BtVS: Alternate Lives

Who: Cassie and Janie (OT Xander)
Where: Shooting Star Comics
When: Tuesday evening


Singing quietly to herself, little Cassie Allen found herself at Shooting Star all evening once again. She really didn't mind, since, as Andrew worked there too, she could man her store AND see her boyfriend anytime. And it wasn;t like she had much of a social life outside of Andrew, really. Lucy had been busy with Ash and with her band lately, and Dawn had gone from being strangely absent to sharing a mun with Cassie, which made it kind of hard to see each other too much. Shut up.

Anyway, the store was fairly empty tonight, so Cassie was letting herself have some fun with work. She was wearing roller skates with her bellbottoms and smiley-face tee, grinning as she finished stocking the new releases for the morning.

Ahh. It felt like nothing could ruin the mood she was in tonight, right?

....RIGHT???

WHO: Xander OT Janie and all
WHEN: Monday evening
WHERE: Chloe's Sugar Shack

Xander was having a rough week, but not too bad overall. In addition to the comic shop, where he had cut back his hours, he was working construction elsewhere in the city, a job that tired him out but brought in more than enough money to maintain the apartment he and Janie shared, and to even cover the occasional sixpack, Playstation game and (with any luck) something to replace the nasty sherbert-colored carpeting.

He was relaxing, and halfway through a Clermont-era X-Men comic he'd picked up earlier. The place looked the same, smelled the same, but he hadn't been in here in ... it seemed like ages.

Who: Anyone with half an excuse to be there
Where: Regan High School Gym
When: Saturday Night, 4/17

Yay Prom Night! God, it was her Senior Year and Camille was ready for it to be over with! Too many freaks at this school. Hopefully they would weed out some of the weirdos at the private college that she was attending in the fall. Still, with only a few weeks left of school (seniors finished early), she might as well enjoy it. With her date, one of the cute jocks from the football team, and her perfect dress. Tonight had better be perfect for her, or someone was going to pay dearly.

The gym was decorated fairly well. The junior class, who was always tasked with putting on the Prom, had picked out a 'Spring is in the Air' theme, which, lucky for them, matched well with Camille's dress so her pictures would turn out good and she wouldn't clash with the background. The gym was decorated with lots of pink and purple flowers, and fake trees were set up everywhere in an effort to give the gym a 'spring' feel.

WHO; Xander OT Janie
WHEN: Thursday afternoon
WHERE: Xander and Janie's apartment

Xander had had a long, increasingly-awkward conversation with Lynn the other day. He'd been trying to digest the gist of the conversation since then.

What it all boiled down to was that, at some point in the near future, he and Janie would have the sex, and the result of having the sex would be having the Lynn.

As to when and how this would come about, he didn't really know, and Lynn couldn't have answered most of that any way. And he certainly didn't want to hear about that from his daughter even if she could ... She could have told him the date it would happen, but Xander had been too dumbfounded at the time to ask, and too busy avoiding the hell out of Lynn since then to bring it up again.

The hard part was knowing that Janie would have to know about this. Otherwise, future-Lynn was bound to blurt it out at the dinner table in fifteen or sixteen years and thereby put Xander in the doghouse.

On the other hand, it gave him fifteen or sixteen years to tell her, "Oh, by the way, I knew we'd have a daughter, and I might have accidentally not-quite flirted with her at Chloe's one night."

Xander knew he'd just have to bite the bullet and let Janie know what was what.

What he didn't know was why anybody woudl bite a bullet. It just sounded like an incredibly bad and painful thing to do.

He bought dinner for him and Janie and set the table in their small, cozy apartment, with its nasty orange carpet (mostly covered by dark rugs, now), and waited for her to get home.

Who: Lynn OT Xander and anyone
Where: Chloe's Sugar Shack
When: Monday Evening

That evening, Lynn had no plans of doing anything serious. She'd just bought a designer gown for the upcoming prom, and booked her hair and nail appointments. She still needed to schedule her facial, but there was plenty of time for that.

Right now she stood in line, ready to order something cold and caffinated, because she had a big day planned, which would involve skipping school with her best friend and shopping. Well, only if Abbi agreed.

WHO: Xander OT Janie
WHEN: Monday afternoon, March 29th
WHERE: Downtown LA

Xander pulled up at the curb of the three-story building a few blocks off the Sunset Strip, the back of the car full of the assorted odds and ends he'd collected while living with the Marcheses. There was a military-style duffel bag full of clothes, a milk crate full of shoes, several other milk crates full of video tapes and books. A large banker's box full of comic books. And topping it all off, a brand-new TV, VCR/DVD combo, and a PS2 that wasn't new, but worked well enough. The car itself was a ten-year-old Taurus station wagon, white with a few patches of red primer on the left side.

