Glass Shatters

TITLE: Glass
Shatters.

Part 1

Meanwhile in Sunnydale, a
solitary red-headed teenager hurried through the streets towards her residence,
hoping to reach it before *he* came after her. Willow knew that she shouldn't
have stayed so long at Giles' place, but the get-together had ran overtime as
they tried to figure out a way to deal with Angelus and his minions. They now
had Spike on their side, because of his chip, but he was a poor stand-in for
Faith, the slayer who had switched sides and been murdered by Angelus for her
trouble. The common perception was that things would be better if Buffy was
still here, but she wasn't and no one - not even Willow herself - had heard from
the blond since her parent's funeral.

"Buffy... Chloe..." Sam's voice
drifted down the hallway. "Time to get up and ready for school."

"Sam... she needs help," Angel
said sitting down at the breakfast table with her cup of coffee.

Part 2

Whendernder and Cordy arrived at
the library at lunchtime they saw Giles, Willow and Oz already there, obviously
waiting for them.

"So Buffy," Dr. Morton said
pleasantly. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

Part 3

Anonymity? What anonymity?

"So is there a reason you decided
to come to this club with me tonight, or is my company just so irresistible?" Frannie
asked as she and Buffy lined up, in the freezing cold, for entry to Silver - the
only club in their area that didn't bother to check anyone's identification.

"I just wanted to get out for
awhile," Buffy replied evasively.

Frannie shook her head in
disbelief, "Sure you
did."

"Okay. So possibly, Aunt Sam is
driving me insane over what went on at my therapy session today," Buffy admitted
reluctantly,
blushing a bight pink color.

"So what. Just tell her that if
you wanted to talk to her about it, you wouldn't be seeing a shrink in the first
place," Frannie said casually, as they moved up in line.

Buffy just looked at the ground
and shook her head slowly, "I can't do
that."

"It's times like these when I
can't believe we're actually friends. You do realise that we're teenagers,
right? Parents and guardians expect us to be rude, talk back and even lie to t&quo"
Frannie replied sarcastically.

"I can't do that. It may be okay
for regular teenagers to do that sort of thing, but Aunt Sam was the only one of
my *entire* family who wanted me when my parents died... I can't and won't do
anything to screw this up."

"Don't worry Buff, it'll all work
out," Frannie told her sympathetically as they reached the door and were admitted into the
cramped, dingy and yet popular club.

"Sure it will," Buffy said
sticking close to Frannie.

They sat down at a tiny table and
listened to the band for a few minutes. Anyone that looked at the two girls were
as different as night and day and not only in looks. Frannie Malone with her
dark hair and eyes was a wild child, out every night and knew where the party
was at. While Buffy was small, blond and delicate looking, trying to fit in with
a new situation and as an on-looker wouldn't even guess, trying to put the past - all of it - behind her.

Frannie eventually got up and
went to get them drinks, leaving Buffy to guard the table. She was happily
minding her own business when she sensed something, or rather someone she used
to know and had hoped never to run into again. Spike. He hadn't seemed to notice
her and she sighed in relief and by the time Frannie returned, he was gone.
Pushing thoughts of the annoying bleach-blond vampire from her mind, she
concentrated on hanging out with her friend and having a *normal* teenage time.

Everything was fine, at least
until after they left the club to head over to the coffee shop where Bailey -
Frannie's father - was supposed to pick them up. They had only walked a couple
of blocks when she felt Spike's presence again and speeded up her walking pace,
with Frannie sub-consciously mirroring hers. She knew that she had to get away
from the darkened area and the promise of the coffee shop loomed ahead like a
shining beacon. At least until Frannie's heel broke and she fell down, causing
Buffy to stop and return to help her friend up. Something then jumped out of the
shadows behind them and knocked them down, with Buffy landing on top of Frannie.

"Slayer," it hissed at them as it
slid into game face.

Buffy got to her feet and tried
to block her friend's view of the creature, an impossible task she knew, but
still she tried. "Oh come on, I *so* do not need this," she said.

The vampire moved as if to circle
it's prey and Buffy drop kicked it in it's knee, causing it to fall to the
ground temporarily.

