Vacation shopping

[queen_cordette]

Who: Lilah, Cordelia and Wesley (w. Max)
When: After Wes spontaneously booked a cruise
Where: First at Wes' home then the mall
What: Clothes and supply shopping for a vacation
Status: Incomplete

Comments

[vicious_bmantle]

Lilah could obviously give a damn if anyone thought that Max was being a little loud. It was a damn shop for kids, for gods' sake. Did they expect children to be well behaved, considering the tiny clothing they carried in here? Children that little tended to get easily excited. Besides, Lilah could buy these people off easily if they got too fussy. That would put a sock in their mouthss quick if they said anything.

Lilah listened as the woman told him that they actually didn't have a toy corner. Really? Most decent places had somewhere for the kid to play while the parents (or 'aunt' if you could consider Lilah even that) looked at clothing. "Are you sure?" Lilah asked her. "I'd like to look around without worrying that Max might get too fussy and we have to leave before we purchase anything.

That seemed to perk the woman right up, though, pointing them to a corner of the store that, while it didn't have much (they obviously weren't prepared for someone who looked as rich as Lilah did to come in and offer to spend money, apparently), did have a few comfy chairs and the room for a child to play and not be running through the store, tearing through things. It was also visible from all points in the store, luckily.

"Did you bring anything for him to play with, Wes?" Lilah asked him, smiling.

[watcher_pryce]

Sarcasm was lost on this woman. Not surprising, most Americans, Wesley had found, didn't seem to grasp his sarcasm. It made him appreciate those afternoon tea's with Giles even more, were they'd sit around and talk about old teachers they had both known. It was actually mocking them, but one wouldn't know it if one didn't get sarcasm.

Wesley decided not to waste any more effort on this women, though sometimes the sarcasm just came out automatically. He didn't even realise it was out of his mouth until he noticed the other person's face. Of course those *would* be the time he'd run into someone who got the sarcasm.

With as sigh he put Max down again. The boy's hands curled around the handle of the buggy once more. Well, the lower part of it, he'd have to wait a year or two before the little one could reach the actual handles.

"Walkies!" Max declared happily, while the women looked down at the boy in with what could only be described as--disdained. Not that it mattered much, Max took two wobbly steps forward and then two back again.

"Hmmm?" Wesley looked up from where he was smiling down at Max and frowned. "Well other then Feigenbaum, not really no. They usually have toys at the stores." He had some snacks and packets for the boy to drink. But he didn't think *that* was a clever thing to be giving in here.

"I'd ah-- r-rather keep close to him, if you don't mind," Wesley said as the woman discreetly had distanced herself from them. Ever since the whole prophecy containing Max, Wesley hadn't left the boys side. Cordelia was calling it paranoid to the max and had been threatening - weakly - with an intervention.

"Dadda! Lellow! Dada lellow!" Max interrupted, waving some sort of-- shirt, shorts, skirt? Wesley had no idea - he had somehow managed to get hold of around.

"Oh bugger," Wesley muttered, quickly crouching down next to Max and pry the garment out of the boys surprisingly strong fingers.

"Ugger!" Max agreed solemnly.

"Dam--Max, you're not supposed to say that," Wesley scolded, turning a little red. Especially when the boy gave him the look that read 'but you said it too!' "I'm sorry about that," he mumbled toward the sales woman.

[vicious_bmantle]

It wasn't that sarcasm was lost on Lilah in particular, but she just liked to ignore it to infuriate the user. Besides, Wes was very amusing when he got flabbergasted or frustrated. Now, she didn't mean angry, because he could be very scary when he was angry, but he was hilarious when he was flustered in some way or another. Did Lilah abuse the ease it took to frustrate him for laughs? Only sometimes. Did she also enjoy it when others exasperated him? All the time.

"The better stores usually do have toys," Lilah said, looking pointedly at the salesclerk for a moment when she said it before looking back at Wes. "I think we can keep a decent eye on him while we shop, though." Lilah couldn't help but lord her status over a salesclerk. She had worked damn hard for the money she had. She had literally sold her soul for it. Should people wait on her hand and foot now because she had money? Well, yes. That was how the world worked, as far as Lilah had ever seen.

Lilah stated to laugh when Max repeated 'bugger' or tried to after Wes said it. "You got to watch your mother around children," she said to Wes while still chuckling. "They take in things like that like a sponge, and, soon enough, he'll be calling you all sorts of interesting things." She paused. "Might want to keep him away from that blond vampire then. Who knows what words he'll pick up from him."

