Title: Let the Black Waves RollAuthor: JmariaRating: FR-15Disclaimer: I do not own: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Dark-Hunters (Doctor Who, Glee, Supernatural or Torchwood.)Summary: This is what happens when a Watcher of average abilities is forced into tight quarters with a Bear who's faced numerous heartaches. Sanctuary will never be the : 3,073A/N: Stepping away from the Quinn/Grandma drama for a smidge. Because that will be coming up soon (two chapters or so). Kit is gonna cross some lines and get very fed up. That being said, this takes place a few days after the last chapter.

Let the Black Waves Roll
Not What I Planned At All

Kit sat cross-legged on a bench and stared out blankly across square. She was trying to decompress. Seriously. This was beyond sucking. And the shadow blocking her was a pain in the ass.

"You don't want this baggage, Remi, so back off." Kit let her lids slip down and blocked him out.

"Wouldn't be here if I didn't want it." The force of his body settling down on the bench rocked her toward him.

"She's in critical condition," Kit's voice shook as her head dipped forward. "On my watch, Mandy's in critical condition."

"You got control over that?"

"If I were a better witch - if I could pull from a deeper well -"

"You can't do nothing bout that now."

"Lotta shit I can't do nothing about now," Kit pushed herself up and away from him. "Why are you here, Remi?"

"I was charged with watching your back -"

"Fucking newsflash, Peltier, you really weren't!" Kit's chest heaved as it all came crashing down on her. "Savitar wanted you to help me if I needed it with that bastard who used my girls up. He's squashed, the girls were avenged and Rina's safe. Mandy was all on me."

"Quit playin' at bein' the martyr -"

"You don't get to say that to me," Kit snapped. "You've got no damn room to talk. You've had the martyr angle cornered for a damn long time now. Remi the saint who refuses to sleep with his brother's mate even though she was his first."

Remi's face got scary in an instant, and to be honest she really wanted to push him away in a spectacular way. And the Becca card worked like a charm. Too well, and it ached that the unknown female still had so much sway over him.

"You don't know shit about that -"

"I don't know that she was so fucking stupid that she couldn't tell one brother from another?" Kit snapped. "That she didn't once yell out your name while she was fucking him? That she couldn't tell the difference while he was inside her? Y'all might be identical in the face, but that's no guarantee you're all the same in your pants. You sure as shit have different scars."

Remi towered over her, backed her up against the building and caged her in between his arms. He was absolutely terrifying, but she was so pissed off at herself about Mandy that she'd take whatever he could dish out. It was her punishment and she'd take it with a grin.

"You don't get to talk about Becca. And I'd never do that to my brother -"

"Why not? He had no qualms about fucking your girl."

"Stop it."

"Why?" Her lips turned up into an ugly snarl. "Why should I?"

" 'Cause I'm not giving you a fight."

"You don't give me a lot of things, Remi. You don't want to fuck me but you won't let anyone get close to me without a snarl passing your lips."

"This ain't about that."

"No, this is about me fucking up and failing one of my girls. Maybe if I wasn't so damn concerned about teenagers in Ohio and the bears in Sanctuary then I could do my fucking job. So, it's rescinded."

"Huh?"

"Whatever oath Savitar swore you to, or whatever thing he held over your head? I release you from it. We're done."

Kit ducked under his arm and strode back inside the hospital. Mandy might pull through. She might scrape up a miracle for one of her girls yet. But there was no hope in waiting on Remi. It was time to give up the ghost on that one.

Remi slammed back into the bar, his anger burning through his gut. Dean Winchester was at the bar, a scowl on his face when he spotted Remi.

"Where's Kit?"

"What the fuck do you care?"

"I do fucking care," Dean glared at him. "You're supposed to be watching her ass. That's part and parcel of the job."

"I got fired," Remi snarled, snatching at his bandana and shoving the doors open to the kitchen.

"You can't be fired," a new voice had Remi's head swiveling back toward the door he'd just stepped through. A young man in his mid-twenties limped toward him. He smelled - different. Not an Arcadian or Katagaria, not a demon or a witch. Remi couldn't place the scent. "She needs you."

"Made it clear she don't want me around, even if she needs me," Remi shrugged. It had hurt, her pushing him away. But she wasn't wrong. He'd been a dick about everything that concerned her. And part of what she'd said about Becca - he shook his head. He didn't need to think on he sister-in-law. Not now. Not ever. "Get the fuck out of my kitchen."

"She's in danger, Remi. Kit needs you to watch over her."

"What are you talking about?" His head jerked back around as the younger man leaned heavily against the stainless steel countertop. "Who are you?"

"Malachi. I'm an - assistant - to Henrik Somers' squire Sheyle."

"And?"

"Kit's in danger. I'm supposed to oversee her, but I - I can't do it alone," Malachi's free hand shook as he tried to step closer to Remi. "The thing that got Mandy - I couldn't stop it. And it was only toying with her. Kit's the real target. Her and Sheyle."

"Move your ass, Mal."

Remi hit the back door running, not even stopping to pause and wonder how Malachi kept up with his transportations.

