DISCLAIMER: I know. Don't own it. Not likely to. Unless suddenly Joss
decides to adopt me and give me the copyright. (Hey if you're gonna dream
may as well dream big). The only thing I own is Jessica.
SUMMARY: Buffy ran off at the end of season 2 and never came back. The first chapter picks up with the end of "Anne".
********** Hank Summers was eating his dinner when there was a knock on the door. He put aside his tray table to answer the door. Only to find his daughter standing on the other side of it, looking for all the world like someone had just killed her best and only friend.
"Buffy, what are you doing here?"
When she looked up at him with tears filling eyes that were much too old for her seventeen-year-old face, he felt as if a knife had been driven into his stomach. "Daddy, can I stay here for a while?"
"Why? Buffy, what happened? Where's your mother?"
"Please, Daddy. Can I stay here for a while?" The tears started falling and Hank couldn't refuse his little girl.
"Of course you can, baby. Come on in. We can talk later. Are you hungry?"
"No. Just want to sleep. Would that be alright?" She looked at her father hopefully as she followed him down the hall toward the guest room.
"Sure, baby. Do you want me to call your mom and let her know where you are?"
"NO! Daddy, whatever you do, don't call her. She -- She threw me out of the house. It's a long story and I'm really tired right now. I promise that I'll tell you everything later. Please."
Hank pulled his sobbing daughter into his arms. "It's ok. I won't call her. At least not until we have a chance to talk about what happened. For now, I'll give you a few days to sort things out in your mind. Then we'll talk. Ok?"
"Sure, Daddy. I promise." She walked into the room and closed the door before falling on top of the covers and sobbing into the pillow heartbrokenly.
Hank stood at the door for a moment, his dinner forgotten in the wake of his daughter's arrival and the admission that Joyce had thrown her out of the house. He heard Buffy crying and wanted nothing more than to walk into the room and wrap his arms around her and comfort her.
But he had promised her a few days and that was what he would give her. A few days to collect her thoughts and figure out what she would tell him.
Of course, as he walked away, he wondered about the final words he heard her cry before he couldn't take the sound anymore and turned away. "Angel, I'm sorry. So sorry."
**********
Back in Sunnydale, Willow, Oz and Xander had been working hard to keep the vampire population down what they could. Occasionally they even had Cordelia's help.
Giles was busy trying to track down where Buffy could be. No one knew that Joyce had thrown Buffy out of the house before her big battle with Angel.
Joyce was racked with guilt because she knew that she was part of the reason that Buffy hadn't come back. She would gladly take back the words she had said in anger if it would bring back her little girl. She just wanted Buffy. She realized that being the Slayer was part of who Buffy was. It wasn't all of Buffy but it was part and to accept Buffy was to accept the Slayer.
The first few days of school came and went and Giles had left twice to follow leads that might have been Buffy. Of course he never found her.
//////////
Willow was on a free period when she decided to stop by the computer classroom two weeks into the year and offer her services as a tutor for anyone who needed it.
"Excuse me," she said as she walked into the room to talk to the new teacher. Thankfully, she had caught the class empty.
"Yes?" came the reply as the teacher turned around. The face that greeted Willow was not one that she had expected to see. Anymore than she had expected to introduce the back of her head to the floor as she fell to the floor in a dead faint.
//////////
"Oz. Oz, man, she's waking up."
Willow felt a hand wrap around hers as it's companion brushed the hair back from her face. Her eyes fluttered open to see Xander sitting on one side of her and Oz on the other. She still felt kind of groggy and had the headache to match the bump on the back of her head. "My head feels big. Is my head big?"
Oz smiled. "No. It's head sized." His Willow would be okay. He knew that from the tired smile she gave him. "How are you otherwise?"
"Headache. Where am I?"
"Nurse's office. Geez, Will, give us a heart attack next time. You passed out in the computer class. The teacher grabbed Larry and had him carry you down here. After he did that, he came to the library and got Giles who called us out of class. What happened?"
