Kindred Series

Kindred: (noun) A group of related persons, such as a family, clan, or tribe.
(adj.) Having a similar or related origin or nature.






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BOOK ONE
JOURNALS & JOURNEYS
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Chapter Four
Reeling in the Aftermath

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Hazy images and sensations crowded her mind, each fighting for dominance, confusing and overwhelming her. Feeling Spike everywhere she went for the past 3 weeks – being unable to shake the sense of his presence, but finding no sign of any evidence to support the notion that he was there. Catching sight of a brown-haired man so like him it made her heart hurt, but losing sight of him a few moments later in the crowded shopping plaza. Going through the days in a blur of motion – staying busy at work and enjoying the new job, but distracted by the conviction that she was missing something…apparently unable to trust her own instincts. Sensing Angel the other night, but calling the Hyperion in L.A. and learning he was there, but not available. Getting the call from the hospital that Willow had disappeared in the middle of the night. Guys dressed as scaly red lizards spotted around town that same night. A locator spell, roll call and a collection of weapons, explanation from Giles about what might be brewing, fear of possibly losing her best friend all over again, seeing the reality of an impending ritual with Willow as the unknowing sacrifice, poised on the brink…waiting…waiting…then what? Were these memories, fears, reality, nightmares, what? The images refused to coalesce into anything resembling sense, swirling over and around themselves till she didn’t know where she was or what day it was. Stubbornly she fought to the surface, trying to break free of the miasma of confusion surrounding her mind.

“G-man. Hey, G-man. I think she’s coming to.” The young brunette called to his older companion, a note of relief evident in his voice.

“Very well, Xander. Why don’t you get her something to drink and possibly some aspirin? I think she may have hit her head when she fainted.”

“On top of it, G-man.”

“Do stop calling me that, Xander. Buffy. Buffy, can you hear me? Don’t try to move. You took a pretty sharp blow to the head tonight.”

Buffy slowly opened her eyes, feeling the ceiling come rushing down to meet her. Struggling against the nausea induced by that sensation, she tried to sit up. A firm hand gently pushed her back down though and a familiar voice told her to stay still. Who was that? Oh, yeah…Giles. Okay, why is Giles trying to get me to stay still? And why does my head hurt? What happened to me? What do I remember? Let’s see…I remember…

“Dawn! Where’s Dawn? Something happened to her? Is she here? Is she okay?” And with that breathless string of questions, Buffy popped upright on the couch. As soon as she did, she was rewarded with a renewed pounding in her head and gratefully accepted the glass of water and aspirin that someone was handing her. No one said anything for a moment as she swallowed the pills and rested her head in her hands. Slowly Buffy lifted her head back up and glanced around, taking in her surroundings. She was sitting on the couch in Xander’s apartment, and Giles and Xander were there…both looking at her with rather odd and somewhat anxious expressions.

Giles was the first to speak. “Buffy, I’m sure you have a lot of questions and I will gladly answer all of them for you to the best of my ability. But it’s quite a long story and I’d really like to only have to go through it once. So, I’d appreciate it if we could hold the majority of your questions till the others arrive.” He held up one hand firmly in anticipation of her indignant response. “I will tell you what happened tonight up to a point, but I won’t go into the full explanation until we’re all here. For now, I will say that Dawn is safe. Fair enough?” Buffy had closed her eyes again, so she missed Xander’s side-long glance at Giles when Dawn was mentioned, but for once Xander wisely kept his mouth shut.

“I guess so.” Buffy replied listlessly. She recognized that expression on Giles’ face and knew she wasn’t going to win any arguments with him just then. Besides which, her head hurt way too much to fight right now. As a matter of fact, lying back down on the couch and going to sleep sounded like a really good idea right now. She struggled to focus on what Giles was saying.

“All right then. What do you recall happening tonight?” Giles asked that question for two reasons. First, Buffy had hit her head pretty hard when she passed out, and he wanted to test her responses and reassure himself that she was okay. Second, he really didn’t want to repeat himself unless he absolutely had to, and there was no sense telling her stuff she already knew and irritating her now. She was sure to blow up when she heard the whole story anyway. Might as well avoid that for as long as possible.

