Part Ten
The next morning, Giles went into the library early to up date his Journal and was in the process of remembering every blessed detail of the night before when Sita walked in, still in her clothes from last night. She sauntered over to the rare books cage and pulled out a bag with a change of clothes in it.
“Hmm, here they are, shit, where’s the clean bra,,,”
“Good morning Sita! Was hunting successful last night? I was thinking that maybe you should take tonight off.”
“Ooh! Someone got some last night” Sita said looking amused. “Ah, the follies of youth.”
“Excuse me?” Before Sita and Giles could get into another fight over age versus experience, Cordelia walked in the door looking worried and Sita couldn’t help but notice the tear stains on her cheeks.
“H, have you guys seen Xander?”
“No, not since last night, is everything allright?”
“No, I need to talk to him.”
“Cordy, are you ok?”
“I’ll be fine, just, I need to talk to Xander. I’ll see you guys later.” Cordelia then ran out of the library leaving a very confused vampire and watcher standing looking at each other.
“Ok, what the hell was that? She didn’t even comment on how bad I look. Something’s wrong.”
“I do hope she’ll be allright. What do you think was wrong with her?”
“Nothing to do with death or vampires thankfully, they stick out of someone’s mind like sore thumbs. Listen, I need to go have a shower, talk to you soon.”
“Uh, yes, do. See you later.”
Half an hour later, Sita came back into the library trying to brush her damp hair. “Five thousand years, five thousand years and still not one really effective conditioner.”
“Do you know when everybody else will be here, school starts in fifteen minutes.”
“Well, Xander, Willow and Oz usually get a lift with Cordy but she seems to be out of it. All in our house are relying on someone having woken up half an hour ago and pushing them out of bed so God knows when we’ll see them.”
Just as she finished, Buffy, Angel and Yaksha came in through the stacks to avoid Buffy being seen in her current position. “Good morning Buffy, Angel, Yaksha. Buffy, I thought you had taken an, um a maternity leave.”
“I had but this morning we got a call from Xander who was in Cordelia’s house. He said that neither him or Cordy would be coming in and could we give Oz and Willow a lift, something to do with Oz’s van being broken. He said they’d see us tonight, in the library after school.”
“This looks bad, Cordy ran in here, tear stains and all, looking for Xander. She seemed wigged. Did he say what had happened?”
“He said they were allright, that they just needed couple time but Sita, he sounded like a dead man” Angel said, concerned for his friends.
“He sounded like how I feel” groaned Yaksha.
“Funny,” Sita said, “you look like a dead man and all.”
“Well, excuse me if I only got ten minutes sleep last night.”
“Buffy, if principal Synder sees you in your current state, he will be infuriated.”
“No Giles, he’ll wig like the world’s about to end.” Sita turned and looked at the door and a few seconds later, Jenny walked in.
“Good morning Rupert, Buffy, Angel, Sita, Yaksha, how are you?”
“How come, after living for five thousand years, I’ve never acted that way after sex?”
“I dunno Sita, maybe cause you have half a brain not swimming in lusty thoughts?” Yaksha said. “Or maybe it’s hormone levels.”
Everyone turned, except Sita who knew they had been there all along, and were relieved to see Seymour and Kalika in the door way of the library. “Hey sleepy people, good thing I wasn’t planning on feeding” said Kalika, laughing.
“Hey,” said everybody’s favourite Slayer, “I heard you come in.”
“About the not planning on feeding,,,”
“You my little nerdy friend, are a pig!”
“Oh great Sita, then here I stand, awaiting punishment for my gluttony.” The bell rang, calling all to class.
Seymour sighed. “Punishment here I come.”
“Oh crap, what have we got Seymour?”
“Chem for me, Willow, Kali and you Yaks.”
“Physics for me, Xander and Cordy. What has Oz got?”
“Computers with me” said Ms Calender. “Where is he?”
“Seymour and I gave him and Willow a lift. They were caught hugging by Synder so we ran. I picked up the words detention, excused from, washed my car, little hell spawn.”
“Little Nazi toad, I am so glad to be away from this school, even if it’s just for a while.
“Come on,” said Jenny, “or we’ll be late for class. See you at lunch.” She then walked out to get her lesson plan ready.
“She’s right, it’s experiment day and if you’re late, you gat a faulty Bunsen burner” Kalika said, remembering last week when she nearly burned her eyebrows off.
“Me too.” said her mother who grabbed her book bag and ran out. A few seconds later, she was back. “Oh, listen, if I don’t see you at lunch today, I’m going out hunting straight after school. I need to talk to Willy again so see you at around six or seven, ‘k?” She went out again, the other vampires hot on her tracks.
“Well, Angel, since there’s nothing in dire need of being done until lunch, why don’t you take the morning off.”
“Thank you Giles.”
“Oh, thank you so much Giles! You work him like a slave anyway.”
“However untrue that may be, I’ll let it pass. Enjoy yourselves.”
“Bye Giles.”
“See you later.” Angel and Buffy exited the library hand in hand and were coming around a corner when Angel saw Synder coming, thankfully he didn’t see them but he was coming straight for them. “Oh crap, Buffy, Synder’s coming, hide!”
“Where?” Angel pointed up to where a ceiling tile had come away and he gently lifted Buffy into the hole. Just as he was putting the tile back, the little Nazi came round the corner.
“Mr. Flaherty! What in hell’s name are you doing?!”
“I was, um, I was putting this tile back, it had come loose.”
“I’m watching you, you and your little group of student friends. Intolerable little worms but at least that troublemaker Buffy Summers has left, hopefully for good. She’s a bad egg if ever I met one.”
There are a few things you should never make mad: the person who gives you money, a rabid dog and a vampire. Angel knew that if he still could, his game face would have been on in a second and he was three seconds away from ripping out Synder’s throat. It was with the greatest amount of self control that he kept his mouth shut but a growl still emerged from the back of his throat.
