Was It Always Like This?
folder
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
24
Views:
3,902
Reviews:
0
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
24
Views:
3,902
Reviews:
0
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Willow and Xander walked to the car and turned to wave at Mike and Kate as they stood watching them from the front entrance. “We should probably drive round the block and wait for Buffy and Dawn” Xander suggested.
They only had to wait for about five minutes before the two girls arrived at the back doors and jumped into the car, giggling. “You are terrible” Dawn sighed and leaned forward to tell the others. “She told them that dad was a sixty year old ex convict who needed to be kept under observation in case he started stealing women’s underwear again”
Xander and Willow stared aghast at Buffy who shrugged and tried to look innocent. “Hey, I’ve never denied I had issues with him. And it’s not as if he’ll ever come back here to retire anyway”
Willow raised an eyebrow at Buffy “And you thought I was vindictive and out for revenge?”
After a quick stop for groceries they all returned home to go over their notes. “It just seems like they are picking up psychic vibrations from something that happened many years ago” Willow suggested. “It could be that the land used for the residential home was originally something more sinister”
“Color me surprised” Buffy smiled. “But you guys have most of the historical data on file?”
Xander nodded and raised his hand, finishing his mouthful of pizza before answering. “Willow and I scanned all of the street plans and building blueprints a couple of years ago so we should be able to track it down pretty easily”
“Go team!” Dawn smiled at all of them. “I love it when we can find and sort the easy ones”
“I don’t know” Willow shook her head. “I just can’t really seem to get any enthusiasm up for much less than an apocalypse these days”
Buffy smiled at her friend and started to clear empty pizza boxes from the dining table. “I would have thought that three months in England would have gotten you used to the quiet life Will?”
“Not really” she smiled back and handed round some drinks. “Mostly I miss the changes in weather, all this sunshine kind of gets to you eventually”
w yow you even sound like Giles!” Xander pointed at her. “Did he brainwash you with his wicked English ways?”
“Xander, do shut up” she said in an almost perfect imitation of Giles’ world weary tone of voice.
“Dawn, please start the video before we’re all channelling Giles” Buffy suggested and slumped into the chair while Willow and Xander were still arguing about the weather.
The next morning Xander arrived early to go over the town plans with Willow.
“Buffy’s sleeping in, she said to give her a call about 10 if she isn’t up” Dawn shouted as she left for school.
“Looks like it’s just you and me kid” Xander said in an awful Bogart impersonation.
“Now who’s acting like Giles?” Willow asked and smiled at his astonished look. “Even he would have used a Bogart pop culture reference” she smiled even more sweetly and took the coffee mug that he offered her.
“I think I’ve taken over the ‘old man of the group’ role since he left” Xander mumbled and sat down next to her tore are at the laptop.
“I miss him too” Willow patted his hand and quickly found the folder containing the scanned street maps and building plans. “Okey dokey, I think I can overlay the existing street map with earlier ones to try and get the best orientation”
Xander smiled as he saw her tongue peeping out from the corner of her mouth as she manipulated the data on the screen. He turned his attention to the laptop and watched as they went back over the various generations of street map. The strange thing was that, before the residential home, this area had been left empty for two hundred years. “But it’s right in the middle of a residential zone” Xander mumbled.
Willow shrugged her shoulders. “I guess we were right that something weird happened and people just didn’t want to build there while they remembered it” She opened another file and smiled slightly. “I think we’ve got something this time – look” and she pointed at the screen.
“That’s an old plan?” he asked and waited for her nod before checking the screen again. “It looks like the exact same building floor plan, same size and orientation and everything”
“Maybe they had a nursing home in…” she checked the id at the bottom of the screen. “1792” Willow turned to gauge his reaction to this and shook her head as well. “OK, not much chance of that is there – perhaps we should try to find out what this building was used for”
Xander looked at the screen for a few more seconds then sighed. “Don’t tell me, we need to check out the records archived at City Hall”
Willow smiled down at him as she shut dowe lae laptop and stood up to take their mugs to the kitchen. “You get started and I’ll wake Buffy and meet you there?”
Willow heard him shut the front door as she headed for the kitchen. She spent a few minutes clearing up the breakfast dishes and tidying things away. It wasn’t until Buffy coughed to get her attention several minutes later that she realised she was standing staring at the pan Tara had used to make pancakes. She had been a million miles away, thinking of the last time they had made breakfast toget she she smiled to herself as she closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of food burning as they had kissed instead of flipping the pancakes over.
“Hey Will, you okay?” Buffy asked quietly as she poured herself some juice.
“Yes, its just……” Willow paused to gather her thoughts. “Memories come from the strangest things don’t they?”
“Oven mitts” Buffy sighed and sat down at the counter.
