Chapter 3




That first night all three had slept together was the first Buffy had felt safe since the evening before the battle with The First which she’d spent in Spike’s – or rather William’s – arms, and still The Dream had come. There hadn’t been a single night since she lost him to the Hellmouth that The Dream didn’t wake her screaming.

Before she’d met the Immortal, it wasn’t the Italian charmer facing her once she rounded the abandoned building’s outer wall; it wasn’t anyone. There was just a vaguely human form with no distinguishable characteristics, and then there was Spike on fire. That part never changed and she attributed it to her subconscious trying to deal with her loss. She’d hoped The Dream would cease now that her heart was mended again, even if shared in two, so it was more than worrisome that she kept having it.


Willow once said that love makes you do the wacky. Buffy could now attest to grief making you do the stupid. She’d had Slayer dreams before, and she felt completely stupid that she hadn’t pegged it as one of them for so long. Not that she was the one to realize it first.


The first time she woke up screaming, with Spike and William trying to comfort her, the two stubborn Vampires wouldn’t let the matter lie. When she finally admitted to what her nightmare entailed and how long she’d been having it, Spike had said, “Slayer dream”, to which William replied, “Definitely,” and Buffy had giggled and said “Shut up and kiss me, I have to be worn out to go back to sleep.” She knew she had to talk to Giles about it, but that meant talking to him about everything, and there were horny men in her bed, horny men she loved, so she decided to be all Scarlet O’Hara and say tomorrow is another day.


She and her lovers spent their time making love, having fun and sharing those little moments that make couples – even those comprised of three people – couply. Spike and William had brought her up to speed on everything that had happened to him since he’d sealed the Hellmouth, and all three cried over the loss of the Vampires’ sire. What William didn’t mention was how Angel had asked old Rupes for help in that final battle, and how that help had been denied, and Spike didn’t feel like filling that bit of information in either. They both understood and supported her need to live in her denial for a while, so she ended up being Scarlet O’Hara three days in a row, and very successfully too.


Only now, sitting in the living room of the house that her once closest people called home, she couldn’t remember anyone cornering Scarlet like Giles was currently doing to her.



~~~~~*~~~~~



Kennedy had always been unique. Her mom and dad had told her so almost on a daily basis. She was uniquely smart, uniquely beautiful, uniquely rich and would some day become uniquely strong once the Calling reached her. Because she was simply too unique not to be Chosen. When the Slayer and Willow had decided to raise all the Potentials to their Calling, she didn’t complain because she was the only one of the Slayerettes who was accepted in Buffy’s inner circle. Plus she was the only one who shared a very powerful – let alone hot – witch’s bed.


When they all relocated to Rome, her status remained as it was. She was the only Slayer now trained by the Rupert Giles, phenomenon-Watcher and current Head of the Council of Watchers, and she was part of the decision making team. Life was good and she got all the attention she deserved, which made life even better. Every afternoon she and her Watcher, since Buffy obviously thought of herself as too much of the Big Cahuna to need one, would spar in the basement of the house where there was a fully equipped gym just for her. She knew the gym had originally been made with Buffy in mind, but again, the older girl felt she was above it, and above training, as far as Kennedy was concerned.


She was in that gym, practicing her swordsmanship when Xander had called for someone to wake him up. She had just rolled her eyes, and seeing how Giles’ attention shifted from her to the stairway that led to the ground floor, managed to slice through his sleeve and graze his forearm. “Focus, old man”. She liked how he got pissed off when she called him that, it made him more aggressive, and he lacked aggression these days. From what she’d heard about the Old Council, and judging from her previous watcher, Rupert was way too soft. He had let his original Slayer loose, instead of either taming or terminating her, and everybody knew he was drinking more than just socially as of late.


Giles didn’t reply. Not in words, anyway. Instead, with a move she had yet to learn, he sneaked the tip of his sword between her grip and the hilt and managed to disarm her just as Willow yelled that Buffy was there. “Let’s go see what Buffy wants,” he said and – when she mumbled, “But we’re not done yet” – gave her his back as he started up the steps, ignoring the superficial wound she’d given him.


These days, Kennedy felt unique unless Buffy was around, and was quite happy that the latter didn’t grace them with her annoying presence all that much. She followed Rupert upstairs and almost walked right into him as he halted in the doorway to the living room. The moment she realized what had him frozen in his tracks, she spoke her mind like she always did.


“What the fuck? Now she’s cloning them?” she exclaimed just as a bewildered Giles asked, “What on Earth is going on here?”




