Two Fingers of Whiskey by Lady FoxFire

[Reviews - 8]
Printer

Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +

Title: Two Fingers of Whiskey
Author: Lady FoxFire
Pairing(s): None
Rating: PG13
Setting: Post Graduation
Warning: Not a Buffy friendly fic
Category(s): AU
Summary: Companion piece to my story ‘Blackmail Is Such A Dirty Word’ – What happened after the lawyer left having informed Giles and Joyce of Xander’s death and what they receive from his estate.
Disclaimer: If I owned the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, Xander would have been the star but I don’t so we had to suffer with She Who Lays Vampires. Also I don’t own StarGate SG-1 even though we don’t see them in this fic, they are part of this series universe. And finally I don’t make any money from this fic and if I did the true owners of the universes I’m playing in would sue me for everything I own and don’t own.

Bad Author Notes: So many people just love my portray of Buffy in my fic that my Muse just demand to write a companion piece to the story. No Xander or SG-1 in this fic, sorry

Thanks to Aewnaur for letting me steal and modify one of my favorite lines from The Chronicles of Riddick: The Underverse. Also Thanks Vo for the 'A corpse is a corpse' saying. It fits perfectly

It was late in the morning when Giles walked into Willy's Place. "Watcher," Willy said as a greeting before suddenly finding himself half way over his bar. "Ripper… I mean Ripper," Willy said nervously. Licking his lip, Willy asked, "So what can I get for ya?"

"Two fingers of whiskey and information," Ripper let go of Willy's shirt and allowed the man to slide back behind the bar.

"Sure thing, Ripper," Willy grabbed a clean glass and poured the drink. "Didn't expect to see you in here any time soon considering."

"Considering what?" Ripper growled.

"Well you normally send your girl or the boy here when you want info," Willy handed over the glass. "Of course considering some of the rumors I've been hearing about the boy I guess we won't be seeing him again."

"What type of rumors?" Ripper took a swallow of his drink.

"Heard some demons took the boy out in Phoenix," Willy picked up a bar rag and started to polish the glasses. "Heard they gutted the boy."

"When was this?" Ripper asked.

"About two weeks ago. Give or take a couple days," Willy replied. "Of course it's all rumors but some demons are taking it serious. Some of the clans are a bit upset with the girl calling the boy a traitor and all that."

"When did that happen?" Ripper growled.

"About the time ya guys killed off the old Mayor," Willy replied. "It turns out that the boy had killed the boyfriend of some half breed girl, when he was nibbling on some old lady. So the chit decided to get revenge for her lost love, stupid girl that she was. Didn't realize that her boyfriend was planning on sharing her with his friends as a snack at their next gather."

"So what did this half breed girl do?" Ripper asked.

"Well ya see from what I hear your boy told your Slayer a little white lie to get he to do her job," Willy explained. "Seems her heart wasn't in to taking out old Angelus; holding out hope that red witch of your will pull some magic and make him Angel again. Anyway from what I hear the boy runs up to tell her that red is going to try again only he doesn't. And we all know what happened after that."

Willy poured Ripper another two fingers of whiskey before pouring himself the same. Finishing his drink in one long gulp, Willy continued with his tale, "As I heard it, it was just after ya guys finish the Mayor that the girl ran up to your Slayer and whispered something in her ear. What it was I got no clue but just after that your girl slugged the boy. Started call him a traitor. Said that he lied to her about red trying to re-soul Angel because he was jealous of Angel. Said he probably thought he would have a chance with her with him out of the way. Of course red agreed with her all the way, didn't even try to defend the boy. Just kind of proves that ya can't trust women. Stab ya in back the first chance they get."

"Any way I heard your girl knocked him about and then when he was on the ground started her Radio City Rockettes impersonation." Seeing Ripper's confused look, Willy explained, "She started kicking him. Any ways by that time the boy is out cold and pretty much helpless, luckily from him someone came along and made sure he was taken to the hospital. Day later he wakes up and high tails it out of town. Hear your Slayer gave him 48 hours to get out of town or else she gets a new rib cage hat to wear."

