BINGO!!!
Okay, so apparently I have no self control when it comes to taking challenges either but you already knew that about me :P So I decided to combine a few different challenges together - mostly it was just a way for me to complete challenges I might not have otherwise. So, I combined my Schmoop Bingo card with my Xoverland Big Bang and a couple of 7_crossovers theme sets. Then I used a challenge idea I have had my eye on for a while but hadn’t gotten around to writing. Took some rearranging - well, not really rearranging but I did have to plan this one out. Because the idea deserves much more than I can possibly give at this moment, I decided to create a Forgotten Memories ‘verse. You can read the following 25 fics as one fic or as 25 parts of the ‘verse with gaps that I will be filling as time goes on. Mostly because I have a ton of ideas to put in here and will definitely be adding to it. Have a read and let me know what you think of them :D
Sunscreen
Holiday - Meeting The Extended Family
Wedding
Wedding - Shower
Fireworks
Cooking Together
Fair/Carnival
Butterfly Kisses
Pets
Holiday - One Person Sick
First Date
Anniversary - One Partner Sick
WILD CARD
Baby - Adoption
Lazy Sunday
Illness - Shared
Making Out
Reading Aloud
Kid!fic - Vacation
Secret Admirer
Sunburn
Watching The Game
Reunion
Eskimo Kisses
Candles WILD CARD=Bad Day
Challenge issued by chosenfire28 at R66
Okay I have no self control when it comes to making challenges.
After the wreck the PTB’s get off their ass and interfere for a good cause, they send a broken Dean to a certain blonde Slayer.
Now Buffy has to deal with a hot guy with no memories in her apartment and things only get more confusing when he starts patrolling with her and is a pretty damn good decent fighter.
Requirements
7_crossovers - Theme Set #4
Author: SkylarGrace
Fandom: BtVS/SPN1. Eloquent2. Forgive3. Sensual 4. Flavour5. Rose6. Blinded7. DelicateProgress: 7/7
7_crossovers - Theme Set #5
Author: SkylarGrace
Fandom: BtVS/SPN1. Frantic2. Clothing Malfunction3. Hello Ducky 4. Long Fall5. Tackle6. Duck And Roll7. SlipperyProgress: 7/7
7_crossovers - Theme Set #8
Author: SkylarGrace
Fandom: BtVS/SPN1. Dream2. Damsel In Distress3. Castle 4. Magic5. Phoenix6. Supernatural7. WingsProgress: 7/7
Title: Forgotten Memories 'Verse
Author: SkylarGrace
Status: W.I.P
Rating: PG-13
Summary: He's lost all his memories. She's lost direction. By working together, they might just get their lives back.
Spoilers: Set after BtVS and Season One of SPN.
Disclaimer: ‘Supernatural’ and all related characters are copyright Eric Kripke, Kripke Enterprises & The CW Network. No infringement intended. ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and all related characters are copyright Joss Whedon and ME. No infringement intended.
Frantic! | Forgive? | Candles| Remember| Whistle| Phoenix| Family| Flavour| Eloquent| Damsel
Supernatural| Pets| Castle| Slippery| Fireworks| Tackle| Sunburn| Flying| Holidays| Kisses| Date
Wedding| Blind| Reunion| Epilogue?
Frantic!
Sam drove as fast as was safe. He gave a quick glance at his Dad and saw his face scrunched up in pain; in pain but alive. It was Dean he was worried about. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw his brother. He was covered in so much blood and was lying with his head against the window, eyes closed.
“Just hold on, all right? Hospital’s only ten minutes away.” It was more to his brother than his father though it seemed as if his Dad was the only one who was listening.
“I’m surprised at you, Sammy. Why didn’t you kill it? I thought we saw eye to eye on this-killin’ this demon comes first. Before me, before everything.”
Sam glanced in the rearview mirror again and finally understood what Dean had been saying about putting family before revenge.
“No, sir. Not before everything. Look, we still have the Colt. We still have the one bullet left. We just have to start over, all right, I mean, we already found the demon-”
He was cut off as the car was suddenly forced to the side. Glass shattered everywhere, metal crunched and Sam registered that the car had left the road before he let the darkness consume him.
A truck driver stepped down from his eighteen-wheeler, his coal black eyes taking in the sight before him. He stared at the three men lying in the now motionless vehicle, blood and cuts covering every visible inch of their bodies. Like their crushed, almost written-off car, the men were completely still. He smiled. He walked over to the battered car and easily ripped the door off of its hinges - the slight breathing coming from the men inside signalling that the job wasn’t yet complete.
Sam’s eyes flung open as he swam back into consciousness. He ignored the pain trying to force him to retreat back into unconsciousness. His eyes focused on the man standing beside him with the Impala door in his hands. In the back of his mind Sam knew that Dean was gonna be furious when he woke up. Sam raised his hand, the Colt oddly steady within it.
“Get back. Or I’ll kill you, I swear to God.”
The truck driver grinned. “You won’t. You’re saving that bullet for someone else.”
Angrily Sam cocked the Colt. “You wanna bet?”
The truck driver stilled before letting out a loud scream, an enormous plume of black smoke erupting from his mouth and disappearing into the night. He fell to his knees and breathed heavily. Sam lowered the Colt and laid his head back in the seat. He was fighting his body, trying to stay awake so that he could help the only family he had left. The truck driver looked up and saw the twisted metal before him that vaguely resembled an Impala.
“Oh my God.” The truck driver had a stunned expression on his face and looked back up at his truck.
Sam turned to John and lightly shook his shoulder. “Dad?”
“Did I do this?” the truck driver asked. He fumbled in his pocket and produced a mobile phone. He started dialling.
“Dad!” John didn’t move and Sam looked into the backseat instantly feeling his heart in his throat. It was empty.
“Dean? Dean!”
~
A feeling. That’s all it was - a feeling. The toothbrush stopped moving in Buffy’s mouth as her hand stilled and her eyes darted toward her room. She took a careful step backward and craned her neck to look around the corner. Seeing a bloodied figure propped against her bed, Buffy nearly choked on the toothpaste as she noticed his chest rise and fall. Spitting out the toothpaste and leaving her toothbrush on the sink, Buffy moved quickly back into her bedroom and knelt before him.
“Dawn!”
~*~*~*~
Forgive?
Buffy and Dawn moved the man onto her bed and Buffy glanced over him. The presumably once clean shirt was now covered in dust and dirt with patches of blood splattered on it. His jacket had a small tear and he was missing a shoe. Buffy had to hand it to the Powers That Be - when they wanted to do something, they didn’t do it half-way. She shook her head and stood back as Dawn leant over him. Her hand stilled over his chest and she closed her eyes softly. There was a small, bright green light emitting from them that seemed to be settling over his torso. Buffy didn’t turn when the sound of the front door opening broke through the silence and she felt Faith sidle up behind her.
“You beat up every guy you see?”
Buffy rolled her eyes and turned toward Faith’s waiting smirk. “That guy should have kept his hands to himself. Besides, I didn’t do this - he just appeared here.”
“At the door?”
“At my bed. I’m thinking it’s the magnificent PTB’s that are trying to get their butts kicked again.”
Faith’s brow creased in frustration. Dawn gave a hard sigh and turned to face them.
“He’s pretty banged up. I’ve done what I can but I think we should probably take him to the hospital.”
“And say what? Some guy just magically appeared in our apartment. We don’t know anything about him.”
“Look, even if I use your energy and Buffy’s I still can’t guarantee he’s not going to die.”
“He’s not going to die. The PTB’s sent him to us for a reason. Obviously whatever you can do will be enough to save him.”
“What if it’s not? What if they sent him here because they wanted you to take out whatever it is that’s killing him and probably a bunch of other people?! They nev-”
Buffy tuned out the argument and walked slowly over to the man on the bed. When Faith had first walked into their lives, Dawn had gotten along with her better than she did with Buffy. But Dawn seemed to still be smarting a little and even though they got along for the most part now, there was still a bitterness there, directed at the former rogue Slayer who had tried to kill Buffy, that popped up occasionally. Faith had been the one to suggest that they all live in an apartment away from the other Slayers on campus; a way to have down time not strictly related to Slaying. Buffy had been positive that Dawn would refuse but had been surprised when her sister had backed her up and even found a place big enough for the three of them. With Willow weeding out Slayers worldwide and Xander helping Giles out with The Council in England, Faith and Dawn were the only family she had left - aside from Andrew who had stuck around and become surprisingly helpful.
She wondered what Andrew would think of this man lying bloodied and beaten on her bed. Having given himself the title of ‘protector’, he was the first one to suss out any, potential or otherwise, boyfriends milling about the Slayers. Though having no way to actually enforce his opinions, the Slayers seemed to respect him enough, for the most part, and listened to him. It was a little hard to tell but Buffy knew that the man who was ruining her new bedspread was good-looking on a good day and that the Slayers would probably be only too eager to help him.
“Buffy? Buffy?!”
“Huh?”
Her sister’s eyes were wide in frustration. “Tell her he can’t stay here!”
She looked back at him and sighed softly. “We’ll take him down to the school for now.”
“Buffy!”
“Dawn, he clearly needs help and we can’t do that here. Faith’s right, hospital isn’t an option and we have to keep an eye on him - figure out why he’s here.”
“I’ll call Andrew.”
Buffy watched Dawn stomp out of the room and rose an eyebrow in Faith’s direction.
“What? L’il Sis has got to learn to lighten up. Anyway, I’ll take him in - you’re supposed to be on holiday’s this week.”
She sighed. “Apparently the PTB’s don’t understand the meaning of the word. If he’s here, it is for a reason and probably means there’s an apocalypse coming. Give Giles a call and find out if he knows anything and I’ll take Dawn and try and smooth things over.”
“B, if she doesn’t forgive me, there’s nothing’ you can do about it. We’re okay and hopefully L’il Sis and I will be too. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”
She gave her a half smile and turned back to her bed chewing on the inside of her cheek in worry.
