Part 12

Dawn walked through the cafeteria holding her lunch tray, and moved to sit at a small table across from Janice.

"Hey Dawn, over here!" Chelsea was waving to her.

Dawn shook her head. "No thanks!" and motioned to her friend.

"She can come over too! Missy was just leaving." Chelsea nudged Missy, who dropped her jaw in consternation. Chelsea leaned over to whisper to her, "At least move your butt over. We can get the goods from Dawn."

Dawn and Janice reluctantly rose and joined Chelsea and Missy. There were two other girls already sitting there who looked extremely interested in Dawn.

"So!" Missy squeaked. "Chelsea said she was at your house and that your sister was on a date with Mr. Browning." The girl's eyes had a rabid glow.

"No." Dawn shook her head. "It wasn't a date. Buffy just lost her job and they were discussing a new, um, job possibility."

"Right!" Chelsea uttered a dry laugh. "Sunnydale doesn't even have an archery team. That was so lame! Besides, "She nodded sagely. "He called you Dawn."

"What?" Dawn's eyes widened.

"Don't forget your homework Dawn." Chelsea mimicked in a bad English accent.

"Oh, that." Dawn fumbled for an explanation. "Well, OK then. He's just an old family friend that we knew from. from Los Angeles. And Buffy didn't want anyone to think I was getting special favors."

"Then why didn't she just tell us that instead of making up that stupid paintball story?"

Dawn squirmed uncomfortably. "I. I don't know."

"Look." Janice pointed at the doorway. "There they are now."

Dawn looked over to find Buffy and William in deep conversation just outside the cafeteria. She glanced uncertainly at her classmates then rose and made her way over to the two adults. "What are you two doing?" She hissed.

"And I'm glad to see you too!" Buffy was taken aback.

"Buffy!" Dawn whined. "How am I supposed to act like I don't know him and that you two aren't involved if you keep showing up together?" She looked from Buffy to William, then back to Buffy again. "Everybody is driving me nuts asking questions about you two, so I lie to them so nobody thinks anything goofy is going on, then you do stuff like this, and everybody knows I'm lying, then they really think something is up. Give me a break!"

"I'm sorry Dawn." Buffy looked at her apologetically. "I was just in the neighborhood looking for job possibilities. I heard that Pasta Shack had openings. Anyway, I had a thought about this Doc business and thought I'd discuss it with William."

"Well thanks for waiting for a less conspicuous time and place to discuss the freaky lizard demon guy. What if someone overheard you?"

"You're lecturing me now?"

William interrupted. "Perhaps it would be best if we moved this inside and out of the hallway." He gestured into the cafeteria.

"And I guess it's time for me to do a little damage control." Buffy sighed. "Come on Dawn. Let's go save some face." The three walked back to the table of girls, who hadn't taken their eyes from them.

"Hi." Buffy began. "I guess you guys have been wondering why I've been hanging around the school, huh?"

The girls looked at one another and giggled.

"Well," She continued. "I really wasn't talking to Mr. Browning about coaching, or about Dawn's grades."

Chelsea leaned back and crossed her arms, smirking. Missy just stared at William with an adoring glow.

Buffy wrung her hands nervously then motioned toward William. "It's just that, he's an old, um. Well he's sort of." She looked to him for help, her eyes pleading with him to come up with a plausible explanation.

He raised and eyebrow at her. "Continue Miss Summers. You're doing well."

She was tempted to stomp on his foot, but instead forced a smile back onto her face. She put her hand through the crook of his arm and turned to the girls. "He's my boyfriend." She looked at him with a spiteful gleam in her eyes. "Aren't you, dear?" She gritted out between clenched teeth.

"Yeah, right!" He tried not to laugh.

"What?" Dawn exclaimed.

"I knew it!" Chelsea was ecstatic.

"Oh." Missy looked ready to swoon.

The other three girls at the table were owl-eyed. They couldn't believe they were in on the Sunnydale High story of the year.

Buffy patted his arm. Hard. "Well, sugar plum and I have some personal things we need to discuss, so we'll be going now."

William nodded his head, "Ladies." Then allowed Buffy to drag him from the room. "Well that was just bloody brilliant!" He stated once they were out of sight and pulled his arm away. "That's certain to squelch all the gossip."

"At least Dawn doesn't have to make up any more lies."

"No, she can just keep talking about your little fabrication!"

"I didn't see you coming up with anything helpful."

"You're the only woman I know that calls someone a boyfriend once she stops sleeping with him."

"Do you think you could say that a little bit louder? There are probably about two or three-hundred students that didn't hear that."

"So now you're ashamed that you're not shagging me?"

"No. I'm ashamed that I didn't stake you five years ago."

"Believe me sweetheart, putting up with your idea of a relationship makes staking look like a walk on the bloody beach."

"Well that's not your problem any more, is it?"

"Apparently it is now, thanks to your little revelation in there."

"Look, I don't know what else to say. Just. deal."

"Easy for you to say. You don't have to spend the next hour trying to teach American Literature to a bunch of horny adolescents."

