"I miss Buffy," Willow said quietly.
A week after Buffy's return, she and Oz were in his van outside The Bronze. They were supposed to meet up with Xander and Cordelia inside, but she hadn't made any attempt to get out of the front seat. She'd been fairly subdued for several days, and that evening, she was more down than she'd been at school earlier.
Oz took her hand in his and said, "We can swing by Giles' place, if you want. Say hi."
"I miss our Buffy," she said, her emphasis on the word "our" indicating her true state of mind.
He frowned slightly at that and said, "She's our Buffy. Giles said."
Her pout deepened to the point where he wondered if she was about to cry, and she answered, "Our Buffy wouldn't go around threatening friends if they said the wrong thing to her mom. Our Buffy would have let us go on patrol with her last night. Our Buffy wouldn't be treating us like kids."
Oz thought about that for a moment, then said, "So you miss high school Buffy."
"I miss my friend," she corrected. And yes, he thought, there was that tell-tale quaver in her voice that signaled impending tears.
"She's still your friend, Will, but you're going to have to work a little harder to reconnect," he said, moving enough so that he could put his arm around her and hold her close. "She's been through a lot. Her priorities are different. She just wants to keep us safe."
Willow pulled away from him at that, a hint of anger coming into her voice and expression, and she said, "It's not that. Did you see the way she and Cordelia were getting along that first night? Four months ago, she could barely stand to be around her, and now they're like best buds or something."
Pausing as he always did before saying anything, Oz considered what she'd just said, the way she'd been acting and the fact that he could smell her moods — the last adding a certain amount of low-level anxiety to his state of mind, because really, the ability to smell an emotion was disturbing. When he came to a tentative conclusion, he asked, "Are you jealous of Cordelia?"
She stiffened immediately and said, "No! Yes — I don't know. Maybe. How come Buffy talks to her so much more easily?"
"Maybe because I'm not treating her like she's about to have a mental breakdown," said Cordelia, who was standing next to Willow's door. "Are you two coming inside or what?"
Willow turned to glare at Cordelia, saying, "That was a private conversation."
"Then you shouldn't have had it where anyone passing by could hear it. Or you should at least roll up your window so the vampires can't get at you," she answered. Looking around, she added, "Did either of you see Xander going in, or were you too caught up in this week's episode of 'As Sunnydale Turns'?"
Before Willow could get going, Oz said, "He was here a few minutes ago."
Without turning back to them, she said, "Thanks. See you inside."
Oz knew there would be a minor explosion of sorts, and he didn't have long to wait for it. "How can you be so nice to her? You know what she's like. She's mean, and she wouldn't know how to be polite if her life depended on it. And how did you know Xander passed by? I didn't see him. And speaking of Xander, I don't know what he sees in her. I just —"
Oz stopped her by the simple expedient of kissing her. After a minute, her heart started racing again, but for an entirely different reason. When he pulled back, he said softly, "I was polite, because I think Cordelia might have been right. You and Xander and even Giles have all kind of been walking on eggshells around Buffy, and I don't think she appreciates it. I think she prefers it when people speak their mind, and that's what Cordelia does."
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ears, and she leaned into his hand, still unhappy, but somewhat calmer. She murmured, "What about Xander?"
"Caught his scent when we pulled up," he said, a small smile on his lips as he watched Willow respond to his touch. "And I think he likes Cordelia, because she's respectable."
"I'm respectable," she said, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the feel of Oz's hand in her hair.
"Yeah. But you're sister-respectable, not girl-from-the-right-side-of-the-tracks respectable. Cordelia makes him believe he doesn't have to live his parents' life," he said softly, just before kissing her again.
It was a few more minutes before they separated, and when they did, Oz smiled at her and asked, "Ready to go in?"
Rupert Giles was feeling very much like he was adrift at sea, and it had nothing to do with the rather difficult introduction of Faith and Buffy earlier that day. Rather, it was because in just a week, his world had been upended, and he was starting to feel the effects of the strain.
