Author Note: I don't own anything but parts of the plot and Oc characters. Everything else belongs to its owners.
It's been four days since our vacation at Disney. Now, we were in the Cemetery. Buffy, Kate, Kyra and I were sitting on a blanket with our legs covered by another throw. Giles was standing behind a nearby gravestone with a book in his hands.
"'And on that tragic day, an era came its inevitable end.' That's all there is. Are you ready?" Giles voiced as he read from the book in his hands.
"Hit us," I stated.
"Which of the following best expresses the theme of the passage? A) Violence breeds violence, B) All things must end, C)..." Giles read out an SAT question.
"B. I'm going with B. We haven't had B in forever," Buffy interrupted as she filled a bubble with her pencil.
"This is the SATs, Buffy, not connect-the-dots. Please pay attention. A low score could seriously harm your chances of getting into college," Giles told her while Kate, Kyra and I filled in our own bubbles of choice.
"Gee, thanks. That takes the pressure right off," Buffy responded while we rolled our eyes.
"This isn't meant to be easy, you know. It's a rite of passage," Giles voiced.
"Well, is it too late to join a tribe where they just pierce something or cut something off?" Buffy joked.
"Please concentrate, Buffy," Kate voiced as Giles looked back at his book.
"Roll!" Kyra exclaimed as we spotted a couple of vampires behind him.
We tossed our notebooks and answer sheet off our laps before scrambling to our feet.
"What?" Giles questioned as he looked up before realizing he needed to get out of the way.
I went after my vampire, while Kyra, Kate and Buffy went after theirs. Kate, Kyra and I fought our vampires before staking them while Buffy continued to fight hers. My direwolf Lady got in between Buffy and us before the vampire burst into ashes. We started back to the blanket as Buffy looked at her pencil.
"Hmm. I broke my pencil. We'll have to do this again sometime," Buffy voiced as we noticed it was broken.
"C) All systems tend towards chaos," Giles said as he finished his sentence that Buffy had interrupted while handing her a new pencil.
Buffy took it as we watched her old pencil fly by Giles before landing on the ground next to him.
"I just know that us and the undead are the only person in Sunnydale working this late," Buffy voiced as she walked over to her blanket.
We joined on the blanket before grabbing our notebooks and answer sheets. Buffy pouted as we continued to work on our SATs before we headed home for the night.
Across town in the city hall, The Mayor and Trick were talking in his office.
"I appreciate you coming," The Mayor said as he leaned against the backrest of his chair while smiling before he started to walk out from his desk. "I realize it is... early...for you... but I think you'll agree that this matter is urgent." He stopped next to Trick. "Also... delicate."
"I'm a very delicate person," Trick replied.
"So you feel you can handle this?" The Mayor questioned.
"It's a little out of my element, but I can get you what you need," Trick inhaled before continuing. "I know a beast who knows a guy."
"Are you sure that subcontracting is the way to go here?" The Mayor asked as he headed over to a wall cabinet.
"Well, this guy's worked your town before, and if he lives up to his rep," Trick said while smiling before he continued. "This place will be in flames."
"I've made certain deals to get where I am today. This demon requires his tribute," The Mayor told him as he unlocked the cabinet before continuing. "You see, that's what separates me from other politicians, Mr. Trick." He opened the cabinet that showed shelves full of occult paraphernalia: skulls, a fetus preserved in a bottle, various urns and chests, a shrunken head, bones of forearm and hand, and many tools of the trade.
Trick looked at the items with unease from his vantage point by the desk.
"I keep my campaign promises," The Mayor continued as he reached in and took out the shrunken head before he pulled on the tuft of hair at the top and sniffed. "Where'd I put that Scotch?" He looked around while looking for it.
Back across town at the Slayer/Wiccan household, we had returned from the patrol/SAT prep and were showering while Cole bathed Persephone and got her ready for bed. After showering, I dressed in my PJs before walking into Persephone's nursery to see her drinking her before-bedtime bottle.
"Did you have fun with your daddies?" I asked her.
"Yes, we did. We shimmered over to Angel and spent some time with him while you were out," Cole told me.
"Where's Elijah?" I asked.
