ADisclaimer: All characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel are property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, hope that's enough.
Author's Note:
I've had many people asking or guessing where Buffy will be going next. I
just wanted everyone to know that the first world has already been decided. But
for those who still wish to guess, here's a little clue. It's a t.v. show that was
cancelled after its 2nd season and is set in the past, also when it was cancelled it left a lot of loose ends - which really pissed me off. So think of this as my way of tying up those loose ends. . . with a BtVS twist.
Places already guessed are:
Harry Potter
Lord of the Rings
Forever Knight
Highlander
Again I just wanted to answer a few questions & respond to a few comments.
Claddagh: I'm glad you liked the talk between Giles & Buffy. I was a little afraid I had gone overboard so thanks for the reassurance.
dhrachth: I'm relieved that I've been able to keep the characters in character so far. But I just wanted to give you a heads up that it may not stay that way, especially once I start crossing over. Just so you don't yell at me later. Thanks again for the praise. I'm also pleased that you liked my portrayal of Whistler, he's one of my favourite characters.
Deep Red: I'm hoping there'll only be 1 or 2 more chapters after this. Also I'm going to try to change it so that it's 1 chapter per day. I'm also glad that you like the pace of the story. I've been trying very hard not to rush although I have been tempted.
Sparrow Luver: seeing as how Buffy will be travelling from world to world an entire story of Legolas and Buffy would be impossible. And like I've written before I don't know if I'll be writing any romances anytime soon cause I'm still not sure about my abilities to create a believable romance seeing as Buffy won't be spending an extended period of time in any one dimension. But we'll have to wait and see.
Two more things, I don't really remember the SIT's names, nor do I remember which ones died so I apologize for any mistakes. Also I haven't watched the first episodes of the new season of Angel, so I'm not exactly sure what happened when or what's been going on for most of last season either. I'm going on what's been written and what's been rumoured, so I apologize for any mistakes and inconsistences.
********************
LOS ANGELES
THE PLAZA
That morning Faith wasted no time in implementing operation Bon Voyage Buffy. Her first stop Giles' room.
Faith approached Giles room cautiously on the lookout for B. Who had a nasty habit of appearing when she wasn't needed and an uncanny knack of knowing when something was going on . . . in fact it was kinda annoying. Finally reaching Giles' door she knocks and quickly glances towards B's room. It takes only a few minutes before Giles opens the door, in an undershirt with a towel thrown over one shoulder and the remanets of shaving cream dotted over his face.
"Faith, is something wrong?" he asks concerned, he seems almost surprised by her presence. Which given the past is really not all that shocking, Faith thought with a smirk.
"Nothing's wrong G-Man, I just wanted to talk to you for a minute."
"Yes of course. Please come in, and never call me that again." Giles says as he steps back, allowing Faith to enter.
She steps inside grinning slightly. "Whatever you want G-ah Giles. I wanted to talk to you about B's leaving."
"Ah." Giles states wiping the excess shaving cream off of his face. He looks down uncomfortably and steps towards the bed with a clean shirt lying on the comforter.
A little uncomfortable herself now Faith turns away and begins pacing around the room. "Yeah see I was thinking maybe we should have a-a party for B, a surprise party, ya know. Let everybody say good-bye without making anyone uneasy, including B. The way I figure it is that, the new Slayers they don't really know B all that well, - kicking-ass alongside her notwithstanding - but they deserve the chance to say their fair wells too. I just figured that a going away party would be the best way to send B off without overwhelming B or putting anyone in an awkward position, ya know?" She glances over at Giles out of the corner of her eye and sees Giles staring at her with a frown on his face. Suddenly losing her nerve she hurries towards the door saying, "Ya know what just forget I said anything I shoulda thought it ou-"
"It's a good idea Faith." Giles says quietly.
Faith stops stunned the door partially opened, she spins towards him. "What?"
Giles smiles at her softly. "You're quite right everyone deserves to say good-bye in their own way. Also perhaps it will show Buffy she has our support." Faith and Giles share a smile, before Giles gets down to business. "There is much to do in only two and a half days is there anything I can do to help?"
