FF: Rebirth 2/2

["The Fool" <honouredfool@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Rebirth 2/2

Disclaimer: As always Joss et al. own everything and I do not. However I did pick up a pretty neat shirt today.

Feedback: Not having posted in a while I find my body weakening from lack of feedback...help me.

Authour's notes: This was originally going to be parts 2 and three but i got sort of impatient so its all one part. Thanks to Shyfox, beta-reader par excellence. Anyway on with the show...


Chapter Three 
The night he returned to Sunnydale he went straight to Giles' to find the Slayer.

"Buffy."

"Mr. Roberts," she paused. "how's Willow" she asked shyly. Buffy had become very confused over her feelings for Willow recently. It had started with that dream, where Willow came to her bed?The Slayer shook her head, dragging herself back to reality

"She's fine. I left her at the Mansion with Spike looking out for her and I sealed it so no one could get in." Buffy knew this because she had already tried, everyday since the funeral, in fact, to get in.

As if reading her thoughts the old man said to her "But then you knew that didn't you?" The Slayer blushed. "I came because I'm a little bored. I want to hunt with you. I haven't hunted with a slayer in many years and I'd like to do it again." He grinned wolfishly, "I promise I'll do my share." Who was she to say no?

"Alright but be careful."

"We'll see." He smiled that smile again. Buffy inwardly groaned. The last time she had seen that smile it was on Faith. Thinking about Faith brought back all the memories, most of them not pleasant.

"Let's go." 
Two hours later they were at the entrance to the last cemetery on her patrol route. Suddenly Mr. Roberts stopped. "What is it?" Buffy asked him. He motioned her to stop.

"They're here. Lots of them. Probably about twenty." He looked at Buffy, "Do you want to go get backup?" She took this as a challenge.

"No, we'll take them ourselves. What's the plan?"

"Plan, plan, let's see a plan." He paused then turned and smiled. "The plan is we run in there and kill them all before they kill us."

"You sound like Faith." She noticed his smile got a little bigger at that. "Oh god."

"Do you mind a little music?"

"Umm?how?" then she remembered Tara's funeral. "Never mind. Sure." The air roared to life. She looked at the old man, who suddenly didn't look that old. "Are you kidding?" It was a Limp Bizkit song. She didn't know what one though.

"You'll like it once we get started. It sort of distracts them." He ran forward into the cemetery. There were actually more like forty vamps Buffy noted as she reached the battleground. Mr. Roberts didn't even pause. He barreled into them, drawing two very, very vicious knives as he went in. She was about to scream at him to stop when-slash, slash, stab, there were three less vampires to fight. She ran to join the melee. 
"Your nuts you know that?" she yelled at him as she drove Mr. Pointy through two vamps standing a little close together.

"It's entirely possible but I seriously doubt it." He yelled back to her. His knives took the heads off two more vamps as the stake handles flew through the clouds of dust they left behind to kill two more. They fought through the vamps until they were standing side by side moving in a ballet of death, dust, knives and stakes. Buffy round-housed a vamp in the head and jammed Mr. Pointy into its chest. 
"Its all about having fun Buffy. I tired to teach them that, but you know what the British are like, all stodgy and tweed. Your average Watcher today couldn't have fun at a birthday party. With them all you learn is stake and move on, stake and move on." To emphasize his point Buffy slammed Mr. Pointy into first one then another vamp very quickly. 
"I'm having fun, I just think that your idea of fun is different than mine. I can't spend a lot of time on one vamp because there's usually only one of me and I'm not immortal like you."

"Whatever gave you the idea that I was-stake-immortal?"-Slash.

"You mean you're not?"

"Oh no, just long lived. I credit the daily ration of carrot juice. Without it I never would've made it out of the Dark Ages alive."

"Ha ha-stake-we all thought that you couldn't be killed."

"Oh, I can, it's the only way I'll die. That or I'll finally finish my task." With a gracefulness not typical of his age or size Mr. Roberts spun-kicked a vamp in the chest, whacking down at its neck as he body came around. <Is it just me or is he getting bigger?>

Suddenly there were no more vampires. Mr. Roberts looked a little disappointed. Buffy was breathing hard, nursing a few cuts and bruises.

"That was fun." He turned to her grinning.

"God, you're exactly like Faith." She admonished him.

"You're going to have to forgive her some time. We need her."