She looked around and picked up a few clothes, not even looking at the price tags. Lilah never did a think like looked at the price tags. Why would she? It wasn't like she was short on money or anything like that.

[watcher_pryce]

"Yes, I'm finding that out," Wesley muttered, giving a giggling Max a scolding look. The look turned sheepish apologetic as he glanced at the sales woman. She had a look of utter disapproval on her face but it soon turned to what Wesley referred to as the 'tooth paste' smile as soon as Lilah looked her way. Cordelia was good at that smile and it looked a thousand times *less* fake then the one this woman was currently sporting.

Maybe he should let Max go for a little while. Just a little while. If they were lucky the boy would ruin that hideous 'lellow' garment he so magically was being drawn too apparently.

"Spike?" Wesley asked, trailing after Lilah like a good little puppy. He was in 'shopping mode', something which he had learned the many times he'd gone to the mall or a centre with Cordelia. It was an automatism by now. "How do you know-- Well, of course you know Spike. Everyone seems to know Spike."

Or Angel. The only two vampire's with a soul. Wesley sometimes joked that the souls must've been on sale with the K-mart of some such. Buy one get one for free. No one seemed to find this funny though. Must be British humour, he should share this with Giles sometimes, see what his fellow country man would say.

Wesley kept an eye on Max as the boy stomped around the store while Lilah seemed to use her expert eye to pick out clothes for Max. "I thought we were here for swimming trunks," Wesley muttered, pulling his son's grabby little hand away from something that seemed like a swimming trunk. As Wesley tilted his head and looked at the price tag his eyes were threatening to budge out. He turned a shade paler so much one could mistake *him* for a vampire.

"This much for a small piece of fabric?" he breathed, gaping at the price tag. "That's ridiculous!" he hissed. "Lilah," he hurried Max along - who though it was funny if the squeals of delight were anything to go by - while looking around to see if anyone had noticed his plight. "Did you see the bloody price on these?"

[vicious_bmantle]

"Actually, I wasn't looking at the price tag," Lilah pointed out to him. She never looked at price tags when she shopped. It was something that, frankly, she hadn't had to do in such a long time that now she barely noticed the slips of paper dangling off clothing until she removed them when she got home with her purchases. She bet that Cordelia Chase wished she could still do that!

"And we are here for swimming trunk," Lilah told Wes. "However, we're also here for just general vacation clothing. Does Max have comfy shorts and shirts that are good for running around a hot cruise ship in?" Considering the weather in this place, she sort of doubted it. That was certainly one thing that she missed about LA and California in general: the ability to wear short skirts year round. Certainly couldn't do that here.

She looked at him and smiled. "I'm telling you, don't worry about the prices for once," she said to him. "Think of it as a gift, anyway." She looked him over quickly. "And I know we'll have to get you clothes suitable for a cruise, too, won't we? Thank god that you gave up that weird obsession with suits you had once upon a time, but nothing of what you own says 'vacationer.'" Actually, it all said 'demon hunter,' which, while that's what he was, that wasn't all that he was.

"Think of all of this as a gift for taking me on vacation with you, if you will," she said to him. If nothing else, she did desperately need a vacation. She wanted to get away from this place, even if it was for only a few short weeks. The fact that it would be with Wes and Max? All the better.

[watcher_pryce]

"I figured as much," Wesley muttered, grabbing Max hand before the boy could grab some even more expensive garment from the rack. Well, not so much a rack as a-- Well, Wesley wasn't certain what to call it, since nothing here really would come from just an ordinary rack would it? It was the sort of store Lilah would shop in because she knew Cordelia would know. It was as if women were able to just look at a piece of clothing and know where it was bought.

"Maximilian has shirts and shorts," Wesley protested. They were from last summer so the possibility that the boy would still fit in those was... next to none. But Max had summer clothes! Yes, he needed new ones, but did they have to be so bloody expensive? It was going to be for one summer and then he could give them away to charity again. Wesley was rather uncomfortable in this store where breathing alone seemed to cost a thousand dollars.

"Lilah, really, he'll fall and tear his clothes get them dirty and-- wait. What was wrong with my suits?" Subconsciously he smoothed out the shirt of a suit he was no longer wearing. Hadn't worn in a long time. Actually, he had only ever owned two suits, a number of shirt and ties. That was all he could afford in the hope that the suit would make him look smart, intelligent, suave... older.

