The Long Summer 4/?
There were a dozen police cars littering the area around the worksite when Xander arrived at seven. He picked up his Styrofoam coffee cup and slid out from behind the driver's wheel. A uniformed officer was already approaching him.
"Stay with your car, please sir." The officer informed him. "Site's closed for an investigation."
"Investigation?" Xander asked dumbly, his mind still numb with sleep. He sipped the scalding ink that passed for coffee and stared at the officer with bloodshot eyes.
"Crew chief is on his way, just hang out here. Hopefully we'll clear out soon." The officer tipped his hat and wandered back to where there was yellow tape informing everyone that it was a police line, don't cross.
Xander sighed and leaned back against the hood of the car. A voice behind made him yelp and dump part of the coffee down his shirt. "Don't do that!" He sputtered as he pulled the scalding cotton away from his skin and gave Dawn a half-glare as she circled around to join him.
"Sorry." She said sheepishly. "I was just waiting across the street when I saw you pull up."
"Why were you waiting across the street?" Xander asked.
"Because Buffy told me too." Dawn shrugged. "We were patrolling and there was some grand party going on here last night. Took her a long time to clean it out and then the cops flooded the place an hour ago."
"Where's Buff now?" Xander started searching the site, but all he could see were uniformed officers moving around and eventually the familiar face of his crew chief appeared among them.
"She went down in the excavation site." Dawn was speaking in a lower tone of voice. "A gesundheit demon or something like that. It tried to slither down there and she followed it. She wouldn't let me go though, said I wasn't ready to fight one of those yet."
"Oh well, who is?" His tone was dry and weary. "She'll be fine, probably won't come back up this way. Or at least, I can't imagine she will with all this going on. Why don't you go ahead and go home?"
"Cause she told me to wait." Dawn said matter-of-factly. "And while I'm here, how come you haven't called us back?"
"Huh?" A dull headache was starting to thump behind his eyes and all he really wanted to do was get started on the site for the day. He could see Bert pulling up in his beaten up Volkswagen. He parked a few feet from Xander's truck and was eyeing the site with a frown. Xander waved him to stay in his car and took another drink of his coffee. His shirt was a wash, but h e just ignored the sticky feeling of it clingy to his chest.
"You know. Phone. Pick up. Dial?" Dawn prodded him with a finger. "I left three messages this week, but you haven't called back."
"Been busy and I haven't picked up my messages." Xander lied. "Sorry."
"Well, wanted to ask you over for dinner this weekend. Buffy is going to try cooking again." Dawn snorted with laughter. "She's been practicing. Actually made something that didn't burn the other day, but it was still a little raw in the middle."
"Can't, Dawnie. Gotta work."
"All weekend?"
His response was cut off when the crew chief bellowed his name. He waved a hand at Dawn and pushed away from the truck. Ducking under the police tape, he headed over to his boss.
"Get your crew lined up Harris, soon as the cops clear out, you boys can get to work." His gruff voice lacked its usual sourness.
"What happened?"
"Couple of kids decided to romp in the site last night. Made a hell of a mess." His expression soured now. "One of them got impaled for his trouble, not that it'll be any comfort to his parents."
They were close to the site now and only years of experiences with corpses kept Xander's coffee in his stomach. A coroner's crew was removing a teenager from a six-foot piece of rebar. It had punctured him in the chest, not that there was much of his chest left.
He looked like he'd been eaten.
A flash replayed through his mind of looking through shattered stairs to Cordelia lying below, rebar punched through her side. He sighed at the mental imagery and shook it off. He took a long swallow of coffee and tried to pay attention to whatever the crew chief was muttering.
"I'll get a power wash crew in. You focus on cleaning up, getting the site prep done. This will put us a few days behind, but I got confidence in you Harris." He slapped Xander's shoulder and moved off. Xander glanced away from the site and saw Dawn joined by Buffy across the street. Buffy mimed a phone with her thumb and pinky, and then nudged Dawn into walking away.
Xander sighed.
Just another day on the hellmouth.
