Fic: Trouble On The Way 3/6
Aug. 3rd, 2010 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonyphoenixTitle: “Trouble On The Way” 3/6
Characters: In this section: Xander, Willow, Buffy, Angel,and a couple of OCs. The story is working towards Xander/OC and will also have appearances by Willow, Buffy, Oz, Ripper (it is set on “Band Candy” night), Joyce, and Angel. Oh, and a bunch more Ocs.
Rating: PG-13
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but the will be once I've taken over the world. Bwah-ha-ha.
Summary: There's a new female demon in town. Guess who's attracted.
Note: This story is set around the time of “Band Candy”, but, in my version, Xander and Cordy have already broken up. Sorry. Basically I wrote the story and, in a later edit, decided I needed to associate it with a specific episode. “Band Candy” fit best in terms of time-line and demonic activity so I went with it despite the fact that Xander and Cordy were still an item then.
Note: Thanks to diebirchen, the most gracious Fairy Godmother of Verbal Usage, for the beta. I did one final edit after incorporating her suggestions and most likely added in some errors. By which I mean to say that any errors are my own.
Note: I couldn't resist quoting Young Frankenstein.
The Master List of entries for this fic is here.
* * *
Kris had described the Bronze as “lame beyond words” when Helen had asked her about it, but Helen had taken that to mean it was someplace she'd feel comfortable. It was, mostly. Certainly the feeling in the pit of her stomach couldn't be attributed to the environment. The kids seemed a lot like her friends from home. She didn't pay much attention to the band, but the music was about what she'd expected. The problem was Xander. She peered over at him through the spiral staircase. He was sitting with the two girls she'd seem him with at the school. The blond had her back towards Helen but the red-head looked nice, like she'd be a good friend.
Grams had told Helen that a werewolf couldn't have friends. It would be too hard to hide what she was, but Helen wasn't used to being alone. She'd grown up in a neighborhood full of kids, who all watched out for each other. Even as a toddler, her parents hadn't worried when she stepped out of the door, because they knew she'd have a crowd of older kids keeping an eye on her. What she'd been told was colliding with her basic nature.
Her feelings of loneliness had almost convinced her to join Xander and his friends at the table, when someone spoke from just behind her. “Well, well.” She whipped around. The guy was just inches away from her, blocking her way. While his large build should have been intimidating, what really frightened her was that he wasn't human. She didn't know how she could tell, but she was sure.
“Just look at you,” he added. “You know, I had been thinking snack, but now I think it would be quite the, let's say, interesting challenge to meet you at the next full moon.”
He knows. Helen panicked. He's not human, and he knows. “What are you?”
Smiling, he held out a hand. With that sandy hair and laid-back grin, he actually looked like a regular guy. Helen tried to shrink back into the staircase. You don't shake hands with dinner, she was thinking, but she couldn't bring herself to touch him. He pulled his hand back, but kept the grin, although it started to seem a little forced. “Raphael, but you can call me Rafe,” he answered, as if she'd asked who instead of what.
Another man, as large as Rafe but with dark hair, laid a hand on Rafe's shoulder. Another non-human, Helen thought as she started trembling. When he spoke, his words didn't make sense to Helen. “Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?” He seemed to be threatening Rafe, but why would two monsters be fighting? But then, what did she know? Maybe monsters fought all the time.
Rafe frowned at the man and then relaxed into an easy grin. As Rafe shifted his position, Helen's werewolf senses told her that he'd moved into a defensive position. “We were just talking, weren't we Helen?”
It knows my name. How does it know my name?
Rafe glanced over at her, frowned again, and stepped back, giving Helen and the stranger a bit of space. “Why don't we take this outside?” the other guy said.
“Oooh, Grandma,” Rafe replied, “what pointy teeth you have.” Helen couldn't even begin to make sense of that comment but it must have meant something because the other guy glared.