Faith still a little stunned nods slightly. "Ah yeah, we need a place, food, booze, music and presents." Faith rushes through the list hoping he wouldn't notice.
The eyebrow goes up. "Booze?" Damn he noticed.
"Yeah, you know for the adults, you, me, B, Red, Xand, Rob." Giles continues to look at her with the eyebrow up. Finally she admits defeat and sighs loudly. "Man you really are a killjoy you know that. Cancel the booze." She pouts slightly.
Giles chuckles, "I'll see what I can do about the place. Perhaps Willow will have an idea as to what twenty odd people would be willing to eat. Would you like me to call her on her cell?" He looks at her expectantly.
Faith nods. "Yeah that'd be great. She still out with little Sis?"
Giles nods and sighs. "Yes, I'm afraid Dawn will take Buffy's leaving quite hard."
Faith stares off into the distance nodding. "Not surprising she only got big Sis back from death two years ago. Now she's gonna lose her to dimensional slayage. That's gotta give anyone a complex."
"Quite." Giles smiles.
"I'm gonna go. I'll get Robin to look into getting the tunes. And I'll let the Slayers in on what's going on. Were gonna need someone to keep B outta the loop."
"Hmm." Giles thinks for a moment. "What about Angel, he will have to be told and I'm sure they'll want to spend some time together before she goes."
Faith looks at him amused. "Why G, throwing your Slayer to a Vamp. I thought you were against that sort of thing." She says with a teasing smile.
Giles smiles slightly then looks at her seriously. "They love each other even through all the tough times and the other people who've been with them however briefly they've never stopped loving one another. That's quite rare. They deserve to have some time before Buffy is sent away."
Faith smiles softly. "I take back what I said about you being a killjoy. You're a pretty cool guy."
Giles smiles. "Of course I am, but let's just keep that between the two of us shall we. It might ruin my reputation if word got out. I'll call him before I call Willow, will that do?"
Faith nods in response to Giles question, chuckling, then turns serious. "You seen Xander since his little run-out?"
Giles sighs and rubs his hand across his face. "I'm afraid not. And the last thing Buffy needs to deal with right now is Xander throwing a hissy fit."
Faith nodded. "No problems, I'll go talk with him. Maybe if he has someone else to bitch at he'll keep his trap shut in front of B."
"If that doesn't work?" Giles asks honestly curious. He knew that the boy had a tendency to lash out when upset.
Faith thinks about it for a minute before she grins and opens the door again. "Well then I'll just have to explain to Xander that if he upsets B at any time, I'm gonna be forced to upset his bone structure. He in his room?"
"Most likely." Giles replies. "Faith," he calls just before she closes the door. She looks at him in question. "Try not to hurt him too much would you?"
Faith gives a wolfish grin, "That's up to Xander G." She closes the door on Giles' chuckle.
********************
XANDER'S ROOM
Xander Harris was reclined on the bed of his room, staring into space, in what most people would call a sulk and drinking mini rum from the wine bar, praying mantis', cave slayers and wonky spells not enough of a deterrent to stop him from imbibing in this particular instance.
His. . . deep thoughts? were interrupted suddenly by a banging on his door. He looks up at the door startled then scowls at it, he ignores the banging and continues onto the mini scotch. The banging rather than desisting began again even louder. Xander looks up still scowling. "GO AWAY!!!" The banging stops and Xander basks in his victory of the unseen banging fiend, but alas his basking is too soon as the unseen foe begins banging on the door even harder making the door shake on its hinges. Realizing that the evil person was not going away Xander pushes himself off of his bed and makes his way towards the door grumbling all the while. He rips open the door prepared to give the person on the other side shit. When he sees who it is he abruptly stops. "It's you." He says without inflecton.
