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Chapter 12
Buffy entered the kitchen still half-asleep the next morning. Thanks to the events the night before, sleep had been a non-existent thing that night. She made herself a coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. She prayed that today would be better than yesterday. What an introduction to Sunnydale living, she thought. I cracked under the pressure. How brave is that?
Intellectually she knew that what had happened last night was not her fault. There was no way she could have stopped the attack, no matter how much she wanted to. Even if they’d left when they’d supposed to, they still wouldn’t have been able to stop it from happening because they would have missed it. Either way it would have happened, that person would have lost their life and it still wouldn’t have been Buffy’s fault. It didn’t serve to make her feel any better though.
The thought of breakfast turned her stomach so instead she downed the rest of her coffee then headed upstairs for a shower. She was supposed to meet Willow for lunch in town then it was back to the mansion to plan out the nights patrol.
Buffy was determined to not let anything bad happen tonight. Last night had shown her not to misjudge this small, seemingly sleepy town. She needed to be focussed, always on alert and she absolutely could not let her guard down.
She let the hot water run over head and sluice down her back as she washed away the last remnants of sleep. Reaching for the countertop, she picked up her vanilla scented body gel and scrubbed her body thoroughly. A fresh start was what she needed and scrubbing herself clean was the first step.
She shut the shower off and stepped out. Wrapping herself in a giant fluffy towel, she walked into the bedroom to retrieve some clean clothes. A pair of tight jeans and a jade off the shoulder t-shirt were the first things she lay a hand on so she donned them without a fuss. It didn’t matter what she wore. It would probably just get demon blood on it eventually anyway.
Buffy rifled through her things and pulled out her favourite leather jacket. She shook it out and held it up. It was one of the first things she’d brought when she’d discovered she was the Slayer. It helped her image, or so she’d thought at the time. She put it on then turned, admiring herself in the mirror. The jacket still fit her and she knew she was going to wear it a lot more often in this town.
Her handbag was sitting on the edge of the bed and she snatched it up as she left the room. Exploring the huge house could wait until tomorrow, she decided as she jogged down the stairs. She strode out the cavernous front door of the mansion and was hit in the face with the warm Californian sun. Willow would be waiting for her by now. She was bringing the infamous Xander with her so Buffy could meet him.
Maybe today won‘t be so bad after all, she thought as she slipped her sunglasses over her eyes.
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‘Buffy,’ a bright and perky voice called out to her. Buffy turned to see Willow sitting with a lanky dark haired young man she assumed to be Xander. She smiled back and headed over to their table.
‘Buffy this is my best friend, Xander Harris. Xander this is Buffy Summers. I told you I met her in L.A.,’ Willow made the introductions and Buffy smiled and nodded politely though her heart wasn’t in it.
Xander seemed nice enough but Buffy knew not to get too close. She assumed Willow hadn’t told him anything about her and her job and she wanted him to remain ignorant of it. Too many people have died or had their lives ruined because they knew what she was. Pike, Benny, Jennifer, mom and dad, all had their lives ruined because of her and this stupid Slayer gig and Buffy swore to not let it happen again.
Xander kept the mood light and Buffy found herself completely relaxing in his presence. He had a certain way to make others feel comfortable while he made a fool of himself. Buffy could see how Willow and him had stayed friends for so many years. He seemed very loyal and Buffy was grateful the redhead, at least, had that support system.
Buffy’s attention was well and truly caught when the words “unexplained explosion” came out in one of the stories he was recounting.
‘Wait,’ she held up a hand and Xander stopped talking. ‘Repeat that. The thing about the explosion.’
‘Ah,’ Xander nodded in a way he probably perceived showed ultimate wisdom. ‘I thought that would catch the Buffster’s attention,’ Buffy raised an eyebrow at the nickname but let it go. ‘Last year, during graduation, a giant snake escaped, from where, I don’t know but it attacked the school and killed a couple of students and our old principal.’
‘Giant snake?’ Buffy studied him to see if her was telling the truth. To her surprise, he was completely sincere. Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy noticed Willow nodding wildly in agreement.
‘Yeah,’ he brushed off her comment. ‘Didn’t you have one? I though all schools got them as a last hurrah, you know?’
Buffy smothered a grin at his attempt at humour then motioned for him to continue.
‘Well, anyway, here we were, all sitting nicely, excitedly waiting for the ceremony to start when the mayor gets up to give this long and amazingly boring speech on morals and values and a whole other manner of blah. All of a sudden, out of nowhere the mayor just, boom, disappears- I still maintain he was eaten- and in his place is this giant snake.’
Buffy started to get the feeling there was much more to this tale than these two knew. She’d have to do some investigating on her own. Nobody just disappeared and giant snakes didn’t just appear.
‘Anyway,’ he continued. ‘Everyone went nuts, people were screaming and running all over the place, really easy targets for the big snake. Percy, he was one of the footballers, quarterback I think, Willow tutored him at one point, he was the first to be eaten. It was really sad.’
Somehow, Buffy thought with a grin on her face. I don’t think he’s that cut up about it.
Buffy lent forward and her gaze ticked between the two. ‘How big a snake are we talkin’?’
She looked at Willow meaningfully and Willow’s eyes went wide in understanding. Buffy suspected this snake was far from normal. It seemed that maybe the mayor who “disappeared” had something to do with it.
