Hey guys! I wanted to inform you about the new fanfic, where my dear Ally will still be the main character.
The choice is down to 3 for now, and I thought I'd give you some more info to help you make your choice:
- Supernatural (starting somewhere around the beginning of season 3)
- Harry Potter (starting from HBP) - Ship: Draco/Ally
- The Avengers - (starting before the first Avengers movie) - Ship: Bucky/Ally
I'm gonna wait until I have at least 15 votes to decide on one, so I need you to tell me what you'd prefer either on review or PM.
Enjoy this new chapter!
Lee out.
It wasn't long after finding out about Buffy's affairs that Ally came home to find Buffy crying on Tara's lap. She imagined the worst, thinking Tara had found something really wrong with them, only to find out the reason her sister cried was because there was nothing wrong. It meant she had no excuse for what she'd done, no reason to have acted like that.
When Buffy saw Ally standing next to her, a hand on the blonde's shoulder, she launched herself at the brunette, burying her face on her shoulder as sobs shook her body. "Please don't forgive me..." She begged, grabbing Ally's t-shirt in her fists.
Tara and the junior Slayer shared a concerned look, both their eyes teary as they watched one of the toughest women they'd ever met so broken.
"It's over, Buffy. It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay. Everything will turn out right, give it time. I won't let you fall again." She promised, whispering in her sister's ear and rubbing her back. "I promise, Buff."
Slowly but surely, the blonde's sobs diminished, her breathing evened and she finally raised her head from Ally's shoulder, looking at both of them with red rimmed eyes.
"I need your help." Her voice still trembled, yet there was a determined air to her that made Ally proud. She would get better. Her sister was not one to fall and don't stand back up.
Ally had taken to going out to patrol sooner, just so she could wait for Buffy to get out of work and accompany her home, going through the graveyard on their way. Multitasking at its finest: walking her broken sister home, fulfilling their Slayer duties and bonding at the same time. It meant she spent less time with both Spike and Ally, but it was necessary. Buffy needed her right then, and she'd be damned if she let her deal with her inner demons alone.
They could fight real demons together.
It was Buffy's birthday, meaning there was going to be a party with the Scoobies, meaning there was something for Buffy to be happy about. Her friends and family were going to be there, celebrating her. Surely that would make her happier, right?
That was what Ally was hoping, at least. She really wanted everything to turn out perfect that night. Hence the cooking a huge nice cake and a ton of homemade snacks, enough to have the household running on sweets for a couple weeks afterwards.
By the time she had finished frosting the cake and left her fudge to cool, it was time to pick up Dawn from high school. She hurried, throwing a jacket on and running out of the house so as not to keep the teen waiting, nervous energy running through her veins.
She needed everything to be perfect.
Dawn was just getting out of the building when Ally arrived at the high school, making her sister smile at her. She jogged the last few meters to the teen and threw her arms around her, letting the tension of the day leave her body. She was tired, and it was only early afternoon.
"Long day?" Dawn chuckled, hugging her back.
"I've been baking all day." She groaned and made them both sway one way and the other. "I've made cake, and fudge, cookies, sandwiches, pizza bites, chips..."
"You do realize there's like... ten or eleven of us, right?" The teen laughed again, realizing how other students had started to notice them, standing in the middle of the entrance, hugging and swaying. "Come on, let's go home. We still have to prepare the drinks, right? You told me we'd do that together."
Dawn pulled back while Ally lazily dropped her head on her sisters shoulder; she was getting tall. "Yeah. We have to stop at the store first, though."
"Great. I'm thirsty." They walked arm in arm out of the high school area, enjoying one of the only moments they had been able to spend together for quite some time. Other than the walks to and from school and doing Dawn's homework, they barely spent any time together anymore, Ally was always busy, be it with patrolling, Buffy, or Spike.
That night, as Xander, Anya, Buffy and Ally got the snack dishes ready, Anya announced they had invited someone for Buffy to meet. A guy.
"For Buffy? Really?" Dawn asked excitedly. None of them noticed the way the birthday girl's face feel, Ally reaching for her hand under the counter and squeezing in support.
"Ahh, don't worry, it's not a setup." Xander assured, trying to not look too guilty.
Anya didn't really do the same, grinning widely. "Right. No. Just an attractive single man, with whom we hope you find much in common. And if you happen to forma romantic relationship leading to babies and many double dates with us so we have someone else to talk to, yay!"
Xander looked uncomfortable, having tried to stop his fiancée from talking a couple times, not even daring to look Buffy in the eye.