Ripper shakes his head. "I can't believe that Buffy would do all of that."

Willy snorted. "Your girl was willing to feed a human to her pet vampire to save his undead life. Whenever your girl needs info she comes in here, slaps me around until I tell her what she wants. Doesn't do things right like you and the boy did. He knew the rules; he knew how to play the game. Going ta miss that kid," Willy poured himself another drink. "But like I was saying, your girl got a big blind spot when it comes to what she wants and what her job demands. Tell me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure her job is to thrust the wood into the vampire, not let them thrust it into her. Hell most of the vampire that come here, go out at night to see if they can catch a glimpse of her, if you know what I mean. High kicks and twirls shouldn't be done in short skirts and see through shirts."

Ripper coughed a few times having inhaled at the wrong time while gulping his drink. "Well as she said she has a unique fashion sense."

"Ya mean she likes to give vamps two kinds of woodies. One in the pants and one in the heart," Willy said.

"That’s one way to say it," Ripper said with a smirk.

"I'll tell ya one thing if she was offering I won't touch her with a ten foot pole, not even if she was offering to blow me," Will said. "Ya don't know what you'll catch or lose if ya know what I mean."

Willy slowly sipped his drink. "Is the boy really gone?" he asked as he stared down at the amber liquid in his glass.

"Yes," Ripper replied softly.

"Demons?"

Ripper shook his head. "Car accident."

"They know?" Willy asked as he glanced up from his drink.

Ripper shook his head. "Not yet."

"Doubt if they mourn him," Willy said before shooting back the rest of his drink. "They never noticed him when he was alive, can't see them caring now that he's gone."

~*~

Without a word Giles turned from the open front door and walked into his kitchen, leaving Joyce to stand there. With a shake of her head, Joyce walked into the apartment, shutting the door behind her.

"I take it, its not good news," Joyce said as Giles handed her a glass with two fingers of whiskey in it.

Giles looked over his glasses at Joyce before downing his drink in one swallow.

Joyce sat down heavily. "Right. So how bad is it?" she demanded.

Giles turned his back on Joyce as he poured himself another drink. "Buffy attacked Xander because he lied to her about Willow trying to re-soul Angel. He was admitted to the hospital unconscious from the attack."

Giles turned back to Joyce when he heard her coughing. Her empty glass now being held out to him. "Another," she coughed.

With a grim smile, Giles filled Joyce's glass once again.

"What happened exactly?" Joyce demanded

"It was right after we defeated the Major," Giles said as he sunk down in a chair across from Joyce. "I must have been distracted by some of the injured or maybe by the police…" Giles took a sip of his drink. "From what I've learned a half demon in order to get revenge on Xander for killing her boyfriend, told Buffy how he had lied to her when she went to face Angelus."

"Why would he lie to her?" Joyce asked.

"Angelus was winning," Giles declared. "I had been captured by them. Kendra was dead. Willow was recovering from her injuries."

"And Xander was injured," Joyce added in. "I remember he had a broken arm."

Giles nodded his head. "Willow was determined to try the spell, to try to return Angel's soul. She had sent Xander to inform Buffy about the plan."

"But he didn't," Joyce said grimly.

Giles picked up the book Joyce had given him the day before. "It's all in here," he stated. "Xander didn't believe that Willow… a novice witch… she had attempted this spell once before…"

"And failed," Joyce said. "She tried and failed and was going to try again. And Xander didn't believe she could do it."

"And she didn't," Giles growled. "This spell is one of the darkest pieces of magic there is. To steal a soul from it's rest only to place it in a body with a demon… This is something no novice spellcaster could even do."

"So if she didn't do it, who did?" Joyce asked.

Giles shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know. From what Oz and Cordelia described, I believe that Willow was possessed and it was this… entity… who cast the spell." Giles set down his glass. Removing his glasses he started to play with the earpiece. "Xander knew that if Buffy had any glimmer of hope of Angel's returned she won't fight to her full ability."

"And she would die," Joyce said quietly.

"The world would die," Giles corrected. "Angelus had awakened a demon that could suck the world into Hell."

Joyce hissed in surprise.

