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Chapter 8: Buffy in Stars Hollow

*****A few days later in Stars Hollow******

Jess wanted to talk to Dawn immediately after he overheard the really strange conversation with Luke and Lorelai, but he didn't know how to bring it up. Then he decided to just speak to Rory, but she was going to Hartford to see her grandparents for the weekend. Dawn was, of course, accompanying her.

Luke came back to the diner, and he finally decided to just confront him.

"Where's Lorelai?" he asked after they'd closed for the night.

"She's staying in Hartford with the girls," he said. "Turns out that Dawn's sister Buffy isn't actually dead."

"Oh, yea?" Jess said, wondering how far he'd take it.

"Ah, no. The government faked her death," Luke said, hoping he sound less ridiculous than he felt uttering the lie.

"Seriously?" Jess asked.

"Buffy had to go into hiding after witnessing a crime—the mayor in her town was totally corrupt," Luke added, glad he remembered Buffy's evil mayor story.

"That's great for Dawn," Jess said. "But I gotta say that I'm not sure the rest of the town will buy that tale."

"What do you mean, tale? It's the truth. Why would I make up a story? I saw Buffy with my own two eyes, and I'd been to her funeral back in May," Luke said.

"That may be true, but I heard you talking," Jess said. "So maybe you can explain to me all about her being dead and brought back to life. Or the vampire slayer bit. I'm just dying to see how you explain that."

"You were eavesdropping!" Luke exclaimed, glaring.

"You started talking about it before I even left, so, yes, I stuck around to hear exactly what was going on. I'm thinking you and Lorelai are taking some type of weird drug. I'm sure Rory has no idea," he said. "I can't see her ever agreeing to such a crazy tale."

"You really need to mind your own business," Luke said, wiping the counter.

Jess looked at him in surprise when he added nothing else to his statement. "Seriously? That's all you're going to say," he said.

"I'm not going to talk about the personal business of the Gilmores or the Summers," he said. "I told you what I was told, and that's all I'm saying."

"No, you told me the lie that Lorelai made up, Luke. I was here when she thought of it and said it to you, so you'll have to do better than that," Jess said, returning his glare.

"Actually, I don't," Luke said. "What I will tell you is that the girls are all very special, and they don't deserve you prying into their life for your own amusement. In fact, Buffy would kick your ass. She's an expert fighter, and Rory's been taking self-defense classes in Hartford. I'd butt out if you don't want to be humiliated."

Jess didn't reply soon enough, and Luke went upstairs. He didn't think his uncle was going to tell him more, so he decided to drop it.

For now.

*****Sunnydale*****

Faith had a real hard time believing Angel when he came to tell her that the Council had contacted him as he was now on record as her person of contact—ironic Faith thought. "What did they want?" she asked.

"They want you back in Sunnydale doing what you're called to do. Buffy is dead, Faith," Angel said, looking destroyed. He had failed her because he had left her. Now she was dead, and he was struggling to keep it together.

Faith nodded. "I felt it. I was hoping it wasn't true, though," she said. "Then I dreamed it. She was on a tower and fell."

"She saved Dawn and everyone else," he said. Then he told her what had happened and about the Gilmores intervening.

"So let me get this straight. So Richie-Rich potential had a grandmother—"

"No, it's her great-grandmother," Angel corrected.

"So this great-grandma has enough pull with the Council to get me out of here as long as I agree to wear an ankle monitor and weekly sessions with a shrink?" Faith asked.

"Yes—and the slaying," he said.

"Of course. Do what I was meant to do," Faith said. "Do you think I'm ready? It's only been a year."

"Do you feel in control?" Angel asked.

"Yes," Faith said.

"Do you feel bad for what you did and want to atone?" he asked.

"You know that I do," Faith said.

"Then you're ready," Angel said.

That was a few months ago, and now she was driving into Sunnydale with Angel. It had taken a bit of legal finesse to get her statement of guilt thrown out. She'd been underage and without legal counsel, so the Council's lawyers had gotten her to sign an agreement for anger-management and a parole officer for thirty-six months. She had to meet the officer once a month. After six months of no incidents, they would remove the ankle monitor.

"Don't be nervous," Wesley said as he drove down the street the Magic Box was on. Giles didn't seem to want to return to Sunnydale, so Wesley was grudgingly accepted back as Faith's Watcher even though she had tortured him.

"I don't get how you can help me, especially after what I did to you. It was much worse than what I did to any of them," Faith said.

"Because I have learned a lot working for Angel, and I know the very worst of you," Wesley said. "I know I can help you become the very best version of yourself."

Faith wasn't sure if there was a best version of herself, but she appreciated having someone there that was on her side. "Where are we going to stay?"

