Previously: Buffy jumped off the tower to save the world about thirty years ago. Twenty years later Dawn was killed in a car accident and left her daughter Anne in Spike's care. While Anne was dying in a hospital with Spike at her side, slayer Lieuko was being slaughtered by Drusilla. This caused a rift in the Scoobies when Jesse Harris blamed Spike for her death. Buffy's return has gone a long way to reuniting Xander with the few remaining members of the group, but the slayer is struggling to find a place in a much-changed world where her friends are old and grey, Angel is human, Spike has a soul, and Willow might want to kill her. Recently, Tashi, Buffy, and Spike were ambushed by an unusually large and organized crew of vampires and were moderately injured. After patching Spike up, Buffy kissed him, and both slayers had unsettling dreams.

In our twelfth installment Buffy and Spike spend more time together and Jess reflects on recent and past events.

Chapter 12

Patrols were getting brutal.

They were ranging all over Sunnydale on their patrols, often fighting until dawn. Gangs and groups in numbers she had never seen before, but no reports of massive deaths anywhere in town. That was something, at least. Still, someone was organizing, and probably bringing in out-of-town talent. Buffy just wished she knew who. And unfortunately she had a theory. A really unpleasant theory but probably an accurate one.

Only she didn't understand why Willow was trying to kill them. And the whole 'three' thing had her really freaked out. Connie said the council was working on it. Unfortunately their expert seemed to agree that it might have something to do with there being three living slayers.

Buffy didn’t know why she was back or who or what had brought her back. Knowing that someone might have pulled her out of heaven to end the world wasn’t exactly warming her heart.

Tashi held up her hand and Buffy stopped short. In the distance she could just make out something large and spiny moving their way. As it moved closer she started to say something to Spike when she realized that Tashi was chanting quietly. Suddenly, there was demon flambé. The thing screamed and then dissolved into ashy goo.

"I didn't know you could do that," she whispered to the younger slayer.

Tashi shrugged. "The watchers, you know, they all do magic. I'm not super adept or anything, but I know a few spells. Besides, you really don't want to touch one of those things. There's not just pokey. There's some sort of goop all over their spines that makes your skin burn."

"Good job, pet." Buffy watched his face, the obvious pleasure he took in Tashi's success. It was really cute.

Was that how Angel used to look at her? She didn't think so. But maybe Giles had.

"It's near sunrise. Won't be anything else tonight," Spike pointed out, his hand coming to rest gently against the small of her back.

Tashi nodded and started leading the way back to Connie's place. A few minutes later, she and Spike were falling through the door of his apartment. Since the night of the first massive attack, this was the routine. Patrol, drop off Tashi, vigorous makeout session on Spike's couch until she finally thought of an excuse and left before anything below the waistline got unfastened.

Tonight, she didn't think she'd be making such an early exit.


When she made it back to Xander's it was sometime in the mid afternoon so he would be out. Except that it was Saturday and he was watching baseball on the couch with a stone-faced Jess. Buffy just took a deep breath and silently escaped into the shower. Over the sound of the water she could hear them arguing, and when she came out Jess was gone.

"Are you hungry?"

Xander's question caught her off guard. She was expecting a lecture or anger or something. Not a snack.

But she was hungry. "Kinda, yeah." She followed him into the kitchen and helped him raid the fridge. After taking a few bites she lifted her eyes to his. "It's not just the soul, you know. He's really different now."

Xander studied her over the top of his glass. "Are you trying to convince yourself, Buff, or me? Because I already knew that. I was there, remember?"

She huffed. "Both, I guess. I mean, he's not Angel." She poked at her food. "He's nothing like Angel."

"Oh, obviously," Xander agreed with a smirk. "Except, you know, for being a vampire with a soul who helps a young teenage girl fight evil."

She managed a watery laugh. "Yeah, other than that, I mean."

Xander reached over and squeezed her hand. "When you're with him, are you thinking about Angel? Comparing them?"

Buffy looked at his warm, rough hand on hers. "Honestly? No. I mean, sometimes when I see him with Tashi, I guess, because you do have a point there. But not when we're... you know."

"I think you'll be okay then," Xander told her. "Get some rest," he advised. "We've need to meet at the store in an hour or so. The Council is sending someone to tell us all about vengeance demons and prophecies with 'three' in them."

The thought perked her up a little. "Oh, well, good. I mean, I'm trying to give this new council the benefit of the doubt. Think their expert will actually know anything useful."

Xander shook his head a little. "She should. She was a vengeance demon for a thousand years or so."

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Mom was coming to town. Because he hadn't had enough bad news for one day.

Jess bounced a ball of the bedroom wall and grimaced as he caught it. That wasn't fair. He loved his mother. Could you love someone and resent her at the same time? His mom was smart and funny and warm in a weird, overly enthusiastic way. She had also run around on his dad and moved away from him to another country and started a happy new family with the man she insisted on calling his real father.

Giles was a perfectly nice guy and all, but Spike had been more of a dad to him than Rupert Giles. At least Spike was there. God, it was weird to think how much he'd loved Spike when he was a kid. Spike was all cool and mysterious and occasionally let him have a sip of his beer.

He couldn't really remember Amanda or the brief years of Lisette. Of course his parents had still been caught up in their own drama then. But later, during the years when there was no slayer, he could remember waiting for Aunt Tara, and later Mama Carrie, and then Aunt Tara again, to fall asleep so he could sit by the window, waiting to see Spike and his dad come up the walk after they finished their Important Work. Most nights he fell asleep against the glass, but other times he would hear their footsteps and crack the window to listen to their mysterious grown-up talk. Sometimes they were happy, and sometimes they were hurt, sometimes they were fighting, and rarely the dark woman watched from the shadows. And once he saw Spike look at the dark woman across the yard and he knew Spike saw her too.

And that's what he couldn't forgive either of them for, Spike or himself. One of them should have told his dad about the dark woman, and then everything would be different.

Jess thought she was imaginary, of course, like his Aunt Willow. Even after he'd found out about Willow, he didn't make the connection that the other woman might be real too. That her warped face was something that existed outside of nightmares. Faith's arrival, and her total lack of discretion, had put an end to his childhood ignorance. The ball hit the wall at the wrong angle and bounced into the bookshelf. Faith had put an end to a lot of things, like Dad and Carrie, although he knew nothing happened there. At least he was pretty sure.

Mom used to be like Aunt Willow, he mused as he rearranged the books that had fallen. He really couldn't imagine that. Aunt Tara, who wasn't really his aunt either -- most of his family wasn't really his family, said they weren't exactly the same, but she also didn't think that specializing made much difference. And of course, Aunt Willow had killed Aunt Lara. Not directly, but the whole carcinogen cars thing had killed a lot of people. He could never decide if it was a coincidence or not.

It was Aunt Willow who told him his mother was coming to town. She'd do that, just pop in when he was in the middle of something. The counselor at school had called her imaginary. Another thing he should have told his father about a lot sooner than he had. Before what happened to those other kids when he was in third grade. She wanted to know all about Spike and Buffy once he made the mistake of mentioning it. Usually he was really careful with what he said around Willow. It wasn't like he cared that much about Buffy; it was just that it wasn't fair. His slayer died because Spike couldn't dust his ex until she went after Anne, but Spike's slayer came back from the dead.

And something was going on, something big, if Mom was tearing herself away from Watching the fourth slayer.

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dun dun dun ;)