Never Kill a Boy on the First Date
Amy stepped out of her class and headed for her locker, she was in high spirits; she was living with her dad who loved having her around and was trying to make up for not being there. She was back in her own body and she was loving it, her mother had been horrible to her but she had helped Amy to slim down, which she was loving. The teenager spotted her friend in front of her and decided to call to her "Caitlin!" Amy shouted and waved as the blonde turned to look in her direction. Amy smiled as Caitlin headed straight for her. The older teen wrapped Caitlin up in a tight hug, ignoring the tensing that the younger teen did when her arms were around her; she released the young blonde and continued to smile.
"Hey Amy you're in a good mood today," Caitlin's quiet voice carried even in the noisy corridor. She hadn't seen the older brunette since she stopped off at her house on the weekend. She had found she enjoyed Amy's company; she had been reserved when she first entered the Madison household but that was because Amy had put a blood vengeance spell on her sister. It took Caitlin a while to deal with the fact that even though it was Amy's body it wasn't actually Amy it was Catherine, Amy's mother; that had cast the spell.
Amy grinned at her friend; she entwined their arms and headed towards her locker. She had enjoyed spending time with Caitlin on the weekend, she hadn't really socialised recently seeing as she had been locked up in the house as her own mother. "I have plenty of reasons to be in a good mood but the most recent one is I took your advice, I'm going to start this weekend," Amy informed Caitlin with a small smile, she had taken the advice purely because Caitlin knew what she was talking about. She didn't want a repeat of a few weeks ago.
Caitlin smiled as they neared Amy's locker "That's good to know Amy, I'm glad. It will be a lot of help to you but if there is anything else you might need help with on the subject please let me know I might be able to help." Amy unlocked her locker and started putting her books away, she nodded her head to Caitlin as she was what she was saying was true. Caitlin looked at her watch and noticed she was meant to be meeting Buffy "I've gotta go Amy but keep in mind what I said and I'll see you later," Caitlin grinned and started heading for the Library. The teenager was glad that Amy had taken her advice and felt better about going to see her during the weekend. Caitlin walked past Owen as she entered the Library but didn't really give him a look, Buffy had told her all about how hot Owen was but being gay it was kind of a moot point with her.
Caitlin jumped up onto the counter like she usually did and kept quiet as she didn't want to interrupt anything. "The Order of Aurelius is a very old and venerated sect. If they're here, it's for a good reason," Giles gave Caitlin a brief nod but his main focus was Buffy who just carried on looking at the double doors.
Buffy stared dreamily at where Owen had just left "That was Owen!" she gave a little sigh as she ignored what Giles was trying to tell her.
The younger blonde snorted in amusement her sister was a love struck puppy. Giles didn't share the younger blonde's amusement in fact he was exasperated, why must she be so easily distracted "Yes, I remember," he responded after all the boy had just left.
"Do you have any more copies of Emily Dickinson? I need one," Buffy asked as she finally took notice of Caitlin and smiled to her little sister who grinned back thoroughly amused by her sister.
Giles was bordering exasperation at this point but he knew getting angry with her at this point would do nothing but make her get angry back, "Buffy, while the mere fact of you wanting to check out a book would be grounds for a national holiday, I think we should focus on the problem at hand."
Caitlin nudged Buffy with her foot to get the older blonde's attention back to the present "Right I'm sorry, you're right. Vampires," her voice trailed off as she looked down at what she was wearing and then looked to both Giles and Caitlin "Oh, does this outfit make me look fat?" Buffy asked in all seriousness. Caitlin blinked at the question before throwing her head forward to try and cover up her laughter; Giles took his glasses off with a sigh and started to clean them so he could keep his patience with his slayer.
Caitlin idly scratched her head as she walked towards the lunchroom, she had been asked to stay behind in her history class, she wasn't in trouble in fact she was being offered a reward for an essay she had written her first week of school and her teacher had to tell her about the award ceremony.
As soon as she entered the lunchroom she saw Willow look over at her and wave her over, she sat next to Willow and gave the older girl a smile. Xander held up his fork to halt conversation and draw attention to him "Has anybody given any thought to what this green stuff is?"
The youngest blonde looked over to the stuff and wrinkled her nose "It may be green but even as a vegetarian I would not eat it, It looks like a vegetable threw it up," she shuddered and turned away from the food to get her own food out of her bag.
"I think it's kale, or possibly string cheese," Xander responded as he dropped his fork then turned his attention to Buffy "So, Buffy, how'd the slaying go last night?" he asked not seeming to notice how loud he was being and so inconspicuous he really was.
Buffy shot him a stern look and decided to reprimand him "Xander!" Xander looked taken back as he realised what he said "keep the volume down big mouth." She looked around to see if anyone had heard him say that but she was glad no one was really looking their way.
The only male at the table realised what he said and quickly went to correct himself "I mean, how'd the *laying* go?" he asked with a smile and a few nods of his head. Buffy shot him another look but quickly turned to glare at her sister who was stifling a laugh behind her "No, I don't mean that either," Xander amended.
Caitlin was still chuckling behind her hand, Willow nudged her when Buffy's glare got worse. The young blonde took a few deep breaths to talk calm down but still let out the occasional snicker when she glanced at Xander "smooth," she whispered to him as she finally stopped laughing.
Rolling her eyes Buffy decided to ignore her sisters happy mood and talk to Xander "It went fine, thank you. There's some new hoidy-toidy vampire sect in town,"
That caught everyone's attention and gave them reason to ignore the crappy food they had gotten "That's bad," Willow commented as she pushed her food away slightly.
"Well, hey, they're bringing in the much needed tourist dollars," Xander shrugged not really worrying seeing as Buffy was around and she seemed to be able to kill all the baddies so far. Something catches the males eye and he turns a little to see Owen "Ooo, look at Mr Excitement," he pointed out to the girls knowing they had been speaking about him earlier.
Buffy spun quickly to look at the guy she was pining over "Owen! He's all alone! Maybe somebody should sit with him," she suggested slyly hoping her friends got the hint. She turned back around and started to pick up her tray of food. Caitlin gave a barely visible nod as her attention was distracted by Willow's hand which the redhead had just moved onto the table.
Willow caught on and nodded to Buffy showing she was okay with it "Mm, just to be polite!" Willow quickly looked over to Caitlin who had grabbed up her hand, the younger girl looked quiet fascinated by the limb. Buffy got up and returned Willow's attention to her "Good luck!"
Xander looked between Willow and Buffy's retreating form "Okay, what just happened?" he asked looking lost, Willow shook her head knowing he hadn't listened to anything they had said earlier so she waved him off.
The youngest member at the table stretched her arms above her head "Buff's got the hots for 'Mr Excitement'," Caitlin air quoted Xander's previous name for Owen. Comprehension crossed the brunettes face and nodded, he followed Buffy with his eyes as she started talking to Owen and sighed whilst wondering when she would take notice of him.
Willow looked sad for her friend and his crush but knew she could do nothing to help him, looking over to Caitlin she remembered that the blonde was late "why were you late to Lunch Caitlin?" she asked as she moved her tray further away from her in disgust.
