Hi there again!
It really is sooo great that you guys are taking an interest in my story, so I feel really strongly about not wanting to disappoint any readers. So, if anyone has anything that they would like to read about in my story, I will seriously consider it if you ask me. Also, if any part of story was, well... a bit crap, please do tell me so that I don't keep making the same mistake.
So far, people have been asking for more BA, more WO, and maybe a little bit more of the spy stuff, I have gladly obliged, and hoped people like this chapter. My thanks at the end! : )
Chapter 3: You Missed One!
Buffy waved goodbye as the currently navy blue van drove away from the school, taking its passengers, Xander, Willow and it's owner Oz with it. It was the end of the day, and Oz had offered Buffy a ride, but she had declined, wanting to walk. 'Besides' she thought to herself, 'I'm not in that big a rush to get home anyway.'
She sighed to herself, and continued on her way back to 1630 revello drive on her own. The route was familiar, and Buffy barely noticed which way she was going, it seemed automatic, and comforting. She liked to take the same old route for walking home. It was ordinary, predictable. The exact opposite to what the rest of her life was.
Sometimes she wished for a normal life, a life which didn't require her to risk it every week or so, one where the most pressing thing on her mind was what she would be wearing at the bronze tonight. But then she remembered that she did have a choice, and this was it. Despite the down points to her job, it was something that she knew she was born for, and that she wouldn't give it up if she could help it.
This was old territory for Buffy, she would often debate with herself as to whether it was all worth it, and every time she decided in favour of the agency. She would hate to let Giles or... Giles... down. This having been settled in her mind, she allowed her thoughts to turn to more pressing matters, what she would be wearing at the bronze tonight.
As she continued down her street, she mentally sifted through her wardrobe, trying to place an outfit with the style of the Dingoes music. She barely even noticed that she had arrived at her house until she noticed someone quickly exiting it through the front door. She looked up at her father, who had noticed Buffy wondering up to the house. He was wearing a business suit as per usual, and was carrying his briefcase in one hand, his keys in the other. Hank Summers was incredibly distinguished and had the permanently hard, set features of a man well respected and very important. His hair was neatly combed and his attire impeccable. He strided towards his car, briefly glimpsing at Buffy, as he explained,
"Break-through at the decryption department, I'm needed there. Sorry."
Buffy blinked, then shrugged, she never really relied on him being home much anymore anyway.
"S'okay, I was planning on Bronzing it tonight anyway." She told him.
Her father paused before getting into his black BMW to look carefully at his daughter, "Have you got your beeper on you?" he asked.
Buffy pulled the small black object from her pocket and held it up, waving it to her father so that he could see it.
Mr. Summers nodded, "Good girl," he told her before getting into his car and driving away.
Buffy watched after the car for a moment, before turning back and entering her house.
It was silent as she threw her jacket on a hook by the door, and made her way into the living room. The Summer household was big, making it seem all the more vacant these days. Buffy sighed again and slouched down on the sofa, resting her feet on the stool in front of her.
She turned her head to the right, looking at the table beside her, hoping to see the remote lying there, waiting to be used. No such luck. What did catch her eye however was a picture. The picture was encased in a golden frame, and was in the centre of the table. It showed a woman, with golden blonde hair and kind, caring eyes. Buffy remembered those eyes. It had been 6 years since she had seen them last. Her mother had died on the 7th of June, 6 years ago, of a brain tumour. Buffy had never seen her body. She remembered coming home one night, and her mother just not being there. She hadn't thought much of it at first, but that was before her father's phone call from the hospital.
Buffy closed her eyes, but could still see the smiling picture of her mother, looking up at her from the confines of the metal picture frame. Buffy shook her head, clearing her thoughts. A lot had happened since then, her becoming an agent just part of it. She tore her eyes away from her mother and headed upstairs to change for the bronze tonight.
...
