Chapter 2: Lie to Me

November 3, 1997 – Monday

Sunnydale High School

In the days since Buffy had become a Terminator, she had started getting better grades in school. Buffy had to wonder if it was cheating to use her now superior brain from the future like this. Not that she could truly stop herself from using it without shutting herself down. Besides having the superior brain helped her have more time to fulfill her primary and second objectives, insuring Willow and Dawn's survival. And for that she went out nightly and patrolled.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles was accompanying Jenny Calendar, resident computer science teacher and techno-pagan, down the stairs.

"It's a secret," she was saying.

Giles pressed, "What kind of secret?"

"The kind that's secret. You know, where I don't actually tell you what it is." She grinned at him. He knew she found him highly amusing. As Xander might put it, that was a plus.

He was not to be put off. "I just think it's customary that when two people are going out for an evening, that they both have an idea what they're doing."

They reached the bottom of the stairs and turned right. He was on his way to the library, and she to the lair of that dread horde of demonic machines known as computers.

"Oh, come on!" she chided him gently. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

He tried another tack. "But, I . . . how will I know what to wear?"

She wryly took in his appearance. "Do you own anything else?"

"Not as such," he admitted.

She chuckled. "Rupert, you're going to have to trust me."

"All right." He surrendered. "I put myself in your hands."

She walked past him with a teasing smile on her face. "That sounds like fun." Grinning, she turned as she walked away not to the computer laboratory but to one of the exit doors. "Okay. Seven-thirty, tomorrow night?"

He was still processing the comment about her hands and fun with a pleased expression on his face.

"Yes."

Buffy waited a moment as Giles and Ms. Calendar finished their goo-goo eyes session. She came up to him and said, "Hey."

They began to walk together toward the library. He asked her, "Did we hunt last night?"

"I did a couple of quick sweeps downtown."

"Any encounters?"

"Nothing vampiry," she admitted.

"Well, I've been researching your friend Spike. The profile is fairly unappetizing. But I still haven't got a bead on why he's here."

Buffy had no trouble keeping her mind on the conversation, as her now superior computer brain processed multiple things at once. She said, "You'll figure it out."

"Given the last week, I was thinking, why don't you take the night off?"

"I don't need to," Buffy said as they moved into the library. "I'm awake twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I don't require sleep anymore."

"Buffy, your body may not require sleep," Giles countered. "But your mind is another thing entirely. With everything you went through last week. You need to remember you are still human underneath it all. You still have a human soul buried under the machine. So, take the night off. Maybe spend time with Dawn and your mom."

"Giles there is something else," Buffy said. "Last night I was going through some of the files and I found … When future John and future Dawn reprogrammed this body. They not only programmed in their Buffy's likeness. But also, her memories. Memories of their world of course but memories that led up to her death in 2030 just before they sent the Terminator back."

Giles nodded and let out a sigh. "You just have to remember Buffy. That their Buffy is not you."

"I know," Buffy said. "I'm wondering though what should I do with these memories?"

"I would do nothing," Giles said. "There is no guarantee our world will turn out like theirs. Especially when the reasons their world was almost destroyed don't as far as we know exist in our world."

"Okay," Buffy said. "One last thing. I want to tell mom."

"Buffy," Giles said. "Now with you being the Slayer, or at least having been the Slayer, it would have been difficult at best to inform her of your responsibilities. It would have placed her in jeopardy. Knowing you are no longer human would be worse. She might look at you as if you were no more than a thing. No, I think it best she does not know."

"How about just the Slayer stuff," Buffy said. "I can protect her far easier now. Besides according to the other Buffy's memories. She found out anyways."

"How?" he asked as he looked at Buffy.

Buffy hesitated in mentioning that Angel had gone bad. "She was going to take care of a vampire. There was an argument between her and mom and she let the truth out. Mom didn't take it well. Told her if she left, not to come back. She ran away, Giles. Didn't come back all summer. I don't want that to happen with me."

Giles looked at Buffy for a long moment. "Alright," he said reluctantly. "Have her see me and we'll talk to her together. But you are not to reveal that you are no longer human. Learning that you are a Slayer and that you could have died defending the world will be bad enough. Learning you are no longer human will be worse."

"Okay," Buffy said. She left the library and headed for her next class.

"Do not worry. She will accept you."

