Author's Note: In my world, Richie Ryan did not die on Highlander. It was a stupid storyline and one I refuse to acknowledge. He is alive and well in this story and will remain so. Also, since Highlander ended in 1996 and Buffy started in 1997, then I am working on the assumption that the Highlander finale (minus Richie being dead) had already occurred when Buffy first met Methos in "Running on Empty". Everything that happened on that show has already occurred, including Alexa's death. Hope that doesn't confuse anybody. Thanks for all the thoughtful reviews so far!
Buffy slept in for the first time in a good long while, reveling in the lack of potentials, and other disasters that had demanded her attention for almost a year now.
At noon she entered the living room and was surprised at the sight that greeted her.
Dawn and Methos sat together eating cereal and laughing as if they were old friends. She watched as the two of them both went for the prize at the bottom of the cereal box at the exact same time and chuckled to herself. Methos' mind could be delightfully juvenile sometimes.
They both looked up at the sound of her laughter and smiled. Buffy sat down between them and watched as Methos reluctantly handed the decoder ring over to Dawn.
"She's awake," Dawn said with a meaningful look towards Methos.
"You win," Methos said with a sigh. Dawn beamed. Buffy was suddenly suspicious.
"Win what?"
"Adam and I had a bet on what time you'd wake up this morning. He said one, but I totally called noon." Dawn reached a hand out to him triumphantly. "You owe me five bucks…or is it Euros?"
"No he doesn't!" Buffy exclaimed, unable to believe that her sister would demand something like that after all he had done for them already. Methos simply laughed.
"Actually I suggested the bet," he admitted with a shrug. "I'm willing to take my lumps."
She sighed, feeling outgunned and reached for the cereal.
"Where's Xander?" She wondered as she poured herself a bowl.
"Not up yet," Dawn replied between mouthfuls. "But he better be soon if we want to get to the stores on time."
"The stores?" She blinked, feeling more lost than ever.
"For clothes!" Dawn chirped happily. "Xander and I don't have any, so Adam promised to give Xander his car to take me shopping. I've never been shopping in Paris!"
"This is too much," she said firmly, uncomfortable with the idea of not being able to provide these things for Dawn herself. Underneath the table, she felt Methos take her hand and squeeze it gently.
"It's OK," he told her. "Money is never something I've had to care about."
"That's right, he's loaded!" Dawn exclaimed eagerly. "He was telling me about all the different places he has houses, and apartments, and bank accounts…how old are you anyway?"
"It's not the money," she insisted. She looked over at him, wishing that the two of them were alone for this. "I am supposed to take care of her."
"And you have," he replied. "You saved the world Buffy. There's no way I can compete with that. You've carried her this far. Let me carry you for a while."
She stared at him, wanting to tell him that she was her own woman, that she didn't need anybody, but the truth was she did. Much as she hated to admit it, she had nothing. No job, no actual home, no parents or even her Watcher to turn to when things really got rough. It would be fine if it were just her-she'd manage. But she was in charge of Dawn now and if it meant swallowing her pride for a while until she was back on her feet, she could do that. And looking at him, she couldn't bear to tell him she didn't want his help. Everything inside him seemed to be silently saying let me help you. Finally, she nodded and Dawn let out a whoop.
"Shopping in Paris!"
"Nothing too expensive!" She said sternly. "There's gotta be like a French version of Wal-Mart around here. Find it."
Dawn pouted slightly, but didn't argue. Eventually, she got impatient enough to run upstairs to wake Xander, who trudged down behind her, looking awake, but incredibly haggard. There was a redness under his eye that troubled Buffy and she wondered if he had gotten any sleep at all last night.
Dawn seemed too excited about the shopping to notice and within the half hour, they had left, leaving Buffy and Methos alone in the house.
"He seems rather withdrawn," Methos commented. Buffy nodded.
"That eye patch is not cause he wants to be a pirate." She replied glibly, although her attempt at casual didn't fool him.
"How did it happen?"
"He was protecting the girls. They didn't have their powers yet and Xander got in the way of the First's right hand man." Buffy grimaced at the memory. "He's had it real rough. When Sunnydale fell, someone he loved fell with it."
"He won't talk about it?" Methos asked, although he already knew the answer. Buffy shook her head.
