Xander and Cordelia were somewhat more rumpled and decidedly more cheerful when they reappeared at the table.
"Okay!" Xander said, rubbing his hands together. "Have you guys finished eating Denny out of business yet?"
"We're ready to go, Xander," Willow said, grinning at him. "Got a hot date tonight?"
"Um," Xander glanced at Cordelia, who was studying her nails. "I was going to show Cordy some more constellations. We'll drop you guys off first at your homes."
Giles gathered his notebook and hardbound book together. "The school will be fine. My car's still in the lot."
Cordelia shot him a look. "Maybe you better let us drive you home. It's not like you can do anything with the power gone at the school anyway."
"No," Giles admitted as they went up front to pay the bill. "But I can patrol."
"Uh-uh," Xander said emphatically. "No way are you hunting vamps after that accident."
Giles handed the cashier two twenties and collected his change. They headed for the door.
"It's not like we've really seen anything for weeks," Willow argued. "We'll be fine."
"Oh great!" Xander threw up his hands. "And you're gonna drag Willow along for the fun of it?"
"Willow is going home," Giles said firmly.
"Willow is not going home," she replied with equal firmness. "I couldn't sleep if you ran Seventh Heaven reruns at me. It's a nice night out. Giles and I just have to walk off some of this excess energy."
Xander set his jaw.
Cordelia sighed. "Goodbye Pinson's Point. I suppose we couldn't convince you guys to run off some of that hyperness over at the Bronze?"
The moon was singing, but it was horribly off-key. And she didn't like cabaret music all that much anyway.
Drusilla wandered under the trees, counting them. There was one missing; she was sure of it. It must be about, stalking her. She'd move into the shadows, to wait for it to expose itself, but the singing was too distracting. No good, she'd have to think of something else.
She moved out onto a child's playground. Better -- she could see all the trees from here, before they could reach her. But the moonlight was strong here. She'd get burned standing out in it for long.
Drusilla sat on a swing and started to kick herself back and forth. She'd stalked a child in this playground not long ago -- or had that been before Prague? She couldn't remember now, except that Angel had been here. No Angel in Prague. He'd have never let the nasty people there take her away.
She leaned her head against the chain of the swing and considered. Angel. Acathla had eaten him. Spike had said that the Slayer had killed Angel, but Acathla spoke to Dru and she knew better. Acathla was being bad though. He wouldn't give Angel up. He'd drawn her here, with his promises. But now he wouldn't even talk to her.
Dru curled her legs up into the swing and clutched at the chain. She didn't like being alone. Her thoughts got so tangled up in her head that she lost track of where she was, who she was. And then the Voices and Visions would possess her. When the others were with her she knew where she was at. Spike. Angel. What had gone wrong?
"Angel," Drusilla moaned.
The moon sang, horribly.
She'd returned to the mansion and tried the ritual on her own, sliced open her wrist with a fingernail. But Acathla didn't want her blood. Of course. She wasn't worthy. But Angel was gone, swallowed up. How could she get him out when he was the only one with the key? Dru didn't like puzzles. She couldn't keep them straight in her head.
The trees moved around her, circling. Drusilla watched them warily. She needed them to stop. Spike could stop them. He'd talk to her in that oddly soft way of his and the world would stop moving around her so much. She'd be able to think then.
"Spike's been a bad boy," Dru muttered stubbornly. He had betrayed Angel and therefore had to be punished. She knew that the worst thing she could do to Spike was to abandon him. He hadn't known that she could drive; hadn't known that she'd been paying attention to how he did it. So she'd taken the car away from the Big City where he'd brought them, leaving him stranded there.
A smaller figure moved nearby among the trees, halted to nervously pay her homage. She'd brought several of the young ones over since her return. But they weren't of any use at all in stopping the World from spinning, were so fearful of her that they could hardly bear to meet her eyes. She needed support that they were too weak to give her. She needed her Men -- both of them.
But Angel was beyond her reach. Drusilla shut her eyes and tilted her face up to the moonlight, humming. Spike would be coming after her soon, but he wouldn't help. Would Angel help her? But she couldn't speak to him. Acathla stood in the way.
Drusilla opened her eyes. Angel had had to go for help last time too.
"Of course," she whispered to herself with a smile. The Watcher could help her. And the dark place that was the Slayer was nowhere about.
She slid off the swing and brushed the dust from her dress, ran her fingers through her dark hair. The trees were silent now, but restless. Once she had a companion again, the trees would return to their eternal stillness.
