Since we were close to the school we checked there first, but no Giles was to be found so we headed over to his house. Luckily Giles lived close to school, so the whole trip only took us about forty-five minutes. We had speculated together about what might be happening, but nothing either of us came up with made any sense and we were right back were we started.
"Buffy, Willow…" Giles started as he opened the door.
"We've got problems of the fanged kind," Buffy said, leading the way into Giles house. I smiled and shrugged at the watcher then followed her in.
"What exactly is the problem?" Giles asked, leading us into the living room.
"That woman who was in the library two days ago…" Buffy started.
"I've researched as much as I could with the information proved which was close to null. I think that she is perhaps just eccentric," Giles said, interrupting Buffy. "I thought you said this had to do with vampires?"
"I was getting to that Mr. Interrupto," Buffy said giving Giles a look. "The woman's not eccentric, she's nuts. Worse still, she's a nuts vampire."
"That's impossible," Giles responded. "I spoke to her in the middle of the afternoon. You said you saw in the courtyard. Vampires do not walk around in the light."
"She was a vampire Giles. We're positive," I said. "We saw her change."
"Not to mention that if she were human she would have suffered numerous broken bones. I was going at her with everything Giles, even Faith flinched when I hit her, with this one, nothing but a smile," Buffy added. "Which in itself is a little scary."
"You're certain?" Giles asked. We simply nodded. "Did you notice anything about her that could help our search in the text? Any defining characteristics, or things out or the ordinary?"
"Besides the whole walking in the day thing?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, of course besides the whole walking in the day thing," Giles confirmed.
"She was burned," I said, remembering something I noticed that day in the library.
"Burned? How?" Giles asked. His curiosity was piqued. I could tell. If he was a dog, his tail would have been wagging.
"It was like a marking, on her forearm. Almost like a tattoo, only it was burned onto her arm," I responded.
"What was the marking of?" Giles asked putting on his glasses.
"It was…it was some sort of game piece, like from those really old chess boards or something," I related, trying to remember exactly what it looked like.
"That sounds familiar," he said with that far away look in his eyes he got when he was mentally searching through thousands of texts.
"See, I told you," Buffy said, "this is why we have a Giles. The man is a walking encyclopedia of demonic facts and figures," Buffy continued.
"I'll start looking into it now," Giles said as he glanced at his watch. "You two might as well head home, there's nothing more you can do tonight. If the texts don't turn up anything tonight we'll search tomorrow after school."
"Alright," Buffy said getting up, "we'll see you tomorrow." With that I got up and joined her.
* * * * * *
"I'll walk you home, I don't want a repeat of yesterday," Buffy said as we headed down Giles' driveway. I nodded, I didn't want a repeat of yesterday either, especially in light of recent revelations. It was bad enough when I thought she was just crazy, now she was a crazy vampire. "I won't let anything happen to you," Buffy said, taking my hand in hers and squeezing.
"I know," I said. "I know."
* * * * * *
When we showed up at the library the next day, Giles confirmed what we had already guessed, his research last night was a bust and it was time for us to break out our research- wear because it was going to be a long night. We had run into Xander on our way to the library and gotten him caught up on the situation. We would need all the hands and eyes we could get. He had a thing to do with his dad right after school, but when he was done he would come back and help. We figured he was still in for about four or more hours of page flipping fun.
"What brings you to my nightmare?" Buffy asked as I joined her on the upper level.
"The Gurzanar text, it's full of fun facts," I told her. As she reached over to place the book she had been holding onto the shelf I too started to reach over to check one of the texts and we ended up getting all tangled up. I ended up tilting on an angle, and as Buffy tried to straighten me up we ended up tripping over each others feet and tumbling to the ground.
"Are you hitting on me?" Buffy asked, looking down at me. "Because, if you wanted to get closer all you had to do was ask," Buffy continued smirking.
"Sometimes actions speak louder than words," I responded, trying out that 'come hither' smile again. You know what they say, if something's worth doing once it's worth doing twice.
"Hmmm," Buffy commented as she continued to stare down at me. Then coming to a decision she leaned down and kissed me gently. Smiling, I leaned forward returning the kiss until we had to break apart to take in oxygen.
"We should probably get up," Buffy said once her breathing had returned to normal, even though she still made no effort to get off of me. I nodded in agreement and moved my hands to her sides trying to get her to actually move. She smiled again then started to get up, but as she was rolling off of me her movements stopped and she stiffened. "What is up with this?" She muttered continuing her rolling motion until she was off of me. Wondering what she was talking about, I turned my head to the side and saw Giles standing on the steps.
