Chapter 3

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback.

Sorry it's taken so long - I'm afraid you'll have to blame ChosenFire! Only kidding, my thanks to her for beta'ing, and I hope you all enjoy it!





Chapter 3

5th December 2005

“Whoa, Becky, slow down,” Jess cried. She and Buffy had had a panicked phone call as they returned to San Francisco. “What is it?”

“It’s Zach,” Rebecca Warren’s frantic voice came over the phone. “The police… God, Jess, they’re saying he killed and skinned Emily! His girlfriend! He loves her. There’s no way – no way Zach’s capable of this.”

“Skinned her?” Jess asked. “What the – Zach wouldn’t even know how, let alone be capable of it!”

“I know, but they’re saying that he did it. All kinds of evidence – DNA, fingerprints, CCTV footage… It sounds crazy, I know, I just…”

“When was this?”

“Two days ago… God, Jess, I’m going mad! I even e-mailed Sam, but…”

“He’s not picking them up, I know,” Jess sighed. Sam wasn’t using his university e-mail account, and she’d never had cause to use any other. “We’ll be there soon, I promise.”

Jess put down the phone and looked at Buffy. “It’s Becky, she… She and her brother – we were all pretty tight at Stanford. She’s in St Louis right now. God, Buffy, they…” She swallowed convulsively, tears stinging her eyes as the disbelief began to melt into shock and fury. “They’re claiming Zach killed and skinned his girlfriend! Worse, they seem to have actual evidence! There’s – Buffy, there’s no way he could’ve done this. I know it.”

“You sure? I mean, you never really know people, Jessie. Sometimes they just have secrets,” Buffy pointed out, frowning. Her sister hadn’t been this emotional since the discovery that Sam was being targeted by a demon.

“No, Buffy,” her sister snapped. “It’s not Zach.”

“They have evidence –”

“And evidence can’t be faked?” Jess shot back angrily.

“What would be looking for then?”

“I don’t know!” Jess cried, upset. “Possession, doppelganger, anything that could mean this happening. I – Zach wouldn’t do this, Buffy. He’s incapable of it. He wouldn’t know how!”

Buffy looked at her sister, heaved a sigh and gave into the inevitable. “Alright. But we’ll get a night’s sleep and do the washing first.”

“Thank you.”

XXXXX

They found nothing in St Louis. Even with their clearance, there didn’t seem to be anything to find. They refused to let Jess get too close to the investigation, and the police kept suggesting that both of them were too emotionally involved to be investigating it. When they’d discovered nothing after two weeks, Becky gave it up.

“I can only hope…”

“We’ll be back, okay? We’ve just… got a minor crisis going on,” Buffy explained.

That was one way to describe the prevention of the opening the Cleveland Hellmouth on the Midwinter Solstice. Luckily, Dawn was pretty good with portals – whether this was related to her ‘Keyness’, they had no idea, but she was easily able to open one between San Francisco and Cleveland – which they rolled through, complete with SUV.

Xander, back for Christmas, greeted them with a cheerful smile.

“Hey, Buffster, looking all soccer-mom there,” he teased, eyes on the SUV. It was an old joke.

“I have it on good authority that you looked like a dad, driving me to work and Dawn to school that last year in Sunnydale, mister, so don’t you mock me,” Buffy griped as she climbed out of the car, before giving him a hug in greeting.

“And you’re even able to keep this one intact.”

“We reinforced it, last year,” Dawn smirked.

“Hey, Dawnie,” Xander hugged her, then grinned as he looked at the third Summers sister. “Jess, looking good there, girl! I hear you’ve been forced to give in to the force which binds us all.”

Jess couldn’t help laughing. “Something like that. Although you’re perfectly welcome to deal with PMS-ing spirits in future.”

“C’mon, Jess, it wasn’t PMS – that ghost was permanently on the rag!” Buffy grinned.

“I’ll pass. A house full of PMS-ing Slayers is bad enough,” Xander shuddered, before pulling Jess into a tight embrace. “How you doing?” he asked more softly.