~~~~~*~~~~~



“Wish? You made a wish? Dear lord, I’d have thought you’d know better! And what of the Immortal now? I can’t believe you hadn’t told me about the Slayer dream. Where is your bloody sense of responsibility?”


“When you say you’re keeping both… are you… ummm… romantically involved? Not—not that I would have anything against that… Hey, I mean, I’m the last to talk about choices on sexual partners but—how does it work? I mean-” Willow sounded generally interested as to the mechanics of their relationship.


Xander grimaced at his friend’s question. “Someone cut off my ears, please! Being open minded is one thing, having to actually know details… Ugh.”


Seeing a way to use the situation to her advantage, Dawn piped in. “Now that Buffy has two boyfriends can I finally start dating?” Everyone ignored her and she sighed dejectedly.


“Does your Slaying Manual miss an S there in the title? What the fuck is wrong with you? You are the Slayer, and you act like a slut! Unless you’re trying to screw the undead into dust.” The disgust was evident in Kennedy’s voice.


Buffy was frowning. Nobody had told Kennedy to butt out for the last half hour that Giles was grilling her for information on the two Spikes, The Dream, and the Immortal. Willow appeared increasingly annoyed, to the point where Buffy thought she saw a dark light flash in her eyes, but still hadn’t said a thing. Buffy knew that the younger Slayer’s bitchiness shouldn’t be the focus here, as everybody kept throwing questions at her, but it was Kennedy she wanted to tell to shut the fuck up. After all, the rest had been around long enough to earn the right to… Just as that thought started forming in Buffy’s mind she realized it was wrong. What right did they have, anyway?


“Would you all please be so kind as to shut up?” Complete silence at last, except for twin chuckles from her men. “Thank you.” She tried to ignore the hurt look in Giles’ face, as well at the churning in her stomach that came with the guilt of talking to her father figure like that. “Now, let me, Spike, and William try to explain everything-” She held her hand up when she saw her sister open her mouth. “Without interrupting. If you still have questions once we’re finished, we’ll try to answer them.”


Kennedy whispered something unintelligible and Buffy decided she’d had enough. “Unless you want your bratty ass severely kicked, you will do as I said.”


“You’re not the boss of me. Willow, tell her-”


