Life is Short (revamped) Part 6b/7

["TheBear" <thebear@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

#^%@# Yahell! Truncating sons a @%@&*'s

Part 6b

========== BtVS ==========

Xander Harris was hunting.

'That's my Willow! Putting that big brain to good use!' he thought. 'I
am so going to enjoy putting you in your place, Cordelia Chase! Hey, I
made a rhyme!'

Xander began to engage in a little fantasy role-play as he walked.
'Undercover agent Harris stalks the halls of Sunnydale high in search of
the enemy- Cordelia and the Cordettes! His mission? To trick the enemy
into giving evidence that can be used to discredit them... not as
satisfying as beating an admission out of them would be...' he thought
wistfully. 

'Oh, it shut up Watcher-man though!' he chuckled. 'He looked pretty
funny with his mouth flapping like that when Willow stood up and yelled
at him!' A shiver of embarrassment went through him when Xander
remembered that she had been yelling at himself as well. 'Never thought
I'd see the day when Willow yelled at anyone! Let alone me!'

The teenager smiled as the memory replayed in his head. 'I think G-man
was embarrassed that a high school kid came up with a plan while he was
still busy complaining about stuff!'

'I just hope this works...' he thought, sobering. 'God, please don't
let me screw up! Will might never speak to me again!'

He found his targets hanging out by Cordelia's locker, laughing and
giggling. 

Xander's eyes narrowed as he focused on the leader of the clique;
Cordelia Chase. 'God, you piss me off! You think it's real funny, huh,
trying to hurt my friends?' Xander seethed. 'You of all people should
be bowing down and kissing Buffy's feet! You'd be vampire chow right
now if it wasn't for her!'

The smiles and laughter were replaced with sneering contempt as Xander
closed in on the group. "What do you want, Harris? Looking for your
little lesbo buddies?" Cordelia demanded haughtily as Xander came to a
stop directly in front of her. It was obvious that she was feeling
extremely pleased with herself at the moment.

"Yeah, I heard you guys made up a bunch of lies about Buffy so you could
get her expelled!" Xander said.

"So what if we did! We don't need freaks like her around here! What do
you care anyway? You obviously aren't her type!" Cordelia said
witheringly.

"Is that why you're doing this? Because she's into girls?" Xander
asked, trying to remain calm.

"There's no room at this school for her kind Xander," The cruel brunette
said as though she were explaining the obvious to someone too dumb to
understand.

"Yeah, Harris," Harmony chimed in. "We have a strict 'No Dykes' policy
here."

All of the girls tittered at Harmony's clever remark.

'Be calm Xander, follow the script... yelling now will just ruin
everything...' he told himself as the rage built up in him. 'you can
enjoy fantasies of strangling them later, right now do your job!'

Growling through clenched teeth, Xander said, "So that gives you the
right to pick on Willow, 'cause she's gay? That makes it ok to try and
get Buffy kicked out of school?"

"Well, duh! What's it to you anyway, Xander? Two more girls you'll
never have a chance with..." Cordelia snapped, her eyes narrowing at
him.

'Get 'em all Xan!' he thought. "Stefani, Tiffani, Aura? You guys on
the gay-bashing bandwagon too?"

The three sheep seemed stunned at being directly addressed. However,
after nervous glances toward Cordelia, all three gave muttered
affirmatives.

Xander let slip a little of his fury, stabbing his finger toward
Cordelia and stating, "You're all just like her! You make me sick!" he
shouted and then turned and walked away quickly before he started
screaming, or even worse.

As he strode down the hall, his rage coalesced into grim satisfaction.
'Oh we got you, you bitch,' he thought, patting his pocket and the tape
recorder that Willow had set him up with. 'We got you all!'

========== BtVS ==========

Willow sat at the table in the library, fidgeting with apprehension. 'I
wish he'd stop that, it's driving me bonkers!' she thought as she
glanced up at Buffy's Watcher.

Giles was pacing back and forth with a sour look on his face

Willow tried to ignore the impatient Brit, concentrating on other, more
important things. 'Come on Xander! I'm counting on you! Get Cordelia
to confess on tape and we'll be able to get Buffy out of this mess... I
hope!' 

A pang of sorrow made Willow frown as she thought, 'Gosh, it must have
been horrible for her! Being accused of something like that... I bet
her mom was furious! Oh, I hope she's ok!'

Giles apparently tired of his pacing, because he abruptly sat down in
the chair across the table from her, his scowl still firmly in place.

