Hello again! We made it to over 100 reviews guys! I'm so thrilled you can't even imagine! Thanks to each and everyone of you who take the time to write those reviews, I've lately gotten some of the sweetest ones ever and I literally squeaked when I read them!
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter! We get another glimpse at Ally's past in the military base!
Elle: I had just gotten to class for the first time after the holidays and I was seriously missing my bed and didn't want to be there, and then I got your review and it literally made my whole day! Thanks so much for your sweet words, I really appreciate it and I hope you like this new chapter. Tell me if you do or don't!
RHatch89: Thanks!
HarriettWithTea: Don't worry, it's not always possible to review every chapter, and seriously, the holidays are hectic! Thanks! I'm happy you pointed that out, since I thought I had mentioned his name but realized I'd changed it in another document, so I went back and changed it here. Yes, it's Doyle :D "That was so cool" I'm sure you wouldn't say the same if it was Spike, but yeah, it was pretty cool heheh.
Lee out.
Dawn didn't bring up the slip until she and Ally were out of Buffy and Xander's sight, next to the teen's locker. Her sister knew it was coming, but really didn't want to talk about it. She'd only told Spike about her insecurities due to her trip downstairs, and she was definitely not going to tell Dawn she thought something was wrong with her. It would only make the teen feel guilty.
"Alls…"
"Don't, Dawn. Really, it was just… it just came out. Don't worry about it." She tried to smile as she leaned against the next locker, her head falling against the metal. She was still sleepy and seriously pissed off at herself.
"But…"
As Ally's gaze travelled along the corridor, looking for something to distract her sister, she found two boys about to get in a fight on the other end of it, near the door to the lab room. Well, she couldn't let them start exchanging punches, could she? It was as good an excuse to escape Dawn as any other. She hurried down the corridor until she reached the two teen boys, surrounded by about three girls trying to convince them to stop before things got too bad. Didn't they know boys their age never listened?
Ally stepped in the middle, grabbing each of the boys by the front of their t-shirts and pushing them away from each other as easily as moving feathers. "Alright, that's enough." She snarled, drawing their attention as the other girls grabbed their arms. Both male teens looked at her, caught by surprise at her intervention, given she was a complete stranger to them. "You two want to fight? Not during class hours and definitely not in campus. If I see you acting like pre-schoolers again, I'll personally drag you to the principal's office. Am I clear?"
"Who the hell are you?" One of the boys asked, brown haired, stocky and definitely in the football team.
"Your worst nightmare if you don't do what I say right now. Back off and go to class. I don't want to see you near each other for now. Understand?" She pushed the brown haired boy away from her and watched as two girls dragged him away, yet he still shot glares at them from over his shoulder. "And you" She turned to address the blonde boy, who glanced between her and the other boy as he breathed deeply. "better do the same. The bell's about to ring." She started walking toward Dawn again, muttering "Damn teens." under her breath as she approached her. "I'm going home, sis. See you later." With a quick hug to a shell-shocked Dawn, Ally made her way out of the high school. Spike should be waking up soon.
What she didn't know was that Dawn was almost hyperventilating at seeing her sister break a fight between RJ –hottest quarterback in the history of forever- and another jock. Or that said quarterback was attentively watching the eldest brunette leave the building.
Damn teens.
Spike was already awake when she got home, but he was sitting on his mattress, the same way he would sit in the basement of the high school, one knee to his chest, staring off into space. He lifted his gaze when he heard her, following her with his eyes as she approached him, yet he didn't utter a word.
"I almost told Dawn about… well, what I told you about the reason I went to Hell. Bet she's gonna get really insistent that I tell her…" She kneeled beside the vampire and rested her head on his shoulder, feeling him relax under her touch. "How are you?"
"Better."
"Really?" She straightened herself and looked at him, hopeful. "So having Angel here actually helped?"
"No. The Poof didn't do a bloody thing. But now I can tell when it's really you and not the other."
"What?" She tilted her head, absolutely lost. The other?
He averted his eyes, ashamed of his own condition, until Ally placed a hand on his cheek and basically forced him to look at her again. "Sometimes I see you, and others, but you're not here. Now I can tell when it's you."
"How?"
"For once, the other doesn't sing. And she doesn't punch Peaches, either." He smirked, some of his humour returning. "She doesn't touch me."
"Well, I do. A lot. Of everything." She whispered against his lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well, not really, I don't usually hit Angel."
"Pity."