"Anya said there was a two-bedroom apartment in her building, so the Council secured it for us," he said.

"Okay," Faith said. She hoped that Buffy's friends wouldn't slam the door in her face.

The cheerful, "Welcome to the Magic Box. Your money is welcome here," surprised her.

"Hello," Wesley said. "Are you Anya Jenkins? Is Xander or Willow here?"

"Yes, I am Anya. You're British, so are you the new watcher?" Anya asked, looking at Faith with curious eyes. "You must be the new slayer. Just so you know, Xander is mine. You can't have him."

"That's cool," Faith said, grinning in amusement at her. "I don't plan on upsetting anyone or trying to steal anyone's boyfriend."

"Then I am glad to have you here because Willow being in charge is getting on my nerves," Anya said.

"I don't know that I'll be in charge—Wesley will probably," Faith said.

"I know Willow and Xander as I lived here a few years ago," Wesley said. "I hoped you would direct us to your apartment building. We secured a place there."

"Oh," Anya said. Not sure she wanted the very attractive slayer so close to her fiancée.

Faith, though, was glad to be back doing what she was meant to do. No amount of vampire slaying, though, could ever make up for the lives she had taken.

*****Senior Year*****

Stars Hollow had been very excited to see Dawn's dead sister come back from the grave. Miss Patty was the first to spread the news about Buffy's brave testimony for the state of California.

"She fought against the man and won. Corrupt mayor. It was such a scandal!" Miss Patty shared with her dancers' mothers.

When Buffy finally braved going back with Dawn to the Gilmores' house in Stars Hollow, Kirk raised a fist when he spotted her, shouting, "Way to stick it to the man, Buffy!"

Buffy was confused by his words but smiled at him as he drove by on his bike as she was going into Luke's her second day in town. Her smile caused Kirk to drive straight into trashcans on the street. Kirk wasn't used to beautiful women smiling at him.

"What the hell is Kirk doing?" Luke said to Buffy when he heard the crash at her entrance.

"Congratulating me on sticking it to the man," Buffy said in bemusement. "I feel like I've entered the Twilight Zone."

"That's a perfect explanation for this town full of freaks," Luke said. "If I hadn't been born here, I'd have left these loons years ago. They have a festival of some kind nearly every month. It's insane. Town meetings where they think they can tell you who you can and cannot date. Looney tunes!"

Buffy laughed, enjoying Luke's grumpiness. He wasn't like anyone back home, and he always made her and Dawn laugh. He and Lorelai were complete opposites, so she didn't understand how things could possibly work between them. "Let me guess. Lorelai loves the town meetings and drags you to them all the time?"

"Naturally," Luke said.

Laughing, Buffy sat down at the counter. "You two are so funny. The fact that such different people can be together is an inspiration," Buffy said. "My ex-Angel and I were like that. He was tall, dark and broody. I'm short, bubbly and blonde."

"When it works, it works. What can I get you today?" he asked.

"Pancakes. A big stack. And a side of bacon," Buffy said.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"Sure," she said. "Just a half a cup."

"Don't tell the Gilmores you're not a coffee fiend. They may kick you out of their club," Luke said with a snicker.

"Yes, I have noticed that it's their favorite drink," Buffy said. "My mom never let me have much, so I don't feel the need to always have it. A coke is enough for my caffeine needs most days."

"Glad to hear that!" he said. "How you feeling?"

"Great. This place is so different from Sunnydale, so light and friendly," Buffy said.

"I was hoping you'd feel this way. You're crazy enough to fit right in with these loons," Luke said, giving her a wink.

Buffy laughed, enjoying Luke. Then she really enjoyed the breakfast he fed her.

Her first week in town, she just relaxed and put on a smile every time a townsperson she didn't actually know felt free enough to come up to her and hug her without first introducing themselves. The first time it happened with Babette, and she nearly kicked out with her leg before recognizing the Gilmores' chatting neighbor.

It was strange to get such positive attention, but she found the townsfolk to be very warm and welcoming. They couldn't possibly know how their easy acceptance worked to heal her fractured psyche. The Gilmores easy affection and casual air made her feel right at home. She didn't even mind sleeping on the couch.

Rory was excited to have the slayer so close as she wanted to be trained by someone that was female and could fight. She waited a week before asking if she'd train her, Lane, and her friend Paris.

"What about you, Dawn? Do you want to train with them, too?" Buffy asked Dawn one day after school. She'd been in town two weeks. Giles had flown in the first week to visit, overwhelmed to find his slayer alive, angry, though, at the rest for trying such a dark spell. Buffy sent him to Sunnydale to take Willow in hand. He got a call from Lorelai's grandmother while having dinner at Richard and Emily's before he left. The oldest Gilmore made it very clear that he had best bring the witch back to England for some dark magic purging.

