Part 21: Well Met in Ambivalent Central
Buffy hated crowds these days.
Absolutely. Positively. Hated. Them.
It wasn't that she was in love with them before because, hello! It used to be just mom, her, and her sister. Well, technically that wasn't true. She was an only child. Since she really didn't remember life without Dawn that other life really didn't count. But tripping over frightened young girls in her home—a home that had plenty of room for family and whatever friends decided to crash, but was very obviously not designed to comfortably house much more than that on a semi-permanent basis—knowing that some of them were going to die pretty much cemented her spot in the not liking crowds sweepstakes.
Crowd-dislike turned into crowd-hatred somewhere between Sunnydale and Cleveland. Something in her just snapped. Was it the bus ride that first night put her over the edge? Squishing between overtired bodies and overextended emotions as they jammed into junky, barely running used cars like the homeless gypsies they were? Night after night in hotel rooms sharing a bed with Dawn while the other girls camped out on the floor?
She put her foot down when they hit Cleveland. She wanted her own room. Period. It was one of two times she stood up to Robin since the Sunnydale sinkhole drained her of her last emotional and mental reserves. The other was making sure Xander remained firmly on the patrol roster. Sure, Robin had a point that Xander wasn't the strongest fighter they had even before he lost the eye, and he also had a point that Xander had a blind spot half the side of his face, but still…props should go where they're due. And Xander was kinda due.
She lost on the room issue because there was a shortage of space and so Dawn was now her roommate, but she did win on the Xander issue.
She may have some small corner of her room to call hers, but she still felt the press of bodies even beyond her closed bedroom door. Funny how she went from the Chosen One, to the Chosen Two, to the Chosen Many. Funny how she just wasn't happy with any of those options.
Maybe being one of the Chosen Many would've been easier if she actually could learn to embrace the crowd, get over her trauma, dig the sisterhood vibe, and hire a very, very expensive therapist.
On second thought, therapist should be at the top of the list, preferably one who had never been taught by Professor Walsh or had heard of UC Sunnydale, because being treated for crowd-hatred by a therapist who had an evil professor? Too six degrees of separation for comfort.
Still, she at least had her friends. She thought. She wasn't sure. There were times since Sunnydale when she wanted to grab Xander or Willow or Giles and shake them while asking hysterically, "We're still friends, right? You still love me, right? Right?" The only reason why she didn't do it was because she was afraid one of them might come down with a case of honesty and shatter one of the few illusions she had left.
At least their faces stood out from the crowd, which made them less crowd-like and more people-like. She could talk to them, trade jibes with them, and be the Buffy they thought she was even when they were in a hemmed in from all sides. So she hid next to them because it was easier than dealing with the strangers that invaded her every waking moment. They could keep her from getting lost in the shuffle.
Buffy glanced at the bedside clock. The house meeting was in ten minutes. God, she hated house meetings if only because it involved putting her front of the crowd as one of the "inner circle," but she endured them because ditching them would be rude. Oh, look. Buffy thinks the rules apply to everyone but herself. So she showed and put on the smiley face.
Right on time, Dawn threw open the door, hands on hips, foot tapping, and a mom-like expression that made Buffy simply hurt. "C'mon," she said in her best little sis bossy voice. "We're going to be late and I want a good seat."
"Dawn, your seat's next to mine, so I'm pretty sure the view's going to be just…"
"Buuuuuuuuuufffffeeeeeeeeeeeee."
The Slayer fixed her sister with a death glare while the girl giggled over getting under her skin. "You're planning to pop my eardrums aren't you? I knew it. You're plotting against me. You're going to make me deaf-Buffy so I don't hear you making plans to sneak out and meet boys in bowling alleys."
"No, I'm trying to make you deaf so you don't hear me working out a deal with my overage boyfriend to buy me booze so we can party at his friend's place where there'll be no adult supervision," Dawn sniffed.
"Dawn!"
"Heh. You are sooooo easy."
Buffy let out an affectionate growl and hopped off the bed.
"Besides, the party's at his house," Dawn said airily.
"I'm going to believe you're joking."
Dawn patted Buffy's head, trying her best to keep her face completely straight. "As long as it makes you feel better and his bones don't get broken because my enraged Slayer sister is defending my untainted purity, it's all of the good."
