Oil & Blood

By Medea

Chapter Six

Spike's ominous warning about just how much the MacKenzie family had to fear was soon thrown into stark relief by another attack on the inexperienced Slayer. Her parents had insisted on returning to their ranch in Pagosa Springs, needing time to sort through everything Giles, Willow and Spike had told them. However, the unsettling attack made it clear that they didn't have the luxury of time to consider their options.

And so, as difficult as it was, they let Willow and Spike take Megan back with them to Los Angeles. The pained expressions on their faces as they watched their daughter drive away with her unnatural protectors gave testimony to their doubts. Mr. and Mrs. MacKenzie couldn't simply abandon the ranch and move without the means to support the family in a new town, no matter how tempted they might have been to do just that. It was agreed that they would remain behind only so long as necessary to wrap up their affairs in Pagosa Springs and find work in Sunnydale -- presumably, where the Slayer would be assigned. Meanwhile, rather than exposing the untrained Slayer to an active Hellmouth straightaway, Willow felt it would be better to take her back to their lair at the Hyperion where she could train with seasoned fighters until the Council got its act together.

Willow looked on sympathetically as Megan ventured into the grand lobby, almost swallowed up by the huge space. The girl paused a few paces in, warily eyeing Angel, Gunn, Cordelia and Wesley, who had obviously waited up to greet their new arrival. As she shifted her attention from one to the other, her interest focused on Angel.

Glancing uncertainly at Willow, she asked, "It's still kind of hard for me to tell. Which one is the vampire?"

Nodding toward Angel, Willow explained with a grin, "The cute one on the left. The others work with him."

On cue, all four stepped forward. Cordelia bent over, resting her hands just above her knees, and offered a perky, sing-songy, "Hi, I'm Cordy! And you must be Meggie."

"Uh...yeah..." Megan replied, wincing uncomfortably at the Seer, as she did at any adult who spoke to her like she was five years old.

Not to be outdone, Wesley patted her on the shoulder in what was intended to be a reassuring gesture, but came across to Megan as yet more adult condescension. "I'm Wesley Wyndham-Price. I'm sure this is probably *very* overwhelming for you, but we'll do our best to help you in any way we can. We've been at this for quite some time, you know."

"Great," the Slayer nodded awkwardly with a half-smile.

"Call me Gunn. How you doin'?" Gunn greeted her with a casual handshake.

Megan smiled, feeling better about this guy. At least he wasn't acting like a phoney. She then looked at Angel, who had been holding back slightly. He looked as awkward as she felt; somehow, this set the girl at ease.

"I'm Angel," the dark vampire offered.

"Megan," she said in return, extending her hand. Barely smiling, he shook her hand cautiously, and the young Slayer had the distinct impression that he wasn't comfortable around kids.

Sure enough, when he withdrew his hand, instead of talking to Megan he turned to Cordelia and asked, "Did you get her room ready? She's probably tired from the trip."

"All set to go," Cordelia confirmed. Leaning down to the Slayer once more, she chirped, "Meggie, how'd you like to go see your room? I decorated it myself -- you're going to *love* it."

Megan shrugged. "Sure." As she walked away with Cordelia, the girl paused and glanced back at Willow. "Do you have a room here, Willow?"

Caught off guard, Willow blinked momentarily before explaining, "Well, I...ah...I have a room, but it's mostly for my books and Wiccan supplies...Spike and I usually share a room."

"Well, duh! I guessed that," Megan smirked triumphantly, enjoying her chance to appear sophisticated. "But could we hang out there for a while later, or is it all R-Rated and stuff?"

"Damn, she's cool," Gunn mused, watching with amusement at the familiar, flustered look on Wesley's face.

Spike threw his head back and laughed. Draping his arm over Willow's shoulder, he corrected, "More like X-Rated, luv. 'Spose we could hide the whips and chains if you'd like to come over for a bit of girl talk, though."

Megan grinned at the blond vampire, grateful to him for treating her like an adult.

Willow grinned back at Megan and waved her away. "Go on, check out your room. We can sit around and drink hot chocolate later."

