"Sixteen"
Author: TrinityLast
Email: trinitylast@wambtac.com
Notes: I know, I know. I should be writing Temple of the Slayer. Or
Bound. Or Second Chances. I should be writing An Interesting Concept, and
to all the B/G'ers out there who also read B/A, I’m sorry it’s been so long
with that, too. I should be writing Circle of the Gifted, my LFN. I SO want
to finish that, and I can’t seem to make it happen. I should be doing anything
but starting a new series. This is possibly the worst thing I can do to
my already way to filled schedule. It’s not like I’ve got so much time that
I can just take on a bunch of new story lines and plots.
But...
I’d like to know if this is even worth pursuing. It’s the first chapter.
It’s ONLY the first chapter. It’s all I have written. If you hate it, I
won’t write anymore of it. But I wanted to see what the reaction would be.
So. Let me know.
And I’ll try to have some of all my other stuff out soon, too. I’ve been
in a lousy place, with my grandmother in and out of the hospital with a
bunch of TIA’s, and I haven’t been writing. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!
I really, really, am. But I’m writing now!
OH! And: The gang are all immortal, through a prophecy. It happened at the
same time that Angel and Buffy got back together, kinda a part of the whole
she’s pregnant thing. Which I didn’t write, because it’ll be so much better
in your head! :p
That counts for something, right?
"I can’t! I can’t marry someone else, Angel! That is *our* daughter sitting over there! How can you..."
"It’s not safe, Buffy! You have to." He grabbed her and leaned his forehead against hers. "I hate this as much as you do. The thought of someone else touching you, making love to you...but, Jenny." He looked at their daughter in her carrier. "We have to. No one can know. It’s too dangerous."
"The *day* she turns
sixteen..."
"I’ll be waiting."
Buffy sat up gasping, startled from her dream by the alarm clock. She glanced at the clock and shut off the beeper. Eight am.
"Tomorrow’s Jenny’s birthday."
Buffy bit her lip. Next to her, her husband Justin rolled over onto his back and smiled. "I know. Amazing, isn’t it? Sixteen."
Buffy closed her eyes and let a small smile cross her lips, while her back was still turned. "Yeah."
"I’m scared. I feel like something’s going to happen."
He came over and sat down next to her. "It’ll be fine. You’ve got your mom there, and Justin."
Jenny looked at the man oddly. "You know what? I just realized something a few days ago. I guess I wasn’t always listening that closely, but...you’ve never called him my dad. I mean, he’s not, biologically. I know that. But he’s all I’ve ever known. He *is* my dad. Mom never talks about...*him*."
The man smiled sadly. "It’s probably too painful."
Jenny changed the subject. "So, you gonna tell me who you are? I’m sixteen tomorrow."
The man smiled. "After."
"What?"
He started to fade and Jenny reached out. "No! Come on, not yet!"
Jenny opened her eyes and sighed. He never stayed long enough. He’d been coming to her in her dreams for as long as she could remember, just being there for her.
"I swear, one of these days, I’m gonna find out who the hell he is."
Of course, he might not be real. But her mom had assured her long ago that dreams could be real when she’d had a prophetic one about a friend. That was weird...but her mom had said, "It happens. You never know. Don’t just discount it."
Glancing at the calendar, Jenny winced. She was still nervous. Even after the dream. This was the first time he hadn’t been able to make her feel better.
It was unsettling.
"Jenny! Get down here! You’re gonna miss the bus!"
Justin shook his head at his wife as he walked through with the morning paper. "You know, she never does. You need to relax."
"Don’t tell me what I need to do!"
Justin stopped and turned. He had a hurt, confused look on his face. "Buffy..."
"No." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I’m sorry. It’s just..." She shook her head and turned back to the stairs. "Jenny!!"
Justin stared at her for a minute before glancing at his watch and grabbing his briefcase. Buffy had been acting strangely for over a month. Snapping and yelling, being angry and stubborn. She didn’t want to be around him, and they hadn’t made love in even longer.
He was starting to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he didn’t like one bit.
Angel lay in bed, staring at his ceiling. He knew Jenny was still upset. He hadn’t been able to calm her down. For the first time since he’d been visiting her in her dreams.
Of course, that was because she knew it was coming. She just didn’t know she knew it.
Angel grinned to himself. That was definitely a sentence to make Buffy proud.
Willow was literally bouncing. She was the only one in constant contact with Buffy (through magic) and the obvious fact that she’d talked to the Slayer was getting Anya annoyed as she managed to twirl around the Magic Box on what could only be described as a high.
