Verbena, March 2520
Lacey scanned the docks warily. The last of their allies were coming in today, and so far the arrivals had gone smoothly, but 500 years of experience had taught the Slayer to never let her guard down. She relaxed marginally when Mal raised a hand in greeting to their last pick-up. Then she tensed when she saw the man's face.
"Zhēntāmā de méizhé." Lacey didn't realize she'd uttered the curse aloud until Mal looked down at her curiously.
"Shénme?" he asked, tensing, ready for trouble.
Lacey shook her head and whispered harshly, "Gorram it, Mal! You didn't tell me General Cole was one of your contacts!"
"Didn't know you were acquinted." Mal hissed back.
Lacey nodded tersely.
"We gonna have a problem?" Mal asked, a little anxiety creeping into his voice before admitting, "I trust the man with my life… hell, I'd trust him with my boat."
Lacey took a deep breath and shook her head, "I trust him just fine."
"Then what's the problem?"
Lacey shook her head as she pursed her lips tightly and ducked her head. Cole was two yards from them, time was up. Cole reached out and grasped Mal's arm tightly in a soldier's greeting. He turned to Lacey to do the same and had her arm in his grasp when he finally looked at her face as it rose to meet his. His grip on her arm tightened, his massive hand nearly completely circled her forearm, even as his tan face paled and his jaw dropped open.
Lacey looked up, he still towered over her, to meet his ice blue eyes and smiled tentatively, taking in the silver streaking his chocolate colored hair, pulled into a small pony tail at the nape of his neck. He was staring at her as if he'd seen a ghost.
Lacey spoke quietly, squeezing his arm gently, "Lǎo péngyǒu, nǐ kànqǐlái hěn yǒu jīngshén."
Her voice seemed to snap him out of his shock, he shook his head to clear it and looked at her in bewilderment, "Wǒ de mā… you haven't aged a day."
"And you've aged very well." Lacey stood on tiptoe to place a quick, chaste kiss on his lips before releasing his forearm and linking her own through his elbow and tugging him toward the mule, "I'll explain later, right now… well, you know docks make me paranoid."
Cole laughed and let himself be pulled along, a confused and annoyed Mal trailing behind them.
Pulling the mule into the ranch, Legacy smiled when she saw Xander with her back to her, running through drills with the minis. She grinned as she leaped to the ground… the opportunity was just too good. Besides, she hadn't seen him since early that morning. And he was currently shirtless… the picture was just too attractive.
Lacey took off at a dead run, pulling back only when she was right behind Xander, and tucked to tackle him around the waist. Within second he'd rolled to straddle her, stake in hand as he loomed over her.
Lacey crossed her arms behind her head and grinned up at him, "Good to see you haven't lost your reflexes, old man."
Xander groaned and rolled off her to lay beside her in the grass, "You're crazy, Ace."
She propped herself up on an elbow and winked down at him, "All part of the charm."
Cole chuckled as he leaned over Lacey and the young man in the eye patch she'd just tackled.
"That how you greet everyone in these parts?" Cole asked, eyes sparkling as he offered Lacey a hand up.
Lacey took it, grinning as he pulled her to her feet, "Nope. Just the special ones."
She turned and pulled the man up before stepping back into his arms and settling herself against his chest. Cole looked the man over critically. At first glance, he just looked like a goofy kid, but taking more than a five second look revealed the warrior in him. He was fit, well-muscled. And his collection of scars rivaled Cole's own; the three extending from his chest up to the bottom of his neck looked fairly recent, even. And there was steel in the warm brown eye that sized Cole up even as he was being sized up. Cole really wanted to ask how he'd lost the eye, but wasn't sure the curiosity would be well-received. He'd ask Lacey later.
Lacey gestured to Cole, "Xander, this is General John Cole, we fought together in the Unification War."
Xander extended one hand, while leaving the other twined around Lacey, "Xander Harris."
Cole shook Xander's hand before raising a questioning eyebrow at Lacey.
Lacey shrugged, "For lack of a better term, he's my husband."
Xander chuckled against her back even as he tightened his arms affectionately around her.
