Note to Reviewers:
- I'm starting to get the feeling that some people want this to be a Legolas / Buffy story. Hmm. Can't say it hasn't crossed my mind.
- Why don't you like sleeping?
- * Enjoy the Silence * yes, I did have them marry, much to the anger of some Tolkien fans because Elves are supposed to mate for life. But I thought, hey, if I've already killed off his mother, why not? Oh, that sounded shallow. But seriously, I wanted it to make his character have a little more depth than the usual 'he's-so-perfect-and-good-looking-I-wish-I-were-a-Mary-Sue' fic. I needed some serious angst.
Thanks for reading!
Waking Up
He thought he could hear the light rain drizzling outside his window, that familiar sound that lulled him to sleep as an Elfling. Has it been so long? But the warmth on his face informed him that it could not be raining; the day was starting and drawing him from his comforted rest. As his hearing fixated itself entirely from the sounds of a distant forest and onto the present, it was not the light footprints of raindrops he was hearing; it was some sort of brew dripping from a kettle. Tea?
His eyes blinked, pulling him completely from his dreams and back into…wherever they had established they were. Aragorn was across from him, stretched out on the couch and sleeping peacefully. Someone had covered him with a blanket. As Legolas reached up to push the hair from his shoulder he realized that he, too, had been considerately given a blanket. Not that he needed one. But a kind gesture was a kind gesture, no matter the place or circumstances.
A delicious aroma filled the air, one that Legolas had never encountered before. That could not be tea. Whatever it was, the wafting scent drew him from his chair and like a fly attracted to the light, he followed his nose dutifully until it led him to the kitchen. There he found Buffy, the boy named Sander and the woman who was smiling at him, the same woman who seemed to know of his kind. He was quite uneasy around her.
They did not look entirely awake, except the woman Anya, for Sander was wiping his obviously tired eyes and Buffy was leaning on the counter with a steaming cup in her hands.
"Coffee?" She asked wearily. He cocked his head to the side and gave her his usual confused look. She smiled. "It's a warm drink many of us have around here to help us wake up in the morning."
Legolas thought about that for a moment, knowing fully well that he needed no help to wake up. But it smelled very enticing.
"Would you like to try some?"
Legolas hesitated before answering. "I suppose so." He said nonchalantly.
Buffy smiled at him again and went over to a see-through kettle that held a dark brown liquid. She poured it into a mug, then also poured what he surmised was cream and two cubes of white powder. She stirred it slowly with a spoon, then handed it to him. He sniffed it experimentally, then cautiously sipped the hot beverage. As it trickled down his throat and warmed his stomach he realized something – he liked this. He liked this a lot.
"Hey Mikey, I think he likes it!" Exclaimed Xander. Buffy gave a half-hearted chuckle, but both Anya and Legolas gave him quizzical glances. While Anya was more than used to Xander's odd wit, (as he was used to her blunt connotations) Legolas had yet to learn this world's euphemisms and dry sarcasm.
"Where are the others?" Legolas questioned, still concentrating on his vastly-disappearing java.
"Spike's hiding out, Willow and Tara went home for the evening and Dawn is sleeping in as usual." Buffy reported.
"No I'm not!" Dawn came bounding down the stairs, still in her pajamas, but with brushed and flowing hair, and carefully applied mascara and lip gloss. "I'm here!" She announced.
"Wow." Buffy pursed her lips. "That's a first."
Dawn was grinning up at Legolas.
To say the thought hadn't occurred to the Elf that this young maiden fancied him would not be fair. The thought hadn't occurred yet, is all. But he smiled at her warmly.
Dawn thought she would faint or throw up or even pee her pants, but thankfully she refrained from all of the above and continued to grin like a moron. Buffy was rolling her eyes gratuitously. 'I hope I never did that as a teenager.' She thought.
Xander did not like what was transpiring. First his fiancée had taken a shining to this arrow-shooting hot-shot just because the guy has pointy-ears, and now sweet little innocent Dawn looked like a puppy in love with a great big…meatball. He could take that guy any day. Not anytime soon, of course. But any other day he felt like it, he just might.
"Why is Spike hiding?" Legolas asked.
Buffy shrugged. "Vampires can't stand the light."
Legolas dropped the now-empty mug and it shattered to the floor, jolting the sleeping Aragorn into a full alert stance. Even Buffy jumped, and as she looked from everyone's equally surprised face and back to the Elf, her suspicion began to grow. He was staring at her with shockingly wide blue eyes, completely ignoring the shards of ceramic dotting the kitchen floor. Aragorn had now joined them in the kitchen, looking from face to face and finally resting on Legolas.
"Vampire?" Legolas asked quietly.
Buffy knew immediately that she had said something very wrong to him. "Yeah." She answered slowly. "Spike is a vampire. But he can't drink human blood or anything."
"But vampires are…evil."
Xander had a smug look of satisfaction on his face as he stared at Buffy to see what her reaction would be. She looked momentarily panicked, one part full of regret for saying anything in the first part, one part wondering if she should be reaching for a weapon. "Yeah, but, he's not…anymore. He has a chip and that makes it-"
"A what?" Now it was Aragorn's turn to question the Slayer.
Oh, this was not going to be fun to explain. Buffy held her hands up in frustration. "Look, I don't know what the equivalent is in your world, but here vampires are bloodsuckers and I have to kill them. My friends help me out with that. Spike was a very bad vampire but then some, ah, men, lead by a, um, woman, they decided to make vampires not so bad anymore by placing something in their heads that would prevent them from ever hurting anyone again. So far it's only worked with him, but hey, you never know."
