Chapter 32
Buffy was leading the new Slayers in a kata designed to help them with their control. The two days that it had taken Olivia and Carter to get to Sunnydale had taken their toll on the Hellmouth Crew. The Winchester men had a colorful collection of broken and bruised ribs, a twisted knee, various claw tears, bruises and John had a broken wrist. He had asked for, and gotten an unbreakable spell put on his cast. He was now using it as a club.
S2 was even worse off. Kit and Carlos had threatened to run away from home so that they could fight. Jack had put a stop to that before any of the 'adults' were aware of their threats. Instead, he had put them in charge of his laptop and the extra files they had made before sending them away with their families. If Jack and the rest of the Hellmouth Crew didn't make it out of Sunnydale, his laptop would have the only record of their fight to close the hellmouth. Willow had somehow combined her magic and her computer skills to make sure that there would be a visual record. Jack wasn't too sure how it worked, but he knew how badly the intelligence would be needed if they didn't make it out alive.
Dawn had broken her leg, and had been sent to Cleveland as a result. She also had more small injuries than she could count. Jack had bruised ribs, yet another twisted knee and a concussion that he was recovering from. He no longer had the double vision but the headaches were still bothering him. Faith of course was fine physically, but she was getting more and more anxious for those around her, especially Dean and Wesley. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate how much danger the others were in; it was just that those two were closest to her heart.
Buffy was glad that Dawn was out of the picture and she didn't try to hide it. Dawn was her little girl and she wanted her to be safe. She knew Dawn could fight but it wasn't possible with a broken leg. Buffy flat out told her that while she was going to Cleveland, like it or not, and that she had a job to do there. She was to use her magic to guard the remaining members of the Watcher's Council. There would be too many demons who would love to take this opportunity to destroy what was left of the organization that had caused them so much trouble. She was also to look after Amy the rat for Willow and Tara.
Buffy only wished, silently of course, that John was hurt enough to send with her. She really didn't like the idea of sending Dawn so far away from both of them. The only reason she could relax at all was that Joyce and the nerd brigade, as Spike called the non-field Watchers, had been sent to Cleveland as well. Buffy had ordered Giles to go with them.
Although it kept her step-father out of the line of fire, that wasn't the main reason she had sent him. Giles was now the head of the Council and as such would be the only field Watcher that would be out of the fight. He would be needed to teach and train the new Slayers and their new Watchers as well as run the Council. He was also the only upper class Brit that had the pull and connections they would need to start a Slayer school and recruit new Watchers. They couldn't afford to lose him. Wesley's age would greatly count against him if he was needed to assume that position and he had neither the pull, nor the connections that would be needed.
The new Slayers were physically fine and their Watchers only had minor injuries, which Buffy considered to be a success under the circumstances. Sam and Aphra had needed to sew Spike back together more than once as he was determined to put himself between the danger and those members of his family he thought were helpless. That of course included Xander, who had no less than five arguments with him on three separate patrols. Still, Xander was in one piece and that meant a lot to Buffy. She was worried about who would be hurt or even worse, killed, in the up coming confrontation.
Willow, Tara and Elizabeth were the best off of those still in Sunnydale. None of them had been joining the patrols as they were still prime targets for the First. Instead they had been going over the instructions on how to close the hellmouth, both without and with Dr. Jackson, looking for anything that could go wrong or anything that they might have overlooked. They also helped patch up the injuries after the patrols.
"LUNCH!" called Col. O'Neill. There hadn't been much for him or Det. Stabler to do when they got to Sunnydale so they had taken over Joyce's usual duties and was making sure that everyone was fed. The new Slayers cheered, even Liv and Carter to their own amazement.
"Is this increase in appetite normal?" Liv asked Buffy. "I feel like I'm starving and I've been putting away food like I'm a linebacker or something."
"You're not a linebacker Liv, you're a Slayer. And as John keeps telling me, a Slayer needs fuel to do the things she does, which means that you haven't seen anything yet. This is just a coasting sort of hunger, kind of like everyday munchies or something. The kind of hunger you get when you've been lazing around in your pj's all weekend. Post patrol hunger is much worse and post slaying hunger is even worse than that."
She caught Liv and Carter by the arms and made sure that all both of the women were looking at her. "The other girls have already seen Faith and I go through this, you two haven't. So listen up and listen good. You must eat and you have to eat a lot of high calorie foods, the more the better. Don't worry about your figure because whatever extra weight you might have right now will be gone by the end of the week, if not sooner. You are both Slayers now and you'll never see a fat Slayer. What you are more likely to see is a Slayer eating everything in sight and still starving to death. There are other urges that you'll need to know about, but I'll leave that to the Watchers to explain to you."
