THIS PART IS MOSTLY DIALOGING. I'LL GET TO THE INTERACTION WITH THE OTHERS
IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. THIS CHAPTER WILL MOSTLY FILL IN SOME BLANKS AND BACK
STORY. HOPEFULLY WILL EXPLAIN WHY BUFFY DID SOME OF THE THINGS SHE DID.
TREMORS - PART TWO
Buffy stood frozen in the doorway. She was sure she was hallucinating. There was no way Angel was here.
Angel was having the same problem. He looked her over from head to toe. She was thinner than she was. Her hair was also longer and straight. It was pulled back into a practical ponytail.
"Buffy?" Tyler said, confused breaking them both out of their reverie.
Tyler turned to Buffy. "Who is this guy? I thought your name was Anne?"
"Tyler, I can explain." Buffy began.
"Yeah, Buffy. Why don't you do that?" Angel said. "Why don't you explain how you've been running for nearly a year? Why don't you explain why you ran away and left everyone who cared about you?"
Buffy looked around and noticed people beginning to stare.
"Tyler, you need to get the tour started. Angel, we need to take this into another room." Buffy said, taking charge.
After those words, she went back through the doorway and disappeared.
Angel moved to follow, only to find Tyler had grabbed his arm.
"I don't know who you are or what you want, but we take care of our own, and Anne is one of us."
"One of you?" Angel almost sneered. "You don't even know her real name." With that, Angel jerked his arm away and followed Buffy.
"O.K. folks. Hope you enjoyed our little skit." Tyler adlibbed. "Now it's time for the tour to begin. If everyone will follow me we'll get started."
Buffy was sitting at the table in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee when Angel found her.
"I'm sorry for the things I said in there." Angel began.
"Angel, don't do this." Buffy said. "Why are you here? Why couldn't everyone just let me go? I did my duty, for seven years I guarded the hellmouth. I think it's time for me to just do something for me." Buffy was pleading with him with eyes not to make her go through this.
As much as Angel loved and respected her, he couldn't just let it go. Her friends loved her; they needed to know she was all right.
"I don't disagree. I just want to know why you had to shut out everyone who cares about you to do it?"
"Don't you get it, Angel? I'll never be more than Buffy the vampire slayer to them. Even Dawn, my sister, still sees me as the slayer."
"That's not all she sees you as. You are her sister, she loves you."
"Yeah, she loves me so much she left and went back to England with Giles."
"It wasn't an easy decision for her to make. She wanted to give you time and going to that school in England will be good for her."
"Yeah, I know, but I still don't understand Giles making the offer."
"Maybe Giles needed to move on, too. You haven't exactly been his biggest fan lately."
"Well, excuse me for being upset that he tried to murder Spike. He's the one that chose not to trust my judgment."
"Well, his luck with vampires isn't exactly good. He was trying to watch out for you and the mission."
"Angel, I know you aren't a Spike fan. I accept that. But I wouldn't let them hurt you after you got your soul back and I wasn't going to let them hurt Spike. He's honestly trying to make up for the things he did."
"I know. That's why he chose to go to LA and help me there."
"Spike's in LA?" Buffy was amazed.
"Yeah. He came about six months ago, just before I left to find you."
Wrong thing to say. "And why exactly did you take it upon yourself to come and find me, Angel. I told everyone when I left that I needed time." Buffy was getting angry again.
"Because it had been six months and Dawn had received one letter from you. We didn't know if you were all right or if you needed anything. We didn't know anything. It's taken me six months to track you down."
"I didn't want you to know anything. As for being all right, I closed the hellmouth, permanently and survived. Don't you know by now that I can take care of myself?"
"We were just worried, Buffy. We are your friends and we love you."
"Yeah, you all love me so much. That's why Dawn and Giles left. That's why Kennedy won't look at me. That's why the other potentials ran as far away as they could and didn't let me know where they were. Yeah, that seems like everybody cares to me." Buffy finished sarcastically.
Angel looked at her with his tortured brown eyes and Buffy could feel her heart melt a little. "What about me? And Spike."
Buffy sighed. "Spike wanted something that was never going to happen again. I do love him and I do care, but not in that way. He took off when he found out. Everybody I care about left me, including you. You went back to LA and your son."
