All or Nothing
[Takes place just before 'All Good Things Must Come to an End']


Rhiannon pressed a doorbell. The sound went on forever.

She stepped back and braced her hands on her lower back. The Winters house loomed tall and wide, its brick clean, its trim freshly painted. The brunette didn't often find herself in such neighborhoods, where the door would be approached on soundless feet and opened by an employee rather than a familiar face. She felt strangely obvious on the porch. Flexing her elbows, she looked around and made eye contact with a woman next door, elderly, pruning a potted plant. Rhiannon lifted a hand. The woman lifted her gardening claw. "Okay then." She bounced on her toes and waited.

Bartholomew answered the door, in his usual attire, the 'British butler' look, one he couldn't avoid, even if he'd ever wanted to. He was used to receiving guests for Juliet at all hours of the day and night, unannounced in many cases, and he simply acknowledged the young woman he found standing on the doorstep with an appraising glance and courteous smile. Of late the young woman had been spending less time with her friends, and more time with her head in books, on the internet, or in the gym working out. He'd lost count of the number of times he'd had to arrange for equipment to be replaced, or had had to look into more sturdy designs. Especially since her 18th birthday, Bart had noticed a shift in Juliet's demeanour, the care-free sassyness he'd watched for years slowly dissolving away as she'd apparently taken up with some different people, a couple of them he'd seen when they'd dropped by, and nothing like the crowd the young miss normally socialised with.

"May I help you?" he asked the young, bouncing, woman.

Juliet was in the gym, the music turned up as she worked on the kick bag, the stuffing already starting to ooze out of the reinforced seam around the base and along the back. The heavy duty chain it was suspended on, from the reinforced beam installed into the ceiling, groaned and creaked as kick after kick was landed on the leather panel. Perspiration was pouring down her face and she could feel a small trickle of it coursing down her spine, but ignored it and kept going on the bag, determined to see out the end of that sound track.

"Yeah, I'm here to see Juliet," the brunette said. She scratched her bare arm. "I'm Rhiannon. Is she here?" She pointed vaguely past Bartholomew, into the darker entryway. She wondered what kind of picture she made, a mid-twenties woman with hair dyed auburn, big sunglasses, a burgundy tank top, and jeans drawn on in fine-tip marker. Her wrist was still splinted.

"I didn't call first." Somewhere inside that house, bass thumped heavily. Rhiannon had an inkling it was Juliet's.

"Yes, Miss Winters is in," Bart replied, stepping back and inviting Rhiannon to enter. It was a name he was only too familiar with, having heard it countless times over the year and always left wondering who she was. The many many nights Juliet would leave in one set of clothes, a bag over her shoulder, telling him she wouldn't be back till the next morning had at first concerned him, the prospect of the remaining Winters child not returning not one he wanted to have to explain if ever asked why he'd not reported her activities to her parents. The buffer he'd allowed himself to become between the young heiress and her mother in particular and father purely for the sake of both of them, had become a part of his private role in helping the young woman.

He led the way through the elegantly furnished and well-lit entrance foyer to the stairs that led to the level of the gymnasium. He had no qualms in escorting the young woman through to where Juliet was working out, his suspicions about Juliet's reactions to the visitor close to what he'd expected when he'd greeted the young woman on the doorstep.

"Miss Juliet, you have a visitor," he announced, his voice, while soft and clipped managing to rise over the volume of the music.

Juliet stopped mid-kick, looking across at Bart and then past him to see who it was. When she saw Rhiannon her foot quickly returned to the floor, her hands falling to her sides from where they'd been, and her face displaying the surprise she clearly felt as the final chest-vibrating crescendo of the track was reached and silence fell for a split second.

"Thanks Bart," she said, the butler bowing his head in acknowledgment of her thanks, and silently withdrawing, closing the door behind him. The momentary silence was almost immediately filled with the softer strains of a warm-down piece, the vigorous workout now done.

"Hi," Juliet said, her eyes quickly taking in the cast on Rhiannon's wrist. She picked up the towel that lay on the floor near where she was standing, wiping the sweat off her face and arms as she looked across the gym that took up half that level of the house. "Long time no see."

"Yeah, seriously." Rhiannon wandered farther into the gym. She crossed her arms and stuck to the perimeter, taking in the amount of space and the equipment. "Nice digs."

As a teenager, she lived with her Watcher for a couple of years. Collins had a three-bedroom rancher; the spare room became a place for his Slayer to stretch and condition, but it was painfully small, fitting only a treadmill, a punching bag, and mats. Most of her training took place in the back yard or on patrols. Detroit offered plenty of dangerous opportunities for exercise, and Collins wasn't the protective type. If there was a den of wolves around, he tossed young Rhiannon in it.

