The Betas 2
It took over a week for the storm to pass and everyone got used to the new status quo. Buffy and Willow fought over Spike, but it was all limited to verbal jousting and outdoing each other. Spike meanwhile got used to being human again with some help from Giles and Xander. Anya and Giles had managed to set some rules for one another that had her behaving much more reasonably in public and the pair vanishing several times a day. Dawn kept Xander and Tara as close as physically possible despite Xander assuring her they hadn't left their home dimension and that they'd be home in ninety days.
"Looks like clear skies," Spike said happily. "I'll scout ahead with Buffy. Willow, I need you to keep the others safe."
"On it," Willow swore.
"Everything packed and ready?" Anya asked the Betas.
"Everything," Xander agreed. "Once Buffy and Spike get the sledge onto the snow we can pull it easily. We should watch the duty free shop in under half an hour even if the weather turns bad and after that it's only a hop, skip, and a jump to the hotel and cabins."
"If the map is correct, and I don't see why it shouldn't be," Giles agreed.
"The portents all say we have at least half a day of clear skies," Anya said.
Xander opened the door, Giles had fixed the latch so they didn't have to worry about the wind blowing the door open in the middle of the night, and stepped aside so Buffy and Spike could carry out the table they'd turned into a sledge to carry all their stuff.
"Fire's out and cold," Dawn verified.
"Everything packed and present," Tara agreed after checking the restaurant, a job made much easier by an almost complete lack of furniture, most of it having been burned for warmth.
Xander grabbed the belts he tied to the sledge and pulled, stumbling forward when it moved across the snow like it was on greased rails. "Didn't expect it to move that easy," he said.
"Come on Buffy," Spike said. "You take right, I'll take left." The two moved ahead of the group examining the buildings.
"It really is a Russian Disneyland on ice," Dawn said, as she eyed the park in the daylight, squinting against the early morning sunlight reflected off the snow.
"I'm surprised there's no sign of looting," Giles said, walking on the left side of the sledge.
"Radiation and ice and snow, maybe a neutron bomb," Anya suggested. "I'm guessing everyone rushed home before the crisis hit and anyone left here… is probably a block of ice at this point."
"All clear," Buffy called out to Willow, who was keeping her eyes peeled and a small bag of sulfur, collected from matches, in her hand.
The gang stopped in front of a small shop.
"Why do we have a stop here on the list?" Giles asked Anya, as Xander popped the lock with a prybar he'd found in the supply room.
"I thought you put it on the list last night," Anya told Giles.
"Not me," Giles said.
"It was me," Xander said. "It's the best place to get some lighters, flammable liquids, and… cartons of cigs."
"I'm putting you in my will," Spike told Xander with a tear in his eye, careful rationing had still seen the end of his cigs two days ago.
"Alcohol and tobacco has many uses," Anya said thoughtfully.
The shop also sold luggage, so Spike simply packed a steamer trunk with his favorite vices while Anya and Giles did much the same. The Betas of course filled one of their own with whatever looked useful and Giles fiddled with the latch so the door would shut properly and the weather wouldn't destroy the shop's contents.
Spike and Buffy paused, stunned as they reached the end of the block before the others. "Whoa," they chorused.
"Whoa," Willow agreed just ahead of the rest of the Scoobs.
The creators of the park had built it around a hotel that had been designed to look like a genuine fairy tale castle. Covered in ice and with the light sparkling off it, it looked like it was made of dreams and magic.
"Fuck yeah, Whoa," Tara said in wonder to everyone's shock. She pulled the towel she was using to protect her head closed when everyone stared at her.
Laughter rang out from the group.
"You beat me to saying it by about half a second," Xander assured her, as he took her hand and continued on.
"Hope the inside matches the outside," Buffy said. "I would kill for an actual bed to sleep in."
"I decrypted enough of the brochure to assure you there are luxurious suites with king sized beds," Xander told her. "Also a rather large kitchen which should have dry goods, if nothing else."
"And?" Spike asked.
"And?" Xander asked innocently.
"I've known you long enough to know when you have something planned," Spikes said, taking out and reverently lighting a cigarette. "Ahh," he sighed happily.
