The clinic was in a state of absolute chaos. In the last day, for no apparent reason, demon attacks had dramatically increased. Vampire bites, strange ailments...they came in off the street in drastic numbers. Hasna was being run completely ragged trying to keep up with it all.
There was a lull at the moment, though, and Hasna took advantage of it to take a breath. She retreated to a corner, a cup of coffee in her hand, and watched. Another doctor was rushing by, a screaming woman in his arms. “Get me someone who knows about psychic attack!” he yelled to anyone who would listen.
Hasna shuddered.
“Doctor Hasna!”
She pushed away from the wall, looking for the source of that frantic voice. Her coffee finished, she threw the cup in the nearest trash bin just as a young man came running over to her. Hasna vaguely recognized him as a member of the daytime staff. She hadn’t the faintest clue what his name was.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, surprised. “Aren’t you off?”
The young man took a second to catch his breath. “Yeah,” he acknowledged. “Have you seen the Slayer? Or Angel?”
Hasna felt a chill of foreboding...and a rush of anticipated guilt. “The Slayer? You mean Buffy?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“No,” she choked out. “Not recently. Why? Has something happened?”
He hesitated for a moment. “The bartender from The Underground found their place broken into. Nothing seems to have been taken, but no one knows where they are. And have you seen what it’s like out there?”
“I’ve seen what it’s like in here,” Hasna said pointedly.
He nodded. “Yeah, well...are you sure you haven’t seen them?”
Hasna’s horrible suspicion grew, but she did not voice it. How could she tell anyone that she might be responsible? “I...no, I haven’t.”
The young man was crestfallen. “I...should go, then.”
“Wait!” Hasna stopped him from leaving. “What’s going on? And I don’t mean the demon attacks.”
He looked around warily to see if anyone was listening in. “There’s a whole group of us teaming together,” he explained. “For now, we’re looking for the Slayer and Angel, and we’re moving their things to somewhere safe.”
“And after that?” Hasna prompted.
“After that, if we don’t find them, we’ll do what we have to do. We’ll keep ourselves and our neighbors safe.”
For a moment, Hasna was silent following his proclamation. Finally, as he went to leave, Hasna spoke once again.
“If you’re around after my shift,” she said quickly, “I’d like to join you. The group of you...will probably need a doctor.”
The young man smiled. “We’ll take all the help we can get.”
“You know, around here we actually start our day in the morning. While the sun is still up.”
That comment was only one of many that had Buffy ready to scream on her second day in the Watchers’ headquarters. Her every action was restricted and watched. After being given a quick, tasteless breakfast, she had been escorted from her room, down a long succession of corridors she could never have retraced, to a large room clearly intended for training. What awaited her there was a situation that just kept getting worse.
Under Watcher supervision, Buffy was introduced to the current Slayer. Tamika was of Asian descent, taller and younger than Buffy, with long black hair bound in a severe braid. She wore the same jumpsuit as the Watchers, but hers was carefully tailored for the most possible fighting mobility. No expression showed on her face aside from contempt.
Buffy was happy to return it in kind.
“I don’t run my life by what’s done ‘around here,’” Buffy retorted, catching her breath from their latest sparing session.
“I noticed,” Tamika said clearly.
Buffy couldn’t help but glare at her. “I didn’t ask to be here, you know,” she said. “So don’t take it out on me. I don’t want your place.”
The younger Slayer blinked at her. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not here to replace you or something,” Buffy explained. “If they would let me leave, I’d be out of your hair right now.”
“You can’t do that!” Tamika gasped.
“And why not?”
“You...you are a Slayer! And the Watchers exist for the Slayer.”
“Do you really believe that?” Buffy found herself asking.
“Why else?”
“For themselves,” Buffy retorted.
“For the world!” Tamika cried. “Besides, the prophecy....”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Prophecy,” she said in disdain. She went right back to her previous topic. “If they really existed for the world, would they keep you – us – up here away from it all the time?”
“This is the world.”
“No it isn’t!” Buffy said, exasperated. “You want to know why I don’t wake with the sun? Because down there, at night – every night – is when and where the Slayer is needed.”
“It’s a waste of resources,” Tamika said as if she was explaining something to a child. It sounded like something she’d heard over and over.
“It saves lives,” Buffy said evenly.
Tamika looked at her for a long moment. “I don’t understand you,” she said.
“Likewise,” Buffy muttered. She rose to her feet. “I’ve had enough of this.”
Tamika rose as well. “Fine,” she said darkly. “Next, let’s try....”
“No,” Buffy cut her off. “I’m not going to fight you anymore. I’m done with this.”
“You can’t! We are supposed to....”
“Do you always do what you’re supposed to do? No, wait, don’t answer that.” She strode purposefully over to their Watcher supervision. “Take me to Angel,” she demanded.
Tamika’s expression got even darker. “The vampire,” she said angrily.
