STORY SEVEN: THE D.C. AREA, and then some...(Part 2)
Inside the van, Rachel tapped a few buttons. "And now the fun begins," she murmured, staring at the row of monitors - mostly security cameras from inside the Gallery.
"Your partner doesn't like Slayers much, does he?" Xander asked, eyes also riveted on the monitors before them.
"Ahh..." Rachel shrugged. "He's an ex-Green Beret. The idea of teenage girls who can throw him around like a football's kinda weird." She turned and looked at him for a second. "It is kinda weird, don't you think?"
Xander looked over at the brunette and shrugged. "At first, it was kinda weird to think it. But after meeting Buffy, you can pretty much believe any girl could do it." He got a little wispy at the mention of his old friend. "Especially since I was thrown like a football by Faith once."
"You were? Ow."
"Word of caution: never get in the way of two Slayers fighting." He looked back at the monitors. "But they have it rough."
"Yeah, well... lot of that in the world," Rachel pointed out.
Xander picked up on the tone of her voice, making him look over at her. "Yeah, you're telling me." He pointed to his eye patch.
"Oh... sorry." Rachel bit her lip.
"It's no big. Weird boating accident," he teased. Then he softened. "We can do the talking scene. You know, while we wait. I'm sure being in this undercover government stuff really can be a rough gig."
"Actually, you know the story," Rachel replied. "I mean, most of it. Probably."
"Since we're only doing the 'just met' deal, not really. I may have run around with the Slayer most of my young adult life, but knowing what it's like to be in a government position, not so much." He leaned on the console. "Tell me about it; then I can tell you all about the life of a friend of a Slayer." He smiled, hoping to ease her sadness, whatever it was.
"No, I mean it. The whole 'Initiative gets blown to shit by Frankenstein' thing?" she asked glumly. "I'd show you the medal they gave out for being there, but there wasn't one."
"Whoa, you were there?" Xander asked, raising his brows. "Man, that was... I mean, it was intense. Nearing grotesque. Sorry you had to live that. I was... kinda safe and sound in a room."
Rachel shook her head. "That's the thing. I was safe and sound wandering around Chambers Park during it all. Testing this - well, a magic detector, basically." She stared down at the monitors. "I heard it all, though," she added.
Xander frowned. "Yikes," he said, his gaze dropping. "Wow, Rachel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean... I didn't mean to bring it up. There was a lot of loss. I did tell you that sometimes, I just don't bring up the best of subjects at times."
"It's okay." She managed a shaky grin. "Long time ago..."
"Yeah, it was," Xander said. "Have you ever talked to anyone about it, though? Sometimes it helps. I know it helped me all the times I was faced with pending end of the world stuff." He smiled, trying to play it off as a joke.
"Well, there was the Army shrink..." Rachel shrugged. "Didn't do much good, since he wasn't cleared, so all I could do was make up a lot of shit and not tell him any true details."
"Oh, see, that's not REALLY talking about what happened. I play a good shrink."
"You do, huh?" she asked with a laugh. "That's not in your file."
"It's a secret weapon I have that I like to keep... well, secret." He leaned back in his chair. "You can tell me the stuff you couldn't tell him. It'll pass the time away for us surveillance guys - and gal."
"Well..." Rachel considered it for a few seconds, then nodded. "But hold that thought." She tapped one of the buttons on the console in front of her. "Base to Shapiro. Status check."
"We're still scanning the perimeter," Shapiro answered over the radio. "Nothing so far."
"Roger... base out," Rachel said, then let go of the radio button. "Okay... so..." Rachel stared at Xander. "You're the expert. Analyze me."
Xander leaned forward a bit. "Uh, I'm not good with the analyzation... or as some call it, analysis." He cleared his throat. "I just know, seeing the things you saw kinda invade your mind and your nightmares more often than you wanna. Sometimes you probably wake up screaming or something. And this stuff." He indicated the buttons and console all around them. "Is just some way of either keeping you distracted from it all or keeping you closer to it all so you can keep an eye on it." He scooted his chair forward, pulling some wires with it but it loosened and he managed to move just a little nearer.
