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 sat with her eyes focused ahead, still wide and red. Tear tracks staining her cheeks as she alternated her vision from the corner of the opposite wall to the shiny linoleum floor. All she could hear was the constant buzz of the too bright fluorescent lights overhead, and all he did was watch her.
She had carried a barely conscious Jess all the way to the hospital, only stopping her run to momentarily catch her breath before taking off again. Buffy could still see the shocked looks in the hospital workers eyes when she burst through the automatic doors holding the body of a boy who was probably larger than her when he was twelve.
Angel had followed her there. She didn't know if he had killed anything to keep her safe in the way…to keep himself safe on the way, because she wasn't lying that she would kill him if she were to be distracted from her task. Good thing she wasn't – for him.
But he hadn't left after she had arrived safely. He was waiting for her. And a lot of help that was. Angel was sitting across the bright hall in a plastic chair matching her own just staring at her. She wanted to say something to him…to yell at him…hit him…
This was his fault. He was a vampire – vampires had done this to her friend. He knew the goddamned one who was could very well be responsible for Jesse's death. Buffy's breath caught in her throat again at the thought of her friend dying that night. If that happened, Angel would be next. She didn't care what he knew, or could help with because she'd stake him right in front of the nurses' station and not give a shit about who saw her do it or what she would have to explain. If anything happened to Jesse…
Buffy hadn't even known who to call when she got there. She couldn't call Giles, because then she'd have to explain everything to him, and she couldn't call anybodies parents because there was no explanation for what had happened…she just didn't feel like dealing with anything tonight. She just wanted to go to sleep, where it was safe, and she was normal and her friends didn't get hurt by monsters in the night.
She needed the one person who she wouldn't have to explain anything to…who would let her be silent and hold her until she was ready to talk…
"Buffy!" the familiar voice sounded through the hollow halls in concert with the stomp of rubber sneaker soles.
Xander.
Buffy had called Xander.
She turned her head to face him with wide eyes and he only quickened his pace to reach her when he saw her. Xander hated that he had to come find her there, but was half relieved that it wasn't under worse circumstances. When she had called him she had been crying – outright sobbing into the phone and choking out her words; and Xander had left his house immediately. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even bother to consider walking to get to her; he had taken the set of spare car key that his father had given him for his sixteenth birthday and driven like a bat out of hell through the deserted streets. Permit be damned his Buffy needed him, he just hoped that his parents wouldn't wake up, or else he'd be in the same grounded paddy wagon that Buffy was in.
Buffy stood as Xander reached her and was pulled directly into his arms, her face buried in his shoulder as he cooed in her ear. She could feel herself start to cry again and Xander began rocking her form side to side. "I'm so sorry," she mumbled into him. "I…I got there and he was…it was…"
"It's okay," Xander whispered. "It's okay. He's fine now. You got him to the hospital…they'll make him better…"
Buffy pulled away from his shoulder but stayed in his arms so she could look at him. "They're taking so long…" she sounded lost and Xander released his hold on her waist to frame her face with his hands.
"They're doing their job, just like you did yours." He said genuinely. "You saved him…"
"What if I didn't…"
"You did." Xander insisted, not accepting disagreement. "You're gonna be his hero." Buffy's mouth shook as she formed a half smile and Xander pulled her back into a tight hug. Just where she wanted to be. All of the sudden her being mad at him for going to Giles was in the back of her mind; all she wanted was her friend…her more.
Angel watched the whole scene with a lump in his throat as he was ignored by the two teens. Xander fucking Harris. his mind sneered at the boy. The boy who was holding and comforting Buffy, who was more like a regular girl right then than Angel thought he had every seen her up close. He had to figure that she had forgotten that he was there – but then reprimanded himself. He didn't like the fact that the boy could make her not care who saw her weaknesses…hated that she was a completely different person just for him.
He had seen Buffy and Xander almost every night since he had gotten to town. The best of friends. So much more than just friends.
