Chapter
2.16
Friday, May 17th, 2002
Brandon looked around uncomfortably at the three
"people" with whom he shared a hallway.
"Em, I don't want to seem rude, but is it okay
if I make this call in private?"
Lily shrugged. "Sure, sure. Young man, he want
to speak to pretty girl, no old demon grandma." Lily put a world
of disappointment into her tone, as if she were some neglected,
old woman who yearned for the arrival of the census taker to ease
her boredom. Then, she caught Brandon's eye and winked at him,
her face creasing into a smile. "You tell pretty girl Lily say
we want to see her tomorrow's night, with happy smile on face,
puppy dog on lead and pretty boy on arm. We go here." She gestured
through to the flat's living room. "You go there." She pointed
back out into the main stairwell of the apartment block. "You
come later."
Buffy and Spike followed the old lady into the
living room and took seats on the sofa at the far end without
ever letting go of each other. The slayer's fingers continued
to brush against Spike's side and she hooked her left leg over
his right as she turned to her companion. "So just how tee'ed
off was Dawnie when you rang?"
"She wasn't," Spike answered. "She was just real
disappointed, kinda hurt and doin' her best to put a brave face
on it, but headin' for depression anyway. Just figured the idea
she might kick him to the kerb would get the daft bugger on the
phone sharpish."
"Isn't that kind of manipulative?" Buffy asked.
"Bitlet was hurtin'. Now she isn't. Leastways,
not about junior. The kid's hers to play with anyway. He got himself
shot and still came back. Quicker he realises his life's not his
own any more, the simpler it'll be for all concerned. I just gave
him a not so subtle nudge in the right direction."
Buffy rolled her eyes in despair, not knowing
what to do with him. Lily chuckled at the pair. "Sometimes is
frustrating to be in love with such a bad man with such a good
heart," she told the woman.
Buffy couldn't help but smile at the demon's
description of Spike. "Always," she corrected the old woman before
placing a kiss on the arch of Spike's unmarred brow.
"So, is now a good time for your bad man to admit
to ringing his poof of a grandsire earlier or not?"
"Spi-ike!" Buffy began in a plaintive tone, but
then she just shook her head before letting it come to rest on
Spike's shoulder. "You're a bad, bad man." The reprimand might
have had a bit more of an effect, if it wasn't for the unspoken,
'but I love you,' that resounded into his being so that
it swamped every part of him, only to be amplified and returned
to his lady love.
Lily settled back into her seat with a contented
sigh. There were times when being an empath demon was incredibly
difficult. To feel another's emotional pain as if it were your
own, diluted, but no less real, would make some of her kind turn
inward, isolating themselves. Lily strove to remain always open
for those she could help, and it was in moments like these that
she took her reward.
Brandon's father had left very shortly after
the boy himself, saying that he wanted to be at their home if
Brandon headed back there and asking the girls to get in touch
if Brandon made his way back to Revello Drive.
After that, Wes had been going to go and unpack
the car and trailer, but the girls had all volunteered to help.
The watcher had felt compelled to point out that Dawn probably
shouldn't be doing any heavy lifting and that someone should stay
in case Brandon came back or anyone called. In the end, a compromise
was reached where Dawn and Tara dealt with the aftermath of the
meal, while Wes and Anya emptied the car and the trailer. Since
Wes basically decided that he would just leave everything in the
hall overnight, it really didn't take that long to unpack. The
time consuming part of allocating the boxes to the different rooms
and setting things up properly would come later.
So, by the time Brandon rang to speak to Dawn,
Wes had been informed that for the purposes of the evening he
was now an honorary girl, and got to join in the fest of the lovelorn
and their shared tub of ice cream.
"Summers residence."
"Hi. Can I speak to Dawn, please?"
"Who's calling?" Anya asked from her position
at the kitchen counter, knowing full well the identity of the
caller. She pointed at her watch and wiggled her fingers at the
other three people positioned around the island. Each pulled out
a five dollar bill and passed it to the former vengeance demon.
"It's Brandon."