"He's downstairs making you guys a snack. We know you guys get hungry after patrol," Cole answered as Persephone pushed the bottle away from her mouth.
I picked Persephone up and burped her before giving her the soother and laying her down in the crib. Cole laid the blanket down on her before we each kissed her goodnight before turning on the baby monitor, nightlight, and sound machine. I turned off the light before we headed out of the nursery and downstairs.
When we got downstairs, we headed into the kitchen to see Elijah, Sam, Dean, Jeremy, Kate, and Kyra sitting around the table.
"What's for our late-night snack?" I asked.
"Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies," Elijah voiced as I sat next to him.
I grabbed a cookie from the plate and broke it in half to see the gooeyness of the cookie before taking a bite. I moaned in delight before setting the other half of the cookie in front of me.
"So, let's get started on our baking planning for Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving orders," Kate voiced.
"So, what do we have?" Kyra asked.
"We have two pumpkin pies, two apple pies and two sweet potato pies for our dinner. We have five pumpkins, five apples and five sweet potato pies," Buffy stated as she looked at the notebook for our business.
"Don't forget four dozen Thanksgiving cookies, three dozen hand pies, five pumpkin pies, five apples, and five potatoes for the market," Sam told them.
"So, we have 13 pumpkin pies, 13 apple pies, 13 sweat potato pies with four dozen Thanksgiving cookies," Dean responded before he added. "And three dozen hand pies with various flavours."
"When do we start baking?" Elijah asked.
"Well, thanksgiving is the 24th, so we start on the 17th for our market items and the 20th for our orders as they are due on the 23rd," Kyra stated.
"We'll go shopping for the items needed," Elijah told us.
"We'll also get the stuff we need for the meal," Cole replied.
"What's for the Thanksgiving dinner?" Dean asked.
"Well, Turkey, potatoes, Stuffing, carrots, mac & Cheese, biscuits, and cranberry sauce," Kate voiced.
I handed Cole the list of everything we needed for the baking and cooking.
"That sounds delicious," Dean replied.
"Well, you guys are invited. It's going to be Aunt Joyce, us, Kyra's sister Caroline and her adopted mom," I said.
We finished planning Thanksgiving before finishing our high school homework and headed up to bed for the night. Elijah, Cole, and Sam kissed me goodnight before shimmering out of the house. I got into bed before turning out the light and falling asleep.
Time Skip
Dear Diary,
It's morning here in Sunnydale as the sun rises over the town while I'm writing to you. I could hear my baby daughter Persephone giggling as Cole was getting her ready for the day. My school bag is packed for the day as I think about the days and months to come with the new babies being born in the new year and Persephone's first birthday. Anyway, it's been exactly five days since our family's baby moon vacation, and now we are planning for Thanksgiving. But before long, we will be preparing for Christmas. I should go and get some breakfast before we head off to school.
A*
I closed my journal before setting it on my bedside table and got up from my desk. I grabbed my school bag and headed out of my room as Cole came out of the nursery with Persephone.
"Good morning, my love," I said as I saw them.
Persephone squealed before reaching towards me. I took Persephone from Cole as he grabbed my bag. We headed downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
When we got to the kitchen, I got Persephone situated in a highchair before Kate handed me Persephone's breakfast. Cole took my bowl and spoon from me before sitting in front of Persephone and started feeding her.
"What's for breakfast today?" I asked.
"We are having Pineapple-Cucumber Smoothies and Yogurt Parfaits," Kate answered.
"Here," Kyra said as she handed me a to-go cup of today's smoothie before I set it on the table and made my yogurt parfait with berries and granola.
We all sat down and ate breakfast before we headed out of the house for school.
When we got to school, we met with Elijah and Dean before handing Persephone off to them and heading to our first class. After our first two classes, we met with Willow and Oz before walking into the quad and down the stairs.
"And then I was being chased by an improperly filled-in answer screaming, 'none of the above!'" Buffy told us as she was telling us about the dream she had last night.
"Wow. I hope that wasn't one of your prophecy dreams," Willow responded before getting a look from us and continuing. "Probably not."
"Hey, you know, I took it last year. I could help you get ready. There's this whole trick for antonyms, but... this isn't the place," Oz said.
"We'll help, too," Kyra replied.