“W, what was that?”
“Must have been those wild dogs that ate Principal Flutie. I’d be careful, they’re still around.” Synder gave Angel a dirty look and stalked. Angel muttered at his back, swearing in Irish and helped Buffy down. “Are you ok?”
“Fine, not my first time in the ceiling. Way to freak out the toad man.”
“Well, no one insults my Buffy and get’s away with it. Next time, I’ll just tell Sita that he said something about her and that’ll be him out of our lives for good.”
“Come on, we better go.”
“I agree, I really don’t want to see him again. So, where to milady?”
“I don’t know, the park? It’s sunny and not too hot and evil vampire free at the moment.”
“Ok, want to get some ice cream on the way?”
“Sure, lets go.” Angel put an arm around Buffy’s shoulders and she leaned into him and they walked out, not forgetting to make faces into the lab at Seymour, Kalika and Yaksha.
Part Eleven
The next day at dawn, Giles and Jenny walked into the library to find Sita asleep across the counter. Giles went over to wake her and was rewarded by having her jump up and grab him by the throat. By the time she realised where she was, Giles was pinned up against a wall, a knife to his jugular.
“Sorry Giles.” She put him down gently. “Hi Jenny, so, what’s the word?”
“W, we’ve been looking for you, that’s what. Where were you?”
“Well, after school, I went over to Willy and he told me what’s been going on so I went to stop it. I got here an hour ago to look up a book. I guess I must have fallen asleep. Any word on Cordy and Xander?”
“Well, they didn’t come into school and we couldn’t find them last night.”
“Yeah, after you went out on patrol, we rang around to find them but with no luck. We couldn’t find you either and you would have been useful.”
“Sorry, I really should get a pager. Well, I should have helped. I would have found them in ten minutes.”
“What happened?”
“Well, I found out why the vampires have been so quiet lately.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, see there’s a tunnel under the Bronze, a sewer pipe that connects straight to their main tunnel. It was filled in about nine years ago. It was full of cement but they figured if they could get it open, a free for all vamps buffet would ensue so they’ve been chipping away at it for a month now. I spent the entire evening trying to find the damn thing and then I had to fill it in again.”
“Tiring” Giles said, thankful the buffet wouldn’t be taking place.
“Oh it was.” Just then, Oz strolled in looking a bit worried which meant he was panicking.
“Oz, anything?”
“Nope Miss Calender, but I think they might be holed up in Cord’s basement, but I’m not in the sure space.”
“Um, Oz,” fearing something had happened to his Slayerettes, “where are Willow and Yaksha?”
“You had teams?”
“Y, yes we did.”
“Why Giles, I’m kind impressed.” And yes, for once Sita did look impressed.
“Anyway, where are they?”
“They went to the snack machine to get breakfast.” Speak of the Devil,,, just as Oz said those words, they came in along with Buffy and Angel. “See, told you. Breakfast is served.” Oz then ran forward and took his coffee from Willow and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Any luck yet?” Angel asked Giles or anyone who was listening.
“Well,” said the lycanthrope, “we think they may be in Cord’s basement but Willow probably told you that already.”
“Wait, wait,” Sita shouted, “why all the fuss? I mean, if they said they needed couple time, why not let them have it? And why leave it ‘till after school ended?”
“Because Xander said they’d be in school after classes to see us” Willow said looking worried.
“Sita, you don’t know Cordy and Xander, they’re like rubber! They always bounce back, it must have been something huge to keep them away from us” said a worried looking Slayer.
“Ok, but why assume the worst?”
“Because we live in Sunnydale?”
“Good point Buffy. Where’s that daughter of mine and Seymour?”
Yaksha seemed to delight in teasing his old lover. “They were meant to be looking for Cordy and Xander but they’re probably making out in a closet.”
Sita sighed. “Makes sense. Makes me sick but it still makes sense. So now what?”
“Well,” said Giles taking off his glasses and wiping them clean, “the way I see it, any number of things could have happened to them but none of them seem to have.”
“Them vamping out is well, out” said Jenny “because if they were dead, they haven’t been dead long enough.”
Angel nodded in agreement. “You’re right, it takes at least twenty four hours but we’ve seen them alive since then.”
“Well what else could upset them so much?” Seymour asked looking confused.
“Not a break up,” Yaksha pointed out, “since they’re actually together.”
“No family deaths either, I checked on the Internet. Neither the hospitals or police have had any reports or trouble, that includes terminal illnesses.”
Something dawned on Buffy. “What if Cordy could be joining me in the maternity ward?”
Sita laughed at this. “What? The immaculate conception?”
“They haven’t?” Amazement, and relief, all round.
“Nope.”
“Um, not to seem weird but, how do you know?”
“Are you kidding Oz? You have no idea what kinds of smelly hormones are drifting around in the blood after sex. You should’ve smelled Cassanova!” Yaksha agreed.
“Yeah, I’m choking from Giles and Jenny as we speak.” Giles and Jenny looked embarrassed but hell, everyone already knew.
Willow didn’t look very pleased. “I’m just worried, even if it’s not life endangering, they’re our friends and you guys aren’t listening,,,” Willow trailed off as she noticed all the vampires stiffen, ready for a fight and by reflex only, reach for weaponry, someone was coming. They all relaxed and the humans could now make out the faintest sound of footsteps. They got louder and a few moments later, Xander and Cordelia walked in slowly, looking awful.
“Xander! Cordelia! Are you two allright?” Giles asked.
“We haven’t seen you two all day and after Xander’s phone call, we took a tiny step and assumed the worst.” Willow noticed the grief in her friends’ eyes and knew something was dreadfully wrong.
