Disclaimer – Don't own anything you might recognize. They all belong to their respective owners.
Tomorrow
Buffy yawned and stretched as the movie she and Andrew had been watching came to an end. "That was fun," she said. "Although the fight scenes – totally unbelievable."
"You know, that's why I hate watching action movies with you and Faith," Andrew commented. "It's just yap, yap yap. Right the way through. I could do this better, if that was me I'd blah blitty blah blah blah."
"Says the guy who guy who can't watch Dirty Dancing without speaking the lines along side the characters all the way through."
Andrew sighed contentedly. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner."
"Whatever. I'm gonna go patrol. This new rise of baddies has me a little antsy."
"Okay. I'll be here making cookies for the watchers in training meeting tomorrow, so no stealing when you get home."
She stuck her bottom lip out as she slid into her coat. "None?"
"Nuh uh."
"But...cookies!"
He heaved a great sigh. "Fine. I'll make you a special Buffy cookie. But no touching the others."
"You're the best," she replied, flashing him a grin as she headed out of the door.
The graveyard was silent. Suspiciously so. The bright moon shone down upon the slightly damp grass, untainted by the shadows of clouds. It seemed too peaceful, especially when there was such a sense of restlessness in the air.
The quietness that had fallen was in stark contrast to what it had been like only minutes previously.
Buffy had done two sweeps through town, and not a single vampire had shown its ugly head. The reason had become apparent when as soon as she had entered the graveyard closest to town she had been set up on by a dozen of the snarling blood suckers.
But they had been weak, all of them fledglings, and it had taken her less than fifteen minutes to take them all out.
And now the silence. And her slayer senses were telling her that something was definitely up.
It had been a diversion.
Someone – or something – wanted to keep her busy. Keep her away. Now she just had to find out why.
Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply through her nose, holding it a moment before releasing it through her mouth. She focused, just like the way Giles had taught her to all those years ago back in Sunnydale.
And there it was. The tinglies.
Making a quick swivel to the right, she began to sprint across the graveyard, making no noise at all as she dodged between the gravestones. Cold air whipped at her cheeks but it didn't deter her as those nifty slayer senses of hers became stronger and stronger.
Finally she reached a halt, sheltering herself behind a large tree as she scoped her surroundings, looking for whatever troublesome beasty might be up to no good.
"Hello, ugly," she muttered under her breath, spying a lone vampire about twenty feet from her hiding place. He was whistling a surprisingly jaunty tune as he as he used a large shovel to dig dirt out of a grave. "Ugh. A grave robbing bad guy. That is so cliché."
Sighing with disappointment that this seemed like it was going to be her big excitement for the night, she stepped out from the shadows, stake in hand, and strolled casually towards the vampire. "So, you sent the diversion?" she questioned, her voice dripping with disdain.
"Slayer!" The vampire stopped digging and hissed, spotting the stake in her hand.
"Ya know," she said, quirking an eyebrow. "that doesn't get any more original each time you guys say that. I'm the slayer. I know. Kinda got that memo already."
"You dare to mock me?" he demanded.
She rolled her eyes. "So what, you're some kind of upper level vamp? Got a few minions running after you, who are all dust in the wind, by the way. Gotta tell ya, buddy...not impressed. Met me a few master vamps in my day. Now them, they were scary. Well, some of the time, anyway," she added as an afterthought. "Other times they just liked to brood. Or have sex. Which we are totally not doing, just so you know."
"I'm going to enjoy killing you," he growled. "I'm going to rip out your intestines and decorate my halls with them. And then I'll-"
"Okay, in the words of my good friend Willow's evil vampire twin...bored now."
Before the vampire had a chance to react, she'd leaped forward and punched him in the jaw. Spinning around, she kicked him in the chest, causing him to fly a few feet in the air and hit the ground with a loud thump. A second later she was on top of him, a hand at his throat, pinning him to the ground.
"Tell me why you're digging up that grave," she demanded in a sweet voice.
"Why would I tell you anything?"
"Cause if you don't I'm gonna kill you."
"You're gonna kill me anyway."
"Uh...well, yeah. But you could tell me for funzies?"
"Go to Hell."
"Well that's just rude." She pouted and punched him in the face.
"If I tell you, his punishment for me will be far worse than what you could ever inflict."