Buffy entered the closely packed hall, wearing a deep yellow halter-top with a daring neckline and a short black skirt, with a jean jacket over the top. She saw the appreciative glances from a lot of the guys as she passed them, smiling and looking away as a tall, heavy set jock type grinned and winked at her. She strolled over to where her friends were sitting, right next to the stage where Oz and the Dingoes were performing their song, 'Pain.'Willow looked up at Oz, playing the lead guitar on stage, admiration evident on her face. Buffy waited a little while longer before sitting down, enjoying the Dingoes new song, it rocked! When the song came to it's end, Buffy cheered along with everyone else in the Bronze.
As the band started up on another song, Buffy sat down at the table, grinning at her two best friends and taking her jacket off.
Willow pulled her eyes away from Oz to look at Buffy and smile. She then looked back, before doing a retake and raising her eyebrows.
"Wow Buffy, you look dressed to kill!" she exclaimed. Then her eyes widened as she thought of something, "I m-mean.. not dressed to KILL... or, I mean... are you?" she asked in a high pitched whisper.
Buffy smiled and shook her head, "No, Will, I'm not on a..." she lowered her voice so only she could hear, "Mission" before continuing, "This is the bronze! I'm pretty sure the only government conspiracy here is what they put in the chilli peppers."
"Oh." Willow said, and Buffy couldn't help but hear the note of disappointment in her voice, as she turned back to the band.
The gang had always helped Buffy out with research when it was called for. It was against the agency's policy to reveal secret identities, but Buffy had hated to lie to them, and since she told them, 3 years ago, they really had helped her and Oz out a lot. However, they had never been allowed on a mission with her. It was much too dangerous, and they knew that, it just seemed that sometimes they felt left out when she went out on her missions, leaving them behind safe, but disappointed.
She turned to Xander, smiling at his goofy grin, knowing that he of all people had wanted to get involved with her missions.
The song finished, and the whole crowd in the bronze cheered for them. Oz set down his guitar and jumped down from the stage. He came over to the table, smiled at all of them and sat down in between Xander and Willow.
"You were amazing!" Willow enthused, grinning almost maniacally at him.
"Yeah, man, that was pretty rocking, way to go!" Xander added, and Buffy nodded, smiling at him.
Oz shrugged, "Well, we don't know very many chords yet," He said, "But we do have really big amps, so, we're getting there." He smiled and Willow grinned at him.
Buffy noticed Xander turn to look at something, and rolled her eyes when she realised that it was Cordelia.
She strode in, closely followed by her Cordettes, the mindless followers that were her friends. A dark haired guy caught up to her,
"Cordelia," he said, "You wanna dance?" Cordelia barely even noticed him, bah to say,
"Not with you!" as she continued past him, never even breaking her stride.
Xander followed her progress with his eyes, a goofy smile fixed on his face. As he saw her nearing their table he quickly stuck his hand in the air and waved to some surfer types, standing round by the bar, and yelled across to them.
"Hey dudes! Surfs always up somewhere in the world!"
They turned and saw him, and, looking at him like he was an alien, shook their heads and turned away.
Slightly embarrassed, Xander turned back to the others, noticing Buffy's raised eyebrow, and Oz's expressionless expression. He shrugged,
"Our friendship is deeper than words." He explained to them, before turning his attention to the new band setting up on stage.
Buffy shared a look with Willow before noticing Cordelia walk towards their table. She and her sheep/followers/friends stopped in front of Xander, as Cordelia paused in her journey to remark to Oz;
"You know, you could do so much better than these losers." Indicating Buffy, Xander and Willow.
Buffy raised her eyebrows but said nothing, Willow got a hurt look on her face.
"Did you want something?" Xander asked her in an abrupt tone, having heard her make the same statement too many times to care much anymore.
Cordelia ignored him and turned to Oz, "If you see Devon, tell him I'm looking for him."
"Having boy troubles, queen C?" Xander asked innocently.
Cordelia glared at him. "do I have boy troubles?" She exclaimed, "Tell me, loser Harris, has ANY girl EVER spoken to you of their own free will before?" she didn't wait for his response as she finished. "Didn't think so," smiling maliciously at him.
