Time and Time Again.
Author: Citanul
Feedback: Be kind, rewind? Seriously though all feedback is welcome.
Spoilers: Just about all of them. Go watch the show. And Angel too. Also Agents of Shield a little bit. You know what, if a name you don’t recognize pops up most of the time you can find dozens of pages of character bio if you type that name and the word comics into Wikipedia. It’s almost scary how much page space comic book fans have taken up on that site.
Rating: NC-17 = Smutty smut smut smut. Seriously though they make love quite often.
Pairings: W/T, B/F, G/J, D/J, F/G, A/?, X/A. Also D/C (Though not till they’re older and even then maybe not so much with the graphic detail.)
Disclaimer: You all know I don’t own the rights to characters you’ve seen on TV.
Summary: A story of reincarnation and interdimensional travel made possible through the power of love. What misfortunes will our two favorite love birds be able to prevent with the aid of experience from countless past lives?
Author’s Note: Happy June everyone. We've come to Prom Night on the hellmouth and I don't know about you but I doubt anything could get in the way of the girls enjoying the dance, and what comes after. This one ran long so the Final Scene is in a follow up post.
The first scene is brief smut. The final scene is prolonged smut. Enjoy
*****
Chapter 41: The Prom
Early morning sunlight filtered in through the skylights and open bedroom window. As it fell across the Slayer’s face she began to stir. Deep brown eyes fluttered open to meet besotted hazel. There was her girl, head propped up on one hand, watching her as she slept. The affection in the petite blonde’s gaze was more than enough to warm her heart and put a smile on her face.
“What’s up, B?” Faith asked as she stretched and began to scoot closer to her girl. “I drool on you or somethin’?”
Buffy smirked as her eyes drank in Faith’s each and every sensuous move. “Or something.” The smile sported by the Slayer was all the motivation Faith needed to get up and face the day.
Faith chuckled as her stretching not so subtly ended with her hands wrapped around Buffy’s slender frame. She smirked as their naked bodies pressed together. “Damn, we had a good workout last night, didn’t we?” Her rhetorical question ended with her nose pressed into Buffy’s neck and her lips tracing over the long healed marks she had made only hours ago.
“We definitely got carried away with the whole post slayage “nap” thing.” Buffy squirmed as she all but collapsed into her girl’s wandering hands.
The brunette moved to capture her girl’s pouty lips. “Give us a kiss.”
“Mmm, Babe.” Buffy tried and failed to resist Faith’s advances. A shyness overcame Buffy as her girl began to take charge like she had so many times the night before. “I have morning breath.”
“So do I, B.” Faith laughed into Buffy’s jaw and neck as she continued her assault on all the Slayer’s sensitive spots. “And in a minute I’m gonna have pussy breath.”
The ribald comeback was enough to spark Buffy’s competitive side. She would not follow an evening of Faith’s tongue worshiping the lower half of her body with a morning encore. “Mmm, none of that, F.” Buffy captured Faith’s lips with her own and then rolled them, putting Faith flat on her back. She pulled Faith’s hands up over the brunette’s head, all the while swallowing the cute little moans and sighs her girl let out as the kiss deepened. With her girl just where she wanted her, Buffy broke the kiss and waited for lust-filled brown orbs to meet her own lurid gaze. “We had enough of that last night. It’s your turn to be the pillow princess.”
“But, B…” Faith moaned and whimpered as Buffy threw one leg over her stomach and sat up. The needy begging continued as Buffy straddled her girl. “Your pussy is my favorite food. I’m a growing Slayer. How am I gonna get big and strong if don’t get my daily F.D.A. recommended dose of pussy juice?”
“Now, now. None of that, Honey.” Buffy chided the brunette as she began to rub her already soaking pussy lips against Faith’s abs. Buffy could not get enough of the chiseled, rippling muscles her girl sported each time she went out with her midriff exposed. “I need to,” Buffy shuddered and let out a little moan of pure bliss as her clit found a slight crevice between two of Faith’s pronounced abs. “Fuck, that’s good… I need to mark you.”
Faith smirked as she used her diaphragm to roll into Buffy’s quivering center. “Mark me, B?” Faith had to suppress her own aching shudder of need as she felt her stomach grow slick with Buffy’s nectar. “That what we callin’ it now?”
Buffy let out a deep, almost guttural moan as her hips rocked and her pussy found the bumpiest path it could take while moving between Faith’s breasts and belly button. “Mine…” Both Buffy and Faith threw their heads back in sheer blinding pleasure. Buffy’s hands began to knead Faith’s breasts, giving an especially merciless kind of attention to Faith’s taut pink nipples. Faith’s moans of pleasure joined Buffy’s as she did her best to make her stomach meet each rocking grind of Buffy’s hips. Squeals of surprise escaped the petite blonde as her pussy lips ground into each well-muscled bump and groove lining her girl’s torso. The slickness of her own arousal as it coated the woman she adored. The flashes of pleasure as her clit impacted on rolling stomach muscles that hit just right. The thrill of swollen lips as they mapped every curve and contour of Faith’s writhing body. The feel of those same lips parting in a vain attempt to wrap around one knot of muscle that teased her entrance.
Buffy came with a surprised squeak and a flood that covered Faith’s taut body. She leaned forward into Faith’s arms, and then further into Faith’s lips. Buffy sighed into the kiss as she felt the brunette squirm beneath her. She smirked. Buffy realized she may not have played the role of pillow princess, but she had still taken her pleasure without giving in return. Hazel eyes looked down to find a writhing, whimpering, mess of brunette lust and need. “Buffy,” Faith begged as her hips rocked upwards in desperate need of attention.
“Oh, Honey,” Buffy smirked again as she leaned back and began to grind her pussy across the rugged terrain of Faith’s taut stomach muscles. One hand went down to rest against Faith’s breastbone. The other trailed behind Buffy, sliding over Faith’s arousal and her quivering pussy. “I think you’re gonna enjoy this.”
Faith shuddered in partial relief as Buffy cupped her molten core with one hand. The petite blonde’s fingers slid down and pressed into Faith’s aching wanton lips. A sigh escaped the brunette as Buffy’s palm ground into her maddeningly sensitive clit. The sigh shifted into a high pitched cry as Buffy’s middle and ring fingers plunged into Faith’s silken folds. Buffy began her assault without warning, delving as far as she could into Faith while she continued to grind herself up and down the rest of Faith’s body. Fingers twirled, flexed, and scissor-kicked into Faith’s depths in ways that always stole the brunette’s breath away. In no time Buffy found the familiar bumpy patch deep within Faith and showed no mercy.
“Buffy!” Faith screamed as she came, spraying her essence over Buffy’s hand and across the lower third of her own bed.
Before Faith could come down from her high she felt Buffy plunge into her again. Faith let out a long series of pained and pleased moans as her girl continued to fuck her through multiple orgasms. She swore she blacked out at multiple points. When she finally regained her senses, Faith found Buffy laying on top of her with their full bodies pressed together. The petite blonde had captured her lips in a long drawn out kiss, all while continuing to stir and spread the fingers still tormenting Faith’s sodden folds. Faith couldn’t help but chuckle into Buffy’s lips.
“You back yet, Honey?” Buffy asked as she thrust into Faith once more.
“Mmm.” Faith whimpered as uncontrollable pleasure threatened to overtake her once more. “Buffy.”
“Don’t worry,” Buffy whispered before she began to kiss her way down Faith’s jaw and neck. She stopped to suck on Faith’s collarbone. “I’m not done yet. Not by a long shot.” A playful nibble at each of Faith’s nipples caused the brunette to scream and laugh just before Buffy’s mouth began to nip and peck its way across the well-defined stomach muscles she had spent so much time riding. When Buffy finally arrived at her destination she did the one thing she knew always caused Faith to lose control. Buffy’s tongue wound in tightening circles around Faith’s clit, eventually closing her lips around the over-sensitive bundle of nerves as she began to suck.
Faith’s screams filled the air as Buffy’s work truly began.
*****
“So I’m guessing patrol went well,” Willow said as the faint sounds of a screaming orgasm came from upstairs.
“I’m sorry you boys have to listen to Faith carrying on with the neighbor girl like we didn’t have guests in the house.” Jennifer’s apology was only met with a smirk from Doyle and a laugh from Rondell.
“Trust me, Jen. This is nothing compared to the way Alonna flaunts her relations in front of the boys.” Doyle could only laugh at the look of horror spreading across his girlfriend’s face.
“For real.” Rondell agreed before looking up from his plate of breakfast pancakes to address the smiling half demon. “Wasn’t it just two weeks ago that she cleared out that vamp nest then dragged her girl upstairs the second she got home? You guys should have seen Ginny the next day. That curly red hair of hers all over the place, half ripped up clothes hanging off one shoulder, hickeys all over her neck, walkin’ around lookin’ like she just got mauled by a cougar, and the widest smile you’ve ever seen on her face as she got two cups of coffee from the pot by the front desk and ran right back upstairs to Al’s bedroom.”
“That’s a Slayer for ya. Frisky little buggers, the whole lot of them.” Xander said as Tara and Willow burst into laughter.
When her laughter finally died down, Willow chimed in with disturbing news for the entire table. “Yeah, that’s not something that ever really mellows out with age. Once a Slayer starts enjoying sex she never stops enjoying sex and tends to go overboard with it. You guys should have seen Buffy after her useless college boyfriend bailed on her. The idiot got tired of not getting to play “the big strong man”, having to listen to other people during Scooby meetings, and not running all over town with a loaded gun. So he gave Buffy an ultimatum that was basically, “Give me a reason to stay, aside from you already giving me more orgasms than I could ever deserve, or else I’m leaving you to go fight demons in some South American jungle.”
“The nerve of some people.” Tara shook her head in feigned indignation. “Turning away all those perfectly good Slayer orgasms.”
Xander raised his glass of orange juice and saluted both Willow and Tara. “Thank the Goddess and sweet merciful Zeus that you guys finally won Buffy over to the pink side of the force.”
“Amen.” Rondell agreed with his raised glass of milk. There was another round of laughter before everyone got back to enjoying breakfast. A few minutes passed before Rondell spoke up again. “So Amy keeps telling me Prom is coming up. Xander, you got a tux already?”
“Oh, yeah, but I know a good place,” Xander said before he stuffed another fork load of syrupy pancake in his mouth. “How about we pick up Jonathan after school and the three of us can go get you sorted out?”
“Thanks, man.” The boys nodded and shared knowing chuckles as another scream of pleasure came form upstairs.
Willow perked up at the obvious reminder of their regular high school lives. “Oh!” Tara had to stifle a laugh as her always nearly shot up in her seat. “Oh, that reminds me. We have to make sure Faith has a dress. Buffy already has hers ready to go and Faith always lets these things slide till the last minute.”
“We’ll take Faith shopping after school while the boys have their fun,” Tara said while gently patting the redhead’s thigh. “Mama, do you think you or Joyce could distract Buffy for a few hours?”
