The summer months passed quickly and with few problems. Buffy and I were working well together especially now that her friends were fully adjusted to us being together. My muscles were adapting to the new scars and it no longer pulled too badly when I worked out and it hadn't bled in weeks. I could do the entire meditation routine up to and now including the one handed hand stands. The only problems I had were simple and at the same time unmovable. The first big one was convincing Buffy that I was almost back up to par. I had wanted to start sparring with her full out again but she kept holding back. Granted even with her restraint I couldn't beat her but that wasn't the point. She no longer tried to wait on me hand and foot but we kept up our weekly movie night and went out more often as well. Patrol was a big issue between us as she insisted on taking care of me as I had once taken care of her, often trying to disappear and deal with the threat before I could find her again.
The other big problem I had also hadn't gotten a whole lot better. My mind was still weak; either from a mental block or readjustment to my return I wasn't sure. I could still sense a few things from people around me and my premonitions were returning but the skill was intermittent at best. Dawn took great pleasure in pegging me with water balloons a few times when I had followed her into the backyard. She had loved the time away from school and big stress but, like me, missed Willow fiercely. I knew Buffy missed her best friend too, but I think the whole evil thing had her thrown more than a little bit. She just wasn't expecting someone she'd known for years to suddenly try to end the world and that was understandable.
I had been planning a short trip of maybe a few days to visit Madame Allovette and see if she could help me find my center again or maybe just see if some time alone in the woods meditating could let me work out a few things I needed. However, I also wanted to hold off on that until Dawn was back in school so I wouldn't be leaving her alone while Buffy was at work. I know, she was a sophomore and everything, but bad things seem to keep finding her and I wasn't sure of her training yet. Buffy and I had clashed a few times over that too, that I was training Dawn in my own martial arts style. But I had pointed out to Buffy that her hybrid kind of style was more dependant on being strong and fast, two things that Dawn didn't have going for her… yet. I was sure she would get there eventually.
I stretched and popped my shoulders again for the third time in ten minutes. Tonight Buffy had decided that Dawn was ready to take on her first vampire, supervised of course. I had tagged along to help watch their backs and keep an eye out for other threats. I wasn't sure how she had done it, but Buffy had picked out which grave held a recent vampire about to rise. I perched on the back of a headstone a few feet away and watched the scene play out as the dirt started to move and Buffy started on her speech. I tried to take this seriously, but for me this was just another vampire. I didn't even keep count like I did with the actual human's I'd killed. I thought about the pistol riding in the front holster in my pants and the notch marks that were my way of keeping score. So far I was still way ahead.
"It's about power. Who's got it? Who knows how to use it?" I watched as she tossed the stake to Dawn and ignored the vampire struggling to get out of the ground. His game face was on and I resisted the urge to move forward and stake him myself. This was Dawn's first kill, and she was ready. I hoped.
"Well, I've got the stake."
"The stake is not the power." What was this power? Did she mean the strength and confidence it took to ensure you walked out of the fight you were about to walk into? The courage to actually stand and face a creature of the night on their own turf? Speaking of turf, the vampire actually seemed to be having a harder time getting out of it than usual. I carefully kept the smile from my face as Dawn began her dissertation of the vampire kind and the martial arts skills they inevitably seemed to pick up.
"Excuse me, I think I'm stuck." The vampire interrupted Buffy and I could have sworn she was going to roll her eyes as she turned around.
"You're stuck?"
"My foot's caught on a root or something. I don't even know how I got down there." There it was; the eye roll. This was too much and I found my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. Now if it was just me and Buffy the vamp would have been dead already and we'd be moving through the rest of the cemetery. But Buffy had promised after much wheedling on my part and Dawn was going to get a kill tonight, provided we didn't face like more than five at a time.
"So, he's got the power." Dawn smirked as Buffy moved down to the vampire's side.
"Zip it." The vampire rambled on as Buffy grabbed the back of his coat and pulled him out, setting him on his feet. He turned to face her and she grabbed him by the throat.
"Listen up. I'm the slayer and you do not want to get into it with me. You want blood? You can have hers." She released him as he turned to face Dawn and started advancing. "Power, he's got it and he's going to use it." The vampire charged and just like I showed her, she rolled out of the way while tripping him. He landed with his back against a headstone and she scrambled for her stake. She picked it up and stabbed down into his chest. She smiled but I just shook my head as he growled at her. She'd missed the heart. She tried again but he blocked her and knocked her back. She grabbed her spare stake out of the weapons bag and stood to face the vamp as he advanced again. She stabbed forward but he redirected her thrust and pulled her close with her back to him. He started lowering his fangs to her neck and my eyes were on Buffy as she moved around behind the vamp.
