Genesis

Disclaimer : see Chapter 1

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Buffy stepped through the doors of the hotel and smiled at Xander who was sitting on the front steps watching the others as then arn around loading the bus with all the things they had bought, the clothes were packed and placed in the load space under the bus, while the food and drinks were carefully loaded onto the bus so they would be easily accessible, they both were amazed at how organised everyone was.

“We’ll make a good team,” Buffy said from behind Xander.

“Yep, I think we will” he said turning to smile widely at her.

“Come on, we have to get going” she told him as she moved toward the bus.

“Buff, are you ok? You know with Angel and stuff.” He asked concerned, knowing the relationship ben Bun Buffy and Angel was a delicate one.

“Yeah Xand, I’m good. It was good to see him again, but it’s time I moved on.” She answered smiling at him.

“Alrighty then, lets go,” he said with a cheerful voice.

Everyone got themselves settled on the bus. Wood had been elected to drive the first leg of the journey. Giles stood at the front and called for everyone’s attention.

“Ok then, um… we are going to start now, we’re looking at making good time if we stick to the duledule. Everyone make yourselves as comfortable as possible and we’ll try to stop when we can, but this journey is going to be tough on us all.”

With that Wood started the bus and pulled away. Fred, Gun and Wesley waved at them from their position in front of the hotel, they waved goodbye to their friends.

Soon they had made their way through the streets of LA and now they were on the highway heading east. Everyone on the bus was talking excitedly about what was going to happen next.

The Scoobies had positioned themselves in a similar position to the time they had left Sunnydale, only this time Giles had joined them, he sat next to Andrew.

Dawn was kneeling on her seat facing Buffy and Faith who were sat behind her and Xander.

“So Buffy, what have you got planned for me when we get to Cleveland, I’m not a slayer so how do I fit into all of this?” she asked.

“Well Dawnie, I’ve been thinking and with Giles’ help I think you would make a good watcher.” she looked over at Giles for some kind of response but all he did was smile at her, with this she knew he did not object to the suggestion.

“Me a watcher,” Dawn stated with doubt “How could I be a watcher, I can’t make decisions and stuff, I don’t know anything about it.”

“Dawn you know more about being a Vampire Slayer than the rest of the girls on this bus, you’ve lived with one for a few years now remember.” Buffy reassured her.

“Yeah Dawnie, you know about magic and demons and all sorts of things that a watcher needs to know.” Willow stated emphatically from her position behind Giles and Andrew.

“Dawn may I say something?” Giles asked, Dawn nodded her head towards him and he continued. “No matter how many slayers we have they all need a watcher, you see a watcher isn’t only someone who tells the slayer about demons and about how to kill them and trying to decipher the many prophecies that occur, their job is to be there for the slayer as a companion and as a confidant. The watcher’s council started to lose sight of the role of the watcher, they had thought of themselves as the people who saved this world, they wanted control over the slayer instead of working along side her. I would like to change that, and I would be honoured to have you as a member of the higher council, if you like.” He told her.

“What you mean like start another watchers council?” Dawn asked with a serious tone.

“Well I don’t know if that’s what we’ll call it, but yes, we need to ensure that those slayers who are now alone in this world not knowing why they suddenly have this power and the heightened senses, have someone to turn to.” He answered.

“Come on D, you know you’d love it, telling all these girls the stories of the demons and shit.” Faith intervened.

“Alright then, but who else is gonna do this, it can’t just be me and you Giles.” Dawn agreed with a sigh.

“No of course Dawn, we already have too many slayers for the both of us to deith,ith,” Giles replied turning to face Xander. “Ah, um, Xander,” Xander turned to look at Giles “would you like to join us, I realise that you may not want the responsibility of this but you have fought well with Buffy over the years, and you have much experience at dealing with the underworld, I think I would be proud to work with you.”

Xander stunned at the request, looked from Giles to Willow to Buffy and then to Dawn who was smiling from ear to ear.

“Um, I…. ah…um, huh!” was all that Xander could say.

“Xander come on, imagine it, me and you telling all these girls when they have to train and how to train and stuff.” Dawn said cheerfully.

“Yeah X-man, imagine having to watch all those sweaty slayers and having to point out all their mistakes” Faith said with a sly grin.

“Ok, ok, I’ll do it.” Xander replied quickly, while turning a slight shade of red.

