6.
Upon hearing the door click behind Jenny as she left, Willow and Buffy turned back towards each other, smiling. They had been having so much fun and time just seemed to fly. It was great, in Buffy’s opinion, to finally have a female friend, and from what she had heard from Willow, she couldn’t wait to meet the rest of the gang.
“Well, Jenny’s right, we probably should go out and join those guys for lunch,” declared Willow, deciding to break the silence. “So, do you want to head down there, or what?”
Looking down at her attire, Buffy sighed. She had left her home so suddenly and there was no chance for her to grab any of her clothes. When Jenny had been bandaging up her injuries, her old clothes had been removed and instead were replaced with a loose pair of sweat-pants and a loose-fitting t-shirt. She didn’t know whose they were but she was very grateful for the loan. Still, she didn’t know if her outfit was appropriate or not for lunch.
Guessing at her train of thoughts, Willow rushed to reassure her.
“What your wearing is fine, don’t worry. It’s not going to be formal at all, trust me, we’re just going to grab some food to eat and see what everyone else is doing.”
Smiling at how obvious she had been, Buffy just nodded her head and then proceeded to gently ease herself up and off of the bed. Not knowing how to help exactly Willow just stood by and made sympathetic noises as she witnessed exactly how painful it was for her friend to move. When she was finally up and moving the two of them made their way to the door and then out and down the hallway, heading towards the kitchen where they hoped to run into the other teenage members of the pack.
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Meanwhile, Angel and the rest of his friends were sitting around one of the kitchen tables, talking and laughing about the funny incident they had witnessed that morning which had involved a young couple, their newborn twins and a meal of mashed-up spinach. To get to the point, it had ended with two giggling babies and a room and all its occupants covered in green goop. They hadn’t done much that morning, mostly just sitting around and talking about Buffy and the little they knew about her from what she had said last night.
The kitchen was a fairly big place and people kept popping in and out, grabbing a bite to eat and maybe sitting down for a little while to chat or to just take a break. All eight of them were wondering where Willow had gotten off to, but they didn’t have long to wait because right at that moment the subject of their thoughts walked through the door, accompanied by a limping blond.
Upon spotting her friends all sitting around one of the tables, Willow smiled and gave them a small wave before slowly making her way over to them with Buffy in tow.
“Hey guys! What’s going on?” she was excited about having made a new friend and couldn’t wait to see if Buffy would get along with group.
“Nothing Wills,” drawled Xander, an amused expression marring his face. “Just wondering where you’ve been all this time. If I didn’t know any better I would think that you were purposely trying to avoid us.”
“Ha ha, yeah right,” replied Willow right back. “Like you even knew I wasn’t here. I bet you’ve only been awake for a few minutes, not enough time to even notice that I was missing.”
“So, I have connections in very high places,” he scoffed, indicating the group of teenagers surrounding him.
“Well, if you must know I was getting to know our new guest,” she sighed, sounding exasperated.
Buffy’s cheeks immediately turned red as nine pairs of eyes focused in on her. Awkwardly shifting on her feet and smoothing out invisible wrinkles on her sweatpants, she gave a nervous smile and managed a meek “Hi”.
“Hey, B, what’s happnin’?” asked Faith. She could tell how uncomfortable the girl was and hoped to relieve some of the tension.
“I’m good, though very much in pain,” responded Buffy, starting to relax upon hearing the easy tone in Faith’s voice. Everyone laughed, although afterwards Angel spoke up, looking uneasy.
“Are you sure that you’re okay though?” He sounded so concerned and Buffy’s heart almost melted at the cute picture he presented.
“Oh yeah, I’m good, just a bit sore, in most places.” As she was talking Angel got up off his chair and offered it to her, giving a teasing, gentlemanly bow. Smiling, Buffy moved forward and sat down while behind her Willow was simply gushing as she thought about how cute a couple the two would make. “Listen, thank you again for rescuing me, I wasn’t going to last for much longer out there.”
Before Angel could respond, Willow began jumping slightly up and down, looking excited.
“Oh, remember, you asked me to remind you to thank Angel for the delicious breakfast too!”
“And you should probably thank him for letting you wear his clothes too,” volunteered Cordelia, speaking up. “I mean, no offense or anything, but those really aren’t your size. Although I suppose everybody’s different.”
“Man Cordy, have some tact!” whispered Xander, smacking the girl lightly on the shoulder.
“What?” Everyone simply rolled their eyes.
“W-well, I guess I apparently have a lot to thank you for. With the whole breakfast thing, and then the clothes thing, and I…” stuttered Buffy, beginning to babble and blushing all over again.
“It’s okay, really,” assured Angel, cutting her off and through a sexy half-grin her way. “It’s no problem, just glad that I could help out.” He grinned at her as he moved away from the table and toward the refrigerator. Addressing both Buffy and Willow, he asked if either of them would like him to make them up a sandwich, indicating the food that was already on everybody’s plate.
“Oh, no, that’s okay, you don’t have to do that,” rushed Buffy.
“Come on, you already know what a great cook he is Buffy!” exclaimed Willow, exasperated with her friend’s stubbornness. “Angel, can you make me a turkey sandwich with, umm, wheat bread?”
“Yeah, no problem, Buffy?” The anxious and eager look in his eyes was enough to do her in.
“I’ll have the same, thanks.” After a short pause, she added, “You know, I really should come up with a plan to repay my debt to you.”
Everybody laughed at this and Angel just shrugged. “What can I say, I’m a giver.” This only succeeded in making everyone laugh harder.
Lunch passed in basically the same manner, with enjoyable conversation flowing freely between the teens. Buffy spent the entire time getting to know everyone better and amusing herself as she witnessed the antics of the group, bantering back and forth. She found herself wistfully imagining herself as part of them, but as soon as the thought entered her mind, she pushed it away. She knew that she would have to leave soon. However, it was fun to meet all the people who were moving through the kitchen. A woman even asked her if she would be interested, when she was healed of course and if she was still there, to baby-sit her children. Smiling, Buffy had agreed at once, missing her work taking care of the young members of her pack.
Eventually the group decided to move out of the kitchen and to some place more comfortable. Seeing as how it was raining outside they agreed that the best plan was to stay inside so they made their way to one of the many recreation rooms, intent on watching another movie. However, before they could make it all the way there, Angel suddenly stopped.
“I almost forgot, Jenny wanted me to remind you to go and see her sometime today, so she can look at your cuts,” he said, talking to Buffy.
“Oh, okay, I guess I’ll just go and find her again then,” she replied, sounding sad. Misinterpreting his meaning, she thought that Angel was just trying to get rid of her. Turning, she began to move away and back down the hall.
“No, wait, let me help you find her,” he rushed to say, noting the tone in her voice. “It’s a pretty big place and you have no idea where you’re going.” Waving his friends on, he moved over to Buffy and began walking away with her, completely missing the knowing looks that his friends were exchanging behind his back.
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