“I’m getting there,” she replied. “Once – once we find Sam, I’ll be alright.”

“Thought you might.”

There was a noise at the door as they saw Faith saunter out, Robin following her with a friendly smile. The principal-turned-Cleveland-Head-Watcher had relaxed a lot since Sunnydale. Justice had been served, and he didn’t have to set the same example for the ‘students’. Plus, with Faith as a girlfriend and a near death experience, priorities changed.

“Yo, B, D, J,” Faith greeted.

“Y’know, I don’t think Faith actually remembers our full names,” Jess stated, well within hearing of the only other living ‘Chosen One’. “That’s why she abbreviates them.”

“No. She still calls Robin by his full name,” Xander countered. “And a bunch of other ones if you overhear them in the night.” He shuddered, before grinning at Faith’s glare. Time had matured the Slayer, and even the Scoobies were willing to trust her again.

“Eww, I so didn’t need to know that!” Dawn wrinkled her nose. “He used to be my principal!”

“Used to be my boss,” Buffy added. “So, what’s the what on the latest apocalypse, ‘cause, y’know, Jessie here? She has a boyfriend to find.”

“And we have Christmas – uh, the non-denominational winter celebration,” Xander corrected, recalling Willow, “to celebrate.”

“Let’s get to it, then,” Robin nodded.

“So, J,” Faith addressed the middle Summers sister, leering suggestively. “What’s this I hear about your boytoy bein’ really, really tall?”

Her sisters laughed as Jess blushed.

XXXXX

The apocalypse was prevented, Christmas passed, and they rang in 2006 with a bang. Jess returned to Stanford to sit her January exams and receive her marks from her mid-terms, but there remained no word from, or on, Sam. Similarly, there seemed to be nothing they could do about Zach’s incarceration in St Louis – only be supportive for Rebecca.

Buffy took great delight in slaying vampires around Palo Alto and St Louis, vampires that fed on the student and young populations, that could have threatened her sister. She had been pleased to note that Jess still carried a stake or another weapon at least when she went out in the evening. Jess had begun studying occasionally with the Scoobies when she entered high school in Buffy’s senior year. Knowing that her sister was only going to attract trouble – and now with the knowledge and consent of her mother – she began some basic training with Jess, training that had, incidentally, distracted her from Faith at her arrival. She wondered now if Faith had been jealous of Buffy’s family and close support even then, although she had seen the sense in it, and even helped Jess train a little. Nonetheless, this had led to both girls babying Dawn, desperate to keep her out of things – until they realised the truth, and hadn’t that been a debacle the size of Mount Etna.

Finally, Jess was adequately caught up, had all her final assignments and was ready to go on the hunt again.

“They really aren’t trying to keep you here?” Buffy frowned. “Is this normal behaviour for a university? There isn’t anyone or anything I should slay is there, Jessie?”

“No,” Jess replied, rolling her eyes as she played with the haematite talisman Giles had had made for her – Buffy and Dawn had also received them. They were said to prevent possession, and they hoped the haematite would truly have some sort of affect on ghosts and spirits. “They just understand that I’m still coping with being attacked in my own home – I’m naturally attached to the sister who rescued me – and I’m desperately searching for the boyfriend who apparently still believes I’m dead, and who they really want to come back and study law.”

“Your Sammy must be genius-smart then.”

“And Sam doesn’t like Sammy any more than I like Jessie,” Jess pointed out laboriously.

“Whatever,” Buffy muttered under her breath, “Jessica.”

“So, where are we headed?”

“Town in Carolina has a problem with Fyarls.”

XXXXX

6th February 2006

“Found something,” Jess informed her sister as she returned into the booth they were sharing.

“Does it have a library? Because apart from your freaky ability to read in the car – let alone type – I’m thinking you need to do some work, missy.”

“I’m fine, Buffy,” Jess assured her. “As you said, I can read in the car, and we’ve got access to a lot of the books I need anyway.”

“So, what’ve you found?”

