Part Fifteen: She Was Only a Little Bit Bad
Even when there are no super vampires or machine men or evil Watcher's Council people to contend with, our heroes still have the daily task of vampire population control. This is no small task in itself. A night off is rare especially with that whole army of vampires who surfaced awhile back. They have to feed. The Scooby gang has to stop them.
Despite all the help, Buffy is still the slayer. It is all on her young shoulders. Watching her function at top peak performance most of the time you would never guess she is a young woman barely able to keep her head above water.
Of course she has Xander. Xander is the light that shines in her window every morning and the gentle breeze that puts her to sleep each evening. But, there is one thing about her Xander. Deep within him burns the fire of good and evil, right and wrong.
He knows and follows the script. He has it memorized, backward and forward. It's her script. He is relentless, single-minded. He never wavers, never tires. He is there. Even when he is beaten and battered. When she looks at his body she shudders. He has bruises and scares and welts all over him. He might be special and have that quick healing thing but she knows he feels the pain. He feels the pain of every punch and kick. He hides it from her but she knows.
She is afraid, plain and simple. It is not unreasonable for her to feel insecure. Xander will be there for her no matter what comes after her. He sees it before she does. He feels it before she does. Nobody understands why this does not bring her joy and comfort.
Buffy knows Xander and Giles talk about her. They talk about protecting her and saving her and getting the heat off her. They both agree. Xander is suppose to catch the knife or the bullet or the axe before it gets to her, even if this means catching it with his body.
This causes a tension between them. They can never relax. He's always looking for the next danger and she is always afraid he's going to get killed.
She is not going to live like this. Bullshit!
If mister protector and his middle aged librarian friend want to follow me around and try to keep up with me, so be it. See if they can!
Buffy stands in front of the mirror making some last minute alterations to her "new look". To the unbiased observer the slayer now easily fits Willow's definition of a Skanky ho! Her friends will be shocked to say the least. We will not even go into how Xander will react.
When she walks into the Bronze the crowd parts before her. No head remains unturned. She is the center of attraction.
The newly created blond bombshell saunters up to the bar, ordering a very stiff drink. The bartender is too mystified to object. He pours her order without taking his eyes off of her for a second.
She initially takes a sizable gulp of her heavily alcoholic beverage but then decides to nurse the rest more carefully as she feels the liquid burn it's way through her uninitiated body.
Looking as she does our resident slayer is not alone for long. Some of the tougher elements of the neighborhood make their way toward the "new meat". One such character starts a conversation with her.
"You can't possibly be from around here. No way you could have been here before without me noticing you."
The slayer replies. "Let's just say I was in hiding. Do you want to dance?"
"Well…sure."
They both slide their way to the dance floor. Buffy's new friend talks to the d-jay. A few seconds later they are dancing to a pulsating rhythm. Buffy is moving with troubled abandon.
The first of the Scooby gang to arrive at the Bronze are Willow and Oz. They park at their favorite table. Their attention is immediately drawn to the new girl who is burning up the dance floor with a combination of flagrant flirting and blatant exhibitionism. It is quite an impressive display of sensuality. Willow would call it something else.
"Who is that?"
"I don't know. I can't see her."
"You mean you can't see her face. You can sure see the rest of her."
"I guess she isn't exactly hiding anything."
Willow starts to look at something else but Oz keeps eyeing the blonde. There is something familiar about her. The wolf gets up to get a closer look. When he comes back to the table he has a shocked look on his face.
Willow is not use to seeing her true love as flustered. He is usually cool to the max.
"Oz, are you okay?"
He doesn't know if he should tell his favorite redhead. He begins to think of Xander. He is supposed to meet them later. He says a quick prayer that the Boy Wonder decides to skip it.
Willow is still looking at him. He decides to break it to her. He grabs her by the hand, bringing her closer to Buffy on the dance floor.
"Look around, Willow. Tell me what you see?"
