Author's Chapter Notes:
Some dialogue taken from Lessons. I dedicate this chapter to Redwulf50, for being possibly Second Youth’s biggest supporter. Wulfie also helped with the plot of this fic, (it was a long time ago, he might have forgotten) which actually doesn’t show up for a few chapters. Thanks to BTL for the great betaing. Italics are thoughts

Disclaimer: Spike and the whole BTVS cast aren't mine, I just play with them.
Recap of Second Youth: After Once more With Feeling, Willow did a spell which unintentionally brought 122 year old Buffy from her deathbed into her 21 year old body. Spike and Buffy are mated and engaged. Dawn has fun key powers. Tara didn’t die. Anya rejected Xander at the altar. Andrew, Warren and Jonathan are all in jail. Giles didn’t go to England. Buffy, who has fun magical powers, did a spell that made it so there is only one Slayer, making herself and Faith into ‘Master Slayers’.
__________________________________________
Chapter 1: Back to School

Buffy Anne Summers-Bradford-Blakely-Corbett-Wyndham-Price-Botelli-Darcy, and soon Darlington, took the book list offered by the TA standing outside the history building of Sunnydale U. The list was long but half of the textbooks she had already read...in another life...her life.

Buffy looked around at all the rest of the random students littering the campus. Late teens and early twenties, a lot like how she looked. Twenty two. It was such a small number. It certain didn’t express her amount of life experience. Or the actual age of her soul.

One hundred and twenty three.

And she had Willow to thank for that, well along with the not being dead, cause that would suck.

Willow was happily in England at a coven working on controlling her magic, with Tara by her side. Willow should have been enrolling for classes along with her today. Buffy missed Willow.

Not that her summer wasn’t great. Spike had been exposing Dawn to the wonders that was British cooking; every meal was an adventure of grossness (Blood Pudding so did not go over well). Mostly she enjoyed the very mundane family life they had set up. Patrolling as a family, eating as a family, discussing what changes needed to be made to expand their family.

Buffy was well aware that she would never have kids; she was 123, she was too old and having raised three, she didn’t much care to add on to that number, though she was still raising Dawn. The two additions to their family were going to be: Andrew, former guestage of life #1, nerd, reformed criminal and fast becoming Dawn’s best friend, and Molly, former potential, now Slayer, who was not good with squishy. Andrew was going to be housed in the basement. Molly, well she assumed that they’d have a solution to her housing problem when she arrived. Xander was talking about an extension to the house.

She didn’t know when Molly was going to arrive. It was hard to train a Slayer if said Slayer did not arrive on one’s doorstep. And the Council? Ya they weren’t forthcoming at all, but was that new? No, not even in the days when she had been the head of the Council.

So Doctor Buffy Summers (and all those last names) walked off the campus of Sunnydale U, holding the book list for a second year history class eager for her family life to continue as it had been, hoping that in some small way everything she had done the year before, changing the Slayer line, was going to make 2002/2003 a much happier year in the land of Buffy than the last time she’d experienced it.
__________________________________________
The noon sun high in the sky, Buffy returned home toting the massive load of books she was required to read this semester. Good thing they didn’t take that Slayer strength away thought Buffy pleasantly.

Setting her books down on the dinning room table Buffy turned to see Dawn step out of the closet.

“Dawn!” How many times do I have to tell you that portal opening and dimension hopping are not things you should be doing in the house! You could bang someone’s head in with those doors!” huffed Buffy.

Over the summer, Dawn had been under Anya’s constant tutelage, and now could open any door pass into another dimension and then open another door into her own dimension somewhere else, like the hallway of their house.

“Come on Buffy! It’s fun, besides I’m not going anywhere dangerous. Arashamahar is so beyond doomsville.”

“Doomsville?” asked Buffy cynically.

“They can’t all be winners,” responded the teen. “I just came down stairs to tell you that I’m going over to Janice’s,” she stated loudly.

“By way of Arashamahar?” asked Buffy.

“Well if someone would get up off their undead ass and teach me to drive like he promised, then I could drive to Janice’s”

Buffy rolled her eyes at her sister. “You only got your learner’s permit yesterday!”

“So?”

“Whatever, go to Janice’s. Just make sure you are home in time to get a goodnight’s sleep for school tomorrow.”

“You just want me out of the house so you can make out with your fiancé while I’m gone,” Dawn commented.

“Can you blame me?” asked Buffy gesturing to the couch on which Spike sat watching TV. “He’s yummy.”

“And we delve into the realm of TMI once again. I’m out,” said Dawn grabbing the closet doorknob.

Buffy watched with eagerness as her little sister and magical key departed this dimension. Starting a new high school the next day was only slightly worrying to the Master Slayer. She had after all gone through this years before.

