See Prologue For Disclaimer.

Chapter 2
Drunk, Stoned, and stupid

"Uhg, what a day!" Buffy shouted, as she slammed the door behind her. She had expected the rest of the gang to be at the Magic box. She didn't expect Spike to be there, but for some reason she didn't mind it as much as she expected herself to. He was sitting on a stool near the front counter. He wore the same annoyingly smug look, where his lips seem a little puckered and his chin is especially out there, that he always wears when he thinks he has something over her. She ignored him for a while, too annoyed with her day at the Double Meat Palace to deal with him. She looked back to see Anya working on some form or another behind the counter, Xander sitting at the table with Tara, apparently chatting, and Giles (surprise, surprise) reading an ancient text. Only when her sister called out from the loft did she realize she was there.

"What's wrong Buf?" Xander asked.

"Horrible day. Horrible day!" She responded, sitting down at the table next to him, taking the coffee that he offered. "Two people called in sick today. I had to clean out the grease vat, and if it weren't for my personal strength I don't think I could have done it without breaking my arm." She droned on, very annoyed, and leaned back in the chair before leaning her head on Xanders shoulder in a friendly, Too-tired-to-stay-upright kinda way. "Or my bosses neck." She added in an undertone.

"Well, I'd offer to arrange that for you, but, you understand, luv." Spike quipped in an offhanded manner, though his eyes did flash a bit when she laid her head on Xanders shoulder.

"Damn, I might have taken you up on that." She joked back in a dead pan tone, apparently too tired to realize that she was being friendly with Spike. "There were these two assholes who came in a few hours ago, and they were annoying as hell. Well one of the, anyway. Kept shouting about why there wasn't a computer in the Double Meat Palace, an how he wishes there were a Mooby Burger. This other one kept checking me out too." She took a long sip of coffee, registered the fact that Xander was patting her head in a gesture of (what he must have thought was humorous) sympathy. She saw that Tara didn't really seem to listening, more likely she was waiting for Willow. She saw the little flash in Spikes eyes at the mention of the latter guy checking her out, then she tried not to think along those lines. She couldn't see her sister nearby, and Anya and Giles were too busy working to Sympathize. Not that she really needed it. "What I could do with right now is a beer and a day and a half of sleep."

"Well, I would be happy to assist you on that point." Xander piped up. "Fore I am Payday Man!"

They continued to plan a happy excursion to one of the few decent bars that Sunnydale supported, while outside, Jay, Willow, And Bob approached. Willow had been speaking aimlessly, trying to draw out information from Jay about their background as far as magic goes, but she'd had a little trouble understanding what he was saying. They walked up to the shop and willow moved to open the door. Jay tapped Bobs arm to get his attention. "The Magic box? Man, that's shit's messed up, man. Snoogans." They went in, and Jay looked around. He was a little surprised at all the books and such, but then he figured it was just a front. They stood at the front for a few moments, taking in the sight of the place. They saw Spike at the counter, Anya and Giles behind it, and Buffy, Xander, and Tara at the table.

Willow said her various hello's, and motioned for them to follow her towards the section where the herbs were stored. Jay saw Buffy sitting at the table, though she wasn't facing them, and hadn't looked at them yet. "Yo, Silent Bob!" he whispered smacking his buds arm. "It's that bitch you was checkin out at the Burger joint." Though he needn't have said anything, Bob had already noticed, and motioned for Jay to not call attention to them. He pushed Jay to follow Willow, while he moved to a nearby shelf, so as he might not be seen by Buffy. He was really blushing now, and he was thankful for his beard. And when he moved over to one of the shelves to hid his face, Jay moved on towards the back of the store, and turned the corner Willow pointed to.

"Right behind there, Jay." She said, moving back towards her friends.

"Aw, thanks man. I thought for a while this town was gonna be like a little Shermeran. Good thing we ran into each other, kicked some ass while we's at it. Baaang." He muttered, moving around the corner. And Willow moved away, completely confused by that statement.

At the sound of his voice, Buffy's eyes snapped open and her head shot up straight. "Oh, no." she mumbled.

"What's wrong Buf?" Xander asked quietly.

"It's that asshole I was talking about. The one from work." Willow came over and sat down at the table. She was obviously about to talk to Tara, and only looked interested in talking to Tara, but Buffy grabbed her arm. "When did he get here? Did he like, follow me here?" She asked, while here eyes moved around, looking to see if Bob was here. She caught him sneaking a glance at her over a line of books, and when their eyes met, his darted away.

"Huh? No." A confused Willow answered. "We met up in the Park. Actually, I was attacked by some vampires." She lowered her voice, even though there was nobody else in the store except people she thought knew about these things. "These guys showed up and kinda saved me."

"Oh my god, Are you alright?" Tara asked, a thin layer of fear in her voice.

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks to them." Willow said with a bit of admiration in her voice. "These guys took them out like it was nothing. It was kinda weird. I mean, I think they're from out of town. They asked me if there was someplace in town where they could get some supplies. Herbs and stuff. I think they're pretty big into Magic, Jay, He's the Blonde one, He dusted one without breaking a sweat."

"How many were there?" Buffy asked, her voice filled with interest. Somehow, when he'd been making an ass of himself at the Double Meat Palace, She hadn't pictured Jay as being the into-magic type.

