Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville, Supernatural, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Based on Supernatural Season 1 "Nightmare"
"I give up!" Buffy snapped, throwing the book behind her in frustration. "When is English going to be of any use to me really? I already speak, read and write it. Shouldn't that be enough?"
Sam reached his hand out, eyes darkening as the book stopped its descent before it could reach the floor, slowly returning right back to the table in front of the Slayer. "Buffy. I did not give up most of my own study time to help you get ready so that you could give up two days before your test."
"Why don't you give her a hard time?" The Slayer pouted, pointing towards the blonde with her nose in a romance book. "She's not even studying!"
"Because she finished her revisions!" Sam glared at the Slayer. "She's ready."
"So ready." Chloe flipped the page, getting more comfortable in the love seat.
"Who asked you?" Buffy pouted before sighing and turning to Sam. "Can't you just, I don't know, spell me ready for the test?"
"Buffy…" Sam stared deep into her eyes. "No."
The Slayer groaned and turned to where Giles was opposite Chloe, his nose in a book as well, though this one did not have attractive, half naked people on the cover. "Giles!"
"No cheating." The Watcher, just like Chloe, couldn't deign to look away from what he was reading. "The Slayer must always achieve her goals through careful study, hard work, and determination."
"And anyway," Cordelia kept her attention on the nails she was painting. "You would have already had these tests and graduated from high school if you hadn't run away and abandoned everyone. So stop whining."
"Your empathy amazes me." Dean rolled his eyes at his girlfriend, running his hand over his bandaged arm.
The brunette sent him an amused smile.
Buffy rolled her eyes at them before returning her gaze on Sam.
"No." He anticipated her pleading. "Buffy, you can do this. You just need to concentrate."
"She's always had a problem with that, even during Slayer training." Giles mumbled, flipping a page. "I noticed incentive used to work for her though-a treat, so to speak."
"What am I, a poodle?" Buffy mumbled, folding her arms over her chest.
"Your hair's puffy enough," Cordelia declared innocently.
"Winchester…" Buffy growled warningly.
Chuckling Dean picked up the Spanish fan Cordelia had had resting on her lap, fanning his girlfriend's freshly painted fingernails when she raised them in silent demand.
Realizing there would be no help from him, Buffy turned towards Sam, yet instead of seeing him she instead found herself sitting on the ground of a garage.
"The hell?" Slowly standing, Buffy looked around her in confusion, narrowing her eyes as she twirled around at the sound of the garage door opening in time for a man to drive in and turn off the engine.
The man didn't seem to notice her, instead gaze going to the garage door as it started winding down by itself, the man eyeing it in confusion.
Suddenly, his car doors self-locked.
"This isn't good." Buffy whispered, hurrying to the car-going through it-to the other side.
It hit her then, what was happening.
"This is a dream."
The man struggled with his doors, unable to open them as the ignition key turned by itself and the engine started, exhaust smoke beginning to fill the garage.
"A nightmare."
The man struggled in vain to turn off the engine, the radio flickering on to "In My Time of Dying" by Led Zeppelin as he began to cough.
Unaffected by the fumes, the Slayer stood there, staring at the scene in impotence.
"Help!" He yelled, pounding at the windows frantically. "Somebody help me!"
Buffy gulped back her emotion, staring at the man, watching as the smoke grew thicker and thicker around him.
"A vision."
Finally he keeled over.
The Slayer closed her eyes, a single tear silently making its way down her cheek.
He felt the shift and it awoke him seconds before the screams pierced the air.
Terror churning in his stomach, Sam threw the covers off of his body and raced out of his room towards the guest bedroom. He threw the door open and hesitated for a second, blue/greens falling upon Chloe as she struggled in bed, appearing to suffer nothing more than a horrifying nightmare to the naked eye. But to his own fine tuned gaze, he could see the swirls of Hellmouth energy faintly circling around her, escaping her pores in small whiffs that tried forcing their way back into her body and yet something in her was barring their return. They were such small, insignificant amounts that they wouldn't harm anymore, and wouldn't even have been picked up on if the person in the room wasn't so fine-tuned to the Hellmouth energy she emitted-hadn't had a substantial taste of it too many times to have ever forgotten the burnt taste it left in the back of his mouth.
"Chloe?" Sam moved, hurrying towards her and leaning over the kicking, screaming blonde, hands on her shoulders. "Chloe wake up!"
She clawed at his arms, screaming, struggling, crying.
"Chloe!" Sam shook her, ignoring the pain as her nails dug deep and drew blood. "Chloe that's enough! Wake up!"
Suddenly her eyes flew opened and she drew in a deep breath, her tear-drenched lashes blinking as confusion filled her eyes as she stared up at him. "Sam?"
He frowned, staring down at her, worried.
"Why are you-?" Her eyes widened when she saw the condition of his arms. "What happened?"
"Are you okay?" Sam was far more concerned with her.
"What? Yes." Her confused orbs rose from his hands to his eyes. "Why would you-?"
Letting out a sigh of relief, Sam collapsed onto the bed's edge, staring down at her. "What were you dreaming of?"
"Dreaming?" Chloe slowly sat up, confusion plain on her face. "I wasn't dreaming anything."
His eyes narrowed on her face, lifting his arms for her to survey the damage.
The blonde's eyes widened in understanding, a gasp escaping her lips. "No."
"We need to talk to Giles first thing tomorrow morning." Sam declared softly. "Whenever you start having nightmares you don't remember, something very bad is about to happen. Coupled with the whole Hellhounds running free…I think we need to start preparing for the worse."
"What could possibly be worse than the Hellmouth opening and the Master getting out?" The blonde wanted to know, hugging herself.
His eyes stayed on her. "That's what we need to find out."
Exhaling, the blonde reached under her pillow and pulled out a knife.
Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Old habits die hard," she responded in a whisper, the blade catching the glint of the moonlight streaming through the curtains as it sliced her palm.
"What are you doing?" Sam snapped, surging forwards and yanking the blade out of her grip and throwing it away.
The blonde merely offered up her cupped hand, which was filling with her own blood.
Sam frowned as he stared at it.
She raised her hand closer towards him. "It'll heal the injuries I gave you…and it's freely given…you'll be fine."
"I'm not hurt that badly," Sam whispered hoarsely. "They're just scratches."
The blonde didn't answer, the blood beginning to slowly trickle down the side of her palm down her wrist.
"Whenever Angelus or Spike or Drusilla got hurt they expected this, didn't they?" Sam asked darkly. "No matter how minimal the damage they expected you to bleed for them."
"Isn't that what we all expect from our family?" She offered him the hand once more, the blood now trailing down to her elbows. "Please."
His eyes closed as he sighed before they opened once more. "Don't ever hurt yourself again for me."
She tilted her head to the side.
