Buffy was in the basement hitting a punching bad. Jenna had agreed to let Buffy turn it into a gym after much deliberation and begging.
As she continued to hit the bag over and over she ignores the sweat dripping down her face, trying to channel her anger before she actually hurt someone.
It's all she had done since they had gotten back from Bonnie's Grams' funeral.
Suddenly the door at the top of the stairs opens to reveal Elena "Hey." She says softly "Could you come upstairs for a bit. Jenna found something on Isobel."
Buffy's eyes widen astonished before she nods and begins unwrapping her hands. "Sure absolutely."
"Your dad kept everything from his medical practice—records, log, old appointment books. I found an entry from the night you were born." Jenna says as she hands Elena one of the log books that she had found "Patient and a birth date. Isabelle Peterson."
Elena smiles, that was her mother, the mother she had never known, as much as she didn't want to she suddenly found herself hopeful at the idea of meeting her. "Do you think that's her real name?"
Jenna shakes her head, given the circumstances, that was very unlikely "Teenage runaway. Probably not. First name, maybe."
Buffy looks over at Jenna "So where's she get Peterson? TV, Magazine, a cute guy from her gym."
Jenna chuckles in amusement "Maybe her classmate or best friend? So I binged it"
Buffy raises an eyebrow "People still use bing?" She asks genuinely shocked, she had always been a google girl.
Jenna nods "Yes. I do. I searched for all the Peterson's in this area born the same year as Isobel, found 3—2 men and a woman, Trudie, who lived in Grove hill, Virginia."
"That's not far from here." Elena points out.
"Well, watch this." Jenna says with a satisfied grin as she types into the computer and pulls up a picture of two cheerleaders. Elena smiles, she instantly recognised her birth mother, and the fact that she was a cheerleader made her smile, she had something in common with her "Isabel. She was a cheerleader."
Jenna smiles, happy that she could help Elena gain some knowledge on her birth mother, after a brief hesitation she pulls out a piece of paper "Trudie still lives there. This is her address." She says as she hands Elena the paper with the address on it.
"What about Elena's birth mother? Isabel." Buffy asks.
"I couldn't find anything about her." Elena sits down disappointed. Jenna sighs "Listen. There's something else. Mr. Saltzman, Rick, his wife was from around here, and her name was also Isobel."
Buffy looks at Elena then back at Jenna having forgotten that Damon had killed Alaric's wife. "Was as in divorced 'was' or the more depressing 'was'?"
"She died."
"Alaric's wife might have been Elena's mother?" Stefan asks Buffy.
Buffy sighs "Elena says that it can't be true. That it's just a coincidence. But Stefan, there are two things I don't believe in Coincidences and Leprechauns."
Stefan pauses at her comment and tilts his head in thought "Well..."
Buffy's eyes widen "Holy no way. But Giles said-"
Stefan smiled at his beautiful girlfriend before kissing the top of her head sweetly "I know more than Giles."
Buffy chuckles in amusement for a moment as she imagines Stefan and Giles arguing over the supernatural. However, her enjoyment was quickly cut short as she remembers what they had been discussing.
She stands up from the bed and goes to stand in front of Stefan "I wish that it could be a coincidence because if it's not, then that means Elena's birth mother is dead."
Stefan takes a step closer to Buffy and places his hands on her shoulders trying to comfort her "Did Jenna explain to Elena what happened to Alaric's wife."
Buffy shakes her head then remembers what Ric had told her and Stefan. She gasps her hand moving to cover her mouth in horror as she remembers the truth "Oh, God. Damon killed her. Stefan what are we going do?"
Stefan takes Buffy's hands on his own and looks at her intently "Buffy I know you don't believe in coincidences but it's too much. I'll find out the truth okay."
Buffy nods weakly before allowing Stefan to wrap his arms around her, as she leans her head against his chest she sighs, she hated this because deep down she knew the truth and it was going to kill Elena when she found out.
Buffy was downstairs in the gym cleaning one of her swords when her phone begins to ring.
"Hello?" Buffy asks as she answers the phone distractedly as she spots a mark of dried blood on her sword.
"Hey Buffy." Willow says from the other side of the line.
Buffy smiles at hearing her best friend's voice and places the sword on the table "Hey, Will what's up?"
"Buffy something's happened."
"Geez you sound morbid Willow, who died." Buffy pauses as she realises that this was Sunnydale they were talking about, death was more common that Starbucks' in New Work "Oh God, who died?"
Willow takes a deep breath "Buffy, the other slayer, Faith... she killed a man. A human man."
Buffy stands up from her seat knocking over the table "What?" She asks in astonishment. As she asks the question she remembers the time where she herself thought that she had killed someone, that guilt had almost killed her, God knows what Faith was going through. She couldn't help but sympathise with the other Slayer.
