Episode 3 - Fathers and Daughters
FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS
TEASER
INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT (NIGHT 1)
It is a teenage girl's bedroom, adorned with the usual
stuff you would find in such a room. Posters, CDs,
magazines and so forth. Loud music is blaring from a
CD player.
A teenage girl, hair dyed jet black and wearing a
black leather jacket is anxiously looking around the
room. She finds what she is looking for, her wallet,
and stuffs it into her jeans.
DAD (O.S.)
(yelling)
Jenny, for the last time, turn that
damned music off.
JENNY
Make me! I can listen to whatever I
want!
She then walks to the window, carefully lifts it open
and steps out onto the roof of the house. She closes
the window and starts to head off. We suddenly hear a
knocking on her door. We see the shadows of feet under
the door.
DAD (O.S.)
Jenny, turn that music off now and
go to bed. You're not missing
another day of school! I want to see
lights out.
Jenny freezes for a moment. She then lifts a finger
and points it at the CD player (the music stops) and
then at the light switch (the lights go out).
DAD (O.S.)
That's better.
Jenny remains still, not daring to move while her Dad
is at the door. A silent beat.
DAD (O.S.)
Jenny? Jen?..
(softly)
Goodnight sweetheart.
We hear footsteps walking away. Jenny sits there for a
moment. She then proceeds to climb down the roof.
EXT. SURBURBAN STREET - NIGHT
We see Jenny walking along the street, carefree and
reckless. She's singing a song to herself. The street
is deserted. She feels a chill so she zips up her
jacket.
She hears a strange squeaking sound ahead of her. Out
of the darkness, on the opposite side of the street,
comes a small, white-haired old lady pushing a
shopping trolley filled with bags. Jenny can now hear
the old woman humming a little tune, a lullaby - Rock
a Bye Baby.
Jenny is a little unnerved by this sight. She stops to
look at her. The night is deadly silent. All we hear
is the squeaking of the wheels of the shopping cart
and the lullaby being hummed.
ANGLE : OLD WOMAN
as she turns her head slowly and looks at Jenny. We
see that her eyes are entirely grey. She smiles at
Jenny and then continues to push her trolley down the
street.
Jenny watches the old lady dissapear back into the
darkness. She breathes a sigh of relief. She turns
back around in the direction she was heading.
Suddenly, a short, black scaly beast with a long mane
of black hair jumps out from nowhere and grabs Jenny,
pulling her into some bushes off-screen. We hear a
struggle, then silence.
The silence is broken when we hear a familiar
squeaking sound coming back up the street, towards the
creature, a lullaby being hummed. We see the old lady
pushing her trolley, arriving at the scene of the
attack.
The creature emerges from the bushes and joins the old
lady. A second creature arrives to join the party.
The old woman slowly walks to the bushes, kneels and
places her hand on the body. She closes her eyes,
waiting for something.
OLD WOMAN
(delighted, in a raspy
voice)
Nothing! nothing! No future for you
my sweet.
She stands and walks back to the two creatures
OLD WOMAN
(to the creatures)
Well done my pets. Well done.
Another witch off my list.
We see her grabbing a notebook out of one of the bags.
She opens it to reveal a list of town names scratched
out by lines. She scratches out this latest town name
with her pencil.
OLD WOMAN
(to the body)
You thought you could become
stronger than me. A lie. A lie.
Catch them when they're young you
see. Catch them and kill them. Babes
in the Woods. None of you will
become stronger than me.
She cackles a laugh. She goes to the trolley and
reaches into one of her bags, trying to find
something, tossing some weird junk aside.
OLD WOMAN
Where is it? Where is it? Can't hide
from me.. Aah.
She pulls out a black crystal ball and places both her
hands around it. She closes her eyes.
OLD WOMAN
Show me the way. Show me the way.
CLOSE ON : OLD WOMAN'S EYES
They suddenly open. Her completely grey eyes turning
white.
