TITLE: Finding Me (6/10)
AUTHOR: Rebecca Parker
EMAIL:
NumfarGal@aol.com
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Buffy and Xander, on a tip from
the Host, go on a quest to find Riley.
FEEDBACK: I do the Dance of Joy
upon receipt of feedback, so yes please!
DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon (aka
Genius) and Mutant Enemy own all.
DISTRIBUTION: At my site
(http://www.ourowndestiny.com), and all the usual suspects. All others, please
ask first.
DEDICATION: To Moe and Jen'fr. Just 'cause.
NOTE:
The title is a song by Vertical Horizon.
As the streets
whipped by outside her window, Buffy couldn't help but feel nervous. By
the look of the speedometer, Xander was going above the speed limit, but Buffy
still felt as if they wouldn't get to Riley in time.
Her dream
bothered her more than she would like to admit. She had problems sitting
still, or maintaining a non-Riley thought for longer than a minute or two.
All that seemed important right now was finding him, and helping him.
Everything else would have to be pushed to the back of her brain for her
to deal with later.
"Xander," Buffy said, her voice agitated as
she tapped nervously on the dashboard of his car. "Can't you go any
faster?"
Xander sighed. "Buff, we're not going to be much good to
Riley if we're laid up in the hospital with concussions."
"I
know," she said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and fastening it with an
elastic band. "It's just-"
"You're worried," Xander finished. "I
know. I mean, I understand that. But we need to worry about ourselves too. We
can't be driving 100 miles per hour to get somewhere we're not even sure we're
going yet, you know?"
Buffy nodded. "I'm sorry Xander. I just keep
hearing him calling out to me in my head. I didn't get to the helicopter in time
to stop him from leaving, and I don't really feel like continuing my tradition
of really sucky timing. Not when his life is on the line."
"OK,"
Xander said, "I'll make you a deal."
"A deal?" Buffy asked,
raising her eyebrows at her friend. "What kind of deal?"
"The kind
where you let us stop for dinner, and I go an extra 5-10 miles per hour," Xander
said, pointing to a sign at the side of the road. "There's a diner coming up in
two miles. I'm starved. You game?"
Buffy lowered her hand to her
stomach, feeling the rumblings underneath. They had been driving for 8 hours
straight since the morning, and neither had eaten breakfast or lunch. Dinner was
sounding like a very good idea. "OK," Buffy agreed. "Just a quick one
tho."
"I doubt that's going to be a problem." Xander started to
slow down as he veered the car onto the exit ramp. "I think as soon as they put
the plate in front of me, it's going to be in my stomach about a minute later.
I'm *that* hungry."
"I'm sorry Xander," Buffy said again. "We
should have had lunch or at least picked up some snacks at the gas
station."
"Hey," Xander said, patting Buffy's leg for a moment. "I
want to find him too. I don't want anything to happen to him
either."
"You two were good friends," Buffy said, nodding. "You
were better to him than I was."
"That's not true," Xander said,
smiling. "We very rarely snuggled."
Buffy laughed, and for the
first time that day, she felt alright. She felt like maybe things would be OK.
"How do you do it, Xander?"
"Do what?"
"Make me feel
better like that. You always do."
"Oh," Xander said, grinning as
he turned into the parking lot. "A magician never reveals his secrets."
"OK then," Buffy said, staring at the diner in front of them. "Well,
this place looks...fun."
"Fun?" Xander said, smiling. "I think the
word you were looking for is 'dive'. But they serve food, and that's all that
matters to me right about now."
"I hear ya," Buffy said,
unbuckling her seat belt and opening the car door. "My stomach was about to jump
out of my body and get its own food if I didn't eat soon."
"Yeah
well, mine threatened to eat my large intestines for sustenance," Xander said,
grinning as he got out and shut the door behind him. "So do we know where we
are?"
"Please don't tell me we're lost," Buffy said, her heart
starting to race.
"No," Xander said, walking over to her. "I mean,
we're following Route 10 all the way, so it's not like we're off on some beaten
path where we have to worry about the Blair Witch or squealing like a pig, you
know? I'm just not sure what city we're in."
Buffy looked up at
the diner and smiled. "Tucson, Arizona."
"Ah," Xander said,
following her stare and noticing the sign which read "Tucson Diner."
"Well," she said, walking towards the front entrance. "If nothing else,
this diner is better than a map."
"So we're good on money, right?"
