One Last Shot
by Whedonist
Chapter 15
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Chapter 15
"Wills you home?"
Buffy went in to the kitchen and saw the note on the fridge.
Buff,
Went to get a few things. Be back by 6 at the latest. What do you want to do for dinner?
Willow
Damn. This is unbelievable. Suspended. I don't get it. He insults me and I get suspended. Jimmy acted like it was no big deal. I don't get in trouble like that. Not anymore at least. What am I going to do about these girls? I have a strong suspicion that who or whatever it is will not stop at two. I need to figure out what's going on. Giles. I can call him and see if anyone's been asking about me or Willow.
Willow. She's just as involved as I am at this point. We'll have to get all researchy. Calling the gang at this point wouldn't be of the bad. Xander and Faith can be here in a few hours and Dawn can get here by tomorrow. Giles? Do I want to see him? Yes. I'll call him to.
Buffy looked around the apartment and realized that it wasn't that big of a place. It had three bedrooms, but one had been converted over to an office. Willow was in the other and the living room wasn't huge.
How am I going to fit everyone in here. That's at least 7 people. Dawn's going to probably bring Ken and I don't know if Giles is seeing anyone. Maybe they should just stay at a hotel. No, not if we need to make someplace Scooby central. I need everyone here. Eh, Scooby Central. I haven't been around one of those in forever. Guess the slayer's coming out of retirement.
Buffy opened the fridge and grabbed a diet coke. She looked up at the clock and saw that it was quarter to 6. Thinking Willow should be home soon, Buffy turned the TV on and waited. The lock clicked about a half hour later and Willow came through with three bags of stuff.
"Oh, shopping bags. What'd ya get me witch and it better be good. Today's sucked."
"Books, some new clothes and there might be a present in there for you somewhere, but I make no guarantees."
Buffy helped Willow to the dining table and started empting the contents of the bags. Rifling through she didn't see anything that would be construed as a present.
"Wills, there's nothing here."
"I didn't say it was in any of the bags."
Buffy's face lit up and smiled, "So are you saying it might be on your person?"
"Maybe." Willow said backing herself up against the kitchen sink. "You wanna try and find it?"
"Is that a challenge?"
"Depends. It might be a suggestion or just a question."
"Hmmm..." Buffy calmly walked over to the redhead and placed her hands on the taller girl's hips. She pulled Willow to her and said, "Wills don't make me look for it. It will not end well for you. I'm talking violence, adult content, it could get ugly."
"Try me slayer." Willow pushed back and ran for it. Unfortunately she was no where near as fast as Buffy and got tackled from behind in the living room. Buffy flipped her over and straddled the redhead's stomach. The blonde had her hands pinned above her head and Willow noticed the look in Buffy's eyes.
"Wills, prezzies. Hand it over or I get tickly. I know how ticklish you are." Buffy's hands crept up the sides of the other girl. Willow remained silent and shook her head no. "Ok you asked for it."
Buffy began an onslaught of dancing finger's that ended with Willow in tears and in a ball laughing.
Gasping out she conceded. "Back pocket. Back pocket. Your present is in the back pocket."
Buffy flipped the girl over and saw a small square shape. She pulled it out and looked at the box. Willow turned over and gently plucked it from her hands.
"It's...here open it."
Buffy removed the ribbon and opened the package. In side sat a small silver cross. She looked down at her girlfriend.
"I saw it last week. I never see you where one and I think they're good to have. Just in case, ya know? I had it engraved. I just wanted to get you something practical and pretty. It was either this or a sequined gun holster. Somehow I don't think they like cops to be so uh, glittery though."
Buffy pulled the cross out and flipped it over. The inscription was in cursive but easy to make out. "To my slayer, Always, Willow" Buffy smiled down at the girl beneath her. It was a pretty piece of jewelry. In laid in the cross were Celtic designs and the chain it came with was strong with intricate weave detail.
"I love it. Thank you." She leaned down and gently kissed the girl below her. The contact shot a bolt of desire through her. She slipped her tongue in the eager mouth of the redhead and let her hands roam. While making love on the floor was fun, Buffy wanted the bed. She maneuvered herself and picked the girl up with out breaking away from the lip lock. Buffy closed the door of her bedroom with her foot forgetting about the suspension, the dead girls and calling the rest of the gang, she focused solely on the girl in her arms.
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The girls were lying on the bed entwined in post coital snuggles. Buffy was running her fingers through the long locks of her girl while Willow was dozing in and out.
