Ultimate Sunnydale

Author: Nodakskip <nodakskip[at]aol.com>

Summary: A retelling of the entire Buffyverse.

A/N: I have had this idea after reading the Marvel Ultimate comics that rewrite most everything of the established story and people. Some stuff may be the same, some might be way off from what was in the series.


Chapter 1

Extended Care Ward, Sunnydale Memorial Hospital, Sunnydale, California
Tuesday, April 15th 1986

"So you're saying she'll be well enough to travel soon, doctor?"

The 62-year-old Dr. Klaus Polek checked over the file in his hand. "Yes, Mr. Chase. I think she should be able to be transported to the facility in New York, within the next week or so."

David Chase sighed with relief. Even though he and his family didn't have hardly any contact with his mother, and he personally almost didn't like her at all, he still wanted her to have the best care possible. And what with her condition, that was back east with his older brother in New York.

"Thank you, doctor. I'll let my brother know tonight." The doctor just nodded, before going to check on some of his other patients on the floor.

"I still can't believe that the *one* time all these years Mother finally comes for a visit, she gets sick like this!" David said to his wife, as he came back to the bed his sleeping elderly mother was lying in.

"It's just another thing for her to blame on me, I'm willing to bet," Mrs. Chase sighed as she got out of the chair.

"Julia?" Her husband admonished. "Now's not the time, and most certainly not the place!"

"Yes, I'm sorry David, you're right," Julia Chase said with a shrug, as she looked out the windows. "Actually, she'll blame the cooking."

David frowned at her. "Rosa cooks the meals, not you."

"But I hired Rosa," Julia said, annoyed. "It doesn't matter that her doctors told her to take it easy, it's never her fault. Honey, this woman has her own private jet - and yet we had to take a trip to visit *her*, when Cordelia was born?"

Mr. Chase just nodded with what she was saying, even as the frown remained in place.

It was an old grudge between Julia and his mother. The elder Mrs. Chase had never liked the fact that Julia did not come from old money - or new money, or even any money at all - and those feelings had been transferred onto little Cordelia when she was born.

David planned never to tell his baby girl that her grandmother didn't think she was worthy of the Chase name. Hell, Cordelia knew all of Julia's relatives - but nearly none of his own. "Come on, let's get out of here. She's going to be out for a long while, and there's nothing more we can do to help now."

"I'm sorry to have to say it, but that's the best idea I've heard all day," Julia Chase nodded, as she grabbed her purse off the table.

Several minutes later the couple arrived at the second floor day care center. It was mostly for employees' children, but they had been at the hospital for several hours. The Chases turned the corner to find one of Sunnydale's social workers - and a close friend of Julia's, called Janette Macnaught - watching the children through the glass wall.

"Is my little Cordelia being a good little girl?" Mrs. Chase asked with a smile.

Janette turned and smiled. "She's being a little angel, as always," she told her friend, before they shared a brief hug.

"Uh, Janette? Why are you here?" Julia suddenly wondered.

"Official business, unfortunately. It's the boy that Cordelia is playing with..." The social worker motioned for them to look in. And right in the back of the center Cordelia sat with a boy her own age, that looked a little worse for wear. She seemed to be participating in a magic trick that the kid was attempting.

"Who is that?" David asked, not liking the bruised look of the boy.

"Ah, *that* is the one and only Alexander Lavelle Harris," Janette responded. "He was removed from his home a few days ago, after his dad used him as a punching bag - while he was drunk."

Julia shook her head, disgusted. "My God. How could anyone hurt their own child like that?"

"No, it gets worse," Janette added with a look of distaste. "This was by no means the first time it's happened. We only found out about it, because one of our new staff was nearby when a beating took place; I don't think you've met her, her name's Hallie Dehoffaran. But the worst part is the police didn't even bother to report it to us..."

"Those incompetent-" David growled out. At this point in his life, he hated it that the police of Sunnydale were quick to respond to anything its richer citizens needed, but it seemed they just ignored anything that happened to the lower class of the city.

There was some hope that the new Mayor, Richard Wilkins the Third, could fix that problem left over from his father's tenure in political office...

"Just look at them," Julia exclaimed happily, as she watched Cordelia laugh with delight as Alexander seemed to pick the right card for the trick. Both kids seemed to be getting along as if they had known each other since birth...

