The smell of coffee causes Buffy to stir from her slumber, she turns on her side and blinks only to find herself in unfamiliar room. It's when she spots the photo of John and Andy on the nightstand that she remembers. She had been crashing there for the past few days. After John had picked her up from the hospital, he had brought her here and she hadn't left other than for work. She just couldn't go home, not in that state. Willow and Xander didn't know what happened that night five years ago, the night Angel had been killed. And she knew if they knew things would never be the same.
Sighing she pulls herself out of bed and walks out of the room into the kitchen where John was currently pouring two cups of coffee.
He turns to her offering her a small smile before handing her one "Thanks." She mummers, as she sips the piping hot liquid.
John nods before looking at her with a worried crease on his forehead "Wanna talk bout it?"
"A world of no." She says before walking over to the couch, she sits, tucking her feet underneath her legs.
Diggle nods before moving over to her, he sits next to her and after a few moments of allowing her to enjoy the silence, his voice cuts through the air "You never told me what happened that night. Not properly just that someone you loved was killed. It's why you joined."
Buffy takes a deep shaky breath she had never spoken about it properly, she had cried and broken down but she never answered questions. After a moment she looks over at Diggle "There's more. That night...it may have been five years ago but it still haunts me every day. Cause if I had gotten there in time, then non of it would have happened."
Diggle looks at her his eyes full of sympathy, after a moment she sniffles slightly "God I'm all mopey. I'm done promise. I should most probably stop abusing your apartment."
Diggle chuckles "Hey, abuse it anytime you need it."
Oliver pulls over his motorcycle on the street opposite Queen Consolidated. When he spots his mother coming out of the building with another man he gives her a wave. When she gestures for him to give her a moment he leans back and glances around the street.
His attention is quickly drawn to the other motorcycle driver driving up the street, instead of continuing past Oliver the driver moves onto the pavement approaching Moira and the man.
When Oliver spots the gun in the man's hand he panics "Get down!" He screams just as the driver fires his gun at Moira and the man.
Oliver watches in horror as the man collapses dead and Moira is knocked to the ground, running as fast as he can across the street he crouches by his mother helping her up "Mum, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She assures him as he helps her sit up.
"Are you sure?" He asks, still staring at her with a panicked look.
"I'm—I'm fine."
Oliver stands and turns to the two guards running towards them "Call 911!" He exclaims before running in the direction the shooter had gone in.
Five Years Ago, Westbury
"Okay, Buffy just hold that for 30 more seconds." Giles says as he circles the blonde slayer, who was currently doing a handstand in the middle of the training room.
Buffy was breathing heavily now and her arms were beginning to shake violently "I can't!" She gasps as waves off pain tumble through her spin where the Demon's claw had sliced bone and nerve endings.
Giles moves closer "Yes you can." He tells her only for her to start to topple a second later. He manages to catch her legs as she topples preventing her from crashing onto her back.
Slowly he lowers her legs to the ground before offering her a hand, Buffy takes it and winces as she stands. She was sweating and breathing heavily when Giles attempts to help her she waves him off "I'm fine." She assures him as she leans against the wall for support taking heavy breaths.
After a moment Buffy allows her frustration and anger to fill her and the next thing she knew her hand was buried in the wall.
"It damaged me, Giles." She whispers are she removes her hand from the wall and storms out of the room.
Starling City – Present Day
"So did you get the license plate?" Thea asks her brother as they leave Moira's hospital room.
Oliver shakes his head "No, he got away."
Thea scoffs and looks at him sceptically, it was very obvious that she was pissed at him "Maybe you should spend a little less time trying to be a hero. You're obviously not very good at it."
"That's cute." He comments, not liking her attitude but still smiling at her despite it.
Thea just continues to look at him blankly "Wasn't trying to be." She was furious that he had left their mother alone, but managed to reign in her emotions "You left mom in the street, alone and hurt in the street..." She scoffs still trying to digest what he had used as an excuse "...to get a license plate?"
Oliver's face falls and he steps closer to his sister, a hurt look on his face "You don't believe me?"
Thea sighs "I love you, mom loves you, but it's getting hard when you won't be truthful with us."