Andrew had been starring out of the window at this point, trying to ignore the conversation going on around him. He had the same thoughts as Dawn, what was he going to do when they got there, he wasn’t part of the Scooby gang, not really. He had killed his best friend, he had watched while another of the people he had been an enemy with stepped in and save his life. ‘It should have been me to die’ he thought to himself, ‘She was a good person, she helped others’ he kept saying to himself.

Faith caught Giles’ attention and pointed at Andrew, with a ‘go on’ expression. Giles turned in his seat and faced Andrew, he cleared his throat, “Ah, Andrew, I was um, wondering if you would like to also be um, a trainee watcher, you have great knowledge of the old languages and you have the ability to store information which would be a great help when fighting the demons.”

Andrew turned to face the rest of the Scoobies “I don’t deserve this,” he started “I killed my best friend, I watched helplessly as Anya saved me, how can I support anyone, I’m just a failure.” He replied dejectedly.

“Andrew, you have proved over the last few weeks that you have changed, you never really wanted to be evil, you just went along with it because that’s what your friends told you to. I believe that you would make a great watcher, and it would be my pleasure in having you on board.” Giles replied with concern for the young man in front of him, Giles knew that Andrew had been through a lot in the last year or so, and even though he tried to convince everyone he was evil, he could never actually achieve it, it was not in his nature.

“I want to help,” Andrew started “but I’m not ready for any kind of responsibility, I don’t think I could support them yet, I’ll be like a ‘potential trainee watcher’ I’ll watch the slayers while they train and I’ll help with research and stuff, but I don’t want anymore than that, not at the moment.”

“Ok then Andrew the newest member of the Scoobies you can be a ‘PTW’ if you want, but there must be other things we can find for you to do as well, I mean there’s the house budget and things, I can to a lot but I’m going to need a little help in calculating everything.” Willow added.

“Sure I can help with that, and I can like draw up rotas and stuff about cleaning and housekeeping and stuff.” He started to get excited about the prospect of being one of the leaders of this selection of slayers.

“Hey we have to have a new name or something, there’s too many of us to be the Scoobies now.” Xander chirped in.

“What you mean like ‘storm troopers’ or the X-men or something” Andrew interjected.

“No way am I going to be known as a storm trooper” Kennedy called from behind Willow.

“Well I think we should still be known as the Scoobies” Willow stated with a nod.

“But Xander’s right,” Faith agreed, “We can’t keep calling them ‘the slayers’ or the ‘SIT’s’. Think about it, when you’re out in public and say ‘the Scoobies’ no one takes any notice, and if the demons are listening they wont necessarily know who or what someone is talking about, you lot have always been known as the ‘slayers friends’ to the demon population and only as ‘the Scoobies’ to each other.”

“Faith you’re right, Xander what do you suggest” Buffy asked.

“I don’t know that’s why I asked you lot.” He stated with mock tone.

“Oh well we’ll have to think of something.” Dawn said. “We have to have a cool street name.” She said smiling.

“Ok then that’s the first assignment, we have to have a new name for everyone,” Buffy stated “we have a few day’s to think about it so I suppose we could come up with something.” They all agreed and a pleasant silence fell over them.

They had been travelling for about eight hours, they had stopped twice for bathroom breaks, and some had taken the opportunity of having a hot meal at the roadside diner they had come across. Many of the occupants of the bus were already sleeping and there was a calm about them.

“Thanks, for letting me stay B.” Faith said quietly to Buffy.

“Thanks for coming with F” Buffy replied with a smile.

“Do you want to know why I chose to come with you” Faith asked.

“ Only if you want to tell me, you don’t have to explain anything to me.” Buffy stated.

“I want to Buffy.” Buffy noticed the full use of her name and knew that Faith was serious about this.

“Ok then, why did you decide to stay?” Buffy asked smiling slightly at the dark slayer.

“When I was in prison I had a lot of time to think about what I’d done, and more importantly the person I had become. B, I hated myself for everything that I’d done but I hated myself more because I coulda stopped it. I wanted to end it so many times, but I couldn’t, something always stopped me. I had to live, I had to make it better, I got my shit together B, and I want to help you, I want to help these girls.” Faith stated quietly.

“Faith we were both to blame back then, I didn’t want you around at first, I thought you were a better slayer than I was and I was jealous of you.” Buffy replied honestly.