Buffy took this moment to grab Xanders arm and pull him to his feet.
"Let's dance." She told him.
Xander saw Cordelia and her followers turn away, and called over to their retreating forms,
"Check back tomorrow, I'll have that devastating comeback ready!" At Buffy's look, he said, "Not one of my best, I know."
Buffy sighed and pulled him onto the dance floor, noticing Cordelia's scowl as she went back to looking for Devon.
Once they had found a spot, they started to dance and sway to the music. Well, Buffy did, Xander sort of bobbed up and down with a huge grin on his face, and Buffy couldn't help but laugh at his antics. He smiled wider before slowing down his pace and saying, "I just hope I don't step on your feet, Buff" apologetically.
Buffy smiled at him, "You kinda already did." Xander sort of shrugged in a goofy way, again smiling apologetically, and Buffy was glad that Xander didn't seem to mind about Cordelia's jibes.
Just then, a voice interrupted them.
"Mind if I step in?"
Buffy looked up to find tall dark and handsome himself staring intently at her. She blushed and nodded at Xander, who gave him a long look, before smiling at Buffy, and stepping away.
Angelus took Xanders place in front of her, and wrapped his arms around her. Buffy hesitated a second, before resting her hands on his shoulders. She looked up at him, surprised at his actions, he had seemed so hostile when they had last spoken. She wasn't surprised to find his expression unreadable. The song they were dancing to was slow and rhythmic, and as they looked into each others eyes, both felt a strange sort of peace.
She allowed herself to relax in his embrace slightly, and was more than surprised when he leant his head down to hers, and whispered in her ear. It took her a second to realise what he had said
"Did you bring your beeper with you?"
'Oh.' Buffy mentally scolded herself for having, however briefly, thought that this was anything other than business. She also had to reprimand herself for leaving her beeper in her coat pocket, which was still on their table. It was such a stupid mistake, and not one that she of all people should have made.
Angelus seems to realise that she didn't have it on her, and in stead of rubbing it in, as she had expected, decided to ignore it, instead, telling her.
"Giles and Price want us to stake out a mansion in Glake, That's were they're holding the last page."
"What's so special about the last page?" Buffy asked, remembering that they hadn't been able to get the very last page of the Llamia file.
"Wesley said that it's proved to be 'pivotal in which course of action we shall persue'" Angelus informed her, using a British accent for the last part, mimicking his handlers.
Buffy smiled, "The one page I don't get is the vital one!" She exclaimed, sighing.
"I suppose we're gonna need Oz as well?" She asked, noticing that Willow and Oz were dancing nearby, looking happy and content.
"Couldn't do it without him." Angelus stated, and Buffy sighed once again, before moving to go and get him.
"However," Angelus pulled her back, and spoke under his breath,
"It can wait till the end of the song."
Buffy looked back to Willow and Oz, gazing into each other's eyes, and silently agreed. Buffy knew that he had only said it so as not to draw attention to themselves, leaving in the middle of the song, but she smiled at him anyway, resuming her earlier position in his arms.
When the song finished, Buffy and Angelus reluctantly pulled apart and made their way over to where Willow and Oz were now sitting with Xander at the table.
Buffy grinned as she noticed that Oz had his arm, nonchalantly over Willows shoulders, and that her best friend looked over the moon about it. She hated to break up the cute couple, but...
"Hey Oz, something's come up." She told him.
"Figures."Oz raised an eyebrow, before getting up and turning to Willow.
Willow also got to her feet, "Is this like, a ... 'thing'?" she asked him, worriedly.
Oz nodded, "Sorry," he said, and, if you knew Oz really well, as Buffy did, you could just see the slight change in expression as he said it.
"Yeah, sorry guys," Buffy offered.
Xander saluted them "May the force be with you." He stated, along with many elaborate hand movements. Buffy grinned, and headed with Angel outside. Oz stayed long enough to kiss Willow on the cheek, before following the others, leaving her standing with a dreamy expression in the middle of the bronze.
