Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox still own the Buffy characters, even if we fans are doing more with them currently than we are. Though I'm sure that they weren't the first ones to sing it, it's Nerf Herder's "Mr. Blue Sky" that's been running through my head as I write this, so it's their version that I'm using.
Author's note: I had some trouble figuring out what city to have this take place in, but the simple fact that I've lived in London before settled in. Therefor, in this story, the scooby gang headed over seas to the UK capital sometime after the events of "Chosen". This story is PURE fluff, no angst allowed.
"Britain's Worst Drivers" was on air when I was in the UK back in fall, 2002. I don't know if they decided to do further seasons of the show, but I'm using it here anyway.
"The Young Ones" is a rather old British television show, but it's still amusing. The quotes I used here were the ones most quoted by my friends in middle school when it was showing on Comedy Central.
Mr. Blue Sky
by Casix Thistlebane
"This is pathetic."
Willow stopped short on the steps in Giles' London townhouse, turning toward Dawn with a look of shock. The young woman was staring into the common room. Andrew stood next to her. Neither had noticed the witch on the stairs.
"I like to think of it more as being tragically romantic." Andrew wore the stupefied smiled that meant that, inside, he was concocting another epic tale of Scooby-gang angst.
Willow had her suspicions about who the two were referring to, but hoped she was wrong. "Who's pathetic?"
Dawn frowned without looking up and gestured into the doorway in front of her. "The Gloom-Twins."
Willow crossed the front hall and peered over Andrew's shoulder. Sure enough, there were Xander and Buffy, slouched on the couch in the same position they'd been in for seemingly the entire three weeks that the group had been in London. Willow grimaced. The night before she'd forced both her friends to eat and shower, ordering them to get on with their lives. Perhaps it had been foolish, but she'd thought they'd listen.
On the couch, Buffy was reaching half-heartedly for a Kleenex box. Finding it empty, she flung it over her shoulder, where it landed with perfect aim atop a precariously stacked pile of identical boxes.
"For chrissake," Dawn crossed her arms. "They're just watching 'Britain's Worst Drivers'!"
On the small television screen, a woman driving a battered sedan careened into a false wall, sending traffic cones flying.
Xander sobbed, and Buffy blew her nose.
"Well," Willow tried desperately to rationalize her friends' behavior. "Neither Anya nor Spike was a very good driver,"
"It's been over three months!" Dawn threw her hands into the air. "Get over it!"
"They both lost the loves of their lives." Andrew's voice dripped with unshed tears of sympathy. "They may never recover."
"First off," Dawn rounded on Andrew. "Spike was NOT the love of Buffy's life. Secondly, we ALL lost a lot in Sunnydale. They're just . . . WALLOWING!"
"It's so romantic," Andrew sniffed and wiped at his eye. Dawn let out a frustrated groan and stalked away.
Willow stared in at her two friends, praying they'd at least change the channel. They'd both gone through so much that summer, and in the last seven years of their lives. The culture shock of suddenly losing one's home and having to stay in the tiny dorm rooms of the satellite slayer school Giles' father had run, had plunged them both into a deep, and yes, WALLOWING depression. Neither of them deserved to feel that way. If only they could just have ONE good day, without having to think about their problems, they could possibly start to recover.
Then a grin started to grow on Willow's face. She had what was quite possibly a diabolically good idea.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*The sun is shining in the sky
there ain't a cloud in sight
it's stopped raining,
everybody's on the play
and don't you know,
it's a beautiful new day-ayayay,*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Giles was not surprised to find Dawn and Andrew standing in the doorway to the common room, even at the early hours just before daybreak. The two had become an almost permanent fixture on the spot, watching over Xander and Buffy. He was, however, surprised at the grin lighting up Dawn's face and the look of confusion and almost disappointment on Andrew's. He went immediately to investigate.
Xander and Buffy were still slouched on the couch that had become their home in the London House, and there were still used tissues sprawled over the edge of the rubbish bin beside them. Tears still coursed down Buffy's face, but the sound coming from her throat was laughter, not sobs.
Xander was clutching his stomach and almost choking on his chuckles as he struggled to dodge Buffy's slayer-reinforced fingers which attacked his sides.
"Quick," he snorted and fell off the couch. "Quick, Vivian! Eat the tele!"
Buffy followed him to the floor. "I've always wanted to do that!"
Giles winced slightly at their terrible imitations of the Young Ones, who cavorted, unwatched, on the television.
"Good lord," Giles removed and cleaned his glasses, trying to reign in his shock. "Are they on drugs?"
"I think they've finally lost it." Andrew's expression had returned to awe at what he saw as tragic romance.
"Shut up!" Dawn thumped her fist into Andrew's stomach. "They're finally feeling better!"
The conversation on the floor had continued unnoticed until Xander suddenly stood.
"That's a great idea!" He offered his hand to Buffy and pulled her grinning form up next to him. She smoothed back her disheveled hair and turned toward Giles.
"We're going to explore London for awhile!" Buffy announced, bouncing their way. "We'll be back by dusk."
Giles nodded as he pushed Dawn and Andrew backward out of the pair's way.
They almost skipped out the front door.
A happy sigh came from the stairs. Giles turned to see a smug looking Willow sitting here, watching them.
