Hey everyone! Here you go, one more chapter! I really shouldn't be writing much this weekend, as exams are approaching and I have 4 lab reports to write, but I'm too hooked to leave right now.
Mia: I'm glad you like these still! A lot of things are going to happen in the next few chapters, and I hope to read what you think of them!
I hope to get to 'As you were' this week, and then I'll probably take a break to study and work on school projects for a couple weeks. I'm sure I'll still write a chapter or two then, but just in case, be warned!
Hope you enjoy this chapter too!
Lee out.
Things hadn't been easy the last week. The Summers sisters were doing all they could to clear the house of anything that could tempt Willow into using magic again, Dawn's arm was in a sling, Ally was still angry at the witch and Buffy was trying to cope with the news that they had come back 'wrong' from their afterlives. No one else knew, only Spike and the Slayers, yet they didn't know what to do with that information. Spike and Buffy had avoided seeing each other in what Ally understood was an attempt at 'peace'; they all knew that if they got in an argument now, as they tended to, nothing could stop them from killing each other. Except Ally, maybe.
Everything was a mess.
On top of all that, a social worker was going to come visit them. Buffy, to be precise, but Ally was not going to stay really far from them. Dawn was at school, Xander had volunteered to take her, and even Spike had decided to drop by to see Ally, something about taking a stroll.
His excuses were really lame, or so everyone but the brunette Slayer thought. Buffy pretended to be sick every time she saw them together, muttering about love struck fools and rainbows shooting out of a hellhound's ass.
When Buffy came into the living room with the social worker to find Spike still sitting in the armchair, Ally perched on his side, her face fell behind the middle aged woman's back. The senior Slayer didn't really need a vampire to ruin the inspection. "Uh ... now's really not a-a good time. Um, I have company." The blonde explained as she gestured for the vampire to leave.
"No worries." Spike shrugged, his thumb moving in circling motion against Ally's waist.
"Spike ... this nice woman is, uh, from Social Services?" Buffy cleared, just as the couple's faces changed in understanding.
"Oh, yeah, the visit. It's Wednesday." Ally stood up from her seat and extended her hand toward the social worker, an award winning smile on her face. "Welcome. I'm Ally, I don't know if..." The brunette glanced at her sister, Buffy immediately moving beside her to help.
"This is Ally, my sister. Well, our sister."
"I though Dawn was your only sister." Mrs. Kroger frowned, glancing between both girls.
"Uh, it's... we're not blood related, but she's our sister nonetheless. She takes really good care of Dawn, specially when it comes to her academic life, her grades have skyrocketed with Ally." Buffy smiled gratefully at her, some of the tension that had been between them in the last week disappearing. "She takes really good care of her."
"Oh, so you are Dawn's tutor, in a way?" The woman asked, way more brightly that she should. "You don't seem much older than her."
"I'm nineteen." She corrected, grasping Buffy's hand behind them, supporting each other through the interrogation.
"And do you go to college or...?" Mrs. Kroger continued, writing down on her papers.
"No, not anymore, I finished my studies a couple years ago. I have a degree in Physics from UCLA and doctorate from Caltech." She felt Buffy's hand stiffen in surprise, and risked looking at her from the corner of her eye to find her staring, trying to keep her mouth from dropping open.
"Aren't you too young...?" The social worker asked again, disbelief colouring her voice.
"Whiz kid." The youngest Slayer shrugged, letting go of Buffy's hand to invite the woman to sit. "I assure you, Buffy is taking great care of Dawn, everyone here does."
Mrs. Kroger sat down, looking at Spike still sitting in the armchair, watching the brunette attentively. Her face turned sour at inspecting his clothing and the way he sat. "Does he live here?" She asked, bringing her eyes back toward the two sisters, standing awkwardly side by side.
The blonde girl quickly jumped to correct her, not even wanting to imagine living with him. "Oh, no. He came to visit. He was just leaving actually." She turned back toward the vampire and shot him a death glare, gesturing for him to leave. "It's just Ally, me and Dawn here."
