Chapter 4: The Harvest Part 3

Paige orbed Buffy and Dawn into the living room where Leo and Joyce waited.

"Buffy?" Joyce said with a sigh.

"I know mom," Buffy said. "If there hadn't been a chance Jesse could still have been alive, I wouldn't have cut class."

"I understand," Joyce said. "I take it he was already dead when you found him?" Buffy nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that. Buffy since your home I want you to meet someone."

Leo glanced at Paige who nodded.

"Come on, Dawn," Paige said. "We need to get those supplies." She looked at Joyce. "There is a vampire feeding frenzy at that club Buffy went to last night. I'll make sure both Buffy and Dawn come home in one piece."

Joyce simply nodded as she watched her daughters' Whitelighter lead Dawn out of the room and toward the stairs. She turned her attention back to Buffy. "Buffy, this is Leo Wyatt. He's Paige's brother-in-law."

"Brother-in-law?" Buffy asked.

"Paige is half-Whiterlighter," Leo told her, "half-witch. She and her sisters are the most powerful of their generation. Just like you."

"Like me," Buffy asked with a shake of her head. She wasn't sure where this was going.

Leo let out a sigh. "Sixteen years ago, I was your mother's Whitelighter. "

"We fell in love, Buffy," Joyce said. "At time when doing so was a violation of the rules. Then we compounded the problem by having a child together."

"I have …" Buffy started.

"No," Joyce said. "I only ever had you and Dawn. Leo cast a spell erasing my memory of him. And as a result I believed Hank was the father of my baby, of you."

Buffy blinked and looked at Leo. "You … your my father?"

Leo nodded. "I am."

"Why would you cast a spell making mom forget you?" Buffy asked.

"Because our relationship was forbidden. In fact your mom started dating Hank to try and help her forget her feelings for me," Leo said. "Then one night Hank and your mom had an argument. Joyce called for me and I came to comfort her. One thing led to another and you were conceived. If the Elders had found, they would have taken you away, as well making sure your mom was assigned a new Whitelighter. I knew your mom was going bind yours and her own powers. So I cast the spell to ensure you would never be taken from her. I spoke of this with no one till Paige was assigned to be your Whitelighter."

Tears began to flow down her cheeks as Buffy slowly moved to Leo and he enfolded her into his arms.

Paige and Dawn returned from upstairs with a duffle bag and saw the tear filled reunion of father and daughter. Paige had explained to Dawn while they were upstairs what was happening.

Dawn smiled at her sister and handed Paige the bag and then moved over to Buffy and touched her sister's shoulder.

Buffy looked at Dawn who wiped the tears from her face as Leo released Buffy.

"Leo," Paige said, "before we leave. I have a quick question. Willow and Xander the two that Buffy rescued last night. Their memories weren't wiped. Do you think …"

"While both sides as you know gave the Cleaners absolute jurisdiction with the Tribunal able to overrule them," Leo said. "The Angel of Destiny also can overrule them when it comes to someone's destiny. This Willow and Xander must have an important part to play in both Buffy and Dawn's destinies. So important that they can't have their memories erased of the knowledge."

Paige nodded as she took Buffy and Dawn's hands and orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

There was no one outside when Paige, Dawn, Buffy and the others arrived at the Bronze. Buffy struggled to get the front door open, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's locked," she told them.

Giles looked almost sick. "We're too late."

"Well, I didn't know I was gonna meet my real father!" Buffy told him.

"Can you break it down?" Xander asked, but Buffy shook her head. "What about, Paige. Can you get us in?"

"I could," Paige said. "But that would risk not only exposure on a grand scale. But also would reveal our presence instantly to the vampires inside."

"You guys try the back entrance," Buffy said as she looked at her sister, Giles, Willow and Xander. "Paige and I'll find our own way."

"Right." Giles glanced from Xander to Willow to Dawn. "Come on."

"Guys!" Buffy called out to them. "You get the exit cleared, and you get people out," she instructed them. "That's all. Don't go Wild Bunch on me."

"See you on the inside," Dawn promised as she shoulder the duffle bag.

As they took off around the building, Buffy turned to Paige. "You were there last night. Do you think there is somewhere you can orb us without being seen?"

"I think I have the perfect spot," Paige said as she orbed herself and Buffy out. They orbed in behind an oblivious vampire.

"I feel him rising!" Darla shouted. "I need another!"

Buffy stared at the three-pointed star on Darla's forehead.