Jenny stepped forward and led the two of them towards the table and sat them down. “What happened to you two?”
Cordelia spoke in a shaky voice, not a patch on the confidence they usually heard. “Y, yesterday morning, Mom and Dad told me some bad news.”
“Is everything ok Cordy?” Buffy asked walking nearer to them and sitting down across from them at the table.
“No, we, we’re moving to New York, in two weeks.” Whatever else Cordelia may have wanted to say, it was cut short when she started to sob, the cries wracking her body and cutting to the hearts of all assembled.
Xander held her and you could see the tears falling down his cheeks. “Cordy called me and I went right over, we’ve been in Cordy’s den, down in the basement since.”
Sita took a mental note that Oz had been right and promised to make sure his talents weren’t wasted in the future. “We went there and knocked but there was no answer, we tried to phone as well but we just got an engaged tone” Jenny said in a voice she hoped was soothing.
“S, sorry.” The sobs were still catching in Cordelia’s throat and she swallowed thickly. “You can’t hear it down there and we left the phone off the hook.”
“It’s ok Cordy, we were just worried.”
Willow’s mind was racing, once Cordelia left, Cordy would be miserable in New York, Xander would be miserable and herself, well, she was dammed if she was losing a friend (or if her best friend ever was going to be miserable).
“Yes, we assumed the worst.” Giles was still cleaning his glasses.
“As anyone in Sunnydale with a brain would. This is the uber suck, I mean, how skanky are your parents?” Buffy said, thinking along the same lines as Willow but adding in a few thoughts about Baby’s joint godmothers being reduced to two.
Cordelia laughed, a humourless laugh that sounded empty. “Oh, they think they’re doing me a favour. Bringing me up to live in the big city where I won’t be hanging around with my friends.”
“They hate all of us, especially me.” Xander was still holding Cordelia tightly.
Sita growled, remembering the one time she had met Mrs. Chase. “Feeling’s mutual. Have you tried to fight them?”
“Yeah, of course but they’re ignoring me completely. It’s like I’m just some stupid kid who doesn’t know where to go in her own life. I mean, I finally make some new friends and what do they do? They move! How,” her voice was breaking with emotion and a sob escaped, “how can they do this to me?”
“Um Sita, Seyms (pronounced seems), Kali,” Yaksha said, showing some compassion, “maybe we should go get some real breakfast.” Giles nodded, yes, and Angel hovered, wondering if he was wanted. He decided to stay in the library when Buffy put her hand up to his shoulder and looked at him with tearful eyes. The vamps all exited noiselessly and headed towards Starbucks.
Willow sat down beside Buffy. “Is there any way you could stay, like with family?”
“What family? Granny Chase, who only moved in a month ago, wants to go, something to do with better hospitals, and there isn’t anyone else.”
“What about school?” Buffy said as Angel sat down on the other side of her.“It’s halfway through term.”
“All they say is that the schools up there give higher SAT scores.”
“This might not be very useful,” said Willow with a hesitant tone in her voice, “but why not think along the lines of ‘screw them’? You’ll be eighteen in a year and an adult, they can’t do anything then.”
Cordy just shook her head, another argument that had failed. Xander looked over at Buffy and he had real venom in his voice. “Buffy, remember when Sita yelled sense into your mom? Could we ask her to beat some sense into Cordy’s?”
“Right now I’d be more than happy to, like what kind of parents would do that? I know how much moving sucks.”
“My parents think they’re helping me. How can they help me when they don’t even know me? They still think I hang around with Harmony and Aura!”
“This is extremely unfortunate. Of course, you could always refer them to Sigmund Frued and his ideas on making children see parents as the enemy.”
“Huh, I know. This is the worst thing that could ever happen! I swear, I am so mad at them.”
“I don’t blame you.” Said Oz with an unusual amount (for Oz) of emphaty.
“Maybe you could stay with us. Like, we’ve got seven, well, eight but one more wouldn’t hurt.”
“Are you kidding? My Dad and Synder are like, actually friends and I’ve been commanded to avoid you guys.”
“Well, I would say that,,,” Giles was interrupted by Buffy who quickly got out of her seat.
“Giles, shh, we got problems.”
“Who, or what?” whispered Jenny.
“I don’t know, Angel?”
“It’s not Sita or any of them, they’re human, two people, one’s in heels and one of them’s wearing CK ‘One’.”
Just then, the doors swished open and a tall, good looking man with brown hair came in, quickly followed by a demure yet pissed off looking red head. Giles seemed to be in shock. “Mulder? Fox Mulder?”
“So,” the huge, black, and scary, Ad boomed at Mulder and Scully, “your orders are as follows, you will go to Sunnydale California, who will pose as a married couple,” at this both Mulder and Scully groaned but shut up when Kirsch cleared his throat. “You will work in the local high school, the site of far too many murders, as a student councillor and a physics teacher. You will see if any of the children are involved with the PCP gangs and if so, you will inform us. You two will not reveal your identities to anyone, not even the local PD and you will find out what is happening.” He stared at the two agents for a moment. “Do I make myself clear?” Mulder just sat in his chair and sulked and it was up to Scully to deal with their much hated boss. “Yes sir, perfectly but why are you sending us?”
“Because, Agent Scully, this town’s murder and disappearance rate is greater than it’s birth rate and so far, the local PD have had a six percent success rate. We need you two to find out what is going on so we can stop it.”
“But why us sir?”
“Because Agent Mulder,” he said with a smile, “the task force though you two make a cute couple. You’re both dismissed. Your flight leaves at eight this evening and if you ask Agent Landry, you’ll receive details of who you are, where you live and so on.”
Mulder and Scully got up to leave and Kirsch called after them, a look that could melt stone in his eyes. “Agents, if you mess this up, you’ll both be doing wire tap until you retire. Understood?”
