Since I Found Serenity Chapter 9, a buffy x-overs fanfic

Chapter 9

It was night, even in space, and the ship was empty, low-lit and echoing with that hollow-sounding quiet of sleep. Giles had not been in his bed, and with the security restrictions the two of them were under, there were only so many places he could be. She found him in the lounge area of the common space, curled up with a blanket on one of the couches.

"Hey." She sat down beside him. "Something wrong with your bed?"

He blushed, then shrugged. "Simon gave me another shot. Said it might make knock me out a little. Thought I would have time to move before that happened."

Her finger briefly brushed against his clammy hand. "And you thought wrong? Giles, are you...are you okay? Really?"

"Okay enough."

She nodded, bit her lip, looked at him again. "Just...Wash says the vamps---Reavers---are, like, a day away. And---I'll need you in there."

"For god's sake, Buffy, it does wear off..."

"But...you're..."

"I'm a little medicated, a little sleep-deprived, and a little space-sick---all of which will be handily cured by a solid night's rest."

"So, when we're..."

"I'll be ready." He rolled back, closed his eyes. "Was that all?"

"Actually, no. Giles, I...well, I wanted to talk. It's...well, it's been awhile since we faced a big battle together, and the last one was not exactly our finest hour. I thought...maybe we shouldn't go into the next one with all the baggage in our heads?"

He eyed her warily. "Okay..."

"And I had some things I wanted to say to you. And maybe you had some things you wanted to say to me..."

"I know what you have to say. You've said it all already, and I've said my piece long ago. What else is there to..."

"Giles, what we've done isn't talking. It's...god, what a pair we make! I sulk, you repress. I snit, you shut down. I move to Rome, you move to London...Giles, can't we just SAY it? Get it all out into the open, once and for all?"

He looked almost as afraid as she was. "I can't, Buffy. I...I don't know how."

"Just say it, Giles! Whatever it is you aren't telling me, just SAY it! Tell me you thought I was selfish. Tell me you thought I was stupid. Tell me that I screwed it all up and got our homes sucked into a crater while girls died around me!"

His anxiety turned to surprise. "Is that really how you think I feel?"

"Well, don't you? Why else would you...ohhh! It's not fair, I didn't ask for any of this! You were the one who left ME, remember? You left me, and I did the best I could, and then you come back and you don't like the choices I made? Well, tough luck! But what right does that give you to...I never asked..."

"You never asked to die? You never asked to live?"

"Giles..."

"You complain so often that the slayer is alone. But we try to get close to you, and you push us away. And then you blame me because I can't operate under those conditions?"

"Those conditions? You're going to make this about ME? Giles, you abandoned me. You betrayed me! You were supposed to be there for me, and..."

"And you were supposed to be there for ME!" he exploded. "Good god, Buffy, have you really been missing that part of the equation this entire time? The watcher is supposed to be the slayer's partner, not her doormat! It was never meant to only go one way..."

She bit her lip, not sure if she should feel angry or guilty. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. Everything. I...just get tired of having it from you too, Buffy. All my life I was trained to base my choices on knowledge, on facts, on information. To be deprived of that---well, what else did I have to base my actions on?"

"On experience? On relationships? On feelings?"

"I tried that, Buffy. And where did it get me? You thought they had you backed into a corner---fate, the universe, destiny...I see it. I know you were hurting, and I know you reached for solace in the only places you thought you could find it. I just wish you had been able to show me...look, I'm not saying I could have changed things. I'm not saying I wouldn't have still made mistakes that might have hurt you. But the other way...shuffled off by the council from city to city to pick up girls and bodies, then finally fighting my way to you only to be shut out yet again and left to decide the fate of the world based on shadowy figments of information I stole from the council when THEY wouldn't share, and half-apocryphal legends Anya remembered from her demon days....and you blame only me for the outcome?"

Her skin crawled at the idea that she had anything in common with the council. But seeing it laid out that way...she had shut him out, just as they had. She had...she had failed to get over her first impression of him as a meddling, parental presence. And worst of all, she had lumped him in with the rest of them when all this time, he had been trying to help her...

