Title:
Approaching Normal
Chapter
Title: Coffee And Kirchner
Author:
Restive Nature
Disclaimer:
I do not own the rights to BtVS or Supernatural. They are owned
respectively by Whedon & Mutant Enemy and by Eric Kripke. No
infringement is intended. This fiction is intended for private
enjoyment only.
Rating:
PG-13
Genre:
Crossover
Type:
Friendship/ Romance
Pairing:
Buffy/ Sam Winchester
Summary:
At last they got the chance at a normal life that they thought they
always wanted.
Spoilers/
Time line: Season 5 of Buffy (of sorts) and Pre Series for
Supernatural.
Feedback:
Always welcome!
Distribution:
Ask first please.
A/N:
This is written for the Jess? Who's Jess? challenge from the Twisting
The Hellmouth site.
Chapter
Eleven
Coffee
And Kirchner
“Cool,”
Andrea breathed as she shed her bag and hat before sinking down into
the slightly saggy couch in the center of the coffee house cafe that
Buffy had brought them to. It was just off campus and very obvious to
Sam that as much as it was new to him, it was as well to the others.
“How did I not know this was here,” she chuckled.
“Maybe
it had something to do with the fact that it was down a dark alley
that I wouldn't walk down on a good day,” Mason teased. He glanced
around before skirting the coffee table that had several magazines
fanned out across it.
“It
is a well hidden secret of Palo Alto,” Buffy agreed as she took a
seat across from Andrea. Sam was swift enough, having been right
beside or behind her the entire walk over, to take the seat next to
her. Buffy seemed happy enough with that arrangement and sank back
into the sofa as Sam carefully removed the assignment sheet and a
notebook and pen from his backpack before stowing it under the table.
Wouldn't do for the waitress or waiter to trip over it. “But so
worth it,” she added. “Their sandwiches are huge and cheap.”
“Sounds
perfect for a college kid's budget,” Sam agreed with a grin as he
glanced down at her. It still surprised him sometimes just how tiny
she was next to him. But it didn't seem to bother her at all. He
glanced at his watch. “Speaking of which...” he frowned slightly.
It was getting close to lunch.
“Man,
I could go for something to eat,” Mason nodded and glanced around
from his seat for a member of the wait staff. There was one
approaching and she was smiling widely.
“Hey
Buffy,” she greeted. “I see you're bringing in some more
customers.”
“Well,
my mom always taught me to support the local businesses and your
guys' food speaks for itself,” Buffy smiled up at the girl, whose
name tag proclaimed her as Linda.
“Always
good to hear,” Linda nodded. “Your usual today?” she wondered.
Buffy grinned as she gestured her agreement and then Linda glanced
around at the rest. “Can I get anyone a menu?” All three of the
remaining young adults hands went up and with a chuckle, pulled
several sheets of paper from her tray and handed them around. “Our
special today is the Full Load,” she explained and Sam saw that it
wasn't listed on the sheet that he could see. “That's one half of a
club sandwich and a cup of loaded baked potato soup for four dollars
and ninety five cents. And our soup of the day is clam chowder.”
She paused for a moment and jotted something on her order pad. “Can
I start anyone with a drink?”
“I'll
get a coffee,” Andrea began, “half and half with a shot of
vanilla please.” Linda nodded and wrote, turning to Mason as she
did. He put in his coffee order and then Sam ordered his. Linda
nodded, promising to be right back with those and to take their
orders. Sam, deciding that the special sounded good, offered his menu
to Buffy. She smirked as she waved it away.
“I
have that thing memorized,” she chuckled.
“You
really come here that much?” Andrea scoffed slightly and Buffy
shrugged one shoulder as she inclined her head.
“Since
I eat for free, yeah,” Buffy grinned. She turned to Sam and added,
“guess that's what happens when you save the owner from getting
threatened by the neighborhood bully.”
“Seriously?”
Sam gaped a moment. It was kind of hard to think, to switch gears
from all the supernatural baddies that he had dealt with to think of
all these other law breakers out in the world.
“I
told you,” Mason chuckled, shaking his head. “That alley just
screams bad element.”
