Hey guys!
I'm so excited to annouce I've reached 7000 views, and all that in less than a month! I'm really happy to know people follow my work, so I wanted to thank you all readers, followers and those who take the time to write reviews to support this fanfic. I'm really grateful, truly.
Also, I wanted to give special thanks to bwburke94, who helped me plan out this chapter. You're the best! Here's your Tabula Rasa, finally!
If you guys can review, follow, or fav, I'll be forever grateful, as it just makes my day to see a new message pop up telling me about one of you. It also helps me improve the content, help me edit past chapters and avoid making the same mistakes in the ones coming up.
So, here it is. Tabula Rasa, or the episode I laughed my ass out with Giles-Spike's father-son relationship.
Enjoy!
Lee out.
At first, she could only think about how comfortable and rested she was. It felt like she hadn't had such a good sleep in a long time. Then, she noticed the weight on her head, like something was on top of it. A hand.
She opened her eyes and blinked in the darkness, which was suddenly replaced by a bright light that had her squinting. Where was she? She moved her head, frowning at the brown material beneath her cheek and under her hand, following it until she found the face of a man, light blonde hair combed back, the man whose hand was in her hair.
And she screamed, sitting up in one movement, the man jolting up and falling down one side of the counter.
Counter. Why was she on a counter?
She looked around, finding the others in the room, none of them familiar. A redhead and another dark haired man were sitting on the floor, not far from her. They had just shouted at finding themselves lying on the floor, together, very much like she had.
And with their screams, another brunette young girl on the floor was woken up, her startled scream joining theirs.
There were three other girls and a man, much older than the ones nearest to her, dressed in quite formal attire and his head having been resting on one of the blonde girl's shoulder until then.
When the bleach blond man she'd been lying with stood from the floor, she jumped from the counter, backing away from them as much as she could.
"Who-Who are you people?" The young brunette asked, curling into a ball on the floor, looking around in fright.
She was scared, too. Just like her. It didn't look like she knew the others, either.
A short blonde girl that had been standing near the stairs approached the teen, crouching beside her. "Don't worry." She assured, voice calm and collected.
Yet the teen was terrified, moving away from the blonde, not even daring to raise her head. "Please don't hurt me!" She begged, hugging her knees to herself.
She didn't know what got into her, but she didn't like to see the kid afraid. She felt like she had to protect her. "Oh, it's okay. I don't know anyone here either." Kneeling next to the kid, she attempted a smile, making the young brunette look up.
"Yeah, me neither." The blonde backed her up, talking softly.
"Yeah? Who are you?"
That was a good question. She racked her brain trying to find the answer, yet nothing would come to her. It was like her brain had been wiped clean.
"I, uh..." It looked like the blonde didn't have an answer either, glancing at her for a second before frowning.
Then the dark haired man scrambled to his feet, pointing at them with his finger. "Okay, who are you freaks?"
Turned out everyone was as clueless as she was, nobody remembered anything, and theories started to flow. Maybe the had a blackout from drinking too much, although she doubted the kid drank, and there was no sign of alcohol anywhere.
So the panicking began. At least, the dark haired man panicked, and the blonde next to her tried to calm him down, too. "Hey, hey, take it easy, guy. Okay, no one's hurt, right? And, and none of us look all hatchety-murdery, so ... we're probably safe. Here. Wherever here is."
The redhead turned around, assessing the room and crinkling her brow at what she saw. "Look at this stuff on these shelves. Weird jars of weird stuff. Weird books with weird covers, like Magic for Beginners. Oh!" Her face lit up, glancing back at them excitedly.
Another girl stood up from a chair next to the table, following the redhead's line of thinking. "This is a magic shop. A-a-a real magic shop."
It made sense, didn't it? "Well, maybe that's it. Maybe something magic happened..." She started to suggest, only to be interrupted by the old man scoffing, dismissing her theory.
"Magic! Magic's all balderdash and chicanery. I'm afraid we don't know a bloody thing. Except I seem to be British, don't I? Uh, and a man. With ... glasses." He took his glasses off, watching them with interest for a couple seconds. "Well, that narrows it down considerably."
The kid, who had stood up from the floor, looked at her and the blonde her, her voice low and still fearful. "I don't like this."
"It's okay, don't worry." The blonde assured her.
She got closer to them and took one of the teen's hands. "We'll take care of each other."
