Title: Sixteen
By TrinityLast
E-mail: trinitylast@wambtac.com
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never mine. Belongs to a bunch of people not me.
Distribution: My site (thedge), Starkitty, Forbidden Dreams, Alessandra, and anyone else who already has permission.
Rating: Uhm. This piece? I’d say...same as the show. Later, might be a different story.
Spoilers: Uhm...none? Not really, anyway. Future-fic.
Feedback: YES! God, yes. Please, yes.
Note: I know, I know. I should be writing Temple of the Slayer. Or Bound. Or Second Chances. I should be writing An Interesting Concept, and to all the B/G'ers out there who also read B/A, I’m sorry it’s been so long with that, too. I should be writing Circle of the Gifted, my LFN. I SO want to finish that, and I can’t seem to make it happen. I should be doing anything but starting a new series. This is possibly the worst thing I can do to my already way to filled schedule. It’s not like I’ve got so much time that I can just take on a bunch of new story lines and plots.

But...

I’d like to know if this is even worth pursuing. It’s the first chapter. It’s ONLY the first chapter. It’s all I have written. If you hate it, I won’t write anymore of it. But I wanted to see what the reaction would be.

So. Let me know.

And I’ll try to have some of all my other stuff out soon, too. I’ve been in a lousy place, with my grandmother in and out of the hospital with a bunch of TIA’s, and I haven’t been writing. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I really, really, am. But I’m writing now!

OH! And: The gang are all immortal, through a prophecy. It happened at the same time that Angel and Buffy got back together, kinda a part of the whole she’s pregnant thing. Which I didn’t write, because it’ll be so much better in your head! :p

That counts for something, right?

Ok. End of endless Author’s Note.

Prologue

____________________

"I can’t! I can’t marry someone else, Angel! That is *our* daughter sitting over there! How can you..."

"It’s not safe, Buffy! You have to." He grabbed her and leaned his forehead against hers. "I hate this as much as you do. The thought of someone else touching you, making love to you...but, Jenny." He looked at their daughter in her carrier. "We have to. No one can know. It’s too dangerous."

"The *day* she turns sixteen..."

"I’ll be waiting."

**

Buffy sat up gasping, startled from her dream by the alarm clock. She glanced at the clock and shut off the beeper. Eight am.

"Tomorrow’s Jenny’s birthday."

Buffy bit her lip. Next to her, her husband Justin rolled over onto his back and smiled. "I know. Amazing, isn’t it? Sixteen."

Buffy closed her eyes and let a small smile cross her lips, while her back was still turned. "Yeah."

**

Chp. One

"I’m scared. I feel like something’s going to happen."

He came over and sat down next to her. "It’ll be fine. You’ve got your mom there, and Justin."

Jenny looked at the man oddly. "You know what? I just realized something a few days ago. I guess I wasn’t always listening that closely, but...you’ve never called him my dad. I mean, he’s not, biologically. I know that. But he’s all I’ve ever known. He *is* my dad. Mom never talks about...*him*."

The man smiled sadly. "It’s probably too painful."

Jenny changed the subject. "So, you gonna tell me who you are? I’m sixteen tomorrow."

The man smiled. "After."

"What?"

He started to fade and Jenny reached out. "No! Come on, not yet!"

**

Jenny opened her eyes and sighed. He never stayed long enough. He’d been coming to her in her dreams for as long as she could remember, just being there for her.

"I swear, one of these days, I’m gonna find out who the hell he is."

Of course, he might not be real. But her mom had assured her long ago that dreams could be real when she’d had a prophetic one about a friend. That was weird...but her mom had said, "It happens. You never know. Don’t just discount it."

Glancing at the calendar, Jenny winced. She was still nervous. Even after the dream. This was the first time he hadn’t been able to make her feel better.

It was unsettling.

**

"Jenny! Get down here! You’re gonna miss the bus!"

Justin shook his head at his wife as he walked through with the morning paper. "You know, she never does. You need to relax."

"Don’t tell me what I need to do!"

Justin stopped and turned. He had a hurt, confused look on his face. "Buffy..."