"Something about an award ceremony for a bit of History work I did. It was just a good thing that it was to do with Ancient Greece," Caitlin said whilst fiddling with her ear. She was confused why the Teacher wanted to produce her work at the ceremony, she didn't think it was anything special and her previous teachers never really cared about her work.
Xander leant forward to talk to the girls sat opposite him easier "Congratulations on the award and why was it a good thing it was on the Greeks?" Xander asked looking confused, it was a strange thing to be a good thing. Willow nodded wanting to know the same thing.
The blonde leant back and ran her hand through her head with a slight tug at the end "Perri is obsessed with Greeks gods and incidentally with her obsession we all learnt a lot about Ancient Greek times. So really I know a lot about that era and it only took me about an hour to do the work." Caitlin shrugged not really knowing why her teacher was making a big deal about it.
"Who's Perri?" Xander asked, he couldn't remember either Buffy or Caitlin mentioning her before, it could be one of Caitlin's ex's.
Caitlin focused her attention back onto Willow's hand, which the redhead took note of, she didn't answer Xander for awhile seeming distracted. Xander opened his mouth to talk to her again but Willow just shook her head at him, he had noticed she did that a lot more often since last week and wondered if she knew what was wrong with the youngest member of the gang. Willow lifted her hand and moved it over for Caitlin to take; the teen quickly snatched the hand up and started to fiddle with it "Erm Perri is my Cousin's kid, my second Cousin."
When Caitlin didn't offer anymore information up Xander just nodded and looked for a change in the subject. Not coming up with anything he just shrugged and went back to this vegetable puke lunch. "When is the award ceremony?" Willow asked softly, she was intrigued by the look of fascination on Caitlin's face. Caitlin was stretching a finger then feeling the bones and the moving on to the next finger.
"Sometime soon," the blonde shrugged. She didn't want the award, she didn't want the attention and some part of her didn't even want to tell her family. This would cause them to celebrate and she wasn't in the mood to celebrate, she hadn't been for a long time. Willow picked up on her mood and left it alone, just one more question to add to the list.
The group sat in silence, it wasn't an awkward silence, it was a comfortable. Xander watched Buffy talking to Owen. Willow watched Caitlin play with her hand, she wasn't sure why it fascinated the younger girl but she was glad she could help keep her calm. Caitlin continued to watch what she was doing, she was lost in her own little world and she enjoyed being there. The blonde looked up from her mindless playing to see that Willow was watching her "Does it bother you?" the question could have been considered for the simple act of playing with Willows hand. But the redhead knew it was a far more complex question that could have covered lots of different aspects of Caitlin.
Willow just shook her head gently and gave the blonde a reassuring smile "nothing about you bothers me Caitlin, I might not know everything about you but I doubt anything could." She watched as Caitlin processed her truthful words, finally she got an almost inconspicuous nod for her words.
~GU:CM~
Buffy and Willow dragged Caitlin down the corridor, the youngest of the group didn't want to be a part of the conversation. "It's not that big a deal, It's just a bunch of people getting together," Buffy insisted, if she acknowledged it was a big deal then it became a big deal.
Willow nodded enthusiastically "It's a very big deal!" this was Mr Sensitive, the quite and caring cute guy and he liked her friend.
Buffy shook her head half-heartedly "It's not!" It was so unlike her to be all shy about things like this but then she had never really cared about the guys she dated. When she was in LA it was all about the food chain and being at the top like she was, well she *had* to date the captain of a popular sport. She preferred basketball, less violence and less bulky muscles.
"It is," Willow nudged Caitlin; the youngest teen looked over to her redheaded friend, "tell her it is!" Willow tilted her head towards Buffy. She wanted back up and knew that Caitlin wanted her sister happy.
Caitlin zoned out remembering Buffy's last boyfriend with an angry frown on her face. Buffy and Willow both looked surprised that the simple sentence changed Caitlin's mood so drastically. The youngest blonde was caught up in her memories and failed to see the looks on her sister and friends face. She could still hear everything that had been said and could still fell everything that had been done; it haunted her everyday, all because Buffy's boyfriend had a big mouth. Caitlin shook violently trying to dislodge the memories "I don't think I'm the best one to ask," she replied to Willow. Caitlin looked at Buffy with a mixture of sadness and anger "If this one comes near me or Dawn, I hold the right to kill him."
"What do you mean this one?" Buffy asked as she caught up with what Caitlin had said. She didn't remember any of her previous boyfriends going anywhere near Dawn, she didn't bring them home and Caitlin always made sure that they were no where near Dawn.
The younger sisters shrugged and put her hands in her pockets, a defensive manoeuvre that was meant to look nonchalant "I misspoke." Caitlin shrugged as she looked at Buffy "What I meant was keep him away from Dawn or I'll kill him," she topped the threat off with a perky smile that didn't reach her eyes. She was very serious with her threat; no one touched or messed with her baby sister and got away with it.
Willow spotted Giles just ahead of them, knowing how to defuse the situation she quickly dragged the attention onto the Watcher "Tell her!" she didn't care that he didn't know she just didn't want a sibling fight on her hands.
Giles looked startled that Willow knew what he knew "I'm afraid it's very big," Giles said solemnly, he knew how much Buffy hated these things but it was her job to handle them.
"Thank you!" Willow said as she smiled at Buffy, until she realised that Giles wouldn't know what she was talking about because he hadn't heard her conversation with the sisters. She was confused "Wait!" she said with a small frown, he couldn't have known, could he? The other two teenagers were confused as well so they easily followed Giles into the library, they would have some privacy there because none of these teenagers ever really stepped foot in there. "What are you talking about?" Willow asked the watcher, she knew he couldn't have known because if he had he would have complained.
Giles frowned as he looked between the three girls "What are *you* talking about?" he asked. He thought it was a little strange that Willow knew what he was on about, a small part of him thought she was a spy, which he dismissed because she easily blabbed and blushed.
"Boys!" Willow and Buffy responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the word. Giles sighed, feeling annoyed at their hormonal thoughts. He was thinking about the end of the world and they were thinking about how cute boys were. Giles noticed the look of disinterest on Caitlin's face and smiled inwardly, she didn't seem to be interested in boys, so like him she must be interested in the vampire and the threat they possessed to them.
"Yes, well, I'm talking about trouble. A violent and disturbing prophecy is about to be fulfilled!" Giles exclaimed hoping to show how serious this matter was, Buffy seemed to take it more seriously and stepped closer to the Watcher. Caitlin stepped closer to Willow, the redhead grabbing her hand; she was going to stay out of this. She was feeling particularly pissed off right now.
Buffy nodded her head as she remembered what she had told Giles and showed him the symbol on the ring "The Order of Aurelius." Caitlin frowned as she hadn't heard her sister mention it until now, she realised how much her sister kept from her, it did annoy her but also she started to think that maybe she wasn't meant to be involved.
