&&&&&&&&&&&
Sunnydale
Doyle's apartment
1 pm
Cordelia and Doyle were still laying on the couch, after they'd
succeeded in greeting each other properly. Now they were spooned up
together, Doyle with his arms wrapped tightly around Cordelia's
waist. They were catching each other up on the recent events in
Sunnydale and L.A. "She got stabbed?" Cordelia asked. "I don't think
she's told Angel about _that_ yet. He wasn't all moody and hovering
when I left."
Doyle chuckled at Cordelia's assessment of Angel's mood when he was
worried about Buffy. "Probably because she's still ticked at herself
for letting it happen," he replied. "She was cursing up a storm when
Willow was bandaging her up. But it wasn't the pain that was causing
the cursing, she was calling herself every name in the book, and then
more that I didn't know a nineteen year old girl would have in her
vocabulary."
Cordelia laughed, "That's our Slayer. Well, the blonde one anyway.
How's Charlotte, by the way?"
"Doing good, I think," Doyle answered. "She and Buffy seem to be
getting along. Her training is coming along faster than I'd hoped.
Giles and I feel like we're holding _them_ back actually. We still
don't know how to kill Adam."
"You'll figure it out," Cordelia answered, and turned her head to kiss
him gently. "I have every faith in you, Doyle."
"That makes one of us," Doyle muttered. "I just feel like we're
missing something obvious, Cordy. It's right in front of us, but we
can't see it."
"You're trying too hard then," Cordelia said practically. "I'm
serious, Doyle," she added, catching the roll of his eyes. "Whenever
you've got yourself so worked up with the stress of trying to fix
something, you always miss the obvious answer. You...everybody...just
needs to walk away for a little while, take your mind of things. When
you go back to the problem, the answer will be there."
"You know, Princess, you might be right," Doyle conceded.
"Good answer, Doyle," Cordelia smiled. "But seriously, a night out,
dinner and normal conversation. It would be a good thing."
"Sounds good to me. Now to convince the others, though--"
"I can be _very_ convincing, Doyle," Cordelia answered firmly.
"Don't I know it," Doyle said in a defeated tone. "Ow!" he added as
Cordelia turned and hit him playfully.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Giles' Apartment
1 pm
"Okay, so I get that I might be in danger," Charlotte agreed. "But I
don't get that putting Oz and my brother in the same danger will help
the odds of me getting out of any attack alive."
"It's the safety in numbers idea, Charlotte," Giles replied. "They
aren't going to get in your way, and they won't get into any trouble
either--"
"Have you _seen_ my brother in action?" Charlotte interrupted, a
skeptical look on her face. "Alan Francis Doyle, Watcher that he may
be, attracts trouble in droves."
There was a knock on the door, and Charlotte waited for Giles to let
Oz in before continuing. "I have no problem with backup, Mr.--
Wesley," she amended that, remembering his insistence on her calling
him Wesley. *He'd said that her calling him "Mr. Price" made him feel
like a Senior Citizen,* she smiled at the memory.
"So did I miss the yelling?" Oz asked.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, but I promise I made it clear that it was incredibly
wrong for all of them to be up all night. In fact," she looked to
where Wesley had passed out in a dead sleep on the couch, and smiled,
turning to Giles, "--I think Wesley has the right idea. Why don't you
try to get some sleep too, Giles. We'll meet here later before
sundown to discuss patrol."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Oz replied. "I'd feel better if I
could keep an eye on Willow right now, anyway. Her mom's gone for the
weekend, and I don't like Willow being alone when Adam's still on the
loose."
"Fine," Giles said. "Why don't we meet back here at five then?"
Oz and Charlotte nodded their assent.
"Very well. Be careful, both of you. And don't go looking for
trouble," this last addressed to Charlotte.
"I thought one Watcher was bad," she muttered as she and Oz left. "Two
of them, though, it's enough to drive a girl mad."