"Good lord, Willow." Giles readjusted his glasses again. "What the hell did you do?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"I would have thought that after that, that FIASCO at the Magic Box with the loan shark you would have learned your lesson when it came to memory spells."
Willow huffed as she pushed open the door to her room. "Please, Giles, what do you think I am, an idiot?" She led the way into the tiny single room. "I didn't do any memory spell. Just a mood lightener. With a time limit: it'll slowly fade out with the sun." She gestured to the back wall of her room, where a large diagram had been tacked to the wall. Inside the diagram, a smokey screen showed Xander and Buffy laughing as they exited a shop on the corner of Store Street. "We can keep an eye on them here and make sure they don't get into trouble."
"Using magic like this–"
"I know what I'm doing now, Giles." Willow sat down on her bed. "They just needed to relax, even if it's only for one day. It'll help them get perspective on everything that's happened."
Giles sighed as he watched his two friends stop on the corner of Store and Gower Streets, pulling out a London A-Z. They were still laughing, something which he hadn't heard either of them do in much too long. "Well, let it be known that I am a conscientious objector." He sat down next to Willow, eyes focused on the screen. "But it is good to see the two of them having fun."
"Damn right, Watcher-man."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Running down the avenue,
see how the sun shines brightly
in this city
on these streets where once was pity
Mr. Blue Sky is living here today-ayayay,*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Where to first, Lord Harris?" Buffy performed an elaborate curtsey as Xander flipped through the map book. She spilled some of her Orangina, but didn't mind. She didn't seem to be minding anything today.
Xander, his grin starting to ache a little in his cheeks, bowed in return. "Well, Lady Buffy, how about the British Museum? It's right down the street," He pointed south, away from the London House. "We could check out the G-man's old haunt."
Buffy made a face. "Boring."
Xander swigged back on his apple Tango. "And play a scavenger hunt?"
"Fine. But only for a little while. I want to have FUN today."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Giles snorted. "Really, I think I might be offended."
Dawn grinned, and whacked him on the back of his head, which only increased his consternation. "Be quiet and pass the popcorn."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Buffy stared down at the glass case in the corner of one of the upstairs rooms of the British Museum. "Okay, gonna have to go with an 'eww' there."
Xander smirked. "Oh, come on, I'm sure you've fought a demon or two that looks like that."
Buffy looked up from the remains of the Bog Man. "And my reaction to those was 'ewww' as well. Does this count as a mummy?" She looked back at the hastily scrawled list in her hands, pen poised to mark it off.
"No way. There's barely enough of it left to rise from the dead. Let's go find the Egyptian section."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander bent down in front of another case as Buffy marked off the last item on their short scavenger hunt list. "How much you wanna bet the hieroglyphics really say 'nyeh-nyeh, you can't read me!'"
"It would put a damper on about a hundred years of Egyptology." Buffy cocked her head to one side. "Seriously, why on earth did they assume that someone had bothered to write the same passage in more than one language?"
A stodgy looking British couple behind them sniffed indignantly at the two blocking their view of the Rosetta Stone. Their ten year old daughter giggled.
"Where to, next, Lady Buffy?"
"Trafalgar. Let's go laugh at Lord Nelson."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Seven young faces stared at Giles as he sipped his tea. He raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Are they right?" Kennedy wrapped an arm over her girlfriend's shoulder.
"Please, the Rosetta Stone is an extremely important archeological find."
Andrew grinned. "I bet it does say 'nyeh-nyeh'."
"Oh, ta very much."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Let's go in here."
"Forbidden Planet?" Buffy grimaced. "Xander, that's a geek store!"
"And I'm a geek, what's your point?"
"Fine, but we're going shopping on Oxford Street, too."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Andrew shot a fist into the air. "Yes!"
The crowd in Willow's room glared, and a great deal of "shush"s followed.
"It's about time he admitted it out loud, is all I'm saying,"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Buffy sprang nimbly up to the lions circling Nelson's Column. "Hurry up, slow poke!"
Xander yanked himself up, his sneakered feet scrabbling for purchase on the smooth marble. He stuck his tongue out at Buffy as she offered him a hand up.
Buffy sat herself on one of the back of one of the lions. "Check it out, I'm the King of the Jungle."
"Jungle QUEEN." Xander climbed up to perch on the lion's head. "I'm the KING."
"Fine, we're both royalty."
"One of these days," Xander patted the stone mane beneath him. "I'm gonna go to Africa and see these things for real."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
you had to hide away for so long
(So long)
where did we go wrong?
Mr. Blue Sky please tell us why
you had to hide away for so long
(so long)
where did we go wrong?*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Rona stood up from her position on the floor in front of the spell diagram. Vi shot her a look.
"You're gonna miss it!"
Rona grinned. "We need more chips."
"Crisps!"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Oooh! Gender neutral club clothes!"
Xander groaned lightly. "Buffy, that's the fifth store we've passed that said the same thing." He hefted an armful of bags onto his shoulder. "How much money do you have, anyway?"
"Enough for one more pair of waxed jeans."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander stuck his tube pass into one of the machines, waiting patiently for it to let him through. Buffy tapped her foot on the other side. "Come on."
