Should Have Known Better - August 19th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 19
Title: Should Have Known Better
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SPN
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Supernatural people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Buffy’s little life is disrupted by her brother. The other one.
Notes: Follows Galena, Illinois (Redux) and The Drinks
Seasons: Post-“Gift”/Season 1
Word Count: 2150
1:18 a.m. Halloween 2005
Buffy rolled her eyes as she left the exam room with her blood draw kit.
“You look annoyed,” Monica noted.
“Parents, I just don’t get them,” Buffy muttered. “And I think I owe my mom an apology - or sixty.”
Monica’s gaze went past her. “Oh, cute.”
Buffy turned to look. “Dean,” she said in surprise. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Dad’s not calling me back. It’s been a few days,” Dean said.
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I came to grab you and Sammy.”
“He can grab me,” Monica said.
Buffy sent her a look. “Monica, Dean my brother. Dean, Monica.”
“I thought Sam was your brother.”
“He is.”
“You have an impressive genepool, girl,” Monica replied with a wink at Dean.
“When do you get off?” Dean asked Buffy, though his gaze kept going back to her coworker.
“A couple hours,” Buffy said. “Get Sam and stop by my place for the bag under my bed. I’ll meet you next to my car.”
88888888
“I cannot believe you agreed to this,” Sam complained.
Buffy rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe it either, but here they were - the Winchester kids heading to track down their father.
“What did you tell work?” Sam asked.
“The truth,” Buffy answered. “Dad went silent, I don’t know what happened, we’re going to try and retrace his steps.”
“Did you hear the message?” Dean said, offering his phone.
Buffy pulled hers out. “Just a text. You know what to do. Be careful.”
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Sam noted.
“Here,” Dean handed her a set of articles. “This is where Dad was.”
“He was close,” she said in surprise.
“He didn’t stop in?” Dean asked.
“I haven’t seen him or talked to him in over a year. I get a text periodically.”
“You were still talking to him?” Sam said.
“You’re not the only guy to crash on my couch.”
Sam turned to look at her. “You never said anything.”
“Did you really think that my relationship with them stopped just because yours did?”
He looked taken aback. He turned back towards the front windshield. “Right…”
“How pissed was Jess?” Buffy asked.
“You know the girlfriend?” Dean said in surprise.
“I like the girlfriend,” she shot back.
“She was confused,” Sam broke in. “Between Dean’s breaking in and having to go after Dad, it wasn’t exactly a good explanation.”
“Just have to be back by Monday.”
“What’s on Monday?” Dean asked.
“An interview,” Sam answered. “For law school.”
“Just the first of many,” Buffy assured him with a pat on the shoulder.
He gave her a pressed smile.
88888888
Dean looked over the side of the Sylvania Bridge. “So this is where Constance took the swan dive.”
“You could have used sensitivity training,” Buffy told him. She looked over the side.
“So you think Dad would have been here?” Sam asked.
“Well, he’s chasing the same story and we’re chasing him.”
“Are we assuming he left this for us to finish?” Buffy asked. “Or he was a victim of it?”
“If he walked away, it’s because he knew we could handle it,” Dean said. “Or he didn’t have a choice.”
She raised an eyebrow at the option he wasn’t presenting.
“May take a while,” he continued.
“Dean,” Sam snapped. “I told you. I’ve gotta get back by Monday-”
“Monday. Right. The interview.”
Buffy sighed. “And not that it matters to either one of you but I have something resembling a life back there.” She stalked away from them.
“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?” Dean asked Sam. “You think you’re just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl?”
“Maybe…why not?”
“Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you’ve done?”
“No,” Sam snapped. “And she’s not ever going to know.”
Buffy shook her head. “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said. At some point you’d have to tell her.”
“See,” Dean said.
“I’m not saying it has to be now or the first big conversation, but you can’t pretend that what’s out there doesn’t exist. And if you want her safe, she’s gotta know.”
“What?” Sam said in surprise.
