Story: The Bracelet (chapter 9)

Authors: Jessica Knight

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Chapter 9

Title: Part 9: Goodnight Kisses And Life Saver Candy

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part nine:
GOODNIGHT KISSES AND LIFE SAVER CANDY

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9:06 PM the same night found Buffy, Amy, and Gwen
safely in Cordelia's car heading to Buffy's home...

They'd dropped Owen off along the way. He'd given Cordelia a hesitant kiss goodnight and the two had made plans to get together the next day. Amy had marveled at how well those two were handling this, and how good a friend Cordelia was turning out to be to them. She never would have credited it.

"We're almost there." Cordelia said. "Are you sure she'll be o.k.?" She asked, looking in concern at the passenger in her passenger seat who had fallen into a fitful sleep. Back at the barbershop, after the ambulance had left, Buffy had instructed Amy on getting the few glass shards out of her that got by her clothes (thank God she'd been wearing leather like that), but she knew enough to know that the worst of the damage was probably internal.

"She should be." Buffy said. "She wasn't lying when she said she's a fast healer." Buffy said turning to Amy, who was curled up in her arms with her eyes closed. "I've seen her come back from worse than this once." Buffy said gravely. "Something about the electricity in her, it revs up her system, makes her move faster and hit harder, things like that. It also heals her a lot faster than normal too... She should be o.k. in a day or two I think. She just needs to rest and drink something." She informed them.

"...You realize how crazy that sounds, right?" Cordelia said, with some humor in her voice.

"Yeah. Welcome to my world." Buffy said with a crooked smile. "We specialize in crazy and eschew all things mundane and boring."

"Uh huh." Cordelia said. "That must be murder on a girl's hair." She thought out loud.

"You have no idea." Buffy said seriously.

"You are going to give me a reasonable explanation for all this at some point, yes?" Cordelia asked.

"If you want me to." Buffy offered. "How's tomorrow at lunch?"

"You're on." Cordelia said lightly, satisfied with the answer.

They pulled up into the driveway of Buffy's house. "Looks like we're here." Buffy said to Amy, who had actually seemed to fall asleep at some point.

"That is so cute." Cordelia said, looking into the back seat with an amused smile. "You two are really good together, you know that?" She observed.

"Yeah, I know." Buffy said with a genuine smile, her eyes meeting with Cordelia's, a silent understanding passing between them. "Listen... I don't know how much this will mean... but if you want me, you've got a friend for life, from tonight on. You need me for anything, call and I'm there. No questions asked." Buffy pledged in all seriousness.

Cordelia was a little surprised by that. Though she didn't know why. Buffy had so far, aside from being friendly, always been up front and plainly honest with her as well. That was probably why she found herself warming up to the blonde girl so easily. She just had that kind of personality that made her want to care. "I'll remember that." Cordelia smiled back. "And it goes both ways, o.k.?" She offered as Buffy helped Amy out of the car. "Just don't expect me to fight any monsters, o.k.?" She gave the caveat as Buffy was walking around the car.

"Come on." Cordelia heard Buffy say. "You got'a help Gwen inside now." Amy was still a little blirry-eyed, it seemed.

"Right. I can do that." Amy could be heard to say, apparently awake again.

The passenger side door was opened and Amy leaned in, shaking Gwen as much as she dared, given her condition, to try to get her to wake. She was pretty sure she couldn't carry the other girl in all by herself. Maybe if she gave Buffy the bracelet, that would be different, but she'd tried to get the bracelet off on the way home without any success. She reasoned there must be some trick to it that only Gwen knew. [Which is of no help at all if I can't get her to wake up in the first place!] Amy cursed to herself.

"Come on, wake up!" Amy urged her. Gwen blinked awake, recoiling when she saw someone was touching her.

"Wha!?" She looked at who it was. "Oh, Amy, it's you." Gwen smiled in relief. "What... we're there?" She asked groggily.

"Looks like." Cordelia said from the driver's seat. "And you're welcome by the way." She said pointedly.

"Huh?" She looked over at Cordelia. "Oh, thanks cranky girl. You're a life saver candy."

Cordelia narrowed her eyes at her nemesis. "And you can just get out of my car now, thank you." She said in retaliation, their banter now largely for show and not very serious, Amy thankfully noticed. Or maybe Cordilia was just being nice because Gwen was injured?

