Aftermath and College
by Bwriter
chapter three
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Chapter three
Tom awoke and had no clue where he was. Jumping out of bed, he took a look around.
Noticing the pictures of Buffy and Joyce on the walls, it all came back to him and he exhaled before opening his door and going over to Buffy's room.
Her door was open and her bed was empty. Forcing himself not to panic he made his way downstairs and into the kitchen, where he could hear Buffy talking with her mother.
"Morning T."
"Hey. Coffee?"
Joyce poured him a cup and he glanced at the clock.
"Jesus why didn't you wake me?"
It was 11.30am and the gang was arriving at 12. He wanted to look nice when her friends arrived. He was kind of nervous about meeting them.
"God you sound like a girl. It only takes you fifteen minutes to get showered and ready. I was going to wake you in a minute."
Tom smirked at her and gulped down the hot coffee before running back upstairs to get ready.
Buffy smiled at his retreating back.
"Are you two dating?"
Buffy's head whipped around to face her mother.
"NO! God no, why... I'm gay mom!"
"Buffy dating one girl doesn't make you gay."
Buffy's eyes turned stormy.
"Leave her out of this. I did what you wanted and we broke up. You may have convinced me that I was being unfair to her by making her wait for me to come home, but I'm home now and if she still wants me, then by God I'm getting her back."
Joyce never responded. She had never seen Buffy that commanding, well not when it was directed at her anyway.
They sat in silence and drank their coffees. Buffy was never so glad to hear the door bell.
"Hey Giles."
"Hello Buffy. Are they here yet?"
"No, we still have ten minutes. What reason did you give them, and do they know I'm with you?"
"I told them I had some news and no, they have no idea that you are here."
Buffy motioned for him to follow her into the living room.
"How are things with your mother?"
Buffy sat down and put her head in her hands.
"That good eh?"
She raised her eyes to Giles before they widened.
"Their early!" She could here them from the pavement.
Tom came walking down the stairs at the same time the front door bell went.
"You want me to get that?"
Buffy nodded her head yes and stood up.
Tom opened the door as Giles moved to stand by Buffy.
"Relax."
She smiled up at him gratefully and face the front door.
"Hello, you must be the Scoobies. Come in."
Tom led the five into the living room where Buffy was.
Two of the five stopped walking, Faith, who knew what was going on, carried on in and sat down on the couch.
"Hey B."
That snapped Xander out of the daze he was in.
"Buffy, holy cow, when did you get back?"
He came over and gave her a hug, which was returned.
"Last night. Got here late."
Buffy let go of him and looked over to the two people she didn't know.
"This is Anya. My Girlfriend. And this is Kim-" Xander broke off as he turned to stare at Willow.
Buffy followed his gaze and finally let her eyes rest on her lover. 'can I still call her that?'
"Hey Will."
Tom had to look at Buffy to make sure she was okay. He had never heard her voice that soft. His gaze swung over to Willow.
Willow's mouth opened and closed a few times. Her gaze went from Tom to Buffy and back again and she moved closer to Kim who placed an arm around her shoulder.
Buffy saw the move and tried not to show her hurt. She took a minute to size up this Kim person.
She was tall, with brown hair and green eyes. The more Buffy looked at her, the more she reminded her of Cordy.
"Pleasure to meet you." Buffy turned her attention to Anya and offered her hand.
Anya took it and said her hello to Buffy.
She had stalled long enough. Buffy's gaze rested on Kim, who it seemed was now with Willow.
"Hello."
Buffy's gaze travelled from Kim to Willow, waiting for someone to introduce the new girl properly.
"This is Kim, she's Willow's orgasm buddy."
Buffy's gaze shot to Anya and her mouth dropped open at her bluntness. Then the words she had said registered with Buffy and she lowered her head a fraction.
It seemed Willow had indeed moved on.
"An, remember when we talked about blurting things out without thinking?"
Anya merely rolled her eyes and sat down.
Tom moved closer to Buffy, as did Giles.
"Nice to meet you Buffy." Kim stuck out her hand for Buffy to shake, and for more than a second, Buffy seriously thought about ripping it off her body.
"Same." Buffy shook her hand and didn't feel the least bit guilty that she applied force.
Everyone in the room who knew Buffy, knew that she was lying, including Willow, but no-one called her on it.
"Your back then."
Buffy's eyes locked onto Willow's.
