FIC: In Another Life (20/22) - BtVS/Numb3rs
Title: In Another Life (20/22+Epilogue)
Author: lyl_devil
Rating: PG-15
Fandom: BtVS, Numb3rs
Pairing: Willow/Don
Beta: strangevisitor7 & kallie_kat
Words: ~49,000
Disclaimer: I don’t own either show. I just like to play in their sandboxes.
Summary: Every action has a consequence and every deal comes with a price. Willow’s life is wiped clean, so she makes a new one for herself in LA.
Master Post
Note: I don’t claim to know anything about magic, medicine or the FBI - what I didn’t pick up from tv and books, I made up.
Part 20
“Hey Giles. Am I on speaker phone?” asked Faith, staring out the window of her hotel room high above the afternoon LA traffic.
“We're all here, Faith.”
“Heya, B. Miss me?”
“Faith, please. Can we discuss the Kennedy situation?” said Giles, and Faith resolved herself to being a good little slayer. The situation was too important for anything less.
“Yeah. Basically, the sitch is she's screwed,” Faith told them. “In the middle of a crowded park yesterday, she full-on tackled this woman to the ground, used her slayer strength to keep her in place, and started trying to kiss her, all the while saying how much she loved and missed her.”
Silence met her statement.
“Hello? Anybody there?” asked Faith, shaking her cell phone.
“Yeah, we're here Faith, we're just a little stunned,” Xander commented. Faith could only guess as to the looks being passed around the conference room back in England.
“You're certain about this?” asked Giles, and Faith could practically see him cleaning his glasses in despair.
“About a dozen witnesses readily stepped forward, including the three cops who pulled their guns to get Kennedy away from this woman.” Faith was deliberately not using Willow's name, because the problem at hand was Kennedy, not the resurrected - sort of - Willow.
“What do you suggest, Faith?” asked Buffy. It was a sign of just how far they'd come when Buffy was relying on Faith's opinion when it came to the younger slayers.
“Normally I'd say 'you do the crime, you do the time', but Kennedy isn't normal.”
“You went to jail,” commented Xander, and if Faith hadn't spent the last year working closely with the man, she would have taken that as an accusation.
“And the only reason I didn't kill anyone while in there, or break out sooner, was because I knew I deserved to be there. Kennedy doesn't see it that way. She's been bucking against us all since she was a wannabe, and it hasn't changed,” Faith told them. “She's turning scary - and not in the way I was.” Faith had spent several hours with Kennedy after Willow and her boy toy left the police station, and hadn’t liked what she’d heard. The name mix-up - ‘Don’ to ‘Dawn’ - was kind of understandable, given that they already had a ‘Dawn’ in their group. But the rest of what Kennedy had had to say - well, Faith’s radar for trouble was pinging loudly in Kennedy’s direction. No matter what Faith tried to tell the girl, the other slayer wouldn’t listen.
Kennedy couldn’t be let loose unsupervised until she got some serious help. She especially couldn’t be let loose in LA.
“Have you talked to some of her former partners?” Faith asked, trying to pull support from every corner she could.
“I have,” admitted Xander, and Faith knew she'd have an ally in him. His tone of voice let her know that he had discovered the same thing she had. “She's been getting wilder, taking more risks, challenging the other slayers at every turn.”
“She's got this entitlement complex about being a slayer, B,” said Faith, trying to explain the vibes Kennedy had been giving off for years. “Like she's Queen of the Hive and everyone's lesser than her. There's a reason I call her 'Her Ladyship’.”
“It hasn't helped that she was in the Battle of Sunnydale - she’s been using that as a status symbol for years,” Xander added. “Last month she almost got Alaina killed in Bucharest - she dived in without proper preparation and dragged Alaina with her. They only survived because Ian ran in after them.”
“How's Alaina doing?” Faith asked quietly, sidetracking the conversation slightly.
“Alaina was put back on rotation this morning, though she's vowing never to work with Kennedy again,” Xander reassured her. “A lot of the other girls are agreeing with her, and every day more girls are coming forward with stories about Kennedy. None of them are good.”
Faith heard a sigh that was distinctly Giles, and knew she'd gotten her point across.
“In any case, we need to get Kennedy back here where we can deal with her,” said Giles after a moment. “As Faith has stated, a normal prison will not hold her. I'll get the Consulate working on an extradition immediately.”
“She's not going to come quietly, or easily, Giles,” said Faith. Though, really, she had no qualms about hog-tying the idiot slayer and sending her back to London in a packing crate.
“What about that ... stuff,” suggested Buffy in a quiet voice, and Faith didn't have to wonder what she was talking about. The sedative designed by the old Council to temporarily relieve a slayer of her powers was the most hated of all the Council's inventions. It unfortunately had its uses, though, mainly in dealing with the few insane slayers they had come across.