"Oh, you're welcome." Gwen said over her shoulder. "You know Amy, I always thought I could do with a chauffer. Think she'd be interested?"

"Somehow I think not." Amy said with good humor. "Good night Cordelia." Amy turned back to the car and said. "And thank you. For everything." She said it, not knowing quite what else to say. "You really were a life saver." She spoke.

"Yeah, yeah. Get her to bed already." She dismissed them.

"Good night." Buffy said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you then." Cordelia replied, rolling up her window and waving as she drove off into the night.

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9:14 PM; still just outside the home of
Joyce and Buffy Summers...

Buffy was nervously watching as Amy helped Gwen down the path to her front door. It was a lot like it had been before, and she found that time had not dimmed Gwen's ability to have this effect on her. That first couple weeks they'd spent together in L.A. had been an adventure in fidgeting for her, it seemed she would forever be reaching for Gwen only to have to stop herself. And the first time Gwen had been hurt? Not fun... Over time, she'd gotten used to it of course, but that didn't mean watching her in pain was any easier now. At least now she had Amy...

Shaking her head, she went on ahead to open the door for them, rummaging through her jacket for her keys without success. "Shit, I must have dropped them some where." Buffy realized, ringing the doorbell.

"What happened?" Amy asked.

"I lost my key somewhere." Buffy explained, not meeting either of their eyes.

"Oh." Amy said a little awkwardly, trying to think of something else to say.

There was the muted sound of footsteps coming from inside the house now. The door soon being unlocked and opened, Joyce Summers was waiting for them on the other side.

"Buffy, did you forget your keys?... Oh, Amy." She noticed "...Is that Gwen?" Joyce asked, her voice lowering as she recognized the girl Amy was holding up.

"Yeah, it's her." Buffy said reservedly. "And she's hurt pretty badly. Can we get her into the guest room maybe?" Buffy asked, regretting having to bring all this to her mom's doorstep, and worrying over how she was going to explain it without her mom calling an ambulance, or worse, the police. For a number of, to Joyce's mind, very good reasons, there wasn't exactly any love lost between her mom and Gwen, and Buffy knew that.

"Hi, Ms. Summers." Amy greeted apprehensively.

"Hello, Amy. It's nice to see you again." Joyce spared her a smile before looking at Gwen with a large dose of cynicism. "I wish I could say the same about her."

"Yeah... Sorry about this." Gwen said apologetically.

"You should be." Joyce said bitingly.

"Mom..." Buffy implored. "She's hurt. Can't we just, can't we do this later?"

Joyce closed her eyes for a moment. "All right. All right! She can come inside." Joyce said. "But you're going to give me a darn good explanation for this once she's off her feet. I mean it Buffy. I'm not letting what happened in L.A. happen again here."

Buffy rubbed her face, feeling all the sudden twice as tired. "Can't you at least wait until morning?" She almost pleaded.

Joyce took in the ragged looks of her daughter and of Amy, and then really looked at how beat up Gwen was. She sighed. "All right... All right, we can talk about it later. Let's just get her off her feet. Then maybe you can tell me what on Earth happened to you. You look like you've been living in a cave for a week."

Amy laughed. "Good guess." She said.

Joyce gave Buffy a questioning look. Then turned to Amy and Gwen. "Do you need any help getting her up the stares?"

"No!" Gwen said, shrinking away. "I mean no, I'm sure I can manage... if Amy helps me..." She kept a careful eye on Joyce, though she really wanted to look anywhere but at the elder Summers woman at that moment.

"Same old Gwen." Joyce said bitterly, looking at her like she was sure she'd lost her sanity somewhere.

"Let's just get her up stares." Buffy said. "Come on, I'll show you where the guest room is." Buffy turned to go up the stares, avoiding her mother's gaze, her heart still clinched in her chest over all of this ...So much for her new start being any less crazy than her old one.

Joyce watched them go up the stares, then she shook her head to the empty room and went to go into the kitchen. She didn't drink very often, but right now she could use a stiff glass of bourbon. [This can not be happening again.] She thought to herself. All sorts of worries laying siege to her soul, along with a long string of unanswered questions about her daughter's life that she'd never gotten answers to. [Well that's going to change, starting tomorrow.] She resolved to herself. [I refuse to let that girl get her claws into my daughter again. Not again.]

