Title: I will remember you
Author: Lady Maria or Maria
Disclaimer: I don't own BtVS or Stargate SG-1. I also don't own I will remember you; that belongs to Sarah McLachlan. The shows belong to Joss Whedon and MGM (again, we think) respectively. Other people also own them but I really don't know who they are. I do of course own the old British lady from Angry all the Time but my muse keeps bitching about how she wants the funny lady. I also own Amandine Frasier. throws hands up into the air Why the hell did I end up with my older sister as my muse? It's annoying!
Rating: PG-13
Series: The Funeral series
Summary: Cassie's graduation brings her family back to Colorado Springs. It also causes her to get very, very angry at their antics. Then again, they did disrupt her graduation ceremony. Wouldn't you get angry?
Warning: HINTS OF SLASH. VERY LIGHT HINTS BUT THEY ARE THERE. YOU CAN IGNORE THEM OR LEAVE THE STORY, BUT PLEASE DON'T LEAVE A REVIEW COMPLAINING ABOUT IT.
Place in Canon/spoilers for Stargate SG-1: Disregards most of the seasons and episodes except for those that Cassie was in. She did tell me to warn everyone that this story disregards almost all of season seven so ---SPOILER WARNING--- I'm disregarding Janet Frasier's death.
Important Change: Correction, my muse and I conferred (yes, my muse is actually a living, breathing person) and we decided that Mini-Jack was skipped ahead several grades so that he is 16 ½ at the end of his freshman year of college. Loki removed several memories of Jack's family when he was cloned Mini-Jack. Therefore, Mini-Jack (I'm taking the cue from other authors and calling him Jon) has no idea of Jack's family other than Charlie and Sara. Okay? Okay.
Place in Canon/spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: AU after season three although characters from later episodes and seasons may or may not be appearing. After all, I'm striving to have a low amount of original characters.
Author Notes: Anything else you need to figure out can be explained within this fic. It starts out slightly angsty but will be humorous.. Have fun reading and please review. REMEMBER THAT THIS IS FAIRLY AU!!!!!
Muse Note: Okay, I want to know if you like my writer's writing because she puts herself down and annoys the hell out of me. Please do this; it's bugging the hell out of our ex English teacher and me. Please, please, please!
I will remember you
Will you remember me?
At twenty-one, Buffy Summers seemed to have it all going for her. She was a junior at Northwestern University, beautiful, and extremely motivated. But underneath the façade was a young woman who was scared to death of the future. Technically, she was no longer the active Vampire Slayer, and hadn't been since the day that Annabelle had been called.
After the Council realized that Faith was never going to be 'rehabilitated,' they'd had the Rogue Slayer killed. She'd never regained consciousness so Buffy viewed the Council's actions with even more scorn. Their actions were those of scared cowards instead of the actions of a powerful shadow agency. Faith's death had triggered Annabelle's destiny and ended Buffy's.
But Buffy remained scared of the future even though it was highly unlikely that she would die in the line of duty. While she had died once, she had made it farther into adulthood than any other Slayer. She was the first to die once but be revived.
She was the first in years to go to college. If Annabelle wasn't patrolling on the Hellmouth, Buffy wouldn't have been able to go to Northwestern. She loved her classes and wanted to become a lawyer. She had a list of goals written out; she still didn't quite believe she'd live to see the list's completion.
The blonde crossed her dorm room to her desk. A smile flitted across her face when she picked a framed photograph up. It was the one of only two photos of her whole family that existed. The other one was a serious picture that had been taken the same day. It had taken Janet over thirty minutes to gather everyone together in one place and then another fifteen to get everyone who'd wandered off to rejoin the group.
Forty-five minutes after the first call for family pictures, the professional photographer was getting antsy. Nineteen year old Buffy had wanted to snicker at the look on his face when Janet informed him that she had to get everyone calmed down before he could take the picture. It had taken another thirty minutes to accomplish that feat. Janet's daughter, Cassie, had laughed herself silly when the poor man had run off immediately after taking the photos.
Over two years later, Buffy was still smiling as she looked at the photograph. Her uncle Jack was a 'respectable' distance away from his lover, Daniel. Anyone who had been there, however, knew that Daniel was groping Jack's ass in the picture. On Jack's other side, she herself had leaned in and kissed his cheek while Xander leaned over to Daniel and gave him bunny ears. Her mother, Joyce, and her mentor, Giles, had been sent to opposite sides of the photo. Janet had ended up screaming at her brother and his lover when the two couldn't keep their hands—or lips—off each other.
Sixteen year old Cassie had a friendly arm around Xander and there was no sign that the two would engage in a water fight as soon as the picture taking was done. Willow and Oz, who were both like surrogate children to Joyce and Giles, were also separated. Janet had put Oz next to Buffy and Willow was next to Janet.
The rest of Jack's team was in the photo as well. Samantha Carter was standing on the other side of Buffy than Oz and Teal'c had ended up next to Joyce. All in all, the family was pretty much all present and accounted for. They'd even all managed to smile...the second time, the serious time.