Angel cut her off. "You told me to go. In fact, you ordered me out."
"I was just making you leave sooner than you planned. I heard you on the phone with Gunn saying you were going to stay a little while longer and then would be back."
"I didn't want to leave until you agreed to come with me. I wanted you to come back to LA with me."
"Oh and that would have worked. I don't think I could have survived watching you and Cordelia drool all over each other."
"It's not like that. Cordy and I aren't together."
"Only because of everything that happened with that big bad that possessed Cordelia."
"Buffy this isn't about me. This is about you."
"You brought it up. I'm just telling you the way things are."
"All right. This isn't helping."
"None of this is helping." Buffy snapped. "You found me and I'm fine. Why don't you just go back to LA and get on with your life. You can tell everyone I'm fine."
"Will you at least tell me why you left in the first place?"
"I told you. I needed time to be me, not the slayer."
"There's more to it than that."
Buffy sighed. She knew Angel wasn't going to let it go. She was going to have to tell him some of it so he would go away. She was finally pulling herself together and seeing him did nothing to help her.
"Yes, there is. However, I'm not ready to talk about it. Here's what I can tell you. After the battle and finding out that so many people I cared about had died, I became depressed. Giles contacted a few friends and found a shrink that wouldn't commit me after hearing my story. So, I went to talk to her, in secret. Nobody, not even Giles, knew I was seeing her. I told Giles she was a quack and wasn't going back. But the truth was, she was helping me. I was dealing with what happened in the battle. I was coming to terms with it. What was dragging me down was the way everyone else was treating me. You and Spike acted like I would break. Kennedy wouldn't look at me and Willow would only talk to me if Kennedy wasn't around. Dawn seemed to distance herself and then announced she wanted to go to England with Giles. Then, Spike took off and you went back to LA."
Buffy paused and looked at Angel. He looked as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He never realized how much the actions of the others had hurt her. He was used to people being uncomfortable with him and distancing themselves from him. He just didn't realize what it would do to Buffy. Angel knew they didn't do it on purpose; they were just trying to deal with everything too. Buffy is the strongest slayer ever but Angel had forgotten that her friends had a lot to do with her power. They gave her the will, the focus to do what had to be done. During this last battle things had been said and done and the friendships had been damaged. When they should have been leaning on each other, they were falling apart.
"So, what happened to make you decide to leave?" Angel asked.
"I talked to my doctor and she told me I needed to find me. I associated myself with my friends so much that I needed to take the time to find my strength in myself. She didn't tell me to leave and I don't think that was how she meant for it to be, but it was what I needed to do."
"I understand that. But, why did you cut yourself off from Dawn? She's your family."
"Yes, and one of the people that I associated my success as a slayer with. She wasn't just my sister; she was one of the gang. I didn't forget about her. She may have only received a couple of letters from me, but I have talked to the school at least twenty times and found out how she was doing. They told me she was adjusting well and her grades were steadily improving. I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that."
"Are you ever coming back?" Angel asked, quietly.
"I don't know." She answered. "I've found a home here. These people are my friends. I have a business here. I may actually turn a profit this month."
"Speaking of which. Where did you get the money to open a hotel?" Angel asked.
Buffy looked sad and replied, "Xander's life insurance. Anya was the primary beneficiary, but seeing how she died with him, I got the insurance. And it was a lot. Xander wanted to make sure Anya was taken care of. I paid off the house and paid Dawn's tuition at that school until she graduates and took the rest for me to start over."
"Why not just sell the house?" Angel asked.
"If I ever decided to go back I wanted something to go back to. That house holds a lot of memories for me."
Angel opened his mouth to speak again but the words never came. The seismo on Buff's arm started to vibrate. She looked down and then at him.
"Looks like El Blanco is passing through." She said.
"About that. I thought we weren't supposed to move or talk?" Angel asked.
"Well, anywhere else you aren't. But my hotel is built like Burt's house. It has concrete surrounding it under the ground. As long as you are in the hotel, the hotel parking lot, or inside the fenced part of the yard, you're fine. El Blanco can't get through."
"So, this graboid thing is for real. I wasn't sure. I thought it might be a tourist trap."
"No, it's very real. I almost got eaten the day I arrived." Buffy laughed.
"You left to get away from the supernatural and now you live with the threat of a giant worm. What kind of logic is that?" Angel asked.