"The only way to defeat this demon was with the use of the blood of the person who woke him," Giles explained. "However in putting this demon back to sleep the person who woke him is sent to Hell."

Joyce exhaled slowly. "So Angel got his soul back and was sent to Hell."

"I'm afraid so," Giles replied.

"But I've seen him," Joyce said in confusion.

Giles nodded his head grimly. "He was released from his prison in Hell," Giles said. "I can only assume it was the fact that his human soul… was purer that he was freed."

Joyce swirled the liquid in her glass around before take a gulp from it. "What else does the book say?

Giles slipped on his glasses and looked directly at Joyce. "It seems as if Xander was part of a military operation that was monitoring what was going on in Sunnydale."

Joyce shook her head. "Could you repeat that?" she said. "Because I thought you said the military was watching the town."

"I did," Giles replied. "From what Xander wrote, the group was monitoring the supernatural happenings in Sunnydale."

"Why?"

"Xander didn't go into that," Giles answered. "He wrote how they were willing to give Xander self defense training, something I neglected to do. How they arranged for him to be able to steal a rocket launcher from the military base. Xander also wrote how they were the next line of defense if Buffy… if we failed."

Joyce finished off her glass and held it out for a refill. "So now what?"

As Giles poured some more whiskey into her glass, he said, "Xander left me a number to call… if he died."

"It was in the book?" Joyce asked.

Giles nodded his head.

"So are you going to call it?" Joyce demanded.

Giles looked down into his glass as if to search for answers in the amber liquid. "I don't know."

They sat in silence each of the weighing the question of whether or not to call the number.

"You should call," Joyce finally broke the silence.

Giles looked up at her questioningly.

"Xander trusts them," Joyce replied to Giles’ unspoken question. "And I trust Xander."

Giles nodded his head as he set down his glass, picking up the book he turned to the page on which Xander had written the number. Taking a deep breath, Giles dialed the number.

"Acme Corporation. the voice on the other end of the line answered. "What can Acme do for you today?"

Giles looked down at the book and read off, "I need to arrange a rendezvous with Velma."

"Of course," the voice replied. "and what name should I put down for your rendezvous?"

Giles took a deep breath and with a grimace said, "Bond. James Bond."

"Of course Mr. Bond. If you even me one moment I can confirm you rendezvous, the voice said before putting Giles on hold.

"Mr. Bond," a deep sensual yet very male voice answered the phone. "I've been waiting for your call," the man on the other end of the line said seductively.

"Velma?" Giles squeaked slightly.

The male voice chuckled. "Blame Xander, Mr. Giles" he said. "The kid made me promise that if you every called… well I was to answer it as if I was one of Bond's women. Knew I shouldn't have bet against the kid that day. "

Giles open his mouth only to snap it shut, finally he was able to say, "Xander's sense of humor was… very unique."

"That Mr. Giles is an understatement, " the voice said with a chuckle. "I take it you want to set up a meeting to discuss Xander's activities and what we can do for you and what remains of the Scoobies."

"It's 5 o'clock now. Say 6 o'clock at your place?"

Giles blinked in surprise. "You're in Sunnydale?" he sputtered.

"Yeah," the voice replied. "Have a little problem I had to deal with."

"Problem?" Giles asked.

"My side of the street. Not yours," the voice replied. "Someone dreamt up a brillaint idea luckily we hear about it before it turned into a cluster fuck."

"I see," Giles replied in a tone of voice that said he really didn't understand.

The voice of the other end of the phone chuckled. "Don't worry about it too much Mr. Giles. It's not something that will affect your children."

Giles' eyes narrowed at Velma's words. "Speaking of my children," he growled.

"Yeah. Xander," the voice said with some sadness in the tone of voice. "this is something we need to talk about face to face."

"6 o'clock at my home," Giles growled.

"6 o'clock" Velma agreed.

A moment later Giles pulled the phone from his ear and stared at it for a moment. The man… the American had hung up on him.

"So who are we meeting at 6 o'clock," Joyce demanded.

Giles turned in surprise having forgotten that his Slayer's mother was in his home. "Ummm… I'm not really sure."

