Aug 15 - A Call for Help (FR-13)
Aug 15 - A Call for Help (FR-13)
Author: mmooch
Chapter Summary: **Part of the 2018 LiveJournal’s Twisted Shorts FaD** challenge. Buffy makes a stop before leaving Sunnydale and it changes everything.
Crossover: Law & Order: SVU
Rating: FR-13
Word count: 1419
Challenge: for the livejournal 2018 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.
Warning: not exactly Joyce or Jenny-friendly, but they aren’t mentioned a lot
Timeline: follow-up to Aug 11 - Lie When Needed; you need to read that to understand
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit characters belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Summers house
May 1998…
Buffy hefted the duffel bag packed with her most prized belongings and quietly made her way down the stairs, out the front door. A quick peek in the living room told her she needn’t have bothered with stealth; her mother was passed out on the couch with an almost empty bottle of schnapps next to her on the end table. Well, that just made her choice to leave easier.
Despite the pain she felt at fighting with her mother last night, Buffy knew that she couldn’t stay with someone who refused to accept the Slayer side of her life. Why her mother-- Joyce pretended like this came out of the blue was something she couldn’t explain. After all, Buffy still had the nightmares of being tied up and drugged for weeks in the institution her parents put her in after Hemery. If it hadn’t been for her uncle, who knows when - or even if - she would have gotten out.
That wasn’t something she wanted to risk happening again. She’d ask Giles to help her get emancipated or put in to his guardianship. The Council had to have some kind of resources to help her with this.
Speaking of Giles, she needed to check on him…see if he was going to make it. After that, she’d leave Sunnydale while she dealt with everything from the past months.
------------------------
Sunnydale Hospital
She headed to the hospital after seeing he wasn’t at his apartment, leaving her bag there so it didn’t slow her down. Carefully checking for guards or the Scoobies, Buffy reached out with her senses to search for her Watcher. This was a relatively new trick she had picked up since her death last year. She found she could search for a particular someone if they had a supernatural ‘ping’ to them. So far it had worked on Oz, Angel, Kendra and Giles.
One night, she had been patrolling with both Angel and Giles, and they had gotten separated. When she looked around for either of them, she suddenly could sense both of them. Buffy quickly located them, then put the new ability aside in her mind until Kendra showed up in town. It was then she started to notice a pattern.
Though, it made her wonder why she could sense Giles, so she asked him more about his background as a Watcher - without explaining why. She liked having this secret. He explained that all Watchers, upon graduation from the academy, were ritually bound to the Slayer-line. In addition, when a Watcher was assigned an active Slayer, he was bound specifically to her. Put in that perspective, Buffy understood why it worked on Giles then.
When Angelus returned, Buffy found out she couldn’t use her ability to track him anymore. Which proved it didn’t work on demons or soulless vamps, but she already had her spidey-sense to deal with them. Who cares if she couldn’t find a specific one. Sure, it would be handy every once in a while - like recently with Angelus - but normally she’d just kill until she got to the one she needed to find.
And she couldn’t pick out Ms. Calendar either - although she hadn’t really tried once she found out that the woman lied to them. Buffy felt bad that the woman was dead and for the pain it put Giles through. However, she still felt betrayed. It didn’t matter if knowing the truth wouldn’t have changed anything. The point was that she wormed her way into their group to spy on Angel.
Plus, there was the whole issue of Ms. Calendar holding Giles’ past against him when Eyghon came around. What was the saying? ‘Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks’? The woman had a bag of rocks on her back when she was busy making Giles feel like crap. But her Watcher cared - maybe even loved - Jenny Calendar, so Buffy had swallowed her anger and resentment for his sake, encouraging him to make amends. Unfortunately it was too late for the couple. Angelus had made sure of that.
After they learned about Oz’s furry condition, Buffy tried it on him, and was happy to find that her ability worked on him. When he was in full wolf mode, she actually could feel him with both her spidey senses and her supernatural radar, the spidey senses being stronger though. Still, she told nobody but her diary about the new weapon in her Slayer arsenal.
It helped her be sure of Giles being at the mansion; better than blindly trusting Spike. Buffy knew that she would have been able to find Giles eventually, but would it have been in time to save his life? Not to mention, Spike was right about fighting all three of them, plus whatever minions they had with them.
------------------------
Finding Giles’ room, Buffy waited until the nurse made her rounds, then slipped in quietly. She bit her lip to keep from crying out at his battered body - at least the parts that were uncovered. It looked like every single finger had been broken. It didn’t surprise the Slayer to feel tears streaming down her cheeks.
This was one of the men she loved most in the world; the first she just killed hours ago because the demon that took control of his body tried to end humanity. The last one who topped the charts was in New York, and she would be going to him soon - if only over the phone.
