(YSMitB…)…I’ll Leave You (FR-13)
(YSMitB…)…I’ll Leave You (FR-13)
Alt Title: Day 23 - Betrayal Unforgiven
Author: mmooch
Summary: **The ‘Betrayal’ Part of the 2013 LiveJournal’s Twisted Shorts FaD** series. Buffy isn’t willing to forgive and forget Willow’s forgetting spell.
Crossover: Gilmore Girls.
Rating: FR-13.
Word count: 2771.
Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.
Timeline: ‘Tabula Rasa’ for BtVS; season 1 for GG. Not concerned about BtVS canon after that episode.
Warning: anti-mostly Giles and Willow, because in that episode, they were the ones who pissed me off the most.
A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she’s betrayed.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Gilmore Girls characters belong to WB and Amy Sherman Palladino. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Magic Box
Shortly after the spell lifted…
Rather than go to the Bronze like she wanted to, Buffy felt she had to head back to the Magic Box and announce her decision immediately…before she had a chance to change her mind. There was no doubt in her mind who or what was responsible for her temporary memory loss. This had the trademark feel of a Willow-spell gone wrong - or at least she hoped this wasn’t the intended ending of it.
The only question was how big of a tantrum would Dawn throw over it?
“Good, I’m glad everybody is still here,” Buffy said as soon as she came in the door and saw everybody but Spike in the store. She’d deal with him later. “I have an announcement, and it probably is important to all of you.” She moved over to Dawn’s side and grabbed her hand, shocking the younger Summers at the show of any kind of non-spell-induced affection.
Taking a deep breath, Buffy started, “Tonight has showed me that Sunnydale isn’t safe for me and Dawn anymore.” She held up a hand to stop the protests. “Intellectually, I was willing to forgive you for bringing me back because you thought you were saving me - even though emotionally, I felt like ripping your arms off and beating you to death with them. That’s why I didn’t say anything earlier about where I really was, except to Spike. But this…if I can’t trust the people who are supposed to be my friends not to endanger me and Dawn, I can’t stay here.”
Buffy ignored the others and explained further to Dawn, “Dawnie, I’m barely hanging on by a thread as it is. Call it selfish of me, but right now, getting back to who I was before and taking care of you is more important than being the Slayer on the Hellmouth. If they need one here, they can always get Faith out of jail; I’m sure she’s willing to break out if we told her we were leaving.”
Dawn swallowed her initial reaction to scream that Buffy was ruining her life, but then she thought about everything, starting with how she felt after Buffy died. If Buffy was feeling even half of what she felt, it made sense that being in Sunnydale was hurting her too much to stay. She only stayed because she wasn’t willing to give up the family she had in the others; and she didn’t want to leave the Bot, even though it was a pale imitation of her real sister. “Where will we go?” she finally asked.
“Remember that family home that Mom mentioned to us when we were younger? I thought we’d go there and try to start over,” Buffy answered, sounding more tired than Dawn had ever heard her - even when she was sick with the killer flu.
Going with her second impulse, she grabbed Buffy for a hug and said, “Okay, I’m in.”
The room erupted with her announcement.
“Dawnie, don’t you think we should talk about this?” Willow asked. She had counted on Dawn saying absolutely not when Buffy said she was leaving. If Dawn went, they had no leverage to keep Buffy there - except for her duty as a Slayer, which she easily anticipated by saying Faith could do it.
“You mean like we talked about the spell to bring Buffy back?” Dawn shot back, her disdain almost dripping from her mouth.
“That was different,” Xander objected. “We didn’t tell you because we didn’t want to get your hopes up in case it didn’t work.”
“Still doesn’t change the fact that this is a Summers matter, and if Buffy says we need to get away for our sakes, then I won’t fight her…because we’re going together. If she tried to send just me away, it’d be a different story,” Dawn added, just in case Buffy was considering it.
Giles looked at Buffy disappointingly. “Is this an attempt to get me to stay?”
“Uhh, no,” Buffy replied. “You’re free to live your life, just like Dawn and I are free to live ours. We just aren’t going as far as you to do it.”
“Just because I told you to stand on your own two feet--” he tried to reprimand her.
