Title: This Magic Moment

Rating: K+

Summary: Jack gets the shock of his life.

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!

Authors Note: Thanks to spk, Anna, fanforlife, Toniboo, WolfbainKohaku, and onlimain for reviewing!

fanforlife: no, I haven't read that book. What's it called? It sounds interesting. Thanks for the review!

onlimain: Well, she does freak out. Read on, and you'll see what happens. Thank you for reviewing!

Well, this is the second to last chapter for This Magic Moment. Don't forget to review!

Previously on This Magic Moment:

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.

Maybe she could convince Giles that New York was the right place for her.

There was a very familiar man stepping into a taxi. Taking a step forward, Buffy's eyes widened when she realized it was Jack.

Buffy maneuvered her car backwards, then cursed when she hit something with a loud crunch.

There, painting one wall, was the woman. The very same woman he had been thinking about for at least a month.

Jack nodded to himself, decision made. He walked towards the mystery woman, all thoughts off Buffy Summers and his cousin gone from his mind.

"You're here to sue me, aren't you?" Buffy blurted out.

"I'm not here to sue you," Jack told her. I'm here to date you, he thought.

Finally giving up the act of being composed and business like, she grinned, laughed, then tried to imitate Xander's Snoopy dance. Failing miserably, what came out were weird, twitchy movements.

Buffy stared at Jack's card for a few minutes, then grinned. Yep, she was so ready to be a cookie.

"Hi, Jack. This is Buffy Summers. I'm back from Italy, and if you're still up for dinner, give me a call. Bye."

He felt breathless, which surprised him because he had never been breathless from a woman before.

And then she kissed him.

"You're all here," she softly said. "I need- I need to be somewhere where you're not. I can't be part of the Scooby Gang, or our Slayer and Slayerette team anymore. In Sunnydale, you showed me that while the Slayer may have people working with her, she is still alone. I made decisions, some decisions that turned out to be mistakes, and you punished me for that. All of you did. You barely knew me, yet you condemned me. I died so all of you could live. And Sunnydale just proved to me that through it all, I will always be alone. So I can't be here, not when you're all here to remind me that I don't belong."

She was going to break it off before things got to deep.

After all, she was the Slayer. And being the Slayer meant sacrifice.

"I want more than that, Buffy. I want more than friends." He yanked her onto his lap, kissing her before she could protest. When they finally came up for air, her eyes were unfocused and her mouth red.

"Good," was all she said before fisting her hands in his hair and yanking his face to hers.

They lay there for a few minutes, Buffy gazing at the rising sun and Jack staring at her profile. He didn't know why he said it. But a feeling of completeness overtook him, and he just felt as if he couldn't go on without saying it.

"I love you."

The Magic of You

Buffy's eyes widened and she froze. Oh, God, she thought. Did he just say what I think he said? She glanced over at Jack, who was also wide-eyed and surprised. Yep, he did.

"Jack," she began, then paused to reorganize her thoughts. "Jack, don't say that. Not when you don't mean it."

"But I do, Buffy," Jack protested, sitting up and scattering snow as he shook his head. "I do mean it. And I'm sorry for just saying it the way I did, just blurting it out, but I'm not sorry that I did say it. I love you."

Buffy also sat up, then shoved herself to a standing position, which put her in the uncomfortable position of having to look down at Jack. "Stop saying that," she pleaded desperately. "You don't know what you're saying. Just-just don't."

"Don't what, Buffy? Don't feel? Don't feel the way I do? That's an unfair thing of you to ask me. And you can't tell me that you don't feel anything towards me, because I felt it whenever we were together. Give it a chance. What have you got to lose?" Jack stood up, his height giving him a distinct advantage over the much shorter Buffy.

The Slayer dragged her hands over her face, not wanting to listen but knowing that there was a part of her that wanted to believe Jack's feelings. That same part was telling her that maybe she felt the same way. But she was scared, and she wasn't ashamed to admit it, if only to herself. She was scared of the way she felt, of who she was, and of walking away from Jack and never again feeling the way she felt when she was with him.

There was also the issue of her being the Slayer. And Buffy knew that in order for her to finally admit that she was ready for love, she would have to be honest with Jack.

"Jack, there are some things about me that you don't know. Important things. There's something I need to tell you."

Jack zoned out as his mother and father discussed a case during a staff meeting, resting his hand on his fist and staring into space. He sighed, inadvertently drawing attention to himself from his mother. She tuned out her husband as she stared at her son in confusion. Eventually, James noticed his wife's and son's inattention, causing him to trail off and gaze at them in question. A few moments passed before Jack finally realized that both his parents were looking at him with weird expressions on their faces.

"What?" He asked defensively.

Stephanie raised her eyebrow, silently chastising her son's lack of attention. James dismissed the two other lawyers, who walked out with amused smiles gracing their features. "What's going on?" Stephanie asked, cutting the bullshit.

"Nothing important," Jack replied, not meeting his mothers eyes.

"Bull. The only time you were this distracted and defensive was when you were fourteen and your cousins high school friends were over for cheerleading practice. It's Buffy, isn't it?" James asked, his shrewd gaze meeting an uncomfortable Jack.

Jack rolled his eyes, cursing the fact that his parents seemed to know him so well. "Yes, it's Buffy." They were all silent, and Jack felt the weight of his parents' stares, finally caving in under the pressure. "I told her that I love her."

Stephanie squealed, clapping her hands in delight. James grinned proudly, slapping him on the back. "Oh, my baby. When are you going to give me grandchildren?"

"Ma! I didn't say we were getting married," Jack protested loudly.

"But you want to, right?"

"Yes," he answered sheepishly.

"What did she say?" James asked, breaking out a bottle of scotch.

