Buffy smiles as she walks in the house after a short day at university. Her smile brightens when she sees a large bouquet of flowers on a table that Joyce has obviously moved next to the door.
Taking the card, Buffy opens it to see it's from Brian, her date last night, thanking her for a wonderful date. Buffy's smile widens, and she tries to locate her sleeping mother. With a hrumph, she gives up using the hive, as not only is she sleeping, but she's sleeping close by.
Walking to the stairs, she shouts up, "Mom! Mom?"
From the lounge behind her comes the cry of a baby, and Joyce says over the hive, "Buffy what do you want? I was just having a nap. Buffy! What's wrong with me? Everything's fuzzy and I can't move."
Buffy spins around, and stares at the couch, where there is a pile of burnt ash, running most of the length of it. Squalling in the centre of the pile of ash is a week old baby.
With a coo, Buffy walks over and picks up the baby gently, just the way that she remembers being taught to pick up Dawn, "Who's a lovely little baby, huh, who's a lovely little baby. You are, that's who."
As Buffy tickles Joyce's belly, Joyce giggles and complains over the hive, "Buffy, hehe, stop that, hehe, I'm ticklish."
When she feels the entire local hive focus on her, Buffy smiles, "Um, hey everyone. I think mom died."
Joyce starts to cry, "What do you mean I died?"
Buffy shrugs as she sticks her little finger in Joyce's mouth, "Well there's a long pile of ash on the couch, and you're a baby. So that would suggest that you died."
Slightly hysterically, Joyce says, "I can't have died, I feel fine. And I've got another date with Brian in a couple of days. I've also got a meeting at the auction house, then there's the bills, and the shopping."
Giles sighs, "Joyce, it seems that you are indeed a baby. This is concerning, as I don't believe we have ever considered this before."
Glory scoffs, "It's not like she's going to be a baby for long. Just say she's had to go to hospital for a few weeks, and then she'll be fine."
Giles sighs, and nudges everyone to a memory of one of Arry's xenomorphs growing to adulthood, and then stopping, "It won't be that simple for Joyce or myself, as we are significantly older than the rest of you."
Joyce complains, "I'm hungry, and it hurts."
Tara sighs, "I'm not in class at the moment, I'll buy some nappies and baby formula."
Buffy smiles over the hive, "Thank you. Do you think Wesley or Cordelia would know what to do?"
There's silence for a moment, and then Giles says, "Anya said she'd look after the store while I head to LA. They might know something there."
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When Giles appears in Angel Investigations new office, he can see the Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley, who is sitting in a wheelchair, with a teenage girl facing a woman that is probably her mother.
At the woman stares at Giles, he coughs, "Oh, don't mind me, I can talk to this lot once they've dealt with you."
After a couple more distracted glances at Giles, the woman turns back to Gunn, "Well?"
Gunn looks up from behind the girl, "Well, I don't see anything."
Wesley smiles, "Not a trace."
Cordelia looks at the bald spot on the back of the girls head, "Hmm. When she goes back to school, the other kids will never notice that there was a third eye growing back there. Heh. This should come back in before you know it."
The mother leans forward, "What?"
Cordelia looks at the woman, "The hair? The… I meant the hair, that was in-In the back, there… Not the third eye. Because that won't come back." She leans round to look at Wesley, "Right?"
Wesley shifts uncomfortably, "No reason it should." He pulls a lolly pop out of a pocket and hands it to the girl, "The curative charm seems to have worked. Like a charm, really."
The mother scratches her ear nervously, "We can't thank you."
Wesley cheerfully says, "Oh, don't give it another thought."
From behind the teenager, Gunn spreads his hands, "It's what we do."
From the back of the room, Giles frowns at the mothers wording, as Cordelia adds, "It's kinda a mission."
The woman shakes her head, and draws out the No, "No, I mean we can't thank you. And we can't pay, you, either. What is that?"
Everyone turns around to look at Giles scratching the underside of Phantom's crest. Giles looks up, "Oh, don't mind me."
