Title: Story of a Girl
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. At all. If I did, I'd have more money then God and would never have canceled BtVS and Angel.
Summary: A teenage girl is given an impossible destiny. She's taken away from everything she knows and everyone thinks she's dead. Eight years later, she's back, and in for one hell of a fight.
Distribution: Just ask if you want to use this.
Spoilers: All of Buffy and Angel. Through GoF, and some minor ones from OotP.
"Anya?" Buffy asked incredulously.
The ex-Vengeance Demon beamed at her.
"Hi Buffy, I didn't know you were my new charge. Is Xander here?" Anya asked quickly, looking around as if he might pop up in the middle of Buffy's bedroom.
"Um, no. He's in Africa. Aren't you supposed to be dead?" she asked awkwardly, knowing how sensitive she had been about the subject after Willow resurrected her.
"Yes, but I got a job offer. I help guide people for the Powers and I don't have to get old and die for a long time." Anya explained.
"O.K. And now you're here?" Buffy asked, looking for confirmation.
Anya nodded.
"I need to sit down," Buffy muttered. "Xander was so right about the Lazarus Act's being über-weird."
"Can you call him? The Higher Plane was pretty boring, and I haven't had any sex in months." Anya said.
Buffy cringed. She so didn't want to hear that, no matter how glad she was to have Anya back. If it was Anya she was talking to. Buffy got up from her bed and embraced Anya.
"Ooh, yay! You're not Evil Ghost Guy! Er, happy un-death." she said.
"Thank you," Anya said graciously, "I'm sure gifts are proper when celebrating special occasions."
Buffy laughed.
"I'll keep that in mind." She said dryly.
"Good. Now, call Xander so I can have lots of orgasms. Besides, we have to do that mortal reconciliation thing." Anya commanded, waving Buffy towards the phone.
"Right," the Slayer said dubiously as she reached for her cell phone, "good luck with that."
"Buffy?" Xander Harris asked.
"Yep. I've got some pretty wiggy news for you." She said.
"How wiggy? Xander asked, detecting something strange in her tone.
"Sunnydale freaky. Anya's alive." Buffy braced herself for his reaction.
"What! How? Are you sure? She's alive? Does she hate me? Andrew saw her die. What if she's the First? Is she alright? What did she say? How long has she been back?" the questions rushed out of Xander's mouth in quick succession.
"Horses? Hold them for a second. Yeah, I'm sure, she's not the First, I'm pretty sure she doesn't hate you 'cuz she wants to jump your bones, I have no clue how long she's been back, and she's a lesbian for the Powers That Screw Us- or don't, since Anya said you can't make with the monkey sex on the Higher Plate." Buffy said to him.
Xander let out a sigh of relief. She was alive. Anya was really and truly alive. He'd finally get to fix everything between them. She didn't hate him, either. He let out a little snort of laughter as he realized that Anya must've said something with her usual bluntness to prompt Buffy to say she wanted to jump his bones.
"Can I talk to her?" he asked eagerly.
"Yeah, hold on." Buffy agreed.
There was a moment's pause, then Anya's voice sounded on the line.
"Xander? Why aren't you here crying over my grave? You're supposed to be mourning me." She said.
Xander chuckled. If anyone had said that a few- but no, there was no one like Anya.
"I would be, except I thought your body was at the bottom of the biggest pothole on Earth." He apologized.
"Fine, but you better get over here really fast to comfort me." Xander could practically see her pout.
"I will, Ahn, don't worry. I'll be there as fast as I can." Xander promised.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yes. I'll be there faster then a speeding bullet." He assured her.
"Good. Because I missed you. A lot." Xander could hear the sincerity in her voice. "And I can't go much longer without your penis."
Xander went red as he pictured what Buffy was thinking when she heard that, but inside, he was singing. Anya, his one-of-a-kind Anya, was back, making her trademark comments like no one else ever could.
"I love you, Anya." He said, needing to let her know that after the way they had parted.
"I love you, too." She said softly, and he knew she meant it.
Dawn made her way to the apartment. She'd been hanging out with some friends from school when Buffy called. All her sister had said was two words: get home. That had immediately piqued her curiosity, and given her quite a bit to worry about, as well. What had happened? Was everyone alright? Buffy wouldn't have sounded so strange if they were. She raced up the stairs and unlocked the apartment door quickly.
"Buffy? What's wrong?" she yelled as she reflexively locked the door behind her. Sunnydale habits died hard.
Dawn raced through the apartment, looking for her sister. She headed towards Buffy's bedroom and collided with something soft and warm.
"Oof." She grunted.
"That's what you get for not watching where you're going." Anya said.
"Sorry, Anya." Dawn apologized.
