Justifiable Homicide

Part 11

“But I don’t need all of this!” Willow stated for the dozenth time, trying to make her father see reason.

Chris closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose and counted to ten in his head.

Then twenty.

They’d had this same argument in every store. Willow didn’t see why she needed a whole new wardrobe, which Chris insisted he buy since she’d only brought the clothes on her back to Denver.

He silently wondered where she’d gotten this stubborn streak from, before deciding it must have come from her mother.

“I have a whole closet full of clothes at the Ranch.” she argued - again.

“Which have been there since you were fifteen.” Chris replied back - again.

Turning to the sales associate, he ignored the slight twitch in her lips as he told her to wrap everything up, overriding the red head’s protests. This was the sixth store they’d been to, and in every one the sales people had given him the same amused look as he argued with his daughter.

His bad-ass reputation would be in ruins by nightfall. But it was well worth it just to see the fire back in Willow’s eyes.

“You’re unbelievable!” Willow exclaimed, annoyed that he was completely ignoring her objections. Noting the small smile on the sales lady’s face as she packed up and rang in the clothes, Willow refused to become angry with her when it was clearly all her father’s fault. This was a well-established pattern for the day - her arguments and wishes being ridden over by Chris and the sales staff of whatever store they happen to be in. After catching sight of a flicking tail from underneath the skirt of a sales girl in the third store, Willow realized she wouldn’t be getting any help on that front - not against ‘Chris Larabee, Guardian of the flipping Demon Community’.

“I just want you to have an appropriate wardrobe for any occasion.” he told her.

“Appropriate for what?” she demanded as he grabbed the bags of even more clothes. “Mucking out the barn and sitting on a rock watching grass grow doesn’t need anything more than jeans and a t-shirt.”

“Sitting and what?!” he demanded, trying to sort out what she was saying - not always an easy endeavour.

“You know - meditating.” she explained as they finally left the store.

“I don’t meditate!”

“Well maybe you should!”

Gritting his teeth, Chris refused the urge to glare, knowing it had no effect on her.

“Are we done yet?” she asked after a few moments of silence. While she loved to spend time with him, this expedition rated right up there with gouging her eyes out with a toothpick.

“One more stop after we drop these in the truck.” Chris replied, ignoring the red head’s sounds of exasperation.

Some time later, Chris felt a smile pull at his lips. Willow’s face as she looked around the restaurant was everything he could have hoped for. Her eyes had yet to stop moving, as she tried to take in everything at once.

He’d brought her to lunch at ‘The Other Side’, a cafe/restaurant/bar whose clientele consisted mainly of demons and supernatural humans. It was a main gathering place for those of non-human origin.

Chris remembered how her irritation had steadily fled as they passed from room to room, each designed with a specific theme or atmosphere in mind. From the standard café look that comprised the front room to the humidity and darkness that was reminiscent of the Kashik’s hibernation nest, it was truly a meeting of worlds. He’d taken her around the long way, hoping that she’d see what he saw every time he came here. That this was where worlds truly met. He had a long range plan in mind, and this was only the first step.

She was currently trying to look like she was not staring at the Chaos demon having a nice dinner with a Koresh demon. Chris could understand where the fascination lay, as the two species were at different ends of the spectrum. The Chaos demon, while quite distinguishable with his antlers and slime, acted almost human and civil in every aspect of life, while the big, broad shouldered Koresh demon only vaguely looked anything resembling human with his red and green arm and back spikes - not to mention being nocturnal in nature. Even their environments were vastly different, the Koresh tribes preferring to roam the jungles, while Chaos demons preferred the solitary life, bumming from town to town in the more moderate climates which wouldn’t cause their pores to secrete even more mucus. The fact that they were perfectly comfortable in what JD had termed the Rock Room - so named due to everything being made of stone - said more than anything.

“Corbin and Sid.” Chris said softly in her ear, jerking the red head out of her deep observations.

“Huh?”

“Corbin’s the Koresh demon - an old friend of Vin’s, and Sid is the Chaos demon.” he explained, motioning to the couple that had held her interest so intently. “They’ve been together for almost two years.”

“Togethe - Oh.” Willow blushed as she realized what he meant.

“It’s very - odd.” she said after a moment, attempting to turn his attention off her red face.

“Maybe, but they fit somehow.” he told her. “They won’t be the only ‘odd’ pairing you’ll see.”

“What?”“ he asked her as she tilted her red head to the side, as if contemplating something of the utmost importance, her nose scrunching as she tried to figure out the answer.

“How do they . . . you know?” she asked blushing, just before her eyes widened and a horrified look came across her face. “Actually, I don’t think I really want to know!” came her hasty declaration.

Chris just laughed out loud as even more blood rushed to her face.

“So - when do we get to order around here?” she asked, deliberately trying to change the topic.

“I already did. You were too busy ogling the love birds to notice, but the waitress did stop by.”

“But-“

“Don’t worry, I ordered for you.”

“If you ordered off the children’s menu again, I’m gonna have to hurt you.” she said in a semi-cheerful voice, making her threat all the more serious.

Before either of them could open the can of worms that was the Shrimp Shack incident, a familiar, boisterous voice caught their attention.

“Chris, old dawg!” greeted Buck as he strode across the stone floor, a green-eyed Southerner in his wake.

“Buck. Ezra.” Chris returned steadily.

“And Miss Willow of the Red Hair.” the big man greeted Willow almost formally as he slid next to her on the stone bench.

“Hello Buck.” she replied carefully, holding herself very still. He’d always made her feel mildly uncomfortable, mostly due to his size and fondness of showing his emotions physically. For Willow, who grew up with very few affectionate touches from her parents or friends - namely Xander - Buck’s need to always be touching those he felt affection for, disconcerted her.