The redhead turned her attention from Slayer and Watcher and observed the younger teen standing next to her. The blonde was frowning but not asking questions, it wasn't unusual it just felt weird for Willow, she didn't like seeing that frown. Giles voice knocked Willow from her staring "You were spot-on about the connection," he walked over to the table where he had placed some books that he had been looking through "I've looked at the writings of Aurelius himself, and he, he prophesied that the brethren of his order would come to the Master and bring him the Anointed," Giles explained even though the girls were looking confused by his explanation.
Willow raised her hand a little, still shy of speaking up and having an audience watch her, Giles nodded to her "Who's that?" Willow asked and Buffy nodded. They had heard of the Master from Luke and Darla but they hadn't heard of any anointed ones before, but it didn't sound good for them.
Giles blushed gently because he had been unable to find out what or who the anointed one would be, he classed it as a failure on his part "Well, I-I don't know exactly, a-a-a-a warrior, but, but it says he will rise from the ashes of the Five on the evening of the thousandth day after the Advent of Septus," it was all he could find out about the anointed one and it confirmed the girls suspicions that it wasn't good for them. Damn.
"Well, we'll be ready whenever it is," Buffy nodded decisively. Caitlin found it quite funny that Buffy included all of them in her decision. Caitlin wouldn't be going with Buffy tonight and neither would Willow, they were babysitting Dawn and Xander had to do something for his mother.
Giles smiled at her enthusiasm "Which is tonight," He added. He was glad that they wouldn't argue over this and that Buffy was finally accepting her destiny as Slayer.
Buffy nodded decisively again, almost as if she was making herself be decisive instead of actually feeling it "Tonight, okay..." without speaking both Caitlin and Willow raised their hands showing that they had something to say. Buffy looked at them confused, wondering what they had to say, she saw the look on both of their faces, amused disbelief. Buffy scratched her arm absentmindedly before she realised her mistake "Not okay! It can't be tonight!" she had a conflict, she had a date tonight.
Giles looked shocked by Buffy's vehement disagreement "My calculations are precise," he responded with a touch of ice in his voice. He didn't like being told he was wrong, he was her Watcher and she had to listen to her. Caitlin raised a brow at his tone but said nothing to him, he was going to be very close to getting a few words from her.
"Nuh! They're bad calculations! Bad!" Buffy near on shouted at Giles. Giles opened his mouth to snap at Buffy but Caitlin cleared her throat quite pointedly, the Watcher shut his mouth. Willow's eyebrows shot up at the interaction, she knew Caitlin could snap at the smallest of things but the way Giles had acted was almost like he was afraid to incur the young teen's wrath. Buffy didn't notice in interaction because she was pouting and crossing her arms in protest.
Willow left Caitlin's side and stood beside Buffy "Buffy has a really important date," she informed Giles. She hoped it swayed Giles into letting Buffy go, she knew it was a slim chance but a chance none the less.
Buffy nodded "Owen!" she said the name as if it was the answer to all of their questions and worries. The last male that had been interested in her turned out to be an egotistical jock who wanted to sleep with her.
Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration "Alright, I-I'll just jump in my time machine, go back to the twelfth century and ask the vampires to postpone their ancient prophecy for a few days while you take in dinner and a show," the Watcher said with heavy sarcasm showing everyone that he was beyond frustrated with the situation but not snapping at his Slayer.
"Okay, at this point you're abusing sarcasm," Buffy snapped at the Watcher. She couldn't believe the Slaying would always get in the way of her life
Caitlin jumped up and sat on the counter, her eyes a light with excitement "but how cool would it be if you could go back in time and change an event. You'd obviously have to keep in mind the repercussions of your actions but just to witness a prophecy being foretold would be awesome! And to change it by a single day would be out of this world!" Caitlin exclaimed as she bounced on the spot. Buffy gave a small smile at her sister's previously normal behaviour having missed her exuberance. Willow chuckled whilst placing her hand on Caitlin's hand to try and get her to calm down before she bounced herself off of the counter and possibly injured herself.
Used to the young teen's behaviour Giles just carried on talking to Buffy "Buffy, this is no ordinary vampire. But we have to stop him before he reaches the Master," it annoyed him that she was so offhanded when it came to serious threats. Caitlin huffed at being ignored but ultimately knew it was for the best because she could rant on for a while about how it could and could not be possible to travel through time.
Buffy looked very upset at what Giles was telling her "But... Cute guy! Teenager! Post-pubescent fantasies!" she ranted trying to get her point across. She knew that it was useless because he was a 40 year old male with Watcher training.
Giles shook his head; he was fed up with arguing with her "Those will just have to be put on hold! The dark forces are aligning against us, and we have a chance to beat them back. Tonight we go into battle!" Willow chuckled at his little speech, all he needed was to strike a pose and his superhero look and speech was done.
It was so something from the comics that even Caitlin cracked a smile. The blonde hopped off of the counter "and on that super lame finish…I shall make me leave," Caitlin imitated Giles accent and headed for the door. Buffy, who was still upset and angry, managed to smile at her sisters silly antics. The other blonde and redhead followed the younger blonde out of the room, neither Willow nor Buffy saying goodbye to Giles. The Watcher took off his glasses and started to clean them, he didn't like being the bad guy. At least tonight he would redeem himself with his Slayer.
~GU:CM~
"Buffy I'm not going to help you get a guy," Caitlin remarked before Buffy even opened her mouth. The younger blonde was lead on her bed, she was relaxing as she had done all of her homework after she had gotten back from dance. She had heard Buffy come in and heard her ranting to herself in her bedroom "I don't care that you want to date someone just don't involve me again, I especially won't take your place to try and fool Giles into thinking it's you so you can go on a date with Owen."
Buffy pouted at her sister's dismissal of her ideas she didn't get why her sister was so against her getting a boyfriend "what's up with you? Your acting like Owen is a bad guy," Buffy remarked as she leant against the door frame. Caitlin shot her eyes to Buffy but didn't respond "I know by last Beau was less than desirable to be around…" Buffy was cut off when Caitlin started to laugh. It wasn't the soothing sound it usually was, it was sarcastic almost evil. Caitlin met Buffy's eyes and the Slayer could have sworn she saw something flash in her sisters eyes, it wasn't an emotion it was almost like it was nothing, it was the only way she could explain it. It had vanished too quickly for her to get a good look.
Caitlin leapt up from her position on her bed and approached her sister quickly "not desirable? Not Desirable… Are you shitting me?" Caitlin yelled, Buffy jumped a little as she hadn't expected her sister to snap so completely "Your last beau was a nightmare Buffy. I never got a moments peace in school, he'd make sure I'd know that he could play you… what was it he called 'play her like a fine fiddle', and were where you on his arm every second you could. 'oh drake is just so like hot'. Then I told you I was gay and you went and told him! 'If you're a massive rug muncher how come you can date someone with a stick?'" Caitlin took a deep breath and looked in Buffy's wide shocked eyes "So no, I won't help you get with someone who will torture me. Your father did such a good job Buffy that I'm too broken to be able to care if you date again Buffy. I'm not going to help you with this Slayer stuff right now Buffy because I can't take it, last time I helped you look at what happened to me…I have something for you."
