Date Night (17 page)

Reacting to Faith's continued silence, the smaller slayer shook her head miserably. "I guess that's not what you had in mind for us, huh?" Buffy carefully wiped at her eyes, unwilling to smudge her eye make-up.

Faith continued to stare at the blonde's reflection, unable to utter a syllable.

The Chosen One turned on her heels and faced the dark-haired slayer. "Please just go," Buffy sighed, tears stinging the corners of her eyes.

The brunette made an uncomfortable noise, working her tongue and throat, but still was unable to form any words.

"Please, Faith," the California slayer said in a tired voice. "You need to go."

The Boston girl's head dropped and her shoulders heaved. She turned on her heels and exited the way she came in without a second glance, leaving the blonde slayer alone with her thoughts.

++++++++++++++++++

Kennedy paced at the front entrance of the church. She wobbled slightly in the high-heels to which she was unaccustomed as she walked back and forth on the worn carpeting. She wiped her damp hands on the front of her satin gown and grimaced when she looked at the clock above the stain-glass doors.

The former boarding-school brat didn't know why she had agreed to be Faith's accomplice in all of this. She didn't know why Faith had to wait until the very moment that Buffy was about to get married, either, for her grand gesture. Couldn't she have had better timing and confronted Buffy the night before? At least that way the newbie slayer wouldn't have had to suffer through all the pre-wedding preparations this morning. And should wouldn't have had to wear this horrible bridesmaid gown, either.

A rattling noise inside her clutch purse alerted the brunette slayer. Kennedy fumbled momentarily with the clasp; she wasn't used to having a girlie purse like this, but Willow had insisted that her normal canvas messenger bag would clash with her outfit. Not that she cared about matching, but her red-haired girlfriend was awfully persuasive. Her phone vibrated inside her clutch, and she pulled it out to see a text message from Faith.

It read only one word - "Outside."

Looking up at the clock above ornate doors again, the young slayer released an exasperated sigh. It couldn't get any more last-minute if Faith tried. With a disgruntled sound, Kennedy pushed through the front doors and exited the church.

The slayer clomped outside the front of the church building and her high-heels sunk into the damp sod. After a minute she found Faith nonchalantly sitting on the hood of a car adjacent to the church. .
"What the hell, dude?" Kennedy declared as she made her way over to the casually seated slayer. "Where's your girl?"

Faith nodded toward the brick building behind them. "Inside the church."

"What? Why?" Kennedy asked in a voice slightly higher-pitched than her normal tone.

The Boston girl's face showed no emotion. "She doesn't want me."

"You're crazy. No way could Buffy turn you down." Kennedy shook her head emphatically. "Tell me exactly what happened," she ordered as she gingerly sat down on the car hood. Willow would go ballistic if she messed up her dress just moments before the ceremony.

"Not much to say. I told her how I felt about her," Faith shrugged, her features and tone stonewalling her emotions. "Told her I loved her. And she told me she was pregnant."

The younger slayer hopped off of the front of the car. "What?!" Kennedy exclaimed in a loud, shrill voice.

A couple, no doubt relatives of Preston's as neither Faith nor Kennedy recognized them, shot the brunette women a condescending look as they entered the church.

"Buffy's not pregnant, you idiot," Kennedy hissed in a much lower, controlled tone.

The Boston slayer's face revealed her confusion. "She's not?" Faith sat up stiffer on the hood of the car. "Well then why would she say she was?" she demanded.

Kennedy threw her hands up in the air. "How the hell should I know? Who knows why General Buffy does half the crap she does. She probably just said it to throw you off or give you some kind of test," she guessed. "And it sounds like you failed the test."

Faith closed her eyes and tilted her head up towards the sun-streaked sky. "God damn it," she complained to the Heavens. "I'm sick of these mother fuckin' tests! Love shouldn't be this hard," she complained bitterly.

Kennedy eyeballed the older woman. "So what are you gonna do now?" she asked.

