Back Before Dawn
by Annakovsky
Part 2/11
See part 1 for disclaimer, rating, etc.
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Willow: Twenty-four hours earlier – 8:31 am, Tuesday, February 18, 2003
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"Buffy, you can't go after that lamastu demon right now! I have to go to class and you said you'd finish cleaning for the shower this afternoon!" I said.
"I'll be back in time to get it all finished," Buffy said, getting a sword down from the wall where it was hanging and very nearly knocking over the tray of cucumber sandwiches I had gotten up early to make.
"No, you won't. You always say you will be, and you never are. That demon isn't even a threat to humans right now – it just ate last night, so it won't be hungry again until at least next week. So you can't wait, like, a day to go hunt it down?"
"The trail's fresh right now, Will. You know that. Besides, the party's not until this afternoon, and it's not like Olivia will really care if the place isn't completely spotless for her baby shower."
"She… Buffy! You promised."
"Seriously, Will. It'll be fine. See you later, okay?" Buffy said, and breezed out of the apartment the two of us shared. I sat on the sofa with a very pointed annoyed thump. This was so typical. Buffy was always so blasé and happy that she just assumed things would get done, no problem. And she got way too excited when there was a demon around to kill. We'd all gotten so efficient at the slaying that you could hardly even tell Sunnydale was on a Hellmouth anymore. Well, okay, so it was mostly Buffy that was so efficient, especially since she got all in touch with the source of her Slayer power two years ago, but the rest of us had gotten awfully good too. We could research like a well-oiled machine, and I had scanned most of Giles's most important books into the computer and created a program that really sped things along. It was great! Except that sometimes Buffy would complain that Sunnydale was no fun anymore and that she got bored sitting around the cemetery and only slaying maybe one fledgling a night, if she were lucky. So she was talking about moving away after graduation to somewhere that had more demonic problems, like Cleveland. Somewhere she could kick some serious demon butt and have some variety. She joked about going on tour as the Slayer, like a rock star, traveling from place to place, defeating evil and making the world safe for humanity while looking really good and wearing leather pants. She said we could all come with – we could maybe get a van and drive from town to town, saving the innocent who would then gratefully give us money for gas, food, and kicky outfits.
Anyway, that's all well and good and it's great that Buffy's happy, but honestly, she could be a little more sensitive. Even if she is taking all easy classes in her last semester of college, I'm taking 20 hours worth, including my senior seminar, advanced programming, organic chemistry, and Sumerian, so I have things to do besides Buffy's chores, you know! It was just like Buffy to assume that I would do stuff, for I am Taken-For-Granted-Girl.
I put my stuff in my bag, making sure to slam it around a bit to make myself feel better. At times like these I really missed Tara the most. If she were here she'd let me vent, and then she'd help get everything done. Everything felt more doable when Tara was around. I got a little teary thinking about it – it was still so hard sometimes, even though it had been more than six months. Stupid Warren. I hope he's finding maximum-security prison very, very unpleasant in a "that big man made me his bitch" kind of way, that's all I have to say about that.
I decided I'd run by the Magic Box on my way to class, make sure Anya was still bringing food for the shower, and then grab some coffee at the place next door so that I wouldn't totally doze off in class. I hadn't been getting much sleep with all my schoolwork and planning this shower – I shouldn't have gotten all over-excited and volunteered to host it until I'd checked on my workload for this week. Note to self, I thought (ironically in light of future events), think before speaking.
I arrived at the Magic Box right as Giles was flipping the sign over from "Closed" to "Open."
"Hey Giles," I said. "I'm here to check on shower plans. Is Anya here?"
"I believe she's bringing up some stock from the basement," he said. "We've had a remarkable rush on frog tails this week – I'm going to have to order more today."
"Wow, I didn't know anyone used frog tails anymore. Toad warts are much cheaper and just as effective in most basic spells."
"Well, don't tell the customers – all this extra income is going into the baby's college trust fund," he said, smiling. I grinned.
"I still can't believe you're really going to be a dad!"
"Neither can I, really," said Giles. "I thought I'd be stuck playing father figure to a load of ungrateful twenty-somethings for the rest of my life."