Buffy watched on in shock as Caitlin calmly went back to her bedside and picked up a picture and came back over and handed it to her face down. She accepted it but didn't turn it over "What's this?" she asked, she was fearful of what would be on the picture.
"The reason I'm broken," was Caitlin's response as she started to shut her bedroom door, she didn't want to see Buffy anymore. Buffy turned the picture over, it was of her sister and JD, and it had been taken early last year before everything had happened. Her sister was smiling brightly at the camera and JD had his arms wrapped around Caitlin and rested his head on hers. They were happy. Something Caitlin no longer was. Buffy put the picture in her pocket and headed to her room to get dressed and ready for her slay time and date.
~GU:CM~
The graveyard was dead, no pun intended, no one was rising from their grave, not even the birds were around. They had been sat there for at least an hour, neither of them had really spoken, well Buffy hadn't said a word and Giles had been telling her about vampires. They had been sitting in silence now for about 20 minutes they were both sitting on a large gravestone just waiting for
Giles sniffed trying to act nonchalant "Perhaps I miscalculated," he said trying to save face and not annoy Buffy
Buffy shot him a look "I'm thinking yes," she said as she carried on drinking from her still warm drink. She just knew tonight was going to be disastrous, especially after her talk with Caitlin, her heart wasn't in the game anyways. She was just worried Dawn had heard them and tried to force them to make up, it didn't work last time and she doubted it would work this time either.
"Well, you know what they say. Ninety percent of the vampire slaying game is, is waiting," Giles explained. It wasn't really he just needed the excuse, he didn't want an angry Slayer on his hands, especially one that had turned up quite calm and is still remaining calm, albeit sarcastic, he believed it was the calm before the storm.
Buffy sighed, as if she had suffered a great wrong, before she replied to him "You couldn't have told me that ninety percent ago?" she asked in a whiny tone. If she had time to waste waiting why couldn't she actually waste that time doing something else? Stupid Watchers and their stupid rules.
Giles blushed a little at the whined question, he hadn't meant to get it wrong. It had been pretty clear to work out, for him anyway "Well, we, we've certainly waited here long enough," he recovered and he got up from his position, slyly stretching. Them leaving was more for him than her, he wasn't as young as he once was.
Looking around Buffy noticed something that would have made the last hour of waiting end about an hour earlier "Besides, there aren't any fresh graves. Who's gonna rise?" Buffy asked her Watcher in the tone of voice that showed him she was pointing out what he should have noticed.
Said Watcher looked around and noticed it as well, he had missed it earlier on "Apparently no one tonight," he mumbled. With Slayer hearing Buffy heard his mumbled and huffed, Giles shrugged not knowing what else to say.
Huffing again Buffy jumped up "Then I can bail? I can go to the Bronze and find Owen?" the excitement was clear in her tone as well as her face. She really wanted to go and meet up with Owen; it wasn't nice to leave a date hanging after all.
Giles sighed in defeat; he didn't know why he even bothered with her "Oh, very well then. Follow your hormones if you want." Buffy smiled and hopped down from her perch and started to leave "But I assume I don't have to warn you about the hazards of becoming personally involved with someone who's unaware of your unique condition," Giles stressed to her but knew it was falling on deaf ears. This was why Watchers tried to get the Slayer away from their family so they could be shaped to not care about those types of things.
Buffy waved her hand flippantly as she walked away "Yeah, yeah, I read the back of the box." This was why she hated being the Slayer; she wanted her life to be able to be all about these types of things.
Shaking his head Giles retorted in a stern tone "If your identity as the Slayer is revealed it could put you and all those around you in grave danger," he could practically feel he eye roll she sent his way. Why oh why was her burdened with this Slayer?
Buffy looked at Giles over her shoulder and smiled "Well, in that case I won't wear my button that says, 'I'm a Slayer. Ask me how!'" she got a look from Giles but shrugged it off "Good night," she said firmly as she started to leave again.
Giles shook his head "'Five shall die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise.' I was sure it was tonight." he had gone over the calculations many times just to make sure he was right. someone was meant to rise from the grave tonight, but no one was around, alive or dead.
Buffy turned back around and approached her Watcher "If you made a huge mistake about someone you loved and it hurt them deeply... what would you do?" Buffy asked him in all seriousness. The Slayer really needed to know how to make things right with Caitlin; she didn't think Caitlin would be still holding it against her seeing as it had been about a year ago.
Giles blinked at the suddenness of her wanting his help, he assumed she was talking about Caitlin. He didn't pretend to know how teenaged girls operated but he knew about make huge mistakes well enough "You apologise," he responded in a soft tone.
The Slayer was glad he hadn't demeaned her or decided to be sarcastic "What if you've apologised?" she asked desperately. Buffy had apologised for telling her old friends about Caitlin being gay.
"Then you haven't apologised for that right thing," he offered her an awkward pat on the shoulder when his Slayer's face fell. She clearly didn't know what she had done wrong, nor did he actually, but he could tell it greatly weighted on her and if it was Caitlin then he knew it weighted on her too. Buffy sighed and nodded at Giles as she turned and shot off towards the bronze and her waiting date.
~GU:CM~
Caitlin lay on her bed; she had been in the same position since she had shut the door in Buffy's face. A small part of her felt guilty but she really didn't care about that small part of her. Buffy had ruined her happiness and she didn't even realise what had happened. It pissed her off. Caitlin barked out a sarcastic laugh, her perfect sister who could do no wrong, not until she had become the slayer anyways. The young blonde turned onto her side to face her bedside table, she curled up into a tight ball. Hank had always favoured Buffy and who could blame him, she was a burden in his eyes, oh how she wished her mother had gotten rid of the bastard when she was younger. The thought froze her body completely, without that son of a bitch Dawn wouldn't be around. Not the rat cared he was off banging his secretary not even an hour after Dawn had been born, but she loved her baby sister. Caitlin lifted her head and peered at one of the pictures on her bedside cabinet, it was a picture of her mother, Buffy and her father cradling her 3 month old self , only hours after he had been killed in that accident. His grey eyes were alight with happiness and his smile was wide but crooked, the same one she had inherited, his hair was a lighter shade of blonde than hers, but not by much, and was a scruffy spiked mess. He looked so happy to be holding her, her mother was leaning over his shoulder and sported a wide happy smile as well, her blue eyes were happy too. It all screamed happy family. She wanted her father to be there, to be Buffy and Dawn's father too. She stood up and picked up the picture, she loved the picture so much, it was everything she wanted but that also made her hate the picture, it dangled something she would never have right in front of her eyes. In a fit of anger she threw the picture towards the wall and felt a sense of satisfaction as the glass broke into a million pieces, then the upset hit her. How could she have destroyed it? Caitlin quickly scrambled onto her knees in front of the picture frame, ignoring the glass that was cutting into her knees and hands. She tried to pick up the pieces to fix the frame, ignoring the tears that she could feel dripping from her face and the glass that cut into her. She put the pieces she had picked up and placed them onto the picture, trying to make them fit. She stopped as she noticed the blood smearing over the picture, she was ruining it; she always ruined things because Hank had told her just as much almost everyday of her life. Caitlin clutched the broken picture frame to her chest and screamed out in anger and distress, she heard her bedroom door fly but she didn't stop what she was doing. She felt the hands prying the picture from her and a hand lifting her chin up. Her mother's worried blue eyes stared back at her, so different from the picture; they lacked the happiness and the realisation that she had caused it made Caitlin clench her eyes and collapse into herself. She could hear her mother's worried voice as well as Dawn's but she didn't understand the words, she was sobbing too hard to be able to focus on anything else. The sobs wracked her body and her breath became harder to grasp, she was falling, no one could help her now.
