Good Can Get Better (RE-VAMPED)

Notes: Crossover with Buffy, Angel, and Roswell, Roswell follows the same time line as the last two stories of the Bad Girl sreies and Angel follows the original timeline that Joss has set up to ‘Waiting In The Wings’.

Disclaimer: You guys know the drill, I don’t own nothing, yadda, yadda, yadda, not making any money off this, blah, blah, blah.



Sarah shot up in bed as Serena started crying.

“I’ll go.” Oz offered quietly from beside her.

“You sure?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah.” He said kissing her forehead then getting up and making his way to the nursery. A month ago Sarah had bought Angel’s old mansion and hired Xander’s construction company to modernize it and put in the necessities like carpeting and better lights. She smiled when the baby stopped sobbing. Oz had this amazing ability to calm her so quickly. She got up and went down the hall, watching from the doorway as the werewolf rocked the infant in his arms. Smiling softly Sarah went back to her bedroom and waited for him to return. It only took a few minutes for him to get Serena back to sleep.

“I still don’t know how you do that.” Sarah said when he rejoined her. “Besides me no one else can get her to stop crying except you.”

“I thought Max could.” Oz said pulling her to his side and wrapping his arms around her waist.

“He likes to think so, but only if I’m in the room.” Sarah said with a giggle.

“You’re evil.” Oz said.

“Yes, yes I am.” Sarah said with a smirk.

Oz laughed softly tucking her head under his chin.

~~~~~

The next morning Sarah groaned as the heavy drapes to her windows were pulled to the side letting the sun bath her room in a soft glow.

“Wake up, sleepy head.” Buffy’s perky voice said penetrating her sleep-fogged brain

“Go away.” Sarah murmured pulling her blanket over her head.

“Nope.” Crys said pulling the blanket off her friend and throwing in across the room.

“Where’s Oz?” Sarah asked.

“He had to go pick up some equipment for Devon, he didn’t want to wake you so he called us to take care of Serena until you woke up.” Buffy said.

“And yet I’m awake and it was not of my own will.” Sarah growled.

“Sarah, it’s almost 2 in the afternoon, I think your daughter would like to see you at least once today.” Will said.

“That’s still so weird. My daughter. Who would have thought, me Miss Rock Star would be a mother.”

“Sure as hell not me.” Jess said as she came into the room with a tray of breakfast.

“Ooo, room service.” Sarah said, her eyes lighting up. She smiled warmly at Jess, glad that her old friend had made the monthly trip with Max and Crys.

“We thought you deserved it.” Crystal said.

“Thanks, guys. Hey, Buff, can you go get Serena and bring her in here.”

“Sure.” Buffy said.

Sarah looked down at her tray. Blueberry pancakes with powdered sugar and Tabasco sauce, her favorite.

“Where’s Max?” Sarah asked.

“He and Xander are doing the whole guy bonding thing today.” Will said.

“Oh, how cute.” Sarah said with a grin. “I guess it is nice that Xander has another male around, I mean he won’t go near Spike even though he’s involved with Buffy.”

“And Michael, Alex, and Kyle have been working a lot so Max could use the companionship too.” Jess said .

Buffy came in; Serena cradled in her arms.

“Oh, goddess. What is she wearing?” Sarah asked, pointing to the frilly pink dress.

“Something Isabel bought for her.” Buffy said.

“I hate pink.” Sarah grumbled.

“I refuse to let you dress her in black everyday.” Buffy said setting the baby on the bed by her mother.

“Yeah, but pink? Come on.” Sarah said quickly eating the last few bits on her plate then turning her attention to her daughter. She lifted the baby into her arms and caught a tiny hand in her own. “Hello, princess.” Sarah said, smiling down at the infant.

Serena looked up at Sarah and smiled her baby blue eyes twinkling.

“So, Oz stayed here again last night. I don’t see why he doesn’t just move in with you.” Jess said, sitting down in a black leather chair in one corner of the Master bedroom.

“Because Oz isn’t going to be here forever.” Sarah said simply.

“What do you mean?” Crys asked.

“The band isn’t planning on staying in Sunnydale forever. When the Dingoes leave Oz will go with them.”

“Oh, Sarah. I’m sorry…” Crystal began but the singer cut her off.

“It’s okay. When Oz and I first started seeing each other we talked about this. We both knew that this wasn’t a permanent thing. I mean I care about Oz and I’ll miss him when he leaves but I’m not in love with him, I knew that this was just temporary. We enjoy each other’s company, that’s all we were looking for right now.” Sarah said.

“Is the band planning on leaving soon?” Jess asked.

“Yeah, a few weeks ago Maria met this talent scout in Roswell and gave her a tape of the Dingoes. The band might have a chance to get signed.” Sarah said. “They’re going to New York in a few days.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Buffy asked.

“Because I didn’t want you to worry about me, which I knew you would because you’re all good friends. I’m fine with it. Oz and the guys might have a chance to become something, to live out the dream every band has.”

“The dream you had before Serena you mean.” Buffy said, it was a statement not a question.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t matter now. Serena needs a mother not a rock star. But this is an amazing opportunity for the Dingoes and I am making sure Oz gets on that plane to New York if it’s the last thing I do.” Sarah said. “I just want to enjoy the time I have left with him, you know?”

“Understandable. Now, get out of bed. We are going to go shopping for Serena, no black and no pink.” Will said.

At that moment Buffy’s pager went off. “Sorry guys, I’ll have to bail. Giles needs me.”

“I think I’m gonna go with Buffy, I’m not really in a shopping mood today.” Sarah said. “But Serena does need some more clothes so go get my gold card out of my wallet and have a field day, remember no pink.”

“Yes ma’am.” Crys said with a mock salute.

Sarah got dressed, changed Serena’s outfit then went down stairs to meet Buffy in the main hall.

“Ready?” The slayer asked.

“Yep, you wanna drive?” Sarah asked tossing Buffy the keys.

“I love you.” Buffy said, she never passed on a chance to drive Sarah’s new Grand Am GT. Sarah traded in the Jag when Serena was born, needing something with a back seat for the baby’s car-seat.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Sarah said with a grin.


