"You ever been on a plane before?" buffy asked looking over at spike. Spike nodded jerkily.
"Twice. Hated it then too." He told her. The plane was headed down the run way and had not even taken off yet but spike was already gripping the arm rests so tight that buffy thought they would break off. They had arrived at the air port and a council lackey had shown them to the plane. It was a small twelve seater. Willow and tara sat next to eachother. Giles took a seat by himself to go over the new slayers records a few more times and try to thinkof a good approach. Buffy was going to take a seat with willow and tara but then she noticed the way spike was swallowing hard and walking as slow as he could to his seat. Buffy had left them and sat next to spike. Spike jerked spasmodically when the plane turned. Buffy frowned worried.
"Spike its gonna be alright. You know the council probably has put so many spells on this plane that it would float on water." She told him. Spike chuckled weakly.
"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better." He told her. Buffy sighed and smiled slightly. Seeing spike like this, so worried over something that was so inconsequential to most people made him seem...for lack of a better term...human. It made him seem vulnerable. Buffy bit her lip then hesitantly rested her hand over spike's clenched fist. It instantly relaxed. She looked up and he was looking down at her with a questioning look in her eyes. She didn't know how to answer the obviouse question in his eyes so she just smiled and let her hand rest more firmly on his. His hand shifted and their fingers were suddenly laced together. Buffy smiled again and rested her head on his shoulder. Spike kissed the top of her head and inhaled deeply, smelling her vanilla scented shampoo and leaned bakc in his chair. He glanced out the special uv protected window and saw blue sky, during his little exchange with buffy they had managed to take off without him noticing. His eyes narrowed and he glanced down at buffy who was jsut smiling triumphantly. Spike ment to be indignant, really he did, but her warm small body leaning agaisnt him seemed to just make all of his bones turn into jello, except for one but luckily she wasn't leaning on that one. As soon as spike thought that buffy snuggled closer and slung her legs up over his lap brushing against said 'bone'. Spike restrained a small hip jerk when her smooth barelegs brushed up against the zipper of his jeans. He looked down at her but she had fallen asleep in his arms again. Her leg shifted a little and spike's eyes rolled back in his head. It was gonna be a LONG flight.
Buffy spike giles willow and tara got off the plane in newyork at roughly nine at night there. They went quickly to the council provided accomidations and went out to the front of the building to regroup and make a battle plan. Giles held up a small sheaf of paper where he had written donw all relivant adresses and when she was working that night.
"Alright she is working from seven to midnight near washington square park. It jsut a few blocks away from here so we should go there first and get a feel for things. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we get home and possibly with her in tow. Ok her name is kia. Pronounced kuh-eye. Finnigan. All we have is the pictures from her hospital stay so we will jsut have to play it by ear. Every body understand?" giles asked. Everyone nodded. He nodded also and they headed down the street towards washington square park.
The store sat on the southern edge of the park, jsut across the street from an entrance. It was a large warehouse type building with large metal doors that were rolled open and a large sign reading 'open mic night' rested against one door. Buffy took the lead and walked in first trying to look nonchalant as they wandered through the surpirisingly large group of people milling in the store. A large number of people were also seated in folding chairs or on wood flats in front of a rough stage covered with drums and variouse types of guitars and other insturments. Willow was the first to spot her.
"Over there, the counter. Its her. Kia." Willow said pointing quickly at a girl standing behind a big wooden counter. She was average height, 5'6 maybe 5'7 with long dark red hair that fell down to the small of her back. She was wearing what looked like the uniform from her school. A black and gray pleated plaid skirt that stopped jsut above her knee, a white collared longs sleeved shirt and over it was a black oxford sweater. The girls large deep green eyes were partially hidden by oval thickblakc framed glasses and her hair wich fell forward onto her face in unkempt curls. Her sleeves were too long and kept falling over her hands and she kept pushing her glasses up her nose. She rang up the customers purchase deftly and bagged it with practiced ease handing it to them and leaning forward with her elbows on the counter.
"She's pretty." Tara commented. Willow and buffy nodded. Spike shrugged.
"Never really was much for red heads." He said almost apologetically. Willow mock glared at him and moved closer to the counter. The rest of the group followed suit and they blended in with a large clump of people looking at a custom bass display nearby. The girl looked up when a taller gilr with black hair cut short, jsut brushing her chin and brown eyes came up next to her.