Xander asked as he held the door open for her. "I mean, I'm kind of low but I
got the impression you're not?"
"We're good," Buffy answered,
walking inside and heading over to a booth. She didn't feel comfortable telling
Xander than Angel had given her some money, so she hoped he would let the
subject drop.
"OK," Xander said, sitting across from her. "I just
wanted to make sure we're good for the five course meal I'm about to
order."
The waitress came over and smiled at them. "Hey
there folks," she said, placing two menus in front of them. "Y'all from out of
town?"
"Yeah," Buffy said, opening the menu and looking up at her.
"We're from California."
"Ah. Whereabouts?" the waitress asked.
"I'm an expert on tourist attractions."
"Sunnydale," Xander said,
smiling up at her. "Home of the famous Boca Del Infierno."
"Mouth
of hell?" the waitress asked, giving them a strange look.
"Ah,"
Xander said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "You weren't supposed to be
know that. Cause you know, I was kidding."
"Ah," the waitress said,
shrugging. "Well anyway. Y'all can look your menus over and I'll be back in a
jiff to take your order."
Buffy laughed as the waitress walked
away. "Smooth Xand," she said, flipping the page of the menu and trying to find
something suitable to eat. "Do you know what you want?" she asked, after a
minute.
"Yeah, I have it all planned," Xander answered, motioning
over the waitress. "You?"
"Yeah," she said, closing the menu. She
watched as the waitress, whose name she now made out from her nametag as
"Maybelline" walked over to the two of them.
"Y'all ready?" she
asked, smiling as she took the pen from her pocket and poised it over the pad.
"What can I getcha?"
"Um," Buffy said, fiddling with the corners
of the menu, "I'll have a turkey burger with extra tomatoes, a side order of
fries, and a Diet Coke please."
"Good choice," Maybelline said,
smiling as she jotted it all down. "And how about you?" she asked, looking to
Xander.
"I'll take a double cheeseburger, medium well with extra
cheese, an order of fries, a large chocolate shake and a large root beer,"
Xander said, handing the menu back to her.
"Sure got one hell of an
appetite on ya," Maybelline said, winking at Xander. "I'll put these right in.
Kinda dead in here today, so it'll be up soon."
"Thanks," Buffy
said, grinning at Xander as she walked away. "OK, number one she is totally
flirting with you, and number two, you know you're going to have to doggy bag
half of that, right?"
"Au contraire, mon cherie," Xander said,
smiling at her. "You underestimate the depths of my hunger."
"I
guess so," Buffy said. She turned to stare out the window at the cars passing by
on the expressway. Night was falling, and Buffy always started to feel that itch
inside her to get out and do something. Only here, Buffy wouldn't know where to
start.
"Why the long face?" Xander asked, smiling at Maybelline as she
placed their sodas in front of them. "Wishing you got the Diet Pepsi, aren't
you?" he jokingly asked.
She took a deep breath and turned back to
Xander. "I think we should go home."
"What?" Xander asked,
surprised by her comment. "Why?"
"Xander, come on. Let's face
facts. We have no idea where we're going, we're using money I borrowed from
Angel, and there are probably vamps and demons partying it up back home while
I'm away. It's selfish to go off looking for him," she said, sighing. "I just
have to accept that I've lost him."
"What about your dreams?"
Xander asked, frowning at his friend.
"I couldn't save him
anyway," she answered, taking a sip of her soda and trying to bite back the
sadness and anger that came with that statement. "I just think- I don't know,"
she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Maybe we should just give up."
"Buffy," Xander started, trying to, for once, plan what he was going to
say before he said it. "You're scared. I know you are. There's so many chances
that this can go wrong."
"OK, if this is your talk to make me
change my mind, may I say you suck at it?" she said, smiling a little.
"Anyway," he said, fiddling with his straw. "So maybe there's this
chance that you won't save him, or that he'll turn you away, and that's scary as
hell, I know. But Buffy- there's also this chance that you'll find him and
things will go right. Isn't that what The Host said? That you two belong
together?"
"I guess," she admitted, folding her arms. "It's
just-"
"Buffy," he said, cutting her off. "Listen. I'm not going
to let you back out of this. This is your chance for happiness, and you've
earned it. And you know what? I'm going to make sure that, for once, you get
it."
"Aw, that's sure sweet," Maybelline said, cutting Buffy off
before she could say anything. "Sure got yourself a mighty fine boyfriend here,"
she said, placing their food down in front of them.