~GU:CM~
She could hear the sounds as soon as she reached the pathway to her house. She knew the sounds, she didn't hear it too often but she knew what it was, Dawn was crying, hysterically. All thoughts of Owen dancing with Cordelia fled from her mine. Buffy rushed down the pathway and nearly knocked the door off of its hinges. Dawn was sat at the bottom of the stairs, huddled up into herself "Dawnie!" Buffy quickly made her way over to Dawn and swooped her up into a tight hug "Dawn what's wrong?" she asked worriedly. Dawn just shook her head and buried her face into Buffy's chest. Buffy opened her mouth to ask again when she heard the other sounds in the house, Caitlin was crying and her mother was trying to get her to sit still, Caitlin obviously wasn't listening if the struggle indicated anything. Buffy hug Dawn a little tighter trying to sooth her, the eldest sister placed a kiss on her baby sister's head "Dawn I want you to do up to my room and put some music on okay?" she asked softly. Dawn shook her head and refused to move. Buffy knew Dawn wanted comforting but she needed to help their mother with Caitlin "I will come up as soon as Caitlin has settled; I want you not to have to witness this for both yours and Caitlin's sake. She's going to hate herself later Dawnie so please," Buffy begged. Dawn slowly brought herself out of Buffy's hold and walked up the stairs. The Slayer heard her door close and some music start up, she got up and walked into the kitchen but got no further than the threshold when she froze. She couldn't believe what she was seeing; her mother had smudges of blood on her clothing and on her skin and was holding some antiseptic and cloth. Caitlin had a lot more blood on her and Buffy could see it coming from her hands and her knees.
Caitlin shook her head as she saw Buffy enter the room slowly "j-just l-l-leave me alone!" she shouted as she backed into the wall. She didn't want them to be near her, she took happiness and ruined lives, she had been told so. Buffy caught her mother's eyes and nodded towards Caitlin, Joyce sighed but nodded. Buffy shot forward and grabbed Caitlin, restraining her so her mother could clean and bandage Caitlin's wounds. The middle sister didn't make it easy for them though "No let me go!" she shouted as she started the struggle, she tried kicking out but Buffy leant against the wall and wrapped her leg around Caitlin's to stop her from kicking out. It wasn't the first time they had to do this but it sure was the hardest. They spent a lot longer than they had planned on trying to get Caitlin clean and bandaged, "I hate you!" Caitlin screamed as she slammed her foot on Buffy's foot and Buffy let Caitlin go and watched as she bolted from the house. She didn't leave the backyard but she left their presence.
"What was that all about?" Buffy asked her mother. Joyce looked worn out, she looked at Buffy and the daughter noticed the tears in her mother's eyes, Buffy walked over and took her mother in a hug and held her even as she felt her mother start to collapse. She lowered them to the floor, she was surprised her mother even allowed her to see her tears; whatever Caitlin had done must have been bad. Buffy knew she wouldn't be getting her answers tonight.
~GU:CM~
Buffy slammed her locker shut, being careful not to use too much strength, she leant back against it. She had just told Xander what had happened the night before, when she saw Cordelia dancing with her date and her reaction to it. Leaving out what she found when she got home. The picture of Dawn huddled at the bottom of the stairs crying had scared her enough but to see Caitlin fighting against her mothers hold and getting bloody prints everywhere truly frightened her and afterwards, Buffy shuddered gaining a funny look from Xander. Buffy shook her head at him so he luckily dropped it.
"So you just went home?" Xander asked sounding a mixture of relieved and disbelieving. He wanted his friend to be happy obviously but he wasn't happy that it wasn't him making her happy.
Buffy looked at his as if he was talking crazy "What was I supposed to do? Say to Owen, 'Sorry I was late, I was sitting in a cemetery with the librarian waiting for a vampire to rise so I could prevent an evil prophecy from coming to pass?'" she asked heavy with sarcasm. Teenaged boys really didn't understand how teenaged girls worked, sure it was customary for them to be late but not over an hour late like she was.
Xander weighed options with his hands; he was trying to get across to her how boys actually worked. If I pretty girl was late and still paid them attention they really didn't care that they were late "Or flat tire?" he tried not to sound too pushy, which was strange he was trying to help her out but he didn't actually want her dating Owen.
Buffy shook her head and started walking "I can't take this anymore. I feel like everyone is staring at me, the big, hideous, dateless monster." She noticed a passing student glance at her and she snapped at him "What? Yeah, that's right, I have no life, c'mon, nothin' to see here, pal, move it along!" Buffy blinked as she realised she had acted like Caitlin would have on a bad day. That thought brought her mood down even more, her poor sister. Caitlin had reappeared early in the morning and locked herself in her room, she hadn't even come out for Dawn. They would have to phone Grams tonight.
"You're acting a little overly, aren't you? I mean, you could have any guy in school," Xander said sounding a little put off. Xander noticed that she was acting strange today, if he noticed then it must be bad, she could only blame what happened last night that had made her act like this.
Buffy shrugged trying to move on from her funny five minutes "He's not any guy. He's more... Oweny,"her voice held a dreamy quality to it as she was suddenly transported to spending time with Owen and bine gin his arms. Her mind was successfully now off of her sister and back on to
Xander copied her shrug trying to deflect his discomfort at her pining for Owen, the depressive poet "Sure, he's got a certain Owenosity, but that's not hard to find. I mean, a lotta guys read, I can read." He gave her a goofy smile, they reached his locker and he proceeded to put his combination in.
Buffy was leaning on the lockers looking down when she noticed Owen come up to her. She stood up straight and looked him in the eye, his gorgeous eyes that read gorgeous Poems and frames by his gorgeous hair. "Hey, Buffy!" Owen greeted looking a little nervous, he had waited for her to turn up and couldn't believe he had been stood up.
Buffy smiled a mixture of a sheepish and dreamy smile at him "Owen!" she really couldn't believe he was paying her any attention. Usualy the Jocks were all over her but then again she had been a cheerleader at the time, she was a sucker for muscles, especially if they came with a charming smile.
"Oh, look, it's Owen," Xander said under his breath but unfortunately it had been loud enough for Buffy to hear, and give him a pointed look "Buffy and Owen. And Xander that'd be me," he tried to save face with a large smile directed at them both.
Owen ignored Xander, which didn't earn him any points in the other males eyes " W-where were you last night?" he asked, once again nervous. Xander narrowed his eyes but luckily it went unnoticed. Willow had told him yesterday how Caitlin had snapped at Buffy about keeping her boyfriend's away from Caitlin and Dawn. Buffy clearly chose the wring types of boys. He felt protective over Caitlin and Dawn, who had yet to meet, so he was looking for strange occurrences.
