Buffy was barely awake when Willow had called her up and told her she would be needing to stop in Chicago. Dawn had taken the initiative and called their Aunt there to ask if Buffy could stay with her for a week or so. Willow told her that she had had a vision of some sort that slayer's were fighting each other in the south side area. Buffy decided that she could take care of this quickly and only planned on stopping by her Aunts and then leaving tonight. Buffy heard the bus driver call "Chicago!" and the bus stopped.
Buffy arose from her seat and took down her bag from the over hang and lugged it out of the bus. She looked around warily. She had never been to Chicago, when she was not hanging on the arm of her mother. She also was too young to remember and believe her aunt lived out in the suburbs at the time. They moved right before her cousin had gone to the hospital and she rather not think about any part of that trip in her mind.
The bus station was in the middle of downtown, not to far from the business district but the area still looked seedy. Buffy walked under the alcove of the station and took out her cell phone. Soon her Aunt picked up. "Yes? Oh Buffy Anne!"
"Aunt Jackie, how are you?"
"Good Buffy, good. So I heard you're in town? Do you need an address?"
"That'd be great!" Buffy said trying to sound like a good niece as she walked toward a taxi.
Jacqueline Callaway awaited Buffy's arrival standing outside of her door. A taxicab pulled up and a young pretty girl with brown short hair came out and smiled at her. Jackie felt a little awkward she hasn't seen her niece since her sister died. And before then, she didn't even remember. Buffy was with them when her daughter had passed away in the hospital. Buffy was really close to Celia. Buffy walked up the stairs and put her bag down.
Jackie hugged her niece tightly. Buffy took off her sunglasses and looked at each other deeply. "You have your mother's eyes."
Buffy smiled, and her Aunt led her inside. The house was small but pleasant. Jackie walked into a room, which was off the side of the kitchen, and the dinning room. It was empty, just a mattress on a box spring as well as a dresser on the other side of the room.
"This was Celia's room, it's been empty for years, I haven't had many visitors." Jackie said as she looked blankly into the room.
"Its fine, I hopefully won't be staying long anyway." Buffy said as she put her bag on the bed. "Maybe only a day or two."
"Come, you must me hungry." Jackie said, the two went into the kitchen. "Sit down dear,"
Buffy did so. "Its great to see you Aunt Jackie."
Aunt Jackie had curly hair like her mother, with brown graying hair. Her face was kind and inviting. Buffy and her never had a close relationship, but she reminded her so much of Joyce.
Jackie gave out some crackers and ice tea and sat down across from Buffy. "So you live in New York now? How wonderful."
"Yeah New York is great, so much different from Los Angeles or Sunnydale." Buffy said taking a bite of a Ritz cracker.
"I am so glad you made it out of Sunnydale before the earthquake."
"Oh, well there was a warning of a future earthquake so everyone made it out, well almost everyone," Buffy stared at her ice tea.
Buffy felt bad for her Aunt, she's been alone for quite sometime. She's a schoolteacher; she always said the children in her classes were her children now.
"Buffy, I know about you… the vampires." Jackie said lifting Buffy's head up. Buffy's eyes widened. "Your mother told me, when she was sick in the hospital. She told me if anything ever happened to her, that I would take care of you and your sister. But, I was too afraid. Afraid that I would lose the both of you, like Celia."
"Oh my God, Aunt Jackie, I never knew. You didn't call at all after the funeral." Buffy's mind went threw all the possible reasons, and how hard it was for her to take care of Dawn alone.
"I know, I know, I was afraid." Jackie said.
"Afraid of what? Commitment?" Buffy said with a touch of attitude. "You mean you could have came to Sunnydale to help watch Dawn? And you knew I was a Vampire Slayer? Jackie you could have helped out so much! Do you have any idea what I had to go through? Dad abandoned us, you were always there for us before, and Mom was always there for you. You're just like him."
"Buffy please, you don't understand." Jackie tried.
Buffy stood up, "No, I understand rather well. You lost your daughter, I watched her die. But now you think you should stay in seclusion. You can't raise any more children, Jackie? You work at a fucking school!" Buffy yelled, all she could see in her aunt was her father. "It's been thirteen years!"
Jackie buried her face in her hands. "Its not only about her, I didn't-didn't because of you. I didn't want to get involved in your slaying."
"My slaying? What's that have to do with anything?" Buffy said angrily. "You're the last family member we have." Buffy stopped. "I have work to do, I'll be back later." Buffy grabbed her jacket and walked out the door, slamming it.
