Chapter 17 - Something Has To Be Done
It was a typical Saturday research party, and Xander was bored; the kind of bored that creeps into the mind, making words blur together on a page and form interesting blotches that, if one looked long enough, began to resemble shapes. Glancing up, Xander watched in mild surprise as Willow shifted in her chair, a frown marring her elfin features as she studied the book in her hands. He noted her repeated glances toward two chairs that, until a few days ago, had been occupied by everyone's favorite souled vampire and quiet werecat. It was obvious that her mind was not on the prophecy they were still working on, but rather on the two missing members of their little group.
Grimly Xander thought back to the incident four days ago that had started all of this. Ever since the fight in the graveyard, Angel had distanced himself from the group, forsaking the research parties to remain sequestered in his mansion. Willow, being the only person who saw him anymore, said he was doing fine, but Xander knew she was worried about his relapse into broodland.
'Not that Kat is any better,' Xander admitted to himself as he thought about the werecat. Angel's words seemed to have caused the tiny brunette to withdraw into herself, spending more time patrolling the graveyard than at the library with the rest of the group. She seemed more driven than before, like she wouldn't stop until every vampire in Sunnydale had been vanquished.including the idiot vampire who hurt her.
If he was looking for concrete evidence that the two had feelings for each other, or at least that Kat felt something for Angel, this certainly clinched it in Xander's mind. But with the two parties currently not talking to each other, he didn't see how the Scoobies could get them to admit to anything.
'Something's got to be done,' Xander thought before glancing back to the empty chairs somberly. 'Before someone explodes.'
'.I'm going to explode!' Willow fumed silently, her scowl deepening as she glanced over to the empty chairs for the hundredth time in the past hour. 'Stupid, idiotic, childish.' Cutting off the tirade before it could get out of control, the petite redhead sighed in frustration. Kat and Angel were slowing driving her insane. She had tried letting them think things over, but it seemed as if neither one was going to make the first move.
. 'If they would just TALK to each other, instead of hiding.' But Angel refused to come to the library or out on patrol, immune to Willow's powers of persuasion. Even her 'resolve face' didn't move the distant vampire. She was sure that she could talk Kat into doing whatever she said, but to ask the brunette to go the mansion to talk to Angel was probably pushing it.
Suddenly, without warning, the hacker stood up, slamming her book closed with enough force to reverberate in heavy silence that hung in the library. Two pairs of eyes looked up at the tiny young woman in shock, another set peeking out cautiously from the doors to Giles' office as the redhead flung the book down on the table, scowling in irritation. Working him mouth soundlessly, Xander stared at his usually mild-mannered friend, taken back by the fierce look on her petite features. "Uhhh, Wills?" he asked cautiously. "What's wrong?"
Angry green eyes fixed on confused brown ones. "What's wrong?" Willow ground out, hands fisted at her sides. "What's wrong is two of my friends are out there, refusing to act like grownups, while we are stuck here pouring over old books trying to pretend nothing is wrong!" Raising one hand to rub her temple, Willow snorted. "Something has to be done."
"Well it's about time!" Cordelia stated, slamming her book down on the table and standing up. "I was wondering when you two would get sick of this. So what's the plan?"
"Plan?" Xander echoed, blinking in confusion. "What plan? What can we do? It's not like we can force them to talk to each other. Someone might get hurt, and while I'm all for staking Angel, Kat might be upset if we let her kill him."
"She won't kill him, I'll make sure of it." Willow vowed, an idea forming in her mind. "I think we can get them to meet, and manage to avoid any bloodshed in the process." At Xander's questioning look, Willow suddenly smiled. Her smile widened as she leaned across the table toward her childhood friend, causing him to squirm uneasily. "I have a plan.but I'll need your help."
* * * * * * * * *
Stalking through the graveyard, a lithe young woman paused, cocking her head to the side. A faint rustling to her right was all the indication the tiny woman got before a blur of motion exploded out of the bushes to her right. Acting on instincts born from within, she whirled out of the way, her leg coming up in a roundhouse to catch the fledgling in the side of the face. As the fairly inept vampire fell to the ground, the dark-haired young woman twirled the stake in her hands, crouching to drive her wooden weapon into the corpse's chest before it could regain its sense of balance.
