Chapter Text
There were three things that I would call “weird” about my daughter. Harsh? Maybe… but I wasn’t going around spouting these things out to every stranger I passed. I knew Buffy would kick my ass, and if I’d learned anything being around her… it was to keep my mouth shut. Still, weird wasn’t like all bad or anything. Different. Let’s just go with different.
So yeah, three things different”about my daughter. First, she had this accent. I didn’t know what the hell to call it. Somehow it was a mix of Scottish, English, and various regional American accents (though to be honest she preferred to sound like she was from California, but... I’m ignoring that fact). Anyway, so she always sounded well… distinct. She had that kind of voice that would make people stop and raise an eyebrow. Most of the time they thought she was faking. She wasn’t. It possibly didn’t help that she sounded like she smoked two packs a day (and she didn’t… felt I needed to throw that in for some reason) from the time she could toddle. She got that honest, I guess. It was obvious the influence of various nationalities and shit were gonna have an impact. I just didn’t realize how much of an impact they’d have. She had teachers, but so did the other slayers’ kids. So I never quite figured out why she sounded so different.
Second, she was smart. Way smarter than I was at that age. Way,way smarter than I imagined Buffy was (something else I’d just keep to myself). She studied with a lot of different people. She could speak three languages, thanks to Giles and Dawn, before she was five. She was helpful when it came to research that was for damn sure. Buffy and I would be moaning like little kids and she’d give us the side eye and look at Giles and Red all knowingly. Cause apparently, eight year olds were bound and determined to believe their parents were either the coolest people on the earth or put on this planet to destroy their children’s soul based entirely on the day of the week. Research would always equal destroyed soul though.
Third, she was trouble. Now don’t get me wrong here… I knew kids got into shit. I didn’t expect her to like you know, sit on her hands or anything. I mean she was my kid after all. And Buffy’s. The fact she wasn’t born with the most severe case of ADHD known to man was a damn godsend. But… well being smart and having what Red referred to as “slayer skills” and Ken referred to as “ass-kicking skills” didn’t help a damn bit. So… really strong for a damn eight year old and really smart equals… trouble. When she was little, she was into shit. Now… she was planning it. Always planning something. Once she got into Red’s magic books and conjured up a damn unicorn. Side note – unicorns are not fucking friendly creatures. I didn’t know that. Neither did B. We chased that goddamn thing around the castle and outside for three hours before Buffy finally vanquished it. J cried for three hours afterwards. Tough shit… cause that thing came within two inches of stabbing me in the damn thigh.
She’d play me and B off each other all the time. Tell one of us that the other one said she could… well fill in the blank… go to London with Giles. Teleport to see Angel. Side note number two – she didn’t get sick during teleporting. She got that from Buffy. But not me, I’d still be throwing up like a dying woman every single time we popped anywhere. They found it hilarious. I didn’t.
And the list goes on for a while…. More times than I’d care to count, we’d catch her and Kennedy up to something. Usually slayer related. Usually dangerous. The amount of times I’ve almost throttled Ken bordered on ridiculous. To be fair to her though, J could talk you into flying to Australia and paying her to go with you. I still wasn’t too damn sure where the hell she got that skill from.
She did have friends, which was good. They were all slayers’ kids – also a plus. It meant we didn’t have to hide the fact she was strong. Some of the kids were here for study; others came and went. We fought the battle of real school several times, but she always got voted down. One, she had the best teachers around. More importantly though, we couldn’t risk exposing her. Too many people put in danger with that one, and that included her. Cause though a few things had changed since she was little, some hadn’t. Case in point, I was still protective as hell. Another thing that annoyed the shit out of her.
Most importantly, she was still our baby. Well, let me back up here. She looked a helluva lot like me. Dark hair, dimples, everything… I mean she had those wicked green eyes but that was it. Everything else though… Buffy. Down to the pout and the little walk she had when she was mad. Give her something pink and she still squealed like a howler monkey. She’d bat those freaking eyelashes and everyone in the room was fawning and pulling out their wallets waiting to see what she needed. Little devil worked it to her advantage more times than not.
