Title: The Sidekicks' Holiday - Part 1
Author: CaptMurdock
Feedback: Who, me? The Encouragement Whore of Babylon, need feedback. Perish forbid.
Summary – My two favorite couples, W/T and Fred & Gunn, each go on little vacations…unwittingly, to the same little hotel. Wackiness ensues. Think of that scene in L.A. Story…well, why spoil it for you?
Spoiler Warning: Buffy: "Entropy" and Angel:"Double or Nothing".
Disclaimer: Joss owns all these characters. Based on recent spoilers, however, he doesn't treat them very well, so…
Rating: I may go for the gold on this one (NC-17)
Notes: The story begins the day after "Entropy" and no more than a few days after "Double or Nothing." Assume the two series are running more or less concurrently.
Part 1
"Out. Go. Goodbye. Adios, muchachos –"
"Uh, Buffy," Willow corrected her friend gently, as the Slayer threw several articles of clothing, none of them her own, into a suitcase, with little disregard for the niceties of folding. "I think you mean, muchachas, don't you?"
"I hope so," Tara added. She looked at Willow, with whom she had reconciled with only the night before. "I mean, I'm pretty sure you didn't grow any, um, strange, y'know, parts, while I was aw-way."
Willow grinned. "Well, you did give me a pretty thorough examination last night…"
"Ho-OOO-kay!" Buffy said, throwing up her hands. "And again with the reason I'm sending you guys off on a wild weekend! 'Cause if I have to hear any more sexual innuendo…ey…stuff like that, I'm gonna join a convent."
Tara giggled. "Now there's a picture: Sister Buffy of the Holy Stake. You'd look cute in a coronet and wimple."
Buffy glared at her in mock outage. "Watch it, Witchie-poo, or I'll show you my cross. Right cross, that is." She shook her fist in what was supposed to be a threatening gesture, but the grin bursting unbidden from her lips ruined the effect. Truth to tell, she was ecstatic that her best friend was back together with the woman with whom Buffy herself had grown rather fond of over the last two years. She knew they still had issues to work out, issues that they would need resolved for the long term, but for the first time since their breakup, Willow and Tara seemed able to put things in their proper perspective. The important thing, they had decided, was their love and their need to be together.
"I know this little place about an hour or so south of her," Buffy said, continuing her sales pitch-cum-royal command. "Nice, out of the way, cheap…" She didn't add that this roadside hotel was the place that she and Angel had agreed to meet for their "reunion" following her all-expenses-paid trip to the Happy Hunting Ground. Since it was nearly equidistant between the Greater Los Angeles area and Sunnydale, the hotel was neutral territory. "Just the place for two lovers to get away for the weekend."
"Today's Wednesday," Tara ventured.
"Oh, now you're Calendar Girl! Look, you two, life moves pretty fast on the Hellmouth. You deserve a break from it. And, frankly, I deserve a break from the Goo-Goo-Eyed Girls."
Willow frowned in mock-sympathy. "Aw, Buff, are we grossing you out?"
" Totally."
Dawn walked into the bedroom then. "What's up?" Spotting the suitcases on the bed, she turned back to Willow and Tara. "Oh, God, are you guys moving out already?"
"No!" Tara responded, laughing. "Buffy's just convinced us to go away for a few days for some…private time." The Wiccan's crooked smile and furtive glance at Willow told Dawn pretty much all she needed to know.
"Oh, that's nice," Dawn replied, grinning. She looked at the suitcases with clothes scattered haphazardly within, and then just couldn't help herself: "Well, you're not going to need a lot of clothes for that, are you?"
Buffy turned with deliberate slowness towards her sister, who realized her faux pas and blushed furiously. Tara folded her arms and gave her best maternal glare, while Willow managed something approaching a disapproving expression, although the amused undertone managed to shine through anyway.
Dawn shied away from the three elders giving her Major Stink-Eye. "Uh, I think I have some homework to do. Brain surgery, or, or rocket science. Uh, uh, underwater basketweaving." Her slinking out of the run nevertheless had the joyous hop of a child whose bickering parents had made up big-time.
Buffy turned back to her two friends. "See? You are totally corrupting her. Now take just whatever you need – like she said, probably not clothes, and I can't even believe I just said that – and take off. I promise you, the world will not end. And if it does, I'll beep you, 'kay?"
Willow sighed in acquiescence. "Alright, Buffy, we're going, we're going. We just need a few things, like shampoo….
"Toothbrushes," Tara said, nodding.
"Right," Willow concurred. "Oral hygiene is very important." At that, she sent a saucy look to Tara, who with a raised eyebrow sent it right back.