“Wait!” Dawn interrupted. “You’re leaving because Buffy depended on you to help her too much, and now that she’s making her own choices, you think you have the right to object because it isn’t something you like? I love you, Giles, but you have a lot of nerve! She’s putting me before slaying, not switching sides to become evil.”
She turned to glare at everyone else in the room. “If that’s all you have, we’re going home to get ready to move. C’mon, Buffy!” Dawn ordered, pulling on Buffy’s hand.
Buffy allowed her to drag her out of the store, but decided to say one last thing, “Couldn’t have said it any better than Dawn. Oh, Willow and Tara? I’m putting the house up for sale, so you should find another place to stay, too. We’ll call once we’re settled in Connecticut.”
On the road
A few weeks later…
During the time that it took Buffy and Dawn to pack up the stuff they wanted to keep and sell the stuff they didn’t, they had to fend off more attempts to change their minds. Even as they were getting into the Jeep, the Scoobies - minus Tara, who had broken up with Willow - were attempting emotional blackmail on them, reminding her that none of them trusted Faith to protect the Hellmouth.
“Well, you’d better learn to, then,” was all Buffy would say as she closed the door and started up the engine.
Hank had come through with some back child support, and even though he didn’t understand why they had to move during the school year, he offered to help with expenses until they could get set up in Connecticut. Not that he wasn’t playing to continue his normal child support payments, but this would be in addition to that money.
To give themselves a little time to reconnect with each other before having to deal with other people on a regular basis, Buffy and Dawn took the scenic route to the East Coast. They talked about a lot of things, like Dawn’s stealing and her insecurity about her place in Buffy’s life. And they talked about the rules of their life in a place that didn’t have preset expectations of them.
One thing Buffy knew was that she would have to get a job once they got to Stars Hollow, but she had very few marketable skills…unless she wanted to hire herself out as an assassin…which she sooo didn’t.
It was a stop in Phoenix that gave them a glimmer of an idea for a possible career for Buffy. On the weekend before Thanksgiving, they came across a Renfaire called the Phoenix Faerie Festival. They had a good laugh at what people considered supernatural, but as they kept driving eastward, they realized it was a place that Buffy could fit in with her knowledge of medieval weapons.
They didn’t even have to veer out of their way to hit another Renfaire in Springfield, Missouri called Barataria Faire. There the idea grew more appealing to them. By the time they got to the Dickens Victorian Village in Cambridge, Ohio, they were fully hooked on the plan. Dawn started buying books about the community of people who participated in Renfaires.
They played games while driving to learn about the culture, and Dawn taught Buffy Renfaire insults to yell at the other drivers when they ticked her off. They’d still have a lot to learn, but they had a bit of a foundation to start with when they contacted the local group closest to Stars Hollow.
Although it would seem odd - and very dirty - Buffy decided that the best choice of profession for her would be a blacksmith. Assuming she could learn to forge decent weapons, her being a female ‘smith could make her unique enough to be popular on the circuit. She certainly didn’t have to worry about having the physical strength to do the work.
So Dawn added books about smithing to their growing library.
To their joint surprise, Buffy took to the theoretical aspects like a duck to water. Dawn theorized that maybe it was because smithing was closely tied to weapons and Slayers needed to know all about weapons. It wasn’t instinctual like using weapons, but Buffy looked forward to finding out if creating them would come easy to her, too.
Stars Hollow
Eventually, the sisters arrived at their destination. “Looks quaint,” Buffy remarked as they drove down what must have been the Main Street - or one of them, anyway.
Dawn agreed, but replied a bit pessimistically, “Hope ‘quaint’ isn’t a euphemism for Hellmouth.” She especially hoped for that since Buffy seemed to get better every mile they drove away from their past Hellmouth.
To the point where it was Buffy who was able to be relaxed about the possibility of a new Hellmouth in their future. “We’ll find out sooner or later, so no need worrying about it just yet.” They got to what felt like the heart of the town, and she pointed to two signs almost next door to each other. “Should we hit the grocery store first or the hardware store?”
“Since we don’t know what we need to fix up the place, I say we get food first,” Dawn answered. “Besides, I’m not entirely convinced that’s a hardware store…despite the sign over the door. It has diner signs on the sides of the building.”