"Ahhh, now we're trying to kill me," Buffy verbally jabbed back as she headed for the library.
"And there isn't a jury who'd convict me," Dawn giggled. "Can you see it now? Manslaughter, reckless endangerment of human life through the use of words."
"You've been sneaking over to a friend's house to watch Law & Order repeats, haven't you?"
"I blame Robin for my wandering ways. He refuses to install cable."
"Maybe you, Andrew, and Xander should stage a hunger strike."
Dawn snorted with rolled eyes. "Oh, that'll work."
Buffy's response froze in her throat the second she hit the library threshold. Gee granny, what a lot of people you have! All the better to swallow you up, my dear. Gee granny, let's not and say I went out on patrol to kill something icky. She felt a poke in the small of her back and looked up into Dawn's worried eyes. Buffy could feel that her smile was strained as she said, "Just taking in the weirdness of it all. We're about to be briefed by future people. It's very science-y."
Dawn must've bought the nothing's-up-with-Buffy act because she snorted. "I think you mean science fiction-y. Or Star Trek-y. Geez, for someone whose life is one long replay of Abbott and Costello Meet Dracula, you'd think you'd get with the program by now."
"You've been talking to Andrew waaaaay too much," Buffy said absently as she forced herself to step into the room. She stopped. "Abbott and Costello?"
"Be glad I didn't say Toxic Avenger," Dawn giggled as she grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her forward. "And Xander corrupted me long before Andrew ever showed up, so blame the mansome carpenter and not the nervous nerd. It's because of him I know who Toxie and Abbott and Costello are."
"Toxie?" Buffy asked. Speaking of which… "Hey! Where's Xander?"
"Probably one of the girls grabbed him for something," Dawn said as she scanned the room. "Hunh, not here yet." She shrugged. "He'll show." She thought about it. "Unless a future where people think he's god's gift has freaked him into hiding under a bed, which would be soooo him. I better go check."
Buffy held on tight to Dawn's arm, checking the girl in her progress. "He'll be here. Let's just…hey! Seat next to Faith!" She dragged her squeaking companion the rest of the way and tossed both herself and Dawn into neighboring chairs.
"Decaf. Check it out sometime," Faith remarked without looking at them as she did her best to drape every limb over the chair arms. "Damn these seats suck."
"Might help if you sat up straight," Buffy replied.
"Thank you Emily Post. Not like I'm gonna wreck my back."
"How do you know what Emily Post…"
"Prison library. Reading about which fork to use for the salad helps pass the time."
"Oh, look! There's Lisa and Tammi," Dawn interrupted. "I promised them I'd score some info on getting a GED and the local community colleges from the guidance office at school."
Buffy again checked her sister. "Tell them afterwards."
Dawn gave Buffy a s'up-with-that look before carefully explaining, "The meeting might run late. 'Sides, I'm just gonna tell them the mother lode is on my desk and they can get it whenever."
"While you're over there, tell 'em I took the GED while doing time," Faith threw in, although this time she turned her head to look at Dawn. "Don't know if the test is different in this state or not, but I'm willing to spill for free."
Dawn flashed a grin at Faith, "Will do. Thanks." Then she bounded off through the bodies.
Buffy felt the cold rush of Dawn's absence and immediately mentally latched on to Faith. "You got your GED."
Faith was back to staring at the ceiling and pretending that she was very close to taking a nap in the stifling atmosphere. "Like I said, passed the time. Passed the test, too. Flying colors on the first try, believe it or not." Her head snapped upright. "Shit. Wonder if Angel erasing my prison record means I don't have my GED."
"Does it matter?"
"Fuck yeah. I earned that," Faith scowled. The expression smoothed out with a shrug. "Screw it. I'm not going to bug Angel to find out. I'll just take it again. And if I got me two GEDs? Then I know the first time wasn't a fluke. Besides, two's gotta be better than one I figure."
"You know, I've been thinking about college again," Buffy said wistfully.
"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"
Buffy looked up at the interruption and right into Catherine's coolly curious eyes and felt her voice freeze.
"Dawn's got dibs," Faith said. "Take a load off anyway, because she's social butterflying her way around the room so she might be awhile."
Catherine hesitated a brief second before saying, "Thank you."
Buffy noticed that Faith got the same curious look from Catherine, although there was an added element to the gaze that resembled something like warmth.
