Title: This Magic Moment

Rating: K+

Summary: In New York to find a rare book on prophesies, Buffy accidentally interrupts a Montgomery/Taggert family get-together.

Disclaimer: I claim ownership of nothing except the plot. Buffy belongs to Whedon, and the Montgomery's and Taggert's belong to Jude Deveraux.

Feedback: I would most certainly appreciate it!

Notes: Thanks to Catlimere, Dreamweaver, greeneyes, Dr. Shubert, fairieangel, and S. Mary for reviewing!

Catlimere: The Montgomery and Taggert families were made up by Jude Deveraux. Both families are really old, rich and powerful, well respected among the community. Plus, they're all great people with open minds. One of them even married a woman with psychic powers. There are a lot of Taggert and Montgomery's, and they are all related. Jack Montgomery and his family weren't made up by Jude Deveraux, they are characters from my own mind. Buffy does need "hubba, hubba".

Dreamweaver: I've never heard of any of those other families. Who are the authors? Yeah, Jude Deveraux is one of my favorite authors, and I love her Montgomery/Taggert family series. You know, I was thinking about writing a chapter where Jack asks Buffy who her lawyers are. Can you imagine if she said "Wolfram and Hart" and Jack had heard about them, especially their way of doing business? Hmm…ideas.

Dr. Shubert: Ooh, good idea. What if Buffy comes across a Watchers Diary of a previous Slayer named Montgomery or Taggert? Interesting… Thanks for reviewing!

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Magical Intervention

Buffy Summers had a philosophy. She believed that life, in general, had a lot of strange curves, and that the only way to survive was to roll with the punches and make do with what you had. Which is why she didn't bat an eyelash when she found herself a sacrifice in a demon ritual in the middle of a cavern that was located in the sewers beneath New York City.

As the oldest and most experienced Vampire Slayer of the many in the world, and there were quite a few since her friend Willow had activated all of them, Buffy had previously found herself in this very same position a few times before. Luckily for her, but unluckily for the demons who dared to try and sacrifice the Slayer, she had always managed to find a way out.

Her mind was, at that very moment, frantically trying to come up with a plan of escape. With her mouth gagged and her unable to talk, she found it very frustrating not to be able to use her witty insults on the demons who had captured her. Instead, she focused her energies on coming up with said plan.

It is well known that Buffy Summers' plans were unusual. However, as she had pointed out many times, you couldn't complain when they got the job done. And if they hadn't gone exactly as she thought they would, well, not every plan was foolproof.

Heaving a great sigh, which was actually in vain because her mouth was still gagged, Buffy rolled her eyes when the torches surrounding the cavern suddenly shot into flame. Puh-leeze, she thought, like I haven't seen that before.

Several robed figures entered the room and formed a circle around the prone Slayer. Hoods covered their faces, but Buffy already knew what she would see. Garash-Ka demons. A particularly nasty breed of demons heavily into sacrificing women to their demon god, Monish-Sho. She had been hunting one down after a tip from Larry, Willy's cousin that owned a demon bar in New York. Larry had said that the Garash-Ka demons had a book that she wanted.

After following the demon for a few minutes, she had somehow been caught off guard. Waking up a half an hour later, she had found herself on an alter in a white dress. When a couple of hours had passed and she had found no way to get out of the cavern that had been locked with a heavy metal door, Buffy had resorted to yelling. Not too long after, about six demons, very large and ugly, came in and bound and gagged her.

Now it had to be after night of the next day, and it seemed like they were finally getting to the ritual where they cut her heart out and peel her skin off, which was later stored in containers because flesh was a delicacy in the demon world, and then their demon god was supposed to come and eat her. The worst part was, she really had to pee.

Chanting began and interrupted Buffy's thoughts. She really should have been thinking up a plan instead of thinking about her need to relieve her bladder. Mentally shrugging, she rolled her eyes again when the chanting got louder. I guess I just have to go with the flow and make it up, she thought. Before the chanting could end, Buffy rolled to the side and off the alter, causing the demons to stop the ritual and send up a shout of warning. Hopping on bound feet, she tripped over a stone and landed on her back.

A demon grabbed the ritual knife and gestured to the others to keep chanting. As the sounds of the ancient ritual filled the air, Buffy frantically searched for a way out of the mess she found herself in. The demon with the knife started to bring the blade down towards her heart, Buffy lifted her legs up to block and the knife sliced through the ropes around her ankle. Happy at this bit of luck, she kicked the surprised demon in the gut and flipped up, grabbing the knife.

Reversing it, she sawed at the ropes around her wrists while spinning and kicking another demon in the face. Hands finally free, she tore her gag off and grinned fiercely.

