Disclaimer: See previous chapters
The question of who was going to blink first seemed to go on what felt like an eternity, both Dawn and Sam opened their mouths to form words, but nothing seemed to come out.
"Slayers don't exist," said John, his voice cold.
"So you have heard of us?" she answered.
"Like the rest of the vampire lore, load of crap," he stated.
"Well that explains the last twelve years of my life," she said sarcastically, "Take it from me, slayers exist, we come, we fight, we make the big bad things go away."
Buffy turned to look at Missouri, "Sorry about that window."
"That's alright child," replied Missouri as Buffy returned to staring at John.
Xander looked at Sam, "Take it you've come across a few vampires?"
"Yes, but not the cross hating, stake through the heart kind," Sam answered.
"Did they look human?"
Sam nodded his response.
Xander chewed the inside of his cheek, as he thought for a second, "Must have been the lower sub species."
Both John and Buffy broke of from their stand off to look at Xander.
"Kinda of stuck between the classic kind and us. Don't have the facial thing going on or the fangs, but they do have a second set of teeth that come out to feed. In some ways they're more invulnerable than our usual type, direct sunlight only gives them a nasty burn. They don't have the speed or strength though and the blood lust is increased – can barely go through a day without it."
"More Near Dark than Dracula," explained Dawn, to her slightly confused sister.
Buffy turned to look at her best friend.
"What? Me Watcher now, me must have the info, me must be able to dis, dis..."
Dawn rolled her eyes, "Disseminate."
Xander smiled, "Yeah, what she said,"
Buffy just continued to look at him.
"Okay, Spike told me about them, but I did the background digging on my own."
"You and Spike had a conversation that ended with you doing some research?" asked Dawn, raising an eyebrow.
"Alright, it was during the creature feature movie marathon on cable."
"I'm scared to ask," said Buffy, rolling her eyes, "What was on exactly?"
Xander looked at the ground for a second, "One million years B.C."
"You two actually had an in depth discussion about vampire evolution while watching Raquel Welch in a fur bikini?" asked Dawn.
"It started as a comment about how people back then didn't actually look like that, and it just went on from there. It wasn't really in depth, all he said was they give him the wiggins and they smell funny," Xander replied.
Buffy turned to her sister, as she pointed at Xander, "We need to find him a girlfriend."
Dawn nodded, "Been saying that for months."
Xander just seemed to ignore the last comment and continued to talk to Sam.
"From what I've read, they travel in small packs for protection; both sides see them as little more than vermin to be eradicated. They're supposed to be almost extinct."
"You saying that we came up against the rat version of vampires?" asked a slightly confused Sam, to which Xander just shrugged.
"But, if the stake through the heart doesn't work and the sun is out, that would just leave decapitation, wouldn't it?" asked Dawn.
"Fire should do the job as well," said Buffy.
"Dead man's blood - poison to them," interjected John, who was staring at the small woman in front of him.
"Really?" rasped Dawn. "Incapacities or ends it?"
He faced the little researcher, "Incapacitates."
"Interesting, must note that down," Dawn croaked.
Buffy rubbed her forehead, "Why do I think the chemistry set is coming out when we get home."
Xander shrugged his shoulders, "Well she is kind of right, there has been stalling on the whole R&D division."
"You have an R&D division?"
Dawn replied, "Not really, but we do need one."
"She's been watching too many James Bond's, decided she wants to be our version of Q," said Xander, to which Dawn just threw him a look.
Seeing the look on Sam's face, Buffy gave out a little sigh, "I think we have hit the point of no return in the world of the overwhelming."
John tilted his head to the side, "OK, say I buy the whole slayer idea, not that I'm saying I do, how do I know that…."
"That the test results were real?"
"Yes." John answered firmly.
"Okay, I know at least one person who could fake them, but I didn't. If you want, we can take the stupid test all over again and you can take the damn thing to someone you trust, as personally I can never enough cue tips shoved in my face!"
"Then why are you here?" he asked his tone still firm and cold.
"'Cause I couldn't get a hair appointment till next week," she said, sarcastically, "Look those demons that turned up, those high up incorporeal ones, they were yours, not mine. I did not bring them! They were after you, they didn't expect me, so you could at least show me and especially Dawn a little gratitude."
"For what?"
"For what?" she shot him a look, "I'm thinking the fact you have all of your limbs still attached may have escaped your notice. By the way Dawn a Babylonian protection spell? You know that doesn't protect the caster."
