West of Malaika, Ohio
Buffy Summers, once the one and only, now the one of many slayers, stood on her balcony in the northern part of Ohio, a few hours away from the Hellmouth in Cleveland. It had been a year and a half since the episode with the First and Spike. After he had died, they had gone to Los Angeles, and then moved to Cleveland shortly thereafter. With the old council funds that Giles somehow managed to get access to, they bought what were now the Slayer Estates, and because of her long service to the slayer line, they bought two acres of land in the northern part of Ohio for Buffy. With everything that had happened over the past two and a half years, she had been done with slaying. After making sure that everything was in order with the new slayer operation, Buffy left to build her mansion smack in the middle of the two acres, and fenced the surrounding area in, so there was a house in the middle with a fence surrounding all of the land. Using the Council’s resources, she set everything up how she wanted it, including furniture, appliances, etc., and then she promptly cut herself off from her friends, and family, wanting to forget the past seven years.
As she stood on the balcony, listening to the midnight cricket chirping, she thought back to why she had done it. Why she had cut herself off from her past. Really she had done it to protect herself. She had lost so much to slaying, that she was done with it. She supposed that it was losing Spike that was the last straw, the breaking point. Losing him, after they had been through so much together, he had always been there to comfort her, whether he denied it or not. No matter what his previous intentions were, to kill her or otherwise, he had always ended up just being her support, someone she could count on to watch her back. But then, he suddenly wasn’t there. He couldn’t support her for his death. The man, the demon that was her way to deal with death was gone. Instead, it was his death she mourned.
Unwanted tears flowed down her cheeks as she remembered his last words. Her vow to him of “I love you” had been true, yet he had told her it wasn’t. She suspected, even now that he had been lying about not believing her, but knowing him, he had said that because he needed her to leave, to live. It didn’t mean that those words didn’t hurt, his “No you don’t but thanks for saying it”. It hurt to hear him say that he didn’t believe her. Heck, his death was the reason for her giving up the slaying, for her living here, secluded from her friends and family. This wasn’t something she wanted, it was something that she needed. They probably wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for Spike and his idiocracy. She decided that she was tired of being outside; also it was a little chilly for a September night. Turning, she went inside and went to bed, dreaming of her past, good and bad times.
***
Dawn Summers, Buffy’s younger, but taller sister, bounced around the library, much to Giles’ annoyance. ‘Spikes coming, Spikes coming, he’s back!’ was all that could go through her mind. There was an impending doom coming, and 7/8 of their slayer force was halfway around the world. They had called Angel reluctantly, because of his association with Wolfram Hart, but they needed any help they could get. Slayers couldn’t get around the world in a week, even if they needed to. Dawn had been the one that had called, and they quickly worked everything out. Angel and the “Fang Gang”, when they had met after Sunnydale, were going to come over to Ohio, to help out their depleted forces. They were done and exchanging good-byes, when Dawn heard a British “Bloody hell!” from the background. That had been a week ago, and she could hardly wait to see him. There was a quiet tap on the door, and Isabel, their maid, peeked her head in and simply said, “They’re here.” With those two words, Dawn was out of the library in a flash, running towards the main door. “Spike,” she squealed with delight and happiness.
He laughed. “ Hey niblet, long time no see,” cam the muffled reply, because he had a fistful of Dawn’s hair in his mouth. “Rupert,” he nodded to Giles as he came in the room.
“Hey guys!” Dawn said, finally acknowledging everyone else that wasn’t Spike.
“Hey, Dawn.” Wesley said, smiling. Gunn and Lorne appeared behind him, waving from outside.
“Ah, Spike, Angel, everyone, do come in,” Giles welcomed. “ We have rather a lot to do, I’m afraid.”
Faith appeared behind Giles, “Hey everyone, come to join the party?” she asked cheerfully. She looked tired, and her bare arms were covered in bruises and shallow cuts.
“Faith, what happened to you?” Angel asked with concern in his voice.
“Huh? Oh, its nothing, just a scuffle with a couple demons yesterday.” She said, shrugging it off. “Hey, G-man, wanna fill them in?”
Giles rolled his eyes at the oh-so-annoying nickname. “Yes, but there is something else that I would like to discuss with everyone first.” He motioned for them to go into the library, where he had come from. “Dawn could you do me a favor and go get everyone please?” She nodded and headed up the stairs on the left.
“Hey, Rupes, nice book collection,” Spike said once they were in the library. “ How’d you get all of these?”
“A years hard work of looking and tracking down all of these volumes.” Giles said proudly. “A lot of them are from different dimensions, since this dimensions’ resources were mostly destroyed with the Council.”
