FIC: Distant Relations (2/?) (Buffy/Supernatural)
Yeah...this is the next part of "Distant Relations." Fairly self-explanatory.
*****
I've been working out the timeline issue so that the story aligns and here's what I've come up with: For BtVS the timeline is getting pushed forward so that the Scooby gang are now the proud graduates of the class of 2006. For Supernatural, Sam was born May 2, 1983, Mary is killed the following November, 2. John Winchester and Jessica Harris meet up in April 1987, Xander is born in January 1988. For Supernatural, the episode "Home" took place around January or February, I think, but for the purposes of this fic I'm going to say it took place in mid- to late-April, and 'Asylum' and everything after that episode won't have happened yet, which I guess means this is going to be AU (like a crossover could ever be anything else). For the current date of the fic, May 2006, ages are as follows: Xander, 18; Sam, 23; Dean, 26.
*****
Something strange was going on and Buffy was determined to find out what. It wasn't her slayer senses that were warning her. Those were usually pretty straight forward; something would attack and she would kill it. Unless of course it involved a prophetic slayer dream, in which case, it would be incredibly vague and cryptic and only make sense after the fact, if even then.
No, the 'something strange' that was going on involved her friends. Lately, Willow had been edgy and secretive, sometimes hiding papers or shutting her laptop when Buffy approached. Xander, on the other hand, had been somewhat quiet and withdrawn, but when Buffy asked if anything was wrong, he'd just smile, say he was fine, and crack a joke. That was the trouble with Xander. If something was going on with him that he didn't want you to know about, he hid it behind a mask of smiles and sarcasm that could fool most people.
But Buffy wasn't most people. She'd been friends with Xander and Willow long enough to pick up a thing or two about reading them, and there was definitely something going on with those two. If it were close to her birthday, she might suspect that they were planning a surprise party with they way she sometimes found them whispering to each other and sharing pointed glances when they thought she wasn't looking. But her birthday had already come and gone, much to Buffy's relief.
Her other thought was that Willow and Xander might be venturing into not-just-friends-land again. But after that whole fiasco with Spike, and the kissing, and Cordelia falling through the floor, Willow and Xander had both seemed sure that it was a mistake.
So Buffy didn't think it was that, which left her back at square one where her two best friends were keeping secrets from her. The slayer in her didn't like being kept out of the loop, and the friend in her didn't like it much either. She just hoped it wasn't because they had found a prophecy that said 'the mayor will ascend, and the slayer will die', because, while everything worked out okay the last time that happened, Buffy didn't want to keep pushing her luck.
Buffy sighed and flipped another page in the book she was reading. After classes had ended for the day, the gang had met in the library for a little research. Currently, they were all sitting around the table scouring every book they had for even the slightest mention of the ascension or what it might entail, which basically meant they had digressed to Giles muttering under his breath while periodically cleaning his glasses, Willow and Xander playing 'top this demon', and Buffy pretending to read while plotting how to get the truth out of Xander or Willow.
Buffy figured her best bet was Willow. Willow hated keeping secrets, and if Buffy could just get her alone and apply the right amount of pressure, she was sure she could get Willow to crack. Now she just had to figure out how to get her alone.
"…and it has this paralytic mucus that it excretes from its…oh…ew…never mind," Willow made a face and turned to the next page in her book.
"No, no, check this out," Xander rotated his book and slid it across the table to Willow. "Have you ever seen anything that ugly?"
"Oh, a gwuerlfrawk."
"Bless you," Xander said.
"No, that's the kind of demon it is," Willow told him. "And, yeah, really ugly, but most of the time they take human form."
Xander made a disgusted face. "How does that work? I mean…where do they put all those tentacles?"
"I don't want to know," Willow scanned the page further, "but it says here they're like inventors."
Xander looked uneasy, "If this is the part where you tell me they invented modern television, I don't want to know. I've accepted that demons exist, I'm not ready to accept that they're responsible for late-night TV."
"Actually, they create demons," Giles commented absently as he sifted through the books laid out in front of him.
"So, they're like the Dr. Frankenstein of the demon world?" Xander asked.
