The Other Girl - Part I.iv.a - Works- Plans/The Interview

Ginny stumbled towards her room in the guest wing, tired after another long day of working with the Council's London staff. Unlike Dawn, whom she'd barely seen since they'd arrived from Cleveland, she wasn't on vacation. Willow had warned her from the very beginning that the Council would expect more than magic from her once they were comfortable with her, that being head Wiccan was a lot more than doing magic on demand, but this was the first real test of that prediction.

With her mornings spent in meetings with different department heads and her afternoons dealing with the unusual personalities Willow had populated her own small department with, the rest of her time had been swamped by anyone else who'd felt neglected by Willow's absence.

Kicking off her shoes as she slipped through the door, she tried to focus on what she needed to do in the morning. If she wanted to take several days off to visit her parents before Tokyo, she had only one more day to finish the changes to the magical defenses of the London campus that had been her real objective for the trip. And with only Giles, Buffy, and Dawn knowing what she would be doing, she'd had to spend more time than she'd expected pacifying everyone else in the London office who'd felt entitled to some of her time.

It wasn't until she'd pulled on the large t-shirt, emblazoned with the Hogwarts crest, a gift from Harry before she'd left for Cleveland, that she normally wore to bed, that Ginny realized she wasn't alone in her room. It was more of a feeling than anything concrete. Running over several defensive spells in her mind, she turned towards small alcove that contained her bed. Ginny relaxed in relief at the sight that met her eyes.

Curled up on her bed, one leather covered arm wrapped around one of her pillows, was Buffy. Reluctant to wake up the peaceful looking slayer, Ginny pulled the small desk chair over to the alcove, and flipping it around, straddled it, her arms resting on its back as she silently watched her sleeping, something she'd never had the opportunity to do before.

Watching her, Ginny was once again amazed at the hidden strength of her friend. Looking five years younger than she did when awake, Buffy seemed to glow with an inner light. Blinking her eyes, Ginny realized she was seeing her aura. The Wiccan chronicles she'd read had tales of ancient servants of the Goddess who glowed with a special light. She suspected that they were describing something similar to what she saw surrounding Buffy.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, just watching, before she woke her up. Counting every breath she detected Buffy making. Itching to run her fingers through the cloud of blonde hair that covered her face. Wondering what had brought her here now.

"Buffy... Buffy..." a familiar voice called her, pulling her out of some half remembered dream.

Rolling over onto her back and stretching out in one fluid motion, Buffy opened her eyes and looked around in surprise for a moment before remembering where she was. Turning her head she looked towards the voice. "Hey Ginny!" she said, curiously raking her eyes over the form of one of her favorite redheads. She wondered how long she'd been sitting there.

"While I don't mind finding a beautiful blonde sleeping in my bed," Ginny said, "aren't you supposed to be in Moscow or Finland still?"

Blushing at the familiar flirtatious tone in Ginny's voice, something she'd been noticing a lot lately, Buffy sat up before answering. "We finished early. I was hoping to spend some time with you before you left."

"Sorry." Ginny apologized. "I've been working late all week just so I can spend all day tomorrow on the changes I need to make to Willow's detection spells."

"Nothing to apologize for." Buffy protested. "That's the reason we're here. I understand how it goes. If I want to work on my own things when I come to London I have to sneak around so I don't get sucked into some plan of Giles. I just thought I would wait here for you to get back." She shrugged. "And it's a nice, comfy bed." she murmured. "I should let you have it."

"Did you have any plans for the next few days?" Ginny asked her. "Before we leave for Tokyo?"

"Not really." Buffy said. "Something with Dawn, maybe some shopping. Paperwork, hanging out with some of the newbies, that kind of thing. Assuming I can avoid Giles until you get back from visiting your parents." She ran her hands over the bedcover nervously. "Why?"

"How would you like to come with me?" Ginny said. "It would be a lot of fun. A couple days in the country in a small village."

"Don't you want your parents to yourself?" Buffy asked. "You haven't seen them in months."

"I think they would like to meet you. They're curious about the people I work with."

"Okay..." Buffy started to agree impulsively before something else occurred to her. "What about Dawn?" she asked.

"Faith is back also isn't she?" Ginny asked. "And your sister likes her, right?"

Buffy nodded cautiously. "Yes..." she said, not sure where Ginny was going with this.

