Just a note, I now realize that now that I have gotten into this story I really haven’t thought out the logistics of this AU world. Therefore, as you have probably noticed, most things contradict each other and make no sense, such as the whole electricity in a cave thing. I’m just going to say that although there are no humans there are going to be some human-like things and so you’re just going to have to pretend like they are just there and turn a blind-eye every time something doesn’t make sense.
Also, I thought that I’d take this opportunity to explain a bit more about the werewolf society. So, we have the pack leader and his mate and family at the top of the food chain, and then everyone else is going to be at a basically equal status. All the adults have jobs to do in the pack, such as cooking, sewing, cleaning, etc., and no job is worse than another. And I just decided to throw that school thing in because I wanted to. Last thing, I swear! All clothes are going to be home-made (no stores) but just imagine them looking like regular, 21st century clothes.
A/N: I’m just going by my own rules of how to play Marco Polo, so if there are different versions, sorry!
10.
The next two weeks passed by pretty quickly and Buffy was having no trouble fitting in to the pack. Everybody was extremely nice and accepting, and she found that she loved hanging out with the gang of teenagers and did almost everything with them. Her time had mostly been preoccupied with meeting new people and exploring her new home, but she found she had plenty of free time to just relax and do nothing. She was still constantly thinking about her pack, but luckily her sadness was starting to slowly fade as she adjusted to her new life.
Willow and Fred had moved around some of their stuff in their room so that Buffy could fit in, and fortunately there was tons of extra space, they really did have a large room. The extra bed that they had in there was given to Buffy and some clothes were quickly made for her, for which she was extremely grateful, her old ones were in tatters. She was settling in great and everyone thought of her as nothing other than a regular member of the pack. She was currently lounging in her room with Willow, Fred and Cordelia, all of whom were reading various science text-books.
Giles had insisted that Buffy join the rest of the young pack members in completing weekly school assignments and this week it was on the Carbon cycle. Although she had done a bit of work with her old pack, she was never good at it and Buffy found herself getting frustrated extremely often.
“Willow,” she sighed, slamming her book shut and turning her head to look at the red-head from her position lying on her bed, “do you get any of this?” She had quickly discovered her friend’s talent for academics and didn’t hesitate in seeking out help. Willow just laughed.
“Yeah, did you need help?”
“Maybe,” Buffy pouted, sticking out her bottom lip. She had become incredibly close friends with them in the past weeks and was perfectly comfortable now. However, before Willow could respond they were interrupted by a knock on the door, and in walked Xander and Oz.
“Hello, ladies,” said Xander smoothly, plopping himself down on a vacant chair, making himself comfortable. “Ah, doing some science work I see,” he noted with mock disgust upon spying the text books.
“What did you guys want?” asked Coredlia, quickly throwing her textbook away in favor of a more interesting activity.
“We were bored,” replied Oz nonchalantly. “What are you guys up to?”
“Nothing important,” answered Buffy, sitting up and tossing her textbook away, mimicking Cordelia’s earlier actions. “Have any ideas?”
“Well,” began Xander, “we were all thinking about heading down to Angel’s rooms and going swimming over there.”
“Ooooh, fun!” agreed Willow. “Just let us grab our suits and we’ll be right down.”
“Cool,” said Oz, giving her a broad smile, which made her blush. Buffy smiled at seeing the obvious attraction between the two. Three days ago she had finally gotten Willow to admit to her feelings and she couldn’t wait for those two to get together, they just had to. Then she had a sudden thought.
“Wait, I don’t have a suit,” she said, pouting a little again.
“You could probably borrow one of Faith’s,” said Fred, standing up and stretching a bit and moving towards her drawers.
“Yeah, I suppose that would work. Do you guys know where she is so that I can ask her?” Buffy asked the boys.
“Last I saw her she was making out with Spike, but I bet she is heading back to her room to grab her suit too,” volunteered Xander.
“Okay, I guess I’ll just head down there then. I’ll meet you guys at Angel’s room.” She smiled at them all and then got up and left.
The second she left, Willow immediately became excited and then gestured for everyone to come closer so that they could all hear her.
“Alright, what’s the plan, guys?” she asked them all.
“For what?” asked Xander, not having a clue as to what they were talking about.