"That's actually a very good analogy. They tend to populate the hellmouth and harness its demonic energy to bring their creations to life. Now, where did I put that translated copy of Rickfield's Demonic Phenomena…" Giles mumbled to himself as he stood and left toward his office.
"Think that will be on Mr. Hargrove's biology final?" Xander asked.
"Not likely," Willow told him apologetically.
"See, we need a class on hellmouth 101," Xander suggested. "That way there'd be at least one class I'd be sure to pass." Xander sighed, and closed the book he'd been reading. "And speaking of passing classes, I better go study for that biology final. Nothing would suck more than to survive the apocalypse only to fail all my classes."
Willow closed her book as well and started gathering her things, "I'll walk with you."
Buffy looked up from her book, seeing her chance, "Hey Will? Could you stay a bit longer? I was wonder if you could help me with my French."
Willow looked at her in surprise, "Oh…um…sure." She turned to Xander who had stopped to wait for her, and asked, "Do you want to come over later to work on that math thing?"
Xander stared blankly at her, "What math thing? We don't have any-" Willow gave Xander one of those pointed looks that Buffy was beginning to hate, and whatever she was trying to convey finally dawned on Xander. "Right…that math thing." Xander glanced at Buffy then, and she tried to look nonchalant. "Because I want to pass math too," Xander explained.
Yeah, they're real subtle, Buffy thought.
"Right," Willow added. "I'll see you later then."
Buffy watched Xander leave and waited for the library door to swing shut. She turned to Willow, crossed her arms over her chest, and, deciding to get straight to the chase, bluntly asked, "Okay, what's going on?"
"What?" Willow asked, her eyes widening in panic. "There's nothing, I mean, why would you ask…there's really nothing going on."
Willow's eyes were begging her to believe, but Buffy had developed immunity to Willow-eyes. "I know something's going on. Why are you guys shutting me out?"
Willow's eyes evaded her gaze now. "We're not shutting you out exactly," she pleaded.
"Well, that's what if feels like," Buffy told her. "Why won't you talk to me?"
Willow was starting to get really flustered now; her hands made nervous gestures, "The thing is, I'm not sure if I should say or not. I mean, he didn't say not to say, but I thought if he was going to say, he would say it himself, but since he hasn't said anything, I don't know if should say, you know what I'm saying?"
"Not really," Buffy said, still trying to decipher Willow-speak. "But tell me anyway."
Willow sighed, and her shoulders slumped as some of the anxiety left her, and Buffy knew she had her. "Xander's dad isn't his dad."
"Say again?" Buffy really hoped Xander's dad hadn't been possessed, because those never ended well.
"Xander found out that Mr. Harris isn't his real father," Willow revised.
"Oh," Buffy said and tried not to feel hurt that Xander didn't confide in her too.
Willow must have noticed the expression on her face because she tried to explain on his behalf, "I'm sure the reason he didn't tell wasn't because he didn't want you to know. It's just…with everything that's going on he probably just didn't want to add anything more to the pile."
"Yeah, I guess," Buffy tried to smile convincingly.
But apparently it wasn't very convincing, because Willow's brow furrowed in concern, and she tried again, "Don't feel bad. I'm sure he was going to tell you just as soon as everything with the ascension was over and things calmed down."
"Yeah," Buffy nodded without feeling. It hurt that Xander had been going through something this whole time and had felt he couldn't talk to her about it. She didn't want him thinking that he couldn't depend on her just because an apocalypse had popped up. Buffy tried to muster up another reassuring smile for Willow, and then shrugged, "Well, I should probably get going. I need to check in with my mom and grab some dinner before I go out patrolling tonight."
"Ok," Willow said rather miserably, a guilty, worried expression still twisting her features. "I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure," Buffy agreed, before turning and walking out the library's double doors.
*****
Willow ushered Xander through the front door and up to her room only seconds after he knocked. She'd been fretting since the moment Buffy had left her in the library and by now she was nearly vibrating with agitation.
Xander must have noticed, because the first question out of his mouth was, "Did you not find anything?"
"Huh?" Willow responded, her mind still focused on the earlier confrontation with Buffy. "No, no, I found stuff." Guilt and anxiety were weighing on her so heavily that she just couldn't take it anymore, and she blurted out gracelessly, "Buffy knows."