Finally, Sam drew closer, hesitating a second before cupping her hand in his two much larger ones, bringing her cupped palm to his lips. His blue/greens connected with her greens as he slowly tilted her hand, her blood gushing into his lips and seeming to explode in the back of his throat into a million different tastes and sensation. It was warm, and while the metallic was strong there was something underneath of it. Unconsciously he found his grip on her tightening as he swallowed, his eyes fluttering closed at the electric warmth spreading around his body, his own arms tingling as they healed. He'd seen Angelus, Spike and sometimes even Dru feeding from Chloe and it had always filled him with disgust, and yet at the taste of her blood he hated how he could understand their addiction to it. His tongue softly scraped over the already healing cut in her palm.
The hand in his shivered.
Sam's eyes opened slowly as his gaze rose to her face, which even in the shadows of the night betrayed a flush, her eyelids lowered slightly as her lips parted.
He gulped, closing his hands over hers.
Chloe's gaze found his, her orbs betraying that fact that she was a little confused, a little hesitant, and aroused.
With her having just earned her GED, and still actively looking for an apartment of her own, Sam was admittedly feeling a little desperate, Spike's words taunting him.
He knew that if he didn't make his move soon, if he didn't somehow at least let her realize he was a viable option, Angel would return and Sam would have squandered his only opportunity.
A voice in him whispered that he didn't want to take advantage of her emotion vulnerability.
Another hissed that it would not be her rebound guy.
Yet another didn't care about either of those things.
Chloe brought her free hand up to her heart, the ring on her finger catching on the light.
It was enough to break the spell, Angel's claim still very much upon her, and Sam nearly snarled at himself as he let go of her hand and stood, heading back towards the door.
And anyway, what had he been thinking?
He was cursed!
The women he was with intimately were doomed!
Jess had already died…and there was no way that he would put Chloe in that sort of danger.
"Sam?" Her voice was soft and confused behind him.
He stopped in the doorway, his back to her and grip on the doorframe so tight he wouldn't be surprised if he found his fingerprints on it tomorrow. "We should sleep. Giles' shipment of books from storage are arriving tomorrow. He thinks we might find something on the Winchester curse in them. We also need to prepare for whatever's coming."
There was silence for a moment, and then a sigh. "Goodnight, Sam."
Closing his eyes, Sam slipped out of the room and closed the door behind him without another word.
"Are you sure it's the same man from your dreams?" Giles asked as he quickly browsed through the report of the apparent "suicide" that'd taken place not too far from his own home the previous night. The picture of the man, Jim Miller, was next to the one of his body being taken away by the paramedics, his wife, brother and son both staring in agony at it as it was hauled towards the ambulance.
"That's definitely him-the car is even the same." Buffy exclaimed, leaning forwards onto the table, eyes narrowed on him.
"According to this article he was a devout Catholic, attended Mass every Sunday at St Augustines." Giles made up his face.
"Don't Catholics believe they'll go to hell if they commit suicide?" Dean wanted to know, from where he was sitting eating one of Giles' muffins, which the Watcher had taken to buying now that Dean and Cordelia were back and everyone was treating the man's house like they had once done with the Sunnydale High School library.
"My point exactly!" The Slayer exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm telling you, I watched it happen. He was murdered by something, Dean. I watched it trap him in the garage."
"What was it, a spirit, poltergeist?" He seemed to believe her, speaking with his mouth full, some crumbs spewing out.
"I don't know what it was." Buffy threw herself on the sofa next to him, annoyance and frustration mounting. "I don't know why I'm having these dreams. I never used to be Vision Girl. I don't like being Vision Girl! And I definitely don't like not knowing what the hell is happening!"
"Why do we care about someone who is already dead when we have someone much more important alive who mightn't be that way for long?" Cordelia wanted to know, pointing at herself. "I don't want to be self-centered or anything. But Hello. I'm still alive. There's something you can do to save me. That shouldn't be forgotten."
"She has a point." Dean was, predictably, on his girlfriend's side. "I've tried contacting my father to see if he grew a conscience and wanted to actually tell us the whole truth this time, but he's ignoring my calls."
"Why are you surprised?" Cordelia grumbled, flipping through a fashion magazine with frustration. "It's not like he hasn't always been Super Douche of the Year. I mean, if you look up "Asshole" and "Deadbeat Dad" in the dictionary, they would both have his picture under 'description'." She closed her magazine finally and frowned. "And let's not forget that this is the same man who threatened me and traumatized me when I was a kid. He obviously is unhinged." She made up her face. "And doesn't like me for some unexplainable reason."
"Because you are so likable," Buffy mumbled.
"Exactly." Cordelia turned to her, failing to sense the sarcasm. "It's weird, right?"
"Totally." Buffy nodded.
The door opened, Sam and Chloe striding in, both pale and tense, neither looking at each other.
"Well, you two look like crap," Dean declared.
"Chloe's nightmares are starting again," Sam announced.
Buffy's eyes widened, standing once more. "What did you dream?"
"I don't know." The tiny blonde next to the giant brunet shook her head. "I didn't know I was having nightmares until Sam woke me up."
"Goddamn it," Dean groaned. "It's never good when you have nightmares you can't remember."
"The world usually goes to the crapper," Cordelia agreed.
Giles narrowed his eyes. "Both you and Buffy had nightmares the same night, and coupled with her Slayer Senses and your affinity with the Hellmouth energies-and your past involvements in the Apocalypse-I can't help but think that this isn't a coincidence."
"Really, Sherlock?" Cordelia rolled her eyes at him, snorting. "What was your first clue?"
The Watcher made a face at her before clearing his throat and standing. "The last time Buffy had any sort of vision it was of Andy, and it involved Chloe. And back when the both of you had arrived in Sunnydale you were sharing the same nightmares."
"Of the Master." Buffy nodded.
"I believe we should check out the house and talk to Jim Miller's family," Giles declared.
"Who's Jim Miller?" Chloe asked in confusion.
"Some dude Buffy dreamed dying, who did die, last night," Cordelia answered candidly with a half shrug.
Giles passed Sam the newspaper.
"What's the game plan?" Sam wanted to know, reading the article and eyeing the picture of the family. "They seem devastated. I doubt they're going to want to talk to a bunch of strangers."
"Yeah, you're right." Dean stood. "But I think I know who they would talk to."
"Who?" Buffy eyed him, narrowing her gaze on him.
Dean just smirked.
Dean reached out to a doorbell, ringing it.
"This has gotta be a whole new low for us," Sam sighed from his brother's side, hair slicked back neatly.
"Yeah." Dean smirked at his brother. "We're definitely going to one of the hells for this."
The door opened, and the man in the picture with the family (the victim's brother if memory served right) stood there.
"Good afternoon." Dean put on his most innocent smile, trying to look comfortable and at home in the priest costume he and Sam wore. "I'm Father Simmons, this is Father Frehley. We're new junior priests over at St Augustines. May we come in?"
The man nodded wordlessly, stepping out of the way.
"Thank you." Dean nodded as he entered the house.
"We're very sorry for your loss." Sam tried as the door was closed behind them.
"It's in difficult times like these when the Lord's guidance is most needed," Dean declared, channeling those pastors on the television who were always asking for money.