"Oz is the highest-scoring person ever to fail to graduate," Willow stated as we got to the bottom of the stairs and continued to walk along the colonnade.
"Isn't she cute when she's proud?" I asked Oz.
"She's always cute," Oz returned while we smiled at Oz's love for Willow.
"We could work on it tonight," Willow responded as I spotted Cordelia and Xander coming up behind us.
"Work on what tonight?" Xander questioned.
"Oh, God. Are we killing something again?" Cordelia asked.
"Only Buffy's carefree spirit," Jo voiced.
"Buffy SAT prep," Oz stated.
"And we're re-doing our SATs again to see if we get a different score," Kate told them.
"Oz is helping," Willow replied while smiling pride. "He's the highest-scoring..."
"We know. We did the impressed thing already," Cordelia interrupted as Willow frowned at her interruption.
"I have they make us take that thing. It's totally fascist, and personally, I think it, uh, discriminates against the uninformed," Xander conveyed.
"Actually, I'm looking forward to it. I do well on the standardized tests," Cordelia stated before she got a look from us. "What? I can't have layers?"
We continued into the school and headed to the cafeteria for lunch.
When we got to the cafeteria, we entered while talking about the SATs.
"So, girls, study tonight?" Willow questioned.
"Uh, yes on the studying, no on tonight. We're putting in Mom/aunt time and with Thanksgiving coming up. We have some major planning," Buffy voiced.
"Also, she's been drastic ever since we got back. And Giles has been even worse. We're supervised 24-7," I told them as we turned into the cafeteria.
"It's like being in the Real World house, only real," Kyra stated.
"Hmm," Jo said before we spotted a table piled up with fund-raiser chocolate bar boxes.
"Ooo, candy bars! Lots of 'em!" Willow exclaimed as we noticed other students taking a box while Snyder checked off their names on his clipboard.
"Principal Snyder, thank you!" Xander voiced as Snyder held out a box to Xander. "You weren't visited by the ghost of Christmas Past, by any chance?" He took the box from him.
"It's band candy," Snyder told us.
"Let's hear it for the band, huh? Very generous," Jo responded.
"You will sell it to raise money for the marching band. They need new uniforms," Snyder stated.
"Yeah. Those tall, fuzzy hats aren't cheap, huh?" Kol joked.
"But they go with everything," Oz replied as Willow smiled at him.
"I'm sure we love the idea of going all willy Loman, but we're not in the band," Kate divulged.
"And if I'd handed you a trombone, that would've been a problem, Lockwood," Snyder returned as he handed us our boxes and told us. "Sell it." He walked off as we stared at our chocolate boxes.
"Well, then, let's have lunch," Jeremy piped up as we headed to a table before sitting down with our lunches.
We started eating our lunches while talking about what just happened and the rest of the day.
Time Skip
After school, we took Persephone home while she continued to nap. We worked on our High School work while Jenna read a psychology book. An hour later, I fed and changed Persephone before we played and read books with Persephone.
"Girls, Jenna, Jeremy, I'm home!" We heard Aunt Joyce say after we heard the door open.
I picked Persephone up and headed into the kitchen, where we saw Aunt Joyce putting things away in the fridge.
"Hey, Joyce," Jenna said as we walked into the kitchen.
"Good evening, girls. How was school?" Aunt Joyce asked.
"We learned a lot, and I've started looking at Pre-med college classes for the next year," I stated as we sat down at the kitchen table with Persephone on my lap.
"And Snyder wants us to sell chocolate bars for the band," Kate told her.
"But you're not in the band," Aunt Joyce responded.
"And yet," Buffy returned.
"What would I do with forty chocolate bars?" Aunt Joyce asked.
I touched the bars before getting a flash of a demon and adults acting like teenagers. I shook my head as I felt Kyra's hand on my arm before looking at her and giving her a 'we need to talk later' look. She nodded as we looked at Buffy and Aunt Joyce.
"You could hand them out at the Gallery. 'Buy something Pre-Columbian, get a free cavity,'" Buffy stated.
"Twenty," Aunt Joyce said as she considered Buffy's offer before handing Buffy's box to her.
"You're a good mom," Buffy replied as she sat the box down.