"We'll all get our memory back, and it'll all be right as rain." The old man added, putting his glasses back on.
That was when the bleach blond spoke up, staring at the old man with a mightier-than-thou expression on his face. "Oh, listen to Mary Poppins. He's got his crust all stiff and upper with that nancy-boy accent. You Englishmen are always so..." He paused, realizing something. "Bloody hell! Sodding, blimey, shagging, knickers, bollocks, oh God! I'm English!"
She giggled at his reaction, amused at his own distaste of his people. He looked up, meeting her gaze, but she averted her eyes the moment they met, a blush creeping up her cheeks at being caught.
"Welcome to the nancy tribe." The old man shot back, making the blond frown again.
"You don't suppose you and I ... we're not related, are we?" He thought, looking very put out by the idea.
"There is a ruggedly handsome resemblance." The other blonde girl intervened, the old man smiling down at her with pleasure before looking back at the bleach blond.
"And you do inspire a, um ... particular feeling of ... familiarity and ... disappointment. Older brother?" He theorized, not very happy with the idea.
The blond scoffed, utterly disgusted by the idea. "Father. Oh, god, how I must hate you."
"What did I do?" The old man asked, insulted.
"There's always something, and what's with the trollop?"
The blonde girl next to the man jumped up, scowling at the bleach blond. "Hey!"
"Her?"
"I saw you! Sleeping together."
"Resting together. Like you were with her." The man pointed at her in that moment, bringing her into the discussion.
The bleach blond gazed at her once again, the corner of his lips curling into a smirk, accentuating his sharp cheekbones. "At least I've got better taste in women."
That had her blushing once again, only more intensely, feeling her whole face grow hot.
"Look!" The blonde held up her hand, showing them an engagement ring, diverting the attention from the tomato in the room. "It's okay. We're engaged. It's a lovely ring."
"Oh, great, a tarty stepmom who's half old Daddy's age." The blond couldn't look less excited, sarcasm flowing from his voice.
"Tarty?"
"Old? You little twerp, I'm young enough to still get carded."
Interrupting the father-son argument the redhead shouted out. "Carded! Driver's licenses!"
Everyone started looking inside their pockets, where she immediately found a small blue wallet at searched for something that could help her remember her name. She took a thin card with her photograph out, Ally Finn written right next to it.
The dark haired man was called Alexander Harris, while the redhead's name was Willow Rosenberg. The girl that had been sitting on a chair was Tara, at it looked like Willow and her studied together.
"I don't have a wallet." The young brunette muttered sadly, making her squeeze her hand in support.
"Don't worry. Me neither. But here, look." The short blonde reached for the teen's neck, taking a necklace between her fingers, Dawn written on it. "You're Dawn."
The teen smiled, her whole face lighting up. "Or, Umad."
"I like Dawn. It's a pretty name." Ally grinned and looked at the blonde, both sharing a smile.
Apparently, the old man's name was Rupert Giles, and while the blonde next to him seemed to like it, his 'son' mocked him for it. "Rupert!" He giggled, thoroughly enjoying getting on the man's nerves, Ally involuntarily joining his laughs.
"You're not too old to put across my knee, you know ... sonny. Anyway, what did I call you?"
"Um... 'Made with care for Randy.'" He looked up furiously, glaring at his 'father'. "Randy Giles? Why not just call me 'Horny Giles,' or 'Desperate for a Shag Giles'? I knew there was a reason I hated you!"
By that point, Ally was full on laughing, Dawn barely holding a smile back, which made Randy turn toward her, glowering. "Don't laugh too much, you were sleeping with 'Randy'!" He recalled, striding closer to her. "So, what's you name?"
"Ally Finn." She answered weakly, her cheeks turning red once again.
"Huh. That your sister?" He looked over at Dawn, glancing between them. "Kinda see a resemblance."
"Maybe?" Ally locked gaze with Dawn, the teen's hand squeezing her while the others talked in the background. "Maybe we're sisters? That'd be nice."
Dawn, in turn, glanced at the short blond girl, still nameless. "So you don't have a name?"
"Of course I do. I just don't happen to know it."
Dawn smiled, as did Ally, the same idea getting to them. "You want me to name you?" "Can I name you?" They both asked at the same time.
"Oh, that's sweet, but I think I can name myself. I'll name me ... Joan." Both brunettes grimaced, scoffing at the choice of name. "What? Did you just 'ugh' my name?"
