Shades of gray- Story 2 {BtVS/Supernatural}

12. Tough love

A/N: Okay the characters are still not mine sadly, all I own is my Twizzler obsession and collection of Buffy Dvd's :) Please don't hate me for how this chapter ends and keep in mind that there's still 2 more!

A/N2: Oh I almost forgot, all the info in this chapter about gremlins I found on various websites, even the bit about World War II in chapter 11 except that they talked. I don't actually know if they did or not but for my own purposes this one does. K? Kay!

Buffy woke to an empty hotel room then spotted the note on the bed-side table written by Sam she assumed, because Dean’s handwriting was a bit different. She relaxed when she read what it said and headed for the restroom to use the facilities and fix her appearance if needed. She hadn’t had a nightmare, least not that she could remember, and she felt her body getting twitchy with anticipation of dealing with the gremlin and getting to slay something.

When she came out of the bathroom, the door to the hotel room opened and the boys entered, bickering about something like usual. She smiled at them in greeting and they smiled back, abandoning their argument for the moment. Sam started to do some final researching, wanting to be prepared for anything while Dean looked her over.

“Feel better princess?” He asked and she noticed his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but she wasn’t given time to ponder it because he chose that moment to grab her and kiss her senseless.

“Yep, definitely of the good,” she chirped once she could think again, let alone form words coherently. “Find out anything?” She asked, taking a step over to Sam who waved her over to read what he was looking at. Dean went into the bathroom while Sam filled her in, and when he glanced at his reflection in the mirror over the sink he sighed. Tonight he’d enjoy what time he could with her but tomorrow he’d have to tell her the truth about what he’d decided and he was seriously dreading it.

“Is Dean okay?” Buffy asked Sam, the way he’d forced a smile coming back into her thoughts. He nodded and patted her hand reassuringly and she smiled back at him.

“So what do we know about gremlins?” Dean announced as he came back into the room and walked toward them, slipping his arms around Buffy’s waist and breathing in the scent of vanilla. She rested one arm on his and the other she rose to cradle the back of his neck. She made the decision she’d pull him aside once the case was done, find out what was going on in that head of his.

“Basically that they like messing with airplanes, they’re not evil just, you know, mischievous. They aren’t usually seen by adults but this site here says that they’re unpredictable and that they’re attracted to arrogance. Huh, they’ll love you Dean!” Sam cracked and Dean threw him a dirty look while Buffy giggled. “There’s some mention of them being telepathic but that’s all I could find,” he finished and leaned back in his chair to look at them.

“Wonderful, a telepathic little troll. Alright, suit up. We’ll hit the place now, take out the sucker.” Dean decided and they all prepared for the battle, grabbing weapons.

“How are we going to kill it?” Sam asked as he watched Dean check his gun and slipping his own into the waistband of his jeans. Buffy strapped a couple knives to her arms and grabbed a small hand-axe, testing the edge and smiling grimly when it cut her thumb.

“Well since sunrise isn’t for quite a while, I‘ll just have to slice and dice,” Buffy answered, going over her ax with a critical eye. Not many things could survive without a head, and well if that didn’t work, she’d think of something else.

They rode in silence, the music playing some song she didn’t recognize. Buffy let her mind wander back to Sunnydale and her friends, then to Giles and her mother. She wondered how they were getting along without her, and she missed them. She started to imagine alternate scenarios where she’d go home and they’d greet her like she hadn’t been gone, or that she hadn’t killed Angel. She wondered how different things would be if the curse hadn’t worked, would she still feel so hurt? Or even if it had but Acathla hadn’t been activated, where would she and Angel be then? And where would that leave her and Dean? She knew she’d have to go back home eventually, but she wasn’t ready yet, and she was beginning to wonder if she’d ever be, or if she’d just continue to hurt.