"He seems to have graduated from the Buffy Summers school of self isolation." She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, slumping onto his couch. "I wish I knew how to talk to him. The only person that ever really did was Willow, and she's in England. Maybe he should have gone with them."
"Maybe," Methos acknowledged, "but you can't turn back now. All you can do is try to help him however you can."
"Yea, well maybe I'm not the best one for him to talk to." She shook her head ruefully. "I haven't exactly made the greatest choices lately."
"Brooding doesn't become you. You're starting to sound like Mac," he teased her gently. She scowled at him. "Tell me about the slayers. How did that happen?"
Buffy stood up from the couch and went down stairs, only to emerge moments later with the Scythe that Willow had enchanted to give the slayers their power.
"Recognize this?" She asked him. His eyes widened as he took in the sight.
"No," he replied, "but from the look of it, I can tell it's older than I am. Where did you get that?"
Buffy took a deep breath and proceeded to tell him about her meeting with the one of the ancient Guardians, and the magic that the Scythe seemed to possess for every slayer who held it. She told him of Caleb, how the first had managed to imbue him with some of its powers and how Buffy had asked Willow to use the slayer's essence in the weapon to give every young slayer her powers. When she was done telling her story, he whistled softly.
"You really did change the world," he murmured appreciatively. "All those slayers, and meeting the Guardians…"
"You knew who they were, didn't you?" She asked him. "From before. When you wanted me to fight Klossen, you told me a bit about the origins of the Watcher's Council, but you left that part out. Why?"
"Honestly, I didn't think it was important." He shrugged. "I wasn't even completely sure they were real. I suppose I get to tell Joe now that they were."
"You do, and you have a shiny weapon to prove it." She held up the Scythe again and watched as Methos stared at it in wonder.
"What is it you're going to do now?" He wondered. "You said you had a plan."
"I do, but I want Joe and Duncan in the same room when I tell it." She replied. "I don't want to have to repeat it a bunch of times. I was thinking we could all meet somewhere later on?"
"Joe has a Blues Bar here in Paris." Methos told her, nodding his head. "When Dawn and Xander get back I'll give him a call. Richie is here too y'know."
"Good," Buffy said with a smile. "I missed everyone."
"They missed you too," Methos assured her. "And you never know, maybe Duncan will be able to help Xander through his grief. Mac's way better with sympathy and comfort than I am."
Buffy doubted that, wanting to tell him how amazing he had been when she really needed him, but refrained. She doubted that Methos could be there for Xander the same way and she knew that he was right in that Mac did have a natural ability to empathize with people's pain. He had also lost his beloved Tessa, so it wasn't as if he didn't know what it felt like to senselessly lose someone he loved.
"I don't know if Xander will talk to anybody, but it's worth a try."
Buffy waited until Xander and Dawn returned before calling Willow's cell phone. She wasn't sure where they had decided to stay for the time being, given that there was no way Giles' small apartment that he kept there could possibly accommodate all of them, even if some of them weren't staying.
That being the case, the only number she could possibly call with any certainty was Willow's cell. Luckily she picked up on the second ring.
"Buffy?" Willow's voice was a bit crackly and the roaming charges were probably astronomical, but she could hear her and that was the main thing.
"It's me Will. Hang up, and call me back at this number." She rattled off Methos' number and hung up the phone. Moments later, it rang.
"Is this better?" Willow's voice was clearer now. Buffy nodded, though she couldn't see it.
"Yea, I just figured that your cell was probably a bad way to talk. Where are you?"
"A hotel just outside of the old Council Headquarters," she replied.
"Is Giles there?" Buffy wondered.
"No, he went out to check and make sure all the girls were settled in." Willow told her. "Have you made contact with the Council where you are?"
"Not yet, I'll be doing that tonight." Buffy said as she ran her hand through her hair. "You don't have to worry about this end Will, what you guys need to concentrate on is finding a new space to use for the Council. I assume that the building they used to use is kinda…rubbly."
"Well, yes and no." Willow said with a touch of humour in her voice. Buffy frowned.
"Yes and no? I don't get it."
"Well it did get blown up," she said, "but nobody knows it. It turns out there's a spell on the building…one that's been there ever since it was built way back in the twelfth century. Basically the spell is designed so that if anything were to happen to the building, nobody would ever know it. It's like a giant glamour. The building is in ruins, but to everyone walking past it, it still appears perfectly intact."