~*~*~*~
Candles
Buffy propped his head up delicately on the pale green pillow and found herself wondering just what he had been doing to be attacked so harshly. She was curious to see if he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time or if there was something special about him - something that would cause demons to try and kill him and start an apocalypse. She looked up at Dawn as she lit another candle on the other side of the room. Andrew was ushering girls out of the doorway, closing the door behind him leaving only Buffy and Kennedy in the room with Dawn.
“This gonna work?”
Dawn nodded. “Yeah, I just don’t have enough strength as Willow but if I borrow some of yours and Buffy’s I should be able to heal some of the most serious damage.”
Buffy sat opposite Kennedy at the foot of the bed and looked up at Dawn. “This just like what Willow does?”
“Kinda, except this is more targeted toward my power. Willow draws hers whereas mine is purely from me, from being the Key. Sort of more - wild - than drawing it from, the earth, for example. I’m still not great at this but he doesn’t really have long left so anything is better than nothing.”
Buffy took her sister’s hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze for comfort and reached across for Kennedy’s hand. Kennedy offered it carefully. Things between Kennedy and the Scooby gang had been slightly strained since the breakup between herself and Willow. Kennedy closed her eyes quickly and Buffy took a deep breath. Having energy spindled from you wasn’t painful but it was discomforting and as Dawn’s eyes began moving underneath her eyelids, Buffy closed her eyes.
It was as though she could taste red and yellow was coursing through her veins. She was floating and yet it was as though she’d been running for hours. The air in her lungs left her body suddenly and she gasped, her eyes flying open in shock. Kennedy was standing a little away from them, her chest heaving and her eyes drooping. Dawn looked at her with concern.
“We need to take a break Buffy.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I want to keep going - I wanna know what we’re capable of in case we need to heal one of our own.”
“Buffy, I need a break. I suspect you do too but I’m exhausted and even spindling energy from you isn’t enough. The internal damaged is healed and, for now, the rest is up to him.”
Buffy looked across at him. A bit of the swelling had gone down but he was still sporting bruises and cuts and was caked in blood and dirt. She gave a reluctant nod and glanced at Kennedy.
“Can you get Andrew to set aside a spare set of clothes? This guy’s gonna need to get cleaned up if he’s got any hope of dodging infection.”
Kennedy gave a brief nod and walked out tersely.
“Who do you think he is?”
Buffy shrugged. They’d checked his pockets for any sign of identification. There was no wallet, not even a receipt which could pinpoint a location.
“No idea. We’ll keep an eye on the news reports but I don’t know if he’ll show up - the PTB’s have sent him here for a reason; I just don’t know what it is yet.”
“If it was the PTB’s.”
Buffy frowned and looked back at the unconscious stranger. “Who else could it have been?”
~*~*~*~
Remember
“’Shows marked improvement since treatment began. Is responsive to new people. Still has recurring nightmares and occasionally lashes out during training. Appears more mentally stable than before though further progress is needed before she’s allowed contact with general students.’ Darn!”
“That’s not about you, is it?”
Buffy jumped out of her skin and spun around, the twiggy stick (Slim Jim) in her hand held out before her. She let out a breath when she saw the man before her leaning against the doorframe with a pained look of amusement. Buffy put the food on the report she was holding and placed them both on the counter as she walked toward him.
“You shouldn’t be up. Dawn said you need to heal.”
“Well, I woke in a strange place and thought I’d find out - well, anything. Can’t say I’m too disappointed yet.”
Buffy rolled her eyes and ducked underneath his arm. Taking a portion of his weight she helped him back into the bedroom. He winced as he sat on the edge of the bed and she frowned at the small red patch on is shirt.
“You better not have pulled those stitches! I hate fixing pulled stitches.”
“You my nurse?”
“Hardly.” At seeing the look on his face, she reddened slightly. “I mean, I just know a fair bit about stitching up wounds and Dawn was already busy trying to find all your injuries - besides, she’s a little hesitant when it comes to stitching people up and lots of blood and stuff...”
“So where exactly am I?”
“Cleveland. Ohio. I mean, you’re in our apartment but our apartment is in Cleveland.”
He frowned. “I don’t remember…”
“Well, you were in a bad way so maybe you’ll remember what happened later. Giles said something about swelling and th-“
“No, I mean, I don’t remember anything. At all.”
She sat down beside him with wide eyes. “Not even your name?”
“Dean. But that’s it. I don’t know my last name, where I live, if I have a family…”
Buffy sat still as she searched for something to say. She wanted to tell him he’d remember but she didn’t know if he would. For some reason she didn’t think he’d believe her anyway. She tried to think of something she could do, someone to refer him to for help but that would only lead to more questions from the public. They couldn’t dump him at the hospital now - not that she’d want to; the PTB’s would probably have a heart attack if she ignored them.
She jumped up suddenly, her ponytail whipping around and draping over her shoulder. “Whistler!”
He frowned. “You want me to whistle?”
“No, um, he’s a friend of mine. He could probably help sort this out.”
“He’s not a hypnotist, is he?”
Buffy shook her head. “No, he has - connections. Might be able to tell me where you’re from or who you are.”
“I’ll take almost anything at this point. Give him a call.”
Buffy nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think I might do that….”
~*~*~*~
Whistle
“Are you sure you wanna do this?”
Buffy nodded and closed the bedroom door. Dean was surfing the channels on the television but she didn’t want him to see magic of any sort. Magic had a tendency to freak out regular people and she didn’t have a reasonable explanation for someone suddenly appearing in her apartment. Dawn shuffled her feet nervously.
“I’ve never tried this before Buffy. It might not even work.”
Buffy shoved he trundle bed she was currently sleeping on underneath Dawn and looked up at her sister. “You can do it Dawn. Besides, it’s Whistler. I’ll kick him from here to Timbuktu if he ignores us.”
Dawn gave her a disbelieving look but pulled out a red and green candle. The green one Buffy knew was Dawn’s. It was her colour, a beautiful emerald green, and the other one was presumably supposed to be for calling Whistler. Dawn sat nervously on the floor and Buffy moved toward the door - if anyone was going to come barging in, they’d bump into her first and afford them time. There was a green tinge to the air around Dawn before a bright light almost blinded Buffy. As she lowered her arms, she saw Whistler standing in the middle of the room.
“Come on Kid, it’s my first Sunday off in ages. Day of rest and all that jazz. Couldn’t this wait?”
“No. Some guy just mysteriously appears beaten and bruised in my bedroom - I wanna know who he is and why he’s here!”
Whistler smoothed out his Hawaiian shirt and pulled his hat down further. Walking toward Dawn’s bed, he flopped himself down on it and put his underneath his head.
“You know me - I’d love to help ya out kid, I really would, but the bosses don’t want me to say anything. Just between us, I’m really rootin’ for ya. No matter what keeps getting thrown at ya, you seem determined to stay alive. Better than the other Slayers, that’s for sure.”
“He’s not dangerous, is he?”
Whistler wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. “Depends on what ya mean by ‘dangerous’?”
At her frown, he stood and walked over to her, his voice lowering until he was whispering in her ear. “It’s gonna be alright, kid, you’ve got my word on that.”
He pulled away with a half smile and tipped his hat at Dawn before he disappeared from the room. Dawn started forward.
“What did he say?”
She sucked in a deep breath as she looked up at her, more confused than ever. Whistler had never lied to her before; in fact, he’d usually gone out of his way to help. She was trying to decipher ever expression, everything he’d said. He hadn’t said Dean was dangerous but that didn’t mean that he was safe either. And saying things were going to be alright didn’t mean that things weren’t going to blow up in the mean time. As usual, she had the feeling that he was saying a lot more than he appeared to be but she probably wouldn’t know it until the end. She hated that.
“Buffy?”
~*~*~*~
Phoenix
“So, any of this ringing a bell?”
Dean turned his blank look toward her. “No. Uh, not really any of it.”
She turned back to the screen and watched a player head for another player with a phoenix on the front of his shirt. She couldn’t really help with anything sport related but figured most guys loved sport so it was a good place to start. Apparently most guys loved sport - most guys, except for the guy with no memories that was sitting next to her on her lounge.
“Okay, so sport’s a no-go. That’s alright, I’m sure we’ll find something. You haven’t seen anything that you like doing?”
“Sorry.”
“Well, I guess we can just do daily things and see if anything clicks. I work at a boarding school and I have a self defence class in about an hour and a half so maybe we can head down there. You might remember something on the way.”
His eyes widened. “You teach self defence?”
“Yeah. Well, I do a bunch of jobs down there but the self defence is one of the classes.”
“Cool. I haven’t done self defence before - at least, I don’t think I have. Sorry, I wish I could be more help with all of this. It’s so frustrating not being able to remember the most basic things - I feel like it’s all right there but I just… I just can’t, remember.”
The front door clicked open and Dawn propped it open with her hip as she shifted the box in her arms. Dean stood and lifted the box out of her arms. She smiled warmly and looked for her sister.
“Giles is here. He wants to see Dean.”
“Giles?”
Buffy stood. “He’s our…”
“Stepfather… Well, kinda. He just helped raise us, I guess.”
Dawn hung her keys on the knife-shaped key hook by the door and walked into the kitchen. He placed the box on the servery and she opened it immediately, pulling out several candles. Peering into the box, Dawn smiled satisfactorily and replaced the candles.
“Why does he wanna see me?”
“Giles is interested in things like this. Puzzles and whatnot. He tends to see things from another perspective and might think of something that we haven’t yet.”
Buffy shifted from one foot to another. “Um, anything new on Dana?”
“She had another counselling session this morning. Seemed to go well. Faith wants to talk with you about her though - about, ah, placing her in a regular class?”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “Well, Dean, we should get going. Who knows, maybe your memory will come back on the way?”