And it warmed the young mother's heart, to see her six-year-old daughter playing with a kid her own age and having fun for once. "I almost hate to break them up..."

"To tell you the truth, Julia, I really don't want you to," Janette told them. "Ever since Alexander was brought in, he hasn't talked much - if at all. A few other kids tried to talk to him, but got nowhere. It took a while, but somehow your little Cordelia seems to have gotten through to him. So please, don't split them up..."

*****

Chase Mansion, Sunnydale, California
Saturday August 2nd, 1986

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" David Chase asked his wife, for the third time that morning.

"Yes, for heaven's sake!" Julia said in disbelief, as she continued to watch the two six-year-olds playing in their large plastic clubhouse in the back yard. "I think we should do it. Other than that one time Alex got scared out of his wits when he saw you drinking a glass of bourbon, the visits have gone great. Cordelia and him get along perfectly, and she really doesn't like it that her new friend has to go to a children's home instead of staying here."

"But to adopt him?" David was unconvinced. "I - Julia, you know the kind of background he comes from, I hate to say it but we don't know if-"

"If he'll turn out like the rest of his family?" Mrs. Chase asked calmly, as she returned to the patio table. "Oddly enough, I believe that's what a lot of your family thought about *me*, when we started dating."

David mentally kicked himself. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Julia laid her hand over his and squeezed it. "I know, dear. Forget I mentioned it."

David looked down the lawn at the two six-year-olds, now playing on the swing set. "It's just he's from a lot worse than the place you came from, and-"

Julia finished for him. "And he would be around our baby girl, all the time."

"Yeah," David admitted.

"David, I've never been one for all that nature-vs.-nurture horse hockey. Personally, I'd just think about what we've seen of him for ourselves, with our own two eyes," his wife told him firmly. "Alex has never once tried to hurt Cordelia. He was timid at first, yes, but he was never disrespectful to either of us - or the staff. And other than some teasing back and forth between them - hell, they're already acting like brother and sister!"

Julia shuddered for a moment. "Honey, if you had seen the look of fear in his eyes when his father showed up at the home when I was dropping him off...no. I won't let him go back to that, even if there's only a slim chance the Harrises could ever reclaim him!"

"Hmm..." David Chase murmured, as he thought it over for a few moments. "Alright, you've convinced me. We'll go see Janette first thing Monday."

*****

Chase Mansion, Sunnydale, California
Wednesday, January 8th 1997

Alexander Chase stumbled into the large shared bathroom that he and his foster sister shared. "Morning."

"Well, it's about time you got up!" Cordelia smirked.

The new arrival rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Yeah, yeah, now is there any hot water left?"

Cordelia, in her silk pink bathrobe only shrugged as she wrapped her hair in a towel. "Some, but what do you care Xander?" she asked, calling him by the nickname she'd given him from the first week they'd met. "You're only ever in the shower for, like, a few minutes!"

"That's because a man doesn't need three billion creams, rinses and conditioners," the male teenager told her with a look of smug superiority.

"Hey!" the female one scolded him. "Don't snipe at me, just because you only have shampoo and soap hanging in your shower. On account of some of us *do* like to look our best!"

"Whatever, sister dear," Xander mumbled, as he went into his private side room. They may have shared the sink area, but long ago two separate toilet and shower stalls had been installed. And both kids were very glad that they didn't have to share a full bathroom, as the nudity factor when they were younger would have been gross.

"Better hurry, my dear brother!" Cordelia called to him through the door. "Or I'll eat all the scrambled eggs!"

"Don't you touch my eggs! Or you'll regret it, Cor, I swear by the almighty Twinkie!" he yelled back, causing the beauty queen to laugh as she went downstairs for breakfast.

*****

Sunnydale High School
An hour later

"Hey, check it out bro!" Jesse McNally said, as he got Xander's attention.

"What? What?" the guy in question asked, looking up from his chemistry notes.

"Those have to be the new girls," Jesse told him, as he watched from a short distance when two teenage femmes got out of a black jeep Cherokee. "Hey, I thought they were supposed to be twins!" the boy groaned, unhappy.

Xander looked over the blond and brunette girls. "Fraternal twins, moron. You know, as in not identical-?"