Noticing her discomfort, Ezra decided a timely distraction was needed, more specifically in the form of himself.

“Ezra Standish, at your service.” he greeted, holding out a hand for hers. “Mr. Wilmington, with his total lack of acceptable manners has failed to introduce us properly, Miss-?”

“Oh! Just call me Willow.” she answered, a bright smile on her face as she placed her small hand in his, ignoring Buck’s indignant sputtering. “And his manners aren’t any better.” she told him, tossing her head in Chris’ direction. “They probably both got them at the same cut-rate store - I’d demand a refund if I were them.”

Ezra merely raised an eyebrow in the blonde’s direction. Not many could completely ignore Larabee when he chose to level the full force of his glare on them, but this young woman was doing an admirable job of it.

“She’s family.” Chris said in response to Ezra’s questioning glance, which to the Southerner explained a great deal.

“You’ve got some nerve there, little girl.” commented Buck, smiling in spite of the insults he’d just been delivered. Willow had the same way with Chris that Sarah had, deliberately risking the blonde’s legendary wrath, but with the supreme confidence that the most he would do would be to grumble and bitch for awhile.

“Pfft.” was her comment, waving it off with a weak wave. “The way he’s been completely ignoring my wishes all day, he’s lucky if that’s all I do.”

“Mr. Larabee.” chided Ezra. “What could have possibly possessed you to ignore such a lovely creature as Miss Willow?”

“She didn’t have to argue over every single purchase.” replied Chris.

“You didn’t have to buy out half of Denver, either!” was Willow’s response.

“Miss Willow, am I to understand that you were attempting to decline items purchased for you by Mr Larabee?” asked Ezra, looking pale and shaken at the thought of turning down free gifts.

“I don’t need all those clothes.” she told him, before turning to Buck, hoping for an ally. “I don’t know how we’re both going to fit inside the truck to get home. It’s completely filled with bags from half the clothing stores in Denver. I already have a closet full of them back home.”

A decidedly male-type squeak turned her attention back to the dark haired Southerner, who was in too much shock to even attempt to hide the horror gloriously displayed on his usually well-schooled face.

“Which have all been there since you were fifteen.” argued Chris - again. He was getting tired of this same argument between them, and the other males at the table knew it. “You’ve gotten bigger since then.”

He immediately knew he’d doomed himself, when her eyes narrowed and her entire body stilled, as she readied herself to pounce on the wounded prey.

“Bigger? How?” she asked in a dangerous voice that Chris had learned early on from Sarah meant that something very bad was about to hit the fan he was standing under.

The other males at the table froze, as they too recognized the situation - the ‘no-win’ situation that Chris had just stumbled into. Buck tried to be the loyal friend he was and help Chris out, but a feminine “Back off, Buck.” halted any further attempts.

“I’m still waiting.” Willow commented, eyes never leaving the frozen features of her father. She knew she was being unfair and over-sensitive, but he’d forced her to endure hours of playing dress-up with ‘helpful’ sales girls, and this was her small bit of payback.

As much as Ezra was enjoying watching his leader trying to once again make the lovely red head smile, he decided to help out, as he was just as interested in making her happy again, as well.

“Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of making your acquaintance at the no-doubt precocious age of fifteen, but I would hazard a guess and say that you most certainly have grown in the interim - in all the appropriate areas, I might add.” Ezra put in silkily.

“Yeah, you’ve matured nicely, darling.” added Buck appreciatively, not to be left out by the smooth-talking con man.

Willow looked at Buck, at the man she’d always thought of as her Dad’s best friend - almost an honorary uncle - and said the first thing that came to her mind.

“Ewwww!”

“I agree.” added Chris, glaring harshly at his oldest friend, his gaze promising dire consequences should any idea even remotely like that ever enter his over-sexed head again.

A waitress bearing food luckily chose that moment to deliver their food, effectively diverting Willow from potentially gutting her father, and Chris took it for the blessing that it was.

“What are you boys doing here?” he asked them, effectively changing the subject.

“Mr Wilmington, after being summarily rejected by Ms Recillos this morning, the womanizing swine has come to ply his somewhat dubious charms on the owner of this fine establishment. I, however, am here to recover fiscally from a rather high stakes game of chance, of which I was the winner. In fact . . . Irwin!” Ezra called out as he quickly followed a blue and purple demon that had fled the room at the first sight of him.

“Buck got shot down by Inez and has come to try his luck with Lanka, and Ez is collecting from a bet he won.” Chris summarized when Willow looked to him for a translation. “Though he won’t have much luck, seeing as this is Lanka’s day off.”

“No it ain’t.” returned Buck, a big grin plastered on his face. “Two of her staff quit to go nest in the mountains together, so Lanka’s been working fourteen hour days ever since.”

“Shit!” The only reason he’d brought Willow here today, was because he was under the mistaken impression that the woman in question was elsewhere.

“Am I not suppose to like this Lanka person?” asked Willow between bites.

“Naw, Lanka’s great.” Buck explained, his grin getting bigger each second, if that were possible. “She just bosses Chris around like he’s no one special. She’s the only other person I know of that can look him straight in the glare and kick his ass out the door.” In fact, Buck was almost positive that if there had been even a hint of sexual chemistry between the two, Lanka would have dragged Chris to the altar long ago, with a happy smile on both their faces. “You’ll get along fine.” he reassured Willow.

A strong voice bellowed his name from the other side of the room, and Chris closed his eyes in resignation.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” said Chris under his breath before turning to greet the woman he was sure would make his afternoon as unpleasant as Willow’s morning had been. The woman lived to torment him.

“Hello, Lanka.”

And he resigned himself to making nice with the woman his daughter was already smiling at.

This was going to be a long day.

End

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