Dean offered a half smile and nodded his head in Dawn’s direction as he followed Buffy out of the front door, shutting it carefully behind him. He instinctively locked the door and frowned, a memory sitting just under the surface, almost a reflexive action that had seemed important once but he couldn’t think why. Following Buffy down the stairs and out into the sunlight, he wondered how long it would be before his memory returned and if there was a reason he couldn’t, or didn’t want to, remember.
~*~*~*~
Family
“Dean! Remember me buddy? I still owe you for the eye, you know!”
He paused in the foyer and looked at the man standing in front of him. There was no feeling of recognition, no flash of memory and he was feeling the beginnings of guilt creeping up when he caught the exasperated look on Buffy’s face.
“Stop it! He really doesn’t remember anything and you’re gonna make him feel bad for nothing!”
The man in front of him did not seem at all sorry and the grin that stretched right across his face didn’t change despite being admonished by the tiny blonde. Forcing his eyes from the reprimand, he looked up at the high ceilings. From the outside, the school appeared to be a mansion. The main building was at the end of a long, curved driveway and the doors were thick oak with ornate iron carvings. Buffy had been surprised that he’d known it was iron and had told him that he should have a talk with Xander as his fingers traced over the inlaid design. Apparently Xander was a carpenter. He didn’t feel like a carpenter but he’d lost his memories so who really knew?
“Dean, this is Xander. He might have some carpentry-type skills - maybe a builder or something. I don’t know. Maybe you guys can have a chat while I go see Faith.”
As she sprinted up the long, winding stairs, he followed Xander into a side room. There were several lounges and a few side tables littered around with a fireplace set on one side. The other wall housed two computers on bare desks and there was a large window facing out to the drive.
“So, you work in the field?” Dean shrugged and Xander sat down on a nearby lounge. “Listen, don’t worry ‘bout it. Buffy was probably one of the best people to find you and she’ll find a way to get you back where you belong. I’m sure you’ve got a family crazy worried out there.”
“Doubt it. There’ve been no news or police reports about a missing person.”
“You could have gone camping or something and they’re just waiting for you to get back.”
Dean merely raised an eyebrow as he looked up and down the walls. Everything in the room seemed to be set up for show. There was nothing personal anywhere and he could only deduce that it was a room for parents or visitors or maybe for potential students looking over the grounds. He sat on a lounge opposite Xander and looked out the window.
“So, do you think you work with metals or something? Maybe a jeweller? A pirate? Someone that would recognise iron.”
A tall, older man walked into the room, his eyes instantly going to Dean. He approached with an extended hand.
“Hello Dean. I’m Rupert Giles.”
Dean shook his hand. The man was clearly English, all the way down to his tweed suit and glasses. His eyes, however, betrayed a different man than the one that was being offered. He seemed like a simple man, perhaps one with his nose always stuck in a book, but Dean got the impression that Giles had seen his fair share of battles and was far shrewder than he let on. He possibly even used the misconception of his appearance to his advantage. Besides, one could not judge on clothing alone. The clothes he was found in were no longer wearable and the ones he was wearing made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He just knew that he had never before, in his life, worn a Hawaiian shirt.
~*~*~*~Flavour
He handed her the jar and sat up on the servery opposite her. Buffy had decided that it was best that he not start cooking straight away in case he really wasn’t good at it. She said she didn’t want him burning the place down but he suspected that she just didn’t want to eat bad food. She mentioned that Faith rarely cooked, and Dawn wasn’t allowed to, so she’d managed to pick up a few skills over the years. She emptied the jar into the pan.
“Are the smells bringing back any memories? Giles said they might.”
“Nah. Besides, I don’t think Apricot Chicken is really my thing. I’m more of a burger man.”
“Ooh, burgers! That’s a start! That’s something. Where there’s one memory, hopefully there’s more!”
A small beat of sweat slipped down the side of her face, a mixture of the hot afternoon and the sizzling pan she was stirring. The back of her shirt was sticking to her back and he shifted on the counter as she bent forward to taste the mixture. She pursed her lips in thought before reaching across and adding an herb to the pan. He would be lying through his teeth if he said she wasn’t attractive and the fact that she was an appealing person was making things worse. If she’d been stuck up or rude, he could have put his attraction down to her looks. Even if he put aside the fact that she was trying to help him find out who he was, he still had to consider the possibility that there was someone waiting for him at home. She turned around and smiled at him and he froze.
“You okay?”
“Sure.”
“Here,” she said, as she scooped a small amount of sauce onto the wooden spoon in her hand and carried it over to him. “Try this. Does it need anything else?”
His awkwardness shot sky high as he tried to ignore the unintentional action. The flavours hit his tongue and he offered her a genuine, wide smile. “This tastes fantastic!”
“Well, it’s mostly the good people at Bellia’s that you have to thank for that.”
“I’ll be sure to write them a letter.”
She gave a short laugh and Dean wondered what his surname was. Giles had asked him to sign his signature so they might have a chance at a surname but ‘Dean’ was all he could get out. It was as though his hand couldn’t remember how to write his last name. He noticed Buffy watching him pensively and hopped down before heading over to the cabinet that housed the plates. Taking two out, he set them down beside her and held up his hands.
“I’m just gonna wash up.”
She nodded and he tried not to run into the bathroom. Things were getting complicated. The simple methods of finding out who he was weren’t working. He had no idea who he was, if anyone was even looking for him, and he was becoming more and more attracted to his rescuer every day. He was really hoping he wasn’t developing Stockholm Syndrome.
~*~*~*~
Eloquent
He lifted her elbow up slightly and said something that was inaudible to Buffy. She was surprised when the shot rang out and the girl leapt in the air as she hit the mark. She hugged her best friend and the girls laughed together as Dean watched them in amusement. The girl in question, Lauren, was not renowned as the best shot; in fact, she had almost never hit the target. But Dean had seen the girl struggle with her gun and had offered her a bit of advice. The last shot was the fifth bullet to successively hit the target. And several of the others girls had already asked him to help with their weapons. Buffy wasn’t sure what he did for a living. He seemed to be a Jack-of-all-trades, with weapon handling the most recent skill to be noticed.
“How’s your boy doing?”
“He might just be better than you with a gun.”
Faith scoffed. “Doubtful.”
But she stayed beside Buffy nevertheless and watched as he taught three Slayers how to disassemble the gun they were training with. He moved slowly so they saw it step by step and then he showed them how to put it back together. Whatever he said next clearly had the girls in hysterics and, almost as an afterthought, he disassembled the gun, laying all of the pieces flat on the table. He moved so fast that the laughter stopped almost immediately and the three girls looked at him in awe. Most confusing, perhaps, was the look of surprise of his face.
“Wow, not bad. Certainly not bad for a rookie.”
“That doesn’t worry you? What if he’s some criminal who kills people for a living?”
Faith laughed and her laughter carried across the room causing a couple of heads to turn, most notably Dean’s, and Buffy blushed.
“B, you crack me up.”
She wiped a fake tear from her eye and grinned mischievously before turning around and walking out of the training room. Buffy noticed Dean stand up and begin walking toward her. Even though she’d offered the theory of an assassin, she doubted that’s what he was. She was confused, definitely frustrated, but knew that inevitably the PTB’s would do what they wanted and if they wouldn’t give him back his memories yet, she’d just have to wait.
“You’re pretty good with a gun,” she said, as he drew near, “using it and disassembling it.”
Dean shrugged. “I guess. Any news?”
“Sorry. I was just about to head out for a run and th-“
“Can I go?”
Buffy blinked. She wasn’t expecting that answer and her brain and mouth seemed to have frozen in place while they tried to process it. It was taking entirely too long. A puzzled look fell over his face and she begged her mouth to move, to say anything.
“Uh, sure. I just thought… instead of… what about…”
He smiled at her and she took a deep breath. She was going to have to find a way to distract him if she was going to patrol tonight and for some reason she didn’t think it was going to be that easy. If she’d learnt anything, it was that you couldn’t bring your roommate patrolling with you - or the hot guy with no memories that was currently living with you.
~*~*~*~
Damsel
Buffy walked fast, almost to the point of running, into the park and stopped at the edge of the tree line. She scanned the area in front of her before casting a cursory glance behind her. There were a few people milling about, mostly trying to get home to loved ones before it was too dark. A group of young men were in the corner of the park, leaning against the concrete wall. They weren’t vampires. Buffy had already found that out and now she just regarded them as annoying. They were great as bait for drawing out vamps but sometimes their rowdiness had driven off vamps and Buffy had had to stalk. For the most part, they ignored her. After she’d put the smack down on them in her first week in Cleveland, they leered and occasionally called out but they didn’t approach her. To be honest, she thought more of them would have been killed off by vamps by now.
Tonight they were ignoring her and she was just fine with that. Faith had managed to distract Dean with a contest to see who could handle a weapon better and Buffy had taken the opportunity to slip out. Most of the activity would be by the carnival and Buffy had sent teams out to keep it safe. Unfortunately, it left some of the smaller places unguarded which was what had drawn her out. Her gut was telling her that there were at least two vamps nearby and when she saw a shadow move to her left, she stepped back quietly into the cover of the trees and let her senses do the work. Her feet moved silently over the dead leaves and twigs and she moved behind the shadow. The closer she got, the more the shadow morphed into a teenager. It brought her to a standstill a little way back as she noticed him staring at the gang. He could have even been one of them.
Before she had a chance to take him out, a force pushed her sideways and landed heavily on top of her. She felt the breath on her face but it was the low growl that let her know that it was a vampire. A hungry one. As he dove down to take a bite out of his ‘helpless’ victim, Buffy managed to slip her arms out from under his. He went flying off of her and she sat up in surprise. She’s gotten her arms out but hadn’t had a chance to use any force. Her heart leapt into her throat when she saw Dean standing between her and the vamp.
