A/N: Mike3207, thanks for the latest review. And as for Kendra and Xander, I'll keep that in mind for the future - but for now, Harris is subconsciously looking elsewhere. :)
Outside Willie's Alibi Room Sunnydale, November 19th 1997
Angel discreetly followed the vampires and demons that left the bar, figuring that with luck, he'll find Dru and Spike's new lair later tonight. He was hopeful that the plan his mortal acquaintances had come up with would work, as the Gem was far too tempting a target for any vampire to resist.
Elsewhere, earlier, Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordy arrived at Buffy's home before Ted did. "You came just in time," Joyce said with a smile. "I've ordered the pizzas, and Ted should be here soon."
"Who?" Buffy asked at once.
"Oh, Buffy, I need to talk with you in private..." Joyce escorted her daughter to the kitchen, and less than thirty seconds later Buffy could be heard to scream, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'RE DATING THIS TED GUY?!"
Both Willow and Oz still weren't sure what Jareth's plans were with regards to the Ted-bot, and so kept quiet. Xander was stunned silent, but Cordelia said cynically, "Well, it sounds like *someone* has got mommy issues."
"Cordelia! That's not nice," Willow said sternly.
"What my girlfriend said," Oz nodded, curling his arm around the redhead.
Cordy glanced at Xander, who just shrugged without saying anything; and so she took that as unspoken agreement that she was right.
Over at the Sun Cinema, Drej was watching a retro screening of The Lost Boys - when Jareth appeared out of nowhere in the empty seat next to him. "The Lost Boys is one of my favorite movies," Jareth commented with a smile.
"Jareth. Why are you here?" Drej asked politely.
"I'm here to see how things are going, Drej."
"I don't have the robot parts yet," the minion replied, still watching the big screen.
"Hurry up, then. I got a lot of data from my two spies on the Ted Buchanan robot," Jareth grinned. "Oh, and make sure no one gets in the way when you grab the parts."
"Don't worry. The Chosen Ones are as good as dead, Jareth!" Drej smiled evilly.
"Don't kill the Slayers," Jareth warned him. "I have my own plans for them."
"Too bad; it's been centuries since I drained a Slayer of their essence," Drej sighed heavily. Jareth vanished while Drej started chuckling, "Those Frog brothers, they totally crack me up..."
Elsewhere, Ted arrived at the Summers' house, pulling up into the driveway inside his car. Ted grinned evilly to himself, before he knocked on the front door. Joyce opened the door and smiled at him. "Hello, Ted."
"Hi Joyce." He entered the house, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks for having me over for dinner!"
"You came just in time, actually; the pizza's arrived. Ted, this is my daughter, Buffy. And her friends, Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia," Joyce introduced everyone.
"Nice to meet you all," Ted smiled at the teens.
{ There's something off about this Ted guy, } Xander thought to himself, as everyone grabbed a piece of pizza and a can of soda and then sat down at the dinner table, and started eating. { I dunno what it is, but something... feels wrong... } He glanced over at Buffy, who was watching Ted closely. { And I may not be the only one who thinks that. }
Elsewhere, Angel found where Spike and Dru's new lair was located - the old mansion on Crawford Street. Keeping to the rear, he followed the vampires and demons inside. Within the mansion, Spike, Dru and Count Orlok heard loud noises outside.
"We got trouble, Spike. The news broke at Willy's, and lots of vamps are breaking in, wanting that Gem!" one of the minions reported.
Spike was no fool, he knew the situation was now untenable as quantity had a quality all its own. "Damn it. Whoever did this will get their bloody throats ripped open! And sorry, luv, but that Gem has gotta be destroyed, before one of those tossers manages to hurt you!"
Dru pouted, but took the brass ring off her finger and handed the Gem over to Spike. And not a moment too soon, as the mob broke into the mansion's ballroom where everyone was gathered.
"Gimme that Gem!" one of the vampires shouted, before someone staked him and then the killer shouted the exact same thing, before she was dusted as well and the chant echoed throughout the room.
Without hesitation, Spike smashed the Gem when, after placing it on the floor, he hit it with a crowbar. There was a brief glow of green light, and then it was gone. "Oi, you bloody wankers, it's gone. Now bugger off, the lotta ya!" Spike yelled. "Or I'll rip your bleedin' heads off!"
"Shit! I'm out of here," a disappointed-looking demon said.
"Me too," replied another demon, now looking bored with the whole thing.
"Damn you, Spike!" a ticked-off vampire cursed William the Bloody. But he and the others all left the mansion, sighing and empty handed.
Once they all left, Angel headed off home himself. { That ended well, and with no bloodshed, } the ensouled vampire thought to himself. { More importantly, Buffy's safe now from an unkillable Drusilla. After all – Dru could have massacred her, along with all her friends! }
"Oooh. My Gem," Dru pouted sadly.
"Indeed. What a waste," Count Orlok sighed. { I wonder if the Gem of Amara can be repaired with magic? } He watched Spike, Dru and the minions leave the room, before the former Billy Fordham picked up the tiny, broken pieces of the Gem and pocketed them an evil grin. { Can't hurt to try, anyway. }
Back at 1630 Revello Drive, after dinner was over Ted kissed Joyce goodnight, said goodbye to the gathered teens and left the Summers house. Ted then got in his car and drove off. { I can't wait for next time, } the Ted-bot chuckled to himself. { The delinquent daughter will have to go, of course, and I can distract her friends with that Dematorin-laced food – and after that, Joyce and I will finally be together forever! }
"What do you think of Ted, Buffy?" Joyce asked, back inside the house.
"Uh, he seems nice. I guess?" She looked back at her friends for backup, but they all looked at each other, not saying a word. { Thanks heaps, guys! } Buffy sighed to herself. "So, how long have you two been…?" she trailed off, not sure how to phrase it properly.