The woman holds up a folded bit of paper, "This bill is ridiculous."
Giles snaps his fingers and then unfolds the bill as it floats in front of him, "It looks quite reasonable to me. Oh. Sorry. I'll be quiet."
Cordelia looks between Giles an the mother, "What do you mean? We didn't even charge you for the mandrake."
The mother bristles, "My husband says it's outrageous."
Wesley looks down as he adjusts his position slightly, "Does he? And just what would your husband consider a fair price for the removal of the third eye from the back of your child's head, Mrs Sharp?"
Mrs Sharp glances at Giles, Phantom, and then the floor, "Well, nothing. Steve says, 'Since it's impossible to be bitten by a demon and to have a third eye grow on the back of one's head, that obviously you people are running some sort of scam, and you won't squeeze one red cent out of us'."
Giles coughs, "Mrs Sharp, perhaps it would be prudent for Miss Chase and her bodyguard Phantom to accompany you home, and explain the existence of things that go bump in the night. Especially as demon's aren't exactly known for their propensity to forget about the destruction of their young."
Wesley turns round, "You know what it is just from what you've heard here?"
Giles nods at Wesley, "Let's discuss that once your business is done."
Mrs Sharp grabs the girls hand, "Come on Stephanie."
As they leave, Cordelia calls, "Scam? The back of your kid's head was blinking."
Wesley puts his head in his hands, "No, let her go. It's easier for the Sharps to cast us as con artists rather than accept the grim reality that Skilosh spawn nearly hatched full grown out of their child's skull."
Gunn's shoulders slump, "Gee, wonder why."
Cordelia gestures vaguely through the door, "Great. So, while they're indulging their denial, we have bills to pay."
Gunn marches to the door, "You know she's right."
Wesley looks up, "Perhaps, given time, the Sharps will come round."
Giles coughs, "Well, maybe you could help me with the problem we have in Sunnydale."
Cordelia looks at Giles, "Does it pay?"
Giles nods, "Yes. Quiet handsomely I'd imagine."
Cordelia turns around to face the door, "Well, what are we waiting for, let's go."
Giles coughs, "Where are you going?"
Cordelia turns back, "To get my car. It's an hours drive to Sunnydale."
"Miss Chase, I can teleport."
Cordelia puts her hands on the back of her hips, "Well I didn't know that. And how are you able to pet Phantom, he doesn't like it when I try."
"She. 'Phantom' is a she. And you keep trying to pet her dome." Giles points at the smooth skin at the front of the head, "Imagine someone was trying to stroke your eyeballs, that's what it's like for them."
Cordelia gapes, "How do you know that?"
Giles slumps, "Let's table that until we get to Sunnydale, and Wesley, stop ignoring the hive. Also, why are you in a wheelchair?"
Sarcastically Wesley says, "Well, jeez, I don't know. Maybe because I was shot last night, and they needed to cut me open to remove the bullet?"
Giles deadpans, "Right, like we didn't fix that once already." Before he stands up and takes the handles of the wheelchair, "Anyone that's coming, grab hold of me."
Cordelia and Gunn share a glance before taking hold of Giles' sleeves, and all four of them disappear in a pillar of fire. Only to reappear outside Buffy's house. Phantom appears a moment later, before going invisible almost immediately.
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Cordelia and Gunn both crowd around a clean, and nappied and napping, Joyce, and Buffy, and coo at Joyce. Meanwhile, Wesley has been dragged out of his wheelchair, to the back room. There, Tara has reluctantly removed his stiches while Giles holds him down. Once the wound's open, she finds it easy to cry into the wound, given how distressing opening it up was for her. As she watches it heal over without even a scar, and feels the love and approval from most of the hive.
A few minutes later, Wesley walks in, prodding the skin where his stiches were, and looks at the group, "So, what did you need our help with?"