In the present, Buffy gently set the photograph back down. She had made memories with her family that Christmas. She'd flown in from Northwestern; Willow had arrived from Harvard. Xander had gotten accepted into the University of Washington only to find that he didn't qualify for scholarships like the two girls did. The family had simply rallied around him and raised money for his schooling. Oz was attending the University of California Berkley and working gigs with Dingoes Ate my Baby on the side.
Two and half years later, Cassie was in her final weeks of high school. Oz and Willow hadn't been a couple since the end of freshman year of college. Willow was expected to bring her current boyfriend, Riley Finn, to Cassie's graduation and the week long reunion that would follow it. Oz had R.S.V.Ped as well but hadn't noted whether or not he was bringing a significant other. Xander was definitely coming alone; he'd even put that on the R.S.V.P. To be precise, he said that he was 'coming stag.'
Buffy herself was considering bringing her off again/on again boyfriend to Cassie's graduation and whatnot. They'd started going at it when she was still in high school, actually they'd started screwing around the summer that she was seventeen. Four years later, they mainly got together during holidays when Buffy was back in California.
That didn't mean that he didn't have a special place in her heart, however. The summer before, the two had decided to cool their relationship off and date other people. Four boyfriends later on her part and two girlfriends later on his, they'd realized that they still needed and possibly even loved each other no matter how informal their dating habits were.
Something rubbed against her legs and she shrieked. Her roommate, Tara Maclay, laughed softly from the doorway. They'd been roommates from freshman year on so the soft-spoken woman was well aware of most of the Slayer's secrets. Buffy also knew the witch's secrets. "You d-d-do realize that that's just the cat, right?"
Buffy blushed. "Of course I did. Yep, I knew it was just the freaky feline. Just our witchy black cat…No, no I didn't."
"D-D-Didn't think so." She noticed the envelope that Buffy still grasped lightly in her hand. "They came?"
"Depends on what you mean by 'they came?'." Buffy grinned as Tara's hope flickered and died.
"I hoped the tickets c-c-came," she explained.
"Then you got your wish!" The petite blonde took the tickets out of the envelope and gave them to Tara who danced around the room with them in her hand. "Although why you want to come to one of my family functions is beyond me."
"It sounds like fun."
"Right," Buffy drawled. "Ten bucks says that you will throw up at least once during this family 'reunion.'"
"What?"
"Trust me," she smirked, "one of us can't lose."
"You're on."
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
In a similar dorm room located in one of Harvard's residence halls, Willow Rosenberg was also done with her finals. She was actually ready for the end of the school year but she wasn't looking forward to her trip to Colorado.
The redhead wasn't excited about Cassie's graduation for one reason. His name—okay, nickname—began with an 'O' and ended with a 'Z.' Yep, she really didn't want to see her ex.
As she systematically packed her belongings up because yet another year was done, a small sighed escaped. Goddess, she missed Oz. It was like missing a limb, being Willow without her Oz sometimes. She had Riley, but Riley wasn't Oz. No matter how she thought about it, her heart wouldn't accept what her head knew. Her heart couldn't accept that she was no longer part of 'Willow-n-Oz' anymore than it could accept that she was part of 'Willow-n-Riley.' She had to wonder if that was because Riley was so very wrong for her. That fact was apparent in every facet of their relationship.
For one thing, she'd never felt the same distance between her and Oz that often occurred with Riley. For another, it really didn't help that Jack had recently called to inform her that Mr. I'm-in-the-Army-now was an NID operative. Lastly, she would have already taken Riley home to meet Momma Joyce if she thought they'd have a lasting relationship. At the very least, Buffy and Xander would have met Riley by the third month of her dating Riley. Instead, she'd been dating him for seven months and all her family knew about him was that his name was Riley and he was NID.
"This is just wonderful," she hissed before throwing clothing into a box.
The 'thawp' of jeans hitting cardboard caused her roommate to poke her head into the room. "I know you don't care for the end of the school year, Will, but don't take your frustration out on the box."
"I didn't realize that you were finished with your last final, Anya."
"The sooner I finished my final, the sooner I could have orgasms with Kenny." Anya looked slightly peeved.
"Then you are here, why?"
"Asshole said that I was just too blunt and he didn't want a girl he couldn't take home to Mom and Daddy." The girl sneered. "Like that mama's boy was really concerned with Daddy's approval."
Willow couldn't help it; she laughed heartily at Anya Emerson's reaction. Then she made an offer that normally wouldn't have happened. "You want to use my second ticket and fly out to Colorado with me?"
"That's Riley's ticket," Anya stated slowly.
"It was Riley's ticket," Willow corrected. "But I'm not going to be his girlfriend after our date tonight, so why should he come back with me?"
Anya sucked in a breath, knowing that Willow had to have made that decision as she said offered the extra ticket. "You're dumping him?"
"Why not?" The redhead's tone was casual, but after two years of being roommates, Anya knew better.