Mulder and Scully nodded and walked out of his office. When they reached their own, Mulder looked at Scully with mischief in his eyes. “So Scully, will we go find Landry?” Scully sighed and walked after him.
Twelve and a half hours later, Mulder and Scully were sitting on their seats in casual clothes, undercover FBI agents on the prowl thought Mulder. “So Scully, or should I say Mrs Linda Carter? (yeah, I know, you spotted it, good for you) What do you think about the case to Sunnydale? The Mouth of Hell.”
“Mulder, you’re exaggerating, it can’t be that bad.”
“No, there really is a gateway to Hell there. It’s closed though but it still exerts a pull on any kind of negative thing, vampires, demons, PCP gangs, you know, things controlled by Satan.”
“Will we be seeing Kirsch or anyone else from the Bureau there?”
“Funny Scully, funny. Seriously though, it’s all there.”
Scully gave a long suffering sigh and looked Mulder in the eye. “Then why haven’t you dragged me there before on a wild vampire hunt, excuse me, another wild vampire hunt?”
“Well,,, when I first found the file, it was right before we went to Florida, remember, to the woods?”
“As if I could ever forget.”
“Anyway, when we got back, someone else had taken the case so no trip to Sunnyhell.”
“I think I should be thankful. Mulder, before you get any wild ideas, we are not here to investigate stupid stories about vampires! We are here to investigate PCP gangs and the related murders and we have to do so while acting as a couple and, I have to teach!”
“Well, I have to be a counsellor. You have experience with teaching, I don’t have any with being a student counsellor.”
“Mulder, I taught my class how to cut up cadavers! Not high school physics.”
“Well, lets just admit that we’re going in blind, maybe I should look at these student files. These ones are on the most troublesome children in the school. Number one, hmm, this one worked with someone called Chris Epps, they wanted to make a zombie. Wow, kidnapping with intent to kill. “Next, a football player, lots of violence, obnoxious creep. Boring, group of students who reputedly ate the old principal while possessed, wow.”
“What? As if the students eating faculty members isn’t bad enough.”
“Buffy Summers. Seventeen, moved from her last school because she burnt down the gym, average grades, failed a few tests, cuts class, never does homework, has started every fight in the school since she moved in, there’s more.”
“Sounds like a real nice girl. Any redeeming points?”
“Apparently, she’s saved a cheerleader whose hands spontaneously combated, she saved the lives of the principal, her mother and some other parents when a PCP gang raided the school on teacher parent night, a ton of hate mail from the current principal.”
“This just makes my day. I was given my work load before we left and as it goes, I’m starting of with light and sound and moving right through to electricity, my favourite areas in science.”
“Why LINDA, I do detect a certain air of sarcasm, maybe you can amaze them by quoting from Einstein or your own paper on his twin paradox. Don’t complain, I have to interview the new students, four of them, all little darlings from Boston.”
“Don’t worry Mulder, if we can prove that there’s PCP in the school, we’ve done our job and Kirsch may actually be pleased with us.”
“Unlikely but you can dream on.” Mulder and Scully talked on for a half hour and then, they slept the rest of the way, thinking that if the case was be this easy, they’d be fine. They were very wrong.
After arriving in LAX at four thirty, they discovered that they weren’t getting a flight the next day but at ten to five that morning. The puddle jumper to Sunnydale was the most uncomfortable plane either of them had ever been on and it was an under statement to say that they were cranky. Things were further screwed up when they arrived in Sunnydale. Seemingly, cab drivers tried to avoid going out at night and it took them forty minutes to hail a cab. They were driven to the house the Bureau had assigned and the only redeeming grace of the morning was the fact that there was a plethora of hot water. After a couple of showers, they received a phone call saying that the principal wanted to meet them at seven thirty that morning to discuss their jobs. Complaining bitterly, they grabbed a small breakfast and headed of to
Sunnydale High.
“Mulder, we’re late! We were meant to be there ten minutes ago!”
“It’s Mike, remember and Scully, I hate to tell you this but I don’t think we set our watches right.”
“What?” Mulder was standing outside the principal’s office looking at the clock which was a full hour behind their watches. “You mean I could have had an hours sleep! Mul,,, Mike! I’m going to kill you!”
“Look, don’t panic. Why don’t we just look around?”
“Allright, but at the first trace of PCP, I’m going home!”
“I’ll be right behind you.” Mulder and Scully walked down the halls pausing to look in classrooms, most of which were locked, and to search for wherever that smell of coffee was coming from. They walked in silence and they heard voices inside the library.
Nodding at Scully, Mulder went in first and received the shock of his life. Standing there with a group of kids and a beautiful dark haired woman, stood Ripper Giles, Rupert Giles.
Part Twelve
In the library, everyone stopped as the two entered the room. He was tall, easily as tall as Angel Buffy thought from her hiding place in the stacks with very short brown hair and a light in his eye. She was about her own height with copper hair, a few shades deeper than Willow’s and she had a surprised, and annoyed, look on her face. They were both wearing jeans and the guy was wearing a stone coloured t-shirt from Calvin Clein while she had a blue, loose fitting shirt on. He looked at Giles the same way she saw Xander and Willow look at each other whenever they were remembering some secret thing from the past only those two had shared. A vague conspiracy.
“Ripper? Rupert Ripper Giles?”
“Yes! Hello Mulder! How are you?”
“Fine, fine. Um Scully, our cover’s blown.”
“Really? Does that mean we can leave? Ok, I’m going home.” Scully was looking as if she was really was going to walk out the door but Mulder gently put a hand on the small of her back to stop her. She gave him a look that could only be called scary and pursed her lips.
