BtVS: Alternate Lives

Who: Patience OT Ash
Where: Chloe's Sugar Shack
When: Monday afternoon (December 7)


Patience had told Damon that she'd talk to her brother, though first she'd needed to talk to Pat and then to Gwen. The fact that Bella still hadn't turned up was worrisome if only because they had no answers. No matter how much they might have wanted to believe that she was safe and sound in some other time, there was still the possibility that something much worse had happened.

It was the not knowing that was so awful.

She'd called Ash and asked him to meet her at the Sugar Shack. For once, she was craving a Sugar Fairy Shooter and…that was yet another cause for worry, though on an entirely different level. One, if she was constantly craving the uber-sweet concoction, she was liable to put on a hundred pounds and end up a diabetic. Two, what if it affected the baby? Chloe was great and Ash was head over heels for Lucy, but Patience wasn't sure she could put up with a sugar fairy princess of her very own for the next 18+ years.

Still, she was sucking down an extra large as she sat in one of the booths and waited for her brother to show. She figured it was too early for him to be hanging with his Fairy Princess (on a school day), but that he might have other Watcherly duties to take care of.

Who: Patience OT Gwen
Where: Avarice
When: Tuesday night (December 1 - backdated)


You know, it was kind of hard being a bartender sometimes. Like, oh, when one of your best friends in the entire world walked into the bar where you worked and started drinking herself silly. Gwen looked like trouble from a mile away and after watching her half the night, Patience had begged, pleaded, and bargained with CJ to let her off early. Ohhhh, the things she was going to have to do for that woman, but Gwen was worth it. Especially tonight.

"Slow ya roll, homie," Patience said as she joined Gwen and unceremoniously stole the drink from her friend's hand. "Celebrating a little early, aren't ya? You know the party doesn't start until I'm here."

Who: Patience OT Pat
Where: Pat and Patience's home
When: Saturday night (December 5)


Patience had tried not to say too much when Pat had returned her call, just that she needed to talk to him and that she'd meet him at home ASAP. Okay, sure, that meant she'd be speeding through the streets of LA and, well, although she hadn't had any falling spells or mysterious fevers lately, she kind of got the feeling that Pat didn't really like not being able to keep an eye on her. Because she was going to black out while driving or something, right?

It was probably best not to tempt the fates. She caught herself just as she started to scoff at the idea. At this point of the game, anything was possible.

Seeing Damon – well, he hadn't been at his best, that was obvious – but he was a wreck over Bella and that thought was sobering as she pulled into the driveway of her home. If Damon was that worried…how were the rest of them supposed to feel? He was all supernatural, had a "grr" face. Hell, he had some kind of demon inside of him. For reals. And he was crying over a girl from the future.

The thought that something might have happened to send Bella back hadn't escaped Patience. But…there were other thoughts too. That she was hurt somewhere…or worse. That someone had done this to her on purpose. Or...or she didn't know what, there were just a lot of possibilities and Patience couldn't even begin to wrap her head around it. All she knew was that the thought of Pat losing another daughter? Well, it wasn't going to be pretty….

Who: Damon and Patience
Where: The Van Warren residence
When: Saturday evening (December 5)


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Who: Patience OT Pat, Ash, Gwen, Bella, Damon, Lucy, Kevin (+1?), Chloe, Nica, Marlowe, Jack, Louise, Mere, Devon
Where: Pat and Patience's house
When: Thursday night, Thanksgiving (November 26)


The timer on the oven dinged at exactly 7:45 PM. When she'd invited everyone over, she'd been upfront that dinner wouldn't start until after eight. Given the fact that certain invitees had a particular, um, sun allergy, she wanted to give them ample time to do…whatever they needed to do…before showing up. Hey. She wasn't well-versed in the ways of the vampire. They had sharp fangs and they drank blood. That was about the sum total that she really needed to know.

Also, the later they had dinner, the more time she had to actually prepare it.

This was the first time she'd ever attempted to cook a Thanksgiving dinner. Pat seemed overwhelmingly supportive of her domestic endeavors. It made her feel a little bit like that mom from Leave it to Beaver or something. Like maybe he wanted to come home to find her wearing her pearls and high heels while she was vacuuming. Then again, he'd probably love if he came home to find her in only that.

He wasn't hovering, per se, but she knew he was still worried about her. She hadn't suffered any more episodes like the night when he'd raced her to the hospital, but she still hadn't been in top form. She was okay tonight, though. They'd woken up early to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade – just the three of them curled up in bed: Pat, her, and Beast. The puppy was still the cutest thing she'd ever laid eyes on and she was horribly protective of him, especially when Pat tended to make fun of him. Still, he'd gotten a little too rambunctious earlier and she'd had to kick him out of the kitchen. (Not literally, of course. She'd just gotten Pat to take him back down to the basement.)