Jack sobered. "She didn't answer me. Buffy said that there were things about her that I didn't know, and she had something to tell me. We're meeting at her place tonight at nine."

"What do you think it is?" Stephanie asked, her forehead creasing in a frown.

"I guess I'll find out tonight."

Buffy nervously twirled a lock of hair around her finger, sitting in Jack's car as they headed towards Central Park. This was a big step, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. As she distinctly recalled, the one time she had told a significant other about her double life, it had ended in disaster. She was on the point of hyperventilating, to say the least, and she could feel the curious and reproachful looks Jack kept shooting her, and that really wasn't helping her.

Finally they reached the park, and Buffy silently exited the car and waited for Jack to join her. When he reached her side, she turned to face him.

"Okay, this is how it is going to go," she started out before taking a deep breath. "I want you to stay behind me, no matter what happens. Do you hear me, Jack? No matter what happens, you stay behind me." Buffy waited for his nod, and it was hesitant, which worried her. She pulled out a stake and held it up. "Keep this with you. If everything goes as planned, you won't need it, but just in case."

"What are we doing? Hunting vampires?" Jack joked, confused as he stared down at the piece of wood in his hand.

"Exactly," Buffy replied, causing Jack to stop abruptly in shock. Sighing, she turned around to face him. "Into every generation, there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer."

"And you're saying this Slayer person is you?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Yes. And don't look at me like I'm crazy. I'm not crazy, Jack."

"Well, you've got to admit that this whole thing is insane, honey. I mean, it's not everyday my girlfriend tells me that she's some mystical vampire Slayer."

"I know that, Jack. Look, do you want proof? Then follow me," she turned around and started walking without waiting to see if he would follow. She really hoped a vampire showed up, because if one didn't, she would look like a total fruitcake.

It seemed that luck was shining down on her, however, because not too long afterwards a hand shot up from the grave and clawed at the air. Jack let out a manly yell and jumped back as Buffy just calmly looked at the flailing hand.

"What is that?" Jack asked, horror written on his face.

Buffy ignored him and kept looking at the hand. After a few moments, she got impatient and grabbed the hand, yanking the person up. It was a woman in a very revealing black dress.

"Thanks," she said, dusting herself off.

"Oh, sure. No problem. You've got a little dirt on your leg," Buffy said, pointing.

"Hmm...Well, this won't do. It's stained my dress."

"Soak it for an hour, it'll come right off," Buffy suggested.

"Really? When I was alive, I just threw it away. Well, I'm going to have to kill you."

"You're going to try to kill me, but you won't."

And then they fought. Jack just stared in astonishment as Buffy beat the hell out of a woman that was just pulled from her grave. The moves she used were incredible. He knew that she was proficient in karate, but not to this extent. Just then, Buffy pulled out a piece of wood like the one in his hand. Jack felt his eyes widen when she plunged the sharp implement into the woman's chest.

"Buffy! What are you-" he suddenly stopped when they were both enveloped in dust. Coughing, he waved it away before noticing that only Buffy stood in front of him and the woman was gone. "What happened?" He asked, even though he already had a pretty good idea.

"That," Buffy said, flicking dust off her sleeve, "was a vampire."

"Oh, geez."

"Jack, go home. Think about this. I have some thinking that I need to do," Buffy told him, laying her hand on his cheek for a moment before leaving.

Jack stood there, stunned, before turning back to his car. He had a headache.

It was the next day, and Buffy had a migraine. She had spent the whole night tossing and turning, telling herself that she needed to pack her bags and leave. She believed that Jack wouldn't accept her for her Slayerness, so she figured she might as well just leave. But she wasn't a quitter, and Buffy didn't take no for an answer. Escpecially when she had been feelingan emotion she didn't want to name. To put a name on that emotion and to call itlove wasbeyond the imagination.It was especially difficult for Buffy, whowas a woman who believed she was quite incapable of being in love after experiencing the heartache of that emotion numerous times. Yet her she was, possibly more in love than sheever was before. Andthe best thing was that she was okay with that.

So here she was, standing outside Montgomery Law, working up the nerve to go inside.

Finally, she mentally rolled her eyes and walked in, knowing that the worst thing that would happen would be Jack throwing her out. Briskly walking to the elevator, she pushed the button for Jack's floor and winced when the doors opened with a ding and she saw Jack standing there. He didn't see her as he entered until the doors closed and he looked up from the papers in her hands.

"Buffy!" He said in surprise.

The Slayer reached over and hit the stop button, causing the elevator to come to a grinding halt.

"We need to talk," she told him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah. We do," Jack replied, leaning against the wall.

"Let me speak first. I tried. I really did. I kept telling myself to just turn away, walk away, but I couldn't do it. And I would go through all the reasons why I shouldn't stay, like the fact that, y'know, I'm the Slayer, I'm supposed to be alone, things are too dangerous, but nothing seemed like a good enough reason because then I would think about the way you make me feel when you look at me. And I like that. I like the way you make me feel. Like maybe the Slayer isn't always supposed to be alone. And maybe being the Slayer doesn't mean sacrifice. Maybe it means something more. I need something more, and dammit, I deserve something more."

"Buffy, I-" Jack began before Buffy cut him off.

"No. I need to finish this. I have not led an easy life. Far from it, actually. But I need something that let's me now that I can have some semblance of normalcy. I need you. I love you, Jack."

"It's about time," he said, smiling. He yanked her close, dropping his papers. "I love you Buffy. No matter who, or what, you are. I love you." And then he kissed her, pushing her against the wall.

Neither one realized that they hit the stop button, and the elevator finished it's ascent and the doors opened. And neither one of them heard the delighted gasp of Jack's mother, or saw the shocked and proud looks Jack's father James and brother Duncan sported. All they knew was that they held each other, and they had finally found someone worth all the heartache of love.

End

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