Stranger Than Fiction

It was almost impossible to process, Buffy had experienced a wide variety of weird things, whether they were a part of reality or a product of her imagination was still up for debate, privately of course, but this feeling might just top them all. Her heartbeat thundered painfully quickly for several minutes just following the discovery. There it was, she could not deny the evidence, six years had not passed since she was admitted.

All that time had been in her mind. She shook her head then, as if to dislodge the memories that she couldn't get to, the ones that led up her being there the second time around. She was now sure that this was the second time, no matter what the date was or anything else that was going on, she knew that she'd been in here once before. It had been after the calling, but it wasn't for long, they'd let her out and she'd carried on with training, after a bit of a stern lecture from Merrick about the secret identity thing. Her parents had continued to worry about her mental state and behaviour and then, Merrick had died, she had to set fire to the gym, she'd been expelled, and everyone thought she was a mental case anyway. Everyone except Pike. Pike! If it's really 1996, he must still be around, Buffy wasn't sure, about any of it. The events in her head seemed to diverge at the gym. There was no real way to know what was going on in the real world until she was in it. She hadn't been able to keep in touch with Pike after they moved to Sunnydale, but that wasn't real, they hadn't moved to Sunnydale, it hadn't happened.

This was the beginning of another headache.

The truth was that it was only weeks since she'd blown up the gym, since they'd kicked her out of school. But, that wasn't when they'd put her in here. She remembered the aftermath of it all, being shouted at a lot and her parents shouting at each other and them looking at other schools. Buffy hadn't been too interested. She had been understandably pissed off, being expelled, losing all her friends, not that they'd been too friendly just before that. It all came down to being the slayer. Why had it happened? She hadn't asked for it. Who would ask for their life to be turned upside down? These feelings came back full force, and she couldn't help the anger that seethed within.

Buffy recalled something then, a couple of weeks after the gym incident, patrolling with Pike. Patrolling, fighting, staking, the usual; and then…what happened after that? Did she go home? Do some more training?

No.

She was still searching her fractured memory when the doctor returned followed by her Mom and Dad, smiles plastered on their faces. She smiled in return despite her current difficulty, realising that he must have said something encouraging. She switched that encouraging to phenomenal when he announced that Buffy wouldn't be there for much longer, having diagnosed her with a personality disorder (oh yeah right) he said she seemed to be doing okay and that all was needed once discharged was regular therapy for her disorder.

Buffy was going to agree to practically anything to get out of there, to get on with her life, even as her parents worded it, to get on with school. That felt very weird, school; she had to go through that hell again, even though she knew she hadn't really graduated. Weird was the word, freaky also a good one.

He didn't say how soon, her mom and dad said something about a week, but she knew they were guessing. It was hard, trying to get used to the idea of having them around again. Seeing mom was so great it took huge restraint on Buffy's part not to hug her for an hour each time she appeared. Her Dad was a different matter. Buffy still had all this resentment toward him, but she knew that he hadn't done anything to deserve it. Not yet anyway. She knew that they weren't on the greatest of terms right now, you could tell by watching them, and she'd seen that before. She could see it coming; they probably knew it too. Buffy wondered if they were just hanging on for her, until she got out of there, until she was 'better'.

Buffy found herself back in her room, staring at the walls again, really, it was little more than a cell and there wasn't much to do except that. She wouldn't be surprised if there were people who weren't cracked but ended up that way just by residing in one of those rooms. It was an oddly empty space that felt like it had seen too much, like the walls were haemorrhaging a long history of horror, the impression of ghosts pressed itself upon her head, whether they were literal or figurative mattered not.

With the news that she was going home soon her parents had been allowed to get her some of her own clothes. It was both a relief and a problem. Buffy had tried not to look at the clothes mom handed her with supreme distaste. No denying it was good to wear something…normal, but she'd been horrified at the fashion trends. Most of them were okay and she knew that they were all currently fashionable, but they had inspired a very strong impulse to go shopping for a whole new look. She had a feeling her mother wouldn't object, she'd probably let her have anything given the circumstances, but Buffy felt it was a little wrong to take advantage of the situation. She smiled as the sixteen-year-old in her found the idea funny.