'I didn't mean to make things hard on Buffy...' Willow lamented
guiltily. 'I know I'm probably being selfish... I don't think I can
give her up though. Not as long as she wants me, 'cause I know that
would hurt her almost as much as it would kill me, and I love her... and
I need her... and who am I kidding, I know it's selfish and I don't
care!' 

Willow's melancholy lessened slightly as she stiffened her resolve. 'We
are going to get her out of this, and she and I will make this work!'

"Ms. Rosenberg..." Giles said, breaking into her thoughts.

Her face and mind still locked into 'resolve mode,' Willow responded
hastily, "You know, Mr. Giles, I didn't mean to make things harder on
Buffy or anything, and I'm sorry this happened because of me, but I
don't think it's right for you to try and break us up! I mean, who's to
say that Buffy wouldn't have done exactly the same thing even if I
wasn't her girlfriend? I don't think she's the type to just let someone
get away with bullying someone, whether she's dating them or not, and I
mean the someone, of course; not the bully..."

Giles stiffened and his eyes widened acutely. "I, um, well... that
is..." he stammered for moment. 

'Now how come I can't talk like that when it's Cordelia?!' Willow
wondered, annoyed with herself.

After pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment, Giles said, "What I
was going to say... was that I think you've come up with a sound plan.
So long as Xander is able to achieve his objective, I believe it has a
solid chance of success."

"Oh," Willow said, nonplussed. "Oh!" she repeated as the hard look on
her face softened and she winced in embarrassment. 

She felt uncomfortably guilty at her outburst and immediately
apologized, saying, "Sorry! I'm sorry Mr. Giles; I didn't mean to be so
mean to you like that!" Willow leaned forward and laid her head on her
arms upon the table. "I'm not handling things very well today..."

"Actually, I'm rather impressed with your behavior, surprisingly so."
Giles said, sounding as though he was somewhat anxious himself.

'Why would he be nervous?' Willow wondered with a frown.

The Watcher removed his glasses and took a handkerchief from his pocket.
Willow watched, fascinated as he began to carefully polish each lens.
'Huh!' she thought surprised. 'It's like that calms him down.'

As he put his glasses back on and looked back at her she blushed,
embarrassedly realizing that she was staring at him.

'Great! Xander, please hurry back, I'm *so* spazzing out here!' Willow
bemoaned, returning her gaze to the table top.

"Ms. Rosenberg... Willow," Giles said in a soft voice.

Willow darted a look at the older man, and saw, if not a smile, at least
not a frown either. "Um, yes Mr. Giles?" she responded tentatively.

Giles did smile for just a moment as he began speaking, "I want to
assure you that- In spite of yesterday's rather unpleasant conversation-
I bear you no ill will. I don't for a moment believe that you had any
intention of causing difficulties for either Buffy or myself. Indeed,
the issue of emotional entanglements had nothing to do with any action
on your part. Rather, I brought up the subject because, of its very
nature, the roll of the Slayer simply does not allow for such things.
The Slayer... works and, and lives apart from society..."

Though loath to interrupt, Willow's innate curiosity got the better of
her. "Why? Why apart?" she asked, both surprised and disturbed.
'That's just wrong! How can someone expect a sixteen year-old girl to
live like that?' she wondered.

Giles appeared to be confounded by the question. "I, it simply is the
way... the way it is," he stammered. "She alone is chosen to fight the
forces of darkness. That is the way it has always been."

"But that's dumb!" Willow blurted out. 'Smooth Rosenberg!' she thought,
kicking herself.

Blushing once again, she hastened to explain, "Buffy lives with her mom,
she goes to school... she's a part of normal society. It's unreasonable
to expect that she could be a part of that, and not form attachments to
people; family and friends... girlfriend... It's inevitable!" 

Willow huffed and threw up her hands as she grew impassioned about the
subject. "You can't just say 'La la la, she works alone,' and expect it
to happen that way! She's gonna have feelings for people and 'emotional
entanglements' that could interfere with stuff. We all do, it's called
life! And, I- I think that if you try to force her, it's not gonna
work, except to push her away..." her voice trailed off. 'Great, I'm
channeling my mother!' she thought, abashedly.

"Yes, well..." Giles muttered sounding flustered.

'Bad Willow! Shouldn't yell at the teachers," Willow thought guiltily.
'Even if you're right and they're wrong,' she thought with just a bit of
smugness tempering the guilt.

