Disclaimer: They're only mine when I'm having REM
Discoveries
Will looked over at Rob as they walked towards Ella's house. He knew that something had happened
between his friend and Lizbeth earlier in the canteen. Rob had hardly said a thing since then, which was
considered far from normal by everyone who even vaguely knew the athletic young man. The question
was, what was so wrong?
Finally the quiet musician broached the subject.
"What's up man? You've hardly said a thing all afternoon. It's starting to give me the Wiggins."
Rob glanced at his childhood friend, wondering whether or not he should share his concerns with him.
On one hand, he had never kept anything from Will. None of them had needed to keep secrets before.
Hell, the three of them were so close that Ella would even let them know when her period started so that
the boys knew not to take the piss too much. But for the first time ever Rob didn't feel comfortable with
telling Will everything. He would tell him about asking Lizbeth out and her rejection of him, chances were
he wouldn't be able to keep that a secret long, but as for the other concerns he was having – mostly
regarding what he had witnessed in the cemetery the previous evening – well that wasn't really his
secret to tell. He had to speak with Lizbeth about it before he even thought about telling the others. He
just didn't know how to approach the subject with her. He had briefly considered speaking about it with
her in the canteen but then she had been leaning so close to him and he seemed to have lost all thought
processes so he decided to ask her out instead.
"Rob? Rob? Earth to Mr. Emerson. Houston calling."
Rob realized that he had spaced out yet again.
"I'm sorry Will. I was thinking about Lizbeth."
"What about Lizbeth?" Will asked cautiously, not wanting to embarrass Rob by letting him know that his
feelings for the young woman were more than obvious.
"Well... I asked her out." Rob paused at that, waiting for Will's reaction to the statement before
continuing.
"And I'm assuming that the reason I'm only hearing about this now is that she didn't give a positive
response?"
"She didn't wanna risk our burgeoning friendship." He replied sarcastically
"Ah. And how do you feel about that?"
"I dunno. I s'pose that to be fair we don't really know each other that well yet anyway. She's just so
gorgeous. And she seems really intelligent and funny and cool. Hating to use the cliché but I've never
met anyone like her before."
Will thought about this. Lizbeth really seemed to be the ultimate woman if you believed Rob's intense
monologue. But maybe he could use his friend's description to his advantage. Here he had one friend
who had just been turned down by some girl he'd met only two days before, and they were walking
towards his other friend who blatantly had an enormous crush on the previous friend. Maybe he could
have everyone happy by the end of the day.
"Well I wouldn't say you've never met anyone like that. I mean look at Ella. She's easily more intelligent
than both of us two put together. Plus she's been the coolest girl either of us has known since the day
we met her. Not to mention the fact that she has the both of us in stitches pretty much twenty-four
seven."
Rob glanced at Will, a slightly confused expression on his face. "Well I s'pose. But Lizbeth is all of that
and gorgeous as well. She looks exactly like what a woman should look like."
Will nearly laughed at that. So that was it? He just didn't see that Ella was the most beautiful woman in
the whole school. God his friend could be blind when he wanted.
"Rob, I have a mission for you. When we get to Ella's house I want you to look at her..."
"It'd be a bit difficult to not look at her, I mean she'll be there and everything."
"No what I mean is, I want you to really look at her. See her. Do you have any idea why she has a new
boyfriend practically every month?"
"Because she's fickle, because she can't settle down, I dunno."
"Rob what I mean is, why does every guy in school, including Chris 'I'm so perfect' Malloy, seem to be
happy to take a ticket and stand in line in the hope that they'll be next to date her? Especially
considering none of them last more than a few weeks? What is so special about her that everyone
seems to want her?"
"How should I know?"
"Well when we get there why don't you have a look, see if you can't work it out?"
"Sure man, whatever."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Willow wandered around slowly. Even when they had last been together, none of the Scoobies had
bothered to visit the mansion for years. For Xander, there was no point, Giles seemed to have
conveniently forgotten all of their old 'haunts' and of course for Buffy it had been 'too hard'. Alex smirked
at this. The powerful, strong slayer, who could quite happily steal her best friend's boyfriend, couldn't
bring herself to return to the place her ex had once frequented. Bloody hypocrite.