Buffy was struggling with the glaring truth that she was not in fact 21, no matter what had happened or how she felt, she was only sixteen. Ugh, there are reasons no one likes the idea of going backwards and being younger again, going backwards in time, or what felt like it was not fun. She might be a little more mature what with being the slayer, but wow, she was still human and susceptible to all the rampant hormones and was also obligated to complete high school. No thanks.

As usual she was confusing herself and developing a headache, confusion should be reserved for something useful, like trying to figure out what had happened during that patrol. She was sure it was that patrol. She was fighting, Pike was fighting further away and then, she'd finished with the last vamp but was attacked from behind; Pike didn't have time to warn her. That was it! She was attacked and flipped over, landing painfully on her back, she'd turned around expecting to find another vamp, and instead it was that icky demon. It was that demon, the same one. That's where she'd seen him before!

Buffy smiled as the pieces fitted back into place, though it wasn't for long. It had poisoned her, and then…it'd disappeared, and Pike was by her side. She'd felt ok, a bit dizzy but otherwise fine and he took her home, he'd been so sweet taking care of her and telling her to rest.

She didn't remember clearly after that, she'd been delirious; and they had thought she had the flu. But then she'd started talking about vampires, genius move Buffy, told them a demon had poisoned her and about Pike and they brought her straight back to this horrible place. The only thing she remembered after that was those six years in Sunnydale. But it hadn't been six years, it was just a couple of weeks. What the hell did it mean? She needed to get out here very badly, not least because it could be vamp party central with the slayer MIA.

She was just thinking that she needed a new watcher and wondered whether he'd be anything like Giles when an orderly poked his head round the door.

"Hey Buffy, you have a visitor, he's in the day room." She produced a thin smile in return, puzzled and wary. It couldn't be her parents, they usually burst straight into her room.

"Who is it?" She asked, curiosity getting the upper hand.

"Your uncle I think, come on, I think he might be in a hurry." The distracted man replied.

Buffy frowned and followed him out of the room. She didn't have an uncle, or she did but he was in Europe or somewhere, always travelling like dad, you could count on one hand the number of times she'd met him, and she had no idea why he might visit her.

Beyond curious, she peered around the doorway into the room, all normal, no uncle in evidence. And then Buffy's gaze came to rest on Rupert Giles.

Giles.

She did a double take, the calendar incident sprung to mind and her expression must have been very similar as well. Though her brain seemed to have been short-circuited in shock she found herself walking forward, feeling awkward and self-conscious.

What the heck was she meant to say?

How about 'Hi I know who you are because you were my watcher and I've known you for six years in my head?'

Buffy didn't know what was going on, but she knew she could not say that. Absently, she noted why the orderly had thought he was in a hurry, he kept checking his wristwatch for the time. Perhaps it was a nervous tick, these kinds of places don't exactly put anyone at ease, the stigma associated with mental health being what it was.

She approached him nervously, knowing she'd have to tell him the whole story eventually, especially if anything more became too familiar. This specific moment was far from the comfort of her memory, but if he was going to be her watcher as she now suspected, that was the same.

Buffy supposed she would just take each day, one at a time, no one can really know the future before it happens. Right?

"Hi, I hope I'm not holding you up or something?" Buffy asked, smiling slightly cheekily at him as he flustered to collect himself and regarded her with an odd expression before speaking.

"Not at all Ms Summers but never-mind that. You are no doubt wondering who I am and what I am doing here."

Buffy smiled again, reminded of just how British he'd been when they'd first met.

"Actually, yes but let me guess first?" She replied,

He pursed his lips, looking unamused at her childish reply but smiled anyway, she lowered her voice a little before speaking,

"Your name is Rupert Giles and you're my new Watcher. Maybe wondering how you got this bum assignment to a slayer with mental health issues. Am I right?"

The expression that he was now wearing was one of astonishment and she sat down on the chintzy overly-stuffed sofa, quite pleased with herself. Well you've got to find the fun where you can.

