Title: Before the Fall of Rome
Author: Brooke
Email: yabbadabbadome13@yahoo.com
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I wished I owned the two Xanders' from "The Replacement" though. Buffy and friends are owned by Joss, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox, The UPN and whoever else has rights to the show.
Summary: You remember all that crap that started post-puberty…yeah, it's great isn't it. It was when life started
Distribution: I don't know why anybody would want this, but if somebody does…sure.
Feedback: Definitely!! Tell me if it sucked or if you liked it. Whatever. Just write back!
Authors Note: Takes place in an AU season 1 where Buffy and Xander are best friends and Willow is the new girl as Sunnydale High. It is the beginning of their sophomore year and, as 15 and 16 year olds, hormones and feelings are taking center stage.
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Buffy slammed her locker door shut and reached into her purse for her schedule. Things after first period had decidedly gone downhill, and Xander had successfully ignored her for about three hours now.
Two hours and twelve minutes to be exact.
She was contemplating faking cramps and calling her Dad to come get her and take her home. She hated when she and Xander fought, and because it happened so infrequently she had no real game plan on how to cope with it…she didn't even know if there were fighting…
"Whoa," Jesse's voice drew her attention from behind her, "Hell must be frozen over because both you and Xander are in the Land of Quiet Reflection. When both of you aren't talking, something is definitely wigged. What's up?"
Buffy took in her friends obviously curious, but more concerned expression as he fell into stride beside her, "Nothing," she said, fully aware that her tone implied that she was lying.
"C'mon Buff," Jesse stopped her and leaned her against a row of lockers so he see her eyes, "Despite what you may think I know you better than that." He gave her a sly grin, "What happened? Did you catch Harris trying to watch you change again?"
Buffy rolled her eyes at him, in spite of the fact that she was more that a little intrigued at the idea of Xander trying to see her naked, "No."
"But it is about him, right?" Jesse pressed, "I mean, it always is with you…"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Buffy stood up straight and forced his hands from her shoulders.
Jesse just looked at her, "You know exactly what it means… Jesus, Buffy…Why do you think you're not dating Scott anymore? Huh? Why do you think you and Xander have the same class schedule? I'm his best friend, too, but I take breaks…"
"Scott broke up with me FOR THE SUMMER." She defended, "We decided that was for the best…and it's none of your business anyway. And Xander and I…we're in the same class level…both idiots, ya know…" Buffy defended weakly.
"You guys spent your WHOLE summer together, does Scott, 'who broke up with you for the summer' know that?" Jesse kept arguing, "If it were legal you and Xan would be common law married…" he looked at her for a moment, and added , "But I get the feeling that that wouldn't necessarily bother you."
Buffy just looked at him, fighting to keep her expression neutral, "I know you too Jess." She commented sardonically, "Stop fishing."
Jesse shook his head and they headed across the quad, "So where are you going now, the café's that way." He pointed back where they had just come from. "And Xander's sitting out front on the grass."
"So?" Buffy shrugged and tried not to look worried, "I promised Willow that we'd meet her by the library before lunch. She had to pick up some books."
Jesse watched her facial expression and how she refused to even give him a sideways glance, "All I know is that whatever it is that crawled up BOTH you asses, it's big…Xander is never late to lunch so forget him skipping it…"
"And that is all you know." Buffy commented snidely, "He's probably fine… JUST like me." She insisted with a large smile in place to back up her avowal.
"Sure," Jesse said, making sure that his tone expressed his total disbelief. "We're all together foe like three minutes and you two manage to crap on the whole group dynamic. Jeez, I can't leave you guys alone for a minute." He mumbled.
"Speaking of group dynamic," Buffy said, trying to change the subject before they reached the library and Willow, "What do we do about the new girl? Am I to assume that she's part of the gang?"
Jesse looked at her mock-conspirsiously, "Well, we gotta have the secret meeting tonight in Horman's Woods at 3 AM to run it but Cult Master Xander," Buffy sneered at him as he continued, "But I'd say Willow is as good as friend."
"And Paige," Buffy sing-songed and Jesse turned beet red.
"At least I'm not crushing on my best friend," he fired with out thought and watched Buffy's face fall. He stammered over his words, "Because…if I…if I were, I've been holding out a lot of secrets from you guys…and more importantly, from myself."
