So I wrote something.
Slow weekend at work meant I had plenty of time to write something for the Not My Ship Ficathon penny_lane_42 is doing. It's a SPN/BtVS crossover featuring Sam and Buffy, and it got . . . long. Six-comments-long long. And I began shipping it, probably partly because it's cute and partly because I'm watching the beginning of SPN season 7 and I'm already having all the Sammy feels. So, um. Here's what I wrote, in one post instead of six comments (if you want to read all six comments, it's here). Because that's easier to read. I guess I'd call it "Keeping Secrets" or something lame like that.
Fandom: SPN/BtVS
Characters: Sam Winchester, Buffy Summers
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 3432
Keeping a secret identity while dating Sam Winchester was remarkably easy. He was always sweet, attentive, and he always believed her when she said Willow needed her for some girl time in the middle of the night or if her mom had an emergency she really needed to get to. The same excuses that had once kept Joyce in the dark about her extracurricular activities worked well to keep Sam and slaying completely separate.
He was one of those extremely tall, good looking All-American types that she would have gone after back at Hemery High. In fact, if Buffy weren’t the Chosen One, if she were still the Buffy who was a cheerleader and May Queen, Sam would be the perfect boyfriend. Smart, with a deprecating sense of humor and always ready to listen. And he was charmingly a worrier, always planning ahead and looking for an exit if needed. It got them out of a few awkward conversations at frat parties, at least.
There were a few odd things about quiet, perfect, normal Sam, but Buffy just blew them off and figured she’d been spending too much time on the Hellmouth. So what if he had a collection of crucifixes? It wasn’t like she didn’t have one too. And the thing with always having at least five cartons of salt in the house? Maybe he bought in bulk and liked his food salty. He was a bit uneasy when it came to Willow’s Wicca practices, even if he only thought them to be New Age Earth Mother Granola spirituality and not actual magical witchcraft. That one time he’d gone to the shooting range with Xander as some sort of man camaraderie thing bothered her a little. Xander had said he handled rifles like a pro and could nail a target a hundred feet away with a pistol. When she’d asked about it, Sam wouldn’t meet her eyes. “My dad liked to hunt,” was the only explanation he gave. He’d get silent whenever Kansas or AC/DC came on the jukebox at the Bronze, but soon he was her accommodating, trusting Sammy again, and she’d just forget his behavior in the face of one of his boyish smiles.
He never talked much about his family. She knew his mom had died when he was a baby, that he had an older brother somewhere, and that their dad had moved them all over the Midwest for work. He never said what kind of work his dad did, then again, she’d never asked. There was an Uncle Bobby who sent insipid, cliché birthday cards, but that was another unspoken subject. She never liked to say much about her dad, so it didn’t worry her.
Sam Winchester was a closed book. But then again, so was Buffy Summers. And she never was much of a reader anyways, so closed books were nice.
Just like she never pried into his life, he didn’t expect to learn everything there is to know about hers. He was polite to her friends, and fit into the group dynamic well. He could talk classic American rock with Oz, even though he kept on insisting he liked his music post-1979, and he was almost as gifted with computers as Willow, Anya loved to quiz him about property law and assets and other ways the legal system works to ensure people’s monetary gain, and Xander was so thrilled to have another man around that he hung on Sam’s every word like a puppy dog. What Sam made of Giles one could only guess, but his presence among and affiliation with a group of college students was never questioned.
Sam Winchester was the perfect boyfriend for Buffy Summers. The conversation was always light, the kisses were hot, and the dates were normal. No cemeteries, no interruptions by demons or sudden appearances by vampires. Dinner at the local Burger joint and a cheesy romantic comedy usually went off without a hitch, It was as if the Hellmouth had gotten the message that Buffy wanted this relationship to stay normal, and so it behaved itself.
It was an average week in Sunnydale when everything changed. Giles had been hemming and hawing about some recent cattle deaths and crop failures in the ranch and farm lands surrounding Sunnydale. He suspected it was Cha-lek demons, but they rarely ranged south of the Oregon border. Willow was worried about some singer friend of Oz’s that he had been spending a lot of time with, but Buffy reassured her that it was probably nothing. Xander was trying another menial job delivering pizza, and Sam was stressing over an interview he had with a prestigious Los Angeles law firm. They were set to celebrate his high LSAT scores on the weekend, but if Sam could get the summer internship and Wolfram & Hart he could almost guarantee his admission to Stanford Law. Buffy was proud of him, and it was a nice feeling to be proud of the normal accomplishments of one’s boyfriend instead of constantly fearing your boyfriend was going to snap and go on a killing spree.