"I know I'm the best," Aunt Joyce returned.
"No, I'm pretty sure the best moms let their daughters drive," Buffy suggested as she grabbed a drink from the fridge.
The rest of us smirked as we knew Buffy was trying to manipulate Aunt Joyce into allowing her to get her driver's licence.
"And yet," Aunt Joyce returned as Buffy sipped her drink.
"Oh, come on!" Buffy replied as she sat her bottle down.
"Look, let's not have this conversation again," Aunt Joyce said as she got up and headed to the fridge.
"But I took the class. I watched the filmstrips with the blood and the death and the corpses. I'm prepped," Buffy reacted.
"Buffy, you failed the written test," Jenna pointed out as Aunt Joyce opened the fridge and grabbed the water jug.
"Yeah, and they didn't let you take the road test," Jeremy voiced as Aunt Joyce poured some water into her cup before putting it back.
"That was a year ago. And I don't test well... She said, two days before the SATs," Buffy stated as the rest of us smirked.
"I spend enough time not knowing where any of you are," Aunt Joyce responded before sitting down. "I don't wanna add to the possibility that you're on the highway to Chicago." She took a sip.
"I can't believe you. We're not taking off again. Besides, if I wanted to, I could get on the bus, plus Aurora, Kate, and Kyra can drive," Buffy returned as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Stop," aunt Joyce said as she inhaled before exhaling. "Don't." She intensely looked at Buffy. I just don't want you driving, okay? I want you all here."
"I'm here. Hmm?" Buffy replied as she widened her eyes and took another sip of her drink. "See us here. Mm-hm?"
"We gotta go," I voiced as I saw the time and picked Persephone up.
"What, you're going out?" Aunt Joyce questioned as we grabbed our boxes of candy bars.
"Giles. Slay-study double feature. Could be later," Kate answered as we headed for the door.
"Again? Girls, don't you think Mr. Giles is monopolizing an awful lot of your time?" Aunt Joyce asked.
"And does he ever say he's sorry?" Kyra joked.
We headed to our rooms, changed and headed out the door before heading to the cars and were off to the school.
After we got to the library, Elijah took Persephone from me before Finn & Giles tied blindfolds around mine and Buffy's heads.
"Ow!" Buffy and I reacted.
"Sorry," Giles and Finn apologized.
"Why do we put up with this?" I asked.
"Because it is your destiny," Giles answered as I could feel him walk around us. "And because I just bought five each 'cocorific' candy bars from you all." I could feel a large rubber ball being handed to me.
"Okay, you're just doing this to take funny pictures of us," Buffy returned.
"We're doing it to test your awareness of an opponent's location during a fight in total darkness. Now, wait five seconds and then throw the ball at me and Giles," Finn told us.
We heard them backtrack away from us and took several steps away towards the caged area.
"You ran out of new training ideas about a week ago, huh?" We heard Jeremy's question.
"Okay. Five, four, three, two, one," Buffy and I voiced before we turned and threw our balls.
We heard them hit a wall before bouncing off of it.
"It's not that simple, is it..." We heard Giles before he reacted. "Ow." We assumed it hit him, and Finn caught his. "Ahem. Yes, well, very good."
"Thanks!" Buffy and I said as we took off our blindfolds before we started out the door.
"Wait, w-w-where are you going? We have to patrol!" Giles replied.
"I can't. Mom is in hyperdrive. She wants us home tonight. We told you," Buffy stated as we stopped and faced him.
"Kate, Aurora, Jeremy and I will do a quick patrol before we head home," Kyra told him before we started for the door again.
"But, I..." Giles started to say.
"We know, we know. She's out of control. Enjoy the candy!" Kate interrupted before leaving with Elijah, Finn and Klaus heading behind us.
We left the school before heading to the nearest cemetery for a quick patrol.
After a quick patrol, we headed to Angel's mansion. We parked in front of the house before walking up to the house and towards the atrium door. We spotted a shirtless Angel as he practiced some elegant forms of T'ai Chi. I leaned against the wall with Persephone in my arms as we watched him bring his arms down together in front of him before moving them to his right. He brought his left arm up and across his abdomen and crossed his right arm over his left. His movement remained fluid as he slowly moved his left arm out in front of him, palms up, and extended his right arm to his side. We continued watching as he drew his arms together again, but this time, crossing his left over his right. He repeated the same position from earlier. I could tell Angel didn't realize we were here watching him as he continued his T'ia Chi before raising his head and spotting us.