"I'm afraid I did," came the voice from the doorway. Oz and Xander turned to see what Giles had already seen and both were shocked when they saw Jenny Calendar's face looking at them..
Giles looked at the young woman who so closely resembled his dead love. Tears welled in his eyes. He cleared his throat and pushed back the tears. "And why would you say that?"
"I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself. I'm Jessica Calendar. I took over my sister's class. I would guess that my appearance is what caused this young lady to faint. Is she alright?"
"Your sister?" Giles was astounded at the resemblance between Jessica and Jenny.
"My twin sister. I was sent to find her and was told that she was dead. After I sent word back to our people, I was told that, if I knew computers as well as she had, I could take over her class. As it is, I know computers better than she did." She bowed her head for a moment. "Maybe one of you could tell me the truth of my sister's death?"
"Of course. In due time. In the interim, my name is Rupert Giles. I'm the school librarian. The young lady there would be Willow Rosenburg. And the two young men," he indicated each one as he introduced them,"would be Xander Harris and Daniel Osbourne."
"You're Jenny's twin sister?"
"Yes. Willow, I'm sorry I startled you. I guess Jenny never told anyone that she had a twin." When all four of them shook their heads, Jessica smiled. "She never liked being called 'one of the Calendar twins'. It made her mad that so many people couldn't see us as two separate people."
"Isn't that the way with twins?" Willow asked sitting up on the cot.
"Normally. But it really bothered Jenny. She wasn't a typical twin. She and I never got along. I guess you could say that she wanted to go her own way from the start. She hated the lessons about our history. She used to skip out and go play with the kids in the village." Jessica shook her head. "It was never hard to find her when we realized that she wasn't with us."
Giles smiled. That definitely sounded like the Jenny he had fallen in love with. She never wanted to follow the rules and didn't if she could get around it somehow. He remembered the times that she had helped him out. She had known how to get Moloch out of the Internet. She hadn't been able to put him back in the book but had trapped him in the mechanical body he had made humans build for him. From there Buffy was able to defeat him.
"That sounds like Jenny alright," Xander said, voicing everyone's thoughts. "She even broke the rules when it came to Angel."
Giles shot him a look that told him to shut up. Xander stood up. "No, Giles. Jessica has a right to know what Jenny was working on when she died." He looked at Jessica. "Your sister hadn't told us that she was one of the Kalderash people until Angel lost his soul. When we found out, we all kind of overreacted. Buffy totally shut her out. Giles wouldn't even talk to her. None of us would. I guess that's why she started working on a program that would translate the restoration spell."
"Those magicks were lost to our people! How did she find it?"
"We don't know. We only know that she did and that she had found a way to translate it. For that, Angelus killed your sister and left her in Giles' bed. Giles almost got himself killed trying to destroy him. Buffy saved him and eventually sent Angel to hell. Willow here tried the spell once and almost got killed when Drusilla brought some vamps to the library to kidnap Giles so he could tell Angel how to awaken Acathla. While she was in the hospital, Willow tried to do the spell again. Apparently, either she succeeded in the spell or Buffy sent him to hell in time because the world didn't end."
"Willow? You did that spell?"
"I don't know if it worked. I felt something go through me and Oz says that I was talking in some strange language. I just don't know. Maybe it didn't work in time. Maybe it worked but she still had to send him to hell."
"Willow, just the fact that you did the spell in the first place is a testament to the witch you are destined to become. Just be careful. Please."
"I will be. I didn't exactly enjoy the way I felt after I finished the spell."
"She was really weak and tired. But then again, she had just come out of a coma." Oz kissed her hand.
"You tried it with a concussion? That took courage. The type I don't think I'd have in that situation."
"Is the spell that dangerous?" Giles asked.
"I've heard that the first time it was cast on Angelus, the old one slept for days afterward and was never exactly the same." Jessica shook her head. "Either Willow here is more powerful as a beginner than the old one was or just a lot luckier."
"I prefer to think that I was just a lot luckier. I get scared to think of myself as powerful."
