Author's Note: And the end.
Hope you enjoyed this story!
I will be going on a brief hiatus, unfortunately, because I have not actually finished writing the next story. Sorry about that - life kind of exploded on me. So stay tuned; hopefully, it won't be long before I'm back.
"I think this is the part where I say, thank you for saving my life, healing my brain, and — most importantly — for deciding not to kill me, at the end of it," the Doctor said, as he and Buffy walked along the streets of Oxford, beneath the streetlamps.
Giles was packing his books back into his car, to head home. Alison had to go read up on Vikings and write her paper. And Seo, after cleaning herself up a bit, had decided that it was the solemn duty of herself and her sister to 'help' Alison with her studies — which probably meant 'distract Alison from studying' — thereby making it as difficult as humanly possible for Alison to get any actual writing done.
Which left Buffy and the Doctor here. Alone. Walking the streets of Oxford.
Buffy said nothing, for a little while, her eyes fixed on the road.
"When I fought the First," Buffy said, at last, "Giles told me — I changed. He said I got cold. He said, if I had to choose, again, between Dawn and the universe… I'd shove her into the portal."
The Doctor shuffled, a little awkwardly.
"It was like that, again, when I went through Hell," Buffy said. "Just going from place to place, over and over again, and watching as everyone — good, bad, demon, human — was murdered. Exterminated." She shuddered. "I had to raise an army. Train them. Give them hope. Give them strength. And I stood there and watched as every single one of them died. No survivors."
"No one but you," the Doctor offered.
Buffy shrugged. "So I got hard. I got… you know. Slayery." She sighed. "And… yeah. You can see where it led — locking you inside my head and almost killing you."
The Doctor said nothing. Just flipped his sonic screwdriver into the air and caught it, over and over again.
He was thinking about all the times he'd faced down Daleks. What it had done to him.
"I'll get over it, I guess," Buffy decided, with a shrug. "It won't be easy or anything, but… it'll happen. Especially with Seo being all with the bubbliness and the love of life. And even if this Seo doesn't like to stick around, that much — I get a lot of visits from future-Seos. I'm sure one of them will dig me out of it."
The Doctor caught the sonic, then waggled it at her. "You know — no one did ever clear you of that Watchers' Council brainwashing. Did they?"
Buffy blinked at him. "I… huh?"
"Just because some stuffy blokes in suits called you 'Slayer' and 'Soldier' and 'Vampire-Staker-In-Chief' — that doesn't mean you have to die for the planet," the Doctor said. He grinned. "I, for one, quite enjoy having you alive. And I'm sure plenty of others would agree with me."
Buffy shook her head, with a laugh, hugging her arms. "Doctor," she insisted, "that is what it means. It's basically rule one of the Slayer handbook!"
The Doctor made a face. "Rules are rubbish!" Then, considering, added — "Unless you're a companion. Then: don't wander off! But otherwise… rules! Rubbish!"
Buffy looked down at the pavement, beneath their feet.
The streetlamps bathed it in yellow light.
"Really, though," the Doctor put in, shooting her a sad smile. "I said it to Seo, and I'll say it to you — it's not a crime to want to live for the universe, instead of die for it."
Buffy sighed, kicking a pebble with her shoe. "Like I said — I'll get over this whole funk-thing. Eventually. I always do."
"Course you will," the Doctor said, tossing his sonic into the air and catching it, again. "Buffy the Brilliant. That's what I always say."
Buffy shot him a look, as if to point out that he'd never called her that at any time that she could remember.
"Oh, shut it," the Doctor sighed. He buzzed the nearby street lamp to stop it flickering, and it bathed them in bright light. Overhead, the stars were twinkling in the night sky.
Night.
No more vampires. No more Sunnydale. No more Torchwood. And far too many hostile aliens. The whole world had changed, around them, yet here they both were.
Buffy and the Doctor — and their stars, twinkling, overhead, to illuminate the darkness in their souls.
"It was a bit fun, in the old days," the Doctor said. He snuck a smile at her. "Wasn't it?"
"In Sunnydale?" Buffy leaned back against a streetlamp — remembering summers of making up monsters, the hours and hours of Buffy trying to patrol and getting frustrated when the Doctor stole her stakes from out of her hands, all the crazy times when the Doctor had popped his head around her door and waved, and she'd dropped everything to save the world with him. Because she always would.
"When you were around," Buffy said, "then… yeah. It was."
She was going to say more, when Jenny and Seo sprung up, giggling and laughing, and started making noises about taking the console apart so they could finally fix that chameleon circuit.
"Don't you dare!" the Doctor said, waggling his finger at them. "My TARDIS likes being a police box! She doesn't need a fixed up chameleon anything!"
Jenny gave a long sigh. "Dad, it's about the quantum mechanics of the thing." She practically gave the eyeroll in her voice. "Obviously."
"We'll blow it up when we're done," Seo offered. "To break it, again."
Jenny turned on her, mildly irritated, and Seo ran back into the TARDIS. Jenny chased after her, yelling something.
The Doctor ran his hands down his face. "Kids. I swore I'd never do this again, after Nyssa, Tegan, and Adric."
Buffy gestured at the TARDIS. "You better get in there before they take the whole central console apart."
"A fifth time," the Doctor muttered, heading towards the ship. He stopped, with his hand on the door. Then turned back to Buffy. "You know — I still owe you a trip."
Buffy, at first, honestly didn't have any idea what he was talking about.
Then she realized…
Oh, yeah!
At the end of that whole year with Dawn and Glory and the portal, the Doctor said he'd take her with him. Wow, that had been a long time ago! Buffy had almost forgotten all about that.
"Yeah… that's probably not going to happen, though," Buffy admitted, hearing Seo and Jenny chattering, in the TARDIS. Buffy gestured at it. "Seo says I'm not 'cool.' So it's usually a big no-go on the whole time travel thing."
The Doctor shrugged. "Well… I can always drop these two off. They don't need to know."
Buffy stared at him. She felt a grin creeping up her face. "You're serious?"
"Serious? Of course I'm serious! When am I ever not serious?" The Doctor adjusted his bow tie. "Not going to promise it'll be as exciting as growing up on the mouth of hell, but — well, maybe we could get a few less hell bits, and a few more nice ones." He grinned at her. "What do you say?"
Buffy's face was practically glowing with anticipation. "I'd like that."
The Doctor opened his mouth, to say more — but was interrupted by a crash from inside his TARDIS. He sighed. "Just a second." Then yanked open the doors, and ran inside. "No, no, no! You do not hook that up to a dematerialization circuit, young lady! What happens next time Clara tries to bake a soufflé? I'll tell you what'll happen. It'll dematerialize, that's what'll happen!"
The Doctor popped his head out the door, and mouthed the words, 'gimme a few days'.
Then closed the door, and continued to shout, as he threw the dematerialization lever. Outside, Buffy stood back, watching as the ship dematerialized.
But not, she knew, for the final time.