Snippet; SlayKids

["JDMeans" <Jim_D_Means@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey, guys, I just had to get this out of my system, so bear with me. I have no plans for a second chapter, so if you wanna take this one over, go forit.

Disclaimers; Joss and Mutant Enemy own the Buffy crew, Robert Rodriguez, Dimension Pictures and Troublemaker Productions own the rest. What rest? Read on.

Spoilers; not really

Feedback; Oh please!

Summary; Six years into the future. Buffy, now a Watcher, meets a decidedly different new Slayer...

SlayKids
by Kirayoshi

Southern Texas, 2006

She stood on the sidewalk, staring at the facade of a large hacienda, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. She doublechecked the address that Giles had given her. Yep, she thought, this is the place. Her first assignment as a Watcher, and she certainly had a rather wealthy new Slayer. Hopefully she won't turn out to be another Queen C, she thought ruefully.

She made her way up the front walk, and rang the doorbell. Ten seconds later, the door opened. A little boy--about twelve years old, she figured-- greeted her politely. "Uh, hi. May I ask who's calling please?"

"Hello there," she answered back. "My name is Buffy Summers. Is this the Cortez residence?"

"Yes," the boy smiled. "I'm Juni. Do you want to speak to my mom and dad?"

"Uh," this was going to be awkward, she thought. "Is there a Carmen Cortezhere?"

Juni made a slightly wry face at the name. Typical sibling, Buffy mused, recalling the thousands of times Dawn had given an identical expression at the mention of Buffy's name. He then erased the expression quickly, saying,"Yeah, she's out back. I'll show you the way," he beckoned Buffy inside, and led her toward the back yard. Buffy looked around at the colorful surroundings; a definite hispanic atmosphere, festive, homey. She made a mental note regarding some fabrics and upholstery; she and Willow were redecorating their lovenest back in Sunnydale, and she thought the sofa especially was beautiful.

As she entered the backyard, Buffy noticed the rather expansive jungle gym,with its rope bridge and swinging bars. Reminded Buffy more of a boot camp obstacle course than a children's environment. The dark haired girl on the rope bridge, however, looked right at home there. She crossed the bridge, balancing on the single rope like she was walking along a sidewalk, thentook to the hanging bars like Tarzan. Buffy smiled; there was no doubt that this was her.

The young girl turned and noticed her brother and Buffy standing below. She dropped down from the bars and stepped up toward the blonde. "Uh, hi," she started, offering her hand. "I'm Carmen Cortez."

"Pleased to meet you, Carmen. I'm Buffy Summers." She glanced toward Juni, and added, "I would like to speak to you. Alone."

Carmen looked at Juni, then back at Buffy. "No need," she answered. "I don't keep secrets from my family."

"It's rather important," Buffy insisted. "If you want, you may talk to your family later." She knew she would catch hell from the older members of the Council, but with the majority of the current Council members being younger blood, handpicked by her own Watcher Rupert Giles, she had no qualms about doing things her way. That meant no secrecy among family members.

"Well," Carmen hedged, until Juni said, "I could make sandwiches for you and Miss Summers, Carmen."

"Good idea, squirt," she said, not unkindly. Juni rushed off, leaving Buffy and Carmen together.

"Carmen," Buffy started slowly, not wanting to scare the child right off. "I need to know, have you had any dreams lately? Bad ones, nightmares?"

Carmen hesitated before she responded, then her voice was less animated than before; "Yeah. Weird ones. There were these things, they looked like people but they had these...faces, like bony and stuff. And they were dead. I don't know how I know that, I just do. Vampires, that's the word. Theywere vampires. And I was fighting them. And people were calling me Faith. Who's Faith?"

"The former Slayer," Buffy answered simply. Carmen looked at her quizzically, and Buffy explained; "Carmen, it's my duty to inform you that you've been called as this generation's Slayer. Faith was the last active Slayer, and when she died two months ago, you were called as her successor."

