Gypsy Girl

[whistlersmum]

He'd snuck the kid's menu from the stack while he waited to be seated. Once in the booth, the Agent flipped over the copy of the Junior Short Stack to discover Gypsy Girl, number twenty-two in the series. Whistler tucked it underneath his placemat, a mental note to take it home later. Three more and he'd have the whole Denny's set. A day would come when someone would pay good money for them.

He always planned for the future.

A blonde waitress brought his coffee and a full carafe. Membership had its privileges.

He picked up the menu and studied the all-day breakfast. It felt like a Grand Slam kind of day in Sin City.

Comments

[whistlersmum]

Whistler let that rattle in his brain. He'd made a few people in the Council pissed at him recently, but they knew enough to steer clear. He was older than them, and he had a larger bag of tricks to make their lives uncomfortable.

A Slayer, however, didn't have as many choices. Look at what they did to the poor, unstable girl who killed Gregory...

"Fair enough."

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon nodded. She speared a piece of food and twirled it, but didn't eat it.

"I can have your back, though." Her eyes flitted to his. "Just because I can't take the lead on this one doesn't mean I'm washing my hands of it. Or you."

She set the fork down and wiped her hands on a paper napkin.

[whistlersmum]

Whistler smiled. "Appreciate that."

He pushed his plate slightly forward, and set his knife and fork down.

"That goes both ways, ya know. You need anything -- anything -- and I'm there."

He paused a moment. "But so's you know, I'm a lousy dancer this time around."

[rhiannon_lee]

"Yeah, well." Rhiannon's eyebrows arched. "This time around, I didn't go to Catholic school." She avoided looking at him for fear she'd either blush or burst out laughing; she had no idea which way it would go. Instead, she grew her legs up to her torso and draped her arms over them. Who knew what fragments of this life would carry over into the next?

[whistlersmum]

"And I sure as hell wasn't the star quarterback."

He had to say it, if only to make her laugh. Whistler always liked Rhiannon's laugh.

[rhiannon_lee]

She suppressed a giggle for as long as possible, which was about five seconds. Once the amusement died down, Rhiannon took a wallet from her jeans and shelled out cash to cover her meal and tip. The bills were wrinkled, unevenly folded, so she ironed them out beneath the ketchup bottle.

"Okay. I've gotta go, but I'll see you soon, yeah?"

Her fingers wrapped around the cigarette pack and lighter.

[whistlersmum]

"Yeah." Whistler flagged the waitress, making a motion for more coffee. He had a lot to digest.

"Searchlight's not that big, as ya know. Just look for the double-wide with year-round Christmas lights. I doubt you'll need my number. Just think real loud."

[rhiannon_lee]

Year round Christmas lights? "Gotcha." She slid across the cushion and stood up. "Later."

It was a short conversation, in the scale of things, but as she left the diner, Rhiannon felt lighter than she had in a long time. Like life had somehow aligned itself, and it was right.