Angel took an unnecessary deep breath and a low growl emanated from his throat. That seemed to have gotten their attention because when he refocused to the couple he found Buffy watching him from the cocoon of Xander's arms; her cheek still pressed against the sweatshirt covered plain of his chest.
"You can go now," she told him plainly, and for the first time Xander noticed somebody else in the room. He had gotten so caught up in comforting Buffy he had forgotten that other people even existed; he liked it just being them anyway. Xander's favorite thing in the world, now, it seemed, was when it was just he and Buffy.
Xander focused on the man, forcing himself to stand up a little bit straighter and tightening his hole on Buffy, just as she did to him when she spoke. "Who are you?" he asked instead of a greeting. With what he had recently found out about his town, he didn't think he could afford friendly greeting with anybody he met in the night…especially not strange grown men who were staring at Buffy like she were the cure for cancer. Only he could do that. Buffy was his cure…
"Angel," he stood up and approached them extending his hand. The least he could do, Angel figured, was be cordial. After all these were just children.
Xander unwrapped one arm from around Buffy, who stayed close to him and extended it cautiously towards the man. He added some extra strength as he gripped the man's hand and shook it. "Xander," he said briefly, noting how cold the man's strong return grip was. He made a note to ask Buffy about his origins later.
Angel watched with moderately uncomfortable air as Xander maintained his grip on Buffy as soon as they released hands. That was what spurred his next comment. "I'm actually going to wait around until we hear something," he told them.
Buffy sighed and re-buried her face against Xander, "Suit yourself," she said with a low groan.
Xander glanced down at the top of Buffy's head and then back at the man. He had to wonder what had transpired between them to piss her off so much; but even still that didn't change the fact that whatever he was or did, he had helped a little bit, so… "Thanks for helping out man," he said in a low voice with a nod as he felt Buffy pull out of his embrace and grasp his hand, tugging him down into the chair next to the one she had been sitting in.
"Any time," Angel nodded to the now seated teens: Buffy who was ignoring him and leaning on Xander's shoulder, and Xander who seemed to be slightly confused as to what exactly he had walked into, but not refusing her show of affection, nonetheless. "Right Buffy?" Angel asked, "I'm always here to help."
Buffy nodded a little before standing up quickly and pulling Xander with her again. Angel could tell that he was fighting to keep up with her Slayer strength, and how easily he was moved offered the vampire some entertainment. "I want to walk." Buffy told him quietly and Xander nodded. "I can't sit here anymore not knowing anything."
"Sure," Xander agreed. "A short one though."
Buffy nodded and started to lead him down the hall, "I want to stay close in case we hear anything."
"We'll be right back," Xander called over his shoulder to Angel, who Buffy, apparently didn't care enough to acknowledge in her retreat.
Angel nodded, even though he was now alone in the hall. "And I'll be here." Never a greater truth ever existed to him in concerns with his current situation. Buffy could walk away from him and he would always wait patiently…begrudgingly, for her return.
~*~*~*~
"Vampires?" Xander huffed out as he looked up and down the empty corridor that was around the corner from where they had left Angel. Buffy didn't even nod, she just simply looked down at the tiled floor, her arms crossed over her stomach. When she didn't respond Xander trained his vision on her. "Vampires?" he asked again, as if it were a completely formed question.
Buffy had known that he would come to the hospital when she asked, but now he wanted answers. She knew that he was probably having a hard time, to say the least, accepting this whole situation, especially since he had felt the need to try to get her out of it. That just proved that there was no way that he understood what she was now…what she had to do. All she could do was nod dumbly at him. Buffy had nothing to say. To tell the truth she felt sick – the whole situation was making her nauseous. She didn't want to have to deal with anything, let alone another half-assed explanation as to what the Slayer was. Another explanation that Xander wouldn't understand anyway.
"I don't know what you want me to say," she whispered as she tried to keep her tears from falling. "I just…there was one, and…and she threw him…when I got to him it was Jesse…"
Xander shook his head as he looked at her – watched her studying the floor through watery eyes. He sighed when he saw her shoulders shaky slightly with a particularly deep breath.