“You jealous of me, Buffy I didn’t have anything.” Faith said

“I don’t mean in the material sense Faith, I mean, I thought you were so strong when you first came to Sunnydale, you embraced the fact that you were a slayer, you lived for the hunt and the kill, I just wanted a normal life and was jealous that I couldn’t accept being a slayer.” Buffy replied moving her left hand over Faith’s right.

“But I didn’t accept it B, I was just like you at the time, I just learned to hide it.” Faith said slightly squeezing Buffy’s hand.

“And I realise that now, I was so wrapped up in what was happening to me, that I never thought to look past all those ‘five by fives’ you kept spouting out. I saw a little of you the time Kakistos came to town, but you hid her again so quickly that I forgot she was there.” Buffy accepted looking into Faith’s eyes.

“Faith I missed you when you weren’t here, it me me up inside that you had betrayed me, but worse was the feeling that I had betrayed you. I want this time to be different, I want us to work together, I don’t want to be alone at the top anymore, I want you with me.” Buffy stated. “We’re the ‘Chosen Two’ remember ‘girlfriend’” she finished with a smile.

“We’re the chosen few hundred now B.” Faith said with a snigger.

“We’ll always be the chosen two to me” Buffy replied.

“You really want me beside you, I don’t deserve that Buffy, I mean after everything I did to you all, can you really trust me not to screw up, cos, at the moment I don’t think I can trust myself.” Faith began to babble.

“Slow down Faith, yeah, I trust you, you earned that when you had to lead them for a few days, you didn’t have to do that, but you did. You watched out for them, you tried to do what was right.” Buffy said, “Yeah a scr screwed that up, I nearly had them all killed” Faith said with a huff.

“But you didn’t, you did what you thought was best at the time, god, Faith look at me, I’ve been killed twice, at least you’ve stayed alive longer than me.” Buffy replied smiling.

Faith bowed her head hearing Buffy speak a her her dying, Angel had come to tell her about it, she felt guilty all over again, she thought that she would never see the blond slayer again, and that there were now another two people she would not be able to apologise to. When the news that Buffy was alive had reached her, she felt somewhat happy and sad at the same time, she was happy that her chance to apologise was back, but she was sad because she could feel a change in her sister slayer, she could not tell what it was but she knew that Buffy was suffering at the time, their slayer connection had never been severed, even when Buffy had died Faith could still feel her. When Faith meditated in prison she would reach out for Buffy as if trying to communicate with her, she always felt at peace when she felt the other slayer near, but when Buffy had been brought back that peace had been lost.

“Faith are you ok,” Buffy asked noticing the brunette’s expression.

“Yeah B, I’m ok, just tired I guess.” Faith replied.

“Me to, I think we should try and get some sleep.” Buffy agreed. They both settled themselves into a reasonably comfortable position ready to sleep.

“Goodnight B”

“Goodnight F”

They were still holding hands as they drifted off to sleep.

Kennedy woke the next morning with her arms wrapped around the red head they had managed to get themselves into a fairly comfortable position to sleep. Kennedy had leaned against the side of the window of the bus and Willow had sat between her legs and leaned her back against the brunette with her head on her shoulder, Kennedy had instinctively rapped hers ars around the witch as if to protect her while she slept.

“Hey baby you awake” Kennedy whispered not wanting to disturb the others still sleeping around them.

“Yeah, I wast tht thinking how good it feels to wake up in your arms.” Willow admitted while turning slightly to look at her lover.

Kennedy moved to kiss Willow, it started out as a slow ‘good morning’ kiss but soon started to heat up, Willow quickly pulled away which elicited a slight groan from the younger woman.

“Ken, we can’t there’s too many people here remember.” Willow stated.

“I know, but I want you.” Kennedy whined.

“Well, leave it to me, I’ll sort something out, cos, trust me there’s nothing I want more than to get you naked at the moment.” Willow replied in a husky tone.

Willow kissed her once more and turno geo get comfortable again, she glanced over at the slayers who were still sleeping, as she watched them she noticed that they were holding hands.

“Hey babe, look at those two.” Willow pointed at the chosen two.

“Hey are they holding hands?” Kennedy asked.

“Yep, seems like they’ve sorted some things out.” The red head stated looking quizzically at the other two.

“But they’re just friends though right.” Kennedy sort of stated but wasn’t sure.

