Resurrections: A BTVS Fanfiction

Chapter One

Wesley and Fred were sitting, drinking a cup of coffee as they used magic and science to figure out what went wrong in one of their newest devices. Knox walked into the lab, and immediately his heart knotted.

"What seems to be the problem?" Knox asked.

"Well, something went wrong in the field, after passing the initial test, so we're trying to figure out what went wrong. It could be the product, the magic applied to it, or... well, there could be a flaw in the design plan," Wesley's innuendo was not unnoticed by either Fred or Knox. All three were fully aware that Knox had originally designed the gadget.

"A flaw in the design plan? No, my friend, you must be mistaken," Knox said, walking behind Wesley and giving him what was supposed to be a friendly pat on the back, but really brought tears to Wesley's eyes. "I spent weeks designing this baby. There are no flaws."

Fred's eyes flicked between the two men. "Well, Knox, I'm real sorry, but Wes and I just can't find any flaws in the actual product or in the magic that Wes performed to make its capabilities even stronger." She patted Knox on the back, and Wesley tensed.

The phone rang, making them all jump, and Fred ran to answer it. "Hello, this is Fred in the science department of Wolfram and-... Oh! Hi, Angel. How are ya?... Oh, really?... Well, we'll be right down."

"Who was that?" Knox asked. Fred ran straight to Wesley and grabbed his wrist, snatching off her lab coat as she went. Wesley threw a glance back at Knox, and was extremely satisfied to see that Knox was put off by Fred's ignoring him, and that she had gone straight to Wesley.

Fred wouldn't let go of his wrist as she pulled him out of the lab. "Fred! Let go! What's going on?"

Fred blushed, and let go of his wrist. "Sorry, Wes. Angel called for an emergency meeting."

Wesley frowned. "Really? What about?"

"Well... He said something about a Buffy, and something about a spike being dead. I don't really know. He sounded flustered."

"As he should be," Wesley said, and he picked up the pace, Fred right on his heels.

They reached his office in less then three minutes, a record time. "Angel?" Wesley asked.

Angel was pacing the entirety of his office. Wesley and Fred could see a number of emotions playing across his face: annoyance, frustration, worry, and relief.

"Oh, hello, everyone," Wesley said, actually pleasantly surprised to see most of the Scoobies.

Sitting in Angel's office were Buffy, Dawn, Giles, Faith, Xander, Willow, and a red head and a girl with long brown hair who Wesley failed to recognize. He vaguely remembered Buffy's younger sister, having seen her once or twice. He knew her name only because she was the majority of Buffy's complaints.

On the opposite side of the office sat Gunn and Lorne, and Wesley and Fred went to join them.

"Ah, there's only two people here whom I'm having trouble identifying," Wesley said, gesturing towards the red head and the brunette

"I'm Andrew, and I-"

"Dude. Not the time," Kennedy said, bored. "We're not needing a story right now. And I'm Kennedy. Ex-potential slayer."

Angel nodded towards Buffy, who began to relate the story to Wolfram and Hart's employees.

It was then that Lorne began to get a general sense of how everyone was feeling. He had already heard the epic tale of the great battle of Sunnydale, so decided to focus on the stability of the Scoobies instead of listening a second time.

Buffy was frail, emotionally. She'd been through too much. Ah. She'd lost her mom, found out that she'd had a childhood without a younger sister, and had been struggling with slayer duties for far too long, especially after getting pulled out of heaven. Poor dear. Her relief at not having to be the only slayer was very apparent, but it seemed she still wanted, in a way, for everything to end. To not have to be the slayer anymore. And now she'd lost one person that was most important to her, the vampire.

And the other slayer: Faith. Such a turbulence of emotions. On the path to redemption, but still feeling as though she didn't deserve it. She was also anxious to get back to the man who was currently recovering in the hospital wing upstairs, and wanted no part in this conversation. Yep, she was strong enough for this. She was fine.

The ex-watcher was observing Buffy very closely. Lorne could tell that he didn't trust the whole Buffy-Spike thing, but was still feeling extremely sorry for the slayer. Giles also didn't seem to think that he had a big role to play, but he sure did. He would help every one of these young people in their journey. Especially Dawn.

Speaking of which, the slayer's sister seemed to be holding up fairly well. She was sitting on the arm of the chair that Buffy was in, rubbing her back very lightly. It was a small thing, but Dawn's comforting Buffy was the only thing that was keeping the slayer from bursting into tears. On closer inspection, Dawn wasn't too far away from that point herself. But being strong for her sister in a time like this, when she had lost everything she'd ever known and also lost a very dear friend? That took a lot of courage and strength. Lorne moved on. Dawn would be fine.

Xander, on the other hand, was like a broken mirror. The pieces hadn't all fallen out of the frame yet, but there were only a few hanging on. The man was broken. He was close to empty. Lorne made a mental note to keep a close watch on him, as his friends probably were not aware of the pain that this young man was experiencing and would not be on the lookout for rash decisions and bad judgment.

Andrew was an interesting character. It was clear that he felt useless. He had helped in the battle, but only minorly. And oh, my, this boy was struggling with the death of Anya, just as Xander was. He would find a place soon, probably even here at Wolfram and Hart.

Willow. Lorne was both scared and excited to read the young witch. He had heard much about her, but only bad things. She seemed... sweet. Very sweet. Cute. Adorable. Not veiny and evil. Not like a killer. But reading her, he saw what she'd done, even what she'd thought of doing when doing the spell with the scythe earlier in the day. Boy, she was scary! But she was remorseful. That was good. And she was holding up well. Her suffering was from something that had happened a long time ago. But Lorne could also tell that the girl sitting next to Willow (what was her name? Ah, yes. Kennedy) was no more than a mere toy for the older witch. He wouldn't like to be there when that ended.

Kennedy was an interesting sort. Belligerent and snotty, the young slayer would obviously be somewhere rather than here, despite being a key player in the downfall of the First.

He moved onto all of the Wolfram and Hart employees. All were more confused than anything, except for Angel. He was in a right state.

He tuned back in to what Buffy was saying.

"I saw Faith leave the cavern, and I honestly didn't think that I was going to make it out." Lorne was suddenly very interested; Buffy hadn't told this part of the story the first time. "So I just told her to run. And I ran to Spike and held his hand in mine. He wasn't burning yet, the light was just going straight through the amulet. It was a magnificent sight. And I knew we were going out together. I told him that I loved him." As she said this, Buffy looked at Giles. "I did. And I meant it. Except he didn't believe me." Her voice broke, but the slayer kept going. "And then Spike started to burn and he told me to go, and I'd never seen anything so beautiful, my champion sacrificing himself for the world." She paused and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Dawn had now wrapped her arm around her older sister, and Buffy squeezed her hand. "I told you, Giles. I told you that he could be a good man." And then the slayer's strength broke and she burst into tears, as did her sister.

Lorne sensed the confusion that the Scoobies were feeling. Apparently she had never mentioned this to them... well. This slayer really did have a thing for vampires with souls.

The door burst open and smacked against the wall, leaving a huge hole in the wall. The blonde vampire stood in the doorway. "Oops, sorry boss."