Buffy's heart ached at the pleading in his eyes. "I-I can't. Not yet. Not after what she did. To my mom, to Wills."

"You love her don't you?" Buffy looked at him, aghast at the implication. Wait, though, the jealousy, the guilt when Tara died?Oh god?maybe she did love Willow. "Go to her. She'll see you now."

***

"Buffy," Spike paused at the door, as if waiting for a signal, "come in. How've you been?"

Buffy couldn't believe it. Here was Spike, her mortal enemy for years, trying to make polite small talk with her. "Alright, what've you done with the real Spike?" she asked accusingly.

"Apparently he disappeared in a flash of magic. New and improved Spike here." Spike winced. "I, I'm sorry Buffy. For all the pain, all the misery."

"Spike shut up. You said that already, and I said I forgave you. Now buck up and be the old Spike I used to know, this mopping around isn't going to get you anywhere, you sound like Angel."

Unnoticed Willow had descended the stairs and now stood a little behind Spike. "Hi Buff."

Buffy's heart did a little leap when she saw her best friend. <What the hell was that? That wasn't a oh goody there's my best friend leap. Stop that.> Buffy commanded her heart as it leapt again as Willow embraced her.

"I've been coming everyday but I couldn't get in." She glared at Spike. "No one would answer the door."

"We kind of told him not to. Not until I was finished." Willow looked a little embarrassed as she said it. "I was talking to Tara, I couldn't have anyone around."

"What?"

"Somehow Owen made the Guardian wait for me before he took Tara to the other side. We had a lot to talk about. Stuff that didn't get said when she was alive. It was very taxing and I couldn't have anyone around." Buffy noticed Will was looking every where but at her.

"Wills, what is it?"

"I, uh, Tara told me something about me that I had tried to sort of forget, and I-" She continued to avoid Buffy's gaze. 
"Wills, what is it?" Buffy was getting nervous.

"Tara told me that the whole time we were together I was in love with someone else. I told her she was wrong, but she was right and we both knew it. She said she knew even before we started going out, and she never resented it." Tears leaped to Willow's eyes. 
"Who Will?" Buffy was afraid she already knew the answer <Xander.> It had always been Xander. Then the red head looked down into her eyes. <Not Xander.> Buffy reached up and wrapped her arms around the red-headed witch's neck, pulling lips to lips, after so long. <I love Willow.> <I LOVE WILLOW!>

"I love you." Two voices in perfect concert.

"It's almost enough to make a grown man cry, eh Spike?" Mr. Roberts had crept in, Unnoticed by anyone, to watch the scene unfold.

"Shut up you." Spike dabbed a tear from his eye.


***

At the same time in Los Angeles a very different scene was unfolding. Faith jerked up from a nightmare. She sat up in bed trembling with residual fear. The trembling got so bad that she woke up her lover. 
"Faith? Faith what is it?" She propped herself up, a worried look on her face.

"I had a nightmare."

"Tell me about it. " Cordelia pulled the younger girl down to her chest, letting Faith bury her head in Cordy's hair. The Slayer continued to tremble.

"The Mayor was there. He said I failed him, that he was going to punish me for it. He-" she burst into tears. "He ate you, and Buffy and Willow, he even ate Dad. Then he told me I would come back to him." Faith continued to cry.

"Shhh, you know that won't happen, you know why don't you?" Faith looked up at her lover. "Because I love you." They answered in unison.

***

I love you. Three words, uttered by four voices at once, and Owen Roberts, once called Conlaa, felt like he had already won. As he stood watching the Slayer and her new found love he sent a thought into the world. <Now Betrayer, we shall see what happens. Take your demons and begin to prepare. We will have our rest now.> 

Chapter Four.


Willow tore her eyes away from those of her newfound love. "Uh Buff?"

"What is it, my love?"

"Was it dark when you got here?"

"No why?"

"Cause it is now." Just then the two lovers noticed voices outside.

"Is that-" Willow started to ask.

"Xander?" Buffy smiled as she finished Willow's sentence. "Let's go see shall we?" They walked hand in hand to the front door and opened it. And were shocked to find Xander, Giles and Joyce standing on the porch stairs, their path to the house blocked by Spike. Xander spoke first.

"Will, would you please tell Billy to let us in? We've been out here for hours."