"Who?"
"I'd die before I told a dirty slayer like you."
She shrugged. "Okay." And a second later, the stake in her hand was embedded in his heart.
Standing up, she brushed the dust of her red leather pants and looked over at the half dug open grave.
"Aw, jeez."
And with a sigh, she picked up the shovel and began to hurl the dirt back in.
"Hey, Giles," she said into her cell a good ten minutes later, after she had successfully refilled the grave. She now sat resting against the gravestone, a thin layer of sweat covering her body from the exertion.
"Hello, Buffy," he replied, sounding wide awake.
Buffy looked at her watch. "Giles, it's twelve fifteen am, why are you still up?"
"I've been looking over the texts with Willow. She's just left."
"Oh right, find anything yet?"
"Not yet, but we'll get there. It's early days. Have you just got back from patrol."
"Still there. I'm about to head home but I wanted to call you first."
"Why? Was there something of interest?"
"Yeah. I mean, the town was a bust, but as soon as I hit Abraham Graveyard I was attacked by a whole bunch of vamps. Eleven or twelve, I'd say."
"Oh my. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, it was a piece of cake. But that's not the whole of it. The vamps came after me as some kind of diversion, Giles. They were tryna distract me."
"Is that so? What from?"
"Get this...it was just some higher level vampire digging up someones' grave. Guess he didn't think about the menial labor before he sent all his lackey's after me."
"Digging up someones' grave, you say?" he asked, his interest piqued.
"Uh huh."
"Did you find out why?"
"Nope. He wouldn't talk. Said someone worse than me would kill him if he did."
"I see. Well did you find out who this other person – or thing – was?"
"Uh, no to that one as well. I did try, but then he got all with the insults and I got a little pissed and slightly stake happy."
Giles heaved an impatient sigh. "Buffy, we've been over this, time and time again. You need to learn to show a little patience in delicate matters such as these."
"Delicate?! The guy was an evil blood sucking fiend! I was just doing my job. Jeez."
"There's no need to get angry, Buffy. I was merely pointing out that there are other measures we could have taken to obtain the information from him. Less violent methods."
"Like what?"
There was a pause, and she could hear him clearing his throat in embarrassment. "Okay, maybe not in thissituation."
"Ha. Who feels like a dummy now?"
"Do behave, Buffy. Can you tell me the name on the gravestone of the grave he was trying to dig up."
She craned her neck around to the hard rock that she was leaning against, squinting to make out the worn description in the moonlight. "Uh...Louisa Brown. Loving mother, devoted wife. Will be missed by all. Born 1889, died 1920. Oh, that's so sad, she was only thirty one when she died. And by the way, next time I die I want something funny on my head stone. A knock knock joke, or a dirty limerick."
"The name doesn't ring a bell. I can't recall any reason as to why demons would be digging up her grave. If Willow hadn't of left already I could have asked her to look it up."
"Okay, Giles, seriously. You're the head of the freakin watchers council. Learn how to use a computer already."
"I'll have her or one of the other technologically minded students get on it first thing in the morning," he said, pretending not to have heard her. "For now I want you to dig up the grave and see if you can find whatever it was he was looking for."
Buffy bolted up from where she had been slouching. "But Giles!" she whined. "I just filled the damn thing back in. Are you serious?"
"As a heart attack. Buffy, this could be very important."
She huffed and stuck out her lower lip, even though there wasn't anyone around to see it. "Fine," she grumbled, reaching over to where she had discarded the shovel not minutes before. "But tomorrow I want a shiny gold star to stick on my sweater, and a stamp that says 'Good little trouper."
"Hi, Louisa," Buffy said some time later, a grimace forming as she opened up the casket. "Holy crap. I hope I didn't smell that bad when I was dead. Uh, no offense." She lifted her cell up to her ear where Giles was waiting. "So, what should I look for exactly."
"I'm not entirely sure. Anything unusual. Root around."
"Okay, ew. You want me to root around a dead lady's corpse? Giles, that's low, even for you."
"I don't know, find a stick or something."
"You never heard that old saying, 'Respect the dead.', did you?"
Hearing his impatient tut, she rolled her eyes and hoisted herself out of the grave, lowering herself back in again within the minute, this time with a stick in hand.
"This feels so wrong," she muttered. "Ooh! Pretty!"