Cole's gaze shifted back to Xander, "You're a very lucky man, Mr. Harris." he said with sincerity.
"And don't I know it." the young man answered, a bit of suspicion creeping into his tone.
Lacey, always observant and even more often straight to the point, answered the unspoken questions, "Yes, I slept with him. Yes, we had a relationship."
Cole was surprised when the young man relaxed instead of tensing further.
"Why'd you end it?" Xander sounded curious, with none of the hostility Cole expected, but then again, he also had the look of a man who was confident he had nothing to worry about. Watching Lacey, Cole knew he was right.
Lacey bit her lip nervously.
Cole answered, "It was during the war. We were pinned down. We'd been trapped in a cave for days. Then one night, the gunfire just stopped. Eventually, we chanced a look out and the Alliance troops had backed off. They weren't anywhere in sight. Then a dozen and a half men were just… there. A hundred yards from the cave entrance. Next thing I know, a hand is grabbing the back of my shirt and throwing me back into the cave. I look up, and there's Lacey, sprinting out of the cave faster than I've ever seen anyone move. Before I could even yell, much less go after her, there was a massive boulder in front of the entrance. We could hear fighting outside. Then it was just eerily quiet. By the time we finally got the boulder out of the way, the valley was clear. None of the men Lacey had run to, no Alliance, no Lacey. There was nothing but ash and smoke. I thought she'd been killed."
Lacey cringed back into Xander and her voice came out as a whisper, "Duìbùqǐ."
Cole looked at her a bit despairingly, "What happened?"
Lacey took a deep breath, "Those men that came that night… they were vampires. I couldn't let them get to you. I never did figure out if the Alliance let them loose on us or if they took out the Alliance troops before coming for us, I didn't take the time to find out, I just made sure the way was clear for you to get out. Either way, though, they didn't count on me."
Cole blanched, "There were 20 of them!"
Lacey smiled fiercely, "I know. It was hardly even a fair fight."
Cole shook his head. Then the rest of her story sunk in, "Did you say vampires?"
Lacey eyed the group gathered in her living room. People seemed to be covering every surface. Xander leaned against the fireplace behind her. Giles occupied one wingback chair by the fire, Dawn and Andrew leaning over the back. Spike occupied the other, Buffy in his lap, Faith leaning against the back and Robin leaning against Faith. Oz was sunk into the corner of one couch, idly playing with Willow's hair as she sat at his feet.
Lacey smiled at the werewolf and he tried wearily to return it. He'd only woken up two days ago.
"Willow?" Oz's voice rasped, as if questioning what he was seeing.
Willow's head snapped up and a smile lit her face seeing him awake.
Oz started shaking his head, "No… no. It's not gonna work this time. Stop screwing with my head. It's not gonna work!"
Lacey stepped away from the wall as Oz started trying to struggle out of the bed, his normally calm voice rising alarmingly. She pushed him back down as Willow looked up at her with tears in her eyes. Lacey held Oz down as he struggled, waiting for him to calm. He exhausted and collapsed back, panting, quickly.
Willow reached up and caressed his face, trying to comfort him, but he flinched back from her touch. Willow's tears began to fall as she looked to Lacey helplessly.
River drifted out of the shadows and Oz's eyes locked on the girl. Shock was the only word to describe the look on his face.
River smiled tenderly, "Zhè shì jiā. Two by two, hands of blue… they have no power here. Jiějie will protect us. They cannot hurt you. No more drops in the brainpan. What you see is your own."
Oz's voice was rough, "You. You escaped. It… it was how I knew it was possible. It was how I knew I could. I really made it?"
River smiled mysteriously before flitting out of the room. Lacey cautiously released Oz's shoulders before standing back. He looked to her briefly before turning to Willow.
He reached up to pull her hand back to his face, "They… I don't know how they did it, but they gave me these visions… hallucinations, trying to force me to lose my temper, force me to change. It was almost always you. You were there and then you were ripped away. Or you were hurt or trapped…" he trailed off.
Willow shook her head, "This is real. You're home."
Oz glanced back to Lacey. She nodded, "Huānyíng huílái."
