CoF - Laure Alexander - TEAOW&S - Trials: Best Laid Plans...

Summary: It's Buffy's birthday, now all she has to do is survive it by facing the greatest trial of her life.

AUTHOR: Laure Alexander
EMAIL: lara@sunflower.com
RATING: PG-14
PAIRINGS: Buffy/Angelus
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of the characters on the show. Joss Whedon and the WB Network own them (for now). No copyright infringement intended, so please don't sue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joyce stepped back, opening the door wider so that Giles could enter the house, as she finished for him, "Expect me to be here? Yes, well, I'm no longer out of the loop, so to speak."

Giles gave her a flustered look, then movement in the living room drew his attention and he paled. "Get back, Mrs. Summers," he ordered as he drew a cross from his pocket and stepped in front of her.

Joyce closed the door, took his arm and reached for the cross. "There's really no need for that."

Angel grinned evilly from where he stood leaning against the mantel. "I'm being a good boy, Rupert."

Buffy rolled her eyes and hurried to rescue her Watcher. "I didn't want to go into all of it over the phone, Giles, but I decided it was time my mom knew the truth and then...well..." As she pulled the cross from Giles' limp fingers and stuck it back into the pocket of his tweed jacket, she shrugged.

Giles gaped at her as Joyce left the two of them alone, going to the kitchen to fetch the coffee she'd made. "You told her everything?"

Nodding, Buffy took his arm and tugged him into the living room. He went very hesitantly, his eyes never leaving the very comfortable looking vampire.

Shivering at the chill in her Watcher's voice, Buffy murmured, "He won't leave me alone."

"Aren't you going to wish her a happy birthday, Rupert? Though I'm sure nothing will top the present I woke her up with."

As Buffy reddened, Giles stiffened and took one threatening step forward, his hands clenched into fists, only to be halted by Joyce as she walked between the two men carrying a tray.

"None of this posturing is doing Buffy any good," she snapped, setting down the tray before turning to Giles. "Mr. Giles, may I call you Rupert?" At his distracted nod, she continued. "And, please call me Joyce. Now, Rupert, I know that my daughter is having sex with an evil vampire. I also know that it's been going on for nearly a year and since he hasn't killed her yet, I rather doubt he will any time soon. Physically, he's her match, quite possibly the only match. I remember how she cracked the ribs of her last boyfriend back in L.A. after I caught them making out on the couch."

"There are a lot of evil humans in the world, too," Joyce countered. "And my daughter loves him. I love her. It's as simple as that."

"Wrong there, Rupes old buddy," Angel said cheerfully as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "And look, I didn't burn down the town on realizing that rather sickening fact."

Walking over to Angel, Buffy let him tug her down onto the couch with him. "You said you'd behave if I let you stay for this meeting."

"It's not in my nature, babe, but I'll try." Slipping an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her against his side and took a sip of coffee before giving the now totally shocked Giles a serious look. "Now, how do we defeat the Council?"

A bit numb, the older man sank down into the rocker. "Can I have a dollop of Scotch in my coffee?"

As Joyce fixed his cup, Giles looked at Buffy and gathered his thoughts, slamming the door on his anger, fear and hatred, in order to serve her best.

Buffy wriggling under his intense gaze, he asked, "Have you really told her everything, Buffy? Everything?"

"Well...I didn't go into a lot of details." She started to drop her eyes in embarrassment, then realized she didn't really feel embarrassed anymore and locked her eyes on his. "The intimate details of my relationship with Angel are no one's business. It's taken one very long year and a very bumpy road to get to this point, but..." She looked up at Angel, then slid her hand into his, resting them on his thigh. "This is what I want. This," she stressed, "is who I love."

As she turned her gaze back to Giles, her eyes shown with love, and he swallowed heavily. She was fully and completely a woman now, and an odd pride filled him as he nodded in understanding. "But, your mother knows about the slaying, the hellmouth, the trial tonight, Faith, everything about that?"

"I was understandably hesitant to believe any of it at it first," Joyce said, handing Giles a cup before settling in the easy chair with her own. "But, Buffy convinced me and..." She gestured to Angel. "He doesn't breathe."