"Aurora," Angel whispered as I looked at him with embarrassment but with a smile.
"I didn't know you could do that," I voiced as he smiled before trying to straighten up from his bent stance.
"I-I'm feeling better," Angel told us before losing his posture.
"Angel..." I said as Cole took Persephone from me before I rushed to him.
"Let's... get you inside," Kyra voiced as she hurried over to me and helped me to stand him up straight.
We headed back inside the manor. We walked into the living room area, where a warm fire was on in the fireplace. Buffy picked up a small paper bag with Animal blood that Elijah and Finn had gotten for Angel as we got past the coffee table.
"It's late. How'd you get away?" Angel responded as he sat on the couch before taking Persephone from Cole.
"Aw, it was easy. Started a fire in the prison laundry room. Rode out in the garage truck," Buffy joked.
I rolled my eyes as Angel's faced us.
"Oh," Angel muttered while holding Persephone as she played with Angel's nose.
"She's joking. No garbage. Smell us," I told Angel as I raised my hand and raised it.
I stepped closer while taking the bag from Buffy and sat next to him.
"Buffy, how is, uh... Scott?" Angel asked her as he leaned against the pillows behind him.
"Scott?" Buffy said as she weakly smiled and looked down before continuing. "Oh, um... boyfriend Scott. Uh..." She inhaled deeply. "A-actually, he's not..." She looked at him. "He's fine." She exhaled and nodded.
Angel nodded before I sat the bag close to him but away from Persephone's reach.
"Uh, Elijah and Finn got that for you," I voiced as I gestured to the bag close to him.
"It's fresh from the butcher," Elijah told him as Angel looked at it.
"Thanks," Angel returned before asking. "You're being careful, right?"
"With Scott?" Buffy questioned.
"With the pregnancies?" I brought up at the same time as Buffy's question.
"The slaying," Angel responded.
"Yes, we're being careful. Kate, Kyra and I are using our powers more than usual until the babies arrive," I replied with a smile.
"Yeah. Of course. Full of carefulness," Buffy told him.
"I worry about you all," Angel said as he looked at Persephone before looking back at us.
"We worry about you," Cole stated.
"I'm getting stronger," Angel expressed as he looked at Persephone before lightly combing her hair.
"That's good pretty soon, you'll be able to get back into the fighting," I returned.
"That'll be better," Angel said. "I'll be able to help you out more."
"Yeah," I whispered.
We sat in silence for a moment before we got up.
"Well, we have to feed Persephone dinner and get her into bed," I said.
"Night, Persephone. Dada loves you," Angel told Persephone before handing her back to me.
"We'll stay with Angel for a bit," Elijah said before we headed out the door with Kate, Kyra, Buffy and Jeremy behind me.
We walked to the cars and headed home.
Once we departed from the mansion, we drove back to our home. We parked the cars and accompanied Persephone inside. Buffy placed her books on the table in the mudroom, and we suddenly noticed Aunt Joyce standing there, indulging in a bar of chocolate.
"Hey! Uh, sorry we're late. You know Giles. All Slay, all the time," Buffy lied.
"We did a quick patrol and picked up some things we needed for our holiday baking," Kate voiced as she held up a couple of bags of groceries before we noticed Giles stepping from the dining room.
"Hello, Girls, Jeremy," Giles said with his arms crossed and stern face.
"Do you guys wanna watch some television? I hear there's a very insightful documentary on," Buffy said as she gestured to the living room.
"Buffy, you lied to us. And you made us into your alibis while I get Aurora, Kate, Kyra, Jeremy, and Persephone got holiday baking supplies. That's... playing us against each other, and that's not fair," Aunt Joyce said.
Huh? I questioned in my head as I could tell something wasn't right.
"I called Willow. You also lied to her about your whereabouts. We were all concerned," Giles told us as Aunt Joyce unwrapped her chocolate bar and held it out to him. "Oh, Thank you." He broke off a piece.