“Destiny, Oklahoma,” Jess replied, turning around her laptop to let her sister see the article. “We’ve got grave desecrations – and I’m not talking vampires crawling out, or a normal peeing on it. These were ripped up out of the ground, coffins left strewn around and the corpses partially eaten.”

“Eww!”

“Yeah. Plus, three local kids’ve gone missing, and travellers have reported fires burning at night as they go down the road.”

“Lures. Like will ‘o th’ wisps,” Buffy realised.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. We’ve got grave-robbing, corpse-and-kid-eating demon going on here.”

“That’s gross. And definitely something we need to sort.”

“Yep.”

“Any idea what it is?”

“The flesh-eating isn’t exactly distinctive, but I called Willow and Dawn – they’ll get back to us if they find anything.”

“Great.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s eat first, though.”

Jessica nodded, but expressed her distaste when she saw the fat-loaded meal set before her sister.

“What, I’m a Slayer – I have a fast metabolism!”

XXXXX

“Ghouls? C’mon, that’s like… so Harry Potter!” Buffy cried when Jess relayed the most probable cause of the disturbance in Destiny, Oklahoma.

“Not these ones. Flesh-eaters, remember?” Jess reminded her.

“So how do I kill it?” Buffy wanted to know.

“They’re shape-changers, so I’m not sure what decapitation will do. When in doubt, silver bullets seem to work, though. Or maybe a knife?”

“One of my swords is magically-enhanced silver,” Buffy noted. “And I’ve got a couple of silver knives, so that should do it.”

“And you might want to make sure you leave your nice stuff in the car.”

“What?”

“Ghouls can get really messy.”

Buffy sighed. “Honestly, the things I do for this job.”

“Not wearing the height of fashion?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Buffy, you’re twenty-five. You don’t need to be the height of fashion anymore. And, in fact, you’re pretty set in your style anyway. Just wear the combats.”

“Fine!”

Never had Jess been more thankful that Riley and Sam Finn had provided them with the details of the retailer that provided their black ops branch of the military with their own uniforms – it was far more useful when going on a specific slaying, and prevented numerous Slayer complaints about ruined tops and jeans and shoes. Not that she’d been there to listen. But she’d heard Buffy complain enough times over the years.

XXXXX

8th February 2006

“Ooowwww,” Buffy moaned piteously as she slowly rotated her shoulder. The ghouls – a pair of them – had proven remarkably stubborn about being killed. After she dispatched the first, the second had abandoned Jess and succeeded, in its fit of rage, in dislocating the Slayer’s shoulder. Jess had managed to kill it when Buffy went down in agony, and then had the fun of relocating the aforementioned shoulder.

She’d never known Buffy [i]knew[/i] those words. Still, the added “I’ll kill you if I hear you repeat any of those” had been amusing and pure Buffy. Still harping on about language, despite her hypocrisy. She guessed her sister had had a lot of practice when she trained the ‘baby Slayers’.

“Oh, quit complaining,” Jess growled as she typed something about Hellenic vases. “S’not like it’s anything you’ve never felt before. Have a bath.”

Buffy shot a dirty glare at the taller blonde, even as she entered the bathroom. They were in a low-class hotel. While the ICW had money, no one liked to waste it, particularly as a lot came from stocks and shares. Buffy had to wonder if the person who decided to buy shares in Microsoft had had some supernatural help in the decision. Nevertheless, it provided them with more than enough money to train, outfit and even pay some of the Slayers – although they had begun encouraging those who remained in hotspot areas like Hellmouths to get steady jobs. Their Watchers – such as they were after barely two years of training – also shared that responsibility.

She ran a hot bath, adding some bubbles that would help soothe the injury, stripped off and sank into it.

Bliss. She shut her eyes as she breathed in the mingled scents of herbs and soap, feeling the hot water warm and relax her sore shoulder…

Then she felt a body behind her, wet, naked and unmistakably male.

“You’re not supposed to be in here,” she informed him dryly, before opening her eyes to gaze into his.

