Devil's Trill

Chapter 2:

The silence that seemed to stretch for the long miles was as thick as the tension present in the car. Buffy huddled against the door, wrapping her arms around herself. She refused to look at the other occupant of the car, instead settling for staring at the passing highway. At eight o'clock, there wasn't too much traffic. Gentle music played in the background, the only thing disrupting the silence. It was a familiar tune, soft with melodic guitar and mellow voices.

Childhood living is easy to do
The things you wanted I bought them for you
Graceless lady you know who I am
You know I can't let you slide through my hands
Wild horses, couldn't drag me away
Wild wild horses couldn't drag me away

The slayer's breath caught in her throat none to subtle. The driver glanced over at her, his superior hearing catching everything including the song. Her green eyes looked over at him before retuning back to their original gaze. Her fingers itched to turn off the offensive song, to end her torture but she forced herself to pretend she didn't care. After all, how many awkward rides had she spent like this in the past year?

I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
Now you decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or off stage lines
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind
Wild horses, couldn't drag me away
Wild wild horses couldn't drag me away

Not being able to take it anymore, Buffy used her slayer speed to change the familiar song. In a flurry of unrecognizable static, the dial stopped on a Spanish station. Sighing in frustration, she slammed her hand against the dial, silencing the offensive contraption.

"Buffy--"

"Angel, please. I'm trying to be strong right now and I'm not doing too good a job of it." The vampire glanced at her, worry apparent on his face. He sighed, shaking his head and staring back at the road.

"I know Buffy. I know. It's getting harder every time."

"I wish we wouldn't have to leave her every time." Without even looking away from the road, Angel's hand shot out and took the slayer's into his. He gently lifted it to his lips and placed a gossamer kiss on the golden skin.

"I know, but what choice do we have?"

"Will, were does Buffy go every month? I mean, seriously, there have been times that she doesn't show up until Sunday morning even though she says she'll be back Saturday morning." Willow looked up at the teen from the Wicca book.

"I don't know, Dawnie. I just figure that Buffy needs her space and I don't bug her about it…too often. Last time I asked, I nearly got my head torn off literally." Dawn looked skeptical. "Sure Will and the Watcher's Council have standardized pink tutus as their uniform." Willow looked around the empty kitchen before closing her Council work and plopping down next to Dawn.

"No, I'm being totally serious. Total seriousness here. I asked her why she left every month on the same day and she looked at me with tears in her eyes. And then her hands went up to like choke me, but she slammed them into the doorframe instead. Yeah, after that I just don't ask." Dawn stared at the Wicca, eyes wide; her sister almost strangled her best friend for asking a question? Good thing she hadn't tried to follow her sister.

Buffy leaned against the car, her arms firmly crossed over her chest. Angel stood at her side, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. Silence draped over the couple like a blanket, so thick it was almost suffocating. The cool night air created little clouds every time the slayer took a breath, a lingering constant reminder to the fact that the man next to her had not created a wisp.

Headlights shone from a distance, breaking the silence between the vampire and the Slayer. Anticipation bled through the air, the petite blonde hugging herself to keep from running. Angel stepped closer to her, wrapping a strong arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She smiled, a true happy smile, before she turned her sea green gaze eagerly to the parking car. A gold nondescript Toyota Camry reached a slow stop, but before the car was even turned off, the back door was thrown open. The night hid her face as a little girl with brown ringlets disentangled herself from her seat belt and practically threw herself out the door.

"Kathy!" Buffy cried out, running towards the child. The girl pushed herself quickly towards the slayer, dropping her pink Beauty and Beast backpack, her lilac and white shoes lighting up every time she took a step. Falling to her knees, Buffy opened her arms and quickly felt a sensation she loved more than anything; the feeling of her daughter's arms wrapped around her.

"Mama! I missed you so much." Voice muffled by her mother's neck, Kathy simply hugged tighter. When she looked up she saw her father heading towards them. She smiled, knowing better than trying to get out of her mother's hold when she was like this. With a smile, the vampire kneeled, kissing her on the forehead.

"Hello Kathy." Kathy smiled and tried to wiggle her way out from her mother's hold. A gentle hand that belonged to her father stopped her squirming before it helped her mother stand. Simply content, Kathy hugged her mother and watched her father walk towards the other two former occupants of the car.

Extending his hand to the man, Angel smiled. "Frank, Jane. It's good to see you again." The woman smiled her short brown hair bobbing as she nodded. Thinking better, she moved closer to him, giving him a small hug. Angel hugged her back. In his peripheral vision he noticed that Buffy had finally released her death hold on their daughter and had retrieved her fallen backpack. Hand in hand, the mother and daughter quickly joined the rest.

"Go tell your dad hi." Needing no more than those words, Kathy launched herself into her father's arms. "Daddy!" She cried out, getting into a similar position as she had been with her mother. Buffy quickly greeted Frank and Jane, commenting on Frank's new acquisition of glasses and Jane's new haircut.

