Chapter 51: First Date

July 12, 2003

"You know this is very dangerous," Giles said. "I have to ask. Why on earth did you make that decision?"

Buffy shrugged as she folded her laundry. "I guess it was instinct, like you were talking about."

"I made that up!" Giles walked into the room. "I knew the Bringer was there because his shoes squeaked." He perched on the edge of her dressing table and gazed at her with real concern. "Buffy, it's crucial that we keep these girls safe. I can't count the dangers. The First, the Bringers, random demons, and now Spike."

"And the Principal," she added helpfully.

"What?" he demanded.

"He was in the school basement, holding a shovel, acting evasive," Buffy said. "Faith's looking into it since she worked with him last year. Nothing's changed, Giles. Spike had a chip before, remember? When the First had him kill all those people?"

"We have no idea if his chip was working then," he said, then took off his glasses, a sign that he was quite stressed, weary, and flummoxed. "A new chip might restrain him should The First attempt to activate him again."

"Spike has a soul now," Buffy arguing, facing him. "That's what's going to stop him from hurting people."

"Buffy . . ." Giles began.

"He can be a good man, Giles. I feel it. But he's never going to get there if we don't give him the chance."

"I believe my goddaughter is correct, Rupert," Sirius said as he stepped into the room.

Giles sighed; he knew he was being outvoted on this. He walked out of the room, and called after Buffy and Sirius calmly, "Well, I hope you both are right. You both are gambling with a lot of lives."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the living room, it was Willow who was folding laundry in their vast commune of Potentials and their socks and underwear. She asked cheerily, "So, he asked you out to dinner?"

"Yeah," Faith said. "I don't know how to be girlfriend material, Red. I mean Sirius is definitely hot. Why do you think he asked me out? I mean, he could be interested, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Willow said, rolling socks. "You're a frisky vixen."

Faith laughed at the imagery that Willow had just put into her head. "And you are married."

"Doesn't mean I can't notice, Faith," Willow said. "Buffy understands that I love her and that looking at other girls doesn't detract from that, because it reminds me how much I love her. Now all that said. Why did you want Buffy to go on a date with your boss?"

"Because I couldn't," Faith answered. "When he caught me snooping in his office, he wanted to go out tonight. I told him that I was already going out tonight and that I could set him up on a blind date if he wanted."

The front door opened. "Hey, someone's here," Willow said.

That someone was Xander, who entered much with the joy and said, "Guys, guess what happened."

"Buffy and Faith both have dates," Willow answered.

"No. I do!" Then he gave Faith and Willow a friendly grrr look and said, "Fine. Way to steal my thunder."

"Sorry," Faith said. "It if makes you feel better, Buffy's date is with Principal Wood, and we think he's aligned with The First. Mine's with Sirius."

Xander's protective eyebrows shot up. "Sirius is what at least fifteen years older than you, right?"

"So?" Faith asked. "What does age have to do anything?"

"Nothing really," Xander said. "But Faith we both know you. Are you ready for this?"

"I've been asking myself that question since Sirius and I went to the Bronze the other night," Faith admitted.

"How about yours, Xander. Is she evil?" Willow asked.

"Well, she's interested in me, so there's a good chance, but I'm hoping for the best," he announced. "We're going for coffee. She has a kayak."

Then Giles, Dawn and the new Potential, Chao-Ahn, burst through the door. They were carrying large and colorful shopping bags.

"Dear Lord," Giles said. "I hate that mall. The shop assistants are rude. And everything in the food court is sticky."

"As they are supposed to be," Dawn said with a roll of her eyes.

"That's got to be rough," Xander said. "Getting pulled out of your home, being told you're a Potential Slayer, not being able to bring anything."

"Yes," Giles concurred, as Chao-Ahn looked on blankly. "And the language barrier is formidable. I was concerned that my Mandarin is a little thin, but as it turns out, she speaks Cantonese, which is . . . thinner. But we muddled through." He beamed proudly. "And, as I suspected, ice cream is a universal language."

"Is that why Chao-Ahn gave me hers?" Dawn asked. "If I remember right. Some of the Asian population are actually lactose intolerant."

"Really?" Giles said as Dawn nodded. "You could have told me that, Dawn." To the new girl, he said in a loud, slow voice, "Let go and put away your new clothes."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At Buffy's request Willow searched for data on Principal Wood; Buffy, Dawn, and Harry looking over her shoulder.

"I've Googled till I just can't Google no more," Willow asserted.

"It's alright, baby," Buffy said as she took Willow's hand in hers and kissed it.

Then Anya and Giles stomped into the room, Anya with a stack of papers. She handed them to Willow and said, "Giles made these for Chao-Ahn, and now she's locked herself in the bathroom."

