Title: Becoming Real
Author: Carol A. Clarke
Email: Carol.Clarke@mail.state.ky.us

Chapter 4
Pride and Falling


Buffy was knocked out less then three minutes but in that time three more policemen had shown up. Two uniform cops and a plain clothed policeman. Duncan was circling her body growling like crazy. The first two cops that had tried to arrest Buffy were being treated for what looked like bites and scratches by the plain clothed cop. Even from the ground Buffy could tell neither cop was badly hurt, though Duncan had totaled their uniforms. The slayer could smell only small amounts of blood traces outside of her own. She could hear the cop in street clothes yelling at the two rookie officers. “I don’t care if she is barking, you do not fire on unarmed women.” Buffy tried again to focus as her vision had short moments of double exposure.

Looking around Buffy saw a second set of uniform cops trying to get past Duncan to check on her but they were unwilling to end up like their counterparts.

Getting her act together a little, Buffy commanded “Duncan sit.” And just like that Duncan sat down beside Buffy. The five policemen were all facing her now. There was another person too, standing a little way back. Buffy was sure she knew the woman.

Slowly Buffy began to sit up. “Look, I am unarmed, do you think you could put the guns away.” Getting a better look at the first two officers Buffy could tell Duncan had bitten both several times, their uniforms were torn to pieces, leaving them standing in the street in their boxer shorts. Tweety Bird boxers on a cop was a new sight for the slayer. Since Duncan was unwounded Buffy guessed Duncan had pinned them both to the ground and unarmed them. She had trained Duncan to do this to vampires, only she had trained Duncan to kill vamps. Buffy was just glad the Reinfield hadn’t hurt any of the officers. She could have easily killed them instead of bruising them and ruining their clothes.

Buffy guessed that after Duncan disarmed the officers she had quickly returned to guarding her. The other two uniformed cops had only enough time to aim their guns at Duncan to cover her. She could see the street clothed cop who was carefully checking over both of his half naked men. She guessed she would need to thank him. He was clearly in charge and she guessed he was the reason Duncan wasn’t bleeding to death at her feet. Buffy brushed blood out of her face and began to sit up.

“Mathew, Davids put the guns up.” The man in street clothes said.

Buffy continued getting up slowly. Once on her feet she kept her hands in the air while slowly moving infront of Duncan. One of the officers started to move toward her and Duncan quickly jumped around in front of Buffy growling loudly.

“Look we don’t want to hurt anyone, but you guys scared her to death ok. Can you just back off until she calms down? She is afraid you're going to hurt me so just back off and we will all be fine.” The slayer explained in her calm business voice. Turning to Duncan she said, “I said sit.”

Duncan sat down again. This time Buffy undid her belt and wrapped it around Duncan’s neck like a leash. Blood was still pouring from her head wound and she had a hell of a headache. Pulling the belt like a leash she pulled Duncan close to her. “Ok Duncan, we are going to have to go with this policeman. There will be no growling, do you understand.”

Duncan was unable to use words, so she responded with a series of high pitched sounds only Reinfields can make. “I’ll take that as a yes. Now we are going to walk over to the policeman and turn ourselves in.” Looking up from Duncan Buffy asked “Hey, what exactly am I being arrested for this time?”

“Smith, what were you going to arrest the lady for in the first place?” Street cop asked the patrolman he was crewing out.

“You know the women on the mall tape. The one in the gang fight.” The policeman said. “Plus they were kissing in public.” He added as if that were a good reason for the arrest.

“OH OK” Buffy responded as she pulled Duncan to her feet. Two days earlier she had gotten in a fight with a band of Marco Demons in the mall. She wasn’t surprised the cops wanted her. It was nothing new, which was why she wasn’t worried. Usually they took her in, asked her lots of question and sent her home. No one ever brought her to trial.

With Duncan on her feet held by the belt around her neck, Buffy took her by the hand and pulled her toward the street cop. Duncan clung tightly to Buffy as they made the short trip. “Tom bring the first aid kit and check on the ambulance it should be here by now.” Street cop said.

“Do you have too? It’s just a scratch, besides I hate doctors. Can’t we just go down town and work this out.” Buffy asked. Buffy still had a fear of hospitals even though her head was pounding and her vision was blurred.

“Even if I was willing to take you in without a doctors ok, your friend here is going to get a psychological screening.” The street cop said.

Buffy was on him in a second. She had him off the ground with one hand in a heartbeat. “Look buddy, I have been trying to play nice. Not breaking the nice officer’s face who shot me. Even though I was unarmed, …well I don’t own a gun. Not getting mad at the kissing comment. But you are not putting Duncan through any psychological test is that clear. She isn’t the one you need to arrest right? I will not have my Reinfield fucked with by you bastards.”