“Umm. I remember…” Okay, Buffy. Think. Ignore the pounding in your head. It will go away…eventually. Concentrate. What do you remember? “Some creepy demon guys kidnapped Willow and we ended up in to that field where it looked like they were getting ready to do some kind of ritual. We separated and positioned ourselves as you suggested so we would be most effective. You told us that in order to save Willow, we had to let them free the demon that was using her as a holding vessel, so we waited. And then we attacked at your signal. I didn’t see everything that happened because I was too busy fighting, but it looked like everyone was holding their own okay. Then I heard this absolutely horrendous noise, and that mist that had been hovering over Willow suddenly turned into what has to be one of the ugliest demons I’ve ever seen in a horse drawn chariot of some kind. Umm. I saw the demon crack a whip and those flying horse thingies pulled him higher up in the air. I think they circled us once or twice and then… Okay. This is where I get fuzzy and I guess I must have tripped and hit my head or something. Because I could have sworn that the demon guy came racing back down all of a sudden and grabbed Dawn and headed toward some portal that opened up in the sky. But that couldn’t have happened, right? And I’m sure that Angel didn’t actually jump out of nowhere to tackle me to the ground to keep me from getting to Dawn, because he wouldn’t do that. And I just know that I didn’t see Spike leap onto that chariot right before the portal closed, because Spike so does not have curly brown hair! So, I know I must have imagined all that because there is no way that Angel and Spike would be anywhere near each other without one of them killing the other, and you told me Dawn is safe. So I’m thinking I really must have hit my head hard. And how did I hit my head anyway? Did I trip or did some demon whack me when I wasn’t looking?”

When no one spoke for a few minutes, Buffy finally opened her eyes again and looked at the identical somber expressions on both Giles’ and Xander’ faces. She wrinkled her brow in confusion, which quickly gave way to a frown as she realized that neither one of them was looking her in the eye and they still hadn’t answered any of her questions. She felt her insides clutch up as she realized that something was very wrong here. “Guys,” she said softly, “Please tell me what’s going on. I’m starting to get scared here.”

Giles sighed deeply and sat down next to her on the couch, taking one of her hands in his. Uh, oh. Giles is initiating physical contact when I’m not already crying. Warning! Something must be very wrong here if he’s doing that. Loud alarm bells and flashing lights were starting to go off in Buffy’s brain and she fought to stay focused on what he was saying.

“Buffy. You didn’t imagine any of what you saw tonight. It basically happened like you said. Angel and Spike were both there – working together as it just so happens. The demon that was released from Willow did take Dawn. Angel tackled you to keep you from reaching them in order to keep you safe. And yes, Dawn did go through the portal, but she is okay. That’s why Spike was there – to protect and save her. And I promise you on my life that she is safe. He will protect her and have her back home soon. You managed to shake loose Angel’s hold on you just about the time the portal closed. You fainted and hit your head. Angel and Anya took Willow back to the hospital to get her checked out. Xander and I brought you to his apartment. You’ve been unconscious for nearly 2 hours now. Anya called to say that Willow lost some blood, but not too much. She was awake for a few moments before they gave her a sedative, and she spoke briefly to Angel. She seemed a bit disoriented, but she was coherent enough for him to realize that she remembers. She’s being kept overnight for observation, but I plan to get her released tomorrow, if possible. Angel and Anya are on their way here now and should arrive any minute. Once they get here, Angel and I will tell you what we know and hopefully we’ll be able to answer all of your questions.”

He tried to gauge Buffy’s reaction to all this by her facial expressions, but she just stared at him blankly like he wasn’t even there. She was obviously having trouble processing this information. I guess Spike was correct when he thought she might not be able to handle this. I do hope she doesn’t go catatonic again though.

