Title: Let the Black Waves Roll
Author: Jmaria
Rating: FR-15
Disclaimer: I do not own: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Dark-Hunters (The Avengers, Charmed, 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 same
Words: 2,561
A/N: Halloween and work were major time sucks, and I spent most of the 1st & 2nd sleeping to make up for all the lost sleep the week yanked out of me. This chapter's a little sad…I am warning you now.
This chapter brought to you by: A Sight to Behold by Eisley and The Cave (cover) by Tyler Ward & Megan Nicole.

Let the Black Waves Roll
Let's Break the Walls Down and Hold Onto Hope

She hated when he did that. Remi didn't often flaunt his gods-granted gift unless it was an emergency - like it had been with Rina and Quinn. One minute she was getting into Lisa's Mini Cooper and the next she was in an unfamiliar cabin overlooking the swamp. It took her a few seconds to process what the hell he was doing.

"I can't believe you fucking dragged me out of a car!" Kit spun on him, shoving at his chest. Remi leaned back, but the big bastard didn't move much past that. "I have shit to do, Peltier."

"Why him?"

Kit almost felt like her head was about to explode. Why Clint? That was what he'd dragged her out of a car and across however many miles to ask? Was he fucking high?

"Are you high?" Kit snapped, pushed at him again.

"Answer -"

"News-fucking-flash, Remi, I don't have to!" Kit paced away from him. "I could have a whole backlog of reasons why, but I don't owe you shit! Especially after you left me hanging out there with no clue I was in danger!"

"I was handling the danger."

"And I fired you!" Kit yelled, glancing back at him. He hadn't even moved. "I'm a big girl. I think I've proved - even though I have no reason to prove anything to you - that I can handle myself."

"You're human. What the hell can you handle?" Remi snapped, finally showing some damn emotion.

Kit froze. Not just tensed up, her whole fucking body chilled. She couldn't even hear what he was saying. If he was even speaking. She knew she had limitations - hell, every living and non-living creature she knew had limitations. But it stung realizing the man she'd been working with and lusting after thought she was a fucking useless damsel in distress. She'd worked magic when she was lagging, she'd worked on fractured bones, had gone on no sleep and no food to help any of her girls when they'd needed her. She'd practically carried Mandy out of that alley and Rina out of the mausoleum. But what the hell could she handle. Remi was right in front of her now, yelling something at her. Her fist curled tight at her side, and stung like a bitch when she plowed it into his face. His head snapped back, not much but enough to get him out of her face.

"At least I don't have a fucking death wish. At least I can handle the fact that the person I care about doesn't return the feelings. At least I don't play fucking mind games with a person I'm supposed to respect and trust with my life," Kit's voice grew as everything spilled out of her. "And at least I can still be a fucking functioning human being when my heart gets trampled over and over again. All the shit you do to me, all the teasing and flirting and then retreating? It hasn't turned me into a person who can't be open to someone actually giving a fuck about how I feel."

"What the fuck -"

"Shut the fuck up, Remi!" She screamed, her anger and hurt boiling over. "You're good at being uncommunicative normally, so take a page from that book for a fucking second. You asked me why him, and now I'm answering you. Because he actually gave a shit about who I was, not who I wasn't. He saw me."

"And I don't see you."

"All you've ever seen is Becca," Kit stepped back from him. "I don't have time to console you in the fact that she screwed you and Q over. And I definitely don't have time to -"

Remi caged her in against the wall so fast that Kit didn't even have time to process what she was about to say as his mouth slammed down on hers. Her head tilted back for half a second as she revealed in the feel of his lips bruising against hers, of his hand sinking in her hair. Then she jerked her knee hard up into his groin and tore her mouth from his. That actually had him moving back, a confused glare on his face.

"And I definitely don't have time for you to play pretend with me. I've got human matters to deal with, and I've got to go sit with Mandy while she dies. So either take me to the hospital or show me the phone so I can call someone to come get me."

The bastard had been waiting at the hospital when Remi got them there ten minutes later. Kit had blown past him to get to Mandy's room, but had stopped at the small touch on her arm that the other man who had given her. Remi wanted to growl. She had refused to speak to him since she'd dropped her ultimatum. The short bastard just stared at him stonily, not moving or speaking. At least, not until he made a move to follow Kit.