"Look, you wanna pitch your whole "Lord has a plan" thing? Fine," the man snapped. "Just don't pitch it to me. My brother's dead."
"Roger. Please!" Mrs. Miller appeared.
Roger began moving away. "Excuse me."
The widow shook her head before turning her eyes, red from crying, on them. "i'm sorry about my brother in law. He's-he's just so upset about Jim's death." She tried for a watery smile. "Would you like some coffee?"
Dean nodded. "That would be great."
With that they followed her into the living room, infiltration a success.
"I'm the one who got the vision." Buffy pouted as she sat with Chloe and Giles going over the books with Cordelia. "So why is it that the Winch Bros get to do the whole fun infiltration part? If there's something wiggy about the house I should be there to handle it. I'm the Slayer. I should be there-Slaying."
"St Augustines doesn't employ nuns, we couldn't go undercover with the boys." Chloe responded, not even looking up from her book. "Plus, the only nun costumes out there are sexy nun ones, and I don't think they'd be fooled by them."
"And, they're itchy." Cordelia announced. "You can just see that from the material."
Buffy sighed, leaning her forehead against the book. "But I'm bored."
"Buffy, a mystical upheaval-," Giles began.
"I know." The Slayer interrupted with a groan. "But the mysticalness has no business upheaving if it won't give me a baddie so I can kick butt."
Giles sighed, gaze going back to his book. "And then she didn't get why I never even brought up the Slayer Handbook."
Buffy looked up at pouted at that. "You're comparing me to Kendra again."
"I'm not-."
"Whatever," Buffy interrupted, absolutely sulking. "It's not like I care or anything."
Cordelia's phone rang and she made a face at the screen. "I don't know that number." She shook her head and reached for her phone, answering it. "Cordelia Chase." She narrowed her eyes before standing and heading towards the door, slipping out of the room.
Chloe frowned as she watched the door close behind the brunette. "I hope everything's okay."
"She's gone, my headache has a chance of maybe going away now," Buffy replied, not really paying any attention. "I have to just put this out there-if the world ends up being destroyed-I'll be really annoyed that I spent as much time as I did studying for the GED. Even if I did pass."
Giles groaned.
Chloe's lips twitched in amusement. "That's one way of looking at it."
Giles' phone rang and he answered it without looking at the caller ID. "Rupert Giles." Like Cordelia before him, Giles' eyes narrowed and he stood, leaving the house.
The two blondes shared a look.
"I'm almost afraid my phone's going to ring too," Chloe mumbled, pulling it out of her pocket and placing it on the table in front of her near warily.
That was when Buffy's phone rang.
Sitting on the lounge chair, opposite of Sam who sat in an armchair, Dean smiled at Mrs. Miller as she poured coffee and handed it out to them.
"It was wonderful of you to stop by." She smiled bravely. "The support of the church means so much right now."
"Of course." Dean nodded, trying to be a believable junior priest, especially since Sam really wasn't doing his part in this whole thing. "After all we are all God's children."
She smiled softly at that and walked away to tend to some of the other people in the wake.
Dean took the opportunity to grab some cocktail sausages from the table and toss them into his mouth, chewing contentedly before he gazed over at Sam and noticed his brother was shaking his head. "What?"
"Just tone it down a little bit, Father," Sam mumbled.
Mrs Miller returned.
Dean swallowed the sausages and cleared his throat as she sat down. "So, Mrs. Miller, did your husband have a history of depression?"
"Nothing like that." Tears began to form in her eyes. "We have our ups and downs like everyone but we were happy." A sob escaped her lips. "I just don't understand…how Jim could do something like this."
Finally Sam stepped up to the plate and acted his part. "I'm so sorry you had to find him like that."
Mrs. Miller gestured behind her. "Actually, our son Max, he was the one who found him."
Sam looked behind her through the doors into the dining room, noticing Max sitting into the corner, staring into the place. "Do you mind if maybe I could go and talk to him?"
"Oh thank you Father." She whispered tearfully.
Dean grinned as the woman's back was to him.
Finally! Sammy was getting the picture!
They were so going to crack this case…
…the Slayer was going to be so pissed she wouldn't be needed!
"Wesley, just calm down and start again." Giles frowned, wondering where Cordelia had gone to since she wasn't outside anywhere, but his attention was quickly returned to the conversation he was trying to have with Sunnydale's Watcher. "What happened?"
In the background he could hear Faith asking: "Hey! Is that G on the phone?"
Mourning the desecration of his name, Giles shook his head, bringing his hand to his forehead, the beginning of a migraine coming upon him.
"Faith please." Wesley could be heard arguing with his Slayer. "I am speaking with a colleague. Go practice your fighting skills by hitting something with something else."
"You are such a tool." Faith informed him.
"If you refer to a tool of justice and all that's right in this world, then yes, and thank you." Wesley cleared his throat. "Sorry about that Rupert, news has reached my ears about the happening up your side of the pond. Hellhounds on our side…who aren't bringing some damned human being to whatever hell they've sold their souls for."
Giles waited for the younger man to end his melodramatic spiel.
"I wanted you to know that even though I replaced you as the Watcher of the Hellmouth, and even though you lost much of your credentials and status by not only losing your Slayer but the Conduit the Council were so interested in, I am here for you and you have a support in me," Wesley declared.
Giles palmed his hand.
"I've heard they are gathering to discuss her future, especially in light of the whole Hellhound thing."
Giles frowned. This was news to him. "Uh, yes. I suppose so."
"Can't really blame them, can you?" Wesley chuckled. "I mean, the girl is a rare phenomenon in the supernatural world, and they lost a chance at her once already. You cannot blame the Council for being curious and wanting a look under the hood, so to speak."
Giles did not like where this was going.
"Also…" Wesley cleared his throat. "I was calling to inform you of a most outrageous happening here in the Sunnydale Hellmouth."
"What happened?" Giles just wanted this conversation to be over.
"Well, it was after the flying monkeys incident that it came to my attention that there's a new player making a…"big huff"…about these parts." The man cleared his throat. "We had an encounter with him that unfortunately wasn't very positive. Faith and I barely made it out alive."
"I was doing fine against him," Faith grumbled in the background. "If you hadn't tripped and sprained your ankle-."
Wesley cleared his throat loudly, interrupting whatever his Slayer was saying. "He's an Animus Demon. Called himself Azazel."
Giles' eyes widened, recognizing the name from Chloe's account of her time with Angelus. "Azazel? What was he doing in Sunnydale?"
"From what I could gather? Preparing."
"For what?" Giles pressed.
"He was very vague on the details, but he did say one thing that stuck with me as he escaped."
After waiting for a couple seconds yet hearing nothing, Giles ran his fingers through his hair. "By god man! Spit it out! What did he say?"
"He said…" Wesley inhaled. "…it was almost time."
"Time for what?" Giles narrowed his eyes.
"I haven't the faintest." Wesley was obviously highly reluctant to admit this. "I was hoping you did."
