|
|
by Chris Kenworthy (scoobyhq@fcmail.com)
Disclaimer: If it's been on TV, I didn't make it up!
"He what?" Buffy queried into the telephone. "Hannah Benton, huh? The jerk," she griped casually. "He was just staring at her??"
Before Willow could make much of a reply, the telephone clicked. "Oops, call waiting, huh? I'll see you at Celia's, Will. We'll talk payback."
"Okay, Buffy," Willow said, and Buffy changed lines.
"Hello?"
"Uh, hi, Buff." It took Buffy a moment to place the voice, which she realized two seconds later was because she had never heard Faith speak so softly. She seemed... nervous, even embarassed.
What embarassed Faith?? "Yeah, Faith? What is it?"
"I, uh, I was wondering what I should bring to this, um, shindig," Faith mumbled over the phone. "I mean, who has sleepovers anymore??"
Buffy giggled, realizing that this thing that had been such an ordinary part of her childhood was all new to Faith. "Well, apparently, forty-year old women trying to bond with teenage girls do," Buffy said with a chuckle. "As far as what you bring, I'd say something casual, comfortable enough to sleep in, and modest enough that it won't embarass Willow. Ooh, and munchies!"
"Okay," Faith said with a somewhat resigned sigh.
Buffy picked up on the tone immediately. "Faith? Is there a problem??"
"Nothing that can't wait, B." The line clicked off, leaving Buffy to look at her telephone and wonder.
(At the library.)
"Oh, god, this is boring," Xander groaned. The research activity of the day to try and find some trace of the Upriser was going through back issues of "The Sunnydale Chronicle" with a fine-toothed comb, looking for anything inconsistent or strange. Considering that the back issues Giles had brought dated back to 1893, Xander figured that it might turn into the research activity of the week... or the month.
Giles paused long enough in his own search to glance up at the clock, then looked over at Xander compassionately. They had both been at this for an hour at a stretch, which wasn't much for a seasoned veteran of the research game like Giles himself, but quite a solid effort for Xander. "Take a break," he suggested. "Get yourself a cola soda or something. God knows it won't mean the difference between victory and defeat, whether you're reading this minute."
Xander put the newspaper away and stood up, but he didn't leave the library to go to the snack machine or anything. Instead he wandered about the library floor for a little while and then piped up, "Giles, can I ask your advice on something??"
Giles blinked in surprise, put down his own paper, and took his reading glasses off. "What sort of advice?"
"Um, uh..." Xander considered. "Personal matters, you know. Dating and stuff." Giles' eyebrows went up in an involuntary expression of shock. "Yeah, Buffy and Willow would mock the hell out of me if they knew I was asking you, but hey. You've proved you're capable of carrying on a more or less normal relationship, which is more than most of us can say. You were doing well enough with Miss Calendar, when, um... when demons or gypsy secrets weren't getting in the way." Somewhat embarassed that he had brought Jenny up, Xander looked into Giles' face, but instead of pain he saw the trace of a smile there. Occasionally it was nice to have a reason to remember the good times.
"And, well... both you and Ms. Johnson... Celia... seem to be quite happy with whatever your relationship is, or isn't, which is quite a feat in itself," Xander commented. "So I figure you have some experience in the field of relationships, that you haven't been letting on about."
"Quite bloody right," Giles joked. He didn't see any particular need to open up his past for the 'Slayerettes,' any more than they went out of their way to tell him about their lives before they met. "So... are you and Willow having some kind of problems, Xander?"
"Uh, not really..." Xander said with a shrug. "I think she might be a little annoyed at me for something, and I have an idea what, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm just... not quite sure what to do next, you know? To keep us moving along that couple-dom track?"
"Hmm..." Giles considered that for a moment. "Well, did you ever go through any similar stage with Cordelia?"
"Hah," Xander laughed, then realized he probably shouldn't have. "Giles, what I had with Cordelia wasn't a relationship. Neither of us were in charge, and we knew it. It was 'hormones in charge.' I wasn't even trying to get to a next level with her." Though we kinda ended up there in the end, Xander realized with some surprise.
"Hmm..." Giles thought more seriously, considering what he suspected about Willow's annoyance with Xander, and his own history. "Well, what I'd suggest is, spend time with Willow, pay attention to her," hint hint, young Mister Harris, "and let her take the lead."
Xander took a second to evaluate. (Side note: Giles has heard, or figured out, that Willow thinks I'm gawking at other girls.) "Sounds like a plan, Giles man. Thanks."
(Celia's apartment.)
"Hey, hi there," Celia said as she opened the door. "So glad that you could come, Faith. C'mon in - Buffy and Willow are already here. We're making puddings!"
