BtVS || Spuffy || BtVS || Spuffy || Keeping Up With the Scoobies || Spuffy || BtVS || Spuffy || BtVS
Title: Keeping Up With the Scoobies – The Long Way Home
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Joss Whedon. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Tags: m/f, f/f, hurt/comfort, survivor's guilt, fluff, found family
Main Pairing: Spike/Buffy
Side Pairings: Tara/Willow, Xander/Renee, Robin/Faith, Connor/Dawn, Dowling/Dylan, Angel/Cordelia, Wesley/Fred, Gunn/Anne, Oz/Bay, Buffy/Satsu (briefly), Willow/Kennedy (briefly)
Buffy Characters: William 'Spike' Pratt, Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers, Rupert Giles, Willow Rosenberg, Alexander 'Xander' Harris, Andrew Wells, Tara Maclay, Renee, Faith Lehane, Robin Wood, Robert Dowling, Dylan Turner, Satsu, Kennedy, Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne, Bayarmaa 'Bay'
Angel Characters: Angel, Cordelia Chase, Connor Angel, Harmony Kendall, Winifred 'Fred' Burkle, Wesley Wyndam Pryce, Charles Gunn, Lorne, Anne Steele
Summary: Buffy shared her powers with all potential Slayers. But that was only the beginning. Now, she has to deal with all the new Slayers, with the aftermath of LA going to hell – and coming back. The world knows about the supernatural, there's no going back.
Keeping Up With the Scoobies
The Long Way Home
13. Friendship is Magic (1)
Buffy had never been the biggest fan of the police. Too many misunderstandings. She'd been falsely accused in the past too. But matter of fact was that the police were the human force supposed to protect them. They were a force aimed with guns. Not every guy with horns was evil and needed to get shot. They needed sensitivity training. The ideal goal would be that cops could contact the closest local Slayer squad to have someone sent in and take care of any supernatural cases. For that, they did need to establish a relationship with the local cops.
"Detective Robert Dowling. You must be the vampire hunter."
"Vampire Slayer," corrected Buffy with a smile. "Pleasure to meet you. Buffy Summers."
Robert was a handsome but average looking guy, with dark, spikey hair and a charming smile. Firm handshake. He turned toward Buffy's company. Spike. Because while Buffy wanted to establish contact, she also really wanted to drive home that not every demonic, horned or fanged being was evil. Spike grinned and shook hands with Dowling too.
"We prepared the conference room for you, ma'am," offered Dowling.
Buffy made a face. "Please. Don't call me ma'am. Buffy's quite alright."
A conference room. Honestly, she had never expected that being a Slayer would entail so many politics. Then again, it wasn't supposed to. She was supposed to just slay demons and not ask questions. Something she'd never been very good at. Always questioning, always rebelling about the way things were 'supposed' to be done. She'd worked with a werewolf, a vengeance demon, two vampires. She knew that the supernatural was not inherently evil, which was why she had to teach others. Because for her, it had been a learning curve too. There was an inherent human bias, rooted in the kind of stories they grew up on, the kind of stories they saw on television.
"Ready for this, love?" asked Spike softly.
She slipped her hand into his and squeezed just slightly. "Yeah. Perfectly ready."
/break\
Xander had a headache. The majority of squad-leaders had protested quite loudly to working with the police. But it was either that, or having a lot of innocent casualties. Still, his head was buzzing with white noise by the end of the day. Maybe a nice bath. Maybe a bath with Renee...?
"Nee? Are you here?" asked Xander, looking around. "Renee?"
"I'm afraid you're outta luck looking for your lady," came Spike's voice from the living room.
"The women are out of the house," declared Andrew, sounding far too excited.
"Yeah. Buff got all dressed up. Got my hopes up. She just kissed me goodbye and left with Tara, Willow, Renee to go out dancing," Spike huffed. "Come and suffer with us."
Andrew sounded too cheerful for suffering. Frowning curiously, Xander ventured into the living room, to find an agitated Giles cleaning his glasses, Spike lounging in an armchair and Andrew wearing wizard robes. Okay. Didn't entirely know if he wanted to be here.
"We're going to play D&D!" declared Andrew, his eyes sparkling. "I'm your DM tonight, please, have a seat. We have a lot ahead of us."
"Seriously?" asked Xander stunned, eyes finding Spike and Giles.
"Buffy," Giles heaved a sigh. "She did this thing, where her eyes go so big and her lower lip quivers a bit and... it appears she is under the impression that we too need 'team bonding'."
"Gather she's not wrong," Spike shrugged, eyebrows raised. "Never been pals, have we?"
Xander winced but tried not to show it. He'd been hostile toward Angel and perhaps even more hostile toward Spike. Perhaps because of Angel. After all, Angel had proven him right. Dating a vampire had nearly cost them the world and had broken Buffy's heart into pieces. Things were different, he reckoned. Willow's had a conversation with him about it, a serious one.
