Disclaimer: i don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Doctor Who
A/N: I'm alive! And I'm so sorry it's been so long. I've struggled so hard with updating. And Even this little sneak peak is something I've struggled with a lot and rewrote in various ways and I'm still not entirely happy. But i wanted to share something with all of you.
Also I wanted to ask. Would you guys like me to just focus on one O/C until a series is done. Like finish off Sophie's series three arch and then moving on to another? It might help with updates. I just have to reread everything on whichever O/C to refresh myself and then work on chapters. then rince repeat when I'm done. I just hate that I've left you all hanging for so long.
Also sorry I'm posting again as garbled this post the first time
Buffy let out a long slow steady breath as she shifted her weight, her hazel eyes closed as she attempted to centre herself. To cast off the shadows of the nightmare that had plagued her night. The echo of her little sisters scream haunting her ears. It made her want to break things… cut a path through the world to get to her sister.
Except. She had no idea where her sister was… except that she wasn't here. Wasn't in any way reachable. Hadn't been ever since she'd become aware of herself in this odd place. In this world where vampires and demons didn't seem to exist.
She raised her arms in time with a rhythm that she had long since memorised, the motions familiar, calming – she could still hear her sister screaming for her. Had that been real? Or just a part of her nightmare. She couldn't remember how she got here. What the cause was. Only that she didn't really belong.
That she'd been catapulted into a life that wasn't hers – and left to flounder as to why, how… stranded and alone in the knowledge that something was wrong. With a family of strangers – that weren't strangers. Not really. She knew them but didn't. Memories clashing, memories that she knew logically had never happened to her and yet, where real all the same.
She inhaled, pulling air deep into her lungs, muscles relaxing into the familiar motions that she'd done a thousand times before… in another life.
She let out her breath in another controlled exhale, arms lowering to her sides once more just as she heard the blare of her and the twin alarm in the room beside hers. Her sister not sister's alarm. She opened her arms and broke her stance, stepping over to the alarm and turning it off as she heard a displeased tired groan of objection from the other room.
Buffy sighed, before drawing in a deep breath. Bracing herself for another day of normalcy; something she'd craved. But grated now that she had it, because it wasn't hers and she had no clue as to what happened to Dawn. To Willow, Xander, Giles, Angel, Spike… to everyone she cared about and had no way of reaching.
She was trapped in this fallacy of normalcy and despite how long it had been. Years. She had not a single clue as to how to make it back. Nothing preternatural that existed in her world seemed to exist here. Not even The Watcher's Council. Something she'd have rejoiced in, in other circumstances, but here – they'd have at least been a lead she could follow. A chance for a way home.
She stepped out of her room and started down the hallway just as Rose, stumbled bleary eyed and sleepy from hers. Almost crashing into her, "Sleepy, grandma?"
Rose groaned, "Shut it…" blinking at her elder sister, "How are you always so awake this early?!" she bemoaned, 'It's unnatural!"
Buffy shrugged, "Chronic early bird."
Rose let out a disgusted noise.
Buffy sniggered, before offering, "Coffee?"
Rose visibly perked up at the mention, "Have I told you, you're the best sister ever?"
"From unnatural to amazing," Buffy mused, "The wonders of coffee."
Rose frowned, brown eyes suddenly more away, "I never said you were unnatural," she protested with a scowl. Her brown eyes somewhat alarmed at the very idea of accusing her older sister of such.
Buffy huffed, lips quirking upwards, "Yeah, alright," she cajoled, before teasing, "Go have a shower before that epic bed hair sticks."
Rose gave a soft yelp and darted around her sister for the bathroom. The door slamming behind her with a thud that rattled the photo frames along the walls.
"Oi!" came a shout from the eldest Tyler, "Don't slam the doors!"
"Sorry Mom!" Rose shouted from the bathroom, whilst Buffy cast her gaze briefly over the family photos. The images depicting the Tyler family… all three of them. Pictures of events that her mind told her happened and yet. She also had a conflicting memory with her mom and Dawnie. It made her wonder – if she'd been inserted in this life as Dawn had been in hers. But she couldn't fathom why.
There was no need for her here. No preternatural threat to defeat. The world didn't need saving from some demonic threat.
She was just here… with no answers and many questions… with a family that she'd started to care for as much as her own.
How could she not? She had memories of a life here and when she'd appeared here… Jackie Tyler hadn't shipped her off to a mental institution. Had in fact thrown out a long-time family friend that had even suggested it.
Instead, unlike Joyce and Hank Summers, Jackie had stuck by her. Even as she fretted over what was wrong with her 'eldest'.
She called shrinks and Doctors but had never let them walk over her. Had never even entertained the idea of sending her away.
That had been the start of it. When Buffy had warmed to Jackie Tyler… it still pained some part of her to call the woman mom. But she was, to Jackie's mind Buffy was her eldest daughter and the only mom Buffy had... the only parental figure and in many ways she was a fierce protective mother bear that Joyce Summers hadn't been.
Buffy tore her gaze away from the family photos and photos of her and Rose at various ages throughout childhood.