All this being said though, I loved her. More than I’d ever loved anything. Anyone. Not a day went by that I didn’t think that. Even when she’d talked me in to “styling” my hair, which inevitably led to Buffy having to spend like seven hours detangling the shit. Or the time she decided to paint her bedroom… with spray paint she’d found in the basement. Or the cookies she decided she’d cook after watching Andy one goddamn time… and almost burning the freaking castle down. Or the time she magically locked me and B in the damn bathroom for six hours before Red and Giles were able to magically knock down the door. Yeah… good times. But still, every single time I saw her my heart did this little flip. She was mine. I still had to pinch myself every once in a while.
“Faith! I can’t find the ballet shoes! Seriously! What did you do with them!?!”
Here was the thing – Buffy screaming at me from the hallway, or the bedroom, or the kitchen, or just wherever the hell she was at the time was something I still had not gotten use to. Something else our daughter had in common with her mother. A set of damn lungs. It must’ve run in the damn Summers’ family.
“I have no freakin idea where those shoes are!” I yelled back. “I’m trying to block them from my memory,” I added, though not as loudly.
She came barreling into the living room. “I can hear you, you know.” She tossed her hair behind her shoulder and pulled it back in a bun. I found that incredibly sexy for some reason. “Hiding her ballet shoes does no one any good. You might as well give it up.”
See here was the issue; I didn’t hide the damn shoes. I wasn’t all for J taking ballet class cause she looked like a fairy but as I’d established numerous times over the last eight years, my opinion counted for jack. So I’d relented, just like I always freaking did and let her take ballet. And various other dance classes that pretty much were preparing her to be nothing but a friggin exotic dancer when she grew up. And that was gonna be a big fat hell to the no.
“Seriously, mom?” My progeny, and often the bane of my existence, came sauntering in after her mother. “Where are they?” She had her hand on her hip.
“Are you two for real? Why would I hide your damn shoes?” I closed the book I was reading. “Have you looked in your room?”
Joy shrugged her shoulders at me. “Wow, no… that’s a good idea.” Holy shit, the smartassness in this family. She turned to Buffy. "Why didn't we think of that?”
I expected sarcasm to come a lot later than it did. I still wasn’t used to it. At least she wasn’t cursing… yet.
I rolled my eyes at her. “Why don’t you skip it?” Hey, it was worth a try.
“No way. I have a recital in two weeks.” She started lifting up various things in the room. Like they were hiding under a book or something. “You just don’t want to come,” she pouted.
Aw fuck. And there it was… Buffy’s evil stare. “Is that it, Faith? You hid them cause you don’t want to go to a recital?”
“I'm pretty sure they aren't under that vase. And seriously Buffy, I didn’t hide her freaking shoes. Ask Red. Or Giles. Or Dawn. Somebody responsible probably knows where they are. And of course I want to go to the recital. Don’t be stupid.” Okay, I was lying. Sue me. Sitting through those dance recitals were like spending an afternoon researching. Time fucking stood still until you were just about ready to hang yourself from the nearest rafter. But J rarely got to be a part of normal kid stuff and so we let her take the damn dance classes. And she was pretty good. I liked to watch her dance. I just didn’t want to suffer through the other hundred kids flitting across the stage to do it.
Red and Ken walked in then. Buffy spun around. “Wills, have you seen her ballet shoes?”
Red nodded because like I said - responsible one. “Yep. In the laundry room last I looked. Getting excited about the big recital? I know we are…” she asked J.
I watched Ken’s face. She winced for a split second but thank god Red and B didn’t catch it. They’d totally make us take Joy to class then.
Joy ran up to Kennedy. “So what are we doing later? Can we go for a hike?”
Hike my ass. They never just went on a hike.
Kennedy picked her up. “Absolutely. We can go check out those…” She faltered.
“…flowers,” Joy finished for her. Like a little evil partner in crime.
Oh hell no. Threatening Ken was becoming my second job. “You two must think I’m the dumbest person on the planet. Flowers, my ass.” I stood up. “No hike. No way. No how.”
Joy started pouting. Nope. Not happening. I didn’t give a shit. She hopped out of Ken’s arms. “It’s just flowers, mom. It’s not like I’m going to slay or anything.”
Like I believed that. “Nope. Go get your shoes.”
She huffed but walked out.
“It doesn’t hurt her to go out with Ken every once in a while, babe,” B said, wrapping her arms around me. “She doesn’t let her get near anything bad. That and the other forty slayers you send with them keeps her pretty safe.”
“See, your hotter half doesn’t care.” Ken smirked.
