Fic: Hello Again (2/8)
Title: Hello Again, Ch. 02: Dinner and a Guessing Game.
Author: mirrored_illusions aka 3am_moonlight.
Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Stargate Atlantis.
Rating: Gen.
Word Count: 1,030 (chapter) / 10, 215 (complete).
Timeline: Post-Chosen / SGA S04/05.
Disclaimer: Both BtVS and SGA belongs to someone who definitely isn't yours truly.
Summary: Buffy and John eat dinner and John keep trying to get Buffy to tell him her name.
Author's Note: This follows 2017's "A Face Full of Dust", and this years ' Hello Again'.
Meh, the day needs more than 24 hours, because work is definitely interfering with my writing time. *pouts*
AKA, this is very rough around the edges.
Author's Note 2: Written for the 2018 August Fic-A-Day, Day 3.
Three days later and Buffy's inbox was suspiciously free of any emails from her intergalactic acquaintance. Truthfully, she'd expected there to be at least one email waiting for her the day after her visit, at the latest. But there was nothing. Nada. Nill. Not even an email simply saying 'hi'. Huh.
John had invited her out to a working dinner. It wouldn't actually be work, as much as him attempting to convince her to come and work on his base. It was no doubt also an attempt to wheedle information out of her, particularly her name, but she was having too much fun withholding it. And Daniel and his people were playing along for whatever reason. They appeared to have given their tacit approval for whatever they thought she was doing, or not doing as the case might be since they hadn't tried to interfere in any way. Which was of the good. Less military in her orbit was good. Definitely.
Right now she was standing on the curb waiting for John to pick her up. Before she'd left his hotel room he'd told her he'd pick her up at 8, so not knowing how punctual he was she'd managed to get there early. Five minutes to eight, but it counted as early! Right after she'd stopped and begun looking at the passing cars to see if he was in one of them, a yellow taxi came up beside her and Buffy could see her 'date' in the backseat. He smiled and motioned for her to get in. From what she could see of his outfit he'd gone for casually nice; new black jeans, what looked like a dark green t-shirt, and a reasonably new black leather jacket over it.
Buffy definitely approved, but he wasn't snuggle-bunny material. Nope. She could still enjoy the view though. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him checking her out as she got into the car and got settled. She had briefly considered wearing a skirt or a dress, but given his trouble magnet potential she'd opted for a pair of nice black slacks, and a pink blouse with roses printed on it. Pants were much easier to fight in and they also meant a much lesser chance of flashing someone unintentionally. Not that she'd even flashed anyone, intentionally or not, but the possibility was always there.
"So, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard of the United States Air Force," she grinned mischievously at him, "where are we going?" He'd told the driver to go, so no help there. John had no doubt filled him in on the plan to pick her up on the way to their destination.
Clearly, he was in a good mood, as he easily replied, "Well, my Queen Bee, we're going for this semi-casual Italian place. It's only five minutes away and their food is magnificent." He paused then added, "I haven't been there in a few years, but it's an old family owned business, so it should still be great."
They spent the rest of the drive chatting easily about nothing in particular, and soon they were seated in the restaurant and waiting for their food to arrive. As he was familiar with the place she let him order for her. She wasn't picky, as long as the food wasn't prepared by Dawn and her weird habit of combining things that should never be mixed together.
"So, I've been wondering, "John commented, "'B.A.S.' are your initials, right?" She nodded, and he continued. "Bad Ass Soldier? Bulletproof Assassin Slaughter? Boudicca Artemis, um..." He thought for a few moments, "Shieldmaiden?"
Buffy laughed outright at that. "My name isn't nearly as interesting as any of those, nor as mythical." Her destiny was definitely mythical and mystical, at least to those not in the know. It was all much to real for her sometimes.
Their food arrived to distract her dinner partner, at least long enough for the waiter to arrange their food elegantly on the table and make some polite small talk. Apparently, their waiter recognized John and offered his condolences regarding Mr. Sheppard's death before leaving. Temporarily sidetracked from the guessing game, they began eating and John was soon proven right: the food was absolutely delicious!
However, once they'd eaten their fill, John turned the topic back to her name.
"Come on, just your given name! Jackson knows, and probably others in the program as well. We're the ones talking. Shouldn't I know who I'm talking to?" He gave her the charming smile again, and yes, he was right. But...
She returned the smile with a glint in her eye, "You should, but I fell like being mysterious. My name doesn't sound anything like Queen Boudicca, or Artemis. But I'm sure my friends back home would laugh themselves silly if I ever told them you called me a shieldmaiden." Her lips twitched, it was sort of fitting. Who knew, maybe one of the Scandinavian shieldmaidens had really been Slayers. Or the stories of them were based on Slayers who had lived back then. If she asked Giles he would probably tell her.
"Not a fitting title, according to them? They've never seen you fight?" He was about to continue when his cell phone interrupted him.
"I thought you didn't have one of those?
While he fumbled for the offending device, he replied. "Err. Someone just handed it to me, so they could reach me while I'm on Ea-, while I'm Stateside." Buffy laughed.
As the conversation continued it became clear their dinner would get an early end, and rather than wait for the inevitable, she got herself ready to leave.
"I'm sorry to be the one to cut it short, but there's an emergency on base. Raincheck on the dessert?"
He truly looked apologetic, but what could you do? Bad guys didn't care about your social life.
"It's okay, go. I'll be fine."
Truthfully, she'd had fun, and she had expected it to be her who had to run out, not him, but emergencies were emergencies no matter their origin. He left in a hurry, while she walked much more sedately from the restaurant and hailed a taxi.