A blond woman, also not human, stepped up next to the dark man. She glanced at Helen before turning to Rafe. “Didn't someone mention taking this outside? Because I'd love to make sure my fist was the last thing you saw.”
Rafe put his hands up. “Hey, I've got no quarrel with the Slayer. Guess the rumors are true, Angel.” Helen looked at the dark-haired guy again. He's an angel? Are they even real? Monsters are.
“Leave now,” the blond ordered.
Rafe laughed. “Some other time then,” he said before heading for the door.
The woman started to follow, saying, “I'll take care of it,” but then the angel pulled her aside and whispered something that Helen couldn't catch. “You sure?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Fine. I'll just make sure he's really leaving,” the blond said, before following Rafe out.
“Do you need someone to walk you home?” the angel asked Helen.
“Are you really an angel,” she asked, feeling like an idiot the moment the words were out of her mouth.
“Um, what?”
“That man, Rafe, he called you an angel.”
“Oh, um, no.” He looked uncomfortable. “Angel is my name.”
So he was a monster. “I'm meeting friends. Right over there. They're waiting for me. They'll probably come looking for me any second now.”
He stepped back and gestured for her to leave. Helen was afraid that meant he planned to follow, but instead he vanished into the shadows. Desperate for the safety of company, Helen bolted to Xander's table.
“Helen.” Xander bounced out of his chair to pull one out for Helen to sit on. “Have a seat. This is Willow. Willow, Helen.”
“I gathered that,” Willow said with a smile. “Nice to meet you,” she added as Helen sat down.
“Helen helped me pick my song,” he said.
“Xander,” Willow replied. “You picked Bridge Over Troubled Waters.”
“Hey, Johnny Cash is god, and it's not like your song was so great.”
Looking over from their bickering, Willow frowned. “Are you OK?” she asked Helen. “You look a bit shaken up.”
“No, I'm fine,” Helen said, her eyes wide. She forced herself to relax and added, “I just met some, well, strange people back there.”
“Strange how?” Willow asked, taking Helen's words unexpectedly seriously.
“I'm not sure I can describe it. They were just... different. That Angel guy drove Rafe away, and then...”
“Angel,” Xander interrupted, his voice sounding flat. “Of course you met Angel, all tall, dark, and handsome.”
“And creepy,” Helen said.
“Creepy? Really?” Xander asked with a hopeful smile.
“Angel drove somebody away?” Willow asked.
“Yeah, him and some...”
“Hey, guys, what's up?” It was the blond girl, the one who wasn't human.
“Buffy,” Willow said. “Everything OK?”
“I should go,” Helen said, jumping up from her chair.
“Helen, wait,” Xander shouted.
“Hey, it's OK,” Buffy added. “Tall, blond, and disturbing,” she said with a frown, “is definitely gone.”
“No,” Helen added, inching away, “I have to be at work early.”
Xander moved over until he was next to Helen, and she took his arm, feeling safer with him by her side. “I know you met a couple of creepy guys–” he started.
“A couple?” Buffy asked.
Willow rolled her eyes. “He's including Angel.”
“Xander! Angel is not creepy.”
“Hey, don't blame me. He's the one who wigged out Helen,” Xander said.
“Angel's nice,” Willow babbled. “Well, except for that one time after he and Buffy–” She was interrupted by a loud cough from Buffy. “But that's never going to happen again, so you don't have to worry about him. He's one of the good guys now. Really.”
“Thanks for the glowing endorsement, Willow.”
“I have to go,” Helen said, before bolting for the door. The crowd slowed her down enough that Xander caught up with her just as she was leaving the building.
“Angel really is OK,” he said. “You shouldn't let him wig you out, and what am I saying? You don't like Angel, no skin off my nose.”
“Have you known him and Buffy long?” she said, unsure how to ask him if he knew they were monsters.
“You've already picked up that they're a couple, huh? Buffy came here about three years ago. Come to think of it, that's about when Angel showed up as well.”
“Are you close to her? Good friends?” Helen asked.