Buffy smiled, knowing that things would be very different this year.

“Nibblet gone?” came Spike’s voice from the living room.

Buffy opened her mouth to answer in the affirmative when she was suddenly flooded with naughty thoughts from her mate’s head.

With a smirk, Buffy took a running leap onto her vampire’s lap, forgetting about all the reading she had to do for her first classes. There were many, much funner things to do with Spike.
__________________________________________
In the name of family togetherness, Buffy cajoled Spike into driving Dawn to school, after Xander’s ’here’s where the hellmouth is’ blueprint session.

“Why do I have to be in a car with you two?” asked Dawn from the back seat of the Desoto. “You still haven’t taught me how to drive yet, and I could so get to school faster. It’s icky with all the PDAs going on in the front seat and eww Spike do you ever clean back here?”

“It’s a museum back there Dawn, some of that garbage is older than you,” responded Buffy with a smile. “Besides isn’t it good to know that your parents love each other?”

Dawn rolled her eyes in the back seat. “Right...You frighten me in new and disturbing ways. You are really liking this whole ‘Dawn’s really my love child with my vampire lover’ thing aren’t you?“

“Hardly call you a love child bitsize, since neither of us were in love or even knew it was happening at the time,“ noted Spike from the driver’s seat.

“That’s right Dawnie, you’re test tube baby,“ quipped Buffy.

“You people scare me,“ she repeated with a shake of her head.

Spike pulled his car up in front of the new Sunnydale High. All three occupants looked at the edifice with combined awe and worry. Spike heard his mate gulp and he rubbed her leg to comfort her.

“I’m gonna take her to class, have a look around,” she finally said, reaching to open the door handle.

Spike leaned over and claimed her lips in a searing kiss. “I’ll be here, luv.“

“Ewww! Get a room! God, we so need a car with four doors. I’m trapped in the love mobile,“ observed Dawn. “When you buy me my car for Christmas, it needs four doors.”

Buffy broke off from the kiss, arching her eyebrow. “What makes you think that you are getting a car for Christmas?”

“Spike’s loaded, why wouldn’t you get me a car? What? He can be your sugar daddy but I can’t get a car?”

“You frighten me in new and disturbing ways,” retorted Buffy. “Be back soon,” she told her mate, opening the door to the car, letting the frantic teenager out of the back seat.

“Now remember, if you see anything strange or, you know… dead,” started Buffy as they walked into the main entrance of the school, passing various students.

“I got it,” answered Dawn slightly annoyed.

“And stay away from hyena people or any lizardy-type athletes. Or if you see anyone that’s invisible...”

“Hey, Buffy, I think it’s pretty safe to say I’m not going to see anybody that’s invisible.”

“You know, you could still drop out. Only nerds finish high school.”

“You know, I don’t really think it’s fair for you to try and scare me on my first day of high school… ’cause it is so redundant.”

Buffy cringed as they entered the school itself. Standing in the hallway, Buffy’s thoughts turned vocal. “This place is evil.”

“Tough to let ’em go, huh?” came a familiar voice behind her.

Buffy spun around to find herself facing someone she hadn’t seen in such a long time. She couldn’t help but smile. There was also an overwhelming need to hug him.

“Hi…” she started, deciding that the hug probably wasn’t the best way to go in this situation. She so didn’t need her sister’s principal to think she was nuts. Social services was on their case enough.

“I’m Robin Wood, new principal,” he said as he held out his hand to her to shake.

With a smile, Buffy grabbed his hand eagerly and shook. It wasn’t a hug but it was something.

“Oh, Buffy Summers. This is Dawn,” she introduced.

“Nice to meet you,” said the principal pleasantly.

“Hi,” greeted Dawn.

“So you’re the new principal. You are just how I expected you to look actually. You know some people like the principal of their child’s school to be all old and crotchety, but I like that spry young look you’ve got to you. Probably makes the kids think you can relate to them. That’s good.” Oh God I’ve slipped into the old lady babble talk! she thought with a mental cringe. At least I didn’t mention my teeth.

The principal laughed. “You seem a bit young to have such a grown-up daughter.”

“Thanks,“ came Buffy’s first response. He thinks I look young...Oh wait I am young. Twenty two, you are supposed to be twenty two! “No!” she quickly back peddled. “Uh, no. Sister.”

“Oh, right. Of course.”

“I actually have heard of you, Miss Summers. You graduated from the old high school, am I right?” asked Wood.

“Yeah. Read my file did you?”

“Well, I better get back to work. Got to start deadening young minds. It’s really nice to meet you,” he said avoiding Buffy’s question. “You have fun,” he noted to Dawn as he walked off.

