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I... am... so... tired.
I need one day... just one hour... not thinking about Spike. Or the damned evil nerds. Or Dawn's social worker. Or Willow's addiction. Or Xander walking out on his wedding. Or me going wacky on demon juice and trying to kill everybody. Not thinking about Heaven, and how I was with Mom and Dad and none of this crap was going on up there. And most of all–not thinking about Faith.
I don't know how long Giles will be sticking around, now that Faith has told him to take a hike. But I need to see him. I need to be told that everything will be OK. More than anything, I just need a hug.
It takes a lot of knocking before he answers the door.
"Buffy. Do come in."
I move to put my arms around him, and that's when I spot Faith holding a shiny new sword that I could never afford. My eyes fill with tears even before my brain puts it all together.
"Hey, B. Thought I'd give the Watcher thing one last shot."
They both see my tears. Damn it! Giles is embarrassed. "What can we do for you, Buffy? We were just about to go over charmed blades."
We? Am I that easy to replace? I stammer, trying to stop more tears from welling up. "Don't let me get in the way of all this good fun. I just came over to... it was nothing... just a thing... um... I better go now, I am so late already!" I back towards the door.
"Wait, Buffy," Faith calls. "I gotta talk to you."
"Just my luck."
"I, uh... if, you know, if you ever..." she stops, looking from me to Giles and then down at the floor. She gives one of her damned cocky little shrugs. "Never mind. Anyway... what's the word on the big dance?"
Ah, yes. The dance. I told Dawn I didn't want her going to the dance with Faith, but I'd think about it. It sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Has she seen how Faith dances? I just know the night would end with some new problem added to her social worker's notes.
"The word is no."
Faith looks crushed. What is this thing with her and Dawn? It's just too weird how Faith acts about her. Faith's new fan Willow says it's love, and I'm having a real hard time getting a handle on that idea.
"Look, B, if you try to stop us being together, we'll do it behind your back. You can't stop it. But–"
"Can't I?" Of course, I can't even stop Dawn from stealing and running away.
"But, I already told Dawn that we would do whatever you say this time. She needs a mom, and it sounds like you're doing the job. I'm not gonna mess with that. Keep pushing me and I may change my mind. But if you need to throw your weight around by killing this dance she's all excited about, then... I'll let you kill it."
"Good. It's dead."
I storm out, feeling like she's just made me the bad guy again. In front of Giles. I get the door shut behind me before I start with the serious crying. I hate her so much!
Is Buffy ever gonna get home? I really need to talk to her.
I turn the envelope over and over. The one I put the necklace in. The mailman will be here for it in a hour or two, and I think maybe I'll copy down the address it's going to. Someplace downtown. Maybe it's going back to the store it came from? Or maybe it's going to whoever is in charge of selling the mayor's stuff? Or maybe it's going to a lawyer? Faith said there were lawyers involved. I bet whoever this is going to could tell me what Faith did with all the money. It's driving me crazy wondering.
I sigh. Faith wants to have her secret. Even from me. I can deal with that. I carry the envelope out to the mailbox and put the flag up. I think I can remember the address, but I'll try to forget it. I'll let her have her secret. Just like I did in Boston when she hid that she was the Slayer. That was a good secret in a way. I think this one is too.
I can't believe Buffy's still out. I don't think she came home at all last night.
Faith doesn't want to cross my sister, so it's up to me to change her mind about the dance. This is the last dance of the year! And I won't take her like she's my date, just my friend I used to go to school with. I don't know why Buffy makes such a big deal about everything!
I've been planning what to say all morning. Mostly a lot of "please!" Maybe turn on the whine a little. But first I want to make sure she's OK. She disappeared last night after we saw Spike and Anya... doing that. Sex ruins everything. Faith and Buffy are right about that. I can't believe Buffy and Spike have been sleeping together in secret! And I really can't believe he cheated on her. And those cameras! Warren and the nerds have been watching us all... it's way too creepy.
Now the big question is, will Buffy be in such a bad mood about Spike that I don't even have a chance to persuade her about the dance?
That's her door I hear! I rush out of my room. Willow's at Buffy's door, calling her name. She's a mess. Must have had a rough night worrying about Buffy and Xander. Must have really slept in.
"She back yet?"
Willow jumps at the sound of my voice. "Uh... not yet... I'm sure she'll be home soon... Everything's fine... go back to bed."