"Impatient much?" Xander bounced over to her side. She grinned at him.
"We wasted three weeks on a couch. I wanna see ALL of London today."
Xander nodded. "Well then, I have just one thing to say."
"Yes?"
He poked her in the shoulder. "You're it, Lady Buffy."
He thundered down the left side of the escalator, leaving Buffy open mouthed above him.
"You think you can outrun a slayer?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Ten bucks on Buffy catching him before the tube train arrives." Robin waved a bill in the air.
Faith grinned. "No way. My money is on Xander. He's wilier than you think."
Giles rolled his eyes. "I'll take that bet." He fished in his pocket for a note. "Ten quid it is."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander laughed over the sound of the "mind the gap" announcement as the doors to the tube train slid open in front of him. He dodged past a crowd of business men, who muttered darkly at the young man's antics. Buffy leaped on just as the doors were closing again. She slithered between a group of tourists to Xander's side.
"You're it now, King of the Jungle."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Faith grinned as she collected ten pound notes from everyone in the room. She raised an eyebrow at Willow and Dawn, who had refrained from betting.
Willow smiled. "It was sucker's bet. And you need the money more than I do."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander took a large bite out of his doner kebab, watching Buffy stare at her cone of chips, perplexed.
"How's the salt and vinegar?"
"I don't know how the British can eat this stuff."
The two glanced at each other's food, still standing outside the Chippy. After a moment, they traded newsprint wrapped packages.
Buffy immediately started into the kebab as Xander stabbed at a chip with his wooden fork.
"Eat too much of that, and you're not going to fit into those waxed jeans you bought."
Buffy stuck her tongue out at him.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Well, it's certainly an arch."
"And it's made out of marble."
Xander nodded. "Right then. Moving on."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"What IS the point of the Marble Arch, Giles?" Dawn glanced over at the watcher next to her.
"If you'd have been paying any attention to my 'history of London' lecture, you'd know." Giles watched Xander eat another glistening chip with something like wistfulness. "I don't suppose anyone would be up for running out to get us some chips, would they?"
No one took him up on it.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander tossed the now empty chip-wrapper into a nearby bin. He peered at the chip fork, and offered it to Buffy.
"Toss it out, Xander."
"Oh, come on. Stealth stake!"
"There's no way I could get that through a vampire's ribs."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"That's a misnomer, actually." Giles leaned back against the wall to make room for a couple of the returning slayers. "There was a Slayer in London about ten years ago who made very good use of a chip fork."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"I think this might be a bit of overkill." Xander peered up at the bright gold-leafed figures of the Albert memorial. "He wasn't even a king."
Buffy shrugged. "Victoria loved him. They say she spent the rest of her fifty year reign in mourning."
"That explains why the Victorians were so repressed."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dawn straightened. "I hope they aren't getting any ideas from this."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"If you had the money, would you build something like this for Spike?" Xander continued to peer at the memorial.
"I think he would have been offended. Besides, something that reflects that much sunlight? Not exactly vamp-friendly." She glanced at her friend. "What about you? Would you build this for Anya?"
"Are you kidding? Waste that much money which can be much better invested elsewhere? She'd kill me."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dawn settled back again. "Good."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Hey you with the pretty face
welcome to the human race
a celebration
Mr. Blue Sky's up there waiting
and today is the day we've waited
for-ohohoh!*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Notinghill Carnival!" Buffy stabbed her finger at the poster in the tube train. "We HAVE to go."
"As you wish, Lady Buffy." Xander hopped onto the train as the doors opened. He stood next to one of the support bars without touching it, shifting his weight from foot to foot as the train rattled through the tunnel. When it reached the proper stop, he jumped forward. "And by the way,"
Buffy gave him a dark look, preparing to leap herself.
"You're it!" He tapped her shoulder again, and ran for the escalator, howling.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Oh crap!" Willow shot upright, reaching for a bag of herbs. Everyone swivelled to look at her. She pointed to the bottom corner of the screen, which showed Buffy perching on Xander's shoulders, giggling to the music in the crowd in Notinghill. "Police, five o'clock!"
"That's a 'bobby'," Vi corrected, even as Willow started chanting. They held their breath for a moment as the 'bobby' watched Buffy and Xander's antics, before shaking his head and moving away.
Everyone in the room released a breath in a loud sigh.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Ew!" Buffy jumped down from Xander's shoulder. "Something smells really funky." She wrinkled her nose. "Like the fourth floor of the dorm at UC Sunnydale."
Xander took a couple whiffs. "That would be pot."
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that?"
Xander shrugged. "I worked, what, twelve different jobs before settling on carpentry? Several of my coworkers were pot heads."
Buffy nodded, then blinked. "Do you think we should–"
"Nope."
"Why not?" Buffy grinned. "We're young, care-free, we should experiment."
"Just say 'no', Buff." Xander gave her a sidelong look. "You know better than that."
Buffy shrugged. "I know. I was kidding."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Giles, who had been sitting ramrod straight, let his back relax with a soft sigh. "Thank god."
"Yeah," Faith stretched in the limited space by Willow's dresser. "I've tried that shit, plays hell on the Slayer's metabolism."