"You have a lovely home." Dean wasn't really good at the chitchat, but he knew a thing or two about chatting up women and getting information out of them. Hadn't he refined that skill during high school by finding ways of interrogating Cordy's 'friends' on her love life? "How long have you lived here?"
"We moved in about five years ago." Mrs. Miller replied.
"The only problem with these old houses is that they usually come with some little headaches." He tried fishing.
"Like what?" She blinked, looking confused.
He cleared his throat. "Well, weird leaks, electrical shortages, odd settling noises at night." He shrugged. "That sort of thing."
"No, nothing like that." She assured him. "It's been perfect."
"Huh." Okay, maybe the woman had just not noticed the weirdness going around, maybe the husband had and that was why he was the one who'd been ganked. Time to do some investigating. "May I use your restroom?"
"Oh sure." She nodded. "It's just up the stairs."
Rising, Dean took another cocktail sausage with him as he made his way passed the mourners towards the stairs.
"Mom, calm down, I can barely hear what you're saying." Buffy frowned, narrowing her eyes as she paced outside in Giles' back yard. "What about Ted?"
"He malfunctioned!" Joyce repeated, voice betraying her obviously worry. "I think his short-circuits must have fried or something. He said he was feeling slow and then he was making those delicious little cupcakes I love and there was a little spark in his chest, and then a little smoke, and he shut down."
Buffy bit her bottom lip, wincing at the thought of having to actually tell everyone her mother's new man was, well, not exactly a man.
Ted Buchanan took the whole "Love Machine" thing to a whole new level.
Literally.
When Buffy had first met the guy she'd felt something was off, but he made her mother so happy she'd tried to ignore it…until she found her mother tinkering in his chest, his fake skin peeled away to reveal the hard metal beneath.
At least it'd served as a good Truth Session, with her mother telling her all about commissioning the "Love Bot" (as Buffy was calling it) from an old schoolmate of Buffy's, Warren Mears, when the loneliness had gotten to be too much…and Buffy finally came clean to her about the whole Slayer business. It'd been therapeutic for both Summers women.
"I don't know what to do. I'm the only one who knows that Ted's a…cybernetic…now that Warren has disappeared. He's the one who would do any fine tuning or troubleshooting for me in the past. But now he's gone and I can't leave Ted like this…deactivated! It's like he's dead!" Joyce cried.
Buffy closed her eyes, unable to hear her mother like that.
When Buffy had left Ted had been there to pick Joyce back up, to give her a purpose, and had been apparently the only thing that'd kept her from going insane. He made her happy. And even if he was way weird, she had to help him because helping him meant helping her mother. "Can you pack him up or something and get here? Sam and Chloe both are good with computers. Maybe they can tinker about and figure out what's wrong with him."
"Thank you Buffy." Her mother cried. "He means so much to me-I can't imagine my life without him."
The Slayer nodded with a sigh. "I know."
"So." Sam felt guilty about lying and putting on an act for this grieving family, but if this death really was connected to whatever was happening he needed to act his part. "What was your dad like?"
Max shrugged. "Just a normal dad."
"Yeah…" Obviously he was going to have to try a different strategy. "You live at home now?"
"Yeah." Max nodded, gaze going to the pictures on the walls. "Trying to save up for school but it's hard."
"So when you found your dad…" he was being insensitive, but beating around the bushes wasn't working.
"I woke up," Max whispered. "I heard the engine running." There was a long pause as he stared off into space, obviously remembering that very moment. "I don't know why he did it."
The guilt returned. "I know its rough, losing a parent. Especially when you don't have all the answers?"
"All the answers?" Max chuckled darkly. "Try none."
"What do you want?" Cordelia had taken to walking down the street, her high heels clip clopping loudly.
"Is that the way to talk to the guy who could save your life?" John Winchester wanted to know sourly.
"Could, but won't." She reminded him with a huff, hurrying her pace.
There was a pause, and then he sighed. "I can't get my sons involved in this."
"What are you talking about?" The brunette snorted. "They're cursed. They're a part of it. They're more a part of it than I am! And I'm supposed to be doomed! Especially when the one man with the answers won't answer his damn phone!"
"Don't take that tone with me, Missy."
"Don't try to order me about, Pops." She growled right back at him.
There was a pause and then he sighed. "I've been trying to figure out a way of ending this curse on the men in our family for years now, it's one of the reasons why I've always been absent, hunting, tracking down people with the know-how."
Her eyes narrowed as she stopped walking. "Why didn't you tell Dean and Sam this when they called you that night?"
Another pause. "I am a man of many secrets."
"Understatement of the year." She rolled her eyes.
"Point is, I think I might be close to some answers myself," John revealed. "After Sam's girl went up in flames like his mom-I've known that they'd reached their prime and the curse was activated."
"Wait, you mean the guys had to reach a certain age for the curse to start?" Cordelia's eyes widened, finally understanding why she'd survived this long.
"A maturity level, not age," John corrected. "And Sam has always been more mature than Dean…so I knew that if Sammy's girl had gone up in smoke…that Dean was close to reaching the Starting Point too."
Cordelia gulped. "So, what answers have you found?"
"If you just left him, you wouldn't be in danger." He stated the obvious, obviously hedging the real issue. "You could continue on living your life."
"Mr. Winchester." The brunette flipped her long hair behind her shoulder in irritation. "Despite how much of an utter idiot he is, I'm in love with your son. So stop stalling and tell me what you know already."
"I thought you might say that." He sighed before the line went dead.
Cordelia blinked. "Did he just hang up on me?" She gazed at her phone screen before hitting redial, a ringtone immediately blaring across the street.
Looking up, following the sound, Cordelia's widening eyes fell upon John Winchester, as the man leaned up against his truck, hands in his pockets.
Entering the upstairs hallway, Dean checked that the coast was clear before pulling out an infer-red thermal scanner from his pocket and turned it on, shining it into rooms as he passed. The readings were all completely normal, no sign of cold spots anyway. As he reached the end of the hall he heard footsteps coming up the stairs and hastily hide the scanner in time for Sam to appear.
"Anything?" His brother asked, coming towards him.
Dean shook his head, disappointed. "Zip. This whole thing was a bust."
Sighing, the brothers moved towards the stairs.
Considering everyone's phones hand rung but hers, and they were all busy tending to those calls, Chloe was alone in Giles' living room, surrounded by his books. She knew that they had two very important things they were researching-both about the Winchester Curse that was hanging over Cordelia's head, and whatever was going around that was obviously potentially apocalyptic. And yet the blonde couldn't find herself in the mind frame to research. She usually liked research, found comfort in it, was good at it-hence her whole Research Girl self-title while in Sunnydale High school…and yet she couldn't concentrate on anything in front of her.
Her mind was on last night, and what had happened with Sam.
A part of her was relieved he'd left and the other horribly disappointed.
And that made her so confused.
She'd realized after his kiss and willingness to return to captivity to be with her that Sam and her shared something special, something that wasn't truly platonic, but she'd managed to delude herself to the contrary until Spike's little visit.
And now, after last night, she knew for a fact that she was very much attracted to Sam Winchester…a feeling that was reciprocated by him.