The brunette tapped her boot against the edge of a floor mat. "Have time to catch up?"

"Yeah, my diary's pretty much free," Juliet replied with a small grin, slinging the towel around her neck and crossing to the refrigerator. The mirrored-wall that ran across the end of the large open floor area always made the gym look even bigger than it already was, and reflected everything in it. She caught a glance of herself as she pulled the refrigerator door open, looking away from the reflection when she saw Rhiannon slowly making her way past the equipment. It had been easy to ignore the differences in their backgrounds when Juliet had been going to her mentor's home, the young Slayer always ready to shake off the expensive airs and luxuries as readily as she could slip them back on when returning. She'd spent a lot of her life denying her wealth, and the future prospect of it, especially when battling with the woman who resided at the same address and lived as though nothing else mattered than her class and wealth.

"Want some?" she asked, pulling out two bottles of water.

"Sure." Rhiannon wasn't that thirsty, but when she wanted to talk, it helped to have something in her hands. Clearly, a shot glass or a cigarette would be out of place here. She crossed the distance between herself and Juliet and took the cold bottle. As she twisted off the cap, she pivoted and continued to look around. The stripper pole was a source of amusement for her. Rhiannon held onto it and slowly circled the pole. "So this where you take your dates," she teased. She was smiling when she came back around.

Rhiannon looked up at where the pole was attached. "Man... I have got to get one of these. Think Joseph would like it?" She laughed and finally took a sip of water.

"Reckon he'd like to see you wrapping yourself around one," Juliet smirked in reply. The time she'd spent at Devil's Own had been a very enlightening exercise in just how a woman could not only use her body to lead men on, but just how easy it was to do it. At least she'd learnt something from working there. It really was men who were the weaker sex when you removed the brawn.

"D'you decide to give the bad guys a bit of encouragement?" she asked, indicating Rhiannon's wrist with a look and tilt of the bottle in her own hand. "Let them think they might actually have a chance or something?"

"This?" Rhiannon held up the splint and her mouth twisted at a corner. "Nah, exactly the opposite, actually." Belatedly, she remembered her sunglasses and set them atop her head. A pale green bruise was all that remained of the black eye. "There's this girl I know, Jennie, who's a seventeen-year-old Slayer. I helped call her in California a few years back. We've stayed in touch. Deanna heard about it and decided to beat the shit out of her to send me a message."

Rhiannon tilted her head. "Now you know why I didn't want her or Victoria finding out about you. Anyway, I had to settle the score. Small price to pay, broken wrist."

Juliet's eyes darted back to Rhiannon's face, taking in the black eye. "And this is a case of 'You should see the other guy!' I hope?" she asked, the mention of Victoria reminding her of the encounter with the strange woman in the alley who wasn't a vampire, but was definitely Victoria, and married to Hayden. She'd kept teasing him about it whenever he'd brought her another book or passed on any information, enjoying the responses, but never with any intention to say anything to anyone. It was freaky enough to think there were other dimensions with exactly the same people, somehow, and besides, she wasn't in any hurry to get on the wrong side of Kris.

"And is Victoria still on the protected species list?" she asked, the expression on Rhiannon's face almost proof enough that any future danger from Deanna was now not a concern.

"There's nothing left to see," Rhiannon said, regarding the state of Deanna, whose ashes were long scattered, save for those pressed in the pages of her book. It had joined a few other keepsakes in the bottom of the Slayer's trunk... Items she'd picked up over the years that held significance to her, but none she'd want to admit in public. Like the knife with the hilt shaped like a wing, given to her by Tristan in Searchlight. She didn't keep it because she cared about him; she kept it because it reminded her of fuck-ups best not forgotten.

"I've taken out Victoria's sire and her blood sister. Wipe out the family?" Rhiannon lifted her shoulders. "I don't know. We don't have a truce anymore, if that's what you're asking, but I'm not actively after her." Only a few days had passed since her oldest vampire enemy left on the expressway to hell. She needed to sort out how she felt about that first.

"Anyway, there are bigger threats than Victoria." Rhiannon took a sip of her water.

The statement made Juliet pause in mid-sip. As she finished swallowing she moved over to the edge of the small stage where the pole was and started to stretch out, her lifelong habits taking over where her routine had been cut short. Putting the bottle down on the edge of the stage she looked at Rhiannon.

"Like the delightful Elf-lady?" she asked, the cocky tone now absent, noticeable only by someone who knew her well enough to know the difference.