“I don’t get a lot of supernatural victims in the ER, but enough to remind me why sticking our heads in the sand doesn’t actually work.”
“You want to be back out there?”
“If I wanted to be out there, I’d be out there.”
Dean grinned. “Sooner or later Sammy, you’re going to have to own up to who you are.”
“And who’s that?” Sam asked.
“You’re one of us.”
Sam stepped around them to face them. “No. I’m not like you. This is not going to be my life.”
Buffy sighed. “Monster now, family drama later.”
Sam and Dean looked where she was watching a woman in white step off the bridge. They all ran for it.
“Where’d she go?” Dean demanded as they looked down at the muddy bank below.
“I don’t know,” Sam said.
“I don’t see her,” Buffy agreed.
The Impala sprang to life.
“Who’s driving?” Sam asked.
Dean pulled the keys from his pocket.
The car jerked forward, aiming for them.
“Go!” Buffy ordered. They boys ran for the side of the bridge, jumping over the edge. She kept going straight. Outpacing the car before swerving back onto the bridge’s framework.
The Impala’s lights flickered out as it rolled to a stop.
She didn’t wait. She ran back the way she had come, looking for her brothers.
“Sam! Dean!” she called.
Sam pulled himself over the edge. “Dean?” he called looking down over the side.
“What?” Dean called from his position in the muck.
“You all right?”
“I’m super,” came the sarcastic reply. “Buffy?”
“All good,” she called down.
“Great.”
88888888
“Woah,” Buffy said looking around the room John had been renting. There was a line of salt. There were papers covering multiple walls.
Dean sniffed a burger that was sitting out, recoiling. “It’s been a couple days at least.”
“I do not miss living like this,” Buffy said softly.
The papers were all about the disappearances along Centennial Highway.
“Dad figured it out,” Sam said where he was looking at another wall of papers.
“What do you mean?” Dean asked.
“He found the same article we did. Constance Welch. She’s a woman in white.”
“You sly dogs,” Dean said. “All right, so if you’re dealing with a woman in white. Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it.”
“She might have another weakness.”
“First things first, I need to get cleaned up,” Dean told them, he headed to the bathroom.
Buffy nodded but her focus was on the mirror. There were pictures of John and the boys. A few of Mary and Dean.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked softly.
“It’s nothing.”
“You really are a terrible liar.”
“No,” she sighed. “I’m really, really good.” Her phone rang. She pulled it out. “Damn, work. I should take this.” She stepped out of the room.
Sam returned his attention to the pictures. It took him a minute to see it. There were no pictures of Buffy. Sure, their dad had never been the kind to get yearly pictures of his kids. But to have neglected to get pictures of Buffy. It must hurt.
88888888
Buffy cleaned the injury to Sam’s chest.
“So returning her to the house was all it took?”
“She couldn’t face the ghosts of her kids,” Sam said.
“Hmm.”
“You’re lucky,” Dean said. “Your stunt didn’t damage the car, only needs a buff and washing.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “You sit down so I can have a look at your head.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my head.”
“That’s up for debate,” she argued. “Sit.”
He grumbled but sat to wait for her.
Buffy finished with the small wounds. “Shouldn’t be anything permanent.”
“Feels like she scratched my ribs.”
“Better than your heart.” She moved to Dean. “Okay, Mister Hard-Head.” While she was quieter, she cleaned and bandaged the cut with the same thorough tenderness.
“Where does Dad’s coordinates indicate?” Dean asked.
“Um, I don’t know yet,” Sam admitted.
“Well, we should haul-ass out of here,” Buffy said. “Dean knows how to make an impression.”
“Agreed,” her brothers said.
Within an hour they were halfway back to Stanford.
“I got it,” Sam said. “The coordinates point to a place called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado.”
“Sounds charming,” Dean said. “How far?”
“About six hundred miles.”
“If we shag ass, we could make it by morning.”
“Dean…”
“You’re not going,” Dean answered.