You must login (register) to review.

Two Fingers of Whiskey by Lady FoxFire [Reviews - 8] Chapter or Story Table of Contents - Text Size + Title: Two Fingers of Whiskey Author: Lady FoxFire Pairing(s): None Rating: PG13 Setting: Post Graduation Warning: Not a Buffy friendly fic Category(s): AU Summary: Companion piece to my story ‘Blackmail Is Such A Dirty Word’ – What happened after the lawyer left having informed Giles and Joyce of Xander’s death and what they receive from his estate. Disclaimer: If I owned the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, Xander would have been the star but I don’t so we had to suffer with She Who Lays Vampires. Also I don’t own StarGate SG-1 even though we don’t see them in this fic, they are part of this series universe. And finally I don’t make any money from this fic and if I did the true owners of the universes I’m playing in would sue me for everything I own and don’t own. Bad Author Notes: So many people just love my portray of Buffy in my fic that my Muse just demand to write a companion piece to the story. No Xander or SG-1 in this fic, sorry Thanks to Aewnaur for letting me steal and modify one of my favorite lines from The Chronicles of Riddick: The Underverse. Also Thanks Vo for the 'A corpse is a corpse' saying. It fits perfectly It was late in the morning when Giles walked into Willy's Place. "Watcher," Willy said as a greeting before suddenly finding himself half way over his bar. "Ripper… I mean Ripper," Willy said nervously. Licking his lip, Willy asked, "So what can I get for ya?" "Two fingers of whiskey and information," Ripper let go of Willy's shirt and allowed the man to slide back behind the bar. "Sure thing, Ripper," Willy grabbed a clean glass and poured the drink. "Didn't expect to see you in here any time soon considering." "Considering what?" Ripper growled. "Well you normally send your girl or the boy here when you want info," Willy handed over the glass. "Of course considering some of the rumors I've been hearing about the boy I guess we won't be seeing him again." "What type of rumors?" Ripper took a swallow of his drink. "Heard some demons took the boy out in Phoenix," Willy picked up a bar rag and started to polish the glasses. "Heard they gutted the boy." "When was this?" Ripper asked. "About two weeks ago. Give or take a couple days," Willy replied. "Of course it's all rumors but some demons are taking it serious. Some of the clans are a bit upset with the girl calling the boy a traitor and all that." "When did that happen?" Ripper growled. "About the time ya guys killed off the old Mayor," Willy replied. "It turns out that the boy had killed the boyfriend of some half breed girl, when he was nibbling on some old lady. So the chit decided to get revenge for her lost love, stupid girl that she was. Didn't realize that her boyfriend was planning on sharing her with his friends as a snack at their next gather." "So what did this half breed girl do?" Ripper asked. "Well ya see from what I hear your boy told your Slayer a little white lie to get he to do her job," Willy explained. "Seems her heart wasn't in to taking out old Angelus; holding out hope that red witch of your will pull some magic and make him Angel again. Anyway from what I hear the boy runs up to tell her that red is going to try again only he doesn't. And we all know what happened after that." Willy poured Ripper another two fingers of whiskey before pouring himself the same. Finishing his drink in one long gulp, Willy continued with his tale, "As I heard it, it was just after ya guys finish the Mayor that the girl ran up to your Slayer and whispered something in her ear. What it was I got no clue but just after that your girl slugged the boy. Started call him a traitor. Said that he lied to her about red trying to re-soul Angel because he was jealous of Angel. Said he probably thought he would have a chance with her with him out of the way. Of course red agreed with her all the way, didn't even try to defend the boy. Just kind of proves that ya can't trust women. Stab ya in back the first chance they get." "Any way I heard your girl knocked him about and then when he was on the ground started her Radio City Rockettes impersonation." Seeing Ripper's confused look, Willy explained, "She started kicking him. Any ways by that time the boy is out cold and pretty much helpless, luckily from him someone came along and made sure he was taken to the hospital. Day later he wakes up and high tails it out of town. Hear your Slayer gave him 48 hours to get out of town or else she gets a new rib cage hat to wear." Ripper shakes his head. "I can't believe that Buffy would do all of that." Willy