"Ha, ha, ha. Besides, I'm sure little Giles, Junior will be just as ungrateful as we are."
"Bite your tongue," said Giles, grinning.
"So if you're our father figure, does that mean that Little Giles is going to be like our baby brother figure? You know, maybe you should be worried that Buffy's going to get jealous of the new baby and try to send him back to the hospital." Giles laughed.
"It actually had crossed my mind that I was glad the baby was a boy so that Buffy wouldn't feel like she was being supplanted, as ridiculous as that is. It really was a good thing Buffy was an only child - I don't know if she could have tolerated sharing the spotlight. But at your age, you lot are more like the baby's aunts and uncles than his brothers and sisters."
"That's true. So have you decided on a name yet?"
"Willow, for the last time, we're not telling anyone the name until the birth, so please stop hounding me."
"What if I guess it?"
"Willow."
"Trevor?" Giles just looked at me. "Nigel?" He rolled his eyes. "Crispin?"
"Crispin? Honestly, Willow, how British do you think I am?" Giles asked, exasperated. I gave him a look. "Don't answer that. Did you come here for a reason, or just decide to stop by to give me more gray hairs?"
"I said I was here for shower plans, if you were even listening to me earlier. I guess the mind really is the first thing to go," I teased, smiling. Giles gave me the stink-eye as Anya appeared behind the counter.
"Oh. Hello," said Anya, catching a glimpse of me. "Are you here to make me do more things for you? Not that I don't appreciate the extra work. I'm glad to participate in this charming ritual of welcoming a squalling, smelly infant into the world. Having babies is a large part of what makes our mortal lives worthwhile."
"Er… yes," I said. "I mean, no, I'm not going to make you do more work. I just wanted to make sure everything was going all right and you were still bringing the appetizers?"
"Yes. I've got chips and dip, and carrot sticks and fruit and a cheese log. See, it's really remarkable. It's shaped like a log, but it's made of cheese."
"That's perfect. Thanks, Anya."
Anyway, that was the gist of the conversation. After that we basically just said goodbye and I went off to class, like any normal day. It was advanced programming on Tuesday mornings, and I usually sat with Jonathan. We'd brainstorm new computer programs that could help the Scooby gang out with research or training, and we had come up with some really awesome stuff. Jonathan's been really cool ever since he testified against Warren over him killing Katrina and Tara. Jonathan felt really bad for a long time for being part of Warren's little team, and was really nervous around me, but I knew it wasn't really his fault and now we're buds, which is cool. It's nice to have a fellow computer geek around. So normally programming is fun, but today I started getting more and more stressed out, thinking about all the stuff I had to get done before the shower and getting more and more mad at Buffy for totally blowing me off to go kill that stupid demon. She'd probably come back all dripping in demon goo, too, and that stuff is, like, impossible to get out of upholstery. And believe me, I know - once it hardens, forget it.
So anyway, I was very peeved by the time class let out, and then I got even more peeved because I realized I had forgotten to pick up the big banner that says "It's a boy!" to hang on the back wall and that I'd have to go down to the party store, which is right by the Magic Box so I totally could have done it earlier if I had half a brain. So I bustled over there, all distracted and not watching where I was going, because, hello, spaz here. And I accidentally ran right into this little boy. Or what I thought was a little boy. And I dropped my books all over the place.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" I said to the little twerp, feeling bad for smacking into him. There was some wasted sympathy.
"That's okay," he said, as I scrambled to pick up my stuff. My notes had blown everywhere, which was totally going to mess up my color coding system. "You seem kind of distracted. Is everything all right?"
"Oh, I guess so, I was just out of it 'cause I'm a little annoyed at my roommate," I said. And then, like a big giant idiot who doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut, I kept babbling, because that's what I do. "She's just really self-centered, you know? And that means I have to do everything." And then I thought about what Giles had said earlier and I made the mistake of using the W-word. "Sometimes I wish she wasn't an only child so that she wouldn't think that every day was National Buffy Day." And then I looked up and saw that the kid had turned all demon-y with a serious vein problem, and I gave a little shriek and jumped back.
"Done," he said.