“Of course, Sweetie.” Jennifer smiled before frowning at the sound of a loud moan echoing through the ceiling. She leaned back against Doyle’s side. The half-demon put his arm around her shoulders as he finished the last piece of pancake on his plate. “And I’m sure Doyle and I can find plenty of ways to entertain ourselves while you kids are at school.” The blatant innuendo and the firm grip on his inner thigh caused Doyle to cough and nearly choke on his last bite of breakfast.
Willow and Tara laughed while Xander and Rondell grew pale at the blatant admission of sexual intent from the older witch. Even Doyle was shocked by the casual openness around the topic of sex within the Rosenberg-Maclay household. Though he knew he really should have expected as much with three-quarters of the household being an extremely sexually active Slayer and two witches whose souls had been bonded at the deepest spiritual levels for who knew how many lifetimes. Eventually, he and the boys joined the women’s easy laughter. The day was off to a wonderful start. If only it could last.
*****
“Xander!” The cheerful shout drew the young man’s attention. He looked up and was more than a little surprised to see a beautiful young brunette jogging towards him. She was wearing a gauzy light pink sundress, with a matching long sleeve shirt left open to highlight assets which drew most of Xander’s attention.
It took Xander a moment to place her as the pretty girl approached with a smile. “Well, hey! It’s demon Anya!” The smile fell and her notebook came up to shield her chest from the male gaze. “Punisher of evil males. Still haven’t got your powers back?” As they began to walk towards the front entrance of the school a terrifying thought struck the young man. He stopped, reaching out to gently rest his hand against Anya’s elbow and raise an almost fearful finger to ask what was suddenly the most important question in the world. “You haven’t? Right?”
“No!” Anya dismissed his fearful question as they began to walk again. “I will though. It’s just a matter of time.”
The smile returned once Xander was safe in the knowledge that the pretty girl at his side could not use magic to castrate him, disembowel him, turn him into something furry scaly or slimy, or wish him into the cornfield. “So, now how did that work? Women would wish horrible things on their ex-boyfriends. You’d show up and make it happen.” He almost laughed as he caught her rolling her eyes at the mention of her former profession. “Amy was light on the details aside from evil magic bauble, and Will and Tara just laughed and gave me the weirdest grins.”
Anya’s back straightened with pride as she answered the young man’s idle curiosity. Even with the recent and unwilling changes to her life, Anyanka was still proud of her many accomplishments. “That’s right. The power of the wish made me a righteous sword to smite the unfaithful.”
“Well hey! Good luck with that.” Even the former demon could easily spot the sarcasm oozing from Xander’s each and every smug word. “Hope it works out for ya.”
The casual dismissal and cocksure grin set the former demon off again. “You know, you can laugh, but I have witnessed a millennium of treachery and oppression from the males of the species, and I have nothing but contempt for the whole libidinous lot of them!”
Xander’s head cocked to one side. A slightly confused, but curious, frown twisting the bored expression he had just sported. “Then why are you talking to me?”
Anya turned her head and let out a dejected huff. A moment later she turned back to him and batted her eyes just enough to ignite a treacherous little spark in the young man. “I don’t have a date for the prom.”
The admission caught Xander off guard. When she called his name he had no idea why or where the conversation would take him. This turn of events only served to raise further questions regarding the former demon. “Well gosh. I wonder why not. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with your sales pitch.”
“Men are evil.” Anya fired back with a cold, ruthless, certainty that was distractingly offset by the way she batted her eyes and pivoted the conversation in the opposite direction. “Will you go with me?”
“One of us is very confused…” Xander admitted as he felt even more distracted by the way Anya was looking at him. There was vulnerability and sadness in her eyes and in her graceful yet slightly seductive posture. He honestly could not tell if she was genuinely interested in him or putting on an act because she had no idea how to pretend to be an ordinary human. “And I honestly don’t know which.”
His response only served to irritate Anya. “You know this happens to be all your fault!”
Her rebuttal put Xander back on the defensive side of the brewing argument. “My fault?”
“Your relationship with Cordelia imploded so I took on the guise of a twelfth grader to tempt her with the wish. When I lost my powers I got stuck in this persona, and now I have all these feelings! I don’t understand it! I don’t like it! All I know is I really want to go to the dance, and I want someone to go with me!” Anya’s voice rose as she listed off all the reasons why Xander’s bad dates and worse timing had negatively affected her personally. Being human was hard, and she was going to make sure the clueless boy standing before her knew just how much of her suffering he needed to atone for.
“Be still my heart…” Xander paused and brought an open palm up to the center of his chest. “Oh, wait. It is.” He looked at her in exasperation and did his best to ignore certain confusing urges he was feeling while looking at the pretty but perplexing woman. “How come I got the short straw?”
“You, you’re not quite as obnoxious as most of the alpha males around here.” Anya began softly only to turn things around on Xander yet again as she pointed out how he obviously needed her more than she needed him. “Plus I know you don’t have a date.”
“I haven’t settled on anyone yet!” Xander snapped back, only to feel another confusing urge as he fell into an oddly familiar argument with the former demon.
“Fine!” Anya scoffed as she leaned back and moved her notebook away from her chest. “Look, I know you find me attractive. I’ve seen you looking at my breasts!”
Xander let a slight smirk play across his face as he took the opportunity to blatantly glance down to Anya’s chest and then slowly back up to her exasperated face. “Nothing personal, but when a guy does that it just means his eyes are open.”
“Whatever…” Anya said as she let out another pouty huff that confused Xander yet again. “Look, do you want to go with me or not?” Their eyes met and Xander could plainly see the need and vulnerability in the former demon. He may not have understood every single confusing stirring he felt while gazing at the former demon, but he was certain Anya saw a similar need while looking back into his eyes. The odd couple stood, staring into each other’s eyes for a long and tenuous moment. Eventually, they both shared a slight smile.
*****
“So… Anya, huh?” Tara’s coy smirk and the way Willow’s face was buried in the honey blonde’s hair set fire to the imaginations of the other Scoobies at the picnic table in the school courtyard. “Interesting choice.” The not so subtle inflection Tara put on her words caused the redhead at her side to giggle into her locks and the brunette near Buffy to continue rolling on the grass in another fit of laughter.
“Choice is kind of a broad term for my situation,” Xander spoke with calm ease as he ignored the cackling Slayer on the ground. “See, it’s either Anya or the sock puppet of love for this boy.” As he sat on the picnic table he propped one elbow on his knee and pantomimed a mouth with his curled thumb and fingers.
“I love you, Xander.” The boy’s hand spoke in a slightly higher pitch that served as an abysmal parody of a woman’s voice. “I’ll never leave you.”
“Anya can’t be that bad… Can she, Will?” Buffy was just as eager to ignore her girlfriend's uproarious laughter, only to cause the brunette’s cackling to double as very real and possible fears regarding Xander’s dating history came to her mind. “Amy would have said so after the thing with the ghost necklace and my evil clone, and you would have sent us to stop her if she was bad, right? This isn’t like the time Xander almost got eaten by a substitute teacher? Or the time he almost got eaten by the Inca mummy princess? Or the time he almost got eaten by that one blue scaly demon that kept batting her eyes at him while she was fighting me? Or the time that one red demon with the circle of tiny horns on his head asked us if Xander was seeing anyone? Or the time that one demon spell backfired and the next day half the teachers were all over Xander? Or the time…”
“Oh fuck, B!” Faith cried out in between bouts of laughter and gasps for breath. “I can’t. Fuck me, I’m dyin’ over here.”
“Okay, no!” Willow perked up as Buffy’s fears continued to mount. “No, Buffy. Anya isn’t like all the other times Xander almost got eaten. She only ever did the fun kind of eating when it came to Xander.”
“The good kind of eating,” Tara added with a smirk and an eyebrow waggle. “And yes, Anya’s is the type who will be more than happy to tell you all about her plans to eat Xander once you guys get to know her.”
Willow could only nod along with her everything. “At great length. Whether you want her to, or not.”
The conversation was clearly agitating Xander's hand while at the same time several key points seemed to fly right over his head. “Who’s this Anya? Is she prettier than me?” The hand screeched in a foul accusatory tone that drew a few giggles from the witches.
A moment passed before Willow turned her attention back to the worried Slayer. “Anya is… complicated. Xander makes a lot of bad decisions when it comes to the subject of women who might be interested in his penis. He also has a very specific type. A type that is almost always trouble after the first date goes sideways, but Anya just so happens to tick off all his boxes.”
“She ticked your boxes!” Xander’s hand let out a shrill cry of fury before turning in the air and storming off. “I’m leaving you, Xander!”
“No! Baby, don’t go!” Xander cried out as his outstretched hand reached in the direction it just mimed going. “Baby, please! It meant nothing to me! It was only physical! I swear!”
“Funny,” Buffy muttered before turning back to Willow. “Now how is “little miss vengeance demon” Xander’s type, and what even is his type?”
“Oh, you know,” Willow said to the Slayer as she began to tick off important qualities with her fingers. “Older than him. Smarter than him. Prettier than him. High maintenance. Strong-willed. Some kind of demon or incredibly powerful magic critter.”
“Slayers.” Buffy deadpanned while sparing a stray glare in Xander’s direction.
The witch just rolled her eyes at the Slayer. “I said incredibly powerful magic critters.” Willow’s retort drew a shocked gasp from Buffy and a burst of laughter from Tara.
“Hey, I’m not that…” Xander began to protest, only for his eyes to widen in shock at the far too obvious realization. “Sweet merciful, Zeus. I have a type.”
“Xander, one time you went on a date with this gorgeous woman you met in a hardware store,” Willow spoke calmly as she recounted what had been a depressingly reliable trend by the time it happened in their first life. “She turned out to be a demon. She tried to sacrifice you to her evil overlord thingy, and the whole time you were suspended from her hanging torture wheel you were muttering to yourself about how you always end up dating demons. After Buffy saved you and brought you home you even asked me to, and I quote, “Willow! Gay me up! Come on. Let’s gay!”
“Buffy and Dawn even laughed about how funny it’d be if you started attracting boy demons.” Tara’s sly addition renewed and quite possibly doubled the loud peals of laughter coming from Faith.
For a moment a desperate sort of terror filled Buffy’s eyes. “But Anya’s not like that, right? She’s a good demon. Like Lorne or Doyle?”
Willow stopped smiling. The witch looked to the Slayer with grave seriousness. “Buffy, I know it’s hard to tell with some of the stuff we’ve been doing, but Anyanka the Patron Saint of Scorned Women was an objectively evil demon. For over eleven hundred years she granted wishes that did horrible things and ended the lives of thousands of people. One of her wishes caused a massacre that ignited the revolution that killed off the Russian royal family, and kicked off the rise of the Soviet Union.” All laughter at the table stopped as Willow’s words sank in.