snorted. "Your girl was willing to feed a human to her pet vampire to save his undead life. Whenever your girl needs info she comes in here, slaps me around until I tell her what she wants. Doesn't do things right like you and the boy did. He knew the rules; he knew how to play the game. Going ta miss that kid," Willy poured himself another drink. "But like I was saying, your girl got a big blind spot when it comes to what she wants and what her job demands. Tell me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure her job is to thrust the wood into the vampire, not let them thrust it into her. Hell most of the vampire that come here, go out at night to see if they can catch a glimpse of her, if you know what I mean. High kicks and twirls shouldn't be done in short skirts and see through shirts." Ripper coughed a few times having inhaled at the wrong time while gulping his drink. "Well as she said she has a unique fashion sense." "Ya mean she likes to give vamps two kinds of woodies. One in the pants and one in the heart," Willy said. "That’s one way to say it," Ripper said with a smirk. "I'll tell ya one thing if she was offering I won't touch her with a ten foot pole, not even if she was offering to blow me," Will said. "Ya don't know what you'll catch or lose if ya know what I mean." Willy slowly sipped his drink. "Is the boy really gone?" he asked as he stared down at the amber liquid in his glass. "Yes," Ripper replied softly. "Demons?" Ripper shook his head. "Car accident." "They know?" Willy asked as he glanced up from his drink. Ripper shook his head. "Not yet." "Doubt if they mourn him," Willy said before shooting back the rest of his drink. "They never noticed him when he was alive, can't see them caring now that he's gone." ~~ Without a word Giles turned from the open front door and walked into his kitchen, leaving Joyce to stand there. With a shake of her head, Joyce walked into the apartment, shutting the door behind her. "I take it, its not good news," Joyce said as Giles handed her a glass with two fingers of whiskey in it. Giles looked over his glasses at Joyce before downing his drink in one swallow. Joyce sat down heavily. "Right. So how bad is it?" she demanded. Giles turned his back on Joyce as he poured himself another drink. "Buffy attacked Xander because he lied to her about Willow trying to re-soul Angel. He was admitted to the hospital unconscious from the attack." Giles turned back to Joyce when he heard her coughing. Her empty glass now being held out to him. "Another," she coughed. With a grim smile, Giles filled Joyce's glass once again. "What happened exactly?" Joyce demanded "It was right after we defeated the Major," Giles said as he sunk down in a chair across from Joyce. "I must have been distracted by some of the injured or maybe by the police…" Giles took a sip of his drink. "From what I've learned a half demon in order to get revenge on Xander for killing her boyfriend, told Buffy how he had lied to her when she went to face Angelus." "Why would he lie to her?" Joyce asked. "Angelus was winning," Giles declared. "I had been captured by them. Kendra was dead. Willow was recovering from her injuries." "And Xander was injured," Joyce added in. "I remember he had a broken arm." Giles nodded his head. "Willow was determined to try the spell, to try to return Angel's soul. She had sent Xander to inform Buffy about the plan." "But he didn't," Joyce said grimly. Giles picked up the book Joyce had given him the day before. "It's all in here," he stated. "Xander didn't believe that Willow… a novice witch… she had attempted this spell once before…" "And failed," Joyce said. "She tried and failed and was going to try again. And Xander didn't believe she could do it." "And she didn't," Giles growled. "This spell is one of the darkest pieces of magic there is. To steal a soul from it's rest only to place it in a body with a demon… This is something no novice spellcaster could even do." "So if she didn't do it, who did?" Joyce asked. Giles shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know. From what Oz and Cordelia described, I believe that Willow was possessed and it was this… entity… who cast the spell." Giles set down his glass. Removing his glasses he started to play with the earpiece. "Xander knew that if Buffy had any glimmer of hope of Angel's returned she won't fight to her full ability." "And she would die," Joyce said quietly. "The world would die," Giles corrected. "Angelus had awakened a demon that could suck the world into Hell." Joyce hissed in surprise. "The only way to defeat this demon was with the use of the blood of the person who woke him," Giles explained. "However in putting