"I don't want him to die…" she said so quietly that Xander almost didn't hear her. So many kids had died from unexplained causes…causes that Buffy now had the answers for…that she was to stop. She had known kids that had died – been to funerals for her classmates, not knowing that they were victims of the same fate that she may have rescued Jesse from.
May have.
She didn't know for sure. She had never lost a best friend and she didn't want to start.
"So," Xander asked hesitantly, keeping his distance from her so that if she chose, he would be able to catch her eye. "Do you have to…slay…him now?" He was unsure of how to word the question and even more unsure if he wanted an answer. He couldn't have imagined himself ever in this situation – waiting in a hospital at midnight to find out the fate of one of his best friends who had been attacked by a monster that up until yesterday had only existed on the big screen in cheesy blood bath flicks. He didn't even want to have to picture his girl…Buffy….picture Buffy having to kill him. Having to kill a vampire that was wearing the body of one of her best friends.
"No," Buffy shook her head a little with a hoarse whisper. "I don't think so…I think she just fed off of him."
"Is that how it works?" Xander hated the tone his voice took when he asked that question and he reminded himself to change his tone for her benefit. "Don't they bite you and you become one of them?"
She shook her head again and raised her head. Her chin was shaking and her eyes were red and puffy. All Xander wanted to do was pull her into his arms and make it better; but after tonight he doubted if he could really do that. He didn't think that he could save her from this anymore, maybe all he could do was stay, and he hated that. He couldn't stand up for her and swoop in to save the day like he wanted to. He couldn't even, for all his efforts, save her from the pain that was etched in her face; but he could fight. If he couldn't take her away from it he would fight by her side…
"They have to feed from you," Buffy answered slowly, almost ashamed of her knowledge, "but then you have to feed from them…you have to drink their blood too for it to work."
Xander's throat went dry – this was real. Really real. "Are you sure that didn't happen?" his voice shook.
"No," Buffy answered truthfully. "But he was conscious when I picked him up…I think he was the same – alive…I hope."
Xander nodded and swallowed, "More hugs?" he asked hesitantly as he watched her shiver a little in front of him. He was asking just as much for him though as well. As much as he was broken about not knowing if Jesse would pull through, he couldn't help but be glad that it wasn't her that was hurt – and that made him hate himself even more. How could he choose between his friends like he was?
"Yeah," she answered quickly and took the half step that allowed Xander to be able to pull her into his arms. Buffy unwrapped her arms from around herself and put them around his waist as his went around her shoulders, his head resting on top of her head and she listened to him take a deep breath.
She was leaning against his solid form, feeling the soft cloth of his sweatshirt against her cheek, and suddenly nothing mattered. She liked that. "Tell me that it's going to be alright." She whispered into him.
She sounded so small to him right then…so vulnerable and he hugged her tighter. Xander brought his hand up and stroked it over the lose hair of her disheveled and forgotten ponytail. "It's all going to be alright," he told her dutifully.
"Promise?"
"Yeah," he agreed, "Of course. And," he waited a minute before continuing, "I'll do a damn better job than any old mystery men…"
Buffy chuckled against him this time, her eyes hidden from his. "I don't doubt that."
Xander pulled his head back and craned his neck down to try to see her eyes, but she didn't let him. He was mostly glad that he was succeeding in lightening the mood; maybe that was one thing he could still offer her if he couldn't keep his word of sparing her the life of the Slayer. "And who is he?" he asked next, trying to keep his voice neutral and light.
Buffy almost felt guilty that she was even having to talk about this now. Relationships should be the furthest thing from important…and she was still pissed that he had went to Giles and gotten he a new asshole ripped… "Does it matter right now?" she asked not broaching her second issue with him. She new that he wouldn't see anything wrong with what he had done, and didn't feel like arguing right then about why he was supposed to keep her secret identity a secret.