"The Vessel . . ." she murmured.

The oblivious vampire turned and grabbed Buffy.

"Tonight is his ascension," Darla informed the horrified onlookers. "Tonight will be history at its end! Yours is a glorious sacrifice. Degradation most holy." He stopped, his evil gaze sliding from one face to another. "What, no volunteers?"

And then Troy emerged, holding Cordelia. "Here's a pretty one," he said.

"Nooo . . ." Cordelia struggled, but to no avail. As she started to cry, Troy dragged her toward the stage and handed her over to Darla.

The activity had momentarily distracted Buffy's captor. With one quick movement, she slipped from the vampire's grasp and threw him off the balcony. He landed on his back right in front of the stage.

The room plunged into shocked silence.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Buffy said. "Were you in the middle of something?"

Looking up, Darla's face contorted with fury. "YOU!"

"You didn't think I'd miss this, did you?" Buffy tossed back at her.

The anger drained from Darla's expression. Her lips curled in a dangerous smile. "I hoped you'd come," she said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Wielding a metal pipe, Giles burst through the backstage exit with Dawn, Xander and Willow close behind.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

A vampire rushed Buffy and Paige from the side. Grabbing him easily, Buffy tossed him into the hookah pit, where he tried to scramble back up. Buffy did a backward flip, sailed through the hole, and landed on top of a pool table. Paige a second later landed beside her.

With one simple handspring, Buffy grabbed a pool cue and landed neatly on her feet just as a vampire came at her and Paige.

Without looking at him, Buffy jammed the cue end into his heart. There was a soft sound of punctured flesh, and when Buffy released the cue it stayed right where it was.

"Okay, Vessel-girl." Buffy stared straight at Darla, challenge flashing in her eyes. "You want blood?" She stepped forward as the cue rose into the air. It looked curiously like the arm of a guard gate, and in the next second, the vampire's impaled body thudded to the floor as it dusted.

"I want yours," Darla snarled at her. "Only yours."

"Then come and get it."

Seeing her chance, Cordelia tried to break free of Darla's grasp. Darla flung her roughly away just as Buffy leaped at her and slammed her fist into Darla's face. Darla was shocked at her strength. She stumbled back in pain.

Almost instantly Darla came back at her. Buffy ducked and met her face again, this time with a roundhouse kick. She whipped out her stake and took aim, but Darla blocked her with a blow to her face. Badly hurt now, Buffy skidded into the corner. The stake fell at Darla's feet.

As the crowd panicked and shoved in all directions, the backstage door burst open. Xander stumbled out and nearly fell, but recovered himself at once. He took a quick look around, saw that the immediate vicinity was free of vampires, and instantly began herding people out.

"Come on!" he yelled. He noticed Paige was moving for the front door. As fast as he could direct them, he moved the panicky crowd through the door. Dawn, Willow and Giles waited backstage to push everyone safely toward the exit.

Darla was closing in. Buffy kicked her fiercely in the chest, sending her back against the wall. She landed hard.

Seeing her chance, Buffy went in for the kill. Then she spotted Xander. He was too busy getting people out to notice the vampire at his back. She turned to the drum kit, kicked the cymbal off its stand, and caught it in midair. The vampire had reached Xander now; she could see Xander's look of fear as the creature grabbed him.

Buffy hurled the cymbal Frisbee style.

Sensing something, the vampire turned, his eyes wide, as the cymbal flew straight at his neck.

Xander heard the slice and ducked away. His eyes followed the trajectory of the severed head as it sailed across the room. "Heads up ..." he mumbled.

Buffy barely had time to turn before Darla grabbed her from behind. His arms closed around her and he lifted her in a crushing bear hug.

Both Paige and Xander started toward Buffy, but a shriek stopped them in their tracks. Whirling around, they saw Jesse dragging Cordelia farther below the stairs. As Cordelia screamed and struggled, Jesse threw her to the ground and knelt above her, pinning her with his weight.

"Hold still!" Jesse ordered her. "You're not helping."

"Xander," Paige said as she tossed Xander a stake. "And remember that is no longer your friend."

Xander nodded as he caught the stake and moved up behind Jesse and Cordelia. He stood there looking at his friend and Cordelia and then he thrust the stake through Jesse's back into his heart as Jesse exploded into dust. He stretched out his hand.

Cordelia looked at the hand and then up at Xander and slowly she took it as he helped her to her feet.