"Oh," Buffy
said, smiling. "He's not my boyfriend."
"Ah," Maybelline said,
winking again at Xander. "Now is that a fact?"
"Thanks," Xander
said, struggling not to laugh. He picked up a French fry and plopped it into his
mouth. Another two or three soon followed.
After the waitress
left, Buffy stared at Xander, not even touching her own food.
"What?" Xander asked, looking at her. "I told you I was hungry."
"It's not that," Buffy said, smiling. "I kinda love you, you
know?"
"I know," Xander said, the corners of his mouth turning up
into a smile. "Now eat," he ordered, grinning as he took a large bite from his
cheeseburger.
Buffy picked up her turkey burger and took a small
bite from the side. They sat in silence, chewing and swallowing and listening to
the heated conversation at the next table.
"So I told Maria that
if he ever cheated on her again, I'd drive over him with my car," the woman
said, her voice angry.
"Well, the amount of chiquitas Daniel's
been seen with, I'm surprised he doesn't have tire marks on his back already,"
the man said, laughing.
"It's not funny, Juan," the woman said.
"Maria's really hurting. That pendejo is just one step away from a bad
accident."
Buffy chuckled, whispering to Xander, "And you thought
we had problems." He laughed, and she ate another french fry. "What's a pendejo
anyway?"
"Pendejo?" Xander repeated. "Wait. I know this. I took
Spanish, right? I mean, I either slept through it half the time or stared at
Senora Vasquez's sweater, but I should know this, right?"
"You
should," Buffy said. "I, on the other hand, took French, so will not feel bad
that I don't know this."
"I'm thinking- penguin? Or possibly
cheese."
"It means 'dick'," the woman said, turning around. "This
one's funny," she said, pointing at Xander. "Penguin," she repeated, laughing. "
I shouldn't make fun of you tho- don't think they taught 'pendejo' in Spanish
class."
"Oh," Buffy said, smiling sheepishly. "We didn't mean to
eavesdrop."
"It's OK," the woman said. "The more people who know
what a pendejo Daniel is, the better."
"OK," Buffy said, tapping
her forehead. "Got it all marked down in here. Daniel equals big pendejo."
"Good," the woman said, turning back in her seat and picking up her
conversation, this time entirely in Spanish.
Xander laughed at
Buffy, whose face had turned an interesting shade of red. "You know, if it
wasn't for Anya, I'd think of moving here. I'm a big chick magnet," he said,
swallowing the last of his burger.
"Yeah well, I think your
Spanish is a little too rusty for this part of town. You wouldn't know what
anything-"
Buffy stopped suddenly and looked past Xander.
"What's the frequency Buffy?" he asked, snapping his fingers. "You're
having a thought."
"Xander- what if 'hard wood' means something in
another language? I mean, down South there's so many Spanish names and
places."
"Maybe," Xander said, nodding.
Maybelline came
over and took their plates from them. "My, I can't believe you ate all that,"
she said, smiling. "Guess a growing boy needs a lot to keep him happy."
"Uh- yeah," Xander said, starting to grow uncomfortable with
Maybelline's affections. He turned back to Buffy. "Ask them," he said.
"You think?"
"What would it hurt?"
"OK,"
Buffy said, turning around and tapping the woman behind her on the shoulder.
"Hi," she said, waving nervously. "I was hoping you could help my friend and
here with a riddle. Do you have a moment?"
The woman looked Buffy
over and shrugged. "Sure. What's up?"
"Well," Buffy started, "We
were wondering if you could tell us how to say 'hard wood' in Spanish."
"Hard wood?" the woman asked. "What are you- planning on taking a Latin
lover or something?"
Xander couldn't help but laugh. "No," he
said, "we're just trying to fill out a crossword puzzle."
"Ah,"
she said. "It's 'palo duro'."
"Palo duro?" Buffy asked, and the
woman nodded in assent. "Thanks," she said, turning back to Xander. "That mean
anything to you?"
"Not a thing," he said as Maybelline stepped
over to refill his Coke.
"That's like that Palo Duro Canyon in
Texas," she said, placing the bill down in front of Xander. "Went there on my
first honeymoon with Earl. Five months later, the sonofabitch just up and left
me."
Xander's face lit up, and he turned to Buffy and smiled.
"Bingo."
To Be Continued....