“Good friends. Yep, that about sums it up,” he said. His tone of voice hinted as some past distress. Helen took his hand, telling herself that she was just checking if he were a monster or not.
Xander glanced up with something of a shocked look, which then relaxed into a grin as he gave her hand a squeeze. “I, uh,” he started to say, but then he started swinging his hand so that, as they walked down the street together, their hands were swinging between them.
They walked along in comfortable silence until Xander suddenly shouted out, “Werewolf!”
Helen jerked her hand out of Xander's. “Werewolf?”
“No, no, it's OK,” he replied. Looking concerned that he'd upset her, he pointed towards a store window where The Wolf Man was playing on about a half-dozen tv sets. “There wolf. There caffeinated goodness,” he finished, gesturing towards the local coffee shop.
“Why are you talking that way?” Helen asked, still not sure why he'd brought up werewolves.
“I thought you wanted to quote Young Frankenstein,” he said.
Oh, she thought. Getting into the joke, she added, “No, I don't want to.”
“Suit yourself,” Xander shrugged but with a smile on his lips. “I'm easy.”
As they walked the last block back to Helen's apartment, she, with a shrug of an apology for jerking her hand away earlier, took his hand again. At the door, Helen brushed a hand through her hair, uncertain what to do. She could invite him in, but they'd just met, and it felt a little awkward. Besides, if Kris were home, who knew what she'd be up to.
“So,” Xander said, startling her out of her thoughts. “Maybe we could do something Saturday?” rushed out of his mouth so quickly that Helen had to think it through twice before she understood his words. When she didn't answer right away, he gave her an uncertain look. “That is, if you'd like to,” he added.
“I,” Helen stammered. “All those people were a bit much,” she answered truthfully.
“Well, how about a movie? Just you and me. Dogma's playing down the street. Come on,” he encouraged. “Alanis Morissette as God? George Carlin as the Pope? Well, not quite the Pope, but almost.”
Helen smiled at his antics and figured she could handle a date if it was just the two of them. “OK, I'll see you Saturday.”
Characters: In this section: Xander, Willow, Buffy, Angel,and a couple of OCs. The story is working towards Xander/OC and will also have appearances by Willow, Buffy, Oz, Ripper (it is set on “Band Candy” night), Joyce, and Angel. Oh, and a bunch more Ocs.
Rating: PG-13
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but the will be once I've taken over the world. Bwah-ha-ha.
Summary: There's a new female demon in town. Guess who's attracted.
Note: This story is set around the time of “Band Candy”, but, in my version, Xander and Cordy have already broken up. Sorry. Basically I wrote the story and, in a later edit, decided I needed to associate it with a specific episode. “Band Candy” fit best in terms of time-line and demonic activity so I went with it despite the fact that Xander and Cordy were still an item then.
Note: Thanks to diebirchen, the most gracious Fairy Godmother of Verbal Usage, for the beta. I did one final edit after incorporating her suggestions and most likely added in some errors. By which I mean to say that any errors are my own.
Note: I couldn't resist quoting Young Frankenstein.
The Master List of entries for this fic is here.
Kris had described the Bronze as “lame beyond words” when Helen had asked her about it, but Helen had taken that to mean it was someplace she'd feel comfortable. It was, mostly. Certainly the feeling in the pit of her stomach couldn't be attributed to the environment. The kids seemed a lot like her friends from home. She didn't pay much attention to the band, but the music was about what she'd expected. The problem was Xander. She peered over at him through the spiral staircase. He was sitting with the two girls she'd seem him with at the school. The blond had her back towards Helen but the red-head looked nice, like she'd be a good friend.
Grams had told Helen that a werewolf couldn't have friends. It would be too hard to hide what she was, but Helen wasn't used to being alone. She'd grown up in a neighborhood full of kids, who all watched out for each other. Even as a toddler, her parents hadn't worried when she stepped out of the door, because they knew she'd have a crowd of older kids keeping an eye on her. What she'd been told was colliding with her basic nature.