Buffy carefully places her key in the front door lock, trying to be as quiet as possible. She knew the second Xander and Willow heard her there was going to be a big commotion, her first few days off work and she disappeared, they would be panicking.
Just as the lock clinks and she pushes the door open she thinks that maybe she'll have time to get a shower in before the inevitable yelling.
However, she was sadly mistaken as the second the door opens both Xander and Willow who were arguing in the kitchen freeze at the sight of the blonde before running over to her.
"Are you okay?!" The two ask in unison, however, when they start firing question after question she rubs her temple where a very strong migraine was threatening to destroy her.
"Guys!" She exclaims finally silencing them "I'm fine. I just—" Buffy pauses and walks over to the living room where she sits on the couch "I was on a call and it was a set up we were attached."
Xander's eyes widen "What?! What happened?"
"Wolfram and Hart." Buffy hisses laughing at the irony of it all, the company that had been the end of Angel was now after her.
Willow's eyes widen in shock "What I thought..."
"We thought wrong." Buffy finishes, they had thought Wolfram and Hart were gone but things were never as simple as they seemed in their lives "They sent some douche guy, super strength and all, he gave me a warning. He wants me to stop going after the demons."
Xander sighs, running his hands through his hair, it was all clear now, who was behind the masking of the demons "They are working with the Triad."
"That's what I'm thinking." Buffy confirms "I'm thinking Wolf-y provides the mojo, they pay Triad to hide the demons in a position of power in civilisation."
Buffy sighs before grabbing her bottle of bourbon from under the table and grabbing her glass, pouring herself a drink.
Willow and Xander glance at the blonde as she takes a sip of the harsh liquor before looking at each other. Both had the same look on their faces, a look of worry, there was something Buffy wasn't telling them.
"He knew things." Buffy mumbles quietly "About that night." She turns to the two of them "The night five years ago..." Buffy stops speaking and takes another drink. A single tear slips down her cheek. She clenches her eyes shut before standing abruptly and heading towards the shower slamming the door shut.
Willow glances at Xander, neither of them new what had happened that night. Buffy had never told anyone that they know of. And from the look of things, those memories were being forced to the surface and it was threatening to over take her.
"We need to let her tell us." Xander says quietly "If we push, we'll lose her again."
As Oliver continues to work out his anger and frustrations on the punching block in front of him.
His speed and ferocity increase the longer he continues to do this. When Diggle enters the cave Oliver still continued to throw punches not stopping or even slowing down to acknowledge Diggle's presence.
"Oliver, your mom was nearly killed." He says loudly trying to get the boy's attention "I think you can take a day off training."
Oliver finally stops only to immediately back away from Diggle and step over to the computer "My mother wasn't the target. This man was." He says as he points to the images of the man that had been killed, which filled his screen.
"Paul Copani." Oliver informs Diggle "He was trying to close a deal with her when they were shot at. Copani works for Bertinelli Construction and Frank Bertinelli."
Diggle's eyes widen stunned, this was bad "The mob boss?"
Oliver nods as he takes a seat in front of the computer, still slightly out of breath from his workout "I did some digging. Copani isn't the first member of Bertinelli's crew who's been hit."
Diggle nods running his hand over his jaw as he circles Oliver, observing him carefully "You did some digging."
Oliver sighs letting out a heavy breath "Bertinelli has a lot of enemies. The best way to figure out who's trying to target his organisation is to get inside of it."
Diggle shakes his head, he wasn't impressed by Oliver's behavior, he was acting erratic and wasn't thinking things through, whatever he did now wasn't going to end well "So let me get this right, Oliver. Your mother is shot at, nearly killed, and the way you process this emotionally is by going undercover with the mob."
Buffy runs out of the ambulance, she turns to the temporary partner Daniel "Get the gurney ready." She orders as she runs over to the crash site.
As the other ambulance helped the family Buffy focuses on the car that was currently laid on its side, inside was a young woman. Buffy grabs a nearby metal pole before climbing up the side of the vehicle so that she could stand over the window.
Knocking on the glass the woman inside cries slightly before turning to Buffy and gasping relieved "Help me!"
Buffy offers her a small smile "I'm going to sweetie. What's your name?"
"Zo—Zoey." She stutters as she continues to cry.
"Okay Zoey, I need you to cover your eyes and look away from the window."
