Vacation (all I ever wanted)
Title: Vacation (all I ever wanted)
Author: ubiquirk
Fandom: BtVS
Rating: PG13
Genre: humor, drama
Word Count: 1160
Characters: Faith, Giles
Disclaimer: Not mine; no money.
AN: Set once Faith and Giles have teamed up after “No Future for You.” Written for both summer_of_giles and still_grrr (because sometimes it takes two). Fifth in the Avengers Series, though each story can stand alone. Much thanks to my beta firefly_124.
Summary: “Damn it, Giles.” Faith wipes dayglo goo from her eyes. “You said this was gonna be a vacation!”
“Damn it, Giles.” Faith wipes dayglo goo from her eyes. “You said this was gonna be a vacation!”
“Did I?”
“You know you did. Don’t try to play me with the cool and the British thing.” She tries to shake the stuff off her fingers. It clings.
He pokes at the dead demon with his sword - it rattles, nothing but bones now. “I apologize. Esqueleto Demons were considered to be a myth, so when I saw this one attach itself to that last busload of tourists, I almost didn’t believe it.”
“Still, seems like you knew just what to do, didn’t you?”
“I admit I read up on Mexican demonology on the plane - it is rather a hobby of mine, if you recall.”
Thick silence, quiet enough that she can hear the plops the goo makes as it slides off her hair to hit the old stones of the monument she stands on.
“And … and this!” She throws open her arms and spins in a half circle. “What the freaking hell is this?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You said Mexico, Giles. Mexico.”
“I’ll have you know that Teotihuacán is one of the most popular tourist sites in Mexico.”
“Oh, come on. Vacation in Mexico’s supposed to be beaches and hot guys and twenty different drinks made with tequila and …”
Plop. Plop.
And here she is on the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, except there’s no sun to be had, what with it being the dead of night and all. And speaking of dead … “And it’s the freaking Day of the Dead! You took us on vacation in Mexico on the Day of the Dead!”
“I thought … well, I thought Día de los Muertos would be like Halloween in the States - too bloody obvious for any self-respecting demon to be out and about. Besides, it’s supposed to be about honoring ancestors, not …” He trails off at a look from her and clears his throat. “I was wrong.”
Silence again - her hair’s stopped dripping.
“But did you know,” excitement laces his voice, “that we happen to be standing on the third largest pyramid in the world?”
“No, though that explains how much of a pain it was to chase Skeletor dude around all evening before running up this big mamma. You’re lucky all you had to do was walk up and wait for us to show at midnight.” She rubs at her left quad, which still twinges. “I mean, I’m a Slayer, but dayumn.”
He umms in response, looking out at the view. His face softens into a look that’s kinda … reverent or something, and Faith realizes he probably did think this was a good place for a vacation. Bones and old stones - a Watcher’s holiday.
She looks around. Bright moonlight covers the flat, open landscape yet leaves deep, deep black shadows on the sides of buildings. Small stone whatsits make patterns on the ground between them and a couple of other big structures, but nothing - freaking nothing - is as tall as what they’re standing on. And people made all this before cranes or engines or any of that crap. Faith takes a deep breath. Maybe there’s something to this old-stuff fetish Giles gets such a jones for.
“What’s that one called?” She points to the large building on the right.
His eyes widen in surprise, then he smiles. “That’s the Pyramid of the Moon. At its core lies a structure dating from before 200 AD that was covered over six times, as subsequent generations changed its appearance again and again.” He unclips his canteen from his belt and wets a handkerchief to hand to her.
“Huh.” She wipes the stickiness from her face and moves closer to where he is.
“And this,” he gestures to the long roadway running from the Pyramid of the Moon across all of Teotihuacán, “is the Avenue of the Dead. Those small structures lining it are ceremonial platforms. At the other end is a large plaza containing the Temple of the Feathered Serpent or Quetzalcoatl. There are some rather amazing carvings there. We should come back and see them tomorrow in daylight.”
“Yeah, sure.”
He deflates a bit. “I’m sorry, Faith. I realize this isn’t like the holidays you’re used to taking.”
“Nah, never had a vacation before.” Her voice grows quiet on that last part, not really meaning to let it slip out.