"Willow! Knock it off!"
"I can’t!" She plopped into a chair but continued to bounce. "Buffy’s coming back this week!"
Anya made a face. "She’ll look old. You did that spell that let’s her age show, right?"
Willow nodded. "But she’s gonna’ take it off before she comes home. So, she’ll be our Buffy."
Giles came in from the back room and say down, eyebrows furrowed. "I doubt she’ll be the same Buffy that left, Willow. She’s just spent sixteen years with a man she doesn’t love and away from her soul mate. I’m sure she’s changed a bit."
But Willow shook her head. "She pretended to, though, for Justin. But I’ve talked to her. Same Buffy. Just frustrated, because she feels all closed up."
Giles made a face. "Gee, I can’t imagine why." His voice dripped with sarcasm and Willow’s eyes bugged out.
"Why Giles! You made a joke!"
He glared, she giggled and Anya rolled her eyes.
Buffy sat in her car and waited, tapping out a rhythm on the steering wheel. A new rap group had a song out, and it was playing on the radio. It was the kind of thing Justin hated and her daughter’s generation loved.
And of course, so did Buffy. Just not in front of anyone.
The music, therefore, was turned down low as she waited for her Jenny to come out the school doors. This was it. One hour from now, she and her daughter would be getting on a plane and heading for Sunnydale. Buffy felt bad for doing it this way, but it seemed the most painless way of working it. Her and Jenny’s bags were packed and in the back. Instead of going home, Buffy was going to head straight for the airport. Justin would find a note on his desk when he got home, saying she’d be back to work out the details of the divorce in a month.
One month. That’s the time she was allowing for Jenny to get comfortable with Buffy’s true home. One month. It wasn’t a lot.
But it would have to do. After that, they’d come back for a few weeks, and we’d see how well Jenny handled *her* world with her new perspective.
Buffy sighed as she spotted her daughter coming down the steps. She reached over and turned off the radio, then looked down at herself. The spell would be coming off in the parking garage, where Buffy planned to ditch the car - excuse me, minivan, "Ugh" - and she couldn’t even begin to picture her daughter’s face when she explained where they were going.
"If nothing else, it should be interesting..."
Jenny opened the passenger door and got in. "Hey mom."
"Hey." Buffy didn’t look at her as they pulled into traffic. After sixteen years, she still hated this idea.
Angel lifted the baby into the car and Buffy took her, sniffling. "I can’t do this, Angel. Can we do this to her? I’ll have to rip her from a father...a father that won’t be you, but she’ll love like her own. How can we be doing this?"
Angel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he opened them and reached up, tracing a hand down their daughter’s face. "She’ll love someone else as a father. But she’ll be alive to love."
Buffy’s eyes filled and she nodded. She was really just postponing the inevitable. There wasn’t another choice. They had to do this. Angel slammed the door shut, and the cab drove away. She watched him in the back window until they turned the corner.
Buffy sighed and snapped back to the present as she pulled into the airport parking structure. Jenny was sending her curious looks, but hadn’t asked yet.
As they parked, Jenny finally spoke. "Who are we picking up?"
"We’re not." Buffy pulled the key from the ignition and, reaching over, stuck it in the glove compartment. Then she turned and started digging around in the backseat, looking for her purse, and the counter spell to undo the ‘glamour’. "Jenny, go in back and grab your bags, ok?"
"What?" The teenager frowned at her mother, but when it was obvious she wasn’t going to get an answer, got out and did what she was told. She always did what she was told. That was Justin’s doing.
It was one of many things Buffy was going to have to unteach her.
When Jenny had unloaded the bags from the back of the mini-van, she started to get nervous. All of her things were here...at least, all she’d need. The rest of it could always be replaced. And all of her mother’s things were here, too.
All of them.
"Mom?"
"Damnit!"
Jenny’s eyes widened. Her mother had never, as far as she knew, used that kind of language. "Mom?"
"Yeah?" Her mom came around the side of the van still digging in her purse. She set it down on the floor in the open back of the van and started digging in earnest.
"What are you looking for?"
"Damn!" Buffy scrunched up her face and sighed. Picking up the purse, she dumped it out and started rifling through the mess now in front of her.
"Jenny, come here and help me. We’re looking for an envelope that says ‘for god’s sake, Buffy, don’t get on the fucking plane without using this!’"
Jenny gasped. "Mom?"
"Stop saying that and help me look. The writing won’t be mine."
