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 the moment. 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: Thank you all for the nice reviews. Just to let you know, I've got about twelve more chapters of this written. I'll be putting up a new chapter probably every day, or when I finish writing a chapter. I want to stay ahead in case some other crisis happens in that dread thing called Real Life. As the wise lady said, life is hard.
Chapter Two: Confrontations
"Is she okay?"
"I think she's waking up."
"Annie? Annie, girlfriend, can you hear me?"
"Yeah," she managed, not opening her eyes. "Ella?"
The unspoken request was answered; Ella bent and kissed her friend, giving her the reassurance she sometimes craved so much. Buffy opened her eyes then, and sat up without too much difficulty. She was lying on her own couch, in her own home. Ella knelt on the floor next to her; Spike and Giles were standing above her, contempt etched on one face and concern on the other.
"What are they doing in here?" Buffy demanded of Ella in a low voice.
"They found you, brought you in," Ella told her. "Annie, what happened? You lost focus..."
"I guess I'm tired," Buffy said tightly. "Car hit me, right? That I remember." She rose and faced the two Brits. "Thank you. Now get out of my house."
"Buffy –"Giles started.
"No. Out. Now."
"Mommy?"
All heads swivelled towards the stairway as Hattie, red curls tousled around her face, padded down. "Mommy, I couldn't sleep," she complained. "You noisy."
"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry," Buffy said, guilt flooding through her. She crouched and hugged her daughter. "Come on, let's do another bedtime story, okay? And we'll chase the monsters away, how about that?"
Hattie looked at the two strangers in her house, frowning slightly, before looking at her mother. "You hurt?" she asked in a small voice. "Nasty men hurt mommy?"
"No, sweetheart, I just fell down, that's all. Come on, off to bed."
"Who's that?" Hattie demanded, pointing at Spike. "He's old."
Buffy grabbed Hattie's finger and swung it away, down at the floor, slightly pale. "We never, ever, ever point at people," she admonished, a harsh note in her voice. "Ever! Do you understand me, Harriet?" Hattie's lower lip quivered as she nodded. Buffy gathered her up into a hug. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but you know we have to be very careful, don't you?"
"Yes, mommy," Hattie murmured. She was clearly exhausted. Buffy didn't for one minute believe that they'd been keeping her awake after the huge yawn she gave. "Want a story."
Buffy glanced at Spike and Giles, who were both watching her with differing degrees of shock. She turned to Ella. "Ella, would you –"
"Of course," Ella said quickly, taking Hattie. "C'mon, honey, let's go find a good story, huh? And maybe give Marian a goodnight kiss too." They disappeared up the stairs, and Buffy collapsed back onto the couch.
"So," she said quietly. "Why are you here? The truth, and all of it, before I throw you out. And keep it down. I would like Hattie to be moderately awake for her music group tomorrow."
Giles sat down and took his glasses off to clean them. Buffy gave a small smile. Some things never changed.
"That – that girl was your daughter?" he stuttered. Buffy nodded. "Good Lord."
"It's not an apocalyptic event," Buffy said quietly. "I'm not the first Slayer to have a child. I won't be the last." She glanced at the blond vampire leaning up against the wall. "Spike killed one of them, in the seventies." She rose and stretched her back. Sitting hunched at a computer half the day wasn't doing her any favours. "Anything else? I'm tired."
"Buffy, you're needed in Sunnydale," Giles said after a moment. "We've been managing as best we can, with the two Slayers that have been called since Kendra...but this is...worse than anything we've faced."
"Oh, and you decide now, after four years, that you need to come crying to me?" Buffy demanded, slightly sickened. "Well, I'm not playing."
"Dawn needs you, Slayer," Spike said after a tense moment. "Your mum's dead, and your sister needs you."
Buffy gave him an odd look. "Spike, I don't have a sister. Never have done. Only child right from the start." Her mind caught up. "Mom's dead?" she demanded in a small voice.
"Yes," Giles affirmed. "She's dead. And you weren't there."
"I will not stand here and listen to accusations in my own home," Buffy warned him, steel hidden under her soft tone. "Get out."
"Slayer –"
"Out, Spike!"
Someone knocked lightly on the door. Buffy didn't move; a moment later a key turned in the lock and her best friend, mentor and supporter walked in.
"Annie, are you alright?" he inquired. "The neighbour said there'd been an accident..." He trailed off as he saw the occupants of the room. "Ah. Rupert."
Buffy crossed the room and hugged him tight. "They turned up this evening," she murmured. "The spells are wearing off."
Ethan nodded, eyes remaining on Giles. "You alright, love?" he asked again in a low voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Get them out? Please?"
Giles found his voice. "Ethan Rayne. Why the hell are you here?"
Ethan wrapped an arm around Buffy's waist. "Visiting a friend," he said succinctly. "Better excuse than you, Ripper. And bringing a vampire along? Getting sloppy in our old age, are we?"
"Ethan, stop baiting him," Buffy said quietly.
"Would someone explain to me what the bloody hell is going on?" Spike demanded in a loud voice. "The Slayer got herself knocked up, she doesn't remember her sister, she's living with a sorcerer and apparently is gay – what hell dimension is this?"
"It's called Earth, Spike," Giles said wearily. "Just shut up."
"Please do," Ethan agreed. "There are children asleep upstairs, you know."
Giles faltered. "Children? Plural?"
Buffy gave him a scathing look. "One's Ella's." She looked up at Ethan. "She's staying here for a while, until we can get a restraining order on Tom. He beat her again. Can you help me heal her, later?"
Ethan looked her over critically. "Not sure. Your energy's very unfocused." He glanced up at the other two Brits. "Probably because of them. What do they want you to do?"
"Save the world, as is her destiny," Giles said coldly.
"Fuck destiny." Ella had reappeared. "Fuck destiny," she repeated. "I tried to follow mine. Look where it got me. Destiny is nothing but a pile of shit designed to keep people in line." She grabbed Buffy's hands. "Annie, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. You know that. Nobody can make you do anything." She gave a wry grin, marred by the purpling bruise on her face. "Not even the people you love."
Buffy looked at Giles for a long moment. She didn't know him anymore, and he didn't know her. The way he was acting...she couldn't remember him ever being this cold. But four years and no contact could do that, she supposed.
Then Spike...
She still remembered how he'd felt against her. Cold skin. Rough brick behind her, scraping at her back. Hot, hungry, demanding kisses. Teeth scraping over her flesh. Him filling her, making her feel whole for a moment. It shouldn't have been possible. It shouldn't have ever happened.
And the way he was looking at her now; all blue, pleading eyes. And there was something essentially different about him...
"Ethan," she said oddly. "He's souled. How?"
"No idea, love. Took you long enough. Need some more lessons?"
"No thank you. Have enough on my plate as it is." She closed her eyes briefly. "Giles...explain. Who's Dawn? Why do you say she's my sister?"
Reviews are chocolate, and I'm not on a diet.
Coming next chapter:
Buffy's a statistic?
Ethan does some explaining