“To get Angel and Buffy together of course!” exclaimed Fred, just as excited as Willow was.
“Yeah, like come on!” agreed Cordelia. “They’ve only been, like, totally obsessed with each other for two weeks now! Can’t you see the way they look at each other, and talk about each other, and, remember, Angel admitted that he liked her.”
“They do seem pretty in to each other,” said Oz, nodding his head.
“So what are we going to do?” pressed Willow. “We should totally do something so that they get together.”
“Why don’t we just let nature take its course?” asked Xander, seeming fairly disinterested.
“Because,” exclaimed Willow, “this is Angel we are talking about. Plus, Buffy is just as stubborn.”
“Good point,” he agreed. “Still, I think we should just leave them be.”
“Well, can we at least make helpful hints?” pleaded Willow, pouting slightly. Oz just glanced over and smiled at her.
“Fine, we’ll settle for helpful hints,” decided Cordelia, looking back and forth between Willow and Xander. “But, if nothing happens soon, we’ll interfere, agreed?”
Upon seeing everyone’s nods of agreement, everyone went their separate ways and went about gathering swimsuits and towels in preparation to head down to Angel’s room.
00000000000
Walking down the hallways, Buffy quietly hummed a made-up tune to herself. Luckily, it hadn’t taken her long to learn how to get around the hallways of the cave, and although there were still lots of places that she had never gone, she knew how to get to all the important ones. The two weeks she had been staying there had been enough time for her injuries to mostly heal up. Angel had been very strict about her going to see Jenny everyday for a ‘check-up’, which she found to be completely adorable, just for the record. She was saved from her inner musings when she arrived outside of Faith and Cordelia’s room. Knocking, she waited until she heard a muffled ‘Enter’ before heading inside.
“Hey, B, what’s up?” asked Faith when she spotted Buffy entering her room. Even though the two girls were quite different personality wise, they hadn’t found any problems in bonding and had become quite close.
“Hey, Faith,” Buffy smiled. “Actually, I was hoping that I could ask you a favor?”
“Sure, what you need?” she moved over from her closet and sat down on her bed instead.
“Well, Xander mentioned that everyone was going to head down to Angel’s room to go swimming, and the thing is, I don’t exactly have a suit.” At this point she looked over purposefully at Faith.
“Okay, okay, B, don’t get all desperate on me,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes playfully. “I got plenty of suits for you to borrow. Hmm, let’s see, which one?” She got up again and made her way to her drawers, opening up the top one and then went about searching through it. She glanced back over at Buffy and smirked evilly. “Perfect.”
“What,” asked Buffy curiously.
“Oh, nothing, just found you the perfect suit to wear,” she declared, holding up a fairly modest, dark red two-piece. It would keep enough skin covered for Buffy’s liking and she knew for a fact that her brother’s favorite color was dark red. Like she said, perfect suit.
“Cool,” said Buffy, looking it over approvingly. “Mind if I use your bathroom to change?”
“Nah, that’s cool.” While Buffy was changing Faith continued searching through her remaining suits in an attempt to find one for herself, and was still doing so when Cordelia entered the room and joined her. A few minutes later Buffy emerged once again, this time dressed for the pool.
“Can’t decide?” she asked chuckling when she saw that Faith was still searching through her drawers, Cordelia having settled on an emerald green bikini.
“Well, I have narrowed it down to two,” she held up her two final choices.
“Go with the purple one, Spike will totally be all over you. Then again, he’s never really needed the excuse before,” suggested Buffy, to which Cordelia nodded agreed completely.
“True,” said Faith chuckling, shrugging out of her shirt and pants. She wasn’t exactly the modest type.
“So, did you decide if you’re ready yet?” asked Buffy quietly once they were left alone when Cordelia retreated into the bathroom to change. Faith knew that she was referring to the conversation that they had had two days ago.
“I think so,” she grinned. They had been talking about how close she and Spike were, and whether or not they were going to become mates. Still smiling, Faith walked over to a basket by her closet and picked out three towels, tossing one to Buffy and keeping the other two. She didn’t say anymore as Cordelia joined them once again, and the three of them headed out to Angel’s room, deciding to go and join their friends.