"Hey kia." Dark haired girl said. Kia smiled shyly.
"Lo' mary." Kia greeted in thick irish brogue mixed with a slight new york accent. Mary leaned on her elbows also and nudged kia with her shoulder.
"So you gonna go up tonight?" she asked. Kia shook her head vehemently.
"No way, not tonight." She said. Mary sighed. "Oh well thats too bad cuz your up next." She said with a huge grin. Kia's eye widened and she began to stutter. Mary just waived off her objections and pushed an acoustic guitar into kia's hands.
"Just go kia, you know you love it." Mary told her and pushed her towards the stage pulling kia's glasses off as she did. Kia stumbled onto the stage and stared wide eyed at the mass of chattering people. Buffy willow tara giles and spike pressed closer to the stage to see what would happen. Kia took a deep breath and sat down lightly on a stool in front of a microphone. Kia's eyes closed and a soft melody formed beneath her fingers, picked expertly from the guitars strings.
See all those people on the ground
waisting time
try to hold it all inside
but jsut for tonight
the top of the world
sitting here wishing
a soft rich voice that shone like unpolished diamonds filtered out of the speakers and the crowd fell silent after the first line. The entire store was in dead silence as she continued.
The things ive become
that something is missing
maybe I ...
what do I know
kia's eyes opened as she began to get more into it and her voice grew stronger. The patrons began to get into the familiar song and the heart peircing voice.
And now it seems that I have found
nothing at all
I want to hear your voice out loud
slow it down
slow it down
without it all
im choking on nothing
its clear in my head
and im screaming for something
knowing nothing is better than knowing it all
on my own
on my own
on my own
on my own
on my own... life...
on my own... life...
her soft voice turned into a rougher wail as she sang life, drawing it out until every one in the crowd could feel it cutting into their chest like a serated knife.
without it all
im choking on nothing
its clear in my head
and im screaming for something
knowing nothing is better than knowing it all
on my own
on my own
on my own
on my own
when the song finished, the crowd stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity then they let out a deafening roar. More than one of the scoobies wiped away a little moisture from their eyes and spike put his fingers in his mouth for an ear splitting whistle. Kia blushed furiously and walked off stage handing the guitar to mary who was smiling triumphantly.
"You love it." Mary said slyly as the next performer went on stage. Kia went back to her position behind the counter and buffy began to move towards her. Spike followed exactly two steps behind then the rest of the group trailed after. Buffy stopped in front of the counter and took a deep breath.
"Kia finnigan?" she said to the girls turned back. Kia flipped around and smiled shyly.
"C-can I help you?" she said and pushed her glasses up her nose. Buffy smiled back and held out her hand.
"Hello my name is Buffy summers and I'm a slayer." Buffy introduced as Kia took her hand. Kia frowned and pushed her hair back from her face.
"Your a what?" she asked. Spike rolled his eyes and looked at Buffy.
"Your trying to introduce the girl to her destiny not get her to join bloody slayers anonymous." He scoffed. Kia cleared her throat and spoke again.
"What's a slayer?" she asked and was completely ignored. Buffy flipped around and scowled at him.
"Listen spike I prefer the direct and up front approach, this is the way I'm gonna handle it. If you want you can always leave." She told him. Spike chuckled softly.
"The direct and up front approach, yeah and how well does that work for any one? You have to be a little more delicate than that. You don't teach someone to swim by throwing them in the pool." He told her. They were standing toe to toe now with their noses inches apart. Gesturing wildly as they argued.
"Oh yeah spike? And what do you know about delicacy? Angel told me all about the ring of amara. You had a plan but your legs started to cramp? That's really delicate and well thought out." Buffy sneered. Spike growled and his eyes tinged yellow.
"You always have to bring up that wanker whenever we talk. Oh angel said this angel did that. You want to know where you can shove you precious angel?" spike snarled. Buffy stared right into his gold flecked eyes.
"Yeah I do. Tell me spike, I'm really interested." She sniped sarcastically.
"You can stick him right up your sodding self righteous holier than thou a-"
"HEY!" came a loud voice from behind them. They both ground to a halt and flipped around . Kia was looking at the floor with a feverish intensity and her pale cheeks were almost as red as her hair. "What's a slayer?" she mumbled. Willow, Tara, and giles burst out laughing.