"Buffy! Jake!" I stood but froze as Buffy grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him backward. He kept his feet and quickly advanced for her again as she kept herself between the vamp and Dawn. She kicked him and hit him twice before getting blocked. She kicked him again while he held her arm and then flipped forward onto her feet so she could flip him forward. She kicked him a few more times and grabbed a short sword from the bag to cut his head off. As he dissolved she turned back to her sister and I was instantly by Dawn's side. She was fine, just a scrape and I offered her a hand up.
"It's real. That's the only lesson here, it's always real. You okay?"
"It's nothing. Plus, I had a plan the whole time." Oh I had to hear this. I turned a raised eyebrow in her direction as I moved behind Buffy.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Get killed, come back as a vampire and bite you."
"You wanted to be trained, babe." I had to grin at her smart ass, but couldn't let Buffy see it. I took the sword from her hand and tucked it into the bag which I slung over my shoulder.
"Well, just the next time with the…"
"You did good." Buff interrupted Dawn's rant and she stopped up short in surprise.
"I did?"
"Yeah." I stood by the tree and watched the moment between sisters as Dawn explained about her move calling it very ti-chi. "My first time out, I missed the heart too."
"No way." I smiled from the sidelines. My first time out I had shot the vampire three times in the head and still had to be saved by a twenty something petite blond.
"Just the once." We started walking back to the car and Dawn started bragging.
"Well, the next vampire I meet…" I shook my head from my place at Buffy's side.
"Uh uh. The next vampire you meet you run away." I sent Dawn a minor glare to make sure she got the message.
"I wish that was all we had to worry about; vampires, demons, they're nothing compared to what's coming." Don't tell me Buffy was getting her prophetic on already.
"I know, I just can't believe its back." Okay, now I knew what they were talking about.
"Believe me; I thought I was long past it. I guess you never are. Just a few more days till it starts and then we'll never know what's coming next." Sunny-dale high. We rode back to the house and dropped the car and Dawn off there. She was going to bed earlier to get back into her school sleep schedule but tonight had been the exception so she was about to crash. Buffy and I wished her goodnight before taking off walking down the sidewalk.
"So do you really think she's ready?" I turned my head at Buffy question and decided reassuring was definitely the way to go.
"She'll do just fine. You did."
"Yeah, but I had help."
"And she will too. You didn't have an older sister who had been there before or her friends who had been there with her. Plus, we've already checked out the zoo for animal worshipers, the books for younger sister prophesies, and the teachers for possible bug people. I even used my NSA contacts to make sure every single one of them is a hundred percent human. And last but not least, you didn't have an older sister whose boyfriend is not a robot." I still had issues with that last story she'd told me about her time in high school, but I understood why she hadn't outright had him killed. Er, destroyed. Whatever. We reached the first cemetery and I stretched my mind out as far as I could without passing out. She reached out and grabbed my hand as we stayed in step and with a mischievous thought and a glimmer in my eye I dropped the bag and swung her back up against a mausoleum. My lips found hers as we pressed up against the cool stone and her hands snaked up around my neck. The kiss lasted for a long time before she pulled away and smiled up at me.
"Thanks, I needed that."
"I know."
"But we need to patrol." I nodded.
"Okay." We took a few steps and we both looked around, still sensing nothing. "See anything?" She shook her head and stepped back into my arms.
"Nope." Few things can make you feel younger than making out somewhere you weren't technically supposed to be, like a cemetery. I still occasionally could feel very old around her especially when we did things like this. I was getting better at focusing just on our relationship and forgetting the rest of the world, but sometimes I could hear my father's voice echo through my head. Patrol wrapped up quickly and the weapon bag got thrown to the floor just inside the door as we made our way upstairs. I checked on Dawn while Buffy washed the vamp dust from her body and then took my turn in the shower. I walked into her dark bedroom and felt cool hands on my face as soon as I closed the door behind me.
A few days later I volunteered to stay out late for a solitary patrol so Buffy could get up early to take her sister to school. Not a big night, but I felt someone watching me the entire time I was out so when I ducked down a dark alley somewhere downtown I grabbed the bottom rung of a fire escape and quickly made my way to the roof. I waited patiently for someone to shadow me in and after just a minute a dark figure started their way in. I tailed them from the roof as they were obviously looking around for someone. They, whoever they were, made their way through a few corners and tried to backtrack to find me before I dropped down in front of it, the dark figure.
"What the…?"
"Xander? I thought you had to work tomorrow. Aren't you driving Buffy and Dawn tomorrow?"
"Sorry, bro. Yeah I am but I wanted to ask you something tonight." I sighed and relaxed against the alley wall.
"Go ahead, as long as it's not something prophetic or about the meaning of life or some other shit like that."
"Nothing like that. I just wanted to know what was up with Dawn lately. I know I haven't been around the past few weeks, trying to get the school finished up and we're still not done. Do you think she'll come to us if she has a problem or hold it inside like Buffy used to do?"