She began to wander back downstairs, the whole time remembering parts of her previous life. Faces
flashed inside her head, of the people she'd loved and the ones that she'd feared. Buffy, Riley, Faith,
Xander, Anya, Cordelia, The Mayor, Glory, Spike and finally the one she had missed for the longest,
Angel.
Suddenly she heard a rustle from the curtains. Whipping around she called out "Who's there?". When
she received no reply she quickly buttoned her long, leather duster, an item she hadn't worn for years,
and returned to the harsh wind outside, leaving all of her memories behind. For now.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
He had felt someone enter the building and decided to stay hidden rather than risk the exchange he was
sure would come. He knew the scent well, but it was weaker, and slightly different. It had acquired a
feminine tinge. Vanilla and daisies * must have a new girlfriend * the vampire thought as he moved
slowly towards the main room. Suddenly he heard footsteps entering the room. He quickly hid behind
the curtains and stood stock still.
"Who's there?"
That wasn't Spike. It was a woman, a very familiar sounding woman. But then why was she wearing
Spike's Duster, he could see now, the long raven hair, slight frame, hyper aware look on her face. He
remembered that look. He hadn't seen it for years, and the last time he had seen it was upon the face of
a young redhead. Who had smelled like Vanilla and Daisies.
As the woman cautiously left the building Angel let out a needless sigh and two words. "She's back."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Lizbeth was so glad she'd met Ella. Of the few friends she had back home, all of them had been 'girly'
girls. Lizbeth was definitely not a 'girly' girl. Her parents had pretty much forced her to hang out with her
friends. Every night she had said she'd rather stay home and read a book or watch some t.v. but her
parents were having none of that.
"Go out." They'd say. "Enjoy yourself. Spend some time with the girls."
She had hated 'spending time with the girls' so naturally when Ella had invited her over tonight she had
been slightly wary. But then she hadn't expected to be drinking vodka and coke (disguised in a coke
bottle), listening to punk rock and jumping around like a maniac whilst playing an air guitar. It was the
most fun she had ever had in her whole life. And the night was still young.
"Okay Lizbeth, now we have to be girly for a minute."
The slayer looked up at her new friend in dread. Had she tricked her? Lulled her into a false sense of
security only to pounce with teen mags and boy talk? Was this when the face masks would appear, or
worse, the nail polish?!
"What should I wear tonight?"
* Phew. Clothing. I can cope with that. *
"Well," the redhead began "I'm going for 'ipsters and an 'alter neck but I reckon you should try somefing
a bit differen'."
"Like what?"
Lizbeth began rifling through Ella's cupboard, throwing outfit after outfit behind her with varying sounds
of disapproval. "Liiiiiiiiiiiike...this!" She yelled triumphantly as she produced a sequined, spaghetti strap,
light purple top and a ridiculously short satin skirt, slightly darker purple with a slit up one side.
Ella gaped for a moment before saying, in a shocked tone "I can't wear that! I'm a pretty outgoing girl but
that skirt! It's way too short!"
"Why's it in your wardrobe then?" Lizbeth replied teasingly.
"It used to be my mom's. She gave me a load of her stuff a while ago when she had this whole 'i'm too
old to dress like a teenager, I need to start wearing mom clothes' phase. I don't actually wear that stuff!"
"Wow" Lizbeth exclaimed, "Your mom must've been well nuts when she was younger."
"I doubt it. She's way too organized and sensible. I reckon she probably wore those things because her
evil, far too fashionable friends made her. Hint hint!"
"Well I don't care why your mom wore 'em. Fact is you 'ave to wear this tonight. You'll look wicked."
"Can't I just wear jeans and a top?" Ella pleaded, although secretly she was slightly excited about
wearing something so risqué. Maybe this outfit would finally make Rob notice her!
"Nope." Lizbeth replied determinedly. "This is the one."
"Fine." Ella replied.
Half an hour later, just as the girls were ready, the doorbell rang.
"Mom! Can you get that please?" Ella yelled as she put her shoes on.
The girls heard the door open and close, followed by the sound of voices.
"It's Rob and Will" Ella's mum shouted back.
"Be right there!"
As the boys saw Ella descend the stairs their jaws dropped.
* Oh my god * Rob thought * How short is that skirt?! *
Will was the first to speak. "Hey Ella, new look definitely working for ya."