"He's scum, you know. I could give you Hallie's number if you want. I bet she'd do something drastic to him if you wanted her to."
"No, Anyanka," Willow told her firmly. "I am not going to contact one of your Vengeance demon friends."
"She prefers the title of Justice Demon," Anya gleefully informed Willow.
"Are you done packing yet?"
"Pretty much," was the brief reply. "Are any of your relatives Vikings in the sack?"
Willow took a deep breath and composed herself before she answered. "Anya, they're my relatives. I don't go to those particular visual places."
"But why not? It's not like they're actually related to you by blood."
The redhead went back to her packing before she answered. "Family isn't about blood to me. Family is about the people I run to when I'm scared or call when I'm excited about something. Family is Cassie pouring ice down my back at three in the morning and waking me out of a sound sleep. Family is Xander running around with Buffy's underwear on his head." Willow joined Anya in chuckling at her heart brother. "He was eighteen no less; all four of us were."
"Are there pictures of that?" Anya's eyes glittered with malice.
"Buffy has all the copies as well as the negatives." Then she reconsidered. "No, Oz has a couple of them. It was decided that that way, Xander would have to get and destroy the pictures from both of them. Since Buffy attends Northwestern and Oz goes to UC Berkley, Xander has never been able to destroy them."
"You've never talked about a relative named Oz before," Anya observed. Her smile glimmered with mischief. "Is he a Viking?"
"Once he gets going," Willow returned. Amusement colored her voice. "We dated in high school and through our first year of college."
"That Oz?" Anya's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "You mean you count your ex as part of the family?"
"He started being counted as part of the family while we were dating. It didn't change after we broke up."
"I think I will come along," Anya laughed. "I don't suppose you'll go after your ex again?"
"If he's single, he's fair game for everyone." Willow's eyes reflected pain as she continued, "But to answer your question, I won't pursue him again. I think we've proven time and again that we're just not meant to be."
"From the little I know of your ex, you seemed perfect for each other."
"Times change, Anya. People do too, and that's what happened between Oz and me."
"Ten bucks says you get back together with Oz during this family function." Anya stared the redhead down.
"As in dating him again?" she clarified.
"Exactly."
"You're on," Willow agreed.
Remember the good times that we had?
Back in Washington, Alexander Harris—Mr. It's-Xander-never-Alexander—was cramming his own junk into boxes. He was thrilled beyond belief that he was done with his finals. "Woooooooo!"
Jonathon O'Neill chuckled as he walked in. His roommate had made a characteristic mess of the room while packing. "I see that Hurricane Xander has struck again."
"Tornado Xander, get it right."
"So you're headed home tomorrow, right?" Jon and Xander had only been roommates for a year since Jonathon was a freshman and Xander a junior. Therefore, the two didn't know each other as well as they might have. The age difference didn't help, although Xander had acknowledged that Jon acted older than his appearance of being sixteen.
"No."
"No? Then where are you going?"
"My younger cousin's graduating from high school next week," Xander explained. "We're all congregating at her mom's house or other relatives' houses. Then after we attend her graduation, we have a week of family bonding."
"Sounds like fun," Jon said in a tone that dripped sarcasm. "You gotta love family."
"I do." Xander picked up a picture that Jon had never noticed before. Two girls and another guy were standing with Xander, all four mugging for the camera. What caught Jon's attention, however, was the still smoking rubble behind them.
"Why are you and whoever they are standing in front of what looks like a war zone?" From Jack's memories, Jon could remember what that looked like.
"That one's Willow," he pointed to a redhead and then the other redhead, "and that's her boyfriend Oz," then he pointed to a blonde, "and that's Buffy."
"But why are you standing in front of a war zone?"
"That was our high school. A gas main exploded at our graduation and reduced it to that." He gave his roommate the official story since he didn't want to corrupt the younger man or taint his innocence. If only he had known. "Buffy and Willow are like sisters to me and they'll both be at our family reunion/Cass's graduation."
"A gas main exploded and caused that much damage?" Jon asked skeptically.
"That's what they said." Xander shrugged as he finished packing. "So you're headed home to your family?"
"No," Jon said shortly. They'd never talked about family before, and it was still a sore subject for him. "My family is close to nonexistent. There's only one relative that's still alive and we don't talk at all."
"Ouch," Xander whistled. "If you wanted, you could come back with me. Colorado Springs is nice."
Jon inwardly winced. "No thanks. I'm staying here anyway. Taking summer classes and working. What fun!"
Xander laughed at his tone. "Just know that my family's got an open invitation policy to any roommates, friends, significant others, enemies, and people who are just plain trying to kill us."
"Which one am I?"
"My roommate and you aren't a bad friend either."
"Don't make me get all sentimental in return," Jon kidded.
"Don't worry, I will," Xander returned with a smile.