Her feelings of loneliness had almost convinced her to join Xander and his friends at the table, when someone spoke from just behind her. “Well, well.” She whipped around. The guy was just inches away from her, blocking her way. While his large build should have been intimidating, what really frightened her was that he wasn't human. She didn't know how she could tell, but she was sure.
“Just look at you,” he added. “You know, I had been thinking snack, but now I think it would be quite the, let's say, interesting challenge to meet you at the next full moon.”
He knows. Helen panicked. He's not human, and he knows. “What are you?”
Smiling, he held out a hand. With that sandy hair and laid-back grin, he actually looked like a regular guy. Helen tried to shrink back into the staircase. You don't shake hands with dinner, she was thinking, but she couldn't bring herself to touch him. He pulled his hand back, but kept the grin, although it started to seem a little forced. “Raphael, but you can call me Rafe,” he answered, as if she'd asked who instead of what.
Another man, as large as Rafe but with dark hair, laid a hand on Rafe's shoulder. Another non-human, Helen thought as she started trembling. When he spoke, his words didn't make sense to Helen. “Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?” He seemed to be threatening Rafe, but why would two monsters be fighting? But then, what did she know? Maybe monsters fought all the time.
Rafe frowned at the man and then relaxed into an easy grin. As Rafe shifted his position, Helen's werewolf senses told her that he'd moved into a defensive position. “We were just talking, weren't we Helen?”
It knows my name. How does it know my name?
Rafe glanced over at her, frowned again, and stepped back, giving Helen and the stranger a bit of space. “Why don't we take this outside?” the other guy said.
“Oooh, Grandma,” Rafe replied, “what pointy teeth you have.” Helen couldn't even begin to make sense of that comment but it must have meant something because the other guy glared.
A blond woman, also not human, stepped up next to the dark man. She glanced at Helen before turning to Rafe. “Didn't someone mention taking this outside? Because I'd love to make sure my fist was the last thing you saw.”
Rafe put his hands up. “Hey, I've got no quarrel with the Slayer. Guess the rumors are true, Angel.” Helen looked at the dark-haired guy again. He's an angel? Are they even real? Monsters are.
“Leave now,” the blond ordered.
Rafe laughed. “Some other time then,” he said before heading for the door.
The woman started to follow, saying, “I'll take care of it,” but then the angel pulled her aside and whispered something that Helen couldn't catch. “You sure?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Fine. I'll just make sure he's really leaving,” the blond said, before following Rafe out.
“Do you need someone to walk you home?” the angel asked Helen.
“Are you really an angel,” she asked, feeling like an idiot the moment the words were out of her mouth.
“Um, what?”
“That man, Rafe, he called you an angel.”
“Oh, um, no.” He looked uncomfortable. “Angel is my name.”
So he was a monster. “I'm meeting friends. Right over there. They're waiting for me. They'll probably come looking for me any second now.”
He stepped back and gestured for her to leave. Helen was afraid that meant he planned to follow, but instead he vanished into the shadows. Desperate for the safety of company, Helen bolted to Xander's table.
“Helen.” Xander bounced out of his chair to pull one out for Helen to sit on. “Have a seat. This is Willow. Willow, Helen.”
“I gathered that,” Willow said with a smile. “Nice to meet you,” she added as Helen sat down.
“Helen helped me pick my song,” he said.
“Xander,” Willow replied. “You picked Bridge Over Troubled Waters.”
“Hey, Johnny Cash is god, and it's not like your song was so great.”
Looking over from their bickering, Willow frowned. “Are you OK?” she asked Helen. “You look a bit shaken up.”
“No, I'm fine,” Helen said, her eyes wide. She forced herself to relax and added, “I just met some, well, strange people back there.”
“Strange how?” Willow asked, taking Helen's words unexpectedly seriously.
“I'm not sure I can describe it. They were just... different. That Angel guy drove Rafe away, and then...”