She couldn’t help herself; Buffy crept over to Giles’ bedside and gently kissed his forehead, whispering, “I love you, Giles. I’m so sorry this happened to you.” Her hand barely brushed over some of his injuries and she forced back the lump in her throat to continue, “I was gonna leave Sunnydale for a while to deal with things, but I can’t leave you like this. It’s my fault he hurt you so much, so I’m gonna go back to your place and wait for you there. It isn’t safe for me to be out right now; the cops think I killed Kendra.”
With that, Buffy kissed him one more time before backtracking out of the room. Her departure was so quick that she missed the fluttering of his eyes and his soft gasp, “Buffy!”
------------------------
Back at Giles’ apartment, Buffy picked up the phone and dialed the number she had memorized years ago…just in case. When she heard her uncle pick up, her voice wavered as she pleaded, “Uncle El? It’s Buffy. I need your help.”
“Buffy, what’s the matter?” Detective Elliot Stabler asked, feeling the urge to get up and race to her side, despite the fact she lived on the other side of the country.
She laughed ruefully, “How much time you got? To start with, the cops want me for murder.”
“What happened?” After listening to her explanation, he felt like cursing. She shouldn’t have run from the cops, but given the circumstances, she didn’t have much of a choice. When he heard that Joyce wasn’t in a position to be helpful at the moment, he knew he’d have to go there. He’d deal with the issue of Angel later - once the murder charges were cleared taken care of. Signaling to Olivia and Captain Cragen that he needed their attention, he told Buffy, “Stay where you are. I’m on my way!”
“Thanks, Uncle El!”
“I love you, Shorty,” he replied huskily, then hung up.
“What’s wrong, Elliot?” Olivia inquired apprehensively. “Is it one of the kids?”
He nodded, “Close, it’s my niece in California, Buffy. Somebody’s trying to pin a murder on her and I’ve got to get out there to help.”
“What about the Stephens case?” Cragen asked. “Don’t you have to testify?”
“I can do that, sir,” Olivia offered quickly.
Cragen figured it would be okay, but suggested, “Check with Novak first. She might have a reason she asked for Stabler. Is there anything we can do?” he asked Elliot.
“Can you ask her if she knows any good criminal lawyers in California?” Elliot requested while he finished locking up his desk. “I’m hoping it won’t come to that, but in case it does…”
Olivia gave him a slight push towards the door, “Go, I’ll call you with the details. If there’s a problem with Novak, I’ll let you know right away.” She knew that with traffic and everything, he wouldn’t be on a plane anytime soon, so she had a while to convince the ADA to let her handle the testimony.
A/N: Not a lot of Elliott in this chapter, but that will change. I’m trying to think what direction I want to go from here.
Author: mmooch
Chapter Summary: **Part of the 2018 LiveJournal’s Twisted Shorts FaD** challenge. Buffy makes a stop before leaving Sunnydale and it changes everything.
Crossover: Law & Order: SVU
Rating: FR-13
Word count: 1419
Challenge: for the livejournal 2018 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.
Warning: not exactly Joyce or Jenny-friendly, but they aren’t mentioned a lot
Timeline: follow-up to Aug 11 - Lie When Needed; you need to read that to understand
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit characters belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Summers house
May 1998…
Buffy hefted the duffel bag packed with her most prized belongings and quietly made her way down the stairs, out the front door. A quick peek in the living room told her she needn’t have bothered with stealth; her mother was passed out on the couch with an almost empty bottle of schnapps next to her on the end table. Well, that just made her choice to leave easier.
Despite the pain she felt at fighting with her mother last night, Buffy knew that she couldn’t stay with someone who refused to accept the Slayer side of her life. Why her mother-- Joyce pretended like this came out of the blue was something she couldn’t explain. After all, Buffy still had the nightmares of being tied up and drugged for weeks in the institution her parents put her in after Hemery. If it hadn’t been for her uncle, who knows when - or even if - she would have gotten out.
That wasn’t something she wanted to risk happening again. She’d ask Giles to help her get emancipated or put in to his guardianship. The Council had to have some kind of resources to help her with this.
Speaking of Giles, she needed to check on him…see if he was going to make it. After that, she’d leave Sunnydale while she dealt with everything from the past months.
------------------------
Sunnydale Hospital
She headed to the hospital after seeing he wasn’t at his apartment, leaving her bag there so it didn’t slow her down. Carefully checking for guards or the Scoobies, Buffy reached out with her senses to search for her Watcher. This was a relatively new trick she had picked up since her death last year. She found she could search for a particular someone if they had a supernatural ‘ping’ to them. So far it had worked on Oz, Angel, Kendra and Giles.
One night, she had been patrolling with both Angel and Giles, and they had gotten separated. When she looked around for either of them, she suddenly could sense both of them. Buffy quickly located them, then put the new ability aside in her mind until Kendra showed up in town. It was then she started to notice a pattern.
Though, it made her wonder why she could sense Giles, so she asked him more about his background as a Watcher - without explaining why. She liked having this secret. He explained that all Watchers, upon graduation from the academy, were ritually bound to the Slayer-line. In addition, when a Watcher was assigned an active Slayer, he was bound specifically to her. Put in that perspective, Buffy understood why it worked on Giles then.