0000000000000000
Ten minutes later the entire gang was gathered in Angel’s bathroom. Buffy, Faith and Cordelia were the last ones to arrive as they were detained in the hallway for a few minutes while they spoke to Faith’s aunt and her two younger cousins. They walked over to an open space against the far wall and set down they towels and slipped out of their shoes and the shirts that they had just thrown on. Everyone else was already in the water, just swimming around and getting used to the temperature.
Angel had been talking with Gunn, but when he heard the three girls enter the room he turned to greet them, but immediately lost all ability of speech upon seeing Buffy. She had just taken off her shirt, exposing her shapely form to his gaze. Her bandages had been taken off four days ago and there were only small marks left as a reminder, though they would soon fade and did nothing to mar her beauty anyways. Just then she looked up and caught his gaze, giving him a brilliant smile. They had rapidly become very good friends, although each harbored more then friendly feelings towards the other but were too nervous to say anything. Shaking his head, Angel returned the smile with one of his own and then made his way to the edge and got up and out of the water.
“Borrowing one of Faith’s suits?” he asked Buffy as Faith moved past him to go and join the others.
“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I don’t have one as of yet and since we’re the same size and everything…”
“Looks nice,” he said simply, smirking as he watched her cheeks turn a slight red.
“Th-thanks.”
“Come on.” He walked with her back to the pool and immediately slipped into the cool waters. Meanwhile, Buffy just stood at the edge taking in the sight of his gorgeous body. When he had first gotten out of the water the clear liquid had been streaming down his chest and she couldn’t help but think how she would give anything to be a water droplet at that very moment. Turning back around, he gave her an expecting look.
“You gonna actually come in the water,” he asked teasingly.
“What? Oh, yeah, I’m just, uh, never mind,” she blushed again and hoped that Angel hadn’t noticed her checking him out. She lowered her body until she sat at the edge of the pool and then slowly stuck her legs in, testing the water. Then, she eased her body in until she was finally standing. Angel just smiled and then headed over to where all their friends were gathered, discussing what they should do.
“We could play chicken?” suggested Xander.
“No way!” exclaimed Cordelia. “Besides, I always loose, so not fun.”
“How about Marco Polo?” volunteered Fred, shrugging.
“Yeah,” agreed Faith, decisively. “Any objections?” When everyone only nodded she seemed satisfied.
“So, whose going to be it,” asked Gunn, eyeing the people around him, sizing up the competition.
“Not me!” shouted Buffy, Willow, Fred and Cordelia all at once, quickly stepping back from the group.
“For ‘eaven’s sake, I’ll be ‘it’ first,” sighed Spike in mock exasperation.
“Thanks, honey,” said Faith sweetly, moving forward and giving him a quick kiss before moving away again.
As Spike was standing in the middle of the pool, everyone else scattered as far away from him as possible. Counting down from ten with his eyes closed, soon Spike was moving aimlessly around, shouting out the occasional ‘Marco’ and waiting to hear the responding nine ‘Polo’s. It wasn’t long until he caught Fred and the two of them switched places. Then afterwards Fred caught Xander who in turn caught Gunn. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, laughing and splashing around. Buffy loved hanging out in the pool with everyone but found that her gaze was constantly on Angel, watching him as he moved sleekly through the water. She couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of his muscles as they flexed while he swam hard to escape from the clutches of the designated ‘it’.
“Hey,” whispered Willow to Buffy. Even though Gunn was on the other side of the pool and currently going after Faith, it was best to keep as quiet as possible.
“Hey,” she replied, smiling. “Think he’ll catch her?” she nodded over to Gunn and Faith with her head.
“Nah, she’ll slip away, look he’s already going after Cordelia now.”
“Marco!” rang out, and, obediently, everyone shouted “Polo” back. At this point Willow slipped under the water and moved away while Buffy did the same, heading in the opposite direction. She resurfaced a ways away and laughed silently to herself to see Oz and Xander distracting Gunn by splashing water at him. She was in a deeper part of the pool and couldn’t touch the bottom so she was left to treading water as silently as she could. She gasped quietly as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, lifting her up slightly. Looking back she spotted Angel, who, being taller than her, was standing easily in the water. Pulling her back against his chest, he whispered into her ear.