Spike had a soul, but it was different than Angel's; it wasn't linked to any conditions and, most importantly, it hadn't been forced upon him, he had chosen it. Worked for it. Buffy, in return, had chosen him. Xander knew she was serious about him this time. Xander also knew Buffy had tried, about Anya, even though Anya had been a demon too. Xander had been made aware of how that might have been a hypocritical thing to do, considering the hard time he'd given Buffy.
"Dungeons and Dragons and Giles. Gotta see that," declared Xander in the end, sitting down.
/break\
Being with Tara was weird, because it was so easy. Easier than it should be. But there was a certain euphoria to being with her, to feeling the way she used to with Tara. Because for all intends and purposes, this was Tara. Of course did she made Willow feel that way.
"I always wondered about it," whispered Willow as she came to sit down next to Buffy.
Her eyes trailed over to where Tara was currently dancing with Renee. Over the past two months of their return, Tara and Renee had bonded quite a lot. It was good, seeing Tara make friends. Will still remembered the way Tara had struggled to fit in with the Scoobies.
"What about?" asked Buffy confused, pocketing her phone with a smile.
"Are you texting Spike?" Willow grinned knowingly when Buffy blushed. "You are!"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "They're playing D&D. The boys, I mean. Giles is a wizard."
Willow laughed and shook her head. "Honestly, I always thought that Xander and Andrew should hit it off. Would have hit it off if they'd met under different circumstances."
"They would have been best friends in high school if they'd met," Buffy chuckled. "Now, tell me, what were you always wondering about, Will? And why aren't you dancing anymore?"
"My feet need rest," Willow groaned and leaned back. "And... I was talking about Tara. I always wondered. What would have become of her. So, so often I wondered what she'd be like now, at any given time. Whenever we'd meet someone new, I would wonder if Tara would get along with them."
"...Ah," Buffy paused, a sorrowful expression on her face as she looked at Tara. "Me too. Her, and... mom. When me and Spike... when we were doing... You know. Tara knew. And she... never made me feel judged. I always wondered what she'd think about Spike with a soul."
"I know it's different," whispered Willow with furrowed brows. "It's like we fast-forwarded from... that horrible night. But we both built... more. Lived more. And there's a disconnect. Sometimes, it's jarring. Other times, it's... like it's not even there, like not a day has passed."
Buffy smiled faintly and reached out to rest a hand on Willow's knee, leaning her head against Willow's shoulder. Willow put her own hands on top of Buffy's and tilted her head to rest against Buffy's. They both watched with faint smiles how Renee and Tara danced and laughed.
"I know how you feel," admitted Buffy. "It's... so complicated between me and Spike, but at the same time, it's like this is the easiest thing I've ever done? It feels so natural."
"Ye—eah," Willow heaved a deep breath. "Yeah. We really don't do anything the easy way, mh?"
"Well, Xander seems to be improving," offered Buffy with a small grin. "Renee hasn't died yet. Not a former demon or vampire. I think she's nice. She's good for him."
"Yeah," Willow's eyes trailed over to Renee. "I think she is."
/break\
Dawn missed the Scoobies. As much as she'd loved the idea of moving out, she absolutely hated to no longer be there with them. Xander had a new girlfriend and Dawn was missing out on teasing and really getting to know her. Tara was back, her Tara. Though Dawn never said it aloud, because a part of her felt like she was betraying Joyce somehow, but Tara had been like a mom to her. When Dawn had lost all her family – Joyce dead, Buffy dead, Hank not caring to even attend a funeral – Willow and Tara had moved in and been there for her. With Willow, it was different. She was Buffy's best friend and Dawn had known her since she was eleven. Both Willow and Xander were already family, in a different manner. But Tara, when Joyce and Buffy were dead, Tara stepped up and she took over the maternal role in Dawn's life. When Tara had died, Dawn started to think she might be cursed. Everyone who loved her died.
"I know that feeling," Connor's smile was crooked, a bit of pain in it as he lifted his cup of coffee up. "I don't know how much you know about my story from your sister. Or... I don't know how much Angel has told your sister about me. Darla, she... my mother. She staked herself so I could live. When I learned that, it felt like a punch. Like it was my fault."
"It's still a bit hard to wrap my head around Angel having a son, what with him being a vampire and all," Dawn tilted her head. "I'm... sorry you never got to meet her. Your mom."
"She died because she loved me. I gather that counts for something," Connor's voice dropped some more. "Even without her soul. She still loved me. She cared for me."
