"So, Bit, are you gonna tell me?"
"Tell you what, Spike?" Dawn replied innocently from the back seat.
He growled. "What you thought of the new teacher! What else would I be asking you about?"
The brunette rolled her eyes, and glared at his non-reflection in the rearview mirror, hoping he could see her face. "We met her for all of ten minutes, Spike! She seems okay, but even you could act charming for ten minutes!"
"You're sounding more and more like Big Sister all the time, Niblet." He gave a quick grin to Buffy, who was sitting in the passenger seat next to him. "Teaching her the finer points of Banter and Verbal Abuse, along with Staking and Beheading?"
She grinned back at him. "Hey, you said it yourself, Spike, a little chitchat keeps things interesting. Besides, it distracts 'em. More than one vamp's been dusted because he was too busy figuring out my last pun to fight back."
Spike smirked. "Yeah, but some of the smarter vamps -- like me -- enjoy the chitchat too much. If the Bit's not careful, she'll end up with some poor sot of a vamp mooning over her, just like me and you."
Dawn made a face. "As if! I learned my lesson with Justin -- no more undead smoochies for me!" Then she grinned, and leaned back in her seat to daydream. "Now, if I could just find myself a nice werewolf, like Willow did-"
Buffy laughed. "There's only one Oz, Dawn." Then she turned more serious. "And you know how that ended for Willow."
Dawn's face fell. "Yeah, I know. But what am I going to do? The 'normal guy' thing just doesn't work for Slayers, you know that, Buffy. And I don't think Harry Potter's out there somewhere waiting to be my good-wizard boyfriend." She sighed. "Even Giles might get a date before I do! You saw the way he was looking at Rachel!"
Buffy screwed up her face and made ew, ew, ew noises while Spike snorted. "So Giles fancies the new teacher, eh? Hope she's not allergic to tweed."
Buffy managed to smile a bit. "I don't know about 'fancying' her, but when he first saw her he looked about as stunned as you did the first time I kissed you."
Spike laughed. "That bad, pet?"
The blonde grinned impudently. "Worse."
* * *
When they got to the Magic Box, Dawn unlocked the door, took down the "Out to Lunch" sign, and headed back behind the counter. Although Xander and Anya's honeymoon trip had been postponed on account of impending doom, she was still stuck managing the shop for the whole week of Spring Break while the newly married couple spent lots of "quality time" at home.
Spike dashed through the door with his coat over his head, trailing a cloud of smoke as he headed for the training room. Buffy followed, shaking her head. "Gotta get that man some serious sunblock," she muttered.
Then she turned to Dawn. "I'll be in the back, sparring with Spike. Let me know when the others get here, 'kay?"
Dawn muttered, "Yeah, right, gotta give you guys time to get dressed after your 'sparring.'"
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. Just wondering why you're bothering to spar at all."
Buffy frowned. "The big, the bad, and the ugly have been way too quiet since you took Drusilla out. When things are quiet on the Hellmouth, that's always a bad sign; you should know that by now, Dawnie."
Dawn still felt a little glimmer of smug happiness every time Buffy mentioned her first official Slaying. But the rest of what Buffy had said put a damper on that, because she had made entirely too much sense. Things had been too quiet. They didn't even know what kind of oogly-boogly they would be fighting . . .
Then one of Anya's regular customers came in, looking for some ingredients for a Spring Planting spell, and Dawn sighed and got to work.
* * *
"Getting tired, old man?" Buffy taunted. "Wanna lie down and take a nap?"
"Like I'd be able to get any rest with you chattering away at me, Slayer. And I'm not the one who's breathin' hard. Maybe you should be the one-"
"Oof!"
"-to lie down on the mat for a bit." He looked down at her. "You're gettin' sloppy. Time was, I'd already be on top of you, putting my fangs to good use." He looked her up and down with a leer. "Or other things . . . "
Buffy took advantage of his lustful distraction by kicking out and up, catching Spike in the stomach and knocking him back a pace or two. She flipped up onto her feet in a second, and came after him with a punch-kick combination that floored him. "Only thing you're putting to good use this afternoon is your skinny white butt, Spike. Better be careful, or you'll dent the floorboards."
Spike grinned wickedly at her, and was about to get back up when they both heard Dawn call back to them, "Spike, Buffy! It's the guys! Come on out if you're decent!"
Buffy groaned. "What does she think we're doing back here?"
Spike smirked at her as she helped him up. "Something that involves lots of grunting and sweating, with the occasional scream."
Buffy dropped him on the floor again.
* * *
"So this . . . Tka . . . Chka . . . " Buffy's tongue felt like it was trying to tie itself in a knot.
"!Kannl," Giles supplied. "The first sound is a tongue-click, as used by the Bushmen of the Kalahari-"
Buffy interrupted him before he spent the next hour lecturing her on pronunciation. "-this guy, you can get his book, read it, and figure out what we have to do?"
