Displaced, Part One
Buffy wasn’t impressed with Forks, Washington. She didn’t get the small town appeal. After being born and raised in L.A. then moving to Sunnydale, a nice sized town by California standards, then brief stints in major cities in Europe, she was spoiled. While she enjoyed the quiet sometimes, she liked the noise big crowds provided. Being in a town of three thousand people was going to drive her crazy, and she hadn’t even gotten to the city proper yet.
She and Dawn flew into Seattle that morning, which was about a three hour drive away. While she wasn’t a fan of teleporting, Buffy wished she hadn’t protested so hard when Willow offered. She forgot how much she hated flying.
Their first stop in Forks was the small house the Council rented for them for the duration of their stay. She needed to enroll Dawn in the local high school and then unpack the boxes they shipped ahead of their arrival. It wasn’t much, mostly clothes, books, weapons, and personal items. Buffy hoped they wouldn’t be staying long.
When they finally passed the sign proclaiming they were now in the city limits of Forks, Buffy made a face. After being told her destination, Buffy had made a smart ass comment about whether or not there was a nearby town of Spoons. She got glares, a lecture on the reasoning behind the town name, and was forced to promise not to make the joke while in town. It was still a weird name.
“You can’t let that go, can you?” Dawn asked, amused.
“Sunnydale was ironic and endearing after a while,” she replied. “I just can’t believe I’m stuck in a tiny town called Forks.”
“The drive was pretty. Enjoy the scenery for a while. Maybe you can even relax.”
Buffy shook her head as she looked around Main Street. “I’m here looking for a Hellmouth, Dawnie. There’s no time to relax.”
Dawn rolled her eyes and started to observe the town herself. They passed the high school and Buffy turned into the parking lot. Dawn looked over at her in confusion. “What are you doing? I thought we were going to the house first.”
“We might as well get this part over. God knows we’re both dreading it.”
While they were here to find out if there really was a Hellmouth or another reason for the supernatural activity in the area, they needed a cover, especially in a town so small. Even though Dawn hadn’t technically graduated high school in Sunnydale because of the whole First opening the Hellmouth thing, Wood assured her that he saved all grades to a hard drive and brought it with him from the school. Dawn finished her education with private tutors and even took college classes from universities all over Europe online. She agreed, albeit reluctantly, to enroll in the high school to see if she could discover anything amiss.
Buffy’s cover in the town was thought up by Andrew, which should have sent warning bells off in her mind immediately. She was an author that was writing some sort of book on the Washington wilderness. It meant she could “work” from home, be alone, and if they came across her in the woods, she would have a ready excuse. The problem was there was plenty of “wilderness” here, but Buffy didn’t know enough - or anything - about the wilderness to pull this off.
She sighed when she put the car in park and got out. It was overcast and the gray skies didn’t help make the brick buildings look any more cheerful. Dawn stood next to her. “Is it sad that I miss Sunnydale?”
Buffy’s phone rang and she started digging through her purse. “At least with Sunnydale you knew the school was evil. Here it’s unexplored,” she replied distractedly as she looked at the number calling. With a sigh, she ignored the call and continued on towards the school.
Dawn just gave her an irritated look. “Thanks for the pep talk. You do remember we’re here looking for a Hellmouth?”
“Hey,” Buffy retorted as they began walking to the office doors, “I distinctly remember Giles saying there were other possibilities.”
“And I remember him saying but more than likely it is a Hellmouth.”
Buffy didn’t reply as they headed inside and were surrounded by bustling teenagers. They managed to come right between changes of class and more than once she curbed the urge to shove people out of the way. She missed students knowing she could throw them into walls easily.
After some maneuvering, they made it to the office and Buffy started the process of filling out the numerous forms Dawn needed. Thanks to Willow, they had papers for Dawn that were accepted with no fuss.
The door to the office opened and both Dawn and Buffy looked over. A boy with light hair and an easy smile on his face walked in and handed papers to the woman behind the desk. He hitched his backpack up higher when he saw the two sisters out of the corner of his eye. Buffy snorted and went back to filling out the forms.
The secretary waved Dawn up and Buffy motioned her forward.
“This is Michael Newton. He can give you a quick tour. He has study hall this period.”
Dawn looked back to Buffy, who nodded. It would take a while for the papers to be filled out anyway. It was a half hour before her tour guide brought her back to the office. Buffy tried, and failed, to keep the grin off her face.
“So, you totally snuck around to the deserted side of the building to make out, didn’t you?” Buffy asked in a low voice when Dawn sat down next to her. The forms were in a neat stack next to her, along with some fliers about the school.
