Chapter Twelve

Dear Diary,

It all happened so fast. One minute we were sitting in the park, eating, and the next, we were fighting Willow and some other guy. Well, we all kicked butt! Ethan and Giles drained her magic after I–Dawn Summers–took her down. We fought for a while, and she almost had me, until I turned one of her attacks around, and made it go after her.

Well, anyway, the guy got away, but not before Ripper and Ethan broke a few of his bones. They said they'd go after him once Tara and Buffy aren't so spazzed. Tara had to bind Willow while Ethan and Giles drained her magic, and Buffy went after a vampire she sensed was nearby. She didn't go until the fight was done though. That would've been rude.

But it turns out the vampire she sensed was Spike! God, the look on her face when she told us that. It was like she'd just came back from the grave again. I never wanna see that look on her face again. Her eyes were haunted, and she was shaking so bad. I thought Giles was gonna have a heart attack when he saw she had a broken arm.

Oh, that part was gross. When Tara asked her if she wanted to go the hospital for her arm, Buffy shook her head and threw her arm out, popping the bones in place. I almost puked. It sounded SSSSSOOOOOO nasty. Eeewww! I'm shaking, just remembering it.

Well diary, Giles is calling. I guess I'd better go eat.

Dawn

ps, Ethan's living here! We don't tell them about how much we bump into each other when we get drinks at night, but I think they know. At least, I think that's what the looks they give us are...

"Dawn, NOW!"

"All right, I'm coming, hold on! Jeeze!" she said, stashing the diary away before running down the steps.

It had been two days since the battle with Willow, and everyone just now had time to relax, with all the stuff going on. Giles had called in some favors, and Willow was now on her way to England, to work with a coven. Even though she didn't have any magic, the lessons they would teach her would do her good.

As for Rack, he was dead. The broken bone's he'd gotten had consisted for a few ribs, and they had punctured his lungs. He couldn't even heal himself, since he'd drowned in his own blood less than five minutes after the battle.

No one knew what happened with Spike. The only thing Buffy would tell them was that they'd fought, and it made them all think the worst. When they asked, she would instantly shut down, acting like she had when she'd fist come back, and ignore them.

"Soma," Dawn said, looking at the kitten that she almost stepped on. The kitten purred and she picked it up, rubbing their noses. "Come on, time to eat."

"The kitten is not sitting at the table Dawn."

"Duh. I'm puttin' her down, see?"

Giles grinned as he handed her a piece of meat for the kitten. Food was already circulating the table.

From her seat across from Giles, Buffy watched Ethan and Dawn flirt, playing with their food. Dawn was stealing Ethan's chicken, eating with speed she only used for breakfast, and Ethan was trying to take the food off her fork with his own.

Across from the couple, Tara smiled. She looked between Giles and Buffy, her smiling dimming somewhat. She wondered what was going on with the Slayer, but didn't comment. She had a feeling that Ethan knew, to some extent, because of Chaos.

And she was right. Ethan could tell from Buffy's emotions, the chaotic state of them, that something wasn't right. There was a difference to them than there had been before the battle. Her inner chaos was so great, he could almost read all her emotions. Almost, but not quiet.

At his side, Dawn glanced at everyone around the table, her improved vision catching the sighs of tension from all the dinner occupants. Having tapped into her "Key senses", as she called them, she could see the swirls of emotion that emitted from each person. It hurt her to see that there was mostly dark colors surrounding Buffy and Giles, centered around their bond.

She tilted her head. Seeing the bond was something that gave her hope and let her know they would get through their troubles. But the darkness was trying to cut through the bond. She watched as a purple wisp wrapped around the bond and start to merge with it. But before it could, the wisp was repelled backward, into the light emotions that surrounded the couple, despite their problems.

Feeling her scrutiny, Giles looked up from his plate and met the slightly glowing eyes of Dawn. His own eyes narrowed his answer as he gripped his fork tighter. He saw the glow diminish, but didn't relax. She was aware of what he saw, having seen a flash of it in her eyes, reflected back to him by her guilt.