He doesn’t react, so she’s not sure he heard, which is good. Really. Not much use in talking about how far her childhood was from all that American Dream crap you see on TV.
~~~
The carvings are cool - kinda like Chinese dragons without legs. But walking around the Temple of the Feathered Serpent is walking over a place where over two hundred people bit it, one at a time. Turns out human sacrifice was big even before Aztecs came on the scene. Faith hides it, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans, but she’s a little freaked - fingers remembering the feel of knives and blood and the parting of soft human flesh.
Still, they then visit the other pyramids, which are wicked bad-ass huge in daylight, and Giles spends the day telling her about all kinds of history, this little half-smile on his face, bouncing when he walks. Okay - not actually bouncing - but bouncing for Giles.
It doesn’t completely suck, this doing something for someone else stuff.
~~~
Faith digs into breakfast, which is awesome and way different from the crap Taco Bell sells. Each of her ‘divorced eggs’ are covered in salsa, one red and one green, with a line of tortilla chips separating them, and she’s got papaya drizzled with lime and honey waiting.
Giles enters the small restaurant in a rush, waving at the waiter and pointing at what Faith has to order the same.
He’s in his seat and halfway through a cup of coffee by the time Faith finishes chewing enough to swallow. “What’s the hurry?”
“We have a plane to catch.”
“Ah, crap.” She sets down her fork. “Back on the job already?”
“Not exactly.” The skin around his eyes tightens, and she knows that look - he’s up to something.
“Spill already.”
He pulls out two plane tickets and sets them on the table beside her.
“Puerto Vallarta!”
“It seemed a shame to come to Mexico and not visit one of its many fine beaches.”
“You didn’t have …” But she looks at his face, at how happy he is to be doing this. She touches the tickets, the glossy paper smooth under her fingertips - real. Excitement bubbles up and out. “This is awesome, Giles. Thanks.”
~~~
Faith finds herself humming “Vacation” as she packs, as she rides in a taxi, as she sits beside a grinning Giles waiting for the plane. It used to seem cheesetastic, girls singing about a world all Hollywood happy.
Today, she kinda likes it.
Author: ubiquirk
Fandom: BtVS
Rating: PG13
Genre: humor, drama
Word Count: 1160
Characters: Faith, Giles
Disclaimer: Not mine; no money.
AN: Set once Faith and Giles have teamed up after “No Future for You.” Written for both summer_of_giles and still_grrr (because sometimes it takes two). Fifth in the Avengers Series, though each story can stand alone. Much thanks to my beta firefly_124.
Summary: “Damn it, Giles.” Faith wipes dayglo goo from her eyes. “You said this was gonna be a vacation!”
“Damn it, Giles.” Faith wipes dayglo goo from her eyes. “You said this was gonna be a vacation!”
“Did I?”
“You know you did. Don’t try to play me with the cool and the British thing.” She tries to shake the stuff off her fingers. It clings.
He pokes at the dead demon with his sword - it rattles, nothing but bones now. “I apologize. Esqueleto Demons were considered to be a myth, so when I saw this one attach itself to that last busload of tourists, I almost didn’t believe it.”
“Still, seems like you knew just what to do, didn’t you?”
“I admit I read up on Mexican demonology on the plane - it is rather a hobby of mine, if you recall.”
Thick silence, quiet enough that she can hear the plops the goo makes as it slides off her hair to hit the old stones of the monument she stands on.
“And … and this!” She throws open her arms and spins in a half circle. “What the freaking hell is this?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You said Mexico, Giles. Mexico.”
“I’ll have you know that Teotihuacán is one of the most popular tourist sites in Mexico.”
“Oh, come on. Vacation in Mexico’s supposed to be beaches and hot guys and twenty different drinks made with tequila and …”
Plop. Plop.
And here she is on the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, except there’s no sun to be had, what with it being the dead of night and all. And speaking of dead … “And it’s the freaking Day of the Dead! You took us on vacation in Mexico on the Day of the Dead!”
“I thought … well, I thought Día de los Muertos would be like Halloween in the States - too bloody obvious for any self-respecting demon to be out and about. Besides, it’s supposed to be about honoring ancestors, not …” He trails off at a look from her and clears his throat. “I was wrong.”