As the vampire exploded into dust, Kat remained crouched a few minutes more. Glancing up at the night sky, she idly calculated the phase of the moon, leaving the rest of her mind stuck in the dark thoughts it had been processing for the past few days. She knew that the rest of the Scooby gang was worried for her; Willow had tried repeatedly to get the tiny brunette to come back out of her protective barrier, but to no avail. Kat had shut down her emotions, or at least it seemed that way to everyone.
Inside, however, she was anything but in control. Try as she might, her mind was stuck in a whirlpool of images and sounds, echoing from that night in the graveyard three days ago. Closing her stormy blue-green eyes, the tiny werecat recalled Angel's angry words all to clearly in her mind:
"What in the hell were you thinking, you little hellcat.Giles needs to start training you like he did Buffy.If I hadn't of been here, you would be dead now or worse.If you're so perfectly capable, then act like it.I swear, I've never missed her clear-headed, quick thinking fighting style more than I do tonight.God, how could you be so stupid.If you could just force those volatile emotions down you might be as good as she was someday."
A sound issued from the back of Kat's throat, a combination of a snarl and a whimper. 'I am NOT the Slayer,' her mind argued rebelliously, anger mixing with the confusion and hurt she had been feeling lately, causing her eyes to fly open suddenly. Her eyes had darkened once more, cold emeralds replacing the liquid blue that had flickered there a moment ago.
"I am not the Slayer," she whispered in a deadly tone, her hands balled into fists on her knees, clenching the material of her pants as she swore silently at the accursed vampire who kept haunting her thoughts. 'Shows how much brains he has, comparing me to that anemic little blonde Willow showed me in those photos of hers. I'm no Chosen One; I don't have a calling for this line of work. I do this because I want to, shouldn't that count for something?'
Rising to her feet, the werecat continued her patrol of the cemetery, her mind continuing its fierce rant. 'And I don't see how clear-headed that Slayer can be, running out on her sacred duty, not to mention all her friends, and leaving them to the dangers of the fucking Hellmouth.' Kat continued to malign the Slayer, focusing her anger onto the object of comparison rather than the one she was really mad at. 'Christ, you're not supposed to just give up because things get hard. You're supposed to fight these things to the bitter end, because if you don't,' she halted in her movements, swallowing hard as her throat closed painfully, 'if you don't, the people you care about are the ones who end up getting hurt.'
"Stupid vampire," she whispered hoarsely, her thoughts returning bitterly to the vampire who had snapped at her regarding her fighting style. 'I may not be Little Miss Perfect, but I am a fighter in my own right. I'll be damned if he's going to make me feel guilty because I'm not perfect like his precious Slayer'
A vampire materialized out of nowhere, thinking to make a tasty snack out of the brooding werecat. Without even thinking, Kat let her body take over, whirling around to catch the vampire's arm before it could grab her. Her other hand coming up, she staked the surprised demon before it could even utter a protest. Watching the dust swirl around her, Kat blinked once, twice, before cursing her lack of attention, in the cemetery no less. 'Christ, I'm just proving that vampire right by acting like a zombie. Gripping the stake in her hand tightly, her eyes darkened in anger, at herself and at the vampire who put these thoughts into her head in the first place.
"I won't feel guilty," she whispered fiercely, turning to head out of the cemetery. All this thinking wasn't doing her any good, and Willow would probably come looking for her if she didn't turn up at the library for a few minutes. Just as she was about to leave, however, a sound from behind the werecat caused her to pause. Frowning, Kat glanced over her shoulder, her eyes peering into the darkness beyond. Raising her stake, Kat stalked silently in that direction, her eyes on the lookout for danger.
'One more vampire,' she thought to herself, 'then I'll head to the library.'
* * * * * * *
"Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Willow asked Cordelia as she clutched her seatbelt with one hand, the other firmly gripping the door handle as the dark-haired cheerleader took another corner way too fast. Her life flashing before her eyes, Willow silently vowed never to get in another car if Cordelia was behind the wheel.
"Do you want to drive?" The cheerleader snapped without so much as looking at Willow, her attention firmly fixed on keeping from killing the both of them. After a heavy silence, Cordelia snuck a glance over to the tiny redhead to see her seriously considering the question. "Don't even think about it! Do you see any sign of her?"
"No.wait!" Willow gasped for breath and Cordelia suddenly slammed on her brakes, forcing the tiny passenger to hurtle forward, only to be saved by the seatbelt as it jerked her back into place. Twisting in her seat, Willow managed to gasp through ragged breaths, "I'm.wheez.going. to make you.cough.eat this seatbelt. if you.pant.do that."
