When In Rome
Again, not in Rome! :-) Thanks for the nice reviews guys, they make me smile (they also make me afraid that this chapter is gonna suck and you'll be disappointed, but that's a whole 'nuther story!) Anyhoo... this chapter takes place a couple of days later, and obviously goes into it's own post-You're Welcome world.
6 Trip Down Memory Lane
There was a beeping noise.
"Spike! What is that?" Buffy asked, gold light surrounding her.
"BEEP!"
"The amulet. It's not working as we expected." He answered, and suddenly he was gone with another "BEEP!"
Buffy was walking through the halls of some building, the beeping was blocking out all other noises. She spotted Spike and called to him, but he couldn't hear her. He kept walking until he reached a dead end with no doors, and proceeded to walk through the walls. Buffy didn't know how to get to him.
"Jeez, Buffy." A voice said, but she turned around and nobody was there. "Buff, the alarm's been going off for, like, an hour! Get up!" The voice said.
Buffy realized she was lying in her bed, her sister violently shaking her shoulders. "Uhg, leave me alone!" She whined.
"Well, if you don't get up soon we're gonna miss the complimentary continental breakfast. Do you know what that means? Missing free stuff! That's, like, worse than being evil." Dawn said sitting down on the side of Buffy's bed.
The hotel door opened and Willow walked in with Xander trailing closely behind her. "Hey. They were clearing out the buffet, so we grabbed you some muffins." Willow said, throwing a paper bag on the desk.
"You are so lucky you have cool friends, or you'd be condemned for life." Dawn said, then began shaking her head in mock-sadness "Missing out on free stuff. I'm disappointed in you Buff."
"Yeah." Buffy snorted. She got out from under her covers and grabbed the bag of goodies and took them back to sit next to Dawn, handing her one muffin and keeping the other for herself. "So what do you guys wanna do today?" Buffy asked. "I'm surprised, but being back in California has actually kind of, I don't know... reminded me of stuff. I'd forgotten all the good things that were still here, I only remembered the crappity crap. Let's be a big dumb tourists." Buffy said, taking a bite.
"Well," Xander said, almost stumbling over his words "I kind of have an appointment today."
"What? What kind of appointment?" Willow asked.
"It's a thing. I kind of want it to be a surprise, or something." Xander told them.
"Okay..." Buffy said, somewhat mystified. "I guess it's a girls night out, then, but in the daytime."
"We can shop!" Dawn suggested, enthusiastically.
"And go to coffee shops." Willow offered "You'd surprised, with most of our coffee beans and all coming from there, but where me and Kennedy stayed there wasn't a single Starbucks!"
"So you mean Sunnydale actually had *more* Starbucks than somewhere else in the world? I feel a whole lot less special now." Xander joked.
They didn't realize it, but they were talking about the things they'd lost with a smile on their face, and not a hint of bitter in their sweet.
"Okay, so on the agenda is shopping, eating, and I vote for seeing a Johnny Depp movie that's not dubbed over in a language I don't understand." Buffy suggested.
"Sounds spiffy!" Willow agreed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You know I had to lie by emission! I don't like doing that!" Xander exclaimed, walking through the halls of Wolfram & Hart. "You have to do something."
"I'm thinking." Spike told him, leading the way. "With an exit like mine, you need to think of a pretty cool entrance."
"I don't think it's the entrance that will matter, Spike. It'll be that you've entered that'll get Buff happy." Xander told him.
Spike turned to Xander, but ignored his last comment instead saying "Okay, we're here."
"We are?" Xander asked, fright evident in his voice. "You're sure we're not on the wrong floor or something?"
"You'll be fine, mate. Fred's got the best in the biz ready to give you a fully functional, and not at all evil eye." Spike assured him.
"Evil?" Xander asked, not calmed a single bit by Spike's efforts.
"Well, Wes told me this story about how these people were getting body parts from these people in freeze chambers or something, and they would make people kill themselves and stuff. But not to worry, your eye is made completely from scratch."
"It's not gonna look like Professor Moody's, is it?" Xander asked, amusing himself with pop culture references.
"Yeah, I don't know who that is, mate, but I'm sure you'll be fine." Spike answered "Now go on in. I can't come, medical reasons or something."
"Wait, what if the scientists themselves are evil? What if they do evil experiments on me? What if they make me their zombie servant? What if-" Xander babbled until Spike cut him off.
"Fred'll be there, and you have it under the good authority of me that she won't let you down." Spike told him.