Zoey immediately begins panicking, her breathing was becoming erratic "What—why I don't understand."
"I have to break the glass to get you out." Buffy tells her, speaking softly trying to sooth the girl "Can you do that for me?"
After a brief hesitation, Zoey turns away from the glass.
Buffy sighs before swinging the metal pipe at the window and smashing it.
Buffy leans down so that she could reach further into the car "How you doing?" She asks Zoey as she begins assessing the damage.
Her leg was trapped under the steering well, there was a large bruise on her forehead from where she bashed her head on the steering well, there was also blood covering her face, from where the glass from the windshield had hit her during the crash.
Buffy frowns in worry as she spots the dislocated shoulder, there was no way this girl was going to be able to move on her own. Buffy knew she was going to have to get in there just to un-trap her leg then pull her out herself.
Buffy reaches under the steering wheel ready to free her leg "Okay Zoey I have to get you out of this car. And honey, it's going to hurt a lot."
Zoey nods as tears drip down her face "Okay. I—I can't feel my leg."
Buffy's eyes widen and she quickly reaches out for her leg "Okay Hun, look I have to get you out now and pop it back into place or you might lose it. I'm not going to sugar coat it sweetheart this is going to hurt. Bad."
Zoey nods petrified but holds her breath.
Buffy thinks for a moment running her plan through her head before she places the pipe in between the wheel and pushes down. As the wheel rising she grabs a hold of Zoey and yanks her up pulling her from the vehicle.
"Daniel!" Buffy yells as she drags Zoey out of the car, Daniel turns away from the man he was helping and grabs the gurney, running over to Buffy.
The two place Zoey on the gurney "Hold her." Buffy tells him as she takes a hold of Zoey's leg causing the girl to cry out.
"On 3. 1...2..." On two, Buffy pushes her leg until there is a loud snapping noise.
"Let get her up." She says to Daniel before giving the girl's hand a squeeze and loading her into the van.
"It's no problem." Tommy tells Oliver as the billionaire thanks his best friend for coming over to check on the Queens "Just as long as your mom's all right."
Oliver nods swiftly "Yeah." He says quickly before moving around Tommy and heading towards the door.
Tommy hesitates for a second before stopping him "Hey, one more thing." He freezes confused as to how to get the words out and worried about Oliver's reaction to them "Mainly because I don't want you to find this out from someone else, that someone else especially being Laurel..." Tommy sighs and takes a deep breath before rushing out the words "We're going to dinner as in a date." He stutters.
Oliver surprises him by smiling "That's good. Laurel deserves someone special and so do you."
Tommy smiles, relief filling him "Thanks, man."
"I got to run to this thing." Oliver says gesturing to the door.
Tommy nods, backing away allowing Oliver to head for the door "Absolutely. I'll catch you later?"
Oliver chuckles before turning back to face his friend "Oh, and uh Tommy, if you hurt her I'll snap your neck." He says seriously before smiling at the look of terror that quickly covered Tommy's face "Just kidding."
"Thank you." Zoey calls out to Buffy as she is wheeled towards the ICU.
Buffy offers her a smile 'Your Welcome' she mouths with a smile as she watches the young woman disappear behind the doors.
It was nice, knowing that she had saved this woman, not from a demon, not by killing but by normal means. She didn't have to be superwoman or anything like that to help people.
She stands there for another moment before sighing, she turns to make her way to the door only to freeze as she spots Dean talking to one of the nurses. She panics slightly and her heart beat picks up, her palms become sweaty and that's when she realises something. She liked him.
As he moves to turn in her direction she panics and hides in the next hall behind the wall.
As he walks past without seeing her, Buffy slaps herself on the forehead "Stupid, stupid." She hisses, she had actually hid from him. She felt like such a moron.
"So, Oliver, I must say..." Frank Bertinelli says as he hands Oliver a glass of Bourbon before sitting opposite him "I was surprised to hear from you. It was my impression from the local news that you weren't going to be involved with your family's business."
Oliver offers both Frank and his associate a smile "Apparently there were a few catch phrases that I missed while I was away for five years, one of them being lamestream media."
Frank laughs, amused making Oliver force a smile on his face "The press never gets anything right."