"That," Giles frowned. "And it's a rather appallingly stupid thing to do."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Mostly."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Giles groaned, and made a mental note to give Buffy the details of exactly WHAT pot-smoke did to a slayer's metabolism.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Mr. Blue Sky please tell us why
you had to hide away for so long
(so long)
where did we go wrong?
Hey there, Mr. Blue,
we're so pleased to be with you
look around see what you do,
everybody smiles at you.*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Everyone in Willow's room groaned when it started to rain on the Notinghill Carnival. This, they thought, would be the end of Xander and Buffy's antics.
On the screen, Xander glanced up at the sky, and his face exploded once again into a grin. As the rain began to fall harder, he grabbed Buffy's hand and dragged her into a small open space on the paved road.
They both began to dance in the gathering puddles, joined by several of their fellow revelers.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
By dinner time, they were both completely soaked. Buffy sang softly to herself, swirling her new purple umbrella over her head, sending sprays of water into Xander's face. He smirked and tried to grab it from her, but she danced out of his way, grabbing his hand briefly before running several feet down the road.
"You're it now, Lord Harris!"
Xander laughed and raced after her.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
They stopped in front of a brightly lit orange sign in front of a restaurant. Xander stepped under the eaves and began wringing out his shirt. Buffy turned to the sign, then back to him.
"Yo! Sushi!"
"Sure, why not?"
They darted into the door as the rain began pouring down anew.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"That is by far the weirdest restaurant I've ever seen." Rona's eyes were bugging out of her head. "Are there any waiters?"
Giles shook his head. "What, you thought you yanks had the market cornered on meaningless, uneconomic innovation?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander snatched a blue rimmed plate from the conveyer belt. "I've lost track of what's what. How much was the blue?"
"Not a clue." Buffy pulled a credit card out of her pocket. "Think Giles will mind us making this an 'emergency expense'?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The room turned to look at Giles. He removed his glasses.
"Just this once, and only because the two deserve to have a good time without worrying about money." He replaced his now cleaned lenses and glanced around at the assembled slayers. "Don't any of you go getting ideas."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Mr. Blue, you did it right,
but soon comes Mr. Night,
creeping over,
now his head is on your shoulder,
never mind, I'll remember you this,
I'll remember you this way,*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Lightly toasted on sake, Xander and Buffy returned to the rain soaked streets an hour later. The sun was just beginning to touch the horizon, and their grins were losing some of their manic quality. Buffy looked down the street. She could just see the London Eye peeking above the buildings.
"I know I said we'd be back by dusk, but do you think that Giles would mind if we did one more thing?"
Xander followed her gaze. "Screw Giles. I haven't felt this good in weeks."
Buffy smiled. "I don't want to screw GILES."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Willow blinked. She watched her two friends lean into each other as they walked toward the enormous wheel. She blinked again.
Giles' mouth was hanging slightly open, but everyone else's eyes were still glued to the screen on the wall. She leaned toward him.
"I think we should start thinking of reasons to clear everyone out of here."
"Yes." Giles blinked. "Quite."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander stood at the curved side of the pill shaped glass car, watching London slowly fall away below him. He glanced down at the disposable camera in his hands. "We've got one picture left, Buff. What should we use it on?"
Buffy, who was still amazed that even with the small line formed at the base of the Eye, she and Xander had gotten a car to themselves, glanced over the darkening form of Parliament and Big Ben. "I've got an idea."
She stood and walked slowly over to Xander's side, taking the camera from him. She leaned into him, holding the camera out at arms length. He looked over to smile into the lense, but she grabbed his jaw and turned his face back toward hers.
She pressed the button as she captured his lips in a long, slow kiss.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Cat calls and whistles echoed through the tiny dorm room.
Dawn, now standing by the window, grinned and held a hand out to Andrew, who's eyes were slightly glassy. He was obviously rewriting his epic tale of love.
"You owe me fifty quid."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Buffy and Xander were still kissing as the lights from the souvenir camera outside the car flashed. They finally broke off as the car slowly passed the platform and the attendants opened the doors.
Buffy danced off the car, and Xander followed haltingly after. His eye was slightly glazed. Once they reached the bottom of the exit ramp he grabbed her shoulder.
"What was that for?"
"For the best day I've had in eight years."
Xander smiled softly. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
His smile didn't fade as he leaned in to steal another kiss from her. He stepped back. "Me too."
Buffy grinned.
"And you're it, now."
He ran off toward the tube station.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Willow and Giles were shoving the last of the slayers out of the room as Xander and Buffy came back in the front door. They didn't look at anyone as they mounted the stairs toward the third floor and their own dorm rooms. Willow watched them go with a somewhat wicked grin.
She tapped Giles on the shoulder.
"You owe me fifty quid."
Giles grimaced. "Not until you prove that this isn't a side effect of the spell."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dawn and Andrew sat on Willow's bed, forgotten in the confusion of clearing out the room. The spell diagram on the wall still focused on Xander and Buffy as they walked, lips locked together, hands gripping each other's clothing, to Xander's bed.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
you had to hide away for so long
(so long)
where did we go wrong?
Bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
bahhhh, bahhhh,
Bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
Bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
Bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
Bahbah bahbah bahhh bahhhh,
bahbahbahbah bahhhhh!*
The end
Well, now, that's my very first attempt at a B/X fic, so PLEASE tell me what you think.