"I'll tell you who is crushing on my best friend," Buffy said back, in loo of a laugh at his joke, "Willow."
"What?" Jesse commented disbelievingly, "Get out!"
"I'm in and staying there." Buffy smirked, "She wants on him."
"How do you know that?" Jesse asked with wide eyes Especially since you don't see that you want the same thing?
"Girls know these things," Buffy said confidently, unaware of Jesse's eye roll.
"Well how does that make you feel?" he asked in a pretend serious tone.
Buffy seriously regarded his question as he pushed open the swinging door to the library and answered in kind, "I honestly don't know."
Jesse watched her as she gave her answer, but kept moving so as he could not respond as he followed her into the room.
"Wow," she was talking again before he could bring up what she had vaguely alluded to about her feelings for Xander, "I haven't been in here forever." She looked around the empty dimly lit room for signs of life.
"And I can see why," Jesse shivered as he stood beside her, "This place gives me the creeps."
"Must be all this knowledge flying around," Buffy laughed, poking him in the ribs and Jesse narrowed his eyes at her. "HELLO!!" she called out, suddenly turning away from him, "WILLOW?!"
"No," an older sounding English accent entered the room from behind the reference desk and the two teens jumped as they turned to face it, "Giles." The voice said, "Mr. Giles. And I'll thank you to remember that this is a library."
Buffy laughed nervously, "Sorry…I was looking for…"
"I know what you're looking for…" Giles cut her off excitedly after a moment of studying her intently, "But I must admit, I didn't expect you to bring friends," he glanced toward Jesse.
"Listen Mr. Rodgers," the boy spoke up, stepping slightly in front of Buffy as the older man continued to stare at her, "We were just looking for our friend. Redhead, about ye tall," he gestured with his hand, "She said she had to pick up some books."
"She came by, yes…Willow?"
Buffy nodded from behind Jesse, "I guess she went to the café already," she said to him, "Let's go after her…fast." She added gripping the young mans arm and heading for the exit. Jesse continued to glare at the older man as he was pulled towards the door when the Englishman spoke again.
"Ms. Summers?" he called out, and Buffy stopped suddenly.
"How'd you now that?" she turned to face him, confusion written clearly on her features.
"C'mon Buff," Jesse said in her ear, "Let's go meet Willow. This guy is wigging me out…majorly…"
Buffy shook off his voice and focused on Giles as she spoke, "I'll catch up to you," she told him. "I'll be fine," she assured him when she felt him about to respond.
Jesse huffed out a breath and shrugged his shoulders, "Fine." He shook his head, "But when the SDPD are searching for your body, I'm gonna say I had nothing to do with it."
"As you should," Buffy agreed, only half paying attention to him and she was vaguely aware of the swooshing of the door as it shut behind him. "How'd you know my name?" she asked the librarian again, when they were alone.
Giles regarded her for a moment as she continued to keep her distance and suddenly gave her a bright smile and headed back around the desk. "Well," he said, reaching for something under the counter, "not to…wig…you" he chose the word carefully in hopes of getting the girl to relax, "but I've been sent here…for you." He hefted a large book onto the counter and Buffy just watched as the dust cloud rose. "Buffy Summers." He continued, "Age 15. Height 5'3. Weight…"
"Hold on there Dragnet," Buffy cut him off, disbelieving smirk in place as she stepped cautiously towards him, "There's not need to read off a stat sheet."
Giles gave her a half smile and adjusted his glasses, "Quiet…But," his enthusiasm renewed, "I do have what you're looking for…"
"Which is…?" Buffy raised an eyebrow at him, "Cuz right now, I'm kinda in search of a sandwich." She smiled at the labored grin she received in response.
"This," Giles said swiping his hand over the tomb on the desk so she could see the title… VAMPYR.
All the color drained from Buffy's face and she took a step away from him, "I'm not looking for that." She stated, her voice shaking, "I don't know what that is…"
Giles watched her and came slowly around the counter as she backed away, "I know," he said quietly, "but you will…"
"Yeah well, I don't want to." Buffy turned to leave.
"You have been called," Giles stated.
"Well I'm hanging up."
