It was Valentine's Day, and where was Buffy Anne Summers? Freezing her butt off in a cemetery, that's where. Romantic, right?
But she had a job to do, and that job required that she sit in the dark on a headstone, and wait for a vampire to show up. That's because she's not like the rest of the candy-and-stuffed-bear kind of girls. She was blessed to be the Chosen One. The one girl in all the world to hunt down vampires and kill them.
Discomfort from the cold aside, she was actually kind of okay with the situation. Would she have preferred to be at the Bronze with her one true love dancing to a song played by her friend Oz's band Dingo Ate My Baby? Of course.
She wouldn't have even minded being back at her house in her bedroom, hanging out with her friend Xander watching movies while trying to help him get over his ex-girlfriend Cordelia.
But Buffy and her one true love, whom happened to be a vampire, in all irony. Secretly, she called it a Romeo and Juliet thing. They had agreed to spend Valentine's Day apart. Why? Because Angel was worried what would happen if things went a little too far again like they had on her Birthday 2 years ago. If they weren't careful and had sex again, he would become Angelus and go on a killing spree like he had before. Buffy still felt awful for what had happened to Jenny Calendar, Gile's one true love. She had unfortunately, been a victim to when Angel had become Angelus. Buffy still felt like it was her fault. But how was she to have supposedly known that having one pure moment of happiness with Angel would turn him into an evil blood sucking demon, and not remain a nice one?
Over the past year and a half, Giles seemed to have moved on. Except it appeared to be with her mother.
Buffy sighed. It was alright, she told herself. They're mature adults. And so was her and Angel! She was 18 now and a Senior in high school. Desperately, she tried to convince herself that she didn't need a holiday named after a martyred saint to tell her and Angel when to say "I love you".
And okay, the last place anyone wants to be on Valentine's Day is a cemetery. Anyone except spooks, that is, and those who were born to be the Chosen one, or even a ghost Mediator.
She didn't mind, Buffy told herself. Tonight Sunnydale's Peaceful Lutheran Cemetery was kind of soothing. It was just her, the headstones, and the marine layer rolling in from the Pacific, making it a bit chillier than it had been when she had gotten there a half an hour ago, and a bit more difficult to see the grave she had staked out.
She knew this guy was going to show up sooner or later, since he'd been just killed by vamps himself a couple of days ago.
At least when she got home, she'd have a nice warm hot chocolate waiting for her.
This guy she had been expecting though? Was unfortunately one of her exes from early on in high school. He had the same disadvantage as her as being transferred to Sunnydale High. Hers was because her parents had divorced, and she had been kicked out of her old school for setting the gym on fire. But that was to kill a bunch of vampires. Not that the new principal had believed her. Meanwhile her ex had moved because his dad had gotten re-stationed again. And why had she broken up with him? Because he couldn't handle her being a Slayer that well. And then of course she had met Angel, by the time he had come to his senses.
Buffy just hoped that he'd show up before her butt cheeks froze to the headstone she was currently sitting on. She wished Mrs. Alyson Hanwick had chosen a softer material than granite to mark her husband's final resting place. Marble perhaps. But who knows how long that would've lasted given the harsh elements of the California coast.
When you've been in the vampire slaying business as long as she had, about 5 years, you learn a few things. The first one is, stakeouts are boring.
The second one is, there isn't anything you can do to entertain yourself during them, because the minute you slip in earbuds to listen to music, whoever or whatever you're waiting for, is going to show up, hit you over the head, and then try and turn you into a vampire or demon themselves, and then run off while you're distracted.
Three, if you bring along a thermos containing a beverage in it to keep you hydrated, you will have to pee in about 20 minutes, and the moment you go to relieve yourself somewhere….like behind a tree or mausoleum, a vampire or demon will show up. Or…..the cemetery guard….or friendly-not-so-friendly Sunnydale police.
These are things your Watcher (Buffy currently had two: Giles and Wesley), do not tell you. Also, vampire slaying is a thankless job. But someone has to do it.