"See her?" Cordelia interrupted, leaning forward to peer through her windshield and ignoring the fuming redhead beside her. Squinting her dark eyes, the tall brunette shook her head. "I don't see her. You sure she would be near the cemetery? She might be back at her hotel room."
Finally managing to catch her breath, Willow pointed out the window to her right. "Nope. That's her."
Cordelia turned her head to look doubtfully past Willow. "What, you mean behind that slimy, gooey thing?" After a brief pause, the cheerleader started and leaned closer, squinting her eyes once more. "Oh no.it can't be."
"Yep." Willow grinned at the look of horror on Cordelia's face. "That's her." Without waiting for the cheerleader to respond, Willow rolled down her window and leaned out to yell at the slime-covered person heading in their direction. "Kat!"
Hearing her name, the werecat raised her head, wiping some of the ooze of her brow as she glanced at the two occupants in the car before her. "Oh. Hey guys. I was just on my way to the library."
"What the hell happened to you?" Cordelia blurted out before Kat could finish her sentence.
Glancing down at her slime-covered hand, Kat shrugged. "Ran into a demon of sorts in the cemetery." A half-smile flickered on her face as she continued, " Apparently it explodes into a gooey mess when you kill it. What are you two doing here?"
"We came to pick you up," Willow replied, gesturing to the back seats of Cordelia's car. "Hop in."
"Oh no!" Cordelia shook her head violently. "I will NOT have Miss Kitty getting my seats dirty. How would I explain that stuff when I go to get it cleaned?" Willow turned to give Cordelia a look, making the cheerleader grimace. "I guess I have a blanket in the back seat we can use.but I'm sending you the cleaning bill!"
Raising her eyebrow, Kat watched the brief exchange between the other two teenagers, confusing and amusement warring on her face. "Where are we going," she asked as she opened the door to get in, spreading the blanket out so Cordelia's precious upholstery wouldn't suffer, "back to the library?" She tried to keep her voice light and her tiny smile fixed as she continued. "Even with Wills' great brain and Giles' extensive library, you need one werecat to translate a prophecy?"
"Oh, we're not going back to the library," the cheerleader offered, her horror over the slime-covered werecat replaced with an almost malicious delight in things to come.
Unsure what Cordelia meant, Kat's smile slipped a notch in confusion. "Then where are you guys taking me?"
"Oh, you know," Willow replied, turning to glance at Kat before answering, "We're going to take you to see Angel.after we make a stop at Cordelia's house first."
As Cordelia sped off into the night, a very loud "WHAT???" trailed behind them into the night.
* * * * * * * *
Standing outside the door to the mansion, Xander felt a similar sense of dread creep over his skin. Shifting from one foot to the other, the dark- haired teenager wondered not for the first time how he had let Willow talk him into being errand boy and fetching the brooding vampire from the mansion. Certainly the hacker would have been a better choice, as she was currently the only Scoobie Angel was talking to. Yet Willow had just shaken her head and said that dealing with Kat would take both women put together, and that left Angel to Xander.
'Riight,' the teenager thought dryly, scratching his head with his hand as he stared at the door, wondering what he could possibly say to the soulful vampire. "Especially since Wills forbid me to use the 'She likes you, you like her, why don't you two go like each other together?' speech on him." Actually, Willow's specific words had been that if Xander mentioned Kat's feelings to Angel, she would turn him into a toad and step on him herself, despite her deadly fear of the slimy green things. While he wasn't sure why it would be a bad thing if Angel knew how Kat felt, he was sure Willow would carry out her threat if she found out.
"Well, here goes everything," the teen muttered under his breath, raising his arm and knocking very lightly on the massive door.
* * * * * * * * * *
"No." Arms folded defensively across her chest, Kat glared at the tiny redhead who, much to her annoyance, didn't even seem fazed by the cursing the dark-haired werecat had done all the way to the Chase residence. As Willow frowned, shaking a piece of red material at Kat, the brunette shook her head fiercely. "I said NO!"
"You can't very well go to the Bronze looking like that!" Willow argued, gesturing to Kat's slime-streaked attire.
"I don't even see why I have go to the Bronze. Period." Kat glowered at her friend, then over at Cordelia as a snort of laughter issued from the cheerleader, who was leaning against her locked bedroom door, filing one of her nails and pretending not to enjoy this.
