Authors Note : I had originally thoughto myself that I would never endulge myself in fanfiction. sure, I liked reading it, but I never thought I would find myself writing it. But sometimes school can be so boring and television can be so much more interesting -- you do the math. Anyway, incase you can't figure it out, this is my very first attempt at Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction, so please be kind. Comments and constructive criticism can be sent to anikka@hotmail.com, but please be gentile - I'm fragile. Mean letters can be sent care of the master to inferno@AOHELL.com I'm thinking about a sequel. If I get a lot of positive feedback, I'll write it.
NOTE OF REFERENCE : Okay, This was written to take place a few days after the episode Bad Eggs. The events of Surprise and Innocence haven't happened yet, so Angel is still good. However, there is a bit of foreshadowing of events to come.
Standard Disclaimers : I am not affiliated with the show or with Joss Whedon in any way, nor do I pretend to be (although I'd like to). And all though this is an original script, the characters do not belong to me, except the ones I invented. Therefor, I am protected by a mountain of legal paperwork, and to quote Xander Harris "On top of a pile of really boring books that all say the same thing"
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Part One
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As Buffy Summers drove her last remaining stake into the last remaining vampire, she smiled to herself. There was nothing like dusting a couple of vamps to get your adrenaline going.
"Buffy, are you finished yet?" called Willow from her perch on the cemetary's one and only surviving bench. She had been playing cat's cradle with Xander with some string they had found. The two had tagged along with Buffy on her rounds because they had all planned on going to the Bronze afterwards.
"Or should we be pondering over the breakfast specials?" added Xander.
"Sorry," replied Buffy, dusting off her pants and joining her friends, "I go for accuracy, not speed."
Willow and Xander got up off of the bench and started walking with Buffy out of the Sunnydale cemetary and in the direction of the Bronze.
"Well maybe you need a new policy," suggested Willow.
"Yeah - and maybe a TV commercial : Vampires staked in under thirty seconds or your next slaying is free, " replied Xander , not unlike a movie preview.
Buffy smiled. "I don't think so guys." The three of them laughed as they headed for their usual hangout.
* * *
The Bronze was really busy that night. Buffy and her friends had difficulties finding somewhere to sit, but eventually got a table.
"Wow. This place hasn't been this crowded since they used to give away those free condoms," commented Xander. Buffy and Willow gave him funny looks, "Or so I heard," he mumbled under his breath.
Just then, the gang noticed Cordelia Chase and some of her friends enter. They all moved over the the bar (which was about ten feet away from their table) in a color coordinated group and started chatting.
" ... and I said to her, 'Tiffany, you shouldn't be wearing that jacket with those shoes - it's so 1995, and ..." said Harmony, but stopped when she noticed Cordelia wasn't paying attention. She was focused on Buffy's table.
"Cordelia? Cordelia! What is with you lately? Is it just me or have you been hanging around them to long. You're going to get some kind of nerd disorder if you keep talking to them," she said.
Cordelia hadn't heard most of what Harmony said, so she simple replied, "Umm - I don't know but I'm going to the bathroom," with an emphasis on bathroom that could be heard across the room to where Xander was sitting.
He turned to face her direction and saw her leave her friends and head towards the back of the club. When she passed Xander's table she briefly looked him right in the eyes and made a motion with her head to the back. With that she disappeared into the crowd.
Fortunately for Xander, neither Willow nor Buffy had seen this because they had been talking about Angel. He stood up and moved towards the back.
"Hey Xander, where 'ya going?" asked Buffy cheerfully.
"The bathroom. That brisket I had earlier isn't sitting right," he lied and darted through the crowd after Cordelia.
Willow and Buffy disregarded Xander's strange behavior and resumed their talk about Angel.
"How is he feeling?" asked Willow concerned.
"Better ... all though having to spoon feed him blood-in-a-bag is kind of disgusting," replied Buffy, mildly disturbed.
"You have to spoon feed him?"
"No," smiled Buffy.
* * *
Cordelia paced around in the storage room at the back of the Bronze impatiently. Just then, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
"Well, it's about time," she said in her 'Cordelia voice'.
