This little girl

Okay, so this story is never going to end. Oh well, I really like it. Please tell me what you think. Please. I am so not above begging.

Chapter 24

Buffy’s POV

Back to the hotel. Didn’t that used to be a song? With the horn beeping and everything? Oh well. So we were headed back to the hotel after a weird ass day. And Annie drew Cordy a picture. And not me. But hey, I’m cool with that. They all love her. I think it’s sweet, you know, and stuff… but sometimes I just wish Faith and I had our own place. Shit if we moved though, the whole fucking gang would probably move too.

“You okay over there, B?” Faith asked. She’s all concerned. I think that’s sweet. She’s probably just wigging – thinking about not getting to use those damn toys she bought.

I nodded, “Tell me what you bought?”

“Damn B. The kid’s in the backseat.”

“I was whispering.” I looked in the rearview. “Plus she’s asleep.” I hated when she teased me. I guess that was what she was doing. But come on, that was a huge bag. What the hell could have been it?

“Nope. I told you. It is a surprise. You are just going to have to wait.” She smiled smugly.

Argh. “I hate surprises. Like a lot. They suck. I need to know everything. All the time.”

She turned to look at me. She was still smiling with that dinky little smirk she gets. Whatever. “You are so not going to get me to tell you. It’s a waste of our time. You can beg and plead. And even stick that little lip out. But there is no way in hell I’m telling. So kiss it.”

Look at little Ms. Badass over there. She thinks she is so cool. “I wish you were half as cool as you think you are.”

“Why are you being so retarded? It’ll all work out in your favor.” She winked at me.

Annie decided to wake up. Wow. That was a long nap. A whole five minutes. “What did you buy today Mom?”

Faith shot me ‘see what I mean’ look before turning around. “I didn’t buy anything. Your mommy is a dork.”

I rolled my eyes. She is such a bad liar.

“You are a bad liar, mom.” I swear to you that Annie and I have this telepathic / kinesis / thingie going on.

“No kidding Annie. Cause she did buy something. Something that I am going to take straight back to the store.”

Faith looked at me, “Are you serious? Stop talking about this in from of the mini.”

Annie then, taking a cue from her mother, rolled her eyes. “Never mind. It’s one of those secret things, isn’t it? You two are so weird.”

Everyone was waiting for us at the hotel when we got back. Jesus, you’d think Ann had just graduated college, or come home from the Peace Corps or something.

Cordy ran up to her, “And how, my beautiful girl, was your first day at school?”

Annie giggled, “I drawed you a picture.”

Cor picked her up, “Are you kidding me? A picture just for me.”

Annie nodded and handed to her. Whatever Cordelia. So you got a picture. Big freaking whoop.

“Is this me and you on the beach?” Annie nodded again. “Where’s the two dorky slayers? Oh wait don’t tell me – in the shark’s belly. That is super clever of you.”

She turned to look at us, “Where are your pictures?”

You see, it is time like these that I want to harm Cordelia. In a permanent kind of way. Like take her arms and maybe twist them around so that she…

“I didn’t draw them none.”

She beamed. Oh hell, this was getting to be way too much. I so don’t care. Okay, who am I kidding. I was supposed to be the ones getting a picture.

Cordelia took the picture and held it out in front of her. “Well I am going to hang it right over here. So everyone can see just how cool the two of us are.”

Can I set her on fire now?

Willow picked Annie up and twirled her around. Kennedy came up from behind her. “Everything go okay? You didn’t have to kick any ass?”

Oh for the love. Do they all have to have dirty mouths? Jesus, it was like living with a bunch of sailors.

Annie smiled, “Nope no booty kicking. Everyone is real nice. Plus they had a monkey.”

Everyone looked surprised. Faith and I shrugged our shoulders. “No clue,” Faith said.

“Who had a monkey?” Willow said.

“The teacher’s friend. He works at the zoo, and sometimes he can bring the animals to school. I asked him to bring a tiger, but he said they were too big. I don’t think they are too big, do you?” She asked.

Willow shrugged, “I’m thinking a tiger wouldn’t be that good of an idea.”

Annie looked like she had just remembered something then, “I forgot. He knew you mommy.”

Huh. “He knew me?”

“Uh huh. He said, ‘tell your mommy I said hi.’”