Kit's head was pressed against the glass window of Mandy's room in the ICU. It wasn't looking good at all. They were running all kinds of tests and trying all kinds of stimuli but there wasn't any response. Not even a smidge of muscle response. She wasn't breathing or eating on her own. Her eyes hadn't opened since Kit had found her in the alley behind their house. Her last words to Kit had been run.

"How you doin', Kit?"

"Shit, what are you doing here, Winchester?" Kit glanced at his reflection in the mirror.

"You fire your bodyguard and Dawn's freaking out at that bar that she hurt her bff beyond words. Who else is gonna come to keep an eye on you?" Dean grunted, his eyes narrowing on Mandy's too still form on the bed. "It looking any better?"

"No," Kit's voice broke on the word. "There's talk of plug pulling. I don't have any say in it. After everything that happened when Buffy died - she made sure all the girls had a say in what happened if the worst should happen. Mandy doesn't want to linger. She's got the short end of a 72 hour wait ahead of her."

"How you holding up?"

"Let's see, my dad kept a huge secret from me for majority of my life concerning his family. I've got a bear who wants nothing to do with me and my slayer is clinging to life. I'm doing just peachy, ace," Kit's face never turned away from the window. It was easier to spit it all out when she wasn't facing Winchester. Or any person really.

"Can't change that your dad was a dick who kept important shit from you. Can't do anything to change the path Mandy's on. Only thing you can change is the bear -"

"No, I can't. He's got more drama shit than I do. I fired him," Kit rubbed at her temple. "I can't take the bullshit pity I get from them all. I'm not pathetic."

The last came out broken and downright pathetic. Which she was trying not to be. She cleared her throat and kept staring straight ahead.

"It's not easy like you and Dawn were. You right out of the grave and having someone drag you back into a chaotic life. Dawn never gave up on making you live in this world," Kit said quietly, feeling him tense beside her. "And it's not like Sam and Vi, where he was totally oblivious to her feelings. His hurting her didn't have anything to do with his stubbornness. Remi knows I've got a crush on him, and he's punishing me for it."

"Kit -"

"And I do deserve it for being so fucking stupid over him. He literally cock-blocked me and I still simper back to him. I let him do this to me! I let him make me feel stupid. So. I'm done. And if Mandy doesn't -" Kit's voice hitched, and she closed her eyes for a moment, holding the tears back as she tried to bolster her crumbling strength. "And if Mandy loses this fight, I've put in my transfer request. Kalamazoo is my next destination."

"What about Rina and Lisa?"

"Lisa's cycling out in two months for Oregon and Rina's next after her. Three new slayers are coming in to work with the Dark-Hunters under Acheron's watch. Xander's already got a watcher lined up. Carlos and Connor are going to oversee the transition."

"Carlos who got bludgeoned?"

"Yeah. He's a good Watcher," Kit smiled a tiny bit. Dean's concern over Carlos' abilities was funny. "Aimee and Dev will work as liaisons. It all works out."

"Except you being miserable in Kalamazoo."

"No, I'll be there trying to figure out why my dad hated Quinn's dad enough to never mention the fact that I had a uncle."

"That bugs you a lot."

"My dad never lied to me like yours did. He told me everything. So yeah, finding out I have a mysterious uncle who's a total douchenozzle to his own scared and pregnant sixteen year old kid is a little fucking disconcerting," Kit's rant ended on an exasperated sigh. "My grandma showed up out of the blue at his funeral - crying about losing her poor baby. I hadn't seen her in ten years and he almost never talked about her. Now she wants to play happy family. It's just too fucking much." Whether she was talking about everything or just her family, Kit wasn't too sure. Either way, it was too much.

"Families do blow at times. Are you gonna let yourself be bitter and wreck what time you might have left with them?" Dean asked. "Cause she doesn't have a lot left. And your cousin might need someone in her corner."

"She makes it so fucking hard to want to be in her corner," Kit snapped, looking at him for the first time. "She just pushes and pushes, and despite the fact that she's a goddamned cheerleader - she's so much like me it's fucking scary."

"Welcome to my world," Dean gave her grin. "I've got three smart-ass little brothers who make my life hell and a kid sister who's gonna end up giving me ulcers. And that's not even including Ben, Leah and Beth."

Kit nodded, looking away and back at Mandy. It wasn't good. They would probably lose her. Kit had failed to protect her girls. And she would run from that failure. Rina had heard it in her voice when she'd called to tell her about Mandy. She'd already told Kit she'd put in a Watcher request with Xander. If that meant making the journey to Michigan with winter approaching, then she'd do it.

"Thanks, Dean," Kit said quietly. "But if you ever tell Dawn we had this heart to heart, I will gut you."

"Noted."

Kit slipped out of the hospital as dusk seeped in across the horizon. Dean had tried to convince her to leave earlier, but she'd stayed until the nurse overseeing Mandy had gently kicked her out. Either the hospital's regulations for visiting hours were different than the 8 p.m. cut off or someone had whispered into the older woman's ear.