"Nice way to greet a visitor man." Faith says cheerily. She moves closer to him trying to get into the room. Xander continues to hold the door barring the way into the room. She chuckles and shakes her head, then she leans in close and in a near whisper states, "You can either let me in, or I can tell you how much of a horse's ass you're being out here in full view of anyone passing by."
They stand there staring at one another, for a long moment in a battle of wills until Xander finally drops his gaze and backs off from the door. He turns towards the couch and throws himself into a reclining position as Faith enters the room and closes the door behind her.
Faith leans against the door her arms crossed over her chest as she watches the man-boy sulking on the couch, drinking a mini scotch. She shakes her head again and laughs slightly.
Xander looks over, irritation obvious in his gaze. "What?"
She doesn't move from her spot on the door and shrugs. "If you're not careful Xand you're gonna end up with a mini hangover."
The irritation in his eye intensifies, "Go away."
"No." She says simply as pushes of the door and saunters over to the couch, she pushes Xander's feet of the table and seats herself in front of him, in order to maintain eye contact. A tip she'd learned in prison, if you wanted someone to know you're sincere let them see it in your eyes. "You and me Harris we need to talk."
"Bout what?" He mumbles into his mini scotch.
"Oh, I don't know the weather, sports, world politics, what you're gonna say to B before she leaves?"
He looks up with a glare. "That's really between me and Buffy."
"No, it's really not. See B's got enough on her plate without pandering to your wounded. . . whatever. This," she gestures, "as hard as it may be for you to understand, is not about you. You are not the one being sent off into the wild blue yonder. You are not the one being forced to leave your friends and family. So I'm gonna offer you a piece of free advice." Faith waits until Xander looks up at her before continuing. "Get. Over. It. I'm only telling you this cause we're gonna throw B a surprise going away party and I don't want you to f*** it up. If you can act like the adult your driver's licence says you are and get your head out from up your ass then you're invited to come. But if you decide to act like a shithead then stay up here sulking, or I guarantee you'll be in a world of hurt."
He jumps up furious. "What's it to you huh? A few weeks ago you were all for taking Buffy's place. Now suddenly you're on the Buffy band wagon. She is leaving us and you want me to give her a break?" He glares down on Faith who continues to sit there showing no reaction to his outburst. Which seems to just make him angrier. "We're stuck here fighting a fight we shouldn't even be a part of. And now you're throwing a party for her when she is once again leaving us to fight her fight."
Faith jumps up and Xander stops ranting abruptly, backing away slightly from the fire in the Slayers eyes lest he be burnt to cinders.
"You done yet?" Xander gulps and nods not wanting to piss off the former rogue Slayer. "Good. Cause I'd like to fill you in on a couple a facts. Once upon a time I may have wanted to knock B off her throne. But you and the Scoobies are the ones who appointed me team leader. All I wanted at that point was to treated like an equal. As for you fighting this fight, damn straight you shouldn't be fighting it, but I seem to recall B purposely leaving you out of the fight and you getting all whiny about how," her voice takes on a sarcastic edge. "We're a team, and teams look out for one another." She pins Xander with a glare and he gulps. "At any time you could've walked away, but you didn't. I'm not sure why. To be honest I don't really give a shit. But that was your choice B didn't hold a gun to your head and force you to stay that was all you baby-cakes." She stalks towards him and Xander gulps once again but holds his ground. "Last but not least, this is not B's fight. This stopped being B's fight when she died for her sister. You and Red were the one's who brought her back into the fight after she'd been dead for three months. And incidently brought her back under the Powers thumb." She comes closer to him, her voice becoming softer yet not losing an ounce of its strength. "So you wanna blame someone for Buffy's leaving then look in the mirror yo. That's all you."
She abruptly spins away from him and stalks towards the door. Xander lets loose a sigh of relief as she opens it. Faith hears it and looks back at him over her shoulder, and Xander tenses. "I've always wondered, with the way you treated B and me for that matter. Was it Buffy you wanted as a friend? Or the Slayer you wanted as a pet?"
With that parting shot she leaves closing the door softly behind her. Leaving Xander alone once again with his bottles of mini-liquor and his even deeper thoughts.