“Maybe it’s a combo store? Kind of a strange combo, but maybe it’s an East Coast thing,” Buffy said before reminding her sister, “We also don’t know what - if any - appliances we have at the house.”
“Sandwich stuff, then?” Dawn countered.
Buffy nodded as she parked near the store called Doose’s Market. “Sounds like a plan.”
They barely got through the door when two women descended on them. “Aren’t you two just the more adorable things!” the short, blonde one rasped.
The woman with reddish hair spoke before they could reply to the compliment, “Are you just visiting or planning to stay for a while? We heard there were some people coming to re-open the old Allerton Place.”
Buffy had a flashback to her first day at Sunnydale when Willow, Jesse and Xander peppered her with questions about her life. She hoped that wasn’t a sign of things to come. “Um, stay…at the Allerton Place,” she confirmed the rumor that apparently already spread through their new hometown.
“Oh, the young men in town will be so pleased to hear that!” the second woman gushed, then offered her hand in greeting, “I’m Miss Patty, and I own the dance studio in town. And you, my dear, have the legs of a ballerina!” she told Dawn. “You must come to my class!”
Other than the mind-numbing terror of being kidnapped by Sweet’s minions, Dawn actually sort of enjoyed the dance she did at the Bronze. “Buffy?” she asked hopefully.
Shrugging, Buffy replied, “It’d be good to help you with your balance.”
The blonde woman didn’t want to wait any longer to announce herself, so she cut in, “And I’m Babette.”
Buffy finally caught the hint and introduced herself and Dawn, “Buffy and Dawn Summers.”
Their conversation drew the attention of several other people, but only one came over to add to it. “If you’re planning to stay at the Allerton Place, you should get a room at the Independence Inn while you fix it up. It’s been a long time before anyone has lived there,” the man informed them. “I’m Taylor Doose of Doose’s Market.”
“You should get Tom to fix up the place for you,” Babette rasped. “Oh, the muscles on that man!”
Buffy and Dawn shared a look. What kind of crazy town did they move to? Even without a Hellmouth, this might end up being a stranger place than Sunnydale.
“I think I saw Lorelai and Tom over at Luke’s,” Miss Patty offered helpfully. “She runs the Independence,” she added for the sake of the sisters. Then she proceeded to herd them back out the door and down the street to Luke’s.
“There’s Lorelai, flirting again with Luke - even if they won’t admit it,” said Babette. “Oh, Lorelai!” she called out, “Got a couple customers for you!”
“We’ll go keep Tom occupied until you’re done with Lorelai,” Miss Patty told them.
Dawn whispered to Buffy, “Do you feel sorry for this Tom guy, too?”
Snorting, Buffy answered, “Only if he isn’t as crazy as them.”
They walked over to the counter to ask about a room at the Inn.
“Hey there! I’m Lorelai Gilmore, the executive manager of the Independence Inn, which I’m sure the ladies told you. Or did they just kidnap you off the streets?” she asked teasingly.
“Actually, it was Doose’s Market,” Dawn replied absent-mindedly as she stared longingly at the baked goods on display.
“Go ahead and order something,” Buffy said. “Please keep it normal-ish.”
Dawn pouted and asked, “Is apple pie normal enough for you?”
“And…?” Buffy prompted; she knew that wouldn’t be the only thing.
“Oh my god, it’s like a second version of you and Rory!” the man behind the counter - Luke presumably - complained to Lorelai.
“Fine!” Dawn huffed, ignoring the comment by Luke, “And salsa.”
“Oh geez!” Luke muttered.
Lorelai looked intrigued by the combination, though. However, she had more pressing concerns at the moment. “Doose’s? They actually kidnapped you at Doose’s?”
“Sort of, but not really,” Buffy assured her. “They found out we’re moving into the Allerton Place and Mr. Doose suggested that we stay at your Inn while it’s fixed up by Tom over there,” she added, pointing to the table where Tom was fending off the attentions of Miss Patty and Babette.
“Don’t call him that! He’ll start insisting that everyone should,” Luke interjected. “Just call him Taylor.”