~~~~~


When Buffy and Sarah entered the Magic Box it was chaos. People yelling and running around, books everywhere. The girls looked at each other then both put their fingers to their lips and whistled loudly effectively shutting everyone up. Serena didn’t even bat an eye at the commotion; she was used to it.

“What is going on here?” Buffy asked.

“Prophecy.” Giles said.

“Very bad.” Willow added.

“Okay, start from the beginning.” Sarah said lifting Serena out of her stroller.

Giles explained about the demon that was supposedly going to rise in a few weeks, if they didn’t stop the demon it would be the end of the world, for when it rose the Hellmouth would open.

“So how do we stop it?” Buffy asked.

“There’s an incantation and a ritual that must be preformed but the book it’s in has been lost for several hundred years.” Willow said.

“Did you talk to the council?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, they’re going to look into the whereabouts of the book and get back to us. Until then we must try to find another way.” Giles said, gesturing around at the mountain of open books. “And you must keep patrolling, Buffy. According to the information we have demons and vampires will sense what’s going to happen and flock here.”

“Great.” Buffy said rolling her eyes.

“What can I do?” Sarah asked.

“Grab a book so I can go get food.” Xander said.

“Sure.” Sarah said taking Xander’s vacated seat.

Xander took orders then went to the mini mart for some provisions.

“I forgot to ask Xander, what happened to Max?” Sarah asked.

“Liz called and she needed to talk to him about something so Xander came here to help.” Anya said.

Sarah nodded and went back to the book she was reading, gently shifting a sleeping Serena in her lap.

The phone rang and Giles jumped to answer it, he spoke quietly for a moment and then hung up.

“Well?” Buffy asked.