Without question, he was overjoyed to have Buffy back, but she wasn't the same child he'd grown to know and respect. She was an adult who was more comfortable in her skin than he was in his, and that was wrong in some indefinable fashion. Or if it wasn't wrong, it was damned unfair as far as he was concerned.
Also unfair was the fact that she confused him now more than she ever had when she was a teenager. Given her age, he should feel more at ease around her. Instead, he found himself becoming slightly jumpy whenever she entered the room. He tried to convince himself it was simply her appearance. Her hair and scars presented a formidable picture of a woman who looked feral and dangerous, though he knew quite well the danger wasn't to him.
But it was more than that, and he knew it. There had always been a certain edge to her personality, though she managed to keep it hidden much of the time behind inane chatter about boys and the latest fashions. When she patrolled, however, that edge had inevitably crept out, and it allowed her to do her job and do it well. And then the edge would creep back behind the facade of normalcy, and he would be dealing with a seemingly ordinary teenager again.
'Perhaps that's the problem,' he thought, as he finished putting the last of the dishes away. 'She's no longer hiding so much behind the persona of a normal person. She's allowing us to see her as she is, not as she might have wished to be.'
"Penny for you thoughts," said the object of his speculations. She stood just inside the doorway to the kitchen, and as she looked at him with more than a little concern, he felt as if she had put him under the microscope and was examining him quite thoroughly.
Disconcerted by her attention — it was completely uncharacteristic of the girl he'd known a few months earlier — he busied himself with rinsing the sink and wiping down the counter as he said, "Oh, nothing in particular."
"No offense, Giles, but you looked like you had the weight of the world on your shoulders for a minute there," she said, not letting it go. He found himself longing for the days when she would dismiss him out of hand and leave him to his own devices. This Buffy, however, seemed disinclined to permit him to get lost in his thoughts.
Staring at the dishrag in his hand, he started once or twice to speak, then gave up for a moment to take a deep breath before saying, "I'm still trying to reconcile my memories of who you were with who you are."
When she didn't respond, he stammered out, "I'll get used to the changes eventually, but for now, I find I'm still stumbling over the fact that you're an adult."
Softly, she responded, "I thought you'd gotten on that wagon a few days ago." She sounded disappointed in him, and he felt absurdly guilty that he hadn't quite managed to get with the program.
He laughed slightly, and it had a hint of self-mockery to it. "No. Not really. I'm a very good actor, you see. I can pretend with the best of them."
"What will it take to help you get over the changes?" He risked a glance at her and saw curiosity mixed in with a bit of anxiety.
Oddly, it was the slight defensiveness in her voice that made him feel that perhaps she was feeling at least as off-balance as he was. Feeling a bit more sure of himself, he said, "Time, I expect, will take care of the problem for me."
She nodded, looking thoughtful, then said, "Faith, Elizabeth and Annie are ready."
At that, he frowned, saying, "Are you sure Annie should go? I realize she's a fighter and all, but —"
"But nothing, Watcher-mine," she said with a smile. "Annie's older than Willow and Xander were when they started tagging along, and she's a lot stronger and faster than they are. Plus, she had the benefit of learning from some of the best fighters in the multi-verse. She'll be fine."
Realizing she wouldn't be swayed, he nodded his uneasy acceptance and left the dishrag draped over the faucet. "Let me get my bag, and we'll head out," he said, following her to the living room.
Xander returned to the small seating area carrying drinks for everyone. As he passed them around, he said, "So. What's the plan for tonight? Buffy should be starting patrol soon. We could catch up with her."
"Please. I just got a manicure today. Do you think I want to ruin it for some stupid fledgling?" Cordelia took a sip of her drink and sat back, watching for Willow's reaction to her complete failure to follow the Scooby partyline.