Lorelai appeared thoughtful during his interruption. It shocked her that she would consider suggesting this, but these girls reminded her so much of herself and Rory, that she had to at least offer. “I’m guessing that you’re kind of on a budget?” she gently probed. “A room at the Inn for the amount of time that it probably would take to get your home livable again would probably break that budget. If you don’t mind quirky, I have an alternative for you. My daughter and I lived there for several years before we moved into our home, although she was a lot younger and didn’t take up as much space.”
“You’re offering them the Shed?” Luke asked in disbelief.
Before Buffy could ask if she should be relieved or offended, Lorelai answered him, “Like you said, they’re like a second me and Rory. I rather let them live there than use it as a potting shed again.” She saw the horrified looks on Buffy and Dawn’s faces and quickly assured them, “It’s been renovated since then. It’s not fancy, but it’s livable until you can get into your place.”
“I guess we can look at it,” Buffy finally said. Even though Hank was helping out, she still didn’t want to incur too many expenses that she would feel obligated to pay back. Speaking of which, she’d better go rescue Tom and find out how much the house would cost her. “I’ll find my way to the Inn after I talk to Tom, okay?”
Either Tom had a rare free day or he was desperate to escape from Miss Patty and Babette flirting with him because he was more than willing to head out to the house right away with Buffy and Dawn.
After a quick glance at it, Tom commended the person/people who locked it up because there was very minimal damage inside the building. They just had to clean the layers of dust off the floors and walls; the furniture was covered with sheets to protect it. The majority of the exterior work was cosmetic and wouldn’t take much time to finish.
“Unless something surprises me, I should done within a month or so. Some of the stuff should wait until spring, though,” Tom concluded.
“I have sort of an odd request that doesn’t have to be done right away,” Buffy said, having decided that she’d give the blacksmith thing a try. “Would you be able to put in a blacksmith shop in the yard?”
Tom did a double-take at the request, then shook his head and murmured, “You’ll fit right in in Stars Hollow.”
A/N: I got the idea of the Renfaire from Luke’s sister, Liz and her husband, TJ. I know they didn’t show up until later on in the show, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Alt Title: Day 23 - Betrayal Unforgiven
Author: mmooch
Summary: **The ‘Betrayal’ Part of the 2013 LiveJournal’s Twisted Shorts FaD** series. Buffy isn’t willing to forgive and forget Willow’s forgetting spell.
Crossover: Gilmore Girls.
Rating: FR-13.
Word count: 2771.
Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.
Timeline: ‘Tabula Rasa’ for BtVS; season 1 for GG. Not concerned about BtVS canon after that episode.
Warning: anti-mostly Giles and Willow, because in that episode, they were the ones who pissed me off the most.
A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she’s betrayed.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Gilmore Girls characters belong to WB and Amy Sherman Palladino. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Magic Box
Shortly after the spell lifted…
Rather than go to the Bronze like she wanted to, Buffy felt she had to head back to the Magic Box and announce her decision immediately…before she had a chance to change her mind. There was no doubt in her mind who or what was responsible for her temporary memory loss. This had the trademark feel of a Willow-spell gone wrong - or at least she hoped this wasn’t the intended ending of it.
The only question was how big of a tantrum would Dawn throw over it?
“Good, I’m glad everybody is still here,” Buffy said as soon as she came in the door and saw everybody but Spike in the store. She’d deal with him later. “I have an announcement, and it probably is important to all of you.” She moved over to Dawn’s side and grabbed her hand, shocking the younger Summers at the show of any kind of non-spell-induced affection.
Taking a deep breath, Buffy started, “Tonight has showed me that Sunnydale isn’t safe for me and Dawn anymore.” She held up a hand to stop the protests. “Intellectually, I was willing to forgive you for bringing me back because you thought you were saving me - even though emotionally, I felt like ripping your arms off and beating you to death with them. That’s why I didn’t say anything earlier about where I really was, except to Spike. But this…if I can’t trust the people who are supposed to be my friends not to endanger me and Dawn, I can’t stay here.”