Rachel bit her lip. "Shit," she said.
"What is it?" Xander asked, trying to adjust the chair with confusion. "Is this chair also of the $1,000 range?"
"Huh? No! It's just - well, shit," she repeated. "All of that... hitting close to home," she mumbled.
"What?" He looked at her with raised brows. "I got it right?"
"Yeah... Well, that and I like playing with expensive toys," Rachel confessed. "You sound surprised... were you just pulling that out of your ass or something?"
"Well, no. Not exactly." He leaned back a little again, finally getting settled. "I mean, I just thought... I felt that way for a long time, Rachel. The first time I saw something I didn't believe? 10th grade. I was already messed up as it was; didn't need vampires roaming around my hometown. I've only told one person about the nightmares I had soon after the first time. After that, I just... well, it was nice to know I wasn't the only one going through it, you know?"
Rachel nodded slowly. "It's..." She smiled sadly, apparently at a loss for words. "Well... thank you," she finally said. "Really."
Xander reached out and grabbed her hand, patting it with a grin. "Hey, no problem. Your bill will be in the mail."
"Right on. I'll pass it on to the paymaster," she said with a laugh and a little squeeze of his hand.
Ana raised the rifle up and stared through the Starlight Scope. "Cool," she murmured, scanning the gardens around the Gallery. "I want one of these..."
"Well, you can't have it," Shapiro informed the young Slayer. He looked around through his night vision binoculars. "They should be arriving soon. The gallery closed not even an hour ago."
"They better come soon," Ana said, lowering the rifle for a few seconds. This was becoming boring.
"Pfft. Head's up." Faith's voice came over the radio. "Coming up near the fountain."
"Good work," Shapiro said in the radio. "On your fences, girls. We'll let them get as near as possible before we hit them. How many to do you see, Faith?"
"Six."
"I see them," Ana said, peering through the scope again. "Can I shoot?" she whispered.
"No!" Shapiro snapped in a hiss.
"But - "
"No shooting until absolutely necessary. That's why I have you two here. We'll take them down in close combat until we have to resort to the weaponry. Now let's meet up with Faith." He crept closer to where he could see the black figures move silently through the shrubbery. "Faith, cut them off at the side entrance."
"Yeah. Ana, shoot them," Faith said, taking aim.
Ana grinned and aimed at one of the ninjas, then squeezed the trigger at the same time as Faith. Across the lawn, two black-clad figures suddenly fell over.
Shapiro grunted as the ninjas produced their weapons and charged towards the gallery. "Go, attack!" He put the gun up to his line of vision and took aim, taking one down.
"Si, jefe," Ana muttered. She took one more shot, then set the rifle down and raced towards the ninjas just behind Faith.
Both Slayers made short work of the first wave - unfortunately, there were about a dozen more where they came from, and the next group wasn't taken by surprise.
Faith took back her wish to fight a real ninja pretty quick. These guys were almost as fast as she was, and they knew how to use a sword like something out of a Hong Kong movie.
Shapiro swung around as he felt a presence behind him, hitting the ninja in the face. But he only stumbled and lashed out with the sword. Shapiro jumped back, the blade slicing the Kevlar vest. "Shit!" He ducked and barely had time to move out of the way of the blade again. These guys were FAST as hell. He turned and ran towards the gallery when he saw that the doors were already smashed in. "Dammit. They're in! They're in!"
"I heard you the first time," Faith said, rushing past Shapiro, knocking down the ninja attacking him, and jumping through the open door. She kept right on moving, slashing at the nearest ninja. "Can we kill these guys, Boss?" she asked over the radio. Silence. "Hello? Oh, fuck... million dollar gear, my ass," Faith snarled, kicking at another ninja.
Shapiro let out a breath after the ninja was knocked clear off of him. He followed behind her, pulling out a taser and using it on one ninja who tried to come up behind Faith. "Where the hell is Ana?" he asked. He talked into the headphones. "Rutherford, this is Shapiro. What's our status on the grounds? Hello? Rachel?"
