LIFE'S A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION: Part Three
by Pen Horwitz
Disclaimer:Buffy, Willow, Angel, Xander, Giles, and the rest of the Sunnydale gang aren't mine. They belong to Joss and the nice people at Mutant Enemy. I'm not making any money off this so please don't sue. And please don't repost this without asking me first.
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Part Three
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The Usual Suspects Jenny Calendar walked through the doors of Sunnydale High School for the first time since 1998, and headed right to the library. She had been forced to leave Sunnydale and Rupert when her younger brother, Les, died in a car accident in Chicago. She returned home to help her father deal with the tragedy, but he faded quickly soon after. Jenny had always meant to come back to Sunnydale, but inertia had grounded her in the Midwest. Anyway, the main reason for her to be in Sunnydale was gone, and she'd heard through the grapevine that Giles was a father now, and where there were kids there were usually spouses. She definitely couldn't see Rupert being so untraditional that he'd do the single parent thing. Jenny glanced through the porthole to see him sitting and talking with... Willow? This couldn't be chance that Willow Rosenberg Harris, one of the most talented software engineers in the country, was here. [Something has to be up.], Jenny thought as she pushed open the doors and stepped inside.
"Hi, Willow. Hi, Rupert. You miss me?" She said as nonchalantly as possible.
The duo pulled their collective nose out of their books and began babbling.
"Ms. Calendar!"
"Jenny!" Rupert's face seemed to shed years in that one instant. Jenny stood there, feeling a smile come to her own lips. [After all this time, he still cares!], she thought in utter wonder.
"I was in the neighborhood, and thought I would stop by."
"I didn't think Chicago was considered 'in the neighborhood'." Willow smiled at her former teacher. "What brings you back here?"
She took a seat across from Rupert and placed a binder filled with printouts in front of him. "Rumor has it that someone is going to make a move against the Hellmouth. Have you gotten hold of Buffy?"
Willow and Rupert exchanged a pained glance, and Jenny all of a sudden felt as if she had put her foot in her mouth. "Buffy died about three months after you left for Chicago." The librarian's voice lacked any emotion.
"Gods, Rupert, I'm so sorry. But this means we've got a major problem here, because Brother Luca's been at it again, and his messages specifically refer to the one who killed the Master."
* * *
Brigid walked down the hall toward her history class. They were going to go over the test from Friday so it was going to be a wasted period as far as the girl was concerned. She had checked the posted grades earlier this morning, and found what she'd expected. [You'd think I would have done better than a B+.] The self mocking thought came to her. Not like she _had_ to study for history. She'd been making easy As in that subject since grade school, and it didn't look like it was going to change. [Now math is another problem entirely....] The tortured thoughts of her trig homework were dragged from her by a high pitched voice.
"There you are, you homewrecker!" shrieked Andrea as she strutted down the hall.
[Oh no. What the hell did I do this time?] Brigid froze, and then turned with a slightly off-kilter innocent smile on her face. "What can I do for you, Andry?"
"You've all ready done enough. You so totally ruined my chances with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Gorgeous on Friday."
The young woman began to panic. [She couldn't have followed me from Neo...] Fortunately, the petite blonde put her worries to rest.
"All he could talk about, that is when he talked at all, was you. He kept asking questions about you." She shot Brigid an accusing look. "You know him don't you?"
"Actually, no, I don't."
"Well he seemed very fascinated with you. I didn't tell him much except your name was Brigid."
[So he knows my name. Funny, he didn't mention it in his Knight in Shining Armor routine.] She mused silently. That, plus the fact he knew about Sunnydale's darkside made her wonder who the hell he really was. It was too bad she couldn't ask her dad if he knew the guy, but that would mean revealing her own new extra-curricular hobby.
"Oh, and speaking of major hotties, you'll never guess who's guest speaker for Mr. Harrison's CW class!"
"And who, pray tell, would that be?" Mr. Harrison was Brigid's Junior AP English teacher, and while she didn't have time for the honors creative writing class this semester, she was hoping to take it in the spring.
"Xander Harris! Can you believe it? I saw him on Leno, and he was sooo good looking. Rumor has it he's a local boy." Andry whispered conspiratorially.
"Yeah, he was one of my dad's favorites when he was here. According to him, Xander hung out in the library a lot." Brigid shrugged outwardly, but her mind was racing [I know for a fact that Xander never wanted to come back here again. He said as much at New Years three years ago.] "Dad and I visit him and his wife sometimes." [Yeah, mostly when Dad and Will need to do the Watcher shop talk thing.]
"You know him?!?" Andrea got a disgusted look on her face. "How do you get so damn lucky?"
"Good karma for having a lousy first five years of life." She threw over she shoulder as she headed to the library.
* * *
Brigid stormed into he father's domain. "Dad? It's the weirdest thing, but Xander, who swore he'd never come back to this pitiful burb, is...." She saw Willow, and another woman sitting at a table. "Will? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question, young lady. You have history if I remember correctly." Giles walked out of his office with an armload of what Brigid recognized as Watcher diaries.
"Yes, I do, but I shouldn't be kept in the dark! Willow and Xander are the only family I have besides you. I should at least know why they're here!"
"Brigid." Giles placed the volumes gently on the table. "I promise to explain everything, but I can't do that now. "
Brigid glared at her father. No matter how much she loved the stodgy librarian who had made her the center of his life, she needed him to trust her too. Then maybe she could stop keeping things from him. "You better." She turned on her heels and crashed through the doors.
* * *
Dinner time had come and gone at the Giles household, and her father hadn't returned from the library. [So much for promises.] Brigid thought as she sat in her room, sharpening the last stake. Her weapons were laid out on her bed, stakes, a machete, and holy water. She refused to carry a cross, but otherwise she was ready. Brigid pulled on her pentacle and packed her things into a bag. Tonight, the hunt began.
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