with you through the Watcher's Council, but they didn't have your number; then I tried calling your family's home, and your mother said you were living in the US now, although she hadn't heard from you recently, and wasn't sure if the telephone number she had for you was even the same one. So I had to do some fancy computer work in order to find you."
Surprised and not a little suspicious as to why Adam had gone to all this trouble, Wesley questioned him about it. "So, care to explain why you've gone through all this trouble to find me? It can't possibly be because you were feeling nostalgic for the good old days."
Amused at the suspicious, almost accusing tone of Wesley's voice, Adam chuckled, "Well you see, I have this friend, and he had a strange experience; and while his brother and a few other of our friends speculated on why he had experienced this odd, albeit brief phenomena, I felt that this may have had something to do with the supernatural, there was just something about it that screamed magic. So I figured that I'd try to get in contact with you, in hopes that you might be able to aid me in this endeavor or at the very least, point me in the right direction."
"I see. Can you tell me what this strange occurrence was? The more I know about it, the easier it will be to figure out."
Relieved that Wesley seemed willing to help him, Adam explained what had happened to Murphy (although he intentionally didn't give him Murphy's name) and why he, Adam, thought it was magic-related.
As Wesley listened, he made notes and asked specific questions that he felt were relevant to the situation. Though, he had a niggling feeling in the back of his mind that there was something strangely familiar in the scenario being told to him, he just couldn't figure out what it was.
Faith and Buffy emerged from their training to find Wesley on the telephone, laughing at something that was being said on the other end. Having never seen him this animated before, both Slayers were curious about whom, or what could make the still slightly stuffy Brit act so carefree. Sharing a curious glance with Buffy, Faith spoke up, with the intention of playfully razzing Wes. "Yo, Princess Margaret, what's the what? Who're you talkin' to that has you acting all loose and carefree? Is it a woman? I'll bet it's a woman. You got a girlfriend or something? Oh, I know, it's Fred, isn't it? I bet you're talking to Fred!"
"Who's Fred? Wouldn't Fred be his boyfriend? And I thought that Wes was straight anyway?" Buffy inquired.
Bursting out laughing, Faith turned to Buffy and between laughter, she explained, "Fred is short for Winifred; and Fred's this wicked brilliant chick that Wes, Angel, and Gunn rescued from Pylea."
"What's Pylea?" Buffy asked in confusion.
"That's right, you wouldn't know about that. Pylea is this demon dimension that Cordy got sucked into while workin' on a case with the AI team and Fred had been a slave in that dimension, when Angel rescued her from her "owner"," Faith explained. "Wes has been crushing on her big-time. It's kinda funny watchin' him moon over her from a distance."
Exasperated, Wesley covered the mouthpiece to the telephone, retorting hotly, "I'll have you know, Faith, that I am not speaking to Fred! And yes, Buffy, I am straight. And no, I do not moon over Fred!"
"Chill, Wes. You know that I'm just razzing you." Faith said in a placating manner.
"Since you're so curious to know, I'm speaking with an old friend of mine from when I was at the Watcher's Academy. He was a mentor to me, as it were. He has a situation involving a friend of his, and he asked for my help in dealing with it."
"Okay, that's cool. Is there anything B or I can help with?" Faith asked, glancing at Buffy to make sure she was cool with helping Wes out with his problem. At her silent acquiescence, she looked expectantly at Wes.
"Hold on a moment, let me ask Adam if it's okay that I share the details of this situation with you." Removing his hand from the mouthpiece of the cordless phone, "Adam, would it be alright with you if I told Faith and Buffy- who's the other Slayer- about your friend's experience? They would like to help out."
Adam found himself a bit stunned at that particular revelation. Exclaiming, "Two Slayers? How can there be two Slayers? I thought there could only be one at a time?"
"Yes, well, that's a complicated story, and not mine to tell, in any case. So, would it be alright to tell them?"
Taking a moment to think about it, Adam wondered if Murphy would be angry with him for talking out of turn. Deciding that the more people helping out, the easier it would be for him in the long run, so he agreed to it. "Alright then, four brains are better than one."
"Let me put you on speaker-phone, that way it will be easier for everyone to hear what's being said, then."
With that Wesley put the cordless phone back into its charger, as he hit the speaker option on the phone, before speaking. "Okay Adam, whenever you're ready."