"Look, we're sorry, but we had to..." Buffy started to say as we headed into the living room with the others following us.
"Were you at the Bronze? What was happening, there that was so important?" Aunt Joyce questioned as we stopped before I let out a sigh, and we faced them.
"Bronze things. Things of Bronze," Buffy lied as she gestured and shrugged.
"You're behaving very immaturely," Aunt Joyce remarked condescendingly before taking a bite of her chocolate bar.
"I know I'm your parent, but I am responsible for you all. I think your mum's right," Giles responded as he continued chewing on his piece of chocolate while sitting on a couch armrest.
"Okay, fine. We're acting like children. Maybe that's because you're both treating us like we're children," Kyra stated.
"Girls!" a hurt Aunt Joyce exclaimed.
"You're both scheduling us twenty-four hours a day/. Between the two of you, that's forty-eight hours," Kate replied. "Some of us are about to become moms for the first time and second time while taking College classes. We think we should be able to make a few decisions for ourselves." While Giles took off his glasses.
"The last time you made a decision for yourselves, you split," Aunt Joyce voiced as she popped another chocolate piece.
"Yeah, and we took care of ourselves. We don't need this much active parenting," Jeremy returned.
"You can't really be trying to us this summer as a reason you all should be trusted," Aunt Joyce incredulously said before eating another piece.
"You can't babysit us all the time. We need you to back off a little," Buffy stated.
"Uh, alright, come on. Let's, let's not, uh, freak out," Giles voiced as he held up his hand.
"Freak out?" I questioned with uncertainty.
I am beginning to realize that something is not quite right here. I sense that Kate, Kyra, and Jeremy feel the same way.
"Mm-hm," Giles said as he stood up. "Uh, I think you should go get something to eat and go to bed." He put his glasses on. "Um, we're all tired."
Before heading into the kitchen, we thought Aunt Joyce and Giles were acting crazy without fully understanding what was happening.
Back in the living room, they watched them go into the kitchen.
"Oh, they just drive me crazy!" Joyce exclaimed as she shook her head before sighing and crumbling up the end of the candy bar wrapper.
She dropped onto the coffee table while Giles scratched his head and stepped back over to the couch to sit.
"I just want to protect them," Joyce stated as she joined him.
"Don't all parents want that?" Giles questioned as they sat down.
Giles reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a candy bar before unwrapping it.
"Yeah, but at least most parents have some idea, what to protect their children from," Joyce responded.
"Yeah. And I think we should both be especially careful," Giles replied as he broke off a piece and stuck it into his mouth before handing the rest to Joyce.
She took a piece before beginning to munch on it.
"Mm," Joyce moaned before they continued munching on the candy.
Back in the Kitchen, Jenna was preparing bowls while a slow cooker was making the pre-made meal from a few days ago.
"What's for dinner tonight?" I asked as I set Persephone into the high chair before Jeremy offered to feed her tonight.
"Baked Potato soup with Hot Fudge Pudding Cake for dessert," Jenna told us as she handed Jeremy Persephone's dinner.
Jeremy fed her before the rest of us started eating our dinner. Sometime later, we finished dinner and ate dessert before it was time for Persephone's bedtime.
After dinner, I headed upstairs to the nursery before grabbing Persephone's Pjs and walking into the bathroom to see Cole starting Persephone's bath.
"Here, I'll bathe her. You go finish your pre-med homework," Cole said as he took her from me.
After leaving the bathroom, I went straight to my room and got started on my college homework for pre-med classes. Sometime later, Cole came into the room with a clean and dressed-for bed Persephone.
"I thought we would kiss Mama goodnight before I lay her down to sleep," Cole voiced as he walked over to me.
"Goodnight, my love," I whispered before kissing Persephone goodnight.
"Goodnight. I will see you in the morning," Cole said before kissing me.
"Night," I replied before he headed out of the room.
I finished my homework before I got dressed into my Pjs as Kate and Kyra walked in.
"Hey, are you getting weird feelings from the chocolate?" Kate asked.
"Yeah, and I got vision flashes from it," I answered.
"What about?" Kyra questioned.
"Adults acting like teenagers and a demon in the sewer," I told them before handing them a picture I drew in class today. "I drew this in class. It's the demon. I saw."