Dawn glared at her. “No. He just showed me around. A high school is a high school.”
Buffy snorted but didn’t reply. Soon after that, the secretary called them back and Buffy was relieved by the anti-Snyder principal. He gave a generic ‘Welcome to Forks High School’ speech and made sure all Dawn’s questions were answered. It didn’t take long and soon they were out the door, with Dawn starting classes the following Monday.
By the time they started walking towards their rented car, it was lunch and students were gathering outside. The sun was still hidden by the clouds, but that didn’t stop students from treating it like a sunny day. A group of boys played Frisbee and some girls were sitting at picnic tables going over a magazine.
Dawn got in the car first, but Buffy paused. Someone was watching her. She could feel their gaze. Casually, she turned around and found the person who was staring at her. He wasn’t familiar and was turned towards a girl a bit shorter than him with dark brown hair. While she spoke, her eyes paid more attention to the ground in front of her than the boy she was walking with. He was focused on Buffy. She frowned and figured it was some teenage crush, but the gaze was almost too intense for that.
Buffy shrugged it off and got in the car, listening to Dawn grumble about going to high school all over again.
...................................
It wouldn’t look natural to have a crossbow slung around her shoulder, so she was carrying a shotgun. No one would question it because of the bears and wolves that roamed the area. Since this was one of her first times out in the woods, she wanted to go during the day, just in case she did get caught by some nasty thing that went bump in the night.
Buffy was glad she’d worn tennis shoes. Gone were the days where she patrolled a nice, flat area with lots of visibility and little trees. Even if she did manage to find a demon or a vampire here, it was going to be like running a triathlon to catch the damn thing. The shotgun would come in handy in slowing it down.
She’d been walking for a few hours with nothing but birds and small animals for company. Dawn wanted to spend her last weekend of freedom, as she was putting it, watching television and chatting online with the rest of the Scoobies, lamenting her fate to them.
Buffy froze. She heard a twig snap, very faint but noticeable to her hearing. When she heard another crunch, she spun around and took aim with her shotgun. She froze when she came face to face with a very large, very growl-y wolf.
She hesitated in pulling the trigger and the beast hesitated in charging her. They were engaged in a staring contest. Buffy looked deep into the wolf’s eyes and was shocked at what she saw. This wasn’t an ordinary wolf. She saw humanity in its eyes, something she’d seen in Oz when he wolfed out. But there was no madness there, no rage. Just... humanity. It was oddly like looking into Giles’ eyes when he’d been turned into the demon by Ethan. His body was a demon’s, but the eyes were his own.
“You’re aware,” she said, partly in caution and partly in confusion. If she had been wrong, the wolf would have either charged or run, and instead she saw surprise. She shook her head, realizing her words could have been confused. “I mean, you’re a were, too, like a werewolf but you’re also aware as in aware of everything.”
Buffy paused. Saying the creature in front of her was a werewolf wasn’t correct. “The full moon is nine days away,” she reasoned out loud. “And it’s day time.”
She finally gave up and lowered the shotgun a bit. “Okay, what the hell is going on?”
The wolf backed up a bit, but instead of turning to run, he just gave himself more room. Where there was a wolf, a man slowly started to form. A naked man. A naked, hot younger man.
Buffy’s eyes widened and she spun around, feeling her cheeks flush. “Give a girl a warning next time, will you? I didn’t know this creature feature came with naked, salty goodness.”
“Who are you?” the man asked firmly. He didn’t sound the least bit intimidated by her and her gun, but if she could shift into a big ass wolf, she wouldn’t scared of a small woman and a gun either.
“Um,” she said, trying to turn so he could hear her but no so much that she got an eyeful. “My name is Buffy.”
“What are you and what are you doing here?”
He sounded pissy, and that made her pissy. She didn’t ask to tromp around in the woods for hours looking for something that might not even be here. Well, now that there were werewolves in her midst or some form of shape-shifter, she guessed there was, damn it.
“I’m human, buddy, and last time I checked, this is a free country.” In her irritation, she momentarily forgot that the person she was talking to was naked, and Buffy turned around in a huff. She quickly looked away and covered her eyes. That time she’d seen he was a bit too young to be called a man. “Good God, are you even legal? Can’t you put on clothes or something? A leaf, maybe?”
Through her fingers-because she couldn’t help it, she was totally looking-she saw him hold back a grin. It was gone in a flash and stone-faced man-boy came back. “I asked you what you were doing here.”