Trouble came that Friday night. It was Halloween, and Sam and Buffy were returning to his apartment after a night celebrating Sam’s test scores at the Bronze. Sam had refused to dress up, but Buffy had reveled in her one night a year when she didn’t have to patrol. Willow had reassured her that the red and white nurse’s uniform was sexy without being skanky, and Buffy had been pleased when Sam said she looked good. Giles had given her the go ahead to enjoy herself, barring any catastrophes involving magical costumes that turn their wearers into demons or damsels. Even though Sam hadn’t dressed up for the night, he was in good spirits, and Buffy couldn’t stop smiling all evening. They acted like your average college students out for a night on the town, and Buffy grinned as Sam downed another celebratory shot. They left the Bronze a bit early, leaving Willow to clean up the mess Xander had made of his Tarzan costume during a failed attempt at a keg stand. She and Sam planned on going to Sam’s place for a nightcap and some smoochies, both jovial in the theme of the night.
Buffy fell asleep at Sam’s place, as she did sometimes, but her usual peaceful slumber was interrupted by the slow mumble of men’s voices. Sam was out of bed, and tiptoed towards the kitchen where she could hear the muffled sounds of two men grappling.
“Whoa, easy tiger,” one of them, a stranger, said teasingly.
“Dean?” Asked Sam. The other man laughed. “You scared the crap out of me!”
“That’s because you’re out of practice.”
Buffy heard the blunt sound of a fist hitting flesh, and the other man, Dean, grunted. “Or not,” he added as a sidenote. She could hear the two men roll up on to their feet. It was obvious Sam knew the intruder, but she didn’t want to show her presence until she knew exactly who he was.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Asked Sam.
“Well, I was looking for a beer,” Dean answered somewhat sheepishly.
There was a slight pause of unspoken communication between the two men, and Buffy couldn’t see what was going on from her vantage point in the hallway.
“What the hell are you doing here,” Sam asked, incredulous.
“We gotta talk.”
“Uh, the phone?”
“If I’d’a called, would you have picked up?”
Buffy was getting annoyed with the two men. She was the one usually involved in clandestine conversation, not her Sammy. She stepped forwards and flipped the light on, glaring sternly at both men.
“Sam?” she asked, assessing Dean in a long look even as he assessed her.
“Buffy? Oh, Dean. This is my girlfriend, Buffy. She goes to UC Sunnydale too.” Dean’s leer put Buffy off, and she crossed her arms around her chest.
“Dean? Your brother Dean?” Buffy asked, looking from Sam to Dean with suspicion.
“Yummy sushi. Cute PJ’s” Dean said appreciatively.
Buffy raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m gonna go put on some clothes,” she said, turning back towards the bedroom.
“No, no, wouldn’t dream of it, seriously,” Dean said, then turned back to Sam. “I just gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business.” He didn’t take his eyes from Buffy. “But, uh, nice meeting you.”
Sam walked over to Buffy and put an arm around her. As always, she felt safe and tiny in his arms. “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Buffy,” he told Dean.
Dean turned and looked them both straight in the eye.
“Dad hasn’t been home in a few days,” Dean stated.
“So he’s working overtime in a Miller Time shift. He’ll stumble back in sooner or later.” Sam answered.
Dean ducked his head, then looked up at Sam. “Dad’s on a hunting trip. And he hasn’t been home in a few days.”
Sam’s expression stayed stony, while Buffy looked from brother to brother.
“Buffy,” Sam said, never taking his eyes off Dean, “excuse us. We have to go outside.”
As Sam and Dean shuffled out the apartment door, Buffy rolled her eyes. It was this same secretive manly bullshit that drove her crazy when Angel did it. This was supposed to be Sam. Her safe, normal boyfriend. He wasn’t supposed to have dark family memories or late night cabals with his brother. Ignoring propriety and using the snooping skills that always came in handy in slayer situations, Buffy put her ear to the door and listened.
“I mean, come on,” Buffy heard Sam exclaim. “You can’t just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you.”
“You’re not hearing me, Sammy. Dad’s missing. I need you to help me find him.”