She returned to Angel and Kathy, pressing one slim hand to the child's back. Angel was whispering something in Gaelic to their daughter and miraculously the girl was answering back in the same language. That was one trait that the girl had picked up long before she could read. Buffy could only smile. They were reunited with their daughter again, even if only for a night, and all was well. There was no demon to defeat, no great evil to destroy, no looming apocalypse waiting just around the corner. For once, it was Buffy, Angel, and Kathy. All in the world was right.

"I hear you've been practicing for you recital next month, Kathy." Buffy commented, kissing the girl's forehead. Kathy nodded profusely, but Jane spoke. "Are you kidding me? We can't get that girl to put down that violin." Buffy giggled at the same time as Kathy, a mischievous gleam in their lovat colored eyes. Angel shook his head and deposited the girl in Buffy's arms.

"Kathy, sweetheart, why don't you show your mommy your class work?" Frank suggested. Instantly Kathy grabbed her mother's hand, dragging her to the swing set where she waited patiently as her slayer of a mother sat and the proceeded to plop down in her lap. She practically tore open the backpack and pulled out high scored math tests and lined pages of cursive writing.

"You know, she just wouldn't stop talking about how she wanted to show you guys her work."

"Frank, I can't thank you enough for this small miracle for Buffy and I." Jane smiled, placing a hand on her husband's arm.

"Angel, we love Kathy to death. She is the sweetest thing since ice cream and we know how much this means to her. She loves you two. All she ever talks about is how she wants to grow up strong like her mommy and smart like her daddy." Angel smiled again, finding it was something that he did often when in the presence of his bubbly daughter. It was like the great burden of his guilt left him for that short moment and that his amends had made a difference. A surge of pride shot through him at the thought that his daughter wanted to be like him.

"So, how is Alyssa? No fights?" He asked cautiously. The girls didn't get along all too well, do to the fact that they were like sisters. Jane laughed.

"Oh, she's fine. Still the same old firecracker you know. And no, no more fights between the two. She's actually at the babysitter's right now. We're going to drop Kathy there afterwards."

"Babysitter?"

"Jane and I have to leave on a business trip tonight. It's just like to company to book a redeye flight, you know. But we didn't want to bug Jane's parents with watching them, so we were sending to girls to a babysitter."

Angel mulled this over, his expression darkening. "Is this girl a certified Red-Cross babysitter? Does she know what to do in an emergency? How old is she? She is a girl right?" Jane and Frank laughed at Angel's concerned inquisition, the former clutching her stomach.

"Yes, yes, 22, and yes she is a girl, Angel. We've been sending the girls with her for awhile."

"What's this I'm hearing about a 22 year old girl? Plotting something love?" Buffy's voice broke into the conversation, her hand tightly grasped in the second grader's. Kathy tugged on the aforementioned hand, effectively bringing the attention to her.

"That's just Jenny. She watches me and Alyssa sometimes when Frank and Jane go places. She's cool! She lets me watch Kim Possible and Spongebob, Mommy." Buffy mock frowned.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of this "Jenny". I mean she lets you watch shows your Aunt Dawnie watches…and we all know how she turned out." The adults shared a laugh, while Kathy looked around confused. But when she caught Jane's gaze, her expression became determined. She pulled her hand from her mother's grasp and stood next to her adoptive parents. A rush a panic flowed into the slayer's veins and turned to Angel. He had a similar expression, though much more collected.

"Buffy, Angel, we have a proposition for you. Go ahead sweetheart." Frank pulled out his keys and hand them to the child. Kathy scurried back into the car, pulling something from out of the open truck after she fumbled unlocking it.

"We have to be leaving for the airport soon and know the timing is unfair to you both. Also, I understand that you are not too comfortable with the fact that Kathy will be staying with a babysitter. So Frank and I though, why don't you guys watch her for the weekend?"

Time itself seemed to stop as both vampire and slayer stared in complete and utter shock. Such a proposition…it was not only random but dangerous. A beeping interrupted the shock fest as Kathy locked the car and rushed forward. She dropped her suitcase noisily and set her violin case gentler on the ground.

"Can I? I promise I'll be real good and not make a mess. I won't make you watch Kim Possible with me either." She stared up at her parents with such yearning and hope that it broke their hearts. Wordlessly, they both nodded. She squealed in joy and launched herself into her mother's arms. Tears crept down Buffy's cheeks as she stared up the sky, willing herself to stop crying but finding the more she tried the more she did. A foreign tightness developed in the back of her throat she ran a hand through her daughter's chestnut locks.

Angel wrapped his arms around the two, not able to control his own emotions as his eyes became blurry. Frank and Jane smiled gently before they waved goodbye. Angel nodded back, noticing that both his daughter and Buffy were too oblivious to care at the moment. The foster parents of Kathy quietly returned to their car, started it, and pulled back into the night.

Please review. I just love getting them and hearing what you guys think about my story. So anyway, there you go. You have finally met seven year old Kathy. Up next: The ride home…but which home? Also, the mystery about Kathy…