“Kinda
does,” Buffy agreed. “But I guess the community is making the
effort to get it cleaned up. Just sort of takes a lot of work, since
everybody has to be on board with what they wanto to accomplish, how
and when. And sometimes to come up with the money to do it,” she
added with a slight wince.
Andrea
was nodding and brought up a similar situation that her parents,
members of their neighborhood watch, had gone through. Sam didn't
have much to contribute to the conversation, but at least he noted,
that Mason didn't seem to either. Linda returned with their coffee
orders, settling them down easily on the coffee table and took their
meal orders. Four specials all around to make it easy on everyone.
At
that point Sam hauled out the notebook again. “So,” he began, not
particularly wanting to have to spend a lot of time on figuring this
out. It was kind of nice to spend time like this with people that
could be friends and he wanted to get the work out of the way. “It
looks like the professor wants us to present an overview of the
artist we've chosen and explain to the class why the artist's works
are relevant to the material we're studying, what our impressions are
of it.”
“That
sounds simple enough,” Andrea noted as she cupped her hands around
her large coffee mug.
“Good
jumping off point would probably be to familiarize ourselves with the
artists' works,” Buffy added. She glanced around at the others. “Of
course, figuring out who is going to do what, would help too.”
“Well,
I've got class in just over an hour,” Mason noted. “And I'd like
to get as much done as we can before I leave.”
“And
I've got class this afternoon too,” Andrea added. Sam nodded.
“Okay,”
Buffy nodded, “looks like I'm library bound then. My class was
canceled this afternoon.”
“Are
you sure you don't mind?” Mason wondered, before Sam could ask.
Buffy shook her head.
“I'm
pretty comfortable in libraries,” she chuckled. “Maybe I can do
the initial re con on Kirchner here,” she glanced at the paper in
Sam's hand. “Take out enough books that we can all have a look, see
if there are some bios on the guy.”
“There
should be,” Sam nodded. “I've heard his name in passing before.
Don't recall exactly where,” he added with a slight frown.
“Okay,”
Buffy nodded. “So I'll get the supplies and when and where do we
want to meet to go over it?”
“Well,
I'm meeting my room mate for dinner tonight,” Andrea shrugged. “But
I'm free after. Or tomorrow night.”
“Eh,”
Buffy winced quickly, but it was gone as soon as Sam noted it. “Got
plans tomorrow night,” she explained without really explaining. He
stayed quiet, unsure if sharing what the plans were, if she meant the
party at Kappa house, with him.
“Tonight
would be better for me,” Mason added. “Maybe we can hit the
library again after supper. Maybe seven?” he suggested hesitantly.
“Seven
works for me,” Sam agreed. Andrea and Buffy were quick to agree.
Relieved that that was settled, they turned to discussing how to
break up the work and what would be fair to all of them. And then the
discussion was broken off when Linda returned with their meals. And
the other three agreed, Buffy was right. Best sandwiches in the city.
Sam especially liked the homemade feel and taste of it all and in
that moment, wouldn't want to be anywhere else. The glow in her eyes
told Sam that maybe it was the same for Buffy as it was for him.
AN~AN~AN
“So,”
Sam hedged, as he crumpled his napkin and let it fall into the bowl
that had held his soup. Andrea and Mason had already paid for their
portions and had left, in a hurry to get to their respective classes.
The meal had been good and he was pleasantly sated. “You're heading
to the library now, then?” he asked with a grimace he tried to
hide. He was a little upset that he was wussing out. For crying out
loud, he had already asked her out once. They'd had ice cream and had
come here, even if the moment had been interrupted by their
classmates. He drew in a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare
himself to broach the subject that he really wanted to touch on.
“Yep,”
Buffy smiled as she stood and carefully adjusted the seam of her
pants. “It'll stave off the boredom of the afternoon a little.”
She made a small movement with her shoulders and then smiled down at
him. “It's too bad you've got class. I wouldn't have minded some
company.”
“Oh,”
Sam's worry receded and he grinned up at her. “Well, not right
away.” He glanced down at his watch once more. “My next class
doesn't start for over an hour.”
“So...?”
Buffy drawled and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “Up to
keeping a nose to the grindstone college girl company while she does
the preliminary work?”