“Hey. Just thought you might need some help.” Buffy shivered from the feel of his hot breath against the back of her neck. Angel had been watching Buffy throughout the entire game, and seeing her by herself in a deeper part of the pool he decided to use it as the perfect excuse to be near her. He then shifted his arms and maneuvered her behind him and around to his back. Seeing his intentions, Buffy wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, pressing her body lightly against him.
“Curse you, tall people,” she muttered teasingly, causing Angel to chuckle.
They remained in silence for a while, just watching Gunn and shouting out ‘Polo’ whenever the occasion called for it. Angel placed his hands cautiously on Buffy’s legs, hoisting her more securely onto his back. Having a scantily clad Buffy pressed so intimately against him was wreaking havoc on his senses. He could feel her breath against his neck and her blond hair brushing against his shoulders and arms. Glancing down he could see her small hands grasping at his shoulders and her toned legs wrapped around his lower body. They were far away from all of the action and had no reason to move. Unconsciously rubbing his thumbs in circular motions against Buffy’s upper thighs, he just stood, basking in all the feelings that were currently coursing through his body, which were only enhanced as Buffy leaned forward and laid her cheek on his shoulder, closing her eyes.
“Warn me if Gunn is coming near here, kay?” she asked quietly, not bothering to open her eyes.
“Sure,” responded Angel. “When you get dumped into the water, that means he’s near,” he whispered teasingly.
“Ha, ha, very funny mister,” replied Buffy, snuggling even closer into his back.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, from the other side of the pool they were being observed by Spike and Willow.
“Ahh, those two are so cute together,” sighed Willow, smiling at the sight of her two friends.
“Knew Peaches wouldn’t be able to stay away from the chit,” muttered Spike. “And I hear you lot were saying they were both too stubborn.”
“Hey, it doesn’t hurt to be cautious,” she retorted, looking around to make sure that Gunn was still preoccupied chasing after Faith. “Don’t they look happy together?”
“Yeah, yeah, but just wait. It’s not like their together or anythin’ yet.”
“So, they will.”
“I’d ‘ope so. ‘Bout time Peaches found himself a mate.”
Their conversation came to a sudden end due to the loud shouting coming from Gunn and Faith.
“You so didn’t catch me, I didn’t feel anything!”
“I did so, and besides, I’ve been ‘it’ for, like, forever!”
“So you admit it, you just want to get out of being ‘it’!”
“Alright you two,” said Xander, in mock cheerfulness. “I think that we’ve had about enough of this little fun fest. You guys want to hit a hot tub?”
“Sure!” answered Cordelia, excited at the prospect.
“Sounds good to me,” agreed Angel. He had made his way over to the group when he heard them shouting, Buffy still firmly attached to his back, though with her eyes open now. Faith raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing and he just chose to ignore her.
“Okay, so which one is it gonna be?” asked Xander, speaking up again. Looking around, everyone contemplated their choices, everyone, that is, except for Buffy. She didn’t know the differences, and at the moment she could really care less.
“How ‘bout that really hot one over in the corner?” suggested Faith.
“No, not the hottest!” exclaimed Willow, then looked embarrassed. “It makes my skin turn all red,” she admitted sheepishly.
“Come on guys, it really isn’t that hard of a decision,” declared Gunn when no one else spoke up. “We’ll go into that one.” Pointing to a medium-sized pool off to his left, he walked over to the edge of the pool and hoisted himself out, making his way over. Shrugging, all the girls got up and followed him. Hopping down off of Angel’s back, Buffy followed behind Willow and Fred, leaving Angel feeling disappointed and as he stared at her retreating form
“Man, you got bad,” said Oz, grinning at Angel as Xander moved over to clap a hand on Angel’s shoulder.
“Shut up,” he muttered and then got out of the water to head towards the hot tub, leaving three laughing males behind him.
00000000000
Sighing as her body sank into the warm water, Buffy closed her eyes and leaned back against the edge of the pool. With the loss of Angel’s body heat, she had started to feel a bit cold and welcomed the heat that surrounded her. Opening her eyes again she found herself sitting in between Cordelia and Faith, who was at the moment was nosily making out with Spike, completely ignoring the rest of the hot tub’s occupants.
“So, are we all set for the full-moon trip?” asked Fred once everyone was settled in the water.