"Well excuse me," replied Xander hotly, "But this would be a whole lot easier if we told them."
"No way," replied Cordelia.
"And why not?" he asked, "I mean, just because we're attracted to each other, it doesn't mean ..."
"Please," interrupted Cordelia, "It's hard enough to even think about it without hearing you say it."
"Well now you've gone and hurt my feelings" replied Xander.
Cordelia frowned. "If you tell one person then soon everybody knows," she explained.
"Uh ... hello. There are some people who can keep secrets," said Xander condescendingly.
Cordelia folded her arms across her chest to prepare for an argument, "Oh yeah? Like who?"
"Like our friendly neighborhood vampire slayer and her Slayerettes," he answered.
"Slayerettes?" she asked mockingly.
"Yeah," responded Xander, "You know - us people who help in the war against evil by standing in the background and wishing it would go away."
Cordelia started to laugh, but then understood what he was implying. "Oh no - we are not going to tell your merry band of misfits. Do you know what this could do to my reputation if word abut this got out?"
"Oh here we go again - me, me, me. You know Cordy, the earth revolves around the sun ... not around you," spat Xander.
"Excuse me, but I, unlike you, have a reputation that needs to be upheld for the good of the school. What would people say if they found out?"
"What are you saying?" he asked.
"You're a big loser," mocked Cordelia.
"Yeah well you're dumber than a box of hair," responded Xander.
"Dork."
"Idiot."
There was a pause. They both looked into each other's eyes for a moment. Then, Xander moved in close to Cordelia. She moved her hands up to his face and pulled it down to hers. The two met in a passionate kiss. They broke only because of a lack of oxygen. They continued to stare at each other.
"So .." said Xander, "Are you sure we can't tell?"
Cordelia paused to think about this for a moment. "Not if you want to keep what's left of your manhood."
* * *
"No way Wil', Moe was definitely the smart Stooge," argued Xander as he, Willow and Buffy sat in their second period class, waiting for the teacher to arrive.
"You know what guys?" said Buffy, "After listening to this fascinating debate all last night and all the way to school, I figure that - they're all smarter than the Stooges I'm with now."
Xander smiled. "I'm offended. I always considered myself to be more like Pee-Wee Herman than a Stooge."
This sent Buffy and Willow into fits of laughter. As the novelty of Xander's remarks wore off, Mrs. Scaletta, the science teacher, entered the room.
"All right people, settle. Settle," she ordered as a hushed silence fell over the room. "Okay. Today we will be looking at Specific heat Capacity. Open you text books to page ..." Mrs. Scaletta was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Oh, I nearly forgot. Class, we have a new student joining us today," she said as she moved gracefully over to the door and opened it. Buffy, Willow and Xander watched as a girl entered. She had long flowing blonde hair and big blue eyes. She was sporting a pair of hip-hugger blue jeans, a too tight gray top, and shiny black boots.
"Everybody, I'd like you to welcome Brittany. She is an exchange student who comes to us all the way from Ireland," said Mrs. Scaletta, moving Brittany to the front of the classroom. "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself dear," she suggested.
"Okay. Hello everybody. My name is Brittany Cameron. I was chosen to come and study in America because of Academics," she explained briefly.
Buffy noticed she spoke with a definite accent, which implied she was indeed Irish.
"She seems nice," commented Willow.
"Yeah," added Xander, "and maybe if we're lucky she'll tell us about her pot of gold."
"Xander, be nice," replied Buffy, "I mean, it's got to be hard to have to leave your country and move all the way across the ocean - especially when your unknowingly coming to the Hell Mouth."
"Where the Vampires and demons are free range and there are more bodies than customers served at McDonalds, " responded Xander sarcastically. Buffy and Willow shot him 'very funny' looks.
"That's very nice Brittany. Why don't you have a seat at ... oh ... ah - there is an empty chair at Buffy's table," said Mrs. Scaletta as she pointed to the back of the room.
"Thank-you," replied Brittany as she moved to the back of the classroom. She placed her books down on the table and sat in an empty chair beside Buffy.
"Hi, I'm Buffy Summers," said Buffy smiling, "And these are my friends Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg."
