Story: Luck of the Draw (chapter 1)

PART I

By the time Buffy and I made it over to them, Xander was hyperventilating, and Faith was just standing there watching us with a smirk on her face. Buffy and I were just starting to get used to the whole idea of 'us', and while we always knew we were going to tell our friends, we just didn't plan on doing it so soon. I was expecting at least a couple of months of 'us' time, not merely the forty-eight hours of it that we ended up having to share with demons. We had hardly had anytime to sort anything out, yet here we were.

"You saw?" Buffy asked, though it was really more of a statement. It would really have been a miracle if they hadn't seen.

"Ohhhh, yeah!" Faith responded, her eyes flickering back to the bench for a moment before settling back on us. She actually looked excited. There was a glint in her eyes, I was sure of it.

"In that case, this Slayer votes two thumbs up for a change in local," Buffy responded after glancing at me briefly. "Anyone want to bang the gavel?" She asked. She knew that wouldn't feel comfortable having what was soon to turn into a very private discussion in the middle of the park, and I was glad she suggested we leave. The time it would take us to re-locate would also give me some time to gather my thoughts, and they did need gathering. When no objections were voiced she continued. "We can go to my house, moms not due back 'til tomorrow." Once we all agreed we started towards Summer's manor.

The beginning leg of the trip was very quiet. I wasn't even aware that my legs were moving really, it was just an automatic. I knew how I felt about Buffy, that wasn't even a question, and I knew how she felt about me. The problem was that I wasn't sure if I was ready to talk about it with other people. This wasn't exactly a subject that people were eager to discuss, it was more like something that was to be avoided at all costs.

Once we were on our way Buffy dropped back from the lead to walk beside me letting Xander and Faith lead the way. Once we were side by side she took my hand in hers and squeezed it.

"Are you alright with this?" she whispered, indicating to our joined hands. I simply nodded my head. It felt good to feel her, to know she was there, it helped anchor me, bring me back to reality. Something that I desperately needed. "How're you doing?" she continued, this time she was referring to the whole situation.

"You mean being caught in the act?" I whispered back. She nodded an affirmative but continued to look at the ground. "I'm not sure, I'm kinda just here. You know? I wasn't expecting this so soon. It's like getting hit with a spitball…you knew it was coming, but it's still a surprise when it smacks you on the side of the face," I told her shrugging my shoulders helplessly.

"Yeah," she responded probably choosing to ignore the spitball reference. I knew I would if I was her. As we walked her gaze continued to be locked on the ground and her hands were sweating slightly. Despite the calm demeanor she was putting forward I knew that she was as nervous about the prospect of talking to them as I was. "Faith seems to be handling it rather well," she commented softly a moment later scuffing her boot against the ground.

"Faith has probably done this before," I responded derisively. I wasn't just being a smart-ass either, I actually had something in mind that resembled a fact when I said it. A couple of times when we were out getting mocha's at the Expresso pump, I had noticed Faith checking out the pump girl. Not to mention she was always way to eager to go get us coffee. That and the fact that the girl had gotten around.

"Picked up on that too, huh?" Buffy asked with a lopsided grin. I smiled back and it kind of lessened the tension for the rest of the trip.

Once we neared Buffy's house she took the lead again so that Xander and Faith wouldn't have to wait outside the house for her. We headed to the family room once we were inside and kind of scattered around the room as Buffy headed into the kitchen to get us something to drink. Faith was idly playing with a stake, and Xander was looking everywhere and at everything in the room except for me. Either he was avoiding my gaze, or the trim around Buffy's walls were very captivating. When Buffy finally came back with the drinks--that none of us really wanted-- we sat there in silence for a long, long, long time before it was broken.

"So is this why you two wanted my room last night?" Faith asked in her usually subtle way. Truthfully, I couldn't say that I was surprised that she broke the silence, or at the question she asked.

"Tact, Faith, look it up," Buffy said fixing her with a stare.

"I thought there was suppose to be discussion. So, let's discuss," Faith said, wriggling a little deeper into the couch. She was obviously ready to talk, and I knew that Buffy just wanted to get it over with like I did, which only left one person.

"Xander?" I asked quietly. He hadn't said anything since his jabbering in the park, and I was starting to worry about what he might be thinking. Quiet usually never meant anything good with Xander. Even when he was bleeding and dying he was talking away. He looked up at me when I said his name with an unreadable expression on his face. Even after I said his name he remained quiet for a moment.

"This," he said motioning between Buffy and I, "has been going on for how long?"