"Forget that! Watch out," Ana said, tackling the ninja who was about to skewer Shapiro from behind. "The radio is broken," she announced, somewhat redundantly at that point.
"Dammit!" Shapiro said, throwing his headphones to the ground.
"C'mon, we gotta cut 'em off before they get to the sword," Faith said even as she cut down another ninja. How many of these idiots ARE there?
Shaprio moved forward past Faith, heading for the room with the sword they were after. "C'mon, Slayer!" he cried, not knowing how many were actually attacking and actually getting some shots in. He gritted his teeth, ducking and shoving the taser into the leg of one ninja. Another one moved and slashed him in the arm. He hissed in pain. "Fuck!" He punched the ninja in the face, only to be kicked across the cheek. "Dammit, Faith! Hurry UP!"
"I heard you the first time!" Faith snapped back, slamming the hilt of her sword into the ninja's face. He grunted and went down, out cold. She jumped over his body and into the rest of them, slashing with wild abandon - joined a moment later by Ana, who was just as eager if not quite as skilled.
Shapiro got to his feet. "If you heard me, then prove it!" He moved forward and saw that three ninjas surrounded the glass case that held the sword. "Hey!" he called to them. As he did so, his other hand was behind his back, emerging with a smokescreen grenade. He made note exactly how many paces he was from the case himself as he threw the grenade at them.
Thick green smoke billowed forth as soon as it slowed to a stop.
"Great." Faith stared at the smoke. "I can't see in that shit."
"I can," Ana said, already peering through the scope of her rifle. She squeezed off three quick shots, which were followed by three dull thuds. "Beetchin'."
"Don't shoot!" Shapiro ordered, moving forward. He used his mental picture to reach the glass case and smashed the glass with the end of his taser. The alarms began going off.
"Dude, what the fuck?" Faith asked. Nobody said stealing the sword was part of the deal.
He snatched the sword and moved backwards towards the Slayers. The smoke began to fill the room. "Let's go! I've got the sw- ahh!" One of the Hand came up behind him and kicked him in the back, making the sword skitter across the marble floor.
"Are you SURE he's a real soldier?" Ana asked as she and Faith made a dash for the sword, along with all five remaining Hand ninjas.
"No," Faith replied, turning to cover Ana. Better to watch her six than have her watch mine, she reasoned as she cut at one of the red-clad ninjas. "Got it?"
"Got it." Ana lifted the ancient katana and then grimaced. "It's hot!" she exclaimed, tossing it from hand to hand, then to Shapiro, who hadn't seemed bothered.
Shapiro caught it, not even realizing Ana's reaction to it. "Let's get this thing out of here and get it back to base!" he told them, already on the move.
"Yeah... Ana, go!" Faith said, turning to face down the last few standing Hand.
"No, no, not yet," Ana replied. More gunshots filled the air and the ninjas fell over with large holes in them. "Now we can go."
Faith stared at her sister Slayer. "You're having too much fun with that thing," she said as they ran out after Shapiro.
As Ana passed through the back doors, five other ninjas of the Hand dropped down on top of Faith from the tree branches above, determined to at least take one of them down in their failure. It took no time for them to get the dark-haired Slayer to the concrete.
Unfortunately, the Hand were at a few slight disadvantages: first, they had to watch their blows so as not to hit each other, secondly, they didn't have much room to maneuver, and third, they'd just succeeded in finally pissing off a Slayer.
It took a little longer than Faith would have liked, but in the end, she was standing and the ninjas weren't. She sighed and rubbed at a long cut on her forehead. "Fuck," she snapped as she went to catch up with Ana and Shapiro.
"What the hell took you so long?" Shapiro called. They were already halfway to the van.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was busy getting my ass nearly kicked," Faith yelled back. "Thanks for the help, Rambo."
"We need to get our asses moving before more come. I need to call back up to get this place cleaned up." He looked worriedly at the van, wondering what had happened to Rachel. "With the sword in our possession, the Hand can't get to it."