"I'm not sure, we can only wait and see. You should be at home asleep; you've got an early day tomorrow."
"Yeah, everyday. This grown up stuff sucks." I chuckled and was glad he had never been in the army.
"I know what you mean. Go home, Xander; I've got patrol tonight and I'll try to see you guys tomorrow."
"Alright, man. Be careful." I shook his hand and watched as he disappeared into the night before taking another route back to a cemetery I hadn't covered yet. I checked that one and rechecked a few others before making my final sweep at close to four o' clock the next morning. I crawled into a warm and welcoming bed after washing off the dust from seven lucky vampires. Lucky for me, that is, not for them. Buffy turned in her sleep to throw an arm across my chest and I slid my fingers through her hair gently, keeping her that way. She left me cold and alone the next morning when I rolled out of bed around ten o'clock. I stretched and got dressed to head down to the school, hopeful to meet up with Xander and Buffy for lunch.
Only they were nowhere to be found. One of the crew leaders I found next to the blue prints recognized me from the few times I had been by and explained to me that Xander had gotten a call just a few minutes ago and had disappeared. He might be in the bathroom or he might be dealing with some minor emergency, according to the worker. I thanked him and started walking off toward the school, pulling my phone out on my way. I dialed Buffy's new number from speed dial and listened to it ring.
"Jake?"
"Buffy. I'm here, but where are you?"
"Actually, we're kind of in the basement fighting some kind of apparitions that look like zombies. See if you can help Xander, he's got to break the talisman that's holding them here."
"Where is it?"
"In the girl's restroom…" Her voice cut off and I glanced at my phone. I had good signal and the call was supposed to still be connected so I stuck it back to my ear and said her name a few times. A burst of static was my only answer and with a muffled curse I snapped the phone closed and tucked it away. I walked briskly through the entryway and up to the first girl's room I found. With a grimace I knocked a few times and pulled it slightly open to ask if anyone was in there. Unfortunately there was and I gladly kept my place outside until she was finished up. I glanced around that room but saw no kinds of talismany objects so headed down the hall looking for the next one. I found the winner on my third try and instantly knew it by the gaping hole in the floor.
"Xander?" I stepped around the hole and looked down to find Xander's sprawled unconscious form down in the basement. A small object rested near his hand but I took a quick look around the room before giving up my chance for a second chance. Finding nothing I dropped down carefully, landing on my feet, and peering into the darkness trying to adjust my eyes. I picked up the object and felt a strange presence behind me. With a spinning kick I knocked a laughing dead girl away from my and quickly broke the talisman into two pieces. I watched as she instantly faded away and then bent to help Xander to his feet. He was a little woozy still, probably hit his head on the fall, so I propped him up against the wall and went for help. The maze of the basement made finding Buffy difficult, but not impossible with our bond. I found her wandering with Dawn and two other students I didn't recognize.
"Buffy, thank the Goddess." I wrapped her tightly in my arms and then opened my left arm to make room for Dawn to also squeeze up against me. I held them to me for a long moment before letting them go and looking expectantly at the others. I received quick introductions to Carlos and Kit before Buffy's eyes were turned back to me.
"You found it?"
"Yeah, and Xander to. I passed the stairs up a few turns back but I wanted to find you first."
"Is he okay?"
"He'll be fine, just got bumped on the head I think." Buffy nodded her approval and the whole group walked with me back to where I had left him. He was much more cognizant, especially because we found him walking toward the stairs with his hand pressed against his head. More greetings were exchanged and Buffy led the way up to ground level. Xander headed back toward his job site for some ice, he said, and I stood behind her in the hallway as other students filed past trying not to feel too self conscious.
"You guys are gonna be okay. The schools intense, but you'll do alright as long as you're careful. And, uh, you might want to think about sticking together." Kat was the first one to speak a second before she stepped forward to wrap her arms around Buffy.
"Thank you." She stepped back in time for Carlos to put his right hand out to touch her shoulder. I leaned closer to Buffy and looked at him over her oblivious head as his touch fell just short but his words struck home.
"I mean it; you are the coolest mom ever." Mom? They really thought Buffy was Dawn's mom? "And dad too. You guys are like intense." Dad? Me? I guess I was old enough, but still… dad? Dawn's expression dropped its smile quickly as she turned to face her friends and Buffy's hand strayed to her hair.
"Oh. Hey, c'mon, we still have a few more classes to live through." The sisters kissed each other's cheeks and Dawn led her newfound friends off down the hall as Buffy and I stood and watched.
"Curiouser and curiouser." The strong male voice said teacher or authority figure instead of student and approached me from behind. It preceded a well build, tall, black man who walked like he could handle himself. I subconsciously relaxed my shoulders in preparation for an attack as I stepped equal with Buffy to face him. His eyes, however, seemed fixed on her.
