Buffy listened to Giles without interruption. She was trying to reconnect with him and after everything that had happened the past couple days, the last thing she wanted to do was give him a reason to be angry or leave again. She needed him with her on this and everything to come--whatever that might be.
"True," Buffy agreed with Giles. "He just thought it was bizarre because our agreement is supposed to be a secret between the two of us. So, someone has found out somehow and they're coming after us to stop us from killing more vampires." Although most of this was speculation, she knew that if a vampire was after her, it wasn't long before they came after everyone in her life.
She looked at Xander and her eyes narrowed with concern, "Are you sure, Xander? I don't want to keep putting you in harm's way." Again. She couldn't help but feel extremely guilty as she looked at him; eyepatch over his eye from putting him in danger several months ago, and a wounded arm from putting him in danger the other day.
She nodded to Dawn with a hint of a proud smile, "That's totally fine. I'm glad you're doing that."
Glancing around the room, Buffy realized Willow hadn't said anything and was sticking to the shadows. She tilted her head curiously, "Will? What's up? Are you interested in coming along? We might need your witchy powers for locator spells and whatnot."
Giles couldn't help but smile at the idea that Dawn was so into the idea of getting her schooling going again. Of course, he understood that it was partially for her wanting to get back to a semblance of a normal life (as much as she could truly get, anyway), but it was still admirable that she was wanting to go back to school. He knew that she hadn't gotten far into her schooling when she was first turned into a giantess.
"Someone found out about your agreement?" He knew that she had told him in a coffee shop when they first ran into each other. "Do you think some contact overheard our first conversation?" That would be bad. He would feel terrible if something like that happened.
Xander was still slightly distracted because of his studying of Willow that he didn't realize that Buffy had addressed him for a moment. He jerked to look in Buffy's direction when he did pick up on it. "If anything, it's kinda me putting myself in harm's way," he said to her with a slight grin. "You'd think I'd learn after a while that things like to attack me, huh?" One eye and now a stab wound. You'd really think that he'd learn.
Xander glanced back toward Willow when Buffy pointed out just how quiet and shadow-sticking-to that she had been since she had come down. "You OK, Will?" he asked her.
Blah, blah, blah. Buffy and vampires, blah blah blah. Always the same. Actually, now she didn't much regret missing most of what was going on. It was boring and she was getting tired of the dramatics already. She could be in town, meeting new friends.
She looked up when people finally noticed her. Good old reliable Willow, always going unnoticed until it was too late. Nothing changed there either. She put on her usual cheery smile and nodded.
Dawn was falling right into the trap of not noticing Willow, unfortunately. She already had ideas of school books and parties and boys dancing in her head to really be able to think much about anyone else. She was going to get to be a normal person again! She was so excited about such a concept that she was about to burst. And both Giles and her sister were proud of her wanting to focus on her school work in order to go running around with a vampire to figure out who was stalking who or whatever. Made her feel happy to have both Giles and Buffy's approval.
Even though Xander was feeling uneasy about Willow and how she was acting, he wanted to brush it aside and have her be fine. His medications were starting to kick in and make him sleepy (something he knew far too much about to be comfortable with), so it was getting hard for him to focus on any one thing for too long, and, sadly, that included Willow right now.
Xander looked around at all of them for a moment. Willow was insisting that she was OK, and, right now, he really didn't have a choice but to go along with it. He leaned his head back against the sofa and shut his eyes. His lids were feeling so heavy and he was only going to rest them for a moment...
It was the light snores that brought Dawn out of her imagination of fun school times. She looked over at Xander and giggled. "I think someone's meds kicked in," she said, pointing over at Xander.
Buffy shook her head to Giles questions, "No way. I think it's way more likely that one of the vampires under Eric's control ratted us out. I think they're getting a little scared since there's a hit list on so many vamps in Louisiana. They probably think any of them are next, whether they've killed someone recently or not."
She nodded to Xander, breathing out a sigh, "Okay, if you want to come. I won't stop you. Even if I could. With my pinky," she said, grinning at him.
As the attention turned to the redheaded witch, Buffy found her brow creasing in an unusual amount of worry. But, she knew that if something was really wrong, Willow definitely wasn't going to tell all of them as they ganged up on her. "Okay, Will," she said, though she obviously wasn't convinced, "But, I do hope you consider coming along, Will. We could probably use your help. And maybe you can put some sort of protection spell on Xander since he clearly needs it," she joked.
Of course, just then, Xander started dozing off. Buffy laughed along with her sister, "We'll just let him sleep for a moment before we take him to his room."
She glanced around the room, "So, Giles and Xander are coming," she said, turning to Willow, "Maybe and hopefully Willow," and finally turning to Dawn, she said, "And you're going to stay here and hold down the fort. And not get into any trouble."
Giles bit back a chuckle when Dawn pointed out that Xander had dozed off, more than likely because of the medication that he had been given at the hospital. After all, they had given him some strong medication for his pain, so Giles was not totally amazed that it had kicked in and completely knocked Xander out. It was why he hated the stuff. It helped you with pain by either making you forget that you had pain or knocking you out so that you slept through it. It seemed that this medication was doing the latter for Xander.