Climbing out of the car, he looked up at the second floor balcony facing the street and smiled. It was a far cry from the place in Oxnard, and it wasn't nearly as his recent digs, but it was his, and that instantly made it cool.

A cab driver honked, and Xander jumped and got out of the street, then took a look around to see if his roommate had arrived yet ...

WHO: Xander, OT Janie, Courtney, any others
WHEN: Tuesday night
WHERE: Chloe's Sugar Shack

Xander had taken over a table near the back corner of the cafe and had a small stack of comics in front of him. He was saving money to move out ... he was being good ... but a few early issues of the Avengers had popped up at the store, and he had nabbed a few of them before the regulars descended on them.

He looked up as the door opened, expecting Janie any minute now ...

Who: Ben, OT anyone
Where: Avarice
When: Monday, March 8th
What: Much like the hair-metal thread... it's just some goofy fun. To once again quote Chapelle's Show: It's a celebration, bitches... enjoy yourselves.


Benjamin Bale occasionally had some... rather odd ideas for themed nights at Avarice. One of his finer moments had been 80s Hair Metal Night. Well... this one? Had the potential to be as memorable, but possibly for horrific reasons altogether.

Yes, tonight was Bring Your Parents Night at Avarice. Any teen that brought at least one parent to to the club would be entitled to free drinks for the evening. Why this odd choice of themes?

Well. First and foremost, Ben loved people's money. And if he could find a way to bring MORE people into Avarice by showing parents that they COULD hang there without seeming skeevy, and show kids that their parents could hang there and not have to slice their coolness factor in half... bingo. More customers.

Then of course... there was the primary reason for this. The humor. Ben knew that everyone around here had been through a LOT lately, and sometimes, nothing helped more than some laughter, and good memories. And really: other than seeing people reliving the glory days of Poison and Winger (actually, did Winger HAVE glory days?), what could be funnier than watching the kids that normally swagger through the club with Ben-level cockiness looking freaked out and having a wiggins because their parents were there either being the world's funniest cockblocks, or god forbid, getting their OWN groove things going?

Oh, hell yes. This had so much hilarious potential that Ben couldn't resist. Even if it DID put him in the same vicinity as the parents of roughly half of the girls he'd tried to bed in the last year.

WHO: Xander OT Cassie and Janie
WHEN: Tuesday night
WHERE: Shooting Star Comics

The comic shop was quiet tonight. Xander had finished restocking and was eying a row of dolls ... umm, "action figures" ... trying to figure out if he could dust them without looking girly. Deciding against it, he picked up a copy of the latest Amazing Spider-Man and settled behind the counter.

Things had settled into a comfortable groove. He was putting away money and it looked like he'd be ready to get an apartment in the next few weeks. Janie was still in school, but he thought she seemed less freaked out by ... life in general.

Who: Chloe, OT Janie and Xander
Where: Chloe's house
When: Saturday night

Bah! Enough of this crap. Chloe was tired of everyone putzing around, trying to figuure out ways to get Bella back. Chloe missed her friend, and wanted her back. So... granted, she wasnt MUCH of a witch, but she was still a witch, damnit!  Time to use those powers!

So she did the only thing she could think of. She invited Janie and Xander to her... rather large home, and told them to bring Janie's time machine if they could. She had an idea.

Dressed in a pair of Gucci jeans and pink cami, she paced back and forth in the living room, waiting for her friends to arrive.

WHO: Xander OT Janie
WHEN: Monday, December 21
WHERE: Chloe's Sugar Shack

Xander had asked Janie to meet him at the cafe after he finished work. He had picked up something for her from the store, and he kind of wanted to reassure her that he wasn't going to try to move too fast.

He was a little annoyed at himself for just assuming that she would be moving in with him right away. That had been a little dumb. At least she had been less stressed when they sorted things out.

He heard the door of the cafe open, and he tucked the box under his coat.

WHO: Janie and Xander
WHEN: Sunday night
WHERE: Casa Marchese

( Read more... )

WHO: Xander, OT Janie (and anyone who might drop by)
WHEN: Saturday night
WHERE: Chloe's Sugar Shack

Xander bought himself and Janie drinks and pastries at the counter and settled at his favorite table, near the window. He was feeling a bit less paranoid, now; there had been no repeat performances, no other shadowy strangers shooting at him on the way home from work, or anyone else for that matter.