Angel rolled his eyes. "Please, like having a soul is such a big indication of good. Spike has more love in his pinkie than most humans do in their wildly beating, cholesterol clogged hearts."

He grinned down at Buffy and stroked his fingers along her arm making her shiver slightly. "Now, *I'm* evil. I know it. I revel in it. But, I guess my heart isn't as black and shriveled as we all thought, and, if you think I'm going to let Buffy die tonight, you're nuttier than Drusilla."

"So, how do we prevent that?" Joyce interjected before Giles could form a retort.

"I could just not go. I mean, since I know about the test, I could just fail to show up."

Giles shook his head at his charge's suggestion. "That would be the equivalent of failing. No, you have to go."

"Traditionally, no, though there is plenty of wooden furniture and the stair railings in the house to turn into stakes."

"Well, in the cases I've researched, and, remember, it's been over fifty years since this test was conducted, the Slayer was instructed to go unarmed and she did."

At Joyce's whimper of distress, Buffy glared at her boyfriend and leaned over to take her mother's hand. "That's not going to happen to me. I'll hide a stake or a dozen on me."

Angel turned his attention and his glare on Giles. "What would happen if I intervened?"

"Actually, that happened once about one hundred and thirty years ago. Somehow a demon found out about the test and broke into the warehouse where it was being held. The Slayer had managed to kill the vampire test subject, but was killed by the demon. It was considered a tragic accident. Since then, the Watchers have remained on the perimeter to prevent any interruptions."

Giles pondered that for a minute, drinking his coffee. "I have already been excused as being too 'emotionally attached' to my Slayer, so that leaves Wesley, Quentin Travers, the man heading up the test, and two or three of his men."

"Still not a problem. The day I can't elude five humans is the day I start wearing dresses and singing to the moon."

The ringing of the doorbell precluded the need for a response, and Joyce rose to answer it.

"Hail, hail, the gang's all...What the hell is he doing here?" Xander demanded, pointing at Angel.

"Oh, yeah, I knew there was something I forgot to tell you," Willow said from behind him as she folded the blanket Spike had used to get from the car to the house.

"Secrets all out?" Cordelia asked, sauntering into the living room to sit on one of the dining room chairs Joyce brought in. "Good, about time." She pointed to the floor at her four inch black booted feet. "Xander? Sit."

As he took the seat next to Buffy, pulling Willow down on his lap, Spike snickered at Xander shuffling across the floor to fold himself into a comfortable position at his girlfriend's feet.

Jenny turned from introducing herself to Joyce and leaned down to kiss Giles' cheek before taking the seat next to him. "Everything okay?"

"Peachy," Giles replied sarcastically, his eyes burning holes into Angel who was stroking Buffy's naked knee and chatting with Spike. Finally, the older man regained enough composure to reiterate what had been discussed.

"So, it is possible for Angelus to sneak in and help Buffy, letting her escape." Spike glanced over at his sire. "Think you can put on enough of a show to convince the council of wankers that you're pissed off that she got away?"

"I told her," Buffy confirmed. "That I dreamed that she was used in the test." She turned to Giles. "How do we prevent that?"

"Jenny and I shall stay with your mother. We'll put wards up around the house. The Council would never endanger her."

"Are you so sure?" Buffy persisted. "Giles, they've never liked that I still live with my mom, that they have less control over me. I mean, it's their own fault, but I can see them blaming her."

Giles frowned, but slowly nodded. "I can see your point, Buffy. We'll make sure to keep out human visitors as well as supernatural ones."

Narrowing his eyes, Giles reined in his desire to comment and turned to Joyce. "We'll keep you safe."

"Buffy told me about her dreams, that they're prophetic," Joyce began hesitantly.

"That doesn't mean they always come true," he soothed. "Sometimes, they're just warnings of possibilities."

"When this is all over, we're going to have a long talk, Rupert," Joyce stressed softly, her eyes deadly serious.

"It's what mothers do in the face of unbelievable crises." She flashed him a brief, humorless smile. "It was either this or go on a drinking binge."