The honey blonde was quick to offer some small reassurances that could limit the scope of Anya’s atrocities. “But th-that century was f-full of royal families getting beheaded. Anya may have lit the match, but Czar and ha-half the country w-was responsible for stacking the w-wood and pouring gas on everything. The lich Rasputin alone spent decades plotting the deaths of the royals. If Anya’s wish didn’t kick off the rebellion a dozen other things would have.”
Faith chose that moment to climb back up to the picnic table and question the witches directly. “So if this skank is some big bad why is she going after Xander and why are we not making with the slaying?”
“Because Anyanka might have been an incredibly powerful and entirely evil demon, but Anya is not.” Both Slayers looked to Willow in confusion. It was clear the redhead would have to do more to justify Anya’s inclusion in their family. “Do you guys even know what happens to a person when they pop up on the vengeance demon recruitment radar? D’hoffryn shows up in a moment of personal heartbreak and tragedy and offers them the chance to make the world a better place through vengeance. They have to literally be torn up inside, or else D’hoffryn wouldn’t be able to harvest the shattered pieces of their soul and form those pieces into a new power center.”
“They lose their souls?” Buffy whispered. The shock and the painful reminder of doomed relationships past were more than enough to derail the threat she had been planning in case Anya proved too dangerous to date Xander.
“Not the whole thing,” Tara said. She paused for a moment before going on to answer the questions she saw in the eyes of both Slayers. “A piece of their soul gets pulled out and put inside their power center necklaces. That’s why spells to retrieve the necklace with temporal folds don’t work. When their power center is destroyed their soul shard just goes right back into them. D’hoffryn can’t even give them a new necklace and make them a demon again until they suffer another massive personal tragedy.”
“When Anya became a demon, the part of her that was capable of things like kindness, empathy, love, and compassion was ripped out of her and locked away. Now that she’s human again she has all those parts back.” There was a pause as Willow made sure all eyes were on her. “Whether she likes it or not. The fact is Anyanka the vengeance demon is dead and gone. Anya is not a demon. She’s a scared and confused young woman who has no real place in the world and no clear path for herself. Right now she’s struggling with the loss of her powers, her own mortality, and all the regular teenager stuff that everyone has to deal with at some point. She’s lost and looking for answers. Treat her like a monster and she’ll become a monster. Treat her like a person and… well.”
Before Willow could go on, Tara took Xander’s hand and spoke to him directly while ignoring the shocked and confused expressions on either Slayer. “Just see how the dance goes, Xander. She might surprise you.”
“This one is all on you, Xander,” Willow added. “You may not have magic or super strength, but in this one case you have the greatest power of them all.”
Xander’s mouth fell open as he looked at the two witches in shock. Almost a full minute of stunned silence passed before he asked the important question in a hesitant whisper. “What power is that?”
“Your penis may not be able to turn a gay woman straight, but apparently it can turn an evil demon neutral.”
Tara’s crude utterance and the matching wicked grins on both her and Willow’s faces brought back the easy atmosphere that had left once the conversation veered into the topic of demons and souls. Faith once again fell out of the picnic table while laughing. Buffy stared at the witches in seeming disgust before a wicked smile of her own overtook her face.
Xander simply leaned back and stared off into space. He could not believe that Willow and Tara had so easily given him the green light to date Anya. He knew Willow was holding something back, but for the life of him, he had no clue what the secret could possibly be. As his body slowly fell backwards to sprawl across the picnic table, only one clear thought came to Xander’s mind. He was in far over his head.
*****
“Sweetie, are you…” Jennifer came through the open door to Faith’s bedroom. She had expected to find the brunette Slayer goofing off after forgetting that Tara and Willow had promised to take her dress shopping after school. The figure she found moving around the room caught her by surprise. “Oh. Hello, Buffy.”
“Hi, Jen.” The Slayer gave the witch a bright smile as she bounced around the room. Jennifer watched as the girl stripped Faith’s bed and began to bundle the sheets into a laundry basket. “Is it cool if I use your washing machine? I was gonna clean these and then get the room nice and romantic. Ooh, and I was going to ask Will and Tara if they could light some candles right before we get back from patrol.”
“Sounds romantic.” Jennifer gave the Slayer a sly smirk as Buffy wore the same dopey lovesick grin she always did when talking about Faith. “So then… You and Faith. Your relationship is good. You’re keeping her happy?”
“Oh my god.” Buffy all but squealed in delight as she thought of how good things were going in their relationship. “So unbelievably good. I can’t even tell you. Faith is like the perfect girlfriend. She really gets me. She gets our destiny. I don’t know what I’d do without all the love and support she gives me every night. Plus, two Slayers, you wouldn’t believe half the things we can do together.”
Jennifer did her best to steer her mind away from the more terrifying mental images conjured up by the clueless blonde. “I’ll bet.” The witch went back to smiling as she watched the neighbor girl happily clean Faith’s messy room. “So she’s happy? You both are happy?”
“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m at peak happy.” Buffy stilled as her chin tipped down towards her chest and her wide grin turned into an almost embarrassed smirk. “Even with the whole messy secret identity thing and all the townies being completely oblivious to all the work I do, Faith gets it. We’ll never get any kind of reward or praise for all the good we do, but that doesn’t matter so long as we have each other. So long as I have my Faith.”
The witch watched as a shudder ran up and down the Slayer’s spine. A moment passed before she saw the younger blonde center herself and renew her efforts to clean the messy bedroom. When she spoke again it did not hold half the dread the Slayer had failed to notice in the earlier questions. “That’s good. She’s not going to run away from us again. That’s really good, Buffy. Thank you.”
The Slayer stopped in her tracks at the mention of Faith’s tendency to run. Buffy turned, ever so slowly. Hazel eyes locked with deep blues that matched the other young woman aside from Faith who had changed everything about Buffy’s life. Another tense moment passed as the Slayer and the witch stared each other down. “She wouldn’t run.” Buffy’s utterance was lined with a hard edge. An edge Jennifer knew was just as sharp as any blade or stake the Slayers used on a nightly basis.
Jennifer sighed as she came into the room. Her hands came to rest on her hips as she paced around, looking at all the little touches that proudly screamed of Buffy’s influence on Faith. Knick-knacks and baubles that confirmed the all too obvious fact that Buffy spent just as many nights in this bedroom as she did in her own. Jennifer smiled at the influence Buffy clearly had on Faith. The smile melted away as she turned to face the Slayer and was met once more with the petite blonde’s hard glare.
“She’s been running her whole life, Buffy.” Jennifer could tell that her words struck home. She could almost see the Slayer buckling under their weight. The witch could not imagine the strength possessed by Buffy. To stand, defiant, battle ready, in the face of such an emotional assault. For a moment the witch almost envied the Slayer. Almost. “Running is all she knew before she came to us. To you, and to me. It’s still the first plan she comes up with when she’s truly terrified. The first thing that pops into her head in those ugly little moments of doubt. I don’t think there will ever be a day when she doesn’t consider running.” As she spoke Jennifer slowly made her way across the room. She stopped a hair’s breadth from the agitated Slayer, taking in how tense the girl was. How angered. How close she was to pouncing on any threat that dared show itself. Jennifer did not even recognize her own bravery as she brought her hands up to rest on Buffy’s tense, nearly vibrating, shoulders. “It’s a good thing that you’re here, giving her all the best reasons not to run. To stay. I’m truly grateful. So grateful that I willingly overlook all the times you’ve obviously slept with my underage daughter. All the very loud sleeping you two have gotten up to.”
Buffy froze as she realized just what the witch was not so subtly hinting at. In an instant, the agitation turned to dread. The battle ready stance melting away under the older blonde’s amused scrutiny. “I love her!” Buffy sputtered in protest as she grasped for any defense from the woman she just realized would one day be her mother in law. “I love her.”
“We all love Faith, Buffy,” Jennifer smirked as she rubbed her hands up and down Buffy’s upper arms. “But she loves you more than anything else in this world. You’re all she can see when she looks into her future. You’re so important to her that the very idea you might reject her caused her to flee into the night, and never look back. The fear of your betrayal caused her to go right back to her life on the run. Back to the nightmare she lived before Tara and Willow dragged her out of that awful slum.” Steady blue eyes stared into fearful hazel depths. “Do you see how important your relationship is to Faith? How important your actions are when it comes to her wellbeing?”
“I’d do anything for her” Buffy let out a faint whisper of a promise as Jennifer held her shaking shoulders. “I’m never going to reject her. I’ll never make that mistake again.”
Jennifer sighed as she realized just how heavy-handed she was being with the young woman. “I’m not saying this to put pressure on you, Buffy. You have a say in your relationship too. I just want to make sure you’ve thought of all Faith’s needs. Not just her… well… bedroom needs.”
“Of course I think of Faith’s needs!” Buffy’s protest was more than enough to reassure Jennifer. “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me. She’s the one part of every new day that I can always look forward to without disappointment. She’s my Faith.”
Jennifer smiled as Buffy trailed off in a whisper. She pulled the Slayer into a gentle embrace. “Thank you, Buffy. Thank you for all you’ve done for my daughter. For all my daughters.” The two blondes held each other in the middle of Faith’s bedroom. Both basking in the gentle reassurance of one another. After a tearful moment, Jennifer decided she needed to lighten the atmosphere with a joke.
“So what’s this I’m hearing about a “Pussy Palace?”
*****
“Fuck, I look hot!” Faith let out a loud whoop as she turned and twisted to look at her own ass and breasts in several different dressing room mirrors. “B is gonna be all over me and my girls when she sees this dress. We’re talkin’ two express tickets to Pound Town!”
“I mean, she’s not wrong,” Tara said. She and Willow shared a brief laugh. The shop workers all around them grew more and more mortified with each passing outburst from the eager Slayer. “You’ll probably get a kick out of Buffy’s dress, Faith.”
Willow smirked at the playfulness behind Tara’s words. “She did say she had, and I quote, “the kick dress.” Knowing how you Slayers like to go at it like coked-up rabbits, it’s fair to say that prom night will end in multiple trips to Pound Town.”
“We doing the whole limo and hotel thing again?” Faith asked as she twirled in the middle of the half circle of full-length changing room mirrors. “Gotta say, the homecoming dance post-show B and I got up to had me buzzing for like a week.”
“Of course,” Willow said from her perch in Tara’s lap. “We’ll drop Anya off, then Xander, then Bob and Steve will drive the four of us to the hotel. I’m sure you and Buffy will have a good time celebrating…” The redhead’s babble trailed off mid-sentence as she and the honey blonde shared a look. Luckily for them, the conspicuous look and the mention of post-dance celebrations flew right over the Slayer’s head.
“Wicked.” Faith grinned as she leaned over just right and put her breasts on full display in the mirrors. “B has been extra frisky lately. I’m hoping this dance gets her in the mood to let me return the favor. Can’t let my girl have all the fun.”