Flipping to her feet instantly, she saw the vamp make a run for them. Dean stepped forward with a fist that actually connected with the vamp. He was backhanded for his trouble but he followed it out with a series of moves that pushed it back. The vamp’s hand flung out and a knife fell into it. Dean merely picked up a long, thick stick beside him and they started with a series of blows, the last one knocking the knife from the vamps hand and striking him straight in the heart. There was a brief second before the cloud of ash and Buffy watched as Dean looked down at the stick in his hands before looking up at her, mouth agape.
~*~*~*~
Supernatural
“Perhaps he’s a Hunter?”
Giles moved around the room and Buffy sat heavily down in her chair. “Maybe. He just doesn’t seem like that sort of person.”
“Well, they’re not all in it for pelts or teeth. He could have a family of Hunters or had somebody close to him die by something supernatural that drew him to it. Have you asked?”
“Yeah, he still can’t remember. But you should have seen him fight Giles; that was not somebody who was new to the supernatural. And he was surprised that vamps dusted, not that they existed.”
“Perhaps he hasn’t come across one before that can.”
She shook her head. “If he was a Hunter, how could he not have? Vamps are everywhere.”
“You guard the Hellmouth Buffy. That’s what a Slayer does. But further out, the vampires tend to be more human and less demon. They can walk in sunlight, they don’t turn to ash, but they’re weaker than the ones you’re used to. Hunters usually take them out by beheading them.”
Dawn entered the room and sat down opposite Buffy while Dean entered cautiously and stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets. Dawn handed her a stapled stack of papers and pointed to them.
“That’s the case I was working on. Whatever is stalking this woman is clearly supernatural. It followed her and her fiancée to the adoption centre. A fire started out back before their interview even started. Everyone got out fine but the official cause of the fire is faulty wiring. Really, they just don’t know how it started. It’s the fifth attack this fortnight and they’re getting more serious - I think we should put someone on her. There’s a ‘wedding’ shower on Friday night. The bride and groom decided to roll both into one. They’ve told everyone it will be more fun that way but she’s really just too scared to be separated from him in case something else happens.”
“Okay, tell her we’ll send a couple of people over. Give me a list of things you think this could be - we need to give the girls as much prep as possible.”
Dawn nodded and stood, walking out of the room with a brief smile at Dean. He shifted uncomfortably as the attention turned to him.
“Ah, they told me to come down here and see you.”
“Yeah, listen Dean, I really don’t know what to tell you. Obviously, whatever you do has something to do with the supernatural. You know too much about it and you fight too well. I’m assuming that’s why you’re here.”
Giles stepped forward. “I know some people in the community that might know who you are so I’m going to see if anybody is missing. It’s a little tricky though because Hunters generally stay off of the grid while they’re working so it might take some time.”
“And if no one’s missing me? What then?”
“We’re just going to have to find out why you are here. There is a reason for it.”
Dean nodded sombrely and she wondered what it would be to not know who you were. Not just what you were supposed to do or where you were supposed to be, but to have no memories to draw from. No past.
~*~*~*~
Pets
She came to a standstill and felt the urge to rub her eyes. She couldn’t understand what she was seeing - it was as though she had fallen through the looking glass but instead of a white rabbit with a pocket watch, it was a duck. There didn’t appear to be anything particularly odd about the duck. It was white with a dark orange beak - it wasn’t wearing a waistcoat, nor was it smoking a pipe or anything else as ridiculous but it was standing in front of her. It had moved just enough for her to know that it was, indeed, real but was standing still as though it were trying to stare her down.
She moved cautiously to her left, slowly and deliberately, and it let out a low quack that had her standing as still as a statue. She turned her head to see if anyone else was witnessing the same bizarre thing that she was but the kitchen was empty. Not even Dean was around. Blinking her eyes, she opened to find the duck still staring at her, still watching her.
The back door opened and Andrew walked in. He saw Buffy and smiled but his smile dropped when she looked back down at the duck. Andrew dropped the shopping bag he was carrying on the servery and smiled sheepishly.
“I bought Leroy for Thanksgiving.”
“You bought a live duck?”
“Yeah. I was gonna cook him up for the Slayers to eat.”
Buffy’s teeth began grinding together. “Thanksgiving was a month ago, Andrew.”
“I know. He was just so cute that I couldn’t kill him. And if I took him back they would have just sold him to somebody else who would have killed him.”
“You can’t keep a duck, Andrew. This is not a zoo.”
“I know. I’ve been feeding him and taking care of him and he’s actually a pretty good guard duck. He always lets me know when someone is here.”
She winced. “Guard duck?”
She looked back down at Leroy to see that he had tilted his head to the side as though he was analysing her. She and Faith had already decided on the rule of ‘No Pets’ for the girls. One dog leads to a dozen dogs and then they are more of a distraction than anything. If she let this one slide, the girls would know and would want to bend the rule for themselves. She looked back up at Andrew.
“No.”
“Please, Buffy!”
She sighed. “Look, if anyone asks, that duck is for next year’s Thanksgiving and you’re just plumping it up for then, got it? You know there’re no pets here so Leroy is on the food roster for now as far as everyone is concerned.”
Andrew leapt across the room and enveloped her in a hug, Leroy quacked his approval and Buffy just grimaced. The hugging was bad enough but the sinking feeling in her gut was worse. She didn’t know how but she had a feeling that she was going to regret that decision.
~*~*~*~
Castle
The sky exploded into bright colours above her. One bang was followed by another and a chandelier of red draped over a series of star and moon shapes. An explosion of yellow followed one of green and she felt a small smile tug at her lips. When she’d been a kid, she’d been terrified of fireworks but now she loved them. The loud noises no longer bothered her and they drew her gaze upwards - toward a sky that was bigger than her and made her feel small in the grand scheme of things. The fate of the world no longer rested on her shoulders and she was just one of many.
In the distance she could see the school on the horizon. Against the dark sky it looked like an old castle looming over the houses around but against a backdrop of fireworks, it lit up and was brought to life. The light seemed to danced off of the walls and the brief flashes gave her eyes direction. She leant forward on the balcony railing and looked over the edge. There were a few people milling about at the foot of their building, most heading to the town centre to get a better look at the fireworks. Somewhere out there in the darkness, Slayers were keeping watch over the innocents and making sure they all got back home safely.
“I take it you like fireworks?”
Buffy nearly jumped out of her skin as she spun around quickly. Dean smiled apologetically and moved out onto the balcony with her. His hands rested on the railing in front of him and he turned his face upward in time to a brilliant, golden flash light up the night.
“I think fireworks are amazing - at least, I do now. I don’t know how they do it; how they control them like that.”
She let the silence envelope them for a moment. When Buffy looked across at him, his profile had been lit up by the fireworks and was watching them intently. His eyes followed the curves and loops and when the final firework exploded raining down a shower of brilliantly lit stars, his mouth fell open slightly at the sight.
Feeling her eyes on him, Dean turned and looked at her, his gaze drawing her breath away from her. She sucked in a deep breath and forced her eyes to look at the street below.
“Any other memories?”
“Not yet. Thought I may have remembered something but it wasn’t anyone from my past so I’m stuck at a dead end again. It must be driving you nuts having someone around who doesn’t remember who they are.”
“Nah. I lost my memories once. I called myself Joan. That was a night I’d rather forget.”
He gave a soft laugh and Buffy watched him laughing, noting how it seemed to take all of the stress from his face. When he caught her pensive look, his head tilted slightly and she flushed with embarrassment. The night air did nothing to cool her down and she squirmed under his gaze before meeting his eyes, giving him a small smile and escaping back into the apartment where she could hide out and ignore her growing attraction.
~*~*~*~
Slippery
Dawn rushed in and Dean looked up sharply. “Buffy!”
He stood from the lounge and looked at her questioningly as her sister rounded the corner. She had obviously just gotten dressed because her hair was still wet and her shirt was inside out. Despite his resolution to stay away from her, to keep his distance from her - emotionally, if not physically - he was even more drawn to her than before. Watching the fireworks had only added to the tension between them and a part of him was grateful for her leaving the balcony because he wasn’t sure what would have happen if she’d stayed. He had been waring with himself over leaning in and capturing her mouth and her decision to move into the house had saved him from making that decision. He wasn’t sure that it was a good thing; whether she’d moved away because she was fighting the same war, and won, or because she just wasn’t interested and hadn’t felt what he had.
Buffy glanced briefly at him before turning her attention to her sister. “What’s wrong?”
“That case I was working on? The Slayers went along to the wedding shower but whatever it was, was still there. The maid of honour mysteriously slipped and fell down the stairs. Broke her collarbone and was lucky to walk away with just that. If the railing hadn’t been already decorated with a satin trim, she would have fallen down them all. I’ve talked to all of them but none of the Slayers saw anything. The majority of the guests were in the lounge room downstairs and the Slayer upstairs was checking the bedrooms when she heard the cry.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Well, maybe some sort of ghost or some demon focused on her. Whatever it is, is moving around with her and is determined to put a stop to the wedding. I think you should get involved; maybe you’ll pick up on something we haven’t.”
“If it’s a ghost, are there any possibilities about who it might be? Any dead lovers or maybe one that’s still alive and calling a demon?”
Dawn shook her head. “I’ve looked into that. She’s only had two boyfriends before now. Both are alive. One is now gay and the other is happily married to the woman he left her for. Neither one has a motive. And she doesn’t remember anyone close to her having died other than both sets of grandparents.”
Dean sat back down on the lounge and Buffy moved closer to her. “When is the wedding?”
“Two weeks. I’ve already told her to put you down as a guest. If things have been happening now, something will definitely happen then. The only thing is…”
“What?”
“Well, she wanted me to keep the numbers even so I put Dean on the list too.”
Dean’s heart began rapidly beating and he turned to look at a surprised Buffy. Other than the fact that he had nothing to wear, going to an intimate function with Buffy was the last thing he wanted to do and based on the look she was wearing, he guessed that she thought the same thing; except he didn’t know why.