Buffy didn't notice Xander, not that she would when a guy was around, Xander was just her friend "Oh, well, um, my watch broke and we don't have any clocks in our house and so I didn't know what time it was or even what day it was..." she trailed of as she began to realise just how lame and unbelievable that really was. Everyone had clocks or something in their houses to tell them the time or date.
Owen smiled at her little ramble, he found it funny she got so flustered, she seemed so cool and collected other times. "I thought I was the only one that happened to. How 'bout we try it again for tonight? I'll even lend you my watch," he pulled out the aforementioned item and he put it in her hands. It was a very old gold pocket watch. Xander looked at the watch in wide-eyed amazement that was a very expensive watch.
Buffy accepted the watch and smiled at his honest generosity and the fact she was being given another chance "Tonight? Y-you and me?" Xander looked at his Tweety wristwatch, he had used it for years and even remembered that Willow had given it to him for his 8th Birthday
"Well, we could invite the chess club, but they drink and they start fights..." Owen left it opened ended, he could tell she was nervous and he didn't want her to uncomfortable. It could be the reason she hadn't turned up last night, he had heard about her past so maybe she was nervous about him knowing. Yes that had to be it.
Buffy shook her head almost as soon as Owen had finished speaking "Oh, no, it's just... Well, I... sort of heard that... you and Cordelia were... somewhat... all over each other. A little..." she managed to not sound jealous or annoyed, points for her, but she did manage the unsure and insecure tone of voice, not so points for her. She was trying for laid back or nonchalant, this Caitlin thing was throwing her off more than she suspected.
Owen pulled a face of aversion, he really didn't want to remember about that, so maybe that's why she hadn't turned up, maybe Cordelia had scared her off or she had arrived and seen that. That was a blow 2I danced with her a couple of times. She's kinda grabby," he leant forward as if he was sharing a much guarded secret. He smiled when he saw Buffy's face light up
The Slayer smiled at those words, they were like music to her ears, Owen didn't really like Cordelia, Score! "Oh, well, let's see, if I rearrange that, and I push that to n..." Buffy tilted her head up and tapped her finger on her chin, acting like she was actually thinking about it, Owen waited with baited breath whilst Xander just rolled his eyes "Sure! tonight'll work!" Buffy nodded with a large smile.
Owen returned the smile "Great! I'll pick you up at seven?" he asked. It would be safer to pick her up, she couldn't not turn up that way, safest plan when dating. Plus if she didn't have a clock she would know it was time to go because he would be there, he just hoped she would be ready.
"Um, seven!" Buffy accepted, she hadn't smiled this long in a long time, her muscles were actually starting to hurt because she had become unaccustomed to it. She would have to train them back up, mirror muscle workout was back on.
Owen leant close to her and pointed to the face of his pocket watch "That's when the little hand's there," just in case and it never hurt to be helpful and point things out, especially to girls getting ready for dates, he heard they were notoriously late and he really didn't want the awkward standing with parents he had heard about.
Buffy kept up her story, even if they were both joking about it by now, well at least she was "Oh! Between the six and the eight," she stilled smiled; he was so sweet and cute trying to be all helpful.
"Um, I'll see you then!" Owen smiled one last smile before he turned and left Xander and Buffy. Xander shut his locker and couldn't help but notice how he had pretty much been ignored but Owen, he had expected any less from someone popular but he was Buffy's friend therefore deserved acknowledgement.
Buffy watched Owen walk away until she couldn't see him anymore "Tonight! Isn't that so?" she wasn't sure who she was asking or even what she was asking but she didn't care because she was on a pre-date high and hoped this time she could have a post-date high. It was Owen after all.
Xander focused his attention back onto Buffy "What?" he asked looking and sounding confused by her question. It wasn't even an complete question, it was so open ended it was stupid.
"Me and Owen!" she said dreamily as she too walked off, she was going to class but she knew she wasn't going to be paying attention.
"Yeah, so it is, It sure is so." Xander was feeling like someone had kicked his puppy. He'd never owned one but he imagined what this was what it felt like. Buffy's answer didn't make sense to his question but it had answered everything, Xander had no chance with the likes of Owen about. He was going to ask Caitlin about Buffy's previous boyfriends and hope she didn't flip her lid about it. Xander blinked when he thought that, he hadn't seen Caitlin today and Buffy hadn't mentioned her either. Where the hell was Caitlin?
~GU:CM~
Question answered, Caitlin was at home and apparently was feeling under the weather. Buffy had told them on the way back to her house when Willow had mentioned it, but the way Buffy had said it made them feel that Caitlin wasn't sick, at least in the sense that Buffy meant it. Willow knew Buffy was hinting to her Cyclothymia, she must have had a really bad episode if she missed school and had gotten Buffy so worried that she was covering for her. Xander didn't know what it was but he could sense the worry the two girls had for the youngest in their group. "Okay guys I don't know if Caitlin is feeling any better but I doubt you will see her today," Buffy commented, she opened the door and wordlessly invited them in.
They walked into the kitchen, Xander following the girls as he hadn't actually been in the house yet, he had met Joyce when picking Willow and Buffy up a few times but he hadn't yet met Dawn. Joyce was leant against the counter with the phone pressed to her ear as the teens walked in, she gave them a smile but didn't say anything "Yes mother I know," Joyce rolled her eyes and Buffy grinned. Buffy opened the fridge as the other two teens sat at the counter, she handed them some sodas and sat beside them as well and they all watched Joyce. "No mother I don't think that's a good idea...Caitlin won't want you all to stop what you are doing to come down here and make a fuss about her." Buffy raised an eyebrow at her mother's exasperation; they had obviously been at it for awhile "Mother please... No mother I'm putting my foot down now mother. Yes mother I'm sure and I will send them your love and I love you too." Joyce hung up a few seconds later, and chuckled "Grams says she loves you Buffy."
"Well I love her too but what was that all about?" she asked as she sipped her soda. She knew it was about Caitlin but she needed to know if her Grams and Cousins were going to come and visit, it would be so cool if they did because she wanted to show them the house and her friends.
Joyce walked over and put the phone back in its cradle "Mother wanted to come and visit and drag your Cousins along with her," she smiled at the two other teens "hello Willow, Xander good to see you again. Now I'm going to go and catch up on some work I missed today. Dawn will be back from Janice's in a few minutes so could you please help her with homework?" Joyce asked Buffy who nodded; the silent because Caitlin won't be around was obvious but still unspoken.
As soon as Joyce headed up the stairs Dawn walked in through the back door, she was humming to herself "Buffy!" she shouted and shot across the room to tackle her sister around the waist. Buffy chuckled at her sisters enthusiasm at seeing her, she loved that she was loved by her baby sister even after she had treated her like crap for the last few years. Buffy wrapped her arms around Dawn and gave her a tight squeeze, Dawn fought the hold and giggled as she escaped, she noticed Willow and squealed "Willow!" she dove at Willow and almost knocked the teen off of her chair causing others to laugh.