"Those were good suits," he muttered sulkily, crouching down to pick up Max since the boy kept trying to tear things down. "Made by the best tailor in London." Had cost him a bloody month's pay per jacket! At least he'd gotten the slacks with a discount.

"And if you think you can buy me short you have another thing coming," he added, now that he was on the protesting chair anyway. "I've never worn shorts in my life and I'm not about to start--oh my god, you're thinking of buying me swim gear as well aren't you?" Blue eyes went wide as if the idea alone was preposterous.

"This is really to much to... Oh." Well. If she put it that way. It wasn't that Wesley was rich. The house alone had cost them a fortune but most of that had been paid with what Fred had left them. Which had actually been a surprising lot. So Wesley had *some* money left, but he was lucky that it was off season and Max was travelling mostly for free due to his age. So if she put it that way then... it was still too expensive.

"Alright, alright," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "How about this then... Max, stop trying to tear down the store... Why don't we go somewhere a bit--" he lowered his voice so the sales women who stood at a not so appropriate distance pretending not to listening, "--cheaper at least. I wont be very comfortable having him run around in a shirt that cost more then what I make in a month."

[vicious_bmantle]

Maybe that was a *part* of the reason that Lilah wanted to shop here. She knew that it would drive Cordelia up the wall to know that *she* had bought Max nice things that Cordelia herself could not afford. However, there was also a bigger reason: she actually liked Wes and Max. Honestly, probably the only two people around that she liked. So, she wanted to indulge them. She didn't have any family to speak up to shower presents upon. So, Max and Wes got the bulk of that urge when she occasionally got it. Like now.

"He has old shirts and shorts, since I know you haven't went shopping for summer clothes yet this year," she told him. "I'm willing to bet that they no longer fit the beautiful growing boy that you have." Yes, flatter him some to get him to loosen up. It only helped that she was also telling the truth. "And yes, your suits were nice. All two of them." Oh, Lilah had an eye for detail, and knew that he had recycled suits like that. "And you need some sort of vacation wear, which *does* include a swimsuit, even if it never touches water. What are you going to do? Sit on the cruise ship in a sweater and jeans? You'll boil to death."

At least he finally realized who was really going to be paying for this little shopping trip, which is why he really shouldn't worry about clothing prices. Who else was she going to spend money on? The other loads of friends that she actually didn't have? Entertaining people at parties that she didn't throw?

She laughed when he told Max to stop trying to tear down the store. "If you insist," he said to him. "He should have clothes that last more than a couple of washes, though. Still, I know of a few other places that I think you'll be more comfortable at."

"And you're getting a swimsuit if I have to put it on you myself," she said to him with a grin, meaning every word.

[watcher_pryce]

"Some of them might fit," Wesley protested just for the sake of protest. Though he was to busy preening just a little bit at the 'beautiful boy' remark. Now, Wesley wasn't a fool and he was completely aware that he was quite possibly a smidgen bias where Max was concerned. And while he really did not want to turn into one of those fathers who would say that their child was the most beautiful in the whole world? Wesley was convinced that Max was most certainly in the top 10. And the top 5 for cutest.

Hauling a protesting Max up in his arms, the watcher scowled at Lilah for the suit remark. It was uncanny, he thought, how much Lilah and Cordelia were alike. Eerie even. And one would think after spending so much time with Cordelia - and Lilah if one wanted to be technical - he would know how to handle women like them. Nothing was further from the truth, however, and Wesley didn't think anyone could blame him for being incapable too.

Well, anyone *male* at any rate.

"I have shirts, they're not so tick. And what is wrong with jeans now? I thought you all wanted me to 'modernize.'" Why yes, both Cordelia and Lilah were constantly trying to 'improve' his wardrobe. As if he was a mere child that needed dressing every bloody morning. He was an adult man for god’s sake! This, of course, didn’t mean he was going to wear something different if the women had picked out something they insisted he wear.

He really liked his head firmly attached to his shoulders and neck, why take chances with something as silly as fashion?

"I insist," Wesley-- insisted, already making his way toward the exit. This place alone was giving him hives with how expensive it *smelled*. Did they import some perfume or some such from ancient China or some such? "Can we go there now then? If you please," he added in a lower voice in the hopes that the sales person wouldn't hear them.

"I do not need a swimsuit," Wesley stared and then shut his mouth about swim-gear with an audible snap as the sales woman slid up to them with an overly eager smile.