A family home full of loving memories that she did and didn't remember as fact. She slipped quietly down the hall and into the kitchen. Flicking on the kettle as she passed it on the way to the loaf of bread.
Pulling out a couple of slices and popping them in the toaster, before meandering over to the fridge and getting out the butter. Waffling over what she felt like on her toast before grabbing the raspberry jam.
The pipes rumbled to life with a squeaking groan, before settling into a quiet rumble that was soon overtaken by kettle as the water heated to a simmer and then a boil.
"Morning love," Jackie greeted as she wandered past the kitchen.
"Morning," Buffy replied, the 'mom' sticking in her throat this morning, as it still did on occasion, especially after a hard night, "Coffee?"
"Tea," Jackie rebutted.
"Sure, sure," Buffy muttered, 'Brits,' she thought with resigned fondness as she grabbed down three mugs, before, grabbing a plate as the toasted bread popped out of the toaster. Her focus switching from her morning beverage to her hot breakfast.
She puttered around the kitchen, handing off a steaming mug of tea to Jackie, mom… it'd been years. She really had to get used to calling the woman mom. She'd earned it. Raising and looking after both her and Rose… one her daughter the other a potential imposter that had been fostered on her without her consent.
Before returning to the kitchen to grab her coffee and her cooling toast. She migrated over to the dining room table as Jackie turned on the telly to watch one of her morning shows.
Buffy started in on her toast, only casting half an ear to the telly. The early morning shows Jackie liked. Had never really interested her.
She'd just sat down with a second round of two slices of toast, having decided that she was still hungry. When Rose came barrelling out of the hallway. Rushing past Buffy into the kitchen, the younger blond taking a quick gulp of barely lukewarm coffee, before setting it down with a hurried thud.
"Oi!" Buffy exclaimed indignantly, grimacing at how English she'd just sounded, "Get your own!" she huffed as Rose stuffed the piece of toast she'd just swiped into her mouth.
"Can't," Rose said around a bite, before gesturing at the clock with her stolen breakfast, "We gotta get to the stop."
Buffy glanced at the clock, before shooting up almost knocking her chair over, snatching her last piece of toast off the plate and following Rose towards the flats door.
"Bye," Rose said, kissing her mum on the cheek, before continuing on towards the door with a hurried gait.
"See ya later!"
"Bye," Buffy called over her shoulder as the front door closed behind Rose.
"See yo…" Jackie began before recalling that she hadn't reminded her eldest to be careful, "Oh and don't break anything today!"
Buffy blinked then grimaced with mild embarrassment, "No promises!" she hollered back as she stepped through the front door, closing it firmly behind her.
Whilst inside the flat, Jackie sighed, settling back into her seat and picking up her tea mug and turning her attention back to her morning programmes.
*O*O*O*
Buffy disembarked the bus, stepped away from it as the doors slid shut behind her and the bus pulled away from the stop. Her gaze landed on Henricks. And the sign hung across the building that proudly declared the ongoing sale.
She started towards the building, trailing after Rose. It was going to be a long day filled with tedium. She could just feel it – and to think. Once upon a time. She'd craved this. The slow plod of normalcy. Of having a normal job.
Maybe it'd be better if she actually liked her job. But getting her dream job hadn't been her priority when she'd been stranded here. Getting home was. So here she was working retail… bored out of her mind for years.
And still no closer to any kind of answer as to how to get home. Or how she'd ended up here… in what she could only assume was an alternate dimension. One of the thousands that were adjacent to her own.
'At least it wasn't a hell dimension,' Buffy thought humourlessly. Though having to go through puberty again was fairly hellish. Once was rough. Twice had been a waking nightmare. Five years older than Rose put the teen years firmly behind her again.
"Are you coming?!" Rose hollered from the steps of the building, "Dragging it out, isn't gonna make it go any quicker you know!"
"Yeah, yeah. Keep your pants on!" Buffy huffed but picked up her pace as she crossed the last of the distance to their place of work.
*O*O*O*
"Oh no," Buffy whispered, stilling in between a set of racks filled with leather jackets.
Rose who'd been walking past with an arm load of neatly folded ladies' shirts, paused, glancing her sister curiously, "What?"
"It's Queen C," Buffy stated as she stared at the woman that was decked out in stylish clothes, a small handbag looped over her arm as she stood in place and looked down her nose at her surroundings, "But worse."
Rose stared at her sister in confusion, "A what?"
"A Queen C – but without any of her redeeming qualities," Buffy replied, before she side stepped so that she was out of sight of the woman that had picked up a sleeve of a jacket with the tips of her pointer finger and thumb only to drop it in distaste.
Rose shook her head, brow slightly furrowed with slight impatience, "You know, sometimes, you talk, and I've got no idea what you're saying."
Buffy jerked her head in the direction of the customer and Rose glanced over, her brown gaze landing on the woman, "Oh – wait," she hissed as her gaze jerked back to Buffy as she caught movement out of the corner of her eye, "Where are you going?!"
"To pre-emptively get a manager," she replied, "We don't get paid near enough to deal with this without backup."
