Jonathan slapped his head. “Of course it’s Buffy! I totally forgot about her.”

“You know her?” Warren moved closer, his eyebrows raised in disbelief.

Jonathan leaned back, enjoying his newfound knowledge over the others. “Sure. Buffy Summers. We go way back.”

“You go way back with the hot girl?” Andrew breathed reverently.

“No way he does,” Warren said dubiously. “What, did she once smile at you in the hall?” He reconsidered, eyeing his diminutive friend. “Or scowled at you?”

Jonathan slumped in defeat. “Fine. I didn’t really know her. She hung out with Willow and Xander, mostly, and sometimes Cordelia Chase. One of the library kids. At the end of junior year, she disappeared. I think Snyder kicked her out.” He waggled his eyebrows at Andrew. “They said that she killed someone.”

“Maybe that’s why even Xander seemed kind of freaked out around her,” Warren said thoughtfully. “For one of the gang, she’s really not accepted.”

Andrew’s eyes were shining with the possibilities. “So she’s a killer, returned from an untold Hell Dimension to avenge-“

“Shut up, Andrew,” Jonathan and Warren said automatically.

“Anyway, she didn’t do it,” Jonathan informed them. “Or so her friends insisted.” He squinted at the computer beside him, on which he’d called up Buffy Summers’s police record. “It’s been wiped off of her record, too. Not that she needs much more on it,” he added, frowning at the list of crimes. “Jeez. She was only here for two years, and check out her criminal record. I haven’t seen anything this bad since Faith’s.”

Warren shoved Jonathan’s chair, sending him rolling across the room with a yelp, and took charge of the computer. “She burned down a gym in LA? Caught trespassing in a cemetery six times? What does she think she is, a Slayer?”

“I’ll bet Faith loves that,” Andrew piped up.

“Unless…” Warren said thoughtfully. “Jonathan!”

Jonathan scowled at him from across the room. “Yeah?”

“How long was the Watcher working in your school?”

Jonathan considered. “Sophomore year and on, I think.”

“And Buffy?”

Jonathan wrinkled his brow. “You don’t think…?”

“She must be some kind of human-demon hybrid!” Andrew concluded triumphantly. “Like Spike, she’s been forced to live among humans, while secretly at night, she emerges and fights the good fight with the Slayer. A demon with a soul, she-“

“No, you idiot.” Warren rolled his eyes. “She’s the Slayer.”

Andrew frowned. “But that’s only one girl in every generation…”

“No, don’t you get it?” Warren jumped up, excited. “Buffy killed someone, right? So instead of having her arrested, the Watchers covered it up. They couldn’t have one of their girls indicted. So they must have imprisoned her and made her go through some kind of training! In the meantime, they gave Faith her Slayer powers and had her come here. And now Buffy’s finished and back! It makes perfect sense!”

“I don’t think so,” Jonathan said doubtfully. “We don’t know how the whole Slayer thing works. Or if there are more, other than Giles and that Wesley guy. And why Buffy would be sent here, when there’s already a Slayer. Or-“

“Eh, what do you know.” Warren fixed Jonathan with a sneer, replacing it with a satisfied gloat when Jonathan looked away.

“But this is bad,” Andrew said, pacing. “We can barely fight one Slayer. But two… we might as well give up our life of crime now.”

“He’s right,” Jonathan agreed. “Between the witches, Spike, and the Slayers, we’ll never get a foothold in Sunnydale.”

“You morons!” Warren flung the closest thing to him, an R2-D2-shaped mousepad, at Andrew, because he was closest.

“Hey!” Jonathan said indignantly. “That’s mine!”

“Respect the droid, man.” Andrew set it back down lovingly.

Warren ignored them both. “I saw Buffy today, and there was lots of hostility there. The witch wouldn’t even talk to her.” He sat down confidently in the closest chair. “If you ask me, that’s definitely something I can use to our advantage. Just give me time.”

--

“Everything?” Buffy repeated, dazed.

Her mother’s lawyer nodded. “She stipulated that the house and car should be sold, but their proceeds and everything else she had was left to you. I’ll be honest with you. It isn’t much, after the hospital bills were paid. But it’s certainly enough to live on for the next few years, if you’re not paying rent?”

