"Wes, your shot back there saved us from a bunch of slime," Gunn said as he, Angel, and Wesley stepped into the Hyperion. "Of course, Angel decided that it wasn't dead enough." He glared at the brunette vampire. "Why, Angel? Why did you have to crack its head open with your axe?"
"I would think it would be obvious, Charles," Wesley began, giving an amused look on the pair. "Angel needs the last hit."
"Ah," Gunn nodded, sending Wesley a grin. "That explains it."
"Whatever," Angel replied to their teasing, waving a hand at them. "I'm going back to my room."
"To brood and sit alone in the dark, and then to gel your hair?" came Cordelia's voice as she made herself known on, sitting on the front desk. "Well, you've got another thing coming, buster." Dawn bounced in, holding a phone to her ear and rambling to someone on the other line. "There's your problem."
"What, Dawn talking on the phone and charging up my phone bills?" asked Angel, clearly confused.
"No," Xander said, walking in after Dawn with Willow and Fred in tow. "Buffy's visiting Los Angeles for a few weeks with a couple of people. Including my new Slayer. And my new Slayer's twin brother."
"Buffy's coming?" stunned, Angel's mouth flopped open like a fish. "Here? To L.A.?"
"Didn't Xander just say that?" Cordelia replied with her own question. She rolled her eyes in irritation. "Yes. Buffy is coming to Los Angeles. Do you not listen when people talk? You're supposed to be this old, wise vampire, and you have the attention span of a three-year-old."
"-And then Angel got demon slime in his hair and was all pouty!" Dawn said into the phone, giggling. "Yeah! I know! Uh huh, uh huh…"
Making a lunge for the phone, Angel missed it by an inch. Dawn was too clever at playing keep-away for the two-hundred-year-plus vampire. "You want to talk to him? Okay." Dawn held out the phone to Angel. "She wants to talk to you."
Angel quickly grabbed the phone and walked into the kitchen for privacy.
"Oh, by the way," Wesley began, cleaning his glasses on a section of his sweater not covered in demon slime. "I found this prophecy-"
"Tell us later, Wes," Cordy said flippantly, waving a hand dismissively. "We women folk need to go and prepare the rooms. And since Dawn's clearly incapacitated with the thought of Buffy coming here, you, Gunn, and Xander are going to help. Now, onward we march! And make sure that the rooms are as far away from Angel's as possible. Don't want him and Buffy getting together and making with the happy, now do we?"
"Right then," sighed Wesley, placing his glasses back on before trudging upstairs next to Gunn.
"Don't worry, English," Gunn said to his friend, patting him affectionately on the shoulder. "I'll make it up to ya with a game of darts later, okay? When this Buffy arrives, you can announce the whole prophecy thing and get it out in one go. Good?"
"Yeah," smiled Wesley, looking at his tall friend. "Good."
- - -
"Buffy's bringing Giles, Faith, Robin, Andrew, Kennedy, and Xander's new Slayer and her brother," Dawn announced as she giddily walked into the lobby, seeing everyone sitting down, resting really, from their work upstairs. Five rooms and a twin bedroom were set up, ready to be slept in. Angel had finally updated the plumbing in most of the hotel, including the first floor and the basement, since Connor had decided to take up residence there. "They'll be in L.A. at noon tomorrow. She was calling from an airplane, and said that tonight they're all staying in a motel. Apparently, Giles found Xander's new Slayer while visiting a friend in Italy, and this girl was fighting this vampire, and she was fending him off really good until the vampire hit her brother, and then she got really mad an ripped his head off and the way Giles explained it to Buffy who explained it to me sounded SO cool, so I can't wait to meet her. Can you wait? I mean, Xander, this is your first Slayer. What if she doesn't like you? What if her BROTHER doesn't like you? What if she-"
"How about you let Xander worry by himself," Willow said from his place near the dartboard, watching Wesley and Gunn throwing the mini-spears, as Cordy had wont to call them. As Gunn had promised, they were playing a game of darts, the dartboard reminding Willow faintly of Angel's head. Maybe it was just the brown spikes on it… "He has the qualifications, and he'll be doing what he does every day, only training someone and helping someone, and he's being paid for it! You and I and everyone know that he's fully ready for this, not to mention he deserves the position, title, and benefits of a Watcher!"