"Not long," Buffy responded carefully. Then the silence came again, and stayed that way for a few minutes.

"So are you two, like, serious?" Faith asked, making a totally inappropriate hand gesture that implied sex. Once again, I couldn't say that I was surprised.

"It's serious," Buffy responded before I could say anything. "Which doesn't necessarily mean…" then Buffy repeated the hand gesture made a moment before.

"So you haven't…" and Faith made the gesture again.

"What I said was, that the fact that what's happening between us is definitely more than a 'thing' doesn't mean that we must be…" and Buffy repeated the gesture yet again.

"Can you please stop doing that?" I asked, cutting off whatever reply Faith was going to make. I didn't appreciate having what Buffy and I shared reduced down to vulgar hand motions, hand motions that had the subtlety of a battering ram.

"Sorry," Buffy said quietly realizing what she had been doing. We looked at each other for a moment and I knew that she really was sorry. She had only been trying to help.

"Ditto," Faith mumbled. Tearing my gaze away from Buffy I looked at her, studying for expression for a moment. In the entire time I had known her I didn't think that I had heard Faith mutter anything that could be interpreted as an apology and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. After a careful analysis I could tell that she meant it, which surprised me, but I decided to keep that to myself. Then the quiet came once again.

"When'd you like…you know…start-having-feeling-of-a-sexual-nature-that-were-the-result-of-a-stimulus- caused-by-a-person-of-the-same-gender-as-yourself?" Xander asked, rushing the question off at such a speed that I couldn't compute. He was speaking at, like, warp factor five.

"I don't know about the lovebirds, but I completely lost you after '…you know…'," Faith said. "Think you could repeat that so that those of us who weren't drinking coffee for an hour previous to this conversation can understand?" she continued.

"A summation of the last part would be: get gay?" Xander explained after a moment, turning slightly red. I looked over at Buffy, we had yet to talk in depth about this. Talking a breath I figured I would take the plunge first. After all, I had known him the longest.

"I didn't 'get' gay," I started. "You can't just 'get' gay, like you 'get' herpes, or athlete's foot, it's more like it's there, but there's like pillows and stuff on top hiding it…like at Easter, it's like an egg. Then you find it sooner or later…like…like a scavenger hunt," I responded realizing that I probably should have thought about that response before saying it out loud.

"Well….when did you find it? Where you just looking for keys and, BAM?" Xander asked, clapping his hands together.

I decided to ignore the last part of Xander's statement, and answered his first question, about when I found it. "What month did you come to Sunnydale?" I asked Buffy, turning to face her.

"September," Buffy said softly, smiling as she looked at me. We held each others gazes and I was overtaken by a tingling fluttery warmth that started in my toes and settled in my heart. It was an effect that only she could produce in me, something that I only wanted her to produce in me.

"Excuse me, I've got to throw up now," Faith said, sticking a finger in her mouth and making a gagging motion.

"He asked," Buffy responded flatly.

"What's your story B? Does it involve sleep away camp?" Faith asked, smiling. She was doing that a lot tonight, smiling. At least someone was enjoying themselves.

"Oddly enough sleep away camp doesn't figure in. Except to explain my fear of meatloaf," Buffy responded, looking at Faith before continuing. "More along the lines of detention. I developed a crush on Ms. Mitchell my English teacher in eighth grade. She must have wondered what I did to get sent to detention so much. Anyway, I just didn't really think about back then, the way my life was it didn't really matter. It hasn't really mattered until now," she finished with a shrug. Faith seemed satisfied with that answer, and Xander just kind of sat there stewing or brooding or whatever it was he had been doing all night.

"Did you forget that both of you have boyfriends? Boy, being the operative word," Xander piped up a moment later as if he was reminding us of something that had just slipped our minds.

"Actually we don't," Buffy pointed out. She and Angel hadn't actually been dating since he came back from hell, and Oz wasn't talking to me. Xander didn't have anything to say to that right away, so in the pattern of the evening, the quiet came again.

"Is that a hickey?" Faith asked, studying Buffy's neck intently. Looking where Faith's gaze was directed I saw a slight discoloration and realized that it was, and if I was the swearing type, I would've. Stupid Californian heat, if we lived in Michigan Buffy would be wearing a turtle neck and we could've avoided the conversation I was sure was going to ensue.

"Can't you get your mind out of your pants for five minutes?" Buffy asked Faith irritably. She obviously knew where this was leading as well.

