Buffy the Vampire Slayer
by maryperk

Chapter 15

“Cleveland Boy’s School, how can I help you?”

“Robin!”  Buffy smiled when the man finished his spiel.

“Buffy, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”  Robin’s voice boomed through the receiver.  “How’s California?”

“Sunnydale is great.  We’ve decided to settle down here.”  Buffy twirled the cord in her fingers.  “It’s been weird here though.”  Then, she proceeded to tell Robin about Faith, the resurrection, and everything else that had happened since her group’s arrival at the Hellmouth.

“That sounds fairly traumatic,” Robin commented.  “What do you need from me?”

“Faith and Giles are moving to Cleveland.  They’ll need access to the Hellmouth.”

“I am in need of a librarian.”  Robin flipped open a folder in front of him.  “The person I hired backed out of the contract at the last second, and the second choice found an alternate job already.”

“From everything I’ve heard, Giles was the high school librarian for two and a half years before the school blew up.”

“Have him fax me his résumé.”  Robin rattled off his fax number which Buffy wrote down on her pad of paper.

“I’ll do that.”  Buffy assured Robin.  After a few more minutes of catching up, she said her good-bye.

“How’s the educator?” Spike drawled.  He and Wood had come to an understanding over the death of Nikki Wood, but the two men were not friends.

“Seems to be doing good, actually.”  Buffy shrugged.  “You know Robin tends to be a bit close-mouthed.”

“Mm,” Spike hummed.  He pushed off the doorjamb he was leaning against.  He went to Buffy and pulled her into his arms.

“Did you talk to Lawson and Wes?”  Buffy put her arms around her mate.

“Yeah, they went to check on the poofter.”  Spike rested his chin on the top of Buffy’s head.  “He’s in Los Angeles.  He’s hooked up with that friend of the other Slayer.  Harris or whatever his name is.”

“Hooked up?  I thought they said that guy was married.”  Buffy pulled away to look up into Spike’s face.

The blond vampire let out a snort.  “Not like that, pet.  It appears Angelus is going to be doin’ his part to help the hopeless.”

“As long as he stays away from us.”

“I agree.”  Spike tightened his grip on Buffy.  “Sam and Wes will be back tonight.  They’re spendin’ the day in Los Angeles.”

“Okay, what’s next on our agenda?” Buffy asked.

“You’re the boss, pet.”

Buffy stepped back with a grin.  “We have a few hours till sundown.  Let’s go back to bed.”  She grabbed Spike’s hand, and she dragged him towards their bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“I’m picking Reginald up at the airport in an hour or so.”  Lydia collected her purse and car keys.  She glanced at Giles.  “Your Slayer is really moving to Cleveland?”

“We’re not needed here,” Giles said.  His manner was calm and collected.  “Buffy has it covered quite nicely.”

“You’re leaving?” the werewolf’s voice sounded loud in the quiet store.  Oz and Dot slipped into the Magic Box through the back door. 

Giles turned to look at Oz and Dot.  He noticed that they were holding hands.  “Yes, that is correct.  Faith and I are moving to another Hellmouth.”

“What about Jesse?”  Oz glanced at Dot.  He had no plans on leaving his new mate, but he had to wonder if his old buddy was planning to stay or go.

“Faith is supposed to talk to him,” Giles replied.

Faith stepped into the room behind Oz and Dot.  “He’s not coming with us,” she announced.

“So, he’s staying?”

Faith shook her head.  “He’s following Hope.  She needs him.”

“Is that going to be a problem?”  Giles was concerned.  Faith needed all the support she could get when she moved.  He had thought for sure that Jesse would be joining them in Cleveland.

Faith shrugged.  “It’s five by five, Watcher man.  We’ve both moved on.”

“I’m off to get Reggie.”  Lydia gave a wave before she left the shop.

“I need to ring the real estate agency.”  Giles picked up the phone book.  “Hopefully, we’ve changed the reputation of this location.  Too many proprietors of this store have been killed over the years.”

Dot tilted her head while her eyes scanned the store.  “I have my own money.  I’ll buy the Magic Box.”

Anyanka popped into the store.  “Did someone say money?”

“Dot offered to buy the Magic Box,” Giles informed his mate.

“Excellent news.”  Anyanka hooked her arm through Dot’s.  “Let’s go negotiate the sale, girlfriend.”

Dot gave Oz a ‘help me’ stare before she let the vengeance demon drag her into the back room.

“If this works out, our move to Cleveland should go smoothly.”  Giles took off his glasses to give them a good polish.

“Now, you’ve jinxed us,” Faith teased.

“We should have a farewell shindig,” Oz said.

