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Author's Chapter Notes:
If you are checking in, you may want to be sure you've read the 2 previous chapters as I'm very late updating.
A Slayer's Story

Dawn actually liked working at the Magic Box, even if it was a requirement by management for all her five finger discounts. Despite that, she enjoyed helping people find just the right scent of incense, or a book, even didn't mind going into the basement for the rarer items. She felt like she was being allowed to see a secret part of the world no one else ever did.

Buffy had headed to work just after 5:00 for the late closing shift. Then Anya was to take
Dawn home to Willow.

Dawn checked the time once more. Only 6:30. Half an hour left till closing. Maybe Willow would let her go to Janice's tonight.

Dawn stacked the books being added to the stock. "Alphabetical order,” She rolled her eyes. “Yay."

Anya glared at her. "It's so much easier to find books if put in a systematic order." The woman walked behind the counter with the plastic bag she was using to gather the garbage from cans. While emptying the garbage she caught a glimpse of the floor.

"Dawn!"

Dawn sat up straight. "What?"

"Have you swept this floor at all today?" Anya set the can back down. "I think you need to get the broom. I do not wish to have a customer complain about a messy shop." The ex-demon walked towards the back door to dispose of the garbage. "It could cause them not to exchange currency with me."

Dawn began her chore, grumbling about how she hated brooms. They always made her think of bad witches in fairytales.

Dawn swept behind the shelves, behind the counter, then the entrance. Anya watched as Dawn, thinking she was done, started to put the broom away. "Under the tables, too, Dawn."

The girl continued her grumbling while she headed for the display tables and cleared the debris from under them. Then she headed for the research table. Dusty floors. Dirty from people bringing the grunge of the outside and making a mess.

'Ohhh, paper! Something different.' Dawn unfolded the dirty white piece of paper.

"Samantha Emerson, 1428 Ash Canyon Rd, Carson City, Nevada." Dawn pocketed the paper and continued cleaning. When Anya was satisfied, Dawn asked if she could go over to the Doublemeat and maybe catch dinner with Buffy.

The pleased shopkeeper scanned the now empty store and grabbed her purse. "I'll go with you. I don't think she would be too happy if I let you walk there this late alone. Then I'll take you home. OK?"

Dawn nodded. Even if she hated to be watched over all the time, maybe she could work some info out of her boss.

"So, did Buffy find out what she was looking for?"

Anya eyed the teen. The woman was sure that Dawn had no idea what was going on. "I believe she found out all she could from the books." They turned another corner, walked for ten more minutes, and were standing in front of Buffy at her register in no time.

"Hey, Dawnie. Aren't you sick of this food yet?" Buffy asked, just as her manager walked into the ordering area. She quickly covered for herself. "I mean, wouldn't you like to try chicken this time?" The manager gave Buffy a curious look before walking back into her office. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Nice save, Buffy," Dawn said while fishing out some money from her pocket. The grimy paper fell out and onto the floor. "I think I will have the chicken sandwich, and small fries...oh, and a chocolate milkshake. Buffy shook her head at her sister's love for junk food, but tapped Dawn's order into the register anyway.

Anya noticed the paper fall and plucked it up. "Dawn, is this yours?" Anya opened the paper up and read. "Who's Samantha Emerson?"

Buffy was only half listening as she gathered the items for her sister's order after handing Dawn's change to her.

"I don't know. It was under the table. I thought someone might come back looking for it. I mean, loosing an address can be a pain, right?" Anya nodded in agreement.

"Whose address is it?" Buffy asked while setting the tray full of food on the counter in front of her sister.

"Samantha Emerson," Dawn answered.

There was immediate recognition and Buffy's eyes went wide.

~~`~~

Buffy had some trouble convincing her manager to reschedule her for the next few days. Other than that, the plan was easy and simple. She was going to go meet another Slayer.

The trip would take a little more than six hours. Luckily, she had no driving to do. The Greyhound ticket was in her purse.

Her friends were all there to see her away Saturday morning.

Anya, Tara, and Willow wished her luck, not really knowing why. Dawn and Xander knew that Buffy was anxious to meet the woman who had to be the longest living Slayer ever, but she was acting strange. Even stranger than what had become normal.

Buffy waved out the window to her friends and family as the bus pulled away.