Buffy twisted uselessly in Darla's grasp. She could feel him squeezing and squeezing—everything around her spinning, fading to black ...

She coughed and choked, gasped desperately for air. From some distant place she thought she could hear Darla laughing. "I've always wanted to kill a Slayer," she confessed. She sounded proud and somewhat amused.

And then Buffy heard something else the sound of a vampire exploding to dust and then pain lessened and she collapsed into someone's arms.

"Buffy?" Paige asked as she held the Slayer.

"Paige?" Buffy said as she looked up at Paige and smiled. It had been her that had dusted Darla.

Giles and Willow came out from backstage. Xander, Cordelia, Buffy and Paige met them in the middle of the dance floor.

Giles glanced around, a note of relief in his voice. "I take it it's over."

"Did we win?" Willow was almost afraid to ask.

They looked about at the carnage surrounding them. Most of the crowd had managed to escape by then, but a few still remained, some sitting, some wandering, all of them stunned and silent.

"Well, we averted the apocalypse," Buffy said wearily. "You gotta give us points for that." She looked at Cordelia whose head rested on Xander's shoulder and she smiled. It seemed Queen C had maybe fallen for her rescuer.

"One thing's for sure," Xander sighed. "Nothing is ever gonna be the same."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Contrary to Xander's prediction, the next day dawned as it always did.

And everything looked amazingly normal.

The warm California sunshine enveloped Sunnydale High, and in the fountain quad the routine was exactly the same. Students milled about laughing and talking, and Harmony, the new Queen of Sunnydale High, held court with her friends.

"Well, I heard it was rival gangs fighting for turf," she said dramatically. She glanced around at all the eager faces, her adoring fans clinging to every word. "Anyway, Buffy totally knew these guys, which is too weird. I can't remember anything too well, but I'm telling you, it was a freak show."

"Oh, I wish I'd been there," one wannabe sighed.

Crossing the quad in the opposite direction, Buffy, her sister and their own friends happened to overhear Harmony's play-by-play. While Buffy hid a smile, Xander turned to the sisters in exasperated disbelief.

"Well, what exactly were you expecting?" Buffy chided him, while Xander gave an indignant shrug.

"I don't know! Something. The dead rose!"

"We should've at least had an assembly," Cordelia added. She looked to Xander and smiled. All this time she had thought him to be a total loser, but who knew that he would wind up being her knight in shining armor?

"People have a tendency to rationalize what they can," Giles reminded him gently as he and Paige joined them outside the building. He had managed to talk Principal Flutie in hiring Paige as his assistant, "and forget what they can't."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "Believe me, Buffy and I've seen it happen. My dad was that way."

"Well, I'll never forget it," Willow said emphatically, giving an inward shudder. "None of it."

Paige smiled. "Good. Next time you'll be prepared."

"Next time?" Xander sounded suspicious, while Willow echoed, "Next time is why?"

Giles gave them a tolerant smile. "We stopped the Master from freeing himself and opening the Hellmouth. Doesn't mean he'll stop trying. I'd say the fun is just beginning."

"More vampires?" Willow croaked.

"Not just vampires." Giles stopped and turned to face them. His expression was very solemn, even for him. "The next creature we face may be something quite different."

Buffy looked to Paige and smiled. "I can hardly wait," she said.

"We're at a center of mystical convergence here," Giles went on. "We may in fact stand between the earth and its total destruction."

Xander shook his head. "Buffy, this isn't good."

"Well, I gotta look on the bright side," Buffy told them cheerfully. "Maybe I can still get kicked out of school."

She smiled at Paige and Giles and started off, Dawn, Willow and Xander hurrying to keep up with her.

"Hey, that's a plan," Xander was agreeable. "'Cause a lot of schools aren't on hellmouths."

"Maybe you could blow something up," Willow suggested helpfully. "They're really strict about that."

"I think Buffy and I were going to aim for the more subtle approach," Dawn said, "like excessive not studying."

Watching them go, Giles shook his head. He arched one eyebrow and settled his glasses more firmly upon his nose. "The earth is doomed," he sighed.

Paige laughed as she watched her charges and their friends walk off. Once she had orbed Buffy and Dawn home the night before she had unbound their powers and then Leo and Buffy had gotten to know each other before she had orbed herself and him home. She was sure that her charges would become powerful witches in their own rights.

She looked to the heavens and smiled, silently thanking whoever assigned a Whitelighter her charge that Buffy and Dawn were hers.