“You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil’s gates in Clifton? He was missing then too. He’s always missing, and he’s always fine,” Sam stated Buffy’s eyes widened. Poltergeist? Devil’s gate? These were the terms of her trade, not some random experiences of her normal Midwestern boyfriend. What was going on here? It sounded Hellmouth-y.
“Not for this long,” Dean answered Sam. “Are you coming with me or are you gonna continue playing house with University Barbie . . . and on the Hellmouth for chrissakes, Sam! Couldn’t you have picked a dumber place to go to school?”
Buffy was now on alert. They knew about the Hellmouth. She tiptoed over to the phone and quietly started to dial Giles.
Giles answered the phone, and Buffy immediately started quizzing him. “Why would civilians who go on hunting trips know about the Hellmouth?” she hissed into the phone.
“Good evening, Buffy. How are you doing at - ahem, three in the morning?”
Buffy didn’t have time for Giles’ Britishness. “Sam’s brother Dean rolled into town, and now they’re talking about poltergeists and Devil’s gates. This is specialized information! Why would my nice, normal Sammy know about poltergeists and Devil’s gates?”
“Buffy, I don’t seem to understand the situation. What was it you said Sam’s last name was?”
“Winchester. Sam Winchester. From Kansas. Who knows about poltergeists and Devil’s gates and the Hellmouth! This is my Sammy here, Giles! What’s going on?”
Giles sounded as if he was mulling something over in his mind. “Winchester . . . Winchester . . . ah! If I recall correctly, John Winchester is a hunter of some repute.”
“Hunter? And what is a hunter, Giles? And what do they . . . well, hunt?”
Giles sighed audibly over the phone. “Well, I’ve never seen the need to explain it to you since you are so capable of overseeing the Hellmouth, and after all they are all rogue, but then again they have been known to form an alliance with the council on occaision . . .”
Buffy grumbled over Giles’ thinking out loud. “Hunters, Giles! What are Hunters?”
“Well, Buffy, it seems that in America there is a breed of demon fighter that call themselves hunters. Hunters are a very unofficial group; there’s no society or organization to them, they’re mostly vigilantes working to rid the world of demons as much as they can considering they only have lore and shotguns filled with rock salt.” He snorted derisively. “They’re somewhat successful at taking out demon threats in America’s heartland, mostly small stuff that doesn’t concern the council. And their lifespan is very short. John Winchester is a hunter of some repute; though there’s not much known about him in the council records. He is known to have two sons who should be adults by now, and perhaps that’s where your Sam and his brother come in. It appears your boyfriend is a Hunter.”
Buffy gaped. “No he isn’t! He’s my lovable quiet nerdy Sammy! He’s not some supernatural hunter! He wants to be a lawyer!”
“Well, if it is the same Winchesters, Buffy, I’m afraid he just might be. He was always very proficient with the Latin required to read law, wasn’t he? And you’ve mentioned the salt thing a couple times. This Sam Winchester may be the son of John Winchester, which means he grew up hunting the supernatural.”
“No!” Buffy whined. “He’s supposed to be my normal boyfriend! All I wanted was a normal boyfriend. All I - he’s coming back. I’ll call you back Giles.”
Sam stumbled through the apartment door, clearly perturbed. He ignored Buffy and went straight to packing a duffle.
Buffy, now suspicious, glanced at him.
“You’re just taking off? Is this . . . about your dad? Is he all right?”
“Yeah. Just some, you know, family drama.” Sam replied.
“Your brother said he was on a . . . hunting trip.” Buffy was trying to be stealthy, waiting for Sam to slip up.
“Yeah . . . just deer hunting at the cabin. He’s probably got Jim, Jack, and Jose up there with him. I’m just going to bring him back.”
“Buffy crossed her arms. “What about the interview?” The interview had been all Sam had talked about. Wolfram & Hart were big business in the law world.
“I’ll make the interview,” he answered gruffly.
“Sam -“ Buffy intoned, “I mean, please.” Sam stopped moving about the room and turned to face her. “Just stop for a minute. You sure you’re okay?”
Sam gave a little laugh. “I’m fine,” he insisted.
Buffy pushed. “It’s just . . . you never talk about your family, and now you’re taking off in the middle of the night to spend the weekend with them? And with Monday coming up, which is kind of a big deal?”