"No." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I’m sorry. It’s just..." She shook her head and turned back to the stairs. "Jenny!!"

Justin stared at her for a minute before glancing at his watch and grabbing his briefcase. Buffy had been acting strangely for over a month. Snapping and yelling, being angry and stubborn. She didn’t want to be around him, and they hadn’t made love in even longer.

He was starting to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he didn’t like one bit.

**

Angel lay in bed, staring at his ceiling. He knew Jenny was still upset. He hadn’t been able to calm her down. For the first time since he’d been visiting her in her dreams.

Of course, that was because she knew it was coming. She just didn’t know she knew it.

Angel grinned to himself. That was definitely a sentence to make Buffy proud.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter Two

____________________

Willow was literally bouncing. She was the only one in constant contact with Buffy (through magic) and the obvious fact that she’d talked to the Slayer was getting Anya annoyed as she managed to twirl around the Magic Box on what could only be described as a high.

"Willow! Knock it off!"

"I can’t!" She plopped into a chair but continued to bounce. "Buffy’s coming back this week!"

Anya made a face. "She’ll look old. You did that spell that let’s her age show, right?"

Willow nodded. "But she’s gonna’ take it off before she comes home. So, she’ll be our Buffy."

Giles came in from the back room and say down, eyebrows furrowed. "I doubt she’ll be the same Buffy that left, Willow. She’s just spent sixteen years with a man she doesn’t love and away from her soul mate. I’m sure she’s changed a bit."

But Willow shook her head. "She pretended to, though, for Justin. But I’ve talked to her. Same Buffy. Just frustrated, because she feels all closed up."

Giles made a face. "Gee, I can’t imagine why." His voice dripped with sarcasm and Willow’s eyes bugged out.

"Why Giles! You made a joke!"

He glared, she giggled and Anya rolled her eyes.

**

Buffy sat in her car and waited, tapping out a rhythm on the steering wheel. A new rap group had a song out, and it was playing on the radio. It was the kind of thing Justin hated and her daughter’s generation loved.

And of course, so did Buffy. Just not in front of anyone.

The music, therefore, was turned down low as she waited for her Jenny to come out the school doors. This was it. One hour from now, she and her daughter would be getting on a plane and heading for Sunnydale. Buffy felt bad for doing it this way, but it seemed the most painless way of working it. Her and Jenny’s bags were packed and in the back. Instead of going home, Buffy was going to head straight for the airport. Justin would find a note on his desk when he got home, saying she’d be back to work out the details of the divorce in a month.

One month. That’s the time she was allowing for Jenny to get comfortable with Buffy’s true home. One month. It wasn’t a lot.

But it would have to do. After that, they’d come back for a few weeks, and we’d see how well Jenny handled *her* world with her new perspective.

Buffy sighed as she spotted her daughter coming down the steps. She reached over and turned off the radio, then looked down at herself. The spell would be coming off in the parking garage, where Buffy planned to ditch the car - excuse me, minivan, "Ugh" - and she couldn’t even begin to picture her daughter’s face when she explained where they were going.

"If nothing else, it should be interesting..."

Jenny opened the passenger door and got in. "Hey mom."

"Hey." Buffy didn’t look at her as they pulled into traffic. After sixteen years, she still hated this idea.

**

Angel lifted the baby into the car and Buffy took her, sniffling. "I can’t do this, Angel. Can we do this to her? I’ll have to rip her from a father...a father that won’t be you, but she’ll love like her own. How can we be doing this?"

Angel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he opened them and reached up, tracing a hand down their daughter’s face. "She’ll love someone else as a father. But she’ll be alive to love."

Buffy’s eyes filled and she nodded. She was really just postponing the inevitable. There wasn’t another choice. They had to do this. Angel slammed the door shut, and the cab drove away. She watched him in the back window until they turned the corner.

**

Buffy sighed and snapped back to the present as she pulled into the airport parking structure. Jenny was sending her curious looks, but hadn’t asked yet.

As they parked, Jenny finally spoke. "Who are we picking up?"