Buffy ignored the others and explained further to Dawn, “Dawnie, I’m barely hanging on by a thread as it is. Call it selfish of me, but right now, getting back to who I was before and taking care of you is more important than being the Slayer on the Hellmouth. If they need one here, they can always get Faith out of jail; I’m sure she’s willing to break out if we told her we were leaving.”
Dawn swallowed her initial reaction to scream that Buffy was ruining her life, but then she thought about everything, starting with how she felt after Buffy died. If Buffy was feeling even half of what she felt, it made sense that being in Sunnydale was hurting her too much to stay. She only stayed because she wasn’t willing to give up the family she had in the others; and she didn’t want to leave the Bot, even though it was a pale imitation of her real sister. “Where will we go?” she finally asked.
“Remember that family home that Mom mentioned to us when we were younger? I thought we’d go there and try to start over,” Buffy answered, sounding more tired than Dawn had ever heard her - even when she was sick with the killer flu.
Going with her second impulse, she grabbed Buffy for a hug and said, “Okay, I’m in.”
The room erupted with her announcement.
“Dawnie, don’t you think we should talk about this?” Willow asked. She had counted on Dawn saying absolutely not when Buffy said she was leaving. If Dawn went, they had no leverage to keep Buffy there - except for her duty as a Slayer, which she easily anticipated by saying Faith could do it.
“You mean like we talked about the spell to bring Buffy back?” Dawn shot back, her disdain almost dripping from her mouth.
“That was different,” Xander objected. “We didn’t tell you because we didn’t want to get your hopes up in case it didn’t work.”
“Still doesn’t change the fact that this is a Summers matter, and if Buffy says we need to get away for our sakes, then I won’t fight her…because we’re going together. If she tried to send just me away, it’d be a different story,” Dawn added, just in case Buffy was considering it.
Giles looked at Buffy disappointingly. “Is this an attempt to get me to stay?”
“Uhh, no,” Buffy replied. “You’re free to live your life, just like Dawn and I are free to live ours. We just aren’t going as far as you to do it.”
“Just because I told you to stand on your own two feet--” he tried to reprimand her.
“Wait!” Dawn interrupted. “You’re leaving because Buffy depended on you to help her too much, and now that she’s making her own choices, you think you have the right to object because it isn’t something you like? I love you, Giles, but you have a lot of nerve! She’s putting me before slaying, not switching sides to become evil.”
She turned to glare at everyone else in the room. “If that’s all you have, we’re going home to get ready to move. C’mon, Buffy!” Dawn ordered, pulling on Buffy’s hand.
Buffy allowed her to drag her out of the store, but decided to say one last thing, “Couldn’t have said it any better than Dawn. Oh, Willow and Tara? I’m putting the house up for sale, so you should find another place to stay, too. We’ll call once we’re settled in Connecticut.”
On the road
A few weeks later…
During the time that it took Buffy and Dawn to pack up the stuff they wanted to keep and sell the stuff they didn’t, they had to fend off more attempts to change their minds. Even as they were getting into the Jeep, the Scoobies - minus Tara, who had broken up with Willow - were attempting emotional blackmail on them, reminding her that none of them trusted Faith to protect the Hellmouth.
“Well, you’d better learn to, then,” was all Buffy would say as she closed the door and started up the engine.
Hank had come through with some back child support, and even though he didn’t understand why they had to move during the school year, he offered to help with expenses until they could get set up in Connecticut. Not that he wasn’t playing to continue his normal child support payments, but this would be in addition to that money.
To give themselves a little time to reconnect with each other before having to deal with other people on a regular basis, Buffy and Dawn took the scenic route to the East Coast. They talked about a lot of things, like Dawn’s stealing and her insecurity about her place in Buffy’s life. And they talked about the rules of their life in a place that didn’t have preset expectations of them.
One thing Buffy knew was that she would have to get a job once they got to Stars Hollow, but she had very few marketable skills…unless she wanted to hire herself out as an assassin…which she sooo didn’t.
It was a stop in Phoenix that gave them a glimmer of an idea for a possible career for Buffy. On the weekend before Thanksgiving, they came across a Renfaire called the Phoenix Faerie Festival. They had a good laugh at what people considered supernatural, but as they kept driving eastward, they realized it was a place that Buffy could fit in with her knowledge of medieval weapons.
