Title: Old Fashioned Courtesies

Summary: The summer post NFA written for movie quote minis. My quote was: “So your little poem, what does it mean?”

“It’s the story of a water sprite that saves a virgin from a fate worse than death.”

“And Sabrina’s the virgin?”

“Sabrina’s the savoir”- Linus Larrabee and Sabrina Fairchilde in Sabrina (New version)

 

 

 

 

“Wow…”

 

Buffy turned at the exclamation to find a young man behind her, slack jawed and staring at the pile of ashes the vampire had become.  She winced inwardly as she approached the guy. He was handsome and American possibly even from California.  She knew because the Italians generally uttered a much more complicated, albeit prettier exclamation when they saw her dust a vamp.

 

“Hey, you okay?” she asked, waving a hand in front of the guy’s face.

 

He blinked and shook his head slightly. “Yeah…I…I saw that guy following you, when you ducked into the alley…I was trying to make sure he didn’t hurt you.” The guy’s gaze had gone back to the pile of ashes. “I thought you were in trouble.”

 

Buffy smiled, laughed softly and shook her head. “I’m never the victim…always the savior. Come on, let’s get you back to the main sidewalk. It’s not safe in the alleys at night. You on vacation?” she asked as she hooked an arm through his and led him out of the alley.

 

“Yeah…from LA. After all those riots…Mom didn’t think we were safe there this summer so she…I saw things like that in LA. I mean during the riots,” he answered in shell shocked tones.

 

“It’s pretty safe here, just stay out of alleys. Keep to populated areas at night…that sort of thing,” Buffy smiled as she came to a halt. People flowed around them the way water does a rock.

 

The guy nodded. “Yeah…you-why? How?” he asked, his glance going back to the alley they’d just come out of.

 

Buffy shrugged. “It’s what I do because I can.” This past year in Rome she’d come to realize slaying had never been a job. It’d been a part of her, a part that it’d taken seven years to accept.  She glanced down at her watch. “Hey, listen, I gotta go meet my boyfriend for coffee. You gonna be okay?”

 

“Yeah…” the guy nodded. “Yeah.”

 

“If it’s any consolation, it’s nice to have a wanna be knight in shining armor, even if I didn’t need one,” she smiled as she walked away toward the coffee shop.

 

He was already waiting for her, two cups of coffee in front of them, one a frothy concoction with whipped cream and chocolate syrup drizzled over it. A sexy, lazy grin came over his face the moment he saw her and he half stood up until she’d sat down.

 

“Sorry, duty called, but hey, guess what?” she said as she sat.

 

“What?” he asked, watching her closer than he was listening to her.

 

“I had a potential savior tonight. He saw me go down the alley followed by fang face and thought I was a damsel in distress,” Buffy said as she took a tentative sip of her coffee. “Mmmm extra chocolate mocha latte yumness. I put him back on the side walk, gave him the standard warnings and sent him on his way. It’s been a long time since anyone thought I was a victim.”