“I’m taking a stroll through the woods. What are you doing, chasing your tail?” she sniped.
Clearly, neither knew what to do. He knew he was caught changing from a wolf form and she knew she was caught knowing exactly what he was. Awkward silence followed.
“So, are you going to tell me how you can shift in the middle of the day a week away from a full moon?” Buffy cautiously took her hand away from her eyes and focused on keeping her line of sight above his crossed arms. He was as bad as Spike when it came to not caring about being naked.
“Are you going to tell me why you thought I was a werewolf and how you knew I was human?”
“I asked first.”
Buffy couldn’t tell if he was amused with her or irritated, but he answered anyway. “I’m not a werewolf; I’m a shape-shifter. Wolf is the choice of me and my people.”
Her eyebrow went up. “You and your people? There are more of you?”
He shook his head firmly, his jaw set. He could give Willow a run for her money with that resolve face. “I answered your question, now you answer mine.”
It was true, and with a sigh, Buffy explained. “I thought you were a werewolf because I’ve been around werewolves before. They may act savage but there’s humanity in their eyes. You had it, but you also had awareness. You didn’t look at me like a snack. That’s why I stopped.” Then she paused, something occurring to her. “And you stopped, despite me having a shotgun aimed at you. Why?”
A small grin turned up the side of his lips. “You couldn’t have shot me.”
Her eyebrow went up. Cocky much? “Um, excuse me? I’m a damn good shot, I’ll have you know.”
He shook his head, the grin getting a bit wider. “I didn’t doubt your aim, just your gun. The safety is still on.”
Buffy blinked and looked down at the shotgun, a sense of dread washing over her when she saw the safety was indeed still engaged. “Damn it.”
His stoic facade finally cracked and he chuckled. Buffy figured now that the ice was mostly broken and they’d decided not to kill each other, that they should at least know each other’s names. She held out her hand as a peace offering. “Buffy Summers.”
If he thought her name was weird, he didn’t say anything. “Sam Uley.”
“Sorry about the whole shotgun thing, even if the safety was on. The only guns I’m used to are tranquilizers, and ours don’t have a safety. My weapon of choice is the crossbow.”
Sam did look at her strangely at that. “It’s no problem. Do much hunting with your crossbow?”
Buffy realized she came across as a hunter of some sort and winced. “Well, sort of. I don’t hunt deer or bears or whatever.” She thought she could just come out and say she was the slayer because it wasn’t exactly like Sam wouldn’t believe her, but she was erring on the side of caution for once.
“What else would you hunt?”
“Other...things, but this was only for my protection when it did come to deer and bears, not that I expect a deer to charge me or anything. At least I don’t think they would.” She looked away, trying to recall anything about dangerous deer. The only deer-related thing she could think of was Bambi, and that was no help. She decided to change the subject. “So, have you been a shifter your whole life?”
This time, Sam seemed to hesitate, and Buffy knew he was trying to tell if she could be trusted. “Look, I’ve seen some damn near crazy things in my life, but this doesn’t even scratch the surface. If you don’t want to tell me anything, that’s fine. I’ll just go on my way and if we ever cross paths, I’ll act surprised and never mention I’ve seen you naked.”
Sam chuckled and some of the tension from his broad shoulders released. “It’s not that I’m worried you will tell, but it’s dangerous if you know.”
Buffy snorted. “Please. If I stayed away from dangerous things, I would be sipping Mai-Tais on the California beach right about now without a care in the world. Instead I’m hiking around this god-forsaken forest in the middle of nowhere, Washington. Do I look like the camping type?”
He shook his head, but still was hesitant. “Why do you hunt with a crossbow and not a gun?” he asked, throwing Buffy off. Her spidey sense wasn’t tingling, and while she’d been searching for signs of aggression, she’d seen none. If he was going to come at her, he wouldn't have told her the safety was off on the gun.
Plus, if he did go blabbing to people that she was the slayer, he would have to explain how he knew, and the whole episode of him changing into a really big puppy probably wouldn’t go over really well.
In answer to his question, Buffy shrugged nonchalantly. “You can’t exactly kill vampires with bullets, now can you?”
She was not expecting Sam to outright smile with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “You kill vampires?” he asked, almost excitedly.
“Uh, yeah. It’s in my job description. Slayer comma the. The one chosen to fight the forces of darkness, which is more often than not the undead community who likes to chomp on necks of unsuspecting victims.”
“In answer to your question from earlier, I’ve been a shifter only recently... since the vampires arrived.”