"Whoops!" I thought. And then everything was different.
by Annakovsky
Part 2/11
See part 1 for disclaimer, rating, etc.
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*
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Willow: Twenty-four hours earlier – 8:31 am, Tuesday, February 18, 2003
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*
"Buffy, you can't go after that lamastu demon right now! I have to go to class and you said you'd finish cleaning for the shower this afternoon!" I said.
"I'll be back in time to get it all finished," Buffy said, getting a sword down from the wall where it was hanging and very nearly knocking over the tray of cucumber sandwiches I had gotten up early to make.
"No, you won't. You always say you will be, and you never are. That demon isn't even a threat to humans right now – it just ate last night, so it won't be hungry again until at least next week. So you can't wait, like, a day to go hunt it down?"
"The trail's fresh right now, Will. You know that. Besides, the party's not until this afternoon, and it's not like Olivia will really care if the place isn't completely spotless for her baby shower."
"She… Buffy! You promised."
"Seriously, Will. It'll be fine. See you later, okay?" Buffy said, and breezed out of the apartment the two of us shared. I sat on the sofa with a very pointed annoyed thump. This was so typical. Buffy was always so blasé and happy that she just assumed things would get done, no problem. And she got way too excited when there was a demon around to kill. We'd all gotten so efficient at the slaying that you could hardly even tell Sunnydale was on a Hellmouth anymore. Well, okay, so it was mostly Buffy that was so efficient, especially since she got all in touch with the source of her Slayer power two years ago, but the rest of us had gotten awfully good too. We could research like a well-oiled machine, and I had scanned most of Giles's most important books into the computer and created a program that really sped things along. It was great! Except that sometimes Buffy would complain that Sunnydale was no fun anymore and that she got bored sitting around the cemetery and only slaying maybe one fledgling a night, if she were lucky. So she was talking about moving away after graduation to somewhere that had more demonic problems, like Cleveland. Somewhere she could kick some serious demon butt and have some variety. She joked about going on tour as the Slayer, like a rock star, traveling from place to place, defeating evil and making the world safe for humanity while looking really good and wearing leather pants. She said we could all come with – we could maybe get a van and drive from town to town, saving the innocent who would then gratefully give us money for gas, food, and kicky outfits.
Anyway, that's all well and good and it's great that Buffy's happy, but honestly, she could be a little more sensitive. Even if she is taking all easy classes in her last semester of college, I'm taking 20 hours worth, including my senior seminar, advanced programming, organic chemistry, and Sumerian, so I have things to do besides Buffy's chores, you know! It was just like Buffy to assume that I would do stuff, for I am Taken-For-Granted-Girl.
I put my stuff in my bag, making sure to slam it around a bit to make myself feel better. At times like these I really missed Tara the most. If she were here she'd let me vent, and then she'd help get everything done. Everything felt more doable when Tara was around. I got a little teary thinking about it – it was still so hard sometimes, even though it had been more than six months. Stupid Warren. I hope he's finding maximum-security prison very, very unpleasant in a "that big man made me his bitch" kind of way, that's all I have to say about that.
I decided I'd run by the Magic Box on my way to class, make sure Anya was still bringing food for the shower, and then grab some coffee at the place next door so that I wouldn't totally doze off in class. I hadn't been getting much sleep with all my schoolwork and planning this shower – I shouldn't have gotten all over-excited and volunteered to host it until I'd checked on my workload for this week. Note to self, I thought (ironically in light of future events), think before speaking.
I arrived at the Magic Box right as Giles was flipping the sign over from "Closed" to "Open."
"Hey Giles," I said. "I'm here to check on shower plans. Is Anya here?"
"I believe she's bringing up some stock from the basement," he said. "We've had a remarkable rush on frog tails this week – I'm going to have to order more today."
"Wow, I didn't know anyone used frog tails anymore. Toad warts are much cheaper and just as effective in most basic spells."
"Well, don't tell the customers – all this extra income is going into the baby's college trust fund," he said, smiling. I grinned.
"I still can't believe you're really going to be a dad!"
"Neither can I, really," said Giles. "I thought I'd be stuck playing father figure to a load of ungrateful twenty-somethings for the rest of my life."