"God, you two are just like children." She laughed before fully kissing him. It only lasted a couple seconds, though, before she groaned and let her forehead fall against his shoulder. "I have to do the shopping. Do you want some books? Or… I can close the curtains upstairs and you can go watch TV."
"Don't need you to coddle me, love. I'll be alright while you go do the shopping. Go on. I'll be here."
"You better." She kissed him once more before running upstairs and out of the house in less than five minutes. Probably trying to do the shopping as fast as possible so she could go back to coddling him.
After a unfortunately too short morning in the basement of the Summers house with her very loving boyfriend, Ally found herself in the front steps of the high school, waiting for her sisters to get out. She was obviously happy, having spent such a good morning, her skin still humming as she skipped in place.
As Buffy approached her, she took in Ally's chipper attitude, her eyebrows raising on their own accord. "What's got you so happy?" The blonde wondered as she stopped right in front to the brunette, waiting for their youngest sister.
"I had a good morning." She smiled widely.
Buffy's face immediately turned into one of horror, grimacing as she shuddered. "Oh, god, I didn't need to know that…"
"I didn't say anything! It's all your perverted mind's fault."
"Oh, please, you have sex hair." Buffy scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and turning toward the entrance, waiting.
"Really?" She stopped the skipping, trying to tame down her hair.
"No, but you just confirmed what you've been doing." A tiny tug at the corner of Buffy's lips made Ally smile again. It didn't last long, though. "So, what's with Angel and you?"
"What?" Ally arched an eyebrow, watching her sister with an increasing feeling of wariness.
Shifting in place, Buffy fixed her gaze on the stairs, where waves of students walked, Dawn still out of sight. "You two went out alone. Did you…?"
Feeling a spark of annoyance igniting in her stomach, Ally stepped forward, attracting Buffy's eyes to herself. "Did I what? I'm with Spike, Buff. What do you think happened last night?"
"I don't know. Really, I'm still getting used to the fact that you and Angel were a thing!" She threw her arms out, her calm semblance crumbling.
"Yeah, well, same for you. I'm gonna make myself very clear here, Buffy. Angel is my friend, he's still important for me, but we are not gonna get back together, ever. I love Spike and, sincerely, I'm way over Angel. And you should, too. We're gonna have to find you a new boyfriend." Ally sighed, shaking her head as she thought of what Buffy's relationship with Angel must have been like.
"That usually doesn't work so well."
"Oh, please. You got Riley. I don't know what happened for you two to break up, but you are lucky to have been with him. That was my dream when I was thirteen." She smirked, trying to lighten up the mood.
Buffy's eyes widened at the revelation, mouth open. "You… Riley?"
"Preteen crush. Come on, big sweet military boy? But then I realized I'd rather have him as a friend, big extremely protective brother. And I had a little crush on Graham too."
"But better as a friend?" Buffy guessed, looking at Ally sideways while she kept her eyes on the entrance. Dawn was taking quite long.
"No. I was totally going after him. But I was… fourteen-fifteen, Graham didn't want to risk it while I was jailbait and Riley got extremely nervous whenever we were left alone, so he almost always accompanied me when I was with Graham. I think he even started getting nervous when we met him after the Suvolte demon deal. You know, he even punched Graham once." Ally grimaced at the memory, remembering every detail, every expression.
"Really?" The blonde's eyebrows rose, her face turning toward the junior Slayer again, listening intently to her story. It was difficult to imagine Riley punching Graham, at least before the whole deal with the Initiative. They always got along fine.
"Yup. Some of the boys in their barrack invited me to play Truth or Dare with them. Of course, Riley forced them to keep it light, no dirty jokes or sexual stuff, no alcohol for me, etc." She rolled her eyes, shifting her weight from one feet to the other. "One of them dared me to make something that would Riley go red, so I kissed Miller. Before I had the time to enjoy Riley's annoyance and tease him, he'd gotten up and punched Graham, who, really, wasn't to blame for any of it."
"Isn't that a bit… too dramatic?" Buffy sidestepped a couple teens pushing each other, laughing about everything. They looked so carefree that, for a moment, both Slayers watched them go before going back to their conversation. "I mean, it's only a kiss, you two didn't make out or anything."
"Riley was extremely overprotective of me, Buff. He wouldn't leave me alone with any other soldiers, except for a couple of his superiors and my tutor. If he ever saw me with someone he didn't fully trust, he'd come and stay right behind me, arms crossed, chest puffed out, trying to intimidate the others."
