RATING: G
DISCLAIMER: All the characters in the following story belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and co. I only own Taylor, the story idea and the story itself.
***********************************************************
Buffy tapped her pen impatiently on the desk in her psychology class as professor Walsh began talking once more at the front of the class. She sighed and glanced over to Willow, who sat beside her and noticed tears glistening in her friend's eyes.
"Will." She whispered, placing her hand on her shoulder.
Willow refused to look at her, just kept her eyes forward and her hand on the empty chair next to her. The chair Oz used to occupy.
"Read chapter seventeen for next class." Maggie said, then closed her book. "Class dismissed."
Buffy collected her books and stood up, then followed Willow out of the class room.
"Listen Will, I just have to ask Riley about something," she nodded toward the TA, "I'll be in the room in about ten minutes, okay?"
Willow nodded listlessly. "Okay Buffy. Have fun."
Buffy sighed as she watched her friend walk away, then turned to where Riley was standing. She stopped in her tracks when she saw a short blonde girl place her hand on his arm. She girl brushed her short hair behind her ear then laughed and touched his arm again. Buffy moved closer to hear what they were saying.
"Don't forget." Riley said as the girl stepped away.
She nodded. "I won't. See, it's written on my hand. Call Riley."
He smiled, then leaned down to kiss her quickly on the cheek. The girl wrapped her arm around his neck and gave him a quick squeeze before turning away.
"Riley?" Buffy asked, her voice full of confusion. "You can stay too." She snarled at the girl who was now walking away. Buffy placed her hands on her hips as she stared at him. "So, was that whole 'Parker and his latest conquest' speech just an act? Because now I'm staring at you and your latest conquest."
Riley opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a surprised laugh.
The girl smiled and shook her head as she waited for Riley to answer.
Riley smiled. "Buffy, this is Taylor. She's my cousin."
Buffy opened her mouth, then closed it. "She's your . . . your cousin?"
Taylor nodded. "I'm his cousin."
Riley stepped forward. "Taylor Finn, meet Buffy Summers."
"Buffy Summers?" Taylor suddenly looked interested and she tried to nudge Riley discreetly.
"Yeah." Buffy said slowly. "Why?"
Taylor bit her lip and glanced nervously at Riley. "Uh, I arrived here last week with someone you know."
"Who?"
"Wesley Wyndham Price."
Buffy felt her jaw drop. "Oh." She said.
Taylor nodded. "Yeah, we should meet later."
"We should."
Riley looked confused. "You know Wesley?" He asked Buffy.
She nodded. "You know him too?"
Taylor smiled. "Listen Buffy, I need to talk to Riley for a minute. We'll meet after classes okay?"
Buffy nodded. "Meet me in the library." Then she turned and walked away.
Riley looked at Taylor. "What was that?"
"She's the slayer."
"I thought you were the slayer."
Taylor nodded. "I am, but so is she." Riley still looked confused and she sighed. "An accident a few years ago. Buffy died for a few minutes, resulting in a new slayer being called. She died, another was called and then she died. So I was called."
Riley frowned. "You'd better not die."
She smiled. "I'm not going to die Riley." She smiled and squeezed his arm. "I'll be fine." She cleared her throat. "Does she know that you're a,"
"Demon hunter?" He interrupted. "No, I haven't told her yet."
Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think you should?"
"Probably." He sighed. "I guess it should be easier now since I know she's a slayer."
"I should go meet her." Taylor said. "Do you want to come?"
Riley shook his head. "Not yet. I'll tell her tonight."
"You guys going out?"
"Yeah, I'm taking her to a movie."
Taylor smiled. "Have fun Riley. I'll be rooting for you."
Riley nodded then watched as Taylor turned and walked away.
* * *
Taylor arrived at the library and looked around for Buffy. The other slayer stood up to meet her and smiled.
"Hey."
Taylor smiled. "A slayer. It's great to finally meet someone else like me."
Buffy nodded. "That's how I felt the first time another slayer was called."
She began to walk to the door. "There are some others I'd like you to meet."
Taylor nodded. "We should go get Wesley on the way."
* * *
Giles paced excitedly in his apartment as Xander and Willow watched.
"Another slayer." Giles breathed. "It's unbelievable."
"Calm down G-man." Xander said. "We've had this happen before."
"Yes but, now Faith has officially passed on." He cringed, realizing how it sounded. "I just mean we no longer have to worry about her waking up and wanting revenge on Buffy."
Willow just shook her head.
"Hello?" Buffy called and pushed the door open.
"We're in here." Giles answered.
"Guys, you know Wesley. This is Taylor, the new slayer. She's Riley Finn's cousin."
Taylor smiled. "Hi."
"This is Xander, Willow and Giles, my former watcher."