"So how does that help us?" She wondered. "I mean, glamour or not, it's still a pile of rubble."
"It is, but this spell also has an interesting side effect. I've contacted the coven here that helped me before and we should be able to use the spell to help reconstruct the building. It should be good as new in about a week…maybe two."
"Wow," Buffy said whistling softly. She had been worried that finding another space for Council's Headquarters would be there biggest problem, and now it looked as if it were barely a blip, all thanks to Willow. "Good job Will. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You'd figure something out," Willow assured her. Buffy could almost hear her blushing.
"How is everybody?" She asked, changing the subject. "How are the slayers?"
"They're good Buffy," Willow told her. "They are so excited to be in England and they're all really eager to begin their training. But we're gonna need more Watchers. I mean, once we reconstruct the building and I start sending the others out to find slayers we're gonna be over-run with people to train."
"I know, I'm working on the Watcher angle on this end," she promised. "I know a few people who I am sure will be willing to help."
"Is one of those people your cutie patootie Englishman?" Willow asked slyly. Buffy blushed as she saw Methos enter the living room out of the corner of her eye, then go back into the kitchen.
"He's Welsh," Buffy corrected him, ignoring Willow's implication. "And he's not a Watcher. Not anymore anyway."
"But you guys are staying there, right?"
Buffy sighed.
"Adam is a friend," she told Willow. "And he was nice enough to let us stay here."
"That's it?" The witch asked, sounding slightly disappointed.
"Yea, that's it." She told her firmly, ignoring the single current of uncertainty that ran through her. She wanted to tell her friend that she had come here to do a job, and to make sure she lived up to the responsibilities that these new slayers now represented. She wasn't here for a boyfriend, especially not after having lost Spike and alienated Angel. There was just too much happening in her life. She wanted to tell Willow all of this, but couldn't seem to verbally form the words. She could tell on the other end that Willow didn't exactly believe her either.
"If you say so," she sing-songed. "How's Xander?"
"The same," she replied as Xander approached from the kitchen. "You want to talk to him?"
Willow did, and Buffy turned to hand the phone to him, entering the kitchen and finding Dawn there, going through her bags of clothes with considerable excitement.
"Look what I got Buffy!" She exclaimed excitedly. "They're the latest fashions and they were all on sale! This place is amazing!"
Buffy raised an eyebrow at the items Dawn had managed to buy 'on sale'. Some of them were really funky, and Buffy had a feeling that it might be her that began stealing from Dawn's wardrobe rather than the other way around. She was about to reply when part of Xander's conversation with Willow caught her attention.
"I told you back at Angel's, I don't want to talk."
Methos placed an arm on Buffy's shoulder and looked at her with deep concern. Xander's tone was one of considerable anger. He was almost seething with it. She had been the focus of such anger before, but Willow never had. He had never spoken to Willow like that. Well, other than the whole hyena incident. What sent shivers up Buffy's spine now however, is that there were no hyenas in site and Xander was almost yelling at her.
"All I want," he was saying, "is for everyone around me to stop asking me if I'm OK and to just leave me alone."
Dawn moved closer to Buffy and she took her hand, not sure what to do. He sounded like he was coming unglued and the more they tried to be there for him, the more he pushed them all away. There was another pause and then his voice, hissing angrily.
"Yea, that means you too Will. Just…let me be."
The phone slammed down loudly and without even looking towards the kitchen where the others were, he stormed out the door, not even bothering to grab a coat or put on his shoes.
"It's Anya," Dawn whispered sadly. "He's missing her."
"I know Dawnie," Buffy said with a heavy sigh. "I wish I knew what to do. Should I go after him?"
"I don't think that would be wise Buffy." Methos cautioned softly. "He seems rather volatile."
"He's not," she told him worriedly. "I mean, that's not Xander. He's always been so…I've never seen him like this."
"He'll be back soon," Dawn said with a confidence she didn't feel.
"Maybe it's best that we clear out of here before he gets back." Methos suggested. "Give him some space."
"Where are we going?" Dawn wondered.
"To meet some more friends of mine," Buffy told her, not wanting to leave for Joe's without Xander, but feeling she had no other option. She reached for a pad of paper and a pen. "That's a good idea Adam. I'm going to write him a note though, just in case he wants to…just in case."
"Good idea." Methos agreed. "Let me know when you're ready. Joe and the others are expecting us."