'And I'm pretty sure that whole don't break anything today thing includes customers noses – even if they are a demonic harpy trapped in a person suit.'
Rose turned away from Buffy, only to still like prey under the gaze of a predator as her gaze landed on the customer again to see the woman coming straight for her. She gulped, suddenly wishing she'd thought to get out of sight like Buffy had.
She plastered a bright smile on her face, "Hi," she greeted in her best customer service voice, "How can I help you today?"
*O*O*O*
Rose groaned in relief as she and Buffy stepped out into the afternoon sun, "Can't believe the days not even halfway done yet," she groused, her run in with the unpleasant woman having sucked a lot of her energy out of her and not that she'd ever admit it. Had left her rattled, even after Buffy had reappeared manager in toe as the woman had started screeching for a manager, "You joining me and Mickey for lunch?"
"And play third wheel to your canoodling?" Buffy retorted playfully, before shaking her head, "I'll pass," she bit her lower lip. Swallowing down the deep pit of loneliness that had always been there… a loneliness that had grown when she realised just how alone she was here. No friends, no family… all of them a world away.
And the Tylers, she cared for them. She did. Loved them even. But it didn't stop the knowledge that they weren't hers. Not really. For all she knew. She unintentionally stolen the life from the real Buffy Tyler. Slotted into her life like some kind of creepy body snatcher. Worse, had whatever happened killed the real Buffy Tyler?
If she did somehow get home. Would Jackie and Rose be bereft of a daughter, a sister. Or would Buffy Tyler slip back into her body like awakening from a coma – and have no memories of what had happened to her?
Those possibilities had guilt pile in on top of the loneliness, even though logically she knew that she'd had no hand in it. Hadn't deliberately chosen to do so. But those feelings, when they flared from the deep dark hole, she tried to bury them in. One that replaced the weight of the world she normally had to carry around.
Buffy swallowed the emotions back and smiled instead, "Besides," she added brightly, "I have a date with a cute little coffee shop and a double shot mocha latte with my name on it."
"Ooh, that sounds soo good," Rose groaned, "Are you sure you don't wanna join me and Mickey?" she asked again with an innocent tongue in teeth smile.
"Positive," Buffy replied arching an unimpressed but fond brow, "I'm not intruding on you lovebirds just so you can get a mocha latte fix. Say hi to tweedle-dee for me won't you tweedle-dum?"
Rose scowled at her older sisters back, "I'll give you tweedle-dum, you spaz!" she huffed before turning and starting off towards the square.
*O*O*O*
Buffy relaxed into the chair at the table she'd snagged in the café. Her double shot mocha latte clasped between her hands. The heavenly taste of her currently favoured beverage of choice coating her tastebuds.
She stared aimlessly out of the window, a thoughtfully furrow to her brow as she tried to think of what else she could possibly try. What avenue she had left to explore in her attempt to find a way home.
She seemed to be at a dead end all things considered. But she couldn't give up either. Giving up would mean really abandoning her friends. Her family back home. But there was no Watcher's Council and no magic. Or if there was – it was vastly different to what was around back home and stubbornly resisted her attempts to access it.
She puffed out a breath and went to take a sip of her drink – only to pause and blink as she registered eyes on her. She took her sip and casually lifted her gaze to the café she was in. Hazel eyes scanning the crowd.
She didn't have to scan for long. Her gaze landing on a bloke with piercing blue eyes, ears that stuck out a bit, and wearing a leather jacket over a jumper. A bloke that was making no secret over the fact that he was staring at her as he stood close to her table. She raised her brows in question as the staring continued, "Can I help you?"
The man seemed to shake himself and grinned at her, "Uh, no," he stated, "No, I don't think so…" he peered at her. Then at a strange slender device in his hand. A new model of phone, perhaps? Buffy pondered as she eyed it curiously, "Seem to have gotten turned around…" he muttered, before he started for the exit at a hurried pace.
Only to pause a few steps away from the door and turn to look back at her with a quizzical frown. She raised her brows again and gave him a small wave.
He blinked, smiled at her again as he returned her wave and then turned away, "Can't be," she swore she heard him mutter to himself, "Not possible," he added as he opened the door, "Stupid things on the fritz again."
Buffy watched him hurry away through the window and out of sight, before shaking her head at herself. Even in this land of the normies. She attracted the weird and the wacky. It was a pity it wasn't the type of weird or the wacky that could help her get home.
She sighed and took a gulp of her cooling mocha. Trying to shake away the ever-growing pit inside her that told her she was never going to find a way home. That there was nothing and no one here that could help her.
But no. She tightened her grip around her mug. The ceramic straining under the pressure. She'd gone down that road of hopelessness and despair before. And she swore to herself never again would she let herself fall down that endless overwhelming hole…
She sucked in a sharp breath as the mug gave under her strength, splashing her hands and the table with still hot, but not boiling hot mocha latte.
"Oops…" she muttered as a waitress hurried over, her eyes wide with concern. Asking her if she was ok and assuring her that their mugs had never broken in a customer's hands before. All the while Buffy sheepishly tried to assure the girl that she was ok.