Okay. Everyone was looking at me. Trying to think back here – nope don’t know any zoo people. Knew a few people who needed to be in the zoo. But nope, no zoo people.

“What?” I said, “I don’t know anyone from the zoo.”

Faith cocked an eyebrow at me.

I shrugged my shoulders. Seriously, no zoo people.

Annie held her hand up, “Oh yeah. Riley. He said his name was Riley. And he used to be your boyfriend.” She realized what she had said and got a confused look on your face. “I thought you didn’t like boys. You like girls. When did you have a boyfriend?” She looked at Faith, “He said he knowed you too. Both my moms.”

Well hell. Everyone looked surprised. Right there with you. Faith just looked pissed.


Faith’s POV

I swear to ever loving Christ. Beefstick. What the fuck ever? What the hell did he want? And why the fuck was he at my kid’s school? With a monkey no less? I turned to look at B.

She looked shocked. “Did he say what he was doing here in LA?”

She giggled, “I told you silly. He worked for the zoo. He’s the monkey guy.”

“You got that right,” me and Angel said at the exact same time. Then he high-fived me.

Buffy rolled her eyes. She looked around the room. “What? I don’t know why he’s here. I haven’t seen him since he and his wife came to Sunnydale that time. That’s it. Last I heard they were in Borneo or someplace.”

Last she heard. She been keeping tabs on the bubblehead?

“Nah uh. He don’t have a wife. She…” she put her hand to her head for a minute. “Oh yeah. She went to live in Africa. With a bunch of other peoples. That’s what he said. He asked me where we lived.”

I spun around, “Did you tell him!?!”

Oh I scared her. She looked like she was going to cry, “Was I not ‘pposed to?”

Dawn picked her up, “Don’t pay attention to your moms. They are surprised to see that he’s in town. I always like him. He was really cute.”

Annie nodded, “He was cute.”

“Whatever,” I said.

Cordy perked up though. “Cute in the really hot way. Or cute in the ‘I dated Buffy so I must be a dork’ way.”

Buffy threw a couch pillow at the queen.

“Hey, that hurt,” she said, rubbing her head.

Dawn turned to me and B. “Do you care if we go have ice cream? I know it’s close to dinner and all, but it’s a special day.”

I shrugged. I was still trying to figure out why the hell beefstick is in town. And apparently stalking my child.

B looked as distracted as I did. “Sure,” she mumbled.

“Well I’m going too,” Kennedy said.

Then Cordy grabbed her purse.

“We did not ask you to go.” Dawn said.

“Like I care. Did you get a picture drawn for you today? Didn’t think so. That means I’m Annie’s favorite today. So I am so going. Plus I wanted to take her in that shop.”

“What shop?” B asked.

“The one with the little sparkly dresses in the window. I promised I would buy her one.”

“Cordelia, she cannot wear sparkly dresses to school.”

Cordy rolled her eyes, “Well I don’t see why the hell not.” She took Annie’s other hand. Kennedy followed them out.

Willow mused, “Wow. This is weird. Riley huh?”

Xander walked in, “Riley? What about Riley?”

“He’s in town,” Willow said.

“Oh that’s great,” Xander said smiling.

I can’t help it. I sorta growled at him. But how the hell is that great?

He held up his hands, “Or not,” he said, backing away.

“Well I for one do not like him going to Annie’s school.” Angel said. Right there with ya soul boy.

Buffy sighed and sat down, “He would never hurt Annie.”

Willow nodded, “I wonder if he needs something. Maybe he can’t contact us for some reason. Maybe it’s dangerous or something.”

Who the hell cares? “So,” I said, “it’s okay for him to contact my daughter. Yeah that makes a fuckin lot of sense.”

B shook her head, “No. He wouldn’t put Annie in danger. Ever. He’s not like that. It must be something else. Or maybe… maybe it was just a coincidence.”

“Yeah right B. He just happened to be at Annie’s school. Cause now after all his military training and shit he has decided to quit it all and take care of monkeys. That makes a shitload of sense. And then he just happened to look at Annie, and figure out not only that she’s your daughter, but mine as well. Yeah perfect sense.”

Angel sat down, “I don’t trust him. He must be up to something.”

B looked at him, “No you don’t like him. That’s why you don’t trust him.”