The plan was to have a nice, normal evening. Coffee, then a movie ... maybe dinner afterwards, if they were hungry.

He smiled at Janie as he slid her drink across the table to her. "One good thing about this place, you pretty much know your drink is already sweet enough."

WHO: Xander, OT anyone
WHEN: Tuesday night
WHERE: Between Shooting Star and the Marchese apartment

Xander didn't notice at first that he was being followed. Leaving work, he'd started hoofing the few blocks between the comic shop and the place where he was staying, thinking about work and about Janie and not really paying much attention. It was a little dark and a little quiet; not much foot-traffic on a weekday night.

As he turned a corner, the mailbox he'd just passed erupted in flames. Xander spun and fell to the ground, the heat from the smoldering remains of the mailbox singing the hair on his arms. He managed to stand up and he saw a silhouette near the far end of the block pointing something at him ...

He managed to throw himself ungracefully to the sidewalk as a thin red beam passed through the air which had been occupied by his torso only moments ago. He scooted around the corner of the building and put his back to it, his hear pounding, his eyes stinging with the smoke. He patted his pockets, wishing he had a cell phone or ...

He had a laser gun.

Janie had showed him where the power button was. He pressed it, and a little red LED blinked near the handle.

He stood, his back still against the wall, holding the gun pointing upwards, looking to his left.

He pivoted and pointed the gun at ... a deserted street.

"Huh," he said.

WHO: Xander and Janie, OT medical personnel
WHEN: Tuesday night, 03 Nov 00
WHERE: The Marchese apartment

( Read more... )

WHO: Janie and Xander
WHEN: Tuesday night
WHERE: Downtown, then the Marchese apartment

Xander was on his way back to the Marchese apartment from the comics shop. He was on foot; it was only a few blocks, and the neighborhood was a little sketchy, but not so bad that he couldn't walk it safely at night.

Someone came running from nowhere, and almost directly into Xander. "Excuse me" She said, running a second longer before stopping and turning around.

" ... Janie?" Xander grinned and reached out to hug her. "Janie, you're back!"

She winced a little at the hug, and realized where she was. "Xander? I'm... need. Is it safe?"

"Yeah, safe as ever," Xander said. "Are you all right? Where ... or when .. were you?"

"I'm... I went, it doesn't matter. You waited months for me?" She smiled at him, but still looked around nervously.

"Months? It's been a few weeks," he said. "Your device is being rebuilt. We were trying to figure out a way to get you back, but nobody seemed to know how to do that."

"You've used it?" If it wasn't dark, and if she was paler, her skin would have gone white. "We need to get somewhere safe... safer."

"Well, I was on my way back to the apartment," Xander said, "is that safe enough?"

"It's... yes." She tried to figure out where she was, and couldn't. "It's safe enough"

"Good ... just about another block this way," Xander said, and started walking, holding her hand. "Is using it bad? I mean, it wouldn't actually send us anywhere, right?"

She walked with him, completely trusting that he would get her to safety. "It... might. Or." Janie trailed off

"Or ... ?"

"There's a tracking chip. I don't want anyone else in danger."

"Oh. Tracking by who?" Xander asked.

"My... the people, that I used to." She looked around again, and stepped closer to Xander. "Am I really safe?"

"Of course," Xander said. He took a look around just in case. Janie's nerves were making him nervous, as well.

"Where I stayed." She finished. "I can't let them find me." The streets were starting to look familiar to her, and she recognized the building.

"Could that chip come out?" Xander asked.

"Yes.”

"Then you can show the others where it is, and they can fix it."

Janie nodded. "I don't have my key with me."

"I do," Xander said and unlocked the front door to the building. He stood aside to let her in first.

She stepped in the building, and Xander would see that she was wearing what looked like an old, faded jumpsuit and a pair of flip-flops. "I thought I'd never see you again"

"Well, I'm glad you made it back safe." He pressed the button for the penthouse and entered the entry code on the keypad. "How long were you gone? Your time, I mean."

"Months. I lost track after ninety-eight days." She looked at the keypad, trying to re-memorize the code.

"And where did you end up?"

"Back where I used to live. I wasn't supposed to leave.

"I'm glad you made it back," he said. "I missed you. A lot."

"I missed you too." she said, hugging him gently "Thank you for waiting for me."