They didn’t even have to veer out of their way to hit another Renfaire in Springfield, Missouri called Barataria Faire. There the idea grew more appealing to them. By the time they got to the Dickens Victorian Village in Cambridge, Ohio, they were fully hooked on the plan. Dawn started buying books about the community of people who participated in Renfaires.
They played games while driving to learn about the culture, and Dawn taught Buffy Renfaire insults to yell at the other drivers when they ticked her off. They’d still have a lot to learn, but they had a bit of a foundation to start with when they contacted the local group closest to Stars Hollow.
Although it would seem odd - and very dirty - Buffy decided that the best choice of profession for her would be a blacksmith. Assuming she could learn to forge decent weapons, her being a female ‘smith could make her unique enough to be popular on the circuit. She certainly didn’t have to worry about having the physical strength to do the work.
So Dawn added books about smithing to their growing library.
To their joint surprise, Buffy took to the theoretical aspects like a duck to water. Dawn theorized that maybe it was because smithing was closely tied to weapons and Slayers needed to know all about weapons. It wasn’t instinctual like using weapons, but Buffy looked forward to finding out if creating them would come easy to her, too.
Stars Hollow
Eventually, the sisters arrived at their destination. “Looks quaint,” Buffy remarked as they drove down what must have been the Main Street - or one of them, anyway.
Dawn agreed, but replied a bit pessimistically, “Hope ‘quaint’ isn’t a euphemism for Hellmouth.” She especially hoped for that since Buffy seemed to get better every mile they drove away from their past Hellmouth.
To the point where it was Buffy who was able to be relaxed about the possibility of a new Hellmouth in their future. “We’ll find out sooner or later, so no need worrying about it just yet.” They got to what felt like the heart of the town, and she pointed to two signs almost next door to each other. “Should we hit the grocery store first or the hardware store?”
“Since we don’t know what we need to fix up the place, I say we get food first,” Dawn answered. “Besides, I’m not entirely convinced that’s a hardware store…despite the sign over the door. It has diner signs on the sides of the building.”
“Maybe it’s a combo store? Kind of a strange combo, but maybe it’s an East Coast thing,” Buffy said before reminding her sister, “We also don’t know what - if any - appliances we have at the house.”
“Sandwich stuff, then?” Dawn countered.
Buffy nodded as she parked near the store called Doose’s Market. “Sounds like a plan.”
They barely got through the door when two women descended on them. “Aren’t you two just the more adorable things!” the short, blonde one rasped.
The woman with reddish hair spoke before they could reply to the compliment, “Are you just visiting or planning to stay for a while? We heard there were some people coming to re-open the old Allerton Place.”
Buffy had a flashback to her first day at Sunnydale when Willow, Jesse and Xander peppered her with questions about her life. She hoped that wasn’t a sign of things to come. “Um, stay…at the Allerton Place,” she confirmed the rumor that apparently already spread through their new hometown.
“Oh, the young men in town will be so pleased to hear that!” the second woman gushed, then offered her hand in greeting, “I’m Miss Patty, and I own the dance studio in town. And you, my dear, have the legs of a ballerina!” she told Dawn. “You must come to my class!”
Other than the mind-numbing terror of being kidnapped by Sweet’s minions, Dawn actually sort of enjoyed the dance she did at the Bronze. “Buffy?” she asked hopefully.
Shrugging, Buffy replied, “It’d be good to help you with your balance.”
The blonde woman didn’t want to wait any longer to announce herself, so she cut in, “And I’m Babette.”
Buffy finally caught the hint and introduced herself and Dawn, “Buffy and Dawn Summers.”
Their conversation drew the attention of several other people, but only one came over to add to it. “If you’re planning to stay at the Allerton Place, you should get a room at the Independence Inn while you fix it up. It’s been a long time before anyone has lived there,” the man informed them. “I’m Taylor Doose of Doose’s Market.”
“You should get Tom to fix up the place for you,” Babette rasped. “Oh, the muscles on that man!”
Buffy and Dawn shared a look. What kind of crazy town did they move to? Even without a Hellmouth, this might end up being a stranger place than Sunnydale.