"Mh. Vampires are much more complex than they seemed when Buffy first became a Slayer," noted Dawn, her fingers curled around her chin in thought. "Vampires bad. Slayers good. Then there was Angel, but he had a soul, but then he also hadn't chosen his soul so when it left, he went off the rails. And then there are Spike and Harmony, who did good and tried hard even without a soul."
"Makes you wonder what a soul really is, mh," Conner's grin turned more genuine. "That's why I took a philosophy course, actually. There's just... so much to consider. To think about."
"What do you want to do with that? Philosophy, I mean," Dawn frowned. "As a job."
"Nothing probably. I'm just doing that for fun. You should do that too, do things for fun here. That's what college is for," replied Connor. "I'm not sure yet what I want to do. What about you?"
"I want to become a nurse," declared Dawn with all the conviction she could muster. "I... I looked at it. At the Scoobies – uh, my sister's friends. She's the head, the Slayer. Willow provides the computer know-how and magic. Xander made himself useful by becoming a carpenter. I... We're missing a healer on our team. They always patched each other up, but nobody ever did it professionally. I want to become a nurse, to contribute something too."
Connor looked impressed at that, which made Dawn flush a bit. It was weird, the way she felt around Connor. Then again, this was the first time she really was removed from Buffy. She wasn't the Slayer's little sister and to Connor, the son of two vampires, a Slayer wasn't all that special or unique. No, he looked at her as Dawn, as her own person, no epithet needed.
"You know, Mel's having a party this weekend. You wanna come too?"
"A party?" Dawn perked up. "I. Yeah. Sure. I'm sure I could find the time."
A social life. Meeting people! No hovering Slayer behind her either.
/break\
Spike couldn't believe that he had an ongoing D&D campaign with Andrew, Giles and Xander. Though he had to admit that he did kind of enjoy it. It was fun. He was a bard. Xander really got into it. Even Giles seemed to find some kind of excitement in the world-building and level of details that Andrew put into it. The best part of it was that Spike felt made a part of it. Don't get him wrong, Xander and Spike were never gonna be best buds, but Xander had really dialed back on the hostility, which was very appreciated. Andrew, he was a strange fella, but not a bad one.
"D&D night with the boys?" Dowling chuckled amused. "You didn't strike me as that guy."
"If you heard even half the things I did, you'd tell me I 'didn't strike you' as that kinda guy," countered Spike amused as he lifted his beer. "You gotta learn to roll with the punches."
After patrol ended, the two had gone out for a beer, but Spike had just told the other that he couldn't stay long due to D&D night. Dowling wasn't a bad fella either. The two had talked a lot during patrol. Dowling was the precinct's contact point with the Slayers for now. Him and Spike, a trial phase of how well this could work. They were teaching classes at the precinct, mostly Giles and Buffy, on the history and different kinds of demons out there. Spike found it kind of ironic to teach others how to fight vampires, but vampires were the biggest street-wide threat.
"I do appreciate the back-up, you know," Dowling's voice was low and sad.
"Yeah, what's with that anyway? The whole lone-wolf thing?" asked Spike curiously.
"Couple days before you and your girl approached the precinct," Dowling lifted his beer to take a slow and long drink. "My partner, Miranda. She got... We were overwhelmed by a couple vampires in a street. She didn't make it. We were partners, more. Best friends. And now she's gone, because we didn't know how to handle rogue vampires, because these used to be myths! Not reality."
Spike winced at that. "I'm sorry about your loss, mate."
Before he could ask Dowling if they actually staked Miranda or if she was going to come back, the beeping of his own phone distracted him. There was no ignoring it, after all it might be Buffy needing back-up or any other number of disasters. When he checked the message, he was left stunned, simply staring at the screen. Dowling nudged him after a while.
"What? Trouble with the lady?" asked Dowling jokingly.
"Nah. Not the lady. Other lady. A friend," whispered Spike. "Didn't expect to hear from her again."
Shaking his head, he put the phone down and instead turned his attention to Dowling again, even as the message still lit up the screen. Hey, saw you in the news about the new supernatural-human alliance project in San Francisco. I'll be in town for a while. Want to meet up? - Dylan.
/break\
"Bu—uffy! She stole my shit! Again! Tell her to not go into my room!"
After receiving her calling, Buffy had kind of put the notion of ever becoming a mother aside, because there was only one Slayer and she was fated to die early. And then she had taken in a bunch of teenage potentials and raised them for months. And then the potentials turned into proper Slayers, received a last bound of training and were sent into the world to make their own nests. Now she was here, in San Francisco, sharing a house with her team and having the squad live right next door.
Two beautiful Victorian-style houses, wall to wall. They'd bought them both and united them. Adding connecting doors in the adjoined wall, tearing down the fence that separated their backyards to create one spacious yard where they could train and spar. And though Renee had stepped up to be the Slayer to lead the squad – as she had done while Buffy was dimension-hopping – the girls still looked at Buffy Summers, OG Slayer, as the head of it all. Which was fair, she was that.