With that Buffy let go and led the way over to the kitchen. When they got there they could see what Buffy had been talking about. Faith had been out on patrol and started giving Buffy an update as soon as she sat down. Her plate was piled high with food and Dean, who was sitting next to her, was pushing even more food at her as she paused every couple of words to take a bite. She was eating more than Liv had ever seen, although Carter remembered a similar feast from the incident at the SGC. They also both saw that Faith was too skinny. She wasn't as bad as she had been eight months ago, but the strain of the situation was beginning to show.
The new Slayers ate quietly while listening to Faith. The news wasn't good. Harbringers were scouring the town and the Turok-Han were doing the same under ground. No demon or human was safe from them. Faith warily told Buffy that she had ordered the military guys out of town. "I don't wanna step on your toes, B. But it's so bad out there right now I didn't think they'd make it if they stayed. I had to rescue two squads before the guy in charge gave in and ordered his people out."
"You mean they were actually smarter than the Initiative guys? Well color me stunned," Xander snarked as the rest of the group laughed at Xander's delivery, if not at the memory of the Initiative.
"Yeah, the General sent somebody out there with brains. I didn't have as bad a time as B did with the soldier boys though. I guess having T with me helped." Faith didn't want to brag, but she was pretty sure her little slayfest in the mess hall back at the SGC had helped too. She was sure that at least four of the men she'd just ordered out of town had been there.
"I'm glad you didn't, Faith. That was such a pain. I proved that I could take them all on and kick their backsides to the curb and they still treated me like I was Riley's little woman." Buffy paused as Sam loaded her plate up again. "You know, just because John isn't here, doesn't mean you need to shove food down my throat Sam," Buffy said wryly. John was still sorting out the armory and had asked that someone drop off a sandwich for his lunch. She appreciated Sam's efforts, but she was well aware that she couldn't be skimping on food now. Now only would she need to keep her strength up so she wouldn't collapse when they tried to close the hellmouth tonight, but she had to set an example to the new Slayers.
"Don't worry, Buffy. I'm not about to start one of Dean and Dad's feed the Slayer wars." The new arrivals looked puzzled at that remark while the old hands snickered at the reminder of how John and Dean would fight each other over food to give to their respective Slayers. "Dad just worries since he's not going to be here and he asked me to look out for you while he's busy."
"Oh don't worry about me. I'm being responsible Buffy. No skipping meals or trying to eat less than I should. I have to be the example and the grown up about these things. I can already tell that being the oldest Slayer is really going to suck big time." Buffy said in the earnest voice that usually got laughs out of her friends. It worked this time as well, but Tara had to rescue Willow from choking on her food.
"Why do you say you're the oldest Slayer Buffy? Liv and I are both older than you are," Carter asked. She didn't want to put Buffy down but she didn't understand her remark either.
"Buffy's the Slayer who has lived as a Slayer the longest," Sarah said with awe echoing in her voice. "There hasn't been a Slayer that has lived as long as she has for centuries, maybe even never. She's lived six years as the Slayer, and five of them were here on the hellmouth!" When it was obvious from the blank looks the women were giving her that they didn't understand just what an achievement that was she added, "The average life expectancy of a Slayer is a year, less if they get near a hellmouth."
"Actually, I've been a Slayer almost seven years," Buffy said quietly. "I was called shortly after my fifteenth birthday. And I did die, Sarah. Xander brought me back with CPR. That's why Kendra was called and then when she died, Faith was called. Don't think that just because I made some good choices in my friends and survived thanks to them that I'm all knowing and god like." Buffy smiled at Willow and Xander, who both beamed back at her. Then and now there was no way they would let her face her destiny alone and for that Buffy was more grateful than she could say.
"Hey since there's no telling if we're going to get through tonight or not," Dean said to break up the chick flick moment and to hopefully give Faith a last minute present. "Teal'c, could you spar with Faith at least once before we leave the mansion? She's been dying to spar with you."
Both senior Slayers perked up at the question and eagerly looked over at the big Jaffa. Both of them had seen him fight and eagerly looked forward to sparing with him. He bowed his head in their direction. "I would be honored to spar with both of you. You are formidable warriors and you perform your duties well."
"From Teal'c that's high praise," Carter told Faith and Buffy. Everyone hurried through their meal as no one wanted to miss this match.
The mats that had been rolled up and waiting to be moved to the school bus John had 'borrowed' from the school district were rolled out once more onto the ballroom floor. Teal'c stepped out onto the mat and waited for Faith and Buffy to decide which of them would spar with Teal'c first. Finally they had Jack toss a coin. Faith called heads and won the toss.