The ride was calming for the first few hours. Later, her stomach's flipping and flopping had caused her to go into the awful little room they called a 'restroom' twice the last hour of her trip. She quickly hopped off the bus once it had reached its destination.

Buffy hailed a cab after departing the bus. She was on her way. The houses all looked small and homey. The air was comfortable, and the sky was clear. All in all, a lovely place to live.

The cab slowed as it approached the address the driver had been given. Buffy looked out the window to see a small ranch style house. It was light blue with tan edging. She quickly paid the cabby and gathered her black bag. It was small, only holding one change of clothes, one book, and a few stakes.

Her stomach felt heavy as she headed up the short walk towards the front door. The grass was neatly trimmed. There was a rosebush and a small garden that must have been tended to regularly for such beautiful flowers to bloom in such a dry climate.

Buffy stood at the tan door, lifted her arm to knock, then dropped it to her side. She sighed, lifted her hand again, balled it into a fist, and knocked.

She heard some shuffling behind the door, and a woman, easily in her fifties answered the door. "May I help you?" The woman's voice was light. Her graying black hair was pinned on top of her head into a bun. Her blouse was pink, and she wore beige slacks. Her face was wrinkled, but she contained a youthfulness in her eyes.

Buffy was struck with a thought. She looks young for her age. She should be 80, and she barely looks 50. Maybe she had the wrong woman?

"Are you Samantha Emerson,“ She cleared her throat before continuing. “Formerly Samantha the Vampire Slayer?"

Sam nodded.

"Buffy Summers?" the woman asked. Buffy's jaw dropped. "Your Watcher said...he called me a few days ago." Sam stepped aside, never actually speaking the words, but inviting Buffy in.

Buffy scanned the small living room as she stepped in. It was simple with a small TV in the corner, a couch against one wall, and a recliner in front of the television. There was an end table between the couch and chair. Pictures of what looked like a younger version of Samantha and a dark haired man were scattered on the walls along with some paintings of landscapes.

Buffy sat on the couch, and Sam took the recliner. "So Miss Summers, you are in love I hear?" Buffy nodded and began to speak, but was cut off by Samantha. "I wondered...one Slayer to another...how confused are you?"

"I am...or was, very confused. That was until Giles sent me your Diary." Buffy pulled out the book she brought with her. Sam's Diary.

After noting which book Buffy was holding, Sam stood up and went to the next room.

She reappeared with a book and handed it to Buffy. The current slayer read the title printed in gold. "Diary of Master Vampire Ashton, The Shunned." Buffy noted the symbol on the binding and looked up at the woman sitting comfortably on the recliner. "Is this...is this the Vampire you met in the ally? The one that old man was protecting from you?"

"Yes, and I'd like you to take that home with you. Make sure it goes back to the collection of Diaries they keep on all of us. After my Watcher was no longer needed to watch me, the Council forced him to turn over all of the Diaries. The Council hid this one well; it took me almost twenty years to find it. I gave it to him on our twenty-fifth anniversary." Sam blinked back a tear. "He died four years ago, and I'll be gone soon...I want him to be remembered." Sam was quiet.

Buffy let her hands feel the old leather. The paper was parchment. How it was in one piece she could never guess. "I wanted to ask you...I mean. God, I don't even know what I want to know." The young blonde's face twisted. "How did it happen? I mean, how did you fall in love with a Vampire?"

Sam let out a snort. "You should know as well as I do. To this day I still wonder how the heart of a Slayer could be drawn to a Vampire...but I was. And now you are. I'm not sure if there is an answer.”

A slight smile formed on the elder woman’s lips. “I know that Ashton was like no Vampire I had ever fought, none I'd even heard of. He was...good. He acted humanely. I always ran into him while fighting." Sam's head filled with forgotten memories. "I remember the second time I saw him. I was battling four Vampires at once. I was doing well, I thought. All of a sudden, a blur of black jumped in and staked two of them." She began to laugh a bit. "He never talked to me...just jumped in and helped, then left." Sam leaned forward a little. "That went on for months, then one day I got hurt. Pretty badly, too. It was the fourth...no, no...the fifth apocalypse I had to stop. I still have the scar." She rolled up a pant leg to reveal a long scar from her ankle to her knee. "He saved me that night. Took me to his one room flat and stitched me up himself." She let the pant leg fall back to its place.

