Feel the Silence (FR13)
Feel the Silence
Summary: During her fight with Kathy, Buffy is damaged physically. Joyce sends her away to a relative to recover.
Warning: I don’t know; maybe language and innuendo somewhere along the way.
Timeline: Season 4 ‘Living Conditions’ BtVS; Season 1-2 NCIS.
Challenge: personal request by andiesimmo, altered slightly.
A/N: Some AU-ness, mostly in ‘The Freshman’, but there’s a touch in ‘Living Conditions’…for obvious reasons.
Rating: FR13
Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. NCIS characters belong to Donald Bellisario, Don McGill and CBS Paramount Television. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Prologue: Descending Quiet
Buffy swung at her demonic roommate Kathy in something close to desperation. If only the others had believed her when she said the annoyingly chipper girl was evil. It was bad enough she had to figure out the missing college kids thing on her own, now they don’t even trust her Slayer instincts?
Flashback to ‘The Freshman’…
Buffy looked at Eddie’s room, which had been stripped, and shook her head in disbelief. The note he supposedly wrote shook slightly in her hands.
‘This is too much to handle. I can’t take it anymore. No time to say goodbye! Eddie’
She knew he was having trouble adjusting - just like she was - but leaving? Then she saw what she felt was proof he didn’t leave…at least not of his own freewill. It was his copy of M. Somerset Maugham’s ‘Of Human Bondage’. He never went anywhere without that book. It was his Mr. Pointy, except for not being a weapon.
~~~~~~
Then she went to who she thought was her Watcher for help. Buffy snorted to herself. ‘Some help he was. ‘You haven't described anything that you can't do yourself. You're out of school and I can't always be there to guide you.’ Wasn’t that the description of being a Watcher? It should be like the first rule of Watching!’
Maybe they didn’t expect Slayers to survive until high school graduation. Maybe they didn’t want them to. She thought Giles was different from the others though. Her eyes widened in alarm, was it possible that that wasn’t Giles? Or maybe he’d been brainwashed somehow.
First things first, she needed to find some help. That meant rounding up the Gang.
~~~~~~
Several hours later, Buffy found the flaw in that plan…finding the gang. Willow and Oz were unfindable and Xander was still on his journey across America. Damn, as much as she didn’t want to do this, she may have to call Angel for help. It’s not as if she could call the Council - seeing as how she was worried they were the ones behind Giles’ strange behavior.
Just then, she saw Eddie walking down the path in front of her. She ran to catch up, only to find out that he had been turned. After staking him, she heard a voice call out from the shadows, eerily reminiscent of when she met Spike a couple years back. Except this time it was a female vamp, and she was joined by several other vamps. Still, Buffy kept waiting for Sunday (And people mocked her name? At least she wasn’t named after a day of the week.) to say in a cockney accent, ‘I kill you on Saturday.’
She had to admit, Sunday isn’t a bad fighter for a relatively young vamp. After she got in a couple lucky shots though, Buffy turned the tables on her. “I may be having trouble getting my bearings in college, but one thing I don’t have trouble with? Slaying!” she declared as she buried her stake in Sunday’s unbeating heart.
The other vamps took one look at their leader’s ashes settling on the grass, glanced at each other, then turned to run. The Slayer was only able to take out a couple more before the rest got away. She walked over to the stoner vamp and moved him to a quieter location while she waited for him to wake up. Remembering her interrogation technique when the Master’s followers kidnapped her friends, Buffy unhooked her necklace to dangle it in front of the vamp’s face.
“We can do this the easy way, or the painful. You tell me what I want to know and I’ll make your death relatively easy. You don’t… Have you ever wondered what a cross does to the inside of a vampire’s mouth? No? Well, I happen to know ‘cause I did this before. Let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty,” she warned with menace clear in her voice.
He spilled his guts about the closed fraternity house and how they only picked off the students who looked lost. True to her word, his staking was very easy.
~~~~~~
A short while later, Buffy snuck up to the frat house with her crossbow and a bunch of stakes. Fortunately, there weren’t too many vamps left for her to deal with. Still, she ended up with some semi-serious injuries.
Not wanting to get thrown out of Giles’ again, Buffy made her way back to her house to see if her mom could help her with the cuts she couldn’t handle herself.
~~~~~~
As she was bandaging her daughter, Joyce asked, “Not that I’m complaining, but why didn’t you go to Mr. Giles’ apartment for this? Don’t you have to tell him what happened anyway?”
Deciding to tell her mom the truth about her worries, Buffy started her explanation of what happened earlier that day, “Uh, I think there is something wrong with Giles. He wasn’t acting very Gilesy. I tried to tell him about Eddie going missing and that something weird was happening. He basically told me to handle it myself; that I had to learn not to rely on him so much.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? It means he trusts you to do things on your own. Do you want him to keep treating you like a child?” Joyce had to admit it sounded strange, but maybe he had a good reason.