Once they got to the room, Amy helped to lay Gwen on the bed and silently set about getting her out of her jacket, boots, and jeans while Buffy took a seat in a chair facing the end of the bed, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees as she watched the scene before her unfold. She watched as Amy got Gwen tucked in under the covers and give her a soft kiss on her forehead. "It'll be all right." Amy said, consolingly stroking the disordered and messy hair out of Gwen's face. Gwen was now very nearly asleep and the words and the caring touch seemed to quiet her even more and bring her some peace.

Buffy couldn't help the pang of envy that went though her as she watched Amy touch Gwen like she'd always wished that she could. But it was accompanied by a greater sense of relief... Relief that Gwen finally had someone who could hold her and tell her that the world wasn't really so bad. Relief that she had done it, she had gotten them all home safely and managed to save at least one life. And relief that she had someone again. That she had Amy.

She saw Amy turn to look at her, and Buffy managed to muster a tired smile for her. "Can I stay with you tonight?" Amy asked.

"Yeah... Yeah, of course you can." Buffy said, getting up from her chair and going over to sit down on the bed beside Amy, giving her a hug. "Of course you can." She said, closing her eyes as Amy gratefully returned the hug. "Come on, lets let her get some sleep."

"Yeah, o.k." Amy said, a shy and relieved smile coming to her face as she let Buffy guide her up off the bed. "And thanks. I don't think I could go home alone right now." Amy confessed.

"And you don't need to." Buffy spoke with assurance and comfort as she held both of Amy's hands in front of her and looked in her eyes.

Amy smiled back shyly and moved forward into Buffy's arms, seeking her lips with her own. The kiss wasn't so much passionate as it was loving and warm, like a safe haven found after a long time in the storm.

They broke off the kiss with Buffy pushed up against the far wall of the hallway. She smiled. "I think we could both use a bath." She said in a softer voice, a smile on her lips as she brushed some dirt from Amy's cheek.

Amy chuckled softly and buried her head in Buffy's shoulder, pressing her body in as close as she could and letting Buffy hold her.

"Let's go." Amy said with a soft smile, once she'd released Buffy from their embrace and stood back before her.

"Go?" Buffy asked.

"To take a bath." Amy said without any shame.

"Amy..." Buffy was at war with herself. She couldn't think of a good reason to say no, but she was pretty sure there was one.

"I don't want to be alone right now, o.k.?" Amy said taking Buffy's hands in hers. "We don't have to do anything you... don't want to." Amy finished, her eyes soft and so open to Buffy... it was the kind of look Buffy had only ever seen in Gwen's eyes before, after they would spend whole nights together just talking about things. Amy wasn't holding anything back. Maybe just because she was so tired, maybe it was because of all the otherworldly things that had been thrust upon her all at once that were so outside her comfort zone, maybe it was because Buffy was her first love... or maybe Amy just trusted her that much, Buffy couldn't say. Whatever the reason though, Buffy couldn't find it in her heart to say no to her.

"All right." Buffy said simply. "Let's go." She smiled.

Amy's eyes lit up and she moved in to kiss Buffy, once then again and again, stopping before she got too caught up. "Let's go then." Amy said, taking her girlfriend's hands and leading them to Buffy's room down the hall.

The door to the room was left partly open and Amy went in without a thought, sitting herself down on the side of the bed, smiling at Buffy as she walked by her to close the door. Amy started to take her clothes off in preparation for their bath.

Buffy watched her, a little bemused by the sight, as she went over to the dresser and put away her watch and necklace before taking off her shoes and draping her jacket on a nearby chair. She looked over and saw that Amy was now only in her jeans and a bra and was getting to her feet to take her jeans off. Buffy let herself enjoy the site for just a moment, sighing as she shook her head at the situation and proceeded to take her own clothing off. Life never failed to give you it's share of turns in the road, didn't it? Well, this time, Buffy thought to herself, this time she didn't mind it so much.

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to be continued in part ten...
REFLECTIONS FROM THE PAST, AND A HAVEN RIGHT NOW

see you next time!

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