"You won't believe me until you see it," Xander said.
"I like happy surprises," Dawn said.
"Everyone should be happy with this one," Xander promised.
Spike and Buffy picked up the sledge as they reached the drawbridge because there was no snow for it to glide over. Moving ahead, Xander and Tara pulled open a pair of glass doors that were almost completely devoid of ice, releasing a great deal of warm air, much to everyone's shock but Xander. The group quickly piled in, shutting the doors behind them and shedding their towel stuffed poofy exercise gear, basking in warmth.
"How?" Giles asked.
"Thermal vent," Willow said, her eyes wide. "It provides not just free heat, but power as well. The lights are on in here and if they have power and heat, they have…"
"Hot springs," Xander agreed.
"Hot baths," the women chorused. Bathing out of a bucket in front of a fire had not been a completely satisfactory affair, because of the temperature inside is not because of modesty.
"Lead me to a hot bath and I will love you forever," Tara swore to Xander.
"What she said," Dawn agreed.
"If the hot water works in the rooms, we really should bathe before entering the springs if they have them set up for communal bathing like they use in Japan," Giles suggested.
"Which rooms should we get?" Spike asked, the hotel was set up to cater thousands of people after all.
"Ones close to here for bathing, long term residence can wait until all our immediate needs are met," Anya suggested.
"Room 101," Spike said handing Giles an electric key for his room.
"Thank you," Giles said accepting the key and going to dig his bag with his toiletries out of the luggage along with Anya's.
"102," Spike said passing a key to Xander. "And 104," he said passing one to Dawn. Dawn tried to push it back to him, but he said, "Adjoining rooms, but it allows your sister to ignore it, and Red too."
"OK," Dawn said, grabbing Tara's hand and dragging her off after Xander to retrieve their own bags.
"I wonder if they have room service," Xander joked, when he had reached his room and gotten his stuff ready for a hot shower.
"What kind of services do you want?" Dawn asked, poking her head in from the bathroom the two rooms shared.
Xander almost jumped, but cleared his throat and played it off, "While I would love a burger, I'd love clean laundry more."
"There's probably a fur burger I could make," Dawn said thoughtfully. "But I think we would rather get clean right now, so get in here."
"Tara may not–" Xander began making his excuses. Sure, Dawn may not have meant anything sexual about getting him to bathe with them, but it was fairly intimate.
"Remember to bring your razor," Tara called out to Xander.
"OK," Xander submitted gracefully.
Bathing in front of fireplace had little privacy and the three cliques the Scooby's had formed had gotten used to doing nearly everything together. Holding a towel up and averting his eyes had given the girls some privacy or at least the illusion of it, and Tara had done the same in return for him. Dawn however would simply question them on any scars or whatever was on her mind at that instant, interjecting a sense of normality to the proceedings that they'd both appreciated.
The tub in the bathroom was longer than the one at his apartment, he was happy to see, (because the half sized tubs hotels usually had would have been a tight squeeze) as Tara adjusted the shower.
"Having someone else to shampoo your hair and wash your back makes a big difference," Dawn said when they all doing a final rinse.
"I need to shave my legs," Tara said thoughtfully. "Do you think I need to shave anything else? Willow liked me clean shaven," she admitted with a sigh. She still missed the redhead, but their few talks hadn't been promising.
"Trimmed but not topiary," Xander suggested. "As long as you avoid the 70's afro you're good, but definitely get the armpits."
"Do I need to shave?" Dawn asked, just wanting to be involved in the discussion.
"You should be good for another week," Tara guessed.
"And what's the vote on me growing a manly beard?" Xander joked.
"No!" the girls chorused and Tara grabbed the shaving cream while Dawn got the razor.
"Your garden could also use a trim," Tara suggested tactfully.
"And shave the balls," Dawn added. "What? I've seen porn movies, they look better bare. We shave legs and pits so you do face and balls."
"It seems fair," Tara agreed, giggling.
"Fine but it's really cold over there and if they turn blue I'll know which two girls to blame," he teased.
