A/N- Okay, so I'm not sure if you guys need more to read before you can make a final choice, don't wanna review or what. But I'm gonna go ahead and post the next chapter and what not.
Disclaimer- See Chapter 1 for the disclaimer.
Talk
"Oh brother I can't, I can't get through. I've been trying hard to reach you, cause I don't know what to do. Oh brother I can't believe it's true, I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you. Oh I wanna talk to you"
'Talk'- Coldplay
As soon as Evan's eyes moved to the next page , the words 'Bellatrix kills Sirius. Turn the page to find out what happens in the next two books. Love, Dakota' took up the whole page. The 13 year old gritted his teeth as he shut his book and set it down on the table beside the couch, quickly followed by his feet carrying him to the kitchen where he grabbed a bottle of water.
His parents had made a run to pick up Chinese take out for the three of them to have for dinner, seeing as how Brennan and Dakota were spending their Friday night at Junction. Evan had every intention of reading until his parents got back, but Dakota clearly put a stop to that.
Just as he walked back into the living room, he had gotten the cap off the plastic. An idea entered his head right before he took a drink, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"It'll just be for a few seconds," he muttered to himself. "Mum and Dad will never know it happened. I'll have it back to normal before they get back, we'll eat dinner, watch the movie and they'll never know."
Before he had a chance to back down, the teenager quickly flipped the bottle upside down and made the water stop before it hit the carpet. Focusing all of his attention on the floating trail of water, Evan made the liquid move around in front of him as it changed color. He continued contorting the multicolored water as his smirk grew into a full out grin.
"Evan Bradley!"
His head snapped in the direction of his parents, the water falling on to the carpet and leaving a multicolored stain in its wake.
"You're cleaning that up, young man." Buffy informed him as her and Giles placed the take out on the kitchen counter.
The boy watched his parents for a few seconds before snapping his fingers when they weren't looking at him. He turned to see no evidence of the stain and felt pride at what he had done.
"Do you not listen to a word I tell you?" from the tone of his father's voice, Evan knew he had been caught again.
"I do."
"Really? Because within the last minute or so, you've given me proof that you bloody well don't." Giles replied, his expression making it difficult for Evan to determine if he was angry or disappointed. Or both.
Silence fell over them as Evan trudged into the kitchen, slowly putting his plate together. Buffy waited until Giles had re-entered the living room with his plate before focusing on her youngest son.
"You know he just worries about you, Bug." She told Evan softly as finished pouring her share of lemon sauce.
"I just don't see what the big deal is," Evan sighed, picking chicken out of the container of spicy chicken before dumping a small pile of fried rice on the paper plate. "So I used a magick? It was harmless!"
"But if you don't learn how to control it now, then you're going to become addicted." Buffy explained as she split the tray of sushi with her son.
"How do you know that?" he tilted his head as he waited for an explanation.
"Because he's seen it happen before, Evan."
"Who did it happen to?"
"Willow," Buffy answered, expecting that to be enough for the 13 year old.
"One person, big whoop." He rolled his eyes as he drizzled soy sauce over his sushi.
"It happened to me," the sound of his father's voice caused the boy to turn around as Giles entered the kitchen. "Years ago, my friends and I had become addicted and no good came out of it. Because like Willow, we all lost control and we were met with tragedy. I don't want you to have to go through anything near what I did."
"If you'd been through it before, how come you didn't help Willow?"
"Evan!" Giles glanced at his wife and shook her head, signaling it was fine.
"Well, Evan...that year was fairly complicated for everyone. And I'll admit, I was more focused on my own problems. That and I, uh...may have been foolish enough to believe that would never happen to Willow." There was a pause as both father and son ran their fingers through their hair. "I don't want to watch someone I care about go down that path again, especially my own son."
The three occupants stood in the kitchen for a few moments. Evan shifted his weight to his right foot as he recognized the sincerity in his father's voice. Buffy's gaze move from Giles to Evan as she waited for what would happened next.
"What exactly did you go through, Dad?"
Evan noticed how his father tensed up, and he was sure his mother had done the same; talk of his father's past didn't happen. Giles opened his mouth several times as he thought of a way to tell his youngest son without going into detail. As the silence continued, Buffy sensed a changed in subject was needed.
"Why don't you go set up the movie while your dad and I bring the containers into the living room?" when her son's light green eyes turned to her, a small smile appeared on her face. "You don't want your brothers to interrupt our movie night, do you?"
Shaking his head in amusement, Giles watched Evan bolt for the living room and set to the task of setting up the DVD player. The Watcher walked over to the counter and grabbed some of the containers holding their dinner while Buffy grabbed the rest.
"You need to tell them, Giles."
"Buffy..." he sighed as he looked at her, both of them too tired to get into an argument. "I've told them enough."
"Enough? All you've said to them was that you did really bad things and left it at that." There was a slight strain her voice as she attempted to keep the conversation from Evan.
"How am I suppose to tell them that I used to be everything we hate? How do you expect me to sit them down and tell them that I spent the better part of two years hopped up on drugs and magicks, drinking myself into oblivion and acting out every self-destructive and criminal impulse that over came me?" Giles demanded as if she had the answers. "How do I tell them that I murdered one my best friends because of our carelessness?"
When Buffy failed to give him an answer, Giles continued.
"I can't tell them right now, Buffy. My past isn't something I want to share. With anyone."
"What about me?" Buffy countered.
"Not even you. You know more than I ever wanted you to,"
"I hardly know anything, Rupert! Sure, you've told me enough about your past that I have small ideas but that applies to your Ripper days. What about your family, huh?" The Slayer took a breath to calm herself before the volume of her voice rose. "You never talk about them,"
"I don't talk about them because my family consist of my three sons, my wife, her friends and my sister-in-law." Giles turned and walked towards the living room, pausing before he left the kitchen. "Beyond that, I have no family."