His gaze turned to Willow again, and he reluctantly set her hand aside. She brought it right back to his face. He looked at her questioningly.
Will's smile was a bit wobbly as she quickly glanced to Lacey, who smiled encouragingly.
Willow took Oz's hand in her free one, "Do you remember when you left me, and I asked you if you loved me?"
Oz looked ashamed, but nodded.
"You told me you'd never loved anything else."
"You remember that?"
Will's smile grew, "Of course. Because I still feel that way about you. Nǐ shì wǒ de yībùfèn."
Lacey slipped out, determining to give the couple some privacy and share the good news that he was awake. And the news that her theory was right. He'd escaped from the Academy.
Kaylee and Simon were curled together on the end of the couch, and Jayne has somehow ended up in the middle. He hadn't even grumbled when River, who was wearing his ridiculous orange hat, perched on the back of the couch and flung her legs over his shoulders. In fact, he was absentmindedly rubbing her bare feet as she grinned down at his head. Lacey held back a laugh when the girl looked up and winked at her. Mal and Zoe were stationed at the door, Inara hovering near Mal's elbow. Book was perched on the edge of a coffee table. Cole was leaning against the wall next to a window, clustered by an admiring group of minis – Lacey really couldn't blame the, the man was as gorgeous as ever. More minis were scattered throughout the room, perched on chair and couch arms, cross legged on the floor, or balancing on the edge of coffee and side tables. Browncoats were everywhere. Mal and Zoe's cautious inquiries had turned up a lot more support than anyone had expected. A handful of the Browncoats were there at the direct request of the Slayers.
It wasn't much of an Army, but they'd worked with less. Lacey took a deep breath, ready to plunge in when River giggled.
"What're ya laughin' at, Moonbrain?" Jayne craned his head back toward her.
Before she could answer, the front door slammed open and half a dozen people poured in. Four of them were men roughly Jayne's size and two were tall, slim women. All were armed to the teeth and all had the same grey-blue eyes. Lacey immediately knew why River was laughing – these people couldn't possibly not be related to Jayne.
The older of the two women, gray streaks twining into her mostly brown braid, stepped forward, "We late for the party?"
River answered, "You are precisely on time, Mother Cobb."
"Wǒ de mā, there's more of them?!" Simon choked out.
Jayne growled, "Watch it, doc."
River kicked him, "Don't be a boob, Simon."
Jayne made a move to get up but his ma waved him off, "Boy, don't you dare. That girl looks right comfy." River giggled when the older woman winked at her over Jayne's grumbling.
"Didn't know iffen ya were gonna make it." Jayne told her.
His mother shrugged, "Didn't sound like there'd be time for a letter to get here before us and didn't see no sense on wastin' coin on a wave since we was comin' either way."
Jayne nodded, accepting her explanation.
She turned toward the front of the room, clearly sensing Lacey was in charge, she held out a hand and Lacey moved forward to reach for it, "Radiant Cobb."
"Legacy. You can call me Lacey."
Radiant nodded before gesturing to each of her children, "Cassidy, Avery, Sydney, and Delaney are my boys. And my girl there is Mattie."
"Pleasure to meet you all. We're glad to have the help. Find a spot where you can. And River is right, ya'll are precisely on time. I only want to explain this once."
The Cobb's settled themselves as Lacey returned to the front of the room.
She grinned slightly as she started speaking, "We're quite the motley crew, aren't we?" nervous chuckles briefly filled the room, "Can't tell you all what it means that you're here, but I'm lettin' you know right off the bat that no one will think any less of you if you leave after you hear what I have to say. We're forming an Alliance of our own. We aim to bring the Alliance another war. And we aim to win this one."
Translations:
Zhēntāmā de méizhé – no f***ing way
Shénme – what
Gorram – damn
Lǎo péngyǒu, nǐ kànqǐlái hěn yǒu jīngshén – dear/old friend, you look well
Wǒ de mā – literally 'my mother,' an exclamation of mild surprise
Duìbùqǐ – I'm sorry
Zhè shì jiā – This is home
Jiějie – big sister
Huānyíng huílái – welcome back
Nǐ shì wǒ de yībùfèn – You're a part of me