~*~*~*~
CONTINUE...
Sunscreen
Holiday - Meeting The Extended Family
Wedding
Wedding - Shower
Fireworks
Cooking Together
Fair/Carnival
Butterfly Kisses
Pets
Holiday - One Person Sick
First Date
Anniversary - One Partner Sick
WILD CARD
Baby - Adoption
Lazy Sunday
Illness - Shared
Making Out
Reading Aloud
Kid!fic - Vacation
Secret Admirer
Sunburn
Watching The Game
Reunion
Eskimo Kisses
Candles WILD CARD=Bad Day
Challenge issued by chosenfire28 at R66
Okay I have no self control when it comes to making challenges.
After the wreck the PTB’s get off their ass and interfere for a good cause, they send a broken Dean to a certain blonde Slayer.
Now Buffy has to deal with a hot guy with no memories in her apartment and things only get more confusing when he starts patrolling with her and is a pretty damn good decent fighter.
Requirements
- Buffy lives with Dawn and Faith somewhere in the U.S, most predictably the Cleveland Hellmouth.
- John and Sam look for Dean after he goes missing both refusing to believe he’s dead.
- All Dean remembers at first is his first name and the fact that he likes blondes.
- Bits of Dean’s memory start to return as he grows closer to Buffy and they start a relationship.
- Dean beats up one of Dawn’s dates after the guy insults her.
- Xander and Dean get along.
- Dean starts training some of the mini Slayers for something to do.
- Dean gets sick and Buffy nurses him back to health.
- John and Sam eventually find Dean - either they track him down somehow or Missouri tells them. When Dean sees them his memories come back.
- Something stops Dean from leaving Buffy, something big; use your imagination.
7_crossovers - Theme Set #4
Author: SkylarGrace
Fandom: BtVS/SPN1. Eloquent2. Forgive3. Sensual 4. Flavour5. Rose6. Blinded7. DelicateProgress: 7/7
7_crossovers - Theme Set #5
Author: SkylarGrace
Fandom: BtVS/SPN1. Frantic2. Clothing Malfunction3. Hello Ducky 4. Long Fall5. Tackle6. Duck And Roll7. SlipperyProgress: 7/7
7_crossovers - Theme Set #8
Author: SkylarGrace
Fandom: BtVS/SPN1. Dream2. Damsel In Distress3. Castle 4. Magic5. Phoenix6. Supernatural7. WingsProgress: 7/7
Title: Forgotten Memories 'Verse
Author: SkylarGrace
Status: W.I.P
Rating: PG-13
Summary: He's lost all his memories. She's lost direction. By working together, they might just get their lives back.
Spoilers: Set after BtVS and Season One of SPN.
Disclaimer: ‘Supernatural’ and all related characters are copyright Eric Kripke, Kripke Enterprises & The CW Network. No infringement intended. ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and all related characters are copyright Joss Whedon and ME. No infringement intended.
Frantic! | Forgive? | Candles| Remember| Whistle| Phoenix| Family| Flavour| Eloquent| Damsel
Supernatural| Pets| Castle| Slippery| Fireworks| Tackle| Sunburn| Flying| Holidays| Kisses| Date
Wedding| Blind| Reunion| Epilogue?
Frantic!
Sam drove as fast as was safe. He gave a quick glance at his Dad and saw his face scrunched up in pain; in pain but alive. It was Dean he was worried about. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw his brother. He was covered in so much blood and was lying with his head against the window, eyes closed.
“Just hold on, all right? Hospital’s only ten minutes away.” It was more to his brother than his father though it seemed as if his Dad was the only one who was listening.
“I’m surprised at you, Sammy. Why didn’t you kill it? I thought we saw eye to eye on this-killin’ this demon comes first. Before me, before everything.”
Sam glanced in the rearview mirror again and finally understood what Dean had been saying about putting family before revenge.
“No, sir. Not before everything. Look, we still have the Colt. We still have the one bullet left. We just have to start over, all right, I mean, we already found the demon-”
He was cut off as the car was suddenly forced to the side. Glass shattered everywhere, metal crunched and Sam registered that the car had left the road before he let the darkness consume him.
A truck driver stepped down from his eighteen-wheeler, his coal black eyes taking in the sight before him. He stared at the three men lying in the now motionless vehicle, blood and cuts covering every visible inch of their bodies. Like their crushed, almost written-off car, the men were completely still. He smiled. He walked over to the battered car and easily ripped the door off of its hinges - the slight breathing coming from the men inside signalling that the job wasn’t yet complete.
Sam’s eyes flung open as he swam back into consciousness. He ignored the pain trying to force him to retreat back into unconsciousness. His eyes focused on the man standing beside him with the Impala door in his hands. In the back of his mind Sam knew that Dean was gonna be furious when he woke up. Sam raised his hand, the Colt oddly steady within it.
“Get back. Or I’ll kill you, I swear to God.”
The truck driver grinned. “You won’t. You’re saving that bullet for someone else.”
Angrily Sam cocked the Colt. “You wanna bet?”
The truck driver stilled before letting out a loud scream, an enormous plume of black smoke erupting from his mouth and disappearing into the night. He fell to his knees and breathed heavily. Sam lowered the Colt and laid his head back in the seat. He was fighting his body, trying to stay awake so that he could help the only family he had left. The truck driver looked up and saw the twisted metal before him that vaguely resembled an Impala.
“Oh my God.” The truck driver had a stunned expression on his face and looked back up at his truck.
Sam turned to John and lightly shook his shoulder. “Dad?”
“Did I do this?” the truck driver asked. He fumbled in his pocket and produced a mobile phone. He started dialling.
“Dad!” John didn’t move and Sam looked into the backseat instantly feeling his heart in his throat. It was empty.
“Dean? Dean!”
~
A feeling. That’s all it was - a feeling. The toothbrush stopped moving in Buffy’s mouth as her hand stilled and her eyes darted toward her room. She took a careful step backward and craned her neck to look around the corner. Seeing a bloodied figure propped against her bed, Buffy nearly choked on the toothpaste as she noticed his chest rise and fall. Spitting out the toothpaste and leaving her toothbrush on the sink, Buffy moved quickly back into her bedroom and knelt before him.
“Dawn!”
~*~*~*~
Forgive?
Buffy and Dawn moved the man onto her bed and Buffy glanced over him. The presumably once clean shirt was now covered in dust and dirt with patches of blood splattered on it. His jacket had a small tear and he was missing a shoe. Buffy had to hand it to the Powers That Be - when they wanted to do something, they didn’t do it half-way. She shook her head and stood back as Dawn leant over him. Her hand stilled over his chest and she closed her eyes softly. There was a small, bright green light emitting from them that seemed to be settling over his torso. Buffy didn’t turn when the sound of the front door opening broke through the silence and she felt Faith sidle up behind her.
“You beat up every guy you see?”
Buffy rolled her eyes and turned toward Faith’s waiting smirk. “That guy should have kept his hands to himself. Besides, I didn’t do this - he just appeared here.”
“At the door?”
“At my bed. I’m thinking it’s the magnificent PTB’s that are trying to get their butts kicked again.”
Faith’s brow creased in frustration. Dawn gave a hard sigh and turned to face them.
“He’s pretty banged up. I’ve done what I can but I think we should probably take him to the hospital.”
“And say what? Some guy just magically appeared in our apartment. We don’t know anything about him.”
“Look, even if I use your energy and Buffy’s I still can’t guarantee he’s not going to die.”
“He’s not going to die. The PTB’s sent him to us for a reason. Obviously whatever you can do will be enough to save him.”
“What if it’s not? What if they sent him here because they wanted you to take out whatever it is that’s killing him and probably a bunch of other people?! They nev-”
Buffy tuned out the argument and walked slowly over to the man on the bed. When Faith had first walked into their lives, Dawn had gotten along with her better than she did with Buffy. But Dawn seemed to still be smarting a little and even though they got along for the most part now, there was still a bitterness there, directed at the former rogue Slayer who had tried to kill Buffy, that popped up occasionally. Faith had been the one to suggest that they all live in an apartment away from the other Slayers on campus; a way to have down time not strictly related to Slaying. Buffy had been positive that Dawn would refuse but had been surprised when her sister had backed her up and even found a place big enough for the three of them. With Willow weeding out Slayers worldwide and Xander helping Giles out with The Council in England, Faith and Dawn were the only family she had left - aside from Andrew who had stuck around and become surprisingly helpful.
She wondered what Andrew would think of this man lying bloodied and beaten on her bed. Having given himself the title of ‘protector’, he was the first one to suss out any, potential or otherwise, boyfriends milling about the Slayers. Though having no way to actually enforce his opinions, the Slayers seemed to respect him enough, for the most part, and listened to him. It was a little hard to tell but Buffy knew that the man who was ruining her new bedspread was good-looking on a good day and that the Slayers would probably be only too eager to help him.
“Buffy? Buffy?!”
“Huh?”
Her sister’s eyes were wide in frustration. “Tell her he can’t stay here!”
She looked back at him and sighed softly. “We’ll take him down to the school for now.”
“Buffy!”
“Dawn, he clearly needs help and we can’t do that here. Faith’s right, hospital isn’t an option and we have to keep an eye on him - figure out why he’s here.”
“I’ll call Andrew.”
Buffy watched Dawn stomp out of the room and rose an eyebrow in Faith’s direction.
“What? L’il Sis has got to learn to lighten up. Anyway, I’ll take him in - you’re supposed to be on holiday’s this week.”
She sighed. “Apparently the PTB’s don’t understand the meaning of the word. If he’s here, it is for a reason and probably means there’s an apocalypse coming. Give Giles a call and find out if he knows anything and I’ll take Dawn and try and smooth things over.”
“B, if she doesn’t forgive me, there’s nothing’ you can do about it. We’re okay and hopefully L’il Sis and I will be too. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”
She gave her a half smile and turned back to her bed chewing on the inside of her cheek in worry.
