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1999: Sunnydale

It took a little over seven days for the tiny blonde vampire to heal from her physical injuries. The fact that she’d practically refused to eat anything hadn’t helped her until Darla had just started force-feeding her. Buffy had sobbed for two days straight, crying for her dusted mate that she’d been with for over sixty years, the second man she had loved in her entire life.

Eventually, she had run out of tears and had taken to staring blankly at the wall as she lay in Darla’s bed. She hadn’t spoken, except for tiny whimpers of Penn’s name at random intervals. Darla was beginning to give up hope for the girl, wondering if Angelus had truly succeeded in breaking the girl after all. All those years he’d been going about it the wrong way.

On the sixth day, Darla’s hope came back. Darla had been sitting in her living room reading quietly when Buffy had approached her. It was the first time Buffy had been out of bed in days. Darla just looked up and held out a hand to the girl.

Buffy took her hand and sat herself beside Darla, laying her head in her grand-sire’s lap, closing her eyes but not crying. Darla just sighed and stroked Buffy’s hair, understanding that all was not lost after all.

Eight days after Penn’s death, Buffy finally spoke.

“Darla?”

Darla had been shocked, but she hadn’t let it show. She just turned gently to speak to her upset childe.

“What is it?”

“Can I stay here?” she whispered. “With you in Sunnydale?”

“You can’t hunt,” Darla said.

Buffy just nodded. She didn’t feel like doing all that much except curling into a ball for the rest of eternity. She couldn’t even muster up the enthusiasm at the thought of feeding off anyone. What was the point when her mate was dead?

“Then you can stay. I’ll take you over to meet the rest of the group tonight.”

“The rest?” Buffy asked.

“Spike’s Watcher,” Darla replied.

Buffy nodded. The thought of meeting a Watcher should have vaguely worried her, but honestly, even if the Watcher decided to stake her on sight, she probably wouldn’t care.

Darla opened the door to Giles’ apartment, the Scoobies already there with Giles and Wesley. Buffy absently followed Darla in, her eyes down.

“Hey Darla,” Willow greeted. She turned properly and saw Buffy there as well. Willow frowned sadly, seeing the state of the cocky and confident girl that had saved her life the previous week. Willow had been asking Darla nearly every day about how Buffy was going, and Darla’s answers hadn’t assured Willow at all. Seeing the forlorn vampire though was heart wrenching.

Giles walked into the room, not paying very much attention to what was going on. He was looking down at a text he’d been working to translate for the past few hours.

“Ah, good evening Darla. We were hoping you would arrive soon.”

Wesley followed Giles out from the kitchen and looked at the soulled vampire. He was the only person to actually register the presence of the second vampire in the room. His reaction was priceless.

“Gah!” He jumped away from Buffy, fumbling into his pockets for a cross, which he held in front of him. “Back creature of the night! Leave this place!”

Buffy looked up at him, her eyebrows raised. If she hadn’t been so depressed, she probably would have been laughing.

“Wes, it’s alright,” Darla assured the man. “She won’t hurt anyone.”

Giles finally tore himself away from the book he’d been holding. His eyes went wide and the book tumbled to the floor.

“Oh dear lord.”

Everyone in the group turned to look at Giles, knowing that he wouldn’t say that for just anything. Buffy too looked up and her eyes lit up for the first time in days. Darla noticed the change in her childe, and wondered what was going on.

Xander emerged from the kitchen and scowled.

“Hey, who invited evil dead in here?”

Spike, Willow, Darla and Wesley all suddenly looked stunned. No one had invited her in there. And because Giles was the only owner of the apartment, only he could have done so, and he’d only just seen her. How had she got in?

“No one invited her in,” Wesley said.

Giles couldn’t take his eyes off Buffy, and Buffy’s eyes were stuck on his as well.

“I invited her in.”

“No you didn’t,” Spike said. “She just waltzed in without an invite.”

Giles stepped forward and looked down at the vampire who had remained permanently in his memory for the last thirty years.

“You haven’t changed a bit,” he commented.

“I wish I could say the same about you Ripper,” she replied, the first time any of her cockiness and confidence had shown itself since Penn’s dusting. “I remember you being quite the hottie.”

The Scoobies all exchanged glances. They knew of course, about Giles’ Eyghon days when he’d been calling himself Ripper, and to hear Buffy use it made them question how exactly they knew each other.

“So…you two know each other?” Willow asked.

“You could say that,” Buffy replied.

“You are Buffy? The Slayer of Slayers?” Giles asked.

Buffy just shrugged and nodded.

“Wait, when did you invite her in?” Xander asked, still not understanding.

“It must have been, what…thirty years ago,” Giles replied. “If I’d have known that you were the Slayer of Slayers I wouldn’t have given you a standing invitation into my home.”