"What new look?" Ella's mom asked as she came in from the kitchen, holding her car keys, which
promptly hit the floor as she looked at what her daughter was wearing. "You are so not going out
dressed like that Ella! And where did you get that outfit? It's so... "
"Sexy?" Rob murmured
"Gorgeous?" Will commented
"Her?" Lizbeth added as she arrived downstairs.
"Slutty!" Her mother finished.
Ella smirked knowingly at her mother. "Well really mom, that's no way to talk about your outfit."
"I wasn't talking about my outfit, I was talking about your outfit and don't be so facetious!"
"I'm not being facetious. This is one of the outfits you gave me a few months back, if you don't like it,
you shouldn't have put it in my wardrobe!"
Ella's mom paused for a moment. "Fine." She conceded, "just get in the car, I haven't got all night to
drive you guys around."
"Thanks Mrs. Williams." They all yelled as they piled into the car to go to the Bronze.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Once they had all arrived at the club, having finally recovered from the sight of Ella's 'new look' as the
gang had now dubbed it, Rob pulled Lizbeth to the side.
"Can we talk please?" He began.
"Sure Rob, what's up?"
* Okay here goes. Just blurt it out otherwise you'll never ask her. *
"What were you doing in the graveyard last night? And don't tell me you were practicing special effects
because that was the worst excuse I have ever heard."
*Shit!! How am I s'posed to handle this? People aren't s'posed to ask me stuff like that. But if a lie he'll
know, I'm crap at lying. But then, if I tell him the truth he'll think I'm nuts and everyone in school
will avoid me and Ella won't speak to me. But if they're such great friends they'll understand. won't they?
Yeah right, like you'd understand if one of them came up and said "hey I'm an alien." Oh shit, he's
staring at me, I have to say something soon.*
"Oh fuck it! I'm the slayer, the one girl in all the world chosen to fight the vampires an' demons an' stuff.
Vampires are real, I kill 'em, no I'm not insane, deal with it or leave me alone!" With that she walked off.
"Right." Was all he could say before running off to his friends.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Angel watched as the girl ran off. So this was the new slayer? She was mouthy that was for sure. And
that was gonna get her into trouble. She couldn't just go around blurting out her calling to anyone and
everyone that she met. Hadn't her watcher mentioned that little thing called secrecy? As she stormed
out of the Bronze he followed her. When he got outside he saw her again, talking to the woman from the
mansion, the woman he had thought he would never see again. They were talking, arguing actually,
about secrets and using them to attract dumb jocks, and how it wasn't like that and maybe if the woman
had ever had friends she might understand. It was at this point that the woman started crying. The
young girl looked very uncomfortable and Angel realized that she had no idea how to handle the
situation.
*Oh well, so much for helping the slayer from the shadows! * Angel thought as he hurried over and
pushed straight passed the young girl to take the older woman in his arms.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Willow looked up in shock as she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her. She had just had her first ever
argument with Lizbeth. Willow knew that she must have sounded harsh, forbidding the teenager to
spend anymore time with her friends if she couldn't keep her mouth shut, accusing her of using her
calling as a way to attract men. But then Lizbeth had hit back by accusing her of having never had any
friends. It wasn't the girls fault. Lizbeth had no idea of what sort of life Willow had had before. Hell
Lizbeth didn't even know her watcher's real name, but it still hurt. It hurt far more than Willow had
thought possible. It was just too much, First returning to Sunnydale, seeing Spike, the Mansion and now
a reminder of how little her 'friends' had cared for her.
And now, with tears streaking down her face, he was there. Angel. As she looked into his eyes she
suddenly felt like she was 16 again, and she was so scared.
As a fresh load of tears burst from her eyes, she grabbed hold of the man before her and just let them
all out, hiccupping and saying his name, as if she couldn't believe he was really there.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Lizbeth looked on at the sight before her in confusion. She hated herself. She hadn't meant to upset
Alex, but she was so angry after the way Rob had approached her and demanded to know what was
going on. And then she had let all of the anger and frustration she had been feeling out on Alex. She
wasn't even sure what she had said. But suddenly her watcher had collapsed right in front of her, in
floods of tears, and next thing she knew some strange man had appeared and now her watcher was
clinging on to him like a lifeline.