Willow turned her head to look at Buffy and whispered, "I still plan on the not telling my parents route."

"Good idea," Buffy whispered back, though she was very pleased at her mother's reactions. "Even your extremely liberal mother would never understand Drusilla."

"I thought it best to keep her close," Buffy said to the group, as Joyce opened the door.

A frown on her face, hands in her back pockets, Faith strode into the room. She looked at the gathered assembly, then focused her attention on Angel who smirked back at her.

Faith returned his smirk. "Let's just get 'B' through the night, then we'll have a go...Liam."

"Oh, please," Buffy sighed heavily. "Sit down, Faith. Shut up, Angel," she said, forestalling his next comment.

"Why didn't anyone mention that we'd gotten sucked into hell?" Xander whined. "Because making me watch Dead Boy flirt with Buffy *has* to be my eternal punishment."

"Y'know, I'm really not feeling tip top, Wesley. Maybe I should skip patrol and head home to go to bed early."

Wesley dropped his book and gave Buffy a flustered look as he stammered, "I'm certain it's nothing, and you must be ever vigilant. Vigilance is the Slayer's watch word."

Lounging behind her Watcher, Faith rolled her eyes. "It's no problem, Wes. I can patrol alone tonight."

"Actually, I have a special assignment for Buffy, so you will be on your own tonight, Faith."

"What? I'm not special?" the brunette whined, winking at Buffy, who suppressed a grin.

Wesley stammered some form of excuse, but Faith blew him off, bouncing to her feet and grabbing her bag. "No problem, I'll hit the hot spots. Have fun on your special assignment, 'B'."

As Faith left the Library, Buffy turned back to Wesley and cocked an eyebrow. "Special assignment? And where's Giles?"

'When pigs fly,' Buffy thought, but let Wesley babble on about the *assignment*.

"This type of demon mystically turns all weapons back upon the user. I'm certain you will be able to use your wits and physical prowess to defeat it." Wesley smiled at his quick thinking and Buffy frowned at him.

Buffy sighed heavily, as if greatly put upon, but nodded. "Fine." She made a show of pulling a stake out of the back of her waistband and emptying her bag of weapons. Tucked in an inner pocket of her jacket was her favorite stake, in her boot was a knife, and in a shoulder harness was a bottle of holy water.

She was going to survive this insanity and some day make every member of the Watcher's Council regret messing with her.

Warily Buffy approached the deserted and boarded up house in one of the bad neighborhoods of Sunnydale. Before leaving the school, she'd called home just to make sure that her mother was fine. Giles had told her everything was quiet, the wards were up, and no one had approached the house. He had wished her well, and the hitch in his voice had brought tears to her eyes.

All she had done over the past year to disappoint him and he still loved her. She couldn't have asked for a better father, and that was the only way she could think of him now.

Focusing on the task at hand, Buffy walked up the weed festooned path and silently took the stairs to the wooden porch. She winced as a board creaked beneath her feet and stood still, holding her breath. After a long minute, she took another cautious step and reached for the doorknob.

It turned silently and she stepped into a dimly lit hall. Grabbing a candlestick off the table in the entry way she used it to hold open the door. She knew that one of the damn Watchers would come along and remove it, but she had to act as if this was all unknown.

A shiver of fear went through her as she looked around herself. There were rooms on either side of her, full of dusty furniture and knick knacks--and Buffy briefly wondered what had happened to the original occupants of the house that they had left all their possessions behind--and in front of her was a rickety looking staircase and the continuation of the hall back to a lit room.

Sliding her stake free, she gripped it tightly, not letting her guard down, but feeling some reassurance with its familiar shape and texture in her hand.

Buffy continued down the hall, trying to relax enough to reach out with her senses, but they were muddled by the drugs as well, and all she could feel was the chill in the house. Entering the kitchen, she glanced around at the grungy appliances and nearly jumped out of her skin as a drop of water fell from the faucet and hit the metal sink.