Buffy pouted as she considered it. “Maybe, but it’s awfully sudden of him. I mean last week he’s all ‘Don’t forget our training and be sure to check in after patrol.’ This week he’s saying he’s there for me, but do it myself. I’m just worried that the Council might have done something to him.”
Joyce conceded that her daughter had a point; that was kind of an abrupt change of attitude on his part. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Well, I couldn’t find Willow or Oz, and Xander’s not back yet, so I think I have to call Angel.” Seeing the flash of anger in her mom’s eyes, Buffy quickly explained, “I know you don’t like him, but he’s the only other person I know that can help. Ironic thing is, this is just the kind of thing I’d ask Giles about.”
Moving to give Buffy a careful hug, Joyce assured her, “Don’t worry, I’m sure that you’ll get this all worked out.”
~~~~~~
As it turned out, Giles had just been having an off day - or that’s how Buffy interpreted his hurried apology. Despite being hurt by his dismissal, she accepted that it was temporary insanity. After all, she didn’t act much better towards him; she acted worse than she did when she found out her dad had a live-in girlfriend. But in a way, it kind of made sense; she relied more on Giles than Hank Summers, so the idea of not being number one in his life was much more frightening.
End of Flashback
Just as the rest of her soul returned to her, the blonde Slayer landed the killing blow. As Kathy died, she emitted a high-pitched wail that made Buffy’s head feel like it was going to explode. When she opened her eyes, she saw that a portal had opened in the floor of her dorm room and Kathy’s body fell through, followed by another demon jumping in after it.
And then there was silence…too much silence.
She brushed it aside for the moment as she tended to her injuries and tried to repair the damage to the room. It wasn’t until the others came bursting into the room to help her that she realized something was terribly wrong. When they tried to explain that they believed her now, she just gave them an odd look.
To their amazement, Buffy ignored their pleas for forgiveness to walk over to the CD player that held the infamous Celine Dion music and turned it on to full blast, causing them all to cover their ears - all except the blonde girl fighting her tears.
Just like that, Buffy Anne Summers, the Vampire Slayer understood the problem. She couldn’t hear, and the demons now had the upper hand. She collapsed to the floor and let the tears break loose. How could she be the Slayer anymore?
A/N: Next…Joyce makes a decision.
Summary: During her fight with Kathy, Buffy is damaged physically. Joyce sends her away to a relative to recover.
Warning: I don’t know; maybe language and innuendo somewhere along the way.
Timeline: Season 4 ‘Living Conditions’ BtVS; Season 1-2 NCIS.
Challenge: personal request by andiesimmo, altered slightly.
A/N: Some AU-ness, mostly in ‘The Freshman’, but there’s a touch in ‘Living Conditions’…for obvious reasons.
Rating: FR13
Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. NCIS characters belong to Donald Bellisario, Don McGill and CBS Paramount Television. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Prologue: Descending Quiet
Buffy swung at her demonic roommate Kathy in something close to desperation. If only the others had believed her when she said the annoyingly chipper girl was evil. It was bad enough she had to figure out the missing college kids thing on her own, now they don’t even trust her Slayer instincts?
Flashback to ‘The Freshman’…
Buffy looked at Eddie’s room, which had been stripped, and shook her head in disbelief. The note he supposedly wrote shook slightly in her hands.
‘This is too much to handle. I can’t take it anymore. No time to say goodbye! Eddie’
She knew he was having trouble adjusting - just like she was - but leaving? Then she saw what she felt was proof he didn’t leave…at least not of his own freewill. It was his copy of M. Somerset Maugham’s ‘Of Human Bondage’. He never went anywhere without that book. It was his Mr. Pointy, except for not being a weapon.
~~~~~~
Then she went to who she thought was her Watcher for help. Buffy snorted to herself. ‘Some help he was. ‘You haven't described anything that you can't do yourself. You're out of school and I can't always be there to guide you.’ Wasn’t that the description of being a Watcher? It should be like the first rule of Watching!’
Maybe they didn’t expect Slayers to survive until high school graduation. Maybe they didn’t want them to. She thought Giles was different from the others though. Her eyes widened in alarm, was it possible that that wasn’t Giles? Or maybe he’d been brainwashed somehow.
First things first, she needed to find some help. That meant rounding up the Gang.
~~~~~~
Several hours later, Buffy found the flaw in that plan…finding the gang. Willow and Oz were unfindable and Xander was still on his journey across America. Damn, as much as she didn’t want to do this, she may have to call Angel for help. It’s not as if she could call the Council - seeing as how she was worried they were the ones behind Giles’ strange behavior.