I let them slip away
From us when things got bad
How clearly I first saw
You smilin' in the sun
Wanna feel your warmth upon me,
I wanna be the one
Daniel "Oz" Osborne was driving down the Oregon interstate and musing on the things he'd seen happen in his 'family.' Although he wasn't bound to the makeshift family as firmly as Buffy or Willow, he was still blessed to be a part of it. For instance, everyone had played a different part in the mess that had been the final months of his and Willow's relationship. Without them there, he had the feeling that their breakup could have been much, much worse.
Cassie had turned out to be a constant for Willow, much like Xander was. She'd been sixteen while he and Willow had been on their way to breaking up. She'd been there watching as they argued twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. She'd lent the redheaded woman a shoulder to cry on and a sympathetic ear. While she pretended to be apathetic to the world around her, she truly cared. When the vacation was over, Cassie had remained in contact with her through the internet and running up the phone bill.
Buffy had watched as well. Since her job of comforting Willow was taken by Cassie, she'd helped Oz. He would sit on the floor of Janet's garage and stare at her without saying a word for hours and she just sat there sharpening a stake. It hadn't fazed her even when he became very talkative. On those occasions, she had nodded encouragingly as he babbled like Willow on crack.
Things hadn't been great with Buffy's love life either, as Oz had found out one night during Spring Break. UC Berkeley and Northwestern had been the only two colleges to go on Spring Break at the same time. He and Dingoes Ate my Baby had been performing at Northwestern and he was crashing with Tara and Buffy.
He came in at three in the morning the second night he spent there and literally ran into Buffy. She was bawling her eyes out like someone had died so he sat down next to his ex-girlfriend's pseudo-sister and gently hugged her. He asked her what was wrong and got a hiccupping reply that had words mangled and jumbled up in it.
He asked her to repeat what she'd said and the strong young woman had promptly burst into tears again.
Buffy had finally calmed down that night and explained that her boyfriend had called to inform her that his younger sister was dead. Apparently, the two girls had been close and so it really tore her heart in two. Oz was fairly sure that she hadn't told him everything but he'd never pressed.
Over two years later, he was pulling into the parking lot of University of Washington's resident housing. Xander was talking to a guy who was hauling stuff from one section of the housing area to another. The guy didn't look old enough to be in college but what did Oz know?
He got out of the van and waved. "Xander!"
"Just a sec," his friend called back.
Xander was never punctual but if he was actually supposed to be somewhere and he was halfway ready, Oz figured that hell was freezing over. Or maybe Jenny Calendar was dancing a jig with Darla on the cobblestones of purgatory. Yeah, hell would freeze before that happened.
Fifteen minutes later, Xander slid his boxes into the van and waved goodbye to the young man that he had been talking to. "See you in the fall, Jon!"
"Yeahsureyoubetcha," Jon called back. The he frowned and hit his head. "See you then, Xander!"
"That is one odd male," Xander laughed.
"Seemed young. Too young."
"He was skipped through several grades," Xander shrugged. "He's very smart although he's told me that I never want to put him around anything that could possibly create a bomb. I don't want to even know why."
"Dude."
"That sums it up." Xander turned in his seat so that he could face Oz. Although the werewolf had his concentration on the road in front of him, Xander had no doubt that he would pay attention to what Xander had to say.
"You need to talk to Willow, Oz."
"She's got a boyfriend."
"Werewolves mate for life," Xander said quietly. He got no response in reply save for the screeching of the brakes.
"How'd you find that out?"
"I researched it after I caught you and Buffy talking about 'Willow will come around' that Christmas."
"She has to move on with her life." Oz had hit the interstate again. "I won't pressure her. She made it clear that she wanted her own life."
"Just think about it, okay?"
"Okay."
I will remember you
Will you remember me?
Cassie Frasier watched her classmates stream out to the yearbook signing with a strange sort of detachment. She really had no one to sign her yearbook since most of her friends had drifted away during high school. Well, one of her mom's brothers' daughters was in her year, but they tended not to draw attention to their friendship.
Cassie jumped as she felt someone tap her shoulder. Turning around, she noticed a girl she vaguely remembered from her freshman year. The girl introduced herself as Karenna Johnson and offered to sign Cassie's yearbook if Cassie would sign hers.
By the time Cassie got back to her mother's house, she'd figured out that she knew more people from high school than she would have thought. Her yearbook was completely filled with signatures and her hand hurt from all the signing she'd done.
She got out of the car recalling with a smile how badly her uncles had been bitched out all those years before. They'd had to clean the car until it was spotless. Now, however, she kept the car clean herself and they now knew better.
Walking up the sidewalk, Cassie couldn't believe that she had just finished her last day of high school. Sometimes it seemed like it had only been a couple of days since she'd first come to Earth instead of years. But the fact that she was graduating brought home that fact with blunt accuracy.
She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she never even registered that the television was on despite the fact that she'd turned it off before she left. She jumped a mile when she felt hot breath on her neck.
"Look at this tasty morsel," a male voice hissed as hands tightened around her waist. She started to try to defend herself before her brain registered who the voice belonged to.
"Xander Harris, let go of me this instant!"