Buffy shook her head. “Did she…did she say anything about me?” she asked finally.

The lawyer shook his head. “I’m sorry.” Buffy’s face fell. “Oh!” he said hastily. “But there’s also a letter.” He held it out to her, and she took it with shaking fingers.

My Dear Buffy,

If you’re reading this, it probably means that the cancer has finally taken me. I’m writing this letter an hour before I go into this operation. I don’t know if I’ll make it. And as I was sitting there, listening to the doctors tell me how slim my chances were, I realized that I needed to write this, in case you ever came home.

When you first left, I was furious. Well, first I was worried. Terrified. I thought…well, I thought that you’d had another breakdown, with all the talk of vampires and demons. And then you disappeared. When I saw your room, with all the closets bare and your suitcase gone, I was terrified that you’d done something drastic. Mr. Giles came by later that night, and I finally put two and two together. I had always wondered why you, of all people, would spend so much time with a librarian. I’ll admit that I initially suspected that he’d been…inappropriate. But when your friends, too, corroborated his story, I eventually conceded that you’d been telling the truth. That vampires were real, and you were the Slayer.

My sweet, wonderful girl. You’d been through so much, had done things that no teenage girl should ever have to deal with… You were so brave, and I never knew. I never helped. Why didn’t you tell me, Buffy? Why couldn’t you share it with me, let me support you like I want to? With a load like that to bear… I don’t blame you. I was angry at first, but once I got over my initial anger, I didn’t blame you. I blame Mr. Giles for thrusting you into situation after situation that could have gotten you killed. That made you go away.

I’m sure you’ll come back to Sunnydale some day, and find out that I’m gone. I can only hope that you’ll receive this letter, and know that I forgive you for leaving. And I hope that you, too, will be able to forgive me for how I reacted to your revelation. I never meant for it to go so far. I’ve missed you. And I love you, more than anything, my daughter.

All My Love,
Mom

--

She thanked the lawyer, blinking back tears, and headed to Giles’s house with the letter clutched in her hands. She felt lighter, freer now that she had her mother’s love and forgiveness. Nothing could bring her down right now.

Dawn looked up from her seat in front of the television. “Oh. It’s you.”

Not even her housemates. “Yep.” She plopped down next to Dawn, frowning at the television. “What are you watching?”

Dawn shrugged, looking away.

“Ah, Buffy!” Giles walked into the room, carrying a filthy-looking horn that was almost two feet long and enclosed in an enormous Ziploc bag. “I trust your meeting with your mother’s lawyer went well?”

Buffy nodded, scrunching her nose at the horn. “What is that?”

“Forboga demon tail.” Oh. So, not a horn. “Faith obtained it at work yesterday. They’re very valuable in luck spells, so I’m bringing it over to the Magic Box.”

From beside her, Buffy saw Dawn eye the tail. When she caught sight of Buffy’s eyes on her, she let out an unintelligible grunt and turned back to the television screen, her teeth clenched with stubbornness.

“So, Dawn, what are you doing home on a Sunday afternoon?” Buffy asked the younger girl.

Giles answered for her. “Dawn and her friend Janice engaged in certain…unsavory behavior last night. Faith has decided to ground her for it.”

Dawn glared at him. “You mean you convinced Faith to ground me. It wasn’t like we were doing anything so bad.”

“Giles was right,” Faith said from the top of the stairs, rubbing her eyes as she emerged from bed at her typical afternoon wakeup time. “You were stupid, and now you’re gonna pay the price, D.”

“It’s not like I can’t defend myself!” Dawn said, stung. “Why is it your business how I spend my free time?” She turned to Buffy for the first time, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of revenge against her sister. “She is so unfair,” she said, leaning toward Buffy conspiratorially. “All Janice and I did was go to Willy’s Bar last night. It was Halloween, so it’s not like we were in any real danger.”

Faith glowered at her sister and retreated into her bedroom. Giles hid a smile and headed for the door.