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't aware that you had had any contact with the council aside from your first…." He let the thought trail off, he continued to look stunned and was obviously trying to work out what was going on.

She grinned inwardly; he might just spend several years doing that.

"No, I haven't. You are my new watcher then?" Buffy was direct this time, just to confirm it.

He nodded slowly.

"Yes, I'm sorry about…" He looked uncomfortable and again, didn't finish the sentence,

"Merrick." She provided, and he nodded again.

"I am very interested as to how you know who I am, but first I'd like to make it quite clear, I do not think I got a 'bum assignment' as you put it Ms Summers. Whatever your mental…status might be."

"I'm not crazy." She said, putting a voice to the awkward possibility hanging in the air, using the common slang phrase so often the focus of misunderstood prejudice. There was no point in tiptoeing around it when they needed to work so closely together.

He looked at her as if to say that most people in a similar position would probably claim the same thing.

"Look, you probably know about the first time I was in here. From Merrick's diaries about how I mistakenly told my parents about…you know."

He nodded.

"Yes, an unfortunate incident. However,"

"If you are going to say that I wouldn't have started talking about it again to them without being mentally unstable well don't. You might have been right and who would blame a slayer for being so affected, but it wasn't my fault, I was poisoned," She declared, a little too aggressively.

"Really?" He sounded interested now, and maybe a little less sceptical. It was a typical Giles reaction, always far too excited by weird and freaky crap like this.

"Yeah, I mean if I'd had a watcher with me when it happened you'd all know about it and I probably wouldn't have been in here this long."

He looked a bit abashed at the unspoken accusation, but Buffy carried on before he could say anything. "I was patrolling with my friend Pike, and we'd just got rid of a whole bunch of them when this," She looked around furtively before whispering, "demon,"

The last thing she needed was someone over hearing all this.

"…Attacked me and seemed to inject me with this poison, completely disgusting. Anyway, my parents thought I had the flu as I had a fever and was delirious but when I started talking about you know what and other stuff they brought me straight back here. Apparently, I was catatonic or something similar for a short while,"

She sighed, exhausted and depressed by the re-telling.

"I don't really know what brought me out of it; maybe I developed immunity? All I do know is that I need to get out of here, thankfully it should be pretty soon,"

Giles leaned back and seemed to study her for a moment before replying.

"I'll have to research this demon. Your theory on developing immunity is probably accurate. When did you recover?"

"Two and a half weeks ago. It's so annoying that they've kept me here even though I'm obviously fine. Did you know that the doctor thinks I've got a personality disorder? He got that just from me blowing up the gym, that little thing and that was hardly my fault."

Giles smiled, slightly amused at her lack of guilt.

"Okay so it was, but there was a really good reason and I can't tell anyone what that is. And because of that I got kicked out."

"Yes, I was aware of that…let's just hope that it doesn't come to that at your new school. Now, you said they were letting you out?" He asked mildly, moving on from my apparent obsession with the gymnasium.

"Yeah, should be in the next week, not long, I'm actually looking forward to starting school again, how pathetic is that?" She told him, slightly disgusted with herself.

He smiled broadly at her admission.

"Yes, I expect it's rather boring in here. Well, I can tell you that Sunnydale High is a good school at any rate and I'm sure you'll be fine. I know how you teenagers worry about fitting in…"

He trailed off when he caught sight of her stunned expression.

That wasn't what she'd expected. Sunnydale? She didn't live in Sunnydale.

But even as she tried to rationalise it, she knew it was pointless. It appeared that there was more to those 'memories' than she'd previously thought. The Giles thing could have been a fluke, or even slayer precognition but this was something much bigger.

"Is everything alright Ms Summers you look pale." He leaned toward her, looking concerned.

"Call me Buffy, you're my watcher. I, just, Sunnydale?" She asked. "I don't live in Sunnydale."

He looked at her, obviously puzzled before some realisation dawned.

"Oh dear, my apologies, perhaps I should not have divulged…"

She nodded but knew that it was now impossible to deny what was happening, and everything that she knew. The implications were terrifying.