"What's pretty?"
"Her necklace. It's shiny."
"We haven't the time to be admiring shiny objects adorning a dead woman's neck. We're looking for something-"
"It's not adorning her neck."
"What?"
"It's clasped in her hands. I can just see it poking through. Hold on, let me get a better look...Oh God!"
"What? Buffy what is it? Are you hurt?" he questioned urgently.
"I accidentally just poked my stick through her hand! Oh God, I'm so going to Hell!"
"Do you have it?"
"What? No."
"Take it."
"You want me to take the dead woman necklace?"
"We have no time to dilly dally around worrying about morals. Is the necklace the only thing of interest in the grave?"
"I think so."
"Then take it."
Harrumphing, she bent down to try and extract the necklace without touching any part of old Louisa. "Bleck! Remind me to never stop showering. Ever!" she said, wincing as her hand brushed the dried flesh of the woman's hand. "Okay, got it. Ooh, it's even prettier up close. More of a pendant than an necklace though."
"What kind of gemstone is it?"
"Not sure. It's kind of bumpy and a silvery white color with bits of purple in it. You know, I have the perfect dress to go with this."
"Hmm, I'll have to take a look at it before I can know more. Bring it by first thing tomorrow?"
"Sure. Is that everything for tonight?"
"Yes, I believe it is. Once you've refilled the grave you can probably head back home and get some sleep."
"Yay. Oh, did Rona get anything out of the mini slayers?"
"Not really. She asked, but although they've noticed a significant rise in demonic activity of late, nothing else out of the ordinary has occurred that they know of."
"Okay. Well, I'm gonna go. Got a hot date with a shovel. And get some sleep, Giles. Don't stay up all night reading."
And ignoring the mutterings about how he was the watcher and the supposed advice giver, she hung up.
It was only as she arrived home that Buffy realized that she'd forgotten to call Faith before she left for patrol. She looked at her watch. One thirty am. Damn it, she'd have to call tomorrow.
Silently, so as not to wake Andrew, she made her way down the hallway towards the bathroom and flicked the light on. After turning on the hot water to fill up the bath, she slipped off her jacket and went to stand in front of the mirror. Gripping the sides of the sink, she couldn't help the sad look that appeared.
Her t-shirt was torn in two places, and so wrinkled that no iron of the earth would be able to get those babies out, even if the shirt hadn't of already been destroyed. Her face and arms were covered in mud and dust, and blades of grass were mingling with the mud that caked her hair. Across her forehead was an already healing gash. She didn't even remember getting it, though it must have been some time in the vamp attack. Blood that was now dry had trickled down the side of her face.
She wasn't exactly the stuff dreams were made out of.
This was exactly why she didn't do dating anymore. What kind of a man wanted a woman like this?
It might not have felt so bad if she wasn't so...lonely. Faith was wherever she was. Dawn was at university in England under the watchful eyes of Robin and Gunn and two of the most advanced slayerettes. And Xander and Willow...things just hadn't been the same with them for a long time. She had Giles and Andrew, she knew, but somehow it just wasn't the same.
Shaking her head to get rid of the little self pitying moment she had come across, she began to strip down for the almost ready bath.
She groaned in pleasure as her body slid down into the steaming water, her skin tingling deliciously – and for once in a none slayer way – as her skin adjusted to the heat. Sliding forward a little more, she submerged her head in the water for a second so that her hair was completely wet.
She was so tired, and her body was aching from all the digging, though the bath was soothing those aches in the nicest way.
Through hooded eyes, she watched the flickering flame of one of the candles she had lit, hypnotized by its shining glow...
Buffy watched in fascination as the tips of Amanda's fingers drummed impatiently on top of the desk opposite her.
"You died," she said finally, sadness tinting her voice as she looked up into the dead slayers eyes.
Amanda nodded. "And this place fell into the giant crater. But here we are."
"Here we are." Buffy sighed, looking around her office in the Sunnydale High School. "You were one of my first students you know. One of the first ones I gave advice to."
"I remember. I was having boy troubles. Seems kinda trivial now, huh."
There was another moment of silence before Amanda stopped drumming her fingers and pointed towards a compact mirror that sat on the table in front of Buffy. Neither girl mentioned that it hadn't been there moments before. "You should take a look at that," Amanda suggested.