~*~*~*~
Candles
Buffy propped his head up delicately on the pale green pillow and found herself wondering just what he had been doing to be attacked so harshly. She was curious to see if he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time or if there was something special about him - something that would cause demons to try and kill him and start an apocalypse. She looked up at Dawn as she lit another candle on the other side of the room. Andrew was ushering girls out of the doorway, closing the door behind him leaving only Buffy and Kennedy in the room with Dawn.
“This gonna work?”
Dawn nodded. “Yeah, I just don’t have enough strength as Willow but if I borrow some of yours and Buffy’s I should be able to heal some of the most serious damage.”
Buffy sat opposite Kennedy at the foot of the bed and looked up at Dawn. “This just like what Willow does?”
“Kinda, except this is more targeted toward my power. Willow draws hers whereas mine is purely from me, from being the Key. Sort of more - wild - than drawing it from, the earth, for example. I’m still not great at this but he doesn’t really have long left so anything is better than nothing.”
Buffy took her sister’s hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze for comfort and reached across for Kennedy’s hand. Kennedy offered it carefully. Things between Kennedy and the Scooby gang had been slightly strained since the breakup between herself and Willow. Kennedy closed her eyes quickly and Buffy took a deep breath. Having energy spindled from you wasn’t painful but it was discomforting and as Dawn’s eyes began moving underneath her eyelids, Buffy closed her eyes.
It was as though she could taste red and yellow was coursing through her veins. She was floating and yet it was as though she’d been running for hours. The air in her lungs left her body suddenly and she gasped, her eyes flying open in shock. Kennedy was standing a little away from them, her chest heaving and her eyes drooping. Dawn looked at her with concern.
“We need to take a break Buffy.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I want to keep going - I wanna know what we’re capable of in case we need to heal one of our own.”
“Buffy, I need a break. I suspect you do too but I’m exhausted and even spindling energy from you isn’t enough. The internal damaged is healed and, for now, the rest is up to him.”
Buffy looked across at him. A bit of the swelling had gone down but he was still sporting bruises and cuts and was caked in blood and dirt. She gave a reluctant nod and glanced at Kennedy.
“Can you get Andrew to set aside a spare set of clothes? This guy’s gonna need to get cleaned up if he’s got any hope of dodging infection.”
Kennedy gave a brief nod and walked out tersely.
“Who do you think he is?”
Buffy shrugged. They’d checked his pockets for any sign of identification. There was no wallet, not even a receipt which could pinpoint a location.
“No idea. We’ll keep an eye on the news reports but I don’t know if he’ll show up - the PTB’s have sent him here for a reason; I just don’t know what it is yet.”
“If it was the PTB’s.”
Buffy frowned and looked back at the unconscious stranger. “Who else could it have been?”
~*~*~*~
Remember
“’Shows marked improvement since treatment began. Is responsive to new people. Still has recurring nightmares and occasionally lashes out during training. Appears more mentally stable than before though further progress is needed before she’s allowed contact with general students.’ Darn!”
“That’s not about you, is it?”
Buffy jumped out of her skin and spun around, the twiggy stick (Slim Jim) in her hand held out before her. She let out a breath when she saw the man before her leaning against the doorframe with a pained look of amusement. Buffy put the food on the report she was holding and placed them both on the counter as she walked toward him.
“You shouldn’t be up. Dawn said you need to heal.”
“Well, I woke in a strange place and thought I’d find out - well, anything. Can’t say I’m too disappointed yet.”
Buffy rolled her eyes and ducked underneath his arm. Taking a portion of his weight she helped him back into the bedroom. He winced as he sat on the edge of the bed and she frowned at the small red patch on is shirt.
“You better not have pulled those stitches! I hate fixing pulled stitches.”
“You my nurse?”
“Hardly.” At seeing the look on his face, she reddened slightly. “I mean, I just know a fair bit about stitching up wounds and Dawn was already busy trying to find all your injuries - besides, she’s a little hesitant when it comes to stitching people up and lots of blood and stuff...”
“So where exactly am I?”
“Cleveland. Ohio. I mean, you’re in our apartment but our apartment is in Cleveland.”
He frowned. “I don’t remember…”
“Well, you were in a bad way so maybe you’ll remember what happened later. Giles said something about swelling and th-“
“No, I mean, I don’t remember anything. At all.”
She sat down beside him with wide eyes. “Not even your name?”
“Dean. But that’s it. I don’t know my last name, where I live, if I have a family…”
Buffy sat still as she searched for something to say. She wanted to tell him he’d remember but she didn’t know if he would. For some reason she didn’t think he’d believe her anyway. She tried to think of something she could do, someone to refer him to for help but that would only lead to more questions from the public. They couldn’t dump him at the hospital now - not that she’d want to; the PTB’s would probably have a heart attack if she ignored them.
She jumped up suddenly, her ponytail whipping around and draping over her shoulder. “Whistler!”
He frowned. “You want me to whistle?”
“No, um, he’s a friend of mine. He could probably help sort this out.”
“He’s not a hypnotist, is he?”
Buffy shook her head. “No, he has - connections. Might be able to tell me where you’re from or who you are.”
“I’ll take almost anything at this point. Give him a call.”
Buffy nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think I might do that….”
~*~*~*~
Whistle
“Are you sure you wanna do this?”
Buffy nodded and closed the bedroom door. Dean was surfing the channels on the television but she didn’t want him to see magic of any sort. Magic had a tendency to freak out regular people and she didn’t have a reasonable explanation for someone suddenly appearing in her apartment. Dawn shuffled her feet nervously.
“I’ve never tried this before Buffy. It might not even work.”
Buffy shoved he trundle bed she was currently sleeping on underneath Dawn and looked up at her sister. “You can do it Dawn. Besides, it’s Whistler. I’ll kick him from here to Timbuktu if he ignores us.”
Dawn gave her a disbelieving look but pulled out a red and green candle. The green one Buffy knew was Dawn’s. It was her colour, a beautiful emerald green, and the other one was presumably supposed to be for calling Whistler. Dawn sat nervously on the floor and Buffy moved toward the door - if anyone was going to come barging in, they’d bump into her first and afford them time. There was a green tinge to the air around Dawn before a bright light almost blinded Buffy. As she lowered her arms, she saw Whistler standing in the middle of the room.
“Come on Kid, it’s my first Sunday off in ages. Day of rest and all that jazz. Couldn’t this wait?”
“No. Some guy just mysteriously appears beaten and bruised in my bedroom - I wanna know who he is and why he’s here!”
Whistler smoothed out his Hawaiian shirt and pulled his hat down further. Walking toward Dawn’s bed, he flopped himself down on it and put his underneath his head.
“You know me - I’d love to help ya out kid, I really would, but the bosses don’t want me to say anything. Just between us, I’m really rootin’ for ya. No matter what keeps getting thrown at ya, you seem determined to stay alive. Better than the other Slayers, that’s for sure.”
“He’s not dangerous, is he?”
Whistler wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. “Depends on what ya mean by ‘dangerous’?”
At her frown, he stood and walked over to her, his voice lowering until he was whispering in her ear. “It’s gonna be alright, kid, you’ve got my word on that.”
He pulled away with a half smile and tipped his hat at Dawn before he disappeared from the room. Dawn started forward.
“What did he say?”
She sucked in a deep breath as she looked up at her, more confused than ever. Whistler had never lied to her before; in fact, he’d usually gone out of his way to help. She was trying to decipher ever expression, everything he’d said. He hadn’t said Dean was dangerous but that didn’t mean that he was safe either. And saying things were going to be alright didn’t mean that things weren’t going to blow up in the mean time. As usual, she had the feeling that he was saying a lot more than he appeared to be but she probably wouldn’t know it until the end. She hated that.
“Buffy?”
~*~*~*~
Phoenix
“So, any of this ringing a bell?”
Dean turned his blank look toward her. “No. Uh, not really any of it.”
She turned back to the screen and watched a player head for another player with a phoenix on the front of his shirt. She couldn’t really help with anything sport related but figured most guys loved sport so it was a good place to start. Apparently most guys loved sport - most guys, except for the guy with no memories that was sitting next to her on her lounge.
“Okay, so sport’s a no-go. That’s alright, I’m sure we’ll find something. You haven’t seen anything that you like doing?”
“Sorry.”
“Well, I guess we can just do daily things and see if anything clicks. I work at a boarding school and I have a self defence class in about an hour and a half so maybe we can head down there. You might remember something on the way.”
His eyes widened. “You teach self defence?”
“Yeah. Well, I do a bunch of jobs down there but the self defence is one of the classes.”
“Cool. I haven’t done self defence before - at least, I don’t think I have. Sorry, I wish I could be more help with all of this. It’s so frustrating not being able to remember the most basic things - I feel like it’s all right there but I just… I just can’t, remember.”
The front door clicked open and Dawn propped it open with her hip as she shifted the box in her arms. Dean stood and lifted the box out of her arms. She smiled warmly and looked for her sister.
“Giles is here. He wants to see Dean.”
“Giles?”
Buffy stood. “He’s our…”
“Stepfather… Well, kinda. He just helped raise us, I guess.”
Dawn hung her keys on the knife-shaped key hook by the door and walked into the kitchen. He placed the box on the servery and she opened it immediately, pulling out several candles. Peering into the box, Dawn smiled satisfactorily and replaced the candles.
“Why does he wanna see me?”
“Giles is interested in things like this. Puzzles and whatnot. He tends to see things from another perspective and might think of something that we haven’t yet.”
Buffy shifted from one foot to another. “Um, anything new on Dana?”
“She had another counselling session this morning. Seemed to go well. Faith wants to talk with you about her though - about, ah, placing her in a regular class?”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “Well, Dean, we should get going. Who knows, maybe your memory will come back on the way?”