Sunnydales-Own = Thanks a lot! I really like Buffy and Alias as well, sorry I didn't keep Will and Xand in the dark, I hadn't gotten your review when I wrote the second chapter. Hope you still like it though! (I have a bit of a shock planned for them soon tho! ;) )Thanx for the review, : )
Mrs. Rhett Butler = really? Yeah, I guess the similarities are there. Thanx for the advice, hope you liked this chapter and the last one. Thanx for reviewing, : )
Miss-ange = yeah! Thanx, I love the combo as well, I've been looking for other fanfics like it to read, but when I couldn't find any, I decided to just write one myself, although it's not really a crossover as such. That's a really gud suggestion, thanx... keep reading, and you'll see whether it happens or not ;) thanx sooo much for reviewing hope you liked this chappie! : )
Elizabeth = thank you soo much, I also love the BA WO pairings. Thanx soo much for reviewing, I really hope you liked this chapter : )
Rosie W = Tank you sooo much once again! Your reviews really do help so much. I'm glad some of your questions were answered, please remember that this is only the start of this story, so there will be some mysteries until the end, I think that it keeps it interesting. ;) Thank you very much about the characterisations. I know that quite a few people are disappointed that Xander and Willow know about the spy business. At the time when I wrote it, it seemed that more people wanted them to know, so I've decided to write in that they have never seen her on a mission, so that there will still be some element of surprise for them. Hope that makes it a little bit more interesting.
Yeah, Angelus did actually come as a bit of a surprise to me as well, even though I wrote it, but I wanted him to still have that sort of brooding thing going on for him that he does in the show. I hope it seems less.. weird... in this chapter.
The title is getting to be quite the pain in my ass at the mo, I keep coming up with titles that seem way to corny to be taken seriously, and I can't help it. At one point I even thought 'undercover liaisons!!' cringe!! anyway, now I'm thinking maybe, 'hidden treachery' or 'hidden secrets' or 'The hidden path to revenge' but they don't really sound right either.
Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out, your review definitely wasn't a pain in the ass, there is absolutely no reason to think that. You really help me out with my story, and I am really grateful. I hope you thought that this chapter was okay, : )
The red cheese is wax = Hi again! Thank you so much, that is so okay, your reviews help me to know what you guys want to read and therefore what to write, so thank you soo much, I hope you liked this chapter as well, : )
Urangel = blushes awww, you really are an angel! again, thank you sooo much, of coarse I thankd you, u reviewed, and reviews inspire me to write, : ) I really hope that you liked this chapter as well, thanx for reviewing : )
Lizzie b = hi again! Thank you very much, hope you liked this chapter aswell, has some more ba gudness! Well, kind of. More to come, thanx 4 reviewing : )
ManniElf18 = Hey thanx, well, ya don't have to wait anymore! Hope you liked this chapter, it took a while to write, soz bout that. Thanx for reviewing! : )
Krissy = Yay! I'm glad you liked it! Here you go. Hope you like it! Thanx for reviewing! : )
The chosen 3 = Hi! I cannot tell you what an honour it was to receive your review. Thank you very much electric pancake, it's a shame that noone you know watches it (the fools!!!) I'll try to do something about my writers block... I've heard of a cure sold on the black market, but it's pretty expensive... so it might take a while. I'm writing 4 stories at the same time at the mo, (soz I get distracted easily : ) ) I will definitely be describing a lot more stuff when she is on this next mission, which is why I have left the story here, so that the next chapter can be almost all mission. Hope you like it! : )
Thank you everyone who reviewed!!! I love you all!!! I'm really sorry about the long waits, I'll try to do better, I promise!
AN = Just wondering whether anyone could tell me whether it is true that before every class American students have to pledge allegiance to the flag? If anyone could tell me, that would be great! Thanx : )
Pleeeeese review! Constructive criticism always appreciated, anything you want added, please ask! : )
Btw, if you want, come check out my other stories : )
Luv Angie : )