"Oh." Anya let an uneasy silence fill the air
between them for several seconds, waiting until she could almost
hear the shuffle of the boy's feet. Finally, she asked,
"Have you called to apologise?" Tara shook her head at the way
the former demon tortured the poor boy. Dawn simply helped herself
to some more cool, creamy comfort food. Wes wondered if he'd
ever been on the other end of one of these calls.
"Yes. Please, can I speak to her?"
"You're not going to snap at her or call her
family rejects?" Anya brought forth promise after promise from
the young boy before she even passed the phone over. No, he wasn't
going to call any of her family or friends anything rude. Yes,
he was going to take her to the party tomorrow night. Yes, he
would take her anywhere she wanted to go tomorrow and do anything
she wanted so long as he could afford it. Yes, he would hire a
limo to take her to the formal and buy her a white corsage. Yes,
he would do his very best to see she had one of the best nights
of her life.
"I suppose I'll see if she'll talk to you." She
rested the phone on its side and then called out Dawn's name as
if she were in a separate room rather than right next to the receiver.
"Phone. It's him." Dawn scooped another spoonful of ice cream
from the tub and let it melt on her tongue before she picked up
the handset.
"Hi. It's me." She climbed off her stool and
took the phone out onto the back porch to get some privacy.
As the kitchen door closed behind her, Anya let
out a sigh. "That boy is nearly as whipped as Spike. Why doesn't
Xander call to apologise like that?"
"You do know that what you just did was pure
emotional torture?" Wes asked.
Anya nodded. "But Dawn found out exactly how
far he was prepared to go before she had to speak to him, so now
she can be all magnanimous and forgiving instead of worrying if
he's really going to be all anti-demon like Xander but try to
cover it up."
Wes looked round the table. "I'm beginning to
think that thing about vampires being inherently evil was a mistake.
It's actually women."
"Only to men, though. Tara would never do something
like that to another woman. And now that you have seen this at
work I must call upon one of my former colleagues to turn you
into a woman." Anya waited until Wes's mouth fell open at her
matter of fact tone before she smiled widely and blinked at him
a couple of times. He turned to Tara, finding her having difficulty
containing her amusement. Only then, was he really convinced that
Anya had been joking.
"I think I stand firmly behind my last comment,"
he muttered with a smile.
"Should we ask where Clem is?" Buffy asked his
mother. "Or will he still be where we left him this morning?"
"He stay gone now till party time. Otherwise
we find work for him."
There was a quiet knock at the living room door
before Brandon pushed it open and joined the group.
"So, did you get things sorted out with the Niblet,
then?" Spike asked.
"Well, she said to tell Lily that she, the puppy
and I will all be here tomorrow night. And she said something
about wishing she could see Rose's face."
"Oh!" Buffy's mouth formed a perfect circle as
a thought occurred to her. "Would it be really rude if we asked
whether we could invite someone else? There's a friend of ours
and sort of Wes's, but he just got back into town from England
yesterday."
"Don't know as Watcher Senior would take kindly
to bein' described as a friend of mine, pet."
"Well, maybe, Mr Smartypants, when I said ours,
I meant mine and Dawn's. Not everything revolves around you, you
know," Buffy teased. "Besides you and Giles aren't just friends,
you're old roomies."
Spike sighed. "Do us a favour Lil. Just tell
her she can ask the old codger. An' park yer arse somewhere, kid.
You're makin' the place look untidy." Brandon took a seat on the
sofa next to Buffy still looking slightly nervous.
Lily smiled. "I think maybe I should meet this
old roomie of William and if he friend of Wes, he welcome." She
bustled over to a bureau that rested against the room's side and
pushed back the roll-top front. Pulling out the chair that accompanied
the desk she sat down and called across to Buffy. "What is your
friend's name. Mr What?"
"Mr Giles."
"Mr Giles what?"
Spike smirked. "That would be Mr Rupert Giles,
Lil, love. He doesn't use the Rupert on account he doesn't want
people to know he's named after a cartoon bear with yellow tartan
pants."
Lily was in the middle of writing out an invitation
for the watcher when Rosa came running into the room.
"Unker Will! Auntie Buffy!" The girl ran around
the end of the sofa and climbed straight onto Spike's remaining
leg that hadn't already got Buffy's slung over it. "I told mommy
that you would come before bedtime."