The witches smiled as Faith waved one of the shop girls over and told her to start ringing up the dress. They were all too relieved that Faith had ignored the last few lines of Willow’s babbling. She had almost spoiled the surprise their classmates were planning for Buffy. A surprise which always drew heartwarming tears and a swell of pride from the Scoobys. A surprise which coincidentally proved Buffy's secret identity wasn’t so secret after all.
*****
“That’s the one alright. Very dapper. Amy will love it.” Xander’s reassuring words and Jonathan’s enthusiastic thumbs up were all the convincing Rondell needed.
“Thanks, man,” Rondell called back as he went back into the changing stall and began to remove the tux he had picked out. “You guys already got your fancy get-ups for the dance?”
“Of course,” Xander answered from the outer part of the changing room. “I’m going in the same tux Will and the gang helped me pick out for homecoming. Black, with silver trim, and a Mandarin collar. What about you, Jonathan?”
Jonathan smiled as he looked off into the distance. “Oh, my date helped me pick out something new.”
“We gonna get to meet this special lady?” Rondell asked as he poked his head out of the stall.
“And is she going to be all over you in the limo?” Xander smirked at the other teen.
“Oh, no way.” Jonathan dismissed the other boys’ questions with an odd laugh. “And it’s not like I’m even dating her. She’s just a friend from out of town and I thought she’d like the chance to go with us to the dance.”
“Nice, good for you, J Dawg.” Rondell clapped Jonathan on the shoulder as he stepped out of the changing stall dressed in his normal street clothes. “Hey, after graduation, how about you come spend the summer at the hotel with the rest of the crew? We’ll show you around L.A., hunt a few vampires, maybe Al will even introduce you to some of the ladies.”
“Oh for sure,” Jonathan said as he smiled back at the friend he had made through his loose association with the Slayers and the witches currently running things on the hellmouth. “It’s funny, Al and Charles already offered me a room in the hotel. Pretty sure she wants Amy and I doing all your magic tech support whenever Willow and Tara are too busy to swing by your hotel.”
“Shoot, she didn’t tell me or Chain. When did this happen?” Rondell was equal parts surprised and relieved that his friend was already well on his way to joining the Hyperion Crew. He and Chain had been through more than enough trouble with Jonathan and spent more than enough time with the young man to know he would fit in perfectly with the odd mix of runaways and super-powered crazies filling up the first two floors of the hotel.
“Damn, you’re practically a member of the gang already.” Xander chuckled as he and Rondell looked at Jonathan. “We’ll have to get you fitted for a body armor suit like everyone else.”
“What really?” Jonathan perked up in surprise at the mention of the nearly undetectable protective gear he knew Xander and Rondell were wearing at that very moment. “You guys would get Willow and Tara to give me my own body armor?”
“Course you’re getting body armor, J Dawg.” Rondell almost laughed at the idea of not making sure his friend had the same outrageously expensive gear the rest of the Scooby Gang and the Hyperion Crew had. “Can’t have you watching our backs if we don’t watch yours.”
Just as it became apparent that Jonathan would be speechless for several moments, Xander caught sight of a familiar figure on the far side of the store. A wicked grin crossed his face as he watched the brunette holding a slinky dress against her body while looking into one of the many floor length mirrors. Rondell and Jonathan both noticed Xander’s departure from their conversation. Soon they realized just what had caught the young man’s attention. Both quietly slipped away, heading to the cash register with Rondell’s new tux.
With a cocky tone he would soon come to regret, Xander waltzed up to his ex and fired off a snide remake lined with vicious barbs. “Okay, how long does it take you to buy a damn dress?”
“Ugh, Xander!” Cordelia spun, still holding the beautiful shiny charcoal gray dress to her chest. For a moment Xander’s mind was sidetracked by the plunging neckline and wire-thin straps that he knew would put her ample assets on full display. “I, uh… I’m considering things a little more carefully nowadays. I don’t want to get stuck with another dud.” Cordelia replied with an unsteady retort that gained confidence as she stared down the boy she had dumped.
“Well, this should work for ya.” The young man wasted no opportunity while his ex seemed to be caught off guard. He gestured to the dress still in her hands and began to outline its obvious appeal. “It positively screams “desperate rich girl.”
Before Cordelia could fire back another retort a shop girl with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and a nametag that spelled out Rhonda came up and addressed Cordelia directly. “Are you helping this customer?” Xander noticed how the new girl’s eyes flicked back to the woman checking out Rondell and Jonathan at the cash register. Then her gaze fixed Cordelia with a certain ire that only confused him.
Xander smirked as he answered the woman for Cordelia. “Cordy? Help? Funny. No, I just stopped by for my daily helping of bile.”
“So you better get back to work and quit goofing. Mrs. Finkle so has it in for you.” Rhonda and Cordelia both glanced over to the cash register.
Xander followed their gaze, quickly noticing an older woman who must be the store manager giving Cordelia a sideways glare. She then gave Jonathan a forced smile which soon melted into another rude glare at Rondell the second he and Jonathan’s backs were turned.
It took Xander far more time than it should have to connect the pieces of the puzzle. “You work here?”
“Yes! Yes, I work here.” Cordelia let out an annoyed huff as she walked over to a rack and put the dress back in its place.
“But… uh… why?” Ever the eloquent young man, Xander asked the obvious question while ignorant of its deeply personal nature.
Cordelia did her best to stifle the growing annoyance. She did not need to explain herself to the boy who had needlessly complicated and endangered her life. “I’m trying to buy a dress.”
“But don’t you already have all the dresses?” Xander barreled ahead, ignorant of the fire his words stoked.
“I have nothing! Okay? No dresses! No cell phone! No car! Everything has been taken away because Daddy made a little mistake on his taxes… For the last twelve years.” Cordelia’s rant stunned the young man. Seeing him caught off guard for a change, Cordelia gained a vindictive and slightly morbid sense of catharsis from Xander’s dumbfounded gawking. “Satisfied? Are you a happy Xander now? I’m broke. I can’t go to any of the colleges that accepted me, and I can't stay home because we no longer have one.”
“Uh… Wow.” yet again Xander was speechless before the beautiful cheerleader. What made matters even worse was the all too familiar heat he felt stirring below his abdomen. A heat which had always been stoked each and every time the brunette lived up to her self appointed title of alpha-bitch. For a moment Xander lamented the fact that he clearly had a type. If he had another moment he would have given serious consideration to seeking counseling for his needlessly self-destructive hormonal urges.
Cordelia did not give him that moment. “Yeah! Neato! Now you can run along and tell all of your friends how Cordy finally got hers! How she has to work part-time to get a lousy prom dress on layaway.” She turned to storm off to the other side of the store, only to pivot and storm right back up to him with yet another example of her loss of social status. “And! How she has to wear a nametag. Oh, I’m a nametag person! Don’t leave that out! The story just wouldn’t have the same punch!”
Xander did not offer an apology, though it was not for lack of compassion on his part. The second Cordelia shouted the final word of her dressing down to Xander the front windows of April Fools burst inward. Shattered glass and shredded fabric rained down on the showroom floor of the formal wear store. Amidst the chaos and destruction crouched a beast with scab covered brown skin and thick patches of mangy fur. It crouched on all fours like a hound. Hideous yellow eyes scanned the room. With a burst of movement, the beast came bounding across the room towards Cordelia. Xander wasted no time.
Cordelia let out an annoyed grunt as Xander pushed her aside and stepped into the path of the beast. One hand lashed out as the beast closed on the young man. Both toppled to the floor. The beast threw its head back, ready to sink claw and fang into the Scooby. Then it caught sight of something out of the corner of its eye. Another young man with wavy blond hair was just stepping out of the changing room. He wore a higher end formal tuxedo with a classic design. The beast glanced the newcomer’s way just as it was about to ravage Xander. To Xander’s complete bewilderment the beast slowly turned away from him and locked its gaze on the blond man in the expensive tux. The beasts lunged once again only to halt in mid-air.
“Thicken!” Jonathan shouted with one arm outstretched and shaking with the mystical force of the spell he was not truly prepared to cast. The beast was frozen in the middle of the shop for a single moment.
One moment was all they needed. Xander was up in an instant. His combat knife drawn and rammed into the demon’s throat. Rondell was right behind him. His silver dirk buried in between the bones of the demon’s the rib cage. Hopefully skewering the beast's heart.
The demon let out one final whimper before its body went still. The light faded from the beast’s vicious yellow eyes. As Jonathan lowered his hand so too did the dead demon slump to the floor. The stunned shop girls and customers stared in horror at a sight most of them would suppress and forget by the end of the week. Xander knew he had to act quickly before the questions began.
“Great job on that spell, Jonathan,” Xander said as he pocketed his knife and went to grab one end of the hound-like beast. “Catch your breath, then grab Rondell’s tux and go with Cordy to get the security tape. The Slayers will need to see this. Rondell, help me drag this thing to the sewer grate in the alley out back. The Lenny will take care of it in a few days.”
Both boys nodded and followed Xander’s orders. They knew their jobs, even in the middle of what should have been their time off. Cordelia didn’t even try to protest. She knew the seriousness of what had just happened. What had almost happened. She went to the back room, grabbed the tape, handed it to a still panting Jonathan, and followed the three boys out the back door of April Fools. She didn’t notice Xander slip back to the register, pull out a large roll of bills, and start laying them on the counter, one by one, in front of Mrs. Finkle. All while pointing at the dress Cordelia had been daydreaming about and jerking his head in the direction of the store’s shattered display window. She didn’t notice the surprised look in Mrs. Finkle’s eyes turn to delight as she counted out the generous “tip” he added. None of them noticed the figure lurking by the ruined shop window, seething in impotent rage at the death of one of his summoned pets.
*****
“You say the creature just… stopped?” Giles’ question broke the uneasy silence filling the library of the Rosenberg Maclay house. The entire Scooby Gang and several of their closest friends and family sat around the large conference table in the center of the room. All eyes were glued to the TV which played the grainy, black and white footage recorded by the April Fools security camera.
“Yeah.” Xander stood and walked over to stand beside the TV as the tape played the most confusing part of the deadly encounter. “Right there. See? It’s like he just realized he forgot to put money in the meter or something.” They all watched as the demon looked up from Xander for only a moment and spotted a teen across the room. Then they watched as the beast turned back to Xander, only to swing right back around and lunge at the better-dressed teen.
“You know the part that totally weirded me out? That thing had good taste. I mean, he chucked Xander and went right for the formal wear.” Cordelia’s backhanded assessment drew an eye roll from her ex, a few knowing glances from the witches, and a dour look of concern from the watcher.
Xander could not help but scoff and dismiss Cordelia’s barbed comment. “That’s right. He left behind his copy of Monsters’ Wear Daily.”
The head cheerleader was quick to strike back while pointing out the evidence playing right before their eyes. “I’m serious. Look at the outfit that Xander is wearing. Now, look at the kid that the monster went after. Very smooth lines.”
The Slayer perked up as it became clear that Cordelia was onto something. “So this isn’t usual for whatever hell beastie this thing is, right? Most demons don’t abandon one meal for a different one in the middle of broad daylight. This is something hinky that some weirdo is making it do and we have to stop it.”