Buffy watched as Giles' jaw tightened. She frowned and sat down her utensils, her appetite gone. Taking a deep breathe, she felt the darkness, the tension and anger, try to consume her. Inwardly shuddering, she forced herself to meet his eyes.

"Giles," she said through their link.

"Yes, Buffy?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing...besides the fact that you've decided to keep secrets when we agreed there would be none."

She winced, his anger burning her. "I'm sorry."

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Sorry doesn't cut it." He felt his heart skip a beat at the pain in her eyes.

"I know. Why can't you just leave it alone?"

"I'm worried about you."

Ethan froze in his seat. The chaos coming from the couple was making him feel sick to his stomach. Such violence, he thought. The darkness around them surged as Buffy grew more upset, and Giles more angry.

"Ripper, what do you think about the wards?" he asked suddenly.

Giles allowed himself to be distracted, happy to be off the subject of secrets.

"Buffy, can I go to Melany's this weekend?" Dawn asked, realizing what was going on.

"Who's Melany?"

"A girl from school."

"I know that."

"She hangs out with me and Janice," Dawn said with a sigh.

Buffy thought it over. At least she wasn't asking to go to Janice's... "I'll need to talk to her mom."

"I've got her number."

"Ok, you can go," Buffy said with a mock-pained sigh, fighting a grin. Dawn squealed and ran around the table, and wrapped her arms around her sister. "Get off! Ugh, get her off!" Buffy yelled, trying to push Dawn off.

Dawn, moving backwards, stumbled as Buffy pushed her slightly, and landed on the table. While trying to grab the table so she didn't land on the floor, Dawn accidently knocked Buffy's drink right into her lip.

"DAWN! THAT'S F-ING COLD!"Buffy yelled, jumping from her seat as the icy drink quickly soaked her lap. Laughter filled the room as the Slayer attempted to dry her pants, and only succeeded in making herself colder.

With a whine of frustration, Buffy stormed from the room, cursing Dawn. She was gonna to pay her back if it was the last thing she did.

Giles managed to calm his laughter as Buffy slammed her bedroom door. That was excellent, watching her get drenched. He knew he should be angry, but couldn't be. It was an accident after all.

Tara watched Buffy's aura through the ceiling, seeing it flicker to happier, lighter colors. But before everyone else's amusement even started to change, the witch looked at Giles, her expression disappointed.

"Giles, go," she said to him in a firm tone. He was out of his seat and making his towards the stairs without a word.

Ethan looked at the blonde and saw the fire in her eyes, the anger at their actions. He raised an eyebrow. Tara always seemed like such a passive person, but right now, she looked like the opposite of passive.

Dawn finally calmed down enough to realize Giles was gone. But having been too busy laughing, she didn't know about Tara ordering Giles to leave, and just smirked, thinking something naughty.

She didn't know how wrong she was.

Upstairs, Giles stared at Buffy, his eyes wide with horror. Standing before him, Buffy was covered in bruises, tape on her ribs and a bandage around her right thigh. She held a shirt to her chest, trying to cover her bra, but couldn't manage more than to clutch the material above her heart.

"Buffy..." he whispered, assessing her injuries with the trained eyes of her Watcher. Broken ribs that were probably still cracked; multiple organ bruising if the state of her stomach was an indicator; at least one still-healing deep gash that ran from hip to knee and a maybe damaged femur; deep bruises that probably covered bone bruises all down her legs and arms...

"Please go," she said softly, not looking at him. He shook his head, trying to think of anything besides the obvious. Within moments, he had his arms wrapped around her, gently holding her to him.

"Oh Buffy, why didn't you tell me?" he asked, remembering her popping her arm back into place, the multiple crunches that let them all know the bone had been broken in more than one spot.

"I-I didn't want a-anyone to know. You w-would've tried to make me tell you," she said, shaking with suppressed tears. "I just wanted t-to forget." She buried her face in his chest, weeping.

