To Cross The River Styx
by Chazzman
Chap 5
[reviews]
Jude sat in his hotel room smoking a cigar as he looked over the folders in front of him. The first pile consisted of the personal files of the military members of the Initiative. The members themselves would have been surprised to discover what information was in the files about them. Not only was there private and personal information, but also, certain facts and information about themselves that they were entirely unaware of. The second pile consisted of dossiers on the Initiative's scientific team members, at the top of which sat the well-thumbed-through files on Doctors Walsh and Ackerman.
Pile number three consisted of files on project 'Adam' and the late Willow Rosenberg, now project 'Eve'. The names alone were enough to tell Jude that Walsh was unreliable. People with God-complexes always were. They were always certain that they were right and they hated having others controlling them. That was why she hated him. He was her controller. Unfortunately, she did not fear him. Ninety-nine percent of the time, fear was the key. The whip with which people were controlled and manipulated. Fear either for their jobs or their lives. With Walsh, he had to control her by controlling those around her; restricting her resources. Initially this had been easily done. Now, however, with the "Success" of project Eve, there was clamoring for results from project Adam.
Finally, there was pile number four. Actually, a single folder with one name on it. Buffy Summers. Inside the folder were a photo, four police reports, the past semester's worth of university grades, and a twenty page single spaced type report from Eve about the activities of Miss Summers over the past three years as 'The Slayer'.
It was fascinating to read
And alarming.
Looking at the clock, he picked up the phone, attached a scrambler to the handset, and dialed a number.
"It's me. This is a secure line."
"Yeah, uh-huh. Yes. No. No, I'm not at all satisfied with the good doctor's work."
"Yes, things seem quite and stable now, that's what bothers me. They usually are right before it all goes to hell, and from what I've learned the last few weeks, Hell's a lot closer than we thought."
"You've seen my report. I think she's hiding things. Skipping over important details."
"No I don't have proof. Just a feeling in my gut is all."
"I know. Yes. Well I'm flying in the dark here, but I have to say I think you're rushing things by allowing the Doc to proceed."
"Well I like to plan for the worst."
"And if sterilization is required?"
"I'm also concerned about the Summer's girl."
"With respect, I don't believe that should be our only source on the matter."
"Yes. I'll take care of it."
After hanging up the phone, he sat and quietly smoked the remainder of his cigar while looking at the four piles. Finally, he came to a decision and stood up.
"Finn."
*****
Buffy threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Giles, I don't know what I'm going to do. It's like I've been handed this great big gift and I really should be able to share it with my best friend. Except her gift has now been taken away, and I don't want to let her know that I've got what those bastards stole from her. I can't hurt her like that. I mean after all she has been through."
"I know it's going to be difficult," said Giles as he cleaned his glasses, "but if you are serious about wanting to study this new ability, sooner or later, she will find out."
"I know. I know, but she's so hurt right now. She asked me to throw out all her magic stuff before she came back to the dorm. I took it all over to Tara." She paused as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Or should I have kept it seeing as I'm going to be doing the Sabrina thing now?"
"No. No. Quite all right. Besides from what you described, it sounds more like sorcery than witchcraft."
"And the diff being?"
"Well, uhm, witchcraft requires the use of mystical items, chants or...or...or invocations to help focus and direct the magic. Sorcery uses only your mind."
"Well, Willow used to only use her mind to move pencils."
"Shooting a bolt of lightning from your hands is hardly comparable. Yes, there are some similarities in many aspects. But either one is totally unprecedented in a Slayer as far as I am aware of."
"What about the pendant?"
"It isn't magical-"
"Then why does it make me feel so...I don't know, 'powered up' when I wear it?"
"I don't-" He stopped suddenly as the room began to shake. As Items began to fall off of shelves, Giles and Buffy moved quickly to stand in the doorway arch to the kitchen while holding onto each other.
When it was finally over, Buffy groaned and slumped so that her head was resting on Giles chest.
As Giles looked down in puzzlement he heard her murmur in exasperation, "Now what?"
*****
"You want me to spy on her?" Riley asked incredulously. It was 12:30 in the afternoon of the day of the quake. Classes had been canceled until buildings were inspected and deemed safe. Mostly, there was a lot of knocked over shelves, but a few windows had shattered and some of the older buildings were showing new cracks. Riley sat in a sealed meeting room in the Initiative's HQ with Jude Law.
"I like to think of it more of as giving us alternatives," answered Jude. "You were against the idea of sending Eve out as Miss Rosenberg."