"He's not the one holding you," Buffy laughed. But she let go of Cassie anyway and received a slap upside her head as thanks.
"Xander, I expect that from." Cassie glared at her cousins. "You, not so much."
"You sound like Jack now." Joyce came out of the kitchen to embrace the young woman.
"What can I say?" She shrugged. "I spend way too much time around him."
Buffy laughed. "Well, I think it's time to dish."
Xander looked at Willow who'd emerged from the bathroom and Tara and Anya who were coming out of Cassie's bedroom and gulped. "I'll stay here."
Oz nodded his agreement from the sofa.
"Who said you were invited in the first place, you two?" Cassie asked coldly. "It was girls-only from the beginning."
Then the two befuddled men were left confused as the five girls slammed Cassie's bedroom door in their faces.
"She's changed," Oz commented idly.
"I think they all have."
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
It happened that night, while everyone but Giles, Joyce, Janet, and Sam were watching Star Trek. They'd just finished Queen of the Damned which had had the four former Scoobies in stitches.
Their commentary had had everyone listening wincing. And for once, Jack thanked his stars that his sister was having sex with her boyfriend. Somehow, he doubted that Joyce wanted to know how many problems that Buffy could see with the movie.
Sam would have kept the young people in line to a certain extent but she was on the phone with Pete in the kitchen.
Because Giles, Joyce and Sam were busy, someone had had to make certain the young adults didn't burn down the house. Janet had pleaded a headache, and gone to her room and locked the door.
That left Teal'c, Daniel, and Jack. Teal'c had been roped into 'teenager sitting' although he managed to drag both his teammates along with him.
Not that the couple making out on the couch really would have noticed if the teens did burn down the house. About the only thing that distracted them from their task was the need to breathe.
And Teal'c wasn't all that helpful in minding the kids either, because he was rather wrapped up in Star Trek. Besides, he was rather mad at Xander for doing a very bad Spock impression several times throughout the show.
In Washington, Jon was taking the last of his stuff out of boxes when he ran across a framed picture that he had never seen before. But that didn't mean that he didn't know the people in the picture.
He knew Jack, he knew Carter, he knew Teal'c, he knew Cassie, and he knew Xander. He also recognized the blonde girl, Buffy, from Xander's other picture. What he wanted to know was why the picture—obviously taken several years before he was cloned—was not a memory he had.
Ten minutes later, the semi-calm atmosphere in the Frasier house was shattered when a little grey guy and Jon appeared in the middle of the living room and landed on Buffy and Cassie's backs.
"Okay, what's with the freaky grey demon?" Xander screamed. "And Jon, how do you know the freaky grey demon?"
Jon blinked but Thor answered. "I am Commander Thor of the Asgard. I am no demon."
"Then what are you?" Oz asked. "Because you don't smell human."
"I am Asgard."
"He's an alien," Buffy said casually. "Everyone here knows about aliens and works on a project about them. Well, except for Cassie and our additions."
Willow turned to her best friend. "You knew about…about…about this and didn't tell me?"
"Relax, Will," Buffy shrugged, "I wasn't supposed to even know. But Cassie tends to ramble and babble."
"I do not!" Cassie said loudly. This actually coincided with Jack and Daniel breaking apart to breathe.
"Thor, old buddy, old pal," Jack began slowly, "why are you in Janet's living room two days before Cassie's graduation?"
"I found a picture of my roommate with the man I was cloned from and decided to call on my old friend to give me a lift here." Then Jon paused. "Okay, he's your old friend, Jack, but that also means that he's my old friend. Doesn't it?"
Buffy didn't bother trying to answer his question and posed one of her own. "Who cloned Uncle Jack?"
"Rogue Asgard scientist named Loki," Cassie volunteered. The entire group had long ago been cleared for the truth if it ever needed to come up.
"And what, he screwed up the cloning process?" Willow asked slowly.
"Hence why forty-something year old Uncle Jack was cloned as a sixteen year old teenager called Jon." Cassie sighed.
"Welcome to the family, Jon," Buffy said quietly just as Sam came back into the room. "I think it'll be cool having a male cousin."
"A male cousin?" said male asked slowly.
"You're Uncle Jack's son, aren't you?" she asked as if it were the most logical cover story.
"Do I even want to know?" Sam asked the room at large and Thor in particular.
"I do not believe that you do."
"Didn't think so."
I'm so tired but I can't sleep
Standin' on the edge of
Something much too deep
It's funny how we feel so much
But we cannot say a word
Cassie waited impatiently for the principal to finish his speech. She was always impatient but she never showed it. Only Buffy saw how impatient she could be, how impatient she was when they left for graduation.
With a chuckle and a wink, Buffy had told her that if she blew up the high school, no one would forgive the former Scoobies. That had made Cassie laugh.
Now she was tapping her foot; how long could one man talk for?
She heaved a sigh as he finally turned the mike over to her. She stood at the podium, gazing out at the sea of faces. "We just finished four years of high school, and nine years of school before that. Most of us will go on to college, which is another three to eight years."