Willow just rolled her eyes, not rising to the challenge. She settled back into the sofa after accepting a cup from Xander and took comfort in Oz's light embrace, saying, "Anyway, Buffy said she didn't want us going, remember?"
Xander handed a cup to Oz and took a seat next to Cordelia before saying, "Like that ever stopped us before? Come on, Will. We're the Scoobies. We run headlong into danger without stopping to think, 'Hey! This is stupid!'"
Willow shrugged and said, "Whatever. I still don't think she wants us around."
"Probably not, especially with that new Slayer coming to town today," Cordelia said offhandedly. Her statement, which left Willow and Xander both doing goldfish impressions, was followed by, "Oh. My. God. What the hell was Aura thinking when she decided to wear that outfit?"
Just as she was about to stand up and confront the former Cordette, Xander pulled her back and said, "Excuse me, but what? What are you talking about?"
Still distracted by the sight of Aura, she said, "That outfit! It looks horrible on her, and I can't —"
"Cordy! Focus! What new Slayer?" Xander was praying for patience, because getting Cordelia Chase back on topic when there a huge fashion faux pas in the room was a lot harder than it should be.
"I don't know — Charity, Hope, Faith — one of the virtues. Buffy told me she and her Watcher were due in today," Cordelia said, looking mildly disgusted even though Aura had left her line of sight a few moments earlier.
Willow, still upset that she'd been eavesdropping on her conversation with Oz earlier, asked as disparagingly as possible, "And when did Buffy share that information with you?"
The tone of voice caught Cordelia's attention at last, and she looked at Willow, saying, "Yesterday, when I stopped by Giles' place to talk to her about getting her hair taken care of."
"You stopped at Giles' place?" Xander was beyond confused and well into the realm of The Twilight Zone. Cordelia never stopped by Giles' place unless she was dragged there kicking and screaming all the way. She was always afraid she'd get sucked into doing some extracurricular research that she couldn't even mention on her college applications.
"Sure. Before I picked you up for school. I wanted to let her know that Delia said she could see her in a couple of days, which is pretty incredible, because I know people who have had to wait months to get an appointment with her," she said, looking considerably more animated now that she was talking about something that interested her. Her dramatic delivery of the news continued with, "Delia said that hair like Buffy's would be a major challenge, because she'd have to try to cut it without having to shave it all off."
Oz raised a single eyebrow at that and asked, "You had time for a conversation about hair and a new Slayer before school?"
Missing the mild sarcasm entirely, she answered, "It wasn't easy, and I still don't think Buffy gets what an honor it is for Delia to take her on such short notice, but yeah."
Outraged, Willow's face was flushed when she said, "See? That's what I mean. Our Buffy never would have told Cordelia something like that —"
"Hey! Sitting right here!"
Undeterred by her interruption, Willow continued, "She would have told me or Xander first, or both of us together. Instead, she's all comfy-cozy with Cordelia. I want our Buffy back."
"And I suppose that means whiny, oh-look-how-terrible-my-life-is-pity-me Buffy, right?" Cordelia stood up and continued, "I like adult Buffy. She doesn't try to pretend she's something she's not, and she says what's on her mind."
Willow started to say, "We're her friends —"
Unwilling to cut the other girl any slack, Cordelia broke in with, "If you can't deal with who she is, what kind of friend does that make you?"
"Cordy —" Xander stood up and tried to put a calming hand on her shoulder.
"Forget it," she said, shrugging him off. "If you want to baby-sit Willow's pout, go right ahead. I have other things to do."
"That's pretty harsh," Oz said, working to remain calm. Anger seemed to awaken the wolf within, and he really didn't want to get into a canine frame of mind at the moment.
"Well so was Buffy's life for the last twenty years," Cordelia said. "Or weren't you paying attention?"