"Everything going according to wish? Can I show you something special from our collection?" she asked oily slick. Wesley almost wanted to look at the floor for the stuff so he wouldn't slip. Certainly it would ooze out of the woman with the way she talked.

"Err…" Wesley started just as *Max* started to fuss. "I'll wait over there for you," he said hastily at Lilah before fleeing toward the exit with the buggy and a little boy who demanded he was allowed to walk. *Now*, or the sirens of toddler lungs were threatening to go off.

[vicious_bmantle]

She did see him relax a tiny bit when she called Max a ‘beautiful boy,’ and was glad of it. Lilah just hoped that Wes would get a little bit of relaxation out of this vacation as well. He did seem to be walking around with an extra stick up his ass lately, although she knew exactly why. She just hoped that a cruise would get rid of it, or at least loosen it a bit. Anything would be good for Wesley at this point.

“There’s nothing wrong with jeans…if you’re in cooler weather,” Lilah pointed out. “You’re going on a cruise, Wes. You are going to have a heat stroke if you wear too many clothes.” California had a lot of nice breezes that probably kept him OK even under all of those thick clothes that he seemed to like so much. While there would be a fair amount of breezes over an ocean, he would still make himself sick with too many clothes. “Then again, maybe a pair of linen pants would be OK? Willing to compromise?”

Lilah smiled a wicked smile at the salesclerk. “Everything’s fine,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about us.” She was ready to just bluntly tell the woman to piss off, but, well, she was supposed to try and be on good behavior, right? Which meant even being nice to a damn sales clerk. The things you are willing to do for the sake of your friends…er, friend. Let’s be real here.

“We need to take Max for a walk so that he’ll calm down,” she said to the overly greedy sales woman. “We’ll be back in a bit.” With that, she turned away from the woman without listening to anything more that she had to say. She had no intention of coming back, today anyway. She might come back on her own after learning Max’s sizes and pick out a few things for him, but it seemed that Wes would have a heart attack after looking at too many prices if they stayed here.

[watcher_pryce]

"People wore jeans in Los Angeles all the time," he protested, a small pout threatening to come out. Really, first the suits and now his jeans weren't good? It was like shopping with Cordelia! Wear this, Wesley. Try that, Wesley. No you're so not getting that, Wesley. While tact and subtlety were a lost cause on Cordelia when shopping, it seemed Lilah was trying it that way.

"I'm British," he tried with another protest, "we get cold easily." There was no way in *hell* he was going to walk around in some ridiculous shorts, not even if they were the longer Bermuda version. And there was most definitely no chance in that same hell he was going to wear a swimming trunk! While he wasn't ashamed of his body, Wesley never had woman fawning over him or people telling him he was handsome or the likes. So walking around with a swimming suit really didn't make him feel comfortable.

"Hmmm." He thought over her compromise while he hoisted Max further on his hip and pushed the stroller out of the shop. One he was all to gladly leaving. The place was suffocating in its expensiveness. Once outside he put Max down again, since the boy was amend that he could walk. While Max tried to find his footing, Wesley boxed him in from behind as he held onto the handles of the buggy and waited for Lilah to join them.

"Why don't we go to this... Gap?" It was a store Cordelia often frequented and was familiar to Wesley. Somewhat. "Or that one near the food-court," he suggested as he leisurely strolled toward it.

He smiled down at Max as the boy let out a shriek of delight as he was stumble walking along. There was nothing quite like the laughter of a child, Wesley found. Do you know how little the coffin of a child weighs? "We could have something to eat before continuing our hunt," he said, shaking off these morbid thoughts. But the whole Connor and Holtz situation had been on his mind since the-- incident.

[vicious_bmantle]

Even if she couldn't get him to buy a pair while he was here with her, she'd just figure out his size and buy a pair and just bring them with her, anyway. She had half a mind to buy something completely obnoxious like orange Hawaiian print or something just to be a bit of a bitch about it. He'd have to get into the cruise ship's swimming pool to play with Max, after all, wouldn't he? But no, she'd probably just pick out a solid colored pair, maybe blue or brown. Black would stand out too obviously against his more than likely ghostly skin. Now, getting them on him on the cruise would be a different story, but that hurdle could be jumped when they got to it.

Lilah was tempted to roll her eyes when he mentioned the Gap. Might as well go to Old Navy or Walmart while they were at it, but fine. She could always mix in a few better pieces while they were on vacation, anyway. As if she wasn't already planning to do so. "The Gap is fine then," Lilah said to him. "Getting something to eat first wouldn't be a bad idea, either."