The dirty blonde teenager bit her lip and tentatively started poking through the contents of her mother’s purse, looking for an envelope. After a few minutes, Buffy giggled.
"Of course. Right. Well, I’m an idiot."
"What?"
Buffy shook her head and opened one of her suitcases. She dug for a few minutes before pulling out a black backpack, empty. "When I took it from her, I was using this, now wasn’t I? So this is where I’d have stuck it. Duh." She opened the top zip and smiled triumphantly. Her hand came out holding a small white envelope, with, to Jenny’s shock, that *exact* sentence on it.
Buffy hurriedly shoved everything from her purse into the backpack and tossed the purse (an ‘old lady’ model) up into the backseat. Then she ripped open the envelope.
"Ok, here’s what I need you to do." Buffy pulled out a paper and glanced at her daughter, who was nodding, though looked very confused. "Back up a few steps, so you don’t get hit, and make sure to tell me if anyone’s coming."
Jenny frowned but backed up and glanced around. "No one’s here."
"Good." Buffy rolled her neck and then focused on the paper. She said a few lines in Latin that Jenny couldn’t make out...
...and a very, very bright light flashed. When it died, her mother was standing there...but she looked like the one picture Jenny had seen of her at twenty.
There was only one. It was in Buffy’s wallet, and it was of Buffy and three other people Jenny didn’t know. An older man with glasses a striking redhead and a younger guy with brown hair. Jenny had seen it once when she’d been sent into Buffy’s wallet for a credit card one Busy Christmas. It was the only time Jenny had ever seen the picture, or any other of her mother before the age of thirty.
And now, the flesh and blood version of that picture was standing in front of her, folding a paper up into her jeans pocket and grabbing a suitcase.
Jenny’s eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted.
Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. Then she pulled Jenny out of the main driveway and into the back of the van, and waited.
About five minutes later, Jenny's eyes fluttered open.
Buffy smiled, "Hey there."
The girl groaned. "Why do I feel like I was just hit by a truck?"
"You fainted and hit the concrete. I've found that they don't feel the same, but only having felt the one, you wouldn't know that."
"Huh?" The dirty blonde opened her eyes and then widened them. "Mom?!"
The Slayer smiled again, "Yeah. Can I just promise to explain on the plane?" Buffy blinked at the rhyme, then moved past it. "We're really gonna miss our flight if we don't get a move on."
"Yeah...I guess...." A very confused look on her face, Jenny got up and shouldered her bags, pulling the last one on wheels behind her, and followed Buffy into the airport...fully aware of the fact that her mother, who normally could barely open a pickle jar, was now carrying all her luggage without any noticeable effort at all.
The flight was horrible. There was turbulence, and Jenny was sick the whole way. Mother and daughter...mistaken for sisters more times than Jenny would ever admit to, did not get the chance to talk at all on the three hour flight...in fact, less than five words were spoken the whole time. "Sick." "Bathroom." "There." "Just breath."
So, when they got off the plane, the teenager had no clue what was going on...all she knew was that the world was spinning 'round her head.
And that the man who regularly visited her dreams, was now kissing her mother passionately in the middle of the airport terminal.
For the second time in the same day, Jenny Greyfeild fainted dead away.
It took Buffy and Angel a full minute to realize that something was wrong...and another minute to pry themselves from each other, it had been so long...
When they did, they were greeted by the sight of their daughter, unconscious on the floor of the Sunnydale Airport main terminal.
Sighing, Buffy rolled her eyes again and walked over, gathering their bags onto a cart, while Angel gathered Jenny into his arms. The smallest smile graced his face as he looked down at his daughter, in his arms. Sixteen years later...still alive.
A miracle.
Now, if she would just stay awake...
Jenny opened her eyes and blinked a few times, then groaned and put one hand to her head and started mumbling to herself. "Great, Jenn. You've fainted twice in one day. Gotta’ be great for the head."
"Well, probably not. But then, you're the one I spent four hours with in the dreamscape when she was six, because she ran head first into a brick wall. I wouldn't worry...your head can stand a little fainting spell."
Jenny's eyes snapped open again and she turned her head to the right. Stone wall...beautifully designed fireplace, with fire. Man sitting on the hearth...the man from her dreams...that her mother had been kissing...
Her voice was a whisper. "It's...god, it's really you."
Angel smiled, "yeah." He came over with a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water that'd been sitting on the hearth next to him. "Here. It should help."
She nodded silently, sitting up and taking the pills. Her voice was only a little louder this time. "You...who *are* you?"