Sighing, Willow flailed her arms at her stubborn friend. "I've already told you! Best way to avoid any bloodshed is if you and Angel talk in some place where there are a lot of people."
"Fine, I don't see why I should go talk to Angel." Kat's rigid refusal to budge rubbed Willow the wrong way. Her head already throbbing from the ear- blasting Kat gave her on the way to Cordelia's, her temper finally snapped. Tossing the red outfit down at Kat's feet, the petite hacker exploded.
"Why?! How about because you two are driving me crazy!" As Kat's jaw dropped in surprise, Willow continued her tirade. "You two! Goddess above, I've had better luck managing two year olds! You're both stubborn, mule- headed, idiotic.and neither one of you wants to make the first move. Well fine, so I'm making you two talk to each other. It's a hell of a lot better than going back and forth, seeing how miserable both my friends are, being unable to do anything about it." Emotionally exhausted from the past few days, Willow sighed sadly. "I just want things to go back to the way they were before."
Kat kicked herself mentally, seeing the anguish her and the vampire were causing her closest friend. Squirming uncomfortably, Kat looked around for something to say. Greenish-blue eyes took in the red material pooled at her feet. Feebly Kat cleared her throat, causing the redhead and cheerleader to look at her curiously. Desperately, even though a tiny part of her mind already braced itself for what Willow had in store for her, Kat offered one final argument.
"But, Willow.why does it have to be a dress?"
* * * * * * * * * *
"Well, here goes everything," Xander muttered under his breath, raising his arm and knocking very lightly on the massive door. He waited for what seemed like eternity, but was actually only a minute or so. Finally, when he heard no reply, the dark-haired young man shrugged, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and turned away from the door. "Well, no one home, guess I'll be leaving!"
One foot in the air, ready to move down the steps, Xander froze as suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck started to rise in warning. Behind Xander the entrance to the mansion slowly began to creak open. The teenager winced as he heard a foot shuffle behind him. Sighing, he turned back to the open door, coming face to face with a confused and silent vampire. Grinning sheepishly, he raised one hand in greeting. "Hiya Dead Boy! Mind if I come in?"
It was a typical Saturday research party, and Xander was bored; the kind of bored that creeps into the mind, making words blur together on a page and form interesting blotches that, if one looked long enough, began to resemble shapes. Glancing up, Xander watched in mild surprise as Willow shifted in her chair, a frown marring her elfin features as she studied the book in her hands. He noted her repeated glances toward two chairs that, until a few days ago, had been occupied by everyone's favorite souled vampire and quiet werecat. It was obvious that her mind was not on the prophecy they were still working on, but rather on the two missing members of their little group.
Grimly Xander thought back to the incident four days ago that had started all of this. Ever since the fight in the graveyard, Angel had distanced himself from the group, forsaking the research parties to remain sequestered in his mansion. Willow, being the only person who saw him anymore, said he was doing fine, but Xander knew she was worried about his relapse into broodland.
'Not that Kat is any better,' Xander admitted to himself as he thought about the werecat. Angel's words seemed to have caused the tiny brunette to withdraw into herself, spending more time patrolling the graveyard than at the library with the rest of the group. She seemed more driven than before, like she wouldn't stop until every vampire in Sunnydale had been vanquished.including the idiot vampire who hurt her.
If he was looking for concrete evidence that the two had feelings for each other, or at least that Kat felt something for Angel, this certainly clinched it in Xander's mind. But with the two parties currently not talking to each other, he didn't see how the Scoobies could get them to admit to anything.
'Something's got to be done,' Xander thought before glancing back to the empty chairs somberly. 'Before someone explodes.'
'.I'm going to explode!' Willow fumed silently, her scowl deepening as she glanced over to the empty chairs for the hundredth time in the past hour. 'Stupid, idiotic, childish.' Cutting off the tirade before it could get out of control, the petite redhead sighed in frustration. Kat and Angel were slowing driving her insane. She had tried letting them think things over, but it seemed as if neither one was going to make the first move.
. 'If they would just TALK to each other, instead of hiding.' But Angel refused to come to the library or out on patrol, immune to Willow's powers of persuasion. Even her 'resolve face' didn't move the distant vampire. She was sure that she could talk Kat into doing whatever she said, but to ask the brunette to go the mansion to talk to Angel was probably pushing it.