"Okay." Xander finally relented "But if-"
Spike smiled "If won't happen, and if it did, you know *I* wouldn't let you down."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy, Dawn, and Willow exited to movie theater later that evening.
"Johnny was *so* gypped of the Oscar!" Buffy complained.
"Tell me about it!" Willow agreed, taking a slurp of her slushie.
"So we've shopped, talked, caffeineated ourselves, and seen the sexiness of Orlando Bloom." Dawn recounted. "What now?"
"Maybe we can eat out?" Buffy suggested. "Let's call Xander's cell and see if he wants to join us."
"Sounds good to me." Willow confirmed "But what was up with the cryptic this morning. It was really weird."
"Well, things have definitely been rough recently, but I have to agree I was at a loss too." Buffy said, remembering his actions earlier that day, "Xander was acting strangely."
Just as Buffy grabbed her cell to call Xander, it rang, with Xander calling her.
"Hey Xand," She said, flipping her phone open.
"I feel like celebrating! Let's go somewhere to eat." he exclaimed over the phone.
"Boy, great minds..." Buffy mumbled to herself "Where'd you have in mind?"
"Oh, nowhere in particular! You can choose! Anywhere!" Xander continued to exclaim loudly and happily.
"Okay, uh, where are you? We can meet somewhere in the middle." Buffy suggested.
"No, that's not necessary. I can come to you, I wanna see the sights of the city." Xander said, partly wanting to try out his new eye, and partly wanting to not tell them he was standing in the lobby of Wolfram & Hart, and right next to Spike.
"Um, okay. We're right next to some family restaurant. And there's a French place and an Italian place right across the street." Buffy offered.
"Sure!" Xander replied.
"'Sure' which one?" Buffy asked, a little annoyed.
"I vote for the one with all the pixie lights." Dawn said, having heard Buffy's side of the conversation, and most of Xander's since he was talking unusually loud and cheerily.
Buffy told Xander how to get to the restaurant and hung up the phone. "He was freakishly happy." She told the others.
"Wonder what that's all about. I think we should tie him down and torture him 'till he tells us the truth about what's going on." Willow replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander hung up the phone. "Hey Spike," he said turning to look at him "you know you can come." he suggested.
TBC
Again, not in Rome! :-) Thanks for the nice reviews guys, they make me smile (they also make me afraid that this chapter is gonna suck and you'll be disappointed, but that's a whole 'nuther story!) Anyhoo... this chapter takes place a couple of days later, and obviously goes into it's own post-You're Welcome world.
6 Trip Down Memory Lane
There was a beeping noise.
"Spike! What is that?" Buffy asked, gold light surrounding her.
"BEEP!"
"The amulet. It's not working as we expected." He answered, and suddenly he was gone with another "BEEP!"
Buffy was walking through the halls of some building, the beeping was blocking out all other noises. She spotted Spike and called to him, but he couldn't hear her. He kept walking until he reached a dead end with no doors, and proceeded to walk through the walls. Buffy didn't know how to get to him.
"Jeez, Buffy." A voice said, but she turned around and nobody was there. "Buff, the alarm's been going off for, like, an hour! Get up!" The voice said.
Buffy realized she was lying in her bed, her sister violently shaking her shoulders. "Uhg, leave me alone!" She whined.
"Well, if you don't get up soon we're gonna miss the complimentary continental breakfast. Do you know what that means? Missing free stuff! That's, like, worse than being evil." Dawn said sitting down on the side of Buffy's bed.
The hotel door opened and Willow walked in with Xander trailing closely behind her. "Hey. They were clearing out the buffet, so we grabbed you some muffins." Willow said, throwing a paper bag on the desk.
"You are so lucky you have cool friends, or you'd be condemned for life." Dawn said, then began shaking her head in mock-sadness "Missing out on free stuff. I'm disappointed in you Buff."
"Yeah." Buffy snorted. She got out from under her covers and grabbed the bag of goodies and took them back to sit next to Dawn, handing her one muffin and keeping the other for herself. "So what do you guys wanna do today?" Buffy asked. "I'm surprised, but being back in California has actually kind of, I don't know... reminded me of stuff. I'd forgotten all the good things that were still here, I only remembered the crappity crap. Let's be a big dumb tourists." Buffy said, taking a bite.
"Well," Xander said, almost stumbling over his words "I kind of have an appointment today."
"What? What kind of appointment?" Willow asked.