“Thank you, jackass. I didn’t ask you.” I grumbled. “Between the two of you, I’m afraid I’m gonna get gray hairs or some shit. And I like my hair.”
Buffy kissed my cheek. “I’ll still love you when you’re all gray and wrinkly.”
“Eww,” Ken said, making a face. “I won’t.”
Red smacked her arm. “You just want her to hit you for some reason. You know she will.” She turned to me. “I don’t know why they tease you so much,” she winked.
Never thought Red would be the one on my side. But K and Buffy were always trying to push every single goddamn button I had. If it weren’t for Red, I’d probably been visiting the damn hair salon years ago.
Joy came running in dressed for ballet. All in pink. I still wasn’t used to that. Second twin wincing. Pretty sure they noticed that time.
“Oh, I know!” Red said. “Let’s all go! I’ve got to get some supplies from town. You and Ken can hang out at the studio and then we could go to dinner or something!”
Fuck me. I looked to Kennedy. She had the same face. But our significant others were looking rather excited about getting out. Goddamn it.
“Sure,” Ken said. “We’d love to go.” She turned around and made a face at me. “This is your fault,” she mouthed.
“Yay!” Joy said. “You can meet my new teacher. She helps Ms. Mary. I really like her. She told me I was the best dancer at the whole school. The very best. And I was gonna be the best dancer in the world when I grew up.” She was grinning from ear to ear. Keep on grinning, kiddo. Cause no way that was gonna happen.
We dropped Red off at the magic store and made our way to the studio. As soon as we got there, J ran inside and B was off.
“Carmen!” She squealed, seeing another mother she knew. Buffy was like some weird, crazy soccer mom sometimes. It was freaky and I usually just chose to ignore it.
I rolled my eyes and sat down in a chair at the back of the class. So did Ken. “What the fuck did we do to deserve this shit?”
She shook her head. “I have no idea. I went over it in my head all the way here. We had to have done something. No way it was because we both pulled the eww face.”
She was wrong though. That was totally why. They had a way of punishing us without ever even seeming to. It was mind-boggling. “You know, I love J… but these kids… damn. Who the hell would do this for a living? Teach screaming kids how to synchronize anything? What a cluster fuck.”
“The only reason I’m going to that damn recital besides the fact Will is making me is to see Joy dance. But really… if we put in time here, maybe…” She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to.
“Shit. That’s a good idea.” I leaned back. “And you know there is no way in hell they are gonna let us out of that,” I sighed.
She sat back and folded her arms across her chest. “Yeah, I know. Son of a bitch.”
There was absolutely no order in this room. There were moms mulling around all over the place, talking or squealing or whatever. Kids were running around screaming. I could see Ms. Mary at the front of the room. She was older than dirt. Seriously. There was actual dirt that was created after she was born. She sat in a chair at the front of the room and basically tapped her big ass cane and the kids got quiet. She did have a weird kind of power that I kind of envied. Anyone who could get thirty screaming kids dead ass silence with two taps of a stick deserved some respect.
“Class,” she started. “We are breaking into our groups now. So go find your helper. Upper levels… stay here.” She tapped with her cane.
There were kids ranging from three to about sixteen or so in this class. Everyone obviously knew where they were supposed to go.
I was scanning the crowd looking for Joy. She had a new teacher apparently that thought she was just the coolest dancer in the whole freaking world. I wanted to see whose kneecaps I needed to break. B always brought Joy to dance so I didn’t know one damn teacher from another. It was nice to be blissfully unaware every once in a while. Except…
when it wasn’t…
K and I spotted her at the same time. I felt her put her hand on my knee. “Faith,” she said through gritted teeth.
I nodded. I felt a long forgotten terror start to rise up inside of me. “Fuck me…” I whispered.
We both stood up at the same time. She made eye contact as soon as we stood and smiled the sweetest, most goddamn sickening smile I’d ever seen.
Joy ran up to us before we could make it over there. “Mom!” She said, tugging on my shirt. I couldn’t look down. “This is my new teacher, Miss Patty!” She was so excited.
I tried to stay calm.
Buffy walked up. “Hi, Patty!” She said from behind me. “Joy was so excited you were going to be here tonight,” she smiled at her. She turned and looked at me. At least I think she did. Neither Ken or I had broken eye contact with Miss “Patty.” “Faith? What’s wrong?”
