The First Day of the Rest Of Her Life
Title: The First Day of the Rest Of Her Life
Author: Grundy (jerseyfabulous)
Rating: FR13
Crossover: NCIS
Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Joss. NCIS belongs to someone Bellisario. No money is being made here, it's all in good fun.
Summary: Kate Todd has to decide what she wants to do with her life now that she's no longer an NCIS agent. Part of the Before Twilight series.
Word Count: 1430
When Kate woke up, it took her a minute to figure out where she was. It definitely wasn’t her apartment. The bed was very comfortable, though. She was almost sorry to get up- until she spotted the clock and flew out of bed. 8:30! She was going to be late! Gibbs was going to kill her-
That was when it came flooding back. Gibbs wasn’t going to kill her, because he thought she was already dead. So did everyone else she knew. She was staying with people who had somehow managed to rip her off a rooftop in Norfolk so cleanly no one had noticed them switch her for a corpse- and claimed they’d done it to save her life. What she was supposed to do with her life now that they’d saved it, she had no idea.
She didn’t bother with a sweatshirt, but she did pull on yoga pants before she padded downstairs in the tank top she’d slept in. No sense giving Xander an eyeful. She was somewhat surprised to discover that no one else seemed to be up- although when she reached the kitchen, she discovered there was one other person awake and about.
Dawn was sipping coffee while contemplating the cabinets. The inside of one was covered with post-its that looked to be recipes.
“Morning,” Kate said, watching Dawn jump but immediately relax when she recognized the voice.
“Oh, hey, Kate. I was just thinking breakfast. Figured you’d sleep yourself out.”
“I did,” Kate replied. “Normally at this time I’m already at the Navy Yard. Where’s everyone else? Already at work?”
Dawn snorted.
“Not bloody likely,” she laughed. “We’re not really a morning crowd. If she were here, Willow would be waking up about now, but barring a good reason they need to be out of bed, Buffy and Xander won’t be up until 10ish at the earliest.
Kate filed that away. They’d told her they would explain today what they did. Their night owl ways didn’t mesh with any of the ideas she’d come up with so far.
“Waffles?” Dawn asked. “I don’t usually if it’s just me, but if there’s two of us...”
“Waffles would be great,” Kate grinned. “Although if you keep feeding me like this, I’m going to need to step up my exercise routine. I don’t suppose you have anyplace I can work out, do you?”
Dawn paused in assembling waffle ingredients on the counter. She looked at Kate with a smug grin.
“Yeah, I think we just might. Follow me.”
The teen led Kate through to a part of the house she hadn’t seen last night- it turned out to contain a sizable training room that looked like it was normally set up with a martial arts bent.
“Hm, looks like somebody anticipated,” Dawn remarked, wrinking her nose. “They’ve cleared the room.”
“There’s usually more?” Kate asked, taking in the boxing equipment, a rack of free weights set to one side, jump ropes, balance beam, horse, punching bags, practice dummies, areas marked off that were probably for sparring, and plenty of protective gear neatly racked on one side of the room under a sign admonishing users to clean up when they were done, nobody else liked sweaty, stinky stuff either.
“Yeah,” Dawn replied. “They’ve stripped the room so it’s only basic workouts and hand to hand stuff. No weapons.”
Kate raised an eyebrow.
“I do get to find out what exactly you people do today, right?”
Dawn’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, but don’t look at me, I am so leaving that for the grownups,” she said. “I’ll spar with you if you want- hey, awesome!”
“What?” Kate asked. She had already gotten used to Dawn’s abrupt switches to new topics of conversation.
“I finally have someone to spar with who doesn’t have to hold back!” Dawn said cheerfully. “Assuming you spar.”
“Everyone else has to hold back?”
“Again, the grownups get to give that speech.”
“The others I met last night- Xander and your sister, they’re the grownups?” Kate asked, shaking her head. Not a single one of them was over thirty.
“Sad but true,” came a voice from the door.
