full 3/4 1/2   skin light dark       
 
I'll Be Home for Christmas by slaymesoftly
 
Ten
 
<<     >>
 
CHAPTER TEN
 
They had a quiet dinner in the romantic light of the dark bar, talking about what kind of day Bill had at school and the short trip coming up for Buffy.
 
“Is Joyce going with you on this trip?” Buffy shook her head.
 
“No. I’m just flying out to Cleveland to check on the hellmouth there. I don’t expect to have to do much except patrol once or twice with the slayers there and make sure they aren’t overlooking anything important. I won’t be gone more than a few days, counting travel time.”
 
“I’ll take you to the airport and pick you up,” he said. “Where will Joyce be?”
 
“She’ll be at home. As she is constantly pointing out to me, she has super powers and is old enough to watch other people’s children, so she’ll be fine.” Buffy smiled at him. “But I don’t think she’d mind if you checked up on her… and I’d really appreciate it.”
 
“Check on Joyce, but make it casual. Got it.”
 
“Do you think I’m being a bad mother?” she asked, frowning at him. “You do, don’t you? You don’t think I should be leaving somebody her age by herself.”
 
He sighed. “You know what’s best, love. It’s just, if anyone else asked me if it was okay to go away for a few days and leave their teen-aged daughter with the house to herself, I’d say….” He peered at her. “Were you so well-behaved as a kid that you don’t know what kinds of things they can get up to?”
 
Buffy choked on her wine and couldn’t answer for several minutes. When her eyes finally stopped watering and she could breathe without choking, she shook her head. “Oh hell no. I was terrible. But it was all slayer-related. I had to cut school, sneak out at night to patrol, lie about spending the night at Willow’s – who was sometimes lying about spending the night with me because we had something to do that required both of us to be out in the middle of the night.  Even after my mom finally knew about my… calling, she didn’t quite get that to slay vampires, you have to go out when vampires are out and about. Well before she died, she knew I was never going to be a normal girl, but she never really understood my life completely, partly because I tried to limit what she knew about. I did go to college for a while, but….” Buffy’s expression became somber. “She’d have been so happy to know about Joyce. That she actually did have a grandchild one day.”
 
“Even if the grandchild’s father was a vampire?”
 
“Mom liked Spike. She really did. But she would never have expected him to give her a grandchild. She was… gone… long before I went back to meet grown-up William.”
 
“So the things you got up to didn’t involve having boys over or throwing parties?”
 
“No.” Buffy elected not to tell Bill about Angel’s nocturnal visits to her room. “They were more like stopping an apocalypse or cleaning out a vamp nest.”
 
“But Joyce hasn’t had quite those same experiences, has she?”
 
“No. Not exactly. She gets a lot more free time than I had, and since she has me, she doesn’t have a watcher.” She smiled at him. “I know what you’re trying to say, but I trust her not to do anything really stupid. If you want to let her know you’ll be making sure she’s all right while I’m gone, I’m sure she’ll get the message that she isn’t going to be quite as free as she expects to be.”
 
“Sounds like a plan,” he said with a grin. “Let’s see what I can do to make having a party sound like a bad idea.”
 
“If you didn’t work with kids, I’d think those ideas were coming from Spike,” she said with a smile meant to reassure him that she knew it was him speaking. 
 
“You think he would have been a strict father?”
 
Buffy laughed.  “You might say that. My sister Dawn swore he was ruining her social life and that she wouldn’t be able to date until she was thirty. He was almost that bad about it too, and he was only her ‘big brother’, not her father. I can’t tell you how many boys he scared off. There’s a reason she went to college on the other side of the country.”
 
He laughed and shook his head. “I doubt I’ll be that scary, but I’ll try not to drive your daughter away.”  He took her hand. “And any time you’re ready for me to meet your family and friends….”
 
“Joyce and Dawn are my family. I think I have some cousins in the Midwest, but we never stayed in touch after my aunt died several years ago. You’ve met Willow. She's about it for close friends."

“Well, the reason I brought that up is because my mother is getting very impatient to meet the reason she hasn’t seen as much of me as she’s used to. And my niece is dying to meet the first slayer.”
 