Sadly, Lilah was not nearly the snob about food as she was about clothes. Being a lawyer, she had lived on take out most of her working life. Something that hadn't really changed since her college days, to be exact. It was something that should have already bitten her in the ass, but you didn't know the best plastic surgeons in America, both mundane and magical, without being able to use them, after all. Still, an improvement on diet was something that she should do someday.

Not today, though. Her mind was already thinking of what all was in the food court. "Why don't you lead the way to the food court and we can figure out what to get when we get there?" she said to him.

[watcher_pryce]

"Something to eat it is then," Wesley nodded, quite happy to take a break from that blasted thing called... shopping. Weather it was grocery shopping, clothes shopping or any sort of shopping excluding that for books and weaponry was something Wesley dreaded. He already hadn't liked it much upon arrival in the United States. But to be honest he never really had gone shopping all that much.

And then came Cordelia. The fear for shopping grew. Fred made it worse and now there was Lilah. What was it with women and shopping? Horrible, just horrible. The sooner they could get it done the better. And they hadn't even been at it for an hour!

So food was a good idea, not that he was hungry. Wesley could do with some tea though and they had a nice place here that knew how to make tea. *Real* tea. And they didn't have many difficulties with children, who could sometimes be quite a handful. Even Max, though Wesley was loathe to admit that. Then it was quickly to stores he was familiar with and knew where to find things for Max.

The sooner they were out of here, the better and less of a chance that Lilah actually would buy him something. He really didn't know what to think of buying swimming trunks. The last time he'd worn those was at school and the less he thought about the better also.

"This was, sweetheart," he said to Max, steering the boy to a little corner bistro. Out of the way of the crowd yet still cozy and with good food. And tea. They even had those little bottles of fruit-juice for children. Max loved those, silly boy.

"How about over there in the corner," Wesley pointed, hoisted Max who let out a loud shriek on his hip and steered the stroller toward said corner. "Have you ever been here?" was asked as they sat down. "They have some excellent lunch-meals." Or so Cordelia and Gunn claimed.

[vicious_bmantle]

She knew that he was just happy to get away from clothes shopping. Why did men have a pure hatred of shopping, she wondered. You got to buy stuff for yourself. What was so terrible about that? Lilah didn't get it, but Lilah loved to shop. Some might say that she was filling her life with things instead of people, but those people were just jealous of what she could afford.

Lilah watched with a slight smile as Wesley steered Man in the right direction. The two of them together really was adorable. She had caught more than a few women looking in his direction as well. Nothing was more sexy to a single mother than a single father, and that really was kind of a rare breed. No wonder half the mall was drooling over him with Max right now.

She looked toward the place that Wes pointing out to her. "Sure, it looks good." She shook her head. "I've never been there, but one place is just as good as another in the mall." They all really were the same. Sure, they served different food, but most of them had the same quality of food.

She headed in the direction of the place that Wes pointed out. She would be happy to sit down and chat with him a while. If he absolutely refused to let her buy something for him, well, like she had thought of before, she'd just do it later. It's wasn't like it was an immediate thing.

[watcher_pryce]

"Actually that's not true," Wesley said as he bend down to root through the bags underneath the buggy. "There are little gems of places to eat hidden here. Such as this one, where they have excellent quality, fresh food ah!" He emerged again with Feigenbaum, the stuffed toy he had put away safely so Max wouldn't loose it.

Wesley had dragged over a nearby high-chair and put the boy in it. The stuffed toy was given and Max was a happy child once more. Not that he was really any trouble, unlike some other children Wesley had been unfortunate to witness. Dear lord he always felt so sorry for those parents. While those without children - or those who had raised children like his father had - had looked at these parents with disdain and some disgust, Wesley could only sympathize.

He had *no* doubt that Max would get episodes where Wesley would stand there bright red ready to call it a day and just drag the boy home to ground him for life.

"Don't throw it around or Feigenbaum will go back to sleep," he told Max as a young waitress approached them. She smiled down at the people at the table with this obvious adoring smile, eyes lingering a little longer on Max as that smile softened.

"May I help you?" She asked politely.

"Yes please," Wesley smiled at her, "I would like a tea and a... Uhm, lets have a chicken sandwich with everything on it," he said, magically pulling out a jar of food, "and if you wouldn't mind heating this up?" he turned to Lilah who by now had finished looking over the menu. "Lilah?"