"What's going on in here?" Principal Snyder demanded, pushing his way into the office. "Don't we have classes? Either to teach or to attend?" He looked around the room and everyone scattered. Oz staying beside Willow who was still a little wobbly. "Move it, you two."
Oz turned to look at Snyder, growling low in his throat. Snyder took a step back as Willow grabbed Oz's arm and begged, "No. Oz, don't."
Oz turned back to Willow and took her arm, leading her out of the nurse's office. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for the rest of the day?"
"I'll be ok. Just please don't eat Snyder. I think he'd give you a really bad stomach ache."
"He'd probably poison a vampire." Willow giggled and groaned as she grabbed at the bump on her head.
"Please tell me you were joking."
"Nope."
**********
Buffy was sleeping on the bed when she started dreaming.
^She is standing on the beach, looking out over the ocean in her barefeet as a wave crashes on the sand. In the far distance a pier stretches out into the water. She closes her eyes and raises her head to just feel the sun on her face and listen to the waves come in. She feels a pair of hands reach around her and clasp in front, and she covers them with hers. She looks back at Angel leaning his head over her shoulder. She reaches up with her hand and brushes it against his cheek.
"How did you find me here?"
"If I was blind, I would see you."
She lowers her hand to take his again at her waist and closes her eyes. She embraces his arms tightly to her.
"Stay with me."
"Forever. That's the whole point. I'll never leave." The last part is whispered into her ear. "Not even if you kill me."
Buffy starts and wakes up.^
Looking around the bedroom, she ran her hand through her hair. She had been having that dream ever since she left Sunnydale.
She knew she had killed Angel. She had seen the betrayal in his eyes when the sword went through his stomach. She had prayed every night that he had forgiven her. She hoped that he wasn't still suffering.
When she found herself in that hell dimension with Lily, she dared have just one moment that Angel was also there. But then again no. For him an eternity of work wouldn't be hell. And he had already believed that he wasn't important. That he was no one without her. For her to have sent him there would have been too perfect. She was just glad she had stopped Ken. He had been obnoxious AND evil. He was a pain. It was almost fun to take him out.
She looked at the clock. It was dark out. She should patrol, she supposed. After all, even though she was away from her Watcher, she was STILL the Slayer. Slipping on her coat, and pocketing a couple of stakes, she slipped out of the house.
//////////
"Lindsey, I need some help. My daughter just came to my door tonight. She looked like she'd been through hell. I know that she's been missing all summer because her mother, who has custody, called repeatedly to tell me that she still hadn't come home. Then, Buffy tells me that her mother kicked her out of the house. What can I do?"
"You're ex-wife has custody?"
"Yes. I can't do anything without her consent and Buffy doesn't even want me calling her."
"What would you do if you had custody?"
"I could enroll her in a private school. I could take care of her. The way I want to."
"What would it take to give you custody?"
"Either proving that Joyce is an unfit mother or that she's dead. Of course that only gives me custody until Buffy turns eighteen."
"Don't worry about that. We'll take care of this for you, Hank. We do take care of our associates." Lindsey McDonald hung up the phone and rubbed his hands together. "I knew we wanted him here for a reason. And that reason just dropped right into our lap."
**********
Back in Sunnydale, Willow, Oz, Xander and Cordy were calling it a night when they found a guy laying on a bus stop bench holding his head as if he had a headache. "Are you alright, man?"
"Gods! That was a vicious one!" Looking up to the sky, he got a sarcastic look on his face. "Thanks a lot for nothin'!"
Then, he looked at the four young people around him. "It's a headache. That's all. Would any of you fine young folks happen to know where I'd be finding Rupert Giles? It's rather important that I talk to him."
Cordelia stepped over to the bench and helped the man stand up. "Just come with us. We'll take you to him."
Xander glared at the way Cordy kept a hand on the young man's arm all the way to Giles' apartment where they had to check in before they went home for the night.