"What the fuck?" Frannie
whispered as she got her first view of the vampire.

"Frannie, just stay back," Buffy
yelled as the vampire started to rise to it's feet.

Buffy waited until the vampire
climbed to it's feet before judo kicking it in the head, causing it to land
against the wall. Then using her right foot to pin it there she reached into her
purse - which she was still miraculously carrying - and pulled out the trusty
stake she always carried with her. The vampire struggled to get away, but
couldn't and a second later Buffy plunged the piece of wood straight through
it's unbeating heart, removing her foot and watching in silence as it turned to
dust.

"Buff..." Frannie began.

Cutting her off, Buffy said,
"Your ds was waiting for us."

Frannie let it go - for now - she
was still shook up and desperately trying to process what she had just seen. She
simply followed Buffy over to the coffee shop where Bailey was waiting to pick
them up and take them home.

Neither girl noticed that they
were being watched, Buffy was too distracted and Frannie was in shock. However
Spike didn't care about that or them. He had finally spotted his chance, his way
to get himself back into Angelus' fold and back to Dru. He was the only one who
knew where Fluffy was right now and he was definitely going to use it to his own
advantage.

Daytime was definitely a
vampire's worst enemy, at least for an ordinary vampire it was. Angelus was no
ordinary vampire and he never had been, more so now though since he had been the
one to find it, the vampire equivalent to the Holy Grail - the Gem of Amara.
However being the tremendously intelligent master vampire that he was, no one
but he knew of his discovery, so therefore no one can or would be able to
challenge him for it - not that he was afraid of a challenge, it was just he had
more important things to do than fight lesser vampires.

"So what was that last night?"
Frannie asked as she rushed up to Buffy. She'd been lying in wait at the school
gate, so that she could pump Buffy for information about what had really
happened the previous evening.

When the door opened once more,
Spike swaggered inside, obviously confident over what he knew. Angelus had to
bite back the urge to snap the little twerp's neck. If Spike thought that he was
going to use whatever he knew to get the upper hand over Angelus, he was sadly
mistaken. The only reason that Spike was still wandering the earth was because
he was being used as an example of what happened to a stupid vampire.

Part 4

Intensification

Spike was in reality in raptures,
Angelus - the Master of all things deceitful - had essentially kept up his end
of the covenant that they had forged over Fluffy's location. The factor that he
was largely thankful about was that he now did not have to be dependant on the
kindheartedness - or lack there of - of the fucking White Hats. Drusilla had
instantaneously received him back, not only into the family once more, but also
into her bed - he didn't like to admit it but that made him apprehensive, like
he had been given to Dru as a leisure activity, a plaything. On the other hand
if he looked at it optimistically, he could accept it for what it at face value;
that she had missed him and wanted him back, but he had never been very
optimistic, at least since his rebirth.

He was on the other hand feeling
an incredibly un-vampire-like feeling on every occasion he spared Buffy a
thought, he remembered it hazily from his human days - a guilty conscience. He
knew what Angelus' design for the juvenile blond slayer was, he simply didn't
know what the giant poof was presently up to; it had after all been more than a
week since he had betrayed the slayer's position to him and yet zilch had gone
on. However knowing Peaches like he did, there was destined to be something
horrendous up his sleeve for the credulous girl. The reality was that Angelus
was only this guarded when he was scheming rather horrific or gathering
intelligence and something told the bleach-blond vampire that in the case of
this particular slayer, Angelus was looking for an Achilles' heel to manipulate
before he even contemplated making his so-called magnificent move.

"My Spike," a voice called to
him, breaking him away from his reverie. "Are you hungry my Spike?"

"Famished," he replied drinking
in the vision of his undying beloved.

Drusilla meandered giddily across
the room and planted a quick kiss on his ice-cold lips. "Then I'll kill a nice
toddler for you to eat."

Spike allowed her to pull him to
his feet and then he said gently, "I think I'm in the mood for someone a little
older." His stomach turned summersaults at the thought of eating a baby, even
though they were Dru's favourite snack. He supposed it was partly due to her
rampant insanity and partly because of the fact they were something she would
never ever have.

"Spoil my fun," she glowered.

