TITLE: Call Waiting: Dennis
AUTHOR: Jim Loats
RATING: PG
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to their respective creators and owners, none of whom are me.
NOTES: Part of, and inspired by, the "Call Waiting" series begun by Meg Fox. Thanx to Meg and PeteM for their kind permission.



It had been a typical day. Cordelia had left for the office a few hours ago, and Dennis had tidied up the breakfast dishes and put the clothes in the hamper, then gone into "guardian" mode.

It stopped being a typical day at the stroke of noon.

-FWOOMP- "DENNIS!! Hey, bud, whaddya say --"

**BONG**

"Ow! What was *that* for?" The intruder shook his head vigorously, restoring it from the shape of the frying pan Dennis had hit him with. "*Damn*, that stings. Hey, that's a helluva way to greet an old pal!"

Dennis moved to the scratch-pad affixed to the refrigerator.

--scribblescribble--

"I do *not* owe you money, and what would you do with it, anyway?"

--scribblescribblescribble--

"....Well, *that's* uncalled for. But very creative! Which brings me to the point --"

--scribblescribble--

"Shaddap. Look, Dennis, I, um....sortofneedyerhelp."

--scribblescribble--

"Oh, har har. 'Fashion sense'. That's funny, coming from a invisible mass of dispersed protoplasm. No, there's this job --"

--scribblescribblescribble--

"Yeah, well, I, uh, kind of got put on probation. Just for a few decades, but the ol' mojo ain't, well, mojoin' and I got standards, ya know!"

--scribblescribble--

"Hey, yer a rising star! One of the hottest 'geists in Southern Cal! Come on, it'll be a blast!"

--scribblescribblescribble--

"Well, of *course* you didn't scare *her* off, she's from Sunnydale! Talk about buckin' a stacked deck, dude! And I do mean 'stacked', heh heh"

**BONG**

"...ow. Okay, sorry. Anyway, this'll be a piece of cake. It's up in Beverly, they're complete virgins. You'll knock 'em dead! So to speak."

--scribblescribble--

"Excellent! Wait, you actually *wrote* 'sigh'? Whatever. Let's go. Do I need to grab something for you to hitch a ride on, or can you just sort of haunt my socks or something... *Hey*, quit waving that thing around, it was a *joke*! Oh, I get it. Cool. Hey, you might wanna leave the roomie a note or something, I don't know how long this'll take."

--scribblescribblescrib--

"Hey, hey! Not the name! It's embarrassing being summoned when I'm in this state, ya know? Just put 'bio-exorcist'."