"I see how it is, I'm all well and good but as soon as something else comes along I'm knocked down to second place," Buffy joked. She liked that Dawn got on with Willow so well. Dawn nodded at Buffy's assessment and pulled back from Willow, she noticed Xander and froze. Buffy came over and wrapped an arm around her baby sisters shoulder. "Dawn this is Xander, Xander this is Dawn," she introduced them to each other.
Xander took Dawns hand and placed a small kiss on to it "greetings fair lady," he greeted Dawn, who blushed and hid behind Willow. "How about you go and get dressed Buff whilst we help the sis do the homework?" Xander asked and was met by braised eyebrows, he relented "okay why don't you take a shower whilst Willow helps Dawn do the homework and I might learn something too," he replied with a cheeky grin.
~GU:CM~
Buffy came into her room wearing her bathrobe, Willow was in Buffy's wardrobe she had decided to help Buffy decide on an outfit. The redhead was very much aware that Caitlin wasn't around, she would be going to see if the blonde would let her in her room after she helped Buffy. Willow pulled out a few outfits and put them on the bed "Pick!"
Buffy turned to Xander for his opinion "Okay," Willow held up two of the mini dresses, one in each hand. Buffy pointed to the first dress "do I wanna appear shy, coy and naive or" she pointed to the other dress "unrestrained, insatiable and aggressive?"
Xander, who was watching from the top of the bed, shook his head "Uh, y'know, Owen is a little home spun, he probably doesn't like that overly assertive look." He quickly got up and approached the wardrobe "Oh, hey, here's something. A nice comfy overcoat and a ski cap!" he pulled them out and held them up with a hopeful look on his face, when he saw the look of disbelief on Buffy's face her tried to get her to do it by using a weakness of hers, fashion "The earflaps will bring out your eyes!"
Buffy and Willow exchanged a look before they turned to face the bed again "Maybe I should mix and match." Willow nodded to Buffy's suggestion, she would personally know as she had never been on a date. "Okay, guy's opinion," she said as she grabbed two lipsticks from her desk and held them up to Xander who was still stood by the wardrobe "Which one do you think Owen will like better? The red or the peach?" she held them up to Xander and waved them a little. Xander may only be her friend but he was still a guy and his opinion mattered, in this topic.
Xander nodded a little shakily, he doubted he was going to win this round but he was going to try or his name was not Alexander La "Oh, you mean for kissing you and then telling all his friends how easy you are so the whole school loses respect for you and then talks behind your back? The red's fine."
Buffy nodded as if she had seriously considered what he had said "Thanks. I'll go with the peach," she responded as if he had suggested it, she started to put on the lipstick.
Willow went back to the wardrobe and search through it again, right at the back she found a pretty dress, she took it out and walked over to Buffy "Here, put this on," Buffy finished putting on her lipstick before she took the dress from Willow; she held it up and smiled.
Xander was looking at both girls when they both turned to look at him, he looked confused for a second before it registered "You're not bothering me!" he said with a sweet smile, like it would work.
Willow walked over to him and turned him around so he was facing the back wall and pushed him slightly. Buffy started to get changed by her wardrobe "So, where's he taking you?" she asked as she sat on the edge of Buffy's bed, being careful not to disturb the bed too much.
Buffy untied the bathrobe and dropped it to the floor "Oh, I don't know. Where do you suppose young kids go on dates these days?" she asked Willow. She wasn't sure where they would be going, she didn't really know the town very well she had only lived there for a little while. Xander went over to her chest of drawers and noticed the mirror on the jewellery box, he bit his nail thinking if he should try and peep at her with it. Xander started to angle the mirror inside of the jewellery box so he can see Buffy getting changed.
"Well, I read somewhere once that sometimes they go to movies," Willow helpful suggested. She had also seen it in movies and heard it around school but had never actually gone on a date with any guy before.
Chuckling, Buffy pulled the dress on, it was cute that Willow hadn't had a date, she suspected before the end of the year Willow would have a date with her sister. She dated Willow would ask but she hoped Caitlin would, they would so make a cute couple. Buffy fixed her hair as she turned around to look at Willow "Movies! Interesting!" she commented, she wouldn't mind seeing a movie because it mean dark room with Owen and that could lead to kissing.
Willow nodded liking that she was being helpful, so she gave a shy smile and bounced a little excitedly "And I saw on TV once, a bunch of people our age went to a party," Willow noticed the wary smile on Buffy's face, it wasn't a real smile anymore. Something must have happened at a party but she didn't take her words back.
"Wow! I never knew being a teenager was so full of possibilities!" Buffy started to pull on the finishing touch to her outfit, her boots. The boots made her outfit look very good and finished it perfectly. Xander fumbled with the box trying to get it back into the proper place, it clanged loudly forcing Buffy and Willow to look over at him. The teenage boy grinned sheepishly trying to act innocent.
Before anything else could happen or before they could say anything the door bell rang causing Buffy to jump up excitedly. "That's Owen!" her excited voice matched her excited jumping, she rushed to her door and threw it open. Buffy ran down the stairs, she didn't notice Caitlin's door closing as she rushed past it. Xander didn't notice as his thoughts were too engrossed by Buffy's upcoming date. Willow noticed but followed the other two down; she didn't want to draw attention to Caitlin. Buffy landed by the front door and smiled as she opened it but frowned in confusion as she saw who it was "That's Giles." Xander stood beside Buffy as she stood by the door still, Willow stood by the living room entrance and smiled at Dawn as she came over and settled against her, the redhead wrapped her arm around Dawn's shoulder.
Giles was glad it was Buffy who answered the door, it would have been awkward if it had been her mother or youngest sister "We need to talk," he sounded urgent and Xander couldn't suppress the smile that had shown on his face.
Buffy frowned even more "Buffy's not home," she said as she tried to shut the door so she didn't have to deal with him.
The Watcher pushed the door open and came in, Dawn frowned at the strange man coming in her home but was pacified a little by Willow starting to play with her hair and also the fact he hadn't needed an invitation to come in "My calculations may not have been as far off as I thought," Giles held up a newspaper. Buffy raised a brow but did nothing, Dawn moved away from Willow to see what they were talking about.
Giles watched the young girl come over and froze, he hadn't noticed her before "Five Die in Van Accident'?" Dawn read out loud. Dawn looked up at Giles "are all British people so morbid?" she asked. The question caused the others to chuckle; Willow came forward and brought Dawn back over to the living room entrance but didn't tell her to go which the pre-teen was thankful for.
"Out of the ashes of five shall rise the one, that's the prophecy. Five people have died!" The Watcher ignored Dawn, who frowned at being ignored, and continued to speak to Buffy. He pretty much ignored Willow and Xander as well.
Buffy's face fell from laughing and back into its frown and raised brow "In a car crash," everyone could hear the scepticism in her voice, how could an anointed one, who is meant to be oh so powerful, die in a car crash.
Giles nervously wrung the newspaper and started to tell Buffy about what he had read "I know it doesn't quite follow, but, but it's worth investigating. Look! Among the dead was Andrew Borba, whom the police sought for questioning in a double murder. Now, he may be the Anointed One. The, the bodies have been taken to, to Sunnydale Funeral Home, w-we can..."