"Research doesn't look like that when I do it," Giles commented, looking between Buffy and I. Not knowing how long he had been standing there Buffy and I remained silent. Silence was always a good choice, it couldn't get you in trouble, nor could it get you out of it. "Well, come on then, I suppose the research can wait for a while," Giles continued when we failed to comment. Buffy and I got up and followed him down the stairs. As we walked I came to the conclusion that we were definitely going to have to work on discretion. The way people were finding out definitely had to reflect on us in some way, it just had to. We were 'livin' la vida loca' and everyone was livin' it with us.
"Giles," Buffy started once we were all seated at the table, "we were just…"
"Making out in my book stacks. Yes, I caught that," the watcher replied.
"That wasn't exactly what I was going for, but…" Buffy trailed off. Obviously he had been standing there for a while. We sat there quietly for a while before Buffy broke the silence. "Well?" she asked him expectantly.
"Well what?" Giles asked.
"Aren't you going to yell, or go all wiggy, or wipe your glasses, or call our mothers, or…something?" I asked. I had always figured Giles would take the news rather calmly--like he took everything else--but I had expected some sort of reaction. And for some odd reason in my mind tea was involved somewhere.
"Would you like me to do any of those things?" Giles asked looking between us.
"Uh… no," Buffy answered. "But don't you have anything to say…about…you know…like, stuff that you want to say about things?" she asked, sounding like me for a moment.
"I must say that I'm not completely surprised by what I saw. I'll admit I never expected to 'walk in on you' but I'm not shocked. I am quite an observant chap, and if I hadn't noticed that there was something going on between the two of you-- especially lately--that would have been shocking. They don't hand watchers certificates out to just anyone you know," Giles answered as he shifted his gaze between us.
"Right, you find them in your box of Frosted Flakes along with a decoder ring," Buffy interjected during the momentary silence.
"Are you happy?" Giles asked after a moment, wisely choosing to ignore Buffy's last statement.
"Yes," we answered simultaneously.
"Then I don't believe we have anything left to discuss," Giles said standing up. "I was coming up to give you this," he said, placing the Guzanar text down in front of me before heading into his office.
"Well…" Buffy said once he was gone. "That was…interesting. Which is to say that it was…interesting."
"Interesting is a good word or it. Or maybe scary. Interesting, and scary," I responded.
"Do you think that was his way of giving us his blessing?" Buffy asked. I could tell from the way that she said it that she wanted it to be. Buffy and Giles had a very special bond, I would go so far as to say that he was even a father figure to her, and I knew that his approval meant a lot to her. If Giles had had a problem with us I knew that it would have been very difficult for her. For me too since I was pretty fond of the man myself.
"It sounded like a blessing to me, or as close as we're going to get from a Brit," I told her with a smile.
"The happies are back and in full swing," Buffy said, smiling.
* * * * * *
Xander showed up about an hour after our talk with Giles. He said he had swung by Faith's place, but she wasn't there. She was probably on one of her excursions so we would have to count her out on this one. Like I predicted, we still had another four or so hours of research ahead of us--pizza break included--since none of us had found anything relevant.
As we researched the night away, I noticed Xander observing Buffy and I every once and a while, but didn't say anything. He looked more introspective than anything and I figured that it was a good thing. Perhaps he was moving onto stage three, acceptance of the inevitable. That's what I hoped the situation was anyway. Xander and I had been friends forever, almost every memory of childhood, and teenhood, involved him, and I wanted all my memories of adulthood to as well. I didn't want Buffy and I being together to become a real problem for him because, if I had to chose, I knew he wouldn't win and I didn't want it to come to that. I loved both of them, but Buffy was my other half and I needed her.
A few hours and a few pizza's later the doors to the library opened. It was Angel. After taking a quick look around he made a bee-line for the table. He glanced at Buffy quickly before turning to face the rest of us.
"She's, ah…she's here," he said in that soft whispery voice he usually had when he had just run really far, or was nervous about something.
"Who's here?" Buffy asked shifting in her chair slightly.
"Rio," Angel replied, rubbing his hands nervously.
"You know her?" I asked, surprised. Though I shouldn't really have been surprised Angelus was quite popular in his day, he knew everyone there was to know in the demon world it seemed.
"Everybody--every vampire everybody that is--knows Rio. She's a legend…she's the day walker," Angel replied.
"See I told you she didn't have a twin," Buffy said, slapping Giles on the arm. He had been constantly asking us if we were sure it was her.