When Angelus returned, Buffy found out she couldn’t use her ability to track him anymore. Which proved it didn’t work on demons or soulless vamps, but she already had her spidey-sense to deal with them. Who cares if she couldn’t find a specific one. Sure, it would be handy every once in a while - like recently with Angelus - but normally she’d just kill until she got to the one she needed to find.
And she couldn’t pick out Ms. Calendar either - although she hadn’t really tried once she found out that the woman lied to them. Buffy felt bad that the woman was dead and for the pain it put Giles through. However, she still felt betrayed. It didn’t matter if knowing the truth wouldn’t have changed anything. The point was that she wormed her way into their group to spy on Angel.
Plus, there was the whole issue of Ms. Calendar holding Giles’ past against him when Eyghon came around. What was the saying? ‘Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks’? The woman had a bag of rocks on her back when she was busy making Giles feel like crap. But her Watcher cared - maybe even loved - Jenny Calendar, so Buffy had swallowed her anger and resentment for his sake, encouraging him to make amends. Unfortunately it was too late for the couple. Angelus had made sure of that.
After they learned about Oz’s furry condition, Buffy tried it on him, and was happy to find that her ability worked on him. When he was in full wolf mode, she actually could feel him with both her spidey senses and her supernatural radar, the spidey senses being stronger though. Still, she told nobody but her diary about the new weapon in her Slayer arsenal.
It helped her be sure of Giles being at the mansion; better than blindly trusting Spike. Buffy knew that she would have been able to find Giles eventually, but would it have been in time to save his life? Not to mention, Spike was right about fighting all three of them, plus whatever minions they had with them.
------------------------
Finding Giles’ room, Buffy waited until the nurse made her rounds, then slipped in quietly. She bit her lip to keep from crying out at his battered body - at least the parts that were uncovered. It looked like every single finger had been broken. It didn’t surprise the Slayer to feel tears streaming down her cheeks.
This was one of the men she loved most in the world; the first she just killed hours ago because the demon that took control of his body tried to end humanity. The last one who topped the charts was in New York, and she would be going to him soon - if only over the phone.
She couldn’t help herself; Buffy crept over to Giles’ bedside and gently kissed his forehead, whispering, “I love you, Giles. I’m so sorry this happened to you.” Her hand barely brushed over some of his injuries and she forced back the lump in her throat to continue, “I was gonna leave Sunnydale for a while to deal with things, but I can’t leave you like this. It’s my fault he hurt you so much, so I’m gonna go back to your place and wait for you there. It isn’t safe for me to be out right now; the cops think I killed Kendra.”
With that, Buffy kissed him one more time before backtracking out of the room. Her departure was so quick that she missed the fluttering of his eyes and his soft gasp, “Buffy!”
------------------------
Back at Giles’ apartment, Buffy picked up the phone and dialed the number she had memorized years ago…just in case. When she heard her uncle pick up, her voice wavered as she pleaded, “Uncle El? It’s Buffy. I need your help.”
“Buffy, what’s the matter?” Detective Elliot Stabler asked, feeling the urge to get up and race to her side, despite the fact she lived on the other side of the country.
She laughed ruefully, “How much time you got? To start with, the cops want me for murder.”
“What happened?” After listening to her explanation, he felt like cursing. She shouldn’t have run from the cops, but given the circumstances, she didn’t have much of a choice. When he heard that Joyce wasn’t in a position to be helpful at the moment, he knew he’d have to go there. He’d deal with the issue of Angel later - once the murder charges were cleared taken care of. Signaling to Olivia and Captain Cragen that he needed their attention, he told Buffy, “Stay where you are. I’m on my way!”
“Thanks, Uncle El!”
“I love you, Shorty,” he replied huskily, then hung up.
“What’s wrong, Elliot?” Olivia inquired apprehensively. “Is it one of the kids?”
He nodded, “Close, it’s my niece in California, Buffy. Somebody’s trying to pin a murder on her and I’ve got to get out there to help.”
“What about the Stephens case?” Cragen asked. “Don’t you have to testify?”
“I can do that, sir,” Olivia offered quickly.
Cragen figured it would be okay, but suggested, “Check with Novak first. She might have a reason she asked for Stabler. Is there anything we can do?” he asked Elliot.
“Can you ask her if she knows any good criminal lawyers in California?” Elliot requested while he finished locking up his desk. “I’m hoping it won’t come to that, but in case it does…”
Olivia gave him a slight push towards the door, “Go, I’ll call you with the details. If there’s a problem with Novak, I’ll let you know right away.” She knew that with traffic and everything, he wouldn’t be on a plane anytime soon, so she had a while to convince the ADA to let her handle the testimony.
A/N: Not a lot of Elliott in this chapter, but that will change. I’m trying to think what direction I want to go from here.