“Hold on Scully, you can’t leave without meeting Rupert.” The dark haired woman standing very close to Rupert looked at Scully with something odd in her eyes, fear. It was in the eyes of most of the other kids too. The tall, dark haired boy with his arm around a girl with tear stains on her cheeks was glancing nervously between the other couple, a red haired girl and a guy with badly dyed brown hair, and the tall boy who didn’t look scared, he looked homicidal.
“Rupert,” Jenny asked, attempting to keep her voice level, “who are these people?”
“Um, that’s Fox Mulder, we went to Oxford together, I’m assuming that’s his wife.”
Scully groaned and wished she hadn’t worn the ring. “I am not married to Mulder! We’re in the FBI and we’re undercover, we’re meant to be acting as a married couple. My name’s Dana Scully.”
“So you really did join the FBI Mulder? And you got rid of that loathsome Phoebe Greene. Really, she’s in Scotland Yard and the only way she got to the top was because she can do something the men in Scotland Yard can’t.”
“Yeah, on both counts and I was paired with the lovely Scully and we are now the bane of the FBI.”
Scully grumbled. “Speak for yourself.”
Xander snorted, uneasy. “Someone’s not a morning person!”
Scully gave Xander the death look and Mulder felt real pity for him. “I have a gun.”
“Ok, I’ll shut up now.” Angel tensed and looked at the door. Scully noticed this and whirled around. As Sita and her merry group came noiselessly out of the shadows. Acting on pure instinct, she pulled her gun. Seymour and Kali seemed amused at this and grinned at each other while Yaksha just ignored her.
Sita however, was not happy. “What in the name of God is this? Who the fuck are these people and hey, shortie, put down the gun or I’ll kick you ass!”
“Listen, I’m a federal agent and I haven’t slept since six am yesterday, east coast time, and I’m not in a good mood!”
Yaksha couldn’t have been less impressed. “Aw, is the poor FBI agent gonna shoot us?”
Scully glared at him and he thought one thing. PMS. “Bite me!” she said with venom.
Yaksha smiled. “Not the best choice of phrase.”
Willow glared at Yaksha and spoke to anyone who was listening. “Wait, what’s the FBI doing in Sunnydale?”
Sita was still looking suspiciously at Mulder and Scully and mumbled under her breath. “As if it wasn’t painfully obvious.”
Mulder looked at Scully and really, really, felt sorry for the dark haired boy who had just come in. “We were meant to be here on an under cover mission, we had to find out why so many people have been dying and to try and stop the PCP gangs.”
In any other situation, they would have laughed but the fact remained that they had killed a good few people, even if they had been taken over by demons and the fact that Sita had killed eight bad eggs since arriving in Sunnydale. She was edging towards the door and wanted to be some place else.
“Well, that’s what our superiors think we’re doing but we’re going to soak up the sun, maybe get a tan.” Angel was looking up to Buffy in the shadows of the stacks.
“So, you’re under cover?”
“Yeah, Mr and Mrs Carter but our cover’s blown since I know Giles here.”
Sita looked happy. “So, now your case is over, you can leave town and go back to where ever it is you came from.”
“What? With the vampires?” Mulder grinned and Scully rolled her eyes. The others mean while to have had much more serious reactions. The fang gang and Xander look ready to kill, Buffy’s looking allot paler and Giles seems to have had a mild coronary. The others are a strange mix of the three.
Jenny spoke, everyone else being too mad or too shocked to speak. “W, what do you know about vampires?”
Mulder laughed. “That Sunnydale is the Hellmouth and vampires live here.” He looked at the surprised faces. “I’m joking.”
“Liar.” His partner mumbled.
Sita took up the conversation (being the bravest, strongest and wisest. Yay Sita, yay the Feminists). “Do you believe in all that crap about vampires?”
Mulder and Scully looked at each other and Mulder told them the answer, in the positive. Sita thought about that for a moment and then looked at the assembled Slayerettes, completely ignoring Mulder and Scully. “You know what I’m thinking.”
Her daughter looked at her firmly. “Not a chance, no, never.”
Seymour looked uncomfortable. “Sita, you can’t.”
Angel growled, at a pitch humans can’t hear. “Over my dead body.”
Yaksha looked uncertain. “Come back later for my decision.”
“Not a bloody chance in Hell!” Giles said looking angrily at Sita.
“What are you talking about?” Scully said, glancing at Mulder nervously.
Sita went on with her conversation, ignoring Scully. “They’re a security risk we can’t take, not with Buffy in her condition.”
Oz joined in the conversation. “Look, I agree with protecting Buffy but isn’t there an alternative way?”
“We could put them in traction or use our eyes.”
“Um, Rupert, I don’t like where this conversation is going, what are you talking about?”
“We could just explain the situation to them and hope they’ll see why it needs to be kept secret.” Willow said.
“No, that would endanger them.” Replied Kalika.
Jenny looked hopefully at the vampires. “We could just wipe their memories.”
Scully seemed to have a stroke and yelled at the assembled group. “WHAT?”
Yaksha ignored that little outburst. “Yeah, right Jenny. Then leave for whatever length of time they’re here for? It won’t work.”
“What are you talking about?” said Mulder looking more and more worried.
“But how much do they know? Maybe they don’t know anything at all that could be dangerous” Cordelia said, uncharacteristically deep.
Sita snorted in incredulous laughter. “They’ve been sent here to investigate the gangs and they’ve seen vampires, they’ll put two and two together. If the American Government discovers I’m alive, they’ll be here and you’ll get caught and it’ll all go to hell.”
Mulder glanced at Scully, than at Giles, then at Sita. “Are you crazy?”
“Yes” Yaksha, wondering about what was on TV that night.
Sita glared at him and looked up into the shadows. “Buff, what do you say?”
Buffy came out of the shadows wearing very baggy dungarees which hid her condition well. She walked over to Angel and took his hand.