In this case, it would be used to transport one petulant slayer back to England.
“Yes, well-I'll have some shipped to you in LA, Faith,” agreed Giles, as uncomfortable with the idea as everyone else.
“Ok, so we'll figure something out on our end while the lawyers and politicians do their thing,” said Buffy. “Is there anything else?”
“Actually,” said Faith, hesitantly. “It's about the woman that Kennedy attacked.”
“What about her?” asked Buffy.
“First, you guys have to promise to listen to me. There's more going on here than just Kennedy, but you have to let me explain, ok?”
“Explain what?”
“Faith? What's going on?”
“The woman that Kennedy attacked - it was Willow,” she said, closing her eyes and preparing to do some fast talking.
“What?” Only Xander spoke, and Faith didn't know if that was good or not.
“Look, I know Kennedy has some insane fixation on Willow, but--”
“What fixation?” asked Buffy. Faith wondered if she really didn't know.
“You haven't noticed that every person Kennedy's been involved with over the last five years has been petite, pale and a red head?” Xander asked, sounding as incredulous as Faith felt. Really? Buffy hadn't noticed?
“Ok, that's just kind of creepy,” replied Buffy.
“Look who's talking, Miss 'I don't date anyone less than a hundred years old',” taunted Xander.
“Faith,” interrupted Giles. “Are you telling us that Kennedy mistakenly thought this woman was Willow and attacked her?”
“No. I'm telling you that this woman 'is' Willow, and that Kennedy attacked her in what she thought was an overly eager and rough reunion,” Faith corrected.
“Faith--”
“Don't tell me I don't know Willow, Giles,” Faith snapped. “I know what she looks and sounds like, and this was her. Just - older and different.”
“Different, how?” asked Xander, and Faith caught the underlying note of him wanting to believe. Xander had been the most devastated when they'd come out of Sunnydale without Willow, and Faith could understand. They'd been friends for years longer than any of the others; at points in their lives their entire identities had been wrapped up in the other.
“She doesn't remember us. Any of us. Or this - our world,” she said, not having to explain what she meant. “Some rescue workers found her on the road outside of Sunnydale a few days after it went all sinkhole. Her first memory is of waking up in the hospital.”
“Oh God.” That was Buffy.
“Are you sure it's her?” asked Xander desperately. “It could be some sick trick to get us to LA and catch us off guard.”
“I can do some more digging, but I had a nice long chat with her and her muscle boy at the police station,” Faith added. “My spidey sense didn’t twig once that entire time.”
“Well, that is something,” conceded Giles. “Please do investigate some more, Faith. To find her alive after five years, and in LA of all places, is too much of a coincidence.”
“I'm just telling you what I saw, ok,” she said, not willing to vouch for this woman to her friends. “I just know that she looks and sounds like Willow. A lot of the little things are the same, but a lot of them are different.”
“There's that word again,” muttered Buffy.
“What's different?” asked Xander.
“Well, she's driving stick again, for one,” Faith said with raunchy glee. “Got herself this gorgeous, hot boy toy with some tight muscles.”
“Faith!” reprimanded Giles, but she could hear Buffy giggle and Xander groan, so she figured her job was done in that regard.
“Look, from what I understand, she woke up with no family, no friends and no memories,” Faith said. “Pulling yourself up out of that takes a lot - it's enough to change a person, even one who knew who they were to start with.”
“So, 'different',” confirmed Xander, finally getting her meaning.
“Yeah.”
“I want to see her,” announced Buffy, surprising no one, least of all Faith.
“Got that covered, B. Boy toy gave me their number while Willow was running all pale-like to the washroom. Said to give him a call if others - not Kennedy - wanted to meet with them,” Faith said. “Couple of restrictions, like public places, no touching unless Willow initiates, that kind of thing.”
“You said Willow was hurt - that Kennedy hurt her,” interrupted Xander, changing the focus of the conversation.
“Yeah. It could have been worse, but it still wasn't pretty.”
“What were her injuries?” asked Giles, his voice turning Head Watcher.
“Mostly bruises and scrapes from what I could see, but she was walking like her ribs hurt. And nobody wears long sleeves in ninety degree LA weather unless they're hiding something. I've come out of apocalypses looking better.”
“Could any of this have been from him? They 'boy toy' I mean?” asked Xander.
“Normally I would say 'maybe', but I get the feeling that if he even tried, Red would be out the door before the apologies could start,” explained Faith. “Also, she'd just come from a visit to her doctor's who swore up and down that less than an hour before the attack, there hadn't been even one bruise on her anywhere.”
“I think this situation requires our personal attention, Buffy. Xander,” announced Giles into the silence.
“Yes. I completely agree, Giles,” said Xander.
“Does this mean we get to use the private jet?” asked Buffy.