The blonde Slayer kept her annoyance under control, shooting her best friend a dry glare. "I assume this was an act of kindness? That'll help with the not throttling. And hey, there's another couple, remember? Alls and Billy Idol Jr.?"
"Can you imagine a double date with Spike and Xander?" Ally scoffed, rolling her eyes at the look of utter disgust in the dark haired man's face. "No, thank you. I'd rather watch Passions again."
It wasn't long after that, when Ally, Tara -who had just arrived- and Buffy were alone in the kitchen -Xander and Anya had taken all the snacks to the living room- that Spike and another demon entered through the back door, casually joining the little group. Spike approached his girl and handed her the present he'd brought under his arm, making her smile and kiss him lightly before turning towards the demon.
"Hi. We've met once before." He waved his hand in salute, something akin to a smile in his saggy face.
"Oh, yeah, you were at the... card game, right?" Ally remembered, back when Lindsey had first been in Sunnydale. She rose from her seat on the counter to leave the present on one side, somewhere it wouldn't get in the way.
"Yeah. I'm Clement. Clem." He looked over toward Tara and Buffy, waving his hand again. He didn't seem to be dangerous, for a demon. More like the cheery nerd every single person seemed to know. Apparently, Spike too.
Right as the demon introduced himself, Xander came back into the kitchen with another man on his heels, quite nice looking, blonde, tanned skin, overall handsome. Ally smiled welcomingly at him, knowing he was Buffy's 'date', and stood next to Xander as he introduced the new guy.
"Buffy, Richard." Well, that was brief.
"Hey." Richard smiled at the girls in the kitchen, nodding at Ally once before looking around.
"He was wondering where the best place was to park his car." Xander explained in what Ally identified as a lame attempt to make the pair talk.
Buffy didn't seem to catch on it, though. "Oh, that's easy, just..."
"Buffy will show ya." The dark haired goof said as he pushed his friend toward the blonde Slayer, sending the 'couple' out of the kitchen in an instant.
"Smooth." Ally patted Xander's back once the couple was out of hearing distance, chuckling to herself as she took the disposable cups and jar and took them to the living room.
Apparently, she was right on time to save Dawn from being patronized by Anya, calling her over with the excuse of helping her prepare the drinks. Her sister shot her a grateful smile once her back was to the ex-vengeance demon, making Ally wink at her.
The night dragged on opening gifts, eating way too much, dancing, drinking... And no one wanted to leave yet. Really, Ally was having fun, finally getting some quality time with Dawn, cuddling with Spike on the floor while they watched TV, playing cards or monopoly, or any other silly game they could think of. Playing monopoly with Anya was a real challenge, yet Richard and Buffy were easy enough to beat. Richard was really nice, sweet, and it was obvious he and Buffy were getting along nicely.
When Ally gave up on monopoly and approached her baby sister, they took to gossiping about the possible new couple, fantasizing about their wedding, calling him their new 'brother-in-law' and talking about the many nieces and nephews they would have, making Buffy glare at them in embarrassment when they got so excited about naming the kids they forgot to talk low.
Before they realized how late it was, sun was shining outside and Ally was asleep on the floor, her head on Dawn's lap while the teen watched TV with Clem and Xander.
It wasn't long before people started to realize they should leave to go to work, class, or whatever, waking Ally up as Dawn looked around like a sad puppy.
"Hey, we should get changed and go to high school, shouldn't we?" Ally asked from her lap, rubbing her eyes lazily.
"Yeah... but I don't want to leave. I don't want anyone to leave..."
"It was fun, huh?" The junior Slayer smirked and started to get up, holding a hand out for Dawn to do the same. "Come on, quick shower, get dressed, we're out the door in ten minutes."
However, it looked like any effort they made toward leaving the house was useless. Nobody could so much as get to the door.
"There's something keeping us in this house." Buffy announced after some time trying to get out, once they were all sitting in the living room.
"Or someone." Xander added, standing near the doorway.
But it was all for naught, no one could even 'head' toward the door, and everyone started complaining and telling where they had to be, be it work, class, etc.
"I know, I know, we all have places that we'd rather be." Buffy voiced as she tried to keep everyone calm. So much for a happy birthday. "I think the first priority has to be to find a way out."
"Sure. Of course you all wanna leave. 'Cause being stuck in here with me, that would really suck, right?"
Buffy frowned slightly as Ally looked back at her baby sister, bewildered. What was Dawn talking about?