It threw her through a loop because this only complicated things more.
Sam-Sam had been right to leave.
They-they didn't need that complication.
Things were great as they were.
They were great as friends.
There was just too many things…
Closing the book with a sigh, the blonde stood, unable and unwilling to stay there anymore.
Snatching up her phone she threw it into her bag and made for the door. She motioned to Giles that she was leaving, the Watcher barely managing a half wave before going back to his conversation, turning his back on her. She pulled a strand of hair out of her face and began walking down the sidewalk, head down, lost in her thoughts and not paying attention to anything around her.
Her phone rang.
Pulling it out of her bag, Chloe eyed the Caller ID and smirked as she answered it, bringing the phone to her ear. "Hey."
"Where are you? Exactly?"
The blonde obediently gave him her address starting from country, to state, to city, to the street she was currently on.
In seconds there was a blur, and then Kal stood in front of her. "I had to get away from Lois before I did something Lucy would ban me to the couch for."
"In laws." Chloe laughed, hugging the man tightly, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "They live to drive you insane, don't they?"
"I don't have a problem tolerating you." His lips twitched in amusement as she pulled away, the two beginning to walk once more, the alien not seeming at all hot in all that leather while under the intense sun.
"Well, I'm special." Chloe looped her arm through his as they continued walking, her expression darkening. "Could you do me a favor and keep your ear to the ground?"
"Anything I should be worried about?" Kal frowned, turning his light blues on her.
"Things are looking Apocalypsy," she admitted. "We're not sure…it could be use all jumping to conclusions...but just in case…"
"I'll have my Eyes and Ears in the demon world on the alert in case they hear something." Kal nodded before clearing his throat. "So, I went drinking with Spike in Madrid last night. He seems quite chipper compared to how he used to be." Those light eyes slid sideways towards the blonde. "He should have come to see you sooner, it would have avoided so much if he'd just swallowed his pride and butched up sooner."
"Butched up?" Chloe blinked. "Spike doesn't need to gather courage to come and see me."
"Not now he doesn't, he's already planning his next trip to, and I quote "See Mum and play with the Pup some more"," Kal corrected. "Before though? He never said it, but it was obvious that he thought you only tolerated him and Dru because of Angelus and that now that he was out of the picture that neither of them were truly welcomed." He raised an eyebrow. "Now he's on the mend." Kal's lips twitched. "He's a damn child who needs his Mummy's love to be happy."
"Spike is probably the most human vampire I know," Chloe admitted softly. "Even with his soul Angel's always very self-aware of his vampirism and how different that makes him-and he acts it. But not Spike. He basically a human with a bad attitude and fangs."
Kal snorted in amusement.
"But he's my family, and I love him." She couldn't keep her smile from growing. "I'm glad he realizes that."
"Little Cousin," Kal used one of his titles for her, betraying that what he would say next was said as her family. "When are you going to let go of the ring?"
She gulped, gaze going down to her finger, upon which the ring glistened in the sunlight. "It's just a ring."
"We both know it's not," Kal responded.
She cleared her throat, raising her hand to stare at the claddagh ring. "I'm scared."
"Of removing it?" The alien tilted his head in confusion when she nodded. "Why would something like that scare you?"
"It's this little irrational fear that I have-that when I finally take it off everything I had with Angel and Angelus will really be over," she admitted wryly, swallowing, gaze on the ring. "I know that even if he returned that things wouldn't ever be the way it was between us-he left me when I needed him the most despite the fact that I was with him through the good and the bad because I knew he needed me. But still, I've known Angel for so long. He-he's always been such an important part of my life I feel as if I'll lose a piece of me when I fully let go."
"Since when has Chloe Sullivan ever been afraid of anything?" Kal asked softly, sounding so much like Clark sometimes that it surprised her. She wondered if he realized that while he was Kal, he was still very much Clark where it counted.
Chloe looked up into his eyes before looking back down at her ring and sighing, lowering her head.
Kal freed his arm from her hold and instead slung it around her shoulders, pulling her close to him as they continued walk
"So?" Buffy placed her hands on her hips the second the boys entered the house. "What's the damage? What are we dealing with?"
"A whole lotta nothing." Sam collapsed on the couch, undoing his neckpiece. "Nothing bad has happened in the Miller house since it was built."
Dean stalked to Giles' fridge, opening the door and staring in. "No graveyards, battlefields, tribal lands or any other kind of atrocity on or near the property."
"But that can't be right." The female frowned, confused. "You must have missed something."
"Slayer, I searched that house up and down." Dean pulled out one of the beers he'd been making it a habit of leaving at the Watcher's house. "No cold spots, sulfur scent, nada."
"And the family said everything was normal?" Buffy tried to make sense of this. "No weird activity?"
"Zip." Dean opened the can and took a long gulp.
"If there was a demon or poltergeist in there it isn't doing anything to make its presence known, hasn't since they moved in years ago, so I'm doubting that's what we're dealing with." Sam laid his hand over his eyes, resting hard against his seat. "Dean also used the infer-red thermal scanner, and there was nothing."
"So, what, you think Jim Miller killed himself and my dream was just some sort of freakish coincidence?"
"I dunno." Dean shrugged, joining his brother on the couch. "But what I do know is that there's nothing supernatural about the house."
"Or land." Sam agreed.
"Or neighborhood." Dean continued before making a face. "Where are the women? And England?"
"Cordelia and Giles both had phone calls they went out to receive." Buffy collapsed on the seat opposite them. "Chloe must have left while I was out back talking to mom." She rubbed her temples. "What if this has nothing to do with the house?" She took in a deep breath, holding her head, as the migraine she'd felt coming on from before began to truly show itself. "Maybe it's just… god…" she held her hand to her forehead. "…maybe it's connected to Jim in some other way?"
"What's wrong with you?" Dean frowned at her.
Sam removed his hand from his eyes.
There was a spike so horrible Buffy slipped form the couch to kneel on the floor as she held her head, letting out a cry of pain.
"Buffy?" Sam reached her before Dean. "Hey," he crouched next to her and grabbed her before she collapsed on the ground. "Hey! What's going on?"
"Talk to us!" Dean was on her other side.
Buffy tried opening her eyes despite the pain, and when she did she didn't see the boys.
Instead she was in a seedy little apartment, watching Roger Miller entering a kitchen with groceries in his hands. He noticed the window of his apartment opened and put down his groceries before going to the window and closing it, locking it. When he returned to unpacking the lock moved by itself and the window slid open again. He turned, eyeing the window, obviously confused as he attempt dot close it once more, but it stuck.
Roger leaned out, twisting to look up at the top of the window, when suddenly the window slid closed, decapitating him, blood gushing up over the window and onto Buffy's face.
"Slayer!" Dean's shaking her yanked her out of her vision.
Buffy wiped her hands over her face, almost surprised to find nothing there, before her gaze went to the brothers. "It's happening again. Something's going to kill Jim's brother."
Sam stood and hurried to grab his phone.
