Chapter 7
They were so engrossed in the research no one noticed when I walked in but I heard them.
"Well, I was gonna do lots and lots of homework, but darn the luck, they went and canceled school so looks like I got the time." Dawn said and she didn't sound particularly enthused about school getting canceled. Hell, if it had been me I would've been begging to go to the beach!
I rounded the corner to find Buffy, Faith, the ever annoying Kennedy and the Key going through some files. "Hey."
"Hello." I replied with a nod to the group in general. When Dawn started on the uncomfortable questions. Buffy avoided her gaze and after the long conversation we'd had, well this wasn't the time to have the talk regarding Xander's eye or his medication.
"So what do we have here?" I asked putting myself in front of the Key. Annoying as she was she kept poking around my back.
"Some information Giles and Willow got from the police station." Buffy replied still with her eyes glued to the table. Once more the little Key moved around us and started with her questions. I threw her a glare she ignored and before I could send her away Faith did me the favor. Much too nicely.
"Try to find anything that looks like Caleb, his church, his ring..." Buffy said trailing off.
"His ability to render a Slayer useless in just one punch." My head snapped up from the file I was looking through glaring at Kennedy. Both Slayers looked up as well and quickly realizing it hadn't been smart to open her mouth Kennedy opened it again. "I didn't— that was stupid. I don't know why I said that."
"Really." I stated straightening.
"Uh, it's OK. Um...you know, I—I have to go to the school to pick up the rest of my stuff." Buffy waved her hand as if it was no big but I could see the sting of tears in her eyes. After all she'd done for these ingrates-.
"I really didn't mean—."
"It's fine. Really, it's fine. Don't worry about it." Buffy left while Kennedy headed back to the basement which is where she should have stayed in the first place. Faith sat down focusing on her task but me? I though it was about time to have a little talk with a certain instigator.
"Hold it." I watched Kennedy stiffen at the basement door which was still closed. She turned slowly her face an innocent mask. "Wipe it off I aint buying."
"Huh?" she looked confused for a moment but my furious glare warned her I wasn't about to play some stupid game. "I didn't mean-."
"You did." I cut her off. "You know exactly what you're doing and so do I. You think having a witch will protect you…" I scoffed laughing harshly. "You step out of line like this again and I will personally make you regret ever being born."
"Are you threatening me?" Kennedy's voice raised an octave. There was anger and beneath that the tinge of worry. So she did believe me that was good. It meant I didn't have to give her any examples.
"Stating a fact. You want a threat? Just give me a reason." We held each others stare a long moment. She just refused to show fear which was good if she was fighting the night beast's, with me? I leaned in closer letting her feel the heat of my anger. "Make sure you're ready to follow through."
There was no doubt as to what I meant and having schooled her plenty this past week Kennedy knew the outcome. With a disgruntled sigh she stepped back and dropped her gaze. I relaxed my pose a fraction and waited for her to go back into the basement. When the door closed I turned going back into the dining room.
"You're evil." Faith murmured flipping the page in her file. I frowned at her taking my seat and pulling a stack of papers close.
"The bitch is getting out of hand. Too many of them are and no one is setting down rules or disciplining the ones who do get out of line." I muttered darkly.
"They're teenagers!" Faith retorted with a laugh.
"That's my point. They are not adults. They don't contribute to this house-."
"They're Potentials, PJ. They're here to fight-."
"No, they're here for protection and you all are telling them they have to fight." She glowered at me not liking what I had to say but it was true. Most of the girls came to Buffy for protection and she was making them fight, helping them die and it wasn't fair.
"They were chosen." Faith said tightly.
"By the Powers That Be, just like you were chosen." I sighed sitting back in the chair. "Faith, you didn't have much growing up, there was no real parental figure, no real guidance and you basically had to raise yourself. Think of everything that's happened to you. Think of all the bad choices… there was no one to tell you what you did was wrong. There was no one to show you what was right and what was wrong. I'm not excusing you or saying it wasn't your fault but the truth is you had the freedom to fuck up your life. Same thing these girls have right now."
There was silence and her face was flushed a light pink. Her brown eyes sparkled dangerously and I wondered if maybe I'd gone a bit far. Maybe I was out of line giving her my opinion on her life and what I saw happening here with the other Potentials. Who was I to interfere with their plans? Maybe this is just how they wanted to run the place, maybe this worked in some weird and incomprehensible way I didn't know about.