“I'll
give you one better,” Sam chuckled as he stood and reached for her
hand once more. “How about I walk you over there and even help you
start the research. I can't promise that I'll find tons, since I
might end up a little distracted, but at the very least, I can reach
the really high shelves.”
“Oh,
I'm tempted to be upset about the short shot, but curious about what
you possibly have to be distracted by,” Buffy smirked squeezing his
fingers a little, though she didn't pull away. Sam had left money to
cover his bill and Linda had waved away Buffy's offer to pay. She did
leave a nice tip though.
“Well,”
Sam informed her as they made their way out of the cafe, “there is
that little matter of that flyer that you handed me earlier. Just
wondering about oh, a few details.”
“Details
like?” Buffy wondered as her free hand dipped into her bag to
retrieve her sunglasses.
“Well,”
Sam huffed, “like what one wears to a college party when they've
never gone before? How much would one eat, if there's most likely
going to be alcohol there? Will there be snacks? What kind of music
is going to be playing? And most of all...” he winced.
“Most
of all what?” Buffy wanted to know, staring up at him. She seemed
enthralled with the picture he was trying to paint.
“Well,
how a girl might feel if a guy invited her to a party that was
specifically advertised to have a deejay and dancing, but the guy
wasn't really... confidant, shall we say? Lacking confidence in
rusty, not been used since junior high, dancing skills, or lack
thereof.”
“Oh,”
Buffy intoned and nodded importantly. “Well, I'd like to think that
if said girl was interested enough to go to a party were there were
all those things, drinking, dancing, music, possibly some snackage,
that sacrificing a little dancing for the chance to spend time with
the guy would be totally possible.”
“Good
to know,” Sam remarked, feeling warmer. “So, Buffy?”
“Yeah
Sam?”
“Would
you like to go to the Kappa party tomorrow night?” he asked
quickly. He knew very well what all this round about conversation
was. But it still felt right to actually ask. Just so there was no
miscommunication between them. “With me?” he tacked on, just in
case... but it must have been apparent the way she giggled.
“I
probably wouldn't want to otherwise,” she nodded. “Sure. Though I
am now determined to get you on the dance floor at some point in the
evening. Fair warning here.”
“Noted,”
Sam agreed. “Maybe we can negotiate further
terms after we're hear what the deejay thinks is dance worthy,” he
suggested with a glimmer of a smile.
“I'll
hold you to that,” Buffy assured him and they continued on.
They
continued to chatter about various unimportant things as they made
their way to the campus library. Sam couldn't hold back his smile
when Buffy, holding his hand once more, like it was the most natural
thing in the world, moved directly to the card catalog. He felt her
fingers flex and loosened his own grip, feeling the loss of warmth
immediately.
Surprisingly,
though he wasn't sure why that was, Buffy easily and quickly found
the information that she was looking for. She murmured just briefly
to herself as she reached for the small basket of scrap paper and
pencils.
“Let's
see,” she murmured. “Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig,” she pronounced
carefully. “Six books, oh, paintings and exhibition inclusions.
Picture books. That's good. Biography, yes!”
“They've
got a biography?” Sam grinned. That would make information
gathering much easier. Buffy finished writing down the sections,
authors and Dewey decimal point system they were located under. Her
handwriting was a little scratchy and scribbled, but Sam could easily
read it. She pushed the long drawer shut and turned to him.
“Yup,”
she nodded. “Shall we look and see if it's still in?”
“Lead
the way,” Sam invited. He was interested to see how well she knew
her way around this library. Given she had used to hang out in one in
high school and had been attending Stanford for over a year now, she
had to have spent some time there. And if he was honest with himself,
it was very nice having someone that felt as at home in one as he did
himself.
They
were quiet, as there were many other students and employees at work.
Luckily, all of the books that they needed were present and Sam
offered to carry the books to the nearest unoccupied table to pour
over. The pictorial of Kirchner's works was a large coffee table
edition. Buffy happily piled them up in his arms and then led him to
a table in one of the alcoves. Sam gratefully settled his load on the
table and checked his watch. He still had half an hour before his
next class started.
“How
long?” Buffy asked quietly.
“I'm
going to need to leave in about eh, fifteen minutes,” Sam hedged.
