Bad to the Bone

Buffy Summers and Xander Harris watched the new dawn as their rental Harley passed the Welcome to Wolf Lake sign. At the airport, Xander couldn't resist his fantasy of riding one of these to the rescue of his friends and Buffy indulged him as she thought it would be kind of cool as well. Of course they had to have the outfits to go along with it too! Buffy had whipped out her mom's borrowed credit card with Xander's promise that he'd pay her back once they got back home. So clad all in black leather from head to toe they had made the long drive all the way from the airport to Wolf Lake.

Xander revved up the engine for the heck of it when they pulled into the diner parking lot causing many heads to turn.

"Let's just find a megaphone and announce our arrival why don't we?" Buffy grumped at him. She swung her leg over and got off the bike, unfastening her helmet.

"I think we should let them know we've arrived. Put a little fear in them," Xander said as he glared around at the passerby's. He stood, puffing out his chest.

Buffy let out a little laugh and rolled her eyes. "A few hours on a Harley and look what's happened to you. Come on, let's see if Willow's here. I'm sure she's at least heard us by now."

Xander followed Buffy up the stairs and into the Hotel/Diner/Cocktail Lounge place called the Rondevue. "That's an appropriate name," said Buffy.

They turned right and stepped into the busy diner. Breakfast was being served and they were very ready for a meal after that long night of travel. After glancing around for Willow and not seeing her they decided to find a booth and wait until she found them.

"If she's not here by the end of breakfast, I say we go check out the police station," Xander said.

Just then the waitress came up to their table, her name tag said Sophia.

"Hi, what can I get for you?" Sophia asked, pen and order pad in hand.

They looked at her face and it was apparent that the waitress had been upset recently. Her eyes were rimmed with red and she looked pale and tired.

"What kind of cereals do you have?" Buffy asked.

"Rice Krispies, Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks, Cheerios, and Wheeties," Sophia said listlessly.

"Oatmeal?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, that too," replied Sophia.

"O.K. Well I'll have the oatmeal then with a glass of orange juice and also a glass of milk," Buffy said. Sophia wrote quickly and turned to leave.

"Hey, wait," called Xander. "I'd like to order." Sophia turned around and stalked back to the table.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Xander smiled at her. "It's all right. We all have those kinds of days. Could I get a stack of pancakes with plenty of butter and maple syrup? Three eggs sunny side up and a large coffee."

After Sophia walked away Buffy looked at him. "You're not hungry are you?"

"A tad. Hey, have you noticed that old Indian guy over there staring at us," Xander said in a low voice.

Buffy turned her head and noticed the man sitting at the counter on a stool. He smiled and waved at her when she looked. She cautiously waved back with a half smile on her face. Then the man stood up and walked up to their table.

"Hello kids. I really like your Harley out there. Always wanted one myself," the old man said.

Xander got his cool face on again. "Yeah, well she handles real well."

The old man nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure she does. You two up here for a visit? We don't get many outsiders here since the highway ends right in town and there's no where else to go except back." Xander was about to speak again, but Buffy cut him off.

"Well, what do you know? We had no idea this road ended here. I knew we should have got a map back at that gas station!" Buffy said, playing ignorant.

Xander knew that they did have a map but he figured out that Buffy did not trust this man.

"Uh yeah," said Xander now, "well you know how we guys are honey. We always think we can find things on our own." He smiled at Buffy, playing along. Buffy lifted her eyebrows at him when he called her honey.

"That's right sweet buns. We just better head back after breakfast," she said.

Sherman could see that these two were not telling the truth. He sighed but he said, "Well, have a nice breakfast and good luck on your road trip."

Buffy was relieved when he walked away. She did not think they should let anyone know their business. After all, Willow said to trust no one. Just then Sophia came and set their breakfast down before them, not even bothering to look them in the eye. Poor thing, thought Buffy, I know what it's like to have to keep working when the rest of your life is falling apart.

While they ate, they noticed Sophia walk outside for her break. A teenage boy approached her and began talking to her. Buffy kept glancing at them through the window as it seemed that Sophia was getting more upset. Then their waitress came quickly back inside the diner and headed for the kitchen. The boy was in pursuit.

"Sophia, come back outside. I need to explain something to you," he was saying as he grabbed her wrist to prevent her from walking away. Sophia grabbed his wrist back and pulled it from her hand.

"Don't touch me," she yelled. They had everyone's attention now and Sophia turned to continue her way into the kitchen. Lucas now began to follow her but was suddenly stopped by a leather clad Buffy who had somehow managed to insert herself in front of him.

"I think she wants you to back off," Buffy said. Lucas glared down into the petite blonde's face. What the hell did this ungulate think she was doing?

"Scram," he snapped as he took his arm and tried to sweep her out of the way. He paused in surprise when he couldn't seem to make her budge. She stood there like a brick wall. He sniffed to figure her out. No, she was definitely human. But she was really solid.