"You should break it," Ana suggested, eyeing the sword distrustfully. She didn't like it.
"We are not breaking an ancient artifact," Shapiro told Ana with a tired glare. "Those weren't the orders we were given on this mission." He sighed, feeling tired all of a sudden.
"Yeah..." Faith shook her head. She was too beat to think. When they reached the van, she pushed the door open, then froze, staring at the sight before her - Rachel and Xander, holding hands. Well, fucking fine, she thought, too tired to speak, too.
Xander turned at the sound of the van's door suddenly opening, not realizing his hand was still on Rachel's. "Hey," he said, then seeing the cuts all over Faith. "Oh, whoa, are you okay? All of you?"
"No, I'm not," Faith replied shortly.
Ana, sizing the situation up correctly, suddenly became very interested in unloading and cleaning her rifle.
"You look okay," Faith added after a few seconds.
"Well, yeah. Rachel and I were just..." Xander quickly removed his hand from hers, trying not to think much of it.
"Just?" Faith prompted.
"We were talking." He looked at the monitors. "When did all this battle and blood go down? How come you didn't call for back up?"
"The radio was broken. Way to keep on top of things," she said, giving Rachel an angry look.
He moved towards Faith, wanting to help her into the van. "Come on. I'll get something for that gash on your head."
"Forget it. I'm fine," she said.
Shapiro glanced over at Rutherford with a slight quirk of his brow. He leaned towards the brunette. "Going for the young ones, aren't you?" he whispered.
"He's only two years younger than I am," she whispered back, "and it's not like that!" she added.
Shapiro shrugged. "Oh, well. I feel sorry for him then. Come on, we need to report this back to base," He moved towards the back of the van.
"Yeah..." Rachel stood up, avoided looking at Faith, and hurried to the back.
"Whoa, hey," Xander said after getting the cold shoulder from Faith. "What's with the light breeze?" he asked. "Or possibly heavy winter storm." He tried to catch her eyes. "Faith? You don't think..?" He pointed to Rachel then himself.
"No. Of course not," Faith replied, shaking her head. "Why would I possibly do that?"
"I don't know. I mean, it's gotta be something. I was thinking the jealousy thing 'cause that's the sad me talking..." He chuckled then took her by the shoulders. "Are you hurt and just being all tough girl and not saying? What can I do?"
Faith's anger boiled over. "You can shut the fuck up and leave me ALONE!" she yelled, the last word filling the entire van. Ana, Rachel and Shapiro all looked over, then away again just as fast.
Xander stepped back a little staring at her in utter shock. He let his hands fall away at her sudden tensed shoulders. "Okay, so... I'm missing something here. Faith..." He hopped off the van, his brown eyes not leaving her angry expression. He hadn't seen her this pissed off in a long time, except when she was in battle of course. But this wasn't a battle - not of any kind. Right? "What's going on here?"
"Jesus, Xander." Faith shook her head. How could he be so fucking dense? "You tell me."
"Faith, I kinda need help in the telling 'cause I'm not following this wake of Angry Faith here."
"Why don't you ask your new friend?"
"My new...?" Realization settled into that and he glanced at where Rachel and Shapiro were radioing in the mission's stats. "Oh." His voice stayed calm. "Faith, I told you, we were only talking."
"Forget it, Xander." Faith sat down. "I'm too tired for this shit."
Xander squatted down beside her. "Okay, I get that you're tired. But... there's nothing to be so pissed off about. Here, let me go get a cloth for that cut." He stood back up, going back into the van. "Uh, Rachel, where are your first aid things?"
"Uh - on the wall there," Rachel replied, pointing at a nondescript grey box bolted to the side of the van. "Xander, look - "
"What?" he asked, moving towards the grey box. He was trying to act normal, as if nothing was happening.
"Maybe you oughta ease up," the Initiative techie suggested, "before she gets really mad?"
Xander turned over a bandage box. "Aw, she's fine." He met her gaze. "She's just... overreacting is all. She does that sometimes."
Rachel just shook her head. Across the van, Faith suddenly stood up, shoved her way past Ana and stomped out without a word.
