(Edited 04.02.2023)

My knuckles were white as my grip on the steering wheel began to turn painful. I'd run my car right through the creature that had taken my father if I had the chance. The only thing that I could think of was Mom.

What if it's the same one?

It couldn't be. The vampire that killed mom didn't seem like the kind to play with his food. He took what he wanted, no pies for negotiation. He would've killed my father, point blank, then waited for me to come home to kill me alongside him. This was someone new, but I'd kill it all the same.

I'd made one stop before my trip back to Sunnydale to make a call. I told Buffy that I needed a place to stay and that my Dad had been kidnapped by a creature in Sunnydale, but left out the red-stained note. I liked Buffy, but if it came down to her life or Dad's, I would choose Dad in a heartbeat—no hesitation.

I stepped through the large door, marching past the questioning group with my still-packed bag. I hadn't even bothered to wash the pie guts from my hands—it served as a reminder of how dead this creature was going to be.

"Alex, please, you are always welcome, but you cannot just walk in like you own the place. You-you have to communicate." Giles said and I turned around to face him, my face stone-cold.

"My father has been taken because he came to this town for me. I need to find him." I expressed, anger clearly in my tone. I wasn't mad at any of them, and I was sure they knew, but I was going to gut somebody today.

The note had left an address here in Sunnydale and a meeting time—an exchange of the Slayer for my father. All I had to figure out was how to get there and get Dad without having to sacrifice anybody. Thanksgiving was only in a couple of days and I had all this to deal with.

"So, what's going on exactly?" Xander asked. I took a deep breath, crumpling the note in my pocket as I second-guessed whether or not to show them all. Would it benefit me more? Perhaps we could set up a bait-and-switch? Or would they not trust me afterward for keeping it until now?

"I need to know... That I can trust you all." I spoke, looking over the lot.

"You can! Of course, you can. What's going on?" Willow replied quickly, concern clear in her expression as she seemingly tried to find the answers from my face. I gripped the paper, but finally pulled it out of the pocket and held it out to the lot.

"I was hoping we could make a plan to trick whoever wants you for my father." I explained to Buffy as they examined the note.

"How exactly are you sure your father's still even alive?" Giles questioned, the question striking me to my very core as I shrugged.

"Honestly, G? I'm not. But he's all I have, so I have to try." I replied, to which he nodded, clearly slightly taken aback by the nickname. I looked back at the note, ready to stake somebody as we planned our extraction.

☥

We stepped up to the cracked stairs of the run-down building. It wasn't a giant building, but it didn't seem exactly easy to find your way around. I looked over at Buffy, her newly bruised shiner and loosely bound wrists, as well as a sock gag for good measure. She nodded at me as if to tell me to keep going, though I could feel my heart pounding in my chest at the worse possibilities. My thoughts wandered... To that night.

We stepped up the steps all the way through the front doors, leading us directly into a large foyer. Straight ahead sat a man tied to a chair--Dad. I began to run forward before the thought of this entire thing being a trap ran through my mind. I knew the rest of the group was nearby, ready to look out for us if need be. Instead, I looked at Buffy once more before calling out to the room.

"Show yourself!" I shouted. Soon enough, a girl wearing all dark clothes stepped forward from behind the chair Dad was tied to, placing her hands on his shoulders. I noticed immediately that she was no ordinary girl.

"Finally." She grinned, giving him what looked like a shoulder rub, "I've been waiting a long time to meet you. Was real sad when you couldn't make it to dinner." The realization hit me like a truck.

"Alesha?" I questioned. A grin covered her ugly-mug at the name.

"I'll be honest, Al, at first I was only planning on killing you. Daniel here wasn't even a part of it, until I realized just how close you two were and just how easy it would be to insert myself into your little family." She started explaining, lifting his face. Light seeped into my dad's bruised and bloodied face, and I realized he was completely unconscious for all of this. "But when I followed him, following you all the way here, and saw your blossoming friendship with The Slayer, well, that made things so much better."

"I'm going to kill you." I spoke solemnly, glaring the woman down. She let out a loud, obnoxious laugh in response.

"And yet you brought me what I asked for. Go ahead, bring her here. I can't wait to get a taste." She ran her tongue along her cherry-red lips and I nodded, shooting a glance at Buffy while we stepped up. I noticed two figures sneaking through the darkness--Xander and Giles--both with stakes at the ready.

"Here's my question," I paused, kicking my stake up out of my boot and into my hand, watching as Alesha grimaced back a step, "Why the pie?"