Buffy stopped and looked around. In the last week that had been the second time she had heard the voice inside her head. She shook her head and walked into the classroom, sitting next to Willow. She only half listened to the lecture as the class went on. Of course, half listening didn't mean much she could not be listening at all and still know what was being said. The joys of being a machine allowed her to multitask like she never had before.

"Well, it seems like Louis XVI was just sort of a weak king," someone said.

The teacher responded, "Well, that's fair enough. Any other impressions?"

"I just don't see why everyone is always picking on Marie Antoinette," Cordelia said. "I can so relate to her. She worked really hard to look that good. And people just don't appreciate that kind of effort."

Buffy had already looked at the files that stored her weapons and at various history files. At that moment she had open a file she never thought she would find in a machine with a liquid exterior, especially a Terminator that was built to kill. Sexuality.

Cordelia was still busily defending the French monarchy, based on its fashion sense. "And I know, the peasants were all depressed."

Xander offered, "I think you mean, 'oppressed.'"

"Whatever." Clearly, Cordelia didn't want to be interrupted or corrected. "They were cranky. So, they're like, 'Let's lose some heads.' That's fair? And Marie Antoinette cared about them. She was going to let them have cake!"

Their teacher said politely, "Yes, well, that's a very interesting perspective."

Buffy wondered why that particular file was there. For a machine devoted to killing it didn't make sense to her for it to be there. She opened the directory listing for the file and found underneath it there were several subfiles; gender identity, sexual orientation, love, emotions. She wondered if she activated the file if it would mean she would finally feel emotions again. She decided to activate the file and see what happened.

The bell rang. Everyone rose and gathered their books. Willow turned to Buffy as they walked into the hall and said, "You looked like you were distracted."

"You know that's not possible," Buffy said looking at her friend. "My nice little computer brain can multitask several things at once."

"That's probably true," Willow admitted as she smiled at Buffy. "You still looked distracted. What were you doing?"

"Buffy looked distracted?" Dawn said as she came up beside her sister and their friends.

"She did," Willow informed the younger Summers sister.

"Did you know that I have a program for sexuality?" Buffy asked.

"Really?" Xander said as all three girls slapped him on the arm.

"Down, Xander," Dawn said.

"No," Willow told Buffy. "I or rather John wasn't aware. But you have to remember my John is not your John either. Mine was only sixteen years old."

"Xander?" Buffy said.

Xander shook his head. "While Kyle was from that time period. He was a soldier, not someone who reprogrammed the Terminators. Besides he was from a time period before they started sending the Terminators back to protect John."

Buffy sighed and nodded. "I guess I will find out. I turned it on."

"Was that a good idea?" Willow asked. "You don't know what it might have done."

"Will," Dawn interjected as she wrapped an arm around her sister. "Buffy can't feel emotions anymore because of what happened to her."

"If this helps me feel anything. I …" Buffy added.

"Hey anyone up for a dance party at the Bronze tonight?" Xander cut in, changing the subject. Neither Dawn, Buffy or Willow answered him. "Okay, moping at the Bronze?"

Someone said behind Buffy, "I'd suggest a box of Oreos dunked in apple juice, but maybe Buffy's over that phase."

Dawn and Buffy glanced at each-other, they both knew that voice. They whirled around. "Ford?" they said.

Dawn threw her arms around the tall, dark-haired boy. "Ford!"

He hugged Dawn back. "Hey, Little Summers, how you been?"

"I've been good," Dawn said.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked. Before he even answered her, a file opened up. It was a list of targets to terminate. Billy Fordham was on it.

"Matriculating," was Ford's answer.

Buffy pretended she had no idea what he meant. "Huh?"

"I'm finishing out my senior year at Sunnydale High. Dad got transferred."

"This is great," Dawn said as she and Buffy glanced at Willow and Xander.

Ford looked kind of shy. The sisters remembered his long bangs and his angular face. They used to joke that he looked like the hero of a dozen Japanese anime cartoons. "I'm glad you think so, Dawn. I wasn't sure either of you would remember me."

"Remember you? Duh, we were in school together for seven years," Buffy reminded him. "You were my giant fifth-grade crush."

"So. You three know each other?" Xander cut in.

"Yeah we do," Dawn said. "Buffy knew him more though."

Buffy looked Willow and Xander. "This is Ford. Uh, Billy Fordham." She looked back at Ford. "This is Xander and Willow." She pointed at them in turn.

"Hi," Xander said with one of his polite, fake smiles that sometimes-accompanied Cordelia's history rambles.

"Hey," Ford replied.