He tightened his hold, gently rubbing her back. Even for the Slayer, she had to be in horrendous pain. And with the amount of injures she had, it wasn't a shock her Slayer healing was slowed. In his mind, he wondered if Spike was dead, but decided not to ask. Not right now.

There was a tickle on the inside of his skull before Ethan's voice filled his brain. "Is something wrong?"

"Just keep them all downstairs," he replied. Ethan mentally nodded and retreated back to his own mind.

"How--"

"I don't want to talk about it," she whispered.

"Buffy...if I'm to help you, I need to know."

She closed her eyes and nodded against his chest. "I was ambushed. Mostly vampires, but there was one or two other demons."

He pulled back and rubbed her arms, looking her over again. He didn't see anything he had missed in his first look, but as his hands moved up and down her arms, he became away or raised skin on her biceps. He slowed his hands and ran his fingers over the marks.

So close together, they felt like a jagged cut. But as he used the very tips of his fingers, leaning closer to see the skin through the bruises and swelling, he saw them–bite marks, and more than a few of them.

It made sense now. Her slow healing was because of the vampires' poison in her veins. And if they'd bitten her enough to... He swallowed that thought. When the Master had bit her, she healed a little slower due to his venom. Many lower level vampires would be more than adequate to nearly halt the Slayer aspect of her healing.

"Oh Buffy...my dear Buffy." She began sobbing as he gently pulled her to him once more.

It took nearly three days, but Buffy finally told the others what had happened. Ethan had held a raging Dawn in place, having been told the night Giles had found out.

With everyone help, Buffy managed to heal–albeit, slower than a normal person would. Near the end of her enforced rest, the last of the vampire poison left her system, and her Slayer healing kicked in. Having only lost her healing during the months of rest, Buffy was more than ready to patrol again.

She wiped out half the demons in Sunnydale in one night.

No one ever saw Spike again–Dawn assumed it was because Giles or Ethan staked him, but neither would admit it if they did.

Willow decided to stay in England for a year after her recovery. Tara had remained in Sunnydale, but they kept up communications after the coven deemed Willow "healed". Her mind wasn't what it used to be; she was still smart as a whip and a wiz with a computer, but the nice, friendly Willow had changed. She was more self-centered, and provoked easily.

None of the others ever did find out that she ordered Spike (under threat of torture) to attack Buffy.

Ethan permently moved into the Summers/Giles residence after Buffy and Giles married. The only real difference was that Dawn had Buffy's old room, Tara had Dawn's and Ethan saw still in the den–right under Buffy and Giles. Since Dawn's room was closer to Buffy and Giles, Buffy took great pleasure in intercepting Dawn's nightly "run-ins". She did let Dawn go some of the time–after all, how much has she snuck out to see Angel?

Xander eventually became the boss of his captender job and the Magic Box was rebuilt at twice the size due to Anya's connections after a fire burnt the shop to the ground.

Through the years, the Scoobies had good lives. Faith got out of prison and took over Sunnydale, giving Buffy a rest as the active Slayer, and when Faith turned thirty, a new Slayer was activated.

This lead Buffy and Giles to travel the world, returning to Sunnydale for holidays and birthdays. A few years after they were married, Ethan and Dawn also began traveling, the two couples sometimes running into one another during their travels.

When it came time for another of them to be lead Home, each Scoobies died with a smile on their face and loved ones at their side. The children of each couple, be they adopted or biological, carried on the duty of guarding the Hellmouth, and the Scooby Clan–as they were eventually called–became the Council Heads, starting with Buffy and Giles in their later years.

The Scooby Clan protected the world until the end of days, one of their own usually called to be the Slayer due to their bloodlines. With the Key, Chaos and Order Sorcerer, Slayer, two Witches, Vengeance demon and regular human starting their Clan, the Scooby Clan became the most powerful and relied upon defense against demon forces.

The End

AN: I don't think I missed anything, but if I did, tell me, and I'll add it. This concludes another story!