"I theenk she heard you, too," the Mexican girl said, breaking another awkward silence.
"What? No!" Xander said, moving towards the door. "You couldn't hear me, could you?" he asked Ana, now thoroughly wanting to kick himself in the ass.
"Oh, Xander..." Ana gave him a pitying look. "How long have you known Slayers and still you don't know how well we hear?"
"Crap!" he cursed himself for being so careless. He stuck his head out the door. "Faith!" he called.
The other Slayer just kept on walking, heading for the nearest subway station.
He sighed and climbed back out of the van, running as fast as he could towards her. "Faith! C'mon, I was kidding! Faith, where are you going? The motorcycle is back this way! Rachel and the other guy will take us back there!"
Faith finally turned. "Xander, just give it a rest, okay? I'll see you - later."
"See me later?" He blinked. He moved in front of her. "What do you mean later?" Maybe she just needed time to cool off. He could beg and plead later. "Uh, I'll see back in the hotel then? Do you remember where we're staying?"
"Yeah. Later." She clapped him on the shoulder, then turned and headed off again.
He stood there and watched her go. He held up the box of bandages. "Uh, you don't want to...patch up..." he trailed, his shoulders deflating.
Reaching the van again, he climbed in putting the bandages back in the grey box. "So, when are we getting out of here? Are we done?" he asked the two Initiative members.
Shapiro looked over at Rachel then back at Xander. "Yeah. We got what we came for; we're going to go back to base. We'll drop you and..." He looked over at the remaining Slayer. "Ana off back in Georgetown."
"Gracias," Ana said, although she'd lost any enthusiasm for getting back to the club or her made-up deadline to meet her dad.
"Yeah. Let's go," Rachel said with a sigh. Fuck.
Xander waved goodbye to Rachel and Shapiro as they dropped them off in Georgetown without much said after that. Maybe a few "thanks" but the ride there was relatively quiet.
He came up to the bike, looking back at Ana. He tried to smile. "You better get back to wherever before your father starts sending out the Secret Service."
"Oh..." Ana shrugged. "I made all that up. He's not even staying at the same hotel I am," she said.
"Always knew you were not as innocent as you don't come off as being." His smile faded a notch as he grabbed the helmet off the motorcycle.
Ana laughed once she'd deciphered his statement. "What are you going to do now?" she asked him.
"Go back the hotel. Maybe get some sleep. Or stay up until Faith comes in, but PRETEND to be asleep?" Why was there doubt in his mind about her coming back? But he couldn't think that way; that was old Faith - running away, finding the next boat out of there. "How about you?"
"You - you think she's going to come in?" Ana asked Xander.
Xander met with Ana's eyes, the uncertainty behind them not matching his words. "Well, yeah. You know 'cause... uh, she's my traveling buddy. I mean, a little misunderstanding like this won't drive her away. She just needs to cool off is all."
"Mm." Ana scratched at her fingers.
He paused then blinked. "You don't think she'll come back? I didn't - I wasn't even doing anything of the bad. Me and Initiative Gal were just talking, chatting it up. Nothing more. Faith couldn't possibly think that we... I mean, that's too way out there."
Ana sighed. "Ai yi yi, Xander. You two are off the radio the whole time and then we come back and she sees you holding that girl's hand, and all you do is act like a fool after it," she said, giving him a pitying look.
"Well, when you put it that way..." Xander murmured, his hope falling.
"Pobrecito Xander... How many women have you known?"
"Uh, when you mean 'known' you mean been with, right? I've dated all of two people seriously before Faith, and I didn't do anything to..." He paused. "Okay, so I kissed my best friend while I was dating Cordelia and... I left Anya at the altar on our wedding day... then one was a mummy and the other was attacked by her ex that turned into a large, man-eating worm... " He looked back at Ana. "But that's it! And I've learned my lesson. And two of those were NOT my fault!"
Ana blinked, absorbing all of that for a few seconds before replying. Then she bit her lip a little. Finally she nodded. "Well. Good luck, Xander," she said. "Maybe you could try calling Faith," Ana suggested.
