Author's note: Chapter is a little long. Also Italics are a phone conversation.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Slowly prying her eyes open, Allison releases a groan as a headache works its way into her brain. "Really?! I am so tired of blacking out!" Rubbing her temples, she takes in an unfamiliar setting. She knows that she's in someone's bed, not sure who's; but she notices that the room itself is lavender with a desk in front of the bed and posters of people that Allison has seen in movies or tv shows, but hasn't taken the time to learn their names. She notices small trinkets around the room as well and what appear to be a stack of old musty books on the desk next to a Mac computer.
The door slowly creaks open, then opens more fully revealing a tall girl with long dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, a goofy expression on her pale face. Allison notices that she's wearing a cream colored halter top with shorts and heels adorning her feet. Taking her stature from that of a model to that of an Amazon woman of the wild. "Great! You're awake! I hope you don't mind, but my sister insisted on putting you in my bed, since hers and Faith's is a little messy. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself I'm Dawn and the short uptight one that you met earlier is Buffy, my older sister. She can be cool when she wants to, but can be a little bossy. You know the whole I'm chosen, weight of the world on my shoulders thing. I mean you should know your Faith's sister and all. "The taller girl finally ended her nervous ridden rant. Allison wondered how long she could go and decided to speak before the poor girl had an aneurysm.
"It's nice to meet you Dawn. My name is Allison, but you probably know that seeing as you that I am Faith's sister and all. Speaking of which, where are Faith and Lydia?" Asking politely, getting out of Dawn's bed.
"Faith is downstairs watching tv with Buffy and Willow. I think your girlfriend said she was going to find her car and park it in front of our house, then something about even though it's a small town, doesn't mean someone won't pull a "Grand Theft Auto" and steal her car." Dawn finished looking quite proud at knowing everyone's location.
Allison didn't deny Dawn's observation about hers and Lydia's relationship, but she was puzzled as to who this new woman, Willow was.
"Don't worry, everything will be explained downstairs follow me." Dawn says exiting the room Allison on her heels trying to observe the nice suburban home as Dawn spout off random facts about the whole house. She thought it was quite impressive given that the walk from Dawn's room to the living room was thirty seconds.
Upon arriving in the living room, Allison took in the homely setting of the Summer's home. The décor was admirable at best and everyone looked very comfortable in each other's presence. Well everyone besides Allison. It's rare that she is ever shy, but she wasn't sure how to act around everyone, so she sat on the la-z-boy that was next to the couch. The front door opening gauged Allison's attention immediately. Moving through the foyer at lightning speed was Lydia looking cheerful.
"Little Red is back. Nice catch little sis." Faith Said from her place on the couch. Buffy was wrapped her embrace released herself and turned the tv off with the remote.
Lydia smiled at Faith as she made her way to sit on the arm of Allison's chair.
Allison noticed an older redheaded woman sitting next to Dawn on the couch reading an old book. She finally looked up when everyone in the room shifted their positions, so that they were all sitting up straight waiting for someone to speak.
"Oh hey, you look just like Faith. You must be Allison, I'm Willow." She offered a smile.
"So mini me, Little Red her tells me that you've been looking for me. May I ask why?" Faith asks stretching her arms. She loved Buffy, but her head was kind of heavy.
"I want to know why you left me alone with them." Allison got out feeling all of the manipulation and betrayal that her family has put her through, since she found out that her family hunted werewolves and whatever else for a living.
"They told you, didn't they? Alli, I'm sorry okay. I didn't think they would make you hunt if I left. I thought I was protecting you." Faith's face and demeanor falls as she realizes what Allison has been through. "I was gonna come back for you, I was, but something else happened and I didn't want to put you or anyone else in danger." She finishes looking guilty, her hand moving through her dark locks as Buffy sets a comforting hand on her thigh.
"I know. I know about you being a slayer or whatever." Everyone's face perked up with curiosity. "I just- Do you know that both mom and Aunt Kate are dead? And that Gerard is probably off dying somewhere as well, but not before he manipulated me into trying to get me to kill my friends." Allison spit out angrily. She wasn't angry with Faith she was upset with the rest of her family.
Getting up from her place on the couch, Faith crossed the room to kneel in front of Allison in order to be eye to eye with her younger sibling.
