United part one - Season 8 #10
Author: Callace
rating: PG-13
Pairings: B\S, Faith\Wood, Giles\Other
Summary: This is the season finale of my series. it's time for the great showdown against the big bad.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I just love them.
SCENE ONE: THE HALL, EVENING
Buffy and Spike are wrapped together in a long and passionate kiss. In that very moment, Giles bursts in, red and panting from the run home. He takes a look at the scene, with Jennas corpse on the floor, and the bloodstained hat-and-coat stand laying between her and Spike and Buffy, and then pierces Buffy with spark-shooting eyes.
Giles
You are unbelievable!! Here’s a bloody weapon and a badly injured girl on the floor, and all you can think about in this situation is lust??
Buffy
She’s dead. There’s nothing we can do for her now anyway. Just clean up the room and the body. Although, frankly, I don’t feel it’s my job to clean up the mess from your failed scheme.
Spike
What?? He had anything to do with this?
Buffy
She didn’t tell you?
Spike
Taken from what she kept going on about, she was on some personal vendetta, having learnt from her watcher… (with dawning comprehension) It wasn’t her watcher…
He turns to Giles, and scowls at him.
Spike
(cont’d)
Hate me that much, do you?
Giles
(coldly calm)
This isn’t about me hating you, Spike. I discovered in a spell book that the resurrection spell would be revoked for Morticius too if I could just get your dust and read a reversal spell over it
Spike
Bugger that! We are gonna nail this guy, and we are gonna do it the good old way, fists and stakes. I owe him a staking from our last encounter…
They hear the front door slam down in the hall.
Giles
This isn’t the time to discuss this. Let’s just get water and detergent, and make this place look more like a home than a war sone again.
SCENE TWO: THE HALL, AN HOUR LATER
Xander, Willow and Kennedy comes through the door.
Kennedy
What a day. I thought those dry, boring lectures would never end.
Willow pokes her in the arm, and smiles teasingly.
Willow
Come on, it wasn’t that bad. Especially professor Wilkins stuff was real great. I think we should feel sorry for Buffy for not taking that class.
Giles comes down the stairs to meet them.
Giles
I think it’s safe to say that Buffy’s day has been a bit more… sadly interesting than lectures.
Xander
(sarcastic)
More interesting than lectures!? Wow, that means a lot, coming from you.
Giles
This isn’t the time for quips. We had an… incident here this evening. Come with me.
He takes them into the living room, and takes a blanket off the coach, revealing Jenna’s body.
Giles
Jenna is dead.
They stares at her, in speechless shock, for a long moment.
Willow
(stutters)
How… how did that happen?
Spike
Giles incited her to dust me. We had a fight. I won.
He and Buffy enters the room, hand in hand, and files into the circle around Jenna. Xander, Willow and Kennedy stares from him to Giles, completely at loss.
Giles
The hows and whys of this matter can take a while to explain. Let go and talk it out over supper. (looks around at them) Where’s Dawn? Didn’t you pick her up with you?
Xander
Her classes ended hours ago! Isn’t she here?
Buffy
She sure ought to be. I’ll go call her.
Willow bows down by the body, and studies the wound at the back of the head. She throws a disturbed look at Spike.
Willow
You did this?
Spike
In self defense. She swung the hat-and-coat stand at me, and I threw it back at her… through her head.
Xander
Lets hope Giles is right, that that was only the end of a long, illuminating story.
Kennedy
What are we going to tell her parents? And her watcher?
Giles
The truth. That she died fighting a vampire, trying to help us defeat Morticius. I intend to report her death to the Council as soon as possible. They have procedures for this kind of situation.
Buffy
(coming back into the room, putting her cell phone back in her pocket)
The Council?! I don’t think we want to get too familiar with their procedures. They have a special way of making bad worse. Couldn’t we just notify her watcher instead?
Giles
(in an outbreak of bad temper)
Well, we don’t know who that is, do we? Did any one of you even bother to ask where she’s from? She’s not gonna tell us now, that’s for sure.
He takes a deep breath, and puts an effort into calming himself down, before continuing, in his stern, “this is not open for debate”voice.
