TITLE: “One Thing Leads to Another”

AUTHOR: Alessandra “Pamela”

EMAIL: alessandra@...

RATING: NC17 overall

DISTRIBUTION:  My sites… anyone else, just ask.

FEEDBACK:  I would love it if you were so inclined. :)

SPOILERS:  This takes place after “The Gift” except Buffy didn’t die.

SUMMARY:  Buffy and Graham run into each other and find out they get along *really* well.  But will their loyalty to Riley keep them apart?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” characters or situations (I will even give my story ideas to Joss in exchange for a day on the set).  I am borrowing them, without permission, and I mean no harm to them.  They all belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox, and Warner Brothers.  I wrote this purely for entertainment and not at all for profit.

NOTE: Thanks much to Kay for the beta read!

***

After the graduation concluded, the socializing began.  Graham found that there were other parents, like Lisa’s, who were sympathetic towards the girls but didn’t make them feel uncomfortable.  They mingled and Buffy used at least one roll of film taking pictures of Dawn by herself and with friends.  Upon Dawn’s insistence, Buffy posed with her little sister for a shot.

Nearly an hour later, the three of them headed out towards the parking lot.  Dawn gave Buffy a pleading look, asking her a question without using words, and Buffy smiled and nodded.

“Graham, Dawn and I had planned to go out for a nice dinner before everyone comes over for cake and ice cream at our place.  We’d love it if you joined us.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude, I’m not family or anything,” he replied, even though he really wanted to enjoy a meal with them.

“It’s not intruding!  If it was, we wouldn’t have invited you,” Dawn argued.

“Yeah, come on,” Buffy grinned.

Unable to resist, Graham nodded, “Okay.”

“Great!” Dawn cheered.

“So where we going, Coco’s?” he joked.

Buffy laughed, “You know Millbrooke Steakhouse?”

“Over on Hearst and Weaver?”

“That’s it.”

“Hey Graham, can I go with you?” Dawn asked.

Graham gave Buffy a questioning look and received a shrug for an answer.  Nodding to the younger girl, he replied, “Sure, if you want.”

Despite the fact that Buffy was a slayer and could probably kick his ass with one hand tied behind her back, Graham insisted on being a gentleman and walked her to the jeep before he and Dawn headed over to his mustang.

“You know, this really is a nice car.  I’m sorry I called it old,” she told him as he started the engine.

“It’s cool, don’t worry.”

“I guess a lot of girls like it, huh?  You know, older girls…. like Buffy’s age.”

Graham wondered where she was going with this.  “I suppose; some do, some don’t.”

“I think Buffy likes it.  And she likes you.  She really likes it when you come over and stuff,” Dawn told him, then worried she was being too obvious, “And I do too.”

“That’s great, Dawn.  I like to spend time with you two too.”

“The both of us?  I mean, would you still like it if you came over and I wasn’t home, so it was just you and Buffy?  Or if Buffy wasn’t home so it was just you and I?”

“Well I like the both of you as individuals so I imagine I would have just as much fun if I just hung out with one of you.”

“Oh,” she replied, trying to analyze his answers.  Graham sure was one hard guy to understand.  Opting to not be too obvious, she decided a completely innocent question was in order.

“So where did you keep the car when you were off in South America or wherever?”

“I have an aunt that lives up in Santa Cruz.  She let me leave it in her garage.”

“Oh yeah, because you have to have some permanent address, right?  My friend Debbie’s brother is in the army, and even though he wasn’t at their house for, like, a year, it was his official address.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“So, do you have a girlfriend up in Santa Cruz?”

Graham raised his eyebrows in surprise, but calmly replied, “No.”

“So you don’t have a girlfriend at all?  I mean, Buffy and I are the only people you spend time with here so I doubt you have one in Sunnydale.  Where else could you have one?”

“Belize…. Montevideo… Argentina,” he answered.

“Three girlfriends?!”

“I’m kidding, Dawn,” he grinned at her.  “I have no girlfriend.”

“Oh…” she said coolly, trying to conceal how pleased she was.  At last, an answer from him and such a good one!

***

“I can’t believe you ate that.  It was practically still mooing,” Buffy said to her sister in reference to the quite rare steak Dawn had just consumed.

“It was yummy,” the younger girl smiled.

“You’d better pray you don’t get a worm.”

“You can’t get a worm from eating steak, even undercooked steak.  Can you Graham?”

“I am staying out of this one, ladies,” he replied holding his hands up defensively.

“Wise man,” Buffy smiled at him.

Since they had all finished their meals, the waiter dropped the bill at their table.  Buffy pulled the cell phone out of her purse and held it out to her sister.  “You’d better call Lisa now.”

Dawn took the phone and smiled at Graham, “Lisa’s going to come over for dessert and to spend the night.”

“Very exciting.”

Dawn looked around the crowded restaurant.  “You know, it’s awfully loud in here.  I’m going to go make the call over by the bathrooms.”

“Okay, just be careful,” Buffy called after her.  “So, did you want to have dessert or have you reached your quota on Buffy and Dawn time for one night?”

“I’d love dessert,” he grinned.