“Hell B. What’s up with sticking up for him.”

“I’m not sticking up for him. I just wonder why he’s here.”

“Wonder why who’s here?” I heard.

We all turned around. And there was beefstick. Standing there with the sun coming in behind him. He looked like some reject from a B movie.

Everyone was just staring at him.

Fuck this shit, “Where’s your monkey asshole? And why are you stalking my daughter?” I asked, moving closer.

He walked in and ignored me all together. “Buffy, it’s good to see you.”

She got up and hugged him. And now I was going to have to kill him. And I so didn’t want to go back to jail.

“What brings you to LA?” She asked. Why the fuck was she so calm.

He smiled at her, “Well you. Of course.”

Yep. He was a dead man.

Buffy’s POV

Okay. I looked to Faith. She looked ready to strike.

“Faith it’s okay.”

She shook her head and walked closer, “Nope. Not all right.” She put her finger in Riley’s chest, “What the hell are you doing here, monkey boy?”

He smiled at her. But he didn’t back up. Good god, she could kick his ass all the way to next Sunday. I’m not sure if he was brave, or just stupid. “I needed to talk to Buffy. About Annie.”

Faith’s face flashed, “You need to stay away from our daughter is what you need to do. She’s not your concern.” I could see that she was angry. Angrier than I have ever seen her. And that was saying a whole hell of a lot.

I put my arm on her shoulder, “Please Faith. Let’s hear him out.”

She crossed her arms and walked away. She went to sit by Angel on the couch. Both of them had a death stare that was starting to bother me. Well at least they were able to bond. Dumbasses.

Willow and Xander walked up.

“Good to see you Riley,’ Xander said, shaking his hand.

Willow hugged him. “So what’s up with Annie?”

Riley look at me, “She’s in danger Buffy.”

What? What sort of danger? She’s just getting ice cream.

I started to move out the door, but he stopped me. Faith and Angel both popped up from the couch.

Riley shook his head, “Not right now. I mean…” He smiled a bit and tried again, “She’s special.”

Faith rolled her eyes, “Big fucking duh. You had to come all the way here to tell us something we already know.”

Riley turned to her, “I know you hate me.”

She nodded. Well, at least she was honest.

He shrugged, “And I don’t like you either. But your daughter is Buffy’s daughter. And that makes me…” he trailed off.

She smirked, “Jealous?”

He shook his head again, “No. Worried. There’s a force rising. Something is happening. Intel is pretty sketchy right now, but be forewarned… something is coming and it knows all about the slayer line converging.”

World spinning. I needed to sit down. Please tell me he was kidding. I didn’t expect anything like this to happen. Not while she was so young.

Faith walked closer to him. A mixture of horror and anger crossing her face. “You better not be fucking with us, monkey boy.”

“You don’t actually think I work for the zoo do you?”

“I don’t give a fuck who you work for. I want to know how you know all of this. And what it has to do with Annie.” Her voice was so even it scared me. I know she was frightened, so was I, but she was going to have to calm down.

I looked over at Xander and Willow, “Will you guys please go find them?” I was starting to get terrified and worried.

They both nodded. “We’ll be back shortly.”

I looked at Faith. She was shaking. I walked over to her and put my hand on her back. “Calm down. We’re gonna get to the bottom of this. Okay?”

She couldn’t look at me for staring at Riley. Angel came and stood behind her.

I looked at both of them, “You two are going to have to get over this shit, okay?”

They both looked like they wanted to kill me. I so didn’t care.

I led Riley over to the sofa. “Tell me what you know. Everything.”

He nodded, “We’ve been keeping an eye on you for a while. We knew about Annie. But it was recon and nothing more. I didn’t want to upset you. And trust me Buffy, I have always had your best interest at heart. But I was not to contact you – those were the orders. Under no circumstances. They just wanted to make sure…” he trailed off and looked down and sighed. “Everything was okay, I guess. And so I followed them. But then,” he looked back up, “some info came in. We don’t know that much about it. Or I haven’t been told that much. I think they wanted to keep me out of the loop as much as possible. They knew how much I…”he didn’t finish. He didn’t have to.

I put my hand on his knee. “It’s okay.” I ran my fingers through my hair. Why does this shit always happen? “So they don’t know you are here?”

