Name: Sandra Margaret Livingston (Garrett)

AGE: 44

DOB: 22 June 1954

Origin:

Sandra Livingston (Garrett) is a product of Sunnydale, born and raised in the Los Angeles suburb that holds the doorway to Hell. Sandra comes from a family whose Catholic roots go all the way back to the 15th century, and she has continued the line, being a staunch Catholic herself (For Every Action), although she isn't as strict in her beliefs and practices as some members of the Church are known to be.

Sandra grew up happy, her parents loving her and each other. She was a bright student and a member of that clique always referred to as the "Brains." While often picked on for her intelligence, the young woman could often care less about the popular kids or what they thought about her; she had more important things to do. During middle school she had her first experience with the supernatural. Her favorite teacher, Mr. Thornton, died under mysterious circumstances. When she attended the funeral, the thirteen-year-old Sandra's curiosity got the better of her when she spotted two small holes on his neck. Having been camping with her parents or at summer camp many times, the girl assumed that her English teacher had somehow died of snakebite. When she asked if that was how Mr. Thornton had died, his brother, drunk with grief, rambled something about blood drinking corpses and driving stakes through the heart of whomever it was that had killed him. He was quickly but quietly taken from the room, but it still made Sandra wonder what he had been talking about.

Sandra later went to confession to talk about what she'd heard and what she thought. The priest taking her confession told her (in strictest confidentiality) that she would have to form her own conclusions. She confessed that if something had killed her teacher (who she also confessed to having a crush on), she wanted to get even. Her confessor lightly admonished her, telling Sandra that vengeance was the Lord's to give. He then gave her one final thought, something that would unknowingly set her on the path that she would travel for the rest of her life. He told her that it was up to her, Sandra herself, how she would honor her teacher's memory. "Think about this teacher you enjoyed so much," the father said, "and think about how he would want you to remember him; as the man you saw every day, or as the body you saw yesterday."

Sandra spent a long time reflecting on that and eventually made her decision. She decided that she would work as hard as it took to become a teacher herself when she grew up. She easily graduated middle school in 1968 and went on to Sunnydale High School, trying to make her class schedule heavy on courses that would help her get into college or prepare her to achieve her dream. Over four years, the young Livingston spent much of her time studying and focusing on her schooling, which only led to more teasing from the jocks and rich girls as she progressed. Although their barbs often struck home, she just fought back by smiling and snapping that she'd remember them fondly when she was graduating from Harvard and they were working dead end jobs.

During her senior year, Sandra's father disappeared while making a run to the store. When he didn't turn up two hours later, Sandra's mother called the police. Sandra could only stand by helplessly as she watched the detectives uncaringly take her mother's statement and mutter things about how he might have been robbed or abducted. Sandra and her mother both thought the detectives were crazy; Mr. Livingston was a veteran of the 101st Airborne Division and had fought in World War II. He wasn't likely to go down without a fight. While the detectives hashed out the story with Sandra's mother, Sandra saw the strange look one cop gave her. She went into the kitchen, unable to listen anymore. The cop followed her in and gave her a warning; if her father showed up again after that night, to use "this." He handed her a crucifix attached to a chain, and told her that it might be the only thing that kept her safe and sound. It was then that Sandra realized that others either suspected or knew what she'd thought about since the funeral four years ago.

Sandra's father never turned up and it tore the senior to her core. She plugged on in school, adding another reason to get high grades so she could go to college; she wanted to get as far away from this town as she could after it had taken two people she loved, especially after doing some research and finding out that the Spanish settlers had originally called it the "Mouth of Hell" ever since the 16th century. Sandra unsurprisingly graduated as her Class Valedictorian as a member of the Class of 1972, a proud member of the National Honor Society. As soon as she'd given her commencement speech and received her diploma, Sandra turned her attention to more important matters.

She was bound for Yale.

When she arrived, the bright-eyed California girl jumped into the college grind with both feet, eager to work on obtaining her degree. However, she didn't allow herself not to experience what the wide world outside a small town on the West Coast had to offer. She joined a couple of Literature Clubs as well as the Drama Club. It was then that her intentions of becoming an English teacher began to shift slightly. She decided she'd enjoy teaching Lit even more (she'd always enjoyed that class beyond all others). While attending her classes, she made a few friends and began associating with fellow students during her free time. The high school geek was opening up and having fun. During the Spring Break of her freshman year, Sandra and her friends, on a whim, went to a fortuneteller to have their futures told (it was only a few bucks, they were on vacation, and they were slightly drunk from a party).

