“Buffy?” the voice sounded like it was a million miles away, but it was enough to rouse the Slayer from her thoughts. Buffy turned to face the girl who had spoken, her green eyes blank as if she didn’t recognize the person standing next to her.
“What?” she asked her eyelids fluttered for a moment as her mind centered back in on reality.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You looked all oogie.”
Buffy smiled at the last statement. Tara was the only adult she knew, other than Willow, who would use the word “oogie”. She had to admit; she was definitely feeling rather oogie at the moment. For years, other than the occasional vamp or demon, her life had been so peaceful, board line normal even, and now everything was crashing down around her—vampires, new slayer, Spike. Spike—he was on her mind far too often. Her mind was made up, and her obsession with thinking about the vampire only proved her point. She should be concentrating on the band of vampires looking to kill her not the blond vamp sitting just across the room with Joyce perched happily on his lap while he was deeply engrossed in a conversation with the girl’s father. The vamp that once this latest threat was over would be leaving her again, just like the rest.
“Buffy?” Tara asked again placing her hand lightly on the girl’s shoulder. “Earth to Buffy.”
“Sorry,” Buffy smiled weakly. “Just a little worried, I guess, with all that’s going on.”
“Well, that’s understandable,” Tara smiled encouragingly. “What with the new slayer and all.”
“Yeah,” she answered, at least she had one friend who didn’t think her life revolved around Spike. “I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but what is the Council thinking? This is the Hellmouth, not slayer training camp!”
“Well, the Council never did seem to major in logic,” Tara agreed pulling over a chair and taking a seat next to the Slayer, “but maybe she won’t be that bad. She is a slayer after all.”
“Yeah, a fifteen year old slayer with no training and hormones in full gear!” Buffy rolled her eyes at the thought.
“Well, you did make it through Dawn’s dating years,” Tara laughed.
“With my sanity barely in tact!” she agreed with a laugh. “I really have enough on my mind without having to worry about without having to worry about watching over some manic teenager.”
“Well, you’ll have Spike there to help you,” Tara reminded her.
Buffy sighed in irritation. It seemed impossible to have a conversation that didn’t pertain to Spike in some shape or form lately! “Yeah, for as long as that lasts,” she said under her breath.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t leave you when you need him,” Tara assured her.
Buffy couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Apparently, Tara wasn’t as observant as she thought. Of course, he would leave when she needed him most. Men leaving when she needed them had become a tradition in Buffy Summers’ life. “I wouldn’t bet my life on it,” Buffy sighed.
“Oh, Buffy, you know that’s not true,” Tara protested. “He cares about you too much to let anything happen to you…”
“Yeah, they all care too much to let anything happen to me,” Buffy replied softly, intently studying her shoes. “They just never care enough to stick around.”
“What?” Tara asked. “Is that why you’re so upset lately? I’m sure…”
“Tara, please,” the Slayer lifted her eyes blinking rapidly. The tears were threatening to spill over, but the last thing she could allow herself to do was cry, not with the Scoobies and Spike sitting just across the room. “It’s not important.”
“But it is important! If you…”
“Tara, I…”
The tinny ring of the bell above the door cut Buffy’s reply short. Never had she been so thankful for an interruption. She leapt from the chair and crossed the room to meet the Watcher at the door leaving Tara to stare at her back her with a concerned look on her face.
Giles hand flew to his chest as he nearly ran into Buffy standing just inside the door. “Buffy, you really must stop lurking in doorway,” he scolded her.
“Sorry, Giles, just anxious to meet the new Slayer,” she forced a smile to her lips and peaked over his shoulder at the small red head lingering on the threshold, “which must be you.”
“Um, yes,” Giles replied eyeing the girl before him suspiciously. Surely, she and Spike weren’t bickering again. “This is Leah,” he added ushering the girl into the room.
“Leah, huh?” Xander began looking up from his tête-à-tête with Spike to eye the girl appreciatively only to be elbowed sharply by his wife.
“Yeah, Leah,” the new arrival answered sharply returning Xander’s look with a very annoyed look of her own, “and before you ask, no I do not have a twin brother, and no I have not seen Darth lately.”
“I wasn’t going to ask that,” Xander answered a blush rising on his cheeks as Spike raised an eyebrow mockingly. “What? I wasn’t!”
“You’ll have to forgive, Xander,” Anya jumped in. “Sometimes he forgets he’s not a sex starved teenager anymore.”
“What? I wasn’t…I mean…” Xander stuttered.
“Give it up,” Spike handed Joyce to her father as he stood up and faced the new Slayer. The appreciative look he gave the girl made Buffy’s skin crawl. It vaguely reminded her of the look he had given her when they had first met. What was he doing looking at her like that? Not that it bothered her though! “So, you’re the new Slayer.”
“I think we already established that fact,” Leah reminded him not even flinching under his intense scrutiny. From Buffy’s view point it appeared she was actually rather enjoying it! “And you are?”
“And I thought my reputation proceeded me!” Spike’s lips curled into that wicked little grin of his.
“You must be Spike,” the girl returned the grin. “My Watcher told me about you. The vampire with a chip who helps the Slayer.”
“See, I knew I hadn’t lost my popularity,” Spike answered playfully.
“Um yes,” Giles interrupted as he vigorously scrubbed his glasses with his handkerchief. He was becoming quite certain that he was going to wear a hole through the lens before this situation came to closure! “If we could finish with the introductions, Buffy and Leah really should commence with training, and the rest of us have research to do.”
“Oh joy,” Xander sighed. “More reading. You’d think we would have managed to have read every book in this place.”
“Poor Xander,” Willow teased, “too much reading makes brain go boom!”
“Funny, Will…”
“Actually, Giles,” Buffy jumped in, “I thought we could put off the training until tomorrow night. I mean, I’m sure Leah’s tired from her flight, and I really should patrol…”
“We really should begin training immediately…”
“That’s fine,” Spike told the Watcher his gaze locking with Buffy’s momentarily then quickly returning to the young Slayer before him. “I’ll start Leah’s training while Buffy goes out. That is if the lady doesn’t mind.”
“I couldn’t think of anything I would enjoy more,” Leah answered. “I’m sure we can get along just fine without Buffy.”
Buffy threw a glare at the retreating girl’s back as she followed the vampire to the training room. “God, obvious much?” Buffy hissed as the door closed behind the two.
“What do you mean?” Willow asked quickly becoming confused.
“It’s like we have Faith, Jr. on our hands,” Buffy complained, “and of course Spike is more than happy to encourage it!”
“What you mean, Buff?” Xander asked feeling just as confused as Willow. “He’s just being his usual irritating self.”
“Irritating, he was being a letch!”
“I think someone is jealous,” Anya added happily.
“I am not jealous,” Buffy told the ex-demon sharply.
“Then why is it bothering you so much?” Tara asked still sitting in the chair next to Buffy’s now empty one.
“It doesn’t,” she snapped as she headed towards the training room.
“So where are you going?” Xander asked.
“No where!” Buffy tossed over her shoulder as the door slammed shut behind her.
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