SECOND
CHANCE
NOTE: I own none of the Scooby gang because they belong to mean old Joss.
A/N: I'd like to say thank you to everyone for the reviews that I've gotten so far. I have a plot planned out for this story but if you have any suggestions or requests then I might fill them in.
CHAPTER 12
Autumn walked through Sunday morning without saying much. She woke up early to fix her own breakfast so as to avoid both of her parents. Jeff had left the house early after breakfast. Autumn guessed that he hadn't seen the pictures their mother had shown her. It was a shame since Autumn had wanted to talk to him.
When the teenaged girl finally left her room it was because she couldn't take the silence anymore. She had to either talk to her mother or confront her father. Autumn knocked on her parents' bedroom door but got no answer. It turned out that neither of them were home. Autumn was pretty insulted since they hadn't even told her they were leaving.
Meanwhile at the Summers household Buffy stood over Willow, who was at the dining room table with her laptop. Dawn sat at the end of the table, a dreamy look in her eyes. She was thinking about Jeff for the third time that day. He just seemed so deep and profound in his dark, handsome nature. Willow groaned loudly interrupting Dawn's thoughts."What is it, Willow?" Buffy asked.
"I can't ID this demon that you were telling us about. I've been at this for a over a week." The red haired witch looked up at Buffy. "I want a coffee break."
"Keep trying," Buffy sighed.
Willow thought a slave driver comment was in order but decided against it. She went back to her computer and started to look again but a look of confusion crossed her face and she began to press random keys furiously. Dawn and Buffy looked at her strangely.
"This is weird," Willow whispered, beating at the keys with her fingers.
"Did it freeze?" Buffy asked with her arms folded.
"No. It pulled up search and..." Willow stared at the computer strangely. "Showing an address?"
Buffy and Dawn gathered around the screen. An address went flashing across the screen in red letters. Willow kept trying to close search but it was as if the laptop wouldn't let her. Buffy formed a look then and took one of Willow's hands off the keys.
"Hold it, Will," said Buffy, a little determination in her voice. "Where is this place?"
"I don't know. 425 N. Atlas," Willow read off the screen.
Buffy grabbed her jacket and headed for the front door.
Dawn went after her. "You're gonna go, aren't you?" Buffy nodded. "Can I come?" the teenager asked with a smile.
Buffy gave her a look. "I thought you had plans to sneak out your window tonight." Buffy opened and closed the door then.
Dawn stood there, a sheepish look on her face.
For the rest of the day Autumn busied herself. She finished off her weekend homework, clean her room, and made dinner, which she had to eat alone. Not even Jeff had come home yet. Autumn went up to her room at around nine o'clock and tried to call Maggie but she wasn't picking up the phone. Autumn released a groan, dropping down on her bed.Then the front door suddenly came open. Autumn got down from her bed and practically rushed downstairs, wanting somebody to talk to. When she got to the foot of the stairs she saw her father standing in the living room with a woman, the same one from the pictures.
"No one's home," Mr. Tucker told the woman. "The kids went out."
"Finally. I've been dying to see your place." The woman sat down on the couch. She looked younger than Mrs. Tucker. "We're always at my place."
Mr. Tucker sat down next to her. "Well, that's gonna change. There is no one I would rather be with than you."
The woman smiled mischievously. "Prove it."
Mr. Tucker smiled back and leaned in to kiss her.
Autumn's eyes grew three sizes. She couldn't believe it. She honestly thought that she was having another one of her many nightmares. There her father was, her own father, sitting on their couch, in their living room, in their house kissing some strange woman. The pictures had been right. Autumn's father really was cheating on her mother. She hadn't wanted to believe it but there it was, for her own eyes to witness. Autumn stormed down the stairs, her anger clear.
She cleared her throat loudly.
Mr. Tucker stopped kissing the woman long enough to look over at his daughter. He nearly jumped out of his seat. "Oh, my... A-Autumn, what are you doing home?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Autumn snapped.
The woman smiled. "Is this your daughter?"
"Yes, I am," Autumn replied sharply. "Dad, is this your home wrecker?"
"Autumn, watch it," her father said firmly.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Autumn apologized innocently. "Does bitch swallow down better?"
The woman looked positively steamed.
Mr. Tucker approached Autumn. "Autumn, watch it," he warned.
"I don't believe you," Autumn shouted in his face. "You have the nerve to do this? And in our own house?" She couldn't say anymore, just turned and stormed up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door.
Buffy arrived at a building, maybe an old stockroom, which looked abandoned. She slowly went inside, looking around. It was definitely abandoned with old broken pieces of machines scattered about. A chill ran through the slayer then and she swirled around to see a frail demon, dressed in rags, and carrying a cane there.
"It's you." Buffy slowly came closer but not right upon him. "I knew you'd be here. I saw you around here just last week. That is until you pulled the disappearing in the shadows thing, which is an old trick, by the way."
