Did I Just Miss Something?
Did I Just Miss Something?
No Pain, No Vein
by Quirky
“Goodnight.”
Dawn yells to Buffy and Willow, who are downstairs in the living room. Both Buffy and Willow yell back.
“Goodnight!”
“¹Night, Dawnie!”
Dawn crosses the threshold and enters her bedroom, closing the door behind herself. She is already dressed in her pyjamas; they are a sky blue, with little drawings of pink pigs, which have wings. Willow and Tara had given her the pyjamas for her fifteenth birthday. Dawn pulls the covers out from their made position, and sinks herself into her bed. She folds the covers over herself. She turns off the lamp beside her bed; her room is in complete darkness, except for the moonlight that is shining through her window. She stares at the ceiling thinking, That¹s odd. She soon falls into a dream filled sleep.
Xander twists and turns, escaping from
“A dream, it was only a dream.”
He plops his head back onto the hard motel pillow, and falls back to sleep, thinking nothing of what he had dreamt, forgetting it by morning.
“Ok, men. It¹s time we put our plan into action.”
Warren says, quite sure of himself. He stands tall and swells with pride. Andrew and Jonathon sit below Warren in a very “prey-to-god” sort of way. “I¹m still not sure what the plan is exactly.”
Warren sighs a little disappointed in his disciple.
“We kill the slayer!”
Both Andrew and Jonathon glance at each other and nod. And, together they stand up.
“We told you, we don¹t want to kill~”
Andrew is discharged in an instant.
“She¹s too close, she¹ll get us arrestedand that¹s it.”
Both Jonathon and Andrew take this in, shifting on the balls of the feet, looking very anxious. Warren continues.
“You¹ve seen the surveillance. She¹s planning. And then it¹s cellblock D for us. I know I don¹t want that. Do you?”
Warren looks from Andrew to Jonathon, they seem dreadfully lost in thought. Andrew looks over to Warren very nervously and then pulls Jonathon into a huddle, just as far, so Warren cannot hear.
“He does have a point, I don¹t want to go to “Cellblock D”. Do you know what they do to people like us in prison?”
Andrew looks over to Warren, who is watching surveillance tapes.
Andrew¹s face is the face of dread, as he sees his life fall away into a black pit. A place he refuses to revisit, not again.
“I guess there¹s only one thing to do.”
Jonathon breaks from the huddle and walks over to Warren, who is now looking over in their direction. Jonathon stands a stride apart from Warren; he looks up and stares into Warren¹s eyes.
“You kill the slay”
He stops to correct himself.
“Buffy. We will have no part in another murder.”
Warren steps back, disgusted but also pleased that he got the go ahead. “Ok, I¹ll kill her. But meanwhile, did you check the surveillance in the last hour?”
Both Jonathon and Andrew shake their heads and turn to the monitors. “Isn¹t that Spike?”
Andrew asks, making an “ew-face” after a moment. A few moments of silence is shared between them, as they watch in awe, Andrew continues. “And that girl”
He clasps his head with his hands and slaps himself in the side of his head, softly and repeatedly, as if he has an ice cream headache.
“What¹s her name?”
He starts clicking his fingers now. Being very irritating, both Warren and Jonathon are good-naturedly waiting for him to remember her name; Jonathon sets the conversation in a forward moving motion.
“Anya!”
He yells, only then after he becomes very quite and takes a seat. On one of those black swivel chairs. They all stare at the monitors. Warren walks over to a small roundish bar, and pours some drinks while keeping his eyes on the screens.
“At least there¹s some action.”
Dawn thumps her hand on the radio.
“Gee, the announcer sure likes that song.”
She utters derisively. She then walks over to the closet and pulls out some blue jeans, a pink denim jacket and a t-shirt with the number twenty on it. She places them all on her bed, and takes a moment to consider her outfit for the day. Maybe I¹ll try something a little different today. Dawn thought.
So, she puts those clothes back and shifts through the cupboard some more, until she finds the perfect outfit. She puts on red jeans with a black Singlet top, as well as a see-through elbow length black shirt to go over the Singlet top, after all, she doesn¹t want to get in trouble with big sis. She then walks over to Willow¹s door and is about to knock loudly; she stops herself. She thinks for a moment, Weird.
She then taps softy. Still a little unsure about what her gut is telling her. “Willow? You up?”
On the other side of the door. Willow is showered, dressed and making her bed.
