[For Carlos] Happy Anniversary

[st_accato]

Time always seemed to get away from Buffy, especially when days flowed into months and months flowed into a year. It didn’t seem possible that she had been in the Inn for a little over a year. A year without her friends. A year without her mom. A year without Giles. She wondered what they were all doing. She still missed them, a lot, but it was also a year of new friends. A year of Carlos.

The year had been eventful to put it mildly, but she wanted to do something special with Carlos. Buffy hadn’t wanted to do it Valentine’s Day, there was too much complex feels about that and the Cupid magical whammy of last year. The day after was perfect. It was like an anniversary of actual feels rather than of manufactured ones.

Because she liked Carlos, Buffy didn’t offer to cook and because he cooked, she didn’t want to go to the restaurant. It would be too much like a busman’s holiday for him. Instead, they’d agreed on a picnic under the stars. Nice, romantic and neither one had to cook. When she’d gone to get a bottle of wine for them, she’d heard the news that Wyatt had left, which only confirmed that life was short. Something Buffy and Carlos were well aware of in their lives back home. Carpe diem.

She shifted the basket to her other hand as she knocked on Carlos’ door. Buffy planned to seize the day or at least as many opportunities as possible before Fate stepped in and kicked her in the teeth like with Kitty and Wyatt.

Comments

[st_illavirgin]

The running group had been a good idea, because it solidified in his mind the knowledge that he wanted to get to know Buffy better. A lot better. That, and the knowledge that another group of people appeared to have somehow left the hotel meant that it was time to stop messing around and admit it. When Buffy suggested a nighttime picnic, he'd agreed instantly. Maybe neither of them had had much time to ever be romantic, but it meant that they had to grab the moment now.

He opened the door at the knock, smiling as soon as he saw who it was. "Hey you," he said in a soft voice.

[st_accato]

Buffy was pretty sure she had a stupid smile on her face but she didn't care. He looked good. "Hey, you." She stood there for a good minute just looking at him before she finally held up the basket. "I come bearing wine and food."

[st_illavirgin]

That smile was completely matched by Carlos, so he didn't particularly notice it. He grabbed his jacket, hanging up by the door, and walked out, shutting it behind him. "Let's go." He wasn't in a hurry so much as anxious to get this evening started and have the chance to spend some uninterrupted time with Buffy so they could figure out just what they were going to do next.

[st_accato]

Buffy turned and began to walk toward the elevator with him. Her mind jumped from subject to subject except for the one that she wondered about. She didn't want to jinx anything ... yet.

"It's been awhile since I've been on a picnic. Well, one that didn't involve graveyards and vampires anyway."

[st_illavirgin]

They'd agreed to this date, but Carlos still was unsure exactly what that meant - curse his lack of experience at times. Still, he fell back on his usual methodology - wing it. "I can't actually remember the last time I did something like this. Not quite so easy to get out for picnics in the middle of downtown LA," he pointed out.

Well, he could, but he never found the time. Killing vampires, other supernatural creatures, that kind of thing.

[st_accato]

"Yeah, I get that. I didn't do this kind of thing when I lived in LA." Life at Hemery High felt like a lifetime ago, and in some ways it was for Buffy.

She stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby. "What did you do for fun before? I mean before your fighting as a Warden."

[st_illavirgin]

"Normal teenager things," Carlos said with a shrug, leaning against the wall to look at her while the elevator went down. "At least for a while. When my magic showed itself, it kinda curbed things a little."

[st_accato]

"Yeah so get that." Buffy said and then laughed. "Well, it did at first and then I thought Slayers don't live long. I am so going to make the most of it. So while I might not have had picnics and dated like normal people."

Because normal high school girls didn't have boyfriends that were two hundred year old vampires, Buffy was truthful.

"But, I did hang with my friends in the local club that was for teens, we went dancing and tried to have as normal of a life as you can over a Hellmouth."

