A/N: There's Will/Djaq fluff in this if you wait for it, but first we have to deal with Giz. . .
"Marian!"
She turned around at the sound of her name. Guy was running after her. She starting thinking up excuses to avoid his company, but he caught up with her too soon.
"Oh, hi," she said half-heartedly.
"I'm sorry for what Robin did in class, that was so uncalled for," he said, assuming she had been equally disturbed as he was to have Robin come between them.
"Oh, no, really, it's fine."
He frowned. She wasn't supposed to say it was fine.
"Look, I've gotta run. Maybe we can catch up later?" she offered without any intention of following through.
There was nothing he could do but wave goodbye, she had quickened her pace and walked into the first building she came to.
Once inside the vestibule, she unbuttoned her coat and peered out the window. He was still standing in the same spot, immobilized. She winced. She knew she had this unholy effect on him. She couldn't help it. When Robin was gone in the fall, she sort of threw herself out there, welcoming any kind of connection with anyone. Before she knew it, a casual hookup with Guy developed into him having an all-consuming obsession with her and her wondering how hard it would be to obtain a restraining order. Marian looked at the bulletin board—she wasn't even sure what building she was in. She checked the window again. He was gone. She sighed. She'd have to step carefully from here on out, especially now that Robin had made himself Guy's enemy number one. Besides, Guy had a powerful friend in Vasey and if the so-called Sheriff continued promoting discriminatory policies like he had been, he would have to be stopped and Guy might be the key to that. So Marian decided she would do her best not to antagonize him, but certainly not to encourage him.
"What are you doing in the Chemistry building?" she heard a voice behind her ask.
"Djaq! Oh, hey, I'm just hiding out from Guy."
"Oh," Djaq said, understanding completely. "What's that creepshow up to these days?"
"Who knows. . ."
Marian looked out the window again. She buttoned up her coat and took a deep breath to prepare for the cold air.
"I'll catch up with you later, okay?" she said to Djaq and then walked out.
Djaq headed back down the hallway to the lab where she had been working. Being pre-med meant she spent a lot of time in those same halls and labs, but as much as she enjoyed the sciences, she loved the one luxury allowed in her schedule—the studio art class that introduced her to Will Scarlett.
She thought back to their first "date"—if you could call it that. She met up with him at a frat party. He seemed completely out of his comfort zone there, being so anxious about the protocol of even obtaining a beer that he was standing, drinkless, with his hands in his pockets, waiting for her in an out of the way corner of the basement. She smiled. Only someone truly confident could stand alone, without a cup in his hand, she thought. But Djaq realized in a moment that it wasn't confidence so much as obliviousness that made Will act the way he did. It took her five minutes to see that their night would not be successful unless she found them a venue where he would be more at home.
Always a quick thinker, Djaq suggested, "Hey, do you wanna just take a walk?"
He nodded vigorously.
She took Will's hand and led him out of the crowded basement.
"Uh, where do you want to go?" he asked once they were outside.
She hadn't thought it through that much. She shrugged.
"Well," he ventured, "I could take you to my favorite place."
She smiled. "Lead the way."
Will walked briskly, not saying much, while Djaq chatted about whatever came to mind. After about fifteen minutes, they reached an iron gate.
"The cemetery?" she said, unable to conceal her shock.
"Uh. . ."
"The cemetery?" she asked again.
"We, we could go somewhere else. . ." he mumbled.
She looked at the snow-covered gravestones with a mixture of queasiness and curiosity. Then she looked up at his face and saw how he so earnestly wanted to please her and she replied, "No, no. It's fine."
Will took a few more steps and then tried to explain. "I like to look at the names and dates. These are all students or professors or people from the town. They saw this school a hundred years ago and it's still standing, still serving the same purpose. It makes me feel like I'm part of something special."
Djaq smiled at his sincerity.
He continued, "Which is why it makes me so upset that people like that Vasey kid would try to change things for the worse."
Djaq didn't know much about it, except what Marian had told her concerning Robin.
"Did you know he actually put a motion forward in Class Council to make the school all-male again?" Will asked.
"What?" she said, even more shocked at that piece of news than she had been at ending up at the graveyard. "That's absurd!"
"The kid is deranged," Will commented.
"They dismissed the motion, right?"
"No! They actually considered it, but realized it was ultimately a decision for the trustees."
"Unbelievable!"
Will dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Well, at least he's only one person. How much damage can he do?"
Djaq bit her lip and thought for a moment.
"Yeah," she finally said. "I mean, just think of all the students there are or have been. Like—"
She squinted to read the nearest tombstone. "—Elgar Whitlock." She burst out laughing.
"Your names are so funny!"
"Trust me, that's not a normal name," Will said. "And besides, you have funny names too. Like what kind of a name is Djaq?"
She reached down, scooped up a handful of snow and hit him smack in the face.
He didn't even brush it off, but stooped down to kiss her. She squealed at the first touch of the cold snow, but his lips prevented her from making any protest.
Djaq was lost in that memory when her lab partner said abruptly, "So are you gonna add the sodium chloride or what?"