"Hello," said Willow.
"Hey," said Xander.
"Hello. It's nice to meet you," replied Brittany.
An awkward silence stretched across the table as the four tried to think of something to talk about. Vampires were definitely not on the discussion list with the new girl there.
"So," said Willow finally, "Brittany, who do you think is the greatest Stooge? Moe or Larry?"
"Oh god," sighed Buffy as she put her head down in the desk, "enough with the Stooges guys." Brittany giggled, "Actually, I'm more partial to Curly myself."
"You know what the Three Stooges are?" asked Xander, slightly amazed
"Yes Xander ... I'm from Ireland - not Mars," replied Brittany.
The four occupants of the table laughed softly to themselves and started to pay more attention to Mrs. Scaletta's fabulous lesson on solving equations to find specific heat capacity.
" ... Q represents the quantity of thermal energy, lower case m represents the mass of a substance, lower case c represents the heat capacity of a substance per kilogram/Joules multiplied by degrees celcious, and finally ..."
Willow, all ready fully versed on quantities of heat capacity, forgot about the lesson and took to staring out the window. After a few amusing moments of watching a squirrel try to drag a large walnut by it's teeth up a tree, Willow noticed something odd.
Up in the large tree outside the window sat what at first appeared to be a bundle of rags. She strained her eyes to try to get a better look. She realized it was not just a bundle of cloth, but a person wrapped up in the cloth - sitting in the tree - watching the classroom intently. With the rags sat a large black bird. Willow deduced that it was most likely a raven.
*And the nurse thought I had bad eye sight* she scoffed to herself. She turned and nudged Buffy in the side, trying to get her attention. It didn't work so she nudged harder.
"Ow - Willow, what are you doing?" she whispered loudly. Fortunately for them, Mrs. Scaletta was relatively deaf.
Willow pointed out the window. Buffy saw the cloth and the bird in the tree. Her facial features melted from a look of mild discomfort (from the poking) to a look of something that could be described as a mix of curiosity and confusion. Willow and Buffy turned to Xander and after another poking ordeal, made him aware of the spy.
In the tree, the observer had obviously become aware that the gig was up. The trio watched as the person in their cloak shimmied up a branch and disappeared into the foliage for a moment. They later reappeared for a split second before make a fantastic leap from the tree on to the roof of the school. The bird in the tree remained for a few seconds.
Buffy and friends had not noticed that Brittany had noticed the bird. Who wouldn't. The thing dropped off the branch in a graceful takeoff and flew straight at the window. Just before it would have rammed into the glass, it ascended sharply, up and over the school, following the person who had once occupied the tree.
"Wow - if Colonial Sanders ever switched to Kentucky fried crow, he'd never catch him," commented Xander.
Buffy and Willow turned to stare at him blankly. The looks on their faces seemed to scream, *My god, did he really say that?*
"Um guys," said Willow, "didn't that seem at all strange to you?"
"Not really, but maybe we should talk about it later - like after class ... with the English Patient," said Buffy suggestively
"The English Patient - but that was a horrible movie. I don't see why ... OH - that English patient," replied Xander after another round of looks from Buffy.
" ... and that class, is how you find the quantity of heat lost or gained in a substance. Well, we have a few moments left before class is over, so just sit quietly at your desks until the bell rings," concluded Mrs. Scaletta. Of course for high school students, the word quiet is not in their vocabulary. People talked loudly in groups of their friends as they waited for the bell.
"So Brittany, what class do you have next?" asked Buffy. However Brittany seemed awfully distant. Her face was contorted to a look of what appeared to Buffy as - fear. "Brittany? Brittany - is something wrong?" she asked concerned.
Brittany suddenly snapped back into reality, "What? Oh ... yes, I'm fine thank you." Just then, the bell went off. Brittany hastily gathered up her books. "I'll see you all later," she said, and hurried out the door.
"That was odd," stated Buffy.
"You think she saw the bird and the person in the tree?" asked Willow.
"Hello," replied Xander, "We're sitting three feet from the window, how could she not?"
