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

Chapter Six

____________________

Jenny just stood in the middle of the room, flexing her hands. They felt different. Everything felt different. Stronger. She felt like she could run faster. And she suddenly had all this extra energy.

"Mom?"

"You're a slayer" Buffy circled Jenny, smiling a little. "One girl in all the world with the strength and skill to fight, and kill the vampires and the forces of darkness" Her smile turned a little sheepish. "Except you're not"

"Huh?" The teenager gave her mother a supremely confused look.

"Well...you're a full blooded slayer...vampire with a soul for a father, slayer for a mom. You have the strength, the speed, and the inherent skill. But you're not The Slayer. The Slayer is in.." she trailed off and frowned, turning to Giles who smiled a little.

"Baltimore, at the moment. Her name is Eliza"

Jenny made a tiny distressed noise at the back of her throat, drawing the attention of the room again. "So, if I'm not The Slayer, what am I?"

"My daughter. This is why I had to take you away. The council wanted to kill you. A slayer who isn't. Someone they can't control...they've never been able to control me, and they knew they couldn't you. So, they started sending assassins. It didn't really take long to figure out that your father and I couldn't protect you...not from the assassins they were sending. When you hit sixteen we knew you'd have your full powers. You could protect yourself...but until then..." she trailed off again, choking, and turned away, covering her mouth with one hand.

"Until then, I had to be raised away from my father, where no one would think to look" She was more than a little shocked at herself and how calmly she was taking this, but the more she learned, the more sense it made. "So, you married someone you didn't love, knowing that these people would never think of that...you're obviously too in love with.." Jenny took a calming breath, then managed to get the word out. "...with dad to ever do something like that. So, it would never occur to them to look for me in a stable house, with a father and mother, when my true father was still here, in plain sight"

Giles smiled again and nodded, letting Buffy get herself under control again. "Yes. Angel has been completely visible your entire life. Here. So the council assassins assumed you'd be with just your mother. As you can see...it did work"

Jenny nodded. Saying 'but at what cost?' just seemed a little too cliche, even for her.

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

Chapter Seven

____________________

"So, she looks good"

Buffy raised an eyebrow at Willow, then looked back through the window at Jenny. They'd been home for two weeks...she was on a regular training schedule, doing study sessions with Giles on demonology, and seriously bonding with her dad. Her wardrobe had, in the first three days, gone from 'catholic schoolgirl'...which was, unfortunately, what she'd been before, literally,…to 'chic jeans girl'. Though, a bit more skin was showing than the May Queen had liked to expose during high school, Cordelia had spent most of her quality time with Jenny at the mall, buying her clothes. And seriously spoiling her. Jenny now had more clothing than Cordy herself. It'd turned out that Jenny liked the designer jeans look...casual, but expensive. Not having gotten the chance to dress her as she was growing up, Cordelia was now lavishing everything she had on her 'niece'.

Buffy'd felt a little left out of Jenny's new life for the first few days, but that was to be expected...and her husband had been more than willing to spend the extra time with her. Angel was still having problems spending more than a few hours apart from her. The separation had hit both of them hard...reminding the couple much too strongly of the years after high school.

However, Jenny had stolen her mother back on the fifth day in Sunnydale when she demanded 'real' training.

"Mom, I can't train with Giles anymore...I can't hit him"

"Yeah, you can. He taught me everything I know. Trust me, you can hit him"

Jenny sighed. "Ok. So I can. I don't want to. He's too nice...I'm afraid I'll hurt him.." her voice dropped to a whisper. "And I miss you. I was thinking this could be something we'd do together when you mentioned it, and now I'm stuck for hours a day in a back room with a man who's way to easy on the eyes to be someone I'm supposed to think of as a grandfather. I can't train with him. My...mind's wandering"

Buffy blinked a few times, then nodded. There was no way she wanted her daughter thinking about Giles that way...and seeing him without his shirt on all those years while they trained...she understood the temptation. If she wasn't so in love with Angel...

[Bad place to go. Just stop.]

So, now she was training for three or four hours a day with her daughter. And the teenager was a natural. There was really no doubt...she'd inherited the best of both worlds. But Buffy was still nervous. They only had a week before they had to go back. She still had to settle the divorce with Justin, and get Jenny's school records so they could enroll her in Sunnydale High. A week. One fourth of a month. Seven days.

What if she lost her daughter to that horrible gray world again? Jenny'd just started to wake up...to be the person Buffy'd always known she could be. Really was, under all that pleating and politeness. What if she lost her again?

Buffy wasn't sure she could handle that.

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

Chapter Eight

____________________

"I can't go back, Willow"

The witch was only half listening to Jenny...the teenager had been doing this same riff for the last hour, and Giles'd asked for some research. Willow nodded, eyes still glued to the computer screen.

"I mean, he was never really my dad...I love him, but I can call him...and write. Email and palm phone and screen to screen. I don't think I can go back...I always felt like I was being smothered there. And, and now I can breathe. It's like this huge relief. I can't go back. I can't"

Willow's eyes never left the screen. "But I thought you wanted to go see your friends again. You wanted to talk to your teachers, and Justin's mom. And didn't you say something about a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, but he wasn't serious. And I can write or call Nana. Same with Kim and Hillary. I don't need to *see* them, like in person. I...it's gray there"

This time the redhead giggled. "You know, your mom used the same exact word" She scrolled down the screen, looking for a specific species in the database, still talking. "You can do this. You're only gonna’ be there for a few days. Go see your friends, talk to your Nana in person and explain. Hug Justin"

Jenny bounced on the counter of the Magic box and bit her lip. When she finally said something, it was a whisper. "I don't want to see him again"

Willow blinked and looked up. "What?"

