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CHAPTER 7: French lessons



Monday morning, Buffy decided that she was rested enough to go back to work. She had spent Thursday, Friday and the weekend home, wrapped in her afghan and watching movies. Now her head was feeling much better, and she was bored to tears. She knew that one more day off and she’d never be able to catch up on her work at the prison. She was so eager to get back that she made it to her office before the night staff had been relieved. That’s where Giles found her, so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn’t even hear him knock.


“Buffy? What a surprise! I thought for sure you’d be gone for another few days. How are you feeling?”


Buffy smiled up at him, and leaned back in her chair. “I was doing much better until I realized just how much of a set back this whole ordeal has been. I’m behind on everything I had to do. I’m gonna have to put in a lot of extra hours this week if I want to catch up.”


The young woman got up and went to the brand new coffee maker she had installed in a corner of her office. She poured two cups.


“A coffee maker?” Giles chuckled from where he was standing in the doorway.


“Well yeah. It was the only logical solution to my problem. Harmony won’t get me coffee, and I’m too lazy to walk all the way to the staff lunchroom and get it myself. So I went to Wallmart yesterday and got my very own coffee machine. This way everyone’s happy.”


Buffy turned around and rolled her eyes dramatically when she noticed that Giles was being his usual British self. He was staying politely by the door, waiting to be invited in. She chuckled and shook her head. “Come on Giles, don’t just stand there. Have a seat.”


As he walked in and sat down in front of her, she handed him a cup of coffee. He gave her a grateful smile.


“You know, you don’t have to be so polite and proper with me. We’ve only known each other for a little more than a week, but I consider you a friend already. Or at least,” She added, suddenly unsure, “I was hoping we could be friends--eventually.”


“Of course, Buffy. I do like you very much.” He said warmly. “I just wasn’t sure where I stood with you and didn’t want to be overly familiar. But if you don’t mind the familiarity…”


“I don’t mind at all Giles. I told you, as long as we’re not around prisoners, there’s no ‘rank’ between us, all right?”


“As you wish, Buffy. So…” He hesitated, obviously fighting his instinct for formality. “Huh--How was your weekend?”


Buffy almost laughed at how flustered he looked, but she managed to keep a straight face. After all, he was making an effort.


“I almost turned into a vegetable. At one point, I thought I would start growing roots. I spent the weekend on the couch. Nothing very exciting. But I guess I needed that. It had been a long time since I’d had time to pamper myself like that. You probably noticed already, I’m kind of a workaholic. It’s always all work and no play for Buffy. I rarely take time for myself like I did this weekend.”


“Yes, I did notice. I can already tell that you’ll be doing a fantastic job here. I’ve been working in this prison for over twenty years and of all the wardens I’ve dealt with, you’re the first one who seems to love the job. Though putting your work before your own happiness cannot be healthy. Surely you have other activities? Friends, family, love interest?”


This time, Buffy laughed out loud. “If that’s the way you feel, I guess I’ll wait before asking you how things have been here since I left.”


She grinned playfully at him and he shook his head slightly.


“To answer your question, no, I don’t have that many people in my life. My mom lives in San Francisco where she owns an art gallery. We call each other once in a while, but she’s busy. My father has been MIA for years now. He’s probably on a yacht somewhere in Greece with his barely legal mistress. And I have a younger sister, Dawn, who’s a student at UCLA. She‘s the smart one in the family. She‘s been in Paris perfecting her French for the past four months. She came back three weeks ago but I hadn‘t had a chance to see her yet.”


“What about friends?”


“The only close friends I have are Cordelia and Xander. We were always together in high school but now that we’re grown ups and living in different cities, it’s getting harder to see each other. They got married when we finished school and have a little girl, Camille.” She paused, pretending to be thinking hard about this. “Yup. That would sum up my very pathetic social life. As far as love is concerned--I gave up on that a while ago. I have the worst taste in men and it always ends badly. I‘m much better off single. Less drama.”


“Nonsense. You are a beautiful, bright, young woman. You can’t possibly tell me that you gave up on love already because of a few bad experiences. There’s no point in living without love. You just haven’t found the one yet. Give it some time.”


“I don’t know. I’ve never really been in love before. I’ve had a couple of innocent crushes when I was in high school, but it wasn’t love. And usually, the guys I dated were jerks or just plain weird. But what about you, Giles? Did you find the one?”