At the question, Buffy broke out of the tame cuffs, and we both made a break for the vamp. The fight was short, yet satisfying. One against four never really stood a chance, but it made me feel better the second the bitch turned to dust. I grinned at her as she fell to the concrete floor, then quickly ran to my father.

"Dad? Dad, come on, wake up." I begged, patting his cheeks as he grumbled. I let out a deep sigh, moving around to untie him. I paused as I noticed his ring finger no longer had a tan line on it from his wedding ring--considering his ring finger was no longer attached to his hand. "Oh, God." I grimaced, looking at the group, Giles and Xander had a similar reaction as my dad began to come to.

"Alesha..." He mumbled, and I felt my heart begin to break. The last thing he saw must've been her face.

"It's me, Dad. We need to get you to a hospital." I crouched down to his level, and he nodded in response, "Guys, can you help?" I asked, attempting to help him up from the chair, but my strength wasn't nearly as good as Slayer's strength.

As we drove to the hospital, a piece of my shirt covering Dad's missing finger nub, and I looked him over as thoughts raced through my mind.

"Until I realized just how close you two were."

☥

"Stay here, honey. I'll be back as soon as I can." Dad whispered to me, placing a soft kiss on my forehead before closing the closet door, leaving it open just a crack to not make a sound. I saw him turn in the direction of the front door before sprinting in the opposite direction. He was going to get help; everything would be okay--at least that's what I kept telling myself.

Fear rippled through me as I saw three men enter the room from the crack in the closet door. Two of them were bigger in muscles than the third, but I couldn't see any of their faces. The palm of my hand covered my lips in an attempt to silence my shaky breaths. One of the bigger men--I assumed they were some sort of guards or henchmen, pulled my mother forward, into the dim moonlight that shined through the living room and kitchen windows.

"Where's the little one." The man I assumed was the leader asked her.

"Please, take me, but leave her." Mom pleaded, her voice shaky, yet still strong. He stepped closer to her, light reflecting off of his long, black coat.

"I asked you a question--you answer." He directed her. She stayed silent, glaring him down as he nodded, then looked at the man behind him. "Find her."

"Isn't she... Well... Little, boss?" the man asked, fear even in his voice. The leader let out a soft growl.

"That's why she's not for me." He explained, turning back to my mom. What felt like hours must've been mere seconds as he drew her near, sinking his teeth into her neck as she let out a gasp and quickly fell limp. I felt tears prick my eyes, though I couldn't look away from the train wreck in front of me. When he decided he was done, he dropped my mom's body to the floor as deep red blood pooled around her. Now, he began to look around... For me.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, little girl." He sang out darkly, his foreign accent ringing in my ears and around the house. "Mummy's not here to save you anymore." A smirk covered his mangled face as he stepped into the lights. Attempting to hide myself deeper in the closet, my foot knocked into the door, creaking it open just a sliver more.

It was still enough for him to notice as he stalked closer, grinning at me through the crack.

"Got ya'."

☥

I jumped awake, pulling my cheek off of my fist that held up from my elbow on the arm of the hospital chair, waking myself up fully as I looked around the bright hospital room. Here I was, back at Sunnydale Memorial and this room was almost identical to the room I'd been in before. I looked down at my sleeping father, mustering up a sad smile as I reached for his good hand. I gave it a soft squeeze, guilt and regret seeping through my skin. The nurses had said he'd be okay, but that it might take a while for him to wake up, but I must've dozed off while waiting. I stood from my seat with a deep sigh, wanting so badly just to apologize to him for everything I'd put him through.

I let go of his hand, turning to leave, when I heard a soft groan. Looking back, I watched as his eyelids fluttered open and he looked around the room, finally landing on me. A small smile graced his face, and my heart began to break even further.

"Al?" He asked and I nodded.

"Hey, Dad." I greeted him.

"Where are you going?" He questioned. I thought about the answer to the question. Where was I going? Where would I go?

"Nowhere, Dad." I lied. I'd realized what I had to do on the way here, yet it still killed me to think about it.

"All right." He said though the tone of his voice told me he already knew as he looked out the large window beside us. "You know I love you, right?" he asked, voice cracking, and I nodded in response.

"I love you too, Dad." My voice felt hoarse as the words escaped, and his eyes shut slowly at the sentence. We hadn't been the type of family to openly say I love you for years, and usually if one of us did, it was him, not me.

"I guess I'll see you around, then?"

"Yeah. I'll see you around."

☥

"And I don't want the world to see me,

Cause I don't think that they'd understand.

When everything's meant to be broken,

I just want you to know who I am.

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming,

Or the moment of truth in your lies.

When everything feels like the movies,

Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive."

-The Goo Goo Dolls