She couldn't go home. Dawn would be there with her grandmother and Kit wasn't ready for that. Her only other real hangout was Sanctuary. Damn it. So she slipped into the bar from the back entrance and nodded to Cody who brought her a drink before she even asked for one.

"Remi's not on door duty tonight," Cody said quietly.

"I noticed. Look at all the pretty boys," Kit fought to work up to a smile. It was hard, but she managed.

"One's been asking for you," Cody nodded to a man in a black military jacket, jeans, boots and possibly a wife-beater. It was obscured by the jacket. His hair was short, not military short but not by much. "Asked for either you or Dawn."

"He give you a name?" Kit asked as quietly as she could.

"Nope. Said it had something to do with Faith."

"Shit," Kit tossed back the drink and took a deep breath. "Send him on over. And bring me water in a shot glass."

"You're only gonna act shit-faced?" Cody grinned at her.

"Yup."

If this guy was here looking for her or Dawn and asking questions about Faith, then someone had let slip that the two of them were her watchers. Which was partially true. After the whole Wood debacle, Faith had told Buffy in no uncertain terms that she was picking her next watcher. Giles was in England, reestablishing connections there. Willow had been in South America tracking down new slayers. Xander had been taking over for Wood in Cleveland. That left her with only new watchers to choose from. Kit and Dawn had been fresh out of the last semester of training and Faith had picked them for their six month internship before being assigned new slayers.

The six months had been basically them learning how to drink from Faith and sleeping in crappy motels as they followed the traveling slayer while killing vampires. Dawn obviously had loved it - up until five months ago had been doing the same thing with Sam and Dean Winchester. Kit had begged Xander to give her a comfy bed to sleep in at nights and a little more stability. But at the end of the day, Faith hadn't picked a new Watcher, so she kept calling Dawn and Kit if she needed any magical backup or research done.

This guy knew Faith well enough that she'd given him Kit's contact info. Not good. But she also didn't call to warn Kit, which meant it wasn't necessarily bad either. He was a good looking guy, and Kit felt a stab of attraction. Good to know that her severe liking of Remi hadn't killed her ability to be attracted to other men. Not so good if he ended up being a bad guy. He was closer to her own height than the Peltier boys, but that wasn't a drawback. He was good looking in a rugged way - not at all pretty boy but he looked like life had left a mark on him and he wore it well. His hand was wrapped loosely around a longneck beer as he sat down across from her.

"I heard you had a few questions about faith for me?" Kit smiled at him, surprised that it was a genuine one despite all the shit laying heavy on her shoulders right now. "A bar's an odd place to be discussing morality, don't you think?"

"What, I don't look like a reformed Altar boy?" That came with a little smirk that had her toes curling a bit.

"That wasn't the R word I was thinking of," Kit answered. "Although, I'm doubting the truth in any part of that question."

"Which is throwing you for a loop?"

"Reformed and Altar boy."

"You got me there," he chuckled. Whoo boy, was that a hot chuckle. "The name's Clint Barton. I met Faith in New York."

"Don't tell me she got you in the family way, because honestly I can only take so many sob stories about how she corrupted your innocence." Cody's eyes went wide as he set her water down in front of her and asked Clint if he wanted another beer.

"I'm good, thanks," Clint's eyes never moved off of Kit. "Faith's not my type."

"Really? Paint me stunned, because normally guys have a type and it's called the Faith model," Kit tried not to wince at the taste of lukewarm water. What the hell had Cody been thinking? And then it hit her. Damn kid was smart. So she gave into the slight wince. "But that doesn't tell me why you're here and asking about her if she's not your type or a type you consider sampling at the very least."

"She told me you were sharp," Clint's eyes shone as he took a swig of his beer. "Evade, charm, then drive right to the point all while playing up that you're here to get shit-faced. You're sharper on the take than she is."

"I've been around her a long time. I call it honing a craft. And who says I'm playing at getting shit-faced?"

"Bartender looked at the kid like he was crazy when he put your drink order in. He also reached for a pitcher under the counter when he filled the order. You shot back the first one without wincing and then winced belatedly on the second," Clint leaned closer. "You almost sold me on it."

"Let me guess, you took that seminar with Patrick Jane. I really don't like that guy."

"Never heard of him."

"You'd be the first to not have," Kit shrugged. "So why are you looking for me if you're so buddy-buddy with Faith?"

"She said to look you up if I was ever in a bar called Sanctuary," Clint smiled. "And I gotta say, my day sure is looking up."

"You came however-many miles to look me up?" Kit didn't buy it for a second.

"I was in the area on work-related issues. It seemed pretty damn worth-while."

Either this was a set-up or a set-up. Knowing Faith, it honestly could have been either one. Kit narrowed her eyes for a minute, noticing Aimee's look from where she entered behind the bar. Kit decided in that second. Her hand snaked out to reach for Clint's bottle and let a smirk play up on her lips. She brought the bottle to her lips and took a long drag of his half-finished beer.

"What do you say we change up the venue for this conversation?" Kit said, ignoring the Aimee's signals from the bar.

"I know just the place."