Frank nods in understand, he knew a lot about the media, knew ways to avoid getting caught by them "Ah, I know a thing or two about that. So, Oliver, I'll be blunt."
Oliver who had been distracted by Frank's associate leaving the room turns back to the mod boss and nods "Hmm."
"I want the contract to build Queen Consolidated's new applied sciences division."
Buffy grabs Diggle's arm as he swings his fist in her direction, she twists it behind his back before shoving him away.
She swings her leg out but Dig catches it and twists her ankle causing her flip around and land painfully on the ground.
Diggle sighs as he looks down at her, he never beat her in a fight, which meant something was wrong "Buffy. What's up?"
"Nothin." She mummers as she pulls herself back up, she was trying to avoid her feelings and right now that was very obvious.
"Buff, I hate to admit it but I have never been able to knock you down that easily. What is wrong?"
Buffy groans and rolls her shoulder.
Diggle watches her with interest trying to figure out what the problem was, it was then that he noticed the signs, signs he hadn't seen in a long time. She was closed off more than usually, was changing the subject, making jokes to avoid a serious talk and she was distracted during the fight.
"Who is he?"
Buffy freezes her body going rigid for a quarter of a second before she laughs nervously "What? Huh? He who? There is no he to speak of."
Diggle chuckles in amusement, she could be transparent sometimes "Buffy..." He says softly giving her a pointed look "Who is the guy? And do I have to break his neck?"
Buffy laughs, every time he offered not matter the situation or the guy, hell even if it was the pizza guy he offered. He was extremely protective of her and as sweet as it was, it was a little annoying. Looks like she finally got the big brother she never asked for.
She sits down on the chair in the corner "He's a doctor at the hospital...well a surgeon."
Diggle crosses his arms and moves to kneel in front of her "And..." He presses.
Buffy tilts her head back to look at the ceiling before turning back to him "I...I like him. More than a friend."
Diggle nods understanding, he knew exactly why she was hesitating "It's been 3 years Buffy. I think he would be okay with you moving on."
The blonde blinks before groaning "Ugh." She huffs before standing "I'll think about it." She assures him earning a grin out of him.
Buffy rolls her eyes and hits him in the back of the head with the Bo-staff to her right "Don't get all superior on me John Diggle or I'll start making you talk about the Carly situation."
John shrugs, attempting to convince her that he didn't know what she was talking about "Ain't nothing to discuss."
"Sure there isn't." She says with a smirk before moving back onto the matt and spinning the Bo-staff in her hand.
Oliver sits opposite Frank's daughter Helena at the restaurant, he was surprised to find that he was actually enjoying himself, enjoying her company. They had been speaking for hours now and neither had really noticed that they were the last ones left in the restaurant.
"Air conditioning, satellite radio, tagliet—" He lists only to stutter as he cannot pronounce the next word.
Helena smiles "Tagliatelle?"
"Right."
"Hmph."
Oliver pauses before continuing, actually being honest for the first time in a long time about the truth of being back "But those are the answers that I give people because those are the answers they're expecting." He says honestly surprised at how easily he found himself opening up to her.
"Why can't you just be truthful?" Helena asks as she listens to him intently.
"I don't know how truthful I can be."
Helena smiles at him, a look of understanding covering her expression "You've been through a crucible and it changed you. How can it not?"
Oliver smiles at her however his attention was quickly drawn to the cross hanging from her neck, "That's a beautiful cross."
Helena smiles nervously, her body tensing slightly "It's a gift from my fiance."
Oliver immediately feels disappointed, he hadn't known and it upset him slightly that she was unavailable, the first person he had found himself able to open up to and she was engaged "Fiance. I didn't know you were engaged."
"I'm not." She says stunning and confusing him "Not anymore, he died."
Buffy was using the pommel horse in the apartment when Xander enters, holding a leather paper folder "Buff."
Buffy continues to spin and do twists before pushing herself up to a handstand "Yeah?" She asks as she looks through her arms and other at Xander.
He steps into the room and flips through the folder "Couldn't get anything on this Hamilton guy, Willow is looking into it...but...I found the next name on the list." He hesitates "We're still doing said list?"
"Yeah." Buffy tells him as she jumps down and stretches out her arms. After moment, she approaches him and takes the file.
"Joshua Stevenson." She reads.