Abruptly Faith hefted herself off the car hood and stood to her full height. "I'm done, Ken," she announced briskly. "Let Buffy live with her mistakes."

During the previous night's wedding rehearsal, the pastor had shown her a way to travel from her changing room to the front of the church so that she was undetected by the groom. Although the slayer didn't believe in superstitions like it being bad luck if the Groom saw the Bride before the wedding, the sublevel would take her to another set of stairs that led to Giles was waiting to walk her down the aisle.

She paused, however, when she discovered Dawn, Xander, Willow, Kennedy, and Giles huddled around a small color television in the church classroom.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked. "Is someone missing their soap operas?" she tried lightly.

The group collectively jumped at the sound of the slayer's voice.

Willow was the first to stand from her school desk. She looked at her blonde friend and chewed on her thumbnail.

"We didn't, uh, think we should bother you with this..." she started, her eyes darting nervously around.

"Out with it," the Chosen One demanded in a clipped tone. "What's the what?"

Buffy looked past her best friend and gazed at the small television. A news anchor filled the screen, reporting on a breaking story. When Buffy read the text at the bottom of the television screen, her chest filled with horror and dread: Breaking Story: Mass killings at Tower City Center.

"Turn it up," she choked.

"It doesn't appear to be a hostage situation," the newsman reported, "but police are being cautious at this point to avoid further casualties. The motivation of the perpetrators is unknown at this point. What we do know is that the terrorists appear to be wearing some kind of costume masks to hide their identities," he added.

The news anchor droned on about details of the current situation. Police had the architecturally unique shopping mall surrounded. Live footage from the scene revealed the faces and lurking forms of creatures inside the glass and metal-framed building. Those were no Halloween costumes, however. These were no terrorists - they were demons.

"Well, it wouldn't be a Buffy-party if someone wasn't in peril," the blonde mumbled to herself.

"We put out an APB for backup from some of the area cells," Willow announced in a business-like tone. "They should be here in a few hours, and Vi and Rona are already on their way to the Mall."

"Too late and not enough," the Chosen One snapped.

"Buffy," Xander spoke up, trying to be the voice of reason. "You can't just take off. It's your wedding day."

"I know," Buffy sighed. She closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples.

Ditching Preston just moments before her wedding did seem like the irresponsible thing to do. But she couldn't just ignore this situation at the mall and hope that everything turned out all right, could she?

Maybe this was the Grand Gesture she'd been looking for all along. Not a Gesture from Faith, however; one from the Fates. She had originally thought her pregnancy had been a sign to settle down with Preston. To give her unborn baby the chance at a stable family life - one that neither she nor Faith had ever personally experienced. Now, however, with this interruption before her wedding, she no longer had the answers.

"All this time...I've been trying to live this normal life," Buffy stated with checked emotion. "Have a wedding...a-a family." She stumbled on the word and shook her head bitterly. "That's not ever going to happen for me, is it?"

Her assembled friends looked uncomfortable at Buffy's disparaging remarks.

Her best friend shook her head sadly. "No, I don't think so, Buff," the witch admitted. "I don't think it's going to happen for any of us."

There was a lump in Buffy's throat and her friends offered her no more words of advice. "Where's Preston?" she asked, choking on the frog in her windpipe.

"He's upstairs at front of the church," Kennedy chipped in helpfully. "I'll go tell him the...uh, bad news."

Buffy rolled her eyes at Kennedy's enthusiasm. "As much as I'd like to take you up on that offer, Kennedy, I'm pretty sure this is something I have to do on my own."

++++++++++++++++++++++

As Buffy made her way to the front of the church, she tried to ignore the barely hushed whispers of the guests sitting in their pews. She could hear the surprise and disapproval in people's hushed voices as she briskly walked down a side aisle to the back room where Preston and his groomsmen were waiting for the ceremony to begin.

The confused organist started to play "Here Comes the Bride," but abruptly stopped when, instead of heading toward the center altar, Buffy took a detour towards the sacristy. It might have made more sense to change out of her wedding gown - it would have created less of a scene at least - but time was precious and lives were at stake.

