Past imperfect ch. 5

["Christeen Demons" <Shyfox30@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Disclaimer: Joss wrote the movie, and the characters, I'm just twisting it 
a little.:-)

Chapter five

Merrick was sitting in his car, outside of the cafe? when Willow came out. 
The last thing she had wanted to do was call Merrick and tell him what 
happened. What she had really wanted to do was go into the bathroom and 
reassure Buffy that it was going to be all right. It wasn?t as if she 
didn?t know this was going to happen, was in fact destined to happen, but 
seeing it happen was a whole other matter. Buffy was already the Slayer 
when they had met, had already accepted her
calling. She knew convincing her was going to take a lot...she wasn?t even 
sure how Merrick had done it the first time.

He was all business when she got into the car. ?Are you quite sure that 
she?s gained her Slayer powers??

?She sliced through that hot dog like...like she was slicing through a bog 
demon.? Willow nodded, turning pale as she remembered the sight of the 
shredded mass of meat. ?Definitely Slayer like.?

?I?m going to have to arrange to meet with her tomorrow.? Merrick said 
seriously, not looking at Willow as he drove through the dark streets.

?I want to be there.? Willow said quietly, barely loud enough to be heard 
over the hum of the engine.

?That is out of the question.?

?But-?

?Obviously I was able to convince her before...or I?m going to be able to 
convince her, rather. I think I can manage. And you also have to remember 
that keeping sightings of you to a minimum is key.?

?Then I?ll stay out of the way...I?ll stay hidden. I?ve gotten pretty good 
at it over the last few days.? Willow pleaded with the older man with her 
eyes, adding a quiet ?please.? for good measure.

?It?s that important to you to be there?? Merrick asked, amazed anew by the 
show of strength in this young face.

Willow nodded silently. ?All right. But you stay out of the way, and don?t 
make a sound. All right?? Willow nodded again, then sensed something 
unnatural that sent shivers down her spine. Looking around uneasily, she 
spotted a dark form hulking over the form of another person, the quick image 
of teeth sinking into his neck as he was pulled over the wall towards the 
gulley below.

?Merrick.? Willow grasped the older man?s sleeve tightly, pointing at where 
the vampire had disappeared.

?I saw. Too late to save that one, I?m afraid. But maybe we can get to the 
other one before he comes back.? Merrick stepped on the accelerator, then 
screeched to a halt in front of the unconscious man lying on the ground.

?Is he?? Willow hopped out of the car and was moving around toward?s the 
other side before Merrick, who had a chance to inhale the drunken man?s 
breath, had a chance to answer.

?No.? He said, with a small modicum of disgust, before he knealt down to 
help the man to his feet. ?This is not a very safe place for you to fall 
asleep.? He warned, while picking him up.

?Okay...Mom.? Willow hadn?t been able to see who the man was before because 
he had been lying in the shadows, but there was no mistaking that voice.

?Pike.? ?Great.? Willow rolled her eyes at the irony.

?Do you know him?? Merrick asked, with a great deal of curiosity as he 
helped him into the car.

?No...just some guy that was hitting on Buffy earlier.? Willow grumbled.

?What??

?The guys with the hotdog.?

?Oh.? Merrick said, nodding as if that explained everything. Willow 
supposed it did, in some bizzare sort of way.

*****

"Dribble...shoot...shoot...take that ball to the hoop...hoop. Okay...all 
right...yeah, I like that." Buffy was busy congratulating her fellow 
cheerleaders who were practicing, Willow was busy rolling her eyes at the 
incredibly inane things the cheerleader could come up with. Watching her 
with her friends, she again had a hard time equating the ditzy blonde she 
was looking at in abject wonder, with the Slayer that had completely turned 
her world around. It was like they were two
completely different people that shared the same body.

"Hey guys, I was thinking for the dance," Jen started, gesturing excitedly 
with her hands. "What if we made a big sign that says 'Don't tread on 
me.'...you know, with a picture of the Earth?"

"How do you not tread on the Earth? I mean, we kind of have to, right?" 
Buffy asked, scornfully.

"Oh...yeah...I never thought of that." Jen said, dispirtedly, wishing that 
Buffy wouldn't always rip her ideas apart.

"I'm going to bail. You guys coming?" Nicole asked, starting to gather her 
stuff.

"No, you guys blow. I'm waiting on Cassandra. She's going to help me with 
my history." Buffy said, looking around the near empty gymnasium. Until 
something occured to her. "Wait, wait." Buffy said, holding up her friends 
departure. "I kind of loaned her Kimberly's yellow leather
jacket. So don't tell her, all right?" Buffy asked, knowing Jen could at 
least keep this a secret. They were always looking for little ways to get 
back at their sometimes ruthless friend, and this was just another chance to 
even the score. If Kimberly had known that their brainiac friend was 
wearing her jacket she'd probably flip.

"Okay, I won't." Jen promised then waved goodbye. "See ya."

"Bye."