Suddenly, without warning, the hacker stood up, slamming her book closed with enough force to reverberate in heavy silence that hung in the library. Two pairs of eyes looked up at the tiny young woman in shock, another set peeking out cautiously from the doors to Giles' office as the redhead flung the book down on the table, scowling in irritation. Working him mouth soundlessly, Xander stared at his usually mild-mannered friend, taken back by the fierce look on her petite features. "Uhhh, Wills?" he asked cautiously. "What's wrong?"
Angry green eyes fixed on confused brown ones. "What's wrong?" Willow ground out, hands fisted at her sides. "What's wrong is two of my friends are out there, refusing to act like grownups, while we are stuck here pouring over old books trying to pretend nothing is wrong!" Raising one hand to rub her temple, Willow snorted. "Something has to be done."
"Well it's about time!" Cordelia stated, slamming her book down on the table and standing up. "I was wondering when you two would get sick of this. So what's the plan?"
"Plan?" Xander echoed, blinking in confusion. "What plan? What can we do? It's not like we can force them to talk to each other. Someone might get hurt, and while I'm all for staking Angel, Kat might be upset if we let her kill him."
"She won't kill him, I'll make sure of it." Willow vowed, an idea forming in her mind. "I think we can get them to meet, and manage to avoid any bloodshed in the process." At Xander's questioning look, Willow suddenly smiled. Her smile widened as she leaned across the table toward her childhood friend, causing him to squirm uneasily. "I have a plan.but I'll need your help."
* * * * * * * * *
Stalking through the graveyard, a lithe young woman paused, cocking her head to the side. A faint rustling to her right was all the indication the tiny woman got before a blur of motion exploded out of the bushes to her right. Acting on instincts born from within, she whirled out of the way, her leg coming up in a roundhouse to catch the fledgling in the side of the face. As the fairly inept vampire fell to the ground, the dark-haired young woman twirled the stake in her hands, crouching to drive her wooden weapon into the corpse's chest before it could regain its sense of balance.
As the vampire exploded into dust, Kat remained crouched a few minutes more. Glancing up at the night sky, she idly calculated the phase of the moon, leaving the rest of her mind stuck in the dark thoughts it had been processing for the past few days. She knew that the rest of the Scooby gang was worried for her; Willow had tried repeatedly to get the tiny brunette to come back out of her protective barrier, but to no avail. Kat had shut down her emotions, or at least it seemed that way to everyone.
Inside, however, she was anything but in control. Try as she might, her mind was stuck in a whirlpool of images and sounds, echoing from that night in the graveyard three days ago. Closing her stormy blue-green eyes, the tiny werecat recalled Angel's angry words all to clearly in her mind:
"What in the hell were you thinking, you little hellcat.Giles needs to start training you like he did Buffy.If I hadn't of been here, you would be dead now or worse.If you're so perfectly capable, then act like it.I swear, I've never missed her clear-headed, quick thinking fighting style more than I do tonight.God, how could you be so stupid.If you could just force those volatile emotions down you might be as good as she was someday."
A sound issued from the back of Kat's throat, a combination of a snarl and a whimper. 'I am NOT the Slayer,' her mind argued rebelliously, anger mixing with the confusion and hurt she had been feeling lately, causing her eyes to fly open suddenly. Her eyes had darkened once more, cold emeralds replacing the liquid blue that had flickered there a moment ago.
"I am not the Slayer," she whispered in a deadly tone, her hands balled into fists on her knees, clenching the material of her pants as she swore silently at the accursed vampire who kept haunting her thoughts. 'Shows how much brains he has, comparing me to that anemic little blonde Willow showed me in those photos of hers. I'm no Chosen One; I don't have a calling for this line of work. I do this because I want to, shouldn't that count for something?'
Rising to her feet, the werecat continued her patrol of the cemetery, her mind continuing its fierce rant. 'And I don't see how clear-headed that Slayer can be, running out on her sacred duty, not to mention all her friends, and leaving them to the dangers of the fucking Hellmouth.' Kat continued to malign the Slayer, focusing her anger onto the object of comparison rather than the one she was really mad at. 'Christ, you're not supposed to just give up because things get hard. You're supposed to fight these things to the bitter end, because if you don't,' she halted in her movements, swallowing hard as her throat closed painfully, 'if you don't, the people you care about are the ones who end up getting hurt.'