"The one your mom never talks about."
It took a minute for that to register, and another for Jenny to work it out...but she'd been getting this man's cryptic answers her whole life...she was good at figuring out what he was saying.
It was just that this was *not* the answer she'd been expecting.
"You're my father?!"
The vampire smiled again and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "Yeah."
The dirty blond swallowed, then nodded. Then she drank the rest of the glass of water in one swallow.
"How's she doing?"
Angel raised an eyebrow at Buffy and sat down on the bed, watching her unpack.
[Unpack. A really beautiful word, when you think about it...]
"She just watched her mother lose twenty years, and met the man who's been haunting her dreams her entire life, who happens to be her father. How would *you* be?"
Buffy turned and glared at him. "I'd be a lot better if someone, who shall remain nameless, had *told* me he was in her *dreams*!"
He swallowed, then gave a sheepish look. "Um...it never came up?"
"Yeah. That was convincing." Sighing, she came over and sat down on the bed. "How could you not tell me this?"
"I'm sorry. I am. It's just...I had to see her. I had to. And this was the best way. I thought about telling you through Willow...but it never..."
"Willow!"
Angel blinked as Buffy jumped up again, grabbing her coat off a chair. "What about her?"
"I haven't seen her yet! I have to see her. And Giles! The spells for Jenny...the ones suppressing her powers have to come off." She raced out of the bedroom and downstairs, into the main hall of the mansion where her daughter was still sitting on the couch, staring into the fire. "Honey, grab your coat. We're going out."
"We are?" Jenny looked up and just caught her coat from her mother. "Mom? Where are we going now?"
"The Magic Box," as if that answered all her questions. Buffy dragged Jenny out the door, calling back to Angel, "coming?"
"In a few hours. I have a few things to take care of."
Buffy nodded and shrugged into her coat, then closed the door behind her.
And Angel simply could *not* stop smiling.
Jenny just stood in the middle of the room, flexing her hands. They felt different. Everything felt different. Stronger. She felt like she could run faster. And she suddenly had all this extra energy.
"Mom?"
"You're a slayer" Buffy circled Jenny, smiling a little. "One girl in all the world with the strength and skill to fight, and kill the vampires and the forces of darkness" Her smile turned a little sheepish. "Except you're not"
"Huh?" The teenager gave her mother a supremely confused look.
"Well...you're a full blooded slayer...vampire with a soul for a father, slayer for a mom. You have the strength, the speed, and the inherent skill. But you're not The Slayer. The Slayer is in.." she trailed off and frowned, turning to Giles who smiled a little.
"Baltimore, at the moment. Her name is Eliza"
Jenny made a tiny distressed noise at the back of her throat, drawing the attention of the room again. "So, if I'm not The Slayer, what am I?"
"My daughter. This is why I had to take you away. The council wanted to kill you. A slayer who isn't. Someone they can't control...they've never been able to control me, and they knew they couldn't you. So, they started sending assassins. It didn't really take long to figure out that your father and I couldn't protect you...not from the assassins they were sending. When you hit sixteen we knew you'd have your full powers. You could protect yourself...but until then..." she trailed off again, choking, and turned away, covering her mouth with one hand.
"Until then, I had to be raised away from my father, where no one would think to look" She was more than a little shocked at herself and how calmly she was taking this, but the more she learned, the more sense it made. "So, you married someone you didn't love, knowing that these people would never think of that...you're obviously too in love with.." Jenny took a calming breath, then managed to get the word out. "...with dad to ever do something like that. So, it would never occur to them to look for me in a stable house, with a father and mother, when my true father was still here, in plain sight"
Giles smiled again and nodded, letting Buffy get herself under control again. "Yes. Angel has been completely visible your entire life. Here. So the council assassins assumed you'd be with just your mother. As you can see...it did work"
Jenny nodded. Saying 'but at what cost?' just seemed a little too cliche, even for her.
"So, she looks good"
Buffy raised an eyebrow at Willow, then looked back through the window at Jenny. They'd been home for two weeks...she was on a regular training schedule, doing study sessions with Giles on demonology, and seriously bonding with her dad. Her wardrobe had, in the first three days, gone from 'catholic schoolgirl'...which was, unfortunately, what she'd been before, literally,…to 'chic jeans girl'. Though, a bit more skin was showing than the May Queen had liked to expose during high school, Cordelia had spent most of her quality time with Jenny at the mall, buying her clothes. And seriously spoiling her. Jenny now had more clothing than Cordy herself. It'd turned out that Jenny liked the designer jeans look...casual, but expensive. Not having gotten the chance to dress her as she was growing up, Cordelia was now lavishing everything she had on her 'niece'.