Just then, she saw Eddie walking down the path in front of her. She ran to catch up, only to find out that he had been turned. After staking him, she heard a voice call out from the shadows, eerily reminiscent of when she met Spike a couple years back. Except this time it was a female vamp, and she was joined by several other vamps. Still, Buffy kept waiting for Sunday (And people mocked her name? At least she wasn’t named after a day of the week.) to say in a cockney accent, ‘I kill you on Saturday.’
She had to admit, Sunday isn’t a bad fighter for a relatively young vamp. After she got in a couple lucky shots though, Buffy turned the tables on her. “I may be having trouble getting my bearings in college, but one thing I don’t have trouble with? Slaying!” she declared as she buried her stake in Sunday’s unbeating heart.
The other vamps took one look at their leader’s ashes settling on the grass, glanced at each other, then turned to run. The Slayer was only able to take out a couple more before the rest got away. She walked over to the stoner vamp and moved him to a quieter location while she waited for him to wake up. Remembering her interrogation technique when the Master’s followers kidnapped her friends, Buffy unhooked her necklace to dangle it in front of the vamp’s face.
“We can do this the easy way, or the painful. You tell me what I want to know and I’ll make your death relatively easy. You don’t… Have you ever wondered what a cross does to the inside of a vampire’s mouth? No? Well, I happen to know ‘cause I did this before. Let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty,” she warned with menace clear in her voice.
He spilled his guts about the closed fraternity house and how they only picked off the students who looked lost. True to her word, his staking was very easy.
~~~~~~
A short while later, Buffy snuck up to the frat house with her crossbow and a bunch of stakes. Fortunately, there weren’t too many vamps left for her to deal with. Still, she ended up with some semi-serious injuries.
Not wanting to get thrown out of Giles’ again, Buffy made her way back to her house to see if her mom could help her with the cuts she couldn’t handle herself.
~~~~~~
As she was bandaging her daughter, Joyce asked, “Not that I’m complaining, but why didn’t you go to Mr. Giles’ apartment for this? Don’t you have to tell him what happened anyway?”
Deciding to tell her mom the truth about her worries, Buffy started her explanation of what happened earlier that day, “Uh, I think there is something wrong with Giles. He wasn’t acting very Gilesy. I tried to tell him about Eddie going missing and that something weird was happening. He basically told me to handle it myself; that I had to learn not to rely on him so much.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? It means he trusts you to do things on your own. Do you want him to keep treating you like a child?” Joyce had to admit it sounded strange, but maybe he had a good reason.
Buffy pouted as she considered it. “Maybe, but it’s awfully sudden of him. I mean last week he’s all ‘Don’t forget our training and be sure to check in after patrol.’ This week he’s saying he’s there for me, but do it myself. I’m just worried that the Council might have done something to him.”
Joyce conceded that her daughter had a point; that was kind of an abrupt change of attitude on his part. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Well, I couldn’t find Willow or Oz, and Xander’s not back yet, so I think I have to call Angel.” Seeing the flash of anger in her mom’s eyes, Buffy quickly explained, “I know you don’t like him, but he’s the only other person I know that can help. Ironic thing is, this is just the kind of thing I’d ask Giles about.”
Moving to give Buffy a careful hug, Joyce assured her, “Don’t worry, I’m sure that you’ll get this all worked out.”
~~~~~~
As it turned out, Giles had just been having an off day - or that’s how Buffy interpreted his hurried apology. Despite being hurt by his dismissal, she accepted that it was temporary insanity. After all, she didn’t act much better towards him; she acted worse than she did when she found out her dad had a live-in girlfriend. But in a way, it kind of made sense; she relied more on Giles than Hank Summers, so the idea of not being number one in his life was much more frightening.
End of Flashback
Just as the rest of her soul returned to her, the blonde Slayer landed the killing blow. As Kathy died, she emitted a high-pitched wail that made Buffy’s head feel like it was going to explode. When she opened her eyes, she saw that a portal had opened in the floor of her dorm room and Kathy’s body fell through, followed by another demon jumping in after it.
And then there was silence…too much silence.
She brushed it aside for the moment as she tended to her injuries and tried to repair the damage to the room. It wasn’t until the others came bursting into the room to help her that she realized something was terribly wrong. When they tried to explain that they believed her now, she just gave them an odd look.
To their amazement, Buffy ignored their pleas for forgiveness to walk over to the CD player that held the infamous Celine Dion music and turned it on to full blast, causing them all to cover their ears - all except the blonde girl fighting her tears.
Just like that, Buffy Anne Summers, the Vampire Slayer understood the problem. She couldn’t hear, and the demons now had the upper hand. She collapsed to the floor and let the tears break loose. How could she be the Slayer anymore?
A/N: Next…Joyce makes a decision.