"Sure," Dawn said, trying to play it cool. However, it made her very happy to be included. Emily was letting her learn ancient languages and different demon clans out there. It was so fascinating. Maybe one day she'd be a watcher, too. Emily said that Dawn had a real gift for languages.

When Buffy met Paris, she didn't quite know what to think.

"Wow, Rory told me that you were petite, but she didn't mention shorter than me!" Paris said. "That's awesome. Way to destroy every stereotype!"

"Ah, thanks?" Buffy said, not sure what to say in the face of such enthusiasm and admiration.

"The entire slayer thing is such a sick example of ancient sexism. Put the power in young girls that can be easily led by the so-called Watchers," Paris said. "You wouldn't believe the things I learned while I was interning with the Watcher's Council this summer. They chained the first slayer down and pushed some kind of dark spirit in her."

"What?" Buffy asked in surprise.

"Yes, I found a very old record of the original slayer. A dark-skinned girl with braided hair," Paris said. "There was a black and white sketch of her."

"Oh, my God!" Buffy said in horror. "They chained her? Did she volunteer at least?"

"Of course not," Paris said in disgust. "The entire system is based on no choice for the girl. The magics just find girls that have a strong disposition of some kind and bam, take their life by giving them all these gifts they didn't ask for. In exchange, they get a life of indentured servitude. I still can't believe you don't get paid. Believe me, I told every Council member I met what I thought about their antiquated ideas. I told them that American slayers expect compensation. We had the commodity they needed to be relevant, so why the hell are they in such control of the purse strings?"

Buffy grinned and stood up to offer Paris the first hug offered freely to anyone besides Dawn since her return.

"That means a lot, Paris. Thanks," she said.

Paris grinned, liking the slayer. People normally didn't like her when they first met her. Buffy, though, seemed to find her abrasive personality amusing.

"You remind me a lot of this girl I went to high school with," Buffy said.

Dawn giggled. "Cordelia but brainier," Dawn said.

"I'm not so sure about that. Cordy had a 4.0. She just didn't love books as much as being adored and popular. Just think if she did, she might've been exactly like Paris," Buffy told Dawn.

Paris, of course, joined them twice a week to take lessons with Buffy. They started using Lorelai's backyard, but soon asked Miss Patty if they could use the studio after hours. Miss Patty was thrilled to hear that Buffy was starting self-defense classes and, naturally, began spreading the world.

Soon after their training with Buffy started, Jess and Rory began dating. Jess waited a few more weeks before bringing up what he overheard in the diner the day Buffy was supposedly resurrected. Since Buffy didn't at all come across as someone that had died, Jess did not know what to think. However, he did know that Rory's life was very busy and wondered if there was real truth to what he overhead.

Finally, he just flat out told Rory what he heard and asked her for the truth—the one Luke wouldn't give him. When Rory told him about her possible future, he realized that Luke and Lorelai hadn't been acting out some imagined drama. Since Rory seemed so normal and Dawn's sister seemed like a delicate, fragile flower, he had figured the conversation he overheard had some other explanation.

"No, Jess, this isn't a joke. My life is full of training and exercise and dead languages because I could be called to be a vampire slayer," Rory said.

"Seriously?" Jess asked.

"I'm only telling you because Luke finally told Lorelai what you overheard last month. It's been six weeks, and I kept waiting for you to say something," Rory said.

"I didn't think it was real since you don't ever talk about death or monsters," he said with a shrug. "Buffy dying and coming back to life? Not possible."

"Well, Mom and Luke were at her funeral, and Dawn saw her body fall from a high rise. It wasn't staged by the government," Rory said.

"Does Dawn know you're telling me this?" she asked.

"Yea," Rory said. "Buffy said that it was my life, and that I could talk about the calling if you could be trusted. Obviously, you can't tell anyone. Lane knows, though."

"Does Dean?" Jess asked.

Rory shook her head. "No. That's why I didn't date him long. I just didn't want to bring him into this life."

"But with me you don't mind?" Jess asked with a smirk.

"I figured you could deal since Luke's your uncle," Rory said. "I won't be called unless Faith dies. She's in back in Sunnydale now guarding the hellmouth."

"So she could die at any moment then," Jess said, still not sure he believed any of this.

"I guess," Rory said. "I try not to think about."

"Is this why Buffy's starting the self-defense classes?" he asked.

Rory nodded.

"Then I'm going to start training with you," Jess said, deciding then to join his life with her the way Luke had with Lorelai.

There was something about these Gilmore Girls. Once they got a hold of you, they just didn't let go.

*****Chapter End*****

I don't know about you, but I could just picture Buffy having random citizens coming up to her and Miss Patty spreading the news. Reviews keep me motivated. Thanks!