Xander gave a single, slow nod. "Well, I had planned on telling her eventually anyway. I was just waiting for the right time."
"I'm sorry," Willow apologized. "She figured out something was going on and cornered me after you left. I didn't mean to, it just sort of came out."
"Really, it's okay, Will." Xander smiled, reinforcing his words. "She, ah…she didn't seem upset about it, did she? I mean…about my not telling her?"
"No," Willow said, then added, "well, maybe a little. Nothing got broken, though. That's gotta be a good sign, right?"
"Well, that, or she's saving it till the next time she sees me," Xander worriedly told her.
"Hey," Willow said, placing her hands on her hips. "She shouldn't be mad at you, she should be supporting you," she told him firmly. Willow didn't think Buffy had seemed angry, but sometime the slayer did have a tendency to react rashly and with violent outcomes.
"Ah, I'm sure it'll be fine," Xander waved her off. "I'll try and catch up with her on patrol…talk to her then."
Willow nodded. "Good idea. If there is any pent up anger, she can work out her unresolved feelings on vampires," she told him brightly. She couldn't count the number times she had worked things out with Buffy while Buffy had wailed on vampires or the stray demon or two.
Xander rocked forward putting his weight on his toes before rolling back on to his heels. "So…" the word was stressed a little impatiently.
"Oh!" Willow, realizing he was waiting to hear about the information she'd been able to dig up on his family, started and jumped up to retrieve a file folder from her desk.
They both sat on her bed, and Willow opened the file and sorted through the papers. "Okay," Willow said, gearing up for explanation mode. "I started searching through Kansas records dating back to a few years before you were born and found a John and Mary Winchester living in Lawrence, Kansas." Willow sifted through the pages some more. "I also found Lawrence birth certificates for two boys, Dean and Sam Winchester, born to John and Mary."
Willow handed the papers to Xander, and he stared at them a while before slowly nodding.
Willow pulled out another print-out. "I found this newspaper clipping from November 1983, it writes about Mary Winchester dying in an accidental house fire." She handed the clipping over.
"The search started getting more difficult after that. The trail kind of went cold not long after the fire. It's almost like they disappeared.
"I spread the search out and starting looking for more recent stuff. There was a Sam Winchester registered at Standford-"
"Hey, that's not far from here," Xander said eagerly.
Willow made an apologetic face, "Yeah, but he's not there anymore. And we don't know for sure if he's the same one."
"Right," Xander said, somewhat disheartened. "Was there anything else?"
"Well," Willow bit her lip, not sure whether or not to divulge the next bit of information. "There was also a mention of a Dean Winchester in St. Louis a few months ago." Xander gave her an interested look and she grimaced before saying, "He was killed breaking into a woman's house. The cops suspected him of being connected to a murder as well."
Xander looked really dismayed at that, and Willow jumped in, "But, like I said, we don't for sure that it's the same guy. It could be a completely different Dean Winchester."
Xander didn't look convinced, and instead asked, "Was there anything else on John Winchester?"
Willow shook her head regretfully. "I'm sorry."
Xander shrugged sadly. "That's okay, at least you tried."
"I was thinking though," Willow said, she had an idea and she really wanted to find something positive to tell him. "They lived in Lawrence for quite a while, so there's gotta be someone there who knows where they went."
Willow shuffled through the papers till she found one with an address on it, "This is the address of where they lived in Lawrence. You might be able to get a forwarding address from the real estate company that sold it, or the people that live there now might be able to tell you something. If not, you might ask around town. Someone's bound to know something.
"You said you wanted to go on a tour of the States after graduation. If you ended up in Kansas anyway…" she left the thought hanging.
"Maybe," he said. Xander stared at the address thoughtfully, and Willow could tell he was considering the possibility too. Xander sighed then and began placing the papers back in the file folder. "Buffy's probably out patrolling by now, I should go find her. Mind if I keep these," he gestured to the files.
"Of course," Willow told him, "they're yours."
"Thanks for doing this Will," Xander smiled, but it wasn't as bright as it could have been.
"Anytime," Willow said, as they walked down the stairs to the front door. "I just wish I could have found some more information."