They met back in the lobby, wearing robes as all their clothes were dirty. No one had packed for a week in near arctic conditions so they'd ended up wearing everything they owned. Giles and Anya were the first ones there and had spent the time puzzling out a hotel map and writing translations on it.
"Please tell me you found the laundry room," Xander begged.
"Wasn't looking for it," Giles admitted, "But it should be easy to find, logically they'd have it at the base of the… service elevator where laundry cart return is."
"And do they have hot, soaking, Japanese style baths?" Dawn asked.
"More Greek or Roman style," Anya said showing them a brochure with pictures of the smooth marble tiles around the bath, and the matching marble benches in the water. "If we'd had the brochures in the restaurant they have available here, I'd have risked the weather."
"I say we grab laundry and see about getting our clothes cleaned before exploring," Xander suggested. "I don't feel like exploring while just wearing robes or while wearing dirty clothes. The baths sound nice, but now that I'm clean, I want clean clothes more."
"It wouldn't take long at all to do a couple of outfits for everyone," Tara suggested.
"The majority of the clothes can wait," Giles agreed, "Just having a set of clean clothes to wear would do wonder for my mood."
"No real rush, but actual clothes with pockets would be much safer to explore in," Anya agreed.
"If you don't mind I'll go fetch some now," Giles said, as he and Anya went to dig through the luggage to collect their clothes.
"Feed me, Seymour!" Dawn said while smiling hopefully at the pair.
"OK, food then laundry," Tara suggested.
"Where are the kitchen and the store room?" Xander asked. "We can see if they left anything edible, which considering everything else, I bet they have."
"And the dry foods would probably be safer than the canned goods," Dawn quoted something she'd heard Xander say before.
"Yup," he agreed. "And if you avoid dented cans you should be fine, according to most post nuclear war movies."
"I did a report on that survival tip in my biology class," Tara said, "Bacteria that cause either an excess of pressure or vacuum inside a can are readily visible that way and so should always be avoided. Also early canning methods made use of heavy metals that could contaminate foods if they were dented or damaged during storage."
"I have the sudden urge to get down on my knees and grovel against the carpet saying I'm not worthy," Xander said.
"You would get a good look up her robe that way," Dawn agreed.
Tara blushed, but quickly rallied, "Your goddess is hungry… that does not bring up good memories. Well, any solid memories really, it was … confusion and warmth. Kinda like my first seconds here was confusion and cold with a side order of exhaustion," Tara clasped both hands over her mouth and stared at the two wide eyed.
Xander and Dawn laughed and then apologized.
"That was some fine Willow babble," Xander told her, "And I'm a connoisseur from way back."
"Eating someone's heart gains their courage," Dawn said thoughtfully. "Which part of them do you have to eat to gain their babble?"
Xander and Tara both turned bright red.
"I get Tara blushing, but you?" Dawn asked Xander.
"It was during high school," Xander replied. "Years ago and long over with."
"And in a complete change of subject," Tara said, quoting Xander, "It's nice that it's warm in here and let's go find the kitchen."
"OK, but I had a real zinger about the whole 'indirect kiss' thing I am forced to just discard now," Dawn said.
It was not physically possible for the other two Betas to get any redder.
"And we appreciate your sacrifice," Xander said.
"And I'm not sure you aren't psychic considering the amount of food you packed in the ice chest, completely skipping the ice," Dawn said, changing the subject like Tara had asked.
"Since we were teleporting, I figured we could get ice where we were going, rather than have everything get soggy, and since that was the case I could bring powdered Tang and stuff you add water to," Xander explained. "And then I thought of that movie where they crashed in the Andes and the soccer team had to eat that guy, so I packed to avoid cannibalism."
"You have a very scary mind," Giles said.
"Better than resorting to cannibalism and eating Willow," Anya said.
"You've already decided who was going to get cooked first?" Dawn asked.
"On the first day," Anya agreed cheerfully. "Normally it would be a beta, but Xander would kill anyone who hurt either one of you and he's pretty handy in a crisis. Plus, we don't need three Alphas really."
"And on that note, let's go find some food of the non-cannibalistic variety," Xander suggested. "We will return for the laundry after lunch."