The blonde frowned, unimpressed with her ex's behaviour. "That's chauvinistic."
"No. Actually, I'm thankful he did. Not everyone at the base was… nice. There weren't many female soldiers, and the few that were usually had to stay close together when around some other soldiers. Bullies, molesters… I mean, I know some of them were expelled due to their attitudes toward women. Riley and Graham always made sure I was safe. That's one of the reasons they trained me. Just in case something happened when they weren't there." She smiled softly at this. "Sometimes, it really looked like I had bodyguards. It was pretty awesome. Oh, there she is."
Both of them turned again to find their baby sister coming down the stairs, hurriedly approaching them. When she stopped in front of them, Dawn stared at Ally and arched an eyebrow. "Huh, good morning with Spike?"
Ally's mouth dropped open, her hands going to her head once again. "Is it really that obvious?"
Spike and Dawn were watching TV while Buffy and Ally made dinner, after spending the afternoon moving the remaining things from Buffy's old room to the new one, preparing everything for Willow's return from England. It was dark out, so there was no danger with Spike being out of the basement, lounging about.
"Did you talk to Xander? He's going to pick us up to go see Will, right?" Ally asked, after a few days planning their favourite redhead's arrival. Ally felt strange about it. She hadn't seen Willow in her 'darth Willow' phase. The last she'd seen of her was sweet lovely Willow completely abstaining from magic, completely enamoured with Riley's new wife, like everyone.
So much had changed.
So much was lost.
"Yeah, he'll come over, get us to the airport, hold a sign he wrote for Will while we wait for her." Buffy answered as she handed a couple bowls over to the brunette, face guarded, voice even.
"Aren't you nervous?"
Her gaze lifted to meet Ally's, vulnerable. "Very."
Her best friend had tried to kill her and destroy the world last she'd seen her. Of course she was nervous.
Trying to comfort her sister as best she could, Ally placed a hand on her arm, patting lightly. "If Giles is sending her back, I trust his judgement. She's Willow. Still our Willow."
"I hope so."
A knock on the door interrupted anything else they could have said. And it didn't come from the front door, but the backdoor, the one in the kitchen. The Slayers exchanged a look before Ally carefully approached the door, cautiously opening it, only slightly, enough to look outside.
Angel.
"Oh, it's you." She grumbled, fully opening the door before standing right in the middle, arms crossed over her chest and legs shoulder width apart.
"Still angry then?" He confirmed, sighing tiredly. "I guessed you would be. Sorry." He apologized briefly.
Ally arched her eyebrows, seriously considering shutting the door in his face. Was that it? It didn't even sound like he meant it. He must have read her mind, because he continued as quickly as he recognized the look on her face.
"Sorry, I will try not diss Bleach Boy in front of you again." He extended, getting an even higher arched eyebrow from his ex. He sighed again and stepped aside, letting her see the three piled wooden boxes behind him.
Ally blinked, surprised at his way of apology. It'd been a while since he last had to apologize for anything to her, so she really didn't expect piles of mangoes in the boxes.
"Well?" He wondered, bringing her out of her shocked state.
"Oh, hell, you're forgiven. Bring them in." She rolled her eyes and turned around, going back inside while Angel carried the boxes.
Meanwhile, Buffy had watched the scene with rapt attention, bewildered at their relationship.
Mangoes? Who the hell gives mangoes to ask for forgiveness?
And forgiveness for what?
"Hi, Buffy." The dark haired vampire greeted as he left the boxes on the counter.
"What are you doing here again?" The blonde tilted her head, trying not to sound rude. She wasn't very excited about his presence. It only made everything harder. And uncomfortable.
"I need… I've tracked a serial killer demon who left L.A. last week. It's only about six hours away from here and I know you're all… busy with Willow and…, but I wanted to get some back up before going after it." He explained, leaning on the island as Ally stood beside her sister again.
"Willow is coming back tomorrow, I can't leave like…" Buffy started to answer, only for Angel to cut her off.
"I know. Dawn told me yesterday." He glanced from one girl to the other, shifting uncomfortably. "I was actually thinking about Alls coming. It should be done in less than a day, she could probably be back tomorrow night. For the old times."
The puppy eyes were working their magic on the brunette, making her purse her lips in thought. She wanted to be there to welcome Will, but if she could go on a quick trip with Angel and be back the next night to see the redhead again… She really was itching to show her Slayer powers off in front of her mentor, as she didn't have a chance to kill anything the previous night.
She was going.
