Ted Buchanan's residence Sunnydale, November 20th 1997
That night, Ted put his plan into gear and added some drugs into his home-made mini-pizzas and baked cookies, with a huge grin on his face. "Oh, Joyce, my love - soon!"
At roughly the same time, Angel paid a visit to the Scooby gang at the school library and told them where Spike's and Drusilla's new lair was located. Namely, the abandoned old mansion on Crawford Street. But Angel didn't know about Count Orlok...
No one knew about the former Billy Fordham yet, Buffy's ancient fifth grade crush from Hemery High. But the odds were that they would. And soon.
Kendra, who had not returned to Jamaica so far because her Watcher had told her that the 'dark power' she'd been sent to deal with was yet to be extinguished, was wanting another shot at Drusilla. Angel told Kendra that while Spike had destroyed the Gem of Amara, directly attacking Spike and Drusilla's lair right now was a recipe for suicide, given the number of minions present.
"A-angel raises a, a valid point, I'm afraid. I must warn you not to go to this old mansion in order to, to face Spike and Drusilla alone," Giles warned Kendra. It was a warning to both Slayers, but mostly her.
"And if either or both of you Slay-gals plan on going to that old mansion anyway, leave *me* out of it," Xander said in no uncertain terms; he'd had enough of Dru and Spike to last him a lifetime.
"Awwwww, don't you want to visit your vampire girlfriend, doofus?" joked Cordelia. Oz chuckled, Willow rolled her eyes, Buffy looked disturbed, whereas Xander just sent the Queen of Mean a glare.
"You like demon girls, Xander?" Kendra asked with a raised eyebrow.
Xander sighed and said, "No offense, Kendra, but are you crazy?!"
Buffy tried not to laugh at the look on her best male friend's face. "So, Giles, what's the plan on the dealing with Spike and Drusilla?" the blonde Slayer asked, she wanted to kick Spike's ass and get rid of both him and his undead nut job.
Giles sipped some tea, before he set the mug down. "I have no idea yet, Buffy," the Watcher said with a sigh. "I've been in touch with the Council -"
"And what did the Tweed Brigade have to say?" Buffy interrupted.
"The, the task force that was on its way here to help us deal with the Gem has been redirected elsewhere," Giles admitted. "An unexpected emergency, you understand."
"I don't get it. I mean, we had that near-apocalypse back at the end of sophomore year, and now this weird mojo gem could have resulted in a massacre. And yet your Council only has one – sorry, two right now – Slayers stationed here, to prevent disaster? Shouldn't you guys have more people in Sunnydale?" Cordy asked, looking exasperated.
"It's not dat simple," Kendra shook her head.
"Indeed. This, this Hellmouth is only one of many, even though it's the most active one in the world, a-a-and the Council's resources are, are stretched thin keeping a lid on all the others," Giles said, taking off his glasses and polishing them briefly.
"That sucks," Xander complained, unconsciously moving closer to Cordelia.
"Gotta agree," Oz nodded, likewise moving closer to Willow.
"Well, yes. Err, you'll keep an eye on the mansion until we've come up with a definite plan of attack, yes?" Giles asked Angel, who nodded silently. "Good. Well, you'd best all be off home, then; we'll discuss this again tomorrow."
As the group broke up, Buffy gravitated towards the undead object of her affections and said, "Be *real* careful keeping an eye on those two and their minions?"
"I've been doing this sort of thing a long time, Buffy. So far, no one's killed me yet," Angel said with a small smile.
"Yeah, and I'd like to keep it that way. See you tomorrow, Angel!" Buffy gave him a sunny smile, before she kissed him goodbye and he vanished into the dark school hallway.
1630 Revello Drive Sunnydale, November 21st 1997
Ted showed up at the Summers' house with his drugged home-made pizzas and cookies. Joyce answered the doorbell, and was instantly happy to see him. "Come on in, Ted!"
Smiling, the Ted-bot came inside as Joyce closed the door. "Hello, everyone!" Ted smiled at the gathered Scooby gang, who were playing Clue at the dining table.