"Thank you," Giles said, going back to collecting dirty clothes.
Once the trio had departed, Anya turned to Rupert, "I've noted some more changes."
"As have I," Rupert agreed. "Everyone fell into their assigned roles far too easily. Look at the changes in Willow's behavior, not to mention Xander's."
"Willow has demonstrated strength near Slayer level, and so has Dawn," Anya added. "I have noted a slight increase in my own, but not to that extent."
"The spell that moved us here made us all one, but it didn't separate us along those lines," Rupert guessed. "I'm not sure if this omelet can be turned back into a carton of eggs."
"Everyone seems to be happier," Anya offered.
"I will admit I am," Rupert said taking her hand. "But what of Xander, Willow, and Tara?"
"Willow seems more at home now," Anya said. "Before she seemed… a bit out of place. Tara is smiling at Xander and Dawn more and more, and neither of them have a problem with it."
"We've all been very lucky," Giles decided. "Best we keep this to ourselves and simply let things be."
"I agree," Anya said.
Dawn eased the door looking into the service hall slowly so it wouldn't squeak. "OK, any comments?"
Xander shrugged and started off down the hall. "Giles was right, we all got really lucky."
"That's all you're going to say?" Tara asked.
Xander stopped and turned to the two girls and simply smiled until they blushed, before starting off again. "Yup," he said.
"Oh, look a change of subject!" Dawn said brightly. "What kind of food do you think they'll have?"
"McDonald's," Xander said cheerfully, making the two laughs. "I'm not kidding and fortunately for you two, I know how to work everything there."
"Then I want a 20 piece chicken nugget," Dawn said.
"With coke and fries!" Tara added.
"OK," Xander agreed opening a door into the dining room and freezing both girls in their tracks.
"Holy shit!" Dawn exclaimed, looking around at very familiar surroundings.
"You saw it in a brochure?" Tara guessed.
"Nope," Xander grinned and waved the two girls into the McDonald's restaurant.
"You figured out where we are and know more than you're telling?" Dawn guessed.
"Yep," he agreed, looking into the kitchen and starting warm up on several machines.
"Is the food still going to be good?" Dawn asked.
"Frozen food only suffers freezer-burn in most cases and that's without taking into account numerous preservatives and improvements in food storage," Xander explained. "Basically some of it may taste a bit stale, but it should still be good."
"If I ask, will you tell me how you know so much about this place?" Tara asked.
"Sure," Xander agreed, as he opened up a deep freezer and took out a bag of fries and nuggets, pausing before grabbing a second bag of nuggets.
Tara waited until he had the fries and the nuggets in their baskets, waiting for the oil to heat, before grabbing his head and holding it to her chest. "Why do you know so much about this place?"
"There was a special about failed Disney ventures," Xander replied. "Euro Disney has almost no costumers because of cultural snobs. Disney China barely got the castle and parking lot built before authorization was yanked from it. And finally, Disney Russia was built on a dormant volcano, saving ungodly amounts in power bills, only to find that shifting weather patterns meant the break in the nearly eternal storm surrounding the mountain was not a permanent one, fortunately they were given enough warning to evacuate."
There was a crashing noise in one of the machines, startling the two girls who had never worked fast food.
"Ice machines working," Xander said, ducking below the soda fountain and turning a couple of knobs.
*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*
"I am so glad there were a lot of sweats in that gift shop," Buffy said, "And that Mom always makes me pack twice as much underwear as I expected to need."
"I'm glad Xander and Rupert were kind enough to share with me and help me adjust to being human again," Spike said.
"More alive than human," Anya corrected. "You still possess a lot of vampiric traits."
"Dhampir then," Spike said. "They never really existed, but I'm almost exactly how they were described as."
"Except for being in a parallel world trapped in nuclear winter, I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out," Buffy said. "All that's really missing is –"
"McD?" Dawn asked as the three Betas entered the lobby carrying bags of food and trays of sodas.
"Someone pinch me," Buffy said in shock. "Eeep!" Buffy jumped at least a foot. "Not there!"
"Then you should have been more specific," Willow said with a smirk completely unrepentant.
Typing by: AzureSky123