Kate and Dawn turned to find Buffy in a pair of pyjama pants that appeared to be sushi print, a tank top similar to Kate’s, and clutching a cup of coffee like her life depended on it. She wasn’t quite mainlining it Gibbs style, but Kate got the distinct impression that without it, Buffy would be far less functional.
“I’m actually the one in charge, believe it or not,” Buffy continued ruefully.
“I was told you’re not a morning person,” Kate said, with a small laugh as Buffy took another swig of caffeine.
“I’m not,” Buffy agreed. “But I heard you were up, and Dawn isn’t so good with the following of directions sometimes.”
The glare she gave her younger sister lacked any real annoyance, though. Kate had the distinct impression Buffy had fully expected Dawn would drag her in here.
Dawn stuck her tongue out.
“You cleaned up so it doesn’t matter anyway.”
Buffy gave her sister a quelling glace.
“Anyway, Kate, we can tell you what we do here whenever you’re ready to hear it.”
“If I said right now, you’d tell me?” Kate asked in surprise.
Buffy nodded.
“Sure. You got a good night’s sleep or as close to it as you could, and hopefully you’re getting used to the idea of no longer being Special Agent Kate Todd.”
Kate paused. The way they’d approached the subject made her not sure she actually wanted to know. They’d told her to leave it until today so she only had one mind-blowing thing to deal with at a time. But she needed to be able to make decisions about her new, non-law enforcement career future, and part of that was deciding whether she wanted to work with Buffy and Xander or whether she wanted to strike out in a completely new direction. She couldn’t make that call until she knew what they did.
She took a deep breath.
“I’d like to know. Please.”
Buffy smiled, but there was a tinge of sadness to it.
“I thought you might say that. Dawn, pull out the beanbags, would you?”
“The bean- sure, right,” Dawn said, discovering after she’d started talking that it wasn’t just her bringing Kate here
Buffy had anticipated.
“Make yourself comfy,” Buffy said with a wave, as Dawn plopped cheerfully into one beanbag.
Kate folded herself into a blue beanbag and listened attentively as Buffy began.
“Are you religious?”
Kate nodded.
“Raised Catholic.”
“Hm. Depending on your priest, some of what I’m going to tell you might sound familiar. Earth is old, older than you may know…”
---
Xander stumbled into the kitchen around ten thirty to discover that there had been waffles. Also ice cream, chocolate, Oreos, and something that involved using the oven. He grabbed himself a leftover waffle, decorating it lovingly with chocolate chips, ice cream, and a generous dollop of whipped cream before he headed to the living room.
As he’d expected, he found Buffy, Dawn, and Kate sprawled on the couches. There were brownies, vanilla and chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, and chocolate syrup on the coffee table, and Kate was nursing a brownie concoction and hugging a blanket.
“I see we’re starting the day off right!” he exclaimed. “I take it Kate already got the speech.”
Kate looked at him wide-eyed. The look on her face confirmed his guess.
“Xander’s eye?” she demanded.
“Crazy preacher trying to kill Potentials,” Dawn answered. “Buffy cut him in half.”
“He had to split,” Buffy said, with a small giggle. “That was about the only funny thing about that situation, though.”
Kate took another bite of her brownie sundae.
“She seems to be taking it fairly well,” Xander observed. “How are you holding up, Kate?”
“Better than I would have thought, honestly,” she replied. “I’m not sure it’s fully sunk in yet. Buffy and Dawn have been taking turns telling war stories.”
“We’ve got plenty of those,” Xander said as clearly as he could around a mouthful of waffle.
“I hear you got to blow up your high school,” she said with a wicked grin. "What was it like living the dream?"
“Oh, they’ve been telling you the good stories,” Xander said, smiling. Kate was bouncing back better than they’d expected. She was doing ok on Plan Brownie, so maybe they wouldn’t have to resort to Plan Alcohol. “So now that you know about our world, any other questions besides my eye?”
“Yeah, actually,” she replied. “A pretty important one- how the hell does Ari Haswari fit into all this?”