Buffy visibly shuddered. “Trust me, she doesn’t want to meet the first slayer. She’s not exactly a warm, fuzzy person.  But if she wants to talk to me or Joyce, that’s fine.”
 
Still holding her hand, he said, “Have we made enough grown-up small talk now? Can we get our stuff from the car and go back to our room?”
 
Laughing, she squeezed his hand and stood up. “Sounds like a great idea to me. Let’s go.”
 
They walked to the lobby, still holding hands, when he stopped her right inside the door.
 
“Why don’t you wait here? It will only take me a second to grab our bags and be back.” When she started to speak, he stopped her with a hand on her lips. “What are chances there are vampires in this parking lot?” he said. 
 
Buffy studied his face and knew she was on uncertain ground in terms of his ego. In spite of his earlier words, telling him she didn’t want him going out there alone was not going to be a good idea. Forcing a smile, she said, “Pretty slim. Okay, I’ll wait here.”
 
The wry twist to his mouth told her he’d seen her indecision, but he just nodded. “Be right back.”
 
As he went outside, a man stepped up behind her and watched Bill’s progress. At Buffy’s sidelong frown, he introduced himself. “I’m Jack Sedak. Hotel security. We’ve had some issues with thugs trying to get away with things while guests are busy unloading baggage. I’m just keeping an eye out in case I need to—Dammit!” He stepped around Buffy and broke into a run, then, before she could catch up, he slowed down and took out his phone.
 
In spite of not wanting to appear to be running to the rescue, Buffy began jogging in the direction of the car.  She saw Jack put his phone away and walk up to Bill, who was standing over two men, one of which wasn’t moving.
 
As she approached she saw him shake Bill’s hand. “Guess you didn’t need me to run to the rescue,” Jack said. “I’ll just put some cuffs on these guys and turn ‘em over when the cops get here.” He turned to look at Buffy. “And here’s your missus. Guess she was worried about you.”
 
Bill raised an eyebrow at Buffy. “Is that true, love? Were you worried about me?”
 
“Nah,” she said with shrug. “There were only two of them. I knew you’d be fine.”
 
Jack stood up from having cuffed both men – who both appeared somewhat the worse for wear – and propped them up against the car.  He turned his flashlight in Buffy’s direction and frowned. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”
 
She shook her head. “Not that I remember, but I’ve lived here for quite a while, so maybe?”
 
“No… it’s like I know you from…. Shit!   No wonder you were right behind me. I remember you from Sunnydale. I was just a rookie. I saw you take out five… guys on PCP…. By yourself.”
 
“Guys on PCP. Boy, I haven’t heard that in a long time.” Buffy laughed.
 
“He knows what you are?”  Bill stared back and forth between them.
 
“I know if you hadn’t taken care of these two scuzbags, she’d have made them very sorry.  Even though they’re…. not on PCP.”
 
“They’re human. You can say it. Bill already met some vamps a few weeks ago. Did okay for himself.”
 
Jack stared at him in awe, but Bill shook his head. “If you believe that…. I damn near pissed in my pants.”
 
“I know the feeling,” Jack said with a grin. “That’s why I’m working here in someplace where I don’t have to worry about things like that.” He glanced at Buffy again. “And now I see why.”
 
Buffy shrugged. “There are a lot of us now. It’s not just me. But there are still vampires and demons. Just not in the numbers you find on a hellmouth.”
 
As a police car came into the parking lot, Jack waved his flashlight at them. “You’ll probably have to give them some kind of statement, but since we pretty much… or you pretty much caught these guys in the act, it shouldn’t take long.”
 
Buffy picked up her bag and nudged Bill’s with her foot. “Want me to take this up?”
 
He nodded and handed her his duffle bag. While Jack was greeting the cops, Bill whispered to Buffy, “I’ll be right up. Be naked.”
 
With an answering grin, she turned and began walking toward the hotel, both bags over her shoulder.
 
“You know, that’s not an ordinary gal you’ve got there,” Jack said as he joined Bill in watching Buffy walk away.
 
“You got that right, mate.” Bill turned away. “Let’s get this over with. My lady’s waiting for me.”
 
 
 
<<     >>