Giles could also see that something was going on with Willow, even though she was trying to put off the air of her cheerful self, but now wasn’t the time so say anything. Maybe once he got her alone, although he now knew that he couldn’t yell at her like he once did, he would try talking to her in a calm manner. Maybe that would help getting through to her better than before. He just hoped that it wouldn’t come to another confrontation like it had in Sunnydale in the Magic Box. He wasn’t sure he’d live through another one of those.
He watched as Dawn smirked at her sister when Buffy mentioned no getting into trouble. Good lord, that probably meant that there would be some sort of party thrown while they were all gone, didn’t it? Not that he could do anything to prevent it. He also knew that, if Buffy rode Dawn too hard, she may just move into the dorms on the campus that she was planning to attend. Give herself even more freedom than before.
He looked toward Buffy after she went over everything. “I think that sounds good,” he said to her. “Is there anything else that we need to go over?”
"True," Buffy agreed with Giles. "He just thought it was bizarre because our agreement is supposed to be a secret between the two of us. So, someone has found out somehow and they're coming after us to stop us from killing more vampires." Although most of this was speculation, she knew that if a vampire was after her, it wasn't long before they came after everyone in her life.
She looked at Xander and her eyes narrowed with concern, "Are you sure, Xander? I don't want to keep putting you in harm's way." Again. She couldn't help but feel extremely guilty as she looked at him; eyepatch over his eye from putting him in danger several months ago, and a wounded arm from putting him in danger the other day.
She nodded to Dawn with a hint of a proud smile, "That's totally fine. I'm glad you're doing that."
Glancing around the room, Buffy realized Willow hadn't said anything and was sticking to the shadows. She tilted her head curiously, "Will? What's up? Are you interested in coming along? We might need your witchy powers for locator spells and whatnot."
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"Someone found out about your agreement?" He knew that she had told him in a coffee shop when they first ran into each other. "Do you think some contact overheard our first conversation?" That would be bad. He would feel terrible if something like that happened.
Xander was still slightly distracted because of his studying of Willow that he didn't realize that Buffy had addressed him for a moment. He jerked to look in Buffy's direction when he did pick up on it. "If anything, it's kinda me putting myself in harm's way," he said to her with a slight grin. "You'd think I'd learn after a while that things like to attack me, huh?" One eye and now a stab wound. You'd really think that he'd learn.
Xander glanced back toward Willow when Buffy pointed out just how quiet and shadow-sticking-to that she had been since she had come down. "You OK, Will?" he asked her.
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She looked up when people finally noticed her. Good old reliable Willow, always going unnoticed until it was too late. Nothing changed there either. She put on her usual cheery smile and nodded.
"Yep, fine," she replied, "okay dokay here."
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Even though Xander was feeling uneasy about Willow and how she was acting, he wanted to brush it aside and have her be fine. His medications were starting to kick in and make him sleepy (something he knew far too much about to be comfortable with), so it was getting hard for him to focus on any one thing for too long, and, sadly, that included Willow right now.
Xander looked around at all of them for a moment. Willow was insisting that she was OK, and, right now, he really didn't have a choice but to go along with it. He leaned his head back against the sofa and shut his eyes. His lids were feeling so heavy and he was only going to rest them for a moment...
It was the light snores that brought Dawn out of her imagination of fun school times. She looked over at Xander and giggled. "I think someone's meds kicked in," she said, pointing over at Xander.
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She nodded to Xander, breathing out a sigh, "Okay, if you want to come. I won't stop you. Even if I could. With my pinky," she said, grinning at him.
As the attention turned to the redheaded witch, Buffy found her brow creasing in an unusual amount of worry. But, she knew that if something was really wrong, Willow definitely wasn't going to tell all of them as they ganged up on her. "Okay, Will," she said, though she obviously wasn't convinced, "But, I do hope you consider coming along, Will. We could probably use your help. And maybe you can put some sort of protection spell on Xander since he clearly needs it," she joked.
Of course, just then, Xander started dozing off. Buffy laughed along with her sister, "We'll just let him sleep for a moment before we take him to his room."
She glanced around the room, "So, Giles and Xander are coming," she said, turning to Willow, "Maybe and hopefully Willow," and finally turning to Dawn, she said, "And you're going to stay here and hold down the fort. And not get into any trouble."
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Giles could also see that something was going on with Willow, even though she was trying to put off the air of her cheerful self, but now wasn’t the time so say anything. Maybe once he got her alone, although he now knew that he couldn’t yell at her like he once did, he would try talking to her in a calm manner. Maybe that would help getting through to her better than before. He just hoped that it wouldn’t come to another confrontation like it had in Sunnydale in the Magic Box. He wasn’t sure he’d live through another one of those.
He watched as Dawn smirked at her sister when Buffy mentioned no getting into trouble. Good lord, that probably meant that there would be some sort of party thrown while they were all gone, didn’t it? Not that he could do anything to prevent it. He also knew that, if Buffy rode Dawn too hard, she may just move into the dorms on the campus that she was planning to attend. Give herself even more freedom than before.
He looked toward Buffy after she went over everything. “I think that sounds good,” he said to her. “Is there anything else that we need to go over?”
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