Title: Chosen

Author: Belle Auteur

Rated T for language, violence and adult situations

Author's Note: I do not own anything within the Buffyverse or that Joss Whedon has created, but I would totally be willing to work for him.

Summary: Meet Buffy Summers, almost 20 years after she changed the world. At 40 years old, she and her husband has relocated to River Springs, California from London, England, to the dismay of Buffy's teenage daughter, Aimee. Aimee knows that her mother is the greatest slayer to have ever lived, but Aimee has secrets of her own. Told from Buffy and Aimee's points of view. A/U yet Canonical. Includes some of the events from Season 8 but there are some changes.

Prologue: Buffy, Age 40

I remember looking at myself in the mirror and feeling just as old as I thought I looked. Usually, I thought my age was a victory in itself. I'd earned each line, crack and crevice on my face. I'd beat the odds many times and being able to get to 39 years old was one of my rewards. That night, I didn't feel that way. I was tired and ready to succumb to what fate had in store for me, not thinking that I was already living my future. Being in my line of work, having a birthright like mine, guaranteed a short life expectancy. It had occurred to me that I'd outlived myself because I sure as hell outlived almost everyone else I loved. Now, it was very few of us left.

It was the same night in January, the night of my 39th birthday, that the police called to tell me that my soon to be 13 year old daughter, Aimee, was being questioned for her possible involvement in the murder of 255 people. Apparently, she had snuck out to a nightclub and a fire had broken out. She was the only survivor. I'd asked the officer what the name of the club was and when he'd told me, it dawned on me that the club was a known vampire hangout. Still, my only concern was seeing if my child was alright. I rushed to the police station as soon as I could and found my daughter, covered in soot and looking at me as if she'd gotten caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar. But, she was glad to see me, and the incident was never mentioned again.

When my 40th birthday rolled around, I was glad that I'd lived to be that age but I also felt 10 years older. I'd heard about River Springs about a month before and was itching to move there. I felt like I'd done everything I could in Europe and even more so, my girls had hardly seen the United States. The girls' father disagreed with me, but he couldn't say much because he wasn't the Slayer. I had to go where I was needed and another city sitting on top of the Hellmouth seemed like the best place to be. The council had been discussing the possibility of another Slayer in existence and the increase of Watchers-in-training, but they didn't have any concrete information so everything seemed pretty pointless. I positioned myself as a guidance counselor at the high school, for old times' sake. However, I learned that the Watchers' Council sent a young Watcher, straight out of the academy, to River Springs in case the possible new Slayer happened to already be there.

Aimee hated the idea of us moving out of Europe. She'd just begun to get her grades back up after we'd threatened her with boarding school, so I could understand where she was coming from. I didn't enjoy uprooting the girls, but it needed to be done. Saving the world couldn't wait for my children to grow up. Joy, in the meantime, was overly excited for the new move. Their father kept a keen eye on me and the girls, unsure of his feelings on everything. It was funny that he'd be unsure after everything we'd been through. Guess I didn't know him as well as I thought I did, which made me sad.

When we arrived in River Springs, I could feel the Hellmouth rising, looking for its revenge on me for closing it down before. Everyone else around was completely oblivious and it was fine that way for a while. Eventually, though, they were going to notice the unusual happenings, if they hadn't already. I wasn't too worried. I destroyed Sunnydale, and I would destroy River Springs if I needed to.