Buffy blinked twice in rapid succession, but gave no other indication that she was there or that she even heard what he was saying to her. Outside she was deceptively calm, but on the inside she was churning. Dawn! Spike! Angel! Why did that demon take her? Why would Angel stop me from saving her? Why would Spike show up now after all this time? Why were he and Angel working together? They hate each other. And why were they exactly in the right spots for Angel to tackle me and Spike to get to Dawn? How did they know where to be for that? Giles! He told each of us where to position ourselves. He must have told them, too. And how can Giles say that Dawn is okay? Dawn! Spike!?! Dawn! She shook her head trying to clear away the fog in her brain from these circling thoughts. She needed to think coherently so she could understand what was going on here and what she had to do to fix it. She opened her mouth to speak when there was a knock at the door. They all looked up, and Xander hurried to let Angel and Anya in.

When she saw Angel walk in, it suddenly clicked with Buffy that Angel really was here. And that meant that Spike was really here too, or rather he had been. Apparently he and Dawn were now in some other dimension, and she had no idea where. There was no way all this was a coincidence. And that totally pissed her off that she had once again been left in the dark while others had not. Someone knew what was going on here and she wasn’t about to let anyone leave till she had some answers. Buffy was focused now. Anger helped that way. She pulled her hand away from Giles’ and stood up slowly. She looked around the room at the others, leveling each one with her best glare, and crossed her arms defiantly across her chest. When she finally spoke, it was slow and deliberate. “I want to know what’s going on here. I want to know where Dawn is, and what happened tonight. I want to know what Spike and Angel were doing there to begin with, and why Angel thought it necessary to stop me from saving my sister. But mostly, Giles, I want to know why you apparently knew all about this in advance and didn’t see fit to tell me.”

She spat out the last sentence bitterly, betrayal evident in her tone. Xander and Anya both looked at Giles with mild shock, but Angel only shook his head and sat down. He had figured this would be her reaction all along, but he had gone along with Spike’s plan, and still thought it was for the best. He wanted to speak up in Giles’ defense, but he knew it would be his turn to be in the hot seat soon enough when Buffy heard what he had to say. For now he was just relieved it was Giles that her ire was directed toward.

Giles didn’t look away from Buffy as she continued to glare at him. He met her eyes directly and took a deep breath. He had also known this was coming, and although Spike was definitely going to have to face far worse battles in the near future…Giles rather envied him not having to face Buffy’s wrath at this precise moment. With a wry smile, Giles gestured toward the couch. “Buffy, you have every right to be upset. You are correct. I did know what would happen tonight and I do wish that it could have been prevented. I handled it as I thought best with the knowledge I had. If you choose to hate me for that, then such is your prerogative. However, I would appreciate it if you would sit down and listen to all the facts for once before jumping to erroneous conclusions of your own making as you have a tendency to do. Once you’ve heard all we have to say, then make your decision on how you feel toward me, and I will accept that.”

Everyone in the room looked at Giles in surprise when he delivered that last bit in a cool and authoritative voice. Buffy’s mouth dropped open in disbelief, but she snapped it shut again and sat down abruptly. She stared at Giles – really seeing him for the first time in a long time. This man was the father figure she had never had. He had been her Watcher, her mentor, and her friend. But he was also someone she respected and had for a long time now. He never spoke to her like that unless it was warranted. He deserved for her to at least hear what he had to say with an open mind. She struggled briefly with her own anger, worry, and indignation before giving in. She took a deep breath and spoke again. “I’m sorry if I sounded a tad hateful just now. I’m in a bit of shock at what’s happened tonight. I’m worried about Dawn, and I’m scared of what I’m about to hear. I guess I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, but I felt betrayed when I realized that you knew ahead of time what would happen tonight. I will listen to what you have to say before I make up my mind about anything, but I don’t hate you, Giles. And if you tell me that Dawn is safe, then I believe you. So, why don’t you go ahead and fill me in on what’s been going on.” Buffy spoke firmly but softly and looked Giles in the eye while she was speaking so he would know she meant it. She was still upset, but she had lost too much precious time in the recent past with the people closest to her by assuming things or leaving things unspoken. She wasn’t about to make that mistake again. So, she reached over and squeezed his hand quickly before sitting back. Giles returned her hand squeeze, took another deep breath and then began to share a rather fantastic tale.

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