“I think so,” replied Angel from his seat between Willow and Gunn, looking thoughtful. The full-moon was only five days away and so preparations were being finalized in eager anticipation. “We are going to pack up all the food we’ll need the day before, like always, and we have all our camping supplies packed, and other than that everyone just needs to make sure that they have a sleeping bag and,” here he looked pointedly at Cordelia, “a pillow.”
“Hey,” she scoffed, offended.
“Did you check with Giles to make sure he was okay with us going to the mountain pass?” asked Willow, wanting to make sure that they had permission.
“Yeah, I checked with my parent’s earlier,” said Faith, breaking away from Spike’s lips, much to his displeasure. “They’re cool with it.”
“So, Buffy, what did you use to do on the full-moon?” asked Xander, not noticing how the question caused her to instantly sadden and cast her eyes downwards. Angel however, was not oblivious.
“Xander,” he warned, growling low in his throat, a clear indication that he was pissed. Xander just gulped.
“No, it’s okay,” said Buffy firmly, taking a breath and looking up. “I can talk about them, it’s just a little, hard.”
“You never mentioned what ‘appened to them, Pet,” encouraged Spike gently, being cautious to not over-step any bounds.
Buffy felt really bad. She knew that they had all been dying to ask her ever since she showed up, her unconscious form brought in by Angel late at night. She had been avoiding the subject and none of them had pressed her, but she knew that it was unfair to not tell them, they deserved to know.
“You don’t have to tell us anything now, Buffy,” said Willow, feeling sorry to see the blond being put in the spot light like that. “You can wait until you’re good and ready to.”
“Well, you guys can pretty much guess what happened,” said Buffy nervously.
“We kind of assumed that they all, well, passed away,” said Fred sadly, looking at Buffy to see if she had guessed right. Buffy just nodded and a single tear slipped from her eye, traveling down her cheek. Angel had to use every last ounce of his self-control to keep himself from leaning forward and taking her in his arms. He wanted nothing more than to hold her and reassure her that everything would be okay, that he would always be there for her. It broke his heart to see her so distraught over the fate of her old pack. However, he held himself in check.
“How’d it happen?” asked Spike.
“P-parker and Riley’s pack, th-they were after m-m-me, b-but…” she just trailed off, not wanting to continue. The memories flooded back to her, the horror of seeing her family lying wide-eyed in a pool of their own blood, brutally murdered. At this point she stopped all of her thoughts from continuing, it was still too painful. Seeing her friend stutter, Willow moved over and embraced her. Regaining her voice once again, Buffy just gave a small smile and wiped away her tears.
“I’m sorry to be so emotional guys.”
“Of course not, Buffy!” exclaimed Willow, giving a small smile of her own. “What are friend’s for if not to listen to each other’s problems?”
“Thanks,” said Buffy, looking around at everyone as they nodded in agreement of Willow’s words. “Anyways, Xander,” she continued on. “When I was younger I would go with my parent’s and every month we, along with the rest of our pack, would climb up a mountain so we could be closer to the moon.”
“Sounds like fun,” murmured Angel, still deep in thought about what Buffy had said about Parker and Riley being responsible for the killing of her pack.
“It was,” she agreed, turning towards him. “And I’m sure that I’ll have just as much fun this month.”
The rather somber mood was suddenly broken as Xander farted and bubbles escaped from his swim trunks.
“Ew!” screeched all the girls, including Buffy, as they immediately leapt up from the water to escape from the ‘contaminated’ pool.
“Sorry!” shouted Xander, looking sheepish as he was smacked in the head by Gunn as the guys followed suit and left their current pool in favor of another one.
Everyone dispersed. Willow, Fred, Coredlia and Buffy all settled into one, while Oz, Gunn, Angel and Xander settled down into another. Spike and Faith opted for their own so as not to bother anyone with their ‘activities’. Angel paid next to no attention to the other occupants of the hot tub he was in, choosing not to join in to their conversation. Instead his gaze was fixed upon Buffy, watching her intently as she smiled and laughed, and he was glad that she was having a good time. The ten teenagers remained this way for another twenty minutes until someone had the bright idea to go and grab some dinner, since it was getting late. Everyone reluctantly got up and gathered their stuff, heading off to their respective rooms in order to shower and change.
Angel remained as it was his bathroom, and once everyone had gone he sighed, placing his hands over his eyes, not able to get the image of Buffy’s smiling face out of his head, and not really wanting to.
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