"Nice to meet you." Willow smiled very sweetly.

"Dawn and I went to Hemery with Ford, in L.A." Buffy said.

Dawn smiled at Ford. "And now you're here? For real?"

"Dad got the transfer, and boom. He just dragged me out of Hemery and put me down here."

"This is great!" Buffy gazed at him, remembering when she had been human. Fifth grade had been way before she'd known she was the Slayer. Before her parents started fighting and eventually split up. Before she had become a Terminator. "Well, I mean, it's hard—sudden move, all your friends, delicate time, very emotional—but let's talk about me: this is great!"

Willow said, "So, Buffy, you two were sweeties in the fifth grade?"

"Not even," Buffy told her friend.

Dawn looked at Ford. "Ford wouldn't give Buffy the time of day. Though in later years he was actually quite friendly with me."

"Well as far as you go, Dawn," Ford told her. "When you skipped grades I saw how things were and thought Buffy could use some help looking out for you." He then looked at the other sister. "And well with Buffy, I was a manly sixth grader. I couldn't be bothered with someone that young."

"It was terrible," Buffy said. "I moped over you for months. Sitting in my room listening to that Divinyl's song, 'I Touch Myself.'"

Dawn looked at her sister with wide eyes. "Really?"

Buffy looked at her sister. "Of course, I had no idea what it was about," she deflected.

"It's fun to meet someone who knew Buffy and Dawn from before Buffy was the—" Willow said as Buffy and Dawn stared at her. "—the here-being girl."

"Yeah, it's fun," Xander said, less than enthused.

"Hey," Buffy said to Ford, "are you busy tonight? We're going to the Bronze. It's the local club and you have to come."

"I'd love to," Ford said. "But if you guys already had plans…would I be imposing?"

"Only in the literal sense," Xander assured him.

"Okay then." Ford sounded very pleased. "What about you, Dawnie, are you going?"

"Still too young," Dawn admitted. "I just turned fourteen last month. And the Bronze doesn't allow anyone under sixteen."

"That's sad to hear," Ford told the younger Summers sister. "Maybe you and I can hang out later then?" Dawn nodded. "Well, I got to find the admissions office, get my papers in order."

"I'll see you later," Buffy said as Ford walked away. She grabbed her friends when Ford was out of sight and dragged them to the library as Dawn followed. "Giles!"

Giles came out of his office and approached the trio. "Yes, Buffy."

"Dawn and I just saw an old friend from Hemery in L.A.," Buffy informed her Watcher. "When I looked at him a list of targets to terminate popped up, his name was on it."

"This is not good," Dawn said as Willow and Xander shared a look.

"Why would your old friend be on a list of targets to terminate?" Willow asked confused.

"I'm not sure," Buffy shrugged. "I'll have to dig through the other Buffy's memories and see if there was something I may have overlooked."

"Buffy," Giles said. "You have to remember your counterpart's memories may not be like what happens in this world. So, you have to take what you find with a grain of salt."

"I know, Giles," Buffy said.

The Bronze

Bank shot!

Or something. As the music rocked and the usual suspects danced the night away, the eight-ball dropped into the pocket of the pool table.

"Ford, you made it," Buffy said, joining her friends and Ford.

Ford was already lining up his next shot while Xander anxiously chalked up the tip of his cue. He smiled at Buffy. "It wasn't hard to find."

Willow said, "Buffy, Ford was just telling us about the ninth-grade beauty contest." She smiled. "And the, uh, swimsuit competition."

Buffy frowned in mock seriousness, even though she remembered it being a pretty embarrassing story. "Oh, God, Ford. Stop that. The more people you tell about it, the more people I have to kill."

Ford hit the nearest ball with his cue. "You can't touch me, Summers. I know all your darkest secrets."

Xander drawled, "Care to make a small wager on that?"

Buffy shot a warning look from Xander to Ford and said, "I'm going to go grab a drink. Ford, try not to talk." She walked to the bar. As she arrived, the man in front of her turned to go, drink in hand.

It was Angel.

He brightened at the sight of her. "Hey. I was hoping you'd show."

"You drink," she noted, indicating his coffee cup. "I mean, drinks. Non-blood things."

He replied with a flirtatious smile—or the closest thing to a flirtatious smile he had ever flashed on her, "There's a lot about me you don't know."

She said, "I believe that."

Ford looked over at Angel with Buffy as Willow and Xander checked him out. Willow said helpfully,

"That's Angel."