Sandra was the first up and the "psychic" took her hand into hers, stared at her palm, then gasped and stared directly into her eyes. In her cracking, Gypsy-like voice, the fortuneteller told her, "You believe, even though you do not wish to. Your doubts keep you from being at peace. Be at peace child, as your father is. He is not one with the darkness."

Sandra ripped herself out of the chair and ran off, trying to put some space between herself and her own pain. She didn't stop running until she was several blocks away, when she dropped from exhaustion caused by her terrified sprint. She hugged her arms to herself and began sobbing as the realization that her father was not coming back broke her heart. Her friend Miri found her a few minutes later, having tailed the freshman when she'd fled. When Miri brought up what the woman had said, Sandra replied that she didn't want to talk about it. The small fireworks display Miri generated from her own hands forced her to reconsider.

Upon seeing tangible proof of the supernatural, Miri explained to Sandra what she knew of the things people dismissed in modern times. The junior then told her about a group of friends who had taken it upon themselves to work against supernatural elements that were less beneficial than the fortuneteller they'd just left. Miri told her, "While she's not the most tactful psi out there, she's a good woman." Sandra asked why Miri was bringing this up to her, to which Miri responded that anyone who knew that the supernatural existed was someone else she (or the other members of her group) could talk to. Sandra went back to Miri a week later and asked if she could meet these friends of hers. Miri arranged a meeting and soon thereafter, Sandra joined Diana Tregarde's so-called Spook Squad.

Sandra helped them with their investigations, but rarely took an "active" part in the battles the college kids found themselves in. Usually, Sandra's role consisted of researching any and all sources of information connected to whatever case they were working on. That she could go through 12-hour marathon sessions was often as much a reason for their success as the occult powers of her teammates. The next summer, Sandra broke away from the team in order to return home and spend the summer with her mother, with the blessing of her boss, "Spooky" Tregarde, who herself was graduating and trusting those remaining students to keep up the fight she'd led for four years.

Sandra returned to Yale that fall in high spirits and with dual purposes; to become a teacher and continue to help the remaining members of the Spook Squad. Even though things weren't the same without the linchpin Di at the helm, the kids plugged on as best they could, doing as much good as they could manage. In time, it was Sandra's turn to graduate, which she did with honors. She bid good-bye to the best years of her life and immediately headed to the position she'd landed while searching for a job, teaching Literature to junior high school students in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Sandra worked in the Milwaukee school system for a decade and a half, eventually moving from junior high to teaching high school students and earning the reputation for being a fine teacher who was well loved by her students. She kept in contact with her college friends, mainly Di, Mark Valdez (now working as a cop in Dallas), and the Kestrels (Larry, who as an architect, and his wife Miri, the corporate powerhouse who'd introduced Sandra to her teammates). While the various other members of the Spook Squad seemed to be dragged into solitary conflicts now and then, Sandra considered herself "retired." Part of this was because she was seeing a man named Mark Garrett. After a two-year relationship, the two tied the knot in 1983.

The marriage went along fine until around 1989, when Sandra found out that Mark was cheating on her. When she confronted him, he just laughed and said that the magic had gone out of their marriage a year ago. He said be wouldn't have married her in the first place if he'd known that she'd turn out to be some "Gothic horror loving moron who cared more about snot nosed teenagers than him." She stormed out of their apartment, not responding to his taunts. He wasn't laughing two days later when she stormed back into the apartment with the landlord, who helped Sandra kick him out of the apartment (which was in her name, as she'd lived there since moving to the high school to teach). She quietly filed for divorce and went on with her life, cleaning her ex out since he'd been the one to cheat on her. As an insult to injury, she cheerfully noted that she was going straight from the divorce hearing to another room in the court to get rid of that dirty Garrett name.

Nearly three years later, Sandra received a call from her mother, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Sandra made the hasty decision to go home for the first time in five years to be with her mom. She gave notice to her Principal and began closing out her affairs. She arrived in Sunnydale in August of 1992 and moved into the home that had been in her family since Sunnydale was built. She split the remaining weeks of what was usually her summer vacation between helping her mother deal with her cancer and looking for a job in Sunnydale or Los Angeles. To her surprise, there were a few positions open at her alma mater. She took one of the two open English teaching positions, although within two years she'd convinced the Principal, Bob Flutie, to talk to the school board about adding Literature-specific classes to the curriculum. Her fine record from Milwaukee and the cheerful Principal made it easy for her to get her desire.