"Well, kitten, sometimes Uncle Will has to help
Auntie Buffy when she's got important things to do, but if we
had to break a promise we'd always do our best to at least ring.
And you know I wouldn't break a promise unless I really, really
had to."
Spike took in the maroon and gold pyjamas that
the little girl was wearing, emblazoned across the back with the
legend "Gryffindor". He shook his head at the little girl. "Everybody
wants to be a white hat these days."
"Silly! All the best characters are in Gryffindor."
"Are not. That Snape guy's a right interestin'
bloke."
"He's mean. I don't like him." Buffy sat up, watching
the dialogue between the two with a huge smile on her face.
"He saved Harry during that snitchy game of theirs
in the first book."
"He picks on Harry and he's head of potions but
he can't even use shampoo properly. And if you went to Hogwarts
you'd be in Gryffindor, too. All the bravest people are in Gryffindor."
Buffy giggled at the look of absolute shock on
Spike's face as he fishmouthed "Take that back, munchkin. Only
the goody-goody types are in Gryffindor. I'd be head of house
in Slytherin."
"Shan't. Auntie Dawnie told me all the stories
about the nasty woman who was inside the nice doctor like Voldemort
was inside that professor and how she was trying to find her and
how even when she held you prisoner for days and wouldn't let
you eat or sleep, you wouldn't tell her where Auntie Dawnie was.
And about how you looked after her and her mommy for Auntie Buffy
and how you fought the nasty old-man demon and you nearly won
but he cheated and pushed you off the tower and, even though you
were hurt real bad and your heart broke because you thought they'd
taken Auntie Buffy away for good instead of her just being trapped
in another dimension for a while, you still looked after Auntie
Dawnie. You would too be in Gryffindor."
"I guess it was too much to expect your Auntie
Dawnie to just read to you like a normal person?"
"This was better," Rosa insisted. "She can't
do voices like you do, but 'cause these were about you and Auntie
Buffy and her I knew what you all should sound like." The young
girl suddenly noticed the youth beside Buffy. She seemed to study
his face intently for several seconds, before she made her eyes
cross slightly and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Rosa! Apologise right now." Her mother scolded
her from the doorway of the room where she'd been leaning to watch
Spike's discomfiture. "That's not polite."
Rosa watched the boy. "Sorry." She turned to
her mother. "I just wanted to see if he was Auntie Dawnie's boyfriend.
She said her boyfriend had pretty eyes like your jade tiger and
long eyelashes, but I couldn't tell if he had a cute smile or
not because he wasn't, so I thought maybe if I stuck my tongue
out he would and then I'd know." She turned back to the youth.
"And see... He has. Hi, Brandon."
"You could have just said hello and maybe he
would introduce himself," her mother sighed at the little girl's
logic.
"I guess I'm just a little late with the formal
introductions," Buffy excused herself. "Brandon, this is Rosa.
The lady in the doorway is Marie, her mother. Lily is her grandma
and her Uncle Clem, who is apparently in hiding at the moment
but who you should get to meet tomorrow night, is going to be
Spike's best man at the wedding. And for those of you who hadn't
already worked it out, this is Dawn's boyfriend Brandon."
The little girl smiled at her mom as if to say,
"Told you so."
Spike cleared his throat slightly and looked
back and forth between Buffy and the little girl a couple of times.
"Me?" Buffy asked, half-awed and half-excited
at the idea.
"Honey, your Uncle Will and I have got a real
big favour to ask you and your mommy. See, we just realised that
we've got lots of grown up lady friends to help us out being bridesmaids
and stuff, but we only know one special little girl who could
be our flower girl. So, do you think your mommy would let you
stay up late the night we get married so you can do that for us?"
"Mommy?" The little girl's deep brown eyes looked
over to her mother imploringly. "Please, can I?"
"No more rude faces?" her mother bargained. "You
have to be good from now right up until then."
"Promise." Her mother nodded, smiling as the
little girl ran across the room to express her thanks in the form
of a hug. Then, the girl started dancing round the room singing,
"I'm going to be a flower girl," in a sing-song voice, until all
of a sudden she stopped dead. "Auntie Buffy, what's a flower
girl?"
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