Cassie's eyes sought out each individual person in the crowd in front of her. "All we really have to show for our achievements are a couple of pieces of paper. A high school degree, a bunch of report cards, maybe a few old detention slips."
The audience laughed at her wry humor as they honestly started to tune into her speech. "I think what really matters are your memories of your school years. Maybe your memories seem all bad—your teachers were jerks, you didn't really have many friends, and you were constantly picked on. But somewhere in there is a good one. Perhaps it's the day your sister's old English teacher told you that you at least seemed to have brains."
One of her old friends, one of the ones she hadn't talked to in six years, laughed slightly.
"Or maybe it's of your last final, knowing that you were about to leave high school forever." Now she turned to face her soon-to-be former classmates. "It's a tough world out there, and we need to remember that. We'll need every single thing we learned in the prison that is high school to survive the real world."
A commotion caused the entire class of 2002 to stare into the audience. There were several cakes flying around the auditorium. Cassie knew that the cakes were part of the reception table, and donated by the PTSA for the hundred and sixty students graduating to eat.
She rolled her eyes and started talking again. "Or maybe your best memory—possibly it'll also be your worst—will be getting pelted with the slices of cake that are being thrown. Apparently, some of the 'grown-ups' got bored with what I thought was a short and sweet speech."
Out in the audience, several people blushed; they knew that the valedictorian was talking about them.
"So walk out of here today, diplomas firmly in your hand and all your memories held close to your heart." Then she winced. "And remember to steer clear of my family members. All dry cleaning bills can be sent to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. Thank you for listening and I apologize for my male family members."
She turned and walked back to her seat amidst applause and several shocked looks. Cassie Frasier was the good little girl, football player Dominic Bessel's girlfriend. She didn't do anything against the rules, she got straight A's on her report cards, and was so straight laced that everyone thought that she'd been born into a family exactly like her.
Amandine Frasier's lips curved into a sardonic smile at the mutterings drifting around her. She looked at the girl next to her and laughed. "You should have brought out your bitchy but humorous side a long time ago."
"You mean before the last forty minutes of our high school graduation?" Cassie questioned.
"Might have earned you more friends and a few more dates."
"I have my family." Cassie eyed the cake that was still being tossed around the auditorium. "They would have driven anyone but you away a long time ago. And they nearly drove Dom away."
"Yeah, but I'm related to them too."
"Not technically," Cassie responded. "You're Mom's adopted brother's daughter and I'm your adopted aunt's adopted daughter."
"Still family."
Cassie tried not to roll her eyes. Mandy was stubborn and pigheaded sometimes. Then again, everyone in the family was. "I guess you are. Are you coming to the house for barbeque at the end of the week?"
"No," Mandy shrugged. "The parents are throwing me a graduation party tomorrow. You're invited of course. All the people at your house are."
"I'll make it, and so will Mom but I can't guarantee anyone else."
The principal interrupted their conversation. "Amandine Frasier."
Mandy crossed the stage with the same grace that had helped her advance through gymnastics and win the gold for floor routine at Nationals. It had also gotten her a scholarship to Florida State University. After she returned to her seat and the deafening roar of her family faded, the principal called out, "Cassandra Frasier."
The family's applause was deafening yet again. The man looked, really looked at Cassie and Mandy Frasier for the first time as Cassie took her seat again.
The sight would stay with him through countless years of watching students attend and graduate from his school. Black streaked, red haired Amandine with her kohl rimmed eyes and the front of her graduation robes open to expose the black leather mini skirt and the emerald corset top underneath was talking to perfect Cassandra. Brown haired Cassandra with her conservative makeup who had opened her robes show off her black leather mini skirt and crimson corset top?
He watched them as the Gs and Hs went and realized that Cassie wasn't the goody two shoes she'd always been pegged as. Yes, she always been the best behaved girl in her small graduating class but she was obviously more like Mandy than anyone had ever known.
After the Zs were done, Principal Michael Graham observed the graduates' reactions to the Cassie that no one at Colorado Springs High had ever seen before. Then he frowned slightly.
"Hey Principal Graham," Cassie greeted him as they approached him.
"Hello Miss Frasier, Miss Frasier."
"We just wanted to say thanks for ya know, everything." Mandy's stance was the same slightly defensive posture she always adapted when faced with teachers or principals.
"You're welcome," the principal said quietly, taken aback by the two young women's gesture.
"We better be off, cuz." Mandy tugged at Cassie's cascading waves of hair. "Wouldn't want to keep the family waiting much longer."
Her cousin rolled her eyes. "Oh no, we wouldn't want that."
"Hey, we still need to chew the idiot men new blowholes for starting a cake fight!"
"True." With that, the two young women said goodbye and smiled as they walked away.
Principal Graham would never again pigeonhole students again; the two Frasier girls had taught everyone present at the graduation that lesson with only a few words…and cake.