Author's note: I had some trouble figuring out what city to have this take place in, but the simple fact that I've lived in London before settled in. Therefor, in this story, the scooby gang headed over seas to the UK capital sometime after the events of "Chosen". This story is PURE fluff, no angst allowed.
"Britain's Worst Drivers" was on air when I was in the UK back in fall, 2002. I don't know if they decided to do further seasons of the show, but I'm using it here anyway.
"The Young Ones" is a rather old British television show, but it's still amusing. The quotes I used here were the ones most quoted by my friends in middle school when it was showing on Comedy Central.
Mr. Blue Sky
by Casix Thistlebane
"This is pathetic."
Willow stopped short on the steps in Giles' London townhouse, turning toward Dawn with a look of shock. The young woman was staring into the common room. Andrew stood next to her. Neither had noticed the witch on the stairs.
"I like to think of it more as being tragically romantic." Andrew wore the stupefied smiled that meant that, inside, he was concocting another epic tale of Scooby-gang angst.
Willow had her suspicions about who the two were referring to, but hoped she was wrong. "Who's pathetic?"
Dawn frowned without looking up and gestured into the doorway in front of her. "The Gloom-Twins."
Willow crossed the front hall and peered over Andrew's shoulder. Sure enough, there were Xander and Buffy, slouched on the couch in the same position they'd been in for seemingly the entire three weeks that the group had been in London. Willow grimaced. The night before she'd forced both her friends to eat and shower, ordering them to get on with their lives. Perhaps it had been foolish, but she'd thought they'd listen.
On the couch, Buffy was reaching half-heartedly for a Kleenex box. Finding it empty, she flung it over her shoulder, where it landed with perfect aim atop a precariously stacked pile of identical boxes.
"For chrissake," Dawn crossed her arms. "They're just watching 'Britain's Worst Drivers'!"
On the small television screen, a woman driving a battered sedan careened into a false wall, sending traffic cones flying.
Xander sobbed, and Buffy blew her nose.
"Well," Willow tried desperately to rationalize her friends' behavior. "Neither Anya nor Spike was a very good driver,"
"It's been over three months!" Dawn threw her hands into the air. "Get over it!"
"They both lost the loves of their lives." Andrew's voice dripped with unshed tears of sympathy. "They may never recover."
"First off," Dawn rounded on Andrew. "Spike was NOT the love of Buffy's life. Secondly, we ALL lost a lot in Sunnydale. They're just . . . WALLOWING!"
"It's so romantic," Andrew sniffed and wiped at his eye. Dawn let out a frustrated groan and stalked away.
Willow stared in at her two friends, praying they'd at least change the channel. They'd both gone through so much that summer, and in the last seven years of their lives. The culture shock of suddenly losing one's home and having to stay in the tiny dorm rooms of the satellite slayer school Giles' father had run, had plunged them both into a deep, and yes, WALLOWING depression. Neither of them deserved to feel that way. If only they could just have ONE good day, without having to think about their problems, they could possibly start to recover.
Then a grin started to grow on Willow's face. She had what was quite possibly a diabolically good idea.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*The sun is shining in the sky
there ain't a cloud in sight
it's stopped raining,
everybody's on the play
and don't you know,
it's a beautiful new day-ayayay,*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Giles was not surprised to find Dawn and Andrew standing in the doorway to the common room, even at the early hours just before daybreak. The two had become an almost permanent fixture on the spot, watching over Xander and Buffy. He was, however, surprised at the grin lighting up Dawn's face and the look of confusion and almost disappointment on Andrew's. He went immediately to investigate.
Xander and Buffy were still slouched on the couch that had become their home in the London House, and there were still used tissues sprawled over the edge of the rubbish bin beside them. Tears still coursed down Buffy's face, but the sound coming from her throat was laughter, not sobs.
Xander was clutching his stomach and almost choking on his chuckles as he struggled to dodge Buffy's slayer-reinforced fingers which attacked his sides.
"Quick," he snorted and fell off the couch. "Quick, Vivian! Eat the tele!"
Buffy followed him to the floor. "I've always wanted to do that!"
Giles winced slightly at their terrible imitations of the Young Ones, who cavorted, unwatched, on the television.
"Good lord," Giles removed and cleaned his glasses, trying to reign in his shock. "Are they on drugs?"
"I think they've finally lost it." Andrew's expression had returned to awe at what he saw as tragic romance.
"Shut up!" Dawn thumped her fist into Andrew's stomach. "They're finally feeling better!"
The conversation on the floor had continued unnoticed until Xander suddenly stood.
"That's a great idea!" He offered his hand to Buffy and pulled her grinning form up next to him. She smoothed back her disheveled hair and turned toward Giles.
"We're going to explore London for awhile!" Buffy announced, bouncing their way. "We'll be back by dusk."
Giles nodded as he pushed Dawn and Andrew backward out of the pair's way.
They almost skipped out the front door.
A happy sigh came from the stairs. Giles turned to see a smug looking Willow sitting here, watching them.
"Good lord, Willow." Giles readjusted his glasses again. "What the hell did you do?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"I would have thought that after that, that FIASCO at the Magic Box with the loan shark you would have learned your lesson when it came to memory spells."