"Well," started Buffy as she rose from her seat, "Maybe we should go talk to Giles. He hasn't had an excuse to 'consult his books' in almost a week."
"Oh well then, you can't keep him waiting can you?" said Xander oddly.
Buffy raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "You mean *we*, don't you?"
"Umm, well - I have some ... business ... I need ... to ... take care ... of," he faltered.
"Uh huh," she replied even more suspiciously, "I see. Well, me and Wil' are going to be in the library."
Buffy and Willow watched as their friend gathered his stuff up and left the room quickly.
"What's up with him?" asked Willow.
"I don't know," said Buffy distantly, "But we have a more urgent thing to take care of."
With that the girls left too. The classroom was now empty ... for a few moments anyway. Shortly after Willow and Buffy left, Brittany returned to the room. She walked over to the window where she had seen them.
*It can't be. * she thought to herself *No ... no ... they're dead. It must be someone else. She must have told someone to come after me if I ever managed to kill her.*
Her face was still in shock. She knew she needed help. But who could she turn to? If she was still in Ireland she could have used her friends to help ... but she was in America now.
"Maybe Buffy and her friends can help," she said quietly outloud.
* * *
Giles the librarian was leafing through an old dusty book when Buffy and Willow stormed into the library. He looked up at them, mildly disturbed. "Perhaps I should incorporate manners into your training," he said, closing his book and placing it gently onto the table. He removed his glasses for a moment, rubbed his eyes, and then replaced the glasses. "Oh that would be a real thrill," replied Buffy sarcastically.
"That might be kind of neat," said Willow, "You could walk around with a book on your head and drink tea and how bad do I need a life?"
"Badly - but we have other things to think about now," responded Buffy as she turned to her watcher, "Guess what? We have an excuse for you to play with your books."
"Oh?" inquired Giles, only mildly interested.
"Yeah. When consulting your books over the years you wouldn't have happened to have come across ... oh I don't know ... anything about people with big black birds who spy on high school's in trees, would you?" asked Buffy as casually as she could.
"Are we talking about a demon or regular person?" he replied.
Buffy shrugged and made and *I don't know* sound that came out as "I-din -o," and added, "Your the guy from Britain with all the creepy books."
"Well it's nice to know I'm appreciated. As for your spy, I can't say that I've heard of people with birds, but ..."
"Hey that rhymes," interjected Willow with a chuckle. She quickly stopped so she could save what was left of her pride as Giles and Buffy stared at her blankly. Just then, Xander and Cordelia came bursting into the library, saving Willow further embarrassment.
"Look what I found in the hallway," Xander said triumphantly, as if he had just won a prize.
"Why is it when ever some evil mystic thing happens around here you people have to drag me into it?" questioned Cordelia.
"Nobody's dragging you into anything Cordelia. There may not even be anything happening," replied Buffy. She was starting to become slightly suspicious of Xander's absence, but for the time being the thought left her mind.
"So what's the word on our bird lover?" asked Xander, taking a seat next to Willow.
"Giles hasn't heard of anything," said Willow informatively.
Cordelia, always the enthusiast, piped up, "Oh big deal. There was a person in the tree. I mean, with all the weird stuff that happens here, you'd think a vampire slayer would have more to worry about than a guy with a bird."
Buffy plopped down beside Xander, "She does have a point, all though it could have been expressed more politely. I wouldn't even really care about it if Brittany hadn't been so wigged by it."
"Well - maybe she's just afraid of birds or something," offered Willow.
"Or the English Patient," added Xander. Buffy raised one eyebrow at Xander's remarks. She turned and stared at him in silence.
"Hey, I'm just considering all the possibilities," he replied.
"What does the English Patient have to do with this?" asked Cordelia curiously.
"It's a - long - story," she stuttered, looking over at Giles for a moment, "But anyway -"
Buffy was interrupted by a knock at the door. The five occupants of the library turned to stare at it's big wooden door. It opened slowly, revealing a disturbed looking Brittany on the other side.
"Brittany," said Willow slightly surprised. Her tone made it sound like they were hiding something.
The girl entered the room timidly. She approached the gathering. "I - I need to talk to you."
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