August 16 - Can't Keep 'Em Forever
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 16
Title: Can’t Keep ‘Em Forever
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Psych
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Psych people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Buffy finds some of her secrets outed.
Notes: Follows Day 10 “First Class”
Seasons: Post "Becoming"/Season 1
Characters: Buffy, Henry, Lassiter
Word Count: 1430
Buffy always feared she would end up in a police station. Ever since she became the Slayer and more so after being framed by Angelus and Drusilla for Kendra’s death and her friends’ injuries. It was inevitable that it would happen again.
Periodically she would venture to the public library and check the Sunnydale newspapers. There were always deaths, some were people she knew, but she had focused on the police sections. That was how she learned that all charges against her had been dropped only weeks after arriving in Santa Barbara. She could have gone home then, at least tried to patch things up with her mom or the Scoobies. But Henry had given her purpose and a roof and he expected her only to learn - from her GED testing books and from him. She took to it, learning how to consciously survey a room with a single glance.
Unfortunately, she’d made a mistake. Now she sat in a little concrete room, cuffed to a table, examining her reflection in the mirror of one-way glass. Her hair needed bleaching. She looked at her hands, she hadn’t done a manicure in a while but they needed maintenance.
A bit of noise near the door drew her attention.
In walked a lanky man with a bit of stoop in his shoulder, he wore a suit. There were signs he was armed, a small gun at his ankle, and a shoulder holster for his primary weapon. He had black hair and a rather severe expression, which was slightly amusing given his elfin features.
“I’m Detective Lassiter.” He slammed a folder on the table. “What were you doing at the crime scene?”
“As I told the officers who found me, I came upon the victim at 10:40 p.m.”
“Did you see the assailant?”
“There was no one around.” Which was a complete lie, the vampire had been enjoying the co-ed and hadn’t seen Buffy sneaking up on him. He had crumbled into dust, leaving his bleeding victim. “I heard a struggle, by the time I got over the fence, he was gone.”
Lassiter smiled smugly. “See that’s where your story gets hard to believe. The fence you said to have jumped was a solid twelve-foot fence.”
Buffy leaned back and raised an eye brow at him. “So?”
“You’re 5’2”, 5’3”? It isn’t possible.” He leaned down. “You didn’t jump the fence. You didn’t have to. You lured the victim in and attacked her. But the noise she made fighting you off drew patrolmen quicker than you could escape.” He was within only two inches of her face. “So you played Good Samaritan, hoping no one would look twice at you.”
They were interrupted by a scuffle at the door. It opened to reveal Shawn and Gus.
“I sensed I was needed!” Shawn declared, with his right hand to his temple.
“Oh, brother,” Buffy muttered as Lassiter snapped, “Go away Spencer.”
Shawn’s gaze met hers. “Beth?”
“Wait, you know her?”
“I have no association with his brand of crazy,” Buffy said. “Hi, Gus.”
“Hi, Beth,” Gus greeted as though it was perfectly normal to find an acquaintance cuffed in the interrogation room.
Lassiter looked back at her in surprise. Before he could demand they leave again another man walked in.
“Buzz,” she waved as much as her cuffs would allow.
“Beth,” he smiled. “What are you doing here?’
“She’s being interrogated,” Lassiter yelled, yanking the folder out of Buzz’s hand and physically herding the others out of the room.
“What a circus,” Buffy said.
“You have no idea.” He opened the folder, his haughty smile returning as he read. “Beth Summers, is it?”
She ground her teeth. “Yes.”
“No such person exists.”
“That’s because my mother was nuts,” she said.
“Your finger prints didn’t pop. So who are you?”
“Beth Anne Summers.”
“No, such person.”
The door opened again. Revealing Henry.
“Beth,” he crossed the room, ignoring Lassiter. “What happened?”
“Good Samaritan gets jailed,” she mused. “I found a bleeding woman in an abandoned construction site, but the good Detective Lassiter here thinks I attacked her.”
