A Different Life: Part 14

In one moment it changed. Buffy was fighting the last vampire, Kendra was talking with her Watcher and Wes had filled up several pages of his notebook. Then the vampires struck again. All four of them were attacked and separated. Kendra and Buffy worked their way to their Watchers to clear the vampires away. As Kendra got to Sam’s side he managed to stake the vampire that had been seconds away from biting him. He gestured Kendra away. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Go help Buffy.”

Wes was screaming. A vampire had latched onto him and was attempting to stop the squalling creature he had a hold of long enough to get to his neck. Wes didn’t even have a stake on him so all he could do is flail at the vampire. Buffy finally fought her way clear and grabbed the vampire by his collar and yanked him off of Wes, staking him. Wes kept yelping and brushing himself off as if the vampire dust was burning him.

Kendra let out a yell and Buffy turned to see her fellow Slayer inundated with vampires. Sam was trying to pull vampires away from her and getting beaten for it. Buffy left Wes to go help. Wes screamed out. “No, don’t leave me.” He crouched down and hid behind a tombstone, his eyes darting all over the place.

Buffy staked a vampire just as it was about to grab Sam. “Sam, take Wes and get out of here.”

“No, there’s too many of them. We all have to leave.”

Buffy kicked a vampire in the face and finally she and Kendra were standing back to back. The vampires were circling them. Kendra kept one eye on the vampires, and one eye on Sam who was trying to stay nearby and yet out of sight. Kendra spoke softly. “There are so many, why are there so many?”

Buffy shook her head. “I don’t know. We need to get out of here.”

“We’ll never make it. You and I might but we’ll never get our Watchers to safety.”

“You and Sam can make a break for it. I can watch your back.”

“Then you and Wes will die.”

“Better than all of us dying.”

“No, I think I will stay. I will not leave you to face this alone.”

Buffy smiled even though she knew Kendra couldn’t see. “Then let’s go down fighting. Are you ready?”

“Ready.”

Both girls jumped the vampire nearest to them. The element of surprise was briefly on their side but they were already tired and there were too many of them. Sam leaped into the fray and got a couple of vampires himself before he too found himself surrounded.

***

Giles was gripping the seat tightly. Joyce noticed his grip. “Am I driving too fast?”

“No, not fast enough.” Joyce looked at Giles. He was sweating. His eyes closed and he let out a moan. “Hurry, Joyce. We don’t have much time.”

Joyce stepped on the gas. Fortunately it didn’t exceed the speed available to Xander’s old car and both vehicles hurtled through the neighborhood. They had already tried two cemeteries without any success. Joyce was trusting to luck as opposed to the brief itinerary she’d been given and was racing towards the closest cemetery. Joyce didn’t know if she could also tell that Buffy was in trouble or if she was merely picking up on Giles’ anxiety but her own heart was beating hard within her breast.

Giles pointed. “There. Stop the car.” All he could see were vampires. Whoever else was here, and Giles knew that included Buffy, they were in serious trouble. He gave a quick mental prayer of gratitude that Ethan had insisted on bringing the dogs. They hated vampires almost as much as vampires hated them. As Joyce came to a screeching halt he turned to her. “Stakes, do you have stakes?”

She pointed to the glove compartment and he snapped it open grabbing a handful. Shoving a couple in his pocket he held one in his hand as he opened his car door. He quickly opened the back door gesturing to the dogs. They were already snarling. He gave them an order. “Protect.” Both the dogs took off.

***

Buffy knew she was going to die. There were too many. Three of them had her pinned down and a fourth was punching her. She knew it would only be a minute before it decided to feed. She could hear Kendra’s cries and longed to go to her aid but as soon as she got one limb loose they’d grab her again and restrain her.

***

Ethan was out of the car before Xander even stopped. He looked back in. “Stakes, crossbows? What do you have?”