"And Willow." Ally added, trying to not let the bitterness seep into her voice. "I'll go... help Spike to the door." She followed after her boyfriend, not wanting to leave Buffy alone but knowing she couldn't just kick Spike out.
She was still hearing the social worker talk to Buffy when they reached the back door. "Take care out there, you might need sunscreen." She joked, lightly kissing the vampire before throwing his blanket over him.
"You might want to go back and help the Slayer out of this situation, love. Don't want the Nibblet taken away." He suggested just as they heard Buffy say 'It's magic weed. It's not mine'. God, she really was disastrous in covering her unusual life. Couldn't she just have said it was sage?
Ally rushed back to the entrance, finding the social worker about ready to leave. "I think I've seen enough."
Her eldest sister's crestfallen face broke her heart, knowing she did not do well in this kind of situations, when she got nervous and scared. "No, a-actually, I really don't think that you have. It's just ... i-it's been kind of, kind of a, a bad time."
"It's been a bad time now for a while, hasn't it, Ms. Summers? Your sister has had frequent absences and has been reported for lateness in high school, even if she is being tutored at home." The woman shot a sharp look at Ally, watching as she took Buffy's hand in hers once again, squeezing to instil some confidence in her.
The blonde's voice was weak, though, the little trick not working in that situation. "But there-there are good reasons."
"Oh, I'm sure there are. But my interest is in Dawn's welfare. And the stability of her home life, something I'm just not convinced that an unemployed young woman like yourself can provide."
"I can. I, I do!"
"Well, we'll just have to see about that then, won't we?" Mrs. Kroger walked around them and to the door, her face determined. "Oh, and I'm, uh, going to recommend immediate probation in my report."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that I'll be monitoring you very closely, Ms. Summers. And if I don't see that things are improving, well, I'll be forced to recommend that you be stripped of your sister's guardianship."
Buffy hand gripped Ally's so tightly she had to hold back a whine. "You can't do that."
Ally tried not to hiss, yet her voice still came out harsher than she wanted, way stronger than Buffy's. "I won't let you do that. My lawyer will hear about this, and I can tell you right now that you won't take her from us. Dawn is being taken good care of. Out situation might not be the best, but I can assure you there is no better place for Dawn than with her family. No one will look after her better than we do."
The social worker did not cower, holding her gaze firmly as she opened the door. "I do what is in Dawn's best interest ... as should you. Have a nice day."
Buffy let go of her hand, moving forward to close the door and lean against the frame, sighing in defeat.
"Didn't go well, huh?" Spike's voice asked from behind them. However, none of them turned or acknowledged him.
"Do you really have a lawyer that can take care of this?" Buffy whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear.
"Yeah, Lindsey. I'll go call him and ask what we can do."
As she turned to go search for the phone, she caught Spike's expression, a mix between anger and betrayal. "Lindsey?" He followed her to the kitchen, leaving Buffy behind.
She tried to keep her voice soft, not wanting to get in another argument over her long time friend. "Yeah. He got me out of a couple situations before. I'm sure he can help me... us with this too." She explained, not meeting his eyes as she took hold of the phone.
No sooner had she started dialling his number, Spike tore the phone from her grasp. "You're not gonna call that git." He snarled, making Ally look up furiously.
"You can't tell me what I can or can't do, Spike." She reminded him, holding her hand out so he would give her the phone back.
"You are not gonna call him after what he did." He held the phone out of reach, his face nearing hers menacingly.
Her voice turned into an inhuman snarl, matching the deep grumbling coming from his throat, a sign that he was letting the monster out. "He didn't do anything. He can help us, he can help Buffy, so you're gonna give me that phone and get over your jealousy right now, or get out of here. We don't need more problems right now, we need solutions. And Lindsey has them."
With one last growl, the vampire put the phone back in her hands, only to turn, grab his blanket and rush out of the house.
The bus ride was shorter than she expected, even if it took at least a couple hours. Her mind had been reeling, trying to come up with a solution, clutching the bag with the papers Lindsey had asked from her. Yet her thoughts seemed to be awfully fixated on her vampire, the look on his face before he left.
She couldn't let that distract her. Keeping Dawn was her priority. Her love life came after that. Right then, she needed to get to Lindsey and hear him say everything was under control, that nobody was going to take her sister away from her.