Wesley stepped forward and Xander raised both of his eyebrows. "Nice threads." He said. "I'm surprised, there's no suit."
Wesley glanced down at his jeans and sweater, then chose to ignore Xander's comments. "As you know, Taylor is the new slayer and I'll be in Sunnydale training with her."
"Thrills." Buffy muttered sarcastically.
"Well, it's good to know you're exactly the same as when I left." Wesley said.
"You're patrolling together tonight?" Giles asked.
Buffy winced. "I actually have something to do tonight."
"Yeah, Riley asked her to go out." Taylor grinned. "It's not a problem, I can patrol by myself."
Giles nodded. "I'm sure you can take care of yourself.
"I've been training with another former watcher for most of my life." She grabbed her jacket and slid it over her shoulder. "I'll be fine."
Wesley placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Be careful."
She nodded. "I will." Then she turned and walked out the door.
Xander grinned. "I like her."
Wesley shook his head. "Why am I not surprised? I'm sorry, but she's taken."
Giles glanced up. "I didn't think a watcher as stuffy as yourself would let the poor girl have a real relationship."
Buffy's eyes widened. "Of course he wants her to have a relationship. He's the one that's in love with her."
"I-I am not." He sputtered.
"You are too. It's so obvious." Buffy grinned. "Does she know?"
He sighed. "No, she doesn't know." He turned his dark eyes upward. "Should I let her know?"
Buffy chuckled. "Well, I don't suggest just blurting it out."
He sighed again. "This is bad, isn't it? I mean, she's my responsibility."
"And the fact that you're old." Xander added.
"I'm not old!" Wesley exclaimed defensively.
Buffy smiled. "So what are you going to do?"
"What should I do?"
"Didn't you ever date?"
He cleared his throat. "Not really. I kept to myself."
"Well," Buffy tapped her foot, "take her out, buy her flowers."
"Yeah," Xander said, "and put on a tux. She'll never be able to resist the Bond look."
"But she's my slayer." Wesley moaned.
"She's also an adult." Giles pointed out. "She can make her own decisions."
Wesley nodded. "You know, you're right. Thank you, I'll work on it."
Willow glanced at the clock. "We should probably get back to the room if you want to be ready on time."
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Good luck Wesley."
* * *
"Take this." Riley shoved a walkie talkie into Taylor's hands. "If you need help, just call me."
She saluted him. "Yes sir!"
"Taylor I'm serious." Riley sunk down onto the edge of his bed. "I worry about you."
Taylor flipped on the walkie talkie and sat beside him. "Are you happy?" She asked into the speaker.
Her words came out the other machine hanging from Riley's belt.
"How are you going to explain that to Buffy?" She asked.
He shrugged. "I won't have to. I'm going to tell her once we get to the movie."
"Okay well, it's dark." She glanced out the window. "I think I'll get going now. Wouldn't want to upset Wesley."
Riley laughed. "You could never upset Wesley. I swear the guy's in love with you."
"Funny Riley. Don't play with my emotions that way."
Her cousin shrugged. "If you would just tell him that you're interested . . ."
"No!" Taylor shook her finger at him. "He's my watcher. There's gotta be some Council law about watcher and slayer relationships. Against them."
Riley shook his head. "Go patrol. Remember, use the walkie talkie if you need anything, don't hesitate to call."
Taylor nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Have fun tonight." She kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Don't stay out too late."
Riley smiled as he watched her walk out into the hall and close the door behind her. Then he got up and went to his closet, trying to find something to wear.
* * *
"Do I look all right?" Buffy asked, turning in a circle for Willow.
Her friend glanced up. "Huh?" She looked at what Buffy was wearing and nodded. "Yeah, you look nice. Pretty."
Buffy sat down beside Willow. "Are you okay? I know things are hard with Oz gone right now, but you have to concentrate on the good stuff that's going on."
Willow crossed her arms. "Yeah? Like what? My boyfriend slept with another girl, tried to kill me then ran away. I got attacked and nearly killed by Spike. My best friend is leaving me for a guy on Friday night, even the new slayer has someone pining after her. Xander's going out with Anya and I'm going to sit at home and feel sorry for myself. Find me one good thing in that list."
Buffy bit her lip. "Well, at least you and Spike talked. If you're feeling down you could always go visit him. He still has that chip in his head and he can't feed without getting a blinding headache."
Willow laughed bitterly. "Great. So the one person I can talk to is a psychotic vampire who can't kill me because of a chip in his head."
Buffy stood up. "If you want me to, I can cancel Willow. I don't have a problem doing that."
"No," Willow shook her head, "I'm being stupid. I know you like Riley, go have fun."
