Chapter 6 -Impatiens and negativity = Bad things.
The cafeteria was bright and had pale blue walls, and big windows. The small tables that was spread out in the large room all had a vase with beautiful flowers in them and almost all of the tables where already taken. It was quite an opposite with what they'd seen before in the building. Xander and Anya sat next to Nils at a table in one of the corners, just in front of a window, giving them a perfect view of the yard outside. It was now hidden under snow, but the many leafless trees and bushes indicated that it was quite beautiful during the summer.
They had been sitting there for at least twenty minutes, and all their attempts at getting Nils to talk about the grave matters that had brought them there had failed.
Xander had found himself almost starting to like the place, even though it was very cold --the warm coffee and the delicious cookies were definitely a plus.
Finally the Swede decided that it was time to talk.
"All right, let's get to business, shall we? I hear you've just come from America. Sunnydale to be more exact, if I'm not mistaken."
Xander and Anya nodded in response and waited for him to continue. Nils smiled his polite smile and took a sip from his coffee.
"You have closed the Hellmouth there haven't you? The council told us some things about what you have accomplished over there, but not very much. We've been on a 'Need to know' basis all along, I'm afraid."
Xander was hesitant about telling a complete stranger about what they'd done in the past, but unfortunately, Anya wasn't.
"Yes, that's right! We've been really busy. I wasn't around at the time they closed the hellmouth, only Buffy, Xander and some others where."
Nils nodded and gazed at her curiously.
"Buffy? Is she that Slayer I've heard about?" he asked.
"Yep," Anya replied. "All super strength and all that."
"Anya!" Xander whispered. "We don't know him, don't tell him anything before we know more about this place."
Anya scowled at him.
"Who died and made you the boss? I thought Buffy was the one calling all the shots here," she said harshly.
Xander groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Look, soldier boy. This is the deal. You tell us what we need to hear, and we tell you something about us, okay?" he said sternly.
Nils shrugged and didn't seem at all affected by Xanders bad mood.
"Sure. What do you what to know?" he said.
Xander looked at him surprised, not expecting things to go that easily.
"All right, who's the boss around here?" he asked.
"My brother," Nils replied. "Marcus. He decides who goes where, and does what. He also takes care of the economic parts of this organization. Unfortunately we don't get this place for free we have to survive on the money we get from the more wealthy people around here that pays us for protecting their property and the aid we get from the council. They have been a huge help."
"What?" Anya exclaimed. "You get money from the council? Why don't I get money from them, Xander? I help them too."
Her ex-fiancé rolled his eyes and ignored her.
"When did you start this place?" he asked.
Nils thought about it for a moment before answering.
"My brother was about to start a firm that would rent out security guards and things like that about five months ago, and about the same time small children started disappearing, the police had no clue about what had happened to them. Then rumors about mystical creatures that had been seen in the woods began to spread, and a woman living in the outskirts of the town began telling stories about something called a Hellmouth. "At first no one believed her, but then one day a whole family was slaughtered in their home. There was no way a human being could have done it, they where totally drained from blood and they had small wounds on their necks. That was the first time I actually began to believe in the rumours, and I visited the woman. She told me that vampires and demons existed, and if we didn't do anything about it, we would all die. Shortly afterwards the council contacted my brother, and he and a man from the council began training his employees at killing vampires and demons."
Anya and Xander had been listening closely at what Nils had been telling them.
"How many are you?" Anya asked after a while.
"Last we counted we where almost fifty, but I imagine we're a little less now. We've had casualties."
"What? Your soldiers met some vamp that was to strong for them, or something?" Xander said bitingly.
Nils sighed in annoyance, clearly starting to get enough of Xander.
"We're not soldiers, we are just people trying to protect our family's and friends form danger."
"Fine," Xander said. "Whatever you say."
Anya rolled her eyes and leaned in closer to the blond.
"This is a more personal question, when you say family, does that include a wife, or maybe a girlfriend.?" she asked softly.
Xander stared at her in shock.
"Anya! What the hell are you doing? You can't flirt with this guy, you've just met him, he can be some sort of demon freak that is just pretending to be on our side so that he can eat us for desert later!"
"Thank you very much for the vote of confidence," Nils said angrily to Xander. Then he turned to Anya and his expression and voice changed. "And no, I'm single."
Anya smiled at him and leaned even closer.
