~**~
-12-
~**~
Giles hadn't precisely moped around the shop that morning. He
didn't mope – it wasn't terribly productive. He had been quiet, however, and
Amy could think what she wanted. Oz had come by, because, he admitted, he
couldn't start back at the university for three more weeks, he had no job, and
he needed something to do. And although Willow had indicated there was nothing
more going on between her and her ex, his presence wasn't doing anything for
Rupert's frame of mind.
Then Buffy and Xander stumbled in, making his day complete.
Certainly, he loved the younger man like a brother – he was the best friend the
Watcher had had in years. But coming on the heels of the apparent brush-off
Willow had delivered this morning, Xander's
'just-slept-with-the-girl-of-my-dreams-and-couldn't-be-happier' attitude might
be too much to take.
"G-man, something weird's goin' on!" Xander announced
breathlessly.
"You know, in cultures outside of Sunnydale, the normal greeting
is 'hello,'" Oz deadpanned to Amy. Dropping his voice further, the wolfman
explained to the witch, "They smell like each other. Not just all over each
other – exactly alike. I'm betting sex is involved somehow."
"Sex," Xander panted out. Oz raised a brow at Amy and nodded
significantly. She stifled a giggle. "Changes things. We're – more bonded.
It's…" Obviously at a loss for words, he turned helplessly to Buffy. Without a
word, she lifted her arm and pinched the tender part, on the inside just below
the elbow. "Owww!" Xander yelped, grabbing his arm and glaring at her. "I still
have a bruise on my leg from the first time you did that. Thanks."
Buffy smiled apologetically. "Sorry, honey. It's clear, quick and
direct." Turning back to her Watcher, she explained, "I'm buying him an
electric razor. I really don't want to find out first hand about the whole, 'if
you cut one, the other bleeds' thing. But I can't block his thoughts anymore,
or he mine. They're just there, all the time."
Xander nodded. "I thought we were close before, but this is like
being together as Unity all the time, just with four feet instead of two."
Buffy moved her back against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"And although I really don't want to stop touching her," she tilted her head up
and smiled at that, "I get the same kind of charge all the time, now. It's like
we're touching, even when we're across the room." Buffy nodded in confirmation.
"We've definitely moved into a whole new dimension."
~**~
Andrea was watching the monitor and listening with rapt
fascination. This was more than she'd ever expected of the Unity. She honestly
hadn't considered any of them having intimate relations, and how that might
change the dynamic entirely. Silly of her, really. They were four healthy young
humans, with normal needs in spite of their unusual physiology. Two male, two
female. She giggled quietly, thinking of the Ark. Two by two.
And apparently, more than the dynamic had changed. The actual
chemistry of the two involved was probably altered. The scientist in her
desperately wanted to get her hands on them, test them again, and see what had
occurred.
But the human being in her wanted to keep this a secret from
Quentin, to pull this tape out of the machine and destroy it, and to never
allow anyone in the Council to know. She knew it was impossible – every minute
of the surveillance tape was logged for accuracy by the nameless, faceless young
Council Wannabe that monitored the monitors. She'd be caught, and what little
chance she had to affect the policy on Unity would be stripped from her.
Sighing in resignation, she leaned back in her chair. "Quentin," she called to
the other room. "There's been a new development."
~**~
Joyce looked at the memo on her desk for the third time, silently
willing the time of her appointment tomorrow to be different. But, no – it was
still at ten o'clock. And the hospital had called to say they were releasing
Dawn at 10:15. As far as she knew, she could only be on one of the two places
tomorrow, and as much she wanted it to be at the hospital, she'd waited a long
time to meet with this buyer, and couldn't very well blow him off. She picked
up the phone to call Buffy, then changed her mind. Her fingers punched in the
number of the Magic Box.
"Amy? Joyce. Can I talk to Rupert?"
~**~
Rupert Giles was a responsible man. Joyce had made him responsible
for picking Dawn up at 10:15, and he was at the hospital at 10:05.
The only problem was that he wanted to be there by 9:45, but he
couldn't pry Buffy away from Xander until after that time. She'd found out he
was retrieving her sister, and had been adamant that she needed to come along.
Of course, the hospital staff was running late, and they were sitting in the
waiting area, his arm around Buffy's shoulders, waiting. For anyone to even
acknowledge they were there would be enough, but in spite of the fact he
announced both their presence and their purpose at the desk, it seemed they had
now become totally invisible.