Xander nods as he attempts and quickly fails to lift up the weights that Buffy had been using earlier. After his failed attempt he turns to the blonde "Get this, he's a lawyer at the District Attorney's office."
Buffy clenches her jaw, this wasn't good, she would have to be more careful to not get caught. The people at the District Attorney's office were not the people she wanted to catch her.
"What happened?" Oliver asks the second Dig answers the phone.
"Yeah, it's what's about to happen. Bertinelli's enforcer, Nick Salvati."
"Yeah." Oliver answers as he remembers meeting Nick at Frank's home "We drank a scotch together. He seems like a real stand up mobster."
"Yeah, well he's been paying a visit to everyone who owes the mob protection money."
Oliver sighs this was not what he wanted to hear, his main and only focus was finding the person that shot at and almost killed his mother, nothing else mattered "Diggle, I'm trying to figure out who took a shot at my mother, not take on all of organised crime."
"Well listen, Oliver, Salvati and his goons have already put four people in the hospital tonight and if somebody doesn't stop him, the poor bastard who owns Russo's going to be next."
Oliver freezes "Diggle I'm here right now."
Buffy was placing the knives along the lining of her suit, as she places her belt on Willow enters the room "Hey ninja girl."
Buffy chuckles slightly but doesn't speak as she continues to get ready.
Willow frowns, Buffy had been quiet since she got back from her training session with John, she had just walked into the apartment and had gone straight to her training room.
Willow sighs as she watches Buffy slip on her thigh length platform boots, she hesitates slightly, not wanting to push Buffy away but there was something weighing on the blonde's shoulders.
"Buffy? You got to tell me what's up with you, I can't stop worrying and neither can Xander."
Buffy sighs and lets go of her mask, she turns to face her best friend and leans against the back wall playing with the knife in her hands.
"I..." She stutters slightly after her talk with Diggle it was still hard to admit "I have feelings for someone."
Willow's eyes widen, that had been the last thing she had expecting Buffy to say. She exhales softly before smiling "Buffy that's a good thing."
"That's what Dig said." Buffy says with a groan as she taps the blade on her wrist "But I don't know."
Willow smiles before approaching her best friend "Buffy I know it's hard. To let someone in after what happened last time." She takes Buffy's hand in hers "But it can be so worth it." She pauses and watches the blonde as she contemplated and internally tried to process everything she was feeling.
Hesitantly Willow speaks softly "Lincoln's gone."
Buffy's eyes widen, it had been so long since anyone had said his name around her, but it still hurt the same "I know you loved him but you can't do one night stands and no feelings for the rest of your life. Maybe it's time for something serious."
Buffy who was looking at the ground takes a shaky breath and blinks tightly forcing the tears and all the emotion back down to where she kept it hidden. Finally, she looks at Willow, her eyes full of vulnerability "How do I know if I'm ready?"
"When is anyone ever ready?"
Oliver moves to attack the man in the helmet that had attached his mother, as he enters the restaurant.
Swinging his bow to try and knock the man down, however, he easily ducks and swings his fist out at Oliver.
Oliver grabs his wrist only for the man to send a kick to his stomach.
Oliver blocks the next kick and punches the man in the chest causing him to stumble into a nearby statue knocking it to the ground.
Oliver blocks the man's arm as he swings at him again and sucker punches before punching his hand through the helmet and yanking it off their head.
Immediately he freezes as it was not a man stood before him but Helena. Helena had been the one that shot at his mother.
He was so stunned that when she ran he didn't move, he was still frozen.
Buffy climbs up the fire escape of the District Attorney's office. As she reaches the final floor she peaks her head through the window, the office was empty but sat on the desk was a nameplate 'Joshua Stevenson'
"Bingo." She breathes as she places her mask over her lips.
Silently she opens the window and steps inside the small office. As she snoops around she freezes as hears footsteps approaching the door, she quickly flips over the table and moves behind the door just as it opens and a man steps inside.
"Yes. Mr Hamilton I understand." Joshua says as he enters his office.
Buffy's eyes widen at the name, she quickly grabs onto the top of the door and pulls herself up onto the ceiling, she stabs two knives into the ceiling to keep herself up as she continues to listen in on their conversation.