Then, she processed who she'd run into.
"Anya!"
The girl in question rolled her eyes.
"Why does everyone keep doing that? I was dead, now I'm alive. I thought you people were used to this sort of thing." She complained.
"You're alive." Dawn repeated.
"Yes." Anya said exasperatedly.
"And you're not some creepy ghost wannabe who's trying to kill everyone?" Dawn asked.
"Well, since you just ran into me, I don't think I'm the First. Besides, Buffy got rid of him. She did, didn't she? Because I had better have died for a cause." Anya warned.
"You did. I mean, he is. I mean, you're not the First 'cuz the First is gone." Dawn managed to gasp out.
"Then what's the problem?" Anya wanted to know.
"No problem," Dawn squeaked, "Big heart attack, maybe. But no problem."
"Why are you squeaking? You sound like one of those little talking chipmunks from that TV show Xander liked to watch." Anya told the teenager.
"I do not sound like a chipmunk! Wait, Xander watches Alvin and the Chipmunks?"
"Yes, I find it pointless. Small, talking animals that look too much like rabbits are disturbing." Anya told the brunette.
"Okay, where's Buffy?" Dawn inquired.
"Talking to Willow and Kennedy. She's been on the phone for a while. Why is everyone so worked up about me being alive? I thought you would all be used to this." Anya stated.
"Hey! I'm taking this well!" Dawn protested. "At least I didn't stake you."
"Well, I suppose that's a good point." The blonde agreed.
Buffy came out of her room talking to someone on the phone.
"Yes, Giles, I'm sure she's Anya." She paused while he said something to her.
"No, she's not! It's the middle of the afternoon and the windows are open. If she was, there would be a pile of not-Anya dust on the floor."
There was another pause. "I know it's a good point, everything I say has a point."
One more pause, and Giles clearly said something that offended her, because Buffy said, "Kissing Toast, Kakistos, they all sounded alike. Geez, excuse me for being a little more preoccupied with the psycho Slayer and vamps that wanted to kill me."
Dawn could practically see Giles rolling his eyes after that comment.
"Preoccupied is not a big word for me! And I know exactly what it means, too. Oh, ha ha." She said sarcastically, then, under her breath, "Mean old guy."
Giles said something that must have been a rebuke of some sort, and Buffy rolled her eyes. Then she said,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll be there by tomorrow afternoon. You don't have to make with the heart attack, I promise she's not evil. Bye, Giles." She finished.
Giles said goodbye, too, and they both hung up.
"That's the last of us." The Slayer said, "Giles promised to tell Faith and Robin, and Kennedy's still trying to make sure Willow doesn't pass out."
"She's still with Kennedy?" Anya asked interestedly. "I didn't think it would last."
"I don't think any of us did, at first. But they've been going strong all year." Buffy conceded.
"How do you think they have sex? After all, neither of them have penises." the ex-vengeance demon wondered.
"Anya! Little sister in the room." Buffy reminded her, alarmed.
Dawn snorted.
"I'm not a little kid, you know. Besides, I was there for our last night in Sunnydale. Everyone was getting it on, and you could hear it." the teenager pointed out.
"Everyone?" Buffy asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Not me!" Dawn assured her older sister hurriedly, "I mean who would've been left, anyway. Andrew? Or one of the Potentials? God, Buffy, I don't swing that way. It's a strictly Will and Kennedy department."
Buffy closed her eyes.
"You know, I'm gonna forget you said that, and you're going to block anything you know about sex from your mind." Buffy said firmly.
"Weren't you having sex with Angel when you were seventeen?" Anya asked curiously.
Buffy's eyes popped open.
"NO!" she denied quickly. "I waited a long, long, long time to do that, and it still turned out badly. I was nowhere near Dawn's age when I did."
"Really? Xander said that you had just turned seventeen, then evil Angel came out, so you had to have been seventeen. Unless you were sixteen," she tacked on as an afterthought.
"You know, we have to pack. We're going to London to see Giles. Dawnie, go to your room and make with the packing." Buffy instructed.
"Sure, Buffy," Dawn agreed with a grin, "Wanna help me, Anya? Maybe you can tell me some more of what Xander told you."
"Okay," Anya consented.
"What? No. I mean, you can't, because… you have to help me pack. I suck at um, folding. So you should fold for me." Buffy finished lamely.
"I don't see why," Anya said reasonably, " you've never had trouble with packing before, and Dawn's younger, so she'd need more help."
"Uh huh," Dawn said, "come on Anya."
The former demon followed the girl to her room. Buffy groaned once Dawn's door shut. Something told her that this wasn't going to turn out well. If anything, by the time they all reached London, she'd have died from insanity.