"Those are flashcards," Giles said. "I—I made them to facilitate her training. Chao-Ahn never had a Watcher."

Crude black-and-white stick figures were swathed in blood as they were menaced by various knife-wielding evildoers labeled VAMPIRE and BRINGER.

"Are you crazy?" Buffy asked looking at the drawings. "No wonder she's locked in the bathroom. You just scared her out of her wits." She looked toward her sister. "Would you be kind, Dawn, and try and comfort her?"

Dawn knew why Buffy asked her, she could get around a locked door. She opened a portal and stepped through.

"Perhaps I'll rethink the approach," Giles conceded.

Then they invited him to help research Principal Wood, and that was the first Giles heard about the date.

"You're going on a date?" he asked, blinking.

"Recon," Buffy said. "Faith and I think it looked odd him being in the basement of the school the day we covered over the seal. Plus, Faith and Xander said his office is right where the library used to be and guess what is underneath it?"

"The seal," Giles said. "You are looking in to it to make sure he is not evil then?"

"Yeah," Buffy said, "since Faith herself can't do it."

"Why can't Faith?" Giles asked.

"She's on a date with Sirius," Buffy answered.

"For God's sake!" Giles cried. "How can anyone think about their social life? We're about to fight the original, primal evil. These girls are in mortal danger. This isn't right!"

"And you do know this is Faith we're talking about, right?" Buffy asked. "The girl that always only ever had one-night stands."

Giles looked at Buffy and then nodded, Buffy was right. For Faith going on a serious date was cause to be happy. It meant she was finally putting her past behind her. "You are right, of course."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"This isn't right," Buffy said, hesitating as Principal Wood—let's call him Robin—led her down a small dark alley.

"I know it doesn't look promising," he said, "but I swear this place is great. The best-kept secret in town. It's just down this way."

They headed into the alley, and then . . . vamps attacked!

They came at them from the shadows, surrounding them, and Buffy got into melee mode. She vaulted over one to land on the back of another, staking him through the back, and landing on the ground while he dusted under her.

Then she kicked out with her feet from that position to work on the other two; she was dusting another one and then doing a flip and shouting at her date, "You set me up!"

And then she had the chance to observe him in action and he dusted two vamps in quick succession, pffft pffft,—yeeeea! just like that.

He held out a hand to help her up.

"The restaurant's right there," he said.

The restaurant was intimate and romantic, just the place for good food and true confessions, as Robin opened up to Buffy about the battle they'd just won.

"I've had a little practice," he allowed. "Never took on two at once before, but I've taken out a vamp here or there. And some demons."

"So, you're . . . freelance?" she asked.

"Freelance." He considered that. "Yes, I guess that would be a good way to put it."

"And you know who I am?" she asked him.

"Well I knew who Faith was, I didn't know about you till now. Which of you was called first?" he asked.

"I was," Buffy said. "I died then, Kendra, my replacement was called, then my friend Xander performed CPR and brought me back. Then Kendra died and Faith was called. Then Faith flatlined on an operating table last year, and my sister was called then Faith was brought back by the doctors."

"I knew that Faith had been in the hospital last summer," he said as Buffy looked at him quizzically. "She told me. Didn't tell me about flatlining though. So, your sister is Faith's replacement? I didn't know that one family could have more than one Potential. Of course, I don't know many Potentials that were left with their families after being found either."

"So," Buffy said. "I'm guessing that you don't work in an office about fifteen feet over a Hellmouth because you love educational administration."

He grinned at her. "I actually do enjoy the work, but you're right, I maneuvered myself into that school, that office, just like I maneuvered Faith there. The Hellmouth draws the bad things in close, and now we're headed for something big, Buffy. Really big." His demeanor lost all traces of amusement. "Really big, and I need to be here where it happens. I want to help."

"So, you didn't want Faith for her counseling skills?" she asked obliquely.

He burst into a flurry of laughter then caught himself and assured her, quite seriously, "They're valuable, too."

"Why didn't you tell her about you?" she asked, cocking her head.

"I wasn't sure about things yet. Not sure I was ready yet. Now the fight is starting and I don't have time to worry anymore. I have to do something."

"So, you knew who Faith was before you even came here," she said. "How do you know about Slayers?"

He nodded, as if they were getting down to brass tacks. "See, when I was a little boy, my mother was one. The one, actually. The Slayer."

"Your moth . . ." She caught her breath, shaken. "Wow. I didn't know that any Slayers had children."

"Well, I don't know of any others," he conceded. "She was killed when I was four. I still remember her, but it's a little . . ." He searched for a word. "Fuzzy? You know?"