Buffy'd felt a little left out of Jenny's new life for the first few days, but that was to be expected...and her husband had been more than willing to spend the extra time with her. Angel was still having problems spending more than a few hours apart from her. The separation had hit both of them hard...reminding the couple much too strongly of the years after high school.
However, Jenny had stolen her mother back on the fifth day in Sunnydale when she demanded 'real' training.
"Mom, I can't train with Giles anymore...I can't hit him"
"Yeah, you can. He taught me everything I know. Trust me, you can hit him"
Jenny sighed. "Ok. So I can. I don't want to. He's too nice...I'm afraid I'll hurt him.." her voice dropped to a whisper. "And I miss you. I was thinking this could be something we'd do together when you mentioned it, and now I'm stuck for hours a day in a back room with a man who's way to easy on the eyes to be someone I'm supposed to think of as a grandfather. I can't train with him. My...mind's wandering"
Buffy blinked a few times, then nodded. There was no way she wanted her daughter thinking about Giles that way...and seeing him without his shirt on all those years while they trained...she understood the temptation. If she wasn't so in love with Angel...
[Bad place to go. Just stop.]
So, now she was training for three or four hours a day with her daughter. And the teenager was a natural. There was really no doubt...she'd inherited the best of both worlds. But Buffy was still nervous. They only had a week before they had to go back. She still had to settle the divorce with Justin, and get Jenny's school records so they could enroll her in Sunnydale High. A week. One fourth of a month. Seven days.
What if she lost her daughter to that horrible gray world again? Jenny'd just started to wake up...to be the person Buffy'd always known she could be. Really was, under all that pleating and politeness. What if she lost her again?
Buffy wasn't sure she could handle that.
"I can't go back, Willow"
The witch was only half listening to Jenny...the teenager had been doing this same riff for the last hour, and Giles'd asked for some research. Willow nodded, eyes still glued to the computer screen.
"I mean, he was never really my dad...I love him, but I can call him...and write. Email and palm phone and screen to screen. I don't think I can go back...I always felt like I was being smothered there. And, and now I can breathe. It's like this huge relief. I can't go back. I can't"
Willow's eyes never left the screen. "But I thought you wanted to go see your friends again. You wanted to talk to your teachers, and Justin's mom. And didn't you say something about a boyfriend?"
"Yeah, but he wasn't serious. And I can write or call Nana. Same with Kim and Hillary. I don't need to *see* them, like in person. I...it's gray there"
This time the redhead giggled. "You know, your mom used the same exact word" She scrolled down the screen, looking for a specific species in the database, still talking. "You can do this. You're only gonna’ be there for a few days. Go see your friends, talk to your Nana in person and explain. Hug Justin"
Jenny bounced on the counter of the Magic box and bit her lip. When she finally said something, it was a whisper. "I don't want to see him again"
Willow blinked and looked up. "What?"
"I don't want to see him. I don't. I don't want to look at him and say, 'I'm sorry I never loved you like a father.' I don't want to tell him that I always knew that Dad was more of a father to me, just being in my dreams, than Justin ever was. He tried...and he was there for me. It's not his fault I'm the daughter of a slayer and a vampire, and got all these supernatural genes that linked me to my true father. He did everything he could have done. It was totally my fault...and I don't think I can face him"
"Oh" Turning to face Jenny, Willow frowned, trying to figure out how to word this. "Ok...you don't need to say any of that. He's going to ask you if you're happy. You know it. It's the first thing they ask. You say yes...that you've found yourself. If he knows you at *all* he knows you didn't belong there. Buffy said she's sure he knew *she* didn't belong there. He used to describe her as.."
"...a wild bird that I'll never be able to cage.' That's what he used to call me"
Angel sighed and switched feet, digging his thumbs into her left arch. "So you think he knew that Jenny didn't belong there, too?"
"I'm hoping" Buffy shifted slightly on the couch, idly running her free foot up and down his leg. "I'm seriously hoping this will just go smoothly. But you know it won't. Something's going to happen"
"You don't know that. It could go smooth as glass for all you know" He looked up just in time to catch the expression on her face and sighed again. "Ok, I know. You're right. It never does. But it can't hurt to hope"
Buffy nodded. "Yes, yes it can. Hoping does horrible things. It, it makes people do terrible things to other people, like kill someone, in the hopes that no one finds out. Angel, I don't want to hope. Hope gets me in trouble. Every time. I mean.."