She sighed, sat back, then leaned forward again and took his hand. "I'm sorry."

He blinked wordlessly, hand twitching. "Very well."

"Look, we did need to have this chat. I'm glad we did. And Giles, I want to say...I really am sorry. Guess I didn't do quite as much growing up in the past couple years as I thought I did, and you know, you deserve a better friend than the one I have been to you. You know what I think? We've both hurt each other. We've both made...well, if not mistakes, than at least bad judgement calls. So we call it even. We put the past behind us. And we move forward not as watcher and slayer, but as equals. As friends, real friends."

He smiled. "I'd like that."

"So...bed?"

"Let's just stay here for a minute longer..."

She leaned back, relaxed into his arms, and within seconds they were both asleep.

They awoke the next morning still entwined on the couches, a circle of amused faces peering down at them.

"Well, ain't this a sight," Captain Reynolds smirked.

"I see you took my advice," Simon and Inara both said. They blushed and traded glances.

"I said they should talk," said Inara.

"I said they should sleep," said Simon.

"We did both," Buffy reported, disentangling herself from Giles and rising to her feet. "Now, I say we eat, go over our plan again, then kick some Reaver butt."

Simon knelt closer, giving Giles a solemn once-over. "Feeling better?"

Giles stretched, then nodded briskly. "Little breakfast, and I'll be good as new."

Inara was already making a plate for him in the kitchen area, and at a glare from Simon, handed one to Buffy too. Buffy accepted the food with a grateful nod. "So are we close enough to get a floor plan on that Reaver ship yet?"

"Wash is working on it," Zoe said. "Tricky work, flying close enough to mark 'em but not so close we get caught."

"Well, I don't want to wear anybody out when we have a battle coming up, but I wouldn't hate doing another drill on the hand-to-hand stuff while we wait. Some of you are a bit too gun-accustomed, and that won't..."

Jayne grunted and reached over Buffy for the food. "Now, don't go knocking Vera," he said. "Ain't never been in no fight a gal like her couldn't hold her own."

"Well, you are about to have one," said Buffy, soberly meeting his gaze. "And I won't have you getting yourself killed in it---not while I'm in charge. Did you practice with the stake I gave you?"

Jayne and the captain traded glances, then Jayne blushed and drawled "Yeah..."

Buffy suspected there was a story there she did not want to know. She pasted on a bright smile. "Great! You and Zoe, head to the cargo deck with Giles when you're done with breakfast. Show him your stuff."

"And me?" Captain Reynolds asked.

"You wait here with Kaylee and me until we have our plan, then we go over it."

They finished their breakfast, then the group dispersed.

Buffy, Kaylee and the captain sat at the kitchen table, staring at each other. The captain tapped his foot on the floor. Kaylee picked at a nail, trying hard not to look like she was about to cry.

"Look, there will be four of them," Buffy said after a moment. "Giles, Jayne, Zoe and the captain. Two with you, two with me..."

"Uh huh."

"You can have your pick WHICH two...I'd like one of them to be Giles just cause he's fought this kind of fight before. But you can pick the other..."

"The captain," Kaylee said at once.

"Okay. So he'll protect you, and you'll be fine."

"Uh huh."

"And if something goes wrong...you'll do what I told you to do, and you'll protect yourself. Or else you'll die. Then the Reavers will board the ship and everyone else---Wash, Inara, Simon, River---they'll die too."

Kaylee's watery eyes almost spilled over. "That's a terrible thing to say!"

"It's working though, isn't it? Your hands are steadying, and your body is tensing up. You can fight now. And if you need a little creative visualization to get yourself there...well, you'd better do it now, before we go in. I don't want you to die, Kaylee."

"I don't neither."

"Okay. So you trust me?"

Kaylee took a deep breath, then nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

Wash stuck his head down the ladder. "Mal?"

The captain gave them a slight nod then retreated onto the bridge with his pilot, leaving the girls alone.

Kaylee drummed her fingers on the table. "So you talked to him, then?"