"Shit," she muttered. Taking a deep breath, she entered the dining room and fumbled for a light switch, finding it to her left. A lone bulb hung from the ceiling, illuminating only the center of the room and leaving very dark shadows in the corners.

Against the far wall stood a tall crate. The door hung open and, as Buffy approached it, she could see the remains of a straight jacket on the floor.

Wrinkling her nose, Buffy smelled the acrid, coppery scent leading out of the room and into another that was pitch black past the entryway. Gripping the stake tighter in her hand, she followed the scent into the dark room. As she reached along the wall for a light switch, her feet went out from under her and she fell hard.

Liquid soaked into her jeans, and her eyes widened as the smell overwhelmed her.

A light flickered on and Buffy realized she was sitting in a pool of blood. Scrambling away from it, she bumped into a body and gasped loudly in shock.

Heart pounding in her chest as terror raced through her, Buffy jerked her hand away from the cooling corpse and looked up.

Buffy jumped to her feet and dashed back through the dining room, her mind whirling. As the man she had stumbled into had his limbs attached, there were at least two victims in this house.

She could hear the vampire pursuing her at a leisurely pace. He made no attempt to be quiet and continued to slurp at the arm. Buffy gagged at the sound, but kept running.

The front door was closed, as she had expected, but she pulled futilely at the knob for a few seconds before turning to the boarded up window. As she pulled at one of the boards, silently cursing her lack of strength, she heard a sibilant whisper of 'Slayer' behind her and spun away just as the vampire reached for her.

His hand snagged her ankle, and she shrieked, kicking out at him as he brought her down hard on the stairs. Flipping onto her back, she managed to kick him in the face and he released her.

She could hear him behind her, calling her title in that sing song voice, taunting her with snippets of what he was going to do to her when he caught her. Galvanized, Buffy ran down the poorly lit hall towards what looked like a second set of stairs.

"No." Shaking her head wildly, she backed up, then turned to find the other vampire only a few feet from her, a wide grin on his face.

Glancing wildly around, Buffy spied a square hole in the wall and dove for it, not caring what it was. She found herself sliding down a chute and all too soon fell out onto a hard cement floor. Groaning as pain blossomed in her shoulder, Buffy pulled herself to her knees, and squinted into the darkness.

A hand reached for her and she screamed, lashing out with the stake that was miraculously still in her hand.

"Something's gone wrong," she said quickly. "I think a couple of the Watchers are dead, a least one's a vampire."

"There was some confusion outside. That Giles junior was quacking about something and stunk of fear. Are you all right?" Angel carefully ran his hands over her.

Reveling in his concern, Buffy buried her face in his chest and mumbled, "Yes." His hand stroked over her head and she smiled.

Buffy and Angel spun towards the sound of the voice and a dim light filled the room as the lone bulb flickered on.

The two vampires filled the doorway to the stairs. It was the only door in the room.

Grabbing Buffy, Angel turned towards the small window high in the basement wall through which he had gained access to the house. It had been boarded up, but he had easily torn away the covering. As he started to lift her to the window, a large cement block and then another was set in front of it.

The two vampires slowly entered the room, the fledgling moving into the beginning of a flanking maneuver.

Angel snarled softly and morphed, his eyes flashing a deep, angry gold. "Yes, I am, and I have a claim on the Slayer."

The other male laughed harshly. "And yet she roams free and kills our kind? Doesn't say much for your claim." The laughter cut off abruptly and he growled. "When she is mine, I'll chain her to my bed and fuck her until she breaks. Then, when she's whimpering and pleading for death, I'll turn her. She'll be my obedient slave."

With a growl of fury, Angel flung himself at the other vampire and they went down hard, fighting and clawing at each other.

Fresh fear filled Buffy, but she tore her eyes from the combatants in time to brace herself for the fledgling's charge. Mindless and starving, he went for her throat as he smashed her into the wall. Buffy fought and kicked, bracing the heel of her hand against his chin to keep him from biting her. She tried to bring up her stake, but he caught her wrist, squeezing until she cried out and dropped the piece of wood.

As the fledgling laughed in glee, his sire yelled, "Don't you dare kill her. Knock her..." His words were cut off as Angel pounded his face into the floor.