“Oven mitts?” Willow asked her as she sat down next to her.
“Yeah” Buffy nodded. “After Mom died I was in a bit of a zombie thing for a while” Willow looked sceptically at her friend. “Not a real zombie thing, just out of it you know?” Willow nodded her understanding. “Well a couple of weeks later and the whole Glory thing was really taking over and I thought I was kind of over the worst when I came home one night and went to cook something for Dawn and I. I picked up the oven mitts and, suddenly, Mom was standing right next to me and telling me to be careful of the hot stuff” Buffy remained quiet for a moment or two then took a deep breath. “After about twenty minutes of sitting in that corner sobbing, I finally managed to pull myself together but I’ll always think of her when I use those damn oven mitts”
Willow put her arms round her friend and hugged her. “Thanks” she whispered into the blonde hair.
“This is usually when Xander asks if he can join in” Buffy smiled as she sat back from Willow. “Where is he anyway?”
“Oh” Willow suddenly remembered the results of their research. “He’s gone down to City Hall to find some old records. The last building we can find before the residential home was in 1792”
“That’s strange” Buffy agreed. “What was it, a prison or something?”
“Not sure, but I said we’d meet Xander and help him check the records” Willow used her best beseeching look. “I was supposed to come and waken you to ask if you wanted to join us before I got waylaid by cookware”
“Give me five minutes to change into something more suitable for getting dusty and bored in” Buffy smiled at her and headed upstairs.
They picked up coffees on the way and smuggled them past the records clerk. Xander grumbled a little about being left on his own for so long but the caffeine bribery worked its magic and soon all three were trawling through a large pile of papers to find the deeds for the property.
“I think this is it” Willow said quietly after about an hour. The others slowly flexed tired backs and necks while waiting for her to finish reading the paper in front of her. “It seems to have been a house of worship of some kind” she said finally and wrinkled her brow.
“A church?” Buffy asked as she stood and walked round to look over Willow’s shoulder at the manuscript.
“Not really, it doesn’t seem to have been used by any recognised religion but some sort of sect” Willow pointed out some parts of the text and stood up to stretch herself as Buffy took her seat and began studying the document.
“So these guys worshipped some scaly demon and it ate them?” Xander said. “That seems kind of obvious for Sunnydale, doesn’t it?” he seemed almost disappointed at the anti-climax.
“We’ll take the details and do some more research on the laptop” Willow sighed. “Maybe we’ve just seen everything that the Hellmouth had and now its on repeat?”
Willow and Xander walked to the car and turned to wave at Mike and Kate as they stood watching them from the front entrance. “We should probably drive round the block and wait for Buffy and Dawn” Xander suggested.
They only had to wait for about five minutes before the two girls arrived at the back doors and jumped into the car, giggling. “You are terrible” Dawn sighed and leaned forward to tell the others. “She told them that dad was a sixty year old ex convict who needed to be kept under observation in case he started stealing women’s underwear again”
Xander and Willow stared aghast at Buffy who shrugged and tried to look innocent. “Hey, I’ve never denied I had issues with him. And it’s not as if he’ll ever come back here to retire anyway”
Willow raised an eyebrow at Buffy “And you thought I was vindictive and out for revenge?”
After a quick stop for groceries they all returned home to go over their notes. “It just seems like they are picking up psychic vibrations from something that happened many years ago” Willow suggested. “It could be that the land used for the residential home was originally something more sinister”
“Color me surprised” Buffy smiled. “But you guys have most of the historical data on file?”
Xander nodded and raised his hand, finishing his mouthful of pizza before answering. “Willow and I scanned all of the street plans and building blueprints a couple of years ago so we should be able to track it down pretty easily”
“Go team!” Dawn smiled at all of them. “I love it when we can find and sort the easy ones”
“I don’t know” Willow shook her head. “I just can’t really seem to get any enthusiasm up for much less than an apocalypse these days”
Buffy smiled at her friend and started to clear empty pizza boxes from the dining table. “I would have thought that three months in England would have gotten you used to the quiet life Will?”
“Not really” she smiled back and handed round some drinks. “Mostly I miss the changes in weather, all this sunshine kind of gets to you eventually”
w yow you even sound like Giles!” Xander pointed at her. “Did he brainwash you with his wicked English ways?”
“Xander, do shut up” she said in an almost perfect imitation of Giles’ world weary tone of voice.
“Dawn, please start the video before we’re all channelling Giles” Buffy suggested and slumped into the chair while Willow and Xander were still arguing about the weather.
The next morning Xander arrived early to go over the town plans with Willow.
“Buffy’s sleeping in, she said to give her a call about 10 if she isn’t up” Dawn shouted as she left for school.
“Looks like it’s just you and me kid” Xander said in an awful Bogart impersonation.
