TITLE: Mexico 7/9
AUTHOR: Rari Coss
E-MAIL ADDRESS: RariCoss1956@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: It all belongs to Joss, the WB, UPN, Fox,
Mutant Enemy and anybody else who feels they own it.
Oh, and I have no idea who owns Scarecrow and Mrs.
King but I’m sure they have much more money than I do
and I’m only playing.
FEEDBACK: Absolutely.
Lee had Amanda pressed against the counter, his lips devouring hers. He couldn’t get enough of her. She tasted so good, and her mouth fit his perfectly, and if he didn’t get control of himself he was going to ravish her on the kitchen floor. He put his hands on her shoulders and using her as leverage he pushed away a bit.
Amanda let out a soft noise of disappointment and it was all he could do not to just pick up where he’d left off. “Amanda.” Her eyes, dazed with desire, lifted to his, and he had to take another step back to keep from grabbing her, although he couldn’t help but let a smug grin cross his face. “Amanda.”
She focused back in. “Lee?”
He let out a soft laugh. “It better be me, if you’re kissing like that.”
Amanda reached out and touched his lips with her fingers. “Wow.” She grinned. “That was worth waiting for.”
Lee’s heart felt like it might burst. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”
Amanda closed her eyes. “As much as I love you?” When she opened them, all the love she had for him was there in her eyes.
He felt reborn. “Oh, Amanda.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.
They rested in each other’s embrace until they both remembered the purpose for their being there at the same time. They both reluctantly pulled away and spoke at the same time. “Mexico.”
Lee reluctantly pulled away. “I guess we need to report in to Billy and see if he wants us to head to Mexico.”
Amanda ran her hands down Lee’s arms. “Then maybe we can pick up where we left off.”
Lee leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on her lips. “Count on it.” Taking her hand he led her out of the kitchen and practically ran into Giles and Buffy.
The four of them stared at each other. Giles bit his lower lip to keep from grinning. Lee spoke first. “We, uh, we have to see if we can find Jonathan.”
Giles nodded. “Of course. I wish I could give you more information, but we have no idea where in Mexico he was heading to.”
Lee shrugged. “We’ll check in with our boss and see if he wants us to keep looking.”
Amanda curved her arm through his. “Which he will.”
Lee nodded. “Which he will. Unless something else has come up.”
Buffy gave him a crooked grin. “Like bad guys?”
Lee grinned back. “Like bad guys.”
Amanda looked at Giles. “May I give you my number? Maybe if Willow wants to talk to me, you could call.”
Giles smiled softly at her. “I’d be delighted to take it. I think she might like that very much.”
“I’d be glad to come out, if you think it would help.”
Lee motioned Buffy to the side while Giles and Amanda exchanged telephone numbers. “Maybe I’ll come out here with her and you can explain more about this town, and what happened with that girl upstairs.”
Buffy scrunched her face up. “I can tell you some stuff. But not all of it. And you have to be okay with that.”
“Well, I won’t be, but I’ll manage to survive.” He fished in his pocket and pulled out a card. “Here’s my number. If you need a pep talk, call me.”
Buffy flashed him a full smile. “Really?”
“Really, us bad guy ass kickers need to stick together.”
Buffy let loose a giggle. Then she leaned in toward him. “I see you decided to do something about what we talked about.”
Lee grinned, a totally self-satisfied masculine grin. “Yes, I did. And I’m going to keep doing it.”
Buffy gave him an approving look. “Good for you. I think you guys fit perfectly.”
Lee agreed. “How about you? You going to do something about it?”
Buffy gave him a nervous look. “Yes. No. Maybe.”
Lee snorted. “Buffy, don’t waste any more time. Take your best shot.”
Buffy glanced at Giles and then back at Lee. She finally nodded. “Okay.”
Lee patted her on the arm. “Good. Now we’ll get out of your hair so you can get to it.”
Suddenly Buffy didn’t want them to go. She wasn’t ready to do this. But it was too late. Lee went to claim Amanda. Goodbyes and promises to keep in touch were passed around and then Lee and Amanda were out the door.
Once out on the sidewalk, Lee pulled out his phone. Before he dialed he looked back at the house. “Man, I’d sure love to know what’s going on with all of them.”
Amanda looked at the house as well, catching shadows on the wall as Giles and Buffy moved around the living room. “I don’t know if I want to know.”
Lee pulled her in close. “Why do you say that?”
“I don’t know for sure. But I do know that whatever it is, that it’s caused these people a lot of pain.”
“It looks like they take care of each other.”
Amanda ran her hands down his back. “Just like we take care of each other.”
Lee kissed her gently. “That’s right. But I think you take much better care of me than I do of you.”
Amanda shook her head. “That’s not true. You take care of me all the time. You always have.”