Buffy turns around jiggling the sleeping baby, "Mom died earlier today, and we need to know how to declare her dead, and get her a new birth certificate and stuff."
Confused, Wesley takes off his glasses, "What are you talking about?" Then his eyes widen comically as Buffy pushes her memories of finding Joyce on the sofa, "What was that?" he stumbles backwards into the door frame.
Gunn steps back, and takes an aggressive stance, "What did you just do to Wesley?"
Buffy cocks her head to one side, "I sent him my memories of finding my mother earlier."
"Are you psychic?"
Buffy sighs, "Yes Gunn, I'm psychic. But do you remember the face hugger I put on Wesley's face last night? The one that ensured that he'd keep breathing, and his heart would keep beating, for an hour? The price of that is that he is now part of my hive. Part of that is that he has access to all of my memories, and all the memories of every other member of the hive when he's within my range. I think I'll have LA covered from here in Fall. Anyway, that's beside the point, I'd like to hire you to get my mother's death registered, and a new identity set up for when she's fully gown again."
Gunn looks thoughtful, "I think I might have some old contacts that could help with the new ID. Having her declared dead, that's both harder and easier, as you just need to find a coroner that's willing to sign the paperwork."
Buffy smiles and points at the couch, "At least we have ashes for her urn."
Joyce chooses this moment to void herself, and wake up crying, "Oh god, please clean me up. I can't stand this anymore."
By the doorframe, Wesley flinches badly as Joyce says that. Taking pity on him, Buffy bundles up the last few months of Giles' experiences, and shoves them into Wesley's head.
As his eyes roll back in his head, as it lolls to one side, Buffy looks at Gunn and Cordelia, and shouts over Joyce's crying, "As for payment, come upstairs to my bedroom, and you can take one of the non-skull items I have there for every week that you're working for me."
When they enter Buffy's bedroom, Gunn and Cordelia stop and stare at the skull that's suspended from the ceiling. Meanwhile, Buffy lays Joyce down on a changing mat that she's put on her bed, along with the other supplies that Tara bought for her.
With a click of her fingers, the Diamond, and the saucer that's holding a red coral, disappear into her mothers bedroom. A second click transports Joyce's nappy into the bin outside, a third cleans her up. A forth cleans Joyce up again, and a fifth has a fresh nappy on her.
Buffy picks Joyce up, and feels around the waistband, "Hmm, we'll need to give you the next size up in nappies next time I think."
Joyce hits Buffy's arm, "You think? You think? I know! God these feel tight."
"They have to be tight mom, otherwise you'll leak everywhere."
"This is so embarrassing."
"How do you think I feel?"
Cordelia's mouth closes with a snap, "Buffy, where did you get that skull from?"
Buffy looks up, "Oh, that? I killed it a few months ago. Ate the rest, and claimed the skull as a trophy. Anyway, mom sorted out the pretty rocks I've been picking up while I'm hunting for food. Um, you've got Serpentine, Cassiterite, Peridot, Pearl, and Coral there. I think there's a couple of gold coins in one of the pots too."
Cordelia picks up a single pearl that's as wide as her thumb, her eyes wide, "Buffy, are you sure we can take one stone or thing here?"
Gunn looks at the rocks sceptically, "Uh, Cordelia, are you sure this is a good idea?"
Cordelia turns around holding the pearl, "Gunn, while this isn't perfectly round, it's shear size means it's worth a few thousand dollars." She picks up a grass green peridot that is about as large as her finger, "This could be worth even more. And she's just letting us pick one."
"You're shitting me, that's worth thousands?"
Cordelia nods, "Uh huh, could be more if it's a saltwater pearl."
Buffy adds, "Well, I found the oyster it came from off the coast that way."
Cordelia's eyes wide, "How?"
Buffy shrugs, "I can breathe underwater in my new natural form."
Cordelia stares at the pearl and whispers, "I would give my left kidney to be able to do that. You are beautiful aren't you."