Buffy watched Wood as the man walked off with purpose.

“I babbled, I drove him away...“ she pouted.

“Yes, yes you did. Your old lady tendencies made the creepy principal leave, go you. Bye!” said Dawn heading off down the hall.

“Oh, Dawn...” called Buffy after her retreating sister.

Dawn turned around, walking backwards as she answered her sister. “I know! You never know what’s coming, the stake is not the power, ‘To Serve Man’ is a cookbook. I love you. Go away!”

With a sigh, Buffy turned back down the hall towards the entrance. She just hoped that Dawn would be ok on her first day at the school that sat on the entrance to hell. Buffy stopped her trek down the hallway and stepped into the bathroom for a moment. She remembered doing this before, the last time. She inspected her hair in the mirror for a moment, before her gaze fell on a strange object on the counter.

Oh ya...

Buffy pushed the bone like thing to the ground, raised her foot and ground the object into the floor. Well, at least that was taken care of.
__________________________________________
“Bit get to class ok?” asked Spike, as Buffy slid in beside him cuddling up in the privacy of the Desoto, it’s darkened windows keeping prying eyes away.

“Yep, she was very teenage about it,” noted Buffy.

“She told you to go away didn’t she?”

“You know it.”
__________________________________________
Buffy strode back into the school, her heart a flutter. She hadn’t heard a thing from Dawn all day and was hoping that that meant she was alive and well. They had agreed that Dawn would meet them outside the school after the final bell had rung, but she just couldn’t wait anymore.

“Miss Summers, back again?“ asked Principal Wood, walking up behind her.

“Here to pick up Dawn,“ supplied Buffy. “Nothing horrible happened today right?“

He laughed. “Not that I’m aware of. Dawn didn’t even get sent to the office. You know, I’ve read your file, the school board recommended it. It’s… quite a page-turner. Kind of a checkered past...”

“More like a plaid. Kind of a clan tartan of badness, really. But there were factors...”

“Well, it’s clear your sister looks up to you, which I think is great...”

“Thanks, I think. She‘s her own little bundle of energy. For the longest time I wondered why the hell she was that annoying, but then I just had to realise that her father is like that too. And I‘m babbling again aren‘t I?” she asked with a sheepish smile.

“Little bit.”

“Right.“

“What surprises me, Miss Summers is that you are a college student, and yet raising your sister into a bright young lady. From your file I would have never guessed you had become so responsible.“

“Oh I’m just responso-gal. It comes with the job.“

“And what job would that be?“ he asked.

“Oh the same one your mother had,“ she deadpanned.

He looked back at her with shock and it was her turn to smile.

“See I do my research too, Mr. Wood. You’ll find me full of surprises. Also you might want to remove those nick knacks of yours from that cabinet in your office. Pointy things over the Hellmouth, never good.“

Buffy turned to see Dawn walking up to them.

“You couldn’t wait in the car could you?“ asked the teen.

“Now why would I do that when I could have a fabulous moment with your delightful principal Dawn?“ answered Buffy.

“You are determined to make me the most uncool kid at school, aren’t you?“ whined Dawn.

“Well I was here to tell you that Spike is going to give you your first driving lesson, but if that is the way you feel about it, I could make Tuna Noodle casserole for dinner.“

Dawn had disgusting look on her face. “I’ll drive, I’ll be attentive driving student. You seriously can’t dangle driving lessons in front of me and yank it back with Tuna Noodle casserole. Even Spike doesn’t like that crap.“

“Spike?” asked Principal Wood.

“Oh, he’s Buffy’s fiancé,” supplied Dawn.

“Congratulations,” Wood added, his confused face becoming even more apparent as he pondered her earlier statement. “When you said you have the same job as my mother did...”

“Slayer,” interrupted Buffy. “Your mother was Niki Wood, Slayer, killed in 1977 by...”

“William the Bloody,” interrupted Wood.

“I was going to say we shouldn’t go there, but there you went.”

“No, way!” gasped Dawn. “Does he know? That, you know...well wow.” The teenager was left with an awed expression, her mind trying to process everything.

“Dawn, babbling,” said Buffy.

“Right, no more babbling. Can we please go? I don’t want the whole nostalgia thing to get in the way of my driving lesson. If you stake my instructor, I’m so not going to ever learn how to drive. Buffy is terrible at it.”

“Huh?” asked a confused Wood.

“Right, lets go,” said Buffy turning. “I know it’s sudden to have all this info piled on you, but once it filters through, if you could not go all vendetta on him that would be great,” she said with a smile. “I protect what’s mine. They’d never find your body.”
__________________________________________
tbc...





You must login (register) to review.