Popping My Fanfic cherry..
So. I did it. I wrote something, and I'm posting it.
It hasn't been beta-read, because if I don't post it now, I'll talk myself out of ever letting anyone see it.Here goes
Unexpected Reunion- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Timeline: A year after NFA- with no season 8 comics
Unexpected Reunion
He's learnt in life to expect the unexpected, and as he turns the corner into the dark alley, he's glad of the lesson. The vamp has the girl pinned against the dirty wall. He's got her by the shirt front, and he's smiling at her. His fangs ready and eager for the kill. He sighs wearily and removes the stake from inside his jacket. He steps up behind the vamp and pulls him away from the girl, throwing him to the other side of the alley.
The demon is pissed, and growls at him. He raises the stake in warning, hoping it'll scare him off, but it's already running towards him. He's bracing himself for the fight when the girls voice stops them both dead in their tracks.
"Hey! Helpless girl over here!”
He rolls his eyes as the vampire rushes back towards the girl. The dumb ones always go for the easy target. He says as much out loud, and that makes the vamp angry. Apparently it also makes the girl angry
“Easy target?? Easy target??” she's shrieking now. “I'll show you easy target!”
Okay, maybe not exactly angry. There was just enough glee in her voice that it has him wondering what exactly he's walked into here.
The girl's brandishing a sword - and where the hell was she hiding that?? She's got the vamp on the defensive; he's lashing out blindly to avoid the blade, and none of his kicks are on target. She brings the sword down; and as he jumps out of the way, she spins around quickly, kicking him fiercely in the Oh Ouch. He winces in sympathy before he realises just how ridiculously misplaced it is.
The vampire goes down for a minute, and the girls suddenly behind him, holding him by the collar. Its a strange scene. A shadowy slip of a girl holding a vamp in one hand, and a sword in the other. Mentally, he's adding flames to the sword. It makes a nice picture.
She looks up at him in a distracted sort of way. He can barely make her out in the darkened alley
“You run"
It not a request, its an order, and now he's the one that's pissed. Five years he's been fighting demons. Five years. Yeah, so she's a Slayer-he's kind of figured that much out, but he's not running away like some scared little kid. Not anymore
“No.You run”
As he says it, he's wishing he'd just turned around and walked away. She drops her hold on the vampires collar.
“Fine, you wanna play it that way”
He watches her walk back towards the wall, leaning against it casually. She lets her grip loosen on the sword and addresses her next words to the confused looking vamp
“There you go. Your easy target”
He can almost hear the smile in her voice, but then he's too busy fighting off the snarling demon. Kick, punch, dodge. Kick, punch, dodge. He's holding his own. He's going to fight the vamp, dust it, and walk away. Got nothing to prove here.
They're dancing around the alley now. Kick, punch,kick -gotta mix it up a bit, and the slayers paying a little more attention now. He hammers the vampire with that six-punch combo he's been working on. Its effective. He's not showing off for the slayer, but he idly wonders if he can somehow work a wall flip into the fight.
The vamp decides he's had enough and makes a break for it. The slayer steps back into the fight from behind.. They've got the vamp and about ten metres between them. They both move in at the same time. She takes off its head with the sword, as he rams his stake straight through its heart.
Finally, he gets a good look at her.
“Buffy??”
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Her face is a mask of cool indifference, which is kind of hard to keep up, because really? All she wants to do is pout. The local vamps have been keeping well out of her way, and she'd had to resort to the old 'bait and stake' routine to reel them in. All that work, and some 'big with the karate moves' guy had to come in and spoil her fun.
With the dust settling between them, she looks him over. He's kind of cute, what with the boyishly floppy hair, and the sexy half-beard-half-stubble thing he's got going on. She notices the fine lines around his eyes Ooh...pretty eyes.
She shakes herself mentally, no matter how charmingly attractive he seems, he's ruined her fun. Finally the pout breaks through
“Buffy??”
She hears his voice. His voice saying her name. Which he apparently knows. That voice is kinda familiar, and what is with that impending sense of dread in her stomach??
Oh God. She closes her eyes. Maybe, when she opens them, he'll be gone, and hopefully all the horribly embarrassing memories he's awoken inside her will go with him. She cracks her eyes open, Or not
She tries to keep her tone as even as possible, but it still comes out dripping with ice
“Parker”
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He was sort of hoping she wouldn't remember him. Judging by the way she spits his name out, its obvious she does. Damn... He shudders, remembering comparing her to toilet seat once. He rubs at his nose.
She's walking out of the alley with her head up. He panics just a little. Now all the pieces are falling into place, he can't just let her walk away.
“Well, this was nice and awkward” she's saying, as she walks past him “Let's never do it again?”
Crap. She's not even looking back. He used to have such a way with words, especially with the ladies. He could talk them into just about anything. And he did. Repeatedly. Now he's scrambling for the right thing to say.
“I was a douche-bag”
That stops her.
“All through college, and possibly before. I was a douche-bag"
She doesn't argue.
“I'm sorry. For treating you the way I did. For not showing you the respect you deserved. I was an asshole”
“You were a poophead!” She's angry, and angry is good. He can work with angry, and at least she's not walking away.