"You're awfully cranky," Faith commented. "Did we interrupt you two finding the fun, when we crashed your party on the love bench? " Faith continued making a voice when she said the 'love bench' part. It was said mockingly, and it reminded me of the way kids used to sing the k-i-s-s-i-n-g part of the song about people in a tree.

"Shut up Faith," Buffy responded defensively. I knew that Faith had a way of hitting Buffy's buttons--which usually resulted in Buffy being pissed off almost to the point of no return-- and Faith was off to a brilliant start at the moment.

"Well that settles it. You two must have boinked or B wouldn't be all 'I'll huff and puff and blow your house down'." Faith said with self-satisfied smirk as she crossed her arms and leaned back. You would think that she had just solved the mystery of the Sphinx or something.

"Unlike you Miss 'Get 'em drunk, get 'em in bed and get 'em out', I don't boink. This isn't like one of your seedy motel liaisons," Buffy responded, glaring at Faith. If looks could kill the other Slayer would have been Dust-Buster chow.

"I'm not the one who was uncorked last night, in a motel," Faith shot back, making sure to stress certain words to get as much kick out of the sentence as she could.

"Shut up," Buffy repeated. I could practically feel the anger rolling off of her in waves. This was not good, not good at all.

"You looked pretty tired this morning so I'm guessing it was good," Faith continued, not backing down.

"I mean it Faith, shut the hell up or get the hell out. Either, or. I personally don't care," Buffy said, standing up.

"Fine….bygones," Faith muttered after a long moment before holding up her hands in the universal sign of peace. Buffy continued to stare at her for an instant then finally sat down when I placed my hand on her arm, tugging slightly. Faith was holding a white flag up-tattered as it may be-and we were going to take it.

"So, are you two…dating?" Xander asked once things had settled down. When he asked this I looked over at Buffy, we had never really put a name to what we were. In fact when I thought about it we hadn't really discussed a whole lot.

"Yeah, I guess. Yeah," Buffy answered looking at me to make sure it was okay that she answered affirmatively.

After that, things calmed down and the four of us sat talking for awhile longer, actually managing to have what resembled a mature conversation. In total Xander and Faith were there for about an hour. As we had observed on the way over, Faith didn't seem to give a rat's ass that we were together other than to find out if we had slept together--or as she so delicately put it "had done the horizontal cha cha"--, and that nearly resulted in her and Buffy trading blows again. Xander on the other hand was having more trouble with it, which was understandable considering that we had had a thing, and that he had had a thing for Buffy and probably still did. All things considered it could have gone worse. It would take time for everyone to get used to the change in our relationship, we were still getting used to the change in our relationship. It would be awkward at the beginning, but it would be okay.

* * * * * *

"How'd it go?" Buffy asked as I walked back into the family room.

"They say they're starting to forget what I look like, but that if I feel I absolutely must, I can stay," I related, smiling. She was referring to the phone call I had just made to my parents. They had gotten back to town about an hour after we had.

"Good," Buffy said, relieved, as she took a seat on the couch. "Are you tired?"

"Yes and no," I responded. The talk with Xander and Faith had taken a lot out of me emotionally but I wasn't really ready to go to sleep yet. I was in one of those annoying states that's a mix between being really tried and really pumped up simultaneously.

"That's not really a big help," Buffy said, motioning for me to sit beside her. "The way I figure it, we're suffering from 'post-conversation stress syndrome'. However, we're in luck since the cure for this unique syndrome is the Jerry Springer show which just happens to be on right now."

"How do you figure that?" I asked. It was bad form to question a physician's advice, but I was curious.

"Simple, whatever we're going through, demons included, will seem like a cake walk after we watch this. Sure I hunt demons for a profession, but at least my mother didn't have the child of my father's bisexual lovers brother," Buffy answered as I sat down. Once I was seated Buffy put her arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to her so that I was almost lying on top of her. "Is this okay?" she asked once we were settled.

"Better than okay." I answered with a smile. I could feel the tension draining out of my body as I spoke. It was amazing what being in her presence did to me. I was wound up so tightly by the time Xander and Faith left, I was literally a tension ball, but the moment she put her arms around me it all melted away. It was actually a very interesting phenomenon that deserved extensive scientific study.

"How are you doing?" she asked, kissing me on the forehead.

"Actually, I'm doing quite well right now," I responded playing with her hand which resting on my stomach. We were snugglers, I could tell already. "Before good and I were not together, but I think that everything will be okay. I mean it's not going to be kid's day at the ex, but it should work out. Right?"