"Glad I can join the party. Sorry, my invitation must be in my other sacrificial dress," she said as she began to fight. The next 10 minutes passed in a blur as she dispatched of the five demons, managing to get green goo all over the really ugly dress they had put her in. Tip-toeing to the door, Buffy slowly opened it and peeked out, only to get punched in the face by the guard. Flying backwards, she hit the wall with a groan.

Sinking to the floor, she pushed herself up when two guard demons walked in. Larger than the demons that had been chanting, they advanced on the Slayer as she stood. Wincing as her back popped, Buffy fisted her hands and stood in a fighters crouch. Punching out at the demon on the left while simultaneously kicking at the demon on the left, she smiled when she connected to face and stomach. Flipping out of the way, she caught one demon in the chin before she landed, snatching up the knife where it had fallen.

Turning to face both demons, Buffy held the knife in her hand and got to work. When the demons were finally dead, she made her way out the door and down a sewer pipe. Finally, she found a room that was empty except for a few broken chairs, her clothes and a dusty book. Exactly what she was looking for. Grabbing it, she whistled a mindless tune and changed out of the ugly white dress that was dripping in demon goo, wrinkling her nose when she saw that her clothes had a few streaks slime on it. Holding the book to her chest, she turned to find an exit.

Not too long after, she found another demon. It was a different species than the Garash-Ka, smaller but just as ugly. Giving an annoyed sigh, she began to chase after it when it ran. Luckily, the demon lead her straight to an exit. Bursting out of the branches, Buffy skid to a halt in surprise.

Well, shit, she thought, wincing when several people turned to stare at her. Well, several plus about 50, and that was only about half of the people there.

…………………………

Jack Montgomery was deep in conversation with his brother Duncan. Which actually was not an easy thing to do when about a hundred other conversations were happening around him and about a million kids ran through the park. This was not an unusual occurrence because the Montgomery family and the Taggert family got together for reunions about twice a year. It was chaos. Utter chaos. And he loved it.

Single and nearing the ripe age of 30, Jack liked to consider himself content. He had a great job as a lawyer in his parents' prestigious law firm, Montgomery Law, he had more family than he could count, a nice house outside city limits, and great friends. Jack wasn't single for lack of prospects. Hell, he had been considered one of New York's most eligible bachelors. He liked to think that he was seen as such not just because he was rich and he had a good job, but because he had a great personality. And while Jack liked to consider himself content with his life, sometimes he wasn't.

What he really wanted was someone to come home to, other than his dog Otis. He wanted someone to lay in bed with at night, other than Otis. And he wanted to share breakfast with someone, other than Otis. Shaking his head, he turned back to the conversation he was having with Duncan.

Before he could get a word in, there was a commotion to his left and he spun around, wondering which one of his kid relatives had done something wrong. It wasn't a kid, though. A thing, for lack of a better word, jumped out of the branches and stood there, snarling. It was a bluish greenish color, and very ugly. Someone screamed, and the women all backed up as the men pushed their way forward, Jack among them.

Then another figure burst out of the branches, and in the dim light, Jack saw that it wasn't another ugly creature. It was a woman, but he couldn't make out her features. She was very small, not much over five feet, so she might not have been a woman at all. Actually, she seemed kind of familiar. Ready to jump forward to protect her, Jack faltered when the thing turned around, noticed the woman, and shrieked in fear before fleeing.

As if she was about give chase, the woman put a step forward, then stopped as if realizing she was surrounded by people. Swiveling her head from side to side, Jack practically heard her swallow.

"Uh…Darn kids in Halloween masks. They just never know when to quit, right?" She said, before chuckling nervously. "Well, uh, I better go and find him to make sure he doesn't get into trouble. Sorry about interrupting the party. Bye!" The woman waved, then slipped through the crowd of Montgomery's and Taggert's.

About to follow, Jack stopped and shook his head. It was none of his business, anyway. Yet he couldn't help but feel as if the woman's explanation wasn't even close to the truth. The lawyer in him wanted to look beneath the surface, but he decided against it. After all, he was here with family, and he was enjoying the party.

A thought still niggled at the back of his mind. He knew that voice. But from where?

…………………….

Buffy grimaced as she got into the shower and the hot water beat down on her cuts and bruises. After washing up, she got out and toweled herself dry. Standing in the middle of her bedroom in the two room apartment that she had bought with Council funds, she winced when she thought about the unfortunate incident at the park this morning. Talk about embarrassing. Good thing she had got out as fast as she could.

Pushing the afternoon and the whole experience to the back of her mind, she grinned at the musty book on her dresser and did a victory dance. At least she had gotten the book that Giles had wanted. Now it was time for her to get a life. Maybe she could convince Giles that New York was the right place for her.

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End

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