The Leap To SunnydaleBy Meltha
"Sam!" yelled a voice right next to his ear, and Dr. Beckett jerked awake. Luckily, in spite of a small groan and a mumbled "Don't wanna get up," from Buffy, the girl slept on.
Al was standing next to the window, comlink in hand, grinning in amusement as he saw Mr. Gordo fumble out of the blankets and yawn widely, covering his felt mouth with a hoof as he did so. He rubbed his shoe button eyes and glared at Al vengefully."If you can manage to look like you're not watching the newest heart-warming Disney movie for three seconds," he whispered angrily at his good friend, "can you at least give me a little more information?"
"Aw, now Sam, why're you waking up on the wrong side of the bed? After all, you did spend the night in the arms of a goregous woman. I mean, this Buffy isn't so hard on the eyes," he declared, leaning in close to the sleeping Slayer's face as she let out a delicate snore. "I wouldn't mind being her bedtime pal, no siree."
"Al, try to keep your Godzilla-sized libido in check long enough to tell me what's going on, okay," Sam muttered as he rubbed his hand through his hair, making the patch of pink fuzz on top of Mr. Gordo's head stand straight up.
"Spoilsport," Al said regretfully. "Anyway, here's what we've been able to piece together, and it's all pretty weird stuff, Sam."
"Considering I'm a stuffed pig, I'm not really surprised by that," the doctor replied.
"Yeah, good point. Okay, so it seems Buffy's been dead... wait, no," Al said as he thumped the comlink throughly. "No, she's been dead twice."
"What?"
"Yeah. Apparently, the first time she got brought back with CPR only a few seconds later," Al answered.
"That's not too out there," Sam said, glad to have something he could finally understand from his medical training. "What about the second time?"
Al stared at the comlink, all but punched it out, shook it, and finally yelled, "Gushy! This can't be right!" He paused, apparently listening to someone. "It is?"
"What now?"
"The second time she died, she stayed dead for over four months before her friend Willow resurrected her using magic," Al said in a rush, getting it over with quickly.
Sam stared at Al. "That's not funny."
"I'm not being funny! That's what Ziggy says happened! And ever since she's been back, she's been really depressed, poor kid. She's working over at some greasy dive called the Doublemeat Palace, flipping burgers in order to pay the bills for her and her kid sister," Al said seriously.
Sam shook his head, trying to clear it. She'd been dead for months and came back to work in fast food?
"You know, I'm still not saying that I think Ziggy's circuits haven't shorted out completely, but there could be a little truth in this. There are stories about people who have had near-death experiences who are angry or depressed that they were brought back because the afterlife was so peaceful. When did this happen?"
"In September," Al said. "And it's January now."
"That's not too much time, really, all things considered," Sam said, glancing at the still-sleeping girl.
"Yeah, except Ziggy says that some time tonight Buffy's gonna disappear," Al explained quickly.
"And get bit by a vampire, right?" Sam finished, still not able to believe it in spite of what he'd seen.
"That's what Ziggy says, yeah. I wouldn't mind biting her myself, if you get my drift, Sammy," Al declared with a purient chuckle as he leered at Buffy again. "Hey now, who's this?"
Sam managed to turn around just before another blonde girl entered the room. This one looked more healthy than Buffy did, but there was still sadness in her eyes as she surveyed the room.
"Ziggy says this is Tara, the ex-girlfriend of... oh boy, the other housemate, Willow! Now doesn't that paint some pretty pictures," Al said, wandering over to Tara. "Hey, now Sam, that's a real pretty girl. Too bad she's batting on the opposite team."
"Al, you're a hologram. No one bats on your team," Sam said, then slapped his hand over his mouth.
"Someone here?" Tara asked, spinning in the direction of the voice.
"That was dumb, Sam! Look what you've gone and done!"
Sam glared as loudly as he could at Al, but he didn't dare move.
"Hello?" Tara asked. Luckily, the sound of the nextdoor neighbor's kids playing in the front yard drifted through the window just at that moment, saving the day. "I'm too nervous for my own good," she muttered to herself as she looked around the room. "Ah, here it is," she murmured as she picked up a necklace from the desk. Suddenly, she caught sight of Mr. Gordo. "Hey little guy, what happened to your foot?"
Before Sam knew what was happening, he was swept off the pillow and up into the gentle hands of the young woman. Tara carefully examined the rip in the seam, then popped him under her arm and strode down the hallway.
"I'll just sew you up while I'm waiting to take Dawn out for breakfast," Tara explained to the stuffed animal/nuclear physicist.
"Uh, Sam?" Al called as he followed along behind. "Can she do that?"
"I don't know," he whispered as quietly as he could.
Happily, Sam didn't feel the needle and thread at all as Tara quickly fixed the small gash in Mr. Gordo's hoof. Oddly enough, as she sewed, she kept up a running dialogue with the piggy.
"I'm kinda glad Willow left early for the Magic Box this morning," she confided in the him. "I mean, I miss her a lot, but it's too, you know, complicated right now. Anyway, it'll be nice to have breakfast with Dawn. She needs someone to look after her. Buffy is... well, you know, not doing too good right now. She's sort of in self-destruct mode. I'm not really sure what anyone can do about that until she decides there's something worth being alive for. Or someone. There. All done, Mr. Gordo," she said as she snipped the pink thread and put the needle and scissors back in the mending basket under the living room couch.
She surveyed her handiwork with a smile, then tilted her head to one side, regarding him. Sam had the eeriest feeling that she was looking right through him.
"Huh. That's crazy, even for Sunnydale," she said in an undertone. "Who ever heard of a stuffed animal with an aura?" She sniffed the pink plush deeply. "Must be the fabric softener. Dawn! Are you ready yet?"
"Yeah!" the girl called down the steps, quickly followed by the rapid pounding of sneakers on the stairs. "Buffy's still sleeping, as usual."
Tara nodded thoughtfully. "She sleeps in a lot lately, doesn't she?"
"All the time, except when she has the early shift at Doublegrease Blah-gers," Dawn said, making a face.
"Hmm," Tara said, her face thoughtful. "Well, let's just leave Mr. Gordo here, then. Come on."
The two left through the front door, and Sam finally moved when he heard the keys turn in the lock and footsteps echoing on the front porch.
"Al?" he called in a half-whisper. "Al, you here?"
"Yup," said the other man from behind him. "I heard everything. Guess we're lucky Tara there talks to stuffed animals."
Sam looked up towards the ceiling, thinking of the young girl who lay asleep and obviously confused and depressed upstairs.
"So how exactly is Mr. Gordo supposed to make Buffy remember life is worth living?" he said in irritation.
"I don't know, Sammy," Al said, screwing up his mouth. Then he grinned a little. "But you really are cute."
The pig chucked a small pillow on the couch at him, and it sailed through the hologram without a pause.