"Yes, but-"
"Would it surprise you to know that I was against it as well?"
"Sir?"
"However, I had my orders, and I obeyed them. Now, I've been told that before this whole mess you were considered an excellent soldier. Tremendous potential according to the reports that I have read. Soldiers follow orders, and good ones complete their missions successfully. Now, I am not going to order you to do this. This mission is voluntary. Miss Summers would make an exceptional recruit before this trouble with her friend. She still might, if she is handled properly. If I could, I would do it myself. But I think I'm a little too old to be seducing 19 year olds. Besides you already have a connection with the girl however slight. All it requires is some attention."
"Why? What is so important about Buffy?"
Jude placed a sealed folder upon the table.
"If you want to know, you will have to accept the mission."
He then stood up and walked out of the room.
Riley looked at the folder for several long minutes. Finally with a sigh, he reached out to take the folder, broke the seal and began to read.
*****
"Will, hey," said Buffy as she ran across the lawn to catch up with her friend who was laying on a blanket reading a book.
"Hey, Buf," the girl smiled as Buffy came up. "Whatcha doing?"
"I was about to ask you that young lady. Here it is a day of canceled classes and what do I find," she bent down and snatched the book from Willow's hands. "You, reading a 'Lit' book. 'Don Quixote'? Fie. Fie on thee. It has possessed my fair maiden and I am here to rescue thee."
Eve grinned. "That would explain why several of its friends tried to bury me back at the library."
Buffy's face immediately became one of concern. "Are you OK? Did...did you get hurt?"
"I'm fine," laughed Eve. "However, we did finally prove that Jeffery Ligget's head is so thick that not even the complete works of Charles Dickens will get through his skull. For some reason, he seemed to take great pride in that when they took him to the hospital."
Willow pensively watched from a distance as Buffy talked and laughed with the 'Other One'. She hated that girl, whoever she was, and yet...
She was starting to worry. Was she really 'Who' she thought she was? Or even 'What' she thought she was? Nasty thoughts had begun to pop into her mind lately leaving her filled with doubts and anxieties.
"Maybe that body talking to Buffy was actually the real Willow Rosenberg."
"Maybe 'I' am really just some Hellmouth creation."
"A spirit who had attached itself to Buffy and somehow Buffy's worry about Willow had imprinted itself on me."
"Or maybe I'm not even a spirit."
"Maybe I'm just a creation of Buffy's subconscious."
"Look at what had happened to Marcy. Turned invisible because everyone ignored her."
This was the Hellmouth.
What if she really was just a figment of someone else's imagination?
What was she to do?
What could she do?
"Nothing."
*************************************************
"Rosenberg? Yeah, right. She was just some egghead who tutored me a little in high school. She's nice, but, please... captain of the nerd squad," said a male's voice.
"Well, I don't know. Maybe you have a thing for geeks," said a giggling female.
"No. I like my women hot. Call me old fashioned..." the male countered.
Buffy stiffened as those words carried over the divider. It was dark in the dorm common room due to the power not being restored yet from the earthquake, but she recognized the male's voice. She groaned when she glanced at Willow and saw that she too had heard that snippet of conversation. For a moment she could have sworn she saw something dark flash across Willow eyes before she looked away.
"I need some air," said Eve as she turned to walk towards a door.
"Will," said Buffy as she started to follow her.
"Buf, it's OK. I just thought I could say 'Hi'. It just shows that you can't be nice to some people. I'll be right back. Promise," Eve turned again and walked off.
Buffy looked sadly at the back of the redhead as she walked away. She had practically dragged Willow to this stupid "Aftershock Party" tonight because Willow had become so solitary since her abduction. She only seemed to talk to Buffy for any length these days. Even Xander and Giles had noticed how little she talked to them. But they resisted the urge to press her about it. Buffy was now kicking herself for forcing Willow to this party. Then she got angry.
With a determined gleam in her eye, Buffy stalked through the party over to Percy West and grabbed him by his elbow.
"We need to talk," she said in a voice that bordered on a growl. For added emphasis she squeezed slightly on the elbow causing Percy to gasp in pain.
"Hey!" protested the dark hair girl with whom Percy had been flirting. Buffy ignored her and proceeded to drag a whimpering Percy to the first unoccupied room she could find. Buffy released Percy's arm and he began rubbing it to restore the circulation.
"Jesus, Summers! What's your-" Percy began to complain before a hand slammed into his chest knocking his breath out and pinning him to the wall.