Xander leaped out of the car. “All of the above.” He opened the trunk and Ethan’s eyes lit up. He grabbed a crossbow for Gwen and one for himself. Then he shoved a stake in his pocket. Grabbing Gwen by the arm he warned her. “Stay close. I mean it, Gwen. No heroics.”

Gwen nodded. Xander had grabbed a few stakes of his own. He tossed one to Willow and Joyce. Joyce heard Buffy scream and her heart froze in her throat.

***

The vampire had grown tired of beating the Slayer and was ready to feed. Turning Buffy’s neck he leaned down over her. Suddenly two shapes appeared as if from nowhere and knocked him off of her. Buffy let go with a scream before she could help herself. They had moved too fast for her to see what this new danger was. The attack had taken the vampires by surprise and they let their grips loosen in the confusion and that was all Buffy needed. She yanked free and sprang to her feet only to find herself surrounded by two labs, one golden and one chocolate. Their barking hurt her ears and they looked deadly as they stridently barked out their displeasure at the unholy ones around them.

Buffy couldn’t stop looking at the dogs. It was too much to hope for but they looked just like… She lifted her head and saw that several other people had joined the fight. Shaking off the mystery she moved quickly and staked two vampires in rapid succession. She noticed Wes still cowering by a tombstone, clearly having not considered that perhaps he might come to her aid. She looked for Kendra and saw that she was being helped by Sam and two people Buffy didn’t recognize. Then she realized that she did know the woman. She gasped as she recognized Gwen.

And then she saw him. He was running towards her. One of the dogs had started harrying a vampire, herding him towards Giles. Giles stopped to stake him, an easy kill as the vampire was focused entirely on the dog. Giles took a second to praise Rayne. Rayne took off to find another vampire. When Giles looked up again it was to find Buffy staring at him.

Most of the vampires were dead or on the run now. As the action died down more heads turned to watch the reunion. Tears were running down Buffy’s face. Giles walked the rest of the way to her. He lifted up his hands and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. It was all he could do not to break down and cry himself. It had been so close. If they’d arrived only a few seconds later she might have been dead. Buffy looked at him in wonder. “You’re here.”

“Where else could I be? You’re here.”

“You remember me?”

“Oh Buffy. I haven’t had a single other thought in my head, but you.”

Buffy shook her head in disbelief. “How did you find me? How can you remember me? I didn’t even go to London.”

Giles cupped one of her cheeks in his hand. “We’re meant to be together, Buffy. I don’t think anything could keep us apart, not for any length of time.”

Rayne and Ethan were snapping at another vampire. Buffy’s eyes opened in alarm as he got dangerously close to Giles. Suddenly a crossbow bolt shot through the vampire and he exploded. Buffy looked for the source and she saw Gwen grinning at her.

Buffy grabbed Giles’ arm to keep her balance as Ethan knocked into her as he raced by. Giles laughed. “He’s doing it again.”

Buffy looked up at him, confused. “Who’s doing what again?”

“Ethan, knocking you down.”

It finally sank in. “You really are here. You’re really standing right here in front of me.” A smile started to form on her face.

Giles grinned, the knot in his stomach finally melting away at the look on her face. He reached for her and she leapt into his arms, laughing and crying at the same time and placing kisses everywhere she could reach. Giles spun her around and just held her tight.

Joyce let out a sigh, as she fought back some tears. That was the look she wanted to see. Sheer happiness. On both their faces. A shadow loomed over her and a vampire knocked her to the ground in his efforts to be rid of Rayne. Joyce was about to let out a scream when Sam was there shoving a stake through the vampire’s heart. He reached down a hand to help her up.

She gasped a little. “Oh, thank you Sam. I didn’t even see him.” She began to brush the vampire dust off of her body. As her hands ran over her breasts Sam averted his eyes. Smiling tightly at her he moved over to stand by Kendra. Joyce’s eyes followed the black man as he walked away.

Ethan moved to her side. “You’ll have to tell him.”

Joyce turned startled eyes to him. “Excuse me?”