‘Well,’ Xander lent forward too. ‘I’d say about a hundred, hundred and fifty feet, little lady,’ he answered in a really bad Texan accent.
‘At least,’ Willow put in.
‘Right,’ Buffy nodded slowly. That was one damn big snake. ‘What happened to it?’
‘Ooh,’ Xander rubbed his hands together in glee. ‘That’s the thing. This girl, Amy, she was a friend of ours, ran into the actual school to get away and it followed her. She must have led it down to the basement where the boilers and gas are kept because the school blew up, taking the snake with it to snakey heaven.’
‘Okay,’ Willow butted in before Xander could tell any more stories. ‘It’s getting late and I think the manger want to kick us out so… shall we?’
Buffy stood quickly and glanced at her watch. She let out a little sound of distress and picked up her bag. ‘I gotta go guys, sorry. I’m supposed to meet Giles in five minutes so I need to haul ass.’
‘There’s no need to do that, Buff,’ Xander admonished her. ‘This is a no haul zone. No hauling of any kind. Hauling implies manual labour, and you know, we just don’t do that around here. Well except me. I work in construction so there is manual labour involved.’
‘Uh huh,’ Buffy looked at him askance and pushed her chair in. ‘It was… surreal, meeting you Xander. Will, I’ll see you tonight.’
After promising to meet up with Xander again, Buffy finally escaped.
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She made it back to the mansion in record time but was still late for the meeting with Giles. She knew what he wanted anyway and dread settled in her stomach as she pushed open the front door.
There was no sign of him in the lounge area, nor was he in the study or kitchen. Puzzled, she went in search of his room to see if he was there but, again, no dice. She stood still in the hallway and opened her senses, listening for things she wouldn‘t normally hear. She could hear the bird outside Giles’ window, the dripping tap he’d left on in the bathroom but she couldn’t hear any sign of life in the oversized building.
Maybe he went out, she thought as she entered the kitchen and prepared herself another cup of coffee. As she opened the cupboard to get out a mug, something on the refrigerator caught her eye. She put the mug down then leant over and snatched a torn piece of paper from the fridge. It was a note from Giles.
Gone out to get actual food, not the horrid stuff you call convenient. We’ll talk before you patrol.
Buffy snorted and crushed the paper in her hand. She threw it and watched with satisfaction when it bounced off the rim of the bin then landed in. She turned on her heel and finished making her coffee, then decided on a little mind numbing television to pass the time until nightfall.
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Giles entered, bogged down with bags and Buffy amusedly watched him struggle to carry them through to the kitchen. She laughed outright when he came back into the room, red faced from the exertion.
‘No need for your help. I had it under control,’ he comment snidely and Buffy grinned.
‘I know ya did, Geeves,’ she waved at him from the couch. She could have gotten up to help him, that was true enough, but that would have required using the precious energy she was storing for the nights patrol.
She laughed again when he huffed indignantly and turned to walk out the front door. She picked up the phone from the side table and dialled The Hyperion, hoping to talk to Angel. Wesley answered and Buffy spirits plummeted.
‘Hello?’ the snobby British voice came down the line and Buffy giggled.
‘Hey, Wes. Is Angel there?’
‘No, I’m sorry. Angel is not here at the moment. May I ask who is calling?’ he sounded so genuine that Buffy believed he had no idea who she was.
‘It’s Buffy, Wesley,’ she said wryly as Giles came back through the room with another load of bags. It was almost time for dinner so Buffy quickly ended the call.
‘Look, Wes. Tell Angel I rang and that I’m going on my first patrol tonight, okay? I’ll let him know how it goes,’ she left out the incident from last night, not wanting to discuss it with the ex-Watcher. She didn’t even want to go into it with Giles but she knew she had no choice.
Giles was in the kitchen unpacking when Buffy entered. ‘So, what “real” food did you get?’ she asked as she tried to peer into the bags.
‘Food that actually does more good than harm,’ he replied. ’Unlike that horrid stuff you consistently choose to eat.’
Buffy grinned at the stuffy Brit. ’What’s wrong with the stuff I eat? The box says that it has the required vitamins and stuff. It’s healthy.’
He flashed her a withering glare and continued to put things away, all the while complaining about lazy teenagers and their non-existent work ethics. Buffy smiled, happily ignoring him as he ranted.
After everything had been put away, Giles led her into the lounge and they sat down. All earlier good feelings fled, leaving Buffy cold. Giles cleared his throat lightly.
‘I realise something happened last night while you were fighting the demon. I also realise it upset you a great deal. I didn’t push it last night because I thought you might need time to recover but I’m going to have to ask you now, Buffy. What happed last night?’ he asked her kindly.
He seemed to sense how hard it was for her and she was grateful that he wasn’t all business nor was he trying to make light of it.
When she finally finished telling him, he sat back with a sick look on his face. ‘I can see how you might have found that unpleasant,’ he acknowledged.
They sat in silence for a few moments before Buffy realised with a grin, how much better she felt after sharing it with her Watcher. She tried to think of something to lighten the oppressive atmosphere when she lit upon the perfect thing.
‘What do you know about giant snakes?’ she asked innocently.
Well? What did ya think?
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