"Sorry, Mr. Giles... I kinda got carried away," she said
self-consciously.

Giles voice was firmer as he replied, "I have to admit, Willow, that you
have made several cogent points. Under normal circumstances, a
potential Slayer is identified at a young age and a Watcher is assigned
to begin developing and training her. As such, she is routinely
separated from her family and is brought up in a much more formal
environment- apart from society at large."

'That's terrible!' Willow thought sadly. 'I can't imagine Buffy...
having to grow up like that... it would be terrible!'

Giles continued, "I fear you may be correct, Willow. Buffy is the
first... wild card, as it were, to be called in several decades- that I
know of. Unfortunately, we believe that most such slayers are killed
before they can be identified. Slayers are naturally drawn to vampires.
Not understanding the nature of their calling, or benefiting from the
training and education that a Watcher provides, these Slayers would be
unlikely to survive their first such encounter."

Just the thought of Buffy being killed without ever having had a chance
to learn to fight back brought Willow nearly to tears. 'Jeeze I feel
like my heart is doing yo-yos up and down in my chest! Hurry up
Xander!' she thought fervently.

They sat in silence for nearly five minutes as Willow's mind flitted
from subject to subject. 'Darn it! I can't think of anything
not-depressing to talk about!' she realized with annoyance. 

'That's it, I've gotta go find that boy!' Willow thought, standing up
and turning to the door just as Xander came striding through it. 

Startled, she dropped back down into her chair with a huff, muttering,
"Or not."

'Gosh, he looks angry... Oh no! Please don't tell me they didn't fall
for it!' Willow fretted. He was mumbling to himself as he approached
her and she was just about to ask the question when he suddenly stopped
and threw his arms out in an angry gesture.

"I can *not* believe her! I mean, I knew she was a bitch, it's not like
that's a surprise... but, damnit! Buffy saved her life last night, and
she pulls this crap?" Xander loudly exclaimed. "And where do they get
off talking about you guys like that? So you like girls better than
boys! Hey, I can sympathize, I do too!"

Giles beat Willow to the punch, tersely interrupting, "I take it you
were unsuccessful then?" His voice conveyed both disappointment and
sorrow.

Xander stopped mid-rant and said, "Huh?"

'I'm gonna scream! Or bawl, not sure...' Willow thought as her heart
once again did its yo-yo dip into her stomach. "The tape Xander!" she
shouted.

The dark haired boy flinched away from Willow, obviously not expecting
to be yelled at. "Jeeze Will! You trying to give me a heart attack?"
He fumbled at his pocket and pulled out the mini recorder, cajoling,
"it's right here... It's not like I was going to lose it or something."

'I... you... arrrghhh!!' Unable to formulate coherent thought, let alone
speech, Willow glared at him so hard that her eyes bugged out.

Giles sounded as exasperated as Willow felt as he slowly and
deliberately spoke, "Did you, or did you not succeed in getting the
required recording?"

'I think I'm going to die!' Willow thought as Xander once again paused,
looking confused.

Before Willow could leap up and strangle her childhood friend, a wicked
smile sprang up on Xander's face. "Oh yeah, I got it. I got 'em all!"

The tension release left Willow weak and panting as though she had
sprinted all the way to school.

'Poor Mr. Giles!' Willow thought, seeing the look on his face. 'He
looks like I feel...'

"Give me the tape, Xander." Giles said in a quiet, restrained tone. 

'He sounds like Mom when she's trying to keep from yelling at Dad in
front of me," Willow thought with a melancholy smile. "I want to hear
it," she said.

Giles sputtered for a moment as he took the recorder from Xander. "Ah,
perhaps... that is, given the nature of the..."

"Give it up Giles," Xander interrupted as Willow glared at the watcher.
"You can't fight resolve face!" the teen instructed his elder.

Giles blinked his eyes rapidly for a moment and then commented, "Yes,
she does seem rather determined, doesn't she?"

Xander plopped unceremoniously into a chair and retorted, "Yeah, when
she gets like this she won't budge. She's a non-budger."

"Hey!" Willow exclaimed, pretending outrage, even though she had to
fight off the smile that threatened to blossom on her face. "Sitting
right here, you know!"

Xander grinned, and even Giles had a slight smile on his face for a
moment. Both men sobered though, as Giles rewound the tape and then hit
'play'.

Willow's heart began to beat a little faster as the slight hiss sound of
the tape started. The moment the sound of Cordelia's voice played out,
acerbically questioning Xander, Willow felt her skin crawl. 'She's so
mean!' the redhead thought. 