Giles cleared his throat uncomfortably. He was obviously not used to talking about himself so openly. “Well, huh.. I don’t know if… she’s the one or not, but I have been seeing Anya, the new nurse. She’s special. Strangely enough, I like her bluntness. It takes getting used to at first, but you never have to guess with her. It‘s… refreshing.”


The blonde girl just stared at him, mouth gapping. “Anya? No way! That’s… great! Wow, you guys are so--different.”


Giles took off his glasses and started cleaning them. “I understand your surprise. We are indeed quite different. But you know what they say: opposites attract. I’ve never really believed that old saying before, but I’m starting to think maybe it is true after all. Perhaps I could introduce her to the delicate art of tact, and in return, she could help me loosen up a bit.” Giles said with a mischievous glint in his blue eyes.


Buffy chuckled.


Giles looked at his watch and got up. “I really should get going. I have quite a lot of work to do today and I’m sure you do too.”


“All right. It was nice to finally have a chance to talk. The rest of the staff isn’t very friendly. Half of them still look at me like I’m some kind of a joke, and the other half just ignore me.”


“They’ll come around, Buffy. Just give them some time.”


“Yeah, I know.” She sighed. “But it’s just depressing. Alright, enough self pity. I’ll see you later.”


Giles turned to leave, but remembering that she had planned on meeting with Spike later on, she stopped him. “I almost forgot--could you…”


Buffy interrupted herself when Harmony walked in. She gave her secretary a questioning look.


“Here you go.” The bubbly blonde gave her boss her brightest smile while dropping on her desk a mountain of documents. The top of the pile was decorated with what looked like a field of yellow post-its. Harmony’s trademark.


“What are those, Harm?”


“Urgent stuff that accumulated while you were on your unplanned vacation.”


“I wasn’t on vac--never mind. And what are the post-its for exactly?”


“Things scheduled for today and other things that need attending to. Like the showers have started acting funky this weekend and the guys are getting majorly pissed off. Cold water is supposed to make your hair shinier. They should be happy, but they‘re not. Go figure. You also have a meeting with the caterers at 11am about that food poisoning last week. But--It’s all there on the little post-its, and in order of priority. I’m sure you can read it yourself.”


The more Harmony talked, the more Buffy’s shoulders slouched.


“Thank you. That was very considerate of you.” She said in a barely concealed mocking tone that Harmony missed completely.


“No problem boss.” She walked out, forgetting to shut the door behind her as usual.


Buffy sighed deeply in front of the workload that awaited her. She finally noticed Giles still standing expectantly by the door. She gave him a puzzled look.


“You were saying something before Harmony walked in.” He reminded her.


“Oh. Yeah. But you know what, forget about it. I won’t have time today. It’s something I can do tomorrow. If I’m still alive.”


“I will let you get to work then.”


He closed the door after him, and Buffy took the first post-it, needing to start somewhere. It said:


Contact maintenance for shower repair to avoid riot


It was written in pink, and the “i” in “riot” had a little heart shaped dot on it.


Buffy rolled her eyes dramatically. This was gonna be a long day.


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Buffy grinned happily when her house came into view and she saw who was waiting for her. She turned the steering wheel sharply to engage her little sports car in the driveway. Anybody who would have witnessed the maneuver would have gasped in fear when the red car stopped no more than half an inch from the garage door, but not the dark haired girl who was sprawled comfortably on the front porch stairs. She had seen much worse displays of Buffy’s horrible driving in her lifetime. Which was the reason why she would never set foot in a car with her, even if Orlando Bloom himself asked her to. The young girl had her pretty face upturned to enjoy the warm sun, long chocolate brown hair and expensive sunglasses shining in the late afternoon light. Buffy slammed her car door and walked towards her. As she approached, the girl finally jumped up to her feet.


“Dawn!” Buffy exclaimed happily. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you so much!” She hugged the taller girl fiercely.


“Moi aussi! Je me suis ennuyée de toi comme tu ne peux pas savoir. Comment va ma soeur préferée?”


“Huh?”


The look on Buffy’s face was priceless and Dawn couldn’t help but laugh.


“I said: Me too. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you. How’s my favorite sister doing?”


Buffy pouted. “Yeah, yeah. Go ahead,” She said while unlocking the front door. “brag. Make fun of your poor sister. One summer in France and you come back fluent? How fair is that? I know you’re supposed to be the brain of the family, but seriously…”


“Oh come on, you’re just jealous.” She said, walking past Buffy and into the house. “Is it my fault if I took three years of French in high school and actually showed up for class? Which is more than you can say. When you finished high school, all you could manage was ‘Je ne parle pas français’”


“Did I say I was glad to see you? I must have lost my mind there for a second.” The grin on her face denied her words. She missed bickering with her younger sibling. They had spoken on the phone once in a while when she was overseas, but it wasn’t the same.