"I'm sorry."
The girl whispered quietly, not wanting to interrupt the scene before her but needing desperately to put
things right.
"It's...okay." She heard a small voice whimper from somewhere inside the man's coat. "It's not your
fault, you just hit a nerve is all." By this point Alex had fully emerged and was facing the slayer. She had
stopped crying but her tearstained face still looked incredibly sad.
"So, "Lizbeth began, trying to think of a way to change the subject before her watcher started off again.
"How do you know Alex?" she asked the man.
He looked at her with a confused expression, turned to Alex and Lizbeth noted a small look pass
between them before he replied.
"uhm, well...Alex...and I used to know each other. I used to date an old... acquaintance... of hers."
"This is Angel, Lizbeth. He's a vary rare kind of guy, The only one of his type in the world. A vampire
with a soul."
Lizbeth's eyes nearly fell out of her head at this. Of course during the conversation she'd had with Alex
the evening before the watcher had mentioned that there was a vampire that had once been ensouled
by Gypsies, but when Lizbeth had asked to know more, Alex had simply changed the subject, insisting
that this vampire hadn't been seen in decades and probably would never be seen again. Not during this
generation at least. And not by Lizbeth.
*Angel, the vampire with a soul. Huh. Pretty cute for a vampire. No, not bad at all. Not that I'm was
interested, I mean come on, a slayer and a vampire dating, how stupid would that be?!*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Inside the bronze Rob had just finished telling Will and Ella about his conversation with Lizbeth.
"And you just let her leave? On her own? You idiot!" Ella yelled
"What, you believe her?" Rob asked incredulously
"Come on Rob, obviously, I mean that does explain pretty much every freaky thing that's ever happened
here. And may I remind you that the list of freaky things is not short."
"Ella's got a point man." Will added. "It does make sense. And slayer or not, Lizbeth is just a girl, she's
new to Sunnydale and she may be able to fight off demons or whatever but that's not gonna help her if
she gets lost."
"Okay fine, we'll go find her. But no splitting up. Even if it is quicker. If what Lizbeth said is true, which
you both insist it is, then I reckon were better off sticking together."
"Okay then." Ella said, "Let's go!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Discoveries
Will looked over at Rob as they walked towards Ella's house. He knew that something had happened
between his friend and Lizbeth earlier in the canteen. Rob had hardly said a thing since then, which was
considered far from normal by everyone who even vaguely knew the athletic young man. The question
was, what was so wrong?
Finally the quiet musician broached the subject.
"What's up man? You've hardly said a thing all afternoon. It's starting to give me the Wiggins."
Rob glanced at his childhood friend, wondering whether or not he should share his concerns with him.
On one hand, he had never kept anything from Will. None of them had needed to keep secrets before.
Hell, the three of them were so close that Ella would even let them know when her period started so that
the boys knew not to take the piss too much. But for the first time ever Rob didn't feel comfortable with
telling Will everything. He would tell him about asking Lizbeth out and her rejection of him, chances were
he wouldn't be able to keep that a secret long, but as for the other concerns he was having – mostly
regarding what he had witnessed in the cemetery the previous evening – well that wasn't really his
secret to tell. He had to speak with Lizbeth about it before he even thought about telling the others. He
just didn't know how to approach the subject with her. He had briefly considered speaking about it with
her in the canteen but then she had been leaning so close to him and he seemed to have lost all thought
processes so he decided to ask her out instead.
"Rob? Rob? Earth to Mr. Emerson. Houston calling."
Rob realized that he had spaced out yet again.
"I'm sorry Will. I was thinking about Lizbeth."
"What about Lizbeth?" Will asked cautiously, not wanting to embarrass Rob by letting him know that his
feelings for the young woman were more than obvious.
"Well... I asked her out." Rob paused at that, waiting for Will's reaction to the statement before
continuing.
"And I'm assuming that the reason I'm only hearing about this now is that she didn't give a positive
response?"
"She didn't wanna risk our burgeoning friendship." He replied sarcastically
"Ah. And how do you feel about that?"
"I dunno. I s'pose that to be fair we don't really know each other that well yet anyway. She's just so
gorgeous. And she seems really intelligent and funny and cool. Hating to use the cliché but I've never
met anyone like her before."