When Willow sees who the blonde bombshell is her mouth falls open. Oz has to lead her back to the table.
"Oh, my God, Oz, it's Buffy! What the hell is she doing?"
"Well, I would say she is letting it all hang out."
"What did Xander do to her?"
Oz is puzzled. "Honey, I don't see Xander around anywhere. In fact I'm hoping he continues to be missing."
"Oz, he must have done something stupid for her to do this."
"I'm sorry, Will, but if you're saying something heavy here I'm missing it. She seems to be doing what she is doing all on her own."
"I didn't think you'd get it. We have to go to her."
Willow gets up. She goes up to the slayer. When the music stops for a second Willow grabs her hand. She looks at Buffy's dancing partner.
"Excuse us!" She brings Buffy over to the table.
"What are you doing, Buffy?"
It is evident Buffy has had a drink or two. "I'm…dancing. And…I'm having fun. Come on Willow. We can burn up this town." She looks at Oz.
"What's the matter, Oz? Get that look off your face. Don't tell me you and the great Boy Wonder didn't ever let it all hang out. All those trips to the underground. Hell, Linda and Stacy and all those other bimbos. Tell us all about it, stud!"
"Xander is coming here tonight. Do you really want him to see you like this?"
This was the wrong thing to say to her. She answers with as much sarcasm as she can muster.
"Oh, no! You mean the great Xander Harris is coming here? Oh, my God what will he say if he sees me like this?"
She goes face to face with Oz. "I'm sure you're going to run right to him to tell him what kind of a bitch I am. Well, tell him for me. I've had enough of his shit. Let him find somebody else to die for. Let him and the great watcher find another chosen one."
For a brief second Buffy begins to break down but she sniffs it back. She goes back to her dance partner. She shakes her considerable booty to the beat of the music. Oz and Willow look at each other.
"Oz, is Xander really suppose to come here, tonight?"
"That's what he said."
As if on cue, Xander comes through the doors looking for his buds or his sweetheart. He spots Willow and Oz. He comes to them. They are both understandably very nervous.
"Hello friends. Have either of you seen our favorite vampire slayer?"
Willow gets up. She stands between Xander and the dance floor. She tries to walk him to towards the door. "Ah…Xander, I think I saw her in the park. Maybe you should look there."
Xander pulls himself away from Willow's grasp. "No, Wills, I think I'll wait for her here."
Buffy is really letting it all hang out with her dance partner. He is practically pawing her.
Xander goes back to the table. He looks at Oz. "What's up with Willow?"
Oz doesn't say anything. Xander looks around. He spots Buffy dancing but doesn't recognize her at first.
"Look at that blonde girl. She looks like an X-rated version of Buffy."
Xander looks at Willow and Oz for a response. From the look on their faces he can tell something is up. He takes another look at the dancers. His mouth drops.
"That's not…" He stands up to get a clearer view. He looks back to his friends.
"Don't tell me that's…"
He can't finish. He peers at Willow. "What's going on, Willow?"
"Xander, I have no idea. But, I wouldn't…"
Before she can finish her sentence Xander is up and on his way to confront his forever love.
Oz looks at Willow.
"This is not going to be pretty." Oz gets up to follow him.
"Where are you going, Oz?"
"To take his back in case he needs it."
Xander approaches Buffy. He stands beside her. When she notices him she steps up her torrid dancing pace. Her dancing partner, a real bad ass by the name of Ron Stephenson, knows Xander.
"What the hell do you want, Harris. Can't you see I'm dancing with this chick?"
Xander ignores him. "Buffy, could I talk to you?"
She ignores him. The bad ass doesn't. "Ah, Harris, do you have a death wish or something?"
"Buffy, I need to talk to you."
The slayer looks at him. "What's the matter, the great Boy Wonder doesn't like what he sees?"
Ron Stephenson is losing his patience. He goes toe to toe with Xander.
"Listen, punk, leave, right now!"
"Ron, this doesn't have anything to do with you, man. This is between her and me.