"Four. And they took'm down quick. Well, two of them anyway. But they went down quick. But here's the weird part: They didn't use spikes or crosses or anything. As far as I can tell, none of the classic weapons. It's like they beat them to death."

"Huh?" Buffy grunted, and she was going to inquire further, But then Jay came back around the corner of the shelf, Smiled, nodded, and winked at Willow, Tara, and Buffy, respectively, and moved back to Bob.

"Lunchbox, man, I just remembered, I got a full bag in my Tote Bag. But we left it in that alley by the train station. But I donno if I got any rolling papers. Do you?" Bob nodded and they moved back to the table to say goodbye to Willow, And Bob was pointedly not looking at Buffy.

Jay and Silent Bob stood before the table, still largely ignored by Giles, and Anya. They had the full attention of the others however. Spike looked at them suspiciously from behind them. Jay stood somewhat slackly, while Bob seemed nervous, even antsy. His eyes darted around, while his cheeks got steadily redder. This somewhat amused Buffy, though the others didn't seem to notice. Willow looked up at them with admiration after a fashion, while Tara and Xander looked up at them in respectable interest. Dawn had, in fact, noticed the excessive cursing, and come to the edge of the loft, looking down upon the group. She happened to notice the way that Bob was shifty-eyed.

"Yeah, well, Me and Silent Bob here just remembered that we had some, uh, supplies already with us, but we just didn't remember to bring'm with us from the train station. So I guess we're gonna go get'em." Jay said, sounding rather bored and seeming to enjoy the female company though.

"Yeah, um, Jay is it?" Buffy asked. He nodded. "Well, we were just headed out too, I guess. Willow tells us you guys beat of a few nasties earlier. You have much experience with that stuff?" She asked in an off hand manner.

Jay looked to Silent Bob, who nodded in somewhat agreement. "Yeah, we've dealt with some crazy shit some times. This one time we beat the crap out some fuckin Demonic punks on roller blades, but that's a long story. Then we fuckin messed up these two motha fuckin dicks with wings, but that's fuckin intense. I aughta tell ya about it sometime." He stood there nodding, pleased with himself, while Silent Bob smiling in agreement, and everybody else fairly confused. Buffy was just about to say 'huh?' when Tara interrupted.

"But you're experienced in fighting with vampires? Willow tells us you guys made pretty short work of them. Have you seen a lot of them?"

Jay obviously assumed that She was talking about vampire cults, and he'd dealt with the crazy folk who cropped up in such groups. "Yeah, those stupid damn blood drinkin mother fuckers. Me and Lunchbox here dealt with some'a those pale cocksuckers back in Jersey. Damn Faggots, every one of'em. But me and Bob know how to deal with those mother Fuckers, don't we Silent Bob?" He looked to his friend, who smiled, nodding. They hit the tops and bottoms of each others fists. "Snoogans." Jay muttered.

Spike looked entirely brassed off at these comments an, if not for the chip in his head, he surely would have had several words to say about it. This seemed slightly humorous to Buffy and Tara, and downright hilarious to Xander. No doubt it only added to the humor that Spike was annoyed so. "Hahaha" Xander laughed in the stupid, ear-to-ear grin that he'd used seldom since Highschool. "I like these guys."

He gave a high five with Silent Bob an Jay nodded, muttering, "Word."

"So you two are from New Jersey?" Willow asked, the four locals rising from their respective seats, preparing to go out for a round or two.

"Damn straight. Garden state like a maw fucker!" Jay shouted

Willow scowled at the gratuitous cursing, then asked "How long are you guys here for?"

Jay seemed at a lose for a moment, then turned to Bob. "Dude lemme see the tickets." Bob pulled them out of an inner coat pocket and they examined them. "We've got a three day layover. Damn, that means we're gonna have to get a hotel room."he said to himself as much as anyone else.

The group began moving towards the door, and Silent Bob moved forward to open the door, and hold it open for Buffy and then the others. He smiled wide as she passed, thanking him sheepishly. He frowned as Spike passed scowling thoroughly. They walked out into the street in front of the Magic box. Jay and Silent Bob said their goodbyes to the Large group, and watched as the others walked off into the city. Jay noticed how Willow and Tara held hands walking away, indicated this to Bob silently. He raised his hand to his mouth, making a little space between his pointer and middle fingers, slipping his tongue in and out, grinning. Bob smacked his shoulder, and they walked through the park towards the train station.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Across town, in a dank room, an exceedingly old man stood nervously, surrounded by younger, dangerous looking men. The largest of them asked the old man. "Where is he?"

His impatience was obvious, and the old man obviously had some fear of the young man. "I don't know. He told me that he would be here by now. Who knows? Maybe the Slayer got to him. This is Sunnydale, and he is a vampire after all. Or maybe his train is just late." This old man was the warlock that Joreck was to meet. And the young men were the troop of vampires that were going to ambush Joreck and steal the Talisman. They had paid rather greatly for the privilege to do so. Paid this old man, that it is. "Maybe you should send some people out to find him. I'm told he is usually punctual."

"We've already got people on the look out. He was seen exiting the train. One of our people saw him. We know he is in town somewhere."

"Than maybe the slayer did get him." The old man said depressedly.

"I hope she didn't." The young vampire spoke, "For her sake." As he stepped out of the dark room into the night followed by a half dozen others.



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Reveiws Appreciated, Even flames.... (I'm that lonely.;) )
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