"We’re not." Buffy pulled the key from the ignition and, reaching over, stuck it in the glove compartment. Then she turned and started digging around in the backseat, looking for her purse, and the counter spell to undo the ‘glamour’. "Jenny, go in back and grab your bags, ok?"

"What?" The teenager frowned at her mother, but when it was obvious she wasn’t going to get an answer, got out and did what she was told. She always did what she was told. That was Justin’s doing.

It was one of many things Buffy was going to have to unteach her.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter Three

____________________

When Jenny had unloaded the bags from the back of the mini-van, she started to get nervous. All of her things were here...at least, all she’d need. The rest of it could always be replaced. And all of her mother’s things were here, too.

All of them.

"Mom?"

"Damnit!"

Jenny’s eyes widened. Her mother had never, as far as she knew, used that kind of language. "Mom?"

"Yeah?" Her mom came around the side of the van still digging in her purse. She set it down on the floor in the open back of the van and started digging in earnest.

"What are you looking for?"

"Damn!" Buffy scrunched up her face and sighed. Picking up the purse, she dumped it out and started rifling through the mess now in front of her.

"Jenny, come here and help me. We’re looking for an envelope that says ‘for god’s sake, Buffy, don’t get on the fucking plane without using this!’"

Jenny gasped. "Mom?"

"Stop saying that and help me look. The writing won’t be mine."

The dirty blonde teenager bit her lip and tentatively started poking through the contents of her mother’s purse, looking for an envelope. After a few minutes, Buffy giggled.

"Of course. Right. Well, I’m an idiot."

"What?"

Buffy shook her head and opened one of her suitcases. She dug for a few minutes before pulling out a black backpack, empty. "When I took it from her, I was using this, now wasn’t I? So this is where I’d have stuck it. Duh." She opened the top zip and smiled triumphantly. Her hand came out holding a small white envelope, with, to Jenny’s shock, that *exact* sentence on it.

Buffy hurriedly shoved everything from her purse into the backpack and tossed the purse (an ‘old lady’ model) up into the backseat. Then she ripped open the envelope.

"Ok, here’s what I need you to do." Buffy pulled out a paper and glanced at her daughter, who was nodding, though looked very confused. "Back up a few steps, so you don’t get hit, and make sure to tell me if anyone’s coming."

Jenny frowned but backed up and glanced around. "No one’s here."

"Good." Buffy rolled her neck and then focused on the paper. She said a few lines in Latin that Jenny couldn’t make out...

...and a very, very bright light flashed. When it died, her mother was standing there...but she looked like the one picture Jenny had seen of her at twenty.

There was only one. It was in Buffy’s wallet, and it was of Buffy and three other people Jenny didn’t know. An older man with glasses a striking redhead and a younger guy with brown hair. Jenny had seen it once when she’d been sent into Buffy’s wallet for a credit card one Busy Christmas. It was the only time Jenny had ever seen the picture, or any other of her mother before the age of thirty.

And now, the flesh and blood version of that picture was standing in front of her, folding a paper up into her jeans pocket and grabbing a suitcase.

Jenny’s eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter Four

____________________

Buffy rolled her neck and then focused on the paper. She said a few lines in Latin that Jenny couldn’t make out...

...and a very, very bright light flashed. When it died, her mother was standing there...but she looked like the one picture Jenny had seen of her at twenty.

And now, the flesh and blood version of that picture was standing in front of her, folding a paper up into her jeans pocket and grabbing a suitcase.

Jenny’s eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted.

Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. Then she pulled Jenny out of the main driveway and into the back of the van, and waited.

About five minutes later, Jenny's eyes fluttered open.

Buffy smiled, "Hey there."

The girl groaned. "Why do I feel like I was just hit by a truck?"

"You fainted and hit the concrete. I've found that they don't feel the same, but only having felt the one, you wouldn't know that."

"Huh?" The dirty blonde opened her eyes and then widened them. "Mom?!"

The Slayer smiled again, "Yeah. Can I just promise to explain on the plane?" Buffy blinked at the rhyme, then moved past it. "We're really gonna miss our flight if we don't get a move on."

