author: Lucinda

rating: pg13

main characters: Joyce, Sabertooth, Buffy, Scott & Jean, Dawn

number 25 in the 'Messed Up Family' universe

Disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to any characters from BtVS or from any incarnation of the X-Men comics or Movie.

distribution: Twisting the Hellmouth, Paula, anyone else ask

note: this is a continuation of the Messed Up Family AU, now into season 1 BtVS. Dawn exists, but is just the younger daughter of Joyce and Hank, not the Key.

Scott had not been amused to be invited to a dinner that would also have Sabertooth. Jean had looked amused, but hadn't protested, though Joyce suspected that Jean had been mostly amused by Scott. Buffy had jus watched, her face suggesting that all sorts of question were trying to emerge. Dawn had just sighed before dropping to sulk in a chair.

Eventually, the arguing lost it's amusement value. "Buffy, I want you and Dawn to go set the table for six. Scott and Jean will be staying, ans I think I'd like to hear more about the mutants on Hank's side of the family. There will be no fighting at the table."

"You can't expect everybody to agree, especially not this group," Jean was frowning at Sabertooth when she spoke.

"I didn't say that everyone had to agree. I said no fighting, which means no fists, claws, thrown cutlery or plates, no hurling the food or beverages, no breaking or throwing the furniture, and no threats of bodily harm. Try not to shout either," Joyce frowned, certain that she was forgetting something. "And no laser beams from his eyes, or whatever it is. That would also count as fighting."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" her father's eyes twinkled in amusement, something that Joyce remembered from long ago years.

"Other than not taunt Scott? Just because I hadn't run into vampires elsewhere doesn't mean they aren't other places than Sunnydale. Mutants are everywhere, as are people who dislike them for being different. What we need is an exchange of information," Joyce sighed, running her hand through her hair. "And having that exchange with food will keep the fighting down."

It didn't take long before everyone had settled around the table, Jean helping by floating the food from the kitchen. For a few moments, things were quiet, with nothing more than requests to pass the roast, or the vegetables, or the bread.

It was Scott who broke the quiet, a multitude of questions in a single word - "Vampires?"

"Are real," came from Buffy, Joyce and her dad at the same time.

"They smell dead, they're stronger than they look, and always good for a fight," her dad commented, a reflective look on his face. "They like to bite."

"Stake through the heart, decapitation, fire and sunlight kill them. Holy water and crosses burn them, just like in the movies," Buffy paused, "Oh, and they can't come into a house without an invitation."

"Vampires are really real?" Jean asked, her voice soft. "But if they are, why haven't we heard about them before?"

"I was fighting them in LA, before the divorce," Buffy was staring at her plate, turning innocent vegetables into mush with her fork. "Merrick told me that people don't want to know, they find other ways to explain things. Safe ways. It wasn't a vampire, just some crazy on drugs. Someone fell onto a barbeque fork. It's just wishful thinking making you think you saw your vanished friend out the window last night."

"Except that sometimes it isn't," Jean whispered. "How do you deal with that?"

"A Watcher's supposed to be there for me. And now I can talk to Mom about things. She won't let me go out by myself now that she knows," Buffy gave a thin smile "But most Slayers don't have to worry about that for too long. I'm sixteen now; from what the books say, I'll be lucky to see eighteen. A miracle if I live to graduate."

"The hell you say!" "By yourself?!?" "Eighteen is lucky?" There was a loud blending of shouts and several growls from all around the table at those words.

Joyce's hand slapped the table, the sound causing the commotion to lessen. "I think we can all agree that Buffy just said a few very unwelcome words. None of us intend to let my daughter be killed, or fight vampires alone. It's time to do some thinking and planning, not shouting and growling."

"Nothing wrong with a bit of growling," her father rumbled.

"Only if things start and stop with growling, and have nothing useful in between," Joyce retorted.

"I absorb energy and convert it," Scott spoke in the quiet, frowning at the table. "There's a chance that Buffy might have something similar."

"What's a Watcher?" Jean asked, "and what's a Slayer?"

"Okay, vampires and demons are real. Lots of the bad stuff in horror stories - the old ones, at least – are real. Slayers fight the baddies, and Watchers are the guys with the old books that tell us what that thing is and how to kill it," Buffy sighed, spearing a bite of roast. "I'm stronger and faster than normal people, so the Watchers figured that I must be a Slayer."

"Dismemberment generally works well," her dad commented, one finger tapping at his chin. "Now, what's this about alone, and why doesn't it sound like it was your idea?"

"You seem awfully young to be fighting vampires," Jean looked at Buffy, and then at Joyce. "And why wouldn't your mother have known before?"

"Because I was too busy trying to hold on to a vanishing illusion," Joyce shook her head. "I'm not married to Hank anymore, and I no longer care if he'd like the way things are happening. I don't know very much about how the Watchers work, but I do know that the one here said a few things about destiny, about fate, and the safety of the world. He said something about Buffy being chosen as the Slayer, but nothing about how, when or why Buffy."

"Scott absorbs energy? Maybe that's why Buffy never got tired after long days practicing with the cheerleading squad?" Dawn offered. "It's not like she's eating that much."

"Like a plant? I'm not green, I don't have Clorox in me, and I do so eat!" Buffy protested.

"Chlorophyll, not clorox," Jean corrected. "And it might be possible. If you absorbed the energy, it could fuel increased strength and reflexes."

"Neat," Buffy grinned.

The rest of dinner passed with a tangled discussion of vampires and demons and how to kill them, places that Buffy knew were centers of demonic activity, warnings about the Friends of Humanity and a few smaller anti-mutant groups, and a few complaints about being a mutant in general.

As Scott and Jean left to return to their hotel room, Buffy called out, "Watch for the vamps. They need invites to houses, not hotel rooms."

Joyce sighed, thinking, 'Thank God there won't be too many dinners like this. Between the hostility between them and my father, Buffy being stuck as the Slayer, and Dad having vanished all those years ago… There would be bodies. And I'm not sure they'd all belong to demons and vampires.'

End MMUF 25: Extended Family Dinner