Part 2:
Buffy was not having a very good day for several different reasons. There was the nightmare she had had, of course, mixed together with prophetic flashes of something horrible happening, something that would cause her and Angel to flip and kill people.
Added to that was the fact that she was out in daylight, something she had really lost the taste for. The demon blood flowing in her veins detested the light and while it did not cause her skin to burst into flames it still irritated her to no end, made her feel as if thousands of bugs were crawling under her flesh.
As if all that had not been enough she was visiting her mother. Not that visiting her mother was generally a bad thing. Joyce and her had made great strides back towards a loving mother-daughter relationship. Buffy could not help but think that this was also partly due to Faith, who was still living in her mother's house and gave Joyce some first-hand experience what being the Slayer meant. Helping Faith deal with her issues had helped Joyce deal with her own about Buffy.
Most of the times Buffy was happy to see her mother nowadays. Not today, though. Today her mother was not alone and Buffy knew exactly what, if not who, the woman standing by her side was.
"Hello Buffy," Joyce greeted her with a hug and a brilliant smile. "This is Danielle Burg, your new tutor."
Ms. Burg was a woman in her thirties, long brown hair tied in a loose ponytail, dressed in a black pants suit that accented her figure. She certainly did not look like any of the teachers that Buffy dimly remembered from High School. Light brown eyes were set into a friendly face as she walked forward and offered her hand to Buffy.
"Pleased to meet you."
Buffy hesitated, then remembered her manners. Okay, so she might be determined to hate this woman on general principles, but that was no reason to be rude. She was an adult, after all, even though Angel was just about the person one who treated her like one.
"Why don't we sit down?" Joyce motioned for the living room couch, the table in front of which held coffee and an assortment of mainly sugar-based food. Buffy, who had only gotten out of bed an hour or so ago, was not too keen on cake and cookies, but felt that she could really use the coffee.
"So," Ms. Burg said after sipping a bit of her own coffee, "Joyce tells me that you have received a lot of informal education from your boyfriend?"
Buffy threw her mother a look. They had spoken about what to tell this tutor and what not to, the supernatural aspects of Buffy's live and the reasons for her quitting school falling firmly into the latter category. Burg was not supposed to know anything beyond the fact that Buffy had been thrown out of school and, instead of applying at another, wanted to privately finish her education.
"I might have said some things about Angel's skills in art and history," Joyce admitted. Buffy knew that her mother and Angel had managed to get quite civil with one another mostly due to Angel's extensive knowledge of classic art.
"He is quite firm there, yes," Buffy told Burg after a moment. "He also taught me a lot of languages."
"Ah," Ms. Burg nodded. "Quel langages par exemple?"
"Le Français, certainement," Buffy answered. "Außerdem spreche ich Deutsch. Espanol. A few others."
"Quite impressive. I am afraid our High Schools are not producing too many youths with multiple language skills."
Buffy smiled, stifling the urge of giving Ms. Burg a taste of some of the demon languages Angel had taught her. Most of them were almost indistinguishable from guttural sounds anyway.
"Our main focus would be on mathematics and the sciences then, correct?" Ms. Burg inquired. "That's what your mother told me."
"Yes, pretty much."
"Good. I have worked out a first draft curriculum based on what I already knew about you. What say we look over it together and then make some lesson plans?"
Buffy found that, from everything she had seen of Ms. Burg so far, hating this woman was going to be a really tough job.
#
"Well, I don't think we'll need more than two lessons a week to get you in shape for graduation. You should congratulate your boyfriend on a job well done."
Burg was smiling a brilliant smile at her and Buffy found herself returning it. Danielle, as she insisted Buffy should call her, had proven to be a very engaging person and maybe this whole being tutored thing would not turn out so bad after all. It helped, Buffy smirked, that Danielle was very impressed with the range of knowledge she already possessed.
"So we'll start next week, right?"
"Right! We'll start with mathematics. Most unpleasant thing first. You should get the books I wrote down for you until then."
"Shouldn't be a problem," Joyce assured her. "My daughter has good ties to a librarian."
"Oh, the boyfriend?" Danielle inquired.
"Giles? Certainly not." Buffy made a disgusted face at the notion.
"Just a friend of the family." Joyce's smile never wavered, but Buffy could not help but hear the slightly strained undertone in her voice as she said it. She had noticed these past few weeks that the room temperature seemed to drop considerably whenever her mother and Giles were in the same room. Was this some leftover hostility from the summer and her mother's denial over what had happened or something else? She made a mental note to find out.
Danielle packed up her things. "I'm looking forward to next week, Buffy."