Will thought about this. Lizbeth really seemed to be the ultimate woman if you believed Rob's intense
monologue. But maybe he could use his friend's description to his advantage. Here he had one friend
who had just been turned down by some girl he'd met only two days before, and they were walking
towards his other friend who blatantly had an enormous crush on the previous friend. Maybe he could
have everyone happy by the end of the day.
"Well I wouldn't say you've never met anyone like that. I mean look at Ella. She's easily more intelligent
than both of us two put together. Plus she's been the coolest girl either of us has known since the day
we met her. Not to mention the fact that she has the both of us in stitches pretty much twenty-four
seven."
Rob glanced at Will, a slightly confused expression on his face. "Well I s'pose. But Lizbeth is all of that
and gorgeous as well. She looks exactly like what a woman should look like."
Will nearly laughed at that. So that was it? He just didn't see that Ella was the most beautiful woman in
the whole school. God his friend could be blind when he wanted.
"Rob, I have a mission for you. When we get to Ella's house I want you to look at her..."
"It'd be a bit difficult to not look at her, I mean she'll be there and everything."
"No what I mean is, I want you to really look at her. See her. Do you have any idea why she has a new
boyfriend practically every month?"
"Because she's fickle, because she can't settle down, I dunno."
"Rob what I mean is, why does every guy in school, including Chris 'I'm so perfect' Malloy, seem to be
happy to take a ticket and stand in line in the hope that they'll be next to date her? Especially
considering none of them last more than a few weeks? What is so special about her that everyone
seems to want her?"
"How should I know?"
"Well when we get there why don't you have a look, see if you can't work it out?"
"Sure man, whatever."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Willow wandered around slowly. Even when they had last been together, none of the Scoobies had
bothered to visit the mansion for years. For Xander, there was no point, Giles seemed to have
conveniently forgotten all of their old 'haunts' and of course for Buffy it had been 'too hard'. Alex smirked
at this. The powerful, strong slayer, who could quite happily steal her best friend's boyfriend, couldn't
bring herself to return to the place her ex had once frequented. Bloody hypocrite.
She began to wander back downstairs, the whole time remembering parts of her previous life. Faces
flashed inside her head, of the people she'd loved and the ones that she'd feared. Buffy, Riley, Faith,
Xander, Anya, Cordelia, The Mayor, Glory, Spike and finally the one she had missed for the longest,
Angel.
Suddenly she heard a rustle from the curtains. Whipping around she called out "Who's there?". When
she received no reply she quickly buttoned her long, leather duster, an item she hadn't worn for years,
and returned to the harsh wind outside, leaving all of her memories behind. For now.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
He had felt someone enter the building and decided to stay hidden rather than risk the exchange he was
sure would come. He knew the scent well, but it was weaker, and slightly different. It had acquired a
feminine tinge. Vanilla and daisies * must have a new girlfriend * the vampire thought as he moved
slowly towards the main room. Suddenly he heard footsteps entering the room. He quickly hid behind
the curtains and stood stock still.
"Who's there?"
That wasn't Spike. It was a woman, a very familiar sounding woman. But then why was she wearing
Spike's Duster, he could see now, the long raven hair, slight frame, hyper aware look on her face. He
remembered that look. He hadn't seen it for years, and the last time he had seen it was upon the face of
a young redhead. Who had smelled like Vanilla and Daisies.
As the woman cautiously left the building Angel let out a needless sigh and two words. "She's back."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Lizbeth was so glad she'd met Ella. Of the few friends she had back home, all of them had been 'girly'
girls. Lizbeth was definitely not a 'girly' girl. Her parents had pretty much forced her to hang out with her
friends. Every night she had said she'd rather stay home and read a book or watch some t.v. but her
parents were having none of that.
"Go out." They'd say. "Enjoy yourself. Spend some time with the girls."
She had hated 'spending time with the girls' so naturally when Ella had invited her over tonight she had
been slightly wary. But then she hadn't expected to be drinking vodka and coke (disguised in a coke
bottle), listening to punk rock and jumping around like a maniac whilst playing an air guitar. It was the
most fun she had ever had in her whole life. And the night was still young.
"Okay Lizbeth, now we have to be girly for a minute."