"It was the first one I could think of," coughed the little researcher trying to justify her choice.
Buffy turned back to face John, "Secondly, do you really think I got up one morning and thought, I'll go shopping for a new daddy? If that was the case, trust me, I would not have picked one from the, 'I'm just one-step away from the funny farm', hunting brigade. Thirdly, okay, I don't have a thirdly but I promise you, I will come up with one."
At that point, he couldn't help it; with everything that had gone one that day, it just felt so unreal; he smiled. He was receiving a dressing down from someone half his size but whom, from what he had seen and from what Sam had told him, was more than able to take on the things he had only been able to dream of stopping.
"Dad?" Sam asked tentatively.
Buffy burst out laughing, "This is totally absurd isn't it?"
John nodded at her, "Damn straight it is."
"And I thought my family was screwed up enough as it was," said Sam, as he watched his father.
"Welcome to a whole new brand of dysfunctional," said Xander, "You should see Christmas."
"You think that you two can really handle this?" asked Buffy.
John shrugged, "Not sure – I just want to get my boy out of here."
"Don't know how he'll take the idea of big sis being a superhero," said Sam.
"I'm not a superhero," stated Buffy.
"She doesn't have a costume," croaked Dawn.
"Though I still say that a clothing allowance would be a good idea."
Xander shook his head, "Clothing allowance for all of you girls, no way sister! We have had this discussion before - anyway you'd just spend it on shoes."
Buffy hit him in the stomach.
"So there is more than one of you?" asked Missouri, who had previously just stood by.
John looked at Buffy, "The story says there is only one."
"Was only one. I'm the last of the single chosen."
John asked as he straightened up, "You died?"
"Hazard of the job, but you'd know that," Buffy shrugged, "But aside from that, we woke up all of the potentials a few years back to deal with the First."
"The first?" asked Sam.
"Big evil had a nice little Neanderthal vampire army on the side," answered Xander.
"Army?" Sam looked at the other man in disbelief, "You dealt with an army?"
Buffy smiled, "That and anything else that wants to hurt people, just like you do."
He ran his fingers through his hair trying to get his head around the idea of a whole demonic army trying to end the world, "We deal with spirits, demons, shape shifters, things like that, not armies. All I want is to get the thing that killed Jess and my Mom."
"Jessica Moore, your girlfriend?" asked Dawn.
John looked at the girl, "You know about her?"
"Heard, our friend Giles thought Sam could pull a Drew Barrymore," she answered.
"You thought I was a fire starter," Sam said with a smile on his face, which quickly disappeared, "Wait. You thought I killed her… and my Mom!"
"No I... I know that doesn't sound good. Me and my big mouth," said Dawn, as both her sister and Xander looked at her.
John took a step forward, making sure his son was behind him, "You been checking up on my family?"
Xander took Buffy by the arm before she could react, "Look people we are all keyed up right now, how about we all get some sleep, and when some people are passed the wanting to jump down each others throat, they can discuss things without getting their signals mixed."
"Well as seeing as this one is alright and the other one is staying here I think you're right, it's time I got these two home for some rest," said Missouri as she picked up her bag, "Anyway I believe you offered to fix my house."
"Window fixage extraordinaire! Will be round first thing," announced the carpenter, "Come on Dawnie, let's get back to the motel."
John Winchester didn't move muscle as he watched them leave. He knew that this was not the place to do this, especially seeing the hurt in his son's eyes when he turned around.
"You okay Sam?"
"Yes sir,"
Missouri looked over at them, "You sure sweetheart?"
"I think so. Can we just get out of here?"
Sam wandered round the house, he wasn't happy; he hated it when his father barked orders at him. He was to stay there and make sure Missouri wasn't left alone, while his Dad went to collect Dean, in case they turned up.
He didn't like the idea of his father being alone when he told Dean all of this, if he told him about this. He could see John Winchester trying to sweep the whole slayer thing under the carpet.
As he sat down at the computer, he remembered the stories Pastor Jim and Bobby had told him and his brother as kids, the mythical warrior, the chosen one, the girl charged with fighting the vampires. He thought it was just a story, but until recently he didn't think vampires existed; so if they were real, wouldn't it stand to reason so was she?
When they had gotten back from the hospital, they had barely gotten through the door before John had gone for the phone. He'd gone through half of the contacts in his journal, even some of the ones that had threatened to kill him in the past, before he'd found someone who had some real information. From what he'd been told it wasn't just the slayers you had to worry about, it was the watchers.