Silence again - her hair’s stopped dripping.
“But did you know,” excitement laces his voice, “that we happen to be standing on the third largest pyramid in the world?”
“No, though that explains how much of a pain it was to chase Skeletor dude around all evening before running up this big mamma. You’re lucky all you had to do was walk up and wait for us to show at midnight.” She rubs at her left quad, which still twinges. “I mean, I’m a Slayer, but dayumn.”
He umms in response, looking out at the view. His face softens into a look that’s kinda … reverent or something, and Faith realizes he probably did think this was a good place for a vacation. Bones and old stones - a Watcher’s holiday.
She looks around. Bright moonlight covers the flat, open landscape yet leaves deep, deep black shadows on the sides of buildings. Small stone whatsits make patterns on the ground between them and a couple of other big structures, but nothing - freaking nothing - is as tall as what they’re standing on. And people made all this before cranes or engines or any of that crap. Faith takes a deep breath. Maybe there’s something to this old-stuff fetish Giles gets such a jones for.
“What’s that one called?” She points to the large building on the right.
His eyes widen in surprise, then he smiles. “That’s the Pyramid of the Moon. At its core lies a structure dating from before 200 AD that was covered over six times, as subsequent generations changed its appearance again and again.” He unclips his canteen from his belt and wets a handkerchief to hand to her.
“Huh.” She wipes the stickiness from her face and moves closer to where he is.
“And this,” he gestures to the long roadway running from the Pyramid of the Moon across all of Teotihuacán, “is the Avenue of the Dead. Those small structures lining it are ceremonial platforms. At the other end is a large plaza containing the Temple of the Feathered Serpent or Quetzalcoatl. There are some rather amazing carvings there. We should come back and see them tomorrow in daylight.”
“Yeah, sure.”
He deflates a bit. “I’m sorry, Faith. I realize this isn’t like the holidays you’re used to taking.”
“Nah, never had a vacation before.” Her voice grows quiet on that last part, not really meaning to let it slip out.
He doesn’t react, so she’s not sure he heard, which is good. Really. Not much use in talking about how far her childhood was from all that American Dream crap you see on TV.
~~~
The carvings are cool - kinda like Chinese dragons without legs. But walking around the Temple of the Feathered Serpent is walking over a place where over two hundred people bit it, one at a time. Turns out human sacrifice was big even before Aztecs came on the scene. Faith hides it, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans, but she’s a little freaked - fingers remembering the feel of knives and blood and the parting of soft human flesh.
Still, they then visit the other pyramids, which are wicked bad-ass huge in daylight, and Giles spends the day telling her about all kinds of history, this little half-smile on his face, bouncing when he walks. Okay - not actually bouncing - but bouncing for Giles.
It doesn’t completely suck, this doing something for someone else stuff.
~~~
Faith digs into breakfast, which is awesome and way different from the crap Taco Bell sells. Each of her ‘divorced eggs’ are covered in salsa, one red and one green, with a line of tortilla chips separating them, and she’s got papaya drizzled with lime and honey waiting.
Giles enters the small restaurant in a rush, waving at the waiter and pointing at what Faith has to order the same.
He’s in his seat and halfway through a cup of coffee by the time Faith finishes chewing enough to swallow. “What’s the hurry?”
“We have a plane to catch.”
“Ah, crap.” She sets down her fork. “Back on the job already?”
“Not exactly.” The skin around his eyes tightens, and she knows that look - he’s up to something.
“Spill already.”
He pulls out two plane tickets and sets them on the table beside her.
“Puerto Vallarta!”
“It seemed a shame to come to Mexico and not visit one of its many fine beaches.”
“You didn’t have …” But she looks at his face, at how happy he is to be doing this. She touches the tickets, the glossy paper smooth under her fingertips - real. Excitement bubbles up and out. “This is awesome, Giles. Thanks.”
~~~
Faith finds herself humming “Vacation” as she packs, as she rides in a taxi, as she sits beside a grinning Giles waiting for the plane. It used to seem cheesetastic, girls singing about a world all Hollywood happy.
Today, she kinda likes it.