“I¹m up Dawnie, you get ready for school.”
Dawn continues her routine. Thinking of how odd it is to be reliving an old memory over, but not really remembering at all.
Willow sits on the newly made bed, recalling.
“Now I remember!”
“I¹m sorry, Dawnie. I¹m sorry I hurt you. And”
Dawn shoots her head up and looks over to her sister, confused.
“Didn¹t we do this yesterday?”
Buffy takes Dawn¹s almost empty bowl of Wheeties and puts it into the sink. She turns back to Dawn; a look of confusion coats her face.
“Maybe, I¹ve been thinking of how to say this for so long, maybe Iwe” Buffy thinks, Maybe this is Dawn¹s little revenge. Buffy stifles a smile. And continues with the conversation, thinking she¹s playing along with a game.
“No. It¹s Friday?”
Dawn puts her lunch into her backpack; slings it over her shoulders and looks over to her sister; she¹s at a complete loss.
“I think so. I guess it¹s just Déjà vu?”
“That or a bad case of groundhog day¹ syndrome.”
Willow walks down the stairs, a bounce in her step. She walks cheerfully into the kitchen. And finishes her coffee, from the aqua mug, which Buffy had made her earlier. She looks over to Buffy and Dawn, and then, she walks over to them and joins in the group hug.
“I forgive you.”
They pull away from the embrace and begin to exit the house, at their own pace.
“You two going out?”
What made me think that? Both Buffy and Dawn nod and smile in unison. Dawn prances past Willow and out the front door; Buffy raises a perfectly reasonable question.
“How¹d you know?”
“I didn¹t.”
“All I¹m saying is we leave, just for a few hours. It can¹t be good to be cramped up inside all day”
Jonathon pleads a loosing case to Andrew.
“We¹ll leave a note for Warren, when he gets back from his”
Using his index and middle fingers as a stand-in for quotation marks. “Trip¹”
Andrew stands in Jonathon¹s way, just at the beginning of the staircase to the basement. His arms across his chest, not budging an inch.
“With any luck, we¹ll be here when he gets back. Surely there¹s no harm in getting some fresh air.”
Jonathon sees that he¹s not getting anywhere, and gets a sudden rush of inspiration.
“We could go rent Red dwarf? Oh, we just got thatumStar trek, we could go get the revised edition of the design of the star ship enterprise, II think that just came out?”
Jonathon raises his eyebrow hopefully. Andrew finally relents, and nods in agreement.
They exit through the front door, just as Xander breaks in the back.
Students are standing about talking softly to one-and-other. As Dawn enters the yellow walled classroom, which has portraits of students on the walls, and large windows. A small hush comes over the voices of the teens. It¹s fair to say Dawn entered more than a little self-consciously. The teens finally find their voices again; it seemed like an eternity since a word was spoken when Dawn crossed the threshold into the classroom.
“Hey Dawn, over here!”
A voice speaks up over the murmur of the classroom. Dawn looks over to her friend, then proceeds to walk over to her, and takes a station next to Janice.
“Hey Janice.”
A female teacher enters the class. And begins almost immediately.
“Now today, we¹re imitating the art of H.R Giger. You all should be familiar with his work, because we¹ve been studying him for the past few weeks.” The forty something petite woman begins walking around the room, as sleepy teens look up at her with wonder.
“I could sit here for the next hour telling you the many reasons why the principle thought another artist would be appropriate. Nevertheless, I have faith that you, as young adults will know what, and what not to draw. Now begin.”
She claps her hands together with her final word. The students, at a snail’s pace, begin their work, a murmur, again, fills the room. Dawn begins her work and a discussion with Janice at the same time.
“So, any plans for the weekend?”
Dawn asks while clasping a black pastel in her right hand, drawing an unusual image of what appears to be a woman, but may not be.
“Nope. Nothin¹ what so ever. The parentals have been a little, Prison movie, as of late. And I for the life of me, don¹t know why.”
Dawn giggles at this last remark, Janice cant help it, but smile deviously. After the teacher has finished surveying her work, Janice continues.
“You have anything planned?”
Dawn shrugs, the teacher walks past Dawn, so she quickly starts looking active, but as soon as the teacher leaves, Dawn starts up her end of the conversation.
“I¹m on Buffy duty, she¹s been”
Dawn stairs off for a moment; trying to think of how to word it properly. “A little out of it lately. I guess we all have. We¹re planing on going window shopping and seeing a movie, so it¹ll be fun.”