"After that, it was strange. He started acting overprotective. Almost taking over Slaying.

He'd act like I was going to break. We ended up having an argument that turned into a fistfight. I knocked him out and when he woke up he blurted out how much he loved me."

Buffy sat and listened to the former Slayer's story unfold.

"For two weeks I avoided him, and he followed me. I felt when he was there. Nothing new to feel a Vampire's presence, I know. But I could feel that it was him. It was unnerving, to say the least." Sam paused to think.

"Then, one morning I was heading back to my flat, and there he was. I tried to walk away, but he wouldn't let me. I listened to him trying to convince me he loved me. Then he asked me to kiss him."

She looked into Buffy's eyes and continued. "It was a bet, you see. If I kissed him, and didn't feel anything, he would leave. God, I was scared. It's almost funny to think about it now. I wasn't scared of him. My fear was of myself. I already knew I cared about him. It's why I tried to avoid him." Sam fingered her wedding ring. "I lost the bet, I'm sure you guessed. After that, it was a matter of trying to keep our relationship a secret.”

Sam had the look of deep concentration on her face. “I knew...or at least I thought, that Crawford would kill Ashton himself if he knew what was happening. As the months wore on, there was no doubt I was in love with Ashton, and it was killing me."

Buffy looked up at those words. This she understood. Feeling how wrong it is all of the time. Your duty, your birthright all in question because your heart won't do as it's told. Hiding it from people, even yourself for as long as you can. Then nothing makes you feel better. Not even the love.

"I was dying inside. He couldn't tell, but I knew I was. I wanted to get away. My prayers were answered when our side truly began gaining ground. So many attacks were pushing back the human enemies, and brought the first signs of hope back into so many hearts that had given up. The sightings of Demons began to lessen, and I would be going home to America soon. I could get away from him..."

Sam gathered Buffy's hands in her own. "Don't let anyone tell you it's wrong. Don't let their opinion make you falter."

Buffy was pulled in by the intensity in her black eyes. "I won't." Buffy's shoulders went back in defiance. She felt stronger. "No, I won't."

Sam smiled. "When I was 23, I was called to receive Akoshta, although from what I hear from your Watcher, the experience those two Vampires have will be quite different."

"What happened when you went...and where did you go?" Buffy was finally remembering the questions she had set out to ask in the first place.

"To tell you the truth, I don't remember much." Buffy frowned. "It was like that both times I was gone. I remember feeling safe. Learning more about my purpose the first time...and being thanked the second time. I remember bits and pieces of the conversation I had, but not who it was with. I recall what I wished for the second time. I remember feeling that Ashton was close the second time.”

“When I was returned the first time, I found myself standing in front of the door to my home. The second time, I was lying next to Ashton in a London cemetery holding his hand, and his grasp was warm. He was human, and I was no longer a Slayer."

"But I'm still the Slayer. If they make Spike human...I am so confused." Buffy put her head in her hands and shook it. She sighed and looked up at Sam. "When they made him human...was it the Ashton you knew, or was it the soul he used to be?"

Sam nodded in understanding. "I see. You wonder if your Vampire will be himself if he becomes human." The former Slayer sighed. "The soul was released to rest. Ashton, the demon, was human. He was the man I fell in love with." Buffy smiled.

"After I returned home and told Crawford what had happened, he revealed to me the prophecy that foretold everything that had happened to me. He had already made false identification for Ashton, giving him his own last name. The rest, as they say, is history."

Buffy thought a moment, then a question came to her. "Did you ever have any kids?"

Sam's eyes became sad. "No, but it had to do with a medical problem...nothing to do with either of our previous lives." Buffy was quiet.

"What is it, Miss Summers?

Buffy had been trying to figure out the proper way to tell Sam that the Vampire she herself loved was the one, probably the last one, that had threatened the former Slayer.

"The night you were heading home, the night on the docks...you were approached by a Vampire, right?"

Sam was more than surprised. She had told her Watcher, in a letter, all about her final Vampire encounter. 'He must have added it to the Diary,' she thought.

"Yes. Of course, he couldn't attack. Actually what struck me was that after I told him I received Akoshta, and I wasn't the Slayer anymore, he didn't even try to disprove me. He just left. I thought he would at least lunge, which is very funny. Watching a demon frozen in place trying to figure out what's going on can be entertaining," she finished with a laugh.
Buffy couldn‘t help but join in. "Well, he better have some respect for it now. He's being tested, and he better pass or I'll stake him myself."