Buffy squeezed her shoulder. "I won't stay out too late. We can have a movie night when I get home." She grabbed her purse off the desk and walked out the door.
Willow sighed. "Great." Then she flopped back onto her bed to stare at the ceiling.
* * *
Taylor hummed to herself as she walked down by the waterfront with a stake in her hands. Wesley had said the campus hadn't had much action lately, the vampires had seemed to move closer to the water, which was the reason she was now walking up and down the docks.
"Here little vampires." She called softly, tired of walking without finding anything. She knew she would be able to take anything that came along. Taylor had sort of lied when she had told the others she had trained with a former watcher for most of her life. It wasn't a complete lie because she had until she was thirteen. Then Riley had taken over, he had been fifteen at the time. He had trained her for six years and they had become nearly inseparable. He was all she had, her best friend.
She lightly touched the walkie talkie that hung from her belt. He was so over protective of her even though he knew she could fend for herself. He had trained her.
Someone stepped onto the dock behind Taylor and he raised his hands above his head to slam down on her. She turned and plunged her stake into his heart. The vampire looked up in surprise before he burst into dust. Taylor yanked her stake back, then continued toward the end of the dock.
"Yup, sure is busy Wesley." She murmured, sinking to the wooden planks and looking up at the sky.
* * *
Riley smiled at Buffy as they walked into the movie theatre. She pointed at the walkie talkie.
"What is that?"
He smiled as they took their seats and the lights began to go down. "Okay, that's sort of what I have to explain." He took a deep breath.
* * *
Taylor was staring up at the stars when someone leaned over her and blocked her view. She leapt to her feet and turned to see a male vampire grinning at her.
"Shouldn't be out all alone little girl." He hissed.
Taylor whipped out her stake. "He keeps me safe." She said, then kicked him in the face. The vampire staggered backward, his hands reeling in the air. Taylor took this opportunity to deliver an upper cut to his jaw, then tried to shove her stake into his heart. The vampire knocked her stake away and it clattered over the side of the dock and into the water.
"Dammit." Taylor muttered, then punched the vampire in the face.
Another vampire joined the first one and she faced them on the end of the dock. The first vampire slammed into her hard and she tripped, falling backward into the water. The vampire fell with her as she plunged into the cold ocean water then tried to push her down as she struggled for air.
*Vampires don't need air.* She reminded herself and pushed him away from her. She broke the surface to received the other vampire's foot connecting with her jaw. She looked up to see three more vampires standing behind him.
"I can take five." She muttered, feeling for the walkie talkie at her waist.
The vampire on the dock grabbed her shoulders and pulled her out of the water. She collapsed on the dock as they closed around her, grabbing desperately for the walkie talkie.
Finally she found it, brought it to her mouth and pressed the button before screaming, "Riley!" into the speaker.
* * *
Riley held Buffy's hand lightly as he tried to tell her. He heard Taylor call his name from the speaker on his belt and shook his head.
*She can take care of herself.* He thought, before turning the volume down.
"Buffy, I have to tell you something." He whispered in the dark.
She nodded. "Go ahead."
"I know you're the slayer."
She stiffened. "How do you know?"
"Taylor. I trained her for most of her life. She told me."
Buffy nodded slowly. "Okay." She sighed. "Is that what you had to tell me?"
Riley shook his head. "No, but knowing that makes this easier for me to tell." He drew in a deep breath. "I'm a demon hunter."
Buffy was silent.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
She nodded, then laughed. "You're a demon hunter?"
"Yeah. Professor Walsh actually heads us. There are a few of us and we hunt demons. We wear camouflage and track them down."
Buffy laughed again. "That's you? I've ran into you quite a few times." She shook her head. "Well, I'm glad you've told me Riley. At least now I don't have to hide my powers from you anymore."
He smiled. "Nope, you can tell me whenever you're going on patrol, because I can come with you."
Buffy chuckled. "How romantic."
* * *
"Riley!" Taylor screamed into the mouth piece, waiting, hoping for some kind of reaction. There was nothing on the other end but static.
The vampires were surrounding her now. Taylor forced herself to her feet to face off with the five vampires around her.
One to her left struck first, punching her in the side of the face. She did a roundhouse kick to his face, forcing him to stagger backward. This left an opening in the circle and she shot out of it, only to realize it left her at the end of the dock. Another vampire pulled her back into the circle, then shoved her off to the side. Taylor fell over the side of a fishing boat and thumped to the floor inside. She grabbed a paddle off the floor and swung it as hard as she could, hearing it crack when it connected with one of the vampire's skulls.
She hopped back onto the dock, still holding the paddle and swung again. Another vampire fell backward but the three that remained standing grabbed the paddle and ripped it from her hands.