"Uh, great," Faith said with a distinct lack of certainty in her voice. She was carrying a plastic bag in one hand, and was wearing sleek, dark brown pants and a short navy t-shirt. "I brought some snacks myself."
In Celia's kitchen, sure enough, Buffy and Willow were mixing up instant puddings, stirring the flavored thickening powder in with milk. "Well, what you need to decide is, what kind of payback are you interested in, Willow?" Buffy was saying as she stirred, (or maybe whipped,) her chocolate-brown mixture. "Quid pro quo can work, but it's also been known to break a couple up entirely. Oh, hi Faith!"
Willow thought a moment. She was wearing a cute little purple skirt and a violet tank top, (and the emphasis was on the word little, Faith thought. I didn't know Rosenberg had the guts to wear something like that. And Buffy was worried about me embarrassing her?) Her pudding was pink. "I don't want to go too far - I just want to teach him a lesson - what it makes me feel like when he's going gaga over other girls."
"Good," Buffy said with a nod. "That means we can go for something light-hearted. How about..." She frowned cutely. Faith took a look at her clothes too - classy stretch pants and a crop top. Why did Faith feel like the dowdiest girl here? Except for Celia, that was...
"I think I know a trick that might work," Faith said with a cagy smile. "Just something I picked up once, a friend of a friend pulled it off, that kind of thing. But it should work."
"Hmm..." Willow paused a moment. "Do tell!"
"Oh, come on," Celia chided Willow, bustling into the kitchen, handing Faith a pitcher of milk, a pudding bowl, and a selection of flavors. "Revenge capers have to wait until later in the evening, Willow, after midnight. That's the way these things go, isn't it??"
Faith shook her head, baffled, but Willow seemed to be casting her mind back. "You know, you're right," she admitted. "So what's the designated topic of conversation for 6:15, while making pudding?"
"Guys and who's dating who," Buffy put in, then turned to Celia. "Am I right??"
Celia blinked in surprise, then made a little half bow in Buffy's direction. "I defer to your wisdom on the subject," she said softly. "Although we're going to need to get to vampire Slaying, weapons training, and arcane research sometime during the night, which I don't think are usual topics of conversation at girls' sleepovers."
"You haven't been at mine," Buffy joked. "Okay. So, uh..." she turned and swivelled her attention amongst the three of them, then zeroed in on Faith. "You first, Faith. Any news on the Jonny Hardcastle front??"
Faith frowned a little at the mention of her long-lost sweetie, now lost once again, for the moment at least, as he hit the road, training to become a Watcher. "Not much. I got a letter from him yesterday. He's in St. Paul, or somewhere in the Midwest, or at least he was on Tuesday. Where he is by now, I couldn't tell ya."
"Did he mention if he'd be coming back anytime soon?" Willow asked, a cute pout gracing her face on Faith's behalf.
"Nope," Faith replied, shaking his head. "Actually, he suggested that maybe I could go and rendezvous with him, if they swung back southwest again, came into the area." Faith's feelings about that prospect were obviously bittersweet.
"That sucks," Willow decided. "Why couldn't he have just gone through his Watcher training here? I mean, as far as supernatural beastie-ism goes, you can't beat Hellmouth U."
"I dunno, Willow," Buffy said, although she had some ideas. Jonny had mentioned feeling as if he was needed elsewhere - after all, with both Faith and Buffy here, they should be able to deal with anything the Hellmouth threw at them. There was a whole country - a whole world out there in danger of monsters - they might not show up in East Podunk, Indiana as often as they came to Sunnydale, but considering how many other places there were in the world, it should be pretty much even, all things considered. Buffy couldn't fault Jonny for feeling that he needed to stay on the road, rather than triply guarding Sunnydale.
And then, maybe he just needed a little space from Faith for a while. Jonny had been in love with a Slayer before, Giles had said. Her name had been Karen, and she had been English, like Jonny - his high-school girlfriend. Jonny had found out about Karen's destiny, had made the tough decision to fight by her side, much as Buffy's own friends had. And, like all Slayers seemed to, Karen had died, while she was still very young.
Buffy knew the kind of pain that must have put Jonny through, and how much of a cosmic joke it might have seemed like when fate had led him to exchange feelings with yet another Slayer, years later - that being Faith. Maybe he needed time, to figure out if being with Faith was something that he was ready to get into.
Faith, looking at Buffy's contemplative face, snapped fingers ten inches away from her and grinned. "Your, turn, B. What's the sitch with you and that studly Cole Palmer?"
Click here to go to the fanfic discussion board.
Go back to Tales of the Scooby Gang.
Or click here to go to the Destinies Lost index.
|
|
|
|
