Patience Kowalski (eternalpatience) wrote in btvsal, @ 2009-08-19 01:06:00 |
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Current location: | Chloe's Sugar Shack |
Entry tags: | ash kowalski, patience kowalski, place: la |
Finally back to the way they SHOULD be...
Who: Ash and Patience
Where: Chloe's Sugar Shack
When: Tuesday afternoon (later)
What a long couple of days. To say Ashton Kowalski had a lot on his plate would be putting things quite mildly. He'd been not only training Buffy like crazy, but now he was also dealing with getting his sister back, having her move back in with Pat, and now doing his OWN training... to help protect Buffy when it came down to the big battle. Wearing his usual all-black suit and tie (God, he'd changed since Patience had died), his formerly slightly shaggy blonde hair now trimmed neatly and coiffed, Ash sat at a table at The Sugar Shack, trying to get some water in him before he went back to his training. He was pushing himself so hard, it was taking a LOT out of him. He'd called his sister earlier, asking if she wanted to meet for some coffee, and now? He just waited. And hoped that among the other changes death had made in her... maybe it had helped with her running late.
Hope was a good thing to have, but it didn't always pay off immediately. The truth was, Patience had been running right on schedule all day - well, most of the day - right up until she'd passed Pat in the hall outside the bathroom. She'd been freshly showered and wrapped up in one of his towels and...well...the rest was history. Now she was strolling into the Sugar Shack fifteen minutes late. Could that stop the wide grin that curved her lips? No indeed. When she spotted Ash, she tried to tone it down, though it was like fighting a losing battle. Still, as she dropped into the seat across from him and REALLY looked at him, a slight crease of worry formed between her brows. "Okay, spill it."
He looked over at her, laughing immediately. That old smile broke out and he gave a hopeless shrug. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He asked, blinking a little. He knew he'd changed, a LOT, since the last time they'd really gotten to spend time together, but when she looked at him like that, it made him realize HOW much. "What exactly am I supposed to spill?"
"You look like hell." She was completely blunt about it, but her grin had started to return. "I'd say you look like death, but I've heard how that looks and it's nothing pretty." While she didn't have a very good memory of the night she'd been brought back, she'd retained bits and pieces. Sometimes, she still sniffed her hair to see if she smelled like formaldehyde. The coughing and spitting and all the nasty parts of returning from the dead? Yeah, she remembered that part. It hadn't been pleasant. "Something's going on, isn't it?" It was just a vibe she got from him. The way he'd looked when she'd spotted him, slightly drawn and tense, as if his thoughts had been elsewhere. What could be so important to cause him to look so tired and stressed out? Maybe it was the suit.
"Well... yeah." He laughed, shrugging a little. He didn't want to go TOO much into his Watcherly duties, because how the HELL would he explain to her who he's actually dating right now? "You know what I do now... and there's a huge battle coming." He didn't want to go into it too much, not in such a public place. "I just... I'm training. A lot. I have to be able to do my part. Keep the people I care about safe." He sounded so much more mature than before... his voice held a sadness that only someone who'd been at the very bottom could ever manage. "And that includes you."
For some reason, the mention of a battle piqqued her interest. Leaning forward, she folded her arms atop the edge of the table. "You've always protected me, Ash. Just don't.... Don't take on too much, okay? I know...." She looked away and considered her words before turning back to him. "You're the strong one, between the two of us. You're special. But if there's anything I can do...I want to."
"The strong one?" He laughed, shaking his head. "My magic's gotten stronger. That's IT. I'm still the same little emotional mess I was back when Dad used to kick my ass and you would stand up to him. Only difference is, now I can use magic a LOT better."
"That's...more than a lot of people can do. And I know you, Ash. You have a good heart. You know...Ben told me...about how I...WHY I..." Died. She couldn't say the word and she wasn't sure how exactly to broach it. "I'm sorry...if losing me.... It's just...." She obviously wasn't comfortable with the subject. "You are strong. You're strong enough to go on without me and to do some really great things. I'm proud of you."
"Well... thanks. While you were gone, I did some things I'm not proud of. Things Wilkins was responsible for. He had you killed... just to push me over the edge." Ash admitted it with a sneer, and that dark magic inside him started to make his eyes turn black, before he brought himself back quickly. "Every day is a struggle now. To not go back to that."
"You won't. You have too much to fight for. And...even if you did things you're not proud of, you pulled out of it, Ash. That's what matters in the end." Patience sat back and took a deep breath. "So. You still haven't told me what I can do to help. And also...." She eyed him speculatively, cautious interest alight in her gaze. "Is there something, y'know, that you're not telling your big sis? Something...that I MIGHT not be too fond of...but that is, ultimately, your business...I GUESS?"
He looked at her for a moment, and then recognized that familiar look. It hit him, right then, what she meant, and more importantly, how she knew. "...fucking Gwen..." he muttered, practically doing a facepalm. "Look... I was gonna tell you. Eventually. I swear."