Megan stopped and looked at her quizzically. "Vampires drink hot chocolate?"

"This one does," Willow assured her, smiling as she watched Cordelia lead Megan away to her room.

The lobby was silent for a few moments after they left.

Looking to Wesley, her expression now turned serious, Willow murmured, "Still no luck with the Watchers Council?"

Lowering his eyes, but not before they had betrayed a wearied exasperation, Wesley acknowledged, "None at all, I'm afraid. First they refused to take action until we told them where she was. Now we've let them know exactly where to come and find her, but they won't send a new Watcher to Los Angeles. They still insist that vampires...and, er, you three in particular...are not to be trusted. Now they want her sent out to London."

"Where they can brainwash her," Angel concluded darkly. "Everything they did to Buffy could be safely buried, and we'd be Public Enemy Number One."

"When will they get over themselves?!" Willow ranted in disbelief at the Council's stubbornness. "I mean, we were the ones to make sure she was safe. Isn't that enough?"

"Don't you get it? We wounded their pride. Sending a Watcher out here to our turf would be just another reminder of what a sorry lot they are," Spike sneered.

"While I might not have put it *quite* that way, Spike is right," Wesley conceded. "I'm afraid there isn't much we can do at the moment."

"Yes, there is," Angel declared firmly. "We can teach her to survive."

Willow caught his eyes and, smiling fondly at him, concluded, "Just like old times."

*****

The first day of sparring took a greater toll on the vampires than on the young girl they sought to train. For one thing, it was indeed a *day* of sparring. Figuring that it would be easier for them to adjust to strenuous activity during the mid-afternoon than it would be to ask Megan to begin her first lessons in combat at her usual bedtime, Angel, Willow and Spike altered their sleep schedule. Although Megan was attentive, focused and eager to learn, Angel found himself unsure of how far he could push her.

Megan's instincts about his awkwardness around children were indeed correct. It had been over two centuries since he'd had any first-hand experience with pre-teenagers. In Angel's mind, children were as fragile as butterflies, and he couldn't shake the fear that his strength would crush Megan. More than once, he had to remind himself that, though she was young and inexperienced as a fighter, she was still the Slayer.

Oddly enough, Spike turned out to be the best sparring partner for Megan. Of the three vampires, he had been the least concerned for her welfare, lending his assistance only because it mattered to Willow. But somewhere along the way he and Megan developed an easy rapport -- perhaps because he decided she wasn't irritating, and she appreciated the fact that he didn't baby her.

Soon, Willow and Angel kept to the side-lines, offering instructions, but letting Megan practice her moves against Spike.

"Stop!" Willow's voice echoed sharply through the dojo.

The girl and the blond vampire froze in their positions, and Willow approached them on the mat. Spike remained calmly poised, but Megan panted rapidly, gulping in air. Her skin was flushed and her ponytail clung, matted down by sweat, to the nape of her neck.

"Look at the way your feet are planted. Then at how Spike is standing. What do you see?"

"Well, his feet are farther apart...oh, yeah, and I forgot to bend my knees...sorry..." Megan apologized, frowning in deep concentration as she struggled to remember all the things she'd been taught so far.

"That's right. The result is that your weight is thrown off. Your opponent could tip you over like that." Willow shoved her, and Megan landed on her behind with a thud. When Megan stood up, Willow nudged her into a more stable posture. "If you adjust your stance, like so, you'll keep your balance. It could mean the difference between life and death. Now give it another try."

Willow retreated to the edge of the mat and stood next to Angel. She glanced at him and caught him smiling at her, his eyes warm with amusement and pride. She wrinkled her brow at him quizzically, wondering what could have put him in such a mood, when it hit her.

She couldn't help smiling herself as the memories flooded in.

Angel had given her almost the exact same advice when she had first started training with him.

She looked again at Megan, awkwardly deflecting Spike's obvious, exaggerated blows, and saw herself as she had been in the early days. Time had snuck up on her somehow, and she'd forgotten to take notice of how far she'd come. Yet here she was, mentoring the girl-Slayer, prematurely thrust into an existence she wasn't prepared for, just as Angel had done for her.