"I can't believe Giles bought your excuse that vampire hunting would be as good here as out in the cemetery," Xander said to Cordelia as that waited at the Bronze's bar.
"Well, duh, it's not like he hasn't complained before that this place was a breeding ground for vampires," Cordelia said in a bored tone. "Is that Mercedes Heinz? Gawd, what is she wearing? I know they'll let just anybody in, but can't they at least get a dress code?
"I'd never get in," Xander said.
"No hon." She tugged at his shirt. "You'd have to give in and start letting me dress you."
"Order?" said the man at the counter.
"Four cappuccinos --" Cordelia began.
"No!" Xander said. "Are you crazy? Willow on cappuccino and B.M.? We'd never pry her off the ceiling." He turned to the man at the counter. "What do you have that's nice and soothing? Preferably something that'll put 'em to sleep."
"Chamomile tea," the bartender offered.
"Great! Just Giles' speed. Two of them --"
"-- with milk," Cordelia added.
"-- and two cappuccinos for us."
"Except be sure to make mine --"
"Cinnamon, chocolate, non-fat, extra foam. Yeah, yeah," the bartender said.
Cordelia frowned at him as he turned to make the teas. "This town really needs another hot spot."
"Uh huh," Xander said, craning to keep an eye on their table where Giles and Willow sat fidgeting.
Cordelia bumped him. "I was expecting a 'hot' quip there, boyfriend."
"Huh?" He looked at her. "'Hot' quip. Consider it made. Where's Willow going?"
"She's just going to talk to Ricky Shruggs. Xander! Maybe we should scratch the cappuccino for you too."
"No, I'm going to need it if I'm going to get through tonight." Xander felt a jostle at his elbow. "Oh, order!"
Cordelia looked at him expectantly.
"Oh. Money!" Xander patted himself down and finally extracted a very wrinkled ten dollar bill from his shirt pocket.
She rolled her eyes, then turned to watch Willow as Xander collected the change. "Boy, Ricky sure doesn't look like he knows what's hit him. I don't think Willow even knows she's doing it. . . You think maybe Giles would teach me a really easy spell or two if I asked?"
"Oh great," Xander said as he picked up the tray. "Where's Oz, when we need a boyfriend to run interference? Chained up in the basement, that's where." He handed the tray to Cordelia. "And you don't need to learn any magic."
"Cranky much?" Cordelia promptly handed the tray back and maneuvered Xander towards the table. "Lighten up, Xander. You're not supposed to have high blood pressure until after you get the real high-paying job. Hey, Harmony! Are you here on leave from the sleep clinic or are you moonlighting as a really lame mannequin?"
Harmony looked around, blinking. "Huh. . .?" she said dazedly, then rallied, "Oh, it's Cordelia and her significant whatever."
"Look," Cordelia said as she pushed past her, "We'd just love to stay and chatter --"
"Who's that with Willow?" Harmony demanded.
"What? Ricky Shruggs? Second-string quarterback? Remember? Hello? Anything under that bad new perm of yours?"
Harmony glared at her. "I mean the older guy."
Cordelia looked. "Oh. Giles. You know -- that 'creepy' librarian from the school?"
"Oh yeah!" Harmony looked back at the table. "You guys have like this Library Club thing going, don't you? I was thinking of maybe reading some Great Books this summer."
"Last Great Book you read had Fabio on the cover, Harmony," Cordelia said sweetly. "Besides, the club's full. Go back to the flock and focus on something more your reading speed. Like maybe Captain Kangaroo."
Harmony whirled and stomped off.
Xander shuddered.
Cordelia looked at him. "What?"
"Harmony in the Scooby Gang. I had this vision of the Apocalypse."
"Is this the way you guys talked about me last year when I wasn't around?"
"Of course not!" Xander said, way too defensively.
"If Harmony did join the club," Cordelia continued thoughtfully, "that would mean two popular people in it. Hey, we might even become the 'in'-group!"
Xander glared at her.
"Joking," Cordelia said. "Boy, have you totally lost your sense of humor tonight or what."
"It's not lost, it's stunned," Xander said. "Hey! Hey, Giles! Where do you think you're going?" He hurriedly set down the tray and snagged onto the Watcher's tweed sleeve.
Giles looked at him irritably. "I'm going to check out a potential vampire," he said, "using Buffy's 'fashion faux pas' theory of vampire identification."