As the Watcher—Honoria?—folded her tall frame into the vacant chair, she remarked, "Not exactly the most comfortable furniture I've ever used."
Faith was now sitting up and actively watching the new arrival, as if trying to penetrate the mystery that surrounded the woman. She gave Buffy a light swat on the arm, "Toldjya the chairs sucked."
"I'm curious," Catherine cautiously began. "There seems to be a strange boy wandering around the room with something held up to his face. I don't seem to recall his name, although I'm almost certain I heard it last night…well, you understand that everything was very confusing. I was wondering what he was doing."
"You'd swear he's got spell on him that makes people forget," Buffy muttered. "Took me a year to remember who he was, which is really weird considering all the trouble…"
"That'd be Andrew recording the meeting for posterity," Faith interrupted as she scanned the room for the current topic of conversation.
"Andrew," Catherine repeated. Buffy swore she saw Catherine's eyes shift to a darker shade of brown.
The tone was enough Faith for to switch her focus to Catherine. She hesitated for a brief second and, keeping her eyes on the other woman's face, deliberately added, "Andrew Wells."
Catherine's lips disappeared into a bloodless white line. God knows where—What is his name? Oh, right—J'Nal came from but he materialized behind Catherine and placed a firm, restraining hand on her left shoulder. The Watcher Honoria glanced up at her companion before stating, "I'm sorry. I don't recall the name from our archives. Did I understand that he's actually recording the meeting?"
Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy could see Faith wasn't buying it either. "I take it that's on your 'do not let happen' list, hunh?" Buffy asked.
"J'Nal, if you would please ask Mr…Wells to please shut off his recording device." Catherine was back to whatever passed for everything's-normal-all-systems-go in her mind. "I'm certain if we mention the need to keep the timelines free of additional pollution…"
The witch hesitated a moment before giving Catherine a slight nod.
"Make sure he didn't have a tape of you guys the other night," Faith added. "I think he was mumbling about hoping he remembered to stick a tape in the camcorder."
Now it was J'Nal's turn to go pale. "Thank you for letting me know," he said. As he turned away, he was halted by Catherine's voice.
"Make sure you keep your request polite," the Watcher Honoria mildly ordered.
"Polite" definitely sounded like a codeword to Buffy's sensitive hearing. She wondered if Catherine was unhappy with the presence of a camera or with Andrew himself. Honestly, she wasn't really sure what she saw in those eyes at the mention of Andrew's name, just like she really wasn't sure what Catherine really thought of herself.
"So, how are you doing? Fitting in okay?" That's right. Keep it light and polite. A little chatter never hurt anyone.
Catherine's gaze was dragged from J'Nal's back as he talked to an increasingly disappointed Andrew and she gave an almost-friendly smile to the blonde Slayer. "Fitting in isn't exactly the goal, but we are as comfortable as possible. Thank you, by the way. I'm not sure we'd be as accommodating in your position."
"Wills declared you all human and fit for mingling this morning," Buffy pointed out.
Catherine shrugged. "J'Nal would be the first to tell you that crystal-based readings can be fooled. And even if you do trust what it tells you, Willow didn't cast a spell to compel us to tell the truth."
"Burn!" Faith commented with a grin. "Want us to do it tomorrow? Cause I gotta tell ya, I got some questions about next week's Mega Millions numbers."
"Lottery goodness would definitely open up the piggy bank," Buffy agreed. "First thing I'd do? Mall. I'm sick of wearing Goodwill fashions. I'm telling you, they may call some of that stuff 'vintage clothing,' I just call it used."
"The main diff between Goodwill and vintage clothing is the price tag," Faith remarked, eyes not leaving Catherine's puzzled but amused face. Was it Buffy's imagination, or was Faith giving out the 'my-good-buddy-Buffy' vibes while Catherine was around? Weird if true, especially since Faith seemed to be The One in Catherine's eyes. "The deal is, you gotta buy from Goodwill, but claim you bought it from a snooty boutique near the college. No one will question."
"Until they see the $5 dollar price tag I forgot to remove."
"Ummm, this is all very interesting, but am I allowed to say no to the truth spell?" Catherine smoothly cut in. "The answers you get to questions in that situation can be very unpredictable and I don't want any of us to irreparably cause more harm to the time line."
