Reveal
by DawnBTVS
Chapter 7
[reviews]
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Mutant Enemy, Fox, Joss, etc.
Rating: PG or PG-13
Time Frame: Early Season 2 around Some Assembly Required
A/N: Finals... sorry! Apologies for the frothing folks glued to the keyboard. Blame school but I'll try to update more frequently then 3 weeks or whatever once summer hits. Also sorry for the relative shortness.
"How was the field trip?" Joyce asked, watching as her daughter kept pushing the same string of peas around in a rapidly familiar circle.
Buffy glanced up out of her reverie. "Okay. There were fishes and lots of water. Couldn't get tickets to the Samu show though."
"So you just walked around?"
Buffy smiled softly at the concern on her mother's face. "Don't worry, Mom, it was a non-mopey afternoon. Much fun was had through bottle breaking and fleeing from sharks."
Joyce wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion, trying to make sense of the reply before finally shaking her head. "I'm glad you had fun. You seem to have been a little tense over the past couple weeks," Joyce noted.
Buffy shrugged her shoulders. "Just dealing with some personal and non-personal stuff. The requisite concerns over school and dating and... driver's licenses."
Joyce flashed a disproving look at her daughter. "I seem to remember a certain someone still needs to pass the written exam first. You know they won't allow anybody a road exam without the written."
Buffy pouted and continued stirring her peas around, completely non-committal about eating them. "It's an unfair system. Old people who haven't had to take the exam since the medieval times enforcing writing upon teens and what's so difficult about driving? You turn the key, start the car up, press the gas, and if you want to reverse ya simply move the stick."
"Yes, it's that simple," Joyce remarked in a deadpan voice. Buffy frowned at her mother's sarcasm.
"Abusing sarcasm can stunt mental development in teenage girls ya know," Buffy chided, earning a small smile from her mother.
"You'll be fine. I'll get the dishes while you should start on your homework," Joyce pointed out, rising out of her chair to collect Buffy's plate.
"Just once, I'd love it if you forgot to remind me of my academic needs and instead focused on the positive bonding of mother and daughter taking its place."
Joyce chuckled. "There will be plenty of bonding when we go clothes shopping this weekend. Until then, academia will have to stay on top of the priority list."
Buffy got up, trudging to the steps while grumbling under her breath at the failure of academic professors to just inject all their knowledge into the students' heads.
~~~BTVS~~~
Jenny peeked through the office door and smiled, seeing Rupert bent over two books splayed side by side on his desk. She carefully snuck past the boxes by her feet and stood behind Rupert, grin playing on her face. "Do you actually find this fun?"
Rupert jerked his head up, squinting at the figure behind him before relaxing a bit. "Jenny! O-oh. Um. I-I'm, I was just continuing the research on the, uh, Caderyn. Unfortunately, nothing of merit so far. Have you had any, luck?"
"Nope. Finally logged off after one of my friends started bristling at me for continuing on about the things. So... gonna do this all night?"
Rupert regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I think it would be imperative that we find out what we can first in case, Buffy runs into another."
Jenny nodded her head, taking a step back. "Of course. Head buried in a book must be like going to Disneyland for you."
"Did you want to do something?" Giles asked, a little taken aback at the slight barb.
"The Espresso Shop is still open this time of night. You can always tote those books along if you're that married to them."
"I'm not married to these. It's just-"
"I know, Rupert. You're a good Watcher but if Buffy were here, she would tell you to take this opportunity to experience this thing called a relationship."
"R-relationship?" Giles stammered. Jenny nodded her head. Giles smiled. "Uh, not everything I do pertains to research, regardless of what Xander observes."
Jenny smiled, extending a hand out. "So, the incense really wasn't added as a way to... influence me?"
Giles glanced around, spotting the white candles situated on the top shelf in front of him. He quickly snatched them off, shoving them into a desk. "They're merely for decoration," he remarked, standing up. Jenny just smirked as Giles took her hand, letting the woman lead him out of his office. Giles reached out, snatching his coat off the hook as the duo made their way out of the library.
TBC