“Wait,” Lassiter yelled. “Spencer, how do you know this girl?”
“She’s a friend,” Henry replied. “What’s it going to take to clear this up?”
“Henry?” a female voice side from the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to get a friend out of interrogation.”
“Not yet,” Lassiter told him.
“Actually, the victim woke up,” the woman said. “She described a tall, pale male as her attacker.”
Detective Lassiter seemed to deflate before he rallied. “She isn’t who she says she is.”
The female finally came into view. “Hey Juliet.”
“Beth? You’re the one they found with the victim?”
“Yes,” Lassiter snapped. “She also somehow scaled a twelve-foot fence and her name isn’t in the system.”
“That’s because her name is Buffy,” Henry said.
Buffy looked at him in surprise. “You knew?”
“For a while.”
“Why did you lie?” Lassiter demanded.
“Because Buffy is a ditzy, standout name, even in California. So when I came to Santa Barbara I started going by Beth. A nickname is still my damn name.”
“And since she’s eliminated as a suspect, uncuff her.”
Lassiter grumbled but unlocked the cuffs.
88888888
Buffy and Henry exited the police station.
“How long?” Buffy asked.
“Since Christmas,” he admitted.
“The trip you took last December…”
“To Sunnydale.”
“How did you find out?”
“I may be retired, but I’m still a detective,” he told her as they reached his truck.
Buffy mentally sorted through what happened around that time as they got in the truck. “The stuff I had in your safe. Including my GED paperwork. Which I had to use my legal name on.”
Henry nodded.
“What did you find out?”
“Sunnydale Police have got to be the most useless bunch in I’ve ever met.”
She laughed, despite the situation. “I could have told you that.” They pulled out onto the road.
“I talked to your principal and a couple of your classmates.”
“I’m sure Snyder was a fountain of useful information.”
“He was a small man with a real grudge against you. Convinced you were guilty.”
She winced. Pulling a sword on his probably hadn’t helped.
“But your classmates told a completely different story. They didn’t believe you had done it, even before the police dropped the case.” He glanced at her. “I talked to your mom.”
Buffy ground her teeth. “Before or after her first drink of the day?”
“Beth.”
“Did she tell you why I left?”
“It seems she didn’t give you a lot of choice,” he admitted. “She wouldn’t expand other than it was her fault.”
Buffy sighed. “It wasn’t just her fault. I had to go, I had to stop something from happening to people I knew. But she wanted me to leave it to the cops - who were already after me for Kendra’s murder. I refused, she told me if I left to stay gone…so I left and I stayed gone.”
“And if you had left it to the cops?”
“Many would have died,” she said evenly. “As it was, I was too late to save my boyfriend.”
“Is that why you ran away?”
“Couldn’t stay. The cops and Snyder wanted to lock me up. My friends were safe enough. My mother had effectively kicked me out.”
“And became Beth.”
“I knew if ‘Buffy’ popped up they would find me.”
Henry nodded as they pulled up to his house.
“Why didn’t you out me when you found out?”
“You mean when I realized I had helped a suspected murderer who was underage?”
She winced. “Yeah, that.”
“You had effectively become an emancipated minor. You had a job, were financially independent, had a GED and were staying out of trouble. Plus in six weeks you would have been legal, it would have taken just that amount of time to prove your identity and notify the proper people.”
“So who did you tell them you were?”
“That I was a P.I. tracking down a lead on Kendra Young’s murder for her remaining family.”
“Oh, you didn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Kendra’s family wouldn’t have looked into her death.” She was raised by a Watcher since she was four. And Giles would have reported the circumstances of Kendra’s death, no one would be investigating on Kendra’s behalf.
Buffy took a deep breath as she got out of the truck. It’s been six months, they haven’t come looking for me. I doubt any of them are going to follow up on Henry’s visit. Or at least she hoped they would all drop it.
A/N2: I have no problem with Buffy's name - it's simply the character's reasoning for using a nickname.