He gave her a smirk. “Since when do I do what I’m supposed to, sweetheart?”

“Since never,” she responded, and eagerly responded to the kiss he was bestowing on her lips. She savoured his taste, his scent, like musk and gunpowder and salt and chocolate. Inherently masculine, and distinctly human.

She revelled in the feeling of his hot, solid body behind her own, hearing his heartbeat in her ears, his strong hands slip around her waist, moulding her to his flesh. She gave a whimper.

He stopped, his handsome face marred with confusion. “What is it, darlin’?”

“My shoulder,” she explained, looking down. “Dislocated and relocated. A bit sore now.”

“My, my, however did you manage an injury like that?” he asked, his large hands now moving over her shoulder, gently rubbing the soapy water into the muscles, the massage soothing and relaxing her further.

“Ghouls.” Buffy wrinkled her nose in distaste.

“Ah, pesky things, those.”

“And gross.”

“That they are, sweetheart.”

He continued to massage her shoulder. Their conversation was not surprising to Buffy. There was no reason in the world her lover shouldn’t know about demons and monsters and such. He was, after all, her perfect man. Tall and strong, able to keep up with her, yet human, ‘normal’. He accepted her for who she was, but didn’t limit himself because of it. She didn’t know how he fought, what he fought, where he fought… But she knew he did. She knew he fought the darkness and the demons, a hunter like herself.

His massage soothed her like nothing else could. Her entire being relaxed, tension escaping from her so often tightly-strung body. His head moved down to pepper tiny kisses on her neck and shoulder, and she sank back against him, feeling his arousal.

“Never can keep a bad boy down,” he smirked at her.

“Maybe I can help,” Buffy purred and began to turn, before he stopped her. She turned her head to gaze at him, confusion apparent in the bright hazel eyes.

“Not this time, sweetheart. Just relax,” he smiled, leaning back.

Buffy frowned, but settled down, back against his chest, feeling the ever-present charm he wore. She didn’t know what it was for. Idly, she wondered if it was something similar to the one she’d received from Giles that Christmas, something she wore instead of a cross. The position felt surprisingly comfortable. Her lover’s hands slipped around her, slipping up her body, holding her in a gentle embrace.

She liked these dreams. Her lover was a mix of tenderness and passion that suited her perfectly. He was content to treat her as a lady when she needed it – and as an animal when she was horny. Affection and violence, love and ardour, sweetness and need. Yet he had his own quirks. He was extremely skilled – she had no doubt that whoever he was, he was experienced, something that had surprised her. Did she truly desire someone with such knowledge? Perhaps her subconscious knew something her conscious didn’t. He had an odd cockiness that masked an interior vulnerability. She didn’t know what it was, what had caused it… She just knew it was there. He wore a mask – much as she had done, so often. It was so much easier, this roadtrip, with a sister who knew all her faults and foibles, who knew when she was lying and when she was pretending not to hurt. Jessica knew her nearly as well as she knew herself. Perhaps because they were closer in age. Buffy and Dawn were close, but it was different – the protective and rebellious streaks both seemed to be augmented around each other.

She sighed drowsily in her lover’s arms. “I should get out. Jess’ll be waiting…”

“Nah, let the little sibs hang out. Nothing to worry about. They can bitch together…” he smirked.

Buffy sat bolt upright in the bathtub, splashing water on the floor, suddenly awake.

They had never referred to people that way before. They couldn’t. This was… She had known this wasn’t a fantasy, but it had just got a hell of a lot deeper, and an awful lot more complicated. Did he mean her ‘little sibs’ – Jess and Dawn? Or did he have one, who he was implying was hanging out with Jess? Who? A girl? A boy? Who were they? Why would they be hanging with Jess?

She climbed out of the bath, and noticed one more thing.

Her shoulder felt nearly completely healed.