It would take him that long to walk to the building that housed the
auditorium style classroom. He knew that already from having worked
in the library between art class and the next. He saw that Buffy was
leafing through what looked like the expressionism period type of
art.
“Well
then,” she smiled, “I'd better get cracking on gathering this
info. Maybe I can even figure out a fair way to divvy up the research
and report.”
“That'd
be nice,” Sam agreed as he took a seat adjacent to her and pulled
the biography towards himself. It wasn't dedicated solely to
Kirchner, but the group of painters of his era. That was good, it
would point them in the correct direction. “You know,” he sighed
and noted that Buffy glanced up from the book immediately, “I was
um... as nice as it was to have lunch with Andrea and Mason...”
“ It
also would have been nice for them not to horn in on coffee?” she
finished for him and then chuckled when he nodded sheepishly. “Well,”
she grinned, “look at it this way. We thought we were going to have
coffee, but we had lunch instead, so that means...” she left the
words hanging and it was Sam's turn to chuckle.
“That
I still owe you coffee,” he whispered happily, leaning in just
slightly.
“Well
I thought I owed you coffee,” Buffy smirked. “Since you paid for
the ice cream. Oh well, I guess we can buy each other's coffee.
Or...”
“Or
what?” Sam mimicked her expression.
“Or
I could buy you coffee and then another time,
you could buy me coffee,” she offered, a little hesitatingly. “I
mean, I don't know about you, but I love a good cup of coffee.”
“Coffee
is always good,” Sam agreed, watching her eyes. They were dancing
with excitement and he really hoped that he wasn't reading this wrong
as he leaned in imperceptibly and saw that it was now Buffy mimicking
him. Her tongue darted out slightly, moistening her lower lip and Sam
felt the surge and tightening in his stomach and
lower. He was going to kiss Buffy Summers and she was looking forward
to it as much as he wanted to, at least according to his basest
instincts.
Or
at least he would have, had someone not slammed a book shut,
startling them both with the intensity of the noise not so far away.
Buffy blushed instantly and ducked her chin down and Sam wanted to
curse. Not out loud of course, she was obviously unsure about
something.
“And
everybody thinks libraries so quiet and peaceful,” she chuckled
suddenly as she shook her head.
“True,”
Sam nodded, then cleared his throat, noting that his voice was husky.
“I wonder what gives everybody that idea. I find them very...
exciting.”
“Oh?”
Buffy grinned. “All that knowledge, right there at your
fingertips?” she teased and Sam noted that she hadn't leaned back
in her seat.
“You'd
be surprised what you can learn... in a library,” he grunted and
then laughed quietly. He still wanted that kiss, but he had the
feeling that the wait would be very worth it and if she wasn't one
hundred percent comfortable, then he was not going to push. “And
that's about the extent of wit and wisdom that I have time to drop.”
“Oh,”
she pouted, which amused and touched Sam. “You really have to go?”
“I
do,” he sighed. “Unless I have a good excuse to skip...”
“No,
no, I guess you're right,” Buffy nodded and looked back down to the
page that she had flipped open to. “I'll see you tonight though,
right? Back here?”
“Or
maybe in the cafeteria,” he suggested with a small grin. “Have to
eat again at some point right?”
“Definitely,”
she agreed quickly. “Maybe if we catch each other there, we can
walk over later.”
“That'd
be great,” Sam nodded. “You can protect me from big bad Dracula
man out there.” He wasn't sure why he had mentioned it, teased with
it, but it seemed to shake Buffy up a little as she blinked in
confusion and then nodded slowly.
“Right.
Dracula,” she frowned. “Well, I shouldn't keep you. Have a good
class.”
“Yeah,”
Sam nodded slowly, wondering why he had brought it up. Wondering why
it bothered her. Maybe something in her past... Maybe if he shut up
now and didn't press, because he really did need to get to class and
if he pushed, she probably wouldn't react well. He reached for her
hand and squeezed it gently. “I'll see you tonight.”
And
then the warmth was back in her smile and her eyes and he was
relieved. “See you Sam,” she breamed up at him. And then he
pushed away from the table, back pack slung over his shoulder.
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