Genesis

Disclaimer : See Chapter 1

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It was just before ten and Buffy and Faith were lying on their beds in silence both staring at the ceiling. There was a knock at the door and Faith called from her position for the person to come in. First Giles walked in followed by Xander, Willow, Kennedy, Andrew and finally Wood.

“Good morning both.” Giles greeted them as he entered.

“Morning everyone.” Buffy replied as she moved on her bed to sit Indian style. Xander sat on the end of her bed and smiled at her gently.

“Where’s Dawn?” Buffy asked.

“She told me to tell you that whatever decision you make she will be happy with, she told me she didn’t want to leave you again and said that she wanted to go where you went.” Willow replied softly to the blond slayer.

“She really said that.” Buffy looked stunned and happy at the same time. She didn’t think that Dawn would want to stay with her, not after everything, but she was relieved that she would have her sister with her.

“So has everyone decided what they want to do?” Wood asked from the corner.

Everyone turned and nodded with slightly sad expressions, no one knew what each had decided, sure they’d discussed options but the decision was left private.

“Ok then, we’re all just gonna say if we’re in or out, everyone agreed?” Faith spoke to everyone and once again they all nodded slowly.

“I’m in.,” stated Xander.

“Me to.” Was Andrew’s reply.

Giles was next, “I have no choice, I’m in.” he smiled at Xander.

Willow looked at Kennedy and reached to hold her hand, “I’m in” she said softly.

“I go where she goes, I’m in” she said as she leaned forward to kiss Willow on the nose.

Wood cleared his throat “I’m in.”

That left just the two slayers, they both looked at each other and smiled, “I’m in” they said in unison.

Everyone seemed to relax a little, Xander stood and shook Giles’ hand he turned and hugged Willow and also pulled Kennedy into the embrace, before they knew it, everyone had moved to them and they stood in a group hug for a few minutes.

“Ok everyone, need to breath.” Came a small voice from the middle of the crush.

“Oh sorry Will.” Buffy said letting go of her position between Faith and Wood. They all broke apart and went to find a suitable place to sit.

“We have some organising to do.” Giles stated taking charge of the situation.

“Willow, can you see if you can find the Council’s records?” Buffy asked as she turned to face the hacker.

“Yep, just give me a computer and a phone line and I’m away,” the red head answered proudly.

“Ok I’ll talk to Angel, he must have some resources we can use” Buffy offered.

“We’ll have to check out what accommodation will be available when we get there, and we also need to know if all the SIT’s want to join us, or if they want the normal life.” Giles told them.

“Well we’ll call a meeting with them tell them the situation and give them time to decide.” Faith said already standing. “I’ll go rally them all and explain it to them, you lot keep working at the other stuff, I’ll give them two days.” She said with a shrug.

“Yeah that should be enough and it also gives us enough time to work out how many beds we need and stuff.” Buffy smiled at the brunette slayer, who turned to walk out of the room.

“I’ll come with.” Kennedy called.

Over the next couple of days they all worked to research everything they could. Angel had given Willow the freedom of the IT department at the office and she was amazed at the technology that was available, she had soon uncovered the ‘lost fund’s’ of the Council and was now trying to find every available property in the vicinity of the new Hellmouth, Kennedy was helping collate all the information.

Xander and Andrew had joined Giles ie exe extensive library of Wolfram and Hart, they, with Wesley’s help were researching all they could find on the Hellmouth in Cleveland. They stored any useful information including newspaper articles and other reports that stated anything that seemed paranormal.

Wood had spent most of his time contacting old colleagues to find out about the schools there as many of the SIT’s were only fifteen or sixteen and would still need to finish their education.

Both Buffy and Faith remained at the hotel offering council to the new slayers, they told them stories about being a slayer, what kind of life they would lead. That everything they did was a secret to the outside world and that they would probably never hear the thanks they deserved. They also told them about how it felt to be able to protect those who lived in their neighbourhood even if they weren’t aware of the danger that lurked outside at night.

They also explained the elation when a Big Bad had been defeated knowing that there was one less threat to the end of the world, as they know it. The hardest thing to explain was the loneliness that was felt, even when family and friends were so close, but they also stressed that now that there were hundreds possibly thousands of slayers across the world, that loneliness would soon fade, they had explained that when Faith first came to Sunnydale they worked as a team and the emptiness they had felt slowly started to dissolve. They didn’t go into details of Faith’s departure from Sunnydale but Faith told them that those who came with them would learn a valuable lesson from her on how to chose the right side.

The time hame fme for everyone to decide what they were going to do. They called everyone to the meeting room and asked those who wanted to go to Cleveland to stand on the right side of the room and those who wanted ‘normal’ to stand on the left.