I bent down and picked Joy up. “Put me down, mom,” she whispered. She was embarrassed. Wish I gave a fuck.
“Buffy, get her out of here.” I mumbled, handing her to B.
“What’s wrong with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Why are you two being so freak out-y?” She took Joy from me all the same.
The bitch was still smiling at me.
“Please get her out of here, Buffy. Now.” I got closer to her teacher. It didn’t escape my attention that everyone on this side of the room was watching us, including the seven or eight kids in Joy’s dance class.
“No! I’m not leaving!” J was screaming. “Put me down.”
For whatever reason under the damn sun, Buffy must’ve believed me. If it had been any other moment in our lives, I probably would have taken a damn photo with my phone or something and marked the date. Cause she rarely did anything I asked without protest. But she did this time. She took Joy straight out the door, kicking and screaming the whole way. Now everyone in the room was watching us.
“I don’t know what we can do here,” Ken whispered next to me. “Everyone in this room is watching.”
I nodded. We both walked up to the teacher. She smiled at us. “I’m just keeping an eye on my girl,” she said in that bubbly accent that really fucking defied her age.
I was about to lunge, but Kennedy pulled me back. “Don’t. There are thirty some odd kids here.” She turned to her. “She’s not eighteen, you skank,” she whispered.
Mother of all that was holy. How the fuck long had she been watching her? B had no idea what she looked like. But we knew. It could’ve been months. I couldn’t feel my legs very well.
“You can’t touch her…” I whispered.
“Oh, I don’t plan on it, mommy. Like I said, just keeping an eye out.” She looked down at my hands. “You know you can’t hurt me. No point in trying. Don’t want to scar the kiddies, now do we?” She smiled at me. “But, I’m glad you came. Your partner didn’t know who I was. I was about to try to figure out a way to get into your castle, but lookie here… you finally showed.”
“Why?” I muttered.
“Because she’s in trouble. Your daughter. Someone is after her. Someone who is not me. And we can’t have that, now can we?”
“What do you mean?” Kennedy said. “Who the hell isn’t after her? She’s the daughter of…” she checked herself seeing as everyone was watching us with rapt damn fascination.
She nodded. “Oh yeah but this one is different. This one’s dangerous. You’ll see. In her dreams it comes. She’s already started seeing it.”
I felt sick.
“What? She hasn’t told you?” She smiled and then shrugged. “Well, you know how kids are.”
“So why help us?” Kennedy said.
She laughed. “I want her alive as much as you do. Can’t have anyone harming our baby now can we?”
It took more restraint than I knew I had to keep from slamming her into the wall. One, it would have done no good. Two, it would have scared the hell out of everyone in the room.
She patted my shoulder. “I’d go now. People are starting to think you’re weird. And if you’re weird, so is your daughter. And you don’t want that, do you? People talking about her? No, of course not. “ She smiled sweetly at the little girl in front of her. It made me sick. She looked back at us. “It’s coming for her. In her dreams first. Remember that. Ask her about it. She’ll be honest if she knows you know…” She started leading us to the exit. “I look so forward to the day when we get to play more. Gonna be so much fun,” she said before turning and going back into the dance hall.
Ken and I stood there for a good minute. I was trying to get my breath. I guess she was too.
“Jesus Christ,” she finally said. “Should we fucking believe her or not?”
I shook my head. “I have no fucking clue.” I looked out the window. B was trying to console our daughter who was crying her eyes out on the sidewalk in front of the dance academy.
Ken put her hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go. We’ll go get Will and figure out what the hell is going on here. But you are gonna have to promise me that you are gonna stay calm until the mini is out of the room. Cause there is no freaking out in front of her unless you want to be kicked out the bed for the next century.”
“What do we tell them right now?”
She ran her hand through her hair. Thinking. “That Ms. Mary is a demon we’ve been looking for. Cause come on, obviously that woman has been around since Jesus was an infant.”
“Right,” I nodded. “I guess…” I couldn’t think of anything else to tell them. I didn’t want to scare B in front of Joy and well… J didn’t know Ate existed. And we sure the hell weren’t telling her.
I didn’t know whether to believe her or not. She obviously could just be fucking with our heads. But something told me she wasn’t. And if there was something out there after Joy and that something was enough to scare a big scary ass goddess from the underworld, well… to say that I was terrified would have been the biggest understatement of my life.