"Hello ladies, my name is Adam; And may I say, it'll be a pleasure to be speaking with you two ladies," Adam introduced himself.
"Hi Adam, nice to speak to you," Buffy replied, rolling her eyes at Faith's customary greeting of "Yo!"
"So, what's the sitch with this friend of yours?" Buffy asked.
On his end of the line, Adam shook his head at the strange way of speaking that Buffy and Faith had. 'I guess things haven't changed all that much, children these days are just as odd and exasperating as they were back then.' Adam thought wryly.
Clearing his throat, he explained, "Well, about two and a half, almost three months ago, I and a few friends of mine were hanging out in this bar that belonged to one of them. It was a typical morning, when out of nowhere, my young Irish friend started gasping and choking for air. But the thing is- there was nothing and no one there. I don't know what it was like for my young Irish friend, but I do know that the terror he was experiencing seemed quite real. Now, I'm not all that well-versed in supernatural problems, but I suspected that there might be some kind of demonic or magical explanation, because there simply isn't any other reason for what he went through, in my opinion. And I've known a witch or two in my time that had real power, and could have done something like that. But, my young Irish friend- well, I somehow doubt he has come across any witches of that caliber in his young life."
Wesley and Faith watched with some concern, as Buffy paled considerably at the description of Adam's friend's ordeal. Although, because he was in another part of the world, he couldn't see the effect his words appeared to be having on Buffy.
Concerned for Buffy, Faith interrupted Adam, "Adam, could you stop for a minute." Turning to Buffy, she demanded, "What is it, B? What's wrong?"
Buffy whispered, "I just had a harsh reminder of my own situation. I had this terrible sensation of déjà vu at Adam's friend's ordeal… Give me a minute, and I'll be okay."
"Is everything okay there?" Adam asked with some concern.
"Yeah, dude. Everything is five by five now." Faith said flippantly, although a small amount of consternation entered her eyes as she watched the color return to Buffy's cheeks.
Wesley carefully watched Buffy, puzzling over her reaction to the situation, when it struck him why this problem seemed so familiar. It reminded him of Buffy's own physical responses after her immediate resurrection, and the resulting emotions of having to claw her way out of her own grave… Yes, he knew about that. Faith had been deeply disturbed by the information, and had confided some of it to him, confidentially, of course.
Something else was bothering Wesley about Buffy's reaction, but he didn't want to mention it, in case he was wrong. As he was thinking, he didn't realize that both Buffy and Faith were looking at him expectantly. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"
Smirking at her Watcher, Faith snorted. "Yeah, Adam asked if you had an idea of what was going on, Mr. Space Case."
"I do apologize, I was deep in thought. To be honest, Adam, I have an idea or two, but they require some research. I'll need to visit an occult bookshop in Los Angeles that deals in rare artifacts and books before I can answer you definitively."
With a defeated sigh, Adam responded, "Okay then. Let me know when you have something concrete."
"So, you don't need us to help with the research yet, Wes?" Buffy asked.
"No, until I have those books, the research would prove fruitless. So if you and Faith want to start your patrol now, I won't mind."
"Okay then Watcher-man. B and I are off to make Sunnydale a safer place for the masses. And Adam, it was nice meeting you. Have a good night guys." Faith said as she and Buffy headed out for patrol.
"Have a good night ladies!" Adam called out from the speaker. A "Thanks!" floated back to him as both Slayers exited the apartment.
Once the door closed behind them, Wesley picked up the cordless again waiting until he was certain that they were gone before he spoke again with an urgent tone, "Adam, something occurred to me, and I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me."
Puzzled over Wesley's tone, he wondered what was bothering him. "Alright, I'll do my best. What is it you wanted to know?"
"This friend of yours, what time did his situation occur?"
"Well, it was about ten in the morning here. Why? What does that have to do with anything?"
"If what I'm thinking is correct, it may make quite a bit of difference to my theory. Now, you also mentioned that your friend is of Irish descent, yes?"
"If you say so… and yes, he's an Irishman. Why?"
"Can you tell me his name? It is a vital piece to the puzzle, if my theory is correct."
"I don't know if I should tell you his name, as he doesn't know that I'm speaking to you about his problem, and seeing as how you haven't given me any answers to my own questions-" Adam broke off, irritated at the lack of answers.
