Ficlet: Understandings In Rome

["ebailey140" <ebailey140@xxxxxxx>]

Title:  Understandings In Rome
Writer:  E
Rating:  Still PG-13, but for how long?
Disclaimer:  They STILL won't let me own these characters!  The 
nerve!  They're owned by Mutant Enemy, Fox, yadda yadda yadda.
Spoilers:  The usual, anything Buffy or Angel up to now.
Summary:  Continuing the Rome series, from Conversation In Rome, 
Complications In Rome, and Phone Conversation In Rome.  Willow's 
visit with Buffy and Dawn has been surprise after surprise.  First 
surprise was Dawn trying to set her up with her sister.  Second was 
learning that Buffy had had a romantic relationship with fellow 
Slayer Faith.  Third was learning that everyone around them except 
her and Angel not only knew about it, but knew how Buffy and Willow 
felt about each other since they had met.  And now, Buffy has 
another visitor...  


Buffy:  Whistler?

Whistler:  Hey, Slayer.  How's Rome treatin' ya?

Buffy:  Good.  So, what brings you to Rome?  Just doing the tourist 
thing, or is this a business call?

Whistler:  Both.  I'm here on business, but I always like to check 
the sites when I'm in town.

Buffy:  Good for you.  So, what do the Powers That Be want THIS 
time?  What new apocalypse is on the horizon to ruin my week?

Whistler:  Hey, it isn't all about apocalypses.  The front office 
thought you wanted some answers, so here I am.

Buffy:  Ah.  Well, THAT'S different.  It's usually some cryptic 
rumblings and leaving me without a map.

Whistler:  Yeah, well, those are the rules.  Not that you ever payed 
attention to the rules.

Buffy:  And I'm not about to start.  

Whistler:  Good to hear.  It's nice to know that some things are 
constant in this world.  

Buffy:  You know, I'd get things done more efficiently if I could 
get some straight answers from you guys for once.

Whistler:  Well, today's your lucky day, because that's what I'm 
here to give ya.  So, ask away.

Buffy:  Huh?

Whistler:  What you've been wanting to know for the last three years.

Buffy:  Oh.  (pause)  OK...  Why am I here?

Whistler:  You like Italy?

Buffy:  No.  Well, yeah, I love it.  But that's not what I'm 
asking...  which, of course, you're well aware.  Why am I alive?

Whistler:  Why do you THINK you're alive?

Buffy:  Sigh...  The only answer Giles could give me was I had a 
calling...

Whistler:  Good answer.

Buffy:  But...  EVERY Slayer has a calling.  They normally don't 
return from the grave for it.

Whistler:  Yeah, usually they're replaced...  Or, they used to be, 
at any rate.  You and your girlfriend changed that.

Buffy:  Yeah...  (smile)  Did your bosses plan THAT one?

Whistler:  (smiling)  Nah.  They didn't see THAT coming.  You're 
always doin' that to 'em.  Drives 'em crazy.  Now, they got who 
knows HOW many active Slayers in the world.  Made things chaotic 
back at the office.  And then there's having two vampires with a 
soul, now, throwin' off all their plans...  Which, naturally, you're 
responsible for.

Buffy:  Just pointed him in the right direction.  He chose to take 
it.

Whistler:  Yeah, that he did.  But he wouldn't have done it if it 
weren't for you.  I mean, really, a vampire seeking OUT his soul?  
Fighting for it?  Takes one hell of a woman to get people to do the 
impossible.

Buffy:  So, that's what me being back was about?

Whistler:  I TOLD ya, they didn't see that coming.  

Buffy:  Then, what WAS it?

Whistler:  Well, you saw what was goin' on when you dug yourself out 
of the grave.  There was nothin' to stop the bad guys on the 
Hellmouth.  The active Slayer was in the cooler, so you were needed, 
still.  So, they intervened.

Buffy:  Put the idea into Willow's head?  Helped her do it?

Whistler:  Well, she had the idea, herself...  Couldn't let you go.  
The Powers made sure she was able to pull it off, just like they did 
when Angel lost his soul.  

Buffy:  (pause)  Even then.  Do you know how much that ended up 
costing her?  

Whistler:  Yeah...  Everything has it's price.  But, that was 
something she had to go through, to get where she is, now.  Heroes 
always have to go through trials, confront their own darkness, to 
get where they need to go.  

Buffy:  People died!

Whistler:  Yeah, but maybe it's the fact that while I work to 
maintain the balance between Good and Evil, I'm still a demon, so 
I'm not too broken up about a couple of guys who really did have it 
coming.  You and your friends made sure no one else got killed.  
That counts for a lot.  And there were other forces at work, there.  
It turned out the Powers That Be weren't the only major players 
interested in you two.  The head of the opposition had her own ideas 
in mind.

Buffy:  The First.

Whistler:  Right the first time.

Buffy:  And me being alive made it possible for the First to act.  I 
disrupted the Slayer line.

Whistler:  Yeah, but if you'd hadn't come back that night, the 
Master would have opened the Hellmouth and destroyed the world.  
And, assuming that didn't work out, Acathla would have done it.  
Then, there were those two OTHER times the Hellmouth was nearly 
opened, not to mention the Assension...

Buffy:  Yeah, yeah, you don't need to list my accomplishments.  So, 
was this another case of a price being payed?  The First getting 
it's opportunity?

Whistler:  Everything's give and take.  She saw her chance.  

Buffy:  You keep referring to the First as a "she".  Don't think the 
First has a gender.

Whistler:  Well, that's how the First started thinking of itself.  
Because of the Slayers.  That's where you get your power from.  
That's why you throwing the line off gave her the opportunity to 
act.  

Buffy:  So, when those witch doctor guys put that demon power into 
the first Slayer, they were REALLY into using evil to fight evil...  
So, it tried to kill the entire Slayer line.

Whistler:  She didn't intend to kill you.  Her people were under 
orders NOT to kill you.  

Buffy:  Yeah, I kind of figured that when that ubervamp didn't go 
after me but kept going after the others.  But why did the First 
want me alive?

Whistler:  She wanted to be physical.  You were an anomoly when you 
came back the first time.  So, she figured she'd eliminate all the 
others carrying her power, leaving only you.  Then, she wanted to 
get intimate with you, in a very long term binding way.  But, you 
and your girlfriend did the spell that REALLY kept her power from 
being centered.  

Buffy:  "Girlfriend"...  I wish...

Whistler:  You two have been attached since you met.  

Buffy:  Yeah, but...  It's never gone the way I'd like it to.

Whistler:  Heh...  Look at you.  Taken on everything the world's 
thrown at her, and won.  Stopped the apocalypse several times over.  
And you're afraid of THIS.  

Buffy:  I'm not afraid!  It's just...

Whistler:  You loved her from the moment you met...  Do you remember 
what you told her that first night at that club you used to go to?

Buffy:  (pause)  Seize the moment.  

Whistler:  Mm hmm.  Good advice.  

Buffy:  Yeah...  (pauses)  Yeah, it is.  

Whistler:  So, did I come through with the answers?

Buffy:  Yeah...  Yeah, you did.  Thank you.

Whistler:  Any time.



"It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
"I kinda love you."
Buffy & Willow, 'Choices'

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