Xander then stopped, as the blond turned around to look over the grounds and he *seriously* checked her out. "Hmm, not bad. Tell ya what, Jesse. I'll take the blond, and you take the brunette. First one to get a date wins?"

The other guy frowned at that idea. "I don't think Willow would like that very much, dude."

"Yeah, you're darn right I wouldn't!"

Both guys turned around at the sound of the voice. Willow Rosenberg was there, standing in her dark blue skirt and few shades lighter blouse – with Cordelia and Harmony Kendall on either side of her. And she had a *pissed* look on her face..."Xander Chase, are you trying to corrupt my boyfriend?"

"Moi?" Xander asked in mock hurt. "Willow, we all know that I'm a gentleman, and would *never* do such a thing. Besides he's already way too whipped-"

"Hey! I am not!" Jesse yelled.

"Yes you are, baby. And everyone knows it..." Willow told him, before leaning in for a quick kiss. Jesse simply shrugged, and since he was no longer in trouble with his woman just decided to go with the flow.

"Whatever. So, who's the poor unfortunate you've set your sights on today, Xander?" Harmony asked him.

Xander turned back to point her out, but the twins had already gone. "The new blond girl - or maybe the brunette one. I'm not feeling picky at the moment..." He looked at his sister and friends and asked, "What the heck are their names again, anyway?"

"Buffy and Dawn Summers," Willow answered with some distraction, her armed wrapped around Jesse. "Principal Flutie was talking about them to that weird librarian guy yesterday."

When the mention of the new librarian caused Cordelia and Harmony to groan, Xander wondered aloud, "What, something up with that British guy? I mean, other than actually wanting to work in a library that most of the students aren't even sure exists?"

"I do *not* know how the school board could hire a guy like that!" Cordelia told him vehemently. "Just about every time I see him, he's hitting on that new computer teacher-"

"I know!" Harmony exclaimed. "The poor woman looks like a deer caught in headlights. I mean - so, okay, the accent is kind of sexy, but the rest of him just creeps me out! And I do not need to see...that from old people."

"Old?" Jesse asked in confusion. "I don't think she's even past twenty-five, and no way he can be over thirty!"

"That's what I mean!" Harmony replied in indignation. "We're sixteen. If I want to see twenty-something people acting like us, I'll just watch something on the WB."

Xander grabbed his backpack off the ground, a match for the one Cordelia had - when his adopted father had brought the duo two gifts from Switzerland, some years ago. "Well, as much fun as talking about the possible sex lives of our teachers has been, I have to go study for Mr. Krause's test. Later, people..." the young man told them all, before he left to find an empty seat in the study hall.

"Yeah, I gotta go too," Willow said, looking at her watch. "I have to get together with the rest of the varsity cheerleaders, to make sure they don't trip over their own feet again..."

"Willow, how many times do Harm and I have to say it?" Cordelia asked her. "Dump those soccer rejects. The football squad needs you!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll think about it, okay?" the redhead told her friend with a sigh, before dragging her boyfriend with her towards a side entrance to the school.

When the two best friends were alone, Cordelia started to growl in a low voice. "Uggggh..."

"Take it easy, Cordy," Harmony told her. "Willow will see the light one day-"

"It's not that, Harmony!" Cordelia said at once, cutting her off.

"Then what?" the blond wondered in confusion.

"It's Xander, of course!" Ms. Chase declared. "Tyra moved away less than a month ago, and he's already going after those new girls!?" Cordy was a tad upset speaking of the black guy-magnet who'd been Xander's on-again, off-again girlfriend for quite some time.

"Oh dear God, don't tell me you still have that thing for your foster brother?!" Harmony whispered, having an epiphany. "Cordy, you told me you were over that!"

"I am," Cordy said at once, as they started walking towards the school's main entrance. "I mean, I admit the jealousy surprised even *me* when I found out he and Tyra did it before she moved away, but-"

"Cordelia, he's your brother! Doesn't matter if he's adopted!" Harmony pointed out for the hundredth time.

"I know that, Harm, I'm not an idiot!" Cordy said, more annoyed than ever. "We grew up together, his bedroom is just two doors down from mine - I even share the same bathroom with him, so once or twice I've wanted to kill Xander for the stunts he's pulled!"