"It's ten o'clock!"
"Oh... uh..." Willow looks confused. What's going on here? We talk about Spike and Buffy a little. Willow's figured out their little secret too. And then there's Xander, he saw Spike and Anya and ran off with an axe. Yeah, last night was a great night all around. I think I'm too depressed to go to a dance.
Suddenly Tara comes out of Willow's room. "Is she back yet?" She notices me and blushes. "Oh... hey!"
Tara... is here? She came out of Willow's room?! They're together again?!
I'm so happy I want to yell! I want to hug them to death! Wait 'til I tell Faith! I gape at my friends wide-eyed. "You... and..."
The witches smile at each other. They are so together again! I can't believe it!
"Uh, that's my cue to go put some clothes on!" says Tara.
My smile slowly fades. I don't think Tara came over just to make up with Willow. Willow usually isn't walking around at ten in the morning wearing a shirt and no underwear. And Tara generally wears more than a balled up sheet held in front of her! Oh, God. I think they had sex all night long! Can't they control themselves at all? You'd think Willow would be smarter than to ruin things all over again! I guess magic isn't all she's addicted to! I bet this would never have happened if Buffy was home!
I shake my head in denial, more depressed than ever. I know sex is part of why they broke up. I wonder how long they'll last this time. "Just so you guys know," I say angrily, "the TV isn't working, so I can hear everything!"
They stare at me, totally bewildered. But they know exactly what I'm talking about.
"I love you guys," I say, sadly, and then I turn and walk away.
That is never gonna happen to me and Faith. We'll be together forever.
What a day. Talk about highs and lows.
A fight with Xander about keeping Spike a secret. A fight with Dawn about the dance. Not happening. She can go on her own if she wants, or with Janice, but not with Faith. Then another failed attempt to spend time with Giles. Seems like Faith is either with Giles or lurking around looking for my sister every waking minute. Then a fight with Spike that ended with him trying to rape me. I don't love him. I feel like shit about him. But in a twisted way it still felt good that he loved me. Well, he doesn't and maybe he never did. Guess I found that out the hard way.
But Willow and Tara are back together! I can't help smiling every time I see them. Which hasn't been very often. They've been shut in Will's room most of the day. Somehow between the grunts and moans they managed to decipher some of the junk I took from the Nerd Palace. Led me right to an armored truck holdup, and now two out of three nerds are behind bars where they belong. Warren will be joining them shortly, I'm sure. He thought he had superpowers like mine. But there was one difference: I was able to take his away.
Those three were really starting to piss me off! I keep feeling like there have to be more cameras, even though Willow says she traced them all. I've been looking all over the house. Now I'm searching the bushes out back with a stick.
"Time for the Spring Poking already?"
Xander. I sigh. I hate fighting with my friends. "Just making sure there are no more Evil Trio cameras. Or... Evil Uno..."
"The sinister yet addictive card game?"
"Warren. Jonathan and Andrew got clinked, but Warren pulled a Rocketman."
We don't fight this time. Thank goodness. We sit on the bench and have a good talk. We need each other, and Willow too, and that's more important than anything else. We both have plenty to be sorry for.
I give him a teary hug. "I love you. You know that, right?"
Suddenly he tenses. "Buffy!" he shouts in alarm, looking over my shoulder.
It's Warren, half-crazed with fury. "You think you can just do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that?! Think again!"
It all happens so fast, but my Slayer senses record every detail. A gun appears in Warren's hand and shots fly. I hit the ground, hard. Xander too. Glass breaks in an upstairs window. Willow's room.
I can just make out Tara's voice from inside. "Your shirt..."
"Tara?" Panic in Willow's voice. Something terrible has happened. Oh, God. I feel sick.
Xander gets up. "Sweet fancy Moses! Where the hell did he get...?"
Willow's voice turns to hysterical sobs. "Tara... baby! Baby come on! ...Get up!" I feel as though time is standing still.
Faith is here. Standing on Warren's throat. He struggles to reach his dropped gun and Faith knocks him out with a savage kick to the head. "Who's this shithead?"
Xander looks at me, pale and shaky. "Are you OK, Buffy? He came here to kill you!"
I sit up slowly. "Yeah. I'm OK." A bullet passed by my neck so close I felt the wind. But it missed me. I'm alive.
Willow's sobs are turning more and more hysterical upstairs.