"Where are you going?" Oz asked.
"My place, I guess."
"I'll walk you," Oz offered. Charlotte opened her mouth to argue, but
then thought better of it. Buffy didn't know, but Charlotte had heard
her ask Oz to keep an eye out for her. She did appreciate Buffy's
concern. If it proved one thing, it was that Buffy had accepted her as
someone not out to get her. And that, she realized, was a miracle
considering Buffy's betrayal by Faith.
They arrived at her door, and Charlotte smiled. "Thanks, Oz."
"Any time," Oz said and walked off in the direction of Giles'.
&&&&&&&&&
L.A
Angel's Apartment
1 pm
"Angel?" Buffy came out of the bathroom, having taken the world's
fastest shower. She found him in the kitchen, making sandwiches. "Now
that's a new one," she said. "You making lunch? Not that I'm
complaining."
"Thought we could go to the park for a picnic?" Angel suggested.
"Mm, I was kinda thinking we'd stay in...but a picnic could be fun
too." She walked over and pulled Angel's head down to meet hers in a
kiss. She said, "I could really get used to this having a human
boyfriend thing."
"But I can't protect you like this," Angel said, tracing the outlines
of the fresh bandage on her shoulder."
"Angel, I don't want another protector. I want just one thing in my
life that's normal."
Angel laughed at that. "Normal?" he questioned skeptically. "Yeah,
right. I'm normal, Buffy. A normal two hundred fifty year old guy,
who spent most of those years as a vampire."
"Picky, picky," Buffy rolled her eyes, eliciting another laugh from
Angel. "We love each other, and there's finally nothing keeping us
apart. Sounds pretty normal to me. Besides, normal's a relative term
when you're a vampire slayer. Now where's that park you were telling
me about? I'm starved."
&&&&&&&&
Doyle's Apartment
1:30 pm
Charlotte waited, and then not hearing anything suspicious opened the
door slowly. "Hey! I'm home!" she yelled.
She heard Cordelia giggle, and say, "It's safe, Charlotte. You can
come in."
"Better safe than sorry," Charlotte replied. She saw her brother and
Cordelia sitting on the couch. Rather entangled, but fully clothed, so
that was enough to keep Charlotte happy. "So Buffy made it to L.A.
okay?" Charlotte asked.
"Of course. I stopped in at the office this morning, and realized
there was no work to be done _this_ weekend."
"So you decided to keep my brother from getting any work done too?"
Charlotte said sarcastically.
"Pretty much," Cordy replied with a smile. She knew that Charlotte was
just giving her a hard time. They had gotten to know each other well
enough to let their true personalities come out frequently, often
bickering like sisters, much to Doyle's dismay.
"But, I have a Willow to visit," Cordelia said then, trying to get up
from the couch. "Doyle, let go," she sighed as he refused to release
his hold.
"You just got here," he pouted.
"Doyle, Xander called me last night, and I'm Willow's only way of
knowing he's okay."
Doyle continued to pout, but released Cordelia.
"I'll be back," she promised, kissing him lingeringly before getting
up off the couch.
After Cordelia had left, Charlotte asked, "So did you know you've been
nominated for Slayer Watch tonight?"
"It was my idea," Doyle replied. He saw her open her mouth to protest
and interrupted her before she could start an argument. "After what
happened to Buffy last night, I have no intention of letting you go
out there tonight without me, Charlie."
Charlotte glared at him for thirty seconds, and he gazed back at her,
an amused look on his face. "I'm not--"
"-- a little girl." Doyle finished the sentence for her. "Try again,
Charlie. That one's been worn into the ground."
"Doyle, I can protect myself a whole lot better when I'm not worrying
about you," Charlotte insisted.
"Oz and I will stay far enough out of the way, Charlotte, not to
distract you. We're there strictly in case of emergency," Doyle said.
