A Love Eternal: Welcome to the Pack
by flyingbird
9.
With every step she took, Buffy became more and more nervous. They were almost to the dinning hall and she didn’t know what to expect. Earlier, Spike had mentioned that the entire ‘pack dinner’ thing was probably to talk about her, and that definitely wasn’t on her list of fun ways to spend an evening, especially when there was a totally hot guy that she could spend time with instead. She could have sworn that Angel was going to kiss her earlier, but then he just pulled away. She was hurt and certainly more than a little disappointed. Was it something that she did? Although she hadn’t known the guy more than a day, there was just something about him that drew her, and wouldn’t let her go. Maybe she would talk to Willow about it later…
Her thoughts were cut short as they reached the dinning hall. Giles and Jenny were waiting outside, talking to a few other adults, but when they saw the three teenagers approaching they excused themselves and move over to intercept them before they could enter the hall. The angry glare on Angel’s face was not lost on Jenny and she grinned to see her son being so jealous over this girl.
“Hey Buffy, how are your injuries feeling,” asked Jenny, hoping that the girl was faring better than she had been earlier that afternoon.
“Fine, thanks,” she replied, getting more and more anxious by the second.
“Well, we were hoping that we could borrow you for a moment Buffy,” interjected Giles, nervously cleaning his glasses. “Dinner isn’t going to start for a few minutes yet and there are some things that we need to discuss with you.”
“O-okay,” agreed Buffy in a whisper, looking down at her feet. She was so glad that no one had asked her any questions yet, but she knew that it wouldn’t last long. They were probably really curious as to what she was doing there, alone and injured. Well, she had explained about Parker and Riley, but that didn’t explain where her pack was or why she wasn’t trying to get back to them. On the other hand though, she desperately needed help and these people seemed really nice, not to mention understanding.
Moving forward, Angel grasped her hand lightly and gave it a small squeeze, showing his support. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was extremely uncomfortable, and it broke his heart to see her small body trembling in fear as it was now. However, he could only watch helplessly as she was led away by his parents and he was left standing next to Spike.
Jenny and Giles led Buffy down the hall a short ways to a room that was right off the dinning hall, and opening the door they allowed her to enter before them. The room was fairly small, but comfortable none the less, with a few plush chairs and a little coffee table in the middle. Taking a seat across from the pack leader and his mate, Buffy nervously folded her hands in her lap and looked up at them anxiously.
“Its okay, Buffy, we’re not here to interrogate you or anything, just relax,” reassured Jenny, feeling bad for putting the girl in such a state. Smiling meekly, Buffy just continued to stare at them and waited for them to begin.
“Well,” began Giles, cleaning his glasses once again, “I’m just going to cut straight to the chase. Are you planning on returning to your pack, or contacting them so that they may come and fetch you?”
Gulping, the only thing that Buffy could do was shake her head slowly. This had been what she was dreading. A talk about her pack.
“We don’t mean to push you, dear,” said Jenny gently, “but we need to know what happened so that we know what the best thing is to do next.”
“It-it’s really h-hard for m-me to ta-talk about right n-now,” she managed to stutter out, tears springing to her eyes as memories plagued her.
“We wouldn’t be asking you if it wasn’t of the utmost importance,” said Giles, “but as the situation is, we do need to ask.” After about a minute of silence, Buffy spoke at last.
“The-there was, it-it happened so fast, I tried to-to stop it, save them, but I-I couldn’t, it was t-too late.” Unable to hold the stares of the two adults, Buffy turned her face down to her lap as silent tears began to roll down her cheeks. Getting up, Jenny moved across the room to sit next to her, rubbing her back gently. So, then, it was as they had feared.
“Was it another pack?” she asked gently. Seeing her nod, Jenny felt even more sorry for the girl. It would a terrible experience for any person to witness those that she loved, her family, to be attacked and killed. Amazing that she would be a survivor, unless, perhaps there were others.
“Did anyone else survive?” asked Giles, thinking along the same lines as his mate.
“N-no,” whispered Buffy. “I-I was meant to be-become a prisoner, but I escaped and ran a-away.” Seeing that she was about to break-down, both Giles and Jenny decided that they had enough information for now and anything else could wait for another time, or until Buffy was comfortable enough to tell them.
“Alright, its okay, you don’t have to tell us anymore, Buffy,” declared Jenny as more tears rolled down the girl’s face. “We’re sorry to cause you to relive this, but we needed to know your situation so that we could help you out.” Coming to a decision, she exchanged a glance with her mate and then pressed on.