"He's Buffy's beau," Xander added, clearly hoping this was disappointing data for Ford. "Her special friend."

Ford studied him. "He's not in school, right? He looks older than her."

Buffy grabbed a drink and returned to Willow, Xander and Ford. Behind her walked up Angel.

"Hey, Angel," Willow greeted him.

"Hi," Ford said.

"This is Ford," Buffy introduced her friend to Angel. "We went to school together in L.A."

The two guys shook. Ford's eyes widened. "Whoa. Cold hands."

Xander drawled, "You're not wrong."

Angel's face was a mask as he regarded Ford. "So, you're here visiting Buffy?"

"No. I'm actually here to stay," Ford replied. "Just moved down."

Buffy glanced at Angel, silently begging him to drop it.

Willow gestured to the pool table and asked, "Angel, do you want to play?"

"You know, it's getting really crowded in here tonight," Buffy said. "I'm a little hot." She looked at Ford. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Uh, sure," Ford said. "That'd be nice."

"I'll see you all tomorrow," Buffy said as she looked at Angel pointedly.

"Good night," Angel said.

"Take care," Ford said.

Buffy and Ford peeled off.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"So, that was your boyfriend?" Ford asked innocently.

"No," she said.

Ford shrugged. "So, what else do you do for fun around here?"

As he was speaking, Buffy heard the sounds of a scuffle around the corner. Time to think fast. Superman would look for a phone booth. And she?

"Um, uh, my purse!" she cried. "I left my purse at the Bronze. Could you get it for me? Thanks!"

"Uh, okay," Ford said.

"Good. Run. Thanks."

Taking off at a trot, he left to do she asked. As soon as his back was turned Buffy raced around the corner.

Intrigued by Buffy's behavior, Ford stopped walking toward the Bronze and turned around. He started moving slowly toward the alley. A girl raced past him, sobbing with terror. Ford glanced at her, then inched closer to the corner, more intrigued than ever.

Ford turned the corner and what he saw shocked him. He saw Buffy standing facing a vampire and Buffy's arm looking like it was some mechanical contraption. He watched as fire spewed from Buffy's arm and hit the vampire causing it to dust. "You're not human," he said shocked.

Buffy turned to face Ford as her arm morphed back to normal. "Oh! You're back."

"How? We've known each other for years. How?" Ford said.

"It's a long story," Buffy said with a sigh. "Why don't we share. Why are you really in Sunnydale? And don't tell me it's to move here."

"I look good, don't I?" he started. "Let me tell you something. I've got maybe six months left and by then what they bury won't even look like me. It'll be bald and shriveled and it'll smell bad. I'm not going out that way."

Buffy nodded as a file opened and played the memory of the other Buffy she had been looking for since Ford had shown up that day. "You want to become a vampire."

"Yes," Ford said. "It's that or I'm dead, Buffy. I'd rather lose my soul then die. I'm scared. I'm …"

Buffy nodded as she understood the terminate command now. Termination for Ford was the easiest way out for him. "Problem is if you're turned, I would have to come after you."

"I know," Ford said. "But that would give me the chance to get away. Then maybe I could go and live somewhere far away and we'd never cross paths again."

"You wanted to know what I am," Buffy said. "Why I'm no longer human. On Halloween night there was this guy. He was a witch or a magician or something. He cast this spell turning people into their costumes. Some of them stuck, most didn't. Mine stuck. Have you seen that new TV show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles?"

"Yes," Ford said.

"My costume was the terminator from the show. Or was supposed to be anyways. I became her for the night. And when it was over, I was no longer human, but a machine," Buffy explained. "But something changed. I didn't become the character from the show. I became like an alternate reality of her. A hybrid of the show and our own reality. You see I'm a Terminator that knows the next few years of at least my life and a few others. You got turned by a vampire, and I dusted you when you rose the next night. When you showed up today, I didn't know that. All I knew was that you were on a list of targets for termination."

Ford's eyes went wider and wider as Buffy explained what had happened to her and what she now was. He had seen the two Terminator movies as well as the first few episodes of the new TV series. He understood what a Terminator could do and if it had a command to terminate it would. He turned to run.

Something came over Buffy and it felt like she no longer had control over her body as her arm morphed into a plasma cannon and she pointed it at Ford.

"I'm sorry," Buffy could hear her voice say. "Truly I am." She fired the plasma cannon at Ford. The super-heated plasma hit him, burning him beyond recognition as he dropped to the ground dead. "I'm sorry."

