thepicketfencecliche | canon au } { post-607: heartless

Buffy: You should have taken me with you.

Peter: You aren't being hunted. You're safe.

Buffy: And you're not. Which I'm not okay with, by the way.

Peter: I'm not all that happy being hunted either.

Buffy: But you were just going to disappear again. And have me forget you again.

Peter: I wasn't planning on the Riders showing up, Buffy. But if it gave time for Malia to run... I'd give her the time.

Buffy: Which is why you should have taken me. We could have bought all of us time.

Peter: I honestly didn't have time. Malia was a bit impatient.

Buffy: [sighs]

Peter: [takes a step closer, taking her hands] I'm sorry.

Buffy: I know. I'm glad you're not stuck in the Train Station of Doom.

Peter: Same here.

Buffy: I'm also glad you're not all burn-y and gross anymore.

Peter: [laughs] Yeah, though the remedy wasn't very fun.

Buffy: I think Melissa might have enjoyed that.

Peter: A little too much in my opinion.

Buffy: You tried to kill her son. [a beat] Twice.

Peter: And I never did call her back for that second date.

Buffy: [and that gets him a look]

Peter: You didn't know I was back awake then.

Buffy: Doesn't mean you should be making up for lost time now.

Peter: I'm happy with what I have now, thank you very much.

Buffy: Good. You better be.

Peter: You are wearing my ring after all.

Buffy: Yes. I am. And I don't plan on taking it off, so if you dump me, you're not getting it back.

Peter: That's probably the last of my wealth so you better not lose it.

Buffy: Don't worry. It's in a very safe place.

Peter: Good. [leans in to kiss her]

Buffy: [kisses him back, with a small happy sound] I missed that too.

Peter: Same here.

Buffy: Oh! I almost forgot to tell you. Someone killed one of the Ghost Riders.

Peter: [blinks] What?

Buffy: Yep. Apparently he did it to steal his pineal gland. Which is ... super gross and not like any creature I've ever heard of but! The Ghost Rider's dead. Which means I can kill them.

Peter: Did you happen to see how he captured the Rider to be able to do that? [and he's not even going to think on the pineal gland eating at the moment. He may know something on that but he needs to look up a few things]

Buffy: ... We sort of did that for him.

Peter: [raised eyebrow]

Buffy: Mason actually came up with a really clever idea to use the lightning to trap the Rider. There was a transformer and a lightning shielded box and please don't ask me to get into all the sciene-y stuff but it worked really well! Until we tried to get Parrish here to translate Rider speak and he ... basically got mind whammied. We had to get Parrish away from the Rider which gave CBE a chance to get to him. It's not his first victim either, there have been a few of them over the last few months.

Peter: [nods] Please tell me Parrish is okay. [for Laura's sake]

Buffy: Physically? Yes. Mentally? To be determined. He sort of ... ran off and told us not to follow him, and since he can set himself on fire, we decided to let him get some space.

Peter: Someone should still warn Laura.

Buffy: I will. Or Scott already has. I have a feeling that when Scott calls Parrish she automatically assumes something is going to go horribly wrong at this point.

Peter: [sighs] Have I mentioned how much I hate this town?

Buffy: Yes, yes you have.

Peter: When this is over, we're going back to Scotland.

Buffy: Sounds like a plan. We just have to save Stiles from the Ghost Riders, and stop CBE.

Peter: Why are you calling him CBE?

Buffy: Creepy Brain Eater.

Peter: ... I don't think i will ever get used to your need to name things.

Buffy: It rolls off the tongue easier than "that person stealing people's pineal glands."

Peter: [dramatic sigh]

Buffy: It's so weird though because Will says the pineal gland produces melatonin. Maybe what we're dealing with is a guy with a severe insomnia problem.

Peter: Is also the part of the brain that houses the soul.

Buffy: [blinks] ... Seriously?

Peter: So it's said.

Buffy: So maybe I should update that to Creepy Soul Eater.

Peter: Have there been any newcomers in town in the last few weeks?

Buffy: [she shrugs] None that have caught my immediate attention. You might be better off asking Scott that.

Peter: I'll pass, thanks.

Buffy: Right now, I think the Ghost Riders are the bigger problem.

Peter: Stealing souls or eating them.

Buffy: It's an icky job, but someone's gotta stop 'em.

Peter: Well I prefer any job that doesn't land me back in the burn unit, thank you.

Buffy: I would prefer that as well. Which is why you should leave the hacking and slashing to me.

Peter: Then I'll work on the soul eater. No one wants my soul. [smirks]

Buffy: [she laughs] They better not. Or they'll be getting hacked and slashed next.

Buffy: [she laughs] They better not. Or they'll be getting hacked and slashed next.

Peter: [looks down at his cell phone] Malia has learned to text.

Buffy: At least that's one way she doesn't take after Derek.

Peter: Do you know he actually sent me an e-mail yesterday? And someone introduced him to Amazon because it was a link to a baby registry.

Buffy: Oh! That was me! [she grins] I've been helping Dawn with the baby shopping.

Peter: Next thing we know, he will actually be wearing a smartwatch.

Buffy: Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Peter: Wearing fake glasses and vests and playing shuffleboard at a microbrewery. [smirks]

Buffy: Oh no. If he goes hipster, Dawn will reel him back.

Peter: But not after we take blackmail pictures.

Buffy: Of course.

Peter: But I should see what she needs. Something about a plan.

Buffy: [she nods and leans in to kiss him softly] And I should go see a girl about a hellhound.

Peter: Good luck.

Buffy: [nods and off she goes to hatch a plan with Laura]