Sam walked over to her and rubbed her shoulder. “Everything’s going to be okay. I’ll be back in time for the interview. I promise.” Distracted, he kissed her cheek and left.
Petulant and grumbling, Buffy mumbled, “well at least you could have told me where you’re going.”
The weekend without Sam was pretty much like any other weekend. Xander got fired from his job for eating too much of the pizza, Willow learned another spell, and Giles said he’d look further into hunters and what they do. They decided to keep Sam’s possible affiliation from the others until he got back or until they uncovered his true family history. The cattle deaths and crop failures were still a mystery, and no Cha-lek demons to be found. Buffy spent Saturday night at her mom’s eating a home cooked meal and watching a classic movie on television. When Joyce asked how she and Sam were doing (and wasn’t he just a lovely boy?), Buffy gave a half answer about everything being fine, changing the subject to the interview Sam had on Monday.
Sam never called.
Sunday rolled around, and Buffy was looking forwards to a quiet night watching movies with Willow and Xander in their dorm room. They went out for ice cream in the afternoon, watching Xander down a whole four scoops to Buffy and Willow’s more temperate two, and as they walked home Buffy mentioned she had to swing by Sam’s to pick up a DVD she left there. She used her key to get into the complex, and climbed the stairs to Sam’s apartment, followed by Willow and Xander., who stayed outside while she entered the apartment. When she let herself in, she noticed the cool temperature, but put it off as someone leaving the air conditioning on. The sun was setting behind the billowing curtains that covered the large picture window in the living room, filling the main area of the apartment in shadow. There was a thump from the kitchen, and that was the first thing that got her slayer senses tingling. Reaching for a mop from the broom closet that had been left open, Buffy inched her way to the kitchen, preparing to use the cleaning tool as a weapon if needed.
The silhouette of a tall man stood in the center of the kitchen with his back towards her. “Sam?” Buffy asked cautiously. When the man didn’t answer she raised her weapon in defense, and watched as he turned around to look at her. He was an average looking man, a bit tall, with a smugly menacing expression on his face. It was his eyes, however, that Buffy noticed the most. Glowing yellow, and clearly not human. He raised his hand towards her, and Buffy was only able to shout a quick “Will! Xand!” before the man’s power forced her against the wall, choking her. Buffy dropped the mop and clawed at her neck, trying to open her air tract.
Willow and Xander rushed into the kitchen. Willow quickly assessed the situation, and she shouted in incantation in Latin while stretching her hand towards the demon. Her eyes went black, and power surged from her fingertips. Xander immediately went to help Buffy, who had slumped to the floor as soon as Willow’s power distracted the yellow-eyed demon and he had released her.
The yellow-eyed demon and Willow met in a battle of wills as Willow matched him spell for spell. Fire blasted out of the demon’s fingers, leaving scorchmarks on the ceiling and smoke enough to turn the sprinklers on in the apartment He was so engrossed with his clash with Willow that he forgot about Buffy and Xander. Buffy had regained her mop, and was coming up behind him with it. A quick blow to the head, one to the lower back and one to the back of the knees had the demon falling to the ground, interrupting his fight with Willow and giving her the upper hand. She quickly said the words to bind the demon, then instructed Xander and Buffy to get some salt to draw a ring around him. Within moments, the yellow-eyed demon was subdued. Buffy dragged a chair to the center of the room, found a rope under the kitchen sink (and why would Sam have a rope under his kitchen sink unless he was something different?), and hauled the demon onto the chair while Xander ringed the now wet floor with salt. She tied the unconscious demon to the chair, physically binding him as well as supernaturally.
“Will it still work if the salt’s wet?” Xander asked as he saw to his task.
“Salt is salt,” Willow said. “Should keep him bound for a while, until we get Giles over here to figure out what he is.”
Buffy made the call to Giles, and he arrived shortly after, axe and books in tow. Buffy stood menacingly over the unconscious demon with the axe while Willow and Giles sat at Sam’s kitchen table and poured over the demon compendiums he had brought.
“Yellow-eyed demon . . . Azazel . . . king of Hell . . .” Giles was mumbling when the still-loose door to the apartment shifted open. Sam entered slowly, followed by Dean, who both looked flabbergasted at the scene before them.
“Um . . . Buffy?” Sam asked.
“I’m a slayer, Sam. How ‘bout you? You want to explain what Azazel, King of Hell is doing in your kitchen? And how ‘bout you tell me what your daddy really does. Oh, and I want to hear all about this “hunting” trip you just went on with your brother!” She was still holding the mop menacingly, and Dean took a step back.