Willow stood up at that and leaned forward, getting into Cordelia's face. "I was paying attention —"
"Then why are you complaining about wanting the old Buffy back? She's gone, Willow. She disappeared in Hell, and she's not coming back. The sooner you get that, the sooner we get to stop listening to you whine." Cordelia opened her mouth again, then closed it, shaking her head. "I'm leaving, Xander. If you want a ride, you'll have to come along."
Torn yet again between his girlfriend and his best friend, Xander hesitated only a moment before saying, "Will, Oz — I'll talk to Cordy. I'm sure she didn't mean it." He turned quickly to follow in his girlfriend's wake.
As he left, Willow said quietly, "Sure she meant it."
"Willow —"
Looking into Oz's eyes, she tried to smile at him but failed miserably in the attempt. "I'm being selfish. I'm only thinking about myself, not Buffy."
Oz took a deep breath before saying, "It's hard on everyone."
Willow looked down at her feet and mumbled, "Doesn't seem to be hard on Cordelia."
"She wasn't close to high school Buffy like you were, so yeah, it's easier for her," he said. "But you'll get to know adult Buffy soon enough, and then you can be friends again."
It was several moments before Willow looked up at him and said, "You think?"
Oz smiled at her then, reminding her forcibly that of all the reasons she loved him, his smile was at the top of her list. He said, "I don't think. I know."
It was the last cemetery of the night, and Giles and Elizabeth stood several yards away from the others, watching as Faith and Buffy finished off a group of vampires. The fight had started out with just two, but as they were dusted, more arrived to engage the Slayers. Annie had been instructed to keep an eye out for latecomers to the fight and to deal with them accordingly. She hadn't had much to do, though it was clear from her stance and vigilance that she knew well how to guard a perimeter.
"I'm still having trouble with the notion that she would want her daughter standing right there," Elizabeth said. She had made what she thought were a number of solid arguments against Annie coming along, and Miss Summers ignored every last one of them, politely and thoroughly putting Elizabeth in her place. While she didn't expect unquestioning obedience from Mr. Giles' Slayer, she thought her concerns merited a bit more respect than being pushed aside without further discussion.
Slightly stung by the mild rebuke, Giles found himself in the position of defending Buffy's decision when he still wasn't entirely certain he agreed with it. "She wants Annie to understand how the local vampire population functions and reacts. She wants her to be able to respond appropriately to lessen the danger for her when she's out on her own."
"This isn't a job for civilians, Mr. Giles," she said, wincing as a vampire stumbled away from Faith and into Annie before she could move out of the way.
Watching as the young woman regained her balance and engaged the vampire, Giles did an admirable job of keeping his voice level when he answered, "As a veteran of a civil war, Miss Douglas, Annie is hardly a civilian. Look — she's doing quite well."
A moment later, the vampire had her on the ground, giving lie to Giles' assertion, and he and Elizabeth moved as one to go help her. Before they could take a second step, Annie had regained the dominant position and staked the vampire.
Elizabeth asked, "Why did Annie jump away so quickly?"
"She's allergic to vampire dust," he said absently. The fight was going as well as anyone could hope for, though Giles suspected Buffy might, by this time, be holding back somewhat, either to give Faith the opportunity to take out more of their foes or to assess her skills. He made a mental note to ask her later.
"The daughter of a Slayer is allergic to vampire dust?" Elizabeth was torn between laughing at the notion and continuing to berate him about Annie's presence in the cemetery. In the end, she did neither. For one thing, Annie had done remarkably well for an ordinary human. She hadn't panicked when the vampire had her on the ground, and she'd regained the upper hand. It was more than could be said of Faith during her first few outings as the Slayer.
An inability to stop watching Faith was the other reason Elizabeth remained quiet. She was improving by leaps and bounds with Miss Summers at her side, and whether the reason was to prove herself or because the older Slayer was providing an excellent role model, she didn't know. Nor did she care. Elizabeth was firmly of the opinion that any improvements in Faith's fighting and focus were to be applauded and nurtured.