"Fine," Charlotte said. "But I swear, Doyle, if you try to save me
when I don't need it and get yourself hurt--"
"--you'll kick my ass. I know, little sister, that you are more than
capable of that. But thanks for reminding me of it every chance you
get," Doyle said with a grin.
"Somebody's gotta keep you from getting a big head," Charlotte
shrugged. "Now what's for lunch?"
&&&&&&&&&
Willow's House
2:00 pm
Cordelia arrived at Willow's house, and Oz opened the door. "Hey, Oz,"
she smiled.
"Cordy, this is a surprise," Oz said, but stepped back to let her in.
"Sorry, but I need to talk to Willow. She's here, isn't she?" Cordelia
looked around, a puzzled look on her face.
"She's asleep--"
"No she's not," Willow said, coming down the hall. "She heard a knock
on the door and decided to come out. Hi, Cordelia!" Willow smiled and
the two hugged.
"Hey, Willow," Cordelia said. The two girls had put their competitive
attitudes behind them and discovered that they actually liked each
other. Willow had been amazed at the change in Cordelia in the months
since she'd left Sunnydale. Cordelia was far from the cruel, snobby,
spoiled girl that Willow had known in highschool.
"Well, I think I'll go and let you two talk," Oz said. "Devon had
asked me if we could practice before we play at the Bronze tonight."
"Hey, cool, the Dingoes are playing tonight? Sounds like fun,"
Cordelia said.
"Yeah, we've almost mastered three whole chords, you'll be amazed," Oz
said with a grin. "See you there?" he asked Willow.
"Of course," Willow kissed him on the cheek. "Where else would I be
spending the evening?" Oz smiled at her then left.
"So, come in, sit down," Willow said to Cordelia. "How's Angel?"
"He's doing good, Willow," Cordelia replied with a smile. She was
still amazed at Willow's ability to separate the demon Angelus from
the man who was Angel. She was grateful for that side of Willow's
personality, though, it had helped Angel to begin to forgive himself
these past couple of months.
"But I actually came here to tell you that Xander called me last
night," Cordelia continued. She stopped to see how Willow would react.
Willow looked at her blankly, then at the floor. She nodded, slowly,
and finally said "How is he?"
"He sounds like much better, Willow. He asked about you, first. Then
Buffy. He said he's sleeping better, and that he and Anya are barely
keeping from killing each other when they're in the car for too long."
Willow giggled at that, she had always been surprised at how patient
Xander was with Anya's less than perfect social skills. She could only
imagine how annoying a bored Anya would be after hours in the
car. "Did he say anything about..."
"Coming back? No, and I didn't ask him. He is, though."
"How can you be so sure?" Willow asked.
"Because I've seen first-hand just how much Xander Harris cares about
you, Willow. Don't look at me like that, that's not what I'm implying.
But even if you two are never going to be _together_, you're always
going to be in each other's lives. He didn't leave town because he
hates you, he left because he was hurting. Sure, it doesn't make
sense to you or me, but it's how Xander is. It's his reflex reaction;
he gets hurt,he pushes everyone away for a while. When he's able to
get past what happened, he'll be back."
"When did you turn into such a smart person?" Willow asked.
"Gee... thanks, I think," Cordelia muttered.
"That's not what I meant--"
"I know, I know," Cordelia laughed. "Don't worry, I realize what a
bitch I was in highschool--"
[CRASH]
Both girls looked at each other for a split second. The noise had come
from the back of the house. "That was the back door," Willow
whispered when they heard heavy footsteps in the hallway, "Follow me."
Cordelia didn't need to be told twice, she and Willow ran out the
front door. They heard someone or something following them close
behind. Willow looked back to see that Adam was that something, and
screamed, "RUN FASTER!" at Cordelia.
Cordelia nodded and reached back for the other girl's hand. Cordelia's
only thought was to get to Doyle's apartment. Hopefully Charlotte
would be prepared for a confrontation with Adam.