Buffy looked up in surprise. "Who, Simon?"

"No, not him, Mr. Giles. Don't mean to pry, just...looked like you needed to talk to him is all."

Buffy blew out a breath, then sighed. "Yeah. I did."

"Know the feeling," Kaylee said. "Me and Simon..."

"Oh, yeah? He and you finally had the talk?"

"Last night," Kaylee confirmed. "Asked me to the infirmary, had some tea waiting. And chocolate..."

"Yeah?" said Buffy. "And?"

"And he told me...told me he didn't know, til you came, how much he needed...me!" The young mechanic could barely keep the pride out of her voice. "I mean, he could go back with you, right? Take River and just go back, to that other world you're from, where there ain't no Alliance ships chasing after him...he could go back with you, but he ain't gonna, cause Serenity's his home..."

"That's nice," Buffy smiled. "Well, except for the fugitive part. But then, there are dangers on my world too..."

"Uh huh. So you ride 'em out, whatever they are, with them that matters to you. Right?"

Buffy leaned closer. "So you understand why I'm doing this, then."

"Oh, I understood it before," Kaylee grinned. "Just glad you're going into it with a level head is all."

Then the klaxon sounded, and the lounge began to fill with people.

"Reavers!" Captain Reynolds shouted. "ETA five minutes..."

"But the run-through..."

"No time. Wash is hiding us behind a gas cloud...we'll be on board before they notice, but not by long. I've got the civilians stashed with Inara in case of...accidents..."

"There won't be any accidents."

"Okay, then. Shall we?"

Buffy took a deep breath, rallying the troops. "Okay, we suit up, sneak in from the outside. Team 1, that's me, with Zoe and Jayne. We're going for whichever entry point gets us noticed by the biggest crowd. Team 2, that's the captain and Giles, you take Kaylee in the back way and cover her to the engine room. I am assuming she knows what to do once she gets there?"

"I do," Kaylee said.

"Well," said Buffy. "Let's do it."

The Reaver ship was almost twice the size of Serenity, but with a vastly inferior layout. Inside, it was all tall ceilings and broad hallways and tiny, dirty rooms. The bridge area was large, ostentatious, befitting the ego of a vampire. Buffy guessed most of them would be there. She let Zoe and Jayne handle the breaking in part, sneaking them through a jimmied access hatch just off the main hub.

"We're in," she whispered into the walkie-talkie-like communicator she had been outfitted with aboard Serenity. Then, louder, she called out "Hello? Anybody home?"

The dust started flying.

Giles made his way through the corridor, stake-hand tensed at his side, the captain and Kaylee inching along the wall beside him.

"Stay low, stay quiet, stay calm," he whispered. "If you panic, they'll smell it."

"Great," muttered Kaylee. "Weren't scary enough without knowing that..."

She flattened her back against the wall as she made out one of the creatures passing through a bisecting corridor. It was jogging briskly and did not double back at their scent---it appeared Buffy's diversion was indeed diverting, and they made it to the engine room without incident. Kaylee set to work on her engine sabotage, the concentration on her task calming her. But the first wire she pulled set off an alarm---the Reavers must have seen them coming after all...

Kaylee froze, and Giles knelt down beside her, a hand on her arm. "Keep going," he hissed. "We'll cover you..."

She nodded grimly, kept her eyes on her hands, and uttered a silent prayer as the screaming floated around her.

"Giles" Buffy hit the communicator's mouthpiece, leaving the channel open. "We've got about a dozen in here...not sure how many that leaves coming after you..."

"About four," he shouted, straining to be heard over an obvious din. "Can't talk now..."

Two vamps snaked out from the corner. She debated going after them, then watched Zoe get cornered by two others. She arched under a chair, weaving her way to the rescue. She caught Jayne's eye and nodded to the exit, the message clear---get defensive, not offensive. Cover the door and don't let any others escape. Let her handle thinning the herd, just keep the herd where she could get to them. She dusted the two on Zoe, noted with a wince a trickle of blood on her neck, then ducked behind the chair again to plan her next move.