He shrugged. “They probably do. I don’t care. When I realized they didn’t have yours or Annie’s best interest…well I’m here aren’t I?”

Faith shook her head, “And what fucking good does that do us? So what if you are here? You don’t seem to know shit. Except something’s coming. Well I hate to break it to you big guy, but something is always coming.”

He looked at her, “Yes Faith I am well aware that all of you deal with danger on a regular basis. I’m in the thick of it as well. But this… this is not about you. Or Buffy. This is about your daughter. And so you need to get your head in the game here and get over whatever it is that has got you so pissed at me. Because all I recall is that I was used and deceived by you. Not the other way around.”

She jerked and moved closer to him, “How do we know that you are not in on this? If you think for one moment that I would let anything happen to her, you are sadly fucking mistaken. I would kill to protect her.”

“You’ve killed for lesser reasons.”

She lunged. I could see it coming but couldn’t stop it. She was just too damn close. Angel and I jumped at the same time. He caught her first. She was jerking and swinging. “Get the fuck off of me soul boy! I’m gonna kick his ass!”

Angel was shaking his head. I couldn’t believe he still able to hold on her. She was losing it.

I walked over to her. And slapped her. She looked stunned. So sue me. She’s probably gonna really kick my ass later, but I don’t care. She had to calm the fuck down. We still didn’t know what was going on and she was pulling this jealousy crap.

“Faith, goddamnit, focus.”

She lunged towards me. What the hell is her problem? “Fuck you B.”

I slammed her against the wall. She was struggling but not using all of her strength. She was scared. “Please baby, just calm down,” I whispered. I kissed her forehead. “We’ll figure this out. But you freaking is not going to help matters. Okay?” Please say yes. Please say yes.

She nodded, “Okay.”

Riley tried again. “All I know is that she is in danger. There are some very powerful people out there. And they know about her.” He looked to Faith, “They had someone. Someone watching both of you. This operative, the one who was following you Buffy,” he turned to me, “was killed. Or she killed herself. She’d been staked out across the street for months. I think it was just her job to watch. But we intercepted some information and dispatched someone to bring her in. Someone must have known we were coming, though I don’t know how, cause when we got there she was dead. Gunshot wound. Most likely self-inflicted.”

He turned and looked at Faith again, “Yours was a little closer. I assume you know a Sarah Glasshouse.”

Faith paled. That must have been the bitch from the phone that night. Jesus Faith was fucking this… woman?

I raised my eyebrow to Riley, “She was with Faith? Why? I don’t understand. Faith didn’t even know about Annie.”

He looked at Faith again, “You were in Europe Faith. Before you came to LA. What drew you back here?”

What? She was in Europe? How the hell did he know that?

“Buffy. I came for Buffy.”

He didn’t look convinced. “Don’t think we didn’t know where you were Faith. Those little magic pills may have kept your location a secret from them. But not from us. We kept tabs on you.”

She shrugged, “Glad to see I was so important.” Why the fuck is she being nonchalant, now for god’s sakes? What are they talking about?

He tried again, “What brought you back?”

She sat down. “Dreams. Dreams of B. I dreamt,” she didn’t make eye contact with me, “that she was in trouble…that she needed me. They were really strong. Slayer dreams.” Dreams? What dreams? She didn’t mention anything about slayer dreams?

He shook his head. “How does that make sense though? She wasn’t in trouble when you got here. Was she?”

She shook her head back. “No.”

He nodded. “You had been close to LA a dozen times in the last five years.”

What the fuck? “How close?” I asked.

He ignored me. Asshole.

“Faith, we think Sarah planted those dreams. I don’t know how, but they sent you back here.”

“Why?” She asked, “Why would they want me closer to Annie? That doesn’t make sense. I could help to protect her.”

He shook his head, “I’m not thinking you were brought here to protect her. I think you were brought here to distract her.”

I took a deep breath. This could not be happening.

He turned to me, “Buffy I know this is difficult to understand, but she is in danger. A lot of danger. And we need to get her out of here. So you…” he turned to Faith, “Both of you, are going to have to trust me. It’s not going to go down in the next day or two, but it’s going to go down. And she’s got to not be here when it does.”

I looked at Faith. She was wringing her hands together. She was terrified.

I nodded at him.



I know, I know drama. Sue me.

TBC