&&&&&&&&&&
End two
Sunnydale
Doyle's apartment
1 pm
Cordelia and Doyle were still laying on the couch, after they'd
succeeded in greeting each other properly. Now they were spooned up
together, Doyle with his arms wrapped tightly around Cordelia's
waist. They were catching each other up on the recent events in
Sunnydale and L.A. "She got stabbed?" Cordelia asked. "I don't think
she's told Angel about _that_ yet. He wasn't all moody and hovering
when I left."
Doyle chuckled at Cordelia's assessment of Angel's mood when he was
worried about Buffy. "Probably because she's still ticked at herself
for letting it happen," he replied. "She was cursing up a storm when
Willow was bandaging her up. But it wasn't the pain that was causing
the cursing, she was calling herself every name in the book, and then
more that I didn't know a nineteen year old girl would have in her
vocabulary."
Cordelia laughed, "That's our Slayer. Well, the blonde one anyway.
How's Charlotte, by the way?"
"Doing good, I think," Doyle answered. "She and Buffy seem to be
getting along. Her training is coming along faster than I'd hoped.
Giles and I feel like we're holding _them_ back actually. We still
don't know how to kill Adam."
"You'll figure it out," Cordelia answered, and turned her head to kiss
him gently. "I have every faith in you, Doyle."
"That makes one of us," Doyle muttered. "I just feel like we're
missing something obvious, Cordy. It's right in front of us, but we
can't see it."
"You're trying too hard then," Cordelia said practically. "I'm
serious, Doyle," she added, catching the roll of his eyes. "Whenever
you've got yourself so worked up with the stress of trying to fix
something, you always miss the obvious answer. You...everybody...just
needs to walk away for a little while, take your mind of things. When
you go back to the problem, the answer will be there."
"You know, Princess, you might be right," Doyle conceded.
"Good answer, Doyle," Cordelia smiled. "But seriously, a night out,
dinner and normal conversation. It would be a good thing."
"Sounds good to me. Now to convince the others, though--"
"I can be _very_ convincing, Doyle," Cordelia answered firmly.
"Don't I know it," Doyle said in a defeated tone. "Ow!" he added as
Cordelia turned and hit him playfully.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Giles' Apartment
1 pm
"Okay, so I get that I might be in danger," Charlotte agreed. "But I
don't get that putting Oz and my brother in the same danger will help
the odds of me getting out of any attack alive."
"It's the safety in numbers idea, Charlotte," Giles replied. "They
aren't going to get in your way, and they won't get into any trouble
either--"
"Have you _seen_ my brother in action?" Charlotte interrupted, a
skeptical look on her face. "Alan Francis Doyle, Watcher that he may
be, attracts trouble in droves."
There was a knock on the door, and Charlotte waited for Giles to let
Oz in before continuing. "I have no problem with backup, Mr.--
Wesley," she amended that, remembering his insistence on her calling
him Wesley. *He'd said that her calling him "Mr. Price" made him feel
like a Senior Citizen,* she smiled at the memory.
"So did I miss the yelling?" Oz asked.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, but I promise I made it clear that it was incredibly
wrong for all of them to be up all night. In fact," she looked to
where Wesley had passed out in a dead sleep on the couch, and smiled,
turning to Giles, "--I think Wesley has the right idea. Why don't you
try to get some sleep too, Giles. We'll meet here later before
sundown to discuss patrol."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Oz replied. "I'd feel better if I
could keep an eye on Willow right now, anyway. Her mom's gone for the
weekend, and I don't like Willow being alone when Adam's still on the
loose."
"Fine," Giles said. "Why don't we meet back here at five then?"
Oz and Charlotte nodded their assent.
"Very well. Be careful, both of you. And don't go looking for
trouble," this last addressed to Charlotte.
"I thought one Watcher was bad," she muttered as she and Oz left. "Two
of them, though, it's enough to drive a girl mad."