"It'll work out. Xander, we just need to give some time. He's still in the militant 'but they'se be my women', other wise known as the Cro-Magnon stage," Buffy answered thoughtfully as only she could. "As for Faith, she's not going to give it rest until we make videotape and send her a copy a la Pam and Tommy Lee."

"We're not going to do that though?" I asked.

"Well…" Buffy said thoughtfully as she scratched her chin. I gave her the look of shame as only I can and she smiled. "Okay, okay we'll have to come up with another plan," she relented. "However, I would like to note that a recording would have been the most expedient not to mention fun way of eliminating her interest," she continued, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Or generating more," I commented snuggling in closer. I wasn't sure I wanted Faith that interested.

"True, that could create a whole new set of problems. Problems that would probably involve the internet. The Watcher's council would probably frown at nudie pictures of their Slayer and her girlfriend being posted. It would contributes to a lack of credibility amongst my demon foes," Buffy agreed. "Tired yet?"

"Yes," I responded sheepishly forcing my eyes to stay open. They had started to drift shut as she was speaking.

"Okay, your sleepy, that's good. I thought that maybe I was just frightfully boring… like Geraldo," she responded. "Let's go upstairs," she continued, poking me in the ribs so that I would get up.

"Hey," I muttered slapping her hand away. Once I was up I turned to her again, "Is it okay if we don't…" I didn't get a chance to finish the sentence.

"Yeah," Buffy said gently taking my hand. "It's like I told you this morning, I'm not a machine. I can kill evil ones blindfolded but I'm not part of the family," she continued trying to make me smile, which she succeeded in doing. Once that was taken care of we continued up the stairs hand in hand.

* * * * * *

Despite the fact that we spent the entire weekend saving the world from a clan of vampires who had a disastrous special power that could have brought down Western civilization as we knew it, it was a Monday morning and we had to go to school. Buffy and I tried to worm our way into staying home--which I must say Mrs. Summers was game to after hearing the edited version of our story-- however my parents who remain in dark about pretty much everything involving me would hear nothing of it. I got an ear full of, "You spent the entire weekend 'partying down' and if you think you're going to miss school because you and your friends thought it would be 'cool' to go gallivanting around then you are sorely mistaken young lady," from my mom. Needless to say that it was a very pleasant way to start off the morning.

Anyway, one thing was for certain, school would be an interesting experience today. I had math with Xander first period which would be a trying experience if he was still wiggin. I wasn't expecting him to have an immediate coolness with everything, but the awkward silences were, well, awkward.

* * * * * *

"I called this morning, your mom said you weren't home," Xander said, leaning over to look at my paper once the teacher had finished with the lesson for the day and gone to get coffee.

"I was at Buffy's," I whispered back.

"You slept over?" he asked. He sounded as if I told him I had ate a can of worms. In fact if I had told him I ate a can of worms he probably would have taken it better.

"Yeah," I confirmed, looking over at him.

"Do you think that's proper? If I was your mom…" he started, but I interrupted before he could finish.

"You're not my mom. If I wanted to be lectured and 'do you think that's proper'd' I would talk to my mom, but I don't want to be lectured and 'do you think that proper'd' which is why I don't talk to my mom. That and she thinks I'm a witch, which I am, but she thinks that I'm a bad naughty witch, which I'm not. Now the real question should be, do you think it's proper to be copying my work?" I said, eyeing him.

He didn't respond to my little speech, he simply straightened his chair around and muttered under his breath as he sharpened his full sized pencil until it was about the size of his pinky. After watching him for a few moments, I started back on my own work. I figured things would be what they would be and that there was really no use thinking about it, or worrying about it for that matter because it wouldn't change anything. Things would be what it would be.

* * * * * *

As I was waiting in the courtyard after school for Buffy my eyes were constantly drawn to the woman who was leaning against a tree about 20 meters away. A part of the reason I kept looking over at her was because every time I turned my head away I could feel her eyes on me, but when I looked over at her she was just leaning against the tree playing with a stupid yo-yo. The other part of the reason I keep looking over at her was that I was inexplicably drawn to her presence.

"What's with the frownie face?" Buffy asked, sitting down beside me.

"Do you know if there's a young supply teacher in today?" I asked her distractedly.

"You didn't just say the words 'young' and 'supply' in the same sentence, did you? All of the supplies in Sunnydale are over sixty, dead, or giant preying mantis's," Buffy responded. "Why?" she asked curiously.