"My birth mother died when my brother was a year old and my adopted mother died a little over two years ago," said Buffy. "So, I have some idea. Anyways something got your mother ... a demon?"

"A vampire." He got a faraway look in his eyes. "I went through this whole 'avenging son' phase in my twenties, but I never found him. So now I just dust as many of them as I can find. I figure eventually I'll get him. That's probably why we got jumped outside. I'm not very popular with the bumpy forehead crowd. I bet you aren't, either."

Buffy shook her head. "No. Not most of them. Um, so, do you have any Slayer powers?" She laughed self-consciously. "I'm sorry, I—I'm just so floored. I—I have no idea what to ask."

"No, I don't have powers," he told her. "No super-strength or mythic responsibilities. I'm just a guy with a few skills 'cause her Watcher took me in and raised me."

"So, your intention for asking Faith here originally was you were going to tell her? In a darkened, little romantic French restaurant?"

"Yeah," he said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"See, I knew it," Xander said, resigned.

He and his date, Lissa, were in the Sunnydale High School basement. His date had tied him on the wheel Spike had been bound to in order to be tortured, also for bleeding all over the Seal of Danthalzar, once more uncovered.

Lissa had changed into something more comfortable, a slinky High Priestess outfit all black and shiny like her hair.

"Thanks for your help selecting the ropes," she said. "The one I picked wasn't strong enough."

"Yeah, that would've been bad," he said. "Listen, is this because I'm a friend of Buffy, Faith and Dawn?"

"Who is Buffy, Faith and Dawn?"

"The Slayers," he answered miserably.

"You know the Slayers?" She was impressed.

She started winching up the rope, and the cross-works wheel started rising into the air. "This can't just happen," Xander groaned. "It just can't keep happening that demon women find me attractive. There's got to be a reason."

"You just seem like a nice guy. That's all," Lissa replied. "And I wanted to get to know you."

"And kill me?" Xander asked shrilly.

"Sure," she said pleasantly. "Do the ropes hurt?"

"Yes," Xander told her.

She smiled. "Good."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the living room, Willow, Dawn and Harry briefed Anya, Spike, and Giles on what had happened as they listened into a conversation that Andrew had with The First. Dawn tried to peel the tape off Andrew's chest that held the wire in place.

"So, we're thinking," Willow said in summation, "it didn't go too well."

As Dawn worked on the tape, she said to Andrew, "You should let me do this fast."

"No. No, no. I hate that. Ow!"

Spike couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You tried to record the ultimate evil? Why? In a complex effort to royally piss it off?"

"Guess we succeeded pretty good, huh?" Harry asked as he looked at his sister-in-law.

"God, I never should have gone in wired." He made his whiny Andrew moan. "Redemption is hard."

Giles frowned. "Getting back to Spike's question, why did you try to record it?"

"To study it," Willow told him, over more of Andrew's mewling. "To see if we could figure something out from what it was saying. Because, guys, we have to face it. We know nothing about The First."

"Well, we know not to record it," Anya ventured. "That's something."

"Why did it appear to this one, then?" Spike persisted, waving a hand at Andrew. "I thought it was supposed to be pulling my strings."

"It said it wasn't time for you yet," Andrew said. Spike reacted to that with a very concerned frown. Then Andrew said, "Ow," as Dawn pulled off the last piece of tape. "Ow. I'm frightened. And my chest hurts where the tape was."

"It's okay, Andrew. You did good. You stood up to it. That's really amazing," Dawn said.

Andrew smiled at her. "Thank you. You're a peach."

"And I'm gay, okay?" Dawn said. "With a girlfriend."

Anya said, "Yeah. What did it want you to do, anyway?"

"Get a gun. Shoot all the girls," Andrew told her.

"The Potentials," Dawn said.

"This proves my point," Giles said. "This is a crucial time. We need to circle our wagons and stop doing things like going out on dates when gunplay is imminent. Willow, call Buffy and Faith. Get them back here. We need to figure out our next move."

"I'll go get them," Dawn said as Willow's cell phone chirped. "Bet that's Buffy. Probably already on her way back."

Willow checked the phone. "No, it's a text message. From Xander. It's one of our signals. The system we set up awhile back. Like codes." She frowned thoughtfully. "Uh, this one's either 'I just got lucky, don't call me for a while' or 'my date's a demon who's trying to kill me.'"

"You don't remember which?" Dawn asked.

Willow shrugged, made a face. "It was a long time ago."

Dawn ventured, "Well, if we play the percentages . . ."

"Something's eating Xander's head," Giles finished.