"Always," said Rhiannon. "But I was thinking in terms of vampires. Katherine and Grace, two old favorites that might be in for a visit soon, but... not until this heals." She waggled the arm and sat down on the edge of the stage. "I'd like to be able to throw a decent punch." Her legs stretched out before her. Intricate drawings of vines crept along the seams of her jeans. "Plus, I've got other things on the brain. Two, actually."

Rhiannon pivoted and planted her left hand on the stage, just in front of Juliet. "Here's the first." A silver band glinted on her ring finger. "Now be a girl and squeal over it for me. I don't know anybody else who's likely to."

Juliet's head had jerked a little at the sudden movement, but her eyes widened as what she was looking at registered and her mouth fell open.

"What the.... ?" All thought of stretching was lost for the moment, her hands grabbing Rhiannon's and lifting it up to make sure she wasn't imagining it. "You're kidding me, right? Joey?? I mean.. HE bought you this? He ... proposed??" Yes, there was a hint of squealing, a combination of surprise and shock and a definite dose of happiness for Rhiannon. While Juliet knew marriage wasn't always the greatest thing in the world, she still held hopes that not everyone would have lives like her parents, and one day she too might know what it was like. In a way seeing Rhiannon sporting the ring was like an affirmation, that the future could hold good things for them, Slayers, and it wasn't all just fighting, killing, hurting and danger.

"Tell me exactly what happened, every detail and don't you dare leave anything out!" she ordered, the moment seemingly switching from them being mentor and protege to simply being two young friends sharing the excitement and happiness that good things in life could bring.

"Joey?" Rhiannon lowered her chin and stared at Juliet disbelievingly. "I think he'd sooner die than go by that nickname, but yes," she said, "Joseph proposed." She held onto her stone face for a few seconds longer and then broke into a happy grin. She held still while the younger Slayer inspected the ring, which Rhiannon had already fallen in love with.

"There wasn't any huge set-up for it," she said. "We were walking down the street and he asked me to go into a jewelry store, ostensibly to help him pick out a birthday present for his aunt. I completely fell for it. Anyway, at some point I turned around, and he launched right into it." Rhiannon gave her friend the gyst of what was said, and how stupidly corny her own reaction was, and how they headed straight back to his apartment after and didn't emerge for a day and a half.

Juliet snorted at the day and a half absence from the world, rolling her eyes but still thrilled for Rhiannon. And she was definitely going to remember the whole 'Joseph v Joey' thing, for when she finally got to talk to him.

"So yeah, that's item one on the brain." Rhiannon withdrew her arm and pressed her hands between her knees. "Item two's about me and you."

"Oh?" Juliet let go of Rhiannon's hand, her legs drawing up till she could wrap her arms around them as she looked at Rhiannon. Juliet felt a small lump form deep in her gut and she hugged her knees to her, ostensibly pulling on her hamstrings in a way. "What about me and you?"

This was the part of the conversation that Rhiannon dreaded, because she knew it had the possibility of hurting her feelings, but there were things that she'd been tip-toeing around that needed to be said. If Juliet felt differently about everything than Rhiannon did, it would be alright, but that was information she needed to have.

Rhiannon fiddled with her bottle cap. Her palm repetitively screwed and unscrewed it. "I think maybe we need to make a decision," the Slayer said. The bottle dented quietly beneath the pressure of her hand. "This has been stewing in my head for a while, but the thing with Jennie kinda drilled it into me."

She took the sunglasses off her head and set them aside, along with the bottle. "Most Slayers that get in the fray do it because they've been trained since they were fourteen or fifteen. They get Watchers, or close to it. They have all this dedicated time given to them, you know? For learning how to fight and learning demonology... history... sometimes even a little magic."

Juliet concentrated on her breathing, the lump in her stomach growing harder, and colder as a sense of dread started to seep into her rapidly cooling muscles. She'd been staring at Rhiannon's hands but lifted her eyes to her mentor's face as she steeled herself.

Rhiannon met the younger Slayer's eyes. "You didn't have that chance, not like I did. But you should. I've met a lot of Slayers, Jules, and honestly, you're better than most. It's not a physical thing. It's the mindset. You actually want this. So... I'm thinking one of two things needs to happen. Either you and I need to get serious -- I'm talking dedicated training time, routine patrols, books, the whole shebang -- or we should just be patrol buddies and find you a situation where you can have all that. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm willing to step up and be everything to you that you should've had from day one, but only if you think I can give you what you need."

Her entire body had stilled, balanced on her butt, legs pulled in against her chest tightly as she'd waited for the bombshell, that Rhiannon was moving away, or she and Joseph were going to be busy with stuff, or she needed to help someone else, or...

