New Witch Old Flame

Author's Note Yes, I realize it's been like forever, but really it hasn't. Sorry for the lack of updates, but well, RLS (real life stuff) took precedence – that and a couple of Roswell epics.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Buffy walked briskly through the cemetery, with Xander and Willow behind her.

"Kind of like old times," said Xander.

"Except in 'old times,' you'd never catch us going to strategize with Spike," laughed Buffy.

"You know, maybe this isn't such a good idea," said Willow.

"What, the working with, Spike?" asked Buffy.

"No, the not killing the vampire that's about to attack you!" shouted Willow.

Buffy spun around, reached her hand into the pocket of her leather jacket, pulled out a stake and looked for the vampire.

"Hey, how ya doin?" she asked casually, when she spied the vampire perched on top of a nearby headstone.

"I'll be doing better once I've killed you," said the vampire. "I am Dracula, the Dark Lord. Prepare to die at my hands."

"Oh, please," said Buffy, while Willow and Xander laughed. "You aren't Dracula. Let me guess, you've been a vamp what, three, maybe four days?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" said the crestfallen vampire.

"It's like way obvious, you know. First, I've met Dracula before, second, Dracula would never be caught dead in an outfit like that," Buffy said, pointing at the boy's Smash Mouth tee-shirt, and third, the stake flew from her hand and hit the vampire squarely in the chest. "He never would have let THAT happen," she added as the vampire disintegrated into a pile of dust.

The trio was still laughing as they entered Spike's crypt.

"Isn't it proper to knock before you come into someone's home?" said Spike.

"Sorry," said Willow, but if you could have seen the vampire the Buffy just dusted, you'd understand the mirth."

"Let me guess, you got a gander of the bloke that fancies himself as Dracula?" asked Spike.

"Score one for the Billy Idol wanna be," said Xander.

"I told you before, Billy stole his look from me," snapped Spike.

"Will you two go to you're respective corners," said Buffy. "We're here to plan, not to snipe each other to death. Now, normally, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but things have been just a bit too perfect lately, and it's giving me a wiggins."

"Are you sure you're not just over reacting?" said Xander. "I talked to Anya before I left, and she came down heavily on the side of Meg."

"I don't think so, Xan. My Spidey sense is all a tingle," said Buffy. "I want to lay it all out on the table, and try and look at it objectively, and then, kill Meg."

"So much for the objectivity," said Willow. "Why don't we skip the killing Meg part for a while until we know exactly where we stand."

"Okay, here it goes," said Buffy. "I was in dire financial need, and out of nowhere, this Meg person appears, claiming to be affiliated with the Watcher's Council as a new kind of Watcher, and she wants to live at my house, and pay a ton of money for rent, as well as the renovations on the basement. Then, she starts training Willow, Tara, Anya and Dawn. It's just too convenient if you ask me."

"Don't forget the books, pet," said Spike.

"Books, what books, are we in research mode?" moaned Xander.

"No it seems our friendly neighborhood witch/Watcher also managed to track down some volumes of work that were of interest to Spike," Buffy said evasively.

"The thing is, something doesn't feel right, and I'm not quite sure what it is," said Buffy.

"Well, the way I see it," said Spike. "There are two ways you can handle this situation. You can kill her, or you could,"

"Ask her to her face what's going on," said a voice from the door of the crypt.

"Well, I'm all for killing you right here," said Buffy. "But there is the matter of Giles. He seems to kind of like you."

"Yes, Buffy, I do, and I do wish you would come to me when you have these problems. I am your Watcher after all."

"I don't have a problem," said Buffy. "Meg is evil, Meg must die, no problem."

"Now see here, Buffy," began Giles.

"No, Ripper, let me," said Meg. "Buffy is right to be suspicious. I'm not evil," she said, directing the comment to Buffy's self satisfied smirk. "But I haven't been completely honest with you either. I am more than willing to lay my cards out on the table," she paused and looked around Spike's crypt. "Oh, no table, well, perhaps we could continue this meeting elsewhere?"

The group reassembled in the living room of Giles apartment. Buffy had been uncharacteristically silent ever since Meg's statement in Spike's crypt.

"It all started about 35 years ago," began Meg. "There was a Slayer in Ireland, and her name was Bridget Farrell."

"Oh yes, I remember reading her Watcher's journal. It was quite fascinating," said Giles.

The others glared at him.

"But not strictly relevant to the conversation at hand," he continued, polishing his glasses. "Please continue, Meg."

"Well, it seems that Bridget was a very accomplished Slayer, not unlike our Ms. Summers. She and Buffy also had several other things in common. This particular Slayer was very smart, and she surrounded herself with friends. She didn't care only for the fight. She had a life that she felt was worth living. Her friends fought by her side, and proved to be an asset to the Slayer on more than one occasion. However, the Watcher's Council, when the found out, were simply furious. They issued an edict stating that Bridget must cease all contact with these friends, and focus solely on slaying.

"Hm, sounds slightly familiar," said Buffy. "What happened?"

"Well, Bridget chose to ignore the edict of the Council, and continued to fight with her friends. They grew closer together. In fact, Bridget grew particularly close to one of the friends, and they fell in love. Luckily for them, the Council never found out about that."

"Then what happened," said Xander.