Willow huffed as she pushed open the door to her room. "Please, Giles, what do you think I am, an idiot?" She led the way into the tiny single room. "I didn't do any memory spell. Just a mood lightener. With a time limit: it'll slowly fade out with the sun." She gestured to the back wall of her room, where a large diagram had been tacked to the wall. Inside the diagram, a smokey screen showed Xander and Buffy laughing as they exited a shop on the corner of Store Street. "We can keep an eye on them here and make sure they don't get into trouble."
"Using magic like this–"
"I know what I'm doing now, Giles." Willow sat down on her bed. "They just needed to relax, even if it's only for one day. It'll help them get perspective on everything that's happened."
Giles sighed as he watched his two friends stop on the corner of Store and Gower Streets, pulling out a London A-Z. They were still laughing, something which he hadn't heard either of them do in much too long. "Well, let it be known that I am a conscientious objector." He sat down next to Willow, eyes focused on the screen. "But it is good to see the two of them having fun."
"Damn right, Watcher-man."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Running down the avenue,
see how the sun shines brightly
in this city
on these streets where once was pity
Mr. Blue Sky is living here today-ayayay,*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Where to first, Lord Harris?" Buffy performed an elaborate curtsey as Xander flipped through the map book. She spilled some of her Orangina, but didn't mind. She didn't seem to be minding anything today.
Xander, his grin starting to ache a little in his cheeks, bowed in return. "Well, Lady Buffy, how about the British Museum? It's right down the street," He pointed south, away from the London House. "We could check out the G-man's old haunt."
Buffy made a face. "Boring."
Xander swigged back on his apple Tango. "And play a scavenger hunt?"
"Fine. But only for a little while. I want to have FUN today."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Giles snorted. "Really, I think I might be offended."
Dawn grinned, and whacked him on the back of his head, which only increased his consternation. "Be quiet and pass the popcorn."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Buffy stared down at the glass case in the corner of one of the upstairs rooms of the British Museum. "Okay, gonna have to go with an 'eww' there."
Xander smirked. "Oh, come on, I'm sure you've fought a demon or two that looks like that."
Buffy looked up from the remains of the Bog Man. "And my reaction to those was 'ewww' as well. Does this count as a mummy?" She looked back at the hastily scrawled list in her hands, pen poised to mark it off.
"No way. There's barely enough of it left to rise from the dead. Let's go find the Egyptian section."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander bent down in front of another case as Buffy marked off the last item on their short scavenger hunt list. "How much you wanna bet the hieroglyphics really say 'nyeh-nyeh, you can't read me!'"
"It would put a damper on about a hundred years of Egyptology." Buffy cocked her head to one side. "Seriously, why on earth did they assume that someone had bothered to write the same passage in more than one language?"
A stodgy looking British couple behind them sniffed indignantly at the two blocking their view of the Rosetta Stone. Their ten year old daughter giggled.
"Where to, next, Lady Buffy?"
"Trafalgar. Let's go laugh at Lord Nelson."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Seven young faces stared at Giles as he sipped his tea. He raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Are they right?" Kennedy wrapped an arm over her girlfriend's shoulder.
"Please, the Rosetta Stone is an extremely important archeological find."
Andrew grinned. "I bet it does say 'nyeh-nyeh'."
"Oh, ta very much."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Let's go in here."
"Forbidden Planet?" Buffy grimaced. "Xander, that's a geek store!"
"And I'm a geek, what's your point?"
"Fine, but we're going shopping on Oxford Street, too."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Andrew shot a fist into the air. "Yes!"
The crowd in Willow's room glared, and a great deal of "shush"s followed.
"It's about time he admitted it out loud, is all I'm saying,"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Buffy sprang nimbly up to the lions circling Nelson's Column. "Hurry up, slow poke!"
Xander yanked himself up, his sneakered feet scrabbling for purchase on the smooth marble. He stuck his tongue out at Buffy as she offered him a hand up.
Buffy sat herself on one of the back of one of the lions. "Check it out, I'm the King of the Jungle."
"Jungle QUEEN." Xander climbed up to perch on the lion's head. "I'm the KING."
"Fine, we're both royalty."
"One of these days," Xander patted the stone mane beneath him. "I'm gonna go to Africa and see these things for real."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
you had to hide away for so long
(So long)
where did we go wrong?
Mr. Blue Sky please tell us why
you had to hide away for so long
(so long)
where did we go wrong?*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Rona stood up from her position on the floor in front of the spell diagram. Vi shot her a look.
"You're gonna miss it!"
Rona grinned. "We need more chips."
"Crisps!"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Oooh! Gender neutral club clothes!"
Xander groaned lightly. "Buffy, that's the fifth store we've passed that said the same thing." He hefted an armful of bags onto his shoulder. "How much money do you have, anyway?"
"Enough for one more pair of waxed jeans."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander stuck his tube pass into one of the machines, waiting patiently for it to let him through. Buffy tapped her foot on the other side. "Come on."
"Impatient much?" Xander bounced over to her side. She grinned at him.
"We wasted three weeks on a couch. I wanna see ALL of London today."