"Think you've done enough damage tonight, teddy," Clint said quietly.

"Back off, little man," Remi growled.

"She came into the bar last night drained and in pain," Clint stayed planted in front of him, not looking like he was going to budge in the slightest. "I took care of the pain, what I could at least -"

"Don't talk about her like that -" Remi's growl turned into a full-out snarl.

"I'm not. I've got nothing but respect for that woman," Clint raised his voice over his snarl. "She goes back to the bar, wondering why her partner's nowhere to be seen and in a panic that the beast that got her girl and tried to get her might have done something to him. Then she finds out his ex is in labor, so she starts to think his disappearance has nothing to do with her."

"I didn't even know Becca was there," Remi shook his head. "And I was handling the situation."

"Newsflash, women like to be kept up to speed in this profession. And from what I saw in that warehouse, you could have used her skills."

"What skill?"

"The fact that you even have to ask that makes me want to put an arrow through your neck," Clint's voice rankled with disgust. "Truth is, I'd have been dead if that woman's magic wasn't half as strong as she is. You put her through any more shit today, Peltier, and I will put a dozen arrows in you."

Mandy was so still in the bed that it was unnatural. Mandy had never been able to sit still in the months Kit had known her. Even when she was sleeping, Mandy had been a mover. And now she was so eerily still that it broke Kit's heart. Lisa stood in the corner of the room not talking, which Kit knew meant her girl was hurting. Lisa and Mandy bickered constantly, but there was a sisterly love between all the bullshit.

Kit brushed a few golden strands of hair back from Mandy's unnaturally pale face and wished she'd been able to save the slayer from this death. But she couldn't. The cat's venom was highly toxic, and Mandy would have had to been given a second doze from the exact cat that had clawed her within twenty-four hours to heal her. Mother Nature had had some sick ass jokes up her sleeves when she'd created the beasts that she'd given them a way to play with their dinner. They'd passed the grace period two days ago.

"I'm so sorry, Mandy," Kit whispered as she pressed a kiss to her slayer's forehead. Her hand squeezed tightly on Mandy's own limp hand. Kit nodded to the technicians who started turning off machines. "I'll be with you to the end."

Fifteen minutes later, Mandy's heart gave one last, sluggish beat and the slayer slipped away from them. Kit distantly heard the doctor call the time of death and it was only Lisa's own tug on her arm that made Kit let go of Mandy's cold hand. She stepped away from the bed and immediately hugged Lisa, who dropped her tough-girl act and burst into tears.

Sanctuary was eerily still when Kit walked back through the doors the next day. She'd spent all of yesterday arranging the final plans with Dawn, the Council and breaking the news to Mandy's grandfather. When she couldn't sleep that night, she'd packed up her things. Then she'd gone down for an uncomfortable breakfast with her grandmother and cousin. It had been awkward, but Kit had somehow survived the meal. Quinn had even teared up when she brought up Mandy. Kit hadn't had it in her to cry. She was emotionally strung out and more than ready to run. She'd settled on packing up Mandy's belongings with Lisa before the slayer went to go hang out with Drew, Mandy's boyfriend.

So now she was making her way through a somber afternoon crowd of Sanctuary and setting herself up at the bar to face Aimee and Dev. Except Dev turned out to be Q. She could see the differences up close, and could see how Becca could have been unable to tell the difference between Remi and Q from a distance.

"Hey, Kit," Aimee squeezed her hand from across the bar. "How you holdin' up?"

"Only way I can," Kit cleared her throat. "I just wanted to tell you that Mandy died yesterday. And that I fired Remi as Council liaison three days ago."

"He mentioned that, and followed it with an 'over my fucking body'," Aimee nodded.

"He doesn't get a say. Savitar said it was on the Council's rep to choose a Sanctuary liaison, and I would appreciate it if you or one of your other brothers would take it over."

"We'll be willing to work with any of your slayers," Aimee answered without even pausing to think.