Up until 3 years ago, they had left things alone unless it was big, then things had changed. They had started to get involved in the little things, and now they were offering help and resources if required; but you couldn't always be sure whose side they'd be on. Minor demons and creatures, that were being tracked, disappeared; and not in a stay dead way. This was usually after the receipt of some friendly advice to back off.
John had also found out that there had been some stories of them taking an interest in hunters and more worryingly, for a short while, they had supposedly taken an interest in their daughters; though no girls had actually disappeared. This 'friend' had received a little visit from a couple, a young man and a woman, just when the watchers had started to change their M.O. They'd scoped out her place and then just left. She hadn't seen them again, but she had made sure that her girl, wasn't out of her sight for more than a couple of minutes at a time until she was sure it was safe.
Sam started searching again for more information, he needed to know more; he knew he shouldn't have left the paper chasing to his brother. His head was swimming…they had known about his Mom and Jess… they had thought he had done it, thought he was capable of doing it, but they still came.
He heard the car drive up – they had turned up just as they said that they would. Missouri had beaten him to the door, but he knew his job at that point was to hold back and just be seen. However, after what he'd seen her do last night, he didn't see what think that was going to do any good.
"Good morning," said Xander.
"Hello," Missouri looked over her visitor's shoulder expecting to see some other faces, "You alone?"
"Yeah, the girls are better at the de- rather than the con- side of the struction – thought it best I do this by myself. Can I come in?"
She stepped to one side to let him enter the house, "Sure."
Sam watched silently, as Missouri and Xander stood by the hole in the wall. They were exchanging pleasantries as Xander was taking down measurements; they were talking as if it was a normal day, only occasionally mentioning the events of last night. Xander had joked that Buffy's aim had gotten worse, and Missouri had apologised for John's tone the night before to which Xander had said he understood, hell he'd be the same. He'd even thrown a quick apology for Dawn's revelation Sam's way, to which Sam had just nodded.
She had gone to make a cup of coffee as Xander had started to make lists of things he needed.
"You do this a lot?" asked Sam, deciding no longer to just passively observe.
Xander looked up at him, "What, windows?"
"Yeah."
"Not so much anymore."
"It's just that you treat this as normal."
"Well she tends to use doors these days, though I do crave the normal," explained Xander, "Just can't see it happening for me, too many people I care about who can't walk, Buffy for one. You?"
"You know I tried to get out, ended badly," said Sam stoically.
Xander nodded, "Yeah, dead girlfriend, sorry."
"Still see it every time I close my eyes." Sam was unsure why he was opening up to this guy.
"Wish I could say it gets easier, but it never really does, you just learn to go on."
Sam looked at the guy, it was the way he said it, "You lost someone?"
"When Sunnydale went. Never saw it myself, was on the line with Dawn. Told she took a whole bunch of them with her," he beamed proud as he said the last part, then his voice started to break a little, "There is a part me that'll always wonder; if I'd only been there? But, hey it's just one of those things I'll never know."
Sam stood there, unsure what to say, "She like Buffy, you know a slayer?"
"Anya? Nah, much better with the blunt comment than a blunt instrument; though she could be really handy with one of those as well."
"Jessica was always more of a peacemaker type, always in the middle of things. Thought she could stop me with one of her disapproving looks just as easily as one of her smiles," Sam said.
"They all seem to have at least one of those don't they?"
"Yeah, they do"
"Convinced they take classes," Xander nodded, "Probably instead of gym."
"Definitely," Sam let out a little laugh as Missouri came back in with the coffees.
"So where are the other two then?" she asked, as she put down the cups.
"Dropped them off at the hospital on the way here, they wanted to see how your brother was doing," replied Xander.
"Dad won't like that, he's down there now."
"Thought he'd be there" added Xander, as he put down the paper he'd been writing on.
"It's just that I don't think he'll let them anywhere near Dean," said a slightly concerned Sam.
Xander smirked, "They're a lot alike."
Sam drew his eyebrows together slightly confused, "Huh?"
"Buffy and your father," explained Xander, "Joyce was never big on the big confrontations. Don't get me wrong, she had her moments, but never unless it was really the last resort. I just can picture the two of them down there now. Immovable force one verses immovable force two."
"That will go down well," said Missouri.
"They have a lot of the same qualities. Though John's taller, hairy and hopefully not so much into shoes," said Xander, causing both Sam and Missouri to chuckle.