Jackie started to cry.
Buffy walked out of the house in a huff, as Pike watched from the corner. Pike had been loosely following her ever since she left Los Angeles. 'It's not stalking, she already knows me', Pike thought. As Pike could tell, she looked pretty pissed off, so he decided to reveal himself. As he began to walk toward her he began to think maybe it wasn't such a good idea.
"Hey Buff!" Pike said, walking toward her. Buffy's eyes seemed to turn a fiery red, but that might just be Pike's fear and imagination.
"What, how? Where? How did you- know," Buffy stuttered in a fury. "Pike! What are you doing here?"
"Oh, c'mon Buff, you know I couldn't let go of my favorite girl again." He said trying to flirt with her.
"Pike, you ditched me in Las Vegas."
"And you ditched me in Los Angeles, now we are even." He smiled. Buffy admired his charisma. He always was quite the charmer.
"Alright then, lets move on to why. Why are you here?" Buffy said.
"You know why,"
"Ok, I understand you want to help. If you think you can hold your own now, then you can. Besides, I could always use a chauffer." Buffy smirked as she gestured to his motorcycle parked by the curb. She started to walk toward it.
"That's not the only reason."
*****************
Buffy and Pike stopped to eat some dinner and were now driving in the night Chicago streets toward the south side. The south side wasn't the best part of town lots of gang activity in that area. Buffy feared about the strange communication between two slayers, that Willow had seen. What type of backgrounds could these girls have?
Buffy gripped tightly on Pike's waist as they speeded through the busy streets. The street lamps flew by them incredibly fast. Suddenly Buffy got a shot through her stomach and squeezed Pike's waist hard. Pike yelped and turned his head, as he slowed down.
"Pull over," Buffy yelled. Pike pulled over and turned off the bike. Buffy got off.
"What is it?" Pike said taking off his helmet. Buffy started to walk down an alley.
"I had a sharp pain in my stomach." She said walking away.
"Oh, cramps, right."
Buffy turned around and shot him a hard glance, "No dumbass, I feel slayer strength around here."
Pike followed her down the alley. "Where are they?"
"Not sure," Buffy said, they continued walking. Buffy heard a trashcan knocking over and started to run.
They ran and turned the corner of the alley that turned into a fenced off area and saw two girls fighting.
"Why are they fighting?" Pike asked.
"I don't know, but its time to teach these girls a lesson." Buffy ran up and pushed the two girls, separating them. One had dark skin and was tall; the other, a brunette with her hair tied up in a bun. "Okay ladies? What's the prob-," Buffy was punched in the face by the brunette and Buffy fell to the ground.
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" she yelled. The dark skinned girl stood her ground, she looked afraid of the brunette.
"Hey, hey, girls, we aren't here to fight." Pike said walking up to them.
"Yeah, well we are," brunette said. Buffy stood up.
"Girls, I am a slayer like yourself." She said rubbing her bruising cheek.
"What's a slayer?" the black girl asked, with interest, her breathing still heaving from the fight.
The brunette replied, "I don't care!" she charged and kicked Pike and Buffy with tremendous force and pounced on the dark skinned girl. "You're going to get it you fuckin' slut!"
Buffy got up and tore the brunette off holding her in a full nelson. Pike helped the dark skinned girl up. "Why does she want to kill you?" he asked her.
"Her beau broke up with her and is now wit' me," she said fixing her hair. The brunette turned and started to pummel Buffy in her chest with her elbow.
"Buffy!" Pike yelled. "Stay here!" he said to the dark girl. He ran and punched the slayer in the face, who didn't move an inch. The brunette kicked him in the chest, making him fall backward hard. Buffy slowly got up. She noticed that this girl was street fighting, she had no technique at all, but she was angry and reckless.
"Listen to me!" Buffy tried, but the slayer grabbed her by the jacket and threw her into the hard brick wall. She held Buffy against the wall and repeatedly punched Buffy in the face. When suddenly she got shot in the leg and fell to the hard pavement.
Pike lay on the ground aiming the gun. The dark girl screamed. Buffy snapped back to full consciousness and looked at Pike, glad that he had the gun.
The brunette was on the pavement cradling her leg, crying angry curses. Pike stood up and pointed the gun at her. Buffy walked over to the other slayer. "What's your name?"
"Shavonne," she said shaking.
"How old are you?"
"I'll be seventeen in a month." She said staring at the brunette on the ground. "She wanted to kill me."
"I can see that," Buffy said turning to the brunette. "What's her name?"
"Dani."