Buffy could see the indecision and hunger in the eyes of the former Watcher and took the opportunity to bring her knee up into his groin. As he stumbled back in pain, she reached for the bottle of holy water and opened it, keeping it down by her leg.

"Bitch," he howled, cupping the front of his khakis and coming towards her again.

Standing her ground, Buffy waited until his hand raised to grab her, before bringing up the bottle and splashing the contents on his face and hands.

The fledgling shrieked and fell backwards into the other two males who had gained their feet. Angel went down hard beneath the smoking vampire and was unable to avoid the vicious kick to the head from the older male.

Buffy saw Angel's head hit the floor, his eyes close, and her stomach lurched. The fledgling was still struggling on top of her lover, clawing at his own face as it melted away. Buffy realized that Angel had to be unconscious or he would have pushed the other vampire off of him by now.

A shuddering breath caught in her throat and she backed up, away from the vampire, the test subject she was supposed to kill.

Cold anger and determination began to tamp down the fear, and Buffy felt her inner strength, her will and wits return. This was her job, her destiny. Not Angel's. Not anyone else's. The trial was stupid, but she was the Slayer, and it was up to her to deal with every supernatural thing the world threw at her.

"The way it was meant to be," she murmured, her eyes swiftly moving around the room. In a quick move, she pulled the knife from her boot and held it confidently before her.

Buffy dashed beneath his outstretched arm and kicked back, accurately hitting him behind the knee. As he fell forward, she spun and slashed the knife across his hamstring.

Buffy stumbled as her own leg ached from the hard kick she had given him, and he twisted and caught her, driving her down to the floor. Bracing herself, she managed to prevent the breath being knocked from her, and struggled furiously, kicking out at him. He flipped her onto her back and she slashed at him with the knife, cutting his arms and chest as he crawled up her body on one knee, dragging the other leg behind him.

The vampire's claws bit into her waist and her breast, tearing rivulets in her flesh, but Buffy ignored the pain, jamming the knife into his chest with all her strength. His hands reached for her neck, his body pinning her down, and he sneered at her.

"Forgot something?" she whispered, as her free hand closed around the stake she had fallen next to. Raising it, she slammed it into his back with all her remaining strength.

At such close range, her aim was true, and he cried out in shock as he crumbled to dust.

Chocking and coughing, Buffy rolled away and started to shake as reaction set in. Her whole body began to throb in pain, but her first thought was of Angel and she pushed herself up to her hands and knees in time to see him shove the fledgling off of him and quickly stake him.

"Buffy?" Angel shook his head against the pain, and his eyes widened as he saw they were alone. "Where...?"

At his slow smile of pride, Buffy felt her own self-assurance return and smiled back. "I guess I'm the Slayer regardless of strength."

Rising swiftly to his feet, Angel was at her side in an instant, lifting her into his arms and kissing her desperately. Buffy clung to him, returning his kiss with all the love and wonder she felt. "I thought I'd lost you," he muttered gruffly, his voice hitching slightly. "When I felt myself losing consciousness and...I can't lose you, Buffy," he swore frantically. "I won't let you die."

"I'm not going anywhere," she soothed softly, stroking her fingers along his furrowed brow. "My strength will be back in a few days, but I know now that my inner strength is what really matters." She kissed him tenderly, then smiled into his turbulent eyes. "All you've done to me over the past year has led to this moment, Angel. You tore me down and rebuilt me over and over into something much better, much more powerful. I survived everything you threw at me. The Watcher's Council could never compete."

Buffy giggled and kissed him again. "I wanted to kill you so many times. I hated you so much sometimes, even just a few days ago, but I love you even more." Smiling, she buried her face in his neck and felt him tremble against her.

"I love you, too," he mumbled, emotion nearly choking him, as he started to carry her across the floor.

These authors spend lots of time to write these stories. If you took the time to read this PLEASE take the time to give them some feedback. Happy writers write more ;-)

Laure Alexander - lara@sunflower.com

Back to TEAOW&S

Continue - Next Story