//////////
Cordy knocked on Giles' door before anyone could stop her. When Giles opened it, he was a little stunned as Cordy led the young man in and set him down on the couch. Well, at least they knew he wasn't a vampire. "Cordelia, would you mind telling me who you just brought into my house uninvited?"
"The name's Doyle. Allen Francis Doyle. You can just call me Doyle. I don't normally use the other."
"Mr. Doyle...."
"Please. Mr. Doyle was me da and I'm not him. Just Doyle."
Giles looks over at Oz who's sniffing the air as though something isn't right. "What is it, Oz?"
Oz steps a little closer to Doyle. "You're not human."
"Now that's a bit rude. So happens that I am very much human." Doyle sneezed and blue spikes popped out all over his face. "On my mother's side." As he shakes his head, the spikes disappeared.
"You would be a Brachen demon, yes?"
"Only half." Doyle caught sight of Willow slipping back a step and Oz stepping in front of her defensively. "We're a peaceful race. Pretty strong in demon form. But most of us use it only for defense. We're also pretty good at basketball."
Willow stayed behind Oz for the time being. She wasn't real sure about the fact that this Doyle, who they had just met, had a demon side and hadn't told them from the first. Xander stepped up though. He held out a hand. "Welcome to Sunnydale. Home of the Hellmouth. And lots of demony stuff."
Doyle shook Xander's hand and turned to Giles. "Ya wouldn't happen to have a good stiff drink and some asprin around, would ya?"
"O-Of course. Cordy, would you go get the asprin out of the bathroom cabinet?" Giles turned to the kitchen and poured some stout looking stuff into a tumbler and brought it to Doyle, who promptly chased the asprin with the tumbler of alcohol.
When he had finished that, Doyle leaned back against the couch and rubbed his temples. "I'd be guessin' ye're wonderin' why I'm here. The Powers That Be sent me."
"The Powers That Be? Be what?"
"The Powers That Be. The ones running everything down here. The ones that gave me these blindin', head-crushing visions that tell me what's going to happen next. To some extent." He shook his head. "At least they give me a few pieces to the puzzle and then it's up to someone else to put them all together."
"And what have they told you so far?"
"Just that I was supposed to come here and help you until the Champions returned. My visions may be able to help you keep things from getting too crazy around here until they come back and resume their reign of terror over the evil things of the Hellmouth." Doyle shook his head. "That's all they've told me so far. But I would assume that they would send me a vision if either one of them was in trouble that they couldn't get out of."
"I should hope so. At least if we knew that Buffy was in trouble we could try to help her." Giles still wanted to protect his Slayer.
"I don't know about you guys, but I think it's time I took Willow home." Everyone looked to where Oz was standing next to the chair Willow was sitting in. She had fallen asleep with her head on Oz's shoulder.
Xander walked over. "Would you like me to carry her to the van for you?"
Oz just shook his head. He reached up to brush the hair from Willow's face. "Willow. Willow, time to wake up. To go home."
She nuzzled her head deeper into his shoulder. "Don't want to," she muttered.
"Willow, wake up." Oz's voice was a little more insistent this time. He knew that even if Xander carried her out to the van, Oz wouldn't be able to carry her into her house. Not without her parents finding out that their little girl hadn't been tucked up in her bed all safe and sound like they thought all night.
She sat up. "Ok. Ok. I'm up."
"You only have to stay awake long enough to get into your house and up to your room. Ready to go?"
She nodded and Oz helped her up and led her out of the house. Xander turned to Cordy. "Ready for me to walk you home?"
"I thought you had forgotten me."
"No! I was just going to help Oz get Willow out to the van and then come back in and walk you home."
"Oh. Ok. Doyle, where are you going to stay tonight?"
"He can stay in my guest room. At least until we make some more permanent arrangements." Giles spoke up quickly. "That is, unless he's made other arrangements?"
"No. No other arrangements."
Cordy and Xander left next, since Cordy was satisfied that Doyle had someplace to stay for now. Giles led Doyle down the hall to the guest room and left him there for the night. After seeing that his guest was comfortable, Giles trudged up to his room and got ready for bed.