"She's contacted you?" Angel asked before Giles could respond.
"She's been 'single white femaling' them for a couple days," Xander answered.
"This is not good," Angel said, looking past us. "If she's made contact that means she's getting ready to play," he continued.
"What exactly does that mean? Play? 'Cause I'm hoping it means like monopoly, or scategories, but she doesn't really strike me as the scategories type of gal. More like the type that sneaks up on elderly people and yells boo…which is why I'm really not lovin' the whole play terminology 'cause I'm thinking it might be terminal, and I'm kind of partial to life," I said, babbling a little. We were all used to it and he was able to determine what I meant just fine.
"Everything's a game to her. That's what she does, she plays. Only her pieces are people and her board the world," Angel responded.
"Let me guess, we're the pawns this time?" Buffy asked, already knowing the answer.
"That's what it looks like," Angel said, nodding.
"You said that she's known among vampires as the day walker," Giles said, speaking for the first time since Angel entered the library. "Do you know how that's possible? I'd imagine more than one vampire has tried to learn how she's capable of walking in the light throughout the centuries."
"I'm not sure exactly. I don't even think that she knows for a fact. There are a lot of speculations, one of which I think is more likely than the others. It's based on the one thing that separates her from all the other vampires I've ever heard of," Angel said in response.
"Which is?" Buffy prompted. She didn't like cryptic speech.
"She's a Slayer," Angel said pausing slightly for dramatic effect. "Or at least she used to be, hundreds of years ago. She was turned in the 16th century, the exact date I don't know," he continued. "The thing that makes her unique is that vampires never turn Slayers. Hunting them has always been a sport. If a Slayer is caught they're killed and displayed as a trophy, never turned," he looked down at the floor as he said this no doubt feeling guilty over the fact that he had participated in such hunts in his other life. "Rio is the first Slayer that I've heard of who was ever turned, and she's also the first day walker in recorded history. I think it's safe to assume the two are related."
"So she was a Slayer," Buffy said when he finished speaking. "Was she any good?"
"I wasn't around when she was a Slayer, but if you want to believe the talk she was supposedly pretty impressive. She was twenty-four when she was turned and had been called in her mid-teens, so she must have had a pretty good run," Angel responded.
"'Rio' must be the Slayer, Dario," Giles responded. "She disappeared around the time Angel say this 'Rio' appeared, and it explains the marking you saw on her arm. If she is indeed Dario, then the texts give the impression of a very capable Slayer, and young woman."
"This still doesn't explain her being able to go for afternoon picnics," Buffy said in response to both their answers.
"The physiology of a Slayer is different from that of other humans. Taking that into consideration, the assumption that a Slayer would react differently to process of being turned isn't unreasonable," Giles responded.
"Maybe it's some strange form of compensation," I added.
"Explain?" Buffy asked turning to face me.
"You know, a way to say 'sorry you got turned into the undead on the job, but a least you'll be able to watch the sunrise' type of deal, or something like that. A way to take the suckage out of a lifetime of servitude to the cause," I explained.
"In other words, The Big Kahuna works in mysterious ways and this may be one of them," Xander summed up for the benefit of anyone who had dozed off.
"Giles?" Buffy asked.
"I doubt the good Lord had anything to do with it, but the physiological differences a Slayer has may indeed form some sort of resistance to the particular agent that makes it deadly for vampires to walk in the light," Giles responded. "Of course all of this is speculation."
"Of course," Buffy responded. "What do you think she's going to do?" Buffy asked, turning to Angel this time.
"I have no idea, that's what makes her so dangerous, what has earned her a reputation among the undead. She's brilliant, she's unpredictable, and she can be ruthless. She never plays the same game twice, some are similar, but they're never the same," Angel responded.
"Does she want to kill us?" Buffy asked.
"She wants to play with you," Angel responded. "She's done this before with no one dying, but she's also played games with very high mortality rates. It depends on the luck of the draw."
We were all silent for a moment before Giles broke it up.
"Now that we know who and what we're looking for it should be simple to find reference to her, especially if she is as legendary as Angel says she is. Our best option is now to find out as much about her history as we can, and try to find a pattern to her behavior so that we can formulate a course of action," the watcher said.
"Sounds like a beginning," Buffy said, reaching for the book she had placed on the table when Angel arrived. "Grab a book big boy, this isn't a spectator sport," she said to Angel, who was watching us shift into research mode. He nodded and took a seat next to Xander.
