Chapter
Westchester, New York
2008
Twenty-five year old Buffy Summers-O'Brien looked at her husband with a sigh. It was just after dusk and she was getting exasperated. Scrap that, she'd passed that point several hours before. "Angel," she growled, "what is so wrong with us going to visit another magic shop? Are you afraid of the competition?"
Her husband just sighed. "It's not the shop that bothers me. It's the location that's disturbing." Angel O'Brien was probably the only person—ahem, vampire with a permanent soul—in Sunnydale, CA that actually watched the news. From the start of this Heaven forsaken trip, he'd been contemplating how to explain to his wife of seven years—five of which they'd spent together—that Westchester, New York wasn't only the home of Dragon's Magic Shoppe. It was also the home of Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. In the end, the thing it came down to was that there were mutants in Westchester and Buffy, with her Slayer abilities, could quite possibly be mistaken for a mutant.
"Tell me," Buffy said quietly, showing a maturity that was caused by having seen far too much. "What's worrying you so much? The Mouth's closed…not permanently, of course, but Faith's patrolling while we're gone. The Magic Shoppe's doing amazingly well. You have a permanent soul and can't lose it. So what in Heaven's name could have you so wigged?"
"There is a school for mutants here. I'm not worried about the mutants around here because Professor Xavier is all for peace, but I am concerned with the fact that you could be mistaken for a mutant."
"My Slayer-ness is similar to that of a mutant's ability?" Buffy asked skeptically. Now, on one hand it almost made sense, but on the other…She was a creature of legends, a supernatural being. Mutants, if she actually recalled what her bio teacher had taught, were something genetics had brought about. Or maybe they were nature freaks of the woods…she really suspected that that lesson had been taught during her airhead period. After all, what the hell was a nature freak of the woods?!
As they approached the small store where Buffy was hoping to find a certain type of herb (hufflewort, which causes female supernatural creatures to become pregnant if they can't or if it's technically impossible.), he could see her visibly tense. Seeing the questions that he was barely suppressing written in the eyes she'd once called 'cryptic,' Buffy sighed. "It's just a feeling that I have. It's almost like the mutants pose a danger to everything I've ever hidden. Before you ask, it's not just me being the Slayer. I won't explain the other things that I've hidden, but it was all a long time ago. It's far in the past."
Angel only stared at his wife, not understanding why she couldn't open up to him. After all, they'd known each other for a decade and spent over three-fourths of that as man and wife. What could be so upsetting to you that you want to forget it, Buffy? Will you ever tell me? Or is it something like my past…something we will always tiptoe around? If only you knew that I'd give anything to protect you from your secret. If only you understood just how deep my love for you runs.