The battle was essentially over within another five minutes, though Faith and Buffy both had to give chase to the two vampires who decided to run rather than continue to fight. Annie followed her mother through the cemetery, and Giles and Elizabeth were left on their own. She asked, "Will you follow Miss Summers?"
"No. She'll be back once she stakes it. Nights like this, when the moon is new or hidden behind clouds, it's easier to pick a spot and wait," he said, moving to a decrepit bench in front of a crypt and taking a seat.
Elizabeth joined him at the bench and sat down, saying, "I'm glad you requested our transfer here. Though Faith wasn't pleased about coming here, I can already see an improvement in her form and control from just the other night."
He reached down to pull off his shoe and shook out a stone that had lodged inside, then put it back on before saying, "I suspect there's a bit of showmanship involved. I saw the same thing when Kendra came to town. Both she and Buffy did considerably better when each was trying to prove to the other how good she was."
"Poor Kendra," she said, remembering the mix of terror, elation and grief she'd felt when she discovered that Faith had been called. "I sent a card to Mr. Zabuto when I found out. I never did hear back from him."
Giles hesitated for a moment, then said, "I don't imagine he was in any shape to accept condolences. Buffy's death was so brief that I wasn't aware of it until afterward, yet the thought of it is still enough to chill me to the bone."
"You don't agree with the notion that a Watcher should be distant from her Slayer, then?" She asked the question without thought, and as soon as it was spoken, she wanted to take it back. Though Quentin had assured her that Faith wouldn't be removed from her care, she still felt her position was precarious. Should Mr. Giles report —
"It's complete nonsense, if you ask me," he said, clearly unaware of her minor panic attack. "They send us out to teach these girls to fight and to record their achievements, then tell us we're not supposed to care about them? It's absurd to assume that a Watcher-Slayer team can be successful without mutual trust and respect, and both are impossible to achieve without some kind of emotional involvement."
Elizabeth breathed easier on hearing his words, but she had to be certain. She said, "We're taught that remaining distant is easier for everyone concerned, given that the Slayer dies and is replaced."
At that, he turned slightly with a quizzical look on his face and asked, "Can Faith be replaced?"
"Of course not!" Her anger was sudden and hot, and it was diffused almost immediately by the sound of his chuckle.
"My point, exactly. While it's true that there's always a new Slayer called to carry the burden, the girl who died can never be replaced," he said. He paused for a moment then added quietly, almost guiltily, "It didn't take long after my appointment to Sunnydale to start seeing Buffy as — well — as a daughter of sorts."
"Thank God I'm not the only one," she blurted out.
Eyebrows raised, he said as blandly as possible, "Oh?"
Grateful the dark night hid her blush, she answered, "Yes, alright. I see Faith as a daughter. It's hard not to, when a potential moves in with you."
Giles said, "I imagine the situation was difficult and painful when Council launched an investigation."
"Faith was enraged, to put it mildly," she said, "though her anger was nothing compared to what I was feeling. I'd spent three years rebuilding her trust in humanity, three years helping her to reconcile with her history, three years teaching her that she counted for something, and then —" She broke off, unable to continue without losing her temper completely.
After a few moments, Giles sighed heavily and said, "I've been trying to think of a gentle way to tell you this, and I haven't been able to come up with a single idea, so I'll just come out with it. Quentin Travers will be here tomorrow."
She nodded ruefully and said, "Yes, I knew he was coming to Sunnydale. He mentioned it when he called to tell me that we were to move here. I plan to keep Faith well away from him."
"That sounds like a good idea," he said, looking down at the ground. Hesitantly, he added, "I'm worried that I may be ordered back to England."
Elizabeth looked at him sharply and said, "What? They wouldn't. You're Miss Summers' Watcher."
"Travers wasn't happy to hear that she wished to step down from her duties," he said softly. It wasn't until she saw how tightly clenched his hands were that she realized just how much control he was exerting over himself to keep from flying apart at the seams. "I inferred from his comments that as she no longer wished to be the Slayer, she no longer needed a Watcher."