"I get it." Faith said quietly. After one last look she went back to her file and we spent the rest of the morning in silence.
Rupert arrived mid afternoon when I was ready to call it quits. I had gone through countless files looking for this Caleb but there wasn't anything remotely interesting. The fact that I kept thinking about Caleb, of my reaction to his presence and more importantly his voice had a lot to do with it. Buffy had thought it was funny, asked if I'd been hot over the 'evil preacher' but it wasn't that. Ok take away the evil part and he was a handsome man but still… no. It was more in the tone of his voice, there was something I wasn't getting and the more I kept trying to figure it out the further out of my reach it got. It's like when you're looking for a word and it's on the tip of your tongue but it just won't come out. Frustrating doesn't begin to describe my current state.
Oh, God. I'd begun to notice Andrew was a drama queen in the full sense of the term. Everything was a HUGE deal. There were no small emergencies with him like now. What is the big deal over a freaking Hot Pocket? And no one paid him any attention. Granted, there are bigger things going on like whatever Rupert found that was so interesting the Key needs to check it out.
I stood back, in the hall between the living room and the dining room just watching them all. Did they have any idea how ridiculous they looked? Andrew whining about his Hot Pocket, Rupert and the Key engrossed in the picture while the Potentials looked on mildly interested or bored.
"On the back wall, A... knothole." She looked moving the magnifying glass until she found what he was pointing out.
"That's not a knothole." She exclaimed looking up. No shit Sherlock. Seriously, could they not have given her more of a brain? Or did those guys protecting the Key not use the best of Buffy's DNA?
Rupert sent Amanda for the blond infection then Faith walked in eating the afore mentioned Hot Pocket. I rolled my eyes at the look on Andrew's face who apparently expected something to be done about the issue.
'Patience… patience is a virtue.'
Yeah, well its one I don't have then because I was getting tired of just sitting around playing referee or setting up the Potentials in some kind of order. Now that had been difficult but then they realized it was a good thing and I got Xander to help…
"Spike, I have a mission for you."
"Oh, really? 'Cause, you know, sometimes our missions end up with you trying to kill me. I'm not fond of those." My ears perked up at that and I found myself taking a sneaking peek at his mind. I found the memory much sooner than I'd thought but when I did-. Buffy's nuts to keep this thing around. Soul or not he's a killer and he's so not like Angel. Eew! How could she ever-.
"Aah!" I covered my face and shook my head trying to get the image of what they had been doing together out of my head. "Eegh." When I glanced up some of the Potentials where looking at me funny but I just stared right back.
"Looks like our boy's been here. You want me to go check it out?"
"I need someone who can take care of themselves in case Caleb has... left some souvenirs." Spike headed towards the door apparently ready to go beat up on something. His eyes locked on me the beast inside looking through the yellowed eyes. Here was one of the original four, the terrors of Europe. Killers.
"Are we gonna get to the food-stealing issue soon?" in retrospect, had Andrew kept his mouth shut …
"Take Andrew." Rupert called to his back. The vampire turned incredulous obviously not pleased by the command.
"Well, you are always saying you wanna get out of the house more." Wait, wasn't he their prisoner, sort of?
"There may be demons... lurking about. You never know. He's a demon expert. He can help." I straightened from my pose and watched with a hint of a smile as Rupert maneuvered them. I realized he was throwing back their words at them and he was pleased to be able to do so.
"Oh, please." Seeing the infection unhappy only made me feel all the more fuzzy inside.
"Well, he can bring his pan flute thing along. Excellent. Off you go." Rupert took Andrew by the shoulder and pushed him towards William. He followed the vampire meekly and I couldn't help but laugh at the last remark, maybe cuz he's English, but it just sounded funny.
"Excellent. Off you go." Yep, still funny as evident by my chuckles. Then Faith had the brilliant idea the Potentials needed to let off some steam. Normally I would just tell her to send them in the back and have them spar but that's not what happened.
"How about I say, bad idea?" I quipped with a smile moving into the living room.
"Aw come on PJ. You're saying you don't feel like a little fun?" Faith danced her way over obviously trying to be funny. Well, I could play her game too.