"Yeah...I guess...." A very confused look on her face, Jenny got up and shouldered her bags, pulling the last one on wheels behind her, and followed Buffy into the airport...fully aware of the fact that her mother, who normally could barely open a pickle jar, was now carrying all her luggage without any noticeable effort at all.

**

The flight was horrible. There was turbulence, and Jenny was sick the whole way. Mother and daughter...mistaken for sisters more times than Jenny would ever admit to, did not get the chance to talk at all on the three hour flight...in fact, less than five words were spoken the whole time. "Sick." "Bathroom." "There." "Just breath."

So, when they got off the plane, the teenager had no clue what was going on...all she knew was that the world was spinning 'round her head.

And that the man who regularly visited her dreams, was now kissing her mother passionately in the middle of the airport terminal.

For the second time in the same day, Jenny Greyfeild fainted dead away.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter Five

____________________

It took Buffy and Angel a full minute to realize that something was wrong...and another minute to pry themselves from each other, it had been so long...

When they did, they were greeted by the sight of their daughter, unconscious on the floor of the Sunnydale Airport main terminal.

Sighing, Buffy rolled her eyes again and walked over, gathering their bags onto a cart, while Angel gathered Jenny into his arms. The smallest smile graced his face as he looked down at his daughter, in his arms. Sixteen years later...still alive.

A miracle.

Now, if she would just stay awake...

**

Jenny opened her eyes and blinked a few times, then groaned and put one hand to her head and started mumbling to herself. "Great, Jenn. You've fainted twice in one day. Gotta’ be great for the head."

"Well, probably not. But then, you're the one I spent four hours with in the dreamscape when she was six, because she ran head first into a brick wall. I wouldn't worry...your head can stand a little fainting spell."

Jenny's eyes snapped open again and she turned her head to the right. Stone wall...beautifully designed fireplace, with fire. Man sitting on the hearth...the man from her dreams...that her mother had been kissing...

Her voice was a whisper. "It's...god, it's really you."

Angel smiled, "yeah." He came over with a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water that'd been sitting on the hearth next to him. "Here. It should help."

She nodded silently, sitting up and taking the pills. Her voice was only a little louder this time. "You...who *are* you?"

"The one your mom never talks about."

It took a minute for that to register, and another for Jenny to work it out...but she'd been getting this man's cryptic answers her whole life...she was good at figuring out what he was saying.

It was just that this was *not* the answer she'd been expecting.

"You're my father?!"

The vampire smiled again and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "Yeah."

The dirty blond swallowed, then nodded. Then she drank the rest of the glass of water in one swallow.

**

"How's she doing?"

Angel raised an eyebrow at Buffy and sat down on the bed, watching her unpack.

[Unpack. A really beautiful word, when you think about it...]

"She just watched her mother lose twenty years, and met the man who's been haunting her dreams her entire life, who happens to be her father. How would *you* be?"

Buffy turned and glared at him. "I'd be a lot better if someone, who shall remain nameless, had *told* me he was in her *dreams*!"

He swallowed, then gave a sheepish look. "Um...it never came up?"

"Yeah. That was convincing." Sighing, she came over and sat down on the bed. "How could you not tell me this?"

"I'm sorry. I am. It's just...I had to see her. I had to. And this was the best way. I thought about telling you through Willow...but it never..."

"Willow!"

Angel blinked as Buffy jumped up again, grabbing her coat off a chair. "What about her?"

"I haven't seen her yet! I have to see her. And Giles! The spells for Jenny...the ones suppressing her powers have to come off." She raced out of the bedroom and downstairs, into the main hall of the mansion where her daughter was still sitting on the couch, staring into the fire. "Honey, grab your coat. We're going out."

"We are?" Jenny looked up and just caught her coat from her mother. "Mom? Where are we going now?"

"The Magic Box," as if that answered all her questions. Buffy dragged Jenny out the door, calling back to Angel, "coming?"

"In a few hours. I have a few things to take care of."

Buffy nodded and shrugged into her coat, then closed the door behind her.

And Angel simply could *not* stop smiling.

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