The woman who had been standing back away from the policeman said, “Mrs. Summers please put my husband down.”

“Mrs. Williamson?” Buffy asked as she returned the man to the ground. Frank Williamson was quickly pulled out of the slayer’s grasp. “Sorry. It’s just Duncan….”

“It seems you and Duncan are in a lot of trouble.” The teacher said just above a whisper.

“You could say that. Look I really don’t want to hurt anyone, but I won’t let them hurt Duncan.” Buffy explained as her world started to spin again. Duncan grabbed Buffy and hung on to her for dear life while baring her teeth at the officers that had moved forward toward their injured prisoner.

“Frank could I have the first aid Kit.” Martha asked. After taking the kit, Martha slowly moved toward Buffy. She winked at her husband to let him know it was ok. “I am going to see if I can stop the bleeding. I know you are trying not to hurt anyone, ok? Duncan you remember me from school, I am going to help Buffy now, alright?”

Slowly she moved toward Buffy, stopping only when Duncan growled. “Duncan, be good.” Buffy said. Duncan responded by moving right up against Buffy’s back, touching her with as much of her body as possible. Martha moved to Buffy and began to clean the deep gash left by the gunshot. “Does Duncan always behave like this?” The teacher asked.

“Only when she is afraid. She is very protective.” The concussion-ridden slayer stated as she began to feel her dizziness increase.

“Is that why you and your wife schooled her at home?” Martha asked.

“Something like that.” Buffy lied.

“Humans only behave like this when they have been seriously abused.” Martha stated.

“I know” Buffy said quietly as her head began to spin big loop-the-loops. She may have been the merged angel slayer but her body had mortal parts.

“How old are you Mrs. Summers”

“Twenty six” Buffy said trying to focus. Her adrenaline was crashing.

“Mrs. Kemp mentioned you and your wife were in the class of 2000”

“Yes”

“That means you were 10 or 11 when Duncan was born.”

“I guess, math and I are not good friends”

“How old were you when you met Duncan?” Martha asked while tapping up the wound.

“Fifteen, why”

“You and your wife have made a lot of progress with Rachel to get her in school.” Martha concluded.

“Mostly it was Willow, I got her to walk up right and to start talking. I also taught her the ABC’s and stuff but it was Willow who did most of the real teaching. Reading Writing Arithmetic. We all worked on getting her to use complete sentences and act human. Tara was really good with her too. Tara has a lot more patients then Will or I do.” Buffy was babbling, and the outside was spinning. Her head was killing her. It was only through shear will she didn’t pass out again.

“Honey do you really have to take the girl down to the station?” Martha asked. “She is one of my students, the one I have been working with after school.”

“Honey, I can’t just let her go after this.” Her husband said.

“How about I take Duncan home to your wife?” Martha said while staring her husband down.

After several minutes of long arguing with her husband, Martha Williamson took Duncan home.

Duncan had sat like a dog in the backseat, the whole drive to her home. Buffy had told her not to take off the belt from around her neck, which was a good thing. Duncan was still growling a little. The Reinfield had not wanted to leave Buffy.

The minute they pulled into the driveway Duncan sat up like a human but didn’t get out of the car. Martha opened the door for her and Duncan shot out. It was amazing how fast the girl could move while crawling. Martha followed the girl into the house shutting the door behind her. Following Duncan she ended up in the family room where Willow Rosenburg and their friend Tara were having sex in the middle of the floor in front of the fire.

“Buffy what’s up with Dun…. You’re not Buffy.” Willow said while she and Tara hastily pulled the covers up blushing.

“Ms. Rosenburg, Ms. McClain why don’t I wait for you in the kitchen.” Martha said moving toward the kitchen. Or she was moving toward the kitchen until Duncan began howling at the top of her lungs.

Several minutes later Martha was in the kitchen trying to get Duncan out of the cabinets. Pots and pans were tossed out in the girl’s wake.

“Duncan, out now.” Tara ordered and Duncan shot out of the cabinet and under the table.

“Duncan chair. We have company.” Willow said pulling out a chair for the girl. They both knew something was really wrong.

Duncan sat down on the chair and licked the tabletop. Willow grabbed the Reinfields face gently and said, “Were is Buffy?”

“Got shot, bad cops, bad cops shot Buffy. Growled at cops, made cops shoot Buffy. Duncan very bad.” The girl was crying like crazy in between her continuous erratic body movements.

“How badly is she hurt?” Willow asked Mrs. Williamson as she began moving around the kitchen.