Buffy's eyes widened and she joined Faith in studying Catherine's expression. "Wait. I thought…"
"We landed in the wrong time, so right there we may have inadvertently caused changes." Catherine looked down and began picking at her faux jeans.
"Oh, shit," Faith breathed. Buffy turned to look at the other Slayer. The look on Faith's face indicated that something had happened already and that she was a witness.
"You see my problem," Catherine said. "Please pass on my apologies for any trouble I may have caused or anything I may have set in motion."
"How the hell can I do that?" Faith demanded. "And who am I supposed to pass that little nugget of go-to-hell to anyway?"
Catherine couldn't seem to meet Faith's eyes. "I'm sure we'll find out." She cleared her throat. "I see J'Nal is finished speaking to Mr. Wells. I should join my team. Ladies." She gave a nod, and vacated the seat just as Willow approached with the air of someone who'd just heard something too delish to keep to herself.
"Guess who's not coming," the witch said as she settled next to Buffy.
"That's Dawn's seat," Buffy said.
Willow waved her hand dismissively. "She's too busy getting the lowdown on what I just heard, so she might be…"
"What do you mean Xander isn't going to be here?" Robin's voice said behind her chair.
"Aaaaand that would be it," Willow deflated.
"Not here?" Buffy asked as she twisted around.
Giles looked as irritated as Robin looked annoyed. "As I keep trying to explain, Xander had to leave for…"
"For heaven's sake, this is an all-hands meeting and we need everyone here," Robin said.
Faith hadn't bothered to turn around, but that didn't seem to stop her from interfering. "I thought you didn't believe 'em."
"Part of the reason we need everyone here is to see if they notice anything suspicious," Robin tightly responded. "The more eyes we have on our guests while they're telling their story, the better."
"If you take a look at the attendees, I do believe that you'll notice that Vi and Rona are absent as well," said Giles in his best 'that's quite enough' voice. "As I have been trying to tell you, Xander had to leave for emergency reasons, specifically, to take Rona to the airport."
"What happened?" Robin asked.
"Her brother is being shipped into an overseas combat zone and Xander felt it was best to get her away as soon as possible," Giles said.
"So why is Vi…" Robin began.
"Vi is Rona's closest friend and Xander was bound and determined that if Vi wanted to accompany them, then she was going," Giles explained.
"What did you say?" Robin asked.
"Well I certainly wasn't about to dissuade him, not that I could or was inclined to do so," Giles said shortly. "So you'll just have to accept that you'll have three less pairs of eyes."
"Unh, more like two-and-a-half," Willow corrected. When everyone looked at her, she added breathlessly, "Nevermindthreepairsitis."
"Did he say when he'd be back?" Buffy asked.
Giles gave a slight smile. "I do believe he said we shouldn't wait up."
Robin took a deep breath. "Well, I can't argue with the reasons, but he still should've informed me."
"I'm pretty sure today is the wrong day for you to be making that assumption," Faith said mildly, still steadfastly keeping her gaze on the jabbering girls.
Oh, yeah. Definite tension there. Wonderful. Faith had another fight with Robin. Buffy didn't have the energy to ask what it was about this time, although she was pretty sure Willow would be cornering her later with speculation on cause, subject, and whether this was the One Before the Big One that would blow the lid off the brownstone.
I've become a sad little mini-Buffy, Buffy thought. Jeez, I hope Andrew, Xander, or Giles would get a love life already because I'm soooo sick of talking about Faith and Robin behind their backs. At least if something happened with them I'd get a whole new group of people to talk about behind their backs. Plus, bonus, if Xander gets a date, odds are I'll get to Slay her just before she tries to eat him, so, more fun for me and I get to perform a community service.
"…talk to him." Robin's resigned voice broke Buffy out of her own mind.
"And once again, you're misunderstanding the source of my being not happy with you," Faith said.
"Children, we are trying to present a professional front to our visitors and your infernal, nonstop bickering is not making matters any easier. Honestly, right about now I'm prepared to believe that Xander is the only adult in this house besides myself," Giles snapped. He turned to go, "Now if you don't mind? Robin?"
Robin hesitated a fraction of a second to say, "Faith, I thought we agreed not to air dirty laundry in public."