"Buffy, where are you?" he asked the universe before his eyes drifted closed.
SUMMARY: Buffy ran off at the end of season 2 and never came back. The first chapter picks up with the end of "Anne".
********** Hank Summers was eating his dinner when there was a knock on the door. He put aside his tray table to answer the door. Only to find his daughter standing on the other side of it, looking for all the world like someone had just killed her best and only friend.
"Buffy, what are you doing here?"
When she looked up at him with tears filling eyes that were much too old for her seventeen-year-old face, he felt as if a knife had been driven into his stomach. "Daddy, can I stay here for a while?"
"Why? Buffy, what happened? Where's your mother?"
"Please, Daddy. Can I stay here for a while?" The tears started falling and Hank couldn't refuse his little girl.
"Of course you can, baby. Come on in. We can talk later. Are you hungry?"
"No. Just want to sleep. Would that be alright?" She looked at her father hopefully as she followed him down the hall toward the guest room.
"Sure, baby. Do you want me to call your mom and let her know where you are?"
"NO! Daddy, whatever you do, don't call her. She -- She threw me out of the house. It's a long story and I'm really tired right now. I promise that I'll tell you everything later. Please."
Hank pulled his sobbing daughter into his arms. "It's ok. I won't call her. At least not until we have a chance to talk about what happened. For now, I'll give you a few days to sort things out in your mind. Then we'll talk. Ok?"
"Sure, Daddy. I promise." She walked into the room and closed the door before falling on top of the covers and sobbing into the pillow heartbrokenly.
Hank stood at the door for a moment, his dinner forgotten in the wake of his daughter's arrival and the admission that Joyce had thrown her out of the house. He heard Buffy crying and wanted nothing more than to walk into the room and wrap his arms around her and comfort her.
But he had promised her a few days and that was what he would give her. A few days to collect her thoughts and figure out what she would tell him.
Of course, as he walked away, he wondered about the final words he heard her cry before he couldn't take the sound anymore and turned away. "Angel, I'm sorry. So sorry."
**********
Back in Sunnydale, Willow, Oz and Xander had been working hard to keep the vampire population down what they could. Occasionally they even had Cordelia's help.
Giles was busy trying to track down where Buffy could be. No one knew that Joyce had thrown Buffy out of the house before her big battle with Angel.
Joyce was racked with guilt because she knew that she was part of the reason that Buffy hadn't come back. She would gladly take back the words she had said in anger if it would bring back her little girl. She just wanted Buffy. She realized that being the Slayer was part of who Buffy was. It wasn't all of Buffy but it was part and to accept Buffy was to accept the Slayer.
The first few days of school came and went and Giles had left twice to follow leads that might have been Buffy. Of course he never found her.
//////////
Willow was on a free period when she decided to stop by the computer classroom two weeks into the year and offer her services as a tutor for anyone who needed it.
"Excuse me," she said as she walked into the room to talk to the new teacher. Thankfully, she had caught the class empty.
"Yes?" came the reply as the teacher turned around. The face that greeted Willow was not one that she had expected to see. Anymore than she had expected to introduce the back of her head to the floor as she fell to the floor in a dead faint.
//////////
"Oz. Oz, man, she's waking up."
Willow felt a hand wrap around hers as it's companion brushed the hair back from her face. Her eyes fluttered open to see Xander sitting on one side of her and Oz on the other. She still felt kind of groggy and had the headache to match the bump on the back of her head. "My head feels big. Is my head big?"
Oz smiled. "No. It's head sized." His Willow would be okay. He knew that from the tired smile she gave him. "How are you otherwise?"
"Headache. Where am I?"
"Nurse's office. Geez, Will, give us a heart attack next time. You passed out in the computer class. The teacher grabbed Larry and had him carry you down here. After he did that, he came to the library and got Giles who called us out of class. What happened?"
"I'm afraid I did," came the voice from the doorway. Oz and Xander turned to see what Giles had already seen and both were shocked when they saw Jenny Calendar's face looking at them..