"We'll find out what this is tomorrow. Let's get some sleep," Kate suggested before she headed out of the room.
"Night," Kyra voiced.
"Night," I replied as Kyra headed out of the room.
After finishing up my studies, I packed my college books into my bag and prepared my clothes for the next day. Feeling tired, I checked the time and headed to bed. I turned off the light and drifted off to sleep.
Time Skip
As I woke up in the morning, I felt the warmth of the sun's rays on my bed. I saw Cole holding a dressed Persephone, ready for school.
"Morning," I said as I got out of bed.
"She's ready for the day. I thought I would tell you before I headed downstairs to feed her," Cole told me.
"I appreciate you letting me know," I said before they left the room, and I blew them a goodbye kiss.
I dressed into my planned outfit for the day before grabbing college and school bags. I walked out of the room and downstairs.
When I got downstairs, I saw Elijah feeding Persephone while Kate, Kyra, Jenna and Buffy poured today's smoothies.
"What's for breakfast?" I questioned.
"Breakfast burritos with..." Kate answered.
"A Blueberry-Banana Nut Smoothie to drink," Kyra finished.
I grabbed a pre-made breakfast burrito before Jeremy handed me my travel drink container. I sat down and ate my breakfast as the rest joined me before we headed off to school.
At the Milkbar factory across town, a worker opened a box that had not been sealed yet to grab a bar. The boxes claimed that they make "The Best Chocolate Bar," which was given to the high school. After removing the outer wrapper, the worker checked for any possible observers before beginning to peel back the foil.
"Trust me," Ethan Rayne said as he appeared behind him and laid his hand on his shoulder. "You don't want to eat that." He stepped around him and faced the worker before walking off.
The worker fixed his mistake before placing the bar back into its box and sealed it for shipping
Time Skip
When we got to school, the teachers were acting weird this morning. Now, it was time for Study Hall while we waited for Giles in the science classroom.
"Think fast," a boy said as he threw a wad of paper at another.
I watched as the target managed before I looked back at my laptop as I studied my notes for my last college midterm exam for my pre-med program. I heard Cordelia sigh as I looked up from my laptop.
"I heard that there was a secret rule that if a teacher's more than ten minutes later, we can all leave," Cordelia said.
"It's Giles' turn to watch study hall. He'll be here," I replied.
"Yeah. He's allergic to late," Buffy responded as she looked up from her study notes before looking at her book.
Cordelia sighed again.
"He is wound a little tight. I had this philosophy book checked out from the library for like a year, and he made me pay the fine, even though it was huge," Cordelia voiced as Buffy and I gave her a look. "I was so sad to return it." She smiled. "It was perfect for starting conversations with college boys." She laughed before saying. "Of course, that was before B.X."
"B.X?" Buffy questioned before getting a nod from Cordelia. "Before Xander."
"Clever," I told her as we went back to studying.
As I glanced to my side, I noticed Willow and Xander were sitting behind Kate and Kyra. I spotted that Xander was enjoying a chocolate bar, and his books were closed.
"I like chocolate," Xander stated as Willow looked at him. "There is no bad here."
"You still have some left," Willow said as she shrugged. "I went to like four houses, and they were gone. It's like Trick or Treating in reverse." She smiled.
"I know. These things are selling like hotcakes..." Xander replied before getting a look from Willow, Kate, Kyra and me. "Which is ironic, 'cause the hotcakes really aren't moving..."
Kate, Kyra and I noticed their knees were touching, and each leg was dangling from their stools before they brushed them against each other.
"And it's, uh, ahem, fun to sell chocolate. Ahem," Xander added.
"And we're raising a lot of money for the band," Willow replied as we spotted her calf rubbing against Xander's shin.
I observed Xander shifting his attention from Willow to his chocolate bar, eventually settling on the treat while Willow fidgeted with her pencil and reviewed her notes.
"The band. Yeah. They're great. They march," Xander mumbled as their legs continued to touch.
"Like an army," a distracted Willow said. "E-except with music instead of bullets, and... usually no one dies."
"I can't believe this," Cordelia said as she looked at them.
Willow and Xander quickly spread their legs apart, causing a loud "thunk" sound, hoping they had not been discovered.