"Where are you going?" Oz asked.
"My place, I guess."
"I'll walk you," Oz offered. Charlotte opened her mouth to argue, but
then thought better of it. Buffy didn't know, but Charlotte had heard
her ask Oz to keep an eye out for her. She did appreciate Buffy's
concern. If it proved one thing, it was that Buffy had accepted her as
someone not out to get her. And that, she realized, was a miracle
considering Buffy's betrayal by Faith.
They arrived at her door, and Charlotte smiled. "Thanks, Oz."
"Any time," Oz said and walked off in the direction of Giles'.
&&&&&&&&&
L.A
Angel's Apartment
1 pm
"Angel?" Buffy came out of the bathroom, having taken the world's
fastest shower. She found him in the kitchen, making sandwiches. "Now
that's a new one," she said. "You making lunch? Not that I'm
complaining."
"Thought we could go to the park for a picnic?" Angel suggested.
"Mm, I was kinda thinking we'd stay in...but a picnic could be fun
too." She walked over and pulled Angel's head down to meet hers in a
kiss. She said, "I could really get used to this having a human
boyfriend thing."
"But I can't protect you like this," Angel said, tracing the outlines
of the fresh bandage on her shoulder."
"Angel, I don't want another protector. I want just one thing in my
life that's normal."
Angel laughed at that. "Normal?" he questioned skeptically. "Yeah,
right. I'm normal, Buffy. A normal two hundred fifty year old guy,
who spent most of those years as a vampire."
"Picky, picky," Buffy rolled her eyes, eliciting another laugh from
Angel. "We love each other, and there's finally nothing keeping us
apart. Sounds pretty normal to me. Besides, normal's a relative term
when you're a vampire slayer. Now where's that park you were telling
me about? I'm starved."
&&&&&&&&
Doyle's Apartment
1:30 pm
Charlotte waited, and then not hearing anything suspicious opened the
door slowly. "Hey! I'm home!" she yelled.
She heard Cordelia giggle, and say, "It's safe, Charlotte. You can
come in."
"Better safe than sorry," Charlotte replied. She saw her brother and
Cordelia sitting on the couch. Rather entangled, but fully clothed, so
that was enough to keep Charlotte happy. "So Buffy made it to L.A.
okay?" Charlotte asked.
"Of course. I stopped in at the office this morning, and realized
there was no work to be done _this_ weekend."
"So you decided to keep my brother from getting any work done too?"
Charlotte said sarcastically.
"Pretty much," Cordy replied with a smile. She knew that Charlotte was
just giving her a hard time. They had gotten to know each other well
enough to let their true personalities come out frequently, often
bickering like sisters, much to Doyle's dismay.
"But, I have a Willow to visit," Cordelia said then, trying to get up
from the couch. "Doyle, let go," she sighed as he refused to release
his hold.
"You just got here," he pouted.
"Doyle, Xander called me last night, and I'm Willow's only way of
knowing he's okay."
Doyle continued to pout, but released Cordelia.
"I'll be back," she promised, kissing him lingeringly before getting
up off the couch.
After Cordelia had left, Charlotte asked, "So did you know you've been
nominated for Slayer Watch tonight?"
"It was my idea," Doyle replied. He saw her open her mouth to protest
and interrupted her before she could start an argument. "After what
happened to Buffy last night, I have no intention of letting you go
out there tonight without me, Charlie."
Charlotte glared at him for thirty seconds, and he gazed back at her,
an amused look on his face. "I'm not--"
"-- a little girl." Doyle finished the sentence for her. "Try again,
Charlie. That one's been worn into the ground."
"Doyle, I can protect myself a whole lot better when I'm not worrying
about you," Charlotte insisted.
"Oz and I will stay far enough out of the way, Charlotte, not to
distract you. We're there strictly in case of emergency," Doyle said.