"He —" She stopped herself, then continued, "I was about to say he couldn't possibly believe that, but that isn't true, is it?" She thought she understood, now, the tension she'd been sensing from him since their arrival. With that hanging over his head, it was no wonder that —
"I haven't had the heart to tell Buffy yet," he said, breaking into her thoughts.
"Mr. Giles, you have to tell her," she said, shocked that he'd kept such significant news from his Slayer.
"I know," he said, sounding discouraged. "It's just — unless Travers decides to get difficult, I won't —"
"Yo E!" Giles and Elizabeth looked up to see Faith strutting toward them. A flash of teeth told them both she'd been successful. "Where's JJ and JJ Junior?"
"Who's JJ?" Buffy and Annie approached from another direction, looking relaxed and happy, though neither was filled with quite as much post-slayage enthusiasm as Faith.
With a smirk firmly in place, she answered, "You are — Jungle Jane, remember?"
Buffy stared at Faith until the younger woman lost a bit of her cockiness. She said in a polite and firm tone, "I answer to Buffy or Miss Summers or Mrs. Fitzgerald. I do not answer to anything else. Got it?"
"Um, yeah. Sure," Faith said.
In an effort to dispel her discomfort at being chastised in such a manner that she couldn't find a way to take exception, Faith started twirling her stake in the manner of a gunslinger of the Old West, every so often tossing it up then catching it. She was still doing this when she casually asked, "What's there to do in a town like Sunnydale?"
Buffy answered easily, "There's a dance club — The Bronze — it's downtown, and mostly high school and college students go there." She walked over to Giles' weapon bag, still sitting where he'd left it earlier, and dropped her short sword into it before picking it up and carrying it to him.
"What's the music like?" Faith sounded dubious, though Elizabeth was happy to hear that it seemed to cater to a younger crowd.
"Depends on the night," Buffy said. "On Fridays and Saturdays, they get local bands in — some grunge, some goth, some techno. It's a mix."
Faith thought about it for a moment then said, "Sounds like a plan. Me and Annie can go check it out."
The look on Miss Summers' face made Elizabeth bite her cheek to keep from laughing. She had no problem taking her daughter out to stake vampires, but the moment someone suggested a social venue, she panicked. Though, as she thought about it, her concerns were more valid than they seemed to be at first blush. It was unlikely that Annie had very much contact — if at all — with children her own age when she was growing up. She was about to suggest to Faith that she go alone when Mr. Giles spoke up.
"It would be a chance for her to get to know some of the teenagers in town. And you know that Xander, Willow and the others will probably be there," he said, sounding reasonable.
Annie, her excitement barely contained, said, "Please, Mom?" Elizabeth was amazed that she seemed so willing to jump into an unknown situation. Then again, it was possible that ignorance played the larger role in her seeming lack of anxiety.
"You're not exactly dressed for it," she answered, looking skeptically at Annie's lime green sweater and her hot pink slacks.
"No prob," Faith said, moving to put her arm around Annie. "I got a clubbing shirt I bust out of at all the right places. She's kinda smaller than me, so it should fit her just fine. Best part? It goes with her slacks."
"Well —"
Elizabeth, suspecting that Mr. Giles would prefer to speak to Buffy without an audience, said, "I know the shirt, Miss Summers. I believe it will, in fact, fit Annie quite nicely. And truthfully, I would be grateful in the extreme if you were to forget to return it to Faith."
"Hey!"
When Buffy and Giles returned to his flat alone — Annie having gone with Faith — she turned to him just as he closed the door and said, "Okay, this time it's for real. I was willing to buy your story earlier that you were having a hard time getting used to me again, but that doesn't explain why you were so down when Annie and I got back from chasing that vamp. What gives?"
Feeling trapped and off balance by her sudden interrogation, he blurted out, "It's possible that I might be ordered back to England."