Anxious to make her smile evilly
once more, he replied, "I never said that you couldn't eat one, pet."

Dru hugged him close, "I'm glad
you're back my Spike. Our happy home is complete."

{If you only knew, pet. If you
only knew} he thought. "I'm glad I'm back too."

Pushing the niggling traces of
guilt - which had to be a by-product of his chip - to the back of his mind, he
headed out with Dru for a bite to eat.

One week, it had been one whole
week since her explanation of the true nature of herself an of things that go
bump in the night to Frannie and it had been just as long since the stubborn,
fearful brunette had spoken to her. So much for Frannie's guarantee that nothing
Buffy could tell her would shock her, the instant Buffy educated her of what was
in reality going on around her, things that she never noticed because she
preferred to live in a position of ignorance, Frannie walked away and didn't
look back. Not that Buffy in reality blamed her, after Merrick had initially
explained the slayer gig to her she hadn't wanted anything to do with it either.

Buffy understood it wasn't the
end of the world, she had been by herself before and it freed up her schedule to
spend more time with the family or do her homework - if she kept up all her work
she was a shoe in to make the honor roll, which would certainly surprise a lot
of people. In spite of this she did miss Frannie's friendship and more and more
she was missing her old life and friends back in Sunnydale. She was only now
beginning to question the wisdom in cutting all the ties to her former life.

"I haven't seen Francis around
lately," Angel said as she wandered into Buffy's bedroom. "Is there anything
wrong with you two?"

"Not really," Buffy answered
pretending to be totally engrossed with her algebra homework.

"Buffy," Angel said sat down on
Buffy's antiquated lumpy double bed. "You know you can tell me anything that's
wrong. Just think of me as family."

"Angel, I do think of you as
family, but..."

"But what?"

"Some things are just private."

Angel merely sat there on the bed
and Buffy become conscious that Angel wasn't going to disappear until she had
gotten what she sought after and that was for Buffy to unburden her heart to her
about what was wrong instead of bottling it up within and letting it fester.

Buffy at long last glanced up
from her homework, "It's nothing. Frannie just found out something about me that
she didn't like and decided to pretend that I don't exist."

"No matter what she's found out
about you, it simply can't be any worse than the things that she has done. That
girl is a antisocielinelinquent," Angel answered supporting Buffy. Angel stood
up when she recognized that Buffy wasn't going to talk about it to any further
extent and went to leave the room, pausing at the doorway. "Don't spend the rest
of the night brooding here in your room over Francis Malone. Go do something
fun... as long as it doesn't involve you leaving the apartment."

Buffy stared at her aunt's best
friend since childhood, "I'll think about it."

"Okay, if you want you can join
Chloe and I. We're gonna have an Olsen twins movie fest... you don't wanna miss
that."

Giggling and rolling her eyes,
Buffy replied sarcastically, "I definitely can miss an entire evening of that."

"Does that mean you'll be joining
us?"

"It means... yeah, I'll be
joining you," Buffy told her.

"We'll be waiting," Angel told
her as she left the room.

Buffy put down her math book and
rummaged though her disorderly writing desk until she came across what she was
looking for, her address book. She opened it to the page where Willow's phone
number was written, it was a number that she once knew by heart and now since
had been so long she could barely remember how it started. For a small amount of
seconds she did nothing but stare at it and then as unexpectedly as she had
retrieved it, she put it away once more. Taking a deep breath she stood up and
went to join her cousin and Angel in the living room.

Sitting at the rear his mahogany
writing desk, Angelus tapped his fingers upon the surface in both irritation and
displeasure. It had been over a week since he had hired that moronic demon
detective to follow his wife around and still he had come up with nothing of
value. Sure he now knew his not so darling spouse's daily schedule - school,
home, etc -, the fact that she was not dating anyone and the names of the family
members that she was now living with. However there was nothing in that
information that he could use to his advantage.

There was a soft knock upon his
door, right before it swung open. "Master?"

"Yes?"

"Your detective is on the phone,"
the fledgling whispered mellifluously so as not to antagonize Angelus with an
impertinent manner.

