The Way it Should Be: Going Under
by Whitney
Disclaimer: I own nothing, blah blah blah. (all Fox and Joss and whoever) Part I is all from Flooded. No, I did not write the script. I just added stuff to it to make it book-like.
Authors Note: I had Xander call Angel with the good news instead of Willow to make it more interesting.


Chapter One: Going Under


Buffy watched, forlorn, as Xander, Anya, and Willow left, carrying mangled bits of furniture and shards of glass. She could hardly bear to take her eyes away from them, knowing that when she did, she would have to witness ruined home. Her mother’s home.

This is the part where I blink back tears, Buffy thought bitterly, silently cursing herself for feelings of weakness. But this time, crying wasn’t necessary. She felt hollow and empty, as if someone had dug a pit in her soul. I’m a Buffy-shell.

Distantly, she heard Giles’s voice calling her back to Earth. “Buffy?”

She turned to him almost mechanically. Catching the worry in his kind eyes and furrowed brows, her torrent of emotions heightened.

“Giles, I don’t think I can do this.” Buffy whispered brokenly.
Giles’s heart broke for the girl. His student, his Slayer, practically his daughter. He could see her falling apart. He couldn’t help but notice her tired eyes, slumped stance, and wrinkled forehead. “Yes, you can.” he reassured. “Your mother dealt with this sort of thing all the time, without the aid of superpowers, and got through it all. So can you.”

That’s right. Buffy considered. I am my mother’s daughter, after all. Mother’s daughter? Why did I think that? What else would I be…?

Buffy shook her head to release her random, off-track thoughts and attempted to concentrate on the task at hand. “You sure?” she looked at Giles.

“I’m positive.”
Giles answered with such faith and confidence that Buffy couldn’t help but relax a bit.

The sound of the telephone filled the ears of Buffy, Giles, and Dawn, who had been watching her family’s exchange with some concern.

The sound had been unfamiliar for some time now. The last time Buffy had received calls was during her mother’s funeral. She didn’t think she would be able to take another sympathetic relative that she had never even heard of. Why couldn’t they have called when she was alive?

“Who’d be calling?” Buffy asked herself, perturbed. “Everyone I know lives here.” Shrugging inwardly, Buffy moved into the kitchen to pick up the receiver. “Be right back,” she called to Dawn and Giles. “We'll get into this. I want to kick financial obligation's ass.” Down with bills! Buffy thought with confidence.

After Buffy left the room, Dawn turned to Giles and stated matter-of-factly, “I bet it’s creditors. The hounding has begun. I read about it.”

Giles stared at the young teenager, dumbfounded.
“So, do you think we’ll starve?”

The older man suppressed a laugh inappropriate to the situation. “I very much doubt it,” he answered.

Dawn thought for a moment. “No chance I'll have to quit school and work assembling cheap toys in a poorly-ventilated sweatshop?”

Flabbergasted by the girl yet again, Giles uttered, “A poorly-ventilated… What have you been reading?”

Before Dawn could explain herself, Buffy re-entered the room, all signs of potential cheerfulness out the window. Dawn’s heart fluttered, sensing trouble. Giles caught Buffy’s grim expression with nearly the same reaction as Dawn’s.

“Buffy, what is it?” he inquired, apprehensive.

“Angel.”

With that single word, a thousand memories flashed through Giles’s mind.
~A vampire in love with the Slayer. It’s rather poetic, in a maudlin sort of way. ~
~I want to torture you. I used to love it, and it’s been a long time. I mean, the last time I tortured someone, they didn’t even have chain saws. ~
~As Watcher, I’ve buried many people. Too many… Jenny was the first I loved. ~
~I must remind you that Angel tortured me. For hours. For pleasure. You should have told me he was alive. ~

Giles snapped back to reality; he had to tend to Buffy. Past was past. “Is he in trouble?”

Buffy answered quickly. “He knows I’m… He needs to see me. And I have to see him.” There was quiet desperation behind her words.

Dawn inwardly cringed. Here comes the angst. She predicted some tears on Buffy’s return. Somehow, visits with Angel always ended that way.

“Yes, of course,” sympathized Giles, interrupting Dawn’s thoughts. “You’ll leave for L.A. tomorrow?” he suggested.

Buffy shook her head. “Not L.A. And not here.” she affirmed. “We’ll meet in the middle. There’s a place…”

“I see. Well, we’d better get these bills and things out of the way before you…” Giles was ready to get down to business. First things first.

“I gotta go now.” Buffy fidgeted, wringing her hands, already anxious for the reunion. Not waiting for permission or even a comment from her sister or Watcher, Buffy headed out quickly. Suddenly, she turned back to them, having forgotten something. “Thanks for taking care of this for me.” She gestured towards the living room that was now in shambles and the towering stack of bills.

Giles’s jaw nearly unhinged.


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