“The interview’s in like, ten hours. I gotta be there.”
Dean nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, whatever.” He looked in the rearview mirror at Buffy. “I can guess your answer.”
She shrugged, her gaze moving to the window.
“Fine. I’ll take you home.”
88888888
“You’ve got to stop being pissed at us,” Buffy told Dean as they watched Sam enter his apartment.
“You backed him walking away,” Dean argued.
“No. I backed him having his own life,” she said. “And his own damn choices about where that life led him.”
“You know he can’t just walk away from this.”
“You’ve accepted that. I’ve accepted that. He still has hope.” Buffy looked at her watch. “Shit, my watched stopped.”
Dean frowned and looked at his own. His eyes widened. He scrambled out of the car and ran for Sam’s apartment.
Buffy stared after him in shock. From a window, there was a flash of light and smoke started to pour out. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and called 911 as Sam and Dean stumbled out of the house.
“I need to report a fire,” she said to the operator before giving the address.
“Jess!” Sam yelled.
Buffy got out of the car and ran over to her brothers. “I called the fire department.”
“Jess…” Sam whispered.
“Maybe she wasn’t home.”
“She was,” Dean said. “It’s just like Mom…”
Bile rose in the back of Buffy’s throat. “Oh god. Sam…”
A siren behind them announced the firetrucks.
88888888
Buffy stopped at her supervisor’s office. She knocked on the doorframe.
“Elizabeth,” Carrie greeted. “What can I do for you?”
She stepped in and closed the door. “Carrie. I’m sorry, but I’m putting in my notice. Effective immediately.”
Carrie’s eyes widened. “Has something happened?”
“I love working here. But my brothers…we’re heading out to look for our dad.”
“This could be a temporary-”
“I’d like to think that it will be. That in six months I’ll be back, but I don’t want to leave you hanging if that’s not the case.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not as much as I am.”
“And school? I know you jus-”
Buffy shrugged. “Nothing was set in stone.”
Carrie nodded. “I understand. Let me know if I can get you a reference.” She pulled out some paperwork. “I need you to sign and then I’ll get this going.”
Once the papers were signed, Buffy went to her locker and started emptying her life into a box. Most of it went into a trash can. But she saved her stethoscope and a few pictures. At the back of the locker were copies of completed applications for pre-med. She stared at them for a long time. She dropped them into the trash when security walked in.
“Hey, Charlie,” she said when she saw him.
“Hey, Elizabeth. I need your badge and anything that needs to be returned to the hospital,” Charlie said politely.
“Of course.” Buffy unclipped her badge and handed it over. “I’m done here.”
He handed her a paper to sign and then escorted her out of the building.
88888888
“Did you talk to her mom?” Buffy asked.
“Y-yeah,” Sam said. “I told her I couldn’t stay. She said she understood, but…”
“Yeah,” she replied. “The hospital gave me my last paycheck. Anything else being paid out will be sent to Sioux Falls.”
“Did you get to say goodbye?”
“No. I left a letter on the board.”
“And this place?” he asked, looking around her apartment.
“I talked to the landlord. He already has a waitlist, even this late in the year. He’ll let me go with November’s rent as payment for having to find a new tenant.” She rolled her eyes.
“Are you ready to go?” Dean asked impatiently.
Buffy looked at him with narrowed eyes. “You mean are we done saying goodbye to the lives we led for the last three years?”
“You should have known better than to get attached.”
Buffy came to her feet. But Sam’s hand on her wrist stayed her.
“We’re ready,” Sam answered.
“Then we should get on the road,” Dean announced as he left the apartment.
Buffy looked around her apartment, checking for anything she couldn’t live without.
“We should have known better,” Sam whispered.
“We couldn’t have.” She told him.
He headed out the door.
Buffy sighed and prayed a moment. “If you can hear me…we really need something here.”
A buzz sounded from the direction of the television - when she turned she didn’t see anything. She frowned but grabbed her backpack and walked out the door.