But when Rhiannon said they needed to get serious, that Rhi actually wanted to do it all...

Her jaw snapped shut as she realised she hadn't really heard the other option. She didn't want, or need to because the first one was the one she wanted, regardless of what the second one was. The lump that had formed shattered and a warm buzz spread through her, radiating out as if giving a renewal of whatever it was they had, as Slayers, and it felt great.

"You'd do that? For me?" she managed to get out, still a little unsure, as she hadn't really heard the rest of what Rhiannon had said. She'd never really questioned her abilities before, her agility and strength had always given her huge amounts of praise from her gymnastics coaches, and the same when she'd gone to ballet. But slaying, fighting, and dealing with the crap they did on patrol? She'd always felt a little like she was running to catch up. Girls who'd been given the calling usually started a whole lot earlier than she had and she knew that while her strength and agility were not in doubt, her fighting skills and weapons knowledge, and all the Slayery-type stuff was way down the scale for a Slayer.

"Am I good enough?" she added.

"Am I?" Rhiannon countered, opening her palms.

"I think..." Rhiannon wet her lips and challenged herself to keep talking. "I think I was scared to really try. You know, helping you with patrols and fighting technique and weapons, that was easy for me. I knew I could give you a crash course and call myself useful. But if I put my all into it and you got hurt or you died, then I'd feel like hell and I'd only have myself to blame." She wiped her open hands on her jeans.

"Jennie getting hurt was the first time I felt responsible for somebody, and she wasn't even my Slayer to train. But it made me think, you know, if I'm so worried about you being safe, the best way to make sure is to train you myself. All the way." Rhiannon shook her head. "Because I know you, Juliet, you're not going to stop going on patrol just because the monsters are too big."

"The bigger they are the harder they fall, right?" Juliet joked, her grin spreading across her face as the reality of what Rhiannon was saying sunk in. The gym they were sitting in had become Juliet's haven. It was where she spent more time, the books Hayden had been bringing her the only reason she went up to her room now, along with her computer station up there, and sleep. But her world had become the gym. Her workouts, the practice she did to develop new routines, and the hours and hours she'd spent trying to get up to speed on fight moves as well had meant the time she used to spend shopping online, or out with girlfriends, or boyfriends, was at a minimum.

"There's going to be a lot of monsters in trouble now," she added, knowing it sounded cocky, and believing it. The euphoria was a buzz and right then she felt like they could probably even take on the Elf-lady.

Rhiannon smiled. She believed in Juliet's abilities because she was a 'package' girl, like Kris, Faith, and herself. They had the brawn, the brains, the will and the guts. She crossed her legs and fiddled with the hem of her jeans. "Before you sign on the dotted line, I want to tell you some things about my past. Some of them, you're not going to understand. That's okay because I don't necessarily understand, either. But I want you to know who I am and why I turned out this way. And I'm just hoping..."

The older Slayer scratched the side of her neck. "I'm hoping that you'll hear me out and judge me based on how I turned out. The Rhiannon sitting here right now's the real deal. You can trust me. Every piece of respect I've got, I earned it. I'm not gonna let you down. Just like I know you're not gonna let me down. So we'll talk some time, yeah?"

"Yeah," Juliet answered, a small crease between her eyes indicating her slight puzzlement. "Whenever you like, Rhi, 'cept of course when I'm working." She looked at the other Slayer. It was something she'd been wanting to ask for a little while. Ever since the situation with Kris she'd been tossing up in her head whether to keep working at Devil's Own, given the hours there clashed with patrolling, but she'd kept it up to have at least some 'in' if it was needed to keep an eye on the owner and her boyfriend. But now, with Rhiannon actually talking about Juliet being trained, she wondered whether it might be time to give it up.

"About work... " She reached up and tugged her hair tie out, swinging her head from side to side once before reaching up and scrubbing lightly at her scalp and pulling her fingers through her hair. "It kinda clashes with the whole patrolling part of the gig, so I was thinking maybe I'd give notice. What do you think?"

"Are you kidding?" Rhiannon raised her eyebrows. "I think I'm relieved to get you out of there. It's okay to have other things going on with your life. I've got my art and Joseph. You should have things you love, too. Pole dancing included, if that's what you want. It's just... a bad place because of her," she said, meaning Bethany. "And yeahhhh, it kinda clashes with night patrols. But whatever you need to keep you balanced, we'll work around it."