Xander nodded. "Well then, I have just one thing to say."
"Yes?"
He poked her in the shoulder. "You're it, Lady Buffy."
He thundered down the left side of the escalator, leaving Buffy open mouthed above him.
"You think you can outrun a slayer?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Ten bucks on Buffy catching him before the tube train arrives." Robin waved a bill in the air.
Faith grinned. "No way. My money is on Xander. He's wilier than you think."
Giles rolled his eyes. "I'll take that bet." He fished in his pocket for a note. "Ten quid it is."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander laughed over the sound of the "mind the gap" announcement as the doors to the tube train slid open in front of him. He dodged past a crowd of business men, who muttered darkly at the young man's antics. Buffy leaped on just as the doors were closing again. She slithered between a group of tourists to Xander's side.
"You're it now, King of the Jungle."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Faith grinned as she collected ten pound notes from everyone in the room. She raised an eyebrow at Willow and Dawn, who had refrained from betting.
Willow smiled. "It was sucker's bet. And you need the money more than I do."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander took a large bite out of his doner kebab, watching Buffy stare at her cone of chips, perplexed.
"How's the salt and vinegar?"
"I don't know how the British can eat this stuff."
The two glanced at each other's food, still standing outside the Chippy. After a moment, they traded newsprint wrapped packages.
Buffy immediately started into the kebab as Xander stabbed at a chip with his wooden fork.
"Eat too much of that, and you're not going to fit into those waxed jeans you bought."
Buffy stuck her tongue out at him.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Well, it's certainly an arch."
"And it's made out of marble."
Xander nodded. "Right then. Moving on."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"What IS the point of the Marble Arch, Giles?" Dawn glanced over at the watcher next to her.
"If you'd have been paying any attention to my 'history of London' lecture, you'd know." Giles watched Xander eat another glistening chip with something like wistfulness. "I don't suppose anyone would be up for running out to get us some chips, would they?"
No one took him up on it.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander tossed the now empty chip-wrapper into a nearby bin. He peered at the chip fork, and offered it to Buffy.
"Toss it out, Xander."
"Oh, come on. Stealth stake!"
"There's no way I could get that through a vampire's ribs."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"That's a misnomer, actually." Giles leaned back against the wall to make room for a couple of the returning slayers. "There was a Slayer in London about ten years ago who made very good use of a chip fork."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"I think this might be a bit of overkill." Xander peered up at the bright gold-leafed figures of the Albert memorial. "He wasn't even a king."
Buffy shrugged. "Victoria loved him. They say she spent the rest of her fifty year reign in mourning."
"That explains why the Victorians were so repressed."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dawn straightened. "I hope they aren't getting any ideas from this."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"If you had the money, would you build something like this for Spike?" Xander continued to peer at the memorial.
"I think he would have been offended. Besides, something that reflects that much sunlight? Not exactly vamp-friendly." She glanced at her friend. "What about you? Would you build this for Anya?"
"Are you kidding? Waste that much money which can be much better invested elsewhere? She'd kill me."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dawn settled back again. "Good."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Hey you with the pretty face
welcome to the human race
a celebration
Mr. Blue Sky's up there waiting
and today is the day we've waited
for-ohohoh!*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Notinghill Carnival!" Buffy stabbed her finger at the poster in the tube train. "We HAVE to go."
"As you wish, Lady Buffy." Xander hopped onto the train as the doors opened. He stood next to one of the support bars without touching it, shifting his weight from foot to foot as the train rattled through the tunnel. When it reached the proper stop, he jumped forward. "And by the way,"
Buffy gave him a dark look, preparing to leap herself.
"You're it!" He tapped her shoulder again, and ran for the escalator, howling.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Oh crap!" Willow shot upright, reaching for a bag of herbs. Everyone swivelled to look at her. She pointed to the bottom corner of the screen, which showed Buffy perching on Xander's shoulders, giggling to the music in the crowd in Notinghill. "Police, five o'clock!"
"That's a 'bobby'," Vi corrected, even as Willow started chanting. They held their breath for a moment as the 'bobby' watched Buffy and Xander's antics, before shaking his head and moving away.
Everyone in the room released a breath in a loud sigh.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Ew!" Buffy jumped down from Xander's shoulder. "Something smells really funky." She wrinkled her nose. "Like the fourth floor of the dorm at UC Sunnydale."
Xander took a couple whiffs. "That would be pot."
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that?"
Xander shrugged. "I worked, what, twelve different jobs before settling on carpentry? Several of my coworkers were pot heads."
Buffy nodded, then blinked. "Do you think we should–"
"Nope."
"Why not?" Buffy grinned. "We're young, care-free, we should experiment."
"Just say 'no', Buff." Xander gave her a sidelong look. "You know better than that."
Buffy shrugged. "I know. I was kidding."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Giles, who had been sitting ramrod straight, let his back relax with a soft sigh. "Thank god."
"Yeah," Faith stretched in the limited space by Willow's dresser. "I've tried that shit, plays hell on the Slayer's metabolism."
"That," Giles frowned. "And it's a rather appallingly stupid thing to do."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Mostly."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Giles groaned, and made a mental note to give Buffy the details of exactly WHAT pot-smoke did to a slayer's metabolism.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Mr. Blue Sky please tell us why
you had to hide away for so long
(so long)
where did we go wrong?