"El Blanco isn't supernatural. He comes from completely natural things. It's a long story, but El Blanco is a Precambrian life form. He's just a normal, earthly animal."
"I guess I should go get my car. It's in front of that little store. I would feel better if it were in your parking lot."
"All right. I guess you want a room?"
"Yeah. I was driving all night. I need some sleep."
"Fine. Go get your car and I'll get your room ready. I guess it doesn't matter if it's exposed to sun." Buffy said, looking pointedly at his finger and the Ring of Amara. "I thought you destroyed that?"
"I did. Gwen, a girl I know from LA, found another one in Asia and brought it to me. It helps but I'm still not very comfortable in the sun. Old habits die hard."
Buffy nodded sadly.
"Buffy," Angel began, hesitantly. "Can I have dinner with you tonight? I know you're busy with the hotel, but I really need to talk to you some more."
"Sorry, Angel." Buffy began. Then, she grinned. "I have a date tonight."
Buffy turned and left the room after she told him that. He sat at the table in mild shock for a few minutes before getting up and heading for his car.
Buffy grinned as she made up Angel's room. She could just imagine the thoughts that were going through his head. He'd drive himself crazy trying to imagine who she would be going out with. She hoped he wouldn't get all jealous and protective. Tyler was a nice guy. She didn't want Angel to make a scene. Tyler was just getting used to graboids. She didn't know how she would explain Angel to him. Maybe she wouldn't have to. She'd just tell him Angel was an old boyfriend. That was the truth. She'd just leave out the vampire part.
Angel walked back in to find a key and a note from Buffy on the front desk. She was nowhere in sight. Angel decided not to push his luck. He didn't look for her. Just grabbed the key and headed for his room. He had a lot of thinking to do. This whole situation was crazy and he needed to sort it out in his head.
Angel got to his room and found that Buffy had covered the windows with blankets. His heart swelled at the simple gesture.
Angel dumped his bags on the bed and picked up the phone.
It only took one ring. "Angel Investigations" came the British voice.
"Spike, it's Angel. I found Buffy."
Sorry for all the speaking. Just needed to explain a few things. I was thinking of maybe bring Spike and/or Faith out to Perfection. What do you think? I have a general idea where I'm going but I need input. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Keep the reviews coming.
TREMORS - PART TWO
Buffy stood frozen in the doorway. She was sure she was hallucinating. There was no way Angel was here.
Angel was having the same problem. He looked her over from head to toe. She was thinner than she was. Her hair was also longer and straight. It was pulled back into a practical ponytail.
"Buffy?" Tyler said, confused breaking them both out of their reverie.
Tyler turned to Buffy. "Who is this guy? I thought your name was Anne?"
"Tyler, I can explain." Buffy began.
"Yeah, Buffy. Why don't you do that?" Angel said. "Why don't you explain how you've been running for nearly a year? Why don't you explain why you ran away and left everyone who cared about you?"
Buffy looked around and noticed people beginning to stare.
"Tyler, you need to get the tour started. Angel, we need to take this into another room." Buffy said, taking charge.
After those words, she went back through the doorway and disappeared.
Angel moved to follow, only to find Tyler had grabbed his arm.
"I don't know who you are or what you want, but we take care of our own, and Anne is one of us."
"One of you?" Angel almost sneered. "You don't even know her real name." With that, Angel jerked his arm away and followed Buffy.
"O.K. folks. Hope you enjoyed our little skit." Tyler adlibbed. "Now it's time for the tour to begin. If everyone will follow me we'll get started."
Buffy was sitting at the table in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee when Angel found her.
"I'm sorry for the things I said in there." Angel began.
"Angel, don't do this." Buffy said. "Why are you here? Why couldn't everyone just let me go? I did my duty, for seven years I guarded the hellmouth. I think it's time for me to just do something for me." Buffy was pleading with him with eyes not to make her go through this.
As much as Angel loved and respected her, he couldn't just let it go. Her friends loved her; they needed to know she was all right.
"I don't disagree. I just want to know why you had to shut out everyone who cares about you to do it?"
"Don't you get it, Angel? I'll never be more than Buffy the vampire slayer to them. Even Dawn, my sister, still sees me as the slayer."