XXXXX

17th February 2006

Willow had found another hit on the Impala. Buffy and Jess chased it. After the demon they had just faced – one that literally stole hearts on the run up to Valentine’s, before gaining enough power through the day’s heightened emotions, plus consuming the stolen hearts, to turn into a physically perfect and beautiful ‘human’ being – they needed something else, some sort of hope.

Although Buffy was willing to admit that her dream on Valentine’s had been extremely satisfying. Unfortunately, the result was her having to admit what was happening to a giggling but puzzled Jess. Jess herself admitted to frequently dreaming of her boyfriend, including a few X-rated ones. Buffy found Jess’s shyness extremely amusing, since it was Buffy who was dreaming the elaborate fantasy world around a guy she didn’t even know, though she did believe existed.

That had startled Jess.

“You think he exists?” she had asked, surprised.

“I know he does. I just… He’s becoming clearer, Jess. I don’t know his name, but, well, we referred to the outside world earlier this month. We never… I honestly think I’m close to meeting him.”

Jess’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Why?”

“Why else would he be getting clearer?” Buffy had replied. “Now write your essay.”

Jess had laughed.

Now, they were in the SUV once more, hightailing across New Mexico into Arizona. Neither was particularly bothered by the heat. It was a little drier than LA and Sunnydale’s heat, but there was not a huge difference. Still, they kept open the windows like true California girls, celebrating the breeze created whistling through their hair.

“So, any idea what happened in Tallyend?” Buffy asked her sister.

“Few freaky deaths, stopped around the time the Impala appeared,” Jess replied. “Not entirely sure what caused the deaths, though.”

“So it’s likely that this is the Winchesters?” Buffy asked, before shaking her head. “I still can’t believe you dated – rather, date – a guy whose last name is a gun. I hate guns!”

“I know,” Jess soothed. “Still, they are needed for the dispensing of silver bullets. And tranquilizers.”

Which was the reason for the tranq gun and two 9mm Berettas in the trunk. With silver bullets proving to be useful against numerous creatures that stayed away from the Hellmouth, all Slayers – not to mention Watchers and any female with the surname Summers – had been trained in the use of handguns, some with shotguns as well.

Buffy still preferred a stake and sword above all else though.

Unfortunately, by the time they got to Tallyend, the Winchesters were gone, and no one seemed willing to talk about the two strangers with the classic car.

“Damn!” Jess yelled in frustration when they arrived back at their motel. “Damn, damn, damn!” She punched the door. “Oww…”

“Yeah, that hurts even if you’re a Slayer. Dumbass.” Buffy shook her head in indulgent disapproval.

Jess stuck out her tongue.

“Oh, yes, college-girl, very mature.”

XXXXX

3rd March 2005

Sam Winchester opened his Stanford e-mail account for the first time in over four months.

He nearly dropped his phone when he saw the sender identified on the first six lines. He swore violently.

Dean looked up from the wheel. “God, Sammy, what’s gotten into you?”

“Some… Someone thought it’d be funny to send me e-mails from Jess’s old account.”

“Really?” Dean’s eyes widened. He was always one for a prank and all, but this… He shook his head. “That’s just low,” he growled as he got out of the car to put petrol in the tank.

“Yeah.”

Sam deleted them without opening them, not wanting to know what someone had written to him, trying to torment him. Instead, he opened up one nearly three months old from Becky Warren. His eyes widened.

“God!” Sam exclaimed as he scrolled down.

“What?” Dean asked, peering in Sam’s window now, looking between him and the phone with mild curiosity. Seemed Sammy was having a bad morning, checking his e-mails.

“This e-mail from this girl, Rebecca Warren, one of those friends of mine,” Sam explained, half-absently, a hint of mocking in his tone.

“She hot?” Dean asked in the same tone he might ask if the sky was blue. Sam looked at him with momentary disbelief, before recalling that this was his brother. Dean was always on the look out for girls.

“I went to school with her and her brother Zach. She says Zach’s been charged with murder?” Sam couldn’t believe it. Zach, who’d run into him and managed to strike up a friendship, murder someone? Impossible. There – there had to be something freaky going on here. “He’s been arrested for killing his girlfriend. Rebecca says he didn’t do it, but…” he scanned the rest of the e-mail as he paused, “sounds like the cops have a pretty good case.” He sighed.