Janice nods. Dawn smiles, a real smile. Something that was never practiced.
Warren enters the living room, putting his keys on the desk. Hearing footstep, he begins to walk to the basement. He stops, and talks softly to himself.
“Andrew and Jonathon aren¹t that big. Even together, going up those stairs, they¹re not that big.”
He quickly finds a hiding space, in the living room behind a sofa, he watches Xander leave through the back door. Warren emerges from his hiding place, more than slightly panicked.
“What do I do? What do I do?”
He is extremely panicked. And unsure of what to do, and runs down into the basement and activates his hidden robot; Andrew and Jonathon don¹t even know that he built it, or even know it is there. The bot is hidden in another secret room, that Warren had built himself, just in case something bad happened, that time is now. He programmes something into the bot and then exits the house with a plan.
Willow walks up to a fountain, she admires it for a moment, she then sits on the edging, positively glowing. Her legs hang from the edging and swing back and forth.
“I¹m giddy.”
Tara sits beside Willow, with her books in her hands.
“You¹re cute when you¹re giddy.”
Willow turns and faces Tara. The both smile goofily at each other.
“I am?”
Tara straightens herself on the edging and nods, thinking, This is uncomfortable.
“Don¹t you have class now?”
Willow¹s eyes widen. He smile fades to a frown; she¹s shocked that she could have forgotten. But also glad that Tara knows her schedule, Willow then calms down, and her smile returns.
“I do, but I can blow it off.”
Tara was looking down at her books, a little disappointed, she then looks up to Willow, her smile also returning.
“I don¹t think you¹ve ever blown off class before.”
Tara then points in the direction to her left and they both get up and begin walking at a leisurely pace.
“Well, this is important.”
Warren cautiously enters the crypt, cautious of the sunlight behind himself; he closes the door rapidly, not wanting to let the light inside. He has a black sports bag slung over his shoulder.
“Hello?”
He looks at his watch, which reads 4: 28 pm. He then looks up and jumps at the sight of whom he was looking for. Warren takes the bag off his shoulder and holds it in his right hand.
“So there¹s finally a place that delivers, which is odd, cause I didn¹t order annoying nerd.”
Warren steps back, more than slightly frightened.
“Wait!”
He raises his hands in front of himself and shakes them in faux protest, but he was certain that Spike couldn¹t tell that he was being humoured. “I have a job for you.”
A devilish smile emerges on Spike¹s face.
“A job, is it?”
He ambles around Warren. Enjoying how he¹s making Warren uncomfortable. Spike thinks about all the things he could have done to Warren if the sodding chip wasn¹t in his head. Huh, there¹s a thought.
“You¹ve got thirty seconds, before I turn you into my whipping boy.”
Warren seriously considers running, but stays, thinking of a way to express what he wants done. He rubs the back of his neck, with his left hand, while the he holds the sports bag by his side, in his right hand.
“Twenty.”
Warren jumps and drops the sports bag when Spike yells this in his ear. In panic, he yells his response.
“The slayer! I want to send a message to the slayer!”
Spike walks over to the entrance of a cave level to the crypt; he waves his arm for Warren to join him. Spike then climbs down a ladder, which leads to a very post-exploded cave. Warren clumsily follows, almost falling several times.
“That sounds like fun.”
Spike sits on an overcooked chair, Warren glares at Spike, and is pushed from behind; by a great force, and Warren¹s nose rubs against, what are defiantly the remains of a demon that had once lived in that squaller dank pit. But was destroyed, along with any chance of the doctor being with the slayer ever again.
“It¹ll cost you.”
The unseen force pushes against Warren, and then steps away; Warren turns around to face Spike, very cautiously. He is very surprised by who he sees.
Xander enters the magic box in a fit of rage.
“Anya?!”
Xander yells, he walks over to the stacks, wondering, where is Anya?
Anya emerges from the basement, carrying a container of salamander eyes. She puts it on a shelf, not realising Xander is there, he just glares at her back as she turns around, and screams with fright.
“Arghh! Xander!”
He walks over to the counter, from where had had stood, near the central table, beside the stacks. His face showing many emotions, anger and hate being the most powerful, he gives Anya a fierce look.
“You know, I¹ve put up with a lot. I¹ve taken a lot of”
Xander whines about his misfortunes, he looks down at his feat, and then back up at Anya.
