Author's Notes: Set four years after 'Becoming' part two. Buffy ran away, and didn't come back. Now, four years later, she's about to be reminded of who and what she really is.
Rating: PG-13 for now. Language and themes. Sorry, kiddies.
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognise is mine. Don't sue, please.
Feedback: Very welcome. Constructive criticism is welcome; flames will be used to help me toast marshmallows.
Chapter Notes: After such an enthusiastic response (ha ha) I just had to put up another chapter. Buffy runs into some old 'friends' whilst patrolling.
Chapter One: Memories
She didn't patrol properly that evening, all too aware of her responsibilities that weren't demon related. There wasn't much vampire activity in this town, anyway. She still patrolled when she could, but it just wasn't as much a part of her life anymore.
It hadn't been for four years, not since she'd left Sunnydale and all her memories behind. Except that she hadn't, not really. There would always be a part of her that belonged in Sunnydale, just as part of her would always belong in LA, and a part that belonged - . But for now she belonged here, counsellor at the local high school and single mother to a three-year-old.
She smiled wryly as she twirled her stake between her fingers. Doomed to live her mother's life, indeed.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," she sang softly, just under her breath. She knew there were some vampires around somewhere. A pseudo-master had moved in and was trying to set up shop. "Not in my town, buster," she muttered. "Come out, already. I want my ice cream."
She wouldn't go home without staking at least one. That was her rule. She was still the Slayer, after all. She had a job to do.
"It just doesn't pay the bills, or the mortgage, or anything else," she told a headstone wearily, sitting down on it and swinging her legs. Thank whatever gods existed that Principal Edwards was a decent man, who actually gave a damn about his students. There was a qualified councillor already at the high school, he'd explained to her when she'd gone to the interview, but he wanted someone younger as well, someone more in touch with the students. Since she was only just eighteen at the time, she fitted the bill, and the students seemed to want to talk to her more and more now.
Now at twenty-two, she was studying part-time to become a fully-trained psychologist, as well as taking care of Hattie, and Ella whenever Tom got violent.
Which, she admitted, was getting more and more often. Something seriously needed to be done. If only he was a demon. She would really enjoy beating him up for the pain he was putting her best friend through.
Something rustled in the thickly wooded area at the back of the cemetery, and her head whipped around. Looked like she was going to get to beat something up after all, and just as she'd been about to give up, too.
"Hey, is there someone back there?" she called out in her best little-innocent-girl voice. "Hello?" There was a muted curse and a low growl. Bingo. Vampires, two of them. "Hey, come out here." No answer. She was starting to get annoyed. Starting? Hell, she'd been annoyed ever since Hattie had managed to spill an entire bowl of ice cream on her nice new couch. "If you don't come out here, I'm gonna come in and get you, and you really don't want me to do that," she warned. Again there was no answer, then the two vampires came barrelling out of the bushes towards her.
It was over in moments. "Stupid vampires," she muttered, disgruntled. "Couldn't even put up a good fight." She checked her watch; she'd kept an eye on the time all evening, because she had work in the morning and besides, she wasn't keen on leaving Ella for too long, not with the bruises all over her. "Hey-ho, it's home we go," she murmured.
"You've been watching way too many kiddie shows, Slayer."
She knew that voice. She remembered that voice. The breath stopped in her throat for a second, then she whirled around. Her blow was stopped by the blond vampire who had, it seemed, appeared out of nowhere.
"Or maybe that's as much intelligence as your brain can handle," he suggested. "Cartoons. I know Harris can't stand adult things."
Buffy couldn't find any words. Harris. Xander. It'd been too long since she'd thought of him. The name was unfamiliar in her mouth.
"Get the hell away from me," she said coolly. "Before I stake you. You have one chance. I see you again, you're dust." Then she did what she'd always been told not to do. She turned her back on a master vampire. "You never saw me, Spike," she warned.
Within seconds he was in front of her, yellowed eyes flashing in anger and hatred. "I came here for you, Slayer. You're needed."
Buffy scoffed. "Yeah, sure I am. By my employers and my family. Get out of here." Why the hell wasn't she staking him already? part of her demanded incredulously. Because of the other presence she felt near, the presence she would never be able to forget.
"Your family's back in Sunnydale, you bint," Spike snarled.
"Not for years, Spike. Giles, come out already."
Giles emerged from behind a stout oak tree. The three looked at each other; vampire, slayer, watcher.
"I have to go," Buffy announced after a long, tension-filled moment. "I'm expected at home."
"Buffy, please, just listen to us," Giles said quickly as she started walking away.
"My name is Annie," Buffy corrected him coolly. "Stay out of my life, Watcher. And keep the vampire on a leash."
As soon as she was out of their sight she started trembling. Memories flooded back to her, each more unwelcome than the last.
"Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires..."