We are screaming inside,
But we can't be heard
But I will remember you
Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
"I can not believe you did that!" Buffy glared at her various relatives. She was speaking instead of Cassie simply because the brunette was banging her head into a wall and groaning.
Coming back from graduation, the silence had been thick enough in all the cars to cut with a butter knife. Now that they were at the house and everyone was gathered in the living room, the women were taking a chance to yell at the various males.
"You turned my graduation into a food fight!" Cassie finally chimed in. "During my speech, no less."
"We didn't mean to," Xander said sheepishly.
"It just sorta happened." Jon quailed under Janet's gaze.
"You know, we let all you males sit together in the same row because you promised to behave. In fact," Sam said coldly, "Teal'c and Daniel even promised to keep you all in line. What happened?"
"We got bored?" Xander and Jon chimed in unison.
Cassie returned to banging her head against the wall. "I think I will never forget my graduation. I'm just glad none of you brought explosives."
"You mean, you're glad we confiscated the explosives," Joyce sighed.
Cassie just groaned.
I'm so afraid to love you
But more afraid to lose
Clinging to a past that
Doesn't let me choose
Once there was a darkness,
Deep and endless night
You gave me everything you had,
Oh you gave me light
Dominic Bessel shuffled his feet as his girlfriend's relatives glared at him. There were several close to his age, but he had the feeling they wouldn't be much help in defending himself from these maniacs.
One of the younger men glared at him before speaking. "I'm Cassie's cousin, Xander. If you hurt her, you will feel what being slowly beaten to death with a dull shovel feels like." Then he smiled. "And that's just if she cries. Imagine what would happen if you hurt her anymore than standing her up on a date or forgetting your anniversary..."
Another one, this one with rainbow colored hair instead of Xander's darker coloring, shifted his grip on a crossbow. Not that Dominic had actually figured out why the other male had a crossbow to begin with, but it looked threatening. Especially since it was pointed at his manhood. "Dude, ripping his intestines out is more painful." Then he fell silent, apparently having said his piece.
"That's Oz," the other young man, this one only sixteen or so, spoke up. "He used to date Cassie's cousin Willow. Don't worry; they won't actually kill you unless you royally fuck up. The name's Jon. I'm Jack's son." That was the explanation that they were using for outsiders.
"I'm Cassie's Uncle Jack." Jack looked up from where he was polishing an empty gun. Of course, Dominic didn't know that. "I'll empty this gun into your body if you hurt her, got it?"
"Yes I do, sir."
"Your life will no longer be worth living in if you cross Cassie," an African American man told him. "She is like the rest of her family, fierce and proud. She will extract a painful revenge from you."
His Cassie was fierce?
Just then, a petite blonde walked in, stiletto heels clacking on the floor. She strode over to where he was standing and smiled. It was a feral smile that chilled his heart. "Leave him alone, guys."
"But Buffy," every one of the guys except for the African American and the one called Xander whined. The first didn't seem to be very talkative anyway, and Xander apparently knew something the rest didn't.
Just what that was became clear when the small woman grabbed his throat and threw him against the brick wall with his feet dangling about two feet above her head. "Now buddy-boy, we need to have a discussion. Have you ever had sex with anyone other than Cassie?"
He was vaguely aware of her shushing protests from the older men. "K-K-Karma Walker. S-S-Six months before Cass and I started dating."
"Was this Destiny girl diseased?" Buffy glared at the young man she currently had against a wall.
"N-N-No," he stuttered. "W-W-We were b-b-both v-v-virgins."
"You use protection?" Buffy asked him.
"Of course." Then he blinked.
Teal'c, who had decided that the little blonde needed a bit of threatening back up, came to stand behind her so only the two of them were in Dominic's direct line of vision. "I would like to instruct you in the art of protected sexual intercourse." He held up a condom. "This is a condom."
"Wait," Jack said slowly, "where'd you get that?"
"DanielJackson enlisted my assistance in lightening the load of your baggage." Then he turned back to the young man who was pinned to a wall. "As I was stating, this is a condom. This is my fist." He punched the wall behind Dominic's head while making certain not to damage Janet's wall or his hand.
"I see," the frightened male gulped.
"My fist will make certain contact with your face if you do not use a condom. Do you comprehend, DominicBessel?"
"Yes, sir." He gulped again and wondered how Cassie's family could be so scary when she was so sweet.
"Glad we understand each other." Buffy unceremoniously dropped him. "If you tell her about what has happened today, or hurt her in any way, shape or form, I will hurt you. Actually, I'll use a wooden spoon and matches to slowly and painfully sever your dick from your body. Then I will force you to eat it. Got me?"
"Got you." Dominic agreed weakly.
Buffy laughed as he scampered out of the room. "I think I wouldn't mind him as an addition to this family."
After she'd returned to Cassie's bedroom, the men let out a collective whistle.
"She's good," Jack commented. "We just should have had her do this first."
"She did it right," Xander echoed.
"She is a fine warrior." Teal'c nodded.