"Fine," Charlotte said. "But I swear, Doyle, if you try to save me
when I don't need it and get yourself hurt--"
"--you'll kick my ass. I know, little sister, that you are more than
capable of that. But thanks for reminding me of it every chance you
get," Doyle said with a grin.
"Somebody's gotta keep you from getting a big head," Charlotte
shrugged. "Now what's for lunch?"
&&&&&&&&&
Willow's House
2:00 pm
Cordelia arrived at Willow's house, and Oz opened the door. "Hey, Oz,"
she smiled.
"Cordy, this is a surprise," Oz said, but stepped back to let her in.
"Sorry, but I need to talk to Willow. She's here, isn't she?" Cordelia
looked around, a puzzled look on her face.
"She's asleep--"
"No she's not," Willow said, coming down the hall. "She heard a knock
on the door and decided to come out. Hi, Cordelia!" Willow smiled and
the two hugged.
"Hey, Willow," Cordelia said. The two girls had put their competitive
attitudes behind them and discovered that they actually liked each
other. Willow had been amazed at the change in Cordelia in the months
since she'd left Sunnydale. Cordelia was far from the cruel, snobby,
spoiled girl that Willow had known in highschool.
"Well, I think I'll go and let you two talk," Oz said. "Devon had
asked me if we could practice before we play at the Bronze tonight."
"Hey, cool, the Dingoes are playing tonight? Sounds like fun,"
Cordelia said.
"Yeah, we've almost mastered three whole chords, you'll be amazed," Oz
said with a grin. "See you there?" he asked Willow.
"Of course," Willow kissed him on the cheek. "Where else would I be
spending the evening?" Oz smiled at her then left.
"So, come in, sit down," Willow said to Cordelia. "How's Angel?"
"He's doing good, Willow," Cordelia replied with a smile. She was
still amazed at Willow's ability to separate the demon Angelus from
the man who was Angel. She was grateful for that side of Willow's
personality, though, it had helped Angel to begin to forgive himself
these past couple of months.
"But I actually came here to tell you that Xander called me last
night," Cordelia continued. She stopped to see how Willow would react.
Willow looked at her blankly, then at the floor. She nodded, slowly,
and finally said "How is he?"
"He sounds like much better, Willow. He asked about you, first. Then
Buffy. He said he's sleeping better, and that he and Anya are barely
keeping from killing each other when they're in the car for too long."
Willow giggled at that, she had always been surprised at how patient
Xander was with Anya's less than perfect social skills. She could only
imagine how annoying a bored Anya would be after hours in the
car. "Did he say anything about..."
"Coming back? No, and I didn't ask him. He is, though."
"How can you be so sure?" Willow asked.
"Because I've seen first-hand just how much Xander Harris cares about
you, Willow. Don't look at me like that, that's not what I'm implying.
But even if you two are never going to be _together_, you're always
going to be in each other's lives. He didn't leave town because he
hates you, he left because he was hurting. Sure, it doesn't make
sense to you or me, but it's how Xander is. It's his reflex reaction;
he gets hurt,he pushes everyone away for a while. When he's able to
get past what happened, he'll be back."
"When did you turn into such a smart person?" Willow asked.
"Gee... thanks, I think," Cordelia muttered.
"That's not what I meant--"
"I know, I know," Cordelia laughed. "Don't worry, I realize what a
bitch I was in highschool--"
[CRASH]
Both girls looked at each other for a split second. The noise had come
from the back of the house. "That was the back door," Willow
whispered when they heard heavy footsteps in the hallway, "Follow me."
Cordelia didn't need to be told twice, she and Willow ran out the
front door. They heard someone or something following them close
behind. Willow looked back to see that Adam was that something, and
screamed, "RUN FASTER!" at Cordelia.
Cordelia nodded and reached back for the other girl's hand. Cordelia's
only thought was to get to Doyle's apartment. Hopefully Charlotte
would be prepared for a confrontation with Adam.
&&&&&&&&&&
End two