Dean offered a half smile and nodded his head in Dawn’s direction as he followed Buffy out of the front door, shutting it carefully behind him. He instinctively locked the door and frowned, a memory sitting just under the surface, almost a reflexive action that had seemed important once but he couldn’t think why. Following Buffy down the stairs and out into the sunlight, he wondered how long it would be before his memory returned and if there was a reason he couldn’t, or didn’t want to, remember.
~*~*~*~
Family
“Dean! Remember me buddy? I still owe you for the eye, you know!”
He paused in the foyer and looked at the man standing in front of him. There was no feeling of recognition, no flash of memory and he was feeling the beginnings of guilt creeping up when he caught the exasperated look on Buffy’s face.
“Stop it! He really doesn’t remember anything and you’re gonna make him feel bad for nothing!”
The man in front of him did not seem at all sorry and the grin that stretched right across his face didn’t change despite being admonished by the tiny blonde. Forcing his eyes from the reprimand, he looked up at the high ceilings. From the outside, the school appeared to be a mansion. The main building was at the end of a long, curved driveway and the doors were thick oak with ornate iron carvings. Buffy had been surprised that he’d known it was iron and had told him that he should have a talk with Xander as his fingers traced over the inlaid design. Apparently Xander was a carpenter. He didn’t feel like a carpenter but he’d lost his memories so who really knew?
“Dean, this is Xander. He might have some carpentry-type skills - maybe a builder or something. I don’t know. Maybe you guys can have a chat while I go see Faith.”
As she sprinted up the long, winding stairs, he followed Xander into a side room. There were several lounges and a few side tables littered around with a fireplace set on one side. The other wall housed two computers on bare desks and there was a large window facing out to the drive.
“So, you work in the field?” Dean shrugged and Xander sat down on a nearby lounge. “Listen, don’t worry ‘bout it. Buffy was probably one of the best people to find you and she’ll find a way to get you back where you belong. I’m sure you’ve got a family crazy worried out there.”
“Doubt it. There’ve been no news or police reports about a missing person.”
“You could have gone camping or something and they’re just waiting for you to get back.”
Dean merely raised an eyebrow as he looked up and down the walls. Everything in the room seemed to be set up for show. There was nothing personal anywhere and he could only deduce that it was a room for parents or visitors or maybe for potential students looking over the grounds. He sat on a lounge opposite Xander and looked out the window.
“So, do you think you work with metals or something? Maybe a jeweller? A pirate? Someone that would recognise iron.”
A tall, older man walked into the room, his eyes instantly going to Dean. He approached with an extended hand.
“Hello Dean. I’m Rupert Giles.”
Dean shook his hand. The man was clearly English, all the way down to his tweed suit and glasses. His eyes, however, betrayed a different man than the one that was being offered. He seemed like a simple man, perhaps one with his nose always stuck in a book, but Dean got the impression that Giles had seen his fair share of battles and was far shrewder than he let on. He possibly even used the misconception of his appearance to his advantage. Besides, one could not judge on clothing alone. The clothes he was found in were no longer wearable and the ones he was wearing made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He just knew that he had never before, in his life, worn a Hawaiian shirt.
~*~*~*~Flavour
He handed her the jar and sat up on the servery opposite her. Buffy had decided that it was best that he not start cooking straight away in case he really wasn’t good at it. She said she didn’t want him burning the place down but he suspected that she just didn’t want to eat bad food. She mentioned that Faith rarely cooked, and Dawn wasn’t allowed to, so she’d managed to pick up a few skills over the years. She emptied the jar into the pan.
“Are the smells bringing back any memories? Giles said they might.”
“Nah. Besides, I don’t think Apricot Chicken is really my thing. I’m more of a burger man.”
“Ooh, burgers! That’s a start! That’s something. Where there’s one memory, hopefully there’s more!”
A small beat of sweat slipped down the side of her face, a mixture of the hot afternoon and the sizzling pan she was stirring. The back of her shirt was sticking to her back and he shifted on the counter as she bent forward to taste the mixture. She pursed her lips in thought before reaching across and adding an herb to the pan. He would be lying through his teeth if he said she wasn’t attractive and the fact that she was an appealing person was making things worse. If she’d been stuck up or rude, he could have put his attraction down to her looks. Even if he put aside the fact that she was trying to help him find out who he was, he still had to consider the possibility that there was someone waiting for him at home. She turned around and smiled at him and he froze.
“You okay?”
“Sure.”
“Here,” she said, as she scooped a small amount of sauce onto the wooden spoon in her hand and carried it over to him. “Try this. Does it need anything else?”
His awkwardness shot sky high as he tried to ignore the unintentional action. The flavours hit his tongue and he offered her a genuine, wide smile. “This tastes fantastic!”
“Well, it’s mostly the good people at Bellia’s that you have to thank for that.”
“I’ll be sure to write them a letter.”
She gave a short laugh and Dean wondered what his surname was. Giles had asked him to sign his signature so they might have a chance at a surname but ‘Dean’ was all he could get out. It was as though his hand couldn’t remember how to write his last name. He noticed Buffy watching him pensively and hopped down before heading over to the cabinet that housed the plates. Taking two out, he set them down beside her and held up his hands.
“I’m just gonna wash up.”
She nodded and he tried not to run into the bathroom. Things were getting complicated. The simple methods of finding out who he was weren’t working. He had no idea who he was, if anyone was even looking for him, and he was becoming more and more attracted to his rescuer every day. He was really hoping he wasn’t developing Stockholm Syndrome.
~*~*~*~
Eloquent
He lifted her elbow up slightly and said something that was inaudible to Buffy. She was surprised when the shot rang out and the girl leapt in the air as she hit the mark. She hugged her best friend and the girls laughed together as Dean watched them in amusement. The girl in question, Lauren, was not renowned as the best shot; in fact, she had almost never hit the target. But Dean had seen the girl struggle with her gun and had offered her a bit of advice. The last shot was the fifth bullet to successively hit the target. And several of the others girls had already asked him to help with their weapons. Buffy wasn’t sure what he did for a living. He seemed to be a Jack-of-all-trades, with weapon handling the most recent skill to be noticed.
“How’s your boy doing?”
“He might just be better than you with a gun.”
Faith scoffed. “Doubtful.”
But she stayed beside Buffy nevertheless and watched as he taught three Slayers how to disassemble the gun they were training with. He moved slowly so they saw it step by step and then he showed them how to put it back together. Whatever he said next clearly had the girls in hysterics and, almost as an afterthought, he disassembled the gun, laying all of the pieces flat on the table. He moved so fast that the laughter stopped almost immediately and the three girls looked at him in awe. Most confusing, perhaps, was the look of surprise of his face.
“Wow, not bad. Certainly not bad for a rookie.”
“That doesn’t worry you? What if he’s some criminal who kills people for a living?”
Faith laughed and her laughter carried across the room causing a couple of heads to turn, most notably Dean’s, and Buffy blushed.
“B, you crack me up.”
She wiped a fake tear from her eye and grinned mischievously before turning around and walking out of the training room. Buffy noticed Dean stand up and begin walking toward her. Even though she’d offered the theory of an assassin, she doubted that’s what he was. She was confused, definitely frustrated, but knew that inevitably the PTB’s would do what they wanted and if they wouldn’t give him back his memories yet, she’d just have to wait.
“You’re pretty good with a gun,” she said, as he drew near, “using it and disassembling it.”
Dean shrugged. “I guess. Any news?”
“Sorry. I was just about to head out for a run and th-“
“Can I go?”
Buffy blinked. She wasn’t expecting that answer and her brain and mouth seemed to have frozen in place while they tried to process it. It was taking entirely too long. A puzzled look fell over his face and she begged her mouth to move, to say anything.
“Uh, sure. I just thought… instead of… what about…”
He smiled at her and she took a deep breath. She was going to have to find a way to distract him if she was going to patrol tonight and for some reason she didn’t think it was going to be that easy. If she’d learnt anything, it was that you couldn’t bring your roommate patrolling with you - or the hot guy with no memories that was currently living with you.
~*~*~*~
Damsel
Buffy walked fast, almost to the point of running, into the park and stopped at the edge of the tree line. She scanned the area in front of her before casting a cursory glance behind her. There were a few people milling about, mostly trying to get home to loved ones before it was too dark. A group of young men were in the corner of the park, leaning against the concrete wall. They weren’t vampires. Buffy had already found that out and now she just regarded them as annoying. They were great as bait for drawing out vamps but sometimes their rowdiness had driven off vamps and Buffy had had to stalk. For the most part, they ignored her. After she’d put the smack down on them in her first week in Cleveland, they leered and occasionally called out but they didn’t approach her. To be honest, she thought more of them would have been killed off by vamps by now.
Tonight they were ignoring her and she was just fine with that. Faith had managed to distract Dean with a contest to see who could handle a weapon better and Buffy had taken the opportunity to slip out. Most of the activity would be by the carnival and Buffy had sent teams out to keep it safe. Unfortunately, it left some of the smaller places unguarded which was what had drawn her out. Her gut was telling her that there were at least two vamps nearby and when she saw a shadow move to her left, she stepped back quietly into the cover of the trees and let her senses do the work. Her feet moved silently over the dead leaves and twigs and she moved behind the shadow. The closer she got, the more the shadow morphed into a teenager. It brought her to a standstill a little way back as she noticed him staring at the gang. He could have even been one of them.
Before she had a chance to take him out, a force pushed her sideways and landed heavily on top of her. She felt the breath on her face but it was the low growl that let her know that it was a vampire. A hungry one. As he dove down to take a bite out of his ‘helpless’ victim, Buffy managed to slip her arms out from under his. He went flying off of her and she sat up in surprise. She’s gotten her arms out but hadn’t had a chance to use any force. Her heart leapt into her throat when she saw Dean standing between her and the vamp.