"Shut up!" Buffy snarled at him. "Just stow it you asshole!"
Buffy paused, let out a breath as she collected her thoughts for a second.
"I put up with people like you putting down me and my friends all through High School when you didn't even know us. Well I'm sick of it, you hear?"
She grabbed his hand and began to bend it backwards. Gasping in pain, Percy sank down quickly to his knees.
"Now, you had better listen to me and listen good. If I ever hear of you speaking about Willow in a disrespectful way again, I will end your basketball career. Do we understand?" She emphasized her question by bending Percy's hand even further.
"Ah! Yes! OK! OK! Absolutely. I'm sorry. No problem," Percy whimpered as he strained to keep from crying.
"And don't think you can go back to LA and start dissing her there. I have friends down there as well, and if they hear of you saying anything, you will wish I had gotten' to you first. Capiche'?"
"Yesyesyesyes, anything! Oh God! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Percy gasped as the pissed off slayer gave an extra twist to his wrist.
"Fine. Now -"
Whatever Buffy had been about to say was lost when the house lights came on revealing a very dead student stretched out on the bed next to them. His throat slashed and chest carved upon.
"Ah, crap."
****
All things considered, the police were actually very fast and asked very few questions of Buffy and Percy. As soon as they had seen the body, they began to proceed in a rather standardized fashion. The jaded veterans knew it was going to be yet another unsolved murder. One detective seemed to want to ask more than the standard questions, but the two senior detectives hastily reassigned him to evidence gathering. Buffy figured he must have been a new transfer.
When Buffy had finished answering their questions, she left to go search for Willow and found her just outside the dorm.
"Will are you OK?" she asked with concern as she took Eve's arm and discreetly walked away from the crowd in front of the dorm.
"I'm fine, Buffy. The police wouldn't let me back in and someone said something about a body. What happened in there?" Eve asked.
"Lights came on, and 'Oh look, a Buffy party'," grumped the slayer.
"Demon?"
"That or a very nasty game of 'Truth or Dare'. Someone played 'Etch-A-Sketch' on his chest. Ever seen something like this?" Buffy asked, holding up a quick sketch she had made of the symbol on the dead man's chest.
"Nothing comes to mind."
"Damn. I was hopin' you'd remember. I know I've seen it somewhere before. Oh well. Maybe Giles will know," Buffy said as they started to walk in the direction of his house.
They walked in silence for several minutes before Buffy took Willows hand and pulled her to a stop.
"Willow about what Percy said-"
"Percy West can so go jump off a cliff as far as I care. He's certainly not someone whose opinion matters to me," Eve replied squeezing Buffy's hand.
Buffy smiled as she looked at Eve, felt a tear start to form in her eye, and then quickly pulled her into a hug.
"I missed you so much, you know," she whispered into Eve's ear, "don't ever leave me again!"
"I missed you most of all, Buffy," cried Eve into Buffy's shoulder as the Slayer held her tightly.
The girls hugged for several minutes. Finally, Buffy stepped back and wiped her eyes and nose. Eve burst out giggling.
"What?" asked Buffy.
"Sorry, sorry. But you've just given yourself two black eyes and a moustache," Willow grinned. "It looks like a raccoon.'
"Ah!?" Buffy exclaimed as she looked at her hands and found them lightly coated with a black greasy substance. "Eeww." She was about to wipe them on her pants when she stopped. It was hard enough to clean demon slime off of her clothes without having to worry about oil stains. "Where did I...?"
She trailed off as she looked at the grinning Eve.
"Willow. Could you turn around," said Buffy calmly.
"What is it?" Eve asked in concern as she spun about to look for any danger.
"Uh-huh," said Buffy, "as I thought."
"What?"
Buffy grinned as she took Willow's hand and ignored her protest as she started to pull her along back to their own dorms.
"Buffy what is it?"
"Will, I don't know when you took up oil wrestling but next time you gotta invite me."
"What?!" Willow exclaimed as she tried to look at the back of her shirt. "Oh man. How did I-? Oh no. Argh! I though it was just water on the grass. That's great, it's totaled."
"Yup, my little skunk," said a grinning Buffy, "you've transformed us both into animals."
"But skunks have white stripes on their backs," grumbled Eve as a grinning Buffy again took her arm.
"Yeah, well... blame it on the Hellmouth," sighed Buffy.
"That's your excuse for everything."
As the two girls headed back to their dorm room, a lonely ghost sat silently on a nearby bench.