"Yeah. It's been a while huh?"
"Two years to be precise."
Buffy flinched at the coldness in Willow's voice.
"Seemed longer." Buffy murmured, but everyone heard it.
Tom cleared his throat and Buffy realised that the gang didn't know who he was yet.
"Guys this is Tom. He's one of my bodyguards, well mine and Faith's now-"
"Sorry Faith, but I'm Buffy's only. Mike and Jonny will cover you."
Buffy rolled her eyes at him before noticing the looks on her friends faces.
"I know what your thinking. She's the Slayer, why does she need a bodyguard? Well truth is, it's complicated and I would much rather Giles told the story, but at the minute, I really need to pee."
Buffy left the room and nearly every eye followed her retreat.
Once she was in the bathroom alone, the tears she had been holding in fell. Buffy buried her head in a towel to block out the sound of her crying, not wanting anyone to hear.
Back down in the living room everyone was looking at Giles expectantly.
"Giles?"
He looked over to Xander and gave him a friendly smile.
"I really have missed you three."
Faith, Willow and Xander all moved forward to give him a hug.
"We both missed you." Giles met Willow's eyes as he spoke but she looked away.
"Why don't we all sit."
Each person found a place either on the floor or on a seat. Only Tom remained standing.
Joyce walked into the room at the same time as Buffy returned. Neither would look at the other.
Buffy had washed her face clean of tear tracks.
"He start yet?" The question was asked to Tom.
"No, just saying hello to old friends. Think he's going to now though."
Buffy made her way over and plonked herself down between Anya and Faith. She saw how Willow and Kim were cuddled together on the floor and moved her eyes to stare at Giles, waiting for him to begin.
"I won't tell you everything, there is simply too much to get through so why don't you ask me what you want to know."
"Why does Buffy have a bodyguard? You beginning to slack on the work there Buff?" Xander received a slap on the arm from the girl in question but Tom took things a little more seriously.
"She is not slacking off." His tone made it quite clear that Xander should stop talking about things he knew nothing about.
"Relax T. He was just kidding." Buffy didn't want anyone to not get along.
Tom relaxed his stance and leaned against the wall.
Xander looked from Buffy to Tom, happy that the tall beefy guy wasn't planning on hurting him.
"She has bodyguards because she is the Slayer Xander. All Slayer's before her should have had them but all that come after her will have them, maybe not the same ones, but they will be guarded none the less."
"Why?" This time the question came from Faith.
Giles looked to Tom, and after getting a nod he moved his gaze to Buffy who also nodded her head, then he continued:
"The first Slayer was created a millennia ago by men who believed they knew more than they did. The power of the Slayer comes from a demon. The power that runs through both Buffy and Faith comes from darkness, yet it is used for good. It wasn't common knowledge until we had been in London for a month or so. They had been putting Buffy through a training exercise when she, well the best term would be cracked up-"
Tom moved over and sat on the floor at Buffy's feet.
"-The council discovered that the power that runs through the Slayer, cannot be contained indefinitely. It needs a release every now and then. Previous Slayer's who have been believed to have gone rouge, have suffered from the power of the demon. If they survive long enough, they get restless.
A diary was found that had been written in 1912, by a French Slayer. In it she wrote:
"it grows every day, I cannot control it. I feel like I am losing my mind. My watcher is of no help and to be truthful I feel he is afraid of me. I heard him speaking with another man about the selection of another, but I know of only one way that can happen. I need this madness to end before it consumes me."
She was later found dead by her watcher, she had killed herself.
During our stay in London, Buffy had bursts of power, unlike anything I had ever seen from her. The bodyguards are more for our safety that her own."
Everyone sat there looking stunned before the gaze shifted to Buffy.
"What about me?"
Giles' gaze went to Faith.
"I have never seen the same from you, as I have Buffy, but I'm sure that it is there, lurking beneath the surface. All the Slayer's who showed the symptoms had been so for over five years, you were only called three years ago. If you agree, you will travel to England, just as Buffy did, where you can learn to live with the power inside and discover things about yourself that you never knew you could do."
Faith never responded.
Buffy rested a hand on hers for a second before removing it and catching Willow's eye, however Willow looked away.
"So Tom is here to do what exactly?"
"I'm here first and foremost to protect Buffy. If not from herself, then from outside forces that might hurt her in any way, shape or form."
