Fight to the Finish (BTVS, Book Seven)

chapter 13 - The Killer in Me

Things still weren't entirely settled or "okay" with the Scoobies after the fiasco of last week. And the poor communication and treatment from the week before that.

Giles was still coming and going, but he did give an apology, though to be fair, he was the least offending member of the group. He wasn't the one acting like the others, and he didn't put Dawn in danger just because the Scoobies wanted to keep up the silent treatment. And when he heard about what happened, he was his disappointed, silent but angry father figure self, much like my mother toward Buffy, Willow, Xander and Anya, and that was enough to make them feel more than apologetic and ashamed.

After talking to Buffy about how we needed to be on the same page, things weren't quite as distant as they were before. But they still weren't good either, as things were still tense, but we had to keep moving forward as if it wasn't.

Like now for instance, when Giles was planning to take the girls to the desert for training.

At my house, while Willow, Xander and Anya were outside helping the girls get ready to go, Buffy, Dawn and I were sitting on the couch, since Buffy and Giles had already gotten the girls from Buffy's house and now they were here to get the girls from mine.

Giles and Mom walked into the living room. "Are you sure you'll all be all right?"

Mom nodded. "You'll only be gone for two days. I think we've managed a bit longer than that."

Giles looked around nervously. "Right." He stopped when he realized something. "Oh, Dawn, Vi's left her notebook on the mantelpiece. Would you mind running it out to the car?"

Dawn stood, walking over to the fireplace. "Sure."

Giles nodded appreciatively. "While you're at it, you smack her in the head with it and remind her not to leave it lying around."

Dawn walked out the front door with the notebook. "On it."

Mom was getting ready to leave for work. "Rupert, relax. We'll all be fine."

"What Mom said," I agreed.

Giles sat on the coffee table in front of Buffy and me. "I'm just a bit twitchy about leaving you alone again here while-while things are..." He took off his glasses, wiping his brow. "In such a state of flux."

Buffy nodded. " We know. But you should go. This trip is important for the girls to understand the source of their power, and to know how to use it right."

"Do you think they appreciate the gravity of what we're undertaking?" Giles asked. "It's frightening, and it's difficult. And then, apparently, someone told them that the vision quest consists of me driving them to the desert, doing the hokey pokey until a spooky Rasta-mama Slayer arrives and speaks to them in riddles."

Giles looked at me.

Mom raised her eyebrows at me in amusement. "You told the girls that?"

I gave an innocent smile. "That's not exactly how I put it..."

Buffy smirked slightly. "But she's not exactly wrong."

I smirked slightly, relieved that Buffy backed that up, even while knowing she was mostly trying to make up for the last couple weeks.

Giles and Mom shared a bemused look, sighing.

Willow walked in, looking at Mom. "Hey, Layla."

Mom took out some medicine to hand it to Willow. "Hey, Willow. How's Kennedy?"

"Still fluey, but getting better quickly thanks to these," Willow answered. "Bummed about missing the field trip." She looked at Giles. "She says she wants you to meditate extra hard for her and to bring her back some s'mores."