"Just curious," Xander shrugged and kept his arms around her, his mind focused on mining out her feelings for the darkly dressed man in the lobby. He was quiet for a moment and she thought he was going to drop it, like he should, but… "I was just wondering where you made such an old…friend. That's all…"
"He followed me," Buffy said simply and felt Xander tense against her.
He turned and looked back at the direction of the chairs. "He followed you?"
She felt him move to release her and chose to tighten her grip on him to keep her from doing so. "He said he wants to help. He did."
Xander forced himself to relax as Buffy didn't seem to be agitated at the situation at all. "As long as he doesn't…"
"I can take care of myself, you know." She lifted her head and gave him a small grin before resting her head back in its place. "It's like you don't trust me, or something."
He shook his head even thought she wasn't looking at him. "That's not true. I trust you. I don't trust anybody else with you."
"And you don't like other guys around me." She added meeting his eyes and holding them this time. Buffy already knew the answer, but she was daring him to deny it.
"I especially don't like that." Xander admitted with a grin.
"Because you're jealous?"
"Because I'm jealous."
Buffy didn't say anything as she put her head back down and sighed into his shirt.
"Do I have reason to be?" Xander asked the confusion at her lack of response evident in his voice. He was as afraid of the answer to that as he was of demons walking around in the night, it seemed, and he hoped that she couldn't feel his heart beating out of control in his chest. His fear at Jesse's situation was momentarily shadowed at the prospect of her answer because he knew guys…he was one. Xander knew exactly what the man in the lobby wanted…that Angel guy. He wanted his Buffy…Xander could guarantee that he was ready for the answer if Buffy wanted Angel too; and he could admit that if she did want that other man, he would know why. He had known Buffy all his life, and would never call her shallow because he knew who she was beyond a shadow of a doubt…but he would admit that she was highly visual when it came to impressions – and Angel, out there, wasn't hard on the eyes.
"No," she answered simply. She felt Xander relax again and she smiled a little. In reality Xander should know that he had no reason to be jealous, if for no other reason than they were best friends and she would do anything, literally, to avoid hurting him. But, Buffy admitted and accepted for herself more than him, he didn't have to be jealous because Angel was a vampire. She swallowed and reminded herself I have to kill him. I have to kill him The only problem was that she had already had plenty of opportunities…ones she had let slide by and she didn't know why…she didn't know when…and, most disturbingly, she didn't know if she even wanted to. She could never say any of that to Xander though, not anymore…
"Buffy."
Her name was called in just above a whisper and she turned to face where it had come from. She found herself looking at a worried looking Angel who had appeared silently by their side, and Xander jumped at his presence, tightening his hold on her further.
"Jeez, man," Xander breathed out, "Get a bell or something…"
Angel ignored him and instead spoke to Buffy. "You need to call Jesse's parents," he said, his expression unchanging and his tone held low and steady.
Buffy's heart leapt into her throat and she finally pulled away from Xander to face the vampire. She missed Angel's fixed glare on her friend. "Why? I can't call. My parents'll…"
"Then leave and say I brought him in." Angel interrupted, "I need his ID and… the hospital needs to call his parents…"
"Is he alright?" Xander spoke up, his voice deeper than usual and Buffy glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
Angel gave no qualms, "No."
~*~*~*~
"I thought I told you to bring me the sacrifices." The male boomed as he faced Darla, "Not go out for a late night snack. We need them for the Harvest if we want to raise him."
She looked at the ground, "I was only going to take a little, but…"
"But what?!"
"He was so pure…fresh…I…I was going to make him a minion," she stuttered out. "Since you lost about twenty of our other ones," she added with a superior smirk. "We can't take over the town with an army of four."
"She's right," the young boy sitting on the rocks in the corner of the cavernous dimly lit room put in. "We can't. We need more."
"I know," the man turned to glare at the child. "But those were extenuating circumstances, as you well know. The Slayer…"
"Was there tonight." Darla spoke up. "She had help, too. Angel…"
The name drew the larger demon's attention, "Angelus?"