"Reinforcements!" Captain Reynolds called.

Giles was locked in a struggle with one of the new arrivals, but he gingerly inclined his head toward Kaylee, who was crouched almost directly underneath the ship's engine, out of the line of fire.

"How long?" he called.

"One minute...just let me cross the last of the..."

"Quickly!" he yelled, finally getting his stake wedged in the vampire's heart. His attacker collapsed into a satisfying pile of dust, and he lunged for the next one, not even counting how many were left.

"Okay!" screeched Kaylee. "Out! Now!"

He ran, grabbing her hand and hauling her after him.

"How long?" he wondered, looking behind him at the pursuing vamps.

"Bout 6 minutes til it blows. Won't catch us for 10 if we run fast."

"And Buffy? The others?"

"They'd best clear out as fast as they...Captain!"

She let go of his hand and reached out as the captain limped---heavily---toward them.

"Dn't reckon I got much running in me," he sheepishly admitted.

Giles let the man wrap his arm around them, then steered the civilians in the opposite direction.

"The exit?" asked Kaylee.

Giles shook his head. "The bridge is closer, and I can't carry him far. But Buffy can. We'll get out faster if we find her..."

"But the bridge...where the MORE Reavers are..."

He shook his head impatiently, one eye on the captain and the other on their backs. They were not being followed---he hoped that did not mean the few stragglers had joined their comrades on the bridge. He had civilians with him. He did not want them ambushed by the battle they had just abandoned.

"Retreat!" Buffy shouted, Giles' update ringing in her ears. "Giles, stay where you are, we'll meet you!"

"You guys okay?" she asked her team.

Zoe's neck had already stopped bleeding, and she seemed more concerned with the ominously regrouping Reavers. "Can we outrun them?"

"Might not have to." She pressed the button on her mouthpiece. "Wash? We've got injured. You ready with Plan B?"

"Yup," came the reply. "You guys okay?"

"Minor stuff. Time is of the essence here...how long do you..."

"On your mark, Buffy. Say when..."

She pulled on Zoe and Jayne, tugging them along for a final sprint into the corridor, nearly bumping into Giles and the badly limping Captain Reynolds.

"Now," she shouted to the team on Serenity. And to the team with her, she shouted "Duck!"

As the vamps---the Reavers---finally started closing in around them, the hull exploded in a bomb of debris. A large wrecking ball swooped over them, propelled by Serenity's shuttle, which perched in the gaping maw of the Reaver ship, doors open. Buffy and Giles dragged the others with them onto the safety of the shuttle, leaving the demons to burn on their dying ship.

When the shuttle was back on Serenity, they gathered in the infirmary to see to the injured, and debrief. Wash---still pulling off the spacesuit he had worn to fly the shuttle with its door open---fussed adorably over Zoe while Simon tended the captain's ankle.

"You're fine," the doctor finally pronounced. "Keep off it, if you can. But you'll heal. You too," he told Zoe. "Just a flesh wound..."

Zoe touched her neck. "Figured as much. Are Kaylee and Jayne okay?"

"Both fine, and in the kitchen regaling Inara and Book with their big adventure. I think Kaylee was under the engine, and out of the way, for most of it."

"Thanks heavens for small favors," Buffy muttered. Then, louder, she said "Zoe and Jayne got in a few good hits. Between us, we took out about a dozen, and Kaylee's booby trap should finish off the rest..."

"Speaking of," Wash's voice came over the intercom. She's about to blow..."

From the rear view port, they watched as the last of the Reaver ship went up in flames.

"Well," said Buffy, smiling brightly at the tattered crew. "They won't be bothering us anymore. So how long til we get to Antigone?"

The rest of their trip proved uneventful. At Antigone, they landed the ship on a small clearing half a miile from town.

"Badger's fella is meeting us," the captain said. "Be awhile getting it all unloaded, so you folks take your time..."

Shepherd Book accompanied them to meet their contact, who was waiting for them at a local watering hole. He was instantly recognizable from his outfit, which matched the one Book wore, and he greeted his associate like an old friend.