"Maybe you haven't noticed but she happens to be with me. Besides, your punk ass wouldn't even know what to do with a girl like this." Ron looks at Buffy.
"What do you think? Should I kill him?"
Buffy grabs Ron's hand. "No, I think you and I should get out of here. Do you know any places where there's some adult fun? I'm tired of all this kid stuff."
Buffy and Ron start to walk out the door. Xander is steaming. He runs to them.
"Buffy, what the hell is going on?"
The slayer can't contain her anger. "You can't handle this? I thought you were my great protector. Why don't you get Giles."
"Buffy, have you been drinking?"
"This is the new me, Xander. You think you can keep up with me?"
"I don't understand, Buffy."
"Wow, that's a real revelation."
He tries to warm up to her. "Honey, is this about us getting married?"
"Oh, now you've gone and done it. You said the dirty word. You better watch it. You'll get kicked out of the players club."
Ron grabs Buffy's arm. "Are you going with me or not, sweetheart?"
While this is going on Willow and Oz have suddenly discovered the presence of some of our least favorite creatures of the night. Spike and Drusilla are in the house. Oz turns to Willow.
"I wonder what they want?"
"I don't know, Oz, but it can't be good. You go find out. I'll tell Buffy and Xander!"
Xander and Ron are toe to toe. Buffy went a little too far with her rebellion thing but she is still not going to admit that to Xander. Willow runs up to her.
"Unwanted guests in the house, Buf…or should I call you, Ms. Ho?"
"Very funny, Will. What's up?"
She points to Oz, who is now with Spike and Dru. Buffy tries to shake away the dizziness from the drinks she guzzled. Willow points to Xander who is trying to talk Ron out of killing him.
"What about your killer date?"
She looks at Xander. "This whole thing is his fault. Let him deal with it." Buffy and Willow leave to check out Spike. Xander sees Buffy leaving.
"Hey, get back here!" He tries to follow but Ron has other ideas. He grabs Xander roughly.
"You lost me my date Harris. Say your prayers."
Xander has to think of something quick.
"Ron…ah…I was…I was just trying to save you. Don't you know who she is?"
In the meantime Buffy approaches the blonde vampire and his Queen. When he sees Buffy's new look he starts laughing.
"Had enough of the goody, goody two shoes life, slayer? Thought you'd try to see how the street walkers fare?"
"That's not funny at all, Spike."
"If you're looking for a little rough action, see me later. We can always use a third."
"What are you doing here, Spike?"
"I'm just taking in the view."
Oz begins to think out loud. "If Spike comes in here. He knows he'll attract our attention."
Buffy finishes it. "So his friends can wreck havoc somewhere else in peace."
Oz can't resist getting a dig in on the slayer. "That's pretty good analysis in your condition."
"Oz, just keep an eye on these two."
Buffy runs toward the outside. She stops momentarily in front of Xander.
"Ah, when you're finished playing around there we have work to do." She runs outside.
Xander looks at her incredulously. "Hey, that's funny, slayer, real funny!" He turns back to Ron.
"Okay, Ron, if you're going to kill me let's do it outside."
By this time Ron has called two of his friends to help him pulverize our Boy Wonder. Most of them know Xander as the punk they use to rob and beat up all the time. They lick their chops as they prepare for the slaughter.
Xander breaks away, getting outside as quickly as possible. The behemoths follow. He catches up to Buffy. They come upon a group of vampires about to have easy pickings with a trio of scared schoolgirls.
As they walk to them Xander looks at Buffy. "You know, you look just like some girl I know. Except, of course, she doesn't solicit tricks in her spare time."
Buffy doesn't comment as she gets in between the vamps and their intended victims. The slayer speaks.
"Well now, what the hell do you think you guys are about to do?"
One vamp attempts to swing. The slayer bends his arm behind him and heaves him into the fence. Xander suckers one to the ground. The other two kind of back away from our duo. One of them looks at Buffy.