"Wills, you awake?"
"Yeah"
"Uh, some stuff happened at work today."
Shifting to give the blonde all of her attention, Willow urged the girl continue.
"You remember Pete and Nate from last night? Well, we had a meeting with them today and some stuff happened and Jimmy and I got suspended for a few days until it works itself out."
"What? Why did you get in trouble?"
Biting the bullet Buffy recounted the scene in the conference room. "I didn't know what to do. He just said it so casually that it took a moment for my brain to register and then by that time, Jimmy had him pinned to the wall. It just happened way to fast. So Pat, my captain is going to try and smooth things over, but it still takes me off the case for at least a few days. Which is not of the good, 'cuz I don't think that whatever is doing this is going to stop with two ya know?"
Buffy watched the rage fly over Willow's face at the retelling of her day, but just as quickly as the rage became visible it left. Willow's face became serene. Filing that away for later questioning, Buffy continued.
"I was thinking of calling the gang. This is obviously related to Sunnydale and if you and I are involved then I would bet Mr. Pointy on the assumption that the rest of the gang is to."
"Should we start making phone calls?"
"Probably at least do a big conference call to see what they say. Did you dig up anything on either of the two girls?"
"Not really. I called Nekko at the morgue and he was cool enough to send me Jessica Murillo's autopsy report. I haven't really looked it over, but when I skimmed through nothing exceptionally freaky jumped out at me."
"K." Falling back in to a comfortable silence the girls let their minds wander. The buzzing on the intercom brought them out of it.
"Cupcake open up. We need to talk." Jimmy's distinct nickname for Buffy made Willow laugh. Buffy hit the front door button and buzzed her partner through.
"We should get dressed. He's gonna be up here in a minute." Untangling herself from the witch, Buffy got dressed and left Willow to do her thing. By the time she made it to the door, Jimmy was already banging.
"Chill old man. I'm coming. No need to go all S.W.A.T team on me."
She let him in and noticed the beer and pizza in his hand. He looked at her and smiled.
"I figured we would be busy most of the night so I brought dinner."
"Nice. Tell me you got the right topping's this time?"
"Pepperoni and pineapple. I still can't believe you. Has to be the weirdest shit ever."
"But at least it's tasty."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey where's your girl?"
"Getting dressed."
"Oh, I didn't..."
"Just the post sexy cuddles. It's ok"
"Too much information kid. No more sharing please?"
"Deal. Come on sit."
They cleared space on the table and dug into the pizza. They were both on their second slice when Willow came in.
"Hi Jim."
"Heya there Willow. Help yourself."
"Don't mind if I do."
She grabbed a slice of pizza and sat down with the other two.
"Before I left this afternoon, I grabbed our files on Murillo. I started going back over the info we had, but something ain't sitin' right kid. You want to explain to me why these girls are connected to you? What were you involved in at home?"
Buffy weighed the words of her partner. She didn't ever make it a point to talk to him about Sunnydale or her past. She glanced at Willow.
~Wills, he doesn't know. Anything. What should we do?~
~Tell him. I trust him Buff. I don't think he'll freak out too much.~
~Ok~
"Jimmy there's some stuff you don't know about me. It's all kinda hard to believe, but it's all true. If I tell you, this goes no further than this room."
"Ok." Jimmy sat back in his chair.
There were times when he knew the blonde was more savvy than she let on. She was also a lot stronger than she looked. There was one time where they had gotten in to a chase with a suspect and he had given up a half block into the run, but she not only continued, but caught up with the guy in no time. He saw her leap and drop kick him to the ground. When he had questioned her about it later she had said she studied martial arts, but the force of her kick had broke three ribs and fractured the man's spinal chord. He didn't care how much she knew about kicking and shit, there was no way a 105 pound blonde girl could do that kind of damage with out being stronger than she appeared.
Launching in to the base explanation of slayer's and the history of, Buffy recapped the past 10 years of her life as the slayer. Jimmy listened and sat quiet. He didn't interrupt and he didn't show any signs of disbelief.
"...so Sunnydale didn't get swallowed up by an earthquake. It was an amulet and a vampire that did all that damage." Buffy took a pull on her beer and waited for Jimmy to digest.
"So you want me to sit here and believe that whole story. Magic, vampires, and slayers are real? How the hell did you pass your psych eval? Cupcake the least you could do is be honest with me."
"Jimmy if I could show you some magic and then Buffy showed you her strength would you believe us then?"
"Depends, what you want to show me."