"Hey, at least it's something," Xander conceded as they reached the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you then," Willow said, shutting the door behind him.
*****
I've been working out the timeline issue so that the story aligns and here's what I've come up with: For BtVS the timeline is getting pushed forward so that the Scooby gang are now the proud graduates of the class of 2006. For Supernatural, Sam was born May 2, 1983, Mary is killed the following November, 2. John Winchester and Jessica Harris meet up in April 1987, Xander is born in January 1988. For Supernatural, the episode "Home" took place around January or February, I think, but for the purposes of this fic I'm going to say it took place in mid- to late-April, and 'Asylum' and everything after that episode won't have happened yet, which I guess means this is going to be AU (like a crossover could ever be anything else). For the current date of the fic, May 2006, ages are as follows: Xander, 18; Sam, 23; Dean, 26.
*****
Something strange was going on and Buffy was determined to find out what. It wasn't her slayer senses that were warning her. Those were usually pretty straight forward; something would attack and she would kill it. Unless of course it involved a prophetic slayer dream, in which case, it would be incredibly vague and cryptic and only make sense after the fact, if even then.
No, the 'something strange' that was going on involved her friends. Lately, Willow had been edgy and secretive, sometimes hiding papers or shutting her laptop when Buffy approached. Xander, on the other hand, had been somewhat quiet and withdrawn, but when Buffy asked if anything was wrong, he'd just smile, say he was fine, and crack a joke. That was the trouble with Xander. If something was going on with him that he didn't want you to know about, he hid it behind a mask of smiles and sarcasm that could fool most people.
But Buffy wasn't most people. She'd been friends with Xander and Willow long enough to pick up a thing or two about reading them, and there was definitely something going on with those two. If it were close to her birthday, she might suspect that they were planning a surprise party with they way she sometimes found them whispering to each other and sharing pointed glances when they thought she wasn't looking. But her birthday had already come and gone, much to Buffy's relief.
Her other thought was that Willow and Xander might be venturing into not-just-friends-land again. But after that whole fiasco with Spike, and the kissing, and Cordelia falling through the floor, Willow and Xander had both seemed sure that it was a mistake.
So Buffy didn't think it was that, which left her back at square one where her two best friends were keeping secrets from her. The slayer in her didn't like being kept out of the loop, and the friend in her didn't like it much either. She just hoped it wasn't because they had found a prophecy that said 'the mayor will ascend, and the slayer will die', because, while everything worked out okay the last time that happened, Buffy didn't want to keep pushing her luck.
Buffy sighed and flipped another page in the book she was reading. After classes had ended for the day, the gang had met in the library for a little research. Currently, they were all sitting around the table scouring every book they had for even the slightest mention of the ascension or what it might entail, which basically meant they had digressed to Giles muttering under his breath while periodically cleaning his glasses, Willow and Xander playing 'top this demon', and Buffy pretending to read while plotting how to get the truth out of Xander or Willow.
Buffy figured her best bet was Willow. Willow hated keeping secrets, and if Buffy could just get her alone and apply the right amount of pressure, she was sure she could get Willow to crack. Now she just had to figure out how to get her alone.
"…and it has this paralytic mucus that it excretes from its…oh…ew…never mind," Willow made a face and turned to the next page in her book.
"No, no, check this out," Xander rotated his book and slid it across the table to Willow. "Have you ever seen anything that ugly?"
"Oh, a gwuerlfrawk."
"Bless you," Xander said.
"No, that's the kind of demon it is," Willow told him. "And, yeah, really ugly, but most of the time they take human form."
Xander made a disgusted face. "How does that work? I mean…where do they put all those tentacles?"
"I don't want to know," Willow scanned the page further, "but it says here they're like inventors."
Xander looked uneasy, "If this is the part where you tell me they invented modern television, I don't want to know. I've accepted that demons exist, I'm not ready to accept that they're responsible for late-night TV."
"Actually, they create demons," Giles commented absently as he sifted through the books laid out in front of him.
"So, they're like the Dr. Frankenstein of the demon world?" Xander asked.
"That's actually a very good analogy. They tend to populate the hellmouth and harness its demonic energy to bring their creations to life. Now, where did I put that translated copy of Rickfield's Demonic Phenomena…" Giles mumbled to himself as he stood and left toward his office.