"It was an accident, she was getting help but then her watcher Wesley found out and had her taken by the council. She escaped and she almost killed Xander."
Buffy's breathing picks up, all sympathetic thoughts now gone "Oh, God is Xander ok?"
"Yeah, he's fine just a little shaken up. But Buffy it gets worse."
Buffy couldn't help but get confused and worried "Will, how can it get worse?"
"Buffy the Mayor he's evil, and she's kind of working for him."
Buffy's jaw flops open in shock "Wait, the Mayor is evil?"
"Yeah. He's planning something known as an Ascension."
In that moment Buffy knew what she had to do, all thoughts of Damon and Stefan were gone, all that mattered were protecting her friends "Willow I'm coming to Sunnydale ok."
"Wait no. Buffy not yet. If you show up now who knows what will happen. Giles said there is a demon who lives near Mystic Falls who has access to some books. Giles asks if you can get the books."
Buffy nods even though Willow couldn't see her "Of course, I'll go right away. But Will the moment you find out when this Ascension thingy is you tell me and I will be there."
"Absolutely. It's not like we can win without you, you're our Buffy, we need you. Talk to you soon."
"Bye Will Love you. Be careful."
"Love ya too. And we will."
After Willow hangs up the phone Buffy quickly hides all the weapons back in the chest before heading up stairs to get ready, as she does not once does the worry for her friend dissipate.
After getting ready Buffy heads down stairs where she sees Jenna "Hey, where's Elena" Buffy asks her aunt.
Jenna smiles, "Oh, she went to see that woman Trudie she left while you were downstairs." She tells her before heading upstairs.
Buffy sighs, she was worried about Elena.
Buffy shakes herself knowing it was too late to go down there so she decided to continue on her mission to find the demon with the books and make sure her friends would have everything they needed to defeat the mayor.
Buffy got into her car and drove to the demon bar, once she pulled over she quickly grabs a knife and a small sword. She hides the small sword in her boot while she tucks the knife into her sleeve.
As she climbs out of the car and heads for the entrance she pauses, there was a presence behind her, and whatever it was it was clearly not human.
Buffy spins around quickly and punches the horned demon standing behind her, causing him to fall against the back wall of the bar.
The demon groans in pain "Ow! What are you, nuts? Going around punching people?"
"People?" Buffy asks as she pulls his hat off revealing the horns and pointed ears.
The demon stands and dusts off his jacket before looking at her, clearly insulted "So what, I'm a demon. That makes it ok?"
Buffy raises her knife threatening him, the demon raises his hands in surrender "Hold it! Whoa! Stab me now and you'll never find out what I got for you. Huh? Think about it. Demon seeks Slayer. Highly unusual?" Buffy looks at him skeptically but lets him continue "Your watcher, Giles right? Well he talked to a contact of mine about the books of Ascension. Your man paid a lot of money for them, I'm guessing you will wanna get your hands on them. They deal with some dark stuff, and the mayor of old Sunnyhell, well he would hate it if somebody got ahold of them before he—well, you know."
Buffy crosses her arms, this demon was getting on her nerves "Fine, where are the books?"
The demon walks over to a black bag on the ground and picks it up handing it to Buffy. Buffy looks at him sceptically before she opens the bag and inspects the books "Seems solid."
The demon smiles "If you excuse me I've got things to do." The demon turns and Buffy starts to head for her car. But as she does something hard slams into her back "Sorry girly, just got a better offer for the books, so you gotta go."
Buffy spins around and kicks the demon in the stomach, he runs at her trying to claw at her face but she grabs his arm and twists it behind his back then snaps his neck. The body falls to the ground and Buffy moans in annoyance "Oh, come on. Your not gonna go poof." She says to the body before throwing up her hands in annoyance "Great now I'm gonna have to bury you. You know you should really consider how much burying you is an inconvenience to me."
Buffy shrugs and quickly throws the books in her car before grabbing the demon's body and throwing him over her shoulder before wondering into the woods to find somewhere to stash him.
"Stupid demons. Backstabbing horned gross demons. Too lazy to go poof." Buffy moans as she dusts the mud off her jacket while she walks into Stefan's room.
"Stefan." She calls.
"Better." Damon says as he steps out of the bathroom and enters the room shirtless "Me."
Buffy stares at Damon, watching as he wobbled towards her "Wow, you look like—"
"Dashing?" Damon interrupts as he moves closer "Gorgeous?" He starts to lean in close to Buffy "Irresistible?"
Buffy pushes him always slightly "I was gonna go with trashed, wrecked or completely drunk off your ass."
Damon shrugs "No reason why. Do you know that I am one of Mystic Falls' most eligible bachelors?"
"Are they really that desperate?" Buffy jokes.