"Ha, ha, ha. Besides, I'm sure little Giles, Junior will be just as ungrateful as we are."
"Bite your tongue," said Giles, grinning.
"So if you're our father figure, does that mean that Little Giles is going to be like our baby brother figure? You know, maybe you should be worried that Buffy's going to get jealous of the new baby and try to send him back to the hospital." Giles laughed.
"It actually had crossed my mind that I was glad the baby was a boy so that Buffy wouldn't feel like she was being supplanted, as ridiculous as that is. It really was a good thing Buffy was an only child - I don't know if she could have tolerated sharing the spotlight. But at your age, you lot are more like the baby's aunts and uncles than his brothers and sisters."
"That's true. So have you decided on a name yet?"
"Willow, for the last time, we're not telling anyone the name until the birth, so please stop hounding me."
"What if I guess it?"
"Willow."
"Trevor?" Giles just looked at me. "Nigel?" He rolled his eyes. "Crispin?"
"Crispin? Honestly, Willow, how British do you think I am?" Giles asked, exasperated. I gave him a look. "Don't answer that. Did you come here for a reason, or just decide to stop by to give me more gray hairs?"
"I said I was here for shower plans, if you were even listening to me earlier. I guess the mind really is the first thing to go," I teased, smiling. Giles gave me the stink-eye as Anya appeared behind the counter.
"Oh. Hello," said Anya, catching a glimpse of me. "Are you here to make me do more things for you? Not that I don't appreciate the extra work. I'm glad to participate in this charming ritual of welcoming a squalling, smelly infant into the world. Having babies is a large part of what makes our mortal lives worthwhile."
"Er… yes," I said. "I mean, no, I'm not going to make you do more work. I just wanted to make sure everything was going all right and you were still bringing the appetizers?"
"Yes. I've got chips and dip, and carrot sticks and fruit and a cheese log. See, it's really remarkable. It's shaped like a log, but it's made of cheese."
"That's perfect. Thanks, Anya."
Anyway, that was the gist of the conversation. After that we basically just said goodbye and I went off to class, like any normal day. It was advanced programming on Tuesday mornings, and I usually sat with Jonathan. We'd brainstorm new computer programs that could help the Scooby gang out with research or training, and we had come up with some really awesome stuff. Jonathan's been really cool ever since he testified against Warren over him killing Katrina and Tara. Jonathan felt really bad for a long time for being part of Warren's little team, and was really nervous around me, but I knew it wasn't really his fault and now we're buds, which is cool. It's nice to have a fellow computer geek around. So normally programming is fun, but today I started getting more and more stressed out, thinking about all the stuff I had to get done before the shower and getting more and more mad at Buffy for totally blowing me off to go kill that stupid demon. She'd probably come back all dripping in demon goo, too, and that stuff is, like, impossible to get out of upholstery. And believe me, I know - once it hardens, forget it.
So anyway, I was very peeved by the time class let out, and then I got even more peeved because I realized I had forgotten to pick up the big banner that says "It's a boy!" to hang on the back wall and that I'd have to go down to the party store, which is right by the Magic Box so I totally could have done it earlier if I had half a brain. So I bustled over there, all distracted and not watching where I was going, because, hello, spaz here. And I accidentally ran right into this little boy. Or what I thought was a little boy. And I dropped my books all over the place.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" I said to the little twerp, feeling bad for smacking into him. There was some wasted sympathy.
"That's okay," he said, as I scrambled to pick up my stuff. My notes had blown everywhere, which was totally going to mess up my color coding system. "You seem kind of distracted. Is everything all right?"
"Oh, I guess so, I was just out of it 'cause I'm a little annoyed at my roommate," I said. And then, like a big giant idiot who doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut, I kept babbling, because that's what I do. "She's just really self-centered, you know? And that means I have to do everything." And then I thought about what Giles had said earlier and I made the mistake of using the W-word. "Sometimes I wish she wasn't an only child so that she wouldn't think that every day was National Buffy Day." And then I looked up and saw that the kid had turned all demon-y with a serious vein problem, and I gave a little shriek and jumped back.
"Done," he said.
"Whoops!" I thought. And then everything was different.