WHITE OUT
We see images flashing. Some too fast to discern. But
we do see images of Willow and Tara and the two of
them together performing spells. We see a shot of the
Sunnydale campus, with a sign clearly stating as such.
WHITE OUT
Her eyes turn back grey.
WIDEN
as the old woman smiles.
OLD WOMAN
(to the creatures)
A treat! A treat! Two witches,
witches for you. Double trouble,
boil and bubble.
The old woman cackles at her own joke. She starts
pushing the trolley along the street and gestures to
the creatures.
OLD WOMAN
Come along, come along. Miles to go.
No time for sleep.
The old woman exits off-screen. The two creatures
follow.
INT. WILLOW AND TARA'S ROOM - DAY (DAY 2)
CLOSE ON : WILLOW
as she sleeps in her bed. She snores lightly. Just a
little drool is forming at the corner of her mouth.
WIDEN
to reveal Tara, smiling and awake, lying next to
Willow, just looking at her.
Tara notices the drool, reaches to the side of her to
get some tissue paper and gently dabs away at the
drool.
Suddenly, Willow (obviously acting out a dream) lashes
out with her hands, accidentally hitting Tara's nose.
TARA
Ow.
Willow wakes up with a start. Tara holds on to her
nose, falling back onto her pillow.
WILLOW
Oh God Tara. I'm so sorry. I was.. I
was trying to stake a vampire and,
and he turned all green and I was..
TARA
(pointedly)
O-w-w.
WILLOW
(getting it)
Right. Enough of weird Willowy
dreams. I'm so sorry. Are you hurt?
Willow leans over and has a look at Tara's nose, then
rubs it gently.
WILLOW
(re the nose)
No damage. Still cute as a button..
um.. a really red, slightly swollen
button.
TARA
(smiling)
I'm okay. That must have been some
dream. You were flailing around all
morning.
WILLOW
You were watching me?
TARA
I'm always watching you.
Willow smiles, then realises something.
WILLOW
Oh! Oh! It's your birthday. Good
morning birthday girl.
Tara smiles affectionately. Willow gives her a long
hug and then pulls away.
TARA
Hey! Don't I get a birthday kiss?
WILLOW
Oh. Not a good idea. I'm all morning
breathy. Let me just freshen up.
Willow begins to climb out of bed. Tara, smiling,
gently tugs Willow back, takes Willow's face into her
hands, pulls her near and kisses her on the lips for a
few long seconds.
TARA
Thank you.
More smiles.
WILLOW
Well, just you wait for your
birthday party tonight, little
missy. It'll be the bestest birthday
bash ever.
TARA
Is that still going to plan? I mean,
Buffy and Mr Giles still have to
sort out the whole deal with the new
watcher.
WILLOW
Watcher Smawtcher. I've been
planning this party for weeks. No
dark and mysterious stranger's gonna
screw things up.
TARA
(teasingly)
Dark and mysterious huh?
WILLOW
(backpedalling)
Oh. I was only being, you know,
descriptive. I mean, he's um.. dark
and.. hey! What's the whole deal
with him being here anyway?
TARA
I hope you didn't go to too much
trouble with the party. I'd be happy
just to hang out with the Gang.
WILLOW
No trouble. Just, you know, a cake,
and balloons, and music, and food,
um.. there might be a magic act.
(off Tara's look)
I just want things to be perfect.
TARA
They already are.
A phone rings. Tara gets off the bed to answer.
WILLOW
If that's Anya, tell her there won't
be any rabbits in the Act.
Tara is still smiling as she picks up the phone
TARA
Hello?
We see the smile dissapear from Tara's face as she
listens. Her body language changes completely, tensing
up.
TARA
Y-Yes sir.. yes.. that'll be fine.
Yes. Bye.
She puts the receiver down. She is very quiet, still
facing away from Willow
WILLOW
What? Who was that?
TARA
My Dad. He's coming over today. He
says he wants to talk.
Both Willow and Tara look a little shocked and
worried.
BLACKOUT
END OF TEASER
CONTINUE TO ACT ONE