Faith was glad Buffy had her priorities straight.
End Part 20
Part 21
Author: lyl_devil
Rating: PG-15
Fandom: BtVS, Numb3rs
Pairing: Willow/Don
Beta: strangevisitor7 & kallie_kat
Words: ~49,000
Disclaimer: I don’t own either show. I just like to play in their sandboxes.
Summary: Every action has a consequence and every deal comes with a price. Willow’s life is wiped clean, so she makes a new one for herself in LA.
Master Post
Note: I don’t claim to know anything about magic, medicine or the FBI - what I didn’t pick up from tv and books, I made up.
Part 20
“Hey Giles. Am I on speaker phone?” asked Faith, staring out the window of her hotel room high above the afternoon LA traffic.
“We're all here, Faith.”
“Heya, B. Miss me?”
“Faith, please. Can we discuss the Kennedy situation?” said Giles, and Faith resolved herself to being a good little slayer. The situation was too important for anything less.
“Yeah. Basically, the sitch is she's screwed,” Faith told them. “In the middle of a crowded park yesterday, she full-on tackled this woman to the ground, used her slayer strength to keep her in place, and started trying to kiss her, all the while saying how much she loved and missed her.”
Silence met her statement.
“Hello? Anybody there?” asked Faith, shaking her cell phone.
“Yeah, we're here Faith, we're just a little stunned,” Xander commented. Faith could only guess as to the looks being passed around the conference room back in England.
“You're certain about this?” asked Giles, and Faith could practically see him cleaning his glasses in despair.
“About a dozen witnesses readily stepped forward, including the three cops who pulled their guns to get Kennedy away from this woman.” Faith was deliberately not using Willow's name, because the problem at hand was Kennedy, not the resurrected - sort of - Willow.
“What do you suggest, Faith?” asked Buffy. It was a sign of just how far they'd come when Buffy was relying on Faith's opinion when it came to the younger slayers.
“Normally I'd say 'you do the crime, you do the time', but Kennedy isn't normal.”
“You went to jail,” commented Xander, and if Faith hadn't spent the last year working closely with the man, she would have taken that as an accusation.
“And the only reason I didn't kill anyone while in there, or break out sooner, was because I knew I deserved to be there. Kennedy doesn't see it that way. She's been bucking against us all since she was a wannabe, and it hasn't changed,” Faith told them. “She's turning scary - and not in the way I was.” Faith had spent several hours with Kennedy after Willow and her boy toy left the police station, and hadn’t liked what she’d heard. The name mix-up - ‘Don’ to ‘Dawn’ - was kind of understandable, given that they already had a ‘Dawn’ in their group. But the rest of what Kennedy had had to say - well, Faith’s radar for trouble was pinging loudly in Kennedy’s direction. No matter what Faith tried to tell the girl, the other slayer wouldn’t listen.
Kennedy couldn’t be let loose unsupervised until she got some serious help. She especially couldn’t be let loose in LA.
“Have you talked to some of her former partners?” Faith asked, trying to pull support from every corner she could.
“I have,” admitted Xander, and Faith knew she'd have an ally in him. His tone of voice let her know that he had discovered the same thing she had. “She's been getting wilder, taking more risks, challenging the other slayers at every turn.”
“She's got this entitlement complex about being a slayer, B,” said Faith, trying to explain the vibes Kennedy had been giving off for years. “Like she's Queen of the Hive and everyone's lesser than her. There's a reason I call her 'Her Ladyship’.”
“It hasn't helped that she was in the Battle of Sunnydale - she’s been using that as a status symbol for years,” Xander added. “Last month she almost got Alaina killed in Bucharest - she dived in without proper preparation and dragged Alaina with her. They only survived because Ian ran in after them.”
“How's Alaina doing?” Faith asked quietly, sidetracking the conversation slightly.
“Alaina was put back on rotation this morning, though she's vowing never to work with Kennedy again,” Xander reassured her. “A lot of the other girls are agreeing with her, and every day more girls are coming forward with stories about Kennedy. None of them are good.”
Faith heard a sigh that was distinctly Giles, and knew she'd gotten her point across.
“In any case, we need to get Kennedy back here where we can deal with her,” said Giles after a moment. “As Faith has stated, a normal prison will not hold her. I'll get the Consulate working on an extradition immediately.”
“She's not going to come quietly, or easily, Giles,” said Faith. Though, really, she had no qualms about hog-tying the idiot slayer and sending her back to London in a packing crate.
“What about that ... stuff,” suggested Buffy in a quiet voice, and Faith didn't have to wonder what she was talking about. The sedative designed by the old Council to temporarily relieve a slayer of her powers was the most hated of all the Council's inventions. It unfortunately had its uses, though, mainly in dealing with the few insane slayers they had come across.
In this case, it would be used to transport one petulant slayer back to England.