Buffy smiles, and places Joyce on the bed, saying to the hive, "Could someone come up and keep an eye on Joyce while I grab an adoption egg?" As soon as she's said that, Buffy disappears in a pillar of fire.
As she disappears, there's a rapid fire popping as Giles, Willow, and Tara all appear in the room to try and stop Buffy from disappearing like that.
Willow gets into Cordelia's face, "What did you say that caused Buffy to disappear like that?"
Gunn puts his hand between Cordelia and Willow, "Peace girl, Cordy didn't say nothing wrong. She just did that thing where ya use hyperbole to say that you're jealous of someone."
More calmly than Willow, Tara says, "What did she say exactly?"
Cordelia steps back with a huff, "I said, 'I'd give my left kidney to be able to do that.'"
Willow sighs, and disappears with a pop, and Giles pats Cordelia consolingly on the shoulder and leaves, Tara sighs, "Cordy, you remember those rules that Giles had about the books in the library?"
Cordelia narrows her eyes, "How do you know about those?"
Tara waves her hand, "Don't worry about it, you'll find out in a couple of hours. Anyway, you've just broken the one about making wishes in front of the books."
Gunn grabs Tara's arm, "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
Buffy appears behind Cordelia and Gunn, holding two eggs, and smiles, "It means that sometimes you get what you wish for."
Gunn and Cordelia spin around, before backing into the room, "What the F… are those?" Gunn glances back at Joyce on the bed as he self censors.
Tara gives Buffy a dirty look as she picks up Joyce, and the tops of the eggs open, "Buffy, you really need to wait until they know what they're agreeing too."
As the face huggers crawl out of the top of the eggs, Buffy shrugs, "I checked Wesley's memories, and the reason he's having trouble with the hive is that he wasn't close enough to it while he was joining it. He's fine now, but he really needs hive-mates around until my range covers LA."
Gunn catches one of the face huggers and starts to wrestle with it, trying to keep it at arm's length. The thump from Cordelia falling to the floor, as she loses her struggle against her own one, distracts him just long enough for the face hugger to get it's tail around his throat. Within a few seconds, Gunn joins Cordelia on the floor.
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It's getting dark when Wesley, Gunn, and Cordelia all reappear in their office by Giles express. Cordelia immediately walks round Gunn's desk and pulls out his bottle of the strong stuff.
"Hey girl, that's mine."
Cordelia sits down at the small reading table, and plonks both the bottle and the single pearl on the table, "Well you can get the glasses then."
Wesley sits down with her, "She's right you know, I think we all need a stiff drink after today."
Gunn grumbles as he grabs three glasses and sits down, "Did we really just sign a contract with the Slayer to provide baby sitting services and a new ID for her mother?"
Cordelia pours herself a finger, and knocks it back and makes a face, "You're worried about the contract? I'm worried about the fact I can feel the three of you in the back of my head."
Wesley pours his own glass, and takes a sip before making a face, "Gah! What is this stuff?"
Gunn pours his own glass, "It's cheap, and it get's the job done. What more do you want? And yes I'm worried about the contract. We're supposed to be detectives, not nanny's. What are you going to do with that rock anyway?"
Cordelia gently rolls the pearl around the table, "It's not a rock. It's a pearl, and I'm going to take it to an auction house to be valued and put up for auction on commission." She looks at the bottle, "Tomorrow, tomorrow I'm going to take it."
Gunn snatches the bottle off the table, and puts it in his coat pocket, "Oh hell no, you ain't drinking my bottle. Go and buy your own."
Cordelia looks up at Gunn, "You know I can't."
"That ain't my problem. Now, I'm going out to see if there's anything I can do out there. And to get my head on straight."
Cordelia looks at Gunn pleadingly, "Gunn…" Then she sighs, "Stay safe."
Gunn smiles and waves as he walks out the door.
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It's only an hour or so after full dark that Angel comes storming into the office while Wesley and Cordelia are twiddling their thumbs waiting for clients to ring or turn up.
Without saying a word, he makes his way over to the bookcase.