Buffy took out her cell phone and dialed Willow. "Hey Will, how's that extraction spell coming along?"
Pike stood with the gun pointed at Dani's head. "Don't even think about it, you're lucky you still have one workable leg."
Dani was screaming at the top of her lungs. She had so much hatred and fear inside of her, blood was spilling out of her uncontrollably. "Hey Buffy! We need to get her to a hospital!"
Suddenly Dani froze, and started to convulse, then fainted. "Holy shit! She's dead!" Pike yelled.
Buffy and Shavonne walked up beside him looking down at the girl. "No she isn't, she has her power taken away, now she's unconscious due to the pain in her leg."
Buffy dialed 9-1-1 again for the second time since her journey started.
"Well Shavonne, looks like we need to have a talk," Buffy said as the three walked back to the street, hearing sirens in a distance.
The First/Anya appeared, watching them in the dark as the three walked away. She smiled.
Buffy and Pike said goodbye to Shavonne as they saw her walk into her apartment building. Buffy sighed.
"It's getting pretty late," Pike, said looking at his watch. It was 9:15 at night. "You feeling tired?"
Buffy turned and started to walk back to the parked bike. "Not tired, just a little tense I guess."
"Why don't we go and get some drinks?" Pike asked, picking up his helmet.
Buffy smiled, "Are you asking me on a date?"
"Get on the bike."
"So, I'll pick you up around eleven?" Pike asked as Buffy got off his bike.
"I'll be here waiting, I really need a shower, feel all sticky." Buffy said making funny faces.
"I'm gonna check in at a hotel," Pike said starting back up his motorcycle. "Later."
Buffy took out her key that her Aunt had given her and opened the door. The house was dark except one light in the living room. Buffy expected her Aunt was asleep. She made her way through the living room and into her bedroom. Buffy grabbed her bag that she left on the bed and went into the bathroom.
Buffy took her shower and put some bar cloths on. She went to the mirror and looked at what she could with her damp hair. They're wasn't much she could do with it so she just scrunched it and left it loose to curl around her face. It was always a plus that her hair dried quickly because she did not want to go back out into the cold with wet hair. She grabbed her jacket of her bed and walked back into the kitchen.
"Going out again?"
Buffy turned to see her aunt wearing a robe. She remind her very much of her mother. The same look she got when she had caught Buffy trying to sneak out. "I didn't mean to wake you." She said trying to sound stoic. In fact after she had calmed down Buffy realized she had treated her Aunt as if she was her father. Everything seemed to come back to him in the end. She wondered what the vampire Webbs would have said about that revolution.
"You didn't. I couldn't sleep." She took a sip of the glass water that she held in her hand. They stood there for a moment, nobody speaking or moving knowing what they could say to end this stand of. They were the last family each other had.
When they finally broke, they broke together, "I'm so sorry, I should have stayed with you guys…" "I shouldn't have said that I know how hard it was for you after Celia…"
They both continued on and Jackie gave her niece a giant hug. Buffy closed her eyes and felt safe, for a moment letting her heart and mind to think it was her mother holding her. "I made that promise, I couldn't… I couldn't get close to you or Dawn just to have you die. It would have killed me, but I should have gone."
"You would have been right, I died. You would have had to watch me die." Buffy continued to hold on.
"You died?" Jackie asked confused.
"Long story." They sat down on the couch and Buffy cuddled up lying on her lap, they talked for what little time they had before Pike would show up and they let everything out. Buffy glanced at her watch, five after eleven. "My friend will be here soon." She sighed getting up.
"Okay," She said giving her a kiss on forehead. "Be careful, Buffy."
"I'll be leaving early in the morning." She said, as she got closer to the front door.
"I'll leave the box in your room, for you and your sister, So you don't forget it." She said and they shared another hug. "Thank you for coming."
"Thanks for letting me stay." Buffy gave her a smile and walked out the door.
"I've been out here for like ten minutes," Pike said to her as Buffy walked up to the bike. Pike was on it, the motorcycle running, holding his helmet. He got to see her in the streetlight, Pike quickly shut up.
"Wow, you look – marvelous," Pike, said trying his best at a Billy Crystal. Buffy smiled.
"I feel like dancing," Buffy said. She shook her hips, her short wavy moving side to side.
"Sweet, there's a dance club a block away from the motel I'm staying at," Pike said.
Buffy got on the motorcycle once again and they drove off.