"Think that will be on Mr. Hargrove's biology final?" Xander asked.
"Not likely," Willow told him apologetically.
"See, we need a class on hellmouth 101," Xander suggested. "That way there'd be at least one class I'd be sure to pass." Xander sighed, and closed the book he'd been reading. "And speaking of passing classes, I better go study for that biology final. Nothing would suck more than to survive the apocalypse only to fail all my classes."
Willow closed her book as well and started gathering her things, "I'll walk with you."
Buffy looked up from her book, seeing her chance, "Hey Will? Could you stay a bit longer? I was wonder if you could help me with my French."
Willow looked at her in surprise, "Oh…um…sure." She turned to Xander who had stopped to wait for her, and asked, "Do you want to come over later to work on that math thing?"
Xander stared blankly at her, "What math thing? We don't have any-" Willow gave Xander one of those pointed looks that Buffy was beginning to hate, and whatever she was trying to convey finally dawned on Xander. "Right…that math thing." Xander glanced at Buffy then, and she tried to look nonchalant. "Because I want to pass math too," Xander explained.
Yeah, they're real subtle, Buffy thought.
"Right," Willow added. "I'll see you later then."
Buffy watched Xander leave and waited for the library door to swing shut. She turned to Willow, crossed her arms over her chest, and, deciding to get straight to the chase, bluntly asked, "Okay, what's going on?"
"What?" Willow asked, her eyes widening in panic. "There's nothing, I mean, why would you ask…there's really nothing going on."
Willow's eyes were begging her to believe, but Buffy had developed immunity to Willow-eyes. "I know something's going on. Why are you guys shutting me out?"
Willow's eyes evaded her gaze now. "We're not shutting you out exactly," she pleaded.
"Well, that's what if feels like," Buffy told her. "Why won't you talk to me?"
Willow was starting to get really flustered now; her hands made nervous gestures, "The thing is, I'm not sure if I should say or not. I mean, he didn't say not to say, but I thought if he was going to say, he would say it himself, but since he hasn't said anything, I don't know if should say, you know what I'm saying?"
"Not really," Buffy said, still trying to decipher Willow-speak. "But tell me anyway."
Willow sighed, and her shoulders slumped as some of the anxiety left her, and Buffy knew she had her. "Xander's dad isn't his dad."
"Say again?" Buffy really hoped Xander's dad hadn't been possessed, because those never ended well.
"Xander found out that Mr. Harris isn't his real father," Willow revised.
"Oh," Buffy said and tried not to feel hurt that Xander didn't confide in her too.
Willow must have noticed the expression on her face because she tried to explain on his behalf, "I'm sure the reason he didn't tell wasn't because he didn't want you to know. It's just…with everything that's going on he probably just didn't want to add anything more to the pile."
"Yeah, I guess," Buffy tried to smile convincingly.
But apparently it wasn't very convincing, because Willow's brow furrowed in concern, and she tried again, "Don't feel bad. I'm sure he was going to tell you just as soon as everything with the ascension was over and things calmed down."
"Yeah," Buffy nodded without feeling. It hurt that Xander had been going through something this whole time and had felt he couldn't talk to her about it. She didn't want him thinking that he couldn't depend on her just because an apocalypse had popped up. Buffy tried to muster up another reassuring smile for Willow, and then shrugged, "Well, I should probably get going. I need to check in with my mom and grab some dinner before I go out patrolling tonight."
"Ok," Willow said rather miserably, a guilty, worried expression still twisting her features. "I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure," Buffy agreed, before turning and walking out the library's double doors.
*****
Willow ushered Xander through the front door and up to her room only seconds after he knocked. She'd been fretting since the moment Buffy had left her in the library and by now she was nearly vibrating with agitation.
Xander must have noticed, because the first question out of his mouth was, "Did you not find anything?"
"Huh?" Willow responded, her mind still focused on the earlier confrontation with Buffy. "No, no, I found stuff." Guilt and anxiety were weighing on her so heavily that she just couldn't take it anymore, and she blurted out gracelessly, "Buffy knows."