"You're not…the slayer, are you?"
"In the flesh."
Xander comments. "She's kind of hard to recognize right now. She's under cover as a drunken bimbo."
Buffy has to laugh. The vamps look at Xander. "If she's the slayer that means you're the boy wonder?"
"Bingo!"
Ron and his motley crew spot Xander. They come up to him menacingly. Buffy decides to intervene. She gets in front of them
"Look, Ron, I'm sorry I led you on. I didn't know what I was doing."
"Okay, but I'm still going to kill Harris."
"Ron, you see those two things over there cowering in the corner? They're vampires. They would eat you and your whole gang without breaking a sweat. They're both afraid of Xander. I don't think you want to be messing with him."
Ron starts to laugh. "Lady, that's Harris. We grew up beating him up. My little sister could take him."
Another group of vampires arrives on the scene. None other than Mister Harris leads them. He approaches Xander.
"Are these children bothering you son? We could take them off your hands."
One of Ron's crew goes to Mr. Harris. "What are you, a clown?"
Xander's former stepfather smacks him with the back of his hand. The kid goes flying into the fence. Ron and the rest have their mouths open. The biggest one looks at Ron.
"These people are freaks. Let's get the hell out of here."
They collect their wounded friend and go back to the bronze. Mr. Harris looks at Xander.
"Don't say I never did anything for you, son."
"Gee, thanks. Okay, what the hell do you want?"
"I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that I am now the official leader of the clan."
As he was saying this Spike and Dru come out to join him. Xander looks at Spike.
"How the hell is he the leader, Spike? In your world he must still, like, be in diapers."
Spike shrugs. "Beats me. I don't make the bloody rules."
Xander talks to them as they are leaving. "I wouldn't take that shit, Spike. How come we didn't get to vote for the leader. I vote for Spike."
Buffy walks to Xander. "Are you finished?"
Xander looks at the slayer. He grabs her hand. "Let's go!"
Buffy walks a few steps but then stops. "Where are we going?"
"First, you're going to get changed. Then you and I are going to have a long talk."
Despite the need for her to abandon her "rebellion" because of the vamp action, Buffy is still very upset with Xander.
"We're not going to have the conversation you think we're going to have, Father."
"I'm not your father."
"No, you think you're a priest. You're going to try to give me a sermon but I'm not listening." She starts to walk away. Xander catches up to her.
"I don't get it. I don't get the whole thing."
"No kidding."
"Look, slayer, will you just come out and tell me instead of going through all this shit."
Buffy stops for a minute. She looks at him. "Do you love me, Xander?"
"Of course I do."
"And how long do you think your love will last?"
Xander approaches her. He lovingly fondles her face. "I don't see me ever not loving you, Buffy. Do you love me?"
"Xander, that is never the issue."
"Then, what is the issue?"
"My parents are not dumb, Xander. Even my father knows we're together. My mother knows I'm not sleeping over Willow's house all the time. They keep asking me questions. They want to know what's going on with us."
"I want to know what's going on with us."
Xander starts to pace up and down, nervously. Buffy notices.
"Why do you always get like this when I try to bring this up?"
"Buffy, we cannot under any circumstances get married!"
"Why?"
"Because we can't. It's out of the question!"
"Are you afraid to make a commitment to me?"
"We shouldn't even have to have this conversation."
"I don't get it. Is this just some kind of a game we're playing together?"
"What?"
"You want me to come to your house and play nurse and mistress to you. But, any talk of us actually making what we have official. This scares the hell out of you."
"That is ridiculous, Buffy, and you know it."
She can see this is going nowhere. "Your hour is up. I have to go to my next trick." She starts to leave. He gets in front of her.
"Will you stop it!"
"I'm not going to shack up with you, Xander. You say one thing but you must mean another. Are you still trying to decide? Am I at least in the final four?"
"I don't believe this. You're actually questioning my love for you, the one thing nobody in the whole world doubts?"