“Um, Buffy . . .” Sam began slowly. “I’ve got a lot to explain . . .”
Buffy settled in for a real humdinger of a story.
Fandom: SPN/BtVS
Characters: Sam Winchester, Buffy Summers
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 3432
Keeping a secret identity while dating Sam Winchester was remarkably easy. He was always sweet, attentive, and he always believed her when she said Willow needed her for some girl time in the middle of the night or if her mom had an emergency she really needed to get to. The same excuses that had once kept Joyce in the dark about her extracurricular activities worked well to keep Sam and slaying completely separate.
He was one of those extremely tall, good looking All-American types that she would have gone after back at Hemery High. In fact, if Buffy weren’t the Chosen One, if she were still the Buffy who was a cheerleader and May Queen, Sam would be the perfect boyfriend. Smart, with a deprecating sense of humor and always ready to listen. And he was charmingly a worrier, always planning ahead and looking for an exit if needed. It got them out of a few awkward conversations at frat parties, at least.
There were a few odd things about quiet, perfect, normal Sam, but Buffy just blew them off and figured she’d been spending too much time on the Hellmouth. So what if he had a collection of crucifixes? It wasn’t like she didn’t have one too. And the thing with always having at least five cartons of salt in the house? Maybe he bought in bulk and liked his food salty. He was a bit uneasy when it came to Willow’s Wicca practices, even if he only thought them to be New Age Earth Mother Granola spirituality and not actual magical witchcraft. That one time he’d gone to the shooting range with Xander as some sort of man camaraderie thing bothered her a little. Xander had said he handled rifles like a pro and could nail a target a hundred feet away with a pistol. When she’d asked about it, Sam wouldn’t meet her eyes. “My dad liked to hunt,” was the only explanation he gave. He’d get silent whenever Kansas or AC/DC came on the jukebox at the Bronze, but soon he was her accommodating, trusting Sammy again, and she’d just forget his behavior in the face of one of his boyish smiles.
He never talked much about his family. She knew his mom had died when he was a baby, that he had an older brother somewhere, and that their dad had moved them all over the Midwest for work. He never said what kind of work his dad did, then again, she’d never asked. There was an Uncle Bobby who sent insipid, cliché birthday cards, but that was another unspoken subject. She never liked to say much about her dad, so it didn’t worry her.
Sam Winchester was a closed book. But then again, so was Buffy Summers. And she never was much of a reader anyways, so closed books were nice.
Just like she never pried into his life, he didn’t expect to learn everything there is to know about hers. He was polite to her friends, and fit into the group dynamic well. He could talk classic American rock with Oz, even though he kept on insisting he liked his music post-1979, and he was almost as gifted with computers as Willow, Anya loved to quiz him about property law and assets and other ways the legal system works to ensure people’s monetary gain, and Xander was so thrilled to have another man around that he hung on Sam’s every word like a puppy dog. What Sam made of Giles one could only guess, but his presence among and affiliation with a group of college students was never questioned.
Sam Winchester was the perfect boyfriend for Buffy Summers. The conversation was always light, the kisses were hot, and the dates were normal. No cemeteries, no interruptions by demons or sudden appearances by vampires. Dinner at the local Burger joint and a cheesy romantic comedy usually went off without a hitch, It was as if the Hellmouth had gotten the message that Buffy wanted this relationship to stay normal, and so it behaved itself.
It was an average week in Sunnydale when everything changed. Giles had been hemming and hawing about some recent cattle deaths and crop failures in the ranch and farm lands surrounding Sunnydale. He suspected it was Cha-lek demons, but they rarely ranged south of the Oregon border. Willow was worried about some singer friend of Oz’s that he had been spending a lot of time with, but Buffy reassured her that it was probably nothing. Xander was trying another menial job delivering pizza, and Sam was stressing over an interview he had with a prestigious Los Angeles law firm. They were set to celebrate his high LSAT scores on the weekend, but if Sam could get the summer internship and Wolfram & Hart he could almost guarantee his admission to Stanford Law. Buffy was proud of him, and it was a nice feeling to be proud of the normal accomplishments of one’s boyfriend instead of constantly fearing your boyfriend was going to snap and go on a killing spree.