Wesley looks up at the same time as Cordelia does, and they say, "Good Lord/Angel."
Wesley turns to follow him from the table, "May we help you?"
As Angel starts to rummage through the mystical books, Wesley puts his work down with a bang, "Excuse me, that area is for employees only."
Angel actually responds, "Yeah. You took all the books."
Cordelia shrugs, "Yeah, well, you got the waffle iron."
As Angel finds the book he was looking for, he turns to leave, and Cordelia snatches it out of his hands, "Hey. No." Putting it back on the shelf, she stammers, "You can't take this, I'm in the middle of it." Reaching up, she grabs the telephone directory and shoves it in his chest, "Here, take this one."
Angel crowds into Cordelia's space and looks her in the eyes as he says, "Don't make me move you."
Wesley's eyes widen in alarm when Phantom appears on the desk behind Angel, it's mouth silently lining up to send its inner jaws straight through Angel's brain. Urgently he says, "Give him the book Cordelia." When Cordelia doesn't move, he puts a bit of anger in his voice, "Just give him the damn thing. Let him get the hell out."
Cordelia glances at Wesley, before she pushes Angel back, Phantom moving smoothly backwards with him, and turns round to grab the book, and shoves it into Angels chest, "I don't even know what you are anymore."
As Angel stalks out, he calls over his shoulder, "I'm a vampire. Look it up."
Cordelia's face screws up, "What a jerk. I mean, if it was anybody else, I'd just say get laid already. But, no, not him. One decent boff and he switches to evil psycho vamp. Which, in a way, would be better for everyone. Better for him because he'd get some, and better for us because then we could stake him afterwards."
Wesley looks pointedly at Phantom, "Cordelia."
Cordelia looks over to the door, where Phantom is crouched, staring at the door as if deciding whether to go after Angel or not, "Oh… He almost died, didn't he."
Wesley nods, "I think I'm going to go home."
Cordelia sighs, and slumps down at her desk, "Go, I'll look after the phones. Say hi to Virginia for me."
Wesley smiles, "I will."
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In Sunnydale, the gang, plus Dawn, meet up at Magic Box, with Joyce sleeping in Moses basket, while Glory looks down at her curiously.
Giles coughs lightly, "Thank you all for coming."
Xander smiles up at Giles, who's pacing the floor between the counter and the large, round, table, "Hey, you know we'll be here if you need us."
Anya nods next to him, "Indeed. It would be most strange if we didn't come. Especially as I work here."
Giles grimaces, "Yes, well. I have an idea that I've been thinking about for some time. And I wanted to sound it out, and get everyone's opinion the old fashioned way."
Buffy's eyes glaze momentarily, "I think it's a great idea Giles."
Giles shoots her a look, "Yes, well, please humor me. I haven't adapted as quickly as you, obviously."
Buffy rolls her eyes, "Sure, go ahead."
Giles smiles, "Thank you. Well, anyway. As many of you already know, I have been studying the memories of the magic users that are part of the hives, our, memories. What's become clear is from those memories is that we need to make our own wands."
Anya looks up from where she's lent her head on Xander's shoulder, "Really Giles? Wands? Nobody uses wands for anything."
Giles chuckles nervously, "That's not quite true, there are several branches of magic that use wands as a way of directing magic. But they are one of many tools that they use. But I digress, the wands that these magic users used were different to what you would consider to be a wand. The key being the inclusion of a core made from an inherently magical plant or beast."
Anya rolls her eyes, "So, why not use a bit of Buffy's tail?"
Giles shakes his head, "It wouldn't work, as the Raka, that's their name for Buffy's species, were completely non-magical. They considered them to be dragons, and that you need dragon slaying spells to kill them."
Anya scoffs, "There's no way you could mistake Buffy for a dragon."
"Anya, please remember that this is a completely different world."
With a deep breath, Giles clicks his fingers, and a twisted, black, wand appears on the table. Tara scoots backwards, as Glory stands up and walks over curiously, "What is that? It's radiating evil."