Buffy hadn't been taken in a word he had said, only that he had been speaking about Slaying, she decided to interrupt him "Giles, why do you wanna hurt me?" Buffy asked sounding annoyed.
Dawn tensed up at those words, Willow noticed and pulled the young girl into a hug, she rested her head on top of Dawns and wrapped her arms around Dawn's waist. "I beg your pardon?" Giles asked as he ignored the movement out the corner of his eye but stored it away for later.
Before Buffy could respond Owen appeared at the open door "Hey!" Owen came in the house and everyone instinctively relaxed knowing he wasn't a vampire, even though they had seen him hours earlier at school, in broad daylight "Uh, hi!"
Giles turned back to Buffy in disbelief; she was still going to go on a date even though she was the Slayer. Why was he burdened with her again? He wondered silently "You have a date?" he asked.
Buffy nodded and tried to usher him out of the door but he refused to budge "Yes, but I will return those overdue books by tomorrow," she tried covering up why the school librarian was in her house. Owen was a little dense seeing as he sort of believed about not having clocks in the house and her watch breaking.
Giles tore his arm away from Buffy's grasp and pointed the rolled up paper at her "Wait, you're not getting off that easily," he was fed up of her skirting her responsibilities to do regular teenage things, like cheerleading or dating, she was the bloody Slayer she shouldn't be doing things like that, she should be out patrolling the night for vampires and other demons.
Owen looked on in shock, he hadn't heard the Mr Giles talk like that to anyone or even seen him after school, or much during school for that matter "Man, you really care about your work!" he made a mental note to make sure to return his book on time, it was embarrassing for him to turn up at his house.
Willow let go of Dawn but grabbed her hand, she needed to think quickly "Uh, Owen?" she asked and started to blush when he turned his attention to her, her brain completely froze. She couldn't think of anything to get Owen out of the room
Xander noticed what Willow was doing so quickly stepped in to help, he might not want Buffy to date Owen but he didn't want her getting hurt "Yeah, a couple of things about tonight." Willow and Xander lead Owen into the living room, Dawn following, wanting to know what they were going to say. They all stood in the room, the three of them looking at Owen, who fidgeted under their gazes, no one said anything but Dawn smirked at a sudden thought "didja know that my sister hates dancing?" she asked innocently with a tilt of her head. Willow nudged Dawn gently and had to repress a smile
Owen down at the little girl in shock, she was clearly telling the truth because the other two nodded "What, she doesn't like to dance?" he asked in shock, why hadn't he been told this before or how could he not have asked, he could swear he had see Buffy in the Bronze before. He could actually remember seeing her in the Bronze the week before, she had been sat with her friends and her sister had been dancing, he had never seen Buffy dance now he thought about it.
Xander nodded trying to act solemnly, as if the fact that Owen couldn't dance with Buffy actually hurt him, Dawn giggled silently and buried her head in Willows side to hide her grin. "Well, it's a little too late to do anything about that. Uh, you should probably know that Buffy doesn't like to be kissed. Actually she doesn't like to be touched," that was actually Caitlin who didn't like to be touched but Owen never needed to know that.
Willow chocked back her laugh at his solemn act "Xander..." her tone was meant to be reprimanding and she managed to pass it off as Owen's eyes widened as if Xander had given him some secret information
"As a matter of fact, don't even look at her," Xander said under his breathe trying to finish his rant, Dawn looked at him from behind Willow and Xander winked at her. Dawn grinned widely at being included; it had never happened with her sisters friends before. Buffy's old friends had been stuck up and had belittled her when she had walked past them with Caitlin once at the mall and Caitlin's old friends were far from socially acceptable as most of them were depressives and skaters that mostly drank and smoked. Her only decent friends were JD and a few of the ones she normally hung with.
"Thanks guys, it's nice to know Buffy has such good friends and I won't say you told me any of this" Owen said as he headed back to the foyer. Dawn started giggling as she couldn't believe he had actually listened to them. They three of them waited in the front room until they heard Owen and Buffy leave before they walked back into the foyer.
"Is something going on?" Willow asked Giles as she stopped to stand by the Watcher, he seemed frustrated and defeated, she felt sorry for him.
"Oh, uh, probably not, no. I, uh, I suppose I'll just, uh, go to the funeral home in case, just see if anything comes up," Giles stuttered out as he quickly left.
Willow turned to Xander, she noticed he didn't seem to bothered by Giles departure as she was trying to mess with Dawn's hair and she was batting his hand away "This is bad," Willow said. She was concerned for Giles; he wasn't a Slayer and wouldn't get very far against the anointed one.
"I wish it was just bad," he nodded absently as he still tried to ruffle Dawn's hair. He hadn't really hung out with anyone younger than him before and found it fun trying to annoy her, not in a serious way as he was being playful.
Willow looked away from the scene and looked at where Giles had just left she frowned in thought before smiling "We should... go along," she was a little hesitant but she thought it was a good idea
Xander perked up at the thought of interrupting Buffy's date, well not interrupting but spying, yes spying was a better word for it "Yeah, you're right. I don't trust that Owen guy. It's the eyes. Crazy!" he was just trying to convince himself as both of the girls gave him a pointed look
"Xander, we should go with Giles! He could get in trouble!" Willow gestured wildly, mostly in the direction Giles had just left. Buffy wouldn't forgive herself if Giles died and Willow knew Caitlin leant heavily on Buffy and so Buffy needed to be strong
Xander scrunched up his face in thought, that didn't sound fun at all "Oh, he's gone, uh, it's, he's gonna be alright. He's like super librarian, y'know? Everyone forgets, Willow, that knowledge is the ultimate weapon," Xander would rather go and spy on Buffy and Owen so he could make sure the brooding poet didn't get too fresh with their Slayer.
Willow shook her head and grabbed Xander's arm "we are going after Giles!" she tugged him to the door before turning back to Dawn "lock the door behind us and tell your mother we have gone. I was going to check on Caitlin but I'll be a bit bust now, if she comes out give her a hug for me okay?" Willow asked as she quickly hugged Dawn. Dawn nodded and waved to Xander as he was dragged from the house; once the door was shut Dawn locked it and made her way upstairs to tell her mother and then take a shower.
~GU:CM~
Caitlin walked down the stairs carrying a small bag which she had put some clothes in, she left a note for her mother, who was in her room doing work, and a note for Dawn, who was sleeping, explaining where she was. She hadn't left Buffy a note but she had told her mother to tell Buffy why, she knew if she wrote Buffy a note it would be a harsh note with words she would regret. Caitlin watched as the Cab pulled up to the house, she was leaving for the weekend, she needed to get away and there was only one place in the world where she felt safe. She was going home, back to San Francisco.
Hello Everyone, sorry this chapter so long to get posted but I have only just finished it.
I don't really like the episode so it has been a real task to write it...I also know that there isn't much of the real episode on it but as stated I don't like the episode so I decided to show some more of Caitlin's past/condition. Hope you enjoy !
\Silver-Eternal-Dragon/