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Pit Stop
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Buffy looked around the tiny square room. It was pretty much a miniature of the 'living room' up front, except the television was centered on the back wall, and there were several suitcases on and under the booth/table. There was also jumble of cords running from the television to a...

"Playstation?"

"Playstation Two," Spike corrected. "This cabinet here's got all the game disks." He popped the magnetic latch on the door and pulled it open proudly.

Buffy stared at the array of jewel cases.

"Good Lord. You all play?"

"Yeah. Last year we kicked FF10's arse. Stayed up til three to beat that last boss."

"Your parents must be so proud."

"Nah, he didn't care. Just whined about the phone call."

The bus stopped. Buffy looked out the window. "Is this Xander's?"

Spike peeked out at the condominiums. "Yeah. Anya and Oz get picked up at his place, so this is our last pickup."

"What about Willow? She said something about..."

"Girly talk? Yeah, she's gotta run the club though. She'll fly up during the week on the long runs, but she can't leave her baby alone on weekends."

The bus door was heard to open, and Xander's voice filtered under the sliding door seperating the two blondes from the rest of the world. "Hey, hey, hey! How're the bus-virgins doing? You all toured up on the habitat?"

Up front, Dawn tore her attention away from the pixellating tennis match when the three luggage-bearing --or two luggage-bearing, plus Anya-- people came up the stairs. Oz dropped his bag on the carpet and went back outside with Caleb to stow the bikes in the compartment under the bus. Xander put his newly-free arm around Anya and looked around.

"I am counting two missing musicians. Where be the blondes?"

Dawn jerked a thumb at the closed back room.

Xander's smile faded. "What are they doing back there? With the door closed?"

"Maybe they're having get-to-know-you sex," Anya offered cheerfully.

Xander covered her mouth.

Dawn grimaced. "I certainly hope not. I'd like to sit on that couch at some point."

Just then, the door opened, and Buffy and Spike came out.

"Hi, all," Buffy said. She stopped when she noticed Xander was still standing with his hand over Anya's jaw. "What's with the human gag?"

She looked honestly confused, but Spike raised a knowing eyebrow.

Wonder what she said this time.

Xander let go.

"I think it's okay," Anya said as soon as her mouth was free. "They don't look too flushed, and their clothing isn't disarranged. They probably didn't make it past the initial forep--"

Xander put his hand over her mouth. Anya rolled her eyes, but made no move to break free.

"Hello to you too," Spike said, to fill the shocked silence. Buffy looked a little glazed. Anya had that effect on people.

Xander cautiously removed his hand.

Oz and Caleb came back into the bus.

"Oh, look," Anya muttered. "It's the woman-hating bastard."

Caleb stuck his head back through the partition curtain he'd pulled to glare at her, then sat back and started up the bus. "Venemous she devil..."

Oz looked around the room. "So. What'd I miss?"

$% $% $%

The bus stopped about fifteen minutes later at an Albertson's and settled next to several others in an otherwise empty section of the parking lot. Anya instantly jumped up and ran out the door, walky talky and clipboard in hand. Oz followed at a more leisurely pace a couple seconds later. Looking out the wide tinted window, Buffy recognised several of the crew and technicians she'd met at rehearsals wandering around from bus to bus. No one except Anya seemed to be in any hurry.

"It's because she's in charge again," Xander explained. "She has fun turning a simple supply stop into a major ordeal for everyone involved. If you want to miss the 'briefing' --those were paraquotes around 'briefing' by the way, indicating how brief it's not--" he took a recovery breath from the sentence, "...I suggest you go grocery shopping."

Dawn shrugged. "I don't really need anything. I'll just go hide in my bunk if it comes to that."

"I'll take 'em," Spike offered quickly. "C'mon, girlies. Snack run!"

He grabbed his wallet from the rimmed counterette and hopped off the bus.

Buffy jumped up and followed him without hesitation.

As the door slammed closed, Xander and Dawn shared a look. Dawn got up.

"On second thought, maybe I do want some raisin bran."

"You're a good soul, Dawn Summers."

@! !@ @! !@

"...And some of this, and some of this, couple o' these, ooh, these are good..."