"Xander..." I whisper, a lump forming in my throat. He pauses. He can hear her too now. We scramble back the house. "Watch him!" I shout at Faith, standing over Warren's unconscious form.
I'm probably gonna piss Buffy off by not calling first, but until I cash this paycheck I don't even have enough money for a phone call. I hope Dawnie's home.
I see some guy in a black jacket slipping around behind Buffy's house. Some instinct gives me a warning, and I break into a run. Hardly hurts at all.
I hear him yelling as I approach the house. He means harm. I slip quietly after him. Buffy and Xander are in the back yard. He pulls a gun on them, and I dive for him.
He gets off several shots before I beat him to the ground and kick the gun away. But I ruined his aim. Xander and Buffy get up, unharmed.
I just saved Buffy's life. I can feel my eyes watering. I feel like I've finally started to pay a terrible debt that has been eating away at me for so, so long.
I ask who the guy is, but nobody answers.
Upstairs, Red is crying. Screaming, almost. There's a bullet hole in her window. She's shrieking Tara's name. My blood runs cold.
Xander and B race into the house, leaving me to guard the joker with the gun. I had to knock him out.
I squat on the lawn, looking apprehensively at that broken window. I hear raised voices.
"Hey!" I call. "What's going on?" No answer. "Is everybody OK? What's going on!?"
After what seems like hours, Buffy and Xander come back outside, gazing with stunned fury at the guy I tackled.
"Who is this guy?" I ask again. "What happened to Red?"
"That's Warren," says Buffy quietly. Oh. One of the guys Buffy has been after. I know about him from Dawn.
The back door opens again and Willow staggers out. Her face is completely blank, but something about her eyes terrifies me. It almost seems like they're burning from within. Her shirt is spattered with blood, and at first I think she's been injured. But she's fine.
Oh, no. Please, no. Someone else is not fine. It has to be Tara's blood.
Willow looks calmly down at Warren. Her blank expression somehow holds more rage and menace than any demon. I'm getting the sense that Willow is not someone to cross.
She slowly raises one hand and points it at Warren. We all move away from him in unison. I feel the hairs on my neck stand up.
"Willow." One simple word of warning. But it's enough. Willow slowly backs away, squeezes her eyes shut, and cries. Tara nuzzles close to her, holding a folded cloth tightly over her own blood-stained sleeve and wincing in pain. "I told you," she whispers, "I'm fine, sweetie. It's nothing, really." Willow falls to her knees, arms around Tara's waist, and bawls like a baby.
Tara notices my expression. "It's OK, Faith. A shot grazed my arm, and Willow kinda freaked. Now... who's up for a little field trip to the police station and the emergency room?"
Warren doesn't wake up even when Buffy and I tie him tightly and haul him into Xander's car. They all get in. Willow keeps fussing over Tara. If they weren't back together before, they are now!
Warren's lucky he's asleep and can't see the looks he's getting from Red.
I move to join them. Not sure why. Do I think I'm one of the gang? But Buffy slams the door as I'm about to squeeze in, and Xander starts the engine.
Buffy rolls down her window but doesn't bother to even look at me. "Dawn's not home."
"'K. Thanks."
"She's at Janice's. Tell her where we went."
"Will do."
She glances at Warren and then, for the first time, at me. She knows I saved her life. "Good catch. That could have been pretty bad back there."
I nod. That's all the thanks I'm gonna get, and that's OK.
She rolls her window back up but stops halfway. "Bring her back the minute the dance is over."
"The dance?" Maybe that wasn't all the thanks I'm gonna get after all. The dance is tomorrow. Just enough time to get myself a dress if I'm lucky.
"I mean it. The very minute it's over." She rolls the window shut and they drive off.
~ Continue to Episode 12 – Gifts ~
This chapter is dedicated to Tara MacLay. Note: some dialog–and the title–borrowed from the TV series.
I would be grateful if you would give me your comments and rate my stories in my Guestbook, or email me. Reader responses will determine whether I publish more stories, and will help improve them! Thanks for reading! (If you'd like to be notified when I post new stories, let me know.)
If you enjoyed this story, try CV-1. Buffy agrees to a meeting with someone from her past. It's not what she expected.
I turn around. The woman's pissed. And wearing a uniform. What now? They think I can hide a weapon in this skirt? Maybe a sewing needle! "CV's this way."
CV? "But I..." I gesture helplessly toward the phones, getting more confused and nervous by the minute.
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