"Seriously, they lived in Rome. They're place - a temple to Jimmy Choo," added Xander, causing Sam to raise an eyebrow, "Yes I know the names of people who make shoes. You should thank your lucky stars that you did not have to live through the hell that will always be known as 'The week when Sex and the City ended'."
Buffy walked down the corridor looking for any sign of him. Doctors and nurses passed her, hustling and bustling about their business; Dawn has disappeared somewhere. She was sure he'd be there waiting for them to show.
She eventually saw him; he was sitting on a chair beside a room with a closed door. He looked as if the world had tried to squash him and he'd barely crawled out the other side. She took a deep breath and walked up to him.
"How is he?"
John looked up to see her face, she looked concerned and he was too tired to fight right now.
"Doctor's in with him right now, asked me to wait out here."
"He'll be okay," she said, as she sat down beside him, "You told him about, you know?"
"Don't know if he believed me."
She nodded, "Not many people do first time out."
"Really, can't imagine why," he said sarcastically.
"Okay, I'll give you that one, I deserve it after the funny farm comment last night," she sighed, "Look I have no idea how you guys have coped with everything. Hell I don't know how I've coped and I've probably had a lot more backup than you had. I'm just saying that I'm not here to make things any worse for you; if anything I maybe able to help."
"So you ride in like the cavalry and take over then?"
"No, I'm just willing to lend a hand, and didn't they have something to do with custard?" she said, looking at him.
He wasn't sure where that question had come from, "I think you mean Custer and it was the seventh one."
"They were the ones that got massacred, right?" she asked, trying to get clarification on the subject.
"Yes," he said slowly.
"Right, knew something that something bad happened to them, wasn't sure what custard had to do with though."
He just looked at her.
"History isn't my strong point," she said shrugging her shoulders, "As for the coming to the rescue thing, don't want to step on toes, though I'm told I'm good at that."
"You don't say." His tone sarcastic.
"I said you can have one. So can we get past the passive aggressive crap you've got going on here? I know that you really would like to pick up that chair and throw it at something but I'm guessing that you've got more sense than to do that here?"
"So I'm supposed to just get over the fact that you accused my son of killing his mother and his girlfriend."
"No-one accused Sam of doing anything," she stated, "I think what Dawn said was that we had ruled that out. However, if you are going to start about the snooping into backgrounds I can say you guys were just as bad, with Dean and his unsubtly questions about Sunnydale and Missouri the psychic."
"Boy needs to learn tact," John admitted.
"Well he takes after his father," she said in a sympathetic tone, "As for the fire starter deal, with all the moving you did and with two deaths by fire while he was in the room, in my world it adds up to a real possibility."
"Well he isn't, and if you or your little watcher friends come after him," he said his tone threatening.
"Right I get it okay," replied Buffy, "So, I think that this is the point where we do the whole swappage of information."
John couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You're serious, aren't you?
"Well yeah. Look, you may not like the way that this has turned out, and I definitely am not with the happy on this whole situation, but I am your daughter. So, if this thing has decided to take out this family then I am involved, slayer or not – so spill."
"You first- how did you know about Sammy?"
She looked at the ceiling, getting through to this guy would not be easy.
"OK, you admit he's 'special'."
"Never said he wasn't, just that he could never have hurt his mother or the girl he was in love with," said John, his face giving away nothing.
"Right blood and stone scenario continuing here; you know if you ever decide to get out of the whole hunting thing you should really think about a career in retail, you are such a loss to the service industry."
John raised an eyebrow to that comment.
"Okay, I'll spill. A few days ago, Dawn found some of my Mom's old diary entries, so that's when I found out about you. I was a little shocked at the news."
"Understandable," he said.
"Thanks." She took a second trying to think of the best way to phrase the next part, "I know this bit will not go down too well. My friend Will, she did a locator spell and found you guys."
"A spell? She's a witch?"
"Yes a witch, a good one. She doesn't do the entrails or the cackling. Alright there maybe entrails on an occasion, she goes to the butcher to get them. She's all about supporting local businesses you know, and she's the first in agreement with the ickiness and then she tends to throw up."
He raised and eyebrow, "You're losing me."
"Right, well she was trying to narrow things down and I'm not sure about the exact terminology but she got tangled or bumped into him. When she got back she said that she was sure he had spotted her, so next thing I know is that I'm on a plane."