"That's not all she sees you as. You are her sister, she loves you."
"Yeah, she loves me so much she left and went back to England with Giles."
"It wasn't an easy decision for her to make. She wanted to give you time and going to that school in England will be good for her."
"Yeah, I know, but I still don't understand Giles making the offer."
"Maybe Giles needed to move on, too. You haven't exactly been his biggest fan lately."
"Well, excuse me for being upset that he tried to murder Spike. He's the one that chose not to trust my judgment."
"Well, his luck with vampires isn't exactly good. He was trying to watch out for you and the mission."
"Angel, I know you aren't a Spike fan. I accept that. But I wouldn't let them hurt you after you got your soul back and I wasn't going to let them hurt Spike. He's honestly trying to make up for the things he did."
"I know. That's why he chose to go to LA and help me there."
"Spike's in LA?" Buffy was amazed.
"Yeah. He came about six months ago, just before I left to find you."
Wrong thing to say. "And why exactly did you take it upon yourself to come and find me, Angel. I told everyone when I left that I needed time." Buffy was getting angry again.
"Because it had been six months and Dawn had received one letter from you. We didn't know if you were all right or if you needed anything. We didn't know anything. It's taken me six months to track you down."
"I didn't want you to know anything. As for being all right, I closed the hellmouth, permanently and survived. Don't you know by now that I can take care of myself?"
"We were just worried, Buffy. We are your friends and we love you."
"Yeah, you all love me so much. That's why Dawn and Giles left. That's why Kennedy won't look at me. That's why the other potentials ran as far away as they could and didn't let me know where they were. Yeah, that seems like everybody cares to me." Buffy finished sarcastically.
Angel looked at her with his tortured brown eyes and Buffy could feel her heart melt a little. "What about me? And Spike."
Buffy sighed. "Spike wanted something that was never going to happen again. I do love him and I do care, but not in that way. He took off when he found out. Everybody I care about left me, including you. You went back to LA and your son."
Angel cut her off. "You told me to go. In fact, you ordered me out."
"I was just making you leave sooner than you planned. I heard you on the phone with Gunn saying you were going to stay a little while longer and then would be back."
"I didn't want to leave until you agreed to come with me. I wanted you to come back to LA with me."
"Oh and that would have worked. I don't think I could have survived watching you and Cordelia drool all over each other."
"It's not like that. Cordy and I aren't together."
"Only because of everything that happened with that big bad that possessed Cordelia."
"Buffy this isn't about me. This is about you."
"You brought it up. I'm just telling you the way things are."
"All right. This isn't helping."
"None of this is helping." Buffy snapped. "You found me and I'm fine. Why don't you just go back to LA and get on with your life. You can tell everyone I'm fine."
"Will you at least tell me why you left in the first place?"
"I told you. I needed time to be me, not the slayer."
"There's more to it than that."
Buffy sighed. She knew Angel wasn't going to let it go. She was going to have to tell him some of it so he would go away. She was finally pulling herself together and seeing him did nothing to help her.
"Yes, there is. However, I'm not ready to talk about it. Here's what I can tell you. After the battle and finding out that so many people I cared about had died, I became depressed. Giles contacted a few friends and found a shrink that wouldn't commit me after hearing my story. So, I went to talk to her, in secret. Nobody, not even Giles, knew I was seeing her. I told Giles she was a quack and wasn't going back. But the truth was, she was helping me. I was dealing with what happened in the battle. I was coming to terms with it. What was dragging me down was the way everyone else was treating me. You and Spike acted like I would break. Kennedy wouldn't look at me and Willow would only talk to me if Kennedy wasn't around. Dawn seemed to distance herself and then announced she wanted to go to England with Giles. Then, Spike took off and you went back to LA."
Buffy paused and looked at Angel. He looked as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He never realized how much the actions of the others had hurt her. He was used to people being uncomfortable with him and distancing themselves from him. He just didn't realize what it would do to Buffy. Angel knew they didn't do it on purpose; they were just trying to deal with everything too. Buffy is the strongest slayer ever but Angel had forgotten that her friends had a lot to do with her power. They gave her the will, the focus to do what had to be done. During this last battle things had been said and done and the friendships had been damaged. When they should have been leaning on each other, they were falling apart.
"So, what happened to make you decide to leave?" Angel asked.