Sam raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

"Crazy isn't it?" Buffy exclaimed.

Sam shrugged. "May I see that?"

Buffy noticed she was pointing at the Diary sitting on top of her bag. "Sure," she said and handed it to her.

Buffy skimmed parts of Ashton's Diary while Sam perused her own.

Ashton was shunned in the late 1700's. Up until that time he had been a Vampire to fear.

There was no notation on how or what changed him, but there were several gaps in the
Diaries where he was either hiding or missing.

He had lived with the humans, and generally kept away from any demon communities. His life had been uneventful and quiet. Then he met Samantha. The notations in the Diary were also marked with a familiar symbol. That meant that not only had the Watcher known...but the Council knew. "The Council. They knew what was happening? Why didn't they try to stop it?"

Sam looked up from her book. This was one part of her story she had hoped to avoid. The memories of her Watcher were all good ones. Ones to cherish. Sam had no intention of sullying his good name, even for the benefit of another Slayer.

Buffy's Watcher, though, seemed much like Sam's had been. Loving, caring, almost fatherly. Deciding to tell her the truth, Sam revealed the only thing her Watcher had done against his, or her, training.

"Miss Summ-...Buffy, the Council did know, and they were hell bent to make sure it did not happen. The Council, with all their good intentions and knowledge, has one very large handicap. They could care less what happens to a Slayer, as long as she does her duty."

"No secret there, lemme tell you," Buffy agreed.

Smiling, Sam knew the truth would be best. "Crawford knew of the prophecy. Like your Watcher, he added the markings to the binding of both our Diaries himself. He gave the information to the Council after his discovery, with one alteration. The time the Vampire and I would be gifted." Sam's mischievous grin added a lilt to her words. "He added a few years to the date on the Calendar of Orta, where the prophecy originated. So by the Council's calculations...I wasn't supposed to be called to Akoshta until 1945."

Buffy began to put all the information together and laughed. "I think your Watcher and mine would have gotten along well, considering Giles hid Akoshta from...well, everyone.

Including the Council."

Sam's eyes widened...and she soon joined in the laughter.

Late afternoon was upon the day. Buffy and Sam had compared battle strategies and memories of their most interesting battles.

Samantha showed Buffy her wedding pictures. The ceremony had been small. Sam's simple white dress was knee length and had cap sleeves. Ashton stood a good seven inches above her dressed in a simple black suit.

"He insisted it be an outdoor ceremony," Sam remembered aloud. "Strange how much he loved the sunlight after being afraid of it for so long."

Buffy told Sam a little about Angel, how he was souled, shunned, lost his soul, re-souled, dead, undead, moved away, and now was being tested alongside his own grandchilde.

Sam was shocked, but listened intently. "I believe you must be a rare person, Miss Summers. You have managed to change the hearts of two Vampires. Rare indeed."

Buffy waved at Sam standing in front of the little house, until the cab was too far away to see the home. Dusk was creeping up on the town. The thought of riding the cramped bus home all night wasn't an inviting one, but she needed to get home as soon as possible.

At least she didn't need to go in to work until Monday. A weekend off never happened in the ragingly boring career of fast food.

Buffy paid the man driving the cab and walked into the bus depot. She showed the attendant her round trip ticket and was issued the return ticket. The blonde sat on a bench and waited for her gate number and destination to be called. People passed by her unnoticing. She scanned the groups for any undead out of habit, but all was quiet in the Carson City Bus Depot.

"Carson City to Sunnydale, California, Gate 4," A male voice called over the speakers.

Buffy stood in line and was finally able to board. As she stepped up, a familiar tingle in her spine ran up to the scruff of her neck. 'Vampire.' She turned and scanned the crowd below her, still waiting in line. A few people were giving her dirty looks, but none were Vampires.

Grimacing, Buffy continued onto the bus. As she sat, she peered out the window.

Something. There was something.

A few minutes passed and the feeling subsided. Buffy slowly drifted off to sleep just as the bus pulled out of the depot.


Chapter End Notes:
I'm very sorry for the lack of updates. Its been a funky few days. Hopefully these last 3 chaptershave been worth a bit of a wait.



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