The demon limped over to her, cane in hand. "You're the slayer," he hissed.
Buffy sighed. "Do you guys see some type of magical name tag on me or something? How do you always know who I am?"
The demon stuck his hand into the sleeve of his ragged shirt and suddenly yanked out what looked like a scroll. He tossed it to Buffy who instantly caught it. She examined it. It was old, dirty, and looked like it came from a couple of centuries before. When Buffy looked up the demon was limping into the shadows. Buffy rolled her eyes. That trick defined corny.
Autumn sat in her bedroom, sulking, a pissed off look on her face. She sat at her desk, tapping at it with the eraser end of a pencil. A knock came at her door then and she formed an even bigger scowl.
"Who is it?" Autumn asked, as if she didn't know.
"It's me," her father replied.
Autumn went over and opened the door. "Sorry, Father, no adulterers allowed." She started to shut the door again.
Mr. Tucker stuck his foot in the door to keep it from closing completely. "We're going to talk."
Autumn opened the door again. "About what? How you cheated on my mother? I'd rather not talk about that." She stormed off towards the stairs.
Her father followed her. "Get back here."
"Let me not and say I did," Autumn said coolly. She felt Mr. Tucker grab her wrist. "Don't you dare touch me!" She snatched away.
"What is your problem?"
"My problem? I'm not the bastard that's cheating on Mom," Autumn shouted.
"Watch it," he warned.
"Go to hell," Autumn hissed.
Mr. Tucker suddenly slapped her firmly across the face.
Autumn stood motionless and touched her cheek. It hadn't hurt, she'd barely felt it. But it still stung her on the inside, worse than anything physical. Autumn, furiously, decked him in the nose and quickly made it bleed. Before her father could say or do anything Autumn kicked him in the upper abdomen, knocking him down. The red head stood there, frozen. Her father slowly tried to get up.
"I... I..." Autumn trailed off still frozen as tears began to form in her eyes. "I don't know what I did!" She turned and raced down the stairs and speeded out the front door.
Buffy returned to her house with the scroll in hand. Willow unrolled it, revealing Latin symbols, most of them too soiled to make out. Dawn rested against Buffy on the couch later that night, watching Willow sit at the coffee table, trying to decode the words on the scroll.
"Two and one," Willow finally muttered.
Buffy looked up at her. "What?"
"Two and one," Willow said again, looking up at the blonde slayer. "That's all I got. The rest makes no sense. I can't decipher it."
"Two and one?" Dawn repeated.
"That's not so much with the sane," Buffy commented.
"My head hurts, anyway," Willow whined. "I'm sick of reading. Can't you hire someone for this?" Buffy gave her a look. "Sorry."
Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Anyway, I met with the demon I was telling you about," said Buffy. "He didn't exactly look like a threat up close."
"Do they ever?" Dawn chimed in. "Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed. The joys of school are tomorrow." She stood up and headed upstairs.
"Yeah, I'm going to bed, too," said Willow, standing. "I've kind of head it with the whole researching thing today."
Buffy just nodded as Willow followed Dawn up.
Autumn walked around through her neighborhood after crying a little. The air was a little chilly and she had forgotten to bring a jacket. Autumn spotted a pay phone standing outside of a store. She picked up the receiver, put in a few coins, and dialed Maggie's number. The phone just rang loudly on the other end.
"Come on, Maggie, pick up," Autumn ordered softly.
The red headed teenager finally hung up the phone and thought frantically on what to do. The one thing she didn't want was to go back home, not to her father. She wouldn't even use that as a last resort. Autumn wondered into the nearby park and decided to snuggle up on a bench.
A couple hours later she awoke again to a freezing chill passing by. Autumn tried to go back to sleep again but got interrupted once more by what sounded like rustling. She looked around at the trees that were swaying with the wind and thought it could just be a cat. Something abruptly reached out and grabbed the girl by the throat, tossing her off.
"Whoa!" Autumn shouted, crashing into a bunch of bushes by the inside of the gate. She looked over at a vampire. "Oh, great." Autumn stood up a little groggily. "In my last town I only had to worry about muggers."
The vampire rushed out at her. Autumn jumped down and somersaulted off, making him miss her. She jumped up as the vampire came upon her again. Autumn kicked him swiftly in the chest but didn't put much heart into it. When the vampire went down she turn and ran towards the trees, spotting a fallen branch. Autumn grabbed it and turned back to stake the vampire but felt herself get snatched from behind. She turned her head the best she could to see that another vampire had grasped her. Autumn struggled her best to get away but she was too tired. The next thing she knew, something hit her in the head and everything went black...
A/N: Aren't cliffhangers just plain fun? Yes, they are. Admit it. Anyway, this chapter took me forever to write because of the heavy blockage so please be really nice and give me a really nice review. Please?