"Stupid vampire," she whispered hoarsely, her thoughts returning bitterly to the vampire who had snapped at her regarding her fighting style. 'I may not be Little Miss Perfect, but I am a fighter in my own right. I'll be damned if he's going to make me feel guilty because I'm not perfect like his precious Slayer'
A vampire materialized out of nowhere, thinking to make a tasty snack out of the brooding werecat. Without even thinking, Kat let her body take over, whirling around to catch the vampire's arm before it could grab her. Her other hand coming up, she staked the surprised demon before it could even utter a protest. Watching the dust swirl around her, Kat blinked once, twice, before cursing her lack of attention, in the cemetery no less. 'Christ, I'm just proving that vampire right by acting like a zombie. Gripping the stake in her hand tightly, her eyes darkened in anger, at herself and at the vampire who put these thoughts into her head in the first place.
"I won't feel guilty," she whispered fiercely, turning to head out of the cemetery. All this thinking wasn't doing her any good, and Willow would probably come looking for her if she didn't turn up at the library for a few minutes. Just as she was about to leave, however, a sound from behind the werecat caused her to pause. Frowning, Kat glanced over her shoulder, her eyes peering into the darkness beyond. Raising her stake, Kat stalked silently in that direction, her eyes on the lookout for danger.
'One more vampire,' she thought to herself, 'then I'll head to the library.'
* * * * * * *
"Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Willow asked Cordelia as she clutched her seatbelt with one hand, the other firmly gripping the door handle as the dark-haired cheerleader took another corner way too fast. Her life flashing before her eyes, Willow silently vowed never to get in another car if Cordelia was behind the wheel.
"Do you want to drive?" The cheerleader snapped without so much as looking at Willow, her attention firmly fixed on keeping from killing the both of them. After a heavy silence, Cordelia snuck a glance over to the tiny redhead to see her seriously considering the question. "Don't even think about it! Do you see any sign of her?"
"No.wait!" Willow gasped for breath and Cordelia suddenly slammed on her brakes, forcing the tiny passenger to hurtle forward, only to be saved by the seatbelt as it jerked her back into place. Twisting in her seat, Willow managed to gasp through ragged breaths, "I'm.wheez.going. to make you.cough.eat this seatbelt. if you.pant.do that."
"See her?" Cordelia interrupted, leaning forward to peer through her windshield and ignoring the fuming redhead beside her. Squinting her dark eyes, the tall brunette shook her head. "I don't see her. You sure she would be near the cemetery? She might be back at her hotel room."
Finally managing to catch her breath, Willow pointed out the window to her right. "Nope. That's her."
Cordelia turned her head to look doubtfully past Willow. "What, you mean behind that slimy, gooey thing?" After a brief pause, the cheerleader started and leaned closer, squinting her eyes once more. "Oh no.it can't be."
"Yep." Willow grinned at the look of horror on Cordelia's face. "That's her." Without waiting for the cheerleader to respond, Willow rolled down her window and leaned out to yell at the slime-covered person heading in their direction. "Kat!"
Hearing her name, the werecat raised her head, wiping some of the ooze of her brow as she glanced at the two occupants in the car before her. "Oh. Hey guys. I was just on my way to the library."
"What the hell happened to you?" Cordelia blurted out before Kat could finish her sentence.
Glancing down at her slime-covered hand, Kat shrugged. "Ran into a demon of sorts in the cemetery." A half-smile flickered on her face as she continued, " Apparently it explodes into a gooey mess when you kill it. What are you two doing here?"
"We came to pick you up," Willow replied, gesturing to the back seats of Cordelia's car. "Hop in."
"Oh no!" Cordelia shook her head violently. "I will NOT have Miss Kitty getting my seats dirty. How would I explain that stuff when I go to get it cleaned?" Willow turned to give Cordelia a look, making the cheerleader grimace. "I guess I have a blanket in the back seat we can use.but I'm sending you the cleaning bill!"
Raising her eyebrow, Kat watched the brief exchange between the other two teenagers, confusing and amusement warring on her face. "Where are we going," she asked as she opened the door to get in, spreading the blanket out so Cordelia's precious upholstery wouldn't suffer, "back to the library?" She tried to keep her voice light and her tiny smile fixed as she continued. "Even with Wills' great brain and Giles' extensive library, you need one werecat to translate a prophecy?"