"*Stop*. Just stop. Hope got us married...it's the reason you're sitting here, with your husband rubbing your feet."
"...which feels amazing, by the way"
Angel smiled. "Thank you. But you get the point. We hoped we'd get here, and we did. Just hold on a little longer. You can make it...it'll all be over soon"
Buffy got a horrified look on her face. "Oh, *god*, I hope not"
Angel blinked and looked up at her, then understanding flashed across his face. "I don't mean like that"
Buffy shuddered. "You better not. The only way this can end.."
"...is badly. I know. That's not what I meant"
Swallowing, she nodded, then motioned at her feet. "What happened to the rubbing?"
He smiled a little, his hands starting to work again. "Sorry"
"Ok, I can do this" Jenny whirled to face her speakerphone, Xander and Anya's son on the other end. The two had hit it off almost immediately, instant friends, though at the moment, the boy was listening with barely concealed amusement. "I can do this, right?"
Jesse's laugh came through the line. "Yes. You can do this. It's not that hard. You simply walk up to him and say.." he paused for a moment. "What do you call him? 'Dad' or 'Justin'?"
"That's the thing. I've always called him Dad"
Another pause. "Wait. Isn't Angel coming with you?"
"Yeah"
"Oh. Well...shit"
"Exactly"
"You're going with? Who's going to help me run the store?"
Jesse threw another pair of jeans into his bag and shrugged at his mom. "You could ask Marci, or Daryl"
Anya rolled her eyes. "I'm not asking Cordelia's twins to watch my store. They're on break from school...I refuse to steal their vacation"
Her son shrugged. "Doyle, then?"
"Will be spending the time with his kids, on break from school. Pay attention. You just can't go. That's all there is to it"
Jesse sighed. "Mom, I'm sorry. But she really wants me to. So does Aunt Buffy. And I've missed her"
The ex-demon sighed and sank into a chair. "I know. But you were only five when she left. You couldn't have missed her that much"
He came over, biting his lip. "I kinda did. You know? Like that person you remember as always nice, and fun and.."
"I get it. Buffy is great. She always has been. Go. Enjoy. Leave your poor old mother here to run the store on her own"
The man smiled. "Mom, you're not old. And you have Giles to help you"
"Hey!" She stood up, and waved a mock finger at him. "I'm almost twelve hundred years old, mister!"
He smiled again and kissed her cheek. "And you don't look a day over ten"
"Jesse!"
Angel threw another of Buffy's shirts into her bag and called into the bathroom, where the shower was running. "Do you want the leather pants?"
"No! I'm gonna’ wear them in....unless you mean the red ones. Yes. Pack those"
He smiled a little and packed the red leather, leaving the black on the bed, along with a white silk shoestring top, knowing his wife's taste. Something she always made a big deal over was his ability to pick out, and buy, perfect outfits. The minute she'd gotten back he'd taken to picking out all her clothes, if for no other reason than the fact that it made her smile.
Then he blinked at the outfit and growled. "You're going to see this guy in leather pants?"
The shower turned off and Buffy came out, a towel wrapped around her and one in her hand, drying her hair. "Well...yeah. Why?"
"I don't like it. He's...I don't like it"
Buffy's voice was quiet. "Honey, I just spent sixteen years sleeping with him. I doubt I can make that much worse with a pair of leather pants"
Angel winced and nodded, closing his eyes. "I just...I hate that he touched you. Saw you. Was *in* you"
She came over, dropping both towels, and put one hand on his chest, over his silent heart. "He was never *in* me"
"OK, you have everything?"
"Yes, mom."
"Stakes? Crosses?"
"Yes mom."
"Knife?"
"Yes. I have everything."
"You have your Dramamine? You get sick flying."
"It's in my pocket. And I have gum. And I have stamps, though god only knows why since I'll be back in a max of four days. Would you relax?"
Anya huffed and crossed her arms. "I still don't want you to go. This is Buffy's mess. She should clean it up."
Jesse rolled his eyes and shouldered his bag, glancing at the gate. "We're boarding. I'll see you when I get back, ok?"
His mother sighed and nodded, tilting her face for a kiss on the cheek, which he gave her. "Call when you get there?"
"Of course."
Jesse settled into his seat next to Jenny and immediately asked for a glass of water to take his pills. Then he grinned at his 'cousin', who was muttering to herself. "You ok?"
Her head snapped up. "Oh, sure. Why wouldn't I be ok?"