Taylor stood in a circle of vampires without any weapons but her own hands. "They'll have to do." She muttered, then kicked out the knees of the vampire in front of her. The vampire behind her pushed her forward and she stumbled out of the circle, hitting the huge house boat on the other side of the dock. The vampire pushed her again and she lost her footing, slipping between the dock at the boat.
A wave crashed against the dock, sending the boat slamming into her body, pinning her between it and the dock.
A scream ripped through Taylor as she felt it crack her spine and most of the bones in her legs. Then she began to lose feeling.
The vampires smiled at each other and turned and walked away.
Taylor scrambled for the walkie talkie and put it to her mouth.
"Riley." She rasped. "I can't talk for much longer. Please hear me. It's so hard to breathe."
* * *
Riley smiled to himself as they watched the movie, glad Buffy had taken his news so well. He dropped his hand to his side and remembered that he had turned off the walkie talkie. He turned it back on, not expecting to hear anything.
Instead of the quiet static, Taylor's voice came whispering over the airwaves. Riley grabbed it, his eyes wide, then raced out of the theatre.
Buffy followed him in confusion. "Riley, what's wrong?"
He shushed her quickly, trying to hear Taylor.
"Please hear me." She begged through the speaker. "I can't feel my legs anymore Riley, please help me."
He pressed down the button. "I hear you Taylor. Where are you?"
He heard her fumble with the button then her voice came over the speaker full of excitement. "I'm by the docks. Please hurry."
Riley turned to Buffy. "Let's go."
* * *
They found her fifteen minutes later nearly unconscious, pinned between the huge house boat and the dock. Buffy held the boat away from the dock as Riley slowly lifted Taylor back up.
"Call an ambulance." He ordered, then lifted Taylor's head into his lap. "You'll be okay." He promised. "We're getting you to a hospital."
Buffy ran to find a phone and Riley knelt over his hurt cousin.
"Tell me what hurts." He said.
"Nothing hurts." She answered dreamily. "It's like I have no legs at all."
He lightly poked her thigh. "You can't feel that?"
"Feel what?"
Riley felt his breath catch in his throat. She had been pinned between two heavy objects which might have severed her spinal chord. If that was true, Taylor might never be able to walk again.
"Riley?" She asked. "Am I going to die?"
He shook his head. "No baby, you're not going to die." He kissed her forehead. "You'll be fine. You'll be just fine."
Taylor smiled at him, then gazed blankly up at the cloudless sky. He had convinced her she would be fine, now all he had to do was convince himself.
"Is she okay?" Buffy asked, coming back onto the dock.
Riley slowly shook his head. "She was stuck for a really long time Buffy. I think it might have," he paused and swallowed hard, "it might have caused her to be paralysed from the waist down."
Buffy put her hand over her mouth as she gazed down at Taylor.
A siren wailed in the distance as the ambulance neared the scene.
"There were just too many." She whispered, grasping Riley's hand tightly in her own. "I couldn't handle them all, they attacked me and I lost. Are you mad at me Riley?"
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"I failed you." She took a shuddering breath. "You took all your time to train me and I failed you on my first patrol."
He shook his head. "You didn't fail me Taylor. If anything, I failed you. I promised you I'd be here to help you but I wasn't. I'm so sorry."
Taylor smiled. "It's not your fault."
"I wish I hadn't turned it off." He murmured. "Then I might have been able to save you."
The ambulance pulled up beside the dock and two paramedics with a stretcher pushed Buffy and Riley out of the way. They loaded Taylor carefully onto the stretcher, then into the back of the ambulance.
"One of you needs to ride with her." One of the paramedics ordered.
Riley glanced quickly at Buffy before getting into the back.
"Tell Wesley. He'll want to know."
She nodded, then ran to the phone as the ambulance raced to the hospital.
* * *
Riley paced worriedly in the waiting room of the Sunnydale Hospital as the doctors took Taylor into the emergency room. Buffy pushed through the doors followed by Giles and Wesley.
"How is she?" Wesley asked, taking off his glasses and rubbing his forehead.
"They don't know yet." Riley answered. "But she was pretty bad when we got to her."
Wesley sunk warily into a chair. "How bad?"
Riley glanced at Buffy before sitting beside the watcher. "She couldn't feel her legs."
Wesley closed his eyes and nodded slowly, then waved Riley away.
Giles took the seat next to him and attempted to comfort the distraught man.
Buffy sighed. "I should call Willow and let her know it'll be a while before I get home."
Riley nodded. "The phone's right over there." Then he sighed and bit his lip.
"It's not your fault Riley." She said.
"But if I just,"
"No!" She interrupted him. "It's not your fault." Then she turned and walked over to the phone.
"I hope you're right." Riley murmured, then dropped down into a chair.