canon au } { post-505, of returned memories and conflicting information

[wildkingdom]

Malia: [Theo, wisely, takes over driving for the rest of the trip back to Malia's house and after he drops her off and she makes small talk with her dad she makes her way back to the room and flops back against her pillow, taking deep slow breaths as she tries to remain calm. It's late and she doesn't know where Peter is - he could be sleeping for all she knows - but her hand goes for her phone and she calls him before she can think better of it]

Peter: [yeah, he's asleep, but he stirs to look at the phone and sees Malia's name and hits accept] You okay?

Malia: [she doesn't say anything at first, just a really long silence and heavy breathing as she tried to stay calm before she manages to force the words out] The Desert Wolf was there the night my mom and sister died.

Peter: [and he's sitting up quickly - sorry buffy] How do you know that?

Malia: [there's a soft squeak because Buffy is a light sleeper, but she doesn't interrupt beyond that. Malia's getting worse and worse at keeping her calm and she wraps one arm around her stomach] Because I saw her.

Peter: You remembered that night? [slipping out of bed, not caring that he's naked. The shades are drawn]

Malia: Not all of it. [she brushes one hand against her cheek, and it comes away wet but she hopes it doesn't show in her voice] Kira and Lydia have been teaching me how to drive and sometimes when I'm behind the wheel I'll just get these ... flashes and tonight when I was driving with Theo ... [She pinches her eyes closed] She was there. She shot at the car, that was why we crashed.

Peter: Oh baby. [he just sat on the edge of the dresser, sympathetic] I'm sorry.

Malia: Why would she do that? She's the one who gave me away.

Peter: I don't know. Maybe she changed her mind? [or maybe she was trying to destroy something she cared about]

Malia: She didn't have to do that.

Peter: No, she didn't. I don't even know how she would have found you. Your records were sealed.

Malia: Maybe she pulled the same strings you did.

Peter: [deep breath] Perhaps.

Malia: [doesn't really know what to say after that. She wants to stick to her guns and say that she still doesn't want to know her because part of that is true. She doesn't want anything to do with her. But at the same time she does, for answers if nothing else. So she just sits there in silence, the sound of her breathing the only thing indicating that she's still on the other end of the line]

Peter: [he promised he isn't going to tell her anything, but] Do you want me to swing through Beacon Hills and check up in you in person?

Malia: [the silence continues for a little while longer and while she wants to say yes, she doesn't want it to seem like she's weak. She's still not clear on how it's okay to be emotional about stuff. Plus with everything going on with the Dread Doctors and Theo she isn't really sure adding Peter to the mix is a good idea] No. I'm okay. I just wasn't expecting it.

Peter: Just remember, we don't know why she was really there.

Malia: Pretty sure it was to hurt someone.

Peter: I'm sure, but don't run circles trying to draw conclusions. I'll figure it out.

Malia: Okay.

Peter: [pauses a moment] So what is happening with Theo?

Malia: [. . . . . . . . . .] Nothing. He was helping me get some practice.

Peter: With driving.

Malia: Yeah. I flunked my driving test.

Peter: I'm sorry.

Malia: Not your fault I almost killed a sophomore.

Peter: Well if he was standing in the way...

Malia: I also murdered like ... ten cones before I almost killed him.

Peter: [chuckles] You can't murder cones. You just reshaped them.

Malia: Are you sure? Because they didn't really look like cones anymore at all.

Peter: They can be recycled and made into new ones.

Malia: It still sounds like I murdered them.

Peter: Alright, I will let you stick with your analogy.

Malia: Thank you.

Peter: [rubs at his eyes] You should probably get some sleep, sweetheart.

Malia: Okay. Sorry I woke you up.

Peter: No, it's fine. You can call anytime, you know that.

Malia: Okay. [a beat] Night Peter.

Peter: Sleep well, Malia.

Buffy: [and Malia will hang up as Buffy sits up a bit, watching him carefully in return] Everything okay?

Peter: [shakes his head, sighing] She got back what she believes is a repressed memory.

Buffy: From the accident?

Peter: Yes. She has been learning to drive and having a hard time with it. She was getting flashes of things, and she says that she remembers the desert wolf shooting at the car before it crashed.

Buffy: Is she sure it's her?

Peter: Seeing that she was eight when it happened, I'm sure it's more feeling than seeing her face.

Buffy: True. [she shifts forward for a moment, before reaching forward and pulling him back into bed]

Peter: [goes over to her] I'm just worried that I'm not going to like what we find when we find her.

Buffy: I think those photos from Faith already covered that. [she pulls him back to her again and lets her chin rest against his shoulder] Are you sure you want to keep looking?

Peter: [curls around her] I have to. I need to know what Talia stole from us. [him and Malia]

Buffy: [exhales slowly, hesitant to offer this as an option, but they're not coming up with a whole lot else so far] So maybe we're going about this the wrong way. Maybe instead of trying to get us to her, we should be trying to bring her to us.

Peter: And how would we do that?

Buffy: [there's a beat] The night of the accident, she went after Malia for a reason. [she'll let Peter fill in the rest of the blanks]

Peter: To kill her. She knew who she was, and it was a danger to her.

Buffy: Or maybe to take her. All we know is that for some reason the Desert Wolf wants her. So maybe if we want to find her, Malia is the bait we've been looking for.

Peter: No. I'm not using her as bait.

Buffy: Okay. [she would only make the suggestion once. She wouldn't force Peter into it.]

Peter: [thinks] Of course, the probably will be that she already knows Malia's name. If she finds that press article about her return from a year ago...

Buffy: [looks up at him] Hook's already been baited. [she pauses] Riley gets here tomorrow. Maybe he can go through his army contacts and get a message to her - cut her off at the pass before she gets back to Beacon Hills.

Peter: Guess we're going to have to head back one way or another.

Buffy: Guess so.

Peter: If Riley can get the message to her, hopefully I'm a better worm on the hook than her.

Buffy: Or we can get Faith to meet with her before she gets to Malia.

Peter: Whatever we can to keep her away from Malia.

Buffy: We will. But we should get back to Beacon Hills and make sure she's not already there.

Peter: Guess we're checking out in the morning.

Buffy: Guess so. But going home is good.

Peter: Hopefully I won't get run out of it this time.

Buffy: Won't know until we get there.

Peter: Be it ever so humble. [sighs]

Buffy: At least we'll get to see Derek and Dawn. And you'll get to talk to Malia in person.

Peter: True.

Buffy: Plus I'm sure you want to sniff out this Theo kid for yourself.

Peter: [snorts] I'm trying not to be an overprotective father

Buffy: Uh-huh.