Her vise like grip on the arms of the seat had already caused the metal to buckle, but she didn’t notice. For the one-thousandth time during the two flights to Chattanooga, Mina found herself contemplating the murder of her new Watcher. She felt chilled nervous sweat gathering around her forehead where her Stetson hat was pulled low so that the brim covered her face. Even though her jaw was locked and her face was expressionless her mind couldn’t help but be amazed at how Dawn was capable of talking non-stop. With no rhythm or reason, about whatever subject came to mind, the younger Summers girl chatted non-stop. Suddenly realization hit Mina in the face and her head whipped around. Dawn jumped back as far as the small seat would allow with a little “eeep!”
“You’re trying to take my mind off flying,” Mina said. It wasn’t a statement; it was an accusation.
“Yes, your frightening the other passengers and damaging airline property.” Dawn said in her own defense. Mina’s only reply was to sit back in her seat and resume concentrating on not crashing. She had to admit she felt silly being afraid of crashing after having survived a civil war in a Hell dimension.
“So I figure we’ll buy our special equipment when we land?” Dawn said inquiringly.
“I’ve already got it taken care of,” she answered her Watcher through clenched teeth.
“Really, how?”
“An old friend will be meeting us at the airport with wea… what ever we need.” Mina had barely stopped herself from saying weapons out loud. The small plane offered no real privacy. “He won’t be sticking around, but he’ll get us settled in at least.”
“Cool, how do you know him?”
“We hung out a lot right before I met Faith.”
“Oh, he was ‘there’ with you?”
“Yep.”
“Why are you so hard on the trainees?” Mina could tell by Dawn’s sudden change in tone with this last question that she had wanted to ask it for a long time, and that the answer needed to be very well thought out. Luckily Mina had an answer ready for her.
“The life of a Slayer, Watcher, Operative, anyone who would fight against the evils of this world, can be brutal and short,” she said in a raspy whisper, “so I try to be more brutal and more relentless than anything you will ever face in the field.” Mina had told that same answer to Giles when he interviewed her for the position.
Dawn’s expression ate face showed her contemplation of the answer. It took so long before she said anything that Mina thought the conversation may be over. So she was taken aback when Dawn suddenly broke the silence with a simple, “thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” was all she said as she returned to her minor panic attack while awaiting a safe landing.
Once they landed Mina silently thanked God for seeing her back to the ground and for the fact she had convinced Dawn to pack one good sized backpack only. Since the two didn’t have to wait for luggage to come down the conveyer belt, they got out of the airport as quickly as possible. Once back in the fresh air Mina pulled off the wide brimmed hat she always wore outside of the Academy and did a full body stretch. When she finished she turned to find Dawn smiling at her. “What?” Mina asked defensively.
“Nothing much,” Dawn answered, “I’ve just never seen you off the Academy grounds without a hat on.” Mina unconsciously brought her hand up to rub the jagged scar going down her face, from eyebrow to jaw, in a near strait line. Dawn’s smile faltered. “I’m sorry, Mina. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
The unscarred half of Mina’s face twitched up into a rare half smile. “It’s okay Minx,” she reassured her Watcher, “ I’m just making sure my contact recognizes me.”
“I don’t need to see your face for that,” said a voice from the breezeway. Mina felt a familiar tingle run up her spine at the sound of that voice. It sounded like dark chocolate tasted. She also noted with some pride that Dawn had immediately turned towards the voice in a combat ready stance.
“Pussycat, pussycat where are you?” Mina sang breathily as she returned the hat to her head.
“Right here,” the voice said as it’s owner stepped into the light. Only two things kept Tom from being extremely sexy. The first was he was short. Really short. He was shorter than Mina and she was shorter than Dawn by about four inches. The second was the extreme vagabond look. Torn jeans, dirty wife beater shirt, no coat in January. But of course the expensive sunglasses were on as always.
Tom dropped a worn out duffle bag at her feet and extended a hand towards Dawn, “Tom Jarnigan and you are?”
“Dawn Summers,” the young woman answered with a crisp handshake, “so what’s in the bag?”
“Toys,” Tom answered as he held a key out to Mina. “This motel is across the street. I hope you find what your looking for.” This being said he sauntered back into the shadows. Mina was highly confused by his sudden exit until she put a hand into her coat pocket and realized his cash payment was gone. She pulled the empty envelope from her pocket and tossed it into the trash.
‘Damn, he is good’ she thought to herself as she hefted the heavy duffle onto her shoulder and started walking across the parking lot.
She heard Dawn walking behind her and wondered how long it would take for her to speak up.
“Were-panther?” Dawn asked.
“Good call Minx, how’d you guess?”
“The way he moved screamed kinky, and your pussycat song.”
“He was laying it on a bit thick, probably for your benefit.”
“Too short for my taste.”
“You and me both,” she said as she slipped the key into the lock and opened the door. The room wasn’t what Mina would call clean, but having lived in a hell dimension for several years, she had seen worse
“Eeww,” Dawn said as she walked in behind her, “your friend went all out.”
“Nothing but the best for me and my Watcher.”
“I guess it’s too late to rethink this assignment?”
“Oh yeah Minx, you’re stuck with me now.” Just then Mina heard a familiar sound and dove at Dawn tackling her to the floor and landing over her. She put a hand over the outraged Watcher’s mouth and whispered in her ear, “someone just thumbed back the hammer to a pistol in the room next door. Stay right here and don’t move.”
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