"Twice. Hated it then too." He told her. The plane was headed down the run way and had not even taken off yet but spike was already gripping the arm rests so tight that buffy thought they would break off. They had arrived at the air port and a council lackey had shown them to the plane. It was a small twelve seater. Willow and tara sat next to eachother. Giles took a seat by himself to go over the new slayers records a few more times and try to thinkof a good approach. Buffy was going to take a seat with willow and tara but then she noticed the way spike was swallowing hard and walking as slow as he could to his seat. Buffy had left them and sat next to spike. Spike jerked spasmodically when the plane turned. Buffy frowned worried.
"Spike its gonna be alright. You know the council probably has put so many spells on this plane that it would float on water." She told him. Spike chuckled weakly.
"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better." He told her. Buffy sighed and smiled slightly. Seeing spike like this, so worried over something that was so inconsequential to most people made him seem...for lack of a better term...human. It made him seem vulnerable. Buffy bit her lip then hesitantly rested her hand over spike's clenched fist. It instantly relaxed. She looked up and he was looking down at her with a questioning look in her eyes. She didn't know how to answer the obviouse question in his eyes so she just smiled and let her hand rest more firmly on his. His hand shifted and their fingers were suddenly laced together. Buffy smiled again and rested her head on his shoulder. Spike kissed the top of her head and inhaled deeply, smelling her vanilla scented shampoo and leaned bakc in his chair. He glanced out the special uv protected window and saw blue sky, during his little exchange with buffy they had managed to take off without him noticing. His eyes narrowed and he glanced down at buffy who was jsut smiling triumphantly. Spike ment to be indignant, really he did, but her warm small body leaning agaisnt him seemed to just make all of his bones turn into jello, except for one but luckily she wasn't leaning on that one. As soon as spike thought that buffy snuggled closer and slung her legs up over his lap brushing against said 'bone'. Spike restrained a small hip jerk when her smooth barelegs brushed up against the zipper of his jeans. He looked down at her but she had fallen asleep in his arms again. Her leg shifted a little and spike's eyes rolled back in his head. It was gonna be a LONG flight.
Buffy spike giles willow and tara got off the plane in newyork at roughly nine at night there. They went quickly to the council provided accomidations and went out to the front of the building to regroup and make a battle plan. Giles held up a small sheaf of paper where he had written donw all relivant adresses and when she was working that night.
"Alright she is working from seven to midnight near washington square park. It jsut a few blocks away from here so we should go there first and get a feel for things. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we get home and possibly with her in tow. Ok her name is kia. Pronounced kuh-eye. Finnigan. All we have is the pictures from her hospital stay so we will jsut have to play it by ear. Every body understand?" giles asked. Everyone nodded. He nodded also and they headed down the street towards washington square park.
The store sat on the southern edge of the park, jsut across the street from an entrance. It was a large warehouse type building with large metal doors that were rolled open and a large sign reading 'open mic night' rested against one door. Buffy took the lead and walked in first trying to look nonchalant as they wandered through the surpirisingly large group of people milling in the store. A large number of people were also seated in folding chairs or on wood flats in front of a rough stage covered with drums and variouse types of guitars and other insturments. Willow was the first to spot her.
"Over there, the counter. Its her. Kia." Willow said pointing quickly at a girl standing behind a big wooden counter. She was average height, 5'6 maybe 5'7 with long dark red hair that fell down to the small of her back. She was wearing what looked like the uniform from her school. A black and gray pleated plaid skirt that stopped jsut above her knee, a white collared longs sleeved shirt and over it was a black oxford sweater. The girls large deep green eyes were partially hidden by oval thickblakc framed glasses and her hair wich fell forward onto her face in unkempt curls. Her sleeves were too long and kept falling over her hands and she kept pushing her glasses up her nose. She rang up the customers purchase deftly and bagged it with practiced ease handing it to them and leaning forward with her elbows on the counter.
"She's pretty." Tara commented. Willow and buffy nodded. Spike shrugged.
"Never really was much for red heads." He said almost apologetically. Willow mock glared at him and moved closer to the counter. The rest of the group followed suit and they blended in with a large clump of people looking at a custom bass display nearby. The girl looked up when a taller gilr with black hair cut short, jsut brushing her chin and brown eyes came up next to her.