"It's a thing. I kind of want it to be a surprise, or something." Xander told them.
"Okay..." Buffy said, somewhat mystified. "I guess it's a girls night out, then, but in the daytime."
"We can shop!" Dawn suggested, enthusiastically.
"And go to coffee shops." Willow offered "You'd surprised, with most of our coffee beans and all coming from there, but where me and Kennedy stayed there wasn't a single Starbucks!"
"So you mean Sunnydale actually had *more* Starbucks than somewhere else in the world? I feel a whole lot less special now." Xander joked.
They didn't realize it, but they were talking about the things they'd lost with a smile on their face, and not a hint of bitter in their sweet.
"Okay, so on the agenda is shopping, eating, and I vote for seeing a Johnny Depp movie that's not dubbed over in a language I don't understand." Buffy suggested.
"Sounds spiffy!" Willow agreed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You know I had to lie by emission! I don't like doing that!" Xander exclaimed, walking through the halls of Wolfram & Hart. "You have to do something."
"I'm thinking." Spike told him, leading the way. "With an exit like mine, you need to think of a pretty cool entrance."
"I don't think it's the entrance that will matter, Spike. It'll be that you've entered that'll get Buff happy." Xander told him.
Spike turned to Xander, but ignored his last comment instead saying "Okay, we're here."
"We are?" Xander asked, fright evident in his voice. "You're sure we're not on the wrong floor or something?"
"You'll be fine, mate. Fred's got the best in the biz ready to give you a fully functional, and not at all evil eye." Spike assured him.
"Evil?" Xander asked, not calmed a single bit by Spike's efforts.
"Well, Wes told me this story about how these people were getting body parts from these people in freeze chambers or something, and they would make people kill themselves and stuff. But not to worry, your eye is made completely from scratch."
"It's not gonna look like Professor Moody's, is it?" Xander asked, amusing himself with pop culture references.
"Yeah, I don't know who that is, mate, but I'm sure you'll be fine." Spike answered "Now go on in. I can't come, medical reasons or something."
"Wait, what if the scientists themselves are evil? What if they do evil experiments on me? What if they make me their zombie servant? What if-" Xander babbled until Spike cut him off.
"Fred'll be there, and you have it under the good authority of me that she won't let you down." Spike told him.
"Okay." Xander finally relented "But if-"
Spike smiled "If won't happen, and if it did, you know *I* wouldn't let you down."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy, Dawn, and Willow exited to movie theater later that evening.
"Johnny was *so* gypped of the Oscar!" Buffy complained.
"Tell me about it!" Willow agreed, taking a slurp of her slushie.
"So we've shopped, talked, caffeineated ourselves, and seen the sexiness of Orlando Bloom." Dawn recounted. "What now?"
"Maybe we can eat out?" Buffy suggested. "Let's call Xander's cell and see if he wants to join us."
"Sounds good to me." Willow confirmed "But what was up with the cryptic this morning. It was really weird."
"Well, things have definitely been rough recently, but I have to agree I was at a loss too." Buffy said, remembering his actions earlier that day, "Xander was acting strangely."
Just as Buffy grabbed her cell to call Xander, it rang, with Xander calling her.
"Hey Xand," She said, flipping her phone open.
"I feel like celebrating! Let's go somewhere to eat." he exclaimed over the phone.
"Boy, great minds..." Buffy mumbled to herself "Where'd you have in mind?"
"Oh, nowhere in particular! You can choose! Anywhere!" Xander continued to exclaim loudly and happily.
"Okay, uh, where are you? We can meet somewhere in the middle." Buffy suggested.
"No, that's not necessary. I can come to you, I wanna see the sights of the city." Xander said, partly wanting to try out his new eye, and partly wanting to not tell them he was standing in the lobby of Wolfram & Hart, and right next to Spike.
"Um, okay. We're right next to some family restaurant. And there's a French place and an Italian place right across the street." Buffy offered.
"Sure!" Xander replied.
"'Sure' which one?" Buffy asked, a little annoyed.
"I vote for the one with all the pixie lights." Dawn said, having heard Buffy's side of the conversation, and most of Xander's since he was talking unusually loud and cheerily.
Buffy told Xander how to get to the restaurant and hung up the phone. "He was freakishly happy." She told the others.
"Wonder what that's all about. I think we should tie him down and torture him 'till he tells us the truth about what's going on." Willow replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander hung up the phone. "Hey Spike," he said turning to look at him "you know you can come." he suggested.
TBC