15
Time and Again - Part 1: In The Beginning
Sunnydale High, Canteen - Tuesday 9th September 1997
The little that remained of the morning had passed uneventfully and now Buffy and Cordelia were looking unenthusiastically at what passed for food in the canteen.
"Well," Cordelia said finally, looking down at the slop on her plate. "I'm pretty sure I must have eaten worse with Nevyn, but I can't quite remember when."
"Yeah," Buffy agreed her nose wrinkling in disgust. "Maybe if we close our eyes it might actually taste edible"
"Or we could just take this as a sign that we're supposed to diet today."
"If we didn't live on the Hellmouth I'd say that was ridiculous, but…"
Pulling out a seat, Buffy sat down next to Willow who was morosely prodding at her food with her fork while trying not to notice the way Xander was shovelling the disgusting mess into his mouth. Though Xander stopped in surprise with his fork halfway to his mouth when Cordelia took the other free chair at the table.
"You're sitting with us?" he asked. "I thought the queen never lowered herself to associate with the freak squad in public."
"Wow Xander, I thought even you would have noticed I'm a bit different by now," Cordelia answered pleasantly. "But don't worry. I'm not associating with you, I'm just sitting here to prevent Harmony from being murdered."
"Huh? What's Harmony done to irritate Buffy now?"
"Hey!" Buffy objected. "Why do you assume it's me that's feeling homicidal towards Harmony?"
"Err, well umm, because you know her?" a very confused Xander asked lamely. "But if it's not you then how does Cordelia sitting here stop her murder?"
"Because, it keeps the whole length of the room between me and that dirty minded little bitch. So I have a better chance of making it through the meal without smashing her stupid smirking face straight through a wall," Cordelia told him in deceptively sweet tones.
"Okay, I'm confused. Isn't she supposed to be your friend?"
"Maybe before. But now, the less I have to do with that vacuous tramp and the rest of those sheep the better." Her voice had risen stridently and a hush settled across the canteen as everyone stared first at Cordelia and then at the 'sheep' she had just spoken of so disparagingly.
Feeling uncomfortable under all the stares, Cordelia pushed her untouched plate away from her and stood up. "I guess I'm not feeling very hungry after all," she said quietly. "I think I'll just head to the library."
Buffy sadly watched the brunette walking away, guiltily aware of the way her gaze had automatically drifted down to rest on the swing of the brunettes hips. //Why did Harmony have to spoil things? Now Cordy's probably going to go back to avoiding me again just to prevent anyone taking that nitwit's rumours seriously.// With a heavy sigh she pushed her virtually untouched plate towards Xander, who pounced on it eagerly. //Well, maybe I should go talk to her. Find out where we stand.//
Pushing through the library doors, Cordelia ignored the 'Closed for Indexing' sign Giles had set out to discourage students from coming in. The Watcher had been joined by Miss Calendar and they were staring intently at some images flickering in the air above Nevyn's open hands, but looked round in alarm when the door banged open. Cordelia scowled slightly when Giles immediately looked away again with a relieved sigh. Although Jenny's smile of greeting mollified her slightly.
Looking more closely at the scene Nevyn was currently projecting, Cordelia was surprised to see that it was unfamiliar. She had thought that Nevyn had shown her all the episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that he was willing to reveal. But this one clearly showed Giles sitting drinking tea with an older man she had never seen before.
"Who's that?" she asked.
“Eh, oh, ah, – well – his name's Quentin Travers,” Giles said after a long hesitation. "He's a senior member of The Watcher's Council."
"Oh, that would explain the tweed and the tea then." Turning to Nevyn she asked, "How come I've never seen that clip before?"
"Well it hasn't happened yet in this world. And if it does happen it won't be for another sixteen months or so."
"This has to do with your reluctance to talk about the future doesn't it?" she asked shrewdly.
"Of course. I've explained this to you before. The more I speak about people's futures the more likely they are to try and change something. And each time something is changed it makes my knowledge of what happens afterwards much less certain. So, I try to limit my revelations and interference to only the most critical events, where what I know can make an important change."
"Yeah, so you've said before, but I still think you do it mainly to keep an air of mystery about yourself." She teased. "And to annoy the hell out of me of course."
"Oh, but of course," he smirked, glad to see she had recovered enough to enter into some light banter with him.
"So, how come you were showing Giles a bit of his future then?"
"I needed proof," Giles said. "Something that could only have come from the TV show and not from being spied on in real life."
"And besides," Nevyn said a touch defensively. "With the sound muted, that scene doesn't reveal anything significant. It should be no surprise to Giles that he will meet Travers again someday. Now he knows he'll have tea with him. What a huge revelation that is!"
Giles scowled at Jenny when she laughed along with them. "Oh, come on Rupert. You've got to admit you're a bit of a predictable fuddy-duddy sometimes."
Buffy barely noticed Willow following her as she left the canteen. Her mind was too wrapped up, in trying to figure out just why Cordelia was affecting her so strongly, to notice her shy best friend quietly tagging along behind her. She just couldn't get over the fact that she liked Cordelia. A couple of weeks ago she just wouldn't have believed that was possible, but now she found herself eager to be with the brunette.
//Hell! I need to be honest with myself// she thought with an audible snort, not noticing the worried look Willow was giving her. //I can't keep my eyes off of her, and all that day dreaming I was doing when I was supposed to be listening to the teacher, Mum would have kittens if she knew half the things that were running through my mind. Not that I'm sure some of them are even possible! Since when did I start having naughty thoughts about other girls, wondering what it would be like to kiss one? Would it feel different, softer perhaps, than kissing a man? And Xander wasn't the only one in the library drooling a little at the thought of Cordelia naked on the river bank.//
Without even noticing, she slowly came to a halt in the middle of the corridor. Staring off into space, she didn't even notice the stream of students rushing past her on their way to the courtyard and some fresh air to take away the smell of lunch.
//God, I'm so confused. Does this mean I'm gay now? What will my friends say? Will Willow even want to talk to me again? What about my parents? And I- I'm not sure Cordy feels the same way. She seemed kind of disgusted when Harmony hinted at it in the restroom. Damn! What if she thinks I'm some sort of pervert and never wants to be near me again? I'll be even more of an outcast at school than I am now. Can I handle that? No friends, everyone looking at me funny, my parents trying to 'cure' me.//
"... you OK Buffy?" Willow's concerned voice finally penetrated Buffy's growing panic attack. "You're breathing awfully heavily and you look kind of frightened!"
"Oh Willow. I'm so scared. I just don't know what's going on inside my head lately. An-and I'm scared of loosing you."
"What! I'm not going anywhere."
"But you don't like Cordy," Buffy said in a soft child like voice, "and I want to be her friend. But if I get friendly with her will that mean you won't want to be my friend anymore?"
"Shush, Buffy," Willow gently gathered the trembling slayer into her arms. "I'll always be your friend. You can't get rid of me. It's kind of a forever kind of deal. We Rosenbergs are like limpets when it comes to our friends. We'll always stick with you, no matter what. You know that right?"
Gently stroking Buffy's shoulder length blonde hair, Willow peered into her eyes to see if her words were helping. When Buffy swallowed slightly and gave a shaky nod of her head, Willow decided it was time to try and lighten the mood a little. "Besides, she doesn't seem to be quite as obnoxious as she used to be. I might just be able to stand being in Queen C's company for - oh - say ten minutes at a time. Provided we don't try and over do it."
Seeing the weak smile her attempt at humour brought, she grinned widely. "Now let's get you cleaned up. Don't want anyone thinking I've made you cry."
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