Giles swallows hard, "It is my only successful experiment in creating a wand with locally available materials. Before I used it for the first time, it was a straight, white, pine, 12 inches long. That's what it became after I cast a simple light spell."
Glory reaches out for the wand, absolutely fascinated by the feel of it, but Giles snatches it off the table, and snaps it, sending black and red sparks into the air.
Glory pouts, "I was going to use that."
Giles shakes his head, "I couldn't let you use it, I couldn't risk it getting away from anyone that's not a hive member. I believe that, once activated, these wands could be used by any magic user in this world."
Glory licks her lips, and her eyes go hazy, then she stomps her foot angrily, "Why can't I find how you did this?"
Giles sighs, "Because I found another discipline they invented, called occlumency. A skill taught to their police forces, and hoarded covetously by various families. It allows you to protect your mind from intrusion. And, apparently, protect access to your thoughts in the hive."
Buffy's eyes go distant, "Except from me it seems."
Giles shudders as he feels Buffy slide past his rudimentary barriers, "Yes, well, you are the Queen."
Xander thumps the table, "What does that have to do with us?"
Shaking his head, Giles returns his attention to the gang, "I would like to contact the coven in Devon that controls access to a feymouth. This would be to seek permission to enter the fey realms in order to seek out freely given components that could be used in wand crafting."
Glory licks her lips avariciously, "Don't bother, just make me another wand like that one, and I'll be happy."
Giles shakes his head, "I will never make another wand with demonic components."
Xander looks around the gang, "So, what would making wands actually do for you?"
Buffy smiles as she thinks about some of the camping trips that Amelia Bones took with Susan while she was growing up, "Xander, imagine having a small, two person, tent, that has a three bedroom house inside, complete with kitchen, jacuzzi, and a bath. Or being able to turn almost anything into the perfect tool for the job. Or being able to slice wood to the perfect length with just a swish of your wand. Or how about being able to temporarily enlarge your room, and table, when you have more guests than you have space for. These people used magic for everything. And I mean everything. Carve the right runes in the right places, to act as anchors for the space enlargement spell, and you could permanently turn a single room into a palatial space, that only needs to be built out. Or shrinking a pallet of wood down to something the size and weight of a rubix cube, that only needs a tap of your wand to restore it to its original size. Spells to measure any distance you could reasonably want to."
Xander nods sagely, "And what's the downside?"
Buffy shrugs, "Magic and electricity don't play well together. So the more magic that's around, the less delicate electronics like it. Oh, and you'd need to be part of the hive to use a wand."
"Oh, what, so physics doesn't like it when you tell it to sit in the corner and shut up?"
Willow's eyes regain focus, "Something like that, yes. I want a wand."
Tara demurs, "I think we should work on the runic spells. As they can do everything wands can do. But other people won't be able to steal and use them."
Giles nods, "I had considered that, but we would need a separate runic array for each spell. On top of that, we would also need to develop each spell ourselves, as it was very much a dead method of casting, only seen as a curiosity. The main reason they still learnt runes and the runic language was to create anchors for spells. The same was true for Egyptian hieroglyphs too. In fact, they often mixed the two to get better results. I dare say that if most modern people visited one of their villages, they'd believe they'd walked into an Amish community. That's how effective their magic was at making everyday chores a thing of the past."
Glory scoffs before she disappears with a pop, "Well, I'm going to make my own wand."
Xander claps, "Well, that decides it then, you guys need to get with the making of your own wands too."
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Wesley's sat on his couch with his girlfriend, Virginia Bryce, leaning against him.
Virginia caresses his stomach, and then pauses, before her hand continues to carefully explore, "Wesley?"
Wesley puts his chin on her hair, "Yes darling?"
"What happened to your stitches?"
Absently, Wesley answers, "Phoenix tears."
Virginia sits up, "What tears?"
"Phoenix tears, you know firebird from middle eastern mythology."
