Chapter 3: End of Summer

Challenge: for the livejournal 2020 August Fic-a-Day Challenge

Timeline: pre-series BtVS and SG1; storywise, it starts about 4 months or so after 'XX Origins of Buffy', Chapters 21-24

A/N: For the actor who plays Mark, I'm picturing Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I think he'd make a believable twin to Buffy.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Stargate SG-1 character belongs to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Sunnydale

August 1996

A routine emerged in Mark and Buffy's lives over the summer. They'd wake up, have a smoothie, then workout in the basement or train in the backyard. They'd wash up and have a solid breakfast, do a couple housekeeping chores, then head out and check out Sunnydale or the beach. They'd hang out at the Bronze a few nights a week; the other nights they'd research Merrick's demon books and note any special slaying equipment Buffy would need for certain species. Finally, Buffy would patrol for a few hours.

While she did that, Mark would work on making stakes and maintaining the other weapons while Buffy patrolled the town. If he didn't have any work to do, he'd research some more, making notes on a laptop about anything special that caught his eye.

One night, they were hanging at the Bronze and Mark quietly posed a question to his Slayer sister, "Did Merrick ever cover honing with you? I saw a chapter about it in the Slayer's Handbook, but don't remember you telling me during your training."

"There's a Slayer's Handbook?" Buffy asked in shock. "He never told me! What's honing?"

Paraphrasing the handbook, he explained, "It's using your inner Slayer sense to feel if a vampire is near…not just depending on your other senses. Given vampires' feeding habits, there's probably on here right now. Can you feel for them?"

She wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about, but she glanced around, then said, "Is common sense one of the senses? 'Cause I can tell she's a vampire due to my common sense," Buffy told him, pointing at a girl near the bar, flirting with one of the jock-type guys.

Mark stared at the possible vampire and inquired, "What is it about her that makes you think she's a bloodsucker?"

"Please! She's dressed as a Catholic schoolgirl – the outfit of penthouse letters. She also looks too old to be in high school, so she's either a hooker or a vampire," Buffy explained patiently. "Either way, she's a predator and that's not of the good here. But given that this is a high school crowed, a hooker doesn't make any sense, so my instinct says vamp."

"Can't she just be a Catholic schoolgirl?" he argued.

She started laughing, then popped his bubble, "When school hasn't even started? No, she's counting on guys thinking with their smaller brain and not worrying about little discrepancies like that."

Just then, an angry cheerleaderish girl stormed up to the couple and started yelling at the guy, who chased after her, pleading for forgiveness.

Buffy gestured with her chin, and ordered, "Go over and let her lure you out into the alley. I'll be waiting with one of your mass-produced stakes."

"What if she isn't a vampire?" Mark challenged.

"Do I sense a wager?" his sister shot back. "Okay, if you're right, I'll do the mowing for the rest of the summer. If I'm right…"

"I'll do the grocery shopping for the same time period," he quickly added before she could come up with something worse.

"Deal!"

He walked up to the bar and ordered a Dr. Pepper, then waited. He glanced over and 'accidentally' made eye contact with the girl and quickly turned his head in shyness…at least that's what she would think. Truthfully, it was a mixture of real and pretend bashfulness. He hadn't really dated much in LA, but he wasn't completely socially inept.

"Hi, my name is Darla," the girl introduced herself in a sweet manner.

"Mark," he replied, holding out his hand to shake hers. "Can I get you a drink?"

Maybe it was just because Buffy thought she was a vampire, but he could have sworn he saw a glint of amusement when she answered, "I'd love one; something fruity and red, please."

They talked for a couple minutes before he asked if she wanted to go for a walk. "We can go for a coffee," he offered.

"Sounds great," she said with a grin.

As they passed the alley, Mark wondered how he'd get her to go in there without coming off as a serial killer (in case Buffy was wrong). Darla took care of it for him by suggesting while pointing at the dark alley, "Why don't we take a shortcut?"

He saw hours of shopping in his future, but shrugged as he followed her.

"Wanna neck?" she teased when they were out of sight from the people on the street.

Raising an eyebrow – which she wouldn't have been able to see if she hadn't been a bloodsucker – he snarked, "With you? That seems a little dangerous. Besides, I think my sister wants to have a word or two with you," he finished pointing behind her.

"Who are you?" Darla demanded, confused and angry that her dinner plans weren't working out as she expected. Something very strange was going on here.

Buffy just held up a cross, forcing her to vamp out, and before Darla could do anything else, shoved a stake into her unbeating heart.

"No fighting?" Mark asked, knowing that she loved to get a workout when slaying.

Surprisingly, she looked down in embarrassment, then confessed, "I read your Watcher's diary and saw that it bothered you when I 'played' with the vampires instead of just dusting them when I could. While I can't promise that I'll never have to fight them hand-to-hand, I'll try to remember to take the easy slays when possible."

He pulled her into a tight hug and said, "Then I'll forgive you for reading the diary. I don't know what I'd do without you, sis!"

"I'll do my best to make sure you don't have to find out," she responded emotionally.

"Enough of this chick flick moment, let's go back inside and dance," Mark stated as he pulled away.

A week later…

After the first night of waiting for her to come home, Mark told her, "We need to get cell phones. I'd feel a lot better if you could call me if you ran into trouble."

"I'm thinking we should get them with our own money so Dad doesn't know we have them," Buffy suggested. She preferred the idea of keeping their communications with him to emails and the occasional call to the house.

"Fine with me," Mark quickly agreed. If he could, he'd block the old man from their home phone as well, but she had a good point that having him pay the bills made life easier for them.

A/N: Can't guarantee the survival of Jesse (or Willow or Xander), but at least it won't be Darla doing the killing this time.