The last was said with a glance at Willow that Buffy caught.
"T. Don't." The last word was nearly a growl and he heeded her warning.
"How come the council didn't know all this before, about the Slayer's I mean?" It was the first time Willow had spoken in front of Buffy, and Buffy could do nothing but soak in the sound of her voice after so long.
It was the same voice that had told her it loved her on more than one occasion, the same voice that she had made scream in pleasure and the same voice she had made weak with tears, when she broke her own heart and Willow's on the advice of her mother.
"It seemed that some of them did know, but it was less bothersome for the council to just kill the Slayer and activate a new one than to try and help."
"What changed?" This came from Kim, and Buffy again averted her eyes to look at Tom.
"Well, once Buffy heard about that, she decided to do what no Slayer had done before. She took on the council and won. She told them that in no uncertain terms were they killing another Slayer. She claimed her place as leader, well joint at least with Faith, and the council could do nothing but agree. Those that disagreed were persuaded by the Elders to change their views."
Xander looked at Buffy with pride in his eyes and reached around Anya to give her another hug.
Willow, Giles noted, looked like she wanted to do the same thing though she never moved.
"So B, did you bring us presents?"
Buffy could tell that Faith wanted a change of subject and smiled at her before getting up.
"Yeah I did. Sorry but I only got Xand, Faith, Will and Angel, who isn't here. I didn't know about the knew recruits."
The was an apology to Anya for no present and a look sent to Faith that she should have been told about Kim in that one sentence.
Buffy left to go get the gangs gifts and heard Anya muttering about not getting a present.
When she got back she found that no-one had moved.
She handed Xander his gift first, then gave Faith hers before looking towards Willow.
"I don't know if you are going to like them or not."
Buffy handed Willow her gift, making sure her fingers brushed the redheads.
Willow pulled her hand back as if she had gotten burnt and Buffy backed away.
Xander had tore the wrapping off his gift already, as had Faith.
"Hey thanks."
Xander put on his over sized hat with the Union Jack embroidered or the front as Faith held up the silver cross.
"Thanks B."
Buffy smiled and looked over at Willow to see if she liked her gift.
Before Willow could comment on the gift, the front door opened and a body came rushing in, covered in a smoking blanket.
Buffy stood up and tore off the blanket to reveal Angel. She gave him a quick hug before stepping back and sitting down.
"Glad you could make it."
Angel smiled at her before leaning against a wall in the shaded part of the room.
"Very nearly didn't."
He took a quick look at everyone present, and he eyes rested on Willow.
"Hey, where did you get the claddagh ring?"
Buffy was about to stop him saying anything more, but then she stopped. She wanted Willow to know what the ring meant, to know that Buffy still loved her.
Willow gave him a funny look.
"My people, before I was changed, they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty and the heart... Well, you know."
Willow's wide eyes turned to Buffy, as did everyone else present.
Looking at Buffy, sitting there looking back at her, Willow had too many emotions going through her. She settled to being angry with the blonde Slayer.
It was Buffy that had left her. Buffy that broke her heart, and now she gives her a ring that symbolises devotion?"
Willow stood up and put the ring back in the box it came in before throwing it at Buffy.
Buffy caught the ring in a closed fist, never letting her eyes leave Willow's angry ones.
"Keep it. I don't want it."
Buffy held Willow's gaze for a few seconds before lowering her eyes and placing the ring in her pocket for safe keeping.
Angel's eyes widened before turning stormy.
"Will-"
"Angel, leave it."
The Vampire and the Slayer had a staring contest, which the Slayer won.
Willow pulled Kim up, said goodbye to the gang, and then left the house.
Buffy took a deep breath before lifting Angel's gift out of the bag at her feet.
He took it and opened his slower that Xander or Faith had.
Inside a black box was a necklace. The chain was silver and the pendant was in the shape of a sword.
"Hope you like it."
Angel looked off and gave her a smile before ducking his head and putting the chain around his neck.
Buffy stood up and looked out the window to see Willow and Kim walking past her house.
Tom stood up and placed an arm on her should, which was quickly shoved off.
Tom stepped back and sent a worrying glance to Giles.
Buffy turned and saw the concerned look on his face before offering him small smile, letting him know that she wasn't about to blow a gasket, before leaving the room without a word.
"This is not going to be fun to watch."
The statement came from Xander, and silently, everyone agreed, including Joyce.
tbc