“You really weren’t thinking that one over at the time,” Buffy commented.

“I don’t think I was thinking about all that much at the time,” he replied.

Buffy finally grinned and laughed. “Well, it’s nice to know I haven’t lost my ability to make men completely incoherent.”

Willow’s eyes widened as she realised the exact nature of the relationship that the Watcher and the Vampire had had. It was hard to imagine that Giles had once slept with the gorgeous and sassy blonde vampire that stood in the apartment.

Giles went a violent shade of red and went to stammer something out, but was interrupted by Spike beginning to laugh.

“Good for you G,” Spike said. “And here I almost thought you’d been bloody celibate the whole time.”

Wesley was still flabbergasted by this turn of events.

“Why exactly did you give this vampire an invitation into your home?” Wesley demanded.

Buffy turned to look at the younger Watcher, disdain clearly written on her face.

“I believe that’s between me and him,” she said. “And who the hell are you anyway?”

“I am William’s Watcher,” Wesley said pompously.

Buffy smirked and shot a look to Spike. “My sympathies to you.”

Spike grinned and tipped his head in acknowledgement. Willow stood up and took off the leather jacket that she had been wearing non-stop since the attack. She walked towards Buffy and went to hand it back to her.

“This is yours.”

Buffy looked at the item and shook her head. “Keep it. I’ve got others.”

Willow’s eyes widened, but she wasn’t about to question it. She reached into the pocket though and handed Buffy her cell phone. Buffy just looked at it, swallowing hard. The only reason she even had it was so she and Penn could keep in contact with each other in case any problems arose that kept them from making it home before sunrise.

Darla saw Buffy’s hesitation and took the phone from Willow, pocketing it herself. Willow took her seat beside Xander who was looking less than impressed.

“So, you come to say your goodbyes?” Xander asked.

Buffy glared at the boy and shook her head. “Sorry. I’m here to stay.”

“What?!” Xander stood up angrily and turned to Darla. “You’re crazy. She’ll kill us all in our sleep.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Buffy said, looking outraged at the thought. She paused and then smiled sweetly. “I’d at least have the decency to make sure you were awake for it.”

“I don’t like this,” Wesley stated.

“There, see? The Watcher doesn’t like it either,” Xander said triumphantly.

“The Watcher,” Buffy began sarcastically, “wouldn’t even know how to slay a vampire if one was chained up in front of him. Honestly, I don’t know how your Slayer’s even survived.”

“That’s cos of Giles,” Willow said proudly. “He keeps Spike alive.”

Buffy turned to Giles who had gone slightly pink.

“Good for you Ripper. I told you you’d be the one to make your Slayer better than us. He’s a good fighter. Aren’tcha glad I told ya not to keep running?”

Xander looked between the Watcher and the Vampire and was incredibly worried about the implications of what was being said.

“You slept with a vampire?” Xander asked accusingly.

Giles turned to look at the boy, half annoyed by Xander’s judgement, and half ashamed at his own actions from so very long ago. He’d been trying to commit suicide in a creative way, and he couldn’t imagine that any one of the group would be too impressed to hear that about him.

“Yes,” Giles replied simply.

“And you knew what she was,” Xander continued.

“I did.”

Xander just shook his head, trying to figure out how that was possible. “Why? Why would you do something like that?”

Buffy stepped forward and stood directly in front of the scowling youth.

“What Ripper did in his past has nothing to do with you, boy,” she said angrily. “I’ve known you for only a week and already I really don’t like you. You judged Darla, you’re judging Ripper, and you have no right to do either. What happened between he and I is just that. Between he and I. If you can’t handle that he had a life before you met him, then I suggest you go away and grow up before you think about coming back here.”

“Who died and made you boss?” Xander asked angrily.

Buffy couldn’t believe that this eighteen-year-old boy was actually standing up to her. He was either very brave or very foolish, and Buffy didn’t really believe that it was bravery that was spurring him on. She vamped into game face and watched as Xander yelped and fell over his own feet in an attempt to get away from her. She laughed a little and vamped back to normal. Obviously her theory on bravery had been giving him a little too much credit.

“I died and made me boss,” Buffy retorted. “I’m not asking you to like me. I’m not asking you to trust me, but when it comes to the decisions that Darla or Ripper make regarding me, then they’re Darla and Ripp’s decisions, not yours, got it?”

Xander scowled but finally nodded. He wasn’t too happy about it, but he knew that the vampire girl had no soul to hold her back. He knew that unlike Darla, there was no good within her. And that was the very reason he wanted this girl out of their lives. And he knew that he would stop at nothing to make sure he eventually got the blonde vampire away from himself and the other Scoobies.

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