"Faith can keep her out of trouble for a couple days can't she?"

"Well..." Buffy frowned, thinking about the last time she'd left her sister in Faith's care. "Dawn is more likely to get Faith into trouble than Faith is to keep her out of it."

"It's only three days." Ginny reminded her. "She's not going to have any other opportunity to spend time with just Faith the rest of this trip."

"And Faith is off to Mexico after we finish up in LA." Buffy added. "I guess that would get me some added big sister bonus points."

"Yes it would." Ginny said in agreement. "When did you notice how much Dawn likes Faith?"

"What's there to notice? She's always had a thing for her." Buffy said, grimacing. "Except for when Faith was evil, that is. And even then that was apparently my fault. I think she would rather have Faith as a sister than me." Buffy noticed that Ginny merely raised an eyebrow in answer. "We should probably let Dawn think it was her own idea." Buffy told her.

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"I should let you get to bed." Buffy said reluctantly. "Did you have plans for breakfast or before that?" She'd really missed starting her days with Ginny time the past few weeks.

"Only if you want to." Ginny said.

"I'll come by for you at our regular time." Buffy said, hopping off of Ginny's bed and offering a hand up. Pulling herself to her feet, Ginny squeezed her hand before crawling into bed.

Buffy stopped at the door and looked back at Ginny just barely visible in the dim light. "Good night."

"Good night..." her voice drifted sleepily towards the door.

Giles was only mildly surprised to find Dawn in his office before the campus cafeteria opened for breakfast. He'd noticed since Sunnydale that she tended to seek him out as a surrogate father whenever something was bothering her and she couldn't talk with either Willow or Buffy about it. However, unlike most such occasions, she wasn't curled up on the leather couch in his office with some ancient tome, Council chronicle, or slayer diary.

She'd pulled one of the comfortable leather chairs in his office over to the large window over-looking the garden in the middle of the complex. Joining her he followed the direction of her gaze to where he could see Buffy and Ginny slowly working their way through one of the forms of T'ai Chi that had become a regular part of the Council training regimen. He noted with some surprise that the two young women moved in almost perfect synchronicity.

"How long has this been going on?" he asked, not turning his eyes away from them, fascinated by what he was seeing. He'd been aware, almost from the beginning, that there was the potential for something between the two women but this was the first real evidence he'd seen.

"Almost since she arrived in Cleveland." Dawn answered quietly. "Every day they're in the same city. When they're done they'll go have breakfast together where they'll ignore everyone else in the room."

"It's unusual, but not unprecedented." Giles said. "Some people just naturally have that kind of connection."

"You mean like soul mates?" Dawn asked, getting up from her chair and moving it back to where it had come from before sitting back in it.

"Something like that. I don't believe there is such a thing."

"Why not?"

"Because of what it implies." He rarely spoke of such things, wishing to avoid injecting his own cynicism into the lives of his much younger compatriots. "That there is only one person you are ever destined to be with. It may be a romantic ideal but it lessens the love we have for those we lost if replacing them means they weren't really fated to be ours in the first place."

"Wow." Dawn gave him a look he couldn't decipher. "Sentimental, cynical, and morbid. With a dash of the romantic. All at the same time, and before breakfast."

"Experience." He said. "What can I do for you this morning?"

"I was just wondering if I would ever find someone like that." She nodded towards the window.

"It depends on what you are looking for. A friend, a companion, a lover. They won't always be the same person."

"Like you and Ethan Rayne?" She asked curiously. "There's obviously something between the two of you."

"Yes." He nodded. "We had a real connection when we were younger. It was never more than friendship but there was a depth to it that I've not found since."

"So that explains the whole Ethan subtext thing Willow likes to kid you with." Dawn nodded to herself. "Since with the whole aura reading thing she would have noticed if it were more than that."

"Now that you've figured out something I have no desire to confirm nor deny..." Giles shook his head in amusement at her pronouncement. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"I thought I would hang out with the lovebirds. Or is that one lovebird and a clueless slayer?"

"Give her time." Giles said gently. "You can't push them together faster than they are already moving."

"I live with her Giles." Dawn said. "I think I have a much better idea of just how emotionally fragile Buffy is than almost anyone else."

"If you say so." He said, keeping his doubts to himself. He'd learned long ago that things were never simple when Buffy and love were involved.