None of this, of course, escaped Buffy's notice. Smiling widely at the two lovers gazing longingly and naughtily into each other's eyes, she said, "Please leave. Now."
*************
"Ah dunno," Fred said, her Southern accent becoming more pronounced with her discomfort. "Ah feel funny just goin' off and leavin' you guys to mind the store." She looked around the lobby of the Hyperion, where Gunn was lugging two duffel bags and setting them next to the round couch. Cordelia was leaning over the front desk on her elbows, while Groosalug was attempting to photocopy some papers for her; frankly, the Big Strong Hero was having the devil's own time with the document feeder. Cordy gave him an amused but affectionate glance, then turned back to Fred.
"You guys need some time alone. I got some quality time in with Groo – of course, coinciding with the whole angsty Three Days of the Condor Bit starring Wesley 'Screw-It-Up-Yourself' Wyndham-Price, but hey, I'm not begrudging myself that. So, now, it's your guys' turn to play Hide the—"
Rushing forward, Fred made several inarticulate sounds to cut the other woman off. "Uh, yeah, about that," Fred said, glancing back at Gunn, who either hadn't heard or affected not to have heard what Cordelia was about to say. "Um, Charles and I aren't…well, we haven't…he and I, well, really…" She trailed off as her face turned several shades of red.
Cordelia reached over and laid her hand gently on her friend's arm. "All the more reason to kinda, y'know, get away from it all. You and Gunn are going to do this dance around each other for weeks, maybe months, before you get down to business – or just get down entirely. This way, we cut to the chase a little bit." With a conspiratorial wink, she reached under the counter and pulled out a box from a very famous store in Hollywood whose name started like Fred's. "Here's a little something to, uh, enhance the negotiations
The young physicist's eyes widened when she saw the store's name on the box. Cautiously she opened it. Seeing the contents made her eyes grow even bigger and a squeal emit from her throat. Slamming down the lid as if it contained radioactive isotopes, Fred glared in incredulity at Cordelia. "I can't wear…something like that!"
"Sure you can! It's in your size. Two things I know: the preferred methods of killing slime-demons and how to shop for intimate moments." She patted Fred's arm. "Call it a gift. I mean, that," she amended, indicating the box, "It's a gift, for you. Both of you."
Fred smiled, went over to the duffel bag with her gear and slipped the box in. She then went around the desk into the office proper and hugged Cordelia. "Thanks," she whispered.
Cordelia hugged back, hard. "Anytime."
"So, everybody ready to go?" Lorne came into the lobby, saw Gunn hauling a few last items into the lobby and Cordelia and Fred break apart from their embrace. "You ready to head out, Cupcake?" he asked Gunn.
Gunn fixed Lorne with a lethal stare. "Look, I told you already: don't call me 'Cupcake', 'Sweetmeat', or 'Puddin'. It's Gunn. Or, if you gotta, Charles. Okay?"
Lorne shrugged. "Whatever you say, Sugar Plum." Leaving Gunn to roll his eyes and shake his head, Lorne strode over to Fred, who grinned shyly at him. "How 'bout you, Cumquat? Ready to blow this taco stand?"
"Ooo, that reminds me," Fred said, rubbing her tummy. "We have to stop to get something to eat on the way…"
"You just had to remind her," Gunn deadpanned.
"Are you sure that you guys can handle things while we're gone?" Fred asked one last time.
"I'm sure," came the answer, but not from anyone in the room. Angel came down the stairs, a little rumpled and obviously having not slept well, but was otherwise in decent spirits. "Just carry your pagers and if the world ends, we'll beep you. It's not like this place is that far away."
"Oh, yeah," Gunn interjected. "You got the directions to this lovenest?" Fred gave him a look, but he pretended not to see it. By way of answering, Angel pulled a sheet for paper from his paper pocket.
"Do not fear, Charles," Groo said, his battles with the copier at a standstill for the moment. "Angel, Lorne the princess and I will defeat all comers while you and the mistress Fred are away."
Fred took the paper from Gunn and looked at it, nodding. Suddenly she turned back to Angel. "Does this place have a coffee shop?"
Nonplussed, the vampire replied with a shrug, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does."
"They do serve pancakes there, right?"
Again the slow shrug. "I…guess so."
"Good!" Another quick round of hugs for everyone from Fred, handshakes between the men, a nice squeeze for Gunn from Cordy, and a "don't do anything I wouldn't do" from Lorne (Gunn: "How big is that category?" Lorne: "Miniscule.") and they were off.
TBC.
WOLFLORD 
Great job so far, Now please UPDATE. Much Love, 