The slayer looked up at her new friend in dread. Had she tricked her? Lulled her into a false sense of
security only to pounce with teen mags and boy talk? Was this when the face masks would appear, or
worse, the nail polish?!
"What should I wear tonight?"
* Phew. Clothing. I can cope with that. *
"Well," the redhead began "I'm going for 'ipsters and an 'alter neck but I reckon you should try somefing
a bit differen'."
"Like what?"
Lizbeth began rifling through Ella's cupboard, throwing outfit after outfit behind her with varying sounds
of disapproval. "Liiiiiiiiiiiike...this!" She yelled triumphantly as she produced a sequined, spaghetti strap,
light purple top and a ridiculously short satin skirt, slightly darker purple with a slit up one side.
Ella gaped for a moment before saying, in a shocked tone "I can't wear that! I'm a pretty outgoing girl but
that skirt! It's way too short!"
"Why's it in your wardrobe then?" Lizbeth replied teasingly.
"It used to be my mom's. She gave me a load of her stuff a while ago when she had this whole 'i'm too
old to dress like a teenager, I need to start wearing mom clothes' phase. I don't actually wear that stuff!"
"Wow" Lizbeth exclaimed, "Your mom must've been well nuts when she was younger."
"I doubt it. She's way too organized and sensible. I reckon she probably wore those things because her
evil, far too fashionable friends made her. Hint hint!"
"Well I don't care why your mom wore 'em. Fact is you 'ave to wear this tonight. You'll look wicked."
"Can't I just wear jeans and a top?" Ella pleaded, although secretly she was slightly excited about
wearing something so risqué. Maybe this outfit would finally make Rob notice her!
"Nope." Lizbeth replied determinedly. "This is the one."
"Fine." Ella replied.
Half an hour later, just as the girls were ready, the doorbell rang.
"Mom! Can you get that please?" Ella yelled as she put her shoes on.
The girls heard the door open and close, followed by the sound of voices.
"It's Rob and Will" Ella's mum shouted back.
"Be right there!"
As the boys saw Ella descend the stairs their jaws dropped.
* Oh my god * Rob thought * How short is that skirt?! *
Will was the first to speak. "Hey Ella, new look definitely working for ya."
"What new look?" Ella's mom asked as she came in from the kitchen, holding her car keys, which
promptly hit the floor as she looked at what her daughter was wearing. "You are so not going out
dressed like that Ella! And where did you get that outfit? It's so... "
"Sexy?" Rob murmured
"Gorgeous?" Will commented
"Her?" Lizbeth added as she arrived downstairs.
"Slutty!" Her mother finished.
Ella smirked knowingly at her mother. "Well really mom, that's no way to talk about your outfit."
"I wasn't talking about my outfit, I was talking about your outfit and don't be so facetious!"
"I'm not being facetious. This is one of the outfits you gave me a few months back, if you don't like it,
you shouldn't have put it in my wardrobe!"
Ella's mom paused for a moment. "Fine." She conceded, "just get in the car, I haven't got all night to
drive you guys around."
"Thanks Mrs. Williams." They all yelled as they piled into the car to go to the Bronze.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Once they had all arrived at the club, having finally recovered from the sight of Ella's 'new look' as the
gang had now dubbed it, Rob pulled Lizbeth to the side.
"Can we talk please?" He began.
"Sure Rob, what's up?"
* Okay here goes. Just blurt it out otherwise you'll never ask her. *
"What were you doing in the graveyard last night? And don't tell me you were practicing special effects
because that was the worst excuse I have ever heard."
*Shit!! How am I s'posed to handle this? People aren't s'posed to ask me stuff like that. But if a lie he'll
know, I'm crap at lying. But then, if I tell him the truth he'll think I'm nuts and everyone in school
will avoid me and Ella won't speak to me. But if they're such great friends they'll understand. won't they?
Yeah right, like you'd understand if one of them came up and said "hey I'm an alien." Oh shit, he's
staring at me, I have to say something soon.*
"Oh fuck it! I'm the slayer, the one girl in all the world chosen to fight the vampires an' demons an' stuff.
Vampires are real, I kill 'em, no I'm not insane, deal with it or leave me alone!" With that she walked off.