“Shut it, Kennedy. For the love of God, just shut your bloody gob!” Everyone looked at Giles in shock as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Go on, Buffy. No one will interrupt you, promise.”



~~~~~*~~~~~



When Buffy had first met the Immortal – when he first found her, really – she was still a mess. Not having been trained in handling grief all that well, she’d been dealing with her loss the only way she knew how; seeking out and destroying dangerous demons as recklessly as she could. It wasn’t a conscious effort of self-destruction, more like a lack of caring for her own well-being, and a need to keep her adrenaline on high so she wouldn’t have time to think about how things could be if he was there with her. It had been months since the Hellmouth, her friends had managed to go on with their lives, even Xander laughed again, but she felt like her life had stopped the day Sunnydale was sucked into earth.


When word reached the new Council headquarters that some weird demonic activity had been sensed in a nightclub that Dawn had begged her to visit with her on several occasions, Buffy was fairly certain it was a ploy by her friends to get her to have fun. Still, her sense of responsibility wouldn’t let her refuse to go. And having to blend in meant she needed clothes other than the black jeans, t-shirt and boots she’d taken to wearing lately. Dawn jumped at the opportunity to take her shopping, but had come down with the flue, so Buffy was left to her own devices in a shopping mall, cursing what used to be her favorite hobby.

Just as she was frowning at a short skirt that seemed to have time-traveled there from her old life, reminding her of one of Spike’s thousands of remarks about her patrolling attire, a strikingly handsome man had appeared out of nowhere, insisting she try the garment on. She politely refused, but he pouted, and his pout was so similar to Spike’s that she had to do as he asked. The same happened when he introduced himself and asked her out for coffee. She just couldn’t refuse him. When they sat down, the first thing he said was “I’m sorry for your loss”, it took her a second to figure out what he meant, and she found that incredibly infuriating. She was halfway out of her chair, determined to leave, but what he said next stopped her in her tracks. “I knew him, you know. A couple of lifetimes ago. Him and his sire.” She plopped back in her seat and didn’t move a muscle, waiting for the rest of his story.


She hadn’t expected to have fun that day, but she did. Adalberto had come right out and told her he was the Immortal, not that that held any significance to her at the time, and that he knew she was the Slayer. He’d kept her amused with anecdotes about Spike and Angel from over a century ago and didn’t make her feel threatened or like he was hitting on her. When he asked her out for the following day, she quite forwardly told him she had to scope a club for demons. He offered to join her. She accepted.


Giles had been livid when she’d told him. He kept telling her that the fact alone The Immortal, a supernatural being with unknown allegiances, had approached her showed something was brewing, but she disagreed. If anything, Spike had taught her that black and white were far from the only shades in the world, and she was determined to give the guy a chance. Not to win her heart – that burned to ashes along with Sunnydale – but to be in her company, and maybe at some point act as a second best to what used to be. Not that she saw that time being soon, she’d hastened to clarify when she saw the hope in her sister’s eyes that she might actually be ready to become romantically involved with someone – anyone – again.


When Giles insisted she was being foolish, she’d stared him down and very calmly stated she’d hear none of it, and that it was about time they started trusting her taste in men.


That came back to bite her in the ass repeatedly, when Adalberto disappeared after that first “date”. She wasn’t hurt, but rather pissed off that the man didn’t even have the courtesy to tell her he didn’t plan on seeing her again. She thought they’d had fun, or as much fun as two people can have on a date when one is not even remotely interested in the other in a sexual way, but that was obviously not enough fun for him.


When he reappeared about a year later, and sought her out with a quite implausible excuse about an urgent matter he had to settle all the way in Japan, she was disinterested enough to agree to go out with him. She didn’t care he’d disappeared, because she didn’t care about him. He was just a link to Spike for her, in some weird way, but she soon found herself enjoying his company again. They started seeing each other daily, and although he verbally expressed his interest in her, he never tried to approach her sexually. That, combined with the charities he’d undertaken and the way people took an instant liking to him made her feel more and more at ease with him. She’d even considered taking things to the next level with him. Not falling in love of course, just becoming more intimate. Giles still had his objections about their peculiar relationship, but Buffy kept waving him off, saying he was judgy, just like he’d been with the Vampire who saved the world. That argument usually shut him up, and on more than one occasion made him look shameful, though she never asked why, too busy basking in the perverse pleasure it gave her to rub his face in his huge lack of judgment.


So she was grateful when Giles didn’t even try to rub it back in her own face when Council intelligence came up with positive proof that her suitor was involved with the almost-Apocalypse in LA, where her first lover had lost his un-life. That, more than the sting of betrayal by someone else she’d let into her life, had made her adamant on killing him. She’d spent a few more months pretending to gradually become enamored with him, sneaking around his place when he fell asleep – spending the night at his castle on several occasions but always in a separate bedroom, claiming she still wasn’t ready – until she got all she needed. Then she found out what he was and how to kill him, only now, she’d have to get even closer.


As she’d told Spike and William during one of their heart-to-hearts, she didn’t regret sleeping with him when she finally did. At their twin expressions of distaste she reminded them that if she hadn’t, they wouldn’t all be together now. They couldn’t refute that.


Now, even Giles seemed to accept the necessity of that “bit of intimacy”, as he referred to it, in lieu of the goal of getting rid of a potentially very dangerous enemy. The new and improved Xander managed to keep his foot from sneaking into his mouth as well, but nobody missed the look on Kennedy’s face when Buffy mentioned sleeping with him to explain how she got to the wishing part.


“So, he’s still alive?” Willow asked after everything had been explained.


“Yes, but I’ll rectify that,” Buffy assured, smiling when she felt both Spike and William tighten their grips on her hands as if to say they wanted in too.


“That is not what troubles me at this moment.” Giles’ voice was grave, as he stood up to pace the length of the living room. “I’m more concerned with Spike.”


“I’m not goin’ to bite anyone, you bloody git!”


Giles stopped his pacing. “That’s hardly my problem, Spike.” Facing them, and resisting the need to take off his glasses and wipe them, he added, “What worries me is… where did you come from?”


“From. The. Past.” It was obvious that Spike was making an effort not to comment on the Watcher’s intelligence.


“What I mean is… what happened to that past, after you left?”






Tbc.