Buffy seized the in that Dawn had given her. “Demon bar on Halloween? What’s that like?”

Dawn grinned. “Better than usual. For one thing, Faith isn’t there.”

“Faith?”

“She’s a bouncer at Willy’s sometimes. Well, kind of. Willy says she’s bad for business, so she just stays in the vicinity and Willy pays her to be on call to break up skirmishes. But she had off for Halloween, so we went there to check out the scene.” She made a face. “There were only, like, a dozen demons there. And only two or three looked like they were dangerous.”

Buffy winced inwardly. If I had a sister, and she went to a demon bar for fun…I’d probably chain her up in the basement for a month. But aloud, she said, “So how’d you get caught?”

Dawn scowled. “Spike was gambling in the back room. He got all upset that we were talking to this one vamp hottie. Puh-leeze! As if Faith isn’t boinking a vampire all the time! And he was really cute…” she said mournfully.

Buffy laughed, the vision of one particular blue-eyed vampire flashing through her mind. “Most of them are, huh? I guess that if you want to turn someone so you can spend eternity with him, you may as well go for the gorgeous ones.”

Dawn studied her for a moment. “You dated a vampire, right?”

Oh. Right. She felt a wave of guilt at forgetting the vampire who had once been the love of her life. “Yeah. Well, until he went evil and started killing people.” She remembered her audience and decided to risk it. “Which, chipped ones aside, is what’ll happen with most vamps. Ang- My vampire had a soul. And even then, it wasn’t enough in the end.”

Dawn’s face set for a moment, angry at her reproof, then calmed almost imperceptibly. “I know,” she admitted sheepishly. “We weren’t actually going to do anything with him. We were just flirting a little.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Buffy agreed, grinning at her. “And I bet that you could defend yourself in a crunch.”

“Oh, definitely!” Dawn launched into a detailed description of some of the martial arts techniques she’d been practicing with Giles, and some rather gruesome streetfighting moves she’d learned when she was younger. Buffy relaxed into the conversation, finding herself liking the girl a little more as it went on.

Abruptly, Dawn stopped, giving Buffy a considering glance. “I’m only being nice to you to annoy Faith,” she said finally.

“I know,” Buffy nodded calmly.

Dawn tilted her head in a way so reminiscent of Spike that it made Buffy smile. “Oh.”

“Want to get some ice cream and watch crappy movies?” Buffy suggested.

“Yeah, okay.”

--

The next morning, Dawn was back to her bratty self. But Buffy counted the day before as a victory when Dawn took the piece of toast she’d offered with muffled thanks and ate the whole thing. And two more.

“You certainly seem to have won her over,” Giles noted later that day as they trained together at the Magic Box.

Buffy laughed. “She barely spoke to me today, just growled at me to get out of her way. If that’s winning her over…”

“Oh, it is,” Giles assured her. “I’ve been told that all teenage girls are prone to these mood swings.”

“While all teenage boys are practicing magic and raising demons?” Buffy suggested, remembering Giles’s childhood mistakes.

Giles smiled good-naturedly. “Dawn isn’t quite as foolhardy as I was in my youth. Although she does come close, at times,” he noted.

“I’ll bet.” Buffy aimed a flurry of punches and kicks at the punching bag in the center of the room.

“Have you heard back from any of the places you applied to?” Giles asked, straightening the bag.

“Only the Doublemeat Palace. And I’d die before I worked there.” She shuddered at the idea. “But I’ve decided not to work.”

Giles frowned at her. “You’ve decided…?”

“Mom left me enough to live on for a few years.” Buffy moved away from the punching bag to take the towel from Giles’s hand. “So I’m going to take advantage of that. Get my GED, hopefully apply to college next semester.” She met his eyes, her own earnest. “As a Slayer, I might not live very long but at least I can try to make the most of whatever time I’ve got. I’ve wasted enough-”

She stopped short at the indefinable look on Giles’s face. “Um, Giles? Is everything…”

Unexpectedly, he gathered her into a hug.

“I’m all sweaty!” she protested, but drew her arms around him as well.

“You have truly grown up,” he murmured. “I am so very proud of you.”