Chapter 47: Old Enemy; New Family

Warning: Only for the A/N at the end. It might upset some of you.

Challenge: #4472 'Bunny is my what?' by CindyB.

Thanks to my beta: not this time due to time constraints. Sorry for any errors I didn't catch.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. NCIS characters belong to Donald Bellisario, Don McGill and CBS Paramount Television. Jack Ryan and his friends belong to Tom Clancy. Criminal Minds characters belong to Jeff Davis, The Mark Gordon Company and CBS. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Posted In Honor of nothing in particular on TTH!

Kidnapper's Lair

When Wes came in the room, he was steered over to where Buffy had a vice grip on Anya's hand. The agents had attempted to pull her away, but they couldn't without upsetting the crime scene even more than it already was. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Let them take care of the dead; the living need you now. Xander and Anya's baby needs you now."

Buffy had been about to deck her ex-Watcher for being insensitive, but his words about the baby stopped her other hand from moving more than a couple inches. She looked up and saw Willow Joyce in Agent Rossi's arms. Willow Joyce…a name that reminded her of two other loved ones who were gone. She would honor Xander and Anya's wishes to make that the baby's official name, but she would give her a less painful nickname: Joy. Hopefully it would serve to remind them that joy was possible to feel again, even in the midst of tragedy.

Going over and holding out her hands for her niece, Buffy cooed to the little girl, "I'm your Aunty Buffy, and I'm going to do my best to make sure bad stuff like this never happens to you gain."

"I called an ambulance for the baby," JJ informed the room at a normal voice level before added in a softer one, "and the coroner for the victim and unsub."

Buffy pretended like she didn't hear it since she wasn't supposed to hear something that quiet from where she was in the room.

Wes nodded gratefully at the first part of the statement. "I'll ride to the hospital with Buffy and the baby. That way you don't have to worry about getting me back there."

"Can we take the ambulance to the same hospital where Tara is?" Buffy asked. "Joy doesn't seem to be in any danger and I'd feel better if the whole family was together tonight."

"I'll tell the paramedics," Hotch promised. "If she goes into any kind of distress, however, they will go to the nearest hospital."

BAU

A couple hours later…

Morgan looked at the crime scene photos again and they reminded him of a question he had earlier. "What the hell happened to the back door?" he asked.

Rossi chuckled mirthlessly. "That would be Ms. Summers' work. Neither Aaron nor I were able to force the door open, but she managed to knock it off its hinges with a single kick."

"It's a common phenomenon for people under extreme emotional stress to manage superhuman feats of strength," Reid interjected in an offhanded fashion.

Before he could go on, Rossi interrupted him, "She didn't seem too emotionally stressed out before her friend died. In fact, she was quite calm and collected – almost a different persona she showed us in the office."

With an arched eyebrow, Morgan asked, "You aren't suggesting that she has split personality, are you?"

Shaking his head, Rossi replied, "Not at all. It actually reminded me of some soldiers just before, during and after a combat encounter. Before, they'd be all nerves and bravado; during, they were steady as rocks; after, the adrenaline leaving caused them to shake uncontrollably."

"With the case basically closed, I think Buffy Summers will just have to be an unsolved mystery for us," JJ concluded.

Summers/Osbourne home

The next day…

Buffy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She really wasn't looking forward to this task. In most ways it wasn't as bad as telling JR that his mother was dead – although the concept of death was lost on the boy; he just wanted his mommy back – but in one critical way, this was way worse.

Vengeance Demons were highly unpredictable and now she had to tell one that her best friend was killed…and by a human to boot. She took another breath and decided that putting it off wouldn't make it any easier.

She pulled out the talisman Anya kept in a locked box in her closet and gripped it tightly. "Halfrek, I beseech you to come to me. Halfrek, I beseech you to come to me. Halfrek, I beseech you to come to me," she chanted.