For his part, Giles let a proud smile wash away his formerly dour expression. “I dare say you are more than likely onto something, Buffy. If you and Faith are to hunt this creature we should study it.” Buffy nodded as she and Faith never took their eyes off the screen playing out the demon’s attack. The watcher was more than pleased that his Slayers so quickly deduced the likeliest threat and focused on how to track down the enemy yet to reveal itself.
Doyle perked up from the barstool by the island full of spell ingredients and ritual preparation tools. “Unless my eyes are deceiving me, we’ve got a hellhound on our hands.” Jennifer stiffened where she sat atop the island, just next to Doyle. The mention of the old demon breed caused a shiver to run down her spine.
“Yes. It’s particularly vicious. It’s a sort of ah… Demon foot soldier. Bred during the Mahkash Wars. Trained solely to kill. They feed off the brains of their foes.” Giles agreed as he stood and walked closer to the TV screen to get a closer look at the demon. “I must say, you boys did excellent work dealing with the threat so quickly.” Jonathan blushed while Xander and Rondell looked almost smug after hearing the Englishman’s praise.
“Look!” Cordelia shouted as another camera angle filled the screen. “Right there! Zoom in on that.”
Xander stared at his ex in exasperation before offering an obvious assessment. “It’s a videotape.”
“So?” Cordelia easily dismissed Xander’s deadpan observation. “They do it on television all the time.”
“Not with a regular VCR they don’t.” Xander shot back.
Dawn spoke up before things could devolve further and the two exes could start a full-blown shouting match. “Oh! Hey, Willow! Did you invent a super VCR while I wasn’t looking that can zoom in, and pan, and make the camera angle do spin-sies? Please say yes. That would be so cool.”
Willow smiled and clasped Tara’s hand before going into an apology that soon veered off into a full-blown babble. “Sorry, Dawnie. I haven’t bothered with upgrading dead analog technology like VCRs, and VHS tapes, and thingies. If our next three rollouts go according to plan then the world will start transitioning to DVDs and disc-based media by the holiday season of next year. In five years or so we’ll start pushing to phase out physical media and convert people over to digital and cloud-based storage. I’m really hoping we can get widespread adoption of core technologies up and running much sooner than they normally occurred in some of our past lives. Once people really get an idea of what the Internet can do for them society will undergo a sea change that will make…” The redhead paused as it became clear that all eyes were now on her and only a few of those eyes held any sort of comprehension of just what the hell she was talking about. “And this is all stuff that can be talked about later when there isn’t a crisis going on. Let’s get back to the hellhound and any hellhound master it may or may not have holding its leash.”
Luckily enough the tape came to a part Tara recognized. She wasted no time bailing out her everything with the distraction. “What’s that? Pause it.”
“Guys! It’s just a normal VCR! It doesn't… Oh, wait. Uh-huh. It can do pause.” Xander had the good sense to look sheepish after his outburst. “Hello, hellhound raiser!”
“Oh, hey! It’s Andrew’s brother.” Cassie surprised almost everyone else in the room and soon all eyes were trained on the young blonde.
“Andrew’s brother?” Buffy asked, dreading the answer.
Dawn beamed at her girlfriend before turning back to her sister and offering the follow-up answer. “Yup, Andrew Wells from our class.” She pointed to the screen again as Xander paused on a frame that more clearly displayed the demon summoner’s face. “That’s his older brother. Tucker. Total weirdo.”
“I think Tucker is in the same class as you guys. Maybe a year younger. Andrew might have been held back a year or two. He’s kind of a daydreamer.” Cassie added more context as the Slayers both fixated on the face of the classmate they knew they would soon confront.
Dawn scoffed at her girlfriend’s sugar-coated description. “That’s a polite way to say he has major ADD and a fetish for dressing up like the goofiest comic book villains.”
“Sounds like his big brother being a creeper ain’t helpin’ him much either.” Faith could only pity the kid for having to grow up in the same house as the grinning deviant on the screen.
“And here’s his school email account,” Willow said as she pulled up a series of text boxes on her array of computer monitors. “Okay… oh, what’s this message he sent to some kid… David Metz. “Sunnydale high lemmings have no idea what awaits them. Their big night will be their last night.” The redhead let her words trail off as she hoped the most important pieces of information would sink in quickly.
Giles walked around the table and sighed as he came to rest beside Joyce. The Slayer’s mother leaned into the watcher and one arm wound around her shoulders. “So we have a threat against the students on their big night. At least one hellhound trained to attack people in formal wear.”
“Oh, are we all catching up now?” The sarcasm in the head cheerleader’s voice could be felt by all.
“This Tucker is planning to attack the prom.” Giles did his best to hold back the disappointed groan. He knew just how much all of his children were looking forward to the dance.
“Once again the hellmouth puts the “special” in special occasion.” Cassie’s remark was oddly upbeat as she never took her eyes off Buffy. It was clear the young seer was waiting for the Slayer to speak up. Her odd tone went right over the heads of several of the young men in the room.
An aggravated outburst form Xander set a more pessimistic mood for the night that lay ahead for the group. “Why do I even buy tickets for these things? I ask you.”
For his part, Jonathan let his head droop in sad resignation. “I wonder if I can take my tux back.”
“Don’t you dare.” All eyes looked up to see the Slayer standing with bold determination and what might have been the actual flames of hell burning in her eyes.
“But this Tucker creep is gonna…” Rondell’s protest was cut short by the Slayer.
“No, he’s not,” Buffy spoke and all those present had no choice but to believe. “We are gonna have a prom. The kind of prom that everyone should have. Faith and I are gonna give you all a nice, fun, normal, evening even if we have to kill every single person on the face of the earth to do it.”
Faith cheered as she shot up and joined her girl. “Fuck yeah! Let’s go wreck this punk!” The enthusiasm and bloodlust from the pair of Slayers cast aside all doubts held by the others in the library. Unfortunately, those doubts were soon replaced with a morbid sense of terror.
“Yay?” Xander offered what little support he could as he seriously considered the likelihood that Buffy and Faith just might be able to wipe out all life on the face of the earth.
Ignoring the sense of dread in the room, Faith dove into what she thought she and Buffy would probably need to figure out first to track down the threat. “So this punk has been feeding his hellhounds brains right, G man?”
The watcher was quick to help get things back on track. “Indeed. That would mean he’s most likely buying from the local slaughterhouse”
“Yeah, Buffy should totally check out the slaughterhouse,” Dawn added as she let her chin rest on her girlfriend’s shoulder and watched as Cassie scribbled something down. “Or, you know, you guys could just go to the address Cassie is writing down.”
“Here’s Andrew’s home address,” Cassie said as she finished the last digit of the zip code. “And here’s the address of the abandoned house Tucker has his other three hellhounds chained up in. There’s a side room in the basement. It’s full of cages and a few TVs, VCRs, and a stack of movies about high school dances.”
Willow took a look at the slip of paper and smiled as it was passed around the table to the Slayers. “Yup, that’s the usual address.”
“So if you guys patrol tonight you should have no problem swinging by both places, then once Andrew’s brother is out of pet demons we’ll have all day tomorrow to get ready for the dance.” Tara did her best to cheer the Slayers on while holding back a mischievous grin.
“Thanks, you guys.” Buffy smiled as she took the address from Willow and hugged both of the witches and Cassie. Her smile turned to a smirk as she took her pointer finger and poked her sister’s nose. Faith let out a laugh, hugged the witches herself, then both Dawn and Cassie. The Slayers turned back to each other nodded and then strolled arm in arm out the library door.
In the wake of the Slayers’ departure, all eyes slowly turned to either Cassie or Willow. Before Willow could break into a long rambling explanation of just what they knew beforehand about hellhounds and the Wells brothers, Tara grasped the redhead’s hand and walked her out of the library. As the witches left most eyes ended up turning back to Cassie. This only stopped when the young seer’s girlfriend let out an aggravated huff.
“Don’t you guys have anything better to do than ogle my amazing psychic girlfriend? She’s not going to tell any of you if you’re gonna get laid after the prom.” The outlandish rebuke from Dawn came paired with an icy glare.
Once it was clear that no further answers were coming, the room slowly emptied. The boys left to escort Jonathan home for the night. Cordelia rolled her eyes and walked back to her car. She needed to check back in with Mrs. Finkle. If the woman didn’t give her a morning shift at the store she’d most likely come up short on the cash needed to buy her dress. Giles and Doyle simply watched the teens leave the library. Once the room was empty of all but the remaining adults and the two youngest girls, Joyce and Jennifer locked eyes. They turned to face Dawn and Cassie. The men could only stare in bewilderment as the mothers laughed at the sheepish look Cassie was giving them and the shameless look Dawn wore like a suit of armor.
*****
“I’ll show them. That jackass Harris thinks he can kill one of my babies.” Tucker Wells muttered to himself as he charged down the stairs of the abandoned house he had taken over. “I’ll show them all. Just wait till they see my three fiercest babies breaking down the doors. If Harris thinks they go crazy for formal wear, just wait till they see the mirror ball.”
The hateful, malicious teen continued to rant as he walked across the basement where he trained his hellhounds. The empty cage remained a sore reminder of his one failed pet. The sight of the hellhound being so easily slain by the trio shocked Tucker, but that shock soon hardened into a seething hatred that only grew as the hours passed. Tucker knew he would soon have his revenge. They would all pay.
“Harris, Levinson, and that black guy they had with them are all gonna pay.” He muttered as he reached out to the door that separated the main room of the basement from the side room where he kept his three best pets. “Once my babies get to the dance it’ll be a…”
Tucker froze as he yanked the door open. The sight awaiting him was the last thing he could have ever anticipated. The TVs and VCRs playing rented high school dance movies had been shut down. Dark brown ichor oozed onto the floor of the room from each of the cages where he kept his fiercest hellhounds. All his plans and ambitions lay in shredded piles within their cages.
“... bloodbath.” Tucker whispered as the two terrifying figures looked up from their handiwork. The longsword gleamed in the dim light as flares of light and dark energy receded into the blade. The longbow folded into itself as it was holstered. The petite blonde and the brunette smiled as they saw their new prey. In an instant, Tucker recognized the lethal intent behind those smiles. Sinister and wicked grins full of unmatched fury and conviction. The gleeful smirks of huntresses who spent countless nights stalking their prey. The terrifying expressions which had been the last sights witnessed by thousands of demons who dared to set foot upon the hellmouth.
“Oh look, Honey.” The petite blonde spoke up as she flicked hellhound blood from her blade and let it dance across the basement walls. “Here’s the maladjust who tried to ruin our big night. Lucky for us he’s an incompetent maladjust.”
“Ya got that right, B.” The brunette replied as she pulled her arrow free from the skull of the dead hellhound in the cage at her feet. She smiled as she stuck the arrow back in the quiver at her back. Without even sparing a glance back to the boy she strolled over to the nearest TV and yanked the plug from the wall.