Virginia thumps Wesley on the shoulder, "I know what a phoenix is, but I've never heard of phoenix tears. In fact, the only phoenix I know of that's supposed to have any mystical properties, outside their used in potions and rituals, is the one that's supposed to bathe the earth in fire and destroy it, before bringing rebirth."
Wesley looks down at Virginia, "Really?"
Virginia looks up at him, "What? It's not like I had much else to do growing up, except read. Now, what are these phoenix tears?"
Wesley's eyes go distant, "On the world they come from, phoenixes were considered to be creatures of the light, who's song could lift even the deepest depression or despair, and who's tears could heal any injury or disease save death or dismemberment. Though, it seems that it doesn't treat cancer as a disease."
"Wesley… How did those tears get here? To you?"
"Oh, um, well. The Slayer made a wish in front of a couple of bookshelves of magical tomes. And it summoned an egg from that world, which infected her with something that has the properties of a phoenix, but wasn't a phoenix. And she's laid more eggs to bring people into her hive, which gives them all of the magical abilities of the different species that were already part of the original egg."
Virginia looks at Wesley's face, searchingly, before she lays her head down again, "You were infected too, weren't you."
Wesley nods, "It was to keep me breathing, and my heart beating, until I got to the hospital. They healed up the bullet wound at the same time."
Virginia lifts her head again, "So, where did the stitches come from?"
"The hospital cut me open to remove the bullet, and all the stuff that had bled out into my abdominal cavity."
Virginia smiles as she lays her head back down, and snuggles into Wesley, "Mmm, that's much better than guns. Guns make it too real, and I don't think I can handle that."
Wesley smiles as he hears a click from the kitchen, and clicks his fingers to summon a couple of mugs, the tea pot, tea, and the kettle of water, "I agree. And we know that the phoenix rebirth works too, as the Slayers mother died earlier, and is currently a baby."
As the tea starts to make itself, Virginia asks, "Those tears, can they be stored?"
Wesley nods, "I think so, at least for a while."
She sits up and pokes him hard in the chest, "Then you will be stockpiling tears, and always have some on you Mister. Otherwise I'm gone. I can handle the demons and creepy crawlies, as I grew up with those. But guns make it too real, and I couldn't handle it if you died just because of some thug and a lucky shot."
Wesley holds up his hands, "Ok, ok. I'll do it. I'll even try and get some of those eye dropper bottles."
Virginia works her way back under Wesley's shoulder, "Now, what else can you do? Beside making tea with a click of your fingers."
"Well, there's the teleportation and phoenix travel…"
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Cordelia is just cleaning up around the office before locking up for the night, Phantom watching her from the ceiling.
With a smile, she looks around before grabbing her coat, and the keys, and walking to the door. She's half way there when the phone starts to ring.
Turning around she heads back to the phone, "Grrarrgh, why couldn't you have rung before I was heading home?" Picking up the phone, she puts on her phone voice, "Angel Investigations."
Mrs Sharp says, "Miss Chase?"
Cordelia chuckles, "Oh. Mrs Sharp."
"We were hoping you'd still be in the office."
Cordelia sighs, "The back of your daughter's head is still ok, right? Because it's not like we offer a money-back guarantee. But then, you never paid us, did you?"
Mrs Sharp says, "That is what I was calling about. I am willing to pay you, if you can get here this evening before my husband gets home."
Cordelia's eyes widen in surprise, "You do? Right now?"
"I'm sorry if it's inconvenient."
Cordelia flaps her hand in excitement, and fights to keep from squealing down the phone, "No, that's great. Um, you're on my way home, give or take 30 miles."
"It will need to be a personal check, as my husband still doesn't approve."
"Personal check. Uh… normally not, but fine. Um… Will you give me the address again?"
Leaning over, Cordelia scribbles it down on a post-it note as Mrs Sharp reads it out.
With a smile Cordelia says, "Ok. Great, I'll see you soon."