Title: Can’t Keep ‘Em Forever
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Psych
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Psych people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Buffy finds some of her secrets outed.
Notes: Follows Day 10 “First Class”
Seasons: Post "Becoming"/Season 1
Characters: Buffy, Henry, Lassiter
Word Count: 1430
Buffy always feared she would end up in a police station. Ever since she became the Slayer and more so after being framed by Angelus and Drusilla for Kendra’s death and her friends’ injuries. It was inevitable that it would happen again.
Periodically she would venture to the public library and check the Sunnydale newspapers. There were always deaths, some were people she knew, but she had focused on the police sections. That was how she learned that all charges against her had been dropped only weeks after arriving in Santa Barbara. She could have gone home then, at least tried to patch things up with her mom or the Scoobies. But Henry had given her purpose and a roof and he expected her only to learn - from her GED testing books and from him. She took to it, learning how to consciously survey a room with a single glance.
Unfortunately, she’d made a mistake. Now she sat in a little concrete room, cuffed to a table, examining her reflection in the mirror of one-way glass. Her hair needed bleaching. She looked at her hands, she hadn’t done a manicure in a while but they needed maintenance.
A bit of noise near the door drew her attention.
In walked a lanky man with a bit of stoop in his shoulder, he wore a suit. There were signs he was armed, a small gun at his ankle, and a shoulder holster for his primary weapon. He had black hair and a rather severe expression, which was slightly amusing given his elfin features.
“I’m Detective Lassiter.” He slammed a folder on the table. “What were you doing at the crime scene?”
“As I told the officers who found me, I came upon the victim at 10:40 p.m.”
“Did you see the assailant?”
“There was no one around.” Which was a complete lie, the vampire had been enjoying the co-ed and hadn’t seen Buffy sneaking up on him. He had crumbled into dust, leaving his bleeding victim. “I heard a struggle, by the time I got over the fence, he was gone.”
Lassiter smiled smugly. “See that’s where your story gets hard to believe. The fence you said to have jumped was a solid twelve-foot fence.”
Buffy leaned back and raised an eye brow at him. “So?”
“You’re 5’2”, 5’3”? It isn’t possible.” He leaned down. “You didn’t jump the fence. You didn’t have to. You lured the victim in and attacked her. But the noise she made fighting you off drew patrolmen quicker than you could escape.” He was within only two inches of her face. “So you played Good Samaritan, hoping no one would look twice at you.”
They were interrupted by a scuffle at the door. It opened to reveal Shawn and Gus.
“I sensed I was needed!” Shawn declared, with his right hand to his temple.
“Oh, brother,” Buffy muttered as Lassiter snapped, “Go away Spencer.”
Shawn’s gaze met hers. “Beth?”
“Wait, you know her?”
“I have no association with his brand of crazy,” Buffy said. “Hi, Gus.”
“Hi, Beth,” Gus greeted as though it was perfectly normal to find an acquaintance cuffed in the interrogation room.
Lassiter looked back at her in surprise. Before he could demand they leave again another man walked in.
“Buzz,” she waved as much as her cuffs would allow.
“Beth,” he smiled. “What are you doing here?’
“She’s being interrogated,” Lassiter yelled, yanking the folder out of Buzz’s hand and physically herding the others out of the room.
“What a circus,” Buffy said.
“You have no idea.” He opened the folder, his haughty smile returning as he read. “Beth Summers, is it?”
She ground her teeth. “Yes.”
“No such person exists.”
“That’s because my mother was nuts,” she said.
“Your finger prints didn’t pop. So who are you?”
“Beth Anne Summers.”
“No, such person.”
The door opened again. Revealing Henry.
“Beth,” he crossed the room, ignoring Lassiter. “What happened?”
“Good Samaritan gets jailed,” she mused. “I found a bleeding woman in an abandoned construction site, but the good Detective Lassiter here thinks I attacked her.”