Oddly enough, there weren't any burnt smells wafting from the kitchen. It all smelled…like what she assumed Thanksgiving dinner should smell like. Grabbing a couple of potholders, she opened the oven door and pulled out the pan containing the turkey. The bird was golden brown and looked juicy, but everything she'd read on how to cook a turkey said to let it rest once it was done, so she resisted cutting into it to check. The vegetables that had been roasting in the pan looked tender. She could only hope it was all good.

She tented the pan with aluminum foil and then checked everything else she had going on. The potatoes had finished boiling and were just waiting to be mashed and mixed with butter and cream and fresh cracked pepper (she'd resisted making them from a box…okay, Pat had forbid her to make them from a box…which really just made her want to tell him he could fucking make them himself…but a part of her wanted their first Thanksgiving as husband and wife to be perfect…so she hadn't), the stuffing and the green bean casserole (which was a staple, right?) were still in the oven, the cranberry sauce and the green salad were in the refrigerator, and the rolls were waiting to be popped in to warm just before it was time to sit down and eat. Out on the table in the dining room, she'd set out a cheese and fruit tray, a few bottles of wine that had been chilled, and the desserts were being kept out of sight for fear that they'd disappear with some of those Van Warrens around.

Had she gone to a lot of work? Hell yeah. She felt like freaking Betty Crocker or some shit. But she just wanted everything to be nice. Normal. Traditional. Like an actual family holiday dinner. Making new, good memories about family and tradition could only help her and Ash.

Hearing voices from the dining room, Patience untied her apron, draped it over the counter, and paused to smooth out the skirt of her pewter colored dress before heading out to see who'd arrived.

Who: Damon and Patience
Where: The Daily Grind
When: Thursday night (November 19)


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Who: Patience OT Gwen
Where: Pat and Patience's house
When Tuesday afternoon (November 17)

Sometimes, Pat could be really…overprotective. Usually it was cute. Like when he showed up at Avarice and girls went wild over him, but he still got that look in his eyes when he saw the guys at the bar flirting with her. All right, so actually? That turned her on, but this? Being stuck in the house on some kind of husband-imposed bed rest until it was time for her doctor's appointment? Sucked big time.

So of course, Patience did what she had to do. No, she didn't tie the bed sheets together and climb out of the window. She'd stopped doing things like that when she was sixteen. No, she was smarter now. She picked up the phone, called her BFF, begged for a milkshake from the Sugar Shack, and told her to bring it over because Pat was keeping her prisoner – and not the good kind who got tied to the bed.

She didn't even understand why this was such a big deal. Yeah, okay, so she was coming down with something. It couldn't be that serious if her fever had broken so quickly last night. All she needed was some rest. If she was a little run down and worn out, could anyone blame her? In the space of a few months, she'd been brought back from the dead, her husband had had a baby with another woman, her brother had gone off to battle, she was working crazy hours, she'd gotten married, her husband's said kid had shown up fully grown from the future, and her best friend in the world had been shit on in the worst, most dramafied possible way. It was all kind of stress-inducing.

Who: Pat and Patience
Where: Their home, then LAGH
When: Monday evening

Who: Patience OT CJ (and Danny)
Where: Avarice
When: Saturday night (November 14)

She probably would have been a really awful person if she didn't have some sympathy for the people involved with what was going on right now. No matter what way you looked at it, Ben was Pat's friend and Patience could respect that. She didn't have to respect Ben, but she could respect the bonds of friendship between the men. It wasn't even that she hated Ben. She was just…really, really angry at him for helping to hurt her best friend. Had she ever thought about killing him? Maybe. Once or twice. And Skylar too. But Patience wasn't stupid. If she wanted to hurt Skylar, she was going to have to go through different channels besides simple brute force. Unfortunately, the bitch had that all over her.

But that wasn't even really what she was thinking about right now. She'd shown up to work at Avarice because she wasn't sure what state the club would be in. She knew Ben's brother and sister had taken over management, but the place still had a lot to do with Ben. The people knew Ben. Before he'd decided to devote his time to his titty bar, there was barely a night you wouldn't have seen him prowling the place for something young and tight.

So she could at least help out by actually showing up for work, right?

"Hey, CJ!" she called down the length of the bar as she poured a drink for the guy across from her. Sliding it to him with a smile, she leaned forward, the strategically shredded silk of her blouse giving him a clear shot down her top as she plucked the tip from his fingers and blew him a kiss. "We get in a new shipment of Hennessy? I'm almost out and I didn't see another on the shelf."

Who: Pat, open to Patience and any of their friends
Where: Avarice
When: Backdated to Thursday


To Patrick McConnell, this was the kind of day that made him glad to be alive. It was Patience's first birthday since coming back from The Great Beyond, and he knew damn well he had to make it special. He called everyone that his wife called a friend, and informed them of this party. He had plenty of gifts onhand (as well as a few more surprise ones wrapped and waiting at home), a huge birthday cake waiting to be brought out, and other surprises.