“I think I saw Lorelai and Tom over at Luke’s,” Miss Patty offered helpfully. “She runs the Independence,” she added for the sake of the sisters. Then she proceeded to herd them back out the door and down the street to Luke’s.
“There’s Lorelai, flirting again with Luke - even if they won’t admit it,” said Babette. “Oh, Lorelai!” she called out, “Got a couple customers for you!”
“We’ll go keep Tom occupied until you’re done with Lorelai,” Miss Patty told them.
Dawn whispered to Buffy, “Do you feel sorry for this Tom guy, too?”
Snorting, Buffy answered, “Only if he isn’t as crazy as them.”
They walked over to the counter to ask about a room at the Inn.
“Hey there! I’m Lorelai Gilmore, the executive manager of the Independence Inn, which I’m sure the ladies told you. Or did they just kidnap you off the streets?” she asked teasingly.
“Actually, it was Doose’s Market,” Dawn replied absent-mindedly as she stared longingly at the baked goods on display.
“Go ahead and order something,” Buffy said. “Please keep it normal-ish.”
Dawn pouted and asked, “Is apple pie normal enough for you?”
“And…?” Buffy prompted; she knew that wouldn’t be the only thing.
“Oh my god, it’s like a second version of you and Rory!” the man behind the counter - Luke presumably - complained to Lorelai.
“Fine!” Dawn huffed, ignoring the comment by Luke, “And salsa.”
“Oh geez!” Luke muttered.
Lorelai looked intrigued by the combination, though. However, she had more pressing concerns at the moment. “Doose’s? They actually kidnapped you at Doose’s?”
“Sort of, but not really,” Buffy assured her. “They found out we’re moving into the Allerton Place and Mr. Doose suggested that we stay at your Inn while it’s fixed up by Tom over there,” she added, pointing to the table where Tom was fending off the attentions of Miss Patty and Babette.
“Don’t call him that! He’ll start insisting that everyone should,” Luke interjected. “Just call him Taylor.”
Lorelai appeared thoughtful during his interruption. It shocked her that she would consider suggesting this, but these girls reminded her so much of herself and Rory, that she had to at least offer. “I’m guessing that you’re kind of on a budget?” she gently probed. “A room at the Inn for the amount of time that it probably would take to get your home livable again would probably break that budget. If you don’t mind quirky, I have an alternative for you. My daughter and I lived there for several years before we moved into our home, although she was a lot younger and didn’t take up as much space.”
“You’re offering them the Shed?” Luke asked in disbelief.
Before Buffy could ask if she should be relieved or offended, Lorelai answered him, “Like you said, they’re like a second me and Rory. I rather let them live there than use it as a potting shed again.” She saw the horrified looks on Buffy and Dawn’s faces and quickly assured them, “It’s been renovated since then. It’s not fancy, but it’s livable until you can get into your place.”
“I guess we can look at it,” Buffy finally said. Even though Hank was helping out, she still didn’t want to incur too many expenses that she would feel obligated to pay back. Speaking of which, she’d better go rescue Tom and find out how much the house would cost her. “I’ll find my way to the Inn after I talk to Tom, okay?”
Either Tom had a rare free day or he was desperate to escape from Miss Patty and Babette flirting with him because he was more than willing to head out to the house right away with Buffy and Dawn.
After a quick glance at it, Tom commended the person/people who locked it up because there was very minimal damage inside the building. They just had to clean the layers of dust off the floors and walls; the furniture was covered with sheets to protect it. The majority of the exterior work was cosmetic and wouldn’t take much time to finish.
“Unless something surprises me, I should done within a month or so. Some of the stuff should wait until spring, though,” Tom concluded.
“I have sort of an odd request that doesn’t have to be done right away,” Buffy said, having decided that she’d give the blacksmith thing a try. “Would you be able to put in a blacksmith shop in the yard?”
Tom did a double-take at the request, then shook his head and murmured, “You’ll fit right in in Stars Hollow.”
A/N: I got the idea of the Renfaire from Luke’s sister, Liz and her husband, TJ. I know they didn’t show up until later on in the show, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.