"How could I not?' Xander said. "I was worried ... all I did for the past few weeks was work and try to help you out."

"I tried to get back. I never stopped." Janie said. "What you did must have helped"

"I hope so," Xander said. "All that matters is that you're back, now." The elevator doors opened in the foyer of the apartment.

Nobody else seemed to be there, and Janie looked relieved. She stepped inside, and slipped the worn flip flops off. "I'm back." there was a slight smile

"You are," he said. "Welcome home."

"Thank you." She started peeling the jump suit off, then stopped, realizing something was in her pocket. Janie held her arm out to Xander

Xander looked at the object Janie had handed him. It was some kind of weapon, and it looked like a gun, but it was very light and it had a few levers and knobs on its side. "Uh ... thanks? ... and what is it?"

"Its a laser gun." She said, removing another from her pocket, then started to remove the jumpsuit again "I want to burn this..."

"A ... wait, a laser gun? Like, as in ... seriously?" He looked at it with more interest, then realized she was getting undressed. It was like the best night ever. He shook his head to clear it. "Wait, shouldn't you be doing that in your room?"

"I'll show you how it works" she said. When Xander mentioned her room she looked confused for a moment, then started in that direction. "Can you come with me?" It was an innocent request. She didn't want to be alone.

It was still the best night ever. "Okay," Xander said immediately.

Janie walked to her room, surprised that everything was just as she'd left it. Confident that Xander wouldn't leave her, she changed into a night shirt and sat on the bed. Immediately Jaine wanted to fall asleep.

Xander waited until she was snoring quietly and draped a blanket over her. Whatever was going to happen would have to wait; she had fallen asleep in minutes.

"Don't leave me." She said softly, not quite awake. Then, she really was asleep.

"Okay," Xander said. He smiled at her, found something to read, and settled with his back to the bed.

WHO: Xander OT Catherine, Cassie, Andrew, Willow and other interested parties
WHEN: Saturday afternoon (Oct 17, yes, this is backdated)
WHERE: Shooting Star Comics

Xander was at the comics shop, pacing, waiting for Catherine. He had Janie's saltwater-ruined device in one hand, and was hoping that together, he and his friends could figure out how to fix it and how to return Janie to the present day.

"It's not going to do much good unless we can get her back here *with* it," he said, and bit his lip. "I mean, she could be running from mastadons or something, right now. Only ... not right now, so much as ... I don't think I have the right verbs for this."

Who:  Buffy, Willow, and Xander if he wants in as well
Where:  Chloe's Sugar Shack
When:  Sunday Afternoon

Buffy herself had just finished a training session downstairs. Of course, she had been avoiding this place because this was where Lucy tended to be, because her sister owned it. However, considering recent events, she felt the need to try and be mature about things. She couldn't help it. She wanted to be mature, even if, deep down, she also wanted to throw a screaming, crying fit. A part of her blamed this on the fact that, as a Slayer, she'd had to grow up too fast. Of course, she was showing a lot more maturity than a couple of Slayers older than her right now, but she couldn't help it. She still wanted to throw fits.

She sighed and took a sip of her coffee. She couldn't handle the Sugar Fairy drink or whatever it was called, so she went with a caramel machiatto. Still plenty of sugar in that without sending her into a diabetic coma. She was supposed to go see Dawn again in a few hours, but, for now, she was trying to get through a book for her English Lit class at UCLA, and failing miserably. If Willow were here, maybe she could either encourage her to read it, or at least tell her about it.

WHO: Xander OT Catherine, Andrew and Cassie
WHEN: Friday night
WHERE: Shooting Star Comics

For the past week, Xander had been talking to Cassie and Andrew, when he got a chance, about Janie's device. While he was on break at the comic shop on Friday, he located Catherine's number and called. Not much chance that she'd be home on a Friday night, but it was worth a try. He listened to her phone ring ...

Who: Willow, OT any and all
What: Downtime
Where A cafe downtown

If there was one thing that Willow could do anywhere, anytime, it was break open a book and read. The world could be ending around her and she'd still be lost in the world that a novel gave her. The characters, the drama, all the little twists and turns.

And while the world wasn't ending around her, downtown LA was pretty noisy, being a Friday afternoon. Willow didn't seem to mind, she just sat at her little table at a little cafe/bistro that she'd been meaning to try out for quite sometime now, but hadn't had the chance to before leaving to go on her cross-country trip with her parents.

Taking a sip of the pumpkin spice coffee, Willow leaned forward in her seat, completely lost in the world of The Other Boleyn Girl