“I’m assuming that you have no where to go now? You don’t have any other family or friends in other packs?”
“No,” replied Buffy uncertainly, not exactly sure where this conversation was going.
“Well, then, and of course we’d have to speak to the entire pack about it, but I would greatly like it for you to become a member of our pack. We don’t know much about you, only what you have told us, but you seem like a wonderful young woman and I know especially that my children and their friends would enjoy having you around permanently.”
“Wh-what!” She had been expecting a lot of things, but this wasn’t one of them. They actually wanted her to stay? She thought that they wanted her to leave and find another place to go.
“I know that it would be strange for you and everything but…” said Jenny, trying to explain, but she was cut off before she could finish.
“No, it’s not that,” said Buffy rapidly. “It’s just that I kinda thought that you were going to ask me to leave.”
“Oh, of course not, Buffy,” replied Jenny, looking stricken. “We would never just turn you out. Besides, we have space for you and it would be no strain on our part. In fact, I just know that Faith, Willow, Fred and Cordelia would love to have an even advantage with the boys for a change.”
“Of course, you do realize this is all hypothetical?” interjected Giles. “We still have to run it by the entire pack at dinner tonight, to make sure that they have no objections.”
“Although I’m sure that they wouldn’t,” reassured Jenny. “This wouldn’t be the first time that we have taken on new members to our pack.” At this point both Jenny and Giles stopped and simply looked at Buffy to see her reaction to the entire matter.
“Thank you, your offer means a lot to me,” said Buffy, giving them a small smile. It wasn’t like she had any other options and the idea truly did appeal to her. She had only been staying there a day but already she had gotten to know Willow especially, and Willow’s friends too, and she would love to be able to remain here and hang out with them. “I would truly love to become a member of your pack, that is, if everyone is okay with it and all,” she added hurriedly.
“Good. Anyways, I think that we’ve covered everything that we needed to, so what do you say to going back and joining everyone for some food?” asked Jenny, getting up and moving back over to her mate’s side.
Now that she thought about it, Buffy realized just how hungry she was. After not having eaten for a few days, a girl could certainly work up an appetite. So, without another word, she joined Giles and Jenny and walked back to the dinning hall in silence.
Upon entering the doors, Buffy instantly became nervous once again, seeing so many people that she didn’t know. The Raiselk pack was about the same size as her pack had been, but it looked like so many more people when it was all unfamiliar faces staring back at you. The dinning hall was a fairly large room and most of the space was taken up by the large tables in the center. There were two long, rectangular shaped tables that spanned the length of the room, with seats on either side, and at the very far side of the room was a great coat of arms symbolizing their pack.
Not everyone had chosen a seat yet, some were still up and about talking, but Buffy spotted Willow and the gang all sitting down together so she decided to join them, relieved at having found them at all. Upon seeing their pack leader enter, everyone else seemed to decide that it was a good time to take their seats so they all migrated off to an empty spot and soon everyone was seated. The meal had already been brought out and was waiting on the tables, but nobody made a move to eat until their pack leader told them that it was alright.
Standing up in the middle of the room, Giles turned and addressed his entire pack.
“Well, I think that this is everyone here. So, why don’t we eat first and then we can begin to discuss a few things. Enjoy!”
Buffy was sitting right in between Willow and Cordelia. It seemed that of the teenagers all of the girls had sat on one side with the boys right across from them. Angel was directly across from Buffy and next to him was Spike and Gunn. The room was already abuzz in friendly conversation, but the ten friends remained silently for a few moments as they all ate some of the delicious food. Angel was the first to speak up.
“So, Buffy, what did my parents want with you?” He could tell that she had been crying a bit and could only wonder why. He hoped it was nothing that his parents had done.
“Oh, they just wanted to talk to me about something,” Buffy replied, unsure if she was allowed to say anything about what they had discussed.
“What about?” asked Willow, curious.
“It was nothing.”
“So, B,” said Faith, jumping into the conversation. “Angel told me that he let you use his bathroom and that you were totally amazed.”
“Oh yeah,” said Buffy, smiling with relief that she had changed the topic. “I was totally amazed. You guys are so lucky to have such awesome bathrooms.”
“Yep,” sighed Xander, a dreamy look on his face. “We are living the life.”
“Did you actually going swimming in the pools?” asked Cordelia.
“No, I just took a quick shower and then left. However, I am curious as to what all the different pools are for.”