"Adam, please, this is important." Wesley implored. "I'll explain it all as soon as I can. But, please, I need to know this man's name."
"Fine! The young man I'm referring to is named Murphy. Now can I get some answers?"
"You wouldn't happen to mean Murphy MacManus, would you?"
"How in the blue hell did you know his surname, and how do you know Murphy in the first place?" Adam demanded. When Wesley started swearing, Adam felt his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. He'd never heard the younger man curse quite so vividly before.
"What I'm about to tell you cannot in any way, get back to Murphy, until I've had the chance to speak with Buffy's Watcher, because he'll want to know about this unexpected turn of events. Do you agree to this stipulation?"
Knowing he had no choice but to agree, if he was going to find out what was going on, Adam quickly acquiesced.
"I never met the young man personally, but according to Rupert, Faith, and Willow- one of Buffy's mates- Murphy is the father of her daughter, Rowan. They met in New York City well over a year ago, and had a brief tryst, which resulted in Buffy becoming pregnant. She refused to terminate the pregnancy, which is why Faith and I came back to the Hellmouth. To help her guard against the demonic and vampiric threat while she was incapacitated during her pregnancy."
"However, unbeknownst to everyone here, a new evil had come into town, searching for an item of hers. Now, this was something no one had ever encountered before- needless to say, Buffy was ill prepared to deal with this new threat. Also, during that time, Buffy's mother became seriously ill with a brain tumor, and her beau at the time was causing some stress in her life as well."
"While this is a fascinating tale, it still doesn't explain everything. Why are there two Slayers? I had thought the next one was called after the current one died?" Adam interrupted.
"That's quite true. Now I know I'm speaking out of turn, but it really is an interesting tale. Apparently, when Buffy was sixteen, there was a prophecy that stated that the Master- one of the first vampires in the Aurelius vampire line- was going to rise from his prison, and he and Buffy would fight, and she would die… suffice it to say, she drowned, but was revived by another one of her best mates with CPR. But she died just long enough to call the next Slayer. Then that Slayer died, which called Faith into action." Wesley finished with his summation.
Adam couldn't believe what he was hearing. A Slayer having a child was a very uncommon thing. In his five millennia of living, he had seldom heard of such a thing occurring. Usually, the young woman may have had a child before being called, but almost never afterwards. Buffy was certainly an enigma, wrapped in a mystery. And that she had died at sixteen, and yet she was alive and kicking still. He was in awe of all the horrors she'd had to face at such a young age; he couldn't help but admire the young woman. And that she was willing to help out what she believed to be a perfect stranger… well, she reminded him of the Boy Scout.
"That truly is an amazing tale, but I still don't understand what Murphy's situation has to do with Buffy," he declared.
With a weary sigh, Wesley launched into the next part of his tale of 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer'. "Because there's still much more to my narrative; you see, the evil entity that came to Sunnydale last year? Her name was Glorificus, and she was an actual hell god. She'd been banished from her own hell dimension, and her essence was forced into the body of a male-child. But as she regained a small fraction of her former powers, she was able to emerge from her prison. And she wanted to find the Key, so that she could return home. The monks who were the protectors of the Key sent it to Buffy to protect, and through a bizarre twist of fate, Glory got her hands on the Key, and the night of the ritual, while Glory and Buffy fought, one of Glory's minions managed to use the Key to start the ritual. But, Buffy was able to defeat Glory, and sacrificing herself to close the portal-which opened the doors to all the dimensions- she was able to close the portal at the cost of her life."
"So, you're telling me that Buffy was dead? Honestly and truly dead? If that's the case, how is she alive now?" Adam asked flabbergasted.
"Yes, she was dead. In fact, she had been dead and buried when her mate, Willow, got an idea to resurrect Buffy into her head. Willow was under the impression that Buffy was stuck in some hell dimension, most likely suffering brutal torment. So, using the 'Rites of Osiris', she managed to resurrect Buffy not too long ago. And that is what I think Murphy experienced. Buffy's resurrection process…"
"By the Gods! What the hell was this Willow girl thinking? How can she be allowed to spell-cast with so much untrained power? Has no coven ever been contacted to properly train this girl? Invoking such a spell is going to have dire consequences! You know that!"
Wesley and Adam continued talking for quite a while afterwards, trying to come up with some way to get Buffy and Murphy into contact with one another.