Throughout the early to late nineties, Sandra taught her classes but was torn when her mother lost her battle with the disease that had brought her home. She also had the problem plaguing other teachers in Sunnydale; the high death rate amongst younger residents. She considered calling her friend Di for help but remembered the one sticking point of the year they'd spent playing "Ghostbusters"; Di's refusal to believe in vampires (not knowing at this point that Di's live-in boyfriend was a vampire!). The one thing that Sandra took heart in was that she didn't become jaded; her heart ached every time she watched her kids departing for the day, wondering how many of them she'd see the next day (or at the end of the term, how many she'd see the next autumn).

Sandra had little reason to fear for her own life; Diana had long ago placed protections on her to keep her invisible to undead (while Di didn't believe in vampires, she had had some experience with zombies) and magical shields that provided her with some protection from harmful spells, demonic entities, and mental intrusions (For Every Action). Sandra also experienced the usual frustration that some teachers felt when they saw bright kids who simply didn't apply themselves to their fullest potential (like Cordelia Chase or Alison Jarman). She did make her own students apply themselves; she and they (if secretly) knew that they had earned their grades in her class.

In early 1998, Sandra began to notice the declining death rate in Sunnydale (mainly by reading the paper) and wondered what was going on. She didn't consider finding out for herself, as her protections admittedly had limits and she was over forty now. But she did silently thank God that something was being done about the scourge that had plagued her hometown. She finished the 1998 term with a new sense of optimism and looked forward to the '98-'99 school year. One of the new students in her Comparative Literature class was an exchange student, Shaw Hunter. The teacher could see the signs of intelligence behind the careful exterior of the military brat, but also the emotional baggage she carried (something she'd seen many times). After watching the English girl switch between groups of students for nearly three months, she finally had a talk with Shaw.

She told Shaw she wanted her to join a permanent work group. She suggested two of her brightest and favorite pupils, David Abhrams and Jessica Smitshon (who were so much like Sandra it hurt; they wanted to become Lit teachers themselves. The fact they were dating only made Sandra that much happier). While initially reluctant, the foreign junior did as Sandra suggested and to the teacher's surprise, the three started becoming friends. So much in fact, that a month later Shaw approached Sandra to ask her to allow a fourth member to join her, Jessica, and David in her class; a new student just moved from Boston named Faith Pryce. Sandra heartily agreed, not knowing what she was getting herself into once the irreverent, self-named Boston Bad Girl started working on Literature projects.

She still wonders how she ever got conned into that, even though the two "new" girls are getting along fine. She just hoped (with equal parts amusement and actual hope) that Jessica and David's down to Earth attitudes would rub off a bit on the wilder girls, and not have Jessica suddenly ditch her Corporate Casual wardrobe for miniskirts and leather jackets.

Race: Human

Description: Sandra stands five feet six and weighs about one hundred twenty-five pounds, and takes pains to keep herself in shape as she grows older (through an intense regimen of biking, aerobics, and the Soloflex machine she keeps at home). She has an attractive face, blessed with high cheekbones and slightly angular features. She has medium length chestnut brown hair she normally wears in professional styles at work (but free at home), and dark brown eyes that have, unfortunately (that word used sarcastically by Sandra), started to weaken. Sandra doesn't need corrective lenses at all times; rather, she wears a light pair of reading glasses which show she still cares about how she looks; her reading glasses aren't the granny type. No, they look good.

In all, Sandra has the face and body of someone who looks a full decade younger than she really is, but doesn't play up that fact.

Abilities (uncommon): Sandra Livingston doesn't have any paranormal abilities; in fact, it's been said that she has the "psi-powers of the average Big Mac" (For Every Action). While she is protected from some magical threats, anyone who is sensitive and powerful enough could conceivably remove those protections.

Abilities (learned): Sandra's first love and foremost skills are her training in Education and various forms of Literature. She's a veteran of the classroom and that eternal battle between teacher and student (she's got twenty years under her belt and figures she has a good twenty years left to offer) who wins her "fights" more often than not, partly because she genuinely cares about "her kids." In addition to her college education, Sandra is an expert at research; she can search, categorize, and determine what information is relevant or pure balderdash (as when researching Sunnydale's history). It was she who told Diana (while in college) about vampires and the Hellmouth (For Every Action). Sandra was also an athlete in college; she admits to a touch of ego here, claiming to be the best softball shortstop in Yale history (she is particularly proud of her throwing arm). Sandra can speak three languages with varying degrees of fluency; English, Latin (with extreme fluency), and Spanish (she took three years of high school Spanish, but living in the Midwest for fifteen years has made her a little rusty).

Current Status: (include here if the person is immortal or not): Citizen of the United States with no criminal record. Graduate of Sunnydale High School and Yale University with Bachelor's Degrees in Literature and Education. Formerly married, now divorced. Teacher at Sunnydale High School in Sunnydale, California, teaching Comparative and English Literature. Sandra is not an Immortal, nor is she a Pre-Immortal.