“For weeks, months I agonised over what happened. What did I do wrong? Was I too clingy, was I not clingy enough. All those thoughts, building up. Lets just say it was not fun! All that time I spent trying to figure out where I'd gone wrong, and all along it was you. Not me - You”
Now she's right up in his face
“You. Are. A. Giant. Poop-head”
She's poking his chest in time to her words. Being poked by a Slayer? Ouch
He has to choose his next words carefully. He's well aware that she's not a naive freshman any more.
“Willingly admitting it - I was a giant poop-head. But the important word here is was” he's gesturing back to where they'd dusted the vampire “People change. Sometimes for the better”
He notices the tone of her voice softening. That, added to her curious glances at the stake in his hand, and he knows he's still got a chance.
“Yeah, they do. They really do”
She's nodding to herself now, and he's just about to break the silence when she sticks out her hand with a small smile.
“Hi. I'm Buffy Summers. Vampire Slayer”
He smiles “Parker Abrams. Professor of History by day, Demon Hunter by night”
“That's so lame”
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Somehow they end up patrolling together, but its a bust. He mentions that LA's been quiet since that big thing with Wolfram and Hart last year.
Strangely? She likes this new Parker. Sexy stubble and all. She might be immune to men right about now, but she could still admire the pretties.
They end up in a seedy bar, and after two beers they're talking like old friends. He's telling stories about demon hunting in LA, and she's talking about her slayers. He mentions how much more sense it all makes now, referring uncomfortably to their shared past.. Then he trails off. She knows he's thinking of his former life of douche-baggery, and she's thinking about a fight played out broad daylight years ago.
He quickly changes the subject, talking about his new flatmate. She's happy to play along. She too knows the horrors of house mates, and honestly, mundane conversation is better than that particular walk down memory lane.
“The guy was caught up in the big fight. I found him afterwards, took him home. He's still there. Kind of grows on you after awhile.”
“You took in a total stranger?”
He's nodding, pointing to her beer, and the bar. She shakes her head. Beer still occasionally leads to badness.
“He's not a total stranger. Met him once or twice in Sunnydale. He wasn't my biggest fan. Apparently I hurt someone he loved” she notices the frown on his face “But you know, people change. We worked through our issues. There was some punching involved”
“Bonding through violence? That's not really a conventional start”
“Neither of us are much for the conventional”
She just nods. She's never been much for it either. That, and normal. She snorts. Now she's thinking about Angel.
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“So he just expects you to drop everything and go be with him?”
Buffy's nodding. They've left the bar behind, but the conversation hasn't stopped. He'd been surprised when she'd opened up. Surprised, and curious.
“But he was human. It could have worked”
She's silent for awhile, and he hopes he hasn't pushed too much.
“No” she says it with a wistful kind of sigh. Then he's completely lost. She's talking about cookies, and baking, and not being done yet. Then she says in a kind of faraway voice
“You know, in England they don't call them cookies. They're biscuits”
She's stopped walking
“I think I was supposed to be biscuits all along, but I couldn't see that because of the cookies. Stupid cookies...... Stupid cookies and their stupid....” She realises she's ranting and she trails off “frosting..... Anyway. I left my biscuits in the oven too long, and now they're all burnt up”
She starts walking again, and he's left behind. Confused would be an understatement. Okay, so he almost gets what she's talking about - but why would burnt biscuits make her so.........sad?
“But aren't biscuits and cookies the same thing?” he's asking as he hurries to catch up
She turns to him, walking backwards as she speaks “No! They're not the same at all!! Anyway, its a stupid analogy”
He's not going to disagree with that. “So what brought you to LA?” he wonders aloud, knowing for a fact she hasn't been back in the US since Sunnydale collapsed
“Gut feeling” she says it without hesitation. “Oh, and Andrew. He kinda pushed. Wanted me to see if anything survived the big battle ”
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She's all for changing the topic. The memories are coming back again, and she's spent two years avoiding this continent in the hopes it would keep them at bay. Less than 24 hours off the plane, one unexpected reunion later, and her thoughts just keep coming back to him.
“So...You've heard about the latest in the long line of my failed relationships. How's not being an asshole working for you?”
He's smiling as he reaches into his pocket. He pulls out his wallet, and flips it open. She studies the picture. Oh...she's pretty. They're sitting together at a bar, stools facing each other. The look on his face says it all
“You're so totally in love with her!” She wants to hear the whole story. He's putting away his wallet with a smile
He's telling her about his new flatmate introducing them. She'd tracked him down, hearing he'd been hurt. She was looking for her boyfriend- missing since battle.
“They were work colleagues, my flatmate and her boyfriend. She thought he might've known what had happened to him”
“Was he okay?”
“Yeah, turns out he got through it okay. Just ran off afterwards. Had something important he said he had to do. Didn't bother telling her, just left it to my flatmate to break the news he wasn't coming back”
Buffy felt a surge of sympathy. That was so not cool! She felt herself frowning. Stupid men.