"Oh, we're not going back to the library," the cheerleader offered, her horror over the slime-covered werecat replaced with an almost malicious delight in things to come.
Unsure what Cordelia meant, Kat's smile slipped a notch in confusion. "Then where are you guys taking me?"
"Oh, you know," Willow replied, turning to glance at Kat before answering, "We're going to take you to see Angel.after we make a stop at Cordelia's house first."
As Cordelia sped off into the night, a very loud "WHAT???" trailed behind them into the night.
* * * * * * * *
Standing outside the door to the mansion, Xander felt a similar sense of dread creep over his skin. Shifting from one foot to the other, the dark- haired teenager wondered not for the first time how he had let Willow talk him into being errand boy and fetching the brooding vampire from the mansion. Certainly the hacker would have been a better choice, as she was currently the only Scoobie Angel was talking to. Yet Willow had just shaken her head and said that dealing with Kat would take both women put together, and that left Angel to Xander.
'Riight,' the teenager thought dryly, scratching his head with his hand as he stared at the door, wondering what he could possibly say to the soulful vampire. "Especially since Wills forbid me to use the 'She likes you, you like her, why don't you two go like each other together?' speech on him." Actually, Willow's specific words had been that if Xander mentioned Kat's feelings to Angel, she would turn him into a toad and step on him herself, despite her deadly fear of the slimy green things. While he wasn't sure why it would be a bad thing if Angel knew how Kat felt, he was sure Willow would carry out her threat if she found out.
"Well, here goes everything," the teen muttered under his breath, raising his arm and knocking very lightly on the massive door.
* * * * * * * * * *
"No." Arms folded defensively across her chest, Kat glared at the tiny redhead who, much to her annoyance, didn't even seem fazed by the cursing the dark-haired werecat had done all the way to the Chase residence. As Willow frowned, shaking a piece of red material at Kat, the brunette shook her head fiercely. "I said NO!"
"You can't very well go to the Bronze looking like that!" Willow argued, gesturing to Kat's slime-streaked attire.
"I don't even see why I have go to the Bronze. Period." Kat glowered at her friend, then over at Cordelia as a snort of laughter issued from the cheerleader, who was leaning against her locked bedroom door, filing one of her nails and pretending not to enjoy this.
Sighing, Willow flailed her arms at her stubborn friend. "I've already told you! Best way to avoid any bloodshed is if you and Angel talk in some place where there are a lot of people."
"Fine, I don't see why I should go talk to Angel." Kat's rigid refusal to budge rubbed Willow the wrong way. Her head already throbbing from the ear- blasting Kat gave her on the way to Cordelia's, her temper finally snapped. Tossing the red outfit down at Kat's feet, the petite hacker exploded.
"Why?! How about because you two are driving me crazy!" As Kat's jaw dropped in surprise, Willow continued her tirade. "You two! Goddess above, I've had better luck managing two year olds! You're both stubborn, mule- headed, idiotic.and neither one of you wants to make the first move. Well fine, so I'm making you two talk to each other. It's a hell of a lot better than going back and forth, seeing how miserable both my friends are, being unable to do anything about it." Emotionally exhausted from the past few days, Willow sighed sadly. "I just want things to go back to the way they were before."
Kat kicked herself mentally, seeing the anguish her and the vampire were causing her closest friend. Squirming uncomfortably, Kat looked around for something to say. Greenish-blue eyes took in the red material pooled at her feet. Feebly Kat cleared her throat, causing the redhead and cheerleader to look at her curiously. Desperately, even though a tiny part of her mind already braced itself for what Willow had in store for her, Kat offered one final argument.
"But, Willow.why does it have to be a dress?"
* * * * * * * * * *
"Well, here goes everything," Xander muttered under his breath, raising his arm and knocking very lightly on the massive door. He waited for what seemed like eternity, but was actually only a minute or so. Finally, when he heard no reply, the dark-haired young man shrugged, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and turned away from the door. "Well, no one home, guess I'll be leaving!"
One foot in the air, ready to move down the steps, Xander froze as suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck started to rise in warning. Behind Xander the entrance to the mansion slowly began to creak open. The teenager winced as he heard a foot shuffle behind him. Sighing, he turned back to the open door, coming face to face with a confused and silent vampire. Grinning sheepishly, he raised one hand in greeting. "Hiya Dead Boy! Mind if I come in?"