Far From Home

Prompt/Prompter: I ran out of people wanting to prompt me, so this comes from the numerous people requesting more of ‘That’s My Girl.’

Warnings: Refers to character death, etc; things that happened on Buffy.

Disclaimer: Don’t own or claim rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or NCIS

~~~~~

“You need to tell your mom, Buffy,” Gibbs murmured into wheat-gold hair.

“No,” Buffy shook her head. “She said that if I walked out that door, I didn’t need to bother coming home.”

“Ah, Princess,” Gibbs sighed. “How much time did she have to figure it out?”

Buffy shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t know, not much?”

“Same night, wasn’t it?” Gibbs prompted.

“Yeah. Maybe.”

Gibbs shifted the girl around so that they were facing each other. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” he decided. “No one under the age of twenty-five is supposed to know this, but you’re special. You know that, don’t you?” He waited until Buffy gave him a tolerant half-smile then continued. “We’re not perfect. I’m not perfect, and your mom’s not perfect. She’s probably out there searching for you, blaming herself, blaming maybe Giles, anyone but you. What your mom said, she said while she was mad at, well, everything. Mad as hell at the world that made you into a weapon, and took away her little girl that she wanted to protect more than anything.”

Buffy scowled at the man in front of her. “Give it up, Gibbs,” she ordered, “you’ve been talking to Mom, haven’t you?”

“On my honour as a Marine,” Gibbs swore, “I haven’t said anything to anyone about this.”

Buffy grimaced then threw herself onto that broad, comforting chest. “I miss her so much,” she whispered.

“So we’ll ring her today,” Gibbs nodded. “You’ll talk, and maybe she’ll let you stay a little longer. You need to talk, kiddo.”

“Yes, Gibbs,” Buffy nodded into his shoulder. Yes, Dad.