"What is?" At Buffy's question he gestured at the still visible forms of the new trio and explained.
"Possibly the only two students in this school who's files are as thick as yours was." He was reading her file? From the looks of it these two had met before, but he continued to ignore me.
"You really did your homework, didn't you?"
"I was looking for one of both of them to implode in some fearsome way right before mid-terms. But now I see that you've got them socializing, and hugging and, if I'm not mistaken, heading to class."
"Well we shared an… encounter."
"I know you're probably more than happy to get out of this place. But I got tell you, Miss Summers, I think you belong here."
"Hum new?" Buffy's voice held more than a twinge of fear and I slid my hand up to her shoulder to try and hold her steady. I wanted to see where this was going.
"Listen, I know this school's reputation. What, you think I got this job based on seniority? We got a lot of troubled students here and just enough money to keep this place from caving in."
"Yeah, you might need a little extra there." I slipped my hand from her shoulder to cross my arms in front of me, trying to see if this man was going to acknowledge me at all as Buffy's hand slid up to her hips and she took a significant glance around the hallway.
"Well we do have a community outreach program and the money we could pay you wouldn't even fold." Wait, money? "But it would just be a couple a days a week."
"Are you asking me to be a counselor?"
"Well we have a guidance counselor but I was thinking the kids could use someone, you know, closer to their age who still…"
"I'm in." She was in? She had cut off this man who was obviously a principal or something and even standing behind her I felt her smile. She always did enjoy a challenge.
"What, you're serious?" He seemed about as surprised as I was. "You did hear the part about the money, right?" I took about half a second for my brain to come up to speed. Buffy really wasn't hurting for money right now with all the extra jobs she'd been doing as a hunter lately. Her double-meat money now went mostly for entertainment or new clothes. Which could, sometimes, actually mean the same thing. She had only kept that job as a cover, a show, to demonstrate to social services that she had an actual legitimate income. This might work even better to that end even if her pay only broke even with what she was making at fast food. Plus, and I would be sure never to breath a word of it again, no more 'the smell' in our bed at night. I gave a half nod of my head; this could be good for her; for the both of us.
"Yeah I heard. My schedule might be a little funtastic, but I-I'll work it out. I'd like to keep an eye on this place."
"Well that's great. And the boyfriend won't mind the schedule change?" For the first time our eyes met and a flash of slight challenge spoke both his interest and my protection of my Slayer. My smile was bordering on cruel as I slid my arm back across her shoulder and down to find her side as I stepped closer.
"The boyfriend will support her no matter what. Nice to meet you Mister…"
"Wood. Robin Wood. And you are?" I held my right hand out to meet his as Buffy turned sideways and spoke for me.
"Sorry. Robin, this is Jake my boyfriend. Jake, Robin is the principal here. And my new boss." I gave his hand an extra squeeze at that last word, a silent reminder not to let it become more than that, and released him still with a smile on my face. He hid his hand in his pocket as he glanced at his watch and returned his eyes to Buffy.
"How bout that, not even noon and I've already bullied my first family member into helping out." He took a few steps but turned as his did and spoke over his shoulder at us. "I'm gonna be the best principle ever." Buffy smiled after him for a second before turning back to me.
"Thanks for the save back there."
"No problem, I'm just glad everyone is okay. Are we still up for lunch?" I saw her hesitate and glance at the basement door before turning back and nodding. We walked together into the sunlight and let it warm our fears away. Or, at least I did. I felt then and gradually more and more that afternoon that something wasn't sitting quite right with her. I at first put it off to the new job anxiety, but it felt more personal than that. I tried asking about Dawn's reaction to the school, really hoping to get a reaction from her. But there was no answer there either. In the end I decided to wait and watch as best I could for whatever might be troubling her and just let her come to me with it, if she chose to, in her own time.
Xander had gotten another raise the week before and he was taking us out today to celebrate. Lunch was good but filled intermittently with broken silences after one of us would inadvertently bring up a topic we weren't willing to talk about as a group yet. There was no shortage of those going around the table and one by one they were quietly filed away for another time. Anya, Spike, Willow, Giles even, and the worst one of all was what we were going to do without them. My suggestion that I start spending even more time with Anya at the magic box to become research guy again was met with more silence so I began searching in vain for some humorous topic we could distract ourselves with. Luckily for me Xander was much better at it than I was. Lunch finished up on a much more relaxed note and Buffy and I headed off to meet our latest client while Xander also had to go back to his work.
This latest job was going to be much easier than the last one. I had mistakenly agreed to a three vamp limit on my last job and had paid the price in receiving only half of my nominal going rate after only killing two. This job was going to be a little different, a specific hit against a single target. Buffy was coming along more out of a sense of duty, I think, than any real desire to get into this part of the bounty hunter trade.