From: "Pat Kelly" <bandits@xxxxxxxxx>
Part one below. Enjoy.
(PART ONE)
Willow entered Angel Investigations, a little
anxious. She was never good at keeping secrets, or
surprises, which was basically a good secret. Most
of the time. Right now, Buffy was back home on
patrol. It was going to be a long sweep, so it gave
her plenty of time to get away. Plus, Giles had gone
with her, so he'd keep her busy.
Spike had driven her here, and said he'd back to
pick her up. He had heard about a bar that demons
liked to frequent on the outskirts of the city, and
decided he wanted to go pick a fight. She had to
shake her head. It wasn't just his demon talking; it
was also his maleness. She just hoped he didn't get
himself dusted.
She walked into the front room, where Cordelia was
sitting at her desk. The brunette looked up and
smiled.
"Hey, Willow. What's up?"
"You know.the thing." The redhead said
conspiratorially. Even though she had no need to.
"You mean the tickets?" Willow nodded looking around
nervously. "Relax. Breathe. She isn't going to know.
You afraid she's gonna pop out or something?"
"Well.you never know."
"He and Xander are fighting.well some ugly thing
across town. Angel booked the flight, so I don't
know. Hopefully he got a time where the sun won't
burn him to a crisp."
"Yeah. That would be bad."
"And Spike too. Did you tell him where we were
going?"
"No. Can you see him coming along willingly if I
did?"
"Then how are you getting him to go?"
"He wants to get, and I quote, 'as far out of
sodding Sunnyhell as possible'. And I said we were.
It's the truth."
"It is the truth. No denying that." Cordelia had to
grin. The look on Spike's face would be priceless.
"So you're really going to -"
She cut herself off as they both heard the elevator
come up. Exiting it came Angel and Xander, both a
little worse for the wear. Xander more so then
Angel, though. They were both covered in a
translucent gel, and their clothes torn. Mostly
around the back area.
"What happened?" Cordelia asked, running to Xander's
side.
"Got a little swallowed. It's his fault."
"You let him get swallowed?"
"I didn't let him get swallowed. I told him to
'follow' behind me, but he must have not heard very
well, because he charged up to the demon, it picked
him up, and then."
"Maybe. But who ruptured its intestinally insides
causing it to regurgitate -"
"Don't need to hear anymore." Willow said, feeling
sick suddenly.
"Well, the point is, we won. And I want a bonus."
"You can do this later, right? Cause I need to talk
to Angel."
Cordelia started directing Xander toward the door.
"Let's go home and get you clean."
"I like the sound of that." He grinned.
"Don't you have any shame at all?"
"I can be a-shamed, if that's what you mean." They
started to leave. "And have you noticed stuff flying
around the apartment? Like you have a ghost in there
or something."
"Ghost? Please. I think you spent a little too much
time inside that demon."
***
Willow waited patiently on Angel's sofa while he was
in the shower. His living 'space', it really wasn't
big enough to call an apartment, was really kind of
quaint. Kitchen, priceless paintings, artifacts, and
the axes hanging on the walls just added that little
extra touch.
She remembered when he gave Joyce his copy of A
Christmas Carol that was signed by Charles Dickens,
and he said it was just another book to him. Looking
around at his collection, she realized, it really
was just another book. He finally came in and sat
next to her, minus the slime. He was carrying an
envelope in his hands.
"You got the tickets!" Willow said happily.
"I couldn't get a direct flight. We have to leave at
12:30 our time, and stop over in Philadelphia at
around 8:21 Eastern time. Then take a connecting
flight. If it all works out we should get to where
we want to be by midnight. Eastern time."
"Time zones are tricky things, aren't they? And
wow.that's really late. Not for you, I guess. Course
if you got burned it wouldn't be a happy holiday,
now would it?" She took the tickets and looked them
over. "The sixteenth.perfect.USAir. Good choice."
"Is it? I don't travel.well, at all."
"Have you ever even been on a plane?" He shook his
head. "Has Kate?"
"Never really come up."
"Things going good with you guys?"
"As far as I can tell. Still.awkward."
"It is for everybody at first. It's not just you."
"Good to know. She's never been to -"
"She's never -?" Willow asked, shocked.
"No, and since I haven't either, it should be an
experience."
"You're looking forward to it. Good. Makes me happy.
And I made all the reservations, so we're all set."
"Everything?"
She smiled, knowing what he meant. "Everything."
***
"Everything is all set then?" Giles asked Buffy on
their way back from patrol.
"According to Willow. She wanted to handle
everything this year. I tried to help, but she
wouldn't let me. It's got me a little suspicious.
You would know. Is she hiding something?"
Giles had to think fast. "Did she give you any
reason?"
She eyed him, but still decided to answer. "She said
she wanted to give me a break. Let me relax. Course
with the way she convinced me, I couldn't say no."
She smiled, and then became serious again. "But I
still didn't buy it."
"I'm sure she's being.honest with you."
"You hesitated. Don't think I didn't notice that.
But I'm too tired to grill you."
"Thank Goodness." He muttered quietly.
He wasn't very good at keeping secrets. Especially
where Buffy was concerned. If everything went the
way they had all planned, well Willow mostly, she
would end up extremely happy, and her suspicions,
however well founded, would be forgotten. They
continued, in silence, towards Joyce's house for
awhile.