Willow allowed the magic to flow through her and created an energy ball between the palms of her hands. Then manipulated the orb and let it float to her girlfriend's partner. Jimmy's eyes went wide as the blue ball of energy floated towards him. He gingerly stretched out a finger and touched it. The mass was solid but malleable. Buffy stood up and went over to the fire place. The trick had worked with her mother once, maybe it would work with him. She first handed the fire poker to him. He looked at it unimpressed.
"Is it solid? Can you bend it?"
Jimmy looked at her like she was nuts and shook his head. Buffy took the poker from him and proceeded to bend it into a pretzel. His eyes got bigger with each twist of the iron. Laying the poker in front of him, she smiled in a fashion she hoped was reassuring.
"You believe me yet?"
"I...you...shit cupcake you're story holds a little more weight, but what about those vampires?"
"If you want to see them, come on." Buffy grabbed her coat and waited for the other two to catch up.
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"So you think the killer is someone from Sunnydale?"
They had got back from the light patrol an hour ago and everyone was throwing around ideas. Jimmy had taken his introduction to unknown creatures in his city well. He had just shook his head and shrugged.
"Maybe, but whoever it is sure knows me and Buff. I just don't get why now?"
"Well there Willow, man I got to come up with a nickname for you, anyhow, you and Buffy haven't really been in contact for awhile. My bet would be that whoever or whatever it is has probably been waiting on this."
"On what?"
"You guys to start talkin' or get together again. Why else would this happen right now?"
"Uh, crappy timing?"
"Cupcake don't be naïve it never looks good on you. Use your brain. When did the first murder happen? The night before you came back to work. Where have the two bodies been found? Near your place. Sure we're a few blocks off, but Buff you can walk to each crime scene in under 30 minutes."
"He's right babe."
Sighing Buffy got up and paced the length of the living room. She knew what Jimmy said made sense, but she wasn't ready for this. She had spent two years trying to forget the previous 8 and had tried to live like a normal person, well as normal as she could. Part of her blamed Willow for coming back because she couldn't help but feel that if the redhead hadn't come to visit this wouldn't be happening. She looked over at her girlfriend and immediately felt guilt. It wasn't Wills fault she knew and she would rather have Willow here than not despite the complications it brought. Besides she really didn't know if it was just timing or if it was premeditated.
"Fine. Let's go with the assumption that the killer, whoever or whatever they are, decided that now was an important time to try and bring me out of slayer retirement. Why not come at me directly? Was there a trigger to set them off? And why do I attract all the weirdo's, I swear it's like I'm the human equivalent of the bat light in Gotham for freaks."
Buffy's accusations were met with a round of heys. Buffy shrugged and smiled embarrassed.
"You know what I mean."
"Buff, I'm thinking we should start making the calls to the rest of the gang."
"Gang?"
"The rest of our family. They're kinda spread out over the globe."
"K, I'll call Dawn and Giles, you call Xander and Faith?"
"Family reunions are so much fun. Hey you two are they anything like either of you?"
"Either of us in what way?"
"Ya know, uh, special?"
"Special? Jimmy you're gonna hafta vaugue that up for me some more."
"What? No, I mean like magical or super strong?"
"Faith's a slayer like me and if my sister's girlfriend comes than yeah she's also a slayer."
"Well then get making those phone calls."
Willow and Buffy moved to mobilize their family and Jimmy cleaned up. By the time they were done. Giles, Dawn and Ken had booked flights that would touch down at JFK in the morning and Faith and Xander were going to drive in. Neither wanting to take the chance with Faith's pregnancy.
"I'm callin' it a night ladies. I'll be by tomorrow. Cupcake, Willow have a good night"
Buffy let her partner out and turned around to a fidgety witch. She walked over and wrapped her girl in a hug.
"Why do I have worried Willow?"
"It's just that things for you were doable until I showed up and then there's death. Like ya know people dying to get our attention and I can't help but feel guilty about it. I'm sorry Buff."
"Hey, what's to be sorry for? Will, I'll be honest and say that there was brief moments of anger and the irrational thought that you coming here brought whatever is doing this, but then what if your arrival came when the things plans happened to be all coincidental. You can't say that and I can't either."
Shaking her head in agreement, Willow held tighter to the blonde.
"Now we've been at this for a while now, how about we slip in to some comfy sleep type clothes and get some sleep. Remember JFK at 11am."
"K, oh, how about we not slip into clothes at all?'
"That's my Wills always thinking of better ways to improve my day."