“Angel,” Xander interrupted, his voice sounding flat. “Of course you met Angel, all tall, dark, and handsome.”
“And creepy,” Helen said.
“Creepy? Really?” Xander asked with a hopeful smile.
“Angel drove somebody away?” Willow asked.
“Yeah, him and some...”
“Hey, guys, what's up?” It was the blond girl, the one who wasn't human.
“Buffy,” Willow said. “Everything OK?”
“I should go,” Helen said, jumping up from her chair.
“Helen, wait,” Xander shouted.
“Hey, it's OK,” Buffy added. “Tall, blond, and disturbing,” she said with a frown, “is definitely gone.”
“No,” Helen added, inching away, “I have to be at work early.”
Xander moved over until he was next to Helen, and she took his arm, feeling safer with him by her side. “I know you met a couple of creepy guys–” he started.
“A couple?” Buffy asked.
Willow rolled her eyes. “He's including Angel.”
“Xander! Angel is not creepy.”
“Hey, don't blame me. He's the one who wigged out Helen,” Xander said.
“Angel's nice,” Willow babbled. “Well, except for that one time after he and Buffy–” She was interrupted by a loud cough from Buffy. “But that's never going to happen again, so you don't have to worry about him. He's one of the good guys now. Really.”
“Thanks for the glowing endorsement, Willow.”
“I have to go,” Helen said, before bolting for the door. The crowd slowed her down enough that Xander caught up with her just as she was leaving the building.
“Angel really is OK,” he said. “You shouldn't let him wig you out, and what am I saying? You don't like Angel, no skin off my nose.”
“Have you known him and Buffy long?” she said, unsure how to ask him if he knew they were monsters.
“You've already picked up that they're a couple, huh? Buffy came here about three years ago. Come to think of it, that's about when Angel showed up as well.”
“Are you close to her? Good friends?” Helen asked.
“Good friends. Yep, that about sums it up,” he said. His tone of voice hinted as some past distress. Helen took his hand, telling herself that she was just checking if he were a monster or not.
Xander glanced up with something of a shocked look, which then relaxed into a grin as he gave her hand a squeeze. “I, uh,” he started to say, but then he started swinging his hand so that, as they walked down the street together, their hands were swinging between them.
They walked along in comfortable silence until Xander suddenly shouted out, “Werewolf!”
Helen jerked her hand out of Xander's. “Werewolf?”
“No, no, it's OK,” he replied. Looking concerned that he'd upset her, he pointed towards a store window where The Wolf Man was playing on about a half-dozen tv sets. “There wolf. There caffeinated goodness,” he finished, gesturing towards the local coffee shop.
“Why are you talking that way?” Helen asked, still not sure why he'd brought up werewolves.
“I thought you wanted to quote Young Frankenstein,” he said.
Oh, she thought. Getting into the joke, she added, “No, I don't want to.”
“Suit yourself,” Xander shrugged but with a smile on his lips. “I'm easy.”
As they walked the last block back to Helen's apartment, she, with a shrug of an apology for jerking her hand away earlier, took his hand again. At the door, Helen brushed a hand through her hair, uncertain what to do. She could invite him in, but they'd just met, and it felt a little awkward. Besides, if Kris were home, who knew what she'd be up to.
“So,” Xander said, startling her out of her thoughts. “Maybe we could do something Saturday?” rushed out of his mouth so quickly that Helen had to think it through twice before she understood his words. When she didn't answer right away, he gave her an uncertain look. “That is, if you'd like to,” he added.
“I,” Helen stammered. “All those people were a bit much,” she answered truthfully.
“Well, how about a movie? Just you and me. Dogma's playing down the street. Come on,” he encouraged. “Alanis Morissette as God? George Carlin as the Pope? Well, not quite the Pope, but almost.”
Helen smiled at his antics and figured she could handle a date if it was just the two of them. “OK, I'll see you Saturday.”