“Wow, and after a car ride all alone with Dawn too!  I figure you didn’t talk much, since you’re the quiet type, and I know my sister.  She probably talked your ear off.”

“She wasn’t too bad.  Although she was kind of strange.”

“Strange how?”

“She just asked some weird questions.  Like, she wanted to know if a lot of older girls liked my car, and if I liked spending time with just you or just her as opposed to both of you at the same time.  And then she failed miserably at casually asking if I had a girlfriend.”

Buffy grinned, “Oh my God, I think she has a crush on you.”

“What?!  She’s fifteen and I’m twenty-three!”

“Exactly; to you it’s perverse and illegal but to her it’s dangerous and sexy.”

“No, you’re wrong about this.”

“Why else would she ask you that stuff?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe Dawn just can’t handle silence and asked anything that popped into her head.”

“Well, it’s true that she can’t handle silence, but she probably would have just babbled about boy bands if she couldn’t think of anything to say,” Buffy told him, “Don’t worry, I don’t think it’s a serious kind of crush where she will end up with a broken heart, just a little thing she has for you that will probably go away when she gets to know you better and you become less mystery and more normal guy to her.  That’s what happened with Xander.”

***

“Lisa!” Dawn squealed into the cell phone as her friend picked up on the other end.

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“Pretty good.  Graham is great at being evasive, but I did manage to drag it out of him that he doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

“Great!  That would have screwed things up big time,” Lisa replied, “Did you try to find out if he likes spending time with Buffy?”

“Yeah; he says he likes both of us and would still like to hang with either of us alone.  I’m telling you, Lisa, he is *difficult*.”

“I’ll say.  I need to take a more active role in this.  Tonight we have to come up with some plans,” Lisa said.  “Did you remember the stuff where you give him ideas about Buffy?”

“Yeah, I told him she likes him and I also said she likes his car.”

“Ooh, good one.  Guys love it when girls dig their cars.”

“I know!” Dawn replied proudly.

“Did they do anything interesting at dinner?”

“Not really,” she said as she looked over at the table, “Oh, but they are laughing right now.  I think Buffy’s teasing him because she’s cracking up and Graham is kind of blushing.”

“That is definitely a good sign!”

“Okay, I’d better get back.  We’re leaving soon, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah.  Hey, is Graham going to be joining us?”

“One can only hope!” Dawn replied.

***

Graham fidgeted nervously as the two teenagers grinned at him.  He’d driven Dawn to Lisa’s house where they had picked up her friend and met up with Buffy back at the Summers’ house.  The three of them had just arrived a few minutes earlier and were seated at the dining room table while Buffy got the cake ready.

“Hey, did you read the article about 98 Degrees in the new Teen People?” Dawn asked.

“You know, I think I’ll go help Buffy,” Graham said abruptly.

“Okay!” Both girls replied in unison.

Once he left them alone in the room, Dawn and Lisa high-fived each other.  They were *good*.

***

She had been doing fine… until she pulled the round cake out of the bakery box and looked at the words written in blue icing.

‘Happy Graduation Dawn.’

Dawn had graduated from junior high.  She’d go on to high school.  In a few months, it would be the big day - her first day of high school.  In a few years, she’d be graduating from high school.

And her mother would miss it all.  She wasn’t there that night, as she should have been.  She wouldn’t be with them for Christmas or either of their birthdays for the rest of their lives.  There were so many things to come, so many important occasions that they *deserved* to be able to share with their mother, and they would never get that.

She was gone for good.

As the harsh realization came over Buffy, it felt like the pain she had felt immediately after her mother’s death hit her with the force of a tidal wave.  She covered her mouth with her hand as she sobbed.  Tears sprung to her eyes and she moved her hand over her face as she began to cry.

Despite the fact that she had spent months dealing with her mother’s death and had tried to move on, going through the motions of every day life, her pain was still very real and very raw.

Graham walked into the room and was completely caught off guard, finding Buffy standing at the counter and obviously crying.

“Are you okay?”

He surprised her and Buffy quickly wiped her tears away, “Sure, I’m fine.”

“No you’re not.  What is it?”

She was quiet for a moment before admitting, “I really miss my mom.”

Graham slowly moved next to her, “That’s very understandable.  I doubt you’re going to get through any holidays or special occasions without a good cry for some time.”

“Well that is something to look forward to,” Buffy laughed sardonically.

He gave her a tender smile and gently stroked her cheek.  “If you’re not up to this, I could make up an excuse for you.”

Buffy shook her head, “No, I want to do this, for Dawn.  It’s important to me that she has a good time.  But that is very sweet of you.”

She broke their contact and walked over to the sink, splashing some water on her face.  Turning around, she looked at him questioningly.

“Good as new.”

“Great,” she replied, then pulled some plates out of a cabinet and grabbed forks out of a drawer and handed them to Graham before picking up the cake and taking a deep breath.  “Here goes…”

The rest of the night passed by uneventfully.  If Lisa had gotten her way, she and Dawn would have done a lot more manipulating, maybe get a goodbye kiss out of Buffy and Graham, but Dawn was a bit more hesitant.  She wanted Buffy happy, and she liked Graham… but she knew it would probably be better if it happened naturally.