"You know what goes on in the night, don't you Buffy?" Giles asked, pushing her. "You can already feel it, can't you?"
Buffy stopped momentarily, "I don't…" she shook her head, "I don't know what you're talking about." She walked away faster, "I have to go."
"Buffy!" Giles called out after her, "It is my job to prepare you…"
"Prepare me for what?!" She stopped suddenly and whirled to face him, the action coming so fast that Giles took a step back. "Prepare me for the time when I was walking home and got attacked by this mutated freak…and I had to figure out how to kill it myself? Is that what your job it? Well it's too late…"
"You have killed one before?" he asked in disbelief.
"I've killed several before. And I've quit. I'm not going to do it anymore, so whatever your point is, it's completely moot."
"You're the Slayer Buffy. You're the Vampire Slayer, and I am your Watcher." He seemed to have her attention so he spoke quickly, "In every generation a Slayer is called… One girl in all the world born with the strength and skill to fight and win against the vampire, demons, and forces of darkness. You are that girl Buffy."
"No, I'm not." Buffy disagreed, "I'm just not."
Giles shook his head and reached into his pocket, glancing at her with a bowed head. He prayed that she wouldn't over react to what he was about to do. Without warning he whipped out a short hunting knife and threw it hard at the girl's head, as she stood in front of him.
Buffy hardly had time to react as her right hand rose and quickly snatched the knife out of the air, mere millimeters away from her face. Her whole body shaking as she looked at the weapon in her hand. The knife this librarian had thrown at her. "YOU TIRED TO KILL ME!!!!!" she screamed, her eyes wide.
"You…you…" Giles rushed to calm her down, "you ARE the one. You caught it…"
"Because you threw a knife at my face!!!"
"You caught it because you are the Slayer…."
"YOU THREW A KINFE AT MY FACE!!!" she annunciated each word.
"I'm here to train you…"
Buffy threw the knife at the floor and turned around, "I'm leaving," she all but ran to the door, "When my Dad hears that the teachers are trying to gut the students you're gonna be outta here so fast you'll be back in England in time for tea with the Queen."
"You mustn't mention this to anyone. It is to be a secret…" Giles didn't have time to get his sentence out as Buffy stormed out of the room. He stooped to grab the knife off of the floor and tucked it back into his pocket, "Well, Rupes. That went smashingly. Bloody good show." He muttered, "Bloody good show."
*~*~*
Buffy ran out of the library, not at all paying attention to where she was going in her hurry to get as far away from that man as fast as humanly possible, so she didn't see him right before she ran into him, sending them both to the ground.
"Whoa there Buff," Xander breathed, pushing himself to his feet and then extending his hand to her. "What's the matter?" he asked looking briefly over her shoulder in the direction she had run from after he pulled her to her feet.
Buffy tried to collect herself as she readjusted her bag and wiped absently at the dust on her skirt, "Nothing." She stopped for a moment and then asked, "What are you doing here? Jesse said you were quietly contemplating on the front lawn."
Xander looked down at her and unconsciously moved his hand up to brush some hair out of her face, offering her a tender smile, "I was," Xander agreed as he withdrew his hand, "but then I was told we had a Chester the Molester situation in the House of Books involving one Buffy Summers and one skivey old man, so I came rushing to your rescue."
Buffy loved the smile he war as he recounted his tale, "If that were the case, you were a little too late."
She's doing that thing with her mouth…NO!!! That was a wrong thought…Buffy doesn't do anything with her mouth…besides eat…and talk…but that's all… Xander panicked, unable to tear his eyes away from the half smile his friend wore…the unbelievably cute, temptingly irresistible… "Well, I stopped for a Hershey Bar from the vending machine on the way…" he tried to cover. He started walking in order to give himself an excuse to not look directly at her.
"What can I expect? You were missing lunch moping over me." She was slightly disappointed as they started walking together towards the cafeteria.
"I was not moping over you."
Buffy sent him a look of disbelief, "Oh, you weren't?"
Xander shook his head.
"So, you're saying you weren't hungry, then?" Buffy laughed out loud, "You, Alexander Harris, and telling me, Buffy Summers: The Encyclopedia of all things Xander, that you weren't hungry at 12:45 and you would rather've spent the whole period sitting alone in the dirt?"