"If I'm not real, then why the hell do I still miss you, Buffy?" Willow asked aloud. But nobody was there who could hear her words let alone answer her question.
***
Police reports would estimate the speed of his vehicle to have been exceeding 80 mph. Post-mortem toxicology reports would show that he had been drinking, and while the level was below the legal limit, the fact that he was a minor would pretty much close the case. No one would bother to inspect the vehicles brake system for tampering. Why should they?
Percy West was just another teenager who'd had a promising career and then thrown it all away by partying a little to much before getting into a car.
*************************************
"Hey, Buffy, uhm-"
"Not now, Riley. I'm in a hurry," Buffy said brusquely while passing him as she strode rapidly down Main Street.
It was the day after the murder at Porter Hall. Graham had brought back the news of the death to the Initiative HQ. Everyone was hoping that this would finally give them the opportunity to get back on to active duty and be able to continue with their mission. Hunting demons. For now however they were still waiting for the word from their leaders.
Riley however did not have to wait. This new assignment from Jude Law already gave him authorization to return to duty. However, he was finding it difficult to proceed simply because Buffy was continually brushing him off when he tried to open a conversation with her.
He had seen her fighting a demon in the cemetery last night and had debated about coming to her aid during the fight, when the demon managed to knock her down and run away. She had looked quite angry about it getting away, so Riley had decided to stay hidden. Besides which, he didn't know what he could have told her if she had asked him why he had just happened to be in the cemetery.
Now it was the next day and this was the third time she had brushed him aside as she had rushed about the town looking for something.
"Some people just don't know when to stop obsessing," murmured Forrest as he stepped up behind Riley.
"I'm not obsessing. I'm following orders," said Riley quietly as he kept his eyes on departing blonde Slayer.
********
"Oh I fully agree," snarled Eve as she snatched the stake out of Xander's hand and then slapped it against Spike's chest. "But we aren't going to facilitate an incompetent coward such as you, Spike."
"Incompetent coward! Sod you! If I didn't have this bloody chip in my brain-"
"You still wouldn't be able to do a thing," Eve sneered at the outraged vampire. "You would fail like you always have. How many times have you tried to kill us? It's a wonder they found anything in there to attach that chip to considering how few brain cells you appear to have. Go ahead! Kill yourself. It will mean nothing to anyone. Nobody will remember you. The world will be a much, much better place when you're gone. You're nothing but a great, big parasite. So go on. Do it." Her voice had dropped to barely a whisper. But in the silence of the basement, Spike and Xander heard every single word as if she had been shouting.
"Willow?" Xander hesitantly asked. He had been so stunned by her outburst that he had even take a step back from her.
Eve glanced at Xander then back at Spike who was shaking with barely contained rage. Then she snorted in contempt and turned her back on the vampire.
"Come on Xander," she said as she picked up her bag. "We got an Apocalypse to stop." She glanced back at Spike, "You know. Important stuff."
A shocked Xander looked at Spike for a second before following Willow out of the basement. Spike stared at the stake in his hand. His depression warring with his outrage over what had just happened. He clutched his fingers around the stake, gripping it firmly and pointing it towards his chest. For several long seconds he stayed there before suddenly spinning around and flinging the stake into the wall with a yell and began to pace back and forth.
How dare she. Telling him he was nothing. He'd show them. Alright. Fine. So he couldn't hurt people anymore. What could he do?
Suddenly, he stopped and snapped his fingers. So. The little ex-witch thought she did 'important' stuff. OK. Well, he'd show them.
Yeah that's right. He'd show her. She wasn't so special.
*****
Eve smiled briefly to herself as she sensed Spike walking up beside her. So predictable.
"Uhm OK, Spike. What do you think you are doing?" asked Xander when he finally noticed the vampire walking beside Willow. He was completely baffled about what to say or do. Willow was acting very un-Willowly in his opinion.
"You Scoobies think you're so damn special. Well I can do anything you can do far better than you can."
Xander was about to argue with him when he caught the slight smirk on Willow's face.
She'd played him. Reverse psychosis or something like that.
"Ooookay," Xander said slowly. "So... then... gee Mr. Peabody, what's a 'Word of Valios'?"
******
They were back at Sunnydale High. Or rather what was left of it.
Cautiously, they entered into the burnt out remains of the High School. Buffy could feel herself starting to charge up, just like she had in the clock tower. Like a slowly building pressure inside her body mixed with the feeling of an unreachable itch, deep beneath her skin.
"Buff? You OK, there?" Xander asked with concern.