Xander gave a single, slow nod. "Well, I had planned on telling her eventually anyway. I was just waiting for the right time."
"I'm sorry," Willow apologized. "She figured out something was going on and cornered me after you left. I didn't mean to, it just sort of came out."
"Really, it's okay, Will." Xander smiled, reinforcing his words. "She, ah…she didn't seem upset about it, did she? I mean…about my not telling her?"
"No," Willow said, then added, "well, maybe a little. Nothing got broken, though. That's gotta be a good sign, right?"
"Well, that, or she's saving it till the next time she sees me," Xander worriedly told her.
"Hey," Willow said, placing her hands on her hips. "She shouldn't be mad at you, she should be supporting you," she told him firmly. Willow didn't think Buffy had seemed angry, but sometime the slayer did have a tendency to react rashly and with violent outcomes.
"Ah, I'm sure it'll be fine," Xander waved her off. "I'll try and catch up with her on patrol…talk to her then."
Willow nodded. "Good idea. If there is any pent up anger, she can work out her unresolved feelings on vampires," she told him brightly. She couldn't count the number times she had worked things out with Buffy while Buffy had wailed on vampires or the stray demon or two.
Xander rocked forward putting his weight on his toes before rolling back on to his heels. "So…" the word was stressed a little impatiently.
"Oh!" Willow, realizing he was waiting to hear about the information she'd been able to dig up on his family, started and jumped up to retrieve a file folder from her desk.
They both sat on her bed, and Willow opened the file and sorted through the papers. "Okay," Willow said, gearing up for explanation mode. "I started searching through Kansas records dating back to a few years before you were born and found a John and Mary Winchester living in Lawrence, Kansas." Willow sifted through the pages some more. "I also found Lawrence birth certificates for two boys, Dean and Sam Winchester, born to John and Mary."
Willow handed the papers to Xander, and he stared at them a while before slowly nodding.
Willow pulled out another print-out. "I found this newspaper clipping from November 1983, it writes about Mary Winchester dying in an accidental house fire." She handed the clipping over.
"The search started getting more difficult after that. The trail kind of went cold not long after the fire. It's almost like they disappeared.
"I spread the search out and starting looking for more recent stuff. There was a Sam Winchester registered at Standford-"
"Hey, that's not far from here," Xander said eagerly.
Willow made an apologetic face, "Yeah, but he's not there anymore. And we don't know for sure if he's the same one."
"Right," Xander said, somewhat disheartened. "Was there anything else?"
"Well," Willow bit her lip, not sure whether or not to divulge the next bit of information. "There was also a mention of a Dean Winchester in St. Louis a few months ago." Xander gave her an interested look and she grimaced before saying, "He was killed breaking into a woman's house. The cops suspected him of being connected to a murder as well."
Xander looked really dismayed at that, and Willow jumped in, "But, like I said, we don't for sure that it's the same guy. It could be a completely different Dean Winchester."
Xander didn't look convinced, and instead asked, "Was there anything else on John Winchester?"
Willow shook her head regretfully. "I'm sorry."
Xander shrugged sadly. "That's okay, at least you tried."
"I was thinking though," Willow said, she had an idea and she really wanted to find something positive to tell him. "They lived in Lawrence for quite a while, so there's gotta be someone there who knows where they went."
Willow shuffled through the papers till she found one with an address on it, "This is the address of where they lived in Lawrence. You might be able to get a forwarding address from the real estate company that sold it, or the people that live there now might be able to tell you something. If not, you might ask around town. Someone's bound to know something.
"You said you wanted to go on a tour of the States after graduation. If you ended up in Kansas anyway…" she left the thought hanging.
"Maybe," he said. Xander stared at the address thoughtfully, and Willow could tell he was considering the possibility too. Xander sighed then and began placing the papers back in the file folder. "Buffy's probably out patrolling by now, I should go find her. Mind if I keep these," he gestured to the files.
"Of course," Willow told him, "they're yours."
"Thanks for doing this Will," Xander smiled, but it wasn't as bright as it could have been.
"Anytime," Willow said, as they walked down the stairs to the front door. "I just wish I could have found some more information."
"Hey, at least it's something," Xander conceded as they reached the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you then," Willow said, shutting the door behind him.