At Ted's urging, just about everyone started eating the drugged food. They were having a good time playing Clue, while chewing on the mini-pizza's that Ted had baked, when anyone who wasn't a robot (namely Ted, Willow and Oz) started getting affected by the drugs...
Moments later, Buffy excused herself and ran upstairs to the toilet. She came out of the bathroom and found Ted reading her diary/journal in her room. "What are you doing in my room?!" the blonde Slayer glared at him.
Ted carelessly tossed the journal onto the bed. "I came looking for you, you were gone a long time."
"And that gives you the right to read my diary?!"
"It was on the floor -"
"It was NOT! I keep it locked up!"
"Yes, with what you've written in there, I'm not surprised. Young lady, you have a lot of issues!" Ted gave her a rather menacing look. "Buffy, I'll see you downstairs. And I'll be discussing what you've written in there with your mother, don't think I won't!" He warned her and left her room.
{ What an asshole! } Buffy thought to herself angrily. She quickly went downstairs as well and, upon seeing the stares of her friends, shook her head and decided to play it cool.
Later that evening Cordy started acting strange, something which Xander found concerning. She was actually acting kinda… frisky. Smiling at him, nudging him in the side and batting her eyelashes at him. Xander took another bite of pizza, and while he normally would have gobbled it down straightaway - it now tasted weird for some reason, and he fought the urge to purge right in the middle of the dining room.
"Are you going to eat that pizza, Xander?" Cordy asked, smiling that toothpaste commercial smile of hers.
"Uh, no, go ahead and take it if you want..." Xander said, looking at the brunette oddly. For some reason, he'd never before thought of the cheerleader as someone you'd eat pizza with at a friend's house, during a school night. It made her more... human, for want of a better word.
Cordelia took the pizza from his hand and then swiftly ate it. "Thanks, dweeb."
{ Okay, now we're back to normal, } Xander thought to himself in relief upon hearing the insult. Despite that, though, he couldn't keep his eyes off Cordelia as she masticated her food. She noticed him doing so and giggled, leaning even closer to him, starting to whisper in his ear…
{ SWEET MAMALOOSHIN! } Xander thought to himself, recoiling away from Cordelia in shock. { I've *got* to be hearing things! She did *not* just invite me to make out with her in one of the school's utility closets, tomorrow morning! Did she? }
Later that night, at the blood bank near the back of Sunnydale General Hospital, Kendra was fighting four vampires attempting to steal the blood bag shipment out of the delivery truck. The vamps had already killed the delivery men, before she staked one of them in the chest. She roundhouse-kicked another in the head, who hit the ground before he also got dusted.
"Sorry, dudes, but I'm out of here!" a hippie vampire with long hair and red sunglasses shouted out. He made a run for it while Kendra killed the third vampire. She then ran after the hippie vamp, catching up with him and then slamming her fist in his face. Breaking the sunglasses, and his nose.
"Owww, my face!" the undead loser cried out. Kendra simply staked him in the chest like the others, and he exploded into dust.
{ Mr. Zabuto isn't going to believe this, after I send my report home. Hippie vampires, } Kendra thought to herself in disgust, before venturing inside the hospital to inform someone that the delivery truck had arrived, and then leaving to continue tonight's patrol.
Back at the Summers' house, Xander had had enough. "Guys, I'm taking Cordy home."
"Is something wrong?" Joyce asked in concern.
"Uh, no, Mrs. Summers. 'Course not! It's just – uh, Cordy needs an early night tonight. She has this thing tomorrow. Cheerleader practice," Xander ad-libbed desperately.
"Yeah, he's right. I've got some moves I need to practice, definitely," Cordy grinned, wrapping an arm around his neck and starting to freak Xander out big time.
Ted gave them some extra cookies for the road, silently hoping that the Dematorin-laced food would keep these two out of the way with regard to his plan for Joyce. "Here you go, kids. And good luck with practice tomorrow!" he said cheerfully, causing Buffy to scowl at him.