"Thanks. I also wanted to tell you that I'll be leaving New Orleans. I have to take Mandy's body home to her grandfather in North Carolina."

"And then you'll be back."

"No," Kit shook her head slowly. Q swore beside Aimee, but that could have been because his mate had come into the bar with a baby in her arms. Kit couldn't look over at her, so she kept her eyes on Aimee. "I've lost three slayers on my watch, so I'm being reassigned to Michigan."

"You didn't have anything to do with those first two dying, Kit."

"Still happened on my watch," Kit shook her head. Q had moved away to his mate and took the baby from her arms. Becca just stared at Kit. "Lisa's staying on for a while, but with Mandy gone, we're down on slayers. Two new girls will be coming in, and once Lisa gets them accustomed to the city, she'll be cycled out west. Rina's chosen to be cycled out early, so she won't be coming back for some time."

"You're the watcher, Kit. We can't liaise with the slayers," Aimee shook her head.

"Carlos and Connor will be coming down in the interim and show the watcher the ropes. I just hope you'll welcome them with open arms like you did with me," Kit's voice caught as Becca came closer. She pushed herself off the barstool and started to move away. "My plane leaves at three, and there's still things I have to get done before I leave. Give the twins my love, will you? And Fang, Dev and Samia?"

"Kit, wait," Aimee ducked under the bar and pulled her into a hug. "My brother is an absolute ass if you lets you go without a word. You are the best thing to happen to him in years."

"And he's the worst thing to happen to me," Kit shook her head as Aimee hugged her tighter. Becca was staring at her like a bug. "But you guys were the closest I've come to family in years."

Aimee let her go and went back to the bar, where someone was calling for a drink. Kit started to leave, but she just couldn't with Becca just fucking standing there and staring at her. She was pretty sure that Becca had heard Aimee's words to her, and Kit couldn't leave without getting it off her chest. For a bear, Becca looked damn startled that Kit had come up to her.

"It's Becca, right?" Kit asked quietly. Becca nodded and Kit plowed on. "I just have one question for you."

"Okay."

"You knew it wasn't Remi that night," Kit stated, not even pretending to phrase it as a question because that wasn't ever even called into question. She continued before Becca could answer anyway. "What game were you playing?"

"Huh?"

"You knew Q wasn't Remi, so which one of them were you trying to make jealous? Were you using Q to make Remi jealous or to show Q what he was missing by passing you up?"

"I don't know what you mean," Becca said quietly, her cheeks turning pink in embarrassment.

"Yeah, you do," Kit shook her head. "But maybe you were just trying to get a reaction out of Remi. See, I've known the bear for awhile now, and I know how hard it is for him talk and admit how he feels. So if you thought sleeping with his brother might make him more verbal then you were pretty fucking stupid. You guys have known each other for a long time, so I'm pretty thrown that you would use that tactic."

"I wasn't -"

"Not done," Kit cut her off. "Because Remi probably always loved you. He's just shit at emoting. It's called a guy thing. And it's a shit thing to do to someone who loves you."

"I care about Remi," Becca said hotly. "He was one of my best friends and I did love him."

"But not as much as you did trying out Q," Kit shook her head. "You broke an already emotionally closed-off man. He can't even admit that he cares about anyone because he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. He didn't deserve your shitty game, Becca."

"It wasn't a game. I didn't know what would happen when Quinn and I - I never thought it would go that far," Becca admitted quietly, her eyes shifting a bit before they looked away from Kit.

"It's hard to stop at a kiss," Kit nodded, remembering Remi's kiss. "But it normally is when it's everything you've been longing for. Which means you were settling for Remi when you were really holding out for Q. That's just shitty, Becca. Remi's cut himself off from love or a mate because you were the be-all and end-all for him. And all he was to you was a stepping stone."

Becca just stared at her, her eyes wide as Kit turned away from her. She got about two steps before Remi stepped up to her. She kept her shoulders straight as his jaw tightened.

"It's time to move on. Someone needed to ask the question you were always too afraid to know the answer to. You deserved a chance to move on. I hope you take it," Kit said quietly as she stepped around him and out of Sanctuary for the last time.