"Not all that long, actually," Joyce replied, now thinking that maybe it had been a mistake to introduce her boyfriend to her daughter in such a public setting. "Well, I better clear away the pizza boxes and everything -"
"Oh, we can do that for you, Mrs. Summers," Xander said hurriedly.
"Yeah, it'd be our way of saying thanks for inviting us over for dinner," Cordelia said with a quick shrug.
Joyce smiled at her, and the rest of Buffy's friends. "You're welcome, dear, and that's very kind of you to say so. Well, in that case, it's been a long day and I'd best be going to bed. Thank you all for coming – and don't stay up too late, Buffy!"
"Sure thing, mom," said Buffy, "Good night."
"Good night, Miss Summers," the others echoed afterwards, waving goodbye as Joyce went upstairs for bed. Not surprisingly, as soon as she was gone the Scooby gang started to talk about Ted.
"Okay, what did you guys think of him?" Buffy demanded in a demanding tone of voice.
"I dunno. Maybe it's my 'virgin sacrifice for a demon' thing talking, but that Ted guy seemed just a little *too* nice to be normal for me," Cordy said, shaking her head.
"Yeah, I betcha he's hiding something," Xander didn't trust Ted any more than Cordelia did. "I got a funny vibe off of him right from the start, and in this town, there's no such thing as being overly paranoid!"
"Maybe we should go to Ted's house, see if he's hiding anything," Oz suggested.
"I don't know about that - breaking into someone's home is wrong," Willow replied with a heavy sigh.
"Good point. Will, see if you can find anything on him online first," Buffy said, thinking that Xander was probably right - Ted might be up to something not good.
The next moment, Buffy's cell phone erupted into life and she accepted a call from Angel. She listened, and he told her how the plan went well and the Gem had been destroyed. "Thanks Angel, that's great news! I'll see you tomorrow night, bye." She disconnected the call and glanced around at her friends. "Angel just called, the plan worked – the mob showed up and Spike instantly got rid of the Gem." She smiled, relieved that the latest Hellmouth drama had been resolved without anyone on her side getting killed or injured.
"That's good," Xander said, smiling himself. "So, clean up detail?"
Everyone started getting rid of the pizza boxes and empty soda cans, and a few minutes later Xander, Oz, Willow and Cordy went home. Buffy herself went upstairs, took off her clothes, brushed her teeth and then went to sleep.
Sunnydale High School Library, November 20th 1997
At school during lunch period, Xander was finishing his book report. Oz was sleeping with his head down on the table.
Ignoring both members of the Y chromosome club, Buffy watched Willow look up information on Ted Buchanan. The Slayer was grateful that Kendra was off doing her own thing after learning the Gem had been destroyed, that Cordy was with her popular friends in the school cafeteria, and that Giles was with Ms. Calendar at some faculty meeting or whatever. This particular investigation needed to be kept on the down-low, at least for now.
A few minutes later, "Oz! Xander!" Willow quickly relayed the information she and Buffy had found. "Ted Buchanan has been married four times, and he's a very successful computer salesman." Willow handed Buffy a printed sheet with Ted's address.
"Thanks, Willow..." The Slayer stared at the printed sheet before exclaiming, "His first marriage was in 1957? Come on - Ted musta been what, six years old?!"
"Okay, then either our boy is a Mormon, or Wills has screwed up being Net Girl, or I was right last night – something's hinky about this Ted guy," Xander proclaimed, finishing up his book report.
Willow sighed and said, "I didn't want to mention this before, 'cause it might be nothing, but me and Oz saw Ted at the art gallery the other night. And he was - getting way too close with Buffy's mom, if ya know what I mean."
"No I don't, and quite honestly, at this point I don't want to," Buffy replied, before making a decision. "We go with Oz's plan; sneak into Ted's house when he's at work, and check to see if he's hiding any secrets there. I don't want any of you guys to spy on Ted yourselves, that's too risky right now."
"What's the risk? You think he's a demon in disguise or something?" Xander asked.
Willow ignored the question, spying that Oz was still asleep. "Wake up, Oz!" Willow started shaking her boyfriend. "Did you hear what Buffy just said? We're going to try your plan of breaking into Ted's house, and seeing what we can find."
"Sounds cool," Oz yawned. "When?"
Buffy shrugged, she wasn't sure. { We've got school during the day, and Ted might be home after hours. Maybe I can get Angel to do it? No, wait, that invitation barrier won't let him in, darn it! }
"So, we wait for Ted to do something odd or what, Buff?" Xander asked, wanting to do something different than just attending school classes during the day.
"I don't know. I guess," Buffy frowned, before the bell rang: indicating the end of lunch time and the start of the next period.
Soon, Xander found himself sitting next to Cordelia in English class, waiting for the teacher to come in. He was rather surprised when the brunette leaned across and whispered to him, "Where the heck were you during lunch? I looked for you in the cafeteria, but you weren't there!"
"Yeah, I know. Book report in the library I had to finish up. Plus, y'know, making plans to break into that Ted guy's house," Xander whispered back to her.
Cordelia looked at him weirdly. "Okay. Have fun with that!"
Xander sent her an amused smirk. "Don't worry, Cor. These days, I wouldn't dream of doing anything illegal without inviting you along first."
"Thanks a lot," Cordy scowled at him, before the teacher came in and any further conversation had to be put on hold.
Later that day at the old mansion, Count Orlok was the only vampire still awake, holed up in his room. He had put the pieces of the Gem of Amara in a lock box for safekeeping, at least for now. He still had some blood bags he'd stolen last Halloween night, and decided to treat himself to some rare B-negative.
Count Orlok drank the blood in a glass cup, with an evil grin on his face…