"Oh, thanks Ted," Xander said, taking the cookies before handing them over to Cordelia. She thanked him too, before Xander steered Cordy over to the front door with her arm now wrapped tightly around his waist. With a quick flurry of goodbyes, the two teens quickly exited the house and headed towards her car parked outside on the street.
"Are you okay?" Buffy whispered to Willow, reminded of the redhead's crush on Xander last year.
"Sure. I'm with Oz now," the Willow-bot nodded with a smile. "Don't worry about me, Buffy. You oughta worry about Xander, if Cordy has decided to sink her claws into him - for some insane-o reason!" she whispered back.
"Eww," Buffy made a face, before re-joining the conversation with the other people present.
Outside, Xander was briefly grateful that he had accepted a lift from Cordelia tonight, and that he didn't have to worry about coming back here for his own car, before he focused on more important matters. "Cordy, what's the matter with you? Are you *drunk* or something?" he demanded.
"Oh, don't sweat it. Everything's fine!" Cordelia giggled, before she put her arms around his neck and brought him closer. "More than fine, actually."
"Uh, Cordelia…" Xander started to say nervously.
"Calm down, dork! I don't bite. Well, not unless you want me to," Cordelia smiled suggestively, leaning forward.
"That's it! I'm taking you home right now," Xander pulled back, even more freaked out and trying to fight immense temptation as those very kissable lips came way too close to his. "Gimme your keys, Cor. You're in no shape to drive right now!"
"Spoilsport," Cordelia pouted, before reaching into her purse, handing over the car keys and settling into the passenger's seat as Xander started up the car and drove off in the direction of Parkview Crescent. { Stupid boy. Even if Xander *does* look sorta cute and attractive and stuff... }
Neither of them ever realized Drej had been spying on them, waiting for Ted to make his move so that the demon could carry out his orders from Jareth. Drej grinned in the shadows after overhearing the conversation between Xander and Cordelia, figuring it wouldn't be long now. Xander drove right past him, actually, but simply never noticed the demon in the shadows.
Which, for his sake, was just as well.
Back inside 1630 Revello Drive, Ted watched with secret glee as Willow, Oz, Buffy and Joyce continued eating the last of the mini-pizzas and cookies. { Any moment now… }
Right on cue, they all fell asleep at the same time and their heads hit the dinner table, knocking things down onto the floor. Well, apart from Willow and Oz – but the two robot spies had been given orders by Jareth to play along with the Ted-bot's plans, and gave a very convincing performance of being unconscious like the others.
"At last!" Ted went to the front door and opened up. Then he went back to get Joyce, carrying her out the house and putting her into the passenger seat of his car. Whistling a happy tune, Ted got into the driver's seat and quickly took off towards his house. He never noticed Drej following them, popping in and out of existence on the streets...
Elsewhere, Xander was still driving Cordy home, while she was nibbling on the cookies Ted had given them. { What's wrong with her? Cordy's getting crumbs all over the car, after she warned *me* not to make a mess earlier tonight! } "Cor? Cordelia? You okay?" Xander asked in concern, but needing to keep an eye on traffic.
Thus it took him a few seconds to realize she'd eaten the cookie and passed out in the passenger seat. The remaining cookie crumbs fell onto the floor of the car, ruining the detailing even more.
"Damn it," Xander cursed, slamming down on the brakes and pulling over. He started yelling in concern, "Cordelia? Wake up! Are you okay? CORDY!"
Elsewhere, Kendra arrived at Giles' place, intending to report to her substitute Watcher before calling Jamaica. Using the key he'd given her, she walked into the condo and closed the front door behind her. "Good evenin', Mr. Giles, I'm back."
"Excellent. How did the slaying go, Kendra?" Giles asked, as he got up to make them both a cup of tea.
"Not bad," the Caribbean girl shrugged. "Coulda been worse, I'm t'inking. Err, do ya mind if I use de telephone to report to Mr. Zabuto?"
Giles checked his watch. "Hmm, the time difference isn't too bad – yes, go ahead."
"Good." Kendra hesitated a moment and then said hesitantly, "Could I ask a personal question, Mr. Giles?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"Dat Xander boy – is he seeing anyone right now?" Kendra asked hopefully.