"You want to eat dinner with me later or something, after Xander's left I mean," she asked.
Xander gasped for air and looked at her in disbelief.
"Your doing this to make me jealous, aren't you? Please god, say you are!" he said.
The vengeance demon punched him on the arm mildly, but hard enough to bruise.
"You really are self-centered, aren't you? I am SO over you, Xander."
Xander got up from his chair violently, drawing the attention of all the others in the cafeteria.
"Fine! You can flirt with anyone you want, I don't care." Then he stalked out of the room angrily, leaving Anya alone with Nils.
They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a long while before Nils finally said something.
"So, I'm guessing the two of you have some history?" he said hesitantly.
~*~
Willow sat in the backseat listening to what Alexandra and Giles were talking about. She was hungry, even though they'd just left a café-he hadn't been able to eat one bit. Here mind was racing between the past and the present. She could see images of Tara as clearly as if her lover had been sitting next to her, but at the same time she could hear the soft and melodic voice of the blond girl sitting in front of her in the car talking to Giles.
"God, what should I do?" she asked herself, not realizing that she'd said it out load until Giles turned to her.
"Do about what?" he asked. "Something wrong?"
Willow looked at him unsure what to say- from the moment she'd laid eyes on Alexandra her mind had been running back and forth, leaving her confused.
"Nothing," she mumbled before blushing. "I was just thinking."
Giles looked at her oddly before returning to the Swedish girl driving the car.
"Is it much further to you're ant?" he asked.
Alexandra thought about it for a minute.
"No, we should be there within five minutes at most. Just be patient."
The Watcher nodded absently and seemed to be deep in thought. From that moment they where all silent until they arrived at Anna's house.
Willow admired the small house, it looked very neat and homey.
"Do you live her too?" she asked Alexandra.
The girl smiled at her as she got out of the car.
"No, I moved out last year. But I still visit as often as I can, this will always be my favorite place."
"I can understand that," Willow said softly.
A woman Willow hadn't noticed before walked up to them and greeted Alexandra with a hug. The witch thought she looked very young until she saw her eyes, they looked like they'd seen more then you could ever imagine and where very wise.
"Hello, my dear witch. I've been expecting you," she said to Willow. Her smile was very pleasant, and Willow found herself immediately liking the woman.
"Hi, I'm guessing you're Anna?" she replied, shaking the outstretched hand.
Anna nodded before turning to Giles.
"And you my dear Watcher, you are late," she said to him with a serious tone.
"I beg you're pardon?" Giles said confusedly.
Anna gave him a warm-less smile and motioned them to follow her inside.
"I have coffee and cookies," she said with her back turned to them. "You're friends are waiting inside."
It took Willow a while to understand who the seer meant, but then she remembered.
"Oh, they're still here? Did you tell them anything that could be of help to us?" she asked.
"I might, but only if they choose to do as I've advised," she answered.
Alexandra laughed and grabbed Willow in the arm.
"That's my aunt, never with the straight, simple answers."
Willow couldn't help but giggle and by the time she and the Swedish girl came into the kitchen they where joking and laughing, not at all depresso- Willow.
"Hi guys," Dawn said cheerfully, getting up from her seat and walking up to the newcomers. She gave Willow a meaningful smile as she said hello to Alexandra. The witch choose to ignore her.
"What have you found out, Buffy?" Giles asked in a serious tone, clearly stating that now's the time for business.
The Slayer sighed and toyed with her cup.
"Just a whole lot of 'Be patient' and 'What you do now will affect the whole future'," she said irritated. "I was hoping for some 'Do this, and all be okay', but I never have such luck."
Anna gave her a stern gaze, clearly not pleased with how Buffy put the things she'd said.
"If you wouldn't have been so negative and impatient you might have seen a lot of clear advises in what I told you, I can only hope that William and your sister wasn't as rash at dismissing it."
A hint of guilt passed over Buffy's expression, but only for a moment. It was quickly replaced with irritation. She would have said some harsh comeback if Spike hadn't laid a hand on her arm to soothe her. She saw that all her friends where looking at her in annoyance, tired of her bickering.
"Fine!" she said, giving up. "Anyone protests if I go for a walk, I need some fresh air. Then maybe all you Patient and Positive people could stay here and continue asking questions to the immortal fortuneteller that won't give me any simple answers."