And I will remember you
Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
Weep not for the memories
"You guys did what?" Cassie screamed while everyone was preparing for the final family dinner before everyone scattered for the summer. It was fairly clear that she was referring to her relatives in general and the males and Buffy in specific.
"Uncle Jack, get your gun!" Buffy called from the kitchen.
"DominicBessel needs a lesson in keeping his mouth superglued tight?" Teal'c questioned from near the barbeque grill outside, causing Cassie to see red.
"Crossbow," Oz volunteered from where he was setting the table.
"No one is torturing my boyfriend!" Cassie yelled while patting Dominic's head and whispering, "It'll be alright. They only get like this once in a blue moon."
"I have the spoon; has anyone seen the matches?" Buffy called out before walking into the dining room and joining the family that was located there. Then she snatched a long lighter meant for lighting fires out of Giles's hand. He had been sent in to grab the lighter so that Jack could light the grill. "Thanks, Giles."
"Give me that or tell me what you plan to use it for," Cassie growled with one hand on her hip and the other outstretched.
"I'm lighting the wooden spoon," her cousin pertly returned. As the wooden instrument caught flame, however, the blonde showed her roots. She brought her hand to the middle of her back to scratch an itch, and the next thing anyone smelled was the smell of burning hair. She didn't seem to notice it as she looked at Dominic and dropped the spoon into his glass of water.
Sam had been cutting the cake, which read 'Farewell and good luck until we meet again (if it isn't for another funeral),' with the only knife she had managed to find. The fact that they were meeting at Jack's house was painfully obvious in the lack of proper utensils. That was why she was cutting the cake using a very sharp meat cleaver.
Buffy wandered past her on her way to the deck. She was feeling awfully hot all of a sudden and wanted to cool off in the only section of the house that had fans instead of air conditioning that hadn't been turned on. She didn't even hear Sam call out for her to stop or Cassie's worried shouts.
Her relatives formed a train behind her as they tried to get her to stop. Sam was first, followed by Giles, then Oz, and Cassie and Dominic brought up the rear. Janet and Joyce were still in the kitchen with Daniel; Jack, Jon, Xander, Teal'c, and General Hammond were all gathered around the grill outside. Willow, Anya, and Tara were also helping in the kitchen.
She still didn't notice them until she felt the 'wiz' of a knife slicing the air close to her back. Her body tense and ready to fight, Buffy spun around. Then she noticed the meat cleaver held in Sam's hand as the major advanced again. Her eyes widened as Sam tried again to hurt her, or so it seemed to Buffy.
She definitely didn't want to hurt her pseudo-family member so she glared at the rest of the train. "Do none of you see how wiggy Sam's acting?"
"She's doing it for your own well being, Buffy," Giles stated calmly. "Stand still like a good girl for her."
"Hell no! Are you all nuts?"
"Buff, your hair's on fire," Cassie called out. "Stand still and let Sam put it out."
"Again, are you nuts? Grab water or something!" The slayer had started to run towards the deck again.
Sam chased after her with the knife while Dominic grabbed his glass of water and fished the wooden spoon out. Then he rejoined the train of people who were following Buffy and Sam.
The men on the deck were completely taken aback at Buffy's and Sam's appearances. Buffy's hair was smoldering with slight flames licking upwards. Luckily, she'd caught it in a ponytail that was waving slightly behind her. She was running around in circles and screaming, "Does anyone have water? Water, please!"
Sam was running behind her and waving a meat cleaver. "Stand still, damn it! Let me put out the flames."
"And hack off my head?" Buffy didn't even stop running around in circles. "How about: SHIT NO, HELL NO, FUCK NO, AND NO?"
Dominic came running up behind the two women and threw his water all over Buffy's hair. Then he grabbed it and wrung it out. "Presto chango, no more fire."
Buffy laughed. "Thanks, Dominic. Guess you aren't so bad after all. Better than Sam, at least."
"It made sense to grab the nearest object and try to put out the fire," Sam defended herself.
"But using a meat cleaver, Major Carter?" General Hammond asked in amusement.
"It made sense at the time," she shrugged.
"You would have chopped off my head!" Buffy yelped. "Then I wouldn't have been alive anymore."
"I wouldn't have killed you!"
"So says the woman who was whacking at my head with a meat cleaver!"
"This from the woman who scratched her back with the hand that had a burning wooden spoon in it and caught her head on fire!"
"It was just my hair!" Then she seemed to comprehend what she'd said. "Is my hair very damaged?"
"You'll lose about an inch," Jon and Jack said together and then looked equally uncomfortable.
"Cool, I was thinking about cutting it a little." Buffy looked immensely relieved.
"What happened here?" Joyce and Janet chorused as they came outside. They'd overheard shouting but couldn't tell what it was about. Daniel and the rest of the females trailed behind them.
"It's a long story," Cassie answered. "We'll tell everyone about it over dinner."
Buffy and Sam never did live down the 'Fire Incident' as it was forever termed. In fact, the story was told time and time again including when another incident occurred…like the one that happened just before Buffy got married…