"Um, Wills-"
"And…and he's smart! He knows the things that Watchers need to know-" she ignored the snort from both Xander and Wesley, "-and he knows about vampires and how to kill them and demons and how to kill THEM. Isn't that all a Slayer needs from him?"
"Well, Wills-"
"And anyway, Xander'll do fine! You know he will, I know he will, we all do!"
"Who are you trying to convince, you, or Dawn, or even me?" asked Xander, mildly amused with his best friend's antics.
"I'm trying to convince me-WAIT!" Willow began before interrupting herself and glaring at Xander. "You're not supposed to trick me like that, mister!" She poked him in the side, even as he tried to dodge the bony finger.
"But, now we've established that ya don't have faith in his abilities as a Watcher," Fred commented from her position on the staircase, leaning her head on the railing. "Which isn't good, 'cause, ya know, he's yer best friend and all, and yer supposed to support him and stuff."
"Oh stuff it you."
- - -
And then it was Sunday. July 23, 2006. Nearly one P.M., and still no sign of the Buffster. Xander huffed, leaning his weight to his right leg. Dawn, Willow, and Fred had gone to get drinks for everyone. Coffees for the plane travelers, water for the women, and a pop for him. And he was stuck waiting with Cordelia.
Which wouldn't be so bad if she'd stop biting her nails. It was a nervous habit that she had picked up in high school, one he hated as much then as he did now, and his nerves were about to snap if the girls didn't get back soon. Click, clack, snap, bite, crunch, click, clack, click, snap, crunch…
Just as Xander's nerve snapped, Dawn came bouncing over, carrying his super-size coke. Sighing irritably, Xander snatched his soda, quickly taking several gulps, glaring over the cup at his former girlfriend. Willow looked from Xander to Cordelia, Cordelia to Xander, and heaved a great sigh. "Biting her fingernails again?"
"Like you wouldn't believe," Xander grumbled in reply. "Clicking and clacking! Clacking and Clicking! No wonder she needs a new manicure every week."
"Well, you didn't have to stand behind a sweaty fat man who was hitting on me and in front of this woman that looked like she was constipated and smelled like she peed herself," Dawn replied, handing Cordelia her water. Fred and Willow sat the coffees on a nearby table, the gray cardboard strong but not able to last for long. Xander checked his watch again, sighing impatiently.
"God, their plane landed like, an hour and a half ago!" Cordelia expressed everyone's irritability bluntly. Just as Willow and Fred were making their way to the customs desk, Dawn launched herself at a petite blonde woman stepped out of the terminal. (1)
The tired blonde, who Xander recognized as Buffy, hugged her little sister back. "Dawnie…"
"Buffy! Oh, it's been SO boring here in L.A., and I really want to do things besides shopping and researching and seeing demons and singing, and they've all been ignoring me and stuff! I mean-"
"Dawn!" Willow said with a frown and a reprimanding tone. "Lying to your sister! Why would you say things like that?"
"Because I've missed her so much!" the reply, much like a wail, came from the young brunette. Still, as the others came out of the terminal, she clung desperately to Buffy, who looked like she was about to suffocate.
"Dawn, stop hogging her!" said Cordelia, pushing Dawn away from Buffy before embracing her sort-of friend. "Buffy! It's good to see you. You don't look that great. After a night's sleep and some coffee, we can got out and get manicures, maybe bond over shopping?"
"Of course, Cordy," Buffy replied, sending the taller girl a small smile. If Cordelia was willing to become friends, why wouldn't Buffy? A red thing nearly tackled the Slayer to the ground. "Willow!"
"Oh Buffy!" Willow said, hugging her friend tightly. "I missed talking to you. The phone isn't the same, you know? I mean, I miss staying up and eating ice cream and watching movies and making fun of the vampire movies. Come on! We gotta get you home so we can do that once you're rested up enough!"