"Not at all," I took her hand and spun her around doing one of the turns Guy loved to try and trip me up with. "I'm a party freak but I don't think big sister is going to appreciate us taking all the kiddies out after bedtime." I gotta say Faith is light on her feet and she didn't falter once not even when I dipped her.
"You got moves." Faith grinned as I let her up then she was all seriousness. "I'll take care of B. Now, get the troops ready to go."
I could feel it in my bones; this was not going to be a good thing.
"So what exactly were you planning on wearing?" I asked with an innocent smile. Faith turned to me, her face set with a scowl. Apparently she knew what I was thinking and that only made me smile brighter.
For once I was glad I still had the motel to finish getting ready in because having to share with a bunch of girls- I lost count after two dozen. When I first arrived at Buffy's I'd been surprised all these girls fit here. Most of them had been sleeping on the floor for lack of beds but after two days of trying to wade through the mess of bodies I roped Xander into helping with my next project. There were lots of complaints, mainly from the Key, but once Buffy saw it was to their benefit she let me get on with it. The only room I wasn't allowed to modify was hers but as the Slayer and leader she didn't need Potentials crowding her thinking space. She did let Faith sleep in there so I gave her a cute single bed with drawers underneath for her stuff. I made it my mission to make it cheerful for her seeing as how no one bothered to actually welcome her.
In Dawn's room we set up three bunks and got rid of her bed though I did give her a cot which we stuck in an empty corner for her to sleep in. That got rid of six bodies that would normally have slept on the floor and been in the way. Next, we hit Willow's room. She'd been using the master bedroom, biggest one in the house so we got rid of that bed too. I managed to fit another five bunks, a tight squeeze but we got another ten Potentials out of the way. Willow still had a bed in there and they all had their own bathroom so they really didn't complain.
The next area I wanted was the basement but that was a definite 'No' considering there was nowhere else to stick the infection. I had a perfect solution because in the form of ash he could fit in a nice jar on the living room mantle, if Buffy still wanted to keep him around.
I'd thought of turning the dining room into another 'barrack' but everyone still needed a place to sit and eat. The living room would have been my next choice but they still had to have a place to congregate and have their little meetings because, Gods forbid they have those in the basement.
In the end I had the girls help clear out the garage and set up bunks in there. Two days and the house took on some semblance of its original spaciousness. The girls had their own space even if it was tiny. It's amazing how many bunks we fit into Buffy's garage, wall to wall from the front to the back. The next task I set myself was figuring a way to keep the newer girls from dying off so soon. The easiest solution was to pair them off with older more experienced Potentials so they could help each other. Making them bunk buddies went a long way to making that happen. The problem was I still had plenty who were sleeping on the floor or living room couch. I did keep Sabine close, mostly because I felt responsible since I'd brought her here. I gave her and Mayahuel extra training and more of my attention but the girls were good and now they can hold their own with the other Potentials.
I knocked hearing the noise inside the house but when no one answered after the second knock I let myself in. I didn't get very far and the sound of the door closing behind me was loud and ominous. The sight before me had me wishing I'd just stayed outside.
"Phade." I heard my name through the cacophony of squealing excitement. There were girls everywhere! Had there been so many before-?
"PJ!"
Now that got my attention. Scowling at the hated nickname I found the source standing in the middle of the staircase. Faith waved her hand a bemused smile on her face. I doubted she found this funny but she wasn't about to tell them to shut up. I tried to walk over but found myself forcibly shut out by the swarm of bodies. The scowl encompassed the chaos in the house.
"Enough is enough." I muttered darkly and very deliberately prepared the levitation spell. These girls were in for a rude surprise.
I drew the energy I would need from around me so I wouldn't tire myself. It was a neat trick, one I learned the hard way.
'Air…'
I felt the power coursing inside, it made my chest ache, felt my muscles tighten…
'Air… Fury…'
The cool echo soothed my suddenly warm body. The voice familiar…
"Ihn so ahl deh." I whispered opening my eyes. I raised my hands palms up and watched the girls begin to float. The smile on my face did nothing to stop them from being frightened and the squeals became shouts. When the furniture started to rise I realized my mistake. I hadn't been specific as to what I wanted to 'rise'.