Thirty seconds later, an annoyed demon appeared. "This better be good, Slayer. I was just about to grant a wish to some kid locked in a cupboard under a staircase in England."

"Take a seat, Halfrek," Buffy responded woodenly.

"What's wrong? Where's Anyanka?" Halfrek demanded, her face turning more demony with every word.

Buffy's eyes closed in pain. "She's gone," she whispered. "She died when some nutcase cut her open so he could give her baby girl to his wife. It didn't matter that his wife was dead, too…probably for at least a couple months based on the way she looked," she rambled a little in her nervousness and sorrow.

Halfrek's eyes started to glow…literally. "A human did this to her?" she growled.

"Yes."

"What is his name?" Halfrek demanded.

Buffy attempted to halt the vengeance demon from exacting revenge by pointing out, "It doesn't matter anymore. He's dead."

Halfrek began laughing evilly, then said, "May not matter to you because you'd never touch the magicks required to bring him back, but for me? It's nothing compared to some of the things I've done before. . ?" she demanded in full vengeance demon mode.

Accepting defeat – probably because her heart wasn't in it – Buffy answered, "James Wilder. All I ask is that you wait until his body is released by the FBI before taking it. We don't need them digging into our world, and this team would dig until they knew everything. They aren't the Sunnydale police," she requested/warned.

"Out of the respect and affection," Halfrek spit out distastefully, "Anyanka had for you, I will wait. But once we have him, don't even think about trying to stop us. Lord D'Hoffryn will want his own revenge as well."

"I won't," Buffy promised.

Several seconds passed in awkward silence before Halfrek stood up to leave.

Buffy stopped her by calling out, "Wait! I have something else I wanted to talk to you about."

Resisting the urge to snort in derision, Halfrek asked, "What else could we possibly have to say to each other?"

"Anya's daughter, Willow Joyce…or Joy for short," Buffy replied simply.

Halfrek sat back down and gestured for Buffy to continue. "Go on."

"Anya explained to me about the power of your names and why she couldn't name her daughter after you, even though you were her best friend," Buffy started explaining her crazy idea.

Nodding, Halfrek recapped the reason, "The magick tied to our names gets volatile if our name is shared with anyone…especially a human."

"Uh-huh. But anyway, I know that if you were human, she would want you to be Joy's godmother. Since that can't be the case either, I'd like you to consider being one of her aunties. Well, hers and JR's, of course," Buffy corrected herself.

That managed to surprise the vengeance demon, and she wasn't easily surprised by anything anymore. "You'd let me be part of their lives?" Halfrek needed confirmation that she didn't misunderstand the Slayer.

Buffy shrugged. "Anya would, and I'll do what she'd like me to do…as long as you don't try to corrupt them," she added with a hint of warning.

"Okay," Halfrek agreed. "In the spirit of our new truce, I'll tell you what I was going to tell Anyanka this after the baby was born. D'Hoffryn has put her children on the 'No Wish' list. That means that nobody can make a wish against them and none of us can take their wish. They are safe from his people as long as he remains Lord of Arashmaharr. If he's overthrown, all bets are off. Now that doesn't give you the freedom to make their lives difficult. I can still do something on their behalf, as long as it doesn't hurt them, directly or indirectly."

Anya had explained Halfrek's cases when she introduced her before the wedding. "Since you're the vengeance demon for neglected children, I think I can avoid that pretty easy," Buffy said.

"Might not be as easy as you think since you're the Slayer and have other obligations," Halfrek answered ominously before disappearing.

A/N: Not as long as other chapters, but I wanted to get this out this weekend and set up the epilogue. Yes…after 5 years, a prologue, 47 chapters, and over 100,000 words, I am calling an end to this story. I could keep it going, I suppose, but the length of time it's remained incomplete (plus the word count) makes me think it's time to retire it. If there is something that you'd like explained/handled in the epilogue, please let me know. If I can answer it without it feeling rushed/forced, I'll do my best to include it.