"I don't want to."
"What are you afraid of? The future?"
Buffy sighed and picked up the mirror. "I'm not afraid. Slayers aren't supposed to be afraid."
"Everyone is afraid sometimes."
Buffy sighed again, louder this time, and flicked open the compact. Immediately she could hear the sound of a roaring fire, and the sound of someone screaming in pain. She looked into the mirror and blinked. The green and the white of the eyes disappeared, a cold black taking their place. She snapped the mirror shut and threw it on the table, the sounds of fire and screaming disappearing straight away.
Amanda shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to see that."
"What was it?"
"I think you know."
"Was it me?"
"You're in the wrong place. Don't worry though, she'll be here in a moment to point you in the right direction. I'm not sure how you ended up here."
"You're avoiding my question," Buffy pointed out, her tone dry.
"Was it you? Maybe. But I think he'll save you."
"Who will."
Amanda looked up, staring at something behind Buffy's back and smiling. "She's here."
Buffy looked around and her eyes widened.
"Hi, sweetie." Her mom smiled and held out her hand.
"Mommy?" she whispered, tears springing to her eyes.
"I've come to take you to where you're supposed to be. Take my hand."
"I never expected to see you here," Buffy said with a sniff, reaching out and slipping her hand into her mothers, allowing herself to be pulled up out of her chair.
She looked back at where she had been sitting, frowning as she recognized her old couch from her home in Sunnydale. "I never liked that settee," she stated. "Too many springs." Apart from that, she didn't give any indication that she had noticed the change in setting as her mother led her through their old house and to the front door.
"You have to go out there," Joyce said sadly, cupping her daughters cheek with her hand.
"There's gonna be bad stuff out there, right?"
"I'm sorry. I wish I didn't have to. All I ever wanted to do was protect you."
"I know."
Joyce removed her hand and moved towards the door knob, twisting it and pulling open the door. They both stood for a moment and gazed into the bright whiteness.
"It'll be quicker from now on," Joyce warned, squeezing her daughters arm.
"I love you, mommy," Buffy said, before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the door into the light.
The pace had indeed quickened. Buffy span in a circle in a dark cave, the pure white face of an almost human like demon cackling through his set of gruesome looking teeth as an unknown entity chanted in the dark shadows. She strained to make out what the voice was saying, but she couldn't understand the words.
The scene shifted to a dark forest. Buffy was being pinned to a tree by the white faced demon, and a similar looking nasty had Faith pinned by her throat to another tree near Buffy.
"No!" Faith screamed, her eyes widening as she saw the knife that was seconds away from being stabbed through Buffy's gut.
And then she was back in the cave, blood running from a gash in her arm. She wondered how it had gotten there, and why she was allowing white faced demon to collect it in a glass tube.
Back in the forest, she and Faith were fighting back to back against two dozen vampires.
"There's too many!" Faith shouted. "We need help!"
The vampires vanished and a man stepped out. And ordinary looking man. However, Buffy could smell the evil on him. Taste it.
"They were ruining the party." He grinned and indicated towards where the now missing vamps had been stood. He was dangling something shiny from his finger, teasingly. The pendant.
Buffy blinked, and then she was walking through the training room in the slayer school. She could hear a quiet sniffling coming from a dark corner of the room, and made her way over towards the noise.
"Maggie?" she queried softly, recognizing the raven locks of one of the first slayers they had taken on.
Maggie's head darted up, but instead of the tear stained face Buffy had been expecting, she was laughing. Cackling.
"Just because you think it's over..." she started. "...doesn't mean you've won."
"Tell me what you mean," Buffy demanded.
"He'd go to the end of the world to save you. He'd die. He'd sacrifice it all." The younger slayer stood up and slowly walked towards Buffy, reaching up on her tip toes to whisper in Buffy's ear. "But death is his gift."
Buffy frowned. "Don't you mean death is my gift?"
Maggie tutted three times, shaking her head slowly. "Death is his gift."
"Okay, cryptic much?"
Maggie sighed. "I know. It's a curse. Going in circles and speaking in riddles, when all I really wanna do is hurt you." She pouted. "But they'd punish me if I did that."
"Who would."