"Yeah. Me, too." Buffy was surprised to find out that she was actually looking forward to it. Oh God, she was turning into a nerd in her old age. Once again she had to stifle a giggle as she tried to imagine what Danielle would say should she find out that Buffy was actually about two decades older than her.
When the door closed behind Danielle Joyce turned around to look at her daughter.
"See? It wasn't that bad, was it?"
"No, it wasn't." Buffy plopped down on the couch. "I actually like her despite my best intentions not to."
Joyce sat down beside her, smiling.
"I know things are strange, Buffy, but I am glad you are getting an education."
"I'll never have a normal life, even with it. You know that, right?"
Joyce sighed. "I know, Buffy. I know."
Buffy knew that her mother still was not all that comfortable with the notion that her daughter would never marry and have children, never live in a home surrounded by a white picket fence. She was doing her best to accept it, doing much better than Buffy would ever have expected her to, actually, but some part of her would always pipe after that unattainable dream.
The door opened and Faith strode into the Summers home, bag with her training gear slung over one shoulder.
"Hi, B," she greeted her fellow Slayer. "How went meeting the great and terrible tutor demon?"
"She was quite nice actually. I think I'm gonna like tutoring with her."
"Cool," Faith said, then her face turned desperate. "You wanna trade? I would never forget it, really! I'd owe you forever and ever."
Buffy chuckled, remembering the horror stories Faith had told her about the tutor Giles had found for her.
"Sorry, no go!"
"That's just swell, girlfriend. I thought we were buds."
Faith threw herself onto the couch beside the two Summers women, sulking.
"Abandoned by my sister in being Chosen. This is too much." Then she saw the cake standing before her. "I think I have to do something drastic to cheer myself up."
Buffy and Joyce could only stare in awe as Faith consumed the cake in no time flat, at the same time telling them about things that had happened in school today where she had been training with Giles. Buffy thought she made out the words 'band', 'new uniforms', and 'chocolate' somewhere between bites.
#
Danielle Burg opened her cell phone and dialed the number of her employer.
"It's Burg. Yes, everything went well. I will have my first lesson with her next week, two times a week. No, she does not suspect a thing. I actually think she likes me."
Mayor Richard Wilkins III was very pleased upon receiving that piece of good news.
TO BE CONTINUED
Buffy was not having a very good day for several different reasons. There was the nightmare she had had, of course, mixed together with prophetic flashes of something horrible happening, something that would cause her and Angel to flip and kill people.
Added to that was the fact that she was out in daylight, something she had really lost the taste for. The demon blood flowing in her veins detested the light and while it did not cause her skin to burst into flames it still irritated her to no end, made her feel as if thousands of bugs were crawling under her flesh.
As if all that had not been enough she was visiting her mother. Not that visiting her mother was generally a bad thing. Joyce and her had made great strides back towards a loving mother-daughter relationship. Buffy could not help but think that this was also partly due to Faith, who was still living in her mother's house and gave Joyce some first-hand experience what being the Slayer meant. Helping Faith deal with her issues had helped Joyce deal with her own about Buffy.
Most of the times Buffy was happy to see her mother nowadays. Not today, though. Today her mother was not alone and Buffy knew exactly what, if not who, the woman standing by her side was.
"Hello Buffy," Joyce greeted her with a hug and a brilliant smile. "This is Danielle Burg, your new tutor."
Ms. Burg was a woman in her thirties, long brown hair tied in a loose ponytail, dressed in a black pants suit that accented her figure. She certainly did not look like any of the teachers that Buffy dimly remembered from High School. Light brown eyes were set into a friendly face as she walked forward and offered her hand to Buffy.
"Pleased to meet you."
Buffy hesitated, then remembered her manners. Okay, so she might be determined to hate this woman on general principles, but that was no reason to be rude. She was an adult, after all, even though Angel was just about the person one who treated her like one.
"Why don't we sit down?" Joyce motioned for the living room couch, the table in front of which held coffee and an assortment of mainly sugar-based food. Buffy, who had only gotten out of bed an hour or so ago, was not too keen on cake and cookies, but felt that she could really use the coffee.
"So," Ms. Burg said after sipping a bit of her own coffee, "Joyce tells me that you have received a lot of informal education from your boyfriend?"
Buffy threw her mother a look. They had spoken about what to tell this tutor and what not to, the supernatural aspects of Buffy's live and the reasons for her quitting school falling firmly into the latter category. Burg was not supposed to know anything beyond the fact that Buffy had been thrown out of school and, instead of applying at another, wanted to privately finish her education.