As Buffy's hand morphed back to normal, she felt control return to her. It was then she noticed tears coming from her eyes and then a display flashed.

Sexuality Program Now Online

Gender Identity Subroutine Now Activated

Sexual Orientation Subroutine Now Activated

Love Subroutine Now Activated

Emotions Subroutine Now Activated

November 4, 1997 – Tuesday

Sunnydale High School

The next morning Buffy and Dawn walked into the library. "Giles?" Dawn called out, her arm wrapped around her sister.

"Here," he said as she turned toward the book cage.

"Giles," Buffy said as tears came to her eyes again.

Giles looked at the sisters confused. "Buffy, I thought you could no longer feel emotions?"

"Apparently she can now," Dawn told him. "She came home crying. Wouldn't tell me why."

Buffy glanced at her sister. "I started crying when I killed, Ford." She looked at Giles. "Mine and Dawn's friend from L.A. I found out why he was really here. He was dying. He hoped to turn me over to a vampire so that they'd make him one. He knew I was the Slayer from before Dawn and I moved to Sunnydale. He had maybe six months to live. And then I told him what I had become. He got scared and he started to run. And then it felt like I lost control over my body. My arm morphed into the plasma cannon, one of my many weapons, and I fired it. I could hear myself telling him I was sorry. He was burned to a crisp as he fell to the ground dead."

Giles sighed. "Buffy," he said as he walked over to the young woman. "This is not the first time something like this has happened."

"It's not?" Dawn asked in surprise.

Giles shook his head. "A Slayer is on the front lines of a nightly war. It's tragic—but accidents have happened."

"What do you do?" Buffy asked afraid of what his answer would be.

"The council investigates, meters out punishment if punishment is due ... I've no plan to involve them, however. Your situation, Buffy, is unique and they would not know how to tackle it. You are a human being trapped within a machine. Both the machine and the human are warring for control. It was inevitable that the machine would eventually win out," Giles said. "Now you know what it means to let the machine have its control. And you know not to let it do it again."

Buffy nodded and let out a sigh. "Yes."

Giles called Joyce and asked her to come to the school. He explained everything regarding the supernatural, and about the Slayer. Everything except Buffy being transformed into a Terminator. The truth that Buffy was the Slayer was bad enough, Giles had surmised. He then proceeded to explain the events of last night. He lied and said that Buffy had witnessed a friend she had known in L.A. get killed by a vampire before she could stop it.

Through all of that Joyce listened with an open mind. Giles produced some evidence and while Joyce was not sure she hundred percent believed she had at least enough reasonable doubt to seek more answers. So, Joyce walked both of her daughters out of the school, trying to comfort them both as best as she could.

November 7, 1997 – Friday

Restfield Cemetery

Dawn and Giles stood by as Buffy placed roses on the fresh grave of Billy Fordham.

Buffy looked up at her sister and Giles. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say."

"You needn't say anything," Giles replied kindly.

"It'd be simpler if I could just hate him," Buffy admitted. "I think he wanted me to. I think it made it easier for him to be the villain of the piece. Really, he was just scared."

"I think your right," Dawn sadly agreed.

"Nothing's ever simple anymore," Buffy told them. "I'm constantly trying to work it out."

"So am I," Dawn added. "Who to love, or hate . . . who to trust? It's just, like the more we know, the more confused we get."

Giles's smile was brief and sad. "I believe that's called growing up."

In a little voice, Dawn answered, "I'd like to stop then, okay?"

"I know the feeling." His smile spoke of memories he had not yet shared.

"Well, does it ever get easy?" Buffy asked.

"You mean life?" Giles asked her.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Does it get easy?"

Giles looked puzzled. "What do you want me to say?"

Buffy thought about it for a moment and then something flashed across her vision.

"Tell him that you and Dawn want him to lie to you both."

"Lie to us," Buffy answered.

Giles took on a bright, teacherly tone. "Yes. It's terribly simple."

They started out of the graveyard.

"The good guys are stalwart and true. The bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats and we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after."

Dawn and Buffy assessed the truth of what he said with one simple word: "Liar."

Something flashed across Buffy's vision on the heads-up display.

"I am sorry. I promise never to take control from you again, unless you say that it is okay.

I am learning what it means to be human and I see how difficult it can be. For that I am sorry."

"Who are you?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy," Dawn said with a look of concern.

Buffy didn't answer her sister as something flashed across her vision.

"My name is Cameron."