Andrew is the new black.

Slash him with everyone. But especially Xander. And Spike.

Fay! My fount of HP-fic knowledge! I've a question re: a story I may have hallucinated over in Fan Fiction.

ion - I am inordinately chuffed that someone has actually designed their LJ icons based on my Draco. MY Draco! From my FicThatAteMyBrain! That's just SO damned cool.

This one? Actually became something.

She's usually successful with the grossing.

She's usually successful with the grossing.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Well, yes. I am a big sister, and I did go to camp, so I do have YEARS of practice.

Plei, the Joyce/Holland/Snyder was ... hot. sick, but hot.

ita, yes, I can see Dru, cool fingers playing over children's faces, and Spike's "bright head" ducked, in shadow, watching. Lovely.

Deb. good lord.

And this is what I thought of immediately, Fay.

Plei, the Joyce/Holland/Snyder was ... hot. sick, but hot.

I love this reaction.

It's very much like the Greek gods to give a gift that is absolutely not what the recipient wants.

more of hte road trip.

The waitress in the diner, Brenda Ann, had an accent straight from the hills of Arkansas. Tara stared at her as she talked and pouted when she was gone. Everyone else was too tired to do more than eat and blink, though Xander blinked faster the more coffee he drank. They ate quickly, and Brenda Ann brought a lollipop for Tara when she brought the bill.

"We should get some stuff for the road," Buffy said after she paid the bill with her mother's credit card. "I don't know if there are going to be any stores where we're going."

"Road trip food, yeah," Xander said, bouncing slightly.

"And water and such." Buffy frowned. "I wish he'd told us we were headed into the wilderness."

Joyce maneuvered her way past a rotating rack of postcards. "Do we know where we're going yet?"

"Nope." Buffy spotted Giles in the general store portion of the business looking at maps. "Time we found out."

Giles glanced at his watch when he saw the others approaching. "That was quick."

"You said we were in a hurry," Buffy said. "So, maps."

"Yes, maps. Xander, how are you at map reading?"

Xander shrugged. "I was never a boy scout, but I've never gotten lost."

Buffy left the two of them going over the route and went to peruse groceries. Anya, apparently well conversant in Xander's tastes, was loading up on crunchy carb-laden things and power drinks. Joyce was tsking over prices but handing Dawn cartons of juice and milk.

"Not much in the way of solids," Buffy observed.

Joyce nodded to the other end of the cooler. "Did you see the price on the lunch meat? Tourist prices."

"Beggers and choosers, Mom. I don't think parking the bus at a grocery store is a good idea."

"Make Giles pay for it," Dawn said, balancing cartons. "He's dragging us out to the back of beyond." She lost control of a container of orange juice, but Spike appeared at her shoulder and caught the carton.

"Hand them over," he said, and Dawn gratefully passed over her awkward load.

"Do you know where we're going?" Joyce asked.

"Not a clue, love. I'm just hoping for buildings. I am not the wilderness sort."

"City boy," Dawn teased.

Buffy moved away, unsettled by how easy her mother and Dawn were with Spike. A pit bull on a leash was still a pit bull. Still, it was kind of nice to have a pit bull you could depend on to savage people you didn't like.

"How soon will we be ready?" Giles asked. Xander wandered over to Anya, still perusing the map.

Joyce pointed Dawn towards some packages of lunch meat. "I'm ready. Buffy, grab some of that water, please."

Buffy hefted one of the cases of bottled water. "I see all your shopping instincts are still in order."

The clerk at the counter was so delighted at the big order that she didn't even frown as Tara ran the fingers of her good hand through the windchimes hanging nearby. Willow untangled her fingers gently from a fragile ceramic chime. "When we get home, we'll get some to put in the window, ok?" Tara smiled and put her head on Willow's shoulder. Willow saw Buffy watching with a sad look, and she put on her resolve face. Buffy smiled and turned away to help carry groceries out to the bus.

and a chunk of conversation I wanted to get out of the way

Xander got behind the wheel and practiced maneuvering the bus around the parking lot, then over to the gas pumps to top off the tank. The rest strolled around the lot, taking a last opportunity to move around before continuing their journey. Spike strolled over to Dawn, pulled a package of batteries out of his coat pocket, and handed it to her. "Here. I ran down the ones in your CD player. Since when do you listen to The Clash?"

She palmed the batteries casually and tucked them into her own pocket. "Since I stole that CD from you. You think I'd pay money for that stuff?"

Spike snorted his amusement as he lit up a cigarette. Dawn glanced around to make sure no one was in easy eavesdropping range. "I was, um, watching you and Giles through the window while we were eating. The two of you seemed, well, close."

He studied her through the smoke. "What do you mean?"

Her blush would have lit up a room. "Well, what I mean is, you and him--he and you--are--have been . . . dammit, I'm a woman of the 21st century, I can deal."

He was half-curious as how deep a flustered hole she could dig herself into but decided to spare her. "Niblet, you want to get past this point and say something that makes sense? And the answer is yes. Why?"

"Would you have killed him that night in the front yard?"

"I'd have put him down like a mad dog, Niblet."

"Even though the two of you are . . ."

"Yep." He couldn't help smiling at her inability to say the words. Not that he intended on giving her details about his sex life.

"That's--weird."

"The shagging, that's just what vampires do to pass the time. That and fight. But the Glory thing, that's business. Ripper knows how he thinks it should go, and he knows I disagree. I'm going to stop any plan that involves you getting hurt. Make no mistake, Niblet, he'd have killed me if it came to it that night at your house. I'd have killed him if there was no other way. Just business."

"Just to keep me from getting hurt? Why?"

"Don't be dim."

She looked down to hide her grin as she fingered the stolen batteries he'd given her.