She thought for a moment. "But we're not *blood* related. It's not like it would be some sick Jerry Springer-type thing, if he ever felt the same way I do...would it?"

"Look, Cordy," her blond friend said hopelessly. "I still think this is all due to the fact that we've dated almost every eligible guy in this one-Starbucks town, and almost all of them have turned out to be huge jerks! Most of them, I'd rather kick in the balls than look at again..."

She kept talking, as the duo reached their side-by-side lockers. "But you saw first-hand how much Xander behaved himself, when he and Tyra were going out."

"You think that's it?" Cordy asked, as she put her Prada purse in her locker.

"It *has* to be," Harmony said knowingly. "All the guys here, well – not counting that dweeb Jonathan Levinson, of course - think that pawing at a girl is somehow romantic. And so, Xander is just the *safe* fantasy. You already know him and all his dirty secrets. Then when you overheard him and Tyra talking before she left-"

"Guess you got a point, Harm," Cordelia mused, as they walked to their first class. "I mean, he had goodbye sex with his girlfriend, and that's the perfect way to build up a reputation in the guys' locker room. But he keeps it totally to himself!? Even Jesse doesn't know!" she said in a low voice, making sure no one else heard her.

"Exactly!" Harmony said to that. "You know that he can be trusted to keep quiet, even when the girl is on the other side of the country and would never find out." She mulled it over in her head for a moment. "Huh, well, there is one good thing about it if you guys ever did get married..."

"Married?" Cordelia said surprised. "But I'm not talking a white picket fence and the 2.5 kids here - no, alright, spill. What would be good if we got married?" she demanded.

"You wouldn't have to change your last name."

Cordelia looked at her stupefied, as they sat down in their chairs. "That's it? That's the best line you can think of?"

Harmony just shrugged. "You wouldn't have to change any of your monogrammed towels, either? I've said it before and I'll say it again, not all my jokes are funny. Some are - and some are real stinkers. Give me some time though, and by third period I bet I can come up with a good one!"

"No, that's okay," Cordelia told her. "Don't strain yourself on my account..."

"Funny," the blond hissed back, as the teacher began the lesson.

*****

Later, one of the two new girls was walking the halls looking for Room 26A - when she was bumped from behind, causing her to spill her books and papers onto the floor. "Hey!" she called as the senior boy just grinned at her, and kept on walking.

The girl slowly tried to move to pick up her belongings, when a rescuer showed himself. "Here, let me help you with that."

She watched him quickly gather the items off the floor, and hand them back to her. "Thanks," the Summers woman said.

"Some free advice? Bending over in that skirt may not be such a good idea. I think that's what Scott Thompson over there was counting on..." the boy said, pointing a bit down the hall.

The female teenager looked and saw that indeed the senior boy was watching them and getting annoyed. "Nice to know that guys can be complete buttholes, in any town!" the teenager exclaimed.

"Not all guys, I hope!" her helper said.

"Well that depends..." she said.

"Depends on what?" he asked back.

The new arrival in town pulled her schedule back to the top of the pile. "If you know where the heck Room 26A is?" the girl asked with a shy smile.

"Well, it's just up these stairs, milady," the dark-haired young man told her in a fake suave accent.

"Why thank you, kind sir," the young woman replied, before the 16-year-old extended her hand. "Dawn Summers."

"Very nice to meet you, Dawn," he said, shaking her hand. "I'm Alexander Chase, but you can just call me Xander. All my friends do."

*****

Sunnydale High Library

Buffy Summers shoved the doors aside hard enough for them to bang against the wall. "Okay, what's the sitch?"

Twenty-eight years old and recently reinstated as a Watcher, Rupert Giles looked up from his magazine. "Lovely, more of your colonial teenage slang?"

Buffy just ignored his comment. "You heard about the dead guy, right? The dead guy in the locker?"

"As opposed to some other dead guy on campus, Buffy?" Giles asked her.

Buffy plopped her bag down, and moved to directly face him from across the counter. "'Cause, it's the weirdest thing. He's got two little holes in his neck, and all his blood's been drained. Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going, oooh?"