“And that¹s it. Anya, no more, never again.”
Xander yells with aggravation, his arms were flaying about while he complained,
Anya had thought he had looked like a monkey; Xander¹s face had gone a deep red colour. Anya is confused, Aren¹t I the one who is supposed to be angry? She does the same as Xander, and yells right back at him.
“Xander! What are you talking about?”
Anya takes a breath and waits for his reply. Xander squints his eyes.
“Like you don¹t know!”
He exits in a huff, leaving a very pissed off Anya, in the magic box; she¹s not all alone, as Xander had thought when he had entered.
The sun slowly makes its way below the horizon as Willow and Tara take a stool opposite each other. Each with their own cup of tea, Willow cup is aqua, and Tara¹s is red. Coffee is too much of a stimulate, they want to be a little calmer. Tara takes a moment to look around the Espresso Pump; This place is calming. Willow however, keeps her focus on Tara, trying to keep her excitement and fear inside. Tara then turns her attention to Willow; they both sit silently looking into each others eyes. Tara finishes her tea in one gulp, thankful that it was cold. Willow keeps her gaze on Tara; her face shows anger and confusion.
“Sohow¹ve you been?”
Willow tries to make conversation.
“Good”
Tara says this a little too enthusiastically, and she then takes a step back with her speech. And a little less enthusiastically.
“Good. And you?”
Willow sways her head left and right.
“Goodgoodlately it¹s been easier, but harder at the same time. You know?”
Tara nods and smiles.
“Yeah, I know.”
Tara looks down at the table and then back to Willow, she smiles, shyly. Just like she had when she first met Willow.
“Ok, Dawn, I think we have enough clothes to last ushmmmlet¹s see. Six weeks?”
Both Dawn and Buffy were walking through the mall, with many shopping bags in their hands, they were both laughing happily. Dawn had trouble carrying hers, but Buffy didn¹t, even though her load was much heavier than Dawn¹s. Buffy looks over to her sister, and they both smile. Buffy sees Dawn struggling with the bags.
“Here let me help you.”
Buffy takes a few bags from Dawn¹s hands. Dawn is no longer struggling to hold them.
“Thanks.”
A boy, about Dawn¹s age walks past them and then turns around, walking backwards. Both Buffy and Dawn turn to see him; he walks backwards a few more paces, and then rotates one-eighty degrees, and walks out of sight. Dawn and Buffy look at each other quizzically, and begin walking towards the exit of the mall.
“He looked yummy.”
Buffy said as they exited the mall, Dawn looks down at her sister with a smile.
“I¹d like to see him in daylight first, no more dark broody mysterious night crawlers for me, after a while they get boring and predictable, always trying to bite. I mean, I¹ve got better things to do than to be killed.”
Buffy¹s smile trails off as Dawn walks ahead of her; I have to talk to her about HIM. Buffy thought while she walked at a brisk pace, catching up to Dawn. They walked into the parking lot and had a little trouble finding the Jeep, after a few minutes, Dawn finds it, hidden with a group of Jeep¹s. They laugh at the comicalness of the scene, and Buffy pulls away from the mall, very carefully, feeling very wearily, of her driving. Damn, Dawn and her comment about my driving, Buffy thought.
“So how about we drop this stuff at home and then walk to the Sun movie theatre to seewhatever movie you want to see.”
Dawn leans over and turns on the radio. It¹s playing, No Doubt, Hey baby. Dawn bops happily along with the music and replies.
“That sounds good to me.”
Dawn starts singing along with the song, once at a stoplight; Buffy looks over to her sister with a big grin. I wish I had a camera. Buffy thought, she then started singing along too. So, together they were singing the words, although sometimes ad-libbing. Dawn sung along and noticed her sister was doing the same, She¹s backand she¹ll be ok. Dawn thought.
Anya looks around the shop dismayed, she thinks, Where is everyone today? It¹s so quiet andunnerving. Halfrek had left earlier, but she¹d be back, Anya knew that she¹d be back and she¹d do Anya a favour. She shakes off her weariness and decides to get some coffee inside her, something warm inside her. Something that isn¹t as cold as Spike. She thought. She locks the cash register, and the back door. She takes the keys off the counter and leaves the store, locking the door behind herself; she then crosses the road and walks into the Espresso Pump, she waits at the counter patiently.
“May I help you?”