"Oh, him and her. Her and him. I like him, but she's nothing. I hate her. Older than me, but younger than you, though age has nothing to do with it. But him, he's gonna rule this world. And there'll be nothing no one can do to stop it, especially with his chosen two by his side."
"What chosen two?"
"I'm bored with you now. Leave me," Maggie snapped, clicking her fingers impatiently.
And with a gasp, Buffy woke up and shot up into a sitting position, a hand resting over her beating heart as she ignored the sloshing water that leaked over the sides of the bath tub and onto the floor.
She shivered as she stepped out of the now cold bath, wondering how long she'd been sleeping for. The candles had gone out, and the only light came in the form of the glow of the moon as it shined through the window.
Reaching for the large, fluffy towel she had thankfully left warming up on the radiator, she flicked on the bathroom light and fished out her cell phone from her jacket pocket before moving through to her bedroom to sit on her bed.
With a cringe as she saw the time, she hit speed dial number 1 and put the phone to her ear.
"Yo, B! What took you so long?" a wide awake sounding Faith answered.
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, surprised. "And hey, by the way."
"I mean I've been staring at my phone for the past five minutes, waiting for it to ring."
"I was in the bath. And how did you know I was gonna ring?"
"Got me one of those freaky ass slayer dreams, figured you'd of had one too. Am I right?"
"Yeah." Buffy sighed, rubbing her temples as she tried to figure out what the hell the dream had meant.
"Man, my head is spinning! Hey, did we have the same dream?"
"Freaky demons with real white faces and teeth that would make a vamp green with envy?"
"You too, huh. Guess we've found our new big bad. And why were you asleep in the bath?"
Before Buffy could reply, she heard a muffled male voice say something to Faith on the other end of the phone.
"Do you mind not getting excited at the thought of my friend in the bath, please?" Buffy heard Faith say to the voice, and after a pause, "Yes, she is the one in the picture...So? Doesn't mean you can start getting dirty thoughts, unless they involve me...Whatever, go wake your brother, jackass...I know what time it is, go wake him...Cleveland...Yes, because of the dream...Cause it's important...I swear to God I'm about to beat your ass...Thank you!"
"Who was that?" Buffy asked, smiling.
"A guy I met last week. He's good with demon fighting and all that crap. I'll bring him along, he might come in handy."
"Cool. More help the better. And what picture."
Buffy heard the sound of Faith clearing her throat embarrassedly down the phone. "Uh...just a picture that I keep in my wallet."
"Of?"
"Ack! Me and you and Dawnie and Andrew from last Christmas, alright?"
"Aw, that's sweet."
"Ugh, we're not gonna have one of those emotional girly moments, are we?"
"Nah. Not unless I tell Andrew."
"If you do I'll totally kick your ass."
"You could try. So you're heading back?" Buffy asked, relief sounding heavily in her voice.
"Yeah, as soon as the mighty jackass wakes his brother up. Hey! You might like him, he's kinda broody."
"Who is?"
"The brother."
"Oh. Nah. I'm totally over that phase. From now on, the only guys who go near Buffy are happy guys...and alive ones. And anyway, I'm giving up on the whole dating scene."
"Who said anything about dating? Maybe all you need is a quick rough and tumble?"
"And with that disturbing note, I'm gonna go. I fell asleep before I could wash my hair. When do you think you could get here?"
"If we drive straight through we could get home tomorrow evening."
"Good. I missed you."
"Yeah, me too, B. The geek as well."
"You'll make him cry again if you keep calling him that."
"He loves it. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow."
"Wait, B?"
"What's up?"
"What about that Maggie chick?"
Buffy's stomach dropped as she remembered. Maggie was one of the best slayers they had. They'd found her within weeks of the destruction of Sunnydale, and she'd quickly risen right to the top of the ranks. Was she evil? Or was it just a trick of the dream?
"There's nothing we can do about it right now. She got sent on a mission last week tracking a Tahwtar demon. She'll be way up in the mountains by now. I'll have Willow see if she can do a tracking spell on her tomorrow. If not, I guess we just wait until she gets back."
"Man, that girl was awesome, too. I sure as hell hope she's not evil."
"Me too."
And with that, they said their goodbyes. Buffy promised to wait until Faith arrived before telling Giles about the dream, though she knew he'd be pissed she hadn't told him sooner.
With a sigh, she pulled herself off the bed and headed back towards the bathroom.