“Sita, I say we we see why they’re here before anyone does anything they’re unlikely to regret.” Giles, not being in charge but liking to think it, told Mulder and Scully to sit down. “Mulder, Ms Scully, we need to ask you some questions.”
“Rupert, this isn’t funny, what the hell’s going on?”
“Yeah, you can’t tell us what to do, we’re federal agents, if anything, we should be asking you the questions!”
The vampires gave her dirty looks and Giles in turn glared at them. “Ms Scully, really, it’s best if you do what they ask. Right, lets start at the beginning.”
“How far back?” Mulder asked.
“Well, what do you two do in the FBI?”
Scully was pissed off. “Mulder? Do we have to do this?” Buffy looked pissed off too.
“It’s advisable.” Mulder cleared his throat. “Well, we work on something called the X-Files,,,”
Willow jumped up in excitement. “Oh my God! You work on the X-Files? I’ve heard about them!”
Scully regarded Willow suspiciously. “How?”
“W, well, on the internet. I’ve said too much.”
Sita started pacing. “Hey Scully, here’s an idea, who gives a shit? Now talk pigeon!”
Scully was enraged. She stood up and shoved the gun into Sita’s face. Everyone shut up, Seymour, Kali and Yaksha because if they hadn’t, they would have burst out laughing. Sita looked amused and cocked a half grin.
“Look kid, I could arrest you on three counts of felony!” Sita grabbed the barrel of the gun. “Let’s make it four. And hey, if you’re going to treathen me, use a loaded gun.” Sita glared at Scully and she glared back up at the vampire. Everyone was looking worried, for Sita.
“Hey, Scully, cool it!” Mulder said walking up to her.
“Sita, stop it right now!” Kalika yelled.
Jenny stepped forward. “Ok, if you don’t sit down and behave Sita, I’m going to call every Kalderash in Romania and we will bind your ass right here for fifty years!” Sita seemed to consider that and sat down on the library counter.
Scully holstered her gun and went back to Mulder, the fighters back to their corners. “Ok, thank you. What we’re doing here is investigating how real the PCP gangs that are blamed for everything are. We were meant to come here and get jobs in the school, me as a student counsellor and Scully as a physics teacher. We were meant to pose as a married couple and try to find out why so many people are dying. The vampire thing came from the X-Files, unexplained and weird cases. Once I mentioned it to Scully, she decided to hate the case. “Now a question I’d like to ask. Why did you people go postal at the mention of vampires?”
Sita used her gift to read everyone’s mind. The sentiment was much the same, tell them enough to shut them up. Sita took responsibility for that, being the best mind reader. “Ok, vampires exist, allot of them live here in Sunnydale, that’s your PCP gangs for you. They’ve been trying to find us and kill us and you guys seemed to be a security risk. The thing about the government finding me, well once I killed a vampire on a um, on a security tape and so the CIA, the FBI and the army have all been after me. If they found me, they’d want to get their hands on everyone else and that’s a risk we can’t take at the moment, because of Buffy.”
Mulder looked incredulous. “Who’s Buffy?”
“I am, the risk Sita’s talking about is, well, I’m five months pregnant.”
Sita seemed satisfied with Mulder and Scullys thoughts on the situation, in other words, cool,,,lets help,,,they’re crazy,,,I wonder if she’s seen an OB-GYN? “Hey Scully, sorry about the gun thing.”
“It’s ok, we were meant to meet a Mr. Synder and he hasn’t shown yet and well, I need to sleep.”
Cordelia was worried. “Ok, like don’t believe what he tells you about any of us.”
“Yeah, he hates all of us, especially Buffy.” Kalika said.
Scully’s mind was bouncing between people and she was confused. “Um, could we get an introduction?”
Giles sighed, this was getting too frequent. “I’m Rupert Giles, the school librarian,” he pointed to the others as he called out their names, they nodded in a small greeting. “That’s Jenny Calender, the computer science teacher, Willow Rosenburg, Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, Buffy Summers, Oz Tyler, Angel O’Flaherty, Rebecca Fleet, Rob Skinner, Andy Skike and Alisha Pearne,,, (the last four are the other names for Kalika, Seymour, Yaksha and Sita respectively).
Mulder interrupted, looking confused. “Hey, you were all calling her Sita.”
“It’s a nick name.”
“So why does Mr Synder hate Buffy so much?” asked Scully.
“It’s totally irrational, biased beyond anything, he hates everyone, it’s not just me! Trust me, he’ll hate you as well.” Buffy was rambling on and confusing everyone.
Xander looked over at the rambling Slayer. “Buff, they’re going to see your profile anyway.”
“Damn, well, it’s all lies.”
Jenny looked Mulder and Scully pleadingly. “Listen, the only reason we told you about this is so you can write back and say yes, PCP gangs from LA are the problem.”
“What?!” shouted Mulder.
“Jenny’s right,” said the red head, “ vampires need to be kept a secret. If it ever got out that they were real, the world would end!”
Scully rolled her eyes. “Why do I doubt that?”
Oz looked at her with a totally unknown passion that surprised everyone. “Ok G- woman, imagine an immortal Hussein or Milosovic, believe me, it needs to be kept quiet.”
“Plus, we know your secret and unless you want it all over the town, you’ll keep ours.” Seymour said.
Angel’s arm tightened around Buffy’s waist and his eyes flashed at them in pure anger. “If you tell anyone this, it could endanger Buffy and if anyone puts Buffy or our baby in danger, so help me God, I’ll tear their throats out!”
Buffy squeezed Angel’s hand. “Angel, calm down. He’s right though, if anyone put our baby in danger, they would cease to be!”
Scully looked on with pity towards the teens, and admiration. “But wouldn’t the army or the government be helpful?”
“No,” Buffy said. “They’ve proved over and over again that they can’t. Only certain people can fight vampires.”