Lee let out a soft laugh. “Well, Mrs. Amanda King, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Amanda smiled. “Is that a promise, Mr. Lee Stetson?”
“Oh, yeah.” He kissed her again. Sighing, knowing that this was again the wrong place for this, he started paying attention to his phone again. “I guess I should call Francine. Let her know what we found out.” He glanced at the house again, scowling at the tantalizing but wholly inadequate information he had about these people.
Amanda watched his face. “I trust them, Lee.”
He nodded. “I do too. If I didn’t I wouldn’t leave until I figured out what was going on. What Willow meant when she said she tried to kill them, what it was she did that was so bad that no one will talk about it, what being the Slayer really means…”
Amanda’s brow furrowed. “What?”
Lee barked out a laugh. “Amanda, I have to tell you something about this little town of Sunnydale and I’m not sure you’re going to believe me.”
Amanda was all ears. “So, tell me.”
Lee put up his finger as he pushed Francine’s number on his speed dial. He listened as it rang.
“Desmond.”
“Francine, it’s Lee.”
“Lee, I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
Lee rolled his eyes. “Jesus, Francine. How do you do it?”
Francine narrowed her eyes. “Just say what you have to say.”
“Jonathan’s hightailed it out of Sunnydale and is on his way to Mexico.”
“Great. Little shit isn’t even here. Figures.” She paused. “Look, you guys don’t need me for this, do you?”
Lee shook his head. “Not really. You want to just head for home?”
“Yeah, I really do. I’ve got some business I need to take care of.”
“All right. Should I give Billy a message when I check in?”
“Just tell him I’ll be back to work on Monday.”
“Okay.” Lee stared at the phone for a minute as if he could see his co-worker. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. And if you’ll go away I’ll be even better.”
Lee let out a snicker. “I’m gone.” He hung up and put his phone in his inner jacket pocket. He felt the stake that Buffy had insisted he keep. As he looked around at the dark of night he was suddenly glad that he had it.
Amanda glanced at him. “Is she all right?”
Lee snickered again. “It sounds like she hooked up with someone. She couldn’t get me off the phone fast enough.”
Amanda let out a sigh. She had never understood Francine. Didn’t think she ever would. “So what were you going to tell me? What was that word you used, a slayer?”
“Yes.” Lee felt for the stake again. He took Amanda’s hand and walked with her to the car, keeping an eye out. “Do you like scary stories?”
Amanda snuck her arm around his waist. “Only if I have a big, strong handsome man to keep me from being afraid.”
He gave her a quick kiss. “Then you’re in luck. Because you happen to have in your possession, one big, strong, often told he was handsome, man, who just happens to be all yours.”
Amanda waited as he opened the car door for her and she slid in, amazed at how impatient she was for him to be near again, as he walked around the car. She took his hand as he got in. “Well, then, big, strong, and handsome, go ahead and scare me.”
“Let’s get back to the hotel first.” He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. “That way, if you do get scared, I can hold you tight.”
She gave him a mock growl. “You better be planning on holding me tight either way, Lee.”
He laughed as he pulled away. “You read my mind, Amanda. You read my mind.”
***
Francine gave D’Hoffryn a long look. “So everything she said is true? I’ll be immortal, and I’ll never age, and I’ll get to punish men for being jerks?”
D’Hoffryn nodded. “All very true.”
She frowned. “I’m not seeing the downside here.” She turned to Anya. “Where’s the downside? There’s got to be a downside.”
Anya shrugged her shoulder. “If you don’t like it, I guess being immortal would really suck.”
“Did you like it?”
Anya nodded. “When I was human I didn’t like thinking about dying. I didn’t like thinking that everyone I knew was just slowly withering away, including me.” Anya shivered.
Francine cocked her head from one side to the other, lips pursed, considering. “I can live in D.C.?”
D’Hoffryn made a wide sweep with his hand. “You may live anywhere, any universe you choose.”
Francine’s eyes opened wide. “Any universe?” She blinked. “Any universe?”
Anya’s hands made an ambivalent gesture. “Trust me, there’s a few you want to avoid. Like the everything’s orange universe. It’s pretty dull.”
Francine grinned at her, suddenly thrilled beyond belief with this odd turn her life had taken. She glanced at Anya. “Why don’t you come to D.C. for a while? Teach me the ropes. We could have some fun. Trust me, there are scorned women by the thousands there.”
Anya thought about it. “Maybe I will. I could use a vacation. I’ll call Giles in the morning. The store’s closed anyway.”
Francine turned toward D’Hoffryn. “Okay, I’m in.”
D’Hoffryn smiled. “Excellent.” He included Anya in his smile. “You’ve done well with this one. She will be a good addition to our family.”
Francine just smiled back. She couldn’t wait to get started.