"Li-Lindsey?" She talked into the phone when she heard him answer with a 'McDonald here'.
"Ally?" He immediately recognised her, his voice sounding like he had just woken up. .
"Yeah. I-I'm sorry to call you out of the sudden, but I nee-need your help."
"Are you alright?" He caught on to her distressed voice and she was thankful he couldn't see her pitifully leaning onto the counter for support.
"Ye-yeah. I need legal help." She hated how her voice cracked, closing her eyes in an attempt to regain some control.
"What's going on? What happened?"
"It-it's Dawn. We-we need he-help. A so-social worker came and..." Her voice was trembling, as were her hands, her breathing getting more and more irregular.
"Alright, Alls. I need you to calm down. Sit somewhere and take a deep breath." He waited until she had done so to continue talking. "Now, explain what happened. We'll work it out."
He had asked to meet her halfway between wherever he was staying right then and Sunnydale, resulting in a couple hours of travelling for both of them. But he was going to make it all right. He was going to help her protect her sisters. Because she knew, if someone took Dawn away, Buffy was not going to be able to take it. And neither was she.
They had to stay together.
"Alls, you gotta get back, Buffy's invisible."
"Hey Ally! Only wanted you to know that I fixed the social service's issue. Mrs. Kroger is not 'fit' to assess our case."
"Alls, Buffy's gonna die if we don't turn her visible again!"
To say her time with Lindsey had been chaotic and a roller coaster of emotions would be an understatement. After that first call from Xander, Lindsey and her had hopped into his truck and driven back to Sunnydale way above the speed limit. They hadn't even had time to go over all of the documents he'd asked from her. The second one had been a voicemail, one that somewhat calmed her down, although there was something weird about the way Buffy talked. The third one had gotten her heartbeat right up, pounding in her chest as her hands got sweaty with dread.
Her sister. She was going to die if they didn't fix her soon.
No. Not her sister. Why did it always have to be her sisters?
"We're almost there, Alls. Calm down, I'm sure everything's gonna be..." Lindsey started once they turned the corner of Revello Drive.
"You don't know that, Lindsey." She cut him, her eyes trying to find her home and any sign of Buffy being back to normal. "But thank you."
It was night time already, and she felt some stress leave when she saw the lights of the Summers' house were on. That meant there was people there. That meant Buffy might be there, and she might be back to normal.
When Lindsey pulled over in front of the house, he barely had time to switch the engine off before Ally had shot out of her seat, sprinting to the front door and barging inside. He hurried after her, just in case things had gone wrong and she needed some moral support, only to quicken his already quick pace when she heard her scream 'Buffy!'. When he crossed the threshold and found his friend, in the living room, his worries vanished.
There she was, tightly hugging her tiny blonde sister, crushing her in a way someone that wasn't a Slayer or a demon wouldn't be able to take. "Oh, god, Buffy. You had me scared shitless."
"I can attest to that." Lindsey muttered, letting the rest of the group, the same ones he'd seen last time minus one of the witch girls and the old man, know he was there.
"I think we broke every traffic law on the way back." Ally added, sighing in relief as the other Slayer tried to breath despite how constricted her torso was.
"Were you really that worried?" Buffy asked, almost as if she couldn't believe it.
"Of course!" Ally stepped back, holding Buffy's shoulders so she could meet her gaze. "You have any idea how afraid I was we wouldn't be able to find you? That you'd die? Again?"
"Wow. You're usually only like this when Dawn's in trouble." The blonde commented, clearly surprised at Ally's concern.
"You are my sister too, Buff." Ally's voice lowered, not sure if Buffy would believe her. How had she not noticed before? Of course they were sisters. It was about the three of them, not just Dawn. The teen simply needed more attention and protection. They were Slayers! They could defend themselves. Didn't mean they cared about each other any less.
It was Buffy who hugged her then, another bone crushing hug that the brunette immediately returned, the whole group watching in silence and with slight smiles painted in their faces.
"I like what you've done with your hair, Buff." She whispered, eyes closing in content.