"Right." Was all he could say before running off to his friends.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Angel watched as the girl ran off. So this was the new slayer? She was mouthy that was for sure. And
that was gonna get her into trouble. She couldn't just go around blurting out her calling to anyone and
everyone that she met. Hadn't her watcher mentioned that little thing called secrecy? As she stormed
out of the Bronze he followed her. When he got outside he saw her again, talking to the woman from the
mansion, the woman he had thought he would never see again. They were talking, arguing actually,
about secrets and using them to attract dumb jocks, and how it wasn't like that and maybe if the woman
had ever had friends she might understand. It was at this point that the woman started crying. The
young girl looked very uncomfortable and Angel realized that she had no idea how to handle the
situation.
*Oh well, so much for helping the slayer from the shadows! * Angel thought as he hurried over and
pushed straight passed the young girl to take the older woman in his arms.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Willow looked up in shock as she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her. She had just had her first ever
argument with Lizbeth. Willow knew that she must have sounded harsh, forbidding the teenager to
spend anymore time with her friends if she couldn't keep her mouth shut, accusing her of using her
calling as a way to attract men. But then Lizbeth had hit back by accusing her of having never had any
friends. It wasn't the girls fault. Lizbeth had no idea of what sort of life Willow had had before. Hell
Lizbeth didn't even know her watcher's real name, but it still hurt. It hurt far more than Willow had
thought possible. It was just too much, First returning to Sunnydale, seeing Spike, the Mansion and now
a reminder of how little her 'friends' had cared for her.
And now, with tears streaking down her face, he was there. Angel. As she looked into his eyes she
suddenly felt like she was 16 again, and she was so scared.
As a fresh load of tears burst from her eyes, she grabbed hold of the man before her and just let them
all out, hiccupping and saying his name, as if she couldn't believe he was really there.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Lizbeth looked on at the sight before her in confusion. She hated herself. She hadn't meant to upset
Alex, but she was so angry after the way Rob had approached her and demanded to know what was
going on. And then she had let all of the anger and frustration she had been feeling out on Alex. She
wasn't even sure what she had said. But suddenly her watcher had collapsed right in front of her, in
floods of tears, and next thing she knew some strange man had appeared and now her watcher was
clinging on to him like a lifeline.
"I'm sorry."
The girl whispered quietly, not wanting to interrupt the scene before her but needing desperately to put
things right.
"It's...okay." She heard a small voice whimper from somewhere inside the man's coat. "It's not your
fault, you just hit a nerve is all." By this point Alex had fully emerged and was facing the slayer. She had
stopped crying but her tearstained face still looked incredibly sad.
"So, "Lizbeth began, trying to think of a way to change the subject before her watcher started off again.
"How do you know Alex?" she asked the man.
He looked at her with a confused expression, turned to Alex and Lizbeth noted a small look pass
between them before he replied.
"uhm, well...Alex...and I used to know each other. I used to date an old... acquaintance... of hers."
"This is Angel, Lizbeth. He's a vary rare kind of guy, The only one of his type in the world. A vampire
with a soul."
Lizbeth's eyes nearly fell out of her head at this. Of course during the conversation she'd had with Alex
the evening before the watcher had mentioned that there was a vampire that had once been ensouled
by Gypsies, but when Lizbeth had asked to know more, Alex had simply changed the subject, insisting
that this vampire hadn't been seen in decades and probably would never be seen again. Not during this
generation at least. And not by Lizbeth.
*Angel, the vampire with a soul. Huh. Pretty cute for a vampire. No, not bad at all. Not that I'm was
interested, I mean come on, a slayer and a vampire dating, how stupid would that be?!*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Inside the bronze Rob had just finished telling Will and Ella about his conversation with Lizbeth.
"And you just let her leave? On her own? You idiot!" Ella yelled
"What, you believe her?" Rob asked incredulously
"Come on Rob, obviously, I mean that does explain pretty much every freaky thing that's ever happened
here. And may I remind you that the list of freaky things is not short."
"Ella's got a point man." Will added. "It does make sense. And slayer or not, Lizbeth is just a girl, she's
new to Sunnydale and she may be able to fight off demons or whatever but that's not gonna help her if
she gets lost."
"Okay fine, we'll go find her. But no splitting up. Even if it is quicker. If what Lizbeth said is true, which
you both insist it is, then I reckon were better off sticking together."
"Okay then." Ella said, "Let's go!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~