Nobody had time to respond before she was gone.
TBC
The cafeteria was bright and had pale blue walls, and big windows. The small tables that was spread out in the large room all had a vase with beautiful flowers in them and almost all of the tables where already taken. It was quite an opposite with what they'd seen before in the building. Xander and Anya sat next to Nils at a table in one of the corners, just in front of a window, giving them a perfect view of the yard outside. It was now hidden under snow, but the many leafless trees and bushes indicated that it was quite beautiful during the summer.
They had been sitting there for at least twenty minutes, and all their attempts at getting Nils to talk about the grave matters that had brought them there had failed.
Xander had found himself almost starting to like the place, even though it was very cold --the warm coffee and the delicious cookies were definitely a plus.
Finally the Swede decided that it was time to talk.
"All right, let's get to business, shall we? I hear you've just come from America. Sunnydale to be more exact, if I'm not mistaken."
Xander and Anya nodded in response and waited for him to continue. Nils smiled his polite smile and took a sip from his coffee.
"You have closed the Hellmouth there haven't you? The council told us some things about what you have accomplished over there, but not very much. We've been on a 'Need to know' basis all along, I'm afraid."
Xander was hesitant about telling a complete stranger about what they'd done in the past, but unfortunately, Anya wasn't.
"Yes, that's right! We've been really busy. I wasn't around at the time they closed the hellmouth, only Buffy, Xander and some others where."
Nils nodded and gazed at her curiously.
"Buffy? Is she that Slayer I've heard about?" he asked.
"Yep," Anya replied. "All super strength and all that."
"Anya!" Xander whispered. "We don't know him, don't tell him anything before we know more about this place."
Anya scowled at him.
"Who died and made you the boss? I thought Buffy was the one calling all the shots here," she said harshly.
Xander groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Look, soldier boy. This is the deal. You tell us what we need to hear, and we tell you something about us, okay?" he said sternly.
Nils shrugged and didn't seem at all affected by Xanders bad mood.
"Sure. What do you what to know?" he said.
Xander looked at him surprised, not expecting things to go that easily.
"All right, who's the boss around here?" he asked.
"My brother," Nils replied. "Marcus. He decides who goes where, and does what. He also takes care of the economic parts of this organization. Unfortunately we don't get this place for free we have to survive on the money we get from the more wealthy people around here that pays us for protecting their property and the aid we get from the council. They have been a huge help."
"What?" Anya exclaimed. "You get money from the council? Why don't I get money from them, Xander? I help them too."
Her ex-fiancé rolled his eyes and ignored her.
"When did you start this place?" he asked.
Nils thought about it for a moment before answering.
"My brother was about to start a firm that would rent out security guards and things like that about five months ago, and about the same time small children started disappearing, the police had no clue about what had happened to them. Then rumors about mystical creatures that had been seen in the woods began to spread, and a woman living in the outskirts of the town began telling stories about something called a Hellmouth. "At first no one believed her, but then one day a whole family was slaughtered in their home. There was no way a human being could have done it, they where totally drained from blood and they had small wounds on their necks. That was the first time I actually began to believe in the rumours, and I visited the woman. She told me that vampires and demons existed, and if we didn't do anything about it, we would all die. Shortly afterwards the council contacted my brother, and he and a man from the council began training his employees at killing vampires and demons."
Anya and Xander had been listening closely at what Nils had been telling them.
"How many are you?" Anya asked after a while.
"Last we counted we where almost fifty, but I imagine we're a little less now. We've had casualties."
"What? Your soldiers met some vamp that was to strong for them, or something?" Xander said bitingly.
Nils sighed in annoyance, clearly starting to get enough of Xander.
"We're not soldiers, we are just people trying to protect our family's and friends form danger."
"Fine," Xander said. "Whatever you say."
Anya rolled her eyes and leaned in closer to the blond.
"This is a more personal question, when you say family, does that include a wife, or maybe a girlfriend.?" she asked softly.
Xander stared at her in shock.
"Anya! What the hell are you doing? You can't flirt with this guy, you've just met him, he can be some sort of demon freak that is just pretending to be on our side so that he can eat us for desert later!"
"Thank you very much for the vote of confidence," Nils said angrily to Xander. Then he turned to Anya and his expression and voice changed. "And no, I'm single."
Anya smiled at him and leaned even closer.