********************
OFFICES OF WOLFRAM & HART
The vampire cursed with a soul more commonly known as Angel or Angelus depending on which circles you hung with. Was sitting at his new very, large desk, staring at some paper work he was told he just 'had' to do, not really seeing it, when his phone started to ring. Knowing that there were only a handful of people outside of the office who knew his direct number, and considering the phone call he received early morning. He immediately picked up fearing the worst, pessimistic perhaps but when living a life where you 'hope' you stay cursed and are currently working in a building where the big boss is possibly a bigger bad than you've ever faced. You had the right to be a little apprehensive.
"Hello?" Figuring since they phoned his private number he didn't need to identify himself. Sounds logical right?
"Hello Angel, it's Giles." Giles answers calmly.
Angel relaxed slightly, if Giles was calm than it stood to reason that everyone was alright. "Giles what's up?"
"I have some. . . news you should be aware of and a favour I must ask of you."
Angel sits back in his chair and lets out an unneeded sigh. "This news wouldn't happen to involve an annoying, badly dressed balancing demon sending a certain Slayer into an alternate dimension. Would it?"
Giles stares at the phone for a moment stunned. "I didn't realize you knew Whistler." He says still stunned.
"He's the demon who showed me something worth fighting for." Angel replies, leaving out the fact that it was Buffy who was worth fighting for. He didn't find it necessary to let the Watcher in on the fact that he had been watching out for his former charge since she was first called. It would just sound weird and stalkerish.
"Ah, of course." Giles still sounds slightly off, and Angel realizes that he's trying to figure out how he knew.
Angel decides to put Giles out of his misery. "Buffy phoned me this morning." He didn't mention she'd been in tears and that it'd taken all his willpower not to run out to hold her, sun or no sun.
"Yes of course. I should have realized. Well I guess this means we can skip the long and arduous explanation."
"I guess it does." Angel pauses awkwardly. "You said you had a favour to ask me?"
Giles clears his throat as he remembers the other reason for his calls. "Yes I did. You see Faith is putting together a surprise going away party for Buffy. Food, music, presents and so on." Giles waits for some noise of acknowledgement before he continues. "The key word being 'surprise'. We need someone who'd be willing to spend time with Buffy, keep the party a secret and bring her to the designated area once the party begins." Giles' voice becomes slightly teasing. "You wouldn't know anyone willing to do all that would you?"
Angel looks at the phone once again stunned as he realises that Giles was in essence trusting him with Buffy for the first time since the whole Angelus debacle. Even through the agony with the knowledge that Buffy was leaving, he was somehow grateful, touched and humbled with this sign of trust. Angel suddenly realises that Giles is waiting for an answer and replies. "I think I could find someone up to the challenge."
Giles chuckles at that and the two men (okay, okay one man and one vampire) share a moment of comradery as they bond over the knowledge that they were going to lose the young woman they each love deeply but in his own way.
"Well that's quite a relief. Now all I have to do is find a place that can support over twenty people, most of which have supernatural strength and violent tendencies."
Angel leans back in his leather chair and looks out over the top of his desk thoughtfully. "Giles, I know someone who may know of a place, hold on a minute." He puts Giles on hold and dials the number for Lorne's phone. He doesn't have to wait long on the line.
"Lorne's Palace of Passion, Lorne speaking."
Angel frowns darkly. "Lorne, what are you doing. What if I had been a client?"
Lorne's voice loses none of it's cheeriness as he replies. "Well Angelcakes, if you'd been a client the little light on the phone indicating an outside call would've been flashing, but since it wasn't I took a chance. What can I do for you?"
Angel sighs realizing that arguing with the green demon would get him nowhere and get's to the point. "I have a friend on the other line, he needs a place for a party for about twenty people. Do you know of a place?"
"Possibly, possibly. What's the occasion? Wedding, bar mitzvah, ritual sacrifice?" Lorne sounded genuinely curious.