He looked around Avarice, which mostly looked as it usually did... save for the sorner he'd had reserved for this party. THAT section had been decorated festively, with multi-colored balloons, 'Happy Birthday' streamers, pretty much everything Pat could think of.

Sitting at the huge table he'd had set aside for them, he wore a classy pinstriped suitcoat over a white dress shirt and black slacks with, cutely enough, a little party hat on as well. 

Looking over at Patience, he grinned as he leaned over, placing a sweet kiss on her lips.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart... I love you."

Who: Pat and Patience
Where: Their home
When: Sunday afternoon (November 1)

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Who: Patience and Pat OT Wedding Guests
Where: The Grove @ The Ephemeral Gardens
When: Saturday night, directly after the wedding (October 17)

Once the ceremony was over, Patience wanted to speed through signing the marriage license and taking a metric fuck-ton of pictures with the bridal party. Not that she didn't love everyone for being a part of this, but it was done. She was officially, legally, Mrs. Patrick McConnell. Nothing else mattered except kicking off her shoes and dancing the night away underneath the stars with her absolutely amazing husband.

All right. Maybe she'd have some food and do a few shots, too, but the bottom line was that she wanted to PARTY. It was amazing to her that nothing oh-my-god AWFUL had happened during the ceremony. It didn't feel completely real…until she looked down at the wedding ring on her hand and then it all hit her. So, yeah, she kept staring at it. That didn't make her a freak or anything.

She'd pulled Pat into another borderline inappropriate kiss once they'd joined the guests – not that anyone should have been a stranger to seeing them all over each other. Laughing and smiling – happier than she could ever remember being in her life – she'd taken his hand as they moved to the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife. Going with the Beatles theme, they'd agreed on Ozzy's cover of "In My Life" - and funny as it could have been, she simply thought it was utterly romantic.

Who: Patience and Pat OT Everyone in the wedding or invited to the wedding, plus their dates (see: here)
Where: The Grove @ The Ephemeral Gardens
When: Saturday night (October 17)

If anyone had asked Patience, she would have said that ever since leaving the house, everything had felt pretty damn…surreal. This was finally happening. The day was here. The hour was almost here. The sun had set and she could hear the strains of music wafting from The Grove. She'd checked out the decorations before being hustled back to the bridal pavilion and, while the lights hadn't been on yet, she could already see in her mind's eye what it would look like walking up the way toward small courtyard with the tree, under which she and Pat would exchange their vows. Lanterns were hung from some of the limbs and at the end of each row of seats, and strands of light would drip down above the makeshift altar, setting the place ablaze. Figuratively speaking only, she hoped.

Her bridesmaids looked gorgeous in their form-fitting long red gowns and, as Ash had so pointedly noticed, it was like she didn't even know any ugly chicks. None that she would have asked to be in her wedding, anyway.

"Hey, Slayer. Vampire. Somebody strong? Can you lace me up?" she asked as she straightened the slender straps of her dress over her shoulders for the hundredth time. "I want my stomach to be in my boobs…so it actually looks like I've got something to work with. Since I'm standing next to all of you with your big tits." Sweeping the ruffled train of her skirt to the front so that it wouldn't get stepped on, she sucked in a breath and looked back. The closer it got to show time, the more nervous she was starting to get. Not because of the actual ceremony or the fact that they were taking this really huge step. No, she wasn't even afraid (yet) that she might mess up her vows. What was getting under her skin was this whole singing thing. She wanted to do it – for Pat – but no matter how great Kevin had been in trying to help build up her confidence, she still sounded like a wounded bird to her own ears.

( a few wedding details )

Who: Ash and Patience
Where: Pat and Patience's house
When: Saturday afternoon (October 17)

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Who: Ben and Patience
Where: Avarice
When: Thursday afternoon


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Who: Ben, open to all
Where: Avarice
When: Thursday night

This was it. The biggest night in Avarice's short history. The CD release concert for Broken Sunrise. There were two other bands playing as well, including Skylar's, but he knew Broken Sunrise was going to bring in the media. Dressed in a snazzy black suit and tie, Ben stood on the stage, microphone in hand.

"Ladies and gents... thank you for coming tonight...  without further ado... allow me to introduce the first band of the evening."

He turned slightly, motioning as the curtain on the stage began to pull away.

"A band that I personally have a VERY vested interest in... allow me to re-introduce you all... to the new, the improved... Suicide Messiah!"

Who: Patience and Iris
Where: Outside of Mansur's Floral
When: Thursday afternoon

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Who: Pat and Patience
Where: Home
When: Tuesday night (very late)


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Who: Patience and Gwen
Where: Skylar and Gwen's house, then Pat and Patience's house
When: Tuesday night (very late)


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ATTN: All (See Guest List)
Note: These went out today, so your characters will probably receive them some time this week.

( Invitations )