"You want to eat dinner with me later or something, after Xander's left I mean," she asked.
Xander gasped for air and looked at her in disbelief.
"Your doing this to make me jealous, aren't you? Please god, say you are!" he said.
The vengeance demon punched him on the arm mildly, but hard enough to bruise.
"You really are self-centered, aren't you? I am SO over you, Xander."
Xander got up from his chair violently, drawing the attention of all the others in the cafeteria.
"Fine! You can flirt with anyone you want, I don't care." Then he stalked out of the room angrily, leaving Anya alone with Nils.
They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a long while before Nils finally said something.
"So, I'm guessing the two of you have some history?" he said hesitantly.
~*~
Willow sat in the backseat listening to what Alexandra and Giles were talking about. She was hungry, even though they'd just left a café-he hadn't been able to eat one bit. Here mind was racing between the past and the present. She could see images of Tara as clearly as if her lover had been sitting next to her, but at the same time she could hear the soft and melodic voice of the blond girl sitting in front of her in the car talking to Giles.
"God, what should I do?" she asked herself, not realizing that she'd said it out load until Giles turned to her.
"Do about what?" he asked. "Something wrong?"
Willow looked at him unsure what to say- from the moment she'd laid eyes on Alexandra her mind had been running back and forth, leaving her confused.
"Nothing," she mumbled before blushing. "I was just thinking."
Giles looked at her oddly before returning to the Swedish girl driving the car.
"Is it much further to you're ant?" he asked.
Alexandra thought about it for a minute.
"No, we should be there within five minutes at most. Just be patient."
The Watcher nodded absently and seemed to be deep in thought. From that moment they where all silent until they arrived at Anna's house.
Willow admired the small house, it looked very neat and homey.
"Do you live her too?" she asked Alexandra.
The girl smiled at her as she got out of the car.
"No, I moved out last year. But I still visit as often as I can, this will always be my favorite place."
"I can understand that," Willow said softly.
A woman Willow hadn't noticed before walked up to them and greeted Alexandra with a hug. The witch thought she looked very young until she saw her eyes, they looked like they'd seen more then you could ever imagine and where very wise.
"Hello, my dear witch. I've been expecting you," she said to Willow. Her smile was very pleasant, and Willow found herself immediately liking the woman.
"Hi, I'm guessing you're Anna?" she replied, shaking the outstretched hand.
Anna nodded before turning to Giles.
"And you my dear Watcher, you are late," she said to him with a serious tone.
"I beg you're pardon?" Giles said confusedly.
Anna gave him a warm-less smile and motioned them to follow her inside.
"I have coffee and cookies," she said with her back turned to them. "You're friends are waiting inside."
It took Willow a while to understand who the seer meant, but then she remembered.
"Oh, they're still here? Did you tell them anything that could be of help to us?" she asked.
"I might, but only if they choose to do as I've advised," she answered.
Alexandra laughed and grabbed Willow in the arm.
"That's my aunt, never with the straight, simple answers."
Willow couldn't help but giggle and by the time she and the Swedish girl came into the kitchen they where joking and laughing, not at all depresso- Willow.
"Hi guys," Dawn said cheerfully, getting up from her seat and walking up to the newcomers. She gave Willow a meaningful smile as she said hello to Alexandra. The witch choose to ignore her.
"What have you found out, Buffy?" Giles asked in a serious tone, clearly stating that now's the time for business.
The Slayer sighed and toyed with her cup.
"Just a whole lot of 'Be patient' and 'What you do now will affect the whole future'," she said irritated. "I was hoping for some 'Do this, and all be okay', but I never have such luck."
Anna gave her a stern gaze, clearly not pleased with how Buffy put the things she'd said.
"If you wouldn't have been so negative and impatient you might have seen a lot of clear advises in what I told you, I can only hope that William and your sister wasn't as rash at dismissing it."
A hint of guilt passed over Buffy's expression, but only for a moment. It was quickly replaced with irritation. She would have said some harsh comeback if Spike hadn't laid a hand on her arm to soothe her. She saw that all her friends where looking at her in annoyance, tired of her bickering.
"Fine!" she said, giving up. "Anyone protests if I go for a walk, I need some fresh air. Then maybe all you Patient and Positive people could stay here and continue asking questions to the immortal fortuneteller that won't give me any simple answers."
Nobody had time to respond before she was gone.
TBC