“They’re different temperatures,” volunteered Fred. “The big pool in the water is the cooler water and the smaller ones around the outside have hot water.”
“Like tons of different hot tubs!” exclaimed Cordelia, looking excited.
Their conversation continued on for a while, everyone enjoying their meal and just talking about unimportant things. Eventually, however, the meal finished up and Giles got up once again so he could speak to the pack.
“First of all,” he began, “are there any issues that any of you would like to address?” It was protocol for him to ask this any time there was a mass group meal, because it was a perfect time for everybody to talk together. Seeing that nobody had any questions, he continued.
“Okay then, well the main reason why we had this pack meal is to discuss the guest who has been staying with us for about two days.” As he was saying this he pointed to Buffy and waved her over with his hand. Knowing that she would have to go up in front of everyone, Buffy just took a deep breathe and then got up from her chair and made her way slowly up to where Giles was standing. When she had finally reached him and had turned around to face the hall, he continued on.
“Most of you have probably seen her around, maybe talked to her a bit, but anyways, her name is Buffy. Now, due to the situation that she has found herself in,” upon hearing this, Buffy looked down at the floor, trying to hold in her tears, “she is without a pack and has no where to go. We realize that none of us have ever met her before but we were hoping that all of you would be willing to support my mate’s and mine decision to invite her to become a member of our pack.”
Murmuring could be heard throughout the hall as everyone began talking all at once. Angel, on the other hand, was completely in shock and hadn’t uttered a single word. Buffy become a member of their pack? As in she would be living there and he would be able to see her everyday? He couldn’t believe it. Looking around at all of his friends he heard them talking quietly and to his relief they all agreed that it would be soooo cool.
“So,” said Giles, ending the noisy chatter, “if anyone objects to this please stand up and make yourself know.” When nobody stood up Buffy gave a small smile and Giles looked extremely pleased. “Great, I guess that settles it then. I thank you being for being so cooperative, and if no one else has anything else to say, then I think I can officially declare this dinner to be over.”
At this, everyone got up and some people began to file out of the room while others remained behind to talk some more. Buffy escaped from the front of the room as quickly as she could and headed back to where her friends were still waiting for her.
“So, Buff, welcome to pack!” grinned Xander.
“This is sooo cool, Buffy!” squealed Willow excitedly. She had been worried about when her blond friend would be leaving, but now that she was part of the pack there was nothing to fret about.
Buffy gave them all a sincere smile, but inside she was very conflicted. It was so amazing that she was allowed to become part of the pack, but on the other hand the only reason it was even happening was because her entire pack was gone, for good. She tried stifling the yawn that was overtaking her senses, but her efforts were useless.
“Tired, Buffy?” asked Fred kindly.
“A little,” she replied, smiling sheepishly.
“You should probably get your rest, it will help your body in the healing process,” said Angel, standing up. “Though, since you are going to be staying with us, we should definitely find you a better room.”
“Oh, I know!” exclaimed Willow. “She can share me and Fred’s room. You know how we’ve always had that extra bed in there that we just use to set stuff on?”
“Yeah!” agreed Fred. “We have plenty of extra room, ours is bigger than most so it would be no problem for you to move in too.”
“Umm, well, if that’s okay with you guys, sure,” replied Buffy, thrilled at the thought.
“That’s a good idea,” said Faith.
“Yeah,” agreed Oz. Looking at the clock over on the far wall, Willow stood up too.
“It’s getting kinda late, it’s already 8:50, so why don’t we head down there now and we can clear off the space for you and then you can head to bed?” she suggested.
Buffy just nodded and then she, Willow and Fred all left after saying goodbye to the others.
“Alright, bro, ‘fess up,” demanded Faith as soon as the trio had disappeared from sight.
“What?” asked Angel, looking genuinely confused.
“Oh, come on, Peaches!” exclaimed Spike. “You were only ogling blondie there for, like, the entire dinner!”
“Gotta agree with Spike, man,” said Gunn nodding his head.
“You like her, don’t even try to deny it!” said Faith smiling knowingly.
“You two would make such a perfect couple,” agreed Cordelia.
“Come on guys, I’ve only known her, for like, a day,” pleaded Angel, desperately hoping to escape from the conversation.
“So!” asked everyone unanimously.
“And so what if I do like her?” replied Angel, slightly irritated.
“I knew it!” screamed Faith delightedly as her brother’s cheeks turned red and he quickly left the hall amidst roars of laughter coming from the other teenagers.
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