Title: A Slayers Holiday: There and Back Again
Author: Wildecate
Rating: G - for the moment
Notes: Since you were all so nice the first time round, here we go again.
Pairing: None as yet
Credits: Joss Whedon/JRR Tolkein - ya de ya de ya

It was late and raining and Buffy was longing to be home. She had been out since the early evening and her feet, encased in sodden trainers, were killing her. Her hair hung in rats tails around her face which had been washed clean of makeup long ago. She had been chanting two words to herself for the last half hour, "bath and bed, bath and bed". She made a final circuit of the cemetery before heading home. She wouldn't have minded quite so much if she'd actually had a decent work out but the vamps tonight had mostly been fledglings, no doubt victims of Spike's latest campaign against her, and they barely stretched her skill wise. She tossed the stake up in the air, flipping it over, repeating to herself "bath and bed, bath and bed".

A figure broke out of the bushes to her right and without hesitation Buffy stepped up her walk into a run, easily catching up the fleeing vampire and launched herself at him, knocking him over. She landed on top of him and with a deft movement staked him through his back to his heart. He vanished beneath her in a cloud of dust and she picked herself up, heading back to the bushes to check if there was anything else around.

"Hello?" she called cautiously "anyone alive out there?"

A quiet groan answered her query and she sped up a little heading towards the noise. She parted the bushes, peeking through and saw an old man lying there, blood leaking from a wound in his neck.

"Hey there, lie still for a moment" she quietened him down and checked him over quickly for injuries before helping him to his feet. He was taller, much taller than she was with long straggly grey hair and a long beard. He was dressed in a long robe which looked well worn. He looked about him for a moment before bending down slowly and picking up a long piece of carved wood, a staff. He examined it closely, running his hands down it as if checking it for damage before leaning heavily on it and transferring his gaze to Buffy. She had been watching him in silence, letting him sort himself out before she spoke.

"Are you OK?"

"OK?" the old man looked puzzled, as if he had not understood what she was saying.

"Are you hurt? Injured?" Buffy was unusually gentle with the old man. He looked a little dazed.

"Ah, the Common Tongue. I am fine, young lady, apart from some bruises and this wound on my neck." He observed her from under thick bushy eyebrows. "And who might you be?"

"Buffy, Buffy Summers" Buffy was disconcerted by the look on his face. He looked her up and down, taking in her clothes, her hair, her face.

"Hmmm" he seemed to be perplexed by something.

"Is there a problem? Do you need me to take you home?" Buffy was becoming more concerned by the moment for this sweet old man.

"You don't mind if I..." he stretched out his hand and touched her temple. Her eyes closed immediately and she had the strangest of sensations, as if someone was blowing on her brain. It sent a tingle down her spine and she jerked her head away.

"Hey!" She gave him another look, a slightly more wary one this time.

"Many thanks Miss Summers." He turned away from her and started prodding bushes again muttering to himself.

"What did you do to me?"

"I merely looked inside your mind, I sought information on our current whereabouts which you have kindly provided me with. Ah-ha" he bent down and retrieved a sword from a bush. It looked as though it had been well used, the blade gleamed dully in the moonlight. Buffy backed off a little bit as he turned to her. But he had a reassuring smile and he slid the sword back into the scabbard which hung at his belt.

"Listen, um Sir..."

"Gandalf. My name is Gandalf. And you Miss Summers, are a Slayer, 18 years of age having just graduated in what appears to be a rather messy fashion, from Sunnydale High School. You fight demons, vampires and pretty much whatever the latest" he paused for a moment as he got his mind around the next two words "Big Bad? is. On the whole you are successful except for the occasion when you died." He glanced at her astonished face "You appear to be a very sprightly corpse."

She folded her arms defensively and glared at him "OK Mr Know It All, now you've performed your mojo on me, are you going to tell me about you?"

"My name is Gandalf and Gandalf means me. I am a wizard, a servant of the secret fire, and also as yourself, a servant of good."

" 'Kay." Buffy wondered what she was supposed to do now and decided to fall back on her usual option. She took out her cellphone and dialled a familiar number. A groggy voice answered, he had obviously been asleep.

"Yes?"

"Giles, something really weird has just happened."




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