How was she going to explain this all to Preston? Buffy worried. The truth seemed the most logical solution, but also the most tedious to explain.

The door to the sacristy was closed and, not bothering to knock, Buffy burst into the room.

"Hey!" a groomsman, one of Preston's fraternity brothers from college, shrieked as he finished pulling on his black trousers. "Doesn't anybody knock?" he blustered.

Buffy averted her eyes. "Uh, sorry Bryan," she apologized. "I just, uh, need to see Preston really quick."

Bryan zipped up the front of his pants and dropped his head in embarrassment. "He's just back there," he informed the blustered girl, nodding toward a connecting room.

Buffy nodded her thanks, still unable to look the man in the eyes.

More cautiously, the California slayer opened what she hoped would be the final door to get to Preston. She found her husband-to-be standing before a full-length mirror, adjusting the single white rose on his lapel.

Buffy took a deep, shuddering breath and finally called out her fiancé's name: "Preston?"

Her groom turned on his heels and flashed Buffy a dazzling smile. "Hey, babe!" he said in an excited tone. The man quickly crossed the room to greet his bride. He leaned in and kissed the blonde on the cheek, careful not to smudge her lipstick. "Not that I'm not happy to see you - you look amazing, by the way - but isn't this supposed to be bad luck?"

Buffy chewed on her lip and averted her eyes. "I'm pretty sure we've had all the bad luck we'll ever need."

The dark-haired man frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"Work called," Buffy started with a sigh. "I..."

Preston's face immediately turned stony. "There's not going to be a wedding today, is there?"

"It's hard to explain, Preston," Buffy said, shaking her head in disgust. "It's...it's just something I have to do."

"But why? Why is it always you, Buffy?" Preston complained. He spoke with his hands, waving them in front of his body. "Why can't they send someone else to fix all these little emergencies? It's our wedding day for Pete sake."

Buffy took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Because I'm the Slayer."

A loud whoop erupted from a corner of the room. Kennedy suddenly appeared, scrambling out from behind a large potted plant. "Amen to that," she cheered, pumping her fist in the air.

"Kennedy!" Buffy hissed at the hidden eavesdropper.

Preston's face was crumpled with confusion. "Slayer?"

Buffy sighed. "It's a long story," she said, throwing her hands up. "Giles always did this much better than me."

Kennedy cleared her throat. "Into every generation a Slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a Chosen One," she started with a cheeky grin. "She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. She is..." the dark-haired woman paused dramatically, "the Slayer."

Preston eyeballed the two formally-dressed women. "I'm getting punked right now, right?"

"I'm sorry, hun. You're a great guy." Buffy grimaced as soon as the words came out. She didn't want to sound like a cliché. "I'm just not...who you want me to be," she continued. "It's not your fault though - I'm not who I want to be, either," she added. "I just have to come to terms that I'll never have a normal life."

"So that's it then?" her fiancé asked solemnly and quietly. "You're just giving up on us?"

Buffy chewed on her bottom lip again. "I-I think so."

Preston's face fell. "But what about...what about the baby?"

Kennedy's eyes grew wide. "So it's true?" she gasped in astonishment. "You're really pregnant with this dude's baby?"

"Who told you?" Buffy challenged shrilly, shocked that anyone knew. She'd worked hard to hide her pregnancy from her family and friends.

The recent slayer shrugged. "Faith told me." Kennedy wrinkled her nose immediately. "I guess that means you and Preston boned, huh? Gross."

"Well it certainly wasn't the Immaculate Conception," Buffy growled. "We're wasting time," she announced. "I have to go."

"Hell no, you're not going on your own," Kennedy objected, straightening her shoulders. "I'm coming with."

"Fine," the blonde stated between gritted teeth. "Just don't get in my way, and don't get killed."

+++++++++++++++++++++

The brunette yawned while she drummed her fingers against the front counter at the Rental Car return. The clerk at the return center clicked away at a keyboard, entering her information.