"What? Oh, right, Spike let them in." Spike stepped out of the way, smiling smugly as the three grumbled by.

"Oh come on now-let's not be angry with old Spike, I was just doing what she told me to." Joyce glared at him. "I called her ten times." He protested weakly.

"Buffy," Joyce turned to her daughter, "what've you been doing? We called and called."

"Mom, before we go any further, I have something to tell you." <Shit, this isn't going to be easy.> "You might want to sit down for this."

"Hon, if this is the part where you tell me you and Willow are madly in love and then I freak out then we can skip it. Giles thought it would be really funny if we all pretended we didn't know and made you stumble all over it," Giles grinned faintly as both Buffy and Willow glared at him, "But that was before I spent four hours on the lawn. I know. We all know. I've known for a long time."

"You-You did?" Buffy stammered. They nodded back.

"We were just waiting for you to figure it out. Even Anya knows. If you hadn't figured it out by tomorrow she was going to point it out to you." All three were smiling self satisfied grins.

"I think even Shelia and Ira figured it out." Giles spoke up.

"Oh god," Willow gasped, "My parents know?"

"Your mother's just glad Buffy's not a musician." Joyce assured her. " I saw her today at the supermarket. They were going to come but the Dean was having a dinner tonight. They said they'd call first thing tomorrow."

Just then Owen walked in. "Yes, the Dean," he nodded sagely, "quite a talker." Willow looked at him quizzically.

"You know the Dean?"

"I was at the dinner yes. I know your parents."

"What?"

"I taught your father." Disbelief was evident on everyone's face. "Oh come on now, you didn't honestly think that all I did was rush around stopping evil did you? A man has to have a hobby. Mine happens to be teaching." He grinned. "Let's go have some dinner to celebrate." As they followed him off Xander whispered to Giles

"Is there anyone of us he doesn't have any connection to?"

"Me, answered Joyce.

"Don't be so sure," Owen called from the front of the line.

Dinner was an occasion best described as "raucous." Buffy and Willow spent most of it staring into each other's eyes, turning away only to eat or when someone absolutely dragged their attention to them. Owen regaled the others with tales from his "misspent youth" among the gods. 
"It was just before the creation of the world and the gods were trying to decide what to put on the earth besides plants and people. I convinced Yahweh that it would be a good idea to make an animal that had fur like a mammal but had poisonous claws and laid eggs. And he went for it! That was the best part. Oh, everyone laughed at him for that one. Even the PTB laughed at him, and they never laughed at anything. He was pissed though, let me tell you. The Goddess Athena had to keep him from trying to turn me into a platypus by distracting him with a game of Go. I think they might still be playing it actually. It dies off every couple of millennia or so."

His audience sat in stunned silence, waiting for more. Finally Xander couldn't stand it.

"You're kidding right?" I mean you didn't really know God did you?

"Oh yes, I knew them all. Liked most of them too."

Poor Joyce didn't know what to do. It was weird enough that her daughter hunted demons at night, or that her lover was a witch. Now she had to deal with the fact that this dear old man played practical jokes on God? It was too much. Finally she had to know something. 
"Owen, how do you know me?" she asked him. He looked a little embarrassed by the question.

"I uh, I um, Well funny story really," he paused and shut his eyes for a moment. Before their very eyes his appearance changed again, into a stooped over old man with an extraordinarily withered face.

"Oh?My?God!" Joyce was beside herself.

"Joyce," Giles grabbed her arm, "what is it?"

"Mr. Finnigan. He told me Sunnydale was a great place to live."

"In my defense I did have to get her here somehow. Something tells me that if I had come up to you on the street, introduced myself as a man older than time and told you that you had to move to Sunnydale so that your only daughter could risk her life nightly to protect the world from vampires you wouldn't have believed me."

"He has a point Mom." Buffy interjected.


Chapter Five.


<How did I live to deserve this?> The Slayer asked herself as she looked down at her lover in the early morning light. <You don't,> a familiar voice popped into her head. <you'll fuck it all up soon enough. They're right to hate you, you're evil. She'll tire of you soon enough then you'll be all alone.> Faith shook her head to get rid of the voice, the doubts. <Dad, I need you.> KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. Cordy rolled over at the sound.

"Who the hell is visiting at this hour?" she asked angrily.