Xander shook his head. "I don't know if she had her cell phone on her..."
"Oh..."
"No. I can't think that she'd run off without talking to me! That's Faith of olden times. This Faith loves me enough to talk to me... right?" Then he realized that they had never said those three magical words. His face fell. He shook his head, grabbing the helmet. "I'll see you," he muttered, getting onto the bike.
"Adios y buena suerte!" Ana called out as Xander drove off. Poor little Xander, she thought, doubtful he'd even find Faith, let alone reconcile with her.
Xander sat up in the bed, not even realizing he had fallen asleep. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the shotty clock on the nightstand. 5:30am. He then realized he was STILL alone in the bed and flopped back down, his hand to his face.
"Shit," he muttered.
He got up and went over towards his bag to get new clothes and realized his bag was the only one sitting there. Faith HAD been there. Been there, taken her bag, and left.
"Shit!" he muttered again, kicking his bag.
It was then he realized she had just upped and left. Left him. He sat down on the ground, wondering what he was going to do now.
A second later, there was a loud knock at the door.
"Xander? Are you here?" a muffled voice yelled out. "Xaaaaander."
Xander snapped his head to attention at the knocking. The voice sounded familiar and he moved to open the door. He found Ana there. "Oh, hey," he said with a small smile.
"Hola," Ana said, staring at Xander with a tired expression. She looked past him, didn't see Faith, didn't see her bags, and gave Xander a little smile, then a huge yawn. "Good morning."
"Yeah." He left the door open and walked back inside. "So good it is." He sat down on the bed, staring at his lone bag. "Did you happen to see the motorcycle out there?"
"Que? Oh... no, I'm sorry," Ana said, sitting down next to him on the bed. Then she flopped over onto her back. "But I can barely see anything, so you shouldn't believe me..."
Xander looked over at her with a quirk of his brow. "Where've you been young lady? I take it not listening to bedtime stories with dad. Did you do some patrolling or something?"
"Yes," Ana replied, turning slightly to look over at him. "I patrolled a very nice club in Georgetown, and another one in College Park," she told Xander with a solemn nod. "Then I went to bed. What time is it?"
He glanced at his watch. "Oh, 6am."
"Oh, good. Then I did get two hours of sleep," Ana said, struggling heroically to keep her eyes open.
He shook his head. "You kids. Partying all night. I was like that once... no, I wasn't. Well, if you're gonna take on the Slayer role, you better learn some discipline."
"I can do it. I'm a Mexican, not a Mexi-can't," Ana said, then began giggling and didn't stop for almost twenty seconds.
"Uh, huh..." Xander said, looking at her with a bewildered look. "Keep your night job, chica."
"Which one? Having fun or killing monsters?" she asked, still giggling a little.
Then he grinned. He stood up and ran his fingers through his tussled hair. He looked around, a little lost a moment. Bending over, he grabbed his bag. "I gotta get ready to go."
Ana sat up. "Where are you going to go?" she asked.
"Oh, I don't know... maybe back west. Ever been to either of the Dakotas?"
"No." Ana frowned slightly. "I hear it's like Baja, except cold. Why would you go there?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. Sounds like a good place to mope and die. I mean, 'Dakota' - that's a word to lay down and never wake up again from." With that, he went into the bathroom and began to freshen up.
When he returned, Ana was flipping through the phone book and muttering to herself. Then she grinned triumphantly and tore one of the pages out. "Come on! I know a better thing to do than mope and die."
"But, what if that's my entire itinerary?" Xander asked, zipping up his bag. "You can't get in the way of that. Really, Ana, you don't wanna hang around a doofus like me. I'm kinda boring - obviously."
Ana stood up and glared at Xander. "My English isn't so good sometimes, so say that again. I know you didn't tell me to leave."
He put up his hands. "Whoa, no. I wasn't telling YOU to leave. I was suggesting I leave. I'm sure you have places to get going and party down with. I started this trip by myself; I'll be cool finishing it that way. Like I expected it to end any other way, right?" he said, playfully punching her in the arm.
