actuallybye

[Follows THIS]


Riley was more than aware of the fact that there was no way to make his workplace any less intimidating. It was supposed to be that way. It was a military thing. At least not everyone was walking around in camos. Even now, he was only in a pair of dark jeans and a grey t-shirt. He had to change after he had sweated so much the clothes he arrived to base in were making him not very pleasant to be around. In fact, even Graham told him to take a shower, and that was saying something considering they all got more than sweaty and gross during operations. He hadn't just showered, he ended up going to the infirmary to get some meds to make him feel better and after a run of IV fluids to get his hydration back up, he was feeling a little better. He had stopped puking for the time being which was a plus as far as he was concerned. The fever was still there, and the upset stomach, but he could handle that if he didn't have to bolt to the bathroom all the time.

Now he was standing in his office, looking out the window at the Paris city centre way in the far distance. They were on the outskirts so they didn't attract a huge amount of attention to themselves. In fact, like the school back in Sunnydale concealing the Initiative, this place was commonly thought of as a testing facility of some sort. That worked. Not true, but it worked. Behind him, Buffy was sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk. They were waiting for Xander to arrive with Rory's best mate. Airlie MacKenzie. A Kindred, according to Blaise. The thing was, neither Blaise nor Riley actually knew that Buffy was oblivious to that fact. Things could be about to get extremely messy.

( Airlie was numb. She could hardly think straight.Collapse )

9.3. "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it."
Oscar Wilde

Co-written with lyricalembrace


Airlie was sitting on Rory's bed in her duck pyjamas, red hair piled up in a messy ponytail on top of her head, and Wee Willy curled up in a ball in her lap as she watched reruns of Sex and the City on the crappy little TV at the end of the bed. She had been keenly interested in watching, until she realised that when she last watched it, she had been a normal human with normal feelings who could eat normal chocolate and have normal PMS that allowed her to commiserate and watch stupid TV shows like this. All it did was make her feel more depressed, and more hungry. She had shamefully resorted to feeding on the odd tourist in town to see the Palace, and only stuck to burly men who she could flirt with enough to get into her good graces and who looked like they could tolerate a bit of blood loss. She had been depressed before Rory even left for Paris, but had managed to fall into an even bigger funk without him around to commiserate. She damn well hoped the Slayer was in horrific and soul-ripping emotional distress, or Airlie would be even more pissed off at her for taking her best friend away from her.

( She knew she wasn't really pissed off with Buffy, though.Collapse )


Words: 5183

8.5. "You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends. To get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning."
The Tudors

Co-written with lyricalembrace

Xander Harris was not cool. He knew it, and he had embraced it years ago. He was comfortable with his geekiness. He was comfortable with the fact he had owned a Hawaiian shirt and not a red silk one. He was even comfortable that he had no idea who Edward Cullen was. As far as he was concerned, it was enough to know that even Buffy didn't feel particularly drawn to that vampire - fictional, or not. He had always preferred comics and comfort over attempting to squeeze himself into leather pants.

So when he decided to check out the club Airlie played at, he'd quizzed Buffy extensively over what it was like. Even if it meant digging her out a sudden malaise she was getting lost in. He got the fact that the Frenchman had left, but he couldn't see why Buffy was so down about it when she hadn't even gotten together with him. Xander had had foreplay with Airlie. There had been an intent to have sex on both sides. Then he'd gotten sick and had a fight with her. Xander had more right to brood than Buffy.

( It had made his heart sink to find out the club was Gothic, and no doubt filled with cool Scots that Xander would stand out in.Collapse )


Words: 6664

A package is delivered to Airlie's home with a Scottish Thistle Love Knot tucked inside a velvet box.

With it is a note:

I can't even begin to tell you how much I regret my foot ever entering my mouth. I saw this, and all I could think about was you. All I can think about at all is you...

If you can ever forgive me, I'd like to see you again.


Xander.

Co-written with gr8muppetyodin
[Follows THIS and THIS]


“We’re doing it wrong.”

Xander glanced over his shoulder at Buffy approaching and gave her a tired smirk. “We’re not doing it at all, so how can we be getting it wrong?”

Buffy slipped her arm under her friend’s as they both leaned against the stone wall of one of the turrets in the castle and gazed down at the Slayerettes training below. “Ha, ha. I’m talking about this… Them.”

“Ah, okay. My mistake. Guess I just have messed up sex on the brain.” Xander bit his lip as he went back to frowning. “The night with Airlie didn’t exactly go as planned. Not only did I apparently flake out after foreplay, we then had an argument about this… Them. You.”

( Buffy watched Xander’s face carefully, her lips forming a thin line.Collapse )


Words: 757

Co-written with lyricalembrace
[Follows THIS]


Xander was fighting that moment where his brain was trying to wake up and the rest of him wanted to stay asleep. He even mumbled something in protest - or perhaps something more to do with the giant hot dog chasing him in his sleep - and would have rolled over if he didn't slowly realise he was very nicely tucked up behind a warm body. A warm, soft, female body. The night before was starting to come back to him, and this time Xander didn't fight waking up so he could crack open his eye and check to make sure there was flaming red hair right in front of him.

There was.

He could remember the foreplay vividly, but everything after that seemed to just... fade. Maybe he'd lost himself in a haze of lustiness and the sex had been so good, he'd already forgotten it? It could happen, right? But he was sure if he had sex with Airlie, he would have remembered. He would have taken mental images and wanted to memorise every second because she was amazing, and sexy, and Scottish, and she wanted him.

( Xander frowned just a little as he tried to force himself to remember the rest of the night, but all he got was the before.Collapse )


Words: 6372

Paper cuts. They seemed to simple, yet hurt like a bitch, really. Only, once upon a time, they just simple meant they hurt like a bitch, and you whine about it a bit because they did hurt, if there was anyone around to listen. Only these days, Rory had come to learn that a paper cut could actually mean you were about to be someone's random snack. He was sitting on his front steps, sketch pads and oil pants strewn out all around him as he worked on a painting of Linlithgow Palace with the loch stretching behind it... the amazing view he had from his modest little cottage in the small village. On the step below, he also had a large artists book with his latest drawings in it for the next edition of Lachie the Scottish Leprechaun, a cute little children's book series a good friend of his wrote that was now a number one bestseller in Britain, Ireland, and Europe. Rory had been illustrating the little story books from the first one ever published and now it was basically the biggest source of his income. He kept his job at the hospital as a wardsman two days a week because he just enjoyed it and had a lot of friends there, but truth was, he didn't actually need a day job with how much he earned from his art with these books and sideline commission of painting Scottish features and landscapes for tourists.

( He wasn't alone that evening, though, despite being wrapped up in his work.Collapse )