The incredulous looks were not only coming from Strider and Legolas, but also from everyone else in the kitchen. Aragorn was scratching his rudely-wakened head. "Something in their heads?"
"You kill them?" Asked Legolas.
Buffy looked quite surprised. He was sizing her up, not necessarily in an unbelieving gesture, but more of a wary one. "Yeah." She said softly.
"She's the Slayer." Announced Xander with all the seriousness he could muster.
"Slayer." Aragorn repeated, and Xander nodded. Aragorn was looking at the young, petite woman in front of him. He had seen her battling out of the corner of his eye, but from their first encounter with her he could already see the strength bubbling under the surface. This small creature possessed deceptive abilities; it was no wonder then that she could handle an orc if she was already well-trained against the undead.
She was still leaning against the corner of the kitchen island, but now she had one hand resting on her hip. Spike was not a subject that she liked to discuss. She also found it difficult to meet the piercing blue eyes of the Elf still standing stoically in front of her. "So. You have vampires too then, huh?"
Aragorn glanced at Legolas who did not look like he was about to say anything soon. "They are very rare. One only hears of them in myths and –"
"And in Mirkwood." Legolas finished for him. The mere mention flooded his mind with memories he had tried so forcefully to suppress.
Buffy could feel her face growing hot as all eyes were on her. Crap. First Xander and now this guy; could the world get off her back for one minute?!? "I didn't mean anything-"
At what couldn't have been a more blessed moment, the phone rang with such resonance that Legolas and Strider both jumped. Buffy rushed over to answer it, leaving the others to uncomfortably to get past the current subject.
It was then that Legolas was struck by the notion that he had dropped the mug. He kneeled to the floor, picking up thick shards and placing them in his cupped hands. Dawn suddenly jolted awake and ran to grab the broom, begging the Elf not to touch anything lest he should cut himself. As she jogged to the broom closet, she couldn't help but think that might not be such a bad idea, not the thought of him getting injured, but more the thought of her bandaging him up and he being eternally grateful to her for her bravery and lack of queasiness. She giggled softly to herself.
Aragorn, meanwhile, was utterly fascinated that Buffy was speaking to…no-one. She was holding something close to her face and talking into it, twirling a thick cord around her fingers while she muttered 'mm-hmm, yeah, okay' and such. He could not help but find her demure attitude while doing something so incomprehensible to be unbelievably amusing.
Buffy hung up the phone and came face to face with Strider. The human looked to be on the verge of bursting out into laughter. "What?" He just shook his head, but smiled from ear to ear. Suddenly it hit her. "Oh that? No, that's a phone. That's how we communicate with people far away; we talk into that," she found herself picturing what it must be like for someone completely alien to see her talking on the phone. "You're right." She consented. "It is ridiculous."
"Who was it?" Anya asked.
"It was Giles."
Legolas had finished helping Dawn gather all the pieces of broken coffee cup into a dustpan. He now stood, but the look on his face still remained grim. Buffy couldn't help but think that any trust developed between herself and the strangers may have been taken down a notch. But she began to think. "Giles needs to see these two. Maybe they're the missing link."
"Okay. We're just going to drive them over and drop them off?" Xander was waving his arms around in flustered circles.
"Why not?" Asked Dawn.
Xander gestured to the two with repeated thrusts. "Hello! Look at them! They look like they're auditioning for Willow and last time I checked, that movie was already made."
It was plain to everyone in the room that only Legolas and Strider had absolutely no clue what Xander was getting at. Buffy shrugged. "If you have some brilliant disguise Xander, I'm all for it."
Xander smiled, which everyone, even the strangers, knew could only be a bad sign. "I'll be right back."
"So…what are we trying to say here? Skater punk meets college prep?" Anya had one arm folded across her stomach as she gestured to the Elf and the human standing in the living room.
"College prep maybe, but I was thinking more hip-hop Elf." Suggested Dawn
Legolas was baffled, uncomfortable in his new clothing and more than embarrassed. His entire outfit had been taken away and replaced with shoes that were complicatedly laced, some form of pants that he knew he could not run efficiently in, a much too large shirt with a built-in hood, but most humiliating of all was the thing they made him put on his head. At the time it had caused much argument amongst them.
"Do you really think he needs a toque in the middle of July in Sunnydale?" Buffy had asked cynically.
"It goes with the outfit. Besides, those ears would give him away." Xander had reasoned.
The tight cap was itching the tips of his ears. He refused to let them take his wrist guards though, and after much wrangling had won out, but mostly because the young girl Dawn had agreed it only made sense.
"It's a fashion statement." She piped up.
Aragorn did not feel as uncomfortable; they at least tried to stick with his characteristic black. They had given him black polished shoes, snug-fitting black jeans and a black sweater. He, unlike Legolas, did not have to wear a hat. Looking at his friend, Aragorn could not help but laugh at the look of pure misery on the Elf's face. He stood awkwardly in his baggy jeans and oversized sweatshirt.
Dawn was scheming how she could somehow sneak him into high school for the day.
Xander was scratching his chin. "They need new names."
"They have names, Xander." Anya pointed out impatiently.
"Not realistic ones. No." He approached to two strangers, trying to keep the mischievous smile from his mouth. "You shall now be called…Jay and Bob."
Buffy slapped her forehead.