"Uh-oh." Well, I didn't have time to modify the spell and fix it so…
"Aa!" "Ow!" "Get off!" "You're on my leg!" "Eat much!" "You're not so light either!"
All right so I didn't get rid of the yelling but at least they were temporarily out of my way. With a roll of my eyes I picked my way through the tangle of bodies and headed towards Faith.
"Neat trick." She stood hands on hips obviously not thinking it was so neat.
"I would've thought you'd like the feeling of being weightless." I said looking at the girls picking themselves up.
"It's the landing I had problems with."
"Well, it wasn't a perfect spell." I shrugged giving her a slight smile before I turned to the loud Potentials and in my best 'Dom' voice yelled for order.
"ALL RIGHT ON YOUR FEET AND SHUT YOUR TRAPS." The girls closest to me flinched from the loudness but I got all of their attention. "We leave in ten minutes. Those of you not here by then can stay behind." With a glare I raised my voice again. "QUIT THE YELLING AND GET MOVING."
They rushed off in different directions glowering, complaining or muttering and all the time getting louder.
"NINE MINUTES AND LOWER THE VOLUME!"
"Damn, PJ. You're like a drill sergeant." Faith quipped and I noticed her mischievous grin in place yet again.
"Six brothers, two sisters." I shrugged. "Mamá had a thing about too much noise." I smiled then looked her over and was disappointed. "After all the stuff we got this is what you're wearing?" I asked in disbelief. I mean the black jeans and tank fit her nicely but she looked- looked as if-.
"What, it's good for fighting." Faith replied not caring.
"That's the problem." I retorted with half a mind to take her upstairs and make her change. "You're not going to a fight." She looked about ready to make a smart comment. "That I know of." I added hastily.
"Obviously not but you never know." She shrugged then ran her eyes over me. "Look at you!" she exclaimed. Faith gently pushed me back so she could get a good look at my lack of clothes.
Ok, so maybe that's an exaggeration but they did say we were going to a club. To me, that means dress up, key word being; dress. Ryan hadn't had a problem when he picked it out then again I doubted he expected me to wear it so soon or without him.
"Kinda slutty." Faith smirked. I crossed my arms arching an eyebrow. "Not bad."
"Thanks, it was Ryan's pick." I fidgeted with the neckline- lack of.
"Oh!" she exclaimed leaning against the wall. "I've been meaning to ask-."
"No." I cut her off with a good idea of what she wanted to know. "No questions because I'm pretty sure I know where your minds at." To avoid her intense stare I looked around seeing the Potentials still running around then glanced at the hall clock. It still gave them another five minutes.
"Woa, you're the reserved type?" her incredulous tone drew my eyes again. She seemed surprised. "The way you throw down-. You just don't seem the type is all."
"Yeah, well there's a time and a place…" I trailed off hearing the echo of my Dad's words as they left my mouth. I turned tugging on my ponytail and realized there wasn't a whole lotta room for the girls in my Shelby.
"We need transportation." I turned to Faith.
"Like a bus." She quipped.
"That's helpful. I'm assuming you drive." I wasn't really asking but I had my doubts.
"If that's what you wanna call it, sure." At my look she rolled her eyes and nodded. "No license, though. They don't exactly hand those out in the pen."
"I'll take your word for it. Look, you find me some legal drivers, I'll go get us some keys."
I headed off in search of Rupert. As the oldest adult in the house I figured he would have them and it was only polite to ask him for permission to use the cars anyway.
"Mr. Giles." I found him in a room upstairs, hiding from the girls I would think. It used to belong to Joyce, her little office away from work so to speak. He turned took one look at me and tripped.
"Uhmmm." Can you say 'embarrassed'? I was beginning to think I should go back to the hotel and slip into a par of jeans and a tank like Faith. The dress had seemed like a good idea at the time but the little black mini left my back bare, reached just below my ass and the neckline- well…
Was this the reaction I'd be getting the rest of the night? Rupert's face was bright pink and I could get a glimpse of his emotions, that's how strong they were but to his credit he cleared his throat and looked at my face.
"Phade, you look lovely." I had to force my hands to stay at my sides because I wanted to force the two tiny pieces of black material close together so they covered my chest. It really wasn't enough…
Damn Ryan and his slutty fashion sense.