Spike tossed the semi-inflated bag behind him, and Buffy caught it before it landed in the cart.

"Double-Powdered Extra Flamey Jalepeno-Vinegar Potato Sticks?"

Spike looked over his shoulder, face aglitter with rapacious glee, and slowly nodded.

"Hell yeah."

Buffy gulped. "Okay." She put the bag in the cart, on top of the Tostitos and Hershey's Nuggets.

Dawn, standing beside her sister, glanced between the two of them and felt a surge of panic. She looked around wildly and suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, sweet! Pork rinds!" She darted forward, risking burns by breaking their eye contact and the flying sparks.

Buffy shook herself out of the Spike-enduced haze and frowned. "Dawn, you're a vege--"

"Pork rinds? I 'ad no idea they 'ad these. Ooh, look! Barbeque flavor!"

Buffy watched the two of them pick through the assorted varieties of pork rinds. A bag landed in the cart. She looked down at it.

"Ew." She looked closer. "What are these, anyway?"

Spike came over and clapped her on the back. His hand lingered on her shoulderblade just slightly longer than necessary.

"'S not important. They're brilliant. You like Pringles?"

"Pringle me up." Spike edged her out of the drivers' position behind the cart and started it forward, saying. "You know, I hear they finally brought the Paprika kind over from Europe..."

As they rolled away, talking amiably, Dawn crossed her arms in annoyance. Her clever scheme had failed, and it was getting more and more evident that it would take something a little short of subtlety to keep those two safely apart.

Dawn's brood was broken by Buffy's slightly cackling laugh, and Spike's rumbling voice.

With a little whimper, she followed them into the soda aisle. She could at least keep them from getting physical against a shelf. For now.

"This is going to be a loooong tour."


#* #* #*

"Holy baked goods, Batman. That's a lotta snacks."

Oz merely nodded agreement, watching the unloading of the multiple grocery bags with slightly wide eyes.

"Think you went a little overboard on the chips, dude?" Xander continued. However, he snagged a bag of salt and vinegar Zapps before they could be stowed away in what Spike had generously called the 'larder.'

"Don't worry, mate. We'll eat 'em," Spike answered, staring into the small, and obviously inadequate fridge. "Do we really need all these bottled waters in here? They're soakin' up all the space."

Before anyone could answer, the bus door opened and Anya came onto the bus.

"Yeah, well women were dieties way before your silly priests invented gender imbalance!" she yelled at someone outside. "And he didn't have to take the freakin' apple! What is it with men and food, anyway??"

She turned into the bus, and blinked at the incredible assortment of foodstuffs. Her eyes bugged.

"My God!"

"Uh, yeah," Buffy offered. "Kinda with you on the shockage."

"Why didn't you stop them? No, that's silly; there's no way you could have stopped this. Spike, how could you do this to me?"

Spike looked up in surprise. "To you? What the bloody hell does my food have to do with you?"

Anya stormed over --four steps-- to the kitchen and picked up a package.

"Yogart-covered pretzals?" She shook the container in Spike's face. "How am I supposed to resist these? They'll just be sitting here, calling to me. And it's not like I'll have any other option, after the show. I mean, what else am I going to do besides eat?"

Spike leaned back. "Uh..." He glanced at Xander. The brunette waved his hands in a 'keep me out of it' motion. Spike searched his mind frantically for something to say that would placate the woman standing over him with the pretzals poised to do damage.

Luckily, he was spared Anya's further wrath when she suddenly lost interest in him.

"Oh, Fruit Loops! I love those." She grabbed the box out of the cabinet and opened it on her way to the couch beside Xander and his chips. She ripped the inner bag open half-hazardly and grabbed a handful of cereal out, stuffing it in her mouth all at once in a spray of multi-colored crumbs.

Spike breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to the loaded fridge. Goddess of Vengeance though she was, their tour manager was easily distracted.

There was a moment of silence punctuated by dry crunching from the couch.

"So," Oz said. "Isn't the Open on tonight?"

%$ $% %$ $%

...I can't think of anything to say. Except that my website got a make over this week, which is why the chapter was a little tardy.

School started back today. Here, at least. Scary.

~Star Mouse