> From her hiding place, high up on the gymnasium bleachers Willow watched the 
conversation take place, noticing the friends departures and watched Buffy 
walk around the nearly emptied gymnasium. It was empty from Buffy's point 
of view, she hadn't seen Willow from her hiding spot, or noticed Merrick's 
appearance at the back of the room, near the boy's locker room.

Buffy continued her track around the rectangular room, and then stopped, a 
look of complete boredom taking over the cheerleader's face as she once 
again looked around for her missing friend. "Where is she?" Buffy muttered 
crossly, kicking her shoe into a floor mat that was taking
up room on the hard gymnasium floor. "She knows I hate it when she's late. 
Probably doing some algebriac equation or something." Shrugging her 
shoulders, she looked hard at the floor mat in front of her, kicking it with 
her shoe with a thoughtful look on her face. She remembered a
time, not so long ago, when her father had taken her to gymnastics ever 
week, okay...so she had been eight at the time, and they had done everything 
together...gymnastics, Ice skating...then...as she had grown older, that had 
all stopped. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she had made friends, and the 
time spent with her dad had seemed less and less important to her. Now she 
was one of the most popular girls in the school. But she wondered..."I 
wonder if I can still do it." She
muttered to herself, before shrugging self consciously. "Well, there's only 
one way to find out, and nobody's around to see me fall on my butt." She 
reasoned with herself, sparing one last look around for good measure, before 
she positioned herself on the mat and prepared to execute the moves she had 
learned so long ago.

It was hard at first, she had forgotten just how hard it was, but she was 
doing it, and before she knew it, she had completed the exercise, only to 
hear genuine applause coming from behind her. She turned around quickly, 
catching her breath as she saw the man standing there. "God! You scared me 
to death! Where the hell did you come from?" She asked, crossly, still 
trying to catch her breath.

"That was very impressive. The...the..the tumbling." Willow rolled her 
eyes. 'Nice start. He stutters as badly as Giles.'

"What? Oh. I used to do gymnastics." She answered. "Are you...looking 
for somebody?" She asked, looking around the still, mostly empty gym. 
'Please, please be looking for somebody.' She
had recognized him as the homeless guy at the mall.

"I was looking for you actually." Merrick said, a hint of a grin lighting 
his face for a very brief instant.

"Why? Am I in trouble or something? Cause if I am, I didn't do it."

"No, you're not in trouble." Merrick said, not able to control the chuckle 
that exited his mouth. "I am. I'm years late. You should have been 
taught, prepared, but I wasn't certain until just now that it was you."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, starting to feel extremely 
defensive. This guy was some kind of wacko, she just knew it.

"I'm saying that I have been looking everywhere for you, Buffy."

"Why?"

"To bring you your birth right."

"My birth right? Is that like a trust fund or something?"

"I think it will be easier for you to understand this birth right if I show 
it to you. All right?" Merrick said, walking forward from his position 
towards the shirking blonde. "So you come with me now, to the graveyard."

'To the graveyard?!' Willow thought savagely, from her hiding spot. This 
was his idea of breaking it to her gently? Gods, he was going to scare her 
off if he kept talking like that. How had he ever manged it in the first 
place? Willow asked herself, wondering if she should intercede or stay 
hidden for a few minutes longer.

"Oh no." Buffy backed away from him and towards her stuff. Yes, definite 
psycho material. "My trust fund's in the graveyard? God, what's your 
damage?"

"Buffy?" Merrick followed the girl slowly, as if he were aware that he was 
frightening the girl away. Buffy chose that moment to turn on him. "You're 
one of those skanky old men that attack young girls and stuff, right? Well, 
forget you."

"My name is Merrick. And you have been Chosen, Buffy." Merrick said, quite 
calmly, peering intensely at the girl who was growing more and more 
flustered by the minute.

"Chosen to go to the graveyard?" Buffy asked, sarcastically, rolling her 
eyes as she put on her jacket. "Why don't you just take the first runner 
up, okay?"

"Everything depends on you, Buffy. Now you must come with me now to the 
graveyard, while there is still time." Merrick said seriously, hoping to 
get through to the girl.

"Time to do what?" Buffy retorted, eyeing him warily, not sure if she she 
was more frightened or angry by the man's strange behavior and speech.

"Time to stop the killing. To stop the vampires."

She stopped, blinking at him as his answer registered upon her brain. Well, 
at least now she knew that he was crazy. "All right, let me get this 
straight, okay. You want me to go to the graveyard with you, because I'm 
the Chosen one and there are vampires?" She asked, dubiously, her doubt 
obvious in every word and gesture.

'She's going to walk.' Willow sighed internally, wishing there was some way 
she could warn Merrick silently. 'She's going to balk. She's going to walk 
right out of here.' Had he really done it this badly the first time? 
Willow couldn't help wondering, staring at the scene enfolding right before 
her eyes.

"Yes."

Buffy couldn't believe how easily the word leapt off his tongue. Does he 
even know how crazy he sounds? "Does Elvis talk to you?" She asked him, 
sarcasm rich in her voice. "Does he tell you to do things? Do you...see 
spots?"

