But wait...there's more.

"You didn't come here for mothering, did you?"

"Maybe," I say, "I don't want to be alone. The headache was the easy part, huh?"

"Come, have a seabreeze. We'll talk."

"Why not just make Kool-Aid and put an umbrella in it, huh? Same damn thing."

"Coffee ok? We've put all of our manly beverages away for the night."

"Coffee's fine, just put a little cream in it...I don't want to femme it out too much...you know, you're the last person should be giving out static on gender, huh? If you are a person."

"Demon. But one of the good guys...a real cross-dimensional success story, if I say so myself."

"The Munchkin's a..."

"Vampire. Yeah, I know, peaches. And if I had a dollar for every confused woman who came in here every Saturday night with that particular upsetting story, I could special-order a new wardrobe, at least. And it is always women...men have this thing about beating up what they don't understand."-more-

"Demon. But one of the good guys...a real cross-dimensional success story, if I say so myself."

Spot-on Lorne voice!

(itsy bitsy quibble - you've got him referring to Kay as "Peaches" every time. IIRC Lorne tends to vary his monikers - pumpkin, muffin, sugar, etc)

And it is always women...men have this thing about beating up what they don't understand

(Isty bitsy part 2 - wouldn't even a newly vamped chica be able to kick any random guy's ass? Or am I misunderstanding something here?)

Hope I'm not out of line...

"Don't think I didn't think about it. But, he's my friend. I owe him."

"Some people would say that he's a Memorex of your friend. But to my view, that's a little species-centric, 'n'cest-ce pas? Unfortunate timing, too, gorgeous, with you trying to get a piece on the road, and everything." He took a sip of his girly drink, and it looked like he was laughing at me.But I still felt like he cared, which was kinda like Stanley, too, especially at first, when I was Know-It-All Rookie Girl, and couldn't find my ass with both hands. And a map.

"That is none of your business!" I was not gonna have sex talk with frickin' Yoda, huh? No way, no chance. But I bet my body was gonna turn traitor on me, like I told Munchkin once, you can always spot when a woman's been really...excited by the flush on her neck. Mine probably looked like it said "Vampires! This end up." Damn it. Edited because these characters insist on knowing languages I don't.

n'cest pas?

One more itsy bitsy. I was a french major. It's 'n'est-ce pas.'

t zips lips and waits for more goodies

The demon shrugged, which looked really ridiculous considering the refugee-from-Margaritaville look he was wearing, which included sequined palm trees no less."It's all anybody could talk about after you left, babe.(Sorry, your friend made quite an impression.) Much smarter than Darla's usual brand of boy toy. And between you and me, more than a skosh gloomier, not that there's anything wrong with that. It's not my style,but whatever blows his skirt up. I'm not here to judge. But you must know that...it's why your dreams brought you here."

"Dream," I say, thinking "Ha! You don't know everything!" but finishing with "There was just the one."

"Tonight, yeah. But they could come back."

"I'll stay out of the Scotch then. Problem solved".
He starts cleaning the countertops, acting fascinated."Cupcake, how do you know when somebody's gonna kill again?"

It seemed random, but I wasn't fooled. Acting interested in one tiny detail is an old detective's trick...I've used it myself. The Box is too hot...the Box is too cold, the Box is just right. Where was he going with this?

"You don't." I say, "But most people leave signs. And when you've seen enough of 'em, your gut tells you, huh?"

"Well, my gut tells me you aren't through with those dreams. Not yet."

No, smonster, I'm glad of the catch, cause Lorne speaks French and I took Spanish. And Kay wasn't really vamped...was a dream/fantasy.

Why didn't I notice the n'est-ce pas the first time I read it?

Huh.

Blinded by the fangs, I bet. I do that stuff on purpose.

"Vampire. Yeah, I know, peaches. And if I had a dollar for every confused woman who came in here every Saturday night with that particular upsetting story, I could special-order a new wardrobe, at least. And it is always women...men have this thing about beating up what they don't understand."-

My impression was that Lorne was saying that women come in and talk about their men getting vamped, but men whose women get vamped just beat them (the women) up. Or something. I got that Kay hadn't really been vamped...

I read it as the fact that the men whose women have got vamped just go out and smash things, rather than talk about how they feel - that the people coming in wanting to talk about it would be the women.

Seemed really straightforward to me.