Dawn back-pedalled, trying to fix their mistake. "No! I just ... I mean, it's so blah. Joan?"
'Joan' shrugged, ignoring them both. "I like it. I feel like a Joan."
The teen chuckled, shaking her head. "Fine, that's your purgative."
Joan corrected her immediately. "Prerogative."
Dawn scoffed, barely holding back from rolling her eyes. "Whatever, Joan."
"Whatever, Umad." Joan copied, only for both of them to start complaining at the same time. "Boy, you're a pain in the..."
"Boy, you're bossy!"
Ally's eyes widened at the slightly familiar scene, glancing between both girls. "Do you think we're..."
"Sisters?" Joan finished for her, all three of them smiling excitedly and jumping into each other's arms, hugging their sisters happily.
They decided to head to the hospital, have their collective amnesia looked at and maybe find some answers as to what had happened to them, but when Joan opened the front door, they came face to face with two 'men' with weird faces standing there, snarling at them.
They closed the door, running away from it and crouching behind the window, some suggesting they were vampires, some saying it might be Halloween.
Ally was sure the men outside were not playing around. Gut feeling.
Willow and Alexander left to make sure there were no other ways for the vampires to come in, the rest off the group staying together, one of the vampires shouting from the outside. "Send out Spike!"
Rupert frowned, confused by the petition. "They seem to want spikes."
Randy stood up and moved further inside, soon coming back with a handful of stakes in his arms. "Let's give 'em these."
Ally picked up one of the stakes, holding it in her hand, a sense of safety flooding her. It felt natural, clutching the stake, and it kinda crept her out.
"But wait, what are they going to do with them?" Dawn wondered, looking to both her sisters, holding the stakes in the same way.
The another shout came from the outside. "Slayer, come out and play!"
"'Slay her,' that's just what they said before. Th-th-they're gonna use the spikes to..." Tara muttered, terrified, not even able to finish the sentence.
"To slay someone? A female someone! Who do those jerks think they are?" Joan whisper-shouted, thoroughly pissed off.
"You think it might be one of us?" Ally's voice trembled, dropping the stake as if it burnt her. What would happen to them? What would happen to her sisters?
Her eyes shot up when she felt Randy's hand on her back, rubbing slowly to calm her down, his blue eyes focused on her. She was almost immediately soothed, giving him a light smile in thanks.
"You guys!" Willow called, Alexander and her returning from their little expedition.
"Trap door in the basement, it seems to lead to the sewer."
"Let's go!"
Just as they moved towards the basement, one of the windows was smashed, a vampire jumping through it, making the group turn back, screaming hysterically. Buffy threw an arm around Dawn to protect her, as Randy wrapped one of his over Ally's shoulders, holding her to his side just in case.
Another vampire broke through the door, striding inside the shop in a neat looking suit, Alexander dropping to his knees before him, praying. He went straight past Alexander and to Randy, tearing Ally from his side and grabbing him from his shoulders before slamming the bleach blond against a bookcase. The other vampire grabbed Ally, who started tossing around, trying to get free and help Randy.
"You owe us!" The vampire in front of Randy claimed, the bleach blond not hesitating for a second before throwing his stakes to the floor.
"Fine! Take your damn spikes!"
It didn't seem to be enough, as the vampire stopped him from leaving, pushing him back once again. "Don't be stupid."
"Get your hands off me, you son of a..." Ally struggled with the one holding her, terrified for Randy should the vampires not get what they wanted. "Get off me!" She shrieked.
Randy's eyes shot toward her, narrowing at the creature trapping her and about to cover her mouth with his hand, fury swimming through his veins at the sight. "Let her go!" He roared, punching the one beside him in the jaw and sending him flying backwards. He ran towards the other one, tearing Ally from his grasp and hitting him with a roundhouse kick that knocked him down in a second, the rest of the group, even Ally, watching in amazement.
Both vampires backed away as soon as they could stand, running out the door and threatening them on the way. "The boss ain't gonna like this! We'll be back. And we won't be alone!" They promised, Randy shutting the door as soon as they were out, even dropping the metal security gate over the broken window.
He turned back toward then just as Alexander fainted, Dawn exclaimed 'Wow!' and Ally ran to him, throwing her arms around him to hug him tightly. "Thank you!" She screamed, although it was muffled by his shoulder, when she pressed her forehead.