Proficient weapons: While not known to be skilled in any of the martial arts, Sandra does know how to use a .45 caliber pistol; she was taught by her father (a veteran of WWII), which has sometimes raised questions in her mind as to whether or not her father might have known all along what lurked in the darkness. Also, Sandra has admitted (in For Every Action) to being extremely accurate when throwing objects (a byproduct of her tenure as a softball player).

Current beliefs:

As the spring of 1999 approaches, Sandra's current attitude is the same as it's been since coming home; she loves teaching her kids but dreads seeing them leave every day, because she knows what awaits them out there. She has some feelings of helplessness over this. She knows that someone is out there keeping the vampires at bay by this time, but she thinks she's beyond the stage of her life where she can make a difference. She does rejoice, however, in the fact that more of her students are likely to make it out alive than they were just a year ago.

As for a personal life, Sandra is more than comfortable with the way thing are; she's doing what she loves, she still keeps in touch with most of the people from her past a few times a year (except for her Doubting Thomas ex-husband), and she's not looking for anyone to date, let alone jump in bed with. She's particularly happy with her last hour class, the one that contains the kids she considers her prize pupils; Jessica, David, and their new recruits, Shaw and Faith (Jess and Dave have been in her classes three years straight, which is why she considers the other two the newbies). Unlike some teachers, who eventually question why they even bother to go through the grind every year, Sandra knows that she's made a difference with at least one student. In her case, it's at least three; Jessica and David are letting nothing stop them from doing whatever it takes to become teachers (which brings her into nostalgic feelings as that's how she felt when she was their age), and she has seen the friendship develop between the four kids working together. It makes her feel good to know that her hope to help Shaw find some friends in her own class worked, and in turn Shaw has brought Faith into that circle (although Faith's Irish Boston personality sometimes makes Sandy want to both feel proud and kill the kid at the same time).

As the current school year gets ready to head into the home stretch, Sandy is happy with the way things are, in both her career and her personal life. She can only hope that the next year will be just as fun for her and her kids (although she and the visiting Di are in for quite the shock two weeks from now when they find out about two of Sandra's prize pupils).

Sandra also remains faithful to the Catholic Church, attending Mass at the church she's attended every Sunday she's lived in Sunnydale (now tended by one Ulric Johansen). She's quietly religious, believing in God and that He does what he can to make sure that things work out for the best. She often talks with Ulric (whether about his ward or about life in general), although they don't consider each other "bosom buddies." However, the good father makes her feel comfortable and safe, which in turn makes her happier and more able to try and spread that happiness to her students.

What is the one most important thing you can say about the character?

In the Buffyverse (and the Wandererverse), we can often lump the civvies (anyone not directly involved with the fight against the darkness) into one of the following categories; the people who don't have a clue about Sunnydale, the people who have the suspicion that there's something out there, those who are in the know but don't care, those who are in the know and cover their own asses, and those who know and feel helpless to do anything, thinking you can't beat the supernatural. With Sandy, I try to bring in another category, the one many people like Sandra and her father fall under. That is, the person who's played their part in the fight and have moved on with their lives, leaving the fight to the next generation.

Sandra did her part in college, taking on the supernatural even though she was the only member of Diana's Spook Squad who had absolutely no powers (much like Cordelia, Xander, and Willow when the Slayerettes were first formed), but her desire to help and what skills she did possess played their own roles. She retired from "the game" after college, because she had a career. Later, Sandra has more important things than the fight to worry about; a husband and her students (although one got the boot quickly enough). That's where her focus is nowadays; her heart is devoted to the kids she knows face life and death every day (even if they don't know it).

With Sandra, we also see some middle ground between the faculty of Sunnydale High School. Jenny and Giles actively take on Snyder with every chance they get, fighting the battles they can in order to keep him from ruining any kids. Snyder is a prick, nuff said. Sandra tries to walk the middle ground; when Snyder berates one of her students, she'll do what she can to counter his tirades, but she'll do it on the qt. Her method is passive resistance to the piece of crap that Snyder is. She knows that if she confronted him too openly, she'd be out the door (not having inspired the fear that Giles and Jenny have in the Troll) and someone like him might take her place.

And she's not going to let that happen to her kids.

Favorite quote: "Whether you're hitting the books, dealing with life's tragedies, or fighting the boogeyman, you always have access to the most powerful weapon available; the human mind. Use it."

Nicknames: Sandy, Doc, Mrs. L, Doctor Livingston, Teach (that one from that crazy transfer student from New England).

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