Trouble came that Friday night. It was Halloween, and Sam and Buffy were returning to his apartment after a night celebrating Sam’s test scores at the Bronze. Sam had refused to dress up, but Buffy had reveled in her one night a year when she didn’t have to patrol. Willow had reassured her that the red and white nurse’s uniform was sexy without being skanky, and Buffy had been pleased when Sam said she looked good. Giles had given her the go ahead to enjoy herself, barring any catastrophes involving magical costumes that turn their wearers into demons or damsels. Even though Sam hadn’t dressed up for the night, he was in good spirits, and Buffy couldn’t stop smiling all evening. They acted like your average college students out for a night on the town, and Buffy grinned as Sam downed another celebratory shot. They left the Bronze a bit early, leaving Willow to clean up the mess Xander had made of his Tarzan costume during a failed attempt at a keg stand. She and Sam planned on going to Sam’s place for a nightcap and some smoochies, both jovial in the theme of the night.
Buffy fell asleep at Sam’s place, as she did sometimes, but her usual peaceful slumber was interrupted by the slow mumble of men’s voices. Sam was out of bed, and tiptoed towards the kitchen where she could hear the muffled sounds of two men grappling.
“Whoa, easy tiger,” one of them, a stranger, said teasingly.
“Dean?” Asked Sam. The other man laughed. “You scared the crap out of me!”
“That’s because you’re out of practice.”
Buffy heard the blunt sound of a fist hitting flesh, and the other man, Dean, grunted. “Or not,” he added as a sidenote. She could hear the two men roll up on to their feet. It was obvious Sam knew the intruder, but she didn’t want to show her presence until she knew exactly who he was.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Asked Sam.
“Well, I was looking for a beer,” Dean answered somewhat sheepishly.
There was a slight pause of unspoken communication between the two men, and Buffy couldn’t see what was going on from her vantage point in the hallway.
“What the hell are you doing here,” Sam asked, incredulous.
“We gotta talk.”
“Uh, the phone?”
“If I’d’a called, would you have picked up?”
Buffy was getting annoyed with the two men. She was the one usually involved in clandestine conversation, not her Sammy. She stepped forwards and flipped the light on, glaring sternly at both men.
“Sam?” she asked, assessing Dean in a long look even as he assessed her.
“Buffy? Oh, Dean. This is my girlfriend, Buffy. She goes to UC Sunnydale too.” Dean’s leer put Buffy off, and she crossed her arms around her chest.
“Dean? Your brother Dean?” Buffy asked, looking from Sam to Dean with suspicion.
“Yummy sushi. Cute PJ’s” Dean said appreciatively.
Buffy raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m gonna go put on some clothes,” she said, turning back towards the bedroom.
“No, no, wouldn’t dream of it, seriously,” Dean said, then turned back to Sam. “I just gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business.” He didn’t take his eyes from Buffy. “But, uh, nice meeting you.”
Sam walked over to Buffy and put an arm around her. As always, she felt safe and tiny in his arms. “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Buffy,” he told Dean.
Dean turned and looked them both straight in the eye.
“Dad hasn’t been home in a few days,” Dean stated.
“So he’s working overtime in a Miller Time shift. He’ll stumble back in sooner or later.” Sam answered.
Dean ducked his head, then looked up at Sam. “Dad’s on a hunting trip. And he hasn’t been home in a few days.”
Sam’s expression stayed stony, while Buffy looked from brother to brother.
“Buffy,” Sam said, never taking his eyes off Dean, “excuse us. We have to go outside.”
As Sam and Dean shuffled out the apartment door, Buffy rolled her eyes. It was this same secretive manly bullshit that drove her crazy when Angel did it. This was supposed to be Sam. Her safe, normal boyfriend. He wasn’t supposed to have dark family memories or late night cabals with his brother. Ignoring propriety and using the snooping skills that always came in handy in slayer situations, Buffy put her ear to the door and listened.
“I mean, come on,” Buffy heard Sam exclaim. “You can’t just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you.”
“You’re not hearing me, Sammy. Dad’s missing. I need you to help me find him.”
“You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil’s gates in Clifton? He was missing then too. He’s always missing, and he’s always fine,” Sam stated Buffy’s eyes widened. Poltergeist? Devil’s gate? These were the terms of her trade, not some random experiences of her normal Midwestern boyfriend. What was going on here? It sounded Hellmouth-y.