Giles looked at the young woman who so closely resembled his dead love. Tears welled in his eyes. He cleared his throat and pushed back the tears. "And why would you say that?"
"I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself. I'm Jessica Calendar. I took over my sister's class. I would guess that my appearance is what caused this young lady to faint. Is she alright?"
"Your sister?" Giles was astounded at the resemblance between Jessica and Jenny.
"My twin sister. I was sent to find her and was told that she was dead. After I sent word back to our people, I was told that, if I knew computers as well as she had, I could take over her class. As it is, I know computers better than she did." She bowed her head for a moment. "Maybe one of you could tell me the truth of my sister's death?"
"Of course. In due time. In the interim, my name is Rupert Giles. I'm the school librarian. The young lady there would be Willow Rosenburg. And the two young men," he indicated each one as he introduced them,"would be Xander Harris and Daniel Osbourne."
"You're Jenny's twin sister?"
"Yes. Willow, I'm sorry I startled you. I guess Jenny never told anyone that she had a twin." When all four of them shook their heads, Jessica smiled. "She never liked being called 'one of the Calendar twins'. It made her mad that so many people couldn't see us as two separate people."
"Isn't that the way with twins?" Willow asked sitting up on the cot.
"Normally. But it really bothered Jenny. She wasn't a typical twin. She and I never got along. I guess you could say that she wanted to go her own way from the start. She hated the lessons about our history. She used to skip out and go play with the kids in the village." Jessica shook her head. "It was never hard to find her when we realized that she wasn't with us."
Giles smiled. That definitely sounded like the Jenny he had fallen in love with. She never wanted to follow the rules and didn't if she could get around it somehow. He remembered the times that she had helped him out. She had known how to get Moloch out of the Internet. She hadn't been able to put him back in the book but had trapped him in the mechanical body he had made humans build for him. From there Buffy was able to defeat him.
"That sounds like Jenny alright," Xander said, voicing everyone's thoughts. "She even broke the rules when it came to Angel."
Giles shot him a look that told him to shut up. Xander stood up. "No, Giles. Jessica has a right to know what Jenny was working on when she died." He looked at Jessica. "Your sister hadn't told us that she was one of the Kalderash people until Angel lost his soul. When we found out, we all kind of overreacted. Buffy totally shut her out. Giles wouldn't even talk to her. None of us would. I guess that's why she started working on a program that would translate the restoration spell."
"Those magicks were lost to our people! How did she find it?"
"We don't know. We only know that she did and that she had found a way to translate it. For that, Angelus killed your sister and left her in Giles' bed. Giles almost got himself killed trying to destroy him. Buffy saved him and eventually sent Angel to hell. Willow here tried the spell once and almost got killed when Drusilla brought some vamps to the library to kidnap Giles so he could tell Angel how to awaken Acathla. While she was in the hospital, Willow tried to do the spell again. Apparently, either she succeeded in the spell or Buffy sent him to hell in time because the world didn't end."
"Willow? You did that spell?"
"I don't know if it worked. I felt something go through me and Oz says that I was talking in some strange language. I just don't know. Maybe it didn't work in time. Maybe it worked but she still had to send him to hell."
"Willow, just the fact that you did the spell in the first place is a testament to the witch you are destined to become. Just be careful. Please."
"I will be. I didn't exactly enjoy the way I felt after I finished the spell."
"She was really weak and tired. But then again, she had just come out of a coma." Oz kissed her hand.
"You tried it with a concussion? That took courage. The type I don't think I'd have in that situation."
"Is the spell that dangerous?" Giles asked.
"I've heard that the first time it was cast on Angelus, the old one slept for days afterward and was never exactly the same." Jessica shook her head. "Either Willow here is more powerful as a beginner than the old one was or just a lot luckier."
"I prefer to think that I was just a lot luckier. I get scared to think of myself as powerful."