"I'm bored." Dawn complained, looking up at Faith from her position in the low grass. She wasn't really, and she was sure Faith knew that, but after almost a week in London, waiting for her sister and Faith to get back from their side trip to Finland, she was now ready for a little Faith enhanced excitement.

She'd flown to London often enough over the past few years that the trip hadn't been a big deal, though Ginny's obvious inexperience dealing with airports had been mildly amusing and had made her feel like a very seasoned traveller. Normally when she traveled to London it was for official Council business or some important Council social event but this time around it was supposed to be a vacation trip and she planned to enjoy herself as much as possible.

She almost felt sorry for Ginny who had been busy since their arrival, splitting her time between meetings with Giles and assorted Council department heads and consulting with the Council's London magic specialists in preparation for the rest of their trip. Dawn hadn't planned on spending so much time by herself but it had taken her only a day to complete the few things she could find to do in the Council office while they waited for her sister and Faith to show up.

Things had been abnormally quiet in the city the entire week. With the local slayers off on a trip to Ireland she'd been stuck playing single white female tourist. She honestly hadn't expected to spend much time with Buffy during this part of this trip. Buffy had even warned her when she'd invited her along that it would be more working than vacation. She'd hoped Buffy and Faith would be back from the Moscow office by the time she and Ginny arrived but, before their flight from Cleveland had even touched down, Buffy had dragged the other elder slayer off to Finland to quickly check into an emergency help request.

And now, even though they were back earlier than expected, Ginny intended to drag her sister off in the morning to meet her family. They'd be gone until mid-week, and baring an apocalypse, all four of them would be off to Tokyo by the end of the week. Her only consolation was that she'd convinced Buffy and Giles that she needed slayer protection while Ginny and her sister were out of town. Buffy had looked at her suspiciously but, with a little prodding from Ginny, had reluctantly agreed.

And if she could keep Faith away from Giles, it looked like she would have Faith to herself until they returned. Dawn wasn't sure if her sister had given Faith the same lecture about behaving while she was gone. Gazing at her favorite non-sibling slayer soaking up the faint English sun she really hoped not.

"What do you want to do tonight?" Faith asked, finally noticing Dawn's intent gaze.

"I want to see where Buffy met Ginny." Dawn told her with a small smirk.

Faith raised an eyebrow in apparent amusement. "Why?"

"I'm her sister. I need to know these kinds of things." Dawn winked at her. "Bribery material doesn't happen on its own. It requires research."

"What would your sister think about you poking around in her life like that?" Faith asked, gracefully rolling to her feet and holding out a hand to Dawn.

"She doesn't need to know." Dawn said, using the proffered hand to pull herself up.

"And how are you going to keep it from her?"

"She's too stressed about tomorrow. She won't even notice that we aren't here."

"Won't Ginny notice?" Faith frowned. "She seems to have gotten very good at knowing what makes B tick."

"She's too busy keeping Buffy calm right now." Dawn said. "Even when Buffy isn't in full social event panic mode like today, It can be a full time job."

"Buffy still clueless?" Faith laughed, the husky tone sending shivers up Dawn's spine.

"About how Ginny really feels about her?" Dawn nodded. "Yup. Typical Buffy." She shook her head. "I'm not sure she knows how she feels about Ginny herself, either. She's doing the 'really close friend' thing she did with Willow."

"She never changes, does she." Faith laughed. "Does Ginny know she's not going to get any from Buffy if she waits for her to make a move?"

"Faith! Ew..." Dawn shivered dramatically. "That's my sister you're talking about. She doesn't 'get any'... ever." She winked again at the older woman, and giggled. "Willow gave Ginny the 'Buffy Relationship' manual before she left."

"So why's Buffy so nervous about meeting Ginny's family." Faith wondered. "If she's in denial?"

"No idea." Dawn said. "Probably only Willow would know. She wrote the Buffy manual."

Faith shook her head, causing Dawn to laugh when she caught her muttering under her breath that she felt like she was living in one of those 'damned annoying soaps'.

"So, do you know how to get to this place?" She asked Dawn when she'd stopped.

"Sort of. I asked Ginny last week but she said she wasn't really supposed to tell us."

"Why not?" Faith asked, holding the outer garden gate open.

