Disclaimer: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox studios. This story is not meant to infringe upon anyone's rights, only to entertain.


Chapter 1 - Slayer and Watcher

With a quiet sigh, Buffy looked out the window as disinterested as the students seemed to be that were sitting before her. She really wasn’t suppose to be here, preferring her corner in the counselor office, but they couldn’t find a sub today so she had to sit here and watch the students do math problems all day. She let them work in groups if they wanted as long as they kept the noise down.

It was a sunny day out and everything seemed perfect. But then again, that’s how it always looked during the day. At night it was a different story as the things that go bump in the night, well … do go bump in the night. But overall it hadn’t been too bad. It had been three years since the Hellmouth incident in Sunnydale and around one year since that fiasco in Los Angeles. Of course, she was in Europe when the fiasco in Los Angeles happened, but from what she heard from Giles and Willow, it was pretty intense. It seemed like Angel pulled off some miracle and pretty much crippled the Wolfram and Hart in the City of Angels.

The bell rang for the last time today and the students hurriedly packed their things and started filing out the door. “See you Ms. Summers”, she heard in different voices and she smiled and nodded at them. The last one still in the room was the new girl. Buffy had met her just yesterday. Her name was Emily Pratt and she moved to California all the way from England. She seemed a little shy, her long light brown hair braided neatly behind her and her clothes were fashionable but not flashy.

“Uhm.. Ms. Summers,”

“Yes, Emily” Buffy said with a smile.

“I was wondering if you could help me out tonight with some stuff”

“Stuff?”, Buffy said, her eyebrows raising. “Uhm… is it about adjusting over here? I know things must be really different from what you’re used to in England, but I’m sure if you give it time you’ll fit right in.”

Shaking her head furiously, Emily bit her lip nervously. “ Uhm… no I mean… well… my … uhm …”

“It’s okay. Don’t be afraid. I don’t bite you know!” Buffy said enthusiastically.

Emily took in another deep breath. “ My Watcher told me that … I should ask you, if you didn’t mind, to go patrolling with me.”

As soon as the word watcher passed her lips Buffy wanted to just hit her head on the table. Ofcourse, how could she have been so stupid. Giles mentioned something about a new Slayer coming to town. The Hellmouth in Cleveland wasn’t really acting up yet but Giles wanted to make sure that enough Slayers were trained and ready. She didn’t do as much patrolling as she did in the old days. Once in a while Amanda or Jessica would “invite” her to go with them but during those times she acted more like teacher than Slayer. With a comforting smile Buffy nodded her head. “I’ll call Amanda and Jessica and see if they can come to. You might as well meet them. Tell your Watcher to come as well. We’ll meet near the gym tonight, around 7 o‘clock. Is that okay?”

Emily nodded then took off.

***
Buffy had been on her cellphone non-stop for the past half hour. First it was Amanda saying she couldn’t make it tonight. Then it was Dawn, checking in, then saying all she was doing tonight was studying. Buffy knew better. There was either a party in one of the college dorms or Dawn was probably going with Amanda on patrol, but she knew that they were both capable of taking care of themselves. Jessica then called saying she was grounded which pretty much meant can’t make it till I sneak out at around 11 tonight. As Buffy headed towards the school, she wondered what Giles’ new recruit was like. The Watcher’s council was far from being what it was. With only a few members, there weren’t enough Watchers for each Slayer. He did mention something thought that if this Watcher worked out that maybe he could double for Jessica as well, relieving Buffy of the responsibility of training her.

Parking her car, Buffy made her way to the gym but didn’t see anyone there. She glanced at her watch. It was 6:55 pm. She was still early so she settled down on one of the benches and waited.

Emily came running soon enough.

“Sorry I’m late Ms. Summers! My Watcher said we couldn’t leave ‘til I was done with my English homework.” Emily said between breathes.

“That’s okay Emily. And you don’t need to call me Ms. Summers … to formal, you know. Just call me Buffy, okay?”