Buffy watched her husband walk into the living, a smile on his face as he sat next to their son. She would never understand how she could know that man for majority of her life and not know a single thing about him. The sound of her son's voice caused Buffy to begin walking out of the kitchen.
"I'm coming," she chuckled as she sat on the other side of Evan, a fact that did not go pass the 13 year old. "Let's get this movie started, Bug."
Evan pressed play and the three of them began eating their dinner.
"Just ask her already!" Brennan looked at his dark haired friend, a warning in his eyes as a strawberry blonde sat in the empty seat at their table.
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing," Brennan gave her a small smile. "Cyrus is just talking outta his ass again. So Allie..."
"Yes?" her hazel eyes swept from Brennan to the gloating grin of their friend Cyrus.
"I was, uh...um, I was wondering..." he inwardly cringed at the awful stutter that he and his brothers had picked up from their father. "I was just thinking that...that maybe we should...well, I wanted to k-kn-know if..."
"Y'know, you look like someone who should be down there dancing." All three turned to see Dakota motioning to the dance floor that was below the lounge area. "And since no one here's gonna ask, you wanna go dance?"
Dakota smirked at his twin as Allie turned to look back at Brennan, her head slightly tilted in question.
"What were you going to say, Brennan?"
Instead of answering, he just gave her a smile and nodded his head towards his brother. As soon as the two had walked down to the dance floor, the blonde 16 year old rushed to the balcony railing and scanned the area for them. When he found them, he kept a close eye on them to make sure Dakota didn't try to do anything.
"She won't wait forever, Watcher." Cyrus pointed out as he stood next to his best friend.
"I know," Brennan sighed as he leaned against the railing.
"She'll move on to someone who shows an interest," Cyrus continued, his blue eyes looking at the sulking teenager. "And Dakota's pretending to be interested, but Allie doesn't know that. She'll go to him and all will look good, he'll try to get into her pants and then..."
"Shut up, Cyrus! I know what he's trying to do and I know how well that plan will work out for him." Brennan tugged at his left earlobe as he forced himself to look at his friend. "I just can't seem to say anything meaningful to her. Hell, I flirt better with a bloody vampire than I do with her!"
Cyrus opened his mouth to argue the statement, but closed it as soon as he realized how right Brennan was. Knowing there was nothing else to say, both teenagers just settled for sitting back at their table and fell into easy conversation.
Dakota had taken advantage of the fact that Junction closed at midnight by leaving with his friends two hours before the club closed. So instead of flirting with the girls back at the club, the group was smoking cigarettes at the local elementary school.
"Any plans of snatching up that girl you were dancing with?" Jared asked as he took the lighter from Dakota.
"Maybe, maybe not."
"If he does, it'll be to sleep with her." Dakota shoved Doug as everyone laughed, watching his lighter being tossed to Kyle, the last member of their group.
They continued to joke around as moved about the playground, jumping on top of the monkey bars and sitting. The sound of footsteps echoed over the area, causing the group to look over and see a man walking towards them. Dakota was the first to jump off his perch, his left hand gripping the small vial of holy water he carried with him. The stranger beckoned the 16 year old over, a lopsided grin on his face.
"I'll be right back," Dakota muttered as he made his way over to the man, his whole body prepared to do what his parents had taught him.
When he was close enough, Dakota took in the man's appearance. The stranger's hair was about a shade darker than his own and stuck up in every direction, his eyes were dark and held a certain gleam to them and there was just something about him that didn't set right with the 16 year old.
"How can I help you?"
"I got a message I need you ta deliver to your dad," Dakota raised an eyebrow at the rough English accent, his grip tightening on the holy water.
"How do my dad?" the teenager countered.
"His name's Rupert Bradley Giles, do I pass?" the stranger waited a few moments before say what he needed to say. "Tell him that I'll be seeing him soon,"
"You have a name, buddy?"
"My name's Stephen." He chuckled when he watched Dakota open his mouth to, more than likely, ask a question. "And give him this."
Dakota caught the book just before it hit him the chest, his gaze dropping to the object. The book had clearly seen better days and felt as though it would fall apart at the simple act of opening it, which he was debating on doing.
"It's a copy of Bram Stroker's Dracula that my mum bought for Rupert when he was about 12 years old. There's an inscription in there," The stranger told him, his hard gaze never leaving the teenager. "He thought he 'ad lost it. Give that book to him, tell him my message and he'll know who you're talking about."
There was a stretch of silence as Dakota continued to look at the book before he looked up, a question ready on his lips. But any words he had planned never came out as Dakota looked around, startled by the sudden disappearance of the man.
"Whatever." He muttered as he made his way back to his car.
"Are you sure he said his name was Stephen?" Giles asked, yet again, as he continued to stare at the book.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Dakota answered, annoyance in his tone. "And before you ask, yes I'm sure he had an English accent."
Giles just nodded absently as he walked out of his son's room and down towards the living room. Buffy told the teenager good night before she went after her husband, just as confused as their children had been when Dakota had told Giles what had happened.
"What's going on?" she asked as she walked into the living room, watching as her Watcher poured himself a drink.
"It's nothing, Buffy." He muttered before knocking back half of the glass.
"Clearly it's something if you're drinking." She walked over to stand next to him at the liquor cabinet, placing her hand on his forearm. "Do I need to be worried?"
"No," he turned to look at her and gave her a small smile. "I can handle this."
He grabbed his glass, the bottle and the book and walked off in the direction of the study. The sound of the door closing let Buffy know that this was something Giles was going to keep to himself.
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