[st_illavirgin]

Carlos gave her a slightly embarrassed look. "Yeah, wizards tend to live for a long time unless they're unlucky." God only knew how old the Merlin was. No one dared to ask. And as for Ancient Mai... yeah. Definitely not going there. "So we tend to not worry so much, though I did hate having to miss out on some of the parties when I was getting older." Problem was, he'd been noticed as a combat specialist early on, and he'd been rushed through as relations with the vampires had deteriorated.

"Dancing. Now that's something I haven't done for a while." Maybe they could do that one night. There were enough parties that something could be arrange.

[st_accato]

Buffy's smile grew wider. "You like to dance?" She hadn't danced since she'd come to the Inn, even on the other worlds that they'd visited. "I love to go dancing."

[st_illavirgin]

"Who doesn't?" Like any young man, a night clubbing was still one of the best nights out. It was just the hotel hadn't exactly gone overboard on nights like that. Maybe he should change that. There was enough people around who might appreciate it that it would be worth it. "Then it's time to organise a good party, isn't it?"

[st_accato]

There was a soft ding as the elevator doors opened into the lobby. "It's definitely time to organize a party." Buffy said with a wide smile and headed toward the lobby doors. "And not a lot of chicken." She laughed, "of course, it would be easier with a grocery store nearby."

[st_illavirgin]

"Wait till I unleash the family recipes on the hotel," he said with a grin as he walked out backwards, watching her all the way. "But there's enough other ingredients. It's not that bad."

[st_accato]

"Oooh family recipes." She grinned enjoying the fact that he watched her, "what kind of family recipes? Are they secret?"

[st_illavirgin]

"Well, that is the whole point of family recipes. Only a select handful get to know them, who can nuture them, and make sure the next generation get to know them. At home, it's what runs the family business, after all." He missed his family, but he could always carry a little bit of them with him in being able to cook the family recipes.

[st_accato]

"My mom can cook, but we don't have family recipes." Buffy made a face as they headed out of the Inn. "Mostly because I can't cook. well I can, it's not like I burn water, but I'm not good at it." Lucky for her, she didn't have to.

[st_illavirgin]

"I can teach you," Carlos said with a shrug, after a moment giving into an impulse and taking her hand in his. "It's not difficult, we can start with some really easy stuff."

[st_accato]

Buffy threaded her fingers with his. She liked the weight of his hand in hers. "I'd like that." And she did. It would be something to share, that was so important to him and she'd get a new skill set.

"I can make grilled cheese!" She teased, "okay, I can actually do more than that, but I'm all for easy stuff to start."

[st_illavirgin]

He grinned at her as they set off through the grounds. "There is a lot of food that is easy to cook well," he pointed out. "We can start with basics and work from there."

[st_accato]

Buffy's heart did a little jump at that. She hadn't felt like this in a long time. It was nice, even though she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, because it always did.

Once they reached the spot, Buffy reluctantly released his hand to spread the blanket. "I hear fried chicken is easy." She was kidding because she was kind of getting tired of chicken.

[st_illavirgin]

He barked out a laugh, before lounging on the blanket. "Chicken, fifty ways. This place is frustrating at times," he commented. "There are lots of other lovely ingredients to use, and what do we get? More chicken."

He looked at the basket. "This looks good though."

[st_accato]

"Not chicken." She grinned at him as she began to lay out the food. "I bribed for mutton." It was something different, and something that she'd had before. "I might have to do dishes for a week." She was kidding, the chef that she'd asked had been happy to do something different.

[st_illavirgin]

"Mutton?! Not something I've had for a while," he said, reaching into the basket to help her set out the food. "Eh, dishes aren't so bad. It could have been worse." But he knew the chef, and knew she wouldn't have to do them.

[st_accato]

"Sure if you have a dishwasher they're easy." She teased as she finished up the food. "But by hand?" Buffy did a mock shudder. "That's when you wish you had a sibling that you could put it off on."

[st_illavirgin]

Carlos laughed as he sat down on the blanket. "That's where being part of a large family paid off. Once I started being able to do magic, I could generally get out of any chore simply by showing off the magic."