“Who, the Slayers?” asked Mulder. That was possibly the biggest mistake he could have made.
As he finished the sentence, Sita, in a move too fast to follow, grabbed him by the throat and shoved him against a wall and put a knife to his cateroid artery. “Ok, now they die!”
Once again, Scully pulled her gun and slammed a magazine in it and cocked it at Sita. “You, put the knife down and Mulder, what the Hell are you talking about?”
“The Slayers,” he squawked as Sita dropped him in a pile. “The Slayers and the Watchers, legendary keepers of the knowledge to kill vampires. I didn’t think they were real!”
Scully was busy slapping a pair of cuffs on Sita as he finished. Everyone ignored these goings on, knowing Sita would be ok.
Giles trembled. “H, how did you know about that?”
“In an old library, in Oxford, I found a hand written book, a Watcher’s journal. I didn’t think it was real.”
Xander sighed. “Well, now our secret’s out.”
Sita sighed. “No you dildo, it wasn’t until you spoke up just there. Hey, let me out of these cuffs! I’ll be good, I promise. Besides, maybe Mulder and Scully can help. They can shoot, they can kill and he knows how important Slayers are. This could be a good situation, they could keep Synder off our backs.”
She looked over at Yaksha and in a strange language that only they understood, Sanskrit, she spoke to him. “*Do you think we can trust them Yaks?*”
“*We can make them trust worthy, if you understand me right.*”
“*Hmm, they’ve been through allot, I think we can trust them.* Giles, do you speak French?” When he said yes, she basically asked him the same thing.
She spoke in Angel’s native tongue, Irish. “* Bheidh siad cairde maith, ni bionn siad caimileir, creidim go caithfidh muid deanta na firinne linn.*” (translation: They will be good allies and they won’t be unloyal. I believe we have to tell them the truth.)
“*Ceart go leor.*” (Allright.) Sita, knowing that Buffy hated languages, used though projection which recall sucked since it took up so much energy.
Buffy was staring at her. Buffy wasn’t too keen to tell, she knew by the way they were looking at her that whatever she said went.
She looked up at Angel and saw him looking worriedly at her. She glanced down at her swollen belly and put a hand to it. She had known something like this would happen, that they’d be found out. She was scared, scared at what might happen to her, to her baby.
Scully looked at her with what she hoped was support. No matter what she said, she was intrigued. “Buffy, I’m a medical doctor, I can help.”
That did it for Buffy and she nodded a yes at Sita.
“You wanna tell them or will I?”
“It’s ok Sita, I’ll tell them. Basically, I’m the Slayer, the one, one of the girls, in all the world destined to stop the forces of darkness. Vampires, demons, all the stuff your mother told you was never real.”
Xander couldn’t help it. “Except Micheal Jackson.” He was rewarded with a punch from Cordelia.
Giles pushed his glasses further up his nose. “The world is much older than you’d think, and it used to be full of demons. They were sent to hell but as the last one left, he bit a man and mixed their blood. He bit another and so, vampires were born. In every generation, one girl is given the power to stop them. She is the Slayer. Buffy’s a Slayer so don’t tell anyone or you’ll have Hell to pay.”
Mulder looked like a little boy who had found his father’s manly wallet. “And you’re a watcher aren’t you?” it was a rhetorical question.
“So am I, although not an official one” Jenny said.
“But how can she slay things? She the same size as Scully and she can’t use a gun.”
That remark brought a squeal of protest from Scully and a smile from Sita who was still in cuffs. “Why not? Guns work.”
“Shut up Yaksha, don’t complicate things” Sita said.
“So, who are the rest of these people? I got the impression slaying was a thing for Slayers and watchers.” Mulder asked looking at them all.
“Well,” the Slayer started, “Willow and Xander were the first two Slayerettes. They saw me stake a vamp and they helped stop a real bad ass vampire from rising. Cordelia joined next and is dating Xander, Oz’s a were wolf and he’s dating Willow. Angel is, um, are you ok with this Angel?”
“They may as well know” he said, embarrassed about what he was.
“Ok, Angel’s a vampire. So are the others I didn’t mention, well, not Jenny and Giles.”
"Really?” Mulder said in an annoying tone, “is that where the death threats come from?”
Scully glared at Mulder. “Mulder, you don’t really believe this do you?”
“Feel free to ask questions” said Buffy.
“No, this is crazy! How are you destined to kill something that doesn’t exist?”
Kalika looked annoyed. “Are you saying I’m not real?”
“No, I’m just saying you’re crazy!”
Seymour was getting angry at Scully. “Hey, leave her alone!”
“Well, do you have any proof?” Yaksha smiled a crooked grin. “How ‘bout we bite ya babe?”
“This is turning into an interesting morning” remarked Kalika as Seymour draped a protective, but totally un-necessary, arm around her shoulders.
“Um, guys, try for something a little more subtle.” Sita pulled her hands apart, breaking her cuff’s chain and she flexed the muscles in her wrist, snapping the metal. She walked over to the wall and pulled an old, metal pipe off the wall and threw it to Mulder.
“There, see if you can break that.” Mulder strained to break the pipe but failed. He tossed it back to Sita and she in turn threw it to Buffy. She snapped it like a piece of pasta.
“Now do you believe us? That I’m the Slayer?”
“N, no, that pipe must have,,,” Scully prattled on, trying to rationalise the sights she had seen.
Sita rolled her eyes and turned to the fang gang. “Time for drastic measures.” The others smiled at her and concentrated.
After a few seconds, they looked at Mulder and Scully with golden tints in their eyes and inch long canines in their mouths.
Seymour waved at them and they saw the talons he was now sporting. “Believe us now?” Yaksha looked at her, grinning and showing his fangs.