Ethan gestured with his chin to Sam. “You’ll have to let him know you’re interested. There are too many reasons for it not to happen, racial reasons, cultural reasons, Watcher reasons. He would never presume.”

“What makes you think I…”

Ethan just looked at her and Joyce found herself dealing first hand with Ethan’s disconcerting ability to read into a person’s heart and mind. Then he grinned. “He’s interested too. But you need to let him know.” Moving over to Gwen he put his arms around her as Gwen just stood there grinning watching her brother make a fool of himself in public.

Xander and Willow were grinning too. It had been a long time since they’d seen Buffy this happy. Willow leaned into Xander. “We did a good thing.”

Xander put his arm around her. “We are the champions of unsucking our best friend’s life.”

Wes had finally pulled himself together. He looked around and saw that thankfully no one seemed to be paying any attention to him at all. Then just as quickly he found himself annoyed by that. He could have been hurt. Looking around his eyes searched for his Slayer. His jaw dropped as he found her embracing a man and…and kissing him.

Wes stormed over to the two of them and tapped the man on the shoulder. “Unhand her at once.”

Buffy could feel the tension shoot through Giles. Giles spun around and thrust Buffy behind him. “Now you protect her?” Giles had seen Wes cowering behind a tombstone. Cowering in fear while his Slayer was about to lose her life.

Xander prodded Willow who was talking to Joyce. “Hey, watch this, this ought to be good.” Both Willow and Joyce looked up. Everyone snuck in a little closer, not wanting to miss a word.

Wes sputtered. “What do you think you’re doing? I insist that you let her go.”

Giles hit the pad of paper that Wes had in his hand with enough force to send it flying to the ground. “Why, so you can take more notes?”

“Those notes are essential. They could save her life one day.”

Giles leaned towards Wes. “She almost just died and you did nothing to help her.”

Wes waved his hand, totally unaware of the danger he was in. “Slayers are always in danger. She would have been fine.”

“How would you know? You were sniveling behind a tombstone.”

Wes drew himself up to his full height. “I was doing no such thing. I was merely staying out of the way. I might have gotten hurt. A good Slayer always puts her Watcher…” Wes didn’t finish his sentence as Giles finally gave in to temptation and punched him, knocking him to the ground.

He was livid. “A good Watcher always puts his Slayer first. Always.” He looked around and found Sam. “Sam was helping Kendra. Where the hell were you?” As Wes tried to get up Giles put his foot on his chest and he bent down. “Wes, I’ve never liked you. You are a sanctimonious prig with delusions of grandeur. And now it is appallingly clear that you are also a coward. You don’t deserve to have a Slayer.”

Kendra started to go protect Wes but Sam held her back. Sam pursed his lips and looked at her. He had kept quiet too long. It was time for him to sit down and have a long talk with Kendra. She needed to learn to enjoy a few things, and to stop thinking that slaying was all there was to life and that Wes was the last word in Watcher wisdom.

In disgust Giles moved away from Wes taking Buffy with him. Buffy looked back nervously at her Watcher still lying there on the ground but then she nestled closer to Giles. Joyce was watching Giles with her mouth open. Xander punched him in the arm. “Boy, when you say you’ll take care of Wes, you’re not fooling around, are you?”

Giles let out a disgusted noise. “I can’t abide him.” He turned to Sam and put out his hand. “Sam, it’s been a long time.”

Sam grinned and took Giles’ hand. He had always liked Rupert and had been sad when he had quit the Council. “Too long. Are you planning to stay?”

Giles looked down at Buffy and smiled. “Yes, I’m staying.”

Sam laughed. “Well, this will make things interesting.” Still laughing he walked over to Wes to help the man up.

Giles was explaining to Buffy that Gwen didn’t remember her and then reintroduced them. Gwen swept Buffy up in a hug, which Buffy was very glad to return. Then Giles introduced her to Ethan. She hesitated when she saw him. Looking up at Giles she found him grinning at her. “He’s okay. That was just a dream.”