"What are you doing?" Dean looked up at him in confusion.
"I'm going to find Roger Miller's address."
"Why should I believe you?" Cordelia wanted to know, arms folded over her chest as she sat with her back to the door, eyeing the man who'd driven her to a more remote place so they could talk. "You've been nothing but an asshole to me in the past."
John Winchester shook his head. "I've already failed one son, I can't fail the other as well. Not like this."
She narrowed her eyes. "How do I know I can trust you?"
"You don't," he replied. "You're just going to have to trust whatever you're instincts tell you." He stared her deep into her eyes. "But know this. If you don't do it, both you and Dean will be in danger."
"Wait, what?" Cordelia gasped, eyes widening. "Why is Dean in danger? You nor Sam were ever hurt! It was only the girls you were with who got the crap end of the stick!"
"There's a big difference between our situations and Dean's," John replied evenly.
"What could possibly be different about them?" Cordelia challenged.
John took in a deep breath before answering. "He's in love with you." The hunter cleared his throat. "Sam and I might have cared for our lovers, but we never loved them, that was why we were never in danger."
Cordelia's eyes widened as she leaned heavily against the door.
She wasn't the only one in danger anymore.
This changed everything.
When they reached Roger Miller's apartment he was approaching the entrance with a bag of groceries. It shocked Buffy to see him in the flesh, just like he'd been in her vision, but she didn't hesitate, rolling down her window.
"Hey! Roger!"
He turned and grinned lecherously when he saw her, before he noticed Sam and Dean and frowned. "What are you guys? Missionaries? Leave me alone!"
"Listen Roger-." Dean tried.
But Roger had already pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, slamming it shut behind him.
Dean gunned the engine, jumping the curb as he hurriedly parked.
Before the car came to a complete stop Buffy was out and running. "Roger! You need to listen to us! We're trying to help!"
"Come on man!" Sam was out as well as they heard the sound of two deadbolts being locked on the door, barring their entrance.
"I don't want your help." Roger yelled at them threw the door before the sound of him walking away could be heard.
"We're not priests!" Dean finally reached them. "You've gotta listen to us!"
"You're in danger!" Buffy tried kicking the door, but there were too many deadbolts, and the doorframe was secure as well.
Dean looked around. "Come on." He raced around the corner to a back entrance, the others reaching there seconds after him, finding it securely locked. "Slayer?"
Buffy quickly looked around before kicking it in.
The trip jumped to the first level of the fire escape then ran up the stairs, Buffy in the lead, her Slayer speed giving her an edge, but it still wasn't enough. They were one floor from Roger's house when they heard the window slide down and a wet squelching noise betrayed that they were already too late.
Buffy froze in horror, unable to believe she had been so close, and yet so late.
Dean sprinted passed her and grabbed the railing, gazing below at Roger's head as it lay int he flower bed under the window, his blood all over the kitchen window.
Just as Buffy had seen in her vision.
Sam joined him, and after a long pause yanked out a cloth from his pocket, before beginning to wipe down the railing. "We need to get rid of our fingerprints. The cops can't know that we were here."
Dean used his shirt to push up the window leading out to the fire escape. "I'm gonna take a look inside."
Buffy didn't answer, just staring at Roger Miller's head.
Why was this happening?
And why was she seeing it happening?
Especially if she had no way of being able to stop it from happening?
How did this family's deaths connect with everything?
Finally Dean returned. "We have to go. Now."
The three made their way down the fire escape, making sure not to touch anything, and hurried to the car.
They'd been driving for a couple of minutes in silence before someone finally spoke.
"There was nothing in the place." Dean turned a right. "No signs either, just like the Miller's house."
"I saw something, in the vision. Like a dark shape." Buffy leaned forwards between the two front seats. "Something was…something was stalking him."
"Whatever it was, it wasn't connected to Jim's nor Roger's houses." Sam narrowed his eyes. "It has to be something connected to the family themselves."
"Like what?" Buffy sent them a look. "Like a vengeful spirit?"
"Well, yeah." Sam nodded. "There's a few that have been known to latch onto families and follow them for years. Angiak. Banshees…"
"Basically it's like a family curse." Dean suddenly narrowed his eyes. "A family curse."
"Roger and Jim Miller might have gotten involved in something heavy, something curse worthy." Sam turned to Dean. "And now the something is out for revenge…and the men in their family are dying."
"So are we thinking the son might be in danger?" Buffy wanted to know.
"We should figure it out before he does." Sam responded.
"What I still don't get is why I'm seeing all of this before it happens." Buffy frowned, leaning back in the seat once more. "With what happened in Smallville it made sense-it was connected to Chloe and her Hellmouth energy. But this? This has nothing to do with me or anyone I know! So why am I getting all the gory sneak peaks?"
"Maybe it's connected to us and our family curse," Dean murmured darkly. "If it's what we think it is, it's a patriarchal curse, just like ours. Maybe it's the same curse."
"Mrs. Miller would be the one dying, not the men." Sam pointed out.
"Maybe there's a reason why it's different in their family." Dean was obviously drawing at straws. "Or maybe-or maybe whoever cast the curse on them did it on us as well."
Now that…could actually be plausible.
Realizing that…Dean pressed down harder on the gas.
Kal had received a call from Lucy that'd had the alien having to super speed away, leaving Chloe to walk alone. She really wasn't looking where she was going, gaze on her ring as she grew lost in thought. Both Spike and Kal, who knew her with Angelus, had seen through the stories she'd concocted for her own benefit. They could see the fear, the weakness inside of her, and neither vampire nor alien were afraid to point it out, to throw her bullshit back in her face. She realized she was hiding behind this ring and what it symbolized, despite knowing that even if for some reason Angel came back and wanted to get back together things wouldn't be the same as when he'd given her this ring.
Neither of them were the same people they'd been on her sixteenth birthday.
The Angel from her sixteenth birthday…he wouldn't have walked out on her when she needed him the most.
Would he?
She knew that he might think that he was doing the best thing for her by leaving, but truly he was running away from what had happened-running from what his Soulless version had done. He been ashamed, unable to look her in the face, and so he'd ran. He'd left her even though she'd begged him to stay.
So why was she still wearing his ring?
Any sane, self-respecting girl who'd gone through what she had would have ditched the ring-would have thrown it at Angel's back as he left.
And yet all she'd done was change the finger it was on…as if that was some grand accomplishment on her part.
"Oh, I know that look," a female voice sighed. "You're thinking about a guy."
Chloe turned towards the voice, surprised to see a vaguely familiar woman pruning flowers in her house garden, on the other side of a fence.
"I just lost my husband," the woman continued softly. "I recognize the look in your eyes. Did yours die…or leave?"
Chloe wondered why this house and woman seemed vaguely familiar, not even sure where she was considering she'd been walking aimlessly for a while now. "He left."
"Mine left willingly too…but it was more permanent." She inhaled shakily, her eyes full of tears. "Would you like some tea?" The woman ran her hand over her head. "I think we both could do with a good chat with someone who can understand the pain."