Xander rolled his eyes and smiled softly when he saw Faith coming out, a duffel bag over her shoulder. Faith and he had become close, as close as siblings, since Sunnydale had become a crater. He had flown out to Cleveland to comfort her when Robin and she had broken up. She had flown out to LA when he and Dawn was kidnapped by a few demons. Brother and sister, they were. Xander walked over to greet her.
"Faith," Xander welcomed, pulling the smaller brunette into his arms. Startled a bit, Faith hesitated before relaxing and hugging Xander back. Even though she had been around the Scoobies for a good two years, Faith still wasn't used to this kind of affection. "How was your flight?"
"Flights," corrected Faith, patting Xander on the back. "Took one from Cleveland to some midwestern state airport, then here to LA. And with Buffy whining all through the flights to Giles and Robin, and Kennedy hit on me a few times, AND Andrew and I got into a debate on whether Spiderman or Batman was the better superhero." Faith had a hidden passion for comic books that had been pulled out of her by Andrew and Xander's argument from the ruins of Sunnydale to LA over Faith's resemblance to Catwoman. "And how're you doin' Xan?"
"Pretty good," replied Xander, waving all the others down. Giles was standing next to two younger teenagers, about Dawn's age. "Is that my Slayer and her brother?"
"Yeah," said Faith. "Carla's nice, but Giles has to interpret for us. Maybe Wesley can be yours. Anyway, Carla's nice, and she's friendly, but a little not outgoing, if you know what I mean. Her brother's really nice. Dante. He's overprotective of Carla, but being the older twin, you can't blame him. Big brother think and all."
"Ah," Xander's intelligent response came. He blinked, before hearing Giles call him. Walking over, Xander played with his eye patch a bit, adjusting it, before standing upright from his slouch with a small smile on his face. "Er… you rang?"
"Yes," Giles said, pushing a shorter, pale-skinned girl towards him, a boy with darker skin standing in a jean jacket nearby looking on. "This is your Slayer, Carla. That's her brother Dante," Giles explained, pointing to the tanned boy. Both had dark hair and dark eyes. "Now, we're staying for a couple of weeks, so I can help you learn some Italian and help her learn some English, but you'll have to rely on Wesley for translations."
"Okay," Xander said, sticking his hand out to Carla. "Hi, I'm Xander."
"Il mio nome è Carla," the young girl replied, accepting the hand proffered. "Ciò è il mio fratello Dante. Ah… Please to meet you."
"Um, I'm pleased to meet you both," Xander said, taking his hand back into his pocket.
"How are we getting back?" asked Andrew, chewing on a fingernail as he hefted his black backpack higher.
"Oh!" Cordelia exclaimed, pulling a wad of cash out of her pocket. "That's why Wesley gave me this! Um, we're renting a car. He said to get a fifteen-passenger one, so it's easier to go places when we need to. Actually, he said to get two…" Cordelia shook her head. "Well, let's go home!"
end Chapter 2
Author's note: Gah. It's shorter than the last chapter, but I needed it to end somehow. And the two fifteen-passenger cars will come in handy! Leave a review. It boosts my confidence. Boosting my confidence makes me want to write. So leave a review if you want updates. Also, this chapter is completely raw, besides one thing I corrected. I spelled Gunn 'Guun'. But besides that one change, it's a raw, unbetaed chapter.
(1) Don't you love conveniently placed customs desks and my lack of knowledge concerning the airport? Well, I've been on a plane twice in my life, to and from Jamaica, and even though my mom travels a lot and my brother used to live in Florida, I don't know the terms. So, where the passengers come out after getting their luggage, that's what I meant by 'terminal'.
Review Responses:
Imzadi: All I can say is that things will be revealed as the chapters come along. I have most of the story planned so far, and I think that my ideas are good.
lilithangel: Yey! I wrote good Dru-speak! Actually, for Angel I know a lot about season 1, but the rest of the seasons make me go . I'm much more of a Buffy-fan.