“Before you start to move, I just want everyone to know that we wont think any less of you if you decide to leave. It is a hard decision to make and I know many of you have family or friends that you miss and want to go back to, so don’t let anyone influence your decision.” Buffy spoke to the group of young girls in front of her, there was a look of relief on some of their faces.

“Ok everyone it’s time to make your decision, could you please move now.” Xander called in the tone of a game show host.

All the girls stood and moved slowly, some seemed hesitant at first but soon the decisions had been made. There were fourteen girls on the right and only three on the left. Buffy moved to the girls on the left and asked them to follow her. Once they had left the room Giles turned to the remaining girls.

“Thank you, that was a hard choice I know.” He started gently. “Now that your choice has been made we can put the final plans into action. We’re going to purchase a property in Cleveland and we will ensure that you are all trained in the ways of the slayer. Those of you who are still at high school age will be enrolled in the school there, those who are old enough for college will be given the opportunity.” They all looked stunned for a moment.

“So we’re still gonna have to go to school.” Rebe whined from the back.

“Well I am sorry Rebe but you have to understand that one day you may have to support yourselves, and being a slayer it is not easy to find a decent job that pays enough, and one that allows the freedom of being a slayer.” Giles replied indignantly.

With a few more grumbles from the crowd they were all dismissed and told to enjoy themselves for the rest of that and the next day and were told to be packed and ready to leave on Sunday.

Buffy had taken the three girls back to her room she had wanted to find out that each of the girls had somewhere to go. She had been worried about the decision that they had to make but was pleased that most of them wanted to stay. After ensuring that each of the girls had family or friends to go to she explained to them that they could not talk about what they had been involved in, she told them that when the rest of them were settled she would contact each of them and give them a contact number, this would allow them to follow the rest if they decided that ‘normal’ wasn’t quite for them.

The next few days were spent finalising details, Giles had contacted the property agents and had arranged to view three possible houses. They wanted to make sure that the house they chose would be suitable for everyone.

Willow had managed to transfer the Council funds to a new account that was only accessible to Giles, Buffy and Willow, both Xander and Faith had refused saying that they were no good with money, Xander had joked about buying his own island, while Faith just talked dreamily about Harley Davidsons.

The time had come for them to leave LA, they had had a fairly busy few days and were all excited about the journey. kne knew they would be on the road for a few more days but relished the thought of setting up a new home.

Angel and the rest of the LA crew had turned up to say goodbye to them all. Wesley was busy talking to Giles about some more information he had recovered on the Hellmouth. Faith and Gun were arguing over which was the best weapon, Gun was throwing himself around pretending to swing an axe to show how easily it flowed, Faith laughed at him while she walked up behind and proved how simple yet effective a knife could be, they finally agreed to disagree on the predicament or they would never give up.

Angel and Buffy were currently in Buffy’s room talking.

“So why the change of heart Buffy?” Angel asked.

“What d’you mean?” Buffy looked confused.

Angel stood to face Buffy “Outside the crypt that night you told me you were cookie dough waiting to be…ah eaten.” He smiled “I thought you would have given this up, I thought you wanted to find yourself or something, be Buffy not the Slayer.” He finished.

“I did, I mean when I was talking to you I honestly didn’t think I was going to survive, I felt that I hadn’t lived ‘my life’. But when it comes down to it, slaying IS my life. I realised that Buffy the girl doesn’t need to be found, she’s here inside me.” She stated pointing to herself. “The part of Buffy that is with me all the time, she’s that part that allows the feelings I have towards my friends without her I would be truly alone. When Willow brought me back I felt so empty, I couldn’t feel anything and that was because Buffy the girl could not handle the situation, Angel I was brought back from what I thought was heaven, I despised everything in this world, I wanted out, but now I know that my life would be incomplete without both Buffy the slayer AND Buffy the girl.” She moved forwards and placed her hand over his unbeating heart. “This world I hated is the world I have to protect, and I understand that now, the people I save everyday will never know who or what I am, I couldn’t live with myself knowing that every time I ignore the signs of a demon that someone will be killed, I have to do this”

“I understand Buffy.” He said while he placed his hand over hers. “I hope you find the happiness you deserve, if this doesn’t work out I’m always here for you.”

“I know and thank you Angel.” She finished. “Ah listen I better get going the others are ready and waiting.” She stated moving to hold him.

“You’re still my girl right” he whispered into her ear while he returned the embrace.

Buffy pulled back and kissed him gently on the lips. “Always” she replied and moved away walking to the door, she left the room closed the door and never looked back. Angel waited until she had had time to leave the hotel then made his way to the basement where he took the sewer access back to the office.