"I don't want to see him. I don't. I don't want to look at him and say, 'I'm sorry I never loved you like a father.' I don't want to tell him that I always knew that Dad was more of a father to me, just being in my dreams, than Justin ever was. He tried...and he was there for me. It's not his fault I'm the daughter of a slayer and a vampire, and got all these supernatural genes that linked me to my true father. He did everything he could have done. It was totally my fault...and I don't think I can face him"

"Oh" Turning to face Jenny, Willow frowned, trying to figure out how to word this. "Ok...you don't need to say any of that. He's going to ask you if you're happy. You know it. It's the first thing they ask. You say yes...that you've found yourself. If he knows you at *all* he knows you didn't belong there. Buffy said she's sure he knew *she* didn't belong there. He used to describe her as.."

**

"...a wild bird that I'll never be able to cage.' That's what he used to call me"

Angel sighed and switched feet, digging his thumbs into her left arch. "So you think he knew that Jenny didn't belong there, too?"

"I'm hoping" Buffy shifted slightly on the couch, idly running her free foot up and down his leg. "I'm seriously hoping this will just go smoothly. But you know it won't. Something's going to happen"

"You don't know that. It could go smooth as glass for all you know" He looked up just in time to catch the expression on her face and sighed again. "Ok, I know. You're right. It never does. But it can't hurt to hope"

Buffy nodded. "Yes, yes it can. Hoping does horrible things. It, it makes people do terrible things to other people, like kill someone, in the hopes that no one finds out. Angel, I don't want to hope. Hope gets me in trouble. Every time. I mean.."

"*Stop*. Just stop. Hope got us married...it's the reason you're sitting here, with your husband rubbing your feet."

"...which feels amazing, by the way"

Angel smiled. "Thank you. But you get the point. We hoped we'd get here, and we did. Just hold on a little longer. You can make it...it'll all be over soon"

Buffy got a horrified look on her face. "Oh, *god*, I hope not"

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

Chapter Nine

____________________

Angel blinked and looked up at her, then understanding flashed across his face. "I don't mean like that"

Buffy shuddered. "You better not. The only way this can end.."

"...is badly. I know. That's not what I meant"

Swallowing, she nodded, then motioned at her feet. "What happened to the rubbing?"

He smiled a little, his hands starting to work again. "Sorry"

**

"Ok, I can do this" Jenny whirled to face her speakerphone, Xander and Anya's son on the other end. The two had hit it off almost immediately, instant friends, though at the moment, the boy was listening with barely concealed amusement. "I can do this, right?"

Jesse's laugh came through the line. "Yes. You can do this. It's not that hard. You simply walk up to him and say.." he paused for a moment. "What do you call him? 'Dad' or 'Justin'?"

"That's the thing. I've always called him Dad"

Another pause. "Wait. Isn't Angel coming with you?"

"Yeah"

"Oh. Well...shit"

"Exactly"

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

Chapter Ten

____________________

"You're going with? Who's going to help me run the store?"

Jesse threw another pair of jeans into his bag and shrugged at his mom. "You could ask Marci, or Daryl"

Anya rolled her eyes. "I'm not asking Cordelia's twins to watch my store. They're on break from school...I refuse to steal their vacation"

Her son shrugged. "Doyle, then?"

"Will be spending the time with his kids, on break from school. Pay attention. You just can't go. That's all there is to it"

Jesse sighed. "Mom, I'm sorry. But she really wants me to. So does Aunt Buffy. And I've missed her"

The ex-demon sighed and sank into a chair. "I know. But you were only five when she left. You couldn't have missed her that much"

He came over, biting his lip. "I kinda did. You know? Like that person you remember as always nice, and fun and.."

"I get it. Buffy is great. She always has been. Go. Enjoy. Leave your poor old mother here to run the store on her own"

The man smiled. "Mom, you're not old. And you have Giles to help you"

"Hey!" She stood up, and waved a mock finger at him. "I'm almost twelve hundred years old, mister!"

He smiled again and kissed her cheek. "And you don't look a day over ten"

"Jesse!"

**

Angel threw another of Buffy's shirts into her bag and called into the bathroom, where the shower was running. "Do you want the leather pants?"

"No! I'm gonna’ wear them in....unless you mean the red ones. Yes. Pack those"

He smiled a little and packed the red leather, leaving the black on the bed, along with a white silk shoestring top, knowing his wife's taste. Something she always made a big deal over was his ability to pick out, and buy, perfect outfits. The minute she'd gotten back he'd taken to picking out all her clothes, if for no other reason than the fact that it made her smile.

Then he blinked at the outfit and growled. "You're going to see this guy in leather pants?"

The shower turned off and Buffy came out, a towel wrapped around her and one in her hand, drying her hair. "Well...yeah. Why?"

"I don't like it. He's...I don't like it"

Buffy's voice was quiet. "Honey, I just spent sixteen years sleeping with him. I doubt I can make that much worse with a pair of leather pants"

Angel winced and nodded, closing his eyes. "I just...I hate that he touched you. Saw you. Was *in* you"

She came over, dropping both towels, and put one hand on his chest, over his silent heart. "He was never *in* me"

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