Author: mirrored_illusions aka 3am_moonlight.
Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Stargate Atlantis.
Rating: Gen.
Word Count: 1,030 (chapter) / 10, 215 (complete).
Timeline: Post-Chosen / SGA S04/05.
Disclaimer: Both BtVS and SGA belongs to someone who definitely isn't yours truly.
Summary: Buffy and John eat dinner and John keep trying to get Buffy to tell him her name.
Author's Note: This follows 2017's "A Face Full of Dust", and this years ' Hello Again'.
Meh, the day needs more than 24 hours, because work is definitely interfering with my writing time. *pouts*
AKA, this is very rough around the edges.
Author's Note 2: Written for the 2018 August Fic-A-Day, Day 3.
Three days later and Buffy's inbox was suspiciously free of any emails from her intergalactic acquaintance. Truthfully, she'd expected there to be at least one email waiting for her the day after her visit, at the latest. But there was nothing. Nada. Nill. Not even an email simply saying 'hi'. Huh.
John had invited her out to a working dinner. It wouldn't actually be work, as much as him attempting to convince her to come and work on his base. It was no doubt also an attempt to wheedle information out of her, particularly her name, but she was having too much fun withholding it. And Daniel and his people were playing along for whatever reason. They appeared to have given their tacit approval for whatever they thought she was doing, or not doing as the case might be since they hadn't tried to interfere in any way. Which was of the good. Less military in her orbit was good. Definitely.
Right now she was standing on the curb waiting for John to pick her up. Before she'd left his hotel room he'd told her he'd pick her up at 8, so not knowing how punctual he was she'd managed to get there early. Five minutes to eight, but it counted as early! Right after she'd stopped and begun looking at the passing cars to see if he was in one of them, a yellow taxi came up beside her and Buffy could see her 'date' in the backseat. He smiled and motioned for her to get in. From what she could see of his outfit he'd gone for casually nice; new black jeans, what looked like a dark green t-shirt, and a reasonably new black leather jacket over it.
Buffy definitely approved, but he wasn't snuggle-bunny material. Nope. She could still enjoy the view though. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him checking her out as she got into the car and got settled. She had briefly considered wearing a skirt or a dress, but given his trouble magnet potential she'd opted for a pair of nice black slacks, and a pink blouse with roses printed on it. Pants were much easier to fight in and they also meant a much lesser chance of flashing someone unintentionally. Not that she'd even flashed anyone, intentionally or not, but the possibility was always there.
"So, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard of the United States Air Force," she grinned mischievously at him, "where are we going?" He'd told the driver to go, so no help there. John had no doubt filled him in on the plan to pick her up on the way to their destination.
Clearly, he was in a good mood, as he easily replied, "Well, my Queen Bee, we're going for this semi-casual Italian place. It's only five minutes away and their food is magnificent." He paused then added, "I haven't been there in a few years, but it's an old family owned business, so it should still be great."
They spent the rest of the drive chatting easily about nothing in particular, and soon they were seated in the restaurant and waiting for their food to arrive. As he was familiar with the place she let him order for her. She wasn't picky, as long as the food wasn't prepared by Dawn and her weird habit of combining things that should never be mixed together.
"So, I've been wondering, "John commented, "'B.A.S.' are your initials, right?" She nodded, and he continued. "Bad Ass Soldier? Bulletproof Assassin Slaughter? Boudicca Artemis, um..." He thought for a few moments, "Shieldmaiden?"
Buffy laughed outright at that. "My name isn't nearly as interesting as any of those, nor as mythical." Her destiny was definitely mythical and mystical, at least to those not in the know. It was all much to real for her sometimes.
Their food arrived to distract her dinner partner, at least long enough for the waiter to arrange their food elegantly on the table and make some polite small talk. Apparently, their waiter recognized John and offered his condolences regarding Mr. Sheppard's death before leaving. Temporarily sidetracked from the guessing game, they began eating and John was soon proven right: the food was absolutely delicious!
However, once they'd eaten their fill, John turned the topic back to her name.
"Come on, just your given name! Jackson knows, and probably others in the program as well. We're the ones talking. Shouldn't I know who I'm talking to?" He gave her the charming smile again, and yes, he was right. But...
She returned the smile with a glint in her eye, "You should, but I fell like being mysterious. My name doesn't sound anything like Queen Boudicca, or Artemis. But I'm sure my friends back home would laugh themselves silly if I ever told them you called me a shieldmaiden." Her lips twitched, it was sort of fitting. Who knew, maybe one of the Scandinavian shieldmaidens had really been Slayers. Or the stories of them were based on Slayers who had lived back then. If she asked Giles he would probably tell her.
"Not a fitting title, according to them? They've never seen you fight?" He was about to continue when his cell phone interrupted him.
"I thought you didn't have one of those?
While he fumbled for the offending device, he replied. "Err. Someone just handed it to me, so they could reach me while I'm on Ea-, while I'm Stateside." Buffy laughed.
As the conversation continued it became clear their dinner would get an early end, and rather than wait for the inevitable, she got herself ready to leave.
"I'm sorry to be the one to cut it short, but there's an emergency on base. Raincheck on the dessert?"
He truly looked apologetic, but what could you do? Bad guys didn't care about your social life.
"It's okay, go. I'll be fine."
Truthfully, she'd had fun, and she had expected it to be her who had to run out, not him, but emergencies were emergencies no matter their origin. He left in a hurry, while she walked much more sedately from the restaurant and hailed a taxi.