"I can't tell you." Dawn grumbled peevishly. "It's part of this whole secret agreement thing the Council has with some British government committee. Officially, only Buffy, Ginny, and Giles are supposed to know about it. I only found out by accident when one of Ginny's friends accidentally showed up in Cleveland. And Willow..." Dawn shrugged. "She figured it out on her own."

"Okay." Faith nodded, willing to dismiss it. If Buffy needed her to know about this particular secret, she would tell her. She already had too many other things to do to worry about it. "No big deal. But that doesn't get us any closer."

"Well, Ginny said it would be okay if we found it on our own. That was how Buffy found it." Dawn said. "I guess only certain people can see it. There's a place like that near Cleveland."

"And?" Faith wondered why she was dragging it out. "Do we even know what street it's on?"

"Yes." Dawn smirked. "Buffy told Willow, and Willow told me. She said we would know it when we see it."

Faith suspected that Willow's directions had been a bit more direct than she'd thought. They'd found the pub easily, sitting between an old record store and a bookstore that just shouted 'Giles' and 'tweed.' She was surprised she hadn't been sent there by him on some errand yet.

Faith followed Dawn into the dingy looking pub, shivering as she passed some invisible barrier in the entrance. Only her slayer reflexes prevented her from running into Dawn once they were inside. She could hear the rising sound of surprised voices at their appearance. Feeling something unusual in an almost familiar way coming from the other occupants, she stepped automatically in front of Dawn, shielding her from the rest of the room.

She could feel Dawn's hand pressed firmly into her back, urging her to to keep moving towards the bar. Not needing any real encouragement, Faith casually walked up to the bar as if this were something she did every day. Not seeing any clues about the things served in this pub, she kept her request simple. "Whiskey," she said, and nodding at Dawn, included her in the order, "and a beer."

Sliding a twenty across the bar, she waited to see what would happen. Most bars she'd spent time in over the last few years while globe trotting for the Council would accept American money, but there had been a few exceptions.

"We don't take that." the bartender said loudly, pushing the money back at her, a slight undercurrent of hostility in his voice.

Faith just shrugged, looking at Dawn. It had been her idea to come here.

"I've been using plastic all week." Dawn told her. She dug into a pocket and pulled out a handful of change, placing it on the bar. "Will this cover it?"

He picked out several coins. "Two butterbeers." he told them brusquely.

"Okay..." Dawn looked at Faith, retrieving the other coins.

"Sure. Why not." She watched curiously as two mugs were filled with a fragrant liquid, keeping an eye on Dawn who seemed to be in another world, just barely aware of her surroundings. "Is there anywhere I can exchange this?" she waved the twenty before returning it to a pocket.

"Gringotts." he said, sliding the two mugs in her direction.

Faith look at him, waiting for more, but he ignored her, returning to the other end of the bar.

"Thanks." she grumbled, taking the two mugs and elbowing Dawn to get her attention. "Let's try over there." she nodded in the direction of an empty table near the exit.

"What's this?" Dawn asked, sitting down across from Faith. A puzzled look crossed her face as she got a whiff of their drinks.

"Butterbeer." Faith told her.

"Which is?"

"No idea." Faith admitted, taking a sip. "Butterscotch?"

"Oh yeah!" Dawn mumbled after taking a cautious sip herself. "We need to get the recipe."

Taking another sip, Faith looked around, puzzled. If this was a secret, it wasn't a very well kept one. "What's the deal?" she asked Dawn, pointing at the small trickle of people entering the ratty looking pub.

Dawn leaned over and whispered enthusiastically in her right ear. "Isn't it so cool?"

Faith frowned. She'd seen better looking places in Jersey. "Not seeing what's so special here." she grumbled.

"You haven't seen Ginny doing magic yet have you." Dawn said, her eyes darting around the room.

"She's a witch. You see one do magic, you've seen them all." Faith said, keeping her voice low.

"Not true." Dawn objected. "When Willow does it, it's like feeling a fresh breeze. When Ginny does Willow level magic there's a spicy tang to it. But kind of butterscotchy." She took another sip. "This place is full of that kind of magic. I wonder if this is what they all drink," she mused.

Faith stared at her, wide-eyed in surprise. "Does Buffy know you can tell different witches apart by their magic?"

Dawn blinked at her. "Umm... no. Willow does. Sort of. And I can't really. Not like you're thinking. I kind of get it from Buffy. All slayers can sense magic."

"Sure." Faith said skeptically.