Rachel nodded. "Or at least figure out where to look for more clues. From what I remember, !Kannl looked upon himself kind of like an uber-prophet. He had some very strange theories concerning the nature of time, and claimed that no one else could see as much as he could. He makes extensive references to other books of prophecy -- but in a way that makes it seem like all the other books are just footnotes to his own."
Buffy rolled her eyes and muttered, "Great. Now we've got prophets dissing each other. What's next, finding scrolls of ancient rap music? 'And the lion shall get jiggy with the lamb?'"
Giles ignored her and walked behind the counter. "Dawn, while the others work on research, I think you should start your training with Rachel. I'll take care of the customers for the afternoon."
Dawn looked confused. "Um, are you getting me off the hook with Anya?"
Buffy grinned to herself; whatever 'tude Dawn gave the rest of the Scooby Gang -- even her Watcher -- she'd quickly learned to ask, "How high?" every time Anya said, "Jump." Not that Buffy blamed her. Anya might not be a demon anymore, but she's a Hell of a taskmaster! she thought.
"Dawn, I am somewhat amazed to find myself saying this, but I heartily approve of Anya's approach to your penance, in every way. In fact, I intend to report to her exactly how much time I spend substituting for you this week, so that you may make it up at another time. But your training must take first priority during this crisis. It may prove crucial." And with that, he turned toward the register, cutting off any further discussion.
* * *
Dawn didn't think her abilities would prove crucial, but as she talked with Rachel and began some exercises, she didn't care. It was such a relief to finally exercise her mind as well as her body. Her Slayer training had been going pretty well since Giles had come back, and she was openly enjoying all the attention she was getting from him, Spike, and Buffy. But between physical training, school, and working for Anya, she had no time for reading or helping with research or anything like that.
"So what can you see when you look at Willow, Dawn?" Rachel was saying.
Dawn took a deep breath to relax herself, and peered over at the former witch, who was working at her laptop. "I see Tara, mostly," she said, gesturing to the blonde, who was on the other side of the table, doing research. Tara must have heard her, because she looked up and gave Dawn a little smile.
"Anything else?" Rachel asked.
"Um . . . Buffy, and . . . a deer? I don't understand."
"You don't have to understand, Dawn. Interpreting what you see is always a lot harder than the seeing itself. I understand there's a certain psychic vampire who could testify to that." She gave Dawn a knowing smile. "Sometimes you just have to tell people exactly what you see, and let them figure it out for themselves." She sighed. "Now, here comes the hard part. I want you to try shutting off the visions; look at Willow, see what you can see, and then turn the visions off and just see her."
Dawn frowned as she looked at Willow and tried to shut down her gift. This was hard, but Rachel had told her it would get easier with practice. It had to. Buffy had assured her a dozen times that it was Angelus who drove Drusilla crazy, not her visions, but Dawn hated the idea of having things flashing at her from every side and not being able to do anything about it. Besides, she had already learned that there were many things she just did not want to see!
"Okay, I think I got it. I was seeing Tara surrounding Willow, and now she's gone."
"Now quickly look over at Tara and tell me what you see."
Dawn turned her head. "Nothing."
"Good! Now, let the visions come back. And take a look at . . . hm, Rupert."
Dawn grinned as she heard a slight harrumph from the Englishman. "Well, books, duh. And me and Buffy." And Miss Calendar . . . Giles never really got over her, did he? And . . . you. Guess I was right after all; you and Giles'll be makin' smoochie face before too long. And as Buffy would say, ew!
* * *
About the same time Buffy left the Magic Box for her four-to-midnight shift, Willow and Tara left to head back to the house. They both knew that between Rachel and Giles, Dawn was probably going to be stuck in the shop until late, and Spike would probably wait until sunset and then keep Buffy company at her desk. Which meant that for the first time in ages, the two women would have a quiet evening to themselves.
But Willow wasn't thinking about that at the moment. "So? What did you see?" she asked Tara as soon as they were out the door.
Tara frowned. "I got a little bit, Will, but not a whole lot. You know that reading her aura isn't like getting her life story."
"I know, I know, but tell me what you've got! I wanna know that this woman's gonna be good for Dawnie!"
Tara frowned. "Well, her primary color's a surprise. I'd've guessed blue or brown, from what Giles told us ahead of time. But she's gold . . . not quite the bright sunshine-gold that I used to see around Buffy, but definitely gold."
Willow brightened. "But that's a good thing, isn't it? I mean, that's the color of compassion and commitment -- y'know, heart of gold and all that?"
Tara nodded. "Normally, I'd say yes. But there was a lot of black lightning flickering around her -- that's fear. And there were some murky colors I couldn't really make out, but they didn't look good."
"Well, we just told her that the world was about to end. I'd be going all flickery with fear myself."
"No, you don't understand, Willow -- the fear was there right from the beginning. From the moment she said hello to Giles, she's been practically quaking in her boots . . . if she was wearing boots, that is."