"Yes, let the partners know they have my full support." Joshua continues as he moves to sit at his desk "Oh, I'm sure this girl won't be a problem much longer."
Buffy scoffs 'Girl?' She mouths getting slightly irritated.
"If she comes for me she won't be getting any information about the deal with the Triad, you can trust me on that."
Buffy smirks, he just confirmed her theory, he literally just spilled the fact that Wolfram and Hart were working with the Triad.
As Joshua hangs up the phone and turns to face the window Buffy leaps down landing on his desk silently.
He doesn't notice her at first until while looking at his own reflection he gasps as he spots the blonde hair.
Buffy smirks, a gleam appearing in her eyes "I don't think we've met. I'm the Slayer." She says before throwing a bag over his head.
Oliver was walking through his house when the doorbell rang, pausing in his steps he heads towards the front door. As he opens it he is shocked to find Detective Lance standing there "Detective. Is everything ok?"
Lance merely steps inside not waiting for an invitation before answering the question "Your um—your buddy with the arrows was at Russo's last night."
Oliver nods "And I was there earlier with a date." He says honestly, not scapegoating around the subject "So what, you think I'm the hood guy again?"
Lance scoffs chuckling softly "No. Your date, Helena Bertinelli, if I were you, I'd stay away from her. Her family is bad news on a good day."
Oliver tilts his head in amusement, it was slightly amusing Lance showing any concern for his well-being "Why the sudden concern for my well being?"
Lance freezes, his jaw locking, he hesitates not wanting to have to admit his mistake "A few weeks ago, I made a mistake. I almost got you killed."
Oliver continues to stare at Lance, something was off "And you felt like you owed me one?"
"If I did." He replies hypothetically "As far as I'm concerned, this clears the books." He says before giving Oliver a nod and heading back out the house.
Buffy sits with her legs crossed on the table opposite Joshua sharpening her scythe as she waits for him to wake up. After a few more minutes she glances at her watch and groans in annoyance he had been out all night, she hadn't meant to hit him that hard.
She glances back at him to see drool running down his face, she huffs in frustration before jumping off the table and grabbing the bucket of water by her side and pouring it over his face.
"Ahh! What the hell!" Joshua exclaims as he is shocked awake, he looks around the room and as his eyes hit Buffy he groans, "Let me guess Buffy Summers."
Buffy smirks slightly before lowering her mask "Well, hello to you too."
Joshua glares at her as he pulls at the restraints, he may be a demon but forcing his body into this human form was weakening his powers.
Buffy smirks slightly, enjoying this too much, she circles the demon as she swings the scythe in her palm "I'm not telling you shit." He hisses.
"Other than the fact that Wolfram and Hart made a deal with the Triad."
Joshua's eyes widen making the smirk on Buffy's face widen "How did you—"
"So tell me about Mr Hamilton." She says as she cuts him off and crouches in front of him.
The demon glares at her "That's not gonna happen."
"Let me guess he's not a demon." She rambles on "My guess the big men in suits pumped him up good with mojo. To make sure no one gets close to this deal. How my doing so far?"
As Joshua continues to glare at her Buffy grabs a chair from the corner of the warehouse and places it in front of him.
Placing her scythe to the side she pulls out two blades from each thigh and drives one into each of his hands "Ahh! You crazy bitch!"
"Learning is a painful process." Buffy says clearly not listening to him "Like when you're a kid and your bones are growing." She tilts her head and looks at the blood dripping from his hands before focusing on his face, grabbing his chin he forces him to look at her "You know you demons never learn. I will kill and torture as many of you as it takes yet you don't get that." She forces his chin away before slamming her hands down on the blades forcing them all the way through his hands "You keep pushing." She forces herself off her chair and grabs the scythe "You can tell your bosses that I'm not gonna stop so they can send whatever douche suit wearing bags they want because I will take them down."
Buffy stands behind him and grasps the back of his head roughly before shoving the stake end of the scythe through his chest.
"Michael wasn't the one talking to the FBI." Helena admits as her and Oliver are strapped to chairs by Salvati and his men "I was." Salvati scoffs in disbelief "My father is a monster. He doesn't care who he hurts to keep his money and power, and I wanted it to stop."
"Well, then it's your fault Michael's dead, not your father for ordering the hit or me for carrying it out. Yours."