"Well." Buffy grasped for a way to put a good spin on the situation. "Maybe they'll back off now that they know you're taken." She looked at her watch. "Hey, I've gotta go. I have a job interview in ten minutes." She started down the call, then called back to him. "I'll meet you after school Honey. We'll take care of that little Doctor problem then, OK?" She stopped and blew him a kiss.

He would have gladly throttled her.

***** Two and a half hours later Buffy, Dawn and William were standing outside a dark little shop in an alley.

"This is where it was." William glanced up and checked the address again. "Looks deserted now."

"Ugh." Dawn shivered. "This place gives me the creeps."

Buffy stepped into the alley and scanned it up and down. "I don't see anything. We'd better look inside." She nodded to William. He reached into the pocket of his slacks and brought out a lock pick.

"You can still do that?" Dawn questioned.

"Being souled doesn't make a fellow forget about a hundred and twenty odd years of petty larceny." He muttered as he worked the lock.

"Doesn't make him any faster either." Buffy observed.

He turned the knob, then stood and held the door open for the two girls. "I get the job done."

"Eventually." Buffy brushed passed him. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim interior of the shop. It was mostly deserted, except for some stray papers and a few old books. She stepped down from the small landing, closely followed by Dawn and William. "So this is where you dragged my little sister to in the middle of the night?"

William didn't answer her, but walked to the adjoining room to see if there were any signs of the Time Wizard remaining there. Except for dust, the place was clean. "Anything out there?" He called over his shoulder.

"No. Nothing." Buffy continued to glance around, but knew they wouldn't be picking up any leads there today.

"Where to next?" Dawn asked.

"There's a new demon hangout in town." William told them. "I'll go ask around there."

"Oh Buffy, can I go. please?" Dawn begged her sister. "A new demon place! It's probably pretty cool."

"OK." Buffy agreed.

William opened the door. "After you, ladies."

***** Dawn looked around in wonder as the three approached the strange bistro. "You know," she said to Buffy, "I've been by this place dozens of times. How come I never noticed it was a demon hangout?"

Buffy glanced over at her and smiled. "Just the way things work in Sunnydale."

"There he is." William gestured toward his loose skinned friend.

Dawn trotted over. "Hey Clem!"

Clem jumped, knocking the small round table over and spilling his drink. "Whoa there!" He yelled, then turned to see who had called him. "Dawn! Hey."

"Hi Clem." Buffy waved.

"Slayer." He nodded his head, then looked over at William. "Hey are you two back together?"

"No!" The both answered.

"Oh yeah. I see." Clem scratched his head. "Well here." He bent down to set the table up. "Have a seat everyone." He was short a chair, so he walked over to a table occupied by two Chaos demons, and with a fangy growl, borrowed a chair from them and gave it to William. "So, what brings you here today?"

Buffy leaned over to speak to him in a low tone. "We're looking for some information. Have you heard any talk lately about a Time Wizard being in town?"

"Oh, you mean Doc." Clem nodded.

"You know him?" William asked.

"Hey, you know me. I get around." Clem shrugged his shoulders modestly.

"What can you tell us about him?" Buffy wanted to know.

"He comes and goes." Clem related. "Sometimes I do some odd jobs for him, just to earn a few bucks. Hey!" He pointed at William. "Remember those cute demon eggs I asked you to hold for me about six months ago?" Clem chuckled. "Of course you remember. You had that freak explosion that wiped out your downstairs."

Buffy looked up, startled.

"Yeah." William nodded. "You mean the harmless little Suvolte eggs?"

"No." Clem shook his head. "They weren't Suvolte. Those things are dangerous. You've got to keep them frozen."

"Found that out the hard way." William muttered.

Buffy glanced down.

"Hey!" Clem was apologetic. "Doc's always seemed like such a decent sort. I had no idea he was dealing in the Suvolte trade. You shoulda told me."

"Had other things on my mind after that. Have you seen him around lately?"

"Oh, let's see." Clem inclined his head and scratched his ear. "I saw him a three or four weeks ago." He pointed at William. "The same day you came back."

"Where?" William questioned him.

"Right here." Clem motioned over his shoulder with his thumb. "When you left he came over and sat down."

"You talked to him?" Dawn blurted out.

"Sure. I talk to everybody."

Buffy shook her head. "What did you discuss."

"Lots of things. Hmm. Let me see." Clem drummed his fingers on the tabletop. "There was the menu. He's a picky eater and wanted to know where the horseflies were imported from." Clem nodded. "Then the weather." Clem laughed. "Demons always want to talk about the weather."

Buffy tapped her foot impatiently. They were close to information, and she wanted some answers. "Anything else."

"Oh yeah! We talked about him." He motioned to William.

"What about me?"

"He asked me who my friend was." At the alarmed look on William's face, Clem rushed to reassure him. "Don't worry. I didn't tell him anything." Clem shook his head, sending his ears flopping. "I told him you were just a friend from out of town here for a short visit. I even made up a name for you." Clem smiled proudly. "I told him your name was Rocko."