"We're leaving LA, mom and me, aren't we?" She asked quietly,

He nodded in confirmation after only a little hesitation.

"I'm so sorry Buffy. I didn't realise that you didn't know." Giles looked mortified,

"It's okay really, it's not even a big shock. Them splitting up. I could see it coming, I just didn't want to relive it again." She spoke quietly, her eyes downcast, her feelings also very low.

When Buffy looked up Giles appeared confused once again. There was a serious need now to tell him about everything, but she could see that the duty nurse across the room was becoming too interested in their animated conversation and was likely preparing to march across the room and declare that their time was up.

"I certainly didn't mean to upset you." He spoke gently, and Buffy smiled in response. Giles had always been so caring and protective. A painful lump grew in her throat when she recalled the state to which their relationship had deteriorated over those years. She swallowed it down.

"I know, don't worry Giles, like I said, I saw it coming." She repeated, trying not to dwell on such a painful memory.

"Oh, all right. I was also wondering if you could tell me how you knew my name?" He asked, clearly very intrigued.

Buffy didn't know how to begin, it was a longer conversation they could have at this juncture, so she opted for the easy way out.

"It's a really long story and I promise to tell you the whole thing when I get back…when I get to Sunnydale. Let's just say, I've seen some things." She finished mysteriously.

He didn't look entirely pleased with her answer, but he must also have realised they had little time remaining.

"Buffy, the reason I came to see you, other than to introduce myself was because something is going to happen. There are signs that point towards…"

"Let me guess, great unrest? Big Bad?" She provided, a mixture of certainty and resigned acceptance.

He nodded, obviously not too confused by her unique turn of phrase. She smiled inwardly.

"Yes, something is going to happen, soon, but if you are being released this week we should be in time. Though without recent training…"

"Oh, don't worry, they've let me use the gym here, supervised of course but I've been training. Apparently, they're great advocates of exercise as outlets for frustration and all kinds of issues."

He looked relieved.

"I'll be out soon and then we can work on finishing the Master." She told him cryptically.

Giles was clearly confused again, it was almost cute, and she felt immediately guilty, too much information too soon.

"It was good to meet you Buffy." He said then, in such typical Giles fashion that it was hard to resist the urge to hug him.

"You too, do us a favour? Research 'The Harvest' for us if you get the chance." Who was she kidding, he lived to read and reference ancient texts.

"The Harvest?" He asked again,

Buffy nodded, smiling impishly.

"You are being awfully mysterious Buffy." Giles accused, he must think she was a real conundrum alright.

Buffy shrugged, suddenly unconcerned,

"Yep, look it up. I promise to tell you everything once I get…there." It was difficult not to say home. "Like I said before, I've seen some things."

He nodded again and said a reluctant goodbye.

When Buffy had returned to her room she felt a good degree calmer. Her itch to get out of that place hadn't disappeared by any means. It was worse, considering all that she'd seen of those six years and knowing it could all be on the brink of happening for real this time, a slight shudder ran through her, the possibilities, opportunities, implications, they were enormous. Especially when you know about the bad things. The possibilities for change were in, 'Giles speak', staggering.

The desire to return to the real world burned through her, no longer simply a response to being held captive, it felt like there were a hundred thousand fires out there and Buffy needed to douse them all. The number one pressing issue of the harvest to deal with seemed to burn the brightest in her mind. She had never felt her calling this strongly before, it was an almost painful yearning to fight, and to set things right.

Maybe slayers had unknown psychic powers, it wasn't completely impossible, surely prophetic dreams were partially psychic in nature? Though they had never felt like a great advantage, horrifying had always been her overwhelming reaction.

And yes, all her knowledge could be helpful for the future, but it could also be dangerous. With that on her mind Buffy resolved to tell only Giles, he was the only one who truly needed to know anyway. And as much as she hoped that there were two individuals at Sunnydale High named Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, she had no desire to put them or anyone there in more danger than her calling or that horror attracting hellmouth would do as a matter of course.

Sometimes being sensible sucked harder than those damned vampires.

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