Jesse shrugged. "Do you really need me to recite the list?"
Jenny sighed slowly. "No. Just...I'm nervous. I'm scared I'll get lost again."
The boy looked her over and smirked at the *very* tight jeans and silk t-shirt. "You know...I don't think that's really a risk."
Justin was pacing his living room as he fisted and unfisted his hands. His brother and mother watched him from the couch, but the woman was the one to speak.
"Are you sure it was today?"
"Yes." Justin nodded. "She said exactly one month. It's today." He glared at the divorce papers sitting on the coffee table, then looked at his brother. "I have to talk her out of this. I have to. I can't lose her...she's..."
Simon sighed. "You know I'm not gonna argue...but you also know I never liked her. She's...brash, and she can be rude. I'm not a fan, bro."
The front door opened and all three turned to watch Jenny walk in talking to some boy a few years older. She was whining, and he was suppressing laughter.
"Jesse, there's no way. It's...no. Eww. And Eww."
Jesse chuckled lightly, helping her take off her coat. "I'm just saying, it would get them, good. Can you *see* Giles' face?"
Buffy brushed past and into the living room, glaring at them. "No. No pulling of the pranks on my father. The last time that happened, he took it out on me with a seven hour training session."
The three in the living room still hadn't said a word. Justin was staring at his daughter's clothing, but his mother and brother were staring at his wife's. Or soon to be ex-wife's.
Buffy was wearing a pair of leather pants and a shoestring top that left almost nothing to the imagination. Simon could swear her nipples were poking at the fabric. He took a second look and blanched.
Yes. They were. Also...she almost looked younger. He raked his eyes over here, then passed it off as makeup. A *lot* of makeup.
A taller man followed them in, dark and gorgeous. There was really no other way to describe him. Except dangerous. He definitely looked dangerous. Like someone who could steal Justin's wife away by offering thrill and adventure.
Justin suddenly felt like he had a chance. The danger might have worn off...maybe she just needed a vacation from normal life, and now she was coming home. He glanced over at his wife and swallowed at her clothing...then blinked at her finger.
Their wedding ring was gone. In its place was a little silver ring, identical to one the dangerous man was wearing.
Ok....so, not a big chance. But still a chance. He still had a chance.
He had to have a chance.
Justin cleared his throat and stepped forward, drawing the newcomer's attention. He managed to meet Buffy's eyes, and swallowed. Hard. He could never remember a time when love shined through those orbs...but there used to be affection. Caring. It was always enough for him...he knew he wasn't what she'd dreamed about, but he'd always hoped he could make her happy.
Now, though, there was love. It shined, so openly even he could see it, even though it wasn't for him. It was for the man who'd come in with them. The one standing behind and bit to the side, an obvious beacon of moral support...an unobtrusive knife into Justin's home.
"Justin." His wife, or soon to be ex-wife, glanced at the couch and raised an eyebrow at his mother and brother. "Simon. Lillian."
Lillian stood up and crossed her arms. "Buffy. What lovely whore-wear. This is what you left my son for? A life of filth?" Even Justin winced at her words, and Simon stared at the man in the corner, who he could *swear* was actually growling, low in his throat.
Buffy sighed. "No, Lillian. I'm leaving your son because it's time." She looked at Justin, her eyes softening a bit. "Remember when we met?" Justin nodded, drawing his eyebrows together in confusion. "I told you that this wouldn't last. That I couldn't be trusted to stay with you. Remember?"
Justin nodded again, still looking confused. "But then we got married....I thought..."
Her voice was soft. "I told you. This...this wasn't going to last. I told you that I had other obligations, that I had things that I'd eventually have to do."
He took a step towards her, looking a bit scared now. "You took vows, though. The day we were married...and I thought..."
"You thought that meant that I'd exchanged all that for a life with you?"
Justin closed his eyes and tilted his head a bit in agreement. "Yes. I did."
Buffy swallowed hard and looked out the window, biting at her bottom lip. There was silence for a minute, then the dark man stepped out of the shadows and walked towards Justin, a genuine look of compassion on his face. His voice was soft and deep...and Lillian had to shake her head a bit to keep from getting lost in the pain radiating from behind his chocolate eyes.
"She's easy to fall in love with...too easy. Sometimes, I think there should be a warning from the surgeon general about it. But she doesn't get a choice. And she didn't get a choice when she married you, either."
Justin's eyes snapped open. "Of *course* she did. She could have said no. She married me because...because she cared. And wanted to. I didn't force her into anything."