***

“You know, you really don’t have to help me,” Buffy said as she washed a plate and handed it to Graham, who rinsed it off before drying it with a towel.

“Buffy, haven’t you learned yet that I like helping you?  I figure all the times you averted the apocalypse and thus saved my ass makes me owe you a lot,” he smiled.

She returned the smile, “You’re a strange guy, Graham.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“But really, you’re doing this because you want to talk about earlier, right?  About my mom?”

“Well… you’re my friend and I want to help you.  You’re going through one of the hardest things in the world right now.  I know what it’s like.  I know how a part of you wants to curl up and die, but you feel like you have to be stronger than ever.  You feel like you can’t show any weakness, you can’t cry and you can’t grieve.  But you have to, Buffy.  You have to let yourself feel the pain.  After a few times, you’ll realize that you won’t fall apart if you let yourself have a good cry.  If you don’t, the pain doesn’t just go away.  It will eat away at you and things will end up a lot worse.”

Buffy was surprised, not only by the amount of speaking Graham had just done, but by how right he was.  She realized that he had only scratched the surface of what had happened when he’d told her about his mother’s death.

“So, you want me to cry now?” she asked, smiling slightly.

Graham returned the smile and shook his head, “I just don’t want you to feel like you have to be the rock and never cry, even when you want to.  I know that Dawn needs you and if you are a mess, she’ll be a mess, but if you miss your mother for whatever reason and you feel the need to cry, do it.  Dawn’s strong too, you know; she can handle it.  And I want you to promise me that if you ever just want to talk, to release some emotions, that you’ll call me or one of your other friends.  Just talk to someone, don’t bottle it up.”

“I… I’ll try…” she reluctantly agreed, “It’s just hard for me.  Riley told you what happened before he left, right?”

He nodded slowly, “You guys kind of failed at communicating, he freaked and let vampires bite him and you were upset.”

“Yeah, well I kind of suck at the talking thing.  I have issues, I guess.  I’m sure he told you about Angel too, right?” she asked, and then continued at his nod, “What we had was very intense and painful.  I mean, I will always love Angel, but boy did I get hurt with that relationship.  It made me more wary.  I didn’t want to open myself up to that kind of pain again, so I held back with Riley.  I kept him at arm’s length.  I was always too scared to tell him I loved him and I wouldn’t even let him help me when my mom was sick.  I still don’t think I can just open myself to do those things again, but I’m aware of it now.”

“I have no doubt that if you know you have this problem, you can work past it.  There’s nothing you can’t do, Buffy,” he told her.

She smiled up at him and, almost unconsciously, they leaned towards each other until their eyes were closed and their lips pressed together as they shared a tender kiss.  Abruptly, they pulled apart and averted their eyes from each other.

Buffy found that there was no dishes left in the sink and quickly drained the water.

“Looks like we’re done.”

“Yeah.”

“But thank you again, for everything.  I feel very lucky to have you as a friend,” she smiled shyly.

“Same here.”

They stared at each other again and were heading towards kissing again when they managed to get control of themselves.

“I should probably get home.  It’s late.”

“Yeah, thanks for coming.  I know Dawn really appreciated it too,” Buffy told him as they walked towards the door.

“Any time.”

“Good night,” she smiled.

“Night.”

Two figures sat at the top of the stairs, observing the exchange.  Once Buffy had gone into another room, they looked at each other.

“Well, that was disappointing,” Lisa frowned.

“What did you expect them to do, have their tongues down each other’s throats?”  Dawn asked rhetorically.

The other girl grinned, “That’d be nice!”

***

“So are you going to go on vacation this summer?” Willow asked Buffy as they sipped their mocha lattes together at a table in the Bronze.

“Nah, I figure I’ll stay here and keep things under control.”

“But Buffy, everything *is* under control.  Even Giles says that we could easily take over your patrols.”

“You guys are discussing me going on a vacation?” Buffy responded, raising her eyebrow questioningly.

“Well, we love you and we worry.  Maybe some time *away* would be good for you.  And Dawn too, of course.”

Buffy sighed, “I’m going to try and get in touch with my dad again.  Dawn would love to spend some time with him, I’m sure.  Maybe she can stay a couple weeks with him, but I really feel like staying home.”

Willow frowned disapprovingly, but knew better than to argue.  “Just think about it?”

Buffy nodded, before pretending to focus on the band performing on the stage.  Honestly, she didn’t understand herself.  She felt the need to be home, around all her mother’s possessions, where she could easily have memories of her life before that day not four months earlier.  It probably wasn’t healthy, but she didn’t want to leave it.

And also, a tiny part of her that she was trying to ignore really didn’t want to leave Graham.  Not only did she enjoy his company and would actually miss him… she didn’t like the idea of him all alone in Sunnydale without her or Dawn to spend time with.  But there was no way she could tell Willow that.  She’d either freak that Buffy felt this way about Riley’s friend, or she’d try and convince her to date Graham and Buffy wasn’t prepared to do either.

To be continued...