Giles just rolled his eyes. "I was afraid of this. Guess I really am stuck with this damn job-"

Buffy reacted harshly, "Well, let's just focus on me for a second, okay? It's my first day! I was afraid that I was gonna be behind in all my classes, that I wouldn't make any friends, that I would have last month's hair. That my sister would get a cuter student tour guide than me. I didn't think there'd be vampires on campus!" she raged for a moment, before changing tones. "And - I don't care."

"Then why are you even here, you bloody harpy?" Giles demanded.

"Ah - to tell you that..." Buffy stammered. "I don't care, which...I don't, and...have now told you, so...bye." She moved to grab her bag, and get the hell outta there.

That was when Giles asked, "Will he rise again?"

Buffy turned back to him. "Who?"

"The Queen of England, maybe? No..." Giles said aggravated. "That murdered boy you found today!"

Ms. Summers looked a little miffed. "No. He's just dead."

"Are you sure about that?"

"I *have* held this lousy job long enough to tell," the Chosen One told him. "He didn't have any dried blood in his mouth. He would have risen by now, and gone underground - not hide in the girls' locker room all day..." she trailed off at that idea. "Well, okay, maybe he *would* have stayed in the locker room, 'cause guys will be guys even when undead. But he's just dead, okay?"

"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" Giles asked her, coming around the counter. "You think it's coincidence, your being here? That boy was just the beginning. More fun is on the way."

Buffy threw up her hands. "Oh, why can't you people just leave me alone?"

"Because you're the Slayer, ya dumb bint!" the Englishman responded. "Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One - oh hell, this is a waste of time. I'm sure you know the damn company line by now."

"Yeah, I do," Buffy said with an upset tone. "But I'm through with it. I'm moving on with my life."

"What do you know about this town?" the older man asked her abruptly, as he went into his office to retrieve something.

Buffy just shrugged. "Ah, it's two hours on the freeway from a Neiman-Marcus?"

"No, girl, think bigger!" Giles said, as he came out with a stack of old books. "If you dig a bit in the history of this place you'll find a steady stream of sodding well odd occurrences. I'm guessing this whole area is a center of mystical energy, that things gravitate towards it, that you might not find elsewhere."

"Like vampires."

"Oh - way more than just vampires, oh Chosen One," Rupert responded. "This place could very well have everything. Zombies, werewolves, incubi, succubi - everything the poor huddled masses out there ever dreaded was under their bed, but lied to themselves about during the light of day. They're all real!"

"Cool!" she told him. "But, look, first of all, I'm a *vampire*Slayer. And secondly, I'm retired. Hey, I know! Why don't you kill 'em?"

"Because I don't want to die before I even hit thirty years old, you bloody stupid chit," Rupert answered in annoyance. "There's that little thing about how I don't have your superhuman strength, enhanced healing and supernatural senses. And if I did, you can bet your little blond head that I wouldn't be bothering with you - or this stupid job!"

Buffy looked at him strangely. "Ya know - you're not like any other Watcher I've ever met. Then again, Merrick was an old stick-in-the-mud, in more ways than one..."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Giles snorted. "And thing is - I'm on probation, this wonderful little hamlet was the farthest place away from all the tweed-wearing idiots. Fat lot of good it did me, though."

"Probation?" the Slayer asked, surprised. "What did you do?"

"Oh, I ran with the wrong crowd for quite a while," Rupert - or the Ripper - told her. "Well, actually, I was the leader of the wrong crowd..." Leaning against the counter, he looked her in the eyes. "Look, let's not kid ourselves here little girl. We both have our roles to play. I'm the Watcher, I prepare-"

"Prepare me for what?" Buffy demanded, upset. "For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life, and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go right ahead! Prepare me."

"Are you finished yet?" Giles asked her while looking at his watch, seemingly not caring at all about her little outburst. "Look, you don't want this - I don't want this. But the world just might get sucked into Hell while you're having a tantrum about wanting a normal life, so we might want to quit moaning about it and get to work. Don't you think?"

"No thanks," Buffy said simply, before she stormed out of the library.

Giles watched her go. "Bloody hell. Well, at least I didn't get one of those 'yes sir' clones that the Council creates from the potentials..." he said to himself, before the British man went after her.

After they had both left the room, a young teenage couple who had been using the privacy of the stacks to make out during their free period exchanged confused glances.

"Vampires?" Willow asked Jesse, totally confused. "What the hell is all this crap?"

TBC…