“You!” Tucker screamed as he blindly reached for anything at hand on the nearby shelf. His hand brushed over a lamp before coming across a rusty screwdriver. “You’ll pay for this!” He drew the crude weapon only to realize far too late that the side frame of a thirty-inch television was flying directly towards his head.
A loud crash filled the basement as the boy crumpled under the massive projectile. Buffy had just enough compassion to let out a sympathetic wince at the fate of the would-be demon summoner. The sympathy was short lived as she wiped the last remnants hellhound from her longsword and sheathed the blade. The Slayer smiled as she walked over to her girl and took Faith's hand. “Let’s get out of here, Honey.”
“Yeah, B.” Faith returned her girl’s smile as she squeezed the hand holding her own. “By now Red and Blondie have called the cops. This “dog fighting ring” should be easy enough to wrap up. Even for the Sunny D police force.” Buffy tilted her head back and laughed as they walked out of the abandoned house and into the night. Moments later they were three blocks over and heading to the Bronze to celebrate a successful patrol.
As the Slayers passed the fourth block of houses and left the neighborhood, two squad cars pulled up to the curve in front of the abandoned house. They easily found and arrested the unconscious leader of the dogfighting ring the anonymous tip had said would be there. Though one of the rookies questioned the unusual breed of the dead “dogs” found on the premises, all the senior officers knew better than to look a gift demon from the Slayers in the mouth.
Tucker Wells awoke a week and a half later, on the night of his classmates’ graduation, handcuffed to his hospital bed. Unfortunately for him, he would soon learn that his parents had refused to aid his defense in light of his crimes. Fortunately, he would remain blissfully ignorant of the drama unfolding in a nearly identical hospital room a few dozen doors down the hall.
*****
Cordelia let out a despondent sigh as she closed down the cash register and began to lock up the store for the night. She hadn’t made nearly enough to pay off her dress and her boss had flatly said the store would be closed through the weekend for renovations. A voice distracted her just as she grabbed her coat and was about to storm off into the night in search of a place to mourn missing her prom.
“Hey, don’t forget your dress. Aren’t you wearing it tomorrow night?”
Cordelia sighed as she turned to face Rhonda. Her perky coworker was holding up the clear bag with the dress in it. “As much as I hate to admit it, I haven’t finished paying for it yet.”
Rhonda blinked in surprise before looking back to the tag at the top of the bag. She laughed as she read Mrs. Finkle’s scribbled threat and held the dress out for Cordelia to see. “Well, yeah, the guy you were yelling at earlier paid for it.”
“What?” Cordelia was shocked. She snatched the dress out of the strawberry blonde’s hand and glared at the sale tag.
The other shop girl just smiled in the face of Cordelia’s shock and mild indignation. “Oh yeah, he paid it off for you right when you snuck out the back with the little guy and the tall dreamy black guy. Mrs. Finkle was about to fire you on the spot for abandoning ship during that, um… “mugging?” Rhonda’s smile faded for a moment as she spoke of something just about everyone knew you weren’t supposed to talk about. A moment passed before she hurried on with a forced smile and tried to brush off Cordelia’s concerns. “Anyway he walked up to the cash register, nodded to you and your dress, and put down more than enough to pay for it. Then he just kept putting hundred dollar bills down on the counter while nodding his head over to the shattered front window and winking at Mrs. Finkle. It took her almost a full minute to understand what was going on, and then she just smiled and thanked him for being a valued customer.”
Slowly, almost painfully, the annoyed grimace melted from Cordelia’s face. It was shortly replaced with a tentative smile. The head cheerleader had never expected such kindness from the boy she dumped. The boy she spent the last few months of their senior year publicly arguing and fighting with. Even after everything they put each other through, he was there for her. When it mattered, Cordelia Chase could still depend on the kindness of Xander Harris in her darkest moments.
*****
“So the feisty brunette really just went and chucked a TV at that douchebag’s head? Hot damn! Why weren’t we called in to assist last night? I would have paid good money to see that!”
“Steve, man, you are just the worst kind of person.” Bob shook his head as he stepped out of the limo and walked up to the front door of the home of the Senior Partners. He straightened his chauffeur's uniform before ringing the doorbell. If anyone had told him he’d regularly be visiting the home of the senior partners when he first started working for the infamous law firm he would have said they were insane. The fact that his duties now included limo driver for four of the most powerful young women on the planet would have been unimaginable under the previous Senior Partners.
“Hi, Bob.” A cheerful young blonde opened the door and smiled as she waited for him to step forward.
“Ms. Newton.” Bob bowed his head to the young seer as he stepped over the threshold. “I half expected you to be next door with the young Ms. Summers.”
“I know right.” Cassie smiled as she turned and lead the man into the living room. “Dawn and Joyce sent me over here so they could focus on Buffy spazzing out while getting dressed. So high maintenance. I don’t know how Faith does it.”
“With a smile on my face and at least three fingers wrigglin’ around where the sun don’t shine.” Bob and Cassie turned to see the brunette Slayer waltz into the room.
Faith wore a stunning black satin dress. The dark fabric clung to her curves as it covered from just above her ankles to several tantalizing inches below her collarbone. There was a slit on one side that exposed the length of one leg all the way from her toes to her upper thigh. The dress ended just above Faith’s breasts, with two bands stretching up to cross above her collarbone and wrap around her neck. The open expanse of flesh between those straps was enough to make the man blush and refocus his eyes somewhere closer to her hairline. The long dark locks were pinned up in a loose bun. Two strands remained free, framing Faith’s face.
“Hey, Sam Fisher, how do I look?” Faith gave Bob and Cassie a sly smirk as she spun to reveal how well the dress clung to her assets. “Think my girl will lose her shit, or what?”
“Oh, my god, Faith. Like you even have to ask” Cassie moaned as she collapsed back onto the couch. “Your blonde nympho is going to love it.”
Bob did his best to reaffirm his composure before giving an honest and blunt answer. “If my partner were here I’m sure he’d say several wildly inappropriate things about the dress before asking if you and any other Slayers were D.T.F. Which, coincidentally, is why I left him in the car.”
“Awesome.” Faith smirked as she walked out of the room and back towards the hallway stairs. “Just what I was going for.”
“Yeah, yeah, we all know how hot you are, Faith,” Xander muttered as he came into the living room. The young man was busy fixing his cufflinks as he walked up to Cassie. “How do I look, Cass?”
Cassie’s reply was straight-faced and full of shamelessness that stunned the wet works operative. “Are you asking what I think, what I think Buffy will think, or what I think your new demon girlfriend will think?”
“Dealer’s choice,” Xander said as the struggle over his cufflinks came to a close.
“Well the Buffy ship has sailed, but she and Faith will both probably like your outfit anyway. If your demon tries to eat you on the dancefloor they might throw some pity your way and sandwich you between their hips while they do that full-body-grinding-sex-dance thing they do.” The almost deadpan delivery was not enough to hide the fact that even Cassie found the very idea of what she was saying to be utterly ridiculous. “As for Anya, it’s really hard to tell what an eleven hundred-year-old former demon is into, but if her complete lack of filter and hypersexual one track mind is anything to go on you’ll probably be able to get to third base.”
“Third base?” Xander perked up at the prospect. “Really?”
“Sure. Why not… Oh.” Cassie paused for a second before frowning. “We’re probably talking Cordelia’s idea of third base. Definitely not Faith’s definition of third base. Probably not even Willow of Buffy’s idea of third base.”
“So Tara and Joyce’s third base?” Xander asked. Cassie’s immediate reaction to his question was more than enough to tell him how far off his guess had been.
“What?” Cassie let out a loud peal of laughter, almost falling off the couch. “Oh my god! No!” The young seer continued to laugh at the teen’s expense. “Where have you been the last few years, Xander? Joyce and Tara are almost as big pervs as Willow. Their definition of third base would cause your stuck up ex to faint, and your new demon to pull out a journal to take notes.”
“Ha, ha.” Xander deadpanned as he looked up to see Jennifer standing in the archway with a video camera. “They ready?”
“Oh, you girls look so beautiful.” Jennifer was almost in tears as she recorded Tara and Willow descending the stairs.
Willow’s dress was a deep burgundy floor length gown. Sequins accenting the lace pattern that began at her waist and wove all the way up to her plunging neckline. Two thin cords trailed up from the peaks of the lacey fabric covering Willow’s breasts. The cords ran up over the redhead’s collarbone to where they were tied off at the back of her neck. Her crimson locks were tied up in a low bun similar to Faith’s, with a single strand of red hair trailing down the right side of her face to offset the slight widow’s peak. Tara’s dress was a soft gold floor length gown. The rich satin fabric came up to just cover the honey blonde’s ample breasts, leaving her shoulders and arms bare to the casual explorations of her redheaded partner’s wandering hands. Tara’s long golden locks were pulled back and woven in a loose braid that trailed down her partly exposed back.
“Wowzers,” Xander muttered as the couple descended the stairs.
“So beautiful,” Jennifer said again as she recorded Willow raising up one of Tara’s hands above their heads and spinning the honey blonde for the camera. Tara, in turn, spun Willow in a way the showed off the redhead’s dress and ended with Willow’s chest pulled firmly against her own. The witches shared a kiss that soon encroached on territory too passionate for the family video Jennifer was still recording. “Oh, enough of that you two. Faith! Come show off the dress you’re going to use to wrap that neighbor girl around your fingers.”
“Thought you’d never ask, Jen.” Faith gave out a cheer as she strutted her way into view of the camera. The brunette kicked out one leg to show off just how much skin the slit in her dress let her reveal. She then kicked up the exposed leg and gave the camera a spin before leaning forward with her hands on her knees to mime kissing the camera. The move put her cleavage on full display and caused both Bob and Xander to cough uncomfortably.
“Oh, you girls,” Jennifer muttered in an almost proud tone as the doorbell rang.
“Finally.” Cassie moaned as she went to answer the door. A moment later she led a trio of Summers girls into the living room, Dawn on her arm with a nervous Buffy in their wake. Joyce followed Buffy with a video camera in much the same way Jennifer was documenting the antics of the other three girls. Buffy and Faith both froze as they saw each other, both drinking in the sight of the gorgeous Slayer they adored.
Buffy’s dress was fairly similar to Tara’s. A soft pink satin gown trailing up from the petite blonde’s ankles to just above the swell of her breasts. The open back of the dress was punctuated by a knot of the same pink fabric that unfurled into a modest train flowing down the Slayer’s backside.
“Damn, B.” Faith whispered as all her previous flirtations melted away in the presence of her girl.
“You like, Honey?” Buffy asked as her eyes trailed up and down the provocative curves and tantalizing flesh highlighted by Faith’s dress. Buffy swallowed her last bit of saliva as her mouth went dry. She walked up to her girl and gently placed her hands on Faith’s hips. “I like, by the way. In case that wasn’t clear.”