Damon smirks then walks over to the mirror, Buffy sighs, she wasn't really good with the mushy stuff "So, how's everything?"
"Never better." Damon says as he puts his shirt on "Yep. What can I do for you? I'm a barrel of favours today. It's my newfound purpose—how can I help people?"
"I'm meeting Stefan." She tells him as she shrugs off her jacket which was really starting to smell "Elena is making us make an appearance at the fundraiser."
Damon turns around and points to his unbuttoned shirt "Help a guy out, will you? Can't get this."
Buffy rolls her eyes before tossing her jacket on the bed and walking over to Damon. As she tosses her jacket on the bed Damon grins "Is that a hint."
Buffy glares at him before slapping him in the chest making him wince slightly, she grins before starting to button up his shirt.
As she does Damon watches her closely "You have mud on your jacket and you smell like demon. Did you do something bad?" Damon asks with a smirk.
Buffy sighs "Giles wanted me to pick up some books from a demon. I went, I was back stabbed by said demon who then tried to kill me. So I snapped his neck and buried him."
Damon pouts, clearly disappointed that he had missed her snapped a demon's neck "You killed something without me? Not fair."
Buffy laughs "What are you 12?"
Buffy continues to button up his shirt when Stefan appears "Stefan." Buffy backs away from Damon and walks over to her boyfriend "Uhh. I need a bigger jacket." Damon says from behind the couple "Wow. You know, an occasional sorority girl might, um, you know, help fill you out a little bit." Damon says to Stefan before leaving the room.
Buffy watches Damon go before turning to Stefan "You have got to be kidding me. It's like nothing happened." Buffy shakes her head then looks up at Stefan, a begging look in her eyes, she had had so much bad news today she couldn't handle any more "Tell me that he didn't kill Elena's mom."
Stefan looks away, immediately answering her question without a word "Alaric had a picture of Isobel it matched the one Elena and Jenna found. It's true, Elena's mother was Alaric's wife."
Buffy runs her hands through her hair clawing at the strands "Oh, God. Does Elena know?"
"Not yet. Buffy please, don't tell her yet."
Buffy looks at him in disbelief, she couldn't believe he would ask this of her, ask her to lie to her family "You can't be serious."
"I will tell her tonight Buffy but we can't risk setting Damon off, he's still emotional."
Buffy huffs "Fine. Right now Damon is lucky I'm not setting him on fire, But Stefan you have to tell her. I won't lie to her."
"Where'd our girlfriend go?" Damon asks when he sees Stefan walking towards him.
"She's on her way to the grill. I, uh, wanted to talk to you." Stefan hands Damon the photo "This is the woman, Isobel, from North Carolina. Remember her now?"
Damon looks away from the photo and back at his brother "Who wants to know?"
"I do."
Damon looks at Stefan seriously "Who else wants to know?"
When Stefan doesn't answer Damon shrugs "Sorry. Don't know her." Damon walks around Stefan "Hey, are you comin'? The real housewives of Mystic Falls await."
Buffy walks over to Matt, Caroline and Elena when she comes to The Grill. Elena turns to her cousin and smiles, "It seems that Matt is cougar bait, well according to Caroline."
Buffy laughs and looked over at Matt "Really? You didn't cast a love spell or something that went wrong did you?"
Matt laughs "Pretty sure I didn't." He says as he pushes Buffy slightly who merely grins back at him.
"Hi, Mrs Donovan." Caroline says as Matt's mom walks towards the group.
Matt's mom Kelly, ignored Caroline and turned to Elena with a huge smile on her face "Elena, honey."
Elena hugs the woman tightly making Caroline's smile fall "Hi, Kelly. How are you doing?"
"Same old." Kelly smiles then turns her attention to Buffy, immediately a look of shock covers her face before she begins grinning like crazy "No way. Buffy Anne Summers last time I saw you, you were barely walking." She takes Buffy's hands and spreads her arms apart to get a better look at the young girl "Wow you look so much like your mom."
Buffy smiles and hugs Kelly, it was nice to see another one of her mother's friends, and Kelly was the troublemaker character in a lot of her mother's stories. "It's good to see you Mrs. Donovan."
Kelly smiles "Honey, please call me Kelly."
Buffy chuckled "Kelly it is then."
Kelly turns back to Elena "Oh, Matty tells me you broke his heart."
"Mom." Matt interjects.
"Just kidding. Calm down. He found his rebound girl." Kelly glances over at Caroline "Oh. Here you go sweetheart." She hands Caroline money for the raffles "How ever many that will buy. I just hope I don't get bachelor 3. I dated him in high school. Not impressive." Kelly chuckles then whispers "In any way." She says grinning like a cat.
Caroline hands Kelly the tickets "Very exciting." Kelly says sarcastically as she takes the tickets and walks off.