Title: Should Have Known Better
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SPN
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Supernatural people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Buffy’s little life is disrupted by her brother. The other one.
Notes: Follows Galena, Illinois (Redux) and The Drinks
Seasons: Post-“Gift”/Season 1
Word Count: 2150
1:18 a.m. Halloween 2005
Buffy rolled her eyes as she left the exam room with her blood draw kit.
“You look annoyed,” Monica noted.
“Parents, I just don’t get them,” Buffy muttered. “And I think I owe my mom an apology - or sixty.”
Monica’s gaze went past her. “Oh, cute.”
Buffy turned to look. “Dean,” she said in surprise. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Dad’s not calling me back. It’s been a few days,” Dean said.
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I came to grab you and Sammy.”
“He can grab me,” Monica said.
Buffy sent her a look. “Monica, Dean my brother. Dean, Monica.”
“I thought Sam was your brother.”
“He is.”
“You have an impressive genepool, girl,” Monica replied with a wink at Dean.
“When do you get off?” Dean asked Buffy, though his gaze kept going back to her coworker.
“A couple hours,” Buffy said. “Get Sam and stop by my place for the bag under my bed. I’ll meet you next to my car.”
88888888
“I cannot believe you agreed to this,” Sam complained.
Buffy rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe it either, but here they were - the Winchester kids heading to track down their father.
“What did you tell work?” Sam asked.
“The truth,” Buffy answered. “Dad went silent, I don’t know what happened, we’re going to try and retrace his steps.”
“Did you hear the message?” Dean said, offering his phone.
Buffy pulled hers out. “Just a text. You know what to do. Be careful.”
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Sam noted.
“Here,” Dean handed her a set of articles. “This is where Dad was.”
“He was close,” she said in surprise.
“He didn’t stop in?” Dean asked.
“I haven’t seen him or talked to him in over a year. I get a text periodically.”
“You were still talking to him?” Sam said.
“You’re not the only guy to crash on my couch.”
Sam turned to look at her. “You never said anything.”
“Did you really think that my relationship with them stopped just because yours did?”
He looked taken aback. He turned back towards the front windshield. “Right…”
“How pissed was Jess?” Buffy asked.
“You know the girlfriend?” Dean said in surprise.
“I like the girlfriend,” she shot back.
“She was confused,” Sam broke in. “Between Dean’s breaking in and having to go after Dad, it wasn’t exactly a good explanation.”
“Just have to be back by Monday.”
“What’s on Monday?” Dean asked.
“An interview,” Sam answered. “For law school.”
“Just the first of many,” Buffy assured him with a pat on the shoulder.
He gave her a pressed smile.
88888888
Dean looked over the side of the Sylvania Bridge. “So this is where Constance took the swan dive.”
“You could have used sensitivity training,” Buffy told him. She looked over the side.
“So you think Dad would have been here?” Sam asked.
“Well, he’s chasing the same story and we’re chasing him.”
“Are we assuming he left this for us to finish?” Buffy asked. “Or he was a victim of it?”
“If he walked away, it’s because he knew we could handle it,” Dean said. “Or he didn’t have a choice.”
She raised an eyebrow at the option he wasn’t presenting.
“May take a while,” he continued.
“Dean,” Sam snapped. “I told you. I’ve gotta get back by Monday-”
“Monday. Right. The interview.”
Buffy sighed. “And not that it matters to either one of you but I have something resembling a life back there.” She stalked away from them.
“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?” Dean asked Sam. “You think you’re just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl?”
“Maybe…why not?”
“Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you’ve done?”
“No,” Sam snapped. “And she’s not ever going to know.”
Buffy shook her head. “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said. At some point you’d have to tell her.”
“See,” Dean said.
“I’m not saying it has to be now or the first big conversation, but you can’t pretend that what’s out there doesn’t exist. And if you want her safe, she’s gotta know.”
“What?” Sam said in surprise.