Angel sighs and rubs his eyes. He really didn't want to talk to the anagogic demon about Buffy's leaving. What he was feeling at the moment was too private to share especially with Lorne. "Look Lorne I really don't want to get into it right now. Do you know of a place or don't you?" he snaps unable to control himself.
"All right, all right. Calm down Big Guy. If you don't want to share that's fine." Lorne seems almost taken aback by Angel's apparent aggression over a party no less. Realizing Angel was stressed by whatever was going on Lorne thought quickly. "Well princess, there's Artie's Hideaway, for those less formal occasions. The Lion's Den for the semi-formal. The X which is more of a club. There's also-" Lorne gets no further as Angel loses his patience.
"Look Lorne why don't I transfer Giles' call to you and you and he can go through the list and hammer out the details. Is that alright with you?"
Lorne is silent for a long moment obviously stunned at Angel's impatience. He realized that whatever was going on that it was bad and it was somehow connected to the ex-Watcher of Angel's little Slayer. Lorne decided not to push him any longer. "Sure thing Angelcakes. You put the Watcher on and I promise to take good care of him."
Angel sighs once more. "Thanks Lorne, and. . . I'm sorry. For-"
"Hey don't worry about it Big Guy. If you can't snap at your friends, who can you snap at?"
Angel half smiles. "Thanks again Lorne."
"Yeah, yeah. Quit trying to make me blush Big Guy, it does nothing for my complexion and I end up looking like a Christmas decoration. Now be a good little vampire and transfer Giles to my line will ya."
Angel smiles again and hangs up with Lorne, he then picks up and takes Giles off of hold. "Hey Giles you still there? I'm sorry about the wait."
"That's quite alright Angel. Did your friend have any suggestions?"
Angel laughs lightly at that. "Yes fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it. That's why it took so long, once Lorne starts talking it's almost impossible to get him to stop."
Giles chuckles a bit himself. "I can sympathize. We have the same problem with Andrew."
"Well I'm kinda glad I'm not the only one stuck with one. But getting back on topic, I'm going to transfer you to his line and let the two of you hammer out the details, if that's okay with you. I really can't deal with Lorne's listing right now." Angel rubs his eyes once again and suppresses a yawn. He glances at his watch and realizes that it was 12:43 way past his usual bedtime. But after Buffy's call he had been unable to get any sleep and had just laid in bed staring at the ceiling.
"That seems quite acceptable Angel. I look forward to hearing his input. To be quite honest I'm a little worried we'll be unable to pull this off in time, Faith's determination notwithstanding. We could use all the help we can get."
Angel is quite for a long moment, a little amazed that Giles had admitted his doubts to him of all people. "You'll get it done Giles. Don't worry, if you need anything at all I'll gladly help. Buffy deserves it."
"She does, doesn't she." Giles says fondly.
Angel smiles, "I'm going to transfer you now, alright?"
"Alright, goodbye Angel."
Angel carefully studies the 8x10 cards Fred had created to help him with the high-tech phone. He presses a few buttons and sighs a relief when the light turns green and he doesn't hang up on Giles. He then leans back in the chair and slowly stretches, he then gets up and approaches the large windows, looking out onto Los Angeles' busy streets he comes to a sudden realization and smiles a wide, face splitting grin. Coming to definitive decision for the first time since this morning he heads towards his suite, discarding his shirt and drops his pants. In his boxers he slips between his cool, crimson silk sheets and manages to fall asleep. A small smile on his face and thoughts of a tiny blonde in his dreams.
********************
THE PLAZA
After her raging success with Xander, Faith was in a fine temper. Rather than waiting for the slayers to get up, she stormed down the hallway banging on doors and yelling. "You have ten minutes to get to my room, before I come back, drag you out of bed and take you downstairs to spar. You get me!?!"
She stormed to her room, slamming the door and pacing. Robin who was sitting at a small table reading the newspaper looked up as she entered.
He watched his lover pace, occasionally muttering and clenching her fists. Finally he asks a touch wryly. "Something wrong?"