"Bridget an the man grew closer, and their love grew stronger. They had a child together," said Meg. "A baby girl. She left the baby in the care of her parents. They disliked the fact that their daughter had a child out of wedlock, but the understood her calling, and knew that marriage was not possible. Shortly after the baby was born, Bridget went back to her duties. She and her friends were tracking a particularly violent vampire which had been terrorizing Ireland for over a hundred years. They trapped him, and his gang in a warehouse on the docks, and fought. One by one, Bridget's friends died at the hand of this vampire gang. Bridget fought like a woman possessed, in fact, she must have been, seeing her friends, and her lover die so violently."

Meg paused to wipe her eyes and take a sip of tea. Buffy noticed how the teacup rattled against the saucer as she lifted it to her mouth. Meg placed the cup and saucer back on the table and resumed her tale.

"Bridget's watcher was observing the fight from a window, outside the warehouse," said Meg.

"Her watcher wasn't in there with her?" Buffy asked, incredulously. "Why not?"

"Normally, he fought along side her," explained Meg, "But this time, Bridget urged him, begged him in fact, not to join them. She said he was a watcher, not a fighter, and this one time he should watch."

"It's almost like she knew she was going to die," said Willow, her voice sad.

"Yes, it was," said Meg. "Bridget found herself virtually surrounded by vampires, when she spied several barrels in a forgotten corner. She managed to get past the vampires to the barrels, and she began to throw them at the vampires. As they hit the ground, they burst open, filling the warehouse with the unmistakable smell of petrol. That's gasoline," she said at Xander's confused expression. "Now, Hurley," she yelled to her watcher, and he threw a torch through the window into the middle of the room. The petrol caught fire immediately. Bridget had managed to surround the vampires in a ring of fire. Unfortunately, she was also caught in the ring of fire. She perished, along with the vampires."

"Bloody hell," said Spike. "What a way to go."

"Her watcher tried to free her, but both of them knew it wouldn't be possible. She called to him and begged him to explain to her parents. And to make sure that her daughter knew how much she loved her. Hurley went to Bridget's family, and explained what happened. Her parents, fearful of vampire retribution, packed immediately and fled to England."

"What about the baby?" Buffy asked.

"The baby went with them," said Meg.

"And they moved next door to a little boy who knew he was destined to be a Watcher," said Giles. "Damn it, Meg, why did you never tell me this."

"What?" said Buffy. "Did I miss something?"

"Meg was the Slayer's baby, pet," said Spike. "And her Grandmum and Granddad moved next door to old Rupert here when he was just a tyke."

"For a long time, I didn't know," said Meg. "And then, when I did, I couldn't tell you because I hated everything to do with the Watcher's Council. Maybe if they had left her alone, let her have a life and a baby, she wouldn't have gone back to fighting so soon after I had been born. Maybe she'd still be alive," said Meg.

"That doesn't explain why you're here, now," said Buffy, brusquely. The story had affected her more than she wanted anybody to know.

"Well, it is as I explained," said Meg. "I am with the Watcher's Council, and I have been sent here. But I engineered the transfer. As soon as I became a part of the Watcher's Council, I started watching the slayers in training and their watchers. Most of them did everything by the book, limiting contact with 'civilians'. It wasn't until Ms. Summers was called that things started to get interesting. Here was a Slayer who did things her way, and not the council's way. She had friends that knew her secret, and indeed worked with her. That two of them were witches made it even better."

"What do you mean?" asked Willow.

"The Council has long toyed with the idea of training witches," said Meg. "And in fact, that was how I became a part of the Watcher's Council. When you joined Buffy, it brought everything together nicely. I could be sent to Sunnydale, to train you and the others as well as do what I could to make things easier for Buffy. I couldn't persuade the Council to pay you a salary, but I did convince them that training the others would be easier if I took up residence in your home."

"What about Dawnie?" Buffy asked suddenly.

"Ah, and that is your real concern, isn't it, Buffy. Dawn is human now, and nothing can change that. But since she was formed by mystical energy, it is safe to assume that she has the potential to be very powerful magically. I want to teach her to control her powers and use them the right way for the right reasons, that's all. There is nothing sinister about it."

"Why didn't you tell us up front?" asked Buffy.

"Buffy, you've suffered tremendous loss in the past year, and you live atop a hellmouth. Not to mention your various run ins with the Council. If I had told you who I was and why I was here, would you have believed me?" asked Meg.

"Probably not," admitted Buffy. "I guess I feel kind of stupid, getting all wigged out over everything."

"Buffy, a Slayer is supposed to know when something isn't 'right,'" said Giles. "Meg withheld information from you, and you could sense that. Your Slayer skills stood you in good stead. Don't start to doubt them now."

"I won't Giles," said Buffy, standing to leave. The Scoobies walked with her towards the door. "Oh, Meg, why the books for Spike?"

"That was pure chance," said Meg. "I love hunting in dusty old book shops, and I came across them. I knew I was coming over here, and thought they might be of particular interest to Spike, that's all."

"Oh, well, it looks like the Scoobies have a New Witch," Buffy said as they gang walked out the door, leaving Giles and Meg alone.

"And Giles has an old flame," said Willow as she snapped her fingers, and the lights in the room dimmed, and several candles began to burn.

The End