She had managed to distract him from his pursuit of Sophia and now he let out a short laugh. "Listen, this is none of your business. So why don't you just go back to your meal."

"Well, I think it is my business. You see, that's my waitress you're messing with and I'm really picky about getting good service, so if you upset her, then you upset me," Buffy explained.

Lucas looked around the diner at everyone staring. This slip of a girl was disrespecting him in front of all these people and he was beginning to feel his anger rising. This time he shoved her hard to the side and Buffy fell but she immediately sprang right back up and lifted a boot heel to his chest, knocking Lucas backward and against the counter.

The diner was definitely silent as everyone watched to see what Lucas would do next. He stood up straight, disbelief and anger on his face. He stepped closer to Buffy with his fists clenched. "You know, I've never hit a girl before, but you're real close to being my first," he grounded out between his clenched teeth.

Xander, who had been happily watching the scene as he was cutting his pancakes, now noticed that people were looking at him as well. He realized that they were wondering why he wasn't sticking up for Buffy as it was clear to them that they had arrived together and were a 'pair'. Xander cleared his throat and stood up, stepping towards Buffy.

"Uh… don't you talk to my girl that way," Xander said as he looked around to see if that's what everyone expected. "If you mess with us, my whole gang will come riding up here to your town and… and… well, you don't want to know what they'd do," Xander said, taking his biker image way too serious.

Lucas looked at them both and then glanced outside at the Harley in the parking lot. "Tell you what," Lucas said, "let's settle this with a race. My GTO against your Harley, winner keeps the other's ride."

"Absolutely n…" Buffy began, but Xander cut her short.

"Deal", Xander said, shaking Luke's hand. Buffy spun around and looked at Xander.

"Xander…" she tried to say.

"There's a good racing road just left of the post office. I'll meet you there in one hour," Lucas said and he walked off towards the pool tables to talk to some friends he spotted.

After Lucas walked away, Xander looked down at a glaring Buffy. "Just what do you think your doing? We don't even own that Harley!"

"Hey, we took out insurance on it, remember. Besides, how are we supposed to rescue Willow and Oz with one Harley?" Xander said.

Buffy was about to continue with her lecture when she spotted Willow waving at her from the doorway. She did not want to come all the way into the diner and had been trying to signal to them for awhile. Buffy grabbed Xander's hand and said, "Let's go." As they passed their table, she put money on it for breakfast while Xander bent to take one more bite of his eggs.

When they reached Willow, she threw her arms around them and hugged them both. Then she sobered and said, "Shhh… we can't talk here. Follow me. I've got a place to hide out for now." Then Willow looked at how they were dressed and as they walked out the door she said, "Is that your bike?"

Buffy said, "For now." And then she gave Xander a disgruntled look.

"You two ride it along slowly and follow me. Try not to attract a lot of attention," Willow said and she turned to walk in the direction of Miranda's house.

Xander revved up the engine again as Buffy climbed on. Buffy sighed in defeat. So much for keeping on the down low, she thought.

-

Oz woke up shivering in a cage in Tyler Creed's garage. Now that the sun had risen, he had transformed back into human form. His clothes lay in a shredded pile next to him. He noticed Buddy sitting on a chair facing his cage. Buddy was asleep, the tranquilizer gun on his lap.

"Hey!" Oz said, trying to wake Buddy. "Hey! Wake up!"

Buddy shook his head and opened his eyes, blinking a few times as he noticed that Oz was back to human form.

"Do you think I can get a blanket or something and a trip to the restroom? Perhaps a chat about why I'm here would be nice as well," Oz said.

Buddy ran his hand over his face, still trying to wake up. He sent out a mental message to Tyler who was just waking up as well in the nearby house.

In a while, Tyler came out carrying Oz's duffel bag with his clothing in it. Oz blinked in surprise when he saw his stuff being handed to him through the bars. "How did you get that? It was in the car?"

Tyler held up the keys to his rental car.

"What about my girlfriend?" Oz asked as he slipped into some jeans and a shirt.

"Last I heard, she was put in jail," Tyler told him with a satisfied look on his face. Oz started to fear for Willow but he did his best on to show it.

"She hasn't done anything…" Oz defended.

"Done?" Tyler said, "No, she hasn't done anything. It's more like what she knows. It's way too dangerous to know too much around here." Tyler casually pulled up a chair and faced Oz. "So you see, we both need something. I need you to tell me all about yourself and what you are doing here and you need me to get your girlfriend released. So you think that perhaps we might be able to help each other out?"

Oz studied Tyler's face. He didn't find anything to trust about him. How could he be sure Willow was in jail? And if she was, would they really let her out if he talked. Somehow he doubted it.

"And if I don't talk?" Oz asked.

"Then you both die," Tyler simply stated.

Please review this story and tell me what you think so far… Thanks!