"You see that woman over there?" I said, looking back over to where she was standing.

"The beauty queen playing with the yo-yo? Yeah, I see her. I have to admit I'm surprised, those things are making a comeback and anyone over nineteen usually only catches up when the fads are on their way out. Maybe she's a student," Buffy suggested. "Come on…"

"I passed her on my way out here, she's like twenty-three, she can't be a student," I responded, standing up nonetheless so Buffy would stop poking me in the ribs.

"Should I be getting jealous about your growing obsession with this gorgeous mystery woman?" Buffy asked. She was smiling though, so I could tell she was just joking around.

"Well no, since I'm not the one that thinks she gorgeous," I responded. "She's just…it's…oh, I don't know, never mind. I've been living on the hellmouth for to long, it's made me weary of new people…and bright colored clothing," I said, shaking my head.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about you taking candy from strangers," Buffy commented as she dragged me towards the library.

Buffy had just joined me at the table when I noticed someone emerging from the corner of the library near the door. Buffy and Faith had just finished a rather heated workout session that ended in Faith storming out of the room, and Buffy grumbling about something as she sat down. Whenever Giles had disappeared into his office for a few moments Faith would stay something to Buffy and Buffy would get mad and speed up her motions. I figured Faith was saying something to her about me, but I couldn't hear what she was saying and I didn't really care. Buffy was beautiful when she was angry and I was concentrating on that.

The person coming out the shadows was the woman from the courtyard. I was about to show her to Buffy, but she started clapping. At the sound Buffy looked up and over at the woman before trying her gaze to me and then back again.

"That was very entertaining," the woman said happily. "You're quite talented, your dark- haired friend too. I must admit though that it's a rather interesting game to be playing in a library," she continued, leaning against the counter.

"Whatever floats your boat I guess," Buffy responded non-committally. The woman smiled and nodded vigorously. She was far too amused by the comment and it left me feeling like we were missing something.

"It's still very dangerous to be doing, all of these obstacles," she said finally, gesturing towards the table, the counter she was leaning against, and the cage--which she stared at for an inordinate amount of time. "Do you like to play dangerous games?"

"The best games usually involve a little danger," Buffy answered looking at her. "What's a game of truth or dare without the chance that you might have streak across your neighborhood naked, or eat dog food? Answer = Boring."

"What about you?" she asked, directing the question to me. She was staring at me intently and I found it unnerving.

"Me? I like Hungry Hungry Hippo's, and if I'm feelin' really rebellious I've been know to play a game or two of Gin Rummy," I told her. I could see Buffy smiling in my peripheral vision, but my attention was focused on the woman who was still staring at me, though she too was smiling.

"Interesting," was the only comment she made. There was silence for a few moments and I found myself studying her. Buffy was right, she was gorgeous, deep blue eyes, full lips -- the kind people would pay good money for only to have them come out looking half as good as hers-- and shoulder length brown hair. She stood at what I would guess to be around five feet, eight inches, and had a trim yet muscular build. I would more have expected to see her on the cover of Vogue than in a school library. Actually I wished she was at a photo shoot someplace far away, like Milan, rather than here.

"You mentioned truth or dare," she said, finally breaking the silence. "That's a risk taker's game. But that's what you relish about it isn't it? The uncertainty of the outcome, having a challenge set forth and quelling it. That appeals to you, doesn't it?" She continued looking at Buffy.

"Yeah. Why play something if you know how it's going to end, or if it's so boring you wish it would end? Which would you rather play, go-fish or poker? For me that's pretty much a no-brainer," Buffy responded. "What about you?"

"I lean more to your way of thinking, but I think your friend would rather play go-fish," the woman answered, looking at me as she spoke the last few words. It was hard to tell what she meant by that comment, but before either of us could respond Giles came out of his office.

"Can I help you?" he asked the woman as he polished his glasses.

"Yes," she said, turning around to face him. They spoke momentarily before she nodded and headed out of the library.

"You were right, there's something off about her, and I don't mean off as in she likes to wear men's underwear, or she talks to taxidermied animals. There's something …hellmouthish about her," Buffy said to me in a hushed tone.

"What do you think it is?" I asked having tried to come up with something myself and drawing a blank.

"I have absolutely no idea.That's what we have a Giles for," Buffy said standing up and looking at me expectantly.

"I'm coming," I told her, rising to my feet before she could start poking me in the ribs.

"Not here I hope," she said with a smirk before heading over to where Giles was. I, being me, just blushed and followed after her. Speaking of playing games.