“Don't worry. The story has a happy ending. He introduced us, and now we're living the happily ever after”
Yay for happy ever after. That was nice. She found herself looking over at Parker. She was glad she'd taken that step and gotten to know the new and improved version. Two years ago, she doubted she'd have been so willing. But he was right “People change” as long as you gave them the chance
“I can be good”
She found herself taking a deep breath, and did what she did best. Next change of subject in 3,2,1..
“Did you fight? In the battle?Angel was kind of vague-ish with the details”
He laughed. He was flattered she thought he was strong enough, or even brave enough to join in, but he was only there after the fact. He told her about the whole city block reduced to rubble, and how he'd picked off a few injured demons here and there. There had been more than a few civilian casualties, but hey, the good guys had won. Right?
She'd nodded at that. She'd never been able to get the whole story out of Angel, just that he'd been the only survivor. Then it was all “Hey look! Heartbeat now” Then Andrew with the tears, and the babbling, which was way weird, because really, he'd only met Angel that once when he'd gone for Dana.
“So, Parker. What makes a regular poop-head turn demon hunter?”
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Okay, see now? Now he was really in the shit. How do you tell the girl who's respect you may just have won back this kind of thing. Really. This was hard. Lie... just lie. He's working on a quick cover story. She elbows him gently. Out of time. The truth spills out “I was at the STD clinic on Main”
She fixes him with a look. “I had a rash” She's looking at him strangely, then her eyes widen, and he sees where she's going
“No, no...it was a long, long time after... us.” and the awkwardness returns “At least a year? Anyway it was a 24 hour place. I went in just after midnight. Didn't really want anyone seeing me”
She's still all wide-eyed
“Anyway, long story short. Vampire attacks, I somehow escaped” he's pulling back his collar, and she's caught sight of the scars.
“I got scared, packed up and moved back home. Did some research, worked out-a lot, and here I am today”
She's still looking at his neck, and what with her experience, she must know how bad it really was
“I was top of my game in Sunnydale. The world was mine and I enjoyed all of it. I had no qualms about who I was. Hell, I even used my fathers death to get laid!! Then this random vamp comes along and it was all gone in a second. He took that life away from me, so I took it back. But I made it something better, made it something more, something worthwhile"
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She gets it now. He's more than the arrogant jerk that made her feel bad about herself years ago. She tells him about Spike. His ghost has been hanging around all night anyway, so maybe its time to let it rest? She talks about the night he found her in the abandoned house. How his words helped her take back what was hers. Before she knows it, she's spilling it all. His last words down in the Hellmouth
“No you don't, but thanks for saying it” How much it still played on her-that he died not believing her
He thanks her for sharing, and they talk about closure. He admits that sometimes, when he thinks back to his bad old days, he's thought about her. Her face when they'd parted ways. She'd looked almost broken.
She assures him she wasn't broken. Maybe a little damaged, but life had a tendency to do that anyway. She was fixing herself. Just like he'd fixed himself.
She finds a smile- just a small one. She tells him about that night, long ago at a frat party
“And that was Spike? With the blonde?”
He's talking about the world working in funny ways. She kind of agrees.
He's looking up at the security door, and asks her in for coffee. Its getting late- actually its getting early. The suns just starting to turn the sky pink. She takes him up on the offer.
They make their way inside, and she's quiet, not wanting to wake the flatmate. She thinks maybe Parkers getting ideas, like the recently loved up do. Single flatmate and single Buffy? She briefly mulls over the idea, well, not the idea of the flatmate, but the idea of having Parker in her life. Surprisingly, she's okay with that.
He's put the kettle on, and is checking the bedrooms. He motions to the steel door in the hallway.
“Johann must be sleeping in the Panic Room. Its sound proof. Good for the loud nights”
Hmm...Johann. Johann and Buffy. Buffy and Johann” Its just not going to work. She looks at the console on wall
“Aren't these usually inside?”
He just shrugs “Its an override. My girlfriend, she's a little...different. We have to lock her up once a month”
“You're dating a werewolf?”
“Is that an issue?” he's got this strange look on his face, like maybe this whole new friendship thing they have going is hanging on her response
She's laughing when she answers “You're talking to the girl who fell in love with two vampires”
Now he's smiling again. Eyes crinkling
“Oh hey, watch this-you're going to love it”
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When it all comes down to it, its almost laughably easy. He's trying hard to stop the wicked smile dying to break free. He beckons her over, till they're both standing right at the door. She looks up at him “What are you doing?”
“Trust me, this'll be fun. He'll go totally ape-shit”
He opens the door, reaching his hand in and flicking the lights on and off rapidly. She looks confused, and that's when he makes his move. He pushes her in, overrides the internal lock and engages the speaker.
“Sorry I lied”
He flicks the speaker off and slides down the wall
“Mission accomplished”
-
She barely has time to think before she's falling into darkness. She hears his words, tinny and hollow through the speaker
“Sorry I lied”
She closes her eyes “God..how could I have been so stupid”
But then there's another voice, and its very very loud, and its very, very angry
“Parker, you sodding wanker. I'm going to rip your bloody head off....”
The voice trails off, then returns. Softer, questioning. Awed
"Buffy?"
And now? Now there's only one thing left to say
“Spike?”