“Yeah they are,” Willow started “but they have a connection that none of us will ever understand, I think it goes beyond friendship, it’s something to do with their slayer connection, I never understood that years ago, but I think I do now. They have a bond that no matter what, it will never go away.” She finished.

“What do you mean ‘never’ go away?” the younger woman asked.

“Well, when I brought Faith back from LA we were talking about some things on the journey, she told me that even when Buffy died she could still feel her presence, it was as if she was with her all the time. She told me that when she meditated she could almost sense Buffy’s soul.” Willow answered still watching the two slayers.

“Wow, I mean their connection must be really strong.” Kennedy stated.

“Yeah it is, and if my feelings are right then it’s only gonna get stronger the more they’re together and the closer they become.” Willow said.

It was about an hour later and nearly all of the occupants of the bus were awake and talking quietly with one another. Vi had started to distribute some snacks and drinks to everyone, as they were not going to stop for a while.

Buffy and Faith had also woken but were quietly watching the scene in front of them, neither had let go of the others hand. Buffy turned to Faith and smiled.

“I think we need a motel for tonight, my neck is killing me.” The blond stated.

“Yeah mine to” Faith said removing her hand from Buffy’s to rub her neck and shoulders.

As soon as Faith had removed her hand Buffy felt strange, yet she couldn’t place what it was. She knew that they had held each other all night and was surprised yet comforted to have woken in the same position they had fallen asleep.

“Hey Xander how long till the next stop?” Faith asked.

“About another 30 minutes, there should be a diner around here somewhere. I can’t wait I can already taste the bacon and hash browns.” He said with a grin.

Faith’s stomach growled at the mention of food, and soon Buffy’s joined in the chorus, which made everyone at the back laugh.

“What, a girls gotta eat.” Buffy said.

“Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but I could go a whole load of chocolate pancakes at the moment.” Dawn said turning to face her sister.

“Oh and everything else on the menu, the way my stomach feels at the mome Fai Faith agreed rubbing her belly.

“Hey Will, how about organising a hotel or something for tonight, I don’t think my neck could take two nights sleeping on this bus.” Buffy asked the red head.

“I’ve already thought about it Buff,” Willow stated, but her reasons were different. “I think we should look over the schedule when we stop for food and work out the best place to stay, we can tell the others when it’s all sorted.” She finished.

“Cool, I’ll ask Giles to bring the map and stuff with him then.” Buffy replied.

Soon they were at a small diner eating breakfast and drinking coffee. The Scoobies were trying to organise where the best place was for them to stop to find a hotel. They finally agreed that a motel stop about another four hundred miles away would do for the night.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. They arrived at the small roadside motel, Willow and Andrew had gone to organise rooms, while the others tried to get the things they needed for the night, once they had been allocated rooms they all started to settle as best they could.

Xander and Andrew were once again paired up, while Giles and Wood had to share this time. The SIT’s were paired up again, Willow and Kennedy of course had their own room while Buffy, Faith and Dawn were all placed together.

Dawn had run to the bathroom first to shower. “Don’t be too long Dawn,” Buffy shouted from the bedroom “we all need to freshen up a little.”

“Ok Buff, I’ll be as quick as I can.” Dawn called back.

“Which side do you want Faith?” Buffy asked looking at the double bed in front of them.

“It’s ok, I’ll take the cot.” Faith replied pointing at the cot on the other side of the room.

“Faith trust me, you do not want to sleep on that cot, Dawn can have it, believe me neither of us want to share with her, she’s all arms and legs when she sleeps. We’d never get any peace.” Buffy said smiling at Faith.

“Ok then, but what side do you prefer, only I haven’t really had much of an opportunity to share a bed with someone, I guess I’m used to my own space.” Faith said in a low tone.

Buffy tried to ignore the guilty feeling that washed over her at hearing Faith’s words, she realised that she was the reason Faith had spent so many nights alone, for it was she who had made Faith go to prison.

“Um, ah, look maybe we could flip a coin or something.” Buffy said trying to hide teelieeling inside.

“Yeah ok then, I’ll say heads left and tails right.” Faith said taking a coin out of her pocket and flipping it into the air.

“Ok you’re on the left.” Buffy stated after focusing on the coin that had landed just under the bed.

Once all the sleeping arrangements had been made all three settled in for what they hoped would be a peaceful night.