She was, however, not the den-mom. Or at least that wasn't what she had signed up for.
"Lilah, give Ann-Marie her shirt back. Don't go through your roommate's closet without her permission, it's an invasion of privacy," chided Buffy sternly. "Come on, you're all over twenty, try acting your age and not like teen sisters fighting."
Ann-Marie smiled brightly and held her hand out, while Lilah pouted. Oh, she so was the den-mom. These girls, they were good. Everyone in the San Francisco squad was over twenty – the underage Slayers in San Francisco lived with their parents and came by the house once a week for training sessions to prepare them. Most of the time, it felt like a sorority house.
"Buffy," Roxanne, a redheaded Slayer in her end-twenties, came jogging up.
"Who stole your shirt?" asked Buffy with a tired sigh.
"What? No one? There's a call for you in the communication center."
"Oh," Buffy blinked. "Thanks, Rox. I'll be there in a moment."
The layout of both houses was the same. Five bedrooms, with one of them technically supposed to be a kind of office located downstairs, two bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs, living room, kitchen, basement converted into an indoor gym, and the attic. The wall between the two attics had been torn down by Xander to connect them and turn them into their office. Stocked with books, computers, screens, desks and whiteboards. Andrew had decorated a lot of the attic so there were nerdy little figures from Star Trek and Star Wars and Doctor Who all over the place.
"There's a call for me, Xan?" asked Buffy when she entered.
This was by now Xander's realm, since he organized communication between the squads. Priya was hunched over the desk, one of the youngest Slayers, an Indian-American girl, with her hair in a thick braid laid over her shoulder. She was one of the quieter ones, preferring the company of books over the bickering of the other Slayers. A sentiment Buffy found herself relating to more and more.
Though, truly, she was glad that they had two adjoined houses and that the Scoobies had a house to themselves. Giles lived on the first floor, while Xander and Renee, Andrew, Spike and Buffy, Willow and Tara lived upstairs. Well, Willow was currently sleeping on the couch, because things between her and Tara felt too new to slip into bed and sharing a living space like that again so fast. Buffy was glad Spike wasn't hitting the couch. That one night, before the big show-down, when they had just laid together arm in arm, it really had meant a lot to her. Had eased her mind and allowed her to sleep more peacefully than she had in a long time.
"Buffy, hey," a blonde smiled at her through the screen.
And huh, okay. "I... Lily? I haven't seen you in..."
"Anne," corrected the other. "It's, I've been going by Anne since we met. Anne Steele."
Right. Chantarelle the follower of vampires, turned Lily the girl Buffy met on the run. And when Buffy had returned home, she had given the other her name. Anne. She looked good. Her hair put in a neat pony-tail, a bit of exhaustion on her face, but also a smile. The guy standing next to her...
"Gunn, right? Angel's friend," Buffy pointed at him. "You two know each other?"
Anne blushed softly and linked hands with Gunn. "He's been helping me run the shelter while we were in hell and, well, things happened. I run a shelter, for homeless teenagers."
"Oh," Buffy's face brightened at that. "That's awesome! I'm glad for you."
Which she was. The girl's always been without a destination, drifting around. Apparently she had found her calling and it was doing her some good. Anne's smile softened as she nodded.
"There's been a girl by lately. Super strong. She reminded me of you. Gunn was the one to put Slayer on that and when he said he kinda knew you, well, I figured... I'd say hi. Hi."
"Hi," Buffy grinned. "Okay, so you got a homeless Slayer in LA? I'll contact the local squad for you. Maybe you could establish a bit of a relationship? In case you run into any more homeless Slayers. Or in case someone gives you and your people trouble, mh?"
"That sounds good," Anne nodded. "And Buffy. You look good. I'm glad for you too."
They exchanged a smile, a bit lopsided, but both knew what it meant. They had met when both of them were out on the run, without a real home or a real destination. But it seemed they both had found their direction and had made a place of happiness for themselves.
/break\
It was the following Friday, while Buffy was out on patrol with the squad and Renee – because of course did the head-Slayer still want to get out there herself – that Spike found his way to a diner after dark, sinking into a chair and looking around. Waiting tensely. Until a dark-haired woman approached him with a smile and sat down opposite him.
"Hello, Spike," Dylan leaned forward some. "It's good to see you again."
Author's note: Aaaah, thirteen chapters in and I finally get to introduce my other two favorite comic-exclusive characters aside from Renee! Dowling and Dylan! Now, worry not, Dylan's connection to Spike will be explained in the next chapter. Though if you want to see for yourself, I would highly recommend "Into The Light", it's a standalone oneshot, Spike-centric, written by James Marsters, that focuses on Spike's time between regaining his soul and returning to Sunnydale ;)