"Thank you. We- I." with a deep breath I tried again. "I was wondering if it would be all right to use the other cars." His brow furrowed so I explained. "Too many girls…" I shrugged then winced as his face twitched. He really was trying not to let his eyes wander and doing a great job of being a gentle man. Must be the English in him.
"Of course," he practically jumped at the excuse to look away. "Yes, keys err-mmm." He poked around shuffling papers, moving books out of the way and making a messier mess of the desk than before. Actually, this was getting to be a bit funny hearing him mutter to himself. I couldn't help the quirky smile as my eyes noticed the hooks over the desk and there a bunch of shiny keys. I stepped into the room and pointed.
"I think I found them."
He stopped; face blushing furiously as he cleared his throat.
"Yes, err, here." He fiddled with them then handed me two sets. "For the jeep and Xander's…"
I took them offering a smile as thanks.
"Do be-."
"Careful?" I finished. Turning away I nodded. "We will, Mr. Giles."
"Got a couple say they're legal." Faith reported as I stopped in the living room. It was full of girls. I glanced at the clock seeing I'd given them an extra five minutes. Shit, well there were some still missing.
"You four have a license?" I asked skeptically and at their nods I was left with no choice but to peek. It was easy to find what I wanted since they all pretty much had the thought fore most in their mind.
The fist Potential, one of the bigger girls with freckles all over her face and chest had barely passed her drivers test and had no road experience.
"Ha!" I couldn't help it. Who would be stupid enough to let her learn with a bunch of girls in the car?
The next one, a petite little thing with blond hair had a tendency to make wide turns or drive over curbs. Well, she was out!
The next one, a tall lanky brunette by name of Dane was just a year younger than Kennedy but unlike Kennedy, Dane hadn't crashed a car.
"Here you go." I handed Dane the keys to the jeep figuring the girl could handle it.
"What?" the others exclaimed demanding to know why she got to drive while they didn't and Kennedy was the loudest.
"Keep talking and you can stay." I said quietly. They heard me though and shut up immediately. Kennedy threw a glare my way heading to the couch. I turned with the keys held out to Faith.
"We got the jeep and Xander's car." She took the keys smirking. "Take the crab with ya please."
"What'd she do?" Faith asked looking at Kennedy with a chuckle.
"Car accident." I threw her an annoyed look. "You get pulled over let her flash the card just don't let her drive." I warned.
"Not a problem."
It took another ten minutes to parcel out the girls so they sort of fit into the three cars. Dane got saddle with a mob in the back of the jeep with another six in the back seat, sitting on laps of course. There were lots of complaints but when I mentioned they didn't have to go it got real nice and pleasant.
Faith had a full load as well and instead of just three in the front seat I threw in four including Faith as the driver. Kennedy just glared out the windshield and I really wanted to leave her behind for being such a, pendeja.
I had to put the top down on the Shelby and picked the twiggiest of girls to take. It worked out though, six in the back and two beside me.
We left the younger ones behind with Rupert and Anya. I know, it makes no sense. They were too young to get in the Bonze but not young enough to fight a war and die. This was so wrong in many ways but it was their life. The girl's needed to learn more about who and what they were. They needed to learn new skills to stay alive and that was Rupert's job as the only Watcher.
I felt more than guilty having left Mayahuel behind. She was the newest Potential and I felt responsible for her. She had no family save a younger brother currently living with the Hell's Angel's, my Dad and son. These last two days I'd taken more time with her than the others besides Sabine. I paired them up in order to keep them close. In a way they were mine because I had brought them here and I was going to do my best to make sure they survived this war. I still couldn't believe Sabine's parents had just let her come to the HellMouth knowing their only child could die but Wesley sure had a way with words and here she was.
Mayahuel was different, she still didn't speak a lick of English but she understood what anyone said to her. She hadn't finished the Sesame Streets vids I downloaded. She shied away from speaking to anyone other than myself or Sabine but with some time, which she might not have, I hoped she'd get over it.
Ryan even got her a cell phone so she could talk to her brother whenever she felt like it.
"Two for one." He'd said meaning the phones. He got a good plan considering the free minutes. We all have the same carrier. Either way I planned on keeping those two close when the fighting started.