Buffy walks into the hospital, she glances at the TV in the corner her eyebrow arching when she spots the story talking about the abduction of Oliver Queen and Helena Bertinelli and how they were now safe but the people that took them had been killed.
She quickly glances away, as her attention was drawn to something else, Dean was heading into the staff room.
Taking a deep breath she moves in the same direction, she had work in 10 minutes so if she was going to do this it was going to have to be now.
When she enters the room Dean had just stripped off his shirt making her pause slightly as she sees his abs.
She shakes herself and looks around the room, they were the only two in the room, making her way to her locker she notices him watching her.
"Buffy." He says with a smile, still holding his shirt in his hands.
Buffy turns and offers him the same smile "Dean."
She grabs her uniform and quickly slipping it over her head; she locks her locker and heads towards him.
Once she was standing in front of him she looks up into his eyes "I won't ignore your attempts."
Dean frowns in confusion "Wait, what? What did I miss?"
"I will not avoid you nor pretend that I don't notice your existence."
"You were doing that?" Dean asks stunned, trying to hold back the small laugh threatening to escape his lips.
"Yep." She says before heading for the door.
Dean stands there frozen for another moment before turning to face her direction "Wait!" He calls making her pause by the door "What does that mean?"
"It means..." Buffy says slowly as she turns to face him "...that if you ask me out on a non-date again. I won't automatically say no. I mean it will probably be a no."
"But there's a chance." He says as a smile covers his face.
"Bout 4.5%." She says before heading out the door.
Helena steps out of her bathroom later that night only to freeze as she spots Oliver standing in her bedroom "I'd ask how you got in here, but the Starling City vigilante comes and goes as he pleases, doesn't he?"
Oliver who still had his back to her nods to himself, honestly he was impressed she had figured it out when no one else had "How'd you know?" He asks curiosity biting at him.
She crosses her arms as he turns to face her, taking a few steps further into the room "I saw you fight and then I saw your eyes. The island changed you in more ways that only someone like me could understand."
Oliver shakes his head in disagreement as he steps closer "No. What you're doing right now, I know that it feels like justice, but it's not. It's revenge."
Helena rolls her eyes, she actually thought that he would understand "Sometimes, revenge is justice."
Oliver sighs, looking at her intently he tried to find the words "Your father killed your fiancé."
"And what did your father do to you?" She hisses before stepping even closer, invading his personal space "Isn't the man in the hood fighting to set things right? Why is your vendetta more valid than mine? We're the same, you and I."
Oliver shakes his head, refusing to believe that he killed blindly like she did, he takes the finally step towards her and looks down into her eyes "No, we're not."
She scoffs "Hiding in plain sight, concealing our anger with smiles and lies. Don't lie to me, Oliver. You feel the same as I do, I know it." She says not realising that tears were not rolling down her cheeks.
Oliver, on the other hand, had noticed it "Why are you crying?"
She looks away for a brief moment before turning back to him "I don't know. Maybe it's because I have been alone in my hate for so long. It feels—"
"It feels good to tell the truth." Oliver finishes before watching her intently and finally closing the gap between them and kissing her.
Buffy looks at the empty apartment and grins, it was the first time she had had the apartment to herself since they had moved to Starling. Xander was at a business meeting and Willow was out on a date.
Buffy grabs the popcorn and bourbon out of the kitchen and dumps it on the couch along with a pint of cookies and cream ice cream.
Just as she settles down prepared to watch bad zombie films there is a knock at her door, she groans in annoyance before standing "Dammit dammit." She moans expecting for it to be Willow or Xander.
Surprisingly when she opens the door there stands Dean holding a Big Belly Burger take away bag.
The blonde arches an eyebrow at him as she wraps her cardigan around her hiding the scars that we visible on her hip bone.
"Dean." She breathes as she folds her arms "Wha—what are you doing here? You don't have a part-time job as a delivery boy do you cause if you're living off commission I'm not giving you a tip...just so you know."
Dean chuckles before shaking his head "Actually I brought dinner. Figured we could try that non-date thing."
Buffy blinks, suddenly she was panicking inside, her mind was yelling at her to shut the door and just let it go.
But she knew she had to do this taking a deep breath she opens the door wider "Would you like to come in?"