Faith finally deigned to look up at her partner. "I wasn't airing our dirty laundry, just pointing out that when you give attitude, you gotta expect it in return."
Robin held up his hands, "I'm not talking about this now." He then stalked off after Giles.
"What happened?" Willow half-demanded.
Faith kicked a foot. "Forget it. It's Robin's deal. Let him deal."
"But…"
"Drop it." Faith emphasized her point with a glare.
Since Buffy mentally tuned out for part of the conversation, she immediately focused on the hint that someone just may have interfered in a bad way. "Faith? What happened with Catherine?"
The other Slayer's mouth twitched in irritation. "Leave it alone. It probably doesn't mean shit, so I figure the best bet is to just pretend nothin' happened."
"Faith…" Buffy pushed.
"Look, it's nothing, all right?" Frustration and a physical attempt to stop more questions moved Faith to fling a leg over an arm of the chair so her back was to Buffy.
"I'll take notes for Xander," Willow volunteered.
"Jeanne's already got it covered," Faith commented without turning around.
"Jeanne?" Willow asked. "I'm about to show my powers of unobservation by asking this, but which one is she?"
"Dishwater blonde who was fighting with us back in the day," Faith vaguely waved in a distant corner.
Buffy followed her gesture and saw a knot of four girls goofing on each other. Only one was armed with a notepad and pens, one of which was stuck behind her ear and the other poised and ready to take notes. "How come she knew Xander had left when I only just heard about it?" she asked.
"She was there when Xander came in with Rona." Faith still hadn't turned around. "She came up to me and volunteered after. Said she knows shorthand and'll type the notes up soon as we're done."
"Why would she do that?" Buffy asked. "I mean, taking dictation doesn't exactly sound like something I'd want to do because…"
A shrug from Faith. "Xander's off playing boy scout for Rona and Vi, so what's the big deal if someone wants to girl scout him a favor to show their appreciation?"
"That's just Xander being Xander," Buffy pointed out. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't see it like he's doing anyone a big favor so I don't get why you think it is."
"Didn't say I did," Faith said shortly. "Still, he didn't have to do it, right?"
"Look, I'm just saying he'd do it for anyone. I mean, I can understand Rona and Vi maybe doing something nice to say thank you, but why would Jeanne even care?" Buffy slapped her head. "Wait, Jeanne's friends with them, right?"
Faith strained her neck over her shoulder to look at Buffy and Willow. "B, I know Willow doesn't know who the hell she is, but do you?"
"I do remember her." When Willow raised her eyebrows in an unspoken question, Buffy protested, "I do. I just don't know her that well."
Something that looked an awful lot like amusement twitched in Faith's face.
"Faith, you have to admit that…well, does Xander even know who she is?" Willow asked.
"What do you want to bet that Xander not only remembers who she is, but he even knows something about her that none of us know?" Faith asked.
"Not a chance," Buffy said. "Andrew maybe, because he's practically one of the girls. But Xander? He doesn't do girly gossip. He might be connect-y with face and name, but I just can't see him doing the facials-and-girl-talk bit."
Faith licked her lips. Now she was definitely looking like she was trying not to laugh. "Anyone wanna take my bet?"
"I'll take it."
"Willow!" Buffy exclaimed.
"Buffy? C'mon. Faith's practically begging you to notice that she's pulling your leg," Willow said. "I'm game. I'm saving for memory upgrade for the laptop and I could use the cash."
"Twenty bucks," Faith said without hesitation.
"Thirty," Willow countered.
"Don't do it, Will," Buffy warned. "My Slayer sense tells me that Faith knows something we don't."
Willow's eyes narrowed into a glare at Faith. "I know Xander's not exactly in a noticing women frame of mind, so I don't appreciate what Faith's hinting."
Faith flipped to sitting upright and glared back. "Not hinting shit. Even I'm not that fucking crass that I'd say Xander's trying to score a piece of jailbait ass before the body's cold. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even notice that most of the people in this house have tits."
"Just so we're clear," Willow said evenly.
Faith gave Willow a slow-eyed blink and then shrugged it off, good humor back in place. "Nice guard dog routine. Good to know his sistah is watching out for his rep."
"Working on it," Willow admitted as she relaxed. "Bet still stands, though. I win if all he knows is face and name."
Faith grinned. "You're on."
TBC…