“Not for this long,” Dean answered Sam. “Are you coming with me or are you gonna continue playing house with University Barbie . . . and on the Hellmouth for chrissakes, Sam! Couldn’t you have picked a dumber place to go to school?”
Buffy was now on alert. They knew about the Hellmouth. She tiptoed over to the phone and quietly started to dial Giles.
Giles answered the phone, and Buffy immediately started quizzing him. “Why would civilians who go on hunting trips know about the Hellmouth?” she hissed into the phone.
“Good evening, Buffy. How are you doing at - ahem, three in the morning?”
Buffy didn’t have time for Giles’ Britishness. “Sam’s brother Dean rolled into town, and now they’re talking about poltergeists and Devil’s gates. This is specialized information! Why would my nice, normal Sammy know about poltergeists and Devil’s gates?”
“Buffy, I don’t seem to understand the situation. What was it you said Sam’s last name was?”
“Winchester. Sam Winchester. From Kansas. Who knows about poltergeists and Devil’s gates and the Hellmouth! This is my Sammy here, Giles! What’s going on?”
Giles sounded as if he was mulling something over in his mind. “Winchester . . . Winchester . . . ah! If I recall correctly, John Winchester is a hunter of some repute.”
“Hunter? And what is a hunter, Giles? And what do they . . . well, hunt?”
Giles sighed audibly over the phone. “Well, I’ve never seen the need to explain it to you since you are so capable of overseeing the Hellmouth, and after all they are all rogue, but then again they have been known to form an alliance with the council on occaision . . .”
Buffy grumbled over Giles’ thinking out loud. “Hunters, Giles! What are Hunters?”
“Well, Buffy, it seems that in America there is a breed of demon fighter that call themselves hunters. Hunters are a very unofficial group; there’s no society or organization to them, they’re mostly vigilantes working to rid the world of demons as much as they can considering they only have lore and shotguns filled with rock salt.” He snorted derisively. “They’re somewhat successful at taking out demon threats in America’s heartland, mostly small stuff that doesn’t concern the council. And their lifespan is very short. John Winchester is a hunter of some repute; though there’s not much known about him in the council records. He is known to have two sons who should be adults by now, and perhaps that’s where your Sam and his brother come in. It appears your boyfriend is a Hunter.”
Buffy gaped. “No he isn’t! He’s my lovable quiet nerdy Sammy! He’s not some supernatural hunter! He wants to be a lawyer!”
“Well, if it is the same Winchesters, Buffy, I’m afraid he just might be. He was always very proficient with the Latin required to read law, wasn’t he? And you’ve mentioned the salt thing a couple times. This Sam Winchester may be the son of John Winchester, which means he grew up hunting the supernatural.”
“No!” Buffy whined. “He’s supposed to be my normal boyfriend! All I wanted was a normal boyfriend. All I - he’s coming back. I’ll call you back Giles.”
Sam stumbled through the apartment door, clearly perturbed. He ignored Buffy and went straight to packing a duffle.
Buffy, now suspicious, glanced at him.
“You’re just taking off? Is this . . . about your dad? Is he all right?”
“Yeah. Just some, you know, family drama.” Sam replied.
“Your brother said he was on a . . . hunting trip.” Buffy was trying to be stealthy, waiting for Sam to slip up.
“Yeah . . . just deer hunting at the cabin. He’s probably got Jim, Jack, and Jose up there with him. I’m just going to bring him back.”
“Buffy crossed her arms. “What about the interview?” The interview had been all Sam had talked about. Wolfram & Hart were big business in the law world.
“I’ll make the interview,” he answered gruffly.
“Sam -“ Buffy intoned, “I mean, please.” Sam stopped moving about the room and turned to face her. “Just stop for a minute. You sure you’re okay?”
Sam gave a little laugh. “I’m fine,” he insisted.
Buffy pushed. “It’s just . . . you never talk about your family, and now you’re taking off in the middle of the night to spend the weekend with them? And with Monday coming up, which is kind of a big deal?”
Sam walked over to her and rubbed her shoulder. “Everything’s going to be okay. I’ll be back in time for the interview. I promise.” Distracted, he kissed her cheek and left.
Petulant and grumbling, Buffy mumbled, “well at least you could have told me where you’re going.”