He returned the hug, rubbing her back once again, careful not to look at the group staring at them to avoid ruining the moment.
A short while later, Buffy and Ally peered out of the window, keeping watch of the group outside the shop, still shocked at the shark-headed thing that seemed to lead the vampires. Randy stepped behind Ally, placing a hand on her shoulder as he himself looked outside, the proximity sending shivers down the girl's spine.
"Okay. I've got a plan." Ally announced, walking further inside the shop until she reached her teen sister. "They seem to want Randy, but no one else. We have to get too the hospital, at least as many of us as possible, so I say you guys go to the sewers and find a way to the hospital."
"'You guys'?" Dawn repeated, her eyes filled with concern.
"Yes. Someone has to stay with Randy to make sure they don't get him. I will. We'll run out of here and try to lose them. We've got the element of surprise. They won't expect us to just go out. "
"That's your plan?" Randy asked, approaching her once again, not completely sure of it.
"Yes."
"Right."
Anya, though, wasn't convinced. "I'm not leaving the shop. I have to protect the cash register, and ... do some spells."
"Oh. Well, magic might help, yes, it's worth a shot." Her 'fiancé' agreed, right behind her.
"All right. You work on that then. We need to go, draw them away. Ready, Randy?" Ally glanced up at the bleach blond, trying to look confident of her own plan.
"Ready, Ally." He nodded, already following her to the door.
But Rupert seemed to have something else to say. "Um, son. Come here. Um, please." He awkwardly asked, only to give his son an equally awkward hug, brief and quite uncomfortable looking.
Ally couldn't help but laugh at it, yet when she found Dawn and Joan's eyes on her, the smile slipped off her face. "You be careful, alright? I'll see you soon." She promised, bringing them both into a tight embrace for a couple seconds, before letting go.
As most of the group went down to the basement, Randy opened the front door, clutching to Ally's hand and making a run for it. He pushed as many vampires out of the way as he could, sprinting past the gang as fast as humanly possible in that blasted suit.
He was glad to know Ally could keep up a fast pace, sometimes even being the one to pull him away from the shop, not needing to look back to know they were being followed. They jogged for several minutes, eventually losing the creatures following them as they got into a narrow alley.
"Are... the-they gone?" She panted, turning around to see if they were safe or not.
"Looks like." Randy replied, still holding onto her hand as his eyes scanned the alley. "Here. Come."
He moved rapidly toward an old rusty door, kicking it open with minimal effort and popping his head inside to make sure it was empty before dragging her in behind him, carefully closing the door just in case the vampires found it.
It was a dark musty room, probably a small hall of sorts, the only chair occupying the room covered in dust and cobwebs. The walked farther into the building, coming into a living room with a dirty mattress, a broken couch and an old looking wooden box. The tiny windows at the top of the walls barely let any light in, but it was night time, darkness was to be expected. She didn't feel completely uncomfortable in the dark, either.
Still, Randy opened the box and picked a match box and a couple candles from it, passing them to her so she lit them up while he rummaged through the rest of its contents.
She walked around the room, placing the candles on the floor between the mattress and the couch, dim light flooding the place. When she turned back toward Randy, she found him pulling a quite decent bedsheet from the bottom of the box, standing up and spreading it over the mattress.
"Rest." He gestured towards the 'bed' stepping back from it, giving it up to her.
She sat on the slightly screechy bed, knowing it was better than the floor, and brought her knees to her chest, watching Randy look toward the couch in resignation.
"You too." She invited him, tapping the vast space next to her. "There's room for both of us. Come on, it's not like we haven't slept together before." She joked, smirking, Randy mimicking her expression.
"You think we... maybe... we're together? Like daddy and my tardy step-mom?" He plopped down beside her, knees bent, forearms resting over them.
"I don't know. Maybe. We'll have to wait until we get our memories back." She shrugged, her cheek coming to rest on her knees. "I think we're at least friends. I think we all are, all of the ones at the shop. It's like... a hunch."
"Could be. I mean, friends and family. My father, step-mom, your sisters, and the others... maybe friends." He lied down, hands coming behind his head, something popping out of his jacket with the movement.
Both their eyes followed the round object as it rolled over the mattress, reaching the edge and falling to the floor with a light metallic 'clink'. They leaned forward to watch what it was, their mouths hanging open at the sight of it.
An engagement ring.