"So what do you do for fun, what do you like, what do you look for in a man, let's hear it."
"If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish?"
"Gee, everyone wants to know about me. How keen."
"Well, not much goes on in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You're pretty big news."
"I don't suppose you've got a key on you?"
"They really don't like me dropping in."
"Why not?"
"They really don't like me."
"How could that possibly be?"
"I knew you'd figure out this entryway sooner or later. Actually, I thought it was gonna be a little sooner."
"Sorry you had to wait. Okay. Look, if you're gonna be popping up with this Cryptic Wise Man act on a regular basis, can you at least tell me your name?"
"Angel."
"I invited you into my home and then you attacked my family!"
"Why not? I killed mine. I killed their friends... and their friend's children... For a hundred years I offered ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart."
"What changed?"
"Fed on a girl about your age... beautiful... dumb as a post... but a favourite among her clan."
"Her clan?"
"Romany. Gypsies. The elders conjured the perfect punishment for me. They restored my soul."
"What, they were all out of boils and blinding torment?"
"When you become a vampire the demon takes your body, but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone! No conscience, no remorse... It's an easy way to live. You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done... and to care. I haven't fed on a living human being since that day."
"So that's it, huh? I remember the drill. One Slayer dies, next one's called! Wonder who she is. Will you train her? Or will they send someone else?"
"Buffy, I..."
"They say how he's gonna kill me? Do you think it'll hurt? Don't touch me! Were you even gonna tell me?"
"I was hoping that I wouldn't have to. That there was... some way around it. I..."
"I've got a way around it. I quit!"
"It's not that simple."
"Nice work, love."
"Who are you?"
"You'll find out on Saturday."
"What happens on Saturday?"
"I kill you."
"I told one lie, I had one drink."
"Yes, and you were very nearly devoured by a giant demon snake. The words 'let that be a lesson' are a tad redundant at this juncture."
"I'm sorry."
"So am I. I... I drive you too hard because I-I know what you have to face. From now on no, no more pushing, no more prodding. Just, uh, an inordinate amount of nudging."
"I'd rather be fightin' you anyway."
"Mutual."
"You know, polite people call before they jump out of the bushes and attack you."
"Just wanted to test your reflexes."
"How about testing my face-punching? 'Cause I think you'll find it's improved."
"Hello, lover. I wasn't sure you'd come."
"After your immolation-o-gram? Come on, I had to show. Shouldn't you be out destroying the world right now, pulling the sword out of Al Franken or whatever his name is?"
"There's time enough. I wanted to say goodbye first. You are the one thing in this dimension I will miss."
"This is a beautiful moment we're having. Can we please fight?"
"You want to go around, pet, I'll have a gay old time of it. You want to stop Angel... we're gonna have to play this a bit differently."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about your ex, pet. I'm talking about putting him in the bloody ground."
"This has gotta be the lamest trick you guys have ever thought up."
"He's got your Watcher. Right now, he's probably torturing him."
"What do you want?"
"I told you. I want to stop Angel. I want to save the world."
"All right, talk. What's the deal?"
"Simple. You let me and Dru skip town, I help you kill Angel."
"Forget about Drusilla. She doesn't walk."
"There's no deal without Dru."
"She killed Kendra."
"Dru bagged a Slayer? She didn't tell me! Hey, good for her! Though not from your perspective, I suppose."
"I can't believe I invited you into my house."
"Well, it stops now!"
"No, it doesn't stop! It never stops! Do-do you think I chose to be like this? Do you have any idea how lonely it is, how dangerous? I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys or... God, even studying! But I have to save the world... again."
"No. This is insane. Buffy, you need help."
"I'm not crazy! What I need is for you to chill. I have to go!"
"No. I am not letting you out of this house."
"You can't stop me."
"Oh yes I... You walk out of this house, don't even think about coming back!"
"Now that's everything, huh? No weapons... No friends... No hope. Take all that away... and what's left?"
"Me."
"What's happening?"
"Shh. Don't worry about it. I love you."
"I love you."
"Close your eyes."
And another memory, more pervasive even than that of her seventeenth birthday, insinuating itself into her mind and body...
Not even Angel had made her as hot as he had, during that one foolish hour. Not any of her other lovers, either.
She ran the last half mile, trying to pound it all out and into the tarmac. Why the hell were they here? Why now? Why, after all this time?
Her family needed her, Spike had said. But her family was here now. Hattie, and Ella and Marian, and the kids at her school – they were her family now. More of a family than her father had been, more even than her mother had been. They supported her choices and respected her as her own person.
She didn't even notice the car that came out of the darkness. Too caught up in her own thoughts, she only looked up once she'd reached her house, and then she only caught a glimpse of the lights before the car hit her, and everything went black.
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Coming next chapter:
Spike and Giles meet Ella and Hattie
Buffy's lover makes an appearance