"Yes." Dawn insisted quietly. "How do you think you can sense vampires and demons?"

"It's a slayer thing." Faith said with a shrug.

"To sense different kinds of magic. Different magical creatures give off different magical scents." Dawn scrunched up her nose. "I didn't just say that did I?" She took another gulp from her steaming mug.

"Yup." Faith laughed at her expression. "It might be easier to smell these magical creatures without that." She said and without thinking, reached over to wipe off a small fleck of foam that was now attached to Dawn's nose.

She stopped suddenly, shocked at her own actions, staring into Dawn's suddenly large eyes. Before they could both recover, a quiet voice interrupted them.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

Faith was the first to respond. Standing next to their table was a slightly odd looking woman, possibly Buffy's age. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled to one side, revealing several strange looking earrings dangling from one ear. Tucked behind the other ear was an odd looking feather. Sensing nothing harmful in her presence, other than the sure signs of an Andrew level geek, Faith nodded towards an empty chair at the table, opposite both her and Dawn.

She watched bemused as the woman pulled a scroll out of a pocket in her strange outfit, and taking the feather, wrote something down.

It took Dawn a minute to process what had happened. Before she could think of something to say the woman spoke, surprising both of them.

"I didn't think I would ever get to meet a real vampire slayer."

"A slayer?" Dawn squeaked, even as she could see Faith tense slightly.

"Yes." She looked at Faith. "You are Faith aren't you?"

"We haven't been introduced." Faith said, Dawn shivering slightly at the flat tone.

"Luna Lovegood." the woman said, flashing them a bright smile. "You're one of the last real vampire slayers. You would be famous, if they would let us publish everything we know in the Quibbler." She frowned. "Not that they ever will let us. I've always wanted to interview you ever since I found out about Patience!" she said excitedly.

"I'm not interested in being famous." Faith said, grumpily.

"Who won't let you?" Dawn asked, glaring at Faith in an attempt to stop her from saying anything else that would stop the conversation. "Who's Patience and what's a 'Quibbler'?"

"The Ministry." Luna told them, as if it were obvious. "Patience Lovegood was a vampire slayer. My great-great grandfather promised that our family would never tell anyone outside of the Council of Watchers about slayers as long as the Council didn't tell anyone about Patience being from a wizarding family. When my grandfather started the Quibbler, the Council insisted he sign the same secrecy agreement with the Ministry as the Council."

"He must have been very powerful to get them to agree to that." Dawn told her, ignoring Faith's snort. "The old Council never agreed to things like that if they had a chance."

"He was a very powerful wizard." Luna told them happily.

"So... could Patience do magic also?" Dawn asked.

"No. She was a squib." Luna told them. "Great-great grandfather studied slayers and magic very thoroughly. He believed slayers couldn't do wizarding magic."

"Really? Did he have journals or anything like that?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"Almost everything he wrote down was given to the Council when he died. He believed it was too dangerous to keep." Luna said.

"How did you learn about Faith?" Dawn said.

"We still have one of the scrolls he made to show past slayers." Luna nodded. "The other one went to the Council."

"Does it shows all of the slayers?" Dawn said.

"Yes. You can see when they became slayers and who they were." Luna frowned. "Or at least it used to. Father believes something happened to break it several years ago."

"Any chance we could see it?" Dawn asked, just barely staying calm.

"I'll have to ask him." Luna said. She turned to Faith. "I can bring it tomorrow if you agree to being interviewed."

Dawn kicked Faith under the table to get her attention before she answered. "Say yes!" she said in a voice only Faith could hear.

"Okay." Faith told Luna with obvious reluctance. "When and where?"

"Tomorrow afternoon?" Luna asked. "Here somewhere?" She waved her arms around vaguely.

"Shouldn't this be a bit more private?" Dawn asked. "You said no-one is supposed to know that you know about slayers."

Luna squinted at her for a moment before agreeing. "Ask Tom when you arrive. He'll tell you where to find me."

"Tom?"

Luna pointed at the bartender before rising from her seat as if she'd just barely been held down by gravity. Without another word, she wandered off.

"Strange." Faith commented, watching her leave. "Why did you say yes?"

"Can we talk about that later?" Dawn said. "I don't think this is the place."

• This part didn't turn out exactly the way I'd planned. Guaranteed to be revised at some point.

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