The weekend without Sam was pretty much like any other weekend. Xander got fired from his job for eating too much of the pizza, Willow learned another spell, and Giles said he’d look further into hunters and what they do. They decided to keep Sam’s possible affiliation from the others until he got back or until they uncovered his true family history. The cattle deaths and crop failures were still a mystery, and no Cha-lek demons to be found. Buffy spent Saturday night at her mom’s eating a home cooked meal and watching a classic movie on television. When Joyce asked how she and Sam were doing (and wasn’t he just a lovely boy?), Buffy gave a half answer about everything being fine, changing the subject to the interview Sam had on Monday.
Sam never called.
Sunday rolled around, and Buffy was looking forwards to a quiet night watching movies with Willow and Xander in their dorm room. They went out for ice cream in the afternoon, watching Xander down a whole four scoops to Buffy and Willow’s more temperate two, and as they walked home Buffy mentioned she had to swing by Sam’s to pick up a DVD she left there. She used her key to get into the complex, and climbed the stairs to Sam’s apartment, followed by Willow and Xander., who stayed outside while she entered the apartment. When she let herself in, she noticed the cool temperature, but put it off as someone leaving the air conditioning on. The sun was setting behind the billowing curtains that covered the large picture window in the living room, filling the main area of the apartment in shadow. There was a thump from the kitchen, and that was the first thing that got her slayer senses tingling. Reaching for a mop from the broom closet that had been left open, Buffy inched her way to the kitchen, preparing to use the cleaning tool as a weapon if needed.
The silhouette of a tall man stood in the center of the kitchen with his back towards her. “Sam?” Buffy asked cautiously. When the man didn’t answer she raised her weapon in defense, and watched as he turned around to look at her. He was an average looking man, a bit tall, with a smugly menacing expression on his face. It was his eyes, however, that Buffy noticed the most. Glowing yellow, and clearly not human. He raised his hand towards her, and Buffy was only able to shout a quick “Will! Xand!” before the man’s power forced her against the wall, choking her. Buffy dropped the mop and clawed at her neck, trying to open her air tract.
Willow and Xander rushed into the kitchen. Willow quickly assessed the situation, and she shouted in incantation in Latin while stretching her hand towards the demon. Her eyes went black, and power surged from her fingertips. Xander immediately went to help Buffy, who had slumped to the floor as soon as Willow’s power distracted the yellow-eyed demon and he had released her.
The yellow-eyed demon and Willow met in a battle of wills as Willow matched him spell for spell. Fire blasted out of the demon’s fingers, leaving scorchmarks on the ceiling and smoke enough to turn the sprinklers on in the apartment He was so engrossed with his clash with Willow that he forgot about Buffy and Xander. Buffy had regained her mop, and was coming up behind him with it. A quick blow to the head, one to the lower back and one to the back of the knees had the demon falling to the ground, interrupting his fight with Willow and giving her the upper hand. She quickly said the words to bind the demon, then instructed Xander and Buffy to get some salt to draw a ring around him. Within moments, the yellow-eyed demon was subdued. Buffy dragged a chair to the center of the room, found a rope under the kitchen sink (and why would Sam have a rope under his kitchen sink unless he was something different?), and hauled the demon onto the chair while Xander ringed the now wet floor with salt. She tied the unconscious demon to the chair, physically binding him as well as supernaturally.
“Will it still work if the salt’s wet?” Xander asked as he saw to his task.
“Salt is salt,” Willow said. “Should keep him bound for a while, until we get Giles over here to figure out what he is.”
Buffy made the call to Giles, and he arrived shortly after, axe and books in tow. Buffy stood menacingly over the unconscious demon with the axe while Willow and Giles sat at Sam’s kitchen table and poured over the demon compendiums he had brought.
“Yellow-eyed demon . . . Azazel . . . king of Hell . . .” Giles was mumbling when the still-loose door to the apartment shifted open. Sam entered slowly, followed by Dean, who both looked flabbergasted at the scene before them.
“Um . . . Buffy?” Sam asked.
“I’m a slayer, Sam. How ‘bout you? You want to explain what Azazel, King of Hell is doing in your kitchen? And how ‘bout you tell me what your daddy really does. Oh, and I want to hear all about this “hunting” trip you just went on with your brother!” She was still holding the mop menacingly, and Dean took a step back.
“Um, Buffy . . .” Sam began slowly. “I’ve got a lot to explain . . .”
Buffy settled in for a real humdinger of a story.