Buffy shook her head. “Not for me.”

Giles’ lips tightened. “I’m sorry. But he really is okay in this life. He’s a friend, one I trust.”

That was good enough for Buffy, at least for now. Buffy smiled at her mom. “Mom, this is Giles.” Just saying it was enough to make Buffy start to cry again. Giles held her from behind, pulling her in tight against his chest.

Joyce smiled at her daughter. “We’ve met.”

Buffy turned confused teary eyes up to Giles. He smiled down at her. “She called me. Your mum called me.”

Buffy turned her eyes back to her mom. “You called him?”

Joyce turned to Willow and Xander. “It was Willow’s idea.”

Willow wanted to share the credit. “Yeah, but Joyce told us about him and showed us the card.”

Xander grinned. “We just got back from picking him up at the airport.”

Buffy let out a cry and launched herself at her mom, hugging her tightly, grinning over her shoulder at her friends. Joyce caught Giles’ eyes and the two of them grinned at each other.

Wes and Sam were walking up to the group. Wes was whispering loudly. “Rupert Giles, the Rupert Giles, the one that left the Council and is the Curator at the British Museum? What is he doing here?”

Sam couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “Well, apparently he and Buffy are…” He searched for the right word but couldn’t find it, as he himself didn’t really understand what was going on. “Well, apparently he is going to be staying here.”

Wes looked horrified. Then frowning he marched back up to Giles. “I should have you arrested for assaulting me.”

Xander grinned. “Who assaulted you? I didn’t see anyone assault you.” He looked around. “Did anyone see someone assault Wes?” Everyone was shaking their heads. Kendra looked as if she might speak up but a look from her Watcher silenced her.

Giles grinned. “I’m crushed that you didn’t remember me when you first saw me.” He indicated Ethan. “Maybe you’ll have better luck remembering Ethan.”

Wes blanched. He did remember Ethan. Ethan may have played some practical jokes on Giles but they were nothing compared to the practical jokes he’d played on Wes. Wes practically stuttered. “How long are you in town for?”

Ethan grinned wickedly. “Oh, didn’t Sam tell you? I’m moving here too.” His eyes sparkled. “Yes, we’re going to be one big happy family.”

Wes turned back to Giles. “I’ll call the Council. I’ll tell them you’re interfering.”

“Please do. I’ll be glad to talk to them and share a vision of how you comported yourself this evening.” Giles got in Wes’ face again and poked his chest with an index finger. “I shan’t interfere with your Watcher duties unless I feel they are against Buffy’s best interest. You may schedule a reasonable training program, and she will of course have to patrol and deal with any supernatural threats, but the rest of her time, and what she chooses to do with her life, are none of your concern. If you are wise you will see that you now have many more resources at your command, all of which will be leant towards keeping Buffy and Kendra alive. But push me and I will make your life miserable.”

Joyce still held Buffy in her arms and she watched the two men fight. She wanted to get down on her knees and thank God for bringing Rupert Giles here. He was saying everything she had wanted to say to Wes but had been too fearful to because of her own lack of information. But this man knew what he was talking about. He’d been a Watcher. And he liked Sam, and Sam clearly liked him and as far as Joyce was concerned that was a high recommendation. Joyce gave Buffy a squeeze. “I like him, this man of yours.”

Buffy had been watching the exchange with wide eyes. She knew that she never would have stood for Wes in her old life, in fact she hadn’t. She had quit the Council rather than work with him. But in this life she had been somewhat cowed by him. She felt the chains start to fall away, Giles’ words beginning to unlock her own power. Looking up at her mom she giggled. “Isn’t he wonderful?”

Joyce’s heart leaped for joy at that giggle. She looked up and saw Giles standing there, having turned again away from Wes. Joyce let go of Buffy and turned her. “Yes, he is.” Joyce gave her a little push and Buffy moved into Giles’ arms.

She breathed him in. “I still can’t believe you’re here.”

He held her tight. “Neither can I.”

End of Part 14