"I know about mom and Kate, Alli. I'm sorry I wasn't there to mourn with you, but I did attend their funerals." Allison's head perked up at the new revelation. "Big Red here gave me a glamour, so no one would notice." She offered answering the silent question. "I knew Gerard was a sociopathic old man, but something tells me that he will get what he deserves and I don't mean death." She finishes leaning up to give Allison's sitting form a hug. The room was quiet except for Faith who was whispering comforting words as Allison cried.
After a few moments her crying subsided and Allison pulled away from Faith to wipe her eyes with the backs of her hands. Looking embarrassed for crying in front of people that she didn't know too well.
"Don't worry Allison. Everyone in this room except Lydia has cried in this room at least once." Buffy offered from across the room with a smile.
"She's telling the truth. If I don't cry at least once a month everyone starts to question my sanity." Dawn gets in with a laugh.
"Yeah, it's kind of an initiation around her. If you don't cry the Scooby-gang will cry for you." Willow says with a matter a fact tone.
"I cry when I have my nightmares. That damn alpha has scarred my brain forever." Lydia says as she interlaces her hands with Allison's and giving her a hand a light kiss. This action causes the room to "awe" at the affection between the two girls.
"Aye, you might want to cool it on the smoochies there, B will expect more from me then she already gets." Faith tries to whisper, but slayer hearing gets her in trouble.
"Faith!" Buffy says her voice biting.
"Sorry, B. You know I love ya." She says giving the other girl an eyebrow wiggle.
"Yeah, yeah.
You just don't want Allison and Lydia to know how much of a big softie you are." Buffy banters.
"Hey, I still gotta be the cool older sister. Unlike some people around here." Faith shoots back.
"I can be cool. Go on Dawnie, tell them how cool I am." Buffy says getting desperate to prove her case.
"Oh, yeah. You are big ol' bucket of fun. Especially when the potentials were all here, Oh wait you were general Buffy then." Dawn laughs and Faith moves to give the other girl a high five.
Surveying from their side of the room Allison and Lydia laugh at the group's antics. Buffy is still trying to prove her case, while Dawn and Faith crack jokes on how cool Buffy isn't and Willow is basically Switzerland through the whole thing.
"How do you like having an older sister?" Lydia whispers into Allison's ear.
"It's nice. Faith seems great. I'm glad we came, Lyds." Allison says looking into her girlfriends eyes.
"Me too. You know I'd follow you to the end of the universe if I had to. You know, since we're girlfriends now." Lydia offers nonchalantly.
"I wouldn't want you to follow me anywhere, but being by my side as my equal would work perfectly. Girlfriends? I like the sound of that." Allison turns to give Lydia a chaste kiss to the lips. The moment was interrupted when Allison's cell phone rang. Digging into her pocket to pull it out, she saw Dad flashing across the screen. She thought it'd be best to answer it, so her dad doesn't send the cavalry. Meaning Scott and his were friends.
"Hey dad. Yeah, we made it. Sorry, we just found her is all and I got really excited. Okay hold on one second." She says pulling the device from her to motion Faith over mouthing "Dad". Faith took the device and walked out of the room.
Everyone in the room was still talking, but both Buffy and Allison heard Faith's conversation with their father.
I'm 5x5, dad.
You haven't spoken to me in fourteen years, Faith.
I know, okay. Believe it or not, but I was trying to protect you guys.
That's not your job, Faith. We were supposed to protect you and we failed.
Dad, it's not your fault okay. I just couldn't follow the Argent's right of passage.
I understand that now sweetheart. I just wish everything could have turned out differently.
It's done. But I am kind of hunting, not werewolves, but other things and I've saved people. I even think I saved the world a few times.
I know, sweetheart. I have the newspaper clippings to prove it.
If you knew where I was and what I was doing, why didn't you come whisk me away.
Your sister was so distraught when you left and even worse when you went missing that she forgot about you. It had to have been her to find you and talk to you in person.
So, you set this up.
Kind of. I put your box in her room. Her friend Lydia was the one to actually find your location. She's a genius, you know.
I'm glad she found me. I missed Allison so much. She's so grown up, pretty soon she won't need me anymore.
You're her sister Faith, she'll always need you.
I missed you too, dad. I'm sorry about mom and Aunt Kate.
It's okay sweetheart. They would be so proud of you if they were here now. I'll let you get back to your sister. I love you. And take care of Allison, she's been through a lot and she's going to need you.
It was nice talking to you too, dad. I love you too, bye.