“Are you sure we don’t deserve a hootenanny?”  Faith turned her teasing to include Oz too.  “Or maybe we should do a gathering?  What was the difference again besides the smelly cheese?”

Oz gave a dry chuckle.  It was good to see Faith acting a bit like her old self again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Epilogue

Three days later Jesse was packed up and gone.  With nothing to hold him in Sunnydale, he hurried to join Hope in England.  Jesse and Hope married as soon as Hope graduated college.  She joined the ranks of the Watchers while he became her research assistant.  They travelled the world cataloguing the different demon species.

Giles and Anyanka exchanged their blood vows before leaving Sunnydale for the Cleveland Hellmouth.  It was a beautiful ceremony, even if the bridesmaids did wear burlap and larva.  Halfrek aka Cecily tried to chat Spike up on several occasions only to find herself on the receiving end of the Slayer’s fist.  Halfrek quickly learned to stay away from her former suitor.

At the going away party, Reginald Bey fell instantly in love with Joyce Summers.  Within months they eloped in Vegas and were married by Clem’s Elvis impersonating cousin at a demonic wedding chapel.  They took a leisurely honeymoon visiting all of Joyce’s galleries, ending in Rome where the Immortal presented them with the deed for a gallery in Madrid, Spain, for a wedding present.  However, Sunnydale was where their family was, and after a brief stay in Madrid they returned home.

When Lydia Chambers met the Immortal at the same party, she happily handed all of her research over to Reggie Bey.  It seemed she found herself a new thesis subject.  She followed the Immortal back to Rome where she quickly scared off the bevy of beauties she saw as competition for his affections.  The Immortal never quite figured out how Lydia managed such a feat.  He’s been trying to get rid of the women for years.

Spike and Buffy ruled the Sunnydale Hellmouth for decades before they decided to move on, but their legacy lasted centuries.  The local demon tribes worked together to ensure the Hellmouth stayed closed.  They outlived most of their friends and family, but as long as they had each other, they were happy.

Wes and Fred followed the others down the path of commitment.  Wesley proposed to the love of his life at the farewell party.  They then spent the next year planning the perfect wedding.  The only dark spot was when Wes’ father showed up to lambast him on his choices.  Buffy called in Faith.  The Slayers sent the man home with his tail between his legs with a message to the Council; ‘Don’t mess with anyone the Slayers’ care about’.

Clem showed up at the party with a beautiful human woman named Jack Reitz.  It turned out that she was a bartender at the Bronze.  Clem and Jack suited each other despite the interspecies prejudices they tended to receive from those outside the Slayer’s circle of friend.  Those inside the circle didn’t blink an eye.

Dot and Oz stayed in Sunnydale for a few years before they travelled to Nepal in search of ways to control their wolves.  They wanted to start a family, and they both wanted any children of the union to lead as normal of lives as possible.

It took Lawson and Tara several years of dancing around each other before they gave in to their desires.  Tara never forgot the conversation with Spike and Buffy about the pleasure of vamp bites.  She decided that Lawson was the only vampire she trusted enough to teach her about biting.  When she finally went to him, the passion flared, and she found herself tied to him much like Buffy was tied to Spike.

Angel lost his interest in Faith when a new obsession crossed his path.  It seemed though that matter what he did no woman or man returned his interest.  He barely remembered the gypsy woman Jenny Calendar that Harris had mentioned that Darla had killed.  He had only been interested in Faith at the time.  Little did Angel know that Faith’s slight revulsion of him had inspired Jenny to find and alter the curse on his soul shortly before her death.  Jenny made it so that no man or woman – human or demon – would return Angel’s affections.

Faith met Robin Wood and the sparks flew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Who are you?”  Robin looked at the woman from head to toe.  She was hot, but she was liable to cause havoc in the school’s population of male teenagers.

“I’m Giles’ assistant.”  Faith returned the man’s once over.  She liked what she saw.

“What you are wearing is inappropriate for our school.”  Robin waved his hand.  “The pants are too tight, and the shirt shows too much skin.”

Faith wetted her ruby red lips with the tip of her tongue.  “You must be Principal Wood.  None of my principals looked as hot as you.  I might have stayed in school longer if they did.”  She flashed the man a sultry grin.  “Are you going to take me to your office and show me your paddle?”

Robin counted to ten while he tried hard not to respond in a manner not befitting a high school principal.  There’s nothing I’d like to do better, little girl, he thought.  He fought not to reach down to adjust himself.  “And you must be Ms. Lehane.  You’re right, I do have something to show you in my office.”

“Your paddle?”  Faith wiggled an eyebrow at the man, hoping to fluster him.

Robin rolled his eyes.  “Just what I need, a slayer with a one track mind in a boy’s school.”

“Don’t worry, Principal Wood.  I like men, not boys.”

The End.