"Oh! Eventually!" She shook her head like he was UNBELIEVABLE. "What...I mean...I really don't even have anything to say about it. WHY do you have to make things so hard on me? I'm barely human again, you know. I really don't have the muscle it'd take to take on a Slayer, but, damn if I won't if she ends up hurting you." She'd kicked her sister's ass, hadn't she? Might take some tag-teaming, as Gwen had said, but they'd get the job done in the end. "But," Patience conceded, "while we're being all forthcoming about our relationship statuses, I guess I should probably let you know that Pat and I are officially back on. As in...ON." She lifted her hand and showed off the rock.
And finally... FINALLY... Ash gave that old, boyish grin she remembered so well. "Well. Good to see things are finally back to how they SHOULD be. You two are seriously meant to be. I don't even think I can describe how happy I am for you..God knows he compared every other woman he tried to be with to you so much nothing ever worked." And just because they loved to tease each other, "I mean hell, if *I* was getting it on with Gwen AND her wife, no offense, sis... I don't think I'D be thinking of much else."
"Well, I sure hope you wouldn't be thinking of fucking ME if you were." Yeah, she went there. "But that might spell bad news for Buffy, is all I'm sayin'...." She rolled her eyes, still a little incapable of figuring out the rationale behind that pair, but if her brother was happy, so be it. "And don't think I don't realize you're completely avoiding that other issue."
"Dammit." He muttered. Some things really never did change. When Patience decided to bust his balls... she was gonna, no matter HOW he tried to avoid it. "Look. I'm not the same awkward kid that fell head over heels for Dawn, ok? I don't know if what me and Buffy have is love.... I just know that whatever it is... I care a LOT about her. And it's mutual." He ahd to get serious now... had to let her know. "She won't give up on me, sis. My last girlfriend... she left me, said she was scared of how powerful I was, among other things... you know who did what YOU would have done? Picked me up, made me see things right? She did. She's a hell of a woman, Paitience.. and if you can put that whole debacle behind you... I think you'd really like her."
"I'll give her a chance, okay? I'm...that's all I can do these days." She looked away from him, not really wanting him to see the look in her eyes while she gathered up her own inner turmoil and shoved into some mental locker where it belonged. "I won't hate her, alright? You deserve to be happy and if she's the one who does it for you, I'll deal with it. Maybe I WILL like her, I don't know. But if she ever DOES hurt you...." There was no reason to say it again. She might not be as physically strong as Buffy, but Patience wasn't the kind of girl to let that get in her way.
"Nuff said." He smirked, looking to the skies as he finished. "Hell... if I end up being hurt by BOTH sisters? Then I think that makes me the biggest loser ever anyway." He laughed suddenly, realizing something. "If it helps? She hasn't told Dawn yet, either. She's horrified at how she'll react."
"Well, if she needs anyone to hold Dawn down while she breaks the news...." Her smile was serene, but she probably meant it. "So anyway. Look. Back to whatever's REALLY going on. Don't just cut me out of it. I don't wanna be useless. Let me do something. Help you. Any way I can."
"This isn't a... 'normal human' thing, sis." He tried to explain in a way that wouldn't sound like he was coddling her, because he wasn't. "I don't even want some of the other Watchers involved in this... I have this magic.. it can help me in a fight. But this is no joke. We're gonna be fighting vampires, demons, all of it. Just me, a few other Watchers, maybe 10 or 12 Slayers, and apparently a family of werewolves. If you really want to help me?" He looked at her with a deadly seriousness she'd never seen on his face before. "If... if something happens, and I don't come back? PROMISE me that you and Pat will get the hell out of Los Angeles. Go somewhere. Change your names. Make sure my enemies can never find you."
She was already shaking her head. "I can't accept that. Most of it, but more importantly, the thought that you might not come back from...whatever this is. I'm not just saying that to be emotional. I know that...shit happens. But I can't just lose you now, Ash. I can't. I don't think I can do this if you're not around. So you either let me do SOMETHING...or you find a way to promise me that you'll come back. But I can't just stand by and watch you go and not do anything."
He wasn't going to let her get involved in this. No way in HELL. Not after he already lost her once, especially. "Fine. Then I promise you I'm coming back." He grinned. "Besides... the power I have now? Trust me. I can cause some damage. I only asked you that as a way of making me less stressed going into it. I need to go in knowing that you and Pat are safe in a worst-case scenario."
"Pat won't let anything happen to me. So long as it's in his power." She said it matter-of-factly, and knew it to be true. He wasn't willing to risk her life any more than Ash was, and while it was a little infuriating - at least in the case of her brother - she knew they were just looking out for her. "I love you, Ash." Sometimes she figured people got tired of hearing her say it, but hell. It could be the last thing she ever said...or that they ever heard. So she didn't see what it hurt. "Don't worry about me, okay? Just focus on what you need to do. I'll be fine."
"Good. Then we'll both be fine." He said with a smile, knowing damned well that just in case, he'd make a deal with the Bales to have SOMEONE look out for her just in case. "Alright... I gotta get going downstairs. Couple of the other Watchers are meeting me for a bit of a strategy meeting. Go plan your wedding, or... I dunno... do whatever sickeningly romantic stuff you and Pat are doing."