"What's going on in here?" Principal Snyder demanded, pushing his way into the office. "Don't we have classes? Either to teach or to attend?" He looked around the room and everyone scattered. Oz staying beside Willow who was still a little wobbly. "Move it, you two."
Oz turned to look at Snyder, growling low in his throat. Snyder took a step back as Willow grabbed Oz's arm and begged, "No. Oz, don't."
Oz turned back to Willow and took her arm, leading her out of the nurse's office. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for the rest of the day?"
"I'll be ok. Just please don't eat Snyder. I think he'd give you a really bad stomach ache."
"He'd probably poison a vampire." Willow giggled and groaned as she grabbed at the bump on her head.
"Please tell me you were joking."
"Nope."
**********
Buffy was sleeping on the bed when she started dreaming.
^She is standing on the beach, looking out over the ocean in her barefeet as a wave crashes on the sand. In the far distance a pier stretches out into the water. She closes her eyes and raises her head to just feel the sun on her face and listen to the waves come in. She feels a pair of hands reach around her and clasp in front, and she covers them with hers. She looks back at Angel leaning his head over her shoulder. She reaches up with her hand and brushes it against his cheek.
"How did you find me here?"
"If I was blind, I would see you."
She lowers her hand to take his again at her waist and closes her eyes. She embraces his arms tightly to her.
"Stay with me."
"Forever. That's the whole point. I'll never leave." The last part is whispered into her ear. "Not even if you kill me."
Buffy starts and wakes up.^
Looking around the bedroom, she ran her hand through her hair. She had been having that dream ever since she left Sunnydale.
She knew she had killed Angel. She had seen the betrayal in his eyes when the sword went through his stomach. She had prayed every night that he had forgiven her. She hoped that he wasn't still suffering.
When she found herself in that hell dimension with Lily, she dared have just one moment that Angel was also there. But then again no. For him an eternity of work wouldn't be hell. And he had already believed that he wasn't important. That he was no one without her. For her to have sent him there would have been too perfect. She was just glad she had stopped Ken. He had been obnoxious AND evil. He was a pain. It was almost fun to take him out.
She looked at the clock. It was dark out. She should patrol, she supposed. After all, even though she was away from her Watcher, she was STILL the Slayer. Slipping on her coat, and pocketing a couple of stakes, she slipped out of the house.
//////////
"Lindsey, I need some help. My daughter just came to my door tonight. She looked like she'd been through hell. I know that she's been missing all summer because her mother, who has custody, called repeatedly to tell me that she still hadn't come home. Then, Buffy tells me that her mother kicked her out of the house. What can I do?"
"You're ex-wife has custody?"
"Yes. I can't do anything without her consent and Buffy doesn't even want me calling her."
"What would you do if you had custody?"
"I could enroll her in a private school. I could take care of her. The way I want to."
"What would it take to give you custody?"
"Either proving that Joyce is an unfit mother or that she's dead. Of course that only gives me custody until Buffy turns eighteen."
"Don't worry about that. We'll take care of this for you, Hank. We do take care of our associates." Lindsey McDonald hung up the phone and rubbed his hands together. "I knew we wanted him here for a reason. And that reason just dropped right into our lap."
**********
Back in Sunnydale, Willow, Oz, Xander and Cordy were calling it a night when they found a guy laying on a bus stop bench holding his head as if he had a headache. "Are you alright, man?"
"Gods! That was a vicious one!" Looking up to the sky, he got a sarcastic look on his face. "Thanks a lot for nothin'!"
Then, he looked at the four young people around him. "It's a headache. That's all. Would any of you fine young folks happen to know where I'd be finding Rupert Giles? It's rather important that I talk to him."
Cordelia stepped over to the bench and helped the man stand up. "Just come with us. We'll take you to him."
Xander glared at the way Cordy kept a hand on the young man's arm all the way to Giles' apartment where they had to check in before they went home for the night.
//////////
Cordy knocked on Giles' door before anyone could stop her. When Giles opened it, he was a little stunned as Cordy led the young man in and set him down on the couch. Well, at least they knew he wasn't a vampire. "Cordelia, would you mind telling me who you just brought into my house uninvited?"