“Wait,” Lassiter yelled. “Spencer, how do you know this girl?”
“She’s a friend,” Henry replied. “What’s it going to take to clear this up?”
“Henry?” a female voice side from the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to get a friend out of interrogation.”
“Not yet,” Lassiter told him.
“Actually, the victim woke up,” the woman said. “She described a tall, pale male as her attacker.”
Detective Lassiter seemed to deflate before he rallied. “She isn’t who she says she is.”
The female finally came into view. “Hey Juliet.”
“Beth? You’re the one they found with the victim?”
“Yes,” Lassiter snapped. “She also somehow scaled a twelve-foot fence and her name isn’t in the system.”
“That’s because her name is Buffy,” Henry said.
Buffy looked at him in surprise. “You knew?”
“For a while.”
“Why did you lie?” Lassiter demanded.
“Because Buffy is a ditzy, standout name, even in California. So when I came to Santa Barbara I started going by Beth. A nickname is still my damn name.”
“And since she’s eliminated as a suspect, uncuff her.”
Lassiter grumbled but unlocked the cuffs.
88888888
Buffy and Henry exited the police station.
“How long?” Buffy asked.
“Since Christmas,” he admitted.
“The trip you took last December…”
“To Sunnydale.”
“How did you find out?”
“I may be retired, but I’m still a detective,” he told her as they reached his truck.
Buffy mentally sorted through what happened around that time as they got in the truck. “The stuff I had in your safe. Including my GED paperwork. Which I had to use my legal name on.”
Henry nodded.
“What did you find out?”
“Sunnydale Police have got to be the most useless bunch in I’ve ever met.”
She laughed, despite the situation. “I could have told you that.” They pulled out onto the road.
“I talked to your principal and a couple of your classmates.”
“I’m sure Snyder was a fountain of useful information.”
“He was a small man with a real grudge against you. Convinced you were guilty.”
She winced. Pulling a sword on his probably hadn’t helped.
“But your classmates told a completely different story. They didn’t believe you had done it, even before the police dropped the case.” He glanced at her. “I talked to your mom.”
Buffy ground her teeth. “Before or after her first drink of the day?”
“Beth.”
“Did she tell you why I left?”
“It seems she didn’t give you a lot of choice,” he admitted. “She wouldn’t expand other than it was her fault.”
Buffy sighed. “It wasn’t just her fault. I had to go, I had to stop something from happening to people I knew. But she wanted me to leave it to the cops - who were already after me for Kendra’s murder. I refused, she told me if I left to stay gone…so I left and I stayed gone.”
“And if you had left it to the cops?”
“Many would have died,” she said evenly. “As it was, I was too late to save my boyfriend.”
“Is that why you ran away?”
“Couldn’t stay. The cops and Snyder wanted to lock me up. My friends were safe enough. My mother had effectively kicked me out.”
“And became Beth.”
“I knew if ‘Buffy’ popped up they would find me.”
Henry nodded as they pulled up to his house.
“Why didn’t you out me when you found out?”
“You mean when I realized I had helped a suspected murderer who was underage?”
She winced. “Yeah, that.”
“You had effectively become an emancipated minor. You had a job, were financially independent, had a GED and were staying out of trouble. Plus in six weeks you would have been legal, it would have taken just that amount of time to prove your identity and notify the proper people.”
“So who did you tell them you were?”
“That I was a P.I. tracking down a lead on Kendra Young’s murder for her remaining family.”
“Oh, you didn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Kendra’s family wouldn’t have looked into her death.” She was raised by a Watcher since she was four. And Giles would have reported the circumstances of Kendra’s death, no one would be investigating on Kendra’s behalf.
Buffy took a deep breath as she got out of the truck. It’s been six months, they haven’t come looking for me. I doubt any of them are going to follow up on Henry’s visit. Or at least she hoped they would all drop it.
A/N2: I have no problem with Buffy's name - it's simply the character's reasoning for using a nickname.