𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐘 ● BTVS

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄 .

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆

"patrol's been totally uneventful," buffy informed the group sadly, "my kill count's way down". 

dakota stuffed chips into her mouth as she listened but she couldn't help feeling a bit bored. deep down she wanted to be doing something fun at spike's. she was positioned on giles' counter, her back leaning against the wall, feet flat on the surface. giles stood in the kitchen, enjoying his own bag of chips. 

"she means there's been less bad guy activity," willow clarified for tara who had joined the meeting. 

"we know what that often indicates," giles spoke bitterly, pulling dakota's feet off the counter, giving her a stern look. she flashed him her puppy dog eyes which made him cave, signalling for her to prop her feet back up.

"buffy doesn't make her quota? bad slayer," xander joked, pointing over at the blonde. 

"well, i wish it were that innocuous, but with adam around, i feel he's involved somehow," giles broke to the group, pouring the contents from the chip bag into a bowl, turning over his shoulder to do the same for dakota who smiled a tight lipped smile, cheeks full.

"when things get slow it's usually because there's extra evil brewing," willow told tara once again in a hushed voice, the blonde herself nodding along. 

riley moved so he stood next to the desk buffy sat on, "except the weird thing is, we've been busy at the initiative. our squads are pulling a lot more captures. we got demons coming out our ears". 

"that's a metaphor," will quickly jumped in to tell tara who smiled fondly. 

"i got it, thanks". 

dakota couldn't help but smile at the pair. she thought they were cute and she really like tara, despite only exchanging a few words. 

"i'm overhelping, aren't i?".

"so, the activity's shifted, not stopped," giles walked around to hand out the bowl of chips but no one took any. "that's fascinating". 

"to an extremely bored person, maybe," said anya bluntly, standing from xander's lap, "that was a thrilling hour".

"you know, i really don't appreciate your snide remarks, anya," giles stood up, clearly irritated, "now, i have a great deal of experience in these matters...". 

both anya and xander look at giles with bored expressions, the door behind him opening, calling everyone's attention. giles continued for a little bit until he realised everyone were staring behind him with wide eyes.

oz stood awkwardly, hands hidden in his pockets, "hey". 

"oz," willow spoke quietly, the most shocked of all. 

"oz," tara sighed, realising who he was and why everyone was so surprised. 

"when... when did you get back?". 

the redhead's eyes scanned over the people briefly, "pretty much now".

there was a small, tense silence until xander spoke up. "oz, man. hate to sound grandma, but... you don't call, you don't write," he shook hands with the man as a greeting, dakota creeping up behind them. 

"yeah. sorry". 

dakota let out a sigh of content, wrapping her arms around him. "i- we were worried," she told him, her voice quiet but loud enough for the room to hear if they wanted to.