"The name's Doyle. Allen Francis Doyle. You can just call me Doyle. I don't normally use the other."
"Mr. Doyle...."
"Please. Mr. Doyle was me da and I'm not him. Just Doyle."
Giles looks over at Oz who's sniffing the air as though something isn't right. "What is it, Oz?"
Oz steps a little closer to Doyle. "You're not human."
"Now that's a bit rude. So happens that I am very much human." Doyle sneezed and blue spikes popped out all over his face. "On my mother's side." As he shakes his head, the spikes disappeared.
"You would be a Brachen demon, yes?"
"Only half." Doyle caught sight of Willow slipping back a step and Oz stepping in front of her defensively. "We're a peaceful race. Pretty strong in demon form. But most of us use it only for defense. We're also pretty good at basketball."
Willow stayed behind Oz for the time being. She wasn't real sure about the fact that this Doyle, who they had just met, had a demon side and hadn't told them from the first. Xander stepped up though. He held out a hand. "Welcome to Sunnydale. Home of the Hellmouth. And lots of demony stuff."
Doyle shook Xander's hand and turned to Giles. "Ya wouldn't happen to have a good stiff drink and some asprin around, would ya?"
"O-Of course. Cordy, would you go get the asprin out of the bathroom cabinet?" Giles turned to the kitchen and poured some stout looking stuff into a tumbler and brought it to Doyle, who promptly chased the asprin with the tumbler of alcohol.
When he had finished that, Doyle leaned back against the couch and rubbed his temples. "I'd be guessin' ye're wonderin' why I'm here. The Powers That Be sent me."
"The Powers That Be? Be what?"
"The Powers That Be. The ones running everything down here. The ones that gave me these blindin', head-crushing visions that tell me what's going to happen next. To some extent." He shook his head. "At least they give me a few pieces to the puzzle and then it's up to someone else to put them all together."
"And what have they told you so far?"
"Just that I was supposed to come here and help you until the Champions returned. My visions may be able to help you keep things from getting too crazy around here until they come back and resume their reign of terror over the evil things of the Hellmouth." Doyle shook his head. "That's all they've told me so far. But I would assume that they would send me a vision if either one of them was in trouble that they couldn't get out of."
"I should hope so. At least if we knew that Buffy was in trouble we could try to help her." Giles still wanted to protect his Slayer.
"I don't know about you guys, but I think it's time I took Willow home." Everyone looked to where Oz was standing next to the chair Willow was sitting in. She had fallen asleep with her head on Oz's shoulder.
Xander walked over. "Would you like me to carry her to the van for you?"
Oz just shook his head. He reached up to brush the hair from Willow's face. "Willow. Willow, time to wake up. To go home."
She nuzzled her head deeper into his shoulder. "Don't want to," she muttered.
"Willow, wake up." Oz's voice was a little more insistent this time. He knew that even if Xander carried her out to the van, Oz wouldn't be able to carry her into her house. Not without her parents finding out that their little girl hadn't been tucked up in her bed all safe and sound like they thought all night.
She sat up. "Ok. Ok. I'm up."
"You only have to stay awake long enough to get into your house and up to your room. Ready to go?"
She nodded and Oz helped her up and led her out of the house. Xander turned to Cordy. "Ready for me to walk you home?"
"I thought you had forgotten me."
"No! I was just going to help Oz get Willow out to the van and then come back in and walk you home."
"Oh. Ok. Doyle, where are you going to stay tonight?"
"He can stay in my guest room. At least until we make some more permanent arrangements." Giles spoke up quickly. "That is, unless he's made other arrangements?"
"No. No other arrangements."
Cordy and Xander left next, since Cordy was satisfied that Doyle had someplace to stay for now. Giles led Doyle down the hall to the guest room and left him there for the night. After seeing that his guest was comfortable, Giles trudged up to his room and got ready for bed.
"Buffy, where are you?" he asked the universe before his eyes drifted closed.