“Okay!” Emily’s eyes wandered to Buffy’s bag of goodies with eagerness.

“I thought you said you’re Watcher was coming?”

“Ooh.. he’s waiting in the car.” Emily said, turning around and heading back towards the parking lot. Buffy followed and smiled as the young Slayer opened the car door for her before she climbed in the back. As Buffy settled into the vehicle, her nose wrinkled as the smell of cigarettes hit her.

“Nice to finally meet you, Slayer. Name’s Collin.” His inflection on the word Slayer and the fact that he called her that and not Buffy or Ms. Summers made her freeze. She looked up to see brown curly locks, blue eyes and a smug grin. “Spi … “, She caught herself in time before she finished the name. It wasn’t possible. Shaking her head she dismissed any notions and just tried to concentrate on the now.

“Anything wrong Buffy?” He said seeing her head shake. “It’s okay to call you Buffy right?”, he said, putting the car into gear and driving towards the street.

“Uhm yeah”, she said smiling weakly then turning away to look at where he was taking them.

***
Collin took them to the cemetery – popping the trunk as he parked the car. Emily quickly got out and rummaged through the back for some weapons. Buffy watched carefully at the two as they got themselves ready. Emily looked both eager and nervous while Collin calmly waited for his charge as he lit a cigarette. He looked nothing like what a typical watcher should be. He was nothing like Giles or Wesley. No tweed pants, no pressed shirts nor tie. He had tight black jeans and a blue turtleneck. He wore two small crosses, one around his neck, and the other on his belt buckle. He was leaning against a tree, one leg bent with his foot against the trunk.

It was really eerie looking at him. He looked so much like Spike that it was disconcerting. But it was impossible and Buffy knew it was more of wishful thinking on her part. Spike was gone. It took her a while to get over the fact that he actually sacrificed himself for them – for her three years ago. She silently mourned for him. Once in a while finding herself crying in the middle of the night out of guilt…out of loss. She felt empty without him and despite having one or two relationships here and there, nothing really had come close to what she had with Spike. He knew her more than she cared to admit back then. Angel loved her and still loves her and Buffy knew that Angel would never completely be gone from her heart. But Spike … Spike loved her with every fiber of his being. He made no excuses for his feelings and despite his selfish nature, he gave her everything he had.

Then Andrew said that he was alive ... well back … But she didn’t want to face him them. She wasn’t ready yet and when she finally got the courage to admit it.. when she finally wasn’t pigheaded about it anymore he was gone. Angel said he was happy… “as happy as Spike can get”. He wouldn’t tell her all the details of what happened and she could only guess that maybe Spike wanted to keep it from her.

The sound of Emily shutting the trunk brought Buffy back to the moment at hand. Emily handed Collin a long bow and a quiver of arrows while she held one stake firmly in her right hand, and stuffed another one between her belt and her jeans.

“How much experience have you had, Emily?” Buffy asked calmly.

“A few but Collin has always been there for me. I … ”

“She needs to learn hand to hand.”, Collin cut in, taking one last drag from his cigarette before putting it out and flicking it to the ground. “She’s a bloody ace when it comes to this but come face to face with a Big Bad she freezes,” he said as he positioned the arrows behind his back.
“Relax Emily. You’re not alone”, he said placing his hand on her left shoulder and squeezing gently. Buffy watched silently at the interaction between Watcher and Slayer as they made their way through the graveyard.

Training went without much incident. Collin stood out of the way, giving Buffy free reign to teach as she saw fit. Emily would often look longingly at Collin, no doubt wishing she wasn’t so close to the undead. Buffy watched her as she fought with the fledgling vampire. She had the strength and the will, but she was uncertain half the time. Buffy watched taking mental notes to give her some pointers later on. A Slayer had to be confident but at the same time know that monster in front of her was deadly. It was a balance that a Slayer learned in time or never at all. Emily eventually found her opening and thrust her stake into the demon’s heart reducing it to nothing more than a cloud of dust.