“Hey look, we have visitors,” Willow said from the doorway. “ Are you guys early, or did I lose track of time?”
“Oh, Willow, did Dawn find you?” Giles asked.
“Nope, I know where I am. Actually I was coming to show you this. I found it while I was looking for something else.” She replied. “Why is dawn trying to find me?”
“I have something that I would like to tell everyone, and I sent Dawn to get all of you.” He replied.
“Hey I couldn’t find Willow, but…” Dawn started. “Oh, I guess she found you.”
“Oh, it’s Dead Boy and Captain Peroxide, my two favorite people,” Xander said, walking in behind Dawn.
“Look Peaches, it’s the Whelp!” Spike said with false enthusiasm
“Now children, lets all settle down,” Andrew said as her walked through the door.
“Now,” Giles said loudly, effectively quieting everyone. “We all know that something big is going to happen now, and with the Fang Gang here, we have our strongest warriors. All but one.” He said the last part pointedly.
“ But Giles. We don’t even know where she is.” Dawn protested. “We don’t know if she’ll even talk to us.”
“Yeah, Giles, besides, she was pretty adamant about no contact. I don’t wanna be in range of her fists if she sees us any time soon.” Willow said, with Xander and Andrew nodding in agreement.
“Hey, who are we talking about?” Wesley finally spoke up. Only Angel, Spike, and the Scoobies looked like they knew what was going on.
“Buffy,” Angel said.
“And Dawn, you forget that we still get the statements for the mansion,” Giles said impatiently. “We don’t pay them anymore, but we get them. Someone is still living there.”
“Well, we could try, I guess.” Willow said slowly. “But there are no guarantees that she would come with us.”
“So we want Buffy here?” Kennedy asked. She had come in shortly after Andrew. “Why would we even need her?”
“Because she’s the original, and the strongest, even stronger than Faith.” Spike said. “I saw it with the First, when she went down. Everyone weakened, but when she got back up, everyone started winning again.”
“Well that might have changed,” Kennedy argued. “It had been over a year.”
“Actually, Spike’s right,” Willow said. “While she is alive, the slayers will be at their best, especially if she is fighting at their side.”
“Ok, so do we call B up?” Faith asked.
“Actually, I was thinking of going and getting her.” Giles said.
“What if she doesn’t wanna come?” Xander asked.
“Then we will persuade her,” Giles said firmly.
“Ok, so when do we leave?” Faith asked.
“I’m thinking now. He said. “Night has just fallen, so Angel and Spike can come with us. Also, Spike’s presence might be useful.”
“Right then,” Spike said. Willow, Dawn, Xander, Giles, Spike, Faith and Angel all left to get Buffy as the
rest of the people went back to what they were doing before they had been in the library.
Two and a half hours later, they pulled up to the gate outside of the mansion. There had been some arguing along the way, as to who should drive, that Spike way going too fast, etc., but no one was dusted or bleeding, so they got there without too many problems. As they pulled up, Spike whistled.
“Does she live here all by herself?” he asked. “She has way too much room if she does.”
“Yes, I believe that she is alone, or she was at first.” Giles replied. “She might have someone else living here now.”
“Well, lets buzz,” Faith said impatiently.
Spike pushed the button of the speaker box on the wall. A young lady answered a few moments later. “Yes?”
“Hello we are here to see Ms. Buffy Summers please?” Giles asked politely.
“May I have a name?” Came the voice.
“Uh, yes, Rupert Giles.” He asked, hoping that was the only question.
“Ok, please drive up to the door.”
“Thank you,” he said, relieved. At least it hadn’t been Buffy who had answered the intercom.
“Well, that was easy enough.” Angel said.
“Yeah, easy. Xander agreed. “But just wait for the next part. That might be a little harder.”
“Yeah, I second that.” Willow put in.
“ Come on now, how hard can it get?” Faith asked.
The others just exchanged looks between them, as they didn’t even bother to answer that question. They pulled up to the door and got out. Spike is the one that knocked; the others had pushed him forward. The door opened to reveal a tousled, sleepy Buffy, who had obviously just been woken up by the maid that was in the background looking fearful. She froze as she looked at the miracle blonde that was standing right in front of her, the man that should be dead and buried in the remains of Sunnydale.
A/N : Malaika isn't a real place in Ohio, but I wanted something that wasn't familiar. Let me know what you think of the story :) I like reviews.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I wrote this a few years ago, and posted it somewhere else. I do like this story line, and might write more on it, but I didn't get much response the first time I posted it. Let me know what you think, please.