* * * * * *

We talked to Giles about the bad vibes we were getting from the woman after she left and he said that he would do some research and keep his eyes open, but with the information, or more accurately the lack of information, we had there was nothing that we could really do. Currently I was walking home from a tutoring lesson to meet with Buffy to study. She was falling behind in English and needed me to help, or so she said. Buffy was actually quite proficient in English- which baffled Giles because of how she abused the language while speaking. I think she just wanted an excuse to get together tonight and that was just fine with me.

As I turned onto Fawndale Street, I could feel somebody watching me. I had gotten frighteningly proficient at sensing people following/sneaking up on/trying to kill me, over the past few years. It was just like in the courtyard this afternoon only there weren't tons of people around now and I felt considerably less safe than I did this afternoon. It was around dusk though, not dark yet, so I ruled out vampires as a possibility.

* * * * * *

I waited until I could feel the other person near me then flung around to face them. It was the woman from the courtyard and the library. She smiled when she saw me turn around and started walking beside me. After a few moments she asked me where my friend from earlier was, which branched out into small talk, which we continued to do- her doing most of the talking- until we crossed the street and I spoke.

"Who are you?" I asked her trying to keep my voice from trembling. The woman was dark, and mysterious, beautiful, and actually charming, but there was also something very disconcerting about being in her presence.

"Rio," was all she said looking across the street at the same time.

"De Janeiro?" I asked, thinking that perhaps she thought I asked where she was from. She looked like perhaps she could have been from that region, she had an exotic quality about her, but it was hard to pinpoint exactly what heritage inspired it.

"No thanks," she responded as she watched a child across the street playing with their ball.

"What?" I asked, completely losing track of this conversation.

"Is on second," she replied, looking down at me her lips curving up into a smile.

"You're playing with me," I said rather unnecessarily a few moments later.

"I enjoy games," she said, still smiling, "They're fun. The only way to stave off the tediousness of everyday live really. I mean if all we did was eat, sleep and work, things would be very boring wouldn't they? Games, well, games provide the entertainment that delay insanity."

"You know, I hear scrabble is quite entertaining, and the best part is that if you play on a computer you can play it alone. Not that I want to get rid of you or anything, it's just that at some point everyone has to be alone, or in other words solitary…hey there's an idea, solitaire. That's fun too…" she interrupted me before I could finish however.

"Do you always talk so much or is this a reflection on me? I mean, I've been watching you and your mouth is always moving. I just figured you chewed a lot of gum or something," she said.

"Um…yeah," I said really wishing that I was at home.

"Yeah you talk a lot or yeah you chew gum?" she asked, looking down at me.

"The first one," I said, stopping at Old Edith's house. My house was down the street but I really didn't want to talk to this woman, Rio, anymore. She was really starting to freak me out. Old Edith was a little strange herself, but she would let me in, and she wouldn't kill me. She would make me eat rock candy but that was definitely better than talking to Rio any longer. "Anyway, this is my stop, the place where I live and must enter now," I continued looking at the house.

"No, it's not," she said, looking at me intently. "You live down the road," she continued, pointing in the direction of my house.

"No I don't, I live here, which is why I said that I lived here, because I do," I said. "You hear that meowing," I asked as one of Edith's cats started to meow, "that's my cat…Petey's his name, he's a tabby, he likes tuna."

"Now who's playing games?" she asked, stepping into my personal space. That made me even more uncomfortable because it was MY space, that's why it's called personal space and she was violating it big time.

"Listen lady," I said, getting tough. I'd had enough of this, "I didn't want to say this before because my mother taught me manners, but you have got to go. Following people around, and telling them where they live and generally acting like a psychotic isn't going to win you any friends. Unless you meet another psychotic, which I'm not. So why don't you go tell whoever put you up to this that it didn't work," I continued.

"What if nobody put me up to it?" she asked still standing close. "What if I am a psychotic? 'Cause if I was I wouldn't care what you say, would I? 'Cause I'd be the type of lunatic who makes baskets out of rat tails. What would you say then?" She asked a moment later a smile working it's way across her face as her hand dipped into her pocket.

"Please…don't cut out my tongue," was what came out of my mouth. I was too busy wishing that Buffy was there to concentrate on what I was saying. Buffy would kick her ass.

She looked at me for a minute then started to laugh heartily throwing her head back and everything. When she was finished she removed her hand from her pocket to reveal a pez dispenser, Taz I believe. She then tipped the head back and took one out.