Hey there, Mr. Blue,
we're so pleased to be with you
look around see what you do,
everybody smiles at you.*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Everyone in Willow's room groaned when it started to rain on the Notinghill Carnival. This, they thought, would be the end of Xander and Buffy's antics.
On the screen, Xander glanced up at the sky, and his face exploded once again into a grin. As the rain began to fall harder, he grabbed Buffy's hand and dragged her into a small open space on the paved road.
They both began to dance in the gathering puddles, joined by several of their fellow revelers.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
By dinner time, they were both completely soaked. Buffy sang softly to herself, swirling her new purple umbrella over her head, sending sprays of water into Xander's face. He smirked and tried to grab it from her, but she danced out of his way, grabbing his hand briefly before running several feet down the road.
"You're it now, Lord Harris!"
Xander laughed and raced after her.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
They stopped in front of a brightly lit orange sign in front of a restaurant. Xander stepped under the eaves and began wringing out his shirt. Buffy turned to the sign, then back to him.
"Yo! Sushi!"
"Sure, why not?"
They darted into the door as the rain began pouring down anew.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"That is by far the weirdest restaurant I've ever seen." Rona's eyes were bugging out of her head. "Are there any waiters?"
Giles shook his head. "What, you thought you yanks had the market cornered on meaningless, uneconomic innovation?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander snatched a blue rimmed plate from the conveyer belt. "I've lost track of what's what. How much was the blue?"
"Not a clue." Buffy pulled a credit card out of her pocket. "Think Giles will mind us making this an 'emergency expense'?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The room turned to look at Giles. He removed his glasses.
"Just this once, and only because the two deserve to have a good time without worrying about money." He replaced his now cleaned lenses and glanced around at the assembled slayers. "Don't any of you go getting ideas."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Mr. Blue, you did it right,
but soon comes Mr. Night,
creeping over,
now his head is on your shoulder,
never mind, I'll remember you this,
I'll remember you this way,*
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Lightly toasted on sake, Xander and Buffy returned to the rain soaked streets an hour later. The sun was just beginning to touch the horizon, and their grins were losing some of their manic quality. Buffy looked down the street. She could just see the London Eye peeking above the buildings.
"I know I said we'd be back by dusk, but do you think that Giles would mind if we did one more thing?"
Xander followed her gaze. "Screw Giles. I haven't felt this good in weeks."
Buffy smiled. "I don't want to screw GILES."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Willow blinked. She watched her two friends lean into each other as they walked toward the enormous wheel. She blinked again.
Giles' mouth was hanging slightly open, but everyone else's eyes were still glued to the screen on the wall. She leaned toward him.
"I think we should start thinking of reasons to clear everyone out of here."
"Yes." Giles blinked. "Quite."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Xander stood at the curved side of the pill shaped glass car, watching London slowly fall away below him. He glanced down at the disposable camera in his hands. "We've got one picture left, Buff. What should we use it on?"
Buffy, who was still amazed that even with the small line formed at the base of the Eye, she and Xander had gotten a car to themselves, glanced over the darkening form of Parliament and Big Ben. "I've got an idea."
She stood and walked slowly over to Xander's side, taking the camera from him. She leaned into him, holding the camera out at arms length. He looked over to smile into the lense, but she grabbed his jaw and turned his face back toward hers.
She pressed the button as she captured his lips in a long, slow kiss.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Cat calls and whistles echoed through the tiny dorm room.
Dawn, now standing by the window, grinned and held a hand out to Andrew, who's eyes were slightly glassy. He was obviously rewriting his epic tale of love.
"You owe me fifty quid."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Buffy and Xander were still kissing as the lights from the souvenir camera outside the car flashed. They finally broke off as the car slowly passed the platform and the attendants opened the doors.
Buffy danced off the car, and Xander followed haltingly after. His eye was slightly glazed. Once they reached the bottom of the exit ramp he grabbed her shoulder.
"What was that for?"
"For the best day I've had in eight years."
Xander smiled softly. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
His smile didn't fade as he leaned in to steal another kiss from her. He stepped back. "Me too."
Buffy grinned.
"And you're it, now."
He ran off toward the tube station.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Willow and Giles were shoving the last of the slayers out of the room as Xander and Buffy came back in the front door. They didn't look at anyone as they mounted the stairs toward the third floor and their own dorm rooms. Willow watched them go with a somewhat wicked grin.
She tapped Giles on the shoulder.
"You owe me fifty quid."
Giles grimaced. "Not until you prove that this isn't a side effect of the spell."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dawn and Andrew sat on Willow's bed, forgotten in the confusion of clearing out the room. The spell diagram on the wall still focused on Xander and Buffy as they walked, lips locked together, hands gripping each other's clothing, to Xander's bed.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
you had to hide away for so long
(so long)
where did we go wrong?
Bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
bahhhh, bahhhh,
Bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
Bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
Bah-bahhhh, bahbahbahbah,
Bahbah bahbah bahhh bahhhh,
bahbahbahbah bahhhhh!*
The end
Well, now, that's my very first attempt at a B/X fic, so PLEASE tell me what you think.