Angel didn't know about Buffy and I yet, and I found myself getting nervous in his presence. I didn't doubt Buffy's feelings for me, but I still had this not-so-nice feeling in my stomach about the whole thing. There was one thing I was certain of however, it would be an interesting evening. If it was one thing it would be that.
* * * * * *
Over the next half hour or so we did manage to find a few references about Rio in the texts but it was nothing that could really help or that we didn't know already. I had just finished with the book I was reading and placed it back on the table before turning my head to the side to observe the scene playing out there.
Buffy and Angel were standing off to the side near one of the stacks speaking quietly. Buffy was speaking, moving her hands about and Angel merely stood there watching her as far as I could tell. At one point when I was watching them, I saw him turn his head to look at me and our gazes met. At that moment I knew that he knew. I probably couldn't have said anything at that moment if I had had to. When he looked at me it was with mournful eyes, and I felt badly for him. I liked Angel, I really did, and I wouldn't have wished him any harm, but things were the way they were and there was nothing that I could do about that, nothing that I would really want to do about that, but it was sad nonetheless.
They spoke for a few more seconds before separating. Buffy headed back over the table where I was seated, and Angel headed for Giles' office. I switched my gaze back and forth between the two of them watching their progress until Buffy settled in beside me.
"That was an unfun wasn't it?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
"Definitely an unfun," she agreed, looking towards the office for a moment before returning her gaze to me. "He knows…about us I mean," she continued.
"I figured," I responded.
"Yeah," she said more for the sake of saying something than for any real exchange of information.
"How'd it go?" I asked.
"You want details this time?" she asked, smiling slightly.
"I want all the 'tails," I responded.
"It went well I suppose. I think I kinda caught him by surprise when I called him over, I think he figured I just wanted him to get one of high books down," she started. "I don't think that this is going to go on his list of Kodak moments but he seemed to take it alright, keep a sense of humor about it."
"Really?" I asked. First of all I was surprised he had a sense of humor, and second of all I was surprised it chose a moment like that to pop up.
"Yeah, he said it could have been worse…it could have been Xander," Buffy related with a somewhat perverse grin. "Seriously though, I think knowing it was you made it somewhat easier to deal with. You're one of his favorite peeps," Buffy continued seriously.
"Was one of his favorites," I said pretty sure that I was off the list now.
"He'll be okay," Buffy responded, "and he doesn't hate you. You're probably not going to get a birthday card or anything, but you didn't before this either so it shouldn't be to hard to deal with." She continued smiling. I couldn't stop the grin from forming on my face and looked down at my lap as it made it's way across my face.
"Hey," Buffy said, putting her hand under my chin and tilting it up so that I was looking at her. "I love you."
"I love you too," I responded, then she leaned forward and kissed me lightly before pulling back.
"It works out well that way," she responded when we broke apart. I smiled and nodded, it did work out well. She reached out giving my hand one last squeeze before getting up. "I really should have gotten him to get the high book first," she muttered softly to herself as she wondered off. I watched her walk off, she was looking at the bookshelf like it was a creature from the pits and hell. As I watched her I felt a big goofy grin spread across my face and I didn't care a bit. We always said love made you do the wacky.
* * * * * *
"You have got some real crazies livin' here," Faith said as she breezed into the library, her index finger moving in circles around her ear. "Cuckoo, Cuckoo," she continued as she made her way to the table. "What's goin' on and why wasn't I invited?"
"Maybe if you were home every once in while you wouldn't miss all the fun," Buffy responded from her seat. We weren't expecting her to show, but the fact that she had didn't surprise us. Faith basically did her own thing which meant that we usually had no idea what she was doing.
"I was on a mission, B, besides reading ain't exactly my idea of high times," Faith responded.
"What type of mission? Were you suddenly overtaken with the need to find a new pair of vinyl pants?" Buffy asked looking at the other Slayers legs.
"Meowww, someone's in a mood," Faith responded making a clawing motion with her hand. "Willow, you going to take of this?" she asked with a smirk, turning to face me. We all knew how she assumed I would take the edge off. As for my response, I just kind of looked at her blankly, for I knew not how to respond to that. "Cuckoo, cuckoo," she repeated, tapping the top of the table.
"Faith?" Giles said, coming out of office surprised to see the other Slayer.
"That's what most people call me," Faith said, swinging around slightly. "But you can call me later if you want," she continued with a smile.
"Yes, well…" Giles responded, rubbing his glasses vigorously. "Have you been appraised of the situation?"
"There's a sitch, nobody told me there was a sitch," Faith said, turning around to eye us.
