"Whoever heard of taking a friggin' connecting flight in Indiana? Who really goes to Indiana?" Spike prowled the airport in Indianapolis, his long strides repeatedly making the distance back and forth in front of one of the huge windows in the airport.
"I've never even heard of Indiana," Ramie said, plucking casually at the seam running the outside of his jeans. He would die before he would admit that being on the ground was a great more easy than being in the air. He hadn't gotten sick once and he was damned proud of it. He scowled at the plane taking off from the runway. Bizarre contraptions.
"How many people need to go from Indiana to Los Angeles?" Spike asked, stopping in front of Ramie.
"I thought you didn't care," Laramie finally said, meeting Spike's eyes. What he saw there was impatience borne of care, and plenty of it. Care that he thought only a soul could endow.
Spike didn't respond but tried to satisfy his overwhelming need to move by pacing back and forth. When he finally stopped in front of Laramie, his eyes were intense and wide. "What if she doesn't love me when we get back? What if she really was lying?"
"What if she has decided to enter a convent, William?" Laramie rolled his eyes and stood. "I believe that is our flight number they are calling in that terribly loud omniscient voice."
Spike shoved the fragile spectacles he still wore up the bridge of his nose and ran after Laramie.
~~~
"Now, it's much harder to do these things outside on the actual ground than it is on a gym mat, so I want you to be careful." Buffy surveyed her class, whom she had taken into the fitness center's fenced backyard to practice. If they were going to learn true self-defense, eventually they'd need to learn to use the things around them. "Now, if I grab you like this—" She began to demonstrate on a student when a plane from the nearby airport flew overhead, drowning her out.
She stopped, scowling up at the planes. "Stupid planes. They're so loud," she said once it had passed. "Who really wants to leave Indiana, anyway?" After the group had stopped laughing, she continued with the lesson.
It was hard work, not only keeping enough patience to teach a bunch of nice, normal people how to protect themselves and how to keep themselves fit, but also holding herself back. More than anything, it was hard to keep her spirits up and her mind on task when all she could think about was Spike.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen," Buffy said, breaking her stance and putting her hands on her hips, grinning widely at the tired, winded group. "I think I've tortured you enough for the day."
"Hear, hear," a middle-aged woman in the front of the group said, mopping sweat from her brow.
"So, we're done for the day. I'll see you next week." As they hurried back into the building to gather their things, she yelled after them. "Oh, and eat right this weekend! And exercise, okay, don't just sit around!" Blowing out a breath, she frowned. "They'll all be couch potatoes after ten minutes at home," she surmised.
"Well, that's a risk you'll have to take." Paul lagged behind, his long hands tangled into the tearaway pants he'd removed at the beginning of the lesson. "I just wanted to say thanks."
Buffy wiped sweat from her own brow and looked up, up, up at him. He was so darned tall. "For what?"
"For being cool about everything. And for teaching a damned… darned… good class. Coach says I'm not tripping over other players' feet now, so that's good." He grinned and shrugged.
Buffy laughed and nodded. "Well, I'm glad to hear that."
"I'm quitting. I mean, I was thinkin' about joining Kelly's class, but when spring semester starts, I won't be able to fit it in anymore. I figured I'd say goodbye and thanks and all that."
Buffy hated herself for the small twinge of relief she felt. For a moment, she'd been afraid he'd try and ask her out again. But he was already moving toward the door to the center, and wasn't gawking at her in that nerve-wracking manner. "Well, you're welcome and all that," she said. "Sometime I'll catch one of the ball games and cheer you on."
Paul laughed and shook his head and he opened the door and stood in the doorway. "No offense, Ms. Summers, but you don't strike me as much of a cheerleader." So saying, he shut the door and left.
Buffy laughed about that for at least ten minutes before she headed home.
~~~
"They're not here anymore." Giles took off his glasses, wiped the back of his hand over his eyes, and perched them on the tip of his nose again. "We've missed them."
"Well, we were traveling nearly a day behind them, you can hardly be surprised by that," Wesley snapped, frustrated. The last thing he wanted was to climb into another damned plane. He was sick of planes. He wanted to sleep.
"They'll have gone to Los Angeles," Giles continued as though Wesley hadn't said anything. He turned and looked at Wesley searchingly. "I'm going to the airport to see if they've been sighted there. If it turns out they have, indeed, gone to America, then you can relax." Wesley looked so hopeful that it nearly pained Giles. "We'll stay here, in that event. I have a feeling the Council needs a makeover worse than Spike needs a babysitter."
Wesley stayed silent all the way to the airport, playing things over in his head. He'd been a cookie-cutter Council man in the beginning of his career as a Watcher, and had done, in his opinion, a very nice turnaround. Being back in London, back with the Council, was a lot for him to handle.
He was deathly scared he would be pulled back in, and that was the last thing he wanted. He'd made himself a life in L.A.. Not an easy one, but a life nonetheless. Chasing an ex-vampire who'd been desouled was more his style these days than nattering with the internal bureaucracy of the Council.
"I'm going back to Los Angeles no matter what," he said suddenly. "You can go back to the Council and whatnot, but when we go to the airport, I'm buying myself a ticket and I'm going back."
"What about the Council?" Giles asked, trying to hide his amusement. He was actually proud of the young man for taking a stand, if in fact that was what he was doing.
"You said it yourself this morning. I'm ashamed to ever have been associated with them. Now, let's go. The sooner we get there, the sooner I get back to someplace where I can actually make a difference."
Bravo, Giles thought with a smile. Things could turn out all right, after all.
~~~
"We need to talk."
She'd been dreading the words for weeks, but she'd known they were coming. There was no mistaking the tension, the long looks, the resentment from the others. She'd been expecting it even before the big fight had gone down. Now, as Willow stood in front of her with a downcast expression, Kennedy couldn't remember any of the scenarios she'd played out in her head.
"What's up, Red?" Kennedy tied her hair back from her face and regarded Willow frankly.
"This thing—" Willow gestured vaguely with her hands. "This whatever you have against Buffy, or with Buffy, or whatever… it's not good."
"You mean it's… how does Xander put it? Of the bad?" Kennedy said, trying to lighten the moment and ease the clench in her stomach. But it got no smile from Willow, only a furrowing of the brow. The witch sat on the edge of the bed and sighed.
"Kennedy, baby, you gotta realize… big things are happening right now, and we need everyone to be supportive. The last few months were hard on everyone."
"That's right," Kennedy said stiffly. "Hard on everyone. Hard on the potentials, hard on you. You didn't want to use magic and you did, I know how much that took."
"Listen to me, Kennedy," Willow's voice rose and her eyes met the younger girl's. "You and I? We should count ourselves lucky. We didn't lose each other like Xander lost Anya, or like Buffy lost Spike. Try and understand that, okay? Just, for the sake of everyone, put aside whatever Slayer jealousy issues you've got, and be with me. Really be with me."
Kennedy took Willow's hand and closed her eyes, trying not to feel guilty. At last, she just let the guilt wash over her and she sighed. "Tell me about her," she said finally. "I don't know what she went through, so why don't you tell me?"
Willow smiled with relief and started to speak.