“I like, B,” Faith whispered as she leaned in and brought her hands up her girl’s sides to rest on her exposed back. “Boy, do I like.”
“All you kids look amazing.” Joyce smiled as she panned her camera around the room to all the dressed up teens. “Where’s Rondell? Isn’t he riding in the limo? And where’s Doyle? Is he chaperoning with Giles?”
“Ms. Gunn’s lieutenant chose to ride in the other car being driven by Mr. Doyle,” Bob answered the Slayer’s mother in a calm and professional tone. “They’ll meet us there once they pick up Mr. Levinson, both of their dates for the evening, and another surprise guest that I was asked not to reveal just yet.”
“Ooh, surprises.” Xander perked up as he noticed Willow and Tara sharing a curious look. “Well, at least we’ll get to meet Jonathan’s mystery date.”
Before the conversation could be sidetracked any further Jennifer called everyone’s attention. “Okay everyone clump together for pictures before you go pick up Xander’s demon.” The young man moaned as everyone else laughed. Joyce and Jennifer handed both of their prototype Star Phones to Bob and the trained operative spent the next few minutes taking pictures of the Scooby gang. By the end, both mothers had footage and multiple photos of each teen standing solo, each couple, all four girls, all four girls standing around Xander, and every possible combination of two of the four girls hanging on either of the boy’s arms.
Once both Joyce and Jennifer were satisfied that the night was suitably chronicled Bob returned the phones, opened the front door and followed the teens out to the limo. Joyce looked to Jennifer and then both mothers looked over to the couch to see Dawn and Cassie practically sitting in each other’s laps.
“So who wants to order pizza while we wait for the girls to drop the boys off after the dance?” Joyce’s question was met with cheers from the girls and an eye roll from her friend. The two blondes laughed as they went into the kitchen to order, leaving the girls to make out on the living room couch.
*****
“So you got me a limo. With a chauffeur and everything.” Anya perked up as Xander lead her to the luxury vehicle. She was wearing a full-length dress with thin straps over her shoulders, a black lace trim, and a dark red and black floral pattern. “I really didn’t expect…” She froze as Bob opened the door and revealed the smiling witches and Slayers. “This.”
“Hi, Anya.” Willow all but cheered as she patted the expanse of leather seat beside her and Tara. “Come on in. We’ve missed you.”
“Xander?” Anya began to panic as her eyes flicked back and forth between the two smiling ridiculously powerful witches and the two mildly predatory looking Slayers staring at her. “What is this? I thought you were going to this dance with me.”
“I am,” Xander spoke with an upward inflection that could have made his statement a question. He looked confused until he heard several giggles from inside the limo. He looked inside to see Willow and Tara barely holding back their laughter while Faith began to chuckle into Buffy hair. The petite blonde just looked at Xander, waved a finger around to all the young women inside the limo, and then pointed the same finger at the former demon standing beside him. “What? Them?” He asked as he popped his head back and looked to Anya. “They’re my friends. We’re all taking the same limo. The limo that two of them own.”
“They’re Slayers,” Anya whispered angrily. “What happens when they find out I’m… You know.”
“Ahn…” Xander cocked his head to the side as he took in the worried expression on his date’s face. “They already know.”
“What?” Anya shouted and almost leapt away from the limo. Xander followed as Bob did his best to suppress a grin.
“Anya, what’s the problem? You’re human now aren’t you?” He waited for an exasperated nod from the former demon. “Buffy and Faith don’t slay humans. It’s a whole thing we all don’t talk about and try to make sure never happens. You’re safe so long as you don’t try to destroy the world in front of them. Plus, Willow and Tara vouch for you, so everything is fine.”
Anya stared at him skeptically for a long moment. Eventually, she relaxed her stiff shoulders and returned to the open door of the limo. The witches smiled at her as she climbed in. The Slayers gave her cautious but genuinely accepting looks. Xander followed and sat beside her. Once the car was underway it was clear that an icebreaker was needed. Anya racked her brain for an anecdote that would appeal to the other couples.
“So this one time in the early fifteen hundreds, there was this girl near the Black Forest who was burned at the stake for witchcraft and “corrupting” the village Burgermeister's daughter. The girl she “corrupted” was grief-stricken and wished that her father, the local head priest, and all the men working for them would feel the pain of having their hearts ripped out and their souls torn away. That combo took some creative thinking on my part, but I managed it by having a Krakanoth demon, sort of a crow demon with satyr legs, plant a larva in each of their chest cavities at night. It took a few weeks but eventually, the larval demons consumed their hearts and souls, and made the husks walk around the village in a haze until they all eventually wandered into the forest and were eaten by wolves.”
There was dead silence in the back of the limo until Tara let out an unfazed sigh. “Yup, that sounds about right.”
Anya smiled at what she took for praise while Willow laughed. Both Slayers stared in shock and bewilderment at the former demon until they simply looked at each other and shrugged off the horrifying story. Xander felt relieved that his date was at least trying to make a “good” impression with his friends. That relief would not last the evening as Anya’s stories continued to wear down and desensitize both Xander’s sense of propriety and his gag reflex.
*****
Two limos pulled up in front of the recently relocated Sunnydale High. The drivers of the first limo got out and opened the car door. Xander was the first out, offering a hand to Anya to help her out of the vehicle, and then to each of the young women in his family in turn. As the Slayers and witches gathered on the curb in front of the school they looked to the second limo and smiled at the familiar figure exiting the driver’s seat. Doyle waved as he walked around to the rear door and opened it. First out was Rondell, who offered a hand to Amy. Then, to everyone’s surprise, Angel stepped out, offering his hand to Cordelia. Last out was Jonathan, extending a hand to his mystery date. The woman that clasped his outstretched hand stepped out onto the curb, drawing gasps of surprise from half the Scoobys.
“Al!” Faith cheered as she and Buffy came jogging over to their fellow Slayer. “What are you doing here, girl?”
Alonna smiled. “Your stud here asked me to be his date.” The Slayer wore a beige gown with a provocative slit running three quarters of the way up one thigh. The skirt was embroidered with black and silver patterns that wound around her abdomen and up the strapless corset-like bodice that put the ebony Slayer’s chest on full display. The eye-catching dress and high heels almost put Alonna’s breasts on an even level with her date’s blushing face.
All eyes turned to a now nervous Jonathan who simply shrugged. “I figured, Slayer Prom?” The trio of Slayers looked at Jonathan, and then to each other. A beat passed before they all burst into laughter.
A few yards away Xander and Anya walked up to another odd couple. Cordelia and Angel had been giggling to each other about something as the Scooby and the former demon approached. Their private joke was interrupted by what had to be the fifth tale of woe and dismemberment from the former demon. “So then this one time this girl wished her ex would cannibalize himself. Even I had a hard time granting that one, let me tell you.”
“Cordy! Angel!” Xander grasped desperately for any diversion from his date’s horrifying wish stories. “My god in heaven it’s nice to see you! How are you both? And details please.”
“Oh um. We’re good, Xander.” Angel gave the teen a forced smile. “Thanks for asking.”
“Yes!” Cordelia agreed before locking eyes with Xander and giving him a meaningful look of gratitude. “Thank you.”
Xander looked his ex up and down, taking in the sight of the shining charcoal gray dress that hugged her curves and drew the eye to her plunging neckline. He smirked as he appreciated the peace offering he freely gave to the cheerleader. “It looks good on you.”
“Well duh.” Cordelia laughed off her ex’s cocky grin.
As the group began to file into the school it became clear that all the Scooby Gang and Hyperion Crew couples were ready to dance the night away.
*****
“Oh, oh, group pictures!” Willow cheered as the last of the couples finished getting their prom pictures taken. “Guys! Let’s do some group shots. Get each of the teams and all their honeys and then do one with all the Slayers.”
“Oh, then do one with all the Slayers and Angel,” Tara added, causing the Slayers and Xander to laugh.
“Okay, okay, Wills,” Buffy said as they continued to monopolize the photographer set up just outside the doors to the dancefloor. The Scoobys and Hyperion Crew took their turns, then the Slayers had fun with varying threatening poses around an otherwise stoic Angel. By the end of the session, the photographer was well and truly confused, only holding his questions back when Willow walked up with an eye-catching platinum card and paid for a half dozen copies of each photo in varying sizes.
*****
“So how did Levinson score a babe like that?” Percy asked as he watched the short boy leave the mystery girl with Buffy and Faith to fetch punch for all of them.
“Maybe she’s friends with Xander’s girl clique?” Hogan speculated. “He has been hanging around Rosenberg, Maclay, Summers, and Lehane an awful lot. Not as much as Xander, but still. Jonathan has an in with that group.”
Percy couldn’t help but wonder what was really going on with the hot new stranger that had drawn more than a few looks when she walked in on Jonathan’s arm. “Think she’s into chicks like the others, and just throwing Levinson a pity date?”
“Well, for sure don’t let Summers and Lehane hear you say that.” Hogan shook his head at his teammate. “But really you’re probably gonna have to ask Jonathan.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Percy agreed before walking towards the punch table and raising his voice. “Hey, Jonathan!”
Jonathan looked up from his handful of punch filled cups to see Hogan Martin and Percy West coming his way. “Hey, guys.” The diminutive boy greeted the taller jocks. “What’s up?”
“You’re date, is she… How did you two meet?” Hogan asked as he glanced over to where Buffy, Faith, and Alonna were dancing to the beat of one of the faster songs the band had played so far. The trio moved to the beat, arms whipping out and around each other without ever coming into unwanted contact. No one else on the dancefloor could have hoped to match their speed and ferocity.
“Alonna? We met at Willow and Tara’s Halloween party last year.” Jonathan admitted as he glanced back and forth between the Slayers and the jocks. “Yeah, she’s been besties with Buffy and Faith ever since Willow and Tara introduced Buffy’s gang to Alonna and her brother’s crew in L.A. Actually that’s also how Amy and Rondell met.” He nodded over to where the witch and the demon hunter were all but wrapped around each other off to one side of the dancefloor.
“So she’s from L.A. then,” Percy smirked as he watched the three girls move with almost predatory synchronicity. “Are you and her?”
“Oh, no.” Jonathan laughed as he began to walk over to the Slayers with their drinks. “Her girlfriend is like a millionaire CEO and way prettier than me, but still. How many other guys here can say they took a gorgeous Vampire Slayer to prom?”
The jocks’ eyes widened in shock as they looked more closely at the trio of girls. Any thoughts they had about “getting to know” the small nerd’s “girlfriend” flew out the window as they watched the Slayers greet Jonathan and down their drinks. Their eyes widened further as they saw Alonna grind into the short boy. Jonathan’s smile was obvious and only offset by the glare the Slayer sent their way. For an instant, Percy and Hogan felt trapped within the hungry gaze of an apex predator. So intense was Alonna’s glare that they could have sworn she had heard their earlier conversation and judged them lacking. As they retreated they almost missed the round of laughter coming from the school librarian, guidance counselor, and the shorter black-haired man who had joined them near the far end of the snacks table.