"Yea, I'm fine," she shook her head as if to clear it. "Come on, let's do this."
The slowly advanced towards where the library used to be.
Willow had already moved into the library. Passing through the still standing walls, she stared in amazement at the sight before her.
She had been prepared for the destruction. Blackened charred timbers everywhere. A huge crater at ground zero of where the bomb had been. Standard post-bombing decoration really.
But it was what her 'fairy' sight showed her that really took her breath away. If she had been impressed with her close contact to the two lines in the clock tower, she was overwhelmed by the hundreds of lines that flowed through here and down into the crater. Ignoring the three demons chanting their ritual, she moved forward toward where the lines seemed to dive down into the ground until she stood upon the edge of the abyss. In amazement, she stared down into the inky darkness of the Hellmouth. The lines of power arched down into its depths. However, deep down there she could see something that blocked the portal. A silvery, glowing sphere with a radiated net of lines holding it into place and locking the dark portal shut.
This was her spell. Well, hers and Giles'. The one that they had performed last spring when the Sisters had tried to open the Hellmouth.
She could feel the dark evil that lay on the other side of that portal and it scared her to be even this close. All the same, she proceeded to kneel down on the edge and lean further over to try and get a better look at the depths of the maelstrom when Buffy attacked the three Vahrall demons.
*****
Buffy dove for the last demon as it jumped into the pit. She clenched her fingers around the wispy tendrils of the creature's hair, or whatever it was sprouting from its head. Vaguely she felt Xander grab hold of her ankles as the weight of the demon dragged her into the pit as well.
For a second the world seemed to pause as she held her breath and tightened her tenuous grip. Then the demon jerked its head away from her, its hair pulled free and all she could do was watch it plummet away from her into the seemingly bottomless pit.
"NO!"
Without a thought Willow dove into the vortex to the Hellmouth after it.
Buffy let out a gasp of dismay as she watched the demon fall away from her hands, the palms of which were itching like mad... and then her whole perspective changed.
No longer was she hanging over a bottomless pit. Instead she saw the multicolored lines of power twisting together like the funnel of a tornado and flowing down into the maw of the Hellmouth. A glowing sphere upon which the bodies of the two other demons lay was blocking the Hellmouth. She somehow knew that the first two demons had weakened the sphere. When the third demon hit the sphere, it would shatter, and the Hellmouth would be open. But the demon was no longer falling as fast as it had been.
She watched as strands of white energy burst forth and encased the falling demon before it could impact upon the sphere. With an abrupt lurch, the demon's fall was brought to a full halt. As it struggled to break free of its invisible bonds, it slowly began to rise up. Back towards Buffy's outstretched hands.
Buffy was sweating profusely as the demon rose towards her. Desperately trying to blot from her mind the idea that because she did not know what she was doing, she might loose the demon at any minute. Instead she concentrated on binding him tighter as he rose closer and closer.
With a gasp of relief, she grabbed his arm in a grip of steel as he finally came close enough to her.
Then she looked up and almost lost him again.
Her concentration on the demon had focused her on it alone as she had drawn the creature out of the depths. Now, however, as she relaxed, she saw behind it a vision of heart stopping beauty and her mind could only think of one thing.
An angel.
An angel was helping her to hold onto the demon. Keeping it from falling back to the Hellmouth.
The light shining around it was so bright that its features were blurred, however...
Buffy blinked and suddenly her vision cleared, and all she saw was the rocky pit and the demon in her grasp.
"Buffy?" a voice called out to her. Willow's voice. Buffy shook her head to clear it. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah! I'm fine. Can you guys pull us back?"
"Please," came a grunt from Xander whom Buffy only now realized was hanging three-quarters of the way into the pit. Who was holding Xander?
"Just a minute," Buffy heard Willow call down. Some muffled conversation passed and a minute went by before she felt herself being lifted back to the top of pit where she turned around, dropped the demon and found Willow, Spike and -
"Riley? What are you doing here?"
"I followed you guys. Saw you come into this place and wondered what was up," he told her as he looked down at the demon that was beginning to struggle to get up.
Buffy bent down on the demon's back. "Didn't anyone ever tell you," she took hold of the demon's head, "that stalking is so not attractive," she finished with a grunt as she snapped the demon's neck.
"Sorry," Riley said looking as her with wide eyes. "I was just following orders."
"Orders?"
"Yeah," he said with an easy smile. "Pick up Dr. Walsh's dry cleaning, work on next week's assignments, and follow Buffy Summers."