"Hey kia." Dark haired girl said. Kia smiled shyly.
"Lo' mary." Kia greeted in thick irish brogue mixed with a slight new york accent. Mary leaned on her elbows also and nudged kia with her shoulder.
"So you gonna go up tonight?" she asked. Kia shook her head vehemently.
"No way, not tonight." She said. Mary sighed. "Oh well thats too bad cuz your up next." She said with a huge grin. Kia's eye widened and she began to stutter. Mary just waived off her objections and pushed an acoustic guitar into kia's hands.
"Just go kia, you know you love it." Mary told her and pushed her towards the stage pulling kia's glasses off as she did. Kia stumbled onto the stage and stared wide eyed at the mass of chattering people. Buffy willow tara giles and spike pressed closer to the stage to see what would happen. Kia took a deep breath and sat down lightly on a stool in front of a microphone. Kia's eyes closed and a soft melody formed beneath her fingers, picked expertly from the guitars strings.
See all those people on the ground
waisting time
try to hold it all inside
but jsut for tonight
the top of the world
sitting here wishing
a soft rich voice that shone like unpolished diamonds filtered out of the speakers and the crowd fell silent after the first line. The entire store was in dead silence as she continued.
The things ive become
that something is missing
maybe I ...
what do I know
kia's eyes opened as she began to get more into it and her voice grew stronger. The patrons began to get into the familiar song and the heart peircing voice.
And now it seems that I have found
nothing at all
I want to hear your voice out loud
slow it down
slow it down
without it all
im choking on nothing
its clear in my head
and im screaming for something
knowing nothing is better than knowing it all
on my own
on my own
on my own
on my own
on my own... life...
on my own... life...
her soft voice turned into a rougher wail as she sang life, drawing it out until every one in the crowd could feel it cutting into their chest like a serated knife.
without it all
im choking on nothing
its clear in my head
and im screaming for something
knowing nothing is better than knowing it all
on my own
on my own
on my own
on my own
when the song finished, the crowd stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity then they let out a deafening roar. More than one of the scoobies wiped away a little moisture from their eyes and spike put his fingers in his mouth for an ear splitting whistle. Kia blushed furiously and walked off stage handing the guitar to mary who was smiling triumphantly.
"You love it." Mary said slyly as the next performer went on stage. Kia went back to her position behind the counter and buffy began to move towards her. Spike followed exactly two steps behind then the rest of the group trailed after. Buffy stopped in front of the counter and took a deep breath.
"Kia finnigan?" she said to the girls turned back. Kia flipped around and smiled shyly.
"C-can I help you?" she said and pushed her glasses up her nose. Buffy smiled back and held out her hand.
"Hello my name is Buffy summers and I'm a slayer." Buffy introduced as Kia took her hand. Kia frowned and pushed her hair back from her face.
"Your a what?" she asked. Spike rolled his eyes and looked at Buffy.
"Your trying to introduce the girl to her destiny not get her to join bloody slayers anonymous." He scoffed. Kia cleared her throat and spoke again.
"What's a slayer?" she asked and was completely ignored. Buffy flipped around and scowled at him.
"Listen spike I prefer the direct and up front approach, this is the way I'm gonna handle it. If you want you can always leave." She told him. Spike chuckled softly.
"The direct and up front approach, yeah and how well does that work for any one? You have to be a little more delicate than that. You don't teach someone to swim by throwing them in the pool." He told her. They were standing toe to toe now with their noses inches apart. Gesturing wildly as they argued.
"Oh yeah spike? And what do you know about delicacy? Angel told me all about the ring of amara. You had a plan but your legs started to cramp? That's really delicate and well thought out." Buffy sneered. Spike growled and his eyes tinged yellow.
"You always have to bring up that wanker whenever we talk. Oh angel said this angel did that. You want to know where you can shove you precious angel?" spike snarled. Buffy stared right into his gold flecked eyes.
"Yeah I do. Tell me spike, I'm really interested." She sniped sarcastically.
"You can stick him right up your sodding self righteous holier than thou a-"
"HEY!" came a loud voice from behind them. They both ground to a halt and flipped around . Kia was looking at the floor with a feverish intensity and her pale cheeks were almost as red as her hair. "What's a slayer?" she mumbled. Willow, Tara, and giles burst out laughing.