“Yes, the vampire,” Buffy said. She let her own anger show as strongly as Tamika’s. “Let me make one thing clear,” she said. “His safety is the one reason I’m working with the Watchers at all. I don’t have to do anything for you or with you. Just so we’re clear.” She faced the Watcher again. “We’re through here,” she said, and stormed from the room.
She stopped in the doorway.
“Could someone at least tell me where I’m going?”
“I swear I’m going to go out of my mind!” Buffy declared loudly. Too loudly after the magically induced silence of the cell. Angel winced.
“Buffy,” he said gently.
She kept right on going. “I don’t think I can spend another day here. No, wait, I know I can’t!”
“You’ve only been here a day,” he said, ignoring the headache that was building. He paused. “It has just been a day, right?”
Buffy’s attention was suddenly on him, confused as if she just now realized he was there. Then she smiled slightly. “Yeah, it’s been a day.” She sat next to him on the hard cot. “Hard to tell in here, isn’t it?” she asked sympathetically.
Angel nodded, taking her hand in his. “This room...” he began, then paused. “It’s like a sensory depravation chamber. If you didn’t come, I think I would go out of my mind.”
She looked at him, her expression apologetic. “I’d be here more often if I could, you know,” she said. “As it was, I pretty much had to force the issue to get here today.”
“What happened?”
“Ug.” Buffy sighed in disgust. “I met the new Slayer today. ‘Brat’ is the best word I can come up with at the moment to describe her. She had a snippy comment for everything! I couldn’t stand her, Angel. And the feeling was mutual.”
Angel gave her a little sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “But you do have to look at things from her point of view, as well.”
“I know it looks like I’m trying to take over or something,” Buffy said. “But it’s not like I asked to be here.”
“Does she know that?” he asked.
“I told her,” Buffy said softly.
“Then give her time,” Angel suggested.
Buffy shot him a look. “I don’t want to give her time,” she explained. “I want to get out of here.” She sighed. “What are we going to do, Angel?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “We’ll just take it one day at a time.”
Buffy clearly didn’t like that answer. “But what do we do until then?”
Angel didn’t answer her exactly. “I hate that they’re using me against you,” he said instead.
“I can deal with it,” Buffy said. “If I have to.”
Angel swallowed hard. “Buffy,” he said softly. “If it comes to the point...that they ask you to do things that you can’t do...don’t listen to them for my sake.”
“What are you saying?” Buffy asked suspiciously.
“I’m saying...if it comes down to it...”
“I am not giving you up for dead, Angel!” Buffy declared, rising to her feet. “God, I can’t believe you’d even suggest something like that!”
“Buffy....”
“Don’t ‘Buffy’ me!” she yelled back. “I am going to find a way out of here, and we are going to get out of here together. Don’t you dare try to tell me otherwise.”
Angel winced as her volume continued to rise. “Buffy,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” He closed his eyes in an effort to make his head stop pounding. “Please don’t yell anymore,” he begged.
“Are you okay?”
Angel opened his eyes at last and shrugged. “Headache,” he explained.
“Oh. I’m sorry.” She frowned at him again. “But you really shouldn’t have said those things.”
“I just...you needed to know that, if there’s a way out of here and only you can take it, I’m not going to fault you for leaving me behind.” He gave her a little smile. “I’d even encourage it.”
“Not gonna happen, buster,” Buffy declared. “No more noble self-sacrifice for you.”
Angel smiled slightly at her tone.
“Now,” she said strongly but softly, taking a seat again. “What’s this about a headache?”
“It has to do with the room,” Angel explained. “When you’re not here, it’s so silent. I guess my hearing just got used to that.”
“Ah,” Buffy said in understanding. “But talking is good?”
“Talking is very good,” Angel said with a nod. “Just...softly.”
Buffy flashed him a smile. “Well, then,” she said. Sitting beside him, she leaned into his shoulder. “What should we talk about?”
“I don’t know,” Angel admitted, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
“Well, we have to think of something,” Buffy said, “or they might come and make me leave you. And I’m not leaving you until they drag me out kicking and screaming.”
Angel chuckled at the image. “Thanks,” he said, and gave her shoulders a little squeeze.
“Any time.” Buffy was silent for a long moment. “Angel?” she asked, very softly.
“Yeah?”
She said nothing at first.
Angel could feel that she was troubled by something and cocked his head to look at her. “What is it?” he prodded.
She swallowed audibly. “I want you to tell me what happened after I...supposedly died,” she said.
“Buffy....”
“No, Angel, I need to know.” She pulled away slightly. “You kinda pointed that out, remember? I want to know what happened to everyone. I want to know what they did with their lives. I want...I want to know how they died.”
Angel hesitated for a moment. What she was asking for...didn’t exactly make for pleasant moments between them. “It’s a long story,” he said at last.
Buffy smiled sadly. “Well, it looks like we have nothing but time.”
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