The call dropping brought both Buffy and Allison into the room's conversation. Lydia and Dawn were swapping fashion preferences, while Willow would ask Lydia questions about Archaic Latin in between designer's that she and Dawn thought were the most underrated.
Faith smiled when she entered the room to give Allison her phone back. Buffy gave the younger girl a quizzical look as if she knew that Allison heard the phone conversation as well.
"Dad and I had a nice chat. You can stay here for as long as you need." Faith said overly jovial to have her sister around.
"I didn't mean to, but I heard." Allison said looking ashamed of herself.
"What do you mean you heard?" Faith asked looking fearful. Buffy giving Allison the same look as well.
"That's the other reason why Alli and I are here. Something happened to her yesterday and we think she's a slayer now like you two." Lydia explained still holding Allison's hand, but this time she was playing with the other girls knuckles it was a way that got Allison to calm down.
"No no no no no no. Red, please tell me that my sister wasn't a potential before you did the spell on the axe." Faith says getting angry.
"It's not impossible. The slayer line can run through some families, but I think it's rare. Then again everyone in this room holds some sort of rarity." Willow nervously deflates.
"Shit!" Faith yells while pacing back in forth trying to find ways to shield her sister from the horrors that would come Allison's way with her new found abilities and light knowledge.
"Faith, it's okay. We'll figure this out. Maybe, no one will notice. I mean there are thousands of slayers now. It's not just us anymore." Buffy offers standing up from the couch to stop Faith's nervous pacing, with hand the dark haired woman's shoulder.
"I know, B, but those girls that we had here were in constant danger more than usual. I don't want that for Alli, okay." Faith says running a hand through her hair.
"I get that you are trying to protect me and all, but I can take care of myself. I'm also a hunter, remember?" Allison says standing up valiant and straight from her chair.
"Allison, there are worse things out there besides werewolves and Kanimas and whatever else was in the family bestiary." Faith says trying to get Allison to understand.
"How did you know about Jackson?" Lydia asks.
"Let's just say that Gerard was a little sloppy when it came to leaving his personal belongings around. Also, I heard about a boy that was dead and was walking around like nothing happened on the news. Following a string of murders with a reptilian creature reported at the crime scene by witnesses. It wasn't hard to put two and two together." Faith finishes.
"Then show me. I mean you must have trained the others, right? I'm already trained. I just need the knowledge." Allison says eagerly, wanting to understand what being a slayer was all about.
"Okay. We'll train you, but it won't be easy. I hope you plan on staying in town for a while." Buffy says. Faith nodding along. She may be against the life that Allison has to lead, but thought doesn't mean that she won't prepare her for what may or may not happen. Sort of like a safety net, if anything puts Allison, Lydia or their friends in any danger, she could be the one to protect them.
Allison suddenly looks like she is going into herslf, so Lydia decides to answer for her.
"We'll stay as long as Allison needs to, plus we won't have to be back in school for three months. The strawberry blonde point out just in case they worry about school for the two young girls.
Faith and Buffy have a silent stare down before, The taller of the two gestures to Lydia and Allison.
"Alright, mini me and Little Red. Come with us, Buffy and I are going to take you on a little field trip." She says grimly.
"Looks like we're going back to school." Buffy quips trying to lighten the mood, since the topic of the school is a sore subject for all those involved.
What's left of Sunnydale High is a dilapidated hole in the ground. The only thing left standing is a small memorial that was made to those that fell during the battle that shook the town, literally. The residents of Sunnydale think the memorial was made for people that were trapped in the school when the building collapsed into a sinkhole, but that was the story that Willow and Xander told the media.
"This was where it happened. The battle from those dreams that I had, it was real." Allison says staring into the whole that held the building.
"Think of this as an example of a really big threat being cut off from the head and only having little to no impact on the rest of the world. It's also an example of how big and bad these things can end up." Faith moving to stand next to Allison to give her a look that said "This is real and it's scarier than what we can imagine".
"Are people really that dense that they think a sinkhole caused this? Forget that I said that. We're from Beacon Hills where people think that every animal attack is a mountain lion." Lydia laughs at the parallels that both towns share. "I was right. This town is built on a mystical convergence of some kind. I can feel the strength of what used to be down there held." Lydia points down at the hole a burst of light shot from her hand causing the ground around the hole grow at a sporadic pace.
"Looks like I'm not the only one changing." Allison quirks an eyebrow as she gives Lydia an admiring sm