“Yes, well-I'll have some shipped to you in LA, Faith,” agreed Giles, as uncomfortable with the idea as everyone else.
“Ok, so we'll figure something out on our end while the lawyers and politicians do their thing,” said Buffy. “Is there anything else?”
“Actually,” said Faith, hesitantly. “It's about the woman that Kennedy attacked.”
“What about her?” asked Buffy.
“First, you guys have to promise to listen to me. There's more going on here than just Kennedy, but you have to let me explain, ok?”
“Explain what?”
“Faith? What's going on?”
“The woman that Kennedy attacked - it was Willow,” she said, closing her eyes and preparing to do some fast talking.
“What?” Only Xander spoke, and Faith didn't know if that was good or not.
“Look, I know Kennedy has some insane fixation on Willow, but--”
“What fixation?” asked Buffy. Faith wondered if she really didn't know.
“You haven't noticed that every person Kennedy's been involved with over the last five years has been petite, pale and a red head?” Xander asked, sounding as incredulous as Faith felt. Really? Buffy hadn't noticed?
“Ok, that's just kind of creepy,” replied Buffy.
“Look who's talking, Miss 'I don't date anyone less than a hundred years old',” taunted Xander.
“Faith,” interrupted Giles. “Are you telling us that Kennedy mistakenly thought this woman was Willow and attacked her?”
“No. I'm telling you that this woman 'is' Willow, and that Kennedy attacked her in what she thought was an overly eager and rough reunion,” Faith corrected.
“Faith--”
“Don't tell me I don't know Willow, Giles,” Faith snapped. “I know what she looks and sounds like, and this was her. Just - older and different.”
“Different, how?” asked Xander, and Faith caught the underlying note of him wanting to believe. Xander had been the most devastated when they'd come out of Sunnydale without Willow, and Faith could understand. They'd been friends for years longer than any of the others; at points in their lives their entire identities had been wrapped up in the other.
“She doesn't remember us. Any of us. Or this - our world,” she said, not having to explain what she meant. “Some rescue workers found her on the road outside of Sunnydale a few days after it went all sinkhole. Her first memory is of waking up in the hospital.”
“Oh God.” That was Buffy.
“Are you sure it's her?” asked Xander desperately. “It could be some sick trick to get us to LA and catch us off guard.”
“I can do some more digging, but I had a nice long chat with her and her muscle boy at the police station,” Faith added. “My spidey sense didn’t twig once that entire time.”
“Well, that is something,” conceded Giles. “Please do investigate some more, Faith. To find her alive after five years, and in LA of all places, is too much of a coincidence.”
“I'm just telling you what I saw, ok,” she said, not willing to vouch for this woman to her friends. “I just know that she looks and sounds like Willow. A lot of the little things are the same, but a lot of them are different.”
“There's that word again,” muttered Buffy.
“What's different?” asked Xander.
“Well, she's driving stick again, for one,” Faith said with raunchy glee. “Got herself this gorgeous, hot boy toy with some tight muscles.”
“Faith!” reprimanded Giles, but she could hear Buffy giggle and Xander groan, so she figured her job was done in that regard.
“Look, from what I understand, she woke up with no family, no friends and no memories,” Faith said. “Pulling yourself up out of that takes a lot - it's enough to change a person, even one who knew who they were to start with.”
“So, 'different',” confirmed Xander, finally getting her meaning.
“Yeah.”
“I want to see her,” announced Buffy, surprising no one, least of all Faith.
“Got that covered, B. Boy toy gave me their number while Willow was running all pale-like to the washroom. Said to give him a call if others - not Kennedy - wanted to meet with them,” Faith said. “Couple of restrictions, like public places, no touching unless Willow initiates, that kind of thing.”
“You said Willow was hurt - that Kennedy hurt her,” interrupted Xander, changing the focus of the conversation.
“Yeah. It could have been worse, but it still wasn't pretty.”
“What were her injuries?” asked Giles, his voice turning Head Watcher.
“Mostly bruises and scrapes from what I could see, but she was walking like her ribs hurt. And nobody wears long sleeves in ninety degree LA weather unless they're hiding something. I've come out of apocalypses looking better.”
“Could any of this have been from him? They 'boy toy' I mean?” asked Xander.
“Normally I would say 'maybe', but I get the feeling that if he even tried, Red would be out the door before the apologies could start,” explained Faith. “Also, she'd just come from a visit to her doctor's who swore up and down that less than an hour before the attack, there hadn't been even one bruise on her anywhere.”
“I think this situation requires our personal attention, Buffy. Xander,” announced Giles into the silence.
“Yes. I completely agree, Giles,” said Xander.
“Does this mean we get to use the private jet?” asked Buffy.
Faith was glad Buffy had her priorities straight.
End Part 20
Part 21