Something about this whole thing seemed odd to Chloe, but she was in a daze, and really wanted to know why this woman and place looked familiar, so her curiosity won out as she accepted the offer and followed the woman into her house.
"What have you decided?" John asked, expectant.
"What?" Cordelia's eyes widened. "You don't expect me to make a decision right now?!"
"Of course I do." He grumbled. "I do not like wasting time."
"If you didn't then you wouldn't have taken so long telling everyone this." She pointed out, not about to be bullied by him. "So since you decided to wait twenty something years to finally tell someone, you can wait a couple of days for me to take it in and decide!"
The hunter let out an aggravated sigh, running his hand over his face, before turning his browns on her. "You mightn't have a couple of days."
Chloe looked up from the cup of tea she was enjoying when the backdoor opened and a young blonde man entered the house, agitated, stopping short when he saw her.
She gave him a little wave, awkward in the silence. "Hello."
"Who are you?" He narrowed his eyes in confusion. "The only people who've been coming over to mourn are people from St. Augustine's or family…and you're neither."
The blonde blinked, recognition entering her eyes at the mention of St. Augustines, finally figuring out why these people and this house seemed vaguely familiar to you. "I was walking by and your mother invited me in for tea."
He raised an eyebrow. "She invited you?"
"Yep." She nodded, clearing her throat. "Said we had the same look of loss in our eyes."
Max snorted as he shook his head. "Did she now?"
Chloe nodded, eyeing him in confusion. "I'm sorry, about your dad. I know you've been hearing a lot about that from people lately so it probably doesn't mean much, but I am sorry."
"Ever lost a parent?" He asked curiously, sending her a sideways look.
"Yes…" she hesitated, mind going to Moira, the woman who had not only resented her birth, but had tried killing her via meteor shower exposure when she'd been nothing but a kid. "But I didn't really mourn it."
His gaze turned to her in shock.
She just drank another sip of tea, the awkwardness returning.
"What's your name?" He asked, some of the wariness seeping out of him as he came towards the table and sat down on the seat his mother had just vacated moments earlier.
"Chloe." She smiled, reaching out her hand. "Chloe Sullivan."
"Max Miller." He placed his hand in hers.
The second their hands touched, Chloe dropped the cup, which fell to the ground and shattered. Thunder and lightning clashed outside as both took in ragged breaths, Chloe feeling something horribly similar to what she had when Andrew Webber had tapped in forcefully into her core. Except Max wasn't doing anything purposely, the shock and confusion in his darkening eyes as his powers called out to her source, desperate to join and merge, betrayed the fact that he was just as surprised as she was at what was happening.
Chloe fought desperately to keep everything sealed, to keep even an ounce of Hellmouth energy from seeping out of her pores, remembering all too well how Webber's body and been unable to handle it, disintegrating before her very eyes.
Finally she managed to yank her hand from Max, the lighting and thunder disappearing in the wind as both young adults coughed, leaning hard on the table.
"What…happened?" Max groaned, his words pained.
Chloe didn't answer, whimpering as her nails dug into the side of the table, agonizing, white searing pain seeming to want to rip through her chest at her fighting the connection.
"Just let go, darling," Alice's voice said from the doorway behind her. "It'll be less painful if you just let go. This is natural."
Chloe turned towards the woman and tried to speak but she doubled over in pain, biting down on her lips to try and minimize the cries.
"What's going on, Alice?" Max snapped, standing up. "Who the hell is she and what just happened?"
"Oh baby," Alice whispered, coming towards him and running her hand down the side of his face. "I told you that you were special, that you were meant to do great things. And I meant them." She stared into his eyes. "You had to endure years of abuse from your drunk dad and his asshole brother, so you could be strong enough. It made you ready."
He reached up and placed his hand on hers, leaning into her touch.
There was something very incestuous in their touches and gazes.
"We have to leave now." The woman whispered to Max. "The other will soon sense her distress, if he hasn't already. We need to be gone. You're not ready yet."
"I don't understand," Max whispered back, staring into her face. "You said that if I killed dad and Uncle Roger that we'd be safe, we'd be able to stay here, and be together finally."
She leaned forwards and kissed him deeply before pulling away. "We'll be together somewhere else. But you have to trust me, Max. We have to go now. I packed what needed. But we have to go now."
He stared into her eyes before nodding, outstretching his hand, a suitcase Chloe hadn't even realized was behind her rolling towards him.
Chloe's eyes widened.
Psychokinesis…
Max was psychokinetic!
It was how he'd killed his father…and apparently his uncle.
Alice turned to her. "Ever since I heard of your birth I have wanted to meet you."
Chloe tried to speak, but every time she opened her mouth the pain would increase.
"I really wish you would just stop fighting the connection with my step son," Alice commented softly. "But we'll just have to pick this up later." And then whispering a couple of words in latin, they disappeared.
Seconds later the sound of a car screeching to a stop outside could be heard, and then the door was kicked open, revealing Buffy, Sam and Dean.
She tried to ask for help but couldn't get the words out, finally letting go of the table to grab her head as the pain spiked like beat inside of her.
Suddenly warmth enclosed her, and she vaguely realized through the pain that Sam had draped himself over her in a hug, his body wrapping around hers from behind.
She felt his attempt to connect, and unlike with Max, she let him.
Immediately the pain diminished, each breath bringing with it cool relief until all that was left was a sense of fatigue.
Dean and Buffy searched the house.
Chloe reached up and clasped her hands over the ones Sam had around her, his presence like an anchor, helping her return from the painful fog that'd been her mind.
"Buffy said she saw Max connecting you to, like Webber had," Sam whispered in her ear. "You managed to keep the Hellmouth energy from escaping this time."
"He wasn't doing it on purpose." She tightened her grip on him. "He was just as surprised and confused as I was."
"Buffy says he killed his father and uncle."
"Did she see the part where he and his stepmother are definitely doing the naked tango?" Chloe coughed.
Sam froze. "Seriously?"
"I'm thinking she's a witch." Chloe took in a deep breath, her heart slowing down to a more acceptable pace. "And she's the one who told him to do it. To kill them." She closed her eyes. "She said she's been wanting to meet me since my birth…maybe she knew my mother. Mom was a witch too."
Sam's grip tightened on her protectively.
"They're definitely gone," Buffy grumbled as she returned, sitting down on the seat Max had vacated, worried gaze on Chloe. "Are you okay?"
Chloe nodded.
"Is it safe to be near her?" Dean asked. "No Hellmouth poisoning?"
"She's fine," Sam assured him. "She managed to contain it, and I neutralized it before it could emerge." He made a face. "Not too sure how I did that, but..."
Dean knelt down next to Chloe, placing his hand on her knee as he stared up into her face. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"
"I was invited in." And she felt so stupid now, lowering her head. "I didn't realize that this was the family Buffy had the vision of until I was inside."
"Didn't your parents ever teach you not to talk to strangers?" Dean wanted to know, annoyed, yet she could see the worry behind it. "That's Parenting 101."