“I don’t get a lot of supernatural victims in the ER, but enough to remind me why sticking our heads in the sand doesn’t actually work.”
“You want to be back out there?”
“If I wanted to be out there, I’d be out there.”
Dean grinned. “Sooner or later Sammy, you’re going to have to own up to who you are.”
“And who’s that?” Sam asked.
“You’re one of us.”
Sam stepped around them to face them. “No. I’m not like you. This is not going to be my life.”
Buffy sighed. “Monster now, family drama later.”
Sam and Dean looked where she was watching a woman in white step off the bridge. They all ran for it.
“Where’d she go?” Dean demanded as they looked down at the muddy bank below.
“I don’t know,” Sam said.
“I don’t see her,” Buffy agreed.
The Impala sprang to life.
“Who’s driving?” Sam asked.
Dean pulled the keys from his pocket.
The car jerked forward, aiming for them.
“Go!” Buffy ordered. They boys ran for the side of the bridge, jumping over the edge. She kept going straight. Outpacing the car before swerving back onto the bridge’s framework.
The Impala’s lights flickered out as it rolled to a stop.
She didn’t wait. She ran back the way she had come, looking for her brothers.
“Sam! Dean!” she called.
Sam pulled himself over the edge. “Dean?” he called looking down over the side.
“What?” Dean called from his position in the muck.
“You all right?”
“I’m super,” came the sarcastic reply. “Buffy?”
“All good,” she called down.
“Great.”
88888888
“Woah,” Buffy said looking around the room John had been renting. There was a line of salt. There were papers covering multiple walls.
Dean sniffed a burger that was sitting out, recoiling. “It’s been a couple days at least.”
“I do not miss living like this,” Buffy said softly.
The papers were all about the disappearances along Centennial Highway.
“Dad figured it out,” Sam said where he was looking at another wall of papers.
“What do you mean?” Dean asked.
“He found the same article we did. Constance Welch. She’s a woman in white.”
“You sly dogs,” Dean said. “All right, so if you’re dealing with a woman in white. Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it.”
“She might have another weakness.”
“First things first, I need to get cleaned up,” Dean told them, he headed to the bathroom.
Buffy nodded but her focus was on the mirror. There were pictures of John and the boys. A few of Mary and Dean.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked softly.
“It’s nothing.”
“You really are a terrible liar.”
“No,” she sighed. “I’m really, really good.” Her phone rang. She pulled it out. “Damn, work. I should take this.” She stepped out of the room.
Sam returned his attention to the pictures. It took him a minute to see it. There were no pictures of Buffy. Sure, their dad had never been the kind to get yearly pictures of his kids. But to have neglected to get pictures of Buffy. It must hurt.
88888888
Buffy cleaned the injury to Sam’s chest.
“So returning her to the house was all it took?”
“She couldn’t face the ghosts of her kids,” Sam said.
“Hmm.”
“You’re lucky,” Dean said. “Your stunt didn’t damage the car, only needs a buff and washing.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “You sit down so I can have a look at your head.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my head.”
“That’s up for debate,” she argued. “Sit.”
He grumbled but sat to wait for her.
Buffy finished with the small wounds. “Shouldn’t be anything permanent.”
“Feels like she scratched my ribs.”
“Better than your heart.” She moved to Dean. “Okay, Mister Hard-Head.” While she was quieter, she cleaned and bandaged the cut with the same thorough tenderness.
“Where does Dad’s coordinates indicate?” Dean asked.
“Um, I don’t know yet,” Sam admitted.
“Well, we should haul-ass out of here,” Buffy said. “Dean knows how to make an impression.”
“Agreed,” her brothers said.
Within an hour they were halfway back to Stanford.
“I got it,” Sam said. “The coordinates point to a place called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado.”
“Sounds charming,” Dean said. “How far?”
“About six hundred miles.”
“If we shag ass, we could make it by morning.”
“Dean…”
“You’re not going,” Dean answered.