It was a lame joke to relive the tension, Buffy realized. Probably the best he could do under the shock of seeing his first demon.
"Fine. Whatever," Buffy sighed.
"Not that I'm not grateful and all, but what just happened?" interrupted Xander.
"Did you see it?" Buffy turned to him. "The angel?"
"Angel? No," Xander said in confusion. "What I saw was Mr. Apocalypse Now here take a dive and come back like a big ol' demon superball. Not that I'm not grateful, stopping the end of the world and all but-"
"She was behind him. She helped me lift him back. Stopped him from opening the Hellmouth," Buffy said with a far away tone to her voice as she thought back to the image she had seen.
"Woah, woah, woah woah!" Riley interrupted. "An angel?"
"Well that's what it looked like," Buffy shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe that was the wrong word. But it was beautiful, and it looked-," she broke off as she glanced briefly at Willow.
Eve moved forward to give Buffy a hug. "I believe you," she told her.
"An angel?" Riley said in a stunned voice. "Helped stop this...this..."
"Demon," said Eve with a grin.
"Demon," continued Riley, "from doing what?"
"Sacrificing its life in an effort to open up the Hellmouth and end the world," summarized Buffy.
"Well I say its about time," Xander said with a grin. "Nice to know that with all the evidence of demons around, we finally get to see some of their opposite numbers on our side. Hey, maybe it's your personal Guardian Angel, Buff,"
"Bloody Hell!" Spike grumbled. "No wonder I was never able to kill you lot. All this time and you've got a soddin' Guardi-"
Spike was cut out by Buffy's fist impacting on his nose.
"Ow!"
"Don't you dare say one word against her, Spike," Buffy growled.
"'Kill you lot'?" Riley said in a puzzled tone of voice.
Buffy looked at her the TA and sighed. "Riley, meet Spike, the vampire who can't bite."
"Hey!" protested Spike.
"He's a vampire," said Riley slowly while looking Spike as recognition set in. Hostile 17.
"Yes and while normally it would be my duty to slay him, he's been recently de-fanged by the same bastards who kidnapped Willow, and that puts him in a sort of grey area with a limited amnesty."
She held up her hand to forestall any further questions.
"Look, I'm tired and I don't feel up to explaining everything right now. Thank you for your help but I've still got things to do tonight-"
"I'll do it," Eve piped up.
"Will?"
"You go tell Giles that everything is OK, and Riley can walk me back to the dorm while I explain, OK?" she told Buffy.
Buffy looked at Riley, then back at Willow. "You sure?"
"Sure, I'm sure," Eve gave her a calming smile.
******
Buffy was deep in thought as she slowly walked back to her dorm. She had told Giles about the battle, about the power she had used and about the vision she had seen while hanging over the Hellmouth.
Still she hadn't told Giles everything.
She had said the image was too bright for her too see clearly, but at the same time she had felt as if she had sensed a wave of love for her from the 'angel'. And then...
It was probably just her imagination anyway.
But for an instant.
For a very brief split-second in time.
While hanging upside down over the Hellmouth.
Desperately holding onto that demon with every ounce of strength she could muster.
Before it had disappeared.
She could have sworn that the angel had looked like Willow.
If Willow had been missing Buffy would have said it was her ghost helping her.
But that was silly.
Willow was alive.
******
The following morning, Buffy was watching Eve as she read the newspaper and noticed as a sudden smile spread across her face.
"What?" asked Buffy.
"Huh?" said Eve.
"What is it? You just suddenly started smiling while reading the paper. I want to know about anything that can bring that sort of glow to my Willow's face."
"Oh! Uhm, it's nothing. I was just reading what everyone thinks is the news, and like here we are with the real news, and the only paper's we could ever tell these stories in are the tabloids like in 'Men in Black' so since you're no longer with the Watcher's Council... maybe we should look into getting a government grant and forming out own organization."
Buffy arched an eyebrow. "Hum so we could be 'Women in'," she looked down at her outfit, "Yummy Sushi pajamas?"
Eve laughed. "How about 'Scoobies, Inc.'?"
They chatted on tossing ridiculous ideas back and forth - such as getting Giles situated someplace where he could devise elaborate medieval weaponry disguised as accessories for Buffy to wear.
Soon Buffy was dressing to head out to class. Willow's first class wasn't until 11 AM so it was that Buffy never saw the article that had brought such a smile to Eve's face.
The obituary notice for Percy West.
*******
End Chap 5