"While you were on your 'mission'," Buffy said, saying the word 'mission' in a tone that left no doubt she still thought Faith had just gone to buy pants, "we've been trying to find the secret weakness of a day walking vampire who's been stalking us."
"Fuck, I leave town for two days and everything goes to hell," Faith responded. "This 'day walking' thing though, that was just to see if I was paying attention, right?"
"'Fraid not," Xander replied.
We spent the next few minutes getting Faith caught up on the situation. When she was pretty much up to date, I remembered something she had said before and asked her about it.
"What did you mean about the crazies in town…I mean I know this is a hellmouth and all and crazies pretty much have a hall pass, but were these special crazies, like the kind that play word games, and tell you their name is a city, and talk about basket's made out of rat tails, or your usual run of the mill crazy?" I asked.
"I'm sorry I left my decoder ring at home. Little help here?" Faith asked once I had stopped.
"Did whatever you were talking about have to do with, Rio?" Buffy explained, while giving her a look.
"I dunno," Faith said, tossing an envelope on the table. "You tell me."
Buffy picked the envelope up off the table and opened it up. Shaking the envelope we all watched as a playing card floated out. Once the card was resting safely on the table Buffy looked up at Faith and raised her eyebrow.
"Look at the bottom," was all Faith said in response. Buffy picked up the card, it was a queen of hearts.
"It says 'complete the picture'," Buffy said, putting the card back down.
"What does it mean?" I asked.
"Got me," Buffy responded shrugging. Angel had left about half an hour before so we couldn't ask him if he had any theories about what the card meant.
"So," Xander said, "is it our crazy, or another crazy?"
"Only one way to find out," Buffy said, standing up.
"Does it involve ski masks, jumper cables, and martini's, cause if so I've got us covered…expect for the martini part," Xander said, getting excited. Espionage always excited him.
"No," Buffy responded. "Even better," she then paused until we were all leaning forward in our seats in anticipation. "We…check our mail."
"Hook line and sinker," Faith snickered. Buffy smirked and stood up.
"Coming?" she asked. Xander, Faith and I got up and joined her. "Giles?"
"You go ahead, I'm going to continue doing some research," the watcher responded. "Alert me if you come across anything," he added. Buffy told him it was an affirmative and we headed out.
* * * * * *
My house was closest to the school, so we headed there first. When we arrived my mom was doing some of her yoga/meditative/guru stuff, and my dad was up in the study, so we were free to roam without question. I quickly located the pile of unopened mail and started searching through it for an envelope without a return address. The one Faith had gotten had no return address, and it seemed in character for Rio to hand deliver them.
I found it near the bottom of the pack and opened it up. There was a card inside just like there had been in Faith's. It was a queen of spades and had the same words written on the bottom of it: complete the picture.
"Well I guess that answers the question," Buffy said as I placed the card in my pocket and we headed for the door. "It's definitely our crazy."
We headed to Buffy's house last. The trip to Xander's house had produced the queen of diamonds with the same three words written on the bottom as with the other two cards. When we got to Buffy's we found another card, this time it was the eight of spades. We laid all the cards out on Buffy's coffee table then she headed into the kitchen to see if her mom had left a note. Xander and Faith remained seated in the family room while I headed into the kitchen to find Buffy a few minutes later.
"What's wrong?" I asked, placing my hand on her shoulder. She was staring at the stairs with a frown on her face.
"She's not home," was all she said.
"Your mom?" I asked.
"Yeah, she should be here," Buffy said, turning to face me. "It doesn't even look like she's been home today."
"She's probably just working late at the gallery," I said.
"Probably," Buffy allowed, shaking her head a bit. "What are you doing out here anyway, I said I'd be right back," she continued.
"But you weren't…right back, so I came to look for you," I responded.
"You're always looking out for me, aren't you?" she asked, turning around so that she could look into my eyes.
"Just like you're always looking out for me," I responded. "It works out well that way," I said, mirroring her earlier statement.
"Hmmm," she said thoughtfully before cracking a tiny smile. We were so close our faces were practically touching anyway, so I leaned forward and kissed her.
"I really hate to interrupt the snuggles, but Giles is on the phone." We separated and turned around to see Xander standing in the doorway. Buffy simply nodded and headed into the family room to take the call while I remained behind with Xander.
"I was right you know," he said once she was gone.
"About what?" I asked curiously.