Resting his hand lightly on the small of her back, Angel leaned close to her ear and teased, "My little girl has grown up."

Willow smirked and nudged him in the side with her elbow, but couldn't mask the emotion in her eyes. For the first time since London, Willow felt a part of herself, buried deep inside, that she thought she had lost.

And she understood at last what her coven sisters had told her.

*****

It had been a strenuous workout for Megan, despite the fact that she had been used to physically-demanding chores on the ranch and could tap into her Slayer strength. She fell asleep almost as soon as she crawled into her enormous bed.

When Angel had asked Cordelia to prepare a room at the Hyperion suitable for an eleven-year-old girl, the Seer had embraced the assignment with zeal. From the politely unimpressed expression on Megan's face, Cordelia had overdone it with the stuffed animals and frilly comforter. However, the posters of horses scored big points, and Megan seemed to settle in well enough.

Willow remained cautious, dreading the melt-down that she anticipated wouldn't be long in coming.

She knew that the adrenaline and intense concentration of a training session could do wonders to distract the mind from problems, but when the sweat dried, worries and anxieties soon returned. And while Megan demonstrated the power and agility that were the hallmark of a Slayer, she was also a young girl. Until recently, she had never traveled much further from home than Denver. Nor had she spent the night in a strange place without her parents -- let alone with three vampires, creatures whom she'd recently been told it was her mission to destroy.

Talk about conflicting messages.

Rather than leaving to hunt with Spike after Megan went to bed, Willow opted to stay in. She wanted to be nearby, in case the stress of all the changes that had been thrust upon the girl -- new life, new town, new guardians -- proved to be too much.

Sure enough, around midnight Willow felt phantom traces of burning moisture in her eyes and a tightness in her throat, accompanied by an overwhelming loneliness. As Willow approached Megan's room, she detected the faint scent of salt and heard muffled sniffles.

Rapping lightly on Megan's door, Willow peered in and asked, "Trouble sleeping?"

"Everything is so different," Megan admitted, wiping her eyes in an effort to appear calm and self-assured. "I miss mom and dad, and Brownie, my horse."

"Your parents will be out here as soon as they can," Willow assured her as she sat down on the bed. "With Giles and Xander helping them look, I'm sure it won't take long for your mom and dad to find work."

"Yeah...I guess so..." Megan conceded, sounding only partly convinced.

"Is there anything I can do?" Willow offered.

Megan didn't answer immediately. She lowered her eyes awkwardly and nibbled on her bottom lip -- a nervous habit that reminded Willow of herself as a human. When Megan finally looked at Willow, the girl seemed embarrassed. "Would you stay with me for a while?"

Willow smiled broadly. "Sure."

The redheaded vampire stretched out above the covers and Megan snuggled up against her. They lay cuddled together like sisters for several minutes, and Willow stroked the girl's hair soothingly until she felt her heartbeat begin to slow. Soon, Megan drifted off to sleep and Willow wrapped one arm around her protectively.

As she watched the young Slayer sleep, Willow sensed Angel's presence and glanced at the doorway. He stood there, looking at them both with tenderness in his eyes. Willow held out her hand, and after a brief moment of indecision, Angel approached the bed and eased himself down on the other side of the sleeping girl. It was an arrangement that the world had never before seen: a child-Slayer dreaming peacefully amid the haven provided by two vampires.

Willow and Angel regarded each other quietly, as if speaking would shatter the magic of the experience. Turbulent emotions quivered in the pit of Angel's stomach. He'd never thought about what it would be like to have a family in the normal, human sense -- at least, not until he met Buffy. And then, all he could think of was what he could never give her. Sharing this fleeting glimpse of something so precious with Willow was almost too much to bear. Willow, too, was deeply moved. Here, at last, she felt the profound connection she had been seeking. Tentatively, she brushed her hand over Angel's as it rested on Megan's arm, then entwined her fingers with his. Willow saw tenderness, touched with regret, in the dark embers of his eyes.

Though neither said a word, the same thought whispered through their minds.

<I wish...>

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