The man's voice was even softer this time. "She married you to hide...and to stop her daughter from being killed."
No one had an answer for that.
Jenny bounced on her heels a few times before knocking. This was Brittany's house. Her best friend, right up until a month ago. She glanced down at her clothes and sighed. This was not going to go well...but she had to at least try.
A girl the same age as she opened the door, her straight brown hair pulled back at the sides in a business-like way and spilling over the shoulders of her crisp white blouse, the same one Jenny owned several of. Their school uniform.
The girl blinked a few times. "Jenny?"
She smiled a little. "Hi."
Brittany came back into her bedroom with two cans of soda and sat down on her bed, still staring at her friend, though now trying to look like she wasn't. "Where did you go? You missed the math test....sister Catharine was very upset with you."
Jenny crossed her legs out of habit, then wrinkled her nose at the position, always uncomfortable, and dropped her leg again. "My mom took me to the town she used to live. Sunnydale, California."
"Really?" Brittany leaned forward, interested. "What happened? Did you meet her family?"
"I met my father."
The brunette sat back again and pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. "How was it?"
"It..." Jenny smiled a little to herself, then met her friend's eyes. "It was perfect. He's really great. He's fun, and funny, and he loves me. A lot." She glanced at the door, then lowered her voice to a stage whisper. "He's the man I had those dreams about."
"What?!" Brittany winced at her own voice and lowered it. "Really?! Why were you dreaming about him?"
"Because...he can do that. He was visiting me." She smiled again. "We're moving there. Mom and...and Dad...they're getting back together."
The brunette stood up and shook her head. "No. No, dream haunting...that's...remember what sister Mary Beth used to say? That's the devil's work. God's men don't slink in our dream worlds...they walk in the daylight. You came back, Jenny. Stay here. If your mom wants to go...you can't stop her. She walks her own path. But Justin...he's a good man." She came over and kneeled in front of Jenny, putting her hand on her best friend's knee. "Don't do this. You'll be lost."
Jenny blinked at Brittany and after a moment, her face cleared. Her mother had put her in a school, so far beyond Catholic it bordered on cultish, and she'd relied on her daughter's genes and bloodline to keep her sane. The look in Brittany's eyes was not normal...Buffy was Christian, and Angel Catholic...and neither of them had that look. This was the look of a fanatic.
Slowly, Jenny set her soda down, then stood and walked out of Brittany's room. She left the house and headed right for her hotel room...Nathan, her boyfriend, went to the same school. That's where they knew each other. Visiting him would yield the same results.
And that look, now that she recognized it, was seriously scaring her.
"But you're ok now, right?" Jesse handed Jenny another glass of water and ran a hand through her hair. "Because, you're still looking kind of pale."
"I'm fine. Just wigged. I bet if you'd talked to me five weeks ago, I'd have looked just like that. I know I'd have at least agreed with her. God....I'd have agreed with her!" Jenny downed the water and laid back, closing her eyes. "I'll need a few minutes."
"Right. Not a problem. We have at least five hours until Angel and Buffy get back from dealing with the lawyers, and then dinner. You don't have to see anyone else for the rest of the stay...you can give me a tour, and we can check out the museum, and I can visit the art gallery...it'll be fine."
"Thanks." She turned a little and rested her head against his shoulder, still taking calming breaths. Jesse glanced down at her, startled, then smiled a bit and started running his hand through her hair, soothingly.
Buffy and Angel got in the car and she took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Ok. It's done."
He smiled at her and leaned over, kissing her cheek lightly. "It is." He pulled her into his arms and cradled her, letting her relax against his chest. "Are you ok?" he murmured, resting his mouth against her hair and breathing in her scent.
"No. But I will be."
"So, that should do it."
Justin nodded and stared blankly out the window as Buffy and Angel drove away, the divorce papers in the backseat to be delivered to the court before they got on a plane, and his goddess became literally out of reach. "Yeah. That should do it."
Lillian nodded decisively and smiled. "Good. I'm almost glad, actually. Now you can move on to a nice girl. Have a child of your own. Live a healthy Catholic life. I'm sure the church will understand about the divorce...it was entirely her fault. You share no blame...they have to make an exception for her...after all, she was never Catholic. It can be said that you were never even married!"
Her son's head snapped up and pain-filled eyes focused on her. "We were," he whispered, almost desperately. "I know it. We were." His hand absently played with his wedding ring, still on his finger. He was never going to take it off. Not ever.
As far as he was concerned, he'd always be hers.
The End