"Yes," Darla pouted, unable to believe the situation herself. Angel…Angelus was hers…he was the baddest of the bad…and now…
Now he was the goddamned Slayer's darling little lap dog; hopelessly trailing after that little bitch.
His mouth turned into a toothy grin. "Angelus helping the Slayer…interesting."
"Luke," Darla spoke up as the larger vampire seemed to have been consumed by his thoughts. "She's strong, and he's stronger. If they're working together…"
"Then they don't," he said simply.
"How do you purpose that?" the little boy asked in a snotty tone. "Are you going to send him a letter and ask him to stay out of it?"
Luke sighed, "I can face the Slayer. She's weak…"
"And she had a friend," Darla spoke up again, remembering the encounter. "She was worried about him…"
"Friends," Luke laughed out loud, he knew all about the circumstances and social life that this Slayer's Watcher tolerated. "This victory will be sweet and the easiest yet. A Slayer with friends has great weakness… a reason besides the salvation of the world to die."
"And a Slayer with a souled vampire who will die fighting for her?" the little boy spoke again, trying to get his minions back on task. If they wanted to raise The Master vampire and take over the Hellmouth, they didn't have time to waste pondering the social life of a teenage girl – he seemed to be the only one who recognized that fact.
Both Darla and Luke turned to face him. "And Angel," Luke reiterated, his lips curling up in a devious grin as he said the do-gooders name in a prissy tone. "We take him out of the equation," Luke added in a harsher voice.
He hated the little boy with a passion. If he weren't necessary in the overall plan to take the Slayer's life and open the gates of Hell he would rip his throat out and eat his heart where he sat. The little brat he growled to himself He's not even a full fledged vampire. Immortal half-breed twit.
"How do you purpose we do that?" the child spoke, not an ounce of fear present in his voice.
"Well," Luke matched the condescending tone he was met with. "He has a soul that keeps him on the side of the light. We take it from him and make him that of the dark…where he belongs."
"Again," the boy smirked, "How do we do that."
"I believe the incantation mentioned a moment of true happiness will take it away…"
"How…"
"The Slayer." Luke cut in a harsh voice before he could be asked the same question again. "The Slayer who he had been following for years…who he has been obsessed with…"
"Who he loves." Darla said in a low voice.
"Exactly," Luke turned and smiled at her. He raised his hand and caressed the side of her face slowly, pushing a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. "I can see why you are his favorite." He turned to face the opposite wall and began pacing as he spoke. "We deliver him the Slayer and relieve him of his soul…we take Angelus for our own…"
"Deliver the Slayer how?" the boy asked again. "We're full of half formulated plans that are easier said than done."
"She has friends," Luke explained. "She has the boy from tonight," he nodded to Darla. "And she has the boy that she loves," he grinned evilly. "We take them, we break her." Luke whirled around to face the other occupants of the room. "We'll leave her weak and having to fight and kill her own friends with only our dear Angel to turn to. She'll trust him and she'll…"
"You think that she'll give him what he needs to ditch his soul?" Darla smirked in disbelief. "She hates him. I could see it clearly tonight. Plus, we don't even know what she'd have to do."
"Love him back." Luke whispered. "All she'd have to do is love him back; and the line between love and hate is so easily clouded." Luke turned again and started towards the exit of the room, "And before you ask how we're going to make that happen," he said snidely to the boy, who sneered in response, "I already have it worked out."
"And just what do you purpose?" he asked as he slid down off his rocky perch and approached the pool of blood in the center of the room. That was the key to the universe as far as the circles of Hell were concerned; and soon all the dark answers would be provided through it. He climbed up between the tall candle holders that framed the pool and looked down into the clear rippling red liquid it held before glancing over his shoulder a the older vampire when he answered.
"We're going to turn the boys she loves," he said confidently, "We're going to take her friends." He spit out the last word.
Darla offered a crooked smile that nobody saw before turning her gaze to the floor to hide her jubilation. For once she was one step ahead of the game.
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The End Part 11