Dawn dropped her backpack by the door and looked around, a glimmer of curiosity lighting up her blue eyes.


“Do I get the grand tour of ‘Casa del Summers’? I’m the only one who hasn’t seen your new house yet.”


Buffy put her arm around her sister’s slender shoulders. “And who’s fault would that be for coming back the day before college started?”


Dawn pretended to analyze the question carefully. “Louis-Philipe’s fault actually. But he was well worth it. He had eyes like the Mediterranean Sea. Too bad he was married with two kids my age. Le salaud.” She blurted out with a straight face.


“What?!”


She giggled, happy with herself for getting the reaction wanted from her big sister.


“Relax. He was 20, single, free of any offspring, and now has a broken heart thanks to me.”


“Shame on you, you man eater.”


“Yep. Man eater, that’s me.”


“Come on. I’ll give you the tour, then you’ll tell me all about your exciting adventures in the country of cheese and bread.”


“Deal.”


Buffy led her sister from one room to another, showing her the painting studio, the two guestrooms, master bedroom, living room…


“Considering the lack of tacky New Kids on the Block posters, am I right to assume Cordelia had something to do with the decoration?”


Buffy pouted. “You’re wrong! We did it together--as a team.“


Dawn gave her a stern look, clearly not believing her.


“Ok. Fine. She welcomed my suggestions--kinda.” She admitted sheepishly.


Dawn loved the house, but what really got her to squeal excitedly was the playroom in the basement, with its entertainment system, pool table and bar, and the backyard.


“Can you imagine the incredible pool parties we could have here! I’ll be the most popular freshman in the history of UCLA!!”


“Whoa. Hold your horses young lady. There will be no frat parties here for as long as I breathe. Got it?”


“I could invite my very hot, young, Italian teacher.” Dawn gave her sister her most dazzling smile, batting her eyelashes innocently.


“Does he speak English?”


They burst out laughing.


Buffy went to the fridge. “Want something to drink, Frenchie?”


“You have ice tea?”


“Yup.”


“With ice. Lots of ice. Pretty please.”


Buffy poured two glasses of ice tea and came to sit in front of Dawn at the table by the pool. The sun had set, but the night was warm and comfortable.


“What brings you here on a week night? Don’t you have school?”


“Nope. It’s a study week. Which brings me to ask if maybe you’d let me stay here for a couple of days? After only three weeks, I already need a break from all the ‘fun’ of the dorm life. I’d go to San Francisco, but you know mom. She’ll make me work at the gallery and keep me busy unpacking old dusty stuff. I’ll never have a minute to relax…” Dawn corrected herself quickly. “I mean study. Of course.”


Buffy snorted. “No problem. I’m sure my pool will be a much more favorable environment for your ‘studying’. But no frat parties, missy.”


“Even if I invite the Italian hunk? I’m sure you’d like him.”


“Sorry to disappoint, but no. Besides, you know that Buffy and dating are totally unmixy things.”


“Does that mean there’s still no romance in your life?”


“That’s exactly what it means. I live the romance free lifestyle, thank you very much.”


“Oh come on! Not even a potential hottie that makes your heart skip a beat and that you could consider as an eventual love interest?”


For a second, the look on Buffy’s face turned dreamy, but she quickly caught herself.


Not quickly enough for Dawn not to notice though.


“I saw that! Buffy Summers. Spill.”


“Give it a rest, Dawn. There’s no one.”


“Fine. Be that way. But I saw. There was definitely ‘a look’. And you know I won’t give up until I find out who the mysterious man who caught your att…”


“So. How was Paris?”


Dawn frowned at the abruptness of her sister. Something was definitely wrong with her and she couldn’t wait to find out what was really going on in that pretty blonde head of hers.


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CHAPTER 8: Forbidden

A/N: When I wrote this chapter (a while ago), I hadn't seen Euro Trip yet. I swear! Dawn's trip to Paris is just a coincidence inspired by my own trip and the fact that Dawn was so good at foreign languages in the show. But I saw Euro Trip now and it was freaking awesome lol And while I have the chance, I also wanted to thank everybody who reviewed. You guys are the best!





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