“The council has located the book, it’s in the possession of Wolfram & Hart.” Giles said.

“You got to be kidding me!” Buffy said, various groans and sounds of disbelief came from the other occupants of the room.

“Uh, guys? Who?” Sarah asked.

“This law firm in LA who caters to demons and vamps. Angel’s gone against them more than once.” Buffy said.

“Did I mention how much I don’t believe in coincidences,” Willow said. “Check this out, not only is the incantation to kill the demon in that book, so is the ritual to bring it forth.”

“What the hell? So now I have to deal with LA’s sleaze balls and the Hellmouth?”

“I don’t buy it.” Spike said as he came up from the basement. “What would Wolfram & Hart have to gain by sucking the world into Hell? They’re a corporation, they want money and probably world domination but not world destruction.”

“Spike’s right.” Sarah said.

“Thanks, luv. Here, let me take the little princess for a while.” The blonde vampire said reaching for the baby.

“There may be another way to raise the demon, I mean Anya could have done it without the ritual when she was a vengeance demon, right?” Sarah said giving Serena to Spike.

“Yeah.” Anya said nodding. “A powerful witch could probably pull it off too.”

“So what’s the plan?” Sarah asked.

“I’ll call Angel and see if he has anyway of getting the book for us, then we’ll go from there.” Buffy said walking over to the phone. She dialed the number and waited.

“Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless.” Cordelia’s voice said over the line.

“Hey Cordy. It’s Buffy.”

“Hi, how are you?” Cordelia asked.

“As good as can be expected. You?”

“I’m great.”

“That’s good. Is Angel around?”

“I think the Master of Brood is here somewhere. Give me a sec and I’ll find him.”

“Okay, thanks.” Buffy said. She only waited a moment before Angel picked up the phone.

“Hello?” He asked.

“Hi Angel.” Buffy said.

“Buffy, what is it?”

“Wolfram & Hart. They have a book, we need it. Is there anyway you could get it for us?”

“Maybe, tell me what book it is and I’ll see what I can do. Is it serious?” Angel asked worriedly.

“Very serious, Angel. End of the world serious.” Buffy said quietly. “The book is called Incantations of The Laknesh. It was written over two hundred years ago by a group Laknesh demons.”

“Alright. We’ll get on it.”

“Thanks Angel.” Buffy said then hung up the phone. “He’s going to see what they can do.”

“So, research?” Willow asked.

“It’s all we can do until we hear from Angel.” Giles said.

“Oh goodie.” Xander said as he came in with an armload of bags.

The gang researched for a few hours then stopped for another snack break. The sun set and Buffy and Spike left to patrol. Sarah walked around the magic shop, book in one hand, Serena in the other cradled to her chest.

“Could someone get that?” Giles called from the stacks as the phone rang.

“I’ll get it.” Sarah said putting down her book and shifting the baby in her arms to pick up the phone. “Magic Box, Sarah speaking.”

“Sarah? This is Cordelia.” The seer said, remembering what Willow had told her about the singer.

“Cordelia, hi. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Don’t believe a word of it, especially anything Xander said.” The former cheerleader said with a chuckle. “Can you hold on for Angel?”

“Sure.” Sarah said sitting down behind the counter.

“Sarah, this is Angel.” The vampire said after a moment.

“Hi, do you have news for us?”

“I do but it’s not going to be of much help. I talked to someone who used to work for Wolfram & Hart. He told me that they do have the book but at this point it would be almost impossible for me to get in alone and none of my staff can fight well enough to back me up.”

Sarah laughed as she heard Cordy yell an offended ‘Hey!’ in the background.

“What if Buffy came down to help?” Sarah asked, glancing back at Giles who had walked over to her. “Hold on one second, Angel. I’m going to put you on speaker phone so you can talk to Giles too.” Sarah punched the speaker button then placed the phone on the cradle.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea for Buffy to leave the Hellmouth. If what Lindsey said was true about this demon and everything that’s going to be pulled there you’ll need the slayer in Sunnydale.” Angel said.