Juliet snorted a soft laugh at the concept of balance in her life. "I only did it to piss off Mother," she said quietly, staring across the gym with unseeing eyes for a long moment. "Figured it was finally something I could do that she wouldn't be able to find a way to twist into something she could brag about. Telling your high society friends how your darling daughter is stripping as a pole dancer in a nightclub? It was fun and really did stop her in her tracks, but now?" She shook her head, eyes dropping to the floor in front of her, her legs now crossed and her elbows resting on her splayed out knees as her fingers interlaced in front of her.

"Now there's more important stuff. Not to mention a whole hell-in-a-handbasket more interesting!" she added, a mischievous gleam lighting up in her eyes. "Some of those men need some reality adjustments, but there's probably a few others who could do with a lot more adjusted, right?"

"Tell me about it," Rhiannon said. One particular male vampire came to mind. Christ.

"Plus, I know this sounds lame, but you should do things that make Juliet happy, regardless of what your mother gets out of them." Rhiannon took a sip of her water. "I mean, not to be harsh, but fuck her. Whether you're doing things to please her, or doing things to displease her, it's still for her, and she shouldn't get the satisfaction of knowing you'll re-tool your life around her."

Juliet's stare fell to the ground again as Rhiannon said the words she'd heard from Izzy a while ago. Deep down she knew they were both right, and it was up to her to change it, but it wasn't easy. It had become such a huge part of her life, espcially after what the woman had done to Grayson, and then Grayson disappearing. "Yeah, I know you're right," she finally muttered, then inhaling deeply to let out a long sigh. To give herself more time she uncapped the water bottle and took another long swig, returning the cap when she'd done then finally look up at Rhiannon.

"Guess that'll make her suffer too. Not having a damned clue what I'm doing, only knowing I'm not doing what she wanted, or had planned." She gave a twisted smile as she realised that wasn't exactly what Rhiannon had meant, that she should be doing this for her, but it was going to take a while to change mindsets. "What?!" she exclaimed with a guilty smile, "better than nothing!"

"Yyyyyyeah, gonna have to work on that." Rhiannon waggled her eyebrows and got up. Her leg wasn't fully healed and it needed frequent stretching. She pulled her heel towards her hamstring and balanced like that for a second. It was in the midst of the stance that her cell phone vibrated. She freed it from her pocket and read the incoming text.

'Trouble w/ the portal. Looks like it's about to open again. Check the news. -Hayden'

"Uh oh." Rhiannon flipped the display screen around to face Juliet. "Bat signal."

Juliet craned her neck to read the screen, her frown deepening when she saw 'portal'. "Crap, that's one thing we can't fight, hey?" she muttered, standing up and tossing her nearly finished bottle at the trash, the remaining water in it giving it the weight to push the lid open and fall in.

She picked up the remote that was on top of the sound system controls and aimed it at the front of the unit, six plasma screens leaping to life around the gym and a picture quickly coming into focus of a lot of people streaming through a street in what looked like the area near the beach. A reporter came into camera view, walking backwards while talking to the camera.

"... has spread about this phenomenon and as you can see hundreds of people are already making their way to the beach. We're on our way down now, traffic is at a standstill and we've had to leave the van back four blocks..." The picture quickly changed, the voice of the woman reporter cut off as the feed was obviously changed back to a camera on a building near the beach normally used for beach reports.

"We've managed to get this beachcam view of what's happening down there, our choppers are on their way, but as you can see viewers, the scene down there is already starting to resemble a beach party. Police reports coming through are saying that traffic is at a standstill, so if you're planning on seeing this phenomenon live we recommend you take to shanks' pony..."

Juliet had been staring at the screen, hands on hips as the camera jerked up and managed to catch the image of what looked like a huge white ball of light, small lightning spikes darting out from the edges of it in different directions, the lack of sound other than the newsreader's voice making it almost unreal.

She looked at Rhiannon. This wasn't an ordinary phenomenon, and it might be the beginning of the end of her training, but it was something she wasn't going to want to watch from here, on television and she figured Rhiannon would probably be thinking the same. "Feel like starting that training program with going for a run?" she asked, her nerves already tingling.

"Apparently, there's no time like the present," Rhiannon said, watching the nearest set with feet squared and her thumbs in her hip pockets. She arched a brow and bent to pick up her bottle. "Thank god I didn't have some kind of sentimental moment planned."

Juliet laughed, a short sharp sound, charged with anticipation, and tossed the remote onto the fridge. "Save them for Joey!" she teased, pulling the fridge door open and taking out two more fresh bottles of water. "These'll probably be more useful than any weapons," she suggested, tossing one to Rhiannon before grabbing her phone and making for the door. "Last one there has to tell Joey his new nickname!" she called over her shoulder as she sprinted across the gym.