The vague feeing of shame that Willow felt at being referred to as a
'lesbo' was wiped away when she heard Cordelia calling Buffy a freak.
'Why that... She'd be dead if it wasn't for Buffy last night!'

'Oh poor Xander!' Willow thought, feeling sympathy for her best friend
as Cordelia's recorded voice taunted him, saying he wasn't 'her type.'
She looked over at the dark-haired boy that had been the subject of her
fantasies for years, and saw that he was staring at the table, his jaw
clenched and his face red.

Willow flinched at Harmony's hateful 'no dykes' comment. 'What did we
ever do to make them hate us so much?' she wondered sadly.

'You're such a great guy, Xander!' Willow thought when the anger in his
voice as he questioned them about picking on her was clear even on the
tape. 'Always looking out for me!'

'Don't believe her Xander!' Willow thought ardently as Cordelia again
taunted him about two women that he'd never have a chance with. 'You
always had a chance with me, at least before I met Buffy. And, she was
interested in you when she first saw you! Of course, she was interested
in Cordelia, too... until she got to know her...' her mind wandered.

As the tape played out Xander's diligence in getting admissions from the
other three girls, Willow thought, 'Those three aren't even smart enough
to have an opinion of their own. They just do what ever Cordelia or
Harmony do... very thorough of you though, good job Xander!'

Xander's furious shout about them making him sick played out and the
teen spoke up, "And that's it. Then I came back here."

"Yes, well... good work, Xander," Giles offered. "I must say, they
seem... well, rather spiteful."

"No, no! Spiteful is, like, way, way away from them. They're more
like... well I can't think of anything evil enough," Xander said. "But
that's what they are!"

"As much as I could so get into a good 'Cordelia's an evil monster'
discussion right now... we need to go see Mr. Flutie," Willow
interjected, standing up. 

A thought struck her, and she suddenly added, "Oh, first, we need to
make some copies... Just in case."

========== BtVS ==========

"I must say, this is highly irregular, Mr. Giles." Principal Flutie
said, looking flustered.

Willow looked everywhere but at the principal as she sat across the desk
from him in his office. 'Easy to say we have to go see Mr. Flutie, but
now...' She shot a sidelong glance at Giles, who was sitting next to
her, hoping he would say something. 'My stomach's all twisty!' she
thought, shifting in her seat uncomfortably.

"Mr. Flutie, I assure you I wouldn't have asked to meet with you
immediately if it weren't of the highest importance," Giles said,
projecting a measure of confidence and certainty that bolstered Willow's
flagging morale a bit.

'That's right; just remember this is for Buffy!' Willow reminded
herself. 'Ok Rosenberg, you can do this!'

"Well, alright Mr. Giles," Flutie said, sounding unconvinced. Glancing
back and forth between Willow and Giles, Flutie said, "I can't believe
you had a problem with young Ms. Rosenberg here though. She's one of
the best students at Sunnydale High!"

Willow frowned in confusion. 'Huh? Me, a problem?' she thought,
looking to Giles, she noted that he seemed as confused as she.

"Mr. Flutie, Willow is not in any trouble... at least not with the
faculty. We are here, because Willow has been targeted by some of the
other students, as has Buffy Summers..."

Flutie interrupted Giles at that point. "Buffy Summers is a
troublemaker, and has been making threats against other students..."

"That's not true!" Willow interjected, unable to sit by and let her
girlfriend be slandered. 'Cordelia and Harmony made all that up just to
get her!"

'Is he more shocked at what I said, or that I yelled at him?' Willow
wondered at the look on the principal's face.

His face flushing, Principal Flutie blustered, "That is a very serious
allegation, Ms. Rosenberg!" 

Willow shrank back in her chair as he leaned over his desk and sternly
continued, "Why would two of our most socially prominent students do
something like that?"

'Because they're a couple of bitches from hell?' Willow thought
immediately, and then blushed hotly. 'Ohh, bad Willow!'

Struggling to verbalize an appropriate answer, Willow finally managed,
"Um, 'cause they're homophobic?"

Flutie's eyes widened and he sat back with a huff. "What?" he cried in
a strangled scream.

Willow sighed in relief as Giles chose to answer the question. "It
would appear that Ms. Chase and her group of friends are harassing Buffy
and Willow because they disagree with their choice of sexual
orientation."