"No, you're going to sit down and drink your tea like a good little Watcher," Xander said. "Cordy and I will check out the Big Bad Fashion Disaster."
The look Giles nailed him with went a long ways towards making its way to the top of Xander's already impressive 'Wiggins List of 1998'. Oops, time to change tactics, Xander thought. "Cordy doesn't get to use her fashion expertise for the Powers of Good all that often, so give her a chance?" he pleaded. "Besides, Willow needs somebody to keep an eye out for her here." He darted a look at Willow, who was talking cheerfully under the very watchful eye of Ricky Shruggs. "Wait for me on this," he pleaded with Giles, and darted off towards Willow.
"What are you doing?" Cordelia demanded as he passed her.
"Rapidly going insane," Xander said. "Don't let Giles go anywhere."
He elbowed Bronzers aside to reach Willow. "Hey, Will! Knowledge Girl! We need your expertise. Giles wants to know why they call it a 'byte'!"
"Really?" Willow said incredulously.
"Hey dude," Ricky Shruggs said. "We were talking."
"Oh, sorry man," Xander said. "Didn't mean to interrupt, but hey! I've always wanted to ask why the team calls you 'The Croaker'."
"They do?!" Ricky asked. Then he smirked. "Well, yeah, and you don't wanna find out why, lame ass --"
Willow edged away from the quarterback.
"They were even going to change the mascot in honor of you, big guy," Xander said. "To an immense, green, bug-eyed --"
Willow whimpered and ran for the table.
"Hey!" Ricky said.
Xander clicked his tongue at the quarterback. "Way to go, Croaker!" and ducked back into the crowd before Ricky could respond.
"Okay!" Xander said to the table at large. "Cordy and I will now go check out your maybe vampires! You guys stay here in case we need back-up."
Both Giles and Willow gave him a strange look. No arguments from the bleachers however, which Xander hoped was a good thing. He seized Cordelia's elbow and steered her off.
"Do you really think we can handle the vampires on our own?" she said worriedly.
"What vampires?" Xander said. "We haven't seen vampires for weeks, why should tonight be any different? But let's humor Giles before he takes a mind to start doing Van Helsing impressions off in the cemetery again."
"All right, but if there aren't any vampires about, what are you getting your butt in such a knot about?"
Xander grabbed her purse and rummaged around in it. "Look, I can show you there's nothing to be worried about." He pulled out her compact and opened it to the mirror inside. "We'll dance around to the other side of them, then you can check your make-up and check them out at the same time."
"Check out my make-up on the dance floor?" Cordelia said, aghast.
Xander closed her fingers around the compact and pulled her into his arms. They started to dance.
"They keep getting weirder all the time. Buffy's being gone has made the weirdness factor go up ten times," Willow said. She'd shoved her tea to one side and sipped at Cordelia's cappuccino. "Mmmm, sweet!"
Giles was peering intently across the crowded room. He got up suddenly and started to make his way towards the door.
Willow finished off the cappuccino, then trailed Giles to the door. She caught up with him outside. "What's up?"
"Hmm?" Giles said. "Oh, probably nothing at all. Why don't you go back to the table and wait for Xander and Cordelia? I'm going to take a quick look around the building."
"Okay," Willow said. She pulled a stake from her purse and continued to follow him.
Giles paused and looked back at her. She offered him the stake. He slipped it into his pocket, then continued on in his prowl. Willow pulled a second stake and a cross from her purse and followed in his footsteps.
"All I'm saying," Cordelia was trying to explain to Xander as they made their way off the dance floor, "is that just because they give off a reflection doesn't mean that they're not demons. I mean, that's worse, isn't it? Because they could look in a mirror and see right away how totally last semester they look."
"Cordy," Xander said, "we can't go around staking everybody who's a candidate for Mr. Blackwell's list. Besides if everybody dressed well, who would you and your cronies make fun of? Oh great. Giles and Willow have flown the coop."
They both looked around the Bronze.
"Shouldn't have taken our eyes off of them," Cordelia concluded. "You think they went for a walk?"
"If we're lucky," Xander said. "Look around in here, see if you can spot either of them. I'm going to check outside. Maybe Giles got a headache and headed for the car."
"Xander." Cordelia grabbed his arm.
"What?" he said impatiently.
She reached into her purse, pulled out a cross and stake, and handed them to him. "I know it's been quiet, but --"
"Thanks." Xander quickly kissed her and made his way out to the door.