Buffy shakes her head in amusement before turning back to the group, as she does she notices Elena watching Alaric who quickly walks off in the other direction when he spots her. Elena turns to Buffy sadly and the blonde rubbed her cousin's arm trying to comfort her.
Right as the raffle starts Buffy's phone starts to ring. She lifts the caller I.D to see Giles. Buffy sighs and turns to Elena and Jenna "Hey I got to take this I will be right back."
She gives them a quick wave before standing and heading to the corner of the room out of sight.
"Hey, Giles." She says as she answers her phone.
"Buffy. Hello, were you able to acquire the books?"
"Yeah, except that demon kinda tried to back out of the deal and make a meal out of me."
"My, god." Giles replies, Buffy could have sworn she could hear him cleaning his glasses."Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Giles I'm good. But I got the books and that demon won't be a problem any longer."
"Good. These books will help us with the ascension, I assume Willow informed you."
Buffy nods "Yep. Just let me know when you need me and I'll come down there for the fight."
"Yes, well I will come to Mystic Falls to collect the books with in the next few weeks and will inform you on everything else you need to know."
Buffy pauses for a moment, Giles was coming here, to Mystic Falls, as much as she wanted to see him now wasn't the best time, it wasn't safe. With a panic she sighs before forcing on her cheerful voice, it was too late she wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise without drawing attention "Cool, see ya, Giles."
"Good day, Buffy."
Buffy hangs up the phone and freezes when she hears Damon speaking about Alaric's wife on stage. And it was painfully obvious from the way that he was speaking what had happened.
"Oh, god." Buffy whispers; she turns to Elena running out of the room.
Buffy quickly runs after her just as Stefan appears and follows her out.
"Elena." Buffy calls.
Elena turns to Buffy and Stefan, tears flowing down her cheeks as she processes everything she had just heard "He killed her? Damon was the vampire that killed her?"
Stefan steps towards Elena "I don't know what happened. Alaric said that they never found a body."
"Oh, My god. Did you know?" Elena asks as she turns to Buffy, a look of betrayal crossing her features.
Buffy takes a deep breath before approaching her cousin and takes her hands "I'm so sorry, I wanted to tell you but I had to be sure, I wanted to make sure that it was true before you found out."
Elena sighs before shaking her head angrily and pulling away from her cousin "I was feeling sorry for him, hoping that this whole Mary thing would change him."
"He doesn't know about the connection to you." Stefan tells her "I thought about confronting him, but he's already so on edge."
"Why are you protecting him, Stefan?" Buffy asks, her anger seeping through as she watches her distraught cousin.
"Because you guys aren't the only ones hoping that he might actually change."
Elena looks away tears filling her eyes. When she looks back at Buffy and Stefan something catches her eye "That Man." She gestures behind the couple "I saw that man outside of Trudie's."
"Get back inside." Stefan tells the two of them "Come on."
The three head back inside where Elena crashes into Damon "Whoa. Easy there. Buy a ticket like everyone else." He says grinning lightly.
Elena glares at him "Did you enjoy that. Rubbing it in to Alaric Saltzman? Just as I was starting to think that there was something redeemable about you."
"Elena." Stefan says shaking his head. Elena glares at Damon before pushing past him angrily.
Damon looks over at Buffy confused "What's wrong with little Ms. Self righteous. Am I missing something here?"
Buffy rolls her eyes and glares at Damon "Elena's birth mother, her name was Isobel. So why don't you go ahead and continue to gloat about the fact that you killed her."
"What?"
Buffy glares at Damon "I suggest you stay the hell away from Elena, otherwise you will be meeting the sharp end of my axe." Buffy warns him before walking off to go after Elena.
Buffy finds Elena outside "Hey, come on let's get out of here." She says as she offers Elena her hand.
Elena looks at the hand hesitantly before nodding, as she takes the hand she hugs her cousin tightly for a few brief moments.
As they pull away from each other and move to head for the car Stefan comes out of the door "Buffy, wait."
However before Buffy could respond the man from earlier appears right in front of the three of them "I have a message for you." He says to Elena.
"What?"
Stefan moves to stand in front of the girls "Who are you?"
"Stop looking." The man says, his focus still on Elena.
"Stop looking for what?" Elena asks confused.
"She doesn't want to know you. She doesn't want to talk to you."
"Isobel?"
"You need to stop looking. Do you understand?"
Buffy looks over at the man "Wait if she's alive that means—" Buffy looks carefully at the man then realises something. "Stefan?"
Stefan nods in understanding "He's under compulsion."
"Do you understand?" the man asks Elena again.
"Yes. I do."
"Good. I'm done now." The man glances at the busy road behind him before taking a step backwards. Not a second later does a car come speeding down the road and crash into him.