"Sorry." She lowered her gaze, embarrassed.
"It's fine." Sam finally let go of her, standing, turning to lean against the table as he stared at the roof. "The hell is happening?"
"I don't know," Chloe confessed. "But that's twice now that someone has been able to hack my security codes. And this one wasn't even trying."
The three newcomers shared worried looks, while Chloe rested her head against the table, body aching.
"What happened?" Cordelia asked in shock, turning away from John as she listened into the phone as Dean explained what had happened during her absence. "What's it with these murdering freaks trying to mind rape her like this all the time?" She listened to his answer and snorted. "I know he must be." Turning her gaze towards where John eyed her curiously, Cordelia made a face. "I'm having a coffee right now. I'll finish it up and meet you back at Giles'." She smiled softly. "Love you too." Hanging up, Cordelia turned to John. "Give me a day or two."
"You mightn't have-."
"Give them to me anyway," she ordered.
Sighing, the hunter nodded. "Fine."
Her gaze slid out the window, expression blank. "Now take me back."
In her room in Sam's place, Chloe sat on the bed staring at her ring.
She knew that Giles, Buffy, Dean and Cordelia were all having a little session at Giles' to try and figure out what was going on collectively, and that she should be there as well considering it affected her, and yet the blonde wouldn't move from the bed.
Her mind went over everything that had happened since she'd moved to Sunnydale with her father.
Flashes raced in front of her eyes of The Harvest, of meeting Angel, of Fork Guy, Sam's Hyena possession, Darla's attack... the Master draining her dry and thus giving himself enough power to open the Hellmouth and start the apocalypse. They went to her first kiss with Angel, to their training sessions, to her leaving to go to Smallville and the few amount of vampires there. She saw flashes of saving Lana's life, of Clark and her coming clean to each other, and then to returning to Sunnydale in time to stop the Master from being resurrected. Flashes followed of Spike and Dru were next, along with her secret magic sessions together with Sam, and then those with Jenny. And then the attack on the school where her father found out…was followed by her birthday and the ring.
The ring she couldn't stop looking away from.
Chloe remembered Angelus…and Sam in chains watching as the vampire took her over and over.
The blonde could still taste her initial mortification, knowing that Sam was seeing her like that…mortification which later turned to arousal and surprised her with the realization that she had a voyeour kink.
Living that life had twisted her.
She'd wanted to make sure it didn't twist Sam…had set him free…and shared her first kiss with him.
Chloe's hand went to her lips.
Flashes followed of her life in Europe with the vampires…with Kal and Lucy once they'd showed up on the scene…
…and then Angelus got his soul back and the scene changed.
It changed to Angel walking out despite her pleas and begs and threats.
He'd walked out on her when she'd needed him the most despite that she'd stayed with him in hell because she knew he needed her.
Chloe closed her eyes and lowered her head as silent tears trickled down her cheeks.
How much had happened since he left?
She'd needed Angel so many times…and yet he'd never been there for her.
Sam had.
If it hadn't been for Sam…
…Chloe opened her eyes, the last memory flashing in front of her.
It was of last night, in this very room.
Gulping, Chloe's gaze returned to her ring as she slowly slid it off of her finger.
Standing the blonde went to the window and opened it, staring out at the night around her.
Her gaze went to her finger, to the lighter patch of skin that betrayed how long she'd been wearing the ring, before her gaze went to the ring clutched in her other hand.
Taking in a deep breath, Chloe tossed the ring outside of the window as hard as she could before turing and closing the window back up, yanking the curtains closed so she wouldn't even see where it fell.
Going back to the bed, Chloe collapsed on it and stared ahead of her in silence.
"She's still in the room." Sam spoke into the phone, staring at Chloe's door as he spoke to a concerned Buffy. "Maybe you should come over and spend the night. I think she needs someone with her right now."
"As soon as Cordelia gets back I'll leave to come." Buffy agreed. "How are you holding up?"
"Me?" Sam chuckled darkly.
"Yes, you." The Slayer sighed. "You're the one who helped calm her, who stopped whatever was happening."
"I really didn't do much except connect with her." Sam replied. "They rest was accomplished on its own naturally."
"Instinctively." Buffy whispered the word before clearing her throat. "What's going on, Sam?"
"I have no idea." He sighed.
"I'm having visions of people who can connect with Chloe against her will, and you're sensing when those situations happen." The Slayer cleared her throat. "Hellhounds are running the earth, Chloe's having nightmares she can't remember, and Giles got a call from the Watcher in Sunnydale earlier who told him Azazel was there preparing for something he said was going to happen very soon."
Sam sat up straighter at the last bit of news. "What?"
"Sometimes going down, Sam. And I have a bad feeling Chloe's smack-dab in the middle of it."
"Whatever it is, we'll get through, like we always have," Sam responded, refusing to believe otherwise.
The door to the room opened and Chloe slipped out, pulling on the strap of her messenger bag. "Sorry for the wait, I needed to freshen up before we head out to Giles'. We should get coffee on the way, I'm sure everyone's going to need it."
"Are you sure?" Sam asked, surprised, having expected she'd want to stay in.
"Yeah, I'm sure they'll need it." Chloe flashed him a smile before clapping. "Come on, let's get going!"
"You hear that?" Sam asked Buffy.
"Yeah." Buffy answered. "Don't forget my Cuppa Joe." And with that she hung up.
Chloe walked passed him, putting her hair up in a pony tail as she headed towards the door. "Let's go handsome. We have some apocalyptic crap we need to figure out."
"Okay." Sam nodded, smiling as he got up and grabbed his keys before reaching for where his jacket was. "Buffy warned me about going there without coffee."
"I know my Slayer." Chloe grinned brightly, reaching for the door and opening it. "We should also get some snacks for the All-Nighter this will no doubt turn into." Her greens turned to him. "My treat."
"You're…chipper…tonight." Sam blinked, surprised yet pleased as he joined her at the door, locking it behind him.
Standing under the front porch light made Chloe's hair almost seem to glow as she grinned up at him as she slipped a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear. "I realize I have a lot to be grateful for."
Sam didn't hear, staring down at her hand…her ringless hand.
"Sam?" Chloe asked in confusion. "Is something wrong?"
Sam's gaze widened slightly as he raised his orbs to meet hers. "No. Nothing's wrong."
"You sure about that?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "You look shocked."
"I, uh, your ring." He cleared his throat, slipping on his leather jacket to give him something to do. "You're not wearing it any more."
"Oh." Chloe's gaze went to her hand before she nodded and returned her gaze to him. "It was time to let go."
Sam could feel his heart racing at the possibilities those six little words afforded him.
He needed to end the damned curse.
Immediately.
Sensing movement, Sam's gaze rose over Chloe's head easily given their height difference and he froze, seeing a horribly familiar figure standing down the street under a light post, watching them.
His horror must have shown on his face before Chloe turned around. "What is-?"
Sam tore his gaze from that shadowed figure to look down at Chloe in time to see her turn pale as her eyes widened.
"Angel?"
TBC