“Enemies” 13/14

[sroni]

He was on patrol with Vi and Rona. Ordinarily, Faith would be with them, but she was puking her guts out. She tried to come anyway, but Xander glared at her until she went back to bed, and he told Buffy to watch over her. Buffy was very vocal about her unhappiness, but she did it anyway, giving him a hug before he left.

Vi was still allowed on patrol, but she was under “probation”. Not for bad behavior, but to make sure that she’d be as safe as possible, and not be killed before her fifteenth birthday.

Vi kept glancing at him, as if she wanted to say something. Finally, it annoyed him enough to call her on it. “What?” She shrugged. “Don’t shrug. There’s something bugging you. What is it?”

She started to protest, but thought better about it. “When are you going to ask Faith to marry you?” Behind her, Rona slapped her forehead in exasperation. “She’s waiting for it, even if she doesn’t realize it. She loves you.”

He had to give Vi points for bluntness. It might take her forever and a day to actually say something, but once she did, she didn’t mince words. He waited for his lungs to work again before he responded. “What brought this on?”

Rona jumped into the conversation. “Why does Faith call Willow Scarlet? She used to call her Red.”

Xander happily went with the change of topic. “She didn’t tell me, but I think there are two basic reasons. Spike used to call Wills that, and when Spike almost died … again, the first time, Faith switched, so that if/when he died, the nickname wouldn’t remind people. Turned out to be a good thing, since he, you know, did. The second is, in prison, she got addicted to comic books, and one character goes by the name the Scarlet Witch. I think she finds it funny that she’s named a witch Scarlet. But, I don’t actually know; I’m just guessing.” Vi started to open her mouth, and stopped. He looked at her, and asked, since curiosity got the better of him. “Why do you think she …?” He couldn’t bring himself to say the ‘L’ word. “You know.”

Vi ducked her head, avoiding his gaze. “I can’t tell you.”

“Oh, so it’s a secret? How many people know this secret?”

Rona spoke up. “Just the two of us. And Buffy. And maybe Giles, I don’t really know; possibly Willow and Kennedy, too.”

“So, basically, everyone except me and the new ones?” They nodded. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s not nice to keep secrets?” They nodded again. “Great. Suddenly, you’ve clammed up.”

“Why haven’t you asked her to marry you?” Vi persisted.

He sighed. “Because there are a lot of issues to deal with.”

Vi and Rona shared a look. “What kind of things? We’ve heard all about your ex-girlfriends, and they really are your exes. Have been since they, you know, tried to kill you. So, what issues?” When Vi got something in her head, she didn’t let go of it without a fight.

He rolled his eye. “Brutal honesty? I don’t know if she’ll say yes. We have a good thing going right now, and I don’t want to screw it over by trying to rush into something that she’s not interested in.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this stuff.”

Vi shrugged. “’Cause we brought it up, and you need to talk to someone.”

“What’s this we, Hat Girl?” Rona was pretending to be more angry than she was. Rona was like that. “We didn’t bring anything it up, you did. After I said we should let it alone.” Vi responded by throwing a snowball in Rona’s face.

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