"Long time, no see, colleague."

"And you," Book smiled. "Mr. Giles. Miss Summers." He nodded to them in turn, and they joined him at the table.

"So would you care for a drink?" Moore asked.

"I'd really like to get this done, actually," Buffy said. "Not that I mean to be rude, but it's been a long trip..."

Moore smiled. "Yes, I imagine it would be. Well, all right."

He pulled a small, flat stone out of his pocket and laid it on the table. Giles picked it up reverentially.

"Thank you."

Moore shrugged. "The order was just as happy to have it out of our hands, if you want to know the truth. You will not bring this burden back to us again, friend."

Giles turned the stone over in his hands, only half listening. "Hmmm? Of course. Um...the council is in your debt, and, um, you have our deepest gratitude..."

"Gratitude?" scoffed Buffy. "Debt? Are you forgetting part two of this little treasure hunt, Giles? The part about how they also had some kind of magic battery to juice that baby up, and they LOST it?"

Moore blushed. "That was...not anticipated. We went to great lengths, Miss Summers. We stashed that key in the most innocuous suitcase we could imagine, and we made all the arrangements to ensure that she was safe..."

Finally, belatedly, Buffy connected the dots, the words "key"and "she" echoing in her brain as she saw the missing piece. Last time she had dealt with monks who had to hide a powerful mystical energy, she had gotten Dawn. It should have occurred to her that these monks might use a girl too...

Moore had pulled out a Palm Pilot-like device and was flicking through screens of pictures, timelines, graphs. She saw River's picture among the blur of data...

"...and no expense spared to retrieve her," Moore was saying. "Why, when Shepherd Book was saying he wished to travel, we allowed him to, hoping that perhaps he might stumble upon a clue to her whereabouts..."

Book kept his face impassive, but his fingers were clenched underneath the table in tight fists. He clearly was just as stunned as they were.

"So if we do find her," Buffy said in a casual tone. "What...what happens to her? How do we..."

"Why, blood, of course. A few drops should suffice. Just spill them on the stone, then say the incantation..."

They made their goodbyes as quickly as they were able, all of them deep in thought.

We have to handle this delicately," Giles was saying as they made their way back to the ship.

"Right under our noses all this time," Buffy marveled. To Book, she said "And you had no idea?"

"None at all. But then, our order has been keepers of this power for centuries, and we had no way of knowing when or if you would come and claim it. It would not be something a shepherd of my standing would be commonly briefed on."

"Oh, this is going to be a nightmare," Buffy groaned. "We only have that Moore guy's word that it won't hurt her. After what happened with Dawn..."

"This is different, Buffy. This key fits into a much smaller lock. It will not demand her life to activate it."

"Yeah. You want to try explaining that to Simon?"

"Don't think we'll have to," Giles said. "Look..."

They were nearing Serenity. The ship's door was open, the men busily unloading cargo. River had slipped out, and was seated on the grass, a goofy grin on her face as she watched Buffy and the other approach her.

"She is psychic," Giles said. "You told me yourself. She probably knows what we need."

"Well, she might have told us sooner..."

"Didn't know then," River said. She stood up, body swaying, Drusilla-like. "I saw the light, and it made pictures, but I couldn't see what the pictures made because there were shadows. But you found the stone, and you used it to chase the shadows away."

Buffy and Giles traded glances. "Um, okay..."

"It's all right, it won't hurt me. We can do it now..."

Giles retrieved the stone from his pocket and held it out to her. In a quick motion, she drew one of Buffy's stakes out of the side of her boot, used the pointy tip to slice her finger, and dripped three drops of blood onto the stone.

Time seemed to slow down for a minute. Buffy's breath felt heavy and thick, her eyelids almost dropping out beneath her. She felt steadying arms around her, then a shout from Simon.

"It's okay," River said. "Simon, it's okay. Look..."

The stone was no longer blood-stained, and glowed a bright, magical green.

"It's quiet now," said River. "One voice gone. One shadow chased away..."

It was done.

to be continued...