Author: Grundy (jerseyfabulous)
Rating: FR13
Crossover: NCIS
Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Joss. NCIS belongs to someone Bellisario. No money is being made here, it's all in good fun.
Summary: Kate Todd has to decide what she wants to do with her life now that she's no longer an NCIS agent. Part of the Before Twilight series.
Word Count: 1430
When Kate woke up, it took her a minute to figure out where she was. It definitely wasn’t her apartment. The bed was very comfortable, though. She was almost sorry to get up- until she spotted the clock and flew out of bed. 8:30! She was going to be late! Gibbs was going to kill her-
That was when it came flooding back. Gibbs wasn’t going to kill her, because he thought she was already dead. So did everyone else she knew. She was staying with people who had somehow managed to rip her off a rooftop in Norfolk so cleanly no one had noticed them switch her for a corpse- and claimed they’d done it to save her life. What she was supposed to do with her life now that they’d saved it, she had no idea.
She didn’t bother with a sweatshirt, but she did pull on yoga pants before she padded downstairs in the tank top she’d slept in. No sense giving Xander an eyeful. She was somewhat surprised to discover that no one else seemed to be up- although when she reached the kitchen, she discovered there was one other person awake and about.
Dawn was sipping coffee while contemplating the cabinets. The inside of one was covered with post-its that looked to be recipes.
“Morning,” Kate said, watching Dawn jump but immediately relax when she recognized the voice.
“Oh, hey, Kate. I was just thinking breakfast. Figured you’d sleep yourself out.”
“I did,” Kate replied. “Normally at this time I’m already at the Navy Yard. Where’s everyone else? Already at work?”
Dawn snorted.
“Not bloody likely,” she laughed. “We’re not really a morning crowd. If she were here, Willow would be waking up about now, but barring a good reason they need to be out of bed, Buffy and Xander won’t be up until 10ish at the earliest.
Kate filed that away. They’d told her they would explain today what they did. Their night owl ways didn’t mesh with any of the ideas she’d come up with so far.
“Waffles?” Dawn asked. “I don’t usually if it’s just me, but if there’s two of us...”
“Waffles would be great,” Kate grinned. “Although if you keep feeding me like this, I’m going to need to step up my exercise routine. I don’t suppose you have anyplace I can work out, do you?”
Dawn paused in assembling waffle ingredients on the counter. She looked at Kate with a smug grin.
“Yeah, I think we just might. Follow me.”
The teen led Kate through to a part of the house she hadn’t seen last night- it turned out to contain a sizable training room that looked like it was normally set up with a martial arts bent.
“Hm, looks like somebody anticipated,” Dawn remarked, wrinking her nose. “They’ve cleared the room.”
“There’s usually more?” Kate asked, taking in the boxing equipment, a rack of free weights set to one side, jump ropes, balance beam, horse, punching bags, practice dummies, areas marked off that were probably for sparring, and plenty of protective gear neatly racked on one side of the room under a sign admonishing users to clean up when they were done, nobody else liked sweaty, stinky stuff either.
“Yeah,” Dawn replied. “They’ve stripped the room so it’s only basic workouts and hand to hand stuff. No weapons.”
Kate raised an eyebrow.
“I do get to find out what exactly you people do today, right?”
Dawn’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, but don’t look at me, I am so leaving that for the grownups,” she said. “I’ll spar with you if you want- hey, awesome!”
“What?” Kate asked. She had already gotten used to Dawn’s abrupt switches to new topics of conversation.
“I finally have someone to spar with who doesn’t have to hold back!” Dawn said cheerfully. “Assuming you spar.”
“Everyone else has to hold back?”
“Again, the grownups get to give that speech.”
“The others I met last night- Xander and your sister, they’re the grownups?” Kate asked, shaking her head. Not a single one of them was over thirty.
“Sad but true,” came a voice from the door.