Ana caught his fist and held it securely. "You are not going to mope around. Come with me. I told you, I have a good idea." Smiling sweetly, she dragged him towards the door.
Not having any choice, he grabbed his bag as he was pulled towards the door. "Hey, where are we going? What idea do you have? And should I be scared?"
"You'll see, you'll see, no," Ana replied, still smiling as she led Xander down the hall and to a waiting car - a shiny red BMW convertible. "Get in," she told him, finally letting go.
"Uh, wow, where'd this come from?" he asked as he threw his bag into the back and climbed in.
"My uncle got it for me as a birthday present," Ana replied as she hopped behind the wheel.
"Think you might be able to drop me off in the Dakotas?"
"We'll see." Ana waited until he was inside, then, grinning madly, gunned the engine and peeled rubber.
Ten minutes later, she pulled the car to a smooth stop in front of a large import car dealership. "Here. If you're going to follow Faith, at least now you'll have a car. A real car." She got out and waited for Xander.
Xander sat in the car in more bewilderment. "Um, what do you mean?" He stared at the cars in the showroom. "I didn't say I was gonna follow Faith; even if I did, I don't know where the heck she went. She could be halfway to Istanbul for all I know and are you saying I'm gonna get a car?"
"Yes, I am. What are you going to do, walk after her?" Ana replied calmly. "You are going to follow Faith, and you are going to do it in style," she concluded, hands on her hips.
"But... how? Look, Ana, you gotta understand Faith. She sets her mind on whatever, she's not really changing it." Nevertheless, he got out of the car. "She doesn't want to be found, she won't be. It's something I've learned Slayers are pretty darn good at."
"You think you know Slayers, and maybe you do, but I know women." Ana leaned in close. "Faith wants you to find her, even if she wouldn't say so. As for the rest..." She shrugged. "You're smart. You'll figure it out."
"And I'm gonna go find her just so I can get my lights punched out?" he asked.
"I know she won't do that," Ana lied.
He shook his head. "If you're pulling my chain about this car thing, you might as well kick me in the kneecaps right now." He stuck his hands in his pockets.
Ana cleared her throat, slightly offended. "I am not keedding." She looked around the lot. "Find one you like."
Xander couldn't believe what was being presented before him. He stepped towards the row of cars, looking around in awe. "Are you serious? Like if I wanted that silver SL500 Mercedes Roadster, it's mine?"
"It's yours," Ana confirmed with a quick smile.
He went up to the shiny new convertible two-seater, running his hand across the door. "Holy..." He leaned in and saw the black leather interior, the wood paneling. "Ana, this is illegal business we're doing is it?" he turned towards her.
"No it's not." Ana threw him a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, how can I just hop in this car and go with it? I can barely afford the bus ride on the Metro out of here!"
Ana rolled her eyes. "Who said you would afford it?" she asked him.
"Well, I can't very well have YOU pay for it! I wouldn't live long enough to pay it all back." He leaned on it, almost slipping off of the newly waxed exterior.
"Xander, you are being a complete bore," Ana yawned.
"Hey, I warned you," he added.
"Do you want the SL500?" she asked him, ignoring his protestations.
"Well... yeah."
Ana smiled. "Good. Come on, let's find a salesman."
Xander had started the smooth purring of the engine and he sat behind the wheel, looking up at Ana when he was ready to leave the parking lot. "Uh, wow, I just don't feel 'thanks' covers THIS."
"Well, say it anyway," Ana told him. "I owe you and Faith for helping me."
"Thanks... but you kinda helped me. Us."
Ana shrugged. "Close enough."
He smiled. "Seriously, thanks, Ana. I got your number, right?"
"Yes, I think you do." Ana smiled back at him. "Good luck Xander. Tell Faith I said hello when you see her. And you will. Or I'll kick your ass."
"Gosh, I feel like I'm gonna get my ass kicked no matter what." He flipped on the radio. "Bye, Ana!"
"Adios!"
He waved as he pulled out with a screech of tires.
Ana winced. That poor car...