“Not bad, the bullet grazed her head. She will be arrested after she is taken to the hospital.” Martha said.

“Not the hospital. God only knows what she will do there.” Willow screamed.

“Did Buffy hurt anyone?” Tara asked.

“Not that I know of. It seems a couple of patrolmen recognized her from a wanted ad or videotape. To be honest, I am not exactly clear on why they wanted to arrest her. At any rate when they moved in to make the bust, Rachel began growling and one of the officers accidentally fired.” Martha said.

“I’ll bet it was accidental.” Willow said as anger rushed over her. She was already planing a nasty spell for the man.

“Willow control. This is Sunnydale, shooting at things that growl usually means you get to live longer. They couldn’t know Duncan wouldn't hurt them. Duncan didn’t hurt anyone either did she?” Tara asked

“She bit the arresting officers but she didn’t appear to break the skin. Mostly she destroyed their uniforms.” Martha explained. She was wondering why neither woman seemed surprised by the events or why they were worried the two might have hurt someone else.

“I have got to get to the hospital. Jail she can deal with but she is likely to do something stupid in the hospital. God forbid if they try and put her in the psychiatric ward again.” Willow said as she gathered keys and her purse. “Tara can you take care of Duncan? I really need to go". Willow kissed Tara then kissed Duncan on the head and ran out of the house.

“Would you like some tea Mrs. Williamson?” Tara asked.

“Look jail sounds really good. I heard they have a new shade of gray this year. Come on Detective Williamson.” Buffy said as she tried to get up off the examining table. She hated doctors.

“So doc, what do you say, is she fit for transport?” Frank Williamson asked knowing good and well she was not going anywhere tonight. He just hoped his wife was ok with the kid.

“You're being funny right? She has a fractured skull. I still can’t figure out why she is conscious.”

Buffy sat up ripping the restrains on the bed to pieces. “I will sign that thing, paper whatever. Just take me to jail already.” The slayer then tried to move off the table only to be racked with dizziness.

“So can you keep her here on a 72 hour psychological hold, doc?” The officer asked as he aided the emergency room staff in pushing her back on the table.

“If you sign a paper requisitioning a psychological profile before arrest I'll sign the hold, but 72 hours and she is out of here.” The doctor stated as he helped the nurses trying to tie her back on the bed.

After several attempts at restraining the dizzy slayer and several members of staff flying across the room, Frank asked, “Can you give her something to knock her out?”

“Not with a head wound.” The doctor explained.

“Damn she is a strong thing for someone so tiny.” Frank said as he continued to fight her.

“Buffy stop beating up the nice doctors and nurses.” Willow said from the door.

“Willow?” Buffy asked as she stopped fighting.

It had been a strange couple of days. The Summers woman was still being held at the hospital but the DA had kicked her loose. The hospital staff would have gladly let her go as well but she seemed to go into some kind of withdrawal after 9 hours at the hospital. Frank had gone in to see Buffy and was a little disturbed by her state, he didn’t peg her as a hard core drug user. In fact everything about the case from the mall incident, hospital drug screening, to the shooting were being swept under the carpet. And after the twelfth time of reviewing the mall tape that clearly showed Buffy Rosenburg - Summers’s face he wanted to know why. And then there was the kid. Her records were a joke. She just suddenly shows up in time to go to school. No birth records, no nothings. What he did have was manufactured for the kid to go to school. And when he showed it to the DA he was told to back off and stay off.

It wasn’t that he blamed the kid. It was clear she had major psychological problems. The Summers woman had them as well. The doctors couldn’t even guess at what she was addicted too and he was still angry with the patrolman who fired at them. Cops had to deal with nut cases all the time; you just didn’t shoot at them unless they were armed. Neither woman made any moves to actually harm the patrolmen. In fact they went out of the way not to hurt them. He had no doubt they could do serious harm.

The Summers woman had lifted him straight up in the air with one hand. And the kid, he had found the patrolman’s guns with their barrels twisted completely over. No human was capable of doing that, which made him wonder if either of the woman were human.

By the time she got out of the hospital Buffy was in deep slayers lust. She was shaking so hard Willow almost couldn’t get her in the car.

“I need Duncan” was Buffy’s only comment. It had been a long time since Buffy had gone this deep into withdrawal. Willow sighed to herself, ‘why couldn’t it have been jail, at least in jail Buffy can get a fix.’ She hated for Buffy to just randomly sleep around but it was better that than what the addiction did to her. 'Better than this.' Willow thought to herself. 'I just hope Duncan can handle her' was the redheads last thought before pulling out of the parking lot.