"Why is that important?"
"Still with the questions?"
"With what you've said, humour me?" he asked.
"Or what? You going to ground me?"
He did not look amused.
She bit her bottom lip for a second, "Right building bridges here, but you better spill also or I swear I will drop kick you down this hall."
John looked a little taken aback at the way she had slipped in that comment.
"We don't know a lot about slayer families, not with the new set up. Use to be one slayer and the old council, now lots of slayers and new council. We lost the majority of slayer histories when the old council blew; so the idea of someone, powerful enough to spot Willow, being related to one of us. Well no-one knows what that means."
John furrowed his brow as he spoke, "I think I'm getting you, it was your witch friend that caused Sam to almost collapse last week and you came here wanting to know what it meant"
"Yes," Buffy nodded, "Well not me per se, at that point I was still in shock at the fact that my Mom cheated on my Dad, and I wasn't who I thought I was deal."
"What about this council? What do they want?"
"No, I've done my part and they don't mean you, Dean or Sammy any harm," she looked him straight in the eye, her expression serious, "I want the who, what and most importantly the why."
He sat silent, thinking for a second, not sure what exactly to say. He looked at her, took a breath and told her, told her about Mary, told her about the Demon and how he'd gone looking for it and how he had taken his boys along for the ride.
However, neither of them had noticed the doctor leave, which had given her the opportunity and she taken it. She quietly opened the door and entered the room while the other two were deep in conversation.
He was packing the small bag of clothes his father had brought, he was looking pale, but hey his insides had been used as a squeezy toy, so pale, fragile and breathing was good.
Dawn smiled at the sober face before her, "Hello, how are you feeling?"
"OK," he said, watching her suspiciously.
"Right, take it you have heard the news."
He continued to watch her, "Been told."
"Well at least you haven't booked a one way ticket to the land of Egypt yet."
He straightened up not saying a word.
"Jeez this is going to be a hard crowd," she said, then she remembered what was in her hand, "Got you this."
She handed it to him, and he looked at it for a second before reaching into the gift shop bag.
"Didn't really think you were the flower and grape type – and they didn't have a green one," said Dawn.
He pulled out the small white stuffed gorilla.
"Could call it Tharl II if you want, or as Buffy's got a Mr. Gordo and there is a Mr. Pointy somewhere you could call it Mr. Tharl. But, if you still have the other one it could be Mrs. Tharl, as I'm don't think that you could say it has a definite gender at this point in time. But, it is really up to you."
Dean just looked at the stuffed toy in his hand, "Sam. Remind me to kick his ass."
He raised his head to see her smiling at him, "Cute, real cute. This slayer thing real?"
"Afraid so, how about the hunting thing?"
Dean nodded at her.
"That's cool."
Dean narrowed his eyes before asking, "I know that you didn't do any of the throwing people through walls, but you were doing something last night."
"Not a slayer, but you know what they say about a little knowledge."
He just looked at her blankly.
Dawn raised an eyebrow, "Protection spell and I'm no witch either, before we go down that road. I'm good with the research so I've picked up a thing or two."
"You sure it isn't you and Sam that aren't related?" said Dean half jokingly.
Dawn swallowed, "Why do you say that?"
"He's big on the paper trail, though I've never seen him start any fires with anything other than a match."
"Oh you've heard that bit."
Dean nodded, "Dad didn't take too kindly to that one."
"Yeah kinda noticed," Dawn said, "They're doing the talking thing right now, though it is pretty quiet out there."
"He doesn't really do the raised voice thing, unless it's Sam."
"She's not real big on that either, so we should take it as a good sign that they aren't throwing things at each other."
Dean nodded in agreement, "Do you want to go and see if they're just sitting staring at each other?"
"Could do, if you're ready to go; do you want me to take that?" asked Dawn, reaching for the bag.
He was taken aback, "No, I think I can handle it."
She stepped back, "Sorry didn't mean to hurt the ego. It's just with seeing that this is a hospital and you being the patient."
"Let's just go, but you are taking this!" he said, handing her the stuffed animal.
"OK, I'll protect the image, for now," she took the small toy from his hand, "However, I do reserve the right to re-edit this story and say that there was some tearage involved, if I hear that you haven't been taking care of him."
"You know you are a right pain in the ass."
"Oh most definitely!" she said smiling.
A/N The idea of making another species of vampire was the easiest way I could think of to explain the differences between the ones seen in both series – hope that is okay with people.