"In the car on the weekend, when we were heading into the wild green yonder," he responded. "You two are cute… a twosome of cuteness even," he continued before heading out of the room as well. I stood there for a moment after he left another one of those stupid grins plastered across my face, most of it caused by relief. Things would still take a little getting used to, but he had accepted Buffy and I for what we were, and who we were to each other, and I couldn't find anything not to smile about in that.
When I got into the family room, Buffy was just hanging up the phone.
"What's the up?" I asked, taking a seat next to Buffy on the couch.
"Giles got a card too. He found it in his mailbox at the school," Buffy responded. "He said he checked that mailbox after lunch. That means that she came in there right under our noses and put it there."
"She could have been caught," I thought out loud.
"I think that was the point," Buffy responded.
"So what now? We wait for her to play us for suckers again?" Faith asked, fingering a stake.
"No, we try and figure out what the hell these cards are suppose to mean," Buffy answered.
"What was the card Giles got of?" I asked, having missed that.
"The eight of hearts," Buffy said. "We've got ourselves a Full House."
"You think it has a twin that likes to sing songs about peanut butter?" Xander asked. He was making reference to those wretched Olsen twins, and we all wished he hadn't. We all really, really wished he hadn't.
"You should have locked that one up and thrown away the key," Buffy said shaking her head ruefully.
"Hey, being a comical genius is not easy. Ask the Jim Carrey's, and Mike Meyer's of the world and they'll tell this: they can't all be winners. Frankly I thought that it was a rather valiant attempt considering the material I had to work with," Xander responded pretending to be vexed.
"So…about the cards…" Buffy said, causing Xander to pout a little, which caused Faith and I to trade looks. The looks bordered on camaraderie and made me dizzy for a second.
We discussed what the meaning of the cards could be for a while. Most of Xander's suggestions involving the word 'strip' somewhere before I finally remembered something and picked up one of the cards.
"Complete the picture," I said, reading off of the card. "Complete the picture," I repeated.
"Will?" Buffy asked. She could tell that I was on to something. I had a habit of repeating things when I was onto something.
"Do you think it could mean 'Picture Perfect'?" I asked, turning to Buffy.
"What's that?"
"That's right it closed down before you moved here. Picture Perfect was a Casino located just outside of downtown. It went out of business about a year before you came to Sunnydale," I responded.
"Why'd it close down?" Buffy asked.
"The inhabitants of Sunnydale spend enough time gambling with their lives, apparently they didn't want to gamble with their money. To sum up: it be bad business for them there gambling folks to set up in this one Starbucks town, 'cause when the tables weren't a rockin', the creditors came a knockin'," Xander answered saying the last part in a Texan cadence.
"Check out the back side of the cards," Faith said a moment later. We all turned the cards around to look at the colorful backs. After a second I realized what Faith was getting at.
"'The perfect place to win'," I said reading the words etched into the back of the card.
"Ding, ding, ding…I think we've found a winner," Buffy said.
* * * * * *
Giles arrived about ten minutes after we had figured out the meaning of the clues. When he got there we told him what we thought and he agreed that it made the most sense. Once we had figured out where she was the only thing left to ponder was, why? Why did she send us the cards?
"I'll be back in a sec," Buffy said when there was a pause in the discussion, then she headed into the kitchen. Mrs. Summers still hadn't come home and I figured that Buffy was going to check up on her. She had been glancing at the clock all night and I knew that she was worried. Idly I wondered if this was how my parents felt when I was out half the night. I doubted it though, to be worried you had to notice someone wasn't there.
"What is it?" I asked when Buffy entered the room a few minutes later. She had looked worried going into the kitchen and she looked even more so now.
"I called the gallery, they said that she left over three hours ago," Buffy said, and we all knew what she was thinking.
"Rio?" I asked.
"Joanna, said that just before mom left there was a woman in talking to her about some artifact or something. Jo, described her as 'beautiful, mysterious, and a trifle odd'," Buffy responded.
"Rio," I agreed.
"I say we pack up our stakes, bottles of holy water and whatnot, and go blazing into the casino much in the style of John Wayne," Xander said from his spot on the couch.
"For once, I vote two thumbs up for John," Buffy said.
"I think that perhaps we should put a little more thought into our course of action," Giles piped up.
"No, no more thought," Buffy said. "This is my mother we're talking about. Whether we spend five hours or five minutes trying to figure out which entrance to use, it's not going to change a thing. If she wants to play, then we'll play. Let's not wait, let's not discuss it in a committee, let's do," Buffy continued standing up. "In or out?"
"In."
"In."
"In."
"Very well."
"Then let's get moving," Buffy said.