"Spots, Yes Of course. That's your proof. You bear the mark. You bear 
the mark of the coven."

Willow's eyebrows shot high on her forehead. 'The mark of the coven? 
What?' She was briefly in uncharted waters, considering she had seen every 
inch of Buffy's body, personally inspected it herself, and had never found 
one thing on it that could even be briefly described as a mark of the coven.

"What? That big ole hairy mole? Ewww, I had that thing removed. Besides, 
you knowing about my big ole mole doesn't mean anything...except it's way 
past medication time for you, Buddy.
So, why don't you just stay away from me, okay?" Buffy asked, heading for 
the door.

'No, no, no. She's going to leave! Do something!' Willow thought in a 
panic. "Buffy, wait!" Came unbidden out of her mouth, just as her body took 
control of her actions completely away from her brain, as she stumbled down 
the bleachers, making her way to where Buffy was standing
paralyzed, staring entranced at the redhead.

Merrick closed his eyes, shaking his head in disgust. He should have known 
the girl wouldn't be able to sit still.

Buffy just stared in shock as the redhead drew closer, her head spinning 
dizzily as the sense of strange and familiar merged. "Its...you. I've seen 
you...before...right?"

Willow nodded uncertainly as she approached, unable to take her eyes away 
from the doubtful, penetrating gaze. "Uh...hi...yeah." She stopped a few 
feet away from her, wishing that she could bridge the gap between them and 
touch her, but she wasn't quite sure what that would do, so she planted her 
feet and forced herself to face the blonde, ignoring the churning excitement 
erupting in her stomach. "Look...I know this all sounds crazy. But you've 
got to listen to him. It's really important that you listen to him."

Buffy wanted to run from the unsettling wisdom submerged in the brilliant 
green eyes, but the girl held her spellbound, her feet unwilling or unable 
to move. She hesitantly broke her gaze from the
redhead and looked at Merrick warily. "All right. I'm listening."

Merrick paused, unsure of how to proceed now that the momentum had been 
broken. He had also lost himself in the observation of the power the two 
girls seemed to hold over each other. It was as if each girl was in their 
own orbit around the other, unable to break away from the drawing
presence of the other's sun. It was fascinating, and he wished that he 
could observe it further, but he did have a task to perform. Taking a deep 
breath, he forced his mind back on track. "Have you ever dreamed you were 
someone else, Buffy?"

"Everybody does." She retorted, still feeling uncomfortable, and not a 
little resentful of the power these two seemed to hold over her.

"No someone in the past. Someone real. A Magyar peasant girl, for 
instance. An Indian princess. A slave?" Buffy's eyes slowly widened into 
a shocked gaze. How did he...?

"I was a slave." She felt herself responding, without conscious thought.

"In Virginia." Merrick smiled, and the smile was truly devious. He was 
reaching the girl.

"I-I don't know. There was like this big farm or something." Buffy said 
slowly, calling the dream up from memory. Well, he guessed one, but there 
was no way he'd be able to guess all of them. Testing out her theory she 
began to tell him of another one. "There was this one where there were 
these knights, and I'm a..." She stopped waiting to see if he could guess, 
while Willow just looked blankly back and forth between the two.

"A servant girl...a barmaid." Merrick finished for her, sending icy chills 
down her back.

"Oh my god." She whispered, unable to believe that he'd known. "Oh my god. 
I never told anybody about this." She was in considerable shock. She 
wasn't the only one. Willow stood, blinking at Buffy wondering just what 
she was hearing. Buffy had never told her about this either.
"There was another one where there was this man...I think he's a man...and 
I'm fighting him...I'm always fighting him...but he's so strong..."

"His name is Lothos." Merrick supplied the answer to the unasked question, 
watching Buffy shiver in sympathy.

"How do you know all of this?" Buffy asked, finally unable to deny the 
truth of the knowledge that was knocking her upside the head.

"Because it is your birthright and I'm a part of it. You come with me to 
the graveyard, and I will show you."

Buffy stared at him in a daze, feeling compelled now to go with him, but 
also afraid of what she might find if she did. Opening her mouth to answer, 
she suddenly remembered the friend that was supposed to be meeting her here. 
"I...I can't...Cassandra...I'm supposed to be meeting her here. I can't 
just leave and not tell her where I'm going."

Merrick opened his mouth to protest, but Willow beat him to the punch. 
"Well...It's okay...cause I can stay here and...wait for her. Explain that 
something came up...unexpected."

'Unexpected is right.' Buffy thought, dizzily, her attention wrapped up 
once more in the girl before her. "Am I ever going to find out who you 
are?" She asked herself, not realizing she'd said the words out loud.

Willow blushed, and Buffy found herself noticing distractedly that the 
redhead was kind of cute when the color was spread all over her cheeks like 
that. The head bobbed before the girl was able to squeek out a single word. 
"Soon."

...to be continued.

Shyfox

I hunt, therefore I am.-Metallica
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