There were a dozen police cars littering the area around the worksite when Xander arrived at seven. He picked up his Styrofoam coffee cup and slid out from behind the driver's wheel. A uniformed officer was already approaching him.
"Stay with your car, please sir." The officer informed him. "Site's closed for an investigation."
"Investigation?" Xander asked dumbly, his mind still numb with sleep. He sipped the scalding ink that passed for coffee and stared at the officer with bloodshot eyes.
"Crew chief is on his way, just hang out here. Hopefully we'll clear out soon." The officer tipped his hat and wandered back to where there was yellow tape informing everyone that it was a police line, don't cross.
Xander sighed and leaned back against the hood of the car. A voice behind made him yelp and dump part of the coffee down his shirt. "Don't do that!" He sputtered as he pulled the scalding cotton away from his skin and gave Dawn a half-glare as she circled around to join him.
"Sorry." She said sheepishly. "I was just waiting across the street when I saw you pull up."
"Why were you waiting across the street?" Xander asked.
"Because Buffy told me too." Dawn shrugged. "We were patrolling and there was some grand party going on here last night. Took her a long time to clean it out and then the cops flooded the place an hour ago."
"Where's Buff now?" Xander started searching the site, but all he could see were uniformed officers moving around and eventually the familiar face of his crew chief appeared among them.
"She went down in the excavation site." Dawn was speaking in a lower tone of voice. "A gesundheit demon or something like that. It tried to slither down there and she followed it. She wouldn't let me go though, said I wasn't ready to fight one of those yet."
"Oh well, who is?" His tone was dry and weary. "She'll be fine, probably won't come back up this way. Or at least, I can't imagine she will with all this going on. Why don't you go ahead and go home?"
"Cause she told me to wait." Dawn said matter-of-factly. "And while I'm here, how come you haven't called us back?"
"Huh?" A dull headache was starting to thump behind his eyes and all he really wanted to do was get started on the site for the day. He could see Bert pulling up in his beaten up Volkswagen. He parked a few feet from Xander's truck and was eyeing the site with a frown. Xander waved him to stay in his car and took another drink of his coffee. His shirt was a wash, but h e just ignored the sticky feeling of it clingy to his chest.
"You know. Phone. Pick up. Dial?" Dawn prodded him with a finger. "I left three messages this week, but you haven't called back."
"Been busy and I haven't picked up my messages." Xander lied. "Sorry."
"Well, wanted to ask you over for dinner this weekend. Buffy is going to try cooking again." Dawn snorted with laughter. "She's been practicing. Actually made something that didn't burn the other day, but it was still a little raw in the middle."
"Can't, Dawnie. Gotta work."
"All weekend?"
His response was cut off when the crew chief bellowed his name. He waved a hand at Dawn and pushed away from the truck. Ducking under the police tape, he headed over to his boss.
"Get your crew lined up Harris, soon as the cops clear out, you boys can get to work." His gruff voice lacked its usual sourness.
"What happened?"
"Couple of kids decided to romp in the site last night. Made a hell of a mess." His expression soured now. "One of them got impaled for his trouble, not that it'll be any comfort to his parents."
They were close to the site now and only years of experiences with corpses kept Xander's coffee in his stomach. A coroner's crew was removing a teenager from a six-foot piece of rebar. It had punctured him in the chest, not that there was much of his chest left.
He looked like he'd been eaten.
A flash replayed through his mind of looking through shattered stairs to Cordelia lying below, rebar punched through her side. He sighed at the mental imagery and shook it off. He took a long swallow of coffee and tried to pay attention to whatever the crew chief was muttering.
"I'll get a power wash crew in. You focus on cleaning up, getting the site prep done. This will put us a few days behind, but I got confidence in you Harris." He slapped Xander's shoulder and moved off. Xander glanced away from the site and saw Dawn joined by Buffy across the street. Buffy mimed a phone with her thumb and pinky, and then nudged Dawn into walking away.
Xander sighed.
Just another day on the hellmouth.