He knew when she had beaten him, she had done it so much over the course of their friendship, "I had a bench."
"Ok, I'll give you a bench…but what you wanted was a sandwich."
Xander turned to find Buffy grinning in his face, knowing that she was more than happy to hear him admit that he was moping over her, "I just needed to think for a second." He said finally, "All these classes were clouding my concentration."
Buffy shook her head at him as they entered the cafeteria, each briefly waving to Jesse and Willow who were already seated as they got in line. "Well, thank you." She said, not looking him in the eyes.
"For what?" he asked gathering a plate for the lunch lady.
"For rushing to my rescue and what not. Thank you." Buffy clarified, her face scrunching in disgust at the brown heap of meat on her plate. "Too bad you can't save me from cafeteria food." She added while she picked up two bowls of Jell-O.
Xander smiled, but she wasn't facing him to see it, "I don't know about that…" he said rummaging through the salad bar and procuring the last peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "For the lady," he said gallantly settling the sandwich on Buffy's tray and taking the plate of meat from her.
All she could do was look at him and the completely innocent, adorable look on his face, "Whatever will I do to thank you, Good Sir?" she asked in a southern drawl as they both made their way to the table that their friends were sitting at.
"Let me accompany you to the festival of gyrating teens tonight…otherwise known as the Bronze," Xander suggested as they took their seats.
"And they say you can't get something for nothing these days," Buffy commented, smiling to Willow and Jesse, "Alright, shall we say eightish?"
"We can say that," Xander agreed, "I'll be at your house around seven to watch you shower and such."
Buffy rolled her eyes at him and kicked him in the shin under the table, earning a painful yelp from her friend and a suppressed laugh from Willow.
"What?" Jesse asked, feigning interest, "Are you going to shower at six, cuz I can stop by for that."
Buffy kicked him too, and just a little bit harder, causing him to choke on the sip of juice he had just taken. "You guys aren't invited to go with us anymore." Buffy pouted, "It's just going to be me and Willow at the Bronze. Around 8:45?" she finished asking her.
"Yeah," Willow agreed excitedly, "8:45 sounds great."
"Unless, of course, Buffy is busy with the new librarian." Jesse scoffed, "He looked like he had some things he wanted to do with her under the cover of darkness."
Buffy tried to cover her change in expression quickly as she thought back to the events in the library. "You're sick." She threw at Jesse and took a bite of her sandwich. She saw Xander watching her out of the corner of her eye before he spoke.
"What happened Buff?" he asked his voice in full protective mode as he remembered the hurry Buffy was in when they had run into each other.
"Nothing…"
"Prince Charles, in there, was totally making the eyes at her." Jesse interrupted her quickly, "He was totally trying to make his own Tori Spelling style made for TV flick…no wonder he got a job at a high school…all these young, nubile…"
"Ok," Buffy said loudly, "Stopping you before we have to turn the hose on you. And no." she continued, "That's not what he wanted…not that he wanted anything…because he didn't…want anything." She shifted in her seat while her friends watched her, "Eat!" she demanded, and they all hurried to comply.
"I thought he was nice," Willow offered quietly, still not completely comfortable with them yet, but Xander sent her a warm smile after she spoke.
"Well he would be to you," Xander said, "In keeping with the young nobility, and all…"
"So what do we do?" Jesse asked Xander in complete seriousness, "Call the police, or something?"
Buffy sat up suddenly, "Hold on here, fellas." She held up her hands, "No need to jump to conclusions…"
"The guy could be dangerous…and if he's snooping around you," Xander started, "around a high school…"
Buffy caught his slip, "It was nothing, guys."
"He knew your name before you even told him it." Jesse said as if that would justify taking a course of action.
Buffy stood up suddenly, "Look, it was just about me, alright? Nothing happened, nothing is going to happen, and if it were and did it still wouldn't concern you. So just drop it." She headed away from the table before she stopped, "I'll see you guys tonight." And with that she walked out of the cafeteria, leaving Xander, Willow, and Jesse starring after her.
"He brainwashed her," Jesse commented offhandedly as he went back to his lunch. Willow ignored him as she watched Xander focus in the door Buffy had just walked out of sadly for a moment before following Jesse's lead.
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End Part 2