Giles
I can assure you that the Councils “death of a slayer” routines are quite harmless. It’s all notifying the right people and authorities, filling out a death certificate etc. And if it’s anything the Council can really be trusted with, it’s handling bureaucracy. Now, let’s go get that supper.
He heads for the kitchen, Spike and Xander follows him. Kennedy makes to go with them, and grabs Willow to go with her.
Willow
I’m coming. Just give me a moment.
Buffy has sunk down on the coach next to Jenna, staring at her with a grimy, ashen expression, and the beginning of tears in her eyes. Willow sits down on the arm shelf next to her, and puts her hand on Buffys shoulder.
Willow
How are you doing?
Buffy
(through a lump in her throat)
She’s really dead… Going all stiff and cold… I’ve seen too many corpses lately. But I never thought I’d be seeing one laying in my living room couch again…
She braces herself, gets up and starts walking out of the room.
Buffy
They’re waiting for us.
Willow gets up and goes with her.
Willow
Where’s Dawn?
Buffy
Spontaneous slumber party.. Lucky enough timing to miss out on all of this. Said she’d be home tomorrow
SCENE THREE: THE KITCHEN
The table is set, with plates, cutlery, bread, ham and cheese, cups, milk and tea, while Giles, Spike and Buffy explain the events of the night, all of them at once. After a request from the others, they finally manage to respect each others speechtime enough to make a senseful story, and then debate the issue:
Buffy
It was Jenna’s last wish that we seek out the vampire who killed her friend, and make him pay for it in dust. But there is no way we could execute one of our own to put him down. Who dies in this war, dies. But no one messes with my boyfriend!
Spike
Unless they have a desperate death wish.
Giles
Buffy, please take some time to think about how selfish what you are saying is, when people could be dying at Morticius’ fangs as we speak.
Buffy
Don’t talk to me about being selfish. I killed Angel. I loved him more than anything, but I did it… when I had to to save the lives of others. And I almost killed Anya. Had it been up to you, we would have killed Dawn too. It can’t always be like that. Not any more. Not this time.
Xander
(breaking into their debate)
I think most of us agree that staking within our own ranks is not the way to go in this war. But still, I can appreciate your motives Giles. Morticius, and his gang, need to go, and fast. Two of my men didn’t come to work today, and when I sent someone out to look for them, they found one dead in a back alley, neck punctured, and the other drained, and hanging out of a dumpster.
Willow
Ouch!
Spike
At least that’s just dinner. But this guy’s got plans… of far more than just feeding his boys.
Buffy
So we need a plan.too. And we need it fast… they have a well functioning army, then so must we have. Giles, when you contact the Council about Jenna, I think you also should ask them for the present addresses of all the slayers we worked with before. It’s time to unite for another war.
SCENE FOUR: THE LIBRARY, NEXT DAY
Giles is sorting books in a harsh and fierce manner, as if every one of them has hurt him personally. Alice walks in and sees it.
Alice
Wow. Did any of those books bite your nose off?
Giles puts down the book he is holding at the moment, turns to her and gives her a grim smile.
Giles
Our plan backfired. Jenna’s dead. And Buffy thinks I’m the biggest jerk on the planet.
Alice stares back at him in horror. Then her face softens, and she moves closer, and put her hand on his shoulder.
Alice
Well, if it makes you feel any better, I far from think that. I think what you did was quite courageous, even if it went terribly wrong.
She lifts her hand up to his cheek, moves even closer, and purrs on.
Alice
You’re the kind of man who will let nothing stop you in your attempt to rescue our town from the threat that is upon it, no matter which vampire needs to be put down, and how dangerous it is.
She has herself almost completely pressed up against him by now, moving her hand slowly down his left cheek, caressing the cheek bone. He doesn’t know what to do, flattered and flustered by her actions.
Giles
You’ you might have a point there…
He lights up in a goofy smile, which she returns with a warm and passionate one.
Alice
From the first time I saw you, I knew you were the man who could get things right around here…
She moved her hand to the back of his head, pulls it towards her, and kisses him.