"You're just like Rocky Road ice cream. I love it but, it won't marry me either."
"For one last time, will you stop this? We are not normal people. There are certain things we cannot do. Can we, at least, discuss it rationally?"
"We don't have discussions. You try to give me a sermon. I'm not a child, Xander."
"Then, stop acting like one."
Buffy is pissed off, now. She goes toe to toe with him. "I'm not going to let you get me tongue-tied."
Xander lowers his voice. He gently grabs Buffy's shoulders. "You're the slayer. Everybody is after you. We're not going to officially move in together to make it easy for them to find us."
Buffy is beside herself. She can hardly talk. "I…I knew that was it, I knew it!"
She screams. "You…you…stupid, paranoid…" She can't finish. She starts to leave but goes back to him.
"If I had something from you. If you ever thought of giving me a ring or a cross or a bracelet or something…I'd take it off and throw it at you!"
She storms away again. Xander is frozen. She screams.
"You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to patrol alone."
This gets Xander out of his stupor. He goes after her.
"No, you're not!"
"Oh, no? Just wait and see!"
"I'll be over your house."
"If you show up at my house I'll call the cops on you!" She disappears into the night. Xander doesn't know what hit him.
Buffy totally ignores Xander the next day in school.
Willow sees the slayer in the lunchroom. "Have you seen Xander, Buff?"
"He's probably with one of his other mistresses."
"What?"
They go to a private place to discuss it. The slayer explains. "My parents want to know what Xander and I are going to do? So do I."
"You mean, possibly getting married?"
"If we love each other and want to be together, why not? I'm not going to be his mistress."
"Buffy!"
"What else do you call it? We practically live together, Willow. What do I say to my mother? Should we wait until I get pregnant?"
"What does Xander say?"
"He gets all nervous. He thinks it will make it easier for the daemons to get me."
"Buffy, are you actually ready for marriage?"
"Willow, because he lives by himself we're practically married as it is. I sleep there half the time now."
"You do?"
"I can't say no to him. I don't even want to say no to him. But, I'm not going to be his mistress."
Xander decides to go to Buffy's house after school. When the slayer goes home he is sitting with her mother. Buffy is visibly upset. Joyce notices.
"Are you okay, honey?"
"Ask Xander!" She goes up to her room.
Joyce looks at Xander. No way he is going to discuss this with Buffy's mother.
"Is it okay if I go up and knock on her door?"
Joyce waves him up. He knocks on Buffy's door.
"Buffy, can I talk to you?"
"Xander, this is my room. My private room. Go home. Call one of your groupies."
"We can't even talk about it?"
"Goodbye, Xander."
Xander is really pissed-off, now. "Buffy, come out here, now!"
"Stop yelling at me. My mother will hear you." She opens the door, storming past Xander. He follows her downstairs.
"I can't believe we can't even talk about it."
Buffy goes to her mother. "Mom, when I go upstairs to my room don't ever tell Xander he's allowed up there, again."
"I'm sorry, honey."
"Xander, follow me." She goes out to the front porch.
"Okay, now we can…"
Buffy abruptly goes back inside, slamming and locking the door.
"Okay, slayer princess, that's it!" He takes off. Buffy opens the door, yelling after him.
"Don't call me that."
He turns back to her. "Keep it up, Buffy. I'm not going to follow you around like a puppy dog waiting for you to pet me."
"I don't even like dogs anymore."
"Real funny, you brat! It's time I went with somebody who's out of pigtails, anyway. It will be nice to spend some time with an adult for a change. Call me when you grow up!"
"Don't try to get into my room, ever again!"
"Don't worry, I won't!"
"Good!"
"Shut up!"
"No, you shut up!"
Xander picks up an old bird egg he sees lying on the ground. He throws it at her. It hits the door.
"I don't believe you did that!"
Xander leaves, mumbling to himself.
Go on to Part Sixteen
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Buffy and the Slayerettes are Property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and the WB. No Copyright Infringement is Intended.