Willow frowned. "Hmm. That's still not a lot to go on. And I'm really, really hoping there's nothing there. I mean, I don't want there to be anything wrong with her. I guess I just have that old feeling that nothing's ever simple in Sunnydale."
Tara put her arm around Willow as they walked. "I know what you mean. And there could be nothing to it -- I mean, I was petrified when you introduced me to the rest of the Scoobies."
Willow bit her lip. Then she asked, "Tara? When I did that -- introduced you to the Scoobies, I mean -- you still thought you were part-demon, right?"
Tara nodded, but didn't say anything. Those memories were still painful, because they brought back all the things her family had put her through.
"I never stopped to think -- you thought you were a demon, even if I didn't know it, and here you were being introduced to the most feared demon fighter on Earth. You must've been terrified."
"I w-was. I was so scared she'd be able to see what I was . . . "
Willow stopped and took Tara in her arms. "She did. She saw a really amazing woman. Just like I do, all the time."
Tara smiled, but couldn't reply because she was too busy being kissed.
When they began walking again, Tara asked, "So is . . . is that what you think is going on? Rachel isn't fully human, and she's afraid of being caught by Buffy or Dawn or Giles?"
Willow shrugged. "It's a thought. I mean, some demons are really, really evil, and others are just, well, weird. Like Clem."
Tara laughed. At Buffy's birthday party, she and Willow had both been intrigued by Spike's demonic friend; he didn't seem all that bad. And it wasn't that he was 'not all that bad for a demon' either. If you ignored the fact that he ate things a starving man wouldn't touch . . . he was a pretty nice guy.
Tara nodded. "That could be it. Or it just could be, y'know, new girl, outsider, being gawked at by the old British guy . . ." she snickered.
Willow swatted her lightly on the arm. "You're bad!"
Tara's eyes lit up. "Let's get home, and I'll show you how bad I am."
* * *
"You know you're not supposed to be here, Spike. It's against the rules."
Spike laughed contemptuously as he approached the blue-uniformed Slayer, who was seated at a security desk. "Luv, since when did you start following the rules?"
Buffy pursed her lips and tried to look serious. "Since I started getting paid for doing it. And . . . oh, well. Just don't say or do anything that'll make a student report me."
That only earned her a snort. "Like there's anyone here to report you. It's Spring Break; most of the students are off in Cancun or Hawaii some other disgustingly sunny place, drinking things that would make me sick to my stomach."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "This from the guy who drinks Bloody Marys with real blood?"
"I'm talking about all those soddin' sweet drinks with lots of pineapple juice and other sugary stuff." He shuddered. "As important as teeth are to vampires, the mere thought of tooth decay is frightening."
Buffy had to snicker a little to herself as she remembered a joke she'd once heard: What's worse than a giraffe with a sore throat? A vampire with a toothache!
That was when her cell phone rang.
The phones were Dawn's contribution to the Scooby Gang's standard equipment. After so many problems in the past, when people couldn't get in touch with each other in an emergency -- including the confrontation with Drusilla, where communication would've saved a whole lot of trouble -- she had made a face, as if to say Why do I have to think of everything? and made the suggestion.
"Remember how well you guys worked together when you had those walkie-talkies? Or when Willow was doing her telepathy thing? This could be even better!"
So every Scooby had a cell phone now -- even Giles, who loathed the things. They included a conference feature for calling everyone in the gang at once, and if that tone rang out, no one -- not even Giles -- ignored it.
This time, it was just the normal "incoming call" ring, but Buffy still was unnerved every time she got a call.
"Hello"
"Hi, Buffy, it's Willow. Just wanted to see how everything was going, and to let you know that Dawn's home."
Buffy sighed, and mouthed Willow to Spike. "Everything's fine here, as long as you ignore the vampire that's sitting on my desk and leering at me."
"I assume that's Spike, or is there another undead guy hanging around with the hots for the Slayer?"
"They all have the hots for the Slayer. But only Spike gets to live out the fantasy!" She gave him a quick wink. "So how's Dawnie?"
"Tired. And I think the psychic exercises gave her a bit of a headache; she went right for the Tylenol when she got in."
"Well, either that, or Giles actually managed to hit her once or twice during his training session with her." She paused a moment. "Gotta be the psychic whatsis; Giles doesn't hit that hard."
She heard Willow giggle at the other end. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. Xander dropped her off before taking Giles to the apartment and then Rachel to the house."
Since Giles' old apartment had been taken, and it wasn't safe to stay in a hotel, he and Xander had come up with an elegent -- and hilarious -- solution: Giles was subletting Xander's old apartment.
"I still think it wasn't a good idea for Rachel to stay at Xander's house. Someone could stay on the couch either at our place or at Giles' apartment. Xander and Anya deserve a little privacy now; this week would've been their honeymoon."
"Yeah, you should've seen Xander when he dropped Dawn off tonight. He looked like he couldn't wait to get back home; matter of fact, he had that gleam in his eye."
Buffy groaned. "Oh, no. I hope Rachel can sleep through anything."
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