That was a surprise. “There are vampires here and you know about them? And they cause you to shift? I’ve never heard of any vampires doing that before. Ever. And I’ve known a lot of vampires.”
“My people, the Quileutes, are protectors of this land. Whenever vampires settle here, the young males become wolves so we may better protect our people should the Cold Ones not honor the treaty.”
Buffy blinked, trying to digest all he’d told her. “So, wait, you have a peace treaty with the vampires? To do what? Stay off each other’s hunting grounds?”
Sam shook his head, a mild look of disgust coming over his features. “I’m a human who can shift into a wolf; I do not live like a wolf if I do not have to. I was walking along the treaty line to make sure the Cold Ones didn’t pass into our territory. The vampires here do not feed off of humans and kill them, and until they do, we will not go after them.”
Now she was even more confused. “So how do they eat? Last I checked vampires needed blood to survive.”
“They feed off animals in the forest; not human blood.”
“So there is more than one vampire here?”
“Our last count was seven.”
She shook her head. She’d never heard of a nest that size living off of animals and not making trouble. It was mind-blowing. If only the Sunnydale vamps had been so nice and courteous. “And they’re members of the town? Does anyone else know they are vampires?”
Sam shook his head, and Buffy could tell he didn’t like speaking of them, but she really needed this information, and needed to double check her source. “They mostly keep to themselves, but the coven leader is a doctor at the hospital. His name is Cullen.”
This time, her jaw dropped. “A vampire is working at the hospital?” Now she started to pace, the shotgun slung over her shoulder and forgotten. Had she stepped into an alternate reality or something? Was there a portal she walked into unknowingly? What kind of vampire was a working member of society, especially in a place where people came in covered in blood and needing medical attention?
She stopped, coming up with an idea to go to the hospital and see this Dr. Cullen herself. A bit of holy water and her trusty cross necklace accidentally shoved against his skin would do just nicely.
“You’re not going to confront the Cold Ones, are you?” Sam asked, looking at her nervously.
While she wasn’t about to go run at them with stakes, she certainly needed to get the scoop about the not-so-normal town of Forks.“I can take care of myself. If I can’t, I’ll just take a quick trip to the hospital to make sure I’m fine.”
“Buffy,” Sam said, grabbing her arm as she started to walk away. “I can’t allow you to do that.”
She slowly turned to face him, her own resolve face firm. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. You can’t order me about, puppy.”
His glared hardened and his grip tightened, but with a burst of strength, she managed to shrug her arm out of his hand and started walking away. For a moment, she thought Sam was going to let her go, but suddenly, Buffy tensed, her senses going into overdrive.
Sam leaped over her, body morphing into a wolf’s larger frame with ease. The wolf turned to face her, haunches slightly raised and ears perked up. Slowly, Buffy reached around on the shotgun and switched the safety off.
“Don’t do this, Sam,” she said, trying to plead with him yet remain firm. “It’s not going to end well, and I’ll have to go to the hospital anyway.”
Sam growled and his fur started to stand on end. Buffy gripped the shotgun and while she wasn’t planning on shooting him, the butt of the gun would work just as well against the side of his head. Just as he was about to pounce, a roar from her right sounded loudly.
Buffy’s eyes widened as she saw a bear stand on its hind legs and growl into the air. A smaller, high pitched whine sounded from her left, and her head whipped around to the new sound. Two cubs were between the trees about thirty feet out, and between momma bear and baby bear was Buffy and Sam.
She fired the gun away from the bears and Sam, hoping a warning shot would chase the bear away. It scared the cubs, but the mother was enraged that her children were running from her. Buffy used this as a sign to get the hell away and took off at a run. Since the bear charged between her and Sam, he was forced to go the other way, clearly not wanting to fight the mother. It was luck that Buffy was running in the direction she’d come.
After a few moments of running and not hearing anything from the bear or Sam, she slowed to a fast-paced walk. When her cell phone rang, she pulled it out and rolled her eyes. It could wait, so she ignored the call.
Determined that she wasn’t being followed, she headed home. She made it there just as the sun was setting. All she wanted was a nice, hot bath to get rid of the dirt and grime, but knew a call was due to Giles while the information was fresh in her mind. Buffy grabbed the keys from her back pocket and unlocked the front door. The shotgun was placed by the chest of weapons.
Dawn looked up from the couch where she was lounging. She took one look at Buffy, her expression, and her clothing, and winced. “You found something, didn’t you?”
“Big understatement.”
Master Post | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Notes and Acknowledgments | Outtake | Story Art | Soundtrack