No Matter What
by Kevin
Part three
[reviews]
TITLE: No Matter What
AUTHOR: Kevin
DISCLAIMER: All original characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I own Joy and Anne.
SUMMARY: Buffy didn't return to Sunnydale after running away to LA.
DISTRIBUTION: I Kind of Love You.
Part 3
Nobody moved or spoke after Buffy's announcement. "Uh, guys" said Buffy. This seemed to break the hold on everybody. Giles turned away and finding the near chair sat down and started furiously cleaning his glasses. 'No change there' thought Buffy. Her Mom looked even paler than a vamp as she sat down. Xander just stood, not moving, trying to take in this new revelation on top of the fact that Buffy was back was proving to be too much for him. Willow just squeaked and darkened her look as she glared at her friend. 'Major explanations needed there' went through Buffy's mind as she carried on looking at each person in turn. Buffy had never met Anya so she flicked right passed her, not knowing of her tendency to just say whatever she thought at the time. For once though Anya just stood quietly, she knew that this was something big which didn't warrant her remarks right now.
Dawn was the only one who moved forward, though not at her usual breakneck speed. Moving slowly she approached the pair by the door and going down on her knees then sitting back on her heels she slowly put her hand out towards the little girl next to her sister. "Hi. I'm your Auntie Dawn" she said quietly not wanting to scare the girl. Slowly the little girl turned her head and looked up at her Mom. Dawn followed the movement with her eyes to meet Buffy's which looked as if she was going to start crying any minute. Dawn said nothing, just giving Buffy a look which said 'What happened'. All Buffy could do was mouth 'Later' back. Dawn slowly slid backward, still on her knees until she was far enough away to stand up without frightening her niece. Moving to a vacant chair she joined everybody who by now had sat down, even Xander. By now Giles had stopped cleaning his glasses and put them back on, moving to one side he pulled out another chair and motioned Buffy to sit down.
Looking down at Joy, Buffy moved forward. Her progress was stopped when the little girl moved in front of her and held up her arms. Buffy bent down and gently picked her up, the little girl then threw her arms around Buffy's neck and hid her face in Buffy's shoulder. As she moved towards the chair the back door of the shop burst open.
"Sorry guys, got he...". Faith stopped talking, stopped everything as she felt the overwhelming feeling she was getting from Buffy. 'She's the same as me' thought Faith. Buffy had felt the presence of Anya as she'd entered, but dismissed it as it was a very low aura of what had once been a demon. Which kind, she hadn't been able to tell, but if it was here in the shop with the others it was probably friendly. When Faith entered though she stopped moving as her senses went into overdrive. 'She's the same as me' was all that Buffy could think.
Briefly they looked at each other, each knowing what thought was going through the other's head. Even Joy had looked up as she felt her mother tense up. Breaking eye contact, Buffy started moving again towards the chair by Giles. With no other empty chairs at the table Faith sat down on the top step by the door and just watched and decided like Anya had that this was to important to them for one of her offbeat comments. Buffy sat down still keeping Joy held to her. Apart from the unfinished sentence from Faith nobody else had said anything since her bombshell announcement.
Pushing her chair backwards so she had everybody in her field of vision Buffy took a deep breath and started to talk. "So, I'm guess..." was all she got out before everybody started talking at once, or in Joyce and Willow's case, shouting. 'It's a good job Joy isn't a slayer' thought Buffy as the little girls arms tightened even more around her neck, 'Otherwise I'd have a broken neck about now'. Not being able to understand anything that was being said by all the people round her she waited for it to calm down a bit. Seeing that wasn't going to happen she just said "Guys please". As suddenly as it had started the jumble of voices stopped and everybody just looked at her.
Dropping her eyes she quietly said "Thank you". This time it remained quiet. Lifting them back up so she could see everyone she started again. "So, I'm guessing major big explanations are required here". This time it remained quiet as she just got nods from everyone.
TBC (I'll probably do small bits for now as real life is in the way).