"I talked to my doctor and she told me I needed to find me. I associated myself with my friends so much that I needed to take the time to find my strength in myself. She didn't tell me to leave and I don't think that was how she meant for it to be, but it was what I needed to do."
"I understand that. But, why did you cut yourself off from Dawn? She's your family."
"Yes, and one of the people that I associated my success as a slayer with. She wasn't just my sister; she was one of the gang. I didn't forget about her. She may have only received a couple of letters from me, but I have talked to the school at least twenty times and found out how she was doing. They told me she was adjusting well and her grades were steadily improving. I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that."
"Are you ever coming back?" Angel asked, quietly.
"I don't know." She answered. "I've found a home here. These people are my friends. I have a business here. I may actually turn a profit this month."
"Speaking of which. Where did you get the money to open a hotel?" Angel asked.
Buffy looked sad and replied, "Xander's life insurance. Anya was the primary beneficiary, but seeing how she died with him, I got the insurance. And it was a lot. Xander wanted to make sure Anya was taken care of. I paid off the house and paid Dawn's tuition at that school until she graduates and took the rest for me to start over."
"Why not just sell the house?" Angel asked.
"If I ever decided to go back I wanted something to go back to. That house holds a lot of memories for me."
Angel opened his mouth to speak again but the words never came. The seismo on Buff's arm started to vibrate. She looked down and then at him.
"Looks like El Blanco is passing through." She said.
"About that. I thought we weren't supposed to move or talk?" Angel asked.
"Well, anywhere else you aren't. But my hotel is built like Burt's house. It has concrete surrounding it under the ground. As long as you are in the hotel, the hotel parking lot, or inside the fenced part of the yard, you're fine. El Blanco can't get through."
"So, this graboid thing is for real. I wasn't sure. I thought it might be a tourist trap."
"No, it's very real. I almost got eaten the day I arrived." Buffy laughed.
"You left to get away from the supernatural and now you live with the threat of a giant worm. What kind of logic is that?" Angel asked.
"El Blanco isn't supernatural. He comes from completely natural things. It's a long story, but El Blanco is a Precambrian life form. He's just a normal, earthly animal."
"I guess I should go get my car. It's in front of that little store. I would feel better if it were in your parking lot."
"All right. I guess you want a room?"
"Yeah. I was driving all night. I need some sleep."
"Fine. Go get your car and I'll get your room ready. I guess it doesn't matter if it's exposed to sun." Buffy said, looking pointedly at his finger and the Ring of Amara. "I thought you destroyed that?"
"I did. Gwen, a girl I know from LA, found another one in Asia and brought it to me. It helps but I'm still not very comfortable in the sun. Old habits die hard."
Buffy nodded sadly.
"Buffy," Angel began, hesitantly. "Can I have dinner with you tonight? I know you're busy with the hotel, but I really need to talk to you some more."
"Sorry, Angel." Buffy began. Then, she grinned. "I have a date tonight."
Buffy turned and left the room after she told him that. He sat at the table in mild shock for a few minutes before getting up and heading for his car.
Buffy grinned as she made up Angel's room. She could just imagine the thoughts that were going through his head. He'd drive himself crazy trying to imagine who she would be going out with. She hoped he wouldn't get all jealous and protective. Tyler was a nice guy. She didn't want Angel to make a scene. Tyler was just getting used to graboids. She didn't know how she would explain Angel to him. Maybe she wouldn't have to. She'd just tell him Angel was an old boyfriend. That was the truth. She'd just leave out the vampire part.
Angel walked back in to find a key and a note from Buffy on the front desk. She was nowhere in sight. Angel decided not to push his luck. He didn't look for her. Just grabbed the key and headed for his room. He had a lot of thinking to do. This whole situation was crazy and he needed to sort it out in his head.
Angel got to his room and found that Buffy had covered the windows with blankets. His heart swelled at the simple gesture.
Angel dumped his bags on the bed and picked up the phone.
It only took one ring. "Angel Investigations" came the British voice.
"Spike, it's Angel. I found Buffy."
Sorry for all the speaking. Just needed to explain a few things. I was thinking of maybe bring Spike and/or Faith out to Perfection. What do you think? I have a general idea where I'm going but I need input. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Keep the reviews coming.