“I still say we bite her.” Seymour was getting pissed off at Yaksha.
“How about I bite you?”
“Just try it nerd boy!”
Kalika looked like she was going to kill. “Stop it before I castrate you both!”
Mulder grinned over at Giles, delighted at the antics while Giles just shut out the constant bickering. “Where did you find them Rupert?”
“Hm? Oh, they were brought back from the dead to save the world.” Seymour gave Yaksha a wedgie and then hid behind Sita.
“We’re doomed.”
Scully rubbed her temples. “I have a migraine, could some one please explain?”
“Oh, yes, well, it all started for Buffy when the last Slayer died,,,” One hour, many cups of tea and coffee and a box of cheese crackers later,,, “and then some one pointed out that Buffy was becoming a bit obvious so she’s taken a maternity leave so as not to arouse suspicions. Everyone’s pitching in with the slaying and Sita’s been training everyone in weaponry.”
Sita looked proud. “Yeah, I’m an ace, Give me any weapon and you’ll see how it’s meant to be used.”
Mulder looked doubtful. “Any weapon?”
“Yeah, an Uzi, a flame tosser, a rifle, pistols, maces, long bows, cross bows, swords, daggers, chairs, cows,,,”
“Cows?” Oz asked, extremely dubious.
“Yeah, throw one off some battlements and watch the fun, it’s gross but you get free mince meat.”
Buffy cast a withering look at Sita. “Listen, I know you mightn’t want to keep this quiet. Maybe you think we’re crazy, or liars but if it gets out that vampires are real, they won’t see any reason their feeding. It would be a total blood bath!”
Angel looked imploringly at them. “Please, the first ones they’ll come for will be Buffy and our baby, please, help us.” Angel looked to be in a panic attack and Sita could tell that that would kill him altogether.
Mulder beckoned Scully over out into the hall and they spoke in hushed tones. As if it mattered, the vamps could hear them and they were telling the others anyway. “Mulder, tell me you don’t believe them!”
“Scully, I can’t! Did you see how she bent the bar? Or how their faces, well, they grew fangs for crying out loud!”
“That proves that they’re weird, not that vampires are real. Mulder, these people are dangerous! That Sita girl didn’t seem put out by my gun and the others seemed amused. What if they kill some one?”
“Like a vampire? What of it? Vampires are evil and trapped souls, killing them releases their spirit. Say you are right and they are crazy, Buffy’s pregnant and how much do you want to bet she hasn’t seen a doctor? We could help them.”
Scully looked doubtfully at Mulder but he gave her the puppy dog eyes and she felt her resolve melt away. “Mulder,,,”
“Please Scully! If I’m wrong, I’ll do your laundry for a year, I’ll clean your car, I’ll do anything within reason. Scully, lets take this case, it’s proof of vampires and demons. You heard Kirsch, if we don’t stay here, we’re out of jobs, we’ll just fudge the report, I’m sure they’ll be willing to help.”
Scully sighed. The only reason she was going along with this was to help them. She saw the fear in their eyes and she knew that they weren’t lying. She had seen the rage in Angel and the pleading look in Buffy’s eyes when they had asked her to help. How could she say no? How could she brush off the fear and worry of the young girl who only wanted to protect her baby. She had felt it with Emily and she was going to help. And the others? She had seen the loyalty in their souls and she knew they’d do anything to keep her safe, and in the case of that Sita girl, that could include putting a pair of FBI agents in traction. The one thing that was common to all was fear. Why would they be afraid of something that didn’t exist? How did all those kids find such loyalty and courage, not moving unless to put themselves between her gun and the ones they loved. Mulder? Well, he looked as if he was in an X-Files Mecca and well, thirteen against one. They won. She sighed. “Ok, I’ll help.”
Mulder smiled and they walked back in, Scully secretly smiling when he put his hand on the small of her back. “Well, we’re in. We’ll help in anyway possible if you guys agree to help us scatter up some thing to put in a report.”
Sita grinned. “Hey, I can scare up a few murderers and some PCP. Hey, I’m not a druggie but hey, money does allot in this country.”
“Where will you find murderers? asked Scully.
Yaksha laughed. “She’ll just stop killing them.” Sita gave him a death look and elbowed him in the ribs, Scully defiantly heard a crack and Yaksha tried not to whimper, after all, a ruptured lung was painful.
Giles glared at them, again, and he decided that if Jenny ever wanted children, he’d have to think long and hard about it. “Well, it will be nice to have the law on our side for once.”
Cordelia, still looking sullen and depressed looked over at Giles. “But no one’s meant to know they’re in the FBI.”
“Thank you Cordelia.” Scully said.
“We need to keep it that way too so, hi! I’m Linda Carter, your new physics teacher and this is my husband Mike, the counsellor.”
They caught on pretty quickly. “Never seen you before in my life” said Willow.
“Never met you” said Oz.
Xander was worried. “Haven’t got my homework done Mrs Carter.”
Seymour suddenly leapt into Giles office. No one followed so he called out “Synder’s coming!”
At once, Xander, Cordelia and Oz followed him in and hid where ever they could. Willow, Yaksha, Sita and Kalika dived behind the counter and Buffy and Angel ran up into the stacks.
“So if you go down you’ll see his office on your,,,”
Just then, the little Nazi stomped in and glared at the small group. “Giles!” yelled Synder, “who are these people?”
“Um, these, these are Mr and Mrs Carter, they were asking for directions to your office.”
“Well, I’ll take them there. Good day you miserable British worm.” Just for fun, Sita and Yaksha started throwing their voices, growling. Synder jumped and Jenny shrugged. “W, well if those wild dogs are found, I want them shot!”
The hidden Slayerettes tried not to laugh. Synder glared at Giles and Jenny and motioned for Mulder and Scully to follow him.
