And Then There Were Three: We Owe you a favor..
by DiabloVixen
----------------------------------Chapter 6 -------------------------------------------
(Back at the Summers’ house, Dawn and Paige were just finishing their cereal. Then the phone rang)
Dawn turned her back to the counter and ran to answer the phone. It was Willow, she explained what they found, it wasn’t Paige, it was vampires.
Paige didn’t know what the conversation was about but she heard Dawn say, “Yeah she’s right here.” And shot a glance in her direction. Paige knew they were talking about her.
“I’ll Be Rite back.” Dawn said as she hung up the phone and headed upstairs to wake Buffy.
Paige had waited for an opportunity like this. She couldn’t stay here…
Buffy and Dawn headed back downstairs into the kitchen a few minutes later, Dawn explained to Buffy what Willow told her over the phone. Buffy still seemed skeptical, after what Faith did to her; she was still slow to trust anyone new, especially a slayer.
The entered the kitchen and looked around. Paige was gone.
“Where did she go? She was right here.” Dawn said looking around to the dining room and living room.
Buffy walked over to the counter, in between the bowls and glasses there was a note.
‘Thanks, Goodbye’. She showed it to Dawn. “Simple and to the point.” She said coldy as she handed it to Dawn. Buffy wasn’t hiding the fact that she was happy this girl was gone.
Dawn shot Buffy a stern look. “Lets go to the Magic Shop, we need to get everyone, we need to find her.”
“No, we don’t, we’re not her parents. Remember she murdered those.” Buffy said, her version of a harsh joke.
“NO SHE DIDN’T!” Dawn shouted impatient and angry, Buffy was shocked by her shouting.
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(Dawn walked into the Magic Shop and right over to the group at the table, Buffy strolled in behind her obviously not in a rush to do anything.)
“She split.” Dawn announced to group. “We need to find her.”
“Why?” Buffy asked. She was getting sick of Dawn’s worrying. “She’s a slayer she can handle herself.”
“She has nothing, Buffy. She’s alone and hurt, thanks to you guys.” Dawn said, sharing glares between Xander and Buffy, neither had a comeback.
“Dawn’s right, we have to look out for her, anyway she could be a powerful ally against Faith and Glory.” Willow added, still shocked by the young slayer’s age.
“Or she could be a powerful ally with Faith and Glory.” Giles added trying to convince Buffy of the pros of finding this young slayer. “It would be better to get to her before Faith and Glory do.”
“She can handle herself, if she wants to be our friend, then I’m not stopping her, but I’m not going out of my way for this girl.” Buffy said. The scoobies looked at her, this attitude was something they never saw in Buffy.
“What is wrong with you?” Dawn added.
“Nothing, I’m just saying, I handled myself fine. This girl is suppose to have amazing power, she can handle herself better.” Buffy said unconvincingly.
“Buffy, it has nothing to do with power.” Xander said looking at Buffy as she stared at the ground.
“What do you mean?” Buffy said looking up in confusion.
“This girl is 14 years old, her family is dead, she has no one else in the world, and now she’s wounded.” Giles said taking his glasses off to clean them, but still staring at Buffy.
Buffy looked up feeling a little guilty, she was so young, how could someone so young deal with stuff like this. “Fourteen?!?”
Buffy still had to work on trusting Paige, but they were right, they can’t leave Paige by herself.
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(The group split up to hunt for Paige. Dawn and Buffy were together, searching around town, they were walking down the road by the Coffee Shop.)
“She’s not going to be here.” Buffy said looking around at all the people. Dawn said nothing, she was still angry with her sister’s behavior. Buffy got the hint from Dawn’s silence, but she continued, “I’m just saying, if I was in her position, I would want to be somewhere quiet. Someplace where I couldn’t be found.” Buffy said looking at Dawn waiting this angry silence to stop.
“Where would *you* go?” Dawn said in a more friendly tone.
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(They went through the woods and came to a clearing, there was a cliff that overlooked the town, much like the one Buffy found Angel on. During Christmas eve when he was going to kill himself with the sunrise. Buffy picked the right place, Paige was standing near the edge of the cliff looking over the town, a red backpack was near her feet. Paige seemed deep in thought.)
They had spent all their time looking for Paige, they had no idea what they were going to say to her.
Paige must have noticed they were there because she started talking, not taking her eyes off the scenery to face them.
“You every hear the saying ‘you never know what you have, until you don’t have it anymore.” Paige said still watching the houses and people below.
“Paige, we know the truth, we know that you didn’t kill…” Buffy said stepping closer toward Paige. Buffy’s voice was as sincere as she could make it.
“I did.” Paige said turning away from them and looking at the ground.
“You didn’t, I know how you feel, but you can’t blame yourself…” Buffy said.
“Why Not?!?” Paige shouted, there was such pain and rage in her voice. “I stood there…I stood there and watched them die, I had the strength to save them, but I didn’t. I watched as the vampires sucked the life out of everyone I loved. I was too SCARED to even move… scared.” She repeated to herself, almost laughing pathetically at herself. “I didn’t even have the strength to move until they came after me.”
“You can’t blame yourself for being afraid.” Dawn said, walking over to join the conversation. “We all are afraid sometimes.”
Paige looked up at them, tears were forming in her eyes. Dawn tried to step towards her but she backed away, “Don’t” she said holding her hand out.
“It was a mistake, we’re all human.” Buffy said, seeing this young girl in pain bothered her.
“I’m not human, I’m nothing.” She replied.
“How can you say that?” Dawn said looking at her with pity.
“Before I was assigned this*job* I was human, I was a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a niece, a friend, a girlfriend, a student, an athlete, a babysitter… I was everything. Now I’m a *slayer* and nothing else.” She said looking back at the town.
“All those people down there, they have no idea how lucky they are, to have what they have…” She broke off still staring at the town.
“So what you’re going to do nothing with your life?” Buffy asked looking at Paige, taking a step closer.
“What am I suppose to do?” Paige asked looking back at Buffy.
“What you were destined to do. Be a Slayer, save lives. Prevent what happened to you from happening to anyone else.” Buffy replied. Paige stood there absorbing what Buffy was telling her. “We happen to need some help here, you can live with me and Dawn, and we have plenty of room.”
“I couldn’t ask that of…” Paige began but Dawn interrupted her.
“You did save my life…twice. We owe you a favor, plus we really need you help.” Dawn added.
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