Willow almost smiled at the blush on Giles face as he spoke. 'I know
Xander will get a kick out of this when I tell him later!' she thought
incongruously. 

Willow's momentary amusement faded away when Flutie's baffled gaze once
more dropped heavily upon her. "I don't... Orientation?" he stammered
questioningly.

Willow deliberately sat upright and, in as strong and even a voice as
she could muster, she said, "Buffy is my girlfriend."

"You're gay?" Flutie asked, still not showing full comprehension.

Willow could feel her face glowing with heat. 'Don't really want a long
explanation here...' she mused as she decided not to correct his
statement. "Yes. And, that's why Cordelia and Harmony and their
friends are harassing us."

Giles took that moment to pull out the tape recorder and set it on the
desk.

Flutie stared at the device with the same shock and horror one might
have for a live grenade on one's desk. He visibly flinched at the sound
when Giles pressed 'play'.

'Oh God, I think we broke him!' Willow thought as she watched the
principal listen to the tape. 'What with the flat, glassy eyes, and his
mouth is kinda hanging open...' Willow tilted her head and frowned
slightly as another thought struck her, 'Actually, he looks kinda like
Xander when he watches cheerleading practice. Except without the
smile.'

Flutie flinched again when Giles stopped the tape. His eyes moved
fearfully toward the watcher as Giles quietly spoke. "Mr. Flutie.
Clearly this is something that must be handled with the utmost
discretion."

The principal nodded dumbly, muttering, "Discretion... right."

Giles continued in a soft, even voice, "Should the media get a hold of
this..."

Flutie twitched like he'd been shocked. "Media?" he squeaked.

"...and what with the rather lurid stories in the papers of late
regarding hate crimes..." Giles continued, not varying his tone.

"Hate crimes!?" the principal jerked back in his chair as though Giles
had slapped him. He jumped up and began furiously pacing back and forth
behind his desk.

'Gosh, it's like watching pong,' Willow thought as Flutie took three
quick steps, pivoted and then took three more steps back the other
direction. He repeated this pace over and over as he rambled, "Hate
crimes! We can't have hate crimes at Sunnydale High! It- it would
destroy the school! I'd be ruined! This... this... this just can't be
happening! What am I going to do?"

Giles interrupted at that point, suggesting, "Clearly, an immediate
response is essential, Mr. Flutie. The only way to salvage this
situation is to take swift and decisive action against the
perpetrators."

Flutie stopped his manic pacing, his attention once again completely
focused on Giles. He nodded his head and repeated, "Decisive action..."

Willow shuddered slightly at the smile on Giles face. 'He's really,
really good at this!' she thought. 'Scary good... He's, like, totally
threatening him... but not...'

"Of course, I imagine your first course of action will be to dispose of
the ridiculous allegations that were brought against Buffy Summers."
Giles rubbed his chin in a thoughtful pose, adding, "Perhaps if you were
to call Mrs. Summers and offer your sincerest apologies, they won't
decide to take any legal action against the school."

'I wonder if that's really what a deer looks like in a car's
headlights...' Willow thought, watching the principal's face contort.
She scrambled to her feet as Giles rose from his seat.

"We'll just leave this copy with you, then. For your investigation,"
the watcher said smoothly as he ejected the tape and set it on the desk.

The snapping sound of Giles shutting the tape player seemed to snap
Flutie out of his daze. "Yes, yes, thank you!" he said. "I, um, I have
some calls to make if you'll, um, excuse me please..."

Willow remained silent as Giles tucked the tape player in his trouser
pocket and answered, "Not a problem at all. Thank you for your time
Principal Flutie."

Willow quietly followed the watcher out of the office. Somehow she
managed to remain silent as they walked back to the library together.

The quietude lasted just until the library door swung shut behind them,
and then Willow squealed, "We did it!" She immediately wrapped Giles up
in a hug, chanting, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She released him
and stepped away, leaving him flustered and blushing. 

Willow quickly ran to the table, where Xander had just stood up, and
wrapped him in a similar hug, thanking him ardently as well. When she
released him, Xander had a goofy smile on his blushing face.

"Buffy! I gotta go see Buffy!" Willow exclaimed suddenly. She ran over
to the library doors and turned just before passing through them. She
looked at Giles and Xander, thinking, 'You guys really came through!
I'm gonna have to think of something really nice to do for both of you!'
Aloud, she once again said, "Really, thank you guys! Thank you so
much!" 

Willow turned and ran out of the library before either man could
respond.

========== BtVS ========== 

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