Flipping to her feet instantly, she saw the vamp make a run for them. Dean stepped forward with a fist that actually connected with the vamp. He was backhanded for his trouble but he followed it out with a series of moves that pushed it back. The vamp’s hand flung out and a knife fell into it. Dean merely picked up a long, thick stick beside him and they started with a series of blows, the last one knocking the knife from the vamps hand and striking him straight in the heart. There was a brief second before the cloud of ash and Buffy watched as Dean looked down at the stick in his hands before looking up at her, mouth agape.
~*~*~*~
Supernatural
“Perhaps he’s a Hunter?”
Giles moved around the room and Buffy sat heavily down in her chair. “Maybe. He just doesn’t seem like that sort of person.”
“Well, they’re not all in it for pelts or teeth. He could have a family of Hunters or had somebody close to him die by something supernatural that drew him to it. Have you asked?”
“Yeah, he still can’t remember. But you should have seen him fight Giles; that was not somebody who was new to the supernatural. And he was surprised that vamps dusted, not that they existed.”
“Perhaps he hasn’t come across one before that can.”
She shook her head. “If he was a Hunter, how could he not have? Vamps are everywhere.”
“You guard the Hellmouth Buffy. That’s what a Slayer does. But further out, the vampires tend to be more human and less demon. They can walk in sunlight, they don’t turn to ash, but they’re weaker than the ones you’re used to. Hunters usually take them out by beheading them.”
Dawn entered the room and sat down opposite Buffy while Dean entered cautiously and stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets. Dawn handed her a stapled stack of papers and pointed to them.
“That’s the case I was working on. Whatever is stalking this woman is clearly supernatural. It followed her and her fiancée to the adoption centre. A fire started out back before their interview even started. Everyone got out fine but the official cause of the fire is faulty wiring. Really, they just don’t know how it started. It’s the fifth attack this fortnight and they’re getting more serious - I think we should put someone on her. There’s a ‘wedding’ shower on Friday night. The bride and groom decided to roll both into one. They’ve told everyone it will be more fun that way but she’s really just too scared to be separated from him in case something else happens.”
“Okay, tell her we’ll send a couple of people over. Give me a list of things you think this could be - we need to give the girls as much prep as possible.”
Dawn nodded and stood, walking out of the room with a brief smile at Dean. He shifted uncomfortably as the attention turned to him.
“Ah, they told me to come down here and see you.”
“Yeah, listen Dean, I really don’t know what to tell you. Obviously, whatever you do has something to do with the supernatural. You know too much about it and you fight too well. I’m assuming that’s why you’re here.”
Giles stepped forward. “I know some people in the community that might know who you are so I’m going to see if anybody is missing. It’s a little tricky though because Hunters generally stay off of the grid while they’re working so it might take some time.”
“And if no one’s missing me? What then?”
“We’re just going to have to find out why you are here. There is a reason for it.”
Dean nodded sombrely and she wondered what it would be to not know who you were. Not just what you were supposed to do or where you were supposed to be, but to have no memories to draw from. No past.
~*~*~*~
Pets
She came to a standstill and felt the urge to rub her eyes. She couldn’t understand what she was seeing - it was as though she had fallen through the looking glass but instead of a white rabbit with a pocket watch, it was a duck. There didn’t appear to be anything particularly odd about the duck. It was white with a dark orange beak - it wasn’t wearing a waistcoat, nor was it smoking a pipe or anything else as ridiculous but it was standing in front of her. It had moved just enough for her to know that it was, indeed, real but was standing still as though it were trying to stare her down.
She moved cautiously to her left, slowly and deliberately, and it let out a low quack that had her standing as still as a statue. She turned her head to see if anyone else was witnessing the same bizarre thing that she was but the kitchen was empty. Not even Dean was around. Blinking her eyes, she opened to find the duck still staring at her, still watching her.
The back door opened and Andrew walked in. He saw Buffy and smiled but his smile dropped when she looked back down at the duck. Andrew dropped the shopping bag he was carrying on the servery and smiled sheepishly.
“I bought Leroy for Thanksgiving.”
“You bought a live duck?”
“Yeah. I was gonna cook him up for the Slayers to eat.”
Buffy’s teeth began grinding together. “Thanksgiving was a month ago, Andrew.”
“I know. He was just so cute that I couldn’t kill him. And if I took him back they would have just sold him to somebody else who would have killed him.”
“You can’t keep a duck, Andrew. This is not a zoo.”
“I know. I’ve been feeding him and taking care of him and he’s actually a pretty good guard duck. He always lets me know when someone is here.”
She winced. “Guard duck?”
She looked back down at Leroy to see that he had tilted his head to the side as though he was analysing her. She and Faith had already decided on the rule of ‘No Pets’ for the girls. One dog leads to a dozen dogs and then they are more of a distraction than anything. If she let this one slide, the girls would know and would want to bend the rule for themselves. She looked back up at Andrew.
“No.”
“Please, Buffy!”
She sighed. “Look, if anyone asks, that duck is for next year’s Thanksgiving and you’re just plumping it up for then, got it? You know there’re no pets here so Leroy is on the food roster for now as far as everyone is concerned.”
Andrew leapt across the room and enveloped her in a hug, Leroy quacked his approval and Buffy just grimaced. The hugging was bad enough but the sinking feeling in her gut was worse. She didn’t know how but she had a feeling that she was going to regret that decision.
~*~*~*~
Castle
The sky exploded into bright colours above her. One bang was followed by another and a chandelier of red draped over a series of star and moon shapes. An explosion of yellow followed one of green and she felt a small smile tug at her lips. When she’d been a kid, she’d been terrified of fireworks but now she loved them. The loud noises no longer bothered her and they drew her gaze upwards - toward a sky that was bigger than her and made her feel small in the grand scheme of things. The fate of the world no longer rested on her shoulders and she was just one of many.
In the distance she could see the school on the horizon. Against the dark sky it looked like an old castle looming over the houses around but against a backdrop of fireworks, it lit up and was brought to life. The light seemed to danced off of the walls and the brief flashes gave her eyes direction. She leant forward on the balcony railing and looked over the edge. There were a few people milling about at the foot of their building, most heading to the town centre to get a better look at the fireworks. Somewhere out there in the darkness, Slayers were keeping watch over the innocents and making sure they all got back home safely.
“I take it you like fireworks?”
Buffy nearly jumped out of her skin as she spun around quickly. Dean smiled apologetically and moved out onto the balcony with her. His hands rested on the railing in front of him and he turned his face upward in time to a brilliant, golden flash light up the night.
“I think fireworks are amazing - at least, I do now. I don’t know how they do it; how they control them like that.”
She let the silence envelope them for a moment. When Buffy looked across at him, his profile had been lit up by the fireworks and was watching them intently. His eyes followed the curves and loops and when the final firework exploded raining down a shower of brilliantly lit stars, his mouth fell open slightly at the sight.
Feeling her eyes on him, Dean turned and looked at her, his gaze drawing her breath away from her. She sucked in a deep breath and forced her eyes to look at the street below.
“Any other memories?”
“Not yet. Thought I may have remembered something but it wasn’t anyone from my past so I’m stuck at a dead end again. It must be driving you nuts having someone around who doesn’t remember who they are.”
“Nah. I lost my memories once. I called myself Joan. That was a night I’d rather forget.”
He gave a soft laugh and Buffy watched him laughing, noting how it seemed to take all of the stress from his face. When he caught her pensive look, his head tilted slightly and she flushed with embarrassment. The night air did nothing to cool her down and she squirmed under his gaze before meeting his eyes, giving him a small smile and escaping back into the apartment where she could hide out and ignore her growing attraction.
~*~*~*~
Slippery
Dawn rushed in and Dean looked up sharply. “Buffy!”
He stood from the lounge and looked at her questioningly as her sister rounded the corner. She had obviously just gotten dressed because her hair was still wet and her shirt was inside out. Despite his resolution to stay away from her, to keep his distance from her - emotionally, if not physically - he was even more drawn to her than before. Watching the fireworks had only added to the tension between them and a part of him was grateful for her leaving the balcony because he wasn’t sure what would have happen if she’d stayed. He had been waring with himself over leaning in and capturing her mouth and her decision to move into the house had saved him from making that decision. He wasn’t sure that it was a good thing; whether she’d moved away because she was fighting the same war, and won, or because she just wasn’t interested and hadn’t felt what he had.
Buffy glanced briefly at him before turning her attention to her sister. “What’s wrong?”
“That case I was working on? The Slayers went along to the wedding shower but whatever it was, was still there. The maid of honour mysteriously slipped and fell down the stairs. Broke her collarbone and was lucky to walk away with just that. If the railing hadn’t been already decorated with a satin trim, she would have fallen down them all. I’ve talked to all of them but none of the Slayers saw anything. The majority of the guests were in the lounge room downstairs and the Slayer upstairs was checking the bedrooms when she heard the cry.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Well, maybe some sort of ghost or some demon focused on her. Whatever it is, is moving around with her and is determined to put a stop to the wedding. I think you should get involved; maybe you’ll pick up on something we haven’t.”
“If it’s a ghost, are there any possibilities about who it might be? Any dead lovers or maybe one that’s still alive and calling a demon?”
Dawn shook her head. “I’ve looked into that. She’s only had two boyfriends before now. Both are alive. One is now gay and the other is happily married to the woman he left her for. Neither one has a motive. And she doesn’t remember anyone close to her having died other than both sets of grandparents.”
Dean sat back down on the lounge and Buffy moved closer to her. “When is the wedding?”
“Two weeks. I’ve already told her to put you down as a guest. If things have been happening now, something will definitely happen then. The only thing is…”
“What?”
“Well, she wanted me to keep the numbers even so I put Dean on the list too.”
Dean’s heart began rapidly beating and he turned to look at a surprised Buffy. Other than the fact that he had nothing to wear, going to an intimate function with Buffy was the last thing he wanted to do and based on the look she was wearing, he guessed that she thought the same thing; except he didn’t know why.
~*~*~*~
CONTINUE...