Carmen shook her head in disbelief. "Whoa, wait a minute," she stopped Buffy's explaination. "You're telling me that I'm a Slayer?" Buffy nodded solemnly. "And I'm supposed to slay vampires and that sort of thing?" Buffynodded again. "Cool."

Buffy barked a brief mirthless laugh. "Trust me, Carmen," she said, "cool isn't what I said when I was called."

"You're a slayer too?"

"Former slayer. Now I'm a Watcher. And I must say, you're taking this better than I did when it was my turn."

Carmen gave a strange secret smile. "I come from a weird family." They heard a car pull into the driveway. "That'll be mom and dad. You can explain it to them if you want--"

========

"...and as her Watcher, it's my job to train her in her calling, and to help her in her fight against vampires." She looked at the faces of Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez, hoping for some signs of understanding from them. This couldn't be easy for them; she remembered how hard her mother, may she restin peace, took the news when she found out. That's why she wanted to level with the Cortezes, to help Carmen avoid any grief from them. "I know this is hard for you, but I want you to know that I will do everything in my power to protect your daughter. Whatever she faces, she won't face it alone."

"You are correct, Miss Summers," the handsome middle-aged gentleman answered. He seemed to fit in with this attractive hacienda, Buffy observed. Sort of a Spanish nobleman feel about him. But there was a coiled strength tohim as well. Maybe a Caballero by day, and a masked outlaw by night. "Carmen won't face these dangers alone. For we shall be at her side."

"We're a family, Miss Summers," his wife Ingrid added. "Whatever one of ushas to deal with, we all face together." Juni nodded a silent approval tohis mother's assertions.

"I understand, Miss Cortez," Buffy continued, "and I'm glad that you'll be there to support Carmen, but we Slayers deal with some weird things. I'm not sure you'd understand half of what goes on."

Ingrid glanced at her husband, and gave a sly smile; "Gregorio, shall we?" Carmen and Juni shared a knowing look, as Gregorio left the couch and approached a nearby bookcase. "Miss Summers...can I call you Buffy?"

"Sure," Buffy shrugged her shoulders.

"And you may call me Ingrid. I appriciate your candor, Buffy, and I feel that we can trust you. So we're going to show you something." Gregorio located the right book on the bookshelf, removed it, and depressed a switch behind the book.

A panel slid out of the wall, revealing a steel-lined passageway. Next to Buffy, the tabletop shifted, revealing a computer keyboard, while a nearby mirror's silver backing changed into a computer screen. The screen displayed an animation of a globe, with markers over various countries.  

"Buffy," Gregorio explained, "Ingrid and I are former secret agents. We met on assignment for opposing camps during the last years of the Cold War, and we fell in love during that time. We still do occasional field assignments for the OSS, but these days we're mostly consultants."

Buffy blinked as she observed what she now recognized as the command centerof a formidable agent. Two of them, actually, as she observed Ingrid sitting at the computer terminal, typing rapidly. "Let's see, displaying information about Slayers," she mused, as a webserver hummed merrily away, and alist of headings under the category 'Slayer' appeared before her. "Hmm, Looks like your story checks out," she mused. "Not much information about Slayers or the Watcher's Council, but what there is checks with your story. Okay, you've convinced me."

"Well," Buffy commented, as she looked at the display once more. "I'm impressed. Thanks for the vote of confidence. And your kids know about this as well?"

"Are you kidding?" Gregorio chuckled, "they've been effective field agents for the last six years." He then told Buffy a strange story, involving a children's show host, something called The Third Brain, and a plan for worlddomination through an army of robot duplicates of the children of world leaders.

"Carmen and Juni were able to save us, and together, we prevented Minion from gaining power over the world. We've worked together on several assignments ever since." Gregorio regarded his children with paternal pride, a feeling that his wife shared openly. "So you may be assured that whatever Carmen faces, here or in Sunnydale, we're more than able to face it together."

Buffy smiled at Gregorio's statement. "So, what do you say, Carmen? Up tosaving the world on a regular basis?"

Carmen grinned hugely at Buffy. "I was born ready."

Buffy laughed heartily. Somehow, she knew that the world would be in good hands with this new Slayer.