The change in her was remarkable. In the blink of an eye, she'd gone from a concerned woman to a general ready to study her enemy and plot his demise. That her attitude could change so quickly and easily unnerved Giles, even as he found himself pleased that she apparently objected to the possibility of him leaving.
All business, she asked, "Why?"
Relieved, now that the burden of keeping his concern to himself was gone, he explained quietly, "You've chosen to step away from your duties as the Slayer. Mr. Travers, the man coming here tomorrow, was less than pleased with your decision. He feels — that is — I think he feels that if you aren't an active Slayer, you don't need a Watcher."
He could see a muscle along her jawline contracting as she took in what he said, and then he heard, "Would you go to England if he told you to?"
"No!" He went over to her and took her hands in his, saying, "If I'm ordered back, I shall resign from the Council and remain here. There may, however, be a problem with that plan."
She relaxed when he told her that he would stay then tensed up again as she asked, "What problem?"
"The Watchers' Council is very old, and it has political connections everywhere," he said, careful to maintain a neutral tone of voice. Now was not the time to get her worked up. "If our meeting tomorrow goes badly, it's possible Travers may decide to punish you by having me deported. And before you ask, yes, they could manage that quite easily."
She stared at him for a long while before asking, "When were you going to tell me?"
He couldn't continue to look at her, so he looked at their hands, mildly surprised she hadn't pulled away. "I wanted to talk to you last night, truly. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. You've been through so much —"
He shook his head, cutting off his attempt to justify himself, and said, "I realize it's no excuse for my cowardice."
It wasn't until she ducked low enough to catch his gaze again that he saw a hint of wry humor in her eyes. "You're talking to the former poster child of denial, so I get where you were coming from. But Giles? Don't pull this crap again. I need to know if there's a problem on the horizon if we're going to have a chance to fix it," she said.
Feeling chastised and contrite, he took a deep breath and said, "I promise to keep you informed from now on if there are any other potential problems."
Still holding his hands, she started backing up toward the couch and said, "Okay, Doofus —"
"I say!"
She flashed him a grin before continuing, "You did something of the stupid, so you get to wear the stupid name for a while."
With a pained expression on his face, he said, "'Doofus'?"
Ignoring his complaint, she said, "As I started to say, it's time for a little strategy session so you and I can figure out what to do about Travers and the Watchers' Council. Now sit down and tell Aunt Buffy all about the big bad man."
He joined her on the couch and shot her a dirty look before saying, "I realize I behaved like an imbecile in not telling you of my worries, but must you rub it in?"
She raised her eyebrows at his tone and said, "Yes, actually. I must. I enjoy rubbing it in. I'm totally into the concept of 'told you so.' In fact —"
Interrupting her before she could go further, he said, "In other words, you would rather make my life miserable than talk about tomorrow?"
"You know, you're no fun when someone points out the error of your ways," she said. When his only response was a glare, she added on a sigh, "Fine. Strategy. Let's talk about what will make Travers happy without requiring me to be on patrol every night."
to be continued...at my Web site, www.elementalvision.org.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: FanFiction.net recently pulled one of my stories without so much as a warning or an opportunity to pull it down myself. Though this isn't the first time I've been frustrated with FF.net, it will be the last time. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be pulling my stories from the site. This is the last update of "All Shall Be Well" that I will make at FF.net, and the story will be pulled by March 1, 2004.
This does not mean that I've stopped writing. My stories are archived at my own Web site, Elemental Vision [www.elementalvision.org], and I still post at Twisting the Hellmouth [www.tthfanfic.com]. Should you wish to continue receiving update alerts on my stories, you are more than welcome to join my update list; the address can be found at my author's page here. This is a notification list only, and I'm the only one who can post to it. I keep subscriber names hidden for privacy.
Thank you for your interest in my stories, and thank you for your time.
Warmest regards,
Tara Keezer