"I might have said some things about Angel's skills in art and history," Joyce admitted. Buffy knew that her mother and Angel had managed to get quite civil with one another mostly due to Angel's extensive knowledge of classic art.
"He is quite firm there, yes," Buffy told Burg after a moment. "He also taught me a lot of languages."
"Ah," Ms. Burg nodded. "Quel langages par exemple?"
"Le Français, certainement," Buffy answered. "Außerdem spreche ich Deutsch. Espanol. A few others."
"Quite impressive. I am afraid our High Schools are not producing too many youths with multiple language skills."
Buffy smiled, stifling the urge of giving Ms. Burg a taste of some of the demon languages Angel had taught her. Most of them were almost indistinguishable from guttural sounds anyway.
"Our main focus would be on mathematics and the sciences then, correct?" Ms. Burg inquired. "That's what your mother told me."
"Yes, pretty much."
"Good. I have worked out a first draft curriculum based on what I already knew about you. What say we look over it together and then make some lesson plans?"
Buffy found that, from everything she had seen of Ms. Burg so far, hating this woman was going to be a really tough job.
#
"Well, I don't think we'll need more than two lessons a week to get you in shape for graduation. You should congratulate your boyfriend on a job well done."
Burg was smiling a brilliant smile at her and Buffy found herself returning it. Danielle, as she insisted Buffy should call her, had proven to be a very engaging person and maybe this whole being tutored thing would not turn out so bad after all. It helped, Buffy smirked, that Danielle was very impressed with the range of knowledge she already possessed.
"So we'll start next week, right?"
"Right! We'll start with mathematics. Most unpleasant thing first. You should get the books I wrote down for you until then."
"Shouldn't be a problem," Joyce assured her. "My daughter has good ties to a librarian."
"Oh, the boyfriend?" Danielle inquired.
"Giles? Certainly not." Buffy made a disgusted face at the notion.
"Just a friend of the family." Joyce's smile never wavered, but Buffy could not help but hear the slightly strained undertone in her voice as she said it. She had noticed these past few weeks that the room temperature seemed to drop considerably whenever her mother and Giles were in the same room. Was this some leftover hostility from the summer and her mother's denial over what had happened or something else? She made a mental note to find out.
Danielle packed up her things. "I'm looking forward to next week, Buffy."
"Yeah. Me, too." Buffy was surprised to find out that she was actually looking forward to it. Oh God, she was turning into a nerd in her old age. Once again she had to stifle a giggle as she tried to imagine what Danielle would say should she find out that Buffy was actually about two decades older than her.
When the door closed behind Danielle Joyce turned around to look at her daughter.
"See? It wasn't that bad, was it?"
"No, it wasn't." Buffy plopped down on the couch. "I actually like her despite my best intentions not to."
Joyce sat down beside her, smiling.
"I know things are strange, Buffy, but I am glad you are getting an education."
"I'll never have a normal life, even with it. You know that, right?"
Joyce sighed. "I know, Buffy. I know."
Buffy knew that her mother still was not all that comfortable with the notion that her daughter would never marry and have children, never live in a home surrounded by a white picket fence. She was doing her best to accept it, doing much better than Buffy would ever have expected her to, actually, but some part of her would always pipe after that unattainable dream.
The door opened and Faith strode into the Summers home, bag with her training gear slung over one shoulder.
"Hi, B," she greeted her fellow Slayer. "How went meeting the great and terrible tutor demon?"
"She was quite nice actually. I think I'm gonna like tutoring with her."
"Cool," Faith said, then her face turned desperate. "You wanna trade? I would never forget it, really! I'd owe you forever and ever."
Buffy chuckled, remembering the horror stories Faith had told her about the tutor Giles had found for her.
"Sorry, no go!"
"That's just swell, girlfriend. I thought we were buds."
Faith threw herself onto the couch beside the two Summers women, sulking.
"Abandoned by my sister in being Chosen. This is too much." Then she saw the cake standing before her. "I think I have to do something drastic to cheer myself up."
Buffy and Joyce could only stare in awe as Faith consumed the cake in no time flat, at the same time telling them about things that had happened in school today where she had been training with Giles. Buffy thought she made out the words 'band', 'new uniforms', and 'chocolate' somewhere between bites.
#
Danielle Burg opened her cell phone and dialed the number of her employer.
"It's Burg. Yes, everything went well. I will have my first lesson with her next week, two times a week. No, she does not suspect a thing. I actually think she likes me."
Mayor Richard Wilkins III was very pleased upon receiving that piece of good news.
TO BE CONTINUED