“Dude, what kinda people are you hangin’ out with?” Dean wanted to know, his voice quiet, although he honestly didn’t want to think Sam knew any murderers. Spirits and demons was one thing; Sam could never kill another human being. It wasn’t in his nature.

“No, man, I know Zach. He’s no killer,” Sam informed him, almost sharply.

“Well maybe you don’t know Zach as well as he knows you,” Dean offered with a shrug.

“They’re in St Louis. We’re goin’.”

Dean gave a laugh, shaking his head. “Look, sorry ‘bout your buddy, okay? But… this does not sound like our kind of problem.”

“It is our problem,” Sam insisted in that quiet way of his, his large eyes boring into Dean’s hazel ones. “They’re my friends.”

“St Louis is four hundred miles behind us, Sam,” Dean objected.

Unfortunately, it seemed to be to no avail. Sam quickly wrote a reply to Becky, telling her that they were on their way.

XXXXX

“He’s contacted me!” Becky cried, delighted, over the phone.

“Who?” Jess asked before realising there could only be one ‘he’. “Sam?”

“Yeah, looks like he’s finally checked his e-mails,” Becky grinned. “Where are you?”

“LA, temporarily,” Jess replied, before her own smile burst out on her face. “We’ll be there tomorrow.”

“We?”

“Buffy too. Y’know, I’m surprised she hasn’t attached a dog leash yet.”

“I heard that!” Buffy yelled from the bathroom.

“Ears like a bat too.” Jess shook her head affectionately. “When did he say he’ll get there?”

“Tomorrow. Sounds like they’re a bit of a way aways.”

“Did he… God, if he answered his e-mails, why haven’t I had anything?” Jess wanted to know, worry in her voice.

“Well, uh… I guess, does he still think you’re dead, honey?”

“I don’t know. I guess so,” Jess replied miserably.

“Well then, he probably thought it was some sick freak using your account. Didn’t check. Sam’s always been sensitive about you.”

Jess nodded, then grinned, before remembering she needed to reply. “Oh, hell yes, he’s sensitive… to all my needs…”

“I did not need to know that!” Becky complained, but Jess heard the undercurrent of amusement in her voice.

“Jessie, I don’t even want to think about your boyfriend molesting you!” Buffy yelled from the bathroom.

“Think it’ll be the other way around!” Jess yelled back.

“Ew!” Becky complained from her end of the phone. “Do you know how weird it is to remember you’ve got a sister? It oughta be Sam in the background making snarky comments.”

“Hopefully it soon will be. And hey, maybe he or his brother could shed some light on it,” Jess said hopefully.

“Where you haven’t?”

“Well, I dunno. Sam never mentioned what his brother does.”

“Just get here soon. You and Sam separate… it just doesn’t seem right,” Becky smiled.

“See you tomorrow.”

“You too.”

Jess hung up. Buffy emerged from the bathroom.

The sisters stared at one another for a moment, before letting out a delighted ‘squee’ sound, hugging each other tightly. Relief and happiness overflowed in the room, overshadowing the underlying concerns of Sam’s past and his connection to the yellow-eyed possessing demon. All they could think was that Jess would soon be reunited with the man she loved – not a common thing for a Summers girl.

Finally, they calmed, and sat on one of the beds together, watching a TV show without paying attention, more focussed on what the morrow would bring them.

“Hey, Jess?”

“Yeah?”

“Y’know Sam’s brother?”

“Dean?”

“Yeah.”

“What about him?”

“He cute?”



XXXXX

A/N:

I couldn't resist the last line. It just seemed to work.

Next chapter:

*Sam and Jessica reunited!
*Confessions of some demon hunters.
*The hunt is on for the real killer.
*And Dean discovers something about Buffy's past...

Enjoy!

Next chapter shouldn't take quite so long to post up.

Lol, Tanydwr