"I'll portal to Buffy and Faith first," Dawn said. "Then I will take them immediately to Xander." She opened a portal and then stepped through it.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn stepped out of a portal into an alley outside the French restaurant. She made her way inside just in time to hear Buffy say to Robin. "Oh, my God, that might be the best thing I've ever had in my mouth."

Dawn's eyes went wide as she moved beside her sister. "You better not be cheating on Will, Buffy."

Buffy looked at Dawn and smiled. "I'm not, Dawn. He already knows I'm gay." She looked toward Robin. "My sister."

"Ah, the newest Slayer," he replied.

"He's the son of a Slayer, who was raised by her Watcher after she died," Buffy explained when she saw Dawn's quizzical look. "What are you doing here?"

"Xander's in trouble," Dawn said. "You were my first stop. Next stop was Faith and Sirius. Then we would go get Xander."

Robin paid for the meal and then he led them out of the restaurant. He started down the alley.

"If you think we need a car, we don't," Dawn called after Robin who turned to look at her. She smiled as she opened a portal.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Xander smirked as a portal snapped into existence and out stepped Buffy, Faith, Sirius, Dawn and Robin.

Buffy, Faith and Dawn turned and fought Lissa. Robin and Sirius moved to free Xander. As they eased him down, one of the triangles on the Seal cracked open and the taloned hand of some hideous creature shot through. It grabbed Robin's leg.

Sirius threw Xander away from the Seal, cutting off the steady supply of blood. The triangle slammed shut, severing the arm.

From beneath the Seal, there was a scream.

"Thanks," Robin said looking at Sirius.

Meanwhile, Faith and Dawn launched themselves at Lissa, hitting her high and knocking her back. Buffy was ready. When the demon flipped to her feet, Buffy swung with a sword she'd wrenched away from the demon and whacked off her head.

The headless body morphed into a pinkish humanoid shape with hairy shoulders, shark teeth, and black stitches.

Robin checked on Xander. Sirius moved over to Buffy, Faith and Dawn checking them for injuries.

Then Sirius, Faith, Dawn and Buffy moved over to Xander and Robin.

"I think your friend's going to be okay," Robin said.

Xander grimaced and said to Sirius, "So, how's your date going?"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the Summers residence, those who were dateless awaited the arrival of those who were not.

"Where are they?" Anya said angrily. "I can't believe Buffy, Faith and Dawn haven't brought him home yet. His slut ate him up."

"His slut didn't eat him up," Willow cut in. "And besides, I thought you were all angry at him."

"My feelings are changeable but intense," Anya replied.

"I understand your fear, Anya," Andrew commiserated. "I know fear myself, because, you know, I, um, enraged that primal force."

Then Giles walked in with a glass of milk, looked around, and said, "They're not back yet?"

Chao-Ahn came down the stairs and said in Cantonese, "Why is everyone up? Are the flashcard monsters attacking?"

"She says she can't sleep," Giles told the others.

Suddenly a portal snapped into existence and Buffy, Dawn, Sirius, Faith and Xander stepped out of it.

"What happened?" Willow asked as she moved quickly toward her wife and began running her hands over Buffy looking for any injuries.

"What do you think happened?" Xander asked.

"I'm okay, baby," Buffy said.

"Another demon woman was attracted to me." As Anya looked disgusted, Xander said, "I'm going gay. I've decided I'm turning gay." He gestured to Willow, Dawn and Buffy. "Willow, Dawn, Buffy, gay me up. Come on. Let's gay."

"What?" Willow, Buffy and Dawn asked, startled.

"You heard me. Just tell me what to do. I'm mentally undressing Scott Bakula right now. That's a start, isn't it?"

Andrew closed his eyes and said dreamily, "Captain Archer." He nodded.

"Come on, let's get this gay show on the gay road. Help me out here," Xander said.

Amused, Buffy said, "What if you just start attracting male demons?"

Dawn giggled. "Clem always liked you."

"Children, enough," Giles ordered.

"I'd need some stylish new clothes," Xander continued.

"Enough!" Giles bellowed. "Have you learned nothing from tonight's assorted chaos? There's no time for fun and games and . . . and quipping about orientation." He picked up his flashcards. "These aren't a joke. This . . . happens. Girls are going to die. We may die. It's time to get serious."

With that, he stalked out of the room.

Sirius followed Giles and found the Watcher in the kitchen. "Rupert," he said. "Yes, they need to be serious about what's coming. But can you deny them the ability to be happy? Especially when all is said and done, we could die and then they would never know what it meant to be happy and in love?"

Giles looked at Sirius knowing the man was right. If they died tomorrow, they had the right to at least experience what it meant to be happy and in love so that when the battle with The First came they could go into it knowing they could potentially die with no regrets. "You are right, of course, Sirius."