“Quite right.” Giles said. “But we need this book or it won’t matter if we have the slayer.”

“I could go.” Sarah said. “I mean with my active powers I would probably be suitable back up.”

“Not to mention you kicked Spike’s ass from here to next Tuesday the last time you sparred and didn’t use your powers once.” Xander shouted with a laugh and a goofy grin.

“What do you think Giles?” Angel asked.

“I’m confident in Sarah’s ability, she's been patrolling with Buffy ever since she arrived in Sunnydale but are you sure you want to go?”

“Yes, Giles. People’s lives are at stake. Not to mention that Oz is driving down to LA to catch his flight, this way I’ll be able to have a little more time with him and make sure he gets on that plane.”

“It’s fine with me.” Angel said.

“Alright then. When is Oz leaving?” Giles asked.

“Tomorrow morning. Would it be alright if I brought my daughter?” Sarah asked Angel.

“Of course, she and Connor can do some baby bonding.” Angel said and the young singer could hear the slight smirk in his voice.

“Okay, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night then. Oz’s flight leaves at 12:00 PM. I’ll come by the hotel after I see him off.”

“Alright.” Angel said.

“I guess I better go pack.” Sarah said after she disconnected with Angel. “Do you mind if I leave Serena here until I’m done.”

“Can I hold her for a while?” Xander asked joining the duo. Sarah nodded and handed the infant over.

“Not at all. Go right ahead.” Giles said with a smile.

Willow turned and watched as Xander sat Serena down in a playpen Anya kept set up in the store. She smiled as the infant gazed up at him, her eyes shining, and a tiny smile on her face as Xander made silly faces. Giggling the redhead made her way over to her childhood friend rolling her eyes as he did ‘baby talk’.

“You know you should talk to her normally, Xand. Her brain will develop faster that way.” Willow informed him.

“Really? Well I was just professing my undying love for her.”

“I don’t think she’s your type.” Willow said with a chuckle. “Come on, enough stalling we have to get back to researching.”

“Fine, ruin my fun.” Xander said a pout on his face as he walked over to the table and threw himself into a chair next to Anya

They researched until Sarah came to pick up the baby then decided to call it a night.

“Sarah, why don’t you let Tara and I take Serena for the night. Give you and Oz some alone time.” Willow suggested.

“Really? That’s so sweet. Thank you.” Sarah said. Willow knew how hard it was to say goodbye to someone like Oz. Sarah handed Willow the baby bag. “Everything you’ll need should be in there. Thanks again, Will.”

~~~

The next morning every gathered at Spike and Buffy’s to say goodbye to Oz.

“Good luck, man. Tell the guys I said the same.” Xander told Oz.

“Will do.”

“We better go, guys.” Sarah said.

“Do you have everything you’ll need?” Giles asked.

“Yep, Willow gave me everything for the ritual, if I get the book I’ll perform it as soon as I get somewhere safe.” Sarah told the former watcher.

“Crys said she, Max, and the rest of the Roswell gang were going to go with you.” Buffy said.

“Yeah, they need to head back to Roswell so they figured they’d head down to LA spend a few days in the city then get back to New Mexico. Max is worried about me he wants to be close in case anything goes wrong in Wolfram and Hart.”

“Okay, have a good trip.” The slayer said hugging the singer.

“And don’t forget to check your stance so you don’t leave your right side open when you fight.” Spike said with a smirk.

“Thanks Spike, I’ll miss you too.” Sarah said rolling her eyes.

“You know I’ll miss you, you twit.” Spike said wrapping his arms tightly around the girl. “It gets a little boring here without you, no one to kick my arse.”

With a final look around and another chorus of good-byes Sarah and Oz made their way out to the car. Although the trip was long it was made mostly in silence. Sarah and Oz had said their goodbye’s the night before. They’d each given the other something they were missing but they both knew they weren’t forever even though they’d always hold a special place in the other’s heart.