“Now who’s acting like Giles?” Willow asked and smiled at his astonished look. “Even he would have used a Bogart pop culture reference” she smiled even more sweetly and took the coffee mug that he offered her.
“I think I’ve taken over the ‘old man of the group’ role since he left” Xander mumbled and sat down next to her tore are at the laptop.
“I miss him too” Willow patted his hand and quickly found the folder containing the scanned street maps and building plans. “Okey dokey, I think I can overlay the existing street map with earlier ones to try and get the best orientation”
Xander smiled as he saw her tongue peeping out from the corner of her mouth as she manipulated the data on the screen. He turned his attention to the laptop and watched as they went back over the various generations of street map. The strange thing was that, before the residential home, this area had been left empty for two hundred years. “But it’s right in the middle of a residential zone” Xander mumbled.
Willow shrugged her shoulders. “I guess we were right that something weird happened and people just didn’t want to build there while they remembered it” She opened another file and smiled slightly. “I think we’ve got something this time – look” and she pointed at the screen.
“That’s an old plan?” he asked and waited for her nod before checking the screen again. “It looks like the exact same building floor plan, same size and orientation and everything”
“Maybe they had a nursing home in…” she checked the id at the bottom of the screen. “1792” Willow turned to gauge his reaction to this and shook her head as well. “OK, not much chance of that is there – perhaps we should try to find out what this building was used for”
Xander looked at the screen for a few more seconds then sighed. “Don’t tell me, we need to check out the records archived at City Hall”
Willow smiled down at him as she shut dowe lae laptop and stood up to take their mugs to the kitchen. “You get started and I’ll wake Buffy and meet you there?”
Willow heard him shut the front door as she headed for the kitchen. She spent a few minutes clearing up the breakfast dishes and tidying things away. It wasn’t until Buffy coughed to get her attention several minutes later that she realised she was standing staring at the pan Tara had used to make pancakes. She had been a million miles away, thinking of the last time they had made breakfast toget she she smiled to herself as she closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of food burning as they had kissed instead of flipping the pancakes over.
“Hey Will, you okay?” Buffy asked quietly as she poured herself some juice.
“Yes, its just……” Willow paused to gather her thoughts. “Memories come from the strangest things don’t they?”
“Oven mitts” Buffy sighed and sat down at the counter.
“Oven mitts?” Willow asked her as she sat down next to her.
“Yeah” Buffy nodded. “After Mom died I was in a bit of a zombie thing for a while” Willow looked sceptically at her friend. “Not a real zombie thing, just out of it you know?” Willow nodded her understanding. “Well a couple of weeks later and the whole Glory thing was really taking over and I thought I was kind of over the worst when I came home one night and went to cook something for Dawn and I. I picked up the oven mitts and, suddenly, Mom was standing right next to me and telling me to be careful of the hot stuff” Buffy remained quiet for a moment or two then took a deep breath. “After about twenty minutes of sitting in that corner sobbing, I finally managed to pull myself together but I’ll always think of her when I use those damn oven mitts”
Willow put her arms round her friend and hugged her. “Thanks” she whispered into the blonde hair.
“This is usually when Xander asks if he can join in” Buffy smiled as she sat back from Willow. “Where is he anyway?”
“Oh” Willow suddenly remembered the results of their research. “He’s gone down to City Hall to find some old records. The last building we can find before the residential home was in 1792”
“That’s strange” Buffy agreed. “What was it, a prison or something?”
“Not sure, but I said we’d meet Xander and help him check the records” Willow used her best beseeching look. “I was supposed to come and waken you to ask if you wanted to join us before I got waylaid by cookware”
“Give me five minutes to change into something more suitable for getting dusty and bored in” Buffy smiled at her and headed upstairs.
They picked up coffees on the way and smuggled them past the records clerk. Xander grumbled a little about being left on his own for so long but the caffeine bribery worked its magic and soon all three were trawling through a large pile of papers to find the deeds for the property.
“I think this is it” Willow said quietly after about an hour. The others slowly flexed tired backs and necks while waiting for her to finish reading the paper in front of her. “It seems to have been a house of worship of some kind” she said finally and wrinkled her brow.
“A church?” Buffy asked as she stood and walked round to look over Willow’s shoulder at the manuscript.
“Not really, it doesn’t seem to have been used by any recognised religion but some sort of sect” Willow pointed out some parts of the text and stood up to stretch herself as Buffy took her seat and began studying the document.
“So these guys worshipped some scaly demon and it ate them?” Xander said. “That seems kind of obvious for Sunnydale, doesn’t it?” he seemed almost disappointed at the anti-climax.
“We’ll take the details and do some more research on the laptop” Willow sighed. “Maybe we’ve just seen everything that the Hellmouth had and now its on repeat?”