The Fallen Slayer {1}

Brotherly Tension

Another nightmare had plagued her dreams.

After Stefan had snuck out of her bedroom window in the early hours of the morning after they had spent the whole night talking, Buffy had tried to sleep.

Tried being the imperative word.

This time the dream had been a mixture of memory and pure nightmares.

Thanksgiving last year in Sunnydale when her friends had come over for dinner. The dream had seemed lovely at first until she and her mother had been in the kitchen.

They had knocked over a pumpkin pie and then the next second all Buffy could see was the corpse of her mother laid out on the dining room table.

Dead eyes staring back at her.

She had woken up screaming only an hour after she had fallen asleep.

Beyond tired and in need of coffee, Buffy stumbled out of her room in her yummy sushi pajamas wiping at her eyes in an attempt to keep them open.

"You look adorable."

Jumping slightly, Buffy sighed as she was met with the sight of Jenna and Elena standing by the hall mirror, now grinning at her sleep attire.

"Very adorable." Elena agreed with her aunt as a sly grin covered her lips as she focused on Buffy "And tired. Late night?" The knowing tone of her voice had Buffy hiding her face in her hands.

While Elena had let Stefan in, she clearly now knew that he hadn't left till the sun had started to rise.

"Shut up." She mumbled before turning to the dressed-up Jenna, purposely ignoring the amused look on Elena's face "We're not going to church, are we? Cause if so... achoo, I'm sick." She quickly faked a cough.

Jenna was in a black dress and heels looking insanely professional yet hot at the same time.

Her aunt sorted "No, now help. Hair up or down?"

Buffy watched the demonstration closely as Jenna lifted her hair in a bun before letting her long strawberry-blonde locks fall past her shoulders.

"You look like your mother like that." Buffy commented just as Jeremy walked up the stairs and handed Buffy a cup of coffee before walking into his room without a word.

The door slammed behind him but Buffy now had coffee so she wasn't bothered.

Jenna's eyes widened in horror at Buffy's assessment of her hair, letting out a small gasp the strawberry blonde quickly turned to look in the mirror staring at herself in disgust.
Elena snorted at Jenna's sudden hair panic. Of course, Buffy would say the one thing to freak her out.

"Up it is then."

Once she was positive she no longer looked like her mother Jenna finally peeled herself away from the mirror long enough to throw a smirk in Buffy's direction "Next time, tell Stefan he can use the front door when he sneaks out."

Elena barked out a laugh while Buffy growled "Nothing happened. We are friends." She hissed trying to sound as believable as possible as she downed her coffee.

Right now she was trying to convince herself more than anyone that she and Stefan were just friends.

They were friends!

Nothing more.

"She likes a boy." Elena singed.

As Jenna grinned, Buffy tilted her head before smirking "Jeremy just climbed out of his bedroom window."

Sure enough, that got the conversation off her and Jenna rushed into Jeremy's room.

The room was empty and his window was wide open.

Jenna groaned, however, before she could worry she spotted the time on the hallway clock "Crap." She mumbled before quickly running down the stairs to get to her meeting while Elena chuckled in amusement at Jenna's panic.

She wasn't worried about Jeremy. It wasn't hard to figure out where he was going.

The hospital to see Vicki.

**

Flipping through the art history book she had gotten from the library was so much better than Tanner's lesson. 

Luckily, Tanner had seemed to learn his lesson after the last time and had left Elena alone. Not asking her a single question. He hadn't taunted her once during the whole period. Honestly, if she didn't hate the guy Buffy would have been impressed by his sudden restraint.

She was reading about the history of a piece that had mysteriously appeared in the Louvre in Paris with no note. No one knew where the piece had come from or who had painted the image of a wolf running through the woods.

All that was known about the painting linked back to the initials drawn into the bottom.

N.M.