Kate and Dawn turned to find Buffy in a pair of pyjama pants that appeared to be sushi print, a tank top similar to Kate’s, and clutching a cup of coffee like her life depended on it. She wasn’t quite mainlining it Gibbs style, but Kate got the distinct impression that without it, Buffy would be far less functional.
“I’m actually the one in charge, believe it or not,” Buffy continued ruefully.
“I was told you’re not a morning person,” Kate said, with a small laugh as Buffy took another swig of caffeine.
“I’m not,” Buffy agreed. “But I heard you were up, and Dawn isn’t so good with the following of directions sometimes.”
The glare she gave her younger sister lacked any real annoyance, though. Kate had the distinct impression Buffy had fully expected Dawn would drag her in here.
Dawn stuck her tongue out.
“You cleaned up so it doesn’t matter anyway.”
Buffy gave her sister a quelling glace.
“Anyway, Kate, we can tell you what we do here whenever you’re ready to hear it.”
“If I said right now, you’d tell me?” Kate asked in surprise.
Buffy nodded.
“Sure. You got a good night’s sleep or as close to it as you could, and hopefully you’re getting used to the idea of no longer being Special Agent Kate Todd.”
Kate paused. The way they’d approached the subject made her not sure she actually wanted to know. They’d told her to leave it until today so she only had one mind-blowing thing to deal with at a time. But she needed to be able to make decisions about her new, non-law enforcement career future, and part of that was deciding whether she wanted to work with Buffy and Xander or whether she wanted to strike out in a completely new direction. She couldn’t make that call until she knew what they did.
She took a deep breath.
“I’d like to know. Please.”
Buffy smiled, but there was a tinge of sadness to it.
“I thought you might say that. Dawn, pull out the beanbags, would you?”
“The bean- sure, right,” Dawn said, discovering after she’d started talking that it wasn’t just her bringing Kate here
Buffy had anticipated.
“Make yourself comfy,” Buffy said with a wave, as Dawn plopped cheerfully into one beanbag.
Kate folded herself into a blue beanbag and listened attentively as Buffy began.
“Are you religious?”
Kate nodded.
“Raised Catholic.”
“Hm. Depending on your priest, some of what I’m going to tell you might sound familiar. Earth is old, older than you may know…”
---
Xander stumbled into the kitchen around ten thirty to discover that there had been waffles. Also ice cream, chocolate, Oreos, and something that involved using the oven. He grabbed himself a leftover waffle, decorating it lovingly with chocolate chips, ice cream, and a generous dollop of whipped cream before he headed to the living room.
As he’d expected, he found Buffy, Dawn, and Kate sprawled on the couches. There were brownies, vanilla and chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, and chocolate syrup on the coffee table, and Kate was nursing a brownie concoction and hugging a blanket.
“I see we’re starting the day off right!” he exclaimed. “I take it Kate already got the speech.”
Kate looked at him wide-eyed. The look on her face confirmed his guess.
“Xander’s eye?” she demanded.
“Crazy preacher trying to kill Potentials,” Dawn answered. “Buffy cut him in half.”
“He had to split,” Buffy said, with a small giggle. “That was about the only funny thing about that situation, though.”
Kate took another bite of her brownie sundae.
“She seems to be taking it fairly well,” Xander observed. “How are you holding up, Kate?”
“Better than I would have thought, honestly,” she replied. “I’m not sure it’s fully sunk in yet. Buffy and Dawn have been taking turns telling war stories.”
“We’ve got plenty of those,” Xander said as clearly as he could around a mouthful of waffle.
“I hear you got to blow up your high school,” she said with a wicked grin. "What was it like living the dream?"
“Oh, they’ve been telling you the good stories,” Xander said, smiling. Kate was bouncing back better than they’d expected. She was doing ok on Plan Brownie, so maybe they wouldn’t have to resort to Plan Alcohol. “So now that you know about our world, any other questions besides my eye?”
“Yeah, actually,” she replied. “A pretty important one- how the hell does Ari Haswari fit into all this?”