“The interview’s in like, ten hours. I gotta be there.”
Dean nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, whatever.” He looked in the rearview mirror at Buffy. “I can guess your answer.”
She shrugged, her gaze moving to the window.
“Fine. I’ll take you home.”
88888888
“You’ve got to stop being pissed at us,” Buffy told Dean as they watched Sam enter his apartment.
“You backed him walking away,” Dean argued.
“No. I backed him having his own life,” she said. “And his own damn choices about where that life led him.”
“You know he can’t just walk away from this.”
“You’ve accepted that. I’ve accepted that. He still has hope.” Buffy looked at her watch. “Shit, my watched stopped.”
Dean frowned and looked at his own. His eyes widened. He scrambled out of the car and ran for Sam’s apartment.
Buffy stared after him in shock. From a window, there was a flash of light and smoke started to pour out. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and called 911 as Sam and Dean stumbled out of the house.
“I need to report a fire,” she said to the operator before giving the address.
“Jess!” Sam yelled.
Buffy got out of the car and ran over to her brothers. “I called the fire department.”
“Jess…” Sam whispered.
“Maybe she wasn’t home.”
“She was,” Dean said. “It’s just like Mom…”
Bile rose in the back of Buffy’s throat. “Oh god. Sam…”
A siren behind them announced the firetrucks.
88888888
Buffy stopped at her supervisor’s office. She knocked on the doorframe.
“Elizabeth,” Carrie greeted. “What can I do for you?”
She stepped in and closed the door. “Carrie. I’m sorry, but I’m putting in my notice. Effective immediately.”
Carrie’s eyes widened. “Has something happened?”
“I love working here. But my brothers…we’re heading out to look for our dad.”
“This could be a temporary-”
“I’d like to think that it will be. That in six months I’ll be back, but I don’t want to leave you hanging if that’s not the case.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not as much as I am.”
“And school? I know you jus-”
Buffy shrugged. “Nothing was set in stone.”
Carrie nodded. “I understand. Let me know if I can get you a reference.” She pulled out some paperwork. “I need you to sign and then I’ll get this going.”
Once the papers were signed, Buffy went to her locker and started emptying her life into a box. Most of it went into a trash can. But she saved her stethoscope and a few pictures. At the back of the locker were copies of completed applications for pre-med. She stared at them for a long time. She dropped them into the trash when security walked in.
“Hey, Charlie,” she said when she saw him.
“Hey, Elizabeth. I need your badge and anything that needs to be returned to the hospital,” Charlie said politely.
“Of course.” Buffy unclipped her badge and handed it over. “I’m done here.”
He handed her a paper to sign and then escorted her out of the building.
88888888
“Did you talk to her mom?” Buffy asked.
“Y-yeah,” Sam said. “I told her I couldn’t stay. She said she understood, but…”
“Yeah,” she replied. “The hospital gave me my last paycheck. Anything else being paid out will be sent to Sioux Falls.”
“Did you get to say goodbye?”
“No. I left a letter on the board.”
“And this place?” he asked, looking around her apartment.
“I talked to the landlord. He already has a waitlist, even this late in the year. He’ll let me go with November’s rent as payment for having to find a new tenant.” She rolled her eyes.
“Are you ready to go?” Dean asked impatiently.
Buffy looked at him with narrowed eyes. “You mean are we done saying goodbye to the lives we led for the last three years?”
“You should have known better than to get attached.”
Buffy came to her feet. But Sam’s hand on her wrist stayed her.
“We’re ready,” Sam answered.
“Then we should get on the road,” Dean announced as he left the apartment.
Buffy looked around her apartment, checking for anything she couldn’t live without.
“We should have known better,” Sam whispered.
“We couldn’t have.” She told him.
He headed out the door.
Buffy sighed and prayed a moment. “If you can hear me…we really need something here.”
A buzz sounded from the direction of the television - when she turned she didn’t see anything. She frowned but grabbed her backpack and walked out the door.