*So, tell me about last night,* Buffy asked eagerly.
*We slept. End of story,* Giles responded a bit harshly.
*In the same bed,* Buffy pointed out.
*At least we got some rest. It's more than I can say for you two.*
*We did rest. Afterwards.* Giles was bothered by the fact that
although he was in what should have been a one-on-one situation with Buffy,
Xander was privy to the entire conversation, and even responding to him.
*I was talking to Buffy,* the Watcher snapped.
He could hear the grin in his friend's voice. *Now you get us both
for the price of one,* the younger man responded.
*Wonderful.* Really, the Watcher wasn't sure why he was so
snappish right now. It could have something to do with the nearly uncomfortable
silence between himself and Willow after spending the night touching each
other. Or the fact that his Slayer now seemed joined at the hip with his best
friend, and in spite of their promise to try to be quieter in their nightly "activities,"
it had still been extremely awkward to lay there in bed beside a woman he was
attracted to, touching her, smelling her perfume and shampoo, and listen to the
muffled sounds of passion coming from the next bedroom. Or maybe it was just
because the entire hospital seemed to be coordinating a mass effort to ignore
him for as long as possible, allowing Buffy to question him about something he
still wasn't able to think straight about. Sometimes, he really missed being
the "old guy" who wasn't involved in this kind of thing.
"Miss Summers?" A nice looking young man was standing before them
in hospital scrubs, looking solicitous. "My name is Ben, and I'm ready to go
over the paperwork for your sister's checkout."
*About damned time,* Rupert fumed, earning a squeeze to his hand
from Buffy, and a tender smile.
"If you and your boyfriend would come with me…"
She laughed. "Giles is just a close friend, not my boyfriend."
Ben's eyes sparkled. "So, you don't *have* a boyfriend?" he asked
with interest.
Rupert was still touching Buffy, and as a result he winced when
Xander's mental voice hollered in his mind. *She does too, you pervert! Touch
her and DIE!* Buffy just giggled. "My boyfriend's at work today. I'm sure he'll
come with me sometime to bring Dawn back for therapy, and you can meet him."
The intern's face fell, but he recovered quickly. *That's better,* Xander
huffed.
"Well, it never hurts to ask," the young man shrugged. "Right this
way."
Inside her mind, Buffy could hear said boyfriend. *I'm not actually
thinking this guy is attractive, right? That's just you, the part of me that's
you, right? Buffy? Stop being amused – I'm not. Buffy?*
Rupert smiled. Perhaps it wasn't going to be such a bad day after
all.
~**~
*I'm such an ass.* Willow was replaying one variation of this
theme, which had been running through her mind all morning. Actually, since
yesterday morning. Perhaps this was the reason relationships never worked out –
she deliberately seemed to sabotage them. Okay, so the whole Unity thing with
Tara wasn't deliberate or in any way her fault – it just headed off the
inevitable. She had lost her interest in Tara as a lover before that.
And after all, if she'd made her feelings clear to Xander, it
might be her today moaning in the other bedroom. On the other hand, she and he
might have gotten together back when she was still head over heels with him,
and by now, they wouldn't even be speaking to each other.
Then there was Oz – she certainly picked a lousy time to get
proactive with Xander about her feelings, but hey – par for the course. They
did manage to rebuild after that, though, until her Relationship Curse struck
again. She wasn't sure how the Veruca thing had been her fault, but it would
stand to reason, considering her track record, that it was somehow.
And now Rupe. He actually seemed to like her. He seemed willing to
ignore the fact that she had a silly schoolgirl crush on him, in spite of her
being well beyond the age for such immaturity. He seemed interested in a
genuine, mature relationship. Okay, maybe she was reading a lot into the few
words he'd said that indicated he was thinking about her that way. The fact
remained that he *was* thinking about her that way. That seemed rather clear.
And she got up and ran.
She looked up, surprised. She was standing in front of the old
Theatre Arts Complex, soon to be renovated into the UC Sunnydale Recreation
Complex, including a small movie theatre, a bowling alley and a hamburger
stand. Being renovated by one Alexander Harris, among other people. Willow felt
an urge to talk with one of her best friends, right now. She pressed through
the dirty glass doors, feeling him nearby through the magic of the Unity,
grateful that she still knew one thing, about one person, for certain. Xander
Harris was her best friend, and he would accept and understand her, no matter
what.