"I think it's my dad." Faith smiled down at her lover's pouting face. "I'll go see." She pulled herself out of bed and headed for the door. "Put a robe on and come see him." 
"Hey," Cordelia called as Faith walked into the hall, "I love you." Receiving no response she grumbled and crawled out of bed ready to face another?what the hell time of day was it anyway? <Honestly between vampire boss and Slayer lover I'm lucky I even know what month it is.> As she wrapped herself in the silk robe Owen had given her last time he visited Cordelia's inner voice admonished her <Stop complaining C. You have the sweetest girlfriend in the world. Once you peeled away the layers of rage, fear and self-loathing you had yourself a "keeper" as dear sweet mother used to say.> <Oh God! What are my parents going to say?>

The squeal of delight she heard from downstairs could only have meant one thing, the old man was here. <To eat me out of house and home again.> she smiled to herself as she ran down the stairs to greet him.

"Owen!" She screamed gleefully rushing into the old man's embrace. "What're you doing here? Why didn't you call?"

"I wanted to surprise you." He grinned sheepishly, "plus if I told you I was coming you would've stopped going grocery shopping." Faith looked up at her adoptive father adoringly. "Daddy we don't keep food in the house just in case you do show up."

<It's funny how she regresses to a childlike state whenever he walks through the door.> Cordelia watched her young lover babble at her dad. <Oh well, she never really got to be a little girl. May as well enjoy it now.>

"Cor do you have anything to drink?" Owen asked, interrupting his daughter's recounting of the previous months activities.

"I have some o.j. in the fridge." She answered, smiling benignly at him.

"Cor?" He gave her a stern look. It had lately been discovered that the old man had an unlikely predilection for English ales.

"Its in the fridge," she sighed, "bottom shelf. You are aware that it's ten in the morning right?"

"Ramses II started drinking at six."

"Who?" then she reconsidered her question. "Never mind, you'll just make my brain hurt." She was still reeling from the time he told her about he, Odin and Mercury had stolen Yahweh's favourite robe. She watched Owen wander into the kitchen then turned to say something to Faith. The girl wore an expression of total despair on her face.

"What is it love?" Cordelia asked she reached out and took the fragile young woman's hand in her own. 
"I know why he's here." Faith looked on the verge of tears. Cordelia was shocked.

"Why love, he's not leaving is he?" It was Cordelia's greatest fear that the old man would disappear and Faith would revert to her old self.

"No. He wants me to go back. To see Buffy." Faith looked at Cordelia, terror in her eyes. "Oh C, what if she won't forgive me? I tried to kill Angel twice. I betrayed her friendship," she paused, "oh God. I stole her body." She whispered, collapsing into Cordelia's arms.

"Here now," said Owen wandering back into the room, "what's all this then?" Cordelia looked up at him.

"She thinks you're going to make her go back to Sunnydale." Cordelia informed him over the weeping girl's head.

"Is that all?" He reached down and turned Faith's face up to see his own. "You knew this was coming Faith. It has to be done. Neither of you will heal without it."

"But what if she won't forgive me?" she asked in a timid little voice.

"Oh of course she'll forgive you sweetie." He tenderly brushed the tears from her eyes. "I've talked to her about it quite a bit. She misses you. Talked to all of them actually. They're waiting for you to come home. Joyce is even baking cookies." He paused and smiled down at his daughter. "Come on now, you girls go get ready, I'm going to call Angel and Wesley."

Cordelia gulped. "I'm going too?"

"Of course you are."

"But what about the business? If Angel and Wesley are going then who is going to watch the business?"

"No one. We're all going back. It's time to rest and prepare. I need everyone in one place."

"But I left Sunnydale for good." Cordelia protested "I-" Faith cut her off

"C, if you don't want to come, I'll-- I'll understand." She ran from the room crying." 
"Oh God!" Cordelia chased Faith out of the room. Owen followed slowly and when he heard quiet murmurs emanating from the bedroom he knew everything would be alright. 
"Faith. Of course I'll go with you. I just wasn't thinking."

"I-I- don't know what I'd do if you left me."

"Shhh I won't ever leave you, not now, not ever."

"I love you C."

"I love you too baby."


"Angel? Pick us up in an hour. Cordelia's apartment. Oh and Angel? Bring a truck." <Finally I'll be able to take a nap. I haven't slept in?Three weeks.>


End of Part Two. 





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