"Where is Giles? I'm bored, and he's not here to give me credit for it," Cordelia voiced.
Kate, Kyra and I pulled out our phones and saw the time before looking at the door in concern.
Outside the classroom, Principal Snyder and Ms. Barton were walking towards the classroom as he held a chocolate bar in his hand.
"The big pinhead librarian didn't show up, and I don't wanna do it," Snyder said before pointing his chocolate bar at her. "You do it."
"Alright, fine, I'll do it," Ms. Barton replied before entering the room as she rolled her eyes.
"Everybody expects me to do everything around here because I'm the principal. It's not fair," Snyder muttered as he walked away.
Inside the room, we saw Ms. Barton walk into the room.
"Hey! We're all stuck here, okay?" Ms. Barton said as she clapped her hands while getting everyone's attention. "So now let's just sit quietly and," She gestured to a book on the teacher's desk and smiled. "And pretend we're reading." We were all confused as she continued. "until we're sure that old Commandant Snyder's gone. Then we're all out here!" She widely smiled.
"Does anyone else wanna marry Ms. Barton?" Xander and Jeremy questioned.
"Get in line," Cordelia and Kyra voiced.
"I guess Giles isn't coming?" Willow stated.
"I guess not," Buffy and I responded in concern.
We read for a bit before we were let out. We headed out with Jenna and Persephone before heading to Giles's Apartment.
After we left school, we headed to Giles's apartment. We walked to the door and stopped before Buffy peered in through the port-hole window. We spotted Giles and walked in. We closed the door behind us before we got Giles' attention.
"Girls, Jeremy," Giles said as he looked up before slipping a record into a cabinet.
"Uh... sorry. We... We were just worried. You were a big no-show in study Hall," I voiced.
"And after your lecture to us on not ducking out..." Buffy stated before we noticed Aunt Joyce was sitting on the couch.
"What's Aunt Joyce doing here?" Jeremy asked as Giles stepped over to Joyce.
"We had an opportunity for, um, you might say, a summit meeting. It took priority over study hall. I called in," Giles lied with a mouth full of chocolate.
"Oh," a confused Buffy said.
"We decided that you all made a good point earlier," Aunt Joyce voiced as she and Giles nodded.
"We did. Yeah..." Kate voiced as I could tell Buffy was very confused.
"Which was...?" Buffy questioned.
"A-about us overscheduling you all," Aunt Joyce responded before looking at Giles for support.
"Pulling you all in two directions," Giles stated as he sat on the coffee table. "Uh, your home life, college life and other duties."
"Oh. That was a good point," Kyra returned.
"We're working out a coordinated schedule for Buffy," Aunt Joyce told us.
"It'll be tight, but, uh, I think we can fit in all your responsibilities," Giles voiced as he smiled.
"Sounds nice and structured," Buffy replied with an uncertain smile.
"We've got more work to do here. Why don't you give us a little more time?" Aunt Joyce suggested as Giles got up and walked towards the fireplace mantel while staring at a picture.
"Um... Take the car, and, um, Mr. Giles can drive me home," Aunt Joyce added as she pulled her car keys out of her purse and held them over to Buffy.
"What?" a wide-eyed Buffy said as she smiled and shook her before saying. "Excuse me, I mean what?!"
"Keys. Take them," Aunt Joyce told her again.
"You don't have to tell me twice. Well, actually, you did, but..." Buffy responded as she snatched the keys. "Bye." We started our way out.
"Bye, girls, Jenna, Jeremy. Drive carefully," Aunt Joyce voiced.
Buffy didn't say a word before we headed out the door, closing it behind us. We headed to the cars before getting in and taking off. While the rest of us went home to do homework and prepare Persephone for the night, Buffy went to retrieve Willow.
Back inside the apartment, Joyce turned and faced Giles.
"Do you think they noticed anything?" Joyce asked.
"No way!" Giles responded as he turned to face her with a cigarette dangling from his lips before lighting his lighter.
Giles lit a cigarette while Joyce smiled and retrieved a hidden bottle, removed the lid, and took a sip. After closing his lighter, Giles took a drag from his cigarette and searched for another record while taking a deep breath.