~**~
"All right, then. If we have to kill one, it would have to be the
witch or the Watcher, right?" Andrea nodded, then stood angrily.
"Damn it, Quentin, you talk like you're looking *forward* to
killing one of the Unity. What is *wrong* with you?"
"I take my job seriously, Andrea, and my job is to be ready if the
need be. That's all." The senior Watcher looked unperturbed by her accusation,
his fingers templed in a contemplative gesture before him.
The doctor sighed and sat back down. "Without further tests I
can't say for absolute certain, but I believe that the Heart and the Body now,
joined as they are, would both have to be attacked at the same time for either
of them to die. In other words, to kill either, we'd have to kill both. It
would be harder to accomplish."
"The Body is already the strongest, physically, so she probably
wouldn't have been my first choice anyway. But I was leaning towards the Heart.
Pity."
"You never have liked him, have you?" she murmured, uncertain if
he heard her or not. If anything, he had been her favorite, and she was glad he
might be spared. Not that she could easily choose one of the others. Rupert was
another *Watcher* for God's sake, and the witch was sweet and harmless, in
Andrea's opinion. "There has been little to fear from Unity, it appears," she
reminded him.
"Preparation is essential. If we are not ready for the worst, it
is more likely to happen."
Wondering how she could have ever once loved this man so much,
Andrea Fairhope prepared for the worst. However, the worst in her view was a
far sight from what Quentin Travers was contemplating.
~**~
Xander had stopped his little mental revolving door with Buffy,
since he actually did have work to do, and she was going over the paperwork for
Dawn's release with Ben. Rupert was listening in, touching Buffy every once in
a while to make mental comment or remind her of questions she should be asking.
"…and we have let her talk a little, but we'd prefer she only do
so with the therapist present for a little while longer. A couple of words are
okay, but we don't want her reciting Hamlet or anything for a while, okay?" Ben
finished up just after Dawn was wheeled out, Giles suspected, as much for her
benefit as his and Buffy's.
Buffy grinned at the young man. "We'll enjoy the quiet as long as
it lasts. She'll be back to her mouthy self soon enough, I suspect." Dawn took
the chalkboard she carried everywhere and swung with it, smacking her sister on
the thigh. *Oww,* Buffy heard Xander complain through the link. The Slayer
smirked, but the expression fell quickly. Reaching out for her Watcher's hand,
she asked Giles desperately, *What do I tell Dawn about Xander? She's been in
love with him since she was like, ten. How do I tell her we're sleeping
together – and in love? She'll freak!*
*She doesn't even know we're living in the same apartment yet,
does she?* Xander asked, concerned.
*Mom told her that already,* Buffy replied. *But she thinks, well,
what my mom still thinks. Me, Willow, and you and Giles. I don't even want to
think about telling Mom.* She could feel Xander pouting. *And no, you aren't
that bad. It's just, you know, telling my Mom I'm sleeping with *anyone* wins
an awkward moment award in my book.* Buffy was interrupted by a poke at her
abdomen, and she looked down to see the aforementioned chalkboard prodding her.
Taking it from her sister's hand, she read, Holding hands with Giles?
Ewww. Buffy stuck out her tongue, and stayed attached to her Watcher's
hand, causing Dawn to make a face. *Of course, if I make her think Giles and I
have a thing, she'll be so relieved it isn't him, she'll forgive me for it
being Xander.*
Rupert sighed. *It's so nice to be useful. What's so horrifying
about you and me having a 'thing'? Wait, don't answer that. I actually feel the
same way as Dawn about it. How frightening.*
The male attendant began to push Dawn down the hall, Buffy and
Giles following obediently. He was still clinging to her hand, connected with
both her and Xander, when he heard a familiar voice in his head. It took him a
moment to understand that not only did Buffy and Xander feel what the other
felt, they could see what the other saw and hear with the other heard. And
Xander was hearing…
"Xan? I need to talk to you about Rupe. You know I…" The
conversation seemed to end abruptly, as Buffy pulled her hand away from his.
"No way, mister. I know what you were listening to, and it
wouldn't be fair. Anything worth having is worth working for, and I'm not
letting you find out how Willow feels without her knowing you're listening. If
you can't talk to her about it, that's your problem."
"I – I – I," Giles stuttered, unable to honestly say he *could*
talk to Willow about his feelings at this point.
Neither noticed the thoughtful look on Dawn's face. People often
forget that those who cannot talk can still hear.
~**~