"Put him through," Angelus
ordered. As the fledgling went to depart, Angelus spoke to him once more, "And
next time... you will wait for me to grant you entry or you will encounter the
pointy end of my stake. Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes Master."

A few moments later the cordless
touchtone phone lying on the writing desk next to him rang and he picked up the
extension. "You had better have some good news to report, or I will take you
apart piece by piece while you are still breathing - if you are lucky."

Late into the hours of darkness,
long after most normal individuals are dead to the world in their comfy beds,
Samantha Waters entered the residence that she shared with her daughter, best
friend and niece. All but one insignificant table lamp was turned off leaving
the prevalent percentage of the living room in shadow, not that Samantha in
reality noticed. As per usual her mind was filled with the latest case that had
been assigned to the Violent Crimes Task Force - or the VCTF as it is also known
- and the sporadic accidental thought of her stalker, Jack.

Dumping her array of case notes
and research onto the undersized timber coffee table, she flopped down onto the
overstuffed couch absolutely exhausted - both emotionally and physically.
However she knew that no matter overoverwrought she may be, she wouldn't be able
to reap more than a few hours sleep at best; it was nothing new it had been that
way since Jack had murdered her husband. Leaning back she closed her eyes and
tried to absorb the stillness, the peacefulness of the quiet apartment into her
distressed mind. The peace didn't last long, it was shattered by the shrill ring
of the phone. Heaving a sigh, Samantha picked it up expecting it to be Bailey
informing her of another victim or problem with the case.

"What now, Bailey?"

"Hi... Mrs. Waters," Francis
Malone's voice came down the line. "Can I please talk to Buffy?"

"Frannie, it's nearly two in the
morning, Buffy's been in bed for hours. Can't you talk to her at school?"

"Sure. Sorry for bothering you,"
Frannie apologized. "I guess I didn't realize it was so late."

"It's okay."

"Bye."

Samantha hung up the receiver
with a groan and once again closed her eyes and tried to loosen up. The muted
thuds of feet tip-toeing down the short hallway disturbed her a short time
later, she glanced up and saw Buffy heading into the kitchen area. Accustomed
with her niece's habit, she knew that this late night sojourn meant only one
thing.

"Have another nightmare?"
Samantha asked her. It was really more of a statement than a question, after all
why else would her niece be wandering around the apartment at this late hour.

"What else," Buffy replied
tiredly, as she moved around the small kitchen area. "Do you want a hot
chocolate?"

"Sure," Samantha answered
standing up and stretching her wound up muscles. As she walkewardwards her
niece, "Want to talk about it?"

Buffy busied herself making the
essential hot chocolate, but she ultimately answered her aunt. "Not really...
but..."

"But what?"

Buffy stopped part way through
making the drink, "It's changing."

Samantha studied her niece
closely, "Changing how?"

Buffy leisurely finished off
making the hot chocolate and poured it into two large decorative china mugs. She
placed one in front of her aunt before she spoke again, "At first... it was just
mom and dad dying and I couldn't save them. No matter how hard or much as I
tried I... it was just too late."

"And now?"

Buffy took a seat at the small
dining table and took a sip of the hot liquid. Sighing softly she replied,
"Now... it's not just my parents I can't save. It's all my old friends back in
Sunnydale and I can't save them because I can't..."

"Can't what?"

"I can't figure out what's
killing them."

Samantha simply sat there sipping
the drink her niece had made her and thinking about what she had just been told.
Honestly even with all her training she wasn't sure what to say to Buffy. "What
does Dr. Morton say?"

Buffy almost choked on the
mouthful of drink she had. "That quack. The best that she can come up with is
that I need closure on my life out in California."

"Really?"

"Yeah and since I don't see you
letting me head out there all alone, that idea's wasted."

Samantha sighed, "You know that
if Jack wasn't..."

"Aunt Sam, it's okay. The truth
is I'm not sure I want to go back there... ever."

Samantha patted Buffy's hand,
"Tell you what. Next time I head out to California - case or not - we'll go to
Sunnydale and figure this all out."

"Okay," Buffy agreed reluctantly.

They then merely sat there, each
trapped within their own thoughts, as they finished their drinks and then headed
off to bed, to toss and turn because their own fretful dreams.

TBC...