They walked into the club, which was hopping to the music of 50 cents' "In the Club" Buffy smiled as they caroused through the crowd of people. "Ooh, I love this song!" she said grabbing his arm. Pike rolled his eyes and followed her to the dance floor.
Pike enjoyed Buffy's choice of style of dancing. She moved her hips, moving up and down. Her arms waving to the beat of the rap music. Buffy didn't really enjoy rap, but she loved this particular song. Buffy took Pike's hands and moved in closer into his body, the both of them moving to the song. Pike wrapped his arms around Buffy and they started to grind. Buffy wanted to let go of all the tension she's been having, and finally start her vacation. Buffy turned in Pike's arms, her back against his chest. The song ended and Buffy broke the dance.
"Lets get something to drink," Pike said as they headed over to the bar.
Pike took of his bomber jacket and hung it on the back of the chair. Underneath his jacket he was wearing a sleeveless undershirt. "Wow its really hot in here," Pike said, sweating slightly. He wasn't sure if it was from the dancing or from his attraction to Buffy.
"Yeah," Buffy said as she took her seat. "I thought you hated dancing? You did quite well out there. Did they teach you that in the military?"
"Very funny," he said smirking. He ordered the two of them drinks. "So that girl, Dani or whatever her name was. Why was she- psychotic?"
"Not all girls that are 'chosen' are exactly the best people all around. Some can be dangerous, its not like the Powers that be have a background check up on the girls they choose." Buffy hesitated. "I've encountered one before."
"Wait, that wasn't your first one?" Pike asked.
"No, before the Awakening."
Pike moved up eyebrow questionably. "Huh?"
Buffy sighed. "I died, Pike. Just a few weeks after I moved to Sunnydale. I drowned. Yet I was revived by one of my best friends, and it triggered another slayer to be called. She then died and a girl by the name of Faith was called. To make an extremely long story short, she was psychotic, drove me insane, not literally though. Started to kill people, worked for the bad side. She eventually turned herself in for a few years, we needed her, she wanted to redeem herself and helped me with Sunnydale."
"Was she hot?" Pike asked. Buffy punched him the arm and laughed.
They had a few more drinks. Buffy told him also about the second time she died. Which was another shock to him. They started to feel side effects of the alcohol.
"So yeah, my friends yet again resurrected me," Buffy said laughing.
"Man I wish I had a lesbian witch friend," Pike said laughing.
They danced to two more songs, similar to the way they did before. And drank more. They were having a great time.
"What are your plans next?" Pike asked.
"Well I have to go to Cleveland, a new Hellmouth is open there, I have to set up a 'faction' if you will. Then off to New York. I should be back around January. I plan to spend some time in Cleveland." Buffy said.
"Buff- its almost two o'clock." Pike said holding her hand at the bar. "You want to go back to the motel? Or do you want me to drive you to your Aunts?" The two were obviously buzzed, almost drunk.
"I'm not sure you can drive Mr. Fish-man." Buffy said standing up from her stool. "Lets go."
They both walked to the motel, which was only a block away, holding onto each other to keep warm in the cold Chicago winter night. Pike opened the door to his room with a keycard and the two stumbled in. Pike closed the door and turned around to find himself almost pinned against the door. She was so close he could feel her breath through his shirt. She moved closer to him so his back was up against the door.
"What are you doing?" He asked coyly as she brought her hands to lay on his chest.
"What do you think I'm doing?" she tried to ask innocently as she played with his dog tags.
He gave her a look and she licked her lips. He took his cue and leaned down and tilted her chin up to give her a kiss. It started out sweet and tender but soon became more passionate and hands began to roam. In one moment of responsibly Pike stopped them before they reached the point of no return. She sighed in annoyance and he wrap his arms around her head rested on his chest. "Are you sure?" he asked, "You've been drinking."
She pulled back so he could see her face. "In the words of Monica Geller, you know friends, I'm drunk enough to know I wanna do this, but not enough that you'd be taking advantage." She smiled and her kissed her at the same time led them to the bed. It was only a matter of moments before cloths were no longer a problem.
*****
Pike awoke. It was almost noon the next day. He smiled as he turned to his right, expecting to see Buffy there. She wasn't.
Pike threw off his blanket and slid his boxers back on and looked around the motel room. She was gone. Pike noticed a note on the nightstand next to Buffy's side. Pike picked it up and read it:
Pike:
I am really sorry for leaving you like this. I know what it feels like, but I can't be with you. I did something I shouldn't have. I'm heading to Cleveland. It was great seeing you again.
Buffy
P.S.: Don't follow me this time.
Pike crumpled up the paper.