She glances over at him and gives him a dirty look. (You know the one, the 'I can't believe you said that' look.) She continues to pace. "Xander." She finally spits out.
"Ah. What did he do to piss you off this time?" Over the past week or so Robin had noticed that Xander tended to go out of his way to irritate people. Granted it was usually to break tension but still the guy really needed to learn when to stay silent.
"He's such a self-righteous piece of shit. You know I always thought B was stuck-up. And she is, don't get me wrong. But if I had to deal with constant criticism from that annoying prick, I'd be a stuck-up bitch too. Hell it's probably the only way to deal with being told, everything is your fault."
"I'm sure he didn't say it was all her fault."
Faith snorts. "That was pretty much the gist of it. He blames B for going away,. Oh and get this he blames B for leaving him to fight her fight."
Robin frowns, "I thought he chose to fight."
Faith spins towards him triumphantly. "That's what I told him. Then as I left I asked him if it was B he wanted as a friend or the Slayer he wanted as a pet."
Robin chuckles, "Sounds like you really let him have it."
Faith nods. "Damn straight. B doesn't need his shit right now. He wants to wait til she's gone to blow his major bitchfest, then I'll be happy to sit down and listen to him but until then. He'd better keep his mouth shut around B."
"Sounds like you really want Buffy's last days here to be perfect."
"I just don't want B to have to deal with Xander's bullshit."
"Why?" Robin asks, honestly curious. He'd heard all about the rivalry between the two women. And though he knew Faith was more caring then she let on, he didn't know why she was going to all this trouble for a party.
Faith looks like she's about to say something when there's a loud knock on the door. Faith goes to answer it and Robin figures she's not going to answer him when she pauses before she opens the door. she turns to him slightly and says softly, "I owe her one."
Robin watches her as she opens the door and sees the younger Slayers standing on the other side, and they do not look pleased.
Faith opens the door wider and motions for the girls to enter. They all find places for themselves. Some sit while others stand. They watch as Faith closes the door and turns towards them.
Kennedy already uneasy with the disappearance of her lover, starts to feel the overhanging shadow of dread hovering over the hotel and finally blurts out. "What's going on? Why did you call us here? Does this have something to do with that meeting Willow never came back from?"
At Kennedy's words the other Slayers start to fidget and mummer amongst themselves.
Realizing that she'd have a full out panic if she didn't nip it in the bud. Faith quickly gets there attention. "Hey everyone shut-up!" There's an audible click as the group of girls simultaneously snap their mouths' shut. She sighs deeply and glances over at Robin, who appears to be trying to smother a smile. She glares at him briefly before turning her attention to the girls watching her. "Kennedy's right for once. There is something going on. And it does have something to do with the meeting we had this morning. As for Red disappearing, she had to run an errand" She doesn't bother to tell them that the errand was catching B's little sister, that was something private between Willow and Dawn. Unsure how to tell these girls that the woman who lead them outta trouble was being kicked out she sighs again and rakes a hand through her dark hair. "Okay look I'm just gonna tell you all what's going on, no-one interrupt before I finish. We clear." She looks them over as they nod in agreement. "Okay last night, B was approached by a messenger for the PTB. . ."
********************
SANTA MONICA PIER
Once there butts had started to go numb from sitting on the sidewalk, Willow and Dawn had decided to grab a bit to eat. They found a quaint little diner, where they had a stack of strawberry-buttermilk-pancakes with a strawberry compote and chocolate milk (Dawn) and a spinach omelet, home style potatoes, sourdough toast and large orange juice (Willow).
Afterwards they'd decided to take a walk down Santa Monica Pier, they were watching the people when Willow's cell had gone off. Dawn had listened in on it and had overheard parts of it.
When Willow got off the phone she told Dawn of Faith's idea almost hesitantly almost afraid that it would seem like they were pushing Buffy away. But Dawn seemed happy with the idea.
They were currently sitting on a bench on the pier, trying to come up with a list of food that would be appropriate for the diverse group of people.