this demon back to sleep the person who woke him is sent to Hell." Joyce exhaled slowly. "So Angel got his soul back and was sent to Hell." "I'm afraid so," Giles replied. "But I've seen him," Joyce said in confusion. Giles nodded his head grimly. "He was released from his prison in Hell," Giles said. "I can only assume it was the fact that his human soul… was purer that he was freed." Joyce swirled the liquid in her glass around before take a gulp from it. "What else does the book say? Giles slipped on his glasses and looked directly at Joyce. "It seems as if Xander was part of a military operation that was monitoring what was going on in Sunnydale." Joyce shook her head. "Could you repeat that?" she said. "Because I thought you said the military was watching the town." "I did," Giles replied. "From what Xander wrote, the group was monitoring the supernatural happenings in Sunnydale." "Why?" "Xander didn't go into that," Giles answered. "He wrote how they were willing to give Xander self defense training, something I neglected to do. How they arranged for him to be able to steal* a rocket launcher from the military base. Xander also wrote how they were the next line of defense if Buffy… if we failed." Joyce finished off her glass and held it out for a refill. "So now what?" As Giles poured some more whiskey into her glass, he said, "Xander left me a number to call… if he died." "It was in the book?" Joyce asked. Giles nodded his head. "So are you going to call it?" Joyce demanded. Giles looked down into his glass as if to search for answers in the amber liquid. "I don't know." They sat in silence each of the weighing the question of whether or not to call the number. "You should call," Joyce finally broke the silence. Giles looked up at her questioningly. "Xander trusts them," Joyce replied to Giles’ unspoken question. "And I trust Xander." Giles nodded his head as he set down his glass, picking up the book he turned to the page on which Xander had written the number. Taking a deep breath, Giles dialed the number. "Acme Corporation. the voice on the other end of the line answered. "What can Acme do for you today?" Giles looked down at the book and read off, "I need to arrange a rendezvous with Velma." "Of course," the voice replied. "and what name should I put down for your rendezvous?" Giles took a deep breath and with a grimace said, "Bond. James Bond." "Of course Mr. Bond. If you even me one moment I can confirm you rendezvous, the voice said before putting Giles on hold. "Mr. Bond," a deep sensual yet very male voice answered the phone. "I've been waiting for your call," the man on the other end of the line said seductively. "Velma?" Giles squeaked slightly. The male voice chuckled. "Blame Xander, Mr. Giles" he said. "The kid made me promise that if you every called… well I was to answer it as if I was one of Bond's women. Knew I shouldn't have bet against the kid that day. " Giles open his mouth only to snap it shut, finally he was able to say, "Xander's sense of humor was… very unique." "That Mr. Giles is an understatement, " the voice said with a chuckle. "I take it you want to set up a meeting to discuss Xander's activities and what we can do for you and what remains of the Scoobies." "It's 5 o'clock now. Say 6 o'clock at your place?" Giles blinked in surprise. "You're in Sunnydale?" he sputtered. "Yeah," the voice replied. "Have a little problem I had to deal with." "Problem?" Giles asked. "My side of the street. Not yours," the voice replied. "Someone dreamt up a brillaint* idea luckily we hear about it before it turned into a cluster fuck." "I see," Giles replied in a tone of voice that said he really didn't understand. The voice of the other end of the phone chuckled. "Don't worry about it too much Mr. Giles. It's not something that will affect your children." Giles' eyes narrowed at Velma's* words. "Speaking of my children," he growled. "Yeah. Xander," the voice said with some sadness in the tone of voice. "this is something we need to talk about face to face." "6 o'clock at my home," Giles growled. "6 o'clock" Velma agreed. A moment later Giles pulled the phone from his ear and stared at it for a moment. The man… the American had hung up on him. "So who are we meeting at 6 o'clock," Joyce demanded. Giles turned in surprise having forgotten that his Slayer's mother was in his home. "Ummm… I'm not really sure." Previous Next You must login (register) to review.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. Archive running on eFiction 3.5.x, software developed & maintained by The eFiction Project http://www.efiction.org/ :: Archive design based on original skin designed by Sally Anderson. All Rights Reserved.