"No, Dawnie! It's just, we have more important things to do."
Even Ally flinched at Willow's words, while Dawn grimaced and got up from her seat.
"Yeah, I know. Important. Whatever that means, right?" And with that, she walked out of the living room and hurried upstairs.
Not two seconds later, Buffy, Ally, Tara, Willow, Spike and Xander shot after the teen, following her to her room, where she threw herself on the bed, her back to them.
"Dawn?" Buffy tried as the rest looked at the young brunette.
"What?"
"Did you do something?"
"Buffy!" Ally whisper-shouted, slapping the blonde's arm.
"Me?"
"Do you know something? 'Cause we want you to feel like you can tell us." Tara insisted. Really, Ally often thought she was the one that really took care of Dawn when Buffy and her were gone, other than Spike.
Dawn sat up and turned to face them.
"What would I know?"
"Look, we're not accusing you of anything, it's just ... you were kind of taking it personal down there."
They so were accusing her. Didn't they realize that was not the way? Dawn was building up walls, stilling herself. They were not going to get anything out of her.
"Oh. Okay. So you've all just decided that somehow I'm responsible. Great. Here's me baskin' in the love." The teen snapped sourly, shooting daggers through her eyes.
"Please, leave." Ally asked, turning toward the group, placing herself between the bed and them, her back to Dawn.
"Ally we need to..." Buffy started complaining, her hand held out toward Dawn.
"You need to leave us alone. Now." The eldest brunette cut her, taking control of the situation. She was displaying an air of authority that Buffy hadn't been able to pull off in a long time. "Everyone, out. Wait in the living room. I'll go back down later."
"Ally, if she..." The blonde tried again, only for Ally to point with her hand toward the door, cutting her once again.
"Out."
As annoyed with her as they looked, maybe except for Spike, everyone left the room silently. When Ally closed the door behind them and turned to face Dawn once more, the teen was looking miserable, her arms around her stomach and her face looking down, watery eyes almost shut closed.
"You okay, Dawnie?" Ally approached her and sat next to the teen, her hand rubbing Dawn's back slowly.
"Yeah, fine." She muttered unconvincingly, not meeting Ally's eyes.
"Yeah, right. And I'm the queen. Come on, what's going on? Tell me."
"You think I did something too, don't you?" Dawn's head whipped to look at her, furious.
"I don't mean the can't-leave-the-house issue. I mean the 'Of course you all wanna leave. 'Cause being stuck in here with me, that would really suck, right?'" She mimicked, making Dawn's face soften. "What did you mean, Dawnie?"
"No one wants to spend time with me." She explained meekly, her voice as weak and broken as Buffy's had been not so long ago.
"Why would you say that?"
"No one's around anymore. You all have better things to do. More important things to do." She repeated Willow's words, shifting so that Ally couldn't see her face.
"Dawn... You should have told me you felt lonely. I... I'm sorry I haven't spent much time with you, but..."
"You'd rather spend it with Buffy." The teen sobbed, her shoulders lightly trembling. "Everyone does."
"No." Ally denied firmly, placing a hand on Dawn's shoulder. "It's not like that. I haven't been spending more time with Buffy because I prefer her, Dawnie... it's... We had a fight." That made Dawn look up and turn toward her slightly, confused at her admission. "Things were... getting worse between us. The... night you and Willow went out, when that demon attacked you... Buffy and I had a fight, right before we found you. And afterwards... another one, more or less. We have been spending more time together to... bond. You and I have never really had much problems, Dawnie. We've always gotten along, from the beginning. Remember how Buffy and I started? She and I have always had a... more complicated relationship. Even when we were brought back... Buffy went to Heaven. I went to Hell. We're basically opposites." By then, Dawn had fully turned toward her, listening to her every word. "You and I are more alike, we understand each other better. She and I need to work more on our relationship." Ally paused, letting Dawn process what she had just told her. "I never wanted to leave you alone. You should have told me how you felt. I've missed you, but I thought Buffy needed me more. I never thought you'd feel like this."
"I didn't know..." She started explaining, shaking her head lightly as if to chase away other dark thoughts. "I promise I didn't do anything, Ally, I didn't!"
"It's alright. I know." Ally wrapped her arms around her sister, letting her lay her head on the junior Slayer's shoulder as Ally did the same on Dawn's. "You and I are gonna have a girl's night when this is all over, alright? We're gonna spend so much time together you're gonna get sick of seeing me."
"I could never."