*****
“This isn’t bad,” Anya said as Xander held her to his chest for a slow dance. For his part, the young man was relieved that her terrifying stories had slowed down.
Xander smirked as he thought of a playful way to take his date’s mind off her past and her hatred of men. “Ouch, I’ll have to step my game up if we ever go on a second date.”
“You’d go on another date with me?” Anya perked up and she looked into his eyes.
“You haven’t tried to murder me or publicly shame me yet so sure, why not?” Xander smiled as Anya’s eyes widened in shock.
Anya could not reconcile Xander’s words with all of her centuries of experience with men and their treatment of the women in their lives. “How low is the bar if “not murdering you” counts as a bonus and not a given?”
Xander smiled as the opening for one of his horrifying stories made itself known. “Ahn, do you honestly think you’re the first demon I’ve dated?” As she blinked in confusion Xander carried on with one of his own stories. “This one time in our sophomore year, we had a substitute science teacher. She was very attractive and when she sent out some very obvious signals I asked her out. Big mistake. I ended up in chains in a cage in her basement with another boy from the class. Turns out she was a giant praying mantis wearing a human disguise and she needed to mate and eat. Concurrently. Buffy swooped in just before the big bug was about to remove my pants and at least one head. Not a pleasant first date.”
For a minute Anya stared at the boy. Slowly, a smile crept across her face. She began to laugh as she brought her forehead down to rest once more against his chest. Xander took this as a sign that things would be okay.
“So then in our Junior year, Buffy got to house an exchange student.” He went on. “At first I was like, “No way! You can’t get a Latin lover! He’ll be all over you and gross and flirty.” Imagine my surprise when the exchange student that shows up is an insanely pretty South American girl who thinks I’m the sweetest thing she’s ever seen. I’m all in for showing the girl around town and making her feel right at home in our little group. Then the dried out, withered, super dehydrated bodies of our classmates start showing up and it turns out the exchange student is an ancient, cursed, mummified, Inca Princess who needs to suck the life and fluids out of someone every other day or else she dries out and turns to dust.”
Anya cackled at Xander’s story. She couldn’t help herself. It was the first time she felt wholehearted amusement since losing her power center. It might have been the first time she felt genuine joy for something other than vengeance in centuries. Xander smiled in relief as his checkered dating history finally broke the ice. The odd couple continued to laugh as they danced.
*****
“Poor Xander.” Buffy sighed as she watched some doofus with a cluster of balloon animals on his head run up to the stage and accept the “class clown” award.
“It’s okay, B.” Faith said as she threw an arm over her girl’s shoulders. “We’ll make it up to him. Next time you come over for breakfast sit in my lap and let me feed you whatever Jen puts on your plate.”
Buffy’s head cocked to one side in a perplexed and quizzical manner. “How is that going to make it up to Xander?”
“Please, Buffy.” Alonna laughed as she poured herself a glass of punch from the fountain Giles had been hovering around all night. “Between the way you moan when sitting on Faith, and the way you moan when eating, you’ll put on a show Xander will never forget. Hell, if Faith plays it up enough he’ll have to run back upstairs and change his pants.”
Faith cackled with amusement as Buffy turned a shade of red that almost matched Willow’s hair. Eventually, the moment passed and Buffy noticed an odd change from the way the night had been going so far. “Where’s Jonathan? Hasn’t he been getting you drinks almost all night?”
Alonna shrugged. “He said he had a thing to do for the prom committee. As long as he’s safe I figured there’d be no harm in letting him talk up his “hot girlfriend” to any of the kids here who don’t know any better.”
Buffy’s eyes widened as a horrifying thought crossed her mind. “Please tell me you and the rich girl didn’t break up and this is some kind of rebound thing.”
“What? Jesus, Buffy. Have a little faith in me.” Alonna shook off the disgust at the idea. “No, Ginny and I are in a good place. Jonathan was just being nice and figured I wanted to be here with my fellow Slayers for the big dance. Plus, Jonathan is off limits.” She paused to wave in the direction of some of their friends standing in the middle of the crowd of students looking up to the main stage. “Even if I was into dudes as much as Cordy and Amy over there are, I have a strict rule against dating Charles’ friends and their closest friends. “J Dawg” is pretty much besties with Chain and Rondell. Ever since Vegas, those three have been closer than brothers. I’d ask if the three of them were dating but I feel like I’d then have to listen to a five-hour lecture on the fact that “hetero life partners” are a thing that “does in fact exist.”
One part of the ebony Slayer’s speech stood out to the brunette. “Does Chuck not have the same rule, or was he giving it to Fred before you and her were “totes besties?”
“Oh, no.” Alonna shrugged off the implied double standard. “Charles is an idiot when it comes to his love life. I make it a point to vet any girl that he starts sniffing around. If Fred wasn’t someone I trusted with my life, she wouldn’t still be dating my brother.”
The speaker on stage paused and looked around. He stepped aside. A new speaker stepped forward to the surprise of the one Slayer still watching the stage. Faith smiled as she glanced at Alonna and nodded to the stage. “Well looks like your boy is doin’ more than talking about your fine ass after all.”
Alonna and Buffy’s heads both swiveled to the stage. They saw Jonathan awkwardly lower the mic so it wasn’t almost a foot above his mouth. The Slayers watched as the young man cleared his throat and addressed the crowd. “We have one more award to give out. Buffy Summers. Are you out there? Did she and Faith…” He trailed off as the spotlights suspended over the dancefloor swept the room. Eventually, they converged on the trio of Slayers standing by the punch bowl.
Jonathan smiled as he saw the Slayers. “This is actually a new category. First time ever. I guess there were a lot of write-in ballots and…” He began to search his suit jacket pockets for something. Only returning to his speech once he pulled out and unfolded a slip of paper. “The prom committee asked me to read this.” He paused as he held the paper up and began to read the message of gratitude to the Slayer.
“We’re not good friends. Most of us never found the time to get to know you, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t noticed you. We don’t talk about it much, but it’s no secret that Sunnydale High isn’t really like other high schools. A lot of weird stuff happens here.”
“Zombies!” One voice in the back called out. “Hyena people!” A girl near the stage shouted right after. “The building getting blown up and moving across town.” Another shouted. “Snyder!” A boy in the crowd yelled, causing a round of laughter to ripple through the room. “The hellhounds she put down literally yesterday!” The Slayers smiled as they recognized Rondell’s voice in the mix. Jonathan smiled at the Slayers, going back to the speech as soon as the crowd quieted down.
“But whenever there was a problem or something creepy happened, you seemed to show up and stop it. Most of the people here have been saved by you or helped by you at one time or another. We’re proud to say that the class of ninety-nine has the lowest mortality rate of any graduating class in Sunnydale history.”
The crowd cheered and clapped at the morbid but uplifting news. Buffy was speechless as both Faith and Alonna joined the cheering and hooting audience. The cheering stretched on for several heartwarming moments before Jonathan began to speak again.
“And we know at least part of that is because of you. So the Senior class offers its thanks and gives you… um…” He looked around until another member of the prom committee stepped forward with an odd object. “This.” Jonathan held up a small novelty umbrella. It had a silver handle, a shiny green and black shaft, and a golden canopy that reflected rainbow shades under the stage lights. Lengths of multicolored tinsel garlands ran along each rib and the bottom rim of the canopy. Where the handle met the shaft there was a small engraved plaque attached.
“It’s from all of us, and it has written here, “Buffy Summers; Class Protector.”
Applause filled the room as a grateful school cheered the one girl whose deeds few of them ever acknowledged, but all knew. The crowd parted, giving the Slayer a clear path to walk up to the stage and claim her award. Tears built in the corners of her eyes, and a smile broke out as it became clear that no one was cheering for her louder than Faith and Alonna.
*****
“That was sweet. What you did for Buffy.” Alonna whispered in Jonathan’s ear as they slow danced to a generic nineties love song.
“It was most of the school who came up with the idea,” Jonathan admitted. “They just asked me to give the speech because the kids on the prom committee know I’m on speaking terms with her and Faith but not practically living with them like Xander.”
“Still, you’re a good friend, Jonathan.” Alonna smiled as she held the boy closer. “My offer stands. There will always be a room for you at the Hyperion. If you want it.”
“I’d like that.”
Across the dancefloor young heroes held their partners close. Amy and Rondell had not parted from each others company all night. Angel and Cordelia had remained surprisingly close, both recalling how easily they hit things off the few times they met at the Bronze and at Willow and Tara’s Halloween party. When Alonna mentioned the dance invitation from Jonathan Angel went out of his way to call Cordelia and ask if she already had plans. Xander and Anya continued to share horror stories, and laugh over past tragedies as they danced. Willow and Tara were floating at least a foot off the ground as they held each other and swayed to the music. The only couple not dancing were the blonde and brunette Slayers. Seeing this, their watcher excused himself from the other chaperones.
“You did good work leading up to this night, Buffy, and you, Faith.” Giles smiled at his Slayers as they held up and twirled the brightly colored umbrella.
“And I got a little toy surprise.” Buffy beamed at the watcher. “Sorry, Honey, we got a little toy surprise. Should I ask the drama club if they have the decorations to make another one of these?”
“Nah, B.” Faith just shook her head as she smiled at her girl. “This is your award. You earned all this. I wouldn’t be here if it weren't for you. I sure as hell wouldn’t be the Slayer I am if it weren’t for you. These kids, sure they know I helped, but the smart ones know you’re the reason I’m here to save them. They know you’re the reason so many of them lived to see this night.”
Giles smiled yet again as Buffy offered him the umbrella. “I had no idea that children, en masse, could be gracious.”
Buffy nodded to her watcher as she took Faith’s hand. “Every now and then people surprise you.”
“Every now and then.” Giles agreed. The Englishman watched his Slayers walk hand in hand onto the dancefloor. The songs changed and the slow dancing continued. As Buffy and Faith melted into each other on the dancefloor, Giles took a seat at the nearest empty table. He twirled the umbrella and smiled to himself. He was soon joined by both Doyle and Stephen Platt. The dancing continued and all the Slayers and the members of their teams took the rare opportunity to enjoy themselves.
*****
“We might as well stay the night,” Alonna said as she led Xander, Rondell, Jonathan, Angel, and Doyle up the walkway to the Rosenberg-Maclay home. Dropping off Amy, Cordelia, and Anya had taken little time and the rest of the group held no doubts about the fact that the Slayers and witches were most likely already making good use of their separate hotel rooms. “Xander, are the huge bunk-bed rooms still where we left them?”
“Oh, yeah. There’s plenty of beds. I kinda took over the room Doyle and Angel stayed last year, but Will pretty much had a full apartment with little blackout curtains put in the basement. That and Doyle is shacking up with Jen. So no worries, Al. You and Jonathan each have like thirty beds to choose from.”
“Sweet,” Jonathan said as they opened the door and were greeted by Tara’s smiling mother.
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