"I don't know why we're worrying about the Slayers, with the exception of Chao-Ahn they'll pretty much eat anything." Dawn said finally.
"That's not very nice Dawn." Willow reprimands gently, while trying to keep a straight face.
"It may not be nice, but it's the truth. Face it Willow, Slayers are lean mean eating machines. They practically ate us out of house and home when they were SIT's. Now that they're full fledged Slayer's they're pigs'."
At that Willow bursts into laughter, despite her best efforts not to. "Dawn!"
Dawn grins broadly, "You know it's true."
Willow sighs. "Yeah it is. But we still need to come up with something."
Dawn thinks for a moment then her face brightens. "How 'bout ribs? Buffy loves ribs. We could get fries and a whole lot of finger foods to beef up the selection."
Willow thinks about it for a second. "That could work. We'd need a lot though."
Dawn bounces up off the bench. "Let Giles worry about where, we already thought up the what. We should go shopping now."
Willow frowns up at the energetic teen, shading her eyes against the bright sun. "Why are we going shopping, Dawnie?" She asks confused.
Dawn stops bouncing for a minute, and looks at Willow seriously. "Giles said there were going to be presents for Buffy. I already know what I want to get her. So can we please go shopping now. I promise I'll do whatever you want me too if we can."
Willow looks up into Dawn's pleading eyes, and realizes just how important this is to the teen. "Alright Dawnie, we'll go shopping. I'll check the directories for places when we get back to the hotel." She gets up and smiles at Dawn's happy squeal. As they start down the pier Willow asks, "So what do you want to get?"
Dawn looks at her with a sly look, "You'll see. Do you know what you're gonna get her?"
Willow shakes her head. "I don't know, it'd have to be useful, and easy to carry around."
Dawn thinks about it for a minute. "Maybe you could get some sort of magical thingamabob that'd help Buffy."
Willow nods thoughtfully, "Maybe, but what sort of thingamabob?"
Dawn shrugs. "I don't know, you're the witch. I'm just the Slayer's annoying little sister. But it should reflect a part of you."
Willow looks at her in shock. "When did you get so wise?"
Dawn smiles at her. "I watch, I listen, I learn. That's the way it is." They stay silent for a few blocks. Until Dawn breaks the silence. "What do you think Giles and the rest of them will get her?"
Willow thinks about it for a long moment. "Well, Faith will probably get her a weapon of some sort."
Dawn nods. "I'll bet you twenty bucks Giles'll get her a journal or something to record her journey in."
Willow looked at her incredulous. "Do you honestly think I'd take a sucker bet like that? Please, you insult me."
"It was worth a shot." Dawn looks down at her feet. "What do you think Xander will get her?"
Willow becomes silent. Unsure of if her best friend was even going to appear at the party. "I'm not sure. Probably something completely inappropriate."
Dawn nods, still looking down at the ground. "Yeah probably. If he even decides to show up that is."
Willow looks at her in shock, wanting to defend Xander but honestly being unable to. "Xander does have a tendency of being a giant poop-head, but he eventually does the right thing."
Dawn looks at her. "He doesn't have eventually. Buffy's leaving in two and a half days."
Willow nods accepting the truth of the statement. "Maybe we'll get lucky and Buffy'll have to save him from some horrible hell-beastie. That usually turns him around faster."
"I guess all we have to do now is wait and hope."
"I guess we do." Willow agrees
As they approach the doors to a mall Dawn suggests. "Maybe you should prepare some silencing spells just in case."
"Way ahead of you." Willow answers as she opens the glass door and ushers Dawn inside.
********************
Authors Note: I just wanted to apologize for